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 : There is a lot of talking in this chapter which might get a bit boring. Still I believe that the following conversations are necessary because it would be utterly unrealistic if Snape or anyone else just gets the idea for a cure without laying the basis for the break-through and making his or their thoughts retraceable. So this is some kind of turning point chapter without much action and merely setting up everything so that the story can proceed. Please bear with me even if this chapter is a bit boring – the next one will be filled with much more action. I promise! : )
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This evening there was an eerie silence in the staffroom interrupted only by a sniffle here and there. Prof. Minerva McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher and deputy headmistress of Hogwarts paced through the room with long strides her robes billowing after her in an almost Snape-like manner. Her hair had partially fallen out of the tight bun she usually word and the skin under her eyes had turned almost purple of exhaustion but nevertheless she had pressed her lips together to form a thin determined line and held her head high. It almost seemed as if the pressure of the situation had brought out a strength in her that even Minerva didn´t know she possessed. She stopped her pacing and leaned on a table in front of the assembled colleagues projecting an air of cool determination. She had stood up to Voldemort – the past years had rid her of the fear of saying his name – she surely wouldn´t back down from a disease!
`Well, Ladies and Gentlemen,´ she addressed the silent audience, `We´re in the middle of a problem here and I think that the time has come for a little more aggressive ways of handling it. You are all aware that a few hours ago Prof. Dumbledore has fallen victim to the `emerald disease´ - this is how our specialists have named it…´
Snape grunted. In fact, privately they had started to call the disease `the bastard´ but Mr. Cuther had insisted on the prosaic name `emerald disease´ (`Doesn´t it have a nice ring to it, Severus ol´ chap?´) claiming that a proper naming was of utmost importance while Snape and Abbot had merely rolled their eyes. Severus quickly returned his attention to Prof. McGonagall who seemed very determined.
`…so that I think the best way to fight it is to clear our heads and approach this rationally. Therefore we need to discriminate facts from fiction and then we can start making theories.´
McGonagall huffed energetically and stomped off to the wall which she touched lightly with the tip of her wand making it glow in a faint light.
`Victim number one – yesterday at five o´clock in the afternoon Moira Donovan, Gryffindor seventh-year collapsed during her potions lesson. She has been put under a freezing charm during the next ten minutes and has remained so to the present hour.´
McGonagall´s words appeared on the wall under several words which were written in capital letters and read: time of infection (nothing was written beneath that one), time of collapse (M.D. Thursday 5 o´clock in the afternoon), symptoms (M.D. vomited a green substance, no samples), exposition to the disease (M.D. unknown).
Minerva nodded content that her new spell worked so well and continued. `During Moira´s collapse several people were exposed to the disease such as the seventh-year Gryffindors and Slytherins and Prof. Snape. None of them have shown any signs of infection so far and Poppy assures me that the medical tests which she had done on them only hours later show nothing peculiar. Victim number two…´ McGonagall rummaged through a pile of papers which she has prepared for the occasion. `Ah! Here it is! Victim number two – our caretaker Argus Filch. As far as we are informed he didn´t have any direct contact with Ms. Donovan but only cleaned up the dungeons after she had collapsed. This must have been between half past five till sometime during the night. He collapsed today around one o´clock.´
The wall was noticing dutifully every word Minerva said.
`I suppose that Mrs. Norris, his cat, has accompanied him but we don´t know that for sure. Anyway, she hasn´t shown any signs of infection as well except for an extremely cranky mood which of course may result from Mr. Filch´s condition. Mr. Abbot and Mr. Cuther noticed that Filch´s symptoms seemed to differ from Moira´s not only in intensity but also generally. A violent trembling proceeded the vomiting and…´
`Minerva,´ Severus interrupted her in a timid voice which was without a doubt due to the painful memories which he connected with those incidents, `Minerva, Moira trembled, too. I´m not sure if she had already done so before the collapse since she seemed to be fine during the first half of the lesson but later on she definitely trembled.´
`Oh,´ Prof. McGonagall raised an eyebrow and turned towards the wall. `Would you add that please?´ she asked and the wall hastily scribbled `trembling´ under Moira´s symptoms.
`Anything else you´d like to add, Severus? Or anyone else?´
The audience shook their heads almost as one.
`Fine, then let´s continue.´ Minerva consulted her notes once more and proceeded. `Ahem. Violent trembling…vomiting…a-HA! Right, Mr. Filch has been put under a freezing charm as well and we do have some samples of the green substance he vomited. There are also blood samples from Mrs. Norris but there was nothing out of the ordinary, right?´ she shot a questioning glance at the specialists while Mr. Cuther beamed at her.
`Perfectly right, Professor. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing at all. In fact, her blood is beautiful…HeHe…beautiful for a cat I mean and …´
Cuther abruptly stopped speaking as Prof. Snape wearing an expression of angelic innocence kicked him forcefully and sent the chubby specialist crashing to the floor in an undignified tangle of arms and legs which stood up from his small round body like the legs of a beetle which had fallen onto its back. McGonagall and Snape exchanged a rare smirk, than she put the stern expression back onto her face although her eyes were still twinkling in a way that reminded Severus painfully of Albus Dumbledore.
`So Mrs. Norris is fine so far. The third victim is a Hufflepuff third-year…´
Here Prof. Sprout failed to suppress a heartfelt sob for her pupil and blew her nose with a melodic `Phhhhhht!´ while Minerva gave her a sympathetic look.
`Third victim is Bert MacMillan, Hufflepuff third-year. This was something of a mystery. As far as we know he had not been exposed to the disease at all. He hasn´t been to the dungeons, hasn´t even seen anything of the green vomit and had had no contact with Filch. In fact, he was as protected as anyone could wish for but still, somehow, Bert must have been infected. He collapsed shortly after…´ Minerva blinked some tears out of her eyes and cleared her throat violently. It was so hard to speak about the infected children! With a deep sigh she continued in a subdued voice. `He collapsed shortly after Mr.Filch around one or two o´clock. As far as I know he showed the same symptoms as Filch. MacMillan´s samples consist of probes of the green vomit. He is now under a freezing charm as are the other victims. The latest victim is our headmaster, Prof. Dumbledore.´ Once more Prof. McGonagall had to fight back tears as she spoke about one of her oldest and dearest friends. `He has collapsed this afternoon although we don´t know the exact time. He has been found by Severus around four o´clock lying in…in…´ McGonagall cleared her throat for several minutes before continuing, `One of his symptoms was the green substance. We don´t know about any others but the portraits in his office have told me about a constant coughing which was due to an allergic reaction to hazelnuts and a violent trembling just before the collapse. He is, however, in worse shape than the other victims probably because he wasn´t frozen directly after the break-down. Right now Albus is even too weak to be treated with the re-hydration spell so he has only forty-eight hours left whereas the others may hold on for a longer amount of time. Next to that Severus has taken a blood sample from him – never mind the fact that this must have traumatized him even more!´ Minerva glared angrily at the potions master who shrugged.
`You know as well as I do that Dumbledore would have wanted me to do that. It´s the only blood sample that we have and it could give us a much needed break-through.´
Prof. McGonagall didn´t reply but merely pursed her lips and sent Snape a reproachful look then continued. `Anyway, we need to pro-´
`But what about Fawkes?´ a voice suddenly boomed through the room.
Teachers and ministry specialists turned around and were greeted with a sight that none of them would have ever expected to see. Coming out from under an invisibility cloak was Harry Potter who had interrupted Prof. McGonagall and following him was Draco Malfoy who still clutched the cloak in one hand and smirked sarcastically.
`Way to go, Potter. So this is what you call investigating discreetly.´
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The shouts came simultaneously.
`POTTER!´ Severus barked while an angry vein pounded on his temple.
`MALFOY!´ Minerva screamed and nearly lost her glasses because of her agitation.
`What are you doing here?´ roared the two teachers in perfect harmony while their `targets´ couldn´t suppress wincing at the hostile tone.
`We were just…well…um…´ Harry stuttered nervously while Snape glared daggers into his direction. Potter nudged Draco who was standing next to him trying to look as innocent as possible. `Come on, you´re a Slytherin. Shouldn´t you know how to talk your way out of trouble?´
`You mean out of trouble which was caused by your stupid, headless, typical-Gryffindor lets-rush-into-a-situation-without-considering-the-consequences-style? No way! Get out of that yourself, genius!´ Malfoy hissed back.
`Truce, remember? We have a truce! That means we have to work together until this mess is over!´
Draco rolled his eyes. `Why did I ever accept this?´ He gave a suffering sigh. `All right, you shut up and don´t interrupt me. Look as innocent and worried as possible.´ Malfoy instructed and approached the teacher with raised hands in a gesture of peace and a remorseful look on his pale face while Harry struggled to force his facial muscles into his patented puppy-dog-expression. Hermione had said it looked adorable, hadn´t she? So he should be confident that it must have a soothing effect on the teachers. But why did an annoying voice in the back of his head have to remind him that Ron had said it looked stupid and artificial?
Meanwhile Draco smiled an angelic little smile which looked as if it came from the very depth of his heart while Harry knew that it was a complete fake. How did he do that? Years of practice?
`Professors,´ Malfoy said in a respectful tone, `We didn´t mean to disturb your conference.´
`Well, you did a pretty good job of disturbing, Mr. Malfoy.´ Minerva hissed coldly.
Draco nodded looking every inch the picture of an innocent kid which was deeply ashamed while Snape had troubles to fight back the smile which tried to creep upon his face during Draco´s performance. He didn´t believe him for a second and from the looks of it neither did Minerva. She scowled darkly at Draco eager to let out the enormous tension which had built up inside her during the past days. Severus decided to intervene as soon as it got too rough and deeply regretted the fact that Draco was present. What a wonderful detention he would have given Harry! Maybe he would even have been expelled…
A merry laughter broke the tension but as everybody turned around in astonishment they saw nothing. There! On the floor! Prof. Flitwick had fallen off his chair and was rolling on the floor with laughter.
`What is it? ´ Prof. McGonagall inquired looking sternly down at him.
`It´s just…just that…´ giggles interrupted him while Severus stepped up to Minerva and shook his head tragically.
`He has gone insane.´
Finally Flitwick regained a little breath. `The world is about to come to an end! Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are working together! Never thought I´d live to see that day…´
Both boys flushed furiously at that which seemed to touch a nerve in the teachers and soon the tremendous tension of the past days exploded in roaring laughter while the two students stood puzzled in the middle of the madness.
`I reckon they´ve all gone crazy.´ Harry said solemnly while Draco nodded in acceptance.
`Maybe the disease also affects the brain?´
Comments :
· Demeter : Thanks for reviewing again! Don´t worry I´ve taken no offence since all you did was offer constructive criticism which is nothing negative at all! In fact, it is due to your inspiration that Hermione has gotten some depth in this story which makes it more interesting. I even consider of writing a sequel one day where I will explain the source of her hate towards Slytherins but first I need to finish this story. Concerning Slytherins I decided to leave Millicent as nasty as she has always been while Pansy is fairly neutral at the moment. A nice Slytherin will come from a different direction (although I´m sure you have already guessed who it is). Please keep reading and commenting : )
· Star magic : THANK YOU! I´m on someone´s favourites list! Me! Me! Me! Yes! Like I said in the preliminary comments I hope you´re not disappointed with this chapter but it´s important for the consistency of the story because now our heroes have the base of making some break-throughs.
· Koochi Highwind: Thank you for your kind review. I loved the line `What´s next, newt livers?´ HeHe. Maybe I´ll expand the chapter sometime but right now I´m busy to get along with the plot. I can´t just let one person after the next fall ill and that´s all. It gets boring after a while! Anyway, like I already mentioned I´m thinking of a different fic which centres around Hermione´s hatred. Would anyone be interested to read something where Draco has renounced the wizarding world but is dragged back into it by Hermione who does this VERY reluctantly? I´m not thinking of romance but rather of all the wonderful conflicts which would result from such a situation…But don´t worry, I´m only playing with the idea right now while I pour all my energy into this fic.
· Polgara : Your wish is my command. You wanted more soon – here it is! Concerning Blaise: I´m not sure what he or she is (maybe it?) but the story needed a male Slytherin and suddenly Blaise turned into one : ) Thanks a lot for the review.
· Elspeth : Cassandra is at it again! All I can say right now is that you´re right on this one: It´s a magical plague simply because I don´t want to write about real ones and it gives me a lot of possibilities. Next to that I think that real plagues are very very scary stuff and I´d have to raise the rating to `R´ if I described the symptoms correctly. However, it´s not my goal to scare anyone by gruesome descriptions but rather by the simple fact that there is a disease loose at Hogwarts. The direness of the situation is supposed to be made clear by the reactions of the people. The way how the disease is analysed and explored loosely mirrors the steps that are made in such situations in real life, i.e. the Protective spells used by the ministry specialists and Snape correspond to protective suits etc. By the way, you´ve noticed something interesting…Snape has indeed been exposed three times (during Filch´s collapse he had his protection spells). Why doesn´t he fall ill? Anyway, more on that will be found in the next chapter. Thank you very much for your review : )
· Fairygirl : I´m glad that you like it so far and thanks for the review. By now you know a bit more about Dumbledore´s condition but don´t worry: I wouldn´t dare to kill him - at least not right now ; )
· Anneliese : Oooh! Thank you for the flattering review : ) Dumbledore is still alive (barely) but what happens within the next forty-eight hours will be quite important for him. I hope you´ll like the way in which the story will continue.
· Narcissa Malfoy : Thank you! I guess getting a compliment from a Malfoy has to mean something so I´m really proud now : ) Don´t worry Mrs. (I learned the difference between Mrs. And Miss by now!!!), I´m not going to abuse your son too much by exposing him to half-bloods so please don´t send any Death Eaters. I hope you´ll enjoy the rest of the story as well.
Next chapter : Some people leave Hogwarts while others make a shocking discovery …