McGonagall's words reminded everyone present.
Moody, Sirius, and Lupin immediately turned to look at Snape, who they all knew was Dumbledore's spy on Voldemort.
Despite the former Death Eater's dubious loyalty, he was indeed the only one who might have some information.
Yvonne looked at him too, her eyes assessing.
Before returning Dumbledore's body to Hogwarts, he had already tested Snape's reaction, but Ivan was unsure if Snape would suddenly turn on him.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Snape was silent for a moment, then he gave Ivan a long look and spoke.
"Hales was right. Dumbledore has been searching for something hidden by the Dark Lord for months, and it does concern the secret of the Dark Lord's immortality…"
Ivan breathed a sigh of relief at Snape's words. Things were not going to go as badly as he had hoped.
Before Ivan could fully relax, however, Moody demanded aggressively, "But didn't you tell us you had no idea where Albus was? Severus?"
"That was an order from Headmaster Dumbledore. He told me to keep it a secret and not to tell anyone… I was just following his orders," Snape explained calmly.
Professor McGonagall raised her voice and asked, "You're telling me that Albus only told you about this without telling all of us?" She looked very surprised, and her voice was full of suspicion.
Sirius was equally adamant. "That's impossible!"
"But that's the truth, and it's clear Dumbledore thinks I'm more trustworthy than you…" Snape said sarcastically.
Lupin, Moody, and the others glared at Snape, and Sirius pulled up his sleeve as if to punch him.
Snape seemed to understand that he would be beaten if this continued, and he spoke again before the crowd's patience ran out. "Because I saved his life and allowed him to live a little longer…"
Sirius and the others froze, and Professor McGonagall asked, "What did you say? You saved Albus?"
Snape did not immediately respond to this, instead changing the subject. "Three years ago, there was a riot at Hogwarts. You remember that, don't you?"
McGonagall, Flitwick, and Mrs Pince all nodded.
Sirius and the others were not at Hogwarts at the time, but they had probably heard about it.
Ivan was horrified. "Yes, it was Lord Voldemort! He controlled Lockhart through a powerful Dark-magic object, and even I was tricked by him…"
Snape's face grew strange, and he seemed about to say something, but stopped himself.
Lupin offered words of comfort. "It wasn't your fault, Harles. You were too young for even a grown wizard to withstand the powers of a You-Know-Who."
Sirius agrees, as he was nearly killed by Voldemort's Horcruxes when the Black family home was destroyed.
Perhaps unable to bear the discomfort, Snape quickly continued.
"After that incident, Dumbledore discovered the secret of the Dark Lord's immortality, presumably in connection with powerful dark-magic artefacts, and pursued them…"
"A little over a year ago, he managed to find one of the Dark Arts items that the Dark Lord had hidden, but unfortunately triggered a trap set by the Dark Lord when he was trying to destroy it."
"Dumbledore was badly injured and nearly died, and I had to brew a potion to temporarily suppress his injuries…" Snape said slowly. "He needed me to keep him alive and to give him information on the Dark Lord, so he told me many things."
"Albus was injured this badly over a year ago? Why didn't he just tell us?" McGonagall asked, frowning.
"Tell you what, how can you help?" Snape said abruptly. "He doesn't want you to panic, and he doesn't want the Ministry or the Dark Lord to know he's in bad shape…"
McGonagall, Sirius, and the others choked.
Dumbledore was widely acknowledged to be the most powerful white wizard in the wizarding world, second to none in terms of magical prowess.
If even the two of them could not break the mystery man's spell, then they were equally helpless.
"That's all I know. Headmaster Dumbledore rarely contacted me during this school year, but I think he was planning to do something for the wizarding community while he could still move," Snape added.
The members of the Order of the Phoenix fell completely silent. Combined with Ivan's words, they were able to picture what had happened.
Dumbledore must have wanted to find and destroy all of the Dark Items that You-Know-Who had created while he could still suppress his injuries.
Unfortunately, You-Know-Who must have sensed this, as they engaged in a fierce battle for unknown reasons, and Dumbledore managed to fight off Lord Voldemort.
Professor McGonagall sighed. "Poor Albus. He shouldn't have taken all the danger upon himself… We could have helped him find the Dark objects."
She was well aware that it was a very dangerous job, or Dumbledore would not have died so tragically, but they were also unafraid of sacrifice, and Dumbledore had done enough for the wizarding community.
"Thank you for telling us this, Severus…" Moody said soothingly, then quickly changed his tone and continued. "But how can you prove you're telling the truth?"
"We shouldn't be so suspicious of him, Alastor…" Lupin scowled.
"Remember, Severus gave us no warning when You-Know-Who attacked the Ministry!" Moody interrupted.
Because the Dark Lord had never attacked the Ministry of Magic! Snape's breath caught in his throat and he looked as if he could not hold it in any longer.
He gave Ivan an extremely resentful look and then explained helplessly.
"Voldemort didn't trust me very much, presumably because he found out there was a traitor among the Death Eaters and was afraid I'd let you know…"
Moody thought for a moment but did not argue; Snape was often at Hogwarts and no one could be sure which side he was on.
A plot as large as Voldemort's had come within a hair's breadth of capturing the Ministry and fulfilling his nefarious plan to rule Britain.
As Snape put it, Lucius's sudden change of allegiance disrupted Voldemort's well-laid plans, leading to the deaths of many elite Death Eaters at the Ministry.
Perhaps worried that he would be questioned about something he did not know, Snape threw out another piece of shocking news.
"As I understand it, Dumbledore made a will in the form of a magical contract, which was kept at Gringotts, and it will be officially announced in a few days' time…"