The Corridors

I smiled at Luna. She'd probably gotten it too. "A fish," I answered. The door opened graciously, and we entered the Ravenclaw Common Room...

The door opened and I walked in the dorm, following Cho.

Luna's excitement fed into my own as we slipped out into the halls. "I think they will and maybe so," I said with a laugh. That was probably the first genuine laugh I'd had this year. That was a good sign. At least my friends would keep safe from falling into a bottomless pit of eerie sadness. "I doubt that even if Snape had gotten to him he'd keep him locked up somewhere as a prisoner." We walked through the halls a bit faster than usual, with a purpose in our steps. I heard footsteps behind us and froze. For a second all I could hear was my heart beat, and I didn't dare glance back. Luna seemed to have felt my panic because she stopped to look back at me. I went rigid as a hand was placed on my shoulder roughly. I wanted to close my eyes.

I froze as I saw who it was. Rough characteristics, square shaped face, as if the Knight's Bus had crashed against him, a fat ugly nose that covered a big part of his face. And he didn't make any effort to hide the dark mark on the inside of his wrist. It just was there, black and exposed for us to see. I even thought that this was done on purpose, to scare us more.

"Where are you two going?" he asked. It sounded more like a bark than anything else.

"We were heading to the Great Hall to have breakfast," I said calmly, trying to see if there were any Narggles floating around his head. I'd really appreciate it if they'd come and make his brain all fuzzy right now.

Cho gulped, still terrified and I had the feeling that it was pretty wise of me to talk. Maybe in her panic she'd give away that we were intending to make a stop in the Room of Requirement.

"This is not the way to the Great Hall," he said suspiciously.

"Yes, indeed, we were heading to the Gryffindor tower to meet with a friend of ours. We'd go all together for breakfast." I felt really happy the words didn't stick on the tip of my tongue like I was afraid they would.

"Hmmm. Go downstairs. What's that student's name? If I see her I will tell her you were looking for her." His voice STILL sounded like a bark.

"Johnson. Angelica Johnson," I said. "Can we go now?"

He nodded and the thought that he looked remarkably alike to Pimplies crossed my mind. "Go. Go."

We practically started running until we took a sharp turn and we were out of the deatheater's view.

"Angelica isn't at the school anymore. She graduated," Cho reminded me.

"I know. Did you want us to give the name of some student that could actually get in trouble, Cho?"

"Good thinking," I said as we down the stairs almost at the Great Hall. "Do you think we'll be able to sneak into the Room of Requirement after breakfast?"

"Probably... That guy looked a little slow... If it were someone sharper I'd say that he may be patrolling around the seventh floor but... um... Maybe we could. And just to have our alibi ready, in case we get caught, we have astronomy and were heading to the astronomy tower, okay?" I asked as I pushed the Great Hall's door open.

I nodded. "Sounds good." We walked into the Great Hall.

We hurried to get through the corridors and used the passage behind the astronomer with the victorian era clothes to get from the first floor's staircase to the seventh. The seventh floor always confused me slightly so I was glad that Cho took the lead, or I would have made us run a couple of rounds on the floor before getting us at the entrance of the Room of Requirement. I paced up and down, thinking how desperately we wanted to get in the room and find Harry and Hermione. After three times of going up and down the door made its appearance and with a small click, opened. We were finally in.

I took a sigh of relief as the door appeared. I made my way over to it, took a quick glance behind my self to make sure no one else was watching, and pushed the door open. I stepped in with hesitance and held it for Luna to come in as well.

I slid into the corridor outside the Room of Requirement carefully, closing it behind me. I took a deep breath. I looked both ways, I noticed Amber, Cho and Luna at the end of the corridor to my right, so I headed the other direction, not wanting to cause any problems for them. I walked slowly, and lightly not wanting to make much sound, I spotted someone up ahead, but I couldn't quite tell who they were, there was a hood covering most of their face. That's odd I thought, holding my wand steady ready for anything, well, anything I could handle. I noticed the hood fall back, and saw flaming red hair, it was too long to be Ron's so that left one possibility. "Ginny!" I whispered, as soon as I was close enough that she could hear me, her head turned, and I grabbed her arm and walked into an empty classroom.

Ginny: I gasped as I heard a voice, one I recognized, whisper my name, and then I felt myself being dragged into the classroom next to me. I turned around as the door closed, and saw Hermione standing there with Harry's invisibility cloak next to her. "Hermione! What's going on?" I asked.

I shook my head. "Too much to explain. Listen though, have you seen your brother? Ron?" I asked hopefully.

Ginny: "No, I was hoping you or Harry had seen him." I shook my head. "The school is swarming with deatheaters though,"

I nodded. "We assumed that, will you keep on a lookout for Ron, and be careful, please? They're looking for Harry, I have to get going, I'll see you later," I told her, putting the cloak back on, and hurrying on my way. I stood against the wall when a group of three deatheaters walked past me quickly, as if they were late for something. I noticed none of them was Malfoy, I sighed, and kept walking the other direction. Almost immediately after turning the corner I spotted Malfoy ahead of me, walking down the stairs, also looking as if he was in a hurry. I took a deep breath, and put the muffling charm on myself, so I wouldn't make too much noise, then I followed.

I pulled Cho's hand and motioned for Amber to follow us too. We had to get to DADA class... A terrifying thought crossed my mind again. Oh god... who was going to teach us this year? Snape again?! We. Are. Dead.

"Cho what class do you have now?" I asked her quietly. "And Amber? What about you?" Before they could answer a flame colored head caught my eye. "It's Ginny! Wait, I have to get her, she has the same class with me! Will you wait for me for a second?"

Draco: I felt the sudden, intense pain on my right forearm, and immediately began to head for the front doors of this blasted school. I descended the stairs of the Astronomy Tower, where I had been only moments before. I walked through a maze of hallways before I came to the hallway that contained the secret passageway that I intended to use.

"Sure," I said to Luna. I leaned back against the wall smiling at Amber while Luna ran after Ginny.

I ran towards Ginny. She looked a little worried, it must have been for her brother. Or maybe Harry. They were together after all.

"Ginny?" I called and approached her. "We have DADA together. Thought you'd like it better if you didn't have to walk to class alone."

"Hey Luna. Yes, absolutely. The place has nothing but Deatheaters!"

We returned to where Cho and Amber were standing. Ginny greeted them and we rushed to get to the third floor, to our classroom.

I shook my head, reminding myself this had to be done. I walked forward, and muttered the transfiguration charm under my breath, normally I might have enjoyed the look of terror on Draco's face, but now there wasn't time. I grabbed the pillow he had turned into, and headed to the common room, where I slipped in after a first-year I didn't recognize. I kept the cloak on, not wanting to risk anything, and headed to both boys and girls dormitories, taking the things I would need, then I hurried back to the Room of Requirement.

I followed briskly behind Luna and Ginny with Amber. We reached the door to our next class when a though struck me odd. We hadn't passed any Death Eaters. I shook the thought away thinking I must be analyzing things too much because I was worried.

I opened the door to the Room of Requirement and walked out, pocketing Malfoy's wand as I did so. I shut the door behind me, and almost immediately it disappeared. It was as if the room knew what we needed. "Good luck," I whispered to thin air.

"Thank you, good luck to you too," I nodded, walking into the door that appeared.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Marauders Map. Quickly saying "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," I opened the map and saw that Voldemort was in the Great Hall. After making the map blank, I turned and began walking toward the Great Hall.

I ran down the last flight of stairs and came to a sudden halt as I saw Bellatrix standing in front of me.

Lupin: "The Great Hall. It seems like all of the students are being taken to their common rooms," I noted as I walked out of the common room and saw Ravenclaw students being taken to their common room by a Death Eater. I descended the stairs, and turned to take a shortcut. So that the others knew what I was doing, I left a faint trail of sparks from my wand, which would only be noticed by someone who was looking for them. After a few minutes, we emerged from behind a statue, successfully next to the doors of the Great Hall. I saw Snape taking the Slytherins down to the dungeons. I looked into the partially opened door to the Great Hall and saw that it was completely empty. Out of habit of being visible, when I saw Draco Malfoy and Bellatrix talking. They quickly walked out the front doors of the school, so there was nothing to worry about. I turned and whispered to nothing in particular, but talking to everyone, "Now what?"

Tonks: I followed Remus carefully, slowly and quietly. As soon as he began emitting sparks from the end of his wand, that made things easier. I looked around the school, it seemed so... empty. "Genius idea with the sparks there." I noted, grinning, when we finally reached the Great Hall. "Should we help free the students? Well. I suppose Ginny's doing that," I nodded, thinking. "We could follow my lovely aunt and cousin on their excursion to the grounds?" I suggested, not sure that was the best idea. "Er..... I don't really know," I shrugged, wondering why all the others weren't giving their opinions.

Lupin: "Hm. Yes, let's follow them." I smiled at the idea.

Bellatrix: I had been talking to Draco about where we needed to be and trying to find out why he hadn't come. "You're acting odd today Draco," and I was just about the inquire again about why he hadn't responded to the Dark Lord's call when I figured it'd be best to get a move on. I shook my head at him. "Sometimes I cannot understand you! Let's just go..." I started off toward the Forbidden Forest.

Cho: I walked out of the classroom with Luna and Amber. I waved to Amber as she ran to get to the Gryfinddor Common Room and then started running myself with Luna to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Tonks: "Right," I nodded, watching as both Draco and Bellatrix left the school, before starting after them.