Chapter 32: Grim Defeat

Hey everyone I'm back with a new chapter. I saw the trailer for the new Hogwarts Legacy game and needless to say I am very eager to get my hands on it. In the meantime, I hope you'll like some of the new surprises I have in store. Please Review and Enjoy.

After the horrifying announcement that Sirus Black was in the castle, Dumbledore ordered all students to the Great Hall where tons of sleeping bags were lined up for them while the Staff searched the castle for him.

That night Sam made sure to sleep with his Viper Fangs close to him in case anything happened.

Laying next to him, Eric and Cole scooted over.

"You know I don't recall stuff like this in your letters home." Cole whispers.

"Let's just say this is one of the things we never tell Martha about." Sam suggests.

"Agreed. If she heard about this, she'd pull us out here faster than we can Martha no." Eric said making them chuckle as they lay down.

Looking at his two best friends Sam couldn't help but think about his conversation with Aberforth and how he and Prof. Dumbledore took different paths.

"Hey guys." Sam said getting their attention. "I just want you both to know…no matter how crazy things get I just hope…I hope the three of us will always be there for each other."

"What are you talking about? Of course, we'll always be there for each other." Eric smiles.

"Don't tell me you're planning on ditching us for your new fame." Cole smirks making Sam chuckle.

"Yeah guess not." Sam said feeling better.

However that was only positive talk Sam heard for the rest of the night.

As all the students were asleep in the sleeping bags Dumbledore and the staff switched between keeping watch over the students and searching for Black.

"I check the Astronomy Tower and the Owlery sir. He's not there." Filch said.

"I checked the 3rd floor as well." Prof. Flitwick said.

"Very good." Dumbledore said as Snape walked in.

"I checked the Dungeons. No sign of Black there or anywhere else in the castle." Snape said.

"I didn't expect him to linger." Dumbledore said as he and Snape walked along the sleeping students.

"Quite a feat. To enter Hogwarts on one's own completely undetected." Snape said.

"Any theories on how he could have managed?" Snape asks.

"Many. Each as unlikely as the next." Dumbledore nods.

Little did they know Harry had opened his eyes to listen in.

"Do you remember that talk we had at the beginning of the term about the appointment of our new staff? I expressed my concerned when you chose—"

"I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped. With the search over we can send the students back to the common rooms tomorrow." Dumbledore interrupts.

"What about Potter? Should we tell him? And what about-" Pausing Snape looks over to see Sam asleep in his bag.

"Perhaps, but for now let them sleep. In our dreams, we are in a world that is entirely our own. Let them enjoy that while they can." Dumbledore suggests.

As they walked away Snape noticed a small chill enter the room causing Sam to shiver in his sleep.

Slowly bending down, Snape fixed the sleeping bag so it covered him up before walking away.

Soon everyone was preparing for the first Quidditch match of the year but instead of the anticipated Gryffindor vs Slytherin match it was Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff.

"So Dumbledore and Snape were talking and I think Black might seriously be after us." Harry said as he and Sam walked down the hall to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Are you freaking serious? You know I'm starting to wish I just minded my own business and didn't even tangle with that whole Chamber mystery." Sam said.

"We can't seem to catch a break. Though I do wonder why did you get involved?" Harry asks.

"Uh…" Pausing Sam still hadn't figured out his answer. "I'll get back to you on that." Sam said as they opened the door expecting to see Prof. Lupin but there didn't seem to be any sign of him.

As all of them took their seats the doors suddenly opened revealing Prof. Snape.

Waving his wand, Snape closed all the curtains and brought down the projector screen.

"Turn to page 394." He orders.

Surprised at first everyone slowly grabs their books as Snape made his way to the back.

"Excuse me sir, but where's Prof. Lupin?" Harry asks.

"That's not really your concern is it, Potter? Suffice it to say your professor has found himself incapable of teaching at this present time. Turn to page 394." Snape repeats.

Waving his wand, Snape has the projector turn on and when they reach the page they see it was on werewolves.

"Werewolves?" Barnaby said surprised. "Just like what my Uncle does."

"But sir we have just begun reading about Red Caps and Hinkypunks. We're not meant to study Nocturnal beasts for weeks." Hermione said sitting next to Harry.

"Quiet." Snape said.

"Where did she come from? Did you see her come in?" Ron asks but Harry and Sam just shook their heads.

"Now which of you can tell me the difference between a werewolf and an Animagus?" Snape asks but only Hermione seemed to raise her hand. "No one else? How disappointing."

"Please, sir. An Animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice in the matter. With each full moon when he transforms he no longer remember who he is and kill his friends who cross his path. Furthermore the Werewolf only responds to the howl of its own kind" Hermione goes on to explain more when Malfoy lets out a howl interrupting her and annoying her friends.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Tell me, are you incapable of restraining yourself, or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?" Snape asks shutting them both up.

"He's got a point you know." Ron whispers when Sam glares at him.

"Not cool Ron." Sam shook his head.

"5 points from Gryffindor." Snape said when Barnaby raised his hand. "Yes Mr. Lee you have something to share?"

"I just wanted to add there is a way to calm a werewolf down." Barnaby said.

"Go on." Snape said.

"Well uh there is a potion that can help people with lycanthropy called the Wolfsbane potion if someone with symptoms drink in the right schedule the person become a werewolf but still have the memory of their friends and it won't attack them." He explains.

"Very good. Seems your uncle does know something about Werewolves after all. 10 points to Slytherin. Why aren't you all writing this down?" Snape said.

"Nice." Sam smiles as Barnaby smiles.

"As an antidote to your ignorance, and on my desk, by Monday morning two rolls of parchment on the werewolf, with emphasis on recognizing it." Snape said.

"Sir it's Quidditch Tomorrow." Harry said as Snape walked right up to him.

"Then I suggest you take extra care Mr Potter. Loss of limb will not excuse you. Page 394." Snape repeats.

"Okay it's a little creepy how he keeps emphasizing that page." Sam whispers to Barnaby who nods.

Looking up at his role model, Sam couldn't help but be a little confused. When he gave him those private Defense Against the Dark Arts classes last year sure he was tough but he did it so Sam would learn the spells, but this didn't seem right. It's like there was hate in this lesson.

That night, Sam decided to do some investigating of his own.

Inside the common room, he waited until everyone was asleep.

Slowly getting up he looked to see if the coast was clear before slowly sneaking into Salazar Slytherin's secret tunnels.

"Okay there's no way he could have snuck in through the front door meaning Black had to know a secret way into the school. So either he knows about these tunnels or there are other ones around the school." Sam said.

Gripping his daggers tightly he slowly made his way down the tunnels to where the exit outside of the school was, but to his surprise the entrance hadn't been touched.

There were no footprints, no fingerprints on the secret switch, nothing.

Slowly closing it, Sam looked around.

"Well the good news is he didn't get in this way meaning I'm the only one who knows about these tunnels, but the bad news is now I have no idea how he got in." Sam groans.

Sitting down against the wall, Sam flipped through the pages. He had spent most of last year looking for details on the Chamber of Secrets in the journal entries. Now he needed to look at all possible details that could help him.

Flipping to the page where he learned about the tunnels, Sam pointed his wand against the words in case Slytherin hid anymore memories in it but sadly not on this page.

"Come on Slytherin you must have something." Sam was about to turn the page when he noticed something off.

Looking to the edge Sam noticed a second page was stuck to it.

Slowly pulling them apart, Sam noticed a spell with a drawing gesturing to someone's eyes.

"In my younger days, Godric and I went on several adventures to prove ourselves. Often times we went looking for secrets and trouble Godric thought he was always leaving me in the dust, but this spell often helped me find ways to sneak past him and uncover secrets. Aim your wand at your eyes and recite these words…Vizophorus." Sam read aloud.

"I really hope this doesn't put my eye out." Sam gulps.

Aiming his wand at his eyes, Sam took a deep breath. "Vizophorus!"

Suddenly a green beam shot out and entered both his eyes.

Cringing Sam drops his wand before rubbing his eyes.

"Oh man, that was annoying. What the hell Salazar?" However once Sam opened his eyes we glowing green and the pupils were silver, but what really blew his mind was what he could see.

Looking down on the ground he noticed a glowing snake carved into the wall.

"I didn't see that before." Sam said.

Looking around Sam saw several hidden snakes carved into the wall along the tunnels.

Watching them move along the walls, Sam noticed the snakes stop in front of the same corner.

Slowly approaching it Sam touched the brick and suddenly the walls began to move causing another hidden passage to reveal itself.

"Dead for almost a century...still know how to take your students to school." Sam said impressed.

Realizing Sam would need more time to look into these passages he decided to go back to his room, luckily the journal also explained how to undo the spell.

The next day, we find ourselves out on the Quidditch field and unfortunately it was during the middle of a rain storm.

Needless to say, Sam did not mind not being out there facing Harry anymore.

"Go Go Gryffindor!" The house chanted.

The match with Hufflepuff was intense. Not only was the rain soaking them to the bone but the lightning and made it difficult for the flyers.

"This is Quidditch?" Eric asks.

"It's a lot better when there's no rain." Sam said.

"They need to find that Snitch or they'll be here all night." Orion said.

"How are they gonna find what's basically a little spec of gold in a storm like this?" Cole asks.

Narrowing his eyes, Sam tried to see if he could spot it, but like Cole said it was difficult.

Up above, Harry saw Cedric flying after a spec of gold and gasps.

Pulling up on his Nimbus he tried to follow after.

Entering the clouds, Harry is distracted by a silhouette of a black dog distracting him.

Flying high into the air, Harry noticed his broom begin to freeze along with the rims of his glasses.

Looking in horror, Dementors appeared out of the clouds and flew right up to Harry.

Seconds later, everyone gasps in horror to see Harry falling off his broom and plummeting to the ground.

"HARRY!" Everyone screamed.

Standing up, Dumbledore held out his hand.

"Aresto Momentum!" Dumbledore casts just before everything went black for Harry.

Pausing Sam watched as Dumbledore waved his wand and a silver spell just like the one Aberforth used in Hogsmeade and sent the Dementors flying away.

'That Spell.' Sam thought.

"Sam! Sam!" Turning around he saw Ron and Hermione waving at him.

Seeing that they wanted him to be there for Harry he ran to join them.

In the Hospital Wing, we see Harry slowly wake up.

"You think he's okay?" Ron's voice said.

"He fell from nearly 50 feet. It's a miracle he's not dead." Fred said.

"Yeah Ron why don't we take you to the top of the Astronomy tower and see how you feel after a little push." George said.

"Stop it the three of you." Hermione said as Harry let out a groan.

"Guys he's waking up." Sam's voice said as Harry opened his eyes to see the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, Sam, Ron, Hermione and Barnaby.

"Oh man you gave us a bloody heart attack Harry." Barnaby said.

"What happened?" Harry asks.

"Dementors came out onto the field during the match. Dumbledore is furious. After he saved you did some kind of spell and sent them away." Fred said.

"What about the match?" Harry asks making everyone cringe.

"No one blames you Harry, but Cedric Diggory caught the Snitch right before you fell." Hermione said.

"Hufflepuff won." Fred declares.

Groaning Harry laid back in bed feeling like the absolute worst.

"Since you guys lost by 100 points you guys are really going to have to hope that the other matches aren't won by too big a margin." Barnaby explains.

"Don't suppose you'd be willing to throw a match for us?" Fred asks turning to Sam.

"No way guys, if I throw a match Flint might replace me and we all know what that means." Sam said.

"You know what do your thing Sam we trust you." George said almost instantly.

"Yeah that's what I thought." Sam smirks.

"So wait where's my broom?" Harry asks.

"Eric and Cole said they were looking into it. Hopefully, they find it." Sam said when on cue the door opens revealing both boys.

"Well Harry we got good news and we got bad news." Eric cringed walking in first while Cole had something wrapped up in a blanket. "Good news is we found your broom."

"Great, where was it?" Harry asks.

"Well that's the bad news. It blew into uh…what's that tree called? The one that attacks people?" Cole asks.

"The Whomping Willow? You mean to tell me his broom the Whomping Willow?" Ron clarifies.

"Unfortunately." Cole unrolls the blanket to reveal Harry's Nimbus 2000 was in pieces.

"Why would you people put a tree that can crush people near a school? That's a disaster waiting to happen." Eric said.

"No arguments there." Ron cringed remembering when he and Harry crashed into it.

"We're sorry Harry." Cole frowns.

"It's not your fault." Harry sighs.

As all of them stopped talking they looked down at Harry holding the remains of his broom. Needless to say Harry was struggling to handle his first Quidditch loss and it was not easy.

Little did they know peeking in through the door of the Hospital Wing, Penny watched her friends and hung her head feeling sorry for Harry.

Turning away, she headed back to the common room.

As everyone left to give Harry some time to heal, Sam made his way down to the Slytherin Common room.

Entering the dungeons he passed by the Potions classroom where a faint light shined.

Inside Snape was hard at work mixing a potion.

"Need to get these ingredients ready by next month. Of course Dumbledore had to add to my never ending list of responsibilities." Snape said annoyed when he heard the sound of footsteps. "Whos' there?"

Slowly the door opens revealing Sam. "Uh evening Professor."

"Oh it's you." Snape said lowering his wand. "What do you want?"

"Listen I need to tell you something important." Sam said sitting across from him. "These dementors, one attacked me in Hogsmeade when I was by myself.

Pausing for a few seconds, Snape looked up.

"And I know it sounds crazy, it shouldn't even be possible but I swear I-I think I heard my mom giving me to you when I was a baby." Sam said.

"Dementors are very predatory. They feed on the emotions in people: joy, peace, happiness, anything positive they will suck right out of you until you are nothing but bad memories. Dumbledore keeps them on patrol which makes them hungry. A nice little wizarding village or a crowded stadium are just the type of meal Dementors live for. As such when it attacked you it replayed one of the saddest moments of your life. Even if you don't remember it." Snape explains.

"No offense to the Ministry but sounds to me like the Dementors need to go extinct." Sam cringed.

"I can think of quite a few people who would disagree with you. Specifically, those who run Azakaban where these infernal creatures are stationed. You said one attacked you, but how did you evade it?" Snape asks.

"Another wizard cast a spell on it and made it fly away. It was the same one I saw Dumbledore use at the field." Sam explains.

"There's only one spell that can repel a Dementor but it's very advanced magic." Snape said.

"Can you teach it to me?" Sam asks.

"No." Snape said almost immediately.

"Oh come on. You taught me so many dueling spells last year." Sam reminds.

"That was because you had a fool like Lockhart making the Dark Arts look like a joke. Now you have a new teacher who despite all odds is actually teaching you something." Snape said.

"Well right now Prof. Lupin has covered Dementors, but you seem to know quite a bit about them. So right now you're my best option." Sam said.

"But what makes you think I will teach you like last year?" Snape asks.

"Because you offered." Sam recalls silencing him. "Right at the end of the year you offered that if I wanted to do the lessons with you again then all I had to do was ask."

"Damn." Snape growls hoping he forgot that day.

"Sir, please. These Dementors have come after me twice, I can't rely on other people to constantly shoo them away for me. This is literally what Defense Against the Dark Arts is for, to defend against stuff like this." Sam begs cupping his hands in pleading.

Turning around Snape looked at him and realized he had a very strong argument.

"Fine. Give me time to figure something out and maybe I can prepare a lesson for you." Snape said making him smile.

"You're the best." Sam said.

"Oh save the flattery for someone who cares. Now get back to the commonroom." Snape orders.

"Yes sir." Sam nods getting up and walking to the door. "Hey." Sam calls out getting his attention. "Prof. Lupin's a really good teacher, but you're still my favorite Dark Arts professor."

As he closed the door, Snape smiles softly before reaching for his wand.

"Expecto Patronum." Waving it a silver doe appeared and ran around the room before stopping across from him. "I wonder how long it will take him to become this skilled?"