Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.


Chapter 31 – Sir Cadogan's Mistake


The Fat Lady's replacement that Dumbledore had found turned out to be the mad knight, Sir Cadogan, much to everyone's dismay. He had once been a Knight of the Round Table, albeit a lesser known one, only being remembered in wizarding tales of King Arthur, and was known for his insane bravery. Insane was certainly the word on every Gryffindor's mind in the week following Black's break-in. Sir Cadogan was more prone to challenging anyone who wanted access to Gryffindor Tower then simply admitting them with the password, which in itself he had changed four times in the few days he'd been there. Neville had taken to writing the passwords down, being unable to remember them otherwise. While the knight was a source of frustration for the Gryffindors, the more pressing concern among the students was, of course, Sirius Black, and how he'd gained entrance to the castle. For Harry it was much more than just a concern, and the very day after the break-in he'd sought Snape out, hoping to find out what it was he should be warned about. The potions master, however, seemed to be avoiding him and it wasn't until their next training session two weeks later that Harry actually manage to speak with him, though when he did, Snape said only that Black was a staunch supporter of Voldemort and wanted Harry dead to avenge his master. That Harry already knew, it was no secret that Black had been a Death Eater, and Harry knew he was on every one of their hit lists. That Black had gone to such pains to break into Hogwarts meant that he was getting closer to killing Harry any other Death Eater, which meant he had to be more on guard, but that Harry could figure out on his own as well. There was something else though, and Snape was being far from forthcoming, He claimed that as it did not affect Harry's safety, it was not his place to tell him. Harry got the impression that Snape was trying to protect him, and not just by saving his life this time, but by protecting him from sorrow or anguish. Harry asked Lupin as well, but the defense professor had a pained expression when he did, and said only that Snape was right and it was something Harry didn't need to know. Not while he was still so young, at any rate.

Harry didn't like their refusal to tell him, but his attention was soon turned elsewhere as it appeared that Ron and Hermione's friendship was at an end.

"I'm warning you, Hermione, keep that bloody beast away from Scabbers or I'll turn it into a tea cozy!"

"It's a cat, Ronald, what do you expect? It's in his nature!"

"A cat? Looks more like a pig with hair if you ask me!"

"That's rich, coming from the owner of that smelly old shoe brush!"

"How long have they been at it this time?" He asked as he took a seat next to Ginny.

"Pretty much since you went to speak with Lupin." She replied, looking quite exasperated. In the two weeks since Hermione had gotten Crookshanks the half-kneazle had made no fewer than thirty-seven attempts – Ron had been counting – to catch Scabbers. It seemed the orange furball had a six-sense where the rat was concerned and was constantly eyeing Ron's pocket or bag where Scabbers was sleeping, or waiting outside the boy's dormitory hoping to sneak in should Ron leave the rat there. Harry knew that cats chased rats and at the beginning had tried to make Ron see it was just in his nature as Hermione said, but after two weeks and now apparently thirty-eight attempts on Scabbers' life, it really did appear that Crookshanks had it out for him. With each attack on his pet Ron got angrier and a fight broke out between him and Hermione. They had become daily occurrences and most of the tower's other occupants had long ago tuned them out, but neither Harry nor Ginny could and so they were left to try and play mediators or simply watch from the sidelines. Tonight they were watching from the sidelines, neither being brave enough to wade into the fight when Ron's voice reached that particular decibel. The fight ended abruptly, as it always did, with Ron storming off to the boy's dormitory and Hermione retreating to a corner of the common room, both clutching their pets tightly.

"I'll take Ron." Said Harry and Ginny nodded gratefully. She often took Hermione's side in these arguments, angry at her brother for how he treated his friend when her cat was just doing what all cats do. Harry too hated how quick Ron was to anger, and also how he could sometimes be downright cruel to Hermione, but he at least could keep a level head, where Ginny often could not. This time though, even his calm head wasn't enough to cool Ron's temper and he went to bed as angry as ever. Harry settled down into sleep, not looking forward to what tomorrow would bring as it was unlikely that his friends would be on speaking terms. Still, sleep claimed him and he was in the middle of a rather nice dream of leisurely exploring the Dark Forest – without all its dangerous creatures – when a scream broke his tranquility. Harry looked around the forest as a second scream rang out and his brain finally caught up with reality and he sat bolt upright in bed, his wand in his hand within but a moment.

"NOOOOOO!" The scream was coming from Ron and Harry was out of bed and at his friend's side before the scream died out.

"What's going on?" A disoriented Seamus asked, none of their other roommates having reacted swiftly, nor did they even appear to be fully awake now.

"Black! Sirius Black! He had a knife!" Ron was clearly terrified and was pointing at the bedcurtains, which Harry saw were hanging in tatters

"What?" That name had the other boys more alert, though with no sign of the man himself they weren't so sure they believed him.

"You sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?" Asked Dean and Ron shot him a heated look.

"Look at the curtains!" He pointed again. "A dream doesn't slice through bedcurtains! I tell you, he was here!" Footsteps could now be heard pounding on the stairs and a moment later Percy and the other seventh year boys burst into the room through the open door. A door that Harry was certain had been closed when they all went to bed.

"What's going on?" Percy demanded, still trying to pin his Head Boy badge to his pajamas.

"Perce, Sirius Black!" Ron was white as a sheet as he looked to his older brother. "He was here! With a knife! Woke me up!" Percy turned as pale as Ron for a moment before collecting himself.

"Nonsense!" He said brusquely. "You had a nightmare, Ronald."

"So I did that in my sleep?!" Ron asked angrily, pointing again to the torn curtains. The sight had Percy pause for a moment, but not for long.

"It is not possible for Sirius Black to have entered Hogwarts-"

"You mean after the first time he did?" Harry interrupted pointedly. Ron's sheer terror, the slashed curtains, and his own instincts were all telling him that Ron was right.

"Precisely." Percy answered primly. "You know that the Headmaster took measures to ensure such a thing could not happen again." Such had been explained to them all at dinner the day after Black's last break in.

"I'm telling you he was here!"

"Oi, McGonagall's here." Fred or George said, poking their head into the room. Ron jumped to his feet and ran out the door, Harry and Percy both following closely. The common room was packed with every Gryffindor student who hadn't been in the third-year boy's dorm. After last year most of the occupants of the tower were used to be woken by screams, but Ginny hadn't had a nightmare that bad in months and had been asleep in the girl's dormitory at the time, which meant that this scream wasn't one they were used to and it had drawn them all out to discover what was going on.

"Professor!" Ron rushed to his head of house. "Professor, it was Sirius Black, he-"

"My apologies, Professor." Percy spoke over him. "My brother here had a nightmare and-"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled. "Professor, I woke up and Sirius Black was standing over me holding a knife!" The room gasped and Harry felt Ginny and Hermione come up beside him, each taking hold of one of his arms. McGonagall stared at him for a moment before shaking her head.

"Impossible. As you well know, Professor Dumbledore along with several other professors, myself included, took steps to ensure no one, not even Sirius Black, could enter the castle again undetected."

"Exactly what I told him, Professor." Percy said, puffing himself up indignantly. "He wouldn't listen to me, though."

"Besides, Mr. Weasley, Sir Cadogan's portrait is in no way damaged, and shows no signs of having been broken in, so how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"

"As him!" Ron pointed a shaking figure at the back of Sir Cadogan's portrait. "Sirius Black was here, so he must have seen something!" McGonagall's lips pursed and she glared disapprovingly at Ron but did as he asked, pushing the portrait hole back open so she could speak with the errant knight.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?" They all listened with bated breath for his answer.

"Certainly, good lady!" Another gasp went up and Ron looked triumphantly at Percy who had the grace to blush embarrassedly.

"You…you did?" McGonagall sounded disbelieving. "But the password!"

"He had them!" Sir Cadogan said proudly. "Had all of them, in fact, my lady, the last two weeks' worth. Read them off a little piece of paper." McGonagall returned a moment later, looking quite shaken.

"Which person…which abysmally foolish person wrote down the passwords and left them lying around?" Every head turned as one to the only person who had needed to write them down. Neville Longbottom, trembling fiercely, slowly raised his hand into the air.

No one slept again in Gryffindor Tower that night. The school was being searched again, though none were surprised when McGonagall returned at dawn and told them that Black had again gotten away. Classes were cancelled the following morning to allow the students to catch up on some sleep. The other houses had been woken and their dormitories searched with the rest of the castle, even though none of the entrances to the other houses looked to have been broken into. Gryffindor Tower hadn't looked broken into either, and yet Black had gotten in so the staff wasn't taking any chances. McGonagall's fury at Neville's blunder was swift and harsh. She had banned him from future Hogsmeade visits, given him a month's worth of detentions, and written to his grandmother; by dinner the next day Neville received a howler. She had also forbidden anyone from giving him the password, and poor Neville had to wait outside for someone to let him in. Harry and his friends took pity on Neville and would often walk with him back to the common room, or check outside the portrait hole to see if he was waiting there. Sir Cadogan had been fired and the Fat Lady, who had been expertly restored, had returned, though had only done so on condition of further protection, which saw two security trolls patrolling the corridor.

None of that though, held Harry's attention as much as Ron's question, uttered the next day after a sixth re-telling of the story that saw him become a bit of a celebrity as students from the other houses clambered for a first-hand account of what had happened.

"Why did he run, though?" Harry couldn't figure it out. They knew that Black was after him, and the madman had already proven that he had no qualms about murdering people, so why hadn't he silenced Ron and moved on to Harry when he discovered he'd gotten the wrong bed? None of them had an answer, though all were glad he had run, leaving a shaken, yet unharmed, Ron. One good thing did come from Black's second break in, though: Ron and Hermione were friends again. The terrifying events and Ron's near miss with death had put things into perspective for them. At lunch – or breakfast given they'd gone back to bed after spending the night awake – Ron commented that he'd seen Crookshanks stalking a spider, and that the spider population in Gryffindor Tower had gone down since the cat had come to live there, to which Hermione replied that she'd been teaching Crookshanks to chase bugs instead of rats or mice. It had been a pitiful attempt at an apology, on both their parts, but things went back to normal after that, so Harry and Ginny weren't complaining.


A/N - sorry for the long wait!

Review please!