Chapter 65. First Encounter

We all sat in deathly silence, none of us daring to utter a sound as we all listened in for the creaking and groaning the halted train was now making. We all stared at each other, our expressions of growing horror at this strange situation could not be hidden. However, the horrific expressions I saw on Pansy’s and Draco’s faces soon turned behind me. A cold chill of death encompassed the air as I gripped my wand tighter to keep from shaking, slowly turning my head around at the windowed door to our compartment.

My own heart, thumping in fright, the pounding in my ears was all that could be heard as I stared at this hooded figure. Memories of Voldemort in that forest in my first year resurfaced. ‘It’s Voldemort, he’s come back for me.’ I took a deep breath, the fog from my lungs dulling my sight for a moment, just as the hooded figure turned towards me. It was then I noticed the hood was mostly hovering on its own with hardly a being underneath, unlike Voldemort, this appeared closer to death itself.

It was in unnatural silence that the hood floated closer to our door, its hidden gaze still felt centered around me. I couldn’t explain how I felt it was ‘looking’ at me, but I could just know. It then slowly, almost gracefully, presented an aged and skeletonized hand, willing the door open with just a gesture. Pansy grasped my robes, and Val suddenly woke, hissing and slithering around my body with no consideration over remaining stealthy. “It feels so cold! What is that!? Get it away!”

However everyone was too scared to even notice as the cloak entered the doorway, hovering only inches from the ground. It then let out a mutter, the words emitted from under the shawl covering the thing’s face only sounded as the passing breeze. Like voices of the wind, carried by imagination, I could only hear mumblings of the insane. ‘Much like Lockhart after he accidently drank essence of insanity while visiting Snape at the end of the year…’ I suddenly thought, seeing what was left of him at the end of the school year.

In that thought, I saw the being, despite having rickety hands, move them with the same finesse of a craftsman. Silent as death it began holding out its hand outward, and whispered incoherently. However, despite not understanding a word, the meaning was understood. My mind, while incapable of understanding its speech, understood the essence of its desires. Thoughtlessly, I found myself slowly reaching out my hand towards the one it held out to me. “Lucas!” Pansy yelled under her breath, pulling on my robes tighter, together with Val slithering around under my clothes away from this being.

“It’s ok… It’s ok…” I whispered, continuing to stare at this creature, little meaning behind my own words as my mind was becoming empty just looking at the hovering entity. I carefully stopped my hand just inches above the creature’s. It blew more unintelligible words into the wind as its cloak fluttered in the freezing breeze that had enclosed the cabin. I understood, slowly resting my hand onto its frigid palm.

The cold sensation quickly shot up my arm, and I instinctively tried moving my hand away. However it gripped onto my hand tightly in response, its lanky fingers and sharp nails dug into my skin. I began panting and my head started to hurt as a memory suddenly resurfaced. I grunted, closing my eyes, opening them again, I saw myself in that particular night.

I looked up to see the bright moon at its fullest through the clearing, the last time I had ever seen the full moon. ‘It’s just as I remembered…’ I quickly glanced around in curiosity, the fireflies I had followed all these nights ago, danced around in the sky like the stars high above. I looked down to see I had even shrunk back to the same size I was when I left home for an adventure. Every part of this was just as I remembered. I then looked to where I knew a pair of eyes would appear.

Just as I did, a twig broke, and I could see a pair of bright yellow eyes looking back at me. However, to my shock, it didn’t end here. I watched as those intelligent eyes slowly emerged themselves from the underbrush, revealing the body of a large black wolf. I gasped as I saw it easily stood twice my height, it quietly stalked closer, carefully studying me with its glowing amber eyes. I felt its warm ticklish breath on my nape as it slowly circled me, sniffing me in curiosity.

After it was done, it sat before me, lowering itself to match my height and gaze. We both stared at each other, neither blinking as the hollowed winds blew around us. I slowly raised my hand, and just as I had done with the hooded entity, I slowly brought my hand down to the wolf’s head, resting it gently on its thick mane between its ears. The wolf let out a low growl, and I pulled my hand back, only to have the black wolf lower its head and bump itself into my chest. I chuckled at him, but a sudden pain in my left arm stopped me. I looked down in surprise, only to see the wolf biting my arm, silently tearing my flesh and sinew, pushing me to the ground. “AAHH!!” I began screaming in pain and fear, trying to squirm away from the black wolf. My gaze turned past its large glowing eyes, to the full moon above, its cool gaze heating me up.

Pansy jumped in fright as Lucas let out a horrifying cry. Her own emotions had turned dark, suddenly only thinking of the times when she was unsure of Lucas’ thoughts towards her, unsure if he enjoyed her company while the hooded figure descended into the compartment. However those depressing thoughts of the past were now drowned out with fear of Lucas in pain. “Lucas!” She screamed, trying to pull him back from the grasp of what seemed to be death itself.

With a sudden flash of light, the hooded being screeched as it quickly flew out of the carriage. However Lucas was still screaming, writhing in pain, waving his right arm to bat away the creature. “Get it off! Get it off! It hurts!” He kept screaming, however his eyes were still clenched shut. “Lucas! It’s already gone! Calm down!” Pansy yelled, glancing at Draco for help. However, another much older voice spoke. “He’s reliving his past trauma…” Draco, Pansy and Luna, who had been quietly studying everything, all looked towards the voice.

A man in his late 30’s, lanky and sickly, brown haired, but what caught everyone’s attention most was his expression. “RRrrggh! It burns!! Make it stop! Make it stop!” While Lucas was crying in pain from his hallucinations, the man looked at him with a look of reverence. He then waved his wand, a small glitter of energy wafted towards Lucas, quieting him down. “What’s happening to him!?” Pansy yelled, demanding an explanation. The man finally moved his gaze away from the passed out Lucas.

“That was a dementor. A warden of Azkaban…” “Dementor… I’ve heard stories of those. They eat all of the happiness in a person…” Suddenly Luna spoke, scanning the unconscious Lucas carefully as she spoke. “Indeed… When your friend wakes, give him this. It will help with any after effects.” Pansy glanced at the man again, holding out a bar of dark chocolate. Pansy frowned, but took the bar regardless, willing to take handouts for the sake of Lucas’ well being.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I still need to have a discussion with the conductor.” He nodded before closing the door, leaving everyone in a strange silence. Pansy then realized another hand grabbing Lucas’ left hand. The myriad of clamoring bracelets gave away that it was Loony Lovegood. “What do you think you’re doing!?” She yelled, slapping her hand away. The blonde girl was silent for a bit, staring into Pansy, before looking back at Lucas’ hand. “Just wondering if his arm is alright…”

Pansy watched as Val slithered under Lucas’ clothes, towards his left arm. She quickly lifted his sleeve showcasing his wrist and saw Val’s deep blue eyes looking at her, giving a low chirp of worry. Right beneath him was a blackened mark that looked like a deep bruise in the shape of the Dementor's sickly hand, however it began receding right before her eyes.