A/N: Here's another chapter. Enjoy :))

Chapter 142: No safer ways

The train ride was quite uneventful, no one came into our compartment, and the only thing that we talked about was the plan for taking the Horcruxes out of us. After that, everyone pretty much kept to themselves, too nervous and stressed out to do anything else. At some point though, I walked out and went to the Slytherins' compartment and, thankfully, Crabbe and Goyle weren't there.

"Where are your gorillas?" I asked as I closed the door behind me, not having to draw the already closed curtains. I took the window seat, next to Draco and right in front of Pansy.

"They just left; went after the candy trolley, so we have some time. What are you doing here though? Aren't the Golden Boy and his friends good enough?"

"It's too silent there. It's creeping me out, and only making me more nervous."

"Nervous about what?"

"Better not to know. In this case, you're far safer this way. So, how was your summer ?"

"Well, father is back home apparently." Draco mumbled.

"I wasn't aski- wait what? How comes you're only telling me this now?"

"Mother told me this morning but I didn't have a chance to tell you. It's okay though, none of them know where we were or how to get there."

"Well," Blaise intervened "my house currently seeps magic, from all the protection wards my parents have put around it. But overall, it wasn't a horrible summer."

Pansy decided it was her turn, so she sighted and started, leaving Theo and Astoria disappointed, although not surprised.

"Well, I guess it was okay. Like Blaise said, tons of protection wards but that was pretty much it. A few self defense lessons with my mom were also part of the package, but I can't really compl- Is that what I think it is???" Her eyes were glued to the black ring.

"Indeed it is."

"Have you set a date yet? Any plans for the venue or guests or-"

"Ok, calm down Pansy. We're not doing this until You-Know-Who is dead."

"Wait, why are you calling him that? You never had problems saying his name."

"They put a curse on his name. It alerts Death Eaters."

"Really? Well, I guess it is efficient though. To have a way to trace anyone brave enough to speak his name, because those people probably had a connection to Dumbledore."

"Unfortunately. Do any of you have any idea about who the new DADA teacher is going to be? I know the Ministry is going to name them, but I didn't hear anything."

"Well, taking into account the fact that You-Know-Who is more or less running the Ministry, probably no one good. Whoever it is, they're going to be spying on us big time and make our lives hell."

"We have to be very careful to not attract too much attention and stay out of trouble. I have the feeling that this one is going to be worse than Umbridge."

"Definitely. I think I'm going to head back to my compartment now. Crabbe and Goyle will probably come back soon and I would really prefer to avoid seeing or being seen by them. I'll see you at Hogwarts."

I gave Draco a quick peck on the lips and slid out of the compartment and back to my friends.

They didn't even look at me when I entered, each of them concentrated on their own activities, whether that meant reading, writing what looked like an extremely long letter or staring blankly out the window.

"We're going to have to talk about it at some point you know. It's going to happen tomorrow, so we don't have much of a choice now, do we? Unless you don't want to be there."

"Of course we will be there, we won't let you alone, but really now, what do you want to talk about? It scares all of us and we're not even the ones who are going to have to go through it. That's you and Harry."

"I don't know, pick any subject, but the silence is nerve wrecking."

Ron took my suggestion seriously, and we ended up talking about our chocolate frog cards collections and then playing a few rounds of Muggle Cards until the train arrived in Hogsmeade.

The weather was, just as always, terrible, and the fact that kids were crowding out of the train and onto the platform didn't help at all; it was raining cats and dogs, the temperature wasn't exactly acceptable, and everyone's umbrella charms were overlapping, not being helpful at all. As soon as we got into the carriages though, it was better. At least our clothes couldn't get any wetter.

"Promise us that it's going to be fine."

"Gin, we already discussed the risks. You know we can't promise that. But Sev and Minnie know how to control the Fiendfyre and that's the most dangerous thing of this whole process. We're as safe as possible when doing such a thing."

"I don't like this. How comes it's the children that are put into the most danger in this whole thing?"

"I have no idea Mione. But I don't like this either. Still, Selene and I have to do this. There aren't safer ways."

At the castle, the Transfiguration teacher was waiting for us at the door, to have a word before going to welcome the first years.

"We will proceed with the plan tomorrow if the two of you are not against it."

"I'm fine. Selene?"

"Perfect. The sooner the better. But where? When I suggested the Room of Requirement you said no."

"While you were gone, we cleaned up the Chamber of Secrets the best we could. I might even say it looks better than the Great Hall without all the algae and mold everywhere. There's nothing flammable there, so if it gets out of control we can just get out fast and the Fire won't pass the door."

"Oh, okay then. We'll meet you there after lunch?"

"Perfect. Now, off with you. Oh, and the new teacher is...an interesting choice. Try not to get in her way please. "

Miss Riyep seemed to be the upgraded version of Umbridge. The dark looks she threw around the room and her little speech about putting unruly students in their place only made it more obvious. But, unlike Umbridge, she could be described as beautiful. Her small, thin nose ended just a little bit above a pair of plump rosy lips and her icy blue eyes made a beautiful contrast with the olive complexion and silky black hair.

We all went to sleep that night knowing that the next day we were going to go through the hardest and possibly most painful experience so far. But at least two more Horcruxes were going to be destroyed. And that meant two steps closer to defeating Voldemort.