Things Better Left Unsaid (Snape love story)

Chapter Twenty Six: Night Terrors

Chapter Twenty Six

My hand flew to my mouth in absolute horror. Dumbledore... Dead? How? Why? My head suddenly bloomed full of questions, all urgent and frightened.

Everyone else seemed to feel the exact same way, and Fleur broke down into tears across from me, burying her face in her elegant pale hands. Bill rubbed her back, looking quite unnerved himself as he watched his father with sad and strong eyes.

"How, Arthur?" Came the question we were all wondering, from Remus's mouth. I wet my lips in anticipation at the answer, not sure of the entity of its outcome. Would it have been murder? Natural? Accidental? I knew that Hogwarts was being rumored unsafe lately, but this... It just puts to topper on the cake. Hogwarts is on a downhill slope, and without Dumbledore, the fate is even more iffy.

Molly gripped her husbands arm in a silent plea, though she too was in tears. Arthur took another breath, his chest shaking with a repressed sob. "Death Eaters."

This brought even more commotion to the group, and suddenly, everyone from the table had joined in. Questions flew in every which-way, some pointed at Arthur and others aimless in direction. I could hardly breathe. Death Eaters in Hogwarts. That's never happened before. That meant that the rumors were true.

That meant that Snape was behind this. It was almost an unspoken knowing between everyone in the group, judging by their expressions and words of horror and disbelief.

Someone spoke louder than the rest. "Who's taken over?" George asked, his tone both aghast and disheveled. Sadness and anger laced everyone in the room as we waited.

"Snape is now headmaster." Arthur answers, his voice tired with emotion and physical hardship. He hadn't gotten past the name before the room erupted, howling with complaints and disbelief and anger. But no one was more shocked than I was. More angry, yes. More sad, yes. But not more shocked. I stood in silence for a few moments as everyone around me bickered and discussed this, getting my thoughts in order.

Snape was headmaster. That's not how it was supposed to be-- Minerva was supposed to take over the school when Dumbledore was gone. And now, what? Death Eaters roamed the halls freely? What was becoming of my precious home? Just earlier today, I was thinking back lovingly to my schooldays, how much youthful fun and good, safe adventure I had. Now all I could see was dark silent hallways and miserable students. Hogwarts was supposed to be the bet times of their lives. I felt personally wronged as I thought of the students who were being cheated out of what I had.

"What are we going to do?" I asks aloud, hoping someone would hear me over the loud talking of the others.

Fred laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. I looked over at him hopefully, and he gave me a small smile. "We'll think if something, Mina." He told me, and I nodded. There had to be something.

Arthur suddenly cleared his throat, quieting most of the people. "There's more." The man wince slightly at the spud of his own voice, and Molly soothed him at his side. He paused a moment, looking more sullen by the second. "He Who Must Not Be Named is back."

That in itself was enough to blow the roof off the house.

"Dumbledore is dead, Snape is headmaster, there are Death Eaters in Hogwarts, and Voldemort is back-- how on earth could this get any worse?" I spoke rapidly, my tone edged in worry and sorrow.

I stood pacing in the Weasley home, Fred and I having retired to our assigned room for the night. After the commotion at dinner, I couldn't manage to swallow a bite of food, not to mention the emotional exhaustion that swept over me.

Fred sighed, patting the spot next to him on the bed. I eyed it a moment before joining him there. "Darling, you've got to calm down. You'll get no where like this tonight." He soothed me, wrapping an arm around me.

I shook my head, closing my eyes. "I don't know what I'll do. I just know that I cant sit here like this; not when a war is on the edge of breaking out at my home." I buried my face in my hands, letting a long breath out.

This seemed hopeless. What were we even going to do? We couldn't very well storm into the school and demands that the Death Eaters leave. Not with Snape as headmaster. Especially not without a plan, unless we were looking for death and injury on top of defeat.

"Then get some sleep. We'll know more in the morning." Fred's voice eased its way into my better thinking, and he carefully tucked a loose lock of hair behind my ear.

I took a deep breath, coming to my senses at last. He was right; it would do no good for me to sit here and worry myself into sickness. I should just lay down, close my eyes, and get some sleep. A good nights sleep. Thinking about him-- it would only make me feel worse, and guilty at that, laying here with Fred and thinking about Snape. The only other person who knew was dead, which made the two of us compatriots the only living ones aware of the little affair. It was a comforting thought, though, knowing no one else knew. Unless he told someone, of course.

So, I kicked out of my pants and snuggled under the covers, next to a man I was sure I could love.

My dreams were haunted. Mentally, I was aware that I was asleep, and that it was merely a dream. Yet, it felt consuming in a way that was real; as if I was in some alternate reality living. I knew that I was asleep in actuality, laying next to Fred. I knew that my newfound knowledge of Snape and Hogwarts was what caused my dreams.

I just didn't know why it had to feel so damn real. I was my older self, not much different from my schoolgirl self only two years ago, though I felt older. I was fully aware of all the events that had passed since my lat days here, as well as the pain that still etched into me from it. My last days here were the worst for me. I constantly worried about of he would come for me, or speak to me at all. What would happen ice I left and had no reason to see him ever again. It hurt, and I just wished that I could make him feel how he made end feel as I watched the castle disappear through the mist atop the lake.

I stood here, in the classroom where most of it had taken place. Arms crossed, I peered around the empty room, only potion ingredients to keep me company.

A large rumble up ahead had shaken the stone walls and tall vaulted ceiling, which then cast a small spray of dust showering over me. Cringing a bit, I hardly had time to take another breath as the door swung wide open, hitting the wall hard.

I was met with my father. If it wasn't obvious that this was a dream, it was now, seeing as he had died just a few short months ago. I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it. "What're you doing down here, girl?" He yelled, mad eye twitching to the sides furiously.

I threw my hands out. "I don't know!" I yelled in return, befuddled. Another loud bang from above that shook the room, this time sprinkles of rock falling down on us, and my father ran over to me, grabbing my arms.

"The fights begun! Quickly, girl!" He said urgently, shaking me.

I stared at him, wide-eyed and terrified. "I can't go there now-- I've got to find him!" My tone was more of a plea than a statement, and I struggled against his grasp on my arms as he drug me towards the door.

He didn't pay any mind to my reluctance, though, as he pulled me along. As we came to the doorway, I snatched my arm away. "This isn't real; you're not real!" My tone was afraid, though I couldn't really say what for. Afraid to fight, maybe. Afraid to see what my childhood had been reduced to, more likely.

He turned to me, his expression frighteningly stark. "This is as real as it gets, Philomena." I opened my mouth to speak, but the rumble above had come again, this time even louder than before, as if some explosion occurred, and the shower of rocks were baseball-sized.

I cast a horrified look at my father, who grabbed a hold of me yet again, clumps of rock narrowly missing him as they fell. He violently shook me. "Come on, girl! Hurry!" He screamed at me, and just before the ceiling collapsed, I could make out another figure appearing in the background, shrouded in black cloth.