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 115: Commotion at Hogwarts
McGonagall was pacing around her office relentlessly. "Where are they? Why haven't we heard anything yet?!"
Pomona Sprout was sitting on a sofa on the other side of the room, watching her friend with concern. "Minerva, you have to calm down, you have been pacing nonstop for hours! At this rate…"
"How can I calm down?" McGonagall snapped. "I should have been there."
Pomona glanced at her with shock. "For what? The attack on Azkaban? Are you crazy? You are the school Headmistress, not an Auror or a soldier."
Last they heard, the assault on the former prison had not gone well. They lost most of the troops and were unable to find Harry Potter.
Sirius had taken a moment to send her a message when they were at Saint Mungo's.
He mentioned that Harry was planning something in London and they were going to stop him, but it had been several hours since she received that message, and there was still no more news.
The Headmistress was now fearing the worst...that everyone was dead.
She then had an idea and walked to the fireplace before grabbing a handful of Floo powder.
"Where are you going?" Pomona became startled when she saw this.
"I am going to call the Ministry. I'm sure Shacklebolt must have heard something already." She threw the dust into the flames and waited for a moment.
"Ministry of Magic, reception."
The green flames appeared for a bit… but then vanished.
"Hmm?" McGonagall stared at the fireplace in confusion.
"What happened?" Pomona noticed something strange and stood up, walking to her side.
"I don't know… I called the Ministry but the Floo didn't connect. The flame just disappeared."
"Let me see…" Pomona repeated McGonagall's actions, grabbing a fistful of Floo dust and throwing it into the fireplace before calling the Ministry of Magic.
Once more, the green flames went away after a few seconds.
"It's like… the Floo Network has been disconnected," Pomona said.
"That's…" McGonagall wanted to say that it was impossible, but a dark thought invaded her mind. What if the Ministry had been attacked by the Demon Lord?
"Headmistress!" They heard a sudden voice calling for her, as well as a loud banging on the door.
McGonagall had purposely left the gargoyle stairs open, so she could be warned quickly if anything were to happen.
"Hagrid?" She recognized the loud voice immediately. "Come in."
"Hufff…" The half-giant walked inside while breathing with difficulty, as if he had been running for a while. "Headmistress, you… the Minister… huff…"
"Hagrid, calm down." McGonagall found it ironic that she was now the one saying this. "Did something happen to the Minister? Did he send an owl?"
'Could this be related to the flaw in the Floo Network?' she wondered.
"The Minister… is here… Great Hall." Hagrid managed to say between breaths.
Pomona and McGonagall exchanged a look.
"We better go see for ourselves," Pomona suggested. It seemed like taking the information from the tired man would be a much longer process.
"Stay here and rest," McGonagall said to Hagrid. "We'll go see what happened."
The two women rushed to the Great Hall, and after having to run up seven sets of stairs, they weren't in much better shape than Hagrid himself.
"What is going on here?" McGonagall asked.
There was a loud commotion in the hall. Classes were currently suspended, so students would spend their days wandering around the castle — and right now, most of them appeared to be in the Great Hall.
Something was going on near the entrance gates on the other side, but the Headmistress was unable to see what it was because there were too many students in the way.
She and Pomona had to push everyone aside as they passed to reach the front.
"Okay, that's enough! Move!" McGonagall had to use an enhancement charm on her voice so people would listen.
The few remaining students got out of her way, and she was finally able to see what it was.
Right at the entrance of the hall, there was a group of adults sitting on the floor.
They all looked to be injured in some way and completely exhausted.
It took McGonagall a moment to realize that all these people were from the Ministry of Magic, and that the person at the center was none other than the Minister himself.
McGonagall gasped. "Kingsley!" She had to step over a young woman who had collapsed to reach her old friend.
"What happened to you all?"
"M-Minerva…" Shacklebolt lifted his eyes to look at her. "It… it's over… urgg…"
"What do you…" McGonagall's eyes opened wide when she spotted a large bleeding gash on his belly.
She turned around to the other professors who were nearby. "Call Madam Pomfrey immediately! And get the students back in their common rooms… NOW!"
Her voice resounded all over the Great Hall.
No one dared to disobey the Headmistress right now, so they all got moving.
In a few minutes, the hall was clear of students, and Madam Pomfrey was making her way to them, carrying a large bag of medical supplies.
She first attended to the Minister before turning her attention to the others.
After receiving first aid and drinking a blood-replenishing potion, Shacklebolt looked much better.
McGonagall noticed that Pomfrey skipped over a few of the people lying on the floor. She was about to question this when she realized that those people were already dead.
"Kingsley… what in Merlin's name happened at the Ministry? Did the demons attack it?" McGonagall asked.
The Minister shook his head. His eyes showed nothing but despair. "It wasn't just the Ministry of Magic…"
"What… what do you mean?" McGonagall looked confused.
"It's London! It's all gone!" Shacklebolt exclaimed.