THE CURSE | Harry Potter

Chapter 5 (YEAR 3)

TWO YEARS LATER

The wheels on the train moved forward in an even rhythm, and the cold wind screamed as they went in the high speed. The heavy rain was splattering against the windows as Vega looked up from her book and, to Vega's displeasure, the sound of the thunder rumbling could be heard from somewhere above them- and nor, it seemed, did Cedric who sat in front of her like it.

The two teenagers sat together in a compartment on the scarlet red train, waiting for it to take them to another year on Hogwarts. They had known each other for two years now. Two years that Vega hadn't dared to describe in any other way than interesting when her aunt had asked her and her cousin Draco about it the two previous summers. 

Neither her mother nor Mr Malfoy, Draco's father, had been seen much around the houses the past summers as usual, which Vega for the first time didn't seem to think was that bad. In fact, she was rather relieved about the fact that her mother wouldn't ask her any questions about her time at Hogwarts, since she was sure her mother would be anything but pleased by the fact that Vega's only friend was a Hufflepuff boy. Blood traitors the whole lot, she could imagine her mother saying. 

Vega looked at Cedric. His brown hair that used to lay in a mess on his head were fixed so perfectly that not a single piece of hair laid in the wrong place. He, unlike Vega, had grown a lot over the summer and almost had to kneel down whenever they spoke. 

Cedric noticed that Vega was staring at him and he looked up from his own book and smiled.

All of a sudden, the train stopped. They looked at each other confused. They couldn't be at Hogwarts already, could they? It had to be hours left. As they looked out through the window, the rain blurring the rolling hills on the English country side. They heard screams from the compartment next to theirs as all the lights went out.

Except from their own breaths, the only sound they could hear was a quiet crackling, as frost started to appear on the big window, and small clouds grew in front of their faces as they breathed out in the cold air.

"What's happening?" Vega asked her friend.

Cedric shook his head. "I don't know"

Vega put away her book and walked towards the compartment door to look out in the narrow train corridor. Cedric followed her and peeked out to look. At the end of the train they could se something black, moving past the compartments, stopping every now and then, as if they were looking for something. Or someone, Vega thought.

"C'mon get back in here" Cedric told her and carefully grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the compartment, before closing the door. Normally she would've smiled at him, telling him he was too worried and acted like an older brother, in which he'd respond with that he was as good as. But Vega didn't feel like smiling. She wasn't happy. Her heart felt cold, like all the happiness had been sucked out of her and had been left empty.

It wasn't until a bright blue light appeared from somewhere down the corridor, that the lights turned on and the train started to move again. 

"Dementors" Vega said and Cedric nodded. She'd read about them in a book her mother had sent to her over Christmas, since she'd been away and Vega'd had to stay at Hogwarts. She'd also figured out why her mother always gave her books, even though she was fully aware that Hogwarts had it's very own library, full of thousands and thousands of books. Hers couldn't be found in there. At least not in the normal sections, Hogwarts didn't teach that kind of magic, though Vega suspected at least some of them could be found in the restricted one.

She'd no major problems in school, in fact, she almost found some of the subjects being quite easy, which earned her a few house points now and then. Cedric had tried to learn her new spells every now and then that especially favored her in charms class that was taught by professor Flitwick, a short and kind man, plus transfiguration, taught by professor McGonagall. Yet, her best subject was neither of them, but Defense against the dark arts. She dearly wished that their new teacher was going to be better than the last two she'd had the past years.