A/N- Hello again everyone! These things are more of a habit to write rather than to say anything of importance. The only thing I really wanted to say was a *Thank you* to my beta Mulder who still has not blocked my emails! Enough of my babbling and on with the chapter. Let me know what you think of this one, I'm quite nervous about posting it. Happy reading!
**Islanzadi** J
The next couple of weeks flew by with a flurry of activity for the inhabitants of Grimmauld place, and before they knew it Christmas Eve had arrived. Unfortunately this wasn't the joyous occasion it usually was. Shortly after the battle in Gringotts they had received an owl from Bill and Fleur who were in Egypt. All of the goblins were divided, and the banks had closed down all around the world. The Daily Prophet had printed an article entitled 'Tom Riddle…Just a bully that never grew up?' and it had both positive and negative effects. The positive was that quite a large portion of the wizarding population had decided to stand up and fight, which the Order welcomed gratefully after certain protective measures were taken. The negative was of course the reaction from Voldemort, and the innocent lives all over the country that were taken due to his fury. Hermione was in her element, working with professor McGonagall to organise witches and wizards that had arrived from schools all over Europe to help them. The foreign students were staying at Hogwarts, where the school had been temporarily closed. The students that had gone home for Christmas were dismayed when they received Hogwarts letters telling them not to return until further notice.
Life for Harry had been rather hard the last few weeks. After Lupin and Tonks' quiet funeral he had decided to start training with Snape at Grimmauld place almost everyday. The battle at Gringotts had showed him that while his powers had certainly increased, they were still not strong enough to compete with Voldemort and actually last more than fifteen minutes in battle. The lessons with Snape left him aggravated and emotionally drained. The death of Lupin and Tonks had hit him harder than he was willing to show, and he was worrying more about the future with every passing day. But despite all of that he knew what had to be done and pushed himself into his training, and desperately tried to ignore news of innocent people suffering all over the country. Members of the Order were out almost every evening trying to stop or clean up the mess of death eater attacks. Harry and the rest of his small group accompanied them almost every evening, but no matter how hard they worked they couldn't seem to stop every evil thing that happened around them, nor get peoples dying screams out of their minds. So when Christmas Eve arrived, Harry wasn't particularly in the mood to celebrate it and neither was anyone else. Of course Harry did think it was nice to have everyone staying at Grimmauld Place…well everyone except Charlie who was still in Romania working with Mad Eye and Hagrid. Hermione was delighted when Mrs Weasley brought her parents to stay with them for Christmas, and even Neville was rather excited at the prospect of his grandmother visiting. The house was more than full, and Harry was dismayed to learn he had to share a room with Ron, Neville and the twins. Hermione was sharing a room with Susan, Luna and Ginny and the parents got the other rooms. Their other 'guest' was staying in a room that had once been the home of Buckbeak…and they had yet to figure out what to do with him. Snape said the Voldemort was very suspicious as to the disappearance of his young death eater, and Snape had only just been strong enough to not divulge his whereabouts.
Hermione was sitting on the floor late that evening reading a book. Well…trying to read a book. She had so much on her mind that it was completely pointless trying to concentrate on anything. She had spent a while trying to figure out if there was any way she could visit Harry, and had come up with nothing. There wasn't even anywhere they could go. All of the rooms were taken up and people were even sleeping on the couches in the living room. She was very happy that her parents were here, and that everyone else had decided to come for Christmas…but how on earth were they going to fit everyone into that kitchen for a meal? She sighed again and put the book down to look and Luna and Susan. She had no idea where Ginny was, nor did she particularly care. They had barely spoken two civil words to each other, though Hermione had admitted to Harry that she missed her friend despite the recent events. Love could do strange things to you, and obsession was ten times worse.
"Why don't you stop huffing and sighing over there and just join us?" asked Susan with a small smile on her face.
"What are you doing?" asked Hermione suspiciously
"Making Christmas cards," replied Susan
"For who?" asked Hermione, putting her book down and crawling quickly over to where they were seated on the floor.
"Anyone," said Luna
"What?" asked Hermione, looking at them disbelievingly. Susan laughed at her face and tapped her wand onto a card so that it sang 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' in a loud voice.
"My mother and I used to do this every year," said Luna quietly "we would make Christmas cards and send them to anyone we wanted. Even people we didn't know. You don't have to know someone to wish them a Merry Christmas." Hermione frowned a little and then moved forward to sit between the two girls.
"I thought it was weird at first too," said Susan quietly "but 'tis the season to spread goodwill and all that. Goodness knows everyone could use a little bit of extra cheer these days." Hermione smiled and picked up a card, then pointed her wand at it so that it played 'Little Donkey'. The three girls worked for quite a while, singing random Christmas songs that Susan had decided to change to make them funnier. Hermione found herself laughing despite herself, and was surprised to find that she was having fun. Not that she didn't like doing things for people she didn't know, on the contrary. She just sometimes found it very hard to do what Luna thought was a good idea.
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Ginny Weasley walked slowly up an old staircase, wondering what the bloody hell she was doing. She had almost turned around a couple of times but had chastised herself until she had continued. Honestly, she wasn't a wimp…but she couldn't help but be a little nervous. She hesitated outside the worn looking door and took a deep breath as she pushed it open. There in the room, sitting on a small single bed was Draco Malfoy. He looked up at her with his steel eyes and tried to come towards the door…only to be flung back onto the bed. Ginny gave a half smile, if she wanted she could stand here and tease him all day and there was nothing he could do about it. But that wasn't why she was here…but why was she here? What on earth was she doing coming up to this room so she could talk to scum like Draco Malfoy? She wasn't entirely sure yet, but she had this nagging thought in the back of her mind ever since she had heard he was being held here and it was time to satiate it. She stepped over the threshold into the room, suddenly feeling a little more scared now that she was face to face with him. He was a death eater…he had probably murdered people and she had come looking for him? What was she thinking?! She almost turned and walked out, almost…
"What the fuck do you want Weasel?" said Malfoy, his steel eyes gazing at her malevolently. She stopped the path she had been going to take and turned to face him, her head held high in defiance.
"Just wanted to see if you were quite comfortable up here," she replied sarcastically and moved to sit on a chair in the corner of the room.
"Get out before I make you sorry you were here…" he said, his face starting to flush with anger.
"Oh I'm really scared now. You can't do magic in here…or had you not noticed that yet?" she replied, smiling smugly. She really was enjoying having the upper hand over Malfoy, it had rarely happened during school.
"There are other ways to hurt you Weasel," he said threateningly "why don't you just run off and join Potty? I'm sure he's waiting for you with open arms down there…sickening." Ginny's face went very red before she shot back with-
"Harry and I aren't together Malfoy. Not that it's any of your business. Besides…I'm rather enjoying myself up here."
"What a shame, another one bites the dust. You should know by now that Potter's head is so huge -" replied Draco, but stopped suddenly to grasp his arm and let out a long breath that was a way of controlling the pain. Ginny was silent for a moment before she said quietly-
"A little pain is a small price to pay for what you've done to other people,"
"Fuck off!" replied Malfoy, suddenly lunging towards her as if to strike. He was thrown back onto the bed where he punched the pillow repeatedly. Ginny watched him for a while longer, then slowly turned around and walked out of the room and made her way down to the kitchen, avoiding the room she had to sleep in for as long as possible.
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Harry was jostled awake the next morning, and as his vision began to focus he saw three patches of vivid red hair. He groaned and swung himself out of bed, and then a small smile lit his face at a package on his pillow that had Hermione's neat handwriting on it. He opened it and saw a small silver picture frame with the words 'My friend, my lover, my life' engraved upon it. The picture was of Harry and Hermione, tightly hugging one another with large smiles on their faces. They had taken this photo in a photo booth when they had their date in London. It was a spur of the moment decision and Harry hadn't seen the photos until now. Suddenly the beaded purse and the rare book he had got her didn't seem enough, though her screeches from the next room said different. They finished unwrapping their presents and put on their jumpers from Mrs Weasley. They made their way down the stairs and into the kitchen, looking forward to a good old English breakfast. They sat themselves at the table and joined in with Fred and George's loud singing. Soon enough fat sausages and eggs were placed in front of him and he sighed in contentment. He hoped that today would be more relaxing than the previous couple of weeks…though he doubted Voldemort would stop his killing sprees because it was Christmas day. In fact, he would probably increase them. He saw Hermione looking at her breakfast and laughing at something Susan murmured to her, but then a strange look passed across her face and she left the kitchen quickly. Harry was about to get up and follow her, but a look from Susan stopped him. He supposed Hermione didn't need him trailing her all the time, especially if she just really needed to go to the loo. She didn't appear again throughout breakfast, and by the time he found her she was sitting on the couch reading a book.
"Are you ok?" he asked in a concerned voice
"Fine," she said distractedly "just have a lot on my mind. I suggest you take a leaf out of my book and grab the bathroom while you can. We're all going to Hogwarts for Christmas dinner and if you wait for everyone else you'll have to shower in freezing cold water…"
"Erm…Ok," said Harry and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before taking her advice and rushing to the bathroom. He narrowly beat Ron…
After everyone was ready they finally gathered around the fireplace and one by one travelled to Hogwarts. Harry hated using Floo powder, but since you couldn't apparate inside Hogwarts they had decided to use Floo instead. Neville had suggested disapparating to the entrance of Hogwarts…but Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't feel too comfortable with the idea of being unprotected. Especially if there were werewolves around. They tumbled out of the fireplace in McGonagall's office one by one and filed out into the corridor, brushing themselves off along the way. Hermione decided that she wanted to show her parents around, and Neville and his grandmother decided to join her. Harry, Ron, the twins and Ginny all headed for the Quidditch pitch whilst Susan and Luna decided to go to the library. The school was full of witches and wizards from all over Europe, and Hermione noticed more students from Beauxbatons than from Durmstrang. For a moment she thought she saw someone that looked suspiciously like Viktor Krum, but she quickly averted her gaze. She didn't have the time to deal with anything like that when she had so much on her mind as it was.
After Hermione had given her parents the guided tour she showed them to the Great Hall (where Mr Weasley was anxiously awaiting them) and decided to find the library. She had missed it a lot, and it would be nice to take a stroll down memory lane and get lost in a book. It seemed like she had been gone from Hogwarts for so long. She walked into the library and saw Luna and Susan sitting at a table with a large book open before them. As she got closer she saw that on the left side of the page was a picture that she recognised all too well.
"Why do you need to read a book about the veil?" asked Hermione quietly.
"It's always good to read about the unknown, wouldn't you say so?" questioned Luna dreamily
"What's so important about the veil?" asked Hermione, trying to sound casual.
"This book says that the veil is the centre of everything. It was discovered by our kind centuries ago, and they actually built the ministry around it so that they could study it. They still don't know that much about it though…" said Susan quietly
"But it's the beyond right?" asked Hermione, sitting herself down "Sirius fell through it and he died. So if you go through it you die…you cross into the beyond. But then how did you and Harry get back?"
"There's more to the veil than meets the eye," replied Luna, pushing her wand behind her ear and turning one of the large pages. "I knew that we could get back because we were invited. So that means that you don't necessarily die once you go through the veil. But I'm not sure how one would come back if they weren't invited…or even if they could."
"What does it matter anyway?" asked Hermione irritably "Surely we should be worried about defeating Voldemort rather than what's behind the veil. Unless something that happened to you and Harry behind the veil is important to Voldemort's defeat. Am I right?"
"I can't answer those questions," said Luna vaguely
"You can't or you won't?" demanded Hermione
"We all have secrets to keep Hermione," said Susan "you know about that just as much as we do."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Hermione, her voice shaking a little.
"She means that you are keeping a secret from Harry and he is keeping one from you. I can't answer any questions you have about the veil Hermione. That's because Harry trusts me and he thinks it's in your best interests if you don't know. You think it will be best for Harry if you keep your secret from him too, and we won't tell him either," said Luna, her voice sounding a little weary.
"How do you know these things?" said Hermione as she put her head on her arms and tried to stop her sudden tears. How could she have ever been so stupid?
"Hermione you're a wonderful person and I've come to think of you as a friend," said Susan slowly "You really do want to help people and you have a brave heart. But sometimes you don't have faith in what you can't see. Sometimes you rely too much on logic and not enough on your heart. You don't want to believe in anything that you consider to be impossible, and rather than have an open mind you close up and refuse to acknowledge what is staring you in the face." Hermione felt like she had been slapped in the face…but it was also so close to home that she also felt ashamed.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly
"Don't be sorry," continued Susan "just have more faith in your heart and don't always listen to your head." They sat in silence for a while longer and eventually began to read through the book again, and Hermione felt like she finally had some female friends who she could trust almost as much as Harry and Ron.
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After a large Christmas dinner the group decided to abandon the twins, Ginny and their parents and take a walk around the grounds. Neville had to go to St. Mungo's to visit his parents, and he had asked if they would join him. Harry was rather startled at this at first, but readily agreed. Christmas was a hard time for Neville; if ever he needed his friends around him it was now. He joined hands with Hermione and they walked to the lake in a leisurely fashion. He kept sneaking sideways glances at her, wondering why she was acting so detached. He was just about to ask her when he heard the sound of hooves approaching. They turned around to see Firenze approaching, with a number of Centaurs behind him. Harry reached into his robes to grab his wand, sure that if Firenze was with other Centaurs then they were in trouble.
"Harry Potter," said Firenze in his deep and calming voice "We meet at last. We do not have much time to converse with you for we are needed in the forest." Harry eyed the other Centaurs that had stopped about ten metres away from where they were standing.
"I thought you were exiled," he said quietly
"They have seen that we must join you or perish. The forest has been invaded and we are being forced out. HE tried to make us join his side and we refused. Many of our group paid for that with their lives. I am here to pledge our allegiance with you Harry Potter. I hope for your sake that the stars are wrong. Now I must go, we shall meet again at the end. Until then, good luck." replied Firenze in an equally quiet voice. Then he galloped away as quickly as he arrived. They stood there for quite a while after they had gone, each lost in their own thoughts. Ron looked towards the forest with worry. He had been in that forest too many times already and he was hoping that Harry wasn't going to suggest that they help the Centaurs. Not that he didn't want to…more because he thought it was almost certainly suicidal with all the unknown creatures in there. For Harry it seemed like his fate was closing in upon him and he had to fight a sudden feeling of claustrophobia. He grabbed Hermione's hand and led her back towards the castle…he really didn't feel like walking anymore.
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They walked quietly through the halls of St Mungo's and eventually came to a stop outside the room that Neville's parents stayed in. Neville's grandmother ushered them in and closed the door firmly behind her. Luna approached Mrs Longbottom and held out a paper card that was decorated with snowmen and Christmas trees. To their surprise she opened it and when a loud voice shouted out 'We all want some Figgie pudding' a small smile came to her face. Harry looked to the side and saw that Hermione had a large smile on her face and she gave Mrs Longbottom a friendly hug. The woman pulled away gently and pushed a sweet wrapper into her hand. Hermione went to thank her but her words died in her throat as she saw a pleading look in Mrs Longbottom's eyes. She frowned and thanked her quietly. Mrs Longbottom then backed away and began to hand them out to everyone…but leaving the neatest one for Neville. Hermione smiled at this scene and looked at the wrapper fondly before sitting down on a plastic chair by the window. Susan went to join her and gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
"Are you ok?" she asked quietly
"Yes…I think so…just have a lot on my mind." replied Hermione
"You need to do something to occupy it then," said Susan smiling as she smoothed out the Drooble's Best Blowing Gum wrapper. Hermione nodded and started to smooth out her own wrapper carefully. She looked up to see Mrs Longbottom looking at her with a shaky smile on her face. She tried to smile back but suddenly felt uneasy. The smile she was receiving didn't seem even remotely genuine. In fact it seemed almost beseeching. She looked at Neville's mother for a moment longer…then raised the wrapper she had been given into the air so that she could see it. Alice Longbottom nodded frantically and her eyes seemed to widen though her smile never wavered. It seemed like she wanted to say something but because she was a prisoner in her own mind, she was unable to do so. Hermione's own smile seemed to vanish suddenly and was replaced by something that would have been clear to Harry and Ron but wasn't that clear to Susan yet. She bent her head and studied the wrapper for a few more minutes, biting on her bottom lip in concentration.
"Get me a quill and some parchment," she said distractedly, still tracing the wrapper with her finger. Susan went to Mrs Longbottom's bedside table and picked up the requested items, then returned them to Hermione. She put the parchment on her knee and wrote out the words:
Drooble's Best Blowing Gum
Then, underneath that she wrote several different words that she scratched out and re wrote several times. Almost ten minutes later she finally had a complete sentence written on the parchment, which read:
Gold Bribe Below St. Mungo's
Susan inhaled sharply and looked at Hermione in amazement. Hermione stood up quickly and walked over to Mrs Longbottom.
"Alice," she whispered, and then held up the wrapper. Neville's mother nodded enthusiastically, but to the outsider it simply looked like the dear woman was excited to give her visitors some sweets. She felt momentary doubt…after all it was rather far fetched and Mrs Longbottom really was out of her mind. But is she? She wondered and remembered what Susan had told her earlier that day '...have more faith in your heart and don't always listen to your head' She nodded to Mrs Longbottom and turned to leave the ward, with Susan and the rest of the confused crowd following closely behind her.
"Where do you think we should go?" asked Susan
"Well…under St Mungo's I suppose. Lets take the lift down to the lowest level and see where that takes us." said Hermione quickly. Harry and the rest of them caught up to her quickly, wondering what on earth was going on. When Hermione quickly told them in a breathless voice, Neville stopped in his tracks.
"You're kidding right?" he asked, his face flushed with embarrassment "she's nuts. It's not her fault she's that way but it doesn't make the truth any less. I think you might be going nuts yourself Hermione."
"How long has she been giving you those?" asked Hermione
"Ever since I can remember," replied Neville rather stiffly
"And you don't think that there's a possibility that there's more to it? How many other kinds of sweets does she eat Neville? How many of those wrappers has she given you?" asked Hermione, her own face flushed with excitement.
"Well…she's only ever given me Drooble's wrappers. But you can't be serious Hermione! She doesn't know her right from her left, like she's going to be able to figure out something like that!" said Neville, sounding very embarrassed.
"There's only one way to find out." said Hermione, and then started to walk towards the lift. Everyone except Neville got into it. He stood in the hallway looking at them uncertainly. The doors started to close and with a final sigh he moved quickly towards them and pushed his way into the small space just before the doors closed.
"Can't believe the things you get me into," he mumbled.
The lift carried them down to the basement of St Mungo's and when the doors opened they quickly stepped out into a long grey corridor. It looked like the floor, ceilings and walls were made of old unfinished cement. There was hardly any light and their shadows were barely visible on the walls. They moved together to form a tight circle and got their wands out. They then started walking quickly and quietly up the narrow grey corridor, hoping to stay unnoticed. They walked for a couple of minutes and then came across another dimly lit grey corridor that crossed the one they were on.
"Should we go left, right, or straight ahead?" asked Ron quietly. He looked around, but the corridors all looked the same. There was no way that they couldn't get lost in this place.
"No idea," said Hermione "maybe we should split up and whoever finds something sends their patronus to the others."
"I don't like the idea of splitting up," said Susan quietly "whenever you read books where the characters split up they always get lost…or hurt…or killed."
"We'll be fine," said Neville firmly "it's a load of rubbish anyway. We're only doing this to satisfy Hermione's curiosity." Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and grabbed Harry's hand to pull him forward. Harry went all too willingly.
"We'll go forward, you lot can divide up and go the other ways." she said, then turned around and strode forward.
"Well…" said Ron "probably not a good idea to piss Hermione off mate. She's not usually wrong about this stuff either. I'm going left I think, come on Luna. You can be my good luck and save me if a mean Healer comes my way…" Luna giggled and followed Ron, her face flushing a deep red colour.
"Come on," said Susan rolling her eyes as she started to walk down the corridor that led to the right.
Harry and Hermione walked forward through the long grey tunnel. It started to get smaller the further they walked and the ceiling was only a couple of inches above Harry's head. It was a good thing Ron didn't come this way, thought Harry, he'd be hunched over like an old man and complaining for everyone to hear. He chuckled to himself and continued walking…only to stop at sudden voices that sounded far too close for Harry's comfort. He looked at Hermione's panicked face and pulled her back the way they had come. The voices were getting closer.
"Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is. Just give them to him and he'll leave us alone." a cold female voice said.
"I want out," said a nervous male voice "I can't do this anymore…it's just not right."
"Not right?" the cold voice exclaimed, "it's taken you all these years to discover it's not right? Sometimes it's not about what's right and wrong. This is about your life. If you don't give him what he wants you will die,"
"We've done enough throughout the years. We've ruined enough lives…why do we need to give them to him now? It's not like they can do anything. They're worse than dead," said the timid mans voice. Harry looked at Hermione with worry…they were almost upon them. Suddenly he felt his arm being pulled to the right and saw that Hermione was pulling him towards a very small door in the side of the corridor. He could have sworn it wasn't there before. She opened it and pulled him inside, then closed the door quietly. The voices went past them less than a minute later, and then they were plunged into blessed silence. Hermione turned around and lit her wand. They were in a very small and narrow hallway that was made of marble. They followed it in silence for about five minutes, when they heard footsteps coming from their left hand side. They stopped and pushed themselves against the wall, waiting with bated breath.
"Don't like this," said a voice Harry recognised all too well "should send our patronus to Harry now…" Harry stepped out to see the faces of Ron, Susan, Luna and Neville all looking at him in shock.
"Harry!" cried Susan "you scared the shit out of me!"
"Not literally I hope?" asked Luna dreamily.
"Did you find a door too?" asked Harry
"Yeah," said Ron, looking around with unease "we saw one in the side of a wall and Loony here thought it would be a good idea to investigate… we bumped into Susan and Neville here a few minutes ago."
"I think it's a little too convenient that we all found a door that led us all to the same hallway. Feels like a trap to me…" said Susan worriedly. Harry agreed but Hermione didn't seem too sure.
"Well it could be like the magic that the room of requirement in Hogwarts uses I suppose. If you really want to find the gold a door appears…" said Ron slowly.
"Do you really think that the people taking the bribes, the people behind this whole thing, would be that stupid?" asked Susan.
"Well it's not like too many people would be looking for a pile of gold underneath a hospital," said Hermione "I don't think something like this would cross many sane people's minds. But I also agree with Susan, they must have some kind of protection around this place which means that not only is our time here going to have to be short…but we'll also have to be on our guard."
They continued to walk forward down the small tunnel, expecting the trap to be sprung at any moment. After a while they saw a small wooden door ahead and walked cautiously towards it. Hermione pointed her wand at it and it opened with a loud creak that caused them all to leap backwards unexpectedly and Susan to roll her eyes and mutter-
"Just like in the bloody books,"
The sight before them made them breathe in deeply. The small wooden door led to a dusty room that was filled to the ceiling with gold galleons. Ron gasped in amazement and walked forwards as if mesmerised. Hermione walked quickly through the piles of gold to a small desk in the corner of the room. Filing cabinets and old cobwebs surrounded it. She looked around and opened the drawer to one of the cabinets, which seemed to have endless files in it. She dug through it frantically for what seemed like quite a while but was actually only about twenty seconds. She pulled out a cream coloured file that looked like it had been through the mill a few times. Written on the front were the words:
Frank and Alice Longbottom
She put it on the desk and opened it, swiftly scanning the contents. After a few minutes she shoved the file into her robes and rushed towards the door.
"We have to get out now," she said quickly.
"What is it?" asked Harry worriedly
"The death eaters have been paying St Mungo's to keep patients sick. Some of them can be cured, like Neville's parents," she said quickly
"But why?" asked Harry "why would they waste their time trying to keep patients sick?"
"I don't know!" said Hermione anxiously "All I know is that Neville's parents can get better, they just haven't been able to!"
"But why would the death eaters go to those lengths? Why wouldn't they just kill the patients they wanted out of their way?" asked Ron
"Obviously only a few people in St Mungo's are involved in this. Why attract all that attention when slipping them a little gold is all it will take? Besides, they didn't have the guts to act openly before now. Now that Riddle is here to support them they're not giving gold anymore. You heard those people talking earlier on Harry. They want the Longbottom's or people will die. I imagine that the Longbottom's are only the first to go. Goodness knows what they want with the other people."
"We have to get my mum and dad out of here," said Neville worriedly. There was a loud crash behind them and a pale witch with greasy brown hair and a very long face came in the door on the other end of the room and stopped at the sight of them. She had her wand out and was pointing it at them menacingly, but Neville had already ducked behind a large pile of gold to get out of her vision. She looked around frantically for him, but didn't get too far. A jet of red light hit her in the chest as Neville shouted-
"Stupefy!" The woman fell to the floor with a loud thud. Hermione quickly put her in a full body bind, and then the group ran out of the room and into the small marble corridor as fast as they could. As Harry and the rest of the group neared the intersection where they had met not too long ago they heard the hurried footsteps of people approaching. Two wizards were running towards them, one from the left and one from the right. They ran forward as Harry cast a shield charm on them, and Harry could feel the spells rebounding off of it. Luna and Ron then whirled around and sent a few hexes at the wizards. One of them fell down; the other continued to run after them. One against six wasn't really too much of a problem, and Hermione shouted-
"Petrificus totalus," and the remaining wizard was no longer a problem. They ran quickly out of the marble tunnel and through the winding grey corridors. Once they reached the lift Hermione breathlessly pushed the button to take them to the floor where Neville's parents were and Luna quickly pulled off her shoe and mumbled-
"Portus,"
"That's illegal," said Hermione with a grin. The lift dinged and came to a stop. They darted out through the doors and ran into the ward where Neville's grandmother was peacefully sipping a cup of tea and chatting to Neville's parents. Naturally seeing her grandson and his friends' tear across the ward ruined the peaceful mood, but she had little time to dwell on it. Neville grasped her arm and held on to his mothers' hand. Harry rushed over and grabbed onto Neville's dad. Luna put her shoe onto the bed and they all leant in and put their hands on it, Neville's parents needing the guidance from Neville and Harry. There was a familiar tugging in Harry's navel and he found himself standing outside of Grimmauld place. He breathed deeply and looked around him. Neville's grandmother looked absolutely livid, so she was the first to be ushered into the house.
After they got into the house Hermione decided to contact the Weasley's and her parents to let them know where they were. Susan was making everyone a cup of tea and Luna was making sure that everyone was comfortable, especially Neville who was extremely shaken up. Ron had sent his patronus to other Order members so that they were informed about what had happened and could act accordingly. The witches and wizards involved in the bribe would have to be taken care of, and there was undoubtedly a good use for all that money now that the banks had closed down and no one had access to their own funds. Harry sat down at the kitchen table to think and noticed a letter addressed to him. He opened it with a smile on his face, knowing who it was from already. It was a letter from Hagrid asking them to come to Romania the next day. Ron came into the kitchen and looked over Harry's shoulder.
"But tomorrow's Boxing Day! Christmas day was already busy enough; you'd think we would be able to relax on Boxing Day. But oh no! We have to go to Romania…" Harry laughed and gratefully accepted a cup of tea from Susan. After today he really needed a cup of tea…
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