"Until someone brings the world back into tune, this is how it is." - A Gathering Storm, Hadestown
"Neville -- what the fuck -- how --?"
But Neville has spotted Ron, Hermione, and Riley, and with yells of delight is hugging them, too. The longer I look at Neville, the worse he appears: one of his eyes is swollen, yellow and purple, there are gouge marks on his face, and his general air of unkemptness suggests that he's been living it rough. Nevertheless, his battered visage shines with happiness as he lets go of Riley and says again, "I knew you'd come! Kept telling Seamus it was a matter of time!"
"Neville, what's happened to you?"
"What? This?" Neville dismisses his injuries with a shake of his head. "This is nothing. Seamus is worse. You'll see. Shall we get going, then? Oh," he turns to Aberforth, "Ab, there might be a couple more people on the way."
"Couple more?" repeats Aberforth ominously. "What d'you mean, a couple more, Longbottom? There's curfew and a Caterwauling Charm on the whole village!"
"I know, that's why they'll be Apparating directly into the bar," says Neville. "Just send them down the passage when they get here, will you? Thanks a lot."
Neville holds out his hand to Hermione and helps her climb up on to the mantelpiece and into the tunnel; Ron and Riley follow, then Neville, while Harry and I address Aberforth.
"I don't know how we can thank you. You've saved our lives twice."
"Look after 'em, then," says Aberfirth gruffly. "I might not be able to save 'em a third time."
Harry and I clamber up on the mantlepiece and through the hole behind Ariana's portrait. There are smooth stone steps on the other side: it looks as though the passageway has been here for years. Brass lamps hang from the walls, and the earthy floor is worn and smooth; as we walk, our shadows ripple, fan-like, across the wall.
"How long's this been here?" Ron asks as we set off. "It isn't on the Marauder's Map, is it? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of the school."
"They sealed off all of those before the start of the years," says Neville. "There's no chance of getting through any of them now, not with curses over the entrances and Death Eaters and Dementors waiting at the exits." He starts walking backward, beaming, drinking us in. "Never mind that stuff...is it true? Did you break into Gringotts? Did you escape on a dragon? It's everywhere; everyone's talking about it, Terry Boot got beaten up by a Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner."
I can't help but grin. "Yeah, it's true."
Neville laughs gleefully.
"What did you do with the dragon?"
"Released it into the wild," Riley says.
"Hermione was all for keeping it as a pet," Ron adds, sniggering.
"Don't exaggerate, Ron --"
"But have you been doing? People have been saying you've just been on the run, Harry and Haylee, but I don't think so. I think you've been up to something."
"You're right," Harry says, "but tell us about Hogwarts, Neville, we haven't heard anything."
"It's been...well, it's not really like Hogwarts anymore," says Neville, the smile fading as he speaks. "Do you know about the Carrows?"
"Yeah, they were there the night Dumbledore died," I say. "They're teaching now?"
"They do more than teach," says Neville. "They're in charge of discipline. They like punishment, the Carrows."
"Like Umbridge?"
"Nah, they make her look tame. The other teachers are all supposed to refer us to the Carrows if we do anything wrong. They don't, though, if they can avoid it. You can tell they hate them as much as we do.
"Amycus, the bloke, he teaches what used to be Defence Against the Dark Arts, except now it's just Dark Arts. We're supposed to practise the Cruciatus Curse on people who've earned detentions-"
"What?"
All of our voices echo up and down the passage.
"Yeah," says Neville. "That's how I got this one," he points at a particularly nasty gash on his cheek. "I refused to do it. Some people are into it, though; Crabbe and Goyle love it. First time they've been top in anything, I expect.
"Alecto, Amycus' sister, teaches Muggle Studies, which is compulsory for everyone. We've all got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drove wizards into hiding by being vicious towards them, and how the natural order is being re-established. I got this one," he indicates another slash to his face, "for asking her how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got."
"Jesus, Neville," says Riley, "there's a time and a place to be a smart arse, mate."
"Like you can talk," Neville shoots back. "And besides, you didn't hear her. You wouldn't have stood it either. The thing is, it helps when people stand up to them, it gives everyone hope. I used to notice that when you two did it, Harry and Haylee."
"But they've used you as a knife sharpener," Ron says, wincing slightly as we pass a lamp and Neville's injuries are thrown into even greater relief.
Neville shrugs. "Doesn't matter. They don't want to spill too much pure blood, so they'll torture us for a bit if we're mouthy, but they won't actually kill us."
I don't know what's worse, the things that Neville's saying or the matter-of-fact tone in which he's saying them.
"The only people in real danger are the ones whose friends and relatives on the outside are giving trouble. They get taken hostage. Old Xeno Lovegood was getting a bit too outspoken in The Quibbler, so they dragged Luna off the train on the way back for Christmas."
"Neville, she's all right, we've seen her --"
"Yeah, I know, she managed to get a message to me."
From his pocket, he pulls a golden coin, and I recognise it as one of the fake Galleons that Dumbledore's Army used to send messages.
"These have been great," says Neville, beaming at Hermione. "The Carrow never rumbled how we were communicating, it drove them mad. We used to sneak out at night and put graffiti on the walls: Dumbledore's Army, Still Recruiting, stuff like that. Snape hated it."
"You used to?" I asked, noting the past tense.
"Well, it got more difficult as time went on," says Neville. "We lost Luna at Christmas and Ginny never came back from Easter, and the three of us were sort of the leaders. Malfoy never came back after Easter, either -- never thought I'd see the day that I missed Draco Malfoy."
My heart skips a beat. "He was helping the DA?"
"Not directly," Neville explains, "but he swept a lot of stuff under the rug for us. I only really realised it after he was gone, because the Carrows suddenly seemed to know I behind a lot of the resistance. They started coming down on me hard, and then Michael Corner went and got caught releasing a first-year they'd chained up, and they tortured him pretty badly. That scared people off."
"No kidding," Ron mutters, as the passage begins to slope upwards.
"Yeah, well, I couldn't ask people to go through what Michael did, so we dropped those kinds of stunts. But we were still fighting, doing underground stuff, right up until a couple of weeks ago. That's when they decided there was only one way to stop me, I suppose, and they went for Gran."
"They what?"
"Yeah," says Neville, panting a little now because the passage is climbing so steeply, "well, you can see their thinking. It had worked really well, kidnapping kids to force their relatives to behave, I s'pose it was only a matter of time before they did it the other way round. Thing was," he faces us, and I'm astounded to see that he's grinning, "they bit off more than they could chew with Gran. Little old witch living alone, they probably thought they didn't need to send anyone particularly powerful. Anyway," Neville laughs, "Dawlish is still in St Mungo's and Gran's on the run. She sent me a letter," he claps a hand to the breast pocket of his robes, "telling me she was proud of me, that I'm my parents' son and to keep it up."
"That's brilliant, Neville," Riley says, clapping his back.
"Yeah," Neville says happily. "Only thing was, once they realised they had no hold over me, they decided Hogwarts could do without me after all. I don't know if they were planning to kill me or send me to Azkaban, either way, I knew it was time to disappear."
"But," Ron says, looking thoroughly confused, "aren't -- aren't we heading straight back into Hogwarts?"
"'Course," says Neville. "You'll see. We're here."
We turn a corner, and there ahead of us is the end of the passage. Another short flight of steps lead to a door just like the one hidden behind Ariana's portrait. Neville pushes it open and climbs through, as Harry and I follow, I hear Neville call out to unseen people: "Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?"
As we emerge into the room beyond the passage, there are several screams and yells -
"HARRY! HAYLEE!"
"It's the Potters. It's THE POTTERS!"
"Ron!"
"Hermione!"
"RILEY!"
I have a confused impression of coloured hangings, of lamps and many faces. The next moment, we're engulfed, hugged, pounded on the backs, our hair ruffled, our hands shaken, but what seems to be more than twenty people: we might have just won a Quidditch final.
"Okay, okay, calm down!" Neville calls, and as the crowd backs away, I'm able to take in our surroundings.
I don't recognise the room at all. It's enormous and looks somewhat like the interior of a particularly sumptuous treehouse, or perhaps a gigantic ship's cabin. Multicoloured hammocks are strung from the ceiling and from a balcony that runs around the dark wood-panelled and windowless walls, which are covered in bright tapestry hangings: I see the gold Gryffindor lion, emblazoned on scarlet; the black badger of Hufflepuff, set against yellow, and the bronze eagle of Ravenclaw, on blue. The silver and green of Slytherin are absent. There are bulging bookcases, a few broomsticks propped against the walls, and in the corner, a large wooden-cased wireless.
"Where are we?"
"Room of Requirement, of course!" Neville says. "Surpassed itself, hasn't it? The Carrows were chasing me, and I knew I had just one chance for a hideout: I managed to get through the door, and this 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 decorations. But it's expanded as more and more of the DA have arrived."
"And the Carrows can't get in?" I ask, glancing around for an exit.
"No," says Seamus Finnigan, whom I haven't recognised until he spoke, as his face is horrifically bruised and puffy. "It's a proper hideout, as long as one of us stays in here, they can't get at us, the door won't open. It's all down to Neville. He really gets this Room. You've got to ask it exactly what you need -- like, 'I don't want any Carrow supporters to be able to get in' -- and it'll do it for you! You've just got to make sure you close the loopholes! Neville's the man!"
"It's quite straightforward, really," says Neville modestly. "I'd been in here a day and a half, and getting really hungry, and wishing I could get something to eat, and that's when the passage to 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's the one thing the room doesn't really do."
"Yeah, well, food's one of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration," says Ron, to general astonishment.
"So we've been hiding out here for nearly two weeks," says Seamus, "and it just makes more hammocks every time we need them, and it even sprouted a pretty good bathroom once girls started turning up --"
"-- and though they'd quite like to wash, yes," supplies Lavender Brown, who I haven't noticed until this point. Now that I look around properly, I recognise many familiar faces. Both Patil twins are there, as is Terry Boot, Ernie Macmillan, Anthony Goldstein, and Michael Corner.
"Tell us what you've been up to, though," says Ernie, "there've been so many rumours, we've been trying to keep up with you on Potterwatch." He points at the wireless. "You didn't break into Gringotts?"
"They did!" says Neville. "And the dragon's true too!"
There is a smattering of applause and a few whoops; Ron takes a bow, and Riley blows a single kiss to the crowd.
"What were you after?" asks Seamus eagerly.
Before any of us can parry the question with one of our own, I feel a terrible, scorching pain in my lightning scar. As Harry and I turn our backs on the curious and delighted faces, the Room of Requirement vanishes, and we're standing inside a ruined stone shack, and the rotting floorboards are ripped apart at our feet, a disinterred golden box lays open and empty beside the hole, and Voldemort's scream of fury vibrates inside my head.
With an enormous effort, I pull out of Voldemort's mind again, back to where I stand, swaying, in the Room of Requirement, sweat pouring down my face, and having partially fallen onto Neville, who is holding me up.
"Are you all right?" Neville is saying. "Want to sit down? I expect you're tired, aren't --?"
"Thanks, Neville," I say, returning to my feet with a sheepish smile, "but no." I look at Harry, and then to Ron, Hermione, and Riley, trying to tell them without words that Voldemort has just discovered the loss of another Horcrux. Time is running out fast: if Voldemort chooses to visit Hogwarts next, we'll lose our chance.
"We need to get going," Harry says, and their expressions tell me that they understand.
"What are we doing to do then?" Seamus asks. "What's the plan?"
"Plan?" I repeat. I'm exercising all my will power to prevent myself succumbing again to Voldemort's rage: my scar is still burning. "Well, there's something we --- Harry, Ron, Hermione, Riley, and I -- need to do, and then we'll get out of here."
Nobody is laughing or whooping anymore. Neville looks confused.
"What d'you mean, 'get out of here'?"
"We haven't come back to stay," says Harry, and we both rub our searing scars. "There's something important we need to do --"
"What is it?"
"I -- I can't tell you."
There is a ripple of muttering at this: Neville's brows contract.
"Why can't you tell us? It's something to do with fighting You-Know-Who. right?"
"Well, yeah --"
"Then we'll help you."
The other members of Dumbledore's Army are nodding, some enthusiastically, others solemnly. A couple of them rise from their chairs to demonstrate their willingness for immediate action.
"You don't understand." I feel like I've said this a million times in the past few hours. "I appreciate you all wanting to help, but we can't tell you. We've got to do it -- alone."
"Why?" Neville asks.
"Because..." In my desperation to start looking for the missing Horcrux, or at least to have a private discussion with Harry and the others, I'm finding it difficult to gather my thoughts. My scar is still searing. "Dumbledore left us a job," I say carefully, "and we aren't supposed to tell -- I mean, he wanted us to do it, just the five of us."
"We're his Army," says Neville. "Dumbledore's Army. We were in it together. We've been keeping it going while you lot have been off on your own --"
"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," says Ron.
"I never said it had, but I don't see why you can't trust us. Everyone in this Room's been fighting, and they've been driven in here because the Carrows were hunting them down. Everyone in here's proven they're loyal to Dumbledore -- loyal to you."
"Look," Harry begins, and even I don't know what he's going to say, but it does not matter: the tunnel door has just opened behind us.
"We got your message, Neville! Hello you five, I thought you must be here!"
It's Luna and Dean. Seamus gives a great roar of delight and runs to hug his best friend.
"Hi, everyone!" says Luna happily. "Oh, it's great to be back!"
"Luna," I say distractedly, "what are you doing here? How did you --?"
"I sent for her," says Neville, holding up the fake Galleon. "I promised her and Ginny that if you two 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," says Luna brightly. "Isn't it, Harry and Haylee? We're going to fight them out of Hogwarts?"
"Listen," says Harry, with a rising sense of panic, and for a moment I think I could vomit. "I'm sorry, but that's not what we came back for. There's something we've got to do, and then --"
"You're going to leave us in this mess?" demands Michael Corner.
"No!" Riley says. "Never! What we're going will benefit everyone in the end, it's all about defeating You-Know-Who --"
"Then let us help!" Neville says angrily. "We want to be part of it!"
There is another noise behind us, we turn, and immediately, I know that Harry is going to be even more distracted, for Ginny has just entered, closely followed by Fred, George, and Lee Jordan.
"Aberforth's getting a bit ratty," says Fred, raising his hand in answer to several cries of greeting. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station."
For a moment, it's all my strength to hold back an exasperated laugh. Right behind Lee, comes Harry's old girlfriend, Cho Chang.
"I got the message," she says, holding up own Galleon, and she walks over to sit beside Michael Corner.
"So what's the plan, Harry and Haylee?" says George, throwing an arm around my shoulder, as if the events of Shell Cottage and the wedding never happened.
"There isn't one," I say, still overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of all these people, unable to take anything in properly while my scar is still burning.
"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favourite kind," says Fred.
"You've got to stop this!" Harry tells Neville. "What did you call them back for? This is insane --"
"We're fighting, aren't we?" says Dean, taking out his fake Galleon.
"If we fight now, we're dead," I interject, grabbing a handful of my hair to mediate the pain.
"The message said Harry and Haylee were back, and we were going to fight! I'll have to get a wand, though --"
"You haven't got a wand --?" Seamus begins.
Ron turns suddenly to Harry and me.
"Why can't they help?"
"What?"
"They can help." He drops his voice and says, so only we can hear him. "We don't know where it is. We've got to find it fast. We don't have to tell them it's a Horcrux."
Harry and I look to each other, and then to Riley and Hermione, the latter of which murmurs, "I think Ron's right. We don't even know what we're looking for, we need them." And when we look unconvinced, "You don't have to do everything on your own, you know."
"It's not that," I say defensively. "We're not asking them to fight, they shouldn't have to." I glance over my shoulder, my eyes falling upon kids way too young to be risking their lives for us. "I can't let any of them die for us, it's not right."
"Well," Riley says coldly, "'till you guys fix this shit, this is how it is."
I think fast, my scar still prickling, my head threatening to spilt again. Dumbledore has warned us against telling anyone but Ron, Hermione, and Riley about the Horcruxes. Secrets and lies, that's how we grew up, and Albus...he was a natural...Are we turning into Dumbledore, keeping our secrets clutched to our chest, afraid to trust? But Dumbledore had trusted Snape, and where did that lead? To murder atop the tallest tower....
I look to Harry again, and he gives a short, quick nod. "All right," I say quietly, before turning to address the room. "Okay," I call out, and all noise ceases: Fred and George, who have been cracking jokes for the benefit of those nearest, fall silent, and all of them look alert, excited.
"There's something we need to find," I say. "Something --- something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who."
"Well, what is it?" George asks from beside me.
"We don't know," Harry says.
"Eh -- where is it?" Neville echoes.
"We don't know that either," I say, and I feel my cheeks begin to burn in embarrassment. This is what we've been afraid of all along, what cost us Ron; the fact that Harry and I don't know the specifics, the fact that Dumbledore has hidden things from us. "Look, I know it's not much to go on --"
"That's nothing to go on," Seamus interjects.
Harry glares at him. "It's here at Hogwarts," he repeats. "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, for instance?"
I look hopefully towards the little group of Ravenclaws, to Padma, Michael, Terry, and Cho, but it's Luna who answers, perched on the arm of Ginny's chair.
"Well, there's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it."
"Yeah, but lost diadem," says Michael Corner, rolling his eyes, "is lost, Luna. That's sort of the whole point."
"When was it lost?" I ask.
"Centuries ago, they say," says Cho, and my heart sinks. "Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked, but," she appeals to her fellow Ravenclaws, "nobody's ever found a trace of it, have they?"
They all shake their heads.
"Sorry, but can someone tell me what a bloody diadem is?" asks Ron.
"It's kind of a crown," says Terry Booy. "Ravenclaw's was supposed to have magical properties, enhance the wisdom of the wearer.'
"Yes, Daddy's Wrackspurt siphons --"
Harry cuts across her.
"And none of you have ever seen anything that looks like it?"
They all shake their heads again. I look at Harry, and my own disappointment is mirrored back at me. An object that has been lost long ago, and apparently without a trace, does not seem like a good candidate for a Horcrux hidden inside the castle...before I can formulate a new question, however, Cho speaks again.
"If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, I can take you up to our common room and show you, Harry? Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue."
My scar scorches again: for a moment, the Room of Requirement swims before me, and I see instead the dark soaring beneath me and feel the great snake wrapped around my shoulders. Voldemort is flying again, whether to the underground lake or here, to the castle, I do not know: either way, there's hardly any time left.
"He's on the move," I say quietly. I glance at Cho and then back to Ron, Hermione, and Riley. "Listen, I know it's not much of a lead, but we're going to look at the statue, at least find out what the diadem looks like. Wait here for us and keep, you know -- the other one -- safe."
Cho gets to her feet, but Ginny says rather fiercely, "No, Luna will take Harry and Haylee, won't you, Luna?"
"Oooh, yes, I'd like to," says Luna happily, and Cho sits down again, looking disappointed.
"How do we get out of here?" I ask Neville.
"Over here."
He leads Harry, Luna, and I to a corner, where a small cupboard opens on a steep staircase.
"It comes out somewhere different every day, so they've never been able to find it," he says. "Only trouble is, we never know exactly where we're going to end up when we go out. Be careful, they're always patrolling the corridors at night."
"No problem," Harry says. "See you in a bit."
Harry, Luna, and I hurry up the staircase, which is long, lit by torches and turn corners in unexpected places. At last, we reach what appears to be a solid wall.
"Get under here," I tell Luna, as Harry pulls out the Invisibility Cloak and throws it over the three of us. I give the wall a little push.
It melts away at my touch, and we slip inside: I glance back and see that it has resealed itself at once. We're standing in a dark corridor: I fumble in the pouch around my neck and take out the Marauder's Map. Holding it close to my nose, I search and locate us and Luna's dots at last.
"We're up on the fifth floor," I whisper, watching Filch move away from us, a corridor ahead. "Come on, this way.'
We creep off.
Harry and I have prowled the castle at night many times before this, but never has my heart hammered this fast, never has so much depended on our safe passage through the place. Through squares of moonlight upon the floor, past suits of armour whose helmets creak at the sound of our soft footsteps, around corners beyond which who knows what's lurking, we walk, checking the Marauder's Map whenever light permits it, twice pausing to allow a ghost to pass without drawing attention to ourselves. I keep expecting to encounter an obstacle at any moment; my worst fear is Peeves, and I strain my eyes with every step to hear the first, telltale signs of the poltergeist's approach.
"This way," breathes Luna, plucking our sleeves and pulling us towards a spiral staircase.
We climb in tight, dizzying circles; I've never been up here before. At last, we reach a door. There is no handle, and no keyhole: nothing but a plain expanse of aged wood, and a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.
Luna reaches out a pale hand, which looks eerie floating in mid-air, unconnected to arm or body. She knocks once, and in the silence, it sounds like a cannon blast. At once, the beak of the eagle opens, but instead of a bird's call, a soft, musical voice says, "Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?"
"Hmm...what do you two think?" says Luna, looking thoughtful.
"What? Isn't there just a password?"
"Oh, no, you've got to answer a question," says Luna.
"And what happens if you get it wrong?"
"Well, you have to wait for somebody who gets it right," says Luna. "That way you learn, you see?"
"Yeah...trouble is, we can't really afford to wait for anyone else, Luna."
"No, I see what you mean," says Luna seriously. "Well then, I think the answer is that a circle has no beginning."
"Well reasoned," says the voice, and the door swings open.
The deserted Ravenclaw common room is a wide, circular room, airier than any I've ever seen at Hogwarts. Graceful arched windows punctuate the walls, which are hung with blue and bronze silks: by day, the Ravenclaws would have a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The ceiling is domed and painted with stars, which are echoed in the midnight-blue carpet. There are tables, chairs, and bookcases, and in a niche opposite door stands a tall statue of white marble.
I recognise Rowena Ravenclaw from the bust I saw at Luna's house. The statue stands beside a door which leads, I guess, to dormitories above. I stride right up to the marble woman, and she seems to look back at me with a quizzical half-smile on her face, beautiful yet slightly intimidating. A delicate-looking circlet has been reproduced in marble on top of her head. It is not unlike the tiara Fleur has worn during her wedding. There are tiny words etched onto it. I step out from under the Cloak and climb up on to Ravenclaw's plinth to read them.
"'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.'"
"Which makes you pretty skint, witless," says a cackling voice.
I whirl around, slip off the plinth and land on the floor, stumbling back into Harry and Luna. The sloping-shouldered figure of Alecto Carrow is standing before me, and even as I raise my wand, she presses a stubby forefinger to the skull and snake branded on her forearm.