Miranda Black and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Sirius Black's Daughter SEQUEL!)

Chapter 18 - The Maurader's Map Gets Confiscated

This chapter is sort of all over the place, my apologies. 

No one slept that night. The castle was being searched, and everyone from Gryffindor stayed awake, waiting for Professor McGonagall to come in and tell them either that they'd caught Black or he'd escaped yet again. We waited until dawn, and McGonagall came inside to gravely tell us all that he had escaped. 

The next day, it was evident that overnight, the teachers had made the security tighter; Professor Flitwick seemed to be teaching the front doors to recognize a picture of Sirius Black, Filch was constantly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls, to mouse holes. Sir Cadogan - the portrait who'd let Sirius in - had been sacked, and to everyone's joy, was replaced by The Fat Lady once more. She was extremely nervous, and had ordered extra protection. So now we had four security trolls to guard her. They walked menacingly back and forth, talking in grunts, jokingly swinging their clubs around.  

Meanwhile, Ron had become an instant celebrity. It seemed people were noticing me more too, but the main spotlight was on Ron. He was getting more attention than even Harry. It was obvious to everyone how much he was enjoying being the popular one. He was still rather shaken by the night's events, but he was happy to tell anyone who asked about it, a story that was half truth and half lies. Harry had to explain to Ginny and I about that. 

As Ron explained in detail about how Sirius ran away when he screamed, I asked Harry why he thought that he had run. 

"Why not just silence Ron and go on to find you? He's killed so many people before, couldn't he have just stabbed Ron or something?" I said to Harry.

"He must have known he'd have a hard job getting out of the castle once Ron had woken everyone up. He'd have to kill pretty much the whole house, get out of the portrait hole, and then face all of the teachers," Harry answered thoughtfully. I guessed that like me, he'd been thinking about it a lot. 

Neville was almost the exact opposite from Ron. Instead of being bombarded with questions and chatter, he was being ignored. McGonagall was absolutely furious with him, and she had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits. She had also forbidden anyone to give the password to him, and therefore he had to sit outside with the trolls, until somebody came and let him in. During breakfast, two days after Sirius got in, the mail came like usual. But Neville got a special letter, from his Grandma. It was a Howler. Ron, having experienced one before, quickly yelled at Neville to run. He didn't need telling twice. He jumped out of his seat, and raced out the door, Howler in hand.

I shook my head at him, and returned to eating my breakfast. Harry, sitting opposite me, was opening his own letter. He read it through and showed Ron.

"Who's that from?" I asked curiously. 

"Hagrid. He wants us to go down to his hut at 6." Harry answered, showing me the letter. I nodded.

"I'll bet he wants to know all about that night!" Ron said excitedly, causing Harry and I to roll our eyes. 

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"What's the commotion over there?" I asked Daniel, watching as people chattered excitedly about something on the notice board.

"Another Hogsmeade trip." Daniel replied. 

"Oh, of course. I should've guessed - hey, there's Hermione! We should go and see h-" I stopped as Ron and Harry came up to Hermione. They instantly started arguing. "Or maybe we shouldn't." 

"Poor Hermione." Ginny said, coming up behind us. I sighed theatrically as I watched Hermione storm away with Ron shouting after her.

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