Ok sorrysorrysorrysorry. Sorry. But my inspiration tends to come and go with the wind. Even now I'm thinking up ideas for another multi-chapter HP fic. I'm nuts, right? But thank you sooo much for all the reviews and feedback, it means a lot to me! Please, enjoy this chapter!

Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock

Chapter Twelve:

Escape Artists

She was snuggled peacefully for once into the covers, but it wasn't Hermione who woke her this time. A strangled yell burst into the night, making her jerk and then shoot up in bed.

"Hmm?"

"Whu—"

"Lumos!"

Said her three dorm mates, and in the light from Hermione's wand Leila reached out for her bathrobe and yanked it on.

"C'mon," she urged, "Somebody's in trouble!" And she couldn't help but think that it was someone she knew. She and Hermione were among the first students to gather in the common room, and some of the prefects were attempting crowd control, and failing miserably.

"Alright, alright, I'm here. Let me through please, this is your Head Boy—" Percy had arrived, the shiny badge pinned to his bathrobe. Seamus suddenly came rushing down the stairs and latched onto the eldest Weasley's arm.

"Percy, come quick! Ron's saying he's been attacked!" The collective gasps make a circuit around the room, and Percy gaped for a moment before saying,

"Attacked? By whom, may I ask?"

"Sirius Black!" It was Ron who answered, being guided by Harry and Neville, one to an arm. Instead of gasps this time, the room exploded into noise, and Leila and Hermione pushed their way through to their friends.

"Are you okay, Ron?" She asked, wide eyes searching for injury.

"I'm not hurt or anything," he replied as he patted Hermione reassuringly on the arm.

"Ronald, it's not good to lie about things like this. Sirius Black here? How would he have managed it?" Percy asked, clearly believing it to be either an exaggeration or downright false.

"It's not a lie!" Ron said hotly while other people jumped to his defense.

"He attacked the Fat Lady before!"

"He was with You-Know-Who! Knows all his secrets and stuff!"

"Quiet, quiet, we can't cause a panic." But Percy's brief period of reign was very short, as the portrait hole opened. Everyone tensed, but when Professor McGonagall's slippered foot stepped in, the fear dissipated mostly.

"What in the name of Merlin himself is going on here? Some type of party? Percy, I'm surprised, we have a curfew—"

"It wasn't me Professor," Percy puffed up in indignation. "Ron here had a nightmare, had a scare, nothing to worry about, really—"

"It wasn't a nightmare, Professor. Honest, he attacked me, he really did!"

"Who attacked you, Weasley?" The professor's eyebrows had disappeared under her nightcap they were so high.

"Sirius Black!" Again the chatter picked up.

"Sirius B—are you sure?"

"How else would my bed curtains be ripped with a knife?" A couple girls shrieked, and several people exclaimed, "A knife!" It would be some time before the professor organized everyone and had them moved to the Great Hall again.

Sleep was hard to come by this time, too, but eventually people began to nod off here and there. One person seemed to refuse to let sleep find them, however, and sat up in their sleeping bag, knees brought up to their chest, and shaking slightly. It was a different Weasley than she had expected, nonetheless.

"Ginny? You alright?" The redhead started at the light touch to the shoulder, but relaxed at Leila's familiar voice. She nodded in response. "You sure?" Ginny's lip trembled, she turned, and suddenly Leila had an armful of red hair and freckles.

"Oh Leila, what might've happened if Ron didn't wake up? What was Sirius Black trying to do, anyway? And I can't help thinking that I don't say it nearly enough—that I'd feel really awful if something happened to Ron!"

"Uh…there, there. It's fine, Ginny, he's okay, not a scratch. Black got scared when he found out how powerful Ron's lungs are." The smaller girl chuckled feebly at that, but it was something. "Don't worry too much, popular theory is that he mixed up the beds, picked the wrong one. I'm sure Ron's not in any real danger now."

"You think?" She nodded this time, but Ginny's hopeful smile slowly turned into a furrowed brow. "Then who was he after. You don't think—Harry?"

"Well…" she hesitated, not wanting to upset her younger friend further. "Probably. It's the most likely. But Harry'll be fine; he's a real light sleeper."

"He was after the ghost, actually," said a light airy voice. Ginny pulled away from Leila and both girls turned to see another girl with long, pale blonde hair and large blue eyes. Ginny sighed in relief, and something sparked in Leila's memory.

"Hey, I know you! You're…um, Luna, right?" The other girl nodded with a happy sort of smile. "Well, uh, what's 'the ghost'?"

"The ghost of that Gryffindor boy, of course. The one who's searching for all his friends. Sirius Black wants to find all of his old friends, you know," Luna seemed very certain of this answer.

"Er…right," Leila said, turning over and lying down inside her sleeping bag. "G'night." 'Yeah, he's looking for them so he can kill them all.'

OoO

"Well, how has your week been?" Lupin asked with a smile as he let them in. Harry sighed in remembrance of the week as Leila trudged in beside him.

"Terrible," she supplied, and Harry agreed.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Lupin laughed a little, moving towards the cabinet that housed their practice-Dementor. "Teenagers tend to blow things out of proportion sometimes, I remember."

"Yeah, well this isn't out of proportion," Harry countered stubbornly, pulling his wand out and getting into a ready stance. Lupin paused and glanced at their scowling faces.

"Maybe we should hold off for a minute. I don't think either of you will be able to come up with a happy memory with those faces. What happened?"

"Well, Scabbers went missing, and Ron blames Crookshanks, so he and Hermione are in this huge fight and Harry's only allowed to talk with Ron and I'm only allowed to talk with Hermione. It's bloody pigheaded of them, but they won't have it any other way." Lupin still looked slightly confused.

"Who are Scabbers and Crookshanks?"

"Scabbers is—or was as Ron says—Ron's rat. And Crookshanks is Hermione's cat," Harry explained, and Lupin's eyes lit up in realization.

"Ah, so he's blaming the cat for his pet's disappearance?"

"Yes, and Hermione refuses to believe it, never mind Crookshanks is just as catlike as any other feline," Leila said, sick of the other girl ranting to her about Ron's 'prejudice' towards cats.

"And Hermione's blaming it on Sirius Black, and Ron's not even bothering to consider that idea," Harry said with an equally annoyed huff.

"Well, it's pretty far-fetched. I mean, how would an experienced murderer completely miss a stationary teenage boy and end up hitting a fat, old rat?"

"I know, but maybe it would calm them down if he offered to think it over. And Hermione's really careful about letting Crookshanks into our dorm normally. I can't imagine anything would have changed." They both sighed again, frustrated and with no way of solving the issue. It seemed their friend-group would be in perpetual argument.

"Sirius Black killing an old rat, huh?" Lupin commented, and his mouth seemed to be twitching in an odd way. But his expression changed as he said, "Let me try and think of a story to tell that would cheer you up." And just like little children, Harry and Leila sat forward eagerly to listen.

OoO

Homework finished, and Hermione off taking the Charms class from earlier that afternoon, Leila was bored out of her skull. She pulled the Marauder's Map out of her nightstand—they had been keeping it with her since Sirius Black's attack in Harry's dorm—seeing that no one was around, and activated it. She was mostly trying to figure out where each of the common rooms was on the parchment by looking for masses of people, when her eyes slid over Gryffindor Tower itself.

Something seemed off on this slight perusal, and she went back and scanned it more closely. Everything looked fine; people were either down in the common room or in their beds or bathrooms. Ron was at the foot of his own bed, probably digging around for pajamas, Neville was already asleep or resting, Seamus was making his way up the stairs…

It took a moment for Leila to realize what had caught her attention. She wasn't looking for something odd to be there. She was looking for something odd to not be there.

Scabbers wasn't the only one missing from the third year boy's dorm. Peter Pettigrew's dot had vanished.

Aaaaand, I'm evil. I'm dreadfully sorry. Some of you might ask why I moved the date of Sirius' second attack up, and I'll tell you considering we all know he's innocent anyway. At least, we should know this, hope I haven't spoiled anything for someone. The way I see it, in this story Sirius has two godchildren. That means two people he deeply cares for are in the clutches of his worst enemy. This doubles the stakes. Also, and I apologize if this seems sexist, Leila is a girl so he probably sees her even more as this damsel-in-distress type situation. Don't be mad at him, he only knew her from when she was like, 1, he'll change his opinion. Also, author reason: I didn't want to type extra PoA chapters that I didn't think I'd need. The less chapters I have to write, the faster this story is completed and I think that's a goal we all want.

So, thank you very much for being so patient once again and for reading, and please let me know what you thought of this chapter!