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IT WASN'T LONG UNTIL the train finally reached Hogsmeade Station. Robyn and the others gathered their luggage and, as they were still shaken from the earlier incident, slowly made their way off the train and out into the cold, rainy, nighttime air.

To no surprise, many of the other students on the platform looked visibly disturbed. The herd of first-years that had begun to gather around the large, burly, hairy caretaker, Hagrid, were all wide-eyed and terrified, some of them physically shaking from fear. Robyn sighed, looking upon the young eleven-year-olds in pity. What a terrible first impression of Hogwarts, especially for all the Muggleborn students who had no other idea of the Wizarding World before this. They should know Dementors aren't a usual occurrence, and Robyn silently hoped Hagrid or McGonagall would calm their nerves and assure the young ones that they're safe at Hogwarts.

There was a loud thud, and Robyn spun around to see Lisa rubbing her hands, wincing, her several trunks dropped on the wet platform. "Damnit!" She squeaked. "These are too heavy."

"Maybe you should stop over-packing, hon," a motherly voice said, amused. As she had promised, Rose had found them on the platform, her trunk, Quidditch bag and cat cage all held in her hands. Without waiting a beat, Rose grabbed two of Lisa's trunks, somehow able to carry all of her things and half of Lisa's in her strong, Quidditch-trained arms.

After Lisa had taken a moment to gather her other things, the group of them made their way to the carriages to take them to Hogwarts, pulled along by invisible enchantments, as always. They separated into two groups, Rose, Lisa, and Flynn taking one carriage and Robyn, the twins, and Lee in another. The rain poured down more heavily than it had earlier, surrounding them all in a similar feeling of gloom. Luckily, the carriages were covered to protect them from the rain on their ride to the castle.

"So, Fred, George, have you planned anything for this year yet? Anything unforgettable? We have to make up for last year, remember," Lee asked, brushing his sopping dreadlocks back over his shoulders.

Last year was a dull year for pranks. What with Harry Potter and his shenanigans with the Chamber of Secrets, the staff of Hogwarts had restricted the students' curfews and abilities to wander the school, making prank-pulling increasingly difficult throughout the year. Even though Sirius Black was on the loose and no doubt after Harry, the twins had assured their group of friends that there would not be a repeat of last year. Pranks would ensue no matter what, for laughter and fun are what hold people through the worst of times. That's what the twins saw as important. Fear has nothing against laughter.

"Absolutely," George said, grinning while shaking his head to rid his red hair of water. "You better keep your eyes open-"

"You never know what to expect," Fred finished, flashing a smile that stretched from ear to ear. The twins' eyes glistened with a sort of mischief that spoke of an unknown secret they shared, the kind of sparkle that always appeared when the twins were on the same train of thought, completely in sync and in tune, one and the same. 

As the carriage approached a pair of tall, looming wrought iron gates, the familiar cold feeling Robyn experienced on the train suddenly began to seep back in, and she looked out the window of the carriage to see two shadowy, cloaked figures, both of which looking quite similar to the creature from the train, hovering on either side of the gates, their ominous presence stirring a nauseating feeling in Robyn's stomach.

Soon enough, however, the carriage had arrived at the castle, slowing to a bumpy stop, the carriage doors opening to allow its passengers off, welcoming them once again back to Hogwarts.

Back to studying with witches and wizards, caring for magical beasts, learning about goblins and encountering ghosts, and of course, Lisa and Lee's favourite part, partaking in the magical feasts. It was all there waiting for them back at Hogwarts.

Robyn stepped from the carriage and was immediately greeted with the familiar chatter of Hogwarts students headed into the castle. Once Fred, George, and Lee had stepped from the carriage and they'd found Flynn, Lisa, and Rose, the seven of them followed the large swarm of students into the castle and through the magnificent torched entrance hall to the Great Hall.

Robyn had barely stepped foot through the massive oak doors to the Great Hall when she heard a loud voice call from among the crowd.

"Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"

It was Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration professor and Head of Gryffindor House, with her hair in a tightly pulled bun and her face dawning an expression that always gave students a feeling of guilt and that they'd done something wrong. Her yells had attracted the attention of many of the surrounding students, including Robyn, and she watched with curious eyes as Professor McGonagall stepped out of the crowd, followed by a frizzy-haired Hermione Granger and a messily-put-together Harry Potter, both wearing looks of confusion and slight discomfort.

Rose leaned down next to Robyn to mutter in her ear, "Longbottom's been going around telling everyone how Harry fainted on the train. I guess one of the teachers overheard and McGonagall found out somehow." With that, Rose shrugged softly, giving Robyn a pitying look, before waving good-bye as she headed over to the Hufflepuff table.

Robyn followed Lisa, Flynn, and the twins over to the Gryffindor table, where they sat surrounded by the scarlet and gold of their fellow House members. Ron Weasley was already seated at the table, and he looked at his brothers, a puzzled look on his face, a look that he frequently wore.

"What do you think McGonagall wanted with Harry and Hermione?" He asked.

Lisa shrugged. "Probably just to check up on them, make sure Harry's okay?"

Ron bit his lip, then opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a commanding yet kind voice beginning to speak, and suddenly the entire Hall when silent.

It was Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, making his usual start of the year speech. He stood at the front of the Hall, donning a long, silvery robe and dark hat, his glistening, wise blue eyes hidden behind his trademark pair of half-moon spectacles.

"Welcome back, students, to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he began. "I hope you all had a wonderful summer, and you are ready and eager to learn.

"Now, before the Sorting, there are a few very important things that I must tell you all. First, I'm pleased to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor R.J. Lupin." At that, Dumbledore waved over to a disheveled-looking man who had stood up. Professor Lupin, as he was called, had messy, brown hair streaked with grey and a tired face marred by multiple scars. His thin frame was wrapped with several layers of rugged robes and a thick, brown, torn-up scarf hung loosely around his neck. At the applause from the crowd of students and staff, he bowed humbly and proceeded to sit down awkwardly.

Flynn looked over at Robyn quizzically, then looked back at Lupin. She did this a few times, before Robyn sighed, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"What is it?" She asked in a tired tone.

"Nothing. I mean...you and Professor Lupin look similar. Really similar," Flynn replied plainly.

Robyn looked back up at the professor to discover he was staring right her, a puzzled expression across his pale face. She broke eye contact quickly, shaking her head as a strange feeling enveloped her. She looked back over at Flynn, who was looking at her rather frankly.

"N-No," Robyn said uncomfortably. "No we don't." The truth was, she could see some similarities between her and the new professor. They shared the same slightly bulbous nose and round jaw, though Robyn quickly waved it off as a coincidence, for there were several things quite different between the two of them as well. Lupin was rather tall while she was rather short, and Lupin was very lanky while Robyn had quite a bit of meat on her bones. Lupin's eyes were green, while Robyn's were a bright blue, and his hair was a light auburn, while Robyn's was dark brown. No, of course, their similarities were mere coincidences, she told herself. Nothing more.

"...The Care of Magical Creatures post will now be filled with none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid," Dumbledore continued from his podium.

As the Gryffindor table erupted into applause, Flynn shook her head softly and Lisa, who had only been paying attention to Dumbledore up until that point, turned to the rest of them with an excited smile on her face.

"Guys, Hagrid's going to be teaching us!" She exclaimed, a wide smile stretching from ear to ear. "You know how great he is with magical creatures!"

"Yeah, but how good is he with students?" Robyn shot back. "He'll probably get some kid sent to the Hospital Wing on his first day." Fred and George snickered from beside her in agreement.

Lisa's mouth dropped open, offended by the brash response. "Have a little faith!" She scoffed, clearly hurt. Before Robyn could reply, Lisa spun back around to face Dumbledore, who was calming down the cheering from the applauding students.

"Finally, on a more...disquieting note," Dumbledore said, and the room fell entirely silent. The room that was just filled with chatter and excitement had suddenly been replaced with an eerie sense of seriousness, one that had only been felt a few times during Robyn's years at Hogwarts.

"At the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the Dementors of Azkaban, until such a time as Sirius Black is captured."

Upon hearing her father's name, Robyn noticed out of the corner of her eye Flynn's hands, which were resting upon the table, clench into fists, her face distorting into one of anger. The students around her began whispering avidly about dementors and Sirius Black, and every time Robyn noticed a student glancing in Flynn's direction, she saw her friend's fists getting tighter and tighter as she glared down at the table.

"Now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disturb our day to day activities, a word of caution," Dumbledore continued, peering sternly down at the crowd of students through his half-moon spectacles, drawing the room back into silence once again.

"Dementors are vicious creatures. They'll not distinguish between the one they hunt" - Robyn noticed Flynn flinch at the word hunt - "and the one who gets in their way.

"Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving."

Lisa glanced back over at Robyn, her face sullen and distant. "That must have been what we saw on the train. A dementor." Her hazel eyes were darker than normal and while she was staring towards Robyn, she seemed to be looking at something far away, recalling the memory from the train earlier that evening.

"But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times," Dumbledore said from the podium, swinging his hand over a candle, blowing out the flame, "if one only remembers to turn on the light." He swung his hand back over the candle, and the flame magically reignited.

With that swing of his hand, the tables were also suddenly filled with enormous mounds of food. Potatoes, roast, beans, and pie littered the table, and the smell of the wonderfully cooked meal filled the air.

Just as Robyn was about to grab an especially large-looking slab of roast, she heard a familiar voice from beside her, and she dropped the piece onto her plate, spinning her head to see who it was.

"Harry! When did you sneak in here?" Lisa said, voicing Robyn's thoughts. There, on either side of Ron, sat Harry and Hermione, neither of which Robyn had noticed come in.

"Just before Dumbledore's speech," Hermione quickly answered for him, as the Boy Who Lived's mouth was, at the time, stuffed full of pumpkin tart. He nodded silently, smiling as best he could at his cousin with his cheeks full.

"How are you doing from the train? I heard you-" Lisa began, but was cut off by a rather loud, obnoxious voice yelling from across the Great Hall.

"Hey, Potter? Is it true you fainted?" Draco Malfoy's blond hair popped up from the sea of Slytherins as he yelled across both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables to Harry, who shrunk down in his seat at the sound of Malfoy's voice. "I mean, you actually fainted?"

A girl with dark black, cropped hair, Pansy Parkinson, another Slytherin in Harry's year, stood up beside Malfoy and cupped her hands around her mouth before calling, "Potter! The dementors are coming, Potter! Woooooo!"

Harry's face contorted into one of fury and embarrassment, and he tried to stand up to retaliate, but Ron pulled him back down into his seat.

"Hey, Harry, just ignore them," Robyn said bluntly, "they're being complete assholes."

"True," George piped up, "the little git. He wasn't so cocky earlier when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"

"Nearly wet himself," said Fred, glaring over at Malfoy, who was continuing to pretend he was fainting with terror over at the Slytherin table, his friends laughing hysterically around him.

"The kid was a blubbering, childish mess," Robyn added in attempts to help comfort Harry. "Flynn had to shove him out of the compartment."

Robyn smiled over at Harry, who returned with a grateful smile. Robyn knew Malfoy was nothing but a nuisance, but he really seemed to get under Harry's skin. Then again, the boy had a lot of pressure on him, being the Boy Who Lived and all, and she could imagine that any harassment would sting more than usual.

"Don't worry about it, Harry," Lisa said, smiling kindly. "There are more important things to worry about right now." She leaned over and ruffled Harry's messy, black hair, and he let out a laugh, ducking out of the way of his older cousin's hand.

It was that that Robyn saw eased Harry's tension the most. Robyn knew Harry deeply loved Lisa; she was the only family he had left, and she was merely a cousin. Even so, she knew the two were very close, and she knew Lisa felt so guilty for not having been a part of Harry's life until he'd arrived at Hogwarts two years ago.

And with that, she finally dug into the roast that had been waiting for her on her plate.

◇◇◇

"WHY, WHY DO WE HAVE POTIONS FIRST?" Robyn heard Lisa whine behind her as they climbed down the spiral staircase to the dungeons where Professor Snape awaited them for their first Potions class of the year.

"To spite you, Lisa, and nothing else. It definitely wasn't by chance," Robyn said, her voice laced with sarcasm. Flynn snickered from in front of her as they continued down the stairs.

"And with the Slytherins, no less! I don't think I can bear to hear McLaughlin's stupid voice anymore, and yet I have to deal with him every single morning now!" Lisa continued, groaning in frustration and defeat.

Rheinallt McLaughlin was an incredibly rude Slytherin in their year who was exceptionally talented in Potions. He frequently harassed Lisa during Potions classes in previous years, and Robyn remembered how much Lisa had begged over the summer for them to not land Potions with the Slytherins this year. She supposed Lisa's luck just didn't run that far.

"I'm telling you, Lise, you need to leave McLaughlin be, he's not going to leave you alone if you keep letting him get to you," Flynn said sharply, rolling her eyes and looking up at them as she continued to bound down the stairs.

"But he's just, he's just so mean!" Lisa replied. "Can you help me in Potions, Robyn?" She turned to face Robyn, a pitiful look on her face, her lip sprouted in a soft pout. "You're naturally gifted in this, and I'm just...bad."

Robyn shrugged. "I'll help however I can, of course." She adjusted the strap on her book bag and loosened her scarlet and gold tie around her neck, smoothing out her white blouse.

George, who was in the back of the group with Fred and Lee, rushed forward and rested his head on Lisa's shoulder. "What about me? I'm plenty good at Potions, I can help you."

"No you're not, and you're definitely not as good as Robyn," Lisa shot back, turning her head to look at George's face, who was feigning a look of deep hurt and betrayal. She gave her boyfriend a large grin, and he couldn't help laughing back at her, his freckled nose scrunching up as he laughed.

Fred does that, too, Robyn thought to herself.

The six of them rounded the hall at the bottom of the stairs and hurried along the dungeon corridor to the Potions classroom, where many students in green or red were scattered in seats around the room.

Robyn's group gathered around a station, where Robyn sat next to Lisa, Fred and George sat next to each other, and Lee and Flynn sat together.

Robyn pulled her textbook from her book bag, setting it down next to her cauldron, and she set her wand on top of it before taking a deep breath, waiting as the other students made their way into the classroom.

Lisa wasn't wrong about Robyn's abilities in Potions. She was very talented in potion-making; it was surely her best subject. At the same time, this was her fifth year, it was O.W.L. year, and that meant much harder assignments, and while she was capable of excelling in the class during her first four years, she wasn't sure if that would stay true through this year.

"Settle down," a cold, sneering voice called out. It was Professor Snape, who came storming in, slamming the door shut behind him. His demand was ultimately unnecessary, as the class had immediately gone silent upon seeing the Potions Master entering the classroom. Lisa shivered slightly at the sight of the greasy-haired, cruel-looking professor, and Robyn glanced over at her reassuringly.

"Before we begin," Snape snarled, "I think it is appropriate to remind you that next June you will be taking an important examination, one that will evaluate your knowledge of the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class may be, I expect you to at least scrape an 'acceptable' in your O.W.L., or suffer my...displeasure."

As he said that, he turned his to stare down his crooked nose at Lisa, who gulped nervously, her hands fidgeting under the table.

"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," Snape continued, crossing his arms slowly. "I only accept the very best into my N.E.W.T.-level Potions class, which means that certainly some of us will be saying good-bye."

His gaze returned to Lisa once more, his lip curling up into a sneer. Robyn sighed, glaring up at the professor. He had no reason to single out Lisa; there were plenty of other students who were far less than exceptional at Potions.

"Even so, we have another year before that fond day of farewell, so even if you are not intending on attempting N.E.W.T. or not, I expect all of you to concentrate your efforts on maintaining the high-pass rate I have come to expect from O.W.L. students.

"Today, we will be creating a potion that often appears at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace. This potion is intended to ease anxiety and soothe agitation, but be warned: if you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients, you will most certainly put the drinker into a deep and possibly irreversible sleep, so you must pay attention to what you are doing. Here are the instructions, and your required ingredients are back in that cupboard."

He flicked his wand, and the instructions appeared on the blackboard, and with another flick of his wand, the cupboard in the back of the classroom flung open.

"You have an hour and a half. Begin."

The potion Snape had assigned proved to be a challenging one, but Robyn kept her calm and followed the instructions carefully. She added the powdered moonstone, stirred, added the syrup of hellebore, stirred again, allowed it to simmer, and continued to add ingredients and stir her potion until all she had remaining was seven drops of syrup of hellebore to add.

"A light silver vapor should now be rising from your potion," Snape announced with ten minutes left in the class.

Slowly counting, she placed one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven drops into her potion, and as it simmered, it turned to a turquoise-blue color, a silver vapor rising from the surface. She sighed in relief. She'd done it right.

Lisa's potion, with Robyn's help, had managed to get to emit a dark grey vapor. It wasn't the silvery color it was supposed to, but it was far better than Lee's red, bubbling concoction or Flynn's bright blue smoke erupting from her cauldron.

Snape swept around the table, peering into each cauldron. As he passed Robyn's, he looked down his hooked nose at it without a single comment, which was as good enough as approval from him to Robyn.

The others at her table, however, weren't as lucky, his cruel sneer berating Flynn, Lee, Fred, and George for forgetting an ingredient or not stirring enough or stirring far too much.

Then he arrived at Lisa's cauldron.

"Miss Potter, what are we brewing today?" He snapped, gathering the attention of the entire classroom.

"D-Draught of Peace, sir," she replied quietly.

"And what is the final instruction in creating the Draught of Peace?"

Robyn watched as Lisa's terrified glanced up at the blackboard, her hands shaking rather fiercely. "Add exactly s-seven drops of helle-hellebore," she stammered.

"Seven drops, Miss Potter. From the appearance of your cauldron, you put in twelve. Now, had Miss Abrams not assisted you in your potion, it would appear much worse, and I advise Miss Abrams to keep her hands to herself during class, or there will be serious repercussions for tampering with another student's potion. Five points from Gryffindor, for each extra drop Miss Potter added."

Robyn glared down at her hands, biting back a scathing remark, as Snape returned to the front of the room. "Fill a flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name," he glanced warily at Fred and George, "and bring it up to my desk for testing. Your homework for tonight is twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Wednesday."

Flynn ran over to grab flagons for the group of them, and while she was doing so, Robyn turned over to Lisa.

"I am so, so sorry for getting you into trouble with Snape," she said, trying to comfort her friend who was still shaking with fear from Snape's rude confrontation.

"It's okay. Thank you for helping me, Robyn," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

The six of them filled their flagons and hurried up to place them on Professor Snape's desk. They then quickly rushed out of the classroom before Snape had a chance to harass any of them any longer, hurrying back up and out of the dark, gloomy dungeons.