Secrets of a Slytherin Princess

April faded away into nothingness and the beginning of May marked the beginning of the end. Just as Bill promised, Apollonia received a letter from him informing the young Slytherin of what was going on. Snape, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are going to finish this. They’ve gone to Gringotts to deal with something. It should all be over soon. –Bill. Apollonia huffed at that; it was impeccable timing: on a Friday, when the Slytherin had Muggle Studies first thing during the day.

Throughout the day, much of which was spent in the Hospital Wing after her Muggle Studies class, Apollonia worried about what was going to happen. Harry, after spending weeks at Shell Cottage, was now making his move. It could all be over tonight. It was a few hours after dinner when Apollonia felt something in her pocket heat up. The D.A. coin Hermione gave me. The Slytherin rarely remembered the item, as it was better for others to believe that the Head Girl did not have access to the D.A.—or Resistance—that could be exploited. Apollonia pulled the coin from her pocket and read the message. Harry’s back. Go find McGonagall. Slipping the coin back into her pocket, Apollonia headed down to the Gryffindor matriarch’s office, to inform the elderly Scotswoman of Harry’s arrival.

“Ms. Snape!” the woman exclaimed. “Why are you here?”

“He’s back!” Apollonia yelled.

“I’m sorry, who’s back?”

“Harry!” she informed the old woman.

Gryffindor’s Head of House rose from her seat and motioned for the Slytherin to follow. “Do you have any idea where Potter and the others might be?” she asked the younger girl.

“No, just that they were back,” Apollonia replied.

“Then, it’s time for your father to leave,” McGonagall said.

Apollonia’s stomach dropped. She didn’t want that to happen; she didn’t want her father to leave Hogwarts. The school would never be the same without the snarky Potions Master that was her father. “Are you sure that there’s nothing else that can be done?” the Head Girl asked.

“”Quite sure,” the older woman replied.

The pair was about to come upon the Ravenclaw Tower when they heard screaming. Apollonia recognized the scream; it was Amycus Carrow. “—and we have got Potter — d’ you want to go the same way as the Malfoys? ANSWER ME!” the Death Eater bellowed.

“Hide,” McGonagall hissed at the Head Girl. “If you wish to stay safe and eventually tell Mr. Potter whom you really are, it would be best if you hid, at least until I can inform the others of what is happening.” Apollonia nodded and disillusioned herself just as the pair approached the Dark Arts professor. “May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?”

Apollonia scoffed at the man’s—she refused to call him a professor—answer. “Trying — to get — through this damned — door!” he shouted. “Go and get Flitwick. Get him to open it, now!”

“But, isn’t your sister in there?” the Gryffindor matriarch queried. Alecto’s in there as well, Apollonia thought. Then, what the hell is going on here? Why is Amycus doing this? “Didn’t Professor Flitwick let her in there earlier this evening, at your urgent request? Perhaps she could open the door for you? Then you needn’t wake up half the castle.”

“She ain’t answering, you old besom! You open it! Garn! Do it now!”

“Certainly, if you wish it,” McGonagall responded coldly.

Apollonia, in her disillusioned form, watched as McGonagall gently tapped the guardian of Ravenclaw Tower, an eagle door knocker. “Where do Vanished objects go?” he asked.

“Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything,” McGonagall answered.

“Nicely phrased,” the knocker replied, before swinging open.

The two professors and Apollonia walked into the room, where Alecto Carrow was on the floor; she was completely motionless, a fact that almost made Apollonia shout out in relief. But, as much as she wanted to, Apollonia remained silent; she did not wish for Amycus to become aware that she was with McGonagall. Another round of Crucios, this time from Amycus, was all that awaited her if that happened. “What’ve they done, the little whelps?” her brother screamed. “I’ll Cruciate the lot of ’em till they tell me who did it — and what’s the Dark Lord going to say. We haven’t got him and they’ve gorn and killed her.”

I hope so, Apollonia thought darkly.

However, McGonagall knelt down and said something that would only reassure Amycus. “She’s only Stunned,” the Scotswoman informed the Death Eater. “She’ll be perfect all right.”

“No she bludgering well won’t,” Amycus insisted. “Not after the Dark Lord gets hold of her. She’s gorn and sent for him, I felt me mark burn, and he thinks we’ve got Potter.”

They better not! Apollonia thought.

Apparently, Professor McGonagall had the same sentiments in mind, wanting to know what was going on. “’Got Potter?” McGonagall asked sharply. “What do you mean, ‘got Potter’?”

“He told us that Potter might try to get inside Ravenclaw Tower, and to send for him if we caught him!” Amycus answered the woman. Apollonia, however, could not see how. Only Amycus, Alecto, McGonagall, herself, and other Ravenclaw students were currently in the Ravenclaw common room; there was no one else, and most certainly not Harry.

“Why would Harry Potter try to get inside Ravenclaw Tower?” McGonagall asked the Death Eater curiously, a question on Apollonia’s mind as well. “Potter belongs to my house!”

“We was told he might come in here!” Amycus persisted, though it was not exactly a good excuse. “I dunno why, do I?” The man was an idiot; nothing more than an idiot. As McGonagall looked around the room, Apollonia saw a slight gleam in Amycus’s eyes, as if he was planning something. “We can push it off on the kids. Yeah, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll say Alecto was ambushed by the kids, them kids up there —” he pointed up towards the dormitories “— and we’ll say they forced her to press the Mark, and that’s why he got a false alarm….He can punish them. Couple of kids more or less, what’s the difference?”

At the thought of more kids getting Crucioed, more students for her and Poppy to tend to, Apollonia wanted to throttle Amycus for what he wanted to do. However, McGonagall started shouting at him before Apollonia could even get the chance. “Only the difference between truth and lies, between courage and cowardice,” McGonagall reminded the man as all color drained from her face. “A difference, in short, which you and your sister seem unable to appreciate. But, let me make one thing very clear. You are not going to pass off your many ineptitudes on the students of Hogwarts. I shall not permit it.”

Nor will I, Apollonia chimed in silently.

“Excuse me?” Amycus asked. He ambled over towards McGonagall, stopping only when he was within inches of her. “It’s not a case of what you’ll permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time’s over. It’s us what’s in charge here now, and you’ll back me up on his or you’ll pay the price.” Upon saying that, the Carrow did something stupid; he spit on McGonagall.

There was only one stupid thing about what Amycus did, for Harry appeared out of nowhere—though Apollonia knew it to be his invisibility cloak—and raised his wand towards Amycus. “You shouldn’t have done that.” Amycus spun around just as Harry shouted the most unexpected spell in the world. “Crucio!” As the Carrow brother got a taste of what he dealt out for the past nine months, eventually falling into a pile on the floor, Harry turned to face McGonagall “I see what Bellatrix meant; you really need to mean it.”

At the sight of her brother, Apollonia smiled. It was getting close to when she was to tell Harry that she was his sister. Just a few more hours and this would all be over. The Head Girl looked over to where McGonagall was standing, as she clutched her heart. “Potter!” she whispered. “Potter — you’re her! What —? How —? Potter, that was foolish!”

“He spat at you,” Harry argued.

McGonagall struggled to speak; the sight of Harry being in the castle was a little too much for her. “Potter, I — that was very — very gallant of you — but don’t you realize —?”

“Yeah, I do,” he assured the older woman. He seemed so sure of himself, despite being on the run for the greater portion of the year. “Professor McGonagall, Voldemort’s on the way.”

“Oh, are we allowed to say the name now?” Luna asked, pulling the Invisibility Cloak off herself. She looked better than when Apollonia last saw her at Shell Cottage a month ago. It was as if she was back to her old self. Won’t be too long before she actually is.

Harry shrugged and turned to Luna. “I don’t think it makes any difference what we call him. He already knows where I am.” Apollonia was aghast at her brother indifference to the matter; would he be so rash about bringing Voldemort here if he knew that his twin sister was in danger of becoming a Death Eater. I may have to tell him now, if he’s going to be this callous about what’s been going on; that he’s willing to place me, the only family he has left, in danger.

“You must flee,” McGonagall said. “Now, Potter, as quickly as you can.”

“I can’t,” Harry argued. “There’s something I need to do.” The horcrux, Apollonia knew. He’s come to deal with the horcruxes. There had been no notes from Hermione as of late. And, if there were, Apollonia must have missed them. “Professor, do you know where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?”

Ravenclaw’s diadem? Apollonia wondered. Is that really what my brother came back to the castle for, a tiara? She looked to her brother and McGonagall, hoping they might provide her with an explanation. “The d-diadem of Ravenclaw? Of course not — hasn’t it been lost for centuries? Potter, it was madness, utter madness, for you to enter this castle —”

No, it wasn’t, the Slytherin thought. It was the smartest thing he ever did. So long as Harry is in the castle, there’s a greater chance of the war ending. I’ll finally get the opportunity to know my brother once Voldemort is destroyed. But, Harry had to be here in the castle for her plan to work; it was the only way that all of this nonsense could end. Harry seemed to share his sister’s sentiments, though for different reasons; it had nothing to do with family. “I had to,” her brother insisted. “Professor, there’s something hidden here that I’m supposed to find, and it could be the diadem — if I could just speak with Professor Flitwick —”

Harry’s explanation was quickly cut off by a sound of movement. Ready for action, McGonagall pulled herself from the chair and pointed her wand at the Carrow brother. “Imperio.” It was the second Unforgiveable that Apollonia heard that day and, once again, it was uttered by a most unexpected person. Amycus eventually handed McGonagall his sister’s wand and got tied up right along with her. McGonagall turned back to Harry, ignoring the Carrows. “Potter, if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named does indeed know that you are here —” This time, it was McGonagall who was cut off by a sharp pain in Harry’s scar. Apollonia wanted to see that he was alright, but could not yet risk revealing herself to her brother; McGonagall ordered her to stay hidden and she would. “Potter, are you all right?” she asked.

“Time’s running out,” Harry informed the Gryffindor matriarch. “Voldemort’s getting nearer. Professor, I’m acting on Dumbledore’s orders, I must find what he wanted me to find! But we’ve got to get the students out while I’m searching the castle — it’s me Voldemort wants, but he won’t care about killing a few more or less, not now —” He stopped before telling McGonagall anything more, though Apollonia was already aware of what he was doing.

“You’re acting on Dumbledore’s orders?” she repeated in wonder before focusing herself to look at Harry and Luna. “He shall secure the castle against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you search for this — this object.” Which, Apollonia knew to be a nicer way of saying that her father needed to be forced out of the castle. It was for Apollonia’s sake that the four heads held off as long as they did. But, now that Harry was here, there was no choice.

“Is that possible?”

McGonagall nodded. “I think so,” the Professor stated dryly “we teachers are rather good at magic, you know. I am sure we will be able to hold him off for a while if we all put our best effort into it. Of course, something will have to be done about Professor Snape —”

“Let me—”

“— and if Hogwarts is about to enter a state of siege, with the Dark Lord at the gates, it would indeed be advisable to take as many innocent people out of the way.” I hope you don’t mean me, Apollonia thought. It didn’t matter what her father thought anymore; Apollonia had immersed herself into the war the second she learned that Harry was her brother. Though it may not have been as apparent as it was now, Apollonia was involved in everything that was going on around her; she was helping Harry, under cover of the disillusionment, fight the war, no matter how much her father might not want it to be so. “With the Floo Network under observation and Apparition impossible within the grounds —”

“There’s a way,” Harry interrupted. And so, Harry proceeded to explain the passageway leading to the Hogs Head, a conversation that Apollonia ignored since she already knew what it was. Although, it did explain how Harry, Ron, and Hermione were able to get into the castle.

“Potter, we’re talking about hundreds of student —”

“I know, Professor, but if Voldemort and the Death Eaters are concentrating on the school’s boundaries they won’t be interested in anyone who’s Disapparating out of the Hog’s Head.”

“There’s something in that,” the Transfiguration professor mused. A quick point of her wand later and Apollonia saw that a silver net had encased the Carrows. They were then hoisted into the air while Professor McGonagall headed for the exit. “Come. We must alert the other Heads of House. “You’d better put that Cloak back on.” Just before exiting, three silver cats burst from wand, each ready to carry a message to Flitwick, Sprout, and Slughorn that it was time to put the Snape plan into motion; it was time for him to leave.

As the three silver cats barreled towards their targets, McGonagall hurried off with three unseen students—Harry and Luna under his cloak and a disillusioned Apollonia—going after her. Upon descending two floors, a presence was felt near them and McGonagall eventually called out to whomever it was hidden in the shadows. “Who’s there?”

“It is I,” a familiar voice called out. Apollonia watched carefully as her father, still in his standard black robes—compared to McGonagall in her tartan dressing gown—came out from the shadows. “Where are the Carrows?” her father asked in confusion, like he cared.

“Wherever you told them be, I expect, Severus,” McGonagall replied.

Would Dad really do that though, after all that I’ve suffered through at their hands? In all likelihood, yes; he was still a Death Eater, so there must still be some loyalty to them, even after what they did to her. He briefly cast a glance at where Apollonia, Harry, and Luna were—like he knew they were there—before his obsidian gaze returned to his colleague. “I was under the impression that Alecto apprehended an intruder,” he answered.

“Really?” McGonagall asked. “And what gave you that impression?” At the same time that her father did so, Apollonia looked at her father’s left arm; the mark was like a Protean charm. Professor McGonagall soon noticed what Apollonia and her father were looking at. “Oh, but naturally. You Death Eaters have your own private means of communication, I forgot.”

Apollonia watched as her father continued to look everywhere but at Professor McGonagall; it was as if he was not really paying much attention to her at all. “I did not know that it was your night to patrol the corridors, Minerva.” No, actually it was the Carrows along with Pansy, Apollonia thought darkly. At that moment, she regretted allowing Pansy to have the Friday patrol along with the Carrows; it had been a disaster waiting to happen.

“You have some objection?” McGonagall asked.

The Headmaster looked at McGonagall curiously. “I wonder what could have brought you out of your bed at this late hour.” It’s not really all that late, the younger Snape thought. Curfew, yes; but still, that’s not exactly what I would consider as being very late.

“I thought I heard a disturbance,” McGonagall explained.

“Really? But, all seems calm,” her father objected. He stared at McGonagall and Apollonia could only guess that he was trying Legilimency on her. “Have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva? Because if you did, I must insist—”

Dad, no! Apollonia yelled in her mind, wishing—praying, almost—that her father would not dare hand Harry over to Voldemort. It was her brother; he knew how much Harry meant to her. Actually, he was the only one that did, the only one that even had an inkling as to what Harry James Potter really meant to the young Slytherin; how much Apollonia wanted to get to know her brother. Yet, here he was ready and willing to hand Harry over to his master. What was it that he was preaching; he was helping Harry one minute, turning on him the next. Don’t do this, Dad. Find another way. Don’t take my brother away from me, especially when he has no idea that he even is my brother. Just DON’T!

While Apollonia was praying that her father wouldn’t do this to her, she could hear a fight ensuing around her. Flitwick soon came to join the party, with Sprout close behind. The fight continued for another few minutes before Severus Snape did something that Apollonia hoped would never come; he jumped out the nearest window and fled the school…again. He was gone, never to return to Hogwarts. And this time; this time it was probably for good.