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They agree they can't hold him off indefinitely, but that they can do enough basic protection to evacuate the student body. The teachers arranged so that they met in twenty minutes at the [[Great Hall]] in order to evacuate underage students. Flitwick started casting [[Protego Horribilis|protective enchantments]] around the Castle, while Harry questioned him about possible locations of the diadem.
 
They agree they can't hold him off indefinitely, but that they can do enough basic protection to evacuate the student body. The teachers arranged so that they met in twenty minutes at the [[Great Hall]] in order to evacuate underage students. Flitwick started casting [[Protego Horribilis|protective enchantments]] around the Castle, while Harry questioned him about possible locations of the diadem.
   
Meanwhile, [[Pomona Sprout]] departed for the [[Hogwarts greenhouses|Herbology greenhouses]] to retrieve dangerous plants ([[Venomous Tentacula]], [[Devil's Snare]], and [[Snargaluff]] pods) to hold off the [[Death Eaters]] while Slughorn went to wake his [[Slytherin]]s in the [[Slytherin Dungeon|dungeons]]<ref name="DH30"/>. [[Argus Filch]] then arrives, complaining about students being out of bed, and McGonagall tells him to do something productive and get [[Peeves]] to join the battle. She then [[Piertotum Locomotor|bewitched]] the school's [[suit of armour|suits of armour]] to man the boundaries and protect the schoo, telling Harry and Luna to return to the Room of Requirement and bring the inhabitants to the Great Hall as well while she roused the Gryffindors and brought them there as well to decide who would be evacuated and who would stay and fight the [[Battle of Hogwarts|battle that would ensue]].
+
Meanwhile, [[Pomona Sprout]] departed for the [[Hogwarts greenhouses|Herbology greenhouses]] to retrieve dangerous plants ([[Venomous Tentacula]], [[Devil's Snare]], and [[Snargaluff]] pods) to hold off the [[Death Eaters]] while Slughorn went to wake his [[Slytherin]]s in the [[Slytherin Dungeon|dungeons]]<ref name="DH30"/>. [[Argus Filch]] then arrives, complaining about students being out of bed, and McGonagall tells him to do something productive and get [[Peeves]] to join the battle. She then [[Piertotum Locomotor|bewitched]] the school's [[suit of armour|suits of armour]] to man the boundaries and protect the school, telling Harry and Luna to return to the Room of Requirement and bring the inhabitants to the Great Hall as well while she roused the Gryffindors and brought them there as well to decide who would be evacuated and who would stay and fight the [[Battle of Hogwarts|battle that would ensue]].
   
 
==Behind the scenes==
 
==Behind the scenes==

Revision as of 07:11, 11 November 2011

"No! You'll do no more murder at Hogwarts!"
Filius Flitwick arrives at the duel.[src]

The ousting of Severus Snape was a duel between Severus Snape, then Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the Hogwarts Heads of House. After having defeated Alecto and Amycus Carrow on the Ravenclaw Tower, Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood (both under the Invisibility Cloak) along with Minerva McGonagall went down to warn the Heads of House that Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters were about to siege the Castle in an attempt to get Harry Potter. As they got down, they were stopped by Headmaster Severus Snape and the two teachers engaged in a duel. McGonagall was joined by Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout and Horace Slughorn. Now greatly outnumbered, Snape fled into a nearby classroom and flew out of a window.

History

Background

Search of Ravenclaw Tower

Ravenclaw Tower

The staircase leading to the Ravenclaw Tower.

"Listen, I know it's not much of a lead, but I'm going to go and look at this statue, at least find out what the diadem looks like. Wait for me here and keep, you know -- the other one -- safe."
— Harry to Ron and Hermione, shortly before he departs with Luna to Ravenclaw Tower.[src]

In the evening of 1 May, 1998, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger returned to the Death Eater-controlled Hogwarts Castle seeking one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, which they believed to be an object that once belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw.

Harry and his friends entered the Room of Requirement, where he found many students (mostly former Dumbledore's Army members) hiding so as to avoid the Carrow twins, two Death Eaters teaching at Hogwarts known for their brutality and cruel, sadistic punishments on wrongoing students. Believing the Horcrux to be a Ravenclaw-related object, and knowing that he only object known to have belonged to Ravenclaw was the Diadem of Ravenclaw, Harry Potter (accompanied by Luna Lovegood) decided to go to Ravenclaw Tower to get an idea of what the diadem looked like, as there was a model of it on a statue in the common room. They enter the common room, but Alecto Carrow caught them and pressed her Dark Mark with her finger, thus sending the warning to Lord Voldemort and the other Death Eaters that Harry Potter was in the Castle.[1]

Skirmish in the Common Room

Amycus: "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, and we'll say they forced her to press her Mark, and that's why he got a false alarm....He can punish them. Couple of kids more or less, what's the difference?"
McGonagall: "Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice, 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."
Amycus: "Excuse me? 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 or you'll pay the price."
Amycus Carrow and Minerva McGonagall, instants before he spits in her face[src]

In an instant, Luna Lovegood shot a Stunning Spell at Alecto, who collapsed. Amycus Carrow then went to the Tower, and tried to break in because he didn't know the answer to the door's question. He was joined by Minerva McGonagall, who he ordered to open the door for him. Upon discovering his sister unconscienuss on the floor and no sign of Harry Potter (he and Luna were under the Invisibility Cloak), Amycus panicked as he thought of Voldemort's fury at it being a false alarm.

Amycus then came up with a plan to blame Alecto's summoning of Voldemort to the castle on the Ravenclaw students, and McGonagall flatly told him blaming the two Death Eaters' failures on the students of Hogwarts was out of the question; she refused to allow him to lie and thus have the children punished by Voldemort. Amycus then spat on McGonagall's face, and in fury Harry Potter pulled the Cloak off up himself and cast the Cruciatus Curse on him, smashing the Death Eater into a bookcase.

Harry Potter: "Time's running out, 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 —"
Minerva McGonagall: "You're acting on Dumbledore's orders? We shall secure the school against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you search for this — this object."
Harry Potter urges Minerva McGonagall to secure the Castle against the Death Eaters.[src]

McGonagall is shocked at the sudden appearance of both Harry and Luna, and he informs her that Lord Voldemort was on the way to the castle and that the Death Eaters would be soon attempting to break into the Castle. As Amycus rose grogily, McGonagall cast the Imperius Curse on him and made him hand both his and his sister's wand to McGonagall and then lie down next to his Stunned sister. McGonagall then caused a length of shimmering silver rope to bind them tightly together.

Knowing that there wasn't much time, Harry tells McGonagall that he is acting on Dumbledore's orders, which causes McGonagall to agree to secure the school from Voldemort while Harry looks for the Horcrux. Harry informs her that they can begin evacuating students through the passage going from Hogwarts to the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade, and after tying the bound bodies of the Carrows with a silver net and dangling them from the ceiling, She left the tower with Harry and Luna (the latter two under the Invisibility Cloak) in order to alert the Heads of House about setting up magical defences around the grounds.[2]

The duel

Snape: "I did not know that it was your night to patrol the corridors Minerva."
McGonagall: "You have some objection?"
Snape: "I wonder what could have brought you out of our bed at this late hour?"
McGonagall: "I thought I heard a disturbance."
Snape: "Really? But all seems calm. Have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva? Because if you have. I must insist —"
— A brief exchange between Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall, instants prior to the duel.[src]

As McGonagall marched toward the door, she raised her wand and cast three cat Patronuses, which ran ahead to alert the other Heads of House. They had descended two floors from Ravenclaw Tower when Harry noticed another quiet set of footsteps. McGonagall noticed them two, and she demanded the newcomer to annouce his presence, and Severus Snape, the Headmaster, emerged from behind a suit of armour. Seeing only McGonagall, as Harry and Luna were hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, Snape asked McGonagall what had happened to the Carrows, and told her that he was under the impression that Alecto had apprehended an intruder.

Tumblr lodyp45a2F1qd8c06o1 500

Minerva McGonagall battling against Severus Snape using a fiery offensive spell

Snape questions McGonagall as to why she is patrolling the corridors at that hour, and then discreetly used Legilimency on the Professor. As he asks McGonagall if she had seen Harry Potter, McGonagall quickly slashed her wand through the air, but Snape cast a Shield Charm that threw McGonagall off balance. She then brandished her wand to a torch on the wall, making it fly off its bracket. The flames became a ring of fire that filled the corridor and flew like a lasso at Snape. Snape then turned the descending flames into a great black snake that McGonagall blasted to smoke and turned into a swarm of daggers, which she directed towards him. The Headmaster forced the suit of armour in front of him, thus avoiding the flying daggers that sank into it with echoing clangs.[2]

File:H.PNG

Professors Sprout and Flitwick ready to help Professor McGonagall

"No! You'll do no more murder at Hogwarts!"
Filius Flitwick as he joins the duel[src]

At this point, Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout and Horace Slughorn sprinted up the corridor toward them in their nightclothes. With a squeal, Flitwick raised his wand bewitching the suit of armour to attack Snape by crushing him. Snape, now greatly outnumbered, sent the suit of armour flying back against his attackers, and it smashed into the wall and shattered. Snape was then chased by McGonagall, Sprout, and Flitwick into a nearby classroom, jumped through a window and flew away, a skill he presumably learned from Lord Voldemort.[2]

Minerva McGonagall: "Coward! COWARD!"
Luna Lovegood: "What's happened, what's happened?"
Minerva McGonagall: "He jumped."
Harry Potter: "You mean he's dead?"
Minerva McGonagall: "No, he's not dead. Unlike Dumbledore, he was still carrying a wand… and he seems to have learned a few tricks from his master."
Minerva McGonagall to Luna Lovegood and Harry Potter after Snape flew out of the Castle.[src]

Aftermath

ProtegoHorribilis

Magical defences are put in place in preparation to the Battle of Hogwarts.

McGonagall: "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is coming. Potter has work to do in the castle on Dumbledore's orders. we need to put in place every protection of which we are capable while Potter does what he needs to do."
Flitwick: "You realise, of course, that nothing we do will be able to keep out You-Know-Who indefinitely?"
Sprout: "But we can hold him up."
McGonagall: "Thank you, Pomona. I suggest we establish basic protection around the place, then gather our students and meet in the Great Hall. Most must be evacuated, though if any of those who are over age wish to stay and fight, I think they ought to be given the chance."
— McGongall talking to the other Heads of House about securing the castle[src]

Harry and Luna hurry into the classroom, and McGonagall informs them that Snape jumped out the window and flew. Slughorn then appears, panting, in his emerald-silk pajamas. Urgently, Harry tells McGongall that they need to hurry, and McGonagall tells the other teachers that they need to put Hogwarts in protection while Harry searches for the object.

They agree they can't hold him off indefinitely, but that they can do enough basic protection to evacuate the student body. The teachers arranged so that they met in twenty minutes at the Great Hall in order to evacuate underage students. Flitwick started casting protective enchantments around the Castle, while Harry questioned him about possible locations of the diadem.

Meanwhile, Pomona Sprout departed for the Herbology greenhouses to retrieve dangerous plants (Venomous Tentacula, Devil's Snare, and Snargaluff pods) to hold off the Death Eaters while Slughorn went to wake his Slytherins in the dungeons[2]. Argus Filch then arrives, complaining about students being out of bed, and McGonagall tells him to do something productive and get Peeves to join the battle. She then bewitched the school's suits of armour to man the boundaries and protect the school, telling Harry and Luna to return to the Room of Requirement and bring the inhabitants to the Great Hall as well while she roused the Gryffindors and brought them there as well to decide who would be evacuated and who would stay and fight the battle that would ensue.

Behind the scenes

  • Unlike in the novel, Severus Snape hears of Harry Potter's sighting in Hogsmeade and summons all students to a meeting at the Great Hall. Harry Potter, who was in the Room of Requirement at the time of the summons, dresses in spare Gryffindor robes and goes down to the Great Hall blended in with the other students. Alecto and Amycus Carrow are also present, as well as all members of staff apart from Argus Filch. After Snape threatens to severely punish every student who fails to tell him about Harry's whereabouts, Harry reveals himself and members of the Order of the Phoenix back him up. Minerva McGonagall, however, steps up and singlehandedly fends Snape off using a fiery spell. The Carrows are left knocked out as Snape deflects McGonagall spells and they are hurled to the floor.
  • In the film adaptation, Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout and Horace Slughorn do not take part in the duel, but all are present in the room and pointing their wands at Snape ready to help McGonagall.
  • In the film adaptation all students witness the duel, unlike the book in which no one seems to have noticed that Snape fled from the Castle until McGonagall tells the student body "he has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk".
  • In the film Snape does not attack back against McGonagall but instead blocks all of her attacks before fleeing.
  • The spell that McGonagall used to turn Snape's transfigured snake into a cloud of smoke may have been Vipera Evanesca.
  • During one of the takes while filming this scene, Alan Rickman, while gesturing with his prop wand, hit his hand against the wires of a camera, dropping his wand and exclaiming "Ouch."
  • "The Sacking of Severus Snape" is the title of chapter 30 of the seventh book, in which the duel takes place. However, this name is technically innacurate, as "sacking" or "dismissal" refers to the termination of employment by the employer, against the will of the employee. Neither of the fighters who banished Snape from Hogwarts were his employers, more so, they were his subordinates.

Appearances

Notes and references

  1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Chapter 29 (The Lost Diadem)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Chapter 30 (The Sacking of Severus Snape)