CHAPTER 28 – Brooms and Dustpans
Severus and Alice decided that neither of them really wanted a big ta-do around their wedding. They just wanted a simple ceremony not published in the news for everyone to see, but a small ceremony with family and friends.
There would be no 'giving away anybody' and other traditional acts of the wedding service. They would process to the front, along with their children, and would become, in one service, one big family instead of two medium size families.
Dumbledore would officiate since he was a member of the Wizengamot and he could then file the papers quietly at the ministry. They set the following Saturday as the date since this seemed to be a quiet time, or at least as quiet as Hogwarts would get this summer.
The teachers conspired with Hagrid and Professor Sprout to decorate the small reception room with flowers. Minerva transfigured all the seats, and decorations. Professor Flitwick charmed the displays that would take place once the commitment was made as well as additions such as the lights.
By the end of the week the room would be very grand, and it feel like it was actually outside with a creek running through it and small animals running around. It would be perfect.
Severus decided to put off the talk with Albus mostly because he didn't want anything to go wrong with the wedding. He knew how his father was and, if he felt cornered, then he just might do something stupid like not file the paperwork for the wedding and the change in the last names of the children. Severus had a connection in the ministry and if things didn't get filed this time he would at least know about it. There was plenty of time to talk with him later, it was not as if the talk would change anything.
Severus knew that Albus would not mean to harm anyone nor did it take away from the love he felt for his family. It was just that he marched to the beat of a different drummer and his family didn't think there was much they could do about it besides clean up behind him when possible.
Albus also had another ding to his ego when Bane told them through a letter that the Centaur's would indeed support the Order but would only work with the Father of Harry Potter Snape as they did not trust Albus. They wanted to work with Harry but since he was a minor they would accept Severus. Albus was not pleased, not because he didn't think his son could do the job but it meant that he would have to share more secrets, Albus hated to release control of secrets.
The kids were working hard on their studies. They were really getting excited with thoughts of no study and an easy second year since they were so far ahead. Severus quickly told them to "think again". Being ahead would allow them to take on more classes and advanced classes in DADA. They would continue with dueling, and also start work on curses and hexes. They were doing very well in their classes but there was going to be a lot more to learn. They would also have to increase their concentration on their Animagus transformations. Most of them could transform their limbs and were now starting on their heads. They were going to have to find another place to practice once the students returned but Severus was working with Bane on that problem.
Harry and Neville had continued to work on their wandless magic and when they felt they had enough spells under their belts they told the rest of the kids about it. They were really excited and soon they were all meeting in one of the vacant classrooms and practicing on a regular basis. They all agreed that it would be best to keep it quiet.
Professor Longbottom again increased their fitness training to five laps. This would be the last increase she assured them and would bring them up to speed with her. The next hurdle would be for them to increase their speed through the course and that would increase their endurance. They were not happy but kept on running. They had all noticed that they were much stronger and seemed to have more muscle. They were not "bulking" like they saw in the magazines, they were much too young, but they could feel the difference.
The kids were in Potion class at the moment and doing very well with their assignments. Severus was not sure why all of a sudden they could all create potions without blowing up cauldrons, especially Neville. In fact for the past few weeks he had not experienced one accident in the class which was very unusual. He would have liked to think that it was due to his teaching skills but he knew better. Something was going on and he was determined to find out how they were improving so much.
He thought that perhaps Alice was working with them on the side just to confuse him but one day he saw a group of them going to the lower floors and followed them. He made himself invisible and stayed close enough to hear their conversations but not so close as they might notice sounds and footsteps. They were headed toward the room where the Order now met and this shot up all kinds of red flags for him. Severus followed them to a certain room, about ten rooms down from the Order meeting room, and quietly edged into the room after the last person. What he saw amazed him. It was a full lab, equipped with all the necessary potions and ingredients to practice on second year potions and more.
The Twins and Hermione were leading the class which was covering what he would cover in his next class. He left, giving serious thought to doing a change up on his teaching subjects just to throw them for a loop. The more he thought about it the prouder he was of them for trying to trick him and also to put such an effort into doing well in class. His only worry was that some of the potions they would be dealing with outside of second year potions would be dangerous and he didn't want them practicing them down here without supervision.
After giving it some thought he decided that he could accomplish making it safe by putting in a few alarms which would ring in his office and quarters or light up the ring on his finger if anything dangerous happened. He would also do a spell, which would in effect, send all really dangerous ingredients to his lab leaving them with only what they needed to practice second year spells.
He also was sure that the Twins were creating new pranks and he definitely wanted to put a halt to that. The kids would know soon enough that something was up and then THEY would be the ones guessing and questioning. It would be interesting to see how long it would take for them to figure it out. He put all the spells and charms in place then went back to his quarters. He would activate them late that night and then sit back and watch the fun.
The kids were up early and heading out to do fitness training when Professor Longbottom came through the front doors and stopped them before they left the castle. "I want you all to go back to your dorm and stay there until you are called. You're not in trouble but there are a couple things I need to check out and you need to be in a safe place." They started to argue that they wanted to help but the look on her face told them that perhaps they didn't want to mess with her right now.
Everyone was sitting in the dorm when the House Elves brought them breakfast. They couldn't see anything outside the window's as they faced the wrong direction and they couldn't hear anything. Harry was ready to get his invisibility cloak out, but the other kids talked him out of it, telling him that nothing would come of it except he would be in trouble with Professor Snape again. Even Draco told Harry it was not worth a "burning bum" just to see what they would tell us about eventually anyway.
Alice arrived at the fitness course early because she wanted to check it out and make sure everything was in place and working. She usually checked out the whole course at least once a week just to check on potential pranks or part of the course not being in good working order.
When she arrived at the first obstacle she turned pale, almost losing her breakfast toast. Mr. and Mrs. Granger were lying on the course trail with the bubble-head charm around their head. It looked as though it had been placed on them but without air. She knew she had to stop the kids from coming down here and then get assistance. Her knees were weak but her anger was mounting, giving her the extra strength she needed at the moment.
She sent the kids back to the dorm, unbeknownst to them she locked the entryway to the dorm so they couldn't come back out. She then sent an alert to the teachers and a Patronus to Dumbledore and Severus asking for help.
They all arrived within a couple minutes and she led them down to the fitness course to show them the bodies. "This is why the Order couldn't find Hermione's parents" said Albus. "We have been hunting for two weeks and could not find a sign of them. We hoped that they had received an owl from Hermione and followed her advice to leave the country. We were worried but we didn't want to make it an issue for fear others might hear about them."
Albus had Floo-called the Ministry asking for an investigator. Moody and Tonks arrived with a Ministry official to do the work-up. Albus shared all he could then asked them to take the bodies to St. Mungo's.
"I wonder why there is no dark mark over the bodies" Moody asked Albus.
"I would imagine that they wanted the kids to find the bodies accidentally, you know for the shock factor. They didn't count on Professor Longbottom checking out the course ahead of time" replied Albus. "What I would like to know is how the bodies were placed here without the wards sounding an alarm"
Poppy looked at Severus and Albus and said, "They were not placed, they were levitated and dumped. Every bone in their bodies has been broken from impact. Whoever did it stood outside the wards so that the alarm would not go off letting us know that a live body had entered the property. "
Albus frowned then said, "I will have to add to the wards to cover this contingency in the future, I was stupid not to think of it in the first place. They could have sent an incendiary over those wards and killed those kids while they were running."
"Good grief Albus, we can't think of everything!" responded Minerva, "They're always going to find a way, they always do. We can just do our best and hope!"
"Moody, could you get temporary guardianship of Hermione assigned to Alice, if that's ok with you Alice? If the Ministry gets involved in this they will try and take guardianship thinking they would have a pair of ears in Hogwarts and possibly the Order. Poor Hermione would get caught in the middle of it all and I am not sure right how she would handle it."
"It's fine with me, what's one more kid with major problems, we ought to be experts at this by now" Alice said, smiling.
Moody added, "Sure Albus, not a problem. Fudge is on vacation right now and I can run this by Madame Bones real fast before he even catches wind of what happened here today."
"Thanks Moody" replied Albus.
Minerva, Molly and Alice went to collect Hermione and break the news to her. Neither of them had recovered from the shock yet and now they had to tell the only child of these two Muggles that her parents had been murdered by Death Eaters.
When they arrived at the Gryffindore entry Alice lifted the locking charm and they entered to find all the kids sitting around the fire place. Minerva stayed with the kids while Molly and Alive asked Hermione to go with them.
When they had left Minerva shared with the rest of the kids what had happened and was there to grieve with them along with sharing how to deal with Hermione's grief once she returned.
The kids didn't know what to say but Harry, quite shaken, spoke first. "What is happening? Everyone around us, those who are important to us, are all dying, why?"
"Remember the note that Draco found" asked Minerva. "They want you kids dead and are slowly but surely killing all your family members, letting you know that they are getting close. I so wish that we could just catch them all and put a stop to it, but it's going to get worse before it gets better. Why do you think that we gathered you all together here. We knew something was happening and it all was happening around you kids. This is why we have all given up our vacations and are trying to teach you how to better defend yourselves. We can protect you for awhile but you are going to have to learn how to be a team and protect yourselves also. We love you all very much, and our hearts are broken by what you are going through. We will do everything in our power to help you through it, but now you know why you need to work with us and help yourselves also." Minerva eyes were dripping tears by this time and she found she could do nothing more than hug those who needed hugs and console those who needed consoling. It was going to be a very rough second year for them.
Alice led Molly and Hermione to her quarters as Cassy was with the house elves eating breakfast. Hermione knew something was wrong as she had been singled out from the group and she was now in Professor Longbottom's private quarters. She already knew that it had to do with her parents, that was all it could be as she knew she was not in trouble.
"Hermione, please make yourself comfortable and I will call for tea" said Alice. Once the tea arrived Molly sat down next to Hermione and went right to the heart of the matter. Hermione was too smart to be beating around the bush and she had probably figured out already that this had to do with her parents.
"Hermione, sweetheart, your parents have been murdered. I am so sorry to have to share this with you" said Molly.
"Do you know for sure?" asked Hermione.
"Yes," said Molly through her own tears. "They were left on the fitness course for you to find but Professor Longbottom found them first. They will be taken to St. Mungo's and you can deal with the service arrangements when you are ready."
Hermione just sat there for a couple minutes then laid her head on Alice's shoulder and started crying. The tears just kept coming and their source was more than the death of her parents but sprang from all the stress that they were under but never talked about. Nobody said a word and Alicejust continued to hold her and let her cry. After awhile she cried herself out and Alice gave her a potion to make her sleep. They laid her down on the couch and covered her up.
"Poppy said that this should keep her out for about twelve hours Alice, do you want me to take Cassy for the next day or so then you can be with Hermione?"
"Yes, that would be wonderful Molly. I am not sure how she is going to react once the shock wears off. These kids are under so much stress it's unbelievable. We never really talk about it but it's always there, eating away at them. We try to keep them busy, we even make their punishments longer than they need to be just to keep their minds occupied. But even then, it's still there eating at them. I need to talk to Remus and see what we can do to help them, perhaps a group therapy or something."
Molly looked at her then said, "I don't know why we didn't think about it before now. I guess we just get so caught up in our own stuff we forget they are kids and not equipped to deal with all this nasty, evil, garbage."
Later everyone went to the great hall for lunch. It was not like they felt hungry, they just wanted to be silently together. There seemed to be comfort in numbers even if they were not crying, or touching or even solving any of the problems that face them. They just wanted to be with each other. As they were eating the front doors to the castle eased open slowly, as if the person opening them was having trouble with their weight. Once they were open the Inferi, who numbered in the hundreds, slowly walked toward the great hall and the kids that they were cursed to attack.
Cassy and Dobby were walking back from the kitchens to the great hall when they turned the corner and saw the Inferius enter the foyer. Harry and Neville were late getting to the hall. They wanted to work on one last wandless spell before calling it quits from practice and were just now coming to lunch when they saw them.
Harry and Neville drew their wands, trying to remember from class just what in the world to do to fight these filthy, grotesque creatures. Harry saw Dobby and Cassy coming from the other direction, "Dobby take Cassy to the great hall and alert the teachers, quick!"
Dobby grabbed Cassy and with one loud POP they were gone from the hallway and had arrived next to Severus in the great hall. "Master, sir, there are Inferi in the foyer. Master Potter and Master Longbottom are there also."
"Take Cassy to Professor Longbottom's quarters and protect Hermione and Cassy, Dobby," ordered Severus! Dobby quickly POP'ed away and the adults jumped up and headed to the Foyer, drawing their wands.
Neville finally remembered, "Harry, it's fire, remember, fire! We have to burn them!"
Harry remembered then and started using the "Incendio" curse. The two of them used the dueling formation to protect each other and began to work together to burn them all. The Inferi just kept coming through the door and the boys started to think that perhaps there was no end to them.
Harry and Neville were working so hard fighting them off that they didn't notice that the Inferi had surrounded them and were slowly closing in. The teachers entered the foyer from the great hall and were in shock for a moment. They then saw that the boys were in trouble and began to try and make a path to them, burning the Inferi then setting up perimeters so that they would not be surrounded. Harry and Neville were gradually loosing the battle and Harry was fighting with his wand in one hand and wandless with the other. All of a sudden he felt a great heat coming from his hand and everything went white. When his vision cleared he saw that both of them were surrounded by a line of fire about three feet thick which formed a perfect circle around them. Each Inferius that entered the circle burned up. Harry didn't feel like he was doing anything to keep the circle in place but soon started to feel very tired.
The next thing he knew, Albus was standing at the circle trying to talk to him but Harry could not hear him. It was like his body had taken over and he had no control over what it did or the magic that came from it. Albus was frantic, telling Severus that if they didn't stop him then his magic core might drain too far for him to recover. All of a sudden Harry's brain click shut and the fire when out when he heard, "Mr. Harry Potter Snape, YOU WILL STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!"
When everything came into focus and the fire died, Harry became aware he was staring at his father. It was his father's voice that had finally broken the concentration, it was the one voice that could command Harry's attention and get it.
Severus ran to the boys side and began to fight with them taking out the Inferi. Slowly but surely they were able to burn them all. Once it was finished, Albus told them to leave the area as he was going to set a magical fire and create ashes that could be removed.
They all walked back into the Great Hall where the House Elves brought them tea and toast. Harry looked at Severus and Severus looked at Harry then walked back out of the room. He was gone for about ten minutes then came back in to enjoy his tea.
Severus looked sad but then looked at Harry and Neville and asked, "Would you please share with us all why you felt it was your job to stand in the foyer and fight off the Inferi? Could you explain why, after you have been told to keep yourselves safe, that you then place yourself right in the middle of danger? Could you explain to us why once again we had to risk life and limb to pull you out of a dangerous situation that your bad judgement got you into?"
Everyone was very quiet and not really mad, they were just very sad. Harry and Neville looked at each other, and they knew that once again they were in big trouble. Neville looked at Severus and said, "We sent Dobby to get you and we were trying to get to the great hall where we knew you all were."
"What have you been told to do in a situation like this Mr. Longbottom?" asked Severus.
Neville looked at him then down at his shoes and replied, "Keep ourselves safe and get help."
"I tell you what" said Severus, "Here, take these! There is a small brush and dustpan along with a couple boxes of plastic bags for each of you. I am really too angry to deal with you right now. Professor Dumbledore has burned all the Inferi and left them in little piles. He is now out changing the wards so there will be no more attacks. I want you to collect each little pile and put it in a garbage bag the seal the bags and leave the in a pile by the steps like you would with leaves from your yard. Go, NOW, and we will talk again later."
The boys did not hesitate but grabbed the brooms, pans and bags and ran out the door. When they reached the foyer they saw that the front doors were open and they realized that they were going to be busy for a very long time. All that could be seen from where they stood were piles and piles and piles of dead Inferius. They just looked at each other and started sweeping.