I will always find you

POA 7

Professor Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where they were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, who all looked extremely confused.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle" Professor Dumbledore told them as Professors McGonagall and Flitwick closed all doors into the Hall. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the Prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the Hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately" he added to Percy, who was looking immensely proud and important. "Send word with one of the ghosts." Professor Dumbledore paused, about to the leave the Hall, and said, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing" One casual wave of his wand and the long tables flew to the edges of the Hall and stood themselves against the walls; another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags. "Sleep well" Professor Dumbledore said, closing the door behind him. The Hall immediately began to buzz excitedly; the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" shouted Percy. "Come on now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

"C'mon" Ron said to Harry, Ella and Hermione; they seized four sleeping bags and dragged them into a corner.

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered anxiously.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be" Ron said.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know" Hermione said, as they climbed fully dressed into their sleeping bags and propped themselves on their elbows to talk. "The one night we weren't in the tower"

"Probably lost track of time being on the run" Ella said.

"Didn't realise it was Hallowe'en. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here" Ron said as Hermione shuddered. All around them, people were asking each other the same question: 

"How did he get in?"

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate" a Ravenclaw a few feet away said. "Just appear out of thin air, you know."

"Disguised himself, probably" a Hufflepuff fifth-year said.

"He could've flown in" suggested Dean Thomas.

"Honestly am I the only person who's ever bothered to read Hogwarts, A History?" Hermione said crossly to Harry, Ella and Ron.

"Probably" Ron said. "Why?"

"Because the castle's protected by more than walls, you know" Hermione said. "There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those Dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They'd have seen him fly in, too. And Filch knows all the secret passages, they'll have them covered"

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!" The candles all went out at once. The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the Prefects, and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars. 

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The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days. The theories about how he had entered the castle became wilder and wilder; Hannah Abbott, from Hufflepuff, spent much of their next Herbology class telling anyone who'd listen that Black could turn into a flowering shrub. The Fat Lady's ripped canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with the portrait of Sir Cadogan and his fat grey pony. Nobody was very happy about this. Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels, and the rest thinking up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.