Chapter 43: Thestrals

"Harry! Harry!" Ron called. 

"Harry are you alright?" Hermione said loudly. Chris kneeled beside Harry and slapped him lightly. 

"Harry! Harry! Harry get up." 

"W-what?" Harry opened his eyes and put on his glasses while sweating badly. 

Chris, Ron and Hermione heaved him back onto his seat. 

"Are you OK?" Ron asked nervously. 

"Yeah," said Harry, looking quickly towards the door. 

"What happened? Where's that – that thing? Who screamed?" 

"It was a Dementor, Harry," Chris said while rubbing Ginny's back, who was very nervous and pale. "They feed on our happiness and can wake our worst, saddest memories." 

Ginny shivered again so as the unfamiliar boy, who Chris realized was a Gryffindor boy in Harry's year. 

"It's ok, Ginny. Everything is fine now." 

All of them stared at Chris when a loud snap made them all jump. The man 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. 

"Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me …" 

He strolled past Harry and disappeared into the corridor. 

"Who's that?" Chris asked Hermione. 

"Oh! It was Professor Lupin." Hermione pointed at the luggage rack. 

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Chris nodded. 

"Are you sure you're OK, 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 thought you were having a fit or something," said Ron, who still looked scared. 

"You went sort of rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching .." 

"And Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked towards the Dementor, and pulled out his wand," said Hermione. 

"And he said, ...None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go... But the Dementor didn't move, then..." Hermione looked at Chris. "Chris stepped up and ordered the Dementor to go and it left." 

Again everyone was staring at her. Chris felt annoyed by the looks. 

"What? It was affecting all of you. Wasn't it? If it stayed for a little more then Harry could've more badly affected. Those creatures can suck your soul out of you. So I did what I felt was right at that moment." Chris said angrily. 

Professor Lupin came back. He paused as he entered, looked around and said, with a small smile, "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know …" 

"Hermione, watch Ginny, please. I'll go and check on Luna and Colin." She said sharply and got up. 

"Excuse me. Miss..?" Professor Lupin said standing in her way. 

"Christina Norton. Professor." She answered. "Miss Norton, I'll like to talk to you for a moment." He said. 

"First, I must tell you, Professor that I didn't know why I ordered that Dementor and why it obeyed me, I just wanted to help my friends that's it," Chris said sharply. "I was going to ask if you're all right? You didn't eat the chocolate and I saw you are looking for others but yourself." Professor Lupin said with a smile. 

Chris was embarrassed, she never talked to a teacher like that. She respects everyone but she didn't understand why she behaved like that. 

"I'm sorry Professor. I'm fine." She said looking down. 

"It's alright. Eat the chocolate. We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes and go check on your friends," said Professor Lupin. 

Chris nodded and hurriedly left. Luna and Colin were almost fine. They felt bad for some time but no one was scared like Ginny or Harry. Chris told them what happened at Harry's compartment. 

"So Dementors have different effects on you," Luna said after listening. 

"What?" Chris asked confused. 

"I meant, everyone feels sad near Dementors. They make people sad but they make you angry." Luna explained. 

"Maybe... I don't know." Chris sighed. 

At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get out; owls hooted, cats miaowed. It was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets. 

"Firs'-years this way!" called a familiar voice. Chris turned and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake. Chris remembered her last year experience. Hagrid smiled and She waved at him but had no chance to speak to him because the mass of people around them was shunting them away along with the platform. Only First year's go by boat at Hogwarts. Chris, Ginny and Luna went by boat last year. This year they followed the senior students of the school out onto a rough mud track, where at least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students, each pulled, Chris assumed, by an invisible horse, because when they climbed inside one and shut the door, the coach set off all by itself, bumping and swaying in procession. The coach smelled faintly of mould and straw. Colin was also with them. 

"So the carriages pull on their own. That's so wicked." He said enthusiastically. 

"They are Thestrals. They're pulling the carriages." Luna said looking out of the window. 

"What's Thestral?" Ginny asked. 

"Thestrals are Skeletal, winged horses, only can be seen by those who have witnessed death," Luna answered simply. 

"Oh! Who did you..?" Ginny stopped in mid-sentence. 

"My mother," Luna said. 

They didn't speak for the rest of the ride. As the carriage trundled towards a pair of magnificent wrought-iron gates, flanked with stone columns topped with winged boars, Chris saw two more towering, hooded Dementors, standing guard on either side. The carriage picked up speed on the long, sloping drive up to the castle; all four of them were leaning out of the tiny window, watching the many turrets and towers draw nearer. At last, the carriage swayed to a halt, and they got out. The door into the Great Hall stood open at the right; they followed the crowd towards it.