A/N: Hello hello again, dear readers! So very sorry for the super long wait. I hope you enjoy!

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Essays, essays, essays. That was the story of my life- well, at least for the next month and some. Even outside from the torturous homework, I wrote essays. Talon said it was essential for "our basic understanding of the concepts of animagus transformation", and who was I to argue? Even if I thought it was just a waste of precious time. Oh, how I could wait until our OWL year.

As the end of October drew closer, it brought a welcome change with it. Not that the teachers went easy on us, but Talon started giving us some breaks. I'm beginning to see her as the sort of dictator of our small group. Maybe it's time for a change towards democracy or, better yet, anarchy. It was hard to not get caught up in all the excitement. I wondered if they did costumes at Hogwarts; but when I asked, they just looked at me as if I was insane. Which I am... I guessed that was a no, then. There was still the feast to look forward to, though. As long as there was candy, I was good.

I managed to fight my way through armies of homework assignments and Halloween arrived. Giddy with excitement for my first ever holiday feast at Hogwarts, I skipped and danced my way to the Great Hall. When I walked in, my breath was taken away.

Between lunch and then, giant-sized pumpkins had been placed at intervals through the Hall. Designs were carved into their surfaces and candlelight flickered from within. Smaller ones replaced the usual candles in the air, and the effect was very dim light, enough for you to be able to see, but with a fairly spooky gloom. Cobwebs laced the walls, and I ducked as a cloud of live bats swooped overhead.

But the best part was the food. There were mountains of sweets and candies with frosted peaks, towering high above the normal food itself. Bottles of butterbeer sat in large groups around the tables. The air was filled with the sounds of clinking glasses and loud chatter.

A bright grin spread across my face as I made my way over to the Hufflepuff table, where I saw a cluster of first years, including some from other Houses, gathered at the end closest to the Head table. I slid into a seat between Crissy and Talon's Ravenclaw friend, who I recognize from the start of term party. I thought her name was Nia, if I remembered correctly.

I sent my greetings around the table. "Hi, Talon, Tawny, Sneaky, Crissy, Elizabeth, Susan, people I don't know... Erm... Nia?...!" I said cheerfully, that large smile still on my face.

Nia rolled her eyes, but a warm grin was on her face. "That's how Talon introduced me. Please, call me Niagara."

"Oh, sorry. Hi, Niagara, Talon, Tawny, Sneaky, Crissy, Eliz-"

"Alright, we get it!" Susan chuckled in her bubbly laugh.

"Nice decorations, huh? And the weather's just perfect," Sneaky commented, gesturing upwards. I tilted my head upwards to see flaming orange streamers snaking through the air, underneath a cloudy sky. I nodded in agreement, too in awe to speak. "Just wait until Christmas," she added as an afterthought. "My parents said it's amazing."

"Are you gonna eat, Breeze?" Tawny asked. "You're just sitting there drooling and gaping!"

And so I was. I quickly snapped out of it and, grinning sheepishly, piled my plate high with nothing but sweets. Besides from being a sorta religious holiday, that was what Halloween was about, right?

"Uh oh," Talon muttered, glancing nervously at my plate from across the table. "Watch out, Breeze's gonna blow later, and she's taking the whole place down with her..."

"You know I am." I smirked and began making my way through a pumpkin pasty.

As we began to fill up with sugar, plus the occasional chicken wing or potato, the conversation turned from crazy to crazier to completely insane. Talking about how much sugar it would take to really make me blow up the castle, then how we would react if Snape grew a mustache, until we were rambling on about what we would do with everyday items during a zombie apocalypse. By the time we left, our arms were linked and we were singing very, very loudly. (A/N: NO, butterbeer is NOT alcoholic!)

Suddenly, Dumbledore rushed past us, a harried expression on his face even though he smiled at us.

Once he was out of earshot, I shuddered and blinked a couple of times. "Did I really just see what I just saw?"

"That depends," Niagara said slyly. "What was it?"

"Dumbledore in a pink bikini!" I burst out innocently. I was pulled down as Tawny, who was a couple of people away in our link, fell to the ground in hysterical laughter.

"HIC!" Went Tawny. She glared at me accusingly. "You gave me the hiccups!"

"Um, guys?" Crissy interrupted, a worried expression on her face. "Dumbledore wasn't running away out of embarrassment, and he's not wearing a bikini. Come on." And, with that, she broke away and ran up the hall.

Still in a bit of a daze, I followed after the others. We caught up to the Headmaster on the staircase leading up to the corridor that led to-"

"The Fat Lady," Sneaky said grimly. "Where is she?"

I saw a head of red hair at the back of the group of Gryff's and ran up to her, Sneaky right behind me. "Ginny! What happened?"

She turned to face us, her expression full of fear. "The Fat Lady, she's gone!"

"What?!" Elizabeth yelped, and pushed her way through the crowd, Susan at her heels.

I strained to hear what the Headmaster was saying at the front of the group. "Send out the ghosts. We have to find the Fat Lady. Tell them to search every painting until-"

"There's no need to search, Headmaster!" a voice sung up and the crowd tensed, all eyes on the poltergeist that had bobbed towards them, and was now floating upside down, a smug smile on his face.

"Peeves!" Filch roared. "So it was you who slashed the painting?!"

My eyes widened, and I looked over to Sneaky, Tawny, and Talon, who were returning the stunned look. Slashed painting? I stood up on my toes to get a glimpse and, sure enough, the edges of the painting that I could see had a wide slash running down it. The portrait was empty.

"Nope, not me!" Peeves drawled. "But I know where the Fat Lady is. Poor dear is running through paintings near the Astronomy tower. Scared to death, nearly, she is." Peeves' smirk grew even wider. "She wouldn't let him in, you see, so he ripped her canvas. He likes to get his way, he does."

"Who?" Dumbledore's voice was almost at a whisper, filled with dread, his blue eyes locked on Peeves.

"Why, who else, but Sirius Black?"

The stars shine above me, not a cloud in the sky. They all seem to have cleared up since the feast just a few hours ago. The weather before may have been perfect for the atmosphere, but this time it doesn't match my mood at all. If I caused the weather, the sky would be broken up by frequent bolts of lightning.

The first years from the feast all seem to be asleep around me... or, at least, they're pretending to be. I don't know how they can possibly be getting any rest on this cold floor, nothing between my back and the ground except for a thin, midnight blue sleeping bag. My thoughts come to me in a fast jumble.

"So you're saying that Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban to come after you?"

"But they'll catch Black, won't they? I mean, everyone's looking for him."

"Sure, except… No one's ever escaped from Azkaban before… and he's a murderous, raving lunatic..."

Sirius Black could be in the castle, coming to murder us in our sleep at any moment...

"My Daily Prophet!"

"What is it?"

"Just some rubbish about Sirius Black..."

"Did they catch him?"

"Nope..."

He was still on the run, as evasive as ever...

"I want all the prefects to lead their houses down to the Great Hall, where we will set up sleeping quarters. The Head Boy and Girl are to be in charge and come to get a teacher if something goes wrong. We will be looking for Black, and you all will be allowed to go back to your common rooms once we give word that the coast is clear..."

Dumbledore's face had been so... anxious; it was unnerving. The twinkle had disappeared from his eyes as he scanned the crowd, until his gaze fell on Harry.

I didn't get it.

And now here I was, stuck lying on the ground in the Great Hall, pretending to be asleep as the prefects and ghosts stalked the pathways between rows of sleeping bags. My eyes nearly snap opened when the doors creaked. The prefect nearest to me rushed towards the person.

I allowed myself to squint my eyes open just a crack to see Dumbledore, Snape, and a Ravenclaw prefect standing by the doors. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the prefect nodded and walked away. Dumbledore started to stroll almost casually slowly in my direction, Snape following, but the looks on their faces were the opposite of nonchalant. As they drew closer, I began to catch their words.

"We've looked everywhere, Headmaster, there's not a sign of him."

"I'm not surprised. I didn't expect him to linger. What of the Fat Lady?"

"She is currently being consoled by her friend, Violet, with multiple glasses of wine. She is still a bit hysterical. I can't imagine that she will be able to continue her job."

"I agree, Severus. We will have to employ a new painting."

"What about Potter, Headmaster?"

My ears practically perked up.

"I believe that he will be safe for now."

"Should they return to their common rooms?"

"Tomorrow." Dumbledore was standing a few feet away, looking down at someone with messy black hair, glasses on the floor next to him; Harry. The moonlight caught his eyes for a split second, lighting up the emerald-green, and I realized that he, too, was listening. Did he see my eyes open, as well? "But, for now, let them sleep. For in dreams, we enter a world that is entirely our own. Let him swim in the deepest ocean or glide over the highest cloud..."

I couldn't sleep, but it didn't matter. I was in a constant dream anyway.

A/N: I don't want to badger you, but please note that reviews make my day!

There is a detail located somewhere in this chapter that is... different, yet extremely important. If you think you know what it is, then tell me! You CAN do it in a review, but a PM may be better so people don't cheat. CHEATING ISN'T NICE, PEOPLE!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Look for an update in my story called Harry Potter and the Watching sometime soon (hopefully)! :D

Thanks for reading!

Breeze