The Hogwarts Hunger Games

Chapter 4

It was 3:30 in the morning when an opportunity to sneak out of the dorm finally arose. The slytherins had spent all night taking turns patrolling the corridors, sniffing out any signs of rebellion. A bunch of 7th year Ravenclaws’ had been caught sneaking into the Dungeons, their fates at the moment, unknown. We had been tracing their movements using the map, and at this current time, the change in guards at the fat lady was taking longer then usual. We didn't hesitate in taking the chance. 

I threw on the invisibility cloak, at the same time Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna casted disillusionment charms. We leapt down the stairs and raced towards the door, checking that the coast was clear on the map. Pelting our way through the corridors, we only had 2 encounters in which we couldn't avoid. In both cases, Hermione quickly cast a confundo charm on them.

We had made it to the Room and a door appeared on the first walk by. 

I had always loved entering the room after a new request. To see what we would encounter inside. This time, it had taken shape of a classic study, a small fire lit in the corner, with six armchairs in a semi circle around it. A chalkboard was attached to one wall, whilst on the adjacent side, blueprints of Hogwarts lay on a table.

"I think this will do," Ron says, picking up a cup of hot chocolate and settling on the armchair closest to us. The rest of us follow suite. "So Harry, where do we start."

As usual, I had been appointed unofficial leader. Personally, I would have picked Hermione for the role, she's better equipped for the job, but 5 sets of eyes gazed at me expectantly. 

"Well first, we will have to try and figure out who the imposter is and find out what his/her real motive is. My first guess is Voldermort. He has the motive to kill Dumbledore and teach us dark arts. But it just doesn't make sense. If it was Voldermort, why hasn't he tried to kill me yet, or single me out. And my scar hasn't been burning like it usually does when he's around" I reasoned. 

"Good point Harry. If your scar isn't hurting, it's almost definite that it isn't Voldermort." Hermione said. 

"Even if it's not Voldermort himself, it must be one of his followers right?" Neville asked me.

"Well, I don't really know, but for now we should assume so."

"You know, today as I was walking towards class, I found a Daily Prophet on the floor." Luna says dreamily. 

"Really?" Ron asked "I haven't been receiving any newspaper, or mail from home. Mum usually sends me a letter once a week." 

"Yeah, I haven't got any letters from mum either." Ginny inputted.

"They could be incepting our mail, you know" Hermione said. "Taking it from our owls then filtering what we get"

"If they are intercepting the mail, it means that the owls can get past the spells they placed around the area. Maybe we could use that somehow. "

"What? Use polyjuice potion to turn into an owl?" Ron sniggered. We all laugh; it's times like this when I am so thankful, that even though there is chaos in the outside world, I have friends like these.

 The rest of the night passed with us working on a plan to infiltrate Dumbledore’s office too look for clues on who the imposter is and what his intentions are. We figured we'd have to first find out what the new password is to bypass the gargoyle. Neville would take the invisibility cloak and roam the areas around the office to try and eavesdrop to do this.

 When we would be sure the password is correct, the rest of us would create a diversion big enough to cause the majority of the slytherins and 'teachers' to leave their positions around that area, whilst checking that the office is also clear. We figured we'd have around 10 minutes’ tops to get in and out before they return. 

"Well, I guess that's a good enough plan for now." Ginny said.

"We better get going. If these insane teachers catch us sleeping in class who knows what they would do to us." Neville half joked. As we walked out of the door we immediately saw Draco and his minions standing at the other end of the corridor. Hermione’s eyes widened and she pointed at them; luckily they were facing the opposite way to us. I turned around to face everyone; Luna was nowhere to be seen.

“Why isn’t the map working? I checked it before we left and this corridor was clear,” I whispered to them, panic filling my voice.

 “Hey guys, you know you said you haven’t read the daily prophet I was talking about, well I’ve brought it for you” Luna said dreamily, then stopped when she saw Draco and Pansy staring at us.

 “Get them!” Draco cried.

“Run!” Ron yelled to us. We scattered and ran as fast as we could away. I knew this part of the castle well from the map; there was a passageway just around a corner. 

“Here!” I shouted, Neville, Luna and Ginny all run towards me with Ron and Hermione not far behind.

“Get in.” I told them hurriedly, as they climbed into the tunnel covered by the empty picture frame, the knights must be out at the moment. We could hear the slytherins approaching, Neville and Luna were in, and Ginny was climbing in at that moment.

“There’s no time!” I cried, “You guys go, this tunnel leads to the Gryffindor common room. Luna, you’re going to have to stay the night.”

“She can stay with me.” Ginny said.

 “Thanks Ginny.” Luna replied smiling. I closed the painting door just as Malfoy appeared around the corner.

 “I’ve got you now.” He snarled. Pansy came up behind us. There was really nowhere to run.

“Just take us to this Dumbledore.” Hermione sighed.