A Woman Of Ice

LXXXIII- When The Fat Lady Screams

The next day, everything was much more quiet both in Diana Black's life and in the Hogwarts castle. Everything was mostly still; everyone had gone off to Hogsmeade village for the day, and should be returning within the hour. Diana had deemed it a fairly appropriate time to allow Luke Castellan into the castle with her, as she graded the remainder of the week's quiz scores.
"Tea?" Luke asked her as he poured himself a cup. "Wow. I already sound more English. Do you think that they'll start to like me more?" he teased.
Diana only rolled her eyes. "Don't push your luck. The only reason they haven't thrown you in a cell is because you're with me, and the only reason they haven't thrown me into a cell is because they're too blinded by their faith in me to realize who I actually am."
"And who are you?" Like teased quietly.
Diana smiled out of the corner of her mouth. "You're the only one who knows."
"I wonder.... how would they even react to finding out that you're only loyal to me and to Kronos?" Luke asked.
"I honestly have no clue, and I'd rather not find out," Diana replied almost instantly.
"Yeah, I feel you. So.... what is our play? I mean, you already know there's a war coming and sh*t."
"I've got it all figured out," she reassured him. "Listen. When we're needed on the front lines, we could pretend that you and I had already broken up because you were loyal to Kronos, and me to those annoying ass camp demigods, and that I would be needed in order to fight on their side. It's perfect," Diana explained away.
"Yeah, sounds like it," Luke nodded. "But what if they write letters to Chiron or Percy, or someone?" he asked.
"Oh, but they won't. They're not allowed to do that sh*t," Diana corrected him. "Wizards are supposed to have minimal contact with demigods. Literally earth-shattering emergencies only."
"Alright. Seems good, babe," Luke complimented her.
"Yeah. I got it all handled. In a few years or so, we won't have sh*t to worry about," she grinned with a hint of nostalgia for when she and Luke had felt like the world was theirs owning that club.

****

Another half hour or so later, Luke Castellan was fondly and almost sentimentally watching Diana grading her papers carefully and methodically. Then, both of their senses told them that something was off.
"Luke, do you hear that?" Diana asked calmly, in a hushed tone.
"Yeah. Sounds like.... mother f**ker, that's screaming. We gotta move," he realized urgently.
"Let's go, you're coming with!" Diana shouted as she hopped up out of her chair, checking for her magical rings.

As the two of them ran towards the screams and shouts, closer and closer, they realized that they had been coming from outside of the Gryffindor common room.
"Is that....? Oh, my God," Luke realized.
"The Fat Lady.... she's gone," Ginny Weasley called out.
"Probably stuffing her face with apples in that still life on the second floor again," another voice said, Ron Weasley's.
"It's not funny, Ron!" Hermione Granger.
"The f**king Fat Lady. She's f**king gone, what the f**k?" Diana pointed out, pointing up at the slashed painting. "Oh, my God. Move!" she yelled urgently.
"Yes, make way for Professor Black, now," Percy Weasley pointlessly added in.

Professor Dumbledore and Snape soon followed suit, along with Argus Filch, all in both awe and terror. Albums Dumbledore stood beside Diana, stroking the slashed painting, a horrible looking strip of canvas hanging off, the unusual sight of which could only be described as eerie.
"Oh my God. You know what this means, Professor," Diana said to Dumbledore.
"Indeed I do, Diana." He then turned to Filch, white as a sheet. "Mr. Filch. Round up the ghosts. Tell them to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady. Severus, Diana—"

Dumbledore was abruptly interrupted by a loud and shrill shriek that could only have belonged to one person; the Fat Lady.
Filch pointed upward, in shock. "There'll be no need for ghosts, Professor."

The Fat Lady was trapped, in a portrait that wasn't her own, some jungle or other.
"My dear Lady! Who did this to you?" Dumbledore asked gently.
"Eyes like the Devil, he's got! And a soul as dark as his name! It was him, Headmaster. The one they all talk about. Sirius Black! Ohh!" the shaken old woman sobbed hysterically.

At the mention of her father's name, all of the students surrounding Diana Black immediately began shouting and talking.
"Quiet!" Diana ordered calmly.
"Secure the castle, Filch. Severus, Diana.... round up the rest of the staff and search the entire castle immediately. The rest of you.... to the Great Hall!"

Luke Castellan followed everyone else to the Great Hall, unsure of what to do.
"Mr. Castellan!" Dumbledore boomed.
"Yes sir?" he asked, almost intimidated.
"You'll be joining our staff in the search for Sirius Black. This is something that we need all of our staff and non-students on," he said grimly. "Think of this as your chance to redeem yourself."
"Of course, Headmaster," Luke Castellan nodded promptly, following Diana.

With Snape's signal, Diana ran off to the Astronomy Tower as quickly as she could, along with Luke. For the search, every teacher and/or seventh year was given both an area to search and a partner, Diana's conveniently being Luke.
"Does this bother you? Your father potentially being in the castle?" he asked as they searched swiftly and strategically.
"No," Diana shook her head as they cleared the room bit by bit, heading toward the balcony. "Wait. 'Potentially'?"
"Yeah, I mean.... the Fat Lady doesn't necessarily know what Black looks like, and I doubt he'd just go 'I'm the notorious mass murderer Sirius Black, the Ministry's Most Wanted, nice to meet you'," he reasoned.
"Yeah," Diana agreed as she cleared the balcony. "I guess you're right. But if it's not him in the castle.... who else would it be?"
Luke frowned. "That would be our next problem. Honestly, things might just be simpler if it were him we were looking for," he sighed.

The search was both exhausting for everyone and completely lacking in results. No one had found a single thing to indicate that there had even been any intruder in the school.
"Let's report back to Dumbledore in the Great Hall," Diana decided as she and Luke Castellan finished searching their last sector.

Diana and Luke rejoined the Headmaster moments before Severus Snape had returned from the dungeons.
"I've searched the Astronomy Tower and the dungeons, Headmaster. No sign of Black, nor anyone else in the castle," Diana Black reported in a hushed tone, as they walked amongst the sleeping students.
  "I've searched the Owlery as well, nothing there," Argus Filch added.  
  "The third floor is clear too, sir," another teacher added in.
  "Of course. Black has escaped justice, yet again."
"Oh, thank you, Argus. Very good. And Severus, let us refrain from using a name associated with our own Diana's, if you'll please. But yes, I didn't really expect him to linger," Dumbledore nodded.
"Remarkable feat, don't you think? To enter Hogwarts castle on one's own, completely undetected....?" Snape asked expectantly.
  "Quite remarkable," Dumbledore agreed.
  "Any theories on how he might have managed it?" Diana Black asked.
  "Many. Each as unlikely as the next," Dumbledore replied.

Snape continued smoothly with his intended insinuations.
"You may recall, prior to the start of term, I did express my concerns when you appointed Professor—"

But Albus Dumbledore, of course, wouldn't hear it. Diana nearly flinched at the realization that only two new staff members were appointed this year, only one of which seemed of any threat to anything, and had a direct blood connection to the mass murderer in question. Luckily, Diana knew that Snape likely trusted her, and wouldn't have questioned her intentions in her presence. Probably.
"Not believe that a single professor inside of this castle would have helped Sirius Black to have entered it, Severus," he interrupted firmly.

Dumbledore ignored the dark glitter of Professor Snape's eyes, gazing upon all of the sleeping children in a non threatening manner. He moved toward Harry Potter, hovering over him almost sweetly.
  "No," he affirmed his statement. "I feel quite confident that the castle is safe. And I'm more than willing to let the students return to their Houses."
  "What about Potter?" Snape asked, a later of spitefulness in his tone.
  "Do mind your tone, please, Severus. This is a student we're speaking of," Diana interjected.
  "She's right, you know," Albus Dumbledore nodded.
  "Should he be warned?" Snape mostly ignored them.
  "Perhaps," the man said somewhat worriedly. "But for now, let him sleep.... For in dreams, we enter a world that is entirely our own. Let him swim in the deepest oceans, or glide over the highest cloud," the eccentric old man trailed off wistfully.