Dumbledore gave Neville a long, searching look without saying a word.
"It was Professor Snape, wasn't it?" Neville said softly. "Grandmother said something similar."
Dumbledore still did not answer, but Professor McGonagall sighed beside him.
Harry and the others were stunned. There was more to it? So Snape had once worked for Voldemort?
"Well, that was more or less what happened..." Dumbledore picked up a cup of black tea, added a heap of sugar, then smiled at Harry and the others.
"I am rather curious, though. While Voldemort and his people's operation this time was not particularly meticulous, the Order of the Phoenix never anticipated anything like it. How did you manage to get there so promptly?"
"Well..." Harry felt a little awkward. After all, Dumbledore had told him to avoid any connection between his soul and Voldemort's as much as possible, and to maintain his Occlumency.
Yet Harry felt rather wronged when it came to that. He really had activated both forms of Occlumency at the time, but he had still seen what was happening on Voldemort's end.
After Harry recounted what had happened, Dumbledore showed no intention of blaming him. He merely nodded. "It seems luck was on our side again this time. The question now is... who captured Dobby, indirectly causing tonight's conflict?"
Harry and the others nodded.
"By the way, Professor, how are Sirius and the others?" Harry asked.
"Hmm, quite a few people were injured, but no one in the Order of the Phoenix died." Dumbledore looked somewhat sorrowful as he said this. No one in the Order of the Phoenix had died, which meant that people from the Ministry of Magic had.
Having served as Headmaster of Hogwarts for decades, Dumbledore had taught almost all the younger and middle-aged members of the Ministry of