Hermione Granger and the Prisoner Of Azkaban (Completed)

Chapter 3 - The Dementor

Somehow, despite everything being ready the night before, it was complete chaos as everyone checked under beds and in draws, before all charging down the stairs to pile up their trunks just by the door of the Leaky Cauldron. Crookshanks looked furious at being kept in a wickerwork basket
"It's all right, Crookshanks" Hermione told him "I'll let you out on the train"
"You won't" said Ron angrily "What about poor Scabbers, eh?"
He pointed at his chest pocket that presumably held a sleeping Scabbers

Mr Weasley, who had been waiting outside for the cars, stuck his head through the door
"They're here" he said. "Harry, come on"
Mr. Weasley led them to where two old fashioned green cars were waiting
"In you get, Harry" said Mr. Weasley. Hermione followed Harry into the first car

At first glance, the car didn't look anything special, but there must've been some kind of charm on it, as it could easily fit all their luggage in the boot, as well as Crookshanks, Hedwig, Scabbers and Percy's screech owl Hermes. It also took a surprisingly short amount of time to get to King's Cross Station, as it kept somehow jumping queues and squeezing into impossibly small gaps

As they walked through King's Cross, Mr Weasley kept strangely close to Harry, but Hermione didn't find this odd enough to question it
"Right then," he said as they reached the brick wall dividing platforms 9 and 10 "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Harry"
Again, Hermione found this odd. Mr Weasley walked casually towards the barrier and, with a glance at Harry, lent against it and disappeared. Harry followed Mr Weasley's example and he disappeared too. No one gave them a second look. Mrs Weasley looked rather relieved
"Thank goodness" she said to herself "Percy, go with Ginny please"
"Of course mother" Percy said. He took Ginny's arm and led her towards the barrier. Ginny fought her arm out of Percy's grip and scowled at him
"I'm not three, I can do it myself" she snapped, running towards the barrier with a determined look on her face. Percy followed and they both disappeared. Hermione glowed as Ron asked to go with her, and soon they were both in the platform

The rest of the Weasley's joined them, and Mr Weasley led them to the end of the train. Mrs Weasley kissed her children and Hermione was very pleased when she did the same to Hermione and gave her a hug. She also gave Harry a hard hug, and when she let go of him she looked rather teary eyed
"Do take care, won't you, Harry?" she asked. Harry nodded, before being led away from everyone by Mr Weasley. Hermione, Ron and Ginny boarded the train, who were joined just in time by Harry

They stuck their heads out of the window and waved at Mr and Mrs Weasley until they were out of sight. The train started to speed up, and Harry suddenly looked very nervous
"I need to talk to you in private" he said quietly
"Go away, Ginny" said Ron.
"Oh, that's nice" said Ginny grumpily, walking down the train to find her friends
Hermione, Ron, and Harry walked down the corridor looking for an empty compartment, but most of them were already full

They finally found an almost empty compartment at the end of the train. There was only one person sitting in it, and Hermione was surprised to see that he was a man. Hermione thought that the train driver and the trolley witch (who sold students sweets) were the only adults allowed on the train

The man didn't look very well off, as he looked pale and ill and was wearing brown robes that had been broken and mended several times. He looked quite young, about in his early thirties, but his sandy brown hair had already started to go grey. Strangely, there was several nasty scars on his face. The case above his head read Professor R. J. Lupin

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron whispered, obviously not noticing the case
"Professor R. J. Lupin" hissed Hermione
"How d'you know that?"
"It's on his case" she replied, pointing at the case and sitting down
"Wonder what he teaches?" said Ron
"That's obvious" whispered Hermione "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defence Against the Dark Arts"
"Well, I hope he's up to it" said Ron doubtfully "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway..." He turned to Harry "What were you going to tell us?"