Update after six years!
Just don't kill me… Please!
Severus Snape paced impatiently inside the Shrieking Shack. He was sure that the boy had returned. He had himself cast the delicate overlaying spell to detect the boy's presence albeit only to him, but apparition inside the Hogwarts grounds… He was not expecting that! The anti-apparition wards were cast very carefully under the Dark Lords supervision. They were a necessary precaution against the order or anyone else for that matter who may foolishly try to attack them and yet the alarms had failed to stop or even identify the intruders, who they were or what they were and that had caused panic amongst the ranks of death eaters. Dumbledore! Surely this was his doing.
"That old fool!" he muttered under his breath.
"What was it… an old concealing charm? Magic so ancient that even the Dark Lord has forgotten!" Snape pondered while still pacing restlessly.
"This had happened before!". "A simple miscalculation" He thought bitterly as he looked outside the barred window. He was lost starting at the ghostly shadows outside. "This was not the plan…" he breathed out.
He remembered his argument with the now deceased headmaster. "You… Severus! you need to be the one to prepare the boy and take him to Tom… Harry… he… he needs to know that when the time comes, Severus, he needs to shed all fear, all connection and he needs to…" A sharp howl at a distance forced Severus Snape to jolt back to the present. "Those insufferable creatures" he muttered distastefully. "Perhaps I should sacrifice them first!" His long dark clock disappeared behind the slammed door as he ventured into the thick fogg towards the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry determined to find the boy-who-lived before it's too late.
--
Aberforth Dumbledore remained numb for several minutes after Remus Lupin had just finished narrating the most horrific tale of murder, dark magic, tragic adventure and the subsequent suicide mission plotted by three unfortunate teenagers. His bottle of beer left unfinished on the bartenders desk while Remus Lupin looked at him sheepishly. They were sitting opposite to each other in the dimly lit bar. Piles of half eaten snack and beer bottles littered before them.
"Well…?" implored Lupin while picking up the last of beer bottles. "Huh… Hmmm" mused, the elderly man still in a state of pure shock! "Aberforth?" Lupin voiced after another few minutes of silence. "Well… say something!"
"This is madness!" Aberforth suddenly stood up spilling his unfinished beer and breaking few beer bottles in the process. Lupin did brace himself earlier expecting a strong reaction from the older yet much larger man but he still fell backwards with his chair thoroughly unprepared for the backlash. The younger Dumbledore now flounced back and forth inside the Hog's Head pub completely ignoring a visibly concerned Lupin as he got up and fixed his chair, then suddenly he began -
"And you said yes to this… Good lord!"
"Y.. Yes.. Let me.. " Lupin was not able to finish his barely audible sentence as Aberforth cut him short.
"What in Merlin's name were you thinking!?" Shouted Dumbledore.
"I mean really… were you sipping a little too much firewhiskey the whole time while these unfortunate souls hatched this preposterous plan to take down the most powerful and now evidently immortal dark wizard of all time!
"It's a good plan.. Aberforth" pleaded Lupin. "We just need a distraction with the help of the order so that Harry and his friends can find the remaining horcruxes and then go to the chamber of secrets to…"
"A good plan you say!" Lupin was interrupted again by the sarcastic tone of the elderly man. "Are you even listening to yourself!" He said pointing his shaking finger towards Lupin's pale face. "Tell me this… How many of these things are there?"
"We… Harry… Y.. Your brother estimated that there were six of them… Possibly seven!"
"Pondering possibilities now… Are we!" Aberforth Dumbledore looked almost on the verge of hysteria while still pacing angrily inside his pub.
Lupin sat down on the other end of the pub, clearly not wanting to be in the way of his former drinking partner turned sarcastic critic, rather he chose to be silent for now. "Let the shock wear out!" he thought. "Merlin knows how much I cursed after hearing this… The old man just needed more time!" with that thought Lupin poured himself a glass of muggle beer from the last surviving and half broken bottle.
--
The impenetrable magical doors ( or so he thought ) in the far side of the crystal cave blasted outwards with a jet of red light, quickly fading in the oncoming waves. Inside the cave Lord Voldemort bellowed in anger as he clutched the now empty basin in his hands.
"How!" he cried in agony and with careless swift of the elder wand destroyed the remaining section of the cave door. Large rocks flew towards the sea as if they were weightless. He howled in agony, not from physical pain but from pure frustration. His worst fear finally realized and he had only one person to blame. He also knew where to find him! With one last scream his black robe melted away as he blasted through the roof of the cave with one specific destination in mind...
--
Harry felt good! He was happy, which came as a surprise to him. He was being hunted by the greatest dark wizard in history along with his legion of murderous cult and blood thirsty magical creatures… But he felt fine! The room of requirement was bursting with noises. Teenage witches and wizards taking cheerfully, drinking and for Ron's case intensely playing wizards chess! Time ran slower inside the room of requirement than outside of these walls. Neville, while having a fairly casual discussion with Harry, had informed him that how he prayed for a place where his friends can hide without anyone noticing that they were gone and his prayers were answered. The first time he and Ginny hid here to save themselves from the death eaters, they remained inside for days and yet it was just a few short hours outside.
"Why were they attacking you?" Harry had so stupidity asked.
"To get information out of Ginny, they thought she knew…" Harry felt horrible and indescribably angry listening to Neville, how he had to save Ginny and also on occasion other outspoken students many times from them while he, Ron and Hermione was away.
"The last time they wanted to… um… Make her pay" Neville said visibly disgusted. "Snape of all people rescued us!.."
"He rescued you!" Harry blurted almost spitting mouthful of firewhiskey on Neville.
"Sort of... I guess… before himself interrogating us for what seemed like hours in the headmasters chamber"
"What did he want!"
"You!..." Nevile breathed out. "The git wanted to be the one to capture you I guess" He added after a pause.
Harry was lost in his thoughts of the new headmaster until he remembered that he had not asked Nevile or anyone for that matter, how they were! He cursed himself for it and voiced the most obvious thing that came to his mind first - "You had to hide here for days! What happened? " Harry's concern was genuine but Nevile felt his ears burn.
"I was badly injured… they used the cruciatus on… on me… Ginny spend three full days here… nursing me back to health!" he explained then looked guiltily towards Harry who looked even more guilt-stricken.
After that for sometime they drank in silence.
--
Hermione felt incredibly awkward as she approached Ginny. The red headed girl was still chatting with the Patil twins and from a distance, Hermione was not able to read her expression which she had hoped would remain civil. She desperately wanted to talk to her, to clear things up. Ginny had been her closest friend apart from the two boys, she was like a sister. Yet the revelation earlier had made Hermione unsure about their relationship now. She neared her slowly but Ginny almost immediately looked sideways and noticed her!
She hugged Hermione immediately as she came at an arm's length of her.
"How are you?" she asked without any malice in her voice!
"I'm good" Hermione replied sheepishly. Ginny looked at Parvati and Padma who in return nodded and left.
"You look tired Hermione" Ginny whispered after pulling Hermione towards the far corner of the room.
"Did you not sleep or did those two idiots kept you busy for eleven months straight?" She said with concern in her voice. Hermione smiled and looked at Ginny gratefully.
"I'm fine Ginny"
Hermione felt as if an enormous weight was lifted from her heart. "Are you ok… With.." She asked in return, the last bit while looking at the direction of Harry, then she faced Ginny once more. Her gaze was melancholy but she nevertheless smiled and nodded.
"I always wondered how long would it take for you to figure it out!" she said softly then added "I guess I was prepared!".
Hermione's eyes widened. "Was I that obvious!" she murmured.
"No!... You were good." Ginny sighed and slowly turned her head towards the raven haired boy, who was happily joking with a rather shy Nevile, oblivious to all of this. Then she faced Hermione once more and spoke with content - "But Harry… Well, he was transparent!".
With that revelation both girls looked at each other rather fondly and after a moment's hesitation embraced for the second time. Their friendship now much stronger than what it was just a few minutes ago.
--
"And checkmate!" announced Ron to a group of shocked looking Griffindor students who were all playing against him. "No way!" howled Dean Thomas and threw his arms up in the air. Seamus was more content with defeat and thus slowly raised the finger next to his forefinger in a gentlemanly fashion. Ron spit out his drink and immediately prepared for war when a piercing sound echoed all throughout Hogwarts.
"Blimey… What the hell is that!" Ron shouted at the top of his lungs.
Harry looked at Nevile with concern who got up and yelled for everyone to hear - "That.. would be Snape!"