Hogsmeade, the small village below Hogwarts was a quaint town, though now it was ravaged by Death Eaters sent to watch for the Daughter and the Boy Who Lived. It was still daylight when she Apparated into a side street just behind the Hog's Head, and in front of her stood the back door to the little pub, which led to the set of stairs up to the bedrooms, where she'd be able to find Aberforth Dumbledore's quarters.

And Aberforth, as secretive as he was pained, was not expecting guests. His hour was entirely unhopeful, sitting beside his little sister's portrait, dreading the thought of any more students wandering out from behind it. It was not that he wanted them to suffer: it killed him to see them with bruises and blood, wilting smiles on their painfully hopeful faces, but he could not help them. He was just a man, the brother of the Only One the Dark Lord Ever Feared, the last and only Dumbledore still alive (though that was not entirely true). He was just a man, a lonely, sad shell of a man, and he believed he could not help.

He did not expect the face of Diana Riddle, so similar to Vera's, to storm into his living room. Though he had jinxed every entrance to be Imperturbed, he did not take into mind the fact that Diana had something as mundane as a key.

He did not expect her to ask him of Vera, to ask him of the night Diana was born. That was a well-kept secret, shared only between an amount of people he could count on one hand, and one of them was asleep in the Slytherin Chamber and has been for almost two decades.

Diana looked so much like Vera, so much like the girl that Aberforth had all but raised since she started at Hogwarts.

Diana looked so much like his daughter that it startled him.

And he made the mistake of saying that fact aloud, and Diana was struck silent, and the girl began to cry.

Your daughter? she asked quietly between cries. What do you mean?

And Aberforth was forced to explain, explain the thing he had kept quiet for so long; a secret, one not even his brother had known.

He was a grandfather. A father.  It was something that he had never imagined as a child, but here he was: the father of the woman who loved the Slytherin heir, the grandfather of the girl who was born to destroy her own father.

And he only nodded to his granddaughter. He was so secretive, he wanted to hurt himself for doing this, for being so selfish as to keep a secret so grand as this just for the sake of himself. He hadn't even told Vera until he accidentally let it slip on one of his rare drunken laments. She had yelled at him for not telling her. He did not blame her.

And Diana looked with watery eyes toward the portrait of Ariana Dumbledore, the sister of her grandfather, and she looked back at his blue eyes, the same as Albus Dumbledore's. Albus Dumbledore, the brother of her grandfather.

My grandmother descended from Merlin?

Yes, he told her.

Why did you not tell me?

There were so many things he wanted to say, so many things he should've said, though he could not find the perfect words to justify his secrecy to her. His granddaughter.

It's time for me to wake my mother, Diana told him. It's time for me to wake your daughter.

I'd say you were right, he told her. I'd say it's time to wake Vera Beauregard.

+

Someone broke the Hogsmeade curfew. It signaled them all with an ear-shattering wailing alarm, the sound that meant someone was in the streets. Death Eaters shouted below, and Aberforth gruffly made his way to peak out of his window, and Diana had her eyes trained on Ariana Dumbledore painted beautifully in the portrait. She could see the resemblance between Ariana, herself, and her mother, and it was so baffling to her that she had to take a minute to steel herself.

And then Harry, Hermione, and Ron stood in front of her, and Harry held the Invisibility Cloak in his hand. She hugged Hermione, then Ron, then she kissed Harry, and Ron gagged and Hermione clapped.

"It's about bloody time, though," mumbled Ron after he finished with his mime-puking.

Harry met the last living Dumbledore properly, the grandfather of the girl he loved. Their eyes were wide as galleons as they glanced between Diana and Aberforth and they got even wider when they realized that it meant Diana was also related to Albus.

"You know what to do," Aberforth finally muttered to his sister in the portrait. She nodded, giving a smile Diana's way and then she turned on her heel, hobbling off down the path painted behind her. Harry, Hermione, and Ron watched her with curiosity. Diana watched her with sadness.

"There's only one way in now," said Aberforth. "You must know they've got all the old secret passageways covered at both ends, Dementors all the way around the boundary walls, regular patrols inside the school from what my sources tell me. The place has never been so heavily guarded."

In the empty frame, two figures appeared growing larger and larger as they approached. One was most definitely Ariana, but the other was taller, more awkward in their stride, and they got closer and closer--

The portrait opened and Neville Longbottom poked his head out from behind it and beamed with delight.

"I knew you'd come!" the boy said as he leapt from the portrait in glee. His face was bruised and he walked with a slight limp. "I knew it!"

"Neville--what the--how--?"

But Neville had spotted Ron, Hermione, and Diana too and he jumped on them as well, giving each a crushing hug.

"I knew you'd come! Kept telling Seamus it was a matter of time---"

"Neville, what happened to you?" Hermione asked him.

"What, this? This is nothing. Seamus is worse. Shall we get going, then? Ab, there might be a couple more people on the way."

Ab grunted as way of a reply and Neville nodded in satisfaction. He helped Hermione up into the passage and Ron, Harry, and Diana followed him.

Diana addressed Aberforth before they closed the portrait.

"Thank you, Aberforth. Thank you for helping us," she said.

He gave her a small smile. "Anything for family."

At the last word, the door closed, and Diana started at the word 'family.' Family was so foreign. She never had a true family.

But she had always had family, even if not by blood.

Brass lamps hung from the wall that cast an eerie glow on the musty corridor. The was were slick with dew and earth and they walked for ages under the Hogwarts ground, sometimes looking out of a grate in the ceiling and seeing Dementors wading through the air.

"How long's this been here?" Ron asked. "It isn't on the Marauder's Map, is it, Harry? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of the school?"

"They sealed off all those at the start of the year," replied Neville. "There's no chance of getting through any of them now, not with curses over the entrances and Death Eaters and Dementors guarding the exits." He started walking backward so he could face them and beamed. "Never mind that stuff... is it true? Did you break into Gringotts? Did you escape on a dragon? It's everywhere, Terry Boot gotten beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner!"

Diana praised Terry for both his stupidity and bravery.

"Yeah, its true," said Harry, and Diana looked at them, impressed.

Neville laughed gleefully.

"Released it into the wild," said Ron. "Hermione was all for keeping it as a pet."

"Don't exaggerate, Ron--"

"But what have you been doing? People have been saying you've just been on the run, but I don't think so. I think you've been up to something."

"You're right," said Harry, and Neville seemed to twitch in delight. "But tell us about Hogwarts, Neville, we haven't heard anything."

"It's been... well, it's not really like Hogwarts anymore," said Neville. "Do you know about the Carrows?"

"Alecto and Amycus," Diana said. "They're teaching here now."

Neville nodded. "They do more than teach. They're in charge of all discipline. They like punishment, the Carrows."

"Like Umbridge?"

"Nah, they make her look tame. The other teachers are all supposed to refer us to the Carrows if we do anything wrong. They don't, though, if they can avoid it. You can tell they all hate them as much as we do. Amycus, the bloke, he teaches what used to be Defense Against the Dark Arts, except now it's just the Dark Arts. We're supposed to practice the Cruciatus Curse on people who've earned detentions---"

"What?"

"Yeah," said Neville. "That's how I got this one," he pointed to a nasty gash on his cheek, "I refused to do it. Some people are into it, though; Crabbe and Goyle love it. First time they've ever been top in anything, I expect."

"Alecto, Amycus' sister, teaches Muggle Studies, which is compulsory for everyone. We've all got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, how they drove wizards into hiding by being vicious towards them, and how the natural order is being reestablished. I got this one," he pointed to another gash on his face, "for asking her how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got."

"Blimey, Neville," said Ron. "There's a time and a place for getting a smart mouth."

"You didn't hear her," said Neville. They continued on walking, though it was slightly comforting with the fact that she'd be inside the castle soon. "You wouldn't have stood it either. The thing is, it helps when people stand up to them, it gives everyone hope. I used to notice that when you did it, Harry."

Diana smiled with pride and quietly slipped her hand into his, and he gratefully accepted it.

"Luckily, they won't spill too much pure blood, so they'll torture us a bit if we're mouthy but they won't kill us. The only people in real danger are the ones whose friends and relatives outside are giving trouble. They get taken hostage. Old Xeno Lovegood was getting a bit too outspoken in the Quibbler, so they dragged Luna off the train on the way back for Christmas."

"She's alright, we've seen her---" said Diana.

"Yeah, I know, she managed to get a message to me."

From his pocket he pulled one of the fake Galleons Dumbledore's Army had used.

"These have been great," said Nevile, beaming at Hermione and Diana. "The Carrows never realized how we were communicating. It drove them mad. We used to sneak out at night and put graffiti on the walls: Dumbledore's Army, Still Recruiting, stuff like that. Snape hated it."

"You used to?" said Harry, noticing the tense. 

"Well, it got more difficult as time went on," said Neville. "We lost Luna at Christmas and Ginny never came back from Easter, and the three of us were sort of the leaders. The Carrows seemed to know I was behind a lot of it, so they started coming down on me hard, and then Michael Corner went and got caught releasing a first-year they'd chained up, and they tortured him pretty badly. That scared people off."

Diana ached at how in pain they all were, all bruises and blood. She was so proud it made her want to cry, so proud at how brave they all were.

"No kidding," mumbled Ron.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't ask people to go through what Michael did, so we dropped those kinds of stunts. But we were still fighting, doing underground stuff, right up until a few weeks ago. That's when they decided there was only one way to stop me, I suppose, and they went for Gran."

"They what?" said Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Diana together.

"Yeah," he said, "well, you can see their thinking. It had worked really well, kidnapping kids to force their relatives to behave, I s'pose it was a matter of time before they did it the other way round. Thing was, they bit off a bit more than they could chew with Gran," he faced them again, grinning. "Little old witch living alone, they probably thought they didn't need to send anyone particularly powerful. Anyway, Dawlish is still in St. Mungo's and Gran's on the run. She sent me a letter," he clapped a hand to the breast pocket of his robes, "telling me she was proud of me, that I'm my parents' son, and to keep it up."

Diana smiled at him, and he beamed back.

"Only thing was, once they realized they had no hold over me, they decided Hogwarts could do without me after all. I don't know whether they were planning to kill me or send me to Azkaban, either way, I knew it was time to disappear."

"Disappear?" said Diana.

"How do you mean?" Hermione added.

He grinned. "You'll see. We're here."

They turned a corner and the end of the passage was near. They just went down a narrow flight of steps before Neville put a hand on the wall and grinned back at them, and he pushed it open and yelled to a group of unseen people: "Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?"

They emerged from the portrait and were met with a collection of gasps and cheers. Behind the large group, yellow and blue and red hangings were strewn about, with hammocks of those colors stacked like bunk beds and pets milling about. The room was huge, and the group beneath them beamed as they clambered down from the door and onto the ground, where they were hugged and high-fived and clapped on the back.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" said Neville, and the group did as he said. They stepped back and awaited a speech.

"Where in hell are we?" Diana muttered.

"The Room of Requirement," said Neville. "Surpassed itself, hasn't it? The Carrows were chasing me and I knew just one chance for a hideout: I managed to get through the door and this is what I found! Well, it wasn't exactly like this, it was loads smaller. But it's expanded as more and more of the DA have arrived."

"And the Carrows can't get in?" asked Harry.

"No," said Seamus Finnigan, who looked the worst out of them all. "It's a proper hideout, as long as one of us stays in here, they can't get at us, the door won't open. It's all down to Neville. He really gets this room. You've got to ask it for exactly what you need and it'll do it for you! You've just got to make sure you close the loopholes! Neville's the man!"

"It's quite straightforward, really," said Neville modestly. "I'd been in here a day and a half, and getting really hungry, and wishing I could get something to eat, and that's when the passage to the Hog's head opened up. I went through it and met Aberforth. He's been providing us with food."

"So we've just been hiding out here for nearly two weeks," said Seamus, "and it just makes more hammocks every time we need them, and it even sprouted a pretty good bathroom once the girls started showing up---

"---and thought they'd quite like to wash, yes," supplied Lavender Brown, and the other girls in the large group nodded. Both Patil twins were there, along with Terry Boot, Ernie Macmillan, Anthony Goldstein, and Michael Corner, along with others.

"Tell us what you've been up to, though," said Ernie. "There've been so many rumors, we've been trying to keep up with you on Potterwatch. You didn't break into Gringotts, did you?"

"They did!" said Neville. "And the dragon's true, too!"

There was a smattering of applause.

"What were you after?" said Seamus.

Harry was just about to answer but all of a sudden he hissed and his hand flew to his head. He gripped Diana's hand forcefully, and she furrowed her eyebrows with worry. Others in the room gasped and watched with curious concern.

"Are you all right?" Neville was saying, but then Diana felt it too: the beast inside, the beast awaking in its cage. She accidentally yelled and screwed her eyes shut, and the two held on to each other to keep grounded.

Voldemort was angry, so furious, there was blood and dead goblins and he was so angry, so full of rage---

"We need to get going," Harry hissed to Hermione and Ron, and Diana's pain subsided slightly at the sound of his voice.

"He knows," she whispered to him, and he nodded in her neck. They pulled apart stiffly, the pain still throbbing dully.

"What's the plan?"

It was Seamus, and they looked at him, stumped.

"Well," said Harry, "er, we need to do something, and then we'll get out of here."

"What is it?" said Neville.

"Er, we can't tell you."

There was a ripple of muttering before Neville said, "why can't you tell us? It's something to do with fighting You-Know-Who, right?"

"Well, yeah---"

"Then we'll help you."

The other members of Dumbledore's Army were in full agreement. They were not going to let this go.

"Look---"

The portrait burst open, and Dean and Luna strode in with grins of anticipation.

"We got your messgage, Neville! Hello you four, I thought you must be here!"

Luna beamed happily. "Hello everyone! Oh, it's great to be back!"

"Luna," said Harry distractedly, "What are you doing here? How did you--?"

"I sent for her," said Neville, holding up the fake Galleon. "I promised her and Ginny that if you turned up I'd let them know. We all thought that if you came back, it would mean revolution."

Diana's heart sparked at the last word, a fire growing inside of her. This was a revolution. Neville was right.

The door opened again and Ginny, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were clambering inside, and Diana grinned, for this was a revolution. This was their rebellion.

She hugged Ginny, ruffling the girl's hair.

"I heard about that stunt you pulled with the sword in the office," Diana whispered to her. "That was so stupid, I'm so proud."

Ginny grinned, and Fred and George pushed her out of the way. "Diana, pleasure as always," they said in unison, and she laughed, for this was the beginning of the revolution.

"Aberforth's getting a bit ratty," said Fred to the group at large. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station.

Another person came in through the door, and this time, it was Cho Chang. Though Diana and her had not been the best of friends, they met eyes and gave each other an understanding nod, for they both know: this was the rebellion. This was the revolution.

"I got the message," Cho said, holding up the fake Galleon.

"So what's the plan?" asked George. The room fell dead silent as they waited.

Harry was just about to reply, but Diana grabbed his hand and squeezed it, telling him that she had a plan, for this was the revolution.

"There's something we need to find, something in the castle. It has to do with Ravenclaw. Do any of you know about anything that belonged to her?"

It was silent as they thought long and hard, for they knew that this was the revolution, and they knew that whatever Diana was asking it was important.

They looked toward the Ravenclaw clan.

"Well, there is her diadem," said Luna, who was perched on the arm of Ginny's chair. "I told you about it once, remember? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw?"

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

Diana's mind flashed to a crown, one with beautiful blue sapphire and forged with gleaming silver.

"This diadem," she said. "when was it lost?"

"Centuries ago, they say," said Cho. "Professor Flitwich says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked but nobody's ever found a trace of it, have they?"

The beast inside her stomach ravaged against her bones, roaring as they spoke of the diadem. Silver crown, gleaming with gems, it was so familiar she could taste it---

Harry's scar scorched again, and he grunted. The beast inside of Diana screamed, louder and louder against her ribs.

"There's a replica in the Ravenclaw common room," said Luna, oblivious to Harry's sudden ailment. "I can show you, if you'd like?"

Harry nodded thankfully. "He's on the move," he whispered to Ron and Hermione.

"I feel it to," Diana whispered back. "Go with Luna. We'll stay," she said.

He kissed her suddenly, and there were a few whistles behind them, but they were ignored.

"Be quick," she whispered. "Be careful."

"When am I not?" he said, which was not very reassuring, and he met Luna by the door and pulled his cloak from his pocket, and in an instant they were gone and through the door.

The group was quiet, as if waiting for the three remaining to say something.

"Well," said Diana, braving against the attention she was receiving. "I suspect we'll be having a fight tonight!"

Amongst the deafening cheers of the warrior packing side of the Room of Requirement, it was like she could feel her mother beneath her feet awaiting to finally be woken. "Bathroom," she heard Hermione mutter sometime later to just her and Ron. "The teeth---the poison---the basilisk---Ron, we've got to go! Diana, we'll be back, I just had an idea!"

Hermione pulled Ron out by his hand, and she cast a Disillusionment charm on the both of them.

Diana, torn between abandoning them for her mother or waiting to make sure these warriors were safe, she was so conflicted.

But these were her family now, and Harry would be back soon. This was her family. Her mother would just have to wait for a few more minutes.

The revolution was starting. The war had finally begun.

And her mother would wake up tonight.