Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter seventy-eight

"Don't remember this on the Marauder's Map," Ron comments behind all of us, as Neville leads us through the murky, rocky hallway, his wand shedding a small light into the distance. "That's because it never existed until now," Neville responds, almost exuding confidence through his body language and speech, "several secret passages were sealed off before the start of the year; this is the only way in or out now. The grounds are crawling with Death Eaters and Dementors."

I ask Neville about how it's been being under Snape as Headmaster, as we have had no communication at all with anyone inside Hogwarts since we started on our mission. "Hardly ever see him," Neville says with a slight scoff, "the Carrows, you need to watch out for." Confused, Harry asks who the Carrows are. Neville tells us that they're a pair of siblings, brother and sister, in charge of discipline. 

"They like punishment, the Carrows," he adds, motioning to his face, where a large dried sliver of blood trickles down his face, along with various other scars and cuts. "Why did they do that to you?" I hesitantly ask, cursing myself mentally as my voice quivers slightly. "Today's Dark Arts lessons had us practicing the Cruciatus Curse... on first years. I refused." I catch myself from dropping my jaw in horror, my skin prickling with goosebumps at the thought of poor first-year students being tortured in such a brutal way.

"That's really good of you, Neville," I comment, following closely behind him. I see his serious exterior break for a moment, and he offers me a kind smile. "It was wrong of them to force that upon those kids. I've seen enough of it in my lifetime, as I'm sure you have too," he responds, reaching for my hand and giving it a comforting squeeze. I nod my head, memories of Bellatrix flying back into my brain; both at the Ministry and Malfoy Manor.

Someday I'll tell everyone, but not now. It's not important. 

The journey through the narrow hallway goes by almost instantly and eventually, we reach the end and as Neville lowers his wand - the light fading from it - he turns to all of us, a cheeky grin on his face. "Let's have a bit of fun, shall we?" He chuckles, before he pushes open the entrance, motioning for us to hide behind in the shadows. Even though I can't see anything yet at the moment after Neville calls out to whomever is on the other side, I hear Seamus' voice respond, as clear as day: "No more of Aberforth's cooking, I hope. I'd be surprised if we can digest it."

Neville then steps aside to reveal the four of us - well, Harry and I are seen first - and as soon as a pair of eyes land on Harry, an applause erupts through the room. Students from all different years and houses, notably except Slytherin, are gathered in the Room of Requirement. We carefully make our way dow the ladder and as soon as I've planted my feet on the floor, my eyes immediately fall on Luna. "Luna!" I exclaim, rushing to her and embracing her warmly. "I knew you'd turn up sooner or later," she chuckles, returning the embrace swiftly.

"Guys! You're back!" I hear Ginny's voice call out and when I spin around to see her familiar ginger locks, she sprints over and practically jumps on me, her arms tightly wrapping around my shoulders. "Merlin, it's good to see you," she exclaims, "and don't worry, everyone's okay. Mum, Dad, the twins. They're all okay." I heave a massive sigh of relief as I let go of her, knowing that she needs to talk to Ron and let him know too. As I slink back beside Harry, who has just finished greeting a few fellow students, the buzz dies back down.

Neville disperses the crowd slightly and asks the four of us what the plan is, Hermione and Ron both beside us now too. "Okay... there's something we need to find," Harry starts, "something hidden here in the castle, and it may help us defeat You-Know-Who." Neville nods and eagerly asks what it is, and Harry's face falls.

"We don't know," I admit to everyone, saving Harry the trouble of shamelessly confessing that we don't know exactly what the next Horcrux is, "we don't know what or where it is, and it's not much to go on--"

"It's nothing to go on," Seamus interrupts and I can't believe I actually missed his bluntness, but I nod my head to his observation. "I think it has something to do with Ravenclaw," Harry adds, nervously scratching his chin, "it'll be small, easily concealed... anyone have any ideas?" There's a brief moment of silence where everyone just looks at the four of us, then Luna's sweet voice speaks out. 

"There's Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem," she says, drawing the room's attention to her, "the lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Hasn't anyone heard of it? It's quite famous." Cho, stood next to her, voices a dreadful sentence that it's been centuries since it went missing, and there isn't a person alive today who's seen it. Just as Ron starts to mumble about what a diadem actually is, there's a sound of Apparating and Ginny runs back into the crowd, panting slightly. 

I hadn't even noticed that she had disappeared. "Ginny, what's wrong?" I ask, seeing the look plastered on her face. "Snape knows," she gasps, "he knows that Harry was spotted in Hogsmeade." Before any of us can react, a loud bell chime rings through the room, and almost everyone draws in a sharp breath. Neville quickly explains that the bell means Snape is calling any students present to the Grand Hall.

"Robes on!" Seamus calls out and the crowd immediately rushes all over the room, grabbing robes and cloaks from different bunk beds and hammocks. As they all rush around, Luna hands Harry and myself a cloak each, both with the Gryffindor colours underneath. "We've only got two spare, and they look like they'll fit you both." We take them from her and put them on over our shoulders, prepping ourselves to blend in with everyone.

Ginny comes up to the rest of the group and ushers Ron and Hermione out of the room, whispering something to the two of them that I just manage to hear: "The Order are coming. You'll wait outside the Hall with them." After giving them both a quick nod, I take Harry's hand in mine and we blend in to a large group of rows. 

"Hey," I whisper to Harry as we start walking, making him turn to look at me, "you'll stay with me until the end, right?" He smiles, presses a quick kiss to my cheek and replies with, "Always."