Card the moon
Chapter 38 – Are you Sirius
…
Victory is sweet.
"GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR!"
Like a fine wine, only in moderation. Too much and one begins to act foolishly.
"WHOOOOOOOO!"
The effects are especially pronounced in those that relapse after a long, painful dry spell.
The party dragged on much too long. Past the point of excessive, past the point of 'okay, that's enough', right up to the point where McGonagall stormed in and told them to go to bed.
With the thrill yanked out, they fell quickly into slumber. Harry in particular, who was not a skilled sleeper, found his eyes drooping before he was even under the covers.
They shot back open when the screaming started.
Panicked and mostly blind, he fumbled for his glasses. The screaming was coming from Ron's bed, his friend sitting bolt upright, freckles popping against sheet white skin.
"RON! What's the matter!"
Ron looked at Harry like someone who'd just seen his own tombstone, "Was him! Standing over me! With a knife!"
"Who?" asked Dean
Harry didn't need to ask, he knew before the words left his friends mouth, "Sirius Black."
The other boys looked at each other in fear and confusion but Harry was out of his bed, wand in hand and racing down the steps before any of them could blink
The common room was a mess, but it was an empty mess when he arrived. It filled up quickly, first Ron, their roommates, then all the rest of Gryffindor.
Percy tried to come in and bustle everyone back to bed, but he nearly choked when Ron said the name.
"You—you must have imagined it," he tried to dismiss.
"I know what I saw!"
But he was the only one, and apart from Harry, no one wanted to believe him. No one wanted to believe a crazed murderer had gotten into their nice safe tower. Especially not McGonagall when she turned up a moment later and tried to dismiss the claim like Percy.
"How could he have possibly gotten in?"
"Ask him," said Ron, pointing at the portrait hole that 'protected' them.
More people than was necessary followed McGonagall into the hall to speak with Sir Cadogan. It did not go as she hoped.
"Why yes ma'am, he just came back out barely a moment ago."
McGonagall was stunned, "Why did you let him in."
"He had the password ma'am, all of them, written down on a piece of paper."
"Who would be fool enough to write down the passwords and then lose them."
A squeak from the audience presented itself as a shaking, terrified, Neville Longbottom.
…
"Tell it again Ron."
Even more than Harry, Ron had become a sensation overnight. In much the same way, Neville had become a near pariah. Harry held no grudge against Ron for his sudden popularity and felt no small amount of sympathy for Neville. It was stupid what he'd done, sure, but he felt McGonagall was going a bit overboard, as was everyone else.
Sir Cadogan had been fired and the Fat Lady was back, but not without a security troll guard at the door. It was interesting for Harry, who had something of a history with trolls.
They were professional though, they stood by the portrait and looked menacing without actually touching anyone, even poor Neville who was not allowed to know the new password and had to wait for someone else to come and open the portrait for him.
That really was cruel and unusual, especially given how the trolls like to leer at him.
Days of this lead up to the next Hogsmeade weekend, and Ron couldn't have been more excited.
"You'll be able to sneak down and meet us in Honeydukes, just like last time."
"I don't think I'll be going," Hermione said suddenly. "And I don't think Harry should either."
"You hear something Harry," Ron said.
For all his popularity and the good mood it put him in, he was still not forgiving Hermione. He'd no proof of his accusation but it didn't matter, not in his mind, and Harry had no way to correct him without revealing secrets he wasn't sure he should. He hated secrets.
"You know, I probably shouldn't."
"Aw come on Harry, know one'll know. She won't tell," he said very pointedly.
"I might," she shot back at his scowling face.
"It's not that," he said, "I just got some things I need to do here."
It was entirely true, though Ron chose to see it as him not wanting to risk Hermione tattling, which wasn't entirely wrong.
He and Hermione were on speaking terms, as long as Ron wasn't around, but he didn't doubt she would tell on him. He hated it, but he had to acknowledge in this instance she was probably right. It was a minor detail however, not really the reason he was staying.
He'd been mulling some things ever since Black got into the tower. And Luna's 'reassurance' was still haunting him, now more openly, moaning, groaning, and rattling the chains right over his head.
There was so much going on, before the attack he'd nearly forgotten about Black for a while. Youma were an ever-present threat, always lurking somewhere, and Clow cards had a habit of popping up in the strangest places when you least expected it.
It was exciting, no doubt about that. But it was also hectic. He was beginning to get some idea of what Hermione must be feeling with her absurd workload. The difference of course is he hadn't intentionally brought this on himself, though that was little comfort.
Everything was coming at him at once and he just couldn't seem to keep track of it anymore. He was befuddled, confused, and to top it all off he was caught between his feuding friends. The rest he could have dealt with if not for that, and it didn't matter what he did, someone wasn't going to be happy. Him most likely.
He needed advice, an outside opinion. He also needed to find some way to protect himself while he was sleeping, even just something to wake him up if someone approached his bed. He wasn't going to find that at Honeydukes.
He needed to find Luna, not the cat.
She'd been surprisingly scarce since he'd seen her chasing after things on fire, and he'd not had a chance to talk to her since before Christmas. Time he changed that. And not just because he needed her advice.
He wasn't sure exactly how he felt about the quirky big eyed blonde, but he knew he liked her. She was a friend, and currently the only one that wasn't fighting with one of the others. He needed to find her, and hopefully, there wouldn't be anything on fire.
