When school restarted after the Easter break, Hermione found herself missing Harry. As much as she appreciated the support she'd been receiving from Blaise and Theo, and as close as she'd come to the pair, it had still been nice to have Harry around. The few weeks before the holidays, and the Easter break, had reminded Hermione just how much she loved her best friend. With everything she was going through, it had been great to have Harry at her side.
After Harry went back to Hogwarts, Hermione spent her time with Lyra. Even though people were lining up to help look after her daughter, Hermione monopolised her daughter. She spent hours just playing with Lyra, and talking to her about Draco. She wanted Lyra to know that her father loved her, even if he wasn't around to make sure she knew that at the moment.
Hermione was also focusing on Lyra to take her mind off her worry about Draco. It had been a few weeks since Tipsy had brought a message from Draco. Hermione didn't want to be the first to send a message, in case Tipsy arrived at a bad moment and it led to trouble for Draco. She just had to hope Draco was okay, and was just being cautious in not sending messages via the house elf. After all, there was no point risking their communication method if there wasn't any real need for them to be passing messages.
By the time Harry had been back at school for a week, Hermione had spent almost all of her time with Lyra, so on the Friday evening, Blaise and Theo had intervened and after dinner, they'd insisted Hermione remain downstairs with them. Since the twins, Remus and Sirius also begged Hermione to stay, she settled down in the front room after she'd settled Lyra in her cot for the evening.
After half an hour, Hermione was pleased she'd stayed down to spend some time with her friends. Even though her daughter was obviously her priority, it was still nice to have some adult conversation.
"Hot chocolate, anyone?" Remus asked.
"That would be great," Theo answered as Blaise, Hermione and the twins all accepted Remus's offer.
Remus and Sirius headed off to make the hot chocolate, and they'd only just returned with the drinks when the floo network lit up and Dumbledore emerged into the room. Dumbledore had barely stepped from the flames when the fire lit up again and Harry arrived.
"Harry!" Hermione was on her feet and had her arms wrapped around her best friend as soon as he entered the room.
"Missed me?" Harry laughed as he hugged Hermione back.
"I've hardly noticed you've been gone," Hermione replied with a smile.
"Sure she hasn't," Blaise snorted. "She's been moping around all week."
"I have not being moping," Hermione insisted. "I was just focusing on Lyra."
"Of course you were," Harry said. Wrapping his arm around Hermione, his eyes fell to the coffee table and the cups of steaming hot chocolate. "Ooh, is that hot chocolate?"
"I'll make you one," Sirius offered. "Albus, would you like one?"
"That would be delightful," Dumbledore replied as he sat down on an empty chair, while Harry joined Hermione on the sofa. "I'm need in need of a good cup of hot chocolate after the week I've had."
"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing I can't deal with," Dumbledore replied with a smile. "Theo's father has just been up at school a lot, causing a fuss about Theo's disappearance."
"Sorry," Theo said with a grimace. "I didn't think he would cause a fuss considering he urged me to get away."
"I very much doubt the fuss he's causing is of his own making," Dumbledore reassured Theo. "Every time he's been up at school, he's being accompanied by his lawyer, and I know for a fact his lawyer supports Voldemort. I suspect he's merely doing what Voldemort had ordered him to do."
"Why would Voldemort want such a fuss?" Blaise asked with a frown. He knew there wasn't any point asking if his mother was also causing a fuss, as he doubted she even cared he was supposedly missing.
"To keep me occupied," Dumbledore suggested. "Maybe he's worried about what I know and what I'm up to with his Horcruxes. Or maybe he just wants me so focused on dealing with Theo's father, that I'm not alert to any other trouble brewing."
"You won't let that happen, will you?" Theo checked.
"Don't worry, I'm on top of everything," Dumbledore replied with a reassuring smile as Sirius returned with two new cups of hot chocolate and handed one to him and one to Harry.
"So Albus, I'm assuming there's an ulterior motive to your visit, and you're not just here to grab some hot chocolate," Remus remarked, expertly switching the subject before Theo got too worried about the trouble his father was being forced to cause.
"You assumed right," Dumbledore said, sipping on his hot chocolate. "Harry, do you want to fill people in on your discoveries."
"Yeah, but they're not just my discoveries, Ginny helped. And don't forget Luna, we wouldn't know any of this without her," Harry said.
"Know what?" Fred asked.
"Don't keep us in suspense, Harry," George added. "Tell us what you've found out."
"Well Ginny and I spoke to Luna, and it turns out she knew about this lost diadem of wisdom," Harry began. "Better yet, she got us a picture of it. Apparently there's a statue in the Ravenclaw common room of Rowena Ravenclaw, and she's wearing the diadem. Luna grabbed us a picture of the statue, but the diadem isn't too clear I'm afraid."
Harry pulled a picture from his pocket, and handed it to Hermione. Hermione scrutinised the picture and let out a disappointed sigh when she realised Harry was right, the picture of the diadem wasn't that clear. Taking one final look, Hermione passed the picture to her right, where Blaise was sitting. In a few minutes the picture had made it's way around everyone.
"I know the picture isn't great, but I do have more information," Harry said as people continued to look at the picture. "Luna also told us that The Grey Lady is the ghost of Rowena's daughter. Maybe we can talk to her and see what she knows about the diadem."
"You want to talk to a ghost?" Blaise questioned in disbelief.
"Ghosts do talk, you know," Harry chuckled. "Nearly Headless Nick never shuts up."
"Can't say I've ever noticed, he doesn't talk to us Slytherins," Blaise replied with a shrug. "And the Bloody Baron doesn't talk, he just randomly yells at people. I wouldn't even think about having a conversation with him."
"Well, Luna seems to think we can talk to The Grey Lady," Harry said. "Providing we can find her, she's pretty elusive apparently."
"Yes, she's always been that way," Dumbledore said. "But I'm sure we can locate her and have a chat with her."
"We don't need to," Theo said quietly.
Hermione turned her attention to Theo, and found the Slytherin had the picture Harry had passed around in his hands. He looked to be scrutinising the picture pretty closely, and Hermione wondered if he'd spotted something no-one else had.
"Come on Theo, don't keep us hanging," Blaise urged his friend. "What do you know?"
"I think I know where the diadem is," Theo answered, looking up and finding everyone watching him.
"Whoa, I wasn't expecting that," George said with a small laugh.
"Nor was I," Harry said. "Are you sure, Theo?"
"As sure as I can be with this picture," Theo replied.
"So where is the diadem?" Hermione asked.
"Hogwarts."
"Hogwarts," Hermione repeated, staring at Theo in shock.
"Yeah, Hogwarts," Theo confirmed with a nod. "Or at least there's a diadem that looks very similar to this hidden in a junk room at school. I saw it last year."
"Is it possible?" Harry asked as he turned to Dumbledore.
"We've already established that Voldemort is hiding these things in places that mean something to him, and there's no denying Hogwarts meant something to him. I think it's very likely that he's hidden something at the castle," Dumbledore replied.
Harry nodded as he turned back to Theo. "Tell us more about this junk room."
"I don't even know which floor it was on," Theo admitted sheepishly. "One night last year I'd been up in the astronomy tower, and realised it was after curfew. When I was heading back down to the dungeons, Mrs Norris suddenly appeared and I needed somewhere to hide. This door just sort of appeared, so I darted inside. The room was full of junk, and I remember seeing the diadem propped on a bust of a former headmaster."
"The door to the room just appeared?" Harry checked as he shared a sly smile with Hermione and the twins.
"Yeah, I would have sworn it wasn't there moments earlier," Theo answered. "It just sprung from nowhere in my hour of need."
"It tends to do that," Hermione said with a chuckle.
"You know what this room is?" Theo asked.
"We do," Harry confirmed. "Theo, you found the room of requirement. Or at least that was what we called it when we were using it in fifth year. It's a room that gives people exactly what they need, and it gave you a place to hide."
"It's obviously been giving people a place to stash stuff as well," Hermione mused.
"So you think this diadem could be in this room?" Blaise checked.
"I think it's a very real possibility," Dumbledore confirmed when all eyes turned to him. "We need to check it out."
"I'm telling you know, the junk room is massive," Theo warned. "I spent ages wandering around looking at stuff. It was nearly the early hours of the morning before I tore myself away, there was just so much to take in."
"Maybe Mr Nott, you and Mr Zabini could come back to school to help Harry search for the diadem," Dumbledore suggested. "We could do it tomorrow evening after curfew. You could floo to my office, and the three of you could go from there. I can try and make sure it's Professors McGonagall and Snape on duty, so they'll know you're around. However, you will have to avoid Mr Filch, and the ghosts."
"We can do that," Blaise said with a grin. He was eager to actually do something to help, and he knew Theo felt the same way.
"Harry, is it okay with you?" Dumbledore asked.
"I'd appreciate the help," Harry replied, smiling at the two Slytherins.
"What about Ron?" Hermione asked. She hadn't seen the redhead since he'd last been at Grimmauld Place ranting about the attack on Hogsmeade, so she wasn't sure what the situation was between her two best friends.
"He's barely speaking to me," Harry admitted with a shrug. "He's just not accepting what's going on at all. Ginny and I didn't include him in our talk with Luna, and I don't want to include him in this. I'd rather wait until he calms down and stops behaving like such a prat."
"Don't hold your breath on speaking to him any time soon then," Fred snorted. "Ron's a stubborn arse, and it's going to take something big to make him accept he's been in the wrong."
"Maybe he'll come round once this is all over and Voldemort is gone," Hermione suggested hopefully.
"Maybe," Harry agreed. "But that won't happen until we can find this diadem. I say we get searching tomorrow evening."
With everyone in agreement, plans were made before Harry and Dumbledore headed back to Hogwarts. When she went to bed that evening, Hermione felt as though things were progressing with Voldemort. If Theo was right and the diadem was at Hogwarts, that meant Harry and Dumbledore were one step closer to defeating the dark wizard that was holding the love of her life a prisoner.
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After spending the day anxiously looking forward to doing something productive to help the war effort, Blaise and Theo were raring to go when Sirius activated the floo network and connected it to Hogwarts. Hermione and the twins wished the pair luck, before Sirius accompanied them through the floo to the headmaster's office. When they arrived in Dumbledore's office, they found Harry was already waiting for them.
"I trust you three can manage this task," Dumbledore said to the trio.
"We can do it," Harry reassured the headmaster.
"Just remember, I can't control the ghosts of the school," Dumbledore warned. "If any of them see you, they're likely to call for Mr Filch. Professors Snape and McGonagall are on duty tonight, and they'll both do their best to keep the top floors clear for you. Good luck, and I'll be waiting for your return."
After thanking the headmaster, Harry, Theo and Blaise turned and left the headmaster's office. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Harry peered out into the corridor to check the coast was clear. Satisfied no-one was around, he bolted into a nearby alcove and dug the marauders map from his pocket.
"What is that thing?" Blaise asked as he and Theo squeezed into the alcove with Harry.
"A magical map," Harry answered as he tapped his wand on the parchment and uttered the phrase that brought the map to life.
"That is so cool," Theo gushed as the map of Hogwarts appeared on the parchment. "Hey look, there we are," he said, pointing to three names on the seventh floor.
"We can use this to make sure no-one is coming," Harry said.
"Where did you get such a thing?" Blaise asked as they checked it was safe before they left the alcove.
"I got it from the twins in my third year," Harry answered.
"I've always said those two were bloody geniuses," Theo said approvingly.
"The twins didn't make the map, they just nicked it from Filch's office," Harry chuckled. "My father made the map, along with Sirius and Remus. And another friend of theirs, who turned out to be a traitor."
"It's so cool you've got something your father invented," Blaise said, deciding to focus on the positive rather than the traitor Harry had mentioned. He knew enough about what had happened to Harry in third year to know the traitor was Peter Pettigrew, and it had been him who'd told Voldemort where to find Harry's parents shortly before their deaths.
"It is," Harry agreed with a smile, grateful the two Slytherins had avoided the topic of Pettigrew.
As they made their way to the room of requirements, they slipped into a comfortable silence. When they reached the place where the door would appear, Theo looked at the wall with a frown.
"What?" Harry asked. "We have to make the door appear by thinking about what we want."
"I know, you explained that," Theo said. "I just didn't think this was the place. I thought I was possibly at the other side of the castle."
"Maybe the room has two doors," Blaise suggested. "Especially if it was as big as what Theo saw."
"It's possible," Harry agreed with a nod. "To be honest we only used this room a couple of times before Umbridge was sacked after she mauled my hand and Dumbledore was reinstated. I'm sure it holds more secrets than what we discovered."
"Let's see what secrets it holds for us tonight," Blaise said.
"Theo, you try and summon the room," Harry ordered as he quickly checked the map to make sure they weren't going to get disturbed. "Just pace in front of the wall, thinking about what you want."
With a confident nod, Theo began to pace the floor in front of the wall. On his third trip walking in front of the wall, it shimmered and a large wooden door appeared as though it had always been there.
"We're in," Harry announced as he pulled open the door.
When the trio entered the room, they found a large, cavernous room, filled to the brim with junk and knick-knacks. Theo confirmed it was the room he'd seen the previous year, and he also confirmed that this was where he'd entered the room. Obviously his sense of direction wasn't as good as he'd thought, since he could have sworn he was over the other side of the castle when he found the room.
"Let's not worry about that now," Blaise said as he gently closed the door behind him, once everyone had lit their wands so they could see in the dim light. "Lead us to this diadem."
"I can't just lead you to it," Theo tutted. "I know it's in here, but I'm not sure where. I was wandering around for quite a bit."
"Why don't we split up?" Harry suggested. "Even in a room this size, we should be able to communicate okay."
"Let's go," Theo said, raising his wand and peering off to his right. "I'll go this way."
While Theo went to the right, Blaise peeled off to the left, and Harry moved straight forward. As they went they chatted back and forth, their voices carrying easily in the quiet room. Harry easily slipped into the light-headed banter the two Slytherins indulged in, and he found himself regretting not getting to know them earlier. It was such a shame he'd ignored Blaise and Theo for the best part of seven years because they were Slytherins. Luckily, they'd gotten to know each other now, and they'd more than proved trustworthy after the way they'd stood by Hermione and Lyra.
An hour into the search, and no diadem had been spotted by anyone. By the second hour, still no diadem had been found so the trio took a small break. After a ten minute rest, they resumed their search. Nearly half an hour later, Theo was wondering if he'd imagined the diadem being in the room when Blaise let out a loud cry.
"I think this is it, boys," he called.
Using Blaise's voice as a beacon, both Theo and Harry made their way to where Blaise was waiting with a bust of an old headmaster. Sitting proudly on the top of the bust was a silver diadem, which looked spookily like the one in the picture. Just to be sure, Harry pulled the picture out of his pocket and compared it to the diadem in front of them.
"Looks like a match to me," He declared as he picked up the diadem.
"But is it a Horcrux?" Blaise asked. In all the excitement, he hadn't forgotten that they didn't even know for sure if the diadem was what they were looking for.
"Is it even the real thing?" Theo questioned. "There are some expert forgers out there who can create perfect replicas of valuable pieces of jewellery, and often people are none the wiser."
"I can't answer either of those questions," Harry admitted. "Theo's right, it could easily be a copy of the diadem. And I have no idea if it's a Horcrux or not. Apart from the diary, which was clearly possessed, I haven't been able to tell if the things we've been finding are Horcruxes or not."
"So how do we know you've destroyed the right things?" Theo asked warily. He'd been under the impression that Harry and Dumbledore were on top of the Horcrux hunt, but now it didn't sound as positive.
"I might not be able to tell, but Dumbledore can run tests," Harry reassured the pair. "All we have to do is get this back to him, and he can find out if it's the real deal."
"And if it is?" Blaise checked.
"We destroy it," Harry answered. "And once we've done that, we're down to one. His snake."
"Getting near his snake won't be easy," Theo muttered. "From what I've heard, it never leaves his side."
"We'll just have to get close to him then," Harry said as he carefully placed the diadem into his pocket. "Besides, once the snake is gone, we need to kill him."
"One thing at a time," Blaise cautioned. "Let's deal with this diadem first. And if it's the real deal, then we can work out or next move."
"You sound like Dumbledore," Harry chuckled as the boys made their way back towards the door of the room. "He's always telling me not to think too far ahead. He would appreciate the way your mind works, Blaise."
"That's me, the sensible one," Blaise replied with a grin.
Sharing an amused laugh, the trio quickly checked Harry's map before they left the room of requirement and headed back to Dumbledore's office. Once there, they left the diadem for the headmaster to run tests on, before saying their goodbyes and going their separate ways. It had been a successful evening, and hopefully one that would give them a boost in the ongoing battle against Voldemort. If they had found a Horcrux, they were almost done destroying them, and then it would be time to face Voldemort and get rid of him once and for all.
