Harry Potter - The Accidental Animagus

Chapter 56 - Valentine's Day

“Dumbledore’s gone? Are they mad?!”

“The muggle-borns won’t stand a chance with him gone.”

“Someone’s gonna die at this rate; mark my words.”

“How’s anyone gonna find the Chamber now?”

“They arrested Hagrid? What does he have to do with anything?”

“I heard that’s why he was expelled.”

“They should’ve got rid of Potter.”

“They should’ve got rid of the Slytherins.”

The mood in the Great Hall was more anxious than ever when Dumbledore failed to show up at dinner, and Professor McGonagall reluctantly announced that he had been suspended by the Board of Governors. Not even twenty-four hours after the last attack, and things seemed even worse than before.

Cedric Diggory was the only voice of reassurance in the Great Hall. With three of the victims being Hufflepuffs, many of the half-bloods and even purebloods who were friends of the victims were starting to worry that they might be next. “Listen, guys,” he said, “you don’t need to panic. My dad’s on the Board of Governors. He just owled me a note saying they’re still supporting Dumbledore’s safety measures, and he’s leading a new committee to try to catch the Heir. They do have a plan.”

The mood at the Gryffindor table was little better. As Dumbledore’s house, they had particularly believed in him to save the day, and with him gone, everyone was looking around nervously, wondering who would be next. Hermione and Harry were both very concerned that Hermione had probably been the real target last night. They sat huddled together beside Neville and picked at their food. Hermione’s hands were still shaking from time to time, and her magic was shaking with them. Finally, with one particularly bad tremor, her knife and fork flew out of her hands, flipped through the air, and embedded themselves points-first in the table.

“Whoa!” Neville said.

“Hey, hey!” Harry said, awkwardly grabbing his sister’s trembling hands. “Centre yourself, remember? Take a deep breath…”

Hermione remembered her years of mental discipline with karate and later with Occlumency and animagus training and calmed herself down. “Sorry,” she muttered.

“What was that?” asked Parvati Patil.

“Just, uh, lost control there for a minute,” she said. “Harry, I’m really not hungry tonight.” She leaned against him and started scratching him behind the ears, mostly for her own comfort, which indicated she was really shaken up this time.

“Me either,” Harry replied. He nudged her to stop when the people around them gave them a funny look. “But McGonagall says we’ve gotta stick with our House. Just wait. We’ll call home when we get back to the Tower.” Harry was angry—angry and scared—a dangerous combination. It had been a long time since he’d seen his sister this scared. He felt like he had last year when Quirrellmort kidnapped her, but this time, there was no evil wizard for him to fight to save her. The thought made his own magical control slip. He heard his plate rattling on the table, but soon got it back under control. This couldn’t go on much longer. People were already starting to point and whisper at them.