Author's Note: In this chapter, we take a short break away from the main story. I thought it would be fun to show how Snape received news of Harry's imminent demise. I hope you all like it. I really enjoy scenes with McGonagall and Snape together, and would like to write more in the future. For now, please enjoy this quick installment.

Bonus Chapter - Snape and McGonagall

He waited only to shut the door behind Potter to cast the spell. Turning to face his empty office, Severus Snape waved his wand, needing no words to invoke his patronus.

The familiar doe materialized before him, shimmering silvery-white. Snape stared into its large eyes for a moment, lost in a memory, before issuing his commands in a few simple words.

"A message for Albus Dumbledore," he said, "You're needed at Hogwarts. A student has been taken. The Chamber has been found."

Then doe's misty form shivered in the still air, and she was gone. Snape would never understand how the charm sought out its intended recipient, but it was a faster way to communicate than by owl, and he didn't have much time.

His message safely dispatched, there was only one thing more left to do. Sweeping out of his office at a brisk pace, he made his way directly toward McGonagall's office.

The Deputy Headmistress demonstrated her loyalty to Dumbledore by refusing to use the headmaster's quarters during his absence. Snape knew she had faith in his return, school directors be damned.

It mattered little to Snape what room she occupied, though in this case, it was better for him that she retain her office, as it was less of a walk from his. Taking advantage of the few secret passages he knew in the castle, he arrived at her door.

It was open, and he could see the Transfiguration teacher bowed over her desk, her usually cool expression marred by a furrowed brow.

"May I interrupt, Professor?" Snape asked.

"Severus!" McGonagall exclaimed, startled out of her thoughts, "Yes, come in.

She motioned to a chair opposite herself, which Snape accepted calmly.

"I've just sent an owl to the Bulstrodes," McGonagall continued, "Poor family. I've asked them to aparate to Hogsmeade. I'll have to send one of the carriages to receive them. I really have no idea what I'm going to say."

"I've sent a message to Albus as well," Snape said with considerable ease, "I expect he will arrive himself at any moment. Perhaps he can speak to the girls parents?"

"Thank Merlin for that," said McGonagall, sighing heavily.

"And Lockhart?" Snape asked.

McGonagall's frown deepened to a grimace. "Gone, the rotten coward. I expect he thought I would charge him with going to the Chamber to rescue the girl. As if I would trust him with such an important task. As it stands, we don't even know where the Chamber is."

"That is why I've come, Minerva. I believe I may know where we can locate the Chamber of Secrets."

McGonagall's mouth dropped open. She recovered quickly, asking in hurried tones, "Where? And how?"

"Potter believes the entrance is hidden in the first floor girl's lavatory."

"Potter? What's he got to do with anything?"

"Apparently, he and his little friends have been looking into the matter all year. I believe that is why Bulstrode was taken. She and Potter are close."

Snape had talked himself into the belief that Bulstrode had brought on her fate by associating with Potter, but he kept this opinion wisely to himself. McGonagall stared thoughtfully at her desk, eyes absently fixed on a cup of tea that had long since grown cold.

"You say Potter told you this?"

"Yes."

"And where is Potter now, exactly?"

"After he told me what he knew, I sent him back to the common room. I did not think it necessary to bring him along."

McGonagall's eyes snapped back up, locking onto Snape's with an expression of absolute incredulity.

"Did you actually see him enter the common room, Severus?"

For some reason, Snape felt his palms grow sweaty. He was suddenly nervous, and he could not explain to himself why.

"No. I sent my message to Dumbledore immediately after dismissing him."

McGonagall groaned and lowered her gaze once again, this time cradling her forehead in both hands.

"Do you mean to tell me that you allowed Harry James Potter out of your sight, knowing that one of his closest friends had been kidnapped? The same Harry Potter who got through all of our enchantments to protect the Philosopher's Stone when he was only eleven years old? The boy who has long been suspected the Heir of Slytherin, who speaks parseltongue, and who just informed you that he knows the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets? Is that the Harry Potter we've been referring to?"

Snape's mouth had gone dry. He could feel his tongue trying to stick to the roof of his mouth as he formed his next words.

"I have made a terrible mistake."

"Oh my god, Severus. You are so bad with children."

"We don't know that he actually went by himself," Snape said, trying to reassure himself as much as McGonagall. "Albus will be here and then..."

"He'll do what, Severus?" McGonagall interrupted, "Award Potter points for his fortitude? Let us hope that the girl hasn't been killed. Slytherin may even win the house cup!"

At that moment, a spectral form floated through the wall of McGonagall's office. For a moment, Snape believed it was his patronus, returned to him with some confirmation of Dumbledore's arrival. But he was mistaken. It was only one of the school ghosts, a young girl in a uniform with a pair of thick glasses.

"Oh there you are!" she said in a tone of delight, "I tried your office but didn't find you there."

"Myrtle?" McGonagall asked, though the ghost had been addressing Snape, "What are you doing here?"

"I was supposed to wait," Myrtle said in a simpering tone that immediately put Snape's nerves on edge. "He told me not to come find you until thirty minutes had passed. But it's so exciting, I couldn't resist leaving straightaway."

"And who asked you to find me?" Snape asked, fearing that he already knew the answer.

"Harry Potter," said Myrtle, "He told me to tell you that he's dead, and it's your fault."

She seemed utterly delighted to bring the report. McGonagall's elbow struck her teacup, and it fell to the floor with a crack of breaking china. Neither professor paid it any mind. They were both staring at Myrtle in shock.

"Or at least he's probably dead by now," Myrtle added. "He went down into the Chamber to avenge me. But if he has died and come back a ghost, I haven't seen him."

Snape did not want to look at McGonagall. He didn't want to see the look of stern disappointment on her face, so familiar to him when he had been her student, rather than her colleague.

Reminding himself that he was a man, and that this formidable professor might glare at him all she wanted, but could no longer give him detention, Snape turned and met her eye.

She was glaring at him, disappointed certainly, but not surprised. They stared at each other in silence for a moment, before Snape cleared his throat and spoke first.

"I'll just go fetch Potter, then, shall I?"

"Yes, Severus. I think that would be best."

Snape offered her a curt nod, then turned to face Myrtle with a look of indifference, relying on the cold mask he had been crafting for years to hide the mounting panic within.

"Lead the way."

"You don't have to be in such a hurry," Myrtle said, "I'm sure he's doing just fine on his own."

Something in his expression must have warned the ghost not to trifle with him, because she immediately turned and swept through the open office door, waiting in the corridor for him to follow. Snape made to follow her directly, when McGonagall called after him.

"Severus, if the boy isn't dead, try to take better care of him in the future! He's one of yours, after all! That makes him your problem!"

You have no idea, Snape thought to himself, following Myrtle down the stairs to the first floor, and growing more angry with each step.