You, Juniper, and the Gryffindor trio return to Hogwarts to search for the remaining horcruxes.
~~~
It was dark. The clouds were so thick and so black that even the moon was hidden. You considered that a blessing. The less light there was to expose your group, the better. But it did make it difficult to see.
It had been exactly three days since you'd laid your plan out bare to Ron Weasley's parents. You and Molly had spent the time working to the bone to get Slytherin robes made for the Gryffindor trio you were sneaking into the castle. You'd gotten them to fit perfectly, which, you and Molly knew, was thanks to the help of some last-minute magic touches. You and Juniper had thrown on your own Slytherin robes to match, and you'd packed up your meager belongings yet again to return to the castle you'd fled just a month before.
You had to admit, it was very weird seeing Ron, Hermione, and Harry in green-and-silver robes. Sure, Harry had told you he'd almost ended up in the serpent-represented house during the Sorting Ceremony, but it had been so long by now that seeing the brunette adorned in colors other than red and gold threw you off.
Hermione looked down at her new robes disdainfully, although she tried to wipe the look off her face as she looked back up at the rest of you. Ron seemed to be avoiding looking at his robes altogether. The only people who were completely comfortable in the colors of Slytherin were you and Juniper.
You could somewhat understand why the trio was uncomfortable. Your house had produced Tom Riddle, the very man you were going back to Hogwarts to face. Your house had produced Severus Snape, the Potions professor that nobody but Dumbledore had trusted. Your house was notorious for the villains of the story, and now your friends were dressed like they were, too.
You decided not to broach the topic. Ron, Harry, and Hermione not wanting to be in Slytherin had no bearing on the mission currently at hand. They knew what they had to do to get back into the castle unnoticed. If they branched off from the plan after the five of you made it to the castle, it was going to be their problem by then.
You gave heartfelt goodbyes to the Weasleys, promising to keep Ginny safe once you found her at school. You knew what the girl looked like, you'd seen her with Harry a lot. So you simply nodded along with the promises the trio made, hoping Juniper would do the same.
"Be safe, all of you," Molly said as Ron opened the front door to usher your group outside. "Don't do anything foolish."
Ron chuckled quietly as the rest of you went out the door he was holding open. "Don't worry, Mum," he said, a foot out the door already. "You couldn't get rid of us if you tried."
He shut the door behind him with a click, a sound that settled in your mind as something of a final goodbye. You couldn't explain the feeling in the pit of your stomach. All you knew was that it wasn't a pleasant one.
Ron sighed as he stepped off the porch, pulling his wand out of his pocket just like the rest of you had already done. "Right outside Hogwarts, right?" he asked, and Harry nodded at him. "Across the lake," Harry said, reiterating the plan you'd just gone over.
Ron nodded once, before linking arms with Hermione and raising his wand.
You linked arms with Juniper and raised your own wand, looking at Harry, who was standing alone with his own wand high in the air. It was symbolic, you supposed, that he was the only one standing by himself.
"See y'all in a second," Juniper quipped, bringing a faint smile to the face of everyone in your group.
You cast the spell to Apparate—forever grateful that Harry and Hermione had taught you the spell after you had destroyed Salazar Slytherin's locket, though you still hated the feeling of it. But with a loud crack and the feeling of relief after your head didn't implode, you landed next to Juniper on the bank of the river across from Hogwarts.
Another lucky thing was that again, nobody in your group had Splinched. You breathed a collective sigh of relief, before looking across the lake, up at the foreboding castle that loomed over each of your heads.
There were no lights on in the castle; at least, none that any of you could see. You stood at the lake with no idea how to get across it, but then Juniper had an idea that you couldn't believe hadn't already occurred to anybody.
"Accio rowboats!" she said firmly, waving her wand in the direction of the other side of the lake. Within moments, one of the rowboats that your classmates had ridden in to get to Hogwarts for their first year rowed itself over to the other side of the riverbank, ready for you to get in.
Juniper climbed in without hesitation, settling down and looking up at the rest of you.
"What're you waiting for?" she asked. "Get in!"
You climbed in after her, followed closely by Hermione, then Ron. Harry walked into the water far enough to push the boat out, then climbed in himself, now soaked to the bone from the middle of his shins down.
He pulled out his own wand, waving them at his feet. "Arefacio," he muttered, and you watched as his clothing immediately dried up. He looked up at the castle that was growing ever closer as Hermione and Juniper charmed the rowboat to go faster, his face growing more grim with every passing second.
You felt like no time had passed at all when the rowboat hit the bank at the other side, and Ron took a deep breath as he stepped out of the boat, helping Hermione step out as Harry helped you and you helped Juniper.
The five of you stood on the grounds of the school none of you had been back to in months, an unspoken realization passing through each of you.
This was it. It was now, or never.
You took a deep breath, releasing it through your nose in a heavy sigh. Then, you took the lead, putting yourself in front of the group to lead them to the entrance into the Slytherin dungeons that you definitely weren't supposed to know about. (It was right alongside your little hidey-hole on your shortcut to Hogsmeade, something you'd found accidentally and then mentally logged for later.)
The door was locked, as it usually was, but to your knowledge this door hadn't been used outside of the time you'd sneaked in through it, whether with or without Draco.
Waving your wand, you whispered "Alohomora!" and swung the door open as quietly as you could.
You ushered the other four people in your group up the stairs as quickly as possible, making sure to remind them to remain quiet with a firm finger on your lips as they ran past you up the staircase.
After exactly 312 stairs (you'd memorized the number), you made it to another locked door, which again opened with a quick Unlocking Charm, leading you into the corner of the dungeons closest to the Slytherin Common Room door. Your heart leapt as you entered the hallway more fully, the realization that you could see Draco at any moment enveloping you, nearly causing your knees to go weak.
You tried your best to shake it off as you guided everyone through the Slytherin Common Room Door. You quickly ran up to the dorm you had previously shared with Juniper, breathing a quiet sigh of relief that it didn't look like it had been taken over by new tenants.
You shut the door behind you, but not before scanning the halls for anyone who could've seen you. Locking the door with a Locking Charm as you tapped your wand on the doorknob, Juniper then cast a Deafening Charm and Hermione followed behind her with a Shield Charm. With magic from three different people covering the door you now stood behind, it was going to be difficult for any one person to even find out you were in there, let alone get in.
"Okay," you breathed finally, turning to the rest of the group. Everyone took their hoods down in a heartbeat, revealing Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Juniper all over again.
"You guys all remember the plan, right?" you asked, hoping that they would be able to remember, but knowing you'd end up running over the whole thing again.
"Yeah," Ron said, and Harry and Hermione both nodded in unison.
"Okay," you said then, clasping your hands together. "Right. Okay. Juniper and I are going to search the dungeons. Hermione and Ron are going to get into the Hufflepuff Common Room to look for the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, which shouldn't be too hard, really. They've never changed the password to get in, it's jingle berries."
Ron and Hermione nodded.
Harry, on the other hand, was paler than you thought you'd ever seen him before. You couldn't blame him. He was the only one that was going off on his own. Sure, the rest of you were going to meet up with him after a bit, but it wasn't going to be immediate. Especially if you and Juniper or Ron and Hermione didn't find anything.
After a few more minutes together, all of you just soaking up each other's presence, everyone gave everyone else hugs and officially split up.
You made Juniper walk in front of you everywhere you searched throughout the bottom floor of Hogwarts. You were too scared to turn around and see that she'd disappeared. You found nothing in the Potions classroom, and even less in the classroom where you'd taken Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"What are we even looking for in here?" Juniper questioned as you moved throughout the hallways, the tip of your wand lit up so you could see each nook and cranny.
"We're not sure where the lost diadem of Ravenclaw is," you explained, and Juniper smacked her forehead as she remembered. "Harry's on the lookout for the Room of Requirement, but we're checking things out down here in case Tom Riddle stashed it near his original Hogwarts House."
Juniper nodded. "I fuckin' knew that," she quipped as she helped you pull up a loose rock from the cobblestone floor of the dungeons. You chuckled lightly as you placed the stone back down, no evidence of anything being buried in the dirt underneath.
You heard footsteps as you charmed the stone back into its official place, making sure it wouldn't be loose anymore. You and Juniper looked at each other, panicking as you flew around the corner on light feet, diving into the Potions classroom and hoping whoever was coming would pass the room up.
You and Juniper hid under one of the classroom tables as you waited for the person to pass. Your heart was thundering in your chest, and judging by Juniper's grip on you, you were sure her heart was doing the same thing.
You held your breath as the footsteps got louder, squeezing your eyes shut as if it would do anything to help the situation.
The footsteps stopped right before whoever it was passed the classroom doorway, and you had half a mind to attempt the same spell Snape had used to hide you in the classroom months before while you brewed the Death Draught, but you only had one shot and if you failed it would've been just as effective as sending out a flare to tell whoever was out there that people were in the Potions classroom.
You held your breath again, drawing your wand anyway. If you were found out you were going to have to put up a fight, and you didn't want to be totally unprepared.
You froze when the footsteps started again, but all you saw was a dark figure passing by the classroom, and then a few minutes later you heard what you assumed was the Common Room door opening and closing, and you were finally in the clear again.
The sigh of relief you and Juniper both breathed was heavy and shaky all at the same time. You flew through the rest of your searching, the adrenaline boost you'd been given helping you move more quickly.
Finally, after over an hour of searching, you'd found nothing of any interest in the dungeons. You and Juniper then slowly and quietly made your way up the stairs to the main floor, looking for Harry. You knew he was somewhere on the second floor. No matter where the Room of Requirement appeared, it was always on the second floor.
You began to see giant flashes of light outside, almost like lightning. You were half inclined to believe it was just a thunderstorm, with the thunderous noises you could hear going on outside. But then the yelling began. You and Juniper looked at each other for a split second, before you ran to the nearest window, gazing out across the landscape.
The magical ward that protected the school was being attacked. You could barely see McGonagall outside, her own wand raised as she began to bring the stone statues around the school to life. Your hand flew to your mouth as you realized what was happening.
Voldemort was attacking the school.
You ran down the hallway, Juniper hot on your heels. You looked out the window that faced Hagrid's hut and what you saw confirmed your fears.
The sea of what was unmistakably Death Eaters was encroaching on school grounds, growing closer by the second. The ward that protected Hogwarts was keeping them at bay, but you could tell it was growing weaker. Nobody in the school had much time left, least of all the boy you were searching for.
You could almost feel the blood draining from your face as you turned back to your roommate, who looked as pale as you were sure you did.
"We have to find Harry," you choked out, and Juniper nodded vigorously.
"We have to find him now."
~~~
A/N: Hi my loves! It's Autumn, I promise I'm gonna bring Draco back soon!! It's all part of the plot.
Also, we have 4 chapters to go before the Epilogue!!! The story is wrapping up pretty quick. But I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. <3