This is my entry for XxXRegretXxX's 61 Themes Competition. My title was 'Death is Inevitable' and my character was Neville
'To the right, to the left, we will fight, to the death, to the edge of the earth it's a brave new world from the last to the first'
Neville stood, hands shaking in front of the group of around twenty-five students. He felt sweat bead on his forehead and he started to feel faintly sick. Why had he said he would do this? Why? Yes it had been his idea but Ginny would be a much better leader, he was better at following other peoples lead, well that's what he'd done his whole life. He looked at all their expectant faces and closed his eyes for a second. He was going to do this, he was not going to back down now.
"Okay, I'm glad you could all make it here tonight as obviously something quite drastic needs to be done," Neville said, his voice shaking slightly.
Around him people nodded there heads and murmured the agreement, Neville breathed a small sigh of relief. That was a good start.
"Right, I think we ought to re-start the DA with a sole purpose in mind, the overthrow Snape and the Carrows,"
A few people whooped.
"Obviously that is going to be a lot easier said than done, I think that as soon as we show any signs of proper rebellion or fight, other Death Eaters will be called in and I really don't think they'll show any mercy,"
The room grew quiet and people now looked at him curiously.
"The only way we can really over throw them is by force, so I'm talking about a battle here,"
Neville could have heard a pin drop in that pause, everyone seemed to be holding there breathe.
"Now I know that Harry's disappeared and we've all guessed he's trying to defeat…..Voldemort" There were a few gasps and splutters from around the room "So if Harry shows up at the castle, that's our cue, that's the night we fight. If he doesn't show then I thought that on the very last day of term we attack,
"So my plan is to start of by recruiting as many people as we possibly can to the DA, I really don't think twenty five of us can take on….however many Death Eaters there are. Once we've done that we train, and I don't just mean defensive spells I mean stuff like unexpected curses and hexes, if we're going to win this thing and we want to make a difference we have to fight properly, not just try and dodge curses I mean fight to …. To kill,"
There seemed to be one large intake of breath and a lot of peoples eyes widened in horror.
"But there is one really important thing that I need to say first, something that you all need to be aware of if we're going to do this," Neville glanced at Ginny and Luna who both nodded encouragingly. "What you're agreeing to do is fight maybe hundreds of Death Eaters and possibly ….. Voldemort himself. These people know curses that you can't even imagine, they won't just try to kill you they will try to injure you in the worst way possible first. Like playing with food before you eat it. What I'm basically saying is that…." Neville took a deep breathe before opening his eyes to look at all of them "Death is inevitable, perhaps not for all of us but I can pretty safely say that there is a good chance of dying whilst fighting, however hard we train and however much we prepare I can see no way that every single one of us will survive. So if you're not prepared to lay down your life to save Hogwarts then I would leave now. None of us will be disappointed in you and you will leave with all of your dignity intact, it's a huge decision and I will totally understand if you would rather go. I don't want to force a single one of you into doing this and I can't ask you to die for Hogwarts. You have got to decide this yourselves."
Neville had expected most people to leave then, for him to accept his plan hadn't worked and going just being Neville Longbottom: clumsy, forgetful seventh year who was quite good at Herbology. To his complete surprise no-one got up, no-one even twitched. They all sat still looking at him, expressions of sheer determination on every face.
"You mean …. You want to go ahead with my plan?" Neville stammered his mouth dropping open.
Heads nodded and a chorus of 'yes' and 'of course' filled the room.
"You're all prepared to do this?" He asked incredulously.
"Oh Neville stop looking so amazed," Ginny said sharply. "Hogwarts was a home for all of us and its been taken away, this is what we want to do. What we need to do. We're fighting,"
Heads nodded at Ginny and Neville and now a chorus of 'yes, we're fighting," echoed round.
"Okay … alright then …. Well I guess ….. DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY," Neville yelled punching the air.
"DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY," all the voices roared back, jumping to their feet and throwing their own fists in the air
*jumps up and yells 'dumbledore's army'... sits back down when I realize I'm actually alone in my room* haha this is short but hopefully you liked it guys. The lyric at the beginning is 'this is war' by 30 seconds to mars. If Dumbledore's army had a theme tune that song would do be it. Anyway please read and review as it means the world to me
Hannah xx