Chapter Twenty-Five
"Night Time Wanderings"

Page Two

"We need to go," she said. "It's McGonagall…"

"What about her?" he asked plainly, his eyes darting to and fro.

"I…I…" Madam Pomfrey tried to catch her breath, but couldn't.

"Never mind that," said Snape, dropping his cane to the floor. "I'll run on ahead, collect yourself then catch up with me."

Madam Pomfrey nodded, rubbing a cramp in her side.

Snape set off at a quick jog, his weakness from being attacked weeks before was still with him and it kept him from running at full speed. His legs ached with every frantic step, but there was no time for pain.

A few moments later, Madam Pomfrey decided she was needed in the hospital wing more than she needed to catch her breath. She gathered her courage and set off at a run, determined to catch up with Snape.

Snape, however, had already entered the hospital wing and was heading down the hidden staircase. He turned the bronze doorknob, slowly opening the door. He stepped over the threshold, unwilling to believe his eyes.

He was alone in the room. McGonagall was not in her bed. Instead, the bedclothes lay in a disheveled heap on the floor. He quickly looked behind the door: no one there.

Panic began to set in as the reality of the situation sank onto his tired shoulders. He knew for a fact that nothing short of a miracle could bring Professor McGonagall out of her coma and yet she was no where to be found.

He turned and left the hidden chamber as quickly as he could and ran up the stairs. He was so beside himself that he nearly knocked Madam Pomfrey to the floor, bumping into her outside the hospital wing door. He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling, but immediately his nostrils flared and he demanded,

"What happened?"

"A…All I know… is what I heard," she stuttered, gasping for air.

"Tell me!" he bellowed. Still holding her firmly by her shoulders, he pushed her back into the hospital wing, then slammed the door behind them. He moved his left hand onto her upper arm and held it tight. He pulled her along to the staircase, limping from the pain in his left side. They entered the room and Snape pointed at the bed.

"A comatose woman does not just get up and walk out of a room!" his voice was starting to lose its normal edge. He seemed both physically and emotionally exhausted. "Tell me what happened! I need to know everything."

"I was taking a short nap in that chair," said Madam Pomfrey faintly, walking over to the chair and pointing to it. "Then, I heard a noise. I looked around; there was nothing there. I tried to fall back asleep again, but then I heard it a second time. I ran up the stairs into the main ward, it was empty as well. I came back down here and just when I was about to fall asleep, I heard it again. I looked at McGonagall just as she started reciting…" Madam Pomfrey looked up at Snape, a very frightened look on her face. "You won't believe me."

"Try me," growled Snape, his nostrils flared.

"She…" stuttered Madam Pomfrey, questioning her sanity once more. "She was reciting a poem."

"Do you remember the exact words?" he asked slowly.

"I'll never forget them," her voice was getting as weak as Snape felt. She recalled the poem, word for word, to which Snape's hand began to twitch.

"Poe," he said distinctly.

"What?" Madam Pomfrey was thoroughly confused.

"Edgar Allan Poe," repeated Snape. "That's from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe."

Madam Pomfrey, half shocked that Snape knew poetry, also still utterly perplexed by the entire situation.

Snape glared at the empty bed, thinking as concisely as he could to try and assess the situation. After a moment's pause, he said resolutely, "I'm going after her, she can't have gone far. Go to the Great Hall immediately, Poppy. Pull Hagrid aside and let him know what's happened, but please, be discreet. I have reason to believe…" he paused, uncertain how to say what was on his mind. "I have a feeling there's someone here that's not all they seem."

"I understand," said Madam Pomfrey, standing up. They walked out of the room, closing the door behind them and hiding the staircase once more. As they left the hospital wing and stood in the hallway outside the door, they looked solemnly at each other and parted ways without saying another word.

Snape began jogging through the halls, turning corners at random and opening doors whenever he felt the impression to do so. After only a few moments of this wild goose chase, he spotted someone in a white linen nightdress turn the corner at the end of the hall he had just entered.

"Minerva!" he shouted, trying to run down the hall. His left leg was beginning to become limp. With each step it become even harder to make it move. He raced around the corner, sliding slightly as he tried to slow down to make it safely around the bend. The person in the white nightdress was just about to turn another corner at the end of this hall. He still wasn't certain if it was McGonagall, but he dismissed these paranoid thoughts, assuming it to be her. He raced forward again, determined to make the left side of his frail body in motion.

He reached the corner and turned sharply, only to see that he'd reached a dead end and there stood McGonagall, facing the wall, her nose nearly pressed against the stone.

"Minerva," gasped Snape as he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. He took a sharp breath as he saw that her eyes were closed; she was asleep. He shook her gently, trying to wake her up.

"Minerva," he repeated. "What happened? Wake up…" his voice trailed off as he saw a shadow appear on McGonagall's face. Someone was standing behind him. Just as he was turning around, a hand rose up behind him and struck him on the back of the head with a blunt object. All he saw was black as he fell to the floor.

Madam Pomfrey opened the doors to the Great Hall as quietly as she could and walked in. She found Hagrid there, surrounded by a few students who looked tired and shaken. She walked over to Hagrid and waved her hand at him to get him to come over to her. He got the message and shuffled carefully past the students.

"Hagrid," whispered Madam Pomfrey, looking skeptically around the room as she spoke. "Something strange has happened."

"I'll say," replied Hagrid. "You should hear the stories the kids are tellin' me. It would curl yer hair."

"I can only imagine how frightened the children must be," said Madam Pomfrey looking across the Hall at the huddle of students.

Hagrid sighed and turned his head towards the students, a tear forming in his eye.

"Somethin's happenin', Poppy," he said uncomfortably. "Somethin's happenin' and these poor kids are stuck 'ere and I don' think we're ready fer it."

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