Chapter One Hundred and Forty-One: Going Back to Hogwarts
Daphne had no idea how long the dragon flew, or even in which direction it was flying. All she knew was that she had to hold on tightly to its scales despite the cold and the wind whipping past her. She could see Harry and Ginny in similarly precarious positions. The sun was already beginning to set when the dragon finally seemed to be losing height, spiraling down towards a lake.
"I say we jump when it gets low enough!" Harry shouted at Daphne and Ginny. "Straight into the water before it realizes we're here!"
It wasn't a very appealing prospect, but it was probably their best chance of survival, so when the dragon skimmed across the surface, they relinquished their hold on it and jumped off.
The water was cold, but because Daphne was quite numb from the flight already, it didn't bother her much. She surfaced, looked around to see where the dragon had gone, and then began to swim in the opposite direction.
Harry and Ginny seemed to have had the same idea, and soon they were half-swimming, half-wading through the lake, finally staggering onto the shore where Harry quickly cast their protective charms. He'd barely finished casting the last one when he clutched his forehead for a few moments.
"He knows," Harry said, grimly looking up. "He's realized what we took from the vault. We've got to get back to Hogwarts as quickly as possible."
"We need to Apparate straight into the Hog's Head, right?" Ginny asked.
Harry nodded. "Yeah."
"Hang on," Daphne said. "Let me dry us out, first…"
She took out her wand — her own wand, now that she didn't have to use Bellatrix's anymore — and siphoned all the water from their clothes.
"There. Now we're at least a bit comfortable."
"Thanks," Harry said gratefully. "Now let's get going."
Harry and Daphne each took one of Ginny's hands and turned on the spot, appearing moments later in the empty, somewhat grimy Hog's Head.
"Bloody hell, just how many of you lot are going to– Potter…" someone said.
They looked up and saw the tall, thin barman looking at them with a curious expression.
"Well, they'll be happy to see you, I'm sure," he said.
"We need to get into Hogwarts," Harry said. "And we were told to come here to do it."
The barman nodded. Daphne couldn't help but feel that he looked somehow familiar.
"People have been arriving here all through the day. All of 'em wanted to get into Hogwarts. You think you're setting up some kind of rebellion there?"
Harry nodded. "Of a sort. I didn't exactly expect more people to be called in, but it's probably for the best. Can you get us in as well?"
The barman gestured with his hand at a portrait, which swung open to reveal a tunnel.
"It's the only way into the castle now. All the other entrances and exits are heavily guarded."
"Hopefully, after tonight they won't be anymore," Harry said.
"You really believe you can stop him, then?" the barman asked.
Harry nodded. "We can. I'm sure of it. But it won't be easy. He'll be coming here, soon."
"Then you best get going," the barman said, gesturing with his head at the tunnel.
Harry nodded once, thanked the barman, and crawled into the tunnel, quickly followed by Daphne and Ginny. They walked up the tunnel, lit by brass lamps, for a long while, and Daphne wondered where it had come from.
Eventually they rounded a corner and climbed up another short flight of stairs, ending in a door which Harry pushed open — and a torrential applause greeted him.
Daphne and Ginny exchanged a curious glance and followed Harry through the door. The entirety of the Order of the Lightning Bolt and the Order of the Phoenix seemed to be packed in the room they'd just entered, which was lined with hammocks and the colors of all the Hogwarts Houses. Most people were shouting enthusiastically, and Hermione and Ron fought their way forward to greet Harry and the others.
"Took you long enough," Ron said with a grin.
"What did you tell them? And this…this is the Room of Requirement, isn't it?" Harry asked.
"It is," Neville said, stepping forward as well. He was covered in cuts and bruises, but his expression was radiating confidence.
He quickly explained the situation at Hogwarts, and how they'd called in everyone when Hermione and Ron had turned up, believing that the final battle was about to begin.
"That is why you came back, right, Harry?" Neville asked.
Harry looked around at the sea of faces, who were all regarding him curiously. It was odd to see even people like Sirius, Remus, Mum, and Dad to look at Harry as if they were expecting him to give them orders. Of course, he'd been in charge of the raid on Malfoy Manor as well, but this was a far larger group of people. After a few moments, Harry seemed to have made a decision.
"Alright," he said. "I must admit I didn't expect everyone to be here already, but it's a good thing you are. Over the past year, we've been working to make sure Voldemort can be killed again. Yes," he said, looking at the shocked expressions of everyone in the crowd, "I said his name. He's on his way here already, to stop us from doing what we've been trying to do all year long. Since he knows what we're up to, now, you might as well know the truth, too: we were hunting down Voldemort's Horcruxes, objects in which he stored part of his soul so that he couldn't be killed."
Shock mutterings went through the room. Daphne could see Sirius and Mum and Dad paling. They would probably know what a Horcrux was, then.
Harry went on, "At this moment in time, there should be only one left…"
"Two," Ron corrected. "We can't get to the one in the Room of Requirement as long as it's being used as the resistance HQ."
Harry nodded. "Right, two, then. Ravenclaw's diadem and the snake Nagini," he said. "The other four he'd originally made have been destroyed already. Since he believes the Horcrux here to be the safest one, he'll check this location last. As Ron just said, it's here, in the Room of Requirement, so everyone will have to get out and into the school. Do the teachers know what's coming?"
Neville shook his head. "They've guessed something big's about to happen, but they don't know that everyone's here yet. We wanted to wait for you."
"Then it's time we informed them. We need to get the school ready for a fight, and we need to get the younger students out, probably through the tunnel," Harry said.
"We'll coordinate it," Dad said. "You go and warn the teachers. I'm sure they'll be glad to see you. But be careful. Snape and the Carrows are still in the school."
"Well, then let's care of them, first!" Lee Jordan shouted. Many others roared their assent.
"We might as well, I think," Harry said softly to Daphne and the others. "If we just rush out of the Room of Requirement, we can subdue the Carrows, Snape, and the Slytherins who are on their side easily, before they even know what hit them."
"If we're going to do that, let me sneak out first, Disillusioned," Daphne said. "There's…something I want to do, but it'll be hard if the entire school's preparing for battle."
"What are you planning?" Harry asked.
"I'll tell you later," Daphne said. "For now, you'll just have to trust me."
He hesitated only for a moment, and then said, "Alright, get going, then. We'll just make a bit of a plan here before following you."
Daphne nodded once, and then quickly cast a Disillusionment Charm. She made her way to a door which she presumed would open up into the castle, and discovered she'd been dropped somewhere on the third floor.
She began to make her way to Snape's office, but then she remembered that he was the Headmaster now, and he'd probably be in Dumbledore's old office instead…which was blocked by a password. Well, she'd solve that problem when she got there.
She made her way over to the gargoyle. The school was surprisingly quiet, though Daphne knew that silence wouldn't last long once both Orders began to spread through the school to prepare for Voldemort's arrival. She reached the gargoyle and said, "I need to talk to the Headmaster."
"Password?" the gargoyle asked.
"I don't know," Daphne said. "Look, I need to talk to Snape, okay? I don't have a lot of time."
"No password, no entry," the gargoyle said.
"Oh, come on!" Daphne said angrily. "I know you're just doing your job, but you're not telling me that everyone who needs to talk to Snape — or Dumbledore before him — that–"
She was cut off by the gargoyle coming to life and stepping aside. She quickly stepped through and began to ascend the stairs. Had Snape set the password to 'Dumbledore'? Wouldn't that give away his loyalties to the Carrows? Or did he simply not allow them into the office at all?
She reached the top of the staircase and knocked. When she heard Snape's curt, "Enter," Daphne almost felt like she was just another student again, going to visit her Head of House.
She dispelled her Disillusionment Charm and stepped into the office. Snape's expression barely changed when he laid eyes on Daphne, but the tiny widening of his eyes was enough to betray his surprise.
"…Miss Greengrass. I…did not expect to see you," Snape said cautiously.
"Voldemort is coming," Daphne said.
Snape nodded once. "I am aware. He has already contacted me." He touched his left arm.
"We're here to stop him. I figured that, after everything you've given up…you should know the truth as well," Daphne said. "And Voldemort already knows what we're after, anyway. Harry's just told the Order of the Phoenix and the Order of the Lightning Bolt. We've been hunting and destroying Horcruxes."
Snape's eyes narrowed. "Plural?" he asked.
Daphne nodded.
Snape said nothing for a few moments. Then he conjured up a flask and put his wand to his temple. He withdrew a glittering, silvery substance from his head and put it into the flask, which he then stoppered up and handed to Daphne.
"Give this to Potter," he said curtly. "These memories…contain everything of relevance. They contain the secret you discovered in your fourth year…and the last task Dumbledore had for him. It is possible — even likely — that I will not survive this night. Potter must be given those memories. How many Horcruxes remain?"
"Two," Daphne said. "One of them — Ravenclaw's diadem — will be destroyed shortly, most likely when the battle has already begun. The other is Nagini."
"I see…" Snape said softly. "Did you come here just to tell me this?" he asked.
"And to thank you for getting the sword to us," Daphne said. "Although I have no idea how you did that with all those Inferi and golems and that mist around…"
"I was within the hidden fen, but not nearby," Snape said. "I was, however, eavesdropping on you through my Patronus. You couldn't see it in the mist, but I could hear you. When Weasley proclaimed he'd take the monsters to hell with him, I considered it to be sufficiently foolhardy to send the sword to him. Potter will see it once he sees the memory."
Daphne nodded, faintly smiling at Snape's reasoning on the timing. Then she became serious again. "Do you think you can kill Nagini?" she asked. "Voldemort trusts you, after all."
"If I see a chance, I shall attempt it," Snape said. He smiled thinly. "Though I was under the impression that you didn't approve of me risking my life without valuing it."
"Tonight, you'll be risking your life regardless. Either the Order of the Phoenix will want to kill you, or the Death Eaters will," Daphne said.
She looked at him. "I still can't forgive you for a lot of things you've done. But you've kept up your cover all year long, kept working against Voldemort even without Dumbledore, even while everyone but me hated you. So even though I don't know what Lily would've told you if she were alive now…I think she would forgive you."
She smiled wryly. "I'm not as kind a person as she was, I suppose…but be honest, sir…do you really still not value your own life?"
"You really are quite like her in some ways," Snape said softly. "Thank you, Miss Greengrass."
He paused for a moment. "There is one last thing you should know. Once Potter has the memories and sets off to perform the final task Dumbledore has for him…don't follow him. Don't interrupt."
At that moment, a high, clear voice seemed to emanate from the vey walls of the castle itself. "I know that you are preparing to fight," it said. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you shall be rewarded. You have until midnight."
Without waiting for Daphne to say anything, Snape stood up. "Disillusion yourself. It is time."
He marched out of the office, with Daphne hastily following him into the castle corridors, which were now bustling. It looked like most of the school was being shepherded toward the Room of Requirement as the evacuation proceeded.
Daphne followed the stream of people and found Harry and the others in the Room, looking grim.
"Did you hear it?" Harry asked.
Daphne nodded. "I did." She pulled the vial of memories out of her pocket. "Once the diadem has been dealt with, go to the Pensieve in Dumbledore's office. Watch these memories. It contains a last task you need to perform."
Harry frowned. "Who gave you this?"
Daphne sighed angrily. "It was Snape, okay? You're not telling me you didn't know I was going to talk to him. Watch those memories once the diadem has been destroyed and you'll understand. But just so you know, he's going to kill Nagini if he gets the chance to."
Snape would probably not be happy that Daphne was telling Harry about his true allegiance, but the memories in the flask would've done the same, anyway.
"Snape is going to kill Nagini?" Ron asked incredulously.
"He's still on our side," Daphne said softly. "And after tonight, Harry will be able to tell you everything about it." She took a deep breath. "For now, though…it's time to fight."
Yeah, the pacing in this chapter is incredibly high. At this point in the story, I have neither the time nor the inclination to copy-paste large sections of text from the book anymore, and I just want to set everything up for the final confrontation to begin.
In canon, I always wondered why Harry kept the whole Horcrux-thing a secret once he got back to Hogwarts, considering the only reason it was a secret at all was so Voldemort wouldn't find out, and by that point he knew they were after them anyway. That's why I figured he might as well tell as many people as possible so that even if he fails, plenty of others can continue to hunt down the Horcruxes.
Of course, if Snape kills Nagini, what will happen to Neville's moment of badassery? Well, I don't intend to steal his glory entirely, but you'll see.