Harry Potter 03 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

short way away from Harry, Ron and Hermione, who quickly pretended to be asleep as Dumbledore’s footsteps drew nearer.
    ‘Any sign of him, Professor?’ asked Percy in a whisper.
    ‘No. All well here?’
    ‘Everything under control, sir.’
    ‘Good. There’s no point moving them all now. I’ve found a temporary guardian for the Gryffindor portrait hole. You’ll be able to move them back in tomorrow.’
    ‘And the Fat Lady, sir?’
    ‘Hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. Apparently she refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked. She’s still very distressed, but once she’s calmed down, I’ll have Mr Filch restore her.’
    Harry heard the door of the Hall creak open again, and more footsteps.
    ‘Headmaster?’ It was Snape. Harry kept quite still, listening hard. ‘The whole of the third floor has been searched. He’s not there. And Filch has done the dungeons; nothing there, either.’
    ‘What about the Astronomy Tower? Professor Trelawney’s room? The Owlery?’
    ‘All searched …’
    ‘Very well, Severus. I didn’t really expect Black to linger.’
    ‘Have you any theory as to how he got in, Professor?’ asked Snape.
    Harry raised his head very slightly off his arms to free his other ear.
    ‘Many, Severus, each of them as unlikely as the next.’
    Harry opened his eyes a fraction and squinted up to where they stood; Dumbledore’s back was to him, but he could see Percy’s face, rapt with attention, and Snape’s profile, which looked angry.
    ‘You remember the conversation we had, Headmaster, just before – ah – the start of term?’ said Snape, who was barely opening his lips, as though trying to block Percy out of the conversation.
    ‘I do, Severus,’ said Dumbledore, and there was something like warning in his voice.
    ‘It seems – almost impossible – that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed –’
    ‘I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped Black enter it,’ said Dumbledore, and his tone made it so clear that the subject was closed that Snape didn’t reply. ‘I must go down to the Dementors,’ said Dumbledore. ‘I said I would inform them when our search was complete.’
    ‘Didn’t they want to help, sir?’ said Percy.
    ‘Oh yes,’ said Dumbledore coldly. ‘But I’m afraid no Dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I am Headmaster.’
    Percy looked slightly abashed. Dumbledore left the Hall, walking quickly and quietly. Snape stood for a moment, watching the Headmaster with an expression of deep resentment on his face, then he, too, left.
    Harry glanced sideways at Ron and Hermione. Both of them had their eyes open, too, reflecting the starry ceiling.
    ‘What was all that about?’ Ron mouthed.
    *
    The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days. The theories about how he had entered the castle became wilder and wilder; Hannah Abbott, from Hufflepuff, spent much of their next Herbology class telling anyone who’d listen that Black could turn into a flowering shrub.
    The Fat Lady’s ripped canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with the portrait of Sir Cadogan and his fat grey pony. Nobody was very happy about this. Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels, and the rest thinking up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.
    ‘He’s barking mad,’ said Seamus Finnigan angrily to Percy. ‘Can’t we get anyone else?’
    ‘None of the other pictures wanted the job,’ said Percy. ‘Frightened of what happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer.’
    Sir Cadogan, however, was the least of Harry’s worries. He was now being closely watched. Teachers found excuses to walk along corridors with him and Percy Weasley (acting, Harry suspected, on his mother’s orders) was tailing him everywhere like an extremely pompous guard dog. To cap it all, Professor McGonagall summoned Harry into her office, with such a sombre expression on her face Harry thought someone must have died.
    ‘There’s no point hiding it from you any longer, Potter,’ she said, in a very serious voice. ‘I know this will come as a shock to you, but Sirius Black –’
    ‘I know he’s after me,’ said Harry wearily. ‘I heard Ron’s dad telling his mum. Mr Weasley works for the Ministry of Magic.’
    Professor McGonagall seemed