Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Soon, the hospital door opened again and Professor McGonagall entered the ward, looking haggard.

Like all the rest, she bore marks of the recent battle: There were grazes on her face and her robes were ripped.

“What happened? Fawkes has been behaving strangely — he keeps lamenting. And Sirius just ran into the room where the Death Eaters are being held, shouting and asking about Professor Snape, like he was provoked by something,” she said. “The whole castle is in chaos. Where is Professor Dumbledore? Many people said they saw him fall from the tower. Harry, Tonks told me you were with Professor Dumbledore at the time, and she also says it seemed like Professor Snape was involved in some —”

She asked a lot of questions in a row, clearly unaware of what had happened.

“Dumbledore is dead, Professor!”

“Snape killed Dumbledore,” Harry added.

McGonagall stared at him for a moment, then swayed alarmingly; Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have pulled herself together, ran forward, conjuring a chair from thin air, which she pushed under McGonagall.

“You said Snape … he killed Dumbledore?”

Harry nodded silently. He didn’t want to say the words again.

Every time he mentioned it, his fury surged — just like Sirius, completely out of control.

He wished he could kill Snape on the spot, even though Evan had told him before this was all arranged.

After all this time, Harry had not calmed down; instead, his hatred had only grown more intense.

He kept thinking about the moment Snape killed Dumbledore, and the words Snape said during their confrontation earlier … about his father, the Half-Blood Prince, and Snape’s anger.

Harry didn’t care whether this was part of the plan or not. He knew that he hated Snape even more than he hated Voldemort.

“I can’t believe it. … Albus had a premonition about his death. He told me he was working on a dangerous magic — something left behind by Salazar Slytherin, one of Hogwarts’ Founders, but I didn’t expect, didn’t think it would…” Professor McGonagall murmured.

“Dumbledore used the Caduceus,” said Evan, pointing to the magic Staff coiled by two giant pythons by the bedside. “The Caduceus is a legendary magic item left by Salazar Slytherin. It has extremely powerful magic, and it costs a lot to use it. Dumbledore has lost his magic power, and after his death, his body was consumed by the magic!”

There was another long silence, and everyone in the room seemed to silently accept Evan’s explanation.

They gazed at the Twin Serpent Staff, their eyes full of doubt and fear, staring at the two green pythons with their eyes tightly shut.

Soon, the topic returned once more to Dumbledore’s death.

“Well, I thought something might happen to Dumbledore … but I never imagined Snape would kill him.”

“Snape was a highly accomplished Occlumens,” said Lupin, his voice uncharacteristically harsh. “We always knew that.”

“But Dumbledore swore he was on our side! I always thought Dumbledore must know something about Snape that we didn’t. …”

“He always hinted that he had an ironclad reason for trusting Snape,” muttered Professor McGonagall, now dabbing at the corners of her leaking eyes with a tartan-edged handkerchief. “I mean … with Snape’s history … of course people were bound to wonder … but Dumbledore told me explicitly that Snape’s repentance was absolutely genuine. … Wouldn’t hear a word against him!”

“I’d love to know what Snape told him to convince him.”

“I know,” said Harry angrily, and they all turned to look at him. “Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn’t realized what he was doing, he was really sorry he’d done it, sorry that they were dead.”

His voice rose with every word. Just thinking about what he had seen in Snape’s memory made a wave of hatred surge inside him. At this point, he didn’t care what Evan had told him, or that Dumbledore had planned to leave this world tonight anyway.

Harry felt an overwhelming sense of betrayal. Snape had used the death of his parents to win Dumbledore’s trust.

He had claimed to repent, but now it was clear it had all been a lie.

“He said he was sorry, and Dumbledore believed him?!” said Lupin incredulously. “Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry James was dead? Snape hated James. …”

“And he didn’t think my mother was worth a damn either,” said Harry, “because she was Muggle-born. … ‘Mudblood,’ he called her. …”

Nobody doubted Harry’s words. Nobody even asked how he knew this. All of them seemed to be lost in horrified shock, trying to digest the monstrous truth of what had happened. Evan opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing. Snape had hidden his love for Harry’s mother too deeply.

He had no way to explain how he knew this, and even if he said it, no one would likely believe it.

It was not the time to explain the truth of the whole thing. Snape had endured so much.

His and Dumbledore’s plan was reaching its final stage, and Evan just had to let things unfold naturally.

Was the truth needed now?

No, what was needed now was to make everyone believe that Dumbledore was dead, and that he had been betrayed and killed by Snape.

No one spoke anymore, and great grief enveloped Hogwarts.

Fawkes’s lament was still echoing over the dark grounds outside, and the music reverberated upon the air.

Tonight, Hogwarts would not sleep!

Tonight, Hogwarts would lose its headmaster!

The night grew even longer, and dawn seemed endlessly far away.

After that, people kept coming in, Sirius, now calmer, Tonks, Hagrid, professors from the school, and other members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Professor McGonagall left with Dumbledore’s wand, and she was going to announce the sad news.

Soon, she came back, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Fleur.

Once again, everyone found a small measure of relief that Greyback hadn’t bitten Bill.

Although he was badly injured, he would recover.

Finally, Hagrid came in with red eyes, and when he saw Evan and Harry, he started sobbing even harder.

He seemed to have finally accepted this matter. His large body was shaking, a vast, spotted handkerchief in his hand.

“Professor … Professor Sprout asked me to inform yeh she’s got the kids back in bed. Professor Slughorn says the Ministry’s bin informed.”

“Thank you, Hagrid,” said Professor McGonagall, standing up. “I shall have to see the Ministry when they get here. Hagrid, please tell the Heads of Houses — Slughorn can represent Slytherin — that I want to see them in my office forthwith. I would like you to join us too.”

Hagrid nodded, turned, and shuffled out of the room again. …

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