Chapter 29
The Return
"NEVILLE!" Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ivy said together as Neville hugged them each in turn.
"I knew you'd come! I told Seamus it was a matter of time!" Neville said before locking eyes with me.
Oh, shit. I almost forgot I was dressed as Harley Quinn!
"YOU!" Neville shouted, wrenching me from Draco's arms, grabbing me by the throat and throwing me against the wall hard.
"What is it with people and the need to throw me into a wall!?" I asked, struggling for breath.
"SHUT UP, YOU MURDERER!" Neville screamed, tightening his grip on my throat. "Where'd you put her body? Huh!?"
"LET GO OF HER!" Draco shouted, shooting up.
"M-Malfoy!?" Neville shouted, letting me go.
"Yes, Longbottom, it's me, now let her the fuck go!" Draco ordered, picking Neville up by the scruff of the neck and throwing him aside to check on me as I rubbed my throat and gasped for air. "He didn't hurt you too bad, did he, Spitfire?"
"S-Spitfire!?" NEville said. "Ok, if that's Malfoy…and Malfoy just called Harley Quinn 'Spitfire', than that means that Harley Quinn is…"
"Han…Hannah Potter?" I coughed out, ripping my mask off.
Neville paled. "HANNAH!?" he asked, squishing me in his arms.
"Let me guess, you were told I was dead?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
"How'd you guess!?" Neville asked.
"Lucky guess." I said sarcastically. "The entire coven thought I was dead at one point or another. Well, except for Harry, Alvaro, Melody, Drosie…well, you get the point."
Neville looked at me wide eyed. "So, Ab, there may be a couple more people coming in."
"A couple more?" Aberforth said. "What d'you mean, a couple more, Longbottom? There's a curfew on the whole village."
"And a Caterwauling Charm in place!" I added.
"I know, that's why they'll be Apparating into the bar!" Neville said, hopping back onto the mantle again. "Vigilantes first." Neville said, holding his hand out for mine.
Draco laughed coldly. "Nice try, Longbottom. But I'll put her up the mantle. That's the boyfriend's job. Get out of her way!"
I sighed. Draco hadn't gotten over Neville hitting on me in first year.
Neville jumped out of the way and Draco lifted me up onto the mantle, climbing up himself as Neville helped the girls up (Well, all but Ivy, again, Blaise was Draco's equal in more ways than one, Blaise lifted Ivy up into the tunnel before climbing in himself.) as the boys climbed in on their own.
When the entire coven was clambered in and the portrait shut, I tied my mask back on, heart pounding.
We were going into Hogwarts…into the eye of the storm.
"This isn't on the Marauders Map, is it? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of the school." Ron said.
"They were all sealed off before the start of term." Kairi said. "No one's been risking meeting Dementors and Death Eaters at the ends of the passage."
"But never mind that." Neville said. "Is it true you broke into Gringotts and got away on a dragon? Terry Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it at dinner!"
"Yes, it's true." Harry said.
"Wicked. Hannah, is it true that you broke into the Ministry and saved all those Muggleborns?"
"Yes, yes it was." I said smiling. "And Neville, there is nothing you can tell us about what's happened that we don't already know. Kairi told us everything about the Carrows and the Cruciatus Curse. Oh, by the way, how's Nott?" I asked.
"Oh, don't ask." Neville said. "When he found out Harley Quinn killed his father, he was screaming that he'd avenge his death and lay your head on his father's grave." Neville said. "I'd avoid the Slytherin common room. He said he didn't care who it was behind the mask, he'd slaughter them in front of the whole school and her coven."
I paled. "Oh, shit, I'm screwed, then. So much for going to visit Crabbe and Goyle." I said.
"I miss Crabbe and Goyle." Draco said. "Odd, I never thought I'd find myself saying that. They were my minions before I met you…dear god, Hannah, what have you done to me!?" Draco asked, looking at me scandalized.
"Well, I-"
"Don't need to hear about your snog sessions." Neville said. "We've all seen it in the school corridors before this."
"Actually, Neville…just last night, we…"
"You didn't!" Kairi said. "You blew him!?"
"More than that, my Beater friend." I said. "In the immortal words of Brittany Spears…" I Transfigured my cat suit into a mini skirt and tube top. "I'm not that innocent!" I sang, doing the splits.
"You're seriously that flexible?" Neville said as I Transfigured my outfit back to normal. "How'd you do that?"
"Gymnastics team, four years." I said with a smirk as I got up. "Draco likes it."
Draco nodded with a smirk. "It makes for a very unique-"
"We don't need to hear about your sex life!" Neville said, cutting himself off from what he went through as Draco and I shared a smirk.
"When we get back…" Draco said.
"Draco Malfoy!" I scolded playfully, smacking him. "That isn't a very gentlemanly thought!"
"I'm serious, the things I'll do to you when we get back…" Draco muttered.
"OI!" Harry shouted, annoyed. "Keep it PG!"
"Holy crap, Hannah, where'd your innocence go?" Neville asked.
I smirked. "It went to hell the minute I killed Jennifer Ravenwood." I said. "And-"
"Although she fainted!" Drosie said.
"Shut up! No one knew that!" I said, turning to Neville. "I got used to killing Death Eaters. It was awesome. I liked the rush of adrenaline I got from slaughtering the Snake Faced Little Shits." I said as we got to a door like the one behind Ariana's portrait. As we all saw the light, Neville shouted excitedly. "Look who's here! Didn't I tell you!?"
"HARRY!"
"It's Potter! IT'S POTTER!"
"RON! "Hermione!"
"IVY!"
All I could see were coloured hangings, lamps and many faces. The Gryffindor lion was rested in gold behind a scarlet background, the bronze Ravenclaw eagle rested on a sea of deep blue, the black badger was in a yellow background. The Slytherin colours were rested on a black tapestry, candles alight with a framed picture of me there. Holy fuck, someone made a memorial to me. They were right, everyone here thought I was dead!
Before I knew it, the coven bar me and Draco were being squeezed, their hair ruffled, hands shaken. You could have thought that they had won the Quidditch Cup.
Their joy was cut short when Terry Boot looked up at me, eyes blazing when he shouted.
"HARLEY QUINN!"
The boys in the room shot up, Seamus Finnegan, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner and Ernie Macmillan each stood up, anger in their eyes as they grabbed me, throwing me into the wall.
"WHAT'D YOU DO TO HER!?" Seamus demanded.
"What'd you do to Hannah!?" Michael shouted.
"You killed her you bitch!" Anthony said.
I squeaked. "You don't want to do this!" I said. "I'm one of you lot!"
"You are not one of us!" Lavender Brown snarled.
"I am!" I said insistently.
"She is!" Draco said, taking his mask off.
"MALFOY!" Ernie snapped. "I always knew you were a low down dirty rat, but this is low, even for you! Working with the girl who killed your lover!?"
"We're one of you!" Draco snarled.
"YOU ARE FAR FROM ONE OF US!" the entire room shouted in unison.
"You're a master of deception, the evil with you is as plain as the mask on your face!"
"Traitor go back with your own!" Anthony shouted.
"I don't care what Potterwatch says about you!" Seamus said. "You murdered Hannah, you deserve to die!"
"No!" Ernie said. "We aren't the ones to do it. She was born in grief, raised in hate, but she's helpless to defy her fate. For now we let her run and live, but don't forget what we can't forgive!"
"I'm one of you lot!" I protested.
"YOU ARE NOT ONE OF US!" Seamus said, throwing me in to the wall and punching me in the stomach.
"LET HER GO!" Draco shouted.
"LET GO OF MY SISTER!" Harry added.
"SISTER!?" the room shouted together, Seamus dropping me. "If that's Malfoy, and Harry called Harley Quinn his sister…than that means…"
I took my mask off, whipping my hair around glaring at Seamus.
"HANNAH!" the room screamed together. "YOU'RE ALIVE!?"
"And we're back." I said as I was squeezed from all sides.
"The Carrows told us they killed you!" Anthony said as Draco grabbed Seamus.
"They're liars!" I said as Draco punched Seamus.
"That's for hitting my Spitfire, Finnegan!" Draco spat, letting Seamus go.
"We are so, so, so, so sorry!" Lavender said to me as everyone nodded before bombarded me with questions.
"Is it true that you broke into the Malfoy Christmas party to save Malfoy's mother?" Ernie asked.
I nodded, evoking murmurings.
"Wow, no wonder Malfoy joined the coven." the boys were saying together.
"Aw! So romantic that Malfoy would risk his life!" the girls sighed.
"Ok, ok!" I said, holding my hands up, everyone shutting up.
"We get that Hannah here did amazing things to the wizard world!" Draco said, turning to me. "And to my Basilisk." he added, wiggling his eyebrows.
I laughed at the innuendo, smacking Draco in the stomach with the back of my hand. "Shut up!" I giggled as Ron had to hold Harry up.
"Haymitch!" I said, grabbing him and supporting his weight as he shook his head, sweat beading on his forehead. "You-Know-Who vision?" I asked in a whisper.
Harry nodded. "He knows that we have the cup." Harry whispered. "We need to get going." Harry told the room.
"What are we going to do, then, Harry?" Seamus asked. "What's the plan?"
"Well…" Harry started. "There's something we…as in the coven, Harley and I…have to do. We need to get something, and then we'll be out of here."
The laughter and whooping stopped instantly.
"You mean you're all just going to leave us in this mess?!" Heather Riness said, taking a red lolly out of her mouth.
"Harry, you did tell the coven they could help." I said.
"Hannah, no! I was reluctant to telling the coven about the H-O-R-C-R-U-X-E-S." Harry whispered. "There's something important we need to do."
"What is it?"
"We can't say." I said.
Neville's eyebrows contracted together as everyone started muttering.
"And why not? It has something to do with fighting You-Know-Who, right?" Neville asked.
"Of course it does!" I said. "What d'you think we were doing since my birthday, picking wild posies and going for ice creams?"
Everyone shut up. "If it has something to do with You-Know-Who, we can help!" Neville said.
The members of Dumbledore's Army nodded, some excitedly, some solemnly. Others shot up to prove their enthusiasm for action.
"You don't get it!" Harry said. "This is something that was originally planned for Hermione, Ron, Ivy, Hannah and I!" Harry said exasperated. "Dumbledore left it to us…and he didn't want us to tell-I mean, he wanted it to be the five of us."
"We're his Army!" Christina Wolfbain said from under the Slytherin banner, candles extinguished. "Dumbledore's Army! We're all in this together. Everyone in this Room's been fighting, and were driven in here because the Carrows were hunting them down! Everyone here's proven they're loyal to Dumbledore…loyal to you!"
"Look…" I started, trying to think of something to say as the door opened behind me.
"Got your message, Neville, oh, hello, Harley, Harry, I thought you lot would be here! Hello, everyone! Oh, it's wonderful to be back!"
It was Luna and Dean Thomas.
"DEAN!" Drosie said, running into his arms.
"Hey, Anne." Dean said, kissing her in front of the entire room.
Draco and I gagged as we saw Drosie slip her tongue into Dean's mouth. "UGH! GET A ROOM, YOU TWO!" Draco and I shouted together.
"You never do!" Luna pointed out, looking to Alvaro. "Oh, hello, Alvaro, it's been awhile, hasn't it?" Luna asked.
"You two know each other?" Draco asked.
Alvaro sighed. "She was my first kiss." Alvaro admitted.
"LOONY LOVEGOOD!?" Draco shouted.
"Draco!" I scolded. "Luna is not loony!" I hissed. "Sorry, Luna." I added.
"It's alright. I get it from the Slytherins all the time." Luna said. "But the joke's on them, I'm the only one that knows how to protect them from the Gulping Plimpies."
I snorted. "Ok, you're sort of right." I whispered to Draco. "But she's a very sweet girl" I said before turning to Luna. "What are you doing here?" I asked as Seamus and Dean had a bromance moment.
"I sent for her." Neville said, holding up the Galleons that we had used in the DA in fifth year. "I promised her and Ginny that if you all showed up that we'd send for them. We thought that with you lot here, it'd mean revolution. That we were going to fight back against Snape and the Carrows."
"Longbottom, that makes sense." Draco said. "That's actually a brilliant plan!"
"Did I just get complimented by Draco Malfoy?" Neville asked.
"Yes, Longbottom, she's turning me into a softie." Draco said.
"Oh, Draco, we all know you're just a big six foot tall two hundred pound teddy bear!" I said, wrapping my arms around his middle.
"Anyways, Teddy Boy," Harry said. "I'm sorry, that's not what we came here for. There's something we have to do and then-"
"We're going to ditch them in this mess?" I asked.
"No, that's not what we mean! This is going to benefit everyone in the end! It's going to take down You-Know-Who!" Ron said.
"Then let us help!" Neville shouted angrily. "We want a part of it!"
Harry opened his mouth to speak when the door opened again, Ginny, Fred and George Weasley climbing out, stopping at the sight of me.
"HANNAH!?" the Weasley trio said together.
"Hannah…is that you?" Fred asked in a whisper.
"Last time I looked in the mirror." I said, screaming when Ginny tackled me.
"WE WERE TOLD YOU WERE DEAD!" Ginny screamed, constricting me in her arms and passing me off from her to Fred to George, to Lee Jordan, who just followed only to stop at Cho Chang.
"Chang." I said with a sneer.
"Potter." Chang sneered back. "Or should I say Malfoy? I got the message." she added to Harry, holding up her fake Galleon before going to hit on Michael Corner.
"Slut!" I coughed, earning a laugh with the Slytherins in the room.
Draco smirked. "I like the sound of-" Draco started, shutting up at the dirty looks the Room was giving him.
"So what's the plan, Harry?" George asked.
"There isn't one." Harry said.
"Just making it up as we go along?" Fred asked, running his hands together. "My favourite kind."
"AMEN!" I said, jumping up to slap Fred five.
"HANNAH, STOP THIS!" Harry shouted. "Don't encourage them! This is insane, why'd you call them back?"
"We're fighting, aren't we?" Dean asked, holding up his Galleon. "The message said that Harry was back, and now Hannah, and we're going to fight! I'll need to get a wand, though-"
"You haven't got a wand?" Seamus said aghast.
"Why can't they help?" Ron asked.
"What?" Harry asked.
"They can help!" I said, dropping my voice. "We know where it is, and we don't have much time." I whispered. "We don't have to say it's a Horcrux!"
Harry sighed. "Fine." Harry said.
"Ok!" I shouted to the Room, evoking silence from everyone, even the Weasley twins, who were cracking jokes for everyone's amusement. "There's something we need to find, something that can bring down You-Know-Who. Something that belonged to Ravenclaw. We need to know what the diadem looks like."
"Oh, yes!" Luna said. "Daddy's trying to duplicate it."
"Yeah, but, Luna," Michael Corner said. "The lost diadem…is lost. There's no chance of finding it."
"When was it lost?" I asked, smirking. I knew where it was…but not specifically what it looked like.
"Centuries ago, they say." Chang said. "Vanished with Ravenclaw, so the stories go."
"Is there anything that shows what the diadem looks like?" I asked.
"There is the statue in our common room." Cho said, standing. "I'll take you there, if you want."
"He's on the move." Harry whispered to me. "Ok, we're going to look at this statue. Me, Hannah and Cho. You lot stay here and keep…"
"The Orcrux-Hay afe-say." I whispered to the entire coven. "And so help me, it can't leave your sight! If we lose it, we're all fucked."
"We won't lose it, Harley." Emily said. "We have some strong burly men here to protect it."
"And a sexy hot Cato." I said, jerking a thumb to Draco, who smirked.
"Alright, let's roll." I said, standing with Harry as Chang stood.
Ginny stopped us, saying fiercely, "No, Luna will take them, won't you, Luna?"
"Oooh, yes, I'd love to!" Luna said, standing as Chang sat down looking disappointed.
"Hallelujah!" I said, linking arms with Luna as Harry wrapped his Invisibility Cloak around us and pushing at the wall.
It melted away and we went out into the corridor as Harry got out the Marauders' Map out, holding it close as I squinted in the dark corridor, finding mine, Harry's, and Luna's dots.
"We're on the fifth floor, come on." Harry said. "Lead the way, Luna."
…
When we got there, there was a wooden door. There wasn't any peephole or handle, but there was a bronze knocker shaped like an eagle.
Luna reached out and knocked three times on it when the eagle spoke.
"Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?"
"Hmm, that's a good one, what do you two think?" Luna asked.
"You mean there's no password?" Harry and I said together.
"No, we get asked a question. The correct answer is the passage into the common room. If we don't answer it, we wait for someone else to answer it. I say a circle has no beginning." Luna said.
"Excellently phrased." the knocker said as the door opened.
The Ravenclaw common room was huge, circular room, airier than the Gryffindor common room, but less so than the dungeons. The windows were arched gracefully, hung with blue and bronze silks. The ceiling was domed and painted with stars. And the only people there were me, Harry, Luna and a marble woman…Rowena Ravenclaw.
I stepped forward with Harry, hopping up onto the base to look at that beautiful, yet slightly intimidating woman. On top of her curls she wore a delicate circlet. It looked a lot like the tiara Fleur had worn at the wedding, except that this one had writing engraved in it, which I had read:
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
"Which makes you pretty skint, Miss Witless." a female voice said behind me.
I whipped around, drawing my wand the same as Harry at the sight of the slope shouldered Alecto Carrow.
But as quickly as I drew it, she pressed a stubby finger to the skull and snake branded in her left forearm.
