Chapter 26: An Odd Girl

Jake's one-eyed status had traveled quickly throughout the school, as did the story of how he lost the eye. Some people dramatized it to be grander than it actually was, but the end of the story was always the same; an explosion was the cause of eye loss. Hermione noticed that a lot of girls stared at him now, and she didn't like it one bit. She wouldn't deny that he looked incredibly attractive with the eye-patch he now wore; it made her feel things she didn't want to express, even in private.

The one thing Jake didn't do after his first night with the Eye-patch was wear it to bed. It made the following morning worse for him.

On the bright side, Defense Against the Dark Arts quickly became the favorite class of pretty much everyone at school, aside from over half the Slytherin, particularly Malfoy and his band of them, constantly insulting his look. It didn't matter much how Lupin looked, he taught the class well, and made it fun.

Hermione and Jake started to loathe Divination, and Trelawney never passed up the opportunity to use the loss of Jake's eyes as proof of her prediction. Hermione wanted to give it up right then, but Jake said it didn't bother him that much, so she stayed in class for him, but only him.

Care of Magical Creatures had become considerably boring and dull ever since Hagrid lost his confidence and momentum. Hippogriffs might have been a bad way to start off the lessons, but Flobberworms weren't much better; in fact, Jake and Ron both agreed that it was worse because there was no fun in trying to take care of them. Jake still did it because he refused to purposefully fail a class for any reason.

Hermione's Birthday had come and gone in a flash, and Jake had forgotten about it with all that had gone on. When he remembered four days after the fact, he profusely apologized to her, but she sincerely told him that it wasn't a problem if he didn't do anything or get her anything, just spending the day with him had been wonderful enough.

When October had finally arrived, Oliver had walked up to Jake the day Quidditch practice would start and asked him to join them to see if his loss of an eye would be detrimental to the team. He, of course, agreed because he enjoyed Quidditch and wanted to stay on the team if he could, which was crazy to consider given that he was taking every class, but he'd make it work, even if he had to go back to before practice started and get more work done that way.

He stood in the locker room, dressed in his Quidditch Robes as Oliver gave them a speech. While the speech was going on, he missed Katie Bell stealing numerous glances at him, because she was on his left.

"Alright, Harry, I think we let Jake have at it first to see if he will be able to play well. That sound good?" Oliver asked him.

"That sounds fine to me," Harry happily agreed to letting Jake go first.

Jake had his Nimbus Two-Thousand as opposed to his Firebolt, because again, he wanted to keep that a secret for the first actual match he would get to play; he was only a Reserve Seeker after all.

This was assuming he even got to stay on the team, but he was confident in his ability to get the Snitch with little difficulty.

Everyone had been inspired by Oliver's speech, and went out with a renewed purpose. They were getting the Quidditch Cup this year, and nothing, not even Sirius Black was going to stop them.

Jake proved still capable of being the Reserve Seeker, having caught every Golf Ball and/or Snitch that went flying, except for one. After the initial evening, they had training three evenings a week, and that was presently okay with Jake. He was a Reserve and was only going to allow Three because he was heavily occupied otherwise with his classes and the homework that came with them.

One evening in mid-October, Harry and Jake were walking back to the Common Room after training, talking about how great seeing that Silver Quidditch Cup belonging to Gryffindor would be. When they got back, the Common Room was buzzing with activity, which was a little unusual at this time of night, "What's going on?" Harry asked as he and Jake stood near Ron and Hermione.

"Hogsmeade weekend," he pointed towards the notice board, "end of October, on Halloween.

"Excellent," said Fred, who had followed them there, "I need to visit Zonko's, I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets."

Jake sat carefully beside Hermione, but she addressed Harry first, "Harry, I'm sure you'll be able to go next time. They're bound to catch Black soon, he's been sighted once already."

"Black's not fool enough to try anything in Hogsmeade," Ron said, "Ask McGonagall if you can go this time, Harry, the next one might not be for ages-"

" Ron !" Hermione said quickly, "Harry's supposed to stay in school -"

"He can't be the only third-year left behind, go on, Harry. Ask McGonagall, go on, Harry-"

"Yeah, I think I will," he said, having made up his mind.

Hermione was about to argue when Crookshanks leapt up onto her lap, holding a dead spider in his mouth, "Does he have to eat that in front of us?" Ron asked in a whiny voice.

"Clever, Crookshanks, did you catch that all by yourself?" Hermione asked, scratching Crookshanks behind his ear.

The cat slowly chewed up the spider, then began to stare insolently at Ron with a fixed, unblinking gaze.

Chloe flew in through an open window and perched herself on Jake's left shoulder, "Hey, Chloe," he said without looking up, getting started on his Astronomy homework. Hermione was looking at the Raven and saw that she too was staring at Ron.

"Just keep him over there, that's all," Ron said irritably, turning back to his star chart, "I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag."

Harry had pulled out his Star Chart to get to work on his as well. Ron allowed Harry to copy off of him so he didn't have to spend so long on it, "You'll never learn if you just copy," Jake said, again without lifting his head.

Hermione agreed and disapproved of copying, but she said nothing. She looked back down at Crookshanks, petting him idly as she had long since finished her Star Chart. Suddenly, and without warning, Crookshanks pounced on Ron's bag.

"OY!" Ron roared, seizing his bag, as Crookshanks sank four sets of claws deeply into it, and began tearing ferociously, "GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"

Ron tried to pull the bag away from Crookshanks, but the cat clung on, spitting and slashing.

"Ron, don't hurt him!" Hermione squealed, quite obviously worried about her cat. The whole Common Room began to watch everything unfold. Ron whirled the bag around, Crookshanks still clinging to it, and Scabbers came flying out the top.

Chloe suddenly flew off of Jake's shoulder and soared right towards Scabbers, but she missed the tiny rodent by a fraction of a hair width and made a circular flying motion near the ceiling like a vulture, waiting for the carrion to be left alone.

Jake wasn't sure if his bird tried to save Scabbers or not, but he looked up at her with his singular eye, "CATCH THAT CAT!" He heard Ron yell, as Crookshanks freed himself from the remnants of the bag, sprang over the table and chased after the terrified Scabbers.

George made a lunge for Crookshanks but missed; Scabbers streaked through twenty pairs of legs and shot beneath an old chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a halt, crouched low on his bandy legs and started making furious swipes beneath the chest of drawers with his front paw.

Ron and Hermione both hurried over; Hermione grabbed Crookshanks around the middle and heaved him away; Ron threw himself onto his stomach and, with great difficulty, pulled Scabbers out by the tail.

As he still had Scabbers by the tail, the rat was dangling, free for the taking, as Chloe swooped in and had the rat in her talons, "Chloe!" Jake roared, staring at his Raven. She flapped her wings out of reach of everyone and hovered in place, looking at her Master, "Drop. The. Rat." She was reluctant to, but when his eye glowed red, she begrudgingly dropped the rat to Ron, who was standing beneath her.

"Look at him!" He said furiously to Hermione, dangling Scabbers in front of her, "He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!"

Jake stepped in between Ron and Hermione with how hostile he was acting towards her, "Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" Hermione said through a shaking voice, "All cats chase rats, Ron!"

"There's something funny about that animal," Ron said as he struggled to get the wriggling Scabbers into his pocket, "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"

"Oh, what rubbish," Hermione said impatiently, "Crookshanks could smell him, Ron, how else do you think-"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers," Ron said, ignoring the people around him, who were starting to laugh, "And Scabbers was here first, and he's ill-"

"Ron, it's your job to look after your rat's health, isn't it? Besides, you've been calling him useless and barely paid attention to him in First and Second Year, why do you all of a sudden care now?" Jake asked him.

"And you!" Ron said, looking at him, "Your bird has all of a sudden taken an interest in doing what that cat has been doing. Why else would it have attacked Scabbers?"

"She. Chloe is a She, and Crookshanks is a He. They are not 'its'. And I don't know why she would, maybe it's an instinct thing? She hasn't really seen Scabbers until this year, and from what I can recall, that was her first time actually seeing the rat. Birds and Cats hunt rodents, it's just a natural fact, Wizarding Pets or not," Jake didn't know why anything was happening the way it did, but he wasn't going to let wild accusations fly about when one could argue that there is a basis of facts as to why his bird and Hermione's cat acted that way.

Ron got sick of hearing them talking and stormed off towards the dormitory.

Hermione, holding onto Crookshanks, sat back down, "Hermione... Crookshanks is half-Kneazle... he's an intelligent cat... I know you probably don't want to admit this, but it's entirely plausible that Crookshanks didn't know until Ron said something," Jake spoke in a whisper that only she heard.

She didn't say anything, but let out a ragged sigh. Jake didn't know what else to say, so he continued his Astronomy homework, having already gotten half of it done before that incident.

"H-How's... erm... how's y-your..." Hermione really didn't know how to ask her question.

"It's fine... mostly," he looked at her as she was on his right, "it makes doing some things a chore now, but it's fine. The eye does hurt sometimes, though."

"But... you no longer... w-well... have the eye..." Hermione stated the obvious.

"..."

Hermione placed a hand on his knee, "Don't worry, if you need anything, I'm here for you," she smiled at him, which caused him to smile back.

*******

The next day, Ron still proved to be in a bad mood. He barely talked to Jake or Hermione at all through Herbology, even though he, Harry, Hermione, and Jake were working together on the same Puffapod. Jake enjoyed Herbology, but he hated the Tentacula, which absolutely had it out for him and only him, he was completely convinced of that.

"How's Scabbers?" Hermione asked a little timidly, as they stripped fat pink pods from the plants and emptied the shining beans into a wooden pail.

"He's hiding at the bottom of my bed, shaking," Ron said crossly, missing the pail and scattering beans over the greenhouse floor.

"Careful, Weasley, careful!" Professor Sprout yelled, as the beans burst into blooms before their very eyes.

After Herbology was Transfiguration. Jake began to wonder if he should think to ask Professor McGonagall if she would sign his form, since he otherwise had no one to sign it for him. He quickly discarded the thought, because McGonagall was a strict woman, there was no way she'd O.K. his request. They were waiting in the queue outside the classroom, waiting for McGonagall to show up when they heard a crying noise.

The crying was coming from Lavender Brown. Parvati, her best friend, had her arm around the poor girl and was explaining something to Dean and Seamus, both of whom were looking very serious.

"What's the matter, Lavender?" Hermione asked anxiously as they got closer to them.

"She got a letter from home this morning," Parvati said in a whisper, "It's her rabbit, Binky. He's been killed by a fox."

"Oh," Hermione said, "I'm sorry, Lavender."

"I should've known!" Lavender wailed tragically, "You know what day it is?"

"The Sixteenth..." Jake said, understanding where she was going with it.

"The Sixteenth of October! 'That thing you're dreading, it will happen on the Sixteenth of October!' Remember? She was right, she was right!" She continued to cry.

The whole class had gathered around Lavender now, the Ravenclaw's also feeling sympathy, some empathy, for the poor girl. Seamus had shaken his head seriously. Hermione hesitated a moment, then she said, "You - you were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?"

"Well, not necessarily a fox ," Lavender had tears streaming from her eyes and down her cheeks as she looked up at Hermione, "but I was obviously dreading him dying, wasn't I?"

"Oh..." Hermione trailed off a moment before continuing, "Was Binky an old rabbit?"

"N-No! H-He was only a baby!" Lavender sobbed into Parvati's shoulder. Said girl tightened her arms around her sobbing friend.

"But then... why... Why would you dread him dying?" Hermione asked slowly. Parvati glared up at her; Jake, on the other hand, agreed with her, "Well, look at it logically," Hermione turned to the rest of the group that gathered, "I mean, Binky didn't even die today, did he? Lavender just got the news today-" Lavender wailed loudly, "- and she can't have been dreading it, because it's come as a real shock-"

"Don't mind Hermione, Lavender," Ron said loudly, "she doesn't think other people's pets matter very much."

"No, Hermione has a point," Jake said, drawing the eyes towards him. His eye was staring right at Ron.

"Of course you would side with her," Ron said in an unsurprised tone.

"Yeah," he walked closer to where Hermione was standing, "of course I am, because she has a very damn good point. This doesn't prove Trelawney's prediction, as much as some probably want to think so," he said, which only garnered him glares, "but Binky didn't die today; he was only a baby; and Lavender was shocked about it. So I have only one question..." he turned to Lavender, "What were you really dreading, Lavender?"

Before anything else could happen, Professor McGonagall opened the door to let them in. She obviously could tell that some tension was present amongst her students, but she wasn't that concerned with what her students were getting into right then, she had a class to teach.

When they walked in, Hermione took Jake and sat at a different table from Ron.

When the lesson was over, before everyone left, McGonagall spoke to them all about Hogsmeade, "One moment, please!" Everyone stopped to look at her, "Your Hogsmeade permission slips, I remind you all, must be turned in to your Head of House before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village, so don't forget!"

Neville raised his hand, "Professor, I - I think I've lost-"

"Your grandmother sent me yours directly, Longbottom," Professor McGonagall said, "She seemed to think it was safer. Well, that's all, you may leave for your next class."

Hermione and Jake walked out of class, not waiting for Harry or Ron, as they had two classes next. On their way to one of them, Hermione was talking about Hogsmeade and all the places she wanted to visit. She didn't give Jake a chance to say much because of how excited she was. He looked at her and smiled; he hoped she had fun, even if it was Ron she was going to be with.

Harry had tried and failed to get McGonagall to sign his form for him, which upset him, and more so Ron. Ron had then proceeded to call McGonagall a lot of names, which Jake went off on him for, because McGonagall was right. All that did was make the Ginger angrier, and Harry, and secretly Jake, had to endure everyone in the class talking loudly and happily about what they were going to do first, once they got into Hogsmeade.

"There's always the feast," Ron said in an effort to cheer Harry up, "You know, the Halloween feast, in the evening."

"Yeah, we missed it last year for a damn Death Party. A little excited about it, though I doubt it'll be as entertaining as it probably was last year," Jake said, not really trying to cheer Harry up about it. He could tell that Harry was miserable about the situation, but figured Harry was just being more of a drama queen.

Several people did try to cheer him up, but no one succeeded. Percy probably was the least helpful in trying to make Harry feel better, but he seemed to not notice that his words had failed.

*******

On Halloween morning, Jake awoke with his fellow Gryffindor and went down to breakfast, not excited, but not put off. He was eating breakfast, all of his fellow Third-Years talking about how great it's going to be, minus Harry, obviously. Hermione had out a tiny piece of paper, "What's that?" He had asked her. Ever since he lost his left eye, she always made sure to be on his right side.

"It's the places we are going to go and see!" She said excitedly.

Jake immediately realized his folly. He hadn't had a chance to really tell his friends that he wasn't going to be able to go; no that was a lie, he had chances, he was just afraid of telling them, 'Some Gryffindor I am...'

"Hermione..." he suddenly found it hard to say.

"What is it?" She looked at him with worry, based on the tone of his voice.

"I-I..." he closed his eye as he spoke, "I won't... be going to Hogsmeade..."

The color seemed to drain from her face, "What?" Her voice was barely audible.

"I don't have a parent or guardian... no one to sign it, so I couldn't go, even if I wanted to, which I do," he got choked up, not able to look her in the eye.

"Jake... why didn't you tell me sooner?" She asked him.

"Because I'm pathetic..." It was more of a statement than a question.

"You are not pathetic... well, I'll stay here-"

"NO!" He said, more loudly than he meant to, "No... no you go enjoy yourself, don't let my absence ruin your time there..."

"But-"

"Hermione, this isn't up for debate. I want you to go have a good time," he said with sincerity.

Hermione had tears in her eyes that refused to fall until she blinked, "Alright. I'll be sure to bring you back lots of sweets from Honeydukes, okay?"

"Sounds good," he said and pulled out his money pouch, "I still have Ninety-eight Galleons in here. Use my money to get me stuff. And don't be afraid to buy yourself something too, okay?"

"Jake, I can't do that," Hermione tried to say no.

"You can and you will. The sweets are for me anyway, and had I been able to go, I had planned on buying you something anyway to make up for missing your Birthday, so please?" He asked, almost begging her.

"Fine," she said, not wanting to, but agreeing all the same.

"Thanks," he smiled at her.

She looked past him and saw Harry being miserable, "Don't worry. Ron and I will bring you back lots of sweets, okay?"

"Yeah, loads - wait... Jake's not going either?" Ron seemed mortified and hadn't heard any of Jake's and Hermione's conversation.

"I had no one to sign the Permission Slip," Jake said with a sigh. Harry, surprisingly, didn't look happier about not being the only Third-Year to still be at Hogwarts.

They both accompanied their friends to the Entrance Hall, where Filch was standing inside the Front doors, checking off names against a long list, peering suspiciously into every face, and making sure that no one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going. Hermione hugged Jake, probably longer than she should have, and set off to go to Hogsmeade, looking back at him the entire time, and not looking happy about him staying at the school. He waved goodbye just before she got out of sight.

He sighed heavily, "I've got a lot of homework to do. I'm going to be going to the library, shall I expect you to not be doing your homework during this time?" He asked his friend.

"No, probably not," Harry answered, sulking.

Jake made his way back to the Fat Lady's portrait, "Password?" She asked, jerking out of a doze.

"Fortuna Major , I'll be coming back through with my stuff towards the Library, so don't be surprised if you see me again," he informed her and she nodded before opening for him and Harry. He walked in and saw every First and Second year, as well as some older students who seemed to tire of visiting Hogsmeade once the novelty wore off. As he grabbed his stuff, he heard Colin speaking to Harry at his usual quick pace.

He quickly grabbed the rest of his stuff and set off for the quiet of the Library. On his way, he ran into Filch, "What are you doing?" He snarled suspiciously.

"Going to the Library, what are you doing?" Jake asked pointedly.

"Looking out for students like you! You should be in your Common Room!" Filch spat at him.

"Nothing says I can't go to the Library at this time, so that's where I'm going," Jake said and marched on, leaving behind a muttering Filch. Jake eventually did arrive at the Library and found it to be quiet, just as he predicted it would be. He smiled and set out his stuff to work.

He made great progress in the five hours he worked on his homework, managing to get caught up on everything. He massaged his aching wrist; even with Hermione and him working, they stopped usually for a few moments to discuss either schoolwork or something else. This time, it was just him, and the continuous writing caused his wrist to ache and hand to cramp.

He looked at the time, "They'll be coming back from Hogsmeade in a few hours..." He still had yet to get him a watch, and had he thought about it, he'd have asked Hermione to get him one.

He packed up his stuff for now and set off back to the Common Room. On his way back. He ran into a familiar looking girl; one he had seen get sorted into Ravenclaw last year. The girl had long, blonde hair, and even though he was far away, she seemed to have grayish eyes. She seemed to be looking for something.

"Excuse me," he called out to her.

She turned and looked at him, "Oh, hello, you're Jake Fernandes, aren't you?" She said in a dreamy voice.

"I am," he walked closer to her, "Might I ask you your name?"

"Luna, Luna Lovegood," she smiled at him.

"You're the girl that had a cork necklace at the start of last year, aren't you?" He asked her.

"Yes..." her smile faded, "yes... that was me... you can laugh, everyone else has."

"Why would I laugh? I thought it was pretty cool, maybe a bit odd, but I doubt that makes you a bad person," he said sincerely.

Her smile returned in full force, "Thank you, that's the nicest thing anyone's said to me, not even my best friend has said something so nice before."

"Who's your best friend?" He asked her.

"You're friends with her brother," she said, smile ever present.

"Ginny Weasley? Didn't see that one coming, honestly, but I'm glad you both are friends," he returned the smile.

"So, I hope this isn't direct, but what happened to your eye? I heard from my fellow Ravenclaw that it was Boggart related, but I've also heard other things, like you poked your eye out with your wand, and an accident in Herbology caused you to lose it. I'm not sure what to believe, so I hope you don't mind me asking you directly?" She questioned him.

"Not at all. It was indeed related to a Boggart," he confirmed.

"Was it just a nasty one that you couldn't get rid of?" She asked.

"No... it was horrible, but I destroyed the Boggart. I also destroyed the Wardrobe it had come out of, and a piece of wood flew into my eye, and Madam Pomfrey was unable to regrow the eye. She said there was nothing to regrow from..." he trailed off.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have asked, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," Luna said quickly.

"No, no it's okay, honest," he smiled but it was forced, "So are you looking for something?"

"Yes, actually... My fellow Ravenclaws find fun in hiding my things from me. They've been doing it since last year. Penelope always helps get my things back, but she's in Hogsmeade right now, and I'm not good at the spell she uses to get them back," she said. She didn't sound sad about it, which struck him as odd.

"Well, you're in luck, because I am," he smiled and pulled his wand out.

"But... it's a Fourth Year spell," she said, wondering if he could actually cast it.

"That's never stopped me before," he smiled, "Accio Luna's Lost Items," he said and after a few seconds' wait, all of her things came back, "There you go," he said happily.

"Thank you so much!" She said excitedly, and in her excitement, embraced him.

"You're most welcome, Luna," he couldn't contain his smile. It was weird, but he didn't feel uncomfortable from the embrace.

"That was really nice of you to do that," she said after she pulled back.

"What are friends for?" He asked.

"Friend? You really want to be my friend?" Luna asked, a small hint of hopefulness in her voice.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"Well... not many people want to be friends with 'Loony' Lovegood..." she trailed off.

"Anyone calls you that, you tell me, they won't call you that again," he promised her.

"Oh, there's no reason to trouble you over that."

"Nonsense, there is enough evil in this world with Voldemort and Black out in the world, there's no reason for others to make fun of you because they enjoy it," he said to her.

"Well... alright then... I overheard some of the Third-Year Ravenclaw's talking about you; how you're something called the Harbinger of Destruction , but I want you to know that I think it's rubbish. With how kind you've been to me these past Ten minutes, there's no way it's true," she smiled at him, holding her things that had been lost.

"Thank you, Luna. Well I'll let you go, I don't want to take up anymore of your time. It was great talking to you and befriending you," he smiled wider than he had in a while.

"I feel the same. Stay safe, Jake. Ginny told me what happened on the train, and I'd hate for something bad to happen to you," she said and walked on her merry way.

"Thanks," he said quietly. He returned back to the Common Room to wait out the rest of the time Hermione and Ron would be gone.

It was Dusk when they finally showed back up. Hermione and Ron both had bags full of candy of all kinds. Hermione said she barely had to use any money with how cheap a lot of the stuff in Hogsmeade was.

The thing that had cost the most was the brand new wristwatch Hermione had got him. It was with his money, but his words had been clear, "I know you've been wanting one for a while now," she said, pulling the watch out of a smaller, separate bag. She also handed him back his small pouch of money, "I only had to use Five Galleons."

"Thank you..." he was a little shocked. He put the watch on his left wrist and smiled, "Thank you so much," he pocketed the coin pouch and messed with the watch a bit. "Did you have fun in Hogsmeade?"

"I did, I had lots of fun... but it just wasn't the same without you there..." she said, smiling sadly.

"Well, you should probably get used to it and just enjoy your time at Hogsmeade when the time is available," he tried one of the sweets from Honeydukes and he could see his nose changing into a pig's snout, "great... this had better wear off soon, I don't want this the entire feast time."

Hermione couldn't contain her giggles, "Did you - did you manage to get any work done?"

"I did, actually I got caught up on all of our homework," he said, feeling proud of that accomplishment.

"Really? Maybe I'll skip the next Hogsmeade trip so I can get caught up too," she said thoughtfully.

"No, you should enjoy your time. It's a privilege to be able to go, so just enjoy it, okay?"

She sighed, "Alright..." she stared into his eye. She wished he could go to Hogsmeade, she'd love to be able to go there with him on a date without obviously calling it a date. She didn't want to ruin things with him, that was something she never wanted to do; he was the most important person in her life, and she didn't want to lose him, ever.

He looked at his watch, which felt incredibly nice, "We'd better get going, the feast starts in five minutes and I'm NOT MISSING IT THIS TIME!" He said loudly and marched them out of the Common Room.

"What did you do, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I had some tea with Lupin after wandering the Corridors, and then Snape came in-" Harry proceeded to tell them about the Goblet that Snape brought in.

"He drank it?" Ron asked, wide-eyed, "is he mad?"

Jake, whose nose had reverted back to normal, found it odd, because Lupin wouldn't have drank it without reason, he just wasn't entirely sure what that reason was.

"I doubt he... I doubt he would've tried to poison Lupin in front of Harry," Hermione said in barely a whisper, her voice being so quiet.

"Maybe... maybe not," Harry said as they walked in and sat down.

The Great Hall had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and probably a thousand orange and black streamers, which were lazily waving.

The food was exquisite, according to Jake, and was surprised that Hermione and Ron ate as much as they did, since they claimed to have filled up on Honeydukes sweets.

After all of the food the students could've possibly consumed had been inhaled, the festivities ended with the Hogwarts Ghosts providing entertainment by formation flying out of walls and popping up through tables. It was no Troupe of Skeletons, but it was entertaining nevertheless.

They all followed the rest of the Gryffindors back to the Tower, but were halted when they seemed to stop moving, "Why isn't anyone going in?" Jake asked.

He tried to peer over the students ahead, but the upper year students were much too tall, even for his current height. He could see the top of the portrait and saw that it was still closed.

"Let me through, please!" Came Percy's voice as he pushed through the crowd of students, "Let me through - I'm Head Boy-"

He stopped yelling and a silence hung over the crowd of Gryffindor students. Jake felt a chill go down his spine when Percy said for someone to quickly get Professor Dumbledore.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked, who just arrived.

"Something with the Fat Lady, I think?" Jake said unsurely.

Albus Dumbledore was there moments later, and the students spread apart, like when Moses parted the water supposedly, 'Hell, he may actually have done so since Witches and Wizards do exist.'

When the sea of students had spread apart to let him through, they could all see what had happened, "Oh my-" Hermione gasped and grabbed Jake's arm.

He himself was feeling an anger building inside him, he didn't know why. What they could see was the Fat Lady's Portrait, but it was void of the Fat Lady, and it was torn to shreds.

Dumbledore had turned to see a few other Professors running towards him. Well it was more of a brisk walk, but McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape had all appeared, "We need to find her," he informed the three Professors, "Minerva, please go to Argus and have him search every painting in the castle, have the ghosts help-"

"You'll be lucky," Came the voice of Peeves, the most annoying spectre in the whole Castle.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Peeves' smile dropped a little, he didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. His voice was oily sounding, but it was no better than his usual cackle, "Terribly 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, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful," he said with a cackle and a smile, "Poor thing," he added unconvincingly.

"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asked him.

"Oh yes, Professorhead," Peeves said with an 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 legs. "Nasty temper, that Sirius Black!" He cackled and disappeared through the floor.

Jake felt his stomach drop with the knowledge of Sirius Black having been in the Castle. He was that close to Harry, and had he been alone, probably would have killed him without a second thought. He knew the gravity of the situation, but it only seemed to sink in just how bad Sirius Black was as a threat.

Dumbledore sent all of the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where they were joined ten minutes later by the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin students. They were all looking extremely confused.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Professor Dumbledore told them as McGonagall and Flitwick closed all the 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 Head 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." He proceeded to leave the Hall, but before he completely left, he paused and turned around, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing..." he pulled out his wand and gave it a casual wave, sending the long tables to the edges of the Hall and they stood upright against the walls; another wave had the floor covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags, "Sleep well," Dumbledore said and closed the doors behind him.

Jake immediately went to one corner of the hall to have some peace and quiet to sleep. He was glad he did, because the Hall began to immediately buzz with talking. Hermione joined him moments later, "Mind if I put my sleeping bag over here as well?"

"By all means," he said, having to turn his head left more than usual to see her.

Harry and Ron joined them and after a few minutes, Percy yelled that it was lights out in Ten minutes. They were then joined by two familiar faces, to Jake at least.

"Mind if we bed down over here as well?" Ginny asked.

"No, go away-" Ron started.

Jake cut him off, "Of course you and Luna can," he smiled at them.

"Hello again so soon, Jake," she said in her dreamy voice again.

"Again?" Hermione asked.

"I met Luna earlier in the day while you and Ron were at Hogsmeade. She was looking for her things, and I helped her out, and now we are friends," he smiled at Hermione.

"So... Do you think Black's still in the Castle?" Ginny whispered anxiously.

"Dumbledore seems to think he is, and it is possible. We don't know how long ago he did it before we went back to the Portrait," Ron answered.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know?" Hermione asked. They all slipped, fully clothed, into their sleeping bags and propped up on their elbows to talk until lights out, "The one night we weren't in the Tower..."

"He probably lost track of time, you know, being on the run," Harry said, "He may not have realized it was Halloween, or else he could've come bursting here into the Hall."

Hermione gave a shudder. All around them, they heard people asking the same question, " How did he get in ?"

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate?" A Ravenclaw Fourth-Year asked a few feet away.

"Disguised himself, probably," said a Hufflepuff Fifth-Year.

"He could've flown in?" Dean suggested.

"Honestly, are Jake and I the only ones who ever bothered to read Hogwarts: A History ?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron crossly.

"I've read it," Luna replied.

"So then you also are aware that the Castle is protected by more than just the walls?" Hermione asked and Luna nodded.

"What are you on about?" Ron asked her.

"There are all sorts of enchantments on it," Jake answered, "To stop people entering by stealth. You can't Apparate to Hogwarts, or even within a half-mile radius. No disguise that I can think of will fool those Dementors, they guard every entrance to the grounds. And we'd have seen him fly in. Filch knows all the Secret passages, they'll have those covered too-"

"Lights out! Lights out! The lights are going out now!" Percy called out and Jake laid down, the sleeping bag feeling oddly comfortable.

He laid on his side and saw Hermione propped up on her elbows still, looking out of one of the windows. He closed his eye and fell asleep almost instantly.