"Good luck this term, Harry," Mr. Weasley wished Harry as he shook his hand.
"Thanks, Mr. Weasley. For everything," Harry replied sincerely. Mr. Weasley seemed to have a tear in his eye as he said, "You remind me of your father more and more every day." Harry smiled wider.
"Come on, Harry!" Ron called. Harry turned around to see Ron waving wildly.
"Bye," Harry said and they hugged briefly. Then, Harry ran to Ron. Mrs. Weasley was hugging and kissing him when Harry got there.
"Geroff, Mum!" Ron said, trying to pull away. Harry suppressed a laugh. Then, she turned to Harry and pulled him into a smothering hug. Harry hugged her back, then pulled away quickly so he could breathe again.
"Take care of yourself, Harry dear," she said, wiping her eyes.
"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley. You too," Harry replied. She pulled him into another hug and then said, "Take care of Ron."
"Hey!" Ron exclaimed. Harry laughed and told her, "I will." Then, he ushered a grumpy Ron into the train and shut the door behind him. Hermione joined them, and they waved to the Weasleys until they were out of sight. They walked down the train until they found an empty compartment about halfway through, and sat down, Ron and Harry across from Hermione.
"Our fifth year. Wonder what strange things will happen this time," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Let's see. First year: Sorcerer's Stone, Harry almost gets killed. Second year, basilisk, Ginny and Harry almost get killed. Third year, Lupin, Harry almost gets killed. Fourth year, Triwizard Tournament, You-Know-Who, Harry almost gets killed. Call me crazy, but this year, I think Harry's almost gonna get killed," Ron listed. They laughed.
"Maybe this year, the octopus will emerge from the lake and try to attack!" Harry said, and they burst into laughter once more.
"Or maybe Blast-Ended Skrewts will try to catch and eat us!" Hermione exclaimed, and they all laughed again. Through the first half of the trip before lunch, they kept coming up with ideas, one more ridiculous than the previous, and bursting into fits of laughter after each one. Finally, the lady with the lunch cart arrived.
"Anything off the trolley?" she asked. They bought some Chocolate Frogs, Every Flavor Beans, and Sugar Quills, and sat eating them, continuing to come up with more ideas.
"HOW on earth you can have a Mudblood for a friend is BEYOND me," drawled a familiar icy voice. The trio turned to see their nemesis, Draco Malfoy, and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle standing dutifully behind him, standing at the door.
"HOW on Earth you can have THOSE two as your friends is beyond ME," Harry replied coolly. At this, the two thugs growled menacingly.
"No need to get hostile, Potter. Just pointing out the obvious," Malfoy replied, sneering at Hermione.
"What, Malfoy? Jealous that I'm prettier than you?" Hermione asked sharply. Malfoy blushed mildly, but remained calm.
"No way, Mudblood. You're jealous because I'm prettier than you OR Weasley here any day. And wealthier, but that's a given. Always has been, always will be," Malfoy motioned with his head to Ron, who turned redder than blood and invisible steam poured out of his ears.
"Ron…" Hermione said in a warning tone.
"No, Hermione. Not this time," Ron said through gritted teeth. He slowly sat back, taking deep breaths. Malfoy smirked. Then, without warning, Ron lunged for him, catching him off-guard and knocking him to the ground. Ron punched him in the nose, but Crabbe jumped on top of Ron while Goyle helped Malfoy squirm out from underneath. Crabbe punched Ron in the stomach, followed by one on his nose.
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. She walked over to Crabbe, pulled out her wand, and said, "Impedimenta!" Suddenly, Crabbe stopped in the middle of rearing his hands back to throw another punch. He seemed to be moving extremely slowly, but they could still see him moving.
"Good job Hermione!" Harry complimented. Hermione smiled at Harry.
"Guys! Hello? Me!" Ron interrupted through his bloody nose, snapping Harry back to reality. He had been immersed in Hermione's deep chocolate brown eyes. He walked over to Ron and pulled him out from under Crabbe, who was still frozen. Malfoy and Goyle had fled.
"Figures," muttered Ron as he slid out and straightened his shirt. He started to take a step forward, but swayed. Hermione held onto him and guided him to his seat.
"I'll take Crabbe out," Harry offered. "Mobilicorpus!" he said, and Crabbe's slow-moving body floated and followed Harry's wand out of the compartment.
"Ron, are you OK?" Hermione asked, kneeling in front of him and conjuring a handkerchief and an ice pack. He only nodded. When she placed the ice pack to his bloody nose, he winced. She reached up and put her hand on his cheek to keep him still. They suddenly locked eyes, and Hermione couldn't move. She wanted to, but she couldn't. Ron just dumbly stared back, not knowing or able to say anything. Suddenly, the train gave a jolt as if the Earth had given a tremor, shaking them out of their daze. Harry ran into the room, breathless, making Hermione quickly remove her hand from Ron's cheek.
"Did you feel that?" he asked, his eyes wide. They both nodded and stood up, Ron holding the pack to his nose still.
There was a flash of green. The train went dark. Hermione screamed and felt a strong hand go around her waist, steadying her. A tall hooded figure appeared in the doorway, its face shrouded by the black hood over its head. Its raspy breathing was rattling enough to send chills down anyone's spine. It reached a handless arm toward the compartment door. They heard a person, who was unmistakably Harry, screaming.
The pain had hit him all at once. It felt like a thousand knives being prodded at it at the same time. It felt like a white-hot poker being pushed through his scar into his brain. It felt like hot lava pouring into him and scalding his head. He heard himself scream, and tried to scoot back, away from the thing, but it was too late. The pain blinded him, and everything went blacker than it was before.
Harry winced at the brightness. He wanted the dark again. The smooth dark that didn't hurt his eyes.
"Harry?" he heard a soft voice and a felt hand gently prodding him. He tried to open his eyes more than a crack, but it hurt. He finally turned to the other side (with great difficulty), and slowly opened his eyes all the way. Then, he carefully turned back over and saw a blur of red and brown. *Who else? Ron and Hermione*, he thought. He suddenly noticed that even though she was blurred, Hermione still looked pretty.
"Come on. Give him some room! Let him breathe," he heard a familiar voice say, a voice he knew but couldn't place. Harry slowly sat up and ran both hands over his face briefly. As soon as his fingers touched his still sensitive scar, a quick second of blinding pain shot through him, making him shudder, but it was gone as quickly as it came. He groped around for his glasses, and someone handed it to him. He put them on and he could see again. He could see that the train was moving as smoothly as it had been before the tremor, that everything seemed normal. But deep down, he knew it wasn't. He looked around at the faces and saw Ron, Hermione, an elderly woman, and Remus Lupin.
"Remus?" Harry whispered, smiling. He couldn't remember when he had been happier to see him.
"That's Professor Lupin to you, Harry," Remus replied, smiling back.
"You're teaching again?" Harry asked excitedly, momentarily forgetting about the past events. Lupin nodded happily and engulfed Harry in a hug.
"So glad you're all right, Harry. Oh, and Sirius says hi," he said in his ear, then pulled away. Harry grinned and stood up somewhat shakily. He immediately sat down in a seat. The others followed.
"What happened?" Ron asked, fear displayed on his face.
"That was a Dementor, wasn't it?" Harry asked gravely.
After a while, Remus replied, "Would you like some chocolate, Harry?"