I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
Sneaking In
Alex finished casting the usual protective charms around them, then turned to the rest of the group, of whom he was the only one not completely robbed of strength from the cold of their flight or the hard impact of the water they'd splashed down in after they jumped from their ride, which had landed on the shore opposite theirs. All of the others had angry red burns over their bodies, their clothing singed away in places, and they were grimacing as they dabbed essence of dittany on their many burns, except Luna, who held her arms out to her sides, smiling expectantly.
"You know I've never done burns before, right?" Alex asked.
Luna simply smiled even brighter, and Alex sighed, touching his wand to a burn gently. He chanted the proper incantation and felt his wand take care of the rest, Luna's burn fading in seconds. He and his wand repeated the process for the rest of her burns, and by the time Alex had finished with both her burns and his own, he was able to cast the charm himself. Finally, he'd finished the medical treatment and pulled his and Luna's normal clothes and dragon skin jackets out of his pocket. Everyone changed into clean, dry robes facing away from everyone else, for lack of proper privacy. Once changed, Alex started them a bluebell campfire and they all sat around it to warm up.
"Well, on the upside," Ron said finally, sitting and watching the skin on his hands regrow, "we got the Horcrux. On the downside-"
"-no sword," Harry finished through gritted teeth, as he dripped dittany through the singed hole in his jeans onto the angry burn beneath.
"No sword," Ron repeated. "That double-crossing little scab..."
"Says the one who first brought up the idea of double-crossing Griphook," Alex countered. "Is it any wonder he expected us to double-cross him?"
Harry pulled the Horcrux from the pocket of the wet jacket he had just taken off and set it down on the grass in front of them. Glinting in the sun, it drew their eyes as they swigged their bottles of pumpkin juice, Alex and Luna's sitting neglected off to the side.
"At least we can't wear it this time, that'd look a bit weird hanging around our necks," Ron said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.
Hermione looked across the lake to the far bank where the dragon was still drinking. "What'll happen to it, do you think? Will it be alright?"
"It'll be fine," Alex said. "That breed's senses of hearing and smell are as strong together as its sight. It'll be just fine."
"You sound like Hagrid, Hermione," Ron said, "It's a dragon, it can look after itself. It's us we need to worry about."
"What do you mean?"
"Well I don't know how to break this to you," Ron said, "but I think they might have noticed we broke into Gringotts."
All of them started to laugh, and once started, it was difficult to stop. Harry lay back in the grass as he laughed, Hermione leaned on Ron's shoulder, and Luna collapsed into Alex's lap as her rare, shrieking laughter rang out, making the others laugh all the harder.
"What are we going to do, though?" Hermione asked finally, hiccuping herself back to seriousness. "He'll know, won't he? You-Know-Who will know we know about his Horcruxes!"
"Maybe they'll be too scared to tell him!" Ron said hopefully, "Maybe they'll cover up the break-in!"
"I doubt it," Alex said, just as Harry yelped in pain, clutching at his scar. "Looks like a no."
After several minutes of Harry thrashing, going pale, sweating, he finally stirred.
"He knows, Harry croaked. "He knows and he's going to check where the others are, and the last one," he was already on his feet, "is at Hogwarts. I knew it. I knew it."
"What?"
Ron was gaping at him. Hermione sat up, looking worried. Alex and Luna exchanged knowing glances.
"But what did you see?" Hermione asked. "How do you know?"
"I saw him find out about the cup, I...I was in his head, he's..." Harry paused as he seemed to remember something specific about the vision. "He's seriously angry, and scared too, he can't understand how we knew, and now he's going to check the others are safe, the ring first. He thinks the Hogwarts one is safest, because Snape's there, because it'll be so hard not to be seen getting in. I think he'll check that one last, but he could still be there within hours."
"Did you see where in Hogwarts it is?" Ron asked, now scrambling to his feet too.
"No, he was concentrating on warning Snape, he didn't think about exactly where it is," Harry explained.
"Wait, wait!" Hermione cried as Ron snatched up the Horcrux and Harry pulled out the Invisibility Cloak again. "We can't just go, we haven't got a plan, we need to-"
"We have a plan," Alex spoke up suddenly, all eyes turning to him, though Luna's were more excited than confused or worried.
"My family," Alex said. "And Neville. My family can scout the Black Lake, then bring us there, and from there, I can send word to Neville so that he can fill a tub of water for me to transport us into."
"Forget the tub," Harry said. "He could meet us at the prefect bathroom and fill the bath. It's the size of a pool."
Alex nodded. "Perfect. So we just need to get to my home first."
"Wait," Hermione said, hesitating. "I don't think it's a good idea. What if there are defenses? Or what if someone's in the bathroom?"
"Hermione, we don't have time to-" Harry began.
"I'm not saying we shouldn't go!" Hermione said hurriedly. "But, well, maybe we shouldn't all arrive the same way. If we all get caught together..."
"We're finished," Harry understood.
"Okay," Alex nodded. "Then me and Luna will go my way. You three find another way in. But be careful about it."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all nodded, and Alex and Luna stood, heading to the lake and diving in. Alex immediately transported them to his island. Within seconds of them surfacing, Alex explained what he needed, and April and Chloe nodded, transporting themselves to the Black Lake along with Alex. Alex waved his wand, and a pulse of warm water spread outward from it. After a moment, the pulse had spread through the entire lake and returned, and his wand warmed. Alex nodded, and April and Chloe headed home, then reappeared with Luna.
"Be careful," April urged.
"We'll get the others ready to help in case you need us," Chloe promised.
Alex nodded, hugging both of them, then swam up to the surface with Luna. Once they had surfaced, both looking around carefully, Alex froze a spot on the lake's surface and snapped his fingers. Winky appeared atop the ice at once.
"Master!" Winky gushed, sobbing at once. "Winky is thinking Master is dead, but now Master is alive!"
"I'm glad you're alright, too, Winky, but I need you to do me a favor," Alex said. "I need you to get a message to Neville Longbottom. He needs to get to the prefects' bath and fill the tub without getting caught so that me and Luna can use the water to get into the school. I'd have you take us, but your Apparition is too loud, and I also want to know that we reappear around people we can trust. Also, I need you to Apparerate and Disapparate from underwater."
Winky nodded, dropping into the water and Disapparating with a muffled crack, then reappeared about ten minutes later and surfaced. "It is ready, Master. "The Longbottom boy is waiting."
"Thank you, Winky," Alex said. "Head on home, now."
Winky nodded, dipping underwater once again to muffle the sound of her Apparating before Alex and Luna likewise dipped under water, then swam downward, Alex transporting them to the prefects' bath where they surfaced before Saemus.
"Alex!" Saemus greeted with a bright smile and a loud whisper. "Luna! It's so good to see you both!"
Both hauled themselves out of the water before Alex dried them both with a wave of his wand.
"Let's get to the common room," Alex urged. "Where's Neville?"
Saemus nodded toward the door, and they walked over to it. Saemus knocked softly, and after a moment, someone knocked in return. They slipped out the door, finding Neville standing guard, wand-drawn, hair grown long, face scratched and cut, robes torn, one eye swollen but fading from bruise to yellow, and overall looking haggard and run-down, and the four of them quickly made their way to the Gryffindor commong room, using Alex's watch to ensure they met no one. Finally, they reached the common room and were immediately greeted by all of the Gryffindors present. After several minutes, they escaped the mob of excited students, and Alex sat against the window as he lit a cigarette for the first time in a while. Being at a school controlled by Death Eaters was making him anxious. And the surprisingly battered, abused appearance of so many of his fellow Gryffindors was adding to it. Saemus in particular, now that Alex looked at him properly, looked terrible. Worse than Neville. His face was bruised and swollen, and his posture bore all the signs of an extended beating and torture.
"I can't tell you all everything," Alex said as everyone watched him, "but we've been traveling around with Harry to find a way to stop You-Know-Who. And for those who don't know, his name is jinxed, and if you say it, Death Eaters will show up to kill you, so no one say it. Anyway, Harry's on his way here, so we need to be ready to greet him when he shows up. And we need a way to get him in without being caught."
"We've got one of those," Neville said. "How can we help beside that? What's the plan?"
"For now, let's focus on getting Harry and the others in safely," Alex said. "We'll discuss the rest later."
Everyone nodded, and Neville borrowed Alex's watch to quickly lead him and Luna to the Room of Requirement. It had been transformed into a sort of bunk house. Hammocks stretched from one place to another everywhere, every House's colors and emblems were displayed around the room, except for Slytherin, unsurprisingly. Bookshelves lined the walls, and a little more than twenty people were in the room, though they swarmed Alex and Luna upon seeing them. While they did, Neville managed to get Alex's watch back into his hand, then disappeared into a passageway behind a portrait on the wall. Finally, just as the crowd, which Alex recognized as D.A. members, were beginning to calm, Neville returned along of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and the excitement returned, though directed at the other three this time.
Alex sighed, relieved to be out of the spotlight. Finally, the crowd began to calm as Neville explained about using the room as a hideout from the Carrows, and Alex glanced around at the room gratefully, smiling. Then, he opened his pocket, whistling. With a whoosh, all of his and Luna's tiny pets burst free from the pocket for the first time in a while, soaring excitedly around the room and greeting everyone.
"Tell us what you've been up to, though," Ernie said at last. "There've been so many rumors, we've been trying to keep up with you on Potterwatch." He pointed at the wireless nearby. "You didn't break into Gringotts?"
"They did!" Neville nodded. "And the dragon's true too!"
There was a smattering of applause and a few whoops. Ron took a bow.
"What were you after?" Seamus asked eagerly.
Almost on cue, Harry turned away, holding a hand to his forehead. He began to collapse, but Ron caught him, holding him up. Finally, Harry's senses returned.
"Are you all right, Harry?" Neville asked. "Want to sit down? I expect you're tired, aren't-"
"No," Harry said, tiredly but forcefully. "We need to get going."
"What are we going to do, then, Harry?" Saemus asked. "What's the plan?"
"Plan?" repeated Harry. "Well, there's something we...Ron, Hermione, Luna, Alex, and I...need to do, and then we'll get out of here."
Nobody was laughing or whooping anymore. Neville looked confused.
"What d'you mean, 'get out of here'?"
"We haven't come back to stay," Harry said, rubbing his scar, trying to soothe the pain. "There's something important we need to do."
"What is it?"
"I...I can't tell you."
There was a ripple of muttering at this: Neville's brows contracted.
"Why can't you tell us? It's something to do with fighting You-Know-Who, right?"
"Well, yeah."
"Then we'll help you."
The other members of Dumbledore's Army were nodding, some enthusiastically, others solemnly. A couple of them rose from their chairs to demonstrate their willingness for immediate action.
"You don't understand," Harry seemed to have said that a lot in the last few hours. "We...We can't tell you. We've got to do it...alone."
"Why?" asked Neville.
"Because ..." Harry's brow furrowed, his scar evidently still hurting.
"Dumbledore's orders," Alex stepped in. "It's supposed to be just me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Explicit instructions from Dumbledore. Luna's only allowed to be a part of it because, as all of you know, I need her. My anxiety would have killed me without her. It almost did before Christmas."
"We're his army," Neville argued. "Dumbledore's Army. We were all in it together, we've been keeping it going while you lot have been off on your own."
"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," Ron said.
"I never said it had, but I don't see why you can't trust us. Everyone in this room's been fighting, and they've been driven in here because the Carrows were hunting them down. Everyone in here's proven they're loyal to Dumbledore...loyal to you."
"Look," Harry began, but the tunnel door had just opened behind him.
"We got your message, Neville! Hello you three, I thought you must be here!"
It was Dean. Seamus gave a great roar of delight and ran to hug his best friend.
"Dean," Harry said distractedly, "what are you doing here? How did you..."
"I sent for him," said Neville, holding up a D.A. fake Galleon. "I promised him and Ginny that if you turned up I'd let them know. We all thought that if you came back, it would mean revolution. That we were going to overthrow Snape and the Carrows."
"Of course that's what it means," Dean said. "Isn't it, Harry? We're going to fight them out of Hogwarts?"
"Listen," Harry said, panic, "I'm sorry, but that's not what we came back for. There's something we've got to do, and then..."
"You're going to leave us in this mess?" demanded Michael Corner.
"No!" Ron snapped back. "What we're doing will benefit everyone in the end, it's all about trying to get rid of You-Know-Who."
"Then let us help!" said Neville angrily. "We want to be a part of it!"
There was another noise behind them, and Harry turned. His heart seemed to fall. Ginny was now climbing through the hole in the wall, closely followed by Fred, George, and Lee Jordan. Ginny gave Harry a radiant smile and all but leapt at him, greeting him with a kiss.
"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed," Fred said, raising his hand in answer to several cries of greeting. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station."
Harry's mouth fell open once Ginny pulled away and he had time to see who else had come. Right behind Lee Jordan came Harry's old girlfriend, Cho Chang. She smiled at him.
"I got the message," she said, holding up her own fake Galleon and she walked over to sit beside Michael Corner.
"So what's the plan, Harry?" George asked, even as he and Fred began to pass out dragon skin vests and Shield Charm gloves. "There's one for everyone, so don't fight!"
"There isn't one," Harry said, still seeming disoriented by the sudden appearance of all these people.
"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favorite kind," Fred grinned.
"You've got to stop this!" Harry told Neville. "What did you call them all back for? This is insane!"
"We're fighting, aren't we?" Dean checked, taking out his fake Galleon. "The message said Harry was back, and we were going to fight! I'll have to get a wand, though."
"You haven't got a wand?" Seamus began.
Ron turned suddenly to Harry.
"Why can't they help?"
"What?"
"They can help." He dropped his voice and said, so that none of them could hear but Hermione, who stood between them, "We don't know where it is. We've got to find it fast. We don't have to tell them it's a Horcrux."
Harry looked from Ron to Hermione, who murmured, "I think Ron's right. We don't even know what we're looking for, we need them." And when Harry looked unconvinced, "You don't have to do everything alone, Harry."
"Right, so we're not here to fight," Alex spoke out clearly. "We're here to try and find something we need in order to stop You-Know-Who. But we're on a short clock and have to be careful, because if he finds out Harry's here, he'll drop everything and come here. I'll be honest, all we know about this item is that it's something tied to Ravenclaw. Probably owned by her. It'll have her emblem on it, be small and easy to hide, and it's somewhere in Hogwarts, but we don't know where."
Everyone looked around in complete silence.
"I've been thinking about it," Luna spoke up. "And I think it might be Ravenclaw's lost diadem. It was lost centuries ago, but it's the only famous object she owned."
"Yes, but the lost diadem is lost, Luna," Michael Corner answered her. "That's the whole point."
"What is a diadem?" Ron asked.
"It's like a tiara," Alex said. "A small crown that sits atop the wearer's head."
"If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, I could take you up to our common room and show you, Harry," Cho offered. "Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue."
"Luna can do it," Alex said. "Ron and Hermione will stay here with all of you to try and think of any other options or hiding places, and Harry, Luna, and I will go see the statue."
Luna's eyes lit up at once. "I finally get to show you my common room!"
A few people laughed at her excited squeel, and Harry turned to Nevill.
"How do we get out?"
"Over here," Neville said. He led Harry, Alex, and Luna to a corner, where a small cupboard opened onto a steep staircase. "It comes out somewhere different every day, so they've never been able to find it. Only trouble is, we never know exactly where we're going to end up when we go out. Be careful, Harry, they're always patrolling the corridors at night."
"No problem," Harry said as Alex pulled up his watch's map. "See you in a bit."
The three of them hurried up the staircase, which was long, lit by torches, and turned corners in unexpected places. At last they reached what appeared to be solid wall.
"Get under here," Harry told Luna, pulling out the Invisibility Cloak.
"No need," Alex said, tapping Luna on top of the head with his wand and waving it over himself, both vanishing instantly.
Harry nodded and threw his cloak over himself, then gave the wall a little push. It melted away at his touch and they slipped outside. Harry glanced back and saw that it had resealed itself at once. They were standing in a dark corridor. Harry pulled Luna back into the shadows, Luna pulling Alex, and Alex heard the rustle of paper as Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map. Alex checked his own map.
"We're up on the fifth floor," he whispered, watching Filch moving away from them, a corridor ahead.
"Yeah," Harry whispered back. "Come on, this way."
They crept off. They passed through squares of moonlight upon the floor, past suits of armor whose helmets creaked at the sound of their soft footsteps, around corners beyond which who knew what lurked. The three of them walked quickly, checking the Marauder's Map whenever light permitted, twice pausing to allow a ghost to pass without drawing attention to themselves. Alex expected to encounter an obstacle at any moment. His worst fear was Peeves, and he strained his ears with every step to hear the first, telltale signs of the poltergeist's approach. There was a chance he could get Peeves to cooperate, but he also may not, and Peeves would ruin their plans.
"This way, Harry," Luna breathed, plucking his sleeve and pulling him toward a spiral staircase.
They climbed in tight, dizzying circles, Alex smiling at the familiar path. Harry had never been up here before, Alex didn't think, but he was familiar with this stretch of the path. At last they reached a door. There was no handle and no keyhole. Nothing but a plain expanse of aged wood, and a bronze knocker in the shape an eagle.
"Which way from here?" Alex asked. "This is the furthest you've ever let me walk you."
Luna smiled knowingly and reached out a hand. She knocked once, and at once the beak of the eagle opened, but instead of a bird's call, a soft, musical voice said, "Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?"
"Hmm...What do you think, Harry?" Luna asked, looking thoughtful. "Alex?"
"This...This is the common room, isn't it?" Alex asked.
Luna beamed up at him, smiling, and Alex kissed her.
"What? Isn't there a password?" Harry asked.
"Oh no, you've got to answer a question," Luna said.
"What if you get it wrong?"
"Well, you have to wait for somebody who gets it right," Luna said. "That way you learn, you see?"
"Harry, this is Ravenclaw," Alex said. "Wisdom and all that."
"Yeah...Trouble is, we can't really afford to wait for anyone else."
"No, I see what you mean," Luna said seriously. "Well then, I think the answer is that a circle has no beginning."
"Well reasoned," said the voice, and the door swung open.
The deserted Ravenclaw common room was a wide, circular room, airier than the Gryffindor common room. Graceful arched windows punctuated the walls, which were hung with blue-and-bronze silks. By day, the Ravenclaws would have a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The ceiling was domed and painted with stars, which were echoed in the midnight-blue carpet. There were tables, chairs, and bookcases, and in a niche opposite the door stood a tall statue of white marble.
Alex assumed this was Rowena Ravenclaw. The statue stood beside a door that led, he guessed, to dormitories above. Harry strode right up to the marble woman, Alex just behind him, and she seemed to look back at him with a quizzical half smile on her face, beautiful yet slightly intimidating. A delicate-looking circlet had been reproduced in marble on top of her head. It was not unlike the tiara Fleur had worn at her wedding. There were tiny words etched into it. Harry stepped out from under the Cloak and climbed up onto Ravenclaw's plinth to read them.
"'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure,'" Harry read aloud.
"Which makes you pretty skint, witless," said a cackling voice.
Harry whirled around, slipped off the plinth, and landed on the floor. The sloping-shouldered figure of Alecto Carrow was standing before him, and even as Harry raised his wand, she pressed a stubby forefinger to the skull and snake branded on her forearm.
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