The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall was dark and scattered with stars, and below it the four long House tables were lined with disheveled students, some in traveling cloaks, others in dressing gowns. Here and there shone the pearly white figures of the school ghosts. Every eye, living and dead, was fixed upon Professor McGonagall, who was speaking from the raised platform at the top of the Hall. Behind her stood the remaining teachers, including the palomino centaur, Firenze, and the members of the Order of the Phoenix who had arrived to fight.
"...evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organize your House and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point."
Many of the students looked petrified. However, as Y/n and Harry skirted the walls, scanning the Gryffindor table, Ernie Macmillan stood up at the Hufflepuff table and shouted. "And what if we want to stay and fight?"
There was a smattering of applause.
"If you are of age, you may stay." said Professor McGonagall.
"What about our things?" called a girl at the Ravenclaw table. "Our trunks, our owls?"
"We have no time to collect possessions." said Professor McGonagall. "The important thing is to get you out of here safely."
"Where's Professor Snape?" shouted a girl from the Slytherin table.
"He has, to use the common phrase, 'done a bunk'." replied Professor McGonagall, and a great cheer erupted from the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws.
Harry and Y/n moved up the Hall alongside the Gryffindor table, with Harry looking for Ron and Hermione, as they passed, faces turned in their directions, and a great deal of whispering broke out.
"We have already placed protection around the castle." Professor McGonagall was saying. "But it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects..."
But her final words were drowned as a different voice echoed throughout the Hall. It was high, cold, and clear. There was no telling from where it came, it seemed to issue from the walls themselves. Like the monster it had once commanded, it might have lain dormant there for centuries.
"I know that you are preparing to fight." There were screams amongst the students, some of whom clutched each other, looking around in terror for the source of the sound. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."
There was silence in the Hall now, the kind of silence that presses against the eardrums, that seems too huge to be contained by walls.
"Give me Harry Potter." said Voldemort's voice. "And none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.
You have until midnight."
The silence swallowed them all again. Every head turned, every eye in the place seemed to have found Y/n and Harry, to hold them frozen in the glare of thousands of invisible beams. Y/n put his hand on Harry's back to let him know he would not let anything happen to him.
Then a figure rose from the Slytherin table and he recognized Pansy Parkinson as she raised a shaking arm and screamed. "But he's there! Potter's there! Someone grab him!"
Before Y/n could act or Harry could speak, there was a massive movement. The Gryffindors in front of them had risen and stood facing, not Harry, but the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stood, and almost at the same moment, the Ravenclaws, all of them with their backs to Harry and Y/n, all of them looking toward Pansy instead, and Harry, awestruck and overwhelmed, saw wands emerging everywhere, pulled from beneath cloaks and from under sleeves.
"Thank you, Miss Parkinson." said Professor McGonagall in a clipped voice. "You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."
Y/n heard the grinding of benches and then the sound of the Slytherins trooping out on the other side of the Hall.
"Ravenclaws, follow on!" cried Professor McGonagall.
Slowly the four tables emptied. The Slytherin table was completely deserted, but a number of older Ravenclaws remained seated while their fellows filed out, even more Hufflepuffs stayed behind, and half of Gryffindor remained in their seats, necessitating Professor McGonagall's descent from the teachers' platform to chivvy the underage on their way.
"Absolutely not, Creevey, go! And you, Peakes!"
Y/n and Harry hurried over to the Weasleys, all sitting together at the Gryffindor table.
"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Haven't you found them?" began Mr. Weasley, looking worried.
Y/n was about to tell Harry where he had sent the two, but he was stopped as McGongall beckoned to him.
Y/n moved to McGonagall, who looked to still be debating her decision.
"I think it would be best if you explain the magic you are about to cast Grindelwald, it will come as a shock to the many students who see it otherwise." McGonagall told him.
"You understand the nature of the spell Professor?" Y/n asked her.
"I do Grindelwald." McGonagall answered.
"And you understand what will happen to those in the castle who might attempt to spy or plot against us?" Y/n pressed.
"I do Grindelwald..." McGonagall said gravely. "But as I said before, we duel to the death."
Y/n just nodded. "I shall give them fair warning, the consequences are on them thereafter."
"I can hardly call that unfair." McGonagall agreed. "Wait a moment while I quiet down the room." She told him and made her way back onto the teacher's platform. "May I have your attention please..."
The small amount of murmurings that were taking place in the room calmed down to a silence.
"As said before, defenses have been put up tonight, however one is left to be placed as we wait for the evacuated to leave. To explain in more detail I will now hand over to Y/n Grindelwald." McGonagall moved now, and Y/n stepped up to address the remaining students.
"For those of you who wish to remain behind and fight, I commend your bravery..." Y/n began. "But I shall offer you this piece of advice. If you have bad intentions...if you harbor any grudges...If you wish ill will towards any who seek to drive back the evil that will attempt to penetrate these walls tonight...You will die."
The students and adults all began to look at one another now as Y/n continued on.
"Tonight I am going to cast a spell around the castle that will protect those of you who are on the side of good, but to those who wish to overpower and dominate the wills of others, it will mean their end..."
Y/n drew his wand and looked to McGonagall who gave a nod.
Y/n closed his eyes and focused as he cast his wand around the room and every single edge was covered in a roaring blue flame as the room gasped.
"Protego Diabollica..." Y/n heard Kingsley utter behind him in surprise.
Y/n moved his wand and the flames burst out of the Great Hall and out of the castle, encircling it in a large ring of blue flames.
"Listen well." Y/n spoke again now as the still shocked crowd looked to him. "This is not a simple duel of magic between classmates, it is not a competition to show off. Hogwarts is now a battlefield on which our names and our statuses mean nothing. Only our loyalties, our friendships, our love, will show through tonight. I ask you to fight...Fight back the evil that for too long has threatened the lives of those we care about deepest. Defend Hogwarts! Defend yourselves! Defend against those who seek to enslave our will!" Y/n cried out to the crowd who now leaped to their feet ready for a fight.
Y/n stepped down now as Kingsley stepped forward on the raised platform now.
"Very well spoken Grindelwald." He nodded. "Now, we've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast! A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers. Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor, where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus." he indicated Lupin. "Arthur." he pointed toward Mr. Weasley, sitting at the Gryffindor table. "And I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defense of the entrances of the passageways into the school..."
"Sounds like a job for us." called Fred, indicating himself and George, and Kingsley nodded his approval.
"All right, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!"
"Potter." said Professor McGonagall, hurrying up to him with Y/n, as students flooded the platform, jostling for position, receiving instructions. "Aren't you supposed to be looking for something?"
"What? Oh." said Harry. "Oh yeah!"
He had almost forgotten about the Horcrux, almost forgotten that the battle was being fought so that he could search for it. Y/n's speech and the inexplicable absence of Ron and Hermione had momentarily driven every other thought from his mind.
"Then go, Potter, go!"
"Right... yeah..."
"Harry." Y/n called to him and Harry quickly looked to him. "I need to stay and help defend the castle, As powerful as this spell is, it will only hold him off for a while, When he extinguishes it I will head back towards the room of requirement to plot my next move. Ron and Hermione will surely head there as well."
"Alright. I'm going to try find a lead on what we are looking for could be." Harry told him and he rushed out of the Great Hall."
McGonagall stood beside Y/n as they watched Harry disappear.
"How long do you believe you can hold off You-Know-Who Grindelwald?" She asked him.
"With this spell? I do not think it would be long. But it is only needed to buy time for the others." Y/n told her. "In a one on one duel? I honestly could not guess who would win. If I had to be unbiased I would say Voldemort's experience and willingness to use any spell favours him." Y/n admitted. "But his arrogance and lack of understanding are also his weakness. But it does not matter. It is Harry who must end him not me. I have my own battle tonight." Y/n said knowing three who would certainly be joining the front line.
McGonagall looked at Y/n sympathetically and nodded.
"You are a fine student Grindelwald...a perfect example of what a Gryffindor should be. Brave."
"Thank you Professor." Y/n said feeling proud of her praise. "Though I have not been a student for nearly a year now."
"Yes." McGonagall nodded. "If...and I mean if...we both survive this battle and succeed, there is a matter I would like to discuss with you."
"Then we had both better do our best." Y/n smiled for a moment before becoming serious again. "I need to move to an area with a good view of the front of the school if I am to effectively repel the Death Eaters for as long as possible."
"You will come with my group to Gryffindor Tower then Grindelwald, It's high tower should give you the view you need." McGonagall told him as she turned to the tables. "I need thirty Gryffindors with good aim." She called out to be met with hands raised from the Gryffindor table.
"You will follow me to Gryffindor Tower." McGonagall instructed them and those with their hands raised stood up, forming a line behind Y/n. Y/n felt like a student again as he followed McGonagall out of the hall and towards Gryffindor Tower.
"Feels good to be back doesn't it?" A voice said from behind Y/n and he turned his head to see his old Quidditch teammate, Katie Bell.
"Despite the situation...yes, it is." Y/n admitted as they walked the same path they had done for years.
The walk was not a long one and soon the group arrived at Gryffindor Tower.
"Password?" The Fat Lady asked.
"Pumpkin juice." McGonagall said and the Fat Lady's portrait swung open as they all made their way inside.
"So, what's the plan?" One of the Gryffindor's asked.
"Using Protego Diabolica I will do my best to keep them out for as long as possible Professor." Y/n nodded as he moved to a window and drew his wand.
"I wish you luck Grindelwald." McGonagall said as she turned to the group. "Into the dormitory's, break the windows and get ready to fire any spells you can conjure at the sight of intruders."
"Wow, never thought I'd hear the day McGonagall would tell us to break something in Gryffindor tower." One of the students nervously laughed.
"Windows can be repaired, lives cannot. Now get moving." McGonagall said as she moved herself.
The crowd dispersed and soon Y/n was alone in the Gryffindor common room looking out to the castle front. He could see a large group had begun to gather, Death Eaters no doubt. Would his parents be down there or would they be held back? Whatever the case, he knew the appearance of Protego Diabollica would be enough to draw them and Atticus out. It was a spell they would surely crave the knowledge to use. Now he was the only living soul who knew how to cast it.
Y/n focused his wand on the flames now as he desired to instill even a small amount of fear into the Death Eaters below. If he could make even a few cower and pull back, then a life or two might be saved.
The flames began to no longer burn calmly as they darted upwards as if spurned by a gust of wind. Y/n turned his head to see that the clock was midnight it was time for the battle to begin.
"Fire!" McGonagall called out and soon spells were being cast past the blue flames into the crowds of Death Eaters who tried to return curses of their own, only for the blue flames to catch and absorb their spells protecting the castle and its inhabitants.
Y/n could see a foolish few who tried to get past his flames and they let out cries and screams of anguish as they were incinerated on the spot.
Y/n moved his wand to where the flames burned tallest and soon they manifested into the symbol of Gryffindor, a Lion which let out a great roar.
Cheering came from the dormitories at the appearance of the Lion.
Y/n flicked his wand and the lion pounced forward into the crowd of Death Eaters as he saw them all parting on either side of the Lion to try to avoid being burnt to death. There were those who were unlucky however and were caught in the Lion's flames.
Y/n made the Lion walk forward until suddenly a loud and angry scream bellowed and a spell was cast directly at the Lion and it seemed to have been blocked in its path.
"Finite!" The crowd of Death Eaters could be heard chanting in unison now as all around the flames and the lion was beginning to be pushed back.
It would not be long now until the flames went out altogether, but Y/n had done his part, he had delayed them for several more minutes. Saved more lives.
Y/n fought hard to keep the flames going but the room to work with was getting smaller and as the seconds went by, finally they were put out. The Death Eaters let out cries of cheers as they burst forward and were now on the grounds.
"I leave it to you now!" Y/n called to the others and he quickly left Gryffindor Tower to head for the room of requirement. He would trust in McGonagall and the Gryffindors here.
Harry had just finished speaking with the Gray Lady, Ravenclaw's daughter. His conversation with her had revealed that she had stolen her mother's diadem when she was alive and hidden it. Years ago, however she had revealed its location to a boy named Tom Riddle...
Harry was certain it was hidden in the castle now and was racking his brain to figure out where. Generations of students had failed to find the diadem that suggested that it was not in Ravenclaw Tower...but if not there, where? What hiding place had Tom Riddle discovered inside Hogwarts Castle, that he believed would remain secret forever?
Lost in desperate speculation, Harry turned a corner, but he had taken only a few steps down the new corridor when the window to his left broke open with a deafening, shattering crash. As he leaped aside, a gigantic body flew in through the window and hit the opposite wall. Something large and furry detached itself, whimpering, from the new arrival and flung itself at Harry.
"Hagrid!" Harry bellowed, fighting off Fang the boarhound's attentions as the enormous bearded figure clambered to his feet. "What the..."
"Harry, yer here! Yer here!"
Hagrid stooped down, bestowed upon Harry a cursory and rib-cracking hug, then ran back to the shattered window.
"Good boy, Grawpy!" he bellowed through the hole in the window. "I'll see yer in a moment, there's a good lad!"
Beyond Hagrid, out in the dark night, Harry saw bursts of light in the distance and heard cries and screams. He looked down at his watch. It was midnight. The battle had begun.
"Blimey, Harry." panted Hagrid. "This is it, eh? Time ter fight?"
"Hagrid, where have you come from?"
"Heard You-Know-Who from up in our cave." said Hagrid grimly. "Voice carried, didn' it? 'Yeh got till midnight ter gimme Potter.' Knew yeh mus' be here, knew what mus' be happenin'. Get down, Fang. So we come ter join in, me an' Grawpy an' Fang. We arrived ter see a great big wall of blue flame in our way but it didn't feel hot so we passed threw em, Grawpy was carryin' us, Fang an' me. Told him ter let me down at the castle, so he shoved me through the window, bless him. Not exac'ly what I meant, bu'... where's Ron an' Y/n an' Hermione?"
"That." said Harry. "Is a really good question."
But he was stopped at the sound of a loud roar and both he and Hagrid looked out to see a large Lion made of blue flames.
"Blimey...tha's an impressive bit of magic that is. Who's done tha?" Hagrid asked.
"It's Y/n." Harry told him.
"Should of known." Hagrid. "Always was a skilled one..."
They watched as the Lion leaped forward into the crowd and more screams and cries could be heard as Death Eaters burnt to death. The Lion walked forward until suddenly a loud and angry scream bellowed as a spell was cast directly at the Lion and it seemed to have been blocked in its path.
"Come on." Harry told Hagrid.
They hurried together along the corridor, Fang lolloping beside them. Harry could hear movement through the corridors all around, running footsteps, shouts, through the windows, he could see more flashes of light in the dark grounds.
"Where're we goin'?" puffed Hagrid, pounding along at Harry's heels, making the floorboards quake.
"I dunno exactly." said Harry, making another random turn. "Y/n's off fighting but Ron and Hermione must be around here somewhere..."
The first casualties of the battle were already strewn across the passage ahead. The two stone gargoyles that usually guarded the entrance to the staffroom had been smashed apart by a jinx that had sailed through another broken window. Their remains stirred feebly on the floor, and as Harry leapt over one of their disembodied heads, it moaned faintly. "Oh, don't mind me, I'll just lie here and crumble..."
Its ugly stone face made Harry think suddenly of the marble bust of Rowena Ravenclaw at Xenophilius's house, wearing that mad headdress and then of the statue in Ravenclaw Tower, with the stone diadem upon her white curls.
And as he reached the end of the passage, the memory of a third stone effigy came back to him: that of an ugly old warlock, onto whose head Harry himself had placed a wig and a battered old tiara. The shock shot through Harry with the heat of firewhisky, and he nearly stumbled.
He knew, at last, where the Horcrux sat waiting for him.
Tom Riddle, who confided in no one and operated alone, might have been arrogant enough to assume that he, and only he, had penetrated the deepest mysteries of Hogwarts Castle. Of course, but he and Y/n had strayed off the beaten track in their time at school, here at last was a secret Harry and Voldemort both knew.
He was roused by Professor Sprout, who was thundering past followed by Neville and half a dozen others, all of them wearing earmuffs and carrying what appeared to be large potted plants.
"Mandrakes!" Neville bellowed at Harry over his shoulder as he ran. "Going to lob them over the walls...they won't like this!"
Harry knew now where to go, He sped off, with Hagrid and Fang galloping behind him. They passed portrait after portrait, and the painted figures raced alongside them, wizards and witches in ruffs and breeches, in armor and cloaks, cramming themselves into each others' canvases, screaming news from other parts of the castle. As they reached the end of this corridor, the whole castle shook, and Harry knew, as a gigantic vase blew off its plinth with explosive force, that it was in the grip of enchantments more sinister than those of the teachers and the Order.
"It's all righ', Fang...it's all righ'!" yelled Hagrid, but the great boarhound had taken flight as slivers of china flew like shrapnel through the air, and Hagrid pounded off after the terrified dog, leaving Harry alone.
He forged on through the trembling passages, his wand at the ready, and for the length of one corridor the little painted knight, Sir Cadogan, rushed from painting to painting beside him, clanking along in his armor, screaming encouragement, his fat little pony cantering behind him.
"Braggarts and rogues, dogs and scoundrels, drive them out, Harry Potter, see them off!"
Harry hurtled around a corner and found Fred and a small knot of students, including Lee Jordan and Hannah Abbott, standing beside another empty plinth, whose statue had concealed a secret passageway. Their wands were drawn and they were listening at the concealed hole.
"Nice night for it!" Fred shouted as the castle quaked again, and Harry sprinted by, elated and terrified in equal measure. Along yet another corridor he dashed, and then there were owls everywhere, and Mrs. Norris was hissing and trying to bat them with her paws, no doubt to return them to their proper place.
"Potter!"
Aberforth Dumbledore stood blocking the corridor ahead, his wand held ready.
"I've had hundreds of kids thundering through my pub, Potter!"
"I know, we're evacuating." Harry said, "Voldemort's..."
"Attacking because they haven't handed you over, yeah." said Aberforth, "I'm not deaf, the whole of Hogsmeade heard him. And it never occurred to any of you to keep a few Slytherins hostage? There are kids of Death Eaters you've just sent to safety. Wouldn't it have been a bit smarter to keep 'em here?"
"It wouldn't stop Voldemort." said Harry. "And your brother would never have done it."
Aberforth grunted and tore away in the opposite direction.
Your brother would never have done it...Well, it was the truth, Harry thought as he ran on again. Dumbledore, who had defended Snape for so long, would never have held students ransom.
And then he skidded around a final corner and with a yell of mingled relief and fury he saw them. Ron and Hermione, both with their arms full of large, curved, dirty yellow objects, Ron with two broomsticks under his arm.
"Where the hell have you been?" Harry shouted.
"Chamber of Secrets." said Ron.
"Chamber...what?" said Harry, coming to an unsteady halt before them.
"It was Y/n's idea!" said Hermione breathlessly. "Absolutely brilliant. There we were, just before you were about to leave and he said to me and Ron, to go down to the chamber to where the basilisk remains are!"
"What the..."
"Something to get rid of Horcruxes." said Ron simply.
Harry's eyes dropped to the objects clutched in Ron and Hermione's arms, great curved fangs, torn, he now realized, from the skull of a dead basilisk.
"But how did you get in there?" he asked, staring from the fangs to Ron. "You need to speak Parseltongue!"
"He did!" whispered Hermione. "Show him, Ron!"
Ron made a horrible strangled hissing noise.
"It's what you did to open the locket." he told Harry apologetically. "I had to have a few goes to get it right, but..." he shrugged modestly. "We got there in the end."
"Hermione, Harry, Ron." A voice called out to them and they turned to see Y/n heading towards them. "Did you manage to destroy it?"
"Y/n!" Hermione called back to him. "We did it!"
Y/n caught up to them now. "F...Fantastic." He said slightly out of breath. "I tried to hold Voldemort back for as long as I could, but he intervened quicker than I anticipated him to. He must have sensed what happened in the chamber and exploded with rage. Well done you two." He nodded to Hermione and Ron.
"Where have you been then if you just got here?" Ron asked.
"I have been holding off the Death Eaters from entering the castle grounds for a while, a few have...perished. But this is a war, the taking of lives is now inevitable." Y/n said but Hermione could sense he still was not overly happy about it.
"So..." started Harry who was struggling to keep up. "So..."
"So we're another Horcrux down." said Ron, and from under his jacket he pulled the mangled remains of Hufflepuff's cup. "I let Hermione stab it. Thought she should seeing as you got the Diary and I broke the locket, she and Y/n haven't had the pleasure yet."
"As long as we can destroy them all it does not matter who does the deed, But with another Horcrux down this should put Voldemort on the backfoot. Especially if we are to locate the one he is supposed to have hidden in the castle." Y/n said then turned to Harry. "How is your search coming along in that regard?"
As he asked, there was an explosion from overhead. All four of them looked up as dust fell from the ceiling and they heard a distant scream.
"I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is." said Harry, talking fast. "He hid it exactly where I hid my old Potions book, where everyone's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on."
As the walls trembled again, he led the other three back through the concealed entrance and down the staircase into the Room of Requirement. It was empty except for three women. Ginny, Tonks, and an elderly witch wearing a moth-eaten hat, whom Y/n recognized immediately as Neville's grandmother.
Y/n was not pleased to see Tonks here tonight. Already having one parent of his godson present was bad enough, but for them both to be here?"
"Ah, Potter." Neville's grandmother said crisply as if she had been waiting for Harry. "You can tell us what's going on."
"Is everyone okay?" said Ginny and Tonks together.
"As far as we know." said Harry. "Are there still people in the passage to the Hog's Head?"
He knew that the room would not be able to transform while there were still users inside it.
"I was the last to come through." said Mrs. Longbottom. "I sealed it, I think it unwise to leave it open now Aberforth has left his pub. Have you seen my grandson?"
"He's fighting." said Harry.
"Naturally." said the old lady proudly. "Excuse me, I must go and assist him."
With surprising speed she trotted off toward the stone steps.
Y/n looked at Tonks now. "You are supposed to be staying safe with Teddy and your mother..." He said.
"I couldn't stand not knowing..." Tonks looked anguished. "She'll look after him... have you seen Remus?"
"He was planning to lead a group of fighters into the grounds..."
Without another word, Tonks sped off.
"Ginny." said Harry, "I'm sorry, but we need you to leave too. Just for a bit. Then you can come back in."
Ginny looked simply delighted to leave her sanctuary.
"And then you can come back in!" he shouted after her as she ran up the steps after Tonks. "You've got to come back in!"
"Ginny is a talented witch. She will be okay." Y/n said putting his hands on Harry and Ron's shoulders in an attempt to ease their worries.
"Right..." Harry said. "Come on let's get out of here first."
It was clear, as the four of them stepped back into the corridor upstairs, that in the minutes that they had spent in the Room of Requirement the situation within the castle had deteriorated severely. The walls and ceiling were shaking worse than ever, dust filled the air, and through the nearest window, Y/n saw bursts of green and red light so close to the foot of the castle that he knew the Death Eaters must be very near to entering the castle. Looking down, Harry looked himself to see Grawp the giant meandering past, swinging what looked like a stone gargoyle torn from the roof and roaring his displeasure.
"Let's hope he steps on some of them!" said Ron as more screams echoed from close by.
"As long as it's not any of our lot!" said a voice. Harry turned and saw Ginny and Tonks, both with their wands drawn at the next window, which was missing several panes. Even as he watched, Ginny sent a well-aimed jinx into a crowd of fighters below.
"Good girl!" roared a figure running through the dust toward them, and Harry saw Aberforth again, his gray hair flying as he led a small group of students past. "They look like they might be breaching the north battlements, they've brought giants of their own!"
"That will be troublesome." Y/n sighed.
"Have you seen Remus?" Tonks called after Aberforth now.
"He was dueling Dolohov." shouted Aberforth. "Haven't seen him since!"
"Tonks." said Ginny. "Tonks, I'm sure he's okay..."
But Tonks had run off into the dust after Aberforth.
"I am going after them." Y/n said quickly. "You three go on and look for the Diadem, you do not need me for that. I trust in you all." Y/n said getting ready to chase after Tonks but he felt someone grab his arm.
He turned to see it was Hermione.
"Hermione I have got to..." He started.
"I know." She told him.
Y/n took hold of Hermione now as he held her close against him. "Stay safe." He said leaving a kiss on top of her head, and with that, he let go, sprinting down the corridor to catch up with Tonks.
"Meet us back here!" Harry called out him, unsure if heard him not as he was now out of sight.
Ginny turned, helpless, to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"They'll be all right." said Hermione now still watching where Y/n had been moments ago. "Y/n will be there with them. He will keep them safe."
"Ginny, we'll be back in a moment, just keep out of the way, keep safe..." Harry told her. "Come on!" he said to Ron and Hermione now, and they ran back to the stretch of wall beyond which the Room of Requirement was waiting to do the bidding of the next entrant.
Y/n had caught sight of Tonks up ahead. "Tonks!" He called her name.
"Don't try and stop me from going after my husband Y/n!" Tonks warned him.
"As if I would be brave enough to try!" Y/n called back as he caught up to her. "They should be in the grounds, come on!" he then told her and lead the way.
As they were running Tonks noticed that Y/n was matching her pace. "Go on ahead! You are much faster than me!" She told him and Y/n nodded running faster leaving her behind.
When he reached the grounds he could see Lupin, who was already engaged in a duel with another Death Eater that had him on the back foot.
Y/n quickly drew his wand just as Lupin had his feet thrown out from under him and his wand fell out of his hand.
Y/n's eyes widened as he saw the Death Eater point their wand at the downed Lupin with a malicious grin on his face, and without thinking Y/n cast.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The Death Eater quickly turned their head only to see a flash of green light before they dropped to the floor dead.
Y/n stood there in slight shock but then he quickly remembered McGonagall's words to earlier.
'We duel to the death...'
This was a war. Their enemies would not show them the same mercy. He had already killed several wizards earlier with the use of Protego Diabolica. This was no different and it had saved someone's life.
"You filthy little blood traitor!" Y/n heard a voice cry and quickly he moved to avoid a curse that came flying his way.
Y/n looked up to see that it was none other than Bellatrix.
He could feel his muscles ache in response as he remembered the torture he had suffered at her hands just recently.
But things were different now, he was not wandless and he did not have to worry about the others safety. He quickly went on the offensive, now firing any curse, jinx or hex he could think of at Bellatrix, giving her no time to think as she snarled and was pushed on the back foot.
Y/n felt two pairs of footsteps on either side of him now and he could tell it was Tonks and Lupin who must have been helped back up by her.
"You have undoubtedly saved my life but let us take over from here. The others will need you in the castle." Lupin told him.
Y/n was reluctant but nodded as he let Lupin and Tonks take over.
"Do not let her get on the offensive that is where she excels and is most dangerous! Keep her on the defense with whatever you have got and stay alive...both of you!" Y/n said as he then started to run back towards the castle.
'I need the place where everything is hidden.' Harry begged of it inside his head, and the door materialized on their third run past.
The furor of the battle died the moment they crossed the threshold and closed the door behind them. All was silent. They were in a place the size of a cathedral with the appearance of a city, its towering walls built of objects hidden by thousands of long-gone students.
"And he never realized anyone could get in?" said Ron, his voice echoing in the silence.
"He thought he was the only one." said Harry. "Too bad for him I've had to hide stuff in my time...this way." he added, "I think it's down here."
He passed the stuffed troll and the Vanishing Cabinet Draco Malfoy had mended last year with such disastrous consequences, then hesitated, looking up and down aisles of junk, he could not remember where to go next...
"Accio Diadem!" cried Hermione in desperation, but nothing flew through the air toward them. It seemed that, like the vault at Gringotts, the room would not yield its hidden objects that easily.
"Let's split up." Harry told the other two. "Look for a stone bust of an old man wearing a wig and a tiara! It's standing on a cupboard and it's definitely somewhere near here."
The three sped off up adjacent aisles, Harry could hear the others' footsteps echoing through the towering piles of junk, of bottles, hats, crates, chairs, books, weapons, broomsticks, bats...
"Somewhere near here." Harry muttered to himself. "Somewhere...somewhere..."
Deeper and deeper into the labyrinth he went, looking for objects he recognized from his one previous trip into the room. His breath was loud in his ears, and then his very soul seemed to shiver. There it was, right ahead, the blistered old cupboard in which he had hidden his old Potions book, and on top of it, the pockmarked stone warlock wearing a dusty old wig and what looked like an ancient, discolored tiara.
He had already stretched out his hand, though he remained ten feet away, when a voice behind him said. "Hold it, Potter."
He skidded to a halt and turned around. Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him, shoulder to shoulder, wands pointing right at Harry. Through the small space between their jeering faces he saw Draco Malfoy.
"That's my wand you're holding, Potter." said Malfoy, pointing his own through the gap between Crabbe and Goyle.
"Not anymore." panted Harry, tightening his grip on the hawthorn wand. "Winners, keepers, Malfoy. Who's lent you theirs?"
"My mother." said Draco.
Harry laughed, though there was nothing very humorous about the situation. He could not hear Ron or Hermione anymore. They seemed to have run out of earshot, searching for the diadem.
"So how come you three aren't with Voldemort?" asked Harry.
"We're gonna be rewarded." said Crabbe. His voice was surprisingly soft for such an enormous person. Harry had hardly ever heard him speak before. Crabbe was smiling like a small child promised a large bag of sweets. "We 'ung back, Potter. On the edge of 'em flames Grindelwald cast, his folks didn't look pleased by em...Once the flames were out, sneaking back in was easy, we can do Diss-lusion Charms now! We decided to bring you to 'im. We wanted Grindelwald too but guess he's done a bunk...probably heard Atticus and his parents are looking for im."
"Good plan." said Harry in mock admiration. He could not believe that he was this close, and was going to be thwarted by Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. He began edging slowly backward toward the place where the Horcrux sat lopsided upon the bust. If he could just get his hands on it before the fight broke out...
"So how did you get in here?" he asked, trying to distract them.
"I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year." said Malfoy, his voice brittle. "I know how to get in."
"We was hiding in the corridor outside." grunted Goyle. "And then." his face split into a gormless grin. "You turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a die-dum! What's a die-dum?"
"Harry?" Ron's voice echoed suddenly from the other side of the wall to Harry's right. "Are you talking to someone?"
With a whiplike movement, Crabbe pointed his wand at the fifty-foot mountain of old furniture, of broken trunks, of old books and robes and unidentifiable junk, and shouted. "Descendo!"
The wall began to totter, then the top third crumbled into the aisle next door where Ron stood.
"Ron!" Harry bellowed, as somewhere out of sight Hermione screamed, and Harry heard innumerable objects crashing to the floor on the other side of the destabilized wall. He pointed his wand at the rampart and cried. "Finite!" and it steadied.
"No!" shouted Malfoy, staying Crabbe's arm as the latter made to repeat his spell. "If you wreck the room you might bury this diadem thing!"
"What's that matter?" said Crabbe, tugging himself free. "It's Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?"
"Potter came in here to get it." said Malfoy with ill-disguised impatience at the slow-wittedness of his colleagues. "So that must mean..."
"'Must mean'?" Crabbe turned on Malfoy with undisguised ferocity. "Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You an' your dad are finished."
"Harry?" shouted Ron again, from the other side of the junk wall. "What's going on!?"
"Harry?" mimicked Crabbe. "What's going... no, Potter! Crucio!"
Harry had lunged for the tiara, Crabbe's curse missed him but hit the stone bust, which flew into the air, the diadem soared upward and then dropped out of sight in the mass of objects on which the bust had rested.
"STOP!" Malfoy shouted at Crabbe, his voice echoing through the enormous room. "The Dark Lord wants him alive..."
"So? I'm not killing him, am I?" yelled Crabbe, throwing off Malfoy's restraining arm. "But if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff..."
A jet of scarlet light shot past Harry by inches, Hermione had run around the corner behind him and sent a Stunning Spell straight at Crabbe's head. It only missed because Malfoy pulled him out of the way.
"It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!"
Harry saw Hermione dive aside, and his fury that Crabbe had aimed to kill wiped all else from his mind. For once he was glad Y/n had split off from them as he shot a Stunning Spell back at Crabbe, who lurched out of the way, knocking Malfoy's wand out of his hand, it rolled out of sight beneath a mountain of broken furniture and boxes.
"Don't kill him! DON'T KILL HIM!" Malfoy yelled at Crabbe and Goyle, who were both aiming at Harry: Their split second's hesitation was all Harry needed.
"Expelliarmus!"
Goyle's wand flew out of his hand and disappeared into the bulwark of objects beside him, Goyle leapt foolishly on the spot, trying to retrieve it. Malfoy jumped out of range of Hermione's second Stunning Spell, and Ron, appearing suddenly at the end of the aisle, shot a full Body-Bind Curse at Crabbe, which narrowly missed.
Crabbe wheeled around and screamed "Avada Kedavra!" again. Ron leapt out of sight to avoid the jet of green light. The wandless Malfoy cowered behind a three-legged wardrobe as Hermione charged toward them, hitting Goyle with a Stunning Spell.
"You are lucky my husband is not here!" She cried furriously.
"It's somewhere here!" Harry yelled at her, pointing at the pile of junk into which the old tiara had fallen. "Look for it while I go and help R..."
"HARRY!" she screamed.
A roaring, billowing noise behind him gave him a moment's warning. He turned and saw both Ron and Crabbe running as hard as they could up the aisle toward them.
"Like it hot, scum?" roared Crabbe as he ran.
But he seemed to have no control over what he had done. Flames of abnormal size were pursuing them, licking up the sides of the junk bulwarks, which were crumbling to soot at their touch.
"Aguamenti!" Harry bawled, but the jet of water that soared from the tip of his wand evaporated in the air.
"RUN!"
Malfoy grabbed the Stunned Goyle and dragged him along, Crabbe outstripped all of them, now looking terrified. Harry, Ron, and Hermione pelted along in his wake, and the fire pursued them. It was not normal fire, Crabbe had used a curse of which Harry had no knowledge. As they turned a corner the flames chased them as though they were alive, sentient, intent upon killing them. Now the fire was mutating, forming a gigantic pack of fiery beasts. Flaming serpents, chimaeras, and dragons rose and fell and rose again, and the detritus of centuries on which they were feeding was thrown up in the air into their fanged mouths, tossed high on clawed feet, before being consumed by the inferno.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had vanished from view. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stopped dead, the fiery monsters were circling them, drawing closer and closer, claws and horns and tails lashed, and the heat was solid as a wall around them.
"What can we do?" Hermione screamed over the deafening roars of the fire. "What can we do?"
"Here!"
Harry seized a pair of heavy-looking broomsticks from the nearest pile of junk and threw one to Ron, who pulled Hermione onto it behind him. Harry swung his leg over the second broom and, with hard kicks to the ground, they soared up into the air, missing by feet the horned beak of a flaming raptor that snapped its jaws at them. The smoke and heat were becoming overwhelming. Below them the cursed fire was consuming the contraband of generations of hunted students, the guilty outcomes of a thousand banned experiments, the secrets of the countless souls who had sought refuge in the room. Harry could not see a trace of Malfoy, Crabbe, or Goyle anywhere. He swooped as low as he dared over the marauding monsters of flame to try to find them, but there was nothing but fire. What a terrible way to die...He had never wanted this...
"Harry, let's get out, let's get out!" bellowed Ron, though it was impossible to see where the door was through the black smoke.
And then Harry heard a thin, piteous human scream from amidst the terrible commotion, the thunder of devouring flame.
"It's... too...dangerous!" Ron yelled, but Harry wheeled in the air. His glasses giving his eyes some small protection from the smoke, he raked the firestorm below, seeking a sign of life, a limb or a face that was not yet charred like wood...
And he saw them, Malfoy with his arms around the unconscious Goyle, the pair of them perched on a fragile tower of charred desks, and Harry dived. Malfoy saw him coming and raised one arm, but even as Harry grasped it he knew at once that it was no good. Goyle was too heavy and Malfoy's hand, covered in sweat, slid instantly out of Harry's.
"IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I'LL KILL YOU, HARRY!" roared Ron's voice, and, as a great flaming chimaera bore down upon them, he and Hermione dragged Goyle onto their broom and rose, rolling and pitching, into the air once more as Malfoy clambered up behind Harry.
"The door, get to the door, the door!" screamed Malfoy in Harry's ear, and Harry sped up, following Ron, Hermione, and Goyle through the billowing black smoke, hardly able to breathe, and all around them the last few objects unburned by the devouring flames were flung into the air, as the creatures of the cursed fire cast them high in celebration. Cups and shields, a sparkling necklace, and an old, discolored tiara...
"What are you doing, what are you doing, the door's that way!" screamed Malfoy, but Harry made a hairpin swerve and dived. The diadem seemed to fall in slow motion, turning and glittering as it dropped toward the maw of a yawning serpent, and then he had it, caught it around his wrist!
Harry swerved again as the serpent lunged at him, he soared upward and straight toward the place where, he prayed, the door stood open. Ron, Hermione, and Goyle had vanished. Malfoy was screaming and holding Harry so tightly it hurt. Then, through the smoke, Harry saw a rectangular patch on the wall and steered the broom at it, and moments later clean air filled his lungs and they collided with the wall in the corridor beyond.
Malfoy fell off the broom and lay facedown, gasping, coughing, and retching. Harry rolled over and sat up. The door to the Room of Requirement had vanished, and Ron and Hermione sat panting on the floor beside Goyle, who was still unconscious.
"C-Crabbe." choked Malfoy as soon as he could speak. "C-Crabbe..."
"He's dead." said Ron harshly.
"You are lucky not to be dead yourselves..." A voice said and all five raised their heads to see someone approaching them with his wand drawn.
Malfoy quickly moved to take out their wands before remembering it had been lost to the fire.
Y/n reached them now as Malfoy retreated on the floor till their back was against the wall.
"You must realize that I have every right and justification to kill you both right now?" Y/n said to as he pointed his wand at Malfoy who looked panicked.
The other three watched Y/n silently, They were all within their own right to kill both boys in defense of their attempt to kill them just minutes prior. But would Y/n really kill them like this?
Y/n stared down at them for a few more moments before finally deciding to speak.
"You will stay here and you stay out of the battle from now on, or I will not hesitate to kill you, is that understood?" he asked them.
But when Malfoy didn't reply adequately, Y/n repeated louder with fury in his voice. "I said... IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"
Malfoy nodded their head vigorously now and Y/n reluctantly lowered his wand.
"Now that is sorted I will only ask you this once. Where are Atticus, Ivan and Priscilla Grindelwald?" Y/n asked determined to find them.
"I...I don't know." Malfoy said.
Y/n did not like his answer but he could tell that Malfoy, as cowardly as he was, was telling the truth.
There was silence now. Then a number of huge bangs shook the castle, and a great cavalcade of transparent figures galloped past on horses, their heads screaming with bloodlust under their arms. Harry staggered to his feet now when the Headless Hunt had passed by them and looked around. The battle was still going on all around him. He could hear more screams than those of the retreating ghosts. Panic flared within him.
"Where's Ginny?" he said sharply. "She was here. She was supposed to be going back into the Room of Requirement."
"Blimey, d'you reckon it'll still work after that fire?" asked Ron, but he too got to his feet, rubbing his chest and looking left and right. "Shall we split up and look..."
"No." said Hermione, as Y/n helped her back to her feet too. Malfoy and Goyle remained hopelessly on the corridor floor, neither of them had wands. "Let's stick together. I say we go... Harry, what's that on your arm?"
"What? Oh yeah..." Harry pulled the diadem from his wrist and held it up. It was still hot, blackened with soot, but as he looked at it closely he was just able to make out the tiny words etched upon it. WIT BEYOND MEASURE IS MAN'S GREATEST TREASURE.
"I found it as we were escaping." He said handing it out to Y/n who looked down at it in confusion. "Come on Y/n, we've all destroyed one but you."
Y/n took hold of the Diadem now and looked down at it for a moment. Once he destroyed this there was just the snake left...they might just be able to survive this.
"Here mate." Ron said as he took out a Basilisk fang he had taken earlier.
Y/n looked at the fang and took it in his other hand. Then, crouching down, he placed the diadem on the floor.
The other three backed up slightly and Y/n raised his hand above his head and without hesitation he brought it down upon the Diadem, piercing it as a bloodlike substance, dark and tarry, quickly began leaking from it. Y/n and the others watched as it suddenly vibrated violently, then broke apart on the floor, and as it did so, Y/n thought he heard the faintest, most distant scream of pain, echoing not from the grounds or the castle, but from the thing that had just fragmented on the ground.
"I can't believe he used Fiendfyre..." whimpered Hermione now, her eyes on the broken pieces.
"Sorry?" Harry said.
"Fiendfyre...It is called cursed fire." Y/n told Harry and Ron. "It is one of the few substances that can destroy Horcruxes, but it was too dangerous for us to use and certainly would have caught attention if we had used it. Let Crabbe's stupidity be a lesson on why you should not use such cursed spells."
"But how did Crabbe know how to..." Hermione posed the question.
"Must've learned from the Carrows." said Harry grimly.
"Shame he wasn't concentrating when they mentioned how to stop it, really." said Ron, whose hair, like Hermione's, was singed, and whose face was blackened. "If he hadn't tried to kill us all, I'd be quite sorry he was dead."
"But don't you realize?" whispered Hermione. "This means, if we can just get the snake..."
But she broke off as yells and shouts and the unmistakable noises of dueling filled the corridor. Y/n looked around and his heart seemed to jump into gear, Death Eaters had penetrated Hogwarts. Fred and Percy had just backed into view, both of them dueling masked and hooded men.
Y/n ran forwards to help them as Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed behind him. Jets of light flew in every direction and Y/n drew his wand to cast a spell of his own as the man dueling Percy backed off, fast. Then his hood slipped and they saw a high forehead and streaked hair.
"Hello, Minister!" bellowed Percy, sending a neat jinx of his own straight at Thicknesse, who dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes, apparently in awful discomfort. "Did I mention I'm resigning?"
"You're joking, Perce!" shouted Fred as the Death Eater he was battling collapsed under the weight of three separate Stunning Spells. Thicknesse had fallen to the ground with tiny spikes erupting all over him, he seemed to be turning into some form of sea urchin. Fred looked at Percy with glee.
"You actually are joking, Perce...I don't think I've heard you joke since you were..."
But Fred never got to finish his sentence as he felt something hook into the collar of his shirt and pull him backward just as the air exploded.
They had been grouped together, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and Percy, the two Death Eaters at their feet, one Stunned, the other Transfigured and in that fragment of a moment, when danger seemed temporarily at bay, the world was rent apart. Y/n, who had cast towards Fred then grabbed Hermione pulling her close to him. He felt himself and her flying through the air, and all he could do was hold onto her and his wand as tightly as possible. He heard the screams and yells of his companions without a hope of knowing what had happened to them...
And then the world resolved itself into pain and semidarkness. He and Hermione were half buried in the wreckage of a corridor that had been subjected to a terrible attack. Cold air told him that the side of the castle had been blown away, and hot stickiness on his forehead told him that he was bleeding from it.
"Are you okay?" Y/n asked Hermione and he just felt her head nod slowly. Thank goodness she was alright.
Y/n slowly let go of her now as he moved onto his front and struggled up to his feet. Right now his body just wanted to rest, but it was far too early for that. He had to make sure the others were alright.
"Is anyone hurt?" He called out quickly.
"Just a cut here." Harry groaned and Y/n looked to the side as Harry sat up with a deep cut on his cheek.
He heard Ron groan as two redheads slowly sat up themselves now.
Ron rubbed dust out of his eyes as Percy fixed his glasses, then both seemed to quickly remember something.
"Fred..." They uttered and quickly looked around to look for their brother.
Hermione sat up and looked up to see Y/n offering his hand to her. Hermione took it and helped herself up. She had certainly been through quite the ordeal already. Her hair and clothes were singed by fire and dust from the castle walls made them both even dirtier. But Y/n didn't care, no matter what state Hermione looked to be in he would love her with all his heart.
"FRED!" They heard Ron cry out and both took one another's hands as they staggered over stone and wood with Harry to reach Ron and Percy who were crouched down by Fred's side.
"Is he..." Harry couldn't finish his sentence it was all to awful...
But then Fred groaned as his eyes slowly opened. "What happened..." He asked.
"He's alive!" Ron cried and grabbed Fred in a hug that even Percy joined in on causing Fred to groan with pain.
"Most love you've shown me in years Perce..." Fred tried to joke but sounded tired.
"Shut up you idiot. You could have died!" Percy told him.
"What?" Fred said looking a little dazed for once. "All I remember was something pulling at me just as the wall exploded. Then everything went dark."
"That was me..." Y/n quietly admitted and the Weasleys all looked up at him. "I used a summoning charm on your clothes Fred to pull you backward. I am sorry for the roughness but I had no time."
Y/n expected Fred to make a joke about him using a summoning charm on his clothes, but the joke never came.
"I was closet to the wall..." Fred said pointing to a spot that was heavily covered in debris taking in how close a call it had been. "I think you just saved my life Y/n..."