Bat-Bogey Hexers

43

It was raining hard and the sky had turned dark outside the windows as the Hogwarts express trundled along.

"It's cold in here," said Ava, shivering and hugging her robes tight around her. They had all changed a little while ago from their muggle clothes to their Hogwarts robes.

Ginny was about to agree when the train began rattling loudly as it slowed to a stop.

"Great!" said Hugo, leaping from his seat and grinning broadly. "We're here!"

Ginny frowned in confusion. "We can't be yet. . ."

"Maybe they caught sight of a crumple horned snorcack!" said Luna, looking up from her magazine excitedly. Everyone ignored her.

"I wonder what's going on-" Viola stood but was cut off as the train pulled to a sudden stop.

Viola fell back on top of Hugo while the luggage came tumbling out of the rack.

"Oy! Viola get off-" started Hugo.

Suddenly all the lamps went out and everything turned dark. Fear twisted in Ginny's stomach.

"I'm going to find Ron," she said, then scurried out of the compartment.

She stumbled along the corridors blindly, knocking into a few people as she went. She groped her way along the walls.

There was the sound of a compartment door opening and Ginny turned towards it only to walk into someone with a thud. Ginny let out a squeal of pain, and so did someone else.

"Who's that?" said the voice of whomever Ginny had just walked into.

"Who's that?" Ginny asked, hoping it was someone she knew.

"Ginny?" said the voice which suddenly became familiar.

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron-"

"Come in and sit down-"

Ginny made her way into the compartment and felt around for a seat. She started to lower herself down.

"Not here!" said Harry Potter's voice hurriedly. "I'm here!"

Ginny stumbled back and hit someone.

"Ouch!" said a voice Ginny thought belonged to Neville Longbottom.

"Quiet!"

The sudden, unfamiliar hoarse voice scared Ginny and she sat right down in a seat.

There was a crackling noise and suddenly a ball of flames illuminated a tired, gray face of a man Ginny did not recognize.

"Stay where you are," said the man as he slowly got to his feet.

The strange man headed for the door, but it was already sliding open.

A strange creature in a billowing black cloak entered the compartment, it seemed to bring all the coldness of winter along with it. Ginny didn't know what the creature was, but she knew wasn't human and she knew she didn't like it.

The creature took a rattling breath as if it was trying to breath in its last chance for survival as it entered the compartment.

Fear and cold clutched Ginny's heart and suddenly all she could think about was Tom Riddle and the diary and everyone she had attacked. All the fear Ginny had felt last year came flooding through her chest. Suddenly she knew she would never be able to escape everything that happened last year. Tom would come back. You-Know-Who would posses her again and she was too weak to fight back. She would end up hurting herself and everyone she loved.

Ginny squeezed her eyes shut tight against the tears rising, as well as the fear in her heart, and huddled in a corner. She began to shake uncontrollably.

"Harry!" Ron yelped.

Ginny's eyes flew open in time to see Harry, his eyes rolled back, slide off the bench and onto the floor. She stared in horror as the boy's body began to twitch.

The strange man stepped over Harry's body towards the strange, cloaked creature.

"None of us is hiding Sirius Black," said the man loudly. "Go."

But the creature lingered. The man pulled out his wand and muttered something. Something silvery shot from the tip of the wand.

Ginny watched as the creature glided away.

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"That was scary," said Hugo as they stepped off the train, after finally arriving at Hogwarts.

Viola nodded. The creature, which she'd recognized as a dementor, had merely poked its head into the compartment then left, but it had been enough to unnerve Hugo, Viola and Ava. Only Luna Lovegood seemed relatively unaffected by it. After it had left she said "I feel sorry for the poor creature. It must be awful to be such a wretched being."

Viola, Hugo, and Ava just stared at her. The entire student body seemed shaken and there was quite a scramble to get off the train, even if it did mean entering the cold, rainy outdoors.

Viola kept her pets cage clutched under her cloak as they ran for shelter from the icy sheets.

The students were relieved to be heading up to the castle after their traumatizing encounter with the dementors, however the relief died down when they saw the creatures standing at either side of the front gates.

"What do you think they are doing here?" Hugo asked as he pressed his face to the window of the horseless carriage that brought them up to the castle.

Viola shrugged and shivered as they passed the dementors by.

"I dunno, but it can't be good."

They arrived at the castle, and Viola was happy to reach the warm safety of the great hall. She and Ava bid Hugo goodbye and headed for the Slytherin table. Katheryn the prefect waved to Viola with a friendly smile as Viola sat down besides Ava. She could see Morgana looking at the two girls calculatingly from several seats down, but Viola ignored her. She had meant what she said when she told Ava she wasn't going to let them walk all over her this year.

"Did you all hear?" Viola looked around to see Draco Malfoy approaching the table with a malicious grin on his face. As always he was flanked by his cronies. Morgana's attention was immediately off Viola and Ava, and on Draco.

"Hear what?" piped up Pansy Parkinson, a pug faced Slytherin girl who always hung on Malfoy's every word.

"Potter fainted on the train!" said Draco gleefully.

Pansy let out a peal of laughter, which made Morgana look annoyed while Malfoy looked pleased.

"I don't understand why he hates the Potter boy so much," muttered Ava. "It's not like he's ever done anything to him."

But Viola wasn't paying attention, she was searching the Gryffindor table for the the messy black hair of Harry Potter. He had managed to catch Viola's attention last year. He was very kind and Viola didn't want him to be hurt. However the boy was no where in sight. She hoped he was alright.