Joy filled me at the sight of him, I almost squealed. He rushed forward and grabbed Ron, who was nearest to him, in a hug before letting go and grabbing me in surprisingly strong arms. He was much more built than when I'd last seen him, he had a hard stomach and had lost all his baby fat.

"I knew you'd come! Kept telling Seamus it was a matter of time!" He exclaimed when he let go of me and moved towards George, Fred, Angelina, and Lee. Another rush of thrill filled me at Seamus's name, that was two of my friends who were all right!

"Neville, what's happened to you?" Harry asked, a look of surprised delight on his face.

"What? This?" Neville asked, dismissing his many injuries with a shake of the head. "This is nothing, Seamus is worse. You'll see. Shall we get going then? Oh," he turned to Aberforth, "Ab, there might be a couple more people on the way."

"Couple more?" Aberforth repeated ominously. I was still surprised that Neville knew Aberforth, that he had just appeared out of a portrait. "What d'you mean, a couple more, Longbottom? There's a curfew and a Camwaulding Charm on the whole village!"

"I know, that's why they'll be Apparating directly into the bar," Neville said, still smiling. "Just send them down the passage when they get here, will you? Thanks a lot." He'd made his way back into the portrait and was holding out his hand to help me climb in. I took it, surprised at just how worn and calloused it had become. The others followed me, Harry stopped right before he entered and turned back towards Aberforth.

"I don't know how to thank you. You've saved our lives twice."

"Look after 'em, then," Aberforth said gruffly. "I might not be able to save 'em a third time."

Harry chambered up onto the mantelpiece and through the hole with us. There were smooth stone steps on the other side: It looked as though the passageway had been here for years. Brass lamps hung from the walls and the earthy floor was worn and smooth.

"How long's this been here?" Ron asked as we all set off. "It isn't on the Marauder's Map, is it Harry? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of school?"

"yeah, this wasn't there before." George and Fred said together.

"They sealed off all of those before the start of the year," Neville answered. "There's no chance of getting through any of them now, not with the curses over the entrances and Death Eaters and dementors waiting at the exits." He started walking backward, beaming, drinking them in. "Never mind that stuff … Is it true? We heard the Potterwatch, great job by the way guys, did you really break into Gringotts? Did you escape on a dragon? It's everywhere, everyone's talking about it, Terry Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner!"

"Yeah, it's true," Harry said, smiling slightly.

Neville laughed gleefully. Before continuing. "What did you do with the dragon?"

"Released it into the wild," Ron answered. "Hermione was all for keeping it as a pet"

"Don't exaggerate, Ron –" I said, smiling despite myself. It was so good to see Neville, and he was alright, a little beaten up, but he was okay!

"But what have you been doing? People have been saying you've just been on the run, Harry, but I don't think so. I think you've been up to something."

"You're right," Harry said quietly, "but tell us about Hogwarts, Neville, we haven't heard anything."

"It's been …. Well, it's not really like Hogwarts anymore," Neville replied. The smile faded from his face and it became sterner, more commanding. "Do you know about the Carrows?"

"Those two Death Eaters who teach here?"

"They do more than teach, they're in charge of all discipline. They like punishment, the Carrows."

"Like Umbridge?"

"Nah, they make her look tame. The other teachers are all supposed to refer us to the Carrows if we do anything wrong. They don't, though, if they can avoid it. You can tell they all hate them as much as we do. Amycus, the bloke, he teaches what used to be Defense Against the Dark Arts, except now it's just the Dark Arts. We're supposed to practice the Cruciatus Curse on
people who've earned detentions – "

"What?" We all asked together. Our voice echoed eerily down the passage, blending to form one unnatural chord.

"Yeah," Neville said once it faded away. "That's how I got this one," he pointed at a particularly
deep gash in his cheek, "I refused to do it. Some people are into it, though; Crabbe and Goyle love it. First time they've ever been top in anything, I expect." Another grin lifted my lips at the jab, it reminded me of old times.

"Alecto, Amycus's sister, teaches Muggle Studies, which is compulsory for everyone. We've all got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drive wizards into hiding by being vicious toward them, and how the natural order is being reestablished. I got this one," he indicated another slash to his face, "for asking her how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got."

"Blimey, Neville," Ron said in an impressed and disbelieving tone, "there's a time and a place for getting a smart mouth."

"You didn't see her, you wouldn't have stood it either. The thing is, it helps when people stand up to them, it gives everyone hope. I used to notice that when you did it, Harry."

"But they've used you as a knife sharpener," Ron retorted. The path had gotten stiffer and we were beginning to feel slightly winded.

"Doesn't matter. They don't want to spill too much pure blood, so they'll torture us a bit if we're mouthy but they won't actually kill us."

I hated the thought of everything that was going on, but the matter of fact tone that Neville was using made it even worse.

"The only people in real danger are the ones whose friends and relatives on the outside are giving trouble. They get taken hostage. Old Xeno Lovegood was getting a bit too outspoken in The Quibbler, so they dragged Luna off the train on the way back for Christmas."

"Neville, she's all right, we've seen her –" Ron started, knowing how it felt to not know how she was doing.

"Yeah, I know, she managed to get a message to me."

From his pocket he pulled a golden coin, one I had seen often, one I had made.

"These have been great," He said, beaming at me and causing me to blush. "The Carrows never
understood how we were communicating, it drove them mad. We used to sneak out at night and put graffiti on the walls: Dumbledore's Army, Still Recruiting, stuff like that. Snape hated it."

"Awesome!" George and Fred exclaimed, grins lighting their faces.

"Is that why Ginny kept requesting our products?" Fred continued.

"Yeah, we used you're stuff for all sorts of things, really came in handy."

"You used to?" Harry asked, cutting in.

"Well, it got more difficult as time went one. We lost Luna at Christmas, and Ginny never came back after Easter,

"She's okay, they're all at Muriel's." Fred interjected quickly. Neville nodded his head and smiled gratefully.

"Thanks, the three of us were sort of the leaders. The Carrows seemed to know I was behind a lot of it, so they started coming down on me hard, and then Michael Corner went and got caught releasing a first-year they'd chained up, and they tortured him pretty badly. That scared people off."

"What?" Angelina asked, sounding horrified, I agreed. Chaining a first-year? Torturing students?

"Yeah, well, I couldn't ask people to go through what Michael did, so we dropped those kinds of stunts. But we were still fighting, doing underground stuff, right up until a couple of weeks ago. That's when they decided there was only one way to stop me, I suppose, and they went for Gran."

"They what?" We all asked together and our voice echoed eerily again.

"Yeah," said Neville, panting a little now, because the passage was climbing so steeply, "well, you can see their thinking. It had worked really well, kidnapping kids to force their relatives to behave. I s'pose it was only a matter of time before they did it the other way around. Thing was," he faced them, I was shocked to see that he was grinning, "they bit off a bit more than they could chew with Gran. Little old witch living alone, they probably thought they didn't need to send anyone particularly powerful. Anyway," Neville laughed, a deep sound that reverberated down the passage, "Dawlish is still in St. Mungo's and Gran's on the run. She sent me a letter," he clapped a hand to the breast pocket of his robes, "telling me she was proud of me, that I'm my parent's son, and to keep it up."

"Cool," Ron said, smiling.

"Yea," Neville said happily. "Only thing was, once they realized they had no hold over me, they decided Hogwarts could do without me after all. I don't know whether they were planning to kill me or send me to Azkaban, either way, I knew it was time to disappear."

"But," Ron said, looking thoroughly confused, "aren't – aren't we heading straight back for Hogwarts?"

"'Course," said Neville. "You'll see. We're here."

We turned a corner and there ahead of us was the end of the passage. Another short flight of steps led to a door just like the one hidden behind Ariana's portrait. Neville pushed it open and climbed through. As we followed I heard Neville call out;

"Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?"

As Harry emerged into the room behind the passage, there were several screams and yells: "HARRY!" "It's Potter, it's POTTER!" We followed quickly and our names were called out as well. We were in a room that looked like some sort of barrack. There were hammocks all along the walls, with bright colored banners, lamps, and faces everywhere. Before I could take in anything else we were engulfed by people. So many familiar faces that I had feared never to see again, tears filled my eyes as I hugged my friends and greeted them.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Neville called, and as the crowd backed away, I was able to look again. I had no idea where we were. Hammocks were strung from the ceiling, a balcony ran around the top of the room, there were Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff tapestries hanging off the walls, bulging bookcases stood in all the corners, and a single wood cased wireless Radio stood in the center of the room.

"Where are we?" Harry's voice questioned aloud.

"Room of Requirement, of course!" Neville answered gleefully. "Surpassed itself, hasn't it? The Carrows were chasing me, and I knew I had just one chance for a hideout: I managed to get through the door and this is what I found! Well, it wasn't exactly like this when I arrived, it was a load smaller, there was only one hammock and just Gryffindor hangings. But it's expanded as more and more of the D.A. have arrived."

"And the Carrows can't get in?"Harry asked looking around for a door.

"No," said a voice that sounded likeSeamus Finnigan, I hadn't recognized him until that moment. His face was bruised and puffy, he looked like he had been severely beaten. "It's a proper hideout, as long as one of us stays in here, they can't get at us, the door won't open. It's all down to Neville. He really gets this room. You've got to ask for exactly what you need – like, "I don't want any Carrow supporters to be able to get in' – and it'll do it for you! You've just got to make sure you close the loopholes. Neville's the man!"

"It's quite straightforward, really," Neville said modestly. "I'd been in here about a day and a half, and getting really hungry, and wishing I could get something to eat, and that's when the passage to Hog's Head opened up. I went through it and met Aberforth. He's been providing us with food, because for some reason, that's the one thing the room doesn't really do.

"Yeah, well, food's one of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration," Ron said to general astonishment.

"So we've been hiding out here for nearly two weeks," said Seamus, "and it just makes more hammocks every time we need room, and it even sprouted a pretty good bathroom once girls started turning up – "

"—and thought they'd quite like to wash, yes," Lavender said, looking at Angelina and me with a look that clearly said 'boys will be boys.' A grin lifted my lips as I looked at her.

"Tell us what you've been up to, though," Ernie said eagerly, leaning forward. "There've been so many rumors, we've been trying to keep up with you on Potterwatch." He pointed at the wireless. "You didn't break into Gringotts?"

"They did!" said Neville. "And the dragon's true too!"

George, Fred, Lee, and Angelina were positively glowing with pride and happiness. They'd hoped it would help out people like this, but it thrilled them to know people had actually enjoyed it.

"What were you after?" Seamus asked eagerly.

Before we could answer or dodge the question, Harry went rigid and began to fall. Ron had him in his arms in half a step. He relaxed after a moment, a moment where everyone was watching him fearfully, and then he stood back up.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Neville asked, stepping forward and indicating a chair. "Want to sit down? I expect you're tired, aren't - ?"

"No," Harry said shortly, he glanced at Ron and me pointedly. I assumed Voldemort just found out about the Ring, this wasn't good for us.

"We need to get going,"

"What are we going to do, then, Harry?" asked Seamus. "What's the plan?"

"Plan?" repeated Harry. "Well, there's something we – Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Angelina, and I – need to do, and then we'll get out of here."

Nobody was laughing or whooping anymore. Neville looked confused. Lee looked hurt and surprised. Everyone else just looked stunned, I couldn't blame them.

"What d'you mean, 'get out of here'?"

"We haven't come back to stay," Harry said rubbing his scar, "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 said, a slight edge of panic rising in his voice. "We – we can't tell you. We've got to do it – alone."

"Why?" asked Neville.

"Because … Dumbledore left us a job," he said carefully, "and we weren't supposed to tell – I mean, he wanted us to do it, just the three of us."

"We're his army," said Neville. "Dumbledore's Army. We were all in it together, we've been keeping it going while you've been off on your own –"

"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," said Ron.

"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 he was cut off as the tunnel door opened again.

"We got your message, Neville! Hello their, I thought you must be here!" It was Luna and Dean. Seamus let out a roar of delight and ran to hug his best friend. Ron had lunged forward and grabbed Luna in an equally as tight hug, you'd have thought he hadn't seen her in ages, not just one day.

"Hi, everyone!" She said happily, hugging Ron back. "Oh, it's great to be back!"

"Luna," Harry asked distractedly, "what are you doing here? How did you - ?"

"I sent for her," said Neville, holding up the fake Galleon. "I promised her 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," said Luna brightly. "Isn't it, Harry? We're going to fight them out of Hogwarts?"

"Listen," said Harry with a rising sense of 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 Cornet.

"No!" said Ron. "What we're doing will benefit everyone in the end, it's all about trying to get rid of You-Know-Who – "

Fred and George were looking at each other, holding some sort of silent conversation. I'd have given anything to know what they were trying to say.

"Then let us help!" said Neville angrily. "We want to be a part of it!"

There was another noise behind them, I turned and smiled even more brightly, Ginny was now climbing through the hole in the wall followed closely by Alicia and Katie. Alicia went straight to Lee and grabbed him in a tight hug while Katie went to Angelina and then to George. My stomach tightened at the sight of her and I had to fight the urge to hit her when she grabbed his arm. Ginny gave Harry a radiant smile he looked horrified.

Harry's mouth fell open and I turned to see why, Cho Chang came through. She held up her Galleon smiling before she sat next to Michael.

"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?" said Dean, 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-?" began Seamus. I stepped forward, reaching into my bag and pulled out Bellatrix's old wand.

"Here you go," I said, handing it to him. He recognized the tip with a look of surprise.

"Wow,"

"Consider it payback." I said, smiling softly. He nodded his head, a grin lighting his lips as Pavarti squeezed into the seat next to him.

Ron turned to Harry suddenly as I made my way back. "Why can't they help?"

"What?"

"They can don't know where it is. We've got to find it fast. We don't have to tell them it's a Horcrux."

"But we should tell them it's necessary to bring down Voldemort, you've got to give them an incentive to find it." Fred interjected.

"I think Ron's right. We don't even know what we're looking for, we need them." I said, I was sick of lying, why couldn't we tell our friends, our allies the truth? "You don't have to do everything alone, Harry."

"All right," he said quietly after a moment. "Okay there's something we need to find," Harry said. "Something – something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It's here at Hogwarts, but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that? Has anyone come across something with her eagle on it, for instance?"

He looked hopefully toward the little group of Ravenclaws, to Padma, Michael, Terry, and Cho, but it was Luna who answered, perched on the arm of Ginny's chair.

"Well, there's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember, Harry? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it."

"Yeah, but the lost diadem," said Michael Corner, rolling his eyes, "is lost, Luna. That's sort of the point."

"When was it lost?" asked Harry.

"Centuries ago, they say," said Cho, and Harry's heart sank. "Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked, but," she appealed to her fellow Ravenclaws. "Nobody's ever found a trace of it, have them?" They all shook their heads. Great, we were doomed.

"Sorry, but what is a diadem?" Ron asked and I had to fight not to roll my eyes. Neville grew paler and looked alarmed, I couldn't blame him. We didn't exactly install a lot of confidence, we didn't even know what we were looking for..

"It's a kind of crown," Terry answered. "Ravenclaw's was supposed to have magical properties, enhance the wisdom of the wearer."

"Yes, Daddy's Wrackspurt siphons – "

Harry cut across Luna. "And none of you have ever seen anything that looks like it?

They all shook their heads again. Cho spoke again. "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. Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue."

Harry shuddered again, his hand twitching towards his scar.

" "Listen, I know it's not much of a lead, but I'm going to go look at this statue, at least find out what the diadem looks like. Wait for me here and keep, you know – the other one – safe."

Cho had got to her feet, but Ginny said rather fiercely, "No, Luna will take Harry, won't you, Luna?" I almost laughed at the fiery look in her brown eyes. Luna nodded her head dreamily and Ron stiffened next to me. He shot Harry and Ginny a pointed glare before turning back to Luna worriedly.

"Oooh, yes, I'd like to," she said happily.

"How do we get out?" Harry asked Neville.

"Over here." He said, leading them away. Everyone else turned back to the rest of us expectantly.

"What all have you been up too?" Lavender asked, leaning forward on her seat. "I noticed a new accessory that wasn't there before." She looked pointedly at my hand, a grin quirking her lips up. A blush lit my cheeks and I raised my hand, stepping forward to let her see the ring. Pavarti, Padma, Cho, Hannah, and Susan all squealed and ran up to us, ooing and awing over my new ring.

"You proposed?" Terry said, piping up from the corner of the room. I froze, my hand in Hannah's grasp before I slowly turned towards him. George was glowering at Terry, a threatening look on his handsome face. Everyone else had grown quiet, this could be very awkward. I pulled my hand out of Hannah's limp grip and moved next to George, wrapping my arm around his waist while he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Yes he did, he did it in August." I said, beaming up at him, trying to let him know that I wasn't even slightly impressed with Terry.

"How'd he do it?" Lavender asked eagerly, she was glowing with excitement.

"Not that we wouldn't love to know how it all happened, but I'd like to know what's really going on." Seamus said, smiling good naturedly from the couch. "What does Harry need the dia-thingy for?"

"He's been given a mission from Dumbledore. We have to find these certain objects and unite them, we've gotten the others but we need Ravenclaws." Fred explained, making a story up on the fly. Merlin, he was a brilliant liar, you couldn't help but admire it. The two of them didn't even hesitate, they'd even meet your eyes when they spoke.

"Really? You did need something from each of the founders?" Michael asked, sounding surprised.

"What do you mean, you did?" I asked, cutting in.

"Well, Ginny told us about the locket and we assumed the S stood for Slytherin. That's why we tried to steal the sword." He explained.

"Which we still need to replace." Ron said thoughtfully. I choked at that, a startled look coming across my face at the same time it came across Ron and George.

"The basilisk!" We exclaimed together.