No one knew what had happened in Snape's office that night, but everyone in the castle knew that at the first light of dawn, he had walked out of the safety of the castle alone and returned to the Dark Lord's embrace amid the cheers of the Death Eaters.
"I knew Slytherins couldn't be trusted!"
Seamus slammed his fist onto the House table, sending an unsurprising bang through the silent Great Hall.
His face was smeared with black soot from the explosions. For him, that sort of thing was almost normal.
Especially now, in the Great Hall, nearly every student who had taken part in the fighting carried injuries of varying severity. Compared with them, he did not even have the right to complain about pain.
But that did not stop his words from drawing everyone's attention.
Hermione hesitated, looking at her indignant classmates, then at the Slytherin students not far away with their complicated expressions.
"Seamus, that was just Snape acting on his own..."
"Oh, come off it," Ron said loudly, pointing at the huge hole blasted open outside the Great Hall.
"If it weren't for those Slytherin students, how could the castle gates have been breached so easily?"
Hermione's words caught in her throat, and even the students nearby who had been about to speak up for Slytherin House silently closed their mouths.
Under Dumbledore's leadership, along with the elegant old man who had appeared from nowhere, Hogwarts had an extremely powerful group of professors. Even against the vast number of Dark Wizards led by Voldemort, the castle should not have been damaged so easily.
But not only had several Slytherin students failed to help, they had secretly slipped near the castle gates and coordinated with the Death Eaters outside, blowing apart the thick castle doors from within and without.
Because of that, to prevent the Death Eaters from rushing into the castle and harming the younger students, Dumbledore had no choice but to keep the students huddled inside the castle, passively defending against the Dark Wizards' attacks.
That was how they had ended up in this stifling situation.
"I admit it."
At the Slytherin table, Draco stood up firmly.
The battle had left his once-refined blond hair disheveled, and his dried, bloodstained lips looked anything but elegant.
Even so, he still held his head high, no different from the proud figure he had always been, and faced every person looking at him with contempt.
"I admit that the actions of Goyle, Crabbe, and the others brought enormous damage to Hogwarts."
Beneath his calm expression, there seemed to be crashing waves, and the weight of it made the accusatory atmosphere in the Great Hall come to a halt.
"But I am a Slytherin. We are all Slytherins. Slytherin will always be one-fourth of Hogwarts."
His words were not aimed only at the students hostile toward Slytherin. As a Slytherin himself, he understood better than anyone the wrong ideas spreading through his own House.
"That madman Voldemort never intended to make Hogwarts peaceful. He only wants to turn the students here into lunatics like himself, then slaughter countless lives, lives that belong to human beings just like us, without the slightest restraint."
"Isn't that a good thing?" a Slytherin student muttered.
"A good thing?" Draco's sharp gaze locked onto him at once.
"Nott, if you want to become a slave to Dark magic, if you want to beg Voldemort for a filthy scrap of rotten meat like a rat wagging its tail at its master, I won't stop you."
"But!"
He abruptly raised his voice, startling everyone.
"I am a Slytherin. We are Slytherins. Elegant Slytherins!"
"There is not a single rule in this school that says Slytherin students must become low, shameless scum!"
"As long as Hogwarts still needs us, Slytherin students will always be part of Hogwarts."
"No matter what evil means are used, I will absolutely..."
With an unstoppable presence, like an emperor surveying his territory, he looked proudly around him.
"I will not allow anyone to tarnish the glory passed down through Slytherin House for a thousand years!"
The Great Hall fell solemnly silent. Everyone stared at Draco standing on the chair, dumbfounded, as if they no longer recognized him.
"Bloody hell. We shared one championship with him, and Malfoy turned into this?" Ron said, his expression strange.
Hermione, however, breathed a sigh of relief.
Coming from Malfoy, a Slytherin Prefect, those words were naturally far more convincing than anything she, a Gryffindor, could have said.
"Professor Fawley has said many times that we shouldn't judge people by appearances..."
As if she had touched on some forbidden subject, her voice grew softer and softer. In the end, her eyes reddened, and she choked up, unable to continue.
Although what had happened to Harry and the professor in the Chamber of Secrets had only spread among the professors and the few of them, Voldemort was spreading word outside that the professor was dead. And with the professor still not appearing, no matter how unwilling everyone was to admit it, they had to accept that the professor had left them.
Ron and the students around him looked just as grief-stricken. Neville in particular bit his lip tightly, until the taste of blood filled his mouth, but even that could not ease the pain in his heart by the slightest bit.
At the thought that Professor Fawley had left them just like that, while they themselves were trapped in this seemingly endless war, some of the more emotional students immediately buried their faces and began to cry, setting off waves of quiet sobs throughout the hall.
Gradually, the solemnity Draco had stirred turned into heavy silence. Everyone, even the Slytherin students, found their thoughts filled with the terrifying scenes of last night's battle.
The more they thought about it, the deeper the sorrow on their faces became.
"Mr. Malfoy is quite right."
In that heavy atmosphere, Dumbledore strode into the Great Hall at the head of a group of people.
His face looked somewhat worn. The battle had left no injuries on him, but the grief in his eyes was no different from that of the students.
Grindelwald followed one step behind Dumbledore, and the grief and anger on his face were plain to see.
Even though the fighting had not yet resumed, his right hand still gripped his wand tightly, and the ruthless light in his eyes made every student who noticed him feel a chill.
Behind them came the Weasley twins, their faces resolute, along with a large group of professors and members of the Order of the Phoenix.
Dumbledore led them to the place where he usually gave his speeches.
Only now, compared with before, there was no easy atmosphere, and the young man he had placed such great hopes in was no longer there.
After taking his place, his gentle yet powerful gaze seemed to be trying to engrave every one of their faces into his heart.
"In this war, our enemies may be the deranged Voldemort, the ruthless Death Eaters, the evil and vicious Dark Wizards..."
"But they are not our classmates, our friends, or..." He paused. "Our professors."
"Hogwarts will always welcome anyone willing to protect her. If you are not willing, then I hope you can leave quietly. Leave this land that once educated you."
"I think..." Dumbledore choked almost imperceptibly.
"Tver would not want to see anyone use the magic he taught to attack their own classmates, or to attack the castle he protected."