RECKLESS FUN | Blaise Zabini | Au

13- APRIL FOOL'S

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 Sirius Black had been caught. Zoe felt as though she would go mad as she went through all the possible situations and she had no idea how to feel. Professor McGonagall came back at dawn to tell them he had escaped again. There was one bright side to it though, nobody could blame Zoe for letting the escapee inside the castle.

Everywhere they went the next day they saw signs of tighter security. Professor Flitwick was seen teaching the front doors to recognise 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 sacked. 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, agreed to return to her job 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.

Due to a dare, one afternoon Zoe had approached them, grunting and swinging an imaginary club. This had ended up in the trolls giving her nasty glares and her to leave quickly, while Fred and George were snickering few feet behind her.

Fred, George and Zoe were satisfied as it seemed that they had been right thinking that they were the only one, apart from Harry, who knew about the hidden passageway on the third floor since the one-eyed witch remained unguarded and unblocked.

Ron seemed to have become an instant celebrity and it was clear he was rather enjoying the experience. Though still severely shaken by the night's events, he was happy to tell anyone who asked, what had happened, with a wealth of detail.

What had happened was: Ron being waken to a ripping voice and seeing skeleton alike Sirius Black holding a knife, looking at Ron, and then Ron had yelled and he had fled the scene. Zoe couldn't help but wonder why he had fled: he had been facing five unarmed boys, whom most, according to Harry and Ron had been asleep. It didn't make any sense, if he was in Hogwarts to finish Harry off, why didn't he do it then and there?

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 what his grandmother had in store for him. Two days after Sirius Black's break-in, she sent Neville the very worst thing a Hogwarts student could receive over breakfast – a Howler.

Fred, George, Lee and Zoe were sitting at the Gryffindor table when they saw Neville sprinting out of the Hall, holding a scarlet envelope before him like a bomb, while the Slytherin table exploded with laughter at the sight of him.

Zoe was glad to see almost nobody had suspicions of her letting the escapee inside the castle. At least nobody spoke very freely if they thought that way in public places where they could be overheard.

Zoe did overhear in the girl's bathroom two first-year Gryffindor girls going over a theory where they thought Zoe Black might just have been in a Sirius Black disguise and just done a prank at Ron Weasley, until their third friend reminded Zoe was seen coming down the staircase of the Girl's dormitory.

This theory had amused Zoe, which was why she had emerged from the bathroom stall and explained to the surprised, very awkward and embarrassed three girls she wouldn't have been able to pull off such a thing without being the fastest runner in Hogwarts.