After spending an uncomfortable night in the Great Hall the students of Hogwarts were relieved when the Professors entered the room. Unfortunately, Dumbledore didn't bring them the good news they'd been hoping for. First of all, they hadn't found Sirius Black. Despite searching the castle all night there was no sign of the convict. Secondly, and much worse in most people's opinion, was the fact the Hogsmeade trip had been cancelled. Dumbledore had reassured the students they would get to go to Hogsmeade before the end of the term, but for now all trips down to the nearby village were postponed until further notice.
"I don't believe this," Ron grumbled as all the students were let out of the Great Hall to go and get dressed. "I was looking forward to going to Hogsmeade."
"We all were," Harry replied. "But it looks like we're going to have to wait for a while longer to get a taste of freedom."
"Freedom?" Hermione laughed at Harry's exaggeration over the trip.
"Yes freedom," Harry said, grinning and throwing his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "As much as I love Hogwarts, it would have been nice to leave for a few hours and explore somewhere new."
"I guess so," Hermione conceded. She wasn't overly fussed about heading down to Hogsmeade as yet again it was just somewhere else they had to hide their friendship with Draco.
"So what are we going to do instead?" Ron asked as they reached Gryffindor Tower.
Instead of the portrait of the Fat Lady, the Tower was guarded by a picture of a knight on horseback. Luckily, McGonagall had told all the Gryffindors the password before she let them leave the Great Hall.
"More young Gryffindors," The portrait said, jumping off his horse and removing his helmet. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Sir Cadogan and I'll be guarding Gryffindor Tower. Rest assured no scoundrels will pass through on my watch."
"That's good to know," Harry muttered, before giving the password. "Phoenix."
"Ah Phoenix, a nice strong password," Sir Cadogan jollily replied. "I rather like it, don't you?"
"It's great, now let us in," Ron griped as a queue started to form behind the trio.
"What's the hold up?" A voice from behind them shouted.
"See, people are waiting," Ron said to the knight, who still hadn't made a move to open the entrance.
"I'll get to the door in a minute," Sir Cadogan tutted. "Honestly, you young people are so impatient."
"Let us in, or I'm going to go and get Professor McGonagall," Hermione snapped, stepping forward and glaring at the knight. "Now."
"Okay, okay," Sir Cadogan muttered as his portrait swung open and the entrance to Gryffindor Tower opened before them.
"Wow, Hermione, you rock," Ron said with a laugh as the trio trooped into the common room, followed by dozens of other students.
"Sometimes it pays to be bossy," Hermione answered with a shrug.
"So what are we going to do today?" Ron repeated.
Harry shrugged in response but before he had a chance to offer a suggestion, Oliver Wood popped up behind Harry and clapped the third year on the shoulder.
"We're going to have an extra quidditch practice," He announced. "Be down at the quidditch stadium in half an hour."
"That's my morning sorted, I guess," Harry said to Ron as Oliver darted off to grab the other members of the team. "Although knowing Wood the practice could last all day."
"Bummer," Ron grumbled, before an idea struck him and he grinned at Harry. "I'll come and watch. Hermione, do you want to come?"
"I don't think so," Hermione answered. "I might just head to the library."
"See you later then," Ron called as he and Harry headed up to the boys dorms to get ready for the day.
Heading up to her own room, Hermione grabbed a shower and changed into fresh clothes. When she returned to the common room, Harry and Ron were just heading down to the quidditch pitch. Saying goodbye to her friends, Hermione headed off in the opposite direction to the two boys.
Instead of heading to the library, Hermione crept down to the dungeons. Making her way to Severus's office, Hermione knocked on the door and hoped her brother answered before anyone spotted her and she had to come up with a lie as to why she wanted to talk to the Potions Professor. Luckily she only had to wait for a few minutes before the door swung open.
"Hermione," Severus declared in surprise as he opened the door to find his sister standing outside. "You better come in before anyone sees you."
Hermione darted into the office and found Draco sitting sprawled in one of the chairs in front of her brother's desk.
"You're not in trouble are you, Draco?" Hermione teased as she settled down in the chair next to her friend.
"I never get in trouble," Draco replied with a grin.
Severus chuckled at his godson as he took his own seat. "So Hermione, I'm guessing you're here for the same reason as Draco. You want the gossip?"
"Yes please," Hermione said eagerly. "What can you tell us?"
"Not much I'm afraid," Severus replied with a disappointed sigh. "We spent all night searching the castle, but Black vanished."
"Is that possible without help?" Hermione asked. "In fact is it possible for him to enter the castle without help?"
"I suppose it's possible," Severus conceded. "He'd have to have a lot of luck and a lot of skill on his side, but I guess it's a possibility. It's also possible he had time to escape before anyone even knew he'd been in the castle."
"But why was he trying to get into Gryffindor Tower?" Draco questioned. "In fact, why's he hanging around school? What does he want?"
"I wish I knew," Severus muttered. "The only thing I can think of that could be drawing him to the school is Harry. But I don't know why he's interested in Harry."
"I think he wants to convince Harry he's not responsible for the Potters deaths," Hermione said, remembering their first meeting with Lupin. "When we met Lupin, he was pretty insistent that Black wasn't to blame for what happened to James and Lily."
"But why bother?" Draco asked, not buying Hermione's reasons. "He can't prove anything. So what if he gets Harry to believe him, it won't change anything. He's still a convicted murderer and a wanted criminal."
"That's exactly what I'm struggling with," Severus said. "Why go to all this effort to get to Harry? Why now? Until we came back to school I was convinced his escape had nothing to do with Harry, but now I'm not so sure."
"What do we do?" Hermione asked. "Lupin's clearly helping him. We need to get rid of them both."
"We will, trust me," Severus replied. "But getting rid of Lupin is proving harder than I thought."
"Why don't you just tell us his secret," Hermione suggested. She was convinced Lupin's secret was what was going to get him fired, but it was useless if her brother wouldn't divulge it.
"I would love to, but we have to play this right," Severus said with a sigh. "Trust me, the second you find it out if you go to Lucius he'll handle the rest. I'll do my best to make sure you find things out as soon as possible, but it's out of my hands I'm afraid. I just need to wait for my opportunity and grab it."
"And what do we do in the meantime?" Hermione asked.
"We keep a close eye on Harry," Severus answered. "All of us. If Black wants to get to him, we have to make sure he fails. He might want to try and get Harry onside, but he might have other motives we know nothing about. Either way, I don't want that criminal anywhere near my son."
C.O.T.D.
The Hogsmeade trip was cancelled for a month, but finally five weeks after the original date the third years and upwards were allowed to head down to the village. In that time there'd been no more sightings of Sirius Black, either in the castle or anywhere else in the country. However the Dementors were still based at Hogwarts so no-one really thought Black had gone very far at all.
On the morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Harry, Ron and Hermione joined the line of third years leaving the school. The other students were free to just leave the castle grounds, but before the third years received that right they had to hand over permission slips. McGonagall and Filch were in charge of collecting the permission slips and registering which students could leave the grounds to head down to Hogsmeade on trip days.
"I wish they would hurry up," Ron grumbled as they stood in the line a few places back from Draco and the Slytherins. "I'm dying to get down to Hogsmeade."
"I'm hoping we're going to have some fun," Harry said as the line inched forward.
Finally it was their turn, and after handing their forms over to McGonagall, who double checked them to make sure they genuinely had permissions of their guardians, they were heading off down towards the village. As they walked, the Slytherins were still slightly in front of them but they deliberately kept a steady pace so they didn't have to deal with Draco and his friends. After a ten minute walk, they entered Hogsmeade and paused as they looked around at the village they were visiting for the first time. None of them had actually seen the village before as the train station was situated on the edge of the village and the path the carriages took up to Hogwarts avoided the village itself.
"Where first?" Harry asked, looking around the village which was bustling with students from Hogsmeade.
Spotting the Slytherins heading into Honeydukes, Ron turned to see what shop lay in the opposite direction. "How about Zonko's?"
Harry and Hermione went along with Ron and as they followed the redhead towards the joke shop they exchanged amused eye rolls. They'd both spotted him watching where the Slytherins had gone and they knew he'd chosen to head into the joke shop so he didn't have to deal with the Slytherins.
Even though the joke shop wasn't Hermione's ideal place to visit, she didn't complain as the boys scoured the shelves and bought a few bits and pieces. From the joke shop, they headed over to Honeydukes before heading to the book shop. In the book shop Hermione found a book about the Shrieking Shack and other haunted buildings in wizarding Britain and she snapped it up. Dawdling in and out of a few other shops, the trio made their way to The Three Broomsticks, one of the two pubs in the village. They'd been told they would be allowed in the pubs to eat and to have a drink, but they wouldn't be served alcohol.
"I can't wait to try a butterbeer," Ron said as they entered the snug bar. Despite the name, butterbeers weren't alcoholic and therefore the students were allowed them.
"Should we order and then find a table, or do it the other way around?" Hermione asked, looking around at the crowded pub. "If of course there is a free table."
"There's a one in the corner." Harry pointed over to the far corner, where a small table sat empty. "You go grab the table and Ron and I will go and get drinks."
Slipping through the crowds, Hermione headed off to grab the table while Harry and Ron made their way to the bar. There was already a few people at the bar so the two thirteen year olds had to just wait their turn. As they waited, they looked around the cosy pub and decided they liked the place.
"Whoa," Ron suddenly gasped as he caught sight of the buxom witch behind the bar. "She's beautiful."
Harry turned to look at the barmaid, and had to admit she was an attractive witch. Harry was guessing she was around his father's age, but she was still very attractive. She had blonde curly hair, a warm, welcoming smile and a figure that made men stare. Even at thirteen, Harry's eyes were drawn to the curvaceous blonde's bosoms.
"What can I get you two young men?" The barmaid asked as she made her way over to them.
Ron opened his mouth to place an order, but all that came out was a small squeak. Rolling his eyes at Ron's embarrassment, Harry ordered three butterbeers.
"I'm guessing you two are in third year up at Hogwarts," The barmaid said as she sorted the drinks.
"Yeah," Harry answered as it seemed Ron still hadn't found the ability to talk. "It's our first trip to Hogsmeade."
"I hope you enjoy it," The barmaid replied with a smile. "I'm Rosmerta, by the way. And this is my pub, so I expect you to behave yourselves. I don't like trouble in my place."
"You won't get any trouble from us," Harry vowed.
"I'm sure I won't," Rosmerta replied. Handing over the three bottles of butterbeer, she took Harry's money and also gave them menus.
As Rosmerta turned and headed to deal with other customers, Harry gathered up the bottles of butterbeer and prodded Ron in the ribs. "Grab the menu's."
Ron obediently grabbed the menus and giving Rosmerta one more longing glance, he followed Harry over to where Hermione was waiting.
"What's up with Ron?" Hermione asked as Harry placed the drinks on the table and practically had to yank Ron down in his seat as the redhead had turned back to the bar.
"He's got a crush on the landlady," Harry explained.
"I do not," Ron protested, finally finding his voice.
"Yeah, you do," Harry laughed. "You were practically drooling, and you couldn't get a word out."
"I do not have a crush," Ron protested. "I'm just shy."
Hermione snorted at the thought of Ron being shy as she grabbed her menu and picked what she wanted to eat. Once everyone had made their choices, Harry asked Ron if he wanted to go and place the orders but Ron refused so Harry had to go and do it. for the rest of the meal, Harry teased Ron about fancying Rosmerta, and by the time they exited the pub Ron had given in and admitted the landlady was the most attractive witch he'd ever set eyes on.
"Where now?" Harry asked.
"The Shrieking Shack," Hermione answered. "We can't get too close, but if we follow this path here we should be able to get a good view."
"Do you know anything about the place yet?" Harry asked as they set off along the path Hermione had mentioned. Over lunch, Hermione had browsed through her book in order to get some information on the supposedly haunted shack.
"Not much," Hermione replied. "I just flicked through the book. I want to read it properly to get a better idea of its history. I did read that locals had reported hearing noises from the shack on a night. There's supposedly a lot of howling that can be heard coming from inside the place."
"Great, noisy ghosts," Ron grimaced.
"Look, I think that's it," Harry declared as they rounded a corner and a ramshackle building came into view.
The trio made their way over to the fence that cordoned off the shack and they all stood looking at the place. It was a curious little place and Hermione had to wonder why it was built. It didn't look big enough to be a house, and it was too far away from the houses in the village for it to belong to one of them.
"Bloody hell," Ron suddenly swore as he took a couple of steps backward and pointed towards the stairs that led to the shack's door. "It's the grim again."
Harry and Hermione looked to where Ron was pointing and found the same wild, black dog they'd seen a few weeks previously sitting on the bottom step. The creature seemed to be watching them and Hermione felt chills run down her back. Taking hold of Harry's hand, she backed away from the shack and the unnerving stare of the dog.
"I think we should head back into the village," She whispered.
"Good idea," Ron muttered.
Still keeping a wary eye on the large dog, the trio headed back towards the village. The second they turned the corner and the dog was no longer in sight they exchanged looks and took off running towards the centre of the village. Back amongst the other students, they tried to brush off the bad feeling the dog had given them as they visited a few more shops before heading back to the castle. However, Harry and Hermione couldn't shake the feeling that the dog meant trouble. They didn't believe Ron's theory that it was the grim and death would follow, but they definitely thought something was going to happen.