Chapter 8

Grace's POV

Kaitlyn and I slowly made our way back to the common room with the other Gryffindors. My stomach was filled with all the delicious foods from the feast and I was grinning happily. That was probably one of the best parts about Hogwarts, the feasts. Every good thing you could possibly want to eat appeared in front of you. Even regular dinners were delicious!

The school The Great Hall had been decorated with various streamers and pumpkins, and we even had entertainment from the school ghosts. I couldn't wait to get back to the room to write Mum about everything that happened!

We followed the crowd through the corridors, finally stopping in a traffic jam in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. 'What's going on?' Kaitlyn asked as we stood on our toes in an attempt to see of the other students' heads. We were towards the back and couldn't make out much more than a line of students.

'I don't know,' I replied, looking around again. Everyone seemed as confused as we were.

'Let me through, please,' said Percy Weasley, our Head Boy. I didn't really like the guy; he was a bit of an arse.

He pushed his way through the crowd with a prefect following behind. As soon as he reached the front, silence passed over the crowd. 'Somebody get Professor Dumbledore, quick!'

People were whispering all around us and I stood on my toes again. 'What's going on?' A girl asked from behind me and I shrugged, not knowing whether or not to answer.

'Stand back,' Kaitlyn said and I felt her hand on my shoulder, pulling me back.

'What?' I paused to ask before looking up and seeing Professor Dumbledore heading towards us and the portrait. He was a tall man, with long white hair and bread and sparkling blue eyes. I had only spoken to him once, and promptly gotten tongue-tied.

I stepped back and squeezed against the wall, my arm brushing Tommy and Nathan, two other first years.

Following Professor Dumbledore was Professors Lupin, Snape and McGonagall. 'Professor McGonagall, please have Mr Filch search every painting for the Fat Lady,' Dumbledore said and my eyes widened. She was missing? What happened? Where could she possibly have gone?

'You'll be lucky,' a shrill, cackling voice said from over our heads. I glanced up and found Peeves, our poltergeist floating above us. 'Ashamed, your headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess; saw her running through the landscape on the fourth floor. Poor thing.'

'Did she say who did it?' Dumbledore asked, his voice really calm. Had I been talking to Peeves, I would have been highly irritated and not been able to hide it.

'Oh yes. He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in. Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black.'

Whispers broke out through the corridor, including both Kaitlyn and Tommy. 'Sirius Black! In the castle! How did he get in here?' Everyone wanted to know, wanted answers. I just wanted to get to the safety of my dorm room.

'Percy, please lead the Gryffindors to the Great Hall,' Dumbledore said, and I saw Percy snap to action.

'Gryffindors, this way!' He pushed through the crowd and started down the corridors. I reached out and took Kaitlyn's hand and together, we followed the crowd.

After we arrived, the other three houses joined us. I sat with my friends near one of the walls and waited for one of the teachers to tell us something. 'The teacher and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle. I am afraid, 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.'

'We have to stay here all night?' Tommy whispered to us, a worried look on his face. 'What if Sirius Black is wandering the castle? What if he gets in here?'

'Ah yes, you'll be needing these.' He flicked his wand and the house tables flew up against the walls and with another flick, what looked like a thousand purple sleeping bags covered the floor. 'Sleep well.'

The hall was silent for ten seconds before whispers and chattering broke out. 'What happened?' Christy, a first year Ravenclaw, asked our small group.

Nathan quickly broke out into the story and several other students paused to listen. 'I'm going to grab some sleeping bags. Grace, wanna help?' Tommy asked, flashing me a quick smile.

'Sure.' I quickly counted up the people in our small group and walked with Tommy to grab the purple sleeping bags.

'Wonder how he got in,' Tommy asked, his arms filled with purple fabric. 'You can't disapparate inside Hogwarts and the school is patrolled all the time.'

'I don't know, but I'm sure the teachers will figure it out.' I glanced around nervously. What if Black got into the Great Hall? Could Percy and Penelope stop him? What was he here for?

'Lights out in ten minutes,' Percy called over the chattering.

Together, we dragged the bags to our group and climbed in. As the hall grew quiet, I found myself staring at the ceiling. It looked like what the night sky would look like, sprinkled with stars.

I shivered in my sleeping bag and slid my arms underneath me, trying to keep warm. Why was Sirius Black in the castle? What was he looking for in our tower?

It took at least another hour before I finally fell asleep. By then, the whispers had died down and most of our group had fallen asleep. I heard Professor Lupin come in and talk to Percy before leaving again.

The next morning we were allowed to go back to our dorms to change and get ready for classes. When we returned to the Great Hall, all the sleeping bags had disappeared and the House tables were back where they belonged.

I needed to find time later today to write to Mum. Although, she might get upset if I tell her a mass murderer was in the castle. She snapped at me when I mentioned him over the summer. She had known him once, I remembered him from a few of her pictures. I can't imagine why she was so upset by seeing him on the telly.

Krista's POV

I unrolled the parchment I had just removed from Lily's leg. Lily was Remus' owl, and I wasn't sure why he was writing to me now. I was excited to have a letter, especially from him, but it did seem a bit random.

Krista,

I thought I should let you know. Sirius was in the castle today. He tried to break into one of the towers, and we're not certain why. We think it's because of Harry, but who knows what is going through his mind.

He sliced a portrait because she wouldn't let him in. Don't worry, Grace is fine. We searched the castle, but no sign of him. Try not to worry.

Miss you. See you soon.

~Remus

I stared at the letter, shaking between my fingers. Sirius broke into the castle; after Remus told me it would be nearly impossible. Apparently Sirius was smarter than we all thought he was. Of course he was, he had fooled all of us into believing he was on our side. He tricked us into thinking he was good, that he was different from his family.

'Is she still safe?' I asked aloud, expressing my fears. 'Does he know she's there? Does he know about her? Or is he trying to find Harry like Remus said?'

'No,' I said, shocking myself by the sound of my voice. 'He can't know about her. How could he?' I crumpled the letter in my fist and through it into the rubbish bin.

I needed to clear my head, but where to go?

I wandered the house, slowly walking to the spare bedroom. Kneeling on the floor, I opened one of the boxes and pulled out a small pile of pictures. There weren't many that survived through the year, but I did have a few. James and Lily's smiling faces stared up at me from the stationary photo. I missed Sirius' magical pictures, the ones where everyone moved.

But, wait a minute. What happened to all Sirius' photos? What happened to my journal and everything of his? I know he had magical pictures in our house, but when I woke up the day after Halloween, they were all gone. What had he done with them?

It made sense that they disappeared. He wouldn't want me to find anything that would come back to magic. But I was still confused as to why he erased my memories in the first place. Was it because he was afraid I would tell the Aurors about what happened that night?

Looking back down, I smiled at the photo in my hand. 'Oh, how I miss you,' I said, feeling the tears well in my eyes.

Before I realized what I was doing, I had dropped the pictures back into the box, stood and retrieved my purse from the living room. The only place I wanted to go now was the cemetery.

It had been year since I'd been to Godric's Hollow. I remembered the house, their kitchen, the living room, even the back porch where we had sat that afternoon of Harry's birthday party. I was at that party, when Harry turned one year old. Sirius was on a mission, and I had gone alone, giving Harry the miniature broomstick Sirius had purchased for his gift.

I drove around aimlessly, navigating with my battered map. Thankfully, as I got closer, my newly acquired memories kicked in and I found myself on their old street. I parked down the block, letting me have time with my thoughts again this evening. As I walked down the road, I studied the houses, silently wondering if one of them was the rebuilt model of the Potter's.

The small cemetery sat just off the road. I walked through the old, rusted gate and looked around. Tombstones were covered over with dark green moss, others were so faded you could barely the inscriptions, if at all, and still others were turned over completely. I hoped that James and Lily's stone was still in good condition, otherwise this trip would be for nothing.

It took the better part of an hour to locate the grave. I had to get down on my knees and brush away some of the moss to be positive. My fingers ran over their names, dates and the quote as I remembered the fun times we had. James was such a terrific father. He doted on Harry and everything he did was for his son. Lily was brilliant, bright and funny. Her laughter was contagious, always causing someone to laugh with her. I had only known them for a year, but I loved them both like family.

'I'm sorry,' I said softly through my cold tears. 'You helped me through Sirius' and my issues and I couldn't even remember... I don't know why he did it, but…' I trailed off. The tears were falling faster now, leaving me to gasp softly for air.

'I'm sorry, Lily. I don't know why but I am. I should have known. I lived with him, I loved him. I should have known what he was. But then again, how could I? Even James trusted him with his life. He trusted Sirius with yours and Harry's lives too. And I trusted him with mine.

'Sirius was supposed to protect all of us. I remember that night after Marlene was killed. He had such a dark look in his eyes and it terrified me. He said that he was supposed to protect her, that no one was supposed to hurt her. What about you two? Weren't you important to him?'

I wiped away my tears, but they just kept falling. James and Lily didn't deserve to die. They didn't deserve to leave their only child alone in the world, an orphan.

'Miss, are you all right?' I looked up to find an older woman staring at me. She was standing at the entrance to the cemetery, wrapped tightly in what looked like an old cloak and was shivering against the cool air.

I wiped my eyes again and nodded. 'Yes, ma'am. I'm just visiting some old friends.' My gaze returned to the tombstone, hoping that she would leave me alone and let me return to my mourning in peace.

'Is that the Potter's stone?' I looked up again and saw that she had walked forward and was now two rows behind me.

'Yes, ma'am. They were my friends.'

She nodded, waiting a few moments before she spoke. 'You're a muggle, aren't you?' She asked, and I stared at her.

'How did you…?' My voice trailed off. How was she able to tell?

'You don't have a wand, and you drove here in that auto. And I've been around long enough to sense when magic is around. I don't sense anything from you.' She smiled in a poor attempt to calm my nerves. 'Would you like to come to my house for some tea? It's getting awfully cold outside and you look about froze to the bone.'

No, I said to myself. 'No thank-you, ma'am. I'm just going to be on my way home.' I stood up and brushed off my pants.

'I knew them,' the old woman said softly. 'I knew them and their little baby, Harry. He was the sweetest little child! I live down the road from them you see.' Her voice broke, leaving me to stand awkwardly and stare at her. 'It's tough to believe they've been gone for twelve years, isn't it?

'That Sirius Black escaped. He's the one who had them killed you know.' She stopped and looked at me. 'Please, come have some tea. You look chilled.'

I shook my head again, a bit more firmly this time. 'No, thank you. I do need to be getting home.' I walked slowly past her and through the gate.

'All right, dear. If you change your mind, or are back in the area, I live down the road. My name's Bathilda Bagshot. The surname is on the side of the house.'

'Thank you again,' I said and I left. I could feel her eyes still on me as I walked down the road to my auto.

Once inside, I locked the doors and stared straight ahead. 'Well, at least I know where their graves are. And I can now come anytime I want.' I trailed off, unsure of where my thoughts were going to go.

'Damn you, Sirius,' I said, feeling my eyes well with tears again. 'You ruined everything! If they were still alive, we'd still be together. Your daughter would have her father and I'd have you. I hate you. I hate you for almost everything you've ever done.' I screamed and covered my face with my hands.

After calming my sobs, I pulled a tissue from the centre console and wiped away the stinging salt water from my eyes. I turned the key in the ignition and clicked on the headlights. As I put the auto into drive, I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eyes. When I turned, I saw a large black dog staring at me. It looked exactly like the black dog I had seen in the park that day I saw Sirius.

I blinked. There was a black dog on the charm bracelet Sirius gave me. Could it be connected somehow? Could Sirius have something to do with that dog? Or was it all just a bad coincidence?

AN: 12 reviews on the last chapter. Y'all are awesome! Thank you to: LadyStrider17, Jazzie123, Hi, Charlie, the_werewolf_gal, Dustfinger's_cheering_section, amrawo, fruityloops156, ktmt1120, BriP, LilyCalliePotter and AllenPitt for reviewing the previous chapter. And thank you to everyone who added this to alerts or favorites. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Also, to answer Hi's question- I try to update at least once a week. I already have the majority of the story written and all of it planned out, so my main thing is just editing all of it!