Siege of the Sues

It was almost midnight. Where the hell was Harry?

Ron flopped back down into the squashy chair in front of the fireplace. He'd seen what had happened earlier, but Harry should be back in Gryffindor Tower by now. He didn't even have his Invisibility Cloak. Ron was, to say the least, rather worried. At least Neville, Dean, and Seamus were up in the boys' dorimtory with Gary and Hermione. That was almost a load off his mind...

"Ron?"

Ron's head snapped up. He couldn't think of a time he would have been more grateful to see Lupin's head in the fireplace. He dropped to his knees. "Lupin! I am so glad to see you, you have no idea, it's absolutely terrible here..."

"I know," Lupin replied grimly. "To be honest, I can't even imagine what it's like there. One got in the house today, and we're having a terrible time getting rid of her."

"One got in the house? How did she know where it even was?"

"She's claiming to be Sirius's daughter. Hold on a moment--" Lupin's head turned away, and Ron could hear a girl shrilly screaming "Daddy! Pay attention to me--OW!" Lupin turned back around. "That should take care of her for a bit."

"If she's Sirius's daughter, why is she calling you Daddy?" Ron asked.

Lupin sighed. "Unfortunately, lack of a grounding in basic biology is making things difficult with this one. Anyways, where's Harry and Hermione?"

Ron shrugged. "Hermione's met some guy, and she's off with him. Harry was sent to the infirmary earlier, but he didn't have to stay the night, so I've got no clue where he is."

Lupin frowned. "What happened to him?"

"He sort of went into shock after seeing Snape all happy with a basket of kittens."

Lupin made an odd noise that Ron was pretty sure was a stifled laugh. "That's part of the downside of Snape being the spy. He got infected before he even told us what was going on. Poor man." He shook his head. "Ron, you need to watch out for Harry. Snape hasn't reported to us, and now I understand why, but you know as well as I that he's Voldemort's main target. I don't know what they'll send after him, but I wouldn't want to meet it."

Ron nodded. "I'm not doing too bad with keeping them off, but they mostly come to me looking for Harry anyways. You wouldn't believe how many sisters he has."

"Glad to hear it. You--" Lupin glanced behind him with a look of annoyance. "This one's up and moving again. I've got to go, Ron, but just stay strong."

"Thanks," Ron said, and watched Lupin's head disappear. He settled back into the armchair, trying to relax, but found himself completely unable to do so. Where was Harry? It was driving him crazy. Well, there was only one thing to do now.

He crept up the stairs and into the boys' dormitory. What met his eyes was a horrible sight. Yes, Neville, Dean, and Seamus were here, along with Gary and Hermione. What Ron hadn't counted on were the fifteen or twenty girls hanging about and giggling madly. He really hadn't counted on about half of them charging him as soon as he came in the door.

"Back!" he shouted, fighting his way through. "Get out of my way! Now!" He finally managed to make it to Harry's trunk, where not even the gaggle of girls around him noticed him pulling the Invisibility Cloak out. He made a mad dash for the door and slammed it behind him, then stood in the hallway panting for a moment. That had been scary.

He looked down at the cloak. "Harry, you know I'd normally never touch your stuff, but this is an emergency," he muttered before wrapping it around himself and heading for the dormitory door.