Harry's POV

"Aren't you supposed to be looking for something?"

"What? Oh!" I take a few deep breaths and clean the tears. "Oh yeah!"

I almost forgot about the Horcrux. Almost. I peek at my sister's body, because I have to stop referring to it as my sister. She's gone. No longer there. Never coming back:

Okay, stop it now! Just focus on the task and as soon as you're done, come back for her.

I look around the room as people start walking to me. The Weasleys state at her body, silent tears running down Mrs Weasley's face. The twins are gripping each other's hands and I can't help but feel a tingle of jealousy. They still have each other.

Snap out of it!

Easier said than done.

The battle that is being fought right now because of me and Lilith, this never ending war... I have to put a stop to it. But where are Hermione and Ron? I'm getting worried and they're nowhere to be seen.

"Then go, Potter, go!"

"Right... Yeah..."

I sense every eye in the room following me as I grab my sister, circle my arms around her frail figure, and run out of the Great Hall again, into the entrance hall, still crowded with the students who're about to leave.

Some stop and stare, others ignore me as I walk by, my sister in my arms. I have to stop referring to this body as my sister. She's no longer here. Get a grip, Harry. The only person who stops me as I search for a safe spot to hide her body is Malfoy. He stares at her with wide wet eyes and caresses her cheek with the back of his hand. I don't move.

"What happened?" He asks, his voice soft as if not to wake her up.

"Ask your great master. He did this to her, Voldemort killed my sister! Are you happy? You and his beloved followers did this to her!"

He snaps out of his daze and stares at me with pure hatred.

"Do you really think I'd hurt her?" He asks, and I nod. "Then you're wrong. Everything I did was to protect her from this life, but it still got to her. And I understand it was my fault, I fell in love with her and I brought her to this life. It's my fault. Only my fault."

For the first time since I met him, he shakes with sadness and cries like a baby in front of me. Like a crying baby. He sobs against his hands and looks up at her from time to time.

"I love her so much." He confesses and I stare at him with a blank face. "I've loved her since I saw her on the train before fifth year. She was... So beautiful, and feisty, and everything. I miss her."

"I miss her too." I admit. "I know Lilith wanted us to stop fighting and hating each other..."

"I'll do it if you'll do it." He says, brushing his face.

"I'll do it if you'll do it." I repeat. He sticks his hand out for me to shake and I shake it for a few seconds before clutching my sister to my body. "She'd be so happy."

"She would."

"I have to go but-"

"I know where to hide her." He says, trying to help. "The Slytherin dorms are the last place they'd search in."

This is the moment. I have to choose if I can trust him or not. But Lilith trusted him with her life. That has to mean something. I have to trust her judgment.

"Fine. Take good care of her."

"I will." He takes her from my arms and I miss her.

I allow myself to run up the staircase with them, but at the top, I step away from the crowd and hurry off along a deserted corridor. All I can think of is my sister's dead body. I try to concentrate and focus on finding the Horcrux, but my thoughts buzz as I think of Hermione and Ron. What if they're in danger? What is Voldemort got to them?

What if they're dead like my sister?

No, I can't think like this. They're fine. Probably. Okay. Stop.

Without them here to help me I can't do it. And now that she's gone, I have nothing to hold me here. I slow down, stopping halfway along an empty passage, sitting down with my back against a statue. I remember something that can help me find Ron and Hermione.

The Marauder's Map.

But, to my disappointment, I can't find their names. There are too many dots moving around the castle for me to understand who's who. I put the map away, close my eyes and press my hands over my face, trying to concentrate.

Voldemort thought I'd go to Ravenclaw Tower.

Then maybe that's a sign! He feared I already knew his Horcrux is somehow connected to that house. But the only objects anyone seems to associate with Ravenclaw is the lost diadem. How did Voldemort find it? How? No one knew where it was, at least nobody alive.

Alive...

"Oh my Merlin!"

My eyes open again and I jump like there's someone's pinching my butt.

I run like hell is on my heels until the sound of hundreds of people marching towards the Room of Requirement grows louder and louder and I return to the marble stairs. Prefects are shouting instructions, trying to keep track of the students in their own Houses; I notice Zacharias Smith bowling over first years to get to the front of the queue; here and there younger students are in tears, while older ones call desperately for friends or siblings.

I catch sight of a pearly white figure drifting across the entrance hall and yell as loudly as I can over the noise.

"Nick! NICK! I need to talk to you!"

I force my way back through the students, finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, where Nearly Headless Nick, ghost of Gryffindor Tower, stands waiting for me.

"Harry! My dear boy!"

Nick grasps my hands and they feel cold as if someone threw me inside a cold lake.

"Nick, you've got to help me. Who's the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?"

Nearly Headless Nick looks surprised and a little offended.

"The Gray Lady, of course; but if it is ghostly services you require-"

"It's got to be her! Do you know where she is?" I interrupt, very impatient.

"Let's see..." Nick's head wobbles a little as he turns, peering over the heads of the swarming students. "That's her over there, Harry, the young woman with the long hair."

I look in the direction of Nick's transparent, pointing finger and see a tall ghost who catches me looking at her, raising her eyebrows and rifting away thought a wall.

I quickly run after her. I walk through the the door of the corridor into which she disappeared, and see her at the very end of the passage, still smoothly drifting away from me.

"Hey-wait, come back!" I call, in the hopes of her stopping.

She pauses, floating a few inches from the ground. She's beautiful, with her waist-length hair and floor-length cloak, but she also looks haughty and proud. I walk to her and pause next to her floating body. I recognize her as one of the ghosts I used to pass by several times in the corridor, but I've never talked to her.

"You're the Gray Lady?"

She nods but does not speak.

"The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?"

"That is correct." Her tone is not encouraging.

"Please, I need some help. I need to know anything you can tell me about the lost diadem."

A cold smile curves her lips, as she turns to leave and speaks to me one last time.

"I am afraid that I cannot help you."

"WAIT!" I didn't mean to shout, but the anger and panic are threatening to overwhelm me. They're throwing me around like a ragged doll, and the fear of losing everything and everyone is crashing down at me.

I glance at my watch as she hovers in front of me. I have fifteen minutes till midnight.

"This is urgent." I say fiercely. "If that diadem's at Hogwarts, I've got to find it, fast."

"You are hardly the first student to covet the diadem. Generations of students have badgered me-"

"This isn't about trying to get better marks!" I shout at her. "It's about Voldemort-defeating Voldemort-or aren't you interested in that?"

Of course I-how dare you suggest-" She sounds embarrassed.

"Well, help me, then!"

Her composure is slipping, as she looks around and plays with her fingers.

"It is not a question of-" She stammers. "My mother's diadem-"

"Your mother's?"

She looks angry with herself.

"When I lived, I was Helena Ravenclaw."

"You're her daughter? But then, you must know what happened to it!"

"While the diadem bestows wisdom, I doubt that it would greatly increase your chances of defeating the wizard who calls himself Lord-"

"Haven't I just told you, I'm not interested in wearing it!" I almost scream at her again. "There's no time to explain, but if you care about Hogwarts, if you want to see Voldemort finished, you've got to tell me anything you know about the diadem!"

She remains quite still, floating in midair, staring down at me, and a sense of hopelessness engulfs me. Of course, if she knew anything, she would have told Flitwick or Dumbledore, I believe they asked her the same question. I shake my head and turn away, defeated, when she speaks in a low voice.

"I stole the diadem from my mother."

"Yo-you did what?"

"I stole the diadem." Helena Ravenclaw repeats in a whisper. "I sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother. I ran away with it."

I really don't know how or why she decided to trust me but I'm not complaining. I just listen and occasionally nod as she speaks.

"My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she had it still. She concealed her loss, my dreadful betrayal, even from the other founders of Hogwarts. Then my mother fell ill, fatally ill. In spite of my perfidy, she was desperate to see me one more time. She sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned his advances, to find me. She knew that he would not rest until he had done so."

I wait. She draws a deep breath and throws her head back.

"He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I refused to return with him, he became violent. The Baron was always a hot-tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me."

"The Baron? You mean-?"

"The Bloody Baron, yes." The Gray Lady says, and she lifts aside the cloak she wears to reveal a single dark wound in her white chest. "When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse. He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence... As he should." She adds bitterly.

"And... And the diadem?"

"It remained where I had hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward me. Concealed inside a hollow tree."

"A hollow tree?" I repeat. "What tree? Where was this?"

"A forest in Albania. A lonely place I thought was far beyond my mother's reach."

"Albania..." I whisper. repeated Harry. "You've already told someone this story, haven't you? Another student?"

She closes her eyes and nods.

"I had... No idea... He was... Flattering. He seemed t-to understand... To sympathize."

Yes, Tom Riddle certainly understood Helena Ravenclaw's desire to possess fabulous objects to which she had little right.

"Well, you weren't the first person Riddle wormed things out of. He could be charming when he wanted..." I mutter.

So Voldemort managed to discover the location of the lost diadem the Gray Lady stole from her own mother. Just perfect.

Those secluded woods were the best spot to hide such a precious piece of jewelry. Voldemort, for sure, found a way to hide there for ten years... Then the diadem became his beloved Horcrux, and I'm sure he didn't hide t there... It has to be somewhere... Back to its true home... Secretly, without no one realizing...

When could he-

"-the night he asked for a job!" I say, finishing my thoughts.

"I beg your pardon?"

"He hid the diadem in the castle, the night he asked Dumbledore to let him teach!" I tell the Gray Lady. Saying it out loud makes even more sense. "He must've hidden the diadem on his way up to, or down from, Dumbledore's office! But it was still worth trying to get the job. Then he might've got the chance to steal Gryffindor's sword as well... Thank you, thanks!"

I leave her floating there, looking utterly bewildered. As I round the corner back into the entrance hall, I check my watch. Oh my, five minutes until midnight and now that I know what the last Horcrux is, I'm closer to finding out where it is.

I turn another corner and, lost in thought, don't notice a gigantic body flying in through the window and hitting the opposite wall.

Hagrid. And Fang.

He tells me how he's here to fight with us and how he heard Voldemort's warning. Everyone heard it. We hurry together along the corridor, Fang jumping besides us. I can hear the sounds coming from everywhere around us: running footsteps, shouts and cries for help. Through the windows, I can see more flashes of light in the dark grounds.

"Where're we goin'?" Hagrid puffs.

"I dunno exactly." I answer, making another random turn. "But Ron and Hermione must be around here somewhere..."

And then an idea hits me. Where can someone hide an on object here, in the middle of the school and under everyone's nose without them realizing? Where did we start the DA without Umbridge knowing?

The Room of Requirement!

The shock of finally discovering the location of this last Horcrux almost brings me to my knees.

I almost don't notice Professor Sprout, who is thundering past followed by Neville and half a dozen others, all of them wearing earmuffs and carrying what appears to be large potted plants.

"Mandrakes!" Neville shouts at me over his shoulder as he runs. "Going to lob them over the walls! They won't like this!"

Now that I know where to go, I speed off with Hagrid and Fang puffing behind me. We pass portrait after portrait, as some painted figures run after us, shouting and screaming words of encouragement. As we reach the end of the corridor, the whole castle shakes, and I that it is in the grip of enchantments more sinister than those of the teachers and the Order.

"It's all righ', Fang, it's all righ'!" Hagrid yells, but the animal flies away as trails of colorful spells are sent back and forth outside.

I hear the familiar voice of Sir Cadogan as I leap past them. He shouts words of encouragement at me and I run faster.

"Braggarts and rogues, dogs and scoundrels, drive them out, Harry Potter, see them off!"

Dozens of students and teachers battle against the spells sent by the dark side, and as I walk around the final corner, almost getting there, the Room of Requirement so close, I find Ron and Hermione looking around like lost birds. Their arms as full of large, curved, dirty yellow objects, Ron with a broomstick under his arm.

"Where the hell have you been?" I shout.

"Chamber of Secrets." Ron answers.

"Chamber... W-what?" I ask, coming to a halt beside them.

"It was Ron, all Ron's idea!" Hermione says breathlessly. "Wasn't it absolutely brilliant? There we were, after you left, and I said to Ron, even if we had the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn't gotten rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The basilisk!"

"What the-"

"Something to get rid of Horcruxes." Ron says simply.

My eyes drop to the objects clutched in their arms: curved fangs, torn, now that I realize it, from the skull of a dead basilisk.

"But how did you get in there?" I ask, staring from the fangs to Ron and Hermione.

"You need to speak Parseltongue!" Ron makes a horrible strangled hissing noise. "It's what you did to open the locket. I had to
have a few goes to get it right, but we got there in the end."

"He was amazing!" Hermione compliments him. "Amazing!"

"So ..." I almost hurt my own tongue as I process this information. "So ..."

"So we're another Horcrux down." Ron says, and from under his jacket he pulls the mangled remains of Hufflepuff's cup. "Hermione stabbed it. Thought she should. She hasn't had the pleasure yet."

"Genius!" I yell.

"It was nothing." Ron says, looking delighted with himself. "So what's new with you?"

As he says it, two things happen: the first one inside my own body, the feeling of having my heart taken away from my chest and broken to pieces in front of my eyes; the second one, an explosion from overhead.

Ron and Hermione notice my expression and she puts her hand on my shoulder, expecting an explanation.

"My sister."

Hermione and Ron share a look and conceal their faces from me, talking to each other in hushed tones. I make an effort not to listen to them, but their voices can be heard from the other side of the school.

"What happened to her?"

"I've no idea. Maybe she is getting worse."

"She can't get any worse." I interrupt them. "She's already dead."

They both gasp and lung for me but I turn around and start walking, explaining my plan as they stare at me apprehensively. Changing subjects when something becomes painful is my speciality.

"I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is. He hid it exactly where I hid my old Potions book, where every- one's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come one." I speak fast as I start running, my two friends behind me.

As the walls tremble again, I lead these two through the concealed entrance and down the staircase into the Room of Requirement. It is empty except for three women: Ginny, Tonks, and an elderly witch wearing a very old hat, a woman I recognize as Neville's grandmother.

"Ah, Potter." She says crisply. "You can tell us what's going on."

"Is everyone okay?" Ginny and Tonks say together.

"As far as we know." I answer. "Are there still people in the passage to the Hog's Head?"

The room will not be able to change if there's someone else inside.

"I was the last to come through." Mrs Longbottom says. "I sealed it, I think it is unwise to leave it open now Aberforth has left his pub. Have you seen my grandson?"

"He's fighting." I say.

"Naturally." The old lady says proudly. "Excuse me, I must go and assist him."

With surprising speed she walks off toward the stone steps. I look at Tonks.

"I thought you were supposed to be with Teddy at your mother's?"

"I couldn't stand not knowing." Tonks looks anguished. "She'll look after him. Have you seen Remus?"

"He was planning to lead a group of fighters into the grounds-" Without another word, Tonks speeds off.

"Ginny, I'm sorry, but we need you to leave too. Just for a bit. Then you can come back in." Ginny looks simply delighted to leave her sanctuary. "And then you can come back in!" I shout after her as she runs up the steps after Tonks. "You've got to come back in!"

"Hang on a moment!" Ron says sharply. "We've forgotten someone!"

"Who?" Asks Hermione.

"The house-elves, they'll all be down in the kitchen, won't they?"

"You mean we ought to get them fighting?" Hermione asks.

"No." Ron says seriously. "I mean we should tell them to get out. We don't want anymore Dobbies, do we? We can't order them to die for us."

There is a clatter as the basilisk fangs cascade out of Hermione's arms. Then what she does next makes me gag almost choke the life out of my best friends.

Purely disgusting.

She circles her arms around his neck a sin kisses him full on the mouth. Ron throws away the fangs as well a d the broomstick falls against the wall. I choose this moment to hide my face with my hands, but not before seeing Ron as he lifts Hermione off her feet.

"Is this the moment?" I ask weakly, and nothing happens."Oi! There's a war going on here!"

Ron and Hermione break apart, their arms still around each other.

"I know, mate." Ron, who looks flustered, says. "So it's now or never, isn't it?"

"Never mind that, what about the Horcrux?" I shout. "Do you think you could just hold it in until we've got the diadem?"

"Yeah, right, sorry..." Ron says, and he and Hermione gather up the fangs, both pink in the face.

As we step out of the room, we look around and notice how deteriorated the caste is: the walls and ceiling are shaking worse than ever; dust fills the air, and through the nearest window, I see bursts of green and red light so close to the foot of the castle that I know the Death Eaters must be very near to entering the place.

I close my eyes and concentrate on what I really want. I remember the time I came here and put a wig on top of the statue's head, the necklace around its neck. That's what I need. I need-

"I need the place where everything is hidden." I whisper the words I've been thinking over and over again, walking past the blank wall for the third time.

"Harry." Hermione says as I open the door. "We have to talk about Lilith. You can't ju-"

"There's a war..." I whisper and feel my heart beat faster. "Let's focus on that."

She leaves the subject behind and walks with me and Ron inside the Room of Requirement as the door materializes in front of us.

The screams, shouts and spells of the battle die the moment we cross the door and close it behind us. Everything is silent and I look around first, trying to locate the wig I vividly remember.

We are in a place the size of a cathedral, the towering walls hiding thousands of objects left here by students. Some of them already gone.

"And he never realized anyone could get in?" Ron says, his voice echoing in the silence.

"He thought he was the only one. Too bad for him I've had to hide stuff in my time... This way. I think it's down here..." I say slowly.

We pass enormous piles of chairs and tables, the Vanish Cabinet Draco Malfoy mended last year with such disastrous consequences, and then I hesitate, looking up and down the aisles, not sure where to go next.

"Accio Diadem!" Hermione cries in desperation, but nothing flies through the air toward us. Like the vault at Gringotts, the room will not give us its hidden objects that easily.

"Let's split up." I tell the other two. "Look for a stone bust of an old man wearing a wig and a tiara! It's standing on a cupboard and it's definitely somewhere around here..."

We speed off in different directions, and I can still hear their footsteps as they run away from me, looking for this last object.

As I walk deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, looking for the damn object, I mutter to myself a few times.

"Somewhere near here. Somewhere. somewhere..."

I recognize a few object as from my previous trip into this room. My own breath is loud in my ears, and my whole being trembles as I look ahead, and there it is, the blistered old cupboard in which I hid my old Potions book. On top of it rests the stone bust with a dusty old wig and what looks like a discolored tiara.

I stretch my hand to grab it when a voice behind me makes me stop. I turn around and notice Malfoy, Goyle and Zabini staring at me with malice, their wands pointed at me.

"Hold it, Potter." Malfoy says. "That's my wand you're holding, Potter."

Malfoy says pointing his new one thought the gap between Goyle and Zabini. He looks extremely uncomfortable with the fact I'm using his want.

"Not anymore." I sneer back at him, tightening my grip on the wand. "Winners, keepers, Malfoy. Who's lent you theirs?"

"My mother." Malfoy answers.

I laugh, but there's nothing humorous about this situation. I can't hear Ron or Hermione anymore. They're probably out of earshot, searching for the diadem I just found.

"So how come you three aren't with Voldemort?" I ask, actually curious.

"We're gonna be rewarded." Goyle says, his voice surprisingly soft for a baboon like him. "We hung back, Potter. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you to him."

"Good plan." I say in mock admiration.

I can't believe they'd be the ones to interrupt me. I always thought it would be Voldemort, running to me with his wand high above his head, shouting profanities and spells. I begin to slowly walk backwards toward the place where the Horcrux lays, waiting for me.

If only j can catch it before the eminent fight starts.

"So how did you get in here?" I ask, trying to distract them.

"I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year. I know how to get in." Malfoy says proudly.

"We was hiding in the corridor outside." Grunts Goyle. "We can do Disslusion Charms now! And then, you turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a diedum! What's a diedum?"

Is this guy for real? I never thought he was this stupid.

"Harry?" Ron's voice is heard from afar. "Are you talking to someone?"

And this is when Draco Malfoy throws the first spell.

---------------

Third person's POV

Huge bangs shake the castle as the lonely body of Lilith Potter lays on a small, smelly and very dirty dungeon, right next to her godfather's previous office. When he was a potions teacher.

For those who walk around these parts of the castle, she can't be seen by someone who's just passing by, you have to be looking carefully, as her body is hidden under a black cloak, only the tip of her left foot left uncovered. Her hands are pressed against her chest that no longer rises and falls. Her eyes are closed, no longer showing their vibrant green colors.

Lilith Potter is, indeed, dead. And there's someone who knows it too well. Someone who felt it in his core, the death of this girl affecting him more than he thought it would. He didn't even know she was dead until a few minutes before her actual death. He started sweating, his fingers lanky as he raises the wand towards the sky, sending spells against the shield.

Oh, he knew the minute she closed her eyes. He knew he was doomed. He knew he had to protect his last piece of hope, or else... He'd be gone.

And he won't let that happen.

---------------

Harry's POV

After the mess we left behind, Ron, Hermione and I run to the Great Hall, following he yells and shots as we speed off around the castle's many corridors.

Some Death Eaters found their way inside Hogwarts. This thought makes my heart fail as the Weasleys fight against them, Percy and Fred shoulder to shoulder, wands raised above their heads, both of them dueling masked men.

The three of us run forward to help, as jets of light fly past our heads. We have to roll around to avoid being hit by them. Percy sends a bluish spell towards the man he's currently fighting, smirking as it hits the target.

"Hello, Minister!" Percy screams, sending a  jinx straight at the man, who drops his wand and claws at the front of his robes, apparently in discomfort. "Did I mention I'm resigning?"

"You're joking, Perce!" Fred shouts as the Death Eater he is battling collapses under the weight of three separate Stunning Spells.

The Minister falls to the ground with tiny spikes erupting all over him, and Fred looks at Percy with glee.

"You actually are joking, Perce.... I don't think I've heard you joke since you were-"

And that's when it happens: the second time today... The second death I've witnessed today.

The air explodes around us as I fall behind and a heavy brown table falls on top of me, sending me flying across the room, away from my friends and the battle. I cough lightly as screams engulf my frame, arms around someone who's falling on him back. I feel a deep cut on my cheek, as a terribly cry echoes around the Hall.

Pure agony is heard as a ginger haired boy falls to the ground, a very delighted Bellatrix Lestrange behind him, smiling wickedly as she disappears, away from the mess she created.

"No, no n-no!" Someone behind me shouts. "No! Fred! No!"

I look up to see Percy shaking his brother, and Ron kneeling beside them, Fred's eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face. It's like I can still hear his funny laugh as he and his twin prank Umbridge with the firework show in fifth year.

This is the second friend I lose today. All I can think of is my pain, the pain I felt and still feel because of my loss, because of Lilith's death. And I think I know what George's thinking right now: his other half, the let of him he needs and will never be...

Gone. In just a couple of minutes, two of my best friends have been taken away from me. And there's only one person to blame.

Myself... For not ending this war when I could, all those years ago... Why didn't Voldemort kill me back then? Why, why, why? It would have been better for all this people who've lost their loved ones.

All my fault... I'm sorry mother, father for disappointing you, and not becoming the perfect son.

I'm sorry Fred, for not being right next to you to block the spell.

And I'm sorry Lilith for letting you die.

---------------

I don't know if it's just me or these past few chapters have been very dark and sad! I had to watch Fred's death again.... I had to read it again too and now I'm crying...

Hope you liked it! And I hope you can forgive me for killing Lilith! I'm sorry, okay? It had to be done...

Vote, comment, follow ;)

Bye guys!
    @@Rita@@