Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts (TL) Chapter 578: Night Talk

Chapter 578: Night Talk

Dumbledore handed the muddled Umbridge over to the Aurors in the Hogsade village, she was very roughly treated by Voldemort when he explored her recent mories, her mind is not very coherent at the mont and there might even be so residual effects.

He then took a mont to reassure the frightened Hogsade residents, “It won’t affect you, apart from being a bit sandy for a couple of days.” Afterward, he went to the Hog’s Head Inn.

Aberforth sat at the door of the Inn, looking tired and battered.

“You should have stayed inside, you are too badly wounded-”

“And you want to lie in the middle of a pile of dead bodies?” Aberforth growled angrily, “Why don’t you try?”

Dumbledore remained silent for a mont, “Alright then, I’ll take you to St. Mungo’s, you need to be treated.”

” It’s not a big deal, the bastard wanted to see beg for rcy, but I didn’t do as he wished,” Aberforth said gruffly, spitting bloody spit on the ground, “You ca quick, quicker than I thought.”

But Dumbledore insisted on taking him to the hospital. At St Mungo’s, Dumbledore took the ti to talk to the portrait of Dilys Derwent. A forr Headmistress of Hogwarts as well as a Healer at St Mungo’s, Dilys Derwent was a well-known wizard and had left portraits at nurous wizarding institutions.

“The Ministry of Magic got their hands full, those dark wizards completely disregarded the Statute of Secrecy and blew a big hole straight through the visitor’s entrance-” the old witch with long, silvery wavy hair rattled off.

“The red phone booth?” Dumbledore asked, interrupting her.

“Yeah, a lot of Muggles saw it,” Dilys said under her breath, “and the Ministry of Magic is going to be busy with it for the next long while. I don’t want this to hold up the Wizengamot trial, the Ministry has caught a lot of dark wizards.” She added.

Dumbledore smiled, “It may not happen that quickly, the trials of the last war lasted a long ti. But our new minister is doing well, she’ll take care of it … How are things in the school, Minerva sent the Patronus to tell about the situation a bit, but I want to know the most recent developnts.”

“Oh, they’re really getting more competent, those little ones!” Dilys said with great enthusiasm, ” It really opened my eyes, they didn’t seem to fancy waiting for the Ministry of Magic’s support, and solved the problem on their own – they even ford a reinforcent team and went out of the school to help the nearby Hogsade village to deal with the Inferius and Dentors in the vicinity. How exhilarating!”

“Minerva agreed?” Dumbledore asked in amazent.

“Objections were futile, the students were very enthusiastic …”

Ten minutes ago –

Felix, Harry, Sirius, and the rest returned to the school as Ron, Neville, and Fred trotted over.

“How did it go?” Ron looked at the returning n, “We found Avery on the way, he had a nasty fall, we didn’t dare touch him, and left him where he was, waiting for the professionals to deal with him. Where’s Umbridge?”

“She ran away.” Harry said briefly. Ron stared as Harry added, “Her plot failed though, with Professor Hap showing up at the ‘critical mont’ -” he stole a glance at Felix, who smiled at him without rebuffing the remark.

This made Harry very depressed. He had hinted quite clearly, and the Professor still hadn’t responded. Well, he planned to pull Ron and Hermione together to help him analyse it privately.

“Well, she’s just a minor character on the run.” Ron smacked his lips, then he said with so excitent, “Neville just brought up an idea that I think is pretty good. Do you guys wanna hear it?” He looked at Harry and then at everyone.

The group looked at Neville, who said shyly, “Many Inferius and Dentors are wandering outside right now, maybe so of them have run off to the Hogsade village beside us, and there are lots of wizard families living around there, and not everyone can deal with those things …”

“You want to support Hogsade?” Harry quipped in surprise and Felix also looked over in surprise, Neville seed to have grown up. Harry didn’t mince his words, “Neville, your idea is a good one, we can certainly help them.”

Neville shook his head, “I just suggested it, Ron, Luna, and the group helped to perfect the plan, especially Luna, she solved the problem of not having enough brooms-”

“She also ca over?” Harry asked, he looked in the direction of Hagrid’s hut and spotted Grawp easily — he is too big and walking around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with the help of Grawp as a position, Harry vaguely saw a few small dots around him, he tried his best to catch the yellow-haired one, and he found it, Luna is stroking a black-winged horse-shaped creature –.

“Thestral?” He was surprised and enlightened.

“We’ve been robbed of our broom, so we have to use our brains to find a replacent.” Fred said with a grin and flinched nervously when Moody’s magic eye looked over. “Just kidding, Professor Moody, don’t take it seriously!”

“I should warn you,” Felix interjected, “your idea is lovely, but first you must get the school’s approval … The person in charge at the mont is Professor McGonagall.” He nudged his eyes, and in the distance Professor McGonagall ca scurrying over, with her hair draped behind her back, making her look imposing.

“Er …” Harry froze and looked at Felix tentatively, “Will you speak for us, Professor?”

Felix winked, “I’d love to be on your side, but … I have to maintain the relationship between colleagues, so it’s up to you to convince her.” Harry stared at him in disbelief.

Eventually, Professor McGonagall was convinced, but she strongly urged several professors to accompany them. Sirius, Flitwick, Sprout, Tonks, the Longbottoms, and Emline Vance led the way as three dozen students rushed high into the air on broomsticks and Thestrals.

The students who erged from the castle looked at the group like heroes, applauding and cheering them enthusiastically.

Harry hovered in the sky on his Firebolt, watching in exhilaration as the students and professors set off from the brightly lit Hogwarts School and flew towards Hogsade. Turning back, he caught sight of Draco Malfoy in the crowd – he had stayed at the school, but his eyes were dead set on the sky. Harry saw reluctance and jealousy in Malfoy’s eyes, a look he unexpectedly did not hate, as he suddenly realized that Malfoy wanted to be part of the support group travelling on broomsticks to Hogsade.

Reluctance and jealousy could also be, rephrased as envy.

Those left behind went about their own business.

Moody watched over the captured dark wizard, Madam Pomfrey treated the young wizard who had been scratched by an Inferius, or tripped over a stone, Kingsley returned to the Ministry of Magic, and Felix and Professor McGonagall stayed at the school, pacifying – ordering the students to return to the safety of the castle, to be precise – the students are overly excited tonight and seem to want to party all night outside.

“We could move the kitchen outside and wait for the n to return from Hogsade.”

“Do you guys think they’ll bring back so Honeydukes’ candies along with them?”

Such thoughts were quickly quelled by the dark force within the school, which was headed by Professor McGonagall. Although the sky above Hogwarts was as bright as day, it wasn’t exactly safe to be outside the castle. There might be Inferius or Dentors hiding around so corner.

They would have to check it out carefully.

Later in the night, Dumbledore returned to the school. He spoke with Moody, McGonagall, Felix, and Snape one by one to find out what had happened as the night deepened. When Snape relaxing in his office, he felt a burning pain in his arm and stood up with a blank face.

The Dark Lord is summoning him.

…

“So you ca to see empty-handed, Severus?”

“Dark Lord, I did all I could, and even nearly got myself exposed to make her escape.” Snape bowed his head and said, “Allow to explain. I dare not hide a thing.” A ray of moonlight poured through the broken window and cast a pale light on his face.

Voldemort sat in the darkness, with no light around him, and his snakewood wand made a ‘hissing’ sound in his hand. He had seen bits and pieces of Umbridge’s mories and knew what Snape had done, but he still burned with anger.

Snape waited for a mont, and when he saw Voldemort did not interrupt him, he spoke.

“You asked to move when I saw the opportunity, and I did: I gave Umbridge the password to the Headmaster’s office at a crucial mont, and then distracted Potter, who had rushed over there. After that, an army of Inferius broke in. Although Dumbledore was not there, McGonagall assud the authorities of a Deputy Headmistress at the first opportunity: summoning all Heads as well as Professors. It would have been too suspicious if I didn’t show up; as you know, I hadn’t gained much trust in the Order of the Phoenix and there were too many eyes on in the school.

I have an enmity with Sirius Black; I don’t have much of a friendship with Minerva McGonagall; Harry Potter and his friends are even more unabashedly hostile towards , Potter has the Original Marauder’s map in his hands, and even if you had taught how to hide myself, I couldn’t do it so easily, since it would have aroused even greater suspicion.

I have a student-teacher relationship with Felix Hap, but last ti I risked it to pry information about the diadem, which may have consud so of that trust, and as for Dumbledore, he never puts his secrets in one basket, as he did this ti when he secretly arranged for the Order of the Phoenix to enter the school … He must have sensed sothing, but I knew nothing about it.

I even faked a mistake to stop Potter when he tried to capture Umbridge, but Felix Hap suddenly appeared and foiled that plan.

Dumbledore ca back and took the locket and the diadem straight away, leaving no chance to interfere.”

Snape related the story, at which point he suddenly frowned, “One thing is odd, I don’t know if I’ve been exposed: I had hinted to Umbridge about my identity as a spy, but she was caught by Dumbledore. What if she confessed sothing-”

“Don’t worry, I ssed with her head.” Voldemort’s high-pitched, clear voice ca through the darkness.

“Felix Hap is a Master of mory …,” Snape reminded.

Voldemort sneered a few tis.

“If they had investigated, they would have discovered a large group of spies that Umbridge will identify, and you are just one of them. You didn’t tell Avery your identity, did you?”

“No. I’ve been very discreet.” Snape said.

“That’s not safe either,” Voldemort stood up and paced the empty room, ” Is he in St. Mungo’s now?” Snape nodded and said, ” Avery is badly wounded and seems to have hurt his head, he hasn’t woken up yet.”

“Then don’t let him wake up again.” Voldemort said with a murderous grin. The hiss of the snakewood wand grew louder as if there are hundreds of snakes hissing in the room.

“Lord? Do you still want to go back to school?” Snape asked in a low voice, showing just the right hint of dissatisfaction.

“You don’t want to, Severus?” Voldemort asked softly. He approached, bathed in the moonlight, his bare pale skin seed to glow. On that snake-like face, his red eyes stared at Snape.

“No – of course – no -” Snape stamred. “I had thought – that I could – could co back – return to the ranks of the Death Eaters this ti.”

Voldemort looked at him silently for a mont.

“Have the years of undercover work bored you?” He spoke nonchalantly, twirling his fingers around his snakewood wand, “I still need you to do one last thing for , Severus. After this is done, you can return to the ranks of the Death Eaters.”

Snape glanced up excitedly before lowering his head again, “Thank you, Lord. I will serve you gladly, just as I did over a decade ago.”

“Very well. Dumbledore and I agreed to have a duel, and it had to end with a death … but I didn’t finalize the specific ti, do you know why?”

“I don’t know, Dark Lord.” Snape said.

“How is the injury on Dumbledore’s hand?” Voldemort suddenly changed the subject.

“He is suppressing the curse to his right hand and needs to take potion at regular intervals. I’ve never seen a curse that powerful, stronger than most of the curses I know, a normal man would have died long ago-”

“I have faith in my magic.” Voldemort said, and Snape shut up.

After a long mont, Voldemort spoke, “Weaken Dumbledore as much as you can, Severus, but do not kill him, I want to see him fall before . Your talent for Potions is unrivalled, and I believe you can do it without anyone realizing it.”

“But there is a chance that Dumbledore will notice …”

“Then it will be too late, Severus. When you have finished your duty, I will return all the glory that belongs to you. So be bold, Severus, I await your good news.”

…

“Voldemort is ready to give you up.”

Dumbledore said in a deep voice and Snape stared at him. It is now early in the morning, but Dumbledore has shown no signs of falling asleep; he is fully dressed and sitting at his desk, playing with a black jeweled ring in his hand.

“He was uncertain if Umbridge would leak, those words were just to reassure you, and I assu he has other tasks for you? A highly ti-sensitive one?”

“He told to poison you,” Snape said coldly, ” The sooner the better.”

Dumbledore flashed a smile.

“Ah, so that’s it. That may be the biggest risk, he has given you tonight. Voldemort was grumpy when he left, and he hasn’t been in the best of moods for a while now … I was worried that he would take it out on you.”

—————

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[ Author Note:

[Explaining the issue of whether the Summoning Charm can work on Horcruxes here:]

Examples referred in the original story are as follows.

1. The original book never directly stated that ‘Horcrux is immune against the Summoning Charm’, and the several failed summonings by the trio were due to special environnts; such as the cave where the locket was hidden (the Horcrux was even a fake), the Gringotts, and the Room of Requirent.

(The original book prefers to describe it by saying ‘(the Room of Requirent) refuses to hand over its collection easily’ rather than directly saying that the Summoning Charm does not work on the Horcruxes).

2. The trio kept using the Summoning Charm to summon Horcrux from beginning to end, even after holding the locket for a while, they didn’t discard using the Summoning Charm, which might indirectly indicate that it will work?

3. When the trio went to the Gringotts to find the Hufflepuff’s Cup, Ron said ‘that kind of magic won’t work in here’ not ‘that kind of magic won’t work on Horcrux’.

4. Apart from Voldemort and Slughorn, the two people who knew the Horcrux best in the original book are – Dumbledore and Hermione, but neither of them explicitly objected against using the Summoning Charm, and on several occasions, Hermione even attempted to summon the Horcrux with it.

[In summary, I believe that Horcruxes themselves do not have the property of being immune against the Summoning Charm, but one can use magic or ward to prevent it from being Summoned, but this additional magic can be lifted]. ]