Chapter 34
Albus hated to admit it, but he was feeling a little…frazzled of late. It had started with Harry Potter rejecting the prophecy, it had worsened with Harry Potter emptying and closing the Potter and Black vaults, and it had come to an appalling conclusion with Harry Potter going to Gringotts and creating an official will.
And while Albus had no idea what exactly was written in that official will, he was fairly certain his own name wouldn't be mentioned it in anywhere. And since Harry was an adult, this new, official will overruled James and Lily's unofficial will Albus had clung to for so many years in the hopes of eventually inheriting the Potter and Black fortune for himself. To use for the war effort, of course.
Albus had thrown out a few careful feelers around the Ministry, to perhaps have Harry Potter officially declared incompetent so the Wizengamot could appoint a guardian, to make all decisions for him. But so far no one seemed at all interested in such an option. Bartemius Crouch had even pointed out that the Wizengamot didn't have the authority to declare a foreign citizen incompetent or not.
That was one of the issues Albus ran into nowadays, whenever he tried to manoeuvre Harry's life. Most people refused to help him since Harry was no longer a British citizen, at least according to Bartemius Crouch and everyone he'd managed to convince of that, even if no one could tell Albus exactly where Harry had moved to.
And then just hours before the Yule Ball was set to begin, Bill Weasley had flooed Albus to tell him that Harry Potter had successfully sold Grimmauld Place, one of the Black properties he'd inherited from Sirius Black.
And Albus had smiled at Bill while he thanked him for sharing that news, and the moment the floo connection was severed, Albus had thrown his candy dish straight across his office, sending his beloved sherbet lemons scattering around the room.
Albus had plans for Grimmauld Place. He was going to turn it into permanent headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, since the Black family properties were famous for their invincible wards. And now a squib had bought it and was going to remodel it so he could sell it to muggles.
All that magic and potential wasted, because Harry Potter refused to play the part Albus needed him to play.
And now Albus was stuck at that blasted Yule Ball while his nerves stood on edge and his mind was occupied with much more serious matters. But he was Hogwarts' headmaster and he would play that part and play it well. So Albus talked genially with Karkaroff and Maxime while the students trickled inside the beautifully decorated Great Hall.
Minerva would guide the champions inside once they were ready. According to her, Harry Potter had vehemently declined to attend and she hadn't heard anything to the contrary since. If Harry couldn't be bothered to even attend a prestigious social gathering, Albus might be able to use that in his quest to seek some sort of official control over him.
Seeking a form of guardianship over Harry Potter was the only option Albus had left, save for putting the young man under the imperius curse. And while that latter option was tempting, Albus did think himself too good of a man to stoop to the use of the Unforgivable Curses.
There seemed to be some sort of small disturbance in the entrance hall, if the rumours that Albus heard spoken around him by various students were true, but it seemed to have been resolved quickly, whatever it was. Albus was sure Minerva would fill him in later, if it even needed his attention at all.
Minerva entered the Great Hall, signalling that they were ready for the champions to enter. She gestured at the students inside the Great Hall to form two rows for the champions to walk between, and the small orchestra started playing a lively tune that would allow the champion to open the ball with a dance.
Viktor Krum had Hermione Granger on his arm, Albus was surprised to see. And that was all Albus saw for a moment, because his vision swam when he noticed the two men entering after Diggory and Delacour.
Harry Potter had brought Lord Voldemort to the Yule Ball.
Albus blinked his eyes, and then blinked again. He quickly removed his glasses and rubbed a finger through his eyes, but even that did nothing to change the most disturbing image he saw before him.
Harry Potter had brought Lord Voldemort to the Yule Ball.
Minerva hurried to his side just as the champions spread out across the dance floor and started waltzing. Lord Voldemort took the lead, which was perhaps not surprising since Harry would probably have no knowledge of how to dance any official dances like a waltz.
"It's his son," Minerva all but shrieked in his ear. "Voldemort has an illegitimate son, and Harry has befriended him."
Albus looked from the dancing Dark Lord to Minerva, still unsure if anything that was happening was even real. Could even be real. "His son? Are you sure?"
Minerva puffed up a bit in annoyance. "Honestly, Albus, do you truly suggest that is actually Lord Voldemort? Dancing with Harry Potter at the Yule Ball?"
Albus swallowed against a dry throat while his hand twitched to reach for the comfort of the Elder wand. Minerva was right. It didn't make sense for Voldemort to come here with his prophesized enemy. Harry may have rejected the prophecy, but Lord Voldemort certainly hadn't, Albus was sure of that. Voldemort wouldn't play nice with Harry Potter, not for any reason. Voldemort was far too worried about his own mortality to ever entertain the idea of letting his prophesized vanquisher live.
Heaving a deep, slightly relieved sigh, Albus nodded at Minerva. "Yes, of course it has to be his son."
Minerva's tight expression relaxed somewhat, as though she'd honestly been worried Albus might not have accepted this news and would have insisted this man was Voldemort reborn. "His name is Marvolo Gaunt. He changed it recently. Apparently he grew up with his mother, didn't even know the identity of his father until after she died earlier this year." Minerva shuddered briefly. "Though I admit the resemblance is uncanny. It certainly caught me by surprise when they first entered the school."
Albus nodded again, willing himself to further relax. He wasn't yet sure what it mean exactly, Harry befriending Voldemort's offspring, but at least he could rest assured Voldemort himself hadn't managed to infiltrate Hogwarts.
The official dancing soon ended and tables were pushed into place around the hall for dinner. Albus knew he'd be sitting with Harry and his date, so he mentally prepared himself to question Harry about his current location and his questionable tastes in dance partners.
Once they were all seated and had ordered their food, Albus addressed the Dark Lord's supposed son. "You look like the spitting image of your father."
Gaunt blinked at him for a moment before offering him a small, almost shy smile. "You're not the first to tell me this tonight. At least you managed to stay on your feet, unlike your deputy headmistress." Gaunt chuckled for a moment, and then quickly covered his mouth with a hand, as though embarrassed to have shown any amusement. "I never knew my father, so I will take your word for it, Headmaster."
Albus nodded genially, while his mind was full of contradictory thoughts. Gaunt truly did look like a copy of Tom Riddle, yet here he was, attending the Yule Ball with Harry Potter. It couldn't be Voldemort, logically Albus knew that, and yet there was a small part in the back of his mind that kept insisting he was faced with the Dark Lord here as part of some sort of devious plan Albus hadn't managed to unravel yet.
"I was sorry to hear you moved abroad," Albus said, now addressing Harry.
"Were you really?" Harry gave him a disgusted look, as though Albus was something filthy he'd just scraped off the bottom of his boot. "You honestly thought I'd be happy to remain living in the country that refused to give my godfather a fair trial?"
Albus pursed his lips for a moment, before waving Harry's comment away. "It is unfortunate that your only living link to your parents turned out to be a criminal." Albus saw that Harry wanted to say something in return, but he never gave him the chance. "Your parents would be very surprised to know you'd left Britain altogether, I'm sure. They loved their country. They died for it. I wonder if you will ever feel that same kind of connection to the country you have moved to." Albus briefly narrowed his eyes. "Where did you say you moved to?"
"I didn't say," Harry answered in a monotone voice. He gave a careless shrug while he cut up his porkchop. "I've been receiving all matter of strange mail, from people praising me for no reason to people sending me cursed letters. This has convinced me that it is in my own best interest to keep my current location a secret."
Albus nodded thoughtfully. "I understand having to deal with such tasks might be a bit much for someone who grew up in a different society."
"It's not," Harry was quick to say. "I manage just fine, thank you."
Sighing, Albus considered how else he was going to try to get Harry to give up his new location. "As you are a participant of the tournament, it is vital that the officials know your current address."
"No, it's not," Harry said with a crooked grin, as though he was well aware what Albus was trying to do. "I have read the entire rulebook, and nowhere does it mention that candidates have to hand over such information."
Albus managed a brief but agreeable smile and focused on his meal for a while. He tried many more times throughout the dinner to get Harry to divulge his location, or to trip him up about having trouble adjusting to living in the wizarding world. Albus knew trying to get some kind of guardianship over Harry Potter was a longshot, but it was the only thing he had left to try. If he didn't, the Potter and Black vaults were lost to him forever, and Albus simply refused to accept that.
At least the Dark Lord's spawn seemed far too cheerful and besotted with Harry to actually be the Dark Lord, Albus decided by the time dinner was done. Thank Merlin for small mercies.
Once the tables were taken away and the dancing got underway, Albus lost sight of Harry and Gaunt, but he did see that ridiculous raven sitting up in the ceiling beams where he'd spent the whole night so far. Albus assumed Harry was still somewhere nearby, since Albus knew, from many reports he'd received from several different people, Harry never separated from the bird.
000000000000000
Right when Voldemort and Harry slipped away from the ball, Harry pulled an invisibility cloak from his pocket and opened it up. "Think this will fit us both?"
Voldemort stared at it in surprise and then shrugged. They might as well use that instead of casting disillusionment charms. It was only a short walk one floor up to the bathroom that held the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. "Let's find out."
They did fit, but it was a tight squeeze, and Voldemort found himself plastered against Harry's broad back, his nose practically buried in Harry's hair.
When Voldemort had started splitting his soul decades ago, one of the first things he'd lost was his libido. It had never been big or particularly active, but the moment he created his first horcrux, it had slowed down and down, until by the third horcrux it had just about seized to exist. But with his rebirth and the addition of the diary horcrux, his libido had slowly been returning. Having Billy Malone suck his cock had been a nice little test to see if everything worked, since it had been decades at that point since Voldemort had any kind of sex.
And while Billy Malone had gotten him off without any issues, it hadn't been quite as satisfying was Voldemort wanted it to be.
It hadn't been Harry, sucking his cock. And Voldemort very much wanted Harry for those kind of activities.
Spending an hour holding Harry in his arms while he swung him around the dancefloor just now had only confirmed Voldemort's attraction to the man. And now he was practically riding Harry's back while they snuck through Hogwarts' mostly empty halls. Voldemort was more than tempted to drag Harry inside the first available broom closet for a quick snog and wank, but honestly, they weren't teenagers. Voldemort could control himself enough that he could postpone such plans until after they relocated the basilisk.
But after they finished their serpent heist all bets were off. Harry smelled so good that Voldemort honestly had trouble concentrating and they almost walked straight past the girls' bathroom before Voldemort steered them inside.
"Open," Voldemort hissed at the correct tap, and the whole wall slid aside to reveal the dark tunnel.
Harry folded his cloak, stuffed it into his pocket and then gave Voldemort an inquiring look. "How are we getting down there?"
"We fly," Voldemort replied with a grin before throwing himself down the tunnel, activating the charms that let him propel himself through the air without a broom. Lots of cursing told him Harry was hot on his heels but still had trouble flying in a straight line. At the bottom of the pipe, Voldemort touched down and then was able to grab hold of Harry's arm and keep him from tumbling face-first into the muck and bones that lay beneath their feet.
"Is this the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked, slowly turning around the take in the dirt floor and the dripping walls covered in mould.
"No, but we're almost there." Voldemort lit his wand while a strange sense of nostalgia swept over him. He hadn't been down there since he was a teenager, a student of Hogwarts. At the time, discovering the Chamber of Secrets had filled him with an enormous sense of entitlement. He was the direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. He deserved to find the Chamber. It was his sacred duty to use the basilisk and rid Hogwarts of all the mudblood filth.
What a little fool he'd been.
He hadn't gotten rid of anything, but he had almost caused Hogwarts to close, and the only person who'd died had done so by accident, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And now, many decades later, Voldemort had finally come to the conclusion that muggleborns weren't the problem, and never had been the problem. Restrictive laws implemented by a prejudiced ministry, and the threat of discovery by muggles were the main issues they now faced.
But Harry Potter had found the solution to those problems, and had willingly shared it with Voldemort.
What a difference a lifetime made, Voldemort mused as they walked through the tunnel to the actual entrance of the Chamber.
"Is that a snakeskin?" Harry asked at some point, eyes wide as he took in the sheer size of the shed skin they found.
"Yes, we should take it with us," Voldemort said, summoning the skin with a wave of his wand. "I'm sure we can find some uses for it, other than letting it rot away here."
Harry pulled his satchel out of his pocket and rummaged around for a shrunken down trunk. Voldemort had learned that Harry always had trunks and crates and boxes on his person, because he was used to travelling and coming across all sorts of useful things, from edible plants and barrels of beer to dead bodies. The shed skin disappeared into the trunk and they continued their way.
Voldemort opened the second gate with a hiss of parseltongue, and at once many torches around the room lit up, illuminating the whole Chamber with their flickering light.
"Ah, yeah, this looks more like it," Harry said with an approving smile as he looked at Voldemort over his shoulder.
Voldemort wanted nothing more than to ravage him right there and then, but he controlled himself. Later. After Sylva was safely transported to her new home, Voldemort was going to positively defile Harry Potter.
Harry walked deeper inside the Chamber, head tilting left and right as he took in the whole room. Voldemort trailed after him, enjoying seeing the man look so impressed.
"Wait," Harry said as he suddenly rushed forward. "Those are human remains." Harry crouched down beside a skeleton, the ground beneath it discoloured where the body had decomposed. There were still clumps of long, red hair visible. "Who died here?"
Voldemort had the diary horcrux's memories, but they were vague and felt very distant. He did know that the diary horcrux had found a young victim to possess, so he could steal her life and create a body of his own. "Ah, yes, that is the girl who died here some years ago. Lucius, against my wishes, foisted off one of my horcruxes onto her."
Harry gave a thoughtful nod as he caressed a few of the rib bones. It slightly unnerved Voldemort, to see how comfortable Harry always was around dead things. Voldemort wasn't as petrified of the idea of death anymore as he'd once been, when he first visited the Chamber all those decades ago. Nowadays he had multiple horcruxes and the Elixir of Life at his disposal, and he felt secure enough in his own immortality that he could face the idea of death without being filled with an overwhelming sense of anxiety.
But that didn't mean that he felt comfortable around death, not like Harry did. Voldemort very much doubted if he'd ever be able to let go of his biggest fear to such an extent, no matter that he truly, desperately wanted to become a true necromancer.
"Do you know who it was?" Harry asked with a little frown as he looked up at Voldemort from his kneeling position. Voldemort decided there and then that he very much enjoyed the sight of Harry kneeling at his feet. Before Voldemort could answer, Harry added, "One of my young assistants, Ron Weasley, mentioned that his sister went missing. Was this her?"
Voldemort thought for a moment, trying to access memories that felt like they'd been made inside a different head that had never belonged to him. "I believe so," he said eventually. "I honestly don't quite remember. All I know is that Lucius gave away the horcrux against my express instructions to a young student."
Harry went back to inspecting the skeleton, again touching the bones without any hesitation. "She looks young, no more than twelve. We saw what one of your horcruxes did to Regulus, and he was a fully matured wizard when he first encountered it."
"A girl as young as that never stood a chance," Voldemort agreed quietly. It was strange. Harry didn't seem upset by the death of this young student, but he did look like he felt the need to acknowledge it in some way. Voldemort had never quite understood human emotions like that, but he was happy enough to let Harry do as he wanted.
After a few more moments of quiet contemplation, Harry got up again and gave Voldemort an expectant look. "So where's your murder serpent hiding?"
Voldemort rolled his eyes but couldn't hold back an amused little smile. He reached for his wand and casually aimed it at Harry, who didn't so much as flinch. Any other witch or wizard would have cowered in fear to have Voldemort point his wand at them, but Harry only looked mildly interested in the whole situation. "The basilisk's look kills," Voldemort said by way of explanation. "I'm a parselmouth, which means I'm immune to its gaze. But you need to wear a blindfold until I've managed to convince Sylva to use her nictating membrane to keep her deadly gaze covered."
"Her what membrane?" Harry asked while he gestured at Voldemort to go ahead.
"Her third eyelid," Voldemort said, and then waved his wand and conjured a black blindfold right over Harry's eyes that tied behind his head. "Wait here. Whatever you hear, don't move. Sylva may be a little confused from being woken up suddenly."
Harry nodded amicably, and Voldemort turned his back to him and addressed the huge statue. "Open," Voldemort called out, and he waited a moment for the statue to move and reveal the large, dark tunnel that led straight to the basilisk's lair. "Sylva, wake up! It's Tom!" Voldemort decided it was probably best to refer to himself by his original name, since that was the name he'd used to introduce himself to Sylva all those years ago. Nowadays he'd decided to go by Marvolo, but for some reason that didn't quite fit him just yet, so he still thought of himself as Voldemort, even though that wasn't a comfortable fit anymore either.
A deep, grating sound filled the Chamber as something large and scaly slid across stone floors. Voldemort couldn't hold back a genuinely happy smile. He remembered well how thrilled he'd been when he'd first met and befriended Sylva, and how truly sad he felt that he had to leave her behind when he couldn't safely open the Chamber anymore. Back then, Voldemort had still been convinced that he'd be able to become a teacher at Hogwarts at some point in the near future, and that he'd have plenty of opportunities to visit with Sylva again. But alas, life hardly ever happened the way people expected it to. That certainly was a lesson Voldemort had learned very well over the years.
"Tom? Is that really you?" Sylva hissed as her large, green nose poked out of the opening, soon followed by her flickering tongue. "How long has it been? It feels like a very long time since I last saw you."
Voldemort released a little sigh while Sylva revealed her entire body as she slid inside the main chamber. "I'm sorry to say it's been fifty years since I last visited you. I meant to return sooner, but I was unable to for many reasons."
Sylva came to a stop just a few feet in front of Voldemort, and he quickly crossed the remaining distance and placed his hand on her nose, giving it an affectionate stroke. "Sylva, could you do me a favour and use your membrane to shield your gaze? My friend Harry has joined me for my visit and he has no natural protection against your powers."
Instead of doing as he'd asked, Sylva seemed to peek around Voldemort for a moment before giving him a confused look. "Are you sure about that, Tom? He seems to be doing fine."
Voldemort blinked a few times in confusion and then he glanced over his shoulder and just about had a heart attack. His breathing all but stopped while his heart suddenly hammered in his chest.
Harry stood there, blindfold gone completely, eyes locked with Sylva's gaze. Harry gave Sylva a little wave and Voldemort a huge grin. "Don't mind me, I'm fine. Nice to meet you, Sylva."
That was parseltongue!
Harry Potter was a parselmouth.
Just when Voldemort thought Harry couldn't possibly be anymore perfect, between his love for dark magic and his bottomless well of obscure magical knowledge, he proved the impossible and made himself even more desirable than he already was.
Before he could stop himself, Voldemort's darker impulses took over and Voldemort rushed at Harry, grabbed both his shoulders and crushed their lips together. While Voldemort kissed Harry as though he planned to physically devour him, he pushed Harry back and back until Harry hit the wall behind them.
Harry responded with a heated groan while he pressed himself against Voldemort, one hand buried in Voldemort's hair. Voldemort plundered Harry's mouth with his tongue, bucking his hips against Harry's, his cock hard almost instantly. He'd never been this aroused in his entire life, he was sure of it.
If Voldemort would have the power to design the perfect partner for himself, he probably would have dreamed up a man just like Harry. It was uncanny and even a bit suspicious how good of a fit they were together. Later, perhaps, Voldemort would once again question if his budding relationship with Harry Potter wasn't all part of some elaborate trap, but for now his instant arousal demanded release and Voldemort tugged on Harry's trousers with a great sense of urgency.
"Tom?" Sylva asked from a very large distance away. She was the last thing on Voldemort's mind right now. "Tom, if you're going to mate instead of talk I am going back to bed." A large body slid across stones in the background, but Voldemort hardly noticed it.
Harry was just as eagerly pulling open Voldemort's trousers and before long they had each other's hard cocks in their hands while they continued to kiss as though they would literally fall over dead if they stopped. Harry bucked against Voldemort's fist, green eyes closed and tongue slamming against Voldemort's. Harry squeezed his fingers around Voldemort's hard cock, moving his hand up and down faster and faster, and if Voldemort hadn't been so utterly consumed by heat and arousal he might have been a little embarrassed by how little time it took to shoot his release all over Harry's fist.
Though Harry didn't take much longer and was soon spurting strings of semen all over Voldemort's black robes. They finally let up for air, tongues raw and lips mildly bruised. Harry leaned his forehead against Voldemort's shoulder while Voldemort nuzzled Harry's hair.
"This wasn't enough," Voldemort muttered, more to himself than to Harry. "This wasn't nearly enough. I have to fuck you, Harry. I have to."
Harry laughed, long and deep while he lifted his head up and gave Voldemort an unrepentant grin. "I would certainly enjoy spending a night fucking you, but now is not the time."
Voldemort wanted to object, but Harry placed a finger against Voldemort's lips while he kept grinning like a fool. "We have a murder serpent to relocate. And then we have to return to the ball, because V can only act as a distraction for so long before people realize we're missing. Dumbledore seemed to accept you're Voldemort's illegitimate get for now. Let's not give him any reasons to change his mind."
Mention of Dumbledore certainly did cool down Voldemort's overheated libido to the point that his brain started working properly again. "You're right, of course. Let's finish the mission, but afterwards…" Voldemort leaned closer to Harry and briefly bit at his bottom lip, which only made Harry grin wider. "Afterwards, we are going to fuck so hard we might actually bring that ridiculous castle of yours to the ground."
Harry threw back his head and laughed again while Voldemort regrettably stepped back from his new lover. "My castle is not ridiculous," Harry said with a mock-glare. "I've built it myself. Took me years."
"It's the muggle version of Hogwarts," Voldemort said while buttoning up his trousers. "If you told muggles to build a magical castle, that's what they'd come up with."
"Pfft." Harry put his own clothes back to rights but he was still grinning, eyes shining with amusement. "You're just jealous you don't have your own castle."
Voldemort was a little jealous of that, actually, but he wasn't about to admit that. Still, Voldemort had figured out some weeks ago, when he'd first decided to make Harry Potter his in every possible way, that they could use Harry's castle as their private residence while keeping Gaunt Mansion for Death Eater meetings and such. He just hadn't mentioned those plans to Harry yet, for obvious reasons.
"Let's convince Sylva to move to Magica first," Voldemort said in parseltongue, just because he could.
"Sure, let's give her the sales pitch," Harry replied in kind, making Voldemort want to ravish him all over again.
But Sylva, as it turned out, wasn't so easily convinced.
"But I like it here," Sylva said for the umpteenth time after Voldemort kept telling her about the amazing island that was waiting for her. "This is my home. Salazar made it for me."
Harry nudged Voldemort with his elbow and leaned a little closer. "I might be able to transport parts of the Chamber to the cave system on her island. I don't feel very strong wards around this chamber."
Voldemort frowned while he got his wand out and cast several detection charms around the chamber. The main wards of Hogwarts didn't extend this far, that much was clear. But there were wards around the chamber, though they seemed very old and not as strong as they'd once been.
"You are the descendant of Slytherin, right?" Harry said, as he also examined the magic around the chamber with many flicks of his wand. "So you could, in theory, take control of these wards."
"You have a good point," Voldemort said and went to work unravelling the wards while Harry stopped Sylva from going back to bed again by explaining their plans to move the entire chamber. Sylva seemed perfectly agreeable to that particular plan, much to their combined relief.
It took some doing, but Voldemort managed to bend the wards to his will enough that he could give Harry access. Harry immediately started inscribing the necessary runes around the room, which didn't take all that long since the chamber wasn't that big. Within half an hour Harry had the whole place ready to fold up, and he opened a portal to Basilisk Island. They urged Sylva through first, Voldemort was second and Harry brought up the rear while he pulled the whole Chamber of Secrets with him through the portal. An enormous crash sounded in their wake, with the sound of debris falling and rocks crumbling while a huge cloud of dust exploded onto Basilisk Island through the opened portal.
"Did we just accidentally collapse Hogwarts?" Harry asked as he shared a wide-eyed look with Voldemort.
"I have no idea," Voldemort said, gesturing at Harry impatiently. "But I suggest you get that chamber installed at once so we can hurry back to Hogwarts and make sure no one suspects us in case something did happen."
Harry did as instructed and quickly jammed the whole chamber into the largest of the caves. Sylva seemed slightly overwhelmed by the whole thing, but they had no time to comfort her now. Voldemort activated the wards around the island while Harry closed the portal, and then they apparated back to just outside the Hogwarts gates. Voldemort quickly cleaned them both up with a few spells, making sure they didn't look as though they'd just spent an hour stealing the Chamber of Secrets from Hogwarts. Then they walked onto the grounds while pretending to be out for an evening stroll while they took a break from all the dancing, like so many other couples seemed to be doing. Harry had his arm hooked through one of Voldemort's and they made small talk about all the wonderful details they'd seen in the castle.
Just as they reached the main doors, Dumbledore stepped out, looking around wildly until he noticed the both of them. Then Dumbledore's shoulders seemed to sag a little as though he was relieved. Severus came up behind the headmaster.
"Large parts of the girls' bathroom and surrounding classrooms on the second floor have caved in, as have several classrooms on the first floor," Severus said to a frowning Dumbledore. "It seems as though there always existed a huge cavern somewhere under Hogwarts that has now opened up for unknown reasons."
"As long as no one was harmed, we can repair any damage easily enough," Dumbledore said, right as McGonagall joined the headmaster.
"We cannot allow Hogwarts to remain open," McGonagall said with an angry frown. "Parts of the castle just caved in. We have no idea why, and until we do we cannot guarantee anyone's safety inside the castle. We have to evacuate Hogwarts right away."
Dumbledore looked like he wanted to argue, but after a silent battle of pointed stares between him and McGonagall, Dumbledore finally nodded. "Very well. I shall inform the Yule Ball visitors that the ball has come to a premature end."
"And I'll get all the students to pack their belongings so they can head home for the holidays first thing in the morning," McGonagall said with tightly pursed lips. "I'll arrange for the Hogwarts Express to be here at the crack of dawn. In the meantime, perhaps we should conjure tents for them on the lawn."
V came flying out of the castle and landed on Harry's shoulder. "Castle go boom, castle go boom."
Harry bit his lip, obviously to keep from laughing, and even Voldemort had trouble keeping his composure. They hadn't meant to do it, but it seemed that they'd accidentally managed to implode Hogwarts. Voldemort couldn't wait to see how this was going to bite Dumbledore in the arse.