Haunted by her second year and now with a murderer on the loose, Gwenevere Everill finds herself facing more battles that she does not think she can win.
Tormented by dementors and struggling under the impact of her new studies, will Gwen be able t...
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When Gwen looked up, the compartment was bright again. She was shivering, eyes burning and the image of Tom imprinted behind them. The train was rattling beneath her and her face was drenched in a cold sweat. She glanced around; next to her, Harry was on the floor, heaving.
She jumped up, as did Ron, and they grabbed him by his arms to get him back in his seat.
'Are you OK?' she asked. She'd completely forgotten her own ordeal, wanting nothing more than to never see or hear Tom again.
'Yeah,' said Harry. His eyes darted toward the door. 'What happened? Where's that-- that thing? Who screamed?'
Gwen faltered.
'No one screamed,' said Ron nervously.
Harry looked around. Hermione reached out to touch Gwen's arm. She, Gwen, hadn't even noticed Ginny and Neville looking very pale.
'But I heard screaming--'
A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.
'Here,' he said, handing the pieces out. He gave Gwen and Harry particularly large pieces. 'Eat. It'll help.'
They all took the chocolate. Gwen couldn't bring herself to eat. She felt nauseous.
'What was that thing?' Harry said, his voice shaking.
'A dementor,' said Lupin. 'One of the dementors of Azkaban.'
Everyone stared at him. Gwen realised she was still standing. Professor Lupin scrunched up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket. Suddenly feeling unsteady, Gwen sank down into the empty seat between Harry and Hermione.
'Eat,' Lupin repeated. 'It'll help. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to have a word with the driver.'
He strolled past them and disappeared into the corridor.
'Are you sure you're OK, Harry?' said Hermione anxiously.
'I don't get it... what happened?' Harry wiped his face.
Hermione hesitated. 'Well, that thing-- the dementor- it stood there and looked around-- I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see its face-- and you-- you--'
'We thought you were having a fit or something,' Ron said. 'You sort of went rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching--'
'And Professor Lupin stepped over you and walked toward the dementor and pulled out his wand,' said Hermione, 'and he said, "None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks" and when the dementor didn't move, he said something and this silvery thing shot out of his wand at it and it turned around and sorted glided away...'
'It was horrible,' said Neville, his voice a pitch higher than normal. 'Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?'
'I felt weird,' said Ron. 'Like I'd never be cheerful again.'
