Lumos (Book One)

Chapter Seven ~ Snape and a Scar

Every student in the school was gathered in the Great Hall (what I had known as the cafeteria because it was just easier), everyone who wasn't a Gryffindor asking questions about what had happened.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Professor Dumbledore told us 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 Weasley, 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.

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

"C'mon," Aria said to me and Laura; we seized three sleeping bags and dragged them into a corner.

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Laura whispered anxiously.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," said Aria.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know," Laura as we climbed fully dressed into our sleeping bags and propped ourselves on our elbows to talk. "The one night we weren't in the tower..."

"I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run," I said. "Didn't realize it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here." We shuddered. All around us, 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."

"Disguised himself, probably," said a Hufflepuff fifth year.

"He could've flown in," suggested a Slytherin.

"Honestly, am I the only person who's ever bothered to read Hogwarts, A History?" said Hermione crossly a few sleeping bags down.

"Probably," said Ron. "Why?"

"Because the castle's protected by more than walls, you know," said Hermione. "There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They'd have seen him fly in too. And Filch knows all the secret passages, they'll have them covered..."

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!" The candles all went out at once. The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the prefects, and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars. What with that, and the whispering that still filled the hall, I felt as though we were sleeping outdoors in a light wind.

Once every hour, a teacher would reappear in the hall to check that everything was quiet. Around three in the morning, when many students had finally fallen asleep, Professor Dumbledore came in. I watched him looking around for Percy, who had been prowling between the sleeping bags, telling people off for talking. Percy was only a short way away from Aria, Laura, and I, all of us quickly pretending to be asleep as Dumbledore's footsteps drew nearer.