Together (A Harry Potter love story) 3

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Before I could answer, the door opened again and Lupin came running in, breathing heavily.

"Jake," he panted, nudging Dad. "I told you not to come-"

"Remus, if Black is trying to contact my daughter..." Dad took a deep breath, straightening up. He took one look at Snape and his frown deepened. "Snivellus."

I burst out laughing before I could stop myself. "Snivellus? How did you-"

I immediately stopped talking at the stern expression on Professor McGonagall's face, and the look of pure loathing on Snape's.

"Jake," Snape growled, visibly clenching his fists. "You're as pleasurable as ever."

"I like to think so," said Dad casually. He turned to McGonagall and a smile broke out onto his face. "Minnie-!"

"As lovely as it is to see you, Mr Donovan," said Professor McGonagall, as though he was still a Hogwarts student, "I believe now is not the time to exchange greetings."

"Right." Dad nodded, placing a warm hand on my shoulder. "What's going on, Albus? You told me only yesterday that Black hadn't tried anything since the last break-in..."

"Yes, well," said Dumbledore, standing up and sweeping over to stand in front of Dad, "Black broke in just a few hours ago. He went into Gryffindor Tower, the third-year boys' dormitory-"

"-is Harry alright?" Dad and Lupin said at the exact same time. They exchanged an amused smirk, before their eyes were back on Dumbledore, looking more alert and serious than ever.

"Thankfully, yes. Mr Weasley woke up before Black could do anything," Dumbledore continued. "Mr Weasley told Minerva that Black was holding a knife and leaning over him..." The Headmaster took a short pause before saying, "Black managed to escape again."

Dad groaned loudly, using the hand that wasn't on my shoulder to grip his hair angrily.

"How?" he exclaimed, looking between Fudge and Dumbledore. "Were the dementors covering all the entrances?"

"All of them," Fudge answered instantly, as though Dad was the boss and not him.

"And the protection spells? What happened to them?"

"Nothing," said Dumbledore. "They were, and are, still there."

"There's no possible explanation of how he has got past the Dementors three times now," said Fudge. "Unless he can completely change into someone else," he added sarcastically, with a short miserable laugh.

The side-eye glance shared between Dad and Lupin didn't go unnoticed by me.

"And then what? Black sent a letter to Millie?" Dad asked, gently squeezing my shoulder. "How did he even get into Gryffindor Tower?"

"Longbottom thought it would be clever to write this week's passwords down on a piece of paper," said Professor McGonagall, through gritted teeth. I noticed her jaw was clenched, and I suddenly felt very nervous for Neville.

"It seemed as though Black accidentally dropped the letter on his way out," Dumbledore told Dad, handing him the letter. "As you can see, the parchment's ripped. It looks like the end of a letter."

Dad's eyes narrowed as he read through it, plainly multiple times, before giving it to Lupin to look at.

"We can take that back to the Ministry," said Dad, nodding at Fudge. "Get it looked at-"

"Not yet you can't," Professor McGonagall interrupted, still looking disapprovingly between Dumbledore and Fudge. "Albus wants to use Veritaserum on Millie to make sure she hasn't been talking to Black, and-