This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter universe, which are trademarked by J.K. Rowling. I do not claim ownership of these characters nor the locations such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc. that are Rowling's creations. This work also includes Pokemon, which belong to the Pokemon Company, and I again claim no ownership of these characters.
I thank both Rowling and the Pokemon Company for the universes they have created that allows me to do something like this for my own entertainment and, hopefully, the entertainment of the readers.
There was chaos as the assorted students made their way back to the Great Hall. They had barely started clearing the hall of the remains of the feast before the entire school were back inside.
The students were sent to stand patiently at the side of the room as a veritable army of Pokémon carried the four house tables and the staff table out of the hall, leaving the floor completely clear and space for the students to stand.
For most of the students this was immensely confusing. For the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs their journey back to their respective common rooms took them nowhere near where Black had been sighted and as such they had no idea why they were being gathered. For the rest of the students who knew the question was what was being done right now to catch him?
Professor Dumbledore was notable only by his absence as time passed and the students grew more and more impatient waiting for news, rumours of Sirius Black's involvement having spread like wildfire.
At eleven o'clock Albus Dumbledore made his appearance, drawing the attention of every student in the room. A hushed silence fell as they waited for him to speak.
"A couple of hours ago one of the Gryffindor students, upon returning to Gryffindor Tower, encountered a man who she believes to be the notorious criminal Sirius Black," Dumbledore said steadily, demanding silence with every word. "Since then the professors and myself have been searching the castle, as we will continue to do until we either find Black or can be certain he is no longer within Hogwarts."
Mutters broke out among the students at Dumbledore's words as he confirmed what many of them had suspected. Sirius Black had been in the castle.
"In the meantime I think it wise for all of you to remain in the Great Hall for the night," Dumbledore said. "I will be back in the morning should there be no news." And then he left.
Soon after the same armada of Pokémon that had removed the house tables came back, this time each carrying with them a sleeping bag. Harry, Ron and Hermione, grabbing three sleeping bags, retreated to the corner of the room.
"What do you think is going on?" Ron asked, looking bewildered. "Why would Sirius Black be in Hogwarts? How did he get in?"
"Professor Lupin warned me it wouldn't be a good idea to assume Black couldn't find a way past the Dusknoir," Harry told him.
"But why though?" Ron said. "I mean, I know he wants to, well…" Ron trailed off, looking at Harry. It wasn't much of a secret that Harry was one of Black's primary targets.
"Dumbledore said Black was spotted around Gryffindor Tower," Hermione said. "Maybe he was waiting for Harry."
Harry shook his head. "That doesn't make sense," he told Hermione. "I mean, he fled when someone saw him. What were the chances that I'd be the first one back out of all the Gryffindors."
"He's got a point," Ron pointed out. "And while we're at it why attack at Halloween. I mean, after our recent history we're sort of jumpy around this time of year."
"Maybe Black isn't that in tune with what's going on these days," Hermione said. "I mean, up until this summer he's been in prison, where would he be getting the news from."
Harry wasn't sure about anything, except for the thought that there was no way he had the whole picture. On the outside Black's actions seemed ridiculous, or maybe he had a secret agenda that nobody knew about. Maybe he had really succeeded with his plan, whatever it was, after all.
Or maybe he was just mad.
No one slept that night, everyone too on edge at the thought of Sirius Black in the castle. Percy, taking his position as Head Boy very seriously, insisted that they all quieten down and get some sleep, but even as the chatter died down the students remained awake.
Professor McGonagall came to see them the following morning, a Monday, and briskly informed them that a search had been conducted and there was no sign of Sirius Black. That didn't comfort anyone but they shuffled out of the hall nevertheless, walking off in droves towards their common rooms to pick up their bags and get a change of clothes for the new day.
As they were leaving McGonagall pulled Harry and Ron to the side, Hermione following nervously, and they were soon joined by Neville, Dean and Seamus, looking worried.
"I thought it would be prudent to warn you boys," McGonagall said briskly. "During our search of the castle we discovered that Black had been in your dorm room. There doesn't appear to be anything missing but you should be ready for a shock."
"Black was in our dorm?" Ron muttered in disbelief as they walked off, Neville, Dean and Seamus just ahead of them.
"Not surprising though, is it?" Hermione pointed out.
Harry nodded. If ever there was evidence that Sirius Black was after Harry himself then this was it.
"Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione's surprised gasp drew Harry's attention and he looked up to see the Headmaster standing before them.
"Indeed, Ms Granger," Dumbledore said politely. Despite his casual demeanour he looked tired. "Harry, if you would do me the service of visiting my office after dinner. You know where it is." And he walked off.
Exactly what Dumbledore wanted to talk about, though Harry had a vague idea, was shoved to the back of their minds as they reached Gryffindor Tower and the boys headed up to their dormitory.
"What a mess," Seamus said, stumbling into the room as his foot caught on a stray textbook lying on the ground.
"No wonder McGonagall thought to warn us," Dean agreed.
The room was a tip. Clothes and books, scraps of paper and Pokémon food were scattered throughout the room, layering the floor with a coat of debris, and all of it was centred around Harry's bed. The lid to his trunk had been flung back, while the others' remained untouched, and each of the drawers in his dresser were left hanging open, clothes spilling out.
"He must have been looking for something," Harry muttered to himself, bending down and picking up a sheet of paper that had got stuck to his shoe. It was the letter Ron had received from Bill.
"But what?" Ron asked, following behind Harry with wide eyes. "Can you see anything missing?" Harry scanned the area. It was such a mess there was no way to tell for sure.
"I don't know," he admitted. "We can look later," he decided, glancing at his watch. "We need to get ready or we won't get any breakfast."
"Right," Ron agreed, wandering over and picking up one of Harry's textbooks. "Potions. On today of all days," he muttered, shaking his head.
Classes that day had a tense atmosphere. Even Potions, where everyone was too scared of Professor Snape to dare do anything but what they were instructed, went by with less chatter than usual.
The whole school was in a state of shock about what had happened. With the Dusknoir guarding the school they had thought they were all safe but Black had proven once again that even the Dusknoir of Azkaban could not stop him.
Even the teachers seemed affected. Lupin looked awfully pale when he'd taken his class and Snape seemed even angrier than usual. What was more interesting was when they got down for dinner and sat next to each other at the staff table. Snape was glaring at Lupin with unconcealed venom.
"I wonder what Lupin has done to make Snape so mad?" Harry wondered as he watched them. It was obvious that Snape didn't like Lupin from the very first Pokémon Battling class but the level of animosity, at least coming from Snape, was incredible.
"Maybe Lupin said something about his hair," Ron said disinterestedly, poking at his food. "Who knows what Snape's mad about, the greasy old bat."
They ate in mostly silence after that until, as Harry was finishing off his pudding, Hermione nudged him in the ribs.
"Look," she muttered, pointing up to the staff table. Dumbledore had risen to his feet and was making his way around the side of the hall, heading for the exit. Remembering that Dumbledore wanted to speak with him Harry quickly got up, brushing away the crumbs of his meal, and followed after him.
"You make good time, Harry," Dumbledore commented lightly as Harry walked out the doors to the Great Hall. The elderly trainer had been waiting for him. "Come. Let us walk."
They started to climb the stairs in silence, Harry wanting to say something yet at the same time not sure what to say. In the end it was Dumbledore that broke the quiet.
"I dare say you've had a stressful twenty four hours," he said, not turning to look at him but instead continuing to walk on. "I trust you've had a good look at the state of your dorm room by now?" Harry nodded.
"I may be repeating myself here and so I will endeavour to make this quick," Dumbledore said after a moments pause. "It is clear to me, and I believe to you too, that Sirius Black has taken to targeting you."
Harry nodded again, though this time with a lump in his throat. The idea of being targeted, to have someone out for his blood and capable of breaking into Hogwarts, was terrifying.
"I need not stress just how much care you must take, even within the halls of Hogwarts," Dumbledore continued. "Sirius Black has but one goal, and men like him do not stop until they succeed in completing it."
"I'll be careful," Harry promised. "Professor Lupin said the same thing yesterday, before the attack. He said that if Sirius Black got past the Dusknoir once it would be a good idea to assume he could do it again."
Dumbledore nodded. "Wise words," he agreed. "And now, with that out of the way, I bid you goodnight. I trust you won't have a problem getting back to your dorm room from here."
Harry started. Without his noticing he and Dumbledore had walked right up to Gryffindor Tower and were standing at the door to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"No sir," Harry agreed. Dumbledore chuckled.
"Well Harry, goodnight," he said cheerfully. "And good luck with the game on Saturday, not that I can take sides, of course." Harry grinned as Dumbledore walked off, whistling a jaunty tune as he did so, and walked into the common room.
There was hardly anyone there by the time Harry entered, most students still down in the Great Hall for dinner, and so Harry skipped the common room and headed straight up the stairs to the boys dormitory, thinking that it would be a good idea to make a start on clearing up his trashed belongings.
One thing Black had going for him was that he didn't appear to have been out to damage anything. Though his belongings were strewn throughout the room they remained mostly in the same condition they had been before. His books were left unmarked, his clothes rumbled but not ripped or stained. It just led Harry to the conclusion that this was no fit of rage. Sirius Black had been searching for something.
Harry nearly tripped as his foot bumped into something on the ground and he knelt down to pull the offending item out from under his bed and into the light. It was his photo album.
Harry frowned, surprised to find it open and, more suspiciously, hidden away. The rest of his books had been thrown carelessly away but the photo album appeared to have been treated with more care.
The picture on the page it was opened at was one of his parents wedding. His father was grinning, looking over at his new bride with wonder in his eyes. His mother was stunning, Harry could understand why his dad looked at her like he did. It seemed like she was the only thing in the world to him.
And there was another figure in the picture, standing off to the side and grinning in much the same way as James Potter was. He had dark hair, falling in waves around his face and his eyes sparkled with laughter. Something about that face was familiar to Harry, and with the familiarity came a sense of foreboding.
Harry dropped the album suddenly onto his bed and turned to his trunk, turfing out most of what he had just neatly stacked back in. He dug down until he found what he was looking for, an old newspaper he had thrown into his trunk as he prepared to leave the Leaky Cauldron on September the first.
Sirius Black stared out at him, his face gaunt, his eyes dead. His matted hair clung to his face and his long, bony fingers clasped at the bars of his cell.
There was no doubt about it now. Harry's brain put two and two together. He connected the man in the photo to the man in the paper and with the image of Sirius Black, standing unnoticed in Kings Cross Station, firmly in his brain. Harry gasped.
It couldn't be.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Just to let you know that I've started a poll on my profile page so I'd be very grateful if you could head over there and cast your vote.
I've had a lot of great suggestions for Pokemon that the Harry Potter characters could have in my next project and have narrowed them down a bit to a select few. If you suggested a Pokemon but don't find it on the poll then that will either be because I don't feel like they really suit the character, I've already given that Pokemon to another character, it is too similar to a Pokemon I've already assigned to the character or I've already chosen that Pokemon for that character.
Please do not hesitate to continue to send in suggestions. The current poll will be to fill the last two slots of Harry's team, although you can make as many choices as you like (provided you don't just select all of them). If you have an idea for a Pokemon you don't see in the poll that you think Harry should have then please let me know and I'll certainly consider it, although just because the Pokemon isn't there doesn't mean I haven't already decided Harry will get it.
So please take a few moments to cast your vote and I will see you all in the next chapter. Bye.
