The Silent Siege

Chapter 20

The Final Siege

"Quiet yourself, Wormtail," came Voldemort's snake-like hiss.

The Death Eater to his left forced himself to stop moving. He looked down at the table at his hands and found that he still could not stop them trembling. He anxiously hid them behind his chair. He looked up and noticed that the other Death Eaters remained completely impassive.

"M - my Lord, I am sorry. B - but I fear for our plan. You said the girl has left Potter. Surely - "

"If it were not for your contributions to my continuing plans, Wormtail, I might have already grown tired of your lack of faith in the arrangements I have spent months carefully planning."

"N - not l - l - lack of faith, my Lord, I - "

"I am not interested in more of your excuses, Wormtail. I tire of them easily. Potter is very predictable. I think we can be quite certain that he will go to locate the girl and they will be together again very soon and since the other stages of our plans have now been prepared, we will be ready to find them immediately."

***

Harry balled his fists and clenched his eyes shut as he waited for the spinning dizziness in his head and body to subside. Then he opened them, stood up, staggered for a moment, and took in his surroundings.

He was sitting on a small wooden hill just behind the main street of Hogsmeade. Directly to his left was the Shrieking Shack and he could still see the roof of Honeydukes not far below him. Harry got to his feet, stumbled for a moment, and then broke into a run in the direction of the shack. He wasn't quite sure why he was going there but he knew he couldn't stay where he was. Ron and Hermione would surely start to look for him and he needed to put as much distance between them as possible.

But where would Ginny have gone? Harry realized as he rushed along the side of the woods, wincing as a stray twig slapped against his glasses, that he had no idea where to begin. Could she have hidden in Hogsmeade? Had she gone back to the school? Surely she couldn't be all that far away? How long had they stood there talking after she had left?

Harry continued to run, his feet sliding awkwardly on the steep hill as he made his way toward the shack. Unable as he was to answer the more crucial question of where Ginny was, his mind turned to the slightly more pressing but very much cogent question of why he was looking for her in the first place.

Of course, he would protect her, just like he always had. And this time he could not deceive himself. He knew. He knew because Tom Riddle had told him all those years ago. Voldemort only wanted Ginny because of him. And it was his responsibility to get her out. He knew he couldn't face it if anything happened to her.

Harry checked these thoughts over and over again as he finally reached the hill in front of the shack and bounded up toward it. Nothing he had said to himself was wrong but somehow the whole of his longing seemed more than the sum of his reasons. Ginny's screaming confession meant that there was a great deal of unfinished business between the two of them, though even as Harry thought this, he was not at all sure how he meant to deal with Ginny's feelings for him. As he ran into the shack, closed the door, and stood panting against the wall, the only thing it seemed he could remember was the sensation of surrendering himself into Ginny's embrace that morning, of her passion and love as she'd held him. Ron had told him to forget about the prophecy; Hermione had told him to prepare for it. But it was only Ginny who knew who he had really needed much better than Harry had realized himself at the time: someone to show him that while he had to shoulder his burdens, he didn't have to suffer them alone.

And all her hair and clothes had smelt of lavender. Harry wondered why he had never noticed it before.

And then as Harry stood there against the wall of the Shrieking Shack panting for breath, he squeezed his eyes shut and found he could smell not the dank decaying mold of the shack but the fragrant scent of the wildflower, a flower that had filled him with hope and calm all his life for reasons he did not know or could not remember. But whatever it was the smell had meant to him before, it now reminded him of Ginny, of her strength and determination, of her passion and her love, and of the enormous deep sea behind her soft brown eyes.

And then Harry realized. Whether it was her embrace, or her confession, he did not know. But he now knew one thing.

He did like Ginny. In fact, he could feel that he had liked her for some time but he had kept the feelings buried inside him.

But as soon as Harry realized this, another much less pleasant sensation seemed to seize hold of his stomach. In spite of the cramped heat of the shack, the horrible icy feeling was returning again and this time it seemed to spread from his gut all throughout his body. His legs felt numb. He was sure once again that he wouldn't be able to move.

And then Harry found himself gripped with an unpleasant memory. Of Professor Nevins. Of his frightened face as he'd stared at the Boggart that had taken the shape of his father as James' lifeless eyes had stared accusingly down at him. And then Harry knew why his Boggart had taken the form of Ginny. Not really Ginny at all, though. He had known that the night he had watched Ginny as she studied. He had seen how different she looked from her Boggart impersonator but he had not recognized the difference for what it was.

The Ginny in the common room was alive, but the Boggart was dead, just like his father. And it had accused him, just as the Boggart James had accused Nevins. And as the horrible icy sensation finally spread to Harry's head and a cold sweat broke out over his face, Harry realized his greatest fear: that if he accepted Ginny's feelings, then she would die, just like everyone who had ever loved Harry before.

For the second time in an hour, Harry found that his legs could no longer support him. Tears coursing down his cheeks, Harry realized that his worst fear was going to come true. Voldemort would go after Ginny just like he had before. He would enter her mind and find her. But Harry had no idea where she was. And there was no way that he could find out.

But as Harry's legs finally gave way and he sank to the floor, he felt something press against his side from where it lay folded in his pocket, forgotten. His eyes suddenly springing to life, Harry hastily took the Marauder's Map out of his pocket and unfolded it. But surely she wouldn't have gone back to the castle? Still, it was worth a look. If there was any chance....

And there she was. But when Harry finally found out where he didn't know whether to feel surprise or relief. It couldn't really be, could it? But like Professor Lupin before him, Harry knew that however strange the truth, the Marauder's Map did not lie.

Harry quickly folded the map up again and put it back into his pocket. He then got up and looked around the shack. He thought of making for the passageway but then decided against it. He might not be seen but down in the tunnel he could easily be ambushed. If only he had taken the Invisibility Cloak!

Harry drew out his wand and rushed to the main door of the Shack. He flung it open and bounded down the hill back onto the main path to Hogwarts, noting with apprehension how uncomfortably quiet it seemed. His eyes darting back and forth, Harry ran back up the main path toward the school, trying to stay alert for any signs of an attack. The path ahead of him was quiet, however, and Harry could soon see the castle ahead. He tore into an even faster sprint, thinking only of how he must get there, how he must reach Ginny before it was too late, of what it would mean if she died before he ever really showed her how he felt. Nothing else mattered now.

The castle never seemed so far away as it did now, but finally Harry approached the main doors. Ignoring the stitch in his side, Harry tore open the door and ran down the strangely deserted main corridor, made a right turn, and pushed open a door with a bang.

***

Voldemort let out a satisfied sigh as his fingers moved away from the top of the diary.

"You can relax now, Wormtail," he hissed. "They are together again. The first floor bathroom."

A chilling smile broke over the Dark Lord's hideously chapped lips.

"Fetch them," he said.

The Death Eaters to his immediate right got up and walked methodically toward the door....

***

Ginny gasped as the door to the bathroom banged open and Harry ran in, clutching his side in pain. She sniffed and wiped absently at a tear falling down her left cheek. In truth, Ginny had been fantasizing about Harry doing exactly this only moments before but as always with these sorts of fantasies, one rarely expects they will actually happen.

The next thing that happened proved just as unexpected. Harry had no sooner started to move toward Ginny when an apparition flew out of nowhere and stopped directly in his path.

"Oh, you should see her," said Moaning Myrtle. "She's in a right mess. She's been crying and crying and crying."

Ginny could see Harry's face tense in annoyance. He tried to dart past Myrtle but she moved to block his way again.

"Come on, Harry, you don't want a crybaby girlfriend, do you?"

"Shut up, Myrtle."

Myrtle looked as if she was restraining herself from crying with great difficulty.

"'Shut up, Myrtle,'" she hissed. "Is that all you can say to me? You-Know-Who is here now, in the castle!" She clasped her hands together in obvious delight. "You might want me to shut up now, but by the afternoon you'll be singing a different tune when we're sharing the same toilet. Why take her when you - "

"Spiritem Exhume!"

Myrtle's face creased in shock as she vaulted back into the s-bend of the nearest toilet.

Harry pocketed his wand and quickly ran over to join Ginny at the foot of the sink. She sat there holding her knees against her chest, her body looking for all the world like it wanted to disappear, but her eyes still staring up at his in surprise. A thin beam of light shone from the sun through the rose window at the back and fell gently through Ginny's hair. She looked to Harry like an angel on fire.

"Ginny," Harry finally said between pants. "What are you doing here? Why on earth would you ever come back to this place?"

"The Chamber's been sealed, Harry," remarked Ginny, noticing how quiet her voice sounded.

"But - but why would you make yourself remember? How could you ever - "

"Because no one would ever think to look for me here, Harry. I used to come here all the time, my second and third years, when I needed to be alone. A - and besides, Harry." Ginny quickly became interested in the progress of an ant on the floor. "This isn't such a horrible place. This is where you brought me back after you rescued me."

Ginny sat up in surprise as Harry took her hands in his.

"Ginny," he said in a voice that had only ever spoken so softly to her in her dreams. "You wanted to tell me three things this morning. I'm afraid we never got to the third one."

"Harry," Ginny said suddenly. "What are you doing here? You can't come back to the castle! It's not safe! You shouldn't have come after me."

"No, Ginny, listen to me. I - "

But Ginny shook her head and started talking again.

"Harry, didn't you hear what Myrtle said? And Winky? Don't you know that - "

"No, look, listen, Ginny, I don't care - "

"Oh, Harry, I was so selfish. I never should have said those things to you and I never should have tried to stay, not when I knew he was trying to use me to get to you. But why did you come after me? You have to go now. You-Know-Who - "

"I don't care about Voldemort. I care about you."

There was a sudden deadening silence. As she and Harry stared at each other, Ginny had the funny sensation that all time had stopped still. Several seconds passed before Ginny was aware of an uncomfortable sensation in her throat and realized she had forgotten to breathe.

And before Ginny could think another thought, Harry rubbed her hands gently and she was shocked to realize that his were cold and trembling. She immediately reciprocated.

"Ginny," he said, still staring straight into her eyes. "Please tell me."

Ginny started to speak but the sound caught in her throat. She looked back at Harry and found herself rooted to his emerald eyes, never before so close, never looking at her as they did now. She tried to speak again but now it seemed harder than ever. She felt herself seethe with embarrassment and self-contempt. Why couldn't she tell him? He was begging her to tell him. She couldn't think past the moment to wonder why but he was. It should be so easy but it just wasn't.

"H - Harry," she finally said, aware that her voice was shaking. "Y - you better go. W - we'll still be here tomorrow at this rate."

Harry smiled.

"I can't think of anything else I'd like better."

Harry's hands seemed to tremble even harder as they moved to Ginny's shoulders and held them tightly.

And then Ginny remembered. She remembered when she first knew she loved Harry, not when she'd been infatuated, not when she'd had a shy crush, but when she had really loved him. The time she had woken in the Chamber after all of her horrors and seen him, grimy and bloody, standing over her. How he had grasped hold of her shoulders in just the same way and lifted her, however awkwardly, to her feet. How he had carried her away. How he had only wanted to rescue her, not to ask any questions, not to scold her or criticize her. How he had thought nothing of himself, how he had almost died for her. How he had carried her away from all of her fears and nightmares as surely as if he had taken her out of the Chamber itself.

And then Ginny opened her mouth and as though she was learning to speak for the very first time, looked at Harry and said:

"I love you, Harry. I've always loved you."

As soon as the words had left her lips, Ginny felt fresh tears run down her cheeks. She sobbed so hard she thought she would choke. All the catharsis of years of feelings unsaid seemed to pour out through her tears like water from a broken dam.

Harry watched her cry just as he had that day at the Three Broomsticks, just as he had when Cho had wept over Cedric. He had not known what to say or do then. But now it seemed suddenly obvious. He spread out his hands and slowly rubbed the tears away from Ginny's cheeks. He let his fingers glide through her hair and then run down her shoulders as he eased her body gently into his arms.

They sat that way for a very long time. When Harry finally released Ginny, she found that his face, too, was wet.

"I was so afraid, Ginny," he croaked, his voice shockingly vulnerable. "I thought I would never find you again. That you'd never be able to tell me. That I'd never - that all - "

Harry stopped talking. He reached his hand behind Ginny's head and gently pulled her toward him again. Ginny moved to his shoulder, wanting to drown in the warmth of his embrace again, but Harry tugged at the side of her cheek and pulled her head toward his.

And then Ginny realized. He was going to kiss her.

Her teeth started to chatter and her body shook, no longer sure it could bear the flood of sense and emotion that was to come. She had thought so many times of how it would feel to finally kiss Harry; she had lived a dozen different moments in a hundred different daydreams but now as Harry finally moved toward her and she could feel his warm hurried breath on her lips, Ginny thought of none of those dreams. For once, she knew only the moment she was living in now.

And then Harry's lips touched hers and the trembling subsided. Their tongues touched awkwardly but softly, a sensation unfamiliar but not unwelcome. Ginny let out a moan of joy and pulled Harry closer and then cried once again when she felt him return her passion. She had the sudden strange feeling that for the first time in her life she was truly being loved, not smothered or babysat, not desired or used, but loved. Ginny felt that with every twist of his lips Harry was taking out all of the pain, fear, and hurt that had grown inside her like he was sucking out poison from beneath a deep wound.

And even as they finally moved apart, Ginny could still feel the sensation of Harry's kiss linger on. Her face burned so warmly her skin tingled. She felt a tremendous energy rushing like a river through her body and even though her eyes were still half-blurred with tears, the world around her suddenly seemed much sharper and richer than it had a moment before. Ginny felt as though she was seeing in color for the first time the textures of things she had barely started to grasp in her dreams.

Harry's right hand continued to stroke Ginny's soft red locks while his left massaged the tears away from her cheek again. He looked at her with an expression of contented disbelief, if such a thing was possible. Ginny took Harry's glasses away and wiped his own tears, then allowed her fingers to run through his hair and gently trace the scar on his forehead.

And then, because her love for Harry was much more than a touch or a kiss, Ginny opened her mouth and said as softly as she could:

"Harry, you have to leave now. I know you know it. It's just not safe here."

Harry's face twisted into a frown. "Ginny, no, I - "

"Harry," said Ginny persistently. "Voldemort wants to find you and kill you. A - and he wants to use me to do it. We have to face this."

"No, Ginny. It's only because of me that he wants you. I'm taking you with me. I'm not going to let him hurt you again."

Fresh tears sprung down Ginny's cheeks. She clasped Harry's hands together in hers.

"Harry, no," she sobbed. "You came in here and showed me how you really felt. If I die today, it will still be the happiest day of my life. We're together now no matter what happens. He can't really keep us apart. But you have to go; you have to find Ron and Hermione and get as far away from here as possible."

But Harry was already shaking his head even before Ginny had finished talking.

"I'll run but I'm taking you with me."

"He'll find me, Harry. He always - "

The door to the bathroom opened. Ginny instinctively let go of Harry's hands and they moved away from each other. They looked up nervously to see who was entering, bracing themselves for the worst. And neither felt very much relieved when Ron and Hermione walked in.

Ron walked over to Harry and Ginny with his arms folded. His face and hair were of matching color. He did not smile.

Hermione stood a little apart from Ron, her eyes darting back and forth between him and Harry nervously.

"H - how did you find us?" Harry finally said, looking from Ron to Hermione in surprise.

Ron didn't reply for a moment then slowly drew the Marauder's Map out of his pocket. Harry's hand instinctively flew to his pocket to confirm the obvious truth that the map was no longer there.

"You dropped this on the way back to the castle," Ron said, his voice lingering unnaturally over every syllable. "Apparently you didn't notice. I suppose you were a little preoccupied." He looked meaningfully at Ginny.

Harry was considering a number of defensive remarks when he noticed out of his peripheral vision that Hermione was moving further behind Ron so that only Harry and Ginny could see her. Ever more anxiously, she looked back at Harry and pointed her finger to the corner of her lips. With a dawning sense of dread, Harry wiped the same corner of his own mouth and found the stain of Ginny's strawberry-colored Muggle lipstick come away in his hand.

"So," said Ron richly. "Pardon me for interrupting, anyway. I've been trying to save your life. Apparently you were too busy snogging my sister!"

Harry and Ginny both stood up.

"Ron, stop it!" Ginny demanded.

But Ron looked like he had only just begun.

"Apparently you don't realize this, Harry, but I wanted the two of you to get together. That's what I told you, remember?" he said, his face creasing. "You could have just been open about it. But no, you had to keep to yourselves, just like you always do."

Harry put his hand up. "It's not like that! I - I only just - I didn't realize until - "

But Ron didn't seem to be listening.

"And I don't mind if you keep secrets together either but I do object when it puts my sister's life in danger! Not to mention yours!"

"I told you I respected - "

But Harry was quickly interrupted when Ginny sidled in front of him and drew herself up to her brother, her face just as set in rage as his was.

"I'm sorry to interrupt when you're so keen on talking about me as if I wasn't there but I don't think it's very fair for you to say that to Harry. I was the one who told him not to tell you about the dream!"

Ron turned to Ginny and if anything he looked even more piqued. "Really? I never would have guessed. I just wondered if you ever thought to question your own judgement?"

"That's an interesting idea. I wonder if it's worked its way into your head before."

"I mean the last time You-Know-Who possessed you, you didn't say anything for a bloody year and nearly got killed! And you haven't changed, have you? You did exactly the same thing again this time! It's all talk when it's somebody else but when it's you it's like someone has cast a silencing charm!"

"I don't have to answer to you!"

"You will if you have any sense but I can already see that you don't! And you!" Ron turned back to Harry before Ginny could mount a counter-attack. "I thought you could help bring her out, get her to actually tell the people who love her when she's in danger, but I should have known you're just as bad as she is!"

"Really?" said Harry. "I thought Ginny already had an over-protective brother."

"Look," said Hermione, in a business-like fashion. "I know you're all upset, but I think it's more important if we - "

"Can't you see you're making things worse for her, pushing her like this?" cried Harry again. "Is this what a family does? I'm glad I don't have one!"

Ron turned an even deeper shade of scarlet.

"Maybe that's why you don't know what it's like to have someone look after you and save you from your own stupidity! And I'm not just talking about her! You know You-Know-Who wants the pair of you killed! And you're just making it easier!"

"We'd have left here by now if it wasn't for you!"

"Oh, you will be leaving here if it's the last thing I do but not together!"

"I'm not leaving her!"

"You will if you really care about her!" said Ron hotly. "Can't you get it into your bloody thick skull that you're not the one to rescue her this time? That the closer you are to her the more she's likely to get hurt?" He narrowed his eyes. "You know, Harry, I think Hermione was right about you," he said quickly. "You do have a 'saving people thing.' And you want to be the hero again. But if you don't get away from her now, you're going to get her and the rest of us killed just - "

Ron's voice trailed off. His face suddenly went from red to white. There was a sudden horrible silence in the bathroom then Harry took a step closer to his best friend.

"Go on," he said in a low haunting voice. "What's stopping you, mate?"

Ron opened his mouth again but sound did not find its way out.

"N - nothing, Harry, look, I - "

"JUST LIKE I KILLED SIRIUS, ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO SAY?"

Ron took a step backward.

"You've got it wrong, mate," he said evenly. "I wasn't going to say anything about Sirius. But if we don't get out of here now - "

Before Harry knew what was happening, his right fist had swung toward Ron's left cheek. Ron's hand went up and parried the blow, however. He was about to swing his right fist back when Hermione stepped between them and, with surprising force, shoved them both away from each other.

"Just stop it! Both of you! NOW!"

No one was more surprised than Hermione, however, when she had the last word for at that precise moment, there came a deafening crash from somewhere very nearby.

Then the lights went out.

Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron drew out their wands and moved cautiously toward the door of the bathroom, an unspoken foreboding ending their argument like a rush of cold water on open flame. Ron was first to the door. He pushed it open with his foot, and eased out into the corridor. After a moment's pause, he motioned the others to follow him.

The corridor was now eerily silent, absent the slightest echo of the thundering crash they had heard only moments before. Like the bathroom they had just left, however, the lanterns in the corridor were guiltless of light. Moreover, while the bathroom had still been lit through the light from the window, the corridor ahead of them was considerably darker.

Hermione nervously pointed her wand out in front of her.

"Lumos," she said.

Nothing happened.

Ron tried his next and then Harry and Ginny but the result was the same each time.

"What's going on?" asked Ron.

"I don't know," replied Harry.

"What's that sound?" asked Ginny.

Harry strained his ears to listen. It sounded like a low howling sound was coming up the corridor. A gust of wind blew up and ruffled Ginny's hair.

"It's the wind," said Harry. "And it's coming from down over here."

He pointed his wand back in the direction of the main entranceway he had burst through less than an hour before.

"Maybe someone left the main door open," said Hermione, but she did not sound very certain.

His wand outstretched, Harry headed briskly up the corridor into darkness, trailed closely by the others.

"Harry, be careful," said Hermione. "We can't see very well what's down there."

"It's getting lighter," Harry responded.

Indeed, as they walked more quickly toward the end of the corridor, they could see soft sunlight playing across the far wall. Ron, Harry, and Ginny each considered in their own minds what Hermione had said, but they also knew that the main door was windowless and very nearly always shut.

Harry reached the end of the hallway, turned the corner, and then stopped sharply causing Ron, Ginny, and Hermione to almost bump into him.

None of them spoke.

There could now be very little question what had caused the crash. Harry's immediate impression was that the gates of hell had opened up to swallow the one secure foundation left in his life, literally as well as figuratively. For where once had stood the main door to the school, there was now only a gaping hole that stretched up from the remains of the door to the second-story ceiling. Wind rushed in through the gap, blowing an assortment of leaves and dust out into the corridor. They could see clear through to the midday sun shining brightly on the peacefully swaying trees of the grounds and the rich lawn of green. It was almost grotesquely tranquil.

But as Harry looked more closely, even this image seemed strangely distorted, like someone had turned up the hue on a television too far to the right. As he started to walk up the corridor toward the remains of the door, followed now at a cautious distance by his friends, he could see that the stone slabs that had once lined the front of the building seemed to have been pushed roughly away by someone or something with enormous size and strength. There was something odd about this, too, though, apart from the obvious fact that their school was now missing a large chunk of what had once been its wall. It wasn't until they had reached the opening and looked out across the threshold of the gap to the school grounds beyond that Harry realized what it was: the slabs now lay strewn around the grass in front of the opening like the ruins of a stone circle. But that meant -

"The wall has been pushed out from the inside," said Hermione. "Whoever did this was already inside the castle."

None of the others responded. But they knew that what she had said was right even if they didn't know how or why. Harry squinted. The scene outside was still the wrong color, if that was possible. The green of the leaves and grass looked like it had been painted on. Harry was reminded of an unusually large storm that had once swept in from the sea and toppled the power lines on Privet Drive like matchsticks. Then as now sky and earth had looked strangely green.

Harry was struggling with how to convey his strange impressions to the others when a hand touched his shoulder. He looked down to see Ginny who pointed his head toward the sky. He looked around to see that Ron and Hermione were doing the same. Still, none of them spoke.

With a horrible knawing sense of dread, Harry looked up himself and beheld the single most horrifying display of magical power he had ever seen. The only thing he could compare to his terrified awe was the time he had first seen Hagrid stoke the fires of the Dursleys' shack on the sea with his umbrella and he had known without a doubt that there was such a thing as magic. But on that occasion Harry had been filled with the wonder of a new world open to his eyes for the very first time. Now he couldn't help but think that everything he loved and believed in was closing in around him.

For blanketing the sky around them was the grotesque snake-like face of the Dark Mark, higher and wider than any Harry had ever seen. The bleeding green glow seemed to stretch for miles over the forest and the mountains around them, capturing the horizon completely. But despite its size, Harry could see that the horrible face at the center of the mark was pointed directly at them. Whoever had cast the mark had done so from very near the point at which they now stood.

It was Ginny who broke the silence first.

"Where are all the people?" she asked.

"What?" asked Ron.

"The students," Ginny replied. "All of the students were out on the lawn. Now they're gone."

Harry looked out to see that Ginny was right. But now that Harry thought about it, the lawn had already been deserted when he had run up from Hogsmeade. Harry was certain, however, that he had not imagined opening the main doors when he had made his way back inside the school. Whoever had cast the Dark Mark and blown out the doors of the school had done so after he - and Ron and Hermione for that matter - had left for the bathroom. It seemed almost certain that the blowing out of the doors and the casting of the Dark Mark (which now that Harry thought about it, might well have come from a single curse) was the cause of the noise they had heard just a few moments before. But then who had conjured the Dark Mark and where were they now?

Hermione broke into Harry's thoughts.

"Well, look," she said, a little brusquely. "What are we going to do now?"

Ron looked nervously between the blown out door and the grounds outside.

"Well, we've got to get out of here, haven't we?" he seemed to decide. "I mean we can't just hang about in here with You Know Who and his goonies around. I mean, they're obviously in here, aren't they? Winky was right."

"How are we going to do that?" retorted Ginny. "We can't very well go running across the lawn. We'd be easy targets if anyone was up in the castle watching us!"

"Perhaps we should find out where everyone else went," suggested Harry.

"How are we going to do that?" said Hermione. "We can't very well go and ask, can we?"

"Oh, dears!" said a voice behind them.

The four Gryffindors spun around, their wands out. Professor Dibble raised her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Oh, put those things away, children!" she cried. "No," she said suddenly, her eyes widening in alarm. "On second thought, you'd better leave them out. Oh dear, we are in terrible trouble! But thank goodness I've found you all! We'd hoped Mr. Potter hadn't gone to Hogsmeade. Now, come along! Quickly!"

None of the others moved right away.

"Professor Dibble," said Harry, uncomfortably aware that he was looking for answers from a witch whose greatest skill to this point had been burning holes in desks and students' shoes. "What's going on?"

"The Death Eaters have attacked the school! They're apparating in and out of everywhere. I don't know how it's possible but they are. We've gotten everyone upstairs in the Astronomy Tower. It seems they still can't reach us there. Now come on before they find you!"

Whatever their recent disagreements, Ron and Harry now shared a glance and each could see that the other was thinking the same. Winky had told them what Voldemort was planning and the mightiest evidence so far supported her story: the safest place for Harry to be was as far away from Hogwarts as possible. But on the other hand, there was no telling what might happen if he tried to leave.

For the moment Harry was trapped, along with his friends, which was perhaps what Voldemort had planned all along.

Dibble led them along the darkened corridor. It seemed that she had fared no better than any of them in getting her wand to cast light. They walked back in the direction they had come, past the bathroom and on toward the secondary staircases that eventually led up to the Astronomy Tower. With every quickened step, they found themselves pitched ever further into darkness until all of them relied more on years of memory of the school's twisting pathways than anything they could see with their eyes.

"Professor," said Hermione, struggling to keep pace with Dibble. "Why won't our wands work?"

If Hermione was seeking reassurance from Dibble, she did not find it.

"I'm afraid I don't know, dear," came the uneasy reply. "It must be some form of dark magic. Oh, we are in terrible trouble, I'm afraid."

At this, Dibble quickened her pace even more, causing the others to follow at a trot. As Harry jogged quickly across the stone hallway, he felt a shiver run up his body and he visibly shuddered. It still felt cold in the castle, even with the summer heat outside, but he doubted it was the temperature that had caused him to shake. He mustn't lose his nerve now!

Just as Harry thought this, however, he felt a small hand take hold of his own and looked down to see Ginny, who seemed to have been watching him closely, walking alongside. And just as his feeling of cold had not been the cold of the castle around him, so Harry now felt warmer than the simple sensation of Ginny's hand against his should ever have warmed his body. If only they could somehow get through this, he thought, alive and together.

"Scared?" he whispered to Ginny so that only she could hear.

Ginny shook her head with conviction, her eyes not leaving Harry's.

After a long moment, Harry forced his eyes away from Ginny's and back to the hallway in front of them. It seemed much darker now than it had been earlier when the sunlight from the hole in the castle wall had shone their way. Harry was having trouble seeing very far in front and hoped there was only an empty corridor ahead. He tried not to think that if what Professor Dibble had said was true, a Death Eater could apparate out of the shadows at any moment and there would be little that any of them could do.

But even as Harry thought how dark it was, he swore he could see an even blacker silhouette standing just ahead of them. At first, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him but as they grew closer, he felt sure it was not his own imagination. There was definitely someone standing in front of them, dressed completely in black.

Harry was about to open his mouth to warn the others when he heard Dibble say in a nervously quivering voice:

"Who's there? Come out and show yourself!"

There was a shuffling sound and the black-clad figure withdrew a hood to reveal a face as pale white as the wearer's cloak was dark.

Dibble sighed loudly.

"Oh, headmaster, you gave me such an awful fright!"

"Forgive me, Professor," replied Snape, oddly stressing the last word as though it belonged only within a set of quotation marks. "I was anxious not to be seen by any of the Death Eaters. You've found Potter, I see."

"Oh, yes," replied Dibble. "Oh, it's awful, headmaster! There are Death Eaters everywhere and our wands won't work!"

"I think you'll discover your wands are still very much functional, Professor," replied Snape, his voice as calm as Dibble's was anxious. "Someone has used dark magic in this hallway to ensure that no object can produce its own light. However," Snape took his right hand out from behind his back to reveal a glowing tip on the end of his own wand. "My own wand is protected by certain - counter curses."

Harry was sure Snape had smiled for a moment.

"Oh, thank heavens, headmaster!" replied Dibble airily. "Well, we'd better be off then."

But none of the students moved.

"How do you know this?" asked Hermione neutrally.

"Miss Granger!" retorted Dibble. "The headmaster - "

Snape held up a hand. "Not to worry, Professor," he said, in a tone that reminded Harry of a purring tiger. "I have long grown accustomed to Miss Granger's infernal questions. As it so happens, girl," he said slowly, "I am well versed in defenses against the Dark Arts, considerably more so than any of the witless succession of Defense masters you have suffered these past few years."

"I wonder why Dumbledore never gave you the job then?" asked Ron acidly.

Snape turned to him and simply stared for a moment, then, as if exerting no small amount of self-control, said:

"I haven't the faintest idea, Mr. Weasley. Perhaps you'd like to ask when you next see him. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I suggest we get moving. We'll have plenty of time to chat later if and when this castle is secure."

Professor Dibble didn't need to be told twice. The light from Snape's wand had revealed the secondary staircase almost directly in front of them. Breathing a sigh of relief, she grabbed hold of the banister and began making her way noisily up the stairs.

"I wouldn't go up there if I were you, Professor," said Snape. "As I came down here to inform you, this particular path has been blocked by Death Eaters. It's quite simple, really," he added, as if explaining arithmetic to a child. "The Death Eaters know that the Tower is secure. They are expecting you to follow this path as it is the only one they know of. Fortunately, however, I am aware of one other." Snape gestured to the dark open hallway ahead of them.

Dibble quickly took her hand away from the banister as though she had found it on fire and walked down the steps and out to the corridor ahead of them. She had walked several paces again when Snape's voice said:

"One more thing, Professor."

Dibble stopped walking and turned around.

Snape looked to the other students.

"Is Miss Weasley among you?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked around to see Ginny emerge from where she had been standing just behind Harry into the faint light cast by Snape's wand. She looked up at Snape with such an expression that even the normally implacable acting headmaster seemed to step slightly backwards.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked, an icy coldness reflecting in the light of Snape's wand on her eyes.

"I am naturally concerned for your safety," replied Snape laconically. "Not, of course, that I expect you to appreciate this. You were missing and unaccounted for. Now if you all wouldn't mind."

Snape stretched out the long hand that held his illuminated wand in the direction of the dark corridor ahead of them.

While Professor Dibble seemed all too eager to leave what she apparently assumed was much greater danger behind them, it was not without great reluctance that the four Gryffindors followed Snape further down the first floor corridor. Nevertheless, more out of a concern to stay alert in the dark passageway than any well-thought decision to leave themselves in Snape's hands, each of them remained silent. They soon passed two other staircases but Snape had chosen to take neither of them, claiming that he knew a safer path. Finally, they reached the end of the corridor entirely and came upon a small door. Snape quickly opened the door and began to walk down a narrow set of steps. It was only then that the students hesitated once more.

It was yet again Hermione who voiced the question which all of them were thinking.

"Why are we going down the stairs when we're supposed to be going up to the Astronomy Tower?"

Snape turned around.

"It may seem difficult for one with such a narrowly logical mind to understand," he replied cuttingly, "but the passages in the castle are rarely straightforward, as I think you and your friends have discovered on your many illicit journeys through this school."

There was no immediate response from the others. Hermione sensed Professor Dibble fussing behind her like a mother hen.

"Come on, children, really! Down you go. Follow the headmaster! Quickly!"

Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron looked at each other nervously and then Harry, Ginny, Dibble, and Ron followed Snape down into the pit of the staircase which they could see at once was even darker than the hallway they had just left. After a moment's reluctance, Hermione followed.

As they walked, Hermione found that the steps grew steeper and steeper the further they went and she and the others were forced to walk slowly. At the same time, however, Snape's own pace seemed to quicken, lengthening the distance between her and their only source of light. This in turn made things much darker and the steps even harder and slower to descend. Then, after it seemed like they had walked for some way, Ron stopped in front of her. She was too far away to see Snape and his wand light now but she heard him say:

"Alohomora."

Hermione heard the sound of a catch unclicking. A door in front of them opened with a slow creak. Then the group ahead moved on.

Finally, Hermione followed the others through a small doorway and into a short but wider low-ceilinged room. Level with the others, she could now see Snape and the light in front of him. From this, she could see another door. Snape moved slowly toward it. His hand closed on the handle but then a familiar voice rang out from somewhere in front of Hermione.

"Step away from the door."

It was Harry.

Snape turned around, and Hermione could see from the light of his wand which he now pointed slightly upwards and back toward them that he wore a slightly amused look on his face. She could also now see that Harry was pointing his own wand directly at Snape.

Hermione moved cautiously to the side of the others and could see an expression of fierce determination on Harry's face. Neither Ron nor Ginny seemed particularly surprised at Harry's defiance and Hermione wondered what she herself looked like at the moment. Dibble, however, who seemed to step further away from the others, looked back and forth between Harry and Snape in complete bewilderment.

"Mr. - Mr. Potter, what on Earth?" she said. "Mr. Potter, put that thing away!"

"No," said Harry evenly. "Not until he's told us exactly what he's doing and where he's taking us."

"Headmaster Snape has already explained to Miss Granger," retorted Dibble. "The way is not so direct, I'll admit, but the Headmaster is trying to save our lives. The least you could do - "

"I wonder if this indirect route leads us straight to the original room," Harry interrupted, "where we know Voldemort is hiding this very moment!"

"Do we now, Potter?" said Snape idly, his wand continuing to light part of his face which now looked like a melting candle. "I wasn't aware we knew anything of the sort. And how may I ask did you come across this information?"

Harry looked quickly back at the other students but it was Dibble who spoke up next.

"The original - " she spluttered, still looking at Harry with an expression of complete incomprehension. "The original what? What's he talking about?"

Hermione thought quickly. She tried to trace in her mind where exactly it was in the school they were standing at the moment. The kitchen was still in the other wing but, of course, there was another entrance to the room, wasn't there? That's what Harry had found out from Malfoy during their duel and that was how Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had found their way into the room that day, wasn't it? And given how large the room was -

Hermione could see right away that she was not the only one thinking along these lines for at that moment Ron and Ginny raised their own wands at Snape.

Snape raised an eyebrow in Hermione's direction.

"Not you, Miss Granger? But of course, you must hold onto the pretense of adhering to school rules until it becomes convenient for you to break them."

In response, Hermione raised her own wand.

Dibble shook her head.

"I don't know what you children are thinking but we're wasting time! The Death Eaters - "

"I would save your breath, Professor," said Snape conversationally. "This isn't the first time Potter and his friends have tried to stop me from saving their lives. I've said it before, Potter, but I see it bears saying again: you are so very much like your father. He, too, was always surrounded by a witless gang of supporters, all of whom hoped to feed off something of his imagined glory on the Quidditch pitch. As I told you in my letter, I could care less if you or any of your friends survive this day, but I would prefer to save myself and Professor Dibble, so if you don't mind - "

Snape moved toward the door again.

Hermione gasped as a bright streak of blue light flew past Snape's right ear and blew a hole in the stone wall just above the door.

"I SAID KEEP AWAY FROM THE DOOR!"

Snape turned around again.

"We are not moving from this spot until you have answered several of my questions," said Harry with authority before Snape could speak.

Hermione could see that Snape still had an amused expression on his face. It had taken the combined curses of Ron, Harry, and herself to disarm him during their third year. She wasn't sure how they would fare this time if Snape really tried to be aggressive in return. She wondered if Harry was thinking this, too.

"How did you know where to find us?" Harry demanded.

"I have learned to look for you and your friends where trouble is most being caused, in this case, right underneath where the Dark Mark was cast."

"I think you cast that mark while we were in the bathroom, then ran back to stand by the stairway so that you'd be there when we arrived."

"You'll hardly make even a passing auror at this rate, Potter. Didn't you hear Professor Dibble? Anyone could have cast that mark. Death Eaters are apparating and disapparating all over the building every minute, which is why - "

"How did you know Ginny was with us?" asked Harry, his voice rising. "Why did you think to look for her? She could have been in Hogsmeade."

"You may have been blind all these years, Potter, but others - "

"You sent me that note!" cried Harry. "Dumbledore and the Order don't know anything about that, do they? You wanted me to stay in the school, not to keep me safe, but to make sure no one was here to rescue me!"

"And what do you think I am trying to do now, Potter?" said Snape with a tone of one very near the end of his patience.

"I think you're trying to take us to Voldemort."

It was over very quickly.

They could hear but not see two doors opening on either side of them. Masked, darkened shapes slid into the room with such graceful stealth that their feet hardly seemed to touch the ground. Before any of the others had time to react, the Death Eaters had seized each their wands and grabbed every one of them.

Everyone, that was, but Snape who continued to stand unmoving, his expression unchanged, his wand still pointed up to his face and away from the others.

No one spoke for a moment. It was as if they were all rooted to the spot like wind-up toys whose acts had wound to a close.

"H - H - Headmaster," stammered Dibble finally. "What's going on? W - Who are these people?"

But before Dibble had even finished her question, Snape was already rolling up the sleeve of his left arm, his face curling in a horrible approximation of a smile. The lines on his waxy face grotesquely exaggerated in the dim light of his wand, Snape looked hardly more natural than Lord Voldemort himself. As Snape gradually exposed the Dark Mark etched in his forearm, Hermione had the horrible feeling she was looking at him for the very first time.

"Isn't it obvious, Professor?" replied Snape, a leery edge to his voice. "These people are Death Eaters. And as you can see, so am I."

Dibble's eyes bulged at the sight of the mark on Snape's arm.

"I - I don't understand."

"I didn't suppose you would," Snape retorted. "As it so happens, Potter was right about me. It has pained me a great deal to see you destroy my laboratory this year, Professor, as it has been to serve under Dumbledore all these years finally to gain the naïve old fool's trust. But at last I was able to assume the position where I could serve my Lord most effectively, to where I could deliver both Hogwarts and Potter to him, which I intend to do this very afternoon."

"I always knew you couldn't be trusted," said Harry. "I knew you had never really left Voldemort."

Hermione realized that Harry was right. Harry had refused to trust Snape even after Dumbledore had confirmed his double agent status on the night of the Third Task. He had challenged him duing the Occlumency lessons the previous year and refused to return. He had also consistently refused to tell Snape anything that had happened to them this year, even after Dumbledore - and Hermione herself - had repeatedly told him he should.

But Snape was shaking his head.

"On the contrary, Potter," he said, in a strangely methodical tone, as if explaining a procedure in the potions classroom. "You have always trusted me really. You were wary of me, yes, but just like Dumbledore, you had the arrogance to believe that anyone with enough experience and sense would eventually be swayed to the self-righteous life of the Gryffindor. That I could be, somehow, redeemed in your eyes from whatever my past sins may have been. But no one remembered, especially not Dumbledore, and not even you, that I saw the swaggering hypocrisy of the Gryffindor way when I was a student myself and I've never forgotten the lesson.

"Still I confess my amazement at the degree to which Dumbledore continued to trust me. He knew much more than most what I'd done, how close I'd been to the Dark Lord. He gave me the keys to this school. He even depended on me this year to mix potions for him to deceive the Dark Lord into thinking he had gained access to Hogwarts. But it was never my Lord whom I truly deceived. The Dark Lord always knows when someone is lying to him; Dumbledore, on the other hand, would nurse a lion to health, believing it had never really meant to attack him.

"And you're just the same, Potter. Unlike Professor Dibble here, you and your friends have seen this mark on my arm before but you were too blind to understand what it really meant. One never leaves the service of Lord Voldemort. You never doubted my intentions in sending you that note telling you to remain in the castle. For all your childish games at rule-breaking you never stopped to think for a moment that I would really betray you or Dumbledore and his witless crusade against the Dark Lord. I thought that leading you here would be the hardest part of my plan, but you even let me take you to the very threshold of the chamber where my Lord awaits you, believing all of my feeble lies about finding another route. You always thought I would really protect you. You really believed I had saved your life from that fool Quirrell so that the Dark Lord wouldn't take you, but let me get one thing straight, Potter."

Snape's voice started to quiver and rise. His eyes watered as he looked across at Harry with the unblinking eyes of a fanatic.

"I kept you alive all these years for one reason and one reason alone: so that one day I could deliver you to my fully strengthened and returned Lord and Master! And now that day has come!"

Snape's lips straightened as he motioned quickly in the direction of the still open door. Hermione was grabbed from behind by one of the Death Eaters. She tried to twist out of his grip but still felt herself half-carried, half-shoved to the entranceway. She looked around to see that the others were not faring any better. A mane of silver hair from the back of a Death Eater's mask walked into the light of Snape's wand. Lucius Malfoy had hold of a struggling Harry and tried to take hold of Ginny with his other arm when Snape put up his hand.

"Miss Weasley stays here with me."

Malfoy let go of Ginny's arm. Harry started to struggle even more but Malfoy kept both of his arms wrapped tightly around him in a vice-like grip, all the time poking Harry's own wand into his back. Hermione winced as her own captor followed his example.

Even as he kept hold of Harry, however, Malfoy stopped and stared at Snape. Behind his mask it was not possible to see what was written on his face but Hermione had the sudden impression there was no love loss between them.

"The Dark Lord wishes it," Snape replied to Malfoy's unasked question.

Malfoy still did not move forward. The other Death Eaters stopped, too, holding their captives at bay but clearly uncertain what to do and where to go next.

"Do you doubt my loyalty still?" Snape's voice rose sharply. "Perhaps I should give you a little demonstration, just so you can feel sure."

Hermione felt the bile rise in her throat. She was very sure something awful was about to happen and desperately did not want the next moment to come. She suddenly hoped Malfoy would say something - anything - to ameliorate Snape but she also knew he had no interest at all in doing so.

Hermione stopped struggling and saw that Harry, Ginny, and Ron had done the same. It was as if they all hoped that Snape's attention would be diverted elsewhere. Only a single asynchronous sound of shuffling struggle could still be heard. Like an animal sensing only the movement of a prey too frightened to remain standing still, Snape raised his bony arm. The Death Eater who was guarding Professor Dibble quickly let go of her. Dibble tried to make a clumsy leap for the door to the stairs. The Death Eater did not move to follow. And then in a horribly cold hoarse voice, Snape cried out:

"Avada Kedavra!"

The darkened room was suddenly lit full with a bright flash of green light from Snape's wand. Dibble was hit squarely in the back. For a moment, she seemed to keep moving forward but then with a sick cry that ended in a gurgle, she crumpled to the ground and lay there motionless in a darkness that returned as swiftly as it had been broken.

No one said a word. Snape's wand returned slowly to his face.

"Lumos," he said softly.

The wand lit up again and Hermione could see that Snape still wore the misshapen expression that passed for a smile. She was certain she was going to be sick.

Malfoy stared at Snape for a moment, then pushed Harry forward with his wand. Snape turned around and grabbed hold of Ginny's shoulder and pulled her further back into the shadows away from the door. Hermione felt horribly numb when she saw Harry's face as he watched Ginny slipping away from him.

"What do you want with her?" Ron demanded, struggling against the Death Eater who held him again.

"I'm not going to let you take her!" Harry cried.

He wrestled himself free of Malfoy and tried to launch himself at Snape. He was inches away when Snape's still lit wand caught him on the bridge of his nose.

"Need to I remind you, Potter," he said icily, "what this wand can do?"

Harry clenched his teeth and did not move.

Snape raised the wand and seemed about to open his mouth when Ginny's voice cried out from the shadows:

"No, Harry, don't! You can't stop him, not now! Just go!"

Harry turned to look in the direction of Ginny's voice, a terribly hollow look in his eyes.

"Please, Harry," said Ginny again. "I love you."

Harry looked like he was opening his mouth to respond in kind but only a soft moan came out. And Hermione realized that there was nothing Harry could say to express the emotional eddies that now twisted inside him.

A low rumbling sound filled the room like a distant thunder. It took Hermione a moment to realize the Death Eaters were laughing behind their masks.

And then Hermione heard something else, something that chilled her even more than all that had just past. It was the sound of madness and it cried out piercingly from right behind her left ear.

"I wuv you!" mimicked the mocking voice.

Harry's head swung around to look at the Death Eater holding Hermione, an expression on his face almost worse than the one he had just worn when Snape had forced Ginny away from his side, if that were possible. For now he was looking into the masked face of his godfather's murderer, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Lestrange seemed to grow excited at the same expression that froze and horrified Hermione. She could sense her horrible excited fidgeting and hear her quickened breath as her cold hands restrained Hermione even more tightly.

"Let me punish Potter myself!" she cried raspily, "before we go ahead to meet our Lord. Let me remind him of the consequence of his insolence!"

"Potter will have all the reminder he needs once the Dark Lord has seen him," Snape cooed chillingly.

Hermione could feel Lestrange growing even more agitated.

"Just one Cruciatus would surely not damage him too much! Or," she added quickly, her voice flourishing into an obscene crescendo, "perhaps wee Pottie would prefer it if I were to strike this one."

Hermione winced as she felt Lestrange's wand dig deep into the side of her neck. She clenched her fists in horrible anticipation of the pain her captor was about to unleash but Snape's horrible voice rang out again, this time louder.

"That is enough! You do not know Potter and his friends like I do! Any commotion and you risk the chance of their escape and everything the Dark Lord has worked for. Or," Snape added into a hiss, "do you wish to fail him yet again?"

Hermione panted heavily as Lestrange released her wand from the side of her neck. Her relief was short-lived, however, as Snape motioned them on. She drew in a breath as Malfoy grabbed a struggling Harry and opened the door ahead of them.

"Lumos," he said.

The light from Malfoy's wand revealed a musty corridor just like the one that had led from the kitchens when they had first explored the hidden room. Snape trained his own wand back to the others. Malfoy held Harry's wand at his back in his left hand while holding his own aloft. He shoved Harry forward hard through the door.

Harry had walked no more than a few steps forward into the corridor proper when he let out a small gasp and fell to the floor, clutching his forehead in pain.

Malfoy pointed Harry's wand at his back, his body tensing for fear that Harry's pain was a ruse but Snape merely muttered to no one in particular:

"The Dark Lord managed to set up a thought shield after Potter's last attempt to rescue Miss Weasley, with some help from me, of course."

"You bloody little bastard," Ron spat suddenly, as Harry slowly dragged himself to his feet, clutching his forehead. "I'll make sure you rot in Azkaban forever for this, if I don't kill you myself!"

"And I'll make sure you never have the chance to put me there," replied Snape calmly.

The Death Eaters laughed again. Lestrange's shrill glee seemed to come from the center of Hermione's head. The Death Eater guarding Ron shoved him through the door behind Malfoy and Harry so hard that Ron hit his head on the low ceiling.

Hermione felt a prod in her own back and Lestrange's horrible rancid breath on the side of her face. She moved forward to follow Ron and the Death Eater guarding him. She looked back briefly at Ginny but saw only Snape's silhouette pointing his wand now in Hermione's direction, Ginny behind him. Hermione turned away and looked up at the hallway she was entering. She felt the footsteps of Lestrange just behind hers and twisted against his arm only to wince in pain when Lestrange dug her right hand roughly into the tender skin just below Hermione's rib cage and prodded her forward again. A further sound of footsteps told her that the Death Eater who had been guarding Dibble had now fallen in step behind them. She knew they were much too bunched up for any one of them to try to escape now. All they could do was continue to move forward.

Hermione fought hard to repress the feeling of claustrophobia that gripped her like a glove as the Death Eaters walked them all forward. She could hear her heart pounding somewhere in the region of her throat as the corridor grew narrower and sloped slightly downwards just like the other. Then, when the walls had grown in so close that Hermione almost had to walk sideways to fit, the hallway leveled out and widened to a small alcove. From the light of Malfoy's wand, Hermione could see a wooden door in front of them with a brass handle in the shape of the Hogwarts crest.

They stopped for a moment. In the silence, Hermione could sense the door vibrating every few seconds. She found herself starting to shake. There was no doubt in her mind where this door led and who was waiting behind it.

Malfoy's cold crisp voice cut through the small air of the enclosed space as if he had been reading Hermione's thoughts:

"Let's not keep the Dark Lord waiting then."

Malfoy reached past Harry and turned the brass knocker to the right.

Hermione sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. She was about to meet the creature of all of her nightmares.

The door opened.