Into the Dark Lord's Mind

Harry:

Pansy swore up and down that she hadn't heard Rosalie's call to not open any windows. She said she had been trying to get back to her common room when she'd run into the snake, it had chased her, and she'd opened the window hoping it would go out, which it did.

Draco, in full yellow light, was having none of this explanation. "Why was the door locked if the snake was already inside with you?" he demanded.

Pansy folded her arms and refused to say anything.

"We can go after her!" Harry said. "She's fast, but if we get our brooms, Malfoy-"

"Rosalie says she's off the grounds," Draco said. He sighed and took the earbuds out of his ears. "We've lost her."

A cold feeling settled into the pit of Harry's stomach. They'd lost a horcrux. He looked to Hermione. "The detector?" he suggested. "Maybe…"

"We're in Scotland," Hermione said. "She can't travel to the south of England in a day. Maybe the detector will work."

"Go on, then." Hermione gestured at the wall. An arch formed and on the other side of that arch was the Gryffindor common room, where several students, some from different houses, waited.

Draco put the earbuds into his pocket and hung up the call with Rosalie. "You stay here, Pansy," he said. "We need to go see Dumbledore."

"He can't expel me!" Pansy exclaimed. "I didn't know I was doing anything wrong!"

Harry and Hermione stepped through, and the archway closed behind them.

Hermione looked over all the students. Professor McGonagall was there, taking role of everyone present. There was no denying what they'd just heard Pansy say. He watched Hermione swallow. "The snake has left the castle," she said. "We're going after it on the grounds."

"Why?" Professor McGonagall asked. "Is it important?"

"Yes, Professor," Hermione said. "Please? We'll be safe."

"Safe?" McGonagall repeated. But Harry hurried past her and up the stairs. He took the stairs to his dorm two at a time and flung open the top of his trunk. He dug down and pulled his Firebolt out. It definitely didn't see as much daylight as previous years at Hogwarts, but was still used fairly often for games and regular practices.

As he turned to go back out the door, he ran into Ron. "I'm coming too," Ron said. "Ginny, Fred, and George all went to grab their brooms too." He crossed his arms as if expecting Harry to argue.

"Hurry, then," Harry said. "We've got to get a move on!"

Ron leaped to his trunk and dug out his broomstick. They knocked into Fred and George on their way down the stairs and the four sprinted back into the common room.

Rosalie handed him the detector, and Harry came to a sickening realisation. He couldn't go. He paused, and then turned to Ron. "Trade me brooms," he said.

"What?" Ron asked.

"I can't go," Harry said. His cheeks burned. His shoulders hunched in on themselves. "It's difficult… I'll explain later. Can you take my broom? It's faster."

"Oh." Ron and Harry traded brooms. Harry was swallowing a bitter taste in his mouth. He waved Rosalie over and Rosalie turned on the machine and raised the volume. It beeped insistently. Harry stepped away.

"Rosalie," he asked. "Can you perform a sticking charm and stick the detector to the broom?"

"I've not got my wand," Rosalie replied. "Hermione…?"

Hermione had her hands against the common room wall. Suddenly, the wall fell out of the tower. As if it were opening on a hinge, the wall detached at the two top corners and fell out, becoming a platform. A stone railing appeared. Then a glass pane appeared where the wall had been, letting them see out into this balcony.

Professor McGonagall was stood beside the common room fireplace looking like she was digesting gravel or fighting the pain of a kidney stone. "Ms. Granger!" she exclaimed. "We cannot have a balcony in the Gryffindor common room."

"Yes, we can!" said Dean Thomas, looking extremely excited. "Imagine the sunsets!"

"No, we can't," Hermione agreed with McGonagall. "We can't have people flying off here all the time. I'll get rid of it as soon as we have take off." She turned to face the four Weasleys.

Ginny was leaning, examining the detector. "Harry, what's this supposed to do?" she asked.

"Point to Nagini," Harry replied, pushing the detector away from him.

"Why's it pointing…" Ron gestured to Ginny to stop talking. She paused, then straightened up. "I'm sure you'll explain," she said. "Later."

Hermione took the detector from Ron and stuck it on Harry's broom. "Right," she said. "Hurry, please!"

Ginny led the way to a glass door and held it open for Ron, Fred, and George. If Professor McGonagall disagreed with four students leaving, she didn't say anything. Harry followed them out. "Listen," he said as they got on their brooms. "Hermione tried to stun the thing and couldn't. If you can't contain it, just kill it, okay?"

"Right," Ron said. "Piece of cake."

"Speaking of cake," George said, "Have some ready for us when we get back. Yeah, Harry?"

Harry nodded and the four kicked off. The detector beeped slower and slower. Harry watched them fly away in formation. He wished they had more than one detector.

Hermione paused in the doorway. Her lip was wobbling. She almost looked like Fiona from Shrek because her entire body was still encased in green, but that wasn't to say she wasn't lovely still. He probably looked like Elmo or something. "Harry," she said. "If they kill Nagini…"

Harry put a hand to his scar. It wasn't prickling and hadn't for several weeks now. Not since Draco had taken over Harry's Occlumency training. "I know," Harry said. "But… better than us never seeing her again. Voldemort hiding her in a separate Gringotts account or something."

"Then we really would have to break in," Hermione muttered.

Harry left the balcony and Hermione put her hands back on the wall. The glass disappeared. The balcony railing collapsed and folded into the wall. And then the wall came back up, swinging into place as if it's never moved at all.

Harry dropped into one of the armchairs. Professor McGonagall still hadn't moved from her place by the fire. She didn't move as Hermione examined the wall and then turned toward her. "Professor Flitwick was injured," she informed her quietly. "Madam Pomfrey said he would be okay." Hermione looked to Rosalie. "You didn't see anyone else, right?"

"No," Rosalie said. "But it was hard to tell. So a count of the students is probably necessary."

McGonagall looked down her nose at Rosalie and exhaled. Her nostrils flared. Harry was reminded of McGonagall dealing with Professor Umbridge. Rosalie did not flinch or look away. "You're right," McGonagall said in a very short manner. She turned and left out the front door.

Hermione hovered beside the Godric Gryffindor's door. In all the chaos, no one had closed it. Not that there was any reason to keep everyone out now. "Harry?" she asked, and nodded towards the door.

Harry shook his head. "I'm going to wait for Ron," he said. "Why don't you come sit here and explain your crazy new ability to change the castle?"

Everyone perked up. Angelina Spinnet, Katie Bell, Dean Thomas… everyone. Hermione looked startled to have so many eyes on her at once. "Erm, well, it turns out Salazar Slytherin designed the castle. And so he helped me make changes to it."

"Salazar Slytherin designed the castle?" Seamus Finnegan looked thoroughly disturbed.

"That makes sense," Rosalie said. "I mean, a castle is pretty… ambitious. And the founders built it, didn't they?"

"And Slytherin built the chamber of secrets," said Colin Creevey, who probably remembered that detail a bit better than everyone else in the room because of his petrification experience.

"What do you mean," Angelina asked suspiciously, "When you say that Slytherin helped you?"

Hermione exhaled. "Well, I've actually met Slytherin and we've spoken. He appeared in a… mirror so we could talk. He introduced himself to me."

"Slytherin?" Neville asked. "The Salazar Slytherin?"

"Yes," Hermione affirmed.

"Was he awful?"

"Was he racist?"

"He… well…" Hermione paused. "I don't think he was racist so much as he saw an opportunity. Or maybe he's had a long time to mellow out."

"I think he's racist," Rosalie said. "We've met as well."

Rosalie speaking helped take a bit of the spotlight off of Hermione. Harry watched her relax as everyone looked to Rosalie. Rosalie, now that he was focusing, reminded him of a person from the Avatar movie, with the blue skin. The blue streak in her hair was so bold it looked hand drawn.

"Have you met Ravenclaw?" Alicia asked in a hushed, reverent tone.

"Yes," Rosalie said. "A few times."

Rosalie had never told them, or at least, had not told Hermione and Draco while Harry was nearby, that she had spoken to Ravenclaw. Harry glanced at Hermione and saw her eyebrows momentarily scrunch together.

"And Harry?" Neville asked, standing near the entrance to the boy's dorms. "Have you met Godric Gryffindor?"

The other Gryffindors were very, very interested in this question. They all came a little closer and moved so that they could see him. Harry shrugged a little. "Yeah," he said. "But, I really only spoke to his outline. And then he…" Harry trailed off. He still wasn't sure what to make of the idea that the founders could occasionally pop in and steal control of their bodies. He wasn't sure he wanted to think about or explain it to anyone else. "Yeah. I've seen him."

"That's so cool," Dean Thomas said, and Harry heard little exhales of reverence around the room.

"And that's how you threw Umbridge out?" Someone Harry was out of line of sight with asked Rosalie. "Because you can control the castle?"

Rosalie shrugged. "I'm not sure. I know I'm able to work with the wards and enchantments on the castle a lot because Rowena is the one who enchanted them. I wonder if throwing Umbridge out was just a side effect of changing the wards to not let her in."

Harry stood up. "Wait a moment," he said. "So you really did change the wards? And this whole time, you've just been playing it up and saying 'oh, I don't know why Hogwarts threw her out'?"

Rosalie's shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm a pretty good actress, Harry," she said. Then, she seemed to realise what she'd said, and straightened up, playing cool.

The portrait door opened. It was Draco and Professor Dumbledore, who both looked extremely disappointed. Dumbledore looked around at the haphazard collection of Hogwarts Students. "Classes will resume in an hour," he said. "If you are not in the Gryffindor house, please return to your houses now."

There were some groans and sighs, but people packed up. "Your common room is nice," one Hufflepuff girl said. "Thanks for letting us stay."

Dumbledore looked them all up and down. All four of them looked like lightbulbs. It was kinda annoying. There was no blending in and no missing them. "Shall we retire to the central room?" Dumbledore asked.

"Sir," Harry said, "we're waiting for the Weasleys to come back. They're doing an air sweep and looking for Nagini."

Dumbledore frowned, removed his glasses, and cleaned them. "I'm not sure what they hope to find," he said. "Nagini is one snake and this is a large area."

"They have the detector, sir," Harry explained.

Dumbledore stared at him and suddenly looked very angry on top of the disappointment he'd been exuding. "I see," he said. "We will wait for them together, then."

He took a seat on the couch. Harry, Hermione, Rosalie, and Draco exchanged worried looks.

After twenty minutes of mostly silence, save Hermione asking after Professor Flitwick and Dumbledore assuring her he was alright, the portrait door opened and Ron, Ginny, Fred and George entered. Windblown, cold, and snakeless. Harry got to his feet. "Nothing?" he asked.

The detector was going crazy. Ron struggled with it, and then passed the broom to Hermione so she could shut it off. "Nothing," Ron agreed, bitterly. "We were on her trail. It was telling us to go forward. And then all of the sudden, it switched and brought us back to Hogwarts. I'm not sure but… I think somehow she disapparated."

"Would it be too much to hope she fell off a cliff and died somewhere?" Harry asked Hermione and Rosalie. The two of them shrugged, simultaneously.

Dumbledore stood. "Well, you four may join us as I speak to these four, if you prefer," Dumbledore said. "After all, you have been involved."

Fred, George, and Ginny had been warming their hands by the fire, but all straightened up at Dumbledore's words. Harry felt a deep sense of foreboding and dread. The other Gryffindors watched Dumbledore lead everyone into Godric's room. When the door shut, Rosalie jumped.

"The snake is a horcrux?" Dumbledore asked, straight to the point.

"Yes, sir," Harry answered for the group.

"What's a horcrux?" Fred asked.

Dumbledore sighed. "It is a piece of dark magic that will prevent Lord Voldemort from being killed unless it is destroyed. As long as one exists, he can continue coming back."

"Over and over?" Ginny asked.

"Over and over," Dumbledore confirmed. He examined each of the four Heads-in-Training. "And how long have you had the snake?"

"Since the Battle at Privet Drive," Hermione whispered quietly.

"And I suppose," Dumbledore said, thinking out loud, "That you had not killed it because you were trying to safely remove the horcrux, correct?" He no longer seemed angry. Just weary.

"Yes, sir," Hermione said.

"And this box here," Ron said, "Is the detector that Draco and Hermione made, right?"

Draco wrinkled his nose at Ron. "Don't call me Draco, Weasley."

"There's four Weasleys here." Rosalie elbowed Draco. "Get over yourself."

"Yes, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said. "That ingenious invention can detect pieces of Lord Voldemort's soul."

"Then why was it going off and pointing to Harry?" Ginny asked. She was half hidden behind him and her voice made him jump for two reasons. He turned and glanced at her, then looked away.

"Oh, bloody hell," Fred said.

"Oh mother-" George cut himself off. Both of them had horrified expressions.

"Yes," Dumbledore confirmed. "That's why they wanted to see if they could remove the horcrux from Nagini without harming her. A worthy attempt, I might add."

Harry gaped up at Dumbledore. "Wait," he said. "You knew I was a horcrux?"

Dumbledore glanced at the group and his eyes clung to Rosalie and Hermione especially. Anyone could see the gears in their heads turning. A matching frown was pinching both of their lips. "I have had my suspicions," he admitted. "When Ms. Spinks refused to bring the device any closer to Harry at our Order of the Pheonix meeting-"

"Their what?" Fred exploded. "We're adults! You won't let us sit in. And they-"

"For one meeting, at the beginning, to debrief us on their horcrux work," Dumbledore interrupted. "They are not invited to repeat meetings." He turned away from examining Hermione and Rosalie's expressions and looked directly at Harry. "This is the thing, Harry, that I said I would explain to you if you came by my office after the attack on Privet Drive. It is the reason I kept my distance from you before you learned Occlumency."

"You think," Harry said, feeling angrier and angrier as he put the pieces together, "that Voldemort was reading my mind?"

"No, Harry," Dumbledore disagreed. "I believe he could read your mind."

"That's… but…" Harry was stammering but had no argument. He himself was trying to learn how to read the Dark Lord's mind now. And to find Nagini, he'd learned to read her mind.

"Then you don't know how to remove it?" Hermione said suddenly, breaking Harry out of his stupor. "The horcrux? You would have done it already if you knew."

Dumbledore closed his eyes. A cold weight settled into his stomach as he thought about what Hermione had said. Dumbledore would have removed it if he could have, wouldn't he have. And if Dumbledore couldn't, then could they?

"The system you have created makes it possible," Dumbledore said. "But I do not know how to remove the horcrux, no."

"Then what was your plan for killing the Dark Lord?" Rosalie asked. Every word was slow, and with an American accent. Fred, George, Ginny and Ron stared at her for that just as much as they stared at her for the question she'd just asked.

Dumbledore gave a grim smile. "Study," he said. "And try to find a solution. Although, I must be honest. You two girls have done more since Christmas than I've been able to do since the end of your second year, Ms. Granger."

Neither Hermione nor Rosalie looked comforted. Dumbledore took a breath and straightened up again. "Now," he said. "We've established that you had the snake. And what you were doing with it. Why did it escape?"

"I was going to attempt to remove the horcrux," Hermione said. "I've been thinking… I made a hole in the box we were keeping her in. To fit the point of my wand in. I think that she may have been able to force her tail in the hole and shatter the glass."

"You did not use reinforced glass?" Dumbledore asked.

"We charmed it for strength." Hermione hung her head. "But… a lot of good that did."

"And how did it escape this room?" Dumbledore flung his hand towards the founder's rooms. "We specifically have these rooms set apart so that no one can take horcruxes out, remember?"

Harry's shoulders fell. "I left the door open," he said. "It escaped into the Gryffindor common room."

"Why did you leave the door open?" Dumbledore repeated, every word deadly.

"So that…" Harry scuffed his foot into the floor and exhaled. "So that Draco could leave if he needed to."

Dumbledore looked at Draco and Draco looked away. "You haven't opened the Hufflepuff doors?" he asked.

The light on Draco finally seemed to be subsiding, so his face didn't look so oddly yellow. "No, sir." Draco said.

"Why?" Dumbledore asked.

Draco rubbed his hand and then displayed his blank palm. "Because when you open the door, the house name appears on your hand."

Dumbledore's gaze softened again. "I see," he whispered. "So you left the door open on dangerous experiments so that you could get in and out. I can see how you thought that was acceptable, yes." He shook his head and focused on a point over Harry's head. For a moment, Harry thought he was looking at his scar. He covered it with his hand. Then, he realised Dumbledore was looking beyond him and into the centre room.

Dumbledore walked through them and hovered in the entrance. Hufflepuff was across the room from Gryffindor and Draco's workstation was in the space left from the Hufflepuff door. Dumbledore examined the panel from a distance. "Have you finished carving?" he asked.

"Almost," Draco said. "Rosalie taught me to use the woodworking equipment."

"Ah, yes. You're proficient in woodworking, aren't you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir," Rosalie said.

"Good," Dumbledore said. He exhaled. "I have a feeling Nagini has returned to Lord Voldemort. But we will find her again. It'll be alright."

They were all angry and scared about the loss of Nagini. Harry more especially because they had no idea how to get the horcrux out of him, and neither did Dumbledore.

Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny had a million questions. So they all sat around the table after Dumbledore left and Harry walked them through the horcruxes, how many there were, how many were left. Except for Draco, who had taken Dumbledore's question about the Hufflepuff door personally and decided to finish carving. Hermione cast a silencing charm around him while he worked to mask the grinding of the tools in the wood.

Harry left out that they were debating the need to rob Gringotts but shared that Draco had learned the horcrux was definitely Helga Hufflepuff's cup. He also shared that Draco had been trying to help him learn to read Voldemort's mind and entertained everyone with the story of Draco hitting him in the face with the textbook.

After forty minutes, they had to leave to go to classes, which seemed bizarre with all that had happened in the day. Rosalie stayed, because she had Transfiguration and didn't want to go, and Draco stayed because he had Charms and all Charms classes were indefinitely cancelled.

When Harry returned, Draco was finishing the last cuts. He entered the room about the same time as Hermione and saw Rosalie hovering over Draco's work as he finished. He and Hermione came to spectate as well and watched as he carved the final strokes in the wood and set down the tool.

"Not bad," Hermione said when Draco had removed his earbuds.

"It looks good," Harry said.

"Well done," Rosalie said, but dragged her finger along some of the first cuts that had been made. "Do you take constructive criticism?"

"Not without crying," Draco replied, quoting a muggle meme.

"Hand me the tool and let me smooth this out, then," Rosalie said.

Draco did and got the stain bucket out. He uncapped it and peered in. "It doesn't have to be a perfect match, right?" he asked. "Just so long as it's carved right?"

"Exactly," Hermione said, remembering her runes class.

Draco glanced at Harry. "I think that plan Vanishing Cabinet Battle is the best chance to kill my aunt," he said very softly. "But we need to make sure that both she and her husband are sent to Hogwarts that day. It would be great if… you could plant that idea. Or even simply spectate."

"Right." Harry knew what that meant. It meant that while Draco and Hermione and Rosalie got to paint the panel, he got to sit cross-legged on the floor and take deep breaths.

"You've gotten some good practice in today," Draco said. "I mean, you were able to find Nagini several times."

Harry shivered. He'd been in the perspective of Nagini, slithering along the floor at breakneck speed and hiding. Feeling the desire to find an exit. Remembering the screaming of the destroyed horcruxes and the intense headaches of being nearby. Fearing the pain.

"Right," he repeated.

Harry went to sit on the floor in his workspace area, but not before stealing a cushion from off the centre table. He threw it on the area that wasn't sloped and settled down and closed his eyes.

He wasn't sure how he'd gotten into Nagini's head earlier. He'd just known he had to. Maybe that was the secret? He pictured Voldemort's scaley, bald, grey head and thought "I have to. I have to."

But nothing happened.

Maybe the Dark Lord was practicing Occlumency as well.

Of course, he'd also been around Nagini quite a bit. Maybe he'd gotten used to her presence.

"It was always Helga's expertise, getting into people's minds."

"Hi, Godric."

Harry didn't speak out loud. He could tell by the way the voice echoed in his head that Godric was not physically in front of him.

"If only Draco had the horcrux, am I right? He could get into Voldemort's head no problem. I mean, he's already practically there!"

"Godric, I'm happy to chat with you, but please don't goad Draco out load. You've already gotten me a face-full of textbook today."

"Ay. He's a sour wart, isn't he?"

"He's carrying a lot. Lay off him." As he was practicing, Draco was making plans to murder his aunt. Someone his mother, at the very least, loved. That said a lot.

Harry tried to focus for a moment, then paused. "Godric?" he asked in his head.

"Still here."

"What's your expertise?"

"I was a good mediator. I balanced out the other three, stopped them from arguing. I was the first headmaster. Salazar left, as you know. Rowena died. Then Hufflepuff retired. I appointed a headmaster to succeed me after I'd done the job for ten years and apparently just in time because three days later I got up and left my body behind. No one could get in to find me."

"So, your… connection with Hogwarts is a mediator?"

"Oh, you're asking about whether you get a special skill? Well, Harry, I connected with the people here. I led them. And I knew where every single living thing was in this castle. Eventually, you may grow into that skill as well."

"So Rosalie can interact with the wards, Hermione can change the castle's structure, and I can figure out where any living thing is in the castle?" Harry said this bit out loud and heard Hermione, Draco, and Rosalie pause in their painting. "What can Draco do?"

"Helga was a formidable witch," Godric said in Harry's head. "She created spells and plans that went way over my head. She could read minds, like I said, But if I had to guess, I'd bet that Draco can run the castle's defences. That was Hufflepuff's specialty."

"Run the defences?" Harry asked aloud again. "Wouldn't that be a Gryffindor trait? I feel that loyalty is more… binding. It feels like Draco and I should be switched."

"It takes bravery to be loyal, but like your friend Rosalie deduced, it comes down to the why behind it all. I wanted to be a leader because I was brave. Helga wanted to protect people because she was loyal to them."

"I see," Harry said. "So what sorts of defences are there?"

"You're one of them," Godric replied. "Helga's prophecy, the Bane of Hogwarts, is a defence of the castle."

Harry thought about that and then made a connection. "Godric," he thought, "The only reason I could find Nagini today was because of your skill to know where things are, right? And Draco was tapping into Helga's defences by stepping up to guard the castle, and Hermione was tapping into Slytherin's castle-building, and Rosalie was tapping into the ward work."

"Rosalie tried to seal off Nagini. But these wards are not meant to keep things in."

Harry sighed. How was he ever going to figure out how to find Voldemort's head through his? Unless…

He opened his eyes. "Draco?" he asked.

"Wot?" Draco asked, pausing in painting again.

"Come here, please," Harry said. He rubbed his eyes against the light.

Draco set his brush down and left Hermione and Rosalie. He paused beside Harry and then sat down beside him. "What?"

"Godric says Helga had a special talent for reading minds," Harry mumbled, knowing Draco wouldn't want this broadcasted. "Is there any way you can cast Legilimens on me, and I can see if I can deflect you into the Dark Lord's mind?

"Deflect me…" Draco trailed off. "Using your mirror technique?"

"Yes, well…" Harry scratched at his scar. "The theory is that the horcrux is here, right? Maybe I can angle the reflection…"

"Let's try it." Draco readied his wand. "Ready?"

Harry nodded and closed his eyes. He heard Draco say, "Legilimens," and then felt the angle Draco was casting the spell at. He imagined the mirror around his mind shifting and curving in shape and reflecting into the scar at the front of his head.

And suddenly, he felt as if he were being pulled over hundreds of miles in seconds. And he was lying in a large and very comfortable bed. And there was someone half beside him, half on top of him. And gee, things felt kinda free as far as clothes went.

Immediately after realising that, he was zooming back through space and time to land back in his own head. "Oh Merlin!" Draco shouted in front of him. "I did not need to see any of that, thank you very much!"

Draco got to his feet, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. "What?' Harry asked, shaking off the remaining dizziness. "What did you see?"

"Did you see Voldemort?" Hermione asked, very excited. "What was he doing?"

"He was shagging my aunt!" Draco exclaimed.

Harry froze, disgusted beyond belief. All he could think about was Voldemort's scaly, bald, grey head. Those red eyes. He shuddered and fought the urge to hurl.

Hermione sank into a chair, scandalised. "He… but…"

"I didn't see that!" Harry said. "I mean, I could tell there was someone on top of him, but…" his cheeks felt hot.

"I saw it," Draco said, grimly. "I saw too much."

"Gee mate," Harry said. "It's only five pm. I'm sorry."

Rosalie did not look particularly bent out of shape about this revelation that had Harry, Hermione, and Draco all disgusted. She looked between them and then said, "Do you think her husband knows?"

"I don't suppose he cares," Draco admitted. "I mean… I knew she was crazy about the Dark Lord… but I thought she was just into the murder and the blood purity."

Rosalie's expression suddenly soured and she looked just as sick as the rest of them. "Right," she said. "Are you ready to test this?"

The panel was finished. It was stained and ready to go. Hermione had been casting drying spells on one side before she'd sat down. Rosalie was blowing on a few lightly wet spots. The stain was pretty spot on, Harry thought. Way to go, Rosalie.

Draco examined the panel. He still looked as if he were blinking spots away. But he picked it up and carried it to the cabinet. Then he held it in place while Rosalie grabbed a screw gun. A hinge was already in place on the door. Draco held it and Rosalie screwed and after two were in, she stepped back and let him finish it. She rubbed a little circle on his back until he stepped back and tested the hinge. "That's it," he whispered.

Harry finally got to his feet. "I guess… you send an owl now. And we'll go from there."

Draco nodded and put his arm around Rosalie. "We'll go from there," he agreed.

The next chapter will be called Battle of the Vanishing Cabinet.