A/N: I'm very sorry for the long wait, very, very sorry grovels … Anyway, I won't keep you even longer, next chapter:
Chapter 29: All Because of VoldemortHermione finished telling Dumbledore about the events she had witnessed nearly half an hour later, the others watching her intently.
"And then everything started swirling around and I land on the floor in the library again," she finished. There was a long silence, interrupted only by the frequent pops and crackles coming from the fireplace.
"Seems we do have proof after all," Dumbledore concluded after a short while. "So Salazar Slytherin was possessed by an evil that made him murder his friends, Muggle-borns and Muggles?" he asked Hermione, who nodded. "And that same dark something possessed all of Slytherin's heirs, too?" He asked Draco, who nodded too.
"Yes, at least it says so in the Diary," said Draco. Dumbledore nodded, he put the tips of his fingers together and rested his chin upon them.
"Now, Hermione," he began, looking at the five students intently. Hermione watched her headmaster apprehensively, not knowing what on earth he could ask now. "You say you landed in the library… again." Hermione hesitated before nodding. "When did you land there the first time?" Questioned Dumbledore. Hermione gave a slight sigh of relief before answering.
"I landed there first after I fell into that black substance up at the south part of the castle," she responded. Dumbledore gave her a slightly confused look and Hermione didn't blame him; it had sounded pretty normal in her head, yet when she had said it, it made her come off slightly barmy.
"You fell into a black substance and then landed in the library?" Asked Dumbledore. Harry decided it was a good time to explain what had happened to them after they set off to get to know the castle a bit better.
"Well, you see, sir," Harry began and Dumbledore turned his head to look at him. "After our first training we set off to explore the castle again but we got lost and so we just went anywhere without knowing how to get back. Then, after a long while, we found ourselves on some kind of balcony with a long wooden bridge that connected it to the other part of the castle, which we couldn't see. Deciding it was foolish to try and retrace our steps in the hope of finding our way to the Entrance Hall, we decided to risk it and walk across the bridge. Draco volunteered to go first and, after having tested the bridge was strong enough, he walked across. I went after him and slowly we went forward, but then Nora, Hermione and Ron caught up with us saying a large troll was behind them. Before we could take another step the bridge started creaking and swaying wildly; the troll had gotten on, too. Of course we couldn't just stand there so we started running as fast as we could, but the other side of the castle was still nowhere in sight." Harry paused there, without knowing exactly why. He had just realized something: How on earth could a troll have gotten in this castle and been so near without them smelling it first, before seeing it?
"Go on, Harry," said Dumbledore, watching him intently.
"Oh, right." Harry snapped out of his thoughts and went back to the story. "As we walked further and further the bridge kept creaking in protest to the heavy weight. Finally it snapped and we held on for dear life to what was left of the overpass. All the while, when we had been walking along it, we had noticed the looming darkness beneath us, but not as much as when we were hanging a few meters above it. As we were hanging on we tried to find a way to get out of this mess, but nothing came to us. The first thing that fell into the darkness was Nora's necklace. Almost right after that, Hermione's hands slipped and she, too, fell down. Draco caught her, but the extra weight was too much and they both entered the dark substance. Now it was only Nora, Ron and I hanging to the bridge but it couldn't hold us any longer and we, too, fell into the darkness. I closed my eyes when I entered and when I opened them again I was on my broom in the Quidditch pitch," finished Harry. Nora, who had been staring at the gleaming wooden table, looked up at Dumbledore and saw, to her astonishment, that he was smiling.
"Ah, sounds like you've had a very interesting adventure," said the old man. "No wonder I never saw you at lunch or dinner. Seems like your exploring took up all of your time. Now, does anyone know what the dark substance was?" Asked Dumbledore. Harry, Nora and Ron all looked at Hermione, but, to their surprise, her hands remained on the table. Though this wasn't as big as a shock to them as when Draco slowly lifted up his arm. The others stared at him, except Nora, who had started gazing at the table again.
"Yes, I knew you would have guessed it by now, Draco. Would you care to share it with the others?" Asked Dumbledore. Draco shrugged.
"Desiderare in Donum Nocte," he said. Dumbledore nodded and the rest looked a bit less confused, Hermione had even whispered 'oooh' in understanding, but Ron said bluntly:
"What?" as he stared at his neighbor. Draco, instead of rolling his eyes, which took a great deal of effort from him, turned to look at Ron.
"Roughly translated it means: 'to wish in the gift of night'," he said.
"I see," said Ron while nodding slightly, but the confused expression was still very clear on his face.
"Would you be so kind as to tell us what it does, Draco?" Asked Dumbledore. Draco shrugged again.
"When you fall into it you're transported to wherever you wish to be at that time," he explained. The confused expression on Ron's face cleared up.
"Correct. Which is why Hermione landed in the library and Harry in the Quidditch pitch." Dumbledore told them. "And I assume Ron found himself in the kitchen's?" Ron nodded, a grin upon his face as though he had been in heaven and could think of no other place that was more pleasurable. Luckily Dumbledore didn't ask where Nora and Draco had found themselves, but Nora suspected he knew and was just keeping it to himself, for which she was very grateful.
"Now that we're all up to date I suggest we all have some lunch and then start the second part of training," said Dumbledore. The five students nodded and got up. Dumbledore led them out of his office and they followed him back down into the Entrance Hall, as they had no idea which way to go.
Lunch was absolutely delicious and the five stuffed themselves until they could eat no more. They all refilled their plates three times, in Ron's case five, because they had, after all, missed the previous lunch, dinner and breakfast.
When they were all filled, Dumbledore led them to the training area they had used the previous day. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco followed their Headmaster into the room and he began to explain today's schedule.
"Today we will start learning how to use the amulet of Era's as an aid to help us regain our power when in battle. I suspect you all think that, when you're in need of more strength, you just touch the Amulet and you're fit again. This is, unfortunately, very wrong. If there is hardly any strength left in your body and you need to regain it, you must touch the Amulet with your wand hand and concentrate deeply on your color and how you wish to use you're your regained force. Any questions? Hermione?"
"How will we practice this?"
"You will be fighting each other and when you feel that you are wearing out, you walk over to Hermione and do as I have just explained." Dumbledore told them. "Anything else?" Hermione raised her hand again. "Yes?"
"Well, how are the others supposed to touch my Amulet when I'm fighting?"
"You will be fighting in turns, meaning two people will fight and the others watch until it is their turn. Yes?" said Dumbledore as Harry raised his hand.
"When the real battle comes, what if Voldemort touches the Amulet. Will it 'associate' with him, too? Will his 'color' shine after fifteen minutes, like it did with us?" Asked Harry and he knew there was a slight sound of fear in his voice.
"No, it will not. The Amulet, after so many, many, years, has acquainted with good first and it knows who our mortal enemy is. When our mortal enemy touches it, it will not help him like it will us, but it will scorch his hand and he will not be able to hold his wand properly until his hand his fully healed again, and that might take years or it might take seconds. Now, if there are no further questions, let's start. Harry, Ron, you go first," said Dumbledore. Harry and Ron walked to the middle of the room as the others headed over to the walls. "When I say 'Go' you will start dueling and as soon as one of you feels worn out, come over to Hermione and touch the Amulet, but remember: concentrate on your color and what you wish to do with your regained strength. It might take a while before you have fully learned how to retrieve power from it, but we will keep practicing until all of you know how to. Go!"
Harry and Ron immediately snapped their heads to face the other and held their wands in front of them.
"Stupefy!" Yelled Harry, and a flash of red light shot from his wand. Ron, who had waited for something like this, yelled "Protego!" and Harry's red light bounced off his protection shield and hit the wall. Harry did not wait for Ron to make the next move but shot another spell at his friend.
"Tarantallegra!" He shouted and Ron, who had not expected this, was hit in the stomach and his legs immediately went into a kind of frenzied tap-dance that unbalanced him and caused him to fall to the floor. Though Ron was incapable of getting up, he did not let this interfere with his battle with Harry and shot the first curse at his friend that entered his head.
"Petrificus Totalus!" He yelled and Harry, though shocked for a second or two, jumped away just in time; he felt the spell rush past his ear as he moved quickly to the right.
"Reducto!" Shouted Ron, not letting Harry recover.
"Protego!" Yelled Harry and Ron's spell bounced off against the shield and hit the ceiling. Ron quickly pointed his wand at his legs, said 'Finite Incantatem' and then quickly got to his feet, ready to head off any spell shot in his direction.
Nora, Hermione, Draco and Dumbledore stood to the side, watching the battle intensely. It took forty-five minutes before the pair was finally exhausted and they walked over to Hermione. Ron touched the Amulet with his wand arm and closed his eyes tightly, trying to focus on his color and his goal for which he needed new strength. After ten minutes he let go and stood aside sulkily; it hadn't worked. Harry stepped forward now and touched the Amulet with his right hand, closing his eyes tightly like Ron had. Five minutes later a faint red glow filled the room and Harry let go, looking very refreshed. Dumbledore smiled.
"Very good. Of course it will have to be done much faster, because Death Eaters won't wait until you've regained strength," he said. "Try again." Harry and Ron went back to the middle of the room, though it was clear Ron didn't want to; he looked like he could faint any second. It was not a surprise, therefore, when Ron, after five minutes, walked back up to Hermione and touched the Amulet again, closing his eyes tightly and focusing hard on his color and his goal. After fifteen minutes still nothing had happened but Ron did not let go of the Amulet, instead held it in his whole hand rather than just touching it, and closed his eyes even tighter. This seemed to have helped because a few seconds later a faint orange light filled the room and Ron let go of it, smiling.
Now that both Harry and Ron had learned how to regain strength from the Amulet Nora, Hermione and Draco were next. Hermione learned it at the first try in three minutes and Dumbledore explained this was because she was the 'carrier' and the Amulet already knew her well enough to quickly give her help when in need. Nora learned it on the second try, though a bit faster than Ron and Draco, who was already on his fifth try and still hadn't learned it. He stood there holding the Amulet while closing his eyes and concentrating hard on his color and what he would do when he had regained strength.
Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Dumbledore watched intently, though none was wondering why it was taking him so long; Draco was a Slytherin and they, Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron, were Gryffindors like Merlin, who'd made the Amulet, had been. Finally, on the seventh try the room was filled with a faint green light and Draco stepped away, a wave of relief washing over him.
"Now that we have all learned how to regain force from the Amulet, you shall continue fighting each other and learn how to regain power more rapidly. Harry, Draco, when you're ready," said Dumbledore. Harry and Draco walked to the middle of the room, faced each other and held their wands out in front of them. "Go," said Dumbledore.
"Stupefy!" Yelled Harry but Draco dodged it.
"Rictusempra!" shouted Draco. A beam of silver light shot out of his wand and rushed past Harry, who had quickly jumped out of the way.
It took quite sometime before one of them got tired and Harry walked up to Hermione once more. She gave Harry an encouraging smile before he took the Amulet in his hands. Almost immediately the room was filled with a faint red light.
"I see Harry has already mastered how to regain strength from the Amulet. Ron, Draco, you're next. Go," said Dumbledore. In an instant the room was filled with shouts and flashes of spells and curses again. It did not take too long before Draco had to leave battle and walk over to the Amulet that still hung around Hermione's neck. Half an hour later the room filled with a faint green light and he let go. Next was Hermione and Ron and after that Nora and Hermione. Hermione mastered the strength regaining as quick as Harry but Nora and Ron both waited for fifteen minutes, holding on to the amulet tightly, concentrating on their color.
It was half past six when they were finally done with training, though Nora, Ron and Draco still hadn't fully mastered it yet.
"Now, as yesterday, I will leave you to find the way to the Entrance Hall yourselves. Dinner will be waiting when you arrive," said Dumbledore, then he turned around and vanished. The five students stood gaping at the place where their headmaster had been seconds before.
"Wish I knew how to do that," muttered Ron. "That would save me some time getting lost in this bloody castle, that would." Harry sighed.
"Let's go, then, if we want to arrive in time for dinner," he said. The others nodded and they walked down the hall. They found the torture room again, as well as some other rooms they had seen the previous day, but there was no sign of how to get to the Entrance Hall.
They were now in a besmirched corridor that had a door on every inch of wall. Harry, who was in front, opened the first door he saw and entered the room as the others tried the other doors. A foul stench reached Harry's nose but he could not see who or what it belonged to, as there was no window in the room or any light. A vociferous rumbling told him the stench might belong to a troll and he quickly ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Colloportus!" He panted, pointing his wand at the door. It sealed itself with a squelching sound and he walked towards the next door, trembling. The next room he entered was lit with torches that hung from the walls and luckily there was no foul smell. The door snapped shut behind Harry and a slight breeze gave him chills. The room was quite damp. In the corners that were not receiving any light, shuffling was heard and Harry raised his wand in front of him. Suddenly, out of every corner, Dementors appeared, their faces hidden beneath large hoods. They slowly made their way towards Harry, who stood frozen to the spot. He could hear the rattling breaths and saw the rotten slimy hands protrude from underneath their black cloaks.
There were about a hundred of them, all gliding towards him, and unexpectedly Harry slumped to the ground. He heard a man yelling, shouting…
"It's him! Run, Lily! Take Harry and run! I'll hold him off! RUN!" Harry saw a flash of bright green light and then heard another voice, this time a woman's…
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" Harry knew who the voices belonged to; after all, he had heard them before, in his third year and all the nights after, in his nightmares, but that did not prepare him when the next voice said, in a cruel shrill voice that made him shiver furiously:
"Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now…"
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead! Not Harry! I'll do anything! Please… have mercy… have mercy…" Harry was very aware that he was on the floor and he could see the Dementors coming closer and closer. Another voice entered his head now, a different one from his father, mother or Voldemort's voice.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" Yelled the man and Harry knew it was Sirius this time, that night in the Ministry of Magic, the Department of Mysteries. A bright red light flashed and next thing he knew Harry heard himself shouting out "SIRIUS!" to the room. And again: "SIRIUS!" In his mind he could see Lupin holding him back, preventing him from running to the Dais where the veil was fluttering wildly and where Bellatrix Lestrange stood laughing.
A wave of such fury washed over Harry that his scar seared with immense pain and he screamed involuntarily. Seconds later he heard the door to the room burst open and four voices shouting: "Expecto Patronus!" Harry could feel something warm swoop over him and heard hooves land inches from his face. He realized that one of the Dementors had been on the verge of 'kissing' him; sucking his soul out through his mouth. Harry heard a few cracks and then the voices shouted "Riddikulus!" That was all Harry heard before fainting.
"That was some evil room," muttered a voice from far away.
"Horrible, just horrible," said another.
"I just hope he wakes up soon," said yet a different voice. Harry squinted a little. His back was hurting him painfully and he guessed he was lying on some sort of stone floor. He tried to listen to the voices; get an idea of where he was. The only thing he could remember was a bone-chilling cold and the voices of his parents and godfather. Maybe he was dead?
"Who on earth would be so malicious and put about a hundred boggarts in one room?" Exclaimed a voice nearby, though it was fading in and out. "Facing a hundred things that form your greatest fear? I'm surprised he didn't faint immediately!"
"Hermione, calm down. You're voice has gone supersonic again. My ears won't stop ringing if you keep on using that high-pitched tone," said the first voice. Harry stopped squinting; He was lying on the floor and his friends were there, but why didn't they take him to the hospital wing or something?
"I will not calm down, Ron! Dumbledore should have cleaned out this castle before he makes us find our way around it! We nearly got slaughtered by that troll yesterday, and just now Harry was almost kissed by a hundred Dementors!" Harry slowly opened his eyes. It was hard to make anything out due to the light that shone directly in his eyes but he saw the tall form of Ron leaning against the dirty wall before a whole bunch of hair hid him from his view.
"Harry? Harry, are you alright?" asked Hermione, worry on her face. Harry closed his eyes and opened them again.
"Yes," he said hoarsely.
"Oh thank god! You gave us quite a fright!" Squealed Hermione.
"Budge up, there, 'Mione," said Ron anxiously before pushing Hermione aside a bit. Normally she would argue back and tell Ron off for his manners, and it was clearly on her face she was about to do so, but after another look at Harry she got up and gave Ron some space.
"All right there, mate?" asked Ron. Harry nodded and tried to get up, but Ron held him down. "Oh no you don't. Not before you have some chocolate." Ron looked at the others. "Anybody here have some?" He asked them hopefully. Nora and Draco shook their heads but Hermione beamed as brightly as she did when she had earned Gryffindor more housepoints.
"I do. I always take some with me, just in case," she said while reaching into the pocket of her shorts. Harry watched her rummage around for a while and wondered how on earth she was taking so long to find some chocolate in such a small pocket. "Oh, I do hope I have some with me," said Hermione anxiously. Her face light up. "Ah, here it is." She took a piece of chocolate wrapped in red paper out of her pocket and handed it over to Harry, who took it. He had expected it to be all warm and soggy, as it had been in her pouch, but it was quite the opposite: the chocolate was hard and comfortably cool. Harry unwrapped it and took a bite. Almost immediately he began to warm up and feel a lot better. When he had eaten the entire piece Ron helped him to his feet.
"Are you all right, then?" he asked.
"Yeah, much better, thanks to Hermione's chocolate," replied Harry. Hermione beamed at him.
"Good," said Ron. "What do we do now? Just keep on wandering?" He asked.
"I guess," replied Harry. The others nodded.
"Ok. We'll leave this corridor alone though; I don't think the other doors will be much better," said Ron and he started walking to the end of the corridor where a brighter lit hall crossed it. Harry followed right away and Nora, Hermione and Draco soon pursued. The five wandered around for a while, walking up staircases, walking down staircases, carefully avoiding rooms that had noises coming out of them, carefully avoiding rooms that were completely silent… needless to say they didn't get very far.
"Stop," said Hermione when they had entered yet another hallway, though it was vastly larger and brighter than all the other corridors put together. Harry, Nora, Ron and Draco stopped and turned to look at her. Hermione said nothing; instead she was biting her lip.
"Well?" asked Ron impatiently. Hermione continued chewing her lip for a few seconds and then said:
"I think we should start opening doors again."
"What?" spluttered Ron, eyes bulging. "Where were you the last few days?"
"I know that some doors contain dangerous animals or devices or… things, but we've got to try, haven't we? I mean, there's no other way we'll find our way back if we don't check behind every door. One of these grubby doors," said Hermione, while waving her hand around, indicating the doors, "might contain a passageway that leads to the Entrance Hall. We'll never know unless we try every one." Ron still looked at her as if she were mad.
"Are you insane? What if Fluffy's hidden behind one of these doors? Or something worse!" He bellowed.
"Fluffy's hidden behind a door in the Entrance Hall and we'll just have to risk it," replied Hermione simply. Ron gaped at her, completely speechless.
"I think we should," said Harry. Ron turned to gape at him, instead now.
"I agree. It's the only shot we've got," said Nora. Ron spun around angrily but admitted defeat.
"Fine. I'll go and endanger my life, but if I get killed it's all your fault!" He shouted, while pointing at Hermione, Harry and Nora.
"Yes, yes. If you get killed, which you won't, it'll be our fault," agreed Hermione impatiently while pointing at herself, Harry and Nora.
"Good," said Ron, then he stalked off towards the nearest door and opened it. He closed it again after having peered inside. "Nothing. Completely empty," he said and then opened the next door. The other four walked towards a door, too, and tried to see if there were any hidden passages. When all the doors had been done they walked into an even larger corridor, lit by floating white candles, though there were hardly any doors here.
"We'll be done here in no time," said Ron happily and he bounded off to the nearest door. The others trudged towards a different door, but again every room was empty.
"Next hall, then," said Harry and he and Ron entered the hall that intersected with the corridor they were in now. Nora, Hermione and Draco followed them and their ideas were the same: the halls seemed to become more and more splendid with less and less doors. The three walked over to Harry and Ron who were gaping at a large door surrounded by gold. Suddenly the floor shook and all five were knocked off of their feet. When the trembling stopped they scrambled back up.
"That was peculiar," said Ron as he brushed dust off his pants. The others murmured their agreements except Hermione who was looking in the direction where the entrance to this hall had been.
"What?" exclaimed Harry, Nora, Ron and Draco when they realised they were trapped. Hermione turned to look at them.
"That door is the only chance we have to get out of this," she said. The others said nothing. What if they were stuck here forever? Would Dumbledore be able to find and rescue them? To make matters worse there was a dull rumbling and the walls slowly started closing in on each other.
"No!" shouted Ron. "I'm claustrophobic!"
"Really?" asked Harry. He had never known this.
"Not that much, just a little bit. It was more an attempt to make the walls stop moving," replied Ron stupidly as the walls came nearer and nearer.
"Come on, we have no choice but to enter that room!" shouted Hermione and she bolted towards the door, the others right on her tail. Draco, the last one in, slammed the door shut and looked around the room. It was empty, too.
"There's no door here, we're stuck," whispered Hermione, her voice trembling. The five spread themselves out automatically over the large room, trying to find a secret lever of some sort. The room, dark and grayish, was only lit by several candles, one that floated lonesome in the air in the middle of the room and the others each in a different corner. Even though there was little light, the students could see everything quite clearly.
Harry walked to the wall that was opposite to the one where the door was. Slowly something materialized a good way ahead of him. Harry couldn't see what it was from such a distance but as he walked towards it, it looked like some sort of archway with two people standing in front of it. He walked even closer and realised it was Sirius dueling Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry ran forward, if only he could warn Sirius before Bellatrix said the curse that killed him. Harry was only a few feet away from the veil when he ran headlong into an invisible barrier of some sort. He was taken aback at first and slowly put a hand on it. It was really there.
"Sirius!" Harry shouted while banging on the invisible wall. "SIRIUS!" He was desperate to warn Sirius, but his godfather took no notice of him and laughed at his cousin. He said something and Harry, though unable to heard it, knew perfectly well what Sirius had said. Harry turned around, frantically searching for his friends; surely they'd be able to help him? But as Harry looked around he saw that the others were, also, reliving the most horrible night of their lives.
Ron, trembling on his feet, was watching Dumbledore in his office talking to two paintings, and using a silver device from which smoke rose in the shape of a snake. Harry knew this was the night when he had seen Mr. Weasly get attacked in his fifth year. Dumbledore and his office vanished, only to be replaced by Death Eaters running through the Hogwarts corridors, shooting curses at people in front of them; it was the night the forty-seven students had been killed when the Death Eaters had entered Hogwarts. It seemed like Ron was watching this behind a barrier, too, because he stood pressed with his hands and nose against something invisible.
Hermione, looking extremely shaken, was watching Dumbledore sitting in his chair in his office. He was undoubtedly saying that her father, who was currently in Azkaban, had killed her mother. This, too, vanished and was replaced by the night Hogwarts was attacked.
Harry turned to look left and saw Nora, tears leaking from her eyes and shaking heavily, standing behind an invisible barrier, too, her hands hopelessly pressed against it. In her barrier were Parvati and Lavender, looking traumatized and saying something. Then the two girls faded and a single body, lying on the floor, replaced them. It belonged to Dean. Pure agony formed on Nora's face as she slid down onto the floor while leaning against the barrier and slamming her hand on it, wailing in pain.
Harry looked around and found Draco standing behind a barrier, too. He wondered what Draco's worst memory was. It couldn't be something about his family; Voldemort or his Death Eaters hadn't killed any of them. Sure, his father was in Azkaban but Draco had never liked him. Harry craned his neck and saw Voldemort standing there; looking down on someone kneeled on the floor. He saw the snakelike man grinning evilly, saying something. Then Voldemort raised his wand, muttered a curse and a flash of bright green light later the person that had been kneeling in front of him was laying dead on the floor. Harry saw Draco give an involuntary sob and Harry, after craning his neck again, saw that the person dead in front of Voldemort was a little girl, no older than nine or ten.
Harry, full of sorrow and grief, turned to Sirius again. It seemed like time in the screened-off area had stopped, because when Harry watched again Sirius was just starting to fall into the veil. Harry banged on the barrier with his fists, but it didn't help. Then, as slowly as it had formed, the veil and Bellatrix Lestrange, who was laughing, began to dematerialize. Slowly they faded and Harry was left staring at a blank wall. He quickly wiped the tears away and turned around. Nora and Hermione were sprawled on the floor, crying, Ron was standing in the middle of the room looking completely shaken and Draco was slamming his fists into a wall, shouting curses at Voldemort, who was probably somewhere, killing more people and destroying more families, or gloating about it.
Harry looked in a different direction, unable to see his friends in such anguish. His mind was racing, his blood boiling. Every little bit of hatred he had had since those students, Sirius, Cedric and his parents had been killed, was flooding back to him and it felt like he was torn apart. Harry knew that his parents' and Sirius' death and that of Dean, Hermione's mother, the little girl Draco had cared so much about was all because of Voldemort. Voldemort had torn millions of families apart, killed innumerable Muggles and Muggle-borns, just because he wanted to be the most powerful wizard in the world. Harry shook his head slightly and noticed a door had appeared. It was as large as the one they had come through and looked as magnificent. Though he was unwilling to disturb the mourning of his friends he called out to them anyway. Ron was beside him the fastest, then Draco, who looked like he could kill, and then Nora and Hermione who were supporting each other.
"Should we risk it?" asked Harry. Ron shrugged. The others said nothing.
"I guess," replied Ron gloomily. Harry reached for the door handle and slowly opened the door. To his relief he was peering into the Entrance Hall. Hermione's plan had worked after all, though he'd have preferred to go the long way around and skip the 'Relive-Your-Worst-Night-Again' room. Harry walked into the Entrance Hall closely followed by the others. They had only entered it for about a second when Dumbledore appeared.
"Ah, you have made it," he said, not looking as cheerful as he usually did. "Though you seem to have found the 'Room of Doom'."
A/N: Good chapter? Again, sorry for taking so long. Terribly sorry.