Throughout the next day, everywhere they went they saw signs of tighter security, Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors to recognize a large picture of Sirius Black, Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes. Sir Cadogan had been fired, his portrait had been taken back to its lonely landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lady was back. She had been expertly restored, but was still extremely nervous, and had agreed to return to her job only on condition that she was given extra protection, so bunch of surly security trolls had been hired to guard her. They paced the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the size of their clubs.
But while most students were concerned with hearing Ron Weasley tell the story for the millionth time, Arlene was preoccupied.
Neville was nowhere to be seen, he didn't show up for the newspaper, he wasn't at dinners and Hermione had told her that Professor McGonagall was furious with him, forcing him to wait outside the Common Room and wait for someone to arrive as she instructed the Fat Lady not to tell him the password.
But while she was worried about Neville, she had plenty to deal with on her own.
She sat at the Gryffindor table, nibbling on toast as she waited for Ron, who looked very happy about reciting the story again, to finish talking to Sage, who was standing next to him wearing her reading glasses and scribbling down everything he was saying.
"... I was asleep, and I heard this ripping noise, and I thought it was in my dream, you know? But then there was this draft...I woke up and one side of the hangings on my bed had been pulled down...I rolled over...and I saw him standing over me...like a skeleton, with loads of filthy hair...holding this great long knife, must've been twelve inches...and he looked at me, and I looked at him, and then I yelled, and he scampered." Ron told her eerily, looking very pleased at the formality of the interview.
"Why, though?" Arlene finally spoke up, lifting her chin from her palm and voicing some of the doubts she's been having "Why did he run?"
Why had Black, having got the wrong bed, not silenced Ron and proceeded to Harry? If Black was guilty, then he had proved twelve years ago that he didn't mind murdering innocent people, and this time he had been facing five unarmed boys, four of whom were asleep.
"He must've known he'd have a job getting back out of the castle once Ron'd yelled and woken people up," said Harry thoughtfully. "He'd've had to kill the whole house to get back through the portrait hole, then he would've met the teachers."
Still, Arlene stared at the notebook in her hand, filled with all her conspiracy theories. She had noticed that she was starting to make arguments in Sirius' favor, she couldn't believe that she actually wanted him to be innocent.
People believe what they want to believe
"Well," Sage declared, looking over her notes "I think this is everything, Arlene?"
Her friend started to rise, grateful that they were finally finished.
"Er, actually, one more thing." Harry held up a tiny piece of paper.
Dear Harry and Ron,
How about having tea with me 'round 12? I'll come collect you from the castle. WAIT FOR ME IN THE ENTRANCE HALL; YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED OUT ON YOUR OWN.
PS. BRING ARLENE
Cheers,
Hagrid
"Oh no," Arlene groaned, knowing exactly what this means, but she promised to be there nevertheless.
The night at the Gryffindor tower made First Page, unsurprisingly, with Sage finishing the article three hours after she spoke with Ron.
When it was finally time to meet Hagrid, Arlene put on her plaid skirt, white shirt and varsity, and arrived ten minutes early to find that he was already waiting for her.
"All right, Hagrid!" said Ron once he and Harry had arrived "S'pose you want to hear about Saturday night, do you?"
"I've already heard all abou' it," said Hagrid, opening the front doors and leading them outside.
"Oh," said Ron, looking slightly put out.
The first thing they saw on entering Hagrid's cabin was Buckbeak, who was stretched out on top of Hagrid's patchwork quilt, his enormous wings folded tight to his body, enjoying a large plate of dead ferrets. Averting her eyes from this unpleasant sight, Arlene saw a gigantic, hairy brown suit and a very horrible yellow-and-orange tie hanging from the top of Hagrid's wardrobe door.
"What are they for, Hagrid?" asked Harry.
"Buckbeak's case against the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures," said Hagrid. "This Friday. Him an' me'll be goin' down ter London together. I've booked two beds on the Knight Bus..."
The statement made her feel sorry for Hagrid, but confirmed in her mind the reason that she was there.
Hagrid poured them tea and offered them a plate of Bath buns but they knew better than to accept; they had had too much experience with Hagrid's cooking.
"I got somethin' ter discuss with you two," said Hagrid, sitting himself between them and looking uncharacteristically serious.
"What?" said Harry.
"Hermione," said Hagrid.
"What about her?" said Ron.
"She's in a righ' state, that's what. She's bin comin' down ter visit me a lot since Chris'mas. Bin feelin' lonely. Firs' yeh weren' talking to her because o' the Firebolt, now yer not talkin' to her because her cat-"
"It ate Scabbers!" Ron interjected angrily.
"Because her cat acted like all cats do," Hagrid continued doggedly. "She's cried a fair few times, yeh know. Goin' through a rough time at the moment. Bitten off more'n she can chew, if yeh ask me, all the work she's tryin' ter do. Still found time ter help me with Buckbeak's case, she's the one who asked Mrs Burke ter 'elp." He turned to her "she'll be arrivin' any minute now."
Whoop, there it is.
At that moment, a knock was heard, the door opened slowly, and Paloma Burke stepped in.
She wore black high heeled boots and a black sleeveless dress, her shoulder and upper body covered by a cloak, her lips a deep scarlet and her pitch black hair pulled back into a regal looking French bun drawing contrast to her blue eyes.
"Hello darling."
Arlene was forced to look at her mother for the first time since Christmas "Hi mum."
Paloma walked over to Hagrid coffee table, unfazed by Buckbeak biting off a ferret's head, placed her handbag and files, then turned back and walked out of the tiny hut, the silent order for Arlene to follow her very clear.
"So," Paloma said, they had been walking across the snowy grounds in silence for a while "I suppose an explanation is due."
Arlene puffed "No shit, mum." She turned to her "I know that you think Sirius is innocent, don't bother denying it. What I want to know is why."
Paloma looked ahead as she somehow managed to walk in snow in heels "I want to tell you a story."
Arlene stayed silent and waited.
"Once," Paloma started, still not looking at her daughter "I was a third year. I was the image of a perfect little pureblood girl, didn't speak unless spoken to, made friends with the right people, got good marks, anything to make up for the fact that I was Ravenclaw and not Slytherin like my siblings."
"At that time, things were bad between Sirius and Regulus, they would send each other to the Hospital Wing, fight each other in the halls, anything to get on each other's nerves. You have to understand, Sirius despised everything his family stood for, and Regulus felt like Sirius had abandoned him."
"Reggie became a Death Eater in Fifth Year, when Sirius was a senior. He saw Reggie's mark one day and realised that if he continued down that path, he would end up like Bellatrix."
Paloma paused. Arlene wanted to ask what that had to do with anything.
"If it weren't for that, Regulus would've either ended up dead, or in Azkaban."
They were now back at the castle, her mother seemed to remember the place as she walked around.
"Me and your father started working as spies for Dumbledore, as you know. We would communicate by Sirius, then I got pregnant with you and was disowned. That was when we went into hiding."
"Regulus still showed up when he was summoned, I showed up for my Uni exams, but other than that, we were nowhere to be found."
She took in a deep breath, her back straight, her chin high and her fingers intertwined as she recalled her younger years.
"Sirius stayed with us throughout it all. He was our Secret Keeper, he's your godfather, he could have outed us at any moment. He," she paused dramatically "was never given a trial."
Arlene frowned "What?"
"Everybody was given a trial. Bellatrix, Alecto, Nott, Malfoy, you name them. Except Sirius, his wand wasn't even checked. So one has to wonder, how does the 'innocent until proven guilty' ideology of our Judicial System work, if you were never even tried?"
Paloma ended with a tone of finality, making it obvious to Arlene that she was done.
So Sirius never had a trial, and since everything they know about that night is from witnesses, witnesses that were never cross examined, never swore the oath of truth....
"But why didn't you sign the Hogwarts slip?" Arlene questioned "why did you keep warning me against him?"
"Because I didn't know, Arlene!" her mother sighed "everyone is so sure that he's guilty, if they're right, then he's the reason for my husband not being there when and get home, and I was foolish enough not to see it coming. What if I'm still being naïve? What if Fudge was right, that he's after you Arlene?"
She shook her head "The idea that he's innocent, it's a fool's quest. It's very likely that everybody is right. I just didn't want you to drop your guard."
Paloma suddenly went quiet and stared. Looking ahead, Arlene found out why.
"And what are you two doing here?" said Snape, coming to a halt and looking from Neville to Harry "An odd place to meet-"
"Severus!" Paloma said with fake sweetness "I thought it was you."
"Paloma," Snape said with distaste "it's been a while."
They were obviously not good friends.
"I see you still play the role of the social justice warrior." He remarked smoothly, the insult hidden but clear as day.
Neville and Harry stood near the statue of the One Eyed Witch, watching the two like it was a tennis match
"It's a good thing we ran into each other," she continued, ignoring his remark "there have been a few things that've been brought to my attention about your uh –less than prescribed disciplinary practice."
Snape narrowed his eyes at Arlene, as though wondering what she said, then turned back to her mother "What exactly are you insinuating?"
"I'm merely requesting to keep your personal feelings out of my daughter's education."
"It sounds like you're questioning my teaching, Paloma."
"Not at all, Severus, merely your medieval methods."
The two glared at each other for a while.
"I know how to do my job, Burke." Snape finally said "Unlike some people."
There was obviously some hidden history in that sentence that the three kids didn't understand.
"You do?" Paloma asked coolly "Then you must've learned very recently."
"I beg your pardon?" Snape spat out.
"Then beg." She replied without missing a beat.
Snape's face turned red "Classic Paloma," he said "Coming in here with your veiled insults-"
"They weren't veiled." She interjected.
"-Acting like you're better than everybody else," he went on "It's very disappointing to see nothing has changed since we were children. Rules were for us normal mortals, not the girlfriends of Quidditch Captains, right?"
Paloma gave him a glare that was enough to kill a thousand men, yet she maintained her composure.
"You know Severus, when you talk like that, it makes me want to call the nanny to change your nappy and send you to bed without supper."
She turned on her heel and walked away without another word.