Virtually Yours | Draco Malfoy x OC

Chapter Twelve - Caught In The Act

-----

The news spread like wildfire over the school, even in the dead of night. Sirius Black had returned. Freya wanted nothing more than to rush to the Gryffindor common room to check on her friends.

"They're fine, Freya." Luna says warmly, noticing Freya's paranoid expression.

"You don't know that." She returns a whisper.

"I do. You do," she sighs. "You heard what Professor Flitwick said: Sirius Black attacked Ron, but nobody was harmed."

Freya doesn't respond. She's too busy chomping on her nails to utter a reply of acknowledgement.

"How did he get in again?" Freya blurts suddenly. "And into the common room? The Dementors seem to be doing a terrible job at keeping an eye out for him. I mean, they're posted everywhere - I get faint just looking at them! Honestly, how hard could it be to find one man?"

Freya looks over at Luna's slightly surprised, yet expectant expression. "Sorry." She says quickly, but all Luna can do is laugh.

After half an hour, Flitwick returns with disappointing news that Sirius Black has managed to evade his imprisonment once again.

However, no one had the confidence to go back to bed, so for the rest of the night, the Ravenclaws hung out in the common room, chatting, or playing games.

"So, Hogsmeade again on the weekend?" Luna wonders.

"I'm not sure I want to risk it, now that Sirius Black has been able to get inside the common rooms."

"That is true, although I can't imagine a safer place," she counters, earning Freya a frown. "Hogsmeade will be full of students. What better way to hide than in plain sight?"

"I'm sure the teachers would have found the secret passageway by now, anyway." Freya sulks.

"Maybe," Luna says. "But, if Sirius Black has already managed to get inside the castle, what's the harm in going out?"

"Okay, okay, Luna," Freya laughs. "I'll go! But only because you want more sweets, isn't it?"

"No," she says after a hesitation. "Fine, yes. More sweets."

-----

At first chance she got, Freya leapt out of bed and rushed her morning tasks to meet her Gryffindor friends in the Great Hall. She needed to hear their side of the story, as Flitwick was reluctant to tell them much.

She was one of the first into the Great Hall, as the other students milled inside, with tired bags hovering under their eyes. Freya doubted she looked any better, seeing as no one could sleep after the news.

As Ron and Harry finally enter the hall, they were escorted by a whole flock of buzzing students, each one eager to hear the story of Ron's close shave.

"- ripping noise, and I thought it was in my dream," he was saying, as he takes his seat at the Gryffindor table. "Then there was this draft, so I woke up and one side of the hangings of my bed had been pulled down. I rolled over and there he was... standing over me like a skeleton, with loads of filthy hair and a great, long knife. It must have been about twelve inches. We looked at each other and I yelled, then he ran away."

Freya, who had been eavesdropping from the Ravenclaw table, scurries over quickly, wanting to know more about the sudden visit.

"Why though?" She wonders. "Why did he run? I mean, he could have easily killed the both of you. Heck, he could have killed everyone in Gryffindor tower and gotten away without so much as a peep."