Ron was sitting up in bed, the hangings torn from one side, a look of utmost terror on his face. 

"Black! Sirius Black! With a knife!"

 "What?" 

"Here! Just now! Slashed the curtains! Woke me up!" 

"You sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?" said Dean. 

"Look at the curtains! I tell you, he was here!" 

They all scrambled out of bed; Harry reached the dormitory door first, and they sprinted back down the staircase. Doors opened behind them, and sleepy voices called after them. 

"Who shouted?" 

"What're you doing?" 

The common room was lit with the glow of the dying fire, still littered with the debris from the party. It was deserted. 

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?"

 "I'm telling you, I saw him!" 

"What's all the noise?"

 "Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!" 

A few of the girls had come down their staircase, pulling or, dressing gowns and yawning. Boys, too, were reappearing. 

"Excellent, are we carrying on?" said Fred Weasley brightly. A bang of a party cracker sounded through the room. Parting, the girls revealed Amelia holding the exploded cracker. "I found it on the floor; I couldn't resist."

"Everyone back upstairs!" said Percy, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas as he spoke.