The worst night
Harry hurries along the seventh floor corridor, barely dodging a couple of bits of chalk thrown at him by Peeves and sends a defensive jinx in the Poltergeist’s direction before slipping round the corner. Once Peeves’ cackles have faded away, the corridors are deadly quiet except for Harry’s echoing footsteps.
Then suddenly a scream cuts through the silence, followed by a heavy crash. Harry stops dead in his tracks and listens intently.
”How — dare — you — aaarrrgh!”
Harry locates the noise to another corridor nearby and sprints over, wand at the ready. He hurtles round another corner and stumbles upon Professor Trelawney, sprawled on the floor amongst several sherry bottles, one of them broken, her many shawls covering her head until she manages to tear them off, some of her glittering beads getting stuck in her spectacles in the process.
”Professor —” Harry exclaims and hurries over and offers her a hand up. ”What happened?”
”You may well ask!” She says shrilly. ”I was just strolling along, brooding upon certain Dark portents I happen to have glimpsed…”
Harry looks up at the wall next to which Trelawney had collapsed and realises with a jolt where they are; on the right was the tapestry of dancing trolls so familiar to him by now, and on the left, the even more familiar stretch of stone wall that Harry knows to conceal —
”Professor, were you trying to get into the Room of Requirement?”
”—omens that I have — what?”
The professor blinks at Harry, slightly startled.
”The Room of Requirement, or the Come And Go Room?” Harry says. ”Were you trying to get in there?”
”Well I — I didn’t know students knew about —”
”What happened?” Harry interrupts. ”You screamed, it sounded as though you were hurt?”
”I — well —” Professor Trelawney straightens up and pulls and shawls around herself more tightly, her magnified eyes staring down at Harry as she shiftsher weight from one foot to the other. ”I wished to deposit — ah — certain — um — personal items in the Room, you see…”
”Right”, Harry says and glances at the sherry bottles still scattered on the floor at their feet, as the Professor mutters something about nasty accusations under her breath. ”But you couldn’t get in and hide them?”
”Oh, I got in alright”, Professor Trelawney says and glares att he wall. ”But there was somebody already in there, you see!”
”Somebody in —? Who?” Harry demands, his heartbeat quickening immediately. ”Professor! Who was in there?”
”I have no idea!” she splutters, slightly taken aback by the urgency in Harry’s voice. ”I walked into the Room and I heard a voice, which has never happened before in all my years of hiding — er — I mean, of using the Room…”
”A voice? Saying what?”
”I don’t know that it was saying anything, it was more… whopping.”
”Whooping?”
”Yes, gleefully”, Professor Trelawney says, nodding.
”Like whoever it was, was celebrating?”
”Most definitely.”
”And then —?”
”And then I called out, ’Who’s there?’ naturally…”
No, Harry thinks in frustration and barely refrains from smacking his forehead with his palm.
”And did whoever it was tell you who they were?”
”No, they did not”, Professor Trelawney says indignantly and straightens her shawls. ”Everything went pitch black and the next thing I know, I’m being hurled headfirst out of the Room!”
”And you didn’t see that coming?” Harry asks before he can stop himself.
”No, I did not, as I say it was pitch —” Professor Trelawney stops short and glares suspisciously at Harry.
Before she’s taken offense and stormed off in a huff, Harry distracts her by suggesting she come with him to Dumbledore so she can tell him about being thrown out of the Room of Requirement. Dumbledore needs to know that Malfoy is celebrating, he thinks.
Professor Trelawney however draws herself up further at the mention of Dumbledore, looking decidedly haughty and informs Harry that the Headmaster has made it clear that he would prefer fewer visits from her and that she is not about to force her company on anyone who doesn’t appreciate the information her Inner Eye can supply them with.
Harry manages to keep his eyes from rolling towards the ceiling, and gives the woman his most sincere look.
”I still think you should tell him. I’m going to see him right now, I’ve a meeting with him you see. Why don’t we go together?”
”Oh, well, in that case…” Professor Trelawney says. ”Oh, all right then…”
She scoops up the sherry bottles and dumps them in a nearby vase, then links her arm with Harry’s as they set off down the same corridor that Harry had come running from and proceeded to give Harry a detail description of the omens the cards had shown her.
”I am afraid that the nag — I’m sorry, the centaur — knows nothing of cartomancy, Harry. I asked him you know — one Seer to another — had he not, too, sensed the distant vibrations of coming catastrophe and do you know, he seemed to find me almost comical! Yes, comical!”
As she leans in, Harry gets a whiff of sherry and quickly turns his face away but makes sure to nod in all the appropriate places as the Professor continues to talk.
”Perhaps the horse has heard people say that I have not inherited my great-great-grandmother’s gift”, she says swiftly. ”Well, those rumours have been bandied about by the jealous for years. You know what I say to such people, Harry? Would Dumbledore have let me teach at this great school for so many years, had I not proved myself to him? — I well remember my first interview with Dumbledore; he was deeply impressed with my ability, of course… I was staying at the Hog’s Head at the time, funds were low you understand, and Dumbledore had the courtesy to come and see me in my room at the inn. And I must confess that, at first, he seemed ill-disposed toward the noble art of Divination, and I remember I started to feel a little odd, I had not eaten much that day… but then…”
Harry starts paying attention to Professor Trelawney’s story properly then, because he knows what happened after that: Professor Trelawney made the prophecy that altered the course of Harry’s entire life, the prophecy about him and Voldemort.
”…but then we were rudely interrupted by Severus Snape!”
”What?”
”Yes, there was a commotion outside the room and the door flew open, and there was the barman standing with Snape, who was bladdering on about having come the wrong way up the stairs or some such nonsense, but I believe he was eavesdropping on my interview with Dumbledore — you see, he was seeking a teaching post himself at the time! No doubt he was hoping to pick up some tips from my successful interview! — Well, anyway, Dumbledore offered me the job, and I couldn’t help thinking, Harry, that it was because he appreciated the contrast between my own unassuming manners and quiet talent, compared to the pushing young man who was prepared to listen at keyholes — Harry, dear?”
Professor Trelawney staggers to a stop, looking over her shoulder at Harry in surprise when it becomes clear that he’s not going to continue walking alongside her. A look of worry passes over the woman’s face and Harry can only assume what his own face must look like, all blood having drained from it. He feels cold all over. His heart is still pounding heavily in his chest, but the blood doesn’t seem to reach very far. He feels cold and numb, as waves of shock crashes over him. His ears are ringing.
Snape.
It was Snape who had overheard the prophecy. It was Snape who had carried the news of the prophecy to Voldemort. Snape had sent Voldemort to the doorstep of Lily and James Potter and their son… Snape had got his parents killed… It was all because of Snape, all of it… his parents dying, having to grow up with the Dursleys, having to hunt horcruxes with Dumbledore and eventually kill Voldemort, it’s all because of Snape…
”Harry?”
”I have to go”, Harry mumbles and turns on his heel.
”But — Harry? — Harry! I thought we were going to see the Headmaster together!”
Harry doesn’t reply, and he doesn’t turn around. Yes, he has an urgent meeting with Dumbledore. But right now, he needs to see Snape. He needs to see him. He needs to — he isn’t sure, maybe he needs to hear from him, maybe he needs to look Snape in the eyes and hear it confirmed — or maybe he needs to hear it denied…
He starts running again, faster and faster, his footsteps echoing loudly around him, his heart beating near his Adam’s apple. He hurtles down the steps to the dungeons and crashes against the door of Snape’s private quarters, banging hard on the wood as he catches his breath.
He waits, listens intently over the noise of his own breathing, but can’t hear a thing.
Fuck, he swears quietly to himself. He bangs on the door a couple of more times, but he’s already way too late for his meeting with Dumbledore and finally he gives up and doubles back.
He bellows the password at the Gargoyle and takes the spiral staircase three steps at a time. He bangs on the door just as aggressively as he’d banged on Snape’s door, but barely waits for Dumbledore’s calm Enter before he flings himself inside.
”Well, Harry, I promised that you could come with me”, Dumbledore says by way of greeting as he turns his back to the sunset to peer over his halfmoon spectacles at Harry.
For a moment, Harry is confused. The conversation with Trelawney and his anger at Snape has driven everything else away from his mind.
”Come… with you…?”
”If you still wish to come, of course.”
”If I…”
And then it all comes flooding back to him, why he’d been so eager to come to Dumbledore’s office in the first place.
”You’ve found one? You’ve found a horcrux?”
”I believe so”, the old man says with a gentle incline of his head.
Shock and excitement fights the rage and resentment already pushing at his seams, and for a moment Harry is too overwhelmed to speak.
”It is natural to be afraid”, Dumbledore says kindly.
”I’m not scared!” Harry scoffs at once, because out of all the emotions currently at war inside him, fear is not one. Still boiling with anger, and with his adrenalin spiking, Harry feels the need to do something rash and risky. ”I’m coming!”
”What’s happened?” Dumbledore says, a frown of worry creeping onto his face.
”Nothing. Let’s go—”
”Harry. What’s upset you?”
”Snape!” Harry barks finally. ”Snape’s what happened! He told Voldemort about the prophecy, didn’t he? Don’t lie to me, Professor Trelawney has already told me what happened! It was him! He was listening at the door, she told me!”
Dumbledore’s expression never wavers, except perhaps a sad glint in his eye as he regards Harry quietly.
”When did you finf out about this?” he asks at last.
”Just now! AND YOU LET HIM TEACH HERE! HE TOLD VOLDEMORT TO GO AFTER MY MUM AND DAD AND YOU LET HIM TEACH HER AND YOU SENT ME TO STAY WITH HIM OVER THE SUMMER AND GET TO KNOW HIM AND I STARTED TO — TO — ”
Harry swallows down the admission and turns away, balling his hands into fists he starts counting backwards from ten.
”Harry, please listen to me”, Dumbledore says quietly when he gets to four. ”Professor Snape made a terrible—”
”Don’t tell me it was a mistake—!”
”Please let me finish. Professor Snape made a terrible mistake. He was still in Lord Voldemort’s employ on the night he heard the first half of Professor Trelawney’s prophecy. Naturally he hastened to tell his master what he’d heard, for it concerned his master most deeply. But he did not know — he had no way of knowing — which boy Voldemort would hunt from then onwards, or that the parents he would destroy were people that Snape knew, that they were your mother and father …”
With a stab of pain, Harry remembers the story of the weird little loner boy who became best friends with the beautiful and popular muggle-born girl…
”You have no idea of the remorse Professor Snape felt when he realised how Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy, Harry…” Dumbledore continues.
We never made up, Snape had said in his emotionless voice, but there had been a look of pain on his face that he tried to hide behind a curtain of greasy hair. I never saw her alive again. But not a day goes by when I don’t think of her. I loved her.
Harry swallows down a mouthful of bile and shakes his head. It’s too much. He can’t deal with it right now. Not if he’s going to go with Dumbledore on one of his dangerous trips and try and find a horcrux.
”I can’t —”
He shakes his head again and takes a deep breath. Dumbledore seems to understand however and nods with a sad smile.
”Do you still wish to come with me tonight, Harry?”
”Yes”, Harry says at once.
*
The heavy smell of salt water and the sting of the night-chilled sea breeze vanish suddenly and Harry knows, even before opening his eyes again, that he’s succeeded in Disapparating from the cliff outside the cave, and with Dumbledore’s half-unconscious form still weighing him down as well. Taking a steadying deep breath he opens his eyes to the familiar sight of Hogsmeade’s High Street and feels a jolt of relief. Disapparating is one thing after all, but if he’d managed to land Dumbledore and himself in some unknown place instead of Hogsmeade, then who knows what he’d have done…
”We did it, Professor!” he whispers eagerly. ”We did it! We got the Horcrux, and escaped the Inferi!”
He shivers violently as a gust of wind suddenly hits him and presses his ice-cold, dripping robes harder against his body. Dumbledore staggers against him, as though the gust had pushed him over.
”Sir? Are you alright?” Harry asks, studying the old man’s pale face with worry.
”I’ve been better”, Dumbledore says weakly, with a subtle twitch of his lips. ”That potion… was no health drink…”
Then suddenly, Dumbledore goes limp and sinks to the ground. Harry grabs a hold of his arms and tries to pull him up again, horrified when the old man’s eyel lids flicker behind his halfmoon spectacles.
”Sir — it’s okay, Sir, you’re going to be all right, don’t worry —!”
Harry looks around in panic, but Hogsmeade is dead to the world. He knows he needs to get Dumbledore to the hospital wing immediately, but it’s impossible to Apparate onto Hogwarts grounds and Dumbledore is way too heavy for Harry to carry, or even support partially all the way up to the castle. Already the man is slipping from his grip. Harry tries to hoist him up again, clutching at his shoulders desperately.
”Sir”, he pants. ”We need to get you to the school… Madam Pomfrey… she’ll be able to help—”
”No”, Dumbledore moans. ”It is Professor Snape whom I need… But I do not think I can walk very far just yet…”
”Right”, Harry says and finally gives up and lets the man slump completely on the ground. ”Alright, Sir, listen, I’m going to go knock on a door, find you a place to stay, then I can run and get Madam Pom—”
”Severus”, Dumbledore interrupts him, voice stronger already. ”I need Severus.”
”All right fine, Snape then”, Harry relents, even though the thought of seeing the man makes his stomach churn, because even after everything that’s happened this evening, he still remembers what Trelawney told him.
He’s not ready to face Snape yet, but Dumbledore seems adament about it so that leaves Harry with little choice really.
”I’ll go get Snape, but I’m going to have to leave you for a moment so I can —”
But before Harry can make a move, he hears running footsteps and his heart leaps in his chest: someone has seen them after all, someone is coming to help — and looking around he sees Madam Rosmerta running down the street in high-heeled, fluffy slippers, her silk dressing-gown flapping around her.
”I saw you Apparate as I was pulling my bedroom curtains!” she pants heavily as she approaches them. ”Thank goodness! Thank goodness you’re here, I couldn’t think what to do — but what’s wrong with Albus?”
”He’s hurt”, Harry says shortly as she thunders to a stop next to them. ”Madam Rosmerta, can he come inside the Three Broomsticks while I go up to the school and get help for him?”
”You can’t go up there alone! Don’t you realise — haven’t you seen —?”
”If you just help me support him”, Harry says, not really listening to what she’s saying. ”I think we can get him inside —”
”What has happened?” Dumbledore asks suddenly alert once more. ”Rosmerta, what’s wrong?”
”The — the Dark Mark, Albus!”
Harry feels his stomach drop and dread chill his already ice-cold skin. Following Madam Rosmerta’s trembling finger as it points towards Hogwarts, he slowly turns his head and what he sees makes what little sensation he had left in body go completely numb.
There, hovering next to a crenel in the Astronomy Tower, the highest tower of the castle, like an ominous cloud, hung The Dark Mark, highlighted by magical lightening… the mark that the Death Eaters left behind whenever thet’d entered a building, whenever they’d murdered…
”Oh no”, Harry breathed out, as images of dead DA members and professors flitted through his mind, and one professor in particular, no matter how much Harry tried to dismiss him, kept coming back.
”When did it appear?” Dumbledore asks Madam Rosmerta and digs his fingers into Harry’s shoulder painfully and hoists himself up to standing again, and although he sways precariously on the spot and Harry can tell his hand his trembling where it stays clenched over his shoulder, the old man’s eyes have become sharp once again.
”Can’t have been more than a few minutes!” Madam Rosmerta says.
”We need to return to the castle at once”, Dumbledore says. ”We need transport. Rosmerta. Brooms —?”
”I’ve got a couple behind the bar!” She exclaims and starts to turn back towards the Three Broomsticks.
”No, Harry can get them”, Dumbledore says and nudges his shoulder.
”Accio Rosmerta’s brooms”, Harry says clearly.
Within seconds the front door of the pub slams open and two broomsticks comes racing through the air before they stop dead next to Harry. Dumbledore mounts one of them gingerly and tells Rosmerta to hurry back inside and send a message to the Ministry.
”Harry, you better put your Invisibility Cloak on”, he instructs, before kicking off.
Harry hurries to drape the Cloak over himself, before quickly soaring after Dumbledore in the dark. Dumbledore flew straight to the Astronomy Tower and dismounted his broomstick in the crenellated ramparts, his white hair and beard illuminated slightly by the green tint of the Dark Mark on the sky outside. Harry jumps off his own broom seconds later and looks around anxiously, expecting to see the dead body of… someone, anyone — Severus — anyone… But the ramparts are deserted.
The door to the spiral staircase leading down from the Tower is closed and there’s no sign of a struggle or anything. The relief Harry felt for a second is over just as quickly however when he turns to look at Dumbledore and catches him frowning in pain, his blackened hand clutching at his chest.
”Go and wake Severus”, he says faintly. ”Tell him what’s happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, talk to no-one and do not remove your Cloak. I will wait here — ”
”But — ”
”You swore to obey me, Harry! — Go!”
But as soon as Harry has taken a step towards the door, running footsteps can be heard from the other side. Dumbledore gestures for him to retreat again, and Harry does, drawing his wand carefully under the Cloak as he backs away.
The door bursts open and with a shouted Expelliarmus Draco Malfoy tumbles through it. Harry’s body goes rigid and he falls back against the Tower wall, propped up like a useless statue, unable to move or speak and gripped by confusion; Expelliarmus isn’t a Freezing Charm, so why —
Gazing sideways over at Dumbledore, Harry catches the old man’s wand fly out of his hand and topple over the edge of the crenel, and he understands what must have happened — Dumbledore had immobilised him wordlessly, and the second he had taken to perform the spell had cost him his only chance of defending himself against Malfoy.
”Good evening, Draco…” Dumbledore says and leans back against the ramparts calmly.
Malfoy glances around quickly, then his eyes land on the second broom.
”Who else is here?” he demands.
”I might ask you the same thing”, Dumbledore says. ”Or are you acting alone, Draco?”
”No, I’ve got back-up”, Malfoy says, his gaze flitting back to the Headmaster once more. ”There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight.”
Harry can’t decide if the look on Malfoy’s face is fear or excitement, but knowing the boy it’s probably a mix of both.
”Well, well”, Dumbledore says, sounding genuinely impressed. ”Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?”
”Yeah, right under your nose and you never realised!”
”Ingenious. Yet, forgive me, where are they now? You seem a little unsupported…”
”They met some of your guard, but they’ll be along… I just decided to come on ahead, you see, I’ve got a j-job to do.”
”Well, then, you must get on with it then, my deat boy”, Dumbledore says softly.
Harry stares incredulously at him. The old man’s eyes even seem to twinkle, despite the distinct frown of pain and exhaustion. And then, incredibly, a small smile twitches into place in the green-tinted beard. Harry glances over at Malfoy again, who looks as scandalised as Harry himself feels.
”Draco, Draco”, Dumbledore says gently. ”You are not a killer.”
”How do you know?” Malfoy demands at once and Harry gets the sense that he isn’t merely being contrary, he actually wants to know, but catching himself he shakes his head slightly and continues. ”You don’t know what I’m capable of, you don’t know what I’ve done!”
”Oh, yes, I do”, Dumbledore says, almost kindly. ”You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts… so feeble in fact that I wonder if your heart has really been in it…”
”It has been in it!” Malfoy growls. ”I’ve been working on it all year, and finally tonight —!”
A muffled yell can suddenly be heard from somewhere in the castle, and Malfoy stiffens and looks over his shoulder towards the door. Dumbledore also looks towards the door and remarks on the fight going on downstairs as though he was talking about the weather. Malfoy barely seems to hear him though, too pre-occupied with listening for approaching footsteps most likely.
”Perhaps you ought to get on with the job alone”, Dumbledore suggests then. ”What if your back-up has been thwarted by my guard? There are members of the Order of the Phoenix present at the castle tonight. And after all, you hardly need help… I have no wand at the moment, I cannot defend myself…”
When Malfoy says nothing, but merely stares at Dumbledore — definitely more fear than excitement in his eyes now, Harry notices — Dumbledore smiles again, but it is definitely pained now.
”I see”, he murmurs. ”You are afraid to act until they join you—”
”I’m not afraid!” Malfoy growls. ”It is you who should be scared!”
”But why? I don’t think you’ll kill me, Draco… You see, killing isn’t nearly as easy as the innocent believe… So tell me, while we wait for your friends, how did you manage to smuggle them into the castle?”
Malfoy finally tells Dumbledore about mending a broken Vanishing Cabinet — the one Montague got lost in the year before — and how it had a twin in Borgin and Burke’s and when working properly, as it now finally did, the two Cabinets acted as a kind of passage-way. Harry simply stares at the other boy. The Cabinet, he thinks incredulously. It was the Cabinet all this time!
”And when it looked like you might not be able to mend the broken one in the Room of Requirement, you resorted to more crude, and badly judged means, such as sending me a cursed necklace that was bound to get into the wrong hands, and poisoning a bottle of mead that there was only the slightest of chance that I might actually drink…”
”Yeah, well, you still didn’t know who was behind all that stuff, did you?”
”As a matter of fact, I did”, Dumbledore murmurs. ”I was sure it was you.”
”Why didn’t you stop me then?” Malfoy demands, and Harry silently agrees.
”I tried, Draco. Professor Snape has been keeping watch over you on my orders —”
”He hasn’t been doing your orders, he promised my mother —!”
”Of course that is what he would tell you, Draco, but —”
Harry’s heart leaps in his chest. Doesn’t Dumbledore know about the Unbreakable Vow?
He must know!
Yes, he knows, because Snape told him. Snape went and told him all about it, that same night, Harry thinks desperately, but a small part of him is screaming in doubt.
”He’s a double-agent, you stupid old man”, Malfoy exclaims. ”He isn’t working for you, you just think he is!”
No, Harry thinks in panic. No no no, that’s not true. Malfoy just thinks so.
But then he remembers what Trelawney told him.
Snape told Voldemort about the prophecy, it’s his fault my parents are dead. It’s all his fault.
And then Sirius voice trickles into his inner tirade, No-one ever stops being a Death Eater…
Oh Merlin… What if… Maybe —
”—I trust Professor Snape”, Dumbledore tells Malfoy — and probably Harry too — clearly, even as his body is slowly slumping further and further down the wall.
Malfoy who just sneers back at him, ”Well then, you’re losing your grip, old man!”
Maybe, maybe, maybe
No-one ever stops being a Death Eater
”You must have had an accomplice, someone in Hogsmeade”, Dumbledore changes the subject. ”Ah, of course… Rosmerta… The Imperius Curse?”
”Got there at last, have you?” Malfoy taunts.
He then tells Dumbledore that he’s been using enchanted coins to keep in touch with the pub owner, an idea he’d got from the DA.
There’s suddenly a loud bang and shouts coming from below, louder than the muffled noises of before, as though people were fighting on the actual spiral staircase leading up to the Astronomy Tower. Malfoy whips his head back round and stares over at the door, his pale drawn face almost ashen with fear now.
”There is little time, one way or another”, Dumbledore says. ”So let us discuss your options, Draco…”
”My options!” Malfoy says shrilly and whips his head back round again and stares at Dumbledore as though he’d just asked him to the Yule Ball. ”I’m standing here with my wand — I’m about to kill you — !”
”My dear boy, let us have no more pretence about that. If you were going to kill me, you’d have done it by now.”
”I haven’t got any options!” Malfoy says, his voice suddenly raw and his eyes distinctly desperate. ”I’ve got to do it! He’ll kill me! He’ll kill my whole family!”
”I can help you Draco…”
”No, you can’t”, Malfoy says, his wand hand shaking and his eyes filling up with tears. ”Nobody can. He told me to do it or he’ll kill me. I’ve got no choice.”
”Come over to the right side, Draco and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What more, I can send members of the Order of the Phoenix to your mother tonight to hide her as well. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban, but when the time comes we can protect him too… Draco, you are not a killer…”
”But I got this far”, Malfoy says slowly. ”They all thought I’d die in the attempt, but here I am. And you… you’re at my mercy —”
”No, Draco”, Dumbledore says quietly, but clearly. ”It is my mercy, not yours, that matters now.”
Malfoy’s wand hand is shaking more than ever, and he stares silently at Dumbledore as a couple of tears tumble over his lashes and splatter against his porcelain white cheeks. Then, ever so slowly, he starts to lower his wand —
Suddenly, footsteps are thundering up the stairs and before Malfoy has had a chance to react, he’s thrust aside by four people in black robes. Harry stares in mute horror as the four Death Eaters line up in a threatening semi-circle in front of Dumbledore. Dumbledore greets them mildly, and the stocky little woman titters angrily.
”Do it”, the strangers nearest to Harry growls at Malfoy.
”Is that you, Fenrir?” Dumbledore asks politely.
”That’s right”, the wild-looking man says with a leer. ”Pleased to see me, Dumbledore?”
”No, I cannot say that I am…”
”But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore!”
Harry stares in horror as the large man reveals his pointed teeth in a mocking smile that is more of a grimace than anything else. Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf who turned Remus Lupin, he thinks with start.
”Am I to take it that you are now attacking even without the full moon? That is most unusual… I am also a little shocked that Draco here invited you of all people into the school where his friends live…”
”I didn’t”, Malfoy says in a small voice, clearly avoiding looking at the werewolf. ”I didn’t know he was going to come —”
”I wouldn’t want to miss a trip to Hogwarts, Dumbledore”, Greyback rasps. ”Not when there are throats to be ripped out… delicious…”
”They’ve blocked the stairs — Reducto! REDUCTO!” someone suddenly shouts from downstairs and the scuffle of fighting resumes.
Harry’s heart leaps again and hope surges in his chest, as he realises that these four Death Eaters haven’t overpowered the Order, they’d simply broken free of the fight altogether and escaped up to the Tower, after barricating the stairs somehow. But that means there’s still hope. The Order might still win, might still get up here in time —
”Now, Draco, quickly!”
”I’ll do it —!”
”I said no! We’ve got orders. Draco’s got to do it! — Now, Draco, do it now —!”
The door to the ramparts suddenly bursts open for the third time and framed in the dim light from the staircase stands Snape — and despite everything that Harry has learned about the man this evening, and despite the doubt that was crowding his mind only moments ago, as soon as he catches sight of that familiar silhouette and those billowing robes — his mind instinctively screams in joy and hope swells once more in his chest.
Snape has his wand at the ready, his keen black eyes takes one sweeping look at the scene, then settles on Dumbledore who seems to sag in relief. If Harry hadn’t been petrified still, he is sure he’d be sobbing with relief as well.
”We’ve got a problem, Snape”, the lumpy Death Eater says. ”The boy doesn’t seem able —”
”Severus…” another voice, though soft and weakened, interrupts him.
Everyone’s eyes immediately flick over to the Headmaster, who is now trembling with the effort to remain upright.
Snape says nothing, but walks forward without breaking eye contact with the Headmaster. He pushes Malfoy roughly aside and stands right in front of Dumbledore. The Death Eaters all hang back wordlessly, as though cowed by Snape’s presence, even the werewolf who seems to shrink back into the shadows.
For a moment, it seems as though everyone, including Harry, is holding their breath —
Snape’s face is a mask, but his eyes are glittering, flashing —
”Severus, please…”
”Avada Kedavra!”