Chapter 762: The Death Eater Who Got Away
Chapter 762: The Death Eater Who Got Away
Despite the late hour, everyone had left the common room at the professors' request and gathered in the Great Hall.
The students huddled together, buzzing with discussion about the recent events. Though they had remained in their common rooms as instructed and hadn't witnessed the events within the castle firsthand, they were well aware of the commotion.
For instance, the Ravenclaws, whose tower was closer, had clearly heard the explosions and shouts. Meanwhile, the Gryffindors had seen the bright flashes outside their windows and the Dark Mark floating above the castle.
News of the Death Eaters' attack on Hogwarts was spreading like wildfire among the students at an astonishing speed.
An unprecedented sense of panic gripped everyone. Previously, they had believed that Hogwarts was the safest place, never imagining that Death Eaters would one day infiltrate the castle.
The only consolation was that no one had been hurt during the incident, aside from a Gryffindor student who had tripped while rushing downstairs. Everyone else was safe and sound.
Five minutes later, Neville hobbled into the Great Hall and took a seat at the Gryffindor table.
With everyone present, Dumbledore finished his conversation with Fudge and strode to the front of the teachers' table, his expression grave as he surveyed the students before him.
"I'm sure many of you already know what I'm about to say... Yes, just an hour ago, Death Eaters breached this castle."
A hum of alarmed whispers filled the Great Hall.
"Please, keep the noise down," Dumbledore called out, his voice barely audible over the din.
"But let me assure you that all Death Eaters have been expelled, and as long as I remain at this school, such an incident will never occur again. You have my word."
The students slowly calmed down under Dumbledore's soothing words, leaving a heavy silence in the Great Hall.
"However, I must emphasize that the situation is still tense. To ensure your safety, the curfew will be brought forward by two hours. You are to remain in your common rooms after dinner and not wander the castle."
Professor McGonagall, standing beside him, straightened instinctively, expecting some backlash from the students. To her surprise, everyone seemed to accept this decision willingly, without a single voice of dissent.
The Great Hall was unusually quiet, devoid of any protests.
"Now, your cozy beds await," Dumbledore continued. "I know your immediate priority is to rest and prepare for tomorrow's classes, so... Oh, one moment, please."
Many students had already stood up to leave when Dumbledore suddenly said, "Here, I would like to award one hundred points to Hufflepuff for Kyle's courageous actions during the Death Eater attack earlier... By the way, he saved my life."
In an instant, all eyes turned to Kyle.
"You saved Professor Dumbledore?" Connor asked in surprise. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Do you think that's possible?" Kyle replied nonchalantly. "If a few Death Eaters could kill Dumbledore, what does that make Voldemort, who has been hiding from him all this time? He might as well change his name to Fluffy or something similar."
Kyle's words were convincing, and Connor immediately realized the truth... Indeed, it was Dumbledore they were talking about.
"But if that's the case, why did the headmaster say that just now?"
"Who knows?" Kyle said carelessly. "Maybe it's just an old wizard's quirky sense of humor."
Regardless, the additional points for Hufflepuff were a good thing, and they had essentially secured the House Cup for the year.
To avoid being swarmed by curious students, Kyle took Connor by the hand and, under the gaze of countless eyes, made their way through the crowd, leaving the Great Hall and returning to the common room.
There, the Hufflepuffs had already begun celebrating their early victory in the House Cup.
It was hard to imagine that just moments ago, these same people had been worried sick, and now they were ecstatic over the House Cup.
Moreover, being woken up in the middle of the night naturally made one hungry, so some students took it upon themselves to raid the kitchen next door.
Soon, the tables were piled high with cakes, biscuits, steaks, roast chicken, pudding, and drinks.
Though Kyle wasn't entirely supportive of their half-celebration, he kept quiet since it was a rare occasion for them to be in such high spirits.
The only nuisance was that Kyle had to repeatedly explain that he hadn't really saved Dumbledore; it was just the headmaster's joke, though few believed him.
This peculiar feast lasted until the wee hours of the morning. With classes the next day, some of the younger students were the first to retire to their dorms, and gradually, the others followed suit.
Kyle had expected Dumbledore to summon him to his office, but by the end of the feast, he hadn't received any message.
Giving up on waiting, Kyle decided to call it a night. He quickly freshened up and climbed into bed.
...
The next day, the once-chaotic common room had been restored to its usual tidy state by the house-elves.
"Did you hear? The Death Eaters returned last night," a senior student whispered mysteriously.
"Really? How is that possible?" The witch sitting across from him scoffed. "Dumbledore and the Aurors from the Ministry were here last night. Why would the Death Eaters dare to come back?"
"I'm telling you, it's true," the student insisted. "The Death Eaters came in the early hours of the morning, probably after the headmaster had retired for the night, which is why he didn't know."
"That still doesn't add up," the witch shook her head. "I heard the professors were patrolling the castle all night. It's hard to believe that none of them noticed anything."
"Who told you the Death Eaters came to the castle? They went to the infirmary."
"The infirmary?"
"Yes," the student said. "I just came from there, and even the headmaster was there. How could it be a false rumor?"
"Headmaster Dumbledore?"
"Who else? Is there another headmaster at this school?"
"But..."
"Don't keep arguing. If you still don't believe me, wait until class starts and take a look at Snape. He was injured by the Death Eaters."
Soon, the pair walked away, but their conversation had caught Kyle's attention.
The Death Eaters had returned?
To be honest, Kyle didn't buy it.
Of the two Death Eaters who had escaped the previous night, Kyle couldn't be sure about Olyn, but Antonin Dolohov definitely wouldn't dare to come back.
He was missing a leg, and returning now would be no different from walking straight to his death.
Additionally, he didn't strike Kyle as the type who would self-sacrifice for his comrades. If he were, he wouldn't have used Alecto as a shield against the Reductor Curse last night.
So, after breakfast, instead of rushing to class, Kyle took a detour to the infirmary, curious to find out more.
Many others seemed to have the same idea, as the route to the infirmary was crowded with students, but none of them seemed to have any concrete information.
However, Kyle didn't spot Dumbledore among them, which could mean that the person from earlier had mistaken someone else for the headmaster, or that Dumbledore had already left.
In a corner of the infirmary, two beds were concealed by thick curtains, obscuring whatever lay within...
Hmm, two beds?
Kyle, who had come under the pretext of getting a pick-me-up potion, paused as if struck by a sudden thought.
If the curtains concealed Alecto and Malfoy, then where was Snape? Was he also behind the curtains, or somewhere else entirely?
Alecto was a Death Eater with a violent temperament. Even if she were injured, Dumbledore wouldn't leave her unattended, especially since she was still alive.
But what about Snape...
Kyle's gaze involuntarily shifted back towards the curtained area.
Although the curtains were thick, the gap at the bottom revealed that no one was standing inside.
This was intriguing. The curtains only hid two beds, presumably for Alecto and Malfoy. So, where was Snape, the one tasked with guarding them? Surely Alecto and Snape weren't sharing a bed...
Hmm, actually... maybe they were.
"Stop staring!"
Madame Pomfrey's voice interrupted Kyle's train of thought, and she impatiently thrust a bottle of the pick-me-up potion into his hand.
"Today, everyone seems to be after this potion..." She muttered as she eyed the queue behind Kyle. "Let me tell you, I know what you're all up to, but I must remind you to curb your curiosity and stop prying into everything."
However, her words fell on deaf ears, as the queue remained stubbornly long.
Eventually, Madame Pomfrey lost her patience and ushered everyone out, setting up a table outside the infirmary and refusing to let anyone else in.
Meanwhile, Kyle, now in possession of the pick-me-up potion, made his way back to the castle.
Based on the available information, it was easy to deduce that something had transpired at the infirmary the previous night, but the specifics eluded him.
"Kyle..."
A voice interrupted Kyle's thoughts, and he looked up to see Lupin and Tonks.
Lupin's arm was wrapped in bandages, indicating an injury sustained the previous night, and Tonks was supporting him, a task that Lupin seemed uncomfortable with.
"Really, it's fine, Tonks. I just bumped my arm. My leg is perfectly fine," Lupin said.
But Tonks ignored his protests and seemed unbothered by Kyle's gaze.
"Where are you two off to?" Kyle asked, pretending not to notice Lupin's evasive eyes.
"The infirmary," Tonks replied. "The Minister has decided to transfer Alecto to the Ministry, and we're the Aurors assigned to escort her. We need to check on her condition first."
"Alright, then. I'll let you get to it. I should head back to class," Kyle said, waving goodbye as he walked past them.
Lupin hesitated, as if he wanted to ask something, but ultimately said nothing.
Harry had already informed Sirius about what had transpired in the tower the previous night, and Sirius had, in turn, filled Lupin in.
So, when Lupin saw Kyle, he had wanted to inquire further about the details, but the words stuck in his throat, and he found himself at a loss for what to say.
"That's true," Lupin nodded, and the two continued on their way towards the hospital wing.
...
Upon returning to the castle, Kyle made his way to the third floor for his first class of the day, Charms. His arrival in the classroom was met with surprise from everyone present.
This was the first time in two months that they had seen him in class.
However, Professor Flitwick remained unfazed. He waved his hand, signaling for everyone to settle down.
"Aguamenti!" he exclaimed. "A very important spell that, while not particularly difficult, tests the comprehensive abilities of a witch or wizard. It's also the most frequently tested charm in N.E.W.T.s, so I suggest you master it well.
"I trust you all remember the incantation, clear water springs forth," he continued, standing on a podium made of stacked books. "Don't forget the swish and flick!"
While Professor Flitwick lectured on the intricacies of the Aguamenti charm, the surrounding students paid little attention, chatting amongst themselves. The classroom buzzed with noise.
"Did you hear?" a Slytherin student behind Kyle whispered. "Draco Malfoy has taken a leave of absence."
"What happened to him?" the other Slytherin asked nonchalantly. "Don't tell me he was attacked by Death Eaters."
"How's that possible? Don't forget who his father is..." The first Slytherin student lowered his voice, and Kyle couldn't make out the rest of his sentence.
"In any case, he's as good as a Death Eater himself, being a pure-blood. There's no way he'd be attacked."
"Then why did he take a leave?"
"Who knows? Maybe he got scared." The speaker snickered. "Remember, he's a Malfoy, one of the shrewdest families in the wizarding world. It wouldn't be surprising if he took off."
"But what about the upcoming Quidditch final? Without one of our best Seekers, we're as good as lost!"
"There's nothing we can do now. He's probably already left the school grounds. We can't exactly drag him back. And we're already six hundred points behind; even with him, we probably wouldn't have won."
"True." The other Slytherin sighed. "Why didn't we get Firebolts like Gryffindor?"
Soon, their conversation shifted to Quidditch, and Kyle tuned them out.
He didn't find Draco's leave of absence strange at all, considering the boy had exposed himself during the previous night's events in the tower...
Wait a minute!
Kyle's eyebrows furrowed.
He considered a possibility—the Death Eaters' raid on the hospital wing in the early hours of the morning might have been specifically targeted at Draco Malfoy.
Kyle's mind conjured an image: under the cover of night, a masked wizard infiltrated the hospital wing, attempting to rescue Draco from his sickbed. Snape, valiantly resisting but ultimately overpowered due to his inferior magical prowess, ended up injured, allowing the intruder to escape with their captive.
This could also explain why there were only two beds concealed by curtains in the hospital wing.
As for the identity of the masked wizard, there were several possibilities: a Death Eater, the real Severus Snape, or even Dumbledore himself.
Kyle's fingers tapped lightly on the desk.
Draco's identity as a Death Eater was now known to both Dumbledore and Voldemort, and this was likely the only way to ensure his safety.
After all, even if Dumbledore were as forgiving as a lake, he certainly wouldn't allow a student who had aided Death Eaters to remain at Hogwarts.
And even if Dumbledore were exceptionally magnanimous and chose to overlook the incident, what about Voldemort?
The Dark Lord had suffered significant losses during the recent attack. If Draco went unpunished, his naturally suspicious nature might lead him to believe that Draco had betrayed him, leaking information to Dumbledore beforehand.
For Voldemort, suspicions were as good as facts, and Draco's life would be in grave danger... Especially now that he was in his sixth year and couldn't hide at Hogwarts forever.
Being rescued from Hogwarts by outsiders was undoubtedly the best outcome for Draco. And who better to orchestrate this rescue than Severus Snape, the apparent Death Eater? It would all appear perfectly logical and aboveboard.
Moreover, when Lupin and Tonks had encountered them earlier, they only mentioned transferring Alecto to the Ministry and made no reference to Draco at all.
"Tsk, tsk." Kyle couldn't help but click his tongue.
"What's wrong?" Connor asked, puzzled.
"Nothing," Kyle replied. "Just feeling sorry for Dumbledore, that's all."
"Yeah," Connor nodded in agreement. "I saw some Aurors from the Ministry on my way to class, too. They looked really rushed, probably haven't slept a wink all night."
"That's understandable, given the magnitude of what happened. I doubt they'd be able to sleep even if they wanted to."
(End of Chapter)
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