A/N: Chapter beta read by Forty-Two Dreams. All remaining mistakes are mine.
BEFORE THE STORM
A few days after the Quidditch match, Snape and Wilson had settled into some kind of unspoken truce. With the upcoming battle against the giants, it was no use fighting one another - they were on the same side after all.
So they both carefully avoided each other and everything was fine - as fine as it could be anyway. However, when they had no other choice than to occupy the same room, the tension between the two of them was very palpable.
Soon the day on which the Dark Lord's attack on Hogwarts was planned arrived. Dumbledore had sent an owl to all the teachers the day before, bidding them to meet him in his office very early the next morning.
Snape, being his usual light sleeping self, was the first to arrive. Dumbledore smiled at him kindly as he took his place in an armchair. Unfortunately, Ursaglow was the next to turn up, and even more unfortunately chose to sit right next to Snape. And then began to talk incessantly. About what, Snape had no idea - he couldn't care less what the wizard was babbling about.
The next to enter the Headmaster's office was Wilson. After saluting Dumbledore and Ursaglow and briefly nodding at Snape, she took the seat the farthest from Snape's. Ursaglow kept talking, less enthusiastically than previously and with a hint of embarrassment, looking alternately at Snape and Wilson, until he eventually fell silent - a real blessing.
All the other teachers arrived sporadically until McGonagall closed the door to the office, and Snape briefly wondered why Hagrid was missing.
"Thank you all for coming so early," Dumbledore spoke at last, "for I have information of utter importance to convey to you. First, today's lessons will be cancelled."
Most of the teachers looked at each other with questioning eyes. Dumbledore stopped the upcoming questions by raising his hand.
"Second and more importantly," the old wizard went on, "I have been informed that Voldemort has sent an army of giants our way. Hogwarts will be under attack very soon."
Snape observed the other teachers with a hint of amusement while they began talking animatedly among themselves. As for Ursaglow, he was totally speechless.
"Ladies, Gentlemen, please..." Dumbledore called soothingly over the brouhaha. A relative silence settled in the Headmaster's office. "While advantageous wards have been set, we will very likely have to participate in the defence of the school ourselves. I am terribly sorry to have to ask this from you but the circumstances demand it." He paused. "We will now all gather in the Great Hall. All four Heads of Houses, please go fetch the students of your Houses. They should all be preparing for breakfast by now. Fill them in on the situation and bring them to the Great Hall."
Snape left the Headmaster's office along with the other Heads of Houses, and headed for the Slytherin common room. Many students were already there, and most didn't seem surprised to see him.
Snape hailed the prefects and asked them to fetch all the other students promptly. Within minutes they were all gathered in front of him. He quickly counted them before he spoke.
"According to Professor Dumbledore, Hogwarts will be attacked very soon by an army of giants sent by He Who Shall Not Be Named." Snape noticed Draco Malfoy elbowing Gregory Goyle with a large grin, as if in anticipation. "For your security, I will ask all of you to follow me to the Great Hall. Any questions?" he concluded.
As could be expected, there were none. Some students were even nodding knowingly. Snape was convinced he was in charge of the easiest House to deal with in this kind of situation.
The Slytherins were the first House to reach the Great Hall. Dumbledore and the other teachers were there waiting for them, though Hagrid was still absent. A few minutes later, it was the Hufflepuffs' turn to enter the Great Hall, all students following Professor Sprout very closely. The children looked nervous and anxious, frightened even. None seemed to dare say a single word, and the Great Hall remained eerily silent until the Gryffindor students arrived very noisily.
They were complaining loudly, the oldest ones claiming they could give a hand and help protect the school, the youngest ones supporting the oldest. As for McGonagall, she pointedly ignored their various vociferations until they reached their destination. Then she turned round to talk to them.
"None of you will leave the Great Hall until the school grounds are cleared and safe," she affirmed. "All of Hogwarts's teachers should be more than enough to contain the attack."
The students kept chattering while the Transfiguration teacher ignored them once more.
The Ravenclaws entered the Great Hall last. They were all following Wilson, who looked bored to death. As she looked over her shoulder, half the students raised their hands, as if they wished to ask a question.
"Yes Padma?" the Charms teacher called unenthusiastically.
"Is there any reason why the giants sided with You Know Who?" the seventh year asked.
"I suppose," Wilson replied flatly. When she looked over her shoulder again, there was another wave of raised hands. She rolled her eyes. "Mike?" she sighed.
As the third year spoke, Snape pictured Wilson being questioned by her students all the way from the Ravenclaw tower to the Great Hall. Ravenclaws... Disciplined but way too curious for their own good...
Snape observed the students of his own House: in comparison they looked strangely quiet. Most had probably already heard what was to come either through their highly respectable parents or through their highly respectable housemates.
From the corner of his eyes Snape noticed McGonagall walking up to Dumbledore. He caught up with them in case he would be needed.
"Messrs Potter and Weasley are missing," McGonagall whispered to the Headmaster.
How surprising, Snape thought sarcastically. These two had a thing for not being where they should when they should.
"But Miss Granger kindly informed me where I might be able to find them," McGonagall went on.
Snape looked over Granger. She looked ill at ease, fidgeting with her robes nervously.
"Please go and find them then," Dumbledore told the Transfiguration teacher. "I will keep an eye on the other Gryffindor students."
McGonagall nodded and left.
During the next fifteen minutes, the crowd of students became less and less organised. Filch was muttering under his breath and eyeing the students nastily while he and Mrs Norris patrolled the Great Hall.
Some time later, Dumbledore walked to Snape.
"Severus, did you prepare a preventive batch of Healing Potion, as I asked you last week?" he queried.
"Of course," Snape replied. "It's in my Potions lab."
"Would you care to fetch and bring some of it here?" Dumbledore asked. "I'd rather have some of it handy, just in case something turns ill…"
"Sure," Snape nodded and left the Great Hall.
As he headed for the dungeons, Snape soon spotted McGonagall, Potter and Weasley in the Entrance Hall, discussing animatedly.
"But Professor!" Potter exclaimed. "There are loads of them all around the school!"
Had they seen the giants? Snape wondered.
"Yes! Hermione and I saw them arriving last night from the Astronomy tower!" Weasley cried out.
"And pray tell, Mr Weasley, what were you and Miss Granger doing in the Astronomy tower on a night you had no Astronomy lesson?" McGonagall retorted.
Weasley blushed furiously. "We, hem…" he replied with embarrassment.
"Professor, we had to do something!" Potter claimed.
"It seems to me that the wisest thing to do would have been to warn Professor Dumbledore first," McGonagall observed.
"But we did!" Potter ranted. "He said he already knew!"
"Any problem, Minerva?" Snape intervened quietly as he walked past them. Potter and Weasley looked up at him angrily. These two had yet to learn discipline and respect, Snape thought, glaring back at them with disdain.
"No, thank you Severus," McGonagall replied curtly, looking slightly annoyed by his intervention.
Snape eyed the two students a little longer before walking away. However he could still hear the conversation.
"After warning Professor Dumbledore, you should have stayed in your common room instead of wandering over the school's grounds," McGonagall scolded. "Who knows what could have happened to the two of you if Miss Granger hadn't told me where you were."
"But Hagrid's – "
"That's enough Mr Potter," McGonagall interrupted coldly. "It will be a hundred points from Gryffindor for each of you."
"But – " Potter protested.
"Now follow me back to the Great Hall," McGonagall concluded.
Snape continued his way to the dungeons, wondering how much these two had actually seen. They looked frantic enough to have seen most of what was coming.
But how much was coming exactly? How many giants? These creatures had become a scarce species during the last decades, and no one knew how many survived the wave of extermination throughout northern Europe. And among those, how many had joined the Dark Lord? Would Voldemort send all of the giants under his orders to attack Hogwarts, or just a fraction of them?
This was going to be a long, a very long day. Snape hoped Wilson had done a good enough job to stop some of their attackers, for they could easily and quickly be overwhelmed.
When Snape reached his Potions lab, he cast a quick lightweight spell on the cauldron full of Healing Potion, picked it up, and headed back towards the Great Hall. As he stored the cauldron in a safe corner of the Great Hall, Snape noticed Wilson was still answering questions from her House's students.
"I don't know, Orla, maybe…" she said on a weary tone, casting a hopeful glance towards Dumbledore and McGonagall.
While Snape greatly disliked her - who was he kidding, he loathed her - he had to admit she was of the patient kind.
"May I have your attention please," Dumbledore requested. All the heads in the Great Hall turned towards the Headmaster while the teachers moved to his side.
"Thank you," he went on. "As I am sure you understand now, the school will be under attack soon. I order you to please remain here, in the Great Hall, under all circumstances," at these words Dumbledore stared at Potter intently, "while your teachers and I take care of the situation outside. I am entrusting the prefects, Head Boy and Head Girl, as well as Mr Filch, with the job of maintaining order and make sure none of you leave the Great Hall at any cost."
The prefects nodded, while Filch smiled nastily as he petted Mrs Norris in his arms.
"I hope everything is clear," Dumbledore continued. "We will – "
There was a sudden loud noise coming from outside - unidentifiable though evoking an explosion - shortly followed by a spine-chilling scream - a giant's. Everyone in the Great Hall was quiet. Even the ghosts passing by had frozen in flight.
Snape noticed a first year Hufflepuff crying silently. Pathetic.
"Oooh, that sounded like trap number fourteen!" Wilson whispered almost enthusiastically.
Snape glared at her and shook his head with contempt.
Dumbledore turned to the teachers. "Ladies, Gentlemen, if you are ready, I think we're needed on the school's grounds…" he said as he invited them to follow him outside.
Coming Next: Attacked
