Harry Potter 03 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle.
    ‘Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn’t want to be seen. She’s a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful,’ he said happily. ‘Poor thing,’ he added, unconvincingly.
    ‘Did she say who did it?’ said Dumbledore quietly.
    ‘Oh, yes, Professorhead,’ said Peeves, with the air of one cradling a large bombshell in his arms. ‘He got very angry when she wouldn’t let him in, you see.’ Peeves flipped over, and grinned at Dumbledore from between his own legs. ‘Nasty temper he’s got, that Sirius Black.’

 
     
– CHAPTER NINE –
     
Grim Defeat
    Professor Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where they were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, who all looked extremely confused.
    ‘The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle,’ Professor Dumbledore told them as Professors McGonagall and Flitwick closed all doors into the Hall. ‘I’m afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the Prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the Hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately,’ he added to Percy, who was looking immensely proud and important. ‘Send word with one of the ghosts.’
    Professor Dumbledore paused, about to the leave the Hall, and said, ‘Oh, yes, you’ll be needing …’
    One casual wave of his wand and the long tables flew to the edges of the Hall and stood themselves against the walls; another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags.
    ‘Sleep well,’ said Professor Dumbledore, closing the door behind him.
    The Hall immediately began to buzz excitedly; the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened.
    ‘Everyone into their sleeping bags!’ shouted Percy. ‘Come on now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!’
    ‘C’mon,’ Ron said to Harry and Hermione; they seized three sleeping bags and dragged them into a corner.
    ‘Do you think Black’s still in the castle?’ Hermione whispered anxiously.
    ‘Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be,’ said Ron.
    ‘It’s very lucky he picked tonight, you know,’ said Hermione, as they climbed fully dressed into their sleeping bags and propped themselves on their elbows to talk. ‘The one night we weren’t in the Tower …’
    ‘I reckon he’s lost track of time, being on the run,’ said Ron. ‘Didn’t realise it was Hallowe’en. Otherwise he’d have come bursting in here.’
    Hermione shuddered.
    All around them, people were asking each other the same question: ‘How did he get in?’
    ‘Maybe he knows how to Apparate,’ said a Ravenclaw a few feet away. ‘Just appear out of thin air, you know.’
    ‘Disguised himself, probably,’ said a Hufflepuff fifth-year.
    ‘He could’ve flown in,’ suggested Dean Thomas.
    ‘Honestly, am I the only person who’s ever bothered to read Hogwarts, A History ?’ said Hermione crossly to Harry and Ron.
    ‘Probably,’ said Ron. ‘Why?’
    ‘Because the castle’s protected by more than walls, you know,’ said Hermione. ‘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 the disguise that could fool those Dementors. They’re guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They’d have seen him fly in, too. And Filch knows all the secret passages, they’ll have them covered …’
    ‘The lights are going out now!’ Percy shouted. ‘I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!’
    The candles all went out at once. The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the Prefects, and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars. What with that, and the whispering that still filled the Hall, Harry felt as though he was sleeping out of doors in a light wind.
    Once every hour, a teacher would reappear in the Hall to check that everything was quiet. Around three in the morning, when many students had finally fallen asleep, Professor Dumbledore came in. Harry watched him looking around for Percy, who had been prowling between the sleeping bags, telling people off for talking. Percy was only a