A/N: This takes place sometime in the first semester of the Hogwarts, during DH. The Ministry is going to decide whether or not to legalize the Unforgivable curses the next day. I tried to capture what election night felt like in this story, but I'm not sure if it worked. I'm also going to add another chapter about the next day. Halfway through writing this, I realized that if Voldemort had already taken over the Ministry, it might not matter whether or not the Unforgivables were legal. My only explanation is that the Ministry has to tell the people something, right? They claimed that Harry was "wanted for questioning on the death of Albus Dumbledore" Instead of saying that he was a threat to Voldemort. So what I'm going to go with is that yes, the Death Eaters were using Unforgivables anyway, but legalizing them means that they can be used at Hogwarts, that they can be used easily and without people questioning them as much, if that makes any sense.
"It's not going to happen," Neville said. "It's not possible."
He spoke with enough confidence to reassure most of the fearful crowd of Gryffindors watching him. The clock on the common room wall told Ginny that it was close to midnight, but the time was the least of anyone's worries that night. Neville's optimism was helping, but Ginny knew that optimism wouldn't help them if things went badly the next day. Frustration hit Ginny again, just as it had been doing since she learned what the Ministry-no what You-know-who-what Voldemort- was planning to do. The world might end tomorrow, and there was nothing she could do. She turned away from the common room, and started heading back to her dorm. Neville was good at optimism and encouragement; she was not. But the members of the new DA still saw her as one of the leaders, and while the world very well might end the next day, making the students even more scared than they already were would not help. So she walked up the stairs to the girls' dormitory quietly, only allowing her anger to show once she was safely inside the room. She slammed the door shut, and then kicked off her shoes. Flopping backwards onto her bed, she stared at the ceiling of the seventh year girls' dormitory. If things were normal, the law that had reasonable odds of being passed the next day wouldn't even have been proposed. Then again, if things were normal, Snape wouldn't be headmaster, muggle-borns wouldn't be getting arrested, and she would be in her own dorm, in the dorm she had shared with the other Gryffindor girls who were her age for the last five years. But things were not normal, and no one else in Ginny's year had come back to Hogwarts, so she had moved into the seventh year dorm. But that was really the least of her worries right now, which dorm she was in...
"You can't take it either?" Parvati Patil's voice startled Ginny out of her thoughts. She jolted upward, slamming her head on the top of her bed.
"Ow," She muttered, rubbing her head.
"The entire world has gone completely fucking crazy, and they're down there trying to pretend as though this isn't going to happen." Parvati said angrily. Then she shook her head, and sighed. "It's not their fault, I know, and they're just trying to look on the bright side but Merlin...What if they're wrong? What if it happens?" Ginny had no response for this; she had tried her best not to picture what actually might happen tomorrow, if the Ministry went through with it, if they passed the law that would change everything.
"This...Nothing like this has ever happened before. Curse laws haven't changed in a hundred years, and the Unforgivable curses have been illegal forever. When the Ministry was first established, it was one of the first things they did, outlawing the Unforgivables. They can't get rid of that now. It just.." Parvati trailed off.
"It won't happen," Ginny decided. "It can't." And then both girls stopped talking, unwilling to consider what would happen if they were wrong.
Finally, footsteps broke the silence, and the door was thrown open as Lavender Brown walked into the room. There was something in her hand, which she threw at Parvati.
"Go to page four," She said. Parvati flipped through what Ginny now realized was a newspaper, and stared at it for a few minutes.
"That's...That's actually really good. Is this true?" Ginny got up and walked over to Parvati to look at the newspaper article.
Ministry Plan to Legalize Unforgivable Curses has 30% Chance of Being Passed
Ginny read through the headline four times, finally letting her eyes rest on the number. 30%. Too high, far too high odds for a law this insane, but somehow...30%. It wasn't very much at all. Not nearly enough to get this law passed. She looked up, her eyes meeting Lavender's.
"It's going to be ok," Ginny whispered, her voice filled with relief.
"It's not going to happen! Thirty percent isn't nearly enough, it's going to be fine!" Lavender crowed jubilantly.
"Well, not fine. You-know-who's still taken over the Ministry, and Snape's still headmaster, but Unforgivable curses are going to stay illegal." Parvati amended.
"We don't know for sure until tomorrow, though," Ginny reminded them.
"We should know first thing in the morning, right?" Lavender questioned.
"Yeah," Parvati was still staring at the newspaper. Finally, she rolled it back up and set it down on the stand next to her bed. "Sleep?" she asked. Instead of responding, Lavender got up and turned out the lights, and the three girls went to sleep.
A/N: So that's chapter one! This is my first fanfic(besides one that I deleted five minutes after publishing), and if there's anything I did wrong, please tell me! Seriously, reviews of any kind will make me smile for days.