THE CHAOS BEGINS
From: Caius Julius
Chapter 4: Plans at Night
Once Harry was out
of the common room he stopped. What had Ron said? It was
3 o' clock in the
morning? Dumbledore would certainly be asleep, wouldn't he?
Harry bit his lower
lip. He knew the Headmaster had told him to report any new nightmares
immediately,
but he could tell
him before breakfast as well, couldn't he?
He was still
thinking about what to do when all of a sudden someone lay a hand on his
shoulder. He jumped from shock.
Only very slowly
he turned.
And faced an
angry-looking Professor McGonagall.
"Mr. Potter!
What are you doing in front of the entrance to Gryffindor-House at this hour?
You better-"
She broke off when
she noticed the frightened look in Harry's eyes. She forgot what she had
intended to say and changed
her voice into a
more caring one.
"God, Mr.
Potter, Harry! What happened? Are you all right? Do you feel well, or should I
take you to Madame Pomfrey?"
Slightly
exhausted, Harry shook his head. He felt a little feverish, though. Probably a
leftover of the nightmare.
"No,
Professor," he replied. Now that McGonagall had found him he didn't really
had a choice whether to go to Dumbledore or not.
"I... I had a
nightmare. You see, I've got to see the Headmaster. It is important.
Please."
McGonagall seemed
to scrutinise him carefully. After a few seconds she nodded.
"Very well,
Potter. He will know what to do."
She let go of his
shoulder and led him to the entrance of Dumbledore's office. She knocked on the
door thrice and after only a few seconds
it opened. Softly,
McGonagall pushed Harry inside before entering the room herself.
The Headmaster sat
at his desk and looked at them with twinkling eyes. He gave his unexpected
visitors a friendly smile.
"My, Minerva,
Harry. What made you come here at so early an hour?"
Somehow, Harry was
sure, Dumbledore already knew why he had come. Anyway, McGonagall answered.
"Mr. Potter
here, Headmaster. He seems to have had another one of those nightmares."
Dumbledore sighed.
"Obviously.
Thank you, Minerva."
McGonagall nodded
shortly before giving Harry a last sympathising glance and left.
"Very
well," Dumbledore said. "I think we have something to talk about,
Harry, don't we?" His eyes twinkled encouraging at the boy.
The Headmaster
stood up and mentioned Harry to come closer.
"Harry,
please, sit down. It was wise of you to come to me at once. Care for a cup of
tea? You seem to be a bit shaky."
Harry nodded silently.
The lack of sleep finally got the better of him. He sipped at the cup
Dumbledore offered him and thought.
What was he to
tell the Headmaster? The truth, of course. But what about Snape? Harry knew he
wasn't supposed to know about
Snape's whereabouts.
Surely, Dumbledore wouldn't appreciate Hermione's and his spying. But while the
Headmaster looked
at him with a very
comforting smile, and those searching blue eyes of his, Harry simply couldn't
conceal anything, let alone lie.
He breathed
heavily and began to speak.
"It was
Voldemort - of course - and Lucius Malfoy. I don't know where they were.
Voldemort said he was about to move to Azkaban!
Very soon."
Dumbledore nodded.
"I feared so. Although I did hope he wouldn't do it that fast. I have to speak
to Cornelius.
He has to come to
his senses or it will be too late. But I fear any effort to convince him will
be in vain."
Harry immediately
shook his head.
"That won't
do any good, sir. Voldemort has spies everywhere inside the ministry - among
Fudge's advisors even.
He will rather
believe them than you. That was Voldemort's goal all along. He made Fudge
believe you were against him.
He wants to
estrange you two. That's why he arranged Professor Snape's arrest in the first
place."
Harry stopped. It
was out, finally.
Dumbledore gave
him a most curious look. He didn't seem angry at all, much to Harry's relief.
"You know
about it, then? Very interesting. May I ask how you came to that
knowledge?"
"Well,"
Harry blushed slightly and looked away.
He felt like a
small boy, confessing a deed to his beloved grandfather.
"Hermione and
I saw Minister Fudge arrive, you know, on that Saturday the week before the
last. We were curious why he'd visit you.
So we, ehm,
followed you to the staff room. With my Invisibility cloak."
He paused shortly.
"We witnessed
everything."
Again, Dumbledore
nodded.
"I see. I
trust you didn't tell anyone else?"
"Only
Ron," Harry said.
"Very well, Harry.
I cannot say I'm proud of it but it seems helpful now. I don't think I have to
tell you not to do any of this again.
Now, what did
Voldemort say about Professor Snape?"
Harry told him
everything Malfoy and the Dark Lord had discussed.
After he had
finished, Headmaster and student simply stared for a few seconds.
Harry was the
first to speak.
"Do you... do
you think, Professor Snape will turn back to the Dark side? I mean he has to
feel abandoned and betrayed.
Fudge didn't even
grant him the right to defend himself. And there's no way you can help him, is
there? Once Voldemort takes Azkaban
and frees the
prisoners, wouldn't Snape want revenge? Voldemort seems so sure about it."
Again, he paused.
"You know,
sir, I got the impression Voldemort does not suspect Snape has left him completely,
let alone spy for you.
But he wants to
make sure he will not fall for you in the future. What if he makes Snape switch
sides?
Do you think he
will stay loyal to you?"
Dumbledore gazed
out of the window although it was still dark outside and therefor nothing to be
seen.
"I've known
Severus for a long time, Harry, and I wish I could say he will. But I can't.
Not because he is tempted by the power
Voldemort offers
him or because he believes in pure blood and such. But there's more to Azkaban
than the Dementors, Harry.
I won't tell you
what, but believe me:
"They will try
everything to make sure he becomes a loyal Death Eater once again. If Voldemort
goes to such lengths to keep
Severus on his
side we were right about his place among the Death Eaters. You are right,
Harry. Had Voldemort known Severus was
only pretending to
be on his side he would have killed him by now."
Once again,
Dumbledore looked out into the night.
"I only
wonder what advantage he gains from this. There has to be a reason. If he
thinks Severus his spy here at Hogwarts
why would he want
to see him locked away in Azkaban - there must be more to it than simply punish
him. What is his plan?"
Dumbledore sighed
again. "But that is not something you should have to worry about. We
cannot help Severus right now."
At this, Harry got
angry.
"Why not? Do
you think I am still a child? Granted, at normal circumstances I wouldn't know
about it. But I do and I cannot simply forget that.
Heaven, I don't
even like Snape - not at all, take that for sure! But I understand he was - is
- vital to our cause. You said so yourself.
And now you want
to abandon him - that's just what Voldemort wants!"
"Harry,"
Dumbledore held up a hand. "I don't intend to abandon him. But there's
nothing we can do about it right now. Apart from Fudge
and Voldemort only
you and I know about Severus' arrest. In fact, Cornelius did have a right to
arrest him, you know.
And he was kind
enough not to make it public."
Harry shook his
head.
"But it
wasn't fair! Snape didn't even get a trial."
Dumbledore smiled
weakly.
"No, and I am
glad for that. Revealing Severus' past would prove fatal. We wouldn't help
neither him nor us with that."
"What is
there to be revealed?" Harry asked, becoming angrily.
"Karkaroff
said he was a Death Eater and you confirmed it. I saw it in your Pensive,
remember? That can hardly be a secret."
Again, the
Headmaster shook his head.
"Barty Crouch
and I decided it would be better to keep Professor Snape's role in Voldemort's
downfall secret. We put a memory charm
on the jury, you
see. And since Barty Crouch is dead, only very few know about it at all."
Harry didn't give
up easily.
"Then at
least tell Snape what will happen. What Voldemort has in mind. If he knows he
will have a chance to come up with something."
"Harry,"
Dumbledore's voice was very calm, as if he was explaining an obvious fact to a
stubborn child.
"Severus is
not allowed to receive any visitors. Not even messages. He's completely cut off
from everything. It was part of Minister Fudge's
and mine
agreement. In turn, he keeps Severus' arrest secret and thus prevents a
possible uproar against Hogwarts."
Harry shook his
head, disbelieving.
"So you tell
me you can't do anything? While Fudge's 'advisors' surely send people to Snape
in order to turn him over?
I thought you were
kind of friends, you and Snape."
Dumbledore opened
his mouth to reply to Harry's outburst but suddenly stopped dead. Harry could
tell the Headmaster was thinking
hard. His face,
only seconds before covered with a sad expression, showed a thin, proud smile.
"Harry,
you're a genius!"
"What?"
Harry only blinked. What had he done? Did he miss anything?
"Headmaster,
what are you-"
But Dumbledore
rose and laid a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Well, Harry,
you have just given me an idea of what we might do. But you better go to bed
again. You'll need some more sleep,
don't you
think?"
Reluctantly, Harry
rose as well.
"But sir,
what do you mean? I don't understand."
Dumbledore's eyes
twinkled with amusement.
"Not now,
Harry. I will tell you later when I've come up with a scheme. You know,
sometimes all one needs is to have a little
conversation to
see the obvious. Thank you, Harry, for showing me."
Harry frowned. He
still didn't know what Dumbledore was talking about.
"You're
welcome, sir, but-"
"Later,
Harry!" Gently, Dumbledore pushed him out of his office and bid him good
night, or rather good morning.
A very confused
Harry returned to his dormitory. Now what was that all about? What did Dumbledore
mean, he was a genius?
All he had done
was being angry and, well, a little disrespectful to his Headmaster. Not a very
congenial thing in his opinion.
He sighed. Maybe
Dumbledore would tell him later.
Carefully, he
opened the door to his dorm. Fortunately, everybody was asleep again.
Harry silently
went to his bed and tried to get some well-needed sleep.
But somehow
tonight's events wouldn't let him rest.
TBC...
