Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling does. It's all very simple.

Chapter Twelve

They were all seated....waiting patiently...watching his every move. Harry apprehensively pulled a stool to the front of Tonks's classroom. One step at a time...one step at a time, he kept repeating to himself. Step one, sit. Harry sat. They stared at him, excitement and nervousness etched on their faces. Step two, smile. Something like a crooked sneer appeared on Harry's face. A girl on the front row looked away painfully. Abort step two! Abort step two! Harry rebuked himself. And speak....

"Obviously, Tonks isn't here today," Harry said, his voice carrying through the unnaturally silent room.

It reminded him of his speech in the Hog's Head the previous year. They were probably expecting something similar, come to think of it.

"So...I'll be teaching your lesson."

A Ravenclaw on the second row rolled his eyes. In a flash, Harry's wand was drawn, and the Ravenclaw was looking fearfully at him.

"Did you see me draw the wand?" Harry asked.

The Ravenclaw shook his head.

"That's because you were rolling your eyes," Harry explained.

All the other pupils turned to stare at the Ravenclaw boy, branding him with shame.

"It's all right," Harry said, easing their vindictive stares, "Just thought I'd take that opportunity to slip in a lesson in constant vigilance: never, ever, ever take your eyes off your opponent - even to mock them."

Hermione had pulled out paper and pen and was furiously scribbling down everything Harry said.

"Okay...guys, today's lesson is a little weird, and to be honest, I don't know if it's going to work. But I'm going to try," Harry's eyes moved around the room, finally resting on Parvati, "Parvati, would you help me demonstrate?"

Parvati, pretending to be caught off guard, giggled softly and beamed, jumping from her seat to join Harry at the front of the room.

"It's important to know what your greatest strength is because your strength is what you need to utilize in battle. It's also important to know what your greatest weakness is so that you can work diligently on trying to improve in that area. Now, I picked up a nifty little spell -- it's in English, actually, not our usual Latin, so that shows you how unique and rarely used it is, but it should help you figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are."

Hermione stopped writing and stared at Harry. She knew there was no such thing as a spell in English, but Harry didn't have time to worry about that. This was important.

"Ready, Parvati?" Harry asked, smiling at her gently.

"Yeah," Parvati sighed.

Harry braced himself, pointing his wand at Parvati's collarbone, "Reveal the strength."

A swirl of silver threads, much likes those found in a Pensieve, circled Parvati's head and neck, finally materializing into a silvery wisp that resembled a girl sneaking around two other figures, apparently oblivious to her presence. The girl then drifted away, unnoticed. The silvery vapor evaporated.

The class sat stunned. No one moved, everyone just sat...staring at Parvati and Harry, their mouths hanging open.

"And that's how it's done!" Harry said, clapping his hands, "You can go back to your seat Parvati."

She drifted back to her seat, much like her vapor-miniature drifted about the other figures.

"Now, can anyone tell me what Parvati's strength is?"

Hermione, of course, raised her hand. Harry nodded for her to answer.

"Stealth," Hermione answered quietly.

"Yes. Parvati would be an excellent spy because she has the strength of stealth. She's good at being in the right places, unnoticed, and remembering what she heard. Now, the rest of you are going to perform this on a neighbor, so choose someone you trust. And remember the English incantation 'Reveal the strength' and for weakness, 'Reveal the weakness.'"

The class began dispersing in pairs, talking loudly. Quickly, before they started working on the incantations, Harry whispered, "Reveal strengths and weaknesses of all upon their command," his wand held to the room.

He then joined Ron and Hermione in the back of the room - where he was immediately greeted with a reprimand.

"Using commanding magic in front of people!" Hermione chided, "Really, an English spell? That's rich," she snorted.

"They don't know," Harry argued, "Besides, I think it's very important they know their strengths and weaknesses - ."

"Yes, yes," Hermione cut him off, "But at the cost of discretion. And how do you expect them to perform this little spell of your's. Not everyone can issue even the most simple of commands."

"I commanded that it be revealed on their command -- ."

"Wicked, Harry!" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione had to take a moment to think through all the possible consequences, "I suppose it'll be all right. Harm's done now anyway...."

"Great! Now I want to hear all about your strengths and weakness, okay?" Harry said before going to check on the other students.

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"Who would imagine that my strength was archery?" Dean said later that afternoon when he and Harry ran into each other in the dormitory.

"Hey, you never know...."Harry said.

"So, what was your's?" Dean asked.

"Um...I haven't done myself yet," Harry responded truthfully.

"You're crazy, man. Crazy," Dean muttered as he left the room.

That was the reason Harry had come up to his room in the middle of the afternoon. He couldn't bring himself to watch his strength and weakness the night before when he was practicing on Ginny. He wasn't surprised to discover that her strength was the power to manipulate. Ginny had always been good at convincing people into doing things they didn't want to do. Her weakness, however, had pained him. It was the memory of her first year and the events of Tom Riddle. He had told Ginny that one of the Death Eaters' and Voldemort's favorite ways to torture people was to make them relive painful memories, and before he knew it, he was insisting on using his little knowledge of Legilimency to make her relive those memories so she could learn to face them.

Harry had a secret reason for wanting to know everyone's strengths and weaknesses. He wanted to give a structure to the DA. Soon most of the original members would be out of Hogwarts - some of them already were - and they would be able to join the Order of the Phoenix, and he wanted the Order to be able to use them to the best of their abilities. He thought it was a rather brilliant idea of his, personally, but he was waiting for the right time to tell Ron and Hermione that this is what he was up to.

And so, after procrastinating for a deplorable amount of time, Harry pointed his wand to his collarbone and said, "Reveal the weakness." The same thing that had happened with Parvati occured, and Harry was surrounded by threads of silvery mist. Then, a Harry figure materialized, and he was surrounded by several other less distinct figures. The Harry figure began to hug each of the figures in turn. The vapor evaporated.

Love. His weakness was love. He could deal with that. Love? All the others had understandable weaknesses like fear of heights, poor jinxes, and stubbornness. His was love.

He lifted his wand and repeated the command, only asking for strength. The same figures appeared, and yet again, the Harry figure began embracing the other figures. And his strength was love. Frustrated, Harry swiped at the vapor and grabbed his cloak, leaving the evaporating mist behind.

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Harry roamed the castle until he saw Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna stretched out underneath a tree outside a South Wing window. He hastily joined them. His intention was to sneak up behind them and scare Hermione and Ginny, but Hermione turned around just as he exited the castle and waved him over. They were surrounded by books and homework papers that were threatening to blow away in the wind. Ron was snoring lightly, obviously working industriously as always. Harry made a spot between Hermione and Ginny.

"Isn't it a bit chilly out here?" Harry asked, a mid-November wind whipping about him

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, pulling out her wand, "Incoftale."

Harry felt a warmth spread throughout his body and he realized that Hermione had used an intensive heating charm.

"Thanks," he said.

"I hear you and Hermione have a date for this Hogsmeade weekend," Ginny said.

Hermione mumbled something that sounded like, "Spite...pure spite."

"Only if Lavender's around," Harry laughed.

"You mean you were only kidding?" Hermione asked, appearing hurt.

"Uh..."Harry was lost. What happened? She knew he was kidding, right? Why was Ron asleep when you needed him, "Er...not if you don't want me to have kidded?" Harry stammered, shooting her an agonizingly confused look.

Hermione sighed and shook her head, "I was joking."

"Oh!" Harry cried, relieved, "You really should warn me before you do that."

Luna looked up from her book, "You're dating?"

"NO!" Hermione said, harshly, "Why does everyone think that!"

"Well," Harry analyzed, "You did say some awfully nice things about me the other night...." he sighed, as if reveling in the memory, "How mysterious and mature and -- ."

"Yes, I remember, thank-you," Hermione snapped, "It always comes back to harm me!"

Harry basked in his forged warmth and pleasantly read over Hermione's shoulder has she corrected Ron's Charms essay until Neville called from a distance and ran over to them.

"Hey, everyone," he said in greeting, throwing his bag onto the ground and sitting across from Harry.

"Hey, Neville," they smiled.

"I've ben in the greenhouses, trying to rake in some extra credit...."

He was in the middle of explaining a complicated way to prune Devil's Snare so that the vines would grow three times as fast, not that Harry could imagine why anyone would want Devil's Snare to grow three times as fast, when a ruffled owl flew low over them and dropped an envelope in Neville's lap.

"I wonder what this could -- ."

The envelope was red.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear -- ," Neville repeated, on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Just open it," Ginny urged him.

Neville nodded and with shaking hands, peeled away the flap of the envelope. The envelope snapped from his hands and fluttered before him, screeching.

"WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU DOING IN HOGSMEADE WITHOUT PERMISSION -- ."

It was the voice of his elderly grandmother, screaming at the top her lungs. The shrieks stirred Ron, but after Hermione told him it was a Howler, he rolled back over and returned to his nap.

"-- AND WHY ON EARTH DO YOU NEED BOOMSLANG SKIN, KNOTGRASS, AND A SKIVING SNACKBOX! DUMBLEDORE WAS KIND ENOUGH TO INFORM ME THAT YOU WERE SAFE WHEN A FRIEND TOLD ME SHE'D SEEN YOU PARADING AROUND, BUYING EVERYTHING IN THE APOTHECARY! SINCE WHEN HAVE YOU HAD THE MONEY TO GO BUYING NONSENSE! I BETTER NEVER GET A SCARE LIKE THAT AGAIN, HEAR ME, YOUNG MAN!!!"

The envelope caught on fire and disintegrated. Neville looked around at them glumly.

"At least it came to me out here and not in the Great Hall."

"Why were you in Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked.

"I just...was having a bad day...and I wanted to get away, and this first year told me about a passage into Honeydukes -- ."

"How did a first year know about -- ," Hermione slowly turned and pulled herself up to her full height, hovering over Ron, "RON! Wake up! RON!"

She leaned down to pinch his arm.

"Owww! It's biting me! It's biting -- ."

Hermione grabbed him by the chin, forcing him to look at her, "You - are - a - PREFECT!"

Her voice carried across the grounds almost as well as Mrs. Longbottom's. Ron cowered in confusion and fear, squeaking a generic explanation that he always used when Hermione was mad and he didn't know why.

"Oh no! Here comes another one!" Neville cried, pointing to an owl in the distance.

The bird swooped down over the grounds, barreling towards them. Its flight sparked something of recognition in Harry's mind.

"It's a helfdare," he said.

Hermione released Ron's chin and squinted at the approaching bird. Indeed, the lopsided raven dropped threateningly over them. In one fluid movement, Harry drew his wand, pointed it at the bird and yelled, "BURN!" A ball of fire jetted from his wand and swallowed the bird, which caught on fire, then disappeared, leaving no remains.

"So that's how I did it before," Harry mused.

"What was that thing doing here!" Ginny slid towards Harry.

"Voldemort," Harry sighed, "Nice try!" he shouted to the empty sky.

"I'm famished," Ron said inappropriately.

"Me too," agreed Neville.

"Let's go to the kitchens," suggested Harry, pulling himself from the ground.

Everyone except Hermione gathered their things.

"But shouldn't we discuss this!" she called from her kneeling position under the tree.

"Nothing to discuss!" Harry replied, motioning for her to hurry up.

"Urgh! A little exertion and you just have to have food," Hermione scolded as she jogged to catch up with them.

"Hey, that was a serious nap," Ron said matter-of-factly.

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Dobby greeted them at the entrance to the kitchen. Ecstatic to see them, he ushered Harry and the others to a table by the fireplace and took requests. Ron pretty much asked for the Halloween feast. It wasn't until Ron's face was buried in a pumpkin pie and Neville, Ginny, and Luna were fighting over the last treacle tart that Harry noticed Hermione seemed downcast.

"What's up?" he asked.

Hermione looked at him vacantly, "Dobby....he...."

"What about him?" Harry asked, looking behind him for the houself.

"He -- he -- has on every hat I ever made," Hermione feebly pointed to a stack of badly knit elf hats, under which was Dobby, smiling grandly as he brought them a triple decker chocolate cake.

"Woah! Dobby, my friend!" Ron crowed, "Have I told you how smashing you look today!...yeah, just set it here...."

Dobby placed the cake in front of Ron, and then there was a blur of brightly colored hats as he ran to get a knife to cut the cake.

"Er...yeah, Dobby really liked the hats," Harry said, patting Hermione's arm comfortingly.

"So - none of the other houselves got hats?" Hermione asked.

"No," Harry told her.

"I'll just have to make some more," Hermione decided.

Harry shook his head. Gryffindor Tower would never be clean again.

Soon they were all near bursting, even Ron (but he plowed through the remainder of the cake, nonetheless).

"Guess I won't be going to dinner tonight," Ginny said, kneeling next to the fire against a pillow Dobby had brought her.

Harry noticed she looked incredibly comfortable. In fact, it was all very comfortable: the warm fire, a full stomach, Neville and Luna talking animatedly about the last quidditch match (Slytherin vs Hufflepuff) - it was enough to make Harry sleepy...no, make that very sleepy....

"Harry!"

Someone was shaking him.

"Harry!"

That would be Hermione.

"Wha -!" Harry shot up from his chair, "Oh, it's you, Hermione."

"Harry, mate," Ron said from beside him, "you drifted off for a couple of minutes -- ."

"Dobby just came running down here," Ginny explained, breathlessly, "he said something's wrong. Dumbledore's called all the houselves upstairs, and he told them to lock the common rooms - ."

"We've got to go!" Hermione blurted.

"Right," Harry gripped his wand, and they all made a dash for the door.

Ron grabbed the handle and pulled -- the door wouldn't open. Hermione shoved Ron aside, "Alohomora!" The door still wouldn't budge.

"We're locked in!" Ginny cried, taking her turn at wrenching at the door.

"You know," Luna said, calmly, "there's another door down there." She pointed to the other end of the kitchen.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny raced to other end of the kitchen.

"LOCKED!" Ron roared, pounding at the door.

"That won't do any good," Hermione pulled Ron's fist from the door, "There are silencing charms around the kitchens."

"There has to be another door!" Harry exclaimed.

"Let me think, let me think," Hermione fiercely pressed her palm to her head, willing the diagram of the kitchens from Hogwarts: A History to come to her, "There's only one more. It goes out onto the grounds."

She whipped around on her heel and darted for a side room. The room was filled with flour and sugar and connected to a short hallway that she led them through.

"There," she pointed to a short door - a houself's height - at the end of the hall, "That should go out onto a bank that leads down to the lake - I think."

"Worth a try," Harry squeezed past her and jerked at the door handle. It wouldn't open. "Alohomara!" Nothing.

Ginny, Ron, Neville, and Luna had made it into the hallway and were checking in side rooms for any other doors.

"There's only those three," Neville called from a pantry.

"Okay," Harry muttered, "Stand back a bit, Hermione."

"What are you going to do?" she asked apprehensively.

"I'm going to command it open."

"That could work...." she said, obviously mentally kicking herself for not thinking of that before.

"OPEN!" Harry commanded, thrusting his wand at the door.

It didn't work.

"What!" Harry wiggled his wand, irritated, "Open! Open! Open, door! Open, elf-door!"

"Houselves are immensely powerful," Hermione said, "if they locked us in here with their magic, I doubt we're getting out until they come and open the doors."

"What should we do?" Ginny asked as she and the other three came back into the hall.

Harry racked his brain for ideas, "Maybe...there are more ways to get out of here besides a door..."

"Of course," Hermione breathed, her face glowing with excitement.

"How?" Neville asked.

"There's a fireplace. Maybe we could floo out," Ron suggested.

"Good thinking," Ginny said, leading the group in their dash to the fireplace at the far end of the kitchen, "I don't see any floo powder!" she cried, knocking things off the mantle.

Harry tore open the nearest pantry closet and began throwing out the contents. He swung around to check the others' progress. Ron was looming over him, covered with the mustard, brown sugar, and tomato sauce that Harry had tossed out of the closet.

"Find the floo powder?" he growled, shaking off bits of the smashed condiment jars.

"Um..not - not in there," Harry said, vaguely pointing to the closet behind him.

"Oh, really!" Hermione sighed, pulling Neville and Luna off of the counters (They had been tossing things out of the cupboards.), "Accio floo powder!"

Nothing came to her.

"There is no floo powder."

"How does she always know what to do?" Ron moaned, mixing a bit of the mustard and brown sugar on his shirt, "Man, this doesn't even taste good!"

Hermione moved on to the other side of the kitchen, inspecting each corner.

Ginny had put the fire out and had crawled into the fireplace, "It still leads somewhere though," she told Harry and Ron, brushing off her robes.

"We could levitate someone up there!" Neville said after he and Luna had joined them in their cluster by the fireplace.

"I don't know -- ," Harry started.

" - Harry, what are our other options," Ron whispered, looking nervously over his shoulder at Hermione who was still out of earshot, "Something bad must being going on if Dumbledore's locked everyone in the common rooms."

"Oh, all right, but who are we going to levitate?"

Luna raised her hand.

"Great, Luna can - ."

"I nominate Neville," she said, smiling serenely at him.

Neville flushed, "I - I don't know if I...."

The others beamed expectantly at him.

"Okay," he squeaked.

Ginny helped him climb into the fireplace.

"Now, watch your head," Harry said.

"Shh!" Ron quieted him, "Hermione'd kill us."

Harry whispered the levitation spell, and Neville rose up the chimney. Harry saw Hermione go into the adjacent hallway from the corner of his eye.

"Neville!" he shouted up the chimney, "do you see anything, mate?"

There was no response.

"I can't hear him," Harry said, "Ron, do have a pair of Extendables on you?"

Ron produced a pair. Harry shoved the fleshy bulb in his ear and waved the cord up the chimney.

"Harry, I don't see anything! Harry? Can you hear me!" Neville was calling faintly.

"Yes, Neville!" Harry yelled, "How far up does it go!"

"Far!" Neville called, "But I don't see an end!"

"I bet it's charmed," Harry told the others, "I've never seen any chimney stacks on the outside of the castle."

"I can hear teachers!" Neville hollered.

"What are they - ."

"GUYS!" Hermione clamored, running out of the hallway and skidding to a halt just before colliding with them, "Come away from the fireplace....c'mon!" she urged, already dashing to the center of the kitchens.

"But - ." Ginny waved a hand to the fireplace, but Ron grabbed her wrist and pulled it down.

"They send our food up by placing it on these tables first, right?" Hermione prompted.

"Yes," Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Luna responded monotonously.

"Maybe if we get on the tables we'll be sent up too!"

The five of them climbed onto the closest table, but nothing happened.

"Good plan," Ron grumbled.

"It has to work somehow!" Hermione groaned, laying across the table and beating it with her fists.

"Yeah, that's going to help," Harry pulled her fists away from the table.

"Maybe there has to be food on the tables?" Luna mused from her position flat on her back, flapping her arms as if making a snow angel.

They dove off the tables and started dragging things out of the cupboards and placing them up and down the tables.

"Okay," Ron laughed, "Obviously, you three have never noticed, but the sweets are always in the center and the meat's -- ."

Hermione pulled her wand on him, "Enough about food. You're obsession with food is the reason we're stuck in this kitchen in the first place!"

"Oh-ho! That's it!" Ron sneered, snatching a cup of chocolate sauce from the table and advancing on Hermione.

Harry grabbed Ron by the back of the shirt, and Ginny held Hermione by her waist. This action did not stop Ron who flung the contents of the chocolate canister, but Hermione's wand work was quicker, "Reverso!" The chocolate sauce whipped around mid-air and splattered all over Ron and Harry.

"Hey, I was helping you!" Harry cried, releasing Ron and wiping chocolate sauce off his glasses.

Harry quickly realized what he'd done and seized Ron again, but Ron's momentary freedom had given him the opportunity to launch the contents of a pumpkin juice jug at Hermione and Ginny. Ginny unceremoniously released Hermione and advanced on Ron with a bowl of soup.

"Now, now," Harry swung around to block Ron, "this - this is not going to accomplish anything."

Ron struggled behind Harry, waving about a jar of raspberry jam like a club, splattering the group. Hermione and Ginny looked forlornly at their bowl of soup.

"You're right, of course," Hermione said, forcibly making Ginny set the bowl down on the table.

The four stood, taking deep breaths and releasing each other. They heard a splash behind them and turned to see Luna drenching herself with the bowl of soup.

"Now we're all covered in food," she smiled, making sure her entire person was cloaked in soup.

Hermione laughed, "Except Nev - where's Neville?"

"Oh...he's...around...." Ron forced a chuckle, "Good ol' - ol' Neville...." He was overcome by a sneezing attack.

Ginny, who had turned a deep crimson, took Hermione by the wrist and led her over to the side where she whispered something in her ear.

"Oh -- my -- word!" Hermione enunciated severely.

Harry and Ron cringed and drew away as she turned on them.

"You levitated him up the CHIMNEY!"

She ran to the other end of the room and stuck her head up the fireplace, calling to Neville. Ron slowly and meaningfully picked up a little bottle of lemon juice, leisurely strolled over to Ginny, and raised it with a flourish over her head on which he dribbled the juice. She sighed and remained still obediently, pressing her eyes tightly shut so the lemon juice wouldn't sting.

Hermione returned to the house tables a couple of minutes later, her most vicious glare screwed to her face.

"Where's Neville?" Harry asked worriedly.

Hermione inhaled deeply and shut her eyes before responding, "He's stuck."

There was a moment of forced polite silence - until Ron snorted and fell against the table, laughing, tipping over several more containers. Harry himself had trouble maintaining a straight face - until Hermione placed a deathly clench on his forearm and dragged him to the fireplace.

"Get him out."

"How?"

Hermione stared, "You got him up there!"

"Snitch," Harry muttered, climbing into the fireplace, "Oi! Neville!"

Hermione handed him the Extendable Ears.

"I'm up here, Harry!"

"Obviously. What happened!"

"Well...the fireplace narrows a bit as you go up...."

"Got it. I'm going to suck you down."

Harry climbed out of the fireplace.

"Hermione, can you get a cushion or something in there?"

Hermione cast a spell and a mattress materialized in the fireplace.

"Okay," Harry rubbed his hands together, "Here goes nothing. PULL HIM DOWN!" Harry roared at the fireplace.

Harry stepped back. Ron, Ginny, and Luna gathered around the fireplace.

"How's it coming?" Ron asked, munching on an apple.

"Oh, he -- ."

As Harry spoke, Neville fell, screaming, hitting the mattress with such force that it propelled him back up, screaming, and then there was the uncomfortable slurping sound as Neville was secured in the narrow fireplace again, screaming.

"I don't think that accomplished much," Luna commented, taking a seat in a nearby rocking chair.

"Neville, stop screaming!" Hermione shouted into the fireplace.

Liberal amounts of soot were dumped on her face. Harry offered her his handkerchief, half of which was already covered in chocolate sauce and raspberry jam.

"Sorry, 'bout that Neville," Harry called, "Pull him down gently!" Harry commanded.

They waited and waited and waited, and three minutes later Neville appeared, comfortably floating down the chimney, whacking all the soot off his robes. Hermione and Ginny led him over to a chair next to Luna's.

"Harry - " Neville said, hopping off the rocker as soon as he'd sat down, "I heard a couple of teachers and Dumbledore talking while I was up there. I couldn't make out much, but they were panicky and kept shouting spells as they were trying to talk, and then Dumbledore told one of them that was five hundred of them attacking the castle."

"Them?" Harry repeated.

"I don't know what they were talking about, but there's five hundred of whatever it is."

"You don't think it could be Death Eaters, do you?" Ron asked anxiously.

"Voldemort doesn't have five hundred Death Eaters," Harry said dismissively.

"It could be anything," Ginny added, unhelpfully.

"Look, we've got to get out of here," Harry said compellingly.

"Have you guys tried anything else? You know, while I was in the fireplace...." Neville asked, taking in their stained clothes and food-swiped faces.

Hermione laughed weakly, "We were a little unsuccessful."

"Right...." Neville chuckled.

"And we're not going to get out of here by way of the tables. So, Plan C?" Harry looked around at the others for ideas, "Me neither...." he mumbled.

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They were weakly laughing, having just learned that Luna's weakness was Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. They had tried in vain to get out, ramming things against the walls, jerking at the doors some more, searching for windows, and there was no way out. Tired, they had resigned to sitting mournfully around the fireplace, trying to forget about what was going on elsewhere in the castle. It was getting progressively harder though because the pounding had begun. The silencing charms around the kitchen did not keep them from hearing what was going on outside, and they could tell that people or creatures were running up and down the hall, screaming and yelling every kind of spell. There was also a horrible pounding noise and a high-pitched screeching they couldn't place. Hermione had grown pale and wouldn't move her eyes from the very corner of the fireplace hearth. Neville was trembling ever so slightly. Ron was nibbling on a foot long breadstick out of nervousness. Even Luna looked scared. However, Harry insisted they keep talking to try and block out what was going on. He was doing the contrary though, listening intently to the spells being yelled most of which were hexes.

"So, Ron, what was your strength?" he asked, tearing off a piece of Ron's breadstick but not eating.

"Um...strategy," Ron said between bites.

"And your weakness?"

Ron took an overlarge bite and said something through his chewing, which they conveniently couldn't make out.

"What about you, Hermione?" Ginny asked, running a shaking hand through her sticky and hardening hair.

"My strength - ," Hermione broke off as there were several short screams outside, "uh...is...um...remembering things and collecting knowledge."

"Of course," Neville said with his best attempt at pleasantry.

"And my weakness was...er...foretelling the future," she said, hurriedly.

Harry looked at her curiously, but before he could comment he heard a faint cry that pierced him right in the heart. None of the others seemed to hear, but Harry could hear the repeated cry of, "Avada Kedavra!"

The fireplace behind them sprang to life, a fire crackling ominously. They gasped and scooted away, but Harry knew he had caused it and his heart pounding, he stood. "Forget this!" he spat. He drew his wand and faced the wall that stood between them and the hallway.

"Get in the pantry, quick!" he ordered.

The others scuttled to the pantry, and from the crack in the door they vaguely heard Harry bellow, and then with a great rumbling noise the wall burst apart, stone flying everywhere. Harry was caught up in the dust and the shards of the wall. And Ron quickly snapped the pantry door shut.

A/N: Man, that was a hard chapter to write. Well, you can imagine what the next installment is about! I like cliffhangers, I really do. Anyway, thanks so much to all my reviewers! I love reading the reviews! It's one of my favorite parts of the whole..er...fanfiction process? So please review, and again, God bless!