"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
A very loud scream jolted me from my deep sleep, I leaped from my bed, completely awaken by the strange sound as I browsed the room with my tired eyes. I saw light movements beside me, and saw that Monica too was awake.
"What was that noise?" she asked, fixing her hair as she stood from her bed and lighted the lamp on her nightstand.
"I have no idea." I said, my eyebrows scrunched together.
The two of us traded shaken looks and decided to go out of our room to inspect what was wrong. The common room was illuminated by the flicker of the dying fire in the fireplace, and it was untidy from the mess we made during the party. It looked as though a swarm of Cornish Pixies had invaded the room.
"Who shouted?"
"What're you doing?"
Those were the questions that filled the common room as the commotion continued. The other girls had descended from upstairs looking sleepy, as well as the boys.
"Guess I wasn't dreaming." I heard Luke yawning, buttoning the first button of his pajamas.
"You guys heard that scream too?" Ollie asked, approaching me and Monica as the latter nodded in response.
As we got closer, we all realized that the scream belonged to Ron. He was looking so frantic and was being questioned by Harry and his other friends. "Excellent, are we carrying on?" said Fred, who was beaming. Monica gave him a glare, which probably meant 'no you idiot'.
"No, Fred." I said.
Percy then appeared from his common room, and was fastening his Head Boy badge to his pajamas and told everyone to head back upstairs, but his request was ignored.
"Sirius Black! In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!" whispered Ron.
The common room went very still, shaken chatter began to arise, and some of the Gryffindors had begun to look at me with judgemental looks, but Monica moved forward, defending me. "Nonsense!" said Percy, but he was beginning to look startled. "You had too much to eat, Ron – had a nightmare –"
But Ron kept on insisting that he did see Sirius and he entered their dormitory. Then, a startling sound came from the portrait and we all looked around, only to find Mcgonagall entering the common room, looking very furious. "I certainly didn't authorise this, Professor!' Percy huffed. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare –"
"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have got through the portrait hole?" Mcgonagall said suspiciously.
"Ask him!" said a very shaken Ron, pointing his finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's picture. "Ask him if he saw –" Mcgonagall went outside as we all listened attentively.
"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"
"Certainly, good lady!" cried Sir Cadogan.
The whole room burst into a deafening silence, nobody dared to utter a word. Not a single word came out of anyone's mouth, Mcgonagall was looking very shaken and her face was as white as chalk. She asked Sir Cadogan how could Sirius enter the common room if he didn't know the password.
"He had 'em! Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!" answered Sir Cadogan. My eyes widened, and there were terrified squeaks from the crowd, Monica clasped her shaking hand against her lips and the next thing we knew Mcgonagall had returned to us, looking very pale. "Which person, which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?" she asked in a very taken aback voice.
There was utter silence, Neville Longbottom, raised his shaking hand slowly into the air. Mcgonagall's face turned from terrified to furious when Neville raised his hand and we all heard that he was banned from all future Hogsmeade trips and had to wait outside for someone to give the password.
Everyone casted disgusted looks at Neville who was hanging his head low in shame, but I was one of the few exceptions. I felt sympathetic for him. Really. Mcgonagall had left the common room to alert the other professors and search for Sirius throughout the castle.
"No," said a voice from the crowd and I realized that it was none other than Cormac Mclaggen, a student who was a year above Harry and his friends; I despised that kid to bits. "I don't think it's Longbottom's fault why Black entered Gryffindor Tower."
"Then who's fault is it?" another Gryffindor asked.
Mclaggen was smirking and said. "Selene Black, of course!" he pointed his finger at me, and everyone's attention had flew towards me. My eyes widened in anger, and I felt a rush of anger burning in my face.
"What makes you think that?" I snapped, crossing my arms.
"Well, you're Black's sister aren't you? And, that means you might have been his accomplice and you're helping him enter the castle so that he'll kill Potter." said Mclaggen, which made Harry furious as well.
A few Gryffindors, who I supposed were his friends, supported this and being chanting 'she's evil' over and over again. Monica then stepped forward, facing Mclaggen.
"So, just because she's Black's sister means that she's a mass murderer as well?" Monica yelled. "Well, I'll tell you what Mclaggen, she's nothing like her brother, and she's close friends with Harry. So, if she was his accomplice, they wouldn't be close. So if you don't shut that hole in your face and talk trash about Selene, you're gonna face me." Mclaggen looked terrified right now and moved at the back of the crowd.
"Anyone's got a problem with Selene?" Monica said, looking at the crowd. Nobody said a word and remained silent.
"You didn't have to do that." I said sheepishly. "And let him pick on you?" Monica muttered. "I will hex anyone who offends my best friend." I smiled gratefully at my best friend.
Not one of us slept that night and we all stayed awake in the common room, waiting to hear whether Sirius had been caught.
McGonagall had finally returned at dawn, and told us that he again escaped. Everywhere we went the following day we saw signs of tighter security. Sir Cadogan was sacked and his portrait had been taken back to its deserted landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lady was back, much to our relief. She had been expertly restored, but was still extremely nervous, and had only agreed to return to her job if she was given extra protection.
Sirius was the frequent topic of discussion of the whole school the following days.
A/n: hi guys! Sorry if this chapter isn't as interesting as you thought, but I'll be a bit busy tomorrow, coz I have a virtual seminar.
And also, Helen McCrory, the actress who played Narcissa Malfoy in the HP films has unfortunately passed away. Such shocking and sad news, but what's important is that she's in a safe place now with Alan Rickman and the other HP actors who have left this world.
She'll really be missed but will never be forgotten.
Let's raise our wands Potterheads!!
Anyways, thoughts on the story so far?
Comment, vote, follow!
Love,
Jazl xxx