The Room of Hidden Things

A/N: Let me set something straight that I'm sure someone will bring up after reading this chapter. Yes, Minerva was married to him and also dated him when they were at Hogwarts, however, she was not the loner Tom was. She had friends and wouldn't have spent as much time exploring Hogwarts. As JKR points out in comparing young Tom with Harry (and a little to Draco), none of his professors ever strayed from the straight and narrow. They wouldn't know to look in the Room of Requirement. And Minerva had very limited insight into the Horcruxes. Just some note you need to remember when reading this chapter. Also, this takes place in December. Just an FYI.

"You gave me detention? On a Saturday?" spat Draco Malfoy as he entered Professor McGonagall's classroom. "I thought you were supposed to be protecting me? This whole thing is a joke. Detention?"

Minerva set aside the papers she had been grading and looked up at the young man who had just unceremoniously burst into her classroom. She waited until he stomped all the way to her desk, his eyes searing in immature anger.

"Mr. Malfoy, I figured giving you detention would be a better approach than inviting you for tea. Have a seat. We have work to do. Professor Snape will be joining us shortly." Draco gaped at her reaction, or lack thereof. Huffing a bit, he turned to look for a chair, but found the nearest one was sitting at a desk full of books. This chair was indeed the one she had motioned to. Sighing he walked over intending to drag it back.

"Tea?" he asked as he picked up the chair.

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I thought you might want something to drink while you read. I suggest you leave the chair over there. I'll be joining you shortly."

"Read?"

"Mr. Malfoy, I do realize we have had our differences, but I never once doubted your intelligence. So would you kindly think of whole sentences when you speak to me? You are beginning to sound like some of your acquaintances." Minerva stood up and walked over to where he stood and pulled up a chair on the other side of his. "We have some research to do."

"Research?" He gritted his teeth at her exasperated look. "What I mean is, I have no idea what you're talking about, Professor."

She reached out to pick up a book. Upon further inspection, Draco realized all the books were some sort of History book and the majority of them had Hogwarts in the title. "I cannot give you all the details. Professor Snape and I are looking for a crown."

Draco picked up one of the books tentatively and Minerva slipped on her reading glasses. "Why a crown? What does a crown have to do with all of this?"

"I can only tell you that it's very important." The door to her classroom opened slightly and Severus slipped in quietly. Minerva regarded him slightly over the edges of her glasses and went back to scanning the book she was reading.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Snape glanced at McGonagall for an explanation.

She merely shrugged and said, "I thought we could use an extra pair of eyes. So I gave him detention." Severus managed to cover his amusement well and sat down on the other side of the book covered table.

"Any clues besides 'crown' and 'historically important Hogwarts'?" asked Severus as he picked up a book.

"I believe it may have been silver with something blue on it. It was kind of hard to see."

Draco looked between his two professors as if they had gone mad. "So we're actually seriously looking for a crown? And what are we going to do with said crown once we find it? Establish a new monarchy?"

"Mr. Malfoy if you don't start reading, I'll really give you detention and you can start by cleaning every inch of this classroom with a tooth brush. Sound reasonable?" Severus did not even look up from his reading as Minerva calmly berated the young man. Once Draco had stopped rolling his eyes, they all settled into going through the books in front of them.

Pages and pages of old and new information bled before their eyes. There were conflicting stories and outlandish theories. Every time there was a mention of a crown, one person would call the attention of the other two. However, thousands of years of lore and truths had come to confuse the information. There was a goblin crown, a crown for an old insane wizard; crowns were made for the descendants of long blood lines; they sat upon the heads of men and women who waltzed in and out of Hogwarts hundreds of times and none within the past century.

"Could it have been silver with a sapphire on it?" asked Severus four tedious hours later. Their stack of books was waning and their frustration growing.

Minerva removed her glasses momentarily to wipe her eyes. "It's a possibility. Why, what did you find?"

"I know we already talked about Ravenclaw's diadem-"

"Lost diadem," interrupted Draco. Snape glared at his student.

"As I was saying, I know we the diadem was lost, but we never knew what it looked like. I found a picture." He turned his book around. The pages were falling out and the cover was beaten, but the picture was clear. In a beautiful box lined with red velvet sat a silver crown with an oval sapphire in the center. The words 'Wit Beyond Measure is Man's Greatest Treasure' were etched upon the surface.

"That's it." Minerva grabbed for the book as Draco's head sprang up from where it had been lying on his own book.

"But it's lost?" Draco could no longer hide his confusion.

Severus moved around the table in a manner very unlike him in a hurry to stand over Minerva's shoulder to read the page. "The diadem so preciously coveted by many, but protected by Rowena herself has been lost for centuries after her death. It is rumored that her daughter, Helena, stole it around the time of her mother's death. It has not been seen since."

"Helena Ravenclaw...Helena...Whatever happened to her?" muttered Minerva under her breath. Snape seemed to be in a similar predicament.

"She was murdered in Albania." Both professors turned to look at the younger man. Draco leaned back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders. "What? I pay attention in History of Magic."

"Albania," gasped Minerva. She ran her fingers over the picture before looking up at her two companions. She stood up to face Severus. "He was in Albania for a while after she died. He found the diadem."

"And brought it back to Hogwarts..." He turned on his heel to begin pacing. "But where did he put it?"

"I've seen this before." The amazement in Draco's voice caught both of their attention. He was standing over the book staring at the picture. "I know where this is!"

"What?" McGonagall and Snape had spoke in unison. Both of them were staring at Draco as if he were the crazy one now.

"When I was fixing the cabinets last year, I spent a lot of time in the Room of Hidden Things. I saw that exact crown in there." He was excited now and could not believe their confusion. "The Room of Hidden Things...the Room of Requirement? Oh, come on, I'll show you!"

Draco left Minerva's classroom in about the same ferocity as he had entered, only now those emotions were channeled differently. As Severus and Minerva started to follow him, Severus reached out to grab her arm gently. "You said he went to Albania after she died. After who died?"

She just shook her head and turned back to the door. "It's not important and I do not wish to speak about it. Let's go find that diadem."

Draco led them to the Seventh Floor where he paced in front of the tapestry hanging there. Back and forth he slowly walked with eyes closed in concentration as his two elders looked on in skepticism. Both knew the room existed, for that is how the Death Eaters entered the castle just last term, but watching the young man before them try to open it once more they both had their doubts.

Finally, a small door appear in the wall. The three unlikely companions entered cautiously. They spread out immediately searching desperately for the little silver crown that held so much importance for the future of the wizarding world. Minerva could only imagine it was not serving the purpose Rowena Ravenclaw had in mind when she created it.

This certainly wasn't how Draco had intended to spend his Saturday. Four hours of straight reading with the two professors who didn't seem to have a humorous bone in their bodies. Now, here they were searching through piles of junk on some mysterious quest to find a crown. However, he could not help but be intrigued by the entire day.

"I think I found it!" shouted Snape from the far side of the room. McGonagall, who had been using her tabby cat form to scour the higher parts of the room, leapt down onto four paws to rush over to his side. She was returning to her human form as Draco managed to reach them. Sure enough, he held Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem in his hands. The sapphire and silver were dull with dust. It was so simple, yet, as the words on it described, it wasn't the crown itself that was the treasure.

"We need to get it back to your office. You can tell if it is indeed a-" Minerva stopped abruptly in the middle of her sentence, her eyes sliding toward her student.

Draco shrugged and muttered, "Even if I did tell anyone about this, they'd never believe me."

Snape ignored him. "Yes. And then we can destroy it."

"Wait- what?" Draco was completely taken aback. "You're going to destroy the Lost Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw? The one people have dedicated their lives to finding? I mean, I'm just a stupid kid, but that's really powerful magic and it has to be worth a lot, right?"

"Its destruction is worth more than any wisdom in the world," said Minerva bitterly. Snape slipped the diadem into his robes and made for the door. Before following him, she placed her hand firmly on Draco's chest, stopping him in the middle of the room. "And don't let me hear you call yourself a stupid kid again."

That was enough to silence him for the entire walk to the Headmaster's office. He hadn't been here since Snape had became Headmaster, so he was shocked by how much it looked the same. In fact, it hadn't changed at all. Still amazed that he had not been dismissed yet he stood to McGonagall's left side as Snape handed her the diadem and took out his wand.

What happened next happened so fast that, if it had not been for Draco's Seeker training, he wouldn't have been able to catch the diadem. As soon as Minerva touched the silver metal, she let out an involuntary hiss of pain and dropped it. Draco caught it before it could hit the ground. Minerva was clutching her hand and Severus was staring at her with wide eyes, his wand still drawn.

"I'd say that's it," she muttered, breathing heavily. Snape seized her right hand and she winced in pain as he ran his wand over it.

"It burned you," he said in astonishment. Draco looked down at the crown he was holding; one that caused neither him nor Snape any discomfort. "Why?"

She hesitated at his question and stared down at the red whelps on her palm and fingers. Swallowing, she took a few steps back. "It knew what I intend to do with it. You're going to have to destroy it. I'm not sure I can."

Severus tried to search her face for an answer, but she was staring at the diadem in Draco's hand and there were too many emotions on her face for him to figure out which one she was actually feeling. Without another word, he turned on his heel and walked quickly to the wall behind the Headmaster's desk. Draco looked at the woman in front of him and was shocked that in that moment, he saw true palpable fear in her eyes. Whatever power this object held, she was afraid of it. And it scared him.

It scared him just about as much as seeing Severus Snape holding a sword. Which is exactly what he saw when he looked up. "Put it on the table, Mr. Malfoy."

He quickly did as he was told and stepped back. Minerva was still cradling her burned hand, but turned her back on the desk. Snape did not look at either of them as he raised the sword high above his head. He brought it down hard in the next second and as soon as the blade made contact there was a plume of black smoke and a loud hissing, screeching noise. A dark liquid spread out from the silver onto the desk. It finally dawned on Draco what had just transpired: something had been living in that crown and they had just killed it.

One minute passed. And then another. Silence had fallen on the three. Snape held the sword loosely in his hand, his eyes never leaving the broken crown. Draco felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. Minerva's lips were pulled thin and her green eyes looked hollowed and dark.

"It is getting late, Mr. Malfoy. I suggest you go back to your Common Room before you actually receive detention." Draco nodded at Snape's dismissal and quietly left the room.

"We need to get that sword to Mr. Potter. If he got a hold of a horcrux at the Ministry, then he's going to need it," said Minerva faintly. She cleared her throat and when she spoke again, she sounded more like herself. "Have you figured out where they are yet?"

"I have a pretty good idea. I was going to use the time at Christmas to deliver it since it is only a week away and hopefully they won't have moved again."

"Good. And send the pieces of the diadem, too. He needs to know we destroyed it." She made for the door, putting as much distance between herself and the diadem as possible.

"Do you want something for that hand?" he asked before she left.

"No, I'll take care of it. Thank you, Severus." She left in a swirl of emerald green robes.

Snape laid the sword on the desk and carefully picked up the pieces of the diadem. He summoned a small bag to place them in. Tying it shut, he wrapped the cords around the hilt of the sword and placed them both back into the hidden hole in the wall.

Preview:

"Goodness, Minerva, I daresay you were expecting someone else." An woman about Minerva's age, who's hair had completely grayed, was sitting in the armchair with a bright red handbag on the floor beside her. Two young men, whom Minerva now recognized as Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan were groaning on the floor.