"Hi, Drew!" Wilby rolled his suitcase across the platform to her, beaming. Drew blinked at him uncomprehendingly. Had he spoken?

He came to a halt directly in front of her. His jade eyes were staring uncertainly, and confused, he cocked his head at her, "Hello?"

Drew practically jumped ten feet in the air. She recoiled with a fright and spluttered unintelligibly before she managed to articulate her thoughts. "Wh-what happened to your voice!?"

Wilby's eyes widened with comprehension. Embarrassed, cheeks tinting and eyes averting, he replied slowly, so as not to startle her, "Um...it changed?"

She shook him desperately, and he squeaked in surprise. She cried, "What happened to your cutesy baby voice?! Bring it back!"

He laughed, voice wobbly from her movements, "I c-can't do th-that."

Merlin, he actually sounded older than her.

She flung him back, still eyeing him with a newfound horror, "Are you taller than me, too?"

"By like, this much," Wilby held up his thumb and forefinger two centimetres apart.

Drew imitated his action and stared at her hand, "This much is too much. Don't stand beside me."

He dutifully moved away from her.

"Let's get on the train," she sniffed, stalking off. She could still feel the loss.

How dare he.

* ° * ° *

Sirius Black creeped her out. Like, more than Wilby's new voice did.

Drew and her friends were on the Hogwarts Express, and she took the newspaper from Cyndee and read the front page. Black was an escaped convict from Azkaban, and he was wanted for blowing up a street and instantly killing twelve Muggles. Twelve.

"You shouldn't even be able to escape from Azkaban," Cyndee murmured.

Blaise nodded in agreement, "Not even me."

"You're literally a third year," Drew snapped at him. "You couldn't break out of the least guarded Gringotts vault if you tried."

"A bank vault sounds like a nice place to die," Blaise pondered thoughtfully. "Surrounded by money."

Drew's eye twitched, "Back to Azkaban. Why can't you escape?"

"It's guarded with Dementors," he explained, finally telling her something useful.

"What, the grim reaper things?" Drew asked curiously. She'd done a bit of reading on magical creatures and non-beings, and the Dementor was one that stuck in her mind.

Blaise head tilted, "What on earth is a grim reaper?"

"He's like the Muggle version of Death from The Tale of the Three Brothers," Cyndee explained.

"Well, sure," Blaise rolled his eyes. "Dementors do resemble Death. They also suck the happiness out of you, and can even take your soul with a kiss. Prisoners usually feel so hopeless they don't even try to escape."

Drew stared, "Geez, that's horrible. And Hagrid went there?"

Wilby winced, "Poor Hagrid."

Drew hit him, "Don't talk. Your voice freaks me out."

Cyndee's eyes twinkled as she smiled, "I think it's nice."

"I respect your opinion, even though it's wrong," Drew snapped dismissively. "So about Hagrid, I'm really glad he's back. He's a nice person, and I'm really excited for his class."

She'd chosen her electives in June. Divination and Care of Magical Creatures were the obvious choices. The other three choices were not appealing in the least.

"I'm not," Blaise grumbled. He wasn't taking either class, and would be doing Arithmancy and Muggle Studies instead, with the excuse that "they might be interesting," and "no, it's not because I'm afraid of animals."

Then Wilby brightened, as if he'd just thought of something sunny. He spoke before she could stop him, "Drew! I've got your birthday present!"

He and his mom had travelled around America in July, so he'd missed her birthday. Though it didn't stop him from sending her an owl carrying an iPod blasting Taylor Swift's "Getaway Car". 

Wilby swiftly whisked a small box wrapped in silver out of his suitcase. "Happy late birthday."

Gratified, she took it, "Thanks, Will."

Flustered, he pressed the backs of his hands against his cheeks to try and calm his blush.

Drew ignored him, opening the box and pulling out a bar of chocolate about the size of her hand.

"Whoa," she said, staring at if it were a 15-carat diamond rather than a 500-calorie snack. "Dark chocolate, my fav."

He beamed proudly. "It will keep regenerating so you can't finish it."

Drew held it with newfound wonder, "Oh yes, this is nice."

"It only lasts a few weeks though, so use it well."

The train lurched forward, beginning the journey to Hogwarts, and Drew eagerly took a bite of the chocolate. Delicious.

Chewing and talking at the same time, she commented, "It's awful outside. Was it like this earlier? All those clouds."

Blaise frowned, craning his stupid neck to get a better view, "I didn't notice them earlier."

Drew took another bite, "Strange."

Wilby had brought Uno, a dumb card game that should go throw itself into a furnace.

Ten minutes into playing, Drew was starting to think she was possessed, because how could Wilby be so much better than them?

He won three games in a row, and then lost three in a row, but obviously on purpose.

She slammed her last card on the pile, "I win. This game is horrendous."

"I agree," Blaise sighed, tossing his last two cards at Wilby. "Is this what Muggles do all day? Must be terribly dull."

Wilby just grinned and gathered the cards, including the two Drew had apparently-not-subtly-enough dropped onto the floor, "It's fun." He dealt them new cards.

Drew picked up her new hand of cards and wrinkled her nose at the terrible options. She put a Green Nine down and grumbled, "Where's the trolley witch? I want some more Cauldron Cakes. And some of that iced pumpkin juice to go with this chocolate."

Cyndee moved to place three Fours on the pile, then hesitated. She crossed her legs and studied the cards, thin brows furrowing. "Wait a minute, have I gone yet?"

"No," Drew told her. "That's the card I put down."

"Oh," she smugly laid down the cards, peering mischievously at the ones left in her hand.

Wilby looked up, examining something on the ceiling. "Are those footsteps?"

Sure enough, there were faint rhythmic thuds on the roof on the train getting louder and louder. There was even a small boom like a mini-grenade.

"Are there some oversized seagulls dropping bombs up there?" Drew demanded, glaring at the Blue Draw Two the cheater Wilby had put down. "Because that's sure what it sounds like." She pretended to pick two cards while just taking one.

Tap tap tap!

They turned to see an upside-down Fred Weasley frantically banging on the window.

The window to the train's outside.

Cyndee shrieked and dropped her cards, two of them Wild Draw Fours.

Drew mouthed a curse word as George's head appeared too, his blue eyes wild.

"OPEN IT!" the Weasleys yelled, barely loud enough to be heard.

Wilby jumped up and flipped the heavy latch, and the twins tumbled inside, slamming the window closed behind them.

They were gasping like dying fish and whispering "bloody hell" over and over.

"Care to explain why you were dancing on the roof of the train?" Drew asked dryly.

"Tried to escape," George explained, face red. "Thought we deserved a break, y'know?"

"I mean we did plan on coming back eventually, but then the bloody—" Fred shook his head. "I can't believe it. All this time, and that woman..."

"What woman?" Drew asked, exasperated.

"Fred, we best get going," George nudged him urgently.

"Agreed," Fred said. "Ought to get back to our seats before that lunatic comes. Thanks loads for letting us in."

Before Drew could find out exactly what had happened, they'd rushed out the door and down the train.

"I s'pose I'll ask them later," Drew muttered. "And they stepped on our cards. Oh bother, no more Uno."

Wilby bent down and scooped up the playing cards, which were good as new. Wordlessly, Cyndee helped him.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" the trolley witch asked, sliding open the door and smiling pleasantly.

* ° * ° *

Several hours later, the train slowed to a grinding stop.

Drew stared out the window, "We're not even near the school, what's happening?"

"I guess we ran out of coal," Blaise said sarcastically, picking at his manicured nails.

"I'm surprised you know steam trains are run on coal," Drew shot back.

"It's very interesting to learn how Muggles cope with the severe disability of not having..." he trailed off when the temperature dropped a full ten degrees, and a heavy sense of despair settled over them.

A rotted skeletal hand clicked against the door's window and the four of them jolted.

Drew thought she was imagining things. She shook her head and looked again.

No, her eyes were not deceiving her. It was a horrible black-cloaked figure three metres tall, with a gaping mouth and grey decaying flesh.

It was a Dementor, and it was sliding the compartment door open.

"Oh no you don't," Drew launched herself over and held the door shut.

Blaise leaped up as well, firmly waving his wand. "Epoximise!"

The door and wall bonded together, effectively keeping it shut. Drew held on just in case, ignoring the pounding of her heart as she was bombarded with despair and hopelessness. Memories of her parents fighting, her eldest brother telling her they were probably getting divorced, and Ari shutting herself away. And Eliza...

She tore her eyes off the Dementor to see how her friends were doing.

Cyndee had her hands over her ears, eyes wide and shining as she stared straight ahead, whimpering. Wilby was staring at Drew, though his eyes constantly focused and refocused.

"Mom..." he whispered.

That was it. Drew was by him in a flash, taking his hand and saying forcefully, "It's not real. It's not real."

"Cyndee," Blaise bent down in front of her, reciting the words that Wilby and Drew used to say to her. "It's okay, you're safe."

Wilby seemed to snap out of it, and he waved Drew's concern away, insisting, "I'm fine now. I'm fine."

Then, to the three's abject horror, Cyndee fainted. She fell forward, with her blue irises rolled up and glossy hair flying out behind her. Blaise just barely caught her, pushing her back onto the seat. Wilby held her shoulder, helping him sit her upright.

Drew stormed to the door and rapped it angrily. "Leave!" she commanded the Dementor. She threw in a few insults that the creature should do well to contemplate.

After hovering around for a few more unneeded seconds, the Dementor drifted away, taking the dark atmosphere with it.

The weight was instantly lifted off them. Wilby looked lost, "Why was that thing on the train?"

"Looking for Sirius Black," Blaise answered darkly. He was frowning and studying Cyndee's face, searching for signs of her waking up.

Drew peeked out the hallway window. The dementor was floating away, but she saw Xavier roaming down the hall six compartments away. She undid Blaise's spell and yanked the door open. "Xavier! Cyndee fainted!"

The prefect immediately followed her inside, dodging the dementor like it was a five-year-old in costume. He swooped to Cyndee's side and surveyed her, "She didn't hit her head or anything, did she?"

"No, she just fainted from the Dementor."

He nodded, face twisting, "I can't believe the Ministry allowed them to just come on a train full of students like this." He pulled his wand out of his robes, pointing it at her chest. "Rennervate."

There was a flash of red light, and Cyndee opened her eyes, blinking slowly.

"Feel okay?" Xavier asked worriedly. He looked at the rest of them and gestured at the chocolate treats scattered over the seats, "Chocolate helps, you should give some to her."

Blaise picked up an unopened Chocolate Frog box, but Cyndee abruptly shot to her feet.

Xavier backed straight into Wilby, and Drew just about fell into the hallway.

Cyndee stalked towards the door, and Drew moved to dart out of the way. Then, thinking better of it, jumped in front of her again, holding her hands out to show they were empty. "Cyndee, where are you going?"

"Get out of my way," Cyndee growled. Her icy blue eyes were bitter.

Drew blanched, never having heard her friend speak in this tone of voice. "Where are you going?" she repeated, again shifting to obstruct her path.

Her expression faltered, "To...his...compartment."

"Whose?" Xavier asked, having come out to join them.

Cyndee glanced down at her own hand in astonishment. Drew hadn't realized that Cyndee had her wand out, and it seemed like she hadn't either.

"What happened?" she asked faintly, backing away.

"You blacked out from the Dementor," Drew explained, quite used to her confusion. "Xavier woke you up and you suddenly got mad and came out here, looking for someone."

Blaise gave her the Chocolate Frog, and Wilby asked, "What did the Dementor make you see?"

"It didn't make sense," she shook her head. She dangled the Chocolate Frog by one leg for a bit before biting into the head. She appeared unnerved by the headless sweet and looked away from it. "I-I don't remember."

"Nothing?" Blaise pressed.

"Nothing," she confirmed softly, ready to burst into tears.

"It's okay," Drew patted her head. "Take your time."

The four went back into their compartment, with the prefect leaving them be. In her concern for Cyndee, Drew even forgot to tease him about wearing Quentin's faded blue button-up.

Wilby asked if Cyndee wanted to continue with the Uno game, and she nodded readily.

"Cyndee, you sure you're okay?" Drew questioned. She'd reacted by far the worst. Drew had next to zero knowledge of her friend's past, other than that her cousin had been killed by a Death Eater. Even Wilby, who could relate to a Death Eater attack, could not coax out any real answer from her. Cyndee didn't even know what happened to her.

"I'll be fine," she murmured, sitting down carefully.

"What did you hear?" Drew asked Wilby.

He shuffled the Uno cards for a while before answering. "My mom whenever she gets flashbacks of what happened."

Blaise nodded, fixing his hair in the window's reflection. Wilby had eventually told him and Cyndee his story as well. Drew had actually had dinner with his mom in the summer, and she was perfectly sweet — although she also loved Taylor Swift — and completely did not deserve to get attacked like she did.

"You?" Wilby asked her.

"A bunch of things. My parents fighting, mostly. And Eliza yelling at me." Drew hoped that her sister was okay.

"What about you?" she asked Blaise, while Wilby passed out cards. It seemed like the pureblood had been perfectly fine amongst the Dementor.

"I didn't see or hear anything," he shrugged stiffly. "I just felt really...empty."

Drew turned this over. "I thought for sure you'd hallucinate about growing a unibrow or something."

Blaise stopped combing his hair and shot her a haughty glare, "My mind couldn't dream of coming up with an image like that." But he gave his reflection a concerned inspection, "That's never happening."

Cyndee forced a laugh, crossing her legs and putting down a card. "Then this year's gotten off to a bad start."