Neville was panicking, running in circles. Harry could hear Tracy Davis in the background, throwing up. Hermione was in shock , staring at the dead body. All she could focus on was the smell of blood. Fleur and Seamus were quiet. The usually talkative Irish was now sitting in the empty classroom, staring at his shoes.
Luna was mumbling something under her breath, but her voice was so low that you couldn´t hear what it was.
Harry was kneeled over the body, trying to listen to any movement but there was no doubt. The man was clearly dead. Now he needed to decide what to do, since the others were in no conditions of making decisions.
Luna voice seemed clearer now. She was singing. "Are you, are you… coming to the tree, where they strung up a man, they say have murdered three". It was a very dark song, but her voice was sweet. Singing after killing someone, go figures.
-Okay, listen up.- Harry said, trying to sound confident. – We need to get rid of the body.
-W-what?
-You heard me, Nev. No body, no evidence.
-B-but…
-Non, we need to call the aurors!-Fleur said, glaring at Harry.
-Really? So they can arrest us? Unless you want to spend the rest of your live rotting in Azkaban, I suggest we follow my suggestion.
-Calling the aurors is the right thing to do! Don´t you get it? We just killed a teacher!
-It was an accident! Besides, the only way out is to cover it up.
He looked around to see if anyone was going to argue. Tracey stopped throwing up and joined the circle and Luna was still singing that damn lullaby. The Gryffindor stood next to Hermione, looking at the oddest group ever reunited.
Secretly, Hermione was a little bit scared of how cold her best friend was acting.
-Okay, my father has an invisibility cape…-Harry started, waiting for someone to ask questions but no one did. -…let´s wrap the body in the cape, and levitate him to the Great Lake. Any questions?
-"Are you, are you… coming to the tree, where the dead man called out for his love to flee"…-Luna sang quietly.
-Let´s just get over with this.- Hermione said, coming out of her shock.
Harry never thought that bookworm, Hermione Granger, would be down with hiding bodies, but I guess you learn something new every day. The six wrapped the dead man in the invisibility cape, each one took their wand and casted a levitation spell on him.
-What about the blood?-Hermione asked. She was right, there was a pool of blood in the floor.
-Seamus and Luna, you two clean this up. The rest of us carry the body. – Harry said, like a real leader.
Together, the four carried the corpse through the Hogwarts halls, looking before every turn and watching over their backs. No sign of Filch or his cat. Harry didn´t know if it was just dumb luck or if the castle was helping them out.
After years of living in Hogwarts, nothing surprised him anymore. The teens crossed the door, the cool air of the night making them shiver under their uniforms. It seemed like the body was just getting heavier, and they were already out of breath.
Finally, they reached the Great Lake.
-Tracy, help me here.-Harry said, taking the cape off.
She did a negative gesture with her head, looking like she may start throwing up again. Hermione came forward and helped Harry dump the man on the lake. They stood there in silence, almost like paying their respects.
-Goodbye, Snape.-Harry spoke. He hated that man, but he didn´t deserve to be killed. Now, all they have to do is just act dumb and wait for it to disappear. The boy noticed Hermione was giving him a strange look from the corner of her eye, but he didn´t pay much attention to it.
The group turned around and went back inside.
(…)
Seamus was in shock. He murdered his Potions teacher, and Harry was acting like it was nothing. Sitting in his bed, he looked at his hands that were covered in dried blood. Luna helped him clean the classroom, while singing that creepy tune.
Neville was nowhere to been seen and Harry went right to sleep. Okay, nothing bad was going to happen. Like Harry said, no body, no evidence. They would ask some questions, but in a month or two it would go away. No worries.
He was worried though. What if Neville said something? That boy was way too soft for his own good. If he opened his mouth, their whole future would be over. He needed to make sure he kept his mouth shut.
Listening to Ron´s snores, he wondered how the others were dealing with this.
(…)
Daphne was sleeping peacefully, until she heard crying. She woke up to someone sitting in her bed, sobbing. Her first instinct was to go back to sleep, but she fought that instinct and tried to focus.
It took her a while to identify the stranger as Tracy.
-Tracy…?What are you doing?-She asked, hazy.
-I-I do-don´t know what happened. Oh, Daph.-She said, taking deep breaths.
-Tracy, easy. Tell me what happened.
And she did. She told everything about Potter and his friends, how they all got together, and even the part where Fleur hit Snape in the back of the head. Daphne listened carefully, trying to stay calm.
-Okay, so are you telling me… he is dead?
-Y-yes.
Daphne didn´t know what to feel. She had mixed feelings for the Potions teacher, he wasn´t her favorite but always stood up for the Slytherins. Draco will be devastated. That thought made her smile.
-Okay, first thing you need to do is calm down.- She said. – Second, go to sleep. Pretend nothing happen and everything will be alright, okay?
Tracy nodded, feeling better now. Daphne always knew what to do. She went to bed, leaving her friend awake, thinking. First thing tomorrow, the Slytherin would find Hermione Granger and have a serious talk with her.
But now… was time to sleep.
(…)
It was finally morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and a dead body was sinking in the Great Lake. You couldn´t ask for a better morning. The six were all seated in their houses, giving secret looks at each other every five seconds.
All the teachers were already seated, except one. Dumbledore eyes had lost their twinkle and he seemed very worried about something, he kept looking at the empty chair all the time.
Luna left her house table and sat next to Harry and Hermione.
-Hello Harry, hello Hermione. Dumbledore looks tired, doesn´t he?
As always, the small Ravenclaw was the first to notice things.
-Do you think he knows?-Hermione asked, fear in her voice.
-If he knew, we would be arrested already. He probably is just worried, calm down.
-I bumped into Fleur this morning, she didn´t looked very well.
Harry gave a look to the veela in her table. Her food was untouched, and she was looking down. Neville was the worst of all, jumping at every sound and looking terrified when anyone talked to him. Poor guy.
-It must be the shock of killing Prof. Snape.-Luna suggested casually, like she was talking about the weather.
-Luna!-Hermione exclaimed, horrified.
-We should get to class. We got double potions today.-Harry changed subjects.
Hermione gave Harry another weird look. This time, she seemed angry too.
In the Slytherin table, Daphne and Tracy watched the gryffindors with interest. Daphne never thought much about the Boy-Who-Lived, but now he was the most interesting person the girl has ever heard about.
She always knew he had a little bit of Salazar Slytherin in him, she just didn´t know how right she was.
-I want to talk to Hermione. See what she knows.-Daphne said.
-I don´t know why, Daph. Just leave it.
-Leave what?-Pansy said, sitting next to them.
-Nothing. Just discussing boys and stuff.-Daphne lied.
-Oh, my favorite subject! So, did you heard Zabini…
And she started talking about some stupid rumor she heard in Charms class. Daphne was still thinking about Hermione, she was the easiest to talk to and they shared classes together. The Slytherin didn't´ t care about the other idiots, but Tracy was her best friend and no way she was letting her go to Azkaban because of Potter.
(…)
The students waited outside Potions classroom for almost an hour, with no success. The Slytherins enjoyed the delay to make fun of people and show off their Cedric Diggory badges. In reality, everyone seemed a little bit worried or confused since Prof. Snape never gets sick, but Harry knew the truth. With all the nightmares haunting him, it was hard to forget.
Finally, the students gave up and started to leave. Soon the place was completely empty. The Boy-Who-Lived was walking along with Hermione, until Seamus walked past him and caught his attention. He had this look in his eye, almost predatory.
Neville was in front of him, walking alone, not realizing that the Irish was following him. Now, normally Harry wouldn´t believe Seamus would ever hurt someone, but a lot of things had changed since yesterday night. The Irish boy was always too arrogant, too impulsive. And if Neville was getting cold feet, things could get ugly. Quickly, he made a decision.
-Hermione, I got something to do, I catch you later.
-Okay, but wh-…
Harry was gone before she finished her sentence. He followed Seamus until the Third Floor, and when Neville was finally on a safe distance, he put his hand on the Irish shoulder and pushed him on the wall.
-Hey, wha…?!-He tried to yell.
Harry put his elbow on his throat, making impossible for him to talk. Seamus face started to get red and he made a series of choking sounds. It was a good thing Dudley loved cop shows so much, or Harry wouldn´t know how to do this.
-You will stay away from Neville. You will not hurt or intimidate him, you will leave him alone. Copy that?
The boy tried to nod, but it was kind of hard with his neck immobilized. When Harry let him go, he fell to the floor, fighting for his breath. The Boy Who Lived left him on the floor, glad to have done the right thing.