Anna Potter and Prisoner of Askaban

Chapter 7

BRIDGE (HOGWARTS GROUNDS) - MORNING
[Deep in the distance, some boys skate about on brooms, tossing a ragged quaffle back and forth. Camera tilts. Finds Anna and Lupin walking along the bridge.]
Professor Lupin: Well, don't feel too bad. I was roundly disappointed the first time I went.
"Liar." Said James and Sirius.
Anna: Really?
Professor Lupin: No. I was just trying to make you feel better. Honeydukes' sweets are the best in the world. Their Pepper Imps are so strong you smoke at the ears. And Zonko's Joke Shop may be dangerous, but you can't beat their Stink Pellets.
Anna: (nodding glumly) Not to mention The Shrieking Shack, which, is the most severely haunted building in Britain.
"Of course, she would want to go to Hogsmead for hunted house." Said Lily.
Professor Lupin: Yes, that too...
Anna: Professor, can I ask you something?
Professor Lupin: You'd like to know why I stopped you from facing the Boggart. (off Anna's surprise) I should think it'd be obvious. I assumed the Boggart would take the shape of Lord Voldemort. [Anna frowns. Lupin studies her curiously.]
Anna: But Neville's boggart was Voldemort
Professor Lupin: What do you mean?
Anna: Voldemort's real name is Tom Riddle. Neville's boggart was Voldemort. [Lupin looks surprised, after a pause.]
"That was a shock, wasn't it?" Said Sirius.
Anna: I did think of Voldemort first. But then, I remembered that night on the train... and the Dementors...
Professor Lupin: Well, well. I'm impressed. That suggests that what you fear most of all is... fear. Very wise.
Anna: Before I fainted... I heard something. A woman. Screaming.
Professor Lupin: Dementors force us to relive the worst memories of our lives. Our pain becomes their power.
Anna: I think it was my mother. The night she was murdered.
James hugs Lily.
[Anna looks up. Finds Lupin studying her.]
Professor Lupin: The first time I saw you, Anna, I recognized you immediately. Not by your scar. By your eyes and hair. They're your mother Lily's. (nodding) Yes. I knew her.  She was there for me at a time when no one else was. We used to talk for hours. She was not only a singularly gifted witch but an uncommonly kind woman. She had a way of seeing the beauty in whoever she met, even -- and perhaps most especially -- when that person couldn't see it in themselves...
"Stop making me cry!" Said crying Lily.
[Lupin's eyes glaze in memory, then he blinks, smiles.]
Professor Lupin: Which perhaps explains her affection for your father. James had, shall we say, a certain talent for trouble. A gift, rumor has it, he passed on to you. [Lupin turns, eyes Anna affectionately.  Anna smiles vaguely.]
Tear pools in James's eyes.
Professor Lupin: I could tell you stories -- and there are many about your parents, Anna -- but know this... (eyeing Anna intensely) They lived. Every moment of every day. You should know that. That's how they'd want to be remembered.
GREAT HALL - EVENING
[The Hall buzzes with tales of Hogsmeade, as students swap stories, sample sweets, and send soap bubbles of all shapes, sizes and colors into the air. A marinette of a harlequin cavorts atop the Gryffindor table, moving its limbs in response to the strands of light that extend from Neville's fingertips. Seamus passes his hand through the light beams and -- FLUMPH! -- the Harlequin collapses.]
Rose: Honeyduke's is brilliant! Sugar Quills, Flaming Whizbees -and blood-flavored lollipops for Halloween! Zonko's Joke Shop is so cool, too. I bought prank products. George and Fred helped me choose products. [Anna nods, picking quietly through the spray of brilliantly colored sweets on the table. Rose notices.]
Rose: I got you something wicked at Dervish and Banges. It's a Pocket Sneakoscope. [Rose places a small glass spinning top on the table.]
Rose: If there's someone untrustworthy around, it's meant to light up and spin.  Mind you, Fred and George say it's rubbish, sold for wizard tourists, but I thought, you know, it can't hurt, given that...
Anna: Sirius Black's trying to kill me.
Mood is sour in room.
[Anna looks up, grins at her.]
Anna: I'm glad you had a good time. Really. And thanks for this. (eyeing the Sneakoscope) Rubbish or not, you're right.  It can't hurt. [With that, Anna pops a pepper imp into his mouth.]
Rose: Oh, careful of those, they'll make your... [On cue, Smoke curls from Anna's ears and nose.]
Rose: Never mind.
Immature trio chuckles.
MOVING STAIRCASE/SEVENTH FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHT 
[As Anna and Rose climb the stairs, they find a crowd gathering on the Seventh Floor landing.]
Rose: What's the hold-up? Only Neville ever forgets the password.
Percy: (pushing past) Let me through, please. Excuse me, thank you, I'm Head Boy... (stopping dead) Back! All of you!  No one is to enter this dormitory until it has been fully searched! [Anna and Rose exchange dark glances, when Parvati emerges from the crowd, her face ashen.]
Parvati: The Fat Lady... she's gone.
Rose: Probably stuffing her face with the apples in that still life on the second floor again.
Parvati: No. You don't understand -- [Rose gasps. Grabs Anna's arm. She looks. Sees: The Fat Lady's portrait has been slashed viciously, great strips of canvas hanging from the frame.]
People look horrified.
[Just then, Dumbledore appears.]
Dumbledore: Mr. Filch. Round up the ghosts. Tell them to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady. [Just then, there is a scream. The students dash to the landing, where all the pIntings whisper fearfully. Filch's rheumy eyes peer up, searching the upper shadows, then... narrow.]
Filch: There'll be no need for ghosts, Professor... [Filch extends a crooked finger. High up, near the ceiling, the Fat Lady cowers in a portrait not her own, trembling.]
Dumbledore: Dear lady. Who did this to you?
Fat Lady: (in a trance) Eyes like the devil he's got. And a soul as dark as his name.  It was him, Headmaster. The one they talk about. He's here. Somewhere in the castle. Sirius Black.
Sirius looks surprised.
"I'm sure there is explanation." Said James.
"Why are you so sure? Everything proves i am guilty!" Yelled Sirius.
"Because i know you. I know you, Pads. I know you would never do it." Said James.
[As the students react, Dumbledore's voice cuts through.]
Dumbledore: Secure the castle, Mr. Filch. The rest of you... to the Great Hall.
GREAT HALL - NIGHT
[Camera drifts through the silent room, over an ocean of sleeping bags, Finds Anna lying awake, staring at the net of stars glimmering beyond the highest window. A gentle creak is heard and Anna's eyes shift, see Snape pass through the great doors, converge with Dumbledore.]
Snape: I've done the dungeons, Headmaster. No sign of Black. Nor anywhere else in the castle.
Dumbledore: (nodding) I didn't really expect him to linger.
Snape: remarkable feat, don't you think? To enter Hogwarts castle on one's own, completely undetected... [Dumbledore gazes at the students, refusing to take the bait.]
Snape: You may recall, prior to the start of term, I did express my concerns when you appointed Professor --
"What is he hinting at?" Said glaring Sirius.
Dumbledore: I do not believe a single professor inside this castle would have helped Sirius Black enter it, Severus.
[As Snape's eyes glitter darkly, Dumbledore gazes out over the slumbering students.]
Dumbledore: No... I feel quite confident the castle is safe. And I'm more than willing to let the students return to their Houses.  But tomorrow. For now, let them sleep...
[As Dumbledore's gaze finds Anna, she shuts her eyes, feigns sleep.]
Dambledore: It's astonishing what the body can endure when the mind allows itself to rest.