The Boy Who Lived

A Spontaneous Assembly

On the 1st May 1998, the Wizarding World erupted into chaos when the news broke that Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley had broken into Gringotts Bank. Not only had they got into one of the most secure vaults in the depths of the bank but they'd escaped on the back of a Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragon that lived in the caverns deep below Wizarding London to protect everyone's money. Panic regarding the bank's security ensued. And the heart of the Wizarding financial world was sent crippling to the ground as people rushed to withdraw their money from their vaults. The bank closed its doors and a riot in Diagon Alley ensued. The Aurors were called in en masse to deal with an overpowering and panicked crowd.

No one knew what had been stolen (apart from Griphook, the Golden Trio, the Dark Lord, and Bellatrix Lestrange; but none of them were exactly going to make it public knowledge). Severus Snape had a shrewd idea; not the exact object, of course, but certainly what it was. He just hoped they hadn't bargained away the Sword.

That evening, as the riots against the goblins and Aurors surged into the night, the Dark Lord summoned all his followers in preparation for war. And the innocents at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry held another round of 'Potter Nearly Died' parties in their common rooms and in the Room of Requirement, which had added Dean Thomas and Luna Lovegood to its number of refugee students who lived there secretly and safely. George and Fred Weasley were visiting too after they'd shut their store for the day following the disruptions in Diagon Alley.

'Minerva,' said Severus that evening as they shared a bottle of wine. 'The Second War comes. The Ministry is weak dealing with affairs in London and the Dark Lord is summoning his forces while they are distracted. He will bend his strength on Hogwarts as soon as Potter arrives. He has already alerted Alecto and Amycus that Potter may try to get into the castle.'

'Harry is coming here?'

'Soon. Possibly as soon as tonight.'

'Tonight?' she exclaimed, gripped with both fear and excitement.

'Yes.' He paused, pursing his lips slightly. 'Minerva...'

'Yes?'

'I am unlikely to come out of this war alive...'

'Tsk, don't say that, Severus.'

'It's true. The Dark Lord will realise he has to kill me. You see, he has the Elder Wand now.'

'The Elder Wand? As in...?'

'Yes.'

'But where?'

'He has retrieved it from Albus's grave.'

'Albus had the Elder Wand!'

'Yes, Albus defeated Grindelwald and therefore won its allegiance. The Dark Lord recently discovered that Grindelwald had stolen it from Gregorovitch the Wand Maker before that. The Dark Lord will realise at some moment that he doesn't have the Wand's allegiance so he will never master it. He will come to the conclusion that I have the Wand's allegiance because I killed Albus.'

'You can't go then, stay here, we'll protect you...'

'I can't. But that is by the by. He is wrong. I have never had the Wand's allegiance. I may have killed Albus but Draco had disarmed him already... The Dark Lord doesn't realise the full complexity of the situation and I intend to keep it that way. It means I have signed my own death warrant in killing Albus but I will have saved Draco. If the Dark Lord realises, he will murder the boy pointlessly... my sacrifice is not pointless...'

'...so, the Malfoy boy...'

'...no. Potter.'

'But how?'