"Quiet! You want to inform the Death Eaters that you're here?" Aberforth Dumbledore hissed, glancing out the window of his small tavern. Tori glanced at the old man, frowning. She wasn't sure how he could be related to Dumbledore. He seemed much more cranky.
"Luna and Dean had already gone through," George whispered, standing up from his spot.
The stood a sitting room with a durable carpet and a small fireplace, above which hung a single large oil painting of a blonde girl who gazed out at the room with a kind of a vacant sweetness. Tori rocked in her heels until the portrait opened up once more. Ginny was about to crawl inside when Tori hushed her.
There's was quiet footsteps as Cho Chang and Lee Jordan entered the sitting room. Lee grinned immediately, high giving the twins. "Got the message, you didn't leave it, did you?" He asked Ginny, who shook her head.
"Are there others coming?" Cho asked, tossing her hair behind her shoulder.
"We assume so," said Fred. "But Aberforth doesn't want a full house, so let's get going in."
Ginny went in first, followed by Tori and the twins with Lee and Cho bringing up the rear. The Portrait of the girl closed behind them, and they began to walk down the dark tunnel.
"So, Harry's here?" Cho's voice echoed. "That's what the message said, but what does he need from Hogwarts?"
"That's something I think we all want to know," Tori replied. They turned a corner and there ahead of them was the end of the passage. Another short flight of steps led to a door just like the one hidden behind the portrait. Ginny pushed it open and climbed through.
Tori followed, viewing the Room of Requirement. She had a confused impression of colored hangings, of lamps, and many faces. Tori was able to take in their surroundings. She did not recognize the dorm at all. It was enormous and looked rather like the interior of a particularly sumptuous tree house, or perhaps a gigantic ship's cabin. Multicolored hammocks were strung from the ceiling and from the balcony that ran around the dark wood-paneled and windowless walls, which were covered in bright tapestry hangings. Tori saw 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 alone were absent. There were bulging bookcases, a few broomsticks propped against the walls, and in the corner, a large wood-cased wireless.
"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed," said Fred, raising his hand in answer to several cries of greeting. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station."
"Of course, I told him to shut his trap." Tori shrugged, waving hello. "I don't reckon he likes me very much."
"I got the message," Cho 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 favorite kind," Fred grinned.
"You've got to stop this!" Harry told Neville. "What did you call them 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.
Ron turned suddenly to Harry and Hermione and the three of them began to talk to each other very quietly.
The room filled with weak chatter as everyone couldn't help but eye them. Few students asked her what had happened that she had been reported as missing on Potterwatch.
"Okay," Harry called to the room at large, and all noise ceased: Fred and George, who had been cracking jokes for the benefit of those nearest, fell silent, and all of the looked alert, excited.
"There's something we need to find," Harry said. "Something... something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It's here at Hogwarts, but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that? Has anyone come across something with her eagle on it, for instance?"
He looked hopefully toward the little group of Ravenclaws, to Padma, Michael, Terry, and Cho, but it was Luna who 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 Corner, 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 them?"
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 supposed to 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 at Ron and Hermione and his own disappointment was mirrored back at him. Cho spoke again.
"If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, I could take you up to our common room and show you, Harry. Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue."
He glanced at Cho and then back at them. "Listen, I know it's not much of a lead, but I'm going to go look at this statue, at least find out what the diadem looks like. Wait for me here and keep, you know... the other one... safe."
Cho had got to her feet, but Ginny said rather fiercely, "No, Luna will take Harry, won't you, Luna?"
"Oooh, yes, I'd like to," said Luna happily, as Cho sat down again, looking disappointed.
"How do we get out?" Harry asked Neville.
"Over here."
He led Harry and Luna to a corner, where a small cupboard opened onto a steep staircase. "It comes out somewhere different every day, so they've never been able to find it," he said. "Only trouble is, we never know exactly where 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. The room filled with excited talk once more, each student eagerly wanting to defend Hogwarts.
"What happened to your face?" Tori asked Neville, catching sight of his large bruises when he came back over. One of his eyes was swollen yellow and purple, there were gouge marks on his face, and his general air of unkemptness suggested that he had been living enough.
"Amycus, the bloke, he teaches what used to be Defense Against the Dark Arts, except now it's just the Dark Arts. We're supposed to practice the Cruciatus Curse on people who've earned detentions..."
"What?" Tori stared at him in shock.
"Yeah," said Neville. "That's how I got this one," he pointed at a particularly deep gash in his cheek, "I refused to do it. Some people are into it, though; Crabbe and Goyle love it. First time they've ever been top in anything, I expect."
"Alecto, Amycus's 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 drive wizards into hiding by being vicious toward them, and how the natural order is being reestablished. I got this one," He indicated another slash to his face, "For asking her how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got."
"Wow..." was all Tori could say.
"I'm alright, of course. Others have received worse. Your sister got a nasty bruise on her eye." Neville shrugged. Tori's eyebrows shot up in both surprise and concern. "What happened to Dove?" She found herself asking.
"Built-up anger I assume. The Carrows refused to touch her at first, so she wouldn't be punished when she refused to perform the Cruciatus Curse or even talked back to them. But when she got caught freeing a few Muggleborn first and seconds years, it seemed they decided to break whatever promise they made. She was bloody up pretty bad, had to be in the hospital wing for about three weeks. She's out now, but she's still got a nasty eye bruise."
Tori pursed her lips together tightly, unsure of how to take that piece of information. Lavender Brown, who had been sitting close by jumped up immediately. "Is that a ring?"
Tori hadn't realized she had been looking at her hand and looked at her confused. But when Parvati Patil gasped and immediately began giggling that when it registered what they were talking about.
"Oh... uh, yeah. It is." Tori glanced across the room, where Fred was play fighting with Dennis Creevly, and smiled.
i just want to address a few things,
despite whenever i go cannon or against it, what i'm doing is best for story telling purposes
as i've said, there's going to be a second book.