The weeks begun to roll into one long routine as the term progressed, certain lessons stuck in their mind, such as that one where Professor Lupin brought in a boggart, but many of them just melded into a blur in their memories. The greatest excitement in Gryffindor tower however was not the impending quidditch season, nor the prospect of winning the House Cup, in which they had a slight lead, but Sirius Black.

'He's been spotted not far from here.'

'I heard he was Voldemort's number two.'

'He was born evil, glad he's not in my family.'

Rumour had come out of her cavernous mountain of echoes and descended to the Gryffindor common room. There, the Hogwarts rumour mill did its work, until suddenly everyone was fearing that Sirius Black would be able to break open the castle doors by staring at them, and that it would take an effort from Dumbledore, the like of which had not happened since the fall of Grindelwald, to bring him down.

The levels of rumour only increased after the Fat Lady was replaced by Sir Cadogan, because Black had broken into the castle and attacked her portrait with a knife. As the entire school was sent to spend the night in the Great Hall everyone knew about the attack within half an hour of its having been discovered. The rumour mill went wild after this. Why was Black trying to break into Gryffindor tower? Who was he after? No-one knew and the speculation grew wild. After Black had failed to show again, calm began to return to the school. This calm was soon replaced by excitement as the first Hogsmeade weekend of the term approached.

It was not long before the first Hogsmeade Weekend came. All of Gryffindor were looking forward to it, even the second years who couldn't go, but had placed orders with older students to acquire new stocks of sweets and dung bombs. The whole common room was buzzing with anticipation. Only one person wasn't happy. Harry had not gotten his formed signed by his aunt and uncle. Professor McGonagall had refused, saying that it was "probably for the best". Despite offers to stay behind and keep him company, Harry refused to let them make themselves miserable just because he hadn't got his form signed, so it was without Harry that Draco, Ron and Hermione set off to Hogsmeade. As they strolled down the long drive they were cheery and optimistic, a feeling that was soon replaced by dread as they passed through the gates, a feeling induced by the presence of two dementors.

As they left the hovering dementors behind they began to feel better and by the time they had reached the village they were back to their excited state, keen to get into the village and explore for the first time. Ron wanted to go to the Sweet shop first, Hermione wanted to go to the Shrieking Shack. It was down to Draco to cast the deciding vote. The sweet shop won. Draco was impressed by Honeydukes, with its vast array of sugar-based edibles, ranging from Cockroach cluster to Blood pops, everything that a wizard could want was there. The shop was quite crowded, so after having a good gawp, and after Hermione had suggested that they wouldn't have to carry the stuff for so long if they came back later that they went to the Shrieking Shack. Unbeknownst to them, four sets of footprints were making their way across the mud that covered the path leading to the Shack at this time of year.

'It's supposed to be the most haunted building in Britain.' Hermione commented.

'Yeah, seems a bit spooky. Who'd want to live out here?'

'No-one, since that place was built.'

'When was that?'

'Dunno, years ago, probably. Do you think the ghosts get out this far?'

Ron got no answer to his question, for at that moment something tapped him on the shoulder.

'What was that? Was it one of you?'

'What?'

'That. And there it was again. Which one of you is tapping me on the shoulder? It's not as if ghosts can touch.'

'Not me.'

'Nor me.'

The tapping came again. Ron slowly turned around only to see absolutely nothing. There was nothing in front of him whatsoever, only the clear air standing between himself and the shack.

'BOO!' Harry yelled, dropping the hood of his cloak.

'Argh!' Ron screamed in surprise. 'What the bloody hell are you doing here?'

'Surprised?' Harry asked. They certainly were.

'How did you get out of the castle?'

'Oh. Fred and George showed me one of the secret passageways out of the school. You know that statue of the hump-backed crone? The one with the really long nose that doesn't seem to belong?'

'Yeah, the one opposite thingy's classroom?'

'Yeah, that's the one. It's under that.'

'Harry, If anyone sees you here you'll be in so much trouble.'

'That's why I brought this.' Harry said, sticking his hands out of the cloak that concealed the rest of his body.

'I don't know, Harry, it's very risky.'

'Oh come on, Hermione, give the man a break. What's wrong with Harry coming to Hogsmeade, it's not as if anything can happen to him with us here.'

'Ron.' Draco said, 'Do you really think Sirius Black would care that we're here? He killed thirteen people with a single curse, alright, so they were muggles, but do you think a couple of underage wizards are going to stop him?'

'S'pose not. But you're not going to report Harry, are you Hermione?'

'No. Not this time, but I don't think that you should be coming out again. It's not as if it's particularly safe. What if Nott saw you? What if one of the teachers did?'

'Hermione, he's invisible, what's the worst that can happen?' Ron argued. In the event nothing did, although Harry might have liberated a bar or two of chocolate from the Honeydukes' cellar on his way back to the school. Heading back to the common room, they headed up to their dorms to dump their coats and bags before heading down. Hermione was the last down.

'Have you seen my pussy?' she asked.

'I can't say I have.' Said Draco.

'Where can Crookshanks have gotten to? I can't find him anywhere.'

'He'd better not be chasing Scabbers again.' Ron said darkly.

'Scabbers is in our dorm, isn't he, Ron?'

'Yeah, think so.'

'Well, should be safe from the cat then – the door's shut tight and giving how it's sticking at the moment there's not a cat on earth that could open it.'

'Suppose so.' Said Ron, as if he was sure that his rat was being devoured at that very moment. He was very much relieved therefore, when on getting back to the dorm he found Scabbers alive and well. Bathed in the warm glow of relief, Ron quickly fell asleep.

'AAARGH!'

A loud scream shattered the peace of the night. Ron was screaming loudly. Draco woke with a start and bleary-eyed asked what was wrong.

'Sirius Black. Standing over me. With a knife.' Ron replied.

'It was a nightmare, go back to sleep.' Draco grumbled, upset that his dream had been disturbed. It had been a good one.

'It wasn't a nightmare. Come and look at these curtains if you don't believe me.'

And beyond all doubt, someone had hacked at the curtains of the four-poster with a knife. The dorm quickly emptied and they ran downstairs. The fire was dying in the grate. Everyone had gone to bed. Soon however, people started to reappear. No-one in the tower had not heard the scream and soon Percy Weasley was down, demanding to know why they were all up.

'It was Sirius Black, Perce. Standing over me, holding a knife.'

'Don't be silly Ron, it was a nightmare.'

'No it wasn't- the curtains had been torn and everything.' Draco interrupted.

'I see.' Said Percy, disbelievingly.

The noise began to grow.

'Did he say Sirius Black, in here?'

'What are we going to do?'

'Suppose he comes back!'

The clamour grew to such an extent that Professor McGonagall was forced to come in , wearing a tartan nightdress to try and send them all to bed.

'What are you all doing out of bed? Hmm? Percy, I'm disappointed in you. What is everyone doing up?'

'My brother Ron had a nightmare, Professor.'

'IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE. I WOKE UP AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE.' Ron yelled.

Professor McGonagall visibly whitened.

'Don't be silly, Weasley, how could he have gotten in?'

'Ask him.' Said Ron, pointing at the back of the portrait hole where Sir Cadogan stood guard. She left, and came back in moments later. If she had been pale before, now she was like a ghost.

'It appears you are right, Weasley.'

'Told you it was nightmare, Ron.'

'No. Sir Cadogan did let a man into the common room. A man answering the description of Sirius Black. Stay here.'

Professor McGonagall left in a busy rustling of her night-robe. She was back, moments later with Professor Dumbledore in tow.

'All of you to bed, now. Except for the third year boys.' The Headmaster said calmly. The rest of the house started to leave. Draco saw Hermione looking back over her shoulder. He mouthed "tell you in the morning" at her. She nodded and went off to bed.

'Well, boys. What happened?' The old man asked.

'Well, I was in bed asleep, Sir, when I heard this weird noise. I don't know quite why, but I woke up and saw a man standing over me holding a knife. It was Sirius Black! So, I, well I screamed. He ran away, then Draco woke up. After that we all came down to the common room and then Professor McGonagall came in.'

'I see. Do you have any idea why Sirius Black might be trying to kill you?'

'He's a bloody nutter, Sir!'

'There is that of course.' Said Dumbledore dryly, clearly seeing something funny in Ron's last outburst. Dumbledore then sent the boys to bed and organised yet another search of the castle. Another search that yielded no sign of Black.

For the next few weeks Ron found himself the centre of attention, with everyone in the school asking him for an account of what had happened that night. The tale grew in the telling, and soon it turned out that Ron had rolled in his bed to avoid being stabbed and then kicked Black to make him go away. This surprised everyone else who had been there, but no-one really minded, least of all Oliver Wood who was so determined to win the Quidditch Cup in this, his final year, so determined that he was regularly holding whole squad training sessions, so that Draco had not only his work to do, but quidditch practice as well. It was tiring work. Although both he and Harry had the same broom, Harry was definitely the better flyer, not to mention the fact that he had had a lot more practice recently than Draco. This didn't stop Madame Hooch, who had been given the task of supervising Gryffindor quidditch practices, in case of a Black attack, from praising Draco's abilities. Wood had the reserve side using Hufflepuff tactics, to try and give the first team the best chance of winning.

With these sessions filling his time, Draco had less and less time for work and was wondering how he could fit it all in. He felt, for the first time in his life, under pressure, and he wasn't sure how he would cope. He worked harder and longer than anyone else in Gryffindor these days. Apart from Hermione that is. These days she could not be seen without her nose stuck in a book. Privately, Draco thought that she had bitten off more than she could chew and it was beginning to show. Hermione's impossible timetable was still puzzling the boys too, and any attempt to raise the matter with Hermione led to her becoming edgy and evasive. It didn't take long before they'd given up mentioning it altogether.

Even Hermione took some time off from working when the first quidditch match of the season came along. It was Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff and as Draco walked with Ron and Hermione down to the grounds, he couldn't help but look up into the sky, and feel glad that he wasn't playing in the match. The weather was horrible.