Black

XXVIII // The Wrath of McGonagall

Thursday

January 8, 1978

Dumbledore's Office

If this was a book I was writing, and not my most Secret Diary, I would never have left my last entry on that note. Could you imagine if someone was reading this and read everything that happened to Lily and the others and then I just left it on what could be deemed a most awful cliffhanger and then for some reason they couldn't just immediately read my next entry? Good thing the only person who is reading this is me, right! Well, there had better not be anybody else reading this. If there's one thing I care about, it's my privacy. 

Speaking of said cliffhanger, I should recap what has just happened.

A Short List Compiled by Evelyn K. O. Bishop Concerning the Events that Occurred Shortly Before Being Dragged to Professor A. P. W. B. Dumbledore's office by Professor M. McGonagall:

1. I was rudely awoken by Lottie, who dragged me downstairs.

2. I was surprised to find Lily bleeding quite profusely from her forearm, causing me to do my best to heal it to avoid her dying from blood loss. You know, the usual. 

3. Lottie, Lily, James, Black and I subtly panicked whilst waiting for Remus and Marlene to reveal their fate.

4. Remus revealed his fate, and, also, McGonagall.

5. McGonagall left with Lily, James and Remus, leaving Black, Lottie and I to panic and enter into a reassuring group huddle on the couch. Never to be repeated. 

6. McGonagall returned, leading us to Dumbledore's office, and then left, leaving Lottie, Black and I, as well as Lily, James, Remus and thankfully Marlene anxiously waiting for someone to come and let us know if we were going to die or perhaps even be expelled. Quite a series of events for one to go through in the space of an hour or so, I might add. 

This brings me up to date. 

We are now all sitting here silently aside from the scratching of my quill. I may have noticed Lottie giving me a couple of looks about the quill scratching but what does she expect me to do, not write it down? 

Oh thank Merlin, McGonagall's back, and Dumbledore is too. I thought perhaps the other heads of house would be here but they're not, so I can't say for certain if we'll be getting expelled.

"Alright," said McGonagall. "I am going to need you all to tell me, one at a time, the events that have led to what happened tonight, as well as every detail from tonight's encounter. Perhaps Mr Potter, you would like to begin?"

Potter stared blankly at McGonagall for a second before clearing his throat, saying, "Oh, right. Sorry Professor... Um, I guess it all started... Oh. When did it start?"

"When Eva overheard Snape and I think maybe Avery talking in the library?" said Lily.

Everyone turned expectantly to me. "Actually, I think it started on my birthday," I said. "I didn't really think about it at the time, but when I sneaked into the Slytherin Common Room (the professors raised their eyebrows at that) I overhead some of them talking about needing to brew something in time for something. Later in the library I overhead them talking about it again, a secret plan for something nefarious of some sort. After that I think we agreed to keep our eyes on them, to try and find out what they were up to. Snape and Nott and Avery and Regulus Black, that is."

"And you didn't think to perhaps inform me of this?" asked McGonagall, her voice dangerously shrill.

"We thought that if we talked to you or Dumbledore about it you'd put a stop to it and we wouldn't be able to catch them and we'd have no idea what they were planning anymore," said James. "That was why we started our own investigation. Sirius and Eva followed them a few nights ago and found out that they were brewing polyjuice potion and that they had something planned for tonight. Then we thought we'd follow them and stop whatever it was but we never thought that... That it would all happen how it did."