By the time Ron and Hermione had made it back to the Room of Requirement it was flooded with people. So many faces new and old filling the available space. Kingsly had taken to making directives but Hermione knew who they were waiting for. Ron had slipped away from her side to go to his family leaving her pressed against the wall beside the door trying not to attract attention to herself. Remus had noticed her but his attention had been diverted away too quickly.
She could see from her position that he was showing Fleur pictures, of what she couldn't be certain. At present, she just couldn't care. The band on her wrist had grown tight again, this time filling her heart with a deep need to get away. From what she couldn't be sure but the feeling was almost overpowering. Just as she was about to attempt her escape she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. When she turned her head she looked into the teary eyes of her Head of House.
"Oh, Miss Granger...I am so sorry..." Her normally hard eyes were soft with regret and sorrow, "If I had known...I would have banished the coward long before this..."
Hermione's jaw twitched. Did everyone hate the man who had risked his life to save her? Did no one know the sacrifices he made every day to keep them safe? She shook her head and gently pushed the hand from her shoulder, "He didn't hurt me." Her eyes rose into the partially concealed shock on her mentor's face, a strength rose inside her. A desire to protect the man who had given her the chance to see one last sunrise. "He saved me."
"Miss Granger?!"
Hermione had thrown open the door and pushed herself down the hall with all she had, "And he isn't a COWARD!"
"Miss Granger!"
Hermione winced as McGonagall's voice echoed through the hall but it didn't slow her in the slightest. Instead of going down, she went up to the sixth floor. Her feet leading her down the dark corridor. She stopped part way to catch her breath, still not at her peak she hunched over placing her hand on the wall to keep herself on her feet. As she did she felt a ripple against her fingers that furrowed her brow.
A few panting breaths brought her to her feet again and her focus turned to the stone before her. There was a small chip about head high that had no business being there and her brain ticked. She thought she'd dreamed it, but here it was sitting right in front of her. The way Luna, Ginny, and Neville had tried to rescue her.
Her mind turned over the countless spells before she decided to simply vanish the stones away. One by one, the stones faded out of existence revealing the hidden prison beyond. Her heart pulsed in her throat when she realized it hadn't been touched. Even the bed was just as she'd left it from what felt like a lifetime ago. She hastened her removal making just a large enough space for her to pass through. She could see the ward just beyond the boundary and quickly called the runes into view.
It was simple in its complexity, much like the man whose life she had become a part of. It took her almost no time to pull them down. She was sure if she had had a wand when they had come she would have been able to escape. It was almost as though he had left them as they were to provide her access.
When the last of the protection fell away she pushed herself through the small hole she'd made, her head turned looking for the door that had often time been out of existence when it wasn't in use only to find it on the far wall partially ajar. She sealed the hole behind her before moving towards the door with trepidation. Had he run to his office? His chambers?
She pulled the door open further, her heart sinking at the dimmed lights beyond. He wasn't there, or if he was he'd turned off the automatic torches. She licked her bottom lip further stepping into the closet. It was eerie. She didn't know why, but it was as the entire room had been placed in stasis. As if the castle knew, its Master wasn't therein.
Her eyes took in the silent room, the torches did not react to her presence even as she crossed from the closet into the main rooms. So many memories threatened her focus. She had to help him. She needed something, anything. Her eyes turned around the space slowly before a small glint of light caught her attention. The moon outside had come from behind the clouds, the beam casting down directly onto a set of books on his side table.
Hesitation filled her steps but her lionheart pushed her forward. As she grew closure she realized that the book that caught her attention was her own. She took it into her hand without a thought and hastily flipped through. The first thing she noticed was all the heavy black ink lining the margins of every spell she had been working on. He'd gone through everything. She wanted to feel offended even violated but when she paused in her flipping to read one of the comments her heart grew lighter. He was correcting her, what's more, he'd done so without a scathing remark to be found. Her brow furrowed slightly turning to the page they had both referenced in their time together.
Her eyes widened, he'd solved the time paradox. The one thing she had dismissed as a necessity of the complexity around the stone's power. Her eyes skimmed down his notes. All they would have to do to reset the timer was touch the bonded stones together. It would combine whatever time they had left giving them a way to reset the counter.
He was brilliant, insufferably so. Hermione closed the book with a snap. She shrunk the tome to fit into her back pocket before turning her eyes around the room again. He was insufferable and arrogant but he was anything but careless. He never did things without reason. He always had a plan. Her eyes narrowed at the Alchemist cabinet. Surely he would have figured out a way to protect himself from the snake as well. She could use it to get closer, to take it down once and for all.
She pushed herself around his chair making her way over to the cabinet. She wracked her brain to try and remember the password. She gritted her teeth trying to sort through her thoughts. They were still messy and out of sorts but the information she sought was there she just needed to focus.
"Come on Granger think..." Hermione bit her lower lip putting all of her mental power into remembering the man's pained words. That was the first moment when she started to realize there was so much more to the man who had taken her in. "Accessio...Accesi...Aceso."
There was a small pop when the lock inside the cabinet released and she pulled it open in a hurry. Her eyes scanned everything. So many pain potions, healing salves and unidentified potions with labels only he could decipher. Like she, he had his own code for labeling his personal stores. Something, there had to be something. She snarled slightly before turning away, she rushed over to the bed and without thought and grabbed the pillow closest to her. She ripped the case free and tossed the pillow aside unconcerned before coming back to stand in front of the cabinet. She pointed her wand down at the case shrinking and expanding its inside in turn before placing a protection over it that would keep the vials from breaking.
Moving back to the cabinet she took one of everything, even the salves. She pushed the doors closed again when a sound from the office caught her ear. It sounded like voices. More than one. Low and indecipherable. Hermione frowned deeply before pushing the closed pillowcase into the front pocket of her hoodie.
Moving closer she pressed her ear against the door before she was able to make out a very familiar voice. Why had he come to the head office? Who was he talking to? Had his search for the diadem led him here? Had Snape actually found and hidden it someplace more accessible? Curiosity peeked she very slowly opened the door. The voices were clear as a bell now even though she couldn't see from her vantage.
"Where can I find it?"
"Last I heard it was tossed away somewhere that only those seeking what was lost could find it."
"Like the Room of Requirement?"
"Perhaps, though I'm sure you'd have to know exactly what you were looking for if you wanted the room to provide it to you."
"Harry?" Who on earth was he talking to?
"Crisse!" Harry spun on his heel his wand up and at the ready. He blinked dumbly for a moment before his head bounced between Hermione and the main door. "How did you?!"
"Nevermind how I got here. Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be looking for the diadem?" Hermione glanced up at one of the paintings he must have been conversing with before looking back into his pale face.
"I am, I uh." Before he could finish his sentence the loud sound of stone turning indicating that someone was coming up the stairs interrupted him.
"Put your cloak on!" Hermione flicked her wand towards the hole he'd made in the wall, quickly setting it back into place before hurrying down the small set of steps that led up to the observation tower. Without thinking, she dove under the desk pressing herself back as far as he could.
Harry did as he was told, moving so that he was standing in the small inlet next to the fireplace. It wasn't ideal but it was the least likely place he thought he'd likely be bumped into. His head pumped with the fear that Snape had somehow returned. He hid his entire body in the small alcove before a more familiar voice had filled his ears. The door swung open with a heavy bang, revealing two people he hadn't expected.
"Do you think he'd keep her in a cage?"
"I would, she probably bites."
Goyle snickered before looking around the space, "It doesn't look like she's here though."
"Don't be stupid, he couldn't very well keep her in plain sight!" Crabbe moved further into the room, his wand out. Goyle kept his back covered, his own wand at the ready.
"Malfoy's finished, it time to make a name for ourselves."
"Do you think we'll get to keep her as a reward?"
"Maybe once Snape's dead. If there's anything left of her."
Crabbe moved around the desk before a slow grin grew over his features. "Well now, this certainly isn't a cage."
Crabbe reached down before Harry could even think to react. It was only then that he realized who they were talking about. Goyle was facing where he stood, even if he were to use a spell the brute would be able to see from where it came. He just needed a second for him to turn around. He didn't want to risk his position and possibly end up with Hermione as a hostage against the two of them. They were dumb as bricks but they certainly didn't have any reservations about using Dark Magic.
Hermione grunted when she was pulled roughly from under the desk. Her head smacked along the bottom of the drawer overhead before the goliath of a boy managed to pull her free. She let out a pained noise when he suddenly turned her on the spot and forced her over the surface.
"Let me go!" Hermione hissed from the awkward angle. Her wand arm was partially trapped beneath her and her other arm was wrenched so high on her back that it made it hard to move. Bent forward over the top of the desk with a gorilla at her backside was definitely not the most pleasant of experiences. His grip on her arm was so tight, she could actually feel her hand starting to go numb.
"Who told you to speak Mudblood?!"
Crabbe leaned over her using his fat sausage-finger like hand to grind her temple further into the desk. The movement caused one of her feet to slip and her stomach pressed painfully into the vials she'd hidden in her front pocket. The shift caused her to raise her hips in order to keep the pressure off the still sensitive scars.
"Fuckin bitch likes it." Crabbe pushed off of her head before a spell hit him square in the eyes. His body collapsed almost immediately, his temple bouncing off the edge beside her hip before landing in a heap next to the bottom drawer. Goyle only had a split second to process his friend going down, as his attention had been on the window right beside Harry's head before he too was collapsing backward.
Hermione's eyes flared with fire before she slowly tucked her wand back up her sleeve. Her eyes turned over to where she'd last saw Harry before taking a small shuddering breath.
"Bloody Hell..." Harry couldn't help but stand in awe, she'd taken them both down. Silently. While he had been waiting for an opportunity to get the jump on them. "What do we do with them...?"
"Leave them...They found what they came for..." Hermione absently wiped a bit of blood from her lightly bitten lip. "Come on, we've got to find that diadem..."
"We need to get back to the Room of Requirement."
Hermione stepped over the prone bodies of Malfoy's lackeys, "What do you mean?"
"We need to summon the room I hid the half-blood prince's book in. It's a room for lost items."
"Right...okay, right..." Hermione shifted on her feet looking down at the two grunts, "They won't be out long, no doubt they'll try to chase us through the main corridor, come on...I have a better way."
Hermione moved back towards the observation tower, her mind sharp and focused. The dull throbbing on her arm didn't even register as she moved to the wall that held the hidden door to Snape's rooms. "This way..." She pushed the door open and slowly stepped through. Just like before, the torches on the wall didn't react to their presence.
Harry hurried to follow, kicking himself for having waited as long as he had to come to her aid. His anger had clouded his mind leaving him useless. With a guilt-ridden heart, he moved through the hidden door blinking to try and adjust to the dim light.
"Where are we?"
"Snape's rooms." Hermione threw him a small glance but didn't stop. Harry jogged to catch up though when he did he gently took her arm.
"Hermione..."
"It's alright Harry, I understand." Hermione was actually proud that he had shown restraint, she didn't think they needed to spark a full-blown duel. "This wand...it didn't react when I tried to cast a disillusionment spell, it's fickle...I know if you'd have had the chance you would have done something."
"That doesn't excuse anything...I am sorry...and for what they said..." Harry lowered his head and his hand, "Don't believe anything they say... you're amazing...okay?"
Hermione lowered her own eyes, "I know..." Her voice betrayed her uncertainty. "Come on, this way..." She turned away from him again moving towards another door. She'd just made it to the doorway to the closet when Harry stopped her again. She turned and looked at him impatiently, she didn't really think it was time for a conversation about her self-esteem.
"I found this...on Snape's desk..."
"My wand..." Hermione's eyes widened as she took the offered wood. "Thank you..."
Harry wasn't sure who she was thanking but he tried not to put too much thought into it. His own opinion about the man was starting to shift but even still it couldn't really wash away the years he had spent making his life miserable. He hadn't looked into the vial, it had only had Hermione's name on it, well her first initial and her last name. He wanted to give it to her as well, but he didn't think now was the right time.
Hermione pulled her replacement wand from the holder she'd made for her arm and slipped her wand into place. She felt a sense of relief when her magic flowed through the harmonic wood and carelessly tucked her previous wand in her back pocket. She turned away again stepping into the closet. She moved to the far end before knocking twice. The door reappeared and she opened it without thought.
"This is where he kept you..." Harry tried not to touch any of the greasy bat's clothes as they passed but it was hard not to smell his scent. He'd never noticed it before and found it oddly calming.
"It is..." Hermione stepped aside letting Harry come through before she closed the door again. It faded out when she let it go and she turned towards Harry who stood to look around the space.
"It's bigger than it looked in the mirror..." Harry tried not to think too much about it, but it was hard. "He took care of you..."
"He did." Hermione came to his side, her voice too having gone quiet with reverence.
Harry was looking at the mussed bed, it was small, not big enough for two to sleep comfortably, yet still, it looked nice. Everything about the room looked warm and safe. From the walls to the ceiling; nothing like a prison.
Hermione pursed her lips at his pensive look and slowly came around, obscuring his vision. She wanted to tell him, she wanted to explain everything but she knew she couldn't. Not so long as Voldemort lived inside his mind.
"Come on...We have a diadem to find."
"Right..." Harry shook his head to clear it before following her to the wall.
"I've already dismantled the wards," Hermione began tapping stones, effortlessly making them disappear. "This will take us to the sixth floor."
"Brilliant."
"Go on," Hermione stepped back to let Harry pass before following him through. Once in the hall, she replaced the stones with a slow arch of her wand. It felt wonderful to be back at full power.
"Sounds like they're already evacuating."
"They're making anyone under 16 leave, and only those over who want to stay are allowed to fight."
A loud explosion accompanied by terrified screams from the floors below rocked both of them. They each knew that it had begun. Without another word both of them took off towards the stairs.
"Tonks!"
"Harry?" The Auror standing guard over the door turned her head before giving him a worried smile.
"Are all the kids through?" Hermione hadn't stopped running, her heart thumping heavily in her chest.
"Just about, Ron and the others are on the lower floors defending the doors." Tonks moved aside in a hurry when Hermione pulled open the door she'd been guarding. The inside was mostly empty, Hermione could see Ginny and an elder woman helping the last of the students up into the hole.
"We need the room." Harry put his hands on his knees, "And Ron..." He huffed pushing himself back to his feet.
"What for?" Tonks blinked dumbly for a moment before looking at Hermione who had taken to catching her breath against the doorframe.
"To find the diadem, we can't repurpose the room until everyone inside is out." Harry swallowed thickly. Another loud explosion rocked the entire castle and he knew time was running out. "Can you send for Ron?"
"I can help you." Ginny had overheard it all, "It'd be quicker and besides, I actually want to do some good here today."
Tonks smirked and shifted, "I'll protect the corridor."
"I'll help. These old bones have been aching for a good fight." The elder woman who'd been helping Ginny stepped out into the hall. It took Harry a moment but once he realized who she was he couldn't help but frown. His grandmother was all Neville had left, he couldn't forgive himself if something happened to her.
Before Harry could object Hermione had pulled the doors closed to the room. The other's took it as a sign of his agreement and took their places. Tonks and Neville's Grandmother went further down the hall to try and head off anyone who would come their way. Ginny smiled proudly for a moment before giving Harry's hand a squeeze.
"Just relax and concentrate, Harry." Hermione had taken his other side and he could feel their strength wafting over his own form. So much had led him to where he was now, but he knew down into the deepest part of his heart that he could never have gotten as far as he had without his friends. They were truly his greatest strength.
Amidst the echoes of war, Harry found the strength inside of him to clear his mind. It took only a few moments before the door transformed before them and he knew he'd done it. He took a step forward and let out a slow breath before pushing the door open wide.
"Wow..." Ginny's astonished voice only accented the amount of hidden treasures that was shown before them. Mountains with seemingly endless rows in all directions. How were they ever going to find one thing inside its mass?
"I'll take the left, shout or send a Patronus if you find something. We're looking for a tiara, Ginny." Hermione pushed off down the nearest row, her keen eyes scanning quickly.
"On it-" Ginny made to take the right but a hand in her stopped her mid-step.
"No you stay with me, I could never face your mother again if something happened to you."
"But Hermione-"
"Hermione knows more spells than either of us could even dream of. She'll be fine." Harry didn't realize how insulting that may have sounded but thankfully, Ginny didn't take offense. Instead, they both started down the center row. Harry tried to use his connection with Voldemort to try and hear its call.
They'd all made it about halfway through the deep labyrinth. He could almost feel it. They were so close. His eyes turned to an old dusty wig and he felt his heart speeding up. His eyes landed on the tiara with great trepidation. A soft whisper, just beyond his ears' rang of clear hearing fluttered against the back of his skull and he knew he'd done it.
"Is that it?" Ginny came closer from one of the massive piles she'd been examining to his left.
"Bit of an odd time to be taking your whore out on a date," Crabbe smirked down from a long row to Harry's right, though it looked more like a grimace thanks to the large bruise he was sporting on his temple.
"That's my wand Potter." The blond owner rounded the stack flanked to the right by Goyle who was also sporting a rather nice split lip.
Harry snarled at the little troupe, "Winners keepers, Malfoy." His hand tightened around the Hawthorne before his eyes flicked down to the wand in the blond's hand, "Who lent you theirs?"
"My mother."
Harry scoffed even though there was nothing funny about it. He'd seen the woman like laying prone at the manor, he could only hope that she'd been unconscious but he wasn't so sure. That night was still a whirlwind in his mind and he'd rather not remember it.
"Harry, did you find it?"
"There she is! Two for one, maybe we'll doubly rewarded. Descendo!" The wall began to totter, then the top third crumbled into the aisle next to where Hermione's voice had come from.
"Hermione!" Harry bellowed, as somewhere out of sight Hermione screamed, and Harry heard innumerable objects crashing to the floor on the other side of the destabilized wall.
"Finite!" Ginny shielded herself at Harry's back but called the toppling tower back into rights.
"No!" shouted Malfoy, staying Crabbe's arm as the latter made to repeat his spell. "If you wreck the room you might bury this diadem thing!"
"What's that matter?" said Crabbe, tugging himself free. "It's Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum? Besides, that bitch is mine!"
"Potter came in here to get it," said Malfoy with ill-disguised impatience at the slow-wittedness of his colleagues. "So that must mean–"
Crabbe turned on Malfoy with undisguised ferocity, he took hold of the blond's shirt lifting him a few centimeters from the ground. "Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You an' your dad are finished. Snape's gonna be dead by daylight! We're gonna get our reward without you!"
"Harry?" shouted Hermione again, from the other side of the junk wad. Hermione had moved, she was still mobile; he just hoped she stayed out of the direct line of fire. He didn't know why the two idiots before him wanted her so badly but he was sure as hell not going to let either one of them get their hands on her again.
"Harry?" mimicked Crabbe. "No, Potter! Crucio!"
Harry had lunged for the tiara; Crabbe's curse missed him but hit the stone bust, which flew into the air; the diadem soared upward and then dropped out of sight in the mass of objects on which the bust had rested.
"STOP!" Malfoy shouted at Crabbe, his voice echoing through the enormous room. "The Dark Lord wants him alive –"
"So? I'm not killing him, am I?" yelled Crabbe, throwing off Malfoy's restraining arm. "But if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff – ?" A jet of scarlet light shot past Harry by inches: Hermione had run around the corner behind him and sent a Stunning Spell straight at Crabbe's head. It only missed because Malfoy pulled him out of the way. "It's that Mudblood! Fuck it! Avada Kedavra!"
Hermione dived aside, her eyes lit with fire. So he no longer wanted her as his pet. She could live with that. She pressed herself back against the large stack of junk she'd taken refuge behind and took a slow breath. Could she do it? Could she actually cast the killing curse? Would she ever be able to come back from something so, dark?
Harry seethed and pushed Ginny further behind him silently urging her to take up a defensive position further down the row. The fact that Crabbe had aimed to kill wiped all else from his mind. He shot a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, who lurched out of the way, knocking Malfoy's wand out of his hand; it rolled out of sight beneath a mountain of broken furniture and bones.
"Don't kill him! DON'T KILL HIM!" Malfoy yelled at Crabbe and Goyle, who were both aiming at Harry: their split second's hesitation was all Ginny needed. "Expelliarmus!" Goyle's wand flew out of his hand and disappeared into the bulwark of objects beside him; Goyle leaped foolishly on the spot, trying to retrieve it; Malfoy jumped out of range of Hermione's second Stunning Spell. Both she and Ginny provided cover while Harry started climbing the wobbling tower.
Hermione pushed herself across a small aisle making sure she was seen before she rounded a large stone column. She shot a full Body-Bind Curse at Crabbe, which narrowly missed.
Crabbe snarled wheeling around and screamed, "Avada Kedavra!" again.
Hermione leaped out of sight to avoid the jet of green light. She'd done a rather impressive forward roll in the process, though her landing was a little off and she skidded slightly crashing into a pile of broken chairs. She hissed and pushed herself up enough to try and see through a gap in the precariously stacked wood when the top of the stack exploded in a rainstorm of splitters. She could hear his feet thundering after her and took off in the opposite direction. Her only thought was to keep him away from Harry.
Ginny had a similar idea, leading Goyle in a sort of cat and mouse chase. They were nearly matched spell for spell when a deep roar startled them all. Ginny took the distraction and cast a full body bind on the boy before turning to see from where the noise had come.
Harry turned from the pile he was digging into a large wall of flame, right on Hermione's heels. She was far away, farther away than she thought she'd made it but she was running back fast.
"Like it hot Bitch!?"
Hermione turned her head back for a split second and cast a spell Harry had never heard before. It hit the mark, sending the insane teen spiraling head over arse into the large mouth of a firey snake. His anguished screams were cut off abruptly when the large beasts' jaws snapped shut turning the vile boy's body to ash in an instant.
"Run!"
Harry shook his head unsure of what to do. His eyes turned down to Malfoy who was still trying to locate his wand when Ginny came up to his side panting heavily. "Did you find it?"
"No! I-"
"Harry!"
"There!" Ginny pointed up to just above where Harry had been looking. Harry followed her hand and hastily jumped up to retrieve it. He barely had a second to read the etching but as soon as he touched it he knew, he knew he'd gotten it.
"We need to get out of here That's fiendfyre!" Hermione was closing in fast, but so was the destructive power of the flames behind her.
"How do we-" Harry turned on his heal his brain nearly shutting down from the amount of adrenaline pulsing through his system. He turned his head in every direction until finally just a few rows off he saw a series of old looking brooms, "There! Run there!"
Ginny took off with Harry straight behind. No one but Hermione noticed that Malfoy had skittered after them as well. She chanced a glance behind her before taking a sharp turn to try and take a shorter path towards where Harry had pointed. More and more the room burned. The large enchanted fire turning the air thick with black smoke, it was nearly impossible to breathe and each breath they all took only burned more and more.
Harry hadn't realized Malfoy had followed him until he, not Hermione appeared beside them taking one of the brooms for himself. Hermione appeared not a second later taking one as well, leaving just one for Harry and Ginny. Ginny didn't seem to mind at all and pushed it into his hand urging him to get into the air so that she could climb on with him.
"Where's the door?"
Harry didn't know. He turned his head just trying to get over the plums of smoke, a large turn threatened the diadem's hold around his wrist and he dipped both her and Ginny low.
"This way!" A voice none of them ever expected to help them came over the roar of another beast coming to life inside the inferno.
Harry took the chance turning the broom but unfortunately lost hold of the diadem in the process. It fell in what felt like slow motion only to be swallowed up by one of the smaller serpents that had started to burn along the stone floor. There was nothing to be done. Harry tried to keep himself on target when a cold chill ran up his spine.
Hermione had been above the smoke, as fearful as it was, it was the only place where she could see. She hadn't seen Harry drop the diadem and it wasn't until the brand on her neck let out a sharp bolt did she realize what must have happened. Unfortunately for her, the pain was much more intense than before. So much in fact, that her vision went black and her hold on the broom beneath her faltered.
"Hermione!" Ginny had seen her start to fall from her broom, but both she and Harry were much too far to catch her. She was going to fall straight into the flames.
Harry pushed the broom forward as fast as he could but it was simply too old and too laden to heed his command. His heart sunk as her body fell, the world seemingly going still—when the impossible happened. Malfoy had come down from almost nowhere. He was leaning over the side of the broom he was on and had caught the back of her hoodie. It sent his own flight sideways and he nearly lost his own grip. Harry watched with bated breath as Hermione's hand came up to take hold of the broom.
"Don't let go!" Malfoy hissed keeping hold of the back of her hoodie. There was no way he could pull her up, but if she could hold on, she would make it.
