The Art of New Beginnings

Chapter Nine: Does it still count as sneaking around after you get caught?

Severus sent all of the Slytherins back to the Great Hall, where the Gryffindors were already congregated, and they were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw as well, all of which looked extremely confused.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Dumbledore told them as 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 disturbances should be reported to me immediately," he added to Percy, who was looking immensely proud and important. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

He paused, about to leave the Hall, before seeming to remember something. "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," he called out, then closed the door behind him.

The Hall immediately began to buzz excitedly, the Gryffindors telling the rest of the school what had happened. That was, until Percy took it upon himself to restore order. "Everyone into their sleeping bags," he shouted. "Come on now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes."

Erica immediately hustled over to a corner, dragging Draco with her, Pansy and Blaise tagging along. It occurred to her, briefly, that she could go and find Fred and sleep next to him, but the very thought of it sent her cheeks flushing red and a buzzing sound in her ears, so she cleared her mind of those thoughts rather quickly.

"Do you think Pettigrew's still in the Castle?" Pansy asked as they settled down, slipping down into their respective sleeping bags after arranging them in a sort of circle so their heads were all in the centre and they didn't have to raise their voices too much.

Erica tuned out as Harry added his own thoughts, and Draco mumbled a reply into his arms. Blaise had already drifted off to sleep, and she envied his ability to switch off so quickly. It could really come in use at times like these.

All around them, people were asking each other the same question: "How did he get in?"

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," a Hufflepuff a few feet away whispered. "Just appear out of thin air, you know."

"Disguised himself, probably," A Ravenclaw fifth-year mumbled.

"He could've flown in," suggested Tracey, who was a few sleeping bags away from them.

"I fear for the stupidity of our generation," Erica laughed into her arms, flopping over onto her stomach to stifle her laughter. "Are Hermione and I the only people who even bothered to read Hogwarts, A History?" Judging by the others blank expressions, they had been.

"Probably," Pansy crinkled her nose. "Care to explain to us failures, Miss Know-It-All?"

"Because the castle wall's protected by more than walls," she couldn't help but shudder slightly as she remembered the blinding intensity of the wards, and the way Nicolas had so easily manipulated them along with Perenelle all the way back in her first-year. "There are all sorts of enchantments in place to stop people from entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here, and the Dementors won't be fooled by a mere disguise, plus they're guarding every single entrance to the school grounds. They'd have seen him fly in, too, and Filch knows all the secret passages, so they'll have them all covered."

Well, she thought, all of them but those that led to the Chamber, but those were guarded by Parseltongue, which she highly doubted Pettigrew knew. She paused for a moment, before groaning. "I sound like Hermione, don't I?"