Alexandra Dursley {Golden Trio}

Chapter 161 - Preparing for Battle

:)

McGonagall gasped. "Weasley! And Granger too! That was very...gallant...of you, but you need to leave! And what's this about Potter being here?"

"He's coming, Professor," Al promised, as Terry thundered down the stairs, and she ignored the pointed look from Ron. "But so's Voldemort. I've got all the students on alert, we just need to get rid of Snape and then we can evacuate."

"The Order's coming too," Ron said.

"We're looking for Ravenclaw's lost diadem," Hermione added.

"What...why..." McGonagall was clearly very flustered but got a hold of herself. "You came into Hogwarts to find a lost diadem?"

"It's a weapon of Voldemort's" Al explained briefly, "Harry, Ron and Hermione are here to destroy it."

McGonagall blinked twice before coming to her senses. "Get rid of Snape, evacuate and lock down, and find the diadem." Al nodded. "Then let's get to it." All six of them headed down the stairs, Luna, Hermione and Ron poorly hidden under the invisibility cloak while McGonagall and Al concocted a plan.

"We can lock down the school," McGonagall said as they walked, "Us teachers are rather good at magic-"

"The Bayliss effect?" Al and Hermione both said excitedly, referring to a protective charm that involved transfiguring the air around them. Al grinned in the general direction of Hermione's voice.

"If you know it then do it," McGonagall said proudly. "Transfiguring doors and objects wouldn't go amiss, and I'm sure Pomona will have something-" she paused in her planning, "What about evacuation? We can't floo everyone out-"

"The Hog's Head passage!" Terry said quickly.

"Yeah Terry, that's great!" Al said, "There's a passage from the seventh floor corridor to the Hogs Head. I can name at least twenty students that can direct people through safely."

"We're talking about hundreds of students, Dursley-" McGonagall began.

"Voldemort will focus on the castle, not the village," Al said confidently, and McGonagall nodded in agreement. "Right, Terry go and get everyone. Send all the students to..."

"The Great Hall," McGonagall said quickly.

"I'm on it, Al," Terry said with a grin, before rushing off to the Room of Requirement.

"I'll alert the other Heads of Houses," McGonagall said, and three patronuses flew from her wand, each bounding in different directions. But then another set of footsteps joined theirs and Al and McGonagall raised their wands, almost in unison. "Who's there?" McGonagall called.

"It is I." Snape stepped from the shadows, wand poised, and something strange filled Al's chest. Pity. He had to make a choice, he had to make it now. And everyone except Al loathed the man that killed Albus Dumbledore. Only she knew the truth. But she would let Snape be the one to share it. She didn't like Snape - he was nothing more than a pile of dragon dung. But the hatred that people felt matched a murderer's, and Snape hadn't murdered Dumbledore. Al knew that. "Why are you both up at this late hour?"

"We crossed paths while patrolling," McGonagall said stiffly.

"I was not aware it was either of your nights to patrol?" Snape asked, his eyes scanning the air around them. He was looking for an invisibility cloak.

"I've patrolled more nights than usual with your...colleagues...treating students the way they do," Al said, "But you knew that already, Professor."

Snape nodded curtly. "Minerva?"

"I thought I heard a disturbance," said McGonagall.

"Really?" Snape said, softly sinister, "But all seems calm." Finally, his eyes met McGonagall's. "Have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva? Or any of his associates? Because if you have, I must insist-"