Never Too Young To Die

Woman's Cry || The Prizoner of Azkaban

~HARRY~

Finally, after a lot of goodbyes and hugs, we were on the train to Hogwarts. Hazeline, Ron, Hermione and I were sitting in a compartment with a man named Lupin, because everywhere else was full.

"Are you sure he's asleep?" Hermione questioned.

Ron shrugged and we all sat down in silence, listening to the sound of the train rumbling along its tracks to Hogwarts. As the shabby man slept I began to tell my friends about what Mr Weasley had told me before we got on the train. He said, "Harry, promise me you won't go looking for Black."

Of course, I agreed. Mr Weasley seemed very scared for me, but I wasn't that afraid, I had Dumbledore, who was the greatest wizard of all time. And I had my friends, who were the best things in my entire life. Hermione seemed to notice Hazeline's tension, because she changed the subject.

"Did you get the Dursleys to sign your slip for Hogsmede?" She asked.

My heart dropped. "No."

Hazleine's face lit up surprisingly. "Why are you smiling?" I asked.

"Well," she said quietly. "I didn't want to be the only one left at Hogwarts."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Why are you not going?"

She flinched slightly. "I don't have any parents, Harry. And Hermione's parents weren't allowed to sign it. So, I'm stuck at school."

It was in that moment I realised how much Hazeline and I actually understood each other. She was parentless, and so was I. It was like nobody could really understand what it felt like to lose someone you love until they had lost somebody too.

"That's great!" I said. "Well, I mean, it's not great that you lost your- but um, it's great that I'm not the only one."

Hazeline nodded stiffly, and her head dropped slightly, her golden hair falling across her face like curtains. Ron opened his mouth to speak, just as a familiar blond boy opened the door to the compartment, smirking at us evilly. He looked at Ron and Hermione's pets, who had began to attack each other again.

"Bloody cat," Ron cursed, snatching up his pet rat.

Malfoy snorted. "I knew your family was poor, but I didn't know they were that poor."

He began to rant about his family fortune, and Ron's poverty. It went on forever, until finally, Hazel stood up, glaring at him as if she wanted to murder him right there.

"You know what is poor?" She spat. "The fact that you think you can just walk in here and talk to my friends like that when you don't even care that your father tried to kill me!"

There were tears running down her cheeks, and I wanted to reach out and brush them away but I thought it was irrelevant. Malfoy cringed slightly, a glint of sympathy in his eyes.

"Hazeline, I didn't know. I swear, if I did-"

"Get the hell away from me," she cut him off bitterly, and he obeyed, walking away with his head hung.

I shut the open door awkwardly, glancing over at Hermione, who was staring at Hazeline with her mouth wide open. Ron looked really proud, as he stroked his rat creepily, and Hazeline was utterly expressionless. There was an awkward moment of silence before the train came to a haunt, sending me flying into Hazel. I muttered an apology and sat back down, glancing around, confused as the lights went out.

"Guys?" Ron voice was squeaky and afraid.

Even though the lights were out, I could still picture Ron's face. A deer in headlights. I could see his hand up against the frozen glass, and as I glanced out the frosty window, I just saw something black slip by the train in the dark. What in the world was that thing? It was terrifying me now. A shadow, maybe? No, I realised as I saw it move down the train, near the entrance.

If the door was open then... I saw the dark figure floating down the corridor, like a ghost. My hart was racing so fast I think it was just going to give up and stop. I could just make out Hazeline's face in the darkness, and she looked scared stiff. It made me all the more terrified.

The hooded creature loomed over me, its face a vortex of misery and nothingness. I cowered back into the chair, trying to scuttle as far away from it as possible, but it came even closer and opened its hole of a mouth. I immediately felt cold somehow, and it felt like all the hope I'd ever had had suddenly disappeared, replaced with sorrow. My eyes drooped, and just before the lights went out I heard a woman scream, scream like she was being attacked.
_____________________________________________________

"Harry?" I woke to the sound of Hazeline's voice. "Harry, can you hear me?"

I groaned, slowly trying to prop myself up on my elbows. My head ached so badly, and the lighting was fuzzy, and blurred. As it cleared, I recognised the worried face of my best friends... And Hazel. Behind them, stood a man with very messy hair. R.J Lupin.

He told me to sit up and I obeyed, taking the chocolate that he offered me, well, forced at me. He then left saying, "I'm just going to have a word with the driver. Eat up."

Hazeline sat down beside me as I stuffed the chocolate in my mouth, looking at my friends expectingly.

"Well?" I asked. "What happened?"

Hermione and Hazel exchanged a worried glance, making me slightly nervous. Ron sighed, glaring at the two girls next to him, looking across at me.

"Look, Harry," he said. "That thing, it um - I don't know, it attacked you. And then you um, you blacked out."

My eyes widened. "No." He nodded meekly. "Really?"

"Yep, sorry mate."

"Oh,"'I said with a heavy sigh. "But, who was that woman screaming?"

Hazeline's eyes glazed over with confusion. "There was no woman screaming, Harry."

"Oh," was all I could say again.

We sat in silence for the rest of the train ride, Hermione and Ron exchanging worried glances and then looking back at me, like they were having a silent conversation with their eyes. It was quite annoying really.

When we finally arrived at school, I was so relieved to just get off the train. I don't think it would ever give me the same happy feeling again. As soon as we all stepped off the train, we were pulled aside by McGonnagal, who looked very flustered and angry.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, tugging us away from the crowd of innocent first years. "Mr Potter! Im just coming to check up on how you are! Those hideous creatures weren't supposed to come near the train." She swished her scarf over her shoulder dismissively. "All the ministers fault I say! Anyway, I hope you're fine. Miss Granger, a word, please?"

She pulled Hermione away, talking to her in a hushed voice as the bushy-haired girl nodded. Hazeline was staring at the castle, and the lights were reflecting in her eyes, making them look even prettier than usual. Man, I had issues. Like, seriously, I don't think I'd ever find anyone I liked more than Hazeline Lestrange.

We stalked into the castle after going across the lake on row boats, Hazeline sighing every couple of minutes contently. I felt the same way. Hogwarts just made me feel very at home and safe. Sitting down next to Hazel and Ron, I waited for Dumbledore to finish his speech on Dementors, and how they would be guarding the entrances to Hogwarts as a precaution of the mass-murderer, Sirius Black. The man Ron's dad warned me about.

"Now, we have a change of staff," Dumbledore announced, slightly more upbeat now. "Taking the post of Defence Against The Dark Arts, professor R.J Lupin."

Hermione suddenly appeared at my side, whispering, "he was the man on the train, Harry."

The shabby professor nodded stiffly, and I noticed as he stood a light scar across his cheek, illuminated by the candles above and beside him. There was something standee about professor R.J Lupin, but I didn't have time to think about anything else that might happen to me right now.

Not when there was a mass murderer on the loose. Hunting me.

~

The sea has many voices,
Many gods and many voices

~T.S Elliot.

A/N: BOOK THREE GUYS! ~Annabel. Xxx