Hogwarts

'Bloody hell,' Harry thought, exasperated.

He would probably do just anything to get out of the room. It was unsettling how time flies so fast.

At one point, they were in Hog's Head with Abe- or otherwise known as Aberforth Dumbledore, Professor Dumbledore's brother- and now, they were in the Room of Requirement. It turned out that there was a secret passage behind the portrait of the youngest- and deceased- Dumbledore, Arianna, right there in Hog's Head leading to the Room of Requirement. It was a joyful surprise to see Neville Longbottom who had come to collect them via Arianna Dumbledore while they were still conversing with Abe.

It turned out that before Harry called for Dobby at Malfoy Mansion, the elf had been staying with Abe, helping the Hogwarts students- feeding them and taking care of the wounds they received from the twins Alecto and Amycus Carrow who took great pleasure in "reforming" the students who revolted against the current Headmaster, Severus Snape. Obviously, these students come from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. The number of Slytherin students who suffered from the Death Eater twins could only be counted with a single hand.

Now here he was, in the middle of the Room of Requirement, in the arms of someone who is most certainly not his girlfriend. The redhead's grip around his neck was rather suffocating. He couldn't get out of the embrace. It was like being stuck in the clutches of a nightmare with no way of waking up. She felt like a serpent with her coils around him, trapping him.

And that's not even the worst part.

He could see his girlfriend a few feet across them, nostrils flared, fists clenched and eyes narrowed dangerously, sporting a death glare towards the redhead who had her arms around him although he wasn't entirely sure who she was mad at- him for not resisting or the youngest Weasley who, out of nowhere, lunged at him and wrapped her limbs around him. Jokingly, he thought that if his witch glared any harder, they would both spontaneously combust into flames. She was actually poised to stomp towards them, probably to break them up, but she was stopped by Ron who whispered something in her ear and she replied through gritted teeth. Throughout the exchange, her eyes never strayed from the pair at the center of the room.

Finally, as if eternity had passed, they broke away from each other- or more specifically, Ginny had let go of him.

"I'm so glad you're back, Harry," she said cheerfully. She looked like she had gone through hell and back... all of the students in the room were. Harry's gut clenched guiltily at the thought of them suffering for his sake. Nevertheless, Ginny's wounds didn't deter her from happiness at the sight of him.

He gave her a wry grin. "Er... I'm glad to be back, too."

At this point, she had leaned in towards him, clearly intending to kiss him, and he could see Hermione from the corner of his eye making her way towards them regardless of Ron's pleas to not cause a scene. But as Ginny's lips were about to reach his, he dodged and they landed on his cheek instead. Meanwhile, Hermione had caught up to them and grabbed his arm, pulling him a few inches away from Ginny and towards her, shielding him with her body from the redhead in front of them.

The redhead noticed this, of course, and scowled at the older witch. "Do you mind? Harry and I were in the middle of something," she said icily.

Hermione glared back and stepped forward but was stopped by Harry's arm around her waist. She deflated a little at this although her glare towards Ginny didn't waver. Ginny took note of this as well and her scowl deepened.

"Ginny..." Ron warned from behind them, his hand on his sister's arm.

Ginny reared away from him furiously. "Don't touch me, Ron!"

"Ginny! That's enough! Don't cause a scene," Harry said.

"Me?! Miss Perfect, here, started it!" Ginny replied incredulously.

"Ginny!" Harry and Ron both roared. "Can we please do this another time?! There are more important things at hand right now," Harry continued.

Though the four of them- and the audience scattered around the room- were still tense, they backed down and the two ladies stepped away from each other.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I just found it hard to stand by and watch while she was all over you," Hermione said to Harry softly so only he heard her.

Harry gave her a squeeze and let go of her waist. "It's alright. You actually saved me back there," Harry replied, chuckling slightly.

Hermione smiled at him and took hold of his hand, intertwining their fingers. Ginny, who was being reprimanded by her brother a few meters away, saw this and once again glared menacingly at Hermione. The latter only smirked at her and stepped closer to Harry, staking her claim.

Harry guiltily admitted to himself that he rather liked the exchange from earlier. What guy wouldn't be happy when two women were fighting over him? But more than that... he rather liked Hermione's possessive demeanor when it came to him. It meant that she was taking their relationship seriously and considered him as hers. Harry liked to think she was his as well. He knew if he was in Hermione's shoes, he would have done something worse like beating up or cursing the bloody bastard who dared to touch her.

It was a welcome reprieve when Neville came over to them with Parvati most of the members of Dumbledore's Army- a private group they established in their fifth year with the intention of learning how to protect themselves and others as well as actively opposing the Dark Lord's agenda- and a handful of other students in tow. Obviously, the group wanted an explanation as to how they came to Hogwarts, where they had been, and what they have been doing. Harry and Hermione both knew they don't have enough time to explain everything to them as the clock was ticking and they still have a job to do.

"I'm really sorry but we can't explain everything to you in time. We're here for a reason, actually. A very important reason," Hermione said.

Neville nodded and smiled. "Does this reason involve ousting Death Eaters in place? If it will lead to that, I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say we all want in."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. "Well... come to think of it, we can't actually achieve what we came here for if they are around. What do you think?" Harry whispered in Hermione's ear.

Hermione nodded in agreement. "I guess that is one way to do it. We're on borrowed time here. Those Death Eaters at Hogsmeade have probably already reported to Snape about us so they'll be looking for us."

Harry sighed, rubbing his forehead. It was going to be a long day.

...

It turned out Hermione was, indeed, right. Snape had cast a spell addressing all the students at Hogwarts to gather in the Great Hall. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Luna managed to blend into the crowd of students, especially as the DA surrounded them, hiding them from plain sight. Anyone who would turn to look their way would only see a group of students huddling together.

Snape had called for the mandatory meeting to either bate Harry into turning himself in, threaten the students into turning him in, or both. He had launched into one of his bland tirades, his eyes scanning the Great Hall for the unwanted guests. Before he could do anything drastic, however, Harry revealed himself to everyone and exposed what really happened the night of Professor Dumbledore's death and of Snape's role in the culmination of that fateful event.

At that point, Professor McGonagall had stepped in and with the help of the other professors and the DA, drove the Death Eaters into fleeing from Hogwarts.

Harry approached his friends. "We need to find that diadem now. It won't be long before they arrive. I've already asked the professors to fortify the castle. Hermione, you have the sword, right?"

Hermione held up her beaded bag.

"Alright. Luna, do you have any idea on how we're going to do this?"

Luna thought for a while, the dreamy look in her eyes disappearing for the moment. "We could visit the Grey Lady."

"You mean the ghost of Ravenclaw?" Hermione intervened.

"Yes. Her real name is Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw. We are familiar with each other as she is the one I always go to when I had no friends."

Ron wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze. When she turned to look at him, he smiled sympathetically at her. She smiled back though hers was tinged with a little sadness.

Turning back to Harry and Hermione who had similar, sympathetic expressions, she said, "It's alright. It's all in the past. Now, let's go."

And with that, she walked ahead of them while they followed. They never noticed a pair of eyes glaring towards their direction- specifically on a brunette whose hand was interlaced with the scarred man beside her.