5 - THE BREAK-IN AT GRYFF TOWER, Post your BREAK-IN stories here! Options

[agrippa]

Too Full of Memories
The Break-in at Gryffindor Tower

The moon was nearly full, but not quite.

That's unfortunate, thought the black dog. Moony's bound to be up and about. But he'll be at the feast, I hope. If he recognizes me…

The hinges of the great oak door creaked open and the squashed face of a ginger cat peered out. She nodded at the dog.

Thanks, friend, thought the dog. I'm lucky to have run into you.

Dog and cat made their way into the entryway. Sirius' ears pricked up as the sounds of the Halloween feast flooded his mind with memories of Hogwarts' feasts past. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot – all in the school once more.

Prongs, my friend, tonight – tonight I'll make it right again.

Each successive floor brought new memories as the pair made their way up to Gryffindor tower. There's where Prongs set off that dungbomb. Closed the corridor for hours. Oh, Filtch was mad!

And there's the window where we first saw them smuggling Remus out to the Willow. Poor man. I wonder how he's managing.

They reached to top of the final staircase. Sirius' heart was pounding. Soon. Soon. Peter – he's close. Just the Fat Lady left. She'll open for the cat.

"Hello, Crookshanks," murmered the Fat Lady absentmindedly. "Come in, m' dear."

The portrait swung open, and Crookshanks went through. Sirius made for the opening, but the portait slammed shut.

"Oh, no," said the Fat Lady in a babyish voice. "Sorry, ickle doggy, but I don't recognize you. If you're someone's pet, you should go back to your owner. Unless" – she giggled – "you can tell me the password."

In a flash, the dog was gone and full-grown man stood in its place. Sirius' eyes glinted as he pulled a knife from his pocket. With a flash of steel, he sliced the portrait down the middle. The Fat Lady tried to run, but the knife sliced her across the shoulder.

"Let me in," he growled.

"Never!" she gasped.

He changed back into the dog, and attacked with his sharp claw, tearing her dress.

"Help! Help! It's him! It's Sirius Black!"

Bloody hell, thought Sirius. Dumbledore and the rest will be here in no time. And if Remus is with them…

He darted back down the staircase, making his way to the back stairs. His ears stood on end, listening for footsteps. When he reached the first floor, he heard it – the rumble of footsteps as the banquet ended. He froze.

Those footsteps – some of them are Harry's.

Slowly, he crept around the corner. None of the Gryffindors noticed the black dog in the heavy shadows of the corridor. And suddenly, there he was.

Harry walked along with the tall red-headed boy Sirius knew to be Peter's current owner. They probably share a dormitory. Peter lives in Harry's dormitory. A wave of panic swept over him.

They crowd passed, and Sirius sneaked back down the staircase. Darting across the entryway, he ventured a glance at the Great Hall. For a moment, he thought he saw James and Remus and the rest of their class, sitting at the long table, raising their goblets in a toast. He blinked and looked again. Just empty tables.

This place is too full of memories.

He pushed his shoulder into the heavy door, opening it just enough for him to slide through. The nearly-full moon lit the path through the gates to Hogsmeade.

[ronsmyman]

BEWARE: PARODY!!!

Sirius and the Magic Crayon

Sirius morphed into dog form and exited the tunnel under the whomping willow. He couldn’t wait until the day when he would be able to walk around in human form again. Of course, that day would not be for some time, even after he had proved his innocence.

Azkaban, while dampening his spirits, had done nothing to deflate his ego. His plans, after receiving a formal apology from the ministry of magic, were to his the weight room and regain the physique that had won him the hearts of many young ladies in him prime. This shaggy starved look just wasn’t his thing, so he chose to wander around in dog form most of the time. Plus, it was fun to torment the new divination students with every appearance. One of the few pleasures he had was gotten from pretending to be the death omen that every first year divination student feared above all other omens.

Sirius padded up to the castle walls and began circling the exterior, trying to figure out a way to get inside. Even though it was Halloween and everyone would be assembled in the Great Hall, Sirius was not stupid enough to think that the security would be lax enough for him to just walk right in through the front door.

No ideas appeared in his mind and he was almost on the point of despair as he completed his first circuit, he had to get inside, he would go mad if he didn’t. Just as he was about to throw caution to the winds and go through the front door, a door opened in the midst of the sky and a small boy, three years old at the most, stepped through the portal and landed softly on the grass.

Clutched in the small red hand of the child was a bright purple crayon. He surveyed the scene in which he had landed, and his eyes lighted on the large dog.

“Doggy!” he exclaimed, lighting up like a Christmas tree. He ran towards Sirius and wrapped his chubby little arms around the patient creature’s neck. Humoring the little fellow, Sirius licked the child’s cheek. He was pleasantly surprised to find the remnants of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich smeared across it. He was so hungry that he licked until every remnant of flavor was gone and the little boy was giggling hysterically.

“Oooooh! House!” The child proclaimed, noticing the castle and pulling away from Sirius to get a better look. The boy clapped his hands with glee and ran up to the castle wall, brandishing his crayon. Using it he drew the outline of a small door on the stone and, much to Sirius’ surprise, opened it with a twist of the sketched knob.

The boy ducked through opening and Sirius slipped through just behind him. When he arrived inside he noticed that they were in a corridor on the third floor. He thanked his lucky stars, namely Canus Major, for having them enter there rather than near the front or Great Halls. As everyone was down at the feast it would now be relatively simple to pass through the corridors unnoticed.

“Horsie!” the little boy demanded, pointing at Sirius’ back. He heaved a great sigh, but allowed himself to be mounted. “Gid up!” he commanded and Sirius made his was through the halls and up the stairs to Gryffindor tower as easily as if he were still a student. When he reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady, he gently deposited the boy onto the floor and transformed back into human shape for a short while.

Sidling up to the portrait, he nudged the Fat Lady.

“Hello Agnes,” he said in as charming a voice as he could muster.

“Password,” she muttered, sleepily. Then, opening her eyes, she jumped. “S-s-sirius Black!”

“My dear Agnes! How frightened you appear. Oh please, I would never intentionally cause you discomfort my dear madam,” he said, buttering her up, and being sure to pour on lots of honey. “I would harm myself before I so much as laid a vicious finger upon your beautiful canvas and the rainbow of colors that encompasses your beauty. I’ve only returned for a moment to collect some things I forgot years ago.”

“I’m sorry Sirius,” the Fat Lady replied. “I can’t let you in without the password, you know that.”

“Agnes,” Sirius said in his most syrupy tone, giving her the puppy dog eyes that only he could produce. “You know passwords never mattered between two souls as intimate as us. I remember our long conversations from years ago, when after hours of chat you would merely let me in, knowing that I would never deceive you. I am the same person, my dear madam, constant and true, especially to someone as glorious as yourself.”

Sirius placed his three-dimensional hand atop the two-dimensional one of the Fat Lady. He could see her internal struggle and slowly he knew that her hesitation was braking away bit by bit.

Suddenly behind him he heard a roar and turned around to see a bear towering over him.

“Oh, Sirius,” The Fat Lady squealed. “Do be careful, if you were to leave this world, all sentiment would be gone from my life forever.”

The bear backed him against the painting and began to tear at him. The sharp claws ripped his Azkaban uniform to tatters and tore his flesh. Soon Sirius had no choice but to duck and run. The bear took a few last swipes, shredding the Fat Lady’s canvas, luckily she had run into a neighboring portrait to avoid injury.

Sirius saw the small child standing by an open door in the middle of the corridor. His guilty crayon still poised in the air.

“Teddy?” he said, his voice trembling on the verge of tears.

Sirius grabbed the boy and lunged through the door, luring the bear in after them. As the door closed he could hear the Fat Lady calling after him to be careful, with a voice choked with tears.

As soon as they had gained enough ground ahead of the bear, Sirius borrowed the boy’s crayon to draw himself one final door. As the bear gained on them, he opened the door and stepped quicky through, carrying the small boy, he heard the thud of the bear’s massive bulk as he slammed the door.

He was in the Shrieking Shack. Thankful to be rid of the bear, he collapsed into a chair, the small child perched on his knee. Looking at the magnificent crayon, Sirius had an idea, he pointed to a nearby faucet and implored the boy to get him a drink, while the boy wasn’t looking, he snapped off the bottom fourth of the purple crayon, and slipped it into his pocket. Sirius then traded the rest of the crayon for the glass of water, and watched contentedly as the boy sketched another door and went on his merry way.

“Bye, bye doggy,” he said, patting Sirius on the knee before sliding through the opening.

Sirius was then left to contemplate his failure, and plan out his next entrance into the castle, the bit of crayon resting lightly in his pocket.

[bakbam]

Never Forgotton


Sirius stooped at the base of the tree going over his plans. He had a stick in his hand mapping out the floor plan of the school. He would draw a line then x it out almost as quickly as he put it there. He remembered every corner of the school. He just hoped that nothing had changed. He finally decided on the best route to Gryffindor Tower.

Sirius transformed to his animagi form and dashed through the grounds of Hogwarts. He felt as though Prongs was running beside him in one of their many adventures. Sirius was feeling happier then he had in many years.

Sirius made his way to the castle wall.

"This way, Look what I found." James yelled.

Peter, Remus, and Sirius ran over to discover that under a large brush pile was a small hole in the castle. It was just big enough to crawl through.

"What are we waiting for?" Sirius changed to a dog and sscootedin the hole. The others followed. About fifteen feet in was a opening. They all gathered together James lit the end of his wand so they could explore the new territory.

"Are you going to put this on the map Remus?" Peter asked excitedly.

"Come on let's see where it leads from here." Sirius whispered from the dark tunnel across from where the group came in.

Sirius pushed through the brush and made his way to the open room. He couldn't stop the memories of his friends swimming in his mind. He slowly walked the long tunnel. He got to the end. He paused before he opened the secret passageway which lead to the fifth floor.

"Here comes Filch." Sirius warned as the three of them ran down the corridor.

James breezed past Peter, "Get to Smarmy!"

"Get to Smarmy! Get to Smarmy!" Peter panted as he ran up the final batch of stairs.

Sirius and James were already at the portrait waiting for Peter. peter jumped in and they quickly closed the opening.

"Filch was waiting for us to visit Remus in the hospital," Sirius said.

"I plan on getting Filch before we leave Hogwarts." James pulled the map out to see if the coast was clear.

Sirius pushed open the portait. He crept through the hall and up the stairs. Crookshanks was waiting for him in from of Gryffindor Tower. Sirius transformed back to himself. He looked around the castle.

There stood a small boy. His hair was all messed up. He was wearing his new robes, "That's the girl I am going to marry," His eyes were glazed over as a red headed girl walked by him.

"You're nutters, and I am Sirius Black." a voice replied from behind the boy.

The boy turned around and began to stutter a little. "I-I am James Pot-ter. Did you hear me?"

Crookshanks nudged up against Sirius' leg. Sirius pulled the paper out of his pocket and began to recite the list of passwords at the Fat Lady.