Secrets- A Severus Snape Story

Chapter 3- The Sirius Black Incident

The school year had truly been uneventful so far, the trio had been at the Halloween feast in the Great Hall when Malfoy just had to ruin the evening by shouted through the crowd as they all left the Hall, "The Dementors send their love, Potter!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower, but when they reached the corridor which ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students.  

"Why isn't anyone going in?" asked Ron curiously.

"Let me through please," came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd. "What's the hold-up here? You can't all have forgotten the password - excuse me, I'm Head Boy - "

And then a silence fell over the crowd from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick." said Percy in a suddenly sharp voice. People's heads turned; those at the back were standing on tip-toe. "What's going on?" said Ginny, who had just arrived.

Next moment, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping towards the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through, and Harry, Ron and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was.

"Oh, my -" Hermione exclaimed and grabbed Harry's arm. The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely.

Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, his eyes sombre, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin and Snape hurrying towards him. "We need to find her," said Dumbledore. "Professor McGonagall please go to Mr Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" said a cackling voice. It was Peeves the poltergeist, bobbing over the crowd and looking delighted at the wreckage and at the looks of worry that both the Professors and students wore.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" said Dumbledore calmly, and Peeve's grin faded a little. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. Instead he adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle. "Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful," he said happily "Poor thing," he added, unconvincingly.

"Did she say who did it?" said Dumbledore quietly. "Oh, yes, Professorhead," said Peeves, with the air of one cradling a bombshell in his arms. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves flipped over, and grinned at Dumbledore from between his own legs. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."
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At Peeve's revelation Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where they were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, who all looked extremely confused.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Professor Dumbledore told them as Professors 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 head Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," he added to percy who was looking immensely proud and important. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

Professor Dumbledore paused, about to leave Hall, and said"Oh, yes, you'll be needing..." One casual wave of his wand and the long tables flew to the edges the Hall and stood themselves against the walls; another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags. "Sleep well," said Professor Dumbledore, closing the doors behind him.

Once all the students were all settled in their sleeping bags everyone was asking the same question: "How did he get in?"

"Maybe he knows how to Apperate," said a Ravenclaw a few feet away. "Just appear out of thin air, you know."

"Disguised himself, probably," said a Hufflepuff fifth-year.

"He could've flown in," suggested Dean Thomas.

"Honestly, am I the only person who's ever bothered to read Hogwarts,  A History?" said Hermione crossly to Harry and Ron. "Probably," said Ron. "Why?" "Because the castle's protected by more than walls, you know?" said Hermione "There's all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those Dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They'd have seen him fly in, too. And Filch knows all the secret passaged, they'll have them covered..."

"The lights are going out now!" percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!" The candles went out all at once, the only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously with the prefects , and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars.

Once every hour, teachers entered the Great Hall to check that everything was quiet, upon Dumbledore's arrival he had pulled Percy aside to talk to him and Harry pretended to be asleep. 

"Any sign of him, Professor?" asked Percy in a whisper. 

"No. All well here?"

"Everything under control, sir."

"Good. There' son point moving them all now. I've found a temporary guardian for the Gryffindor portrait hole. You'll be able to move them back in tomorrow."

"And the Fat lady, sir?"

"Hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. Apparently she refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked. She's still very distressed, but once she calmed down, I'll have Mr Filch restore her."

Harry heard the door of the Hall creak open again and more footsteps. "Headmaster?" It was Snape. Harry kept quite still, listening hard. "The whole third floor has been searched. He's not there. And Filch has done the dungeons; nothing there either."

"What about the Astronomy Tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The Owlery?"

"All searched..."

"Very well Severus, I didn't really expect Black to linger."

"Have you any theory as to how he got in, Professor?" asked Snape, but compared to the other times he had spoke in the conversation there was something laced in his tone, surprisingly to Harry it sounded like despair.

"Many, Severus, each of them as unlikely as the next."

"You remember the conversation we had, Headmaster, just before -ah-  the start of term?" said Snape, who was barely opening his lips, as though trying to block Percy out of the conversation, clearly embarrassed by the little emotion he had expressed.

"I do, Severus," said Dumbledore, and there was something like warning in his voice.

"It seems -almost impossible- that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed - "

'I do not believe a single person inside the castle would have helped Black enter it," said Dumbledore, and his tone made it clear that the subject was closed, Snape didn't reply. "I must go down to the Dementors," said Dumbledore "I said I would inform them when our search was complete."

"Didn't they want to help, sir?" said Percy

"Oh yes," said Dumbledore coldly. "But I'm afraid no Dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I'm Headmaster."

Percy looked slightly abashed. Dumbledore left the Hall, walking quickly and quietly. Snape stood for a moment watching the headmaster with an expression of deep resentment on his face. Then he too, left.