Chapter 146
Chapter 146
After breakfast, it was as though an inaudible bell had rung.
Everyone poured out of the Great Hall at once and hurried towards the castle grounds. Entertainment was scarce at Hogwarts. Apart from wizard chess, nothing drew a crowd like Quidditch, and no one wanted to wait so long for a match only to end up with a poor view.
The clever ones had already taken their breakfasts to the pitch to claim seats.
Suer naturally followed the crowd out of the Great Hall, but turned aside in the entrance hall and quietly slipped away beneath the cover of the noise and crush.
He made his way up the marble staircase, stepped over a stair that abruptly vanished and reached the second floor.
The clamour and laughter gradually receded, leaving the castle quiet once more.
Only the soft tread of Suer’s footsteps echoed along the second-floor corridor.
Before long, he reached the corridor containing the library and saw the broad, black-robed figure waiting silently for him.
Torches burned throughout the castle corridors all year round. A breeze passing through the passage stirred the flames, casting the dark figure’s shadow across the smooth flagstones.
It looked like an enormous bat spreading its claws.
“Professor Snape.” Suer stopped beside him.
Snape was as unsmiling as ever. His face was cold and rigid, his hair remained greasy, and he regarded Suer with eyes as chilly as a serpent’s.
No wonder most young wizards were afraid to be alone with Snape. No one could feel cheerful beneath a stare that made them seem already dead.
Had Suer not been fortunate enough, on a few brief occasions, to witness other emotions on Professor Snape’s face, even he could not have endured it.
“I do not know what Dumbledore finds so appealing about you,” Snape said coldly after staring at Suer for a long moment. “As far as I can see, apart from a talent that is marginally interesting, you are no different from the rest of those witless children.”
Suer lowered his head and secretly curled his lip. He would take that as a compliment.
“Follow me,” Snape said.
Swish. His black robes cracked through the air as he turned and strode towards another corridor.
Suer followed in silence.
The long passage outside the library fell quiet once more. A moment later, hurried footsteps sounded, and a girl with furry ears darted into view at the far end.
Some time later, she emerged holding a small note, her face alight with excitement.
She picked a direction and trotted briskly down the passage. Her light footsteps made her excellent mood obvious, as though a problem that had troubled her for a long time had finally been answered.
Yet as she passed a gloomy corridor, she stopped despite her haste. Uncertainty flickered in her eyes, and she slowly backed up.
The corridor was exceptionally secluded. It did not even have torches of its own, and only when the flames outside swayed in the wind did light occasionally reach one corner.
Young wizards seldom lingered in a corridor that held nothing but a few sword-bearing stone statues with half their bodies missing.
Now, however, the passage gave her a strange feeling. A deep, wet trail ran from the outer corridor towards its depths, as though something long had slithered inside.
“Lumos.” The girl drew her wand and spoke the incantation. A pinprick of light appeared at its tip.
“Is anyone in there?” she called loudly as she approached.
No one answered. Her foot paused before the dark flagstones beyond the reach of the torchlight. She drew several deep breaths, taking in air that seemed unlike the rest of the castle — why did it carry such a strange smell?
She hesitated only briefly before taking a cautious step inside.
One step, two, three…
With the light from her wand, she finally saw what lay at the end of the corridor.
Clatter…
Her wand fell onto the grey flagstones with a sharp crack.
The last sweep of its light illuminated her deathly pale face.
At the same moment, the Quidditch pitch beside the castle walls was in uproar. The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor players were in position, and at a blast from Madam Hooch’s whistle, accompanied by Lee Jordan’s impassioned commentary, they soared into the air.
The young wizards chatted in breathless excitement and raised their Omnioculars.
Harry felt the warm breeze brush his forehead as he climbed straight into the air.
With a nimble turn, he evaded a Bludger racing towards him and sent it on towards the Weasley twins.
The twins worked in perfect harmony. One bat after the other met the Bludger, and together they toyed with it between them, drawing a burst of cheers.
After completing the splendid manoeuvre, Harry climbed higher. With the sun at his back, he held his broom steady and narrowed his eyes as he scanned the pitch.
A glint of gold flashed in the sunlight.
The Golden Snitch!
Harry immediately came alive. He bent low over his broom, ready to shoot forwards.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall came hurrying through the small gate at the edge of the pitch, clutching an enormous purple megaphone.
Madam Hooch blew the whistle to suspend the match and landed on the grass to meet Professor McGonagall. Every player stopped in mid-air, staring in bafflement as the two professors conferred on the pitch.
Harry had a terrible feeling. His heart sank like a stone.
“The match has been cancelled!” Professor McGonagall announced to the crowded stands through the megaphone. At the same time, Madam Hooch sounded the final whistle and beckoned the teams down from the air.
An uproar broke out in the stands. The young wizards booed and shouted their objections. Following Madam Hooch’s signal, Harry descended to the grass, where Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor captain, had already dismounted and was saying something to Professor McGonagall.
“All students, listen carefully. You must return to your House common rooms immediately. Your Heads of House will tell you more there.”
Plainly, Wood’s arguments had not changed Professor McGonagall’s mind. She made the announcement through the megaphone, and the decision was final.
“Please leave as quickly as possible!”
The young wizards resented losing such a rare diversion, but Professor McGonagall’s grave expression made it clear that the match truly had been stopped and would not resume.
Led by their prefects, they filed out of the stands.
Professor McGonagall lowered the megaphone, looked past Wood and beckoned to Harry.
“Potter, I think you had better come with me…”
Harry’s sense of dread deepened, but he obediently nodded, picked up his broom and followed Professor McGonagall.
As they left the pitch for the castle, Ron forced his way out of the grumbling crowd and ran towards them.
Professor McGonagall did not object.
“Very well. Perhaps you had better come too, Weasley.”