HP : The Chronicles

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"For Merlin's shake, Ron!" Neville exclaimed as Ron failed in his attempts.

"Calm down everyone!" Remus called and used the Lumos spell to light up the compartment. Sirius, Adrian and Harry instantly followed his example and, once everyone could again see, they tried to understand what had exactly happened.

"D'you think we've broken down?"

"Dunno." Adrian answered his friend.

"Maybe I should go and ask the driver what has happened." Hermione said, looking at the two professors for permission.

"I'm not sure you should start running around the train at this moment, Hermione." Sirius commented, looking at the suddenly humidity-covered windows somewhat shaken. He shared a look with an equally confused Remus and cocked an eyebrow. Harry failed to grasp the finer points of their communication system but it seems that the werewolf didn't share his problem.

"Oh, he wouldn't…" He stated disbelieving.

"He's proven he's stupid enough." Sirius countered as Neville tried to look out of the compartment, carefully stepping over Crookshanks to peer at the rest of the train.

"Everything's gone dark out there." He informed them.

"There's something moving out there," Ron said looking out the window. "I think people are coming aboard…"

"What?" Sirius asked, pressing hid face against the glass. Harry saw them too. Tall, far too tall to be human, cloaked figures entered the train. They looked like shadows and the way they moved left the green eyed boy with the impression they were gliding over the ground. The temperature dropped just a little more and Harry felt his chest constrict. Suddenly, an image of bright flames in an underground chamber filled his mind; the screams of a dying man and his brother unconscious on the ground. Harry gulped trying to shove the guilt down; he hadn't thought of Quirrell's death in months. Voldemort sliding over the forest floor towards Adrian, silver blood dripping from his lips while he stood petrified.

"What's going on?" Asked Adrian, his wand drawn out too; his hand was trembling. "Who are these people?" Ginny pale and unmoving on the floor in the Chamber of Secrets.

"They're not people." Sirius spat. He didn't have to elaborate; the chill in the room evolved into frost and the door slammed open once more. The tall figure standing in front of them was one of those that had just boarded the train; with the screams of a man he had killed echoing in his mind, it took Harry a few seconds to realize he was facing one of the guardians of Azkaban. The Dementor slid forward and Harry barely managed to get a glance of a slimy hand before it was pulled away. And then the Dementor drew a long, rattling breath. And the screams tripled. Quirrel was burning and Harry was killing him over and over again; his brother was in danger; Ginny was dying. The basilisk was attacking. The cold seeped deeper. His vision blurred.

"None of us is hiding Peter Pettigrew under our cloaks!" Remus called and Harry faintly registered him pointing his wand at the cloaked figure. Expecto Patronus, he bellowed and a silver form, a wolf or a very large dog, erupted from its tip, chasing the Dementor away. Suddenly the screams were just an echo before they faded completely. Harry shook his head, as if trying to expel the last trace of his thoughts and stole glances at Neville, his brother and Ginny; all three were pale and shaken but decisively alive.

"Dementors, really!" Sirius seethed as he turned towards the startled teenagers behind him. "Are you all okay?"

"Okay wouldn't be the word I'd use to describe how I feel right now." Harry worded through clenched teeth, trying to stand up straight; it was terribly hard, he discovered, when he was trembling still.

"Try bloody awful!" Adrian supplied and Harry shook his head in agreement looking down at his brother, having allowed his normal height steadily show over the summer; he couldn't have described it better if he tried.

"What was that thing?" Hermione exclaimed, eyeing the door scared; the lights had come back on, Harry realised and, before anybody managed to answer, the train started moving again.

"One of the Dementors of Azkaban." Remus explained, startling everyone with cutting a large bar of chocolate into pieces. Does he always carry chocolate with him? The green eyed wizard wondered; it seemed like a good idea.

"They guard the prison." Sirius elaborated as he accepted Remus's offering of chocolate. "What you felt was their ability to suck out everything that's good and happy out of you while bringing your darkest memories up at the same time. It's how they keep prisoners subdued." Harry knew all that already; he had read about Dementors long ago. And that spell Remus had cast? He knew that too. But magic had been the last thing on his mind when the actual creature stepped -slid- inside the compartment. He was just frozen again, just as he had been in the forest almost two years ago, just as he had promised himself he'd never be again.

"But what were they doing here?" Ginny asked, biting down on her piece of chocolate, trying to regain some semblance of calm; Harry's heart -the part that wasn't still clenching and unclenching painfully- went out to her. Merlin knows how she felt after everything that had happened last year. And Neville, he realised, sitting closer to his friend and squeezing his shoulder comfortingly. With his past and his parents' condition -a detail of his life he had tentatively shared with Harry over the summer- the boy was shaking visibly.

Harry took a moment to get a better look of his friend; Neville had gotten taller too and some of the baby fat on his face was gone. He was still shaking but seemed to be faring better than he would have had this happened in the beginning of last year, Harry thought as his friend grinned at him tentatively.

"They're Fudge's idea of security; he wants to get Peter almost as much as we do." Sirius informed them, answering Ginny's question while munching on his chocolate; Harry followed his example, thanking Remus's addiction as warmth returned to his body.

"Is he that dangerous?" Neville spoke softly, looking at his hands.

"Yes." Remus answered laconically. "But what interests the Minister more is his reputation; the story of how Pettigrew escaped has gotten out; nothing tarnishes your reputation more than forgetting to check on the wards of an infamous criminal."

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