The moment her finger touched the Mark, Harry's scar burned savagely, the starry room vanished from sight, and he was standing upon an outcrop of rock beneath a cliff, and the sea was washing around him, and there was a triumph in his heart- They have the boy.
"Nooo", whispers broke out in the great hall as the image of Voldemort standing on a rock cliff the whole scene looked dark and depressing.
Dumbledore seemed to be looking deeply at the image as if trying to work out where he had seen it before.
A loud bang brought Harry back to where he stood. Disoriented, he raised his wand, but the witch before him was already falling forward; she hit the ground so hard that the glass in the bookcases tinkled.
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody roared, seeing that the Harry in the projection was distracted.
Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes. Surely, they didn't think that he wanted to be in Voldemort's mind. He would love never to have to enter Voldemort's mind again. Harry was surprised more people weren't freaking out at seeing Voldemort and wondered if Hectate had done something to make sure they wouldn't lose themselves in panic.
"I've never stunned anyone except in our D.A. lessons," said Luna, sounding mildly interested.
"Good job, Luna," Harry said loudly to her.
Remus also gave Luna an encouraging smile, and he noticed most of the Ravenclaws seemed shocked at what Luna had done.
"That was noisier than I thought it would be," Luna said dreamily.
There were a few quiet laughs throughout the hall.
"Silencing charms," Harry heard someone shout out something Harry promised to keep in mind if he ever needed to stun someone.
And sure enough, the ceiling had begun to tremble. Scurrying, loud, echoing footsteps were growing louder from behind the door leading to the dormitories. Luna's spell had woken Ravenclaws sleeping above.
"Im surprised they would come down knowing a death eater was downstairs," Ron said.
"No doubt they wouldn't want to be there if she woke up. She would blame the kids in an instant, and it seems the punishment is the torture curse," Hermione said, causing Harry to cringe at the idea of 1st-year students being tortured as phantom pain passed through his body.
Even days later, he still got flashes of pain. Madam Pomfrey had told him that there was nothing to be done about that and he would have to do his best to tough through the pain.
"Luna, come here quick! We need to get under the Cloak!" Harry whispered as the footsteps got closer to them.
"Ah, the trusty cloak. We escaped punishment so many times thanks to that cloak", Sirius whispered to Harry.
Luna's hurried to his side, and she let the Cloak fall back over them as the door opened, and a stream of Ravenclaws, all in their nightclothes, flooded into the common room. There were gasps and cries of surprise as they saw Alecto lying there unconscious.
Slowly they shuffled in around her, acting like she was a savage beast that might wake at any moment and attack them. Then one brave little first-year darted up to her and prodded her backside with his foot.
"That is a brave 1st year," Ron said, looking scared for him, something that many of the adult's faces reflected.
"I think she might be dead!" he shouted with delight.
"Oh look," whispered Luna happily as the Ravenclaws crowded in around Alecto.
"They're pleased!" Harry said, a little shocked.
"I can't imagine why," Hermione said darkly while glaring at the stunned death eater in the projection.
"Yeah... great..."
Harry closed his eyes, and as his scar throbbed, Harry was forced back into Voldemort's mind... He was moving along the tunnel into the first cave... He had chosen to make sure of the locket before coming...but that would not take him long...
"Have you ever seen the cave before?" Madam Bones asked Harry.
Harry frowned at the question as if he spent his time in the places that Voldemort liked to visit.
"No, I have never seen it before," Harry replied.
There was a rap on the common room door, and every Ravenclaw froze. From the other side, Harry heard the soft, musical voice that issued from the eagle door knocker: "Where do Vanished objects go?"
"Into non-being, which is to say, everything," most of the Ravenclaws said at the same time, which Harry thought was quite creepy.
Harry also wondered if the door would just let anyone in if they got the riddle right.
In fact, Harry then remembered last year when Sirius broke into the Griffindor dorms just because he had the passwords.
"I dunno, do I? Shut it!" snarled an uncouth voice. "Alecto? Alecto? Are you there? Have you got him? Open the door!"
"How can he not answer a simple riddle?" a Ravenclaw asked, confused that a so-called qualified wizard could do so.
The Ravenclaws were whispering amongst themselves, terrified. Then without warning, there came a series of loud bangs, as though somebody was firing an exploding charm at the door.
It won't be good if Amycus finds them with Alecto out cold. He would say they attacked him and punished him," Susan said, looking worried at the project on the 1st year raven claws.
"ALECTO! If he comes, and we haven't got Potter- d'you want to go the same way as the Malfoys? ANSWER ME!" Amycus bellowed, shaking the door for all he was worth, but still, it did not open. The Ravenclaws were all backing away, and some of the most frightened began scampering back up the staircase to their beds. Then a second, most familiar voice rang out beyond the door.
"I doubt they would need to be at the scene of the crime. They would just blame them regardless they no doubt enjoy hurting children," Susan said bitterly with a few others in the hall, nodding with what she said, mainly the people that lived through the 1st wizarding war.
"May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?" Harry heard Professor McGonagall say in a sarcastic voice.
"I think Professor is a bit of a stretch for her if she can't even figure out the riddle to the door," a Ravenclaw said angrily.
"Trying- to get- through this damned- door!" shouted Amycus. "Go and get Flitwick! Get him to open it, now!"
"Don't the common room doors just open for every teacher?" Cho asked.
"But isn't your sister in there" asked Professor McGonagall. "Didn't Professor Flitwick let her in earlier this evening at your urgent request? Perhaps she could open the door for you? Then you needn't wake up half the castle."
"Wow, they both had to be let in⦠How can both of them be stupid," a Ravenclaw asked.
"Well, Crabbe and Goyle managed it", Ron whispered to Harry.
"She ain't answering, you old besom! You open it! Darn! Do it, now!"
There were growls and low protests from all around the hall, almost everyone like Professor McGonagall.
"Certainly, if you wish it," said Professor McGonagall, with awful coldness, There was a gentle tap of the knocker, and the musical voice asked again.
"Where do Vanished objects go?"
"Into non-being, which is to say, everything," replied Professor McGonagall.
"Do you have a clue what that means?" Ron asked Harry.
"Nope, I think it means they just don't know and don't want to admit it", Harry whispered back to Ron.
"Nicely phrased," replied the eagle door knocker, and the door swung open.
The few Ravenclaws who had remained behind sprinted for the stairs as Amycus burst over the threshold, brandishing his wand. Hunched like his sister, he had a pallid, doughy face and tiny eyes, which fell at once on Alecto, sprawled motionless on the floor. He let out a yell of fury and fear.
"This won't be good for them," Madam Bones said in a quiet fury.
"What've they done, the little whelps?" he screamed. "I'll Cruciate the lot of 'em till they tell me who did it- and what's the Dark Lord going to say?" he shrieked, standing over his sister and smacking himself on the forehead with his fist, "We haven't got him, and they've gone and killed her!"
The great hall exploded in shouts and people swearing at the projection at the idea of students being placed under the torture curse.
Harry saw many of the first, second and third years pale in the so-called future.
"She's only Stunned," said Professor McGonagall impatiently, who had stooped down to examine Alecto. "She'll be perfectly all right."
"Booooo" Fred and George shouted out.
"No, she bludgering well won't!" bellowed Amycus. "Not after the Dark Lord gets hold of her! She's gone and sent for him, I felt my Mark burn, and he thinks we've got Potter!"
"'Got Potter'?" said Professor McGonagall sharply, "What do you mean, 'got Potter'?"
"He knew you would be coming," Ron asked Harry rhetorically.
"Well, if I can see into his head, maybe he can see into mine," Harry said, disturbed at the idea.
"He told us Potter might try and get inside Ravenclaw Tower and to send for him if we caught him!"
"Why would Harry Potter try to get inside Ravenclaw Tower! Potter belongs to my house!"
Beneath the disbelief and anger, everyone heard a little strain of pride in her voice.
"We must be looking for this Horcrux. I just wish I knew what it was. Im guessing this Diadem is one, though," Hermione said, thinking.
"Maybe she hid the Diadem in the tower," Ron asked hesitantly.
"We were told he might come in here!" said Carrow. "I dunno why, do I?"
Professor McGonagall stood up, and her beady eyes swept the room. Twice they passed right over the place where Harry and Luna stood.
Fred and George laughed before turning to Harry. "You have to let us borrow the cloak to prank Snape", they whispered.
"I guess I could forget it on my bed one night," Harry said, smiling at the idea of Snape getting pranked.
"We can push it off on the kids," said Amycus, his pig-like face suddenly crafty. "Yeah, that's what we'll do. We'll say the kids ambushed Alecto, the kids up there," he looked up at the starry ceiling toward the dormitories," and we'll say they forced her to press her Mark, and that's why he got a false alarm... He can punish them. A couple of kids, more or less, what's the difference?"
"He best not even try it," Professor Flitwick said, looking murderous. It was easy to forget that he was a duelling champion.
"Only the difference between truth and lie, courage and cowardice," said Professor McGonagall, who had turned pale, "a difference, in short, which you and your sister seem unable to appreciate. But let me make one thing very clear. You are not going to pass off your many ineptitudes on the students of Hogwarts. I shall not permit it."
The hall broke into cheers.
"Excuse me?"
Amycus moved forward until he was offensively close to Professor McGonagall, his face within inches of hers. She refused to back away but looked down at him as if he were something disgusting she had found stuck to the lavatory seat.
"Get away from her, you scum", The Griffendors shouted, looking at how close the cowardly Death Eater was to her.
"It's not a case of what you'll permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time's over. It's us who's in charge here now, and you'll back me up, or you'll pay the price."
And he spat in her face.
The hall broke into outrage and fury at what the filthy death eater did.
Harry felt such fury coursing through him it was nearly on par with Harry's hate for Peter Pettigrew.
Harry pulled the Cloak off himself, raised his wand, and said, "You shouldn't have done that."
As Amycus spun around, Harry shouted, "Crucio!"
The hall fell quiet at the view of Harry Potter using one of the unforgivables. Most of the Hall wasn't sure what to make of it. They may have hated what the death eater had done but to use an unforgivableā¦
Dumbledore looked grave and upset at what Harry had done.
"Arrest him now!" the Minister of magic shouted to a woman with the same hair as Susan Bones.
If Harry remembered right, her Aunt was the head of the magical police.
"For what a crime he hasn't committed yet?" Madam Bones asked rhetorically.
Harry himself looked shellshocked, having been placed under the curse himself. He never thought that he would use that curse on someone else.
The Death Eater was lifted off his feet. He writhed through the air like a drowning man, thrashing and howling in pain, and then, with a crunch and a shattering of glass, he smashed into the front of a bookcase and crumpled, insensible, to the floor. "I see what Bellatrix meant," said Harry. "you need to really mean it."
"You met Bellatrix," Neville asked quietly. Harry could hear the hate in his voice, and Harry wondered if that was how he sounded when talking about Peter Pettigrew.
"Potter!" whispered Professor McGonagall, clutching her heart. "Potter- you're here! What? How?" She struggled to pull herself together. "Potter, that was foolish!"
"He spat at you," said Harry.
"I am more worried that You-know-Who is on his way and you wouldn't be able to escape," Professor McGonagall said to Harry kindly.
"Potter, I- that was very- gallant of you- but don't you realise-?"
"Yeah, I do," Harry assured her. "Professor McGonagall, Voldemort's on the way."s on the way."
Almost everyone in the hall shivered when Voldemort's name was said, even most of the Gryffindors Harry hated how they were sacred of a name and was sure if more people stood up, then Voldemort would have had a much harder time getting a power base.
"Oh, are we allowed to say the name now?" asked Luna with an air of interest, pulling off the Invisibility Cloak. The appearance of a second outlaw seemed to overwhelm Professor McGonagall, who staggered backwards and fell into a nearby chair, clutching at the neck of her old tartan dressing gown.
"I don't think it makes any difference what we call him," Harry told Luna. "He already knows where I am."
"I guess this will be the final battle." Harry heard someone say out loud.
In a distant part of Harry's brain, that part connected to the angry, burning scar, he could see Voldemort sailing fast over the dark lake in the ghostly green boat... He had nearly reached the island where the stone basin stood...
Everyone in the hall shivered at the very image of the dark green cave. Harry was sure that there would be some nasty surprises in that water; the eerie green glow wasn't natural.
"You must flee," whispered Professor McGonagall, "Now, Potter, as quickly as you can!"
"It doesn't matter if he goes. The whole school would no doubt be punished personally by You-Know-Who", Moody said, beginning the mood down in the hall.
"I can't," said Harry, "There's something I need to do. Professor, do you know where the Diadem of Ravenclaw is?"
"Daddy and I are making a replica," Luna said absently mindedly.
"The d-diadem of Ravenclaw? Of course not. Hasn't it been lost for centuries?" She sat up a little straighter "Potter, it was madness, utter madness, for you to enter this castle."
"Yes, no one knows where it is. If it was just lying around in the dorm room, I think we would have found it by now," A Ravenclaw said sarcastically.
"I had to," said Harry. "Professor, there's something hidden here that I'm supposed to find, and it could be the diadem- if I could just speak to Professor Flitwick."
"I am sorry, but I have no clue where the Diadem is or what it actually looks like, as there are no portraits of the Founders," Professor Flitwick said sadly.
While Harry didn't know what his future self was thinking as he guessed he had more information than his past self currently did.
There was a sound of movement, of clinking glass. Amycus was regaining his bearings. Before Harry or Luna could act, Professor McGonagall rose to her feet, pointed her wand at the groggy Death Eater, and said, "Imperio."
Harry saw Dumbledore shoot Professor McGonagall a look at her use of an unforgivable.
Though now Harry was aware that sometimes you couldn't be kind. Harry couldn't help but think back to last year when they had Peter. If they had used spells to break his legs or arms, he couldn't have run away. Hell, they could have petrified him. Harry should have known he would run at any moment. If they had done that, then Cedric would still be alive, and Voldemort may not have even returned.
Amycus got up, walked over to his sister, picked up her wand, then shuffled obediently to Professor McGonagall and handed it over along with his own. Then he lay down on the floor beside Alecto. Professor McGonagall waved her wand again, and a length of shimmering silver rope appeared out of thin air and snaked around the Carrows, binding them tightly together.
"That's better than they deserve," Ron said bitterly.
Harry remembered that if the three of them were on the run, then Ron's family would be targeted and would have to go into hiding as well.
"Potter," said Professor McGonagall, turning to face him again with superb indifference to the Carrows' predicament. "if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named does indeed know that you are here."
As she said it, a wrath that was like physical pain blazed through Harry, setting his scar on fire, and for a second, he looked down upon a basin whose potion had turned clear and saw that no golden locket lay safe beneath the surface.
"Where do you think that cave is?" Hermione asked.
"Not a clue, but we must have been there given how the object Voldemort came to check was gone," Harry said, rolling his eyes at the people that flinched from Voldemort's name. No wonder they lost the first war, with everyone being such cowards.
"Potter, are you all right." said a voice, and Harry came back. He was clutching Luna's shoulder to steady himself.
"Time's running out, Voldemort's getting nearer, Professor. I'm acting on Dumbledore's orders. I must find what he wanted me to find! But we've got to get the students out while I'm searching the castle- It's me Voldemort wants, but he won't care about killing a few more or less, not now-".
"I doubt he cares about killing at all. It seems to be second nature to him," Ron said. Harry had to agree that diary, with him in his 5th year, didn't seem to care that he was killing Ginny, so that was undoubtedly not his first kill.
"You're acting on Dumbledore's orders?" she repeated with a look of dawning wonder. Then she drew herself up to her fullest height.
"All that will do is get you killed", A man that Harry realised was no doubt Dumbledore's brother. Harry was curious about what happened between them but knew that Dumbledore wouldn't tell, and his brother didn't seem like he would either as he glared at his brother.
"We shall secure the school against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you search for this.. this object."
"Is that possible?"
Harry was sceptical after all, with nobody Voldemort managed to enter Hogwarts in his first and second year and place a death eater in this year, so he doubted they would be able to keep him out and all the Death Eaters.
"I think so," said Professor McGonagall dryly, "We teachers are rather good at magic, you know. I am sure we will be able to hold him off for a while if we all put our best efforts into it. Of course, something will have to be done about Professor Snape."
"Greasy git", Ron said snidely. Harry couldn't help but agree.
"-and if Hogwarts is about to enter a state of siege, with the Dark Lord at the gates, it would indeed be advisable to take as many innocent people out of the way as possible. With the Floo Network under observation, and Apparition impossible within the grounds.."
All the 4th year and younger should be removed. They are too young," Harry heard an adult say.
Shame no one thought that about the stupid Tri-Wizard cup, Harry thought bitterly.
"There's a way," said Harry quickly, and he explained about the passageway leading into the Hog's Head.
"Potter, we're talking about hundreds of students-"
Im sure the passageway can get bigger, and even if it can't, it's still the safest way out for them," Hermione said aloud after thinking about it.
"I know, Professor, but if Voldemort and the Death Eaters are concentrating on the school boundaries, they won't be interested in anyone who's using the Floo-network out of Hog's Head."
"That's a good plan, Potter", Moody said, looking at Harry.
They had descended two more floors when another set of quiet feet joined theirs. Harry felt in the pouch around his neck for the Marauder's Map, but before he could take it out, McGonagall, too, seemed to become aware of their company. She halted, raised her wand, ready to duel, and said, "Who's there?"
"Death Eater calling it now," Dean said.
"They are no doubt crawling all over the place. After all, there was a good 4 or 5 at Hogsmeed that can just come to the school," Fred or George said.
"It is I," said a low voice.
From behind a suit of armour stepped Severus Snape, his wand held ready to fight.
"Guess Dumbledore was wrong about him being on our side", Ron whispered to Harry.
Harry just nodded, as he never thought that Snape was on their side.
"Where are the Carrows?" he asked quietly.
"One is out cold, and the other is under the Imperious Curse", Fred and Geroge shouted out.
"Wherever you told them to be, I expect, Severus," said Professor McGonagall.
Snape stepped nearer, and his eyes flitted over Professor McGonagall into the air around her as if he knew that Harry was there. Harry held his wand up, too, ready to attack.
"He can't see us, but if he was told we were at Hogwarts, it is a good guess that we would be with McGonagall," Harry said.
"I was under the impression," said Snape, "That Alecto had apprehended an intruder."
"Really?" said Professor McGonagall. "And what gave you that impression?"
"Dark mark," Hermione said.
Snape made a slight flexing movement of his left arm.
"Oh, but naturally," said Professor McGonagall. "You Death Eaters have your own private means of communication. I forgot."
"Go, Minne", Sirius shouted.
Snape pretended not to have heard her. His eyes were still probing the air all about her, and he was moving gradually closer, with an air of hardly noticing what he was doing.
"He had got the whole creepy act down," Ron said.
"Maybe he has a spell that lets him know when people are near him. In my first year, he seemed to notice me under the cloak as well. Though that may be due to my breathing," Harry said, a little freaked out.
"I did not know that it was your night to patrol the corridors, Minerva."
"I am sure any teacher can patrol the corridors at night", Harry heard someone say.
"You have some objection?"
"I wonder what could have brought you out of our bed at this late hour?"
"He already knows Harry is there. Only an idiot would call You-Know-Who with Harry not being there, not to mention that You-Know-Who.
"I thought I heard a disturbance," said Professor McGonagall.
"Come on, Minnie, you know the Marauders; you can lie better than that", Sirius shouted.
Harry had to agree that the lie was really bad, even worse than some of his own lies, which all were very bad for the most part.
"Really? But all seems calm." Snape looked into her eyes.
"Are you trying to read my mind Severus" McGonagal bit about angrily.
Harry made a note to ask what she meant by reading her mind. Was that a magical skill people could have? If so, how did it work? More importantly, how can he protect himself? Harry didn't like the idea that Snape could read his mind at all.
"Have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva? Because if you have. I must insist..."
Professor McGonagall moved faster than Harry could have believed. Her wand slashed through the air, and for a split second, Harry thought that Snape must crumple, unconscious, but the swiftness of his Shield Charm was such that McGonagall was thrown off balance.
"As much as I hate to say it, Snape is a really good dullest," Hary said to the shocked looks of Sirius and Ron.
She brandished her wand at a touch on the wall, and it flew out of its bracket. Harry, about to curse Snape, was forced to pull Luna out of the way of the descending flames, which became a ring of fire that filled the corridor and flew like a lasso at Snape.
"I will need to learn more advanced spells like this if I want a single chance of beating Voldemort," Harry said more to himself. Harry hadn't forgotten how weak he was compared to Voldemort and how he was able to play around with Harry in the graveyard and bat his spells away without even needing to give them a single look.
Then it was no longer fire but a great black serpent that McGonagall blasted to smoke, which re-formed and solidified in seconds to become a swarm of pursuing daggers. Snape avoided them only by forcing the suit of armour in front of him, and with echoing clangs, the blades sank, one after another, into its breast.
The hall fell silent, looking at the epic fight between the two teachers, and many of them were giving McGonagall careful looks. Harry could tell why Snape had an air of danger around him, and everyone knew how he had a deep knowledge of the Dark Arts.
However, while being strict, McGonagall didn't have an air of danger, and the projection was showing just how dangerous a master of transfiguration could be in a duel.
"Minerva!" said a squeaky voice, and looking behind him, still shielding Luna from flying spells, Harry saw Professors Flitwick and Sprout sprinting up the corridor toward them in their nightclothes with the enormous Professor Slughorn panting along at the rear.
"No!" squealed Flitwick, raising his wand. "You'll do no more murder at Hogwarts!"
"MURDER!" The hall shouted in shock.
While Snape is a git but to kill someone, Harry was shocked he had actually killed someone.
Harry looked at Snape to glare at him but was surprised to see that even Snape looked shocked as well.
Harry looked over at Dumbledore, but he couldn't work out what he was thinking about the accusation.
Flitwick's spell hit the suit of armour behind which Snape had taken shelter. With a clatter, it came to life. Snape struggled free of the crushing arms and sent it flying back toward his attackers. Harry and Luna had to dive sideways to avoid it as it smashed into the wall and shattered.
"Well, that was close, prongslet," Sirius said, looking paler that Harry was almost caught in the crossfire.
When Harry looked up again, Snape was in full flight, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout all thundering after him. He hurtled through a classroom door, and moments later, he heard McGonagall cry, "Coward! COWARD!"
Three-fourths of the hall broke into cheers at seeing Snape flying away from McGonagall.
"What's happened, what's happened?" asked Luna.
Harry dragged her to her feet, and they raced along the corridor, trailing the Invisibility Cloak behind them, into the deserted classroom where Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout were standing at a smashed window.
"Well, it looks like all the heads of houses are still at Hogwarts, which is somewhat surprising given how they are Dumbledore supporters," Hermione said, shocked.
"Im surprised that they let Flitwick stay given he is half-goblin," Harry whispered.
"He jumped," said Professor McGonagall as Harry and Luna ran into the room.
"And died?" the twins asked, getting some laughs but most shot them glares about making jokes about people dying.
"You mean he's dead?" Harry sprinted to the window, ignoring Flitwick's and Sprout's yells of shock at his sudden appearance.
"No, he's not dead," said McGonagall bitterly. "Unlike Dumbledore, he was still carrying a wand... and he seems to have learned a few tricks from his master."
"What!" almost everyone in the hall shouted out at what had just been revealed.
Harry saw many people drawing their wands with fury on their faces.
"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore shouted, making the hall fall silent.
Harry took this time to look around. He could see that most of the staff were shocked and saddened, and some had even broken down into tears.
Some of the older students in the Slytherin house had small smirks on their faces that made Harry furious. The two male Malfoys didn't even bother to try and hide the smirks on their faces, or maybe they just couldn't.
Harry had yet to see any form of cunning or ambition from Draco or his father.
Harry did feel a wave of smugness at the way that Fudge had paled, given when he was trying to warn them about Voldemort, they just called him crazy and must have been seeing things.
Tellingly they couldn't explain how he had been under the torture curse, and the one man that had been a witness had been given the kiss.
Harry wasn't sure if Fudge was a Death Eater or a coward or maybe, like Peter, he was both.
"Let us carry on with the projection," Dumbledore sitting down, looking thoughtful.
Harry saw in the distance a huge, bat-like shape flying through the darkness toward the perimeter wall.
"I thought you couldn't fly without a broom?" Ron whispered to Hermione.
"I have never seen anything saying that you can," Hermione said, looking annoyed that she didn't know something.
There were heavy footfalls behind them and a great deal of puffing. Slughorn had just caught up.
"Harry!" he panted, massaging his immense chest beneath his emerald-green silk pyjamas. "My dear boy... what a surprise...Minerva, please explain...Severus...what...?"
"Who's that?" Harry asked.
"Professor Slughorn, he was the old potions master," Dumbledore said to Harry pointing Slughorn out at the table as he seemed to be thinking of something.
Slughorn gave Harry a cheery wave.
"Our headmaster is taking a short break," said Professor McGonagall, pointing at the Snape-shaped hole in the window.
"Professor!" Harry shouted, his hand on his forehead, He could see the Inferi-filled lake sliding beneath him, and he felt a ghostly green boat bump into the underground shore, and Voldemort lept from it with murder in his heart.
"Zombies!" a first-year screamed as more broke out into screams seeing the undead.
Madam Pomfrey jumped up out of her seat, and with a wave of her wands, bottles of potions appeared in front of the first years and the second years.
Harry shivered at the cave and wouldn't ever want to go there.
"Professor, we've got to barricade the school. He's coming now!"
"No, we need to run!" Someone shouted out, the panic in his voice clear.
"Very well. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is coming," she told the other teachers. Sprout and Flitwick gasped. Slughorn let out a low groan. "Potter has work to do in the castle on Dumbledore's orders. We need to put in place every protection of which we are capable while Potter does what he needs to do."
"You realise, of course, that nothing we do will be able to keep out You-Know-Who indefinitely?" squeaked Flitwick.
"You want to keep him out? There is no way we can do that," someone screamed out.
Harry didn't want to agree with them, but with Dumbledore dead, he didn't have much faith that they would be able to keep Voldemort out either.
"We can do our best," someone else shouted back at the person that had first shouted.
"But we can hold him up," said Professor Sprout.
"Ya see, Professor Sprout thinks we can hold him up as well!"
"Thank you, Pomona," said Professor McGonagall, and between the two witches, there passed a look of grim understanding.
And as she jogged out of sight, they could hear her muttering, "Tentacula, Devil's Snare. And Snargaluff pods...yes, I'd like to see the Death Eaters fighting those."
"Mandrakes," Nevile added next to Harry.
"I can act from here," said Flitwick, and although he could barely see out of it, he pointed his wand through the smashed window and started muttering incantations of great complexity. Harry heard a weird rushing noise as though Flitwick had unleashed the power of the wind into the grounds.
"Cool, Professor, what charm was that?" the twins asked.
"You would both know if you paid attention in my lessons," Flitwick said, smirking.
"Professor," Harry said, approaching the little Charms master.
"Professor, I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is important. Have you got any idea where the Diadem of Ravenclaw is?"
"It's been lost for over 900 years," Cho said
"-Protego Horribillis, the diadem of Ravenclaw?" squeaked Flitwick. "A little extra wisdom never goes amiss, Potter, but I hardly think it would be much use in this situation!"
"I think I want it for more than that," Harry mumbled, doubting wisdom was what he was after.
"I only meant, do you know where it is? Have you ever seen it?"
"Seen it! Nobody has seen it in living memory! Long since lost, boy."
"Yes, it's not been seen in living memory," Luna said airly.
Harry noticed that some of Ravenclaw sent dirty looks at Luna, which annoyed him.
"We shall meet you and your Ravenclaws in the Great Hall, Filius!" said Professor McGonagall, beckoning to Harry and Luna to follow her.
He and Luna stayed with Professor McGonagall, who had taken up a position in the middle of the corridor and raised her wand.
"Piertotum, oh, for heaven's sake, Filch, not now."
The aged caretaker had just come hobbling into view, shouting, "Students out of bed! Students in the corridors!"
"They're supposed to be you blithering idiot!" shouted McGonagall.
Most of the students in the great hall broke out into laughter at what McGonagall had said to Filch.
"Now go and do something constructive! Find Peeves!"
"P-Peeves?" stammered Filch as though he had never heard the name before.
"Yes, Peeves, you fool, Peeves! Haven't you been complaining about him for a quarter of a century? Go and fetch him at once."
"He will love causing mayhem and chaos at the moment," the twins shouted out.
"Go, Peeves!" some people shouted out.
Filch evidently thought Professor McGonagall had taken leave of her senses but hobbled away, hunch-shouldered, muttering under his breath.
Harry saw Filch shiver at the look that McGonagall sent him.
Personally, Harry thought they got on due to their mutual love of cats.
"And now Piertotum Locomotor!" cried Professor McGonagall. And all along the corridor, the statues and suits of armour jumped down from their plinths, and from the echoing crashes from the floors above and below, Harry knew that their fellows throughout the castle had done the same.
"We have to try that!" the twins shouted, seeing all the statues coming alive.
Harry noticed all the teachers looking at each other with worry at the idea of the twins having the statue move on their command.
Harry knew they had already messed with some of the suites of armour at Christmas.
"Hogwarts is threatened!" shouted Professor McGonagall. "Man the boundaries, protect us, and do your duty to our school!"
"That is so cool," some of the younger Grifindors said with awe.
Clattering and yelling, the horde of moving statues stampeded past Harry, some of them smaller, others larger than life. There were animals too, and the clanking suits of armour brandished swords and spiked balls on chains.
"Now, Potter," said McGonagall. "you and Miss Lovegood had better return to your friends and bring them to the Great Hall, and I shall rouse the other Gryffindors."
"We still don't know what he is after other than a lost artefact from over 900 years ago..." Some people shouted out, still confused about what the goal was.
Harry had to agree with them the Diadem of Ravenclaw didn't seem like it would be much help with Voldemort bearing down on them.
He still remembered how powerless he had been in the graveyard and doubted that a few years would have somehow made him a match for Voldemort.
He felt his body twitching as the remainder of the torture curse. Moody's demo, or he should say Barty Crouch Jr.'s demo, didn't really convey the sheer agony that the curse delivered.
They parted at the top of the next staircase, Harry and Luna turning back toward the concealed entrance to the Room of Requirement. As they ran, they met crowds of students, most wearing travelling cloaks over their pyjamas, being shepherded down to the Great Hall by teachers and prefects.
"That was Potter!"
"Harry Potter!"
"It was him, I swear, I just saw him!"
"I guess you really are on the run if everyone is surprised to see you," some of the students from Durmstrang said.
But Harry did not look back, and at last, they reached the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Harry leaned against the enchanted wall, which opened to admit them, and he and Luna sped back down the steep staircase.
"What?"
As the room came into view, Harry slipped down a few stairs in shock. It was packed, far more crowded than when he had last been in there. Kingsley and Lupin were looking up at him, as were Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, Bill and Fleur, and Mr and Mrs Weasley.
"Who am I with?" Fleur asked, confused, seeing herself with a man she didn't know but felt that he was most likely part of the Weasley family.
"He's my brother Bill, but he doesn't have any scars on his face," Ron said, confused and worried.
Harry saw that Fleur was looking around the great hall, no doubt looking for Bill, who was sitting up with the rest of the Weasley family.
"Harry, what's happening?" said Lupin, meeting him at the foot of the stairs.
"Why am I not there," Harry heard Sirius whisper, looking torn between panic and also resigned.
"Im sure your on your way, or maybe you were out of the country due to them searching for you?" Harry said.
"Ya, maybe," Sirius whispered with a pained, forced smile.
"Voldemort's on his way. They're barricading the school. Snape's run for it. What are you doing here? How did you know?"
"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army," Fred explained. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry, and the D.A. let the Order of the Phoenix know, and it all kind of snowballed."
"What first, Harry?" called George. "What's going on?"
"They're evacuating the younger kids, and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organised," Harry said. "We're fighting."
"I didn't think we would ever have anything like this ever again," Harry heard some of the older people say, no doubt remembering the first wizarding war.
There was a great roar and a surge toward the stairs. He was pressed back against the wall as they ran past him, the mingled members of the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, and Harry's old Quidditch team, all with their wands drawn, heading up into the main castle.
"Come on, Luna," Dean called as he passed, holding out his free hand, she took it and followed him back up the stairs.
The crowd was thinning. Only a little knot of people remained in the Room of Requirement, and Harry joined them. Mrs Weasley was struggling with Ginny. Around them stood Lupin, Fred, George, Bill and Fleur.
"You're underage!" Mrs Weasley shouted at her daughter as Harry approached, "I won't permit it! The boys, yes, but you, you've got to go home!"
"Why everyone else in the family is fighting, I should fight as well," Ginny shouted, angry that she was being excluded.
"I won't!"
Ginny's hair flew as she pulled her arm out of her mother's grip.
"I'm in Dumbledore's Army."
"A teenagers' gang!"
"It sounds like Dumbledore didn't form this group then," Hermione whispered as she started to make notes down on some parchment.
Harry looked at the parchment and saw she had written a lot, but most had question marks next to them as they didn't know the purpose of the items like the Diadem of Ravenclaw or why they came back to Hogwarts.
"A teenagers' gang that's about to take him on, which no one else has dared to do!" said Fred.
"She's sixteen!" shouted Mrs Weasley. "She's not old enough! What were you two thinking about bringing her with you."
Fred and George looked slightly ashamed of themselves.
"You tow brought her with you. How could you!" Mr Weasley shouted with fury in her voice.
"Mom's right, Ginny," said Bill gently. "You can't do this. Everyone underage will have to leave, it's only right."
"I can't go home!" Ginny shouted, angry tears sparkling in her eyes. "my whole family's here, I can't stand waiting there alone and not knowing and"
"Yes, and we are fighting, so you don't have to. You are not fighting, end of story," Mr Weasley said, putting her foot down.
Her eyes met Harry's for the first time. She looked at him beseechingly, but he shook his head, and she turned away bitterly.
"Traitor!" Ginny whispered at Harry.
Part of Harry felt bad for her, but if he had family, then he wouldn't
"Fine," she said, staring at the entrance to the tunnel back to the Hog's Head. "I'll say good-by now, then,"
Harry could see how the Weasley family relaxed now that Ginny wasn't going to be fighting.
There was a scuffling and a great thump. Someone else had clambered out of the tunnel, overbalanced slightly, and fallen.
He pulled himself up on the nearest chair, looked around through lopsided horn-rimmed glasses, and said, "Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out, so I.. I..."
Percy spluttered into silence. Evidently, he had not expected to run into most of his family.
"What is wrong with Percy?" Harry asked Ron.
"How would I know it's the future," Ron replied, looking confused himself.
Harry took another look at Ron and felt that he was lying to him and that he did have some idea why most of the Weasleys seemed hostile/angry with Percy.
In the end, Harry decided he had to let it go. No matter how much the Weasleys treated Harry like family, he wasn't actually family in the end.
There was a long moment of astonishment, broken by Fleur turning to Lupin and saying, in a wildly transparent attempt to break the tension. "So 'ow eez leetle Teddy?"
"Teddy?" Lupin asked in shock to himself.
Lupin blinked at her, startled. The silence between the Weasleys seemed to be solidifying, like ice.
"I, oh yes, he's fine!" Lupin said loudly. "yes, Tonks is with him at her mother's."
If Lupin was shocked before, he was now frozen. Harry couldn't help but smile that Lupin had found someone and even had a child.
Harry was surprised that it was with Tonks that Lupin had gotten with. Lupin had always seemed quiet and reserved.
Tonks, on the other hand, was a very in-your-face kind of person and loud though Harry had only spoken to her once so far, so maybe he was wrong. He was also shocked that their child was also a Metamorph as Tonks said that she was the only Metamorph; in the U.K., so Harry knew it was a very rare magical gift.
Percy and the other Weasleys were still staring at one another, frozen.
"Here, I've got a picture?" Lupin shouted, pulling a photograph from inside his jacket and showing it to Fleur and Harry, who saw a tiny baby with a tuft of bright turquoise hair waving fat fists at the camera.
Harry was surprised at the picture, and that the baby had bright turquoise hair, given that Lupin didn't have turquoise hair and looking around the hall, he couldn't see anyone with turquoise hair either.
The only person in the hall that had strange hair was the girl with purple hair, and even then, it couldn't have been her natural hair colour.
"Aww, it's so cute," Hermione said in a whisper.
"I was a fool!" Percy roared so loudly that Lupin nearly dropped his photograph. "I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a.. a..."
"Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron," said Fred.
Percy swallowed. "Yes, I was!"
Harry was feeling very awkward at what should have been a private and emotional family moment. He was glad that he wasn't the only one that looked very awkward.
The only people that didn't seem to look awkward for the most point were the Slytherins. Most of them seemed to be pretending that they couldn't hear anything with blank faces.
But some of them, mainly Malfoy, were grinning and snorting at the Weasleys.
"Well, you can't say it fairer than that," said Fred, holding his hand out to Percy.
Mrs Weasley burst into tears. She ran forward, pushed Fred aside, and pulled Percy into a strangling hug while he patted her on the back, his eyes on his father.
"I'm sorry, Dad," Percy said.
Mr Weasley blinked rather rapidly, then he too hurried to hug his son.
"What made you see sense, Perce?" inquired George.
"It's been coming on for a while," said Percy, mopping his eyes under his glasses with a corner of his travelling cloak. "But I had to find a way out, and it's not so easy at the Ministry. They're imprisoning traitors all the time. I managed to make contact with Aberforth, and he tipped me off ten minutes ago that Hogwarts was going to make a fight of it, so here I am."
"Well, we do look to our prefects to take the lead at times such as these," said George in a good imitation of Percy's most pompous manner. "Now, let's get upstairs and fight, or all the good Death Eaters'll be taken."
"So, you're my sister-in-law now?" Said Percy, shaking hands with Fleur as they hurried off toward the staircase with Bill, Fred, and George.
"Bill got married!" Mrs Weasley shouted loudly, breaking the awkward vibe that was in the Great Hall as everyone was pretending to look at the sky.
"Ginny!" barked Mrs Weasley.
Ginny had been attempting, under cover of the reconciliations, to sneak upstairs too.
"Ginny, how dare you!" Mrs Weasley shouted.
"I haven't even done it yet," Ginny mumbled under her breath but didn't dare say it loud enough for Mrs Weasley to hear her.
"Molly, how about this," said Lupin. "Why doesn't Ginny stay here, then, at least she'll be on the scene and know what's going on, but she won't be in the middle of the fighting?"
"I..."
"That's a good idea," said Mr Weasley firmly, "Ginny, you stay in this room, you hear me?"
"We should check that room out," Hermione said.
"Easier said than done. Do you know where it is? A blank section of wall is going to be impossible to tell the difference, and we don't even know how to access it," Ron said.
"There is a tapestry across from where the door is, and I know that it is on the 7th floor," Hermione said with a huff.
Ginny did not seem to like the idea much, but under her father's unusually stern gaze, she nodded. Mr and Mrs Weasley and Lupin headed off to the stairs as well.
"Where's Ron?" asked Harry, "Where's Hermione?"
"Im surprised that you two are not with me. You are both always with me when im doing something dangerous," Harry said, confused as to where they would have gone.
"They must have gone up the Great Hall already," Mr Weasley called over his shoulder.
" I didn't see them pass me," said Harry.
"They said something about a bathroom," said Ginny, "not long after you left."
"Bathroom?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Maybe we have gone to Murtles bathroom? I am not sure why, but if we said bathroom while expecting you to understand, that's the only place I can think of."
"That is really odd. You can't get into the chamber without me, so I have no idea what you're up to?" Harry said, even more confused.
"A bathroom?"
Harry strode across the room to an open door leading off the Room of Requirement and checked the bathroom beyond. It was empty.
"You're sure they said bathroom?"
"It doesn't seem like you three have a plan?" Alicia said, looking at the trio.
"I think we are just making it as we go. You would be surprised at how well that works," Harry said, remembering the Polyjuice in the 2nd year when they had no idea where they were going and how long it had been since drinking the potion.
The 3rd year was the same with the time travel. Knowing what he did now, that was an incredibly stupid thing to do without meticulous planning. And the entire tournament this year, Harry had been making it up as he went.
So ya making it up as you go worked well for Harry.
But then his scar seared, and the Room of Requirement vanished. He was looking through the high wrought-iron gates with winged boats on pillars at either side, looking through the dark grounds toward the castle, which was ablaze with lights. Nagini lay draped over him.
