Harry spends the next weeks happily wandering through Diagon Alley. He finishes his homework, explores the market, and buys his school books. Harry reunites with Ron and Hermione, and while discussing their summers and coming classes, they stop by a pet store. The three friends join the Weasleys, where each of Ron's siblings is his or her usual self. They eat together, and after dinner Harry passes by the bedroom where Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are in a heated argument about whether or not to tell Harry that Sirius Black escaped Azbaban with the supposed intention of finding and killing Harry. The following morning, company cars from the Ministry of Magic drive Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Weasley family to King's Cross Station; this special treatment is unusual. They all walk through the divider between platforms nine and ten, onto platform nine-and-three-quarters, where they catch the Hogwarts Express train to school. While on their way, the train stops and all the lights go out. A tall, robed creature enters Harry's compartment, and Harry feels a painful, intense, miserable cold feeling and hears screams. He passes out. He wakes to explanations that the creature is a Dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban, and that Lupin sent it away by sending something silvery in its direction. Lupin gives chocolate to him and to the other shaken students, and soon afterwards they all arrive at Hogwarts. At Hogwarts, Dumbledore, the headmaster, announce grudgingly that the castle entrances will be guarded by Dementors as precautions against Black. At breakfast the next morning, Malfoy and his cronies are still taunting Harry about the Dementor, and Harry ignores them while he, Ron, and Hermione prepare for class. Hermione is signed up for three classes that meet at nine o'clock, but when Ron questions her, she changes the subject. The three friends troop up toward the tower where Divination meets, and after many stairs and turns, they are led to the classroom by a short and belligerent knight named Sir Cadogan. Professor Trelawney joins the Harry and Ron while they read their tea and finds a Grim, the black dog who haunts churchyards and is seen as a death-omen, in Harry's cup.
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