The whole of Gryffindor were seated at breakfast before any of the other houses appeared, drinking copious amounts of coffee. While many were still chattering animatedly about the events of the night, there were just as many who looked tired and irritable, mainly the fifth and seventh years who were already struggling with the pressure of having exams that year and sorely needed their sleep.
Tanwen was amongst those who were just tired more than anything. Angelina and Katie were sat opposite her, the bags under their eyes showing that the effects of the match yesterday and then staying awake all night were beginning to take their toll. In fact the three of them seemed to be having some kind of competition over who could yawn the most.
Yawning for what felt like the hundredth time, she pushed her plate out the way and leant her head on her arms. She was almost asleep when she felt someone squeeze her shoulders gently. She lifted her head and looked round sleepily to see Cedric standing behind her with a quizzical expression.
"What happened?" he asked, "No-one in your house looks like they had a wink of sleep last night."
"That's because we didn't," Angelina replied from across the table. "Sirius Black broke into our common room last night. Tried to stab Ron Weasley would you believe!"
His eyes flicked to Ron, who sure enough was relating the events of last night with great energy to Lizzie and a few other Hufflepuffs at the top of the table.
"What?" Will asked in a loud voice as he came up behind Cedric, "Who tried to stab Ron? And more importantly, why did they stop?" he grinned before adding, "You lot look like you partied a little too much last night!"
"I don't think that's very funny," Hermione snapped, turning round in her seat a few along from Tanwen to glare at Will. Her eyes were red-rimmed and she looked extremely strained, "Ron could have been killed! It's nothing to joke about! And even without the danger to Ron, the fact that Black managed to break into a house dormitory should be a sobering enough thought even for you!"
Will looked shocked and opened his mouth to reply but was cut short by Dumbledore getting to his feet and calling for silence.
Following Dumbledore's announcement to the rest of the school, telling them what had happened while they slept and the measures that were being put into place to guarantee their safety, people began to disperse and head for the doors. Tanwen met Cedric halfway out the hall and wrapped her arms round his waist. He hugged her to him and kissed the top of her head.
"How are you?" he asked her, "Other than tired."
"I'm ok," she replied, stifling a yawn, "just feeling a bit fragile I guess."
"You should go back to bed," he advised, "I'll walk you back."
She smiled, "Don't really have time to sleep- I've got a Transfiguration assignment to complete. I'm really behind on it because of Quidditch practice, but it's due in tomorrow so I'll have to go to the library."
"Well, I can help you with that if you like?" he offered.
"That'd be great," she replied, looking up gratefully, "let me get my stuff from my dorm first."
"Sure," He smiled, "just promise me you're not going to overwork yourself and will get an early night tonight."
"Yes mother," Tanwen replied in a gently mocking voice.
Cedric waited outside the Gryffindor common room, a short way down the hall. He knew that the Gryffindors wouldn't take kindly to him waiting outside the portrait hole. Besides there were a large group of nasty looking trolls marching around in front of a nervous looking Fat Lady.
As he was waiting a group of seventh year boys walked past, a boy with a shock of red hair turned to grin at him and call,
"Better keep both eyes on your girlfriend, Diggory. She's a bit wild if you ask me," he grinned again.
"Shut up Jefferson," said one of his friends, elbowing him in the side.
"Hey!" he replied, wincing, "I didn't mean anything by it." He stopped and turned to Cedric, "I was only talking about her running out like that last night, after we heard about Black, is all."
"What are you talking about?" Cedric asked with a frown.
"Figures she wouldn't mention it, anyway…" he looked thoughtful for a moment, "Right, well I noticed that she and one of her friends were already in the common room when I came down. They were the only two girls I could see. Ron and Percy were having an argument about something and then McGonagall came in and that's when we hear that Black'd tried to knife Ron! The whole common room was silent after that and your girlfriend just bolted out when no-one was looking-well obviously I was looking- but that's not the point." He grinned, "Anyway, you should have seen the fuss her friends kicked up when they realised she'd gone. Contay was ready to strangle Percy for not letting them out-"
"-I wish he had," interrupted someone else with a grin.
"-Shut up Ben, you're interrupting my story- Anyway, as I was saying…well actually that's about the whole of the story, she came back ten, fifteen minutes later." He spotted Tanwen walking towards them up the corridor and brought the conversation to an end, "See you around Diggory- oh yeah, good luck against Slytherin!"
And with that they headed towards the common room and Tanwen passed them with a quizzical look.
"What was that about?" she asked Cedric as she reached him.
"You actually," he replied.
"Oh," she swallowed and shifted uncomfortably.
Seeing she wasn't going to be forthcoming about this he said, "They told me you ran off after you heard about Black." He paused, "Is that true?"
She sighed, "Yeah, it was a mistake-I mean, I guess I sort of panicked." That excuse seemed to have worked well up to this point so she saw no need to change it.
He gave a small smile and shook his head, "Miss Gray, you take entirely too little care of yourself." He pulled her gently to him and kissed her soundly, "although I'll be more than happy to take over." He grinned and raised an eyebrow suggestively.
Tanwen grinned back, "Very well then Mr Diggory," she replied with an arch look, "If you think you can."
He laughed and moved so his arm was round her waist, then they started to walk towards the library.
Walking into Potions a week later, Tanwen crossed the room to sit next to Blair. The two of them had been pretty constant partners in the class since the whole Clem incident. Even though she knew that some of her friends felt uncomfortable about their friendship, as far as Tanwen was concerned he was the one good thing that had come from that. He smiled at her as she sat down, dumping her bag heavily on the table.
"You alright?" he questioned.
"Yeah, fine."
He raised an eyebrow.
Tanwen laughed, "Alright, alright, I've been having a bit of trouble sleeping recently is all." Ever since the night Sirius had broken in to Gryffindor Tower all her efforts had gone into just keeping her head above water; ignoring Ron's frequent renditions of the event, turning a blind eye to the increased security, pushing away mad thoughts of rushing off on a blind search for Sirius and just focusing on school work and maintaining the presence of normality.
"Not that I would ever tell a girl she looked bad," Blair said, "but you do look tired."
"Thanks," she said dryly.
"Something on your mind?" he asked cautiously.
She smiled.
"Settle down," Snape ordered, "we're going to be studying Thermos potions for the next few weeks, potions that alter the temperature and sometimes the state of objects and substances. Turn to page twenty seven of your books and start getting your equipment set up."
There was muttering and ruffling of pages as students turned to the appropriate page and headed to the ingredients cupboard before heading back to their seats. On her way back, Tanwen was stopped by Snape.
"Miss Gray, I hope you don't think that because of recent events that I have forgotten the matter of your detention, or that somehow you are excused from it. You're no Harry Potter to have someone to intervene on your behalf," he curled his lip in disgust.
She fought the urge to roll her eyes knowing it would only get her into further trouble.
"In fact," he continued with a cold smile, "it happens to be quite fortuitous for myself at least. You might have noticed that the Student ingredients cupboard is looking rather sparse. It certainly has come to my attention, and so I have taken the liberty of ordering some further supplies." His lips formed a thin line as Jon walked past, "Contay, did you see wormwood on the ingredients list? What exactly do you think you're doing?"
"I think I'm just putting it back, after taking the jar out for airing," Jon replied with a grin.
Snape narrowed his eyes.
"You were saying, professor?" Tanwen prompted quickly, diverting Snape's attention.
"I want you here every evening at six o'clock-"
"But professor," she interrupted, "I can't, I have Quidditch practice then!"
An evil glint came into his eyes, "You should have thought about that before you went wandering about in places you weren't allowed." He briskly added, "Here, at seven every day, I've new ingredients that you are to inventory and put away." He strode off to see how the rest of the students were doing, leaving Tanwen to glower at his back.
Muttering under her breath she marched back to the desk, depositing her load with a loud bang. Snape span round and snapped,
"Miss Gray, any further displays of temper will result in you doing inventory until the end of the year, do I make myself clear?"
Clenching teeth she nodded curtly.
Sitting down she whispered furiously to Blair, "He did that on purpose, I could tell! He made my detention to clash with practice deliberately!"
"Don't look at me, I'm still rooting for Slytherin," he replied with a smile.
She glared at him, turning as she felt someone touch her arm.
It was Jon, "We'll speak to McGonagall when class is over," he said, looking angry too, "He can't do that!"
"I know!" Tanwen replied, "Do you really think McGonagall will do something?"
He shrugged, "It's worth a try don't you think? She'll do her best anyway, I know she want to win just as much as we do!"
Dave came over and nodded in Snape's direction, "He'll get mad if you don't come back now," he said to Jon, "in the mood he's in he'll put anyone in detention for breathing too loud."
"We'll go after," Jon promised her as the two walked back to their desk.
Tanwen turned back round, feeling better.
"We're planning on having another paintball match at the weekend," Blair said mildly as he chopped the dried nettles finely, "You're welcome to come if you're free." Unexpectedly he added, "Bring some of your friends along if you like."
"Yeah, alright then," she replied, brightening, "that'd be fun."
Half an hour later as the two of them were ladling a viscous blue liquid into a cooling dish Blair said,
"So what do you think of all this fuss about Black?"
Tanwen fumbled with the vial of essence of murtlap she was holding, "Erm…"
"Because," he went on, "I was reading up on him- I'm interested in that kind of thing- criminal history- and he never had a proper trial you know."
"What?" She sat down hard on the nearest seat.
"Yeah, of course it wasn't uncommon at the time, what with all the panic that was going on. They had a trial of sorts, but not a fair one by any accounts. I think that they just wanted to jail people to feel like they had some sort of rein on what was going on." He shrugged, "Whether or not he actually did it or not isn't for me to say. Although if you want my opinion I don't think he had it in him. I've seen what you Gryffindors are like- it's all about the honour with you guys. And Black, well, from what I read he was one of your house's shining lights at the time, him and Lily and James Potter."
The bell rang and there was a loud scrambling as books were shoved back into bags and dishes were carried carefully to the top of the class and placed on Snape's desk.
"See you later, Gray," Blair said, with a wave as he headed out the door with a large bunch of Slytherins.
Tanwen sat at her desk feeling numb. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. There was someone else who believed Sirius was innocent, and he wasn't even involved! And if he could see it, why couldn't anyone else?
"Hello?"
She blinked and looked up to see Cassie stood in front of her, "Sorry did you say something?"
Cassie laughed, "Never mind, and you really need to get more sleep girl, you seem about as alert as a sloth."
"Thanks," Tanwen replied sardonically.
"Come on, you'll be late for your next class."
Getting up she joined Jon and Mark, who were waiting for them at the door. As she walked she told herself that she wouldn't think about what Blair had said just yet and she pushed it to the back of her mind along with everything else that if she thought about it might just drive her crazy.
"Wait a minute, how come you guys waited?" Tanwen asked as the headed up the corridor, "I don't even have the same class as you now."
"Oh yeah," Cassie said, "I always forget about that."
"In fact," Tanwen started to laugh, "none of us have the same class now! I have Ancient Runes. You have Divination," she gestured to Cassie, "and you guys have Muggle Studies and Arithmancy."
"Maybe Jon wanted to walk you to Ancient Runes to see Cho," Cassie said with a grin.
He grimaced, "Not likely! I'm trying to avoid her at the moment."
"Jon!" Tanwen admonished, "That's not very nice."
He rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, well, the thing is she's really annoying- she's always whining about something!"
"I thought you two were getting along fine."
"Don't even start on it!" Mark advised, "It seems this whining is endemic, she whines at Jon, Jon whines at me- it's a vicious circle."
Jon glared at him.
"So if you don't like her than why don't you just break up with her?"
"It's a guy thing," Mark said, "We don't like to be the one that breaks it off."
"Cos that makes you the bad guy, right?"
He shrugged.
Tanwen shook her head, "You really should say something to her, Jon, it's the fairest thing to do for both of you."
He sighed and made a face, "Alright."
"Woo hoo, no more vicious circle!" said Mark, Cassie gave him a weird look and he cleared his throat adding, "…I've been telling him that for weeks and he wouldn't listen to me! How come my advice is ignored?"
"Ah," replied Tanwen in a mock serious voice, "it is because I am wise beyond my years and therefore am a far worthier…advice-giver."
"Advisor?" suggested Mark with a grin, Cassie struggled to stifle a laugh.
"Whatever," said Tanwen, waving a hand airily.
"I thank you, my lady, for your kind advice," said Jon with a wry grin and an elaborate bow, "but now I suppose I must be off to attend assiduously to my studies."
"But of course," said Tanwen, she grinned and bid them goodbye as she entered her Ancient Runes classroom. She avoided Cho's glance as she walked in and wondered to herself what Cho actually thought about Jon. She hoped that that would resolve itself peacefully, she already had enough on her plate to think about without one of her best friends having a rough break-up.
At the end of the day she sat with her year mates in the library, trying to concentrate on the Defence Against the Dark Arts homework Lupin had given them. But all she could think about was what Blair had said to her in Potions. He believed that Sirius was innocent.
Her mind went round in the familiar circle again. She wanted desperately to find her father but she had no idea where he was or where to start looking for him. There was no one to ask for help to find him, the people she would have gone to first for that kind of thing had already told her that they didn't believe Sirius was innocent and had made her swear not to tell anyone that she was his daughter. So she was stuck, and there seemed to be no way out.
But with Blair, there was now the possibility of breaking that cycle. Sure she couldn't tell him, but perhaps she could work out some way to get him to help her without actually divulging anything she shouldn't. Maybe he would know some way to track Sirius down.
She put her quill down with a sigh and glanced at her watch. It was almost six o'clock. Sighing again she got up and started to shove things into her bag. Cassie looked up quizzically.
"I've got detention with Snape," she said irritably.
Cassie grimaced, "Poor you! Well, if you want you can leave your stuff here and I can take it back for you."
"That'd be great, thanks," Tanwen replied gratefully.
"No problem. You'd better get off, you know what Snape's like if you're ever late for anything!"
Tanwen rolled her eyes, "I know! I can't wait for all this time I have to spend with him," she replied sarcastically, "And knowing that instead of it going on for two weeks, it's now going to be a month because the only way I can get to go to practice is to go and do detention with Snape for an hour and then go after that!"
"Well at least you get to go, right?" Cassie said, sympathetically.
"I guess." She glanced at her watch again, "Yikes, I'm going to be late! I'll see you later."
And with that she hurried down to the dungeons.
A/N: Smeh, don't have much to say about this chapter, just hoped you liked it. Getting a little bored of this fic at the moment, but no need to worry, I've basically finished it, well Tanwen's 4th year anyway. I was planning on doing quite a bit more, got pieces written here and there. Anyways, review and tell me what you thought! J