𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑 || H.P

𝟕𝟓

He was angry.

I felt it, somehow. But it wasn't in a nightmare. I felt it as I kicked my feet for the surface, coughing up water. I climbed up the rocks and pulled at the clothes stuck to my body.

"He knows!" Harry bellowed, his chest was heaving. "He knows we broke into Gringotts, he knows what we took. He knows we're searching for Horcruxes!"

"How do you-"

"I saw it!"

"You saw it?" I repeated.

"You let him in!" Hermione pulled out her bag. "You can't do that-"

"I can't always control it-"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Never mind that!"

"What did you see?" I asked, pulling off my wet clothes and grabbing dry ones from Hermione's pouch.

"He's angry, but scared too." Harry pulled off his shirt. "He's going to make sure the other Horcruxes are safe."

"What happens when he finds out four are gone?" Ron asked.

"I reckon he'd do anything to keep us from finding the rest. There's more... one of them's at Hogwarts. Something to do with Ravenclaw. We have to go there, now!"

"We can't just barge in through the front gates!" Ron yelled. "Not with Snape as Headmaster."

"We need a plan!" Hermione said.

"We can go to Hogsmeade." I gulped, still breathing heavily. "There's a tunnel in the room of requirements. Seamus and Neville found a pub—Hogshead—if we can get there, we're in Hogwarts."

-

It was eerily calm when we apparated. Hogsmeade was dead in the thick fog. Only The Three Broomsticks showed evidence of life, blinding us with yellow light and laughter. A bird-like shrill came from the corner, making the laughter cease, and we pelted behind Honeydukes. Harry grabbed onto my arm tightly.

Lights passed by us as our backs were pressed against the abandoned building. Another shrill came from the opposite side, and the deatheaters were distracted. "Over there!"

I tilted my head up to the street lights. Every single one had a poster plastered on with Harry's face. 'Undesirable Number One.'

We scrambled across the street and down the alleyway. "In here..." I stepped into the pub with the trio following closely behind.

The pub was just as they described, almost abandoned and falling apart. I walked around for a moment before finding a cracked mirror on the wall. "Harry, I can see you in this mirror."

He walked up next to me, holding out the shard he had in the Malfoy's cellar. Inside was both of our reflections, staring downwards. The broken piece matched perfectly in the empty space, and we glared at it suspiciously.

"This pub isn't abandoned, then," Harry whispered.

On the other side of the room, Ron and Hermione were gazing up at a large portrait of a young girl. She had light hair and wore a solemn smile on her face.

"You bloody fools!" A man's raspy voice entered the room. "What were you thinking coming here? Have you any idea how dangerous it is?!"

We quickly whipped around, watching an elderly man stomp in, holding a plate of goods. The pub owner, I thought.

"You're Aberforth," Harry stated. "Dumbledore's brother. It's you who I've been seeing. It's you who sent Dobby."

The man eyed Harry before saying, "Where've you left him?"