Contentment

The train stopped, jolting Madeline awake and she looked at the two first years in her compartment.   

She had managed to get to the cabin first, but as the train had started to fill in with students, the two girls sitting across from her had peaked their heads in at the beginning, asking if she didn't mind them coming in.  

She had nodded her head but didn't say anything as they settled in, and she opted to instead listen to their excited chatter about the school.  Was Hogwarts really as big as the Hogwarts: A History had said, a blond girl had asked her friend, who had only shrugged her shoulders, her eyes focused on Madeline.  And so, it had begun.    

The blond talked her friend's year off, while the other girl nodded and smiled, barely saying a word as her eyes went from her friend to Madeline.  

One conversation had peaked Madeline's interest though.  The blond was going on about all four of the houses.  Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.   

Madeline had taken in a calming breath, wondering what house she would be sorted into.  At Ilvermony, she had been a Thunderbird.  Her house was known for their profound quality of preferring one's soul and favoring adventure above all.  And here, in this school, she realized, while listening to the blond girls voice, that it would only make sense if she was placed into Hufflepuff or Gryffindor.

Forcing her eyes to adjust, she looked at the two girls whose frightened eyes were already on her.   

"What's wrong?"  Madeline asked, wrapping her cloak around her more securely when the temperature in their cabin suddenly dropped.

"This doesn't look like our stop."  The blond girl said, looking out the window and Madeline followed her sight of line out of curiosity.   

There was a body of water outside of the window instead of rooftops of houses and shops.   

"Do you think the train broke?"  The brunet girl asked Madeline in a small voice, and Madeline shrugged her shoulders.  The magic surrounding the train prevented it from braking.  The train could only be stopped by the conductor, but for what?   

Taking out her wand, Madeline stood up, looking back at the two girls.  "I'm going to go see what's wrong.  Here."  She cast a warming charm on the girls, watching them relax slightly.  Nothing normal made a temperature drop this sudden, and Madeline's blood boiled at the sudden realization.  

There was no way that they were on the train, she told herself.  What could they possibly want here, of all places?

The sound of ice lining the windows drew her attention and Madeline swore under her breath.  It could only be them.  But...

What the hell were Dementors doing on a school train?  With kids on it.   

Furrowing her brows, she cast a final glance at the two girls, and left the compartment.  They were at the end of the train, and she could see a few heads peeking out from the other compartments, questioning looks on their faces.  

Madeline took a step forward, then another, feeling something bordering anger start to form in her stomach.  

Were they looking for that escaped prisoner her aunt had mentioned?  They must be, but here?  The Magical Congress would have never allowed Dementors to enter a train with kids on it.  

She heard a door open behind her, and turned around, her eyes going slightly wide in shock.  It was the boy from the train station.  The one that had stepped in front of her.  

"You."  He simply said, turning his body fully to her as another boy walked out from his compartment, eyes trained on her as well.  This one had flaming red hair and a pointed nose, looking snobbish.  "Know what's going on?"  The first boy asked, his eyes looking questioningly behind her.  

"I think Dementors boarded the train."  Madeline told him, turning around to walk towards the front of the train.  It was dark out, and so fucking cold.  

She heard someone chuckle nervously behind her and turned her head to glare at the boy from the train station as he took his wand out.  "That's not possible.  What would they want here?"   

She raised a curios brow, giving him the once over.  He was decent, perhaps more than decent, but she couldn't think like that when there was a boy waiting for her back home.  He had brown hair, and a kind looking face, unlike his friends, but she supposed that every friend group had these types of friends.  

One kind and one snobby.   

The red-haired boy was the one that had chuckled at her.   

She looked at the red-haired boy, raising her brow.  "No?"  He looked like he wanted to say something, but she didn't give him a chance, turning around instead.  She could barely make out what was happening two feet in front of her, but before she could raise her wand, that feeling, of dread and loneliness, hit her all at once.  

She felt like whatever little happiness she managed to gather over the past two months to fill the hole in her heart was suddenly being drained from her, and fast.   

Stumbling backwards, she felt hands on her hips, pulling her away from the Dementor.  But then the hands dropped, and Madeline couldn't breathe as she focused all of her will on her wand hand.  

Her whole body felt like it has been run over by the train that she was in, but she managed to raise the wand, and uttered the spell.   

A bright light shot out of it, her corporeal hummingbird growing triple in size as it shut straight at the Dementor, forcing it back.  Madeline took in a deep breath to steady herself, and turned her wand towards the two boys, sending her Patronus at the other Dementor.   

She met the boy's eyes, the one from the train station, his own going wide with shock before she collapsed onto the floor, letting the darkness lull her into oblivion.