I stayed in the common room for the rest of the evening, as Susan ran about telling people things and getting me food. I tried to heal my foot and covered it with a bandage, but I was terrified to deal with my face- and with the scar that ran from my ear to my mouth, all the way across my cheek. So I just tried to rinse it gently and packed a small suitcase. Susan said that we could leave in the middle of the night and that way no one would see us going into the Room of Requirement.

She came back an hour later, wiping her brow as she pulled open her suitcase. "Change of plan, talked to Lavender and them and they're coming too. They don't really want to be alone out here."

I nodded and turned to my bedside table, taking the photo gently in my hands and staring down into my mother's face. Susan came up behind me.

"You're pretty, just like her."

I turned around to look at her. "Not as pretty as you." I gave her a look. "Besides, she was smart and pretty and brave." I sat down on the bed and laid it neatly in the bottom of my bag.

"Han…. You are all those things too. Don't be so hard on yourself. Just because you are in love with one of the thickest boys I've ever met doesn't mean you aren't good enough. You're just going to have to work harder."

I groaned.

"And that makes it cuter when you win his heart." She smiled and poked me, then turned and looked at the Remembrall sitting on the table.

"You still have this?"

I nodded. "I'm not giving it away!"

"Did I say that?" She swung it around in the air.

"Susan!" Susan laughed and handed it back to me.

"You're so adorable and sad Han. Like a dead puppy."

I swung at her, and she let out a high laugh, then fell silent as she watched me tuck the Remembrall into my bag. "I'm serious. You're going to make me cry with your sincerity."

I rolled my eyes at her, straightened up and zipped the bag closed. It seemed strange to sit there laughing with Susan like so many other days, and yet here it was, the closing of me ever sitting in this dormitory like this again.

By midnight, I was pacing, waiting for us to creep along and be safe for the first time all evening. Susan checked her watch and nodded, and we slipped out into the dark corridor. Every step seemed to shake the whole castle and I half expected every corner to reveal a Carrow or Snape to us. And we would be thrown in the dungeons. I convinced myself that someone would come and rescue us. I was halfway through imagining Neville cursing Alecto and saving me, when Susan grabbed my arm and pulled me into an empty classroom. We peered out to see Peeves float past, humming some song he had made up. We waiting a full thirty seconds and kept walking, tiptoeing until we reached the seventh floor corridor.

"Wait for them." Susan whispered, and we paced the corridor for what felt like hours, but was actually two minutes (according to my watch) until Parvati, Lavender and Padma appeared at the other side of the hall, clutching bags and looking terrified.

We all walked back and forth like a demented set of wind-up toys until we saw the door. Lavender knocked twice, and we all waited with baited breath as it swung open and Neville stuck his face out. His brown eyes widened as he saw us all standing there and he opened it wide and pulled us inside, slamming it shut behind us.

"Welcome!"

He went along the line, hugging each girl quick and tight.

"Lavender."

"Parvati."

"Padma."

"Susan."

And finally…

I was sure he would be able to hear my heart bursting from underneath my robes. It was no more than what he gave Susan, but still I was dying, dying inside.

"Hannah."