CHAPTER 9-Score One For The Good Guys
Evaluations took all morning and part of the afternoon. It started with Physical Fitness, where all of them were rated high except for Ginny and Draco. They were still catching up from when they fell behind after the attack. They were still working on building up a few of the muscles but would probably be caught up with everyone else in another month.
Sirius was present when they went through the DADA and Dueling evaluations. He had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised at their level of competence at such young ages. They would not be able to really have a fair fight with a lot of Death Eaters because they were too young and had not developed a lot of physical or magical muscle yet. Their technique was coming along very well and when dueling with peers he was sure no one could touch them. They were all moved up a level and would be learning how to use deadly weapons and battle field techniques.
They all went to the spot in the forest that Professor Dumbledore set aside for them to practice their animagus training. They were pretty scattered on this one. While they were all ahead of the schedule that Minerva set out for them the range was pretty diverse.
They had discovered that Draco, while being a Dragon was also a Lion. Albus knew that something was going on and it had taken a month or so of research before he hit on the answer in one of his ancient books. At least that is what they told the kids. Actually Albus had discussed the phenomena with the Founders and they had explained what was happening.
"Both Draco and Harry have what is called 'utility' animagi" explained Albus, "Harry being a Dragon Rider and Draco being a Dragon will not be a forever type thing. They have these gifts for a specific purpose to be used at a specific time. We don't know the when or where of it but they will know when the time comes. Harry's animagi, the Phoenix, and Draco's Lion will be theirs forever."
Hermione was able to completely transform into her owl, and was the first one to accomplish it. The only problem she had was she couldn't transform back to her human form yet. Minerva was working with her and assured her that it took time and not to worry.
Harry could transform to his Dragon Rider but had not quite accomplished the Phoenix yet but was getting close.
Everyone was getting very close which was a time of worry for the teachers. "I know you want it to happen for you", Minerva said, "And you will be tempted to try this when we are not with you. It is really dangerous for you if you try this without supervision so please promise me, each of you, that you will not." She had each of the kids look her in the eye and give her their solemn word. She was willing to use any trick to keep them from trying this on their own at this delicate time.
The kids each gave her their word and they knew that they would keep it no matter what.
In Occlumency they were all able to throw Severus and Albus out of their minds. Granted neither one of them used enough force to hurt them, although they could have, but just enough to get a take on how strong the kids were becoming. Albus told them that they should keep working at it and start pushing each other a bit harder but that they were doing very well.
"Also, try and catch each other by surprise so that you each get used to using it even when you're not thinking about it," said Albus.
They all breathed a sigh of relief after that particular evaluation for fear that Severus or Albus might pick up on some of their recent activities.
They had just finished with the evaluations when Professor Sprout came out in a rush and sent all the kids to their dorms or residences and told them to stay there until they were called. As the kids walked off she explained to Albus and the rest of the teachers that she had found one of the seventh years from Hufflepuff, petrified on the third floor corridor. She had taken him to the infirmary. Knowing they would need Mandrake juice, in the near future, she assured Poppy they had enough growing Mandrakes to be able to deal with the situation soon.
"What can cause this type of thing Albus", asked Sirius. Since he was now in charge of security it looked like his vacation was over with.
"I'm not sure" replied Albus, "It could be brought on by a number of things, I will have to take a look at the student and then do some research, I'm afraid."
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"I wonder what's going on?" asked Fred.
"I don't know but the Professors were really upset" replied George, "Looks like it's time to stake out the Order room again."
In a couple hours everyone was released from the dorms and allowed to mix and mingle in the castle or grounds.
Since they were alone in the common room, Ron was working on his wand-less magic while they talked and accidentally flipped a cushion at Harry. Of course Harry had to flip one back and the war began and pretty soon everyone was flipping cushions around. Fred got carried away with himself and Ron found himself pushed up against the wall enclosed in a magical barrier, all this without a wand.
He pushed on it but it wouldn't budge and in frustration he yelled out, "Merlin, Open it". The barrier fell because Fred, after getting over the shock of what he had done, released it but they also heard a grating sound, like a wall opening. They all stopped and listened but could'nt hear anything so they started looking at the wall a bit closer. When Hermione looked behind a wall tapestry, next to the fireplace, she found an opening much like the one that led to the tunnels.
She just stood there staring at it for a moment then told them to all settle down and come look. They all stared at the hole in the wall then realized that they had found yet another secret passageway.
"Fred, get your map" said Percy.
Fred ran up to the dorm room and retrieved the Map and racing back down to the common room, he opened it. "It's not showing up on the map" he said.
"We didn't expect it to be" said Hermione, "But we had to check".
"Well," said Neville, "Are we going to take a look or what?"
They looked around and since no one was in the room they decided to take a chance and go for it.
"Wait", said Hermione. "Let me go in and see if I can close the door and open it again before we all go walking in there and get stuck with no way out." She then went through the door and said, "Merlin, Close!" and the door shut. When she gave the command to open, the door opened up again. "Ok, you guys, the door works we can go through and get back out when we need to."
Once they were all inside, they shut the door and each pulled their wands out and gave the command "lumos". This tunnel looked quite different than the first one. It appeared they were on a ledge and that there was a staircase leading down past the light they were able to cast forward. They noticed a lot more dust and there were torches. Hermione cast a lighting spell on the first torch but the rest of them seemed to be triggered by the first one and lit themselves as the kids approached them. They continued down the stairs, for what seemed like forever, then finally came to another ledge.
"It feels like we are actually inside the castle wall" said Hermione.
"I guess we would have to be" said George, "We are above the ground in the common room whereas the other secret door is below ground."
They looked at the intersection which actually seemed to be another platform before starting to descend on another staircase. But there seemed to be a purpose for this platform. Harry looked at the wall and saw two torches that just looked out of place. They would be normal if there happened to be a door between them but there was no door.............well perhaps there was?
Harry walked over to the wall and whispered, "Merlin Open".
Everyone's jaw dropped and they stood there with open mouths as yet another secret door opened. There was obviously a wall hanging hiding this door also, so Harry walked silently to the door and peeped around the tapestry to see where they were. Thankfully there was nobody in the room and his best guess was that it was another common room.
Hermione walked over and took a look then smiled, "That is a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw over in the corner. We have found an entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. We need to share this information with Luna and Ginny."
"I wonder if all the common rooms have these secret passages" asked Draco. He had been spending as much time with the group as he could. He couldn't meet with them in Gryffindor Tower as often as he would like without a lot of people being very nervous, but when they started meeting in the Room of Requirement he was able to be with them more.
"I bet every common room has access to these tunnels" said Hermione. "The ones that are high up have tunnels and stairs that lead through the walls to the ground then I bet they all join up on the same level where the Death Eaters are meeting and storing stuff."
"We have another hour before dinner, lets look a bit longer" said the Twins.
They passed a number of intersections but decided to check them out later and they eventually arrived at the ground level. They walked a ways down the tunnel until they came to familiar intersection.
Neville called out to them, "That's my mark!"
When they looked at the wall they saw the directional mark that Neville had used to mark the other tunnel when they were exploring. "These tunnels join up" said Neville. "If we make a right here we would eventually come to the other entrance behind the Slytherin statue."
"Man" said the Twins, "This just gets better and better".
"Let's go out that way so we don't have to climb all those stairs," said Hermione, I think I have an idea on how we can solve one problem without causing another. First we need to construct a fake wall at this intersection so no one will go toward the common room entrances."
With a swish of her wand a wall appeared. She then spoke a spell which would allow them entrance through the wall by much like the column at the train station.
When they arrived at the original entrance the Twins checked their map and two by two they left the tunnel each time it was safe to do so.
Once back at the common room they were all looking at Hermione. "Well," she said, "We all know we can't …NOT… do something about the information we are sitting on because if someone gets hurt or killed we would never forgive ourselves. We want the Order to have the information but we don't want to give up our access to the tunnels because we know they would seal it up. That is how I see the problem" and everyone nodded.
"Now with multiple entrances to these tunnels, we can turn in the information and still have an access that they don't know about. This will give the impression that there are no tunnels coming in this direction. When they seal up the one entrance they know about and perhaps if they accidentally find others on the other side of the Death Eater meeting room, it still leaves us with access."
"With the information hopefully they can catch the ones that hurt Ginny and Draco, perhaps catch the Death Eaters and we could still, after a time, have access to the tunnels so we could explore," continued Hermione.
The light bulb whet off for everyone and they really liked the idea. Having this much information and not telling someone was starting to bother all of them.
"The problem now" said Hermione, "Is how to let them know without letting them know that we know, or worse, have been down there, or as Dad would put it 'putting ourselves in danger needlessly'. We all know what that will cost us and I don't think any of us want to go there again real soon."
"I have an idea" said George. "We don't have to tell your Dad or my Dad anything. We can tell Sirius, who is in charge of security, that we saw Avery acting funny and secretive so we followed him and saw him enter the hidden passage way. We can share with him that we heard the password. They will think that we came right to them with the information and unless they ask us directly, if we went in, we should be safe."
"I like that idea" said Percy, "There is enough truth in it to make it fly."
"As far as the bank thing" said Harry, "I think I will send a secret note to Griphook at the bank and tell him about the intended heist. We wouldn't have to tell the Order and try to explain how we found out, and it will put us in good stead with the Goblins and will help get Griphook a few points. They are so secretive that they won't tell a soul who told them if I ask them not to."
"Great idea," said Hermione, "I'm sure that would work"
"Fred and George, Sirius probably knows that Harry has that invisibility cloak so why don't you guys go and tell him and insinuate that you might have used it. That would give you points in his eyes since they are so worried that the Weasley's are going to kill the culprits before they ever reach the inside of a jail cell. He wouldn't think twice about you sneaking around, while Draco is stuck in the residence and Sirius probably thinks girls wouldn't do such things" said Hermione with a smurk on her face.
"Harry and I checked on the way out and those spare wands are on the shelf just ready to be found so I guess we can begin" she said smiling.
The Twins proceeded to find Sirius and share the news with him. They went to Sirius' office and he was in there Floo-talking to someone from the Auror's office. When he saw them walk into his office he frowned and told whoever he was talking to that he would Floo him back in a few minutes. "What are you kids up too? I figured you would be resting, exhausted from this morning?"
"Professor Black," said the Twins, "We were on our way back to the common room when we saw Avery sneaking around looking suspicious, so we followed him. He went to the statue of Slytherin and the Snake then ducked behind it. We moved closer to see what was going on and we heard him say 'Voldemort Open'. A doorway opened behind the statue and he went inside. So we came to let you know. Now maybe you can now find the evidence you need to get the people who hurt Ginny and Draco."
Sirius just stood there looking at them like they had grown three heads. "You mean you just happened to see................no never mind," and he smiled. "Ok, I will get some help and check it out. Thanks for not following him and coming to get me" he said with his voice, but his heart knew there was more to this story than they were telling. Then he remembered his days at Hogwarts and he decided he would ask no questions.
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Sirius figured that Albus might still be up in the infirmary evaluating the petrified student so he Floo-called and caught him, asking him to come to his office that it was very important. He also got hold of Severus, Alice, Minerva, and Lupin.
Within a half hour they had gathered in his office and he filled them in on the information he had received. "I am not surprised that the kids were following that group of boys around, I have also, when I had the time" said Severus, "I'm just glad they didn't try something on their own to catch them."
"Let's go see what our little spies have discovered" said Albus, with a twinkle in his eye. He also thought that there must be more to the story if the kids had given up the chase so quickly but he also was not going to ask too many questions.
They proceeded to the tunnel entrance and used the password to open the secret panel and were not surprised when it worked. Using their wands as light they began looking around, and like the kids, they were amazed. When they arrived at the shelf they found the five wands. "Don't touch them" said Albus, "We will be able to test to see who handled them last and what curses were used." He levitated them into a bag he conjured then turned to Sirius and said, "It looks like we might want to take a look at where this goes before we leave, what do you think?"
"We are here now so let's take a look" said Sirius.
As they walked down the tunnel they saw the rooms with furniture and those without and eventually came to the junction. "I feel the wards for the castle here" said Albus, "Which means if we go any further we are off Hogwarts grounds and whoever has been using this place could apparate. Let's take a right here and see what's down there."
About ten minutes later they heard voices ahead and they all quickly moved to defensive positions before going further. "Severus and Lupin, you take the point" said Albus. Severus moves pretty much silently and Lupin, you can hear and smell what's ahead before any of us can see it."
Severus and Lupin pulled ahead, moving from doorway to doorway, securing the front before signaling the others to move forward. As they came to a bend in the curve they signaled the others to move up then whispered that around the bend they would find a number of people.
Severus and Lupin then went around the corner and were shocked to see a number of Death Eaters bending over a table discussing some type of plan. The rest of the team moved into position just as Severus stunned the first Death Eater and Lupin took down a second.
War broke out with that first shot. The team stayed near the walls, hugging the crevices and trying to secure a bit of protection while they shot spells at the Death Eaters.
Lupin was struck with a cutting spell and was bleeding badly. Alice moved over to protect him, while Sirius drug him back around the corner.
Two of the Death Eaters were down when the rest of them started apparating out of the tunnel. Severus continued to shoot spells at them even while they were apparating hoping to cause them to 'splinch'.
It was over, the team was left alone and Severus was trying to stop the massive bleeding that was going to kill Lupin if they didn't get him help. Albus looked the situation, pulled out a port-key and handed it to Minerva. "This will take you and Lupin to the infirmary, go now!"
With Lupin in Poppy's care the rest of the team called in the Auror's to pick up the stunned Death Eaters and started taking a look around to see what in the world they had walked into. Severus turned to Albus and said, "Can you test those wands down here?"
"Yes, I can, but can't it wait?"
"I recognized those Death Eaters Albus," said Severus,"and I have a hunch that those wands belong to their sons who they will be contacting as soon as they land somewhere. We need to grab those boys quickly."
Albus levitated the wands out and let them rest on the table. He then used his wand to cast a spell on them and the names of the users appeared above each wand along with the last ten spells. "Alice and I will go and gather them up" said Severus, "While you and Sirius seal up the tunnel, and add a couple anti-apparation spells Albus. We can always come back down here and check everything out when we have more time."
As Severus and Alice started walking toward the Slytherin Common Room the door flew open and the five boys exited in a hurry not even noticing that the couple was standing there. It was quick wand work and soon Crabbe, Goyle, Avery, Nott and McNair, were stunned and secured. They then levitated them to Sirius' office and placed them in the holding cell that had been constructed there to hold prisoners temporarily. Severus sent a protronus to Albus, letting him know the boys were secured and they would wait in the office until he arrived.
"Can you watch the boys Severus?" asked Alice, "I want to go and check on how Lupin is doing, I'm really worried".
"Sure" answered Severus, "I can handle this, you go ahead and please send word when you have some information. I have to Floo the Auror office and I will ask Tonks to come over if she's there."
