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. Next to that I dedicate this story to my wonderful reviewers! You´re all great! The best! : )
Preliminary comments : I´m not encouraging anyone below legal age to drink alcohol or follow advices of a Slytherin. It´s both dangerous.
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Severus Snape, greasy-haired and sleep-deprived potions master fled from the noise that had filled Hogwarts for the last two hours ever since Phaedrus Abbot and Algernon Cuther had started giving out the results.
`What results you ask?´ Snape wrinkled his nose. `Come on, you can´t be that much behind the news.´
Fawkes, the phoenix, just blinked tiredly at him and Severus sighed.
`All right, I´ll tell you. Phaedrus, you know, the tall thin man with the great moustache, has found a way to prove whether a person is infected or not. He´s been doing tests for the past hours and just released the results for the students. Of course most of the teachers are infected as are almost all Gryffindors and Slytherins. A lot of Hufflepuff third-years, too, come to think of it. Anyway, those of us who are uninfected will leave the castle and those of us who are not, well, won´t. So rest assured, my feathery friend, I´m staying here.´
Fawkes let out a sad chirp and hung his head.
`Hey!´ Snape looked at him in an offended way, `I thought you´d be glad that I´m staying. Who´s fetching you all those sherbet lemons?´ He held out one of those sweets but Fawkes turned his head away with a miserable `Peeeeeep!´.
`Just as well,´ Severus sighed and popped it into his own mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment while the phoenix stared reproachfully at him. `What?´ he finally asked. `You don´t want the lemon but you don´t want me to eat instead? Hmpf!´ Snape took a second sweet while Fawkes turned away indignantly.
Minutes passed by but still the noise from the great hall could be heard clearly over the snores of the previous headmasters in their frames. `You know,´ Severus began after a while,
`I think they´re going to keep us isolated and wait for the disease to kill us off.´
`Chirp?´
`At least they´re letting out some of the children. But I´m telling you, we won´t get any more help and if we don´t find a way to help ourselves then nobody will.´
`Twitter! Peeeep!!!´
`Oh, come on! You can´t seriously think that.´
`Chirp!´
Snape sighed. This was what had become of his life! Once he had been a bright student with a promising future and now he was reduced to having conversations with an eccentric phoenix!
The sun shone brightly on his face belying the sombre mood which lay on the castle and Severus felt the last sleepless nights take their toll. His eyelids were getting heavy and he felt terribly drowsy. Fawkes seemed to chirp something from far away and Severus absentmindedly cursed the bird for being so loud. All those stupid, noisy birds he had to listen to or read about in the students´ reports…
Snape awoke with a start and abruptly jumped out of his chair.
`That´s it! Fawkes, you´re a genius! I´ll just have to check…´ the potions master ran out of the room at a neck-breaking speed leaving a puzzled phoenix behind.
This is what his life had come to, Fawkes thought miserably, having conversations with crazy humans!
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`Miller, Suzanne – clean!´
A small girl wearing a robe with the Ravenclaw emblem stepped forward and joined the group of people who were to leave the castle while her best friend cried miserably as she was held back by some masked men sent by the ministry who shoved her back into the `infected group´.
`Suzy!´ the girl cried, `Suzy! Don´t go!´
The men blocked her from Suzanne´s view and roughly led the trembling girl out of the castle. Out. Away from the danger. Away from her friend. Suzanne felt horrible.
`This is cruel. It wouldn´t hurt them to be a little nicer, would it?´ Ron Weasley glared at the masked men from his place within the `infected group´. Almost all of his classmates as well as the Slytherins from his common-room had been sorted into this group. He looked around and saw Ginny cradling a terrified first-year which hung onto her as if his life depended on it.
`Something of an anti-climax, isn´t it?´ the now-familiar voice of Blaise Zabini shook him out of his musings.
`What do you mean?´ Ron inquired.
`Mighty Hogwarts reduced to this.´ Zabini spat the last word and pointed at the masked men who roughly separated the Creevey brothers and carelessly shoved Colin into the `infected´ group while Dennis wailed in misery as he was led outside.
`They treat us as if we´re already dead.´
Blaise nodded and hissed a word that made even Ron blush. Then he shrugged and nudged Ron´s shoulder. `You know, since we´re going to die anyway…How about we take a little tour to the Slytherin common-room and get some whiskey?´
Ron´s eyes widened. `You have...? But we´re not…´
`I doubt we´ll get detention for it. You´re coming, Weasley?´
The red-headed young man nodded and after collecting a healthy amount of people from the `infected group´ they headed for the dungeons.
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The Gryffindor common-room was almost completely deserted save for some lone figures who had been too proud or too stubborn to make the tests and preferred staying whether they were - infected or not. Most of the students had left in order to get tested and perhaps flee the castle while a tiny fraction of people such as Ron and Ginny Weasley, Blaise Zabini and others had accompanied them to support all of those who were labelled `infected´.
`Giving up is not an option!´ Hermione declared through clenched teeth.
`Nobody said that we would. So, what are our leads?´ Harry had his head in his hands but refused to succumb to sleep even though he had as dark circles under his eyes as the others.
`Hmmm,´ Pansy went through some notes. `What about Snape?´
`What about him?´ mumbled Draco whose usual carefully-styled hair was looking worse than Harry´s.
`Why isn´t he infected?´ Pansy insisted and Harry yawned.
`But he is infected. Don´t worry, he´ll die, too.´
Pansy scowled but at that moment Hermione jumped up excitedly and gave Pansy a dazzling smile. `Oh!´ she exclaimed as sudden realization dawned. `You´re right! He must have been infected much sooner than the rest of us! But he didn´t fall ill!´
`So what? Maybe he´s too mean for the virus (they were pretty sure that it was a virus, by now). Maybe he scares it off.´
Even Draco had to smile at the mental image of Severus Snape chasing a giant virus. Blimey! The lack of sleep clearly took its toll on them!
Hermione huffed indignantly and turned to Pansy. `Men!´
Pansy gave her an understanding smile. `Don´t I know it.´
The two of them sighed deeply then addressed the two representatives of the male species in stern voices.
`Listen, Snape´s body must have found some way to fight the infection or at least to delay its effects very efficiently.´ Pansy explained with an expression as if she was talking to five-years olds. That seemed to clear the sleepy minds and Harry sat up abruptly.
`Snape didn´t do anything out of the ordinary. He ate the same stuff that we ate, slept even less and I´m pretty sure that we can rule out the healing abilities of shampoo. Maybe he already had some antibodies?´
Draco shook his head thoughtfully. `Unlikely, Potter. Snape´s blood has been examined in order to find out whether he is infected or not. Those specialists would have found out if there was anything out of the ordinary. It must be something that he does…´
Harry furrowed his brows in concentration and scratched his aching head. `He´s practically under constant observation since he spends most of the time in that lab of his. It must be something else. Something he does when he´s alone. Private perhaps. Maybe we should..?´
`No!´ Pansy exclaimed shock evident on her face. `We can´t!´
`Why not?´ Harry was being adamant about it. `It could give us a clue. Perhaps we could even buy ourselves some more time?´
Pansy shook her head vigorously as a small blush crept over her features.
`Aw, Pansy!´ Draco couldn´t suppress a smile, `I thought you were over that little crush of yours!´
Squeaking she his her blonde head behind a huge plush pillow. A mumbled `I don´t have a crush on him!´ could be heard but was drowned under the good-natured laughter that her statement evoked.
`Maybe you boys should go.´ Hermione suggested. `It wouldn´t invade his privacy as much as it would if one of us girls would accompany you.´
Draco looked at her with a puzzled expression. `Invade his…? Only a Gryffindor can think that way.´
`Anyway, has anyone thought about how we´re getting into his private room? And which one for that matter – his old one in the dungeons or the temporary one near the hospital wing?´ Harry inquired calmly and looked at Hermione whose lips were pressed together tightly in thought.
`We should check them both.´ she finally decided, `But I think that the temporary one might be more important. I reckon that you´ll use the invisibility cloak again but how do you want to get into the room? I´m sure there will be security measures.´
`Don´t worry about that. Father has taught me a thing or two.´ Draco replied easily and both Harry and Hermione found themselves unwilling to imagine what other things `father´ had taught him. After a moment of silence Potter got up and looked around.
`What are we waiting for?´
Comments :
· Enfleurage: Thanks for the review! As you can see the owl/bird-motive is continued in this chapter. It certainly seems as if Snape thinks it´s important. Or does he? : )
· Shahid: I´m glad that you like it! You´ve written a very kind review, thank you! For the hints at Herminoe´s past you have to thank Demeter because it was her first review that gave me the inspiration. By now I´m intrigued with her past as well and in a very rough planning phase of a sequel where this topic would be addressed further.
· Demeter: Mutations, feathers, infections…it all comes down on Snape´s poor head! Anyway, I couldn´t withstand the temptation to use a virus which mutates and thereby I think I´ve fulfilled nearly every cliché for a `monster-virus´. It will be dealt with in one way or another by tomorrow. Thanks a lot of your nice review : )
· Elspeth: Thank you for your review! I got the name `Algernon´ from Oscar Wilde´s `the importance of being Earnest. By now I even know why you could predict so much of the story: you know what to look for! Congratulations to Dr. Kay Scarpetta, she taught you well : ) Concerning your job: I´ll talk to Mr. Abbot about it, he seems quite interested in getting rid of Algernon.
· PurpleSailorSaturn7: Wow! I can´t believe it! You´ve been with this story since the start. This is so great! Anyway, here´s more Snape for you. We always knew that there´s more to him than meets the eye, didn´t we?
· Star magic: Thank you for your kind review! It was really nice of you to say that and I hope I´ll continue not disappointing you. I´m still feeling all warm and fuzzy inside : )
· Polgara: You´ll learn everything in the last chapter. In order to make it really clear I´m planning to make a long author´s note where the `evolution´ of the infection is explained. This is where you´ll probably say that it can´t work like that in reality ; ) Well, I´ll stop rambling now since I´m too tired to see straight. Thank you very much for your kind review and for bearing with me. Good night!
Next chapter : The conclusion !!!