The Last Resistance
In the silent compartment, it was quite impossible to concentrate on anything, except for the loud chugging noise of the train. Normally, Ginny looked forwards to the rides back to Hogwarts. In past years they had been filled with fond stories of the summer and enjoyable conversation with good friends.
This year, the atmosphere on the train was anxious. The unnatural atmosphere was understandable, with the events of the past summer so fresh in everyone's mind. There was no doubt about it. The wizarding world was at war. Voldemort was back, and at large. It seemed his vast influence had even managed to reach Hogwarts, where he had planted Severus Snape as headmaster.
Ginny had spent her summer learning about the going on's of the wizarding world from the Order. Since the death of Sirius Black, the Order had moved their base of locations to the Burrow. Since it was Ginny's home, she was able to sneak around in order to hear things she wasn't supposed to.
Sneaking about the Burrow had been one of Ginny's only joys that summer. After the Order had collected Harry from his aunt and uncle in a raid that had cost them Mad-Eye, things had begun to change. But the major shift had come on Bill and Fleur's wedding day. The Death Eaters had found them and attacked. They had killed the last line of defense the Ministry could offer, Rufus Scrimegour. Then it had become apparent to anyone with a brain that the Ministry was Voldemorts. All resistance would be underground.
But Ginny had lost more than just the Ministry, which she really didn't care about, that night. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had taken off, leaving her behind as they went in search of Horcruxes. With Bill and Fleur now residing at Shell Cottage, and the twins living in their flat over their shop, Ginny was an only child for once in her life. The Burrow was just too big to house only one Weasley chid.
In a fashion very unlike herself, Ginny had begun to count the days till her return to Hogwarts. At Hogwarts, she would at least be among friends. She would have Neville and Luna, Seamus and Dean, and what was left of the DA. It was becoming more and more apparent that the DA would need to reform this year. Snape was headmaster and a few known Death Eaters were slated to join the teaching staff.
But her reunion with Neville and Luna had been bittersweet. Over the summer, they had read the headlines too. They knew of the Hogwarts that awaited them. It was so different from the Hogwarts they knew, yet the whole world was different from the one they knew. They would have to adapt to the changes and keep the spirit of Harry alive within the school.
"Look, we're nearly there." Luna said, finally breaking the silence. Even in these dark times, she still seemed to be her normal self.
Leaning over the blond, Ginny looked out at the lights of Hogsmede as they approached. Somehow the familiar orbs seemed sinister.
"No more avoiding it." Neville agreed, looking as grim as Ginny felt.
She nodded, leaning back into her seat. "We've got to protect the younger students. As soon as we can, we'll send a message with the coins and get everyone to meet at the Room of Requirements. We've got to make sure Voldemort knows he can't take us down without a fight." Ginny said, feeling the challenge growing before her. She would take it on. She was a Weasley and if being a Weasley had taught her anything, it was that impossible was only a word for difficult. She could do whatever she set her heart on. Right now, her heart was set on protecting as many students as she possibly could.
The train pulled into the station then, and Ginny got to her feet with Neville and Luna. None of them were prefects, yet they kept a close eye on the students as they piled off the train into the billowing steam outside. Through the mist, a large yellow beacon shone. That was a good sign, Hagrid was still at Hogwarts. Letting a brief smile cross her lips, Ginny broke away from Neville and Luna to approach the friendly half-giant.
" 'Lo Hagrid-," She began to say, before realizing the man was not Hagrid at all. He was slender, though tall. He appeared as if he always needed to be moving, ferreting about. The Ferret Man leaned down to Ginny with a cruel sneer on his face.
"Did you want something, pretty?" He asked, looking her over in the most repulsive way.
Ginny met his sneer with a set jaw. "I want you to get that light out of my face." She stated, hoping to prove she wasn't intimidated by him.
"You'll treat me with respect, girl." Ferret Man replied, his sneer contorting with anger.
Ginny simply folded her arms, "Fine, I want you to get that light out of my face, sir." She said, adding emphasis to the last word.
"I'll remember your face," The Ferret Man replied, his tone hushed and dangerous.
"And I'll remember yours." Ginny replied evenly. Starting the term with a new enemy was better that starting the term by showing them she was easily spooked.
The Ferret Man drew his hand back and slapped Ginny across the cheek. All around them, students fell into unnatural silence. Ginny didn't flinch, though her cheek stung. "You'll learn respect, you foolish girl, during your detention in my office tomorrow night."
Ginny stared back at him, feeling her untouched cheek growing in a red blush to match its twin. "I'd be there, but I don't know who you are." Ginny said simply, her tone still incredibly even.
"Professor Carrow," The Ferret Man said. Ginny much preferred to call him the Ferret Man. "I'll expect you tomorrow, Dark Arts office."
This man was supposed to be educating them in defending themselves against dark forces? Alecto Carrow was one of the known Death Eaters teaching this year, along with his sister, Amycus. It seemed that the DA would most definitely need to resume their teaching practises this year.
"Don't you mean Defense against the Dark Arts, Professor?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I said what I meant." It was now Alecto's turn to smirk. "You had best get up to the Great Hall. Wouldn't want you to miss all the new improvements to the school."
Realizing now was not the best time to duel her new professor, Ginny satisfied herself with one more fierce glare before turning to join Neville and Luna who stood a little ways away with Dean and Seamus. Once they were out of ear shot of Professor Carrow and safely in a carriage, Dean turned to Ginny.
"Are you alright?" He asked his concern for his ex-girlfriend still apparent.
"I'm fine," Ginny replied, finding herself to be touched by this concern. "He hits like a girl."
Dean accepted this with a nod. "Looks like we're going to be in for quite the year," He added.
" 'Course we are! Me mum nearly made me stay home. Death Eaters teaching and all." Seamus added, his voice energetic as always. He flailed his hands like he was swatting a fly as he talked. "Had to convince her to let me come back."
"We're glad to have you Seamus," Neville said. Giving the Irishman as much of a smile as he could muster. "We're going to need all the wands we can get."
"Got something cooked up, have you Neville?" Seamus asked, looking excited.
"It's simple of course," Luna said, looking up at everyone over the Quibbler. Her massive grey eyes shone. "We're going to fight back."
Severus Snape felt unnatural, sitting in Dumbledore's chair. He still referred to the throne line seat as such. He always would, as he expected most of the students in the hall did. He gazed out over them, their pale faces turned towards him. Almost by habit, he searched the crowd, though he knew he would not find what he was looking for. Harry Potter was not in the hall, nor had he been on the train. Snape had expected this. The boy was off doing his duty, searching for Horocruxes. In spite of this knowledge, Snape still scanned the hall, wishing for the chance to see those perfect green eyes.
The last of the students had filed into the Great Hall, seating themselves according to house. The new first years had been sorted into the appropriate houses and were now seated closest to him, looking up at the staff table. This was the time when Dumbledore would have risen to address the students and welcome them back to Hogwarts. The start of term notices would have been mentioned and professors introduced. But Snape was not interested in any of that ceremony.
Instead he looked up at his students from the throne like chair and slowly rose to his feet. Taking his time in walking around the staff table, Snape finally found himself directly in front of the students. All eyes were on him. Without hesitation, he spoke. "Hogwarts has come to experience some recent changes." He stated plainly. "These changes have been approved in order to benefit the students. Do not question these changes. They are irreversible." With that, Snape swept his great black cloak and returned to his seat.
Food appeared on the table in front of him, and the tables throughout the hall. For a moment, the start of term feast seemed as cheery as always. Yet Snape had no interest in this food. His mind was elsewhere, thinking back to that day in Dumbledore's office when he had been given his most difficult commission. The job that had landed him here, in a position he did not want or deserve.
Snape had made a promise that day, to Albus Dumbledore. He had promised that he would protect the students of the school from Voldemort. It had seemed like the wise old man had expected everything which had come to pass. He knew that once Voldemort trusted Snape explicitly, he would appoint him headmaster. It was from this position that Snape must protect the students. Though, with two Death Eaters in his school how to do so seemed unfathomable.
During the feast, Snape did not eat. He kept quiet, though a few of the professors around him attempted to strike up conversation. He was flanked on either side by the Carrow's. It wasn't until Alecto leaned over to inform him of what had transpired on the platform, did Snape listen.
"I've given her detention." Alecto summarized. "I think she can serve her detention by helping me prepare my lesson plan."
Snape raised an eyebrow, his face blank and disinterested. "Which spell did you intend on starting with?"
"Imperio seems like a good one. I could make her tap dance off the Astronomy tower." Alecto grinned maliciously. His sister cackled on Snape's other side.
Snape bit back the urge to roll his eyes. "To have a student die would launch an inquiry. You would not be much help as an educator for Azkaban."
"We wouldn't get sent to Azkaban for killing a Weasley. We'd get a reward." Amycus hissed.
Snape looked over at her, all warmth evaporated from his eyes. "I will not tolerate an inquiry into my school." That idiot Weasley girl would have to watch her step from now on. The Carrow's were two dogs who had just been let off the chain in a meat factory. They were ruthless. He had seen it before. They would take a helpless victim and simply destroy them. Now they were in this school and Snape barely had control over them.
Alecto frowned. "Not going soft on us, are you Severus?"
Drawing himself up to his full height, Snape turned to face Alecto. "Do you forget who is responsible for securing your positions at this school? Are you unaware of who was responsible for the murder of Albus Dumbledore?" Then, as cooly as he could, Snape raised his eyebrow. "Have you forgotten who the Dark Lord trusts above all others, you barbaric twit?"
Alecto seemed to struggle for words and resolved to say nothing. Amycus, on Snape's other side, made another noise that reminded him of a hiss. Snape ignored them both, finally turning to the food that was placed in front of him. He would keep the Carrow's in check. It was his duty and his final promise to Dumbledore. He would ensure the safety of these students. He had promised Dumbledore he would, and so he would.
Draco Malfoy wanted to be anywhere else. He had expected to be sitting in a seat of power by this time, not back at the Slytherin table, suffering another year at Hogwarts. He was already an official Death Eater. Draco could not understand what he was doing back in the halls of Hogwarts. The last time he had been there, he had witnessed the murder of its previous headmaster by its current one. Everyone in the Great Hall was aware of his participation in that crime and now he was subject of whispers and pointed fingers.
Slinking down in his seat, Draco looked down at the Malfoy ring on this left index finger. The gleam had long worn off from its silver surface. It now looked as tarnished as the family name was. He would be home right now, except for his mother's fit of panic after Voldemort had decided to use their home as his new headquarters. She had shipped him off for his seventh year and Voldemort had saddled him with another mission. He was to find and torture any who resisted him.
Draco was growing tired of being sent on missions he didn't want. The last had weighed so heavily on him; he had nearly broken a few times. It had taken all he had to continue his mission and complete it. But during that trial, Draco had realized he was not interested in his family's legacy. He didn't want to be part of the Death Eaters anymore. It did not bring him power, it only brought him pain.
Still, there he sat, saddled as he was last year, the weight of his task hanging above him. Draco could have made a list of all the students who opposed Voldemort and handed it to Snape or one of the Carrows. It would have been too easy. His job would have been completed and he wouldn't have to torture anyone. But something was stopping him, some internal battle or right and wrong. For some unknown reason, right was winning this time.
Disgusted with himself, and unable to listen to Pansy twittering in his ear any longer, Draco rose from the table. Pansy was still chattering away to him and as Draco passed behind her, he couldn't help but mutter, "Shut the fuck up, you yappy bitch." Not waiting around to see Pansy's likely enraged face, Draco headed for the doors at the end of the hall.
Draco's sorry haunted his steps and weighed heavily on his shoulders. He had never been as conflicted as he was now. He had never had such a crisis of morality. It had always been easy for the Slytherin. He would make the decisions that best benefited him, decisions that would get him what he wanted, when he wanted it. That was the Malfoy way. Now he was struggling with the decision to be a good person. It was a terrible feeling which made him feel sick.
For a moment, Draco contemplated where to venture next. The obvious answer would be to return to the common room, lock himself away in the dungeons. But something was drawing him upwards and away from the gloomy lowest level of the castle. Draco wanted to visit the Astronomy tower. Considering the circumstances of his last visit, Draco felt this urge to be completely unnatural and quite confusing.
Allowing himself to act on this impulse, Draco began the long ascent up the marble staircase. It felt so strange to be walking these stairs. They looked so normal. Last year they had been covered in blood and bodies. The Death Eaters had been unleashed on Hogwarts. They had destroyed everything in their path. Draco hadn't participated in any of it. He had been too numb. He had been stuck in the realization that after all those months of planning and working, he wasn't able to kill Dumbledore. But the thing that bothered Draco most was the look in Dumbledore's eyes when he surprised him that night. Dumbledore hadn't seemed surprised at all. He had looked at Draco with forgiveness and pity, as if he knew what was coming for the boy. That look had haunted Draco's dreams in all the months after the attack.
Now that he was back at Hogwarts, Draco half expected Dumbledore to walk out from one of the corridors and give him that knowing smile with a twinkle in his blue eyes. But Draco had seen him fall. He had the best seat in the house for that. Draco had witnessed every horrible moment of the murder of his headmaster from right behind the murderer. It wasn't even that the murder was so horrific to Draco; it was the finality of his failure. Seeing someone else step up to do what he had been destined for.
Shaking his head, Draco reached the top of the Astronomy tower. The feeling of despair that he had encountered all last year had returned during his climb. Now the place had no pull for him. Suddenly, Draco wished he was back in the dungeons, safely locked away in his affluence and power. At least in Slytherin house, people had to respect him. A lot of the students were children of Death Eaters, like Draco. They knew he had joined their parents ranks and therefore respected him for it.
Draco walked across the empty platform to the railing over which Dumbledore had fallen. Absent-mindedly, his hand reached out to cover his Dark Mark, feeling it burn his skin slightly. Had this been what he really wanted? Draco couldn't recall the time where he had wanted nothing but this power, this brand upon his arm. Now he wanted rid of the retched thing. He wanted his arm to return to the virgin skin it had once been. Draco wanted a do-over.
"You should be careful," A whimsical voice interrupted his thoughts, "Nargles are known for pushing people off towers."
Draco had been so absorbed in his self-pity and despair that he had not noticed the Astronomy tower was being occupied by more than just himself that night, "What?" He asked sharply, turning to face the voice. It was Luna "Loony" Lovegood; a friend of Potters and a Ravenclaw a year below him.
"Nargles," Luna said, stepping into the moonlight. The reflection of the light made her grey eyes seem even larger. "You should hold the railing. Though the best way to get rid of pushing Nargles is to throw cabbage at them," She said, informatively.
"No wonder they call you Loony." Draco muttered, looking her over with as much haughty disgust as he could muster. "There's no such thing as Nargles."
Luna was not fazed by this news; Draco suspected she had heard this before. "That's what everyone says," she replied. "Its harder for most people to believe in them, since they're invisible.