D A D F O O T ... I N T H E C A S T L E ?
"Your guys' psychotic father is crazy..."
EVERYONE IN THE CASTLE was talking about Hogsmeade. Aurora overhead many conversations about how good it was. She had to admit, she was jealous.
"There you go," Ron said. "We got as much as we could carry."
Ron handed a few things to Aurora and Hermione gave her a bunch of stuff.
"Sorry, I went overboard but they were selling muggles books for half price and I saw some books you didn't have so I got you them. Oh, you'll love the Outlander series! The Hobbit series is also amazing - oh and I saw you're into classics now so I got you Little Women!" Hermione beamed with excitement.
Aurora's jaw dropped. Hermione had brought her two full series and one stand-alone book. "I- thank you, Mione. I love you, Mione, you know that right?"
Hermione cheeks went pink as she said, "Well it was your birthday yesterday... and I didn't get you much, so I got you more!"
Aurora smiled brightly and took the books from Hermione, kissing her on the cheek.
"What's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?" By the sound of it – everywhere. Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot Butterbeer, and many places beside.
"The post office! About two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, all colour-coded depending on how fast you want your letter to arrive!"
"Honeydukes have got a new kind of fudge, they were giving out free samples, there's a bit, look–"
"We think we saw an ogre, honestly, they get all sorts at the Three Broomsticks –"
"Wish we could have brought you guys some Butterbeer, really warms you up –"
"-What did you guys do?" Hermione said, looking anxious. "Did you get any work done?"
"No," Aurora and Harry said in sync.
"I was with Atlas most of the time. Until -"
"-Lupin made us a cup of tea in his office. And then Snape came in ..." He and Aurora told them all about the goblet.
Ron's mouth fell open. "Lupin drank it?" he gasped. "Is he mad?"
Hermione checked her watch. "We'd better go down, you know, the feast will be starting in five minutes ..."
They hurried through the portrait hole and into the crowd, still discussing Snape. "But if he – you know –" Hermione dropped her voice, glancing nervously around, "if he was trying to – to poison Lupin – he wouldn't have done it in front of you three."
"Yeah, maybe," Harry said, as they reached the Entrance Hall and crossed into the Great Hall. It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes.
Aurora kept to herself about Lupin drinking the goblet. After thinking about it for the whole day and questioning her brother about it - because he was good at potions, she had a theory. However, she just needed to confirm it.
The food was delicious; even Hermione and Ron, who were full to bursting with Honeydukes sweets managed second helpings of everything. Aurora noticed that Harry kept glancing at the staff table. Professor Lupin looked cheerful and as well as he ever did; he was talking animatedly to tiny little Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher. She watched as Harry moved his eyes along the table, to the place where Snape sat. Did she imagine it, or were Snape's eyes flickering toward Lupin more often than was natural?
The feast finished with entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a spot of formation gliding; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had great success with a re-enactment of his own botched beheading. It had been such a good evening that Aurora's good mood couldn't even be spoiled by Malfoy, who shouted through the crowd as they all left the Hall, "The Dementors send their love, Potter!"
Aurora, Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower, but when they reached the corridor which ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students.
"Why isn't anyone going in?" Ron said curiously. Aurora, using her tall abilities, peered over the heads in front of him. The portrait seemed to be closed.
"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd. "What's the hold-up here? You can't all have forgotten the password – excuse me, I'm HeadBoy –"
And then a silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. They heard Percy say, in a sudden sharp voice, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore.Quick." People's heads turned; those at the back were standing on tiptoe.
"What's going on?" Ginny said, who had just arrived. The next moment, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping towards the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through, and Aurora, Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was.
"Oh, my –" Hermione exclaimed and grabbed Aurora's and Harry's arms. The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely. Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, his eyes sombre, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape hurrying towards him.
"We need to find her," Dumbledore said. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."
"You'll be lucky!" a cackling voice said. It was Peeves the poltergeist, bobbing over the crowd and looking delighted, as he always did, at the sight of wreckage or worry.
"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore said calmly, and Peeves's grin faded a little. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. Instead, he adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle.
"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful," he said happily. "Poor thing," he added, unconvincingly.
"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore said quietly.
"Oh, yes, Professorhead," Peeves said, with the air of one cradling a large bombshell in his arms. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves flipped over and grinned at Dumbledore from between his own legs. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."
Aurora's heart stopped.
***
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 leave the Hall, and said, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing..."
With 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.
Atlas came over immediately to Aurora and asked if she was alright.
"I guess...just you know- shocked..." Aurora said, not really knowing how to feel.
"Yeah, same..." Atlas said, looking worried. "How did he even get into the castle?"
"I don't know...thank fuck for the feast though," Aurora said in relief making Atlas chuckle nervously.
"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" Percy shouted. "Come on now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"
"This shit is crazy," Theodore said, coming over to them. "Your guys' psychotic father is crazy..."
"Oi- you can't say that-" Blaise started to say to Theodore, smacking his head.
"-Owww."
"Can we get to sleep please?" Draco said, appearing out of know where.
"No! There's a killer on the loose! I don't wanna die knowing I could've run away!" Theo said in a dramatic voice.
"You're not going to die, Theo. Stop being dramatic." Aurora said to Theo, chuckling at her friend.
"I am not being dramatic -"
"-Yes, you are." They all say to him.
"The five of you. In your sleeping bags know!" Percy said to them in a demanding voice.
"What if I say no?" Theo said to him in a cheeky tone.
"Than a detention!"
"Fine... urgh I hate Gryffindors — except you A," Theo said. Plumping down onto the floor.
"I'm the best Gryffindor ever?" Aurora asked in amusement.
"Yes."
***
The only light in the Great Hall 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.
What with that, and the whispering that still filled the Hall. Once every hour, a teacher would reappear in the Hall to check that everything was quiet. Around three in the morning, when many students had finally fallen asleep, Professor Dumbledore came in.
Aurora had not been able to get to sleep. She laid awake most of the night. She noticed Atlas too couldn't sleep as he kept on tossing and turning.
Aurora watched Dumbledore looking around for Percy, who had been prowling between the sleeping bags, telling people off for talking. Percy was only a short way away from her and the Slytherins - Harry, Ron and Hermione too, who quickly pretended to be asleep as Dumbledore's footsteps drew nearer.
"Any sign of him, Professor?" Percy asked in a whisper.
"No. All well here?"
"Everything under control, sir."
"Good. There's no point moving them all now. I've found a temporary guardian for the Gryffindor portrait hole. You'll be able to move them back in tomorrow."
"And the Fat Lady, sir?"
"Hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. Apparently, she refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked her. She's still very distressed, but once she's calmed down, I'll have Mr. Filch restore her."
Aurora heard the door of the Hall creak open again, and more footsteps. "Headmaster?" It was Snape. Aurora kept quite still, listening hard. "The whole of the third floor has been searched. He's not there. And Filch has done the dungeons; nothing there, either."
"What about the Astronomy tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The Owlery?"
All searched ... "Very well, Severus. I didn't really expect Black to linger."
"Have you any theory as to how he got in, Professor?'" Snape asked.
"Many Severus, each of them as unlikely as the next."
Aurora opened her eyes a fraction and squinted up to where they stood; Dumbledore's back was to her, but she could see Percy's face, rapt with attention, and Snape's profile, which looked angry.
"You remember the conversation we had, Headmaster, just before – ah – the start of term?" Snape said, who was barely opening his lips, as though trying to block Percy out of the conversation.
"I do, Severus," Dumbledore said, and there was something like a warning in his voice.
"It seems – almost impossible – that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed –"
"-I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped Black enter it," Dumbledore said, and his tone made it so clear that the subject was closed that Snape didn't reply. "I must go down to the Dementors," Dumbledore said. "I said I would inform them when our search was complete."
"Didn't they want to help, sir?" Percy said.
"Oh yes," Dumbledore said coldly. "But I'm afraid no Dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I am Headmaster."
Percy looked slightly abashed. Dumbledore left the hall, walking quickly and quietly. Snape stood for a moment, watching the Headmaster with an expression of deep resentment on his face, and then he, too, left.
Aurora glanced over to Atlas whose eyes were open reflecting the starry ceiling. Atlas turned his head to his sister and the two gave each other a look.
There was more to this they knew.
***
The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days. Aurora and Atlas had become a hot topic. There were so many rumours about them letting Black into the castle.
Aurora and Atlas would both tell people off for making those rumours up. It had worked.
There were also theories about how he had entered the castle and 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, especially Aurora. 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.
"He's barking mad," Seamus said angrily to Percy.
"Can't we get anyone else?"
"None of the other pictures wanted the job," Percy said. "Frightened of what happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer."
Aurora, Atlas and Harry were now being closely watched. Teachers found excuses to walk along corridors with them and Percy was tailing them everywhere like an extremely pompous guard dog.
The weather worsened steadily as the first Quidditch match drew nearer. Undaunted, the Gryffindor team were training harder than ever under the eye of Madam Hooch. Harry had been keeping her updated on Quidditch these past weeks. He knew she had no interest in it but still talked about it. One good thing about Aurora was that she was 99% of the time a good listener.
She would stop what she was doing and would listen to Harry rant about his training session. She noticed when he got frustrated when talking about something, his nose would crinkle a little and his cheeks would go pink. It was cute.
"Don't worry my favourite scare-head. I'm sure you'll kickass." Aurora would say every time. Harry would always nod his head and immediately his frustration would leave him and would leave his body when he would look at her again.
She just knew how to... calm him down. He was always thankful for whatever gift Aurora possessed in that compartment.
***
A/N: andddd that's chapter 11 done!
I'm going to start adding more scenes with Harry and Aurora now. Slowly build that relationship if you know what I mean?
But don't get your hopes up. They won't get together in third year.
WC: 2462
"If one thing had been different, would everything be different today?"