all too well - Theodore Nott

chapter 2

Smoke clung to the three girls as they pushed their way to the train. Shouting kids and crying parents filled the air around them. Selene clutched her basket that held her cat and pulled her bag full of books that she had slung over her shoulder closer to her chest.

They squeezed onto the train and weaved through the groups of people crowding the hallway, laughing and talking to each other. They peered into every compartment, trying to find an empty one. Annie kept up a consistent string of chatter. She talked about anything from the fact she saw Cedric Diggory at the same shop as another Hufflepuff fifth year around the same time so they might be dating or the fact that Selene's cousin Pansy got a haircut.

Neither of those topics was particularly interesting to Selene so she started to tune her out letting Cas fill Annie's breath breaks and pauses between sentences with 'oh' and 'nice'.

They finally found an empty compartment and after a heated discussion between Annie and Cas about the more practical time to change they all decided to change now. When they were finished, Annie and Cas got into a really deep conversation about plants and Selene collapsed almost immediately. She laid her head back and drifted slowly into a dreamless sleep.

The train jerked to a stop causing Selene's head to fly forward and her eyes to snap open in alarm. She sent a questioning glance to Cas and Annie who sat across from each other in what looked like the middle of a card game, only for them to return it with matching puzzled faces and shrugs.

Selene pushed herself up and opened the door to their compartment sticking out her head and down the hall only to see other people sticking their own heads out trying to figure out what was going on.

"I'll go check what is going on," Selene said, slipping out the door.

"Be careful," Annie called after her.

She gave her the thumbs up and walked further out into the hallway. Most people were still inside their compartments and her classmates whom she stopped and asked what was going on just shrugged.

As she made her way further down the train the people in the hallways started to disperse until it was only her. She was about to turn around when a chill climbed up her arms and caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand up. A chill that she felt so deep in her bones that she was rooted causing her to shiver.

A sound came from behind her like something was being dragged across the round. The chill had reached her brain now, fogging up her thinking. She knew she should run but she seemed to have forgotten how. She slowly turned to see a cloaked figure gliding down the hallway, its cloak sweeping the carpeted floor. She wanted to scream but couldn't. All she did was stand there horrified until, a hand wrapped around her arm and pulled her into a compartment.

The chill subsided almost immediately and Selene could breathe normally again. She looked around the compartment which was empty and dark except for one shadowy figure who was leaning against the door.

"Are you stupid?" They asked, stepping into a patch of moonlight coming from the window.

Theodore Nott glared down at her, eyebrows drawn together in anger and confusion.

"I couldn't move," Selene said, pulling her robes closer to herself.

He rolled his eyes before turning to peer out the window into the hallway. It was still dark like all the lights had been shut off.

"Why were there Dementors here?" Selene asked, remembering the cloaked figure.

Theodore shrugged, "Probably looking for Sirius Black."

"Oh," Selene said, feeling stupid, "That makes sense."

Suddenly the lights flicked back on and after a moment, the train started moving again. She pushed past Theodore and slid the door open, it squeaking ominously.