Lumos: Year Three

The Halloween feast was decorated marvelously and food was piled onto the tables in endless portions. Everyone was sitting at their assigned tables and eating as much as they possibly could. Helena was keeping to herself for the most part as her siblings all talked amongst themselves.

Nothing exciting happened at the feast like the years past, and Helena was surprisingly thankful for that. She was incredibly tired and just wanted to get to sleep. The only thing that happened was Draco yelling at Harry about dementors.

“Hey, Helena?” Dean came up to her as she was heading toward the dungeons.

“Yes?” Helena turned around.

“Could you help us? The Fat Lady that usually guards the Gryffindor Tower is missing. Maybe if another house student tries to get in, she’ll come back.”

“Oh, she’s gone?” Helena narrowed her eyes.

The two of them headed over to the Gryffindor tower where a crowd of students were complaining.

“Let me through, please,” Percy Weasley was pushing through the crowds. “What’s the holdup here? You can’t all have forgotten the password—excuse me, I’m Head Boy—“

Helena wasn’t sure what was happening. She and Dean found themselves near Lanee, somewhere to the back of the crowd.

“What’s going on?” another voice came loudly behind Helena.

“Oh god—Jayden—you need to stop sneaking up on me!” Helena gasped lightly.

“Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick,” someone shouted.

Helena and Lanee looked at each other for a moment before Ginny appeared before them.

“What’s going on?”

“Move aside—move aside—“ Professor Lupin spoke as he, Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore all came to the scene, dividing the students down the middle so they could see what happened. Helena could see that there were several lacerations to the painting.

“We need to find her,” Dumbledore spoke. “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!” Peeves cackled as he appeared above them.

“What do you mean, Peeves?” Dumbledore tilted his head.

“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, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful. Poor thing.”

“Did she say who did it?” Dumbledore blinked.

“Oh yes, Professorhead. He got very angry when she wouldn’t let him in, you see,” Peeves nodded. “Nasty tempter he’s got, that Sirius Black.”

There were whispers that echoed in the halls as the students continued looking to each other in terror. Helena took a step back as her hand seemed to grab onto Jayden’s.

“He’s here in the castle,” Helena murmured to Jayden. “He’s in here right now…”

Jayden saw the worry in her face and wasn’t sure what to say at first. “Are you sure?”

“He has to be! This only just happened!” Helena shook her head.

Jayden wasn’t sure what to do, so he leaned in and gave her a gentle hug. “I’m sure things will be okay. Dumbledore will know what to do.”

“Right then, all of you please move to the Great Hall. The other houses will join momentarily,” Dumbledore spoke.

---

“The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle,” Professor Dumbledore spoke to the Great Hall as he and the teachers closed all doors. “I’m afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want all prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Head Girl in charge. Any disturbances should be reported to me immediately. Send word with one of the ghosts.”

Large, purple sleeping bags appeared beside every student. Helena was still standing next to Lanee, Seamus, and Dean and Jayden had followed behind them.

“Well, I guess I better head back to my own house,” Jayden sighed.

“No, no! Stay with us!” Helena quickly stopped him, pulling on his hand.

Lanee smirked lightly as she looked at Seamus.

“Wow, that’s the first time you’ve ever tried to keep him in the group,” Lanee laughed.

Helena blushed lightly as she crossed her arms. “Hey. We got to know each other. He’s not that bad.”

She then laid herself down on her sleeping bag. The others did the same.

“Well, I guess I can stay here for tonight,” Jayden laughed lightly.

“—How did he get in?” the five of them heard Hermione asked.

Jayden immediately shot up. “Maybe he knows how to Apparate. Just appear out of thin air, you know.”

“Disguised himself, probably,” a Hufflepuff student nodded.

“He could’ve flown in,” Dean suggested.

“Honestly, am I the only person who’s ever bothered to read Hogwarts, A History?” Hermione sighed.

“Probably,” Ron nodded. “Why?”

“Because the castle’s protected by more than just walls, you know. 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 Filch knows all the secret passages, they’ll have them covered…”

“The lights are going out now!” Percy shouted.

As the lights went out, Helena felt her heart begin pounding. She hated being in situations like this. It was rather distressing to know that things weren’t always safe at Hogwarts.

“Are you okay?” Jayden whispered to her.

“I just hate being in hazardous situations,” Helena sighed.

“I’m sure things will get better,” Jayden assured her. He grabbed her hand and smiled lightly, “If it helps, I’ll stay up with you until you fall asleep.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ll be okay…” Helena laughed lightly.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. In no time, she found herself falling asleep. All through the night, she held hands with Jayden and didn’t even notice.

Of course the next few days were nothing but students stirring about Sirius Black. And what made matters worse was that Helena was now the only girl on the Slytherin team—so excited to play against Gryffindor, but because Draco’s arm was “injured”, they cancelled the game.

But of course, before Helena could say that things couldn’t have gotten worse, she walked into the classroom for Defense Against the Dark Arts to see Professor Snape at Lupin’s desk.

“Where’s Professor Lupin?” Harry Potter asked, who arrived ten minutes late to class.

“He says he is feeling too ill to teach today,” Snape crossed his arms, “I believe I told you to sit down?”

“What’s wrong with him?” Harry spoke defiantly.

“Nothing life-threatening. Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty.”

“Bloody hell, he better sit down,” Helena shook her head.

“Why do you care? You’re not a Gryffindor,” Lanee snickered

“Don’t you care at all?”

“I do, but watching Potter and Snape bicker at each other is amusing.”

“As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far—“

“Please, sir, we’ve done boggarts, Red Caps, kappas, and grindylows,” Hermione spoke, “and we’re just about to start—“

“Be quiet. I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin’s lack of organization,” Snape spoke coldly.

Lanee glared lightly and looked down.

“Alright there?” Helena asked.

“Fine. Snape just irks me.”

“He’s the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we’ve ever had,” Dean glowered and several students were agreeing quietly.

“You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly overtaxing you—I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and grindylows. Today we shall discuss—“ he flipped through the book, “—werewolves.”

“No. Please no,” Lanee moaned quietly as she rested her head on the desk.

“Werewolves… really? That doesn’t sound fun…” Helena spoke nervously to herself. She heard some awful things about them and wasn’t excited at all.

“But, sir, we’re not supposed to do werewolves yet, we’re due to start hinkypunks—“

“Miss Granger, I was under the impression that I am teaching the lesson, not you. And I am telling you all to turn to page 394.” Snape narrowed his eyes. “All of you! Now!”

Helena opened her book quickly. She hadn’t heard Snape raise his voice like that since first year.

“Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?” Snape asked.

“I don’t even know this,” Helena whispered.

“I do,” Lanee murmured.

“Then answer it!” Helena whispered back.

“No, he hates Gryffindor right now.”

Hermione’s hand was obviously raised, but Snape was ignoring it. “Anyone? Are you telling me that Professor Lupin hasn’t even taught you the basic distinction between—“

Parvati intervened, “We told you, we haven’t gotten as far as werewolves yet, we’re still on—“

“Silence!” Snape hissed. “Well, well, well, I never thought I’d meet a third-year class who wouldn’t even recognize a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are…”

“Please, sir,” Hermione spoke, “the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf—“

“That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all.”

“You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don’t want to be told?”

“Detention, Weasley,” Snape snapped. “And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed.”

As class continued, more and more students were bickering to one another about how terrible Snape was being in the class. It was rather annoying to Helena, especially since he was of course favoring her own house and wasn’t taking points from students in Slytherin who spoke out of line.

“You will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognize and kill werewolves. I want two rolls of parchment on the subject, and I want them by Monday morning. It is time somebody took this class in hand. Weasley, stay behind, we need to arrange your detention.”

Helena shook her head as she walked out of the class with Lanee.

“This is rubbish. I don’t know a thing about werewolves. Don’t they walk on their hind legs? That’s all I know I think.”

Lanee nodded, but her face lit up quickly, “Hey, want to do something fun with me?”

“Does it have to do with werewolves?” Helena narrowed her eyes.

“Possibly. We’re going to go on an adventure.”

“Alone?”

“Alone.”