After the feast, all the students were kept in the Auditorium.
Professor Dumbledore came to make a few announcements, "Prefects, guard the entrance to the Auditorium, Head Boy and Head Girl assist Professor Sprout in maintaining order. If there's any news, immediately send a ghost to report to me."
After saying this, he waved his wand, and the long dining tables floated to the edges of the Auditorium, lining up against the walls. With another wave, hundreds of soft sleeping bags appeared on the floor.
"You'll need these..."
With that, Professor Dumbledore left the Auditorium.
But not everyone liked sleeping bags.
After getting permission from Professor Sprout, a few upper-year students took out their wands and transformed their sleeping bags into single beds of roughly the same size. The robes they had taken off became thick wool blankets.
They had already thought about it during dinner—if they had to spend the night in the Auditorium, they'd definitely have to make things a bit more comfortable for themselves.
Of course, it'd be even better if Professor Sprout agreed to let them make their beds a bit bigger.
After that, more and more students, thinking it was fun, started trying to Transfigure their own sleeping bags as well.
As for this decision, not only did Professor Sprout not object, she even stopped Percy, who was about to step forward and intervene.
After all, space in the Auditorium was still sufficient. As long as it didn't get in the way of others, making yourself more comfortable was really what learning Magic was all about.
Besides, it was still early—giving the students something to do was surely better than letting them talk about Sirius Black.
Professor Sprout walked between the rows of sleeping bags...
"Excellent Transfiguration Technique, Miss Johnson." She smiled and said, "I bet this bed is extremely comfortable."
Gryffindor's Chaser, Angelina Johnson, proudly flicked her hair.
Unlike most hard wooden bedboards, she had also added a thick velvet mattress.
...
When Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall walked into the Auditorium again, they were surprised at the lively scene before them.
The Auditorium had turned into a giant Transfiguration Classroom, and everyone was in one big class together.
"Minerva, it seems everyone knows how to have a good time," Dumbledore said with a smile. "For a moment, I thought I'd walked into the wrong place."
Professor McGonagall also laughed, "Yes, Albus, you're absolutely right."
Ever since she heard that Black had appeared in the castle, it was the first time she felt somewhat relaxed.
"Then let's help out a bit ourselves."
Dumbledore took out his wand and gave it a gentle wave—the Auditorium seemed to get much larger in an instant. The aisles, which had seemed a bit crowded before, were now wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
This also meant they could make their beds even bigger.
Professor McGonagall wasn't idle, either. She turned all the first- and second-year students' sleeping bags into the kind of single beds from their dormitories.
As for third-years and above, who had already learned Double Transfiguration... they were not included in her help.
Besides, all these sleeping bags were conjured by Professor Dumbledore—the Magic Power was quite stable, virtually no different from real sleeping bags.
So strictly speaking, this didn't even count as Double Transfiguration, just regular sleeping bag to single bed.
Third-years... if you couldn't even manage this, then you'd better just honestly stick to using your sleeping bag.
There were quite a few people like that, such as Gryffindor's Harry and Ron.
They fiddled around for ages, only ending up making their sleeping bags look even uglier, until Hermione, unable to stand it anymore, helped them out.
Beside them, Neville had already obediently crawled into his sleeping bag, not even thinking about doing anything extra.
Kael had also finished Transfiguring his own sleeping bag—it wasn't anything fancy, just an ordinary dormitory single bed, the same as the first- and second-years.
Fred, George, and Cho had all come over as well.
"This is a weird feeling—it's almost like we all live in the same dorm..." Fred lay there, looking up at the magically enchanted ceiling.
Although it was gloomy outside, his spirits were surprisingly good. "It's just a shame Cedric isn't here..."
As Prefect, Cedric had to stay by the entrance to the Auditorium and wasn't with them.
"All thanks to Black..."
George turned his head and said, "If it weren't for him, how could we get to do something this fun? Seriously, this is the first time I've slept on a bed I made myself... what if, in the middle of the night, it suddenly turns back into a sleeping bag?"
"If your Transfiguration Technique grade is an E (Exceeds Expectations), then it won't..." Kael said.
"That's awful..." Fred sighed, putting on a pained expression. "Our Transfiguration grades are O, which obviously doesn't meet the standard, right?"
"Maybe next exam we can purposely get a few questions wrong—then we can change it into an E."
"If Mum hears you say that, she definitely won't be pleased."
After that, the two of them laughed at the same time.
Kael couldn't be bothered with them.
But since George mentioned Black, it was inevitable that they all thought back to what happened earlier.
"Do you think, how exactly did Black get into the castle?" Conna asked.
This was the question most people wanted to know, too.
Kael could clearly hear quite a few different guesses being discussed nearby.
"Apparition..."
"He flew in riding a broomstick..."
"Turned himself into a blooming bush..."
They said a lot, but honestly, none of the guesses sounded at all reliable.
The castle had special magical protections that forbade Apparition. Besides, the Dementors obviously wouldn't just let someone on a flying broom or even a blooming bush sneak into the castle.
"Could it be he got in through a secret passageway?" At this moment, Cho suddenly said, "Aren't there lots of secret passages that lead out of the castle?"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible." Fred said without hesitation.
George glanced around to make sure Professor Sprout and Percy were on the other side, then lowered his voice, "There are only two secret passages that reach outside the school."
"One's in Honeyduke's Sweet Shop storeroom—there's no way Black could break in there. Remember, he hasn't got a wand."
"The other's in the Shrieking Shack. No one's guarding it, but the entrance is directly underneath the Whomping Willow."
Fred continued, "If Black dared to go through there, he'd probably get smashed flat by the Whomping Willow as soon as he tried to come out."
"We haven't heard anything odd about the Whomping Willow tonight, right...?"
"Lights out now!" Percy shouted, "I require every one of you to stop talking!"
The candles went out instantly. Only a few silver ghosts floated about, shedding faint light as they drifted around, holding serious conversations with the Prefects.