Part - Vampire at Hogwarts

Sleepover in the Great Hall

Riana's POV

The feast had ended and we'd left the great hall. We followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower. But when we reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, we find it jammed with students. "What's going on?" I ask the others confused and they shrug.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" Ron asks. Harry peered over the heads in front of us. Soon I hear someone coming up behind us pushing people out of the way.

"What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password -- excuse me, I'm Head Boy" Percy says as he passes us. He continues to the front of the crowd. Then a silence fell over the crowd, a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick" Percy orders.

A moment later, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping toward the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through. The others and I follow closely behind him wanting to see what's wrong. "Oh my" Hermione gasps grabbing 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 somber, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape hurrying toward him.

"We need to find her" Dumbledore tells them. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady" he instructs.

"You'll be lucky!" a voice cackles loudly. We look up to see Peeves. Who bobbing over the crowd and looking delighted. As he always did, at the sight of wreckage or worry.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Professor Dumbledore asks him calmly. Peeves'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" Peeves explains.

"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asks him.

"Oh yes, professor-head. He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see. Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black" Peeves says with a grin.

(Time skip to the Great Hall)

Professor Dumbledore sent all us Gryffindors back to the Great Hall. Where we 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" Dumbledore tells us as Flitwick and McGonagall closes the doors to the Great 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. I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately. Send word with one of the ghosts" Dumbledore instructs.

With one 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. Along with white pillows. He wishes a good nights sleep before leaving the fall.

The hall immediately began to buzz excitedly; the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened. "Everyone into their sleeping bags!" Percy orders us. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes" he states.

The other three and I seized four sleeping bags  and pillows. We dragged them into a corner. "Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione asks as we set our bags up.

"Dumbledore seems to think so" Ron states.

"I doubt it. He wouldn't want to risk being caught before he does what he plans on doing" I tell them as I crawl into my sleeping bag.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know. The one night we are not in the tower" Hermione states.

"I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run" Ron tells her. "Didn't realize it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here" he states.

"I don't think so, something doesn't seem right about this" I tell them frowning.

"Are you having one of your feelings again?" Harry asks me.

"Yes, why would he risk his life to kill one boy? It makes no sense. He's free and can start a new life somewhere else. Why come here? When he knows the ministry suspected he'd come here and the castle security was upgraded. It's suicide" I tell them.

"She does have a point" Hermione tells them frowning also.

"But he was in Azkaban for twelve years, he's bond to be insane" Ron reminds us.

"You're probably right" I tell him.

"The lights are going out now! I  want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking" Percy tells us. I lay my head on my pillow still thinking about Sirius Black.

The candles all went out at once. The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the prefects. And the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars. I look up at it counting my constellations. Until I drift off to sleep.

(Time skip)

I wake up around midnight. To see Professor Dumbledore enter the hall. "Any sign of him, Professor?" I hear Percy ask him.

"No. All well here?" Dumbledore asks him.

"Everything under control, sir" Percy assures him. Professor Snape appears and approaches the pair.

"The whole of the third floor has been searched. He's not there. And Filch has done the dungeons; nothing there either" Snape reports.

"What about the Astronomy tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The Owlery?" Dumbledore asks him.

"All searched" Snape tells him.

"Very well, Severus. I didn't really expect Black to linger" Dumbledore states. "I must go down to the Dementors. I said I would inform them when our search was complete" he tells the pair.

"Didn't they want to help, sir?" Percy asks him.

"Oh yes" Dumbledore tells him coldly. "But I'm afraid no Dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I am Headmaster" he states. 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. I roll over and go back to sleep. Dreaming of flying without a broomstick.

A/N

Picture above of everyone sleeping in the great hall and picture on the external link of the Fat Lady's slashed portrait.