lumos / phan

ten

'BLACK STILL AT LARGE'

The murmurings upon the Hogwarts Express were circulating amongst the carriages. Dan caught snippets of conversation as he moved through the walkways, trying to spot Phil or an empty compartment. Instead, he came across a compartment housing only a man huddled in the corner in patched robes. He paused before hesitantly, exchanging a glance with the cat in his arms before opening the door. 

"Hey Dan, we were going to sit in here too," Harry says, smiling and nodding for Dan to lead the way as he, Ron and Hermione stood behind.

Hermione gives a somewhat unimpressed look, but seems to be more accepting of Dan than last year. He can only assume Harry and Ron informed her of him helping them in the Chamber of Secrets, even though he doesn't recall a large chunk of it.

"Oh, o-okay," Dan says, taking a seat, the others following suit and Max curling up in his lap, but keeping his eyes glued on Ron.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" asks Ron, motioning towards the stranger.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione replies.

"How d'you know that?"

"It's on his case..."

Dan began to tune out the conversation, feeling as though he were intruding on the trio. He was just gazing out the window, watching the country blur by and wondering if it was appropriate to leave to look for Phil when he hears Ron yell.

"Don't let that thing out!"

A large, ginger cat leaps from a basket that Hermione just opened and immediately beelines for Ron, who is less than impressed and shoves the cat away with a "get out of it!"

"Ron, don't!" Hermione scowls at her friend for his reaction to the cat.

"So um, is this your cat?" Dan asks Hermione , as the ginger cat was now touching noses with Max, before lying next to Dan and resting it's head on his leg, both cats purring happily.

"Yes, his name is Crookshanks," Hermione says with a fond smile, "I just got him recently."

"Oh, that's nice," Dan says with a smile, "he's gorgeous"

Ignoring the scoff from Ron, Hermione begins asking Dan about classes while Ron and Harry dive into a discussion about Quidditch.  After the conversation dies down, Dan scoops up Max and puts him on the floor before rising to his feet. Crookshanks stands to attention as well, looking grumpy for being disturbed.

"I'm um, just going to look for Phil," Dan says awkwardly, "I'll see you guys later."

Dan hurries out of the compartment door, the two cats on his tail. He walks down the hallway, looking in the compartment windows until he came across Phil sitting with Ginny and Neville Longbottom. Smiling, he opened the compartment door and greeted everyone. He sat down with the two cats snuggling beside him and chatted to Ginny about their summers while Phil and Neville discussed herbology, as it was both of their best subject. The food trolley arrived at their compartment and Dan bought snacks for everyone.

"Where were you Dan? I was looking for you on the platform," Phil says while everyone else is occupied with the food, "thought you might've been sick of me from all my letters."

"Never," Dan says with a smile, "I was caught up with Ron, Harry and Hermione. This is her cat, Crookshanks, he decided to follow me for some reason... Sorry we could only write over the summer, my family gave me enough hell as it was. I couldn't imagine the way they'd treat you."

"It's okay, I know that it wouldn't be the smartest thing anyway. I hope you're okay though, they don't sound very fun to be stuck with," Phil says with a frown.

"Max keeps me sane," Dan says, giving the cat a scratch under the chin, "so it's fine."

After a while, Dan begins to feel sleepy, the lull of the heavy rain swirling outside beginning to make his head drop. He leans onto Phil's shoulder, falling asleep to the rain and pleasant hum of conversation.

Dan wakes with a start to darkness and a loud echo of thuds as luggage is shaken off racks due to the train's sudden halt. Blinking rapidly and trying to see in the darkness, Dan whips his head around but cannot make out anything. He whispers 'lumos' and a ball of light appears in his palm, coating the compartment in an eerie, silver light. 

"Are you guys okay?" Dan asks a shaken Ginny, Neville and Phil.

"Y-yes," Neville replies, while Ginny and Phil just nod. 

"Maybe we should go see what's going on, I know Harry, Ron and Hermione are nearby. A new professor was in their compartment, maybe we should go there," Dan suggests.

None of the others have any better suggestions, so they all end up following Dan down the hallway, each one gripping a piece of his robes for safety. Dan finally finds the compartment and opens it, letting the ball of light float into the middle and illuminate the whole room with a soft light. Crookshanks darts inside and leaps at Hermione.

"What's happening?" Harry asks Dan.

"I have no idea, I was going to ask the same thing," he replies as they all pile into the compartment.

"Maybe I should ask the driver," Hermione says, rising to her feet.

"Quiet!" Professor Lupin rises from his spot, initially surprised at the light floating but then looking warily around at the teenagers, "everyone sit down."

Everyone scrambles to find a seat and just as Dan sits with Max hiding behind him, the door begins to slowly slide open and Professor Lupin draws his wand, holding it in front of him. A cloaked figure floats in the doorway, eerily illuminated by Dan's light. Immediately, he recognised what it was - a dementor. A coldness  swept over the entire carriage, but shards of it seemed to catch in Dan's chest. The dementor drew a large breath, although it was more like it was snatching the air rather than breathing it. Dan feels as though he is losing air, the dementor is extracting, no, stealing  something straight out of his own chest. It's a horrible feeling.

Maybe I can just get a patronus to make it go away, Dan thinks as Professor Lupin began to say something to the dementor about Sirius Black. Dan feels Phil grab his hand, still warm despite the overwhelming icy feeling circulating through him. It's just enough to shift his focus onto conjuring a patronus. The ball of light extinguishes and a silvery wolf erupts from Dan's chest, passing an extremely shocked Professor Lupin and lunging at the dementor. 

Then, everything goes cold and Dan is immersed in the images he's ben seeing all summer - ever since the Chamber of Secrets. His vision floods with red; blood and a flash of flames with a piercing scream.

***

lol it has been a while. I will finish this book at some point haha. I had to re-read this whole book because i completely forgot what happened in it lol. sorry you had to wait for so long, if you're still reading this... well done! and thanks so much! hope you're all going well :) 

i miss writing. hope you enjoyed this mediocre chapter :)