et Harry's 
present to him?" 

"Stick it back in the trunk," Harry advised as the Sneakoscope whistled 
piercingly, "or it'll wake him up." 

He nodded toward Professor Lupin. Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope into a 
particularly horrible pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks, which deadened 
the sound, then closed the lid of the trunk on it. 

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," said Ron, sitting back down. 
"They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments 
and stuff. Fred and George told me." 

"Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione keenly. "I've read 
it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain --" 

"Yeah, I think it is," said Ron in an offhand sort of way. 

"But that's not Why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honey 
Dukes." 

"What's that?" said Hermione. 

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"It's this sweetshop," said Ron, a dreamy look coming over his face, 
"where they've got everything... Pepper Imps -- they make you smoke at 
the mouth -- and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and 
clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in 
class and just look like you're thinking what to write next --" 

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione pressed 
on eagerly. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the 
headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shades 
supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain --" 

"-- and massive sherbert balls that make you levitate a few inches off 
the ground while you're sucking them," said Ron, who was plainly not 
listening to a word Hermione was saying. 

Hermione looked around at Harry. 

"Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?" 

"'Spect it will," said Harry heavily. "You'll have to tell me when 
You've found out." 

"What d'you mean?" said Ron. 

"I can't go. The Dursleys didn't sign my permission form, and Fudge 
wouldn't either." 

Ron looked horrified. 

""You're not allowed to come? But -- no way -- McGonagall or someone 
will give you permission -- " musclely; Crabbe was taller, with a 
pudding-bowl haircut and a very thick neck; Goyle had short, bristly 
hair and long, gorilla-ish arms. 

"Well, look who it is," said Malfoy in his usual lazy drawl, pulling 
open the compartment door. "Potty and the Weasel." 

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly. 

"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, 

63 



Weasley," said Malfoy. "Did your mother die of shock?" 


Ron stood up so quickly he knocked Crookshanks's basket to the floor. 
Professor Lupin gave a snort. 
"Who's that?" said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward as he 


spotted Lupin. 


"New teacher," said Harry, who got to his feet, too, in case he needed 
to hold Ron back. "What were you saying, Malfoy?" 
Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed; he wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right 


under a teacher's nose. 


"C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they 
disappeared. 
Harry and Ron sat down again, Ron massaging his knuckles. 
"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," he said angrily. 


"I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get 
hold of his head and --" 
Ron made a violent gesture in midair. 
"Ron," hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin, "be careful..." 


But Professor Lupin was still fast asleep. 
The rain thickened as the train sped yet farther north; the windows were 
now a solid, shimmering gray, which graduily darkened until lanterns 
flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. 
The train rattled, the rain hammered, the ind roared, but still, 
Professor Lupin slept. 


"We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past 
Professor Lupin at the now completely black window. 
The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down. 


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"Great," said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin 
to try and see outside. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast.... 
"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch. 


"So why're we stopping?" 
The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons 
fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the 
windows. 


Harry, who was nearest the door, got up to look into the corridor. All 
along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their 
compartments. 


The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told 
them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, 
all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness. 


"'What's going on?" said Ron's voice from behind Harry. 
"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!" 
Harry felt his way back to his seat. 
"D'you think we've broken down?" 
"Dunno..." 
There was a squeaking sound, and Harry saw the dim black outline of Ron, 


wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out. 


"There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are 
coming aboard...." 
The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over 

Harry's legs. 
"Sorry -- d'you know what's going on? -- Ouch -- sorry 


65 



"Hullo, Neville," said Harry, feeling around in the dark and pulling 
Neville up by his cloak. 
"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?" 


"No idea -- sit down --" 
There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain; Neville had tried to sit on 
Crookshanks. 


"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," came Hermione's 
voice. Harry felt her pass him, heard the door slide open again, and 
then a thud and two loud squeals of pain. 

"Who's that?" 
"Who's that?" 
"Ginny?" 
"Hermione?" 
"What are you doing?" 
"I was looking for Ron --" "Come in and sit down --" 
"Not here!" said Harry hurriedly. "I'm here!" 
"Ouch!" said Neville. 
"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly. 
Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last. Harry could hear 


movements in his corner. 
None of them spoke. 
There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the 


compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. 
They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and 

66 



wary. 

"Stay where you are," he said in the same hoarse voice, and he got 
slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him. 

But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it. 

Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's 
hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was 
completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry's eyes darted downward, and 
what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from 
the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, 
like something dead that had decayed in water... 

But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature 
beneath the cloak sensed Harry's gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn 
into the folds of its black cloak. 

And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, 
rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than 
air from its surroundings. 

An intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in 
his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, 
it was inside his very heart.... 

Harry's eyes rolled up into his head. He couldn't see. He was drowning 
in cold. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was 
being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder. . 

And then, from far away, he heard screaming, terrible, terrified, 
pleading screams. He wanted to help whoever it was, he tried to move his 
arms, but couldn't... a thick white fog was swirling around him, inside 
him 


"Harry! Harry! Are you all right?" 

Someone was slapping his face. 

"W -- what?" 

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Harry opened his eyes; there were lanterns above him, and the floor was 
shaking -- the Hogwarts Express was moving again and the lights had come 
back on. He seemed to have slid out of his seat onto the floor. Ron and 
Hermione were kneeling next to him, and above them he could see Neville 
and Professor Lupin watching. Harry felt very sick; when he put up his 
hand to push his glasses back on, he felt cold sweat on his face. 

Ron and Hermione heaved him back onto his seat. 
"Are you okay?" Ron asked nervously. 
"Yeah," said Harry, looking quickly toward the door. The hooded creature 


had vanished. "What happened? Where's that -- that thing? Who screamed?" 
"No one screamed," said Ron, more nervously still. 
Harry looked around the bright compartment. Ginny and Neville looked 


back at him, both very pale. 
"But I heard screaming --" 
A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous 


slab of chocolate into pieces. 


"Here," he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. "Eat 
it. It'll help." 
Harry took the chocolate but didn't eat it. 
"What was that thing?" he asked Lupin. 
"A dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. 


"One of the dementors of Azkaban." 


Everyone stared at him. Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate 
wrapper and put it in his pocket. 
"Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse 

me... 

68 



He strolled past Harry and disappeared into the corridor. 

"Are you sure you're okay, Harry?" said Hermione, watching Harry 
anxiously. 

"I Don't get it.... What happened?" said Harry, wiping more sweat off 
his face. 

"Well -- that thing -- the dementor -- stood there and looked around (I 
mean, I think it did, I couldn't see it