Harry Potter: Dudley From LOTM - 366

Chapter 366: The Ruined Portrait

At that moment, huge numbers of students were streaming towards the Great Hall.

It was Halloween, and everyone was heading to the Halloween feast, so the common room should have been practically empty.

“Hi, Dudley, where are you going?”

On the way, plenty of students called out to him, but he had no time to respond. He sprinted straight for Gryffindor.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione did not hesitate for a second. They chased after him, wands already out.

Before long, Dudley reached the corridor where the entrance to Gryffindor Tower was, and then he stopped dead.

“Huh? Why’d you stop?” Ron skidded to a halt.

He had thought Dudley was rushing back because he needed to grab something from the dormitory.

“Oh Merlin!”

Hermione suddenly let out a gasp, clapping a hand over her mouth.

Harry’s eyes widened, shock flashing across his face.

Only then did Ron follow their line of sight towards the entrance.

The Fat Lady’s portrait had been slashed with deep, brutal gouges. The canvas was almost split right down the middle.

And the Fat Lady herself was gone.

“W-who did this?” Ron stared, stunned.

The portrait guarding Gryffindor had been destroyed. Shreds of canvas littered the floor, and a large section had been ripped clean away, exposing the passage behind it that led into the Gryffindor common room.

“What… what happened?” Ginny cried.

A few members of the Kingdom of Order had seen Dudley rushing back and followed him. Now they saw the horrifying scene too.

“The portrait was torn open by brute force,” Dudley said, reaching out and running his hand across the ripped canvas. “Someone forced their way into the Gryffindor common room.”

He could feel it. A foreign presence, a strange trace, stretching from the portrait and trailing deep into the common room.

“Go and inform Professors!”

“I’m going in to check. Don’t follow me!”

As soon as he spoke, Dudley lifted the torn canvas aside and stepped through.

The common room was vast and empty. Dudley swept his gaze around, but found nothing suspicious. He headed upstairs towards the dormitories.

He could still sense a faint lingering trace, the residue left behind as that person moved through here.

Dudley followed it to the boys’ dormitory, then pushed into his own room.

“He came in here, but… he didn’t stay long.”

Dudley’s eyes narrowed.

He checked the room, but nothing seemed disturbed. Nothing was missing.

All of Dudley’s valuables were stored inside the Mirror of Erised. The rest meant little to him.

“My things aren’t gone, and it doesn’t look like anyone else’s are either. So why come here at all?”

Frowning, Dudley walked back down the stairs.

Outside, Professor Dumbledore had already arrived, and Professor McGonagall was with him, along with the other staff.

“Oh, Merlin—has he really gotten into the castle?” Professor McGonagall looked horrified, as though she could hardly believe it.

“I’m afraid he has,” Dumbledore said, his gaze lingering on the marks around the portrait’s frame. “There are traces at the entrance.”

“We need to find the Fat Lady,” Dumbledore added, spotting Dudley coming down the stairs. “Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr Filch at once. Have him search every portrait in the castle. We need to find her.”

McGonagall turned and moved immediately.

Then Dumbledore looked back at Dudley.

“Did you find anything, Dudley?”

“No,” Dudley said. “I only sensed someone breaking in, but I couldn’t figure out what he wanted. Nothing has been stolen. He seems to have been looking for something.”

As he spoke, Dudley glanced towards Harry.

Dumbledore fell silent for a moment, then raised his voice.

“Everyone, go to the Great Hall at once. Tonight, we will search the entire castle.”

At Dumbledore’s order, the students hurried off, faces pale with fear.

They all knew who it had to be.

“Was it him?” Dudley asked.

“I’m afraid it was,” Dumbledore replied.

“I want to know what’s really going on,” Dudley said bluntly. “You’re hiding something from me.”

“I need to know exactly what kind of man Sirius Black is. Everything.”

Dumbledore considered it, then nodded.

“I will tell you everything. But first, I must deal with the school.”

Dudley nodded.

“Protect Harry,” Dumbledore said, then strode away.

He needed to contact the Ministry. Sirius Black might already be inside Hogwarts.

Dudley did not linger at Gryffindor Tower. He followed the others towards the Great Hall.

By then, the feast had been cancelled.

The tables were still piled with food, but the celebration was gone.

No one had much appetite. With a murderous fugitive in the castle, no one could calmly sit down and eat.

When Harry spotted Dudley, he immediately waved him over.

The moment Dudley sat down, Harry looked at him, impatient for answers.

“It was probably Sirius Black,” Dudley said, keeping it brief. “But I don’t know what he came to do. Nothing’s missing. The dormitories weren’t wrecked.”

“Then does that mean…” Hermione’s eyes flicked to Harry, frightened.

“Was he here for me?” Harry asked. He had already guessed it was possible.

“Yes,” Dudley said, nodding.

“Dumbledore said he’ll tell me the truth about Sirius later. Then we’ll know why he keeps trying to get to you.”

Harry stayed quiet, only nodding.

“Ron, this is all your fault. You and your big mouth!” Hermione snapped, deliberately changing the subject.

“Me? How is this my fault?” Ron said helplessly.

He had only said that morning, he wondered whether something would happen on Halloween again. And then it had.

“It’s once a year. Every Halloween, something happens,” Harry said with a bitter laugh. “Looks like we’ll have to get used to Hogwarts tradition.”

As he spoke, a wave of cold suddenly swept over the Great Hall, and everyone shivered.

The candlelight dimmed.

Outside, heavy clouds rolled in, blotting out the moon.

Heads lifted.

Dark shapes were streaking across the sky in great numbers, like enormous predators circling their prey.