Chapter 6: Surprise Search
Martha and her friends were all on their way to their last class, the most popular class in the school, Defence Against the Dark Arts. This was their third Defence class of the year and the five were thoroughly enjoying it, so much so that they always sat at the front of the classroom during lessons.
This lesson, they were studying merpeople and their teacher, Professor Remus Lupin had promised a practical lesson, and Martha always looked forward to practical lessons. She and her friends took their places at the front of the classroom and the class only had to wait another couple of minutes before Remus came into the classroom.
"Alright class, I'm going to call the roll before we go out into the grounds." He said, taking a roll of parchment from his briefcase and laying it on the desk, before taking out a quill and ink bottle and calling names out one by one.
Once all the names were called out, he led the class out of the castle and towards the Black Lake, where he stopped and told the class to sit on the grass.
"Okay, now who remembers from last lesson, what merpeople cannot go near?" Remus asked the class. Martha's hand shot up. "Yes Martha?"
"Well, merpeople are allergic to the touch of cotton as it gives them a disease that is deadly to them called Hives. And on top of that, merpeople are unable to stay in air for more than ten minutes, otherwise they will suffocate to death. And they are also unable to go within ten feet of bronze and aluminium." Martha replied.
"Very good Martha. Ten points for Ravenclaw. Now, what are people to be wary about when in a merperson's presence?" he asked. This time, it was Adelyne's hand which shot into the air. "Yes Adelyne?" Remus said.
"We people need to be wary that merpeople could be evil, no matter how good they look. There have been reported deaths from the hands of merpeople in the last decade." She replied.
"Well done Adelyne. Another ten points to Ravenclaw."
The rest of the lesson was spent by going for a swim in the lake and trying to find a merperson, because they were told they were hard to find. Once Martha surfaced, she was asked what she found.
"A lot of seaweed, a merman, a green kind of octopus creature, but that's about it." Martha said, swimming back to shore. Remus handed her a blanket and explained that the green octopus creature she'd found was a grindylow. She nodded, just as Dean surfaced, holding Dora, but she looked unconscious. On Dora's other side, also supporting her, was Daniel. Martha got to her feet and ran with Remus to the bank of the lake and helped them get Dora back onto dry land. Martha looked at her, before remembering what her mother had taught her when she was nine. She checked her friend's pulse, found a light one, before checking her breathing. Dora wasn't breathing, so Martha lay her on her side, opening her mouth and pressed on the centre of her chest. She coughed and opened her eyes.
"Professor Lupin, could I please have a towel to wrap around Dora?" Martha asked and Remus handed her a towel, looking at her open-mouthed. Martha helped Dora into a sitting position and placed the towel around her shoulders. At that moment, most of the rest of the class surfaced, all talking excitedly.
"Professor, we saw some!" one boy yelled as he waded to shore.
"Well done, Richard. You all did well." Remus replied, handing towels out to the rest of the class. "Okay, we're still missing two people." He said, counting the heads of his class. Martha looked around and noticed that the two people that were missing were Lannastar and Christine.
"I'll go get them." She said and Adelyne stepped forward.
"I'll go with you." She said firmly and Remus hesitated before agreeing. The two girls ran into the lake and swam under the surface, swimming deeper and deeper until they noticed Christine's leg and swam towards it. They saw that she was tangled in a bed of seaweed and used their wands to cut her out of it, before Adelyne swam back to the surface with her, soon returning alone. The two continued swimming when they saw a couple of grindylows holding onto Lannastar. Looking briefly at each other, they nodded and shot spells at the grindylows, which swam off and they supported Lannastar to the surface. Surfacing, they carried her ashore and lay her on her side. Martha pressed on the centre of her chest, causing her to cough and helping her into a sitting position, she placed a towel around her shoulders. She did the same to Christine and took the three girls who'd almost drowned up to the Hospital Wing. Natalie asked her what had happened when they staggered into the ward, dripping and exhausted. In reply, Martha, Adelyne, Dora, Christine and Lannastar all dropped onto the bed.
"Three of us almost drowned in the Black Lake and two of us are exhausted from trying to save them." Martha said. Natalie and the matron, Madam Pomfrey, both walked over to them and made sure they were warm before insisting they stay overnight for assessment. Christine looked shocked at that. She whispered something to both of them and they told her she could go get ready. Christine said goodnight to her friends before leaving the Hospital Wing. Martha and her remaining friends all looked at each other, puzzled. After assessment, Natalie decided they were alright to go and released them. They went up to their dormitory and had just got into bed when their Head of House, Professor Flitwick entered the common room and called for everyone to get out of bed and go to the Great Hall. Martha got out of bed along with her friends and they all looked at each other as they entered the common room.
"What's going on?" she asked Flitwick sleepily.
"Sirius Black has been sighted in the castle by the fat lady portrait." He replied and Martha suddenly went pale. "And you're all to sleep in the Great Hall, while a search of the school is conducted." He added, addressing the rest of the house. All the Ravenclaws followed their Head of House into the Great Hall and instead of the long tables, there were several purple sleeping bags lined up. their headmaster, Dumbledore, was standing in the centre of the Great Hall and when the Hufflepuffs arrived with the Slytherins, he welcomed them all and apologised for having to get them out of bed.
"… I apologise sincerely for the short notice about this, but Sirius Black has been sighted in the castle. We will have teachers conducting searches of the whole school and hopefully tomorrow night, you will all be able to move back into your dormitories." He said gravely.
"That means that Dad must've gone out of Mum's sight tonight when she was looking after us in the Hospital Wing and gone searching for Pettigrew." Martha whispered to her friends, her face incredibly pale. "I'm going to pretend I'm sick and go to the Hospital Wing. That way, I'll be able to see if Dad's gone back there." She added to her friends in a whisper.
"Why don't you pretend to collapse? That way, Dumbledore'll believe you." Dora whispered.
"Good idea. Dean, please don't panic, this is just an act so I'm able to go to the Hospital Wing." Martha assured him, hugging him. "I'm feeling fine; I'm just worried about Dad."
Dean nodded, kissed her briefly before releasing her and she fell to the ground. Dora and Adelyne screamed, pretending their friend really was in a bad state. Martha's eyes open the tiniest amount so she could see, she saw all the students crowding around and three Gryffindors walked forward, sneering.
"Don't worry, she's just a Ravenclaw." One of them said. He was tall and gangly with bright red hair and freckles. His friends, Harry Potter, and a girl with long bushy Brown hair, laughed, sending the students back.
"Good point, Ron." Harry commented, clapping the red-haired boy on the back. The boy named Ron laughed, before several teachers came forward, telling them to go back to the Gryffindors. The trio scowled as they retreated and McGonagall knelt next to Martha.
"What happened?" she asked the others.
"We don't know, one minute she was looking pale and saying she had a bad headache, then she just collapsed." Lannastar said tearfully.
"She does look rather pale." McGonagall said. "Okay, I'll let Professor Flitwick know that she's in the Hospital Wing. I suggest you take her up and explain what happened. What's her name?" McGonagall asked.
"Martha!" came a shout as Natalie knelt next to her daughter. "What happened, girls?" she asked the others urgently.
"I don't know, one minute she was pale and complaining of a headache, then she just collapsed. I don't know how it happened." Adelyne wailed and Natalie placed her hand on her shoulder.
"She'll be alright, but I suggest you come with me up to Hospital Wing." She said. "Thank you Minerva. I'll take it from here." She added, picking Martha up into her arms and carrying her out of the Great Hall, where she put Martha down, and Martha, knowing her cover had been blown, stood up, brushing herself down. "Come with me girls." She said sternly. Martha and her friends followed Natalie in silence, knowing they were probably in trouble.
Once in the Hospital Wing, Natalie led the Maraudesses into her office, where Martha saw Sirius sitting on the bed.
"Dad!" she exclaimed, running up to him and hugging him.
"Alright, what was with the trick, girls?" Natalie asked them sternly, her hands on her hips. Martha looked down at her feet and began talking.
"Well, when Professor Flitwick came into our common room and told us that Dad had been sighted in the castle, I did go pale, but I was worried that he would be caught and given to the Dementors at the gates to the school. I wanted to see him to make sure he was well hidden, so I pretended I'd collapsed and told the others to cover for me. They did well until you checked me over and said you would take me up here." She said, grinning guiltily.
"Sirius, why did you move from here, and get yourself seen?" Natalie asked, turning to Sirius.
"Sorry Natalie, I got news that Pettigrew was around so I snuck out to try and find him to get him back for what he'd done to us." He replied, looking guilty.
"Thank you so much Sirius." Natalie said. "Now we'll have all the teachers of the school searching for you."
Sirius looked up, sighed, looked at his knees again.
"Sorry again Natalie." He said guiltily.
"Don't worry about it Sirius, I was just worried they would catch you, just don't do it again, okay?" she said to him, sitting down next to him.
"Okay Natalie. I won't." he said.