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« on: November 28, 2010, 09:57:58 PM » |
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written by Karolina Avalon
Chapter 29 – The Lost Diadem
Harry, Hermione and Ron find their way back to Neville, who is ecstatic to see them alive, although they are distressed by his appearance. They quickly let each other know what’s been going on (Ron tells Neville that the dragon has been released to the wild) and Neville lets them know the state of Hogwarts- and the reign of terror of the Carrows (two death eaters). The three heroes listen in horror as Neville tells them of how drastically classes have changed . Reaching Hogwarts, they enter an unfamiliar room to find a cheering crowd inside. The three heroes are ecstatic to see all their old friends. Hammocks are strung from floor to ceiling, and the room is embellished with Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw colors and symbols; only Slytherin is missing. They are all hiding in the room of requirement, and Dumbledore’s Army have been using it as their hideout for weeks. Seamus tells Harryb that it is secure. The only thing it is unable to provide is food. When Neville was really hungry, the tunnel leading to the Hog’s Head opened, and Aberforth has been sending supplies ever since.
Everyone wants to know about the Harry, Hermione and Ron’s adventures. They have been listening to "Potterwatch" on the radio, but there are many unconfirmed rumors. Before Harry can respond, searing pain cuts through his scar as he briefly glimpses an angry dark lord discovering that the Ring Horcrux is missing. Everyone wants to help the tree, believing Harry has returned to overthrow the Carrows and Snape. Harry explains they are only there to complete a task to help to destroy Voldemort, and insists everyone stay behind. He becomes agitated when more people pour in from the Hog's Head. Luna, along with Fred, George, Ginny , Dean , Lee Jordon and Cho Chang climb through. Ron quietly says the others can help; they do not know what they are looking for, where it is, and there is little time. They do not have to reveal that it is a Horcrux. Hermione agrees. Harry concedes and says they are looking for something belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw and Luna suggests it could be the lost diadem, which is a type of crown. Luna leads Harry, with the assistance of the invisibility cloak, to the Ravenclaw Common room and shows him Rowena Ravenclaw's statue, so that Harry can see the shape of what he is likely searching for. As Harry steps out from under the Cloak to read a tiny inscription etched on the marble diadem, Alecto Carrow appears and instantly touches the Dark Mark on her forearm.
Chapter 30: The Sacking of Severus Snape
Pain explodes in Harry's scar, and he finds himself on a rocky outcrop under a cliff. A loud crack brings him back to himself as Luna stuns Alecto Carrow. The noise awakens the Ravenclaw students, and Harry dives back under the Invisibility Cloak with Luna. Students begin milling about, unnerved by the unconscious teacher. Amycus is heard ordering Professor McGonagall to fetch Professor Flitwick, but then tells her to open the door. Inside, they find the unconscious Alecto. McGonagall is surprised when Amycus says Harry Potter may be there and that the Dark Lord had warned them that he might attempt to break into Ravenclaw Tower. Amycus, fearing Voldemort's wrath if Harry escapes, says he will pass off the alert as a school prank and punish a few students. When McGonagall argues against any student being punished for the Carrows' ineptitude, he threatens her and spits in her face. Harry steps out and slams Amycus with a Cruciatus curse. The surprised McGonagall thanks Harry for his brave effort but urges him to flee the castle quickly. He refuses, saying there is something he must do. He asks if she knows where the Diadem is, but according to McGonagall it has been lost for centuries. Harry is at a loss; the Diadem was his most likely candidate for the final Horcrux, and nobody knows where it is. Amycus revives, and McGonagall uses the Imperius curse to relieve him of his wand, then casts a spell binding him to his still unconscious sister. Harry updates Professor McGonagall about what is happening and that he must find something hidden in Hogwarts before Voldemort and his followers arrive.
Harry and Luna hide under the Invisibility Cloak as McGonagall casts three cat Patronuses to summon the other Heads of House. As they head off, they run into Snape, who had sensed Alecto's communication with Voldemort. He asks McGonagall if she has seen the Carrows while continually darting his eyes about, perhaps suspecting Harry is there. When Snape asks what brought her out of bed, McGonagall claims she heard a disturbance. When Snape inquires if she has seen Harry, McGonagall is evasive, then slashes her wand. Snape, quicker, deflects the spell with a Shield Charm. They duel fiercely, magic so quick that Harry has never seen the like. Professors Flitwick and Sprout come running to McGonagall's aid with a huffing Slughorn lagging behind. Outnumbered, Snape dashes into a deserted classroom where a loud crash is heard. Pursuing, McGonagall screams, "Coward!" Uncloaked, Harry and Luna rush inside, startling the other professors. Snape has leaped out the window. Harry, looking out, thinks he must be dead, but McGonagall bitterly comments that, unlike Dumbledore, Snape had his wand and has learned a few tricks from "You-Know-Who". Harry sees a large, bat-like figure soaring across the school grounds. When Slughorn finally enters, McGonagall informs him that Snape is taking a leave of absence. Harry slides into Voldemort's mind again - he is headed for the school.
McGonagall orders the House Heads to send their students to the Great Hall. She tells Slughorn the time has come for Slytherin to choose sides. The professors set defensive charms and spells around Hogwarts to fend off Voldemort. Harry asks Flitwick if he might know where Ravenclaw's Diadem is, but is told no one in living memory has seen it. McGonagall enchants the school's statues and suits of armour to help defend the castle and orders Filch, who is ranting that students are out of bed, to summon Peeves the Poltergeist.
When Harry and Luna return to the Room of Requirement, Harry is shocked and dismayed that even more people have arrived. Fred says they alerted Dumbledore's Army, and they in turn summoned the Order of the Phoenix. The younger students are being evacuated, and the rest will be fighting. Most head to the Great Hall, leaving behind only Lupin and the Weasleys, who are arguing with Ginny who also wants to fight. Percy suddenly arrives. Fleur, attempting to defuse the icy situation, asks Lupin about little Teddy. Percy loudly apologizes for being a deluded idiot and Ministry pawn; his family immediately forgives him. Looking around, Harry asks where Ron and Hermione are. Ginny, who has been ordered to stay inside the room during the battle, says they left to attend to something having to do with a bathroom, leaving Harry puzzled. His scar sears again, and he is gazing at Hogwarts through huge iron gates. Nagini is draped around his shoulders. Voldemort has arrived.
Chapter 31: The battle for Hogwarts
The enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall is dark with twinkling stars; the tables below are filled with students in dressing gowns or traveling cloaks. Every Hogwarts being, living or dead, is listening to Professor McGonagall giving instructions from the raised platform at the end of the room. Harry anxiously searches the room for Ron and Hermione, Voldemort's loud commanding voice, seemingly from nowhere, states that the only way to save the school is for Harry Potter to surrender by midnight. The members of Slytherin move to obey Voldemort’s wishes, but are apprehended by Professor McGonagall and the other houses. McGonagall urges Harry to search of the Horcrux
Harry races through the hallways, lost without Ron and Hermione. Glancing at the Marauder's Map, Harry is unable to locate their names. A thought occurs to him: Voldemort had warned the Carrows that Harry would attempt to enter Ravenclaw Tower. This convinces Harry that the Horcrux must be linked to that House, and so must be the Diadem, but he wonders how Voldemort found an object lost centuries ago. He has a sudden brainwave. Everyone says the Diadem has not been seen in living memory. This could mean Ghosts. Harry finds Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor Ghost, and asks who the Ravenclaw Ghost is. Nick, somewhat affronted at not being asked to help directly, sends him to the Grey Lady. She reluctantly tells Harry that in life she was Rowena Ravenclaw’s daughter, Helena. Jealous of her mother's fame, she stole the Diadem and ran away. She hid it in a hollow tree in an Albanian forest. On her deathbed, her mother sent a Baron who was in love with Helena to find her, but she spurned him and refused to return. He became violent and fatally stabbed her, then killed himself in remorse-the Bloody Baron. Remembering that Voldemort spent his exile in Albania, Harry asks the Gray Lady if she shared her story with anyone else. She sadly admits she once told a student who had seemed so charming and understanding. Harry mutters that she is not the first person Tom Riddle manipulated, and surmises he found the Diadem and created a Horcrux from it. He later hid it at Hogwarts in a place he believed no one else knew existed.
Harry runs into Hagrid, As they run through the halls, casualties are already appearing. A shattered stone gargoyle reminds Harry of the Ravenclaw statue at the Lovegood house. Harry suddenly realizes where the Diadem is—it is the same "battered tiara" that he had used to mark where he hid his Potions book in the Room of Requirement. He finally finds Ron and Hermione, who are carrying dirty, yellow, curved objects. Hermione says Ron had the brilliant idea to open the Chamber of Secrets and retrieve Basilisk fangs that can destroy Horcruxes. Ron shows him the mangled Cup Horcrux that he insisted Hermione destroy. Harry is amazed but wonders how they were able to open the Chamber without knowing Parseltongue. Ron says he remembered what Harry spoke when he opened the Locket Horcrux, although he had to make several attempts before it worked. Harry tells them about the Diadem.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione race to the Room of Requirement through the escalating battle. Harry asks Ginny to step into the corridor, but orders her to come back inside later. When Ron says he wants to warn the House-elves, Hermione flings herself into Ron's arms, kissing him. He kisses her back. Harry has them step outside so the room can be changed, then thinks hard to himself: I need the place where everything is hidden. After the third run along the corridor, an entrance appears. Inside the large labyrinthine room, they search separately for the stone bust with the Diadem. Harry spots it but is stopped by Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. A fierce duel erupts; a stray curse knocks the Diadem into a refuse pile, and both Hermione and Ron are nearly hit by Crabbe's killing curses, although Draco yells at him to leave Harry alive for the Dark Lord. In the confusion, Malfoy drops his borrowed wand, Harry disarms Goyle, and Crabbe unleashes an uncontrollable fire, setting the room ablaze. Crabbe is lost amongst the flames, but the Trio escapes unscathed on broomsticks that Harry finds. They save Malfoy and Goyle as they fly from the room. Harry, seeing the Diadem being tossed about by the fire, grabs it, only then making a direct flight path for the door.
Outside, they collapse on the hallway floor. As Harry looks, bemused, at the Diadem in his hands, it emits a thin shriek and falls apart. Hermione guesses that Crabbe must have conjured Fiendfyre, one of the few things that can destroy a Horcrux.
Shouts and noises fill the hall; Death Eaters have penetrated the castle. Suddenly, Percy and Fred appear, dueling two Death Eaters in the hallway; one is Pius Thicknesse. The wall is blasted open from the outside, and Fred is killed in the explosion.
Chapter 32: The Elder Wand
There is no time to mourn Fred’s passing. As curses fly overhead, Harry, Ron, and Hermione dive to the floor while Percy covers Fred’s body with his own to protect it. Ron tries pulling Percy away, but he refuses to budge. Hermione screams, and turning, Harry sees a giant spider, crawling through the hole blown through the castle's outer wall. Harry and Ron simultaneously blast the spider. Peering out the hole, Harry sees more spiders climbing up the wall and fires stunning spells at them. Pushing Hermione and Ron on ahead, Harry stoops to lift Fred's body. Percy releases his protective grip and helps him hide it in a wall niche. Harry takes off after Ron and Hermione down the corridor. People are running everywhere, and Percy spots Rookwood and runs after.
Hermione says they need to know where Voldemort and Nagini are. Harry also wants to fight but allows himself to slip inside Voldemort’s mind where he sees a shabby, but familiar room. Voldemort is thinking about the Diadem and the place only he knows exists. A battered Lucius Malfoy is present, asking about Draco, but Voldemort tells him if his son is dead, it is Draco's own fault for failing to join him like the other Slytherins. Lucius urges him to cease the battle so the Dark Lord can be certain to kill Potter himself, but Voldemort ignores him, knowing it is only an attempt to protect Draco. Voldemort orders Lucius to fetch Snape, and as he waits, he speaks to Nagini, who is suspended in a protective floating sphere. Harry snaps back into his own thoughts and tells the others that Voldemort is in the Shrieking Shack. Hermione is astounded that Voldemort is not fighting, but Harry says Voldemort knows his Horcruxes are being sought, and he is waiting for Harry to come to him.
After some disagreement over who should go to the Shrieking Shack, and dodging Death Eater curses, the Trio throw on the Invisibility Cloak and weave their way through the battle. On the upper landing, they run past Draco Malfoy, who is pleading with a Death Eater that he is on their side; Harry stuns the Death Eater as Ron punches Draco in the face. Below, Fenrir Greyback, appearing to Harry as a blurry, four-legged gray animal as he rushes past, is about to bite Lavender Brown. Hermione's curse hurls him against the staircase, and a crystal ball crashing onto his head knocks him out. Professor Trelawney, leaning over the railing, threatens to lob more. The entryway doors burst open and the spiders force their way in. As all the fighters shoot curses at them, Hagrid charges down the stairs yelling, "Don't hurt 'em, don't hurt 'em!" As Hagrid disappears into the spider throng, Harry dashes out from under the Cloak chasing after him. His path is blocked by a massive, hairy leg belonging to a twenty-foot Giant. When Grawp appears calling for Hagrid, it launches itself at him, and the two wrestle.Harry, Hermione and Ron rush to the forest, but at its edge, a hundred Dementors glide towards them. Hermione calls out to cast Patronuses, but Harry is too overcome by despaire to cast one, while Ron and Hermione's Patronuses quickly flicker out. Suddenly, three other Patronuses soar past as Luna, Ernie, and Seamus come running from the darkness. Luna encourages Harry to think of something happy, and with enormous effort, Harry casts his Patronus. The silver stag bursts from his wand, scattering the Dementors. As another giant lurches towards them, Harry shouts to Ron and Hermione to head for the Shrieking Shack.
At the Whomping Willow, the three friends crawl through the tunnel leading to the Shack. In the Shack, Snape is talking with Voldemort, offering to find the boy so Voldemort can kill him himself. Voldemort declines, saying he ordered his Death Eaters to capture him alive. He complains that the Elder Wand fails to perform the extraordinary magic he thought was possible. Snape, nervous, again offers to find Harry Potter, but Voldemort responds that he expects the boy to come to him. Voldemort says Snape has been a valuable servant and regrets what he must do, believing that when Snape killed Dumbledore, Snape won the wand's allegiance. Unfortunately, Snape must die so Voldemort can become the Elder Wand's true master. With no remorse, Voldemort sets Nagini on Snape, ordering her to kill. When Voldemort and Nagini leave, Harry and the others rush to Snape's side. Silvery-blue wisps stream from his mouth, ears, and eyes. Snape, barely alive, tells Harry, "Take . . . it . . . Take . . . it." A crystal flask appears in mid air, and Hermione thrusts it into Harry's hands. Harry gathers the drifting strands with his wand, putting them into the container. Snape asks Harry to look at him, and, as he stares into Harry's green eyes, Snape's life fades.
Questions
How has Neville changed from his first year at Hogwarts?
Why do you think Harry is reluctant to turn to his friends for help?
Why do you think McGonagall states that Slytherin must choose a side?
Did the history of the diadem and horcrux surprise you?
Why does Snape tell Harry to look at him as he dies?
What do you think the ramifications of Snape’s death are going to be, if any?
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