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Chapter 14 – Mysterious Events

Minerva McGonagall was pacing her office like it was her job. It was surprising to many that she hadn't worn a hole in the floor where she walked. She felt nervously and apprehensive. Her deadline to find Hermione Granger was up and the Minister was on his way to Hogwarts.

"No doubt to remove me from office," McGonagall sighed as she dropped down into her office chair, but shot right back up out of if as Rufus Scrimgeour came bursting in.

"Where is Mr. Potter?" he asked impatiently.

"I believe he's in class at the moment," McGonagall answered.

"Go get him," Rufus growled.

"Yes, sir," McGonagall said as she left her office in search of Harry.

She found him in History of Magic. She knocked and entered the classroom, pointing to him and telling him to follow her. Heads turned as Harry rose and gathered his things. He left with her in silence and they made the short trip to her office much in the same fashion.

"Professor," Harry sighed as they ascended the stairs. "I don't want to leave here... leave my friends... my home."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter, but this is out of my hands. You are the wizarding world's savior and your welfare is not for me to decide," McGonagall educated grimly.

They entered her office and Scrimgeour glared at Harry. He looked like a lion about to pounce upon Harry who looked back at him with equal distaste. Scrimgeour watched as Harry took a seat before him, making himself comfortable as McGonagall took her seat behind her desk.

"Don't get comfortable, Minerva," Rufus warned. "This is your last day and Miss Granger still isn't here. Your removal is required."

"Her removal!" Harry bellowed as he jumped up out of his seat. "Are you crazy?"

"I suggest you take your seat, Mr. Potter, because I am not happy with you," Scrimgeour warned. "Thanks to your ignorance in not telling me where you will be staying, you must now stay here at Hogwarts regardless."

"Fine by me," Harry snapped. "But you can't take McGonagall away. The school will fall without her!"

"I will see to it that someone worthy of the position is appointed," Rufus spat.

"You surely aren't talking about yourself," Harry hissed.

"Mr. Potter, please," McGonagall scolded. She frowned, though. It was apparent that she was too distraught to yell at him properly.

"No," Rufus responded. "I'm far too busy with the war and worrying about the blunders that happen at this... school. But I have someone in mind... someone who has proved themselves time and again to be loyal to me." There was a moment's pause as Rufus and Harry glared at each other and McGonagall sat upon needles. "Mr. Weasley," Rufus said, his expression lightening considerably.

"Arthur Weasley?" McGonagall asked quickly.

"My father?" Percy questioned angrily.

"No, you yourself, Percy," Rufus answered.

"PERCY!" McGonagall and Harry gasped in unison.

"M-Me, sir?" Percy stuttered.

"Do you not want to, Mr. Weasley?" Rufus inquired pointedly.

"Oh, no, sir. That is yes, sir. I do want to... very much. It would be an honor. I won't let you down, I swear to it," Percy gaped.

"Very well, then," Scrimgeour beamed as though making a snide gesture to McGonagall and Harry. "Minerva... I expect you to be out by tomorrow morning so that young Percy can be in here."

With that said, Scrimgeour left with Percy following behind in an awestruck way. Harry looked to McGonagall who stared at her hands on her desk before sighing heavily and standing up.

"You may return to class, Mr. Potter," she said softly as she grabbed a tartan luggage bag off a shelf and sat it upon her desk.

"Yes, ma'am," Harry replied as he stood up and walked to the door. "Oh, Professor... if it's any consolation, Ron and I believe that you are trying your best."

"Thank you," Minerva breathed as tears began to form in her eyes. There was one thing running through her head at the time, and that was that she had failed Dumbledore terribly.

"Lord Voldemort," Wormtail said fearfully. "I cannot find Severus anywhere."

"He might be out getting those one potion ingredients I asked him to retrieve," Voldemort thought aloud. "No matter. What about my safe box?"

"Here, my Lord," Wormtail said as he bowed forward and handed Voldemort a small, old cherry wood box with the initials L.V. inscribed beautifully on the lid.

"Leave me now, Wormtail," Voldemort ordered as he felt his head pulse painfully again.

He opened the box and took out a small black diary as Wormtail pulled the door to the room shut. Voldemort opened the diary and flipped through its pages to November of 1944. He read down the pages, but as he went, the words disappeared.

"What is the meaning of this?" Voldemort hissed.

He flipped the pages quickly and letter after letter, word after word, sentence after sentence the writing and ink disappeared. What kind of enchantment had been placed on his book? He knew that he hadn't done that. And where was the writing all going anyways?

He went to pull out his wand and felt a splitting pain within his head. He leaned forward, resting his hand in his head and praying for all dark powers to bring the throbbing to a stop.

"My-," some gasped. "Lord-"

"Severus?" Lord Voldemort said as he looked up to the door.

It was open, but Snape wasn't standing there. Instead, he was laying on the floor, his arm stretched out to Voldemort. What was wrong with him? Had he been attacked? It wasn't until Snape looked up at Voldemort that he saw just what was wrong, though he still didn't understand.

Severus Snape was paler than normal, white even. And as he crawled into the room, his image became more and more disturbing. By the time that he was in front of Voldemort's fireplace, the problem was clear. Snape was clear. He was fading away it would seem.

"Snape? What's going on here?" Voldemort said as he stood up slowly.

Snape shook his head as though shaking cobwebs from his brain as Voldemort stepped toward him. The Dark Lord didn't make it far though as he dropped to his knees. Something was seriously wrong. He grabbed his head and pressed his palms on either side of his head, trying to keep it from cracking in half.

His last vision was of Snape fading completely from sight. Voldemort dropped forward on the floor, unconscious.

Hermione groaned as she looked to the clock on the mantle above the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. It was nine o'clock and she was supposed to meet Tom in a half hour. She rolled her eyes and thought about just not going at all, but surely he would get angry then and it wasn't the best idea to anger him.

"I'll be back later," Hermione sighed as she got up from the table she had been sitting at with Sandie and Tiffany.

"Where're you going?" Tiffany inquired as she looked up from her script she had been reading over.

"For a walk to clear my head," Hermione replied.

"Don't forget that all students have to be in by ten!" Sandie called after her as she exited the portrait hole.

Hermione wondered the halls, walking slowly from the seventh floor to the sixth then to the fifth. She made it to the fourth floor before being interrupted, but this interruption Hermione didn't mind.

"Alice?" Leo called as he left the library.

Hermione turned around and faced the Hufflepuff boy. She smiled at him as he approached her and greeted her.

"Hey."

"Hi," Hermione replied as she twisted her hands together behind her back. She was smiling and she couldn't help herself. She remembered being like this only two times before in her life, and that was when she had been with Viktor Krum and then when Ron was around. Did she like Leo?

"What're you doing out so late?" he inquired.

"Well, seeing as we still have another forty-five minutes before curfew, I figured that I would get out of the common room and get some fresh air," Hermione explained.

"Then you should be outside for that," Leo said as he looked around the hall. "Not much fresh air in here."

"I don't think I much like the thought of walking the grounds at night by myself," Hermione admitted.

"Now who said that you would be by yourself?" Leo teased.

"Are you offering to accompany me?" Hermione teased back.

"Only if you'll accept," Leo laughed.

"Now why would I turn you down?" Hermione pointed out as they set off down the corridor together.

The wondered the grounds for at least a half an hour, laughing and taking in the crisp night air. They admired the starry sky and the glassy lake before realizing just how cold it was. Hermione shivered as she stood at the lake's shore, hugging herself and rubbing her arms to warm herself.

"Here," Leo offered as he unbuttoned his robes and draped the around Hermione.

This had been the first time she saw him without his Hogwarts robes on, and to say the least, she was a bit surprised. He was built just as Ron had been, thin but mostly muscle. His arms were long as were his legs and it was noticeable when you looked at his shirt sleeves. They were about two inches too short for him, and his pants seemed to be about an inch too short as well, but Hermione reminded herself that this was the fashion back at this time.

"Thanks," Hermione said softly as she pulled his robes around her and felt some of the biting wind die off. "What ti-," she had been about to ask the time when an owl came swooping down upon her.

She ducked and gasped as it dropped a letter on the shore. Leo quickly picked up the envelope as the corner of the letter became soaked with the lake water. He handed it to her as she stood up and groaned. She knew who this was probably from.

Sure enough, when Hermione opened the letter, she saw a short note from Tom Riddle.

Alice,

I hope you haven't forgotten about our nine-thirty meeting in my common room to practice. It's nine-fifty.

Tom

Hermione groaned again and crumpled the letter, throwing it into the lake. A grindylow came up out of the water and grabbed it, taking the letter back to the murky black depths of the lake with him. 'I wish I could do the same with Tom Riddle' Hermione thought crossly as she turned to Leo.

"It's late, we should be getting back," she informed.

"Is everything all right?" Leo asked, looking at the lake where the letter had been only seconds ago.

"Fine," Hermione lied as she turned. "Coming?"

"Y-yeah," Leo replied as he tore his attention away from the lake and followed Hermione back up to the castle.

They had just entered the entrance hall, and were biding each other good-bye when someone spoke to them with a voice like silk.

"Alice," Tom called sweetly from the marble staircase. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, leaning casually against the large oak banister. "There you are. I've been waiting... I was starting to worry."

"I bet you were," Hermione mumbled to herself. "I'm sorry, Leo."

"No, it's fine," Leo said as he threw Tom a curious gaze. "I'll see you tomorrow, eh?"

"Definitely," Hermione smiled as she blushed a bit and watched him turn and head for the stairs which lead to the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room. He was just about out of sight when Tom spoke up again.

"Don't you think you had better give him back his robes?" he said as he nodded to the black robes with the Hufflepuff crest on the chest that Hermione was still clutching tight around her.

Hermione glared at Tom before turning back to Leo and calling out for him to wait. He turned and watched as Hermione walked over and slid his robes from around her shoulders, handing them back to him with a sweet as sugar smile. He grinned broadly and took his robes from her as the urge to lean over and kiss Leo's cheek popped into Hermione's head. 'I wonder if he'd mind?' she mused to herself.

She was about to lean forward when someone appeared at their side. Hermione inwardly screamed, her temper flaring as she heard Tom's voice.

"Better be off now, Alice," Tom said. "We don't want you to get in trouble for being out after hours... you have only five minutes to get back to your common room."

Hermione threw him a contemptuous glare before biding Leo good night and stomping off across the entrance hall for the marble staircase. She was halfway up them, Tom behind her when he called to her.

"You shouldn't walk like that... it's unladylike-like," he taunted.

"I wouldn't have to walk like this if you weren't following me," Hermione hissed as she reached the top of the stairs and whipped around to face him.

"Such a temper you have," Tom laughed carelessly as he stopped next to her.

Hermione stood there shaking in rage. She opened her mouth several times as though ready to thrash him verbally, but stopped herself as she took several deep breaths.

"Go fly a kite, Tom Riddle," Hermione grumbled before turning and stalking off.

He merely smirked and continued to follow her at a close distance. Hermione kept looking back over her shoulder and checking to see if he had left, but each time she only saw him following about seven feet behind her. She quickened her pace, but it was still no use. Tom's long legs kept Hermione from getting any further away from him. 'It's no wonder his only friends are Slytherins... he's an unfathomable asshole just like them. He fits right frigging in' Hermione thought haughtily as she turned the corner on the seventh floor.

"Dear Alice, why... wherever are you going? My common room is in the other direction," Tom said.

"I'm going to my common room, Tom," Hermione snapped as she whipped around once more.

"If you forgot your script, that's no matter. I have an extra."

"No. I'm going to my common room so that I can go to bed because you freaking exhaust me, you Slytherin slime ball."

Tom narrowed his eyes on her and she felt some relief in seeing that he did. She knew by the look on his face that she was angering him, but that gave her satisfaction because he was angering her right back, so he deserved this in her eyes.

"So why don't you go back to your common room and practice... you manners, that is," Hermione growled. "Because you, Tom Riddle, have none. You're nothing more than an insufferable jerk."

"Be careful who you insult, Alice," Tom warned dangerously as he glared down at her with eyes of the deepest black in the torch light that lit the corridor.

"Sod off because I'm not afraid of you. Do you hear me? I'm NOT afraid of you!"

With that said, Hermione turned on her heel and marched off to the Gryffindor common room. There was a voice in her head as she went, and that voice was screaming in triumph that she had did it and that Harry would be proud. But then there was a smaller voice that said that what she had just done was a bad idea. Though at the moment, she didn't care.

'What's he going to do to me? Glare me to death' Hermione laughed to herself as she looked back over her shoulder in just enough time to see Tom give her one last burning look before slithering off heatedly into the darkness on his way back to his common room. She smiled to herself and gave the password, entering Gryffindor tower with a feeling of pure glee.

"Harry! Look!" Seamus yelled as he came barreling into the library.

"Silence!" grouched Madam Pince, the librarian.

"Harry," Seamus hissed.

"What?" Harry asked as he came out of a row of dust old books.

"Look! Look!" Seamus whispered excitedly.

Seamus practically shoved a copy of the Daily Prophet into Harry's face, the headline screaming of another Death Eater capture. There had been a big raid the week before and they had turned up with four known Death Eaters, but this one was nothing compared to those ones. The paper told of the mysterious capture of a man that they had been searching for since June. The capture of Severus Snape.

Harry dropped into a nearby chair as he read the article through. It was short, yet unsettling.

Severus Snape, one of the Dark Lord's most trusted and dark Death Eaters, was captured yesterday. The Minister was called to the wizarding prison, Azkaban, to investigate this mysterious matter. It would seem that Snape had just appeared in his jail cell as the Dementor's went into a frenzy. Now, as many may know, it is impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within the bounds of the prison, but it is said by other jail occupants that Snape just 'flickered to life inside the empty cell.'

The Minister had called this a work of higher power, and he dubbed that higher power a lone Ministry worker with knowledgeable ways and honorable intentions. Minister Scrimgeour also said that he would like to reward the Ministry official, they only have to step forward.

"A Ministry official?" Harry sputtered. "How can he be so sure that it was a Ministry official?"

"Not sure," Ron, who had joined Harry halfway through his reading of the article, replied.

"Well, Scrimgeour is just idiotic and overall a jacka-"

"Now, now, Harry. You shouldn't speak about our Minister like that," Percy Weasley said from behind Harry. "I believe that to teach you a lesson, ten points will come off Gryffindor house."

"Percy! You're such a git," Ron snapped.

"Detention, Ronald Weasley," Percy said angrily before turning back to Harry. "Minister Scrimegour is coming to the school to talk to you, Harry. He wants to try again to put you out of harms way by giving you a safe house. I would work with him. It's only wise."

"Well, what's wise to you and to me is two different things, Percy," Harry said as he stood up. "And I'm not going to work with that prat of a Minister." Harry and Ron were walking out of the library when Percy called to them.

"Oh, Harry, that's Headmaster Weasley and detention for you as well tonight," Percy snarled.