Chapter 22: Christmas Time
"Well, what did you and Luna learn from Flamel?" Ron asked when Harry hurriedly sat next to him just a second after the bell had rung as he was catching his breath, having taken his seat in the Slughorn's Potions classroom.
Harry took two seconds to adjust his breathing to normal and then quietly replied to his friend, "It turns out that I could really be, as you put it earlier, this golden person. And if Luna's mother's experiments are worth something, then maybe the Stone could be produced without cutting my heart out."
"Wow, really?" Ron's eyes widened in excitement. "Now we just have to tell this to Hermione and Ginny."
Such an opportunity came to them only forty minutes later, when Slughorn had given everyone their marks, had discussed the successes and failures of the first term and, having wished merry Christmas, had let them go five minutes earlier before the bell. He had even praised his seventh-year students for their dedication, though he reminded everyone that in the next two terms, they'll need to do a serious preparation for the N.E.W.T. exams, so they'll have to work just as diligently as now and even more diligently.
"Well, what did you learn from Flamel?" Ginny managed to ask just as Ron had asked him at the beginning of the lesson as they went further, keeping a little distance behind the others.
"Actually," he replied to her with a smile, "your idea might even turn out to be true."
"Are you serious?" Ginny was surprised, but then her excitement turned into anxiousness. "But wait a minute, Flamel said that there's needed a heart in order to make the Stone."
"So, wait, I think I've missed something. What exactly are you talking about? I hope it's not about the Philosopher's Stone?" Hermione asked rather sceptical.
"Actually, my dear, right now we are talking exactly about the Philosopher's Stone. Flamel told us technically everything how to produce the Stone," Ron replied to her with a little grin, knowing well that she wanted to hear as little as possible about this subject.
"I wonder why it's so hard for me to believe that," Hermione said sarcastically. "If it was that simple, then tell me, why there aren't any Hogwarts students of Alchemy now and then producing it?"
"You see, the problem was always with the ingredients – according to Flamel, binding all four elements of nature requires a super powerful magical essence, which can be obtained only from the blood a particularly selfless and good person's heart," Ron explained.
"So, well, you mean, you have to kill a particularly good-willed person, then you have to cut his heart out, and then you have to perform some disgusting actions so you could produce one stupid stone that could get you a pile of gold?" Hermione said as she wrinkled her face in disgust. "I'm not surprised I didn't want to know anything about it earlier."
"Yeah, Hermione, you got it all right," Ginny simply confirmed her friend's statement as they all were slowly walking at the back of the student flow upstairs for lunch. "And you see, I had an idea that this particularly kind and otherwise absolutely great person could be found with the Polyjuice Potion. If this person is practically having a golden soul, maybe his potion will turn into pure gold." Having said that, she smiled kindly at Harry and winked at him. He felt a wave of heat running down his neck, and he hoped that there wasn't too much blush on his cheeks. He was so used to defend himself against various ridiculing and mockery, he still couldn't get used to the fact that people thought of him so well, moreover, his beloved Ginny…
Hermione's eyes widened in horror after Ginny's announcement, and she instantly remembered exactly where she had once seen the Polyjuice Potion turning into the purest shade of gold. "Harry, please do say you didn't tell Flamel that it was your Polyjuice Potion, which turned gold?" Hermione asked anxiously as she squeezed his elbow frantically. Seeing Hermione's frightened stare, Harry right away lost all thoughts about Ginny and felt like he owed Hermione a full explanation of the events and their conclusions of today.
"Yes, Hermione, I did it, but there's no reason to worry," Harry tried to calm her down. "If Luna's mother's research proves useful – Luna also spoke with Flamel and she stayed there to show him the notes of her mother's experiments – then no one is going to cut my heart out. Luna had a theory that the binding magic for the Philosopher's Stone could be obtained simply taking my blood in order to create the needed essence. So, Hermione, thank you very much for your worries, but really, I feel absolutely safe."
"Harry, but I want you to understand that these alchemists tend to be completely mad. You know, once there was someone who had caught that golden witch or wizard and had cut this person's heart out and turned it into one hideous stone," Hermione couldn't get over this so easily. "Oh, and if the making of the Stone truly requires a heart of an exceedingly good witch, then how do you think, why such a terrible witch-hunting occurred in history from time to time, and especially the last one in the second half of the 17th century? Just because one crazy person had planned to produce the Stone, innocent people were persecuted all over the country, and even Muggles were involved in this hunt. You have to understand that the alchemists are mad people! If they learn the fact that the Stone may be produced using your heart, Harry, I'm really afraid that your life may be in serious danger. And I'm not even starting to comment what exactly I'm thinking about those Pandora's experiments," she added angrily at the end as she quickly told all her objections. It was obvious she simply couldn't understand how Harry could be so careless about this matter.
"I'm certain or at least I hope so, Hermione," Harry told her reassuringly as they entered the Great Hall, "that my name is worth something in the Wizarding world. If I happen to disappear, I think people would start looking for me right away."
"You know, this didn't reassure me much," Hermione said bitterly.
"Try to look at it from this side, Hermione – if the alchemists are so mad as you say," Ron said now as they were seating themselves at the dining table, "I doubt it very much that Flamel is going to spread this information to the public. I think he'll definitely want to keep this fact a secret for as long as possible. And if Harry actually will disappear, then we already know the first person which to investigate when we start the search. I really doubt if anyone would like to stick his head in a noose in such a way." Ron took her palm when Hermione had also sat next to him and added, "Don't worry, Harry is no danger. Besides, Flamel really seems a cool guy."
It seemed that Hermione had calmed down a little by Ron's touch, but she obviously didn't like such affairs with alchemists not even the slightest bit, although they had reasoned earlier that they should have the Philosopher's Stone in order to amplify their Locator Spell to find Ravenclaw's Diadem.
"Perhaps let's talk about something happier? The lesson by Slughorn was the last one, and it will be Christmas Eve tomorrow. Isn't it great?" Ginny said, and Harry admired his girlfriend, how she was so seldom able to give in the surrounding mood and how she could always keep her spirit joyful and lively.
That evening, Harry went to bed, feeling especially relieved and happy. The rest of the day, they had spent in an actual Christmas mood with laughter sounding here and there in the castle. Even Peeves had given in to the joy overwhelming the castle as he was wandering around and loudly reciting mostly impolite songs about Christmas.
"Christmas time has come,
When the food is rich on the plate,
And it's very nice to have some,
But then the fat starts to form later."
"Especially on your BUTT! HA-HA-HA!" Peeves shouted loudly after he finished his made up song. Ginny had laughed about it like someone had tickled her – "You know, it's so stupid you just can't resist laughing about it!" – and even Hermione then was grinning and seemed to have forgotten her worries about alchemists for a while.
Having helped Hermione to display the last Christmas decorations throughout the castle, the young people had returned to the Gryffindor Common Room in the evening, where Hermione had some difficulty persuading Ron to put some more decorations here as well, but meanwhile, Harry and Ginny had managed to sneak away to the group of their classmates, who chattered having fun.
Sitting on the couch, Harry was squeezed between Ginny and Lavender as he watched Ron and Hermione hanging green vines of ivy, colourful ribbons, and a few mistletoes here and there.
At one point Hermione almost tripped over something and her ribbon fell on Ron's head, and she hurried to untangle the bright red ribbon off of him right away. It seemed that Ron wasn't angry about it at all, but instead was restraining himself hard from kissing Hermione passionately right on the spot. Hermione suddenly froze and it seemed that she had also sensed her boyfriend's intention.
"Hey, lovebirds," Dean said to them loudly as he passed by, pointing his thumb at the window, "you put the mistletoe over there."
Then they both pulled themselves together to attach properly the ribbon cast by Hermione and, without saying a word to anyone, they left the Common Room hastily. Harry met his friend in the boy's dorm only when it was already late evening before falling asleep, him having an unusually wide smile on his face.
The next morning, having changed into their robes and gone downstairs, Harry, Ron, and Neville saw most of their classmates resting by the fireplace at the most comfortable place, but the rest of the Common Room was practically empty, with only a pair of quiet and imperceptible girls sitting on the far couch.
"Good morning," Hermione and Ginny greeted the descending boys in unison, and Lavender and Fay waved a hand at them, but Dean and Seamus simply nodded.
The three young men sat on the last remaining free seats near the fireplace.
"I wonder what's on the breakfast menu today?" Ron asked. "The elves usually bake their delicious Christmas omelette with cheese and bacon."
"Today is Christmas Eve, so we should not rush so early to the breakfast. You know, it's a holiday for elves, too," Hermione pointed out. "And now, when all the first-years had left Hogwarts, we can finally sit peacefully in the Common Room."
"Actually, why are there so many of you there? Aren't you going home to your families?" Harry wondered. In addition, he had hoped the castle would be practically empty – then it would be easier to search for the Diadem in case he would have an idea worth testing.
"Of course, we are," Dean replied, "We just asked Sinistra that we would like to travel like adults. You see, it's not very exciting to stay those long hours on the Hogwarts Express with all those first-years." The dark skinned young man chuckled.
"How are you going to get home, then?" Ron asked.
"Aberforth has a fireplace connected to the Flew network in his Hog's Head. He is allowing us to use it for a little bit of a reward. In general – we attend the Christmas feast for lunch, find a couple of presents in Hogsmeade and then we go home," Seamus explained everything in more detail.
"Seamus, why did you have to tell him everything right away?" Lavender joked. "You could tell Ron that we were flying home on the backs of the dragons."
"Listen, Lavender, I'm not some kind of a first-year to believe something like that." Ron acted indignation as he rolled his eyes.
"You know, it was utter madness with those first-years," Neville agreed. "At the beginning of the term, there was no place safe from them. Not a day could go by when someone managed to sneak over to us and then it started: Was it the real sword of Gryffindor? Was You-Know-Who's snake very big? Did it have two heads and did it spit venom? And the legends about the Room of Requirement formed like falling out of the cornucopia."
"The best part was that one of them asked you if You-Know-Who could suck out one's soul only with his stare," Seamus laughed.
"I suppose this is the way how such legends arise," Harry replied, also chuckling.
Having chatted and laughed, the classmates went to breakfast, which took place with the usual table arrangement. When the breakfast had ended, Hermione, along with the incredibly responsible Draco Malfoy, was obliged to help set up the Great Hall so that a later Christmas feast could be held, in which Harry a regular guest since he always was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas.
Ron had wondered, why Malfoy hadn't gone home – wasn't he missing his mommy at all? But Draco had replied that his parents will survive one Christmas holiday without him, because he considers his duty more important to help McGonagall in all the ways he could. Ron had just shrugged about it, not really understanding what exactly he was so eager to help McGonagall, but then Hermione reminded him that McGonagall had intended to extinguish the Fiendfyre soon, which was still flaming in the Room of Requirement. As it turned out, the curse was not going to fade at all, and it has been an unacceptable danger to the students for too long already since they had to live here in Hogwarts for all this term with an extremely dark curse that was limited spatially in the Room of Requirement.
Having popped Christmas crackers during the lunch, then after the meal, a group of senior students went to Hogsmeade to go home in a much more convenient traveling way than the Hogwarts Express offered, leaving the castle even quieter and more peaceful.
Harry had a lot of happy and joyful moments with his closest friends that day, and being with Ginny, he truly felt like he was enjoying the warmth of having a family. It was one of the very rare days when none of the four thought about the Diadem, Voldemort, or their own searching task not even for a moment. That night, Harry sighed pleasantly to himself before falling asleep, thinking that if not for his birthday, then this might have been one of the most enjoyable days this year.
The next morning, Harry woke up quite early, given that it was a holiday – the long-awaited Christmas morning had come, always bringing a smaller or a bigger pile of gifts at the end of his bed. He immediately saw the usual pack of sweets made along with a knitted jumper by Mrs. Weasley, and then there was a particularly neatly tied gift with a ribbon and a bow – it turned out to be from Hermione. She had given him a new leather Muggle style wallet. Harry had some doubts about whether the galleons could be put in it, but when he opened it, he saw that the small coin section contained a whole galleon coin – Hermione had apparently used the Extension Charm again. Harry smiled for a useful gift, then, after unpacking the angular pack of Hagrid's treacle fudge, he spotted an unknown box. Usually, his pile of presents at Christmas wasn't very large, so it was always easy to guess who could have given or sent him any one of them, but Harry couldn't recognize such one, having wrapping paper in color of salmon and being tied with an emerald ribbon.
Curious, he found a note attached to the bow of the green satin ribbon, which in perfect, accurate handwriting told:
"Dear Harry!
All three of us – Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley – wish you a very merry Christmas. Although we did not succeed in getting rid of your wizarding nonsense, we have to admit that you have grown up as a good young man, and Dudley especially wants to give you his best wishes.
I remember you always asking me for these in a store.
Merry Christmas!
Your Dursleys."
Harry's eyes widened in surprise – he had never heard even a half-syllable of a praise from the Dursleys in his life; he had always struggled for his righteousness alone. And now the Dursleys praised him for growing up into a good young man! Somehow, in a strange, even incomprehensible way, he did not feel anything about this realization – neither joy, nor sadness, nothing at all, as if he hadn't been able to perceive the Dursleys' actions in any emotional way already for a long time. Although, the Dursleys were one of his closest relatives, with their incessant harsh attitude, they had made Harry completely hardened against them as if they were mere strangers who just made his life a bit complicated. Perhaps, it was like his mind's defensive reaction, thought Harry, because if he would have worried and troubled himself over every reprimand and quarrel he had with them, he would simply have gone crazy.
Then he curiously opened the box, wanting to know what the Dursleys could have decided to give him. So far the largest gift from the Dursleys was a pair of Vernon's socks. The box turned out to be full of Mars chocolate bars; there were at least dozen of them there. Oh, indeed, as a child, he had always longed to eat a whole Mars chocolate bar, which then had seemed to him like the biggest delicacy in the world. Even if there was some kind of celebration, such as Dudley's birthday, when sweets were practically falling off the table; then later when the Dursleys had returned from their organized entertainment program, they stubbornly removed every last piece of them when they had to bring Harry back home from Mrs. Figg, and only later in the night, Harry could sneak out of his cupboard, when he was sometimes lucky to find some sweets who had rolled further away or half-eaten chocolate bars on the floor in the dim twilight.
And now Petunia gave him a whole box full of Mars chocolate bars.
Harry sighed sadly as he thought, You are ten years late, Petunia. His childhood was certainly not very bright, but perhaps that was the reason why he had become so independent, persistent, and brave, because there just hadn't been any other way how to survive with the Dursleys.
Suddenly, the curtains of his bed opened, and Ginny's face appeared between them.
"Merry Christmas, darling!" she greeted him, dressed in pajamas, then she climbed onto his bed on her knees and leaned closer, kissed him quickly and gave him a present.
Harry felt a little confused about his girlfriend's sudden appearance, but he tried to collect himself together. His childhood memories, however, were no joy, and he really wanted to touch them as little as possible. They always recalled one of those pages from his past that he would love just to forget forever.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Ginny asked as she noticed his distressed mood. "Did something bad happen?"
"No, no, everything is fine," Harry replied, forcing himself to smile. "Can you believe it – the Dursleys sent me a whole box of chocolate. I just remembered that Petunia never allowed me to eat them as a child."
Ginny also looked sad, almost even more than Harry – he had already returned to present as soon as he saw Ginny and had stored the unpleasant memories in a deep corner of his mind, where they wouldn't break out to the surface soon.
"Oh, Harry," she said sympathetically, gazing at him with her big brown eyes as she put her palm behind his neck, from which a pleasant tingle run down his spine, "it's really hard for me to think about what you've had endured. I just can't imagine what it would have been like if my mom had tortured me like that. I suppose I would probably have gone mad or have exploded."
"Ginny, don't think about it. It's been very long time ago, and back then I only had two options – either to survive or to become a wreck. I chose to survive, and here I am now, together with you," Harry said, smiling at her, and then he leaned over and kissed her as he set aside both the gift given by Ginny and the gift sent by the Dursleys. He wanted to pull back and thank her for her worries, but she didn't let him do that as she pulled him into a deeper kiss.
Just a brief moment later, also the curtains on the right side of Harry's bed pulled open as they showed quite a confused Ron's face, which the two of them saw as soon as they broke away from each other.
"Ginny, what are you doing here?" her brother hissed at her in a low voice, apparently not wanting to disturb Neville, who wasn't awake yet, and let him to find out about her early morning visit.
Before Ron could reprimand her more, Ginny also hissed back to her brother, "I came here to wish Harry a Merry Christmas, don't you see?"
Ron sneered as he lifted his eyes at the ceiling for a second. "It looks more like you came here to do something completely else," Ron whispered quietly. "I'll remind you that this is a public dorm room, there is me and the other guys, too."
"And all of them, including you, were asleep," she retorted, now about to stand up on her feet to face her brother.
Harry thought that he needed to intervene so that there wouldn't arise an unnecessary fight between them. "Ron, calm down, she just kissed me because of the Christmas, we didn't do anything we should be ashamed of. This is actually Hogwarts, a public place."
Ron looked at Harry quite angrily. Obviously, he thought it rather inappropriate to find his own sister in his friend's bed in the morning, albeit her having a proper look – dressed in pajamas and having combed her hair.
"I have a gift for you, Ron," Harry said as he leaned over to his suitcase and picked up a package, which he gave Ron as he wished him a happy holiday.
"Okay, okay, I wanted to give you a present, too. Merry Christmas!" Ron reluctantly said as he handed Harry a bag quite similar to the one he had just received from Harry.
"Wait a minute, you didn't buy the new Honeydukes Joycandies, too, did you?" Harry asked.
"Actually, I did – I thought a moment of joy wouldn't hurt you. The description of them said you would feel happy while you are eating them," Ron replied.
Then the two of them looked at their gifts, and indeed, they had both given each other the same thing, so they laughed about such a coincidence.
Then Harry turned to Ginny. "I asked Kreacher to deliver my gift to you. I hope you received it this morning."
She smiled finally. "Yes, thank you. I already put the necklace on my neck. It's very beautiful," Ginny said gratefully as she pulled out a golden chain with a pendant with a small, transparent jewel in the middle of it, showing it to the guys, and then she carefully put it back under her pajamas.
"I found a gift for you too, Ron. Compared to the lipstick set from George, your hair clips was not a very big deal, but I still put in an effort to find a gift for you too," Ginny said, taking a small package out of her pajama pocket for her brother. "But since you're insulting me so much this morning, I'm not sure whether you've deserved it."
"Ginny," Ron said as he rolled his eyes. "I'm just worried about your reputation."
The girl snorted about her brother's statement, and it looked like she was barely holding to not laugh out loudly. "Okay – you can't choose your relatives anyway. Here, brother, Merry Christmas to you too." And Ginny threw a small present at Ron, who caught it with ease.
Intrigued, Ron opened the package and shook out two silver ribbons about two fingers wide on his palm.
"They're robe cuffribbons with the letter 'W' engraved so you don't forget you're Weasley," Ginny explained. "You just have to put them on your formal robe, and you'll look much more serious than at the Yule Ball of the Triwizard Tournament."
"Oh, well, thank you," Ron said.
"Besides, they were at a discount at the Diagon Alley that day," Ginny said with a chuckle.
"You're such a sweet sister. You're giving me something only because it had a discount. And I really thought for a moment you actually wanted me to look good in my formal robes," Ron said, grinning, not feeling too offended by Ginny's teasing.
"And you're the sweetest of brothers – the hair clips! I'm sure you only bought them, because they had a discount, too," she joked.
"Not at all; I was thinking only of your beauty," Ron said, acting indignant.
Neville had begun to wake up from not so low voices of Ginny and Ron. He looked surprised to see Ginny here.
"Good morning to you too, Neville," Ginny replied happily to his greeting and approached him. Then she handed him a tied small canvas bag wishing him a Merry Christmas.
"Thank you, I already delivered my gift to you last night, did you received it?" Neville asked happily.
"Yes, thank you, the Honeydukes chocolate is always very delicious," she thanked.
Then Neville poured the contents of the bag into his palm, and his eyes widened happily. "Seeds!" – he saw a pack of seeds with something like butterfly wings on his palm.
"I remembered how delighted you were when you found the fragrant butterfly nightshades growing in my mother's garden. Then after they had flowered in the summer, I picked up some of the seeds for you in the garden, which had already flown out of the plants. Maybe you'll succeed to grow some of them; you are very good with such things."
"Thank you, Ginny!" Neville said, smiling kindly at her. Then he got up and gave presents to Ron and Harry as well.
Harry and Ron both thanked his friend a little awkward, because they hadn't actually thought about giving him a present. When they took their packages, they sensed that there was wrapped in a very large bar of Honeydukes finest chocolate.
After Neville had returned to his bed and Ginny had approached Harry to say goodbye for a while as she wanted to leave and prepare herself in a more appropriate appearance so that she could go to breakfast later, Harry decided to put aside his shame and explained Neville his omission.
"I'm sorry, Neville, unfortunately I didn't get you any gift," he apologized to his trusted friend.
"Don't be," Neville replied with a smile. "The joy of giving at Christmas is always in giving, not in receiving gifts. That's fine, you don't have to give me anything in return."
"Well, but I could give you some of the Joycandies, okay?" Harry asked, hurrying to Neville with the candy Ron had given him. "Take a big handful." Ron immediately followed his example, and so Neville sat on his bed, smiling, having taken a handful of candy in both of his hands.
"Merry Christmas, my friend!" Harry and Ron wished Neville as they both slapped him friendly on his shoulders, and Neville showed the widest of the smiles.
The Christmas day and the next few days passed as they were devoting themselves to especially active nothing doing. Of course, this didn't apply so much to Hermione, who had tried out more or less new hobby, since they hadn't been able to find any new clues or hadn't succeeded in generating any new useful ideas about the searching of the Diadem.
"Have you really been focusing again on those elf hats?" Ron asked in surprise, when he saw Hermione studying some kind of magazine as she was holding knitting needles in her hands.
"No, but Luna suggested me an issue of the Quibbler earlier, which has an article about the patterns of the gloves of the folks of Northern Europe, in which Arithmancy knowledge is embedded," Hermione explained with eager interest. "There's said there are even some places, where it's common for Muggles to wear such gloves, but, of course, they don't understand the actual meaning of those patterns. Look at this one," Hermione said as she pointed her finger at a red-grey glove pattern, "four and two repeat periodically here, ensuring stability, strength, and balance for the wearer."
"No way; I would never have imagined that you could take even a single article in the Quibbler seriously," Ron joked.
"I was just searching some ideas for my new hobby. Is it really so that only book reading could be my only hobby?" Hermione asked rhetorically.
"Of course, it's not. You might even benefit if you'll rest from the books for a second. I'm just not sure if the elves could appreciate your masterpieces," Ron added thoughtfully at the end.
"Why elves? I was thinking more about you. Tell me, wouldn't you like to wear gloves which are assuring you to have, let's say, a little bit of luck?" Hermione looked at him suggesting.
The next Monday morning at the breakfast table, McGonagall addressed Hermione and Draco, asking them to attend a meeting about the Room of Requirement opening operation scheduled for today. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville, after hearing this, also offered their help.
McGonagall had seemed a little surprised at first, but after acknowledging that all four of them were adults and could take part in such operations voluntarily, she finally allowed them to join this rather high-risk event.
Of course, the Headmistress wasn't so acceptable to the third-year Gryffindor students Miss Robins and Miss O'Briens and forbade them to approach the corridor of the seventh floor today, so as not to complicate the already painstaking organizing of all the security measures.
With their bellies full, the young people, ready to obey every order of the Headmistress, stood in her office and listened carefully during the meeting.
"So I'm going to tell you about the opening operation of the Room of Requirement today," she began by addressing all the participants, which were several Hogwarts professors, Head Boy and Head Girl, as well as Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville.
"A trained team of Aurors is going to arrive soon, which is specialized in breaking dark curses. You, Filius and John, will meet them and take them upstairs to the seventh floor. Filius then joins the curse breakers, but John patrols in order to monitor the security in the hallways of the seventh floor." McGonagall assigned the jobs to Flitwick and Dawlish, and then she looked at the young people.
"Considering with the security measures supervised by John, I would like to place you at both ends of the seventh floor corridor and in the side corridor near the stairs to the Ravenclaw Tower. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, you are going to make sure no extra person, let's say, Miss Robins or Miss O'Briens, gets near the Room of Requirement. We all know how reckless and daring the young Gryffindors could be," McGonagall said as she raised her eyebrow knowingly at Harry and Ron, who, even in their first year at Hogwarts, had managed to do some stuff for which McGonagall would have had her hair standing on ends if they hadn't always been kept so tight in a bun. After the Headmistress stern look, they no longer thought of objecting about being located so far away from the main event.
"Horace, I hope you have prepared a lot of burn treatment potions. We cannot know how strong actually the Fiendfyre is. It may happen that someone could get some burns. I really hope that you are going to be ready to help immediately if necessary." Slughorn nodded affirmatively.
Switch, Hermione, and Draco were also assigned to patrol and rescue duty. If all goes as planned, they will just have to walk through the nearest hallways to make sure Harry, Ron, and Ginny, who had to stay at fixed positions at the ends of the hallways, hadn't let anyone past them without noticing it. "Remember, if something unexpected happens – simply run away!" McGonagall pointed out in a strict tone.
Now, when their positions were clear to everyone involved, the Auror unit had already arrived at the school. Everything went according to McGonagall's plan she had just told them. Ron and Harry took their places at both ends of the seventh floor corridor – Ron at the stairs to the Owlery, Harry at the cross to the Gryffindor Tower near the central high staircase, and Ginny patrolled at the stairs that led to the lower floors of the castle and connected it to the Ravenclaw Tower.
Harry stood in the aisle where the hallway led to the Gryffindor Tower, wondering how long he would have to be there alone. As Ron had said it quietly to him earlier, they were put so far away from the Room of Requirement that it's a wonder they haven't been placed in the guard at Hagrid's Hut. But then Hermione approached him rather soon.
"So far everything's calm. I was put on duty in your hallway, Malfoy is patrolling to Ginny's position, and Ron's side is checked by Neville," Hermione immediately summed everything up. "Switch and Slughorn and Dawlish monitor the surrounding area near the Room of Requirement, and the Aurors, along with Flitwick and McGonagall, are making preparations where no one else is allowed nearby." She turned around, ready to walk away again to continue her patrolling.
"Wait," Harry called. "Tell me something more. Did you see the Aurors? What were they like?" he wanted to know since he himself was once planning to become an Auror.
"Oh, of course, I'm sorry, Harry, for not supposing you might be interested in them," Hermione said apologetically. "They are dressed in dark blue Ministry uniforms. Looks like really serious men. That is, there are four men and one woman. They are currently putting up spell barriers to limit the Fiendfyre, which is going to break out of the room as soon as it's opened. As far as I understand, then McGonagall is going to open the room, and then everyone will try to extinguish the curse. The preparation work really seems very serious. Now I will return to patrolling; someone may need me there, and who knows if someone hasn't tried to get past us unnoticed."
"I doubt it; who would be so crazy to risk getting hurt of the worst fire curse in the world just to see how the opening works are done?" Harry said sceptically, shaking his head. "I would say that McGonagall put us here just to make sure that we aren't those idiots who would accidentally get into the Fiendfyre. That is, you and Malfoy would be on your duty in the hallways anyway with or without us."
"Maybe you're right, and yet, it would be extremely foolish if someone happened to come here at the wrong time exactly because of our negligence," Hermione affirmed, smiling at Harry, and then she returned to her duty.
Hermione returned to Harry few more times, each time reporting that the preparations were still underway. However, on her last visit, she said that the Aurors were putting on themselves dragonskin protection suits. Then everything is going to start very soon.
For no reason, Harry began to feel a strange anxiety. So much could actually go wrong. The Fiendfyre has been raging there since the second of May. If the fire element had a self-amplifying effect and it was feeding from itself and the corpse of the unlucky Crabbe, who knows how what exactly could it do now after such a long time when it had absorbed such a huge amount of magic. Perhaps it wasn't bad at all that they were located at the far ends of the hallways. Ginny didn't need to be anywhere close to it. And Hermione didn't, too.
Hermione had been away for quite a long time, longer than the previous times, when a noise of a burning fire roared across the hallway followed a minute later by a not-so-pleasant heat wave. Harry could imagine that there was a real hell going over near the Room of Requirement. The most important thing was that nobody gets hurt.
His anxiety began to grow even bigger, and he couldn't wait for Hermione, so he pulled out the Marauder's Map from his mokeskin pouch and took a look at it to make sure everyone was in their places and was safe and sound.
When he folded out the map, Harry right away saw Ginny in her place, Ron also stood at the Owlery stairs as planned, and next to him was Neville, Malfoy also moved slowly in Ginny's direction, and Hermione now started the way down the hall; the girl had stayed near the room for quite some time. Harry's look followed Hermione's path, where she would have to walk down the hall until she would reach his position, but then he froze. He couldn't believe his own eyes. Indeed, near Hermione and not too far away from the Room of Requirement, there were two dots that didn't have to be there at all – Melanie Robins and Kate O'Briens.
Harry hurried toward Hermione with the map in his hand. He doubted he was able to catch the girls first, but he had to try.
Harry pushed himself to run as fast as his legs could carry him, but there were still a few corners of the hallway until he could reach the girls; then he saw that Hermione's dot had reached both girls – which wasn't easy at all since the piece of parchment was waving and jumping as he run. All three points seemed to have stopped.
"Phew," Harry thought as he lessened his speed into a fast pace, "Hermione did intercept them." Then suddenly a movement began at the Room of Requirement as three dots with unfamiliar names ran in the direction of each corridor. It certainly couldn't mean anything good. To Harry's surprise, Hermione had resumed walking towards him, but the girls were slowly moving closer to the Fiendfyre again.
With his heart pounding, Harry ran forward as fast as he could, and soon saw Hermione at the far end of the long straight corridor.
"Hermione, those girls," Harry shouted breathlessly to his friend, shaking his Marauder's Map, "those girls have gotten past us."
Hermione was confused, but only for a second, then she spun around and cast a spell, probably the Homenum Revelio, as the two short girls appeared in the distance at the last corner of the hallway. Harry and Hermione rushed to catch them, but to the horror of both of them, the two girls stood frozen in fear as the mouth of the fire dragon was speeding towards them, which had apparently broken through all of the defence system set up by the Aurors.
Hermione did the first thing that came to her mind to protect the two girls: rushing forward, she cast a shield, amplifying it right away with all the Rite Chants she knew.
The teeth of an angry dragon clattered against Hermione's shield, which did tremble but didn't fade. Meanwhile, Harry had reached the two frightened girls, and Hermione shouted through the roar of fire, "Take them away immediately, I'll be able to hold on for a moment."
"Okay," Harry promptly obeyed her and, taking the shoulders of the both girls, the daredevils, he tried to pull them away from the dangerous place, but they seemed to be frozen in fear, only staring at the terrible and hot dragon's throat, which once again slammed at Hermione's shield. Finally, he managed to get the girls at least to look at him, and then they gradually started moving.
Harry and the girls began to retreat slowly, and he already was about to encourage them to run when one particularly furious bite of the flame dragon made a crack in Hermione's shield and as it broke thought it, it hit her.
Harry stood frozen, feeling ready to go and tear apart the devilish fire with his bare hands – somehow he's mind had gone completely blank, so that he suddenly couldn't remember even a single spell, when in an instant a bright blue bolt cast by figure wrapped up in dark colour uniform destroyed the dragon from behind.
The dragon pulverized in ashes and fell down the floor like snowflakes, though Hermione lay motionless on the floor. Harry right away yelled at the girls for them to rush back to the Tower fast, and in an instant he ran to Hermione – there was an Auror clad in a protection suit crouching next to her now.
Harry sat on his knee next to Hermione's side, his heart pounding in his neck; no, it can't be, she can't be dead. The girl looked terribly burned; her clothes were still smoking with small steam puffs.
The Auror who saved Hermione was a woman – she had taken off her protective mask and was now touching Hermione's neck with her fingers.
"I feel the pulse; your friend is alive," she said relieved. "If we can get her to the Hospital Wing, I think her life is in no danger."
Harry obediently nodded and allowed the Auror to conjure up a stretcher under Hermione's body, which she lifted into the air using the Levitation Charm. "I'm not sure if Pomfrey will be able to heal the burns on her face and hands, but let's leave it up to her. By the way, my name is Morgan, and you're definitely Harry Potter, right?"
Swallowing hard, Harry just nodded and, feeling like being unable to speak, he just walked behind the Auror, frantically worrying about his friend's health.
So much for having a Merry Christmas, he thought after all as he walked quietly next to Hermione's still steaming body.