Draco Malfoy *3rd Year*

Chapter 5

After I had gotten out of the hospital wing I was walking up the staircase when Ginny came running past with the golden trio in tow, along with a few other students from all houses. I decided to see what the fuss was about even though I had been told to take it easy. I followed them all the way to the Gryffindor common room entrance where the Fat Lady should've been. But she wasn't. Suddenly Percy pushed past going on about being Headboy or something I don't know and he was shortly followed by Mr Filch and Dumbledore who both looked quite concerned. By this stage, I wasn't paying attention to everything else that was going on as I was staring at the three long claw marks on the painting where the Fat Lady used to sit. I zoned in to hear Dumbledore say

"Have the ghosts search every painting in the castle, we must not stop until we find her"

"There will be no need for that professor, she's right there," Filch said as he pointed up another flight of stairs. The whole body of students pushed each other out the way to get there first, Percy ended up being shoved into the bannister still yelling about being Headboy. Dumbledore walked up to where the Lat Lady was hiding behind a hippo.

"Dear lady, who did this to you?" He asked the trembling Fat Lady.

"Eyes like the devil he's got. It's him Headmaster, the one they all talk about. Here in the castle. Sirius Black!" She screamed and hid again. Dumbledore turned to us and ushered us into the great hall. It was quite late by this stage so the teachers waved their wands and sleeping bags were suddenly lining the floor of the great hall. Soon we were joined by the rest of the school, they looked confused, scared and worried. We were escorted to the bathroom to get changed, we then headed back into the great hall. I looked over at my friends who waved me over and so I quickly walked over to them and settled down in a sleeping bag that they had saved for me.

I saw Draco looking over at me and I gave him a small smile which he sneakily returned without his friends seeing, I knew that he cared about his reputation so I was really surprised he even smiled at me. The teachers called for lights out, about an hour later and so we all snuggled down within our friend groups and tried to get to sleep. For me, that sounded impossible seeing as SIRIUS BLACK WAS ON THE LOOSE!!! I looked over to Harry to see he was also wide awake, I shuffled over to him until we were right next to each other and I gave him a weak smile which he returned.

"You okay?" I whispered. He shrugged

"I don't know Rora, something doesn't seem right" I nodded in response.

"We'll be fine, don't worry Harry" I tried to reassure him, I reached out and squeezed his hand, he held on tight and I knew he was just as scared as I was, if not more. We quickly closed out eyes and pretended to be asleep as Dumbledore, Snape, Flitwick and Filch came in reporting that the section of the castle they had checked was clear. Harry visibly perked up when his name was mentioned.

"Should Potter be warned?" I recognised the voice to belong to Snape.

"No. And I would be more than willing to let the students return to their Houses. But tomorrow. For now, let them sleep" Dumbledore replied. That was the last thing I remember before falling asleep lying next to Harry.