Surprise surprise. Here is the new chapter.

Hope you like it. Its extra long so enjoy.

Read and Review please…

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE MEETING IN HONEYDUKE'S

The weather grew worse as the day changed. Even though it was just early November, snow was starting to fall. The winds remain unchanged; still strong and howling towards the eternal sky. Lupin said that the early snow was a sign of danger. It was as though nature was sensing the evil brewing about. The dementors were still multiplying, showed by the immense fogging and the whole of Hogwarts felt the coldest November they have ever experienced.

Breakfast did little to improve Hermione's feelings. She was a wreck, basically, with her hair askew and her eyes a bit swollen from crying. She was silent and she barely touched her food.

Harry and Ron were silent, too. They did not know what to say to Hermione and thought it better to just remain quiet rather than say something that may cause further trouble. They just ate their toast as the rest of the school shivered due to the cold.

Even the teachers were shaken still. They barely talked with each other and their eyes were tired, as though they hadn't slept at all. The Halloween décor did little to improve anyone's mood, except for Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and the rest of the Slytherins. They were as if in the best time of their lives. They were gobbling down their toast as though nothing was up. To them, early snow meant that the holidays were coming and that was that.

Hoots again shattered the sounds of the Great Hall as owls flew within the halls, similar to how they did last night to deliver the Prophet. All of the owls looked ruffled, probably due to the weather, and seemed to linger even after delivering their mail, eating some scraps of breadcrumbs and jam. Prophets were delivered along with the typical mail and as usual, Hermione got her copy, which she immediately opened and buried her face into.

As she was reading, another owl fluttered down in front of her. She did not notice this so she kept on reading. Seeing as Hermione was not minding the new barn owl that has landed near her, Harry obtained the note attached to its right leg. He opened the piece of paper, which was the kind sold in muggle stationery stores, and started to read.

Dear Hermione,

Your parents are okay. Don't worry. It seems odd that I'm sending you mail through owls but I guess you folks are accustomed to this.

Love, Nana

Harry's eyes brightened as he finished the letter. Ron found it odd to see Harry beaming since disastrous things just happened last night but he said nothing. The next thing Ron saw was Harry shaking Hermione's arm to make her stop reading the Daily Prophet and tell her the news.

"What," said Hermione as she yanked her head out of the Daily Prophet.

"Your mum and dad are okay," said Harry as he pushed the letter in front of Hermione.

She hurriedly took the letter from Harry's hands and started reading. As her eyes moved left to right again and again upon the letter, a smile was forming. After she finished the letter, she was grinning.

"You're right," said Hermione joyfully. "They are okay."

Ron was surprised. "What?" he said incredulously.

"My grandma just wrote," said Hermione, pertaining to the stationery paper in her hand.

Everything was getting back in place for Hermione. It was as though a giant thorn has just been plucked out of her throat. For the first time since receiving the news of Voldemort's latest attack, she felt as though she could breathe again.

"Anything in the Prophet?" asked Ron.

"Oh," said Hermione, almost forgetting about the new article written in the Prophet. "Yeah," She then handed her copy to Harry and Ron to read:

Updates on the Recent Muggle Attacks

In line with the report on The Dark Lord's recent attacks, here are the latest developments on today's issue. Ministry of Magic Aurors are still investigating the site of the ruins of the towns visited by He-Who-Must-Be-Named. Things are not going as smoothly as they wanted due to the number of muggles around. They still do not know what motive The Dark Lord had in doing his evil deed and so, investigations are still underway. Any new developments within the next 24 hours will be reported to you first, only by the Daily Prophet.

"So, nothing new," said Harry. "Well, at least your folks are fine."

The day was very cold as the time progressed. Classes were fine except for the many shivers from all the students. Everyone was wearing layers of robes or muggle cloaks to keep warm as the teachers taught their lessons, their breathes creating small smoke-like fog as they uttered words.

Night came around early as the days were growing shorter. As most of the students were eating supper down in the Great Hall, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were readying themselves within the Common Room for their trip towards Honeydukes to meet with Regulus Black as scheduled.

"Ready?" asked Harry as he was still busy wearing layers on top of his read long sleeved sweater. "Better layer up. It's cold outside."

"Yeah," answered Hermione. "So, do we know what Regulus looks like? I mean he is in some sort of disguise. He can't be just walking around as himself. He is not well known a wizard but we can't take any chances."

"We'll see," answered Harry as he tucked in his shirt. "Anyway, we better hurry. The others will probably finish dinner soon. We need to go, now."

They walked out of the portrait hole and crossed the whole hall leading to the Grand Staircase. As they went through the staircases, they peeked cautiously, ensuring that no one would see them go out. Since the recent developments in the wizarding community and the rise of Voldemort, students were not allowed to go out after hours, regardless of head boy or head girlship.

They now went towards the corridor with the one-eyed witch statue and said Dissendium, revealing a familiar underground passage towards the cellar of Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.

The passage was dark and moist. The walls were growing slippery as lichen was starting to grow. They crawled through slowly and said nothing, conserving their energies in trying to cross the whole of the passage. The time they spent crawling seemed hours since it was a hard task. Their arms were tired and the floor was slippery with lichen growth. Moments later, they were standing beneath the cellar of Honeydukes. With a shove, the floorboard of the cellar opened and emerging from it were Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

The cellar was empty. They saw cabinets filled with sugar and sweet flavorings all lined up neatly. There was a wooden stove where a pan full of pink swirly stuff was boiling. Sweet smells of strawberry and mocha wafted in the air as Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed up the only staircase in the room which led to the main shop itself.

Once on the shop, one of the shop owners stopped them.

"How come you came from our cellar? Who gave you entry down there?" asked the owner sternly.

"Uh," said Hermione. "We were looking for the restroom."

This was not a good excuse but the owner bought it. "It's not down there. It's near the shelf with the boxes of Fizzing Whizbees," replied the owner, who left them after saying this.

The three Gryffindors then walked through the shop, which was not filled with people due to the weather, and reached the part where seats were available. Since few people were present, it was easy to spot Regulus. He was sitting by a corner beside the glass wall wearing a harassed dirty white shirt and a bare brown coat. He donned a frayed black hat and a pair of black, extremely old pants. He was sipping a cup of tea as he sat there, waiting.

The three Gryffindors then walked towards the table and sat down. They looked at Regulus in the eye and then at his cup of tea. His eyes were sunken and his hair had trails of gray and white. His skin was sagging slightly and wrinkles were abundant in his face.

"So," said Harry, as he looked at the glass wall beside the table. From there, he could see the street outside. Only several people were walking about Hogsmeade. Since Voldemort's return, few had been out shopping. The many shop owners along Hogsmeade were still disappearing and so, people feared going there.

"Harry," said Regulus, cutting Harry short of his blank staring out the glass. "So, what do you want to tell me that you cannot divulge in the letter?"

"We think that the minister's eye is in the Chamber of Secrets," started Harry, now concentrating on the matter. Ron and Hermione just listened and watched.

Regulus sipped his tea once and then spoke. "How come?"

"Think of it, where would Voldemort keep it? He would keep it somewhere that will pay tribute to the Nagini," whispered Harry, making sure no one could overhear them. "And yeah, from now on, in our letters, we'll call you Snuffles, okay? That was what we used to address Sirius every time we sent him owls."

Just when Regulus was about to reply, Hermione stood up and began to almost scream. She was acting frantically, pointing to someone outside the shop. "Its, its mom!"

She ran outside the shop and from what Harry could see from staring out the glass wall inside the shop, she was approaching Mr. and Mrs. Granger walking by the street. Soon, Hermione was accompanying them towards the shop.

Harry then stood up as Mr. and Mrs. Granger entered. The shop owner looked up at who just came in but soon resumed in arranging the chocolate frogs in their containers. Harry shook Mr. Granger's hand and said hi to Mrs. Granger. Ron got two additional chairs and let Hermione' parents sit with them.

"Why are you here?" asked Hermione. It was obvious that she was happy her parents were there.

"Terrible things have been happening," said Mr. Granger seriously. "Terrible."

"What's happening?" asked Hermione. Regulus only stared while sipping his tea.

"During the attack yesterday," answered Mr. Granger. "No one knew who the person responsible was. But since you told us all about this Voldemort person, we knew it was him, especially after seeing him cast green lights out of a wand."

Mrs. Granger just sat there, unable to speak. Reliving the experience was too painful for her.

"And then," continued Mr. Granger. "the owner of the hotel that we were staying in asked all of us to leave. We went running out of the Pearl of the Orient Hotel and went in the car. We did not drive away since we left the key in the hotel. We just stayed there, hoping that we would survive. And then, we saw him, Voldemort, standing up behind the flames. He was pointing his wand everywhere. He cast spell after spell, sending cars rolling by. A bus full of people was sent crashing down a wall. Fire was everywhere."

Mrs. Granger started to tear up.

Mr. Granger continued. "Voldemort just stood there, just firing away. We saw people running. All of them, all running in panic. Some of them dropped dead as this green light hit them. A lot of lives were lost. We were in the car praying for our lives as other people were dying around us. They just died as though their lives where sucked out of them. Some people though, due to fear, just stood there. They were unharmed though, which was surprising."

"Why did Voldemort not kill them?" asked Hermione, now almost teary eyed as well, picturing her parents in peril.

"Because Voldemort had some use for them."

"What?" said Hermione.

"Yes. Remember how you told me that those followers of Voldemort… what do you call them?"

"Death Eaters," said Hermione.

"Yeah, them death eaters. You remember telling us that they have this mark on their arms? Well we saw them from the car. We were in this abandoned parking lot, you see. Right across a street from there was an alley. In that alley, Voldemort cornered the fearful people and I saw him branding some sort of symbol on their arms. I guess he is inducting new members to this Death Eater group."

"This makes sense," said Regulus suddenly. It was his first time speaking after the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Granger. "He not only wants to conquer the wizarding world, but also the muggles."

Rain started to pound on the windows. The few people in Honeydukes were starting to leave. Harry and the others, though, were still sitting.

"How did you end up here then," asked Hermione.

"We knew that this whole Voldemort thing was the sort of stuff we can't do anything about unless we tell the wizarding folks. Since you told us before from your stories that Hogsmeade is near The Leaky Cauldron, we went there immediately and managed to find our way here. We are awfully tired though. Haven't slept at all last night."

"You can sleep in school," said Hermione.

"Thanks honey," replied Mr. Granger. "We though, must warn you headmaster about what we've saw."

Mr. and Mrs. Granger ordered some coffee and then some odd sweets, allowing Harry to talk with Regulus Black, which was the real purpose of their trip there.

"You're asking me if I think that the eye is in the Chamber?" said Regulus to Harry, resuming their conversation which started earlier, before the arrival of Hermione's parents.

"Yes," said Harry. "I mean I have to know your opinion before going there."

"In case you are going, let me warn you. I am not certain that it will be safe. If someone managed to get into the Chamber unnoticed, it may mean that they left something in it to guard the eye if ever it is stored there."

"That was what we thought. But is it a good idea to go in the Chamber?"

"I cannot answer that. It is for you to decide. As what I am sure Dumbledore used to always say, everything is determined by choice. It is who you are. Your choices determine your identity, far more than your abilities."

Harry was puzzled at what Regulus said. He stared at him, and then shifted his gaze upon his friends. He then looked at Mr. and Mrs. Granger, sipping coffee with Hermione by there side. Right there and then, he made the choice. He will go in the chamber. He needs to. Everything was in his hands because he was the prophesized one. Not only did the wizarding world depend on it. People like Mr. and Mrs. Granger depended on it too, together with the rest of the muggle world.

END OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN