The Alternate History of Cassowary

by ItsDerisive

Andrael Cassowary is a sneaky, snakey, Slytherin spy, and proud of it. This halfblood's armed with deductive reasoning and a nasty habit of guessing the truth. But then she hears something she shouldn't hear, sees something she shouldn't see, and Sybill Trelawney gives a new prophecy with disastrous consequences. One thing's certain, it's not canon anymore! (no slash) (updates Sun)

1. July 1, 1997

AN: Hi, I'm ItsDerisive, aka Derisive! Andrael, pronounced AN-dree-ehl, or AN-dray-ehl by characters with the proper accent has been living rent-free in my head, and I needed it out. Bear with me as I plop you into the middle of the action... Andrael is no perfect Mary-Sue, but her skills and abilities are rather on display as they fit this scenario.

The first chapter steals direct dialogue from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. This is necessary to set the scene. It immediately diverges from canon, and very few direct quotes will be used henceforth. All credit for this dialogue goes to J. K. Rowling and Wizarding World Incorporated. This fic is written by an American using British English for a more "authentic" feel. Please be kind as this dialect is unfamiliar to me.

...

July 1, 1997

Andrael stared up at the night sky, thinking. It was nearly three in the morning, but she knew that catching students out of bed was the last thing on the minds of her overworked professors. In the absence of light from the castle, there was no interference between her and the crescent moon. Her eyes found her constellation, Cygnus; the swan, the northern cross, the specks of light that had shone down on her every summer without fail. As long as there were stars in the sky, there was a world that needed to be defended.

Today was her seventeenth birthday, but it was overshadowed by the castle's recent events. Albus Dumbledore was dead, creating a power vacuum that would soon be inhabited by the Dark Lord and his forces. There was nothing stopping Voldemort from marching on the ministry tomorrow and seizing control of the magical government. Until then, Severus Snape would be wanted for murder, Draco Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange were on the run, and McGonagall wouldn't rest until the headmaster was avenged. Actually, Andrael was impressed that the Deputy Headmistress hadn't already left on an ill-advised campaign of vigilante justice.

The Hospital Wing was miraculously emptier than expected. Its occupants were Filius Flitwick, recovering from being presumably poisoned by Professor Snape, Bill Weasley, bitten by Fenrir Greyback in an untransformed state, and Neville Longbottom, who had been knocked unconscious by a spell after being thrown back by the barrier.

Swallowing the frustrated scream rising in her throat, Andrael prayed that her headache would disappear soon. Thoughts were whirling through her head so fast that it seemed pointless to avoid thinking about the worst bits any longer. Andrael sighed and closed her eyes, visualising everything that had happened the past two days.

It had all started that gloriously sunny afternoon. Of course the events that had led to the attack started long before then, but that was the definitive beginning. The carefree mood that often preceded the summer holiday had beckoned most of the castle's occupants to the grounds, but she was walking to the library. It was a week after her final end-of-year exam, and she had a large stack of books that Madam Pince expected back into the restricted section. She was turning the corner by the oak doors, which were open to reveal the sprawling grounds, when Harry Potter ran past her in the Entrance Hall. He shot up the spiral stairs that would lead him up to Gryffindor Tower.

Andrael had never had qualms about spying on her fellow classmates; the extra knowledge she often learned was what made her able to infer events before they even happened. So she did what any self-respecting Slytherin would do. Checking both ways to make sure no one was coming, Andrael hid her books behind an old tapestry and jumped out a window.

Transforming into the small thrush that was her animagus form, she flew up to the tower, where the windows had been opened to let in the cool breeze. Andrael usually avoided spying inside Gryffindor Tower per the agreement she had made a year ago, but the lions were practically inviting her in today. Besides, she could already smell trouble from a mile away.

She barely had to wait five minutes for Potter to come dashing into the tower. He barked a quick reassurance to Granger and Weasley and continued up to his dormitory. Andrael used the time to reposition herself on a window closer to where they were sitting while still remaining out of sight.

Potter reemerged and halted next to them, and handed them a piece of parchment and two balled up socks. Draped over his arm was a shimmering cloak of invisibility, confirming Andrael's suspicions of how the boy had been able to blunder through the castle undetected for six years. But what he told the two Gryffindors next was enough to shock even the cynical Slytherin in her.

It seemed that Dumbledore had recruited Potter to help him in the defeat of Lord Voldemort, who had in turn hidden horcruxes (plural) in undisclosed locations. Potter would be travelling with the Headmaster tonight to destroy a horcrux that Dumbledore believed he had found and had been ordered to bring his cloak for extra protection. Granger and Weasley were worried but unsurprised, which meant Dumbledore had summoned the boy for previous meetings and given him permission to tell them of the contents.

Urgently whispering to his friends, he revealed that the socks contained the Felix Felicis that he had won from Slughorn's class contest on the day she'd been in the Hospital Wing. The paper was referred to as the map, a term that all of them seemed to understand. Andrael wondered if it was the same map Fred and George had told her about the previous year.

Potter told them to share the potion with his girlfriend, the Weaslette, and to use it to keep an eye on Malfoy, who was "up to something" in the Room of Requirement. Unfortunately, Potter knew nothing more about Malfoy's scheme than Andrael herself, but brought fresh evidence to the board by suspecting that Snape was in on it.

He told Hermione to contact old Dumbledore's Army members to monitor (spy) on the Slytherins, explaining that Snape would be able to subvert any new protections Dumbledore had put on the school. Potter wished them well, dismissing their concerns by pointing out that he'd be with the most powerful wizard in a century and wouldn't need luck. He turned and ran out as abruptly as he came.

With this new information, Andrael had flown to the rafters of the seventh floor outside the Room of Requirement in her Animagus form. Those library books would need to wait.

She had watched the corridor for hours, missing dinner in the Great Hall. The sun set over the mountains, and still she perched motionless, pausing only to shift position so no one would see her shadow. The ten o' clock curfew had come and gone and the torches had magically extinguished themselves when she finally saw movement.

The moonlight reflected off of Draco Malfoy's blonde hair as he strode down the hallway, his school robes billowing behind him in a way that would have made his father and godfather proud. The third time he walked through the passage, a door appeared, nestled in the bricks of the wall. Malfoy entered the room quickly, shutting the door, which faded back into stone immediately.

Andrael kept her silent vigil for a half hour longer, when the arrival of three more figures shattered the silence once more.

"He's not on the map, which means he's in here," the voice of Ron Weasley cried heatedly.

"Shut up, Ron! You're going to get us caught, your prat!" retorted his fiery haired sister.

There was silence for a minute as the trio attempted to open the room themselves.

"No use, he's in there all right." Ron muttered.

"What do we do now?" whispered Neville Longbottom.

"We wait out of sight!" the girl hissed. "And we don't make noise or ask stupid questions just in case Snape's lurking around!" She really was the only smart one.

They crept around the corner and crouched into a vaguely strategic position, where one of them would sneak a furtive look every few minutes.

The thrush and the three humans didn't have to wait long. Malfoy emerged from the Room of Requirement clutching his shrivelled Hand of Glory he had bragged to Slytherin house about three weeks prior after receiving it as a birthday present. Before everything faded to inky black darkness, Andrael caught sight of a long line of figures holding hands through the doorway.

Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, she thought to herself. She listened intently to the sounds of the D.A. members and Death Eaters bumbling around in the smoke for a few minutes before transforming back into a girl again. Andrael cast a counterjinx that Virginia had secretly revealed to her after the Gryffindors had decided to use it in the Slytherin dorms the previous year.

"Exterminans tenebras!"

She leapt down from the rafters, using levitation to catch herself just before impact, and disillusioned herself before running after them. Andrael saw Ginny and Ron frantically talking to two people she recognized as members of the Order of the Phoenix, and realised that was what Dumbledore had meant by additional defences on the castle.

She sprinted up the staircase and eventually heard the D.A. and Order members following a few floors below. As she emerged from the stairwell, Andrael saw Draco Malfoy standing with a dozen other death eaters. She recognized Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenrir Greyback, Corban Yaxley, Thorfinn Rowle, Hadrian Gibbons, Jasper Selwyn, Eryx Travers, and Amycus and Alecto Carrow from their wanted posters in the Prophet.

Creeping closer, she heard Malfoy order Gibbons to set the Dark Mark over the tower and put up the barrier. Bellatrix laughed maniacally, and Greyback licked his chops in anticipation.

Gibbons cast the spell, chanting. Andrael only caught certain words and phrases "Mors edunt solum… mortem non timeo… non servio le dominus… tantum transibunt de fidelibus suis…" As he was speaking in Latin, the Order members burst through the door with Professors McGonagall and Sprout, wands ablaze.

The battle began suddenly, and hexes flew across the base of the Astronomy Tower. Gibbons disappeared beyond the barrier, and Andrael quickly un-disillusioned herself as not to get hit by the volley of spells. A second incantation turned her emerald green tie into a bright Hufflepuff Yellow.

She waded into the fight, casting protective barriers. The room was immediately illuminated in Stupefy red and Avada Kedavra green.

"Prismatis! Protego Maxima! Fianto Duri!"

After protecting herself, she levitated up to the rafters and began to snipe at Death Eaters from above with varying levels of success. She managed to incapacitate one of the Carrow twins long enough for McGonagall to stun them, but they were quickly revived by Yaxley, who for his part, was at the centre of mass destruction. Andrael began to summon bricks from a pile of rubble one of Bellatrix's Avadas had caused, and directed them to intercept as many killing curses shot near the Order's Ranks.

Rowle, who seemed to be one of the smarter of the bunch, looked up at the ceiling after narrowly dodging a brick to the head. Scanning the trusses, he spotted the school robes hanging in her corner. Parts of the rafters exploded around Andrael, raining debris down on friends and foes alike. She scrambled to avoid the worst of each blast, ducking and climbing over the beams like monkey bars. But she soon realised there wasn't much ceiling left in front of her. With a running start, Andrael jumped down and swung on one of the last rafters before nearly missing the torch bracket she was aiming for.

Dropping to the ground, she was immediately accosted by Selwyn and Travers who dove for her. She dodged their hexes and cast a pair of stunners over her shoulder. The Death Eaters easily sidestepped them and kept running.

Andrael knew it would be easier if she could escape the chaos of the battle. Then she would dispose of them uninterrupted. She led them away from the main battle and shot down a side corridor. Shooting reductos with her stunners now, she pushed open the door of an unused classroom, letting it slam behind her.

Catching her breath, she briefly registered the grid pattern of student desks and two large windows set in the far wall. She opened the windows, letting the black curtains flutter in the night breeze.

"My dear, what on earth is going on out there?" the breathy voice of Sybill Trelawney wheezed, causing the girl to jump.

Andrael stifled a groan. She could tell the Divination Professor was clearly drunk from the bottles splayed around her haphazardly. Evidently this was another of the woman's sherry-filled haunts.

"Colloportus!" The door was locked. That bought her precious seconds. "There are Death Eaters in the castle, Professor. You need to get to safety now!"

"I can hardly believe they'll think to look in here…" A loud banging on the door interrupted her mid-sentence.

Andrael cursed Salazar Slytherin to high heaven in her head.

"Get down, this is hardly going to be pretty. EXPULSO!" The door blew off its hinges. Andrael saw Selwyn step aside in time, but Travers was caught in the blast. He lay trapped underneath the door, unconscious.

Selwyn rushed into the room, firing off three killing curses before scanning the perimeter. He kept his wand raised high with his back to the wall. Good form, Andrael idly noticed before she stepped out from behind a dusty filing cabinet she had been hiding behind.

"Ventris!" The wind the open windows were letting in came to her and coalesced into a wall, blocking the jinxes the Death Eater had begun firing again. Maintaining the barrier, she covertly cast a few nonverbal barrier spells in Trelawney's direction before turning her full attention to the battle.

With a flick of her wand, Andrael turned the wall of wind into a churning tornado, and sent it flying at Selwyn, who parried. Narrowly dodging a Cruciatus curse, she shot a jet of flames into the windstorm.

"Avada Kedavra! Crucio! Stupefy! Diffendo!"

The curtains were on fire as Selwyn rallied more unforgivables at her. The wooden window sill began to burn not long after. A cutting curse caught the edge of Andrael's non-wand arm as she chased Selwyn with the tornado. It was closing in on him as the winds gained momentum.

"Aguamenti!" Selwyn cried. "Aguamenti, Aguamenti, Aguamenti!"

Andrael positioned herself carefully. She would have one shot to end this quickly.

"Incarcerous!" Inky black chains sprang from her wand wrapping around Selwyn instantly. Another spell gave her custody of his wand, and she carefully released the wind.

An aguamenti and four reparos quickly set the room to normal. Without taking her eyes or wand off the struggling Death Eater, Andrael stepped so she could see the Divination Professor.

Sybill Trelawney had become strangely rigid, and her eyes had rolled into the back of her head. Selwyn was taunting Andrael with catcalls and threats but fell silent, choking, with a wave of her wand.

The divination professor began to speak in a low, guttural voice that was a far cry from her usual breathy tones.

"The fates begin to align for the Boy who Lived on the lightning-struck tower…the longer he persists on his course, the greater his power grows…the final confrontation grows nearer as the Phoenix is reborn after the passing of its old master…the boy finds strength only in the power he alone knows…The One with the Power to conquer the Dark Lord soon pushes destiny beyond a point of no return…"

Trelawney collapsed. Andrael's gaze met Selwyn's, who had fallen silent and looked calculatingly at her and the seer. She started committing the words to memory, remembering them for later, but blanched as she realised the magnitude of the Professor's word.

The passing of its old master, the lightning-struck tower.

The longer Andrael stood motionless and thinking, the clearer it became to her that the prophecy was describing the very near future. Tonight's future.

Draco Malfoy's plan hadn't been just to bring Death Eaters into the school. The end goal was to kill Albus Dumbledore. If Trelawney was right, then he would die tonight on top of the lightning-struck tower. And there was nothing anyone could do to change destiny.

With no time to think, Andrael pocketed her wand and turned back into a bird. Gliding out the window, she flew faster than she had ever flown before. The night air streamed by as the thrush's wings caught the wind and she soared up to the astronomy tower.

She was too late. Draco Malfoy had Albus Dumbledore at wandpoint and was flanked by Bellatrix Lestrange, Greyback, Yaxley, and the Carrows. Two more Death Eaters, faces obscured by their masks, stood by the door. The dark mark in all of its terrible glory was suspended above the tower among the cloudy, star-speckled sky. Perching on the half-roof above the observatory, Andrael watched as the four Death Eaters taunted the old wizard.

Draco Malfoy for his part, seemed to be frozen. At first Andrael thought that he was revelling in the glory of the moment, but soon realised that he was paralyzed with fear.

The wind whipped through the rafters causing a creaking sound that echoed around the dais. The Carrows and Greyback were still heckling the Professor and laughing at his newfound weakness. The thrush clung to the roof as the gales of wind threatened to rip her from the tower and send her spiralling into oblivion.

Despite all that had gone on, Albus Dumbledore looked unperturbed by the entire sequence of events, maintaining that calm and infuriating serenity unique to him.

"Do it now, Draco," Bellatrix hissed in his ear. "The Dark Lord will reward you beyond all imagination."

Draco looked even more scared at this statement.

"I'll do it," Greyback said, an eager gleam in his eyes.

"I said no!" Corban Yaxley blasted the werewolf aside, narrowly missing sending him over the edge of the tower. Now wouldn't that be a shame.

Bellatrix yelled something in Draco's direction but her words were swept away by a particularly violent gust of wind. Draco was saved from having to answer by the arrival of a new figure opening the door that led back to the castle.

Severus Snape looked even more intimidating than usual with the wind whipping his black robes so they looked to have a life of their own. Amycus Carrow stepped toward him and began to say something, but Snape waved him away, focusing on Dumbledore.

The headmaster had been leaning his full weight against the tower railing as if he couldn't stand up without aid. His blackened hand hung limply at his side, but now he rose again and looked at the Defence Professor with a neutral expression on his face.

"Severus…" Dumbledore's voice was almost pleading. "Severus…please…"

Snape's face was twisted in fury and pain.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A bright green jet of light connected with its target and headmaster flew into the air, suspended beneath the serpent and the skull.

For one brief second, time stopped and Albus Dumbledore seemed immortal. He looked like an avenging angel in all his glory, his cursed hand bathed in a green glow. That enigmatic half-smile was memorialised forever on his wizened face that looked older than ever in the green light.

Then it was all over, and he fell out of sight beneath the side of the Astronomy Tower, a phoenix coming crashing down to earth.

Draco Malfoy looked stricken, the Death Eaters looked gleeful. Bellatrix Lestrange's shrieks of joy echoed throughout the night as she set off fireworks from the end of her wand. Snape's face was void of all emotion as he grabbed Malfoy by the back of his robes and began to drag him to the door.

"Out of here, quickly."

The Carrows, Lestrange, Yaxley, and Greyback were quick to follow Snape, but an unfamiliar Death Eater hesitated, turning back to where Dumbledore had stood seconds before.

"Petrificus Totalus!" In one fluid motion, Harry Potter shed his invisibility cloak. Even Andrael had no idea he was there. Tears were streaming down the boy's face as the masked figure fell to the floor, immobilised. He clambered over the Death Eater's frozen form after Snape and Malfoy.

The door slammed and Andrael dropped to the floor, a human once more. She pulled on the door, but it had locked behind Potter.

"Stupid- Alohomora!" The door sprang open, and she ran through it.

Andrael muttered a quick disillusionment charm as she sprinted through the castle for what felt like the thousandth time that night. She could feel a cool sensation rush over her skin as the barrier at the base of the stairs rippled around her.

Potter and the Death Eaters were long gone, as she had wasted valuable time transforming and fiddling with the door. Andrael tore through the hall, dodging less curses than before, as the Death Eaters were focused on their duelling partners. She nearly tripped over the fallen bodies of Greyback and Gibbon, where they lay amid the rubble.

She saw Granger, Longbottom, Lovegood, and the Weasleys duelling alongside a dozen professors and Order Members. No one seemed to be seriously hurt or in trouble, but Andrael still shot hexes into the fray at their opponents.

Andrael ran through the door opposite the hall and was immediately enveloped by the silence of the castle at night. The crescent moon was bright enough to cast the halls into eerie shadow, but not enough to clearly see by.

Lumos, she thought and her wand blazed to life, lighting the way in front of her. Potter was dripping blood, and the trail he left behind wasn't difficult to follow. After descending another two floors, she knew Snape and Malfoy were heading for the castle gates. Perhaps someone had been intelligent enough to barricade the Room of Requirement, cutting off their original plan of escape.

Why was she even chasing them, the Rational part of herself wondered. This is stupid. Go back up and help the others, or even go back to bed.

No! The Slytherin part of her mind fought desperately. We have to go down there! Potter is going to catch up to Snape and the Death Eaters eventually, and we can't let him do anything stupid and get himself killed too!

Really, the Rational part sneered. Your best excuse is to protect Harry Potter? You know I'm right, turn around and stay safe!

We need information, Slytherin said to Rational. We need to find out everything we can about Potter and the Death Eaters, and there's bound to be some stray bit of information said that we can find useful, all things considered. The prophecy, because that's what Trelawney's speech was, changes everything.

If we die, I'm blaming you, the Rational part spat angrily.

I'm glad we agree, Slytherin smirked. Now work with me!

Andrael could feel herself slowing with five floors to go. She had already expended considerable physical and magical energy during the battle. It wasn't easy to maintain her animagus form for long, but she knew it would allow her to go faster.

Turning back into a thrush for the third time that night, Andrael glided through the hallways becoming a ghostly, moonlit shadow, herself. McGonagall owes me so much extra credit for this, she thought bitterly. I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow.

Andrael darted through a series of secret passages that would get her to the entrance hall faster. She could now say first-hand that their ceilings hadn't been cleaned in centuries; cobwebs tore at her feathers as she dodged corners and beams.

Exiting onto the third floor behind the statue of Christine the Chaotic, she began to pass signs that the disturbance was waking the castle. Parts of the passage even down here were on fire, and piles of rubble once again lined the floor. A group of Hufflepuffs led by their prefects stood in nightclothes, arguing about whether to go to Professor Sprout or Professor Dumbledore. (If only they knew).

"But why was Potter in such a hurry…?" Andrael caught Ernie Macmillain saying forcefully as she flew by. Good, she was on the right track.

Frightened groups of portraits had clustered together in their frames. The delicate panes on more than half the windows she passed were shattered, glass shards lining the halls. The increased signs of duelling meant she was catching up to them.

And then at last she saw the Carrow twins barrelling through the doors to the grounds. Potter had seemingly passed them and was already outside. Flying over the fallen rubies from Gryffindor's shattered hourglass, she glided out the door behind them.

They had seen Potter immediately, she realised. The Carrows were shooting spells at the boy who, after being hit initially by an Expulso, was parying fairly well. A well-timed Impedimenta (which was most definitely luck and not skill) hit Alecto, causing her to fall, tripping Amycus in the process.

Passing Harry who was still running, Andrael flew on. Bellatrix had set the gamekeeper, Hagid's, garden on fire when he presumably had tried to stop them. If it wasn't stopped, Andrael predicted his whole hut would catch. Yaxley had stopped to help her try to take down the half-giant and was slinging stunners and killing curses like it was nobody's business. Snape was still running with Malfoy and the pair were getting dangerously close to the gates.

Andrael passed them as well, and perched in a tree next to the wall. Transforming back into a girl, she grabbed her wand and took aim.

"Aumentare momentum!" It was a spell of her own invention; a simple deviation from the counterspell of the slowness charm produced a useful spell to increase speed. Unfortunately, the last barrier for Andrael to overcome was for the caster to be able to use the spell on themself.

It hit Harry Potter square across the chest. He staggered, but kept his balance. Immediately, he began to sprint faster. He tore past Hagrid, his eyes on Snape and Malfoy. Potter shot a stunner at the pair, narrowly missing them both.

"Run, Draco!" she heard Snape bellow.

Malfoy looked back over his shoulder, his eyes widening in fear at the sight of the enraged Harry Potter. Silvery tears, glistening in the moonlight, stained his pale cheeks. Andrael took pity on the serpent, and shot a speed spell at him as well. She was, after all, also a Slytherin, and knew that the Dark Lord probably held his family's lives hostage. Even though Malfoy had let the Death Eaters into the castle, the boy had not raised his wand against anyone, and nothing that had followed was truly his fault.

Snape and Potter were close together now, each raising their wands.

Potter, the idiot, tried to cast the Cruciatus Curse, but Snape's pary threw him off his feet.

Hagrid's hut had started to catch on fire. Andrael heard Yaxley's thunderous bellow from her vantage point. "INCENDIO!" The grounds were bathed in a rosy orange glow as the wooden structure burned a hundred feet high.

Bellatrix's laughter had increased in octave again, and was truly a terrible sound to behold. She found herself understanding what the Daily Prophet had meant about the Black family madness.

Hagrid roared something about Fang, his dog, Andrael remembered. The giant disappeared into the burning wreckage. The two Death Eaters continued to shoot spells into the flames.

Sitting in her tree, Andrael felt empty. She was merely a spectral observer whose greater interference would likely end more lives. But still, she was relieved that Yaxley and Bellatrix hadn't decided to use FiendFyre instead.

She returned her attention to Potter and Snape.

"Cruc-" yelled the boy for the second time, aiming for the Defence Professor, but Snape blocked the spell again.

"No Unforgivable Curses from you, Potter!" he shouted over the rushing of the flames and the wind, which had picked back up again on the open lawns.

"You haven't got the nerve or the ability!" Andrael disagreed with Snape; the boy was overcome with hatred enough to kill someone, but his reckless abandon would never leave him disciplined enough to even finish a spell.

"Incarc-" Potter started to yell, but Snape flicked his wand stopping the boy mid curse.

"Fight back!" he screamed at him. "Fight back, you cowardly-"

"Coward, did you call me, Potter?" shouted Snape into the howling wind. "Your father would never attack me unless it was four on one, what would you call him, I wonder?"

"Stupe-" he started

"Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!" sneered Snape, deflecting the curse once more. So the Defence Professor was a Legilimens. Andrael was right. And he had apparently tried to teach Potter Occlumency. (what?)

"Now come!" Snape shouted at Yaxley and Bellatrix. "It is time to be gone, before the Ministry turns up-"

"Impedi-" Potter tried again.

This time he collapsed; Bellatrix had turned his attention towards him and Snape, and hit Potter with a Cruciatus Curse. She laughed again. Andrael winced.

"No!" roared Snape. "Have you forgotten our orders? Potter belongs to the Dark Lord - we are to leave him! Go! Go!"

The Carrows had caught up with them and ran with Yaxley and Bellatrix toward the gate, where Draco stood waiting on the other side, ashen-faced and shivering.

Potter got to his feet, vibrating with anger. She knew in this instant that he could cast two dozen killing curses and not feel a thing.

"Sectum-" Snape flicked his wand and Potter's curse was repelled yet again. Andrael recognized the spell from a book she had stolen years ago, and watched in fascination as the Defence Professor recognized it too.

The boy must have tried a non-verbal spell that Snape's legilimency detected, because he was thrown backward thirty feet with a loud bang, and crashed into the ground. His wand went flying.

"No, Potter!" screamed Snape. He gestured at his companions to go, and then turned walking towards Potter, grim determination mixed with unbridled rage etched into his face.

"You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them - I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you'd turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don't think so… no!" Andrael gasped, nearly falling out of the tree with shock, excitement rising within her, despite all that had happened.

Shut up, Slytherin! The Rational part of her shouted. You don't get to be happy right now. Albus Dumbledore is dead, and our Head of House is about to kill the Boy-Who-Lived!

But even as she thought the words, she knew they weren't true. Snape had objected to the boy merely being Crucio-ed, so therefore he would not leave any lasting harm on the boy. And still, Snape the Half-blood Prince.

Potter had dove for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew underneath Andrael's tree. She quickly swished her wand, and slowly levitated it back, sliding it closer to him while carefully avoiding Snape's notice.

The Defence Professor loomed over the boy, facing towards Andrael.

"Kill me then," the Boy-Who-Lived painted, "Kill me like you killed him, you coward —"

"DON'T—" screamed Snape, angry even beyond the legendary fury he was renowned for. "CALL ME COWARD!"

A non-verbal spell had summoned a glowing gold whip on the end of Snape's wand that lashed Potter's face, knocking him to the ground. He turned to go, leaving the boy collapsed in a heap.

Andrael heard the flapping of two enormous wings, as a Hippogriff soared over her tree from the direction of the Forbidden Forest. One glance at Malfoy, and she knew they both saw the resemblance between this one and the Hippogriff that he had provoked three years ago.

It flew at Snape, who staggered backward as the hippogriff slashed at him. Snape cast a shield charm, and ran for the gates. Andrael briefly smirked at the professor's "tactical retreat", before casting a third speed charm.

Snape ran for the gates with inhuman speed, and she prayed he wouldn't realise she had assisted him. Once on the other side of the gates, he barked something at his companions who got into a circle around him. After Bellatrix launched a final firework from her wand further terrorising the castle's occupants (this one in the shape of an ostentatious dark mark), the six figures disapparated with a loud crack.

Andrael took a deep breath, and returned to feeling empty again.

Potter carefully got to his feet in visible pain, and staggered to his wand which she had deposited a convenient five feet away from him.

"Hagrid?" he yelled. "HAGRID?"

It was at that moment the giant re-emerged from the house, his scraggly beard reduced to embers, carrying his enormous dog as a mother would a child. He immediately laid Fang down on the grass and ran over to Harry, who had fallen to his knees.

The half-giant lifted the boy to his feet and grabbed a pink umbrella from beneath his moleskin coat. She watched as the boy coached him through the Aguamenti charm.

As Andrael watched them talk, she registered that he was telling Hagrid that Dumbledore was dead. She really didn't want to listen to the story that continued to play in her mind every time she closed her eyes.

Transforming back into a thrush for the fourth time (if the circumstances were different, she really would have forced McGonagall to give her that extra credit), Andrael flew back to the castle. She saw masses of students peering around the door of the entrance hall still in dressing gowns. She would need to find another way back into Hogwarts.

Veering left, she skirted the edge of the castle walls. It wasn't for a few moments that she realised that she was flying back towards the Astronomy Tower. She desperately wanted to turn around, but some instinct wouldn't let her. Just as Andrael knew she would, she saw a figure lying there at the base.

The thrush landed next to the body of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, former Headmaster of Hogwarts and gazed at it forlornly. If she was human, Andrael might have cried. Might.

Taking his robes in its talons, the thrush flapped its tiny wings and arranged them in a way that reminded her of the avenging angel he had been for that split second. His limbs were twisted, broken from the fall, but the Headmaster still managed to look regal in death.

A beautiful, ornate, silver locket had fallen out of his pocket. She flitted over to get a better look. Was it the horcrux that he had set out to retrieve with Potter? It was too heavy for her to lift as a thrush, and transforming back into a human wasn't an option. She tried to open it, but there was a small latch that wasn't made for bird talons.

Voices from the direction of the Entrance Hall alerted Andrael that the students had seen Dumbledore's fallen form. With much reluctance, Andrael decided to leave the locket where it lay. She lifted off, circling the Headmaster once, and soared over the castle. The winds had died down and the dark mark was finally dissipating in the sky.

Andrael hadn't hated the Headmaster like many of the other students in her House. Of course, she never revealed that to the other Slytherins, but it was true. Sure the man had done some insanely stupid things in her time at the school, (keeping the philosopher's stone in a castle full of children, letting a giant basilisk roam the school, hiring a werewolf, holding the tri-wizard tournament after it had chosen four champions, taking credit for a student-run army, and abandoning the school to Dolores Umbridge just to name a few), but his capacity for plots and counterplots was admirable. As general of the Order of the Phoenix in two wars, he had minimised casualties and acted as the lone dissenter against the Dark Lord multiple times. He was one of the most powerful wizards ever, having successfully duelled great dark wizards and lived to tell the tale. His contributions in the field of Transfiguration were so complex and valuable, that they weren't even part of the N.E.W.T. curriculum.

Andrael glanced back. Potter had knelt by the Headmaster's body and was holding the silver locket. So it was the horcrux.

She returned her thoughts to Dumbledore. Most admirably, the man always seemed to know everything that had gone on in his school. And it was this fact that was disturbing Andrael greatly. How had he been blindsided by this, how had Death Eaters come into the castle without his knowledge, how had his most trusted Professor killed him?

Flying onto the sill of an open window in the castle, Andrael realised she was in the Hospital Wing. Granger, Weasley, the pink-haired Order member, Lovegood, and surprisingly, Professor Lupin were sitting around two hospital beds. The first contained Neville Longbottom, who though unconscious and bloody appeared to be sleeping restfully. The second bed held a red-haired man whose face had been clawed into an unrecognisable oblivion. Based on Ron's expression, Andrael guessed that he was another Weasley. Aside from Madam Pomfrey's movements, they were all silent, lost in their own thoughts of sadness.

A few minutes later, Potter entered the room with his girlfriend, Ginny.

"How's Bill?" He asked. The Weaslette had briefed him on the way up to the Hospital Wing then.

Lupin and Pomfrey told the boy what Andrael had already deduced, Bill's wounds were cursed. Greyback had bit him something badly. He would likely not be a true werewolf, but would gain wolfish tendencies at the full moon.

Ron projected false confidence as he reassured the others that Dumbledore would know something to fix Bill.

"Ron - Dumbledore's dead," The girl said sadly.

"No!" Stoic Professor Lupin, who Andrael had never seen look anything other serene and in control (even when she was blackmailing him), looked wildly around before burying his face in his hands. If he felt anything like Andrael did, she knew he was too tired to cry.

"How did he die?" whispered the pink-haired woman. "How did it happen?"

"Snape killed him," started Harry grimly. "I was there, I saw it. We arrived back on the Astronomy Tower because that's where the Mark was. . . . Dumbledore was ill, he was weak, but I think he realised it was a trap when we heard footsteps running up the stairs. He immobilised me, I couldn't do anything, I was under the Invisibility Cloak - and then Malfoy came through the door and disarmed him-"

The people in the room reacted angrily.

"-more Death Eaters arrived - and then Snape - and Snape did it. The Avada Kedavra." He paused, lost in his own demons.

Madam Pomfrey started crying, Hermione was sobbing too.

Somewhere out in the darkness, a phoenix was singing in a way Andrael had heard only once before: a stricken lament of terrible beauty. Time stopped as the Song reverberated through the night. As if in a trance, the thrush rose from the sill to meet the crimson feathered bird.

She soared higher than she had ever dared to fly before. Her beady black eyes locked onto Fawkes's, forging a link between the two avians. She faltered and nearly fell out of the sky from the grief transmitted by Dumbledore's loyal guardian.

By now, the clouds had dissipated fully and the stars shone down on the two birds. The silver moon made them both glow ethereally, ghostly spectres in the night sky. Circling the flaming phoenix, the minute thrush sent as much comfort as she could through their tenuous emotional connection.

The phoenix Sang. The music emanating from within the bird redefined song and music in general, a melody so haunting and familiar, that one couldn't help but listen to it. Though it was unequal in its sadness, the thrush could feel the reassurance Fawkes offered to his listeners; there was always a sunrise, a tomorrow to fight for.

As thrush mourned with the phoenix, Andrael could feel the Fawkes's wordless thanks. She dared not add to the music for she knew any contribution she could give would pale in comparison to the Song. But Andrael immediately felt lighter. To be able to ease the suffering of a magnificent beast sent hope and energy through her tiny thrush heart.

The crimson bird flew closer, and briefly touched the thrush's forehead with its beak. *Leave me,* the phoenix whispered. *Return to your fellow humans young one; there is still much for you to yet learn.* Andrael inclined her head, unsurprised that the phoenix could tell she was an animagus.

She could feel that someday, they would meet again when it was all over.

The thrush flew back to the window in the Hospital Wing intensely sad, yet also perfectly content, still listening to the phoenix's lament.

Andrael wondered if there was any way to share the experience with Mr. Ungaku; the man had been trying to hear the final Song of the Phoenix for many years now, in the hopes it would transcend his music. She briefly imagined the resulting power of Songspells written from a phoenix's inspiration. Only the most skilled would ever be able to cast them.

She wondered if they would ever see Fawkes again. Phoenixes were complex beings, and one could never predict their behaviours. A variable in all that was orderly.

As she landed, the hospital door opened again and Professor McGonagall entered the ward. There was a nasty gash across the woman's face, and blood Andrael knew wasn't the deputy's soaking her torn robes.

"Molly and Arthur are on their way," she said, and motion returned to the humans. "Harry, what happened? According to Hagrid you were with Professor Dumbledore when he - when it happened. He says Professor Snape was involved in some-"

"Snape killed Dumbledore," Potter interrupted flatly, clearly expecting an argument from his Head of House.

But the argument never came. McGonagall stared at the boy and collapsed. Madam Pomfrey was barely able to conjure a chair in time for the woman to fall into it.

"Snape," repeated McGonagall faintly. "We all wondered… but he trusted… always… Snape… I can't believe it…"

Neither can I, both Slytherin and Rational thought sceptically.

Then there's another explanation. The speculative part of Andrael's brain had been previously silent. Yes, Snape cast the Avada Kedavra, but you all know what past experiences have taught us.

There's always more to the story, Andrael's brain whispered as one.

"Snape was a highly accomplished Occlumens," said Lupin, his uncharacteristically harsh voice bringing her back to the present. "We always knew that."

"But Dumbledore swore he was on our side!" whispered pink hair. "I always thought Dumbledore must know something about Snape that we didn't…"

"He always hinted that he had an ironclad reason for trusting Snape," McGonagall murmured thoughtfully. She was crying in earnest, soaking her handkerchief thoroughly. It was one of the few times Andrael had felt bad for the strict Professor; she had lost her two best friends in one day when one killed the other.

"I mean… with Snape's history… of course people were bound to wonder… but Dumbledore told me explicitly that Snape's repentance was absolutely genuine… Wouldn't hear a word against him!"

"I'd love to know what Snape told him to convince him," Pink Hair spat bitterly.

"I know," said Harry, and they all turned to look at him. "Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn't realised what he was doing, he was really sorry he'd done it, sorry that they were dead."

Everyone in the room stared at him.

"And Dumbledore believed that?" said the werewolf. "Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry James was dead? Snape hated James…"

"And he didn't think my mother was worth a damn either," spat Potter, "because she was Muggle-born… Mudblood,' he called her."

Andrael wondered how the Gryffindor knew all of this. Snape would never have told him. And Dumbledore held confidentiality in high regard. If the boy had taken Occlumency lessons from Snape, he could have performed an occludi vicissim and seen some of the Defense Professor's memories. But Potter wasn't good at occlumency, Snape had said as much out on the grounds.

"This is all my fault… my fault." McGonagall echoed sadly. "I sent Filius to fetch Snape tonight, I actually sent for him to come and help us! If I hadn't alerted Snape to what was going on, he might never have joined forces with the Death Eaters. I don't think he knew they were there before Filius told him, I don't think he knew they were coming."

"It isn't your fault, Minerva," Professor Lupin spoke firmly. "We all wanted more help, we were glad to think Snape was on his way…"

"So when he arrived at the fight, he joined in on the Death Eaters' side?" Potter asked bitterly.

Of course not, thought Andrael.

"I don't know exactly how it happened," said Professor McGonagall distractedly. "It's all so confusing… Dumbledore had told us that he would be leaving the school for a few hours and that we were to patrol the corridors just in case… Remus, Bill, and Nymphadora were to join us, and so we patrolled. All seemed quiet. Every secret passageway out of the school was covered. We knew nobody could fly in. There were powerful enchantments on every entrance into the castle. I still don't know how the Death Eaters can possibly have entered the castle."

"I do." Potter explained what Andrael had already deduced about the Vanishing Cabinets in the Room of Requirement.

Granger and Weasley were stricken. "I messed up, Harry," Weasley said bleakly. "We did like you told us: We checked the Marauder's Map and we couldn't see Malfoy on it, so we thought he must be in the Room of Requirement, so me, Ginny, and Neville went to keep watch on it . . . but Malfoy got past us."

Revelations were coming to Andrael, infinitely multiplying. Potter had the Marauder's Map from the Weasley twins, Dumbledore had thought that three Order members were enough to stop a Death Eater assault, the pink-haired woman was that metamorphmagus auror Nymphadora Tonks, Draco Malfoy was actually intelligent to fix a powerful magical artefact, there had to have been someone on the other side of the cabinet to help the Death Eaters through.

"He came out of the room about an hour after we started keeping watch," Ginny picked up the tale. "He was on his own, clutching that awful shrivelled arm-"

"His Hand of Glory," said Ron. "Gives light only to the holder, remember?"

Andrael remembered.

"Anyway," The Weaslette continued sadly, "He must have been checking whether the coast was clear to let the Death Eaters out, because the moment he saw us he threw something into the air and it all went pitch-black-"

"-Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," her brother interrupted. "Fred and George's. I'm going to be having a word with them about who they let buy their products."

"We tried everything, Lumos, Incendio," Clearly not everything. "Nothing would penetrate the darkness; all we could do was grope our way out of the corridor again, and meanwhile we could hear people rushing past us. Obviously Malfoy could see because of that hand thing and was guiding them, but we didn't dare use any curses or anything in case we hit each other, and by the time we'd reached a corridor that was light, they'd gone." Ginny sighed.

"Luckily," said Lupin hoarsely, "Ron, Ginny, and Neville ran into us almost immediately and told us what had happened. We found the Death Eaters minutes later, heading in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. Malfoy obviously hadn't expected more people to be on the watch; he seemed to have exhausted his supply of Darkness Powder, at any rate. A fight broke out, they scattered and we gave chase. One of them, Gibbon, broke away and headed up the tower stairs-"

"To set off the Mark?"

"He must have done, yes, they must have arranged that before they left the Room of Requirement," Lupin answered. "But I don't think Gibbon liked the idea of waiting up there alone for Dumbledore, because he came running back downstairs to rejoin the fight and was hit by a Killing Curse that just missed me."

"So if Ron was watching the Room of Requirement with Ginny and Neville," Harry started slowly, turning to Hermione, "were you- ?"

"Outside Snape's office, yes," whispered Hermione, her eyes sparkling with fresh tears, "with Luna." She explained how Flitwick had come running down the stairs not even noticing the pair of them and dashed into Snape's office. Flitwick had come on McGonagall's orders to get help, and had alerted Snape of the battle that had started upstairs.

"And-" Granger started.

"What?" Potter urged her.

"I was so stupid, Harry!" she whispered "He said Professor Flitwick had collapsed and that we should go and take care of him while he - while he went to help fight the Death Eaters-" She put her head into her hands, talking through her fingers.

"We went into his office to see if we could help Professor Flitwick and found him unconscious on the floor… and oh, it's so obvious now, Snape must have Stupefied Flitwick, but we didn't realise, Harry, we didn't realise, we just let Snape go!"

"It's not your fault," said Lupin firmly. "Hermione, had you not obeyed Snape and got out of the way, he probably would have killed you and Luna."

What? All parts of Andrael assessed the validity of this statement. She remembered reading about an oath Heads of Houses had to swear before accepting their positions, which explicitly forbade the Professor in question from killing their students among other things.

"So then he came upstairs, and he found the place where you were all fighting…" Potter continued.

"We were in trouble, we were losing," whispered Tonks.

Of course you were, it was three Order members, maybe four teachers, five students and me against a dozen Death Eaters. Do they teach maths and strategy to anyone here?

"Gibbon was down, but the rest of the Death Eaters seemed ready to fight to the death. Neville had been hurt, Bill had been savaged by Greyback… It was all dark… curses flying everywhere… The Malfoy boy had vanished, he must have slipped past, up the stairs…" Tonks trailed off.

"Then more of them ran after him, but one of them had blocked the stairs behind them with some kind of curse… Neville ran at it and got thrown up into the air-"

"None of us could break through," Weasley interrupted again. "and that massive Death Eater was still firing off jinxes all over the place, they were bouncing off the walls and barely missing us…" They were talking about Yaxley, Andrael realised.

"And then Snape was there," said Tonks, "and then he wasn't-"

"I saw him running toward us, but that huge Death Eater's jinx just missed me right afterward and I ducked and lost track of things," said Ginny. What was it with Weasleys interrupting people?

"I saw him run straight through the cursed barrier as though it wasn't there," said Lupin. "I tried to follow him, but was thrown back just like Neville…"

"He must have known a spell we didn't," whispered McGonagall. "After all, he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I just assumed that he was in a hurry to chase after the Death Eaters who'd escaped up to the tower."

"He was," said Potter savagely, "but to help them, not to stop them… and I'll bet you had to have a Dark Mark to get through that barrier."

Obviously.

"So what happened when he came back down?"

"Well, the big Death Eater had just fired off a hex that caused half the ceiling to fall in, and also broke the curse blocking the stairs," said Lupin. "We all ran forward - those of us who were still standing anyway - and then Snape and the boy emerged out of the dust… obviously, none of us attacked them…"

"We just let them pass," Pink Hair whispered. "We thought they were being chased by the Death Eaters - and next thing, the other Death Eaters and Greyback were back and we were fighting again - I thought I heard Snape shout something, but I don't know what-"

"He shouted, 'It's over,'" said Harry. "He'd done what he'd meant to do."

They all fell silent. Andrael knew the rest of the story from here. Fawkes still sang outside, the energy he sent was all that was keeping the thrush from collapsing and turning back into a human.

Consciously focusing on keeping her animagus form, Andrael watched as the parents Weasley rushed into the hospital wing with a beautiful girl she recognized as former triwizard champion Fleur Delacour. She tuned out the drama between the women, only perking back up when the auror Tonks professed her love for the former Defence Professor in front of a dozen people.

After more petty arguing, meaningless against the events of the past few hours, but everything to the two Order members, Mr. Weasley interjected. "But she wants you," he said with a small smile. "And after all, Remus, young and whole men do not necessarily remain so." Arthur Weasley, whom Andrael had only met in passing, had no idea he had gained a huge amount of respect in the eyes of the thrush on the window.

The doors opened again, and Hagrid entered through them.

"I've . . . I've done it, Professor," he choked, addressing McGonagall. "M-moved him. Professor Sprout's got the kids back in bed. Professor Flitwick's lyin' down, but he says he'll be all righ' in a jiffy, an' Professor Slughorn says the Ministry's bin informed."

"Thank you, Hagrid," said Professor McGonagall, standing up at once and turning to look at the group around Bill's bed. She looked resolved, Andrael noted. "I shall have to see the Ministry when they get here. Hagrid, please tell the Heads of Houses - Slughorn can represent Slytherin - that I want to see them in my office forthwith. I would like you to join us too." She turned to Potter. "Before I meet them I would like a quick word with you, Harry. If you'll come with me. . ."

Potter muttered a farewell to Granger and Weasley, and followed the Professor out of the Hospital Wing.

Andrael stretched her wings, and took off, following the duo's progress from the other side of the windows. They ascended the staircase that would lead them to the stone gargoyle, and Andrael knew where they were going.

She flew up to the Headmaster's tower, where the window was luckily still open from the previous afternoon. It looked as it always had. For once, the portraits of the past Headmasters were silent. The new edition of Portrait Dumbledore was slumbering in a golden frame over the desk, his half-moon spectacles perched upon his crooked nose, looking peaceful and untroubled. He looked quite ordinary.

The two emerged from the rotating spiral staircase in silence. Minerva McGonagall took a deep breath, and turned and walked to the other side of the Headmaster's desk.

"Harry," she said, "I would like to know what you and Professor Dumbledore were doing this evening when you left the school."

They had begun on the path to stopping Lord Voldemort.

"I can't tell you that, Professor," Potter's answer sounded rehearsed.

"Harry, it might be important," said Professor McGonagall.

Of course it is.

"It is," said Harry, "very, but he didn't want me to tell anyone."

Professor McGonagall glared at him. "Potter, in the light of Professor Dumbledore's death, I think you must see that the situation has changed somewhat-"

"I don't think so," said the Boy-Who-Lived, shrugging. "Professor Dumbledore never told me to stop following his orders if he died."

One word Minerva, Andrael thought. Horcruxes.

"But-"

"There's one thing you should know before the Ministry gets here, though. Madam Rosmerta's under the Imperius Curse, she was helping Malfoy and the Death Eaters, that's how the necklace and the poisoned mead."

That made way too much sense. Andrael wondered how she could have been so stupidly blind. When Harry Potter knew more than she did, there was a problem.

"Rosmerta?" said Professor McGonagall incredulously, but before she could go on, there was a knock on the door behind them and Professors Sprout, Flitwick, and Slughorn entered the office. Hagrid ducked through the door after them, still crying his humongous tears.

"Snape!" cried Slughorn. So they knew too. "Snape! I taught him! I thought I knew him!"

A portrait on the wall interrupted what was sure to be a fascinating speech. He cleared his throat, speaking urgently. "Minerva, the Minister will be here within seconds, he has just Disapparated from the Ministry."

"Thank you, Everard," said Professor McGonagall, and she turned quickly to her teachers and the boy. "I want to talk about what happens to Hogwarts before he gets here," she said quickly. "Personally, I am not convinced that the school should reopen next year. The death of the headmaster at the hands of one of our colleagues is a terrible stain upon Hogwarts's history. It is horrible."

"I am sure Dumbledore would have wanted the school to remain open," said Professor Sprout. "I feel that if a single pupil wants to come, then the school ought to remain open for that pupil."

I will be that pupil, Andrael thought.

"But will we have a single pupil after this?" said Slughorn, sweating nervously. Andrael reminded herself that the Potions Master had never asked for any of this. Dumbledore with his blackened hand had likely begged Horace Slughorn to come back and teach without mentioning anything remotely resembling Lord Voldemort's potential murder plot.

"Parents will want to keep their children at home and I can't say I blame them. Personally, I don't think we're in more danger at Hogwarts than we are anywhere else, but you can't expect mothers to think like that. They'll want to keep their families together, it's only natural." Slughorn could be intelligent when he wanted to be.

"I agree," said Professor McGonagall. "And in any case, it is not true to say that Dumbledore never envisaged a situation in which Hogwarts might close. When the Chamber of Secrets reopened he considered the closure of the school - and I must say that Professor Dumbledore's murder is more disturbing to me than the idea of Slytherin's monster living undetected in the bowels of the castle…"

"We must consult the governors," said Professor Flitwick in his squeaky little voice; he had a large bruise on his forehead but seemed otherwise unscathed by his collapse in Snape's office. "We must follow the established procedures. A decision should not be made hastily." How perfectly Ravenclaw of him.

"Hagrid, you haven't said anything," said Professor McGonagall, addressing the half-giant. "What are your views, ought Hogwarts to remain open?"

"I dunno, Professor… that's fer the Heads of House an' the headmistress ter decide…" he croaked.

If McGonagall remained Headmistress until September, Andrael would be pleasantly surprised. She smirked as best as she could with a beak, lost in thought about who Voldemort would replace Minerva McGonagall with.

Hagrid's sobbing drew her back to the present. "Hogwarts without Dumbledore…" He gulped and disappeared behind his handkerchief once more, and there was silence.

"Very well," said Professor McGonagall, glancing out of the window at the grounds, checking to see whether the Minister was yet approaching, "then I must agree with Filius that the right thing to do is to consult the governors."

They spoke of Dumbledore's funeral and agreed that the students could be kept longer to say goodbye. His final resting place would be Hogwarts, of that there would be no question. They discussed the island in the centre of the lake as a promising option.

"He's coming," said Professor McGonagall suddenly, gazing past Andrael and down into the grounds. She exhaled in relief as McGonagall ignored her perch and turned back to the Professors inside. "The Minister of Magic. And by the looks of it, he's brought a delegation…"

"Can I leave, Professor?" Potter asked.

"You may," said Professor McGonagall. "And quickly." She opened the door for him, and he left, descending the spiral staircase.

"I best be goin' too, Professor," Hagrid blubbered, still sobbing. "Yeh know he 'ates me." McGonagall nodded, and the half-giant followed the boy out at a respectable distance.

Minerva McGonagall eyed the chair behind the Headmaster's desk with trepidation, as if it was booby-trapped. She took a deep breath, and sat down. Professor Flitwick caught her eye and nodded once. The Phoenix's Lament had finally faded from the grounds.

"Goodness, it's almost dawn," Professor Sprout said, gazing at the glimmer of light, peaking over the horizon.

"Yes…" The Headmistress of Hogwarts sighed at her desk. "It almost seems rude of the sun to rise after the night this castle has seen."

Professor Flitwick broke the silence that had followed this remark. "Minerva, do you want us to stay?"

"Yes." She gazed at the three faces in the room. "I am not mad enough to think I can do this alone. If I cry in front of the Minister of Magic…" she broke off and the ghost of a smile crossed her face. "I owe Albus to remember to rely on the friends still by my side." Andrael knew she was thinking about Snape.

The Professors took up positions surrounding the Headmistress as they heard the staircase begin to move. The door opened to reveal Rufus Scrimgeour, flanked by junior under-secretary Percy Weasley and four aurors. Kingsley Shacklebolt was one of them, and he met McGonagall's eyes briefly.

"Well Minerva," the Minister began, a little self-righteously. "What happened here tonight?"

As the Headmistress recounted the events to the delegation, Percy Weasley's quill flew over his parchment. When she got to the part about Bill Weasley being savaged by Greyback, McGonagall stared directly at him until he flinched.

"So I am to believe that Severus Snape killed Albus Dumbledore after the largest breach of security this school has ever witnessed was committed by a sixth year student you knew had a dark mark?"

"Yes." McGonagall replied faintly.

"And you have no idea where Albus Dumbledore was heading with Harry Potter? That information is likely to be extremely important."

"I have no idea."

Don't let him know that he's getting to you, McGonagall, Andrael thought.

"Have you asked the boy, Minerva?" Scrimgeour's patronising tone of voice made the three Professors and the thrush furious.

"Yes, Rufus," the woman stood, unsheathing the claws everyone knew her feline form had. "And he declined to tell me. It is a matter between him and Dumbledore, and I do not see why it cannot stay that way. Unless that you are implying that Harry Potter weakened and murdered Albus Dumbledore and proceeded to make up this elaborate story that just happened to be corroborated by two dozen witnesses? Or are they also lying to protect the Boy-Who-Lived?" she spat the last three words.

Scrimgeour and the aurors had the decency to look ashamed.

"Mistakes were made last night, that much is certain," she continued. "Many of those were Albus's mistakes, but I also share in the blame. Had I only questioned him, had I only voiced my doubts clearly, had I objected at all the right times. Please understand me when I say that the events of last night concern me greatly, but I do not wish to close the school, especially now, when there are students who need the protection of our institution more than ever before.

"It is you who should be concerned about our security, as the ministry declined to give us aurors to protect our children when we asked. We are lucky, and I hate to use that word, but we are lucky it is only Albus that is dead, and not the students of the castle."

Scrimgeour met McGonagall's intense gaze, and then shocked everyone in the room. "You… you are right Minerva. It does not do to dwell on dreams, to dwell on the past, and forget to live. We must move on, and work together."

"Albus said that." It was not a question.

"Yes. We… may have had our differences, but I have always greatly respected my old Transfiguration Professor. Both of them, in fact. So in your opinion, what should we do next?"

Everyone in the room was stunned. One of the aurors was gaping open-mouthed at the Minister like he had never seen the man before. Then in the next, he, Shacklebolt, McGonagall and the Heads of House began talking about policies and defences to protect both Hogwarts and the Greater Wizarding World.

Andrael spread her wings, and flew away. It was too late. This conversation needed to have taken place two years ago over the body of Cedric Diggory, not over that of Albus Dumbledore. Or even better, if Dumbledore had been transparent, over the body of Quirinus Quirrell.

Lord Voldemort's greatest enemy had fallen in the early hours of the morning, and the Boy-Who-Lived could not stop him from taking what he believed to be his. Andrael gave the Ministry of Magic until September to fall.

Bitterly tucking her wings, she dove into a first floor window. The passage was empty, and she turned back into a human, shaking. She grasped the stone wall to support herself, and limped to the dungeons. Andrael passed the wall behind which the Slytherin Common Room was hidden, and continued on to her abandoned dungeon classroom.

"Rokku o kaijo shimasu," she whispered hoarsely. Japanese incantations had quickly become her favourites, as Mr. Ungaku had gifted her with a familiarity of the language. The door unlocked, revealing Andrael's secret stashes of valuable and semi-illegal things.

A wave of her wand summoned a dose of pepper-up potion into her shaking hand, which she downed in one gulp. Returning the vial to where it had stood, she exited the classroom, magically locking the door behind her. After five minutes, she could feel new magical energy flowing through her systems.

She grabbed a sandwich from the Great Hall, which was surprisingly full for so early in the morning. No one talked to her, and she didn't talk to anyone. Silently, Andrael left as quickly as she entered, and began to heal the castle, following the path that she, Potter, and Snape had run the night before.

It was well past noon when she encountered anyone else. Andrael was cleaning the chamber outside the Astronomy Tower, where most of the fighting had gone on the night before. Minerva McGonagall opened the chamber door, wand raised and froze.

The two witches stared at each other, unblinking, each surprised to see the other, but both with the same goal in mind. The Headmistress turned, and they continued their work. No words were spoken as the bricks returned to their positions in the walls, the glass flew back into the window frames, cracks in the floor were mended, and the beams from the ceiling were repaired.

When the chamber finally resembled its old self, Andrael lowered her wand and looked back at her Professor.

"Do I even want to know how you knew that this was where the battle took place?" McGonagall questioned, breaking the suffocating silence.

"Probably not," Andrael said, wryly. "What will happen to the school?" She already knew the answer to that question, but wanted to hear what McGonagall would say.

"Hopefully it will stay open for next year."

"And the Order of the Phoenix?"

"How do you know about the Order?" McGonagall asked suspiciously.

"It's common knowledge," she said, waving off the question. "Will you lead it?"

"We'll see." That meant yes.

"Would you be willing to accept some advice, Professor?"

"Perhaps, Miss Cassowary."

"First, ask Mad-Eye Moody for help with the Order. He understands the Dark Lord's tactics better than most of your number. Secondly, when the Ministry falls to Voldemort and he installs his own Headmaster of Hogwarts-"

"What?!"

"-Be ready to protect the students of this castle. Dumbledore's Army and the staff are going to look to you for guidance, as you are his chosen successor. Finally, keep an open mind about the events of last night… things aren't often what they appear to be…"

Professor McGonagall had been looking at her with increasing scepticism, but now narrowed her eyes furiously.

"Why should I listen to a word you are saying, Cassowary? It may have been a blindside, but I fail to see how it's not straightforward. Severus Snape killed Albus Dumbledore!" She paused, scowling. "Besides, last time I checked, you were in Slytherin, not Hufflepuff."

"Ah." Andrael sighed, and uncharmed her tie, a frustrated smile on her face. "You still don't trust me Professor. You never have. That much is… obvious. But I tried, which is more than many other people."

"You are a Slytherin with absolutely no regard for the rules, who has been subverting the authority of this castle for six years. Why on even the first night you came here, we found you-"

"Yes, yes, yes." Andrael looked at her, annoyance finally creeping onto her face. "You have no idea who or what I am Professor. I am more knowledgeable and powerful than you could ever imagine. I, and I alone know the true story of the events that happened tonight, and I am willing to act on that knowledge." Perhaps that was a little arrogant of her, but Andrael knew it to be true.

"Are you threatening me Miss Cassowary?"

Andrael laughed, she couldn't help herself. Dumbledore was dead, she just repaired the ruins of Hogwarts, and Magical Britain was about to enter its second Dark Age in three decades. The Boy-Who-Lived, whose greatest power was love, was drowning in anger and hate. And to top it all off, Voldemort undoubtedly knew Sybill Trelawney's newest prophecy by now (Selwyn and Travers had not been found in the room Andrael had left them, she had checked herself).

"My dear Professor, I'd like to think I have the best interests of all of Hogwarts's residents at heart. I could give you so many answers if only you asked the right questions…" She trailed off, tantalisingly.

"Twenty points to Slytherin for helping repair the castle, twenty points from Slytherin for insolence and wasting my time." McGonagall looked at her with pure exasperation. "I have things to do Miss Cassowary, and you have blood on your face."

The Headmistress turned and left the Slytherin standing there. Andrael idly touched her face; her fingers came away scarlet. Well that was why the Professor hadn't asked her if she had fought. Strangely enough, the words 'big disgrace' echoed in Andrael's mind. She had always had a fondness for muggle music.

Andrael knew that McGonagall had never liked her, but she had thought the woman had more sense than that. The Headmistress had unwittingly lost a valuable resource.

And this was the new Head of the Order of the Phoenix. The world was doomed.

She sighed, and returned to the Slytherin dorms where she fell asleep after casting her usual nineteen protection wards on her canopy bed. It was looking more and more like Andrael would need to save this god-forsaken country herself.

Andrael woke up with a start. It was dark in the Slytherin Dorms. She grabbed her wand from where it lay next to her, inches from her face. Casting a quick temporal charm, Andrael registered how badly she had messed up her sleep schedule. It was one o' clock, and she had a splitting headache.

She sat up and gazed around the room at her dormmates. Pansy, Daphne, Tracey, and Millicent were all in deep slumbers of their own. Andrael carefully crept out of her bed, and threw her favourite grey cloak over her night clothes. She disillusioned herself once more.

Sneaking out of the dormitory, she saw six figures lounging in the common room. The seventh year Slytherin boys had glasses of firewhiskey in their hands. Half of them were asleep in the armchairs where they sat. The emerald fire had burned to cinders, and the warm coals cast an eerie glow in the room under the lake.

Andrael heard snippets of their conversation.

"Two more weeks and then we're free of this school." She could hear Aaron Jugson's voice. "Merlin, why'd Dumbledore have to go and die like that? We can't even enjoy school without him next year, and now we have to stay two extra weeks." They laughed.

"At least we're done though." A second drunken voice slurred.

"Yeah."

"About time. I'm surprised Snape didn't snap and kill him earlier," Jugson again, but unlike his companions, he sounded sober. The others laughed raucously.

"I wonder what he'll have us do to be marked." Jugson said.

Andrael froze.

"Personally, I hope he lets us kill some mudbloods, there's a few I've wanted to do in for years." He said in an undertone, a smirk on his face.

Andrael walked away, she didn't trust herself to keep her cool. Snippets of gross obscenities reached her ears that she tried to tune out, details of what they'd do before they let it all be over- But soon enough, their thoughts returned to their standard vitriolic tirade.

"Imagine a purer world when it's all over…"

"A better world…"

The dungeon wall slid shut on their bigoted voices.

Andrael strode through the castle confidently, throwing caution to the wind, no longer caring if she was caught. She slipped out a side entrance by the rose garden she had been using for years, and found herself outside the castle. The wind was calmer than the previous night, but still whipped around her curly black hair. She inhaled deeply.

As she made her way across the grounds, Andrael was painfully aware of Hagrid's charred hut, and the place that Dumbledore's body had lain. She turned away from the stretch where Potter and Snape had fought, walking instead towards the edge of the forest.

The largest tree on the Hogwarts grounds was a Weeping Willow (not the Whomping Willow, although that was a close second). Andrael had discovered it in the middle of her first year about ten paces into the Forbidden Forest. Armed with a proficiency in cushioning and levitation charms, the young girl had climbed it. At the top of the tree was a comfortable branch that could easily support twice Andrael's weight. From far above the canopy of the Forbidden Forest, the great willow offered the best view of Hogwarts Castle, the grounds, and beyond, that Andrael had come across in her six school years. She often returned to her perch in the warmer months to do schoolwork, or just sit and think.

Tonight was no different, and she hurriedly climbed the safest path to the top of the tree. Holding on to the trunk with one hand, she stood, bracing herself against the trunk and her branch like a pirate swinging from a ship's rigging.

The stars were out, and it was her birthday.

Her mind had returned to the present, and Andrael's thoughts were finally in a cohesive order. She spoke aloud for the first time since she had woken, hoping to glean more information from putting thought into statements.

"To summarise, this is what I know," she started.

"Severus Snape killed Albus Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore is dead, and will be laid to rest at Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy took the dark mark last summer and was tasked to kill the Headmaster. He cursed Katie Bell and Ron Weasley with his failed attempts. Malfoy can cast unforgivable curses, and cast the Imperius Curse on Madam Rosmerta. All year, he has disappeared to the Room of Requirement where he has secretly been fixing the Vanishing Cabinet at Hogwarts. Harry Potter has an invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map. Potter was suspicious of Malfoy because the Room of Requirement doesn't appear on the map, so it looked as if Malfoy was disappearing. He was suspicious of Snape because he overheard Snape offering Malfoy assistance with his 'project', but additionally, Potter just generally hates Snape.

"Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. Potter also found his book in the student store-cupboard where I returned it to, and learned its spells. Snape is a legilimens, and gave Potter occlumency lessons. Potter is an idiot and didn't learn anything from Snape, leaving his mind weak and open. Snape can use legilimency and duel at the same time. He is also an occlumens. Most curiously, Snape didn't kill Potter when he had multiple opportunities to. Snape said the Dark Lord wanted to kill Harry Potter himself. Snape hates James Potter because he was bullied by him and the late Sirius Black. He sees James and Sirius in Harry and hates Harry for it as well. Snape also hates Lupin because he is afraid of him, but Lupin trusted Snape until tonight.

"Bellatrix Lestrange is mad, but extremely powerful. She is proficient in creating spells. Yaxley, Selwyn, and Travers are decent enough at duelling. The Carrow twins do their best work together. Draco Malfoy did not want to kill Albus Dumbeldore, and is likely disenchanted with the Dark Lord's cause. Draco Malfoy is much more powerful than anyone originally assumed and can fix valuable magical artefacts. Snape's magic is strong enough to be instinctive as seen by the golden whip.

"Granger and Weasley mobilised Dumbledore's Army, meaning the D.A. is still willing to be called upon. Fawkes sang for Dumbledore and gave me his blessing. Minerva McGonagall is Headmistress of Hogwarts. Rufus Scrimgeour finally saw sense and discussed with her the safety of Britain. McGonagall will lead the Order of the Phoenix in Dumbledore's place. Metamorphmagus Nymphadora Tonks, werewolf Remus Lupin, and cursebreaker William Weasley are members of this Order. McGonagall will need to compromise her morals and ignore her reservations about those she doesn't trust before she becomes an effective leader.

"Dumbledore left the castle yesterday afternoon with Harry Potter, and somehow Draco Malfoy knew. The Dark Lord has Horcruxes, or objects containing parts of his soul, plural. Potter and Dumbledore were hunting for a Horcrux last night. Dumbledore was weakened before he returned to the castle. The horcrux is a silver locket, and Harry Potter is in possession of it. On Dumbledore's orders, Potter also refused to tell anyone other than Granger and Weasley where he and Dumbledore had been that night.

Andrael thought back further.

"Dumbledore trusted Snape because he expressed remorse for the Potters' deaths. Harry Potter and Remus Lupin think Dumbledore was stupid to trust the former Potions Master, and Snape lied about this fact." She paused. "Somehow Potter knows more about Snape's past than he should."

She opened her mouth to speak again, but froze.

What Andrael had been about to say was that Dumbledore had been injured since the beginning of the school year with a powerful moartea circulatorie curse. Andrael had not specifically looked for the cause of Dumbledore's injury, but had stumbled upon it while researching a fabled spell that cursed acrid smoke to encompass the intended, temporarily blinding them. She thought back to the book she had read that had explained the bit of Romanian dark magic; it was sitting behind the tapestry where she had left it two days before.

The spell was placed on an object to protect it, and would take hold of the first person that wasn't the caster to touch it. If uncountered, the spell would spread through the veins of the person in question, killing them within twenty-four hours. Only the caster was able to release the curse - anyone else could only slow it, buying the person time. Every one of Dumbledore's symptoms matched what she had read; poisoned veins, blackened skin in the area of the curse, irregular magic, bouts of weakness, fatigue and insomnia (she had seen the Headmaster awake well into the night on multiple occasions from her willow tree vantage point).

Someone in the castle had to have slowed the curse and restricted it to affect Dumbledore's hand, or else he would be dead. So who in the castle was capable of that calibre of multi-disciplinary magic at the moment? The answer was obvious when she thought about it. Snape was a potions prodigy, (he was the Half-Blood Prince after all), and he was well-versed in the dark arts.

If Snape had really wanted the Headmaster dead, that would have been the moment to kill him, and still maintain his position as Voldemort's spy. Yet he didn't take the opportunity, which meant he didn't want Dumbledore dead. But he killed Dumbledore nine months later.

And that was when the final realisation hit her. The moartea circulatorie would kill Dumbledore eventually. Andrael herself had predicted he would be dead by Halloween and she was no seer. And his death would be agonisingly painful in his final weeks.

Then Snape had likely killed Dumbledore on the Headmaster's own orders with the purpose of proving his loyalty beyond all doubt to the Dark Lord, while simultaneously protecting Draco Malfoy's last shred of innocence. Andrael remembered Draco telling her dorm that Snape was actually his godfather, which made the picture even clearer.

Her final piece of evidence was the look on Severus Snape's face as he cast the Avada Kedavra. The hatred on his face had not been directed at Dumbledore; she knew what Snape looked like when facing the object of his hatred from watching his interactions with Potter. Not to mention her own experiences. So it was a logical conclusion to interpret the expression as the way her Head of House had expressed his fury at having to kill his old Professor.

Andrael knew her conclusions were a stretch, but they made a twisted sort of sense. Snape didn't kill Potter because he was still on the Phoenix's side, he merely stupefied and drugged Flitwick instead of killing him for the same reason, and he summoned all the Death Eaters to him to leave the castle immediately, instead of rejoining the fight, to save the lives of the rest of the Order members.

Naturally, there was no way to either confirm or deny her hypothesis; Dumbledore was obviously dead, and even if she could find the man, it wasn't like Andrael could directly ask Snape if he was a traitor.

Filing this away into the "Super-Important" envelope in her brain, she closed her eyes. What was the next logical step? No, what would Dumbledore do? He would fight. But the Order of the Phoenix could never be an option to Andrael as long as Minerva McGonagall ran the organisation. And she would never be allowed into Dumbledore's Army.

Andrael laughed aloud. Look at her, a Slytherin trying to think like a Gryffindor.

The real question was what would Snape do? That was easy, she knew the answer to that question: join the Death Eaters. She laughed again, she was going as crazy as Bellatrix Lestrange. But really, what should she do?

The more Andrael thought about it, joining the Death Eaters actually made a twisted sort of sense. She could infiltrate the organisation from the inside, learn (more) powerful dark magic, find out if Snape really was evil, and then bring all her information to McGonagall, and make the woman an offer she couldn't refuse. Of course, there was the small issue of killing and torturing of muggles and muggleborns that made it the hardest decision the now-seventeen year old would make in her life thus far.

She climbed down from the tree. Her heart was racing, and Andrael Cygnus Cassowary already knew what she needed to do.