Chapter 54: Unexpected guests
- My Lord. - Lucius Malfoy entered the hall that the members of the Senior Circle referred to as the throne room at the ease of the sarcastic Dolohov. - My son has obeyed your orders.
- That is good. - Voldemort stood up from the massive throne chair, in front of which stood a desk littered with papers and maps. - 'Tell Draco I am pleased with his service, Lucius.
- Thank you, my lord," the aristocrat bowed.
- You may be free to go, Lucius. - The lord looked surprisingly human, the normally impenetrable eyes glittering contentedly.
After waiting for the blond man to leave the hall, Voldemort swung his wand, creating a ball of swirling darkness and spoke into it: - Dolohov! Take, de Grange, MacArthur, Ben Hur. Go to Hogwarts through the Transfer Cupboard in the Malfoy Menorah. Kill Dumbledore and those who side with him.
Dolokhov briefly inclined his head instead of bowing - the native of a Slavic country far from England was allowed much in the circle of the Lord's supporters, both because of his wand skills and because of several new spells he had brought to the training school for recruited low-ranking fighters.
Sending magical messengers to the three strongest mages in the Middle Circle, Dolohov reflected. In addition to Dumbledore, there were several strong wizards present in the castle, such as the same Flitwick, whom Antonin had encountered shortly before the First War on the dueling ground, and for whom he had developed a deep respect, having suffered one of his few defeats at the last Championships in which he himself had taken part. McGonagall and the other wizards were not taken into account, but Black, who, as the Slytherins reported, was suspiciously frequenting the castle, and Snape, who enjoyed the Lord's inexplicable trust but often behaved like a traitor. Dolokhov did not send a messenger to Snape, but he would find out on the spot who the slippery man was really playing for. It wasn't so bad.... De Grange and Ben Gur had to balance Dumbledore, and considering that Grindewald's former apprentice had learnt a lot from his lessons with the now deceased black wizard, and even from the few sparring sessions the Lord had honoured him with, surprising all the members of the inner circle, the Headmaster had to lose. Especially given Ben Hur's boast that he was capable of cutting off the Headmaster from Hogwarts' borrowed magic. Dolohov himself was going to set the record straight once and for all about who was the more skilled fighter: him or Flitwick, and moments like this alone were really worth fighting for. MacArthur, a fighter from a group of Grindewald's followers that had been defeated by the Irish Aurors, was to take Snape on if necessary, should he turn traitor.
- Hogwarts? - It was MacArthur, a mighty man in the prime of life with a thick mane of red hair that fell below his waist and a braided beard that gave him a rather odd appearance that no one dared to laugh at, but his fists were the size of a good head of cheese.
- Hogwarts," Dolokhov noted with satisfaction that the only beating he had received from the willful Irishman was still fresh in the wizard's memory. - Wait for the others.
- Arrived," De Grange, who had once been a navy captain until he was a grown man with a strong sorcerous gift, had been noticed and brought close to him, first by the then young Lucius Malfoy, and through him, after proper treatment, the man had entered the camp of Voldemort's supporters.
- Sit down, - Dolokhov waved his hand complacently towards a neighbouring chair, and the former military man settled down not far from the wizard. - We wait for the necromancer and then we go.
- Without me, you'd all be dead," Ben Gur, who was the last to arrive, hissed mockingly. - Here.
The old man, who was justifiably wary of the Middle Circle, handed out small amulets carved from some bones.
Taking the small knuckles, Antoninus and MacArthur eyed the old man suspiciously, while de Grange disciplinedly placed the amulet around his neck.
- These amulets will save your hides if anything goes wrong. - Voldemort had been treated with great piety, but the old man was not very polite to the other members of the inner circle, but his status as the Lord's personal guest protected him from being challenged to a duel. Even without that status, however, the old man was still one of the most dangerous mages serving the Slytherin heir. - They can get you out from under the Hogwarts Anti-Apparition Dome, and from no other place if we suddenly fail.
Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Dolohov put the amulet around his neck - knowing the necromancer, it was better not to even ask whose bone it was, and what became of its former owner before his death.
- Is everyone ready? - he commanded curtly. He didn't care about the status of his men when the operation began, and he could personally kill anyone who complained that it was inappropriate for a nobleman to obey an uneducated upstart from the east.
Waiting for nods of agreement, Antonin apparated to Malfoy Manor, finding himself in the guest reception hall and immediately wincing at the sharp nerve-shattering signalling and scanning spells. The rest of the strike team appeared with a clapping sound. He was joined there by five mercenaries dressed in black hoods without masks
After a few minutes, Dolokhov took a deep breath in front of the room indicated by the master of the castle and got into a working mood.
- Augustus, Isaiah," he said, glancing back at his men. - Dumbledore is yours. Kevin, you will help whoever you see fit. Flitwick is mine.
- Miles," the leader of the five mercenaries huffed. - 'You and your men stay out of the way, cutting off those who would try to interfere with us in the Great Hall or pass through the hall doors to the inside. We must get there before the students go into the hall, Dumbledore and the professors appear there before.
Ben Hur looked at Dolohov with some disdain - the old necromancer considered it unacceptable sloppiness on the part of the Lord's confidant to try to save as many children's lives as possible. The mage answered him with an impenetrable stare - Antoninus was careful not to mess with children. MacArthur whispered a silent prayer to some old Celtic deity with just his lips, preparing to fight and die if necessary.
- Let's go. - Dolokhov threw the hood of his cloak over his head and stepped into the Transfer Closet.
Waiting in the empty classroom, providentially sealed from the outside with spells at the limits of Malfoy Junior's powers to avoid a random visit from students, the rest of the strike team, Antonin led his men through the secret passages.
- You've finally arrived... - A whisper from a neighbouring secret passage that intersected with the one the Drunkards were taking took them by surprise. Some senior couple in love, familiar with this passage, had made a date nearby.
- Ashes! - From the palms of Ben Hur's hands, who hadn't even reached for his wand, a grey cloud burst around the corner. It went quiet around the corner, only the soft crackle of something that looked like dry branches falling disturbed the silence of the dusty corridor.
Lighting a light on his palm, MacArthur peered into the passage where the teenagers were in love. Turning around, he looked at the necromancer with a grim grin and walked on.
Dolokhov grinned at the pile of crumbled bones with whitened skulls rolled back into the corner in the dim light of the non-verbal Lumos, but remained silent.
As they emerged from the narrow, winding corridor at a dead end near the Great Hall, Dolokhov put on the mask that had been hanging around his neck.
- Let's go," he commanded in a voice that had changed beyond recognition.
The mages sprinted to the doors of the Great Hall, still closed because it would be lunchtime in ten minutes.
- Master Nigel, what do you say about the inspection," Sirius Black spoke casually to the Potions Guild member who had come, as part of his agreement with the Board of Trustees, to inspect Snape's teaching style and the students' progress as the Guild's official observer.
- What can I say," Nigel da Cascos coughed, his elongated, narrow face evoking memories of the desperate Spanish conquistadors who had clearly been his ancestors. - I liked the fact that, compared to my colleague's last report, a slightly higher number of students managed the very difficult Potion of Joy. That does Professor Snape credit.
If Snape had been here, perhaps that comment would have tempered his almost insane rage a little, but the potionist was holed up in his lab, preparing some exotic potion, since all the potions lessons for the day had been taught by the visiting Nigel. The previous day the Guild representative had just sat in on Snape's lessons, infuriating Snape, but today the older man was doing all the lessons alone. Minerva McGonagall, who was just as unhappy with what was going on at Hogwarts and the constant ridicule of the school in the newspapers, was still absent, as were the other teachers, only Flitwick was picking at his steak with a knife, thinking about his own thoughts.
Dumbledore, upon hearing Da Cascos' review, smiled contentedly. There was a glimmer of hope in the Headmaster's mind that after a couple more months, it would be possible to press the guild people to get rid of their tiresome tutelage. And in that case, the potions professor's mood, which had been on the frenzy mark for the past two months, would be back to something, because the Headmaster needed a reliable man in the Lord's camp.
Sirius, who had reached for the dish of chicken legs that had just appeared in front of him, looked up at the sound of the hall doors opening and immediately jumped up, knocking his chair over with a clatter. The air around the wizard shimmered, and the first combined attack of de Grange and MacArthur was wasted. Flitwick somersaulted into the air, flying sideways, his wand making a complex shape while the half-goblin was still in flight, and the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut, cutting off three of the five mercenaries who had taken up defences outside in the corridor. The doors were pounded and spells were hurled at them, but the wizard's spells held firm.
Spreading out across the still empty hall, the Revelers slowly marched forward. The temporary loss of three companions did not seem to bother them.
Dumbledore, rising from his seat, waved his arms, and the animated gargoyle statues sitting under the ceiling of the great hall jumped down with a thud. The rest of the scene was an inarticulate kaleidoscope for Sirius, who immediately clutched at the old man he didn't know, whom he identified as the most dangerous opponent in the hall.
Here was Dumbledore with his arms outstretched, trying to stem the flow of an incomprehensible grey substance being attacked by a red-haired bearded man and a thin man with a short army haircut.
Sirius quickly realised that the unknown old man, who looked like he was about to crumble from old age at the next step, was as strong as he was, and as far as art was concerned, the necromancer was no more dangerous than the aristocrat. The old man did not seem to tire at all, throwing spells that were beyond the power of most wizards. Catching a ball of blinding darkness thrown at him with a smoke net that crackled with tension - a spell that Black himself had only read about in his grandfather's diaries - Sirius immediately transformed the smoke net into a sparkling stream of lightning that squeezed the old man as if the wizard had grown long wings of glittering discharges that stretched halfway across the hall.
Somewhere beside him, Flitwick and someone who looked a lot like Dolokhov were fighting without paying attention to anyone else, Sirius couldn't see his face under the mask and wasn't sure exactly whether Voldemort's old handmaiden had come here or not. Filius was rushing around his less agile opponent, casting a variety of spells at him from all sides, and all of the Drowning Man's skill was spent just trying to stay unharmed.
To Bleck's great surprise, Nigel da Cascos was not hiding under the table, as would be befitting a respectable member of the potions guild, burdened with a considerable paunch, but was fighting off two of the Lord's servants at once. Before Bleak's eyes, the venerable potionist managed to catch his rival in an unsuccessful attack and splashed the contents of a tiny vial that had magically appeared in his hands into his face. The reveler fell silent, his head almost instantly turning into a blurry lump of slime.
Sirius himself immediately went completely on the defensive again - the spell the necromancer had treated him with looked like an analogue of a Muggle press, and now everything was decided by the brute force that each of the mages was pouring into the opposing weaves. A new sun was rapidly rising in the hall, so great was the scale of the energies invested in these charms.
However, there was a certain advantage in it - fleeing from the scalding heat, the other combatants stopped fighting one by one, only in the far corner flashes and a low rumble marked the ongoing fight between Dumbledore and the only surviving red-bearded wizard. The mangled and partially melted into the floor body of the military man, completely missing the top of his skull, said that the Headmaster was doing much better than Bleak himself.
Flitwick, who, unlike the rest of them, had not lost his presence of mind, and had a better idea than most what would happen to them all if Bleek and the necromancer lost control of their magic for even a second, suddenly sang in Goblin. Sirius didn't understand what he was singing, he was completely absorbed in holding back the power that had accumulated in the hall, but his opponent was doing no better, despite the blinding blob of fire between them, the wizard could see the necromancer's face covered in beads of sweat, which, in addition, had a great deal of surprise written all over it.
The Masked Reveler was making his way towards Flitwick, but he was too late. Flitwick, using something of his people's magic, managed to get the attention of the castle's ancient magic. A wave of cold rushed in from all sides and swept away the magic of Bleck and the necromancer that had accumulated in the centre of the hall, scattering those fighting to the sides.
Bleck, the first to regain consciousness enough to rise from the floor, felt a monstrous pressure-the magic of Hogwarts, protecting the interior of the castle from destruction, literally overwhelmed the magic of men, even those as powerful as those who had fought in the Great Hall. A slightly fuming Da Kaskos stirred beside him, shaking his head dazedly, the older man stunned by the ramming of ancient magic.
- Let's go," growled the former, as it turned out, chief Dolokhov, his mask having fallen off in the fight, now a molten puddle spread on the floor. The wizard himself seemed completely uninjured, though he looked as if he had just run for miles without stopping.
Almost simultaneously, there were quiet pops in two other places in the hall. Despite the anti-Apparition shield put on the castle back in the time of the Founders, the three surviving mage supporters of Voldemort had somehow managed to escape through portals of unknown design. Looking around, Bleck spotted another body, the last of the rank and file who had entered the hall crushed by a column that had fallen on him.
- There are three more outside," Flitwick, absolutely whole, rushed towards the doors. - There are children in there!
The door the little wizard had kicked in fell with a clatter - in his hurry to protect the children who should have been approaching the Great Hall by now, Flitwick didn't bother unravelling his own spell. The three wizards who had tried to make a last ditch effort to get to the aid of their fallen comrades were instantly swept away by the combined blows of Flitwick, Bleak, and Dumbledore.
Frozen in front of the shimmering wall, seemingly created by the castle's own magic, the students looked in horror at the picture of the almost completely destroyed Great Hall: fallen columns, broken statues, crumpled and mangled armour, burnt draperies and ploughed stone floor - it was strange that the ceiling had survived without collapsing and burying the wizards who had fought so desperately.
- The devil," Sirius laughed hysterically despite his fatigue, "I'll never fight under a roof again.
* * *
Half an hour later, Hogwarts and the surrounding area was flooded with aurors and law enforcement investigators. There were even pale grey, faded figures in the protective uniform robes of the Department of Mysteries, thoughtfully summoned by Amelia Bones to ensure that a loophole in Hogwarts' defences, as yet unknown, would be found.
Filius Flitwick, who cared little for the commotion in and around the castle, as he had no faith in the success of all the hustling and bustling mages, had locked himself in his chambers. Until the moment he was summoned to his office by Dumbledore, the professor was going to look for traces of the attackers himself. And Flitwick had no doubt that he would be summoned the moment the old man was free from the problems of investigating and answering the many questions of Madame Bones, who had arrived at the scene of the battle.
Sirius Black, who had escaped from reporters and prying investigators and who had dumped all organisational matters on Augusta Longbottom, was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall in the far corner of the central room of Flitwick's chambers. The air around the dark wizard trembled, showing that Bleek had put up a defence just in case, not wanting any of the Hogwarts emanations to reach him - after the protective magic of the ancient castle had easily overpowered the energies that had been hurled at those fighting in the hall, Sirius felt a little... insecure under those vaults. insecure. At the same time, he was going to back up his colleague if anything went wrong with his shamanism... or in the subsequent summoning of Flitwick, who was unexpectedly dangerous to Dumbledore, to the Headmaster's office.
Before Bleak's eyes, Flitwick, with the help of two House elf, dressed by the professor for the occasion in ritual leather robes decorated with runic inscriptions, was quickly covering the walls, floor and ceiling of his living room with intricate symbols. There was no more furniture in the usually paper and bookcase-cluttered room - after his first flummoxing, when Flitwick had established the cause of the Headmaster's and Hogwarts' disconnect, the Professor had not rebuilt his sitting room, but had left it completely empty. The monotonous movements of the professor and the elves assisting him were so relaxing that Bleek dozed off for a short while, recovering his battle-depleted strength.
When the wizard awoke, everything had already been prepared to a level that even the honourable shamans of the goblin race would probably consider worthy if those strange and fearsome creatures were invited into this room. The smokestacks and candles smoking in the corners and on the walls gave off a sweet, slightly stupefying smoke, and Sirius hastily cast another layer of protective charms over himself to keep the weak drug at bay. Flitwick, who sat cross-legged in the midst of a highly complex rune scheme, seemed to have gone completely into withdrawal, Black appreciated the depth of the half-goblin's trust in his ally - during his quest, Filius had left his body completely unprotected.
Nothing happened for a while, then the room was filled with the unseen but palpable presence of some other force alien to modern wizards. Sirius Black slightly envied the capabilities that the four Founders seemed to possess; modern wizards, even if they had gathered from all over England, would not have been able to build anything even remotely similar to Hogwarts. To be more precise, they could dig out the cellars, build strong walls, raise the sharp peaks of the towers above the walls, copy Hogwarts down to the last stone of the secret passages - but the fine art of creating that which had controlled the magic of the castle for the last millennium since the time of Merlin - was irretrievably lost. The defence spells lying on the same Bleak House were in their own way no less complex, but they lacked something that Flitwick thought resembled intelligence.
For Filius Flitwick, however, time stretched into hours, barely had he begun the ritual. This time he didn't have to meditate for long or drink his own blood for the protective charms. After a long recitative that would bring the professor into the appropriate state of mind, Flitwick found himself once again in a fuzzy, blurred space of intertwined magical fields. The little wizard's will and mind called out to the power of the castle with a single question: to show the way the attacking mages had come and gone.
Flitwick had already despaired of getting an answer from the Founders' creation and was about to slowly return to his body, left far behind, when the answer did come. The winding corridors of secret passages through which Voldemort's servants had passed, the bare bones lying on one of the forks, and the deep grief of the castle for the students who had died within its walls flashed before Flitwick's eyes. At last Flitwick, as if following a guiding thread, reached the room from which the mages had emerged and saw the Transfer Cupboard.
- Damn it!" the half-goblin came out of his visions and unleashed the blackest of profanities. - Someone had found the Transfer Cupboard in an unused wing of Hogwarts!
- There's such a structure here? - Bleck raised an eyebrow, who had jumped up in his corner, realising that the shamanic session was over.
- As it turns out, yes," the Professor of Charms' face looked like he'd eaten several lemons, so sour was his expression. - I don't know what century it was put there, or who did it, but it's unlikely that anyone, not even Dumbledore, knew about it. But someone had clearly managed to find that cupboard and make it work, and had also found a paired cupboard... And that makes for some interesting thoughts.
- What kind of thoughts? - Black stood up from his seat and stretched, stretching his stiff legs.
- When I asked the castle who first discovered the cupboard room in the last century," Flitwick rummaged in the pocket of his robes and, to Bleck's surprise, pulled out a kitset and a small crooked pipe, "Hogwarts showed me nothing. It's as if the castle either doesn't know who found the room...
- Either? - Sirius interjected as the half-goblin took a deep drag of the aromatic smoke.
- Either Hogwarts doesn't want to give away the one it's supposed to protect... - Flitwick twirled his pipe in the air, and then with a sharp flick of his hand shook the burning tobacco out of the pipe, vaporising it in flight. - So the cupboard had been discovered by one of the current students!
- Even so," Black stretched out. - That changes a lot of things.
- It changes everything," Filius grumbled. - Hogwarts isn't going to help us find someone whose safety is supposed to be of paramount importance. It was the Founders' intention that the children should have some protection from the arbitrary surveillance of an unscrupulous Headmaster.
- Is there anything we can do... - Black started to say, but Flitwick took him at his word.
- I certainly don't. - He cut him off. - Unless young Miss Lovegood, when she finally comes into her power, can establish contact with Hogwarts so tightly that the castle will answer such a question. But I won't take that chance.
- All right," Black grinned. - We'll work with what we have. What else did Hogwarts tell you?
- In one of the secret passages are the bones of two students who were caught on the way by the Druggists," the professor of charms' voice was full of sorrow.
- It must be the work of a necromancer," Black clenched his fists. - Why didn't I kill that old man?!
- Judging by his fighting style," Flitwick frowned, "he learnt from Grindewald.
- You think? - Sirius' eyes widened.
- 'When Gellert Grindewald was young,' Flitwick grinned, 'he attended dueling championships more than once. I've never fought him myself. I haven't fought him myself, but I've seen a few of his fights, and he demonstrates a similar technique.
- That's interesting," Sirius thought deeply. - So I was fighting Grindewald's apprentice.
The wizard smirked, "That sounds pretty damn good.
- Not bad," Flitwick smiled sourly. - I got Dolohov, who doesn't seem to have improved his style since the last time we fought in Rome.
- All right," Sirius rose from the stone chair he'd grown out of the floor. - It's time to see what the Aurors and the Mystery Men have done without us.
The Aurors didn't have much to brag about. They had been able to track the emanations of the attackers to the dead end, but they hadn't been able to open the secret door. The staff of the Department, who had been summoned by Bones, angry at the delay and the Minister's constant enquiries, had picked up the unlocking spell that had opened the secret doors, but they had been unable to determine which of the many tunnels that ran off in different directions at the next fork in the road the wizards who had attacked Hogwarts had come through - the trail had been erased by a powerful spell from the School of Necromancy, tied to human death. The expert from the Department of Mysteries, who made no secret of his disgust, had determined this quite accurately.
Sirius and Flitwick had appeared in the midst of a colossal scandal, when Madam Bones had literally shouted at the big man in the grey robe, demanding that other experts be summoned - the venerable head of the Department of Law and Order was not about to let the trail go cold.
- Madam Bones," Flitwick deftly stepped between her and the wizard of the Department. - We've managed to discover how the intruders got into the castle.
- How, Professor Flitwick? - The eyebrows of the woman infuriated by the delay rose.
- I think the Headmaster reported that I used my ancestors' magic during the battle," the charms professor smiled modestly. - I managed to get to, if I may say so, the mind of Hogwarts....
At this phrase, the department member began to literally devour the half-goblin with his eyes.
- I managed to trace the path of the Dark Lord's servants to the room where they appeared in the castle," Flitwick continued, chuckling to himself at the failed wizard's thirst for knowledge.
- Lead the way," Madame Bones said briefly, beckoning to several of the wizards in her escort.
Following the half goblin, who felt like a fish in water in the stone corridors, the mages headed through the secret passages to the furthest and unused wing of Hogwarts for over two hundred years.
At some point at the fork, Flitwick jerked convulsively, then bent down and picked up a human skull from the ground.
- It was one of the students," he said with sorrow in his voice.
- Alex, Michael," Bones turned to her escort. - Collect the remains, examine everything for clues, and head back. The bodies need to be identified.
The two mages frowned and began sorting and collecting the bones, quickly figuring out that two students had been killed here. The others moved on.
* * *
- It's here," Flitwick said, leading the procession out of the secret passage and pointing to an inconspicuous door in the wall. - Hogwarts reported that they had emerged from this room.
Wands appeared in the hands of several of Amelia's companions, but Black and Madam Bones herself remained impenetrably calm.
- Open up," she commanded her men, two of whom immediately rushed to the door while the rest stood between Bones and the potential danger.
The small training room, however, was completely deserted. Only the old furniture, left over from the days while this wing of the castle was filled with human humour, and an equally old monumental cupboard in the furthest and cleanest corner.
- The cupboard was broken, but it had been repaired. - The wizard from the Department of Mysteries reported after a brief inspection and Flitwick nodded his head in agreement - he felt the same way as his colleague, who appeared to be a wizard of charms.
- Can you trace where the second cupboard is? - Amelia asked bluntly.
- Only if we go inside," the wizard replied. - The cabinet is too old, the control spells for it are probably long lost, at least, I am not personally familiar with the spells that activate this particular piece.
- So we'll have to put together a strike team that can get through any resistance we might have at the other end," Amelia said.
Sirius created a patronus with a wave of his wand and whispered a few words into it.
- My men will be here soon, Madam Bones," he replied calmly, not the least bit embarrassed by the fact that he had effectively taken over the pursuit of the attackers from the department and the Aurorate.
Madam Bones, who was well aware of the close co-operation between Bleak and Moody, as well as the strength of the old families' alliance led by Sirius, swallowed the wizard's antics.
Fifteen minutes later, Alastor Moody, Remus Lupin, and all fifteen members of Moody's squad, who had received word from Bleak, literally ran into the room.
- Is everyone ready? - Forming his men in front of the cupboard, Hmuri grumpily enquired. - 'Kill everyone on the other end, leave one for interrogation.
- Sirius," the auror turned to the aristocrat. - You go first. We'll pump you full of strength so you're guaranteed to live to see us.
- Good. - The wizard closed his eyes, concentrating and pouring all his strength into his own aura. A second later, he felt the powerful flow of protective spells the aurors were casting on him.
He lunged forward, closing the cupboard door behind him, and the room immediately seemed to lighten and breathe a little easier, the dark wizard's aura pressing down on him like a slab of stone.
Having got out of the cabinet, Blek was ready to repel the most powerful blow and immediately respond, but all his magic, gathered in one thin bundle for the Breath of Chaos, turned out to be unnecessary - the cabinet stood on the slope of Scofel Pike, completely deserted and silent. Only a small bird perched on the rocks was the only witness to the appearance of a wizard who was literally blazing with magic.
With a roar Alastor literally flew out of the wardrobe, followed by three more wizards, who stopped in bewilderment.
- Mordred and all the demons of the underworld! - Moody swore. - Those bastards had managed to get rid of the cupboard in time.
- Mm-hm," Sirius took a deep breath, releasing the energy that had built up. - We were too late.
After waiting for the rest of the battle group to get out of the cupboard, they all apparated back to the Hogwarts boundary.
As soon as the three wizards were back at Hogwarts and Remus and Moody's men were back in London, the Headmaster's phoenix appeared in front of Flitwick and dropped a note into his palm.
- 'Filius,' read the half-goblin with feeling, 'I expect to see you in my office at six today. Dumbledore.
- I don't think you should go in there alone," Moody muttered. - 'I wouldn't bet a Knut on the old man keeping things honest lately, you might need witnesses.
- All the better," the half-goblin patted the pockets and secret compartments of his suit, checking for artefacts and weapons. - I think our great wizard was wondering why Hogwarts had responded to my call, but hadn't helped the Headmaster in battle.
- It's going to be hot," Black smirked.
"An attack on Hogwarts!
Our special correspondent has visited the scene of the most brutal and destructive battle in the last thirty years!
(Coldograph showing the partially destroyed Great Hall of Hogwarts, the walls of which were dotted with what seemed like thousands of House elf's busy rebuilding masonry, columns and statues. Below, a few wizards were running around on the broken slabs, waving their wands).
This afternoon, with the help of, as Headmaster Dumbledore and Lord Black have told us, treachery, eight of the Dark Lord's strongest mage sympathisers infiltrated Hogwarts to decapitate its leadership, taking the headmaster and professors by surprise.
- 'I'm not sure I could have won, or even survived, if I had been alone against that eight,' said the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
As luck would have it, the Deathstalkers had entered the Great Hall through the secret passages before the students had arrived for lunch, so there had been almost no casualties. However, the Great Hall itself was almost completely destroyed, with only the ceiling surviving, a marvellous creation of all four Founders. And the Hogwarts defenders were even luckier in that, in addition to Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick, once a seven-time European champion in magical duels, Lord Black, as a representative of the Board of Trustees, and Nigel da Cascos, a distinguished member of the Potions Guild, were in the hall for an unscheduled inspection of the Potions teaching.
- Mr da Kaskos," Lord Bleck's face is still showing faint burns and soot stains, but there is a chuckle in his eyes, and the short gestures of his hands make large chunks of columns fallen to the floor rise, sending them to their proper places along the walls where they are received by the housekeepers, "has shown himself to be a splendid fighter, having fought two powerful wizards at once in this battle and killed one of them.
(Caldograph of a tall, pubescent man with a narrow, elongated face. His richly embroidered gold robe is burnt and torn in several places, and his face shows signs of lingering scratches and fatigue.)
In the brutal battle, the Death Eaters lost five of their eight fighters, but the strongest mages managed to escape when the magic of Hogwarts itself stopped the battle from collapsing the ancient vaults.
At the last moment before the article was published, the casualties among the Hogwarts inhabitants became known. The remains of two Hogwarts students, sixth-year Hufflepuff student Henri LeClerc and fifth-year student Judith McLee, have been found in a secret corridor, which appears to have been used by the attackers. Eternal memory and condolences to the editors."
- "You could say Voldemort has moved into action," Ciaran, who had been reading aloud the issue of The Prophet that had arrived at the Delacourt house, grew darker and darker.
- He tried to decapitate one of the three opposing forces in one fell swoop," Jean-Claude nodded, looking thoughtfully at the untouched steak before him.
- I don't think Dumbledore's death would make it much easier for him tactically," Ciaran shook his head, "but politically, killing the strongest light wizard in the country would pay him big dividends.
- Many families, wavering between all the factions clashing in England, might give their allegiance to Voldemort with such a high-profile move as the successful attack on Hogwarts.
I listened intently to my mentors, not rushing into the conversation just yet. Lately, I had begun to find a kind of pleasure in listening to their analyses of an event and trying to understand how Ciaran and Jean-Claude, with Sirius and James joining them, reached their conclusions. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, all of them often operating on information not yet available to me.
The Headmaster of Hogwarts, former Supreme Wizard of the Wizengamot, former head of the International Confederation of Wizards, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sat in his chair and thought.
Perhaps the only thing he had left to do right now was think. He was trying to work out at which stage of his Plan he had made a fatal mistake, the consequences of which had led to political collapse.
Gradually, as the horizon above the forest began to lighten, pouring new colours of dawn, the Headmaster understood: many years ago, after the victory over Grindewald, he had chosen to play the game as the Grey Cardinal of England, refused the post of Minister of Magic offered to him, bet on training loyal students, on muggleborns and half-bloods, able to resist the gradually dying aristocratic society.
It was the right strategy. And it might have worked if the aristocrats hadn't had a really strong leader, unconnected to the Dark Lord. If the old families hadn't rallied around Bleak, Voldemort would have had no serious rivals in England and, after Potter had died honourably in a duel - it would have been Headmaster time. And Dumbledore would have killed his former pupil to ride the wave of popularity again.
And the result was quite the opposite. The boy who had escaped from the Headmaster's custody managed to become independent, found allies, and dealt Dumbledore several blows that stripped him of most of his power in England. Two lost positions in the Wizengamot and the Confederation, the loss of reputation and the scandal with the violation of the Potters' will cost the wizard very dearly. In fact, all he had left was the Order of the Phoenix and the school. Gold... gold wasn't doing too well either. There was still some money left in the Headmaster's accounts from the confiscation of Grindewald's supporters' accounts, but it wouldn't be enough for more than a couple of years to fund the Order and some of the Headmaster's ideas. Potter and Black, the main sources of the money, had cleverly removed their funds from the Headmaster's grasp.
And another significant mistake was eventually found and recognised by the Headmaster. He should have listened to Minerva McGonagall that fateful evening, not to give the child to the Muggles, but to bring up the boy himself. There would have been more responsibility in this case, but the problems he had now would not have arisen for sure - the boy, trained from childhood, would have become an obedient tool for the fulfilment of the schemer's plans.
But... You don't wave your fists after a fight. Now the Headmaster could use his old colleague, who had always been more dexterous in politics, but... Grindewald had long been buried in the ground, and the Headmaster had no new allies. There was still insurance for the most extreme case, but he didn't want to think about that. The right for one mistake, obtained in such a way that... No, it's better not to think about it!
Flitwick, who had unexpectedly managed to use the power of Hogwarts, was also alarming the Headmaster. In the course of a short and very tough conversation, the Headmaster managed to find out only that the professor used some sophisticated shamanism of his ancestors, at the expense of which he managed to get the attention of Hogwarts. But it didn't sound all that plausible. Flitwick had to be dealt with urgently - the Headmaster could not afford to lose Hogwarts' magic under any circumstances, the castle was one of his two remaining trump cards. The presence of Alastor Moody and a pissed off Sirius Bleak in his office prevented the Headmaster from simply stunning Flitwick and interrogating him properly, but Dumbledore did not dismiss the idea. Perhaps there would be another chance.
Raising his wand, the Headmaster began to slowly activate the spells that allowed the Headmaster to communicate directly with the defence systems, and if he was lucky, with Hogwarts' consciousness. It was necessary to find out what had happened in the last year at the castle that had caused Hogwarts to bestow its magic not on the Headmaster, but on one of the professors.
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