CH15 - A Sirius Break In

Halloween came quickly, its arrival heralded by the giant pumpkins growing in Hagrid's backyard. A feeling of festivity filled the halls of Hogwarts, infecting many with happy smiles. The students were looking forward to the 31st of October. Not only to stuff themselves with sweets, but also because it signified the first Hogsmeade visit of the year.

However, not everyone felt so carefree. Almost every morning, a new sighting of Sirius Black was reported in the Daily Prophet, his alleged location growing closer to Hogwarts by the day.

Surprisingly, despite this, the planned Hogsmeade visit still went through.

As the anticipated day dawned, the students' cheer was not affected by the rainy weather in the slightest. A large mass of pushing and shoving teenagers collected in the Hogwarts courtyard in the early morning, eager to make the most of the time granted to them. Near the entrance to the castle, McGonagall stood waiting, unimpressed, for silence and order. As the noise finally died down, she began the process of inspecting the permission forms.

Within this large group, a collection of third-year Gryffindors huddled together for warmth, excited to be leaving the castle for their very first time. Neville Longbottom, a toque on his head and a pair of thick woollen mitts on his hands, desperately rubbed his palms together in an attempt to warm himself up. To his side, Dean and Seamus stood in a similar situation, talking and laughing all the while.

Unseen, a faint outline in the shape of a person approached them, drawing close unnoticeably.

Edmund waited patiently, searching for the perfect moment to intervene.

There.

As Neville bent over double in laughter in reaction to a joke, the tip of Edmund's wand poked out of his Demiguise cloak. With a quick Wingardium Leviosa, he levitated a piece of parchment sticking out of Neville's coat into the confines of his small zone of invisibility.

With an already-inked quill, Edmund swiftly crossed out the names of all the old passwords to Gryffindor tower, leaving only the current one pristine.

Given another flash of distraction, he levitated the parchment back into Neville's coat.

'Now comes the hard part,' Edmund thought, bracing himself mentally.

"Confundo," he whispered.

Edmund had dedicated a large portion of the past few weeks training the spell, trying to judge how well he could pull it off. He had worked his way up to more and more complex minds as time went on. First, he had started with a mouse, before moving to a rabbit, and then finally testing with a human. The more intricate the creature's brain, the more links they tended to form to each memory they had. Thus, the Confundo had to be more powerful and thought out.

Edmund had also tested extensively on how ridiculous of a false suggestion he could make the target believe reliably, and what factors affected the believability of an implanted suggestion.

Now was his opportunity to test how far he had come, and whether the work he had put in would be worth it.

A small wisp of smoke emitted from his wand, fading rapidly. The look on Neville's face changed several times in a split second. From joy, to a blank expression, to confusion, and finally back to joy.

Edmund peered carefully at Dean, Seamus, and those close to Neville for any reactions. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he let out a mental fist bump, quickly retreating back to the safety of the inside before he could be caught.

'That should practically be untraceable to me,' Edmund thought in his head, trying to convince himself he had done the right thing. 'Neville now thinks that he crossed out the old password every time he was given the new one. With only one password on the list, Sirius Black should be able to sneak into Gryffindor house easily. Worst case scenario, things happen the same way they would have had I done nothing. Best case, Pettigrew goes bye-bye.'

'Well, I can't go out tonight even if I wanted to regardless of what happens,' Edmund considered. 'Might as well be productive.'

He shrugged, making his way to the Room of Requirement.

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- (Scene Break) -

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Knowing what he knew, Edmund had decided not to go to sleep at all, instead electing to read in the privacy of his bed after the lights went out. Even then, he was jolted into falling off his bed by the suddenly loud blaring of an alarm emanating from the common room.

Pulling along a panicked Ben and Jeremy, Edmund joined the rest of Hufflepuff house in leaving the dorms. The trio were one of the first ones out and were greeted by the view of a serious-faced Professor Sprout clad in her pyjamas, her wand straight up in the air.

More and more students flooded into the common area, frightened and scared. Across the room, Edmund's eyes met Cecilia's, who raised her eyebrows questioningly. Edmund shook his head, relaying that he knew no more than her.

When the entirety of Hufflepuff house was gathered, now fully awake, Professor Sprout finally put her wand down, ending the alarm spell. She spoke clearly and calmly, commanding the attention of all those around her.

"There has been a break-in at Hogwarts. Sirius Black has been reported to be wandering these halls," she began, not bothering to tip-toe around the situation in the slightest.

Gasps and cries fill the air as Sprout grew irritated at being interrupted.

Throwing her wand up in the air once more, she discharged a loud BANG!, plunging the room into silence.

"The castle is being searched from top to bottom, and we are confident that none of the students are in danger," she said a bit more kindly.

Grumbles started up anew, most unconvinced by the promise of safety.

"Still!" Sprout cut in loudly, ending all conversations, "the headmaster has decided that it would be prudent for the entire student population to be gathered in one place for tonight. This will not only ensure your personal safety, but also allow us to look for Black unhindered by the worry of him taking any students hostage."

A small pause ensued, as everyone took in the professor's words and seriousness.

"You all will follow me," Sprout instructed. "If any of you wanders away even a step, you will be lucky to only be in detention for the rest of your days at Hogwarts."

The professor looked around at everyone's faces, trying to distinguish whether they understood the gravity of the situation. Pleased with what she found, she gave a single sharp nod.

"Stick close to me, and stick close to one another. We leave now," she said, turning abruptly towards the entrance.

The entire Hufflepuff contingent trudged toward the Great Hall with almost complete silence. Their eyes shifted from side to side, as if expecting Sirius Black to jump out at them from the shadows. When they finally reached the Great Hall, a collective sigh of relief was released, and the noise level began to rise.

Hufflepuff was the second last of the houses to arrive, with only Ravenclaw being missing. The blue and bronze house also joined them not a minute later, and the Great Hall was promptly sealed shut.

In an impressive feat of transfiguration, Dumbledore turned the four house tables into hundreds of sleeping bags, complete with a pillow and a zipper. While everyone was content to chalk that up to Dumbledore simply being Dumbledore, Edmund was in a state of awe.

He examined the sleeping bag assigned to him with vigour, noticing its high quality and thermoprotective properties. A single spell of this magnitude required not only immense power, but also the visualization of thousands of separate aspects all at once. There was likely no one in the world who could replicate what Dumbledore had just accomplished so casually.

'One day,' Edmund thought wistfully, before turning his attention back to the reason why he had done all this in the first place.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were missing. The third-year Gryffindor boys were chattering to each other furiously, their voices low, and their skin pale. Edmund cast a listening charm at the group as inconspicuously as he could.

"—dead body!" Dean gasped.

"—Black just stood there with this crazy grin, with a knife in his hands covered with blood!" Neville said as he gesticulated wildly with his hands.

"—Ron kept looking at the stab wounds! I think he was in shock!" Dean continued.

"—Where did the dead guy even come from?" Neville asked confusedly.

'Hmmm,' Edmund thought furiously, trying not to let the ecstatic happiness within him burst out. 'Pettigrew's dead, but they saw a dead body, not a rat. How? Pettigrew must have transformed at the last second to try and protect himself,' he discerned.

'Wonder what's gonna happen now?' he thought, trying to anticipate the changes his actions may have brought.

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- (Scene Break) -

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MURDER AT HOGWARTS! SIRIUS BLACK BREAKS INTO BRITAIN'S PREMIER WIZARDING SCHOOL! WHO IS BLACK'S LATEST VICTIM?

…

November 1, 1993

…

Last night, the fears of many of those in Wizarding Britain with children at Hogwarts, unfortunately, came true! Sirius Black, undetected by the patrolling dementors, snuck into Hogwarts, managing to get all the way to Gryffindor tower before the alarms were raised!

...

Some say that the body of Black's latest victim bears an unusual resemblance to long-dead war victim, Peter Pettigrew, Black's first known murder victim!

…

Minister Fudge denies claims that Black may be innocent, citing a "mountain of evidence" present against Black.

…

If neither dementors nor Dumbledore can protect our children, who can?

…

- The Daily Prophet

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As his eyes flitted over the paper, Edmund fell into thought.

The lack of Black's exoneration was to be expected. Perceptions against Black were strong, and it would take undeniable proof to reverse them. All the public knew was that Black had attacked Hogwarts, and killed yet another person.

Oh sure, Edmund was aware that Dumbledore must have lobbied for a trial when he realized the truth, but that was something that Cornelius Fudge would not have allowed, likely denying the validity of the evidence.

And to be honest, it was quite possible that the evidence present could be falsified.

A dead body was not the smoking gun it would have been in the muggle world. There were many means of altering a person's body, and detecting these alterations often became impossible after death.

Barty Crouch Jr.'s escape from prison also relied upon such a deception. His mother, deathly ill, had consumed polyjuice to transform herself into him. Since the polyjuice was in her system when she died, her body never reverted back to its natural form. Instead, Barty Crouch Jr.'s body was discovered in his cell, and the man was declared dead.

It would be a ludicrously convoluted plan, but who was to say that Black hadn't forced another person to consume polyjuice with Pettigrew's hair in it before killing them?

The notion was silly, but possible.

Perhaps Dumbledore did know of some magical scans to compare the nature of a body with what its true appearance ought to be, but it wouldn't matter if Fudge simply did not allow a trial.

Dumbledore's hands were tied, his actions likely reduced to helping Sirius from the background, just as he would have done anyways without Edmund's interference.

'All in all, a good outcome for me,' Edmund decided finally. 'Now all I have to do is look out for Voldemort's reaction to finding out that Dumbledore likely has his wand. That should be fun...'