Title           : working title – Hogwarts under siege

Author       : odyssey

Disclaimer : This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Brothers Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Spoilers    : to be safe – for all four books

Summary  : When a mysterious disease attacks Hogwarts in Harry´s 7th year it is up to Prof. Snape and his band of merry Slytherins to find a cure in time.

Dedication : To all the great fanfic-writers whose stories have brought me hours of pleasant entertainment. I hope that I can give some of it back with my little narration.

Preliminary comments :  WOW! Thank you all for your kind reviews. When I checked them today and read the amount of them I thought that there had to be some kind of mistake. But there wasn´t! I´m sooooo glad! Thank you : )

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   `It happened again! There´s been another victim!´

   The portrait hole which led to the Gryffindor common room swung open and a black robed figure jumped in waving his arms frantically. Ron and Harry who had been playing a game of Exploding Snap looked up in bewilderment while Ginny who had been watching Harry with a dreamy look on her face paled considerably.

   Ron furrowed his ruby brows. `What´s happened? And how do you know about it?´

   The intruder stood gasping and wearily wiped away a strand of his silver-blond hair which had fallen into his face. `I just,´ he panted and drew in a deep breath, `I´m just coming from... had to get …never mind…and I saw…it was horrible!´

   `Malfoy,´ Ginny said in a soothing voice and extended a hand towards the nervous young man `Sit down and tell us what´s happened.´

   Harry shot her a pleasantly surprised look. She must have matured without him noticing…

   Meanwhile Draco Malfoy, commonroom-less Slytherin seventh-year, sat down into a red plush chair opposite to Hermione who was still absorbed in `Muggles and Magic – an Essay about Muggle Witch cults´ by Wilhelmina Worrington while a crowd of curious Gryffindors and Slytherins gathered around the group.

   `Hermione?´ Harry asked gently but got no reaction. `Hermione.´ He tried a little louder but still got no sign of life from her except that she turned another page and read on peacefully. The boy who lived sighed deeply and tried again. `Her-´

   Suddenly Hermione jumped out of her chair shouting furiously. `Ron! Give that back!´

She tried to pry her book out of Ron Weasley´s hands who had, in an unexpected display of lightning speed reflexes, snatched it away from her.

   `Ahhh!´ he grinned, `the advantages of regular Quidditch-training.´

   Before the situation could escalate Harry stepped in and pointed towards Draco who was now holding onto a cup of tea as if his life depended on it and Hermione immediately ceased chasing Ron. She narrowed her eyes to suspicious slits and took in Malfoy´s unusual dishevelled appearance, the hatred against Slytherins that she laboured since a particular nasty incident during her fifth year clearly visible.

   `What happened?´ she inquired in an uncharacteristically cold voice.

   `There has been another victim.´ Draco whispered, still ghostly pale and much too shaken to remember to be mean to her.

   Harry frowned turning his lightning-shaped scar into something that greatly resembled an accordion. `You already said that, but who? And how?´

   `Filch. They inspected the dungeons and then he just collapsed. He-´

   `Hold on,´ Hermione interrupted, `who inspected the dungeons and how do you know about it? They´re off limits, aren´t they? Even Snape doesn´t go there these days.´

   Draco nodded impatiently as he slowly regained his composure and returned back to his obnoxious self. `The specialists from the ministry, I think. They were examining the dungeons but Filch had cleaned them after Moira´s…collapse,´ he still had problems to say the word ever since he had realized what it meant, `Snape was angry and then Filch suddenly broke down. He vomited the same green substance like Moira had but his…you know, breakdown…seemed much more intensive. More violent, he also had cramps, I think. Then the two strangers or specialists or whatever tried to help him. I don´t know if they succeeded.´

   Silence filled the room after his short narration and even Hermione´s eyes which were still fixed on Draco softened with pity for the much-despised caretaker. It was Ginny who finally broke the silence.

   `What about Mrs. Norris?´ she asked shyly and Ron let out an affectionate grunt.
   `My little sister – the great cat lover.´

   Hermione suppressed a grim smile. `No Ron,´ she said, `This could be important. Filch is always on contact with his cat, we have to know how it is affected. Did Mrs. Norris look ill to you?´ she addressed Draco.

   Malfoy gave a derisive snort. `Even more ill than she usually looks, you mean? No. But you might forgive my inattentiveness that I didn´t look out for such details.´

   `This is not a detail!´ Hermione started but Harry put a restraining hand on her shoulder while she and Malfoy exchanged enraged glares.

   `I suppose thy have brought him to the hospital wing.´ Harry declared calmly. `This is where we have to go if we want to find out more.´ 

   `Come on! We don´t want to find out more!´ Pansy Parkinson cried, `This is enough to give me nightmares as it is. I don´t care for any more details!´

`Me, too.´ Neville Longbottom shuffled his feet nervously. `I also have nightmares.´

   A few Slytherins and Gryffindors nodded suddenly united by their fears. None of them craved any more information about this than was absolutely necessary. In fact, they preferred to huddle under their blankets and pray to wake up.

   Harry felt a very strong desire to do the same and sighed deeply. `We can´t just turn our heads away. This is happening here, in Hogwarts. There is no way we can ignore it or distance ourselves from it. The only way for us to be as safe as possible is to find out as much as possible about these incidents. Is it a disease? Or poison?´

   `It´s poison!´ Millicent Bulstrode suddenly screamed. `It must be!´

   `No, you stupid cow!´ Blaise Zabini interrupted her, `Snape said it´s a disease!´

   `It´s the Death Eaters! They´re trying to kill us all!´ Lavender Brown cried and a chorus of agitated voices joined her the only discernible words were `poison´, `disease´, `killing´ and `Death Eaters´.

   `No.´ Draco contradicted firmly. `This has nothing to do with the Death Eaters.´

   Confused looks were directed at him but he glanced back evenly with his cold silvery eyes.

   `Well,´ Hermione finally decided, `You should know, shouldn´t you?´ She fixed Malfoy with an accusing stare.

   `Yeah, I do know.´ he replied eyeing the still-unmarred flesh of his left arm thoughtfully while Hermione watched him with undisguised hatred.

   Harry shook his head sadly. He still didn´t know what exactly had happened on that night during their fifth year that had changed Hermione. She had learned to hate that night, that much was clear. A new commotion shook him out of his musings as Gryffindors and Slytherins suddenly remembered that they belonged to different houses and started screaming accusations at each other.

   `Why do you always blame us?´ cried an enraged Kevin Norwood from Slytherin.   

   `Convenient way of life – something goes wrong, go and blame the Slytherins!´

   `Oh! This is rich coming from a Junior Death Eater!´ Parvati Patil screamed right back her head turning purple of agitation.

   `You´re all nothing but..!´

   `Murderers! Lying, stinking pieces of..!´

   `QUIET!´ two voices shouted and startled Hermione looked at Blaise Zabini, a chestnut-haired Slytherin, who had tried to end the quarry as well. He drew himself up to his considerable height and eyed the assembled students sternly.

   `In case it has slipped through your attention,´ he hissed through clenched teeth. `There´s a a disease spreading through Hogwarts uncontrolled! And all you can do is shout accusations? Try to use your miserable heads for once! Does anyone of you really think that the disease will stop at different houses? That it recognizes a Ravenclaw badge and thinks `Oh! This is a Ravenclaw, they´re clever so I won´t infect them?´´ Blaise panted as a mixture of emotions ran through him: anger, fear, insecurity, resolution. `Like it or nnot. We´re in this together and the sooner we get rid of the disease the sooner we can go back to hating each other. Or we can go on fighting each other and die…´ he ended in a sob as his voice gave out.

   Stunned silence filled the room once more as everyone mulled Blaise´s words over in his or her mind. And again it was Ginny who brought up the courage to break it and come to the only sensible solution.

   `He´s right, you know.´ she said as she handed him a handkerchief. `We should call it a truce for the time being.´

   Confused murmurs could be heard but were suppressed as Malfoy spoke up knowing that the Slytherins would follow his decision.

   `It´s like Blaise said: the sooner we get rid of the disease, the sooner we can go back to fighting each other. A truce it is, then.´ He held out his hand and Ginny who had somehow slipped into the role of a spokeswoman for Gryffindor shook it and gave him a slight smile which was returned by a sarcastic one.

   `Of course that doesn´t mean that we´re friends now.´ Malfoy drawled in a bored voice.

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   Several corridors away the atmosphere was just as strained as it was in the Gryffindor common room where nobody had any idea just how prophetic Blaise Zabini´s words had become. On a bed next to Moira Donovan who was getting weaker by the hour lay Argus Filch, caretaker of Hogwarts and second victim. He was covered from head to toe in a thick layer of ice which gave him a deceivingly peaceful look. A few beds away lay a third-year Hufflepuff who had collapsed only half an hour ago. He, too, was covered in ice and slept a cold sleep.

   Madam Pomfrey, the matron, shook her curly head sadly. `It spreads, headmaster.´ she whispered. `And I fear that this is only the beginning.´

   Dumbledore placed a soothing hand on her shoulders and gave them a reassuring squeeze. `Everything will turn out fine. I already have a pretty specific idea how to cure-´ a coughing fit interrupted him for several minutes. When he had finished his eyes were filled with tears from the strain and his lips slightly blue since he hadn´t had enough time to breathe properly.  

   Pomfrey gave him a concerned look. `What is it, headmaster?´

   Dumbledore suddenly got very interested in his shoes and smiled ruefully. `You know how much I like those sweet little cookies from the kitchen. Well, it seems as if they held an unhealthy amount of hazelnuts.´

   Madam Pomfrey put her hands on her hips. `Unhealthy for you, right? Tell me you didn´t eat all of them! You know you´re allergic to hazelnut!´

   Dumbledore smiled in a slightly strained way. `Well, they were quite exquisite…´

   `Headmaster!´ she huffed. `We do have more pressing problems right now!´

   Albus nodded every glimpse of playfulness suddenly gone and replaced by a keep intelligence that shone in his eyes. `Of course we have, Poppy. And you can rest assured that an allergic reaction, as annoying as it may be, won´t hinder me. Now, if you would please excuse me, I have to look after Fawkes. The poor bird is still feeling quite ill and while Severus and our ministry friends are very capable of handing the situation here Fawkes needs my help.´

   Pomfrey pursed her lips in disagreement. `How can you say that? You´re the headmaster! You should be caring for your students and not for some bird no matter how much you treasure him!´

   Dumbledore gave her an understanding look from the exit of the hospital wing. `Trust me, Poppy. By caring for Fawkes I do the best thing I can for my students. I´m surely not forgetting them. Please sent Severus up to me, when they´re finished, will you?´

   He waited for a curt nod from Madam Pomfrey then retreated deep in thoughts. He hadn´t lied – he knew that Fawkes was vital to understanding the infection. The victims were in the most capable hands and one person more or less standing around and worrying wouldn´t make a difference but one person investigating on another path than the others could make all the difference. Just one more test – just to be sure – and he knew how the infection itself took place. Then he would be able to protect his students…

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   It took Snape and the specialists from the `Ministry of Magical Maladies and Injuries´ nearly three hours to go through the dungeons once more. They had not gotten any blood samples from Filch who had been iced up too quickly but they did manage to get their hands on Mrs. Norris who had been encased in a big bubble. Avoiding scratches and bites they had worked for about an hour, then they finally had their prize: a phial full of cat blood which had instantly been carried away to their makeshift laboratory where Mr. Abbot started working on it. Mr. Cuther and his new best friend, Prof. Snape who loathed the small man from the bottom of his dark heart, meanwhile took another tour through the dungeons in order to get some samples of the substance that Filch had vomited.

   After they emerged through the disinfecting barrier which they had set up around the dungeons and took off the protective spells both of them were too tired to even speak a word.

Mr. Cuther headed off to their laboratory in order to bring Abbot the samples while Snape promised to follow as soon as he had paid the kitchen a little visit and begged for some food and tea for the others and a hot black coffee for himself.

   `Get food and tea, get COFFEE and get the samples from the Hufflepuff boy,´ Severus  recited tiredly careful not to fall asleep on his feet. Of course, they had not gotten any blood samples from the boy, Bert MacMillan or something like that, only samples of the sticky green fluid. He yawned thoroughly and hoped that nobody had noticed. Snape couldn´t let the school know that he was a human being! He did have a reputation to uphold!

   His feet had brought him to the hospital wing without him realizing it as suddenly Madam Pomfrey poked her head out, recognized the potions master and headed towards him like the Hogwarts express at full speed.

   `Snape! The samples from Bert MacMillan. ´ she bellowed and handed him a small bag full of phials. He groaned and blinked tiredly at her.

   `Dumbledore wants to see you.´

   `What for?´

   `How would I know?´ Pomfrey asked distractedly her mind already back on her patients. `Go and ask him!´

   Snape grunted a good-bye, grabbed the bag and shuffled to Dumbledore´s office.

   As Severus entered the headmaster´s office he instantly knew that something was amiss. There was a slight stench, like sour milk perhaps, and everything was so awfully quiet.

   `Dumbledore?´ he asked.

   No answer so he tried again. `Dumbledore, you wanted to speak to me? Headmaster!´

Snorting in annoyance (why had Dumbledore asked for him if he wasn´t even here?) Snape made his way into the heart of Albus´ office. And stopped dead in his tracks.

   `Oh no…This can´t be! For the love of Selene! No!´ Severus fell down onto his knees as he took in the scenery before him.
   Fawkes was hanging limply in his cage, alive but obviously very weakened while the portraits of the former headmasters sat sobbing in their frames. On the floor, still clutching a bit of parchment in his hands lay Albus Dumbledore. A sticky green liquid surrounded his head and was soaking his hair and robes. He didn´t move.

Comments :

· PurpleSailorSaturn7: Hi and thank you for your comments! You might try coffee for my version of Snape. You know, it tastes bitter, is unhealthy and dark! He´s got to love it : ) I know that he wasn´t much in the spotlight this chapter but he will be in the next one. Keep reading and writing and…I think maybe Severus likes dark roses? Bloodred? Who knows in what ways his mind works?

· Star magic: Oooh! Such nice praise! I´m glad that you can´t see me blushing although I think that there are a lot of brilliantly thought-out stories on FF.net. In my opinion some of them even rival the originals by Rowling. Anyway, thank you for the great ego boost : )

· May : No need to be sorry, you´re still the goddess of reviewers! Thanks you and see you soon!

· Polgara : A new reviewer! A new reviewer! Thank you for your interest! Concerning the scent of roses: That was me trying to bring in something funny and failing miserably since obviously I hadn´t made the connection obvious enough. I thought that Filch had cleaned the dungeons with `Madam Mim´s Indian Roses Mess-Remover´ after Moira collapsed. This is why they weren´t able to gather any samples from her and the dungeons were bathed in the scent of roses. Snape was angry because he wants his dungeons to be intimidating. A scent of roses in his dungeons has the same effect on him as fluffy pink pillows in his classroom would have. I hope that made some sense. Anyway, I really appreciate your comments.

· Anneliese : Thank you from me and from Snape. He´s delighted to know that there are still sensible people out there who despise the scent of roses in his dungeons as much as he does : ) Thinking that Filch deserves this! Have you no pity? Are you perhaps in Slytherin? I think Severus has taken a liking to you…

· Demeter : First of all – great pen name! Then: thank you for your interest and the constructive criticism. I re-read the parts you mentioned and have to agree with you. Still I decided to leave the Hermione-part the way it is - privately I call it the Domina!Hermione-part : ) but tried to explain her behaviour in this chapter. Three years are a lot of time and people can change a lot. The more I think about it, the more I like this changed Hermione who is just as bad as the Slytherins in her own way. Concerning the one-sidedness: this is why I need reviews (except to boost my ego and make me happy, that is). I write and write and write and sometimes I overlook some points which is why an opinion from a different point of view is very important to me. I´ve taken that comment into account and think I´ve already showed another side of the Slytherins by using Blaise Zabini. Thanks : )

· Elspeth : You should re-name yourself into `Cassandra´ because you make stunningly correct predictions and ask the right questions (which I can´t answer right now without giving away too much). By the way, I never said that Voldemort is behind this but I also never said that Voldemort isn´t. I did mention that Draco think the Death Eaters aren´t responsible, but as we have learned in GoF Death Eaters can work separately from each other and even against each other. Or maybe it has a natural cause ? HeHeHe…evil, am I? Anyway, thanks a lot for your kind review : )

· Koochi Highwind : WOW! Aaaaand the Oscar for the most reviews in a row goes to….Koochi!!! Congratulations and a big thank you from the author! I share your opinion on `Softie- & Sarcastic-Snape´. They´re a little like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde…only one is constantly on the outside while the other is constantly on the inside and influences Mr. Hyde from time to time. That was a weird, huh? Anyway, I have to admit that Dumbledore and Harry are the most difficult characters for me. I can feel myself into the others much easier but fortunately I just solved the Dumbledore-problem (don´t take that too seriously – I like Albus and his bird). Malfoy is another one of my favourites although I´m not sure whether I love to hate him or hate to love him. Sigh! I can´t wait for the fifth book!

Next chapter : Hogwarts reacts to the spreading disease while the students of Gryffindor and Slytherin house start working together. At least they´re trying to…