After Hagrid left, Professor McGonagall turned around to look at Evan and Harry.
“Evan, Harry, I would like a quick word with you. If you’ll co with . …” she said with a sigh. “Remus, Sirius, would you co too? Now it’s a matter of life and death for Hogwarts. You were once professors here as well. I’d like to hear your opinions on the future of the school.”
“The future of the school?!” Sirius stood up and said, his voice was hoarse and sounded strange. “Minerva, you’re not thinking of closing Hogwarts, are you?! I won’t agree to that. Dumbledore will co back —”
“Dumbledore is dead, Sirius!”
Sirius’s body suddenly froze and he fell silent once more.
Lupin patted his shoulder, and Harry walked to his side and whispered to him.
Professor McGonagall shook her head and was the first to leave the ward.
Evan said “See you in a bit” to Hermione and Elaine, and followed Lupin and Sirius out with Harry.
He didn’t take the Twin Serpent Staff with him. Evan was not worried that this important magic Staff would be lost. He just warned the others not to touch it.
His thoughts were already on what was to co. Evan wasn’t concerned about whether Hogwarts would close or not; what mattered most right now was dealing with the Twin Serpent Staff.
If nothing unexpected happened, they would soon have to begin their journey in hiding under the pursuit of Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
Evan couldn’t carry the caduceus with him at all tis. He needed to find a safe place to hide it.
This Staff was extrely important. If Voldemort wanted to summon the evil god to co, he would also need its help. He absolutely could not let him get it.
Evan needed a completely secure place to store it, preferably sowhere inside Hogwarts.
That way, once it was confird that Dumbledore could not return, they could imdiately use the Twin Serpent Staff to travel to that world.
The corridors outside were deserted and the only sound was the distant phoenix song.
No one spoke. Each of the five was lost in their own thoughts as they followed Professor McGonagall toward Dumbledore’s office.
Passing the gargoyle, they ascended the moving spiral staircase in silence and entered the circular office.
It looked almost exactly as it had done when they had left it re hours previously: the silver instrunts whirring and puffing on their spindle-legged tables, Gryffindor’s sword in its glass case gleaming in the moonlight, the Sorting Hat on a shelf behind the desk.
But Fawkes’s perch stood empty, he was still crying his lant to the grounds.
A new portrait had joined the ranks of the dead headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts: Dumbledore was slumbering in a golden fra over the desk, his half- moon spectacles perched upon his crooked nose, looking peaceful and untroubled.
After glancing once at this portrait, Professor McGonagall made an odd movent as though steeling herself, then rounded the desk to look at Evan, Harry, Sirius, and Lupin one by one, her face taut and lined.
“Evan, Harry,” she said, “I would like to know what you and Professor Dumbledore were doing this evening when you left the school.”
“I’d like to know, too,” said Sirius. “Evan, you just said that Dumbledore used that strange caduceus. What did you do?”
“It had to do with the evil god. We found the Twin Serpent Staff and the brain of Herpo the Foul beneath Azkaban,” said Evan simply. “To destroy it, Dumbledore used the Twin Serpent Staff, at the cost of all his magic power.”
Professor McGonagall and Sirius both stared at Evan, as if trying to digest the absurdity of what he’d just said.
“You went to Azkaban this evening?”
“The brain of Herpo the Foul, you an the Dark wizard who transford himself into a terrible monster?!”
“I really don’t understand why Dumbledore would —”
“If you want more specific details, I can tell you later,” Evan interrupted, calmly looking at Sirius, Professor McGonagall, and Lupin. “But this matter must remain absolutely confidential. It cannot be made public, and you mustn’t tell the Ministry of Magic.”
“Alright, I understand,” said Professor McGonagall, taking a deep breath. “Now is indeed not the ti to delve into this. We need to prepare for what’s coming with the Ministry —”
“Wait, professor!” said Harry suddenly. “There’s one thing you should know before the Ministry gets here. Madam Rosrta’s under the Imperius Curse, she was helping Malfoy and the Death Eaters, that’s how the necklace and the poisoned ad —”
“Rosrta?” said Professor McGonagall incredulously, and Sirius also frowned.
But before they could go on, there was a knock on the door and Professors Sprout, Flitwick, and Slughorn traipsed into the room, followed by Hagrid, who was still weeping copiously, his huge fra trembling with grief.
“I heard about it. Dumbledore is dead?!” Slughorn asked impatiently. He hadn’t taken part in the defense efforts this evening.
“Yes, Snape killed him!”
“His body?”
“There’s no body, because of a powerful magic item, the Twin Serpent Staff, left by Salazar Slytherin, its magic consud Professor Dumbledore’s body,” said Evan. “But he is definitely dead. Many witnessed it.”
“Snape killed him right in front of ,” said Harry in a low voice. “I saw it with my own eyes — he cast the Killing Curse, and it hit him.”
“That despicable bastard, I swear, I’ll tear him to pieces,” said Sirius hatefully.
“Snape!” ejaculated Slughorn, who looked the most shaken, pale and sweating. “Snape! It was him? I taught him! I thought I knew him! I never imagined he’d do such a thing!”
But before any of them could respond to this, a sharp voice spoke from high on the wall: A sallow-faced wizard with a short black fringe had just walked back into his empty canvas.
“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.
“I want to talk about what happens to Hogwarts before the Minister gets here. Although we haven’t found Dumbledore’s body, from everything we know, it is certain that he’s dead. That much is undeniable,” she said quickly. “Personally, I am not convinced that the school should reopen next year under the current circumstances. The death of the headmaster at the hands of one of our colleagues is a terrible stain upon Hogwarts’s history. It is horrible.”
“If Hogwarts closes, it will be the greatest sha in the history of this school,” said Sirius.
“We have to face reality, Sirius,” said McGonagall with difficulty. “The reality is that we don’t have the strength to defend the school. Voldemort —”
That na seed to instantly drop the temperature in the room. Slughorn shivered.
“I’m not afraid of Voldemort. I’ll stay and defend Hogwarts,” said Sirius, gritting his teeth to force the words out. “Even if it costs my life.”
Evan noticed how tightly Sirius’s hands were clenched. Though his voice was calm, unlike his usual impulsiveness, his heart was clearly in turmoil.
The last warrior, the last defender, Sirius was undoubtedly a hero who would fight to the very end.
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