Disclaimer: I don't own any Harry Potter material. Everything except the characters Sarah Nelson and Angus Black as well as the plot are owned by J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 52 Down the Secret Passageway
Harry took a breath. He could still hear the sounds of the Death Eaters in the Potions classroom. The others had stopped too and were looking back at him. Harry looked around. The walls along the corridor were golden with a golden ceiling with light fixtures. A red carpet went along down the floor. Harry looked at the others.
"I don't think the Death Eaters can get through," he said, "So I think it's best if we count everyone to see who's here."
The others mumbled in agreement. Harry counted and found there were 30 of them. The remaining 16 were still out, many of them probably stunned by spells or worse. He found that, among others, Seamus, Terry, and Parvati were missing. He was torn between deciding to go onward and deciding to go back and help those who hadn't made it through.
"Harry, there's nothing we can do about the others who have been left behind," said Neville, reading his mind. "The best we can do is just to continue onward. Besides, it's not just Death Eaters out there, but Order members as well. They'll protect the others."
Harry nodded, although he wasn't sure about this, and they all continued down the passageway. It didn't go straight all the way, but had turns in it as well. Soon they were far enough away that they could hardly hear the battle anymore. After Harry made another turn, he stopped, confused. The others behind him stopped as well, looking just as confused.
The passageway branched off in two directions.
Harry had to blink several times before taking in what his eyes were telling him. He had expected it take them straight to Angus Black, not to branch off like this. And it didn't seem likely the two branches joined up again, because they both went a long way down and were at right angles to each other. Harry turned back to the others. They all looked perplexed.
"Now what are we doing to do?" asked Harry.
"Well, if we take one of them," said Luna, "there's at least a fifty percent chance we're taking the right one."
"I know what we can do," said a Ravenclaw boy. "We'll split up."
Harry shook his head. "Splitting up is the last thing we want to do now."
"Why, Harry?" asked Neville. "No one is chasing us. The Death Eaters haven't broken through-,"
"That doesn't mean they won't soon," said Harry.
"But they aren't coming any closer," said Anthony Goldstein. "I can't hear the battle at all now, can you?"
"No, but-," began Harry.
"Come on, Harry," said Neville. "15 of us one way, 15 of us the other way. We're well numbered."
"Actually," said Luna, walking a little down the one branching to the right, "If I see correctly, there are forks in the pathway to come as well. I see another pathway, branching off this one way down there."
Harry closed his eyes. When he opened them again, Neville was looking at him.
"Come on, Harry," he said. "Look, if we run into too many forks, none of us will bother going down any of them. We'll stay in groups of at least five. That should be good enough."
Harry nodded. "Fine. No groups of less than five."
The group began splitting itself up. Harry and his group took the left pathway, while the other group took the right. Just as Harry rounded the next turn, however, he came across another fork. Five of Harry's group went down the pathway on the left, while the rest went down the right. Then they met up with another fork and the group split up again: five going down the right pathway, Harry and the rest going down the left pathway. They met up with several forks more, and the group resisted breaking up again, choosing pathways at random. Sometimes there were forks that had three or four branches and not just two. When Harry felt he had enough of this and was quite sure he would never be able to find his way back to the entrance, he came across a golden archway, leading what looked like into a room. He went slowly towards it and entered.
The room was huge, even bigger than the Great Hall at Hogwarts. The floor had golden tiles, and the walls and ceiling were all golden coloured with pillars near them. Shelves took up the room, going up to the ceiling, not unlike shelves Harry had encountered in the Department of Mysteries. And on these shelves appeared folders or what looked like folders. Harry was about to walk farther when he heard footsteps. He turned to the right and saw someone making their way towards them.
