It was the one farthest to the left that began to change first. His body started to twist and contort as his size changed and his hair shortened, his skin grew younger and lines disappeared from his face. Within five seconds, Severus gasped, he knew exactly who he was looking at. It took Moody thirty more seconds to figure out who it was.

Harry watched intently. The man, and it was a man taking the polyjuice potion, had hair that stopped below his shoulders. It's colour had barely changed from that of Dumbledore's and his eyes had turned from blue to silver.

Yet somehow, Lucius Malfoy managed to look simply outstanding in robes much too large for him, surrounded by Aurors and children. His chin was up and his eyes flashed angrily as he looked around the room. Moody stepped towards him, wand up, but before he could ask any questions, another of the transforming Dumbledores drew every ones attention.

This one shrank as his hair barely shot back into his skull, leaving him still looking much like Dumbledore. There wasn't much change in his face, he only appeared to be a few years younger than Dumbledore himself. But once the transformation was complete and in Dumbledore's place sat yet another Hogwarts professor, things started to change.

Moody was rapidly swinging his magical eye and wand between the two transformed professors. Flitwick looked rather feeble compared to Lucius, but Moody didn't yell, “CONSTANT Vigilance!” He took his own advice, rather a bit too seriously, so seriously that it was interfering with his job now.

“Please, I can explain.” Flitwick raised his hand feebly and made a tiny gesture towards Malfoy, as if he was trying to tell Moody to keep his wand trained on the blond man. “I'm certain you'll understand and everyone can continued with their business, go on with their cheerful day.”

“Don't raise your wands yet.” Moody warned. “I don't want them to have any way to accuse us of interrogating them with intimidation.”

Moody's wand stayed trained on Malfoy for a fraction of a second longer than usual. That was all that Filius Flitwick needed. Here, his small size was advantageous as he drew a wand from a secret compartment inside his robes and quickly made the robes come alive and as he dived out of them, they began to walk quite quickly towards Moody, wrapping him in their fabric embrace.

Severus and Bellatrix both pulled their wands and trained them on the professor along with all the Aurors not occupied watching Malfoy. But it seemed to be in vain.

Flitwick seemed to be everywhere at once. One moment he was casting a “Stupefy” over one of the Aurors, the next he was on the other side of the Great Hall, enchanting suits of armour and sending them towards the gathered wizards.

Severus approached cautiously, trying to stay out of Flitwick's view. The man hadn't earned all his duelling titles and trophies without getting to be a very, very good and clever fighter. Normally Severus was glad, for the little professor was usually quite reasonable and kind. He was a valued member of staff and one of few close friends to the Snape family. At least, everyone had thought he was their friend. It wasn't so certain any longer.

It only took the expert dueller a moment to notice Severus sneaking up on him and within a split second, he once again had the advantage. A few weather charms and a strong blocking charm separated him and Severus from the rest of the Great hall's occupants.

Severus pointed his wand at Flitwick's chest and cast a silent disarming charm. Flitwick countered it easily and sent a boiling charm back at him. It hit Severus's knee and he hissed in pain as his leg burned from the sensation of hot water.

“Filius, what's happening? Are you being possessed? Why are you doing this?” He asked, sending out two disarming charms in quick succession. One Filius countered and the other he ducked under. Then staying low, he cast a silent charm, one that Severus couldn't recognize.

The blue bolt nearly grazed Severus' shoulder. He stepped to the side just in the nick of time. “Flitwick, snap out of it!” He ordered harshly, hoping his tone might help the man pull out of whatever was happening to him. Severus wasn't even letting himself think about the possibility of Flitwick doing this on his own. It was too negative and he didn't think the little man was capable of it.

While Severus' attention was on his words, Flitwick sent out three spells, aiming them at various locations in the blocking spell. One missed, another Severus avoided, the third he walked straight into as he was avoiding the second one. The green light hit him in the back and he fell backwards, limbs relaxing and collapsing around him.

Flitwick quickly cast concealment and disillusionment charms over his body and crouched against the wall, blending in nearly perfectly next to the very dead body of Severus Snape.

***

Bellatrix tried to make the students sit down and stop screaming. The bustle of terrified people, Aurors and children alike was making it impossible for anyone to do anything. Some were tripping and others stepping on them. Some of the Aurors had chosen not to abandon watching Lucius Malfoy and had their backs turned to the threat of Flitwick.

Harry drew his wand and looked around nervously, he was feeling lost, and confused, not to mention terrified out of his mind.

One of the Aurors fell from a Stupefy and Bellatrix decided she'd had enough. Someone had to get the students under control and take command if Moody couldn't. And the senior Auror was standing shell-shocked in his shoes. His mouth was hanging open and even his magical eye had stopped looking about.

“Sonourous.” Bellatrix said, placing her wand against throat. “Quiet! Please everyone, just settle down.” Her cries went unheeded over the din and people continued to run about madly, adding more to the chaos than helping.

Then it all changed. A great wind began to blow and with fell torrential rains, beginning to flood the room. Bellatrix quickly looked up to the enchanted ceiling, and oddly enough it showed a darkening sky with a setting sun. Not a cloud in sight. But the raindrops falling in her eyes didn't fit into the picture.

Harry joined to group of students and tried to squeeze into their crowd. For some reason, he felt safer surrounded by students. Of course, it made him a more visible target and any group or area spells now had a much higher probability of hitting him. But all logic was gone. Only the instinct for survival remained.

Bellatrix jogged across the hall and pointed her wand at Lucius Malfoy. “Incerasours. Silenceo.” With the wizard out of the way she turned to the Aurors. “Make a square and cast a water repelling charm. We've got to get this rain under-control!” she ordered, the Sonourous charm still amplifying her voice.

The frozen Aurors moved, their training kicking in as order were shouted. Most of them had never been in a battle situation and had been completely unprepared for what had occurred, forgetting everything they'd ever learned from Moody and the Auror Academy.

Four Aurors set themselves up in a square and began the long chant that would create a semi-permanent barrier to keep the rain off of them. Another two began to organize the students and stop them from running around frantically and hurting each other accidentally.

Bellatrix approached Moody. The senior Auror was standing stuck in the middle of the hall, as if everything in his life had just failed him. She put a hand on his arm.

Moody drew his wand, jumped back and pointed it at her face. After a second he relaxed. “I . . . mistook you for someone else. Please, just give me a moment.”

Bellatrix looked worriedly at him, but she did as he asked and headed over to the crowd of Hogwarts students. “Everyone, get out your wand and cast a heating charm on yourself. This rain is freezing and until we can get it to stop we don't want anyone to develop an illness.”

Slowly the panic abated and the students began to work together, the older ones helping the younger. Small tents and rain jackets were conjured and put on. The rain shield still wasn't finished, but so far umbrellas were working. Bellatrix looked over the assembled students before walking to the door. Sending people to safety hadn't even occurred to her before, her only thoughts being to fight and stop the pain of others.

One of the Aurors who'd been working with the children approached her before she could touch the door. “I wouldn't touch that if I were you. There's a bit of a blue glow around the edge, some kind of spell has been cast on it and we're not sure what it will do.” He pointed to the door-frame, it was along the crack in the floor that the blue membrane was the most visible.

“Have you tested it?” Bellatrix asked, bending lower to examine the blue light. She glanced up at the Auror and sighed mentally when he shook his head. I swear, Aurors grow more and more incompetent every year! Soon they won't even be able to tie their own shoes! She quickly used a cutting charm to remove one of the buttons from her robe and threw it on the door. It caught fire and fluttered down as ashes a few seconds later. “Well that's not going to work.”

The Auror pointed his wand at the door and began to mutter some of the more common counter-curses and charms that might have worked if anyone but a master had cast those charms on the door. And since Flitwick's skills weren't exactly mediocre, none of his attempts had any effect.

Bellatrix headed over to the large hearth and pressed the special block. Behind it there was a supply of floo powder that was stored, just in case of emergencies like this one. She took a pinch of it and threw it in the fire, putting one of her shoes in, she cried out, “Minerva McGonagall's office!” The fire roared and green flames came up around her shoe.

She waited for the flames to clear. If it had been effective then someone else would know about the situation and they could start sending students out. If the fire was charmed then there'd be a burnt shoe at the bottom. And as much as Bellatrix liked her current pair of shoes, it was better than sending a student through.

The bright green light finally cleared and she breathed a sigh of relief when there was no sign that her shoe had ever been in the fire place. There was a safe way to get people out of the Great Hall and the sooner it happened, the better. Bellatrix pulled out the little bag of powder and looked into it.

It was half empty and some of the powder was darkening with age. Turning bad and foul and it wouldn't help anyone get anywhere. There was only enough for some of the students, maybe all of them could get out if they were really lucky. And with about forty people in the hall, some would have to stay behind.

Bellatrix shook her head and climbed up onto a table, recasting the sonorus charm on herself. “Ravenclaws, Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors! To me!” The students surged towards her, assembling in a mass around the table she was standing on. There was the usual amount of jostling and talking. They were still teenagers after all.

“Make a line! Single file. We need to be organised or we'll never get out. Quiet please. Into a line.” She jumped off the table and catching Harry's eye, she smiled reassuringly. Slowly the students changed from a disorganized crowd to a messy line. “Better.”

Bellatrix opened the pouch of floo powder. “I'm going to send about half of you out this way. You'll come forward, receive your floor powder and then go directly to Professor McGonagall's office.” She beckoned the first student forward and the process began. One by one, the students were leaving the wall.

By the time the bag was completely empty there were only five students left. Bellatrix removed the sonorus charm from her throat and transfigured one of the buttons from her robe to a water goblet. She cast the agumenti charm and filled it with water, taking great enjoyment in the liquid. It was refreshing and sweet. “A moment.” Her voice rasped and she lead the five back into the hall. The rain wasn't falling any more. The four chanters had stopped and were now concentrating on the door and Moody.

“Where's dad?” Harry asked, coming up alongside his mother. “Doesn't he usually help a lot in times like these?” He bit his bottom lip, not certain he wanted to find out what was going on. This was not something he'd been expecting. And two of the Dumbledores were still sitting calmly in their charms, watching the chaos play out around them.

A wave of panic washed through Bellatrix's mind. She had noticed when Severus left, but then her attention had been on the situation at hand and all thoughts of Severus had completely slipped her mind. “Ah, I'm not sure.” She told Harry. “Come, we'll look for him.”

It only took a moment for Bellatrix and Harry to walk into the barrier Flitwick had created. Bellatrix bumped into it and stepped back quickly, struggling to regain her balance. “There's something here.” She said, stating the obvious.

Harry pressed a hand against it. “It's like a wall made of water. It feels weird.” He looked at his mother. “What is it?”

Bellatrix shook her head. “I don't know. One of the Aurors, or Moody might know. Why don't you go get someone?” She gestured towards the door where most of the Aurors had gathered “Just stay away from Lucius and Dumbledore!” she warned as he left.

She turned back to the barrier and look in. Slowly her eyes found the lump on the floor and they grew wider and wider as she realised who it was and what it appeared had happened. “Severus! Severus!” she screamed, falling to the floor in front of the barrier, tears beginning to pour from her eyes.