Neville was pacing the room of requirement nervously. Seamus sat in a stiff chair, tapping his foot nervously. Ernie and Susan were by the door, talking in whispers. Ginny sat behind the table strewn with maps and notes, but unlike her friends she did not feel nervous or worried. She was excited. Finally, they were going to do something to help win this war. All they needed was this last piece of information to finish their plan, and Ginny had no doubt that Hannah would get it for them. Hannah might be refusing to talk, but Ginny knew that the girl was as determined as she was to do something useful – for her family.
The door opened and everyone around her held their breaths. Ginny leaned forward. It was Luna. She skipped in cheerfully, her left hand bleeding. Neville, glad for something to do, led her to a chair and began cleaning her wound. It was almost midnight before Hannah finally arrived. Susan and Neville led her gently to the table. Ginny, wondering when those two would succeed in making her talk again, pushed a fresh piece of parchment and a quill towards her.
Hannah picked up the quill immediately and began to draw a floor plan of Snape’s office and the surrounding hallways. Ginny squinted down at it. She wished Dean were here – he would have been able to draw a much more legible map. This was going to be hard to decipher, especially with Hannah still not talking.
When she was finished, the Hufflepuff girl stared down at her work, looking displeased.
“It’s great, Hannah,” Neville said earnestly. “This is just what we needed.”
Hannah shook her head. She took out her wand and waved it at the parchment. Some of the lines became clearer, but she still looked dissatisfied. Finally, she stowed her wand and placed both palms on the drawing, closing her eyes as if to remember an incantation – or maybe to remember what Snape’s office looked like?
Ginny gasped at the sudden transformation that came over the map. It was almost as if Hannah had taken her memory of the place and transferred it directly onto the page. It was more than a floor plan or a map now; it was a detailed drawing showing every last nook and cranny of Snape’s office and the surrounding hallways.
Looking up at the faces of her friends, Ginny saw shock and a little bit of nervous fear reflected back at her from their eyes. They had never seen anyone perform magic this impressive, especially without a wand. She grinned at the Hufflepuff girl. With this, they could get that sword for sure. Now the only thing left was to figure out the Carrows’ and Filch’s patrol schedules and figure out when Snape would be out of his office… or figure out a way to get him out of there.
“Didn’t Harry have a map that showed the people inside the castle?” Luna said suddenly.
“Yeah,” Ginny said, thinking that it would have made their lives much easier, “But they took it with them.”
“Well,” said Luna, “that’s a little selfish. The map can’t be any use to them wherever they are, but it would be very useful to us.” Ginny studied Hannah’s map without saying anything, but in her mind she agreed with Luna. She would love to think that Harry had a good reason for not giving them the Map, but there was no excuse. He was either so selfish he didn’t want anyone else to have it or he was thoughtless and hadn’t even considered what they would be going through here with Snape and the Carrows in charge.
It took them a week to work out the patrol schedules and decide who was going to do what. Even then, Ernie seemed unhappy with it, reminding them all that there was a considerable risk of getting caught. Finally, Ginny snapped at him, reminding him that he was going to be on guard in the hallway right next to the Room of Requirement with Seamus so there was no chance that he would be caught.
Ernie huffed a little, but he still joined Seamus in wishing them all good luck as they left. The boys took positions on either side of the seventh floor corridor, their wands grasped tightly in their hands as they began to pace. Susan gave them one last wave and closed the door of the room of requirement, returning to her task of tending the tiny first years they had rescued earlier that night.
Ginny led the way down to Snape’s office, followed closely by Neville, Hannah, and Luna. When they reached the corridor leading to the Headmaster’s office Luna smiled and took up position behind a large statue. Hannah took the lead now, walking determinedly up to the gargoyle. Ginny had noticed that Hannah’s confidence had been increasing with each injured student they helped and each new plan and excursion the DA took. That was not to mention her power, which had been surprising them all since the beginning of the year.
Hannah stowed her wand and brought both of her hands up so they faced the gargoyle. He was making angry comments about where students should and shouldn’t be at this time of night. She did not mutter an incantation, but her hands moved in a graceful dance-like motion. The gargoyle stopped abruptly and stepped aside to let them pass. As they passed him, Ginny noticed that he was an inert stone statue now. Hannah looked tired as she walked down to the other end of the hallway and slipped behind a piece of armor.
…
Blaise rolled up his potions essay and looked up at Theo, who had finished an hour ago and was reading a book. Blaise suspected that Theo was watching the group of Ravenclaws at the next table. The two bullies they had seen the other day were among them.
“Let’s go, then,” he said, packing his books and stretching his tired arms as he stood.
“I think we should take another stroll tonight,” Theo said, rubbing his forearm. “If we don’t come up with some type of information soon…”he left the thought hanging between them. Draco hadn’t been seen or heard of at Hogwarts and Pansy’s increasing troubles in the Carrows’ classes and in the Slytherin common room could only be a result of her father’s blunders among the Death Eaters.
Blaise nodded in agreement and cast a disillusionment charm on both of them. The familiar cold chill crept down his spine. They patrolled the corridor near the Hufflepuff Common room first, but they only saw an annoyed Zacharias Smith on his way back from the Quidditch pitch.
He refused to proceed until they were out of the hallway.
“We could say we’re keeping an eye on him because he’s acting suspicious,” Blaise suggested.
Theo shook his head, “We’d have to say why we suspected him and then we’d have to give reports about it and everything. He’ll see right through it.”
Blaise nodded, but Theo continued.
“He already knows about the Abbott girl. We wouldn’t really be telling him anything new, or putting her in any more danger than she’s already in, but we’d be proving that we’re useful. No one knows I overheard the Carrows’ conversation with Snape about her and no one will… I’m alright at Occlumency.”
Blaise sighed, “We haven’t got anything else, if we don’t find anything this week that’ll have to be it.”
They continued fruitlessly searching the hallways for something they could report to the Dark Lord. Walking always cleared Blaise’s mind and sharpened his senses. So he heard them creeping noisily up the hallways before Theo’s head turned. The boys slipped into a darkened alcove and waited for the prowlers to pass them by. It was Longbottom, the Weasley girl, Loony Lovegood, and another girl in a hood. The hooded girl looked a little like Hannah Abbott, but Blaise couldn’t be sure, in this light.
Blaise and Theo followed them noiselessly all the way up to the Headmaster’s corridor. Blaise watched in a kind of horrified awe as the four of them marched up the hallway. Loony Lovegood hid behind a statue to keep guard and the others moved further down the corridor and out of sight. Theo made to follow, but Blaise put out a hand to hold him back.
He could sense a familiar and chilling magic about in this hallway and a movement near the large windows caught his eye. He was aware of Theo’s breathing near his left ear as he struggled to figure out what the spell was. Just as he was reaching for his wand he realized what it was. The four idiots had just walked right into a hallway with a powerful tracking charm on it. Wherever Snape was, he would know that someone had just arrived here and, if Blaise’s feeling was right, he would know exactly how many intruders there were.
“The bloody idiots never checked for any enchantments – there’s a tracking charm on the corridor, and probably something more.”
Theo shook his head. “I didn’t notice it at first either, and they probably don’t have much experience with that sort of enchantment.”
“This is perfect,” Blaise breathed, “Where would Snape be at this time?”
“Probably in the Forest,” Nott said.
Both of them leapt into action simultaneously. It was too perfect an opportunity to miss. Not only were the other students up to something important, but Snape already knew, so Blaise and Theo’s testimony would only have one effect: to make them look like good, loyal spies.
Blaise could not recall ever running so quickly, but he knew that it was not quick enough. Theo thought of it before him, raising his wand arm and yelling, “Accio Broom!” as he ran down the main steps. Blaise copied him, following the spell with a quick “Lumos!” to illuminate the ground at his feet.
The brooms caught up to them as they approached the Quidditch Pitch. Both boys mounted them quickly and then Blaise said, “Fly high so you can spot him if I miss him, I’m going in!”
Theo flew up until he was much higher than the trees.
Blaise heard him cast a revealing charm before his own broom picked up speed and he went hurtling into the forest. He zoomed through the trees, almost bumping into a low branch in a particularly dark section of forest, but he managed to get to a familiar clearing and cover a large part of the forest without injury. Finally, Blaise remembered a useful spell that could turn his wand into a compass. He slowed down and took a deep breath, combining the spell with a revealing spell. It wasn’t exactly spectacular, but he hoped that it would do.
He had to fly much slower in order to note and react to the small adjustments in the wand’s direction. The slower pace reminded Blaise of how tired he was, it had been a long time since he’d tried to fly this quickly. He finally caught up to Snape just at the edge of the Forest.
“Professor!” Blaise called, speeding up to come alongside Snape. The Headmaster was already on his way back to the castle and, from his hurried footsteps, it was clear that he already knew. “Professor, Nott and I have something urgent to tell you.”
Theo had now seen them emerge from the edge of the forest and he dived and came to a stop before Snape. “I think you’d better take one of our brooms, Sir,” he suggested, dismounting from his own broom.
Blaise brought his broom to a standstill, but continued to explain as Snape accepted Theo’s offered broom.
“Longbottom and a couple of other students are trying to break into your office sir. We noticed them behaving suspiciously earlier, whispering and talking, a Ravenclaw girl was at the Gryffindor table this evening at dinner and so we decided to follow them and sure enough tonight we saw them heading for your office. We came as quickly as we could.”
Snape mounted Theo’s broom and nodded curtly to the boys. “Excellent work, boys, the Dark Lord shall hear of this.”
He sped off towards his window.
Blaise dismounted and walked back slowly beside Theo, wondering what punishment Longbottom’s gang would receive when they were caught, because they would be caught.
…
They were under a disillusionment charm when Severus came hurtling through the window, but he knew they were there. He cast a quick revealing spell before he was even inside his office and then followed it up with a quick stunner, aiming his wand first at the Weasley girl.
Longbottom, as always, was slower to react, so Severus still caught him by surprise when he sent the second stunner at him.
He crept into the hallway more slowly now, knowing that there had been two other intruders. He knew that the Carrows would also have been alerted by now – if they were hopeless they were at least clever enough to have set Filch to spy for them – and he wasn’t going to let them be the ones to catch the students.
Once in the hallway he noted that there were two students on either end of the hall, hidden from anyone approaching the office, but quite visible from where he was standing. A commotion told him that someone was coming from the north side of the castle so he turned to the south side and caught Lovegood with a freezing charm before she noticed his presence.
Turning, he saw the Carrows corner a girl in a heavy hooded cloak. He did not recognize her at first, but when she raised her hands and, without her wand, sent both of them sprawling, he knew it could be no other than Hannah Abbott. She sent another wave of her powerful magic at them and then flew down the hall.
Filch had joined the chase now, but Severus knew that Abbott’s brand of magic was draining, especially for the inexperienced. Filch might have a chance of catching her, unless there were more little friends nearby to help her.
He revived the Carrows and gave them one of his most intimidating glares. “How is it,” he said in a cool, but threatening voice, “that I managed to single-handedly catch three students when I had to come in all the way from the ground while the pair of you put together only succeeded in injuring yourselves and allowing her to slip away?”
Amycus was busy rubbing a sore forehead, but Alecto opened her mouth in protest. Severus lifted a silencing hand and ordered them to patrol the hallway while he dealt with the intruders.
“We’re in charge of all punishment, Snape!” Amycus growled.
“The last time I checked I was headmaster of this school. You are in charge of punishment because I allowed it, but when it comes to students breaking into my office, when you fail so miserably in your duties to patrol the corridors, then I will handle it.”
Amycus opened his mouth to protest again, but Snape turned from him with one last remark. “If you are unhappy with this, I suggest you take it up with the Dark Lord. Meanwhile, I suggest you ensure that no one, including yourselves, enters my office again tonight.”
It was only when he levitated Lovegood past the gargoyle that Severus realized it was completely stunned. Severus amended his earlier thought; Filch stood absolutely no chance of catching the Abbott girl if she was capable of this.
…
Hannah ran, as fast as her legs could carry her in the direction of the room of requirement. She was growing tired and slow. Filch’s wheezing was growing closer by the second. It would only be a matter of minutes before he was right over her shoulder. Rounding into the corridor, she saw the two burly Slytherins that used to hang around Malfoy approach Seamus and Ernie from both sides. They weren’t very smart, but they had absolutely no morals when it came to the spells they used and the places they aimed them.
Seamus and Ernie were forced to retreat into the doorway and Hannah watched her safe haven disappear into solid stone. She backed away as slowly as she could, but one of the Slytherins spotted her and she was running again, every particle in her body aching for her to stop.
She knew that there was no more magic left in her tonight. It had taken too much effort to charm that gargoyle and then get past the Carrows and she wasn’t in the best shape for running even on good days. She would have to trick them.
There was an alcove near the stairs that she might be able to hide in and then she could turn back and make her way to the Hufflepuff Common room.
Sure enough, they did not see her in the alcove. They were halfway down the first flight of stairs before she began to run in the other direction. She had acted too soon. She heard a yell from behind her and the chase was on again.
She made it down to the right floor, but her feet collapsed underneath her and she turned awkwardly to face her pursuers. The last thing on her mind as she saw them approach was Snape or the Carrows. One of these boys was the one who had Imperiused Pansy Parkinson in their Dark Arts class – and Pansy was a Slytherin.
Hannah took a deep breath and pulled out her wand. A tripping jinx brought one of them down, but the scary one – Goyle – was still coming closer. She pulled herself to a stand, taking deep, desperate gulps of air and trying to dredge up another spell from her aching bones.
“Expelliarmus!” a familiar voice said from behind. “Impedimenta! Stupefy!”
And then strong hands brought her to her feet and half carried her to the Hufflepuff common room. She was so drained now she could barely see, but she recognized Zacharias Smith’s voice when he said the password.
He set her down on the most comfortable armchair near the fire and shooed the last couple of sixth years away, muttering dire threats at their retreating backs as they went to their dormitories. Conjuring a very warm blanket to cover her with, Zacharias sunk into another armchair and wiped his whole face with his hands in the way he did when he was nervous or excited.
“Thank you, Zach.” Hannah whispered softly.
