The Snake and the Eagle

Chapter 16 - The Enemy Approaches

The Castle looked sinisterly empty, so deprived of its usual boisterous population. Easter holidays usually passed rather unnoticed as most of the students remained at school, reviewing for their coming exams. But not this time, there were going to be no exam to worry about. And for the first time in Hogwarts's history, everybody wished there were lots of tests in front of them and not a war between Good and Evil. After the students left, Dumbledore summoned the remaining students, staff members and ghosts in the Great Hall. They instinctively took seat at their usual places, and their small number was a very pitiful sight, which made everyone's heart sink. For the first time the Headmaster did not stand up for his speech, he cleared his throat and began to speak from his seat.

"First of all, I want to thank you for your decision to stay. We are very few and we must stick together as a family would do. Therefore, I invite you to push aside any house rivalry. It seems to me obvious that we don't need these long house tables anymore, please stand up and come to join us at the High Table." At these words the students exchanged astonished looks, then they shyly stood up and moved to the empty chairs Dumbledore had conjured out of thin air for them. They all tried to take a seat as far as they could from Snape, as his piercing black eyes were still hard to stand. Certainly Pansy had no problem to find a chair just in front of his beloved Head of House, but she was very surprised when she saw Hermione Granger and Cho Chang take a seat on either sides of her, both giving her a friendly smile. Dumbledore gave the girls a warm smile and went on.

"We will be soon joined by the Ministry Aurors and Unspeakables, who will take residence here at Hogwarts. It seems also useless to go on using four different dormitories, so you will be gathered in a single one. You'll be arranged in four groups of four, leaving your old rooms to our coming guests," he calmly explained. By the look on the kids' faces, he could tell they were trying to imagine who they had to share their room with. Obviously, the division between boys and girls was going to be maintained.

"Sorry Professor Dumbledore, sir," said Harry awkwardly, "In which dormitory are we going to move?" he said deeply hopping it was the Gryffindors'.

"Oh Yes, Harry. It is the Slytherin's one, as his location under the lake makes it the safest place," Dumbledore stated.

"What?" Ron whispered scandalised, "They're mental if they think I'll sleep in the same bed used by a slimy Slytherin!" he protested in Hermione's ear, who answered with an uncerimonious nudge in his ribs. But Dumbledore had still something else to say.

"You well know that your normal classes will not take place. I've arranged with four of your teachers to give you special lessons in their subjects, about things that could be useful once the war begins. The other teachers asked me to go back to their families, so you'll have classes with Professors McGonagall, Moody, Snape and Falconbridge. You're strictly forbidden to leave the castle at any time. You'll enjoy some fresh air in the interior cloister, at the presence of some teacher or Auror, and we'll have our meals together in the Great Hall as usual."

"Professor Dumbledore, sir?" Ron Weasley chimed in, "If the grounds are out of bound too, and we have no Care of Magical Creatures classes, we can't go visit Hagrid, can we sir?" asked Ron with raised eyebrows. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled above his half-moon spectacles.

"You're perfectly right, Ron. You're not allowed to go in the grounds. But I assure you you don't really need to, because our dear Hagrid will be staying here in the castle with us." Harry, Ron and Hermione took a deep sigh of relief at that news.

It took them all a little while to adjust themselves to the new situation, but they soon began to enjoy each other's company. For instance, the old wall between Gryffindor and Slytherin had fallen down and Hermione and Pansy had become good friends, so the trio soon became a quartet. McGoangall was very proud of her students, and Snape seemed greatly relieved too. He had been rather worried by the state of isolation in which her house mates had put Pansy, after her breaking up with Malfoy. Their strolls in the cloister were a deeply enjoyed moment, a part from being their only chance of a bit of fresh air. They were never left alone and a couple or two of adults were used to stay with them, wands at ready and ears tensed for any suspicious noise.

Their special lessons resulted to be more interesting then they had thought. Professor Moody thought them a lot of curses and counter curses which, although not lethal, were powerful enough to knock an enemy down and give you time to escape. Professor McGonagall showed them various way to transfigure any object in a possible weapon or means of concealment, but did not surrender to the students requests to pass to human transfiguration. That was an highly advanced level which could easily go wrong. Professor Falconbridge made them work hard on defensive and blocking spells, allowing them lots of practice in a smaller version of the Duelling Club. Professor Snape insisted on Healing Potions and Antidotes. He wanted them all well prepared on mediwizardry, so that they could be able to help Madam Pomfrey to heal the wounded warriors. He was trying hard to restrain himself from being his usual mean-bastard-teaching self. He did not want to burden them with farther tension,and he had to admit the new method was proving efficacious, if even Neville Longbottom was showing a slight improvement in his normally abysmal performances.

***

It was right during one of that open-air strolls that the anti-Death Eaters' devices, installed by Mr Kalkulos all over the castle and grounds, began to sound the alarm. Mad-Eye Moody came limping to the cloister, a very anxious expression on his badly scarred face.

"Everybody back in! The castle is under siege!" he shouted. Some of the students screamed in fright.

"No panic!" shouted the Aurors.

"Hurry up! In the Great Hall, quick!" shouted their teachers, while shepherding them to the safety of the thick stone walls. Dumbledore and the others were already there, and he felt a great relief at seeing them. They all gathered around the High Table, and a great silence fell as they waited to know what was going on. Moody had taken his Foeglass off of his office wall, and it now laid on the table in front of the Headmaster's seat.

"The wards set on Hogwarts just revealed the enemy is approaching. Fortunately, they still are far enough to give us time to be ready to fight them." Everybody could easily see a great number of human shapes moving about in the foaglass but still out of focus, which meant they were not close enough, or else they would have been clearly visible in it. In that precise moment, a side door suddenly opened and Professor Trelawney glided in, causing everyone to turn in her direction with their wands out.

"Oh, sorry. Did I scare you?" she said in her usual misty voice. "I'm afraid I may have taken you by surprise. I easily forget how few people have the gift of the Second Sight," she said smiling with satisfaction, a thing that caused Hermione to scowl and Professor McGonagall to glare at her colleague icily. Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued to speak.

"As I was saying ... before we can set up a defensive strategy we need to know something more about the enemy's position and plans." At those words Professor Trelawney seemed to be come back to earth and realised the nature of the meeting.

"Don't worry, Albus. I have here the solution to the problem," she shouted exited, approaching the table and causing many people to look at her with surprise and suspicion. She took out a brightly polished crystal ball from under her voluminous shawl.

"I'll ask the powerful spirits of the powerful deads to show me the exact location of the enemy"she theatrically announced. Before somebody could say anything, she had placed the misty sphere on the table caressing it with her heavily jewelled fingers, but nothing happened. Feeling everybody's eyes on her she began to feel ill at ease.

"Ehm ... I'm sorry. But my Inner Eye seems a little - ehm - clouded today," she awkwardly muttered, trying to conceal her failure. Even a weirdo like her knew there was too much at stake to risk a false prediction.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" roared Snape unnerved, while marching towards the Divination teacher. "Give it here!" he spat, uncerimoniously snatching the globe out of the witch's hands. He held it with both hands, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The ball suddenly glowed of a bluish pale light, Snape opened his eyes and fixed them on the sphere. His stare suddenly became unfocused, and he began to speak in a slow calm voice.

"The enemy is taking possession of the Quidditch pitch, and camp tents are being raised all around it and by the margins of the Forbidden Forest," he stated. Then, he vigorously shook his head like he wanted to wake himself out of a kind of trance.

"Oh, very good dear boy! You've always been my best student," Professor Trelawney merrily applauded him. Snape blushed deeply with embarrassment at being the centre of anybody's attention.

"Next time, give it a second thought before showing off," he mentally kicked himself. Hermione looked at him with a mixture of astonishment and admiration.

"So crystal gazing is not a lot of rubbish after all, if a serious wizard like Snape can do an accurate prediction like that," she mused.

"Thank you, Severus," Dumbledore said beaming, while Snape walked back to his place keeping his gaze to the floor.

"Very well. We now know where they are. But how are we going to found out what their plans are?" asked Moody, "What are we going to use this time? Tarocs? Tea leaves?" he added with a sarcastic glance to Trelawney.

"We need some spying!" an member of the Order said.

"I know, but it would be extremely risky. Voldemort is a powerful Legilimens, few people would be able to resist him," Dumbledore commented gravely.

"I'll do it!" suddenly shouted Snape.

"Severus, don't. Not after what they did to you," Minerva pleaded with him.

"Albus, you know I'm the only one who can do it. I've done it so many times before, and I'm a skilled Occlumens too!" Snape said ignoring McGonagall's protest. Dumbledore had reluctantly to admit that was their only chance.

"But you can't do it on your own," whispered a worried Professor Falconbridge.

"I can follow him under my Invisibility Cloak," Harry bravely proposed.

"No way! I'm not going to risk my neck looking after an insufferable nosy kid like you!"Snape spat venomously . Harry was about to retaliate that he did not need being looked after, when his words were cut off by Lupin.

"Harry, could you please lend me your cloak? I've used it so many times with your father, that I think I could easily go with Professor Snape without being caught," he said with a gentle smile. Snape nodded approvingly, and so did Dumbledore and the others.

"Good, boys. You'll do it as soon as darkness falls. I suggest you to use a hidden passage to get out of the castle. Now students, please go back to your dormitory."

***

The moon was high in the sky when they were having a light dinner in the Great Hall. When it was over, Dumbledore told Snape and Lupin to get ready. Lupin stood up and threw the Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders, while Snape took off his coat and put his Death Eater attire on his trousers and shirt being careful to roll up his shirt sleeves, just in case he had to show his Dark Mark to someone. Alexandra could not suppress a shiver at the sight of Snape's creepy look, but her eyes were full of worry.

"Be careful!" Dumbledore fatherly told them. They left the Hall and headed for the secret passage leading in the forest. They both pulled their hoods on and Snape hid his face behind his mask. Fortunately, Lupin managed to avoid any contact with things or people, and they went near enough to kidnap an inner circle Death Eater, and use Legilimency on him, followed by a Memory Charm who left him a little dazzled but completely unaware of what had passed a few seconds before. The whole thing proved to be less risky than they had thought, as Voldemort was not there yet. His supporters were too excited and busy with the camping to notice their intrusion. They quickly headed back to the castle through the same passage in the forest, and reached Dumbledore in the Slytherin common room to give their report. That room had become their temporary headquarters, because it also gave them the chance to keep a close look on the students too.

"Thanks to Heavens you're back. What did you found out?" the headmaster asked them, motioning them to a couch by the fireplace.

"They've planned a three parts attack, taking place by night. They didn't managed to persuade the giants to join them, but they should have some other secret weapon", carefully explained Snape.

"In the first attack, they're going to use the Dementors and their junior recruits," he said with a certain scorn. "Those bastards were going to sacrifice unprepared boys and girls, saving their skins as long as they could" he bitterly thought.

"I'm sorry, but the man we took these information from didn't know who's going to be involved in the second attack. I'd dare say they'll use the surviving junior Death Eaters and the older members of the lower ranks."

"The Dark Lord and the inner circle will only join in for the final attack,"Lupin concluded their report.

"Well done boys, we know enough to face them well prepared, and with the reinforcements we're waiting from the Ministry, we have good chances to outnumber them." And with these words Dumbledore sent them to their well earned rest.