Chapter 104 — The Places It Missed

Eventually Dumbledore told us to prepare for a night in the hall. Sleeping bags appeared across the floor after the tables had been moved clear, and the earlier noise became a steady hum of people choosing spaces. I asked a prefect whether I could cross to Ravenclaw before we settled, showing him that I intended to remain inside.

He told me to return before the lights were lowered. Cho noticed me approaching and announced Luna’s visitor, bringing her towards me between rows of sleeping bags. We checked that the other was all right before holding each other for a moment, with shoes and bags still being arranged around us.

I took her parcels from my pouch. She asked whether they were small things, and I said I had done my best with a difficult standard. Opening the plain quill case made her smile, particularly when she found the writing paper beneath it. The sweets occupied a second packet which she examined with equal interest.

‘These are useful,’ she said. I explained that I hoped the sweets would help the evening too, while Cho accepted a little bag from the portion intended for sharing. She made room for us to sit, and Luna put the paper where it would not be crushed.

I told them about Dobby. Luna asked whether he seemed pleased, while Cho wanted to know which job he would take. I explained that he still had to choose after hearing the arrangements. For a few minutes we could discuss the day we expected to have, including where Luna’s new case would fit in her bag, without every sound at the door interrupting my attention.

A prefect reminded us to return to our places. Luna squeezed my hand and told me to try sleeping, and I asked the same of her before leaving. Harry had kept a space beside his sleeping bag for me. I settled with fewer parcels, the map folded in my pocket and an uncomfortable awareness of how much castle lay beyond the hall.

Before the lights were lowered, Dumbledore came over to ask about the map. McGonagall had passed on my report, and I had nothing new to add. He watched the teachers’ marks moving through the corridors, then thanked me.

He also asked Harry to remain with everyone that night and come to him if anything troubled him. Harry nodded without speaking. Dumbledore waited, giving him time, but moved on when he continued looking at his sleeping bag. I folded the map beside my notebook and tried to settle before the room grew darker.

Small sounds filled the hall: shifting bodies, a dropped shoe and whispered complaints about someone taking too much floor. Ron fell asleep surprisingly quickly, while Hermione turned over several times before becoming still. Above us, the enchanted sky continued with an indifference I found irritating. Nothing in its stars suggested that a night on the floor required any adjustment.

I eventually opened the map again. A name paused by a staircase before moving along another corridor, and I followed it until I recognised the route. Watching someone search gave the waiting a little shape, even when I could not see what they examined along the way.

Harry shifted beside me and said he thought I would still be looking. I told him I had made a respectable attempt not to, then angled the parchment so he could see. His finger followed a passage without touching the surface, stopping where the detail ended.

‘How many places do you think it misses?’ he whispered. I admitted I did not know. He said those were where he would hide if people were using a map like ours, making me study the unfinished passage again. Black would only need somewhere searchers might overlook; knowing about the parchment itself would not be necessary.

Harry reminded me Black had been a student here. An old way in might also be a way out; I traced the passages leading towards the grounds.

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‘He could have left after the alarm,’ I said. Harry looked towards the windows and mentioned the dementors. ‘They guarded Azkaban too. Why escape now, though?’

Harry shifted his weight, making a small noise beneath his knee. We both paused until Ron’s brief snore assured us we had disturbed nothing important.

‘It’s easier when we’re doing this,’ Harry said once we continued. He gestured towards the map, then lowered his hand. ‘Talking about a route. Then someone says my name, and I can only think about him knowing where I sleep.’ I put the parchment down, realising I had kept looking for another line while he spoke.

He was trying to decide what he ought to feel. Anger or bravery seemed more useful to him than whatever kept bringing his attention back to the portrait. I told him he owed Black no impressive reaction, and he looked towards Dumbledore, who was listening to a returning teacher near the doors.

‘I want your other explanation to be true,’ he admitted. ‘Something else in Gryffindor. I want it enough that I don’t know whether I’m thinking properly.’ I understood that too well to offer another argument. Instead, I said we should be careful because I wanted the same thing.

Harry glanced at me. ‘You usually sound more certain.’ I admitted I had practised sounding certain before earning it, something Luna recently helped me notice. The corner of his mouth moved, and he said good for Luna. I told him she seemed to share that opinion, drawing a brief smile before we looked at the map again.

A teacher’s mark turned towards stairs we had climbed carrying sweets that afternoon. I suggested watching for things we could actually report: a route that did not fit, an opened door or someone missing. One useful detail could help without requiring us to decide the whole story first.

Harry agreed and added that he would not go outside to ask Black himself. I strongly supported that part, which earned another small smile before he lay back. I was about to put the map away when approaching footsteps made me let it fold beneath my hand instead.

Filch stopped near Dumbledore. The Astronomy Tower and Owlery had been checked without any sign of Black, he reported. Snape’s voice followed from the other side, describing the same result in the dungeons and other searches received so far. Harry closed his eyes, although his face did little to suggest sleep.

Dumbledore asked about the routes covered. Filch answered, then was told he could rest once the remaining arrangements at the entrances were confirmed. His footsteps moved away, leaving Snape to observe that Black had reached Gryffindor’s portrait without being stopped. I kept my eyes on the ceiling while Dumbledore agreed.

Snape proposed an old entrance or help from within the castle. Dumbledore said those possibilities would be examined, and a pause followed before Snape mentioned his opinion of the new appointment. Harry’s eyes opened slightly beside me. I continued looking upwards, suddenly much more interested in the answer than the stars.

‘I remember,’ Dumbledore said. ‘I also know where Remus is. His absence tonight was arranged before this happened.’ Snape began replying, but the headmaster finished his point first. Evidence connecting Lupin to Black’s entry should be brought to him; the absence alone did not provide it.

Snape observed that he trusted Lupin. Dumbledore agreed and asked for the remaining entrances to be checked. Snape paused before asking about Harry.

‘Harry knows we consider him at risk,’ Dumbledore replied. ‘I’ll speak to him again after he’s had a chance to rest.’ He wanted Harry given information he could use instead of leaving him to assemble it from rumours. Beside me, Harry remained still enough for me to suspect the effort it required.

Snape asked whether we would return upstairs. Dumbledore said that depended on completing the search and making arrangements for the damaged entrance; we would stay here that night. Finding nothing had neither explained Black’s entry nor repaired the portrait. They moved further away, and someone turning over nearby covered the next words.

Harry waited for the footsteps to pass before whispering Lupin’s name. He mentioned the train, then the boggart lesson. I remembered his help in both, and the moon hanging in the classroom.

‘We can ask about the lessons when we see him,’ I said. Harry rubbed his eyes before saying he still wanted to learn. I agreed, then touched the map with my brush and murmured its closing phrase.

I put it beside my notebook. A teacher remained at the door, others were still checking the castle, and I had nothing new to report. Harry pulled his blanket over his shoulders and asked me to wake him if anything happened. After my first answer about his hearing it before me failed to satisfy him, I promised I would.

He turned onto his side. I stayed awake longer, trying to let each footstep remain a footstep until the sounds grew less distinct. The last things I remembered clearly were the folded parchment near my hand and Dumbledore speaking quietly at the door.