A School Field Trip
Snape immediately slowed down as his gaze swept over the surroundings before settling on Percy and, above all, Harry.
For a moment, Harry thought he'd seen something resembling concern in his eyes, but when he looked more closely, Snape still had that same expression as if the world owed him something, so he figured it must've been his imagination.
Snape didn't speak immediately. After looking at Harry, his gaze moved across the floor and the obvious signs of battle around them, as well as the battered state of the two boys, although neither of them seemed to be injured.
After that, he frowned and approached with his usual expression.
"Could you two explain," Snape began with a coldness even greater than usual, "what you're doing in this place?" Although he already seemed to have a pretty clear idea.
Percy was the first to try.
"School field trip?"
Snape stared at him, looking like he had absolutely no interest in listening to Percy's nonsense right now, although, to be fair, he never had much interest in that.
Even so, Snape looked around again as if making sure nothing would suddenly appear.
"We'd better continue this conversation somewhere else. Follow me," he said as he pulled out his wand and, with a simple flick of his wrist, cast a spell on Ginny and Tyson, who were still unconscious on the floor, making them begin to float.
"Where to?" Harry couldn't help asking.
"To the Headmaster's office, Potter. Unless your brother has another school field trip planned. With a little luck, you'll manage to get yourselves killed this time," Snape replied sarcastically.
Percy opened his mouth, but right now, Harry was honestly pretty exhausted, both physically and mentally, so he simply covered his brother's mouth before he could say something troublesome and resigned himself to following Snape, who had already taken the lead without waiting for either of them to agree.
Harry and Percy followed Snape out of the Chamber of Secrets, taking the same path they'd used to get there, while Ginny and Tyson floated unconscious behind the professor.
As soon as they emerged through the hole in the wall into the corridor, they heard a familiar voice.
"Harry! Percy!"
Hermione, who was standing beside Ron and Mark, immediately ran toward them with a worried expression when she saw the state of their clothes. Her eyes quickly moved over both of them to check whether either had any injuries, and she brought a hand to her chest, relieved to see that they seemed to be fine.
Then her gaze settled on Ginny and Tyson, both unconscious.
"Are they okay?" she exclaimed. "What happened in there?! Where were you?!"
"They're just unconscious. They're fine, Hermione," Harry answered, trying to reassure her.
"Well, more or less," Percy added, not wanting to mention that Ginny had almost had all her life force drained to bring a memory back to life.
Ron, who saw his sister floating behind Snape, immediately ran toward her, even with his body aching and covered in bruises.
"GINNY!" he shouted worriedly, wanting to get her back.
"Out of the way, Weasley," the professor ordered, without stopping to explain anything.
At that moment, several hurried footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Professor McGonagall appeared, accompanied by Flitwick and Sprout. All three stopped when they saw the state of the place and Lockhart lying on the floor.
Mark, who hadn't said much since seeing that tattoo, remained with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall with an annoyed expression. However, the professors' attention soon turned toward Ginny and Tyson, who were still unconscious.
"Merlin's beard!" McGonagall exclaimed. "Severus! What happened?"
"I found Potter and Jackson inside what appears to be the Chamber of Secrets," Snape answered dryly. "Along with these two, both unconscious."
McGonagall watched the brothers for a moment, but immediately turned her attention toward Ginny and Tyson.
"Pomona, take these two to the hospital wing immediately."
"Of course."
Sprout pulled out her wand and hurried to take charge of both of them, while Ron tried to follow her.
"Professor! She's my sister!"
"You may come with me, Mr. Weasley, but don't get in the way. Although it looks like you need to go there yourself," Sprout replied when she saw Ron's condition.
Then she hurried off, followed by Ron, who was limping as he walked.
McGonagall turned toward Flitwick.
"Filius, stay here and guard the entrance. Don't let anyone near it until we know exactly what happened."
Flitwick nodded and headed toward the enormous hole leading to the Chamber of Secrets.
Finally, McGonagall looked toward Lockhart, who was still lying defeated in the corridor. With a movement of her wand, she made sure he was completely immobilized before giving Mark and Hermione a stern look.
"You two will stay here with me. I want a full explanation of what happened with Professor Lockhart."
Then she turned toward Snape.
"Severus, take Potter and Jackson to the Headmaster's office. I'm sure the Headmaster will want to hear personally what happened down there."
Snape nodded with an expression of obvious displeasure.
"With pleasure."
Harry and Percy exchanged a look. It seemed there was no getting out of ending up in the Headmaster's office, no matter what happened.
"Move," Snape ordered, turning around.
The brothers barely had time to say goodbye to Hermione before hurrying after him.
...
After what felt like hours of waiting, Harry and Percy finally found themselves sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk. During all that time, neither of them had managed to find out what had happened to Ginny and Tyson.
The Headmaster seemed to have been talking to what looked like some kind of glowing tabby cat, while Snape stood off to one side with his arms crossed and his usual expression of displeasure.
When the cat made of light finally disappeared, Dumbledore turned toward them and watched them in silence for a few seconds before opening his mouth.
"First of all, I'm glad to see that you're both all right," Dumbledore began, looking at the two brothers.
Fawkes, who had somehow arrived before them, was now perched on the Headmaster's shoulder while he fed him seeds.
"I think you'll be happy to know that Tyson is doing well too. Madam Pomfrey has examined him and, apparently, he was only unconscious. He should wake up soon."
Percy let out a sigh of relief.
"And Ginny?" Harry immediately asked.
Dumbledore's expression became a little more serious.
"I'm afraid Miss Weasley wasn't quite as fortunate. Her condition was somewhat more delicate, although thankfully, her life is not in danger. She's been transferred to St. Mungo's to receive specialized care, and we've already informed her parents."
Harry let out a long sigh, feeling like he could finally relax a little. For a moment, he'd really thought Ginny wouldn't survive. Percy also seemed to calm down after learning that both she and Tyson were out of danger.
"Now then..." Dumbledore continued, interlacing his fingers on his desk. "I believe we have quite a few things to discuss."
Snape, who had remained silent until then, gave the brothers a particularly unpleasant look.
"Starting with how these two managed to find the Chamber of Secrets and, apparently, survive whatever happened down there."
Dumbledore nodded slowly before looking back at Harry and Percy.
"What happened down there?"