November Snow

s i x t y - o n e

"Not more of Aberforth's cooking, I hope." Seamus's voice echoed from somewhere in the midst of Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws clustering together in the Room of Requirement "Be a surprise if we could digest it."

His words pretty much described everything that was going on in Hogwarts for Harry, Hermione and Ron. The students who supported Dumbledore's Army and the Order of Phoenix were all in hiding, eating off Aberforth Dumbledore's horrible cooking. Under the dim light of the fire, Harry could see all of them, thinner and more tired, crouching besides each other and whispering encouragements to lighten up the spirits of the young soldiers. Weary smiles couldn't hide all their worries and pain. 

Everyone turned towards the little hole they just went through and silent fell upon them, realization slowly hit on each and every face present in the room. Harry's eyes scanned them all again, taking in their tiredness and his heart throbbed. 

"Blimey." Seamus uttered.

Then, the room burst into life. Voices and laughter overtook the utter silence, the beaten, battered and grubby trio was swallowed up in endless waves of back-slaps and handshakes. Everyone beamed at them, especially the familiar faces. Luna was there, so were Dean Thomas, Cho Chang and Juliette Tughorn. But Harry looked and looked, and he couldn't find that one person, one of the most important people in this war: November Avery.

"Okay, okay! Stand down. Let's not kill them before You-Know-Who gets the chance!" Neville said as everyone settled down and turned to Harry "Right then, what's the plan, Harry?"

What was the plan? Even Hermione, the brain of the group, had no idea, let alone Harry. His eyes scanned the people in front of him. Broken, beaten, battered and hollow, yet full of hope and belief. They believed in him. He had to live up to their trust.

"Okay. There's something we need to find, something hidden here in the castle." Harry said "It could help us defeat You-Know-Who."

"What is it?" Neville asked.

"We don't know."

"Where is it?" Dean asked.

"Don't know that either." Harry confessed "I realize it's not much to go on."

Darn right, Harry Potter, there were nothing to go on. Murmurs of confused people filled the room. Harry obviously didn't know where he was going with this. They would come to a dead end if he had no more idea of this item he was looking for. He looked around, trying to find something that might be the clue, and his eyes landed on the blue banner with a majestic eagle. 

"I think it might have something to do with Ravenclaw." He added "It would be small, easy to conceal, valuable. Any idea?"

The Ravenclaws looked up at the mention of their House, then they shared confused looks. At this point, even wise Ravenclaws were stuck, they truly had not much hope. But that was normal Ravenclaws. We forgot we had a special, out-of-the-box member, Luna Lovegood.

"Well, there's Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem." She said.

"Oh, bloody hell." Ron muttered "Here we go."

"The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Hasn't anyone ever heard of it?" She continued "It's quite famous."

"Yes, but Luna, it's lost." Cho Chang pointed out the key word 'lost' "For centuries now. There's not a person alive today who's seen it."

All other Ravenclaws nodded, looking at Luna, but she seemed not convinced at all. Typical Luna. As Cho explained to non-Ravenclaws what Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem was, Harry returned to his former concern: November. Maybe she was with the Slytherin in their common room, or maybe she was with the professors. He tried to convince himself that, but he seemed to think otherwise, not in the good way.