Skirmish at the Room of Requirement

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. A short skirmish ensued, after Crabbe shot a Killing Curse at Hermione Granger, who dived out of the way. Crabbe ended up conjuring Fiendfyre destroying much of the Room and accidentally killing himself, while Harry, Ron and Hermione fled on broomsticks saving Draco and Goyle from certain death.

Background
"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."

- Harry Potter leads Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger into the Room of Requirement.

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 and Gregory Goyle had been evesdropping under the effects of a Disillusionment Charm.

The skirmish
"Like it hot, scum?"

- Vincent Crabbe conjured Fiendfyre.

As Harry, Ron and Hermione Granger entered the Room, they split up into adjacent aisles between the towering piles of assorted discarted objects. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle followed Harry and stopped him.

Initially, Harry mocked them, thinking they were merely here 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 started shooting Cruciatus Curses at Ronald Weasley and Killing Curses at Hermione Granger. Harry, Ron and Hermione responded with Disarming Charms, Stunning Spells and Full Body-Bind Curses, leaving Malfoy and Goyle wandless. As Harry and Hermione looked for the tiara, Crabble conjured Fiendfyre, setting the Room's piles of junk ablaze and into soot.

As Harry, Ron and Hermione ran for their lives, they became encircled by 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 which was covered in soot.

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.

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.

Behind the scenes

 * Vincent Crabbe does not appear in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and his role is taken instead by Gregory Goyle, who casts the Fiendfyre and dies in his place. This is because on 7 April 2009 the actor who played Crabbe, Jamie Waylett, and another man, were arrested for cannabis possession and later tried and sentenced to community work. In the film adaptation, Gregory Goyle and Draco Malfoy are joined by Blaise Zabini.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)