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Milo could not sleep for the life of him, mainly because the students around him would not stop talking about the incident, mainly all the questions of wondering how Sirius had just managed to walk right in without anyone noticing. Milo questioned it himself because even in his animagus form, did no one notice a giant black shaggy dog walking around the corridors? Not to mention, Sirius had gone after the portrait of the Fat Lady, that seemed out of character if he was attempting to prove his innocence. A million of his own questions occupied his mind and he had no answers. He wouldn't have them either until the next time he and Sirius spoke again, which there was no telling when they would happen.
He would imagine that Sirius took off and went back into hiding to avoid being caught, especially after an unsuccessful attempt to get into the Gryffindor Tower. But why was he trying to get in there? Of course, Milo had informed him that both Harry and Silas had been sorted into the house but surely he wasn't going after them? His blood ran cold with the prospect of Sirius using him in order to get to Harry or his son, or both. As he started up at the enchanted ceiling, Milo frowned, hoping that it wasn't the case. There had to be a reason behind it all. As the Head Boy, Percy passed him, Milo remained still for a second before grabbing the map that he had grabbed out his room and glanced it over.
Sirius' name didn't appear anywhere, leaving Milo to huff and fall back into his sleeping bag. Paden chirped softly, wishing the boy would get some sleep but it would be a long night. He could see his brother in the distance, talking to Hermione and Ron, among a few other Gryffindors, however, it was Percy who called for all of them to be quiet and go to bed before the candles went out. Milo shuffled under his covers, wishing that he could curl up at the bottom of Cedric's bed like he normally did.
Of course, it was laughable to some, but it was truly a comfort to sleep at the bottom of someone's bed if he was unable to sleep. He often did it with his mother when he was younger. She would leave her bedroom door open at night and when he woke up, rather than crying, he would crawl out of his own bed and make his way to hers. However, he didn't want to get caught and have her return him to his own bed, so he would quietly climb onto the end and settle himself in. He would go unnoticed until the morning most nights.
But as Cedric tended to his prefect duties, Milo simply rolled on his side and tried to force himself to sleep. The ghosts were in and out, bringing back and forth information to the prefects, and still, plenty of students were whispering making it difficult to fall asleep. Of course, Paden had no troubles as a light whistling sound came from the bowtruckle that slept soundly in Milo's hair.
Finally, some time had passed and Milo had no idea what time it was when he heard multiple voices whispering, one being Percy and the other one being Dumbledore. The majority of students had finally passed out from exhaustion and the prefects were rotating shifts to get some sleep themselves. Cedric had climbed into his sleeping bag but before Milo could say anything to the boy, he was already asleep. But as he focused his hearing as to what the voices were whispering about, he let out a small noise of discontent.
"And the Fat Lady, sir?" Percy questioned leaving Milo to adjust himself in his sleeping bag so that he could peek over in their direction. But with his glasses off and the majority of the candles blown out, he could only make out two blurry blobs.
"Hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor," Dumbledore answered. " Apparently she refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked. She's still very distressed, but once she's calmed down, I'll have Mr Filch restore her."
Milo couldn't believe his ears, Sirius actually attacking the Fat Lady after she refused to let him in without the password? What did he think was going to happen? That the portrait was just going to welcome him inside? There wasn't a soul who didn't know that Sirius Black was some sort of fugitive, even muggles had been informed that he was dangerous, and he thought it was going to be that easy?
Suddenly, Milo's thoughts were interrupted by someone else entering the Great Hall, probably with some new information.
"Headmaster?"
Ugh, Milo thought to himself, couldn't it have been anyone else?Moaning Myrtle would be more welcomed at that point.
"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?" Dumbledore questioned.
"All searched..."
"Very well, Severus. I didn't really expect Black to linger."
"Have you any theory as to how he got in, Professor?"
The way Severus asked, it seemed he already had his own theories as to how Sirius got in and was just trying to open up the opportunity to share them. As much as Milo disliked the man, he certainly found himself wanting to hear the theories.
"Many, Severus, each of them as unlikely as the next."
"You remember the conversation we had, Headmaster, just before—ah—the start of term?" Snape said to the Headmaster, apparently talking in some form of a code so that Percy didn't know who they were talking about.
"I do, Severus," Milo couldn't tell whether the man sounded annoyed or was trying to warn Severus to be quiet. Probably a mixture of both, Milo could relate to that.
"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 replied and Milo's eyes narrowed. Appointed? There were a couple of new faces to the castle grounds that term, that being Remus and Elspeth, both of them extremely close with Sirius in their younger years. One of them his best friend, the other the mother of his child. Was Snape accusing them of letting Sirius into the castle? It seemed unlikely and he wished he could just tell Snape just how wrong he was.
Remus believed the man to be guilty, Milo had learned that very early on, and while Elspeth's had her doubts, she worked with the dementors, it wouldn't be wise at all for her to risk such a thing.
"I must go down to the dementors and Miss Hayes, " Dumbledore continued, "I said I would inform them when our search was complete."
As their conversation came to an end, Milo was more than irritated with the idea of Snape trying to get his godparents in trouble. Luckily, Dumbledore had enough sense to ignore the accusations, but it left Milo wondering what grudge did the man hold against them?
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Milo didn't see Sirius over the course of the next few days, mainly because he couldn't get a moment to himself unless he was actually in the corridor. He felt like all eyes were on him when it came to the professors and his brother was feeling the same way. With Sirius as the constant topic all throughout the castle, it placed Milo in a bad mood that he would risk such a thing and cause as many problems as he did. His mother had even called him to her office to discuss him staying out of the quidditch season for safety measures.
"Mum," Milo sighed as he sat in front of her, apparently she had the same discussion with Harry prior to the day, but she was hoping her son wouldn't be as stubborn. "This...this is silly, why would Sirius Black being going after us?"
Of course, the main concern was Sirius going after Harry because he was the Boy Who Lived, he was the one who had "defeated the Dark Lord" who Sirius "served under" so he was apparently going after Harry to finish the job.
"Milo, you know the situation-" Minerva gave him an odd look, in which Milo nodded and cut her off.
"Yes, I know, I know what Sirius was to our family and what he was accused of doing," He watched as his mother raised a brow at his wording but allowed him to continue on, " but do you really think he would risk it all just for the sake of getting into the Gryffindor dorm for Harry? There has to be more to it, don't you think? It's not like Harry hasn't been outside that would be a better time to attack if he wanted to, rather than waiting until everyone was in the dorms."
Milo was sure Sirius had a motive even if it wasn't clear, but Minerva seemed concerned that her son was defending the man that was responsible for multiple murders. He quickly caught on and didn't want to give himself away, so he decided to cover it up. With a heavy sigh, he rested back in the chair.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, "I just want to play quidditch, that's all. I've just been getting better at it and I know you want Gryffindor to take the Cup, but I would be pretty happy if Hufflepuff did as well. You think Gryffindor has been going through a dry spell, trying being on the Hufflepuff side, Mum. We're getting just as desperate as Wood for a win, although just not as crazed as him."
It appeared as though she was taking the bait, although Milo could see that she was not fully convinced. However, there wasn't much left for her to question before she nodded her head.
"I understand, but as I've arranged with your brother, being outside without any supervision, I won't allow it. I have Madam Hooch overseeing the Gryffindor practices, perhaps I can convince her or Elspeth to watch over Hufflepuff."
"Can't wait to tell Cedric that one," Milo sighed.
"Well, you can also inform him that you will be having your first match sooner than expected," Minerva told him, bringing Milo to glance up in confusion.
"What why?"
"Apparently the Slytherin seeker has suffered an injury to his arm and is unable to play-"
"Mum," Milo gave her a flat look, everyone around the world could smell the shit that Draco was trying to sell as he continued to milk the injury. "Allowing him to claim that he's still hurt is an insult to Madam Pomfrey's healing. She can mend anything, do you honestly believe that she would allow him to walk around injured still?"
"The changes have already been made, Milo," there was a hint of a smile on her face, "your first match is against Gryffindor."
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"This is good news," Cedric chuckled, unlike Oliver Wood, as Fred and George informed Milo during lunch that their quidditch captain was frantic over the change. They had been preparing to play against Slytherin and there was an entirely different style to the Hufflepuff team. "It's nice to get his nerves rattled before we play them."
Milo was sitting at the end of Cedric's bed as the two of them were working on homework. He thought it would be the perfect time to make the announcement that the quidditch teams had switched for the first meeting.
"You're not nervous?" Milo asked him. "I mean, we're playing sooner than expected."
"Yes, but we've been practising longer as well," Cedric said with a smile, "remember, we started practising earlier than everyone. I have my reasons, we always have to be prepared and we've gone through practising for each team, rather than just one. So I say that we have the advantage this time. Don't worry about it."
Milo grumbled at the word worried catching Cedric's attention and bringing him to look across the way. "Something else on your mind?"
The boy's eyes widened as he realised that he was wearing his emotions too well rather than concealing them as he normally did. Of course, he couldn't just tell Cedric that he was irritated and worried about the whole Sirius fiasco that was taking place. It was cutting into his time with his animagus training with the boys, mainly because the professors in the school seemed to be everywhere. Even with the map, there seemed no place to turn.
But Milo had to think of something to tell him, as much as he wanted to be honest with Cedric about Sirius, he still couldn't say anything without being sure. He couldn't imagine the disappointment coming from Cedric if he learned that Milo had been helping a fugitive if it turned out that he was wrong about Sirius being innocent.
"Erm...it's nothing," Milo tried to shrug it off but he should have known it wasn't going to be that easy as Cedric just gave him a look that he wasn't buying it. "Well, it's just...I was talking to Fred and George earlier and they were just telling me about Oliver being nervous about facing you as Captain and the changes, but you know, the girls were all giggly over you. Calling you the handsome, strong, and silent type..."
Sometimes, Milo wished he had an off button because as Cedric grinned, he could feel himself turning incredibly red.
"Milo Potter, are you jealous?"
"Wh-what?! N-no!" Milo stammered, it was getting worse, he was turning a new shade of red that had yet to be discovered. Somehow, he had made matters worse for himself to avoid one topic only to be embarrassed by the other. So it did bother him just a little bit about the girls mentioning something about Cedric, but truly only one person on the quidditch team was actually aware of what was going on between him and Cedric and that was Katie.
She had been the support when Milo felt incredibly alone and couldn't go to anyone. Of course, initially, she admitted she was surprised but then she informed Milo that it made sense. Maybe he thought that she was going to be upset, he wasn't sure why probably because he used to have a crush on her before he started having feelings for Cedric? But those feelings for her became non-existent as the ones for Cedric practically bulldozed over them. However, he was thankful to keep Katie close enough to confide in her, even when he felt like he couldn't turn to Heidi and Max.
"Oh, so you are jealous?"
As the two were alone in the room, Milo could see the playful grin on Cedric's face that left him to swallow hard.
"I-I am n-not j-jealous," Milo tried to reassure him and himself but it was pointless, his voice was shaky and it was pretty damn obvious that he was slightly jealous. Although he didn't realise that Cedric was going to make it a point that Milo had no reason to be jealous.
He couldn't deny the fluttering feeling as Cedric moved aside their homework to pull Milo into him. But rather than pulling him into the usual kiss by the tie that he was used to, Cedric ended up pulling him back to lay him down on the bed beside him.
"Sweet Merlin," Milo muttered to himself as he was left to gaze up at his boyfriend. "H-hi."
What possessed him to say hello to Cedric in that moment even though they had been in the company of each other for the last half hour, Milo wasn't sure but Cedric found it adorable that Milo was still nervous around him. He was quite timid and shy in comparison to Cedric, normally not the first to kiss, although he had his moments where he would surprise Cedric here and there.
Just like he did in that moment as he didn't wait for Cedric to initiate the kiss but instead, propped himself up on his elbows and kissed Cedric first. It caught the other boy off guard, enough that he pulled away quickly with a look of surprise, only to see Milo looking apologetic.
"Sorry did I do it wrong?"
Cedric laughed before shaking his head and kissing him back.