𝗗𝗜𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 ☼ 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘆

↘︎ chapter seventy-eight

78 | The Rise of Voldemort

The twins' birthday had a lot of fun and even after that cake fight, Muriel looked kind of cheerful. Marley Macmillan enjoyed the days when everyone was still laughing. Later in mid-April Remus Lupin also appeared, saying that Tonks had given birth to a child, and they named him Teddy, as Tonks' father, who had died soon.

By the end of the month, nothing interesting happened. Fred and George had sent all the supplies from the joke shop, there was still no sign of Harry, until, on the first night of May, everyone at Muriel's house received a signal that Harry Potter was in Hogwarts and preparing for battle. The announcement was from Neville Longbottom, and he told them to Apparate directly inside the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade.

As the house was full of people, so did it become empty. Fred, George, Marley, and Ginny were the first to Apparate from the Manor. Then it were Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas (they appeared from the Shell Cottage, where Bill and Fleur were living in April) and Noen Black. The teenagers left Muriel's house secretly and no one knew that they've run away.

There, in the Hog's Head, Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, greeted them and he led them through a passage behind a portrait of his little sister Ariana. Marley, Fred, George, and Ginny found themselves in the Room of Requirement, where Harry, Ron, Hermione, and so many students, familiar faces, were now blue and flushed.

"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed," said Fred, raising his hand in answer to several cries of greeting. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station."

Harry's mouth fell open. Right behind Lee Jordan came Harry's old girlfriend, Cho Chang. She smiled at him.

"I got the message," she said, holding up her own fake Galleon, and she walked over to sit beside Michael Corner.

"So what's the plan, Harry?" said George.

"There isn't one," said Harry. Marley recognised the familiar faces of Seamus Finnigan, Hannah Abbot; Luna Lovegood and Dean Thomas had arrived a couple of minutes in the Room, the twins Patil, Brooklyn Ray and so many others.

"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favorite kind," said Fred.

"You've got to stop this!" Harry told Neville. "What did you call them all back for? This is insane —"

"Stop it, Harry!" exclaimed Marley. "We're here for you. We love you and we're ready to fight with you. Stop thinking you could do everything alone and accept helps from the others! We're Dumbledore's Army and we're not gving up. Ever."

"Couldn't say it better," smiled Neville toward Marley and she smiled back. "C'mon, Harry! You're not going to convince us the other way! We're here to help."

It took them a while to persuade Harry to agree, and then he told them that he was looking for some Ravenclaw-related item and was very important about defeating Voldemort...

Hаrry looked hopefully toward the little group of Ravenclaws, to Padma, Brooklyn, Michael, Terry, and Cho, but it was Luna who answered, perched on the arm of Ginny's chair.

"Well, there's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember, Harry? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it."

"Yeah, but the lost diadem," said Michael Corner, rolling his eyes, "is lost, Luna. That's sort of the point."

"When was it lost?" asked Harry.

"Centuries ago, they say," said Cho, "Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked, but," she appealed to her fellow Ravenclaws, "nobody's ever found a trace of it, have they?"