Sagres's expression remained utterly still, as though he had merely confirmed an outcome he had long anticipated.
He touched nothing. He simply stood in the centre of the wreckage, his deep gaze travelling slowly across the chaos before coming to rest on the darkness beyond the window.
Black's target… was it really the rat?
And had he succeeded?
The torn bedding, the scattered feathers, and those few blood-stained grey hairs whispered of a violent, desperate struggle that had unfolded in this very room.
A few moments later, Sagres left the dormitory as silently as he had entered and slipped out of Gryffindor Tower.
Several hours passed.
By around three in the morning the exhausted professors reassembled outside the doors of the Great Hall. The air between them felt thick and leaden.
"No trace," Professor McGonagall said hoarsely, pressing her fingers to her temples. "He vanished like smoke."
"The castle is vast," Professor Flitwick sighed. "I suspect he knows passages even we've forgotten. What do you think, Severus?"
Snape's face was darker than the night itself. His lips formed a thin, bloodless line. He said nothing.
"Where are Sagres and Lupin?" McGonagall asked, glancing around.
"I asked Remus to stay inside the Great Hall to watch over the students," Dumbledore answered, weariness threading through his voice. "We cannot rely on the prefects alone for their safety. As for Sagres…"
"You're truly at ease leaving Lupin to guard them, Dumbledore?" Snape cut in, his tone glacial. "Don't forget what he is."
"I have never doubted Remus's loyalty or his principles," Dumbledore replied, turning to face Snape directly. His voice was unusually firm.
"Is that so?" Snape sneered. "I, on the other hand, believe his loyalty should be tested—repeatedly—with Veritaserum. How else do you imagine Black slipped past the Dementors and into the castle?"
He leaned into the accusation.
"What exactly are you implying, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, his gaze calm and fathomless.
"I believe," Snape said, voice dropping to a low, venomous murmur, "that someone inside this castle is helping him."
The other three Heads of House exchanged startled glances but held their tongues.
"I, however," Dumbledore said quietly, his eyes moving across every face present, "believe that no one in this school would assist Sirius Black in breaking into Hogwarts and endangering even a single child."
The statement was final.
A cold, suffocating silence descended.
It was broken only when Sagres appeared, noiseless as ever, at the far end of the corridor.
They pushed open the heavy doors and stepped inside.
Most of the students had finally succumbed to sleep on the drifting cloud cushions. Here and there a few still whispered in the shadows, convinced they were being quiet, though their voices carried in the vast, echoing hall.
Dumbledore's gaze found Sagres, the last to arrive. "Gryffindor Tower…?"
"Common room and dormitories were thoroughly searched," Sagres answered evenly. "The intruder is long gone."
"Potter's dormitory?" McGonagall asked sharply.
"Precisely."
Another weighted silence followed.
The professors gathered near the staff table, faces reflecting exhaustion and unease in different shades. Dumbledore noticed Percy Weasley still patrolling, visibly fighting to stay upright.
"Is everything in order, Mr Weasley?" he asked gently.
"Everything is in order, Headmaster!" Percy snapped to attention at once.
"Very good. Tomorrow morning I shall arrange a new guardian for the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. After that, the students may return to their beds," Dumbledore said. "And the Fat Lady?"
"She is still badly shaken," he sighed. "We'll allow her to resume her post once she has recovered."
After giving Percy further quiet instructions, the professors began a low discussion of additional security measures.
"Very well," Dumbledore said at last. "I must go and speak with the Dementors now. They demanded to search the grounds after learning Black had entered the castle. I refused them entrance, but I must at least update them on the situation."
"Aren't they here to help, Headmaster?" Percy asked, puzzled.
"Oh, yes," Dumbledore replied, and for a moment his voice carried a rare, steely edge. "But as long as I am Headmaster of Hogwarts, not a single Dementor will ever cross the threshold of this castle."
Percy flushed, suddenly aware he had overstepped, and wisely fell silent.
Dumbledore left the hall. The remaining professors began to patrol quietly among the sleeping students.
Sagres's gaze, however, moved with purpose across the sea of cloud beds until it settled on one particular corner—where Harry, Ron and Hermione sat huddled together on the edge of the same drifting cushion, all three wide awake and whispering intently.
He walked straight toward them, passing through sleeping students and half-sleeping ones without hesitation, and stopped directly in front of the trio.
The three immediately squeezed their eyes shut, feigning sleep.
"Excuse me, you three."
Sagres's calm voice stripped the pretence away instantly.
They opened their eyes.
"Professor?" Harry managed, throat dry.
"I've just come from your dormitory, Potter—and yours, Mr Weasley." Sagres wasted no time.
"I regret to inform you that Black broke into your room. The scene was… chaotic. One might even say completely ransacked."
Ron's face drained of colour. His lips trembled. "He—he was after Harry, wasn't he?"
"Possibly," Sagres replied, carefully neutral.
"Thank Merlin Harry wasn't there," Ron breathed, still visibly shaken. "Otherwise tonight would've been… Merlin. At least we're both safe now."
"Indeed," Sagres inclined his head, then continued smoothly, "However, your pet rat is missing. Only a few bloodstains and some grey hairs remained at the scene."
"Scabbers?!" Ron's voice cracked with shock and sudden grief. "He… he killed Scabbers?"
The thought of losing the rat he had owned for so many years hit hard. His eyes quickly reddened; his nose stung. Scabbers might have been second-hand, handed down from Percy, but he had been one of the few things in Ron's life that had ever truly felt like his.
Hermione pressed a hand to her mouth. Harry's fists clenched at his sides, fresh hatred for Black surging hot in his chest. The man wouldn't even spare a rat.
Sagres watched Ron's face crumple and remained silent for a long moment.
When he spoke again, his voice had softened, only just perceptibly.
"No rat remains were found. It's possible he was simply terrified and fled during the struggle."
Hope flickered back into Ron's eyes.
"There are countless places in the castle where a frightened rat could hide," Sagres added quietly.
The small reassurance anchored Ron in that moment. He sniffed hard, blinking rapidly.
"I hope… I really hope so. Poor Scabbers, he's always been so timid…"
"I can keep an eye out for him," Sagres said evenly. "Would you tell me a little more about your rat? Any distinguishing features would help."
Still dazed with sadness, Ron answered without thinking, voice thick.
"Scabbers… he used to be Percy's. When Percy made prefect, Mum bought him Hermes, so he gave Scabbers to me."
He swallowed. "He's been in the family for… let me think… twelve years, at least. Lately he's been weak, hardly moves, barely eats. Special features… he's missing a toe. On his front paw."
He kept going, listing every small detail he could recall.
"Twelve years?" Sagres repeated, tone perfectly level. "And missing a toe."
"Yeah," Ron wiped roughly at his eyes. "Percy said he was already missing it when he got him. Probably lost it in a fight with other rats or something."
Sagres asked no more questions.
He simply nodded once. "That information will be useful. I'll keep watch for him."
Then, quietly: "You should try to rest. Dawn is not far off."
With that, Sagres turned and left, leaving the three students with complex feelings.
________
o(*≧▽≦)ツ💫 Read up to 12+ chapters in advance on P@treon/DarkDevil1