A Return to Arms

Hogwarts, Scotland

On their way up to the meeting place Harry passed several other groups of past-DA members heading up to the room by another direction. He nodded at them and kept on going upwards. He was a more than a little nervous about this meeting because of two things: he hadn’t gotten permission from Dumbledore, and two, he wasn’t sure if the other members would like the new system Harry and the others had been working on.
There was a small crowd gathering in front of the Room of Requirement. Apparently no one else knew exactly how to operate it so they were waiting on Harry to arrive.
As he had done countless times he stood in front of the door, closed his eyes and thought to himself about what he needed. I need a place that we can study in, a place that we can keep secret but big enough to fit a large group of people and have sparring competitions. Harry opened his eyes, and sure enough a large door stood where there used to just be a stone wall.
The doors were different from what it looked like last year, although it looked sturdy enough it didn’t have the same bank vault look that it did last time. The doors were made of heavy, ancient, wood and were at least twelve feet high. Each one had a large brass ring as handles. Harry pulled on both and the two doors swung open easily.
There was a general intake of breath from all the assembled members at the sheer enormity of the room that they were now facing. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were the first to enter, followed closely by Neville, Emma, and Luna. As they stepped through the doorway, torches ignited all around him shedding light on the dark room.
It had massively high ceilings, and resembled a miniature version of the Great Hall, with the exception of the enchanted ceiling. There were dozens of chairs around small lamp lit table near the left wall. The whole wall was covered in bookshelves, containing massive tomes, and rolls of parchment. Hermione gave a small gasp of delight, grabbed Ron’s arm, and ran over to scour the books. On the other side of the room, the other wall was draped in elaborate tapestries that looked ancient even when they were surrounded by the dusty books and old chairs.
Each tapestry was depicting a different scene, each one showing different points in what appeared to be a massive battle. They vaguely reminded Harry of the picture books he’d read in Muggle elementary school, pictures depicting epic tales and myths of ancient times. Emma tugged on Harry’s robe, “Hey Harry, what’s that thing over there?” she pointed over to the large platform that was in the far back of the massive room.
Harry smiled when he saw it, “I thought we could use one of these. It’s a professional duelling pitch; it even has special wards around it to stop stops from hitting spectators. It should be a good way to train for Kingsley and Mad-Eye’s course, and it’ll be a good way to watch our skills improve and see where we can do better.” Harry turned around and saw that there were now at least fifty students of all years inside listening to Harry’s conversation. Many were smiling chatting excitedly while others were nodding in approval.
“I guess we should start Harry, it looks like most everyone’s here.” Ginny whispered. Harry nodded, taking strength from her firm grip of his hand, and then called for everyone’s attention. Once the noise had settled down and everyone was looking at where Harry and the others were standing he started to speak.
“I wasn’t expecting this many people. Umm, well this is the DA, short for Dumbledore’s Army, and if you don’t know me I’m Harry Potter.” He stammered, he still wasn’t used to talking in front of such large groups.
“Everyone in the world knows who you are!” someone shouted from the group, people laughed.
Harry pushed on, “I guess I should introduce the others, this is Ginny Weasley, next to her is Hermione Granger, and next to her is Ron Weasley. Hopefully the reason why you’re sitting here right now is because you want to learn. We’re going to do our best to help every one of you learn how to protect yourself and fight and win. We spent a good chunk of the summer redesigning the way the DA is going to be run this year as well as finding hundreds of new spells to try out. Last year we were just trying to pass our O.W.L.’s but now it is much more serious. I know Dumbledore has already said this, but no matter what Fudge or the paper tells you there is a war going on! Voldemort has returned and he is as strong as ever, trust me on that. When, not if, he attacks again we need to be ready.
“Also, I noticed how all of you flinched when I said Voldemort. Let me tell you something about that. His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he is infact not a pureblood as he says, his dad was actually a Muggle. If you let yourself be afraid of a name, just imagine how you’re going to stand up against a Death Eater. So from now on when we’re at meetings you will call him either Voldemort or Tom, not he-who-must-not-be-named.
“Now I am hoping that the reason you are here is to fight against Voldemort, but I do want to protect everyone therefore we need to do something about secrecy. You all need to sign the piece of parchment that Hermione is passing around before we go any further. It says that you will keep everything you learn here a secret, even when questioned by Professors, if you don’t want to sign it walk out the door.”
“And yes, before you ask, I did charm it with several new jinxes I’ve wanted to try. If you break this contract you will end up wishing you looked like Marietta.” Hermione said, the older students laughed the younger ones looked at each other with hesitancy.
“The reason we’re having people sign this is to protect everyone here. This is still an illegal organisation, Dumbledore does not know about this, nor does any adult for that matter. What we practice and talk about in here will remain secret; no one may discuss what we do outside of this room. You will be informed of further meetings by the coins you already have.” Harry was getting back into the groove of speaking now; people seemed to be hanging on every word that he spoke eager to partake in this illegal organisation. The paper slowly passed through the crowd and every single person in the room signed it without hesitancy, Harry even signed it showing that he too was bound by the contract.
“Great, welcome to the DA then! Now that that’s out of the way the rest of tonight’s meeting is for us to sort out all the logistics of the group because of the big changes. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and I have been working on a new plan based on a lot of research into Muggle combat methods. Now I’m not a battle strategist, but if you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to play chess with Ron you’ll know he is one. So for the next part of this meeting you’ll be listening to Ron.
Ron was obviously more nervous about speaking in front of a group than even Harry was. His face was flushed his usual deep red. “Right, well…hmm. Okay then, were going to…uh…” He glanced nervously over to Harry, looking for help.
“You’re going to tell us about how the groups are divided up, and how the meetings will be run.” Harry prompted his friend.
“Oh yeah, thanks. Right, well I’ve, I mean we’ve, been studying a lot of books and tactics about how to fight in a real battle and what combat is really like. Surprisingly, there was almost nothing helpful about wizarding combat except for a few rules on duelling. It took us a while but we finally did find a good source, turns out the muggles have this whole fighting thing down to a science. Anyways, we took notes on different battles that muggles fought over the years and one thing that kept popping up, even as early as Merlin’s time; it was the idea of a ranking system.” Ron paused, and seemed to gain some strength as he noticed everyone was listening to him.
“Well…for our first change to the DA we’ve created a rank and grouping system for everyone. The main reason for this is to streamline the way we communicate. At the Department of Mysteries last year, it was utter chaos because of the lack of communication.” All of the students broke out in quiet chatter. Everyone had read or heard about Harry and the other’s involvement in the battle at the ministry, yet no one knew more than what was published in the Daily Prophet.
“It was pandemonium down there. No one knew who was good and who the enemy was and the fighting was completely random. We think it would be a good idea for us to be split up into smaller groups of people who could work separately from the larger whole and still be capable to fighting Death Eaters successfully.” Ron said, his anxiety having now completely vanished.
Hermione spoke up, “this division of the DA will not only be for communication but will also help divide up into more specialized groupings. For example, we need a group of healers, or medics as muggles call them, to take care of anyone who is injured in a fight. We will also have
“Right, well there are going to be four groups. There will be medics, like Hermione said. Defence, who are a group of fighters that will cast shields and other charms to ensure everyone is protected during a fight. There will be runners, who will communicate with the leaders and keep the groups working together in unison. The last group will be an offensive magic group, they will be in charge of the actual fighting. “ Ron stopped then looked over at Ginny, jerking his head to tell her to start talking.
“You will train with your group separately once a week in this room. Each group will train individually from the others except for once a month when we will all meet for a bigger practice. The final plan is to have one medic, one runner, two defensive, and two offensive fighters in a group. Hopefully each squad will be self sufficient and be able to fight by themselves if needed.” Ginny stopped, and looked over at Harry to continue the rest of the speech.
“Right, well they couldn’t have said it better. Now for the rest of the meeting we’re first going to split up into the different groups and discuss what our plans are for the rest of the semester. If you want to be a healer go over to the bookshelves over there and wait for Ginny, she’ll be the leader of that group. If you want to be a runner, go over to Hermione by the fireplace. If you want to be a defensive fighter go over by the tapestries to Ron. Anyone who wants to be an offensive fighter come in closer to me, I’ll be your instructor. If you weren’t in the D.A. last year just go to the group that you think you might want to be in, you can change later on.”
The crowd stood and began to disperse into the different groups. Harry had been afraid that they would be somewhat uneven but what he saw surprised him. There were almost a dozen people in both the medical and runner groups. Ron’s group had over two dozen and his own was about the same size with a little over two dozen kids in it, most of them were older students, including Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Harry was pleased to see Emma had joined the medical group and was standing close by Ginny. The individual groups sat down in various parts of the room and began to discuss the role of their positions Harry and the others had created over the summer.
Harry turned to face his own team and pulled out his wand. “Well, this is the offensive fighting group. First let me just say even though I’m called the leader I don’t expect to be treated any differently. I am here to help teach learn not yell at you and give homework. We are all going to have to work together well to fight properly, I can tell you I wouldn’t be able to fight as well with Snape as I would Ron. While the other teams are just as important as the ours we will be the ones who cause the damage. The offensive fighting group is designed solely to be trained for heavy attacks. Although we’ll learn some shields and defensive counter-jinxes the vast majority of the time we’ll spend learning different ways to take the enemy out of the fight.
“Now last year we learned just some basic hexes and a few defensive charms as well, this year we’ll start by reviewing those because of how important they are. Neville and I can both tell you that most of those weren’t too helpful when it came to fighting, but it was surprising how few of the Death Eaters bothered to stop a leg locker curse or a stupefy. Once we get brushed up on those we’ll move onto some more advanced stuff. As I said earlier we did some research over the summer and found loads of curses that aren’t as bad as the Unforgivables but will certainly do a lot of damage. This is a warning; do not use these on another person unless in real combat, many are potentially fatal if used properly. We figured if Death Eaters can use the Killing Curse then we should be able to use something like diffindo, or another spell we found is ignatus which will light anything on fire, no matter what. I don’t want to harm or kill anyone, but I will do anything in my power if there is someone attacking. You will have to learn that fighting the Death Eaters is not like duelling or practice, you will have to make every shot count. If Voldemort continues to gain strength there is a good chance we will go to battle at some point, and during that you may have to kill. I have already done it once…” Harry’s voice was low but filled the space around his group. His confession stunned the group but, saving a few startled looks, everyone remained quiet waiting for Harry to continue.
“It is a horrible feeling, even when it was to protect someone I loved against someone who truly did deserve to die. I can see now why Tom is so depraved, all of this murder has mutilated his soul. If the pain I felt in killing someone who deserved it, then there is no way you could remain human after killing so many countless innocent people.” Harry stopped, then looked over the group. They all seemed to have accepted this horrible truth and acknowledge the fact that this wasn’t the same DA as last year. Neville gave Harry a quick nod, and the others also gave small signs of solidarity. “I know this is a rather dark topic, Merlin knows I’d rather be talking about Quidditch, but it has come to a point where we can’t just let Tom do whatever he wants anymore.” The group was silent for several moments as Harry’s words still echoed around the crowd. At the other parts of the room there was various loud explosions of bangs as the groups started to work on the spells.
“Okay, before I show you the list are there any questions so far?”
“How are we going to get to practice these? Are we going to get to duel?” Dean asked anxiously, there had been talk about duelling in both Light Offensive magic and DADA but Moody had said it wouldn't be until second term.
“As I said many of these are really dangerous, but with the proper set up we should be able to duel with them. In the beginning, while we’re reviewing the basics we will be duelling almost every meeting in some form or another, this way we can not only master the spells but also work on tactics. Being able to move quickly is just as important as being able to fire the right spells.” Harry said.
A third year boy on the edge of the group raised his hand nervously, “is it true? I mean I’ve read it in the Prophet but did you really duel he-who-must…Vold…Vold. Tom?”
Harry sighed, he was expecting at least one question like this, he knew it was inevitable, but it didn’t make that any easier to discuss. “What’s you name?”
“Stirling, Sterling Mortlock. I’m from Ravenclaw, Mr. Potter.” He stuttered. It was apparent that he had never even so much as been in the same class with Harry, therefore he was nervous talking to someone he had been told about in stories by his parents.
“Well Stirling first off, my name is Harry. I’m not a sir or a Mr. or a professor. I’m way too young for that. And yes The Prophet was right for once, I did have to fight Voldemort, although not very well, if Dumbledore hadn’t been there I would have been killed in an instant. That’s exactly why I researched more powerful spells to use, I want to be able to survive a fight on my own.” Harry knew none of them had any idea about the prophecy and the true reason behind their research into more powerful curses. He knew he was going to have to fight him in the end and he wanted to live now, because of Ginny he now had something to look forward to after Voldemort was gone.
“Harry? Are you alright?” Neville asked after Harry had been silent for a long time. Harry shook those depressing thoughts from his mind and brought himself back into the present.
“Sorry, I was just daydreaming there for a moment. Well let’s take a look at the list of spells we have compiled and try and sort out what the rest of the year is going to look like for us.” Harry unrolled a long piece of parchment he, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny had come up with. “I know that this looks like a lot of spells but many of these are ones you already know. Today we’ll just start with the very basics, let’s split up into pairs and we’ll begin with disarming and stunning.
The group spread out pairing off leaving Harry to walk around and inspect how everyone was doing. Overall he was pleased, even the few first and second years seemed to already be able to quickly disarm each other, he chalked it up to the work that Moody and Kingsley were doing. Soon they had progressed onto more difficult spells such as banishing and summoning charms. Each partner took turns going over to a set of pads and getting banished or summoned across the room. The other groups were taking a break and watched as Colin fired off a particularly strong banishing charm that sent his brother shooting so quickly across the room that Harry had to slow him down before he hit the wall. Everyone burst into applause.
“Good job Colin, that was a brilliant job, if you do that to a Death Eater they won’t know what hit them,” Harry congratulated Colin, “you alright over there?” He called out to his brother who lay on the pads laughing.”
“Ya, I’m fine, just a bit shell-shocked. Thanks for slowing me down Harry, tht would have been really bad otherwise.”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s a good point though, I know that you know we can’t talk about the DA but you should also never use any of the spells we’re learning here in other classes. I doubt any of you would like to explain to Moody how you learned a charm that only Aurors are supposed to know.”
A quiet murmur of fear ran through the group as they imagined facing Moody.
“Okay well it looks like we’re about finished here,” Ron said looking down at his watch, they’d been going at it for over an hour and it was late in the night now, “lets figure out when we’re each going to meet again then head out before Filch goes on patrol.”
The squads split up again and met quickly trying to find a day that would work for all of them. Soon they all departed, careful to keep watch for Miss Norris and Filch as they snuck back to the houses. Everyone went to bed smiling knowing that the DA was becoming a true army.

Hogwarts, Scotland
The corridor was obsidian black, even the light coming from the wand seemed to be devoured by the walls. It was well past curfew at Hogwarts and even most of the teachers had turned in for the night. There were some people still out and about however, one of which who was currently running down a corridor trying to make it to the Gryffindor entrance without being caught by Filch or Mrs. Norris. As the person briskly walked down the stony, dark corridor, they failed to notice the dark shadows that were following stealthily. The stalkers were cloaked entirely in black and moved lithely between hiding spots never allowing themselves to be in the light for more than a second.
As their target rounded a corner both of them acted on some unnoticeable signal. The two hooded assailants jumped the young girl. One grabbed her by the shoulders while the other muttered silencio, effectively muffling her shout of surprise. They dragged her into the nearby empty classroom and threw her to the floor.
As the larger of the two checked the hallway then locked the door, the other assailant walked slowly up to the sobbing girl. His wand was the only light source in the entire room, which consequently gave the boys face an even more pallid complexion. His blonde hair and sunken eyes now gave him the appearance of a ghost. He lowered his wand to the little girl’s tear stained face and smiled cruelly; his face was the picture of pure malice.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” the boy chided using the wand to lift the girl’s chin. “First years really shouldn’t be wandering around in the dark all alone, it really isn’t safe. You never know who you could run into.” The other hooded person now approached, his face was barely visible in the light, but the girl could recognize it anywhere.
“Nott, come over here so we can do it together,” Malfoy said never letting his eyes leave the girl.
Nott strode up next to the Slytherin drawing his wand as he did so. “You don’t have Potter here to help you know do you? You’re going to pay mudblood, we’re going to make you an example to the entire school!” The two of them looked at each other and nodded, both then raised their wands simultaneously and shouted CRUCIO!
Harry bolted awake at that very moment his scar burning fiercely and the heir stone was beating furiously against his chest.
It seemed that Ginny too had woken up at the same time, she looked over at Harry, and even in the dark she could see the fear of realization in his eyes. “Emma,” he whispered in horror then grabbed his glasses, wand, and the Marauder’s Map and ran for the door pulling it open so hard the hinges pulled out of the stone wall.
Ginny jumped out of bed and grabbed her wand and was soon right behind Harry as he scoured the map with his wand looking for Emma. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were now glowing brightly, his whole body seemed to be radiating energy.
Harry moved with frantic desperation, murmuring to himself as he scoured the map for Emma. Ginny simply tailed behind, her wand ready. Occasionally she would feel an immense pain fill her and cry out, although Harry did not let it show she knew that he too was feeling the attacks.
Harry finally found the small dot labelled Emmaline Massey in one of the classrooms. It wasn’t moving. Right next to hers were two other dots one labelled Draco Malfoy and the other Theodore Nott. They were on the second floor, almost directly above where Harry and Ginny were right then.
“Gin, come on!” Harry shouted, his tone of voice unsettled Ginny, she’d never heard him this angry before. As he grabbed her hand she felt something like a shock of electricity pass through her. They ran the entire way only slowing when they neared the door. Harry’s eyes were burning deep green, showing the immense power he was controlling. He didn’t even raise his wand as he neared the door yet the whole thing ripped off its hinges and hit the wall on the other side of the room.
Harry strode into classroom, his wand now already aimed at Malfoy and Nott who had been thrown on their backs by the force of the door being opened. Both wore an expression of horror and shock. Malfoy was the first to rebound though, standing up immediately as if it had all been part of his plan.
“Potter! How did I know you’d show up? Oh yeah, that’s right, because you’re the only one who cares about these fucking Mudbloods!” Malfoy spat kicking the little girl on the floor firmly in the ribs as he moved his hand towards his own wand.
Harry didn’t need anymore encouragement; he pointed his wand at Malfoy’s face and without a word from either of them Malfoy simply fell to the floor unconscious; his eyes rolling up into his head as he went completely limp. Harry then turned on his heels ready to confront Nott only to find him hanging upside down from the ceiling bound up; Ginny was already on the ground next to Emma checking to see if she was okay. Harry’s heart was racing as he looked down at Emma. The little girl wasn’t moving, and her entire face seemed to be covered in bruises and blood. She was curled up in the fetal position trying to cover the blows to her face, weeping softly.
Ginny turned up to look at Harry the fire in her eyes was now replaced with tears, “Harry, we have to get her to Dumbledore. She’s really hurt.” While Ginny had done some volunteer work for Madam Pomfrey she’d never learned any spell or charm to deal with this much blunt trauma.
“We can’t carry her, not like this. Maybe I can run up to his office, it isn’t too far from here. Take care of her while I go get help.” Harry said already making for the door.
Ginny just nodded, too afraid to speak.
Suddenly there was a burst of fire and out of nowhere appeared Fawkes hovering in the middle of the room. Harry seemed to immediately know what the phoenix was there for; he ran over to Emma and very gently lifter her up in his arms, then grabbed hold of one of Fawkes’ feathers. Ginny followed suit, grabbing hold of another one of Fawkes’ tail feathers. Immediately he felt the familiar weightlessness and then a burst of light as she Harry and Emma were transported with Fawkes.
A moment later they appeared again in what Harry knew to be the infirmary. The torches were out and the whole ward was deathly, the only light was coming from the corner room that was Madam Pomfrey’s quarters. Ginny ran to rouse Madam Pomfrey while Harry gently set her down on the desk at the front door, not wanting to move her more than he had to. He hadn’t seen her move yet, and her breathing seemed to be very shallow. He remembered learning something in elementary school about helping someone breathe but he all he could recall was that it was called CPR. Waiting there for Madam Pomfrey he took Emma’s small hand and gently rubbed it in circles, willing his power to once again heal. He could feel it flowing out of him and knew that he was repeating what he had done that summer, but when he opened his eyes he was disappointed to note that only a little colour had come back to her hand, none of the cuts or bruises had gone.
There was a commotion from inside the room and out came Madam Pomfrey, dressed in her nightgown and a robe, with Ginny close on her heels. She saw the little girl on the bed and sped up nearly knocking Harry over as she reached Emma.
“Merlin! I thought Miss Weasley was talking about you Potter! What happened to this girl?” She said as she began casting various diagnostic charms over Emma. “How long has she not been breathing? Have you checked her pulse yet?”
Harry was first to reply, “Ginny said her pulse was really weak, and when we got to her she wasn’t really breathing. It was Malfoy and Nott. They were using the cruciatus curse on her and probably some other ones. Malfoy was kicking her also, I think that might have been what knocked her out.”
Madam Pomfrey face showed alarm. She quickly pointed her wand at Emma’s heart and shouted Cardium Renervium! Emma’s whole body spasmed in the bed as she gasped for air then fell back. Madam Pomfrey checked her pulse then her breathing, seemingly satisfied that the girl was at least alive and breathing, she stepped back to face Harry and Ginny. “Very well even though she isn’t conscious she’s at least breathing that was the greatest danger. We can’t move her from here until after we heal some of the fractures in the ribs. If we do, a piece of bone might puncture her lung. Potter go and get the headmaster, he’ll want to know of this attack. The password is peanut brittle; tell him to have Professor Snape bring his best Cruciatus reliever. Also find Professor McGonagall, she’ll want to know that one of their students have been injured.”
Harry turned and ran down the ward heading straight for Dumbledore’s office as fast as he could. He only made a few steps out the door before he ran into something and hit the floor. He grabbed for his glasses and shoved them on, only to see the headmaster on the floor too. “Headmaster! I’m sorry, here let me help you. I was running to go get you.” Harry apologized, holding his hand out to help him up.
“It’s quite alright Harry, I have already heard the news thanks to Fawkes and completely understand why you came bursting out of the doors.” He said taking Harry’s hand and standing up. “How is she Poppy?”
“She wasn’t breathing and her pulse was practically nonexistent headmaster. I used the revival charm a few minutes ago, that’s only the second time I’ve ever had to use it. I’ve just started to do scans but from what I can tell whatever these boys did to this little girl was enough to kill her.”
“Thank you Poppy, Severus and Minerva should be here momentarily. Harry, Ginny, if I could talk to you for a moment in private?” Dumbledore asked the two teens.
Harry and Ginny were both reluctant to leave Emma’s side.
“Emma is going to be alright now that she’s breathing again, we just have to let her get her rest, I’ll call you two over immediately if she awakes.” Madam Pomfrey said trying to reassure them. They both nodded and hesitantly joined Dumbledore.
“Now then, I know a little about what occurred, but phoenixes can only tell me so much. I hope you wouldn’t mind filling me in on what just transpired?” Dumbledore asked softly. Harry was holding Ginny in his arms; both of them were obviously still recovering from the shock of seeing the friend in such a state. “I need to know Harry, that way we can take care of Miss Massey as well as possible.”
Harry nodded, knowing he would have to tell him. But the adrenaline had worn off now and he suddenly realized how close Emma had come to dying, and how lucky it was that they had found her in time. He stood there rock solid, staring off into the distance.
“She’s alright Harry. Madam Pomfrey is working as hard as she can on her; Emma’s the only one here so she doesn’t have to focus on anyone else. We got to her in time Harry.” Ginny said taking his hand in hers.
Harry took a deep breath, steeling himself, then turned to face Dumbledore. “Ginny and I were both woken up when we felt something happen, I can’t really explain it, it happened so fast. I just remember waking up with a really painful headache and the heir stone was beating against my chest. We both just sort of knew that Emma was in trouble. Every once and I while it felt like someone was hitting me in the stomach. I grabbed the map and my wand and we went looking for her.”
“We started on the ground floor and worked our way up, we found them in one of the classrooms on the second floor,” Ginny added.
“Filch won’t be too happy about what I did to the door. It scared the life out of Malfoy and Nott though. They’re still down there. Ginny tied Nott up, and I knocked Malfoy out. They deserve worse.” Harry said without a hint of remorse.
Dumbledore smiled sadly, “Harry I know what you have been through is difficult but rage is definitely not your friend. That’s what makes us different from Tom, our ability to control ourselves. They do deserve worse, but it is not our place to decide. Concerning how you knew that this was going on, the only idea I have is that it is yet another extension of this bond that is not only linking you and Ginny together but perhaps is tying your friends together too.” Dumbledore paused looking deep into Harry’s still glowing eyes, but flicked away from them a second later. Harry had a uncomfortable sense that the headmaster was still not telling him everything. He was about to ask confront him when Snape strode through the ward doors.
“Ah Severus, thank you for arriving so quickly. It would seem that two students have attacked Miss Emmaline, Poppy what do you require?” Dumbledore broke away from Harry and Ginny and rushed over to Snape.
“She will need a Cruciatus reversal potion, as well as a blood restorative potion, perhaps you could mix in some pain relief too.”
“Of course Poppy, I already brought the Cruciatus restorative and I’ll be back shortly with the others. Anything else before I leave Albus?” Snape handed her the potion after pulling it out of the vast confines of his dark robes.
“Two of your students are currently restrained in one of the classrooms on the second level, if you would kindly collect them and escort them to my office I will meet with them shortly.” Dumbledore said calmly.
“Of course,” and, without even acknowledging Harry and Ginny’s presence, he pushed through the double doors of the infirmary his robe billowing behind him.