His face within inches of hers. She refused to back away, but looked down at him as if he

Were something disgusting she had found stuck to the lavatory seat.

“It's not a case of what you'll permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time's over. It's

us what's in charge here now, and you'll back me up or you'll pay the price.”

And he spat in her face.

Harry pulled the Cloak off himself, raised his wand, and said, “You shouldn't

have done that.”

As Amycus spun around, Harry shouted, “Crucio!”

The Death Eater was lifted off his feet. He writhed through the air like a

Drowning man, thrashing and howling in pain, and then, with a crunch and a shattering of

Glass, he smashed into the front of a bookcase and crumpled, insensible, to the floor.

“I see what Bellatrix meant,” said Harry, the blood thundering through his brain, “you

need to really mean it.”

“Potter!” whispered Professor McGonagall, clutching her heart. “Potter--- you're

here! What---? How---?” She struggled to pull herself together. “Potter, that was

foolish!”

“He spat at you,” said Harry.

“Potter, I --- that was very --- gallant of you --- but don't you realize --?”

“Yeah, I do,” Harry assured her. Somehow her panic steadied him. “Professor

McGonagall, Voldemort's on the way.”

“Oh, are we allowed to say the name now?” asked Luna with an air of interest,

Pulling off the Invisibility Cloak. The appearance of a second outlaw seemed to

Overwhelm Professor McGonagall, who staggered backward and fell into a nearby chair,

Clutching at the neck of her old tartan dressing gown.

“I don't think it makes any difference what we call him,” Harry told Luna. “He

already knows where I am.”

In a distant part of Harry's brain, that part connected to the angry, burning scar, he

Could see Voldemort sailing fast over the dark lake in the ghostly green boat.... He had

Nearly reached the island where the stone basin stood....

“You must flee,” whispered Professor McGonagall, “Now Potter, as quickly as

you can!”

“I can't,” said Harry, “There's something I need to do. Professor, so you know

where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?”

“The d-diadem of Ravenclaw? Of course not --- hasn't it been lost for

centuries?” She sat up a little straighter “Potter, it was madness, utter madness, for you

to enter this castle---”

“I had to,” said Harry. “Professor, there's something hidden here that I'm

Supposed to find, and it could be the diadem--- if I could just speak to Professor Flitwick-

--”

There was a sound of movement, of clinking glass. Amycus was coming round.

Before Harry or Luna could act, Professor McGonagall rose to her feet, pointed her wand

at the groggy Death Eater, and said, “Imperio.”

Amycus got up, walked over to his sister, picked up her wand, then shuffled

Obediently to Professor McGonagall and handed it over along with his own. Then he lay

Down on the floor beside Alecto. Professor McGonagall waved her wand again, and a

Length of shimmering silver rope appeared out of thin air and snaked around the Carrows,

Binding them tightly together.

“Potter,” said Professor McGonagall, turning to face him again with superb

indifference to the Carrows' predicament. “if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named does indeed

know that you are here---”

As she said it, a wrath that was like physical pain blazed through Harry, setting

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 660