Chapter 8: Passwords

After Christmas was over, Sirius and I continued our plot for revenge. We had decided based on past failures that me flat out attacking Crookshanks wasn't going to work. We needed a new plan. And, of course, Sirius wanted to be involved.

"My plan would've worked last time, but I don't know the stupid Gryffindor common room password…"

And suddenly I had an idea. The crazy knight portrait changed the password almost every day. One boy said he had taken to keeping a list of all the passwords, so he didn't forget. If I could get that list…

The next day, a large party was held in the common room. Hermione was the only one who was not stuffing her face and cheering. I took advantage of the festivities and slipped quietly up to the boy's dormitory. The door had been left slightly open, luckily enough.

I walked in and began my search. I looked at all of the nightstands, on all the beds and all over the floor. Just when it was looking like I would have to search somewhere that required thumbs to access, I spotted a small slip of paper sticking out from under a shoe at the foot of a bed. I went over to it and picked it up in my teeth, satisfied with my prize.

"This is every password to the Gryffindor common room?" Sirius asked me, astounded.

I meowed.

Sirius laughed maniacally as he patted me on the back.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" he asked.

We went into Hogsmeade as cat and dog and took the familiar tunnel into Hogwarts. We hurried through the hall and dodged behind statues and tapestries every once and a while. There were a few students in the hall, as there was no feast this time.

We finally made it to the hallway with the knight portrait. Sirius changed into a human, but the knight seemed unfazed. Clearing his throat and holding up his hand so that the knight wouldn't yell, Sirius began reading off the passwords.

"Abstinence, Scurvy Cur, Stand and Fight, Flibbergibbet, Caput Draconis, Password, You Rouges, Trespassers and… Banana Fritters."

The knight looked astonished but proud. "All of this weeks' passwords! Well done! You may enter."

Sirius shrunk back into a dog and entered the through the open portrait. The whole common room was dark, though you could tell a party had happened. Sirius and I crept around chairs and slinked in the shadows until we reached the stair case to the boys' dormitory. Then we bolted up the stairs and into the room labeled THIRD YEARS. I sat on a table to watch.

Sirius took out a knife and loomed over Long-and-Gangly's bed as he searched for Peter. And then it went wrong. Long-and-Gangly's eyes flew open.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Sirius looked taken aback, then confused, then alarmed. In a split second, he turned into a dog and ran out of the room. I followed, but waited at the door.

"What's going on?"

"Black! Sirius Black! With a knife!"

"What?"

"Here! Just now! Slashed the curtains! Woke me up!"

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?"

"Look at the curtains! I tell you, he was here!"

The boys began to get out of bed, and I dashed out of the room. I sat on a chair in the back of the room, unnoticed by all the people now flooding in.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming Ron?"

"I'm telling you! I saw him!"

"What's all the noise?"

"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!"

"Excellent, are we carrying on?" one of Long-and-Gangly's relatives asked.

"Everyone back upstairs!" another one shouted.

"Perce—Sirius Black!" Long-and-Gangly said, "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

Everyone quieted.

"Nonsense!" Perce said, "You had too much to eat, Ron, had a nightmare—"

"I'm telling you—"

"Now, really, that's enough!" A curt voice called. "I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"

"I certainly didn't authorize this!" Percy said, "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron had a nightmare—"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE! PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

The professor stared at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"

"Ask him!" Long-and-Gangly pointed at the knight's picture, "Ask him if he saw—"

The professor walked over to the knight.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!" he cried.

Everyone was stunned.

"You—you did?" the professor stammered, "But—but the password!"

"He had 'em!" Sir Cadogan replied, "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"

The professor turned slowly to the crowd.

"Which person, which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

A boy squeaked and raised his hand.

A/N: Hope you liked it! Sorry these chapters are so short. Don't forget to review! :P