The One With All The Slytherins

Chapter 11: Year 1

Luckily, Madam Pince had heard Lainey's screams and had come running out to help. Horrified by the scene in front of her, she rushed the both of us to the Hospital Wing and I used my powers to drag Lainey behind us while we ran. The library and the Hospital Wing were on the same floor so it was a quick trip but it had felt like I had been without Lainey for years now.

    Madam Pomfrey cried out when she saw Lainey and I.

    "They were-they were just reading in the library before-" Madam Pince was cut off short by McGonagall and Snape who sprinted through the doors. I was waiting for Dumbledore to show but he never appeared in the doorway. My heart sank into a state of doom. My tear stained face now stared at the Professors with a look of helplessness but they just looked back at me with pure terror.

    "Gather everyone immediately," McGonagall ordered Snape, her voice shaky. "The school is shutting down."

    "No," I exclaimed. "Y-you can't just shut the school down. What about all of them?"

    I pointed to Hermione, Lainey, and the rest of my classmates and friends who had been attacked.

    "I am sorry, Miss Higgins. It has to be done. It is too dangerous here-"

    "Professor McGonagall, if I may," Snape interrupted politely- for once. "I think Miss Higgins is right. It would be silly to waste all of our energy on getting the students out when we should be worried about getting the monster out. I think we should simply just go into a more secure lockdown."

    I nodded in agreement and looked at Snape, thoroughly impressed. I wiped my crying face with my robes. McGonagall looked in between Snape and I for minutes before finally coming to a conclusion.

    "Fine," She declared. Snape and I grinned at each other but our smiles quickly vanished when we realized what we were doing.

    Ten minutes later, McGonagall had made the announcement to every Common Room and every teacher, student, and animal breathing in the castle that we were going into lockdown for good. Professor Sprout had run into the Hospital Wing where the three of us still stood. I needed to get out of there to go get Ron and Harry but I was just stuck with reading his mind right now because I couldn't just blurt random things out like 'Hurry!' and 'Let's go!' in front of Snape and McGonagall. They'd think I'd actually gone crazy.

    "Minerva- the Mandrakes. They-they are not ready yet! We cannot go into lockdown yet," Professor Sprout cried, her lower lip quivering.

    McGonagall sighed and looked in between Snape and I. "Pomona, I am sorry. There is nothing I can do to stop this lockdown at this point. Why don't you go retrieve the Mandrakes from the greenhouse and bring them in here? That way, we can all help."

    Professor Sprout hustled away and I turned to McGonagall. "Why is this happening? What is this monster trying to prove?"

"As of right now, Miss Higgins, we cannot say. You are just very lucky it didn't harm you as well. We need you in these final moments."

    I smiled at her compliment but I was also slightly panicking. I glanced out the windows of the Hospital Wing and when I saw what looked like two headlights, I sprinted out of the room. I knew whose car that was and it wasn't a professor's.

    "When are you closing the doors?" I asked her right before I left the room.

    "To the castle?" McGonagall asked. I nodded and she checked her watch. "One minute."

    I cussed loudly as I slammed the door. I needed to get Ron and Harry in here before they closed the door. The doors closed in now approximately 50 seconds...But they were 90 seconds away.