A/N: This is a new story I'm hoping to work on. Since it takes place during the fifth year, and I'm planning on every chapter taking a different POV, there should be about 28 chapters in all. That being said, I have don't have that many ideas about what to have all the characters do while rebelling against Umbridge, so if you have any ideas to what a particular character should do, please, please contact me to let me know.
And now, to the story.
Seamus broke free of the mass of people streaming out of the Room of Requirement. Spotting Dean through the mess of people running down the corridor, Seamus hurried to follow him, the noise of so many people sprinting echoing off the walls around him. Behind him, he heard someone shouting, then a bang as a spell went off. Not daring to look back, Seamus hurried after Dean, the sounds of people running dampening slightly as people ran off down different corridors. Dean kept running though, so Seamus followed him as closely as he could, praying that Dean knew what he was doing.
Even running as fast as he could, Dean was pulling ahead of him. Seamus was no match for his longer-limbed friend. Though most of the footsteps had faded away, Seamus could still hear at least two pairs of footsteps running after them. Unable to resist the temptation, he risked a glance backwards. To his relief, Seamus only saw Anthony Goldstein (he thought, though it might have been Terry Boot, he wasn't sure) and a little ways behind him, Seamus spotted Neville huffing along, obviously having a hard time keeping up.
Looking ahead again, Seamus saw that Dean had gotten so far ahead, Seamus barely had to time to see him round a corner. Seamus had no idea where Dean was leading them, or if Dean was leading them anywhere. They had already run past the bathrooms nearest to the Room of Requirement (For which Seamus was glad; if they were being chased, he didn't really want to be caught hiding in a bathroom) and Seamus wondered if they were running all the way to the common room. He hoped not, because he thought it might be difficult to explain why a Ravenclaw wanted to come into the Gryffindor common room.
Evidently though, Dean had a plan in mind, because he turned right and hurtled up a staircase so quickly Seamus almost didn't see him. Putting on a burst of speed, Seamus ran up the staircase, emerging in a moonlit circular room with no glass in the windows, and numerous half-asleep owls perching on the rafters, most of them staring at him reproachfully.
Seamus slowed as he reached Dean, who was panting in the middle of the room. Behind him, he could hear Anthony (Or Terry) and Neville pounding up the staircase as well, appearing moments later out of breath and, in Neville's case, with sweat pouring down their faces.
"Did anyone follow us?" asked Dean, still out of breath. When Neville shook his head, too out of breath to answer, Dean went on. "I didn't think we were being followed, but I thought that I better be safe than sorry and ran up here."
Seamus nodded and placed his hands on his knees, more tired than he would have thought now that he knew they weren't being chased. A cool breeze played across his face from the windows, and Seamus supposed that if he hadn't just sprinted to here, he would have found it rather drafty.
"So Seamus," said Dean suddenly, breaking the silence. "Not how you were planning to spend your first meeting with us?"
"Not really, no," said Seamus. "I thought it might involve less running."
"It usually does," panted Neville.
The four of them looked at each other, momentarily out of things to say. After a minute, Seamus walked to the wall and sat down against it, glad for a chance to rest his legs. Following his lead, the others did the same. Seamus leaned his head against the wall, looking up at the owls still peering suspiously in his direction.
Why did you lead us to the Owlery?" asked Neville after another minute, when they all had their breath back.
"It was the first place I thought of." Dean shrugged. "There's nothing suspicious about students sending a letter to their parents at the end of a day."
Even when there are four of us?" asked Terry (or Anthony.)
"So it's an odd coincidence," Dean shrugged again. "It's not unheard of."
"Even when it looks like we're trying to get past Umbridges mail searches?" said Seamus.
"Ah" said Dean, taken back for a moment. Then he gamely rallied. "Er, we're just here visiting our owls?"
"None of us owns any owls" pointed out Neville.
"We all came to visit because we like looking at the owls?" Dean offered desperately.
There was a moment of silence as the pitiable excuse sunk in.
"Seriously," Seamus snorted. "You should stick to the truth, because no one's going to believe your lies."
"Excuse me," said Dean, drawing himself up, the very picture of indignation. "I managed to fool you when you asked what I was doing after the D.A. meetings."
Seamus snorted. "Fool me? You never had me fooled for a second. Not with those horrible excuses.
"Horrible?" repeated Dean. "Horrible? Those where fantastic excuses. You never had any idea I was lying to you."
"Are you kidding me?" said Seamus. He put on a high falsetto. "Hi Seamus, I'm not looking guilty at all." Seamus lowered his voice to a manly pitch. "Hey Dean, I can't help but notice that I couldn't find you after dinner."
Dean started to interrupt, but Seamus's falsetto overpowered his feeble attempt at speech. "Oh, uh, I had to return a book. You know, at the library."
Seamus lowered his pitch, trying to hide a grin, ignoring the sounds of muffled laughter coming from Neville. "Really Dean, you took two hours to return a book?"
Seamus shook his head and returned to his normal voice. "Two hours to return book? Even you couldn't take that long."
Neville turned, his shoulders shaking with restrained laughter, and Terry (Seamus was pretty sure it was Terry) was, clutching his sides, his face working furiously to restrain a smile. Dean still looked mildly offended, but Seamus knew him too well to believe that he was actually offended. Seams grinned at him, and after a moment, Dean let a reluctant grin spread across his face. Seamus chuckled, and within seconds, everyone was laughing much harder then they usually would; once started, it was almost impossible to stop. Several times, they were on the verge of stopping, but then one of them would laugh slightly, and it would set them all off again.
Eventually, after several minutes, the laughing stopped. Not daring to look at each other, they tried to regain their breath, cheeks hurting for from laughing so hard. Above them, the owls hooted and ruffled their wings at the intruders below, clearly annoyed at their laughter. Even as Seamus watched, several flew out of the window, evidently at the end of their tethers of what they could endure. Fighting to keep back his laughter at this sight, Seamus turned back toward the front of the room and immediately felt his urge to keep laughing disappear instantly. Standing in front of the staircase stood a figure, a triumphant grin on his face.
"What do we have here?" said Blaise Zabini, his eyes reflecting the moonlight streaming in through the windows. Dean, Seamus Neville, and Anthony all scrambled to their feet, their expressions alarmed.
The atmosphere, so carefree a moment before, immediately dropped by twenty degrees, landing somewhere near oh crap.
"Oh," said Terry
"Ah," said Dean,
"er," said Neville
"Shit" said Seamus.
Seamus glanced around the room wildly. Terry and Neville were just standing there, wearing the same panicking expression. Dean was standing on the other side of the room, helplessly looking around the room. Zabini continued to glare at them, not missing any of this. Seamus cleared his throat, this was his time to make an excuse to get them all free, to show Dean how much better he was at lying then he was. Quick, Seamus thought to himself, come up with a good one.
"We were just here to visit the owls" said Seamus, mentally kicking himself for not thinking before he spoke.
"Visit the owls" repeated Zabini skeptically. Across the room, Dean threw him a mingled look of disgust and exasperation.
"That's right," said Neville.
"It's, er, there's something very relaxing about watching them," said Dean, still shooting Seamus a look that clearly said that he wasn't going to let Seamus forget about this. Seamus wished he wouldn't, as it was already hard enough to think quickly without Dean reminding him that he was borrowing a horrible excuse.
"And the four of you just met here, Goldstein?" asked Zabini. (It was Anthony, thought Seamus.)
"Yes," Anthony nodded.
"And you all came because you wanted to visit the pretty owls?" said Zabini disbelievingly.
"Well, I came because I wanted to check in on my friend's owl," said Dean.
"And I wanted some privacy," said Neville quietly.
"And I came because I thought I lost my quill here when I was writing a letter," said Anthony.
"And I wanted to visit the owls," said Seamus innocently.
"And then we all decided to stay and visit with the owls," Dean nodded. "There's nothing like a visit to the Owlery to clear you head.
"Then why are you all covered in sweat?" asked Zabini.
There was a moment of silence where the five of them looked at each other.
"That's not sweat," said Seamus trying not to sound guilty, and at the same time watching Neville wipe off his face with his sleeve.
"I don't believe you," said Zabini. "You're obviously lying. I think that you ran up here to hide from the Umbridge
"No," said Neville defiantly. "We just... it was an owl you see."
"Another owl?" sneered Zabini. "Is that you're your whole story is going to be made of?"
Well, we are in the Owlery," pointed out Dean. "And it's not a story."
Before Zabini could respond to that, they heard new footsteps climbing up the staircase. Pausing their conversation, all five of them turned to face the stairs. A moment later, Pansy Parkinson appeared, out of breath.
Seamus and Dean looked at each other, both realizing just how bad their situation had become.
"Yes?" said Zabini to Pansy
"I thought I might find you here." Pansy said, her eyes traveling around the room, marking who was there. "Professor Umbridge wanted to see everyone who helped to meet her in her office."
"Right now?" asked Zabini.
Pansy shrugged "Umbridge looked like she had something important to tell us."
"Right," Zabini drew out his wand and pointed straight at Seamus. "You heard her, let's start moving."
"Are these from the meeting?" asked Pansy, wrinkling her nose in distaste at the sight of them, ignoring Seamus, Neville and Dean's hands drifting to where their wands were concealed with an indifference Seamus couldn't help but admire.
"No," said Seamus.
"Yes," said Zabini,
"Umbridge says that they get off this time," said Pansy, scowling at Seamus.
"Get off?" said Zabini, his voice dangerous. "They should be punished. I caught them fleeing from the meeting."
"It doesn't matter." Pansy said, scowling harder at Seamus, as if it was his fault Zabini was being stubborn. "Umbridge told me that they all get off. Something's changed. I don't know what happened, but it's big."
Pansy and Zabini looked at each other. Seamus was sure that Zabini was suspicious of this new news; certainly he seemed in no hurry to let his wand down from where it was still pointing at Seamus.
Eventually, after a long moment, Zabini reluctantly lowered his wand. "Fine. What do we do with this lot?"
"We leave them," said Pansy, before turning to look directly at Dean "I don't know how, but somehow, you got lucky this time. Next time, I will get you expelled. This castle's already filthy enough without you here."
With that, Pansy retreated down the stairs, followed by Zabini, who offered once last sneer at Seamus before disappearing from view.
Together, Seamus, Dean, Neville and Anthony waited silently as the Slytherins' footsteps faded away.
"So, that's it?" asked Anthony, looking around at all of them. "We just get off, with no consequences?"
"I guess so," said Seamus, relaxing again for the first time since Zabini had entered "I wonder what happened to make them let us off.
"By all rights we should be expelled right now," Dean muttered. "It definitely wasn't us convincing them that we were innocent.
"What happened to the rest of the D.A.?" Neville wondered aloud, his round face anxious. "Do you think they got caught?"
"I don't know Neville," Seamus frowned. "I hope not. But even if they are, it looks like they won't get in trouble."
Apparently, no one could think of anything to say to this, instead standing their silently, as though waiting for something. It wasn't until Dean glanced at his watch and announced that it was nearing curfew that they started moving. They may have avoided being expelled, but none of them really felt like pushing their luck any further. They walked in silence, only speaking to bid Anthony a goodnight when he split off to make his way back to the Ravenclaw tower. Within a few short minutes, they reached the corridor where the Fat Lady stood.
"Long night, huh guys?" said Dean, sounding tired. "I never thought that we would actually get caught. I mean, we've been doing it for months now without a problem. and this one..." he trailed off.
"On my first meeting too," said Seamus, trying not to sound wistful. "I was just starting to have fun."
"I guess that's the end of Dumbledore's army," said Neville, sounding disappointed.
"I think it's just starting," said Seamus, a grin on his face. He knew that he had no good reason to grin, that he was tired and not thinking as clearly as he should have been, but he couldn't help thinking that this wasn't the end, just the beginning of something else.
Whatever it was, he hoped that would be a whole lot of fun, and possibly life changing. But mostly just a lot of fun.
