An Unnoticed One [A Seamus Finnigan Fanfiction] [CURRENTLY BEING EDITED]

Chapter 4: A Frightening Encounter

Iris's Third Year:

September came sooner than I had hoped. When I laid my eyes of the scarlet steam engine that was the Hogwarts Express, I spotted Neville waiting by the train. He waved his hand, signaling me towards him. I darted through the cloud of steam to hug him and talk to him all about my holiday. A whole two weeks in Spain to visit secretive wizarding sights and to see the Spanish National Quidditch team.

On the train, I noticed the red-headed twins Fred and George Weasley along with Lee Jordan. They sat together in one of the first compartments, Lee laughing at something George had said. I slid the door open and poked my head in.

"Room for two more?" I inquired.

"Of course, munchkin. Take a seat," Fred and George welcomed us.

"Come on, Neville," I said to him as I walked into the compartment and sat next to the twins. "I still can't believe you three are finally fifth years and Neville and I are already third years," I mentioned as I plopped into my seat.

"Time flies, doesn't it, Howard?" Lee smirked. I nodded in agreement.

I turned over to the twins. "I saw your family in the Daily Prophet. How was your trip?"

"Fantastic!" Fred hollered.

"Brilliant!" George cried out. "Egypt was amazing."

"Tombs, mummies, there was everything there!" They kept answering back and forth.

"Sounds great," Neville commented. "Were the plants there interesting?" Neville was so obsessed with herbology. It was his favorite subject.

"Didn't pay attention to the plants, sorry," the twins both answered. Neville frowned a bit.

"What about you, Iris?" Fred wondered. "How was Barcelona?"

"Gorgeous," I said wistfully. "Incredibly hot, but gorgeous. You should have seen the beaches there."

We chatted each other up the whole train ride. We talked and laughed, ate sweets during the process as well. We grew anxious as rain poured from the sky. We would be at school in around an hour. Maybe sooner, seeing that the train came to a halt on the tracks.

We all sat there confused. We were still on the track, but not anywhere near Hogwarts. Before I could question the twins as to what was going on, the lights had gone out one by one down the corridors.

"The train can't stop now." Neville stood up looking outside the compartment. I followed him to take a look. There was several others poking their heads out curiously to see what had happened.

Seamus Finnigan, the boy I never talked to since my first year was sticking his head out of the compartment next to us. I hadn't noticed how much he had changed ever since we were eleven. OF course, he was taller but nowhere near Dean Thomas' height. His sandy hair had grown out quite a bit and his blue eyes lit up at the sight of Neville and I.

"Iris," the Irish boy spoke, "are you all right?"

"We're fine-" I tried responding. Before I couldn't simply finish that sentence, the train jolted, making Neville and I fall back into the compartment.

Neville fell back into his seat as I fell onto the floor and hit my head. Pain surged through my skull and George grabbed my upper arm to help me back into my seat. The train instantly felt cold as the the compartment doors suddenly slammed themselves shut. Before our door closed on itself, Draco rushed into our compartment and closed the door behind him. His face was as white as a sheet as he tucked his body into one of the seats, quietly whimpering as he closed his eyes tight. He looked so horrified that I was worried he would wet himself at any second.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned him.

His face was buried into his knees as he curled up into a ball, sniffling with tears. He shushed me and I scoffed. Soon I felt cold as shivers ran up my spine. Then came the sudden feeling of fear and hopelessness. That's all I could think about in that moment up until I saw a hooded figure walk past the doors of our compartment. But it wasn't walking, more like floating. We all saw the being and stared at it, silently hoping it wouldn't come for us. We sat there for another minute or so when the lights came back on. The whole train boasted with talking and frightening thoughts on the creature.

"What the bloody hell was that?" George panted.

"I have no idea," Lee answered shakily.

"Haven't you lot been reading the papers? Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. An actual prisoner of Azkaban escaped and the Ministry has these things looking for him. They must have gotten on the train," I explained.

"What are they called?" Neville asked, not bothering to hide the fear in his voice.

"Dementors."

Draco let out another whimper. I almost forgot he ran into our compartment like a scared child. I rolled my eyes at his weeping and raised an eyebrow.

"The damn thing is gone, Draco. I thought you wouldn't be afraid of it."

He stood up and quickly wiped his eyes. "I was not afraid of that dementor," Draco defended himself.

"Your puffy eyes would say otherwise."

For once, Draco didn't have a snarky remark. He simply huffed and stormed off to look for his friends. Fred and George's laughs filled the compartment after witnessing the Slytherin boy pretend to be serious after bawling like a baby.

As the train went back on its course to Hogwarts, we didn't talk much. Each one of us was still haunted by the image we had witnessed, afraid it would come back again. Fred and George did their best to raise everyone's spirits which they successfully achieved through a series of tasting all the disgusting flavors of jelly beans and talking about the time they had bewitched Ron's teddy bear into a spider.

When we arrived at Hogwarts, we hurried to the Great Hall for dinner. The twins, Neville and I had to wait for food during the endless sorting of first years. Once the Sorting Ceremony ended, plates of food rose from the table. The first years admired the Great Hall but the twins and I just scarfed down food since we hadn't eaten much on the train

Neville's other friends, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, sat across from him. Dean was talking to Seamus who seems unengaged in the conversation. He would look over at me periodically and only stopped when I caught him. After a few minutes of this, he finally spoke

"Hey, Iris," he tried to get my attention, "were you okay on the train?"

"Yeah, we were fine." I told him everyone with me was okay since he had not bothered to ask. "Did you see the dementor?"

He nodded, still feeling uneasy as he thought back on the frightening encounter. "I heard it attacked Harry."

"It attacked Harry Potter?" I looked around the long table trying to see if he was here. He was, thankfully Harry was fine. "Dear Godric, that must've been terrifying."

Seamus nodded again. He returned to his plate since he didn't have any idea on what to say next.

After dinner, Neville, the twins, Dean, Seamus, and I walked to our common room. I ran to my old dormitory and jumped into bed without changing out of my robes or even greeting my roommates. And as I drifted off into sleep, I tried to think of anything other than the eerie dementors. 

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Hey guys. Thanks for reading these past four chapters, it means a lot to me. If you like this fanfic then vote and comment on it. Please tell me your thoughts, I'd love to hear them. The fifth chapter will be out soon. We'll also be seeing a friendship growing between Iris and Seamus and maybe something more.