A Battle Like a Sniper

George had gathered students from several more classrooms; even the corridor was packed solid.

He jumped up and peered over the crowd a few times, but failed to spot Fred. He could not help muttering, "Strange... where did Fred go?"

Neville's voice rang out. "Fred was taken away..."

"Taken away? By who..." George turned toward Neville. "Snape?"

"Could it be..." He looked at the group surrounding Neville. "Harry and Ron were taken away too?"

"They're heroes!" said Seamus Finnigan, his face still smeared with soot. "They took the punishment for me..."

Before Potions Class had ended, Seamus had accidentally blown up another cauldron. He had originally needed to stay behind to clean the classroom and scoop out a huge bucket of frog brains;

but Snape had been in the classroom and heard Fred's excited voice outside;

so Snape had eagerly summoned Fred, Ron, and Harry, making them clean the classroom and scoop out the frog brains in Seamus's place.

George let out a long sigh. Even from Seamus Finnigan's somewhat awkward account, he could imagine just how delighted Snape had been at the time.

Hogwarts Castle itself contained many kinds of magic. As Minerva McGonagall scattered the books around and transformed them into trees and shrubs of varying heights, the classroom itself continued expanding.

In just a few breaths, the classroom had become a small forest;

the little forest contained vines, trees, moss, and thickets. If there had been birds flying overhead and bewildered little deer, it would have felt even more alive.

Wizet and Alastor Moody were separated, each positioned on one side of the small forest. With all kinds of vegetation obstructing the view, at least from the students' perspective, neither could see the other.

This setting, so different from the Duelling Club, stirred their curiosity even