McKinnon

| CHAPTER EIGHTEEN |

"AAAAARRRGGHHHH! NOOOOO!" 
      Sarai jumped awake with a start at the sound of yelling coming from a dormitory on the other end of the common room. She heard shouting, and many footsteps around the hall. Hermione lit a lamp from across the dorm, and the two girls exchanged a look before simultaneously jumping out of bed, and running out of the dorm. A small crowd had appeared near the third year boy's dormitory. 
   "Excellent, Are we carrying on?" Fred asked brightly. 
"Everyone back upstairs!" Said Percy, hurrying into the common room, pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas as he spoke. 
 "Perce -- Sirius Black!" said Ron faintly. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"
   At this Sarai turned white with dread. Her heart began pounding, nearly out of her chest if felt like.
"Nonsense!" said Percy, looking startled. "You had too much to eat, Ron-- had a nightmare --"
"I'm telling you --"
"Now, really, enough's enough!"
     Professor McGonagall was back. She slammed the portrait behind her as she entered the common room and stared furiously around.
      "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, Professor!" said Percy, puffing himself up indignantly. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed!My brother Ron here had a nightmare --"
      "IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"
Professor McGonagall stared at him.
   "Don't be ridiculous, Weasley. How could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?" 
 "Ask him!" said Ron, pointing a shaking finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's picture. "Ask him if he saw --"
     Glaring suspiciously at Ron, Professor McGonagall pushed the Portrait back open and went outside. The whole common room listened with bated breath. "Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"
    "Certainly, good lady!" cried Sir Cadogan.
   There was a stunned silence, and Sarai's eyes met Seamus's. Horror and dread filled her chest. He nodded his head, before both turned their heads back to the portrait hole, 
"You--You did?" Professor McGonagall said. "But--but the password!"
   "He had 'em!" said Sir Cadogan proudly. "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"
    Professor McGonagall pulled herself back through the portrait hole to face the stunned crowd. She was white as chalk.
"Which person," she said, her voice shaking, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"
    There was utter silence, broken by the smallest of terrified squeaks. Neville Longbottom, trembling from head to fluffy slippered toes, raised his hand slowly into the air.

    No one in Gryffindor Tower slept that night. They knew that the castle was being searched again, and the whole House stayed awake in the common room, waiting to hear whether Black had been caught.  Professor McGonagall came back at dawn, to tell them that he had again escaped.
    That morning at breakfast, she sat with Hermione, who was currently pouring over a textbook for Muggle studies. 
  "Say hermione?" She asked ignoring the inquisitive looks Dean and Seamus were shooting her from across the way. 
   Hermione's head snapped up from her book at the sound of her name, "Why are you taking Muggle-studies anyway? Aren't your parents muggles?" 
    Hermione nodded, "Yeah but it's much  more interesting to study Muggles from a wizard standpoint!" She said before going back to her textbook. "Plus, it'll be good for me fifth-year. I'll have options on what field of study to go in to." 
   Sarai stared at her wide-eyed, "Do you ever sleep?" She teased lightly, earning a small smile in return from her newfound friend. Hermione shrugged before muttering, "Barely, these days." Hermione looked up and nodded at someone behind Sarai. 
  Sarai turned her head to see Michael taking a seat beside her. 
   "Oy, You alright?" He asked, news of Sirius Black's attempt to kill Ron had spread like wildfire. "That was a mighty close call, last night." 
  Sarai frowned as she fiddled with her Himitsu-baku. She had let Hermione examine it closely last night while she was trying to calm her own nerves from Black's miraculous entry into the castle. 
   "Peeky," She admitted sheepishly, "And My uncle already told Dean and Seamus to keep an eye on me." She said with an eye-roll. "They're already taking shifts on walking me to classes." 
   Hermione looked up curiously as the pair chatted back and forth. "So Hermione," Sarai said brightly, "That means you get added security too." She joked. 
   Hermione looked at her curiously, "I'm sure the professor's are already working on taking extra precautions on security measures within the castle." 
   At this Michael chimed in, "Plus, I can walk you to-and from electives." He gave her hand a soft squeeze, before piling his plate with food. 
   Sarai's cheeks turned pink, as she made eye-contact with Hermione, who had just realized the connection between Sarai and Michael. She nodded her head in approval, as if accepting her choice in the boy she fancied. 
   Breakfast had gone quite well, despite Sarai's expectations, and she had learned quite a lot about Hermione. Honestly, the main takeaway for Sarai, was that the boys she hung around took far too much advantage of her. They sought to blame her for every little inconvenience they come across, where as Hermione would bend over backwards for her friends. Sarai definitely thought Hermione would have made a great Hufflepuff, for how loyal she was to her friends.
     Michael, had excused himself from the table, when Terry Boot had hollered at him from across the room. The two Gryffindor girls were left to walk to their classes. She had shooed Dean and Seamus away, who were adamant on walking her to class, when she noticed that the pair were going to be late to their own classes if they had chosen to do so. While they were walking through the corridors, Hermione had chosen to excuse herself quickly, claiming a desperate need for the lavatory, but had promised to meet up with her in class. So Sarai navigated her way through the crowd of students. She was humming softly to herself, when she noticed someone fall into step with her. In fact, it was two somebodies. She looked over to see Astoria and Blaise both walking with her down the corridor. 
    "So Black didn't kill you, eh, McLupin?" Blaise said, his own sort of greeting. 
  Sarai rolled her eyes, "Disappointing for you, I'm sure." She then smiled as she looked at Astoria, "How was your vacation?"
  Astoria smiled pleasantly back at her, "It was lovely, actually. Mum and Dad took us to France. We got to visit Beauxbatons." 
   Sarai tilted her head curiously, "Wha--" 
Before she had the chance to ask, Blaise let out a snort, "C'mon McLupin, don't tell me you haven't heard of Beauxbatons. It's the wizarding school in France." He said in an lofty tone, "Your Uncle's a professor at this school and he didn't think to tell you there were other wizarding schools in Europe?" 
   Sarai glared at Blaise, for interrupting her, "It's rude to interrupt Zabinski," She said, "And no, for your information, I didn't know. But I wasn't asking you." She said coolly. 
  Neither of them noticed Astoria's puzzled looks at the nicknames they had given each other while she had been away, clearly she had missed something. "Anyway," Astoria said slowly as the two were shooting looks at each other. "How was your Christmas, Sarai?" 
   Sarai turned her head to look at Astoria as they rounded the corridor. She shrugged, "It wasn't too bad, actually. My Uncle took me to Hogsmeade over break since he won't let me go with the rest of the student body---" 
   "Will you please let me see the Himitsu thing?" Blaise interrupted again, growing impatient. Sarai shot him a sharp look. 
"Not a chance." 
"Why?" 
"Cause I can't stand you, Zabinski, that's why." 
"The mihitsu-what?" Astoria asked curiously. 
"Himitsu-baku," Sarai corrected kindly, "It's a Japanese puzzle-box." She explained. The three had reached the entryway of the Ancient Runes class-room. She quickly pulled it out of the box, to show Astoria. "Uncle Rem mentioned there being something inside of it. Don't try peeking through that sliver though, seamus tried, and got stabbed in the eye with something." 
  Blaise snickered, clearly imagining the pain Seamus had gone through. Astoria took a moment to examine the box closely, before bidding the two of them goodbye, 
    "Interesting, well I'm off." She said, "Divination awaits." 
Blaise and Sarai waved at Astoria as she left, before entering the classroom, to see Hermione already seated at one of the desks.Naturally her head buried in her textbook. Sarai stared dumbfounded. 
  "How'd you do that?" She asked approaching Hermione. 
Hermione looked up from her textbook, "What are you talking about?" Hermione asked innocently. 
  Sarai sputtered, motioning her hands outside the door, before back to Hermione, "Wha-you--lavatory? huh?" Sarai said. 
  Blaise sniggered, "So, you're always this eloquent, I see." He remarked. 
"Shove it, Zabinski," Sarai snapped at him before turning to Hermione, "No seriously," She said in a much kinder tone, "How did you do that? Get here so fast I mean?" 
   Sarai moved to take the seat next to Hermione, but it was piled with books, that all looked far too heavy to move. Hermione shifted uncomfortably, "I--I took a shortcut," She said finally. 
  Sarai shook her head incredulously at Hermione, before taking her usual seat at her own desk, waiting for Michael to appear,  and the lesson to start. One question remained in her mind though. How was Hermione taking muggle studies, when she was sitting in Ancient Runes right by her? 

      Throughout the day, everywhere Sarai went they saw signs of tighter security; Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors to recognize a large picture of Sirius Black; Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes. Sir Cadogan had been fired. His portrait had been taken back to its lonely landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lady was back. She had been expertly restored, but was still extremely nervous, and had agreed to return to her job only on condition that she was given extra protection. A bunch of surly security trolls had been hired to guard her. They paced the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the size of their clubs.
   Neville was in total disgrace. Professor McGonagall was so furious with  him she had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him a detention, and forbidden anyone to give him the password into the tower. Poor Neville was forced to wait. outside the common room every night for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him. None of these punishments, however, came close to matching the one his grandmother had in store for him. Two days after Black's break-in, she sent Neville the very worst thing a Hogwarts student could receive over breakfast -- a Howler.
       The school owls swooped into the Great Hall carrying the mail as usual, and Neville choked as a huge barn owl landed in front of him, a scarlet envelope clutched in its beak. Sarai watched in pity, as she watched Neville seize the envelope, holding it like a bomb, and sprinted out of the hall.  The Slytherin table exploded with laughter at the sight of him. They heard the Howler go off in the entrance hall -- Neville's grandmother's voice, magically magnified to a hundred times its Usual volume, shrieking about how he had brought shame on the whole family.
     "Serves him right," Dean said that morning at breakfast, "What'd he go around writing down all the passwords for?" 
   Seamus mumbled something incoherent across the table from Sarai, hummed in response while eating her porridge. She craned her neck to see what Hermione was scribbling down furiously next to her. 
   "Is that the appeal for Buckbeak's case?" She asked Hermione. Hermione nodded silently, muttering something to herself. Dean and Seamus gave her a weird look before turning to Sarai.  
   "So," Seamus said, eyeing Hermione, apprehensively, "Have you asked Professor Lupin about the thing?" 
  Sarai rolled her eyes, "It's fine Seamus, Hermione already knows Black has a vendetta against my dad." Sarai reminded him. 
   Hermione looked up in alarm, "How'd you know--"
"I overheard you three talking on the train." Sarai explained, "It is what it is," She said when hermione opened her mouth to apologize. She then turned to seamus, "No, I haven't been able to catch him lately." She admitted disheartened. "I don't think I even want to know at this point."
   "Know what?" Hermione asked curiously, setting her quill down. 
 "Who her father is," Dean answered after gulping down a sip of the Hot chocolate Sarai had procured from her canister. Michael's gift to her, definitely increased her addiction to the sugary drink, so she'd taken to keeping some with her wherever she went. It also helped her win Professor Babble's approval, when she poured her a mug during a particularly cold day in the classroom. 
   Hermione went rigid, from beside Sarai, causing the girl to look over at her in concern. Hermione had gone eerily pale, and she could see the nerves start to form on her features. 
  "It's not a big deal, really." Sarai said quickly, shooting Dean and Seamus both looks to drop the subject. She poured a cup of hot chocolate from her cannister and pushed it towards Hermione. "Here, drink this. You look ill." 
    Hermione took a small sip from the mug, before returning to her parchment.  Sarai was still trying to figure out how Hermione was taking so many electives all at the same time. It's not like she could be in two places at once. Her thoughts were interrupted by Seamus whining. 
 "Oy, Pour me some hot chocolate too!" 

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