Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Hogwarts or any of the setting. I only own original characters such as Burton Clift and anybody else you do not recognize as cannon characters. Thanks!
The Stranger
Hogwarts castle was alight with many candles and enchantments as the opening banquet begins. Many students sit at the four tables and teachers sat at the head table chatting merrily amongst themselves, and a long line of new students stood nervously waiting for their turn to be sorted into their houses. All was well inside the castle, and nobody had a care in the world as to what was happening outside of the Great Hall at the moment.
A tall dark figure crossed the grounds that night. He wasn't to his knowledge, a wizard, but unlike most muggles, he could see Hogwarts. Clothed in black and brown with shoulder length brown hair, the weary man limped his way into the castle without much notice from anybody, or so he thought.
Upon entering the castle, the man stumbled around in hopes of finding a place to clean his wounds, rest, and have food at hand when he needed it. Another important thing would be to thoroughly conceal himself from everyone. He didn't want anyone to stumble upon him and cause a scare. He made his way to the first door that he saw, but steered quickly away as this door led to the Great Hall as the banquet was taking place. He then proceeded to the staircase and climbed to the next floor. The next door that he tried was the door to a vacant classroom. This may have proved useful except for the fact that people would be using this room probably the next day.
He was just about to climb another flight of stairs when he noticed another door farther down with a sign that said "Out of Order." He tried the door and it opened into a lavatory with a broken sink and a hole in the wall. He moved toward the sinks and took a cloth from his pack. He wetted this cloth with warm water and grabbed something that resembled soap. He then investigated the hole which led on into a passage of sorts. Seeing this as probably the best place in the castle, he disappeared into the hole in the wall and followed a long passage into a dungeon of sorts with many places to hide himself without being noticed by the other people in the castle.
The feast had ended and all of the students headed happily back to their dormitories. None of them suspected anything out of the ordinary as they walked and talked with their friends and taught valuable lessons to the first years. The teachers made their own ways back to their respective quarters with a few words amongst each other. Two, however, seemed to be disquieted about something, but neither knew exactly what was hanging on their minds.
Albus Dumbledore is an very old and wise man. He is also the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and he is also normally fairly sure of himself and his actions. He sat at the head table after all of the students and teachers had left the Great Hall pondering the feeling that something may be amiss in his school. He didn't notice anything amongst the students that made him think any different of them, and the teachers who sat at the head table didn't seem to have anything to say that would overly affect the school. After some brooding, the old wizard decided that the only way for him to satisfy his curiosity would be to take a stroll around the school before retiring to his bed. He stood up and walked out of the room.
Dumbledore wasn't the only one who had a strange feeling during the banquet. Professor Severus Snape, the Potions Master, also felt that something wasn't right. During the banquet, he sat more quietly than usual and didn't seem to enjoy in the eating and talking even as little as he normally did. Something just didn't feel right. Potter and his friends weren't misbehaving as far as he could tell. They were happily eating with the other Gryffindors. He left the Great Hall a bit earlier than the students and teachers and made his way to his quarters in Slytherin House which is located near the dungeons. Once he entered his room, he walked into a smaller closet-type room, but this room has nothing to do with clothing. In this room, Professor Snape worked on his Occlumency and sifted through the thoughts of various people throughout the school. Tonight, as he sat sifting through the general, happy thoughts of Hogwarts students and teachers, he came across a mind that seemed rather foreign and less than happy.