The Hollow Beneath Hogwarts

59. You Oughta Know

For several long seconds nobody moved. Sloane continued walking. Draco continued staring after her. The rest of the group stood frozen somewhere between awkwardness and genuine concern.

The atmosphere had become suffocating.

Harry could practically feel it pressing down on all of them. The guilt. The hurt. The fear. The uncertainty.

And beneath all of it sat the real problem. The thing none of them had actually solved.

Ron still didn't have his wand. The creature might still be beneath Hogwarts. And somehow they were now standing beside a lake watching two of their friends tear chunks out of each other emotionally.

Harry had reached his limit. "Enough."

The single word cracked through the evening air. Everyone froze. Even Draco.

Harry rarely raised his voice. When he did, people listened. Not because he was loud. Because he usually had a reason.

Harry stepped forward. His expression was hard. Not angry. Determined. Focused. The expression Hermione privately referred to as saving-people Harry. The expression that usually appeared five minutes before something incredibly reckless happened.

Only this time, Harry wasn't planning on being reckless.

He was planning on stopping everyone else from being reckless. "We're done."

Nobody argued.

Even Draco remained silent.

Harry looked from one face to the next.

Draco.
Blaise.
Ginny.
Ron.
Luna.
Hermione.
Finally Sloane.

Who had stopped walking but still hadn't turned around.

"Right now we have bigger problems."

Nobody looked particularly happy about hearing that. Mostly because they knew he was right.

Harry folded his arms. "Ron's wand is still down there." A few nods. "We don't know if the creature is gone." More nods. "We don't know if it's found the wand."

Even Ron couldn't argue with that one. 

"And we definitely don't know if it's intelligent enough to use it."

The reminder sent another uncomfortable silence through the group.

Harry took a breath. Then slipped effortlessly into the role he'd never wanted but always seemed to end up in. The leader. The planner. The person who had to make the decisions when everyone else was too emotional to think straight.

"We need a plan."

Hermione immediately nodded. Thank Merlin. Someone was finally being sensible.

"What kind of plan?" Ron asked.

Harry looked at him. "A good one."

"Helpful." Ron scoffed. 

"Thank you."

Ron rolled his eyes. Harry ignored him. "We are not marching down there blindly."

Sloane shifted slightly turning towards them. Harry noticed. And immediately pointed at her. "Especially not you."

That earned him a look. Harry didn't care. "You are not going charging off after anything."

"I wasn't planning to."

Harry raised an eyebrow. Nobody believed her. Not even Hermione.

Sloane looked offended. "I wasn't."

"You absolutely were." Blaise smirked.