To keep them from pinning that Guardian title on her any further, Kate cleared her throat and hurried to shift the focus.
"Whoever this person is, judging by what Dumbledore said, it sounds like Black is still inside the school."
Hermione shuddered and asked through gritted teeth, "How on earth did he get in?"
"No idea. Nobody but the Headmaster can use Apparition on the grounds, and there are Dementors guarding every entrance — er, I think you're holding on a bit too tight."
Kate reached over to pat her, only to find her entire arm locked in Hermione's grip and going nowhere.
But Hermione had just seen a wall and a floor drenched in blood, and she wasn't about to let go. She kept shuffling closer, sleeping bag and all.
"…Do you want to just squeeze in here with me?" Kate asked, resigned.
Hermione's eyes lit up. "Can I?"
Ah. She'd only meant it as a joke.
After a long, wordless moment, Kate quietly smacked herself, then quietly tugged her sleeping bag open and let Hermione in.
Luckily they were both underage and small enough that when Hermione wriggled in there was still a little room to maneuver.
Still, being pressed up against a girl who had only just started growing into herself left Kate feeling more than a little stiff.
Over on the far side, Percy the Head Boy had noticed the commotion and was loudly telling everyone to settle down, announcing that lights would go out in ten minutes.
Once the lights were out and nobody could see anything, it should be easier.
That was what Kate thought, staring at the ceiling, having forced a small gap between herself and Hermione.
Then Hermione's arm came around her inside the sleeping bag.
Kate stiffened without meaning to, then rolled over as if she'd felt absolutely nothing.
Facing away was much better.
Even if the impossible-to-ignore softness pressed against her back made her want to go find a wall and put her head through it.
So Hermione was starting to develop too…
Stop!
Her brain sounded the alarm before the thought could go anywhere worse. She jolted alert and stared, wide-eyed, at the wall in front of her.
Straight girls might pinch and cuddle and kiss each other all they liked, but she absolutely could not.
Every single one of the people sleeping around her was a child.
Eyes still wide, she threw her consciousness straight into her clone — the armored warrior standing in the armor corridor.
She flexed a shoulder plate on reflex, and the teeth-grating shriek of metal grinding on metal was, at last, a relief.
That was what came of running her mouth. Next time she'd remember the lesson.
She turned the helmet stiffly, and through the gaps in the visor she saw Snape coming up the far end of the corridor with a lantern in hand.
Something must have caught his ear. His already grim face darkened until it was still and cold as deep water, and he strode into the armor corridor, holding the lantern up and sweeping his eyes over everything.
Kate waited very carefully inside the armor — and just as he seemed satisfied that nothing was wrong here and turned to leave, she shifted her arm a fraction too much.
A sound rang out in the silent corridor. Snape's head whipped around, and his suspicious gaze landed on the very suit of armor she was wearing.
He was reaching for his wand to examine it when footsteps came from behind him, accompanied by an aged voice. "Severus, how is the search going over here?"
Snape paused, then lowered his wand. "Nothing out of order. Black isn't here."
"Then let us gather in the Great Hall. We still need to arrange the watch rotation. Thank you for your work." Dumbledore glanced at the armor, then led Snape away.
Only when their footsteps had faded at the end of the corridor did Kate risk moving again, eyeing the passage they'd taken with suspicion.
It was strange. When her clone latched onto an object, it left no trace at all — so how did Dumbledore manage to find her every single time?
Was there some mark on her she didn't know about?
She touched her chest without thinking, and felt only cold metal plate. Kate sighed to herself and set the armor moving at speed.
Down the pitch-dark corridor, countless golden threads came snaking out of the walls. The armored warrior stretched out a hand, seized them, and in one motion crashed through the window at the corridor's end and out into the night.
The instant the glass shattered, the sound drew the attention of every professor patrolling their assigned floor.
By the time they had all rushed to the end of the second floor armor corridor, there was nothing to see but countless shards of glass.
"Was it Black? Did he escape this way?"
McGonagall stared out in astonishment. The Dementors that had descended over Hogwarts again after Black's break-in were nowhere to be seen.
Flitwick rattled off spell after spell, examining every inch of the windowsill, and turned up nothing. "No trace of magic being used, and no sign that any Dementor came near. Could it have something to do with that school rumor?"
Every professor present went grave.
They had all heard, to one degree or another, the legend that had been going around lately — that somewhere inside Hogwarts there was a treasure capable of killing a Dementor.
So far, all thirty-odd Dementors the Ministry of Magic had lost had vanished at Hogwarts. It was hard not to be suspicious.
But unlike the students trading gossip, the staff leaned toward a different explanation: that someone had deliberately spread the rumor, exactly as with the Chamber of Secrets business last year.
And whoever was spreading it was inside Hogwarts — the same person who had killed Dementors by some hidden means and helped Sirius break through layer after layer of defenses to get in.
It was only afterward, when the Ministry of Magic summoned even Dumbledore to answer for it, that this person had been cowed into stopping, and the disappearances had gradually died down.
"Sorry, everyone!" Lupin arrived out of breath, his face unusually pale. "I'm late."
For a moment, all three Heads of House turned to look at him.
Others might not know, but the school did run basic background checks when it hired teachers.
And one of Lupin's closest friends in his own student days had been Sirius.
If anyone on the inside was likely to have helped Sirius, it was Lupin.
"Everyone," said Dumbledore, Apparating in behind them, "it appears Sirius Black has already fled."
McGonagall started to speak, hesitated, then nodded. "I believe so. That window looks out over the Black Lake. A search would be extremely difficult."
"Then we seal every entrance to the school again. Tomorrow the students return to their own houses. Tighten the watch, and see that nothing like this happens again."
"But the question of how Black got into the school…" McGonagall pressed, uncertain.
Dumbledore gazed out at the silent night beyond the window, his eyes unreadable. "I trust that not one teacher in this school would help Black slip inside."
As he spoke, he turned to Lupin, who stood there rather ill at ease, and gave his shoulder a light pat.
Seeing that, the other professors found they had nothing more to say.
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