Harry McGonagall

Chapter 26 - Beginnings

Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Harry McGonagall – Chapter 26 – Beginnings

After Professor Flitwick had finished telling the Ravenclaw students about Sirius Black's attempted break-in to GryffindorTower, Harry, along with all his housemates, hurriedly prepared for bed in silence so that five minutes later the large group of children in bedclothes were following their head of house to the Great Hall. The whole time, Harry was thinking only one thing – 'Black knows I'm here, but like last time, he doesn't want to just kill me. He wants to kill Brianna first.'

"I know what you're thinking..." a familiar whisper pulled him out of his musings. He turned to see his best friend, Hermione Granger, looking pointedly at him. She continued quietly, "...but you're wrong. Black wasn't after Brianna. It's just a coincidence."

"But," he began to protest before being cut off.

Hermione whispered firmly, with Padma between them and any potential eavesdroppers, "The Potters were all in Gryffindor and so was Sirius Black. If he is after Harry Potter, that's where he'd look for him." She paused. "It does seem strange that he doesn't know the Boy-Who-Lived never showed up here, though." She shrugged. "But that's the only possible explanation of why he came here. She's the wrong gender and wrong year."

"So you're saying Brianna's probably safe. He'll just kill Neville instead, thinking he's the Boy-Who-Lived."

Hermione nodded with a concerned expression. "Or possibly Seamus Finnegan. I don't think he'd mistake Ron Weasley for Harry Potter, and certainly not Dean Thomas."

"What about the twelve innocent people he killed beside Pettigrew?" countered Harry, starting to raise his voice until Hermione alerted him to that fact. He quietly continued, "He doesn't have any problem killing bystanders, so Brianna is still in danger."

"No more danger than any other Gryffindor," she replied. She then added, "We're here."

She was correct; they had arrived in the Great Hall, which was currently filled with sleeping bags. The Gryffindors were already settled in for the night while the other houses were arriving. Harry scanned the group of 'lions' with his eyes until he found the one he was looking for amongst the first-year girls. He made a beeline straight for his sister, with Hermione and Padma staying behind with the other Ravenclaws, figuring they should be alone.

When Harry approached Brianna, he saw that she was unusually pale as she lay in her pink sleeping bag, with just her head sticking out. She was in between two other girls – one of whom was her friend, Lily. They were all wide-awake, and Lily blushed slightly when he walked up to them.

"Hi, Brianna," he said and nodded to the other girls. "I wanted to make sure you're all right."

"I'm fine," she replied quickly. "You didn't need to bother."

"There's no reason to be rude," chided Lily. "I wish my brother cared enough to check on me."

"Fine," she sighed and turned to Harry. "I'm sorry. Thank you for your concern."

Harry knew his sister too well to be convinced by her brave face. She was scared and upset. The worst part was probably that she didn't have anybody who knew why she'd take this visit by Sirius Black personally, so she had to act like she didn't. However, he didn't think that telling her so would help this conversation any. So, he decided to be polite and say, "That's all right. I'm glad you're fine. You know where to find me if you need anything." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly for a moment before saying, "Goodnight," and walking away.