A Snake in the Nest, Chapter Sixteen
Now, Sirius, despite what his friends, acquaintances, family, and pretty much anyone who's met him, will tell you, wasn't stupid. He knew breaking into Hogwarts to talk to an old teacher was difficult and foolhardy. He also knew that said teacher was more likely to try and kill him than listen. But as with the various others he'd visited, he wanted to do this in person.
There were many passages in and out of Hogwarts, some of them only accessible to smaller creatures. He headed for one now; a small break in the stones of the wall that hid a long tunnel behind a suit of armor in the dungeons. Not cheerful, but it was useful.
He crept through the castle, ducking into shadows and wishing more than once he had the map with him. Or the cloak. But both were unavailable, so he made do.
McGonagall's office was a place he'd been many times, and it didn't take long to get there. It was late, but if memory served him, she would still be awake, grading papers and planning lessons. He nudged the door, which was open a crack, and light spilled over him. She was indeed inside, but not reading any assignments.
Two red heads, twins by the look of them, were standing there, receiving a lecture on something in silence. None of them looked up as he slipped into the room, sitting in the back and waiting.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor! I am ashamed that you think so low of your House as to do this!" One of the twins spoke up.
"On the contrary, Professor, we think very highly of it." The other also began to speak.
"After all, we did use lions as our theme."
"Don't they look better as lions than old goblins anyway, Fred?"
"Yes, of course they do, George." He wanted to laugh; they reminded him of James and himself when they were in school. McGonagall sighed and sent them out, obviously tired of dealing with them. She looked up and saw him for the first time.
"What are you doing in here?" He walked forward, a fully-written letter in his mouth this time. He set it on her desk, and trotted out the door. He walked slowly, counting in his head.
Twelve… eleven… She should be halfway through the letter now.
Ten… nine… Scowling in disbelief.
Eight… seven… Staring in shock at the information about the Animagaus.
Six… five… Finishing the letter, pondering.
Four… three… two… one…Footsteps sounded behind him, and he grinned, beginning to run. She would hate him for this, but it was too much of a temptation. She called after him in a quiet, but annoyed voice.
"Sirius Black, you stop right there!" Well, there were no curses, so she must at least want to hear him, right? He stopped and turned around. She glared at him, and gestured back at her office in silence. He trotted ahead of her, sitting in front of her desk as she walked in and closed the door.
She sat, looking at him carefully, before sighing.
"Well? You're the one that wanted to talk so badly; so talk." Without hesitation he changed, standing up and grinning.
"What shall we talk about?"
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Hermione hadn't wanted the Anima to know of the plan to use Polyjuice Potion, simply because of how difficult it would be to sneak eight people into the Slytherin Common Room. So when Neville told them, she was annoyed. Husky dismissed it immediately.
"We couldn't take it anyways; immunity to human potions, remember?" Oh. She hadn't thought of that. The four of them that would actually use the Potion discussed it in length, debating how to get the book and who to imitate. The other four claimed to be going to bed, retreated to the 'Anima Dorm,' (named by Ron) and talked over what to do about the person in the woods.
"They might be the one behind the attack. I don't think Malfoy is capable of it." Cooro pointed out, sprawled over his bed and staring at Nana upside-down.
"Yeah, but don't tell the others that; they get mad when you don't believe their theories, I've noticed. Remember with Snape?" Nana added, watching to see how long Cooro could stay upside-down like that. They all nodded, and Husky frowned.
"So, what are we going to do about it? Obviously they're going to be watching the Forest closely to see if anyone is going in, but what if they miss someone coming out?"
"We can't go near it; the Forest's huge! How would we find someone in there?" Senri spoke up as he entered from the bathroom.
"We'll wait and see; if something happens, we'll take a look. Fair?" They all nodded, and Nana left to go to her own room before Hermione noticed she was missing.
Cooro looked out the window at the rain, and for a moment, could have sworn he saw a large black dog running towards the Whomping Willow.
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DADA. Their first year, it had been a favorite of most students. Now, only the girls looked forward to it. The classes were now devoted to learning about Lockhart's books, and Harry was often dragged up to the front of the class to play whatever role was needed in the act.
He was being a werewolf today, and apologized to Remus in his head as he did so. But they needed Lockhart in a good mood. He could see from the corner of his eye Ron and Neville keeping Cooro from speaking up against the professor.
Nana muttered to Husky as they watched.
"If all it takes is a charm, even a complicated one, wouldn't it be all over the papers? I think he's full of dung." He nodded, but said nothing, as Hermione was right in front of them, watching with rapt attention. They were going to get the book needed for the potion today, which was the only reason he wasn't speaking up. Perhaps next class.
The Anima left the others to get the paper, and discussed the homework as they walked to lunch.
"We have to write a poem? What on Earth goes on in his head?" Husky ranted as they walked. He didn't like poetry in the slightest. Cooro laughed at that.
"Hey, at least he can't take points because your poetry is bad. Now, has anyone found out how to turn an animal into a chair?" As they discussed this (it was McGonagall's essay assignment for next week), they reached the Great Hall. Cooro was pulled away to talk with the twins, and could only grin sheepishly before helping them plot.
Husky could only laugh, and as they sat down Nana was drawn into conversation with a few other girls in their year. The others joined them soon after, and from the looks on their faces, the venture had been successful. Hermione's bag bulged out a bit more than usual, lending credit to that idea as well.
They ate quickly and then, under the pretense of wanting to finish an essay, left. Cooro watched them go, then apologized to the twins and ran after them.
They ran into Myrtle's bathroom, and hid in a stall. He was about to go in as well when Myrtle came out of hers, looking around at the noise. She spotted him, and smiled.
"Cooro!" She floated down from her perch, sitting down on a sink. He grinned at her.
"Hello Myrtle. How've you been?" He settled on the floor. Lunch was barely started, so he could stay for a while.
"Oh, it's been dreadful." She said this cheerfully, though, and continued. "Those three came in here asking if I'd seen anything Halloween, but I said I was still at the party. Rather disappointed, they were. Peeves keeps making fun of me." She let out a wail at that.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I tried to visit earlier, but I had a bunch of homework. I'll try and visit more, okay?" She nodded happily, and spent the rest of the period discussing the laws regarding ghosts and haunting. He was sad when he had to go to Charms, and Harry had to half drag him out.
"Honestly, Cooro, how are you friends with her? She's rather gloomy." He scowled a bit at him.
"She's nice when I talk to her, and she's interesting." They didn't speak of it anymore, partially because Hermione's muttering on how they would get the ingredients was very distracting.
Cooro, right before they entered Charms, turned to them, a pompous look on his face.
"I would like you four to know that I will have nothing to do with your stealing of ingredients. Please do not attempt to dissuade me." He lost the look after a moment.
"If you want help though, Nana used to be a thief." He walked in before they could react. Nana stuck out her tongue at him when he entered.
"Not nice, Cooro. Now I'll have to help." He only shrugged.
"Thought you could use some practice. Hey, do I smell apples?" Husky rolled his eyes and handed over the apple in his hands. It was devoured in seconds, and Cooro threw the core across the room into the rubbish bin just as Flitwick walked in. The core sailed over his head and landed with a loud thunk. He looked out at the class and, seeing Cooro looking sheepish, smiled.
"Nice aim. Now, today we'll be discussing…"
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Dumbledore couldn't decide whether he was proud or disapproving of Sirius as McGonagall walked in, telling him of her late-night visit. He'd already spoken to Hagrid not an hour before.
"So it's the truth?" He couldn't help but wonder why she was asking; if she didn't believe him, Sirius would be standing bound and gagged in front of him.
"Yes, it is. I believe he is going around telling those he trusts most about his innocence in person." He didn't say she was the last to know; how did you say such a thing? She nodded, digesting the information, then asked him one more question.
"He's stirring up a lot of trouble; why?" He sighed.
"Sirius plans to go at Pettigrew as soon as he's up to full health. He is getting as many as possible on his side, and is going to send the entire country into an uproar to scare him out of hiding." She frowned.
"Won't that send him further into hiding?" He smiled slightly.
"If there's one thing I've learned about people, Minerva, it is that they tend to do the very thing that sets them in most danger."
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It was Saturday, and time for the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor. They all went into the stands early to get seats, and watched the team captains try and break each others arms in a handshake.
It became obvious that the new brooms the other team had were helping immensely, though Cooro pointed out to Ron that their team was still playing better. Harry and Draco were flying circles, looking for the Snitch, when a Bludger came and flew straight at Harry. George hit it away. It came back, and he hit it again. Fred flew over and thwacked it just as it came for a third round. Most of the crowd hadn't noticed, but Senri pointed it out to the others.
"Did someone bewitch it?"
"Can't; it's powerful magic needed to mess with them. Nothing a student could do." It began to rain. At this point, Harry was simply trying to avoid the obviously tampered-with ball. Cooro looked all around the pitch, and saw a small creature in a deserted area, pointing at the ball. It looked at him, eyes widening, and vanished.
The ball continued to chase after him.
A time out was called, but even Nana couldn't hear over the crowd. Wood and Harry argued for a minute, with the twins joining in, before Wood nodded, said something to Mme. Hooch and they took off.
The rain was obscuring their vision, and Harry was rising higher and higher… Husky could feel himself unconsciously wanting to grow gills and swim.
"He sees the Snitch!" For someone who didn't really like Quidditch, Cooro could really get into it. Or was it Ron? Never mind, it didn't really matter.
Maybe it was Neville… Gah! Husky shook his head, frowning, as Harry caught the Snitch, then fell, hitting the mud and appearing to faint. Without a word, they all ran down to the pitch, joining the crowd of other Gryffindors and the team. Harry awoke as Lockhart joined them and groaned.
"Not you…"
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Husky groaned aloud as they left the Hospital Wing.
"Honestly, that man is an idiot." Hermione, for once, didn't jump to defend him, and instead frowned.
"Why would he do that anyway? We have a nurse for a reason." Ron scoffed.
"Haven't you noticed? He's an attention hound. Probably why he won't leave Harry alone; he's more famous." Neville nodded, leading the way to the Tower, where a celebratory feast was being… well, celebrated.
"He doesn't go anywhere without a press release, have you noticed?" He held out his hands dramatically.
"Gilderoy Lockhart: Using the bathroom! Reading the paper! Pretending to teach his class!" They laughed, and even Hermione couldn't help a chuckle.