Jo held onto Harry's arm the entire time the Gryffindors were ushered quickly back to the Great Hall. "How did he manage to get into the castle?" Jo asked Harry worriedly. "What use are the Dementors if they can't keep him away?"
Harry gave Jo's arm a reassuring squeeze. "How did he escape Azkaban?" he counted back.
Jo firmly believed that she and Harry would be safe at Hogwarts with Dumbledore there to protect them. It was apparent safety was something the twins struggled to maintain over the years. Maybe it was indeed something they would never truly have.
A few minutes later, the Gryffindors were joined by the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins, all looking confused as to why they back in the Great Hall so soon.
When all four houses and professors were present, Professor Dumbledore called for silence and then addressed the entire Hall. "For everyone's safety," he started, "you will all spend the night here as the teachers and I search through the castle. Head Boy and Girl will be in charge with assistance from the prefects. If you see anything out of the ordinary, please report it immediately." With a wave of his wand, each of the four long House tables disappeared and were replaced by hundreds of sleeping bags, one for each student.
Dumbledore and the teachers quickly exited the room, and as soon as the door closed behind them, the hall buzzed excitedly as the Gryffindors filled in the rest of the school on what had happened to the Fat Lady.
Jo quickly made her way over to a corner where she was joined by Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George. She found herself in between her brother and George.
"Do you think he's still in the castle?" Jo asked no one in particular.
"Nah," George replied first. "I bet he's long gone now after all the commotion he caused."
"Yeah, I don't imagine him sticking around once he found out he couldn't get into the common room," added Fred.
Jo shuddered at the thought. Sirius Black had been in the castle. "I suppose it was good we weren't hanging out by common room today," said Harry. He was on the same page as Jo. The only reason Sirius Black would go to the Gryffindor Tower was to find Jo and Harry.
"I wonder how he got into the castle in the first place," Ron said. "Probably apparated or something."
"Don't be silly, Ron," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "No one can apparate in our out of Hogwarts. I'm sure I told you this before."
"Everyone – go to bed," rang out Percy's voice. "Enough talking." He was taking the 'being in charge' role very seriously at the moment. Fred and George both started mimicking Percy, which only made Jo laugh and earned her a dirty look from Percy.
As Jo settled down into her sleeping bag, she looked up at the ceiling of the Great Hall. It mirrored the night outside, dark sky with plenty of stars twinkling. She was thinking about how close Sirius Black was tonight when she felt a tap on her arm. It was George.
"Hey," he said softly. "Don't worry. You and Harry are going to be fine. Dumbledore's here."
George had a softness to his face that Jo had never heard before. They stared at each other, probably longer than needed as Jo nodded slowly. Then George coughed to break the tension of the moment. He smiled and said, "Well, we should get some sleep." Then he rolled over away from her.
What was that about? Jo thought to herself. George had never acted that way to her. She pushed the thoughts aside and rolled over to face her brother. She sighed, closed her eyes and fell asleep.
It wasn't long before Jo found herself awake. She looked over at Harry and saw that he was still awake. He gave her a small smile and gestured towards the sleeping bag. "We've had worse," he whispered. "But I miss my bed here."
Jo smiled back. She was about to reply when she heard footsteps approaching. She raised her head slightly to look over Harry and saw Dumbledore and Snape walking towards them down rows of sleeping students. She laid her head down quickly and barely whispered to Harry, "Dumbledore's coming!" Both she and Harry closed their eyes.
"I've searched the dungeons, Headmaster, no sign of Black, nor anywhere else in the castle." Snape was saying.
"Thank you, Severus. I didn't really expect him to linger," replied Dumbledore. They were getting closer and closer to the twins.
"Remarkable feet, don't you think?" continued Snape. "To enter the Hogwarts castle on ones' own, completely undetected…"
"Quite remarkable, yes," Dumbledore agreed.
"Any theories on how he might have managed?"
"Many… each as unlikely as the next."
The two were nearly on top of Jo and Harry. She forced herself to breathe evenly and kept her eyes shut, no matter how much she wanted to open them.
"You might recall," continued Snape, "prior to the start of term that I expressed concerns about your appointment of Professor-"
"Not a single Professor inside this castle would help Sirius Black enter," Dumbledore cut him off quickly.
Dumbledore and Snape had stopped walking and by this point were only standing feet away from the twins. There was silence for a moment before Snape finally said quietly, "What about the Potters. Should they be warned?"
Jo's jaw almost dropped at Snape's words. Was he worried about them?
"Perhaps," concurred Dumbledore. "but for now, let them sleep. For in dreams we enter a world entirely our own. Let them swim in the deepest ocean, or glide over the highest cloud."
Although Jo had her eyes closed, she couldn't help but sense eyes boring onto her. Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, Jo heard their footsteps retreat in the direction they came, until they disappeared entirely.
Jo opened her eyes and found Harry staring back at her.
The school buzzed with talks of Sirius Black over the next few days while the Gryffindors were introduced to the Fat Lady's new replacement – Sir Cadogan. He was a knight and completely insane spending most of his time challenging people to duels or constantly changing the password to something ridiculous.
"Great!" Neville mumbled. "Now I'll never know the password."
Jo had asked about getting another picture for the job but was told by Percy that none of them wanted it. "They're all frightened after what happened to the Fat Lady. Only Sir Cadogan volunteered."
But Sir Cadogan wasn't the worst of it. What bothered Jo the most was being followed around by the teachers and Percy in between classes. She could always spot a teacher not far from her or Harry, keeping watch. Jo found this rather irritating and did not appreciate being babysat. So it was no shock to her when Professor McGonagall finally pulled the twins aside to speak with them alone.
She had called them to her office and looked at them from across her desk with worried eyes. "Well," Professor McGonagall began. "I suppose we can't hide this from you no longer-"
"We already know, Professor," Jo said
"Know what?" replied Professor McGonagall quickly.
Jo looked at Harry and then back to Professor McGonagall. "About Sirius Black-"
"And that he's looking for us," finished Harry.
Professor McGonagall looked slightly taken aback.
"Yeah," added Jo with an apologetic shrug, "We've sort known that since the beginning of term."
Professor McGonagall nodded and took a deep breath. "Well, then I can assume that you are both aware of the danger you are in and that it is not in your best interest to participate in Quidditch practice or any other outside activities for your safety."
Jo's draw dropped. "But Professor," she exclaimed. "We can't miss practice! The first match is this weekend, and we have to train!" Harry nodded his agreement quickly. There was no way she would not let them play. She just couldn't. Jo's been itching to finally use her Firebolt in a real match, especially against Slytherin. She would love it if she could only ask Sirius Black to hold off his hunting for at least one match. "Please, Professor," she pleaded.
Professor McGonagall regarded the two for a moment and then nodded saying, "Very well. But I want each of your practices supervised by a teacher."
"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," Harry said in relief. Jo felt the same way. She understood why all the supervision was necessary, even if she didn't like it, Sirius Black made it inside the castle, and the threat of him made being this close to them made more real. As much as it annoyed her that she and Harry always had someone keeping an eye on them, she was also grateful for it.
It was the final practice before the big match on Saturday. Wood was talking to Madam Hooch before he entered the locker room, who had been supervising their practice for Jo and Harry's sake.
Wood had an angry expression as he paced back and forth. Finally, Angelina spoke up. "Wood, what's wrong?"
Wood looked around at each team member before he responded. "I've just spoken to Madam Hooch," he said. "She told me we're not playing Slytherin on Saturday."
"Why?" Everyone asked in confusion. Jo was really looking forward to rubbing her new Firebolt in Malfoy's face. She was even considering letting Harry take it for a ride first against Malfoy.
"Apparently, Flint told Madam Hooch that their Seeker is still injured," Wood said in anger. "But we all know it's because they don't want to play in this weather."
True, the weather was supposed to be very bad on Saturday. But the Slytherins' reason for not playing was dumb, and it only made Jo dislike them even more. "This is ridiculous," she said to the team. "There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm at all. He's completely fine!"
"What a git," George said. Jo couldn't agree with him more.
"So who are we playing?" Harry asked.
"Hufflepuff," Wood muttered. "They're playing style is completely different from Slytherin, and that's who we've been training to play against. Hufflepuff also has a new Seeker and Captain… Cedric Diggory."
Katie and Angelina giggled and turned to Jo, "Don't you think he's rather good looking?" asked Katie.
Jo smiled at them. "Oh of course. Have you seen his hair?"
"His hair yes," said Angelina, "but his smile just melts you."
"Everything about Cedric Diggory melts you," Katie said to her. All three girls giggled.
"Hear that George," said Fred. "Our fearless ladies fancy good old Diggory."
"Wonderful," George muttered.
Wood sighed loudly. "Girls, please focus. We must win this match!"
With the match now a day away, the harsh weather was unyielding. Jo couldn't remember the last time she saw the sun as it was always darker both outside and within the castle. Jo and Ron were now sitting in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class waiting for it to begin. "Where's Hermione?" Jo asked Ron.
He shrugged. "Haven't seen here. She's probably at the library."
Jo narrowed her eyes. "But I was just with her. She didn't mention anything about the library."
"I don't know," said Ron. "Where's Harry?"
Jo smirked. "Oh, Wood, cornered him in the corridor to discuss strategies against Diggory. He's probably still there." Just then, the classroom door banged open and Professor Snape strolled in. With his wand, he closed each of the window shutters making the room even darker. Jo looked at Ron. "This won't be good for Harry."
"Turn to page 394," said Professor Snape, looking around at the class.
Jo and her classmates each took their books out just as Harry came stumbling into the classroom. He paused midway up the aisle to his seat. "You're not Professor Lupin," he said with confusion. Jo rolled her eyes. Way to state the obvious brother, she thought to herself.
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Potter, for disrupting the class with your incompetent observation," Professor Snape said. Harry slowly walked to his seat and sat down next to Ron. "But where is Professor Lupin?"
Snape smiled if you could believe that. "He is, at the present moment, too ill to teach today. Now sit down before I take away more points."
The class continued to take open their books to the assigned page. Jo looked down at the chapter title. "Werewolves?" she asked out loud.
"But sir, we're not meant to start this topic for quite a bit. We're still on red caps and grindylows. We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks." Jo's head whipped around. Hermione was suddenly sitting next to her with her hand held high in the air.
"Quiet" snapped Snape.
"When did you get here?" Jo whispered to Hermione as Snape began speaking to the class.
But Hermione only shook her head. "Not now." And with that, she ignored Jo and placed all her attention onto Snape's lecture.
There was something fishy going on with Hermione. That much was evident to Jo. Hermione wasn't doing a very good job at not being suspicious. One way or another, Jo was determined on finding out the truth to Hermione's odd behavior.
"Now," said Snape, bringing Jo out of her thoughts. "Which one of you can tell me the differences between an Animagus and a werewolf?"
Jo's hand went up along with Hermione's. Snape looked around at everyone but the two girls. "Anyone?" he questioned the class but was greeted with silence. Snape sighed and looked at Jo and Hermione. "Potter, hopefully, you appear more knowledgeable in subjects other than potions."
Jo gaped at Snape. Did he give her a semi-decent compliment? "Umm.. uhh."
"Well?" Snape narrowed his eyes at her.
"An Animagi can change their appearance at will. Werewolves can't," Jo responded quickly recovering from her shock.
"That is correct, Ms. Potter. Now after this class your assignment…." The class went on with Snape taking 5 points more from Gryffindor while calling Hermione a know it all, and not in the nicest way, ending with Ron getting detention and the entire class wishing for Professor Lupin to be back by the next lesson.
Jo woke up early the following morning to the rumble of thunder and wind against the castle wall, slamming rain into the windows. Perfect, she thought to herself. She and her teammates are to be playing in horrible conditions today against Hufflepuff. While Jo was excited to be on her new Firebolt and to play, this wasn't the best of days to be playing. Getting dressed quickly and her Firebolt in hand, Jo made her way down to the common where Harry was with his Nimbus.
"Ready to get drenched?" Harry asked, not sounding excited at all by the thought.
The two walked to the Great Hall together for breakfast and joined the rest of the Gryffindor team. Wood continued to lecture them throughout their breakfast, hardly eating anything himself.
"Come on, Oliver," Angelina finally said, stopping Wood in midsentence, "we don't mind a bit of rain."
"A bit?" Jo asked. "We'll be swimming to the quidditch pitch at this point." And wasn't that the biggest understatement of the year. By the time Jo made it to the locker room, she had lost her own umbrella, got poked by another umbrella flying by, and was soaked head to toe. Once in her quidditch robes, she felt better but knew it was only temporary.
Walking out onto the quidditch pitch, the wind seemed to pick up more, and all Jo was imagining was how horrible it was going to be flying through it. Jo also couldn't hear the crowd cheering, if they even were at this point. Both the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs met center field. Madam Hooch told everyone to mount their brooms once the captains shook hands and the whistle was blown, Jo went to work when the quaffle flew into the air.
Within minutes, Jo wanted to quit the match. She was cold and frozen; she dropped the quaffle a dozen time, which wasn't like her; and almost flew into her teammates on more than one occasion. Firebolt or not, this weather had Jo all out of sorts. She was able to get in a few good shots in and got them on the scoreboard, but this was not Jo's best game. She willed Harry to find the snitch real fast so they could all go back inside and sit by the warm fire in the common room.
Jo lost total track of time. She wasn't sure how long they had been playing for when Wood finally called for a timeout. She and her teammates landed on the muddy ground and ran for an umbrella on the side of the pitch.
"What's the score?" Harry asked Jo pulling off his glasses.
"Only up by 30," Jo responded. "Thinking of taking all day to catch the snitch?"
"I'm trying, but I can't see anything with these on!" Harry said angrily, gesturing to his glasses.
Jo thought for a moment. "Give them here," she said, and Harry placed his glasses in her hand. She ran back into the locker room as fast as she could for her wand. "Impervius," she muttered, point her wand at the glasses. Then Jo sprinted back out to the team where Madam Hooch was now standing impatiently. She clearly did not enjoy the weather either.
"Now they'll repel water," Jo said, handing Harry his glasses back.
George looked at Jo with an open mouth. "You mean to tell us you could have done that from the beginning?!"
Jo shrugged. "What? He didn't ask and how was I supposed to know he'd be blind with his glasses on as well?"
"It's brilliant, JoJo," beamed Harry. "Thanks."
The match continued, as did the thunder and lightning. Harry has to catch the snitch soon, Jo thought as she ducked a bludger at the last second. It flew past her to the awaiting bat of George. "Close one," he called to her.
Jo was about to agree when she felt a chill, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. She was already frozen and cold from the weather, but this new wave of coldness felt unnatural. But a cold she experienced once before on the Hogwarts Express to school which only meant one thing. Dementors.
The Dementors must be really close for Jo to feel a sudden change in the air around them. She searched the sky in a panic looking for her brother. Flying over to the closest person on her team, George, Jo called out "Have you seen Harry?"
"He and Cedric just darted upwards not that long ago," George yelled back.
Jo looked upwards at the dark, grey clouds swirling around, a flash of light lighting up the entire sky and her stomach dropped. A small figure was hurtling fast towards the ground. His red robes made it clear to her that it was Harry dropping quickly, getting closer and closer to hitting the ground. The way he was falling also made Jo aware that he wasn't conscious. She quickly darted towards him on her Firebolt but knew she wasn't going to reach him in time. Every memory of her and Harry together flashed in her mind as quick as Harry plummeted to the ground.
Suddenly, Harry's fall began to slow down, as if something was forcing him to stop. Jo reached her brother just as he landed gently on the ground. She jumped off her broomstick and fell next to Harry. He was unconscious and pale, but otherwise unharmed. Jo's hands were shaking as she reached for Harry's face, cupping it.
"Professor McGonagall, please escort the Potters to the Hospital Wing."
Jo looked up and saw Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Madam Hooch standing around she and Harry. The rest of the Gryffindors not far behind them. She wasn't sure when everyone else arrived.
Professor McGonagall hurried forward, "Come, Miss Potter. Let's get your brother inside."
