Chapter Four: Of Grims and Break-ins
Later in that week, Sirius Black was spotted. Other than that, the week passed in a monotony of more complex work and studying. In all years and all houses, Defense Against the Dark Arts had suddenly became everyone's favorite class. Lupin was the best professor Hogwarts had had in over a decade. They covered real spells and creatures, with practical lessons at least once a week.
Then, in October, Flint started holding Quidditch practices. Harish was glad, for this made his days more enjoyable and gave him an excuse not to do homework. They had training sessions three times a week. As the season progressed, it got colder and wetter. One evening, Harish returned to the common room stiff and cold, to find that everyone was talking excitedly.
"What is going on?" Harish asked Daphne and Hermione.
"Our first Hogsmeade weekend!" Hermione replied pointing to the notice board.
"It was put up after lunch," Daphne added. "It's going to be at the end of October."
"Halloween," Hermione said.
"Excellent," said Fred from behind Harish. "I need to visit Zonko's. I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets."
"What do you need Stink Pellets for?" Hermione asked.
"You wouldn't want to know," George replied, walking up.
The three boys said quick goodbyes before heading downstairs to put up their brooms. They never kept them in the broom cupboards, for fear of someone tampering with them.
"So are you looking forward to this particular Hogsmeade weekend?" Fred asked.
"Why?" Harish asked, opening his trunk. "It won't be all that different from the other visits."
"Except for the fact that a certain third year can go now," George said, sitting on his bed and stowing his broom underneath it.
Harish's face grew hot.
"I do not know what you mean," he said.
AWWW—HE-BE-LYING!
In Divination, a week before Halloween, Harish was wishing that the Hogsmeade weekend would be later. Ever since the twins had talked to him, he had been worrying about asking Daphne out. He knew that he really did like the third year, but he was afraid she would turn him down. So, he had been worrying about it non-stop, trying to find a good opportunity to ask her.
Professor Trelawney passed by their table. Harish stopped staring out the window and looked at George's tea leaves. They had been reviewing cup reading that week before they moved on to the meaning of dreams.
"What do you see in my cup?" he asked Fred.
Fred turned the cup slightly before saying, "Well this here looks like an acorn, which means a windfall of unexpected gold. Excellent, you can lend us some…and this here," he turned the cup again. "looks like an animal…yeah that's a head…it looks like a bear…no a sheep…"
Trelawney swirled around as Harish bit back a snort. It was a bit pathetic that the boy couldn't tell what animal the leaves looked like.
"Let me see that," she said. The students at the tables nearby stopped to watch as she rotated the cup.
"The falcon…my dear, you have a deadly enemy."
Was it sad that Harish's mind immediately jumped to Professor Dumbledore?
"The club…an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup…"
Everyone was staring, transfixed, at the professor who gave the cup a final turn, gasped, and then screamed.
"My dear boy…my poor, dear boy…no…it is kinder not to say…"
Harish felt a vein in his forehead tick in annoyance. Whatever she saw in his cup, she was way over dramatizing it.
"What is it?" he asked impatiently.
Everyone had gotten up and crowded around to see his cup.
"My dear," Trelawney replied dramatically, her eyes wide, "you have the Grim."
DRAMATIC-PAUSE
Everyone was still talking about Grims when they went down for lunch. Honestly, Harish thought that the fact that Grims preceded death was just a superstition. Still, if he was going to die, he might as well ask Daphne out while he still had a chance.
The twins were talking about their Uncle Bilius who had died after seeing a Grim when Draco, Hermione, and Daphne sat down.
"Why are we talking about Grims?" Hermione asked.
"Harish saw one in his cup in Divination," the twins replied in unison.
"Technically I didn't see it," he specified. "Trelawney did."
"It was still there!" Fred said. "I saw it!"
"You thought it was a bear," Harish said.
"They do look similar."
Harish shook his head.
"I think that all of that stuff is just a superstition," Hermione replied. "Chances are, people just die from fright when they see them."
The twins were mortified when she said this. As they argued, Harish looked across the table to see Daphne shaking her head at them, half laughing. Harish looked at her for a moment before glancing at the others. They seemed busy.
"Uh, Daphne," he said nervously.
She turned to him, her smile still on her face. Harish liked that smile.
"Yes?" she asked.
"I was wondering," Harish said, pausing as his cheeks flushed. "I was wondering if you wanted to come to Hogsmeade with me…I mean, just the two of us."
Daphne looked shocked. Unbeknownst to either of them, the twins froze mid argument and started listening. Daphne's cheeks tinged pink and she replied, her smile even wider, "Yeah, that would be nice."
"Really?" Harish asked. Now it was his turn to look shocked.
"Yeah," she replied shyly.
They both smiled at their plates. Across from George, Draco huffed and pulled five galleons out of his pocket and handed it to the twins. George pulled out a clipboard and scratched out Draco's name. Beside it were scrawled the words 'seventh/fifth year'. Fred crossed out Hermione's name as he was handed one galleon. Beside her name was 'fourth/sixth year.' Then, everyone who hadn't written 'third/fifth year' started digging money out of their pockets. When it got out that Harish had asked Daphne Greengrass to Hogsmeade, people from other houses started chipping in as well. By the end of the month, the twins had added nearly another hundred galleons to their joke shop funds.
On Halloween, Harish and Daphne both got ready and met each other in the common room. Then, they went down to the village together.
"Where do you want to go?" Harish asked.
"Um…How about the Three Broomsticks?" she suggested.
Harish nodded and they walked there together, but drew short when they reached the pub. On the door was a wanted poster with a picture of Sirius Black on it.
"Do you really think he'll come here?" Daphne asked.
Harish nodded. "I think it is a high probability."
"Isn't it ridiculous that the Ministry hasn't found him yet?" she asked as they entered the pub.
Harish nodded once again. "My father is annoyed. He says that the Ministry has deteriorated greatly ever since Fudge came into office."
"He is a bit…inept."
Harish snorted. "That he is," he said. "And he is more likely to turn on his own when he is threatened. He is too comfortable in his position. He doesn't accept that anything can happen while he is in power."
Daphne nodded.
Rosmerta, the rather pretty bartender walked up to take their order.
"Two butterbeers, please," Harish said, laying some gold down on the table.
Rosmerta nodded and walked off. The couple sat in silence for a minute until the woman returned with their drinks. Then, they took sips of their drink.
"You know," Daphne said after a moment. "Your father should run for Minister of Magic."
Harish shook his head. "He doesn't want to be Minister. He just wants to get people to accept how corrupt our society is becoming."
Daphne nodded. A half-smile tugged at Harish's cheeks. This was one of the main reasons he liked Daphne as a person so much. As her family was neutral, she was able to talk about her opinions about the wizarding world and no one would think twice about it. She didn't have to like Voldemort, but she didn't have to like Dumbledore.
She was also the one person he could talk politics with. Draco thought they were boring, and no one else knew enough about them to have major opinions. Once Daphne finished her drink, Harish stood up.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go have a look at the Shrieking Shack."
Daphne set her mug down and allowed Harish to help her up. Then, she followed him out into the sunlight. They walked the path down to the Shrieking Shack. It was one of the oldest buildings in the village, and it had been rumoured to be haunted. The couple stopped at a fence and looked at it.
"You know," He told the third year. "Some say the Shrieking Shack used to be haunted."
"Used to?"
"Yeah. One of the villagers told me that there used to be howling coming from the Shack."
"Do you know everyone?" Daphne asked with a laugh.
"Yeah," Harish replied. "One of the perks of being me."
Daphne shook her head and laughed again.
"You really are silly sometimes."
"Of course I am," Harish replied. "I hang out with the twins after all."
"Yes. Speaking of, where are they?" Daphne asked. "I half expected them to be stalking us."
"They are at Zonko's, I think," Harish replied, turned around and leaning back to look around a couple trees. "At least, that's where they went first. They may be stalking us now."
Daphne rolled her eyes.
"Well, if you find out that they are, give them a nice punch for me."
"Do you want to head back?" the fifth year asked. "The feast may be starting soon."
"That sounds fine with me. Could we stop by Honeydukes first, though? I was hoping to get some sweets there. I've heard they are really good."
"They are," the teen replied.
So, they stopped at Honeydukes long enough to buy a bag of chocolates to share along with several other trick sweets. The shop was somewhat empty as most everyone were returning to the castle. Then, the two of them headed for Hogwarts.
They went straight to the feast together. The twins, Ginny, Hermione, and Harish were all already there with a seat in the middle saved for Harish and a seat across from him saved for Daphne. Some people turned and whispered when they entered together, but they didn't really mind. Most people gossiped when anyone started dating.
They sat down and Harish put the bag of chocolate in between him and his girlfriend so that they could finish them up. They talked about the Shrieking Shack with the others as well as a number of other topics. Halfway through the feast skeletons danced through the Great Hall and then after the desserts, more entertainment was provided by the ghosts. They popped out of walls and tables to do a formation of gliding; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a re-enactment of his own botched beheading.
The Gryffindors enjoyed it as well. Even Neville, who hadn't been allowed to go to Hogsmeade because of Sirius Black. After the feast ended, they walked up to Gryffindor tower, but when they reached the corridor where the Fat Lady was located, they found it jammed with students.
"Why isn't anyone going in?" Ron asked curiously.
Neville craned his neck, peering over the heads in front him. It didn't look like the portrait had been opened.
"Let me through please," came Percy's, Ron's brother's, voice. He came bustling through the crowd importantly. "What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password—excuse me, I'm Head Boy—"
Then, the crowd fell silent, from the front first, and then down the rest of the corridor. They heard Percy say suddenly in a completely different voice, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore, quick."
"What's going on?" Ron asked.
Someone turned around and replied, "The fat lady's gone."
UH-OH—IT'S-SIRIUS-BLACK
Everyone was tired from all the sweets and food they ate. They trudged slowly down to the dungeons. Then, as soon as they entered their common room, Snape walked in.
"I need you all to return to the Great Hall. Prefects—make sure everyone gets there," he said before sweeping out of the room.
"Why are we going back?" Harish demanded, but no one seemed to know the answer. They just did as they were told and trudged all the way back up to the Great Hall, Harish grumpily herding everyone. As soon as they were out of the dungeons, they were joined by the Hufflepuffs, and then the Ravenclaws appeared outside the Great Hall.
Once they entered, Dumbledore told them, "Sirius Black is loose in the castle. The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search. I am afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want four of the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am appointing the Head Boy and Head Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately. Send word with one of the ghosts." The dotty old headmaster paused, about to leave the hall and said, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing…"
He waved his wand lazily and the long tables flew to the edges of the hall and the floor was covered in hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags. Dumbledore called up the two Prefects from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and the other four were told to remain behind and watch the students in the Hall.
"Sleep well," Dumbledore said, closing the door behind him.
The hall was silent for only a moment before everyone started whispering excitedly. The Gryffindors told the rest of the school what had happened.
"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" Percy shouted. "Come on, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes."
Harish and his friends chose sleeping bags near the door. Harish slept in between the twins. Hermione and Daphne slept above them and Draco and Dean slept below them. Neville and Ron slept near Dean and all the other Gryffindors beyond that. Luna got a sleeping bag by Ginny and the rest of the Ravenclaws went in that direction. Then, the Hufflepuffs all pulled their sleeping bags into a huddle near the Ravenclaws.
"Do you think Black is still in the castle?" Hermione asked.
"Possibly," Harish replied. "The question is, how did he get in?"
"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," a Ravenclaw nearby said. "Just appear out of thin air, you know."
"Disguised himself probably," said a Hufflepuff fifth year.
"He could've flown in," Dean suggested.
"Honestly, am I the only one who has read Hogwarts: A History?" Hermione asked crossly.
"Probably," Harish and the twins replied together. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Why?" Draco questioned.
"Because the castle is protected by more than walls, you know," Hermione supplied. "There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here. And I'd like to see anyone who could get past the dementors in a mere disguise. They are guarding all of the entrances on the grounds. They would have seen him fly in too…"
"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"
The candles all blew out at once. In the light of the ghosts, the twins both shot Harish a look. Using the marauder's map, they knew that there were at least three passageways that Filch didn't know about. There was no way he had gotten in through Honeydukes, but he could have gotten in through the pathway that runs underneath the Whomping Willow. There was always the fact that the tree was insane and you couldn't even use charms to immobilize it, but it was still a possibility. And, chances were, they were the only ones that knew about it. Harish sighed and rolled over, closing his eyes.