She's always kind (Neville X Reader story)

Chapter 28

Scottish Highlands - Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

"Honestly Neville it's not haunted at all, it's just a draughty house that needs a bit of work, that's all." (Y/n) insisted as she walked up the moving staircase with her nervous friend. "I'd never call you a liar (Y/n) but I really don't trust that place, it gives me the creeps." He replied as he frowned at the large crowd forming on the stairs. The pair could overhear Ron talking to Harry about Zonko's joke shop before they too noticed the crowd. "What's going on?" Harry asked out loud. "Probably Neville's forgotten the password again" Ron joked before Neville piped up "Hey!" making his presence known to the ginger in front.

"Oh? Maybe not then." He exclaimed before their attention returned to the large crowd up ahead. Above the commotion, Percy's booming voice could be heard, announcing himself and ushering students away from the door. The small girl still couldn't see what was happening, jumping every so often to see above the people in front, making Dean and Ron chuckle a bit. The girl huffed and instead decided to squeeze through the crowd until she got to the front standing right next to Fred who ruffled her hair "Alright Knick-knack?" She smiled at the tall ginger before noticing the horrifying sight before her.

Where the fat lady usually sat in her painting singing with her shrill voice, instead, large gashes across the door could be seen along with ripped the paper. The fat lady was noticeably absent from the painting too. "She's gone!?" (Y/n) gasped to which Fred nodded sadly. Suddenly, Professor Dumbledore appeared along with Mr Filch. He stroked the ripped painting as he stared in shock, "Mr Filch, round up the ghosts, I want every painting in the castle searched until we find the fat lady." The headmaster said sternly. However, Mr Filch instead was eyeing some of the paintings on the higher floors.

"No need to Headmaster, the fat lady is there" he pointed his dirty, boney finger towards a painting with many African animals that usually pranced around the savanna landscape. All of the students raced up the stairs along with the teachers towards the painting where the fat lady was hiding. "Dear lady...who did this to you?" Professor Dumbledore spoke with a gentle tone, trying to calm down the fat lady who was hiding behind a large hippopotamus in the painting. She emerged from behind the large animal, whimpering hysterically, "Eyes like the devil he's got! And a soul as dark as his name.....it's him headmaster! The one they all talk about! He's here! Somewhere in the castle....Sirius Black!" She squealed before quickly hiding once again.

Loud and worried murmuring broke out in the crowd of students as the headmaster instructed all of the students to make their way to the Great hall. Fred reaches his arm over (Y/n)'s shoulder and leads her down the stairs so that she wouldn't get shoved by the large crowd. "She must've been so frightened, a killer on the loose in the castle?" (Y/n) spoke in a worried tone. Fred looks down at her and hugs her closely to his side "he's not going to get anyone knick-knack, I'm pretty sure the dementors will get to him before he can get to any of us." Just hearing the name of those vile creatures made the girl shiver with fright.

Once at the bottom of the staircase, the large group of students made their way to the great hall. At this point, (Y/n) had found Neville and Seamus who both looked as shaken up as she did. "Look! The front doors!" Seamus pointed at the large wooden door that had been shut and in the process of being secured by numerous metal locks as instructed by the deputy headmistress. This made the three third years rather uneasy as Mr Filch ordered all of the Gryffindor students into the hall, where the headmaster had conjured up countless purple sleeping bags for the students. The Gryffindors were ushered to the far right hand corner of the hall, all finding their own sleeping bags. No sooner had (Y/n) sat down on the floor between her brother and nervous best friend, she noticed another crowd filing into the hall.

All of the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins had been ordered to sleep in the great hall so that the faculty staff could keep an eye on them all. All of the older prefects guided the confused to their respective corners whilst dealing with the few who tried to object and refuse. (Y/n) also notice out of the corner of her eye an outraged Draco who looked at the sleeping bags with utter disgust. Rolling her eyes with a slight chuckle, she got into her sleeping bag. The floor was hard and cold which made the girl shiver, alerting her twin who hugged her close to him for a little bit to warm her up. Throughout the night, she heard murmurs from the staff who were of course searching the castle frantically. The girl couldn't quite hear what they were saying due to her being so far from the middle aisle which greatly frustrated her.