Hermione woke up to find herself lying facedown in the room of Requirement. She got up in a panic, looking around- remembering the events which had transpired. She saw Ron lying a few feet away and gingerly crawled towards him.
"Ron, are you okay? "
Ron mumbled weakly as he got up, rubbing his head which had a sizeable bump on it.
"The Death Eaters are loose in the castle Ron, come on, Harry probably needs our help" - whispered Hermione while pulling Ron up.
Hermione looked around the room of Requirement-- the cabinet was wide open while a vast array of old hidden items lay scattered around it, many of them damaged and smoldering- remnant of the stray spells.
"Blimey Hermione," Ron breathed as he looked around and walked towards a fallen solid-gold goblet," Do you reckon we could take any of this stuff?"
"Ron!" Warned Hermione," we need to go, there are Death Eaters in the castle!", she added urgently. Ron seemed to be shaken out of his greedy stupor as he kept the goblet back and joined Hermione at the door.
They got out of the door into a secluded corridor, ringing with screams and sounds as both she and Ron hurried away towards the main staircase. Halfway through they froze, Malfoy - dusty and limping was walking towards them.
Ron let out a roar and ran towards Malfoy with his wand outstretched, shouting a choice range of curse words.
Malfoy seemed as shocked as them as he sent a curse flying towards Ron.
Hermione quickly disarmed Malfoy with a quick Expelliarmus before knocking him out with a Stupefy.
She looked upon Malfoy's dusty unconscious frame as the screams and yelling suddenly subsided.
"Hermione! Ron! There you are!" They looked up to see Ginny rushing towards them. Ginny was sporting a cut lip and a bruised cheek as she ran towards them.
"Ginny! There are Death Eaters in the Castle and-" Ron started but Ginny interrupted him- " I know Ron, we were patrolling the third floor just like you asked us to but suddenly out of nowhere, we heard crashing sounds and then suddenly-" Ginny's eyes fell upon Malfoy's unconscious body, " What's he doing here? Where were you?" She asked but before Hermione could reply, they heard a loud cry of sorrow ringing in through the open window.
"Hagrid!" Hermione breathed as all of them rushed downstairs.
They joined the crowd of whispering students as they walked towards a small huddled heap at the bottom of the astronomy tower. They saw Hagrid crouched beside it, accompanied by Harry.
Hermione let out a gasp as soon as they reached--
The lifeless form of Albus Dumbledore lay broken on the ground, a trickle of blood seeping out from his ajar mouth. There was a collective array of shocked gasps from the surrounding students as they too saw the form of Dumblefore fallen and never to rise again.
--
Hermione couldn't believe her eyes as they stood huddled around the bed of Bill Weasley. Bill's face was mangled beyond recognition and his open wounds were bleeding profusely while his unconscious face lay sleeping on the pillow. The news of Dumbledore's death had hardly cheered up the occupants of the Hospital Wing and all of them sat in gloom staring at Fleur dabbing essence of Dittany on Bill's wounds accompanied by a crying Mrs. Weasley.
Malfoy had been taken to McGonagall's room for questioning and Harry and Hermione sat together waiting for news as the Weasley family grieved around them,Hermione patting Harry's arm as all of them heard the sorrowful notes of the Phoenix lament.
The hospital door suddenly opened as McGonagall came in - " How is Bill?" She asked as she closed the door behind her.
"Well... He won't ever look the same anymore, Poppy says that he will be alright though..." Mrs. Weasley spoke, trembling. Lupin got up and put his hand on Mrs. Weasley's shoulder -" It's ok, Molly, he won't be a full werewolf, not like me, anyway, he'll still be your son."
McGonagall looked at the rest of them, " I think we should give the family a bit of privacy but before that I want a word with Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger," she said as she walked out accompanied by Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Harry, I believe that you were with Professor Dumbledore when the death Eaters attacked?" Harry nodded as McGonagall continued," You realize that any information you could give me would be helpful along with Mr. Malfoy's version?" Harry nodded but this time added ," I am sorry Professor McGonagall but the location and purpose of our journey is going to have to Be a secret."
McGonagall gave a sad smile as she nodded and looked at Hermione and Ron," The question of Mr. Malfoy however, how did you come across him?"
"We were there when Malfoy opened the cabinet but there were too many of them and they knocked us out, by the time we woke up they were gone" Ron answered, " However we came across the midg-- Malfoy when we came to, he was returning to the room of Requirement, Merlin knows why... and we got him this time."
Harry looked urgently at McGonagall and asked," So, did you find any information from him on Snape's whereabouts or Voldermort's plans?" Ron flinched at the name as McGonagall flushed and answered," Despite my most persuasive attempts it seems that Mr. Malfoy Is keeping his mouth shut and is refusing to open up".
Ron cursed angrily -" Well, shove bloody Veritaserum up his fat-" He stopped at McGonagall's stern glance. "Without the ability of Professor Snape at my disposal, it will be highly difficult to procure Veritaserum and Mr. Malfoy is quite unlikely to know about You-Know-Who's future plans...", she cut across Harry's angry retort ," which brings us to the question, Where will Mr. Malfoy stay?"
Ron growled as he spoke -" He deserves to be in Askaban, he does, he set Death Eaters free in the bloody school!", McGonagall shook her head and spoke softly ," Despite Mr. Malfoy's deeds it would be unwise to hand him over to the Ministry seeing as that it is likely to have been infiltrated already with Professor Dumbledore's death and Askaban is hardly secure with its mass breakouts."
She looked straight at them as she spoke ," I believe that it is in our firm interests to hold Mr. Malfoy hostage in the school itself until the time comes to bargain but until school resumes next term, if at all"- she added sadly, " I believe he will have to be kept at the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters, the Burrow."
Ron opened his mouth in horror but Hermione held his hand and spoke softly ," Professor McGonagall is right you know? Malfoy has too much value to be handed over to the ministry, especially with Scrimgeour in charge who will put him in Askaban first chance he will get." Ron breathed slowly but Hermione was surprised at Harry's lack of issue as he nodded softly without a word.
"Well, Now that that's settled I believe that I will need to speak to the other heads of houses, the death of a headmaster at the hands of a colleague... ghastly. The students must return to their homes immediately and I must meet the Ministry when they arrive."
Harry looked up slowly as he asked in an icy voice ," what about Dumbledore's funeral?"
McGonagall looked back, losing a little of her briskness as she spoke softly, her voice shaking -" Well, it was Dumbledore's wish to be... to be laid to rest at Hogwarts."
"That is going to happen right?" Harry asked fiercely as McGonagall nodded and steeled herself, " Indeed so Harry, no other headmaster gave more to this school than Albus Dumbledore and I believe the ministry will have no objections." She left them outside the hospital room grieving the death of one of Hogwart's most elite, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
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That's the second chapter done, guess Mr. Malfoys gonna have to be trapped with Hermione and a very volatile Ron.
See you next chapter!
Let me know what you guys think.
