Sorry it took so long...Please R&R
Chapter 8 – Show time
While Luna thought that it would be best if I became the new DA leader, I disagreed. All three of us had organized this reunion, so all three of us should be leaders. Neville was dumbstruck and Luna doubtful when I announced it to the rest of the DA, but thankfully everybody else seemed to agree; although I know some, like Ernie and Seamus, would like the title. I didn’t really care, for me Harry was still our leader.
We broke off our first meeting after a while. We would meet again soon, but we didn’t actually arranged it because we had learned the bad way that even walls had ears; so, when Luna, Neville and me wanted to call another meeting, we would just send the message through Hermione’s ingenious Galleons.
Neville and Luna were just as excited as I was and we were already discussing what our first official attempt against the Death Eaters should be. We were so excited that we wanted to call another meeting the next day, but it turned out that it wasn’t easy.
At first, I couldn’t understand how it was and we couldn’t fix a meeting because too many of our members were busy, but then I saw that the Carrows were throwing detentions like crazy. After a week, I started realizing that it wasn’t because the Carrows had gotten more vicious, it was because after our meeting, most of the members had gotten mouthier. For what it’s worth we were driving them mad, but as the second week without a meeting ended, I knew we had to get them under control.
After I spoke with Luna and Neville we fixed a meeting; tonight at midnight. That, of course, would mean one thing and one thing only: students out of bed!
Neville, Luna and I didn’t actually sneak out. After dinner we went straight at the Room of Requirement and waited there. We entered though to find that we weren’t the only ones, who had thought of that.
“Parvati, Lavender! What are you gals doing here?” Neville asked them as we found them inside.
“We thought we should stay here until midnight”, Lavender explained.
“How do you expect everyone to get out of bed at midnight?” Parvati snapped before Lavender could even finish her sentence. “A school filled with wondering children; don’t you think they’re going to notice that?”
“Well, we didn’t really have a choice, Parvati” I told her. “We’ve been trying to organize a meeting for about two weeks now and every time someone cannot do it!”
“Yes, because they out there getting detentions, following what you said!”
“We never said we should be careless. This is not a game”, Luna said calmly.
“Whatever”, Lavender said before Parvati could speak and then she run close to me. “Ginny, tell me did you have any news?”
I forced myself (with difficulty) not to roll my eyes. Same thing every day. Ever since Lavender (my brother’s ex), learned that Ron is home with spattergroit (because there was no chance I would reveal the truth to anyone else) and that Hermione had apparently run off with Harry (what an absurd thought!) she begun bugging me about how his health was and when he would be coming back to school and how she was able to forgive him.
“There’s no change, Lavender, I am so terribly sorry”, I said using a sweet face voice, but she didn’t seem to realize how filled with irony it was.
“Anyway”, Parvati cut in before Lavender could go on (thankfully). “After everyone’s here what are we gonna do?”
“Well, we do have a plan”, Neville smirked.
It was two long hours. Parvati and Lavender can be really irritating after a while and I really couldn’t understand how my brother could have ever gone out with one of them; then again my older brother, Bill, had married Phlegm (although I had to admit that over Lavender I would choose Fleur any day). As I heard her gone on about how Ron should have never left her, I wished that wherever he was, he would have finally made a move with Hermione, though knowing what a thick head he had I doubted it.
Finally, when midnight arrived so did the first of our members. When the last one (Zacharias) came through the door I started explaining why the drill with the detentions couldn’t keep up. It wasn’t just the fact that we couldn’t fix a meeting, after a while the Carrows would take note who was that caused all the mess, not to mention that all had several bruises and hits from their so called ‘educating’ punishments.
“But you can’t expect us to just sit there and listen to them!” Ernie snapped. He had a deep cut on his cheek, one Crabbe was rather eager to do, after Ernie gave Alecto some mouthy retorts. I exhaled deeply; truth be told I had been able to retain myself until now but I didn’t know for how long I could keep this up and Neville already had the Cruciatus curse set upon him, because he punched Zabini, for saying stuff about his parents.
“We can make a deal”, Luna said.
“What kind of a deal?” I asked her.
“Well, we’re gonna have a limit”, she explained. “Nobody can go up three detentions in a week”.
“That’s crazy”, Ernie laughed.
“Yeah, what else did you expect from Looney?” Zacharias called back. Luna’s face turned red but she looked steadily at him.
“It’s an awful thing to call someone crazy, just because their beliefs do not agree with yours”, she said with her dreamy voice. “Isn’t that what the Death Eaters do?”
Neville smirked at Luna’s retort and at the exasperated expression Zacharias took.
“Okay”, he said then. “It’s the only way we can have more regular meetings”, he told Ernie then. “So, agreed? Nobody gets detentions over three times a week”.
They nodded and then Zacharias got up.
“And where are you going?” I asked confused.
“Well, I thought the meeting was over and that we were…”
“No”, I shook my head.
“Tell me again, why we’re doing this?” Parvati whispered in my ear. I forced myself not to exhale.
“Because we have to start somewhere”, I explained for the thousand time.
“But how painting a wall is going to help?” Colin asked as he, Parvati and Ernie were lined behind me.
We made a draw about who would go on this first mission and to my excitement, to Parvati’s irritation, to Colin’s fright and to Ernie’s satisfaction, we were the outcome. Neville wasn’t too pleased with it either and I guessed it was because he wanted in, but what to do. I was pretty amazed at how all the frustration and fear I’ve been carrying around ever since Harry, Ron and Hermione left, was all gone at the sight of adrenaline. I wanted this, I needed this.
The plan was simple. We would sneak outside the Headmaster’s office (because I was stubbornly refusing to call it Snape’s office) and write some slogans on the wall outside for him to see. I only wished I could be there when he would actually see it.
“We are letting them know we have taken action”, Parvati went on. “Don’t you think that’s kind of reckless?”
“No”, I repeated for the twentieth time this night. “It’s not reckless, but you need to have guts to do it, do you?”
Parvati scowled and I tried not to smirk; if you want to get a Gryffindor motivated just imply that they’re acting with cowardice, works every time.
We reached the Headmaster’s office after a while; thankfully with no trouble and I would want to keep it that way.
“Okay, so we’re here”, Ernie sighed. “But we don’t have any paint, how are we…?”
“We use magic, duh!” Parvati said before I could talk. I nodded in agreement (who would have thought?).
“Okay, come on” I said as I raised my wand.
“What do we write?” Colin asked.
“Stuff like Dumbledore’s Army and Take a Stand and like that”, Ernie replied and then turned to me for confirmation. Okay, I could not say that having the spot of one of the leaders isn’t kind of odd for me.
“Um…yeah, right”, I nodded again.
They got to work making paint emerge from their wands, but as they started writing, I was staring at my piece of the wall intrigued. What should I write? I looked to side. Ernie was writing ‘WE’RE BACK; BEWARE’ (too much of a cliché for my liking but whatever). Colin was writing ‘Dumbledore’s Army Still Fighting’ (simple but it will do). Parvati was writing ‘YOU CAN’T BRING US DOWN, WE HAVE SOULS’ (I was amazed how good that sounded; she was good in making up slogans). I turned back at my unwritten part of the wall. What should I write? What I want to write? And then I knew the answer.
When the others finished with their job, they turned to me and I was just finishing the ‘E’ in Snape’s name. I looked upon our creation satisfied. Snape was definitely going to have a heart attack! Ha!
“Who’s Dumbledore’s murderer, Snape?” Ernie read what I wrote. “Huh, and here I thought this wasn’t supposed to be personal”.
“But it is”, Parvati said before I could talk. She was gazing up at what I wrote with an angered face and for a moment I thought she was gonna start yelling at me, but then she turned at Ernie. “It is personal for each and every one of us”, she said and then I realized that her anger wasn’t for me and it wasn’t for Ernie either; it was for the Death Eaters. “They killed Dumbledore, just like they killed my little cousin last year. They are murderers and we have to let the world know that!”
Ernie mumbled something like ‘okay’ and then turned away from her to widen his eyes to Colin. I was left speechless. I never really thought Parvati had it in her, but yet again bad things bring suppressed stuff out of people. Her little cousin? As we were clearing the mess we made at the floor, I was trying to think of who Parvati was talking about and then I remembered that she was related to the Montgomery sisters and that they’ve lost their little brother to Greyback last year. I tried not to shiver but it was hard to do so. That werewolf was the one who had gotten Bill almost killed last year too.
At first I was too immersed in my thoughts to notice the steps that were approaching but Collin tagged to my sleeve and then I realized it. Someone was climbing the stairs behind the gargoyle that was the entrance to the Headmaster’s office. Snape? A Carrow? Or maybe all of them? We looked at each other scared, knowing we didn’t have time to run because until we would reach the end of the hall, they would be able to see us.
“Hide!” I commanded and then I grabbed Colin’s arm and pushed him behind the wing of the gargoyle. Ernie grabbed Parvati and they hid behind one of the castle’s suits of armour, which stood a few meters away from the wall we wrote our slogans on. I felt Colin gasp next to me as the ground beneath us moved as the gargoyle was turning to the side to let whoever was inside come out. I placed my palm upon his mouth to stop him from repeating the drill as Snape emerged from the opening followed by Alecto and yet another Death Eater I couldn’t recognize because he or she wore one of their disgusting masks.
I watched as Snape stopped right in front of me and the others turned to face him. I was inched from him and he had no idea that I was here; I could so easily raise my wand and blow his irritating face and his greasy, black hair out of sight. But I forced myself to stay put, as quiet as possible, for the sake of the others.
“I’m telling you, we ain’t capable to control those little monsters all by our own anymore, Snape”, Alecto said.
“And I have already told you that you shall not bring any more Death Eaters in here, Alecto!” Snape said with his cold voice. Alecto seemed to disagree but it was obvious that she was wary to go up against Snape. Huh. I guess murdering Albus Dumbledore was good for Snape’s career as a Death Eaters, wasn’t it?
“Now, now, Alecto”, spoke the other Death Eater and I realized it was a woman and if my memory was serving me right, the voice I just heard belonged to a woman Death Eater, I remembered very well from our trip to the Ministry in my fourth year. Bellatrix Lestrange pulled her mask off and revealed her face; I felt Colin shivering behind me and it was hard for me to keep myself from gasping. The woman who killed Sirius, the woman who tortured Neville’s parents to madness.
“Watch it, Alecto”, she said with a sweet voice that hardly matched her cold eyes. “You don’t want to upset our Headmaster here, do you?”
“Bellatrix…” Snape started and I realized there was some restrained annoyance in his voice. Internal rivalries? Probably.
“But why don’t you want more Death Eaters here, Snape? Someone might think that you’re actually concerned about all those kids!”
“Of course I am!” he retorted. I raised my eyebrows. “They are our future! The next generation of Death Eaters!”
“Slytherins aren’t the ones who are causing the trouble”, Alecto said.
“No, but you heard what our master said”, Snape said. “The more we influence the better”.
“Then why not bring more people that can influence them here?” Bellatrix asked. “Isn’t it better to…” but she stopped at her tracks and her eyes widened in shock. I realized that she noticed the wall we had painted. “What the hell is that, Snape?”
Snape turned and I could see his face as he read what we wrote. It was turning paler and paler, but I couldn’t read his eyes, that widened as he read what I had written. I smirked in satisfaction as my wish had been granted; I got to see his reaction.
“Blasphemy!” Alecto spat. “You see? You see that they do not respect anything anymore? They must learn that these kind of absurd things aren’t tolerated under our new regime!”
“And you said that you could control them all by your own!” Bellatrix laughed, but her temper was obviously raised as she approached the wall.
“I assure you my dear Bellatrix that whoever did this is going to be sorry”, Snape said with a calm voice. I wondered how he was able to control his rage so good; he must really be a good actor. But then again he should be a good actor to have fooled Dumbledore for all those years.
“I tell you the Dark Lord needs to know about what’s going on in his school”, Alecto said.
His school? From all the terrible things I had heard that woman say that was the worse. This was our school! Our school not Voldemort’s! How dared she? I felt my hands trembling from anger and I clenched them into fists. This was the blasphemy, not what we wrote on the wall.
“The Dark Lord is fully aware of everything, Alecto. How many times must I say that?” Snape shouted and I was surprised to see how he had lost it over this and not when he saw what we wrote; it was almost like he was angered because Alecto called this Voldemort’s school, just like I was. But that was a silly thought. “The Dark Lord is going to be very angry with us, if he thinks we cannot do the job he has assigned to us, Alecto”.
Oh, so that was why he was so angered. He was scared of Voldemort’s punishment.
“But…”
“No but!” Snape shouted again. “We must do this right by our own, you hear me! I am not going to fail him!”
My nails were pressed against my palm so hard that soon I would draw blood. Hearing Snape say those things, how he didn’t want to fail Voldemort, while for all those years we thought he was on Dumbledore’s side, on our side, on Harry’s side, was infuriating.
“The paint is fresh”, Bellatrix said then, who was still examining the wall. Oh, no.
“What?” Snape asked.
“The paint is fresh”, she repeated turning to face him as she pulled her wand from her robes. “They must still be somewhere around here”. Damn!
“You’re right!” Alecto seemed to agree and pulled out her wand too. Okay, so we’re screwed.
“Come on”, Snape said with disbelief. “You can’t believe that they’ll actually be so stupid as to stick around after they finished the job?”
“Well, maybe they didn’t have time to do so, because we came and maybe they’re hidden somewhere”, Bellatrix said looking around; her eyes fell on the suit of armour. “Maybe behind this armour”, she said approaching it.
I felt like my heart was going to leave my chest. She was going to find Ernie and Parvati! I pulled my wand from my robes, ready for the moment she would find them, because there was no way I was leaving them go through it alone.
“Bellatrix!” Snape called after her and she turned to him a few meters from reaching the spot Ernie and Parvati were. “This is ridiculous and anyway I thought you were here to deliver a message. The message is delivered; we should guard Gryffindor’s sword with our best magic in case Dumbledore had an actual reason for leaving it to Potter. Okay, we got it! Isn’t it time for you to leave now?”
“Are you throwing me out?” she asked irritated walking back to him.
“Well, as must as I love your company, I don’t like the tone of criticism you have, dear Bellatrix”.
“Criticism is needed from time to time”, she replied.
“Really? You don’t seem to be taking it so good”.
“You…”
“Will you please stop fighting so we can spot the brats?’ Alecto cut in.
“They are not around here anymore, Alecto, I’m telling you”, Snape rolled his eyes.
Wow, Bellatrix was a bit more witted from him for sure. He seemed convinced we weren’t there and he wasn’t even letting them search. Not a bright idea, but it worked for us.
“Now forgive me but it’s late and I have to get up early in the morning”, he added.
Bellatrix grunted but turned her back at them and without any sign of goodbye she walked down the hall and disappeared right at the first corner. Alecto stood there confused for a bit, but then she whispered something like ‘goodnight’ to Snape and left too. Snape exhaled deeply when she disappeared and when she did, he turned to the wall with a wary expression on his face. With a flick of his wand the words we had written were gone. Then he walked right back into the opening and the gargoyle moved to its previous place to hide the opening. They were gone.
Colin exhaled relieved beside me and I couldn’t help but letting out a little relieved sigh as well. After a few moments I dragged Colin out of our hiding place, just us Parvati and Ernie were coming out from theirs. They seemed really frightened.
“Oh, God” Parvati managed to whisper.
“I really thought she was going to find you guys!” I said.
“I know, I did too!” Ernie nodded. “Thank God Snape isn’t as devious as she is, huh?”
“Yeah”, Parvati nodded. “Even if he actually wanted her not to find us he wouldn’t have done it so well!”
“Can we go now?” Colin asked.
“Yes”, I nodded. “And quick”.
As we said goodnight to Ernie as he drifted off to the Hufflepuff dormitory and the three of us sneaked carefully back to ours, I could only think of one thing. Gryffindor’s sword.
-Angie-