about killing a few more or less, not now---” not now he knows I'm attacking Horcruxes,
Harry finished the sentence in his head.
“You're acting on Dumbledore's orders?” she repeated with a look of dawning
wonder. Then she drew herself up to her fullest height.
“We shall secure the school against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you
search for this --- this object.”
“Is that possible?”
“I think so,” said Professor McGonagall dryly, “we teachers are rather good at
magic, you know. I am sure we will be able to hold him off for a while if we all put our
best efforts into it. Of course, something will have to be done about Professor Snape---”
“Let me ---”
“---and if Hogwarts is about to enter a state of siege, with the Dark Lord at the
gates, it would indeed be advisable to take as many innocent people out of the way as
possible. With the Floo Network under observation, and Apparition impossible within
the grounds---”
“There's a way,” said Harry quickly, and he explained about the passageway
leading into the Hog's Head.
“Potter, we're talking about hundreds of students---”
“I know, Professor, but if Voldemort and the Death Eaters are concentrating on
the school boundaries they won't be interested in anyone who's Disapparating out of
Hog's Head.”
“There's something in that,” she agreed. She pointed her wand at the Carrows,
and a silver net fell upon their bound bodies, tied itself around them, and hoisted them
into the air, where they dangled beneath the blue-and-gold ceiling like two large, ugly sea
creatures. “Come. We must alert the other Heads of House. You'd better put that Cloak
back on.”
She marched toward the door, and as she did so she raised her wand. From the tip
burst three silver cats with spectacle markings around their eyes. the Patronuses ran
sleekly ahead, filling the spiral staircase with silvery light, as Professor McGonagall,
Harry, and Luna hurried back down.
Along the corridors they raced, and one by one the Patronuses left them. Professor
McGonagall's tartan dressing gown rustled over the floor, and Harry and Luna jogged
behind her under the Cloak.
They had descended two more floors when another set of quiet joined theirs.
Harry, whose scar was still prickling, heard them first. He felt in the pouch around his
neck for the Marauder's Map, but before he could take it our, McGonagall too seemed to
become aware of their company. She halted, raised her wand ready to duel, and said,
“Who's there?”
“It is I,” said a low voice.
From behind a suit of armor stepped Severus Snape.
Hatred boiled up in Harry at the sight of him. He had forgotten the details of
Snape's appearance in the magnitude of his crimes, forgotten how his greasy black hair
hung in curtains around his thin face, how his black eyes had a dead, cold look. He was
not wearing nightclothes, but was dressed in his usual black cloak, and he too was
holding his wand ready for a fight.
“Where are the Carrows?” he asked quietly.