if one of them is dead.

chapter twenty-eight.

Mattheo.

"No, look, I'm not saying that," Mattheo said, sitting in the corner of the common room. "I'm just saying I don't trust the old guy. He makes no sense, and what the hell is up with that beard? I mean, like, no."

Blaise snickered

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Mattheo, if you aren't ready to see her body yet, you can just say so," she said gently.

He shook his head, pulling his sleeves up to his elbows. "No, I want to know if she was a death eater. And why I didn't fucking see it before."

Draco scoffed. "I don't trust Dumbledore. He would probably try to cover it up, like it was the worst thing in the world. I can guarantee you there were worse things."

Pansy sighed. "Look, whether we trust the old prick or not doesn't matter here. I want to see her again. I don't even care if we don't find anything, I want to see her."

"Are we sure that we're ready?" Blaise asked. "I don't know if I can handle it completely."

"I'm doing this," Pansy said. "You guys are either in or out. The clock is ticking tonight. Make your choices now because I'm not waiting for you." She stood up and dusted her skirt off.

"I'm coming with," Draco said, standing up.

Mattheo sighed and nodded, standing up. "Fuck it."

Blaise huffed, hitting the chair arms with his hands before jumping up. "Fine."

(power walk time, bitches)

The four of them started for the common room door to leave. As they got to the middle of the room, directly across from the door, it opened with one swift movement, and Severus walked in.

He stopped ten feet in front of them and looked around the room, he eyes lingering on the four for a moment.

"Professor Dumbledore— has requested everyone's presence in the— Great Hall. You are all expected to come right now," he said, turning around before striding out of the room. The door slammed behind him.

"Great," Draco muttered, sighing. "Let's get on with it, shall we?" he asked loudly, nodding to the door.

Everyone started getting up to follow them out as they started for the corridor.

"I'm getting deja vu," Pansy said under her breath as they walked into the Great Hall.

Everyone was separated by house, with the group of teachers at the front. And everyone was talking.

"Shit," Blaise muttered as they all stopped in their correct spots. "Fuck this school."

There were footsteps, but they were drowned out by the voices.

"Shit," Harry said under his breath, scooting past someone. "Sorry about that!" he said enthusiastically.

"I didn't know Potter cursed," Pansy mused, crossing her arms.

"Are we sure that he isn't high most of the time?" Blaise asked, tilting his head.

"Probably," Mattheo said.

Harry stopped in front of them and caught his breath quickly. "Hi!"

"Uh—" the four exchanged glances and looked back at him, "hi?"

"What do you want, Potter?" Draco sneered.

Harry took a breath. "Look, this is going to sound crazy but just bare with me here. It's a lot and a little bit of information at once. You're going to think I'm crazy, but—"

"Get on with it," Mattheo interrupted.

"Right," Harry said, shaking his head. He looked at the four of them as he started talking. "Okay, so there's this map that I have. My dad used to use it when he was in school. It's a long story, but basically it shows where everyone in Hogwarts is in real time. Like, I can see when Dumbledore paces in his study, or when Filch is patrolling the castle. And this map is never ever wrong. It never lies. So, when I was looking at it last night, I couldn't possibly believe what I saw. I even got in touch with one of the people who created the map. He assured me it never lies—"

"Okay," Blaise said, "we get it. This map thing never lies. Why are you telling us about it?"

"Entertainment?" Pansy offered.

Harry shook his head. "Last night I was looking at the map, just watching. And I saw someone's name."

"Who's?" Draco asked.

"Li—"

"Attention!"

Mattheo huffed. "Dumb old prick."

"Does he have to ruin everything?" Blaise muttered under his breath.

"Look," Harry said quietly, "I'll tell you after this is over, okay?"

Mattheo nodded and gave him at thumbs up before Harry ran back to the Gryffindor group.

"Now, you are probably all wondering why I have had you come here tonight," Dumbledore said loudly, making everyone go quiet. "Well," he said, not standing in the middle of the teachers' platform, "I thought I should tell you all how wonderful you have done this year!"

"Seriously?" Pansy asked, glancing at the other three.

"The house points are doing wonderfully! And your class markings are the best I have seen them in years!"

"No they're not," Draco grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"I think I'm failing a class because I didn't turn any assignments in for two months," Mattheo said quietly.

"I would like to congratulate all of you for working so hard this year! I know it has been very tough. And more tough for some of you than others. But, for all the hard work, I would like to reward each house fifty house points!"

Some of the students cheered, mostly the younger students.

"What the fuck?" Pansy muttered, furrowing her brows.

"But!" he shouted, and the students quieted down, "I must tell you a few things. The Ministry doesn't want me telling you this, but I think that you ought to know. You are the future, and if you don't know of things that may happen, how can you be the future?" he said. "These are dark times, everyone knows that. But, the times are getting dark and darker. We all need to be cautious. If we aren't, we may as well already be dead. We haven't faced darkness until the lowest hits, and at that time—"

Dumbledore didn't finish his speech because he was cut off by something appearing in the middle of the platform, crashing through the window.

Black smoke appeared, twisting and turning around.

And when the smoke disappeared, someone was there.