*******
"Neville, what do we do?"
Neville simply stared at Sheppard as the blood poured out of his body. Hermione was on her knees beside the teacher as she frantically tried to summon a book that would provide her with the necessary counter-curse. The blood pooled around her and several books as she struggled to stop the bleeding. There was a shriek as one of the girls spotted Sheppard.
"Away! Everyone away!" Ron pushed them away as more and more people tried to see the cause of the shriek.
"Neville?!?" Harry yelled at him. The boy's mouth was opening and closing as he struggled to find the words to describe what was happening.
"Fuck it," Harry kneeled on the other side of the Sheppard, holding an arm to his own nose to block out the smell of freshly peeled flesh.
"Hermione, why can't you stop the bleeding?"
"None of the counter-curses are working!" she hysterically cried, "I tried all of the normal counter-curses for the Severing charm but this is different."
Hermione summoned another book and thumbed through the pages, her fingers painting the corners of the pages in red as she flipped through the book with blood-stained hands. The blood continued to gush out of Sheppard's shoulder in large spurts, his body growing colder by the second. Harry picked up a loose book that somehow kept falling to them from an invisible force in the room.
"It's Dark," Neville finally said, "That's why you can't fix it normally."
Hermione's head snapped up, her face visibly pale, "What - what - do we do?"
"Isn't there any way to stop the bleeding?" Harry pleaded.
"We - we - we could cauterize the wound. But I don't know if a Muggle way would take. If normal counter-curses aren't working, why would cauterizing the wound work?" Hermione questioned as another book fell into her hand.
"What's cauterizing a wound?" Neville asked.
"We have to heat up a piece of metal and apply it to the wound. The blood would coagulate and stop, but I don't know if he could get his arm back by magic," Hermione explained, "My Mum told me about it once."
Neville looked particularly disgusted by the thought of it, "Are you sure?"
"NO!" Hermione snapped, "I'm not sure, Neville, but I have to stop this somehow."
"How much time do we have?" Harry asked.
"Not a lot," Hermione replied grimly.
"Then do it."
Hermione hesitated as she met Harry's eyes. She was breathing heavily and considering the options inside that overpowering engine inside her head. She weighed the options carefully. None of the counter-curses would work and it would take ages to find the correct counter-curse for such a Dark spell. By the time she could find it and if she could somehow manage to even perform it, Sheppard would already be dead. A tourniquet was out of the questions since the wound was so high up on Sheppard's shoulder, which left cauterization as the only plausible option.
"Neville, clear everyone away and put up a Silencing charm around Harry and I. Harry, you're going to have to hold him still if he manages to regain consciousness. I'll - I'll do it," Hermione ordered it, slightly faltering as she realized the gravity of the situation.
Neville nodded and started to clear everyone away from the area. Hermione suddenly summoned a metal object from thin air. There was a long handle and a large, metal plate attached to the end of it.
"How are you summoning these things?" Harry asked in awe.
"It's the Room of Requirement, it gives you the things you require but only up to a certain point. You have to have the specific thing in mind otherwise I would have already summoned the correct book needed for the counter-curse. Incendio," Hermione pointed her wand at the metal plate and watched it start to glow a dull red.
"I've never done this. I don't know how to do this correctly," Hermione exhaled deeply when she determined the object was ready.
"I'm right here with you. You're the only one that can do this," Harry said as he held on to Sheppard's body.
Hermione nodded and pressed the hot, metal plate to Sheppard's limbless shoulder. The sound of burning flesh filled the surrounding area, causing Harry and Hermione to gag slightly as Hermione kept the plate pressed against the offending area.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Sheppard woke up and started to shake from the severe pain. Harry held him down as best as he could until Hermione could finish the process. Harry hoped that Neville's silencing charm held because Sheppard was still screaming in an inhumanly tone. Harry grit his teeth as he struggled to constrain the older man, his body bucking to relieve himself of the pain. Mercifully, Sheppard passed out again.
"It's done," Hermione fell backwards on her haunches unsteadily as she stared, horrified, at her handiwork.
The blood at least looked like it had stopped flowing, but the wound looked even worse. The flesh and blood vessels were burned and melded together in a grotesque portrait of dead muscle tissue. Harry had to look away before he threw up, his head burying itself in the crook of his elbow as he struggled to maintain the remnants of his lunch. The smell started to overpower his senses until Hermione whispered a cleaning charm which did much to relieve Harry's nostrils.
"I don't know if it'll hold, we have to disinfect the wound, we have to…"
SPLAT.
Blood burst out of the open wound yet again as it somehow pushed through the coagulated blood. Hermione watched in abject horror as more of Sheppard's blood poured out of the wound. Sheppard woke up again, his screams piercing Harry's eardrums. Harry scrambled over to Sheppard and pointed his wand at the professor and attempted to perform a Sleeping charm on him. Sheppard, instead, continued to keep voicing his pain.
"What happened?!" Harry yelled over Sheppard's screams.
"I don't know!" Hermione looked truly stunned, "That should have stopped it - there's no way!"
They looked on, neither of them knowing what to do in this situation. Sheppard continued to remain conscious as he lost more of his blood, the pain of the cauterization somehow unable to send him back into the peaceful realm of unconsciousness. The yells morphed into moans as Sheppard pleaded nonsensically for the pain to go away.
"Avada Kedavra."
A bright, green light flashed in front of Harry's eyes as the spell hit Sheppard square in the chest. Harry blinked in surprise, not quite knowing what had just unfolded. Hermione's mouth was ajar as her eyes looked up to see who cast the Killing curse on their teacher. Draco Malfoy stood over the pair, his eyes coldly fixed on Sheppard as he tucked his wand back into his robes.
"Dark Severing Hex. He was going to bleed out," Malfoy whispered before turning around and walking away from the scene.
********
Voldemort climbed the winding staircase that led to the Headmaster's office. Bella and Peter followed close behind, curiously looking around the room. An assortment of gadgets and trinkets were sprawled across the office. The desk was relatively clean save for a container of Lemon Drops and a few pieces of official looking parchment. Voldemort looked at the office in disgust as he walked towards the bookcase in the back of the room.
"My Lord, Bates has informed me that the students have escaped into the Room of Requirement. The Room seems to have hidden them," Bella reported.
Voldemort paused his movements as he looked over his shoulder at the witch, "They will rear their heads eventually. Make sure Longbottom is to be taken alive. What of the old Auror?"
"MacNair hit him with his special version of a Severing hex he uses for creatures. He should not survive it," Bella said with a small smile.
"Wonderful," Voldemort muttered distractedly as he traced his fingers along the spines of several books. The bookcase suddenly popped open on one side, revealing a secret room behind it. Voldemort opened the bookcase and stepped into the golden room behind it. Aligning the walls were several blocks of ancient runes. Voldemort seemed to look around for a specific run as he examined the walls. Running his finger lightly along a set of runes near the corner of the room, Voldemort watched as the runes shifted from green to gold to red.
"The castle has been warded off from outside intruders for the time being. The old fool has made modifications to the defense system. A set of runes adorn the Entrance Hall. These set of runes are the only ones that can lower the defenses around Hogwarts. For now, they will not be able to cross the gates. Make sure the Entrance is guarded heavily," Voldemort ordered. Bella nodded and bowed her head low as she left the office.
"The sword is not here, Peter," Voldemort hissed as his eyes narrowed.
"Sir - sir - the Weasley boy said that Longbottom pulled the sword from the Sorting Hat after he killed your basilisk," Peter stuttered.
"The hat, you say?" Voldemort looked at the crumpled hat interestedly.
"Watch the door, Peter," Voldemort took the hat from it's spot on the stool and carefully placed it over his head.
"Ahhh, Tom. It has been a while," the Hat spoke.
"Has it been? I haven't noticed," Voldemort casually replied, "You know of what I seek."
"You seek many things, Riddle."
"The sword of Gryffindor. I must have it," thought Voldemort.
"The sword, you say? Why would you need the sword?" the Hat curiously asked.
"That is my business, you wretched waste of magic. You would do well to hand over the sword lest I destroy the last artifact of the Founders," Voldemort warned it.
"Do you think I care?" the Hat said softly, "I do not care if my magic is destroyed. Now, let's see what you hold inside your mind."
Voldemort steeled himself, caught aback by the Hat's intrusiveness. He attempted to bring his Occlumency shields to the forefront of his mind, but the magic of the Hat was too strong for even a wizard of Voldemort's caliber. Images of his conscious and subconscious flashed beneath Voldemort's almost translucent eyelids.
"You play a dangerous game, Riddle," the Hat said after it had viewed his mind.
"As do you. Summon the sword," Voldemort ordered, growing wary of the old magic.
"The path you are about to take is treacherous. It will lead to your downfall. The tower can not be raised."
Voldemort stopped, curious as to how much the Hat knew about said tower.
"There is no downfall for me; only victory. Now, the sword."
"I can not give you the sword," the Hat tiredly explained, "You can not raise the tower, Tom. The Founders have banished it to the deepest levels of the Earth and to raise the tower would set in a motion a chain of events that you can not possibly control. Do not raise the tower."
"We shall see about that," Voldemort yanked the Hat off and placed it on Dumbledore's desk, staring at it intently.
"My Lord?" Peter asked.
"How did you say Longbottom retrieved the sword?" Voldemort queried as he stared intensely at the Hat.
"He put the hat on his head, my Lord," Peter bewilderedly replied.
Voldemort continued to stare the Hat, mulling over it's words. Peter knew not of what the Dark Lord was thinking at the moment and was content with sitting in the dark. The less he knew, the less he could be punished. Voldemort turned around and fixed Peter with a thoughtful expression.
"We need Longbottom."
*******
Harry looked at Sheppard's dead body with his arms crossed, not quite believe what just happened. Before the year started, Harry had never known anyone, at least not personally, that died. In a matter of weeks, he watched a number of people die in front of his own eyes, even by his own hands. However, he had never seen someone killed by the dreaded Killing curse.
Hermione sat with her back to a wall, crying softly to herself as Neville and Ron tried to console her. Every now and then, she would look at up Sheppard's body and sob even more, upset she was unable to save the Professor. Was the Professor really dead? Although he had not know the Professor well enough, Harry had come to grow fond of his teaching techniques. His impassioned speech only a couple days beforehand only increased Harry's admiration of the ex-Auror. Now he lay dead on the floor, a pool of blood forming a circle around him.
Scanning the room for one particular person, Harry set out on a march once he found his target. Malfoy was sitting on a chair, alone, on one side of the room. He was balancing his wand on the top of his fingers as he stared at his feet. Blocking out everything else in his mind, Harry grabbed Malfoy by the collar of his robes and slammed him against the wall.
"What the fuck did you have to do that for," Harry could feel tears burning through his eyes. Malfoy looked at him with a blank expression, not attempting to fight Harry.
"You're sick, you know that? You think you can just go around killing people? You think you can just get away with throwing around Unforgivables? You just killed a Hogwarts Professor!" Harry yelled at him. Malfoy did not respond, only blinking occasionally and staring unsmilingly at Harry.
"STOP PLAYING STUPID!" Harry roared, slamming the boy against the wall and feeling satisfied as he watched Malfoy crumple to the ground.
Malfoy regained his footing slowly, dusting off his robes and straightening them with tiny movements of his hands. Harry glowered in front of him, breathing heavily as he tried to intimidate the boy.
"He was going to die, I've seen that curse before," Malfoy whispered for only Harry to hear as he attempted to brush by the Gryffindor.
"And what? You didn't know how to fix it?" Harry asked sarcastically.
"That's the only way I've seen people fix it," Malfoy whispered again as he succeeded in passing by Harry.
Harry watched as Malfoy walked off into another obscure corner, sitting by himself as he continued to fiddle with his wand. It was only after a couple of seconds that he realized that everyone was staring at him. Flushing angrily, Harry quickly marched to Neville and pulled him up by the arm. Frog walking him into a slightly less busy area, Harry turned the boy to face him.
"What are you going to do?" Harry hissed.
"What do you mean what am I going to do?" Neville replied angrily, shoving Harry's hands off of him.
"In case you haven't noticed, our Professor just died," Harry struggled not to raise his voice, "Our whole Year is here. We're stuck in a room that we didn't have any knowledge about and a crowd of Death Eaters and You-Know-Who are inside of Hogwarts!"
"You don't think I know that? I saw it all too," Neville snapped.
"Listen," Harry tried to bring a calm to the situation, "Everyone's going to look to you. They're going to follow your lead; you have to do something."
Neville bit his lip as he looked at Harry and then back at the crowd of students waiting anxiously for the two to finish their conversation. Indeed, all the Fifth years were waiting for the their two appointed leaders to make a decision.
"I don't know if I can do this, Harry," whispered Neville, showing a little vulnerability for the first time.
"You have to, Neville. Else we're going to tear each other apart," Harry implored.
Neville gulped and nodded, straightening his robes. With one more encouraging pat on the back from Harry, Neville walked towards his classmates and cleared his throat as they looked at him expectantly.
"Um - I don't what to say, really. We have to stay here for now. This room will protect us. Hogwarts will protect us. Dumbledore will come back for us eventually. We just have to hold the fort until then," Neville started off weakly but gained more conviction as he spoke.
"How do you know Dumbledore is coming back?"
"What do you mean the room will protect us?"
"What if he doesn't come back, You-Know-Who is in the castle!"
"Voldemort," Neville glared at everyone who flinched, "can not stop Dumbledore from getting back into Hogwarts. He will get back. He's never failed us yet, and I believe he'll come back for us."
"He came into the castle when Dumbledore wasn't even here! How do you know Dumbledore can get back in?" Nott asked from the back of the group.
"You probably helped him in here," accused Ernie.
"We followed you in here in case you didn't notice," Pansy spat.
"Probably to sell us out," Ernie's hand twitched as it moved to his robes.
Harry had started to make his way Nott once the boy spoke out. As he reached the junction between the Slytherins and Ernie, Harry carefully placed himself in front of Nott just in case.
"Get out of the way, Potter! They'll stab you in the back too," Ernie pulled out his wand.
"Just put it away, Ernie," Harry demanded softly, raising an empty hand to placate the nervous boy.
"Everyone, STOP!" Neville yelled as the crowd started to grow restless.
"Neville, how are we supposed to trust them?" Ernie asked as he kept his wand trained on Harry and Nott.
"In case you haven't noticed, all of us are here. All of us ran away and if we wanted to sell you out, we would have Stunned all of you before you even knew they were coming. So why don't you just shut the fuck up and stop meddling in things you don't understand!" Nott yelled at the Hufflepuff boy.
"He's right, Ernie. They stay; we're all in the same boat," Neville exchanged a glance with Harry and nodded at the boy. Ernie huffed and puffed but eventually lowered his wand.
"We have to stick together if we're going to make it out of here."
********
"Lucius, report."
"The Room of Requirement seems to have moved. We're unable to locate it but awaiting its usual entrance on the Seventh floor. MacNair and Crabbe are stationed there while everyone else is on alert should any of the students pop up."
"Bella, report."
"The professors have predictably scattered once they realized the defenses to Hogwarts have been changed. There is no sign of Dumbledore yet, but multiple Aurors have arrived on scene to assess the situation. All defenses hold strong, they will not be able to enter unless we allow them."
Voldemort contemplatively sat in the Headmaster's chair on the High Table. What had begun as a quick snatch and grab job had turned into something a little more complex. Since he was unable to retrieve Gryffindor's sword from the onset, Voldemort would have to resort to different means in order to have the sword in his grasp. It was the key to moving forward in his future plans. Though he knew the defenses of Hogwarts would hold strong since he adjusted the runes, he did not know whether or not Dumbledore had made some modifications in case anything of this nature were to happen. The longer they remained at Hogwarts, the more likely Dumbledore would find a way inside. Since the students seemed to have commandeered the Room of Requirement, there was no other exit besides the front gates.
"Have everyone be on high alert for any pop up of the students. They can not stay holed up in the Room forever. Make sure you keep all of the house elves in the kitchen," Voldemort gave his final orders.
"The house elves, my Lord?" Lucius asked dryly.
"Yes, Lucius, the house elves," Voldemort eyed the elder Malfoy intently. Malfoy flinched and bowed his head.
"Bella," Voldemort called for her, "Under no circumstances should any one aim to kill for Longbottom. He is to be taken alive at all costs. Kill the spares."
"Yes, my Lord," Bella murmured as she left to deliver the proper orders.
Voldemort sat back into his chair as he considered the rest of his options. It seemed as if Longbottom was the key to extracting the sword from the Sorting Hat. For some reason or another, the Hat was literally not allowed to give Voldemort the sword. Voldemort suspected it might have something to do with the Gryffindor lineage. If Longbottom was able to summon the sword before, he could do it again. The only problem would be convincing Longbottom to extract the sword.
It was not so simple to just place the Hat on the boy's head and have the sword fall out. Longbottom would need to call for the sword and Voldemort was not quite convinced the boy would do so if he suspected any sort of trickery. Voldemort needed a back-up plan in case things went awry. Every day spent in Hogwarts only increased the unpredictability of this hostage situation. Though the students had escaped into the Room of Requirement, the Aurors and any outside forces did not know any of that and would act as if Voldemort had the students hostage. An idea suddenly slithered it's way into the Dark Lord's head.
"Peter, find me as many books on blood lineage as you can. Concentrate on those related to Gryffindor."
***********
Harry sat with his back to the wall, inspecting the Room of Requirement as the day grew longer. Checking his watch, Harry realized that the sun had set nearly an hour ago. Somehow, the Room was able to provide the same food produced in the Great Hall for the students. Harry was thankful for this slight gift. If nothing else, it would keep Ron from bemoaning their already lamentable situation. Neville's speech did not completely soothe the souls of the rest of the Fifth years, but they seemed to have calm down a bit and settled into the Room.
Predictably, the Fifth years had fractioned off into their own groups. The Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws sat in a sort of large, amorphous circle. Within this circle, smaller groups splintered off depending on the friends around them. Most of them sat huddled around their food, quietly talking about the day. Pillows and make shift mattresses had been summoned to allow them some comfort.
The Slytherins, on the other hand, were set quite a couple yards away from the large group of students. Occasionally, Ernie or some other offending student would send a glare their way but they did not dare do anything once Neville deemed the Slytherins trustworthy. Truthfully, Harry could see Ernie's point of view as being slightly valid. Most, if not all, of the Slytherin's parents were at least Death Eaters or cooperated with Voldemort. It was quite a surprise to even Harry that the Slytherins had followed them into the Room of Requirement.
Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ron sat off to the side of the main group of students. Hermione was still quiet following the death of Sheppard while Ron and Neville conversed idly about the situation. Malfoy sat off in his own corner, neither looking happy nor sad. He simply twirled his wand in his hands as he stared at a fixed spot on the wall.
"Do you think they know by now?" Harry asked.
"They have to know. The Professors would have tried to get back into Hogwarts by now. Do you think they're fighting outside?" Ron worriedly chewed on a piece of bread as he stated the obvious.
"We can't know for certain," Neville answered, "They're either fighting to get back into the castle or Voldemort - stop flinching Harry - stopped them somehow."
"Sorry, still getting used to it," Harry apologized.
"Don't worry about it."
"What about them?" Ron inclined his head towards the Slytherins.
"It's illogical for them to have followed us in here," Hermione spoke up for the first time. She sniffled a bit before continuing, "They could have easily taken us out several times when we were trying to get away. I don't know what Voldemort wants, but he certainly did not plan for all the Slytherin students to be in the Room of Requirement with us. Either way, if they try to get outside to inform the Death Eaters of where we are, I made the Room so they wouldn't be able to do that."
"So you control the Room?" Harry asked.
"More or less. Since I was the one that paced in front of it, it adjusts to what I want."
"Couldn't you have wished for an exit out of Hogwarts?"
"It doesn't work like that," Hermione shook her head, "It's just a room, not a teleportation device."
"What's teleportation?" Ron wondered aloud.
"Don't worry about it."
The quartet fell into silence as they pondered Hermione's words. It seemed as if the Room of Requirement could provide them shelter and keep them hidden from the Death Eaters but not much else. Harry's eyes roved to the Slytherins again, watching them curiously. Out of the corner of his eye though, Harry spotted a flash of blond hair. Instead of Malfoy, Harry was surprised to find Luna Lovegood.
"What's Luna doing here?" Harry wondered, mostly speaking to himself. Neville overhead him and turned around to find that the Fourth year Ravenclaw was sitting amongst the students.
"Luna's not in our class," Ron squinted at her, making sure she was indeed in the Room and not a figment of his imagination.
"Probably just wandering the halls," Hermione dismissed the girl with a wave of her hand, "Ginny told me that Luna doesn't like going to Hogsmeade by herself."
"That is true," Harry scratched his head, still puzzled as to why he kept running into Luna.
"Anyways," Neville piped in, "I have an idea."
"What?"
"Why don't we go outside and see what they're up to?"
Harry looked at him as if he had lost his mind, "Yeah, Neville, let's stroll out into the hallway and asked one of them what their plans are."
"I knew you'd say that," Neville smirked, "Hermione, if you're in charge of the room, can't you ask for the exit to appear anywhere in Hogwarts?"
Hermione scrunched her face as she considered Neville's request, "In theory, I should be able to do that."
"Okay, good. So we can just go and try to see what the situation is out there. If the Professors are trying to get in, we have to help them. If they can't get in, we have to try to inform them of us at least."
"And how are we going to inform them?" Ron asked sarcastically, "Just wave our hands at the top of the Astronomy tower?"
"No," Neville flushed, "I hadn't gotten to that part yet."
"It's good enough," Harry concluded.
"You're all crazy," Hermione said, a stricken look on her face, "You can't really expect to go wandering around the halls with a bunch of Death Eaters patrolling them. Do you know what they could do to you!?"
Hermione pointed her finger at Sheppard's body.
"We'll be careful," Neville reasoned, "We know this castle better than them. We've been practicing in it forever."
"Harry," Hermione pleaded as she crawled over to him, "Please don't do this."
"Hermoine, we have to do something. We can't stay in here forever. If nothing else, we can at least bring back some news to the rest of the people," Harry said with a pained voice. Hermione fell silent, crossing her arms and glaring at Harry and Neville.
"How many people do we need?" Ron started surveying the crowd.
"Small group," Harry answered, "Just enough to help us if we're in trouble. Any larger and we're going to be running around with too much noise."
"Okay, us three -" Neville started, pointing to Ron, Harry, and himself.
"No!" Hermoine exclaimed, "Me too!"
"No," replied Harry, Neville, and Ron succinctly.
"That's not fair. I've been doing this a lot longer than you have Harry!" she tried to guilt him.
"But you're the one in charge of the room. What if you leave and then the Death Eaters find a way back in?" Harry tried to reason with her.
"You don't even know if that's what would happen," Hermione stated stubbornly.
"Look. Let's see if your 'exit door' theory works. If it does, we'll see where we can go from there?" Harry tried to think of any loopholes to his conclusion but found none. Hermione fidgeted for a moment, trying to pick out a fallacy in Harry's argument. After a moment, she sighed in defeat.
"Please, be careful," Hermione whispered, her eyes darting between the three boys.
"Aren't we always?" chirped Ron. Hermione shook her head before fixing Harry with a stare. She was practically pleading with her eyes to keep them safe. Harry gave her a slight nod of his head, indicating he received her message.
"Alright then. Who else?" asked Neville.
"Need to keep this quiet. Padma, she's discrete enough," Harry pointed to the Ravenclaw section.
"Terry, too. He worked well with us," Neville looked at Ron for confirmation. Ron nodded back.
"Alright, that should be it."
"No Malfoy? You two can't seem to stay apart," Ron said to Harry, watching the other boy's reaction.
"No," Harry looked darkly at Malfoy, "Don't bring him."
"Okay. Harry, you go talk to Padma. I'll talk to Terry," Neville brushed his hands off on his pants as he stood up.
After a few moments, Padma and Terry were now sitting with the main group. As Neville informed them of the plan, Harry took the time to rub Hermione's shoulder comfortingly.
"Are you okay?" Harry said quietly.
"I'll be fine. I've just never seen someone die before," Hermione's eyes flicked over to Sheppard again.
"You did everything you could."
"I know," Hermione exhaled loudly as if she were trying to expel her negative emotions, "I think I'm still in shock."
"You'll be alright," Harry gave her one more squeeze on the shoulder before turning back to Neville. Neville eyed him oddly before quickly masking his face.
"They're good to go. Hermione, put us on the Sixth floor. Close the door behind us when we leave and focus on having an entrance for us on the Fifth floor near the prefects' bathroom. Give us ten minutes before making that door. If we're not back by then -" Neville gulped.
"You'll be back," Hermione stated, her face resolute.
"Right. Everyone set?" the rest of the group nodded as they made their way to one side of the room, trying not to be noticed by the rest of the Fifth years.
Hermione closed her eyes as if she were concentrating on a particularly difficult Arithmancy equation. After a moment, a door shimmered into view right next to Harry. Harry gave a thumbs up to indicate that the door had worked. Harry's heart started beating loudly in his chest as he turned the knob of the door and poked his head outside. Thankfully, Hermione's theory held true as Harry found himself near the boys' bathroom on the Sixth floor. Signaling that it had worked, Harry quietly made his way outside and held the door open for the other four people. Once they were all outside, Neville took lead while Harry brought up the rear.
Silently making their way through the hall, they were relieved to find that none of the Death Eaters seemed to be in this hall. Harry cast a Supersensory charm on himself as he kept his eyes peeled and his ears trained for any movement. Ron, Padma, and Terry kept their wands trained as they made their way through the dark hallway. Neville held a hand out to indicate the group to stop. Harry suddenly heard two sets of footsteps through his Supersensory charm. He put his hand on Ron's chest and pushed the boy back to the wall. The other three followed suit once they realized what Harry had done.
Harry pressed himself against the slight alcove as tightly as he could. He took in shallow breathes, careful not to make too much noise as the footsteps grew louder. The loud thumps were almost around the corner as Harry tightly gripped his wand, prepared for any sort of duel. Preferably, the group would have liked to stay incognito for a while, but if they were forced to engage, they would not go down without a fight. Harry could hear the beating of his own heart as the noise decibel increased. He hoped that the Death Eaters could not hear the rapid beating of his organ.
"Keep an eye out, Alceto," growled a deep voice.
"I always forget you only have one eye now," Alceto replied in a bored tone.
"I could do the same for you."
"Bates, as alluring as that sounds, I'm afraid I'll have to pass."
Bates and Alceto turned the corner and continued to walk in an unhurried pace. To the group's good fortune, the pair had turned down a different corridor, leading them away from their position. As the pair walked by a wide window, the shine of the moon cast a dim light on the pair. As Harry squinted his eyes to make out the two figures, he quietly gasped as he saw a large tattoo on who he assumed to be Bates' neck.
Bates froze and slowly turned on the spot, his eyes looking into the darkness. As he turned, Harry immediately recognized his face though it had gone through a few changes since he had last seen it. There were red burn marks and deep scars along his face. One eyelid seemed to have welded shut, the magic not allowing it to heal. Still, with all of his grotesque features, Harry immediately recognized Bates as the main antagonist at Godric's Hollow. He was the one who killed Malfoy's mother.
"What is it?" Alceto complained, "If we take any longer, the Dark Lord is going to kill us like he's been doing with everyone else."
"It's nothing," Bates growled, "Let's go."
Bates turned around but not before looking at Harry's exact spot. Harry held his breath this time, making sure not to show any surprise or move so much as a hair follicle. The group did not move until Bates and Alceto's footsteps had diminished into nothing but slight vibrations on the ground.
"Come on," Neville whispered.
Harry gulped as he followed the group around the hall. They continued their reconnaissance for a couple more minutes, making sure to check through the windows whenever they could. Every now and then, Neville would pull out a worn piece of parchment and stare at it for a few moments. Harry could only assume that he was writing notes since Neville did not allow for anyone else to look.
"Let's go back," Neville said, apparently satisfied with the mission. Harry checked his watch and saw they had time to arrive at the Fifth floor. They quietly made their way down the staircase, only once stopping to avoid a Death Eater patrol. Finally finding their way to the prefects' bathroom, they let out a sigh of relief as a door shimmered into view. They were not expecting to find the calamity that was ensuing inside.
"I couldn't stop them," Hermione explained as she watched in dismay.
The large mob of students had surrounded the Slytherins. Harry could distinctly hear them arguing about the Death Eaters and their loyalty. No wands had been pulled out yet but it looked like the students did not need them. Ernie looked intent on hitting Nott with his fists as the mob continued to taunt the Slytherins, the noose growing tighter and tighter around house of green. Harry immediately ran for the circle, struggling to fight through the crowd in order to reach the Slytherins.
"You're just waiting to sell us about!" yelled Justin.
"Shut up, you stupid ingrate. You'd probably quick as shit your pants if you ever came up against the Dark Lord," Blaise responded viciously.
"The Dark Lord," mocked Michael Corner, "Only Death Eaters call them that!"
Finally breaking through the crowd, Harry once again placed himself between Ernie and Nott. Ernie glowered at him while Nott looked offended that Harry would come to his defense yet again.
"Get out of the way, Harry."
"Stop putting yourself in between this, Potter. You have no place here."
Ernie and Nott respectively ordered Harry, but the boy refused to move. Fixing both of them with a glare, Harry yelled loud enough for everyone to stop squabbling.
"Have ALL of you forgotten what Sheppard asked of us?" Harry yelled, grabbing the attention of the crowd.
"That man is dead and the rest of you are making fools out of yourselves! You dishonor his sacrifice by fighting like this! By acting like a bunch of nine year olds fighting at the park. That man -" Harry jabbed his finger to the dead body, " -DIED to make sure all of us could escape alive. All of us! That means you, Nott and you too, Ernie."
Harry breathed hard through his nostrils, the anger coursing through him as stared at them disgustedly, "So I don't care if you don't like each other. I don't even care if you think they're Death Eaters. The fact of the matter is that they've done nothing to try to hurt us and if they do, I'll be the first one to offer myself to You-Know-Who."
"We went out and checked Hogwarts. There's no one here. No Professors, no other students, not even Filch. So whether you like it or not, we're stuck here until we find a way out or Dumbledore finds a way in," Harry paced in front of them.
"If we don't fight together," Harry slammed his fist against an open palm to make his point, "They're going to rip us to shreds. They're older, they're wiser, and the Death Eaters sure don't give a damn about killing all of us."
"Other than Defense, you couldn't pay all of us to sit in a room together. But we're all here now and Merlin knows how long we're going to be here. So if we can't live together -" Harry paused, making sure everyone could hear him, " -We're going to die alone."
Harry finished talking, glaring at Ernie and Nott before turning on his heel and walking away. The crowd parted for him, still processing what Harry had said. Keeping his eyes glued in front of him, Harry walked to Professor Sheppard's dead body and pulled a blanket over him. As he looked back, all of the students were still staring at him in awe. Harry tore his eyes away and made his way back to his spot on the wall.
Looking up, Harry found that even Malfoy was looking at him with a curious expression. As they met eyes, Harry tore his away, hoping that Malfoy could not some how magically read minds. Harry had not decided whether or not to tell Malfoy about Bates.
"I need help. We all need help," Harry whispered to himself as he closed his eyes.