To Burn A City
Disclaimer: I don't own HP.
A/N: Enjoy! This is for the Tentatively Titled competition and the March 31st prompt of the day for Hogwarts Online II.
Dumbledore's Army is coming. Dumbledore's Army is always strong. They will fight for Dumbledore, Harry, and their selves. They are hopeful in the darkest of days. Practicing and waiting for the moment to strike, when it all comes to an end.
All the students in Hogwarts know that there's something going on, they can smell it and see it in the air. With every curse the Carrows throw or make others throw the whispers of rebellion get stronger and more and more students throw their lives at stake by joining the ranks. They can't stand the oppression and the exacting dictatorship from the Carrows and they realize that they need to be a part of the strong force that is Dumbledore's Army. Every meeting runs the chance of getting found out and tortured yet the followers still come to listen to the empowering words of the leaders: Luna "Loony Luna" Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and Ginny Weasley. They are true Gryffindors, true lions (even the Ravenclaw), and they aren't afraid of anything.
So when the Slytherins dominate and excel in the classes due to the dark influence they don't cringe or break their facades. They act like they are mindless and they can't do anything even though they carry the most dangerous weapon of them all: hope.
Hope is what fills the room when one of the trio appears and everyone seems blinded in the hope they shine through their very pores. That quality sparks and fuels rebellion. To fall in love or to feel secure in a cause can be a very dangerous thing. Sometimes you lose your head and say ridiculous remarks like "How strong are the Carrows really against us?" to which Neville or Luna will remark, "A joke is a very serious thing. It can hurt you if you aren't careful."
The truth is that jokes and happiness in a time of desolation can make you stand out among the crowd and when you become a target of Death Eaters they tend to make an example of you. So even though one member joked about something appropriate because of the relief that broken their diet of fear and oppression they, the Carrows, hurt and mangled the boy.
That's why they say that about jokes. That's why Luna, Neville, and Ginny will all have premature wrinkles on their foreheads. The rebellion grew beyond a quivering flame in the wind at that moment when people saw, really saw and grew stark raving mad, at what a dictatorship really was.
Rebellion is hope and a dream. Those things are so dangerous and the students of Hogwarts know that so well. Alecto Carrow's harsh, harpy resembling, laughs of sadistic pleasure remind them every day for if her laughs haven't danced in the air that day then they have the day before and/or in their nightmares.
The student population has dramatically decreased due to injuries, withdrawal from school (Muggleborns and more), and mental instability. The harsh reign that Headmaster Snape watches over is character crushing and thoroughly Earth shattering. The fear and anger levels of the castle, haven't been this high since Grindlewald or even the First Wizarding War.
To burn something and to let it roar and live enough to burn a city, a world even, you need the fuel, the spark, and air. All of these elements seem to come together in small ways that show what the future will look like through small shutters even in the darkest days of Hogwarts.
Spark
Neville speaks unlike any other time in the past before the DA members. He stands strong, confident like a mountain that can't be broken, as he soothes the crowd in a DA meeting with his convincing and silver-tongued words. He can persuade a room with his honest voice, a passionate cause, and the life and hope in his dark eyes.
When he speaks someone can almost get a flash of him behind a podium as someone incredibly important (like right now) in the future. A member can feel their doubts wash away and they can feel the secure touch of a father's embrace, strong and unbreakable, with the flow of his words. They feel protected and while they still feel that nagging sense of fright they feel the same thing he does.
They share the same thing in that moment when he finishes and they are dismissed, after learning how to defend themselves, a spark of hope.
Fuel
Alecto Carrow's sneer, showing her bloodthirsty canines, sent shivers down the bodies of two second year students. Luna watches through guarded yet dreamy eyes as she demands in a tongue harsh and brutal against their naïve skin that they torture each other and use an Unforgivable. Both boys look at each other and shake their heads.
Alecto's pale face brightens drastically into a crimson tinged mask of anger as she screams her demand this time and everyone in the hall turns to look at the scene. She looks like her control is slipping and students make notice of this in the back of their minds. Luna can see everything and when the boy with baby blue eyes on the right says no again she doesn't hesitate to try to regain control by sending the boy, with a burst of blinding light, into pained spasms and devilish howls.
Still when the boy on the left helps the courageous boy up and Carrow demands him to do it again he says no and she looks murderous and fear is thick in the air when Snape comes through the halls and stops the future slaughter.
The boy and his determination act as fuel when the whispers of the halls say that he is a DA member and the movement is stronger than ever before.
Air
The element of air is a favorable condition that allows the fire to grow and it is the final element in a roaring rebellion and the air of Hogwarts is truly a site for combustion. Especially as the year started to reach a close and the Daily Prophet and whispers from the rumor mill started to state Harry's close proximity to Hogwarts and the chaos he was causing.
Ginny can see the look of worry on Snape's face as he fears for the worst. If Harry comes to Hogwarts everything will change. He was on the hunt for Hocruxes and if it is finishing this soon then it gives Ginny a feeling of strength. He has to know what he is doing. He is the one that will survive. He has to be because she loves him so much.
Snape demands information on Harry's whereabouts and wants to keep his control because should rebellion form then he will be oust because no one likes him. Everyone despises the man who allowed such inhumane treatment to occur at Hogwarts.
No one says a word about Harry though and Snape has no clue where he is until Harry arrives and the wind hikes up the fire and the fire begins to burn animatedly and strong. There is no stopping this rebellion. There is nothing to stop Dumbledore's Army.
For they could burn a city down or sear the world with their strength and passion.