REVISED.

"That was Sirius Black?" Kirsten shouted incredulously, her eyes wide with shock. "Peeves, you didn't tell me to run for it, I ran for it because you were laughing. God only knows what's going to happen if you were laughing that hard."

Not a sound was heard throughout the hall besides Peeves obnoxious cackling. The black haired witch could feel all the eyes of the Gryffindor students and professors on her.

"So you did not encounter Sirius Black tonight, Kirsten?"

Her grey eyes connected with the blue eyes of the headmaster. There was something in the way he gazed at her that made her shift uncomfortably. The way his eyes were watching her, a look that almost stripped away any barrier in her mind. It was as if he could actually see her in a way nobody ever had. As if he could read her mind.

"No, Professor."

The elderly man nodded his head, and Kirsten noticed the expressions on the other professors' faces.

Both McGonagall and Lupin were staring at the young witch with concern. However, when her eyes flickered over to Snape, she almost recoiled. The look that flashed in his eyes was something she's never seen. It was filled with a fury and contempt that she had never seen before. And his black eyes were staring directly at her.

"Thank you, Kirsten," Professor Dumbledore said, before looking up at the corridor filled with students. "Everyone head to the Great Hall. Prefects lead the way. Professor McGonagall will be with you in a moment. Professor Lupin if you would come with me to wake up Professors Flitwick and Sprout."

Kirsten snuck another glance at Snape to see his glaring eyes fixated upon Lupin.

"Come on, Kirsten," Hermione whispered softly. But the curly haired witch just shook her head as she waited until the other students were out of earshot.

"Professor," she said quietly, garnering his attention as well as the other teachers'. "I— I saw him…the night I ran away…"

"I— I didn't notice who he was…it was dark — and Madame DuPont hadn't told us much about him…" she rambled on, not looking anyone in the eyes, "and when I was running…I almost got hit by a car…"

Kirsten stopped. She hadn't meant to tell them this much. She hadn't really meant to tell them anything at all. But the man had traveled all the way to Hogwarts. He slashed the portrait of the Fat Lady, when she denied him entrance. All to get into Gryffindor tower. To get at Harry like everyone has been claiming? Then why not go to the Great Hall. Surely he didn't miss the endless chatter coming from there. Maybe he was waiting to strike when everyone was asleep?

"Kirsten?"

Her name brought her back from her thoughts. Her eyes flickered up to the headmaster's blue eyes. He wasn't looking at her as if she were insane like she thought he would. Her rambling would usually make people conclude that she truly was crazy. But she hadn't rambled in years so she couldn't exactly remember.

"Professor, Sirius Black saved my life that night," she stated. Kirsten could hear the gasps this brought from McGonagall and Hermione. She didn't dare look in anybody's eyes except for Dumbledore, who was looking at her rather intently. It was as if he were thinking something along the same lines as her. That it was such an odd behavior coming from a man who just escaped a high security cell in Azkaban.

"Do you mind telling me what else happened?" he asked calmly. She nodded her head.

"We sat down…and talked," Kirsten told them. She could feel multiple pairs of eyes look at her quizzically. "Of course, I was thinking whether to run at the time….the man looked a bloody sight."

"I told him how I — I threw a girl across the room and into a wall with my mind earlier…and well, he asked if I was eleven. Corrected him…told him I was thirteen. Then I — I asked him what his name was…wouldn't tell me of course. But I got him to talk….said something about a wife and a kid," she said quickly, shrugging her shoulders. "He looked pretty sad so I told him my name to move the conversation away from morbid talk. And he asked me odd questions, going completely mental at some point. That's when the Knight Bus came."

She looked at Dumbledore to see him nodding his head, thinking for a second.

There's no way I'm not in trouble…

"Thank you, Kirsten for your honesty," Dumbledore said, giving her a kind smile. "It is no small feat admitting what had happened. I am guessing that is all?"

Kirsten couldn't do anything at the moment but slowly nod her head. She couldn't believe it. A man, who she had not even known, trusted her. Her. Kirsten Carlisle. The "most insufferable brat" her teachers would say about her at her old school.

She never had anything against Dumbledore, but always thought what was so spectacular about him. The first person Fudge contacted when she was in the Leaky Cauldron had been Dumbledore. When she first met Hagrid, he had talked about Dumbledore with the utmost respect. Harry, Ron, and Hermione held him in such high esteem. Now she knew why. The man was calculating and decisive. Not one to jump to rash conclusions. He was a great leader.

She looked back in the direction of the professors to see that Snape had vanished sometime during her rambling, and was beyond relieved. It was just Lupin and McGonagall and she cautiously avoided any eye contact.

"Come on, Kirsten," Hermione said quietly. Kirsten's eyes traveled over to her three friends. Ron's mouth was open wide as he stared dumbfounded at his friend. Behind his glasses, Harry's eyes were wide. And Hermione had a quite horrified look on her face.

This is partly the reason why she never told them.

The four friends caught up with the other Gryffindors in the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall trailing behind them. Neither one of them said a word to one another, knowing that McGonagall would hear.

"Kirsten…you don't look too good," Ron said, snapping the black haired witch from her reverie. Her eyes scanned the Great Hall to see that, in the matter of minutes while they waited in the Hall, they were surrounded by Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin students.

She gave the redhead a small smile. "Just a bit shaken up, other than that I'm fine."

Both Harry and Hermione were going to open their mouths but were interrupted by Dumbledore's appearance.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," the headmaster's voice carried through the Hall. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," he added to Percy, who looked immensely proud of himself. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

Professor Dumbledore made his way out the door but paused. "Oh, yes, you'll be needing…" and with a casual flick of his wand, the long tables flew towards the edges of the hall. With another wave, the floor was suddenly covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags.

"Sleep well," he said; his eyes flickered to Kirsten at the last second. The headmaster turned to leave, with the other professors at his side.

The Hall immediately began to buzz with excitement. Words were flying out of the other students mouths as if they were reporters for some gossip magazine. In a matter of minutes, the entire school was informed of what happened.

"Yeah, Carlisle was in the same corridor as Sirius Black!"

"Lucky she escaped, huh?"

Kirsten felt the gazes of several students as they kept on talking about her.

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

"C'mon," Ron said to Hermione, Harry, and Kirsten. She grabbed her sleeping bag and dragged it towards a corner and began to straighten it.

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered anxiously.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," Ron replied.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know," Hermione said as the four friends climbed into their sleeping bags. Kirsten propped her head on her elbow as she looked at the bushy haired witch. "The one night we weren't in the tower…."

"I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run," Ron said. "Didn't realize it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here."

Hermione shuddered at Ron's blunt response.

"I…I don't think he's lost track of time," Kirsten spoke up. She could feel the three pairs of eyes watching her intently. "Like Ron said…he would've come bursting through here. And he would've definitely come through here since the voices carry throughout the corridors. That is if he's after Harry…"

"If? What do you men if?" Ron asked quietly. "He's definitely after Harry. He's in league with You-Know-Who! And now that he knows about you…"

"That's why she said if, Ron," Hermione whispered. Her brown eyes carried over to Kirsten's grey ones and she nodded her head.

"I'm not saying he's not after me or Harry…just - don't you think it's odd that he would go into Gryffindor Tower… I mean, of course, he could've been waiting to kill Harry," she said quietly, causing Hermione's eyes to widen. Ron nodded in agreement with her and Harry's green eyes were watching her. "It was just odd that night meeting him. Don't get me wrong, the man looked scary as hell too, but when he heard my name. He said he wasn't trying to hurt me. He looked desperate."

A silence carried over the group of four as they looked at one another.

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," Kirsten heard a Ravenclaw girl say a few feet away. "Just out of thin air, you know."

"Disguised himself, probably," a Hufflepuff fifth year said.

"He could have flown in," Dean Thomas suggested.

"Honestly, am I the only person who's ever bothered to red Hogwarts, A History?" Hermione said crossly. Kirsten grinned at the bushy haired witch.

"Probably," Ron said. "Why?"

"Because the castle's protected by more than walls, you know," Hermione said. "There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They'd have seen him fly in too. And Filch knows all the secret passages; they'll have them covered…."

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

The candles went out at once and the only light Kirsten could see was coming from the ghosts and the star scattered sky on the enchanted ceiling. There was no way she could sleep now. And she doubted that her classmates were going to fall asleep as well. She could hear their restless murmurs echoing through the Hall. Who could when Sirius Black tried to get into Gryffindor tower?

"Kirsten…you all right?"

The whisper came from her left and she turned her head to see Harry's emerald green eyes staring at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured Harry, careful to keep quiet. She could hear Percy scolding someone at the other end of the Hall. "Didn't realize how exciting my first year would be."

She could see the corner of Harry's lips twitch up into a smile.

"Next year will probably outdo this one," he said quietly. Kirsten's eyes stared back up at the starry sky and she could hear Percy's voice once again, but this time closer. The sound of Harry's sleeping bag shuffling closer towards her brought her attention back to her friend to find him several inches away from her face.

"I still find it odd that you only figured out you were a witch when you followed me into the Leaky Cauldron," Harry whispered. Kirsten couldn't help but nod her head in agreement. She realized what Harry was trying to do. Distract her from thinking about Sirius Black. And she was grateful.

"I know…Professor McGonagall told me that the Ministry's still investigating, but they can't find anything," she told him quietly. "I mean…I had the Trace, Harry. They were still able to track me. I think it's someone in the ministry."

"That's what I'm thinking," he agreed. "But why would someone want to hide you?"

"Maybe he or she wanted to hide me from Sirius Black… but the Ministry was declared me dead and if the person was actually on my side, then they wouldn't hide me from magic… or put me in an orphanage…."

"But if they didn't like you, wouldn't they have killed you?"

Well, I did almost die.

The memory that was resurfacing was anything but pleasant. And Kirsten had half a mind to get up and want to Kirsten tried to block out the memory that was trying to resurface. She had never told anyone about it, and wasn't planning too.

"I don't know, Harry…" she said. The doors opening caught her attention, and she saw the dark silhouette of Professor McGonagall striding towards Percy. The Transfigurations professor asked the Head Boy if everyone was okay and if all were quiet.

Hours of silence passed but the four friends remained wide awake. The doors opened once again, as it did every hour. Kirsten quickly pretended to be asleep, adjusting her head to face Harry as Percy stood closely next to them.

"Any sign of him, Professor?" Percy asked in a whisper.

"No. All well here?" she heard Dumbledore's quiet voice.

"Everything under control, sir."

"Good. There's no point moving them all now. I've found a temporary guardian for the Gryffindor portrait hole. You'll be able to move them back in tomorrow."

"And the Fat Lady?"

"Hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. Apparently she refused to let Black in without a password, so he attacked. She's still very distressed, but once she's calmed down, I'll have Mr. Filch restore."

The door of the Hall creaked open again and Kirsten heard more footsteps.

"Headmaster?"

It was Snape.

"The whole third floor has been searched. He's not there. And Filch has done the dungeons; nothing there either."

"What about the Astronomy tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The Owlery?"

"All searched…"

"Very well, Severus. I didn't expect Black to linger."

"Have you any theory as to how he got in, Professor?" Snape asked.

"Many, Severus, each of them as unlikely as the next."

Kirsten's eyes snapped open and she was met with the sight of Harry cracking his eyes open as well.

"You remember the conversation we had, Headmaster, just before — ah — the start of term?" Snape asked.

"I do, Severus," Dumbledore said, his tone held a warning in his voice.

"It seems — almost impossible — that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed —"

"I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped Black enter it," Dumbledore stated, his tone clear to that the subject was over. Kirsten's brow knitted at this. Thoughts of the Trace vanished from her mind and instead numerous thoughts of what Snape was hinting at bombarded her mind.

"I must go down to the dementors," Dumbledore spoke up again. "I said I would inform them when our search was complete."

"Didn't they want to help, sir?" Percy asked.

"Oh yes," Dumbledore said his voice cold. "But I'm afraid no dementors will cross the threshold of this castle while I am headmaster."

And with those last words, Dumbledore left the hall along with Snape.

Kirsten couldn't help but lift her head to look at Ron, Hermione, and Harry.

"What was all that about?" Ron mouthed. Before Kirsten could shrug, she heard a set of footsteps.

"Kirsten! What are you doing? You're supposed to be asleep!"

Shit.