Nemea Leonthrope Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Hello fans, Kairomaru has returned with a new chapter! I want to thank my patrons for supporting me and helping to get this chapter out. If you’re not a patron please thank the ones who helped make this possible.

Thank you; Lu Bane Na, Thomas E Nellis, Patrick Ayres, Lukas Kusché, Jacob Ward, Evgeniy Kazanin, Daniel Williams, CC100, Brody Meech, and Benjamin.

If you’d like to become a patron and get access to these chapters a month earlier, just head on over to pa tre on and add a /Kairomaru after the com. With all that said let’s start the chapter.

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Chapter 6 – Hogwarts Bound, The Dementor on the Train

Leaky Cauldron ~ Harry Potter’s Room – Morning of September 1st

Dobby woke Harry up with breakfast on a tray and a cup of tea. Harry thanked the house elf before quickly eating and heading into the bathroom to get ready for the day. After persuading Hedwig to get into her cage for the trip to Hogwarts, Harry grabbed his trunk and the cage and walked out of his room heading for the pub down stairs. 

“Wotcher, Whiskers!” Tonks greeted Harry as he shut the door behind him.

“Good morning, Tonks. Are we ready to leave yet?” Harry asked with a smile, and his obligatory eye roll at Tonks’ use of her nickname for him, as the two walked down the steps towards the pub.

“Shouldn’t be too much longer, Whiskers.” Tonks replied with a grin. “Moody’s outside waiting for the Ministry cars to take us to King’s Cross. He’ll pop in to let us know when they’re here.”

“Alright, hopefully it won’t be too long, the train leaves in less than an hour.” Harry stated as he placed Hedwig’s cage on the table nearest the door. As if summoned by his name Moody opened the door, his magical eye spinning to look all over the room before he spoke.

“They’re here let’s get you to the station, Potter.” Moody’s gravelly voice growled out as he turned and headed out the pub.

“Right, coming.” Harry said as he picked up Hedwig’s cage and his trunk before following the old Auror outside with Tonks following behind him. Moody marched Harry across the sidewalk toward an old-fashioned dark green car; the car was being driven by a wizard wearing a suit emerald green in color.

“Get in quick, Potter.” Moody said as his magical eye quickly looked both up and down the street without the Auror having to turn his head. Harry got into the back of the car and was quickly followed by Tonks.

“Moody will be Apparating ahead to make sure the station is secure.” Tonks answered Harry’s unasked question as Moody closed the door of the car behind her before disappearing with a light cracking sound. The trip to King’s Cross was uneventful with Harry and Tonks chatting about Harry’s upcoming school year. The Ministry of Magic’s car seemed mostly ordinary, though Harry did notice that the car could slide through gaps that Vernon’s new company car wouldn’t have been able to. Not to mention that other motorists didn’t seem to notice anything amiss when the driver drove between two cars that even a motorcycle would have had trouble driving between. They quickly reached King’s Cross with around twenty minutes to spare; the Ministry driver found Harry a trolley, loaded his trunk onto it, and then gave a small salute to Tonks before getting back into the car and driving away. Harry watched in mild fascination as the Ministry car somehow jumped to the front of an unmoving line of cars at the traffic light without any of the other motorist noticing at all.

Tonks kept close to Harry all the way into the station while they walked up to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Harry strolled toward the barrier pushing his trolley, an announcement over the speakers said that the InterCity 125 train had just arrived at platform nine. With a glance between them Tonks and Harry walked straight up to the barrier and through it without notice, arriving on platform nine and three-quarters. The two looked at the Hogwarts Express the scarlet steam engine was puffing smoke and getting ready to depart. The platform was packed as usual with witches and wizards seeing their children onto the train.

“Alright, Whiskers, this is where we part for now.” Tonks said with a grin as she saw Harry roll his eyes at her.

“Thanks for watching out for me, Tonks. Thank Moody for me as well please.” Harry asked with a smile.

“Will do, Whiskers!” Tonks responded with a grin as Harry once more rolled his eyes and boarded the train.

Harry headed toward the end of the train, walking past packed compartments, until he found a carriage that looked empty except for a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. He quietly loaded his trunk into it and gently placed Hedwig on the luggage rack before sitting down away from the man to await his friends. It wasn’t long before Ron and Hermione found the compartment that Harry was in, both stopped at the doorway however upon seeing the man by the window. The Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for the students with the only adults on board being the conductor and the lady who pushed the food cart.

This stranger was wearing a shabby looking set of robes that looked to have been re-stitched in several places. His skin and face made him look ill with the pale complexion and the slight wrinkles. Though he looked a bit too young, for a wizard at least, his light brown hair was flecked with some gray.

“Who do you reckon he is?” Ron whispered as he and Hermione stowed their trunks and Hermione put Crookshanks, in his cat carrier, into the overhead rack next to Hedwig.

“Professor R. J. Lupin, apparently.” Hermione answered quietly as they sat down next to Harry away from the windows.

“How do you know that?” Ron asked perplexed.

“It’s on his case.” Hermione replied while pointing over the man’s head at the luggage rack. There was a small case that had definitely seen better days and stamped on the case in peeling letters was Professor R. J. Lupin.

“Wonder what he teaches?” Ron pondered while looking between the man and the case.

“That’s obvious, there is only one vacancy isn’t there? Defense Against the Dark Arts.” Hermione whispered back.

“Oh, right.” Ron replied looking sheepish.

The trio fell into hushed discussion about the upcoming year both classes and their first trip to Hogsmeade Village. All three were looking forward to seeing the village for the first time, though Ron and Hermione got into a near argument about whether to go to the sweet shop Honeydukes or take a look around the historic village and see the famous landmarks.

As the Hogwarts Express continued its’ journey North and the landscape outside the window became greener and more rural. The sky was darkening as the clouds thickened, promising rain or even a storm. People were walking past their compartment and as the clock turned to one in the afternoon the witch that pushed the food cart arrived at their door.

“Should we wake him up?” Ron asked while nodding towards Professor Lupin. “He looks like he could use some food.”

“Err…Professor?” Hermione said while approaching the man cautiously. “Excuse me…Professor?” The sleeping man didn’t move only continued on as he had been the whole trip.

“Not to worry, dear” the witch said as she handed Harry a small stack of Cauldron Cakes. “If he’s hungry later I’ll be up front with the conductor.”

“I guess he is asleep?” Ron whispered as the witch closed the door. “He hasn’t died, has he?”

“No, no, he’s breathing.” Hermione replied quietly while taking a Cauldron Cake that Harry handed to her and giving him a smile.

While he wasn’t much company when it came to conversation, Professor Lupin’s presence in the compartment had its benefits. Around midafternoon, shortly after it had started raining, they heard footsteps outside again and their three least favorite people appeared at the door. Draco Malfoy, along with his two cronies Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, came to make their usual trouble.

“Well, look, who it is,” Draco drawled in his typical way. “The creature and the Weasel.”

“That the best you can come up with, Malfoy?” Harry stated unimpressed as he looked at the slightly smaller student. For some reason he wasn’t in the least bothered by the appearance of his schoolyard bully. ‘A King does not fear the challenge of a weak Beta male.’ The instinctive thought came to mind quickly almost causing Harry to smirk. Draco’s sudden sneer made him look like he’d smelled something foul. Professor Lupin gave a snort from the noise before going back to stillness.

“Who’s that?” questioned Draco, taking a step back as he finally noticed the adult in the compartment.

“New teacher,” Harry replied while standing up, showing just how much difference in height was between himself and Draco, a good eight centimeters. Draco backed up another step upon noticing the size difference between them. “So, do you want to keep up your insults, Malfoy?”

“C’mon, let’s go.” Draco sneered as he narrowed his eyes at Harry. Crabbe and Goyle quickly following their leader as he left the compartment; Harry quietly closed the door behind them before sitting back down.

The rain only got worse as the train continued north, the windows now to wet to see through, it eventually got so dark that lanterns flickered on in the corridors and over the luggage racks. Through all of this Professor Lupin continued to sleep.

“We should be there soon.” Ron said trying to see anything through the dark window to give some indication of where they were. A few seconds later the train started to slow down. “Great, I’m starving, can’t wait to get to the feast.”

“We can’t be there yet,” Hermione said checking the time on her watch. “Why are we stopping?”

The train continued getting slower and slower and as the noise of the pistons lessened, the wind and rain against the window sounded louder than before. Harry, being the closest to the door, got up to look outside the compartment. All along the corridor, people’s heads were poking out of doors looking around in confusion. With a sudden jolt the train came to a complete stop, a series of bangs and dull thuds letting anyone that heard them know that luggage had fallen out of racks. In the next second all the lanterns went out plunging the entire train into pitch black darkness.

“What’s going on?!” Ron’s voice cried out from behind Harry.

“Ow! Ron! That’s my foot!” Hermione exclaimed in the dark. Harry quickly found his way back to his seat feeling along the wall with his hand.

“Did we break down?” Ron questioned uncertainly.

“Not sure…” Harry trailed off not having an answer for his friend.

A squeaking noise caused Harry to turn his head and look towards the window. He saw the outline of Ron wiping a section of the window clear of condensation.

“I see something moving out there.” Ron stated trying to see through the darkness. “I think people are getting on…” he trailed off in confusion. The door suddenly opened and someone fell over Harry’s legs.

“Sorry, do you know what’s going on? Ouch! Sorry.” Said a familiar voice that all three Gryffindors knew.

“Hello, Neville.” Harry greeted the shape on the floor before feeling around and grabbing the back of Neville’s robes and hauling him to his feet.

“Harry? Is that you? What’s going on?” Neville asked as he stood in the dark compartment.

“No idea, sit down.” Harry replied as he pushed Neville towards the bench across from him.

“I’m going to go ask the conductor what’s going on.” Hermione announced as she stood up. Harry felt her pass him and heard the door slide open again. A sudden thud and two exclamations of pain followed.

“Ow! Who’s there?” asked a familiar female voice.

“Ow! Ginny? Is that you?” Hermione asked.

“Hermione? Yeah it’s me.” Ginny answered.

“What are you doing?” Hermione questioned as she put her hand on the vague outline of Ginny’s shoulder.

“I was looking for Ron.” Ginny replied as she steadied herself.

“Well come in and sit down.” Hermione said as she pulled Ginny into the compartment.

“Hey, not on me!” Harry said as Ginny almost sat on him.

“Quiet!” ordered a hoarse voice softly. Professor Lupin seemed to have finally woken up. Harry heard some movements in the Professor’s corner while the five students remained quiet.

A soft crackling noise sounded before a dull light filled the compartment. With the new light they could all see that Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of fire. The light illuminated his tired face, but his eyes were completely alert and looked around warily.

“Stay where you are.” Professor Lupin said with a hoarse voice. He slowly got to his feet and with his handful of fire moved towards the door. The door slid open slowly before Professor Lupin could reach it, and standing in the doorway illuminated by the flames that he still held in his hand was a tall cloaked figure that almost touched the ceiling. Its face was hidden by the hood it wore. Harry’s eyes quickly looked downward and his stomach tightened at the sight. A hand was protruding from underneath the black cloak, but it wasn’t a normal hand at all, slimy, scabbed and grayish in color it looked like something that had decayed in water.

As if the creature in the cloak sensed Harry’s gaze, the hand quickly disappeared back into the dark cloak. Then the thing, whatever it was, took a long, slow, deep breath almost rattling in sound; like it was trying to suck in more than just air. A chill swept over Harry, he felt like his breath would become visible. The chill slowly got colder, Harry wasn’t sure how or why, but a quick look around showed him that his friends were shivering not just from the cold, but from terror. Seeing his friends like that, especially Hermione, sparked anger inside Harry’s chest. ‘How dare it! What did this creature think it was doing to his friends?! He was the King! It dared to threaten him and what he cared for!’ With the instinctual thought in mind and anger in his heart Harry literally growled at the cloaked creature.

Professor Lupin seemed shocked at the deep growl coming from the student next to him. Before he could say anything to the Dementor, Harry had already moved past him and physically shoved the Dementor out of the compartment. Upon contact with the Dementor, even though Harry didn’t know what it was, the chill became unbearably worse and his mind became drowned in a cold fog. He could vaguely hear what he thought was someone screaming in the distance. Seeing Harry suddenly stop moving Lupin moved between the teen and the Dementor.

“None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Leave.” Lupin stated forcefully. When the Dementor didn’t move Lupin trained his wand on it and sent a dense silver mist at the creature. With another rattling breath the Dementor quickly floated away and off the train. Once the Dementor was gone Lupin quickly and carefully led Harry back to his seat in the compartment and had him sit down. He was quick to reach up into the luggage rack and get his pack down. Quickly opening it he pulled out multiple bars of chocolate and began passing them out.

“Harry? Harry?!” Hermione called to her friend when she didn’t see him move.

“Eat the chocolate, it’ll help.” Professor Lupin said with authority causing the four teens to do as he said. The lanterns came back on and the train slowly started moving again. Lupin unwrapped a chocolate bar and held it under Harry’s nose. “Come on, wake up now.” With a start Harry blinked his eyes rapidly before looking around in confusion.

“What happened? Where’s that thing? Who screamed?” Harry asked dazed as Professor Lupin quickly put the chocolate bar into Harry’s hands while telling him to eat it.

“No one screamed.” Ron replied with a shaky voice. Harry looked around the relit compartment. Ginny and Neville were looking at him, both were very pale.

“I could’ve sworn I heard somebody scream….” Harry trailed off as Professor Lupin told him to eat the chocolate again. A small bite of the chocolate brought some warmth back to his body and helped clear his mind a bit more. “What was that thing?”

“A dementor,” Professor Lupin answered as he checked to see if all the students were eating there chocolate. “One of the dementors of Azkaban.”

All of the students stared at the Professor either in confusion or understanding. The ones who knew what a dementor was were terrified and wondering why a dementor had appeared on the Hogwarts Express. Those who didn’t know what a dementor was simply blinked in confusion while nibbling on their chocolate bars.

“Finish the chocolate, it’ll help. I need to speak to the conductor, excuse me.” Professor Lupin stated as he strolled past Harry and out into the corridor disappearing towards the front of the train.

“Are you okay, Harry?” Hermione asked looking anxiously at Harry.

“I’m still trying to figure out what happened. I felt sort of cold when it showed up, but when I saw what it was doing to all of you I got angry and shoved it. As soon as I touched it the cold feeling got so much worse and it was like my mind was in a fog.” Harry explained as he finished off his chocolate bar and threw the wrapper next to the other discarded sweets wrappers from the trip.

“I thought you were having a fit or something. As soon as you touched it you went completely rigid and wouldn’t respond.” Ron said still looking scared.

“It was horrible. Did you feel how cold it was when it came in?” Neville asked in a higher voice than normal.

“I felt weird, like I’d never be happy again.” Ron replied shifting uncomfortably. Ginny, who was still huddled in the corner, gave a small sob. Hermione quickly moved over to hug the other girl and offer whatever comfort she could. Professor Lupin came back a few minutes later and after a quick glance around the compartment smiled at seeing all the chocolate finished off.

“We’ll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Are you all right, Harry?” Professor Lupin questioned.

“I feel better now. The chocolate really helped. Thank you, Professor.” Harry replied as he looked at the worn out man.

“I’m glad to hear that. Not many people have physically touched a dementor, so the effects aren’t very well known. You’ll probably be sent to Madam Pomphrey’s for a look over before the feast.” Professor Lupin informed as he sat back down by the window. No one talked much throughout the rest of the journey. After a short time the train stopped at Hogsmeade Station, there was a great rush to get off the train. It was frigid on the small platform as rain came down in icy waves.

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years this way!” called out a familiar voice. Harry, Hermione and Ron turned to see the large form of Hagrid at the opposite end of the platform. The large groundskeeper was beckoning the scared-looking first years towards him for the traditional ride across the lake. Harry and the others followed the rest of the upper years towards a rough, currently muddy, track where dozens of stage coaches were lined up. Harry had to assume that they were pulled by some kind of invisible horse since he couldn’t see anything attached to the carriage besides the wooden bars used to connect a horse to the carriage. He climbed into a coach with the others and waited for it to move towards the castle.

As the carriage made its journey up to the castle Harry noticed that as they passed through the gates that there were another two Dementors stationed on either side. A brief bout of cold seeped into the carriage as they passed by the two guards before they arrived at the castle. The three students quickly left the carriage and headed inside, shortly after walking through the doors of the Great Hall a familiar voice called out to two of them.

“Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!” called Professor McGonagall over the heads of the crowd of students. Harry followed Hermione over to their Transfiguration Professor and Head of House, a feeling of foreboding and resignation at what was most likely about to happen. “I’ll need you both to follow me to the Hospital Wing. I’ve received word from Professor Lupin that you came into physical contact with a dementor, Mr. Potter. So we’ll be getting you looked over by Madam Pomphrey before the feast. Ms. Granger, I’ll be discussing your course schedule for the year with you while we wait for Mr. Potter.” McGonagall explained promptly as she led the two Third Years towards the Hospital Wing. 

As soon as the trio of teacher and students arrived at the Hospital Wing and walked through the door Harry was immediately set upon by the school Mediwitch. Harry felt himself blushing at the attention as he was ushered over to one of the beds and forced to sit down on it.

“I’m feeling fine. I don’t need anything….” Harry tried to say but was quickly shushed by the Matron who bent down to start examining him.

“The term hasn’t even started and already I’m looking after a student because of those things.” Pomphrey complained as she checked Harry over physically, already knowing that diagnostic spells wouldn’t work on the Leonthrope wizard. “Honestly, setting dementors around a school, what is the Ministry thinking? It won’t be a week before I’m taking care of collapsed students, I have no doubt. Terrible things they are, especially the effect they have on younger people.” The Matron continued to rant.

“Does he need any kind of special treatment, Poppy?” McGonagall asked from several beds over where she was talking with Hermione.

“Not from what I can tell. It doesn’t look like he was harmed physically. Do you feel anything out of sorts, Mr. Potter?” Pomphrey asked as she inspected Harry’s hands for any sign of injury.

“No, after eating the chocolate that Professor Lupin gave us I’ve been feeling alright.” Harry replied as the Matron looked him over.

“Chocolate? Well, it’s good to see that we have a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor that knows what they’re doing.” Pomphrey said with a satisfied nod of her head. After confirming that Harry was well and McGonagall and Hermione finishing their talk the trio made their way down to the Great Hall for the feast. They arrived in time to see Professor Flitwick walking away with the Sorting Hat and a small stool.

“Oh, we’ve missed the Sorting.” Hermione said with slight disappointment.

“Off you go, you two.” McGonagall said as she shooed the two students towards the Gryffindor table before moving up to the Head Table herself.

“Everything all right, mate?” Ron asked as Harry and Hermione sat down next to him.

“Fine, they just wanted to see if I was ok after touching a dementor.” Harry whispered back as Dumbledore stood up to begin the start of term announcements.

“To all of our new students, welcome to Hogwarts; to all of our returning students, welcome back. I have a few announcements before we begin our wonderful feast.” Dumbledore began as he looked around the Great Hall at all the students. “As I’m sure most of you are aware after the sudden search of the Hogwarts Express, our school will be playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban this term. They will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds and while the Ministry has assured me that they will not disrupt our day to day activities, a word of caution. Dementors are vicious creatures; they are not fooled by tricks or disguises…not even Invisibility Cloaks. They will not distinguish between the one they hunt and those who get in their way. It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses, nor to be forgiving. I beg each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you.” Dumbledore’s serious face and tone had more than one student nodding in agreement unknowingly.

“But on to more pleasant news. I am happy to announce two new Professors for this year. First is Professor R. J. Lupin who has kindly agreed to fill the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor this year.” Dumbledore announced as he gestured to Lupin at the Head Table, the worn out man standing up and giving a brief bow to the students as he received a mild applause. “Professor Kettleburn, our previous Care of Magical Creatures Professor, has decided to retire so that he may spend more time with his remaining limbs. So I’m pleased to announce that our own Rubeus Hagrid has agreed to teach the subject in addition to his gamekeeper duties.” Hagrid looked pleased but rather embarrassed as the students clapped for him, a very loud applause coming from the Gryffindor table especially. It was after the rest of the yearly announcements that the students were allowed to begin the feast. With great gusto Harry took two servings of meat, vegetables and bread as well as some fruit and filled his stomach. After everything had been eaten and the tables cleared the students were led to their dormitories. Hearing about the weekly password changes that were being implemented for security, which made Neville almost whimper at having to try and remember so many passwords, they were all let into the Gryffindor common room.

“Hi Harry.” Lavender Brown greeted with a smile as she and Parvati walked up to the trio.

“Hey Harry.” Parvati Patil greeted with a grin of her own.

“Hey Lavender, hey Parvati.” Harry returned the greetings with his own smile. “How’ve you two been since our last letters?”

“Not bad, though I’m sorry we weren’t able to hang out this past summer.” Lavender replied with a small frown.

“I’m sorry about that too, Harry. But when I told my mother and grandmother I wanted to learn how to weave silk into clothes they became really intense teachers. I’m surprised they let me take nights off to sleep and write to you sometimes.” Parvati explained with a rueful shake of her head.

“Its fine, I know you both were busy this summer. Your letters made that pretty obvious.” Harry said with a grin before he covered a yawn with his hand. “We should probably get to bed soon; I’m getting sleepy from the feast.” With goodnights exchanged Hermione, Parvati and Lavender went up to the third year girls dorm while Harry and Ron made their way to the boys dorm for a good night’s rest. Harry was looking forward to speaking with his female friends tomorrow at breakfast. He was hopeful that he’d be able to talk to Padma as well. He really enjoyed her letters about her Enchanter lessons with her father. But all of that could wait until tomorrow, right now all Harry wanted to do was sleep as he changed into his pajamas and crawled into his four poster bed and got under the covers.

End Chapter

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think. Hopefully we’ll have more interaction between Harry and the other girls in the next couple chapters. Also, a certain Head Girl figures out who paid for her advanced tutoring near the end of summer and shows her appreciation leading to Harry getting thanked multiple times much to his embarrassment. So look forward to that! Until next time, later!