Remus Lupin and the Prisoner of Azkaban (#Wolfstar)

Chapter Seventeen- The Grudge

A/N: there were some problems with the story so I have to reupload some parts, sorry guys. but a new chapter is coming right after! thanks for your patience :>

Wordcount: 1996

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 Black had been caught. Professor McGonagall came back at dawn, without Professor Lupin this time, to tell them that he had again escaped.

Throughout the day, everywhere they went they saw signs of tighter security; Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors to recognize 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 fired. 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, but was still extremely nervous, and had agreed to return to her job only 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.

Remus couldn't help noticing that the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor remained unguarded and unblocked. It seemed that he had been right in thinking that he and his friends were the only ones who knew about the hidden passageway within it. So now it was just him and Sirius. Remus reckoned he should tell someone, but he knew Sirius was not coming in through Honeyduke's, he'd've heard if the shop had been broken into, even if Sirius used his disguise as a big, black dog, he would have had to break in one way or another. If he admitted to knowing the one-eyed witch's passage, he would get in a lot of trouble and suspicion for not admitting to it earlier. So once again, he gave Sirius an advantage by being too cowardly to own up to his mistakes. Saving his own weak, anxious, cowardly skin. Sometimes he doubted himself being Gryffindor.

Ron Weasley had become an instant celebrity overnight. People were paying immense attention to him, and it was clear that Ron 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. Remus overheard it more than twice when walking through the corridors.

"... I was asleep, and I heard this ripping noise, and I thought it was in my dream, you know? But then there was this draft... I woke up and one side of the hangings on my bed had been pulled down... I rolled over... and I saw him standing over me... like a skeleton, with loads of filthy hair ... holding this great long knife, must've been twelve inches... and he looked at me, and I looked at him, and then I yelled, and he scampered."

"Why, though?" Ron added to Harry as the group of second-year girls who had been listening to his chilling tale departed. "Why did he run?"

Remus knew a lot of people had been wondering the same thing. Why had Black, having got the wrong bed, not silenced Ron and proceeded to Harry? Sirius had proven twelve years ago that he didn't mind murdering innocent people, and this time he had been facing five unarmed boys, four of whom were asleep. "He must've known he'd have a job getting back out of the castle once you'd yelled and woken people up," said Harry thoughtfully. "He'd've had to kill the whole House to get back through the portrait hole... then he would've met the teachers...."

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