The Untold Story Of Draco Malfoy

Chapter 43

"Neville-what the.......how?" Harry stuttered as Neville appeared from the open frame above Aberforth's mantelpiece.

"I knew you'd come!" Neville exclaimed quietly, hugging Harry, Ron, Hermione and myself tightly. "I kept telling Seamus that it was a matter of time!"

"Neville," I began, holding him near me, peering into his face. It was bruised, slashed, swelling and bloody. You could only just recognise him from his voice. "What happened to you?"

"What? This?" Neville gestured to his face dismissively. "That's nothing, Seamus's much worse, you'll see."

Neville helped Hermione and Ron up into the frame. Neville held out his hand to me, which I took. I definitely needed help to get up there.

"Thank you, you've saved our lives, twice," I heard Harry say to Aberforth.

"Look after them then," Aberforth grunted.

The scuffling behind me told me that Neville and Harry were also in the tunnel behind the frame.

"How long has this been here?" Ron asked. "This wasn't on the Marauder's Map, was it, Harry? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of the school."

"They have been sealed off before the start of the year," Neville replied. "There's no change of getting through them now, not with Curses and Death Eaters and Dementors at the exits." Neville began walking down the tunnel backwards, smiling at us. "Never mind all that stuff......is it true? You've broken into Gringotts and escaped on a dragon? Everyone's talking about it."

"Yeah, it's true." Harry replied.

Neville laughed gleefully. "What did you do with the dragon?"

"What else could we do, Neville? We let it go," I answered.

"Hermione was all for keeping it as a pet," Ron added.

"Don't exaggerate, Ronald!" Hermione snapped.

"But what have you been doing? Everyone's saying that you're just on the run, but I don't believe that. I think you're planning something," Neville continued.

"You're right, but tell us about Hogwarts, Neville. We haven't heard anything," Harry said.









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Neville pushed a door open and climbed out, shouting. "Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?"

"HARRY!"

"HARRY POTTER!"

"RON!"

"SKYLER!"

"HERMIONE!"

The shouts echoed around a large room.

I had only just barely managed to stumble to the ground before I was dragged into hugs, pats, smiles and cheers.

"Hey everybody, calm down!" Neville called.

A few seconds later, after I regained my balance, I staggered back to where Harry, Ron and Hermione were. I glanced at my surroundings, but I didn't recognise the room we were in at all.

"Where are we?" Harry asked the question on the tip of my tongue.

"In the Room of Requirement, of course!" Neville replied. "I was being chased by the Carrows, and I found it like this! Well, not exactly. It was smaller, and only with one hammock, but it grew and added more hammocks as our numbers increased."

I began to blush as I remembered the last time I was there, with Draco. That night seemed centuries ago.

"And the Carrows can't get in?" Harry asked.

"No," said a voice from a face I didn't recognise. I looked at the boy when I realised, with a sudden jolt, that it was Seamus. Neville was right, Seamus was much worse. What had these Carrows done to him?

"It's a proper hideout. Once there is one of us in there, they can't get in. It's all down to Neville, he really gets this room and what to ask for. Neville blocked all the loopholes." Seamus continued.

"It's quite straight forward, really," Neville said modestly.

"We've been hiding here for nearly two weeks," Seamus continued. "It's perfect, it keeps making more hammocks when needed and it made a pretty nice bathroom for when the girls started turning up."

Harry suddenly swayed, and Ron rushed to hold him up.

"Are you alright, Harry? You look like you need to rest-" Neville said.

"No," Harry said. He looked at Ron, Hermione and I, his eyes full of meaning. "We need to get going."

In an instant I understood. Voldemort had found out about the Cup. Harry must have seen him. Voldemort was on his way here. Now. Very now.

Oh my God.

"What are we going to go, then, Harry?" Seamus asked. "What's the plan?"

"Plan?" Harry repeated. "There's no plan, we need to get something from here and we need to get going."

Everything was quiet.

"What do you mean?" Neville asked.

"There's something we need to find."

"What is it?"

"We can't tell you."

"Does it help with beating You-Know-Who?"

"Well . . . Yeah."

"Then we'll help you!"

"You can't!" Harry said exasperatedly. "We have to do it alone!"

"We are part of Dumbledore's Army! We've been fighting for ages, loyal to Dumbledore, loyal to you," Neville replied.

"Look," Harry began. I could tell that he was uncomfortable.

But then the frame-door that we had just entered from swung open, and Luna, Dean, Fred and George, and Cho Chang stepped out. And Ginny.

Ginny ran straight into Harry's arms, hugging him tightly. Harry glanced at me, and I nodded discreetly. He must understand that I do not love him that way. At all. Of course, I couldn't keep the little relationship between Harry and I a secret from Ginny, but I vowed to tell her as soon as the war was over. I didn't want to divide our ranks, with so much at stake.

Ron suddenly turned to Harry. "Why can't they help?"

"What?"

Ron whispered something to Harry, who looked defeated and sighed. "Alright," he called out to the room. "We need to find something, something small, easily concealed, and something to do with the Ravenclaw house."

It was completely and utterly silent.

"Well," Luna began. "There is the lost diadem. The lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw?"

"But it's lost, Luna," Cho said.

"Does anyone know what it looks like?" Harry asked.

"Rowena is wearing it in her statue in the Ravenclaw common room, would you like me to show you it, Harry?" Cho asked, standing up.

Ginny cut in fiercely. "No, Luna would show it to him, won't you, Luna?"

Luna stood up. "Of course, this way, Harry Potter."

I had heard on the grapevine that Cho was Harry's ex, which would explain Ginny's fierceness. I sighed. How is she going to react when I tell her about what happened with Harry and I? But I could never lie to her, I just couldn't.