November brought a very early blizzard, and freezing temperatures. The grounds of Hogwarts were bare, and the castle inside was so cold, the students had to wear scarves and more while even inside.
The Gryffindor Common Room was filled with Gryffindors, from first years to seventh years. Ginny and Harry were sitting on a sofa together, somewhat cuddling, and having their first real conversation of the year. Harry was satisfied.
"I never said thank you for destroying the diary," Ginny told Harry, "so, thank you."
Harry smiled, and the two began kissing like never before. Hermione walked by, and sat down in a chair next to them.
"Honestly," she said, "you might as well get a room instead of snogging each other in public."
The two stopped kissing.
"Sorry, Hermione," apologized Ginny.
"It's okay," she replied. "I may have had some of those wild nights with Viktor years ago."
"We don't want to hear about your wild nights with that stuck up freak," came in Ron. He was wearing the sweater his mother sewed for him years ago with the large "R" on it.
"Shut up," retorted Hermione. "Besides, that sweater's getting a bit old."
Ron looked down at his sweater, then glared at Hermione.
"What I was really here for," continued Hermione, "was to figure out the plan to enter the Chamber."
"Can I go?" Ginny asked out of the blue.
The three (Ron, Harry, and Hermione) looked at each other.
"Ginny," came in Harry, "I don't think —"
"You don't think it's safe," finished Ginny, looking disappointed. "I'm older than I used to be. I'm older than little Ginny that was incapable of powerful spells and helpless."
"You're not going!" came in Ron.
"I'm not listening to you!" retorted Ginny. "This is something I can handle, and if I need any help, I'll have you guys! Remember the Ministry two years ago?"
"You guys stayed behind while I went forward though," said Harry, and Ginny seemed to roll her eyes to that.
"We just don't think it would be very safe for you to go," said Hermione. "I mean, Voldemort —"
A few gasps were heard after she said the name.
"Fine!" exclaimed Hermione. "You-Know-Who will want to take over your body again to get Harry to come near him so he can kill Harry! Basically, it would put all of us at risk."
Ginny stood up, carried her books, said, "Whatever," and walked away.
All Harry wanted to do was protect her. He didn't want her to die, or Ron or Hermione. Was Ginny the friend that had to die? Was the prophecy Dumbledore had told him true? He would find out that Christmas, and there would be nothing in his way to stop him. What had to happen had to happen.
Classes nearing Christmas didn't bring the excited students like it normally did every year. The recent deaths and darkness had put a dark cloud over Hogwarts; everything had changed.
Harry was failing Potions, unlike the year before, without his help from the Half-Blood Prince, but, he made a promise to himself not to return to the Prince, because all it brought him was terrible luck. Besides, who would want to take advice from the messed up mind of Severus Snape?
Defense Against the Dark Arts was just about as boring as ever. They still had Professor Grubbyplank, and Harry still thought she was the most boring teacher the class had ever seen. Snape was even a little more exciting than Grubbyplank.
Herbology with Firenze the centaur brought reports, complicated and boring reports. No interacting with plants, since Professor Sprout had died.
Transfiguration also was a boring subject at the time. Professor McGonagall taught them basically nothing, and seemed dark and gloomy almost every day.
Darkness had set over all of Hogwarts, and there was nothing Harry Potter could do about it at the moment.
Although he could sneak into the Chamber that night...
But that would bring him trouble... He decided to stick with the original plan.
One of the cold, frosty nights in the Gryffindor common room, Harry was sitting on the sofa, with Hermione on another couch studying about Poisonous Grasps. Harry was staring into the fireplace, wondering if it would bring something from Dumbledore.
"You really think this stuff is coming from him?" Hermione asked him.
"Why wouldn't it be?" replied Harry. "I mean, he's dead, and so is Sirius, but he said the answers would come to me. Trust me, Hermione, the tone he wrote and spoke, it was Dumbledore."
Hermione continued reading the book about Poisonous Grasps.
"Did you know that you could destroy —?" began Hermione.
"— the Poisonous Grasp with Descendio," finished Harry. "Yeah, Dumbledore told me."
"I still think it's not Dumbledore. It could just possibly be Voldemort tricking you, and pretending to be Dumbledore."
"The way he spoke...It was Dumbledore, trust me."
Hermione's comment got Harry thinking: Was it really Dumbledore? What was he thinking? Of course it was actually Dumbledore! Harry could tell, he could just tell.
"I'm not feeling that wonderful again," came in Hermione, rubbing her somewhat large belly.
"I told you, you have to eat something!"
"I can't! Then everybody would notice."
"Hermione, when you eat, the baby eats too. You not eating could kill the baby."
"I guess I should eat something then..." She stood up, walked to a coffee table in the common room, and pulled out several candies from a silver jar.
"That's not enough," said Harry, "but I guess you have to wait until tomorrow morning."
Suddenly, a piece of parchment flew out of the fire and onto a table near Harry's sofa. Hermione stared, wide-eyed.
"I told you so!" exclaimed Harry, held up the parchment, and read it aloud:
"'Dear Harry, you must go to the Astronomy Tower in my office immediately. No, I'm not Voldemort, trust me. Even though he may be a better wizard than me, we'll get to that later. There is something you must see. It's a terrible thing. By the way, bring Hermione with you. She should also see. Signed, Albus Dumbledore.'"
"Are you sure it's him?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, I'm sure!" replied Harry.
Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak, and they Apparated to the headmaster's (now headmistress's) office.
There was that sudden suffocation, that sharp pain of Harry being squeezed, and then it suddenly vanished.
They appeared in the middle of the office. All of the portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses around them were snoring. McGonagall was pacing, looking down at her feet, and not noticing Hermione and Harry as they walked past. She then looked at the two, and they stopped walking. She came up to them and pulled the cloak over them.
"You didn't need this," said McGonagall, took the cloak and set it on her desk. "I was expecting you already."
"Is there something wrong?" asked Harry immediately.
"I suppose Dumbledore has told you already," said McGonagall. "Walk up to the Astronomy Tower and see for yourself."
Hermione and Harry continued up the spiral staircase to the tower. The dark, stern tone in McGonagall's voice worried Harry. Had someone died? Had Ginny died? He hoped not...
A few minutes later, and the reached the top step of the Astronomy Tower. There, they saw Neville Longbottom, the accident-prone, chubby boy in their house, lying down on the hard stone floor, blood pouring out of his chest. Floating in midair was Moaning Myrtle, the ghost that haunted the girls' bathroom, with some sort of ghost-blood dripping down from her. The odd thing was that her eyes were open.
Hermione shrieked at the sight. "NEVILLE!" she screamed, and began crying.
This was a terrible sight for Harry, too. He decided to embrace Hermione in this troubling time. Hermione accepted.
Darkness had forced them to say goodbye. Too many goodbyes.