Between Fine Lines

Twenty-seven

"Alright, so does everybody understand the plan?" Harry looked around the room, miscellaneous nods and a small chorus of 'yeahs' 'of course' 'you got it's' floated through the air.

Once everybody had finished re-uniting, Harry gathered everybody and began to explain the horcruxes and what they needed to do to find the last few, destroy them and defeat Tom Riddle once and for all.

"So the plan is clear? Draco and Theo will move easiest throughout the castle, from what Theo has gathered, word of Draco's deflection has not been shared outside the immediate party that was at Malfoy Manor, Tom doesn't want any embarrassment that he was abandoned by a sixteen year old teenager," Harry forced himself not to chuckle at this. "They're going to make their way to the headmaster's office and look for the sword of Gryffindor."

Draco and Theo stood off to the side, holding hands from the moment Draco had walked through the portrait and they had reunited. Harry looked around the room, locking his eyes briefly with his next group of people. " We have to empty this room out so myself, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Seamus and Dean can come back in to look for the last horcrux that belonged to Ravenclaw-whatever that may be."

"What about the lost diadem?" Luna spoke up from where she stood next to Ginny. "The lost diadem of Ravenclaw?"

"I would place bets that's the item you're looking for," Regulus spoke up from where he stood next to Theo. "I heard my mother discuss it once, I think The Dark Lord was potentially seeking out options to move it and hide it from wherever it was hidden. It was mentioned somebody very trustworthy would have to fetch it from its place. I think that place is here..."

"Right then-lost diadem as our final missing horcrux," Harry agreed, looking to Regulus. "FInally, Regulus and Hermione are going to take the two horcruxes we have and try to get back down into the Chamber of Secrets for basilisk fangs and destroy them. There's plenty of open space and nobody else will be down there."

Harry turned to look at Neville, "get everybody who wants to leave to the Hog's Head, get Aberforth to summon the Order and whatever is left of the Aurors and tell them it's time. Once we start destroying Horcruxes, Tom is going to feel that they've been destroyed and he will come here looking to move and protect the diadem. We have to kill the snake and then we can finish him off." Neville nodded and Harry looked to Cho Chang and Lavender Brown, "the two of you are responsible for finding Professor McGonagall and letting her know we're here, the teachers can organize getting out anybody who shouldn't stay or is underage-a fight is coming and anybody who doesn't want to participate shouldn't be forced to stay."

Harry stepped off the small stage, going over to Ron and Hermione, "Are you guys ready?" he questioned. "Wait, I have something," Hermione dug around in her bag, muttering an accio, pulling out Harry's bottle of Felix Felicis. She handed it to Harry with a smile and he gingerly took the bottle, pulling the cork. He took a small sip, passing it to Ron who did the same, Ron holding the bottle out to Hermione, who shook her head. "Use it for others, I'll be fine," Hermione insisted, pushing Ron's hand lightly toward where Ginny and Neville stood.

"Hermione, no," Ron tried to insist back but Hermione was firm. "I'll be with Regulus, I've been training for this. I'll be okay, trust me."

Ron sighed, handing the bottle to Ginny, murmuring to her what it was and watching her disappear with it, he pulled Hermione into a tight hug. "Bloody be careful," he muttered into her shoulder as she pulled Harry into the hug with them. "Promise."

"I promise," Hermione muttered back. "Let's go win the war."

—

"Salazar's balls, the hallways feel so eerie," Draco muttered as he and Theo quickly made their way toward the headmaster's office. "It's even worse when class is actually in session, watching out for the Carrow twins," Theo paused, peering around the corner, his wand gripped tightly in his hand as he looked around for any lingering deatheaters. Draco tried not to shudder at the thought-had he been forced to come back to Hogwarts, he knew he would have been left alone, with the dark mark branding his left arm and being of pureblood status.