Chapter 48 - The Room of Requirement

Getting into Snape's office was starting to look less like a difficult endeavor and more like an impossibility. Whatever the new headmaster had done, the school was loyal to him, and his office was as impenetrable as it had ever been when Dumbledore was headmaster. No matter what spells or methods Hermione used, the barrier around it wouldn't budge, and that was before she had tried apparating inside—an attempt that, by the way, had ended up with her getting a nasty stinging hex on her shoulder and probably alerted Snape to her presence as well. Just her luck that, though she didn't know it, right at that moment the headmaster was a bit busy dueling with McGonagall, which explained why he wasn't there to catch her in the act.

Regardless though, Hermione was still standing outside the office when Harry and Ron jogged up behind her and relayed the news of what had happened in the Great Hall. Hermione wasn't surprised that McGonagall had been more than a fair match for Snape, though she was pleased to note that everyone, absolutely everyone, including the Slytherins, had stood up and said they would fight for their school and not abandon it.

Well, everyone except four Slytherins who were absent: Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson.

"I asked around, and apparently they've been missing for a while," Harry mentioned, his face looking as grim as Hermione had ever seen it. "One of the Slytherins said that Draco's often been away though, on missions for the Da—for Voldemort."

"Harry!" Ron admonished.

"He's coming over here anyway, Ron," Harry snapped. "The name jinx is over at this point."

Ron nodded, then looked up at the headmaster's office pensively. "Malfoy, you don't think he...?"

"What, Ron?" Hermione questioned, turning to face him. It felt like one step forward two steps back for him to constantly be ready to revert back to distrusting Draco, and at this point it was getting on her nerves.

To both her surprise and Harry's though, what Ron said next was actually quite promising:

"You don't think he went ahead to start looking for the other horcruxes, do you? I mean, the ones hidden in the school?" Ron shrugged. "If he was successful in getting the basilisk venom, it'd be a good way to test that it works, right?"

That brought both Hermione and Harry up short, and they turned to look at each other in equal worry. The thought that Draco might be doing that had never occurred to them, truth be told, because...

"He would have contacted us about that though," Hermione said, though she didn't sound so sure. After all, with Snape and the Carrows and Crabbe and Goyle and Pansy looking over his shoulder all the time, it was getting harder and harder to be able to do something in private—especially not now that the Dark Lord and his army were on their way. And...

"Something must've happened to him," Harry voiced at last, feeling a stab of guilt at Hermione's wince. It was something that they had all thought of before, but to say it aloud brought another level of awareness—and importance—to the suggestion. And, as always, it also complicated matters.

"There's...there's no use speculating," Hermione said, though her voice was shaky. Already, the worst-case scenarios were playing out in her head, anything from Draco being discovered as a traitor and being held captive and tortured by Voldemort to the idea that Draco was already...

Oh, if only they knew where to find him, then they could—

But wait, there was a way!

Why didn't I think of this before? You idiot, Hermione Granger! she chided herself, digging into the depths of her bag at a speed and precision that no one else could have matched, given the limitless space the bag contained. Finally, her fingers closed around what she was looking for, and Hermione pulled out the Marauder's Map.

At the very least, they could tell if Draco was or was not in the school, and that, at least, would alleviate some of her tension. If he wasn't though, then...

Well, at the very least, there was a hope, a chance for...

Once she pulled it open, the three friends scanned over it, until finally Harry located Draco's name, with was a relief in itself even though it appeared seemingly within the walls of the third floor. They all already knew what that meant:

The Room of Requirement.

There was just one problem, though: Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle's names all appeared there as well.

No sooner had Draco sprinted towards the entrance of the Room of Requirement, then he found his path blocked by Crabbe and Goyle, both looking at him in shock that he had escaped. Draco had his wand at the ready though, and now knew enough not to trust them or give them enough time to attack him. He immediately sent out a nonverbal variant of Expelliarmus!, but Crabbe, at least, managed to dodge it. So, even while Goyle's wand was flying towards Draco's hand, Crabbe was sending out the Crutiatus Curse directly at Draco!

Draco sent up a momentary shield, which only prevented the worst of the curse from reaching him but still couldn't prevent the painful shocks that nevertheless followed such a powerful curse being sent so suddenly. He winced but stood his ground, glaring at Crabbe not exactly with hatred—because, evil as he was, Crabbe just wasn't as much of a threat as more dangerous witches and wizards that Draco had encountered—but with abundant anger.

"Out of my way, idiots!" he snarled, raising his wand as the three of them calmed down enough not to continue shooting spells at one another.

Crabbe, though, had nothing but hatred on his face as he glared at Draco. "Why are you attacking us, Draco?" he sneered. "If you were really on our side, you wouldn't."

Draco sniffed. "If we were really on the same side, then you wouldn't have attacked me in the first place. It was all luck, I'll give you that, but it won't be happening again."

Goyle frowned, looking uncertainly between his two friends. "Draco, you were acting suspicious and at this point, that could cost your life! Look, if we weren't your friends, then we would've turned you over to the Carrows and Headmaster Snape by now!"

Draco had to admit that it had crossed his mind why they hadn't done that, but the sadistic look on Crabbe's face made it clear that he had taken pleasure in the idea of keeping Draco for his own prisoner. Well, it would be his last mistake, that was for sure.

"Get out of my way," Draco warned again.

"What are you going to do, Draco?" Goyle demanded. He held out his hand. "Give me my wand back and we'll get you go." He glared at Crabbe. "And don't even think about pulling something again, Vincent. I've had enough of your games!"

Crabbe turned to glare at him. "He's finished, Gregory! You and I both know it! Why should we listen to him anymore when, even if he's not a traitor, he's absolutely useless to the Dark Lord at this point?!" He looked back at Draco. "I was glad to hex you, hear me Draco?! I was glad to do it and I'd love to do it again! I bet the Dark Lord would even thank me if I brought him your head!"

Goyle gaped at his friend in shock, whereas Draco could only snort in morbid amusement at how Crabbe, whether from months of training in the dark arts or because he had always been a twat to begin with, had officially lost his mind.

"Don't put yourself on equal footing with me, Crabbe," he warned, raising his wand. "We both know you're no match for me alone."

And with Pansy nowhere in sight and Goyle's wand now in Draco's possession, it didn't look like Crabbe would have any choice but to back down to attempt facing Draco alone. The knowledge of this must have galled him greatly and, unfortunately, pushed him over the edge.

Without word or warning, he did the absolute worst thing he could think of short of sending out a direct hex that Draco could block: he summoned Fiendfyre.

While this confrontation was taking place, the trio had actually already entered the Room of Requirement, albeit from a different entrance. Because the room technically occupied an imaginary space of sorts within the school, it didn't strictly follow the same laws of physics and therefore was much larger and had more dimensions than one would think would be allowed within the walls of Hogwarts. As it just so happened, they came in near the cabinet were Pansy was still locked in, and by this time she had regained consciousness and was pounding on the doors to be let out.

It was Hermione who cautiously approached the cabinet and opened it, pointing her wand as Pansy tumbled out. The trio were amazed to see her there, but no more than Pansy was absolutely shocked to see them again after so long. But to have Hermione Granger, her most hated enemy, pointing down her wand in that oh-so-superior manner at her nearly sent Pansy over the edge.

"What the hell are you doing here, mudblood?!" she sneered, getting up quickly with as much dignity as she could muster.

It didn't take Hermione long to discern that Pansy didn't have her wand on her, because if she had, then she would've definitely taken it out and started sending out hexes by now. Harry confirmed this when, stepping forward, he nearly slipped over the two broken pieces. Pansy stared down at it pathetically, but made no move to pick it up or explain how it had been broken in the first place. Hermione couldn't wager any guesses offhand, but it certainly looked like someone had just taken the wand and snapped it in half rather than a spell gone wrong. And besides which, the story of how Pansy ended up locked in a cabinet might prove to be an interesting one as well. But right now, that wasn't exactly important.

"Where's Draco?" Hermione demanded, her wand steadily pointed at the other girl.

Pansy sneered at her, unable to do much else. "Why do you want to know, mudblood? And how dare you address him that way?!"

"I do dare, and you didn't answer me," Hermione said, stepping forward and pointing her wand threateningly close to Pansy's head. "We know he's in here along with Crabbe and Goyle. What have you done to him?"

Pansy snorted, eyeing Hermione in equal measure with both hatred and jealousy. She recognized the look she saw on the girl's face because she had seen it plenty of times in the mirror for herself: yearning. For Draco. Just how or why, Pansy didn't care though—after all, no way in seven hells would Draco ever care or even consider a mudblood like her. And yet still, she seemed pretty confident of herself, like goody-two-shoes Granger always was, so what if...?

But before Pansy had a chance to make another snide remark, Harry pointed out something shimmering in the dim light atop a pile of miscellaneous junk. "There! That's a horcrux!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Ron glanced up as well, though Hermione remained focused on Pansy.

"Are you sure, Harry? What is it?" Hermione called.

"It looks like a tiara, if I had to guess, but it's definitely a horcrux," Harry exclaimed. "I can feel it, it's...it's just like the locket!"

"Looks like a bird," Ron observed, squinting.

Hermione's eyes widened and she took a quick second to glance up as well. "It can't be..." she muttered. "The lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw?!"

It was something they had theorized over ever since Luna first introduced the idea back during their stay at Shell Cottage. At the time, Hermione had been far too caught up in saving Harry's life and so hadn't been paying attention to the loony girl's offhand sayings, but now...

I'll have to apologize to her for that later on, Hermione thought.

"Well, let's go get it!" Ron exclaimed, and then Harry up and climbing the large pile of items to reach the diadem at the top. True, they still had no way to destroy the horcrux, but at least they'd have another one in their possession before...

Just then though, a large, blood-curdling scream rang out from somewhere else in the Room of Requirement, freezing all of them on the spot.

Hermione didn't hesitate to move. She sped directly towards where the scream had come from, stopping only long enough to grab a broomstick that, rather conveniently, had appeared by her side just as she was thinking that she needed to get there faster.

Whatever the cost, she had to get to Draco!

At first, Draco had tried to combat the fire, sending out spells of deflection, water, anything he could think of to stop the fire, but of course Fiendfyre couldn't be combatted by magic and that's what made it so dangerous even for the most practiced of wizards. And Crabbe was not one of those. No sooner had he summoned the Fiendfyre to his wand, then the wand itself began burning and the flames crept up to his arm. It was his scream that the trio and Pansy had heard ringing out across the room, as the flames spontaneously spread over his entire body, burning him alive.

Draco and Goyle didn't have time to watch their former friend burn in horror though, as the Fiendfyre was spreading rapidly and had even taken on a large, serpent-like form—as though Voldemort himself were present and after them.

Dropping Goyle's wand, Draco raced on ahead of him, at first heading towards the nearby exit but then remembering...

...Pansy. She was still locked in the cabinet and he couldn't leave her there to burn alone. No matter what she was or what she had done, she was his fellow Slytherin, someone he had known for years, and didn't deserve that.

And besides which, what he and Goyle had thought was the entrance to the Room of Requirement had vanished, engulfed in flames since Crabbe had been standing the closest to it. The door had vanished and they were trapped inside.

Goyle cried out in fright, but Draco wasn't about to let fear get the best of him now—not even at the prospect of burning alive. "Come on!" he yelled, attracting the other boy's attention enough to get him to follow as Draco raced back towards the direction where he remembered last leaving Pansy.

But the problem with the Room of Requirement was that it all looked the same, sometimes to even one such as himself who had spent practically all his time there. (But, then again, when he had summoned the room to his services, he rarely ever wanted it in this form with all the treasures of Hogwarts stored inside—the form that reminded him of his sixth year and all his work on that vanishing cabinet.) Besides which, a bigger problem was avoiding the Fiendfyre, which was spreading yet more rapidly and was practically on their heels as Draco and Goyle sped the rest of the way. Goyle yelled in panic as some of the Fiendfyre barely missed touching him, and it was a fortunate thing that he did for it gave Hermione the clue she needed for where to find them.

"Draco!" she yelled, spotting him below and running for his life.

Draco looked up, shocked and now terrified, but not for himself: for Hermione. What was she doing here?!

"Grab on!" she called, flying low and grabbing his arm.

Draco did so, swinging up behind her a bit clumsily, but enough to stay on.

Hearing Goyle yell out again, Draco glanced down to see that the Fiendfyre finally had caught up with his stout former friend, and was now consuming him just as it had Crabbe. Draco cringed and looked away, surprised that he was pained even though...

"We've got to get out of here! Harry and Ron are just getting the horcrux!" Hermione called back over her shoulder as she flew them away from the Fiendfyre.

Draco didn't question it, and was just about to mention that he needed to get Pansy out as well when, as luck would have it, all three of them were gathered in the same place, Ron keeping a watch over Pansy as Harry struggled to reach the diadem.

"Run!" Draco yelled down as he caught sight of the fire right behind them.

Ron and Pansy didn't hesitate, heading for the nearby exit. Harry though, halfway up the makeshift mountain of items, couldn't get anywhere fast enough.

"Fly closer!" Draco called to Hermione, though she hardly needed guidance to do that.

"Harry!" Draco yelled as they got close, reaching for The Boy Who Lived's hand. It was a close miss, but then Draco leaned forward and almost fell off the broomstick himself in his attempt to reach Harry. As it was though, Harry had abandoned his attempt to reach the diadem in time and practically threw himself off in midair, his and Draco's arms connecting in a tight clasp that may well have dislocated their shoulders in the process.

And so, with Hermione flying as quickly as she could and Draco and Harry hanging on for dear life, it was by the skin of their teeth that they finally cleared the Room of Requirement just before the doors closed, sealing the Fiendfyre inside and saving them and the school from a horrible fate.

Once outside the doors, everyone, even Pansy, needed to take a moment to collect themselves. Ron and Pansy were just bloody grateful to have gotten out with their lives; Draco was still in shock and horror over watching both of his former friends being burned alive, and one of them hating him enough to try and put that same fate upon him, and Hermione was in equal measures ready to laugh and cry at having finally reunited with Draco and seeing him in one piece, though of course the situation had been less than ideal.

And Harry...Harry was reeling back from feeling very definitely that the horcrux inside the Room of Requirement, Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem, had been destroyed. So, then Fiendfyre was also an option for destroying horcruxes, but it was not one that he would ever dare use, being far too dangerous in and of itself. For, all of the friends and Pansy knew, without a doubt, that both Crabbe and Goyle were now dead, and no one's life was worth destroying a horcrux over.

Harry himself would only realize the irony of that situation later on that night.

The first out of all of them to react was Hermione, who, once she caught her breath, crawled over to Draco and encased him in her embrace, barely holding back from crying in relief, though tears were flowing down her cheeks. "I thought you were dead! And you almost did die!" she said, her voice cracking.

Draco sighed heavily and embraced her in turn. They were both sweaty, streaked with dirt and soot from the fire, and looked like identical frazzled messes who had missed out on several nights of sleep, but he didn't care. He couldn't even find it in himself to care anymore about Crabbe, Goyle, or any of it. Hermione was here, with him, and she was safe. She had saved his life. Nothing else mattered.

Then, forgetting that they had an audience and that two members of that audience weren't aware of their feelings for one another, Draco pulled back and brought Hermione's lips down for a kiss, feeling that he would break down himself if he didn't feel her near, confirm that she was real. If this was a dream, it would be far, far too cruel to wake up from it—crueler than anything his aunt could come up with, even. But no—she was real.

She was real and that was all he needed to be sure of.

A/N: Whoops, hate to end off on a cliffhanger like that, but I just realized that in an action-packed chapter that's kind of all over the place, the last thing we need is romantic revelations as well, so I've decided to leave those off for next chapter. I'll admit that personally I think this is one of my weaker chapters since, again, it is sort of all over the place, but I've been having trouble trying to piece together the events I want to happen. This was the best that I could come up with, but I hope it's alright seeing as the last chapter featured a lot more character development rather than action, so maybe this balances things out just a bit? Maybe?

Ahem, anyway, please do continue to review, follow, and favourite, and look forward to the next updated chapter in the coming month!