-Chapter Twenty-

The Hungry Corridors

Chaos reigned throughout Hogwarts.

Aided by the Aurors, the students fled through the corridors in a desperate bid for safety. Behind them came the Daleks, exterminating anybody they came across and leaving nothing but death and destruction in their wake.

It was initially hoped that the students could be safely escorted to their common rooms, but getting to them turned out to be harder than imagined. All over the school walls were being blasted open and more Daleks emerged to assist with the mass extermination and soon they filled the corridors. Several Aurors tried to fight them but their spells proved ineffective and they were quickly exterminated. The Daleks were utterly relentless.

There were a few successes, however. One Dalek was surprised to suddenly be attacked by a suit of armour which proved extremely resilient to its weaponry and several Daleks found themselves fighting the Ghosts of Hogwarts. True, neither side could really hurt the other, but the Ghosts fly straight through the Dalek casings, which was an extremely unpleasant feeling (1) and lead the Dalek to focus on them for a few minutes. Peeves the Poltergeist gleefully sent items crashing onto the Daleks, mildly damaging several of them but distracting them at crucial moments.

The Aurors too, once recovered from the shock and realising how ineffective their spells were, resorted to some of the harder-hitting ones. Cries of "Explosivo!", "Diffindo!" "Glacia!", and other assorted spells were used and the school soon rang with the sound of battle.

While all of these efforts proved to be only minor in the end, it did enable most of the students to escape to their common rooms.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and a few other Gryffindors found themselves heading down a corridor as quietly as they could. Having left the Hall later than the others they soon found themselves on their own. In the distance they could hear the sounds of spells being cast, the firing of Dalek weaponry, and the screams of the dying.

"What do we do?" asked Ginny Weasley, looking absolutely terrified.

"We're going to die!" sobbed a fourth year girl who's name Harry couldn't really remember, Romilda something or other (2).

"We need to remain calm!" said Harry as loudly as he dared. "Losing our heads won't help!" He looked around at everybody else: Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Dean Thomas, Colin Creevy, a fourth-year Gryffindor called Ritchie Coote, and the Romilda girl. All of them looked to him for guidance.

"We need to get back to the Common room." said Harry decisively. "The Daleks won't be able to enter there." He pulled out the Marauder's Map and quickly swore that he was up to no good. The group gathered round the map as it appeared.

Even on the map things looked grim. Dozens of dots labelled 'Dalek' were moving about the corridors and they all tried to ignore the dots that abruptly dried onto the parchment, never to move again. There was something of interest though.

"It's all changed…" said Hermione in confusion. It was true - all of the secret passages had been changed. No, not changed, thought Harry, connected.

"That's how the Master and the Daleks got around the school so easily," he said. "They've used the Room of Requirement to alter the passages."

"Can they do that?" asked Ron in surprise.

"That room has always been a mystery," said Hermione. "Even Hogwarts - A History doesn't seem to know that much about it."

They suddenly heard "Exterminate!" followed by the sound of someone screaming as they were shot down from just around the corner. There was no time to talk. Luckily there was an entrance nearby. Moving quickly, Harry led the others to where the entrance should be, but where was the entrance?

"Here!" said Ron, patting a statue on the shoulder. The statue promptly nodded in confirmation and stepped to one side, revealing a tunnel. "Fred and George told me about that one," said Ron, grinning as Hermione kissed him on the cheek in relief. "Thank heavens for your memory!" she said.

"No time, everybody in there!" hissed Harry. Everybody quickly piled in.

When the Dalek rounded the corner a few seconds later, the corridor was empty. It proceeded down the corridor, only to stop next to the statue as it detected life-signs nearby. It looked around in all directions carefully, trying to determine where the humans were. But no matter what it did it could not spot them, and the magical properties of this castle were being disruptive for Dalek technology… Dismissing the problem as mere interference, the Dalek moved on.

Harry had his ear to the wall, his heart beating loudly. He was sure the Dalek outside would hear it. Had it seen the passage close up after they had entered? He looked at the map and was relieved to see the dot labelled 'Dalek' moving away from the entrance to the passage.

Harry turned back to others. The light was very dim but a quick "Lumos!" brightened things up a bit. They were in a short, surprisingly well furnished tunnel. Further down they could see further corridors branching off to unknown destinations. Harry rechecked the Map. "If we go down…. here," he announced, pointing at one of the tunnels. "It should take us to a point very close to the Common Room."

"What about the tunnel to Hogsmeade?" suggested Ron. "We could get everybody out that way."

Harry studied the Map but all of the tunnels connected in a very confusing way, and he couldn't see the Hogsmeade Tunnel. "Too risky from here. Let's get to the common room and go from there. Besides, it's probably under guard." He put the map away. "Let's go."

They began to set off, Harry bringing up the rear. Up head he saw Dean take Ginny's hand and suddenly felt a pang of annoyance. Doing his best to ignore it he studied the map intently.

Everybody seemed to be holding up well. Richie Coote was humming an old Qudditch song in order to keep calm and Romilda Thingy kept looking back at Harry and smiling at him. Colin Creevy initially kept up an endless stream of chatter; "I knew you'd save us Harry, it's what the papers have been saying isn't it? You know, about you being the Chosen One. Is this what everything was building up to d'you reckon? I always thought it would have had something to do with You-Know-Who…" Eventually a scream rang out that sounded uncomfortably like it was coming just outside the tunnel they were travelling down and Colin thankfully shut up.

Ron and Hermione led the group onwards, stopping at every junction for directions from Harry. It was an incredibly nerve-wracking journey. Occasionally they heard the sounds of fighting or people dying outside and Harry would signal everybody to be quiet. Hermione in particular took it badly and with each encounter she would start shaking and Ron would have to calm her down. Plus there was always the danger that a Dalek would re-enter the tunnel for whatever reason...

Eventually they had to stop to rest. Everyone sat down. Colin Creevy drew his legs up and rocked back and forth, looking terrified, while Ritchie Coote leaned back and tried to relax, still humming the Qudditch song. Ron and Hermione sat together in silence. Harry noticed they were holding hands for comfort. Romilda smiled up at Harry for what felt like the millionth time and Harry smiled tightly back. "Thanks for getting us here!" she said suddenly.

"Save the thanks for when we're back in the Common Room" replied Harry, looking away from her and at Ginny and Dean. The two of them were holding onto each other tightly for comfort. A wave of jealously swept over Harry suddenly and he hurriedly looked at the Map and tried to dismiss the feelings.

They had made good progress. Soon would come the tricky bit… they would have to leave the tunnels and get to the entrance through the Gryffindor Common Room in the open. "Not far now," he said encouragingly.

At that exact moment, the Master flicked the switch on his watch.

In the Room of Requirement the Death Eater that was on permanent duty there rose to its feet as it received new instructions. It crossed to a panel on the wall and opened it, revealing a bank of switches and levers. As it began manipulating the controls the room shuddered and twisted as it changed. The wave of change swept from the room and across the whole of Hogwarts.

Instantly everything began to change. Walls folded open revealing new corridors, doorways suddenly sealed up. Staircases realigned themselves and rooms suddenly wiped themselves clean and took on new forms.

In amongst al this the Daleks, students and Aurors all found themselves caught up in the changes. Daleks were crushed as walls suddenly appeared from nowhere, Aurors quickly pulled students to safety and one hapless seventh year sheltering in one of the classrooms looked up in alarm as the door suddenly sealed up and the room began to shrink.

Within a matter of minutes Hogwarts had reshaped itself into quite a different layout of rooms.

Somewhere deep in these new rooms the Master found himself in a passage that led uninterrupted to his destination and laughed in triumph.

It wasn't apparent that anything was wrong at first but gradually first Harry and then everyone else heard - the sound of stone scraping and crashing together. What was it? Telling the group to stay where they were, Harry doubled back the way they had come to see what was happening. What he saw was unbelievable.

At the far end of the tunnel the walls were closing in. bit by bit the walls were joining together and sealing up, the whole process speeding towards Harry.

There was no time to waste. Harry ran back to the group. "Get up! We have to go, now!" The others leapt to their feet and ran, the passageway closing up behind them.

It became clear as they ran that the passageway was closing up at a faster rate than they could run, and it was only a matter of time before it caught them. Harry had hoped that they would find an exit, but whenever they saw one it quickly closed up.

It's all a part of the Room. Harry realised. Something's changed. Our only hope is to find one of the natural secret passages.

On and on they ran, the closing walls gaining on the inch by inch. Harry noticed the others beginning to tire. "Not far!" he shouted. "Keep going!" in his heart he prayed it was true.

Then they saw it. Just up ahead, was another passage, its appearance different to the tunnel they were in.

Harry's heart leapt. They had made it! Harry charged into this new corridor and was relieved to see that nothing changing or being altered here. Behind him Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Dean reached safety, but Romilda and Colin were lagging behind. Leaning in Harry grabbed Romilda's hand just as she tripped and pulled her to safety. Colin put on a burst of speed towards Harry, reaching out to grab his hand.

Then next thing Harry knew Colin had tripped and was swallowed up by the joining of the walls instantly. The next thing he knew he was up against a wall, the process finished. It was as if the passage they had just travelled down had never been there. Harry frantically knocked on the wall. "Colin! COLIN!"

There was a no reply.

Harry and Ron pointed their wand at the wall and tried every spell that they could think of but it was no use. Harry was't even sure where the join in the wall had been now. "It's no use…" he said, turning to the others. They all looked both devastated and horrified at Colin's fate. "We can't stay here," said Harry forcefully. He pushed through the group to the doorway leading back into the corridors of Hogwarts and inched it open. To his relief, the corridor was empty. "All clear," he reported, pushing the door open and stepping out. The others quickly followed.

But they had barely left the secret passage when they suddenly felt a tremor pass through the castle and heard what sounded like monstrous footsteps approaching them. As one the entire group pulled out their wands.

"What now?" asked Ron wearily. But his eyes widened in horror as a creature appeared from around the corner.

"What is that?" asked Dean incredulously, putting a protective arm on Ginny.

It had the appearance of a giant four-legged spider that had been stretched and twisted out of shape. Its body was covered in a black shiny substance… the same stuff that the Master had been searching for? Thick black tentacles emerged from its back and waved in the air menacingly.

But the worst feature was the head - a human head sat atop the grotesque body and looked incredibly out of place. It's features had been altered to look more monstrous, but they were still recognisable…

"Professor!" shrieked Hermione suddenly. "Harry - it's Professor McGonagall!"

As if angered at the reminder of i's former identity the Creature roared at them and began to move towards them at a formidable speed.

"Impedimenta!" cried Harry suddenly, raising his wand as fast as he could. The spell hit the creature full force but aside from a brief stumble the Creature was unaffected. "All together! NOW!" bellowed Harry.

"IMPEDIMENTA!" cried the group. The spells hit the creature full force, flinging it backwards and onto its back. Harry saw one of it's tentacles brush a suit of armour and watched in astonishment as the armour instantly melted into a black puddle that was absorbed into the Creature's body. "Run!" cried Harry. "The Common room's just back here! And don't let it touch you!"

The group ran through the corridors with the McGonagall Creature hard on their heels. They were very close to the Common room, but Harry wasn't sure leading the creature there would be such a good idea. He looked around at the corridors as they ran through them. That was odd, he could have sworn some of these corridors hadn't been here before…

Just when it looked like things couldn't get worse, they turned the corner and found themselves facing a group of Daleks. "Exterminate!" they cried as one. Hermione screamed and clutched at Ron.

Next thing they knew, the McGonagall Creature had leapt over them and attacked the Daleks, who fired upon the creature in alarm as it smashed into them, sending them flying. Before the terrified gaze of the students the creature grabbed one of the Dalek's with it's tentacles and smashed it into the others. Taking advantage of the distraction, Harry quickly and quietly urged the others down a side corridor. After a creepy yet uneventful journey they found themselves in front of the profit of the Fat Lady.

"Thank goodness you've made it! Quick, inside!" she urged, swinging open unprompted. But even as the group began to climb in Harry heard something behind him that made his blood freeze.

"Location unlocked, all Daleks move in!"

Harry spun round in time to see a Dalek rounding the corner. It had been a trap, the Daleks had been waiting for someone to show them where the Common Rooms were. "Go on, quickly!" he shouted, pulling out his wand and pointing at the Dalek. He tried to shout "Lectorius Sparkus!" but had to throw himself aside mid sentence as the Dalek fired at him. Giving up on the idea of holding it off, Harry turned and ran over to the portrait, happy at least that everyone had made it in okay. He leapt in and watched the portrait close with great relief.

There wasn't a lot of people in the common room Harry spotted Katie Bell, Dennis Creevy Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnegan amongst the people he didn't know, but there were a lot of students unaccounted for, They must still be out there…

"Harry!" cried Neville as he spotted them. "You made it!"

Instantly everyone in he Common room crowded around Harry's group. "How did you avoid those things? Have you seen hat it's like out there?" What do we do?" they asked, shouting questions left right and centre.

Harry held up his gad for silence. "Calm down, calm down! Panicking isn't going to help!" he called. The room fell silent. Harry was about to carry on talking when they all realised that they could hear the Dalek and the Fat Lady on the other side of the portrait (3).

"Open!" ordered the Dalek.

"Not without the password!" said the Fat Lady indignantly, with a hint of smugness.

"Open, or you will be exterminated!" replied the Dalek.

"I would like to see you trYEEEEEEEEEE" the Fat Lady's scream rang around the common room as the portrait suddenly exploded inwards. Several students were thrown back while others screamed in horror as the Dalek emerged in from the cloud of dust and entered the common room.

Appendix

(1) One person had a ghost fly straight through him by mistake once and was convinced that it had taken something from inside him in the progress. He unsuccessfully tried to sue the Ghost for this.

(2) Although now long gone, there was a family whose name really was Something-Or-Other. Nobody really liked the Something-Or-Others, as it was said they were incredibly vain.

(3) I was tempted to call the chapter 'The Dalek and the Fat Lady' but it was a bit of a giveaway, sadly.