The first two years at Hogwarts were, at the very least interesting. There wasn't a semester in which Irune or her Gryffindor friends wouldn't find something exciting or get into conflicts for their curiosity. Of course, the little Ravenclaw wasn't there when the others got in trouble, but she'd find out anyway. She hoped that they wouldn't get themselves into trouble again this year.

In a compartment of Hogwarts Express, they were going to school. Irune was reading, Ron and Harry talked about how excited they were to return to Hogwarts, and Hermione smiled at how childish the boys were. Besides them was a man peacefully sleeping, not even paying attention to them as the boys were a bit loud.

"Quiet down, you two. You'll wake him up. He seems exhausted, so don't wake him." Hermione warned them.

"Okay, sorry," Ron mumbled and started reading the Daily Prophet. "Blimey, they let those things to search for Black?" he showed everyone else the picture from the newspaper.

"What are those?" Harry asked, not knowing what he was looking at.

"Dementors. The guardians of Azkaban. A gliding, wraithlike Dark creature, widely considered the foulest to inhabit the wizarding world. Dementors fed on human happiness and thus generated feelings of depression and despair in any person close to them. They could also consume a person's soul, leaving their victims in a permanent vegetative state, and thus were often referred to as "soul-sucking fiends," rendering a person an "empty shell." At least this is what it's written in books." explained Hermione while looking at the pictures.

"Why would they use such things?" Harry asked again, a bit disgusted by the description Hermione had made.

"Because they can keep in check in Azkaban? That place is full of dark wizards and witches." Hermione answers.

"Oh... that makes sense, actually." the boy concluded.

A small chuckle could be heard soon after that. Irune listened to them and found the boy's reaction quite funny. "You've been at Hogwarts for two years now; none of them went uneventful, yet, you still seem surprised by everything around you, Harry. At this point, I wouldn't be so astonished by the entities that guard the world's most dangerous prison, " she said, barely looking up from her book.

"Pardon me, Irune, but I am only surprised by things I've never seen before."

"I know, I know. It's just funny how things can still surprise you after fighting the Basilisk, and... how did you call it back then, Ron... the face on the back of Quirrell's head." she finally put the book aside, not because she took a break from it, but because she finished it. "There are many dark and mysterious creatures and wizards around the world. Some of them are never known; others get caught. And there are a few that face death. It'll be ironic if you react like this every time you discover something new."

"Maybe, but let me be a child for a while longer, would you, Irune?"

"I never said it's a bad thing, Harry. It's just really amusing to me to see you react like this. I'm not saying it's immature or something. You're just so innocent for the wizarding world."

"Like you're the one to talk. You're so sweet and adorable, especially when you spend hours drawing something." Ron said without realizing he was speaking out loud. Then, after seeing the reddish color Irune's cheeks had become, he realized they had heard him. "What? I said the truth, didn't I?"

"You did, but you also broke her." said Hermione laughing. Irune could barely look at Ron, let alone form a sentence to answer him back.

They started laughing at her reaction. But who would blame her? No one expected such a reply from Ronald, not to mention that he found her sweet and adorable.

"Wait until your brothers hear about this. They'll laugh until they faint," added Harry, still laughing. "You're right, still. She is kinda cute when she's focused."

His affirmation made Ron stop laughing for a moment. Harry had a crush on a Slytherin girl, right? So why was he complimenting Irune all of a sudden? "Yeah... she's cute." he smiled softly, making the girl smile again.

Silence settled over the compartment. Then, one by one, they fell asleep. Harry was leaning on the window, Ron and Irune somehow ended up cuddling next to each other, and Hermione was cuddling with her cat. Facing Harry on the other bench was the mysterious man who hadn't moved since the group joined him in the compartment. He must've been too tired not to react to the kids' loudness.

The evening goes by uneventfully until an unnatural cold froze the windows, waking Harry up. Of course, it wasn't that cold outside to freeze the windows. But it was so hard inside.

"Guys... wake up. Did they turn the heat off? Why is it so cold?" he woke the others up. It was freezing, and it was getting colder.

"Bloody hell, what's going on?" Ron asked, trying to look outside the window. Harry whipped it out to see those black creatures flowing outside the train.

"D-dementors," Harry whispered and backed away from the window. There were indeed dementors outside the train and also inside it. One of them opened the compartment door and looked at Harry directly.

"Harry, don't look at them." Irune tried to warn him, but it was too late. The dementor was already over Harry, trying to apply the dementor's kiss on him. Out of all the people there, that thing found him to feed on his memories.

Neither of them knew what to do. Usually, nothing would make the creature go away. Nothing but a Patronus. But none of them knew how to make one, so they couldn't help him with anything. Then, a blue light suddenly stopped the creature and made it go away. The man sleeping in the compartment woke up and managed to chase the dementor away. Harry fainted after he was freed from the grip.

"Are you alright, kids?" the man asked while checking them. "The dementor didn't hurt you, as far as I can see. It only caught your friend here. Help me wake him up, would you?" the man continued, smiling kindly toward the group.

The children hurried up to wake Harry up. "Sir... what happened to him? Is he going to be all right?"

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." the man said while searching for his pockets. Soon after Harry woke up, the man added. "Here, eat this. It'll help. It's all right. It's chocolate." he handed over a small piece of chocolate to the boy. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to talk with the driver."

The man excused himself and left the compartment with the kids in it. Harry was still shaken and couldn't bring himself to eat, but he did eventually.

"Did you guys also fainted?" the black-haired boy asked faintly.

"No, mate. I only felt like I couldn't be happy anymore." the red-haired boy answered. The others nodded as well. The only one affected by the dementor was Harry.

The ride continued in a deafening silence. The event shook Harry, but the others were also disturbed by what happened. The little ginger girl was in her own world, trying to understand why would a creature meant to protect prisoners in Azkaban would hurt someone so young and unknowing of the wizarding world. Her father told them about the ministry's decision to have the dementors hover over the school, but he assured her they wouldn't attack the students. Yet, they did.

The dinner went painfully silent. The news hit like a train. A prisoner that escaped was close to the school, and dementors were all over the place to catch said prisoner. At least one announcement was optimistic. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts seemed better than the former two. One evaporated, and the other ended up obliviating himself. Not the best experience with either of them. Low-key, everyone was hoping this former student would have the competence to teach them something useful.

Out of all the people that could bother the Gryffindors, the little blonde Slytherin prince decided to speak up. News about Harry fainting while seeing the dementors traveled faster than the ghosts around the school.

"Potter! Is it true you fainted? I mean, you actually fainted?" the blonde asked, with a grin on his face.

"Sob off, Malfoy!" the ginger boy replied, keeping Harry behind him. "You would've shit your pants if the thing came close to you."

"Leave him alone, Ronald. He's not worth it." Hermione stopped her friend from saying anything else. It wasn't worth it, anyway. It's not like Malfoy would listen to them. He would always laugh at Harry for fainting without knowing the whole story. The blonde prince would never know that a dementor almost killed Harry. He only knew about the funny part, according to them. For the group, it wasn't funny at all. They were scared their friend might've died.

After dinner, the little Ravenclaw girl joined the group smiling kindly. Then, reading the atmosphere in a flash, she scanned the halls for that blonde student who kept annoying her friends. "What did he do this time?"

"Nothing, Irune, don't worry about it. He was just being his usual self, as always." Harry replied, smiling lightly at his kind friend. "Excited about this new year? I sure am... if those things don't bother us..."

"I am, actually. Headmaster Dumbledore told us we shouldn't worry about that. Dementors are not allowed on school grounds. So we're all safe around school."

"He said that, yes, but what about Quidditch?" the boy asked, visibly worried about that.

"Don't worry; I'm sure those creatures will be gone when the games begin. As soon as they realize Black is not here, they'll leave. But, as students, we should keep an eye open to make those things go faster. I'll tell father too about what happened. I know he knows how to get over the dementor's kiss and leave your head working correctly." the girl explained, trying to make her friend feel better.

"Thank you, Irune. And also thank your father on my behalf. He's done a lot for me in these two years already."

Irune was more than happy to help anytime. Doesn't matter the costs, she'd help all the time. "Don't mention it. Dad loves you a lot, and, in a way, he wants to keep the promises he made to your parents."

"Oh! He doesn't have to, but I appreciate that. He indeed made my Christmas better last year. That book on magic and spells was perfect for summer."

"I'll let him know that in my letter." the girl smiled again. "Oh, gotta go. If I miss the stairs I have to levitate myself to the door..." she said, chuckling and waving while running after her housemates.

"Stop starring, Ron. Why don't you just ask her out if you like her that much?" Mione asked him, amused. The redhead followed the pure-blood girl going to her common room.

"She'll never look my way." the boy replied. "She's so lovely and cute, though."

Hermione started laughing at him, confusing the boy even more. "Ron, for how smart you are when you play chess, you know nothing about girls. Irune likes you, idiot. Talk with her when you find the courage to bring that up."

Both boys remain in the main room, watching their friend leave. They were baffled by her words. How could she tell another girl liked one of them? This was going to be an interesting year. Maybe one of them will actually end up with a girlfriend? Or close friends? Or both?