Draco's Wife

The Dementor on the Train

My parents were hoping that I would be sorted into Slytherin; it was their house as well as my sister's. To them it was the best choice; all other houses couldn't compete. I didn't have a problem with being sorted into Slytherin and even agreed it was a wonderful house. Daunting, cunning, strength, resourcefulness, all beneficial aspects I wanted for myself. There was something unique about the snake house that made me want to be a part of it. As a first year, as expected, I was a little bit nervous to join. Hogwarts, new things, new life, all the sappy gibberish. All in all, I just wanted to go, and find out where I truly belonged.

I stood up from the table outside. I hadn't bothered to listen to the rest of what my mom was saying; she seemed to have shifted the conversation over to my sister. My parents always said that I could ask my sister for help during the school year, but I wasn't planning on it and she wasn't either. I walked back inside expecting to see my dad reading the paper on the kitchen island, but all I saw was his empty cup. I gave the house elf my plate and reminded him to pick up my dad's cup. He fake smiled at me and snapped his fingers. The cup disappeared from the island and reappeared in his hand. He bowed his head and turned towards the sink to clean it. I walked out of the kitchen and made way towards the doorway. My bags were on the welcome rug, but I noticed that my cat was not in her carrier. I called for her and a few seconds later Rosebury came running down the steps. Without my order she walked over to the carrier and hopped right into it.

"Very good Rosebury!" I exclaimed. She was a calico cat; runt of the litter too. My father had insisted that I purchase the very expensive purebred Siamese cat, but the minute I saw Rosebury I knew that she was going to be great.

"Dad!" I called out. I didn't know where he was, but he should have heard me regardless.

"You don't have to shout," My father whispered from behind me. I jumped, he had always had a way of sneaking up on unsuspecting people to purposefully scare them. Two years prior my Aunt Ruby came to visit for dinner and nearly fainted because my dad jumped out from behind a wall to scare her. My mum was a little mad because she nearly dropped a very expensive plate. Luckily our house elves caught it before it hit the ground.

"Dad! You need to stop doing that," I complained swatting him away.

"You won't have to worry about that once you leave," he sang a little. I wasn't sure if I should have been offended, but regardless, I rolled my eyes and looked towards the kitchen. I had heard the screen door shut and knew my mother and sister had just come back in.

"Mum!" I called out, "I'm leaving!"

"Ohh coming sweetheart! Helping your sister with her bags, she can't find her wand," my mum explained as she rushed in the room carrying Daphne's book bag.

"That's problematic," I said bending down to pick up my own trunk, "She's going to need that if she's wants to... do anything this year..." I expressed drifting towards the door handle.

"Found it!" My sister called from the bathroom.

"You found it in the bathroom?" I replied. I motioned to my dad to pick up Rosebury's cage, but he stayed where he was. I think he wanted to know why her wand was in the bathroom too. It was very irresponsible of her, might I add.

"I... I uh, it doesn't really matter how I lost it right...?" She tried to explain, "It's the fact that I finally found it!!" she said rapidly. My dad sighed, I guess he was hoping for a more thought out explanation of how she retraced her steps and figured out that she dropped it while practicing magic in the bathroom. Even if that might have been the case I didn't believe that it was exactly what had happened. My assumption was due to the slightly pinkish tint to Daphne's face when she finally came to the front door. I hoped at the very least she didn't drop it in the toilet.

"Ready now?" I asked my mum as I opened the front door; I sure wasn't. She nodded, and we proceeded through the door. I looked back at Daphne and she rolled her eyes at me. Hey, I was excited for school! How could that be annoying?

Out of all the things a first year could experience on the train ride to Hogwarts; what happened next could have easily been the scariest thing to ever occur.

It wasn't running through the wall to get to Platform 9 ¾. Nor saying good bye to our parents, when my mum told me her family's most famous line, "Sweets, they always help you make friends..." A phrase in which her mother told her and her mother before her... Nor hitting an attractive upper classman with your trunk and being scowled at. Oh no, none of those things even paled in comparison to what I felt and experienced on the train. Even though it didn't last long, and no one got hurt; it was still a shock for anyone who was expecting a peaceful trip to Hogwarts.

There I was, sitting with 3 other pureblood girls, all of which were distant family friends. We weren't talking about much; small talk being our holy grail. It wasn't extremely awkward, they were friendly at the least; I just wasn't in a very social mood at the time. With everything seeming so seemingly normal, I could have never foreseen what happened next...

Dementors

My parents rarely talked about them. All I knew was that they guarded Azkaban, the wizard prison, and to not get too close. Unfortunately for me I did not have a say on whether they got close or not.

All of a sudden, the lights flickered out and the train came to a screeching halt. It didn't put me off because I was a strong independent woman! No, actually, truth be told, I was napping at the time and the gasps of the other girls woke me up. Nothing happened at first, we thought it was just a malfunction, but seconds later the windows revealed that it wasn't just the lights. Frost began lining the windows and crept towards the center. The moment we could see our breath we stared at each other, eyes wide open. No one said a word, but the nonverbal communication indicated that everyone was indeed frightened. Our window was completely frosted over and we were all anticipating the worst. It was autumn, so the cold was definitely not caused by the weather.

We were hoping a professor would come to take us off the train or tell us what was happening. We waited for the many screams of discord, but they didn't come... It was mostly silent... then cold... the cold was surrounding us... choking us.... My friends and I were seconds away from freaking out completely when a large, dark, scary figure passed our window. Seconds turned into milliseconds and we completely freaked out. We opened our mouths, but no screams came out. We must have been too afraid to make any noise. Luckily, whatever was out there was just passing and didn't come into our compartment. The people next to us weren't so fortunate. We heard it pry open the door to our neighbor's. One of the girls mouthed something explicit to me and I nodded in agreement. We were terrified, and a terrifying unknown had just entered the compartment next to ours.

It stayed there for a few seconds. There was commotion, a bright white light shone, probably, hopefully, a spell, and then nothing. Apparently, it was over. At least we hoped it was over. I regained the ability to move and pressed my ear to the wall that connected us to our unlucky neighbors.

"Harry! Are you alright? Harry?!" A female voice asked.

"Do any of you have chocolate?" An older man asked.

"I-I might h-have some in my b-bag," a boy more my age stuttered.

"No, wait, I have some... You said this boy's name is Harry?" The old man paused. There was a silence. I supposed the girl nodded. "It doesn't happen to be Harry Potter does it?" The man asked quietly. I almost didn't hear him, but the name...

Harry Potter? I had heard of him before. I struggled as I tried to remember where I had heard that name from. I could not figure it out. Perhaps I was too frightened, but nothing was coming to me. It felt like something was burning into my brain. I couldn't believe that I didn't know the name. I had only heard it a million times, mostly in a negative connotation. There was a chance that he was famous, but I gave up trying. At the time I didn't understand why somen purebloods like me spoke of his name poorly.

That year I would find out why.