Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [3]

⚡️ Chapter 18 ⚡️

Professor 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. Professor McGonagall and Flitwick closed all the doors to the hall as Professor Dumbledore turned to address all the students gathered there –

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle. 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 Girl in charge,"

Then, he turned to face Percy and said, "Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," Percy nodded, looking immensely proud and important. "Send word with one of the ghosts,"

Vega shared a look with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Pausing on his way to leave the hall, Professor Dumbledore said, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing..."

One casual 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.

"Sleep well," Professor Dumbledore said, closing the door behind him, and 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 shouted at the ruckus going on around the hall. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

"C'mon," Ron said to Vega, Harry and Hermione; they seized four sleeping bags and dragged them into a corner.

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered anxiously.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," Ron said.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know," Hermione said as they climbed fully dressed into their sleeping bags and propped themselves on their elbows to talk. "The one night we weren't in the tower..."

"I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run," Ron said. "Didn't realise it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here," Hermione shuddered.

On those words, Vega frowned suspiciously. If Sirius Black had been a student here in Hogwarts, as her aunt had mentioned, why wouldn't he know about the Halloween Feast? From what Ron and Hermione had mentioned, Halloween decorations were placed all over Hogsmeade, too. There was no way that Sirius Black didn't know that it was Halloween, and that the students wouldn't be here.

But there was also a chance that Sirius Black wanted to get into the Gryffindor common room and into the boys' dormitory so he could attack Harry when he returned with the rest after the feast. Vega's frown deepened as she thought about it more. It seemed like Sirius Black was into hiding.

"I don't quite believe that he would've come bursting in here," Vega admitted. "He's mad but attacking thirteen helpless Muggles and attacking Hogwarts' teachers head-on... it's different,"

All around them, people were asking one another the same question: "How did he get in?"

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," suggested a Ravenclaw a few feet away, addressing a group of impressionable first-years. "Just appear out of thin air, you know,"

"However, you can't Apparate into the castle," Vega pointed out quietly. "The enchantments wouldn't allow you to do that. The closest you can Apparate is at the Hogsmeade Village,"

"Disguised himself, probably," suggested a Hufflepuff fifth year.

"Dementors are guarding every single entrance to the castle grounds," Vega mumbled. "Dementors sense every living being, no disguise could've allowed him inside unless he was very sneaky,"