The Chaos Begins

His lust for adventure drives Harry right into the rising tension between Dumbledore and Minister Fudge. Suddenly, he finds himself playing a key-role in a game of deceit and betrayal that will either strip the Light Side from their most important spy or will be the first step in defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…

 

 

Chapter 8: The Blow

 

 

While Harry climbed the stairs he still thought about Malfoy's words.

'Ok, let's get this straight. Dumbledore and Fudge both agreed to keep Snape's arrest secret. Period. But still Malfoy knows. Must come from his father, naturally - he still has connections to the ministry, after all. And m ore importantly, he seems to be something like Voldemort’s right-hand man. Could it be a mere coincidence that Draco knows about it? Maybe he heard someone tell his father or read a report or something...

No, not likely. Malfoy Sr. surely wouldn't let important documents lie around in his house for everyone to see.

Then this leaves only the possibility that Mr. Malfoy told his son about it deliberately...

Of course! Fudge certainly is a weak character and would not hesitate to betray Dumbledore, if necessary. But then, he has a strong interest in keeping everything hushed up and, moreover, he still depends on Dumbledore in more than one way – and he knows it. So I don’t really think he betrayed him. No, definitely not. I bet he doesn't know that Malfoy told his son about Snape, either.

Hmm, but still... So the question is not what would Fudge gain from Draco Malfoy's knowledge but what would the Death Eaters.’

He sighed and shook his head. Well, at least that was something.

Finally he rounded the last corner and immediately stopped dead.

No, he must be on the wrong floor. There was no Gargoyle to be seen. Only something red, over and over covered with pink feathers.

Ewww, whoever put THAT here had a very bad taste.

He was about to turn away when he saw Dobby. The house-elf was sitting on top of the something and scrubbed it with a really big handkerchief.

"Dobby?" Harry said. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on Dumbledore's floor? At least that's what McGonagall said."

The elf looked at Harry and smiled delightedly.

"Dobby is, Harry Potter Sir! Dobby is."

He pointed to the red something beneath him.

"Dobby is cleaning Professor Dumbledore's Gargoyle, Sir. See, I freed its eyes."

He showed Harry two spots where one could see stone.

"Bad Peeves!" Dobby continued, sounding rather enraged. "Is coming last night and putting all this paint on Gargoyle. And now Dobby has to clean! We house-elves is not liking poltergeists."

Harry had to hide a grin under his hand. It was the perfect picture:

A red painted stone-Gargoyle (though you almost couldn't see any stone) with all those funny pink feathers and a furious house-elf on top of it. Where was Colin with his camera when he needed him?

Harry stepped closer. "Well, " he began again. "I was hoping you could tell me how to get into Dumbledore's office. I need to talk to him."

Smiling again, Dobby jumped off the Gargoyle.

"Of course Dobby is helping Harry Potter!"

Harry had only wanted Dobby to tell him the password but the elf obviously wanted to open the secret passageway himself. Dobby stepped pompously in front of the Gargoyle - well, as pompously as someone covered all over in feathers could be anyway.

He cleared his throat and said: "Bubble Gum!"

This had the desired effect and Dobby grinned proudly.

"Thank you, Dobby." Harry said, grinning back.

"Dobby is glad to be of help. Now I is going back to cleaning!"

With that the elf turned and hopped on the Gargoyle again.

Still smiling, Harry stepped into the passageway.

 

 

When he reached the top of the stairs, he found the door already ajar.

"Come in, Harry." He heard Dumbledore's voice from inside. "Please take a seat. Care for a cup of tea?"

Harry nodded. "Thanks, Sir."

While Dumbledore poured the tea into two cups he eyed Harry with a amused twinkle in his eyes, though Harry could swear he had seen a hint of sadness there only moments ago.

"Now Harry," the Headmaster said.

"What brings you up here? Aren't you supposed to be in classes right now?"

"No, Sir." Harry answered. "We'd have Potions, normally. But since Professor Snape..."

Dumbledore nodded. "I see. Well, that still leaves my first question. How may I help you?"

Harry sighed and thought about the previous night. Where to begin?

"You see, Sir, I had another one of those dreams. But this time it wasn't about Voldemort."

Dumbledore frowned slightly but didn't interrupt.

"Instead," Harry continued. "I found myself in a cell in Azkaban. Snape's cell to be precise. And... things are not turning out well."

Dumbledore's frown grew. "What happened?"

"There was this Ministry official - Bransom was his name. He sort-of interrogated Snape. Professor Snape, I mean. He taunted him and tried to provoke him. He told Professor Snape you'd seen through his charade

and believed him to be Voldemort's spy."

Although he didn’t want to relive the last night, Harry told the Headmaster everything he could remember, everything Brandom had said and what Snape’s reaction had been.

When he had finished, Dumbledore slowly shook his head, looking very sad.

"Did he believe Bransom?"

"Professor Snape? Honestly, I don't know. You know, at first not. As I told you he literally jumped at Bransom's throat when the Ministry man indicated Snape you'd given him up. But after that..." Harry went silent, remembering the Dementors and what they had done.

For a few minutes none of them said anything. But then, Dumbledore was the first to break the silence.

"And this Bransom - I have never heard of him, by the way - do you think he is one of Voldemort's men, Harry? You understand that this point is most crucial, do you?"

Harry nodded. "I believe he is. I guess if he was with our side he wouldn't put so much effort into driving a wedge between you and him."

Again silence.

"Harry," Dumbledore began. "How is Severus? Both physically and mentally."

The fifth-year sighed. Obviously, this must have been the question Dumbledore was most interested in.

"Not well, to say the least. It was dark and I didn't see much of him but he looked terrible. The sooner he gets out of there the better."

Again, Dumbledore simply nodded. Strange to think that someone could actually like the violent-tempered Potions Master, but Harry knew Snape was Dumbledore's friend. It had to be hard on him to just sit there

without being able to help his friend when he needed him most.

Only natural that someone like Malfoy thought Dumbledore was heartless.

Malfoy... That reminded Harry of something.

"Sir," he interrupted Dumbledore's thoughts. "Are you aware that Draco Malfoy knows about Snape being in Azkaban?"

The Headmaster looked at him with a slight frown. "No, I am not. But, Harry, are you sure about this? It is supposed to be highly classified information - as you well know."

Harry couldn’t help but squirm a bit, remembering how Hermione and he had spied on the Headmaster and Fudge earlier that year.

"Absolutely, Sir. Malfoy told me himself right before I went to your office. And he hasn't really tried to keep it hushed up, you know. When I was on my way to class this morning, I found him standing in front of the classroom talking with his housemates and it was obvious to me that they were discussing Snape. In fact, Malfoy believes you have abandoned Snape. That you refused to help him."

Harry paused. "I wonder what he's up to. You know, I thought about it on my way up here. I don’t think that Fudge would betray you without a very good reason, which he doesn’t appear to have. So I suppose we can exclude that he was the one who decided to let this happen, of that I am sure. So it must be Malfoy Sr.'s or Voldemort's idea. But why?"

The frown on Dumbledore's forehead only got bigger.

"That makes no sense... Unless..." His eyes went wide. "Of course! It DOES make sense! Only too well."

At Harry's questioning look, Dumbledore continued.

"Unless I am mistaken, young Malfoy might deliver their final - and possibly fatal - blow. I hope I am wrong but if not..." He shook his head.

"I am afraid we won't have to wait too long. I cannot say more right now. I have to think it out, Harry. But don't be surprised if I call you to my office after Dinner. Maybe you have to tell this story to Professor Lupin as well."

Harry was even more confused. Now what was that about?

His confusion had to be fairly obvious, since the Headmaster smiled faintly at him.

"You see, Harry, I don't want to upset you right now in case I am wrong. Presently, you have enough on your mind, I believe."

"Yes, Sir," Harry answered. But deep down he wished Dumbledore had told him all the same. Now he was going to wonder all afternoon what the Headmaster had been alluding to. Darn!

"Fine, Harry. Now I think it is best you return to your friends. Let's hope we don't meet again so soon."

Harry nodded and after saying good-bye he left Dumbledore's office. He had to admit he was almost more confused than before.

* * * * *

As the day passed, Harry began to understand what the Headmaster had been fearing.

When he was on his way to the owlery to pay Hedwig a visit, he overheard some Slytherins talk about Snape –

Harry could have sworn he heard the word "Azkaban" as well.

Obviously, Malfoy had talked to his Housemates. Well, only naturally. He had talked to Crabbe and Goyle, hadn't he?

But then, when went down to the library to meet with Hermione he couldn't avoid listening to a conversation between a Ravenclaw group. They were talking about Snape as well, in suspiciously hushed voices.

Harry frowned. That surely was no coincidence. But why should Malfoy talk to Ravenclaws? He didn't seem to have the slightest interest in them most of the time.

Well, he could ask Hermione, maybe she had heard something.

But as it turned out, that wasn't necessary because as soon as he had taken a seat next to his friend, Hermione leaned over to him.

"Do you know what I just heard some Hufflepuffs talk about?" She asked him under her breath.

"They didn't know about Snape as well, did they?" Harry said against all hope.

Hermione frowned slightly. "Yes, they did. But what means 'as well'? Who else knows about it? This morning it was just us and Malfoy..."

Harry sighed. "Well, now it is something like the entire school. Obviously, word spread around faster than you could say 'Azkaban'."

Hermione shook her head. "So it is only a matter of time until everyone knows – or seems to know - the truth.

Poor Headmaster. I don't want to be in his shoes."

Harry looked at her questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"Harry, isn't it obvious? Now that everybody heard the rumours he simply has to tell them what really happened - or something close to it. He has a lot of explanations to give. Very difficult ones, if he doesn't want to risk the school's reputation. You know, that’s what Fudge had warned him of: as soon as the parents learn of it, owls will be literally storming the castle. There is only one thing he can do in that case."

Finally, Harry understood. "Of course! I should have known from the start! That is Malfoy's goal..."

Now it was Hermione's turn to frown. "His goal was to make Dumbledore explain everything? Why would that help him? True, the Headmaster surely cannot expose-" she paused and made sure nobody was around.

"He cannot expose Snape's role as a spy. His only way out is to say that he didn't know of Snape being a Death Eater to keep his own back free. But that would rather help Snape, wouldn't it? Dumbledore wouldn’t betray his deal with Fudge but keep Snape’s record with the Death Eaters clean."

Harry shook his head.

"Not if the Death Eaters are behind it - because that is exactly what they want. You see, they - the Death Eaters, that is – are trying very hard to estrange Snape from Dumbledore. I think they believe he is somehow on their side but his connection to Dumbledore is a risk they don't want to take. And you’re right: to both the parents and the students it would be really assuring if the Headmaster said he didn't know about Snape...

But what would it mean to Snape himself?"

Slowly, Hermione nodded. "He'd feel abandoned, betrayed even."

"Exactly," Harry said with a flat voice. "And that makes him an easy target for them." He paused and looked at the ceiling. "And do you know what is the worst of it? That we can do absolutely nothing to prevent it.

This is a one-way road. I just hope the Headmaster knows what he is doing."

Hermione nodded, staring at the desk. "Or else..."

Harry sighed. "Yes. Or else."

 

TBC...

 

Hope you liked it. And please remember people: I would highly appreciate any comments.