Fred and I stared at George in horror, as if the argument between us had never happened. My heart sank painfully and my knees almost gave in at those words.

"How did you find out?" Fred inquired.

"Remember the fake Galleons Hermione had given the members of Dumbledore's Army for communication?" said George and Fred nodded. "Well, I just got a message from Neville on it, saying Harry's at Hogwarts and to go there from an entrance in Hog's Head."

"Then we shouldn't be wasting time!" said Fred enthusiastically, getting his wand out of his pocket and following George out of the door before I could even say anything.

I was still frozen on my spot. Despite knowing that this moment would eventually come for three years now, I still wasn't ready.

      I wanted to stop Fred, to tell him not to go. But I remembered how Dumbledore had said in his letter that I shouldn't save anyone by letting them know of their fate. I had to wait for the right moment.

So nevertheless, I ran after them, only to come to a halt as we nearly bumped into Ginny downstairs.

"You got the message too?" said Ginny, holding up her own fake Galleon. "Should we wake Mum and Dad?"

"No." Fred shook his head. "They've only summoned the D.A. If they want more help, we'll use a Patronus to call the Order."

"Can you Apparate, sis?" George asked Ginny as we stepped outside into Muriel's yard.

"Yes, they've taught us," said Ginny. "I'm still underage, but I'm sure I can do it."

"All right." Fred grinned. "See you in Hog's Head in a few seconds." And with one last wink at us, he Dissaparated.

George nodded at me reassuringly before vanishing alongside Ginny, and I found myself alone in the dark, my breathing fast and my heart throbbing loudly.

I took out my wand and held it firmly in my grasp. This was it. There was no going back. So with that thought, I closed my eyes and Dissaparated, appearing straight into the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade.

"Lexi!" I was thrown off guard when someone jumped in and hugged me. When he pulled away, I saw that it was Lee Jordan.

"How have you been?" he asked enthusiastically, but before I could answer, he turned to the rest. "You're here for the D.A message too?"

"Nah," Fred started sarcastically. "We just fancied a Butterbeer on this fine evening."

"Okay, enough chitchat!" Turning around, we saw Aberforth Dumbledore rushing toward us. "Follow me."

So without any further words, we went after him until we reached the portrait of a young girl; it was Ariana Dumbledore.

"Longbottom told me there would be more of you coming, so you better hurry." Aberforth then opened the portrait for us to reveal a tunnel.

Without questioning him, we climbed in and rushed through it, on our way back to Hogwarts.

I still hadn't been able to utter a single word. It was as if I had forgotten how to speak. I was at the verge of tears and my lips were slightly trembling, yet I wasn't allowed to stop the others.

I had to act at the right moment.

As we walked on, we heard more people Apparating behind us into the pub, but we didn't stop and kept going until we finally reached the other end of the tunnel.

Ginny was walking in the front and so she pushed the portrait door open, revealing the Room of Requirements full of people, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione. There was an erupt of surprise as we walked in.

"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed," said Fred, raising his hand in answer to several cries of greeting. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station."

As we walked into the room, moments later we saw Cho Chang appearing right behind us.

"I got the message," she said, holding up her own fake Galleon, and she walked over to sit beside Michael Corner.

"So what's the plan, Harry?" said George.

"There isn't one," said Harry, still looking shocked by our appearance.

"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favorite kind," said Fred, grinning.

Some people around us chuckled, but I couldn't even get myself to to smile.

"You've got to stop this!" Harry told Neville. "What did you call them all back for? This is insane —"

"We're fighting, aren't we?" said Dean, taking out his fake Galleon. "The message said Harry was back, and we were going to fight! I'll have to get a wand, though —"

"You haven't got a wand?" said Seamus, bewildered.

While Fred and George went on joking around for the benefit of the others, I noticed that Ron and Hermione were now trying to convince Harry to seek for help from the others.

"All right," said Harry quietly to the other two. "Okay," he called to the room at large, and all noise ceased. "There's something we need to find. Something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It's here at Hogwarts, but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that? Has anyone ever come across something with her eagle on it, for instance?"

He looked hopefully toward the little group of Ravenclaws inside the room, but none of them seemed to know.

"Well, there's her lost diadem," Luna finally broke the silence.

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

"When was it lost?" asked Harry.

"Centuries ago, they say," said Cho.

"Sorry, but what is a diadem?" asked Ron.

"It's a kind of crown," said Terry Boot.

"And none of you have ever seen anything that looks like it?" They all shook their heads again.

Harry glanced back at Ron and Hermione, looking disappointed.

"If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, I could take you up to our common room and show you, Harry?" Cho suggested. "Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue."

Harry nodded lightly, turning on Ron and Hermione. "Listen, I know it's not much of a lead, but I'm going to go and look at this statue, at least find out what the diadem looks like. Wait for me here and keep, you know — the other one — safe." I knew he was talking about the other Horcrux, Hufflepuff's goblet.

Cho had got to her feet, but Ginny said rather fiercely, "No, Luna will take Harry, won't you, Luna?"

"Oooh, yes, I'd like to," said Luna happily, and Cho sat down again, looking disappointed.

And so with that, Harry followed Luna out of the Room of Requirements to head toward the Ravenclaw tower.

"Well, this is looking more serious than we thought," said Fred, holding up his wand. "Better summon the Order."

"Agreed." George nodded. "We'll send them all Patronuses. I'll send one to Mum and Dad. Fred, you send one to Lupin, and he'll let Kingsley and Moody know. And Lexi, you —"

"I know," I muttered weakly, raising my wand in my still shaking hand, "I'll send one to Sirius."