Snivellus

27

'Everyone must remain here until the school is safe again.' Snape instructed all the Slytherins who were gathered around in the common room.

Professor McGonagall had just announced a school lockdown and a possible eviction back home unless the monster of the chamber can be killed.

Darah stood in the common room next to Draco and Pansy, awaiting Snape's instructions.

'How long do you reckon it'll be, Professor?' Draco asked impatiently. 'You'd hate to keep my parents waiting.'

Snape looked at him emotionlessly. 'No idea.'

Draco scoffed and went to sit down, muttering some phrases to himself.

'Professor!' McGonagall came bursting into the room, looking panicked.

Snape widened his eyes and raised his eyebrows at her, revealing his wrinkles.

'It's Potter and Weasley! They've gone into the chamber!'

Everyone in the room gasped and began muttering amongst themselves.

'How stupid of them.' Snape snarled.

Then Darah burst out the room and headed to the girl's bathroom as Snape and McGonagall called her name after her.

She ran as fast as she could until she reached the bathroom Harry and Ron had described to her.

'Harry! Ron!' She called their names, the bathroom empty.

But not quite. A funny little giggle came from inside one of the bathroom stalls and a ghost of a girl around a similar age to Darah flew out.

'You must be Myrtle.' Darah gasped kindly.

She giggled again, covering her mouth with her hand in a cutesy way and nodded.

'Have Harry and Ron been here?' She asked her desperately.

Myrtle pointed to the sinks at the back of the room. 'They're in there.' She flew around the room excitedly, squealing.

Darah looked at the sinks, she noticed it was open at the side and she jogged over to it. Looking down she saw a deep, endless hole.

'Are you sure they're down there?'

'Positive.'

Darah gulped. 'Oh, forgive me for this, Dad.' And she jumped down the hole, screaming.

She fell out onto a slide that threw her into a room of trash. She looked next to her and there Ron stood, staring at her whilst holding onto Lockhart's collar.

'Darah? What are you doing down here?' Ron almost couldn't believe his eyes.

'I-' Darah didn't know what to say.
'What's with him?' She changed the conversation, pointing to Lockhart who was gazing cross-eyed at the hole above them.

'Memory charm backfired.'

'Oh.'

'What are you doing down here? And where's Harry?' Darah shook herself back to reality, remembering why she came to look for them in the first place.

'We forced him down.' Ron gestured to Lockhart who was staring inquisitively at his fingernails. 'Because he was about to quit and leave Ginny down here to- wait I asked you first. What are you doing down here?'

Darah scratched her forehead, obviously unable to avoid the question any further. 'I heard McGonagall say you were here and... I needed to make sure you were ok.' She said timidly.

Ron looked at her, guiltily, his mouth slighting open and his ears were going red. 'How did you know where we were?'

'I found Moaning Myrtle.' She grinned.

'I bet she was a blast.'

'Her laugh was a bit...'

'Weird? Crazy?'

'Yeah.' Darah laughed. 'Wait, where's Harry, I thought he was here with you?'

Ron sighed. 'When Mr Fraud over here's charm backfired he knocked part of the cave down with him.'

Darah rolled her eyes. 'Great. So Harry is on his own?'

Ron nodded.

'Wonderful. He's probably going to die.' She threw her arms up in the air.

'No, he won't.' Ron said confidently. 'It's Harry, he defeated he who must not be named when he was a baby, I bet he can defeat the snake.'

'Snake?'

'Oh. Yeah we found out that it's a snake down there. It's been travelling through the pipe work. And if you look directly into it's eyes, it kills you.'

Darah was taken aback. 'How did you find that out?'

'Hermione.' Ron smiled dreamily. 'Brilliant she is, really.'

'Yeah, she is.' Darah added quietly.

The two of them fidgeted around for a couple minutes, hopefully waiting for Harry's return.

'Look.' Ron started. 'I'm sorry for what I said. I really didn't mean it.'

Darah smiled weakly at him.

'It's just, you hang around with Malfoy and well, you know the rest.' He laughed.

Darah laughed a little at that. 'Yeah, I guess if I were you, I'd think the same way.' She paused. 'Hey, what did Malfoy say to you in potions the other day?'

'Oh.' Ron bit his lip. 'Nothing really. Just Malfoy being Malfoy.' He grinned at her.

Darah sat down for a while on the cold, stone floor, contemplating. She looked at Ron who was gazing at the fallen wall in front of them. She got up, moved over and sat down next to him.

Ron jumped a little but then looked at her and couldn't help but smile. They said nothing but Darah wrapped her arm around him and placed her head on his shoulder.

They sat and waited for what felt like hours in almost complete silence. Lockhart was strutting around the little area where they were trapped asking questions like, 'what is a brain?' And 'who are you?'

Suddenly, after they'd almost given up hope, a bright fire coloured bird flew from the top of the hole and soared through the cave.

Ron and Darah's eyes lit up at the sight of it, knowing it was Dumbledore's Phoenix.

'Fawkes...' Darah whispered gently as it swooped by them and through the gaps in the rocky wall.

'My goodness!' Lockhart picked up a feather that had fallen from the bird and licked it, making Ron and Darah cringe. 'Tastes like... smoke.' Lockhart chapped his lips together.

Then, ten minutes later, Harry flew out of the cave, carried by Fawkes and accompanied by Ginny.

'Harry!' Both Darah and Ron shouted in unison, running forth to hug him.

'Gin...' Ron hugged Ginny as tight as ever. He looked at Harry, tears in his eyes and nodded strongly.

'Let's get out of here.' Harry smiled, not even questioning Darah's presence.

They all grabbed ahold of the beautiful Phoenix who effortlessly lifted them up, through the hole, back up to Hogwarts.