.⊹⁀➷ CHAPTER TWO !
↳ screams of the past

AFTER ANNABETH AND her friends had run through the wall between platforms 9 and 10, as she did every year, she looked at the platform 9 3/4 with shining eyes.

The Hogwarts express was ready and white steam puffed from the red chimney. Family's said their Goodbye's and the little first years made their way excited through the rest of the Hogwarts students.

Annabeth could remember the first time she entered the train. The girl was so excited to enter the School for witchcraft and wizardy.

Hermione nudged her arm. "Should we go and search for a compartment?", the girl asked her smiling as they began pushing their suitcases and pets to the train.

"Yeah, or all the good places will be gone", Ron replied as he shooed them into the train.

The four teenagers walked past compartment after compartment. The train seemed to be fuller than the years before.

"I didn't mean to blow her up, I just lost control!", Annabeth said to them as they talked about the Marge Incident.

"Brilliant", Ron commented amazed, as he followed her through the train.

"Honestly, Ron it's not funny. Annabeth was lucky not to be expelled!", Hermione said as she walked infront of Annabeth, giving the boy a dark look.

"Actually I think she was lucky not to be arrested", Harry added from the front. "I still think it's brilliant", Ron chuckled to himself when they suddely stopped.

Hermione opened a compartment door for them. "Come on, everywhere else is full", the girl stated as she held the door open for the others.

They all put their bags and jackets on the stackers above their heads. "Who do you think that is?", Ron asked them as he settled down.

"Professor R.J Lupin", Hermione told him simply as she leaned back next to Ron.

Ron's eyes widened immediately. "You know everything, How is it, she knows everything, Harry?", the boy questioned as he held is rat in his hands.

Annabeth just chuckled as she let herself plopp down next to the still standing Harry. "It's on his suitcase, Ronald", Hermione told him while pointing at the suitcase above the man's head.

"Oh", Ron let out as he followed her finger, Harry who had sat down by now asked.

"Do you think he's really asleep?", they all looked at the man. "Seems to be, why?", Hermione asked him questiongly.

"We gotta tell you something", the boy said as he stood up and closed the compartment door.

While the Potter twins were telling their friends what Mr. Weasley had told them about Sirius Blacks outbreak, the train had continued north.

The rain had gotten worse by the late afternoon and the windows had turned to an impenetrable, shimmering gray that was gradually darkening.

Forest's, river's and dark green hill's barren in the twilight in front of the window.

"Let me get this straight, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban to come after you two?", Ron asked them in a scared tone.

"Yeah", Annabeth nodded her head at him in confirmation. "But they'll catch Black, won't they?", Hermione questioned her friends, while her gaze wandered over them.

"I mean everyone is looking for him", she added in a unconvinced voice.

"Sure, except no one ever has broken out of Azkaban", Ron replied to her as he raised an eyebrow worried. "And he is a murderous lunatic", the boy slowly added as he immediately looked at the twins apologizing.

"Thank's Ron", Harry told his friend sarcastically.

Suddenly the lanterns started flickering in the hallway and over the luggage nets. And just moments after, the train slowed down, until it came to a stand.

"Why are we stoping?", Hermione asked a little confused as she looked out of the window. The distant rumble and throbbing told Annabeth that the adjoining compartment door's had been opened.

"We can't be there yet", Annabeth said as she looked out of the Compartment door and gazed down the hallway. She could see Neville, who stuck his head out of his Compartment with a scared look on his face.

Suddenly the train jerked so hard that Annabeth was thrown back into her compartment without being able to exchange a word with Neville.

"What's going on?!", Ron excalimed scared as he looked around, the compartment door swung close again.

"Don't know, maybe we've broken down", Harry said as he helped Anna sat up again.

Without any warning, the light flickered one last time before it went out completely and wrapped the teenagers in darkness.

The only thing that lit the compartment now was the weak light that shone through the window.

"Ouch, that was my foot, Ronald!", Hermione suddenly excalimed angry.
But Ron just ignored her while he pressed his hand against the studded glass and tried to look out of the window.

The light slowly went on again. "There's something moving out there!", Ron whimpered quietly as the light flickered again leaving them once more in darkness.

The rain continued to pelted against the window. Ron was still looking out of the window, "I think someone is coming on board."

Right in that moment the train jerked forward again, which made them all jump in fear, the four friends exchange scared looks.

Annabeth could see her breath rising in the air in white little clouds while she held on to her seat.

Her gaze wandered ober the compartment and she saw how the window was slowly covered with fine ice cobwebs.

Even the water in the bottle turned into a thick ice block and the air got colder and colder.

The train jerked again and Ron yanked his hand from the window shouting, "Bloody hell! What's happening!?"

It sounded like wind was blowing through the train when suddenly shreds of a dark figure floated in front of the teenagers' closed compartment door.

Little by little the person revealed himself more and more. Annabeth had a bad feeling that spread in every fiber of her body. Whoever or whatever this thing was, it wasn't a friend.

The compartment door slowly slid open on it's own and a bony black hand slowly reached around it.

When the door opened completly, they could see the figure clearly.

Annabeth looked directly into it's face, or where it's face was supposed to be. But there was only a veil of deep black fabric that covered the entire figure.

They all fliched and tried to get back further into the compartment, but the thing ignored Ron and Hermione completely, it only looked at the two Potter's.

It leaned forward and suddenly Annabeth felt like all the happiness was sucked out of her body. And she couldn't do anything about it, the creature just sucked it all out.

Her eyes widened and her vison suddenly went burry, she felt like she was about to faint when suddenly a strong light brightened the compartment.

Annabeth couldn't move and she felt the panic rise in her when she heared a women scream her and Harry's name in the distance. But a moment after, her vision went black.

"Harry! Annabeth!", the girl heared Hermione's voice call her worried. "You two alright?", Hermione asked them as she sat down Infront of them.

Annabeth slowly opened her eyes, only to see, how Hermione just handed Harry his glasses back.

"Here eat this, it'll help", a unfamiliar voice spoke up from besides her, the man who had slept in their compartment handed her a pice of chocolate.

"It's alright it's chocolate", he explained smiling at the teenagers. Still confused about what happened Harry and Annabeth took the chocolate from his hands.

"What- What was that thing?", Harry was the first to speak up as he looked at the door. "It was a Dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. He's gone now, he was searching the train for Sirius Black", the stranger explained to them.

He laid down the chocolate bar. "If you excuse me, I'll have a little word with the driver", he said before he stood up.

"Eat. You'll feel better", the man said as he stood in the door way.

As soon as he left Annabeth bit into the chocolate. "What happened to us?", she asked her friends curious.
"Well you sort of froze. We thought maybe you two had a fit or something", Ron told them, seeming still troubled by the Dementor.

"And did either of you two passed out?", Harry questioned them quietly as he bite into his chocolate.

Ron shook his head, "Noo, it felt weird tho, like I'd never be cheerful again!"

"But there was someone screaming, a women", Annabeth whispered as she stared into the distance.

Hermione looked at her best friend worried, before she shook her head, "No one was screaming, Annabeth."

"But I heared her too", Harry said as he looked out of the window seeming deep in thoughts.

By the time the train pulled into the small station in Hogsmead, there was an awkward mood between the four friends and there was no more chattering to be heard in the other compartments either.

Apparently the Dementor's visit had bothered everyone.

It was bitterly cold on the narrow platform and the thick raindrops were still pattering down on the earth.

Annabeth's whole body shook as she wrapped her thin Gryffindor cloak around her shoulders.

The students cavorted on the platform and an all too familiar voice shouted loudly across the sea of students, "First graders this way!"

But before Harry and Annabeth could squeeze through the crowd to greet Hagrid, the mass of students pushed them towards the carriages.

On the way to the carriage she was suddenly roughly shoved and her bag flew into the dirt. "Whatch where you going!", she immediately hissed at the boy, without even looking up.

After a moment her gaze snapped towards the boy and she recognized no other than Draco Malfoy, who stood infront of her, an arrogant look on his face.

"Yeah, like little Miss Potter said, Draco! Watch were you going", Blaise mocked the girl in a high pinched voice while he placed an arm around Dracos shoulder.

"Idiots." Annabeth gave them both a hatful glare before she grabbed her bag from the floor and continued her way towards her carriage.

THE DOOR TO the great hall opened and revealed thousands of candles that float in the air and shone brightly.

The ghosts that hovered among the students gleamed in a misty silver and smiled kindly at the children. But the enchanted ceiling was, as always, the best thing about the great hall. It was enchanted to look like the sky outside.

Usually the ceiling was always covered with thousands of stars when they arrived, but today it was just dark and cloudy.

The students gradually scattered around their respective house tables and patiently waited for the annual ceremony to begin.

First the school choir sung a rather gloomy song to welcome the new school year. But all the students clapped anyway as they finished singing.

As they walked back to their places Dumbledore stepped forward and held his hands into the air.

"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!", the older man greeted them happyly. "Now I'd like to say a few words before we all become too befuddled by our excellent feast", he said to them.

"First, I'm very pleased to welcome Professor R.J. Lupin, who's kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the dark Arts teacher. Good luck, Professor!", the Headmaster exclaimed as he pointed to Professor Lupin, who stood up and bowed while he smiled.

"Of course. That's why he knew to give you the chocolate, Anna", Hermione told the girl, who sat besides her. They watched the man from their Compartment as the clapping slowly faded away.

"Potter!- Potter!", they could hear a voice call them quietly from the other table.

Harry turned around and Annabeth looked passt Ron to see, who called for Harry. It was no other than Malfoy, who sat across from her by the Slytherin table.

"Potter. Is it true you fainted?", he questioned as he smirked gleefully. "You actually fainted?", he continued to joke about the boy, while his friends mocked Harry and pretend to faint.

"Shove off, Malfoy!", Ron spatted at the blond boy while he turned Harry around.

Annabeth still watched the Slytherin with narrowed eyes. Draco met her gaze, their eyes met for a short moment until his smirk faded and he turned back to his table.

Annabeth looked back at the Headmaster. "Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher has decided to retirein order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. Fortunately I'm delighted to announce that this place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid!", Dumbledore explained to the students delighted.

The students clapped again as Hagrid stood up and bowed before he sat back down again.

"Finally, on a more disquieting note- at the request of the Ministry of Magic Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the Dementors of Azkaban", the man told them in a not so happy tone.

A murmur went through the great hall. "Until such a time as Sirius Black is captured. The Dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. Now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities. A word of coition, Dementors are vicious creatures. They'll not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way", he told them as the student looked at him worried.

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

"But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times", he said as he magically turned out a candle with his hand. "If one only remembers to turn on the light", he finished, turning the candle back on.

After that the feast began but Annabeth wasn't even that hungry.
The Dementor attack still sat deep in her bones, so the girl ate a little bit and then began chatting with Parvati Patil, who was seated next to her.

They chatted about their Holiday's and that they were excited about the new school year, until Professor Dumbledore ended the feats and instructed them to go to their Common rooms.

So a couple of moments later, hundreds of students poured out of the great hall on their way to their common rooms.

The Gryffindors made their way up the many moving stairs towards the Gryffindor tower.

Seamus Finnigan was the first, who ran up to the painting of the fat lady and gave her the password. But she ignored him and continued to sing horribly crooked.

As the others arrived by the painting he turned around to them, "Here, listen. She just won't let me in!"

"Fortuna Major!", Annabeth repeated the password as she gave the painting an annoyed look. "No, no, no, wait!", the painting exclaimed as she streched out her hand out.

She then let out a horrible crooke again because she tried to let a glas in her hand explode with the help of her voice.

They all immediately clapped their hands above their ears, it didn't work so the fat lady just threw it against the pillar behind her.

"Amazing, just with my voice!", she then excalimed looking at the glass.

"Fortuna major!", Harry just told her again, seeming rather annoyed by her singing. "Yes, alright. Go in", the painting said disappointed while she opened the portrait hole.

"Thank you", Harry excalimed as they climbed through the hole.

"She's still doing that after three years!", Harry exclaimed when he walked with Seamus infront of Annabeth and Hermione.

"She can't even sing!", the boys both exclaimedy while walking into the common room, making Annabeth chuckle.

As Annabeth and Hermione sat by the window in their Domitory that evening, they tried to whisper. Lavender brown and Parvati Patil with which they shared their room, were in the bathroom making themselves ready for bed.

"Do you think Black would risk it to come to Hogwarts?", Hermione asked her friend as she watched the rain, which still pattered loudly against the window.

"I don't know." Annabeth answered her honestly as she watched the raindrops run down the window, but somehow she had this feeling.

This feeling that Sirius Black would find her someday and Annabeth had no idea what she was going to do when this day came.

"I still can't figure out why the Dementor attacked only you and Harry", Hermione said as she wrapped her arms around her legs.

"It felt like it sucked all my happiness away", the Potter girl told her friend quietly as she continued to stare out of the window.

Her face was reflected in the window while a silence fell over the two friends, each lost in their own thoughts.