Free Harry Potter 03 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by authors_sort Page B

someone I know wants to kill me?’ said Harry blankly.
    ‘Swear to me that whatever you might hear –’
    ‘Arthur, quickly!’ cried Mrs Weasley.
    Steam was billowing from the train; it had started to move. Harry ran to the compartment door and Ron threw it open and stood back to let him on. They leant out of the window and waved at Mr and Mrs Weasley until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view.
    ‘I need to talk to you in private,’ Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione as the train picked up speed.
    ‘Go away, Ginny,’ said Ron.
    ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ said Ginny huffily, and she stalked off.
    Harry, Ron and Hermione set off down the corridor, looking for an empty compartment, but all were full except for the one at the very end of the train.
    This only had one occupant, a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. Harry, Ron and Hermione checked on the threshold. The Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for students and they had never seen an adult there before, except for the witch who pushed the food trolley.
    The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard’s robes which had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though he seemed quite young, his light-brown hair was flecked with grey.
    ‘Who d’you reckon he is?’ Ron hissed, as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats furthest away from the window.
    ‘Professor R. J. Lupin,’ whispered Hermione at once.
    ‘How d’you know that?’
    ‘It’s on his case,’ replied Hermione, pointing at the luggage rack over the man’s head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name ‘Professor R. J. Lupin’ was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.
    ‘Wonder what he teaches?’ said Ron, frowning at Professor Lupin’s pallid profile.
    ‘That’s obvious,’ whispered Hermione. ‘There’s only one vacancy, isn’t there? Defence Against the Dark Arts.’
    Harry, Ron and Hermione had already had two Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers, both of whom had only lasted one year. There were rumours that the job was jinxed.
    ‘Well, I hope he’s up to it,’ said Ron doubtfully. ‘He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn’t he? Anyway …’ he turned to Harry, ‘what were you going to tell us?’
    Harry explained all about Mr and Mrs Weasley’s argument and the warning Mr Weasley had just given him. When he’d finished, Ron looked thunderstruck, and Hermione had her hands over her mouth. She finally lowered them to say, ‘Sirius Black escaped to come after you ? Oh, Harry … you’ll have to be really, really careful. Don’t go looking for trouble, Harry …’
    ‘I don’t go looking for trouble,’ said Harry, nettled. ‘Trouble usually finds me .’
    ‘How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?’ said Ron shakily.
    They were taking the news worse than Harry had expected. Both Ron and Hermione seemed to be much more frightened of Black than he was.
    ‘No one knows how he got out of Azkaban,’ said Ron uncomfortably. ‘No one’s ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner, too.’
    ‘But they’ll catch him, won’t they?’ said Hermione earnestly. ‘I mean, they’ve got all the Muggles looking out for him, too …’
    ‘What’s that noise?’ said Ron suddenly.
    A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. They looked all around the compartment.
    ‘It’s coming from your trunk, Harry,’ said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later he had pulled the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry’s robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of Ron’s hand, and glowing brilliantly.
    ‘Is that a Sneakoscope ?’ said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look.
    ‘Yeah … mind you, it’s a very cheap one,’ Ron said. ‘It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol’s leg to send it