Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Hog’s Head
Summer had dawned at Alsemore. Though the students crowded inside, studying for their final exams, the weather outdoors was unusually bright and merry. Sunlight streamed trough the windows and illuminated the corridors. Lottie almost thought she could hear birds chirping outside.
Glumly, Lottie descended the steps to the dungeon. It was time for her Occlumency practical final, and she did not fancy the idea of spending an afternoon with Snape. She had no doubt that she could block him; never had she felt so alone and disconnected from her emotions, with Andrea not speaking to her and Colm still away. She could definitely block him, and break right back into his mind, if necessary.
She knocked twice on the classroom door and did not wait for his answer before entering. As usual, Snape sat behind his desk, carefully watching her. “Hi,” Lottie finally said after a prolonged silence.
Snape did not reply. He only gestured”a mere raise of an eyebrow. These were the moments when Lottie could honestly throttle him. What did that even mean? Was she supposed to just stand there, or try to use Legilimency?
Lottie stood awkwardly for a moment. Her block was so effective that she wasn’t even sure whether he was even trying to break into her mind, but something seemed odd. Was this the whole test? Maybe she was supposed to try to use Legilimency? Cautiously, she summoned her energy and focused on breaking down his mental defenses. It was difficult and complicated, but she finally succeeded and saw a span of memories to choose from.
She selected one that seemed tame. (She definitely did not want to bring up any suppressed memories and get him angry.) As she delved into his thoughts, she experienced a rush of his former anxiety. He sat, his younger self, taking exams, scratching lines of prose onto a slip of parchment. Lottie let the exceedingly dull scene play its course. She had proved that she was able to do it, but hadn’t hurt his feelings. It seemed fair enough, until”
“Enough.” Snape slammed his palms against the desk. His pale face was almost flushed with color, his dark eyes glinting. “You are a disrespectful”insolent””
“What did I do?” Lottie asked. She had meant to words to be angry, but she was too startled to sound anything but confused.
“In an Occlumency exam, it is considered bad form to employ Legilimency.”
“But you didn’t tell me what to do!” Lottie’s rushed words and harsh tone betrayed her hidden anger. “How am I supposed to know when you don’t even have the decency to tell me””
“That is quite enough.” Snape was not shouting now; his voice was calm, dangerously so. Him shouting would have been less frightening. “Perhaps Professor Palmyitor will be able to take care of this insolence.”
“What?” Lottie could have hexed him into a million pieces. “That doesn’t even””
“Shut up.” Snape stood swiftly and, his robes billowing, left the classroom. There was nothing Lottie could do but follow. Up a flight of stairs, past the entrance to the common room, and up another flight of stairs to Palmyitor’s door they walked. Lottie was angry, but mostly just bewildered.
Snape knocked on the office door and entered. Palmyitor looked up from a scroll of parchment when the door opened. “Ah, Severus, and”Rowe?”
Lottie followed Snape into the office and slumped against the wall. “Rowe,” Snape seethed, “has once against shown a disregard for respect.” Palmyitor’s dark eyes traveled to Lottie, but as she opened her mouth to protest, Snape continued. “She found it fit, during her Occlumency exam, to employ Legilimency for sport””
“It wasn’t for sport,” Lottie said. ‘You didn’t say what you wanted me to do. I was confused. I did what I thought I was supposed to do.”
“And still, she is not being respectful.” Snape glanced at Lottie and said, “I suggest we not allow her to go on the mission to the Hog’s Head tomorrow.”
“What?” Lottie looked between the two of them. “Are you joking?”
“And the disrespect continues,” Snape snarled.
Palmyitor glanced at Lottie and back at Snape, a slight frown causing the wrinkles around her mouth and eyes to deepen. “I must admit, Severus,” she said, “though I agree that Rowe’s rudeness precedes her in everything she does, I do not think that is cause to take her off the mission.”
Lottie turned triumphantly to Snape, who stood blankly staring at Palmyitor. “Fine,” he said after a moment of thought. “By the way, Rowe,” he said as he turned to leave, “you received a D on your final.”
He left and shut the door before Lottie’s scream of “WHAT?” echoed the halls.
“Rowe, I suggest you go get some rest,” Palmyitor said as she massaged her temples, “and take that ingratitude elsewhere.”
Lottie stormed out of the office and down the steps to the common room. She passed through the clock and was about to head to Andrea, who sat on a couch by the fire, to complain, before remembering that they weren’t friends anymore, and settled alone in a corner.
Why had Snape done that? It wasn’t like him at all”well, yes it was”but it wasn’t like him to not give any instructions. Something this illogical had to have a reason behind it; he would not act like this for no reason. It didn’t make any sense.
Lottie woke early the next morning and headed up to the Great Hall. All of the others who were going on the mission were there as well, including Andrea, who stood moodily apart. Lottie had nothing with her but her wand”but what else would she need? She didn’t expect this to be dangerous.
The doors to the Great Hall opened once more and all three heads, followed by Snape, filed in. “All right, you lot,” said Maelioric, “we’ll be leaving by Portkey in a moment. When we land, you’re not going to make a sound. Although we have the highest security possible, we can never be too careful. When we get there, we’re looking for clues”anything unusual. If you find something, call one of us over. Got that?” The mass of students nodded and Snape stepped forward.
“As Secret Keeper,” he said, “I’m giving you the secret.” His eyes flitted around the room, before finally stopping to rest on Lottie. “The location of the mission is at the Hog’s Head.”
The heads moved at once. Each carrying an armful of quills, they moved to distribute them among the students. Clynalmoy handed Lottie a feather and Andrea came over to take a hold of it. They only had time to glare at each other for a second before there was a jerk, and they sped away.
They landed heavily against a stone floor. Lottie pushed herself up and looked around. The room they were in was small. Booths and tables filled the space, and a counter stretched against the other side. On the wall hung a painting of a young, innocent looking girl. This portrait was pristine compared to the rest of the grubby bar. A man of exceeding age stood hunched in the corner, grumbling to himself.
Lottie began about the business, scouring the walls and floors for something”anything odd. It seemed pointless though. As the minutes stretched into an hour, nothing significant happened. A few people cried that they had found something, but it turned out to be nothing more than a broken glass or a large mound of dust. Lottie was on the verge of Disapparating back to school herself, when finally something did happen.
Crack!
Lottie spun around to the source of the noise and saw a Death Eater, masked and hooded, standing in the doorway. Crack! Crack! Crack! More Death Eaters were arriving, and the room was quickly filling. Among the students, chaos reigned. Many screamed; Lottie saw one seventh year faint on the spot and collapse.
Before Lottie even know what was happening, curses began to fly. Shimmering and bright, they filled the bar with evanescent greens and reds. Out of the corner of her eye, Lottie saw Andrea march proudly into battle, hex after hex firing from her wand.
There was not much else to be done. People were panicking, and Lottie could not even find Palmyitor. Maelioric fought bravely, dueling three Death Eaters at once. Only half of the students had collected themselves enough to fight. The others stood cowering behind. Lottie tightened her grip on her wand and headed in.
“Sectumsempra!” she screamed, creating a slash and a rush of blood in a Death Eater’s chest. “Stupefy! Stupefy!” She had Stunned at least one Death Eater, she was sure. Amidst the flashes and jets of light, it was hard to tell.
A haze overtook the cramped battle. The Death Eaters were strong, but Alsemore was putting up a good fight. Lottie could see why everybody praised Maelioiric’s dueling prowess. He was, without a doubt, the swiftest dueler she had ever seen. The three Death Eaters he had been fighting before lay at his feet, and he had taken on a fresh set of four.
“Expelliarmus!” Lottie yelled. “Stupefy! Sectumsempra!”
It was becoming hard to tell friend from foe. Bodies piled on the floor, which made it quite difficult to move. Out of nowhere, a rush of green light”Lottie dodged and dove behind a table, which cracked in half from the strength of the curse. What was going on? Where was Palmyitor?
Lottie scrambled from her table to a spot behind a booth. Here, she had shelter, but could shoot curses easily. Andrea she could see was fighting bravely. She sported a few cuts and a bruised eye, but was otherwise unharmed. She had a pile of unconscious Death Eaters around here, ever-growing as she picked them off, one stunning spell at a time.
A Death Eater had broken ranks. Somehow he had wound up behind Andrea and she had no idea. Lottie gasped. She had to act. As he raised his wand, Lottie hissed, “Sectumsempra! ” The spell shot red and made contact with his hand. The man screamed and dropped his wand. Blood gushed out, covering his robes and showering the floor in crimson. From here, Lottie could see two severed fingers drop and land on the stone floor.
Lottie took the moment to act. “Stupefy,” she hissed, and the man collapsed like a rag doll.
The ranks were thinning. There were only five, six, seven Death Eaters left. They might have done this”they might have actually done this.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
More hooded Death Eaters appeared, even more than before. Lottie wanted to cry”was this ever going to end? A few more of the students seemed to be plucking up their courage and joining the battle. From her hiding spot, Lottie was losing hope. She shot more and more Stunners, but more and more Death Eaters kept appearing.
Andrea was almost manic in her skill. A pile of unconscious Death Eaters lay at her feet, and she continued to duel fiercely, plucking them off one by one. Maelioric’s pile was even bigger. A total of five Death Eaters had taken him now, and even though he was a superb dueler, Lottie wasn’t entire confident that he could defeat five at once. “Sectumsempra!” she shouted, her wand aimed at a Death Eater’s back.
The power of the hex caused the Death Eater to collapse promptly. Andrea’s Death Eater’s gaze followed the trail of the spell and landed on her. His face was masked, but Lottie could imagine him smiling. He began to approach her hiding place, behind a booth. Lottie shot hex after hex at him, but he blocked everything with a simple flick of his wand.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Lottie’s eyes were fixed on the man before her, but she knew what that sound meant. More Death Eaters were arriving. There was no way they could win this”they were grossly outnumbered. Lottie shot another hex at the Death Eater, but once again, he deflected it.
Crack! Crack!
People were screaming. Lottie’s tunnel vision did not let her see what was happening. Somebody sobbed. Killing curses were flying. In one last, desperate attempt, Lottie screamed, “Stupefy!” Yet again, the Death Eater blocked it. Laughter was emitting, muffled under his mask, as he raised his wand.
She was going to die. Lottie knew all too well what spell he was about to use, and there was nothing she could do about it.
But suddenly, the Death Eater collapsed. It was as if he were a puppet and somebody had just cut his strings. Lottie looked around wildly. Somebody had just saved her”who? Andrea was still dodging curses; Maelioric was still fighting a handful of Death Eaters; others were timidly picking some off one by one or otherwise cowering in the corner.
Lottie ducked again behind the booth; here, she could be safe, and pick off Death Eaters subtly. Her eyes scanned the scene. There were many more Death Eaters than before. They were all masked, all cloaked and hooded”except for one.
“Snape,” Lottie hissed when she recognized the curtains of greasy hair and hooked nose.
Rage erupted inside of her. He was the cause of all of this”he had betrayed them”Palmyitor had been wrong all along. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to run into the battle right then and hurt him as much as possible”but no”she couldn’t”she couldn’t leave this spot without being killed.
Crack!
It was only one Apparation this time”only one person. People shrieked”somebody was sobbing. Lottie saw even Maelioiric pause for half a moment out of shock. Lottie looked up and any sort of scream that she felt echoing in her lungs caught in her throat. In the center of the battle, cloaked, eyes glinting, stood the Dark Lord.
Lottie ducked farther behind the booth, so only her eyes peered out into the open. The Dark Lord strode forth purposefully and waved his wand. The rushing sound was deafening, the green light blinding. The curse had been aimed at the opposite wall, where the elderly barman stood. In horror, Lottie watched his thin frame crumple.
She should have kept fighting. She knew she should have tried harder to survive, but panic rose up in her throat and froze all of her limbs. The battle was commencing. Now Maelioric was fighting five Death Eaters, and using their bodies to avoid being spotted by the Dark Lord. Andrea continued to fight as if nothing had changed, as if she had already accepted her inevitable death.
Lottie turned her gaze back to the Dark Lord. He was scanning the scene carefully with his horrible, red eyes. He was looking for something”for someone. Lottie shrank back to the wall farther. His eyes flitted around the room, shifting from the mass of duelers unwittingly hiding Maelioric, to the pile of unconscious Death Eaters, and finally settling on Andrea.
“Wait,” he hissed. The hairs on Lottie’s neck stood on end at the sound of his voice. It was cold and high”unnatural. He strode forward and the Death Eaters who had been fighting Andrea shuffled out of the way.
Now it was just the Dark Lord and Andrea. Andrea kept a brave face, but Lottie could feel her fear. In a last effort, Andrea raised her wand to try to defend herself”but it flew out of her hand immediately. Now she was completely defenseless, but she didn’t back down.
“Is this not,” the Dark Lord began, “the filth I saw in the London headquarters six years ago?” The corners of his thin lips were stretching into a sinister smile. “Yes”you were then spared. But Severus tells me that you are of value, that you are Naesa Palmyitor’s favorite student. Is that not correct?”
Andrea did not speak. Her knees were trembling, but she kept her eyes fixed resolutely with the Dark Lord’s red ones. “Tell me, filth, where is Palmyitor now? Why is she not here to save you?”
Still Andrea didn’t answer. The Dark Lord’s smile faded. “Answer me,” he hissed. “Filth. Avada””
Lottie acted without thinking, without realizing what she was doing. “IMPEDIMENTA!” she bellowed. Her wand was not pointed at the Dark Lord, but at Andrea. And in that instant, the spell knocked Andrea to the ground. The Killing Curse soared right through where Andrea had just been standing and caused the counter behind her to crack.
What happened next took only a second. Those red eyes turned to face the source of the disruption, to face Lottie. His eyes were only on her for a moment, just long enough for them to flicker with recognition, before a jet of purple light collided with her chest, and everything went black.
Halfway to Infinity by Eponine
Chapter Notes: Thanks, coolh5000, for being an awesome beta! This chapter's dedicated to my friend, Hodge.