Chapter Thirty Three

A/N: No reviewers.

In a rush of Gryffindor robes and bright red hair, Merida was caught up in Ginny's embrace, the two of them smiling and crying in equal measure, as if their bodies could not decide how they should feel. On one hand, they were together again, after so long of being apart; on the other, they were trapped.

"Merlin, Meri, I can't believe you're here." Ginny cried, her voice muffled by her best friend's shoulder.

"I'm not sure I can either." Merida answered, trying her best to crack a smile. Laughter balms the soul, her mother used to say; the girl knew already that her heart would ache by morning.

"Are you sure Professor Snape doesn't know you're here?" Instinctively, the girl lowered her voice, though none of those gathered would ever give her away. She had become so used to living in the shadows, she could not shake the habit even with her closest friend. "He has people patrolling the village now, making sure no one comes in or out."

"The Death Eaters never saw me." Merida assured her. She hoped it was the truth. If she had led her friends into danger, she would never forgive herself. Ginny did not seem quite convinced, and so the younger girl shifted the spotlight a little. "Is this the Room of Requirement? Why are you all holed up in here?"

"It's the only place we can be sure Snape's not listening in." professed Seamus, smiling gently at the girl. The two Gryffindors knew little of each other, except for their shared ability to create chaos with the slightest provocation, but the joy of seeing familiar faces was enough that Merida hung on his every word. "And we're… well, waiting, I suppose."

"Waiting for what?" Merida asked.

Ginny looked at her as if she had grown another head. "For Harry."

Of course. In the blizzard of names that made up the war's hundreds of soldiers, the young redhead had almost forgotten that of their ringleader. Harry Potter, the boy who could end it all.

"We've not heard anything from him in ages." Ginny admitted, wrapping her arms around her waist. The pain of admitting that fact could be seen from miles away. "There were some rumours going around that the Snatchers might have… but we can't know that."

Merida placed a hand on each of her friend's arms, the same way they had always convinced each other to listen. "If they'd killed Harry Potter, Voldemort would've been shouting it from the rooftops. The whole of the Wizarding World would know. But they don't, and so it's not true. Right?"

Ginny forced herself to smile. "Right."

The Scottish girl nodded encouragingly. "So, if Harry's coming, then everything'll be fine, won't it? We just have to sit tight for a little while."

"Merida, no offence, but we've been sitting tight since September." Seamus shot back, his irritation beginning to show. Though he tried to hide them, his hands were clenching into fists, as if his wish to fight could no longer be contained in his body. "Harry could be here this evening, or it could be another year. We can't just wait for him, we have to do something!"

"And what do you suggest we do, Seamus?" It was Ginny who responded, squaring off against her boyfriend's old dorm mate. "Snape is already watching our every move. If he gets one hint that we're plotting something, it could ruin whatever Harry's going to do when he gets here. We can't risk it."

"Hang on a second, maybe we can do something." Merida's eyes were already fixed on the door. "Alright, there's not many people left in the school that we can trust, but we definitely have one. My mother."

"Meri, we've already tried." Ginny lamented. "She won't get involved in anything. She said she couldn't risk being thrown out of the school; there'd be no one else left to protect us."

"You might have tried, but I haven't." Merida's voice was almost pleading, her eyes fixed on her best friend. "Please, Ginny, she's my mother. If anyone can bring her onto our side, it'll be me."

There was no arguing with the girl's logic, although Ginny still did not quite seem convinced. But the war had already taken so much from them, she could not stand to even think of losing her best friend.

"The way I look at it, she's our best shot." Seamus piped up one last time. The very edges of her mouth turned up, the most relief that could seep through the worry clouding her mind. "And it's her life. If she wants to risk it to help us fight back, then you don't have the right to stop her."

Ginny opened her mouth, but closed it again. She wracked her brain for another decent argument, but found nothing, and so the young woman sighed in defeat. She had known Merida for so long now, it was a wonder she had forgotten how stubborn the girl could be.

The farewell of the two friends was barely less emotional than their reunion, a fact that was not lost on either of them. Hogwarts was no longer a safe place, particularly for actions as 'revolutionary' as theirs; under Voldemort's rule, any goodbye to any loved one could be the last. All they could do was hope that they could slip between the cracks.

As she watched the door of the Room of Requirement fade into the wall, a shiver overran Merida's body. The night air was warm, even for Scotland, a late spring haze that might have been pleasant under any other circumstances. But the air was thick with trepidation, the fears of hundreds of children seeming to cling to her borrowed robes. 'They need me.' she told herself, hoping the importance of her mission would spur her onwards. She was wrong.

By some miracle, the girl managed to reach the classroom uninterrupted, each distant sound of footsteps making her heart race. Her mother's haven seemed much the same, oddly enough, the same diagrams on chalkboards and objects of interest littered across the shelves, the same sort of chaotic order the woman had maintained at home. It was incredible, how even a collection of trinkets could make her heart ache.

A movement in the corner of the room caught her eye, and Merida could not help but gasp. For the couple of seconds before she truly saw, the girl hoped for her mother and the warm embrace that could make the world go away. But the figure's hair was more silver than grey, and their robes were lined with green.

"I wondered when you would get here." The boy's voice was softer than she remembered, but in the silent room, it was clear. "The day's finally coming, Meri. The day we were waiting for."

She could not think. She could not speak. Only one word managed to pass her lips.

"Draco."

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, especially after the long wait, but this idea just came to me and I couldn't let it lie. Hope you enjoyed, please review!