𝑈𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 ☾ 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑜 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑓𝑜𝑦

To Where It All Began ☾ 7-15

The cool breeze rustled through my hair as we rode the dragon out of the city and into the countryside.

"That was brilliant, absolutely brilliant!" Ron cried, gripping the dragon's bony spine tightly. I turned around and shot him a smile.

We made it a good distance before we collectively decided we needed a plan. Without a way to destroy the horcrux we obtained, we had to keep it with us again, and we all knew what happened last time.

"We're dropping!" Harry noticed, looking at our surroundings. We had been flying for a while, so I wasn't surprised that the dragon was getting tired.

"I say we jump!" Ron suggested. I looked over the edge to see a large lake beneath us. Now was a good a time as any.

"When?" Hermione asked, looking over as well.

"Now!" Harry called. We all let go simultaneously, plummeting into the water. Resurfacing, we all swam to a nearby island and climbed up on the rocks. "He knows." Harry panted.

"What?" I asked, spinning around.

"He knows. You-know-who. He knows we broke into Gringotts, he knows what we took, and he knows we're hunting horcruxes." He explained.

"How is it you know?" Hermione asked.

"I saw it." Harry said simply.

"You let him in? Harry you can't do that!" Hermione urged.

"Hermione, I can't always help it!" He pleaded. "Well, maybe I can. I don't know."

"Never mind! What happened?" Ron asked.

"Well, he's angry, and scared, too." Harry explained. I frowned. He continued, Hermione got out her bag, handed me mine, and began to pull out clean clothes for everyone. I was beyond cold, so I was thankful to change into some black jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. "There's more. One of them's at Hogwarts."

"What? You saw it?" Hermione asked, making sure.

"I saw the castle, and Rowena Ravenclaw. It must have something to do with her. We have to go there, now!" Harry explained.

"We can't just waltz in there, Harry." I stated, putting my hair up into a bun.

"We've got to plan. We've got to figure it out!" Hermione agreed.

"When have any of our plans actually worked? We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose." Draco nodded in agreement.

"He's right." Ron added. "One problem: Snape's headmaster now. Aurora's right, we can't just walk through the front door."

"We'll go to Hogsmeade. To Honeydukes." Harry suggested, referring to the One-Eyed-Witch passageway on the Marauder's Map. I shook my head.

"It'd be crawling with Death Eaters. After all the sneaking around Umbridge, there's no way Snape hasn't blocked off any secret passages left." I explained. Harry frowned.

"There's something wrong with him. It's like, you know, in the past, I've always been able to follow his thoughts, and now everything just feels disconnected." He explained further, referring to Voldemort.

"Maybe it's the horcruxes." Ron suggested. Draco nodded in agreement. "Maybe he's growing weaker, maybe he's dying."

"No, no, it's more like he's wounded. If anything, he feels more dangerous." Harry finished. I sighed.

"Well, we can try Hogsmeade, but I doubt it will go well." I concluded. We all looked around, rather hopeless.

"Only one way to find out." Draco said solemnly.