𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 •°𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴

[92]

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"It's worse than a labyrinth in here," Nico complained, holding the light at the tip of his wand close to all the junk that created the corridors in the Room of Requirement. Sara stretched her powers way beyond the area everyone was searching in, hoping the dark magic of the object they were looking for would collide with her energy.

After Harry's run in with Helena Ravenclaw's ghost and a moment worthy of sharing at every family gathering from then until everyone came back to haunt Ron with it, the five had started looking for Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, presumably a horcrux, in the Room of Requirement.

Nico didn't seem to recognize any of it, and neither did Sara. She frantically searched around, her eyes noticing every bit of the stuff around them, except the damn diadem.

"Was Harry sure that it would be here? This place is an outright mess," the redhead muttered, bumping into Nico. She hugged him from the back, burying her face into his jacket.

"He said to search where all the lost things go, this seems like the place. What is it, love?"

"I cannot help but feel...like the end is near. That, even if we win, it would be at a cost far larger than we've imagined. I cannot go back and see any of them dead, I don't want my parents and Sirius to have died in vain..."

Nico turned around and gently caressed her cheeks. He got a hold of her chin, making her look him in the eyes. "Your parents didn't die in vain, no one that will unfortunately die today will die in vain. We fight and we lose, but we fight to never lose again afterwards. We're gonna find this diadem, no matter the cost."

Sara nodded, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. A sudden noise caught her attention, and she pointed her wand over Nico's shoulder, the direction the disruption came from. The dark haired boy turned his head slowly and now the two of them were met with Draco Malfoy's cold gaze.

The blonde threw a curse at them, which Sara easily deflected, and ran away before they could start fighting for real.

"You son of a bitch! Come back here!" Nico roared as he started running after him, Sara hot on his tail, panicking.

The presence of Draco wasn't at all comforting, she wondered if anyone else was with him; he had repaired that cabinet last year, and they weren't sure it had been destroyed again.

"So how come you three aren't with Voldemort?" they heard Harry ask as they came to a halt behind Draco, Crabbe and Goyle.

"We're gonna be rewarded," said Crabbe. His voice was surprisingly soft for such an enormous person: Sara had hardly ever heard him speak before. Crabbe was speaking like a small child promised a large bag of sweets. "We 'ung back, Potter. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you to 'im."

"Good plan," Sara started in mock admiration. Both hers and Nico's wands were trained on the three, their gazes unwavering, their hands not shaking. "You'll bring my brother to him and then what? Kill as much as you like? Wreak havoc all day and night? You're stupid if you think your Dark Lord will have any intention to keep you with him afterwards. He doesn't reward stupidity."

Harry moved slowly behind them, towards Sara could only think was the diadem; they couldn't let their plans fall because of the three baboons. They had to distract them and quickly get out of there with the horcrux in their possession.

"So how did you get in here?" Nico asked, trying to keep their attention solely on them.

"I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year," said Malfoy, his voice brittle. "I know how to get in."