Chapter Nine

It had only been two days ago that one of our ten messengers came back from the hunt for Voldemort. He was barely alive, and he managed to say four words before he passed away.

"He's…..under…green….London."

Hermione had cracked his message in only a matter of minutes.

"He must be talking about the Green Tunnels in London," she said while she flipped through a book. "There," she pointed to a paragraph and a picture. "The Green Tunnels, are right under outside of London. They were used by muggles back in the early 1700's in case of fires or other emergencies," she said matter of factly. "But they've been closed for hundreds of years."

McGonagall stood up. "I know where those are. Albus talked of them often right before he died. He must have been giving us a clue."

So now I was standing here in the woods surrounding the tunnels. Cracks filled the air as more apparated behind me. Hermione appeared holding the hand of Elizabeth who looked very out of breath. Ron appeared holding Will's hand, who immediately fell to the ground.

Ron looked disgusted, yet pretty amused. Lupin then appeared with Jack standing next to him. Jack looked pretty okay with the matter, except that he coughed some. I smiled, thinking of my first apparation. Luna appeared last next to Neville. They were holding hands because Neville still was a little unsure about apparating. Plus, they finally announced to the world, that they liked each other. I silenced everyone then started my speech.

"Okay you guys, we're only a half a mile from the entrance. And there will be guards for miles keeping watch of their precious leader whose too scared to ever be alone. We might have already breached their security, but I really don't care. Let them get ready."

George and Fred cheered from the back of the crowd. They had their robes stuffed with multiple objects from their shop. They had even given Ron and me some stuff. Hermione had refused, saying she'd prefer to use her wits.

"Everyone knows the plans. Will is to stay here with Dedalus Diggle and Elphias Doge. Flitwick, Slughorn, and Emmeline Vance. will stay at the mouth of the tunnels. Everyone else will come with me. If we come to a split we'll each go a different way."

Most everyone in the crowd looked nervous or scared but they all nodded.

"Let's go," I said starting to walk pulling out my wand and lighting it in the twilight of the woods. I heard others light their wands behind me. "Keep prepared," I warned. We walked away from Will, Dedalus, and Elphias.

I looked behind me. Elizabeth was walking holding Hermione's hand. Jack looked slightly jealous, but when he noticed me looking at him, his face cleared and he turned to look the other way.

We walked silently for ten minutes before we reached the end of the woods. The entrance to the tunnels leered in front of us, marked off by signs, and rotting pieces of wood. Mad-Eye stepped up and peered for possible guards hiding under invisibility cloaks.

"Odd…." Moody stated.

"What?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"There are no guards. At least none I can see."

"Maybe this is the wrong place. Or He could have already left," Ron piped up. Everyone turned to look at him and he shrunk into the shadows.

"Well, Flitwick, Slughorn, Emmeline, you stay here. Everyone else follow me," I said, continuing on with my wand in my hand.

Chapter Ten

Lupin used a spell to take apart the wood guarding the tunnels, as silently as possible. After he was done, we crept into the tunnels.

Hermione came to talk to me, leaving Elizabeth alone. Jack came up to her and took her hand. She seemed surprised, but she let him lead her with the rest of the group.

"I don't like this Harry," Hermione told me. "There should have been some guards by now."

I nodded looking at her. "I'm not feeling to good about it either. But they could have gotten a tip off that we're coming, and they're just waiting for us, like in the Department of Mysteries," I told her, trying to comfort her.

"Or they could have left," Ron said walking past us. I rolled my eyes and kept walking. Hermione looked like she was going to cry, but she continued walking too.

I caught a glimpse of Jack and Elizabeth talking quietly probably wondering about everything that was going on.

I tried to imagine what it would be like to be a muggle, travel three hundred years in time, then find out everything I never thought existed did. I couldn't.

We walked for five more minutes before we came to the first split in the tunnel. I turned to face the group of people behind me.

"Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville, Fred, George, Jack, Elizabeth, Lupin, Tonks, and Bill please come with me into the right tunnel . Sturgis, Hestia, Sprout, Mundungus, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Moody, please follow McGonagall into the left tunnel.

Mrs. Weasly gave Ron, Ginny, Bill, Fred, and George all hugs. Then she turned to me and gave me one.

"Thank you for everything," she told me. I looked at her.

"No. Thank you Mrs. Weasley." She sobbed, then turned to her husband, and followed McGonagall into the tunnel. I wiped a tear from my eye and started down the hall. I pretended not to see when Jack and Elizabeth kissed.