Disclaimer: I own nothing but the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.
Authors Note: Here it is! Enjoy!
-Chapter Ten-
Harry, Severus and the Four Founders kept a close eye at Molloy during the next couple of days. However, there was nothing that indicated that the man was about to steal a sword.
"Do you think we'll need reinforcements from the rest of the Order?" Harry asked Severus as the two of them were walking to the staff meeting. This meeting was very, very important, as their plan to capture Molloy would depend solely on the actions of the man in question.
"Not really," Severus replied. "We are going to send McGonagall-the-Unspeakable down there with him, and she'll keep him in check long enough for us to get down there and confront them both. I assume you haven't forgotten your duelling skills, Potter?"
"Not at all, my dear man," Harry said and entered the staff room. At once Dumbledore's cheerful mask fell into place, and the staff meeting began. First there was the problem of a couple of first-year Hufflepuff students somehow always managing to get stuck on the same trick step on their way to the Hufflepuff common room, and now Sprout was demanding to have that step removed.
Next Hagrid began lecturing the entire staff about a group of chimeras that had just moved into the Forbidden Forest and that they had just given birth to several kittens and that everyone should keep away from them for at least the next two months.
'I doubt anyone who was not Hagrid would approach a chimera willingly – with or without kits.' Harry mused and his thoughts were reflected in most of the rest of the staff's faces as well. They'd clearly have to do something about getting those chimeras relocated. Couldn't have those kinds of beasts running around so close to a school full of children, now could they? Making a mental note to call in the Disposal of Magical Creatures Department, Harry went on.
"And now, who wants to do the next check-up on the Sword?" the usually green-eyed man asked innocently. At once the entire room went silent as the grave, before it exploded into a flurry.
"... papers to grade..."
"... most regrettable, Headmaster!"
"My newest load of seeds..."
"... report on a newly invented charm due Monday at the Ministry..."
"... letter from Aragog..."
"... a date with the Countess of Salisbury..." the last one came from Binns, and Harry and Severus shared a scared look. Bad mental image there.
In seconds the room had emptied except for Harry, Severus, Molloy and McGonagall.
Molloy stood up and walked over to the already standing Harry. "Headmaster, I will go and check up on the Sword."
"Ah," Harry didn't have to fake his delight at this. "Thomas, my boy! How kind of you, but I cannot let you go alone. Hmm, let us see... Minerva?"
The Impostor-McGonagall turned towards them with a slightly nervous twitch. "Y-yes, Albus?"
Harry grinned and shared a quick look with Severus. "Would you mind escorting young Mr Molloy on his journey down into the Chamber? Out of all of us here, you are the only one who hasn't gone yet."
Seeing no way out of the situation – and having a wonderful opportunity – the McGonagall impostor accepted it and headed for the door. Just as she was to step out of the room, Severus' voice stopped her asking how her cat, Minnie, was.
"Oh, Minnie's fine," came the answer before the woman disappeared quickly followed by Molloy.
"Her cat Minnie?" Harry raised an eyebrow towards the other man.
"It's an inside joke," the Potion Master replied. "She hates it when I call her that, and also hates it when I make fun of her animagi shape. This was just to confirm that the real McGonagall didn't just trade places with the impostor."
"Right. Well, lets get ready ourselves. Salazar will alert us when they enter the Chamber." Harry and Severus quickly parted ways. They needed to change into something more comfortable and easier to move in. There was definitely going to be a duel down there, and maximum movement would be required as there were also Hagrid's beasts to watch out for as well as on-coming spells.
The two black-haired men met at the entrance to the girls bathroom, and Harry wasn't disguised as Dumbledore for once. Entering the bathroom they situated themselves around the room and waited for Salazar's signal.
That signal came a moment later as the Slytherin Founder's head floated through the floor. "Come on you two, McGonagall and Molloy are currently at the early stages of the duel."
"How early?" Severus asked as Harry opened the sink.
"Still trading insults, hands going for wands." Came the reply. "I'll come down with you just in case you need someone to go for backup." The ghost said and disappeared down the pipe.
Harry took a deep breath and jumped in as well. Down on the bottom he made sure that he was out of Severus' way, and the two of them didn't even bother to brush their clothes off before heading on inwards.
As soon as they reached the last doorway they could both hear and see the spells and curses that were being shot to and fro. Add to that the roars of some rather angry beasts and you had a cacophony of sounds that hadn't been heard since the last battle with Voldemort.
The two men ducked a couple of spells that came out of the doorway, and peeked into the chamber beyond. On one side stood a young woman, barely twenty-five years of age, wearing McGonagall's robes and was wielding her wand with expertise. On the other side stood Molloy himself and it was clear that the man had more experience with duelling. It was also clear that he was the one who was winning. All around the two battlers were stunned beasts, and only Norbert seemed unconcerned and untouched by the spells flying to and fro. The dragon was calmly lying by the wall, his head resting on the feet of the statue of Slytherin, and he was watching the entire scene with interest.
"Stupefy!" Harry yelled pointing his wand at Molloy. The other man didn't expect this and went down without any further duelling.
At the same time Severus had yelled "Expelliarmus!" with his wand pointed at the young woman, and she ended up wandless and a second later bound by magical ropes.
"That was surprisingly easy," Harry commented as he walked towards the stunned Molloy. Breaking the man's wand and tying him up was rather fun in Harry's opinion. It was payback for all the times that the man had worried them over the past month!
Severus levitated the furious young woman and headed towards the exit again along with Harry. Neither of them wanted to be there when the stunned creatures woke up again, hungry and pissed off.
They took the two people to the staff room and first they released the young woman. Obviously she wasn't totally stupid as she didn't try to run, but instead sat down in one of the chairs with a sigh. Molloy they left as he was, and then turned towards her.
"Well?" the Head of Slytherin House finally snapped. "Start talking, or do you want us to fetch veritaserum?"
The woman glared, but started talking. "I am agent 48 of the Unspeakables. Once we learned that the Sword of Jean D'Arc was going to be placed here at Hogwarts for safekeeping and that Amadeus Dimitrov wanted to steal it, we decided to step in. And here I am."
"Short and to the point, ey?" Harry smirked. "Just one question though: where is the real Minerva McGonagall?"
"She was told of the situation and agreed on an improvised sudden holiday."
"When will she come back?" Severus asked.
"This weekend."
Nodding in acceptance, Harry and Severus delivered Molloy over to the young Unspeakable and watched as she promptly left Hogwarts.
"Well," Harry sighed. "That's done then."
Severus nodded. "Now we only have to find Albus, and when we do I am going to have some serious words with that man. Not that I think it'll help any."
"You and me both." The green-eyed man rubbed his eyes. It was barely lunch and he was already dead tired. Oh yes, words with Albus Dumbledore were a must once the old coot showed up again.
The next couple of days passed quickly, but no words came of the missing headmasters and headmistresses from around the world. The role of hyperactive headmaster was finally taking its toll on Harry, and each night he would fall asleep before his head hit the pillow. Not the mention all the letters and other formal things that had to be taken care of. Luckily Minerva returned that weekend as promised and started helping out again. It had been difficult enough trying to keep the other teachers from figuring out that something was wrong before, it had become pure hell when the Unspeakable took over Minerva's role.
None of them could take the stress much longer. Even Godric and Salazar didn't argue as much as they had used to, both being 'overworked and underpaid' as they had the duty of keeping watch over the Hogwarts grounds and the Forbidden Forest in case Albus – or any trace of him – showed up suddenly.
Severus, when he wasn't busy trying to keep other teachers from figuring things out or other school-related work, was constantly avoiding Trelawney. The old bat as after him it seemed, being completely set on telling him something about Albus, a competition and the esteemed Headmaster's death. Well, the esteemed Headmaster was going to die as soon as he showed up at Hogwarts again. Severus (and Harry and Minerva) was going to see to that personally. He was also going to make sure that the old coot had no way of coming back or haunting any of them in the future.
There was a short report in the Daily Prophet about the dead Chinese Headmaster that had been found in Transylvania. Apparently the man had suffered from a heart attack, which wasn't totally unexpected as the man was nearly 240 years old.
One night all three – Severus, Harry and Minerva – were having a private meeting in the Headmaster office trying to figure out what to do next. The Weasley twins had finally found their way out of Aberforth's house and had reported that there was nothing there at all, but that they had gotten some splendid ideas for their joke shop.
"What if he's... dead?" Minerva asked hesitantly. "We cannot keep this charade up for much longer."
"People will start wondering where the Boy Who Lived has disappeared off to." Severus muttered totally ignoring the woman's question. "It has been nearly three months since you last appeared in Witch Weakly or the Quibbler." He added to Harry.
"I know," Harry sighed. "And if Albus is dead, well, there isn't much we can do but try to find his body and tell the public the truth."
Suddenly the three of them heard the spiral staircase just outside the door moving and shared a look before Harry quickly turned into a replica of the missing Dumbledore. A second later the door opened and in strode-
"ALBUS?!" three voices shouted in surprise.
There, what do you think? Just one more chapter and this story is done.
Thanks to:
Wolflady, chaser1, DuchessAndromeda, Lady Malfoy I, Skysha-Tranqui, athenakitty, Tazthedevilman, grand admiral chelli, Digi Bonds, Rory, dark 672, zimagesto, Loving Kitten, Aki no Yume1, Obsessive Fanfic Reader (amy and Kaaera.