Delilah steps onto the train with Fred and George and they begin searching for the final piece of their four-part puzzle, Stuart Longbottom.
"Stuart!" Delilah shouts excitedly, throwing her arms around her friend who spins her around.
"Stewie!" George says, wrapping his arms around his friend.
Delilah and Fred step inside the compartment to allow the two to talk. Everyone besides George and Stuart had noticed the chemistry and tension between them.
"I bet you that they get together before the end of next year," Fred says.
"What do you get if you win?"
"I take you on a date," Fred says.
"No, I meant monetary wise Frederick," Delilah sighs.
"Twenty galleons then," Fred states, his posture slightly deflated.
"Exploding snap?" Stuart asks, walking into the compartment.
"Sure"
The group talk and Delilah finally tells the others what Mr Weasley had told her about Sirius Black and the danger Harry was believed to be in.
"So Sirius Black is after Harry?" Stuart asks and Delilah nods.
"Apparently believes that Harry is the one thing stopping the resurrection of Voldemort," She says.
"Wow," George says.
"He'll be fine," Fred says. "Dumbledore is at Hogwarts"
"But no one has ever broken out of Azkaban before," Stuart says and George clips his ear.
"Bolster" George whispers.
After an hour, Delilah had fallen asleep and was curled up in the corner against the window. Her shoulders were steadily rising and falling as the boys talk quietly as not to wake her.
"How's the shop coming along?" Stuart whispers.
"Dahlia gave us a list of ideas and the potions and spells needed," Fred whispers, showing him a notebook that had been decorated with stickers of all different films.
"Why has she drawn the Whomping Willow?" George asks.
"On every page," Stuart says.
"And the branches are all in the exact same position," George says. "Look"
The train came to a stop with a jolt and Delilah jerks awake, and distant thuds and bangs told them all that luggage has fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps go out and they are plunged into total darkness. The temperature drops and ice begins to crawl up the glass as their breath begins to become visible.
"Something is moving out there," Stuart says. "I think people are coming aboard"
"Lumos" Delilah waves her wand and it illuminates her friends' faces.
The compartment slowly opens. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering light on Delilah's wand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. It was a Dementor.
Delilah's eyes dart downward, and what she saw made her stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, greyish, 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 Delilah's gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak.
The Dementor moves closer to Delilah and begins to draw a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it was trying to suck something more than air from her. An intense cold swept over them all. Delilah felt her own breath catch in her chest. The cold went deeper than her skin. It was inside her chest, it was inside her very heart.
Delilah feels the scream building in her chest and the voices in her ears get louder. She clamps her hands over her ears before she opens her mouth and a powerful scream escapes her mouth. All of the other occupants of the compartment clamp their hands over their ears as a force leaves her, pushing the Dementor back.
The scream trails off as Delilah sways slightly on her feet. Fred is quick to react, getting to his feet to help Delilah sit down. When Fred takes a seat next to her, something makes his eyebrows furrow. He turns Delilah's head to the side to reveal blood was trickling from her ears and down onto her neck.
"I heard a scream,"
The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with grey.
The man looks at Delilah and his whole body tenses up.
"Euphemia? Euphemia Potter?"
"Euphemia Potter was my Grandmother. I'm Delilah" Delilah says as Stuart pulls a tissue from his pocket and begins wiping at the blood from her ears.
"Of course. I'll send word to the Nurse that you'll need to go and see her when you get to the school" The man says before walking away.
"That was weird," George says.
The door opens again to reveal Cedric Diggory whose eyes move to Delilah instantly, ignoring the other occupants.
"Are you okay Delilah?"
"I am now," Delilah smiles at the boy who returns the smile.
Neither of them noticed Fred's annoyed frown as the pair stared at each other, seeming entranced.
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