Fearless

I sat there listening to Fred, George, and Lee explain to me their plan, I nodded in between breaks - with a small smile forming. I stood up with a grin.

“Alright, I’m in but I’m going to go find Harry, Ron, and Hermione.” They nodded as the train began moving, I made my way through the train cars until I found the trio walking into a compartment, I caught Harry’s eye as he waved for me to come into the compartment.

There was only one occupant, a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. We checked on the threshold according to the three of them, The Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for students and they had never seen an adult there before, except for the witch who pushed the food cart.
The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard’s robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Through quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with gray.

“Who d’you reckon he is?” Ron hissed as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window.

“Professor R. J. Lupin,” whispered Hermione at one.

“How’d you know that?”

“It’s on his case,” she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man’s head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name Professor R.J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.

"Wonder what he teaches?” said Ron, frowning at Professor Lupin’s pallid profile.

“That’s obvious,” Hermione whispered. “There’s only one vacancy, isn’t there? Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

I giggled as I watched the two bicker back and forth.

“Well, I hope he’s up to it,” said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he?" I shrugged as I stared at the older man, as if a memory was resurfacing just a bit. It felt as if I had known him.

"I think -" I started as the trio turned towards me, I took a deep breath before continuing. "I think he has character, unlike you Ron," Harry and Hermione snorted in laughter - turning their heads away from the red headed boy.

"Anyway ...." Ron announced, clearing his throat turning towards Harry. "What were you going to tell us?"

"Well I was going to get Scabber's stuff, I was already packed, so I offered Ron that I'd get his stuff," Harry explained. "I was halfway along the passage to the bar, which was dark when I heard a pair of angry voices coming from the parlor, a second later I recognized them as Mr. and Mrs. Weasleys'. I hesitated, not wanting them to know I'd heard them auguring, when the sound of my name and The Blacks' made me stop then move closer to the parlor door." Harry said loud enough for the three of to hear but not the people that could be eavesdropping.

".... makes no sense not to tell them, Mr. Weasley was saying. They got a right to know. I've tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating them like a child. Their teenagers and.. Mr. Weasley was cut off - Arthur, the truth would terrify them said Mrs. Weasley shrilly. Do you really want to send them to school with that hanging over them? For heaven's sake, they're happy not knowing!" Harry said taking a deep breath as we stared at him in shock.

"I don't want to make them miserable, I want to put them on their guard! retorted Mr. Weasley. "You know what Harry and Ron are like, wandering off by themselves and Hunter seems to be just like that - they've even ended up in the Forbidden Forest! But Harry and The Blacks' mustn't do that this year! When I think what could have happened to Harry that night he ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn't picked them up, I'm prepared to bet they would've been dead before the Ministry found them!" Harry said taking another long breath of air before continuing.

"But their not dead, he's fine, so what's the point --- Mrs. Weasley stated before Mr. Weasley interrupted her. Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been a month, and no one's seen hid nor hair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after ---" Harry turned his eyes towards me with a frown etching into his face.

"But Harry and the Blacks' will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley reminded Mr. Weasley before he began talking once again. We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts --- But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry and the Blacks' ---" Harry paused. "There was a thud on wood, and I was sure Mr. Weasley had banged his fist on the table. Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Black's been talking in his sleep for a while now always the same words, I didn't hear the words but I had a bad feeling." Harry took a deep breath, his eyes still watched me carefully.

"Black is deranged, Molly and he wants those kids dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering them will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You-Know-Who, and he's had twelve years along in Azkaban to brood on that ... there was silence, I leaned still closer to the door, desperate to hear more. Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt those children at Hogwarts while Dumbledore's headmaster. I suppose he knows about all this? Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed." Harry said as if he was trying to duplicate Ron's parent's voices.

"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black? Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards, said Mr Weasley heavily. "Nor am I, if it comes to that .... but when you're dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid... If they save the children --- then I will never say another word against them, said Mr Weasley wearily." Harry stared all around the compartment, watching us with a worried expression.

"But that's not it," Harry said shaking his head. "When we got to Kings Cross Mr. Weasley had pulled me aside, I didn't understand - If it was about Sirius Black why didn't he pull you and your brother's aside, Hunter?" I shrugged as I watched him.

"He wanted me to give him my word that I'll be a good boy and stay in the castle along with swearing that I won't go looking for Black. I think he wanted to tell me something else but the train was getting ready to leave," Harry announced, Ron looked thunderstuck, and Hermione had her hands over her mouth, Harry started at me with his startling jade green eyes as if he wanted to talk to me alone but didn't want to kick his friends out of the compartment.

Hermione lowered her hands to say, "Sirius Black escaped to come after the both of you? Oh Harry, Hunter .. you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry ---"

"I don't go looking for trouble," said Harry, nettled. "Trouble usually finds me." I nodded agreeing with the Harry.
"How thick would Harry and Hunter have to be, to go looking for nutter who wants to kill them?" said Ron shakily.
Hermione and Ron were talking the news worse than Harry had probably expected. Both Ron and Hermione seemed to be much more frightened of Black than Harry and I were.

"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," said Ron uncomfortably. "No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too."
"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione earnestly. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him too..."

"I don't think the Muggle's will help much," I mumbled, they turned toward me slowly.

"Why not?" Hermione asked in her high pitched voice, I shrugged as I watched her face become noticeably red.

"It's just that if wizards can't even keep him in Azkaban, and the last time someone has seen him was last month, don't you think the Muggle's are going to have it harder without the magic we have?" I stated promptly.

"What's that noise?" Ron questioned suddenly.

A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. We looked all around the compartment.

"It's coming from your trunk, Harry," Ron said, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later he had pulled the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry's robes. It was spining very fast in the palm of Ron's hand and glowing brilliantly.

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" I questioned interestingly, standing up for a better look.

"Yeah... mind you, it's a very cheap one," Ron said. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."
"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" said Hermione shrewdly. I sighed as I took a seat next to Harry, laying my head on his should as he grinned down at me.

Mid-afternoon, just as it had started to rain, blurring the rolling hills outside the window, we heard footsteps in the corridor again, three people appeared at the door. A slender boy with sleek white-blond hair, cold grey eyes, a pale complexion and rather sharp, pointed features, I must adimt that he held haughty good looks. The second boy, he was large and very fat with a thick neck, with gorilla like arms and a flat nose with a pudding bowl-style haircut, he wasn't attractive at all. Then the second boy had broad shoulders, noticeably larger than Harry's or the cute one.

"Well, look who it is," said cute boy in a lazy drawl, pulling open the compartment door. "Potty and the Weasel," The two ugly ones chuckled trollish.
"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley," said the white-blond headed boy. "Did your mother die of shock?"
Ron stood up so quickly he knocked Crookshanks's basket to the floor. Professor Lupin gave a snort.

"Who's that?" said the attractive blond, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin.

"New teacher," said Harry, who got to his feet, too, in case he needed to hold Ron back.

"What were you saying before, Blondie?" I questioned, standing next to Ron with a smirk spreading across my face. He watched me carefully before smirking.

"Who are you?" I let the smirk spread further up my face.

"Hunter Black,"

His pale eyes narrowed; he wasn't a full enough to pick a fight right under a teachers nose, and I think everyone is afraid of the name Black.
"C'mon," he muttered resentfully to the two trolls, and they disappeared. We sat down again, Ron massaging his knuckles.

"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," he said angrily. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and ---"

Ron made a violent gesture in midair.

"Ron," hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin, "be careful ..."

But Professor Lupin was still fast alseep.

"Who was those guys?" I questioned, looking around the compartment.

"Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle there Slytherins - if you can stay away from them, Hunt. Their bad news." I nodded.

The rain thickened as the train sped yet farther north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. The train rattled, the rain hammered, the wind roared, but still, Professor Lupin slept.

"We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past Professor Lupin at the now completely black window. The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down.

"Great," said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast ...."
"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch.

"So why're we stopping?" I questioned.

The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the window.
Harry, who was nearest the door, got up to look into the corridor. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments.
The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warnings, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.

"What's going on?" came Ron's voice from beside me.

"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"

I felt my way back to my seat, a little while after I felt Harry sit back down.

"D'you think we've broken down?" Hermione's questioned.

"Dunno..."

There was a squeaking sound, and I saw the dim black outline of Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.

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

The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over Harry's legs.

"Sorry -- d'you know what's going on? --- Ouch ---- sorry ---"

"Hullo, Neville," said Harry, feeling around in the dark and pulling Neville up by his cloak.

"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea --- sit down ---"

There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain; Neville had tried to sit on Crookshanks.

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," came Hermione's voice. Harry felt her pass him, heard the door slide open again, and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain.

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"Hunter!" I said with a laugh, causing Harry, Ron, and Neville to chuckle.

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron ---"

"Come in and sit down ---"

"Not here!" said Harry hurriedly. "I'm here!"

"Ouch!" Neville and I said at the same time.

"Quiet!" said a horse voice suddenly.

Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last, I could hear movements in his corner. None of us spoke. There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.

But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it.

Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was two cloaked figures that towered to the ceiling. It's face was completely hidden beneath it's hood. My eyes darted downwards, and what I saw made my stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water...

But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed my gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of it's black cloak. And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was frew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

An intense cold swept over us all. I felt my own breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than my skin. It was inside my chest. The cold went deeper than my skin. It was inside my chest, it was inside my very heart...

I could feel my eyes roll up into my head. I couldn't see. I was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. I was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder...

And then, from far away, I heard screaming, terrible, terrified, pleading screams. I wanted to help whoever it was I tried to move my arms, but couldn't ... a thick white fog was whirling around me, inside me --