Before receiving Professor McGonagall's invitation and arriving at the underground dock draped with ivy curtains beneath the castle, Severus Snape's days had been relatively pleasant.
During this time, he had successfully maintained a delicate balance among his "friends." Just moments ago, he had once again coaxed and persuaded Tom Riddle's diary to perform another treatment for Nagini, gradually lifting the curse that plagued her.
Everything seemed to be proceeding according to his plan—or so he thought. In their exchanges, Tom assumed that the enemy Snape had previously encountered was none other than himself and hinted that he knew certain secrets about that man, suggesting Snape set aside his prejudices and join him in pledging allegiance to Lord Voldemort.
But when Snape pressed for specific reasons, Tom offered nothing convincing beyond vaguely mentioning that his true self had once had dealings with that man.
"I've told you, Tom," Snape wrote on the diary's pages, "I'm not a pure-blood. That man would never truly accept me."
"Trust me," Tom replied, "that man will greatly value your talents. He cares about ability, not blood."
"Perhaps," Snape wrote at last, "but I need time to think it over." With that, he snapped the diary shut and slipped it into the inner pocket of his robes.
On his way back to the castle, a tense voice broke his reverie.
"Snape!"
Snape looked up to see Professor McGonagall striding toward him, her expression unusually stern.
"Professor?" Snape asked, puzzled.
"At last, I've found you," McGonagall said, not slowing her pace, motioning with her eyes for him to follow. "Come with me. Professor Dumbledore has given instructions."
Snape raised an eyebrow. He hadn't seen Dumbledore around the school in days. What could this sudden summons mean?
"Professor, may I know—"
"Not now," McGonagall interrupted, turning into a narrow corridor Snape had never noticed before.
They passed through several hidden passageways until they reached a part of the castle Snape had never visited. A stone wall covered in creeping ivy blocked their path. McGonagall waved her wand, reciting a complex incantation. The vines writhed and parted like living creatures, revealing a dark, heavy door.
A damp, cold breeze wafted from within, exposing a descending stone staircase.
"What is this place?" Snape asked.
"The secret dock of Hogwarts," McGonagall replied in a low voice. "Built in the time of the Founders for emergency evacuations."
Descending the stairs, a vast underground dock came into view. The surface of the Black Lake shimmered like tinfoil under the flickering glow of magical torchlight.
A wooden boat, centuries old by the look of it, was moored at the dock. Professor Flitwick was directing a pile of fresh timber to transfigure and repair the boat's damaged hull.
House-elves appeared with sharp pops, ferrying barrels of drink and crates of various sizes across a gangplank into the boat's hold.
The scene was both busy and orderly, as if preparing for a grand voyage.
"What's all this, Professor McGonagall?" Snape asked softly, his heart suddenly racing.
He noticed intricate protective runes carved into the newly repaired sections of the boat's hull. In his memory, no such scene existed in the original story.
"Four days ago, Professor Dumbledore left the school," McGonagall said, pausing to face him. "Before he left, he told me that if he didn't return within a week, I was to organize the evacuation of all Muggle-born students from Hogwarts." She adjusted her glasses, her gaze locking onto Snape's. "He said you could help me manage the students and that I should take you with us."
"Evacuation? Why?" Snape's voice came out dry. "Where is Professor Dumbledore? What's he doing?"
This was entirely off-script, veering far from the path he had hoped to steer. Things were spiraling toward the unpredictable.
McGonagall pursed her lips and shook her head.
"I don't know," she said. "He didn't say, and I didn't have time to ask." Her eyes were resolute as she looked at Snape. "But you know, when Albus Dumbledore decides to handle something personally…"
What was Dumbledore up to? Snape remained silent. All this time, he had believed that his thorough knowledge of the "plot" would allow him to guide everything toward the best possible outcome.
He had secured the means to destroy Horcruxes and had personally destroyed two. He even carried another in his pocket. He had saved Nagini, altered Barty Crouch Jr.'s choices…
Moving forward, he wouldn't need to rely on Dumbledore's intricate, fragile plans that could collapse at the slightest misstep.
A rosy future should have been unfurling before him.
But now, the great wizard, the one who shielded everyone from the storm, was missing. McGonagall was preparing to evacuate students. The future was veering into uncharted territory.
"You said 'a week,'" Snape said. "That means we have three days left."
"These past few days," McGonagall continued, "even my Patronus couldn't reach him. That's never happened before. We must be ready to leave in three days."
"No," Snape said, raising his voice slightly. Several house-elves paused their work, startled, and Flitwick turned in surprise.
"You don't want to leave?" McGonagall frowned.
"No, I mean we can't just leave," Snape said firmly, thinking he'd have to clean up the old headmaster's mess. "Professor Dumbledore will return."
"I hope so, Severus," McGonagall said, her expression softening. It was the first time she had called him by his first name. She stepped closer, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But we must prepare for the worst. If he hasn't returned in three days—"
"Are we just going to sit and wait?" Snape interrupted. "Are we going to flee Hogwarts like stray dogs in three days, pinning all our hopes on Professor Dumbledore?"
The words slipped out before he could stop them. McGonagall's hand tightened on his shoulder.
Her eyes widened, and Flitwick lowered his wand, staring at him in shock.
"I'm sorry, Professor," Snape said immediately, forcing himself to calm down. "I got carried away."
"It's alright," Flitwick said, stepping closer, his voice surprisingly steady. "We're all under immense pressure."
"Severus," McGonagall said, nodding and taking a deep breath, "I understand how you feel. But as a teacher, my first duty is to protect the students and follow Professor Dumbledore's instructions."
"We can't just abandon him," Snape insisted. "We have to find him."
"But we don't know where he is," McGonagall said helplessly. "No method has been able to reach him."
"Have you tried asking them for help?" Snape asked, his gaze sweeping over the bustling house-elves.
"What?"
Snape approached the nearest elf, who was staggering under a stack of books taller than himself, his large eyes wide with effort.
"Hello, little elf. What's your name?" Snape knelt down, helping the elf set the books on the ground.
"Dobby, sir," the elf squeaked.
"Dobby, I have a question. Can you sense where Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of this school, is right now?"
The elf blinked his bulbous eyes, then closed them, his long ears twitching slightly.
After half a minute, he snapped his eyes open and nodded vigorously. "Yes! Dobby can feel Headmaster sir!"
McGonagall and Flitwick exchanged a look of astonished relief. "House-elves… how could we have overlooked them?"
"Professor," Snape turned to McGonagall, "have you ensured the elves keep all this secret?"
"Of course," McGonagall nodded. "All the elves involved in the preparations have been sworn to secrecy."
Snape looked back at Dobby. "Dobby, can you take me to Professor Dumbledore?"
The elf glanced hesitantly at McGonagall, who gave a slight nod.
"Yes, sir," Dobby said, extending a scrawny hand.
"Take me there," Snape said, reaching out.
Just as Dobby's small hand was about to touch Snape's, McGonagall strode forward and grasped the elf's other hand.
"Professor?" Snape looked up, surprised.
"I'm coming too," she said, meeting his startled gaze. "How could I let a student go alone on such a dangerous mission?"
Snape nodded.
In the next moment, the three vanished from the underground dock.
The sensation of Apparition was unusually sluggish and uncomfortable, like passing through thick syrup.
When Snape's feet touched solid ground again, he instinctively drew his wand, scooping up Dobby and rolling to the side.
McGonagall also moved swiftly, aiming her wand into the darkness.
No attack came. The place was deathly silent, save for a faint, eerie green glow in the distance.
After a brief pause, Snape gently set Dobby down, patting his head and signaling him to hide.
He fired a Stunning Spell toward the green light. As the red beam cut through the darkness, he glimpsed the surroundings. It was a vast cavern, with a black lake at its center, the green glow emanating from a small island in the middle.
Snape recognized this place. It was where Voldemort hid the Slytherin locket Horcrux.
He hadn't expected Dumbledore to track it down here. Had he already drunk the poison from the stone basin? If so, that could be good news—after all, Kreacher had survived the potion's effects.
"Lumos," McGonagall whispered, her wand tip igniting with bright light.
The light illuminated a nearby rock, where Dumbledore leaned, eyes closed, his face deathly pale. Beside him, an unfamiliar man cradled a young boy, both unconscious.
"Albus!" McGonagall gasped, rushing to Dumbledore's side.
They hurried to him. McGonagall immediately began checking the headmaster's condition, casting a series of healing spells.
"He's alive," she said, her voice filled with relief, "but very weak. I don't know why he won't wake."
Snape cautiously trained his wand on the two strangers, quickly checking them for wands or magical items.
The man appeared to be in his early thirties, dressed in a plain Muggle shirt and jeans. The boy, no older than ten, wore a T-shirt with a cartoon design. From the calluses on their hands, there were no signs of wand use.
"They might be Muggles caught up in this," Snape said quietly, casting healing spells on them. The boy stirred slightly but didn't wake.
"We need to leave now. This place doesn't feel safe," McGonagall said, magically scanning the surroundings. "No one else is alive here." She levitated Dumbledore and the two Muggles, calling to the elf. "Dobby, come here!"
Snape's gaze drifted to the eerie green glow at the lake's center.
In his memory, there should be a stone basin filled with emerald poison, which had to be drunk to retrieve the locket. If Dumbledore had found this place, then…
"Wait," Snape stopped the elf. "Dobby, look over there. Can you go to the island in the lake and check if there's a stone basin? See what's inside it."
"What?" McGonagall frowned. "Severus, we should leave now."
"But we need to know if Professor Dumbledore achieved his purpose here," Snape said, shaking his head and looking at the elf. "Please, Dobby."
The elf glanced nervously at the dark lake but nodded bravely and vanished with a pop.
Seconds later, he reappeared at Snape's feet.
"There's a stone basin, sir," Dobby reported, "on a black pedestal. There's a little green water inside, glowing. Nothing else."
"Just a shallow layer?" Snape pressed.
"Yes, sir, very little," Dobby confirmed.
A wave of complex emotions surged through Snape.
If Dumbledore had drunk the basin's contents, it should have refilled automatically. Unless… Voldemort had chosen this cave as a hiding place for the Horcrux but hadn't yet fully activated it.
If so, since Dumbledore had found this place, Voldemort would surely not place the locket here anymore. A Horcrux Snape thought he could easily secure had slipped through his fingers.
But if Dumbledore hadn't drunk the poison, why was he unconscious? And who were these Muggles?
As for Regulus, he might have to fend for himself.
"Severus?" McGonagall urged anxiously.
Snape fired a spell at the dark lake, but aside from ripples, no Inferi emerged.
"Let's go," he said to the elf. "Straight to the headmaster's office, Dobby."
The elf nodded, extending both hands.
Snape and McGonagall used Levitation Charms to lift Dumbledore and the Muggles, each taking one of Dobby's hands.
With a soft pop, they left the eerie cavern.
When the familiar surroundings of the headmaster's office enveloped them, McGonagall let out a true sigh of relief.
She carefully transfigured a wooden bed, conjuring a soft feather mattress, and settled Dumbledore onto it.
Striding to the window, she raised her wand, and three silver cats sprang from its tip, each with spectacle-shaped markings around their eyes.
The Patronuses leapt through the window, darting in different directions, scattering silver light across the night sky.
"Madam Pomfrey and the others will be here soon," McGonagall said, her voice tinged with exhaustion and relief. "He'll be alright. Thank you, Severus."
"It's nothing," Snape said, nodding as he settled the Muggles and glanced at Dumbledore, unable to suppress a sigh. His thoughts drifted far. The locket's whereabouts were now unknown. What should his next move be?
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