Chapter 4
Hermione sighed as she watched Harry, Ginny, and Ron head to the quidditch pitch for practice again.
She hadn't talked to them really talked to them for a long time, and she felt they were drifting away from her. They even had Quidditch practices together and could talk then, but she was busy with the school and her own work. Ginny and Harry's relationship was getting better, but she had not talked to Ginny about that in a long time either.
She felt like everyone was fading away.
That night, Hermione was about to fall asleep when an owl tapping at the window woke her up. It was a snow white owl with large green eyes and Hermione knew it was Harry's. She smiled and went to it to take off the letter, and as soon as she did, Hedwig immediately flew away into the dark night.
'That's strange,' she thought to herself. When she read the letter, the ground seemed to shift beneath her feet and Hermione felt a sinking feeling go through her. For a second, he thought it might be a joke. It was a joke right?
But she had known her friends for a long time. This wasn't a joke. Which meant they had left her.
She immediately headed to Dumbledore's office; she had to tell him about this. He would be the one person that could find her friends and convince them that they had made an idiotic decision. He could fix this.
"Miss Granger?" She heard McGonagall ask when she arrived at the gargoyles in front of his office. "What are you doing in your pajamas at this-?"
"I need to speak to the Head Master! Immediately!" She yelled, not caring about her appearance; this was an emergency. "I got this letter from Harry and Ron and I need to show it to him!" McGonagall immediately scanned the letter and cursed.
"Cavernous Sparks!" she muttered to the gargoyles and the moved to let them enter.
Hermione didn't wait for the staircase to move her, she ran up them frantically. When she got to the Headmaster's door she slammed on it, but it didn't open. "Headmaster, it's an emergency!" Still, no response. Taking a chance, she turned the doorknob. "Headmaster?" she asked the empty room. It was eerie quiet. The room was organized and smelled faintly of candy, but Hermione could tell something was wrong. She went to check behind his desk and gasped. There was the Headmaster, sprawled on the floor his eyes open, and lifeless.
There was a yell behind her, then a gasp as McGonagall saw what Hermione saw.
"No," Hermione heard herself whispering. The Headmaster's untwinkling blue eyes and the letter swam in her vision. She was vaguely aware of McGonagall pulling her back and taking her somewhere, trying to make her let go of the letter.
"One of you!" she heard McGonagall yelling, "Stop staring and get the Head Boy and Professor Snape!" She had such a calm voice about this. How could she be so calm? "Hermione? Hermione wipe those tears off your face and collect yourself. And for Merlin's damn sake, give me that letter!"
"Professor, what's going on?" asked a voice.
Malfoy's voice. "Malfoy?" she mentally shook herself and her eyes met a pair of surprised grey ones.
"Granger?" he asked, as McGonagall handed her to him. She was holding a piece of parchment that was crumbled and her face was in shock. Had they found-? "Professor what-?"
"Hermione will explain, and as soon as she is done, I will need both of you to gather the prefects and have two of them lockdown the school. I'm sure you know what to do in case of an emergency. Then, get all the professors you can and tell them I will need them in the Headmaster's office, and it is an emergency. If there are any students wandering, send them away immediately. No one is to know except you two and a prefect or two if you can trust them. I must go," she said in a rush and left him with Hermione.
'So they did find him,' Draco thought, feeling himself go into panic mode. Ignoring it, he turned to look at Hermione, who had seemed to compose herself. "What's going on Granger?"
She just got up and hurried to the front doors, she had to find Filch. Or Hagrid, she had to tell them to lock down and be on the lookout. Her feet took her to the owlry and she immediately scrawled to letters down and sent the birds on their way. Malfoy was looking at her confused. I can deal with him later, she thought heading to the Prefects' quarters.
"Granger!" Malfoy yelled behind her, not realizing where she was going. "What are you doing?"
"Getting the Prefects together!" she hollered! "Go tell the professors they need to go to the Headmaster's room immediately,"
"But what should I tell them? I don't even know what's going-!"
Hermione turned and looked him in the eye. "Dumbledore is dead, Draco. Someone in this castle did it. I've already made sure Hagrid is on the alert of anybody out there on the move and Filch is shutting down the castle about now," she rambled. "You need to get them, now!" she yelled, turning away from him to enter the Prefects' dorm.
"What about Potter and Weasely? Should I go get them to help you?" he asked feining concern, but really he knew Voldemort would want him to keep tab on the golden trio.
"Harry and Ron- they left." She replied in a dead voice. She looked back down at the letter and disappeared.
'They left?' he thought. 'Her two best friends leave when she needs it?'
McGonagall was grateful that Draco and Hermione had gotten everything in control. Now they, along with all the staff minus Hagrid who was outside guarding the grounds, were in the Headmaster's room. Hermione had stopped crying thankfully and was still holding that paper in her hands. Draco stood there, looking around carefully at everyone except Snape.
Draco looked at Granger again; she was still in her pajamas. Something inside him wanted to smile and give her his robe, and the other side wanted to run in the other direction from this situation. He still couldn't believe this was happening.
Snape cleared his throat so only he heard, but Draco refused to look at him. Damn this man, he wasn't going to give him the attention he wanted. He had never asked Snape to do this for him.
McGonagall cleared her throat and again began explaining. Every time she said Dumbledore's name, Hermione would pale and something inside his stomach twisted. "He also left this in his drawer," McGonagall continued, hold up a piece of parchment with writing on it. "It's sort of a will. I've informed the ministry and they will be here tomorrow morning to sort out the affairs. In the meantime, the Head Master has asked Professor Snape to take his place," She said, her voice clipped.
All eyes turned to Snape and Draco reluctantly looked as well. Snape raised an eyebrow and said in his drone-like voice, "Me? The Head Master?" Though his voice tried to sound confused, Draco could see in his eyes it was just a mask.
Though McGonagall did not seem pleased, she nodded. "The painter will also be coming tomorrow so then we may be able to ask the Head Master what his real intention is."
"But Minerva," asked Madame Pomfrey. "What about the children? How will we tell them?"
"And of course we have to have a funeral for the Head Master!" said Slugghorn interrupting the nurse.
"And what of Potter?" Trewanly asked and everyone became silent.
McGonagall looked at Hermione, and everyone else also turned to look at her. McGonagall sighed and said, "Harry as well as the two youngest Weasely's, Ron and Ginny, have left to find a way to defeat the Dark Lord." There were many gasps around the room at this and everyone began speaking at once.
"They cannot just-" "We have to go get-" "They aren't secure out there-" "They won't last a second against the Dark-" "They have no idea-" "How do you k-"
Suddenly, Snape stood up. "Enough," he said, his eyes scanning everyone. "There will not be any more discussion about this until the Ministry or whoever arrives."
"But Potter-"
Snape narrowed his eyes at Trewanly. "Potter is not a little brat anymore. He obviously does not need our help if he can just go off on his own. I would hope his arrogance leads him right. In the meantime, we need to deal with our own school and make sure everything –"
"Professor Snape!" Granger called from the window. Her voice was panicked and Draco hurried to see what she was worried about. When he looked at the sky, he felt his blood run cold.
Snape came behind them to see what they were looking at and paled. By now, all the students had looked outside and even some were standing in the lawn. They all looked up into the night sky to see it was illuminated by the Dark Mark.
It was a dark green skull with a snake coming out of the mouth. The brightness of the Mark competed against the stars and it's movement captured everyone's attention. Sometimes Draco mused that if it didn't inflict so much fear in everyone's hearts, it might be seen as a work of art.
"Hagrid!" Hermione yelled and Draco looked down to see him unconscious on the ground. Not caring about what she was doing, Hermione pushed everyone out of her way and ran down the stairs all the way down to him.
Snape was standing in the corner and grabbed Draco by this robe. He was standing there clutching his left arm where Draco knew the Dark Mark was throbbing.
"Listen here," he said in a hushed tone. "You will get an owl or a messenger tonight or next morning. You have a new task; get Granger to help, and don't ask how or let her know what's going on. Be grateful I saved you from this, but you have to work on this new task by yourself. I have things to take care of now, and I don't know how to help anymore, Draco." Draco looked up into his Godfather's face and saw a tired man. He still remembered all the times when Snape was his best friend, how had it gotten to this? "Good luck," he said and turned away from Draco with a swish of his robes.
A/N I hope this came as a surprise to you all! I really am enjoying re-writing this story so hopefully the update will come quickly :) REVIEW
