"How much further is this place?"
"Not far, I don't think. I heard it was near McGonagall's office."
Ron and Harry dragged their trunks behind the rest of the group, wondering where this "underground hideout" was supposed to be. They dropped their things with exhaustion as the cluster, lead by Headmaster Dumbledore, reached a maple door engraved with glimmering scarlet letters:
Professor Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Gryffindor Head of House
Master of Transfiguration
The creaking of the door filled the nearly empty castle as Dumbledore swung it open to reveal McGonagall's office.
"Here you are students! Your very own Hogwarts summer home!"
The group stared at him, speechless. McGonagall's office?! There was no way three girls and four boys were going to spend the entire summer cooped up in the place that most students dreaded during the school year. And besides, it wasn't even underground! How were they supposed to hide from Mina's parents?
"Come on, sir, you've GOT to be kidding! We can't all fit in here for the next three months in hiding!" Mike Hernandez rebelled. He ran his hands through his vibrant blueberry hued tresses (in his usual habit) and looked around in disbelief.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled jokingly behind his half moon spectacles.
"Well I was hoping you'd enjoy this space that Professor McGonagall so graciously offered. But, if you insist, there have been other arrangements. This way, students!"
They watched him with uncertainty as he moved even further into the office, his midnight blue robe dotted with shimmering silver stars trailing behind him. He stretched out his palm and turned, facing what seemed to be nothing but flooring underneath McGonagall's desk.
"Flipendo!"
The desk swerved to the side, making way for the milky grey slab of stone that was hovering above a gaping hole in the floor. The students peered down with questioning eyes then turned to face Dumbledore.
"Is it safe down there, sir?" asked Hermione inquisitively.
"Well we're not going to find out standing here, are we?" chuckled Harry rhetorically.
Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped down, disregarding the twined ladder that hung on the side of the opening. Hermione rolled her eyes, mumbling something to herself about how idiotic that move happened to be, then pulled out her wand from her side pocket.
"Lumos!"
She held her wand with one hand, illuminating the passageway, as she scurried down the ladder to the bottom. With her reassurance that everything was ok, the rest followed: Ron first, with Mike, Calipsa, Mina, and Kevin trailing after.
They reached the bottom and gazed around, wide-eyed. The students found themselves surrounded by towering cavern walls decorated with iridescent tapestries of scarlet, gold, silver, and sapphire. Floating candles illumined even the smallest crevices, making it seem as if they were out amongst the summer sun itself. Calipsa and Mina plopped onto the matching bean bag chairs that were spread out all through the cavern while Mike and Kevin investigated the adjoining rooms. Ron grinned.
"This is great! Where's Dumbledore? We've got to thank him for this!" He began scuttling up the rope ladder to find the Headmaster before hearing a voice behind him. Startled, he caught his foot on the bottom rung of the ladder and fell backwards, landing hard on the fuzzy rug covering the cave floor. He blinked, looking up at the faces of Hermione and Dumbledore and hearing the chuckles of Harry behind them. He got up slowly, rubbing his back in pain.
"Owww..."
Hermione giggled as she helped him over to a levitating bean bag, then turned to Dumbledore.
"This place is really great, sir. Thanks so much!"
He smiled thoughtfully.
"Thank you, Ms. Granger! We're glad to have a good group of students taking care of the castle for the summer. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be off to speak with the Ministry of Magic. You know where to owl me if you need anything."
She nodded and grinned, and with a blink of an eye Dumbledore was gone.
We got ourselves settled in at our new summer home that day. The next few weeks were perfect. Not only were we in the place that we trusted the most, but we were there together, as friends. Mina managed to convince her parents to stay in England, but we were all having too much fun to go home. We all decided to stay at Hogwarts until the new term started, with a few visits to and from our families until then, of course.
We spent our days running around the castle, exploring all those little nooks and crannies that we never had a chance to, or were forbidden from doing so, during the school year. We swam in the lake and took walks around the grounds. It was utopia, the place and the time we've all been dreaming of to help us get away from You-Know-Who, in both mind and body. And it stayed that way for the entire first month we were there. Never did we dream we'd be faced with fighting against one of our own...
