In the few times I had prowled the castle at night, with Harry, I'd never been this afraid. Through squares of moonlight upon the floor, past suits of armour whose helmets creaked at the sound of their soft footsteps, around corners beyond which who knew what lurked, Harry, Luna, and I walked, checking the Marauder's Map whenever light permitted, twice pausing to allow a ghost to pass without drawing attention to ourselves.
"This way," breathed Luna, pulling us toward a spiral staircase.
We climbed in tight, dizzying circles before we reached a door. There was no handle and no keyhole: nothing but a plain expanse of aged wood, and a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.
Luna reached out a pale hand, which looked eerie floating in midair, unconnected to arm or body. She knocked once, and in the silence, it sounded like a cannon blast. The eagle opened its beak, but instead of a bird's call, a soft, musical voice said, "Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?"
"Hm, what do you think?" said Luna to us.
"It's like the chicken or the egg: which came first," I mused. "There isn't a beginning because it's the Circle of Life."
"What does that mean?" Harry questioned.
"Well then," Luna breathed, "I think the answer is that a circle has no beginning."
"Well reasoned," said the voice, and the door swung open.
The deserted Ravenclaw common room looked nothing like Gryffindors; it was a wide, circular room, airier than any I had ever seen at Hogwarts. Graceful arched windows punctuated the walls, which were hung with blue-and-bronze silks. Looking around, we tried to find the statue.
"Harry, over here," Luna said.
Both of us turned in the direction Luna pointed to and Hary quickly stepped out of the Cloak.
"Harry, no!" I whispered harshly.
Out from under the Cloak, Harry climbed up onto Ravenclaw's plinth to read the words: " 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.' "
"Which makes you pretty skint, witless," said a crackling voice. Harry whirled around, slipped off the plinth, and landed on the floor. I turned to look up at the woman. The sloping-shouldered figure of Alecto Carrow was standing before us– Luna and I stayed hidden under the Cloak—, and even as Harry raised his wand, she pressed a stubby forefinger to the skull and snake branded on her forearm.
With a quick reflex, Luna and I quickly pulled out our wands and Stunned the ugly woman. The force of our Stun caused her to fly into a large bookcase and hit the ground with a hard smack.
"I've never Stunned anyone except in our D.A. lessons," said Luna, sounding mildly interested.
"Especially a double Stun?" I breathed. "Very noisy, I wouldn't be surprised if—"
The ceiling had begun to tremble. Scurrying, echoing footsteps were growing louder from behind the door leading to the dormitories: our Stuns had woken Ravenclaws sleeping above.
"Lotts, where are you? I need to get under the Cloak!"
Luna and I ran to Harry and quickly pulled him to his feet, smashing his body against ours. A stream of Ravenclaws, all in their nightclothes, flooded into the common room. There were gasps and cries of surprise as they saw Alecto lying there unconscious. Slowly they shuffled in around her, a savage beast that might wake at any moment and attack them. Then one brave little first-year darted up to her and prodded her backside with his big toe.
"I think she might be dead!" he shouted with delight.
"Oh, look," whispered Luna happily, as the Ravenclaws crowded in around Alecto. "They're pleased!"
There was a rap on the common room door and every Ravenclaw froze. From the other side, I heard the soft, musical voice that issued from the eagle door knocker: "Where do Vanished objects go?"
"I dunno, do I? Shut it!" snarled an uncouth voice that I knew was that of the Carrow brother, Amycus. "Alecto? Alecto? Are you there? Have you got him? Open the door!"
The Ravenclaws were whispering amongst themselves, terrified. Then, without warning, there came a series of loud bangs, as though somebody was firing a gun into the door.
"ALECTO! If he comes, and we haven't got Potter — d'you want to go the same way as the Malfoys? ANSWER ME!" Amycus bellowed, shaking the door for all he was worth, but still it did not open.
Then, just as I was wondering whether we ought to blast open the door and Stun Amycus before the Death Eater could do anything else, a second, most familiar voice rang out beyond the door.
"May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?"
Professor McGonagall.
"Trying — to get — through this damned — door!" shouted Amycus. "Go and get Flitwick! Get him to open it, now!"
"But isn't your sister in there?" asked Professor McGonagall. "Didn't Professor Flitwick let her in earlier this evening, at your urgent request? Perhaps she could open the door for you? Then you needn't wake up half the castle."
"She ain't answering, you old besom! You open it! Garn! Do it, now!"
"Certainly, if you wish it," said Professor McGonagall, with awful coldness. There was a genteel tap of the knocker and the musical voice asked again,
"Where do Vanished objects go?"
"Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything," replied Professor McGonagall.
"Nicely phrased," replied the eagle door knocker, and the door swung open.
"What've they done, the little whelps?" he screamed as he saw his unconscious sister on the ground. "I'll Cruciate the lot of 'em till they tell me who did it — and what's the Dark Lord going to say?" he shrieked, standing over his sister and smacking himself on the forehead with his fist. "We haven't got him, and they've gorn and killed her!"
"She's only Stunned," said Professor McGonagall impatiently, who had stooped down to examine Alecto. "She'll be perfectly all right."
"No she bludgering well won't!" bellowed Amycus. "Not after the Dark Lord gets hold of her! She's gorn and sent for him, I felt me Mark burn, and he thinks we've got Potter!"
" 'Got Potter'?" said Professor McGonagall sharply. "What do you mean, 'got Potter'?"
"He told us Potter might try and get inside Ravenclaw Tower, and to send for him if we caught him!"
"Why would Harry Potter try to get inside Ravenclaw Tower? Potter belongs in my House!"
"We was told he might come in here!" said Carrow. "I dunno why, do I?"
Carrow and Professor McGonagall continued to argue as Carrow claimed he would blame the children for pressing the Dark Mark. McGonagall defended the children and dismissed Carrow, but he didn't like it.
"It's not a case of what you'll permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time's over. It's us what's in charge here now, and you'll back me up or you'll pay the price."
And he spat in her face.
I pulled the Cloak off myself, raised my wand, and said, "You shouldn't have done that!"
As Amycus spun around, I shouted, "Crucio!"
The Death Eater was lifted off his feet. He writhed through the air like a drowning man, thrashing and howling in pain, and then, with a crunch and a shattering of glass, he smashed into the front of a bookcase and crumpled, insensible, to the floor.
"I see what Bellatrix meant," I said, the blood thundering through my brain, "you need to really mean it."
"Miss Harring!" whispered Professor McGonagall, clutching her heart. "Harring — you're here! What — ? How — ?" She struggled to pull herself together. "Potter must be here with you, but that was foolish, Miss Harring!"
"He spat at you," I frowned.
"Harring, I — that was very — very gallant of you — but don't you realize — ?"
"Yeah, I do," Harry appeared next to me. "Professor McGonagall, Voldemort's on the way."
"Oh, are we allowed to say the name now?" asked Luna with an air of interest, pulling off the Invisibility Cloak. These two appearances seemed to overwhelm Professor McGonagall, who staggered backwards and fell into a nearby chair, clutching at the neck of her old tartan dressing gown.
"I don't think it makes any difference what we call him," Harry told Luna. "He already knows where I am."
"You must flee," whispered Professor McGonagall. "Now, Potter, as quickly as you can! Both of you— all three of you."
"I can't," said Harry. "There's something I need to do. Professor, do you know where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?"
"The d-diadem of Ravenclaw? Of course not — hasn't it been lost for centuries?" She sat up a little straighter. "Potter, it was madness, utter madness, for you to enter this castle —"
"We had to," I said. "Professor, there's something hidden here that I'm supposed to find, and it could be the diadem — if I could just speak to Professor Flitwick —"
There was a sound of movement, of clinking glass: Amycus was coming round. Before Harry or Luna or I could act, Professor McGonagall rose to her feet, pointed her wand at the groggy Death Eater, and said, "Imperio."
Amycus got up, walked over to his sister, picked up her wand, then shuffled obediently to Professor McGonagall and handed it over along with his own. Then he lay down on the floor beside Alecto. Professor McGonagall waved her wand again, and a length of shimmering silver rope appeared out of thin air and snaked around the Carrows, binding them tightly together.
"Potter," said Professor McGonagall, turning to face him again with superb indifference to the Carrows' predicament, "if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named does indeed know that you are here —"
Harry groaned in pain and doubled over again.
"Harry!" I shouted and held him up as best I could.
"Potter, are you all right?" Professor McGonagall carefully walked over to us.
"Time's running out, Voldemort's getting nearer. Professor, I'm acting on Dumbledore's orders, I must find what he wanted me to find! But we've got to get the students out while I'm searching the castle — it's me Voldemort wants, but he won't care about killing a few more or less, not now —"
"You're acting on Dumbledore's orders?" she repeated with a look of dawning wonder. Then she drew herself up to her fullest height. "We shall secure the school against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you search for this — this object."
"Is that possible?" I asked her.
"I think so," said Professor McGonagall dryly, "we teachers are rather good at magic, you know. I am sure we will be able to hold him off for a while if we all put our best efforts into it. Of course, something will have to be done about Professor Snape —"
"Maybe I can—"
"— and if Hogwarts is about to enter a state of siege, with the Dark Lord at the gates, it would indeed be advisable to take as many innocent people out of the way as possible. With the Floo Network under observation, and Apparition impossible within the grounds —"
"There's a way," said Harry quickly, and he explained about the passageway leading into the Hog's Head.
"Potter, we're talking about hundreds of students —"
"I know, Professor, but if Voldemort and the Death Eaters are concentrating on the school boundaries they won't be interested in anyone who's Disapparating out of the Hog's Head."
"There's something in that," she agreed. "Come. we must alert the other Heads of House. You'd better put that Cloak back on."
From the tip of her wand, three silver cats with spectacle markings around their eyes. The Patronuses ran sleekly ahead, filling the spiral staircase with silvery light, as Professor McGonagall, Harry, Luna, and I hurried back down.
As we walked down the corridor, Professor McGonagall promptly stopped and before I could pull the Map from Harry's pocket, she raised her wand ready to duel, and said, "Who's there?"
"It is I," said a low voice.
From behind a suit of armour stepped Severus Snape.
I clasped my hand over my mouth and raised my other with wand in hand. I felt Harry follow as well. Snape's appearance hadn't changed from the time I saw him at Grimmauld Place; shoulder-length black hair, black cold, dead eyes, and his usual black cloak; his wand raised and ready.
"Where are the Carrows?" he asked quietly.
"Wherever you told them to be, I expect, Severus," said Professor McGonagall.
Snape stepped nearer, and his eyes flitted over Professor McGonagall into the air around her, as if he knew that we were there. I raised my wand higher, ready to attack.
"I was under the impression," said Snape, "that Alecto had apprehended an intruder."
"Really?" said Professor McGonagall. "And what gave you that impression?"
Snape made a slight flexing movement of his left arm, where the Dark Mark was branded into his skin.
"Oh, but naturally," said Professor McGonagall. "You Death Eaters have your own private means of communication, I forgot."
"I did not know that it was your night to patrol the corridors, Minerva."
"You have some objection?"
"I wonder what could have brought you out of your bed at this late hour?"
"I thought I heard a disturbance," said Professor McGonagall.
"Really? But all seems calm."
Snape looked into her eyes.
"Have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva? Because if you have, I must insist —"
Professor McGonagall moved faster than I could have believed: Her wand slashed through the air and for a split second I thought that Snape must crumple, unconscious, but the swiftness of his Shield Charm was such that McGonagall was thrown off balance. She brandished her wand at a torch on the wall and it flew out of its bracket: Harry pull Luna and me out of the way of the descending flames, which became a ring of fire that filled the corridor and flew like a lasso at Snape —
Then it was no longer fire, but a great black serpent that McGonagall blasted to smoke, which re-formed and solidified in seconds to become a swarm of pursuing daggers: Snape avoided them only by forcing the suit of armor in front of him, and with echoing clangs the daggers sank, one after another, into its breast —
"Minerva!" said a squeaky voice.
Harry continued to pull us out of the way; I wanted to cast a protection spell, but then our location would be compromised.
"No!" squealed Flitwick, raising his wand. "You'll do no more murder at Hogwarts!"
Flitwick's spell hit the suit of armour behind which Snape had taken shelter: With a clatter, it came to life. Snape struggled free of the crushing arms and sent it flying back toward his attackers: I squealed and dove sideways to avoid it as it smashed into the wall and shattered. When I looked up again, Snape was in full flight, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout all thundering after him: He hurtled through a classroom door and, moments later, he heard McGonagall cry, "Coward! COWARD!"
"What's happened?" asked Luna.
The three of us scurried into the room where Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout were standing at a smashed window.
"He jumped," said Professor McGonagall.
I gasped and ran out from under the Cloak to the window, "is he dead?"
"No, he's not dead," said McGonagall bitterly. "Unlike Dumbledore, he was still carrying a wand... and he seems to have learned a few tricks from his master."
Flitwick and Sprout both yelled in shock at my sudden appearance and lost fell over at Harry's. Looking out the window, I saw a huge, batlike shape flying through the darkness towards the perimeter wall.
There were heavy footfalls behind them, and a great deal of puffing: Slughorn had just caught up.
"Harry!" he panted, massaging his immense chest beneath his emerald-green silk pyjamas. "My dear boy... what a surprise... And Charlotte?... how wonderful... Minerva, do please explain...Severus... what... ?"
"Our headmaster is taking a short break," said Professor McGonagall, pointing at the Snape-shaped hole in the window.
"Professor!" Harry shouted, his hands at his forehead. I spun to look at him as he groaned in pain. "Professor, we've got to barricade the school, he's coming now!"
"Very well. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is coming," she told the other teachers. Sprout and Flitwick gasped; Slughorn let out a low groan. "Potter has work to do in the castle on Dumbledore's orders. We need to put in place every protection of which we are capable while Potter does what he needs to do."
"You realize, of course, that nothing we do will be able to keep out You-Know-Who indefinitely?" squeaked Flitwick.
"But we can hold him up," said Professor Sprout.
"Thank you, Pomona," said Professor McGonagall, and between the two witches there passed a look of grim understanding. "I suggest we establish basic protection around the place, then gather our students and meet in the Great Hall. Most must be evacuated, though if any of those who are over age wish to stay and fight, I think they ought to be given the chance."
"Agreed," said Professor Sprout, already hurrying toward the door. "I shall meet you in the Great Hall in twenty minutes with my House."
Both Professor Sprout and Flitwick left the room to go get their Houses.
"My word," Slughorn puffed, pale and sweaty, his walrus moustache aquiver. "What a to-do! I'm not at all sure whether this is wise, Minerva. He is bound to find a way in, you know, and anyone who has tried to delay him will be in most grievous peril —"
"I shall expect you and the Slytherins in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, also," said Professor McGonagall. "If you wish to leave with your students, we shall not stop you. But if any of you attempt to sabotage our resistance or take up arms against us within this castle, then, Horace, we duel to kill."
"Minerva!" he said, aghast.
"The time has come for Slytherin House to decide upon its loyalties," interrupted Professor McGonagall. "Go and wake your students, Horace."
Harry, Luna, and I followed Professor McGonagall out of the room, leaving Slughorn to splutter to himself.
"Hogwarts is threatened!" shouted Professor McGonagall. "Man the boundaries, protect us, do your duty to our school!"
Professors of all subjects came out of their room and offices, looking and peering at McGonagall. We followed her until she addressed us.
"Now, Potter," said McGonagall, "you, Miss Harring, and Miss Lovegood had better return to your friends and bring them to the Great Hall — I shall rouse the other Gryffindors."
We parted at the top of the next staircase, Harry, Luna, and I ran back toward the concealed entrance to the Room of Requirement. As we ran, we met crowds of students, most wearing travelling cloaks over their pyjamas, being shepherded down to the Great Hall by teachers and prefects.
"That was Potter!"
"Harry Potter!"
"It was him, I swear, I just saw him!"
But we did not look back, and at last, we reached the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Harry leaned against the enchanted wall, which opened to admit them, and he, Luna, and I sped back down the steep staircase.
"Wh — ?"
As the room came into view, Harry slipped down a few stairs in shock. It was packed, far more crowded than when we had last been in there. Kingsley, Remus, and Sirius were looking up at us, as were Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, Bill and Fleur, and Mr and Mrs Weasley.