Skirmish at the Room of Requirement

### Result

Vincent Crabbe casts Fiendfyre and accidentally kills himself. The trio leave with Draco Malfoy and Gregory Goyle and destroy another Horcrux.

Combatants| * Ronald Weasley
* Hermione Granger
* Gregory Goyle

**Draco Malfoy**: "*STOP! The Dark Lord wants him alive —*"
**Vincent Crabbe**: "*So? I'm not killing him, am I? But if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff — ? It's that Mudblood!* Avada Kedavra*!*"
**Draco Malfoy**: "*Don’t kill him! DON’T KILL HIM!’*"
— Vincent Crabbe starts the offensive[src]

The **Skirmish at the Room of Requirement** was a small battle that took place during the Battle of Hogwarts. While looking for Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, in the Room of Requirement, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger were intercepted by Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle.

In the short skirmish that ensued, Crabbe tried to torture Harry with the Cruciatus Curse and shot the Killing Curse at Ron and Hermione, who both dived out of the way. Crabbe ended up conjuring Fiendfyre destroying much of the Room and accidentally killing himself and the Horcrux, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione fled on broomsticks saving Draco and Goyle from certain death.

## History

### Background information

> "*I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is. He hid it exactly where I had my old Potions book, where everyone's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on.*"
> ― Trio entering the Room of Requirement[source]
>
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Shortly before the start of the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter questioned the Grey Lady if she knew anything about the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw, that he suspected was one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. After the ghost told him the story behind the object, Harry Potter came to the conclusion Voldemort had hidden it within the Room of Requirement the night he travelled to the Castle to ask for a teaching post.

Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger met Harry Potter after having been down in the Chamber of Secrets to collect Basilisk fangs in order to destroy Horcruxes. They all headed to the Room of Requirement without realising Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe (Blaise Zabini in movie), and Gregory Goyle had been eavesdropping under the effects of a Disillusionment Charm.

### The skirmish

> "*Like it hot, scum?*"
> ― Vincent Crabbe conjures Fiendfyre[source]
>
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As Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Room, they split up into adjacent aisles between the towering piles of assorted discarded objects. Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle followed Harry and stopped him. Initially, Harry was frustrated that he was so close to the diadem, but was held up by Malfoy and his cronies. He proceeded to mock them, thinking they were merely there to make a fool of themselves in an attempt to capture Harry himself.

Crabbe started bringing down the mountains of junk, and started to get violent when Malfoy told him to stop as he would eventually wreck the Room. Not realising, as Draco did, that the diadem was something of importance to Voldemort, Crabbe shoot the Cruciatus Curses at Harry Potter and the Killing Curse at Hermione Granger. Harry, Ron, and Hermione responded with Disarming Charms, Stunning Spells, and Full Body-Bind Curses, leaving Malfoy and Goyle wandless and Goyle unconscious. As Harry and Hermione looked for the diadem, Crabbe conjured Fiendfyre, setting the Room's piles of junk ablaze.

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran for their lives, they became encircled by fire. Harry first tried to defend against the towering flames with the Water-Making Spell, but it had no effect on the cursed fire. They got hold of a pair of heavy-looking broomsticks from a nearby pile of junk. When they soared through the air, Harry spotted Malfoy and Goyle atop a fragile pile of charred desks. Getting hold of them, they left heading for the door, not before Harry got hold of the diadem, already destroyed by the Fiendfyre.

### Aftermath

> "*A bloodlike substance, dark and tarry, seemed to be leaking from the diadem. Suddenly Harry felt the thing vibrate violently, then break apart in his hands, and as it did so, he thought he heard the faintest, most distant scream of pain, echoing not from the grounds or the castle, but from the thing that had just fragmented in his fingers.*"
> ― Description[source]
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Vincent Crabbe died enclosed in the Room of Requirement, as he apparently did not have the ability to stop the Fiendfyre. After the survivors escaped from the cursed fire, they sat at the seventh-floor corridor (Goyle still Stunned) and watched as the Horcrux broke apart from contact with the fire.