Chapter 18: A Frightful Ride

If Mia was honest with herself, she was embarrassed about what had happened at her birthday party. She'd never meant to tell her father any of that. The few times she'd spoken to her aunt about how she felt regarding her mother, her aunt told her it was normal to feel that way. Aunt Cissy had said that as she grew older, it would be easier to deal with those emotions and it might even be easier to understand her mother's actions. Knowing all that didn't mean she still didn't have…episodes, for lack of a better word, where she reached maximum angst. Not that she didn't mean what she'd told her father or that she regretted that she'd asked of him—she just wished she'd handled it better, or at least spoken to her uncle or aunt beforehand. She didn't dwell on it long, though. It's not like she could take any of it back. Besides, Mia had a feeling she'd always feel conflicted and uncertain where her mother was concerned.

The rest of the summer was pretty uneventful compared to the flare night. Well, except for the fact that she kept setting things on fire each time she got upset. The first time, the curtains in the library caught fire but everyone brushed it off on Sammy, the fire salamander. Mia and Harry assume it had escaped from the grate while she had been playing with him after Harry decided to tease her about the letters she had been receiving from Joshua Greene, a Gryffindor boy from the year ahead of them. The second time, she blamed a wayward spell since she'd been training with her uncle when he mentioned thestrals. When she had set fire to the dining room table after an argument with her father on whether or not she was old enough to be venturing into the Manor's woods alone, however, they had realized something was going on. That, and no one had missed how sparks had been literally flying from her fingertips or how her magick had been radiating out of her in heat waves when it happened.

Her uncle had concluded that due to her flare Mia would have to increase her magical exercises. It was also decided that she would be taking yoga to help her with her "emotional outbursts". That day, Draco and his mother had been sitting with them at lunch and the words had barely left his lips before her Aunt Cissy had hexed her father for his word choice. Her aunt obviously didn't know the extent of the situation, believing only that Mia had experienced a few cases of accidental magick, but she'd had plenty to say on the subject.

Mia started yoga the next day. And it did help with the fires. Or helped reduce them anyways.

Mia had thought yoga would be easy compared to some of the workouts that Mr. Travis had put them through. She soon discovered, however, that it had its own special kind of burn. Especially when she convinced Mr. Travis to show her how to build mental shields in an effort to compartmentalize her thoughts and emotions. She had first heard about it during her perusal of the Hogwarts library and it seemed incredibly valuable considering she needed to keep more than a few secrets safe. More than that, however, it had been a challenge. The book said it could sometimes take years of study and significant concentration to maintain mental shields, not to mention that the caster had to be magically strong enough to sustain them. Her father and uncle always said she had plenty of magick, so it seemed like it would be easy enough. Right.

"Am I ever going to get better at this?" Mia asked frustrated, cradling her head to fight the nausea that threatened to overtake her. It was the third week and she had ended each session with a splitting headache and little progress. She could already feel the first twinges of a migraine as she opened her eyes and saw Mr. Travers sitting cross-legged in front of her on the ground where they were practicing. "And why doesn't Jamie have to do yoga to control his stupid flare? I'm so sore," she grumbled.

Mr. Travis' lips twitched in amusement as he answered her. "We've been over this Mia. His flare wasn't as strong as yours, so his magick isn't as affected by his emotions—less magic, less instability," he said with an easy shrug. "I might remind you, as well, that it was your idea, love. You weren't supposed to start mental shielding until your fourth year," he told her with a chuckle. He was right, of course. When she'd approached her father, he'd informed her it had always been planned for them to learn shielding from Mr. Travis. It had been part of the original agreement between them when her father had hired the trainer. Considering how her magick had expanded, however, he had agreed that starting her earlier would be better. And so Mia found herself training with Harry three or four mornings a week, practicing yoga almost every day, and going through these mental torture sessions. Mr. Travis thought Harry needed more time before he was ready to start shielding, so he just grinned every time she went inside cradling her poor head.

"How come Papa can't teach me? Or Uncle Remus?" she asked curiously. She knew both of them could shield. Her father had been an Auror before he adopted Harry, and it was required for the higher ranking members of the Order in the last war.

"Your father learned under...unusual circumstances," he said slowly, obviously trying to figure out how much to say. "It was 'learn or else' for him, and he doesn't completely understand how he does it-so I doubt he could teach anyone else. As for your uncle, his lycanthropy does it for him. Anyone who tries to read him will only encounter the wolf, the best defense anyone could have," he told her with a shrug.

It took the entire summer before she was able to put up a shield while she sparred with Mr. Travis. If the paper thin barrier could even be considered a shield. Mia knew it would never withstand a Master Legilimens, or anyone really, but she felt proud of herself all the same. She knew with practice she would be able to strengthen it until it was rock-solid, and maintaining it would become second nature. For now, she should be happy with what she had accomplished. At least that's what Mr. Travis said.

The extra training was not the most annoying side effect of her studid flare, however. Due to all the magical "incidents", as her father like to refer to them, it had been ruled that having a campout could be too risky for her friends. While her control was much better, the twins were known for creating chaos and their penchant for pushing buttons. It was just a disaster waiting to happen, so the only one they saw that summer frequently was Draco.

Her cousin had taken to flooing over to Black Manor most days after breakfast, and ended up spending the night at least once a week. While he didn't say anything, both Mia and Harry knew it was because his parents were fighting often. Aunt Cissy would typically join them by lunchtime, and she always seemed so…tired. She had stress lines around her eyes and she didn't smile much. More than once she had disappear into the study with Mia's father and when they emerged Aunt Cissy's eyes would be red rimmed. Draco wasn't much better, staying close to Mia and not speaking much. His biting sarcasm and famous Malfoy pomp were gone, replaced by a sort of resigned quietness that wouldn't leave him, no matter what they tried.

Because Aunt Cissy was there so often, she had seen Mia and Harry training outside on a few occasions. She hadn't said anything, but Mia thought she had detected approval in her gaze as she saw Mia roll with the hard blows from sparring and giving a few of her own. On the times Draco spent the night, he would often join them for their early morning runs—although it took almost all summer before he was able to finish the entire loop. Mr. Travis was even showing him a few things, starting him off on the katas that Mia and Harry had spent so many mornings practicing when they were younger.

Although the plan had been to go on holiday in early August, Mia and Harry didn't want to leave Draco. When her father had suggested Aunt Cissy and him join them instead, she had refused to leave and Draco didn't want to go anywhere without his mother. So they stayed home, spending evenings in the library or outside playing Quidditch. On a very memorable night, her aunt even got on a broom and reminded them all that she had once been one of Slytherin's best Seekers.

Uncle Remus left two weeks before the start of the new term to finish his planning and get his office and classroom set up before the staff meetings started. Apparently last year he'd cut it close and had been rushing to finish everything on time. The trip to Diagon Alley hadn't been as fun without him since he was Mia's co-conspirator when buying new potion ingredients for…extracurricular purpose. She was upset before she realized they would be allowed to attend the Hogsmead trips now, which meant she could stop by the apothecary store there. That put a skip back into her step, which made her brother look at her warily from time to time.

By the time they were ready to head to Madam Malkin's, her father had become nervous and kept glancing at them. It wasn't long before Aunt Cissy had enough and stopped their entire group.

"Alright, that's enough. Out with it, Sirius," she said impatiently. "Whatever it is that has you acting so…unseemly, just spit it out so you can stop fidgeting like a first year."

"I don't kn—"

"Now, Sirius," Narcissa snapped. The children were staring at her warily, recognizing that tone from their Pureblood Etiquette lessons with her.

"I, uh, that is to say," he said clearing his throat, and shooting his children a look. "Well. I don't know how to say this. I, uh, I have been dating Rosie," he finally said, looking at Mia and Harry.

"Oh, honestly," Narcissa said with an eyeroll, grabbing a hold of Draco and going on without them.

"Papa, we know," Mia finally said with a smile as Harry started to snicker.

"Pardon?" Sirius said startled.

"Dad, we've known since you sent us a letter telling us you'd had dinner with her. And, I mean, she gave us our robes for our birthday as a gift. And you kissed her while we came in to pick up those tailored robes a few weeks ago a few weeks after term ended," Harry said with a huge grin.

"Ah, you, uh, saw that?" Sirius said with a wince. No one who knew him in Hogwarts would believe this nervous man was the same Sirius Black who had gone around seducing half the female population.

Harry nodded with a laugh. His father was not as sneaky as he believed himself to be. He'd pulled Rosie behind a rack of winter cloaks when Harry had turned to look at scarfs and the witch had emerged with bright red cheeks.

Mia had been nodding along with her brother, since he'd told her what he'd seen. "We like Rosie. She's not all…greedy like those other witches that always corner you at parties."

Sirius looked at his children a second before breaking into a huge grin and pulling both of them into a hug. "This went so much better than I was expecting," he said with a chuckle before peppering their faces with kisses. Mia started to giggle and Harry made every attempt possible to break free.

They'd eventually caught up to her aunt and cousin and when they'd gone inside the shop, her father had gone behind the counter and planted a kiss on a surprised Rosalie. The witch had shoved her wand to keep her long dark hair out of her face, but she reached for it when she recovered from the shock.

She shoved her father back and sent a stinging hex his way that made him yelp. "Sirius Black, you know better than to come in here and try that. This is my work," she scolded him, her cheeks red with annoyance. "What if I'd had customers? Hmmm? I have a professional image to keep! Honestly!" With that she turned away and sent a smile to the children. "Hello dears, oh uh, hello Mrs. Malfoy," Rosie said startled, cheeks reddening as she realized who she'd had her outburst in front of.

"Narcissa's fine. I hear we'll be seeing more of each other," she said with a laugh, thoroughly enjoying the fact that her cousin had fallen for a witch who didn't fall for his charm.

"Call me Rosalie, then. And you two! I just saw you and you've already shot up again. Mia, dear, you must have grown another two inches! We'll have to get you new school robes and cloaks—the old ones won't fit any more. C'mon then, step up. You know the drill."

Aunt Cissa ended up buying Draco's school robes there as well, and by the time all three had their measurements taken it was time for lunch. Rosie joined them and Mia's father proudly held her hand the entire time. While Mia had felt a bit jealous at all the attention he was giving Rosie, she'd pushed it aside when she saw how happy her father looked. She didn't think she'd ever seen him smile so widely or brightly before.

1 September 1993

It was fully dark outside as Mia looked out the window wondering why it was taking this long to get to Hogwarts. She was sharing a compartment with Harry, Draco, and Neville but the boys had left her alone as usual. They'd gone to chase down Lee Jordan to see what strange pet he'd brought with him this year. Or maybe they'd gone to find the trolley witch. She'd been reading and hadn't been paying much attention when they'd told her where they were going.

As Mia watched the landscape go by in a dark blur, she noticed the window had started to frost over. 'That's odd,' she thought but before she raise her hand to touch it, the train gave a sudden lurch and stopped. Mia went flying out of her seat and right onto the floor, landing hard on her hip and elbow. She heard Artemis hiss in displeasure at being so violently dislodged and felt the feline's claws as she scrambled to her owner.

"That's going to leave a bloody bruise," she grumbled, rubbing her aching hip as she heard other voices rise outside her compartment.

"What's going on?"

"…can't be there yet…"

"Maybe the train broke down and …"

Mia got unsteadily to her feet and reached down to gently pry off her cat, quickly putting her in the carrier so she could go see what was happening. She was about to go find Harry when she heard the first scream. She jerked away from the compartment, ice running through her veins as her brain started projecting every nightmare she'd ever had. She started to feel an overwhelming dread and grief as she stared at the door, disjointed echoes of every nasty comment she'd ever heard going through her mind.

She took a shaky breath and moved away from compartment's entry as she saw a shadow come into focus on the other side. The door slid open to reveal one of the most terrifying creatures in the magical world. She immediately recognized the cloaked skeletal figure from her uncle's books at home. It looked like the images Muggles liked to draw of the Grim Reaper, with its face shrouded in dark shadows. A dementor had found its way onto the train.

The cold she had been feeling seemed to peak as it drew nearer. She stood frozen in place as a wave after wave of fear and pain kept her rooted to the spot, staring in horror as the dementor reached out its skeletal hands to grab her shoulders. The moment its hands connected with her, images of Quirrell clutching his throat starting playing in her head. In the midst of it all, she could hear the echo of a voice, almost as if from a dream.

'Look at me darling. It isn't safe! Do you hear me?'

She tried to get a grasp on the memory but it flew away before she could. Instead, the sight of the compartment in front of her seemed to fade as she was thrown into her most painful memories. She started shaking as the dark feelings bubbled up inside of her and just as she thought she'd collapse from it all, she heard someone scream her name in the distance. Try as she might though, she couldn't make herself move.

"POTTER, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" she heard distant voices yell, followed by hurried footsteps. "Expecto Patronum!"

Mia felt a searing wave of heat engulf the compartment as the hazy white image of a swan suddenly erupted from someone's wand. The dementor recoiled and released her, making her stumble back. A second figure entered in the form of a lynx, this one clearly brighter, and jumped to join the swan, forcing the dementor out of the compartment.

"You have no right to be here. The train has been searched, he is not here. The Headmaster has been contacted. Leave," she heard someone say, but she couldn't make herself look up from the floor. Now that the animal projections had left the compartment, she felt incredibly cold again. She could feel tears running down her face but couldn't make herself move to wipe them away.

"Mia!" That was Harry's voice, but when Mia finally looked up she saw a boy she'd never seen before standing in front of her. She could see the dementor beyond him and the light of the animals as they worked to keep it moving.

"Potter! Stay back you fucking idiot! She's fine for now!" The boy snapped. He sounded like he was ready to hex her brother.

"Leave!" She heard a third voice say as a cat joined the lynx and hissed at the dementor. This was the brightest form so far, radiating enough warmth that Mia could feel it from where she was huddled on the floor. The dementor stood there a moment longer before gliding out of sight, the animal specters following closely behind. "We'll see it off and make a round to make sure there were no others," the mystery girl said. The boy moved away from the compartment and Mia saw Harry and Draco come rushing in, with Neville close behind.

Harry pulled her up to sit on the bench, immediately pulling her into a tight hug as Draco sat on her other side and took her hand. Neville sat down on the seat opposite from her, looking very pale and staring at her worriedly. She leaned her head against Harry and closed her eyes, relishing in the warmth of his hug.

"Are you okay?" Neville asked her with a shaky voice. "Never mind, stupid question," he mumbled. It wasn't everyday you saw a dementor.

"Of course she's not okay. She just had a dementor feeding off her," came Draco's exasperated voice, his hand tightening around hers.

"Here, eat this," she heard someone say gently. Mia opened her eyes and was startled to see the boy was standing in front of her. When Mia sat back and finally glanced up, she saw the darkest eyes she'd ever seen. Despite their near-black color the gaze was kind and concerned, captivating her. She glanced down and saw that the boy was holding out a piece of chocolate to her and she automatically accepted it.

"Thank you," Mia said quietly, breaking a large piece off before putting it into her mouth. The delicious taste immediately exploded in her mouth and the cold that had she hadn't been able to shake since she'd seen the shadow through the door finally began to leave her. She gave a shaky exhale and rubbed her arms, settling more firmly against her brother.

"Better?" the boy asked with a smile. He was tall and was obviously an older student. He had black hair and was cute now that Mia had a chance to look at him. He had deep-set eyes and a kind smile. His nose was a bit on the bigger side, and he had thick eyebrows, but Mia thought it worked for him.

"Yes, lots—thanks. Why was there a dementor on the train?" she asked as the train began to move again. The creatures were never this far from the prison or Dark forests.

"There was a breakout at Azkaban. They were searching the train for the inmate. Professor Dumbledore warned us this might happen so all the prefects have been doing rounds," he explained as Mia continued to eat the chocolate, feeling better with each bite. "Katie and I were right ahead when we saw it come in here. Of course, we almost didn't get to you because your brother came barreling down the train," he said with a frown at Harry. Harry stared defiantly back, unapologetic. There was no way he was just going to sit back when he knew his sister had been in danger.

"I'm sorry but who are you? And how did you cast the Patronus Charm? You can't be a sixth year," Mia asked curiously.

"Forget the bloody charm, who broke out of Azkaban? It's supposed to be inescapable!" Draco exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm Christopher Foster. Everyone calls me Chris though. I'm a Hufflepuff Prefect—fifth year. And uh, Professor Dumbledore called us in early this year. Had Professor Lupin teach us all the charm in case something like this happened. The ones of us that managed it were told we had to patrol the train the entire ride back. Loaded us down with chocolate too," he said pointing at the bar she held in her hand. "It was bloody hard to learn and I can't hold it longer than a minute or two. We got lucky Annabella—the Head Girl—was close and jumped in. I don't know if it would have lasted much longer otherwise," he said regretfully. "Even with Katie helping it was taking a toll on my magick."

"Well, the fact that you can do it at all as a fifth year is impressive. It's quite a difficult spell and it usually isn't even taught until late in sixth year," Mia told him seriously.

"Congrats on that mate, really, but I want to know about Azkaban," Harry interrupted impatiently.

"Yeah, no one's supposed to be able to break out," Neville said nervously.

"Right, well as far as I can tell it was only one prisoner. Someone by the name of Peter Pettigrew," Chris said with a shrug. Mia didn't have to look at Harry or Draco to know their faces had gone as white as hers.

A/N: I know this is a shorter one, but wow look at me go posting it not even two weeks after the last one. Also, this story has evolved and changed so much from when I first sat down, it's crazy. It's going to be A LOT longer than I ever thought it would be.

Thanks for sticking around and reading my words.