A/N: angsty uwu
That night, Aly was sitting on the couch in the common room surrounded by her friends, when Professor Snape came in looking urgent.
"To the Great Hall. Now," he said in a stern voice as he walked past them to the dorms to tell everyone else. Aly looked at Pansy and Daphne utterly confused. They made it to the Great Hall, where the Gryffindors already were there, and then were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, who also 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, looking to the Head boys and girls, who were looking immensely proud and important. "Send word with one of the ghosts."
Professor Dumbledore paused, about to 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.
"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. According to what Aly had overheard, Sirius Black snuck into the castle somehow and attacked the Fat Lady portrait.
"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" shouted Percy. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"
Pansy and Daphne quickly grabbed a couple sleeping bags and headed for a secluded corner. They waved Aly and their other friends over but Aly really wanted to check on Madi. And maybe Harry, but she wouldn't admit that. She already saw Noia and Kim chatting it up together across the hall, so she knew they were okay.
Aly looked between where she saw the Gryffindors and her Slytherin friends. Pansy seemed to pick up on her dilemma and nodded in approval. Aly sighed with relief and made a heart with her hands before making her way over to the corner that the four Gryffindors were huddled in.
"Aly!" Madi whisper-yelled and jumped up, engulfing Aly into a hug. Aly tightly hugged her back and closed her eyes.
She opened her eyes to see Harry already looking at her. He quickly turned his head away to fiddle with his sleeping bag.
They let go of the hug and sat down criss-crossed on their sleeping bags.
Aly made eye contact with Harry, and he opened his mouth like he was going to say something before Hermione spoke first.
"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" She whispered anxiously.
"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," said Ron.
"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know," said Aly as they climbed fully dressed into their sleeping bags and propped themselves on their elbows to talk. "The one night you guys weren't in the tower..."
"I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run," said Ron.
"Didn't realize it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here." Hermione shuddered.
All around them, people were asking one another the same question: "How did he get in?"
"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," said a Ravenclaw a few feet away, "Just appear out of thin air, you know."
