Chapter 21
An hour later, Landry, Miles, Genevieve, Scorpius, Albus, and Dumbledore stood together in the Room Of Requirement. Their bag had been packed with all the things they thought they could possibly need. They were all dressed in comfortable muggle clothes now, even Dumbledore had borrowed an outfit from Scorpius.
"These jeans are rather tight," said Dumbledore, looking down disdainfully at his legs.
"They're skinny jeans," Scorpius explained. "They're all I've got, unless you want to wear my overalls?"
Dumbledore shook his head quickly. "No thank you, Scorpius. The skinny jeans will be fine."
"Alright, are we ready to go?" Landry asked, tying off her second french braid.
"I think so," said Miles, looking around. "Do you have the bag, Love?"
Landry nodded and held up the special bag that Hermione had given them. "Everything is packed, I've triple checked," she assured him.
"Fantastic. Is everyone ready to go?"
There was a murmur of agreement from around the room.
"We're ready. But how exactly are we going to go? None of us can apparate on school grounds except Dumbledore, since none of the rest of us have been magically resurrected, thus causing that school rule not to apply. There are too many of us for him to side-along, the risk of splinching would be too great," Albus pointed out.
"So why don't we just walk off of Hogwarts grounds and then apparate?" Genevieve asked.
"Oh. Wow. Um, yeah. That's what we'll do, then," said Landry, feeling a bit foolish for not realizing this easy solution.
The group was about to leave when Landry suddenly stopped and groaned. "What's wrong, Love?" asked Miles, concerned.
"I'm absolutely daft! How could I have forgotten? The force field! We aren't going anywhere." Landry said sadly.
"Oh. You're not daft, Landry, I completely forgot about the force field, too," Genevieve said in an attempt to comfort her best friend.
"Actually, I think you'll find that our quest has not been hindered after all," said Dumbledore. "Recall how I apparated from here just an hour ago to go fetch the Minister?"
Scorpius furrowed his brow. "We just assumed you could do that because of the fact that you're a magically resurrected being," he said.
"Oh, no. You just need a password, which the Headmistress gave to me. It's 'spinach soup,'" Dumbledore revealed.
Landry's face lit up. "What are we waiting for, then? Let's go!"
"Where are we going first, Landry?" Albus asked.
"Oh. Right. Well, Voldemort has always been one for going places that are significant to his past, right? So I'd say maybe Godric's Hollow is a good place to start. Plus, that's also an extremely significant place for Grindelwald as well, so if he's anything like Voldemort, that's where he'll be," suggested Landry.
"That sounds like a solid place to start," said Scorpius.
"I agree. Gellert would go there, if only to mock me with memories of the past," Dumbledore said wistfully.
"Landry?" asked Genevieve, suddenly growing quiet. "What do we do once we do find them? The Death Eaters, Voldemort, and Grindelwald, I mean."
"I figured we'll have to snatch the Resurrection Stone back from Voldemort, so we can use it to send him and Grindelwald back where they belong."
"Great plan, Landry," Scorpius complemented. "Much easier said than done, but solid."
"I just realized," said Miles, worriedly. "What if Voldemort has made new Horcruxes?"
"Luckily, he cannot," said Dumbledore. "The resurrection stone can bring people back from the dead, but we are not meant to be in this world anymore. Our souls are not fully alive, but rather in an odd in-between stage. Since his soul is not truly alive, it cannot be split in this state. However, I don't think that Voldemort knows this. He is probably very angry and confused as to why he is not able to create them anymore."
"Has he claimed ownership of the Elder wand yet?" asked Albus. "Has he…has he found my father?"
"The Minister says that the White Tomb has not yet been broken, oddly enough, and Voldemort has not yet been able to find your father. However, I do not want to lie to you, so I will say that I am afraid it is only a matter of time before he does," Dumbledore responded.
"We'd better get going, then," said Scorpius, in response to his boyfriend's terrified expression.
"Alright," said Landry, taking a deep breath. "Wow. We're actually doing this. I wonder if we'll be expelled for this."
"Most likely," Scorpius said, grimly. "But if we can help defeat Voldemort and Grindelwald, then I think it'll be worth it, don't you?"
"Yes," said Landry. "I most certainly do. Now…shall we?"
The group walked through the halls, making sure to look around corners before turning them so as not to be caught. They were actually going to do it. They were going to leave Hogwarts. This was all real, and it was happening to them. If someone had told Landry Beckett just a couple of months ago that she and her best friends would be running away from Hogwarts, that she would be facing the two greatest foes that the Wizarding world had ever seen, that she would be walking alongside Albus Dumbledore, that she would be in love with the boy who had slept in the bed next to hers almost every night for the past six years, she would not have believed them. She still wasn't sure she truly believed it. But it was happening nonetheless.
As the cold, nighttime wind blew at their faces, the teenagers and Dumbledore made their way across the front courtyard and towards the bridge that would lead them off of Hogwarts ground. Soon they reached the edge of the force field. Dumbledore turned to them. "To get through the force field, you must each tap it with your wand and say the password," he explained.
Landry withdrew her wand and touched it to the wall of the giant force field. "Spinach soup," she said. Nothing happened. "Mr. Dumbledore, why isn't it working? Did I get the password wrong?" she asked.
"No, Landry, you did not. It did work. You'll now find that you can just walk through the force field," said Dumbledore.
Landry extended one arm and slowly stuck it through the force field. Though she could still see the glistening silvery wall, it felt as though there was nothing there. She walked the whole way through and took a deep breath. This was it. As the rest of the group joined her outside of the force field, one by one, it truly occurred to all of them the enormity of what they were doing. This wasn't Defense Against the Dark Arts class. This was the real world, with real enemies. It was not about good grades or bad grades. Now, it was life or death.
"Oh, I almost forgot," said Landry, pulling something out of her pocket and handing it to Dumbledore. "This is one of our special glass stones. We all have them, they're used to communicate from any distance. Tap it four times and think of which one of us you want to talk to, and it will contact their stone by making it vibrate. If they answer, their picture will appear in the stone."
Dumbledore looked at the stone curiously for a moment before pocketing it. "That is quite clever, indeed," he said.
"Thank you, sir," replied Landry. "Now," she said, turning to face the rest of the group. "Are we ready to go?"
Everyone nodded. "Alright, then. I'll see you all in a second, in someplace entirely different," said Landry.
She closed her eyes, pictured Godric's Hollow very clearly in her mind, and apparated.