A Potter Secret

Facing Snape

Each House stands together as a group, the room buzzing. No one sits. Harry is nowhere to be seen. At the Tall Table at the top of the Hall two death eaters, Amycus and Alecto Carrow, stand like sinister sentinels, their eyes raking the crowd. Professor McGonagall, her face ashen, her bearing reduced, stands along the right wall, while Flitwick stands by the left wall. As Snape enters, the room goes slowly silent. "Many of you are surely wondering why I have summoned you here at this hour. It has come to my attention that earlier this evening Harry Potter was sighted in Hogsmeade," Snape calls. A murmured thrill fills the Hall. McGonagall's eyes glisten with curiosity. Snape raises his voice, briefly, to quell the noise in the Hall. "I mention this in the hopes that truth will not be supplanted by rumor. For myself and a few select members of the staff this comes as little surprise. We have, for some time, considered Mr. Potter's return to Hogwarts to be not only possible but inevitable. Consequently, in the past several months and under my specific direction, exhaustive defensive strategies have been employed to defeat any attempt Mr. Potter might make to breach these walls. But know this. Should anyone, student or staff, attempt to aid Mr. Potter, that person will be punished in a manner consistent with the severity of their transgression. Rest assured, So long as I am Headmaster at Hogwarts, Harry Potter will never again step foot in this castle." As applause erupts from the Slytherins, Maisy Reynolds, glowers over at them. Snape raises a hand. The room returns to silence. "Now then. If anyone here has knowledge of Mr. Potter's movements this evening I invite them to step forward now."

Snape's eyes rake the Hall. Dead silence. A nervous shift of glances. And then footsteps. A figure appears in the shadows at the back of the Hall. McGonagall's chin rises in disbelief. Maisy's face blooms with hope. "I think I can help you out with that," Harry calls. Harry appears with Isabella at his side. "It would seem that, despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you have a bit of a security problem, Headmaster." Snape stares in stunned disbelief, then his gaze shifts as one by one, others emerge, Ron. Hermione. Lupin. Arthur. Molly. Fred. George. Percy. Luna. Dean Thomas. Bill. Fleur. Kingsley Shacklebolt. "And I'm afraid it's rather extensive." The Carrows, who had been moving towards Harry, falter, turn to Snape with uncertainty. Harry's eyes narrow with malice as he stares at Snape. "How dare you stand where he stood," Harry says. Snape watches Harry draw his wand, point it at him. "Tell them how it was that night. Tell them how you looked him in the eye, a man who trusted you, and killed him. Tell them!" Harry demands.

Snape's eyes find Harry's, but his face remains a mask. McGonagall stands poised, no longer an ashen ghost. Flitwick's hand twitches over his wand. The air prickles with anticipation. Snape moves as if to retrieve his wand. McGonagall steps forward and sends a volcanic blast Snape's way. Pivoting, he parries the spell, barely, and sends it ricocheting around the room. Chaos ensues. Flitwick and the rest of the staff -inspired by Harry and McGonagall, leap forth, wands out. Snape, outnumbered, standing at the epicenter, parries spell after spell with astonishing skill deflecting two of the curses into Alecto and Amycus Carrow. Snape takes the measure of the room and sweeps his wand over his head, reducing the torches that line the wall to smoke and pitching the hall into total darkness. As students scream, a great whooshing sound fills the hall and some flying thing flickers past the windows, rattling the panes before blasting through one. Instantly, the torches burst back to life and we see that it's McGonagall, wand raised aloft, who's done it. In the moonlight, Harry can see a batlike creature beating into the night. McGonagall peers bitterly into the darkness. "Coward! COWARD! And he didn't even stay to fight!" McGonagall calls after him. She turns to Harry. "Mr. Potter, do you mind telling me what you're doing here, which, I trust you realize, is an act of complete and utter lunacy?" McGonagall asks.

"I'm a Gryffindor," Harry reminds.

"I thought it might have something to do with that," McGonagall smiles. Turning to the room, she calls, "All right! Settle down! Settle down!" The room quiets. "It appears that your Headmaster, to use the common phrase, has done a bunk." Cheers rise from all Houses save Slytherin, where Pansy Parkinson glowers along with Blaise and Goyle. Even McGonagall can't help but smile. Just then, Harry winces slightly, pressing his fingers to his temple. "Potter!" McGonagall cries.

A slow rumbling fills the hall. Harry, fingers trembling with pain, glances up, sees dark clouds coagulating in the enchanted ceiling. McGonagall follows his gaze, as do others, watching as the clouds shift eerily, like blots of blood. Suddenly the flames in the torches along the walls tremble as a chill breeze consumes the room. The hall slowly dims. All grows progressively silent when a girl screams, her voice rising and rising. Harry rushes through the throng, the students parting as he pelts forwards, pushing past them until he finds Maisy, cowering on the floor in the corner, hands over her ears, eyes clenched tight. She seems possessed. Everyone watches, chilled. Finally Harry starts to move forward, when he himself winces, pressing his fingers to his temples. Another person screams somewhere in the hall, then another. Harry glances about him, at the circle of faces in his vicinity. All are a mirror image of Maisy now, grimacing in pain. Harry stares, confused, stricken with pain, when a voice blooms in his head in a deathly whisper. "I know that many of you will want to fight. Some of you may even think this wise. But this is folly," Voldemort hisses. We weave through the room, taking in the faces, listening in mute misery as Voldemort speaks. Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Seamus on and on. "I wish you no harm. I have great respect for the students of Hogwarts. I was once one myself after all. I ask for but one thing and if granted no magical blood shall be spilt." For a moment they stand, hung in silence. "Give me Harry Potter. Do this and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded."

With that, the whisper recedes and those in the Hall slowly surface back into the prickling ambience of the here and now. Above them, the clouds evaporate in the Enchanted Ceiling. And then, like iron filings flaking to the surface of a magnet, every eye finds Harry. For a moment, silence. Then, Pansy Parkinson jabs her finger at Harry. "But he's there! Potter's there! Someone grab him!" Pansy cries.

Instinctively, Ginny and Isabella step in front of Harry, wands drawn. Then, as one, the Gryffindors assemble in a line and face towards the Slytherins, shielding Harry. Moments later, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs do the same. Harry's eyes glitter at the sight, moved. Ginny lowers her wand. Just then Filch bursts in the Hall. "Students out of bed! Students in the corridors!" Filch shouts. Filch stops dead, as Mrs. Norris wends through his legs.

"They're supposed to be out of bed, you blithering idiot!" McGonagall assures.

"Oh. Sorry, ma'am," Filch mutters. Filch begins to turn away.

"Wait! As it turns out, Mr. Filch, your arrival is most opportune. If you would, I'd like you to lead Miss Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin House from the Hall," McGonagall instructs.

"Right away. Er, exactly where is it I'd be leadin' em to, mum?"

"The dungeons should do," McGonagall smiles. Cheers rise again and McGonagall's eyes turn on Harry. She rises up to full height, her jaw firm. "I presume you have a reason for returning, Potter. What is it you need?"

"Time. As much as you can give me," Harry replies.

"Do what you have to do. I'll secure the castle," McGonagall says.

"Is that possible, Professor?" Harry asks.

"We teachers are rather good at magic, Potter. We've even been known to turn out a worthwhile witch or wizard on occasion. I think it's time I ask a few of them to take their magic beyond the classroom. What d'you think?" McGonagall asks.

Harry follows McGonagall's gaze, sees Neville and Ginny conferring with a sprinkling of DA members. "I think you're right," Harry agrees.

McGonagall nods, still sizing up Neville and the others. Harry turns, starts to exit. "By the way, Potter," McGonagall says as he looks back. "It's good to see you."

"You, too, Professor," Harry assures.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

-bottom|?