It had been nearly two weeks, since they had found the photograph in the Burrow. They had completely evacuated the Weasley household for the time being, and all the family as well as Harry and Hermione, were currently living at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, with McGonnagal coming and giving Ron, Hermione, and Ginny their work from school, as Harry sent work for his students the next day.
Minerva had been taking over defense lessons while Harry and the others were away, but she was beginning to get tired of it. They had not found another photo since the picture on the Weasley's mantle, and she was prepared to allow them all to come out of hiding.
She sat in her study; going over the essays the defense students had handed in, when she heard a familiar voice from off on her right.
"Evening Professor," She looked up, Albus, who had been sleeping or out non-stop ever since she got back from the Weasley's that night.
"Good Evening, Albus," she said.
"You look tired, how are you?" He asked politely.
"I'm…well, yes, I'm tired but I'll be fine."
"Have you come into any new developments on the case of those mysterious photographs?"
"I'm afraid not. I'm considering just letting them all resume daily life. It seems fruitless allowing them so scare us into defensive mode when we are so close to one of the Horcruxes. I think it needs to happen soon. If it's true that the Dark Lord knows what we are doing, we need to move quickly before he has more time to prepare. Whatever is going to happen...we need to be at full strength."
"I think so...yes..." he whispered after a moment.
"Hmm?"
"There is a room...in the castle, which not even I knew about until a few years ago." He said quietly. "A room that holds many of my earthly possessions. I have been avoiding allowing the order to enter it because I know that it will only put Harry and the others in more danger."
"What do you mean? I don't understand."
"Below Severus' old office, I keep my belongings. Books, spells, potions, that I believe may help."
"What?" McGonnagal said, shocked. "Why have I never been informed of this?"
"Because those items are not for you..."
"What? But you said they could help?" She said, questioningly.
"In that room, is the Inheritance of Mr. Harry Potter."
"Inheritance? What? From who?"
"Me."

"But where are we going?"
"Don't ask questions!" Severus Snape hissed at the Malfoy Boy. He was getting on his last nerve. He and Draco packed their belongings; they were going to leave this place.
"But, I don't understand, we can't just leave, he'll kill us!"
"KEEP YOU VOICE DOWN!" Snape yelled. And realizing what he'd just done quieted himself again. "It is only a matter of time before the Dark Lord kills us both."
Draco looked startled. "We need protection." Snape Continued. "We both need protection! This assassin he's hired, if that's even the right word, when she's done with Potter she'll come for us. I am no use to the Dark Lord now that the Order of the Phoenix knows that I killed Albus Dumbledore, and you are no use to the Dark Lord because he believes you a pathetic underage wizard. You don't even turn 17 until the end of the year. You are no use to him anymore...And do you know what happens to people he cannot use? He kills them, or leaves them in the dirt to rot!"
Draco continued looking startled for a moment but then bent down and shoved a pair of socks into his suitcase. "What's your plan exactly?"
"We will be paying a visit to Hogwarts..."

"Potter, Granger, Weasley...s" Professor McGonnagal walked into the living room of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place where Harry and Ron were playing chess. "I have something to show you."
They made their way to the castle, which was still occupied by bustling students, and they made their way down to the dungeon which had once belonged to Severus Snape.
"Down here?" Ginny asked. "He kept it down here?"
No on answered. McGonnagal had explained that it was in fact Dumbledore's possessions, and he believed they could help on the search for the Horcruxes.
"Below...um...Slughorn's Office." She replied nervously.
They entered the main dungeon hall, in which Snape's...or Slughorn's Office as is more accurate, was located, as well as the main potions classroom, and a few unused dungeons as well. They turned into the office where Harry had had many-a-detention. It was different now. Slughorn had redecorated, but there was no way to disguise the mildew and dampness of the underground dungeons.
The five of them stood there, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Professor McGonnagal.
"Where is it?" Someone asked.
They all looked up at McGonnagal; she was staring at the Oriental rug in the center of the room. "Help me move this."
Harry was confused. He hid it under a rug? It couldn't be that simple.
"I cannot open it. Only Harry can." She said slowly. The others lifted up the run as Harry stared at Professor McGonnagal.
"Me? Are you sure?"
"Albus knew magics that most people couldn't dream of." She said, as if this answered his question.
"What do I do?" He asked.
"Lift."
"Lift?"
"It's a sword in the stone conundrum. I can't lift it, only you can." She demonstrated.
Harry knelt down the easily the stone slid away. He saw McGonnagal's eyes widen.
"I should go first." She said. "In case there are any more...safeguards."
Safeguards. Harry was reminded momentarily of the guards around the Horcruxes. What might be waiting for them at Merope Gaunt's tomb? Worse then what happened at the cave? If Dumbledore was so weakened by the Horcrux, what would happen to the others?
"Damnit...What's going on?" She was trying to force her way through the hole Harry had created. "My foot won't go through. Hermione pressed her foot down, and they rested all of her weight.
"I can't either. Maybe..."
"Maybe only Harry..." Hermione and McGonnagal moved their feet and the others all stared down at him.
Without waiting for instruction he reached into the hole...and met no barrier. Harry Pulled out his wand and muttered "Lumos" there was a spiral staircase that led down into the depths.
"Well..." he said. "Be back in a minute then." He turned and looked down the stairs. "Why couldn't he have hidden it in a tower or something?" He took a step and heard a creak. This was not going to be fun. He made his way down the dark and creaky stairs. After about a minute he was still journeying with no end it sight. The light from the dungeon above had faded as he continued down the steps. Where did it end? He thought to himself just as he felt his foot his hard ground...Oh.
He saw a torch next to the staircase and quickly lit it with his wand.
In a rush of flame, the fire shot into the air and landed in a perfect arc on the other side of the room, some fifty feet in front of him. Harry backed against the wall as the flame bounced again. Lighting several other torches throughout the room. There were tens of trunks around on the ground. Books lined the walls. Gadgets and gizmos whirred to life. Shelves upon shelves of earthly possessions, including, he noticed, Godric Gryffindor's Sword.
He looked at the bookcases; the books were all old and close to rotting. Books of Dark Magic, books about obscure things, books with titles he couldn't pronounce, and books in several other languages, some, he was fairly certain, may not have even been human languages. Books about the relationship between magic and the world, even a book about creating your own spell, all lined the walls.
He looked to the stairs, considering trying to get the others down here. He noticed the penseive behind the staircase. One of the most important possessions he had in Harry's eyes. Maybe he could have the chance to examine it. Just because someone is dead, their memories were still on this plane.
"Oscuro" he muttered and the lamps all went out. He turned, and with deliberation, apperated up to the dungeon above.

With a loud CRACK he apparated into Slughorn's office.
"Damnit, Harry," Hermione said.
"What is it?" Ginny asked.
"What is down there, Potter?" McGonnagal asked.
"Lots of stuff. I don't know if I'll be able to get it out. Some of it...some of it I'll need to move to Headquarters. His penseive is down there, that'll be important."
"I was wondering what happened to that." She muttered.
He apparated back town and with a flick of his wand, he transported all of Albus Dumbledore's belongings to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Draco was finally being quiet. They both stood in a small room off the main hall, as a group of death eaters walked by, returning from a mission.
"Oh, Forget it." Snape turned to the back wall and muttered "Sero Hensive" He grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him toward the wall. They passed through it as though it was nothing. Snape muttered something that sounded a bit like Priori Incantatum but Draco knew it couldn't possibly be that. Snape was inching slowly along the walls. Draco didn't dare say anything now, even if he wanted to, he was too scared. He would never see his mother or father again, and he was going to a school which housed people who hated him. He had no idea what Snape's plan was exactly, all he had said was "We'll be paying a visit to Hogwarts" something he wasn't keen to do.
"DAMNIT!" Snape screamed as a dementor appeared in front of him. It moaned and started toward them.
"Please move out of my way, I'm on business for the Dark Lord." It did not back down. Draco was trying to remember the spell, it was Patronum...something. He wasn't sure.
"AVADA KADAVRA!" A Green light flashed from Snape's wand and the dementor writhed. The hood fell off its rotting body and he saw its head...or its mouth...it was hard to described shriveling in pain. What was going on? Avada Kadavra kills? Why was this Dementor being tortured? The cloak suddenly dropped to the ground, and the shriveled figure had vanished. Draco stared in a combination of Disgust and Horror. Snape seemed unphased.
He moved along the wall again, they were nearing the floo building. How were they going to get in? Run? What was Snape's plan?
He looked out over the corner of the building and saw his father making his way down to the prison. He dared not call out. Snape looked down at him, as if giving him a look that said if you call out you will suffer the same fate at that dementor.
His father entered the building and Snape quickly led him up to the entrance of the building. Behind the door he used a nonverbal spell to stupefy the guard. The building was, other them that, unprotected.
Snape pulled him into the building and threw some powder into the fire. He screamed, "The Office of Severus Snape"

Draco was whirling around, green fire all around him. He fell unexpectedly soon out into the office of Horace Slughorn, which apparently had still been called the office of Severus Snape in the floo network.
This looked different. He had no been in the office since it had been Snape's. Slughorn had really brightened it up. He was in a dungeon...If he wanted a brighter office he should have checked out one of the towers for God's sake.
Snape fell out of the green flames that had erupted in Slughorn's fireplace...and that's another thing, why the hell was there a fireplace in a dungeon? Was that even there when Snape had this office, and if it was, what was he thinking?
Snape bent down and removed one of the stone tiles.
"Wait, no, Draco, you try," He told him.
"What?" Draco asked, Confused.
"Try pulling open the panel, only a few people can do it. I'm not sure if you're worthy to be honest with you," He said frankly.
Draco bent down and easily removed the stone tile. "Now what?"
"I knew it. Dumbledore must have foreseen this. If he did, maybe there's a way we can protect you, and possibly me. The unbreakable vow I took with your mother may be broken, but there's still a residual amount of protection laid upon me." He steps into the hole and Draco saw that there was a long staircase winding down from below the tile. HE stepped on behind Snape, and they made their way down.
After a minute, Draco saw flame erupt and shoot across the room just a few feet below him. He dismounted the stairs and watched the fire shoot across the room, lighting a set of torches.
Snape stood there for a moment with a terrified look on his face.
"It's gone,"
"What's gone?" Draco looked across the room. Various trunks lay strewn unceremoniously across the floor. The bookcases along the walls were mostly bare, with only a few books lying around. Shelves which looked as thought they had once been in Dumbledore's office, those stupid obnoxious whirring instruments that no one could ever explain what were.
"There should be more than this. Someone's been here." He said worried. He ran to one of the trunks, opened it and found a few folded sets of robes. "No...No...where is it!"
Snape almost shouted this last part. What was he looking for? Whose is this? Snape ran across the room with a look he'd never seen before. Snape was scared.
"Who could have taken it? Why?"
"All due respect, sir. Who's taken what?" Draco asked cautiously.
"This is Dumbledore's storeroom. When he died, I was instructed to take all of his earthly possessions down here. In the secret room under my office, which I confess I did not know was there." He looked around and opened one last trunk. But was unsuccessful once more. This one was entirely empty.
"DAMNIT! OW!" He kicked the trunk in anger, but it did not budge. He grabbed his foot in pain, but was looking down at the trunk with a sly look on his face. "Can it really be so simple?"
Draco walked toward his teacher, who's mood had shifted quickly. He was looking at the empty trunk and smiling.
"I don't think I can open this one." He said.
"Who do you think can?"
"You."
Draco had to admit, he was startled. He knelt over the trunk and tried to lift it up.
"No, not like that." He said. "The Center."
He looked inside and pushed down the wallpaper-like interior of the box. And another hole appeared.
"It's down here." Snape steped inside the box and made his way down a second spirel staircase. Draco followed, back down further into the darkness. He couldn't help but think that this was going to be a bitch to climb back up.
He saw the fire, jumping from torch to torch again. And made his way into the second room. This one was smaller. The walls were lined with shelves the left wall had small clear bottles with white glowing contents in them. Each labeled differently. The right wall, and also spilling onto the far wall had bottles like that, only with colored contents. And the far wall, in the area not taken up by the glowing colored bottles, were lots of mysterious looking objects, most of which, Draco could not recognize.
Snape walked over to the side with the colored bottles, and Draco to the white ones. He examined a label. "Severus Snape, January 12th 1951"
"Sir, This bottle is labeled with your name!" He called from across the room.
"Yes, it would be. Many of them are. They are memories Draco." He said half-casually.
He looked around. He defiantly saw some obscure ones. There was one labeled "Narcissa Malfoy, October 13th, 1979" and "Morphin Gaunt, Exact date Unknown" He recognized the name Gaunt. They were Slytherin's heirs, the last known keepers of his locket. The only known relic of Salazar Slytherin and they had lost it.
"Aberforth Dumbledore, July 8th, 1931" He said aloud. "Was that Dumbledore's Father?"
"No, you silly boy. Aberforth is Dumbledore's brother. He's still alive." Snape said with discontent in his voice. "It's not here. DAMNIT IT'S NOT HERE!" He picked up an orange bottle and threw it across the room landing at Draco's feet. The cork came loose and the orange smoke shot up at Draco. He fell over, he inhaled some smoke and gagged. On his knees now, Snape ran over to his side. Draco couldn't breathe.
Couldn't...
Breathe...
Snape flicked his wand, and rapped it against his throat in frustration. Draco coughed as his airway cleared.
"What the hell was that!"
"I'm sorry, that was...unintentional." Snape said, without offering any explanation.
"What are those things?" Draco asked, annoyed now more than anything.
"They are spells, most potant magics even a wizard as...astute...as professor Dumbledore had trouble controlling them. He contained them and hid them away whenever he managed to perform one. For special circumstances."
"What do you mean? What kind of spells?" He stood up, revived from his choking experience.
"Well...the kind that can be lethal, obviously," He said unflinchingly. "I am sorry, that was an inappropriate outburst." He flicked his wand and the shards of glass from the broken bottle vanished. He returned to the shelves of spells. Draco walked up by his side, and examined a line of them.
"They're not labeled?" He asked, looking at the swirling, glowing bottles.
"Some are, please get out of my way." He looked down at the shelf Draco had been examining.
Draco walked back over to the memories, all of these were labeled. Damnit, what was going on? Florance Fornax, July 31st 1989. Dawn Orva, November 12th, 1976. Dawn Orva...he recognized that name. And Florance Fornax sounded familiar too.
"Ah. Yes. Here it is." Draco turned around. Snape was staring at the shelf, blocking the spell from view. "No...So crude."
"What's crude?"
"This...isn't...a spell. It's a potion. But it's missing an ingredient."
"A Potion? What kind of potion?"
"We do not have time now. Draco, I am about to put you in some pain. I am sorry but it is best in the long run. I promise when you wake up...this will all be over."
"Wake up?"
"SECTUMSEMPRA!"

Notes: This is where I've really been leading for a long time. The only reason I didn't write this earlier is because I needed lots of other stuff to come first in order for this go make sense and go in order. I've been dying to write these scenes from the beginning. I hope the Trio stuff didn't sound too rushed, for now, I hate to say it but I'm a lot more interested in the Snape/Draco Plot line. But, I also brought the trio down there for a reason. And don't worry, all the questions I've asked...They'll be answered soon enough. I promise it's full of plot holes for a reason. R+R please!

Next: No Good Deed