Alex Weasley: Book 3

7

Sometime after Draco had left, Charlie had made her way to Emiko and Alex's compartment. And a half hour after the train started moving, Cedric joined them.
"Hi." Cedric greeted.

"Hey. Are your prefect duties over?" Alex asked.

"For now. Max and I will be taking over the last few hours."

"Cool." He settled into the compartment, sitting beside Alex, and opposite Charlie.

"How was your summer?" He asked Charlie.

"It was boring. I mean my uncle came over and brought us souvenirs, but he only stayed for a couple of days."

"Your mad uncle or boring uncle?"

"The mad one." Charlie grinned. "Those two days were epic."

A few hours later the train stopped.
"Are we here already? I thought we were supposed to arrive in the evening." Emiko said. She narrowed her eyes at Alex. "Did you lie to me again?"

"No, she didn't." Charlie cut in. "We're nowhere near Hogwarts. We shouldn't be stopping."

"I don't like it." Alex looked suspicious. "I'm getting a bad chill."

"Stay here, I'll check it out." Cedric stood but Alex pulled him back.

"Are you nuts? Something bad's out there."

"Have you never watched a horror movie?" Charlie added.

"I don't know what that is."

"Useless wizards." She huffed. "Everyone knows the first to leave the group is the first to get killed. Whenever something creepy's going on, you stick together."

"Bad things happen, whether you're alone or not." Alex said quietly and they all kept quiet. What was an exceptionally bright sun seemed to dim and darken until it was pitch black.

"That's not normal." Emiko said. She shivered as the temperature dropped almost suddenly. Alex wracked her brain.

"Dementors." She said. "It's got to be. They're supposed to be guarding Hogwarts this year, and only they can-" she quickly whipped out her wand without finishing her sentence. "Patronus." She said to herself, before turning to her friends. "I'll be back."

"Wait no. Dementors are bad news. Alex you can't go out there." Charlie said in concern.

"A patronus spell can ward them off. We're right up front. I have to cast the spell before they get any closer. They're already affecting the driver, I think. If I don't cast it, they'll come past us anyway." She said. She opened the compartment door only to come face to face with pitch black darkness. Her wand dropped and she became motionless- stuck to her spot.

"Alex!" Cedric closed the door. It didn't seem to make much of a difference to the dementor as it stood at the door. It still managed to feed off Alex. Eventually there was a silver light and the dementor disappeared. Cedric attempted to manoeuvre Alex to a chair but she recoiled away from his touch. "Alex, sit. Please. Take a seat."

"No, please. No. No."

"Someone get Hermione." He instructed and Emiko ran out. She traced her way to the compartment she knew Hermione to be in. Not sparing a glance to the other people in the compartment, she addressed the witch.

"Hermione. Hurry. It's Alex." Hermione jumped up and ran after her, with an older man, Ron, Ginny and Harry behind her.

"What happened?"

"The dementors. There was one that distressed her. I don't know but she's in bad shape." They finally reached the compartment and Hermione saw what Emiko meant. Alex was huddled against the back of the compartment, leaning against the window.