Professor Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where we were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, who all looked extremely confused.
'The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle,' Professor Dumbledore told them as Professors McGonagall and Flitwick closed all doors into the Hall. 'I'm afraid that, 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. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately,' he added to Percy, who was looking immensely proud and important. 'Send word with one of the ghosts.'
Professor Dumbledore paused, about to the leave the Hall, and said, 'Oh, yes, you'll be needing …' One casual wave of his wand and the long tables flew to the edges of the Hall and stood themselves against the walls; another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags. These were very big and comfy and could easily fit 2 people inside them if that was needed.
'Sleep well,' said Professor Dumbledore, closing the door behind him. The Hall immediately began to buzz excitedly; the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened.
'Everyone into their sleeping bags!' shouted Percy. 'Come on now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!'
Demelza, Stefan, Andrew, Amy, Magda, Luna and I all grabbed a sleeping bag and headed into one corner.
"Surprised you four aren't sharing bags" I said jokingly to the couples
They laughed
"Yeah I think we're a bit young for that yet mate" said Andrew
"How do you think Black could have gotten in though?" I said "this castle's got so many protective spells on it, the Dementors are around all the entrances, Filch knows the secret passageways too, they'd also be guarded"
"Perhaps he knows a passage that Filch doesn't. That's all I can think of" said Amy
'The lights are going out now!' Percy shouted. 'I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!' The candles all went out at once. The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the Prefects, and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars.
I eventually fell asleep around 2 in the morning, and when I awoke, I found that Amy and Andrew, though not sharing a bag, had slept much closer together than the rest of us had. Even Demelza and Stefan weren't that close to each other. At breakfast, Harry, Ron and Hermione told us about a very interesting conversation between Percy, Snape and Dumbledore that they had overheard at around 3am.
"Black had left the castle pretty quickly apparently. They found the Fat Lady on the fourth floor, hiding in a map of Argyllshire, and she'd refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked. She'll be restored when she's calmed down. But what was most interesting is that Snape seemed to insist that Black couldn't have gotten in without inside help. We have no idea what that could possibly mean, do any of you?"
None of us had a clue either.
Black was all the school could talk about for the next few days, with the theories about how he had gotten in getting more and more ridiculous. Colin Creevey was insisting to anyone that would listen that Black had dug his own tunnel into the dungeons. The Fat Lady's ripped canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with the portrait of Sir Cadogan and his fat grey pony. Nobody was very happy about this. Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels, me several times, and the rest thinking up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day. He also had a tendency to ask people to duel each other in front of him, with only the winner being allowed access to the common room, and the loser being forced to wait until either they won or a teacher put a stop to it.
This created an awkward situation where Amy and Andrew looked like they would have to duel each other, but I went to get Professor McGonagall and she forced Cadogan to let them both in with only the password.
'He's barking mad,' said Seamus Finnigan angrily to Percy. 'Can't we get anyone else?'
'None of the other pictures wanted the job,' said Percy. 'Frightened of what happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer.'
Harry was now being closely watched. Teachers found excuses to walk closely to him in the corridors, and Percy was tailing him like some kind of pompous bodyguard. I used this as an excuse to spend more time with him in between some classes, when we both had them on the same floor, and this was the only additional presence he seemed to enjoy. We found ourselves getting to know each other better and better with even only these brief extra few minutes of conversation a day, and by the time a week had passed of us doing this, we began getting somewhat flirtatious.
Professor McGonagall had tried to stop Harry attending Quidditch practices, but with our first game of the season less than a week away, he had angrily insisted that he needed to train. Therefore, Madam Hooch was assigned to supervise our practices. The weather worsened steadily as Saturday drew nearer, but we were undaunted.
Then, at our final session before Saturday's matches, Hermione told us as the reserve team were leaving, that Marcus Flint had spoken to Hooch and insisted that Malfoy's arm was still injured and Slytherin wouldn't be playing. Therefore, in order to keep continuity, they wouldn't be playing Slytherin either, meaning that both Gryffindor teams were at a big disadvantage. We would be playing Hufflepuff instead.
'There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm!' said Harry furiously, once we were all changed and sat down in the locker room. 'He's faking it!'
'I know that, but we can't prove it,' said Wood bitterly. 'And we've been practising all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory-"
Angelina and Katie suddenly giggled.
'What?' said Wood, frowning at this light-hearted behaviour.
'He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?' said Angelina.
'Strong and silent,' said Katie, and they started to giggle again.
They turned their attention to me.
"Don't you agree?" asked Angelina
I bit my lip
"I-uh-well"
"She fancies someone else" said Harry firmly, in a manner which suggested that would be the end of the conversation.
This shut Angelina and Katie up, which thankfully indicated that they hadn't seen us flirting.
'He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together,' said Fred impatiently. 'I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff are a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?'
'We were playing in completely different conditions!' Wood shouted, his eyes bulging slightly. 'Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin are trying to wrong-foot us! We must win!' 'Oliver, calm down!' said Fred, looking slightly alarmed. 'We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."
Harry and I tailed behind the rest as we headed out on to the pitch. We paused for a second and looked into each other's eyes.
"Thanks" I said, blushing.
"You're welcome" he replied
Our hands seemed to drift closer together as we left the tunnel.
