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Chapter Six
No one spoke to me, I could see the two Newlyweds knew what had happened to me and I didn't need to verbalise it. They got me set up in a bedroom with Luna as my room mate. She was kind, attentive and didn't bother me too much. I found the hair when I was changing and I kept it in a vial because I knew we might need it. Once I got yet another shower and dressed after two days I made my way down to the kitchen.
It had been a somber room at this point, Harry and Ron sat with a cup of what smelled like hazelnut coffee in front of them and and all eyes turned to me as I walked into the room. Both boys stood up and held me tightly and thankfully I didn't have to say anything they just broke away from me and guided me down to the chair at a table and handed me a cup too.
"We need to break into Bellatrixs vault, she was terrified that we had been in there and I got this off my jacket." I placed the vial on the table with one long, thick dark hair in it and both boys looked and just nodded.
"We need to talk to Griphook and Ollivander." We made our way upstairs and decided to start with the Goblin first. Griphook sat in the window seat overlooking his surroundings.
"I dont know if you remember me but..." Harry didn't have to get more than that sentence out before Griphook smiled at my friend.
"I showed you to your vault, the first time you came to Gringotts. Even among goblins you are famous Mr Potter, and your Muggleborn but not Muggleborn friend." Harry and Ron gave me a strange look and they didn't know about my adventure to the past.
"I am related to a couple of houses, I only found out recently and I think we had more important things to deal with. Ollivander is one and I plan to talk to Mr Ollivander about it after were done here." Both of them knew that now was not the time to press anything and left it alone for now, I knew however that I would be in for questions later on.
"We need to get into Gringotts, into one of the vaults and we need your help doing it." Griphook looked between us all and then his eyes fell onto the Sword of Gryffindor, I knew as soon as his greedy little eyes spotted it we were going to be up a shit creek without a paddle.
We left him and made our way across to Mr Ollivander, he looked wretched but smiked upon seeing us. The man looked older than his years due to the treatment he recieved in Malfoy Manor.
"Come in children, dont be shy." I could tell that none of us felt like children in that moment. We sat down and let Harry take the lead in this part of the conversation.
"Mr Ollivander, I wonder if I could ask you some questions." He nodded and smiked in a way that was reminiscent of Albus Dumbledore. Upon questioning we found out that Draco Malfoys wand it seemed had changed allegiances and Bellatrix Lestranges wand was exactly like its owner... Frightening.
" Can I have a talk with Mr Ollivander alone please?" Both of them nodded now knowing of my family connection to the man closed the door tightly behind me.
"You have been touched by time magic young lady. I have been aware of our connection since you walked into my shop at the age of Eleven. In 1976 your name appeared on the family tapestry with your birth date and I was shocked to discover you were not born yet. There was no recognition from you at eleven years old and yet as soon as you walked into the room I could practically smell the time magic on you." The man has been made oit to be slightly off his rocker throughout the years but as he took my hand in his arm I could feel tingles under my skin.
"I travelled back to 1976 to try and sway some people to the cause and it worked for the most part. I found out my parents were squibs whom were abandoned in the muggle world and forgotten about." He nodded his head and held tightly to me.
"Hermione, can I call you Hermione?" I nodded my head at the man whom looked terrified.
"This war is far from over, Mr Potter and The Dark Lord are going to have a confrontation that is inevitable, ensure you are far from him when that happens." I nodded my head at the man whom was starting to look fatigued. I helped him into the bed and made my way downstairs to where the boys were waiting.
" So you're an Ollivander?" I nodded my head and explained that I went to open a vault at Gringotts with some money I inherited from a Great Aunt and the Goblins asked me to do an inheritance test. I couldn't tell them about my trip to the past. Not right now, I excused myself when I felt my mirror vibrate in my pocket, Ron had offered to come with me but I just shook my head and made my way outside.
"Stay within the wards Hermione." I nodded and practically ran outside to get to the shore, I was half hidden by a, dune when I pulled it from my pocket and answered it. She sat with tears in her eyes and a fear plastered all over her face. None of us spoke for a solid thirty seconds before she smiled.
"Maya, you're ok?" I nodded and I could see faint bruising on her face and I instantly lost my mind, I traced the mirror with my fingers.
"What happened to your face?" I thought the situation with Severus meant that no one could hurt her, it seems I was wrong.
"Bella was pissed off and took it out on everyone, it's ok. I am fine. Where are you? Are you somewhere safe?" I nodded and it was in that moment she broke, I could see her stoicism leave her body and the mask fully drop from her face.
"It took every ounce of my strength not to interfere, Draco had to actually restrain me and my magic. Maya I cannot lose, you, I will not survive nor would I want to." I nodded and knew I felt the same.
"What is your next move, do you have a plan?" I just winced slightly knowing she wasn't going to like, it.
"You're going to what? Maya you cannot just break into Gringotts, its impossible and besides Bella has them warned about a possible theft, they will be waiting for you. What do you need? I am a Black and her sister, I have access, what do you need and I will get it for you?" I cannot let her put herself at risk, I cannot let her do that.
" Cissa, no. I wont let you put yourself at risk. " She, smirked at me before shaking her head, and realistically I knew this, was probably the smartest decision but if her sister finds out it will be a, disaster.
"I can just say someone was impersonating me and not her? They are on the look out for Bellatrix or someone resembling her. I can walk in and walk out. No one will be any the wiser." I hated this, I hated how she, sounded so logical and realistically I knew it was the vest choice.
"We think it is something belonging to Hufflepuff, a golden cup or chalice with a badger on it. Its just speculation Cissa. We aren't totally sure." She nodded and I could see her nove through a room before pulling on a blsck cloak and waving her wand to wrap her hair behind her head.
" Let me try and if I can't find anything, you and your friends can try the idiotic plan. Alright? " I nodded and she then asked where I was. I gave her the location and we said our goodbyes. Making my way back to the house I could feel so many nerves float throughout my body.
We had lunch in the kitchen before testing out wands, I had my own as did Ron and surprisingly Draco Malfoys wand was working pretty well for Harry. It was starting to get dark when I heard, it, a loud squawk.
Flying toward us was a white dove and my hand started trembling, Harry held his wand out in front of his body at the bird coming toward us. I held steadfast onto his arm when I noticed it was carrying something.
She fucking did it, she, found it. The bird came careening over to my shoulder and dropped the parcel into my waiting hands. I could tell Ron and Harry was unsure what to make of the whole situation.
I just kissed the bird on the forehead and ran my hands down her body before whispering a thank you to her. Harry picked it up and upon opening the package he was even more confused. Inside the cup there was a note.
'Take him down Harry Potter.' That was all thst was , written and I could see Ron had a large shit eating grin on his face. No one would be any the wiser that Bellatrixs vault had been breached.
"Seems we have a friend." Harry looked at me and then the bird for a second. He nodded and too thanked the bird before lifting up the sword. He handed it to me and I immediately began to shake my head but Harry was not taking any of it odd me.
"Hermione you need to do this." As I grasped the handle I could feel the power drag through it and up into my arm. Cissa in her bird form jumped onto Harry which seemed to startle him slightly but he just petted her gently on the head which seemed almost laughable. If my best friend knew exactly who was currently perched on his arm he would no doubt blush beetroot and stammer at her.
"We are so close Hermione, lets get one step closer." I nodded and I lifted the sword up and struck it down hard a clang echoed across the vast open sand dunes. Upon the blow to its house the sand reared up into a vortex and all three of us plus Bird Cissa practically ran away as I cast a shield over us and fell to cover our heads.
Within seconds it was over and the Hufflepuff cup sat broken in two pieces and all of us just looked between one another in shock and awe. No one spoke, Cissa flew off and we all just were silent, you could have heard a pin drop.
"Whoever the hell sent that bird, remind me to find out and thank them because that was fucking awesome!" Ron stood and gathered Harry and I up off our feet before hugging us close. A huge weight was slowly lifting off them as each one was destroyed.
"I have been thinking about the next one, I think it might be at Hogwarts. I am nearly certain. Think about it, you-know-who was an orphan right like me, he found his home in Hogwarts and Slytherin. So much so that he went back to interview for a teaching job. It makes, sense." I nodded and agreed with him about it but I didn't particularly like the prospect of trying to get into the school.
" Snape is headmaster now, we cant just waltz through the front door. How do we get in? " Ron had a good point and as Harry whipped out his map we, sat in the wet sand for an hour plotting the best way to get into the school grounds. For now we had to break it to Griphook that he wasn't getting the sword and tonight we would be heading into the belly of the beast and breaking into Hogwarts.
"Will this, work Hermione?" I shook my head at the boys because they were still rusty in their transformations, it was something I had started teaching them about a week after Ron came back to us. Harry was extremely excited because it would make him feel closer to his Father and Sirius.
"I think this is the only way, if we apparate into Hogsmeade we are more than likely going to set off some kind of alarm. At least this way its easier for us to hide if it still happens. Outside of a forest is easier to hide an animal than the middle of the village. Stop stalling and lets see it." Harry nodded and stood back from my body and lifted his wand to concentrate.Within ten seconds he had transformed and a large black owl sat in front of me. He looked like the opposite of Hedwig with his rich dark feathers. I smiled at him and turned to Ron to get him to change also.
It took Ron a little while longer as he had only transformed into his animagus form last week for the first time. Three minutes it took him to change and his labrador form was cute, it was red in colour and looked so funny with his tongue hanging out of his head. I soon changed into my own form and to be honest I was rather shocked, I had expected our Patronus to match our Animagis forms but the only one that did was Rons.
Its not a, surprise that Harry was an owl considering his love of flight but once I came up with a fox the boys laughed st it. At least I will blend in well. Once we practised for a while we managed to get Rons transformation down to one minute and twenty seconds so we decided to just let him stay in his animal form and we would apparate into the forest and transform with him.
We said goodbye to Bill and Fleur and thanked them for helping us and apparated away to hopefully get one step closer to our final goal.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Landing at the edge of the forest Harry changed into his owl and I changed into my own form. Ron whom was trying to recover from the apparation in his dog form was throwing up beside a tree. We slowly made our way through the forest until the familiar view of Hogwarts greeted us.
Soft footsteps ahead of us took our attention and The billowing black robes of Severus Snape appeared just as Harry ducked up into a, tree and Ron ran off to hide further back. I stood my ground because if there was one thing I knew, Severus Snape was not a traitor (of course I couldn't tell the boys that) also a fox in the forest will be normal.
Upon seeing me he visably relaxed and stowed his wand safely in the holster around his wrist and looked around for a moment before he slowly came closer to me. Once he was in arms reach he ran his hand down the side of my face.
Once he looked directly at me his head cocked to the side and he leant in close to me face and softly whispered in my ear, it was so low that even Harry wouldn't be able to hear it with his bird ears up in the tree.
"I have no ide what you are doing here Little Lion but you're going to get yourself and those two idiots killed. Tell Mr Potter to aim for the north tower and he will find Minerva, she will grant you access. Do not linger in the castle do you hear me?" I nodded slowly before he withdrew and gave behind my ears one last pet before apparating away from us.
Within seconds Harry came down and I transformed to my human self and asked to see the map. Ron stayed in his dog form and we scoured the map for Minerva McGonagalls dot and we found it in her quarters right beside Poppy Pomfrys which seemed to shock the two boys.
"You need to fly up to her Harry, tap on the window she will let you in and then somehow you have to allow her to get us in. We don't know what kind of security the castle has this year and we have to be smart about this.
" I don't know if I want to Hermione, they are obviously together what if I catch them doing something?" A shudder ran through Harry as he said this and Ron smirked at him before slowly his face fell at the realisation which was even more amusing considering his dog form.
"Harry honestly they have been together for years and considering the feel of the Castle I doubt they are doing anything intimate. Just go you're wasting time." He huffed and transformed back into his owl form and flew off toward the castle. All we had to do was wait.
-/-/-/-/-/-
Harry
I don't want to look, flying up to the window I knew I had to look but I didn't want to, it was eleven thirty at night so the women would either be sleeping, talking or shagging and realistically I don't think I would be able to look at either woman again if its the latter.
Slowly I approached and landed on the window ledge and thankfully they seemed to be fully clothed and sat with a glass of something alcoholic in front of both of them. I wasted no time tapping the window.
The deputy headmistress seemed startled and with a wave of her hand she opened the window in a fairly impressive display of wandless magic. As I flew into the room she closed it again in the same manner.
"How did this owl get past the wards? Are you expecting anything?" I could see her shake her head before a small smile overcame her features.
"That is not just an owl." She whipped out her wand and aimed it at me, I decided to transform before the woman made me and once I was standing in front of her in my human form she stood frozen.
"Hello Professor, Madame Pomfry." Minerva stowed her wand and did something which was entirely out of character, she pulled me close to her and wrapped her arms tightly around my body and I couldn't help but hug her back.
"Potter, you have no idea how good it is to see you." She pulled away and took my face in her hands as the School Nurse came up and hugged me also.
"I think it is about as good as I feel seeing you both. I am sorry to disturb you especially in your private quarters but, I need your help." Both of them ushered me to sit down with the matron checking me over and handing me potions accordingly.
"Anything Potter. Where is the other two?" I looked up at her and told her Ron and Hermione were out in the forest and needed access to the castle.
"The only way I was able to come up was because My Animagus could fly." Minerva lightly slapped me on the arm and looked cross at me in the eye with a pissed off expression.
"We are not even going to touch the fact that all three of you not only attempted the transformation alone without supervision but the fact you all succeeded. Idiots." I was slightly offended for a, second.
"It was Hermiones Idea, she had already learnt and wanted to teach us how to do it just incase we needed a quicker getaway. You can scold her when you see her, she is waiting on the outskirts of the forest with Ron." She nodded her head before calling for a house elf to go and collect them both, within a few seconds she handed me a cup of tea and I looked between the two women in their nightclothes and winked.
"So how long has this, been happening? " Madame Pomfry smirked at my forwardness before Minerva shook her head as a now human Ron and Hermione stood in the room and within seconds Hermione started to tear up and practically threw her arms around the older woman.
" It's good to see you my darling." She also hugged the matron and realistically I wasn't too sure when they became such good friends but I suppose Hermione has always been more mature than Ron.
Madame Pomfry took one look at Hermiones diagnostic spell and hugged her against her chest again before pulling her away from us and I could see her pull her sleeve up to show the woman. Madame Pomfry asked an elf to go to her store in the infirmary and grab a jar of something and he popped away and popped back in two seconds later.
Once we were all properly taken care of by the two women we all sat down at a transfigured table and tried to get into the nitty gritty of it with them both which would be harder than I thought.
-/-/-/-/-/-
Hermione
The heat eminating from the slur on my arm was almost too much some days but as soon as she rubbed the purple salve on it a cooling element overcame it, almost like standing under the aircon unit in a hotel. I thanked her and both of us went to join the others before sitting down.
"I am, assuming you returned for a reason what do you need." I could see Harry blowing out hot air before looking at the two women and starting his, tale. I knew both of them would be hard pressed to believe him but instead of interrupting him they let him speak.
" Professor Dumbledore destroyed one last year that is how he hurt his hand, I destroyed one in my second year..." Realisation fell on Minerva's face before she gripped onto Poppys hand.
"The diary?" He just nodded at them both before continuing on and it seemed to get too much for Minerva as she waved her hand and wandlessly summoned a bottle of Firewhiskey and poured us all a small glass to which we cocked our heads slightly.
"You're all of age now aren't ya? Aye so drink up so we came figure out how to do this and where the next one could be." Between the five of us we had drank half a bottle of Firewhiskey when we came to the conclusion of searching the Room of Requirement.
"That might prove difficult laddie. It seems a lot of your DA have sequestered themselves in there when classes are not in session. Severus has ignored it for now and to be fair I have not asked them to leave either, Mr Longbottom seems to have pissed off the Carrows so he is probably safer in there." We needed to figure out a way to get them all out of there and the only way to do that would be to wait till everyone is in class unless we head down now and break into the room they are all in.
" Well we cant be seen, that Map of yours is going to come in handy, along with some stealth. Mr Potter transform please, Mr Weasley, Hermione please duck yourself under that fabulous cloak you all think I don't know about. I will escort you whilst you navigate us the route we won't run into anyone.
Poppy opted to stay in Minervas quarters for now before heading down to the hospital wing. Ron and I stood huddled together and seen that Severus was in his office with Narcissa which made my heart skip at that. I wanted to run to her, to kiss her and tell her I was here bit for now I had to stay with the boys.
The Carrows were also in their quarters and it seemed Mr Filch was down in the dungeons and so we wouldn't run into him either. It was easier than I thought it was and slowly we made our way down to the seventh floor to the entrance of the Room of Requirement.
"This is where I leave you all, if you need me send your Patronus ok?" she changed into her own Animagus form and ran off down the corridor. Ron stood whilst Harry transformed back to his human form and paced in front of the tapestry. Slowly the door appeared and as we all walked into the room about fifty wands were pointed in our direction but upon seeing Harry everyone's faces erupted into cheers and laughs.
Ginny spotted him and Harry sidestepped everyone and threw his arms around her and held her body close. Both of them appeared to be in their own bubble as Neville greeted us as we came out from under the cloak.
It took a while but soon Harry and Ginmy came up for air and everyone was on guard knowing we were here for a reason and all of the students whom we shared the school with looked at us.
"So what's up Harry." He never let go of her hand and straightened his shoulders to confront them all and smiled.
"Ok so we need to find something thst You-Know-who has hid, I think its here in the Room of Requirement where everything is hidden. It will be small, easily concealed and most likely will belong to Ravenclaw." Everyone was confused for a second obviously expecting something more but when nothing more came Seamus chuckled.
" Made, that is not much to go on. How we gonna find that?" I could see the Ravenclaws thinking for a second before Cho came up with a possibility.
"What about the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw." No one came up with anything else and so a plan was born. Neville came up with it and they needed five volunteers to cause a distraction to allow the younger students to get back to their dorm rooms to allow the older ones to stay and search.
Severus and his warning made me know, we were on a time crunch and as such Neville, Cormac, Ron who wouldn't let a younger classmate take a place, Dean and Seamus took a sip of Polyjuice and soon we had five Harrys standing in front of us.
One by one they all left to escort the younger classmen to the dorms leaving twenty people behind to search, we all made oir way out to the corridor and Harry paced in front of the room and when we all went back in and closed the door I took a look at the map and could see Snape, The Carrows and lots of faculty on the move.
Soon an alarm echoed all throughout the castle and we got to searching, it had been an hour when we heard the call of Severus across the halls.
"All students and Faculty is to make their way to the Great Hall for Roll Call immediately!" Harrys face went wide and he noticed the small black wooden box on a table. All of the other members of the DA were taking out their uniforms and changing as he opened the top.
I handed him the sword as Ginny came to stand beside him and he smiked at her before handing her the sword. I knew that Ginny had suffered more than some others at the hand of Voldemort.
She had been seeing Madame Pomfry every three months ever since to ensure there was no residual effects from the dark magic. Harry whispered into her ear and she shook her head before he kissed her softly and lifted the box before setting it on the ground and nudging her forward.
Everyone looked at her and the tiara in confusion before she raised the sword above her head and we both ushered the others toward the door with Harry sticking close to Ginny. With a strike downward of the sword it made contact with the tiara and a large black face erupted from within the Horcrux as it began to fight back.
We all ran toward the door and opened it as everyone came out onto the Seventh Floor Corridor and I waved my wand to close the door just as the face was approaching and I could see so many pale faces all around the kids. I decided to stay behind and wait for the Order which Colin has sent out a call for allowing Harry to throw on a Gryffindor Cloak and join the others.
"Hermione, its just the snake, thats it and then this is over. I think he knows, he knows we are hunting Horcruxes and I think he is going to come here." I nodded and hust hugged him as he was soon pulled away by Ginny and I waited inside the room for the others.
It literally took five minutes when The Weasleys minus Charlie, Fleur, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Luna and Aberforth Dumbledore stood and upon seeing me Mrs Weasley came running over and hugged me.
"Come on, I dont think Harry will wait to confront Snape." One by one we made our way to the Great Hall, I could hear Severus talking about a breech and as soon as loud gasps echoed I knew it was time to make ourselves known.
"It seems despite your exhaustive defensive strategies you still have a bit of a, security problem headmaster, I am afraid it is quite extensive. How dare you stand where he stood!" Upon seeing me and the others he unseated his wand and didn't let my friend say anything more before pointing it at Harrys face. That's when I knew things were going to get interesting.
That's all folks!! Next Chapter will be up with in the week. Please enjoy!!