The depressed spirit of the room exploded into joyous celebration as Harry, Ron and Hermione appeared behind Neville. Their hearts were bouncing off the ceiling. This was it. The revolution to wrest Hogwarts from Snape, the Carrows and the evil to lay over it like a dark, foul-smelling, wet blanket was about to happen.
As the news got out to the other members of Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix and they started to make it to the room the level of enthusiasm continued to raise. The trio could not help but be infected. They had lived in exiled isolation for too long. Their hearts were overwhelming their brains.
After a few moments, Harry jumped up and broke the mood as he fought against Voldemort's attempted intrusion behind his burning scar. He began telling the group they were on a mission that he could not divulge. The masses could not understand him. They were ready to fight. They wanted to fight. They needed to understand what was happening.
He tried to explain that Dumbledore had left the mission for them to solve on their own. This did not sit well with the others. They were loyal to Dumbledore and Harry fighters. They had been driven into hiding because of it. They needed more than this to satisfy them.
Then it happened. It was the one thing that could explode Harry's ecstatic mood. Ginny walked into the room.
Harry's heart shot higher than he thought possible. It was really Ginny. It was the one person he wanted to see above all others. There she was, looking at him, She was more beautiful than he remembered. Her eyes and smile were like electricity going straight into him.
Then, just as quickly as it had soared upward, his brain sent his heart crashing to the ground. Why was she here? She should not be here. He wanted her to be anywhere but here. She and the others had no idea what was coming. As much as his heart wanted him to grab her and never let go, his brain was telling him she needed to go, far away, as soon as possible.
The reunion continued with hearts donating and brains left to the side. Everyone was ready to fight, but Harry was telling them the three of them had not returned for that. They were on a mission given to them by Dumbledore that they were not at liberty to discuss. This did not sit well with the army, which was relegated to being cooped up in the Room of Requirement because of their passionate beliefs.
Harry's scar was burning as he saw Voldemort discovering another destroyed horcrux. He knew their time was limited. They needed to find this object. But what was it and where could it be hidden.
Ron said they did not have to tell the people what it was they were looking for. Hermione agreed and Harry pondered the thought as his head threatened to split open. Finally, he told them they needed their help to find something hidden in the castle. Brains started to re-engage, but when he could not identify the item the upset started to boil back up in their hearts and brains. It was only after they decided it was probably Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem that anger started to subside.
Cho offered to take Harry into the Ravenclaw Common Room so he could see a replica of the diadem on her statue. This cause Ginny's heart to turn green with suspicion and jealousy. Hackles raised, she insisted Luna should be the one to assist Harry. Luna actually seemed delighted with the idea and the two of them departed the room through a series of odd, twisty passages.
Moments later they had made it to the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room and dormitories. It was higher up than Harry had ever been in the castle. He quietly marveled at the way Luna figured out the riddle and opened the door. He loved her in a good friend kind of way. Unlike many, he often found the wisdom in her words. To him, she was a very special and completely unique person.
Luna was noticeably more gleeful than usual, even though she did not say anything. Between having her idea of looking for the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw and getting to lead Harry up to the Ravenclaw Common Room was exciting. Although she did not let it bother her, she knew people often dismissed her as odd, nonsensical, loony. They did not take her seriously a good share of the time. They treated most of her ideas and statements as weird. Her heart was enjoying these moments of being respected and useful.
Harry saw the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw as they entered the common room. He stepped up onto the plinth and examined the statue. When he saw the delicate marble rendering of the diadem he sensed something familiar in the back of his brain. Then he was shocked by the sound of a hissing, wheezing voice. Whirling around, he was confronted with the Umbridgesque form of Alecto Carrow as she pressed her finger against her Death Eater tattoo.
Harry's brain felt like it would explode as he heard Voldemort say, "They've got the boy". The vision in his mind was of Voldemort standing on the rocks outside the cave that had contained the Slytherin locket. He knew it would not take him long to make it to Hogwarts.
Alecto raised her wand to stun Harry. His heart sunk as the burning from Voldemort in his brain preventing him from acting. Then there was a flash and a crack. Luna was looking at him with a bit of amazement at how loudly her spell had hit Alecto. Harry and Luna quickly got back under the cloak as a thundering herd of footsteps on the stair indicated Luna's spell had awakened the entire house.
The students, all in the bedclothes, gathered around their fallen tormentor. They seemed quite delighted until they heard a pounding on the common room door and the angry voice of Amycus Carrow trying to gain entry. As the students rushed back up to their dorm rooms the voice of Amycus was joined by that of Minerva McGonagall.
Professor McGonagall answered the riddle and the two of them gained entry as the last of the students disappeared. Amycus quickly became enraged when he found Alecto on the floor and no Potter to be found.
He reasoned out a plan to blame the students for the false alarm. When Professor McGonagall told him she would not stand for it he spat in her face. Harry was a true Gryffindor and the affront the head of his house was like a knife in the heart. This caused Harry to burst out from under the cloak and hit Amycus hard with the Cruciartus Curse. This sudden appearance of Harry caused Professor McGonagall to nearly collapse. Then, when Luna suddenly appeared a moment later after Harry told the professor Voldemort was on his way she fell back into a chair to gather her wits.
In his heart, Harry wanted to tell Professor McGonagall everything about his mission. However, his brain made him hold back and simply tell her he was working on Dumbledore's orders and searching for something hidden in the school that could help defeat Voldemort.
She immediately said she could help him and that they needed to enlist the aid of the other professors to protect the school while he searched for the hidden item. She hung the still unconscious Carrow from the ceiling in a silver mesh net and had Harry and Luna get back under the cloak. She led then out onto the stairways with three spectral cat patronuses lighting the way.
They proceeded downward with the cat patronuses leaving them one by one. Everything was proceeding well until they heard the noise of someone approaching. Seconds later, Severus Snape appeared in front of them wand ready, as snide, suspicious and contentious as ever. Harry's brained fumed with the rekindled hatred he harbored against Snape. Even his heart, which usually worked to mitigate his anger and rage was inflamed with the desire to attack the constant tormentor that had made what could have been wondrous years at Hogwarts less joyful than they should have been.
He bickered with Professor McGonagall until it was too late. A fight erupted with each of them giving as well as they took. It was only when professors Flitwick, Sprout and a wheezing, panting professor Slughorn appeared that the fight took a turn against the outmanned Professor Snape.
The professors pursued the bolting Snape up the stairs and into a classroom. By the time Harry and Luna had shed the cloak and started to pursue the combatants, it was too late. They heard the breaking of glass and Professor McGonagall yell "Coward" as the entered the room. A bat-like shape that was most certainly the fleeing Snape was headed over the walls of the castle and disappearing into the darkness.
Harry's brain rejoiced at the defeat and ignominious flight of the person he despised more than any other person in his life outside of Voldemort. However, his heart wished Snape was still there so that he, too, might join in the defeat and extract some level of revenge for all of his year of suffering under his presence.
As the scene cooled and wits were gathered Harry and Professor McGonagall explained the situation to the professors Flitwick and Sprout. By the time professor came gasping for air into the room they were fully aware of the imminent danger that was racing their way and Harry's need to stave off Voldemort's arrival until he could find the mysterious object needed to help defeat the Dark Lord. They also decided it was paramount to figure out how to evacuate the younger students and others who wanted to leave. Harry explained about the new secret passage out into the Hogshead and they agreed it would work.
Professor Sprout headed off to gather her house. Professor Flitwick started casting spells through the broken window. This battle could make the first battle, despite the loss of Dumbledore, pale in comparison. As she prepared to head off and gather her house, Professor McGonagall argued with a less than enthusiastic Professor Slughorn calling his loyalty and the loyalty of his house to the school into question.
Moments later, Harry and Luna were hurriedly heading back into the Room of Requirement. Harry was a jumble of conflict. His heart was geared up to fight to the end. His brain was busy trying to figure out where to look for the diadem and how to battle Voldemort and his forces.
They found a chaotic scene inside the room upon their return. The number of members of Dumbledore's Army had doubled and most of the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix were also present. In addition, masses of students and their escorts were heading into the passage on way to escaping by way of the Hogshead.
"Do you see Ron or Hermione?" Harry asked as his eyes darted around the room.
"No," said Luna.
"I've got to find them. I need their help."
"Ohhhhh. I will help you look."
In the middle of the room, the Weasley family was engaged in an argument. Molly was berating Fred and George for bringing Ginny with them. Harry's emotional heart yearned to go to her, to be with her, but the critical side of his brain overruled the emotional part and his heart.
Molly was saying Ginny was too young to be there and had to leave. The fact Ginny was her only daughter, the daughter she so desperately wanted as she gave birth to six sons, played a huge role in her emotional determination. Ginny was arguing for naught about wanting to stay and fight. In the middle of it, Percy appeared, contrite and apologetic for abandoning the family for the ministry. The family was once again whole.
The fight over Ginny was only resolved when Molly agreed with Lupin, who stepped in with a suggestion that Ginny should stay but not leave the room. Ginny did not like it but agreed after a very stern stare from her father.
Harry began searching the room for Ron and Hermione. He needed his friends more than ever to help figure out the plan of action. "Has anyone seen Ron and Hermione?" he asked the group.
"They said something about a bathroom," replied Ginny.
As Harry inspected the empty bathroom in the room he was suddenly overcome. His brain threatened to explode as he saw a vision of Voldemort at the gates. It was beginning to happen. He needed to find Ron and Hermione. They needed to find the diadem as soon as possible.
Resolved that Ron and Hermione must be elsewhere, he made his way up to the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall was there directing the leaders to take their houses to the evacuation site. Then, as if things were not chaotic enough, Voldemort's voice emanated from the walls. He warned them of the futility of their efforts and demanded they turn over Harry.
McGonagall asked him why he was there and not searching for whatever it was he needed to find. Harry snapped back to reality. His heart and brain had been preoccupied with finding Ron and Hermione. He left to continue his search as the professors and Order of the Phoenix planned their defenses.