DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters or situations of this story; obviously, it belongs to Harry Potter, which was created by the magnificent JK Rowling, to whom I will be eternally thankful for opening to me the doors of her wonderful fantasy world.

A/N: I know the title is horrible and that I have a lot of not-finished stories, but I promise this one is going to be one of most beautiful plots, though I am pretty sure it's not very original because there are many FF-writers who have make their own version of what happened the summer of 1997 in the school… Here is mine:

PS: Excuse my grammar and spelling mistakes, I really try my best, but I will never be as good as a native writer.

HOGWARTS 1997

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Part 1 – Strangers in the school

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Rolanda Hooch was making her annual check on the old brooms of the school, throwing away those that were broken and repairing the charms on those that were still useful, when she noticed a group of people walking to the castle. She wondered who could be coming to the school at the middle of August, and she reached to the conclusion that it could rather be people from the ministry or the new staff members. Willing to satisfy her curiosity, she put the good brooms back in the shed, and made her way to the castle to check who the visitors were.

Pomona Sprout was in her way to the greenhouses when she met with Professor Flitwick at the top of the main staircase, who was heading to the owlery to take some feathers for his first classes of September. They were talking about the changes they all would be heading during the new school year when the double wooden door of the entrance opened all of a sudden, and a group of ten, maybe twelve, masked people dressed in black came.

Poppy Pomfrey was stuffing the cabinets of the hospital wing with the new supplies she had bought the day before in London when a startling noise of broken crystal coming from the hall almost made her fall down from the stool she was standing. She was used to these kind of things happening during the school year with all the kids around, specially the younger ones, but it was still summer, so it was supposed to be quite. She stepped down from the stool, closed the crystal cabinet doors and went to check what was going on outside of the hospital wing.

Minerva McGonagall was sinking in paperwork in her desk when the door of her office opened suddenly and a breathless professor Sprout rushed inside.

"Pomona, are you ok? What's the matter?" the new headmistress of the school asked while standing up to attend her shaken friend.

"There are…" she whispered trying to regain her breathe, "… strangers in the school," she managed to say.

"Strangers?" Minerva repeated confused.

"Death Eaters," the herbology teacher clarified when she regained her voice, "they are in the hall, asking for you."

From the halls of the first floor, Minerva was already able to hear the noises of the spells. When she arrived to the top of the main staircase, a group of three masked men were coming up and she used a wordless spell to pull them down the stairs. From there she could see that about three Death Eaters were lying unconscious on the floor, two Death Eaters were holding the school nurse and another was pointing her neck with his wand, Hooch was literarily wrestling with a big wandless man and Filius was duelling with another.

With a fast movement Minerva disarmed the man who was about to attack Poppy, and the other two released her to attack the woman on the stairs, but she was faster, and the two got stunned and felt on the ground together. As Madam Pomfrey looked for her wand, Minerva helped Filius disarm the man he was duelling with, and when she arrived at the end of the stairs, she helped Rolanda stand up from the ground after having knocked out the big guy.

"That was quite fun," the flying teacher joked while fixing her clothes.

Suddenly, from one of the corners of the room somebody clapped, and they realized there was still one left.

Minerva quickly gained a defensive position with her wand, but the man who was still standing did not seem willing to attack. He raised his hand slowly and carefully removed his mask to reveal his identity. When the terrifying masked touched the ground all the professors remained astonished by what their eyes were seeing.

"Severus," McGonagall spoke, "you shouldn't have come back," she kept her voice strong, severe, loud, but couldn't hide her surprise.

TO BE CONTINUED…