-Interlude- Explanations

General POV

Humiliation, the action of making (someone) feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and self-respect. That is what 2 professors are currently feeling on the bottom of the stairs. Being old is hard, chasing a young man while being old is harder. Tumbling down a flight of stairs hurt, being hit twice in the face with a suitcase hurts your pride more. "I'll kill him!" Snape has really become the epitome of anger! You don't get to hit an ex-Death Eater twice in the face and get with it, at least you usually don't. Snape ran up the stairs and looked left and right. "Where is he!" Feeling the need to kill, Snape started to fling spells down the 7th floor corridor, hoping to find the man. But to his avail, no man is to be seen.

"Where is he!" A second shout came accompanied from the sound of hurried footsteps climbing up the staircase. Mcgonagall appeared holding one hand on her waist and another gripping her wand so tightly it radiated bloodlust. "I'm afraid he's nowhere to be seen," His seeething anger seems to calm down a bit, not that it has much of an affect on his gloomy, terrifying aura.

"Aren't we late? You should be escorting the first years to their sorting!" Professor Snape said after a few minutes of watching Mcgonagall scurrying around the corridor muttering along the lines of, "Where is he," and "I'll get you," It would be quite amusing hadn't he also felt the utter humiliation on the hands of the man. And the man didn't even use a bit of magic! "Ah! I almost forgot," you'd think she said that calmly with no anger remaining, if you hadn't heard her mutter another, "I'll find you after this,". Mcgonagall walked calmly down the stairs accompanied by the gloomy aura of Professor Snape.

They walked quietly down the floors, reaching the Great Hall. Opening the giant doors with a wandless swipe of her hand, the door opened reveal, a great, big hall, with transfigured skylights and floating candles that seem to never die out. On the far side of the great hall, stood some tables on a stage. Sitting in the middle with the tallest seat, Headmaster Dumbledore, on the right and left hand side of the high chair, stayed two empty chairs, one reserved for the Deputy Headmistress and the other for the Hogwarts Potions Master and Slytherin House's Head.

(A.N : I can't be bothered with memorizing where every professors' sitting arrangement, so if the sitting placement is inaccurate, then I apologize.)

Walking inside the Great Hall, The two professors, seemingly still covered in dust and Snape holding his head with one hand continued on to the high table, not caring a bit about their appearances. "Minerva, Severus, you're late," Dumbledore said with a twinkle, not bothering to hide the mirth in seeing the state of the two professors. The Great Hall, instantly burst in a chatter, trying to figure out why the two professors are in such a state and the Slytherins were left to wonder about what happened to their head of house.

A single murderous glare by Snape seems to suceed in silencing every single student. "You made Hagrid here, escort the first years to the Great Hall," Dumbledore said with a playful tone. Glaring coldly at the Headmaster, "We have an intruder to catch," she said with an extra coldness in her voice that managed to terrify even the students. "And how's our dear Mr. Avter," Dumbledore said, breaking the last straw of the silence, as the Great Hall, once again descends into a loud discussion on the subject. "Silence!" Snape said, silencing everyone for the second time of the year.

"Seeing the states you're both in. I presume it did not went well?" Dumbledore said, now in a serious tone. "The intruder escaped," Mcgonagall said, clenching her fist and shakingly holding a wand. And in that moment, the Great Hall became loud again for the third time of the day. "Silence! I hear a word one more time! And you'll see what you get!" Obviously in fear of the repercussions of angering the 'most hated' professor in Hogwarts, everyone is silenced for the third time of the day.

"Poppy, would you take a look at Severus after the dinner, he seems to have a mild concussion," Mcgonagall said in the direction of the school's healer, Poppy Pomfrey, whom nodded in return. Snape went up and sat beside the headmaster, obviously tired after the ordeal. Mcgonagall walked to a seat with a worned out old witch hat and stood beside it. "Let's get the sorting sorted out," Mcgonagall said with a still cold voice that frightened most if not all the first years. The sorting is underway, starting with Abbot, Hannah moving on to the usual, "We got Potter!" and finally Zabini, Blaise, Slytherin! Mcgonagall walked up the high table and sat beside the headmaster. "Let the feast begin!" the headmaster shouted warmingly and suddenly plates and eatiing utensils appear in the tables and food started to appear one by one all over the room.

After the feast is over, the prefects of every house is to escort the students to their common rooms. "A word, Minerva, Severus," Dumbledore said quietly in which the two professors nodded and followed Dumbledore to the headmaster's office. Arriving in front of a giant eagle statue, he said the password, "Sherbet lemon," in which the eagle statue rose and a circular staircase gradually appear. Climbing the staircase and opening a door in the end of the stairway, you could see a massive room, shelves of all sorts adorned the lower walls while magical paintings of sleeping past headmasters is showcased in the upper walls.

Sitting on a chair behind the headmaster's personal office table, The headmaster proceeded in stretching out his hand, prompting the proffesors to sit down on two chairs opposite to the headmaster's. "What happened?" Dumbledore asked towards the two professors with curiosity present in his tone. "We were walking along the halls talking about a certain man who knocked out a Hogwarts Express train conductor, when we hear a cracking noise."

"And what happened?" Dumbledore asked. "We went to investigate the origins of the sound, which came from a statue which I just remembered we forgot to close," Said Mcgonagall in exasperation. "What secret entrance?" Dumbledore's eyes gleamed with interest, having never heard of any secret entrances while being a headmaster in Hogwarts. "There's apparently a secret entrance by that statue, Severus went to check it out,"

"And pray tell, what happened Severus," Dumbledore looked towards Severus Snape which is still very much furious about the incident. "The intruder, Mr Avter, charged at me with a sword in his hand, presumably wanting to knock me out. I blocked his attack with one hand. That is when I'm hit in the head with a suitcase. A Suuitcase!" Snape shouted, seething with anger.

"Seeing Snape downed, I immediately shot spells towards Mr Avter, only for him to block all the shots including the diasrming charm with a sword!" It's now Mcgonagall's turn to seethe with fury. "We can safely assume that the sword has magical properties?" Dumbledore wondered how the man can get such a sword. "The sword managed to deflect Sectumsempra!". "Which is?" Dumbledore questioned Snape having never heard of such a spell, we learn new things everyday. "A dark spell of my creation, the cutting curse, capable of cutting metal cleanly," Snape remarked, still wondering how the sword can block the spell. "You fired a dark spell Severus!" Mcgonagall asked with more surprise than anger. "Desperate times, desperate measures," Snape replied blandly. "And the metal sword deflected a curse that can cut metal cleanly?" Dumbledore said with a tone of disbelief. A curse that can cut metal cleanly is deflected with a sword? It must be a strong with magical properties.

"Not only that! I transfigured tens of birds and he slammed every single bird with one swing of his suitcase! Tens of birds! One Swing!" At this rate, Mcgonagall will be going crazy, the two professors' hard efforts are treated like child's play by the intruder. "I transfigured a dragon right in front of him and he managed to slide underneath the fire and the dragon's legs!" Pretty sure Mcgonagall is on the verge of a break down right now. "He managed to cut an Incarcerous of thousands of ropes with a simple spin of his sword!" "And escaped dozens of Bombardas!" Yup, the two professors is definetly crazy now.

"Calm down!" Dumbledore said while rubbing his glabella, clearly feeling a headache at having 2 potential thiefs after the Philosopher's Stone hiding right under his nose. "I think that's all for today, I'm sure you're both tired. We'll continue this tomorrow," The two professors sigh and walked out of Dumbledore's office. Heaving a sigh of relief, Dumbledore muttered one last sentence before proceeding to think for the entire night. "Crynn Avter, Where did I hear that name before?"