Chapters 41-50

Ordeal of Knighthood

Alina was grateful that Hermione had shown her how to conjure up a flame and keep it safely in a jar. She used an old jam glass, hidden inside a woollen bonnet so it wouldn’t give her away.

It had been easier to slip out than expected. The most difficult part had been to remain patient during the previous weeks, when they’d worked on analysing the schedules of the grown-ups. But it had been worth it. They were sooo predictable. Apart from Professor Snape, they all stuck to a certain routine with only very few variations. Even Mrs. Norris’ rounds had a pattern to them.

Really, sometimes adults were too stupid. What if they were not a couple of students sneaking out after curfew, Alina mused. However had they managed to defeat Voldemort if they couldn’t even make sure that everyone stayed put at night?

In spite of her jam-jar fire and being bundled up in onion-like layers of clothing, Alina shivered. March was still very cold in the Highlands. And dark. The castle and grounds were wrapped in the black shadows of a moonless night. Even the gleaming white marble of the tomb looming ahead of her did little to dispel the gloom.

A rustling sound made her start. The frantic beating of her heart pulsed right up to her ears. But the Forbidden Forest was a safe distance away. None of its creatures would venture to the hill above the lake where Dumbledore’s tomb looked eastwards. And the tomb was warded. Not as strong as the castle, but it was protected. She was perfectly safe. And besides, Ebenezer, Adrastus and Alyah were only a few hundred yards away, down in the new boathouse at the lake. If she shouted, they’d come running at once. She listened hard, but now everything was still. After a while she relaxed and her thoughts returned to her vigil.

She’d attempted to prepare herself properly, she’d showered for cleansing, though she’d been too chicken for cold water. And she’d fasted, sort of. She hadn’t had trifle for dessert, although that was her favourite pudding.

Okay. So what should a Knight of Dumbledore be like? Alina contemplated. Fearless and brave, of course. Defending the Light. Standing up for others, even if you didn’t like them. Like Crudass, she supposed. Helping anyone in need…

Her thoughts turned to the one person she knew who needed help most at the moment. Her head of house. At first glance that was a truly tricky problem. But she felt a grin spread on her face. At second glance, the solution was rather simple.

After all Alina had observed how Miss Granger looked at the Potions Master when she thought no one else was noticing.

Slowly the dark hours of the night crept by…

oooOooo

A flash like lightning blinded Alina. Blue fire flared up to the sky, illuminating the lake and castle for a second, before the boom of an explosion shattered the stillness of the night. Instinctively she threw up her hands to shield her eyes, just in time to see the white marble walls of the tomb in front of her crack and expand outwards. The blast of the detonation knocked her backwards, throwing her down like a rag-doll. Then the nightly darkness was back, blacker and more impenetrable than before.

Alina never saw the hail of debris raining down on her.

oooOooo

After Umbridge’s visit, sleep proved elusive for Snape. He couldn’t get her face out of his mind, the revolting doll-like mask of pink lipstick and rouge, the coldness in her gaze, the malice in her voice as she had tried to intimidate Hermione. Cold fury coiled inside him, whenever he recalled the haunted expression on Hermione’s face.

No one threatened his apprentice.
No one. Least of all that stinking toad. That upstart panjandrum. That vile…

His pacing brought him back to the window. He could barely make out the white corner of Dumbledore’s tomb in the gloom of the moonless night. He sighed, his fingers moving up to his throbbing temples, when a blue blaze burst into the sky at the edge of the lake. The instant when the thunder of an explosion rolled over the surface of the lake with ear-numbing crack, everything went dark again. For a moment he felt the foundations of Hogwarts tremble around him.

Then the newly installed emergency system of the castle kicked in. Bright lights flooded every room and hallway. The four houses were sealed with the strongest wards imaginable, and the recorded and magically amplified voice of the headmistress roared from the very stones of the keep: ‘Students, gather in the common rooms of your houses. Prefects, conduct a headcount. Teachers, once all students are accounted for, meet in the Great Hall.’

Snape was out of the room before McGonagall had finished the first sentence. He never stopped to knock, simply throwing open the door to Hermione’s room, barely noticing the short second when her naked breasts were exposed to his view, before she managed to draw down the jumper over her head. With one hand he picked up her apprentice’s robes, with the other he grabbed her arm. ‘Go to the common room and stay there until I return. If anything happens, use your badge to summon me.’

Then he was gone, disappearing through the portrait hole into the corridor of the dungeons.

oooOooo

Inside Slytherin house panicked students were running in crazy circles, when Hermione entered.

‘Calm down!’ she shouted. But no one was listening. Frowning in concentration, she put her wand against her throat. She knew the theory of the amplification spell, but she’d never used it before.

‘CALM DOWN!’ she roared.

Everyone froze on the spot. The silence was absolute.

‘Prefects,’ Hermione started, scanning the assembled students, ‘is everyone here?’

Icy fear washed over her, as Hermione realised at a glance that at least one her students was missing.

Alina Petrel was not in the common room.
Nor was Ebenezer Sibly-Styles.