The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow II » Harry Potter

2.70 | To Keep Going

Number 3, Aubrey Place

As soon as Margaret had read the words, the parchment vanished with a sizzle of smoke. A sense of powerful magic washed over her, settling somewhere behind her heart. She did not have a shred of doubt about what had happened:

Margaret was the Secret Keeper of the place.

If she had a hint of strength left, if she could draw power from her shock and excitement, she would have teleported to the address right away.

But exhaustion was pressing down on her so badly that her lips were going numb and her head was swimming. She folded her arms on the desk and rested her head on them, slipping in and out of consciousness as Fawkes sang a lovely lullaby over her.

It must have only been minutes when voices sounded from the other side of the door, causing Fawkes to quiet down. Margaret lifted her head with much difficulty, listening through her drowsy daze. She could recognise Professor McGonagall's voice as well as Harry's; it suddenly became apparent that this room was behind the Headmaster's desk.

"Harry," Professor McGonagall was saying, "I would like to know what you, Margaret and Professor Dumbledore were doing this evening when you left the school."

"I can't tell you that, Professor," Harry says at once.

"Harry, it might be important," says Professor McGonagall.

"It is," says Harry. "Very. But he didn't want me to tell anyone."

Professor McGonagall was quiet for a moment before saying, "Potter" - there was the renewed use of his surname - "in wake of Professor Dumbledore's death, I think you must see that the situation has changed somewhat-"

"I don't think so," says Harry. "Professor Dumbledore never told me to stop following his orders if he died."

"But-" begins Professor McGonagall incredulously, but before she could go on, there was a knock on the door on the far end of the study.

"Snape!" came Slughorn's shaking exclamation. "Snape! I taught him! I thought I knew him!"

"Minerva," says an unrecognisable voice urgently, "the Minister will be here within seconds, he has just disapparated from the Ministry."

"Thank you, Everard," says Professor McGonagall, and Margaret guessed that this was a portrait. "I want to talk about what happens to Hogwarts before he gets here," continues Professor quickly. "Personally, I am not convinced that the school should reopen next year. The death of the headmaster at the hands of one of our colleagues is a terrible stain upon Hogwarts's history. It is horrible."

"I am sure Dumbledore would have wanted the school to remain open," says Professor Sprout. "I feel that if a single student wants to come, then the school ought to remain open for that student."

"But will we have a single student after this?" says Slughorn reasonably, sniffing loudly. "Parents will want to keep their children at home, and can we blame them? I don't think we're in more danger at Hogwarts than we are anywhere else, but you can't expect parents to think like that. They'll want to keep their families together, it's only natural."

"I agree," says Professor McGonagall quietly. "And, it is not true to say that Dumbledore never envisaged a situation in which Hogwarts might close. When the Chamber of Secrets reopened, he considered the closure of the school - and I must say that Professor Dumbledore's murder is more disturbing to me than the idea of Slytherin's monster living undetected in the bowels of the castle..."

"Not as disturbing? The monster was attacking students, endangering all residents," says Margaret quietly to Fawkes. "It was pure luck nobody died!"

The phoenix tilted his head at her.