Michael Corner slipped, unnoticed, through the dungeon door, unguarded but for a lock and a burly, idiotic Slytherin seventh-year. It had been easy to Stun the guard under a Disillusionment charm and Alohamora the lock. Almost too easy. He pushed that thought away. He needed to do this. The Carrows had gone too far this time. Punishing people who had actively rebelled against them was one thing, but chaining first-years to the wall and torturing them was another.
Actually, if he was honest with himself, this wasn't as much about the first-year as it was about getting revenge. Revenge for his best friend and all of the other students who had been driven into hiding, and Luna and Ginny Weasley who had just sort of disappeared. All Terry Boot had done was stand up in the Great Hall and shout about the escape from Gringotts on a dragon, and they had tortured him for hours. Although, if this went wrong, he was going to end up far worse than Terry. That was another thing to not think about. Quiet sobs emitted from the room directly to his right. He sneaked through the door, and immediately found the first-year.
She was tiny, smaller than any other first year he had ever seen, (except for that little boy who had fallen in the lake at the beginning of fourth year, though he had probably just seemed smaller due to the magnitude of Hagrid's coat) and she bore a certain resemblance to Lisa Turpin, same brown hair, same small, pointed nose, and, as she looked up, he noticed that her red-rimmed eyes were the same, hazel and round.
Her face and hands were covered with cuts and bruises, and he was sure that the rest of her body was worse. The little girl whimpered as he unlocked the chains, clanking against the cold stone of the floor, and again as he healed the worst of the injuries.
Suddenly, there were footsteps out in the room where the Stunned guard lay. He cursed under his breath. Grabbing the girl, he rapped her hard on the head with his wand to cast a Disillusionment charm on her.
"Go!" Michael whispered harshly, "Get out of here! Run to the seventh floor corridor across from Barnabas the Barmy and ask for the DA! And whatever you do, don't let them catch you!" He shoved her roughly to get her moving, and almost, almost managed to Disillusion himself before they caught him.
"Where'd you send the girl, Corner?" Amycus hissed.
Michael spat in his face.
"That's it! Detention! Now!" barked Alecto. They dragged him to a room down the hall and chained him to a wall in a way similar to the first-year. He knew what was coming. He just hoped he wouldn't die.
"Crucio!"
Unbearable pain filled Michael's body and he screamed, screamed more than he would have thought possible. It seemed like hours, but was probably more like minutes before the curse lifted, and Michael sagged, panting, against the wall in short-lived relief. Pain filled him again, even worse than before, and he knew it wasn't the curse this time. This time, it was something else, cutting sharp lines of pain into his foggy mind. Then it was the curse again, longer this time. Then the burning something. Then the curse, the worst, he was sure, of the three Unforgivable curses, for a good forty-five minutes, before he collapsed, unconscious against the welcoming cold of the dungeon wall.
Some time later, voices pierced the veil of sleep in Michael's mind.
"How is he?" "Merlin's beard! What did they do to him?" Slowly, very slowly, he opened his eyes. He didn't recognize the room, but he recognized the faces. Neville, a fresh cut sliced across his cheek; Susan Bones, probably working as a "detention healer" now that Madam Pomfrey was forbidden; Stephen Cornfoot and Morag McDougal , possibly the best, underage, untrained Healers at Hogwarts; and Terry, still bruised from his encounter with the Carrows.
"He's alive!" Terry whooped, "Blimey, we thought we lost you for a minute there!"
"They won't get rid if me that easily!" Michael croaked, "How did I get up here anyway?"
"Lisa. That girl is a genius!" Terry replied, "Not only did she get past the guards in the dungeon, she managed to get out of there with you, unconscious and badly injured, on a magic stretcher!"
"Well, I owe her thanks."
They both fell silent for a little bit. Michael lifted a hand to reach for his wand and gasped in pain.
"I can barely move!"
"You want me to get some Dreamless Sleep potion?" Terry offered. Michael nodded and winced. Terry stood up and immediately fell flat on his face.
"You could probably use some healing yourself, mate." Terry nodded sheepishly, and went to go find Anthony Goldstein and the three unofficial healers. It was a while before he returned, so Michael spent the time watching the other people in the Room of Requirement. There was Neville, of course, the leader of the DA now that Ginny and Luna were gone. Seamus Finnagan; what did he do to get beaten up like that?! Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott, working on Seamus'- pretty much all of Seamus.
Terry was in the corner talking earnestly to Anthony, Stephen, and Morag. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, not giggling or gossiping for once. Ernie Macmillan, looking disgruntled without Justin Finch-Fletchley. That little Gryffindor with the camera, Colin Creevey, followed by — a smaller version of herself? Oh, right, he had a brother. Leanne Somebody-or-other; her last name was impossible to remember.
Almost the entire DA, except for the ones who had left school, and the ones in hiding. (Su Li, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Dean Thomas, Kevin Entwhistle) Of course the sneak who betrayed them to the toad face hag, Marietta Edgecomb wasn't there. Neither was Zacharias Smith, that coward!
The room was divided into two, and there were hammocks and wall hangings for all of the houses- except Slytherin. There were no Slytherins there.
Before Michael could figure out what the room was, Terry and Anthony came back with the potion.
"Sweet dreams," Anthony said grimly, before pouring the potion down Michael's throat.
He only had a moment to hope that Terry got some healing and that Lisa returned soon before everything sank into warm darkness.