Chapter 25 – The Plans Unfold
It seemed like an eternity before the bell sounded to end classes for the day. Draco gathered his books from Advanced Charms and headed down the corridors to the Grand Staircase. Once he reached the Entrance Hall he exited the front door and ran off toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest to wait for the others. They had agreed to meet, well out of sight from the other students, to discuss their ideas for vacating the castle unnoticed. After several minutes of watching the giant squid stretch its many legs out of the water, Draco glanced up to see Hermione approaching. She had a bag full of books slung over her shoulder. Draco felt his eyes beginning to narrow and he worked hard to stop the expression.
“Hey.” It was the most polite word he could muster.
Hermione was making a much better effort. “Hey. Have you seen the others yet?”
Draco shook his head no. “You’re the first one out of the castle.”
“Second,” she said.
“What?” Why was he always so confused when he talked to her?
“I’m the second one out of the castle. You were the first.” She gave a half smile and Draco finally realized that she was purposefully being a nuisance about it to lighten the mood. He resisted the urge to smile in return, but was at least courteous enough to avoid giving her a good lashing over her remark.
Pansy was the third to arrive, followed by Ron and Harry and then Blaise not long after. Draco thought it best to hurry and start the conversation before their discomfort settled in.
“So…has anyone come up with a brilliant idea as to how we get six people out of the castle unnoticed?”
All five shook their heads no in answer.
“Bollocks! How in bloody hell are we going to make this work?” He ran a hand through the back of his hair again, trying not to get too lost in the thought of when Ginny used to run her fingers through it. “We couldn’t be any worse off if we were paralyzed from the waist down.”
“Better than a slap in the face with a wet kipper!” Blaise’s attempt at humor didn’t get the affect he was looking for. Hermione gave him a soft smile before they lost sight of her behind the pages of a book.
Minutes passed and Draco noticed students beginning to file out of the castle doors from dinner. They needed to hurry, but not one of them had a single suggestion and Draco was beginning to become nauseous from the lack of ideas.
“No one has any thoughts at all? Professor Snape was right…we’re a bunch of dunderheads. I never imagined you to be speechless, Granger - you and your collection of bloody books.”
A moment of silence followed before Ron’s eyes grew wide as though he’d had a revelation. He stared over at Hermione as she hid her face deeper behind her book, clearly sensing the impending conversation.
“Hermione--“
“No! I refuse, Ronald.” Her voice mumbled from behind the book.
“But it’s the only way – and it’s not as if we aren’t breaking a rule anyway by sneaking out of the castle to begin with.”
“I don’t care about that. It’s mine and I say no.” She refused to give in.
Draco had absolutely no clue where this conversation was heading but he suddenly felt the need to give Weasley some help. “Why is everyone so hesitant to do the right thing, here?” He lowered his voice. “Ginny has been kidnapped by Voldemort! I have no idea what Weasley here is on about but whatever it is can obviously help us all sneak out of the castle tonight. Granger, do you really want to be the one who stands in our way?”
There was another moment of silence before Hermione gradually lowered her book, a defeated expression upon her face and she slowly shook her head no. She directed her attention to Ron and gave a long sigh. “All right, we can use it. BUT…I need to clean it out first.”
Ron smiled at Hermione. “Excellent! Hermione you won’t regret it. I knew that trunk would come into more use than just storing books.”
Pansy gave a questioning look at Ron. “Trunk?”
Hermione sighed as Ron continued to explain. “Hermione’s trunk is bewitched. It could probably hold the whole of seventh year students, but she uses it to keep every last book, parchment and note she’s ever had.” He was grinning at Hermione as her face flushed red from embarrassment.
Draco didn’t find it embarrassing at all for this was exactly what they needed. “That’s brilliant! So all of us can fit into it and…wait.” He furrowed his brow. “What good’s it going to do us? Who is strong enough to carry it by the time we all squeeze in?”
“Ah, see – that’s where I come in,” said Harry. “Once everyone is inside, I’ll levitate it and throw the cloak over myself and the trunk. All I’ll need to do is keep it concealed under the cloak while guiding it down to the statue of the One-eyed, hump-backed witch. The passageway into Hogsmeade is behind the statue. Once we’re in there we can file out of the trunk, head down the passageway and that will bring us right underneath Honeydukes. From there we’ll Apparate to the Manor.” He thought for a second. “Can all of us Apparate legally now?”
“Yes,” said Blaise.
“Yeah,” said Draco.
“A week ago Thursday,” said Pansy.
Harry beamed at the response. “Brilliant! That saves us a lot of work, then.”
Draco was annoyed by Harry’s sudden display of leadership and spoke with a bit of an edge to his voice. “Well, shall we decide where we’re going to meet tonight, then?” He tried hard to curb the animosity toward his nemesis while keeping a steady head about the whole thing. However, he desperately wanted nothing more than to curse him into next week.
A veil of tension seemed to fall over the group in response to Draco’s sharp tone. Hermione was the first to speak up, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
“What about in the trophy room at midnight? It’s the closest to the statue of the One-eyed witch and no one ever goes in there after hours.” She looked around at everyone as the group nodded their heads in approval. “Harry, I’ll bring my trunk to the boys’ dormitory before I take my post. You can leave the Common Room wearing your cloak and quietly guide my trunk along underneath it so that no one will wonder. Since the rest of us are Prefects it will be more excusable for us to be roaming the corridors. We can then immediately go to the trophy room from our posts so that no one will suspect anything. That way, by the time they notice that we haven’t returned to our dormitories we’ll already be in Hogsmeade.”
“Sounds like a fine plan,” said Blaise. “However, you’ve overlooked one problem.”
“What’s that?” Hermione questioned him.
“I’m not a Prefect.” Blaise looked slightly hurt that Hermione had missed this and Draco couldn’t blame him…considering the conversation they’d had about Granger earlier that morning.
“Oh, right.” Hermione blushed slightly. She appeared to be thinking quickly. “I’ve got it! The Prefects’ Bathroom.”
“Er…what?” Blaise seemed confused.
“My post is on the fifth floor tonight. Draco or Ron can give you the password to the male Prefects’ bathroom on the fifth floor and you can hide in there. Better yet, one of them can check the bathroom to make sure it’s vacant and then take you in there. If it’s anything like the girls’ bathroom, there will be a broom closet inside that you can hide in. You can stay in there until it’s time to meet and then walk with me down to the third floor to the trophy room. If we meet anyone along the way I can say that I caught you out of bed and I’m making sure you’re heading back to your dormitory.”
Draco and Ron silently agreed to Hermione’s suggestion but Pansy, who had been relatively quiet up until now, spoke up rather haughtily. “Why should you be the one to have to find him and take him back? I’m a Prefect too, you know.”
“Right,” said Hermione. “But everyone knows you two are together and that won’t look good, either. My idea is more convincing.”
Pansy narrowed her eyes at Hermione but said nothing - realizing that, deep down, Hermione was right.
“So do we all agree, then?” Draco wanted this meeting over with so that they could finish the rest of the day and get the plan underway. Once he received satisfied expressions from the group he stood up from the patch of grass he’d been sitting on. “Right, then…the trophy room at midnight it is.”
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Nadella’s silent footsteps tiptoed down a stone staircase leading to a tiny dungeon about the size of a large broom closet. She quietly turned the knob and entered cautiously, sweat beading up on her forehead as she did so. Her feeble hands knocked the cobwebs from her path as she crossed over to a long, broad shelf that held only a trunk. A trunk with the initials “G.W.” on the lid.
Her fingers made a soft gesture in front of the lock as the word “Alohomora” quietly escaped her lips. She carefully lifted the lid and sifted through the contents until she produced a thin piece of wood, just over a foot in length. Nadella carefully tucked Ginny’s wand into her robe and began to close the lid, but suddenly caught glimpse of a small gleaming object. She reached her hand into the trunk again and withdrew a small silver badge with an “S” and a serpent engraved upon it. Her eyes grew wide as she fingered the metal, an idea formulating in her head. She laid the badge inside her robe next to the wand and swiftly departed the room.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Voldemort approached the section of the manor where his faithful servants resided and carefully materialized through the door of Nadella’s room. Finding no trace of her, he hastily sifted through a few of her things…obviously hell bent on finding something of particular importance. After moments of turning up empty handed he retreated back to the corridor and approached a large fireplace. Throwing a fist of powder into it, he called for Wormtail to appear.
“Wormtail!” Voldemort’s furious tone was heard echoing through the halls. “Wormtail, I will see you immediately!”
Wormtail’s face appeared in the flames. “Yes, master.” Wormtail retreated from his quarters and scampered toward his master’s location, urgent to accede to Voldemort’s demands. As he rounded the corner and moved toward his superior Voldemort began to question him.
“Where is Nadella?”
“I don’t know, Master.” Wormtail was quite truthful in answering. He hadn’t seen Nadella for many days, but felt there was a good reason as to why his master was so intent on knowing her whereabouts.
“Have you seen her lately? Noticed her acting a bit strangely, perhaps?” Voldemort’s eyes narrowed at Wormtail as though his servant might be keeping something from him.
“No, sir. I’ve…I’ve had little contact with Nadella as of late. She’s been keeping to herself, Master.” Wormtail was curious as to where this conversation was heading having no idea what Voldemort was implying.
Voldemort nodded his head in understanding. “See if she’s been to see the girl. And do it now…Draco will arrive tonight.”
“Draco, sir? How is it that you know th—
“Let’s just say,” Voldemort interrupted, “that I fed his dreams last night. And if he’s anything like Potter – he won’t be able to stay away.”
With that, Wormtail was left with a befuddled expression as Voldemort turned on his heel and silently disappeared down the corridor.
It seemed like an eternity before the bell sounded to end classes for the day. Draco gathered his books from Advanced Charms and headed down the corridors to the Grand Staircase. Once he reached the Entrance Hall he exited the front door and ran off toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest to wait for the others. They had agreed to meet, well out of sight from the other students, to discuss their ideas for vacating the castle unnoticed. After several minutes of watching the giant squid stretch its many legs out of the water, Draco glanced up to see Hermione approaching. She had a bag full of books slung over her shoulder. Draco felt his eyes beginning to narrow and he worked hard to stop the expression.
“Hey.” It was the most polite word he could muster.
Hermione was making a much better effort. “Hey. Have you seen the others yet?”
Draco shook his head no. “You’re the first one out of the castle.”
“Second,” she said.
“What?” Why was he always so confused when he talked to her?
“I’m the second one out of the castle. You were the first.” She gave a half smile and Draco finally realized that she was purposefully being a nuisance about it to lighten the mood. He resisted the urge to smile in return, but was at least courteous enough to avoid giving her a good lashing over her remark.
Pansy was the third to arrive, followed by Ron and Harry and then Blaise not long after. Draco thought it best to hurry and start the conversation before their discomfort settled in.
“So…has anyone come up with a brilliant idea as to how we get six people out of the castle unnoticed?”
All five shook their heads no in answer.
“Bollocks! How in bloody hell are we going to make this work?” He ran a hand through the back of his hair again, trying not to get too lost in the thought of when Ginny used to run her fingers through it. “We couldn’t be any worse off if we were paralyzed from the waist down.”
“Better than a slap in the face with a wet kipper!” Blaise’s attempt at humor didn’t get the affect he was looking for. Hermione gave him a soft smile before they lost sight of her behind the pages of a book.
Minutes passed and Draco noticed students beginning to file out of the castle doors from dinner. They needed to hurry, but not one of them had a single suggestion and Draco was beginning to become nauseous from the lack of ideas.
“No one has any thoughts at all? Professor Snape was right…we’re a bunch of dunderheads. I never imagined you to be speechless, Granger - you and your collection of bloody books.”
A moment of silence followed before Ron’s eyes grew wide as though he’d had a revelation. He stared over at Hermione as she hid her face deeper behind her book, clearly sensing the impending conversation.
“Hermione--“
“No! I refuse, Ronald.” Her voice mumbled from behind the book.
“But it’s the only way – and it’s not as if we aren’t breaking a rule anyway by sneaking out of the castle to begin with.”
“I don’t care about that. It’s mine and I say no.” She refused to give in.
Draco had absolutely no clue where this conversation was heading but he suddenly felt the need to give Weasley some help. “Why is everyone so hesitant to do the right thing, here?” He lowered his voice. “Ginny has been kidnapped by Voldemort! I have no idea what Weasley here is on about but whatever it is can obviously help us all sneak out of the castle tonight. Granger, do you really want to be the one who stands in our way?”
There was another moment of silence before Hermione gradually lowered her book, a defeated expression upon her face and she slowly shook her head no. She directed her attention to Ron and gave a long sigh. “All right, we can use it. BUT…I need to clean it out first.”
Ron smiled at Hermione. “Excellent! Hermione you won’t regret it. I knew that trunk would come into more use than just storing books.”
Pansy gave a questioning look at Ron. “Trunk?”
Hermione sighed as Ron continued to explain. “Hermione’s trunk is bewitched. It could probably hold the whole of seventh year students, but she uses it to keep every last book, parchment and note she’s ever had.” He was grinning at Hermione as her face flushed red from embarrassment.
Draco didn’t find it embarrassing at all for this was exactly what they needed. “That’s brilliant! So all of us can fit into it and…wait.” He furrowed his brow. “What good’s it going to do us? Who is strong enough to carry it by the time we all squeeze in?”
“Ah, see – that’s where I come in,” said Harry. “Once everyone is inside, I’ll levitate it and throw the cloak over myself and the trunk. All I’ll need to do is keep it concealed under the cloak while guiding it down to the statue of the One-eyed, hump-backed witch. The passageway into Hogsmeade is behind the statue. Once we’re in there we can file out of the trunk, head down the passageway and that will bring us right underneath Honeydukes. From there we’ll Apparate to the Manor.” He thought for a second. “Can all of us Apparate legally now?”
“Yes,” said Blaise.
“Yeah,” said Draco.
“A week ago Thursday,” said Pansy.
Harry beamed at the response. “Brilliant! That saves us a lot of work, then.”
Draco was annoyed by Harry’s sudden display of leadership and spoke with a bit of an edge to his voice. “Well, shall we decide where we’re going to meet tonight, then?” He tried hard to curb the animosity toward his nemesis while keeping a steady head about the whole thing. However, he desperately wanted nothing more than to curse him into next week.
A veil of tension seemed to fall over the group in response to Draco’s sharp tone. Hermione was the first to speak up, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
“What about in the trophy room at midnight? It’s the closest to the statue of the One-eyed witch and no one ever goes in there after hours.” She looked around at everyone as the group nodded their heads in approval. “Harry, I’ll bring my trunk to the boys’ dormitory before I take my post. You can leave the Common Room wearing your cloak and quietly guide my trunk along underneath it so that no one will wonder. Since the rest of us are Prefects it will be more excusable for us to be roaming the corridors. We can then immediately go to the trophy room from our posts so that no one will suspect anything. That way, by the time they notice that we haven’t returned to our dormitories we’ll already be in Hogsmeade.”
“Sounds like a fine plan,” said Blaise. “However, you’ve overlooked one problem.”
“What’s that?” Hermione questioned him.
“I’m not a Prefect.” Blaise looked slightly hurt that Hermione had missed this and Draco couldn’t blame him…considering the conversation they’d had about Granger earlier that morning.
“Oh, right.” Hermione blushed slightly. She appeared to be thinking quickly. “I’ve got it! The Prefects’ Bathroom.”
“Er…what?” Blaise seemed confused.
“My post is on the fifth floor tonight. Draco or Ron can give you the password to the male Prefects’ bathroom on the fifth floor and you can hide in there. Better yet, one of them can check the bathroom to make sure it’s vacant and then take you in there. If it’s anything like the girls’ bathroom, there will be a broom closet inside that you can hide in. You can stay in there until it’s time to meet and then walk with me down to the third floor to the trophy room. If we meet anyone along the way I can say that I caught you out of bed and I’m making sure you’re heading back to your dormitory.”
Draco and Ron silently agreed to Hermione’s suggestion but Pansy, who had been relatively quiet up until now, spoke up rather haughtily. “Why should you be the one to have to find him and take him back? I’m a Prefect too, you know.”
“Right,” said Hermione. “But everyone knows you two are together and that won’t look good, either. My idea is more convincing.”
Pansy narrowed her eyes at Hermione but said nothing - realizing that, deep down, Hermione was right.
“So do we all agree, then?” Draco wanted this meeting over with so that they could finish the rest of the day and get the plan underway. Once he received satisfied expressions from the group he stood up from the patch of grass he’d been sitting on. “Right, then…the trophy room at midnight it is.”
Nadella’s silent footsteps tiptoed down a stone staircase leading to a tiny dungeon about the size of a large broom closet. She quietly turned the knob and entered cautiously, sweat beading up on her forehead as she did so. Her feeble hands knocked the cobwebs from her path as she crossed over to a long, broad shelf that held only a trunk. A trunk with the initials “G.W.” on the lid.
Her fingers made a soft gesture in front of the lock as the word “Alohomora” quietly escaped her lips. She carefully lifted the lid and sifted through the contents until she produced a thin piece of wood, just over a foot in length. Nadella carefully tucked Ginny’s wand into her robe and began to close the lid, but suddenly caught glimpse of a small gleaming object. She reached her hand into the trunk again and withdrew a small silver badge with an “S” and a serpent engraved upon it. Her eyes grew wide as she fingered the metal, an idea formulating in her head. She laid the badge inside her robe next to the wand and swiftly departed the room.
Voldemort approached the section of the manor where his faithful servants resided and carefully materialized through the door of Nadella’s room. Finding no trace of her, he hastily sifted through a few of her things…obviously hell bent on finding something of particular importance. After moments of turning up empty handed he retreated back to the corridor and approached a large fireplace. Throwing a fist of powder into it, he called for Wormtail to appear.
“Wormtail!” Voldemort’s furious tone was heard echoing through the halls. “Wormtail, I will see you immediately!”
Wormtail’s face appeared in the flames. “Yes, master.” Wormtail retreated from his quarters and scampered toward his master’s location, urgent to accede to Voldemort’s demands. As he rounded the corner and moved toward his superior Voldemort began to question him.
“Where is Nadella?”
“I don’t know, Master.” Wormtail was quite truthful in answering. He hadn’t seen Nadella for many days, but felt there was a good reason as to why his master was so intent on knowing her whereabouts.
“Have you seen her lately? Noticed her acting a bit strangely, perhaps?” Voldemort’s eyes narrowed at Wormtail as though his servant might be keeping something from him.
“No, sir. I’ve…I’ve had little contact with Nadella as of late. She’s been keeping to herself, Master.” Wormtail was curious as to where this conversation was heading having no idea what Voldemort was implying.
Voldemort nodded his head in understanding. “See if she’s been to see the girl. And do it now…Draco will arrive tonight.”
“Draco, sir? How is it that you know th—
“Let’s just say,” Voldemort interrupted, “that I fed his dreams last night. And if he’s anything like Potter – he won’t be able to stay away.”
With that, Wormtail was left with a befuddled expression as Voldemort turned on his heel and silently disappeared down the corridor.
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