Just as Mikel thought, by the evening, the Hufflepuff common room was hosting a lively party that lasted well into the night.
During this time, Ladon grabbed a small chest and flew out the window. When it returned, the gold coins inside had all turned into Honeydukes sweets... The atmosphere instantly became even more festive.
Kael felt sure their laughter must have reached the kitchens next door, because the house-elves brought them even more snacks. Whenever a plate was emptied, it was filled up again in an instant.
By late night, finally someone couldn't hold on any longer... They put down their biscuit, yawned, and went back to the dorm.
The party gradually came to an end as well.
Kael lay down on his bed and quickly drifted into a deep sleep.
...
He didn't know how much time had passed—maybe just two or three hours—when suddenly, someone knocked on the dormitory door.
Then Cedric, dressed in pajamas, came in and turned on the light, waking the two boys in the room.
"What's wrong, Cedric? Is the party still going on?" Ryan got up from bed, rubbing his eyes as he asked.
"It's not the party..."
Cedric's expression was serious. "Sirius Black just broke into the Gryffindor dormitory. He tried to kill a student."
"Black broke into the dorm?" Ryan snapped awake at once, his face full of disbelief. "You must be joking!"
"Of course not." Cedric shook his head. "Professor McGonagall has already confirmed it. It's true."
Ryan was so frightened he just froze, standing there stiff as a board, not daring to move.
"Come on, get up. There's no sleep for anyone tonight." Cedric went on, "Professor Sprout was just here. She wants everyone to stay in the common room until the professors have finished searching the castle.
Hurry up, I still need to notify the others."
When they arrived in the common room, there were already quite a few people there. Conna was waving Kael over from a sofa in the corner.
"Did you hear?" she whispered. "That Sirius Black broke into the Gryffindor dormitory."
"Yeah," Kael nodded. "Cedric just told me."
"Do you think he'll..." Conna glanced toward the main door, a hint of worry on her face.
"Don't worry, he won't," Kael said. "To get into the Hufflepuff common room, the first requirement is you must have a wand... You can't open those barrels with your bare hands."
...
The number of people in the common room kept growing. Everyone was in pajamas, talking all at once about what had just happened.
No one could make sense of how Sirius Black had managed it—how he had actually gotten into a house dormitory.
"I thought Gryffindor had a password, right?" someone yawned, unable to stop themselves from asking.
"And I heard Sir Cadogan changes the password really quickly—sometimes two or three times a day. How did Black ever guess it?"
"Maybe he tricked the portrait somehow... I remember Sir Cadogan, he seems pretty silly, doesn't have much of a brain."
Everyone gathered in the common room, chatting while they waited for news of Black being caught.
At dawn, Professor Sprout returned and told them Black had escaped again.
She told everyone to go back to sleep, but most people didn't budge.
They felt like they couldn't sleep even if they tried, so they just stayed in the common room.
It was crowded and the fireplace was warm—felt a lot safer than sleeping alone in the dormitory.
Ryan was one of those who stayed. In the end, Kael was the only one left in their dorm.
The next day, security was stepped up all over the castle.
Professor Flitwick showed the gatekeeper a large photo of Sirius Black, and Filch was running around the corridors like mad, plugging up every gap he found—even the tiniest cracks in the walls, he left nothing unsealed.
"You will never guess what happened..."
"It was terrifying..."
At the Hufflepuff table, Fred and George were animatedly describing what had happened the night before.
"That Black was standing right in front of Ron, with a knife in his hand..."
"Poor little Ron, he must have been scared out of his wits..."
"Wait, who did you say? Ron?"
At this, Cedric suddenly interrupted, confused. "But, wasn't Black supposed to be after Harry?
Everybody knows Harry's the one who defeated his master."
"Of course Harry was his target—no doubt about that," said Fred. "But I think he got the wrong bed."
George shrugged. "Everyone closes their bed curtains when they sleep. Black couldn't see who was who, so he had to check one by one. And Ron's bed is the closest to the door..."
"I guess he didn't expect to be discovered so quickly."
"And there's one more thing." Cedric lifted his head, adding more cornflakes to his bowl. "How did Black get in, anyway? Your portrait... Did Sir Cadogan not notice anything?"
Mentioning this, Fred suddenly slapped the table, furious. "How could he not notice? He's the one who let Black in!"
"That idiot knight—we thought he was funny at first, but he's a total fool."
George grumbled, "He even saw Black's face and just didn't care—he only asks for the password."
"Thank goodness the Fat Lady is back..."
"That idiot knight belongs in the corner of the North Tower."
"Black knew your passwords?" Conna asked.
"He knew all this week's passwords," said George, "because..."
"Oh!"
Before he could finish, a burst of exclamations broke out.
At the Gryffindor table, Neville was clutching a red letter and dashing out of the auditorium in a panic… It was a Howler.
Watching his sorry state, the Slytherin table erupted into laughter.
Then, they heard the Howler explode in the entrance hall... Neville's Gran's voice, a hundred times louder than usual, shrieking about how he's brought shame to the Longbottom family.
The Slytherins laughed even harder.
Hermione also rushed out of the auditorium, apparently to comfort Neville.
"So that's how it happened,"
Fred shrugged. "Neville wrote down a week's worth of passwords on a slip of paper, then lost it..."
"Black must have found it somewhere..." said George, "and then just came up to the tower and recited all the passwords on that paper."
"Professor McGonagall was furious. She banned Neville from going to Hogsmeade, and no one's allowed to tell him the password anymore."
"Poor Neville. Now, unless someone takes him, he can't even get back into the common room."
...