Chapter 6: A Sirius Halloween

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I STILL don't own Harry Potter. Seriously, who do I talk to about owning it?

September passed without much more excitement. I spent most evenings in the library, struggling under a mountain of homework. Defense Against the Dark Arts had quickly become nearly everyone's favorite class. After Red Caps, Professor Lupin introduced us to kappas, which Megan called water-monkeys. In all honesty, it was a pretty fair description.

Hagrid, however, seemed to have lost faith in his teaching ability. After the hippogriffs, he had us take care of flobberworms. Care of Magical Creatures became an extremely dull class that consisted mainly of poking lettuce down the worms' throats.

October came around, bringing Quidditch season with it. There was a buzz of excitement in the air; the previous year's cancellation of the Quidditch Cup brought on an increased desire to win this year.

"Fred and George said that Oliver's running them into the ground," Elena sighed, having joined me in the library one evening. "This is his last year. I don't know what he'll do if Gryffindor doesn't win."

"Nothing good," I figured, checking my Ancient Runes textbook to make sure I'd written the proper translation. "They're practicing again tonight?"

"Yeah. Ravenclaw's not, I take it?"

"Well," I grimaced. "Snape's booked the field for Slytherin so often that hardly anyone else has a chance to practice. If the Ravenclaw team doesn't get a decent amount of practice, we are going to be flattened."

"You should've tried out this year," Elena grinned.

I rolled my eyes and gestured to the teetering stack of books on the table next to me.

"Don't get me wrong, I love Quidditch. But there's no way I'd be able to play and get through all of this."

"How are you managing?" she asked, shaking her head in amusement as she grabbed a couple of books.

"Don't-!" I warned, but it was too late. The tower of books wobbled precariously and crashed. The huge, ancient books hit the table and floor with loud slamming noises. Elena and I both winced.

Madam Pince came storming over, looking absolutely furious.

"Quiet in the library!" she shrieked, snatching up the books with her clawlike hands and putting them back on the table. "If you can't work in silence, work somewhere else!"

"Sorry," I said quickly. "We're going now."

I shoved as many books into my bag as possible and gathered up the rest of my things, and then Elena and I practically fled from the library.

"Sorry," Elena grimaced.

I sighed. "It's all right. I'll work in the common room. Could you carry some of these for me?"

I dumped Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms into her arms, only to have it snatched from her by someone walking up behind us.

"Did someone get kicked out of the library?" George asked, appearing on Elena's right side. He was grinning brightly despite the fact that he was shivering slightly.

"Maybe," I retorted. "What happened to you?"

"Quidditch practice, Princess," Fred said dismissively, coming up on my left side. "I wouldn't expect you to understand. But it's cold outside, in case you haven't noticed."

I rolled my eyes. "What're you doing here, then?"

"With Sirius Black on the loose, we couldn't let our favorite Gryffindor girl walk around the castle after dark all by herself!" George gasped.

"She wasn't by herself," I reminded him. "I'm right here. And it's nice to know that you're only here for Elena. Really sweet of you."

"And anyway," Elena added, looking at Fred over the top of my head. "I thought Angelina was your favorite Gryffindor girl."

Fred grinned and winked exaggeratedly. I sighed.

"I think I can manage from here," I said, taking my book from George and adding it to my armload. "'Night, 'Lena."

"'Night," she smiled. "Oh! The first Hogsmeade weekend; it's Halloween. Are you going?"

The Weasley twins immediately looked curious, arching their eyebrows at the exact same time. It was a bit creepy.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Depends on how much homework I have then. We'll see."

"Oh." She frowned. "All right, then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

"Alyssa..."

"'Lyssa."

"Earth to 'Lyssa!"

I blinked hard a few times, dragging myself back to reality. Megan was waving her hand in front of my face.

"Sorry," I sighed. "What were you saying?"

"I asked if you were okay. You look tired."

I glared at her. I hadn't gone to sleep until two in the morning because I was trying to finish my Astronomy essay, only to have my dorm-mates drag me out of bed five hours later to get ready to spend a day at Hogsmeade, when I could've been starting on the huge book that Professor Vector wanted me to read for Arithmancy. Needless to say, I was more than tired. I was exhausted.

I glanced down at my plate. Apparently, Samantha had filled it for me. I stabbed my slice of carrot cake with a fork. Megan gulped. I rolled my eyes at her.

"I'm just a little tired," I shrugged. Understatement of the year. "I think I'm going to turn in early, maybe get some extra sleep."

"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked worriedly, biting her lip. "You've been acting weird all day."

"Yeah, because I'm tired," I chuckled. "I'm okay. It's nothing a good night's sleep won't fix."

"If you're sure...you want me to bring you some of these sweets later?"

"No, but thanks." I glanced down the length of the table. "Well...maybe a few."

Megan grinned. "All right. Get some rest, 'Lyssa."

Fred's PoV

"Why would he-?"

"Sirius Black-"

"D'you reckon he's still-?"

The minute Dumbledore left the Great Hall, everyone began chattering excitedly as the story of Sirius Black trying to get into Gryffindor Tower was told to the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" Percy ordered. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

Fred and George each grabbed a squashy purple sleeping bag and carried them to where Elena, Angelina, Katie, and Alicia, and Lee were, propped up on their elbows and talking quietly.

"Isn't Summers going to come snuggle with us?" Fred asked Elena. She sighed and pointed at the nearest entrance to the hall.

"She has to stay up; Dumbledore wants the prefects standing guard, remember? She is not going to be in a good mood tomorrow morning."

"Is she ever in a good mood?" he wondered.

"You're hilarious," Elena said sarcastically.

"It's a gift."

"How do you think Black got in?" Angelina asked, glancing at the windows. Fred chuckled and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her sleeping bag closer to his.

"Don't worry, Ange. I won't let him get you."

She rolled her eyes, but snuggled closer to him nevertheless.

"The lights are going out now!" Percy called. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

The candles blew out immediately, as though a gust of wind had blown through. The only remaining light came from the ceiling, dotted with the stars, and from the faint glow of the ghosts as they floated around, talking to the prefects. Alyssa was chatting quietly with the Grey Lady, leaning back against the wall. She had her wand in her hand, and even from halfway across the room, Fred could see that she was gripping it so firmly that her knuckles had gone white. As the ghost drifted off, he saw that Alyssa, frankly, looked terrified. At the feast, she'd been sitting with her head propped up on her hand, yawning sleepily. She looked wide awake now, her eyes traveling across the hall and the corridor outside. Her eyes caught Fred's before he could look away. She raised an eyebrow. He mimicked her.

"What're you doing?" Angelina whispered, looking up at him.

"It's nothing," he grinned. "I'm keeping watch."

"Right," she snorted. "Because Sirius Black would see you as a threat."

"Hey," Fred complained. "I think he'd take me very...seriously."

She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her laughter.

"For the record, I only laughed because it was a terrible pun," she said firmly.

"Right," he agreed. "Whatever you say."

She sighed and smiled at him before burrowing deeper into her sleeping bag. He glanced back up at Alyssa. She had her arms crossed and was looking down the corridor again, scowling fiercely. If Sirius Black had seen her, he'd probably hand himself in to get away from her. That glare could stop a dragon in its tracks.

With that on my mind, Fred rolled over and closed his eyes.

Alyssa's PoV

"Morning, 'Lyssa," Elena said tentatively as I sat next to her at the Gryffindor table.

I tried to reply, but it came out more like "Mmphng."

"Well, you look terrible," George observed as he sat down across from Elena.

"Thanks, George," I sighed. "Girls love hearing that. Try that line the next time you try to ask a girl out."

He made a face at me, crossing his eyes and sticking his tongue out. I wrinkled my nose.

"Definitely make that face at her, too."

He grinned and shook his head. I felt my mood lifting...until Fred Weasley sat down on my other side.

"Good morning, Princess!" he chirped in my ear. "Sleep well?"

It took everything I had in me not to throw my plate of eggs at him. I clenched my teeth to avoid saying anything I'd regret later and picked up my fork. The others went back to talking while I tried not to fall asleep. As it was, I had a hard time not dozing off on Elena's shoulder. She rolled her eyes, but didn't protest as she carried on talking to Alicia Spinnet. I felt someone tug lightly on my hair and jerked up.

"What, exactly, do you think you're doing?" I demanded, pushing Fred's hand away from my hair. He'd had the ends of my curls between his fingers. His ears went pink, but then he shrugged.

"I just wanted to see if your hair feels as straw-like as it looks," he said. "It does."

I stood up and grabbed my book bag. If I didn't leave, I was going to start yelling in the middle of the Great Hall. I couldn't imagine anything good coming from that.

"I'll see you in class, 'Lena."

"'Lyssa-"

I didn't stick around to listen to her try to convince me to stay.