, Ron, and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was. 

"Oh, my --" Hermione grabbed Harry's arm. 

The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so 
viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it 
had been torn away completely. 

Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, his 
eyes somber, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape hurrying 
toward him. 

"We need to find her," said Dumbledore. "Professor McGonagall, please go 
to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle 
for the Fat Lady." 

"You'll be lucky!" said a cackling voice. 

It was Peeves the Poltergeist, bobbing over the crowd and looking 
delighted, as he always did, at the sight of wreckage or worry. 

"What do you mean, Peeves?" said Dumbledore calmly, and Peeves's grin 
faded a little. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. Instead he adopted an 
oily voice that was no better than his cackle. "Ashamed, Your Headship, 
sit. 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 

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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 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 


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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 
realize it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here." 

Hermione shuddered. 

All around them, people were asking one another 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 
Fitch 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 

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scattered with stars. What with that, and the whispering that still 
filled the hall, Harry felt as though he were sleeping outdoors 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 short way away 
from Harry, Ron, and Hermlone, 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." 

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"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 whet, 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, sit?" 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. 

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"\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 gray 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 a complete lunatic," 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 
somber 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 seeme