Dawn Rivera

The Battle of Hogwarts

Ron, Hermione and I stand, all of us with our arms full of large, curved, dirty yellow objects, Ron with a broomstick under his arm.

"Where the hell have you been?" Harry shouts.

"Chamber of Secrets," says Ron.

"Chamber - what?" says Danny, coming to an unsteady halt before us.

"It was Ron, all Ron's idea!" I say breathlessly. "Wasn't it absolutely brilliant? There we were, after you left, and we said to Ron, even if we find the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn't got rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The Baskilisk!"

"What the - ?" Harry says.

"Something to get rid of Horcruxes," says Ron simply.

My eyes drop to the objects clutched in Ron, Hermione and I's arms: great, curved fangs torn from the skull of a dead Baskilisk.

"But how did you get in there?" Danny asks, staring from the fangs to Ron. "You need to speak Parseltongue!

"He did!" whispers Hermione. "Show him, Ron!"

Ron makes a horrible, strangled hissing noise.

"It's what you did to open the locket," he tells Harry apologetically. "I had to have a few goes to get it right, but," he shrugs modestly, "we got there in the end."

"He was amazing!" I say. "Amazing!"

"So..." Harry looks as if he is struggling to keep up. "So..."

"So we're another Horcrux down," says Ron, and from under his jacket he pulls the mangled remains of Hufflepuff's cup. "Hermione and Dawn did it. Thought they should. They haven't had the pleasure yet."

"Genius!" yells Danny.

"It was nothing," says Ron, though he looks delighted with himself. "So what's new with you?"

As he says it, there is an explosion from overhead: all five of us look up as dust falls from the ceiling and we hear a distant scream.

"We know what the diadem looks like, and we know where it is," says Harry, talking fast. "He hid it exactly where I had my old Potions book, where everyone's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on."

As the walls tremble again, Harry and Danny lead the rest of us back through the concealed entrance and down the staircase into the Room of Requirement. It is empty except for for women: Ginny, Misty, Tonks, and an elderly witch wearing a moth-eaten hat, whom I recognise immediately as Neville's grandmother.

"Ah, Potter," she says crisply, as if she has been waiting for him. "You can tell us what's going on."

"Is everyone OK?" say Misty and Tonks together.

"'S far as we know," says Danny. "Are there still people in the passage to the Hog's Head?"

I know that the Room will not be able to transform while there are still users inside it.

"I was the last to come through," says Mrs Longbottom. "I sealed it, I think it unwise to leave it open now Aberforth has left his pub. Have you seen my grandson?"

"He's fighting," says Harry.

"Naturally," says the old lady proudly. "Excuse me, I must go and assist him."

With surprising speed, she trots off towards the stone steps.

I look at Tonks.

"I thought you were supposed to be with Teddy at your mother's?" Danny says.