Chapter 64: The Attack (1/2)
The Gryffindor party only ended when Professor McGonagall turned up in her tartan dressing-gown and hair-net at one in the morning, to insist that they all went to bed. Chris and Ginny climbed the stairs to their dormitory, still discussing the match. At last, exhausted, Chris climbed into bed, twitched the hangings of her four-poster shut to block out a ray of moonlight, lay back and felt herself almost instantly drifting off to sleep.
Chris was in deep sleep when she heard a faint sound of someone screaming, ”AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
First, she thought it was her dream but soon someone was shaking her badly. She barely opened her eyes and saw Ginny's scared anxious face just above hers. Chris got up, Danielle and Lauren, their other two roommates were also up and looked terrified.
”What happened?” Chris asked Ginny.
”Didn't you heard? Ron screamed.” Ginny said still clutching her hand. ”We should check. C'mon.”
Chris and Ginny went out in the common room.
The common room was lit by the glow of the dying fire, still littered with debris from the party. It was only Harry, Ron and the boys in their room were in the common room.
”What's all the noise?”
”Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!”
A few of other girls had come down their staircase, pulling on dressing-gowns and yawning. Boys, too, were reappearing.
”What happened Ron?” Ginny asked running towards him.
”Excellent, are we carrying on?” said Fred Weasley brightly.
”Everyone back upstairs!” said Percy, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pyjamas as he spoke.
”Perce – Sirius Black!” said Ron faintly. ”In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!”
The common room went very still.
”Nonsense!” said Percy, looking startled. ”You had too much to eat, Ron — had a nightmare —”
”I'm telling you —”
”Now, really, enough's enough!”
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Professor McGonagall was back. She slammed the portrait behind her as she entered the common room and stared furiously around.
”I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!”
”I certainly didn't authorise this, Professor!” said Percy, puffing himself up indignantly. ”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!”
Professor McGonagall stared at him.
”Will you just stop screaming, Ron?” Chris snapped angrily. ”We were halfway through our dreams when you woke us up. Have mercy and stop screaming.” She looked at Professor McGonagall and said holding her head, ”Professor, please, ask Sir Cadogan if he let Sirius Black in. I'm really tired after today's match.”
Professor McGonagall looked at Chris incredulously and pushed the portrait back open and went outside. The whole common room listened with bated breath.
”Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?”
”Certainly, good lady!” cried Sir Cadogan.
There was a stunned silence, both inside and outside the common room.
”You — you did?” said Professor McGonagall. ”But — but the password!”
”He had 'em!” said Sir Cadogan proudly. ”Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!”
Professor McGonagall pulled herself back through the portrait hole to face the stunned crowd. She was white as chalk.
”Which person,” she said, her voice shaking, ”which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?”
There was utter silence, broken by the smallest of terrified squeaks. Neville Longbottom, trembling from head to fluffy-slippered toes, raised his hand slowly into the air.
Everyone glared at Neville.
”Well, it wasn't entirely Neville's fault then, as Sir Cadogan changed the password twice a day,” Chris said seriously looking at McGonagall.
”Not a word, Norton. Detention Longbottom, and you're not allowed to all future Hogsmeade visits. No one will give him any new password.” Professor McGonagall said furiously. ”I've to inform the teachers about this and I'll take care of this Sir Cadogan.”
She stormed off.
Chris patted Neville who was sobbing, under everyone's glare.
”I tried Neville. But Professor McGonagall —”
”It's ok — Chris. Thanks for — trying —” He sobbed badly.
Chris sighed and went towards the girls' dormitory.
”Where're you going?” Hermione asked terrified.
”To sleep, — no harm is done. And I don't think Black came to kill.” She yawned. ”Because if he had, then Ron wouldn't be here to scream about it.”
Almost everyone in the common room stared at her in disbelief.
”Good night.” She walked towards her room.
Except for Chris, no one in Gryffindor Tower slept that night. They knew that the castle was being searched again, and the whole house stayed awake in the common room, waiting to hear whether Black had been caught. Chris was sure Black escaped like last time and to confirm it Professor McGonagall came back at dawn, to tell them that he had again escaped. In the morning Ginny told this to Chris.
Everywhere they went next day they saw signs of tighter security; Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors to recognise 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 sacked. 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 only agreed to return to her job on the condition that she was given extra protection. A 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.
Ron had become an instant celebrity. For the first time in his life, people were paying more attention to him than to Harry, and it was clear that Ron was rather enjoying the experience. Though still severely shaken by the night's events, he was happy to tell anyone who asked, what had happened, with a wealth of detail.
”— I was asleep, and I heard this ripping noise, and I thought it was in my dream, you know? But then there was this draught — 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 scarpered.”
Chris felt as if he wasn't Ginny's brother, she would've punched him on the face, she hated this kind of persons, who'll do anything for attention, people like Gilderoy Lockhart.
Chris was now very sure that Black was innocent because if he had killed twelve or thirteen muggles like it was nothing, then killing few unarmed sleeping boys wasn't not going to be a problem for him. But he didn't, that proves he wasn't really after Harry.
Hermione and Ginny both were badly affected by the situation. Hermione was so worried about Harry and Ron that she started to keep an eye on them all the time.
Two days later, there was a notice about another Hogsmeade trip. Hermione was nervously shuffling her books, after reading the notice board. Harry and Ron weren't there. Chris saw this and sat beside her.