Chapter 15

It was two days until the final Quidditch match against Slytherin and Harry and I had still yet to receive our Firebolts from McGonagall. Wood, the twins and Katie Bell had all tried to make a deal with McGonagall, but with no luck. It looked like we were stuck flying Cleansweeps, which ultimately promised the cup to Slytherin. As we sat at breakfast this morning, I glanced over at Malfoy who was laughing and gloating with the rest of the Slytherins. With a disgusted look, I went back to my food. "I can't believe the Slytherins are going to win the cup AGAIN!" sighed Ron.

"Well, if SOMEONE," my eyes darted to Hermione, Rachel and Amanda, "had kept their mouths shut about a certain broom, we would be winning the cup," I replied.

"I don't get it. I thought it was the skill of the player, not the speed of the broom that won Quidditch matches," stated Amanda.

"Well if the skill of the player can't be used because they are outran by a Nimbus 2001, then it doesn't matter how good they are. They NEED a good broom!" I replied.

"Yeah, but Harry still beat Malfoy to the Snitch last year on the Nimbus 2000."

"Malfoy crashed!"

Before Amanda and I could continue arguing, McGonagall's voice sounded from behind us, "Potter."

Harry and I both turned, not sure which one she meant. Looking at her, we saw she was holding 2 packages…2 broom shaped packages. "After careful examination, we have found nothing wrong and see it fit to return your Firebolts back to you."

With a smile, we took our respectable brooms. "Oh, and one more thing, I expect you to win this match for us now with these brooms because I don't think I can stand being in the Professor's lounge with Snape should Slytherin win again."

We nodded and with that, McGonagall walked away. Laughing, I held my Firebolt in my hand. It was so beautiful. "See, NOTHING was wrong with them!" stated Ron gleefully.

I could see Malfoy looking over in disbelief. During the rest of the day, whenever we passed Malfoy, I bragged loudly about how great the Firebolt was. At practice, I got to fly my broom for the first time and it was great! There was no way we could lose Saturday. What with harry being able to out fly any broom, making it impossible for anyone to catch the Snitch before him, we had the game in the bag. That night, after practice, we all sat around the common room doing our homework. Well, I wasn't. I was busy polishing my Firebolt for the third time. I could hear Hermione sigh in annoyance. Turning to look at her, I asked, "Yes, Hermione?"

"Don't you think you should put your broom away and get to work on Professor Snape's essay?"

"Uh…no?"

Rolling her eyes, she pointed her wand at my broom and shouted, "Accio Firebolt!"

My Firebolt flew from my hand and into Hermione's. "Hey! Give it back!"

"Not until you are finished with Snape's essay!"

I sighed and looked at the topic on top of my empty parchment. How in the world was I supposed to write 2 feet of parchment on the uses of Karyote potion? Tapping my quill, I heard Hermione groan and yanked my parchment away from me. Looking up, I saw her scribbling furiously. With an annoyed tone, she threw the parchment at me and huffed, "Follow the outline and you'll be done. Now, I'm going to bed."

After slamming her book shut, Hermione went off to bed, followed by Rachel and Amanda. Once they were gone, Ron bid us goodnight and left. Harry and I continued to work on our essays. I barely noticed the portrait door swing up and close. As we continued our work, I asked, "Have you been thinking about what we heard McGonagall say?"

Harry nodded. As he continued to scribble, I asked, "It doesn't make any sense! I mean, if Sirius Black really WAS our dad's best mate, why would he betray them to Voldemort?"

"Does it matter why?"

"It does to me!"

I could tell Harry didn't want to talk about it, but I did. So many things didn't make sense. Like, if Sirius Black was his best friend, then why betray him? I did ask this question. "Harry, if Black was best friends with our father, then you would think he would rather die than betray them! I would!"

"Not everyone is the kind of friend you are, Elliot."

I was getting really pissy with Harry. I was just about to argue with him when I found it pointless and went back to my work. After my essay was done, including me throwing in some fake facts that made it sound better, I headed to bed and so did Harry. Everyone was already asleep when I walked in. Sitting on my bed, I took out my photo album and started looking at the pictures. Then I found a picture of my mum and dad at their wedding standing next to my father was none other than Sirius Black. It looked like he was Dad's best man. He just simply smiled. I glared at him. How could he have betrayed his best friends to Voldemort? Suddenly, a muffled but loud scream came from the boys' dormitory. Clearly I was the only girl to have heard it, so I ran down the stairs and back up the boys. When I ran into the room, I saw Ron sitting bolt upright in his bed, the curtains around it slashed and Ron's face into a look of utter terror. Rushing to sit next to him on his bed, I asked, "What happened?"

Ron was too shocked to talk. All I could make out was jumbled words. I could have sworn I saw a shadow run out of the room and close the door behind it. Putting my hand on Ron's shoulder, I told him, "Ron, it's okay. I need you to take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

More lamps turned on as Ron's pale white face looked at me and whispered, "Black! Sirius Black! With a knife!"

"What?" Harry asked in shock.

"Here! Just now! Slashed the curtains! Woke me up!"

"Someone go get McGonagall!" I ordered.

"I'll do it," volunteered Neville as he ran out the door. Dean came over and asked, "Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?"

"Look at the curtains! I tell you, he was here!"

Turning to Harry, I said, "Help me get him downstairs."

Together, we helped Ron down the stairs into the Common Room. As we reached the couch, Fred and George came down with a smile. "Are we having a party?" asked Fred hopefully.

Following their arrival was everyone else. Rachel, Amanda and Hermione hurried over and Hermione asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Ron had a nightmare," replied Harry.

Percy came rushing downstairs in his bath robe and ordered, "What is all this ruckus?"

"Perce…Sirius Black!" said Ron faintly, "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

Everyone went silent. Looking at him, I said, "Ron, you were having a nightmare…"

"I'M TELLING THE TRUTH!"

Suddenly, McGonagall came in, followed by Neville. Everyone cleared a path as she walked in. "What is all this nonsense?"

"Ron had a nightmare…" began Percy.

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" I nearly jumped as Ron shouted, "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME WITH A KNIFE!"

McGonagall simply stared at Ron. "Don't be ridiculous, Weasley. How could he possibly have gained entrance thought the portrait hole?"

"Ask him," said Ron, pointing a shaking finger at Sir Cadogen.

McGonagall went outside and looked at the portrait. "Sir Cadogen, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!"

Everyone was in a stunned silence. "You…you did? But…but the password!"

"He had 'em! Had the whole week's, my lady. Red them off a little piece of parchment."

McGonagall was white as chalk. "Which person," she began, her voice shaking with rage, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

Poor Neville raised hand slowly into the air. I rolled my eyes and rested my head in my hand. This wasn't going to end well. After McGonagall scolded Neville, she went to warn the other teachers. After she left, everyone stayed awake in the Common room. No one dared to go back to sleep after what just happened. I didn't blame them. Together, harry, Ron, Hermione, Rachel, Amanda and I sat together. "How did he manage to get into the castle?" asked Amanda.

"I don't know, but this is the third time Black's gotten past the Dementors. This is not good, guys," replied Rachel.

Harry and I stayed silent. We didn't want to talk about Black. Finally, McGonagall came in to tell us Black was nowhere to be found and that we should get some rest. But I didn't sleep. Neither did Harry or Ron. During Charms, the three of us were falling asleep. Everywhere we could see tighter security. The only good thing was that Sir Cadogen had been fired and the Fat Lady was back. Since the incident, Ron had become a celebrity. I could tell Ron was enjoying it. Although reliving it still scared him, I constantly found Ron retelling the encounter. After a group of girls ran once Ron was done telling the story, I said, "What doesn't make sense is that he ran! Why did he run? Why not finish you off and everyone else? Or why pass us in the Common Room? I think Harry and I were down there when Black entered, and we were alone."

It didn't make sense. None of us figured an answer. Poor Neville, though. He was banned from Hogsmeade, given detention, forbidden to know the password and received a Howler from his grandmother. In Divination, we were studying crystal balls and low and behold, we saw nothing. While we were staring into the fog, we were almost falling asleep. A crude voice from in front snapped at us, "Wake up, you three!"

I jumped and saw the empty table in front was suddenly occupied by Hermione and Amanda. "Where's Rachel?" I asked.

"She dropped the class. Said it was a waste of time and was tired of Trelawney predicting your deaths," replied Amanda.

I didn't blame her. I felt the same way. Then, Trelawney stopped in front of them and asked what they saw. Amanda then replied she saw the Grim. What happened next happened faster than I expected. Trelawney must have said something offensive because before I knew it; Amanda had stormed out, followed by Hermione. After class, we found them and they announced they were no longer coming to Divination. I didn't blame them. Quidditch practice nearly killed us. Wood worked us to death. It wasn't until George told Wood that if we practiced anymore, we would be dead tired and unable to play the next day that Wood finished practice. Once we reached the Common Room, Harry took the map. I was just about to head to bed when Ron came down the stairs in anger. "HE'S GONE!"

"Who's gone?" I asked.

"SCABBERS! CROOKSHANKS ATE HIM!"

"Rubbish!" replied Hermione.

However, that's not what Ron wanted to hear and he stormed to bed. After calling him a series of names, such as a twit and irresponsible pet owner, Ron came down and we had a giant row about how idiotic he was for just jumping to conclusions and how Scabbers could be anywhere and how I was being stupid for thinking Crookshanks was innocent. Finally, I used the Leg Lock Curse on him and went to bed. If I was going to see Malfoy's face when we beat him, I wanted to be fully awake and that night, I had pleasant dreams of Malfoy losing and me hexing Ron several times over.

TBC…

Please R&R!