Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 50: The Year Is Over
The next morning, all students at Hogwarts had been called to the Great Hall for an emergency announcement.
The students were all thinking the same thing while looking nervously around the hall.
"Did someone else die?" Neville asked the others.
"Is anyone missing?" Seamus scanned the table. "I don't think so."
Ron glanced in the direction where Harry was sitting with Hermione. "Tsk!... looks like we are all here."
Neville noticed where Ron was looking. "He didn't come back to the bedroom last night… did you guys notice that?"
"He rarely does," Seamus added. "Where is he sleeping?"
"Who cares?" Ron huffed. "I just want to know why they called us here so early. There are still two hours until breakfast! This is outrageous… we are supposed to be resting for our last days."
Some of the professors began to make their way into the hall.
McGonagall walked directly to the podium while a few of the professors stood behind her with solemn expressions on their faces.
"Where is the Headmaster?" Neville wondered.
"Yeah, isn't he supposed to do the announcements?" Seamus said.
"I just hope they get this over quickly so I can go back to sleep!" Ron added.
McGonagall cleared her throat and asked for everyone to be quiet, then she began to speak again. "It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that… until further notice, Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry, is closed with immediate effect."
"Hold on… what did she say?" Ron looked confused.
Just like everyone else in the hall.
"Closed? But why now? The year is almost over." Ginny looked over at the Ravenclaw table, where her current boyfriend, Michael Corner, was sitting. "That's not fair, we still had five more days!"
"Did she say until further notice?" Hermione turned to Harry. "Does she mean they are not reopening the school?"
"Calm down. Even if they don't, there are other schools out there. It's not the end of the world." Harry was paying more attention to the professors.
He wasn't surprised that they made this decision after what happened to the Headmaster.
'No one came to get me last night, so I guess they still have no idea it was me.' Harry had been preparing to make a quick escape in case they did.
He had no intention of becoming a prisoner in his own house.
'Although I hope they reopen it for next year. It would make things more difficult if they decided to keep it closed.' He had made the decision to take over this castle for himself, and he was not one for backing down once his mind was set on something.
Professor McGonagall waited a few minutes for the hall to quiet down a bit before continuing. However, she offered no explanation about the motives behind the school closure.
Neither she nor the other professors felt that it would be a good idea to announce something like this in the hall. They would instead send a letter to the parents, giving all the details.
"The Hogwarts Express will depart the Hogsmeade station in three hours. I urge all students to return to your bedrooms and start packing your belongings. I request all prefects, the Head Boy, and the Head Girl to assist in this endeavor to make sure everyone cooperates."
"Three hours?!" Neville exclaimed.
"So we are not even having breakfast today?" Ron looked horrified.
"Is that what you are worried about?" Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother's behaviour.
As McGonagall had requested, all prefects guided the students to their common rooms and urged them to start packing.
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A bit over two hours later, most of the students were already at the station, waiting for the train to arrive.
"We are being sent off with no explanation whatsoever." Hermione looked very annoyed as she adjusted the weight of her bags. "Something terrible must have happened for them to do this."
"I suppose so," Harry responded with little interest. Because, of course, to him, this was not a mystery.
"Are you going to come visit during the summer?" Luna leaned closer to him and stared with her intense silver eyes.
"Perhaps… I have many things planned for the summer, and I need some time to ponder over them," Harry told her.
His first priority was to increase his power. These two girls were useful for many things, but they wouldn't do much if the entire Ministry of Magic came after him once they discovered he was behind all those murders.
Several steps had been marked in his agenda:
Retake control of Azkaban and its dementors. Infiltrate the Ministry and obtain the Codex Daemonium, a book about demonology that would allow him to form pacts with those creatures.
'That's not going to be easy.' Harry didn't know how secure that museum of Dark Arts was, since neither he nor the previous user of this body had been there.
He wasn't even sure if the Ministry already existed during his previous life, and had only heard some rumours about a council of old wizard families being formed.
His eyes moved to the two girls next to him. 'One thing is for sure. These two won't be able to help me. If only I had gotten hold of someone with connections to this Ministry of Magic.'
He couldn't really think of many candidates. Ron's father worked there, but his status was very low.
Also, the idea of turning any of the Weasleys into his followers was not very appealing to him.
Harry was about to ask the girls when he heard the train approaching.
"Time to go home, I guess," Hermione commented, not looking very happy about being sent out of school before it was time.
"Let's go then," Harry said.
'But it is not home where I am going,' he then thought.
Not yet, at least.
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