Bella and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Six

A/N: PLEASE READ THE AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END! IT'S IMPORTANT REGARDING UPDATES!

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The compartment that we chose only had one person inside. It was a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. We checked on the threshold. The Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for students and I had never seen an adult before, except for the witch who pushed the food trolley. 

The man was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes which had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Although he seemed quite young, his light-brown hair was flecked with grey.

"Well...this isn't weird or anything," I say, looking at the stranger.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron asked, as we sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats furthest from the window. Like always, I rested my head against Harry's shoulder.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione whispered. 

I look at her confused. How does she know?

"How do you know that?" I ask, speaking my thoughts.

"It's on his case," Hermione 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.

"Huh," I shrug, "that doesn't explain why he's here though,"

"Bella's right," Ron said, frowning at Professor Lupin. " I Wonder what he teaches?"

"It's obvious isn't it?" Hermione whispered. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defence Against the Dark Arts"

Ah, the job that's apparently 'cursed' because no Professor ever stays longer than a year. We had already had two Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers, both of whom had only lasted like I said, a year. Hence why there were rumours that the job was jinxed.

"Well, I hope he's up to it," Ron said doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him, doesn't he? Anyway..." he turned to me and Harry, "what were you going to tell us?"

I shared a look with Harry who nodded and took a deep breath. I explained, with the help of Harry, all about Mr and Mrs Weasley's argument and the warning Mr Weasley had just given us. When we had finished, Ron looked thunderstruck, and Hermione had her hands over her mouth. She finally lowered them to say, 

"Sirius Black escaped to come after you both?  Oh...you'll both have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble,"

"I don't go looking for trouble," Harry said, and I nodded agreeing with him. "Trouble usually finds me,"

"And me," I cut in, remembering my second year...

"How thick would they have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill Harry and kidnap Bella?" Ron said, shakily.

They were taking the news worse than I had expected. Both Ron and Hermione seemed to be much more frightened of Black than me and Harry were.

"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," Ron said uncomfortably. "No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner, too"

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" Hermione asked earnestly. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him, too..."

"What's that noise?" I asked, suddenly.

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

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