★ ★ ★

The holidays were over, It was the start of January. Classes were back on and everything was back to normal.

Everything except the golden trio.

Harry and Ron had stopped talking to Hermione ever since Harry got his broom taken away. Harry had been persistent with Mcgonagall and trying to get it back atleast 20 times a day but she denies everytime.

That was until She called Harry over and told him how she will be giving it back. It really brightened up his day. After that he decided to talk to Hermione, so was Ron until something happened.

It got worse.

Ron dashed towards Harry, grinning ear from ear, "She gave it to you? Excellent! Listen, can I have a go at it? Tomorrow?"

"Yeah . . Anything—" said Harry, "You know what— we going to go make up with Hermione. . she was only trying to help."

"Yeah alright," said Ron, "she's in the common room now working — for a change."

They turned the corridor to Gryffindor Tower and saw Neville, pleading with Sir Cadogan, who seemed be refusing him entry.

"I wrote them down!" Neville was saying tearfully, "I must've dropped them somewhere!"

"A likely tale!" Sir Cadogan roared before spotting the Harry and Ron making his face soften, "good evening, my fine young magical folk! Come trap this loon in irons. He is trying to force entry to the chambers within!"

"Oh shut up!" Said Ron.

"I've lost the passwords!" Neville cried, "I made him tell me what passwords he was going to use this week, because he keeps changing them, and now I don't know what I've done with them!"

"It's okay Neville— I'm sure it's just inside." Harry says to him with a kind smile making him calm down, "Oddsbodkins." Harry says to Sir Cadogan who looked disappointed before the common room door swung open. There was a flash of excitement as Harry walked through the door.

"Where'd you get it Harry?"

"Look at his broom!"

"Have you rode it yet Harry?"

"Can I have a go?"

"You'll beat Ravenclaw 100%, they're all on Cleansweep Sevens!"

"Can I hold it?"

After 10 minutes or so when the broomstick was being passed around in awe, the crowd disappeared, Harry and Ron's gaze was straight on Hermione. They both approached her causing her to look up.

"I got it back." Harry told the girl, grinning ear from ear.

"See, Hermione? There wasn't anything wrong with it!" Said Ron, earning an elbow to the chest from Harry.

"Well— there might've been!" Hermione spoke bashfully as she tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, "I mean, atleast you know now that it's safe!"

"Yeah, I suppose," said Harry, "I'd better put it upstairs."

"I'll take it!" Ron said eagerly, jumping on his feet like a puppy, "I've got to give scabbers his rat tonic." He took the firebolt gently before walking upstairs to the boys staircase.

"Can I sit down then?" He asks Hermione who hides her smile and nods.

"I suppose so." She said, moving her bag of the chair.

Harry looked through all the cluttered items, "how are you getting through this stuff?" He asked her.

"Oh well— you know. . working hard!" said Hermione, if you looked closely, you could see she looked almost as tired as Harry noticed Remus and Sirius was.

Harry looked close enough.

"Why don't you just drop a couple subjects?" Harry asked the girl he sees as a sister with a soft smile.

Hermione lifts her books as she searched for her rune calculator, "I couldn't do that!" Hermione said, staring at the boy as if he had just murdered someone.

"Arithmancy looks terrible." Harry said, picking up a high level calculator as he sends it a disgusted look, placing it back down a moment later.

"Oh no it's very wonderful!" She nods disbelievingly making Harry stare at her with raised eye brows before responding.

"I'm sure it is. ." he mutters sarcastically.

". .it's my favourite subject you see—" Hermione was cut off by a loud scream.

The whole room fell silent as they eyed the room the scream came from. Then hurried footsteps trudged out showing Ron, even redder than his hair with an angry expression, looking right at Hermione.

"Look!" He yelled, stomping over to Hermione's table with his sheets in his hand.

"LOOK!" He bellowed, shoving it close to her face.

"Ron. . what—"

"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"

Hermione pushed Ron's hand away eying the material with a shocked look. It had a red stain on it. Something that looks like—

"BLOOD!" He roared in the girls face, everyone watching apprehensively, "HES GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"n. . no.." said Hermione shakily.

Ron threw something onto the table. Hermione and harry leaned forwards and saw a clump of long ginger cat hairs.

★ ★ ★

To Harry it seemed as if Ron and Hermione were over, they were both so frustrated with eachother.

The quidditch match was coming up, Ravenclaw against Gryffindor. Due to Harry's advantage with his new broom, he caught the snitch easily. So quickly he didn't seem to notice the brown dog watching from the sidelines with a proud grin as the dogs tail ferociously wagged — if dogs could grin, that's what it would look like.

There was a party in the Gryffindor room but Hermione was crying in her room the whole time due to Ron kicking her out because he was still angry with her.

The night was great, they went to sleep, until—

a loud scream echoes across from the boys room; more specifically, Ron's bed.

Everyone runs in, including Sirius who had just been told on the situation; he told Minnie before heading there.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?" Sirius asks frantically, staring at his godsons best friend.

"I'm telling you what I saw!" He looks between the two adults shakily.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, letting out a yawn due to the fact she had just woken up.

A few girls had come down their staircase, boys too were appearing.

"Excellent are we carrying on?" Fred questioned with a large grin, Sirius hold back a laugh as he covered his mouth with his hand.

"Everyone back upstairs!" Said Percy, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head boy badge against his pajamas as he spoke.

"Perce— Miralette Crouch!" Ron said to his elder brother, "in our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up—"

Sirius stared down at the ginger-haired boy after he spoke those words, surprise covering his face.

What was Miralette Crouch up to now?

The common room went still especially Sirius who suddenly walked over to his Godson and put his arm round the boy, whilst looking outside to see if he can spot her animagus.

"Nonsense!" Percy said, looking startled, "you had too much to eat— a nightmare—"

Professor Mcgonagall was back. She slammed the portrait shut making Sirius jump, suddenly staring down at the ground as if he was back in 1976 with his best friends again.

"I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!" she shouts before turning to Sirius, "and you! I know when you were younger you pulled this alot but not now! Not when you're an adult and NOT when there is a murderer on the loose!" she yells, making Sirius's expression turn upset about how she is talking about her favourite student like the girl is nothing.

"I didn't! I just got here—" Sirius starts to deny her words but before he could say more, Percy Weasley cut off.

"I certainly didn't authorise this, Professor!" Said Percy, puffing his chest with indignantly, "I was just telling them all to go back to sleep— my brother Ron had a nightmare—"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron roared before turning to Mcgonagall, "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND MIRALETTE CROUCH WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

Professor Mcgonagall turned over to the boy, the look on her face was obvious to all that she doubted his words greatly.

"Don't be ridiculous Weasley, how could she possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"

"Ask him!" Said Ron, pointing a shaking finger to the back of Sir Cadogan's picture, "Ask him if he saw—"

Glaring at Ron with annoyance, The Professor pushed the portrait open and went outside; followed by Sirius Black who followed the woman as if he were a dog.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a woman enter the Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!" He confirms with a bright smile, Sirius and Minnie look at each other in shock at his carelessness.

"You— you did?" Said Mcgonagall, "but— why. . The password?"

"She had 'em!" Said Sir Cadogan proudly, "had the whole week's worth, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"

Professor Mcgonagall let out a long sigh as she walks back into the room.

"Which person," she said scowling at the students; even her ex-student Sirius, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

"Oh Neville. . ." Sirius mumbles whilst shaking his head at the sight of the young boys obvious regret.

There was a terrifying silence, broken by Neville's heavy breathing, he slowly lifted up his trembling arm whilst slowly looks up into the woman's eyes.

★ ★ ★