Here's a small recap of what's been going on so far: Snape has been given the Horcruxes for unknown reasons so he and Dumblebore plan to kidnap Harry and let him find these objects. Harry manages to find to locket and is released from his prison in the headmaster's office by Ginny, Neville and Seamus. He is later reunited with Ron and Hermione in the Room of Requirement where Ron destroyed the Horcrux using the sword of Gryffindor that Harry had taken from the office in the form of the Sorting Hat. Ron and Hermione are now dating and all three of them need to come up with a plan to break into the office and find the diadem and the cup. Meanwhile, Snape struggles with being a spy and now wants an ally he can trust by his side so he hinted to Professor McGonagall to go talk to Dumbledore's portrait.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, narrowly dodging a curse thrown by Hermione. "Dial down on the power, will you?"
"Sorry, Ron!" Hermione replied shrilly, covering her mouth with her free hand. "This is severely extensive magic that is only reserved for seventh-years. I still have trouble controlling the amount of power I put in my spells."
"I can tell," Ron said, wiping his forehead with his sleeve.
Harry sighed. They had been training in advanced magic for the past three days using the various spell books Hermione had stuffed in her tiny beaded bag. The problem was that a lot of these spells demanded an amount of power control so that the caster could choose how much damage they wanted their spell to cause. It sounded great but it was difficult to manage; they either put too much power and reduced the test-dummies the Room of Requirement had provided to dust or they inserted too little power and there wasn't so much as a scratch on the dummies.
Since they had disintegrated every dummy they had, they took turns practicing on each other, which was great dodging practice. But now Harry was slightly worried that their training may be hazardous to their health.
"No, Ron," Hermione said impatiently. Harry, who was sitting up against the wall, refocused his attention on his dueling friends. "You need to flick you wrist if you want this spell to work properly."
"Without the swishing, right?" Ron said jokingly.
"You'd better hope so. Otherwise you'd make an explosion that would go beyond even Seamus's wildest dreams."
"What kind of spell is it?" Harry asked curiously.
"One you don't ever want to come to come into contact with. Let's just say that you'll end up seriously deformed," Hermione replied, shuddering.
"Then why are we casting it at each other?" Ron exclaimed in alarm, eyes wide.
"Because we can't practice on a bunch of Slytherins without being mauled by Death Eaters," Harry said.
Ron and Hermione laughed. Harry stood up and whipped his wand out. He took his aim at the wall opposite from him and shot his curse. It flew across the room in a streak of purple light at top speed and collided with the wall, emitting an earth-shattering sound and smoke. When the smoke cleared, a large gaping hole could be seen in the wall, making Harry utter a few choice curse words under his breath. He had put far too much power in that curse.
"Harry, try not to destroy the Room," Hermione said disapprovingly.
"And what have you been doing for the last half hour?" Harry replied. "Besides, the Room fixes itself."
As he said those words the wall had already begun to patch itself up. Hermione shook her head as the door opened and Ginny came inside.
"Hey, guys," she said, giving Harry a kiss on the cheek. "Was that an explosion I heard just now?"
"We're practicing some really complicated magic," Ron said, twirling his wand in his hand. "Were we that loud?"
"I'm positive that the entire seventh floor shook. You're lucky that everyone's down in the dungeons being shown by the Carrows the new line of torture devices… That didn't sound right, did it?"
"No, but we know what you meant," Harry said, giving Ginny's shoulders an affectionate squeeze. "How did you sneak out?"
"You don't date Harry Potter without learning a thing or two about sneaking around," Ginny replied, winking.
"There's an achievement to be proud of," Ron said ironically, rolling his eyes.
"We should be more careful," Hermione chimed in as Ginny opened her mouth to retort. "The last thing we need is a Death Eater to become curious and accidently figure out how the Room of Requirement works."
"Yeah, we can't afford to let them ruin yet another day in our danger-filled lives," Ron said sardonically.
Harry and Ginny guffawed as Hermione glared at her boyfriend. She then turned her stare onto Harry and Ginny, who hastily turned their laughter into a fake coughing fit.
"It isn't funny! This is a war; we could get killed at the slightest mistake! Why do you think we're practicing manoeuvring these spells?" Hermione snapped irritably.
"To break into Snape's office. I'm willing to bet five Galleons that that's it."
"You're right. Pay up, Ginny."
"I'm not giving you any kind of money, Ron."
"Be cruel and give him Muggle money. He won't be able to make heads or tails of it."
"Neither will I but it's not a bad idea. Thanks, Harry."
"Oh, great. My own best mate just betrayed me for my sister."
"Well, she is my girlfriend, and I'm just teasing you, you prat. No need to be so melodramatic."
"Why do I even bother?" Hermione asked to no one in particular.
"Because you care," Ron simply stated. "Hermione, we've been going at it nonstop for three days now. Let's take a break."
"Those Death Eaters don't take breaks!"
"Actually, they do. They have a victory party whenever they successfully torture someone," Ginny said in disgust.
The trio stared at her in astonishment.
"That's… disturbing," Harry said gravely.
"You know what? Forget the training! We gotta break into Snape's office now," Ron declared.
"But we still can't control –" Hermione began to say but Ron cut her off.
"Hermione, Snape is the enemy. He killed Dumbledore, for Merlin's sake! Does it matter if we deform him or cause any permanent damage?" he said impatiently.
"But, Ron, we could kill him if we're not careful!"
The idea made Harry feel as if he had been slapped in the face. As much as he hated Snape, he certainly didn't want to kill him. That would definitely be a very poor way of repaying the surprising display of kindness (if one could call it that; Harry did not know what to think of it anymore) the former Potions master had delivered five years previously. But the Chosen One also had to keep in mind that Ron was right: Snape was the enemy. Any friendly exchange that had gone between had to be forgotten.
"This is war, Hermione!" Ron was saying. His words pulled Harry out of his trance. "People will sadly get killed and we might have to do some of the killing ourselves. It's us or them and I'm not gonna let it be us."
"We have to try," Harry said unevenly. His friends looked at his questioningly. "We have to at least try to spare the enemies' lives. The only person who should die without question is You-Know-Who."
"Harry's right: if we can avoid killing, we should. It should only be used as a last resort," Ginny said, taking Harry's hand.
Ron sighed. "Fine, but is Snape lays a finger on one of us I won't hesitate to put all the power I can muster in my curses," he said.
"Believe me when I say this, Ron: that won't be difficult for you," Hermione said calmly, hooking her arms through his.
"I'll gather Seamus and Neville when they come back. You'll need all the help you can get when you'll infiltrate Snape's office," Ginny said. "When will it happen?"
"Tonight," Harry said firmly, surprising the others. "We can't wait any longer."
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked uncertainly.
"Positive."
"Finally! We get to leave this bloody room!" Ron exclaimed enthusiastically.
"You amaze me."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment, Hermione?"
"I haven't worked that out yet."
Harry rolled his eyes with a smile as the door opened and the rest of the Room's inhabitants came filing in. Ginny left his side and went to pull Neville and Seamus from the crowd. Tonight was certainly going to be interesting.
Professor McGonagall was standing before the large gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office. She had spent the last three days pondering over Snape's words and she had finally decided to follow his instructions. She was taking a huge risk coming here: for all she knew, the Carrows could be waiting for her on the other side. But there was no way she was going to back out now.
The Transfiguration professor glanced at the piece of parchment in her hand. The night of the same day Snape had cornered her had earned her an unexpected visit from one of the school's owls. There was a scroll attached to its leg and when Professor McGonagall had unrolled it she recognized Snape's calligraphy. There was only one word that had been written: Dumbledore. It was safe to assume that this was the office's password, much to her surprise.
Professor McGonagall looked at the gargoyle. It's cold, hard eyes were staring at her, as if daring her to go on. She accepted the challenge.
"Dumbledore," Professor McGonagall said firmly.
There was a loud noise and the gargoyle began to rise, revealing the spiral staircase. Professor McGonagall climbed onto a step and let herself be brought up to the office, bracing herself for the worse.
Thank you so much for your patience! It's very much appreacited!