"Can anyone tell me what happened here?" Professor McGonagall sternly surveyed the young lions gathered in the Common Room.
For once, she was not wearing her usual neat robes, but only a checked shirt with a trench coat over it. Her hair was merely tied back, a complete departure from her usual appearance.
Yet her expression was more serious than they had ever seen it.
No one knew how she had learned that the Gryffindor students were all gathered in the Common Room instead of resting in their dormitories, but she had arrived just then.
The young wizards looked at one another before finally turning their gazes on Harry and Ron.
After all, apart from those two, even Neville had not actually seen Sirius Black.
"Professor, Sirius Black came into our dormitory just now. He was right beside Ron's bed. I saw him, and he was holding a knife," Harry told her what he had seen.
Professor McGonagall frowned slightly. Rather than commenting, she turned to Ron.
With anyone else, Ron would certainly have embellished the story considerably, perhaps even inventing a series of fierce exchanges between himself and Black.
He was good at that.
But faced with Professor McGonagall's stern expression, he did not dare. He could only tell the truth. "I'm not sure whether the person standing there was Black, but he was definitely a disheveled man holding a knife."
Professor McGonagall still gave no indication either way. After a moment's thought, she turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, are you certain that the person you saw was Sirius Black?"
Harry opened his mouth, unsure for a moment how to answer the question.
Certain?
Although he had seen the man's profile, his tangled hair had covered most of his face. Apart from those somewhat bloodshot eyes, Harry had not