Lionheart ~ Harry Potter (Under Heavy Editing)

Chapter Four | A New Year Begins

Ariana awoke with a desperate gasp. The first thing she was aware of was the train moving underneath her and the fact that she was lying down on one of the the cushioned compartment seats. The feeling of depression had worn off, leaving a small knot in her stomach instead.

"Ariana, are you alright?" Hermione questioned, kneeling on the floor beside her.

"Yes, I think so," Ariana replied blearily, groaning as a wave of nausea hit her like a rock. Her eyes focused on the mop of dark hair on her stomach. "Harry?"

A breath of relief left her mouth as Harry groaned and sat up. "Sorry," he apologised, helping Ariana up.

"It's alright," she smiled, sitting up beside her friend. Nova hooted beside her, hopping forward to perch on the seat beside her owner. The owl's gorgeous eyes were clearly worried, so Ariana reassured her and ran her hand down her dark feathered back.

Her eyes focused on the three faces peering at her. Ron was sitting where he was before the attack, Hermione was kneeling on the floor beside her friends and the third face seemed to be that of Professor Lupin. He had a head full of chestnut hair, which was dishevelled from when he was sleeping, and a thin mustache on his upper lip. A kind smile was on his lips and his eyes were bright and alert, contradicting how sick he  otherwise looked. He seemed to be quite young for a Professor, maybe 20 or 21 years old.

"Here," he said, holding something out to both of them. "Eat this. It'll help."

Ariana eyed the object suspiciously, wondering what it was. Catching onto her hesitation, Lupin clarified that it was chocolate.

"Thank you," Ariana smiled, accepting the triangle of sweet chocolate.

"Here," Ron said, handing Ariana's wand to her. "Oh, this also appeared."

Ariana's eyes widened when she saw the Sword of Gryffindor lying by her side. The sword had been created by Godric Gryffindor one thousand years ago, and as his heir, the sword had a habit of appearing whenever Ariana needed it. She carefully maneuvered it, making sure to avoid hitting anyone in the small compartment with the long, deadly blade. The blade shone in the lamplight, causing the beautifully engraved letters Godric Gryffindor to shimmer.

"Thank you," Ariana said, addressing the sword in her hand, "but you must go back to Dumbledore." With a snap of her fingers, the sword disappeared and returned to the office of Hogwarts' headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.

"What was that thing?" Harry questioned, his eyes pinned on the door the creature emerged from.

"It was a Dementor," Lupin and Ariana answered simultaneously, their voices sounding rather harmonious together.

"Oh, sorry. Do continue," said Ariana, feeling a tiny bit of heat creep into her cheeks.

Lupin smiled and spoke once more, "One of the guards of Azkaban. It's gone now. It was searching the train for Sirius Black."

"Please correct me if I'm wrong, but when I last checked, neither of us were Sirius Black," Ariana groaned, a headache blossoming behind her eyes.

"Yes," Lupin frowned, seemingly lost in thought for a second, then arose to his feet. "Excuse me, I'm going to have a little word with the driver." He opened the door to the compartment, but stopped and looked back at Harry and Ariana before leaving. "Eat. You'll feel better." And with a smile, he walked away. 

Ariana watched the closed door, her eyes unfocused as she sunk into her own head. "He must be the new DADA Professor," she stated, finally turning her head to join the conversation.

Taking a bite of the chocolate, Harry asked, "What happened to us?"

Ariana bit some of the chocolate off and let the sweet melt in her mouth, contemplating what just happened. It was a terrible feeling of sorrow, the cold had swept over her body like a harsh tidal wave. The chocolate, however, made a warmth spread through her, reaching every small crevasse.

"Well, you sort of went... rigid. We thought you were both having a fit or something," Ron explained, his face still pale from the experience.

Ariana took another small bite. "Did either of you pass out?"

"No," Ron said, shaking his head a little. " But I felt... weird. Like I'd
never be cheerful again."

"But someone was screaming. A
woman," Harry added, confused.

"I never heard a woman scream, but two children. Male and female," Ariana frowned, furrowing her eyebrows. The girl knew. It was her shrill scream and her brother's. She had heard them both too many times to mistake them for anything else. The Dementor evoked the feelings of depression, which she knew all too well.

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other nervously, obviously not knowing what their friends were talking about. "No one was screaming," Hermione said, concern gracing her face as she watched her friends.

Ariana inhaled sharply as the pain behind her eyes worsened, growing worse by the second. She raised her hand to her closed eyes, gently massaging her eyelids.

"Are you okay?" Harry enquired.

"Yeah, I just have a migraine," Ariana groaned. "I think I'm going to try to get rid of it before we arrive."

"Alright. Do you want me to wake you when we change into our uniform?" Hermione asked, being her usual, kind self.

"That would be brilliant, thank you."

With that, Ariana dragged her limp body over to the window and pulled her denim clad legs up beside her, leaning against the wall; she shrugged the black long coat off her shoulders and used it to cover her body and to block the light from her eyes. For the following hour, she lay there not quite asleep, but half conscious as the sharp pain in her head eventually faded away. The reliable thud thud of the train moving along the tracks lulled her into a half-sleep, acting like a soothing lullaby humming her to sleep. The comfort of knowing she was going to the place she called home was colliding with the disturbance of the dementor's affect on her; perpetual inner conflict was Ariana's usual state... without it, she wouldn't know how to function. Eventually, her alert eyes snapped open and then she blinked, waiting on her eyes adjusting to the light. Apparently Professor Lupin had returned during that hour, since he was back in his seat.

"Hey. How's your head?" Ron asked, Scabbers sitting in his hands.

"Great, thank you," Ariana said, then noticed Harry staring at one spot as if in a trance. "Are you alright?"

"Hmm?" He hummed, snapping out of his thoughts. "Yes, thanks."

"We aren't due to arrive for another hour or so," Hermione added, stroking the purring ginger pillow on her lap.

An hour later, they all listened to the shrill whistle of the train as it slowed to a halt, the school year now so close they could practically touch it.

~~~~~

Question:
At what age was Remus Lupin infected with Lycanthropy?

A: Twelve

B: Eight

C: Four

Congratulations to Blackstars36 for answering the previous question correctly.