"You're absolutely sure," Torrens asked.
Albus and Scorpius were sitting in front of him in the headmaster's office. Every single person to sit in the big chair of that office had brought something unique to it and Torrens addition was books. Mountains of books. He had practically turned the place into a second library.
The portraits of all the former headmasters and headmistresses weren't bothering to do their usual play act of pretending to be asleep and instead were very much listening to everything being said. One portrait was empty though. Hanging high, near the ceiling to the left of the desk was another frame with a completely blank canvas within. It was one of three portraits the Basil Fornsac could move around within the school. All were empty.
The sorting hat sat on its perch, appearing lifeless but they all knew it was anything but.
For a room that had so many people in, it was incredibly quiet.
Behind Albus and Scorpius, several of the teachers were standing silently. Professor's Longbottom, Sinistra and Vector where on the left while Bonde and Slughorn where on the right.
"A hundred percent," Albus said. "Basil Fornsac's portrait was still there when we left in the morning, it was gone when we came back from defence against the dark arts, where Scorpius produced a magnificent corporal Patronus before anyone else by the way, which is a window of eight hours, thirteen minutes."
Torrens let out a trouble breath. "Vindictus, any luck?" he asked one of the portraits.
"I'm afraid not, Eric. We can't get in because there is simply nothing there to get into," the elderly man with white hair responded.
Slughorn took a step forward. "A few of the students said they saw Collin Monatch fiddling around with the portrait on the fifth floor yesterday. I'm not accusing the boy of anything but perhaps –"
"Sir, have you met Colin Monatch?" Scorpius asked with an amused look on his face.
"Well, no, I believe he's in Hufflepuff."
"He's also the guy that saved his money for a whole year for a trip to Greece because he thought Lesbos was an island populated solely by lesbians," Albus said flatly.
A chuckle burst out and everyone saw Albus Dumbledore inside his portrait trying to hide the smirk on his face. "It's an honest mistake to make," he muttered.
"Honest mistake maybe. But the indication of a nefarious criminal mastermind intent of sabotaging Hogwarts from within? I rather doubt it," Albus said.
The door to the headmaster's office opened and Professors Flitwick and Hakkaman entered.
"How many?" Torrens asked immediately.
"Nine. Two in the main entrance, one outside the staff room, one on the fifth floor, one beside the Gryffindor portal, one across from the Ravenclaw entrance, one opposite the Slytherin entrance, one on the seventh floor and the three Fornsac portraits that we are counting as one," Flitwick reported.
Scorpius glanced to his left to see Albus' eyes working rapidly from right to left. He was working through that evidence at lightning speed looking for anything that connected them. A moment later he growled to himself. "No discernible pattern," he muttered.
"Extraordinary," everyone looked up at Albus Dumbledore's portrait. He seemed to have spoken without realizing and quickly turned to start examining the fabric of his armchair.
"What's extraordinary, Albus?" Torrens asked.
"Oh, well, the fact that so many portraits could simple be seemingly erased without any damage being inflicted on them. And done so in secret, extraordinary, but troublesome," he said calmly.
It wasn't one of his better lies. Dumbledore's portrait had been watching the boy he was that shared his name and had clearly realized just how fast his mind could work.
"I think we can all agree with that," Torrens said grimly.
Dumbledore's blue eyes turned back to Albus, watching him for any other appearance of hidden brain power. Albus did his best to avoid his gaze and instead turned to Bonde.
"Water getting warm yet?" he asked with a bit of accusation in his voice.
"Albus," she said with a tone that said 'now is not the time'.
"You two care to fill us in?"
"Why doesn't Hogwarts have an emergency evacuation plan in place?" Albus suddenly blurted.
"Professor Bonde, is that why you brought that up at our last meeting?" Torrens asked calmly.
She looked away, ashamed. "Albus suggested it, I agreed."
"Even muggle office building and libraries have emergency evacuation plans in place in case there is ever a fire or something. But from what I understand, Hogwarts doesn't have one," Albus said trying not to raise his voice.
"I'm afraid I must assume part of the blame for that, headmaster," Dumbledore's portrait spoke. "Both my pride and my belief that Hogwarts could overcome any threat made evacuating the school a last resort, and one trying didn't want to think about. Mr. Potter and Professor Bonde are quite correct. These kind of safety precautions should have been put into place after the chamber of secrets was first opened. But I neglected them because deep down I never wanted to believe that they may one day be needed. Now that I am no longer an obstacle, I see no reason why they shouldn't be put into place."
Dumbledore was never one to let guilt interfere with the wellbeing of Hogwarts. It had taken a horrific potion guarding a Horcrux to make him break down and cry about his mistakes. He wasn't about to start sobbing now, not when he could still be of use to the school.
"It's a tall order. Evacuating almost eight-hundred students, staff and house elves. The Hogwarts express would need at least seven hours to be recalled and even then, it couldn't take them all," Torrens said.
"I'm sure we could come up with some sort of emergency floo activation. There are more than enough fireplaces around the castle," Flitwick suggested.
"And the Room of Requirement created a tunnel to the Hogs head before. It could probably do it again," Neville added.
"Very well. Neville, Filius, we will start work on a plan for getting the students out. Everard," he addressed another of the portraits. "I'd like you to coordinate with the other portraits, we need to know if anymore go missing. Imam," he turned to Professor Hakkaman, "contact the ministry and enquire about a possible mass floo activation. Inform them of our decision to create an emergency evacuation plan."
"Shall we call it the 'Potter Protocol'? I'm sure his father would love that," Snape's portrait sneered.
"As always Severus, you bring a glow of warmth and encouragement to the room," Torrens smiled without affection. "Professor Bonde, can I ask you to escort these two back to the Slytherin dormitories?"
"Of course," she nodded ushered Albus and Scorpius out.
"Everard, sorry, but you'll need to work with Mr. Filtch as well," Torrens said as they were leaving.
"Oh, what a joy," the portrait grumbled.
"I know. He's been in a right state, between losing his cat and the informants…just do your best."
Once they were past the gargoyles and heading down the corridor, Bonde decided it was safe to talk.
"Albus, could you please not snap at the headmaster. I'm actually enjoying this post and I don't want to get fired," she said in a hushed voice.
"I'm not trying to get you into trouble, but we have to be ready," Albus insisted.
"I'm not denying that, but we also have to take care that we don't cause a panic. Suddenly getting all of the students to practice evacuation drills might make them a bit concerned," she said.
"They should be concerned. These plans should have been put into place years ago, instead they just keep bumping up protection around the school, never thinking that they may one day have to abandon it," he growled.
"I may not be British, but I know this school is a treasure to every single wizard and witch in this country. They'll fight to make sure that never happens."
"Then they're idiots!" Albus yelled. "Even the Spartans at Thermopylae knew they wouldn't be able to hold the Persians back forever! The Persians broke through and they burned Athens to the ground but it didn't matter because the Athenian's had a back-up plan to make sure their way of life survived. My father is as much to blame as Dumbledore. Because of them, the wizarding world has never envisioned a scenario where they would have to sacrifice Hogwarts to survive. I don't give a shit about this castle so I don't suffer from the same narrowmindedness!"
Bonde looked truly shocked by his words. "You really don't care about any of it?" she breathed.
"Ever since that hat got put on my head and yelled Slytherin, this castle and everyone in have been working very hard to make my life a living hell! Scorpius is the exception, and Dom and Melissa…and to a lesser extent, Rose and recently, you. You are the only good thing to come out of this year," Albus said honestly. Scorpius opened his mouth to object but Albus was faster. "And your Patronus, that was cool."
"I don't want to be the only good this you get out of this year!"
"Well, you are. You're the only person that knew about how pathetic I am with magic but still treated me like a human being, instead of an…aberration. Despite that, I don't want to see any of the students get hurt…well, maybe Aiden, but not badly…the point is, everyone else has an emotional attachment to this school. I don't. So, whose judgement should we be trusting right now?"
"Nobody is going to put the fate of this school in your hands, Albus!" she growled.
"I know. Like I said, they're idiots," he stated then walked way, leaving her too stunned to follow.
Albus did not return to the common room, instead he went and found Lily and Hugo who were having dinner in the great hall with most of the other students. They were all talking about the latest disappearances and finally some of them were starting to look worried.
About time. Albus thought.
Anya Zabini looked as if she had created some kind of book club about the whole thing because dozens of Slytherin students had gathered around her and were talking in hushed voices. Likewise, Aiden and Rose had the entire Gryffindor quidditch team sitting together discussing the portraits. Most of them seemed to be looking to Rose for answers and while she looked as if she were trying to keep up her air of calm control that the head girl was supposed to have, Albus saw her struggling to give them any kind of real answers.
Lily and Hugo were sitting a little further down the bench. Albus and Scorpius remained standing, towering over the two.
"I'm guessing you guys have heard?" Albus asked.
"Who hasn't?" Hugo said, putting down his fork.
"Listen, after dinner, I want you two to go back to Gryffindor tower and pack your trunks –"
"What?! We're not leaving!" Lily shrieked.
"I didn't say you were. But the teachers are working on an emergency evacuation plan for the school so if things get any worse, we all might be leaving very suddenly. I want you to keep everything packed in your trunks. Just take out what you need for your lessons, understood?" Albus explained quietly now that a few other nosey students were trying to listen.
"It's just a precaution," Scorpius nodded.
"They are recalling the Hogwarts express to Hogsmead where it is going to stay, they're also working on a massive floo activation. The headmaster will explain more in a day or two. Meantime, I want you two to stick together. Me and Scorp might not always be around, so you two have a responsibility to each other. Clear?"
"You don't need to tell us, Al. We're family, we always stick together," Lily stated proudly.
"I'm not following her into the bathroom!" Hugo objected.
"Of course, you don't have to follow her into the bathroom, you plonker!" Scorpius laughed.
"Just watch each other's backs, okay?" Albus urged.
"Got it," Hugo nodded.
"Good," he leaned over and kissed Lily on the forehead before leaving them to their dinner.
"Wait, how do you know about this plan?" Lily called after him.
"Because it was my idea," Albus yelled back.
That left her looking very surprised.
Albus and Scorpius spent the next hour walking from one missing portrait to the next, examining them for anything that might have been missed. All of the canvases felt cold to the touch but other than that, there was no signs of damage or tampering. For a moment Albus considered the idea that someone had duplicated the frames and simply swapped the paintings, stashing the real ones away somewhere. But he dismissed that possibility from two reasons, one; it would be next to impossible to do without being seen and two; it wouldn't have prevented the other portraits from entering it.
Over the following days, more ministry personnel showed up, wondering about the corridors and grounds, prodding random places with their wands. It became pretty obvious that they were getting nowhere since they could often be heard muttering frustrated words to themselves.
Classes continued but there was a definite air of unease. The usual distractions that served to take the students minds off things just weren't working anymore. Not now that they had to walk pass the empty portraits every day. And the fact that nobody could figure out why these things were happening was only adding to the gloom.
Occasionally, that mood wouldn't remain within the whispers of students but overtake everything else as it did during their potions lesson in early December.
"My dear boy, this doesn't have anything to do with brewing the Wolfsbane potion," Slughorn said, a little flustered.
"But sir, what if they made a mistake?" A Gryffindor boy asked.
"No, no, there was no mistake. True, Hogwarts suffered incredible damage during the battle, I should know, I was there," he said with a look of supreme pride, "but wizards and witches from all over the world came here to help restore the castle to its former glory and a brilliant job they did too."
"I wasn't questioning their efforts, sir. I'm sorry if it sounded like that. But, some of the enchantments on the school are centuries old, created by the founding four themselves and there are no records of what they actually did. I'm just suggesting that maybe some of the enchantments are clashing with the new ones," the boy said clearly trying to ignore the fact that the whole room was watching him.
Slughorn smiled. "I'm sure Professor Bonde will be very happy to know that you've all been paying attention during her teachings of elemental conflict but the repairs were done over twenty years ago. If a conflict between the spells existed, I assure you, it would have shown itself by now."
Bonde seemed to agree with Slughorn as she hadn't brought it up as a possibility to Albus or anyone else.
"But I heard they've been adding spells to the school over the last few years," Anya Zabini piped up.
"Oh, those are simply extra security measures. Never can be too careful," he chuckled. "Harry Potter, I taught him during his sixth year, you know, very good friend of mine…" Slughorn said as if he hadn't reminded the world of that fact four hundred times before, "has been working tirelessly with the ministry on that. After all the threats he faced during his time here, they've been putting in dozens of different enchantments to make sure those terrible events can never happen again. I assure you, the school is quite safe. Now, back to the Wolfbane potion!" he clapped.
While Slughorn seemed at ease, Albus certainly wasn't. After all, Dumbledore and the ministry had worked together to reinforce the school security the same year that Horace had come back to teach. It ended up being useless, mainly because of the actions of one Draco Malfoy. Albus stared off into space while wondering, if his best friend's father could find a way around the defences, who else could.
"It is imperative that the potion be brewed at the correct temperature for the correct amount of time otherwise you risk causing serious harm to the poor soul you are trying to help," Slughorn said moving through the class. He stopped next to Albus. "Albus, are you marking this down?"
"What did you say?!" Albus snapped but he wasn't talking to Slughorn.
He wasn't even in the potions classroom anymore. He was inside his vault, looking at the memory of his meeting with the headmaster. The office was back, in perfect detail and all the teachers were there, frozen, as if they were part of a film that had just been paused.
"You said 'Informants'," he said pointing to headmaster Torrens. "'He's been in a right state, between losing his cat and the informants…' you said that! Of course! Those portraits were spies for Filtch! They're perfectly positioned, outside the portals, the entrance all, outside the room of requirement…If they see students misbehaving, they report it to Filtch."
Albus moved around the room, looking at the faces of all the frozen teachers. None of them showed any sign of the connection that he had just made.
"What if they saw something else? Something they weren't supposed to…something they could tell others…the ghosts! The ghosts are like the portraits! Often ignored, but always around so they see everything! The owls, the Threstrals, the Hippogriffs…they're animals and they can sense when a predator is near. A predator that doesn't want to be seen and so had to get rid of any witnesses! A predator with an agenda, with malicious intent! But in order to get rid of the ghosts and the portraits, the scare the owls away, it would have to be – INSIDE!"
Albus had blasted back into the potions classroom and yelled the last word at the top of his voice.
"It's inside!"
"Err, Albus? What are you talking about?" Slughorn said looking very confused. The entire class had been snapped away from their work by Albus's outburst as were now focused on him, but he didn't care.
"We have to evacuate the school! It's already inside!"
"Evacu – really, m'boy, you sound a bit…hysterical. Are you feeling alright?"
Albus jumped up from his desk, not even bothering to grab his things and shot out of the classroom as fast as he could.
He was out of breath and beginning to sweat by the time he reached the headmaster office. "Accruement," he said to the gargoyles causing them to move aside. He rushed up and banged on the door but didn't wait for an answer before opening it and rushing in.
"Headmaster, we need to –" Albus suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
"Albus, what are you doing here?"
"Are you alright?"
The headmaster was not alone.
"Dad?"