SuperPotterLock- The Prisoner of Azkaban

The Dementor

The next morning was a flurry of activity as everyone heaved their trunks down the narrow stairs of the Leaky Cauldron. They piled them up by the front door with Hedwig, Hermes – Percy's screech owl – and Grace perched on top in their cages. Mr Weasley had invited Castiel and Gabriel to share the cars with them and a grateful Gabriel accepted, having previously had no idea how he would get himself and Castiel to King's Cross. A small wickerwork basket stood next to the trunks with Crookshanks inside, spitting and hissing, and Hermione crouched down trying to reassure him.

Finally, the Ministry cars arrived and they all piled in, shoving their trunks in the boot of the cars. The journey to King's Cross went smoothly, the cars sliding into gaps in the traffic with ease. They arrived with twenty minutes to spare and the drivers found some trolleys for them before tipping their hats to Mr Weasley and driving off.

'Right, Harry and I will go first,' Mr Weasley said, and the two of them disappeared through the barrier. Ginny and Percy followed suit, as did the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione. Then it was Castiel and Gabriel's turn. They went towards it at a slight run and slipped through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, where the Hogwarts Express was waiting, billowing steam. Almost immediately, they bumped into John, who was wandering around looking concerned.

'Hey, Castiel. Hey, Gabriel,' he said distractedly.

'Are you all right, John?' Castiel asked, dragging his trunk over to the last carriage of the train, where the Weasleys were all loading theirs.

'I'll see you later,' said Gabriel, heading off to the opposite end of the train.

'Yeah, I'm fine. Have you seen Sherlock?' said John, searching the platform.

'Not yet,' said Castiel.

'He'll miss the train if he doesn't get here soon,' John said anxiously.

'Will I really?'

Sherlock appeared behind them, making John jump.

'Bloody hell, Sherlock!' he exclaimed indignantly.

Sherlock had grown even taller than Ron and he'd finally had his messy curls chopped into an acceptable style. John could now see the shape of his cheekbones and even his clear eyes. John was also surprised to see Sherlock wearing a plain polo shirt and jeans. He could have easily blended with Muggles.

'What?' Sherlock said, fidgeting self-consciously.

John realised he had been staring and cleared his throat.

'Nothing, just, erm, nice haircut,' he said.

'Oh. Thank you.'

'Shall we go?'

They loaded on their bags and Ron shoved them out of the way to look out of the door.

'Harry, come on!' he shouted.

They looked outside and saw Harry still on the platform, talking to Mr Weasley.

'Arthur!' Mrs Weasley shouted urgently.

The train began to move and Harry sprinted away from Mr Weasley and across the platform. Ron reached out an arm, Harry grabbed hold of it and they pulled him in just in time. Once he was safely inside with the door shut, they dragged their trunk down the train to try and find an empty compartment. Most of them were already full, but right at the end of the train was a compartment with only one occupant. A man was sitting fast asleep by the window wearing an extremely shabby set of robes. He seemed to be quite young, though his light-brown hair was flecked with grey, and he looked ill and exhausted. They all hesitated outside, having never seen an adult on the train other than the food trolley witch. John sighed and entered first, sitting himself down carefully in the seat next to the man so that no one else would have to.