The Gryffindor Malfoy

Chapter 12

Summary: Carina finds out what happened on the train. First DADA lesson with the new teacher. Carina sends a letter to Narcissa.

I hear someone stand up near me, but I can't recognise who it is because of the darkness. Seconds later we see a burst of light coming from another cabin, and then a hooded creature is thrown out of the train. The train starts moving again soon after, just as the light returns. I exchange glances with the other three in my compartment, all of us with expressions of concern and curiosity about what just happened. We see someone passing in the train corridor. It's a grown man, I've never seen him before.

Ginny gets up and leaves to try to find out what happened. In the meantime, my brother appears at our compartment door, looking scared but also worried. 

"Are you all right?" Draco asks. 

"Who knew? Little Draco worried?" says Stella, joking. "Don't tell me you're going to play the brave brother now? Since you couldn't even see a bit of blood, you assumed Rina was dying..."

Stella and I both laugh. Draco doesn't find it so funny, as his face turns red when he remembers my birthday. I might not be as embarrassed to talk to Mum about things like that, but unlike me, my brother was mortified when our mother ended up having to explain the entire female anatomy to him and what was happening to me. I'm sure the poor boy was traumatised. 

"You two are never going to let me forget that day, are you?" Draco asks us.

"Absolutely not!" we both say at the same time. 

He sighs. "I stopped by because I wanted to see if you knew anything that is going on."

"We probably know as much as you do." says Theodore. "But Ginny left to try and find out what happened."

Draco enters the cabin and sits down next to Theodore to wait for Ginny to return. Seconds later, she returns. She sits between Stella and me. "Apparently a dementor got on the train. It went to the compartment where Harry and the others were and attacked him. Luckily, they were together with a new teacher, the one who is going to take over Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was the one who did the spell that gave that flash in the corridor and scared the dementor away."

"How do you know all this?" Draco asks, impressed.

"One of the few advantages of having as many brothers as I do." says Ginny. "Eyes and ears everywhere."

Draco then leaves to go back to his compartment. The four of us get changed into our uniforms before arriving at Hogwarts. As soon as we arrive, we walk over to the bewitched carriages and get on them to take us to the castle. When we reach the castle, we walk to the Great Hall, where I say goodbye to Theodore, who goes to the Slytherin table, and Stella, who heads to the Hufflepuff table. Ginny and I sit next to each other at the Gryffindor table. Strangely, Harry and Hermione aren't here. They arrive just after the new students have been sorted, before the headmaster says anything.

"Welcome!" says Dumbledore just before dinner. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast... As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises—or even Invisibility Cloaks. It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors,"