Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise
Written for; Stickers - Hufflepuff; Badger - A loyal person
Word Count - 333
The Final Straw
Hogwarts was different. It wasn't simply the lack of three of the people who made up their dorm room, or the new Headmaster, or the papers every morning spilling news of more and more reforms that ultimately served the dark side.
It was in the very atmosphere. It was in the fear that was palpable, even amongst those of dark families, and of the purest blood. It was in the smirks of their newest teachers, who were very handy with a torture curse or two or twenty.
Neville despised it. He hated watching the younger kids get tortured, simply for not knowing that school was no longer a place to ask innocent questions or express an opinion that didn't quite match up to the teacher's view.
He hated sitting at the dining tables in silence, because the students couldn't talk to their friends without fear of retribution.
Watching a first year scream beneath a cruciatus curse was the final straw.
Neville disarmed Professor Carrow and, scooping the kid up, he ran. He ran as fast as he could, dropping the kid off with Madam Pomfrey before he made his way up to the room of requirement.
He knew that if he got caught, he was dead.
Allowing himself to breathe when he got safely into the room, Neville leant his head against the wall. He couldn't believe what he'd just done, but at the same time, pride coursed through him.
His father wouldn't have allowed that to happen, he knew.
Harry wouldn't have stood by and watched it happen.
They had to fight back, and Neville, looking around the room, began to get ideas on just how to do that. Harry and Dumbledore might not be at Hogwarts, but that didn't stop those inside the halls from being loyal to them.
It was time to show the villains why the good guys prevailed in all the stories. It was time to show Voldemort that Dumbledore's Army was still alive, and would remain so.