Late at night near the end of his sixth year at Hogwarts, Scott
partrolled the corridors of the school near Ravenclaw tower. Professor
Dumbledore had ordered he and the other school prefects to patrol the corridors
in order to keep an eye out on things. Dumbledore had also met with Snape and
Scott earlier that evening before he left with Harry and told them that since
he would be departing for the evening, they should take extra precautions in
case the Death Eaters tried to make their move. Dumbledore had confided in both
of them that Draco Malfoy had made two half-hearted attempts on his life that
year which nearly resulted in the deaths of two students, Katie Bell and Ron
Weasley. He guessed that Malfoy would try to let in the Death Eaters somehow
that night and had asked for the prefects, head boy and girl and the teachers
to patrol the corridors. In addition, members of the Order of the Phoenix would
be sent as backup to assist in case of an attack.
As Scott patrolled the Ravenclaw corridor
with his blue robes swishing as he walked, he heard commotion coming from
above. Sensing that something was going on that shouldn't, he ran for the
stairs that would take him up. As he did, Snape's Patronus galloped up to him
and spoke in his voice.
"The
Death Eaters are here. It is going to happen tonight. You are to blend in with
the rest of the students and defend the castle. I will be leaving tonight with
them after it happens. Professor Dumbledore and I need you to stay here and
keep watch over things. I will send word along when I have found refuge after
leaving. Be careful and good luck."
With that, the doe vanished. Scott drew his
wand out and continued making his way upstairs. When he reached the corridor
leading up to the Astronomy tower, he found members of the Order of the Phoenix
as well as some of the prefects engaged in combat with Death Eaters. Scott ran
up to Professor Lupin who was locked in a duel with a male Death Eater. When he
reached Lupin, Scott fired a stunning spell at the Death Eater, who fell over.
"Scott! The Death Eaters are here!
We've been trying to get through that blocked passage over there, but there
seems to be no way in or out. Severus managed to get through somehow but the
passage blocked itself again after he went through," Lupin shouted.
Out of nowhere, another Death Eater made to
attack Scott from the side. Scott blocked his attack and then shot a stunning
spell at him which was blocked. The two of them dueled for a few moments,
before Scott twirled his wand causing the Death Eater's to fly out of his hand.
Without hesitation, Scott then blasted the Death Eater with a stunning spell
that caused him to go flying.
Two feet from where the Death Eater fell,
Snape came strolling down the corridor with Malfoy following close by. The
Order members stepped aside to let them pass. As they passed Scott, Snape
caught his eye and nodded. Scott raised his eyebrow to show that he understood
what had happened; Snape had killed Dumbledore as part of their plan. Scott
then turned his attention back to Lupin, who was fighting another Death Eater.
He ran over to help him before being attacked himself. After disarming his
opponent and casting a full body-bind curseat him, Scott heard Snape's voice
carrying down the hallway.
"It's over! It's time to go!"
Snape shouted.
As Snape shouted, Harry came barreling down
the corridor, drawing his wand out, looking beyond angry. Scott realized that
he must have witnessed Dumbledore's death and would want to stop Snape.
Following his orders of blending in, Scott called Harry over.
"Harry! Snape and Malfoy just ran that
way! If you hurry, you can get to them!"
Harry nodded and took off in the direction
Snape and Malfoy went. Scott worked with the rest of the teachers and Order
members in the corridor fighting the Death Eaters who were attacking them.
After a few moments, every Death Eater either laid unconscious or had fled.
"Scott, did you see Harry?" Lupin
asked.
"Yes, he was chasing after Snape and
Malfoy for some reason. I'll go after him," Scott replied.
Scott made his way down the hallway where
Harry had ran. He followed the path he knew they must have taken since he saw
several unconscious Order Members on his way down. At the entrance, he realized
a large fire had just been started in the direction of Hagrid's house. He then
sped up his pace and ran toward Hagrid's house, hoping that nobody had gotten
hurt. When he got closer to Hagrid's hut, he saw two figures standing a few
inches apart. As he got closer, the shorter of the two fell to the ground and
the taller one approached him. Scott stopped in Hagrid's garden and heard
Snape's voice talking to who he guessed was Harry. He crouched in the shadows
as Snape spoke.
"...dare use my own spells against me,
Potter? Yes...I'm the Half-Blood Prince. It was I who invented them. Only a
fool would try to use them against me."
With that, Snape kicked Harry's wand away
and strode away from Hagrid's hut to the place where Scott knew he would be
able to apparate away. When he heard the unmistakeable noise of Snape
apparating, Scott ran over to Harry and crouched down next to him.
"Harry, are you okay?" he asked,
helping Harry stand up.
"Yes, I'm okay," Harry replied.
Suddenly, Hagrid appeared and walked over
to them.
"Harry, Scott, you two alright?"
"We're fine Hagrid, but your
house..." said Scott.
"'S nothing we can't handle. Surely
there's a spell for putting out fires?"
"Yes, it's Aguamenti," replied Scott.
"Knew it was sommat like that,"
said Hagrid.
Hagrid pointed his umbrella at his house
and muttered the spell. Harry and Scott imitated him with their wands and
within seconds, the house was extinguished.
"Well, it's better than it was, but
nothin' Dumbledore can't fix," said Hagrid.
"Hagrid...Dumbledore's dead,"
said Harry.
"What's that Harry? Dumbledore's
what?" asked Hagrid as they turned and made their way for the castle.
"Hagrid...he's dead. Snape killed
him."
"Snape? Nah...can't be. Snape must
have been chasing them Death Eaters away. Dumbledore's okay, Harry you'll
see."
Harry shook his head and followed Hagrid to
the castle. Scott, knowing exactly what had happened remained silent as they
walked. As they got closer, Hagrid looked toward the sky and let out a gasp of
surprise.
"What's the Dark Mark doing above the
castle? Did someone get hurt or what?" he demanded.
Harry and Scott both
remained quiet. They made their way toward the Astronomy tower where a crowd of
people had gathered around it.
"What's that they're gathering around?
What's happened?" Hagrid asked, sounding desperate. They pushed their way
through the crowd and there, laying on the ground spread eagle-like was
Professor Dumbledore, clearly dead. Hagrid let out a moan of despair that
nobody bothered to quiet.
Nearly everyone there was sobbing
uncontrollably. Scott walked over to Nigel who was standing next to Ron and
Hermione. Nigel was crying so badly that his entire body was shaking. Scott put
a hand on Nigel's shoulder, who stopped shaking, tears still falling down his
face. Scott then took one look at Dumbledore again and broke down, even though
he knew that his death was planned; he couldn't stand seeing the Headmaster's
body on the ground like that. Hermione appeared to be in the same boat; it
appeared the only way she was still standing was because Ron was holding her as
they both cried. But none of them seemed as bad as Harry.
Harry had walked over to Dumbledore's body
and knealt down next to him. He took something from the ground and put it in
his pocket before patting Dumbledore's chest. Ginny walked over to him and
knealt beside him as Harry broke down completely. His crying was almost silent,
but Scott could see that his body was shaking like Nigel was.
Professor McGonagall then took her wand out
and pointed it at the sky. A small beam was released from her wand and created
a hole in the Dark Mark. Following her lead, the students and staff of Hogwarts
all took their wands out and pointed them toward the Dark Mark. As they did so,
beams of light appeared from all wands and the Dark Mark slowly disappeared.
They kept their wands pointed upward though as a sign of respect for the fallen
Headmaster. After a few moments, they slowly lowered their wands and continued
to stand around Dumbledore, united in their respect for Dumbledore and the loss
they all felt from his death.
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