Minerva McGonagall had remained in the Great Hall to watch over the
remaining students. Suddenly a bloodcurdling scream rang through the hall-
prefect Susan Bones had found the body of Professor Trelawney in the
cupboard. After a shocked moment of inertia, the students all leaped up
and rushed for the doors, but found them locked and were further panicked.
"STOP!" commanded Professor McGonagall at the top of her lungs. The Great Hall immediately fell silent. "Return to your places at once and do not move!" They stood still, staring at her. "NOW!" shouted Professor McGonagall, quivering.
The students finally obeyed. Harry and Ron stumbled back to their seats and sat nervously. Harry's scar was hurting again, but he sensed that this was not the time to tell Professor McGonagall. Ron was very pale.
Eventually the students were taken to their respective common rooms- *all* the students, including the prefects and Head Girl and Boy. Susan Bones' memory was Obliviated and she was quickly treated and put away with the other Hufflepuffs. Not one student remained outside of their dormitories, and the non-Auror teachers were placed in the common rooms to oversee the students. Then Professor McGonagall sent urgent owls to Albus Dumbledore and to every Phoenixes in Britain, requesting their assistance. The Phoenixes came straight away and reported to Minerva, without qualm or question. Even Mad-Eye Moody, who still feared to set foot in Hogwarts again, sensed the urgency and desperation in Minerva McGonagall's terse coded message and came to the castle, full of foreboding.
And by this time Hermione and Sally-Anne's team had alerted Professor McGonagall to the absence of their leader. The Order of the Phoenix sought Bella Figg everywhere, to no avail. She was missing. So was Severus Snape, Minerva discovered when she checked his private quarters.
Worse yet, Dumbledore could not be found. This was the most vital point of the entire fiasco, for both sides. Dumbledore had departed for Gringotts' Wizard Bank seven days ago and used magic in conjunction with normality to conceal himself from the prying eyes of his enemies. Finding the Headmaster gone from Hogwarts, Voldemort had assumed his plan had worked and had thought that he could waylay Dumbledore in transit; however, he had not found Dumbledore on the Knight Bus, the Hogwarts Express, the Floo Network or any other magical mode of transportation, because Albus Dumbledore had surreptitiously boarded a plain, unnoticeable London-bound Muggle tour bus in a town near the ruins under which Hogwarts was cloaked. In this way Dumbledore escaped detection by the Death Eaters, but also by his own organization.
Professor McGonagall visited the four common rooms with a portentous edict. No one was to leave their common room until Professor McGonagall said it was safe to go. Fully trained Aurors were assigned to patrol the halls; one Auror was secretly stationed outside each dormitory- three outside the Fat Lady. They should spend their time studying, Professor McGonagall said. Of course, after she left, all the students began talking nervously, with no thought to their books.
"Do you think the Death Eaters got them?" Ron asked Harry in a low voice as they sat with Hermione by the fireplace.
"Probably," Harry said. "I bet they thought they were getting me when they grabbed Marcus. But what are we going to do?"
"There's nothing we can do," Hermione said. "You heard Professor McGonagall, no one's to leave Gryffindor Tower under any circumstances. Maybe we should try to study." She put her hand in her pocket. "Where's my good quill gone? I had it at lunchtime... I must have dropped it on the stairs, or in the hall..." She bent down to look on the floor.
"But my godmother is missing!" Harry argued, peering under the table to look Hermione in the face. "And a mad boy who thought it would be fun to look and act like me. It's my fault Marcus was taken. But Professor Figg- I hope she hasn't been taken by-" He bit down on his words and curse as he hit his head on the table as he sat up. He'd forgotten that Hermione and Ron didn't know about Maldora Lestrange.
"By?" prompted Hermione curiously, straightening up.
Now was as good a time as any, Harry decided. He quietly explained Arabella Figg's family history. "That's why Maldora Lestrange wants to kill her, I think," he finished.
"Wait," Hermione said suddenly. "Do you think this has anything to do with Tibbles' disappearance?"
"That was Malfoy," Ron said.
"But what if it wasn't?" Hermione said. "What if Tibbles accidentally stumbled upon the Death Eaters' secret entrance and couldn't get out?"
"How would that be possible?" Ron said. "The Death Eaters would have to open it for Tibbles to get in."
"Not if they didn't open and close it," Harry said suddenly. "What if it stayed open by itself?"
"Then the search parties would have found it by now," Ron said.
"Not if it could close up by itself too," Harry said. It was all dawning on him now. "Hermione- did you trip on the shortcut stairs to the sixth floor earlier?"
"Yes, how did you know? I slipped on the vanishing step."
"That's it," Harry hissed, leaning forward in excitement. "It's the vanishing step! That's the secret entrance- that's how they were getting in. Why didn't I ever think of it before? It's only ever open on Tuesdays. You see? Professor Trelawney was found on the way from the dungeons to that staircase with the vanishing step." He had a vision of Tibbles II the Kneazle dropping through the floor and he and Ron going on without noticing. "And we must've lost Tibbles in the step, before Ron even ran into Malfoy. Then today they came and kidnapped Marcus, thinking he was me, and Alberta must have been with him."
"Harry, do you really think that could be true?" Hermione said, looking frightened and excited at once.
"It has to be," Ron said. "It's the only place they could hide. All the attacks have been on Tuesdays, and the searches were on Wednesdays when it was closed, so no one found it!"
"And then," Harry said, "Professor Figg figured it out while she was looking! She must have jumped in or something, she didn't leave a trace." He thought of his godmother walking willingly into the danger. What could have possessed her to do it?
"We've got to tell Professor McGonagall," said Hermione. Before Harry or Ron could stop her she ran to the portrait and pushed. And pushed again. After a stunned moment she hurried back to Harry and Ron. "They locked it somehow," she said.
"What'll we do?" Ron asked. They both looked at Harry.
"We're going through, of course," Harry said.
"You and I will go, tonight," Ron said to Harry.
"What do you mean, Harry and you?" demanded Hermione. "What about me?"
"You're not coming," Ron said flatly. "You're going to stay on the stairs and keep watch. Don't bloody argue, Hermione! Someone has to call for help if Harry and I get in trouble."
"Why me? Why not you?" Hermione said.
"Because Alberta Goyle's getting mixed up in this thing is my fault," Ron said. "It's my responsibility to save her."
Hermione frowned deeply. "You're not jealous, are you?" Harry asked curiously. Her brow cleared immediately.
"No, of course not, don't be silly. Now come on, we have to plan this." Ron smiled gratefully at Harry.
They continued to discuss quietly by the fireplace long into the night, as the common room gradually emptied. All three were grim-faced, sober enough to catch Fred and George Weasley's attention.
"Why the long face, madam prefect?" enquired George, sidling over.
"Ickle Ronniekins not satisfying his young lady?" teased Fred. Hermione gave them such a frosty look that they let her and Ron alone.
"Oughtn't you all to be studying for the O.W.L.'s next month?" Fred asked Harry.
"We are," Harry said, holding up a book.
"I didn't know you could read upside down, Harry," George remarked. "You have so many hidden talents." Harry quickly turned the book right-side up.
"Studying Charms, are we? Let's see you do a Cheering Charm on Fred," George suggested.
Harry picked up his wand from the tabletop and jumped as it turned into an ice cream on a stick. The twins roared with laughter.
"What do you know," Ron said dully. "The Cheering charm worked."
The face of Harry, Ron and Hermione's overwhelming gloom, the twins' mirth quickly faded. George thrust an armful of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes at Harry before they left.
"Here, you take these. Looks like you three really need a laugh."
Harry stuffed them in his pockets without looking.
At ten o'clock Harry went upstairs to his dorm to get his Invisibility Cloak. He stood at the window once more, Hedwig perched on his shoulder. The grounds were silent an still. Hagrid's hut was empty, now that Fang had gone to St. Mungo's to keep Hagrid company. Harry saw his motorbike leaning against the wall by the pumpkin patch. Sirius had told him how to summon the motorcycle by whistling. Loath to return to the common room with Ron and Hermione and face the impending prospect of his own death, Harry idly whistled the opening notes of "Torquatus Died of Cheesecake Consumption", Sirius' favourite Weird Sisters song. The front headlight snapped on obediently. Harry smiled and wished he had used the motorcycle more.
The Forbidden Forest betrayed no signs of life. Who knew what lurked in the deepening shadows beneath the heavy treetops? Harry's mind flashed back to the centaur who had saved him from a strange shadowy figure in the Forest. What had happened to Firenze and the other centaurs in the meantime? Harry's first year at Hogwarts seemed so long ago. The memories of the perils and adventures of past years weighed on his heart. The Quidditch stadium was silent and empty. Harry felt hollow. He picked up his Firebolt and Invisibility Cloak and Ron's Nimbus Feather-Light and went down to the common room.
They were soon ready to go, but they had to wait until the common room was completely empty. Harry was worried. If he remembered right, the vanishing step only vanished precisely on Tuesdays, becoming solid at midnight. They would have to move fast.
At ten-forty-five the last Gryffindors left the common room. Since the portrait hole was closely guarded, they tried the window, but found it locked as well. Hermione's Alohomora would not work.
"This is ridiculous," Harry said impatiently. "We're wasting time!" He picked up a textbook and hurled it at the window, which shattered on impact and wakened half the Gryffindors. "Pax," Harry said immediately afterwards, and the other students fell asleep again. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other. Harry stood at the broken window and whistled the first bars of "Torquatus Died of Cheesecake Consumption" again. Far below them they heard the revving of an engine, and in a moment the flying motorcycle had soared through the window and landed next to them.
"You're getting to be a regular delinquent," Ron said admiringly to Harry as they clambered on.
Hermione quickly found the Silencing Switch and the engine's revs and roars were immediately muted. "Just don't leave tire tracks on the rugs," she warned.
Harry turned on the cloaking device and kicked the brakes. They flew out the window and over the castle, looking for a window near the secret staircase.
"It's at that end," Ron said, pointing. "There!"
Harry flew down to the right window and hovered in the air while Hermione magicked the lock. Her Alohomora charm didn't work here either, so she simply Vanished it. Then they all jumped through, their landing padded by the carpet. "You go back to Hagrid's hut," Harry whispered to the motorcycle, which blinked its headlights twice and obediently flew away.
They threw the Invisibility Cloak over themselves and the two broomsticks and tiptoed down the hall to the secret stair. It was a short walk, but they saw two Aurors on the way, one sitting vigilantly on a chandelier above them and one silently stalking through the hall. Thankfully neither of these two was Alastor Moody, whose magical eye could have seen through the cloak. They reached the secret staircase; the vanishing step lay about halfway up. Ron knelt down and put his hand through. "Still open," he whispered in relief.
"I'm coming with you," Hermione said.
"No you are not," Ron responded firmly. "If we die, who will carry on our legacy? Marcus, Darius and Niamh? No, you are staying here, Hermione."
"Please Hermione, someone's got to keep watch," Harry whispered. Hermione drew her wand and nodded, too upset to speak.
"If Ron and I don't come back this way by the time the step seals up at midnight," Harry said, "you have to run for help. The castle's crawling with Aurors, it won't be hard to catch someone's eye."
Then he fell silent and they all stared at each other. There was nothing more to say. Their precious time, so meagre already, was leaking away. Harry embraced Hermione. "If we die, promise you'll still keep studying for the O.W.L.'s," he whispered. "If I don't live to beat Malfoy, at least you have to."
"Oh Harry, don't say that," Hermione whispered back. "You're a great wizard, you really are. Don't- don't do anything tremendously stupid down there." She squeezed him till he thought his ribs would crack.
The she turned to Ron. On impulse she kissed him on the mouth. Harry tried to look away. Finally Ron stepped back. "Wish us luck," he said with the slightest quaver in his voice, and he mounted the Feather-Light and jumped into the vanishing step.
Harry drew his wand. "Don't want to land on this," he said, trying to smile but failing. "Good-bye, Hermione,"
With that he swung one leg over the Firebolt and stepped backwards, and dropped out of view. Hermione collapsed on the stairs and pulled the Invisibility Cloak over her head, her hands shaking.
* * * * *
Harry was glad they'd thought to bring their brooms. He descended slowly, but picking up speed as he thought of his godmother and Marcus and Alberta. Below him he heard a thud followed by a creaking of hinges and an "Oof" from Ron, and a second later he passed a wooden blur which he guessed was a trapdoor. Instantly the air rushing past him cooled. Harry reached out in front of him and came away with a handful of earth. He was flying down into a cool black underground shaft. His mind flashed back to the strange dream in which he had been carried on a current of snakes to cascade down this selfsame vertical gateway. The blackness chilled his senses. He shut his eyes against the stifling dark.
A soft thump below him caused his eyes to fly open. He heard Ron cursing as he scrambled out of the way; and then Harry landed safely on the cold soft soil.
"Lumos," Ron whispered to his wand, and his face was bathed in a dim but steady light. "All right there, Harry?"
"Yes," said Harry, getting off his Firebolt and lighting his wand. "We'll take the brooms with us in case we have to make a quick escape."
His glowing wandtip illuminated three earthen walls of the narrow shaft. The fourth wall ended somewhere above them, leaving a frameless doorway. They set off down the passageway. The soil walls and ceiling appeared to be supported by magic alone. A little ways along they reached a division of paths: no less than six separate corridors, looking perfectly innocent and identical, all leading off in different directions. "What now?" said Harry desperately.
All of a sudden a large ball of fur barrelled down the leftmost corridor and leaped into the air. Before they could react it hit Ron in the face- and began licking his cheek and purring.
"Tibbles!" Harry said in amazement. The Kneazle pounced on him and purred gently against his face.
"Maybe Tibbles knows the way," Ron said. Immediately Tibbles jumped down from Harry's arms and began to walk the way he had come. "This way, I guess," Ron said.
After a minute of walking, flaming torches suddenly flared up on either side of them, causing them both to jump while Tibbles watched them curiously. Once the initial shock subsided they continued cautiously on their way, steeling themselves against the momentary surprise every time another set of torches burst into flame. The ones behind them were extinguished as suddenly as those ahead were lit. The peculiar lighting trick had a sinister feel to Harry. He was glad to have Ron at his side. But Bella Figg had braved this journey alone.
They encountered several more forks and divisions on their way, but Tibbles II led them easily and without hesitation. At last the Kneazle stopped, because the hallway had ended, unceremoniously and without warning: just a blank wall of soil. "Dead end," said Harry disappointedly.
"We'll have to turn back," said Ron, and stopped. "Hang on- is that a door?"
Harry whirled. Sure enough, in the wall of the passageway was the heavy oak door of his hazy dream. He moved towards it, ignoring Ron's anxious warnings; if it was the door of his dream, he already knew what lay behind it- his own cold corpse.
Unless- the dream unravelled instantly for him. He pushed open the door. He was right; it was the same earthen chamber, with magic manacles fixed to the walls. Like in the dream, Ron moved through the doorway and grabbed Harry's arm. "Look!" he said, pointing to the two small black-robed figures shackled up at the far end.
Harry went towards them, glancing down as he walked. There, under the footprints of uncountable witches and wizards, were the rippling S-shapes of snake tracks.
He turned over the larger figure, and stared at the pale face he now recognized as Marcus McCabe. The lightning bolt scar was misshapen, Harry realized. He rubbed the lightning bolt with his finger and the redness came away on his skin. "Ink," he said aloud.
Ron knelt by the other prisoner and pushed the raven hair away from her face. Alberta Goyle's eyes were closed and she was also ghost-white. Ron felt her wrist frantically and breathed a sigh of relief. "There's a pulse! She's only been Stunned. They must be saving these two for something."
"We ought to wake them- what the hell is that, Ron?" Harry's attention was drawn to a pale blue glowing mist hovering in the corner by the door.
"Enervate," Ron whispered, and both prisoners awoke. Alberta Goyle's eyes fluttered and her mouth moved soundlessly. Marcus woke sobbing. "Don't kill me, please don't kill me..."
"Ron Weasley!" Alberta cried in shock as her faculties returned. She threw her arms round his neck, sobbing. "Ron, Ron," she wailed, voice muffled in his robes.
"Er," said Ron, nervously patting her head.
Marcus stopped groaning and managed to sit up creakily. He looked round. "Ron! Harry! Harry, I failed you, I tried to be brave but I've been so scared!" Tibbles rubbed his head comfortingly on Marcus' knees. "They think I'm you- oh Harry, if I get out of this alive I never want to be you again!"
"Good," said Harry, still not taking his eyes from the strange bluish mist.
Ron used his wand to cut the captives' shackles. Alberta dragged herself to her hands and knees and crawled weakly to Harry.
"That's where they went," she said, nodding at the glowing mist. "It must be some sort of portal, only I've never heard of anything like it. I think they must have invented it just for getting in and out of the castle."
Harry and Ron stared at the mist, then at each other. Ron read Harry's mind.
"Harry, no. Your'e not going in alone."
"I have to," Harry said.
"Who knows where it leads?" argued Ron. "What if you can't get back through? What if it's a trap and they're waiting to ambush you? You can't go!"
"This is how it has to be, Ron!" Harry said. "This is how it's always been! People can watch over me and hold me safely- to a point. After that, I have to go it alone. Don't fight with me, Ron," he warned, seeing Ron start to protest. "I don't want to have to curse you. You knew it would end like this."
Ron stared at him, then surrendered. "It always does."
"You'll take Marcus and Alberta back to where we landed. Tibbles will show you the way. You'll take both brooms- Marcus and Alberta will have to share the Firebolt, but it'll hold them. When you get out take Hermione and find Professor McGonagall or someone, and tell them what happened and where I've gone. Someone will know what to do."
"Harry," said Marcus. He shook his head. "But they'll kill you," he said weakly.
"They haven't yet," Harry said, his throat becoming constricted on the last word.
Alberta kissed his cheek tearfully and took the Firebolt. Ron swallowed hard. "If you don't get out of this one, Harry... It won't be right without you."
"Can't make any promises," Harry said insensitively, but relented seeing Ron tremble. "I'll try my best to be careful." Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the blue mist.
"STOP!" commanded Professor McGonagall at the top of her lungs. The Great Hall immediately fell silent. "Return to your places at once and do not move!" They stood still, staring at her. "NOW!" shouted Professor McGonagall, quivering.
The students finally obeyed. Harry and Ron stumbled back to their seats and sat nervously. Harry's scar was hurting again, but he sensed that this was not the time to tell Professor McGonagall. Ron was very pale.
Eventually the students were taken to their respective common rooms- *all* the students, including the prefects and Head Girl and Boy. Susan Bones' memory was Obliviated and she was quickly treated and put away with the other Hufflepuffs. Not one student remained outside of their dormitories, and the non-Auror teachers were placed in the common rooms to oversee the students. Then Professor McGonagall sent urgent owls to Albus Dumbledore and to every Phoenixes in Britain, requesting their assistance. The Phoenixes came straight away and reported to Minerva, without qualm or question. Even Mad-Eye Moody, who still feared to set foot in Hogwarts again, sensed the urgency and desperation in Minerva McGonagall's terse coded message and came to the castle, full of foreboding.
And by this time Hermione and Sally-Anne's team had alerted Professor McGonagall to the absence of their leader. The Order of the Phoenix sought Bella Figg everywhere, to no avail. She was missing. So was Severus Snape, Minerva discovered when she checked his private quarters.
Worse yet, Dumbledore could not be found. This was the most vital point of the entire fiasco, for both sides. Dumbledore had departed for Gringotts' Wizard Bank seven days ago and used magic in conjunction with normality to conceal himself from the prying eyes of his enemies. Finding the Headmaster gone from Hogwarts, Voldemort had assumed his plan had worked and had thought that he could waylay Dumbledore in transit; however, he had not found Dumbledore on the Knight Bus, the Hogwarts Express, the Floo Network or any other magical mode of transportation, because Albus Dumbledore had surreptitiously boarded a plain, unnoticeable London-bound Muggle tour bus in a town near the ruins under which Hogwarts was cloaked. In this way Dumbledore escaped detection by the Death Eaters, but also by his own organization.
Professor McGonagall visited the four common rooms with a portentous edict. No one was to leave their common room until Professor McGonagall said it was safe to go. Fully trained Aurors were assigned to patrol the halls; one Auror was secretly stationed outside each dormitory- three outside the Fat Lady. They should spend their time studying, Professor McGonagall said. Of course, after she left, all the students began talking nervously, with no thought to their books.
"Do you think the Death Eaters got them?" Ron asked Harry in a low voice as they sat with Hermione by the fireplace.
"Probably," Harry said. "I bet they thought they were getting me when they grabbed Marcus. But what are we going to do?"
"There's nothing we can do," Hermione said. "You heard Professor McGonagall, no one's to leave Gryffindor Tower under any circumstances. Maybe we should try to study." She put her hand in her pocket. "Where's my good quill gone? I had it at lunchtime... I must have dropped it on the stairs, or in the hall..." She bent down to look on the floor.
"But my godmother is missing!" Harry argued, peering under the table to look Hermione in the face. "And a mad boy who thought it would be fun to look and act like me. It's my fault Marcus was taken. But Professor Figg- I hope she hasn't been taken by-" He bit down on his words and curse as he hit his head on the table as he sat up. He'd forgotten that Hermione and Ron didn't know about Maldora Lestrange.
"By?" prompted Hermione curiously, straightening up.
Now was as good a time as any, Harry decided. He quietly explained Arabella Figg's family history. "That's why Maldora Lestrange wants to kill her, I think," he finished.
"Wait," Hermione said suddenly. "Do you think this has anything to do with Tibbles' disappearance?"
"That was Malfoy," Ron said.
"But what if it wasn't?" Hermione said. "What if Tibbles accidentally stumbled upon the Death Eaters' secret entrance and couldn't get out?"
"How would that be possible?" Ron said. "The Death Eaters would have to open it for Tibbles to get in."
"Not if they didn't open and close it," Harry said suddenly. "What if it stayed open by itself?"
"Then the search parties would have found it by now," Ron said.
"Not if it could close up by itself too," Harry said. It was all dawning on him now. "Hermione- did you trip on the shortcut stairs to the sixth floor earlier?"
"Yes, how did you know? I slipped on the vanishing step."
"That's it," Harry hissed, leaning forward in excitement. "It's the vanishing step! That's the secret entrance- that's how they were getting in. Why didn't I ever think of it before? It's only ever open on Tuesdays. You see? Professor Trelawney was found on the way from the dungeons to that staircase with the vanishing step." He had a vision of Tibbles II the Kneazle dropping through the floor and he and Ron going on without noticing. "And we must've lost Tibbles in the step, before Ron even ran into Malfoy. Then today they came and kidnapped Marcus, thinking he was me, and Alberta must have been with him."
"Harry, do you really think that could be true?" Hermione said, looking frightened and excited at once.
"It has to be," Ron said. "It's the only place they could hide. All the attacks have been on Tuesdays, and the searches were on Wednesdays when it was closed, so no one found it!"
"And then," Harry said, "Professor Figg figured it out while she was looking! She must have jumped in or something, she didn't leave a trace." He thought of his godmother walking willingly into the danger. What could have possessed her to do it?
"We've got to tell Professor McGonagall," said Hermione. Before Harry or Ron could stop her she ran to the portrait and pushed. And pushed again. After a stunned moment she hurried back to Harry and Ron. "They locked it somehow," she said.
"What'll we do?" Ron asked. They both looked at Harry.
"We're going through, of course," Harry said.
"You and I will go, tonight," Ron said to Harry.
"What do you mean, Harry and you?" demanded Hermione. "What about me?"
"You're not coming," Ron said flatly. "You're going to stay on the stairs and keep watch. Don't bloody argue, Hermione! Someone has to call for help if Harry and I get in trouble."
"Why me? Why not you?" Hermione said.
"Because Alberta Goyle's getting mixed up in this thing is my fault," Ron said. "It's my responsibility to save her."
Hermione frowned deeply. "You're not jealous, are you?" Harry asked curiously. Her brow cleared immediately.
"No, of course not, don't be silly. Now come on, we have to plan this." Ron smiled gratefully at Harry.
They continued to discuss quietly by the fireplace long into the night, as the common room gradually emptied. All three were grim-faced, sober enough to catch Fred and George Weasley's attention.
"Why the long face, madam prefect?" enquired George, sidling over.
"Ickle Ronniekins not satisfying his young lady?" teased Fred. Hermione gave them such a frosty look that they let her and Ron alone.
"Oughtn't you all to be studying for the O.W.L.'s next month?" Fred asked Harry.
"We are," Harry said, holding up a book.
"I didn't know you could read upside down, Harry," George remarked. "You have so many hidden talents." Harry quickly turned the book right-side up.
"Studying Charms, are we? Let's see you do a Cheering Charm on Fred," George suggested.
Harry picked up his wand from the tabletop and jumped as it turned into an ice cream on a stick. The twins roared with laughter.
"What do you know," Ron said dully. "The Cheering charm worked."
The face of Harry, Ron and Hermione's overwhelming gloom, the twins' mirth quickly faded. George thrust an armful of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes at Harry before they left.
"Here, you take these. Looks like you three really need a laugh."
Harry stuffed them in his pockets without looking.
At ten o'clock Harry went upstairs to his dorm to get his Invisibility Cloak. He stood at the window once more, Hedwig perched on his shoulder. The grounds were silent an still. Hagrid's hut was empty, now that Fang had gone to St. Mungo's to keep Hagrid company. Harry saw his motorbike leaning against the wall by the pumpkin patch. Sirius had told him how to summon the motorcycle by whistling. Loath to return to the common room with Ron and Hermione and face the impending prospect of his own death, Harry idly whistled the opening notes of "Torquatus Died of Cheesecake Consumption", Sirius' favourite Weird Sisters song. The front headlight snapped on obediently. Harry smiled and wished he had used the motorcycle more.
The Forbidden Forest betrayed no signs of life. Who knew what lurked in the deepening shadows beneath the heavy treetops? Harry's mind flashed back to the centaur who had saved him from a strange shadowy figure in the Forest. What had happened to Firenze and the other centaurs in the meantime? Harry's first year at Hogwarts seemed so long ago. The memories of the perils and adventures of past years weighed on his heart. The Quidditch stadium was silent and empty. Harry felt hollow. He picked up his Firebolt and Invisibility Cloak and Ron's Nimbus Feather-Light and went down to the common room.
They were soon ready to go, but they had to wait until the common room was completely empty. Harry was worried. If he remembered right, the vanishing step only vanished precisely on Tuesdays, becoming solid at midnight. They would have to move fast.
At ten-forty-five the last Gryffindors left the common room. Since the portrait hole was closely guarded, they tried the window, but found it locked as well. Hermione's Alohomora would not work.
"This is ridiculous," Harry said impatiently. "We're wasting time!" He picked up a textbook and hurled it at the window, which shattered on impact and wakened half the Gryffindors. "Pax," Harry said immediately afterwards, and the other students fell asleep again. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other. Harry stood at the broken window and whistled the first bars of "Torquatus Died of Cheesecake Consumption" again. Far below them they heard the revving of an engine, and in a moment the flying motorcycle had soared through the window and landed next to them.
"You're getting to be a regular delinquent," Ron said admiringly to Harry as they clambered on.
Hermione quickly found the Silencing Switch and the engine's revs and roars were immediately muted. "Just don't leave tire tracks on the rugs," she warned.
Harry turned on the cloaking device and kicked the brakes. They flew out the window and over the castle, looking for a window near the secret staircase.
"It's at that end," Ron said, pointing. "There!"
Harry flew down to the right window and hovered in the air while Hermione magicked the lock. Her Alohomora charm didn't work here either, so she simply Vanished it. Then they all jumped through, their landing padded by the carpet. "You go back to Hagrid's hut," Harry whispered to the motorcycle, which blinked its headlights twice and obediently flew away.
They threw the Invisibility Cloak over themselves and the two broomsticks and tiptoed down the hall to the secret stair. It was a short walk, but they saw two Aurors on the way, one sitting vigilantly on a chandelier above them and one silently stalking through the hall. Thankfully neither of these two was Alastor Moody, whose magical eye could have seen through the cloak. They reached the secret staircase; the vanishing step lay about halfway up. Ron knelt down and put his hand through. "Still open," he whispered in relief.
"I'm coming with you," Hermione said.
"No you are not," Ron responded firmly. "If we die, who will carry on our legacy? Marcus, Darius and Niamh? No, you are staying here, Hermione."
"Please Hermione, someone's got to keep watch," Harry whispered. Hermione drew her wand and nodded, too upset to speak.
"If Ron and I don't come back this way by the time the step seals up at midnight," Harry said, "you have to run for help. The castle's crawling with Aurors, it won't be hard to catch someone's eye."
Then he fell silent and they all stared at each other. There was nothing more to say. Their precious time, so meagre already, was leaking away. Harry embraced Hermione. "If we die, promise you'll still keep studying for the O.W.L.'s," he whispered. "If I don't live to beat Malfoy, at least you have to."
"Oh Harry, don't say that," Hermione whispered back. "You're a great wizard, you really are. Don't- don't do anything tremendously stupid down there." She squeezed him till he thought his ribs would crack.
The she turned to Ron. On impulse she kissed him on the mouth. Harry tried to look away. Finally Ron stepped back. "Wish us luck," he said with the slightest quaver in his voice, and he mounted the Feather-Light and jumped into the vanishing step.
Harry drew his wand. "Don't want to land on this," he said, trying to smile but failing. "Good-bye, Hermione,"
With that he swung one leg over the Firebolt and stepped backwards, and dropped out of view. Hermione collapsed on the stairs and pulled the Invisibility Cloak over her head, her hands shaking.
* * * * *
Harry was glad they'd thought to bring their brooms. He descended slowly, but picking up speed as he thought of his godmother and Marcus and Alberta. Below him he heard a thud followed by a creaking of hinges and an "Oof" from Ron, and a second later he passed a wooden blur which he guessed was a trapdoor. Instantly the air rushing past him cooled. Harry reached out in front of him and came away with a handful of earth. He was flying down into a cool black underground shaft. His mind flashed back to the strange dream in which he had been carried on a current of snakes to cascade down this selfsame vertical gateway. The blackness chilled his senses. He shut his eyes against the stifling dark.
A soft thump below him caused his eyes to fly open. He heard Ron cursing as he scrambled out of the way; and then Harry landed safely on the cold soft soil.
"Lumos," Ron whispered to his wand, and his face was bathed in a dim but steady light. "All right there, Harry?"
"Yes," said Harry, getting off his Firebolt and lighting his wand. "We'll take the brooms with us in case we have to make a quick escape."
His glowing wandtip illuminated three earthen walls of the narrow shaft. The fourth wall ended somewhere above them, leaving a frameless doorway. They set off down the passageway. The soil walls and ceiling appeared to be supported by magic alone. A little ways along they reached a division of paths: no less than six separate corridors, looking perfectly innocent and identical, all leading off in different directions. "What now?" said Harry desperately.
All of a sudden a large ball of fur barrelled down the leftmost corridor and leaped into the air. Before they could react it hit Ron in the face- and began licking his cheek and purring.
"Tibbles!" Harry said in amazement. The Kneazle pounced on him and purred gently against his face.
"Maybe Tibbles knows the way," Ron said. Immediately Tibbles jumped down from Harry's arms and began to walk the way he had come. "This way, I guess," Ron said.
After a minute of walking, flaming torches suddenly flared up on either side of them, causing them both to jump while Tibbles watched them curiously. Once the initial shock subsided they continued cautiously on their way, steeling themselves against the momentary surprise every time another set of torches burst into flame. The ones behind them were extinguished as suddenly as those ahead were lit. The peculiar lighting trick had a sinister feel to Harry. He was glad to have Ron at his side. But Bella Figg had braved this journey alone.
They encountered several more forks and divisions on their way, but Tibbles II led them easily and without hesitation. At last the Kneazle stopped, because the hallway had ended, unceremoniously and without warning: just a blank wall of soil. "Dead end," said Harry disappointedly.
"We'll have to turn back," said Ron, and stopped. "Hang on- is that a door?"
Harry whirled. Sure enough, in the wall of the passageway was the heavy oak door of his hazy dream. He moved towards it, ignoring Ron's anxious warnings; if it was the door of his dream, he already knew what lay behind it- his own cold corpse.
Unless- the dream unravelled instantly for him. He pushed open the door. He was right; it was the same earthen chamber, with magic manacles fixed to the walls. Like in the dream, Ron moved through the doorway and grabbed Harry's arm. "Look!" he said, pointing to the two small black-robed figures shackled up at the far end.
Harry went towards them, glancing down as he walked. There, under the footprints of uncountable witches and wizards, were the rippling S-shapes of snake tracks.
He turned over the larger figure, and stared at the pale face he now recognized as Marcus McCabe. The lightning bolt scar was misshapen, Harry realized. He rubbed the lightning bolt with his finger and the redness came away on his skin. "Ink," he said aloud.
Ron knelt by the other prisoner and pushed the raven hair away from her face. Alberta Goyle's eyes were closed and she was also ghost-white. Ron felt her wrist frantically and breathed a sigh of relief. "There's a pulse! She's only been Stunned. They must be saving these two for something."
"We ought to wake them- what the hell is that, Ron?" Harry's attention was drawn to a pale blue glowing mist hovering in the corner by the door.
"Enervate," Ron whispered, and both prisoners awoke. Alberta Goyle's eyes fluttered and her mouth moved soundlessly. Marcus woke sobbing. "Don't kill me, please don't kill me..."
"Ron Weasley!" Alberta cried in shock as her faculties returned. She threw her arms round his neck, sobbing. "Ron, Ron," she wailed, voice muffled in his robes.
"Er," said Ron, nervously patting her head.
Marcus stopped groaning and managed to sit up creakily. He looked round. "Ron! Harry! Harry, I failed you, I tried to be brave but I've been so scared!" Tibbles rubbed his head comfortingly on Marcus' knees. "They think I'm you- oh Harry, if I get out of this alive I never want to be you again!"
"Good," said Harry, still not taking his eyes from the strange bluish mist.
Ron used his wand to cut the captives' shackles. Alberta dragged herself to her hands and knees and crawled weakly to Harry.
"That's where they went," she said, nodding at the glowing mist. "It must be some sort of portal, only I've never heard of anything like it. I think they must have invented it just for getting in and out of the castle."
Harry and Ron stared at the mist, then at each other. Ron read Harry's mind.
"Harry, no. Your'e not going in alone."
"I have to," Harry said.
"Who knows where it leads?" argued Ron. "What if you can't get back through? What if it's a trap and they're waiting to ambush you? You can't go!"
"This is how it has to be, Ron!" Harry said. "This is how it's always been! People can watch over me and hold me safely- to a point. After that, I have to go it alone. Don't fight with me, Ron," he warned, seeing Ron start to protest. "I don't want to have to curse you. You knew it would end like this."
Ron stared at him, then surrendered. "It always does."
"You'll take Marcus and Alberta back to where we landed. Tibbles will show you the way. You'll take both brooms- Marcus and Alberta will have to share the Firebolt, but it'll hold them. When you get out take Hermione and find Professor McGonagall or someone, and tell them what happened and where I've gone. Someone will know what to do."
"Harry," said Marcus. He shook his head. "But they'll kill you," he said weakly.
"They haven't yet," Harry said, his throat becoming constricted on the last word.
Alberta kissed his cheek tearfully and took the Firebolt. Ron swallowed hard. "If you don't get out of this one, Harry... It won't be right without you."
"Can't make any promises," Harry said insensitively, but relented seeing Ron tremble. "I'll try my best to be careful." Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the blue mist.
