Puppet Strings (Hogwarts x Reader)

Chapter 6

As Y/n headed down to the feast that night, she kept thinking about the goblet. She had had a bad feeling about it, but Snape wouldn't have poisoned Lupin in front of her and Harry, would he? Unless it was slow-acting....

But at the feast Professor Lupin looked cheerful as ever, talking animatedly to tiny little Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher. Y/n moved her eyes along the table, to the place where Snape sat. Was she imagining it, or were Snape's eyes flickering toward Lupin more often than was natural?

"You look tense," Val said.

"Sorry," Y/n replied. "Just...thinking." Val and Sol had returned just an hour before the feast from Hogsmeade. They even brought Y/n back several sweets from Honeydukes. Emi had stayed behind and taken a nap. She had claimed that she wasn't feeling good. Again.

The feast finished with an entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a reenactment of his own botched beheading.

It had been such a pleasant evening that Y/n's good mood couldn't even be spoiled by Malfoy, who shouted through the crowd as they all left the hall, "The dementors send their love, Potter!"

Eventually Y/n and the others headed back to the common room, full and sleepy. They only had time to barely sit down on the couches, however, before Rowen Wayne entered the common room in a flurry of blue-streaked hair.

"Everyone get out."

Y/n frowned. What?
"Dumbledore wants everyone in the great hall," she explained. "Come on, right away!" As Rowen disappeared into the girl's dorm to tell them the same thing, Y/n and the others frowned.

"I don't know what's going on," Val replied in response to Sol, who had signed something. "Maybe Dumbledore didn't finish his speech at the feast?"

"Is it a fire drill?" Y/n asked.

"They don't do those here," Val replied. "Or at least, not that I've seen."

When they arrived in the Great Hall, they found that the other three houses were there as well, everyone looking utterly 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 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.

"Sirius Black?" Y/n hissed when the news reached the Slytherins. "No, that can't be true. How could he have gotten past the dementors?"

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" shouted Percy. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

Y/n's stomach sank. She looked around the hall and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the corner. She turned to Val. "I need to—"

"Go," Val said, smiling in understanding.