Faith .|. H. J. POTTER ✔

Chapter one-hundred-forty-nine

"You've - what - you've seen it before?" Faith asked surprised. "But where?"

"In the Room of Requirement! Where I hid the book, the Half-Blood Prince's book, I hid it in a cabinet and on top of that I put an ugly bust with a wig and something that I thought was a tiara but it was the diadem! The diadem is in the Room of Requirement, Faith!"

A sudden force shook the castle, a couple of painting fell off the walls.

"Let's go, then!" Faith said over the rumbling sound. Harry's hand was still tightly intertwined with hers so she pulled him with her, this time it was her leading them somewhere. Hagrid still hobbled behind them, trying to keep up with the long legs of the two teenagers.

They almost got run over by Professor Sprout, Neville and about half a dozen other students. They all wore earmuffs and had several big pots in their arms.

"Mandrakes!" Neville yelled at them, seeming weirdly excited. "Going to lob them over the walls - they won't like this!"

Harry and Faith continued, passing by hundreds of portraits, dashing up numerous stairs to get to the seventh-floor corridor where the entrance to the Room of Requirement was. They lost Hagrid in the meantime, chasing after Fang who got scared from an exploding piece of china. They just flew around the corner when they met with Fred and a group of students, securing a statue that was the entrance to one of the secret passageways.

"Nice night for it!" Fred shouted at them right as the entirety of the castle quivered again. 

"Be careful!" Faith shouted over her shoulder as Harry and she ran past them.

"I'm always careful, Faithy-kins!" She just heard Fred yell back at her but for once she could suppress the urge to roll her eyes at the nickname she despised so much. They had much more important stuff to their head. 

Faith and Harry flew through another corridor and at the end of it they met with Aberforth Dumbledore.

"Potter!" He shouted, his wand held steady. "I've had hundreds of kids thundering through my pub, Potter!"

"I know, we're evacuating," Harry said. "Voldemort's -"

"- attacking because they haven't handed you over, yeah," Aberforth nodded with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not deaf, the whole of Hogsmeade heard him. And it never occurred to any of you to keep just a few Slytherins hostage? there are kids of Death Eaters you've just sent to safety. Wouldn't it have been a bit smarter to keep 'em here?"

"It wouldn't stop Voldemort," Harry spoke loudly, "and your brother would never have done it,"

Aberforth grumbled at the sound of that and ignored it.

"Have either of you seen Alex Krum? I like that kid, I'm here to help,"

"No idea," Faith said with a frown. "he could be with the troops outside or at one of the secret passageways, guarding them. Maybe even in one of the Towers for protective enchantments,"

Without an answer, Aberforth hurried off, climbing down a set of stairs, on his way to find Alex. Harry pulled Faith with him again, skidding around the corner. Both let out a cry of anger and relief when they saw Ron and Hermione running down the next corridors, arms full with dirty yellow objects and Ron with a broomstick under his arm.

"Where the hell have you been?" Faith exclaimed. 

"Chamber of Secrets," Ron said.

"Chamber - what?" Harry asked, just as frustrated with them as Faith was. All four friends came to a halt in front of each other.