After an initial burst of panic and confusion, which McGonagall shot down with an authoritative voice, students were eventually given instructions. Groups were formed by house and year, and given dedicated areas to sleep on cots provided by house elves. No one was to leave the Great Hall, which was monitored by no less than two professors throughout the entire night.
Professor Flitwick approached Harry, with a saddened look on his face. "Mr. Potter, I need to speak with you. We believe this incident may be somewhat connected to you, and it is of my opinion that you should be informed of what transpired here tonight. We believe, in his search for you, Sirius Black attacked the Fat Lady in an attempt to get into Gryffindor tower, likely believing that you would have been sorted there, like your father and mother were before you."
Harry was shocked.
Tensions were high in the Sphinx Club room. Last night, Sirius Black had broken into Hogwarts, a supposedly impenetrable institution, and attacked the painting that housed the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Thankfully no one was injured, but Black was not apprehended. Classes had been canceled today, so the Sphinx club did what they always did and gathered in their meeting space.
"Why Gryffindor though?" Asked Hermione, breaking the silence. "If he is after Harry, surely it would be the Ravenclaw tower, right?"
"Yes, if he was working with that information. He could not know what House Harry is in, and just be guessing based on what he knows about both of Harry's parents. He knew them, and they were both Gryffindors, maybe he thought the apple didn't fall far from the tree." Daphne said from her position next to Harry.
"The Boy-Who-Lived being in Ravenclaw was big news though, it's not like it was a secret." Susan said, patting Harry on the back. He hated that name and she knew it, but at least in this moment it was appropriate.
"I imagine it's probably pretty hard to get information like that in a prison though." Harry spoke up. He really didn't want to have this conversation, but it seemed it would happen with or without his input. Might as well at least guide it somewhere.
"That's… a good point actually." Daphne said. "Why now though? If he was capable of breaking out of Azkaban, surely doing it earlier would have been beneficial. That place tends to make you significantly weaker, but physically and magically."
"Maybe something triggered him? The Minister made a public visit to Azkaban over the summer. Maybe he said something to him?" Susan said. "Auntie was fussing about the visit the entire time, said that a politician didn't have any place in a prison like that."
"Actually, that's a good point. What is your aunt doing about all this?" Daphne asked.
"Not as much as she'd like. Hogwarts is OLD, and the laws around it effectively treat it as it's own pseudo-government. The ministry has… limited jurisdiction here. The DMLE isn't even allowed to place Aurors here without a written agreement between the Minister, the Head of the DMLE, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts. I know the Minister really wants this whole thing swept under the rug, so he might not be willing to say things have gone that far. This break-in though may change that, but I doubt it." Susan said.
"Why do you doubt it?" Hermione asked.
"Auntie doesn't have a particularly high opinion of the current Minister, although she can't say that publicly too much. She thinks he's more concerned with maintaining his position and looking good than actually doing his job properly." Susan said.
"When did Lockhart become Minister?" Harry joked, sending some laughter across the room. "Well, if Sirius Black is after me, then I guess I just need to be prepared in case I have to fight him off or something." Harry stood up, moving over to an open area of the Sphinx club room and dropping low into some stretches.
"You can't be serious Harry!" Hermione said, looking at him with shock. "He's a fully grown wizard, not to mention a known killer! You shouldn't be fighting him at all!"
"You're right, I probably shouldn't be. But I also shouldn't have had to face Voldemort in my first year, or a Basilisk in my second. These things don't have a history of working out great for me." Harry said, bending his back over.
"Well, this year you aren't doing it alone." Neville said, speaking up for the first time. "I wasn't around to help before, but I'm not letting you do this without me this time."
"That's the spirit Neville. Come on, we'll get some dueling practice in. I'm sure you'll catch up in no time." Harry said, pulling his wand from his robe.
"And you think we'll just let you boys have all the fun? No way." Padma said, pulling out her wand. Luna joined in as well, followed by Daphne, Susan, Parvati, Lavender, Tracey, and Hannah.
Hermione looked at her friends, united, and sighed. "I guess we'll have to schedule dueling lessons for all of us around classes. Not to mention the work Parvati and I have been doing on that trial for Buckbeak."
"I'll write Daddy about that. He's an expert on Magical Creature law, especially since he helped write most of them." Luna said, her voice chipper.
"Why didn't you bring this up when we first started digging?" Padma and Parvati asked Luna in unison.
"I forgot!" Luna said, flashing a smile.
A wave of laughter filled the room, as the Sphinx Club got down to business.
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.