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The Nothing I've Become (Areas of Expertise II)	By : SickPuppy Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 18628 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Ok. First of all, well done to my one Ravenclaw reader who worked out the puzzle. Yes, I cheated a little on it, but a HUGE congratulations to magic! If anyone can't see where the answer comes from, all will be explained in the author's notes after this story finishes.

Next, I thought I only had three chapters left to write on this (the last two are already written), but noooo, I discover I need more and so there will probably be another five before we reach the pre-written stuff. *cries*

Last, I hope you enjoy the chapter. As always, please let me know. SP

Dedicated to magic.

Chapter Twenty-Five - Bring Me To Life

Ron, after muttering an apology, had raced all the way back to the Room of Requirement and had begged Hermione to help him. Of course, the insufferable know-it-all had listened and immediately set to work, jotting ideas down on a scrap piece of parchment.

'Which ghost was this?' she asked, as she absently sucked on the feather, wincing as usual.

Ron shrugged. 'The grey lady, I think,' he admitted, sounding unsure.

'And she knows of a room that no-one else in the school does?' Hermione asked, sounding sceptical. 'Does that seem likely?'

The red-head looked cross. 'Look!' he snapped, 'Dobby couldn't help. None of the elves could, so I had to improvise.'

Hermione then asked why none of the elves could have helped. With an inward groan, Ron told her, knowing there would be an explosion. There was.

'WHAT?! How ... how dare he imprison those elves! He must have done, nothing else could have prevented Dobby from helping us! I'll ... I'll kill him myself!' Hermione stood up and marched angrily around the room, her brown eyes flashing, her bushy hair even more wayward than normal. Ron barely had time to appreciate all of these things (acknowledging to himself the old cliché that anger makes women look beautiful) before she had snatched up the cloak and stormed out of the room.

Ron gaped. She hadn't really gone to kill You-Know-Who had she?

***

Hermione found the grey lady, still floating dismally where Ron had left her. 'The answer's 'tiara',' she said, whipping the cloak from her.

A gasp from the ghost told her she was right. The floating figure looked sad for a moment then covered it up with: 'My dear!' she exclaimed, 'Surely you belong to Ravenclaw's House?'

Hermione shook her head, irritated, she didn't have time for this. 'No, I'm in Gryffindor. Look, can you tell me where the secret room is?'

'The Room of Hidden Things?' she queried. As she related its position to Hermione, the girl felt her heart sink. It was the Room of Requirement, just with a different name. She tried not to let her disappointment show.

'You're now the second person I've told,' the ghost admitted, 'I never believed I would share that secret with anyone, not him, and certainly not you.'

The Gryffindor bit down on her annoyance, and instead, felt curiosity growing. 'Someone else knows about the room? Who?'

The spirit lifted into the air. 'Oh, no one here now!' she said as if that should have been obvious. 'No, it was a boy, a young man rather, let's see, it must be... around 40 years ago now!'

Hermione wanted to leave, but the figure clearly wanted to talk about the handsome man who had so flattered her. She listened with only half an ear, only really becoming alert when the ghost said, almost to herself, '...and he understood what the tiara meant.' She sniffed, and Hermione was sure she'd heard something like, 'Last item of 'claws.'

'OH!' Startled, she turned, roughly clutching the cloak to her, and raced back towards the Room.

A noise stopped her, approaching voices, Snape, and some other adults. She pulled the cloak on and hid behind a suit of armour, heart pounding.

'Sssseverussss,'

It was Voldemort! she realised, amazed to be this close to the most evil wizard in recent times.

'this is where you leave me. Return to your duties. I shall have need of you later.'

Snape bowed and walked off, his black robes swishing as usual.

'And now,' the Dark Lord muttered, 'to check''

He moved up the staircase, Hermione following a safe distance behind him, and came to stop, at last, in front of a familiar tapestry.

She watched in surprise as he paced back and forth in front of it. Hermione had to stifle a scream of terror as she saw the door swing open and Voldemort stepped in.

She shoved a knuckle into her mouth. There was nothing she could do to help Harry or Ron. She moaned slightly, thinking of the red-head.

'Oy!' Ron's voice sounded cautiously down the corridor. 'Hermione? You there?'

She flung off the cloak and ran to him, throwing herself into his arms. 'Oh Ron!' she squealed, 'I thought...! But how did you...?'

Harry appeared, looking rather pale, but smiling. 'You tell her,' he said, leading the way to their hiding place: a small cupboard clearly used by Filch for storing cleaning supplies.

Ron grinned and related what had happened immediately after she had left.

'I went into Harry's room to tell him what you'd said you were going to do, so Harry got up and started dressing.'

'Yeah,' Harry butted in, 'you have no idea how close I came to throwing up again.'

'I do!' Ron said with feeling, 'I saw how green you went.'

'You did too!' Harry countered.

'Er...' Ron ignored Harry's comment. He didn't want to admit to either friend that he had been jealous. Jealous of Harry's concern for Hermione. She was Ron's, not Harry's. 'Anyway,' he went on, 'Harry said he knew You-Know-Who was on his way up. Something to do with Snape telling him. Care to explain that one?' he asked his black haired friend.

Harry shrugged. 'I don't understand it. I just got this image in my head, like a TV screen again, of Sev and Voldemort walking along towards the Room of Requirement. So we left.'

Hermione looked pleased at this, which made Ron slightly jealous again.

'Well,' he said huffily, 'we had to find somewhere to hide because you'd got the cloak.' Suddenly he remembered Hermione's storming out.

'What happened to you?'

She told them both, her voice rising excitedly in places, until she was shushed by two nervous boys.

'So,' she finished, 'Voldemort's got something important hidden, and my guess is that it's in the 'Room of Hidden Things'. So we can get in there and search for whatever it is once he's gone.'

The two agreed, although both felt that they were setting themselves an impossible task. How on earth could they find whatever it was, and how would they know it once they did?

***

Twenty minutes later they were back in the Room. But this time, Harry recognised it. 'This is where I hid my copy of 'Advanced Potion-Making' last year!' he said enthusiastically.

'Great.' Ron grumbled under his breath. He saw nothing to be enthusiastic about. There were piles and piles of items to sort through.

'Right!' Hermione said. She was in her element: two boys to boss around. 'Ron, you start in that corner, Harry you start over there, and I'll look here.'

'For what?!' Ron exclaimed.

That earned him a glare and he retreated to his corner, abashed.

Harry was staring at the statue he had stuck a wig and tiara on the previous year. He smiled. 'Hey, Hermione!' he called, 'Why don't you try this on?' and he threw the jewellery to her.

She caught it, looking irritated, but then an arrested look appeared on her face. She examined it minutely, her thumbs rubbing over the tarnished metal, wiping away dust from the jewels. 'Oh. My. God!' she breathed. 'This is it! This is the thing the grey lady was talking about! Ravenclaw's diadem!'
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The Nothing I've Become (Areas of Expertise II)