Zalkin

Chapter 3

James walked quickly down the hall under cover of his invisibility cloak. As Dumbledore he would have no need for an invisibility cloak, but as James he was unable to predict whether he would at what age he would reappear. This certainly was not the time to be taking chances with his true identity being discovered. It was even more crucial that he continue this charade to obtain as much information as possible from Draco.

The impromptu party in the Great Hall was a great cover for him being away from Slytherin so late. Although James understood that he was taking a chance of being discovered, this was a risk he felt he had to take. While he was in the library earlier in the day he remembered seeing a book in his office that had some discussion about the founders intentions when they designed the wards. He had long since run out of resources available to the students, so he would take any help he could get.

As he rounded the last corner in the hall, he nearly ran into Minerva McGonagall, who was standing just outside the door that led to his office. The noise that he made in an effort to avoid running into her was easily heard and she quickly turned her head in James’ direction.

She looked in his general vicinity and said, "Didn’t expect to find me in the hall, did you Harry?"

James was stunned. He could turn and leave and allow Minerva to assume it had been Harry, but that was a dangerous proposition, for Harry and for James. He could reveal himself and then perform a memory charm, also a dangerous idea for many reasons.

"Harry Potter, you know you’ve been caught. No one else would be sneaking around outside the Headmaster’s office in the middle of the night but you," she said, now talking to an empty space beside where James was standing.

After a long pause, James decided that he had been left with no option. He removed his invisibility cloak and looked expectantly at Professor McGonagall. As he waited for her response, many thoughts raced through James’ mind of how best to handle this situation. He would have given anything for a few minutes with his Pensive so that he could focus on what he needed to do.

"Well now, Mr. Zalkin. It seems that I have you confused with another student. What would a Slytherin student be doing in this area of the castle, especially at this time of the night?"

Having no answer, James just looked at Professor McGonagall, hoping she would take his silence as admission of guilt and send him back to Slytherin House to be disciplined by Professor Snape. As he looked into her eyes, James thought he caught a glimmer of recognition in them.

"You remind me very much of an old friend of mine." She paused and smiled. "Very good company to be in, James. He has become one of the most respected wizards in our world. Certainly the most incredible wizard I have ever had the chance to meet."

James couldn’t help but smile at Minerva’s compliment, and this small acknowledgement was his undoing.

Professor McGonagall suddenly looked very serious, her eyes fixed on James’ face. "But, then again, there’s good reason that I should be reminded of that person, isn’t there Albus? I mistook you for the wrong person earlier, but I am most certain I’ve got the right wizard this time."

He remained silent as he turned and reached for the doorknob to his office. "Humperdink," he said quietly and watched the large wooden door swing open. "After you, Minerva."

* * * * *

As James finished his story about his distress over the situation with the wards and his decision to disappear and become a student at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall continued to stare at him with practically no discernable expression on her face. James sat behind the Headmaster’s desk, waiting patiently for a response.

Minerva slowly stood up and walked to the window looking down at the grounds, lit only by the soft enchanted lights that shone out of the trees. Still looking out the window she said, "If only you knew how many times in the past weeks I’ve stood in this exact same spot. Looking out onto the grounds, wondering what had happened to you. I’ve had to make some difficult decisions since I have been made Headmistress, decisions that would have been made significantly less difficult if I had my most trusted advisor to consult."

James stood up and walked toward where she was standing. As he reached out to place his hand on her shoulder, he saw his face reflected in a pane of glass in the window. Suddenly, he realized that he could be little comfort to her while he continued to look like James. He doubted that the Headmistress would feel comforted by a student, even if he only looked like a student.

Slowly lowering his hand, James said, "Minerva, you know…"

"Yes, Albus, I do know. I won’t pretend that my feelings haven’t been injured by your lack of trust in me, but I do believe that I understand why you felt you needed to handle this on your own."

As Professor McGonagall turned to look at James there was a loud rap on the office door. "Who could that be?" The two said almost in unison.

Minerva saw James looking quickly around the room for his cloak and unable to locate it. "James, you go behind that curtain. It would arouse a lot of suspicion if you are seen here with me."

James hid himself behind the curtain as Minerva walked to the door. As she reached for the knob, she turned around to make sure that he was fully hidden behind the curtain. James heard her open the door and gasp.

"Neville. Oh my goodness boy, what has happened?"

James peeked around the edge of the curtain to see Neville covered in blood.

* * * * *

Neville was seated in a wingback chair in the center of Dumbledore’s office. Professor McGonagall stood next to the chair, her hand on Neville’s shoulder. James continued to be positioned behind the curtain, though he was finding it increasingly difficult to remain quiet and hidden.

Neville was trying to tell Professor McGonagall about what had happened. "It was all so terrible. I froze because I didn’t know what to do. They must have thought I was dead and left me alone."

"Who?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently. "Who did this?"

"The owls," Neville said quietly. "They were everywhere. Coming in through the windows and doors. They just kept attacking people. None of the spells seemed to do anything. People were running and screaming, but they just kept attacking."

"What were the students doing up in the middle of the night? How many were there?"

Neville started to quietly weep. Professor McGonagall walked around in front of Neville and looked him directly in the eye. "You’ve been incredibly brave. Go to the hospital wing and see if there is someone there attending to the injured students," she told Neville. "I’ll go see if there is anyone I can help downstairs until Madam Pomfrey arrives."

Neville grabbed Professor McGonagall’s arm. "Madam Pomfrey was there too, I think. She came when the students started getting...." He choked back a sob as he looked up at Professor McGonagall.

* * * * *

Leaving Neville behind, Professor McGonagall started quickly walking down the hall. She hoped that Neville would be ato find someone to help quickly, she wasn’t sure how much help she could be to anyone that she found. It had been a long time since she had to deal with any injuries, especially on a large scale. Certainly there were already teachers there helping the injured students.

As she walked down the passageway toward the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall saw bodies lining both sides of the wide corridor. She certainly hadn’t expected there to be so many students up at this time of night. She moved quietly, hoping to hear sounds of life from the wizards and witches lying around her, but she heard none.

The scene in the Hall was much worse. Bowls were overturned and there was food scattered all over the floor. There were holes in some of the windows where the owls had broken through and shards of glass covered the perimeter of the room. Looking up towards the head table, Professor McGonagall saw that several of the teachers had been present during the attack. She walked toward the table, but again, she saw no signs of life.

Professor McGonagall turned slowly in a circle, trying to take in the scene around her. She had heard rumors that there was going to be an impromptu party in the Hall that night, it looked like the students’ handiwork. Some of the more popular teachers would have been invited, but she was not surprised that she hadn’t been informed. It wasn’t the first party she missed and hopefully it wouldn’t be the last.

A barely audible moan came from one of the bodies near the Gryffindor table. She walked quickly in that direction and moved the body of Lee Jordan to find Ginny Weasley lying under him. It was Ginny who had been moaning, Professor McGonagall could hear her much more clearly now.

She levitated Ginny and moved her onto a table, which she cleared with one sweep of her arm. Ginny was covered in blood, but Professor McGonagall couldn’t be sure how much was hers and how much had come from others. She picked up a piece of the shredded Gryffindor banner from the floor and looked for some water to soak it in so that she could try to see how badly Ginny was injured. She wondered what could be taking the nurses so long to arrive. Certainly Neville had been able to find them by now.

No sooner had Professor McGonagall finished the thought than Neville appeared in the doorway. He was followed by Hagrid and Professor Sprout who were looking around the room with a look of horror on their face. She also now noticed that several ghosts were also in the entryway and even Peeves was speechless.

Professor Sprout walked toward the Headmistress, her voice calm and quiet. "Minerva, where are the people who survived?"

The gravity of the situation had started to take its toll on Professor McGonagall. Earlier she was pleasantly surprised to learn that Dumbledore was alive and on the Hogwarts grounds, now she was looking at the bodies of her beloved students littering the floor of the Hall. She looked at Professor Sprout with tears in her eyes and said, "Ginny Weasley is the only person I have found alive. I put her on the Gryffindor table."

Professor Sprout walked quickly to where Ginny had been placed on the table, drew out her wand, and started trying to heal some of the more severe injuries as quickly as she could. Although Professor McGonagall would have preferred that Madam Pomfrey be taking care of Ginny, it seemed that Professor Spout was quite capable of taking care of her injuries.

"How could this have happened?" Hagrid asked Professor McGonagall. "There are wards and enchantments to protect the students from an attack."

"Yes, Hagrid, we do have wards and enchantments. Voldemort is much smarter than we give him credit for being. He must have put some type of spell on the owls when they were away from Hogwarts delivering mail. When the spell activated, all the owls that were under his orders came in and did this."

Hagrid said, "How could this happen? How could we not have been prepared for this? They used our own birds to do this. How could we ever have known?"

* * * * *

James waited until he was sure that Neville and Minerva had left the room before he emerged from behind the curtain. He found the invisibility cloak draped over the back of the chair beside his desk. Amazed that he didn’t see it before, he wrapped himself in it so that he could get away from his office before he would be noticed. He would have to come back another time to find the book. There were much more important things to be attended to at the moment.

He entered the Great Hall and was amazed at the devastation all around him. His hope that Neville was exaggerating was quickly dashed. There must have been 100 people, students and teachers, lying on the floor. He

He was working hard to convince himself that there was nothing else that he could have done to prevent this massacre from happening. He knew that somehow he would help the students get through this situation and he would work with members of the Ministry to bring Voldemort and his followers to justice but he also knew that he would never be able to leave these images behind him. However, the most important thing now was to decide what path he would take to best help the students and their families.

Professor McGonagall was discussing options for how to handle the situation with Hagrid and Professor Sprout. "My immediate concern is for the well-being of the students who have survived. We need to account for every student so that we know where we stand. Hagrid, I would like you to take a student roster and search all the boys’ dormitories." She looked toward Professor Sprout and said, "Please check all the girls’ dormitories. I will check all the classrooms and other areas after I move Ginny Weasley to a safer location."

Noticing James standing nearby, Professor McGonagall walked to him and put her arm around his shoulder. "James, we need to get you away from all of this. I know that you want to find your friends and make sure that they are all right, but first, I would like you to go to the medical wing. I told Neville to return there and hopefully others have gathered there as well."

James walked out the doors as he heard Professor McGonagall talking to the ghosts about accompanying the others for the search and asked them to look for students anywhere they could think to find them. As the voices died away behind him, James found himself quickening his step to get to the hospital wing as quickly as possible.