"Oh," said Harry. "and I was hoping for a quiet year!"

Him being so calm and understanding made me cry more. Through hiccuppy tears I managed to explain to my friends about Dad saying 'He's at Hogwarts' in his sleep, and how even my mother was suspicious that he was after Harry.

"Why would he be after Harry?" Ron asked, handing me the new ice-cream he'd bought me.

I shrugged. "Sasha said he always asked about Harry... I think something's snapped in him, he's obsessed with getting Harry whatever the cost. I think—I think whether he killed those people or not... He's gone mad."

Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged a look and I realised—that maybe, just maybe, I was on the right track. Maybe Sasha was right... sometimes it was a bad thing to be trusting.

After Harry assured me that he didn't hold a grudge against me because of my crazy father, Hermione suggested we go to the pet shop. She claimed it was because she wanted a new owl out of her birthday money—but I suspected she also wanted to cheer me up.

"I'm glad we're here," Ron said as we approached the pet store. He pulled a skinny rat out of his pocket. "Scabbers has been looking off colour... I want to see if there's some medicine for him here."

Scabbers the rat had gotten very thin during our trip to Egypt, and I feared that he would probably die soon. For as much as Ron joked about Scabbers being useless, he did love him immensely.

In the pet shop, the witch behind the counter tried to palm off a shiny new rat for Ron, which he refused.

"I'll take the rat tonic instead," he said, digging around in his pocket for spare change. "How much—OW!"

A large ginger shape leapt from a cage on a high table, using Ron's head as a springboard before leaping with claws out at Scabbers, whom the witch was holding.

"NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" cried the witch, but Scabbers shot from between her hands like small rocket, sprinting out of the door.

"Scabbers!" Ron cried. He tore out of the shop, Ron following.

I stayed with Hermione as the witch wrestled Crookshanks off the desk and onto the floor. It was an odd cat, with a squished-in face, as if he'd taken the wrong wall at King's Cross. But as he plopped on the floor, he stared up at us with huge amber eyes.

"He's kind of cute," I said.

As if he heard me, Crookshanks wound himself around my legs purring. He let out a little squeak as he saw Hermione, winding himself tightly around her calves purring as loud as a car engine.

"Ooh!" Hermione exclaimed, and gently picked him up. Crookshanks melted into her, his flattened face almost smiling. "How much is he?"

The witch looked stunned. "He doesn't usually let people pick him up! He must really like you!"

"He's lovely," Hermione confessed, tickling Crookshanks behind the ears. "Why hasn't he been sold before?"

"People like pretty pets," the witch shrugged. "We still can't sell black cats very well, people are so superstitious about them being unlucky..."

With Hermione being enamoured with Crookshanks, I got her purse out of her bag and paid the witch for the magnificent cat.

Crookshanks gave us a very steady look as we exited the shop, almost as if he was thanking the both of us for choosing him. Something told me this cat was more intelligent than your regular cat.

**

Harry and Ron hated Crookshanks, as to be expected. But it was true that animals improved moods, as that evening in the Leaky Cauldron I had both Crookshanks and Sooty fighting for my attention.

That evening Fred snuck into my room after everybody retired to bed—we knew we wouldn't be able to cuddle close like this until at least Christmas time—and apologised to Sasha for stealing her badge, which she frostily accepted.

"I was only messing around," Fred pouted as we cuddled close, The Ruby of Destruction balanced between us as we read it together. "She always messes with me!"

"Being Prefect is important to her though," I said, squishing closer to Fred, until my nose grazed his chin. "She thinks because of who our father is, she has more to prove. She wants you to take her seriously."

Fred shut the book and wrapped his arm around me, looking unsettled. "I'm sorry. I think I've been a dick to your sister."

"It's okay, she knows you didn't mean it," I kissed him lightly on the cheek. Turning the light off, we curled up together. In the darkness, I found myself saying: "I hate him."

"Who?" Fred gently stroked my face in the dark, giving calm to the dark bitterness in my stomach.

"My father," I whispered into the darkness. "Sasha's right. He's ruined things. People are going to give us hell in school."

Fred paused for two beats before saying, "We'll take care of it—me and George. Cedric too, I guess since he's Sasha's boyfriend now. We'll fight for you both."

Shutting my eyes, I thought of the soul of Adara curled up in my veins, this power I didn't truly understand; and my father who may-or-may-not be a serial killer wanting to murder my best friend.

"You can't always fight for us." I said. "Some things are too big."

"I'll fight them anyway." Fred replied. "You know I l—care about you, golden girl."

As usual, Fred was the calming balm to my anxiety and anger. That night, I slept perfectly.

**

The next morning was crazy—making sure everything was packed, shutting an annoyed Sooty into his cage, having a hurried breakfast before heading into Ministry cars. I did notice that Mrs Weasley put Harry, Sasha and I together and kept an eagle-eye on us.

Knowing the reason for this, Sasha and I exchanged signifant grim looks—especially when Mr Weasley insisted on escorting us through the barrier.

Mrs Weasley gave us all hugs, kisses and sandwiches for the train. Mr Weasley took Harry off to the side to speak to him, and Sasha whispered that she'd overheard them talking last night—they were going to tell Harry about our father, which obviously I'd told Harry the day before.

"It'll be fine, don't worry." Sasha winked at me. "You've got two Hufflepuff prefects on your side!"

After a last hug from Mrs Weasley, Sasha and I leapt onto the train together with the twins; Ron and Hermione waiting for Harry.

"Ced!" Sasha squealed almost instantly we climbed onto the train. "You're here!"

Looking over George's head (why were they all getting so tall?) I could see Sasha embracing Cedric, wrapped around him like a limpet. Cedric looked slightly embarrassed but very happy.

"Lyra!" Cedric beamed as Sasha separated herself from him. He was already in his robes, his shiny Prefect badge attached. "Good to see you out and about!"

"Yeah," I smiled weakly, knowing he was the first in a long line of people to say that. "Good to see you attached to my sister."

Fred and George snorted. "No!" I exclaimed. "I just meant—"

"It's alright, I am attached to him," Sasha said, giving Cedric a gooey look. "Listen, sis—we need to go to the Prefect carriage and do some rounds, but we'll find you later!"

Cedric gave us an awkward wave and allowed Sasha to pull him in the direction of the Prefects carriage.

"The drizzle and the storm," George shook his head after them. "I've ever met such a mis-matched couple."

"Just because you're afraid of ending up with thirty cats, doesn't mean you should shit on people being happy." Fred rolled his eyes, slipping his hand into mine.

"Thirty cats sound alright," George said, as the three of us looked for a free carriage. "I could make an army!"

The three of us chuckled as we looked for space—the train seemed fuller than usual. We were about half-way down the train when I heard an unfamiliar voice call my name.

Looking around, I realised that it was Cassie, sticking her head out of a compartment. Guiltily, I realised I didn't recognise her voice. A brown freckled face appeared next to her—Kat!

"Come in here!" Cassie beamed at us. "More the merrier and all that!"

The three of us hurried into the compartment as the train started to move. Cassie and Kat were sat close together, their knees touching. And sat opposite them was—

"Elijah!" I exclaimed. He was nose-deep in a book about pyromaniacs—which made sense. He did set his dorm room on fire before. "How are you?"

"Once again, unable to make friends my own age." He said with a wry smile. He'd grown his hair out, and a pair of over-sized glasses sat on his nose. Fred and George sat either side of him, exchanging a look. "Make fun of my glasses and I'll end you soul-less gingers. I'm blind, not a fashion-forward freak."

"Good old Elijah," I smiled, sitting next to Kat who gave my hand a quick squeeze. "So how have you been—apart from getting bad eye-sight?"

He shrugged, looking bored like he usually did. "Alright, it was a boring year. I wish I was a muggle-born just to get petrified out of doing my potions test."

Cassie glared at him, looking as about intimidating as a kitten. "It was a blood-purist basilisk controlled by Voldemort that could have killed people—including our friend. So, don't make jokes about it, arsehole."

Elijah smirked. "You missed your friend growing a voice and a pair of lady balls, as well."

"She's always been a bad-ass," I grinned at Cassie, and she gave me a grateful smile. "People are just realising it now."

The train wound its way out of London and into the English country-side. Fred and George were playing exploding snap with Elijah, who was pretending to be bored but looked thrilled to be included.

I explained quietly to Kat and Cassie exactly what had happened over the summer—visiting Dad, Egypt, my changing views on Dad, and how he was probably out to get Harry...

"He doesn't get much luck, does he?" Kat said, winding a curl around her finger. "You survive one killing curse, and then the whole world revolves around you!"

"I wouldn't say people wanting you dead is interesting," Cassie said. She seemed more scared about my dad than I'd thought she'd be. "It's really scary that he's most likely after Harry."

"Yeah..." I trailed off. The reality of the situation was starting to hit. Apart from the crying, my reaction had been pretty calm. I should probably be scared.

"I think your dad is a legend," Elijah said loudly, staring right at me with his big amber eyes.

Blinking several times, I took myself away from my brooding. "I've never heard that one before."

Elijah quirked his mouth into a smile. "Nobody's ever escaped Azkaban, like ever. If he's the bad guy or not—he must have style to escape Azkaban and not get caught. I mean, even how he got into Azkaban was cool—"

"Hey—" Fred's voice was as cold as ice, and he looked up from his book. "That's enough. Lyra doesn't want to talk about it."

Shooting him a thankful smile, I turned my gaze back to Elijah. "Well if you can work out how he did it, be my guest."

"Maybe I will..." Elijah said thoughtfully. "I like conspiracy theories."

The train moved us further North, passing through forests so dark green they looked black. Elijah didn't mention my father again, which I was grateful for. While Elijah might have more of a curiosity about my father than a disgust, it still made me feel uncomfortable that I was now labelled as 'Azkaban-Escapee's daughter'.

We'd yet to see Harry, Ron and Hermione so we assumed they found a compartment themselves. Cassie was telling me a brilliant shouting match with her brother—this was one thing she enjoyed about talking again, she told me, quicker comebacks—when the sky darkened outside the carriage.

"Must be a nasty storm..." Fred said, pressing his face against the glass. He had gradually moved closer to me in the carriage, until he wrapped himself around me like a friendly plant, listening to Cassie's story with genuine interest. "It's gotten dark so quick..."

It had began raining about an hour ago, but now it was falling like large sheets of ice, bouncing off the compartment windows. Wind was howling like a banshee, and the compartment dropped in temperature.

"Here, take my cardigan," Kat said, draping the fluffy black wool over Cassie's shoulder as she began to shiver in her summer dress. "I don't feel the cold."

The train began to slow down, oozing across the track like a wound. Even George and Elijah looked uneasy, stopping arguing about a Quidditch match from the day before.

"Could we be there yet?" I asked. Leaning over Fred I couldn't see anything outside, only darkness.

"No..." Cassie said, her teeth chattering. "We're still at least an hour away..."

Elijah got to his feet, frowning. "Right—I'm going to talk to the driver. This is stupid... like a fucking train horror movie or something..."

He stuck his head out of the compartment door and seemed to talk to somebody. "Yeah, I've got no idea either—OOF!"

The driver slammed on the train brakes and it skidded to a hault, luggage pouring from the racks like unusual raindrops, Elijah getting hit in the head with his own bulky rucksack. The whole train shook, and Fred pulled me closer to him.

Almost in an instant, the train plunged into total darkness.

"For fucking fuck's sake," Elijah spoke first. "I am not going to be the black guy to die first. I'm not becoming a film trope!"

"Shut up, we're not going to die!" George snapped. "It's just broken down!"

"And what, all the electricity shut off too?" Elijah snapped back. "Help me get back to my seat, man!"

As George and Elijah bickered, I wrapped my hand around Fred's. "This is a bit creepy."

"Yeah, I'm scared too," he whispered in my ear. "Don't tell George."

"I don't like this—I don't like this, I don't like this—" Cassie was sounding hysterical. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

"Hey, hey, Cassie—I'm here!" Kat was trying to sound soothing, but even in the darkness I could sense the panic in her voice. "Don't worry, it's just a bit dark—"

"No Avery, no!" Cassie cried.

"I'm not Avery, it's Katherine—" Kat sounded worried. "Hey—who's there?"

A creaking was coming from the other side of the compartment, and I realised that the door was opening. I got a quick glimpse of a darkened figure before—WHACK!

"OUCH!" an annoying voice revealed to us that it was only Draco Malfoy. "Who punched me in the face?"

"That was me, you fuck-wit!" Elijah cried. "What are you doing sneaking up on us? It's already like a horror movie in here!"

"I—I—I was looking for Cassie," Draco sniffed. I heard him plop onto the seat next to Elijah, who grumbled. "She doesn't like the dark."

"Draco?" Cassie sounded calmer at the sound of her twin's voice.

"Yeah, it's me." Draco sounded gentle for once. "Are you scared? I'm scared."

"Yeah." Cassie sniffed. "I keep thinking about it."

"We're scared together, okay? Malfoy's look out for each other."

All of us sat there silently, the darkness swallowing us up. It could have been seconds, minutes or hours, but the compartment seemed to drop about ten degrees—frost forming on the windows, giving us a sense of light.

Exhaling, I could see my own breath. The whole compartment was covered in frost, and I could just about make out my friends faces. A deep feeling of hopelessness lodged itself in my stomach like a boulder and all I could think about was how the darkness was going to never let us go...

Everything felt numb, and just as I realised I recognised this feeling the compartment opened for the second time.

Illuminated in the frost I could see a cloaked figure. A skeletal hand crept out from underneath, coated in barnacles and rot. Sea salt wafted around the room, and the dread filled the room in a pitch.

I found myself standing, grabbing my wand out. I needed to protect my friends from this thing—Draco was whimpering, and Elijah was swearing, and Fred was telling me to sit down, but then—

Whatver was beneath the hood revealed itself to me for a second, a massive black-hole for a mouth, and took a deep rattling breath like a skeleton climbing from its own grave. Its mouth was getting closer to me, and I was paralysed.

It was pulling and tugging at my very core, ice filling my veins and burning the phoenix blood, freezing my heart. I was submerged in ice, and I felt my knees hit the ground.

Answer for your crimes Black, a voice echoed in my head, as cold as anything.

My head hit the ground.

**

"Lyra? Lyra? Can you hear me?" my eyes peeled open and suddenly everything was light again. The train was chugging along, and the laterns were lit. Remus Lupin was sat above me, looking concerned.

"Remus?" my voice sounded weak, and he looked relieved as he helped me to my feet. "What happened?"

Remus and Fred—who had worry written over his face—helped me into one of the compartment chairs. Remus sat next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"A dementor tried to attack you." Remus said gently. "It attacked Harry—I stopped it, then realised it would probably come for you and your sister next. I managed to expel it for good this time—it was already weakened."

I felt as though somebody had hollowed me out like a watermelon. "It—It said I would pay for my crimes."

"It was searching the train for your father." Remus sounded angry. "Thankfully the driver managed to get them all off after I stopped that one getting you."

"Is Harry okay? My sister?" suddenly I felt more alert, though I still felt half-submerged.

"They never went to your sister, thankfully." Remus squeezed my shoulder. "I just checked on Harry, he's perfectly fine. Those dementors will be hearing from Dumbledore—and your mother I imagine she'll be furious."

I smiled weakly. "Thank you, Remus."

"No problem at all," he said, getting to his feet. He got a large bar of chocolate out of his coat pocket. "Share this around—it'll help you all get over the effects." I stared at the chocolate. "Eat it, Lyra. It'll help."

He exited the compartment with a faint smile, and I allowed my exhausted eyes to look at everybody now that I was coming to a bit better.

Fred had wrapped his arm around me without me realising. "I can't believe you—you tried to fight a dementor, you absolute nutter!"

"I just did it, I don't know..." I muttered, breaking a line of chocolate off, and passing it to Fred. Taking a bite, I instantly felt better. "Did any of you... faint?"

"No," George answered. "I think Malfoy might have wet himself a bit though."

Draco scowled at him. He was sat next to Cassie, who looked faintly green. Kat had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, swaddling her in her cardigan. She was still shivering.

"I've read about dementors, but I didn't realise that they were that... freaky." Elijah's voice sounded very far away, all bravado gone. "If I never see one of those again, it'll be too soon."

Everybody nodded in agreement, and I found myself wondering how Harry was. Nobody said very much for the rest of the journey, still spooked by our un-welcome visitor. Draco stayed faithfully next to Cassie, which both surprised me and didn't.

As much as Draco and Cassie argued, they still loved each other with all they had.

It was a relief as the train pulled into Hogsmeade station. Fred wanted to stay glued to my side, though I convinced him I was okay and told him to go with his friends.

He gave me one quick kiss. "Find me in the morning," he said.

"I will," I said weakly. While the chocolate helped, I still felt drained.

Cassie still looked quite green, and mumbled to us that she'd see us in the morning. Draco led her off the train, with his arm wrapped protectively around her. Who knew he had a heart?

Rain was pouring down in sheets as we hopped off the train, and Elijah, Kat and I hurried towards a carriage that was pulled by an invisible horse.

Moments later, we were joined by Harry, Ron and Hermione who had spotted us in the gloom. Harry looked just as bad, if not worse, than me.

"Heard you met a dementor as well?" I said weakly, as the carriage door shut behind him.

"Yeah..." Harry shuddered. "Just as well your godfather was there, otherwise who knows..."

"Remus is great," I agreed. "Did I tell you he's going to be Defence teacher?"

"Great!" Hermione exclaimed. "Finally, one who knows what he's doing!"

The train trundled up towards the magnificent iron gates, I caught sight of two more dementors guarding the gates. When Mum said there was security at Hogwarts this year, she really wasn't kidding.

Ice dripped down my back once more, reaching the very tip of my toes. All of me felt weak. Out of curiosity, I pressed my finger against a lose nail. Blood drew, and I watched as nothing happened, and I was just left with a throbbing figure. Typical—dementors weakened my powers.

As the carriage pulled outside the castle doors, I looked back down and saw that my finger was slowly healing. Clearly the dementors didn't have an impact inside the castle grounds.

We trailed into the hall, Kat and I promising to meet the others in the morning. Elijah separated off from us towards the Ravenclaw table, sitting next to a small second-year with large Radish earrings. He really didn't have any friends his own age, I thought sadly.

Stares and whispers followed me through the hall as we delved deeper inside, which wasn't surprising.

"I wonder if she's a killer like her Dad?" I heard a Slytherin whisper not-so-subtly as we passed the Slytherin table.

"Piss off," Kat hissed at her. "I'll kill you if you don't watch out!"

Keeping an eye out for Cassie as we hurried along, I spotted her sat with her brother and Daphne Greengrass. She still had Kat's carigan around her, and looked a bit spaced out. I was quite worried about her.

Thanking Kat for sticking up for me, we quickly sank into seat opposite Sasha and Cedric. Sasha practically flew across the table to hug me.

"Lyra, oh my God—Remus told me, I can't believe they—"

"Kind of killing me here, Sash," I escaped her grasp, looking at her concerned grey eyes. "But I'm okay. Honestly. Don't worry about me."

"She always worries about you," Cedric smiled across the table. "But I have a feeling she's going to kick up her worrying this year..."

Sasha rolled her eyes at him. "Alright, I'll worry about my sister, you worry about me."

Cedric gave her a soppy look. "I always worry about you, Sasha Black—you're a little nightmare, but I love you."

Sasha looked as if stars were in her eyes. "I love you too, Ced."

They kissed tenderly, and Kat pulled a face. "Gross." She sunk her head onto the table. "Why is everybody coupling off?"

I shrugged, wondering if Kat was possibly projecting her annoyance. "You can't complain about them two, they're meant to be. Yin and yang, and all that stuff."

Sasha heard me, and winked, intertwining her hand with Cedric's. While this day had been crazy, it was great to see some sort of normality.

The sorting passed very quickly, but I spent most of my time staring at the staff table. Mum was sat next to Remus, wearing her very best Midnight blue robes. She looked very nervous, and kept fluffing at her hair, something she did when she was nervous.

But soon enough, Dumbledore stood up to speak. Seeing his twinkling blue eyes made me feel safe, made me forget about the dementors outside.

"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering, turning his features golden. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..."

Kat nudged me in the ribs, "Here we are, warning about those horrible dementors..."

Kat was, as usual, correct. "—The dementors are stationed at every entrance. Therefore, nobody must leave the school without permission. They shall not be fooled by disguises or invisibility cloaks," I noticed Dumbledore's gaze reached the Gryffindor table. "It is not in the nature of dementor to be forgiving. I want you all to remember that."

A shiver went up my spine. What could have happened if Remus hadn't stepped in? Would I have ended up without a soul?

"On a happier note," Dumbledore made an effort to brighten his voice. "We have three new appointments in teaching. Firstly, Professor Lupin will be taking over the Defence Against the Dark Arts post—"

There was a smattering applause from those who had met him, as Remus didn't look like the typical teacher with his patched robes and scarred face.

"And we have Professor Rees, taking up the History of Magic role, after Professor Binn's ghostly retirement..."

I blinked for a moment, confused, and Sasha looked equally so as Mum got to her feet to smile at the students. I realised that Mum was using her maiden name, to avoid people realising that she was the wife of Sirius Black.

Suddenly, I felt angry. How come Mum could pretend she wasn't involved, but Sasha and I had to go around with our father's name on us like lightbulbs?

I was so angry I didn't realise why everybody was suddenly clapping and cheering. "What?" I mumbled, coming back to reality. "What's happened?"

"Hagrid's the Professor for Magical Creatures!" Kat was beaming, clapping hard. "Who else would assign a book that bites you?"

My anger evaporating away, I clapped with everybody else. Hagrid deserved this—having being framed by Voldemort in his third year, he'd been expelled from Hogwarts.

Trying to forget about my parents and dementors, I instead focused on the magnificent feast. It was even more delicious than normal, my appetite coming back. Feeling content and happy from food, I didn't even mind all my classmates asking how I was.

Soon enough it was time for bed, and we followed Cedric and Sasha down to the common room as they showed the first years how to use the barrels.

Kat and I decided against hanging around in the common room and went straight for our bedroom after saying goodnight to Sasha. The fire was roaring, Sooty was sleeping on my trunk—and one kind house elf had placed my violin on its stand.

Flopping onto my bed, I sunk into the soft duvet as Kat began unpacking, humming a violin piece to herself. After this absolutely mental day---I was finally where I belonged. 

-----

A/N Sorry for the long chapter, but it was neccessary! I wrote this for almost three hours straight because I was enjoying it so much!

Any thoughts about the chapter/characters? :)

Thank you all for the reads/votes and comments everyone! I really appreciate it--we're almost at 2k! YAY!