This Means War | Draco Malfoy [5]

Chapter 18 ~ Going Back to Hogwarts

Once we got to the rocks and began to climb up the hill, we told the other two about what we saw. We told them that Voldemort knew that we broke into Gringotts and he also knew what we took while we were there. Hermione scolded at us for letting him in again, but we weren't sure if we could control that or not. Harry also told the others that Voldemort was angry and scared at the same time. Voldemort knew that if we found all the Horcruxes and destroyed them, then we would be able to kill him. But there was something else, too.

"There might be a Horcrux at Hogwarts," Harry blurted out.

"What?" Hermione said. "At Hogwarts? How do you know?"

"Max and I saw it," he replied. "It has something to do with Ravenclaw. We need to get into the castle tonight."

"We can't do that!" Hermione protested. "We've got to come up with a plan! We've got to figure all of this out!"

"Hermione, when have any of our plans actually worked?" Harry pointed out. "We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose."

Hermione gave all of us some dry clothes to change into. Ron and Harry went in another direction so that they could change clothes. Hermione and I stayed where we were at and changed into our clothes.

"Max?" Hermione spoke up as she was taking off her dress.

"Yeah, Hermione?" I said, lifting my wet shirt over my head.

"Do you really think there's a Horcrux at Hogwarts?"

I paused for a moment. "Well, it's a possibility, right? I mean, I know the Horcruxes can be anywhere, but..." I trailed off as I looked down at my charm bracelet. I spotted the blue eagle and I gasped.

"What is it, Max?" Hermione asked.

"My charm that Dumbledore gave me," I stated. "It's not just an eagle."

"Okay? So what?"

I widened my eyes. "Merlin's beard, why the hell didn't I think this before? I'm a genius!"

"Wait, so what are you trying to say here?" Hermione asked, still confused at my realization.

"Don't you get it, Hermione? Each founder of Hogwarts had their own item. Gryffindor's Sword, Hufflepuff's Cup, Slytherin's Locket, and Ravenclaw's Diadem! Rowena Ravenclaw had a diadem. You-Know-Who must've made it into a Horcrux."

"So you're saying that Ravenclaw's Diadem is a Horcrux?"

I nodded my head. "And it's at Hogwarts! Seriously, Hermione, how did you not know about the diadem? I mean, you read all the time, so I don't know how you didn't read about this anywhere."

"Well, I read a lot of books, Max," Hermione pointed out.

"So that's why Dumbledore left me this charm, because he assumed that Ravenclaw had an object as well like Slytherin and Hufflepuff, which You-Know-Who turned into Horcruxes. I have to tell the boys this."

As the boys were walking towards us with dry clothes on, I was getting more and more excited about what I had just discovered. I couldn't believe it took me this long to figure out why Dumbledore left me the charm. Maybe it was because I never really paid attention to the charm ever since we left the wedding. We were so focused on finding the sword and destroying the locket that we didn't even think about the other Horcruxes until it was decided that there was a Horcrux in Bellatrix's vault.

"Guys, I think I know what the Horcrux at Hogwarts is," I told the boys as they approached us. I explained to them about the charm that Dumbledore gave me and about how each Hogwarts House had an object, so the object for Ravenclaw was the diadem.