The Necromancer

Chapter 35

“Potter!” Moody barked when Harry strolled towards them. “And where have you been? Preparing more terrorist acts?”

Blinking in confusion, Harry gestured over his own shoulder towards the woods. “I was taking a piss. We’re not allowed to use the bathrooms in the castle anymore. It’s not safe.”

“Castle go boom, castle go boom,” V agreed, hopping up and down on Marvolo’s shoulder.

“You did this!” Moody grumbled as he took a few large steps towards Harry so he could glare up at him, his scarred face scrunched up in obvious anger. “You and the Dark Lord’s spawn did this, and I’ll prove it, mark my words!”

Harry held up both hands, giving Moody an unimpressed look while he really wanted to commend Barty for his acting skills.

Moody turned around and spotted some of the students gathered nearby staring at him with opened mouths. “What are you all looking at? Go back to your dormitories!” And with that, Moody stormed off across the lawn.

“Don’t go back into the castle,” Marvolo called towards the bewildered students. “We’ll have accommodations set up for you in no time at all.”

Harry shared an amused glance with Marvolo as V quickly flew back to settle on Harry’s shoulder. They dutifully conjured tent after tent, making them big enough to house an entire year’s worth of students inside, separated by gender. Marvolo took care of the tents, while Harry conjured sleeping mats and sleeping bags, making sure each tent had at least six. That would allow the students to catch a few hours of sleep at least before the Hogwarts Express arrived.

When they had enough tents set up and the students that trickled out of the castle retreated into them one after another, Harry and Marvolo walked back inside the castle. Officially, to see if they could be of further help. Unofficially, because they wanted to see the damage they’d accidentally caused.

It was quite the disaster, to be honest. Removing the Chamber had collapsed a significant part of the castle, several floors up. Debris and dust was everywhere, and several portraits had been lost or damaged in the collapse. Their occupants complained loudly, almost drowning out Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Maxime and Crouch Sr, who stood discussing the damage.

“We conjured enough tents,” Harry said to Dumbledore as though he was a soldier reporting to his general. Harry wanted to appear nothing but helpful at that moment, to hopefully drive any suspicion away from them. He truly hadn’t meant to cause such damage to Hogwarts. “Was there anything else you needed help with right now?”

Dumbledore looked at him in surprise for a moment before shaking his head. “Ah, no, there is nothing else needed at the moment. The Ministry will send some specialists tomorrow to assess the damage and arrange repairs. For now, the students need to be evacuated, but our staff is arranging that.”

“We’ll make sure all the students get settled into tents,” Harry suggested with a kind smile, putting on a bit of an act in front of their current audience.

Nodding, Dumbledore turned back towards the others. “Yes, thank you, Harry.”

But before Harry and Marvolo could take their leave, Moody came clunking around the corner. “They did it, Albus. Mark my words, these two terrorists just attacked Hogwarts.”

“Now, now, Alastor,” Dumbledore said with a surprisingly tired look aimed at his old friend. “Do you have any evidence of this?”