The Art of New Beginnings

Chapter Sixteen: A Second Chance Given

No one in Slytherin was in much of a good mood the next morning, not that Erica could blame them. The older years had gotten into some Fire-whiskey (nobody had told her where from, but she was assuming it was from Severus' stash, which didn't bode well for anyone) and were now very hung-over, hence why Erica and her friends were sat at Gryffindor table.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason. Ron had been regaling them with a rather interesting story about what had happened before, and Erica was beginning to regret coming up to breakfast at all.

"So, what you're essentially saying is that Pettigrew broke into Gryffindor Tower to threateningly stand over Ron with a knife?" Erica repeated, tearing her toast into pieces as she glared down at her hands. "It doesn't make any sense."

"You can only put it up to a mistake once," Hermione shook her head. "Clearly he's not after Erica or Harry. It's well known that they're both in Slytherin by this point, so he wouldn't attack Gryffindor for that reason..."

"He was a Gryffindor, wasn't he?" Blaise asked, pushing his own plate away. "Could this be about pride? Or revenge, getting back at those who spurned him for years?"

"Or blackmail," Pansy stabbed at her porridge moodily, yawning widely behind her hand. "The whole 'we have your friend so you better let me go free and do as you're told' shtick."

"But he's already pretty much free and he wouldn't need to kidnap anyone to leave the castle," Harry shook his head. "He might want something from us."

"Still doesn't make sense," Draco shook his head. "If it was to instil fear, he would have attacked the source, so Erica or Harry, and same goes for if he wanted some form of revenge, or pretty much anything else."

"Maybe we're not looking at it in the right way," Blaise shook his head. "Perhaps there's something that we're missing, something that should be obvious."

"Or maybe he's doing it for the sole reason that it doesn't make any sense, and he's trying to get everyone off the mark and confuse everyone from his real goal," Erica groaned, finally setting down the toast and draining the rest of her pumpkin juice. "Either way, I'm pretty sure that I never want to hear the name 'Pettigrew' again."

Unfortunately, she didn't get that wish, and everywhere she went she was reminded of him, signs of tighter security everywhere she went. Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors to recognise a large picture of Pettigrew; Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes.

Sir Cadogan, who had been guarding the Tower in the Fat Lady's absence, had been sacked, and the Fat Lady restored, though she had only agreed to return to the job under the condition that she be given extra protection. A bunch of 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.

Erica couldn't help noticing that the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor remained unguarded and unblocked, something that Hermione wouldn't let her forget. Somehow- she was blaming Pansy on this one- the others had managed to find out that she had the Marauder's Map, and new about the passageway as a result.

"You should tell someone," Hermione hissed at her as she passed by.

"He's not going in through Honeydukes," Erica hissed back, scowling slightly. "We'd have heard if it had been broken into, and Dementors stroll the streets at night."

Ron had become an instant celebrity. For the first time in his life, people were paying more attention to him than Harry and Erica, 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.