A day had passed at Hogwarts, and so far Briar and Draco had kept themselves hidden in the room of requirement successfully. It was pretty dull being kept in that room for a full day, but the news that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had escaped from Gringotts on the back of a dragon certainly livened things up
Everyone was coming up with theories about why they had been there to begin with, but Briar and Draco were the only ones who already knew the answer. They must have gone to look inside Bellatrix's vault
As evening arrived Neville had headed to Albeforth's pub again when he received a message, and they all assumed it was the arrival of food or more people. And they were correct on the latter. But who it was, was a shock to everyone
"Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?" He called as he re-entered the room, and in tow were three people no one expected to see here
As Harry emerged into the room beyond the passage, there wereseveral screams and yells: "HARRY!" "It's Potter, it's POTTER!" "Ron!" "Hermione!"
Everyone in the room immediately rushed towards them and Briar got there first, hugging all three of them in relief
"Okay, okay, calm down!" Neville called, and the crowd backedaway
"Where are we?" Harry asked
"Room of Requirement, of course!" said Neville. "Surpassed itself, hasn't it? The Carrows were chasing me, and I knew I had justone chance for a hideout: I managed to get through the door andthis is what I found! Well, it wasn't exactly like this when I arrived,it was a load smaller, there was only one hammock and just Gryffindor hangings. But it's expanded as more and more of the D.A.have arrived."
"And the Carrows can't get in?" asked Harry, looking aroundfor the door.
"No," said Seamus Finnigan, "It's a properhideout, as long as one of us stays in here, they can't get at us, thedoor won't open. It's all down to Neville. He really gets this room. You've got to ask it for exactly what you need — like, 'I don't wantany Carrow supporters to be able to get in' — and it'll do it foryou! You've just got to make sure you close the loopholes! Neville'sthe man!"
"It's quite straightforward, really," said Neville modestly. "I'dbeen in here about a day and a half, and getting really hungry, andwishing I could get something to eat, and that's when the passageto the Hog's Head opened up. I went through it and met Aberforth.He's been providing us with food, because for some reason, that'sthe one thing the room doesn't really do."
"Yeah, well, food's one of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law ofElemental Transfiguration," said Ron to general astonishment.
"So we've been hiding out here for nearly two weeks," said Seamus, "and it just makes more hammocks every time we need them,and it even sprouted a pretty good bathroom once girls startedturning up —"
"— and thought they'd quite like to wash, yes," supplied Lavender Brown
"Tell us what you've been up to, though," said Ernie. "There'vebeen so many rumours, we've been trying to keep up with you onPotterwatch." He pointed at the wireless. "And when they turned up, she wouldn't say anything" He pointed at Briar and Draco "You didn't break intoGringotts?"
"They did!" said Neville. "And the dragon's true too!" There was a smattering of applause and a few whoops; Ron tooka bow.
"What were you after?" asked Seamus eagerly. All their eyes were on Harry, despite Briar and Draco knowing the answer, but Harry's eyes seemed blurry, as if he wasn't there. Before any of them could help, Harry began to sway on his feet and his knees buckled. But Ron was quick to grab him before his body could hit the ground
"Harry!"
"Is he okay?"
Harry seemed to snap out of whatever was happening and he gasped suddenly, straightening up again
"Are you all right, Harry?" Neville was saying. "Want to sit down?I expect you're tired, aren't — ?"
"No," said Harry. "We need to get going,"
"What are we going to do, then, Harry?" asked Seamus. "What'sthe plan?"
"Plan?" repeated Harry. "Well, there's something we — Ron, Hermione, andI — need to do, and then we'll get out of here."
Briar scoffed angrily and folded her arms "Excuse me? What the hell do you mean?" she snapped
"We haven't come back to stay," said Harry, "There's something important we needto do —"
"I know, Harry, I was with you all year" she replied coldly "And now you can't tell me what this part is?"
"Why can't you tell us? It's something to do with fighting You Know-Who, right?" Ginny asked
"Well, yeah —"
"Then we'll help you." The other members of Dumbledore's Army were nodding, someenthusiastically, others solemnly. A couple of them rose from theirchairs to demonstrate their willingness for immediate action.
"You don't understand." Harry said "We — we can't tell you. We've got to doit — alone."
"Why?" asked Neville.
"Because . . .Dumbledore left the three of us a job," he said carefully, "andwe weren't supposed to tell — I mean, he wanted us to do it, justthe three of us."
"What about Briar?" Ginny asked
"She was never meant to come with us"
"But I did" Briar snapped "I did so you can't turn your back on me or anyone else now. We're Dumbledore's army. They've been keeping going while we abandoned them-"
"It wasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," said Ron.
"I don't see why you can't trust us. Everyone in this room's been fighting and they've been driven in herebecause the Carrows were hunting them down. Everyone in here'sproven they're loyal to Dumbledore — loyal to you."
"Look," Harry began, but the tunnel door had just opened behindhim so he fell silent.
"We got your message, Neville! Hello you three, I thought youmust be here!" It was Luna and Dean. Seamus gave a great roar of delight andran to hug his best friend. "Hi, everyone!" said Luna happily. "Oh, it's great to be back!"
"Luna," said Harry "what are you doing here? Howdid you — ?"
"I sent for her," said Neville, holding up the fake Galleon. "Ipromised her and Ginny that if you turned up I'd let them know.We all thought that if you came back, it would mean revolution.That we were going to overthrow Snape and the Carrows."
"Of course that's what it means," said Luna brightly. "Isn't it,Harry? We're going to fight them out of Hogwarts?"
"Listen," said Harry "I'm sorry, butthat's not what we came back for. There's something we've got todo, and then —"
"You're going to leave us in this mess?" demanded MichaelCorner.
"No!" said Ron. "What we're doing will benefit everyone in theend, it's all about trying to get rid of You-Know-Who —"
"Then let us help!" said Neville angrily. "We want to be a partof it!"
There was another noise behind them, and Harry turned. Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were climbing through the tunnel.
"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed," said Fred, raising his handin answer to several cries of greeting. "He wants a kip, and his bar'sturned into a railway station." Right behind Lee Jordan came Harry'sold girlfriend, Cho Chang.
"I got the message," she said, holding up her own fake Galleon,and she walked over to sit beside Michael Corner.
"So what's the plan, Harry?" said George.
"There isn't one," said Harry
"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favouritekind," said Fred.
"You've got to stop this!" Harry told Neville. "What did you callthem all back for? This is insane —"
"We're fighting, aren't we?" said Dean, taking out his fake Galleon. "The message said Harry was back, and we were going to fight!I'll have to get a wand, though —"
"You haven't got a wand — ?" began Seamus.
Briar rolled her eyes and marched firmly up to Harry, and grabbed him by the arm "Why can't they help?" she said quietly
"What?"
"They can help."
Ron nodded nervously and looked at Harry "Wedon't know where it is. We've got to find it fast. We don't have totell them it's a Horcrux." Briar furrowed her eyebrows
"I thinkRon's right. We don't even know what we're looking for, we needthem." Hermione murmured. And when Harry looked unconvinced, "You don't have todo everything alone, Harry."
"All right," he said quietly "Okay," he called tothe room at large, and all noise ceased: Fred and George, who hadbeen cracking jokes for the benefit of those nearest, fell silent, andall of them looked alert, excited. "There's something we need to find," Harry said. "Something — something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It'shere at Hogwarts, but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that?Has anyone ever come across something with her eagle on it, forinstance?" He looked hopefully toward the little group of Ravenclaws,
Luna answered,perched on the arm of Ginny's chair. "Well, there's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember,Harry? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it."
"Yeah, but the lost diadem," said Michael, rolling his eyes, "is lost, Luna. That's sort of the point."
"When was it lost?" asked Harry.
"Centuries ago, they say," said Cho, "Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself.People have looked, but," she appealed to her fellow Ravenclaws, "nobody's ever found a trace of it, have they?" They all shook their heads.
"Sorry, but what is a diadem?" asked Ron.
"It's a kind of crown," said Terry Boot. "Ravenclaw's was supposedto have magical properties, enhance the wisdom of the wearer."
"Yes, Daddy's Wrackspurt siphons —"
But Harry cut across Luna. "And none of you have ever seen anything that looks like it?" They all shook their heads again. Harry looked crestfallen and the room fill silent.
However, Chospoke again. "If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, Icould take you up to our common room and show you, Harry?Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue."
Again Harry suddenly seemed woozy, and Briar only now realised it must be because Voldemort was in his head
"He's on the move," Harry whispered to them three "Listen, I know it's not muchof a lead, but I'm going to go and look at this statue, at least findout what the diadem looks like. Wait for me here and keep, youknow — the other one — safe."
Cho had got to her feet, but Ginny said rather fiercely, "No, Lunawill take Harry, won't you, Luna?"
"Oooh, yes, I'd like to," said Luna happily, and Cho sat downagain, looking disappointed, whilst Briar stifled a grin
"How do we get out?" Harry asked Neville.
"Over here." He led Harry and Luna to a corner, where a small cupboardopened onto a steep staircase. "It comes out somewhere different every day, so they've neverbeen able to find it," he said. "Only trouble is, we never know exactlywhere we're going to end up when we go out. Be careful, Harry,they're always patrolling the corridors at night."
"No problem," said Harry. "See you in a bit." He and Luna hurried up the staircase and disappeared.
"What do we do now?" Seamus asked and everyone turned back to the other three
"We need to get ready to fight" Briar ordered "Everyone grab your wands and do whatever you have to to get ready. Call as many DA members here as you can get. Either by the coins or patronuses it doesn't matter, they'll already know we're in the castle."
The room turned from one of calm, to one of chaos instantly. People were scrambling around grabbing wands, coins, or casting charms.
"Briar!" Hermione exclaimed and began searching through her beaded bag "I forgot you gave me this!" From deep in the bag she pulled out a familiar long wand and when it touched Briar's hand, she had never felt more comfortable
"Thank you," she smiled in relief
"Also, what's Malfoy doing here?" Ron spat
"Long story" Came the drawling voice of none other than Draco himself "But I left the Death Eaters and I'm here to fight with you. Whether you trust me or not is irrelevant, but you need me right now, Weasley. So can we put it all aside for this?" He held out a hand and Ron eyed him angrily. But after a harsh elbow to the ribs from Hermione, Ron reluctantly shook his hand
"Okay now that you two are done eye-hating each other, move on" Briar interrupted and they quickly dropped their hands, flushing furiously. Draco shook his head and began racing for the door, but Briar quickly grabbed his hand to stop him "Where are you going?"
"I have something I need to do," he answered "I'll be safe. I promise"
"But-"
He took one large step towards her, cupped her cheek, and brought his lips down against hers firmly. The kiss was nowhere near as long as the last one, and when he pulled away Briar wished he hadn't "I promise," he whispered and then turned his back and hurried out of the room
Just as that door closed, the back door opened, and when Briar saw who was coming through, her heart filled with pride and hope. "Dad?"