Sorry for the long break between updates. And for the super-long chapter that follows (nearly 7,000 words).
69. Back to the Room of Requirement
She woke up to something nudging her face, and it took a moment to remember where she was. And what she was.
The idea to become an Animagus had occurred to her during sixth year, and she'd put the plan into action without telling anyone, not even Neville or her mum. This was a secret she'd wanted to keep completely to herself, another skill that she figured might come in handy at some point. Therefore, she'd never intended to register, which of course was a crime. With everything else that had gone on, it had taken almost an entire year before she could fully transform, but she'd finally gotten it about a month prior to her grand escape.
It had certainly made hiding out in the Forbidden Forest a lot easier. She didn't have to worry as much about the various magical creatures who might harm her if she'd been in human form, and there were plenty of natural foxes to blend in with.
Such as the one who was currently climbing all over her as she tried to relax in a little hole she had found in the bottom of a tree. Eh, get off! she thought, standing up on all fours and growling at her amorous fellow. After scaring him off, she looked around at the darkened woods, wondering once again if she should brave a venture towards the castle. It had been four days since she'd fled, and she was beginning to go a little bit stir crazy over not knowing what had happened in the aftermath. It was probably too much to hope that Neville and the others had been left alone after she'd taken responsibility for the D.A., but all she wanted to know was that they were all right. And alive.
Puffy! she thought. Puffy can tell me what's going on up there. For the first time since fleeing, she transformed back into her human self, called upon the elf, and instructed him to go to Neville and Seamus's dormitory to check up on everyone.
"What have you heard?" she asked him when he returned to the forest.
"Master Finnigan tells of a melee that occurred the night you left, ma'am," he reported. "The Carrows went after Dumbledore's Army."
Her stomach dropped. "Was anyone hurt?" she asked.
"A few people were hexed, ma'am, but most of them made out all right."
"Who didn't? Is anyone dead?" She was slipping into panic mode now.
"I don't know, ma'am. Master Longbottom hasn't been accounted for."
All the air seemed to leave her lungs as she gaped at the elf in horror. "What do you mean?" she asked. She refused to consider the idea that he'd been killed, or else she would've dropped dead herself right there. Please be in Azkaban, please be in Azkaban.
"The last Master Finnigan saw of him, ma'am, he was being chased through the castle by the Carrows."
"But did they catch him?"
"Master Finnigan tells that it's believed Master Longbottom has fled the castle, ma'am. The Carrows have claimed that he's disappeared, and have instructed anyone who knows of his whereabouts to come forward, ma'am."
Callie sighed to herself. Could he really have gotten away like she had, or were the siblings merely covering their arses, having killed or kidnapped him already? "Bloody hell," she exclaimed, burying her face in her hands. She shouldn't have stunned Snape; he could've stopped his deputies from going after the others. If Neville's dead, it's my fault, she thought, her whole body trembling. "Puffy, listen," she said. "If you hear anything about Neville, or if you see him, you come directly to me, understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," he replied.
Once he was gone, Callie transformed back into the fox and wandered about the forest, unable to calm herself as she feared the worst. He can't be dead, she thought. He can't be. But she couldn't simply hide out and hope that he was okay. She had to try and find out where he was, what had happened to him.
There was no way to get back into the castle, so her best bet would be to go into Hogsmeade. Death Eaters had been patrolling the village all year, and if they knew anything about what was going on in the castle, then hopefully they'd talk amongst themselves. She could hide somewhere and eavesdrop.
It must have been relatively late, because the streets were quiet when she came to the edge of the village. She took a step onto the road but jumped back when a high-pitched scream suddenly rang out. What the hell is that? she thought, and ran behind an alley when a group of Death Eaters stumbled out onto the High Street.
"Eh, who's there?" one of them called out, aiming his wand. For ten minutes or so, Callie kept herself hidden from view, dodging between the darkened side streets, until the cloaked figures gave up on searching for the intruder and went back to their business.
That screaming, it was an alarm of some sort, she deduced. What was she supposed to do now? The sound had stopped, and she was still in the village limits, but the streets were bare; there was nobody to spy on. I can look for an open window and listen in, she thought. Cautiously making her way out of the alley, she looked up and froze in her tracks. On a lamppost was a wanted poster, with her picture on it.
Calista Warbeck
Age: 17
5'7", dark hair, blue eyes
Wanted for treason and assault
Armed and considered dangerous
Animagus - takes the form of a red fox
Oh, shit, she thought. I've gotta get out of here. She backed up towards the edge of the village, then turned on her heel. But just as she was about to spring off back to the forest, something hit her and she collapsed to the ground, still as a statue. No, no, no! she screamed internally. She couldn't move a muscle, except for her eyes. They had gotten her with a Body-Bind Curse. And she was still in fox form. Whoever had done it picked her up by the back of the neck and carried her off down a side street.
Jesus Christ, I'm going to die. Or if she was lucky, they would cart her off to Azkaban. Maybe, just maybe, she could escape somewhere along the way, if she managed to survive whatever was about to happen.
Her captor brought her into a dirty, decrepit old pub, which she recognized as the Hog's Head Inn. Oh, God, no one decent ever comes here. Perfect place to kill or torture somebody without making a spectacle. She was then taken up a staircase that led into a small sitting room, and was set in the middle of the dirty carpet, still completely frozen.
She shifted her eyes to get a look at whoever had brought her here, and when the man knelt over her, she got the strange sensation that she was seeing a ghost. He looked to be about a hundred years old, with long, grey hair and a matching beard, and blue eyes. Bloody hell, he looks just like-
But before she could finish the thought, he stuck his wand in her face and said in a gruff voice, "I'm going to reverse the spell. Don't you try anything, or I'll stun your sly arse."
First he unfroze her, then he forced her back into human form. She jumped to her feet and drew her wand, but he immediately disarmed her. "Don't kill me!" she begged, holding up her hands defensively.
"I'm not going to kill ya, lass," he said. "But I can't speak for my neighbors." He gestured towards the dirty window that looked out on the High Street. "Are you aware there are about a dozen Death Eaters down there keepin' their eye out for you?"
"Are you one of them?" she asked, still with her hands up.
"Hmph. Don't you think I'd have killed you by now if I was? That lot ain't going to be too forgiving of a dirty little half-blood who attacked the Dark Lord's second-in-command."
She furrowed her brow and asked, "Then why have you brought me here?"
He went over to the fireplace, above which hung a portrait of a young blonde girl. "Because I was told to keep an eye out for ya, too," he replied. Then, to the girl in the portrait, "Go on and tell him she's here." The girl turned her back on the old man and walked off down a tunnel that was painted behind her, growing smaller and smaller as she went.
"Tell who?" Callie asked. Her first thought was Snape. "Are you going to turn me in?"
"And deliver you to certain death? No. From what I've heard, you've got quite the spirit. Pity it would be to let that go to waste."
She wondered if she could manage to summon her wand from him and make a run for it before he could catch her. But as she studied his oddly familiar face, a wild thought occurred to her.
Well known for its ability to rise from the ashes.
Slowly taking a step towards the man, she said, "Professor Dumbledore?"
He hesitated, then replied in a cold tone, "You seem to have forgotten that he's dead, lass."
Her shoulders sunk, and she asked, "Well, then who are you?"
He came towards her and said, "The name's Aberforth." Then he held out her wand for her to take and added, "Dumbledore."
She gaped up at him, her mouth dropping open. Taking the wand, she asked, "Brother?"
"That's right."
"I didn't know he had a brother."
"He didn't speak about me much," the man explained. "Long story. I won't bore you with it."
"Who did you send for? Professor Snape?"
With a scoff, he said, "You think I'm keen to follow any orders from the man who killed my only living relative? I wasn't particularly fond of Albus, but I didn't care to see him dead."
Callie bit her lip. If this bloke was really who he claimed to be, then one day she was going to have to let him know the truth about his brother's death. But certainly not now.
The man went on, "A couple of days ago, I'm in here minding my own business, and Ariana starts knocking from her side of the portrait." He indicated the picture above the fireplace, from which the blonde girl had disappeared. "I get up and go to have a look, and there's this young bloke standing behind her. I say, 'What the hell is this?' and he tells me he's come from Hogwarts. A tunnel's opened up straight from the castle and led him here. The lad looked a mess and was askin' for food. I gave him a meal and sent him on his way."
He went over to retrieve something from an end table as he went on, "He gave me your picture and told me to keep a look out for ya. Or else a red fox." He held out the photo for Callie to take. It depicted her and Neville laughing and kissing under the mistletoe at Slughorn's Christmas party the previous year.
She looked up at the man with hope in her eyes and asked, "Is this the bloke that came to you?"
"Hm," he grunted with a nod. "Said his name was Neville Longbottom."
"He's alive?!" she exclaimed, her heart speeding up at the thought that he was safe.
"Aye. And he oughta be showin' up soon." Again he indicated the portrait with the missing girl.
Despite her newfound sense of hope, she gave him a skeptical look. What if this was some kind of a trick? "You said that a tunnel opened up from the castle and led here?" she asked.
"That's what the lad said," he replied.
"So he's still there? I heard he was missing."
"Been hiding out some place inside. Wouldn't tell me where exactly."
Callie stepped up to the portrait and took a closer took at it. There was a very small dot at the end of the painted tunnel that was growing bigger and bigger. Eventually she could make out two tiny figures - one of them was the blonde girl that Aberforth had referred to as Ariana, and the other was unmistakably Neville. As he came closer, she could see a smile spread across his face, and he ran past Ariana as if he couldn't wait to meet up with Callie.
"How is he going to get out of here?" she asked Aberforth. She backed up to let him through, and he pulled at the portrait frame, swinging it open to reveal an actual tunnel, through which Neville emerged.
"Callie!" he exclaimed, jumping down from the fireplace mantel and running to her.
The two wrapped their arms around each other in a tight embrace, and she cried out, "Bloody hell, I thought you were dead!"
"Well, I didn't know what to think about you," he countered. Pulling back to look at her, he asked, "What happened, have you been here in Hogsmeade all this time?"
"I was in the forest," she explained. "And you've been in the castle? Puffy told me you disappeared after I escaped."
"I did, in a sense," he replied with a smirk. "I've been hiding - in the Room of Requirement." She did a double take as he went on, "That's where this leads," pointing to the tunnel.
She went over to the opening and looked into it. "This wasn't here in fifth year," she said.
"I know. It wasn't there when I first showed up the other night either. But I was in there for a couple days and I was starving. I thought that I somehow needed to get food, and all of a sudden the tunnel appeared. I met Ariana at the end of it, and she led me to Ab." He gestured to the old man.
"You two are on a nickname basis?" she asked, cocking a brow.
With a shrug, he replied, "He's a good bloke, he is. And I can't believe he found you. I was sure you had gone off to join the Order, or went looking for Harry and the others."
But he hadn't assumed that she'd simply fled Britain to save her own arse. Despite his friends' opinions, he himself didn't think so little of her. A small smile curled her lip as that thought filled her with complete adoration for the boy.
"You two oughta get on along," Aberforth spoke up. "You're both supposed to be missing, and I'm not looking to wind up in Azkaban for harboring two fugitives."
"Ooh, we're fugitives now," Callie said in a sassy tone. "How exciting."
"Come on, let's go," Neville said, reaching for her hand.
"Back to the castle?" she asked.
"Don't worry, it's safe in the Room of Requirement. I made it so Snape and the Carrows can't get in. Or anybody who supports them."
Oh, no, Callie thought. She did support Snape. Would the room somehow block her from entering?
When she didn't move, he asked, "What's wrong?"
Unable to explain, she shook her head and said, "Nothing. Just... apprehensive."
"Don't be. I promise you it's all right."
She hesitated, struggling to come up with some reasonable excuse for why she may not be able to get into the room. But eventually she took his hand and let him lift her up into the tunnel. "Wait," she said, turning around to face Aberforth and extending her hand to him. "Thank you, sir."
He stepped forward to give her a shake and said, "Good luck, lass."
"You too."
"Thanks, Ab," Neville said, hoisting himself up to join Callie. As the two made their way off, he asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were an Animagus?"
With a shrug, she explained, "It was my biggest secret. I wanted to keep my cards close to my chest." He seemed a bit disheartened that she hadn't let him in on this. "I started the process last year. I wasn't even sure if I could manage it. I was only able to transform for the first time a few weeks ago."
"And when did you decide to escape?" he asked.
"I hadn't. It was sort of a spur of the moment thing after Snape told the leader to come forward."
"Why didn't you just let me do it?"
"Because I knew I could get away, and you couldn't."
"Well," he replied, "turns out you were wrong about that." As they made their way through the tunnel, he told her all about how the Carrows had attempted to round up the rest of the D.A. How a fight had broken out, but they'd set their focus on him and chased him up to the seventh floor. "I had no idea where I was going, but then it occurred to me, the Room of Requirement."
"Do they know you're in there?"
"I don't know. But if they do, then they can't get in anyway. I said that I needed a place where the Carrows and anybody who was loyal to them couldn't get in."
"What about Snape?" Callie asked.
"He supports them," Neville explained, "so he can't get in either."
"But you didn't specifically request to keep him or his supporters out?" If not, then she'd have no problem getting in.
"No, but I didn't need to. He's included in the 'Carrow loyalty' part." She breathed a sigh of relief as he went on, "I haven't come out of there except to go get food from Aberforth. I don't know what happened to the others." He had a worried expression on his face when he said this.
"Everybody's fine," Callie informed him. "I called Puffy to the forest tonight, and he told me."
He perked up at that and said, "Really?" Then, with a sigh, "Thank God."
Eventually they came to the end of the tunnel. Neville opened up a door that led into the Room of Requirement, which was quite small and bare, except for two hammocks hanging from the ceiling. "Why are there two?" Callie asked, indicating one of them. "Is someone else here?"
"No," he replied with a furrowed brow. "There was only one when I came to get you." He looked around the room, paused, and then pointed. "And that wasn't here either." She looked over and saw two tapestries hanging on the wall. One depicted the Gryffindor lion on a red background, while the other showed the Slytherin serpent on green. "Only the Gryffindor one was there before," he informed her.
She went to stand before the Slytherin hanging, crossing her arms as she looked up at it. "So," she said, "what now? How long are you planning on hiding out in here?"
Shrugging, he said, "I'm not sure exactly. But at least until the end of the term."
"Why?" she asked as he came to stand beside her. "Now that we have a way out, shouldn't we take advantage of it? Maybe Ginny could tell us where her family is. They belong to the Order, and they might let us stay with them."
He only gave it a second of thought before he shook his head. "I can't leave the others. And I'm sure Harry is going to turn up here one day."
"And what if he doesn't?"
"Well... like I said, if he hasn't returned by the end of the year, then we'll leave." He paused, then said, "Or at least, I'll be here until then. But you don't have to stay if you don't want."
She looked over at him, and though he seemed to be trying to keep his expression blank, she knew he was hoping she'd stick around. "You know I'm not going anywhere," she said. "If I wanted to run, I would've done so four days ago."
He considered that, and asked, "So why didn't you?"
"For the same reason you didn't," she replied. "I had no idea what was going on up here, if you and the others were all right." She paused, sighing to herself before she went on, "I felt guilty enough being out of the castle while the rest of you were still trapped with the Carrows."
They were both quiet for a moment, before Neville spoke up. "You said they tortured you," he reminded her in a soft voice. "Right before you fled. Is that true?"
She hesitated, but there was no point denying it now. "Yes," she said. "Back in October, the night before I left the D.A."
He swallowed over a lump in his throat and kept his eyes on the ground, looking as though he were bracing himself for whatever he was about to hear when he asked, "What did they do to you?" She didn't answer right away, so he added, "Was it as bad as Michael?"
Considering it, she replied, "Well... they didn't beat me the way they did him." A pause. "But there was a lot of the Cruciatus."
Releasing a heavy breath, he whispered, "Bloody hell," pressing his hands to his forehead. "What else?"
"The sister kicked me a couple of times. Knocked out one of my teeth." She showed him the missing tooth, but decided not to mention the eye. It didn't matter now, and she didn't want him to know that Snape had healed it, as that may make him suspicious. "Then they left me in an empty dungeon overnight," she concluded.
He began to angrily pace the room, and asked, "Christ, Cal, why didn't you tell me?"
"Because they told me to keep my mouth shut. And I was afraid you might try and retaliate somehow." Watching his hands ball into fists, she added, "You wanna go after them right now, don't you?"
"Of course, I do!" he shouted. "They could've killed you!"
"But they didn't. So calm yourself, it's over now." She went over to him and put her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to stop pacing and look at her. "I'm all right," she insisted. "I wasn't for a while. But I'm better now."
He studied her a moment, then asked, "Was that why you wouldn't let me touch you?"
That had been part of it. The other part was what Crabbe had done, but she didn't want to tell him about that now. "Yes," she replied. "I guess I was just overly sensitive after all the... Torture Curses."
He scrunched his eyes shut in a pained expression and whispered, "I'm sorry, Cal."
It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn't winced or jerked away from him when he'd hugged her in Aberforth's sitting room. Presently she took his hand and held it against her cheek. "Somehow it doesn't bother me now," she said.
He held her gaze, a longing look in his eye as he brushed his thumb along her bottom lip. "Is that all right?" he asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes." She was actually surprised at how good it felt. There was none of the unease that had overwhelmed her when they'd been together in the greenhouse four months prior.
Moving closer so their bodies were flush against one another, he threaded his fingers through her hair and asked, "What about that?"
She leaned into his touch, savoring the feel of his skin against hers. "I like it," she said.
Despite that, he seemed to be struggling with himself, wanting to continue, but fearful that he would make a wrong move. "Tell me if I do something you don't like," he said.
"I'm not complaining, am I?" she replied with a slight smirk.
His eyes settled on her mouth for a brief second, before he asked, "Can I kiss you?"
The careful way he was handling her was so typically "Neville," and once again she was overcome with love for him. Taking him by the nape of the neck, she inclined her head and met his lips. She was almost as cautious as he was, anticipating the panicky feeling that had made her bolt the last time they'd tried this. But it didn't come. Not even as his hands began to travel all over her body, or when he pulled her even tighter against him. In fact, she was only becoming more excited - and more aggressive - the longer it went on.
"Bloody hell," she exclaimed as he kissed her neck, "I'd forgotten how good this is."
"Let me know when you want me to stop," he breathed.
"I don't want you to stop," she said. "I just wish there was a..." She trailed off, looking past him at a curious sight that made her pause. "Neville?" she called out.
"Hm?"
"That wasn't here a minute ago, was it?"
Pulling away from her throat, he asked, "What?" and she pointed to the other side of the room, where a bed big enough for two had appeared out of nowhere.
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A couple of hours later, they were lying in one of the hammocks and staring up at the ceiling, which Callie had bewitched to look like the night sky, just as it did in the Great Hall. "So how did you break those windows in Slytherin Dungeon?" Neville asked. "I heard they had an Unbreakable Charm on them."
"They did," she replied. "But I found the counter-charm and reversed it. Puffy was the one who actually broke them, though. He could Disapparate before anybody saw him, and I stayed in the dormitory so nobody would know it was me."
Neville considered that, and then suddenly sat up. "Puffy!" he said, jumping off the hammock.
With a furrowed brow, Callie asked, "What about him?"
Looking around the room in thought, he asked, "Could he get in here through Apparition?"
She pondered that and said, "I don't know. Why?"
"Because he could tell us what's going on out there. He could even bring the others in here if they need a place to hide."
"Oh, brilliant," Callie said, climbing up off the hammock. "Put your clothes on, I'll try and call him." They both dressed in a hurry, before she called out, "Puffy?"
By the grace of God, the creature was able to Apparate into the secret room. Bowing to Callie, he said, "Yes, Mistress?"
"Can you bring someone in here through Side-Along Apparition?" she asked.
He gave it a moment of thought, and said, "I don't see why not, ma'am."
"This room is special," Neville explained. "The only way in - well, usually - is through a secret entrance from the corridor."
"But if you could Apparate in," Callie continued, "then maybe you could bring others with you."
"Perhaps, ma'am," he replied. "Is there anyone you'd like to send for?"
She and Neville exchanged a glance, and the latter said, "Seamus could talk to the others. That all right with you?"
"Hmph. I suppose," Callie replied. "So long as you don't let him hex me." To Puffy, she ordered, "Go on then. Bring him in here Side-Along, directly from the dormitory."
When the elf disappeared, Neville asked, "So... does this mean you're back in the D.A.?"
Shrugging, she said, "Guess I got tired of missing all the fun. By the way, your shirt's on inside out."
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Thank God for the Room of Requirement. It had actually grown in size as more and more people showed up, some of whom Callie didn't know, but who'd joined the D.A. after she'd left.
Everybody had a lot of questions for the Slytherin. For instance, had she really been the one behind all the D.A.'s stunts? No, of course not, she told them. Was it true that the Carrows had tortured her? Yes, and that was why she'd quit (Seamus was particularly apologetic about the way he'd treated her, now that he knew the truth).
"Why on earth did you stun McGonagall that night?" Parvati asked.
"Because I didn't want her jumping in to try and help me," Callie explained. "How is she, by the way?"
"Oh, she's fine," Lavender said. "We told her how you got away, and she wondered if you hadn't lost your damn mind - her words, not mine."
"But she also looked a little bit... proud," Katie chimed in. "Think she was happy to see someone outsmart the Carrows. And Snape."
"Speaking of which," Ernie said, stepping towards Callie and extending his hand for a shake, "Good on you for taking him out, too."
She was very curious to know what the headmaster's reaction had been to her escape. "Well, after he regained consciousness," Padma explained, "he ordered Slughorn to go looking for you around the grounds. Then he questioned a few of us about where you might have run to, but of course we had no idea."
"Did he do anything to you?" Callie asked. "Hit you, torture you, anything like that?"
With a shrug, Katie said, "Nope. But then, he's a mind-reader. He would've known if we were lying."
"Only wish I had the chance to curse the traitorous git," Seamus spoke up. "Must've felt pretty good, I reckon."
"Oh, we'll get our turn," Anthony said, a devilish smirk curling his lip. "Neville says it's only a matter of time before Harry comes back, and then there'll be a revolution."
"I'd love to get my wand on that heinous bitch Carrow," Lavender said. "I could Cruciate the woman. I managed it a few weeks ago on a caterpillar."
"Have at her," Anthony said. "It's the bloke that I wanna get at."
"You and me together," Michael said, high-fiving his best friend.
"Do what you want with the Carrows," Seamus cut in. "But I'm going straight to the source - Snape."
With a nod of agreement, Susan said, "For Dumbledore."
"For all of us," Ernie corrected.
"Don't kill him without letting me have a go at him first," Parvati insisted.
"I say we toss him off the Astronomy Tower," Wayne Hopkins suggested.
There were murmurs of assent, and Seamus said, "Be sure to get a few good Cruciatus Curses in."
"And let's not make it something as quick and painless as the Avada Kedavra," Anthony added. "I say we cut his throat."
The others erupted into a round of cheers, but Callie called out, "Enough!" quieting them. "Nobody's going to touch him." They all looked at her with expressions of shock and confusion, but she covered herself, saying, "I'll take care of Snape. I've earned it."
After a moment of silence, Ernie said, "Right on! Nobody's as vicious as Warbeck. She'll give him what for." Again, excited chatter filled the room.
Later that night, as they lay in their hammock together, Callie said to Neville, "You're right, Harry is coming back. And soon."
He looked down at her and replied, "You weren't so sure of that before. Why do you say so now?"
"There's a pattern to this," she explained. "Something always happens at the end of the year. There's only six more weeks of term." She paused, contemplating what might be in store for them all. "Neville, if Harry does come here, it's not only going to be Snape and the Carrows we'll be fighting."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
She went on, "They'll alert the Dark Lord if Harry makes himself known, and the Dark Lord will come here too, looking for him. And he'll probably bring backup."
He was quiet a moment, before he said, "Then we'll fight. We always knew that more Death Eaters could show up, we talked about it in the beginning."
"Yes, but we never considered that he himself might come," she argued. "How are we supposed to fight against the most powerful dark wizard in existence?"
He thought about it, and said, "We're not. I'm sure - I don't know how, but I'm sure - Harry's going to be the one to defeat him."
"But what if he can't?"
"He will. Trust me."
She sighed to herself, supposing there was no other choice but to hope that whatever Harry had been doing over the past year was leading up to the Dark Lord's demise.
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"Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?"
As Neville stepped out of the secret tunnel, Callie's mouth dropped open at the sight of Harry, Hermione, and Red following behind him. Everybody was shouting excitedly, "Harry! Ron!"
"Hermione!" Callie exclaimed, running up to her best girlfriend and wrapping her arms around her. "Bloody hell, you're really back!"
"For now," Hermione said, smiling. "We've come here to look for something."
"'Look for something'?" Callie echoed. "What do you mean?" Before the girl could answer, she was swarmed by a half dozen other people who were excited to greet her.
"Okay, okay, calm down!" Neville called out in that newly discovered commanding voice of his. He explained to the trio where they were, and how the D.A. had been hiding out in the Room of Requirement for almost two weeks. But then the excitement died down when Harry explained that they weren't here to stay. They had a job to do, and once it was finished they were going to take off again.
"Dumbledore left the three of us a job, and we weren't supposed to tell," Harry said. "I mean, he wanted us to do it, just the three of us."
"We're his army," Neville argued. "Dumbledore's Army. We were all in it together, we've been keeping it going while you three have been off on your own-"
"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," Red cut in.
"I never said it had," Neville replied, "but I don't see why you can't trust us. Everyone in this room's been fighting and they've been driven in here because the Carrows were hunting them down. Everyone in here's proven they're loyal to Dumbledore. Loyal to you."
Before anyone could argue with that, the door to the tunnel opened up and Luna appeared with Dean Thomas, much to Seamus's delight. Shortly thereafter, Ginny also showed up, with Fred, George, and Lee Jordan. Next came Cho Chang.
"Looks like we've got a full house going," Callie said, happily exchanging hugs with the Weasley twins. It had been two years since she'd last seen the jokesters. She'd missed them.
"Lovely as always, Slytherin," Fred remarked, shooting her a wink. "Where's that old beater's bat of yours? Surprised you haven't taken out those Carrow gits with it already."
"Yes, that is unfortunate," she replied. "But you'll be happy to know that I knocked Snape on his arse with a Stunning Spell."
"Wicked!" George said excitedly.
From the front of the room, Harry called out, "All right," quieting everyone and bringing their attention back to him. "There's something we need to find," he explained. "Something... something that'll help us overthrow You Know Who. It's here at Hogwarts, but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that? Has anyone ever come across something with her eagle on it, for instance?"
Callie had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, and if the trio didn't even know what they were supposed to be looking for, then maybe they wouldn't be leaving so soon.
Which would give the Dark Lord plenty of time to arrive at the castle.
Eventually it was decided that the lost diadem of Ravenclaw might be the item that they were in search for, and Harry and Luna went off to go look at a replica of the object, to get an idea of what the real thing looked like.
Callie stepped up to Hermione and asked, "Do you three actually have any idea what you're doing?"
Twiddling her fingers, Hermione replied, "Sort of. We know we have to find... something. We just don't know what it is."
"Well how are you ever going to find it if you don't know what it is? And where have you been all this time? What have you been doing?"
With a sigh, the Gryffindor said, "Searching."
"For?" Callie prodded.
Hermione hesitated, then said, "We can't tell. Dumbledore didn't want anyone but us to know."
Callie's shoulders sank. "Bloody hell," she exclaimed, "that man certainly had his secrets." Glancing between her best friend and Red, she asked, "Are the both of you all right?"
"Oh, sure, never better," Red replied with a dismissive wave of the hand.
"What about you?" Hermione asked. "All of you?"
"Well," Callie said with a sigh, "we're alive. That's about the best we can hope for these days."
As everyone waited for something to happen, Fred and George informed them all that they had messaged some of the old members of the D.A., and hopefully they'd be arriving. "And mum and dad are on their way," Ginny told Red. "They went to get Bill and Fleur."
It wasn't long before Mr. and Mrs. Weasley showed up, along with their oldest son and daughter-in-law. Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet arrived as well, with Oliver Wood, the old Gryffindor Quidditch captain. Katie was thrilled to see her old best friends and teammates. Then there was a member of the Order who Neville introduced as Kingsley Shacklebolt, and, as Callie was very happy to see, Professor Lupin.
"I heard about the wedding," she said, a wide smile spreading across her face as she hugged him. "And the baby!"
He pulled back, a proud grin on his face as he reached into his pocket. "Edward Remus Lupin," he said, showing her a picture of the newborn. "After Tonks' father. We call him Teddy."
Callie gazed down at the photo of the infant, delighted by his unusual turquoise hair. She was reminded of his mother's pink locks and asked, "Is he a Metamorphmagus, too?"
"Yes," Lupin said, chuckling. "The hair, it started off black, then it went gingery, but now he seems to prefer something a bit more wild."
Biting her lip, she then asked, "What about... ya know..." She paused, before continuing, "Has he gotten any of your... special traits?"
He didn't seem offended by the question, thankfully, as he replied, "No, he shows no signs of lycanthropy." Sighing to himself, he went on. "Merlin's beard, I was so afraid he would be like me. That he would have to face the same discrimination and hatred that I have."
Handing the picture back, Callie said, "Well, nobody's going to mistreat this little young'un. If they do, you come directly to me, and I'll end them." He smiled at her, and she gave him a wink.
The whole group was beginning to grow restless by the time Harry and Luna returned. "Voldemort's on his way," the former announced. "They're barricading the school. Snape's run for it."
Oh, shit - Snape. She wanted to ask what had happened, where he'd gone, but everybody was throwing questions at Harry, who explained that they were to gather in the Great Hall and prepare to fight. "Let's go," Neville said, grabbing her hand and leading her out of the room.
The corridor filled with the three dozen or so people who were making their way to the ground floor. But Callie pulled Neville out of the crowd and into an empty classroom, shutting the door behind them.
"What are you-" he began, but she shut him up with perhaps the most passionate kiss they'd ever shared. Not only were they about to do battle, but the Dark Lord himself was going to be there. This may very well be the last chance they'd ever have to be alone together.
When she finally pulled away from him, her bottom lip was trembling as she said, "This is really happening."
He brushed his hand against her cheek and nodded, resolute but with a note of worry in his eyes. "I'm not going to hold it against you if you wanna run," he said.
But with a slight shake of her head, she replied, "You fight, I fight."
"You live, I live."
She gave him a small smile, then pressed her lips to his one more time, savoring their last moment of relative peace before everything went to hell. With a sigh she asked, "You ready?"
He brought her hand up to his mouth and gave it a kiss. "I love you," he said.
"I love you, too."
Still with her hand in his, he said, "Ready." With that, they made off to join their comrades.