Nothing quiets a train compartment faster than a teacher pretending to sleep nearby.
Even if that teacher's wearing a tattered robe, has graying hair, and looks like he's one cough away from keeling over.
"Are we seriously going to spend the whole ride reading?" Ron whispered to Harry and Cohen.
"Ron, that's not exactly a tragedy!" Hermione hissed back.
"It's absolutely a tragedy," Cohen said. "Why don't we just take him out?"
"?" ×4
"Knock him out, and we can chat all we want," Cohen explained. "We're minors—worst case, we'd get sent to juvie, but the wizarding world doesn't even have a juvie…"
"Cohen, that's way too violent," Harry said. "Plus, we'd get—wait, school hasn't started yet, so…"
"No house points to lose," Ron said cleverly.
"You guys…" Hermione sighed, shaking her head. She could tell they were joking.
"Ahem—" Lupin coughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I've been short on sleep lately. Feel free to chat—I'm just crashing here…"
He pulled two earplugs from his pocket and popped them in, clearly not wanting to bother them.
Still, Harry and the others waited a good ten minutes before whispering again, only starting once Lupin's breathing slowed down—he was definitely asleep now.
"What's he going to teach?" Ron asked, sneaking a peek at the snoozing Lupin.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Cohen said. "Professor Von Braun quit. I ran into him in Coombe over the summer—he's a censor now."
"What were you doing in Coombe?" Ron asked curiously. "I thought there weren't any wizards there…"
"There's one—my grandma. Harry knows," Cohen said, nodding at Harry. "Over the summer, Mr. Fluffy rambled to Harry about the place."
"Mr. Fluffy's a cat," Harry explained to Ron and Hermione. "He talks, like Earl. It's rare, but after meeting Earl, it's not *that* shocking anymore…"
"Did you bring Mr. Fluffy along?" Hermione asked eagerly. "I'd love for him to meet Crookshanks—"
"Don't get me started on that dumb cat of yours," Ron snapped. "Last time, it nearly shredded my clothes—and Scabbers is practically balding from the stress!"
"I've got him locked up now!" Hermione shot back. "Cats chase rats—it's nature. I can limit where he goes, but I can't control what he thinks!"
"Earl doesn't go after Scabbers," Ron said. "You should get a nicer, more normal cat."
"Mr. Fluffy's back at my place," Cohen said. "My mom thinks he's cute and loves his voice."
"Mr. Norton doesn't seem too fond of him, though," Harry said with a grin. "These past two summers have been the best of my life—well, except for July. That part's always a mess."
The conversation stayed pretty upbeat until Sirius Black came up, and the mood turned tense and uneasy.
"Right before we left, Mr. Norton kept telling me not to go looking for Sirius Black…" Harry said, puzzled.
"Oh! Now that you mention it, my dad told me to keep an eye on you before we got on the train," Ron said, suddenly remembering. "He said this year I've got to stop you from chasing after Sirius."
"Why does everyone think I'd go hunting down a murderer?" Harry shook his head. "I'm not looking for trouble…"
"Your track record doesn't exactly back that up," Cohen said, raising an eyebrow. "Two years straight of living in chaos. And hasn't Mr. Weasley got it backward? Ron's not exactly the type to hold you back."
"I totally would!" Ron protested.
"You'd just tag along and get into trouble with him," Hermione said dryly. "Then all four of us would end up breaking school rules again."
Harry didn't have any reason to go after Sirius right now—but that'd change once he heard the (false) story about Sirius betraying James and Lily.
The chat drifted from escaped murderers to Hogsmeade, but Harry hadn't gotten permission to go. The Dursleys refused to sign his form, and the Nortons couldn't help since they weren't his guardians.
"Maybe it's safer this way…" Hermione said, trying to cheer him up. "At least in the castle, Sirius Black can't get to you…"
"Or you could ask Fred and George," Ron suggested. "They know tons of secret passages out of the castle—"
"Ron!" Hermione snapped. "With Black still out there, Harry shouldn't be sneaking—"
"Easy. We just catch him first," Cohen said. "Norbert's grown up now…"
"If word gets out you've got Norbert, you're toast," Hermione said, glancing nervously at Lupin and avoiding the word "dragon."
Around four or five in the afternoon, as the train neared the station, the rain outside picked up. A gray-black curtain of water covered the windows, blocking out everything.
The train jolted to a stop with a thud. Clanging metal echoed from the corridor, and Cohen picked up a mental hum—he'd heard it before in Azkaban. Loads of Dementors were drifting around outside.
[*You're locked up…*]
One Dementor sensed Cohen's location and started tapping at the window.
[*We'll save you…*]
The Dementors seemed to have gotten the wrong idea…
Cohen was already wondering how he'd explain to them that this metal box wasn't his prison cell.
[*Is the escaped food here too…?*]
While some Dementors zeroed in on Cohen, others were still hunting for Sirius Black.
"What *is* that?!" Ron stared in horror at the long, rotting hand banging on the pitch-black window.
*Snap!*
With a sudden, unexplained sound, the entire train's lights went out.
"Sounds like someone's boarding…" Ron said, his voice shaky. "I heard the train door open—"
A second later, their compartment door slid open, but it seemed to be people from another car.
*Thud—*
Whoever it was tripped and fell.
"Oof—sorry! Do you guys know what's going on? Why'd it go dark all of a sudden—"
"Neville?" Harry asked.
"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"
"No idea," Hermione said. "Sit down—it's a mess out there. I'm going to check with the driver—"
She stepped aside, fumbling in the dark to head out.
"Who's that?"
"Who's there?!"
"Ginny? What are you doing here—"
"Because I can't see a thing!" Ginny replied to Ron's voice. "What's going on?"
"This seat's all soft—"
"Don't sit on me—who are you?!" Cohen yelped, squirming. "Lumos!"
He raised his wand, lighting up the compartment.
Seamus had just plopped onto Cohen's lap, Neville was in Hermione's spot, and Ginny was squished next to Ron.
"Quiet down…" Lupin rasped, awake now, his voice hoarse as he tried to calm them.