Percy
Percy Weasley sat at his desk, a deep frown etched on his features. He had only felt this way for the last two weeks or so, ever since he'd seen her. Penelope Clearwater had been his girlfriend back at Hogwarts. They had drifted apart after they graduated as couples often do, largely because Percy had placed such a high priority on his career above all other considerations. However, two weeks ago he had seen her among a group of Muggle-borns being marched to hearings before Dolores Umbridge. She had been stripped of her wand and dressed in rags. Her lovely dark curls had been filthy and matted. Yet she'd still carried herself with that pride, which the twins might once have mocked as priggishness, which had appealed to him so many years ago. The worst thing, though, had been the way she had looked at him. It was exactly the same look his father had given him whenever they passed in the halls back before his family had been forced underground by the Death Eaters, a look of profound disappointment which was, in its own way, much harder to take than the anger and resentment of his brothers and sister or the longing of his mother.
Percy had done what he could. One of the benefits of the generally regrettable decisions he'd recently made in life was a certain measure of influence within the new Ministry. He had been able to call in a few favors to insure that the prisoners in Penelope's group had merely had their wands broken, rather than being given the Dementor's kiss. It was a small gesture and he doubted very much Penelope or any of her companions would have appreciated it, even had they known it was his doing. However, it was better than nothing.
Percy was so lost in his own thoughts that he barely noticed anyone approaching until a hand landed lightly on his shoulder. He started slightly, looking up to see Richard Perkins, his father's old assistant, standing right behind him. The old man smiled faintly as he looked down at Percy. "Percy Weasley?" he asked, as though he wasn't quite sure.
"Yes…" Percy answered hesitantly.
"Amos didn't want me to tell you this but I think there's more of your father in you than you realize," the old man said, a sad smile on his face. He looked confused for a moment before lightly patting Percy on the shoulder. "Well, come along then."
Percy was surprised to say the least but he rose from his desk and moved to follow Richard out of the building. He was surprised by how easy it was. The Death Eaters and a large number of their more supportive colleagues at the Ministry seemed to be out. They normally permeated the place and kept a watchful eye on everyone they weren't completely sure of, especially Percy with his ties to many known "undesirables." Richard, however, did not seem surprised. Percy wonder if this was because he knew something Percy didn't or simply because he was too senile to be especially aware of his surroundings.
The two Wizards walked in silence for some distance. Richard eventually led Percy through the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. Percy could almost feel the blood drain from his face. This was where the so-called wandless, including Penelope, were to be found. He looked around worriedly, hoping to avoid her gaze. It took him a moment to realize that they, too, seemed to be absent. The street was simply filled with Wizards and Witches going about their daily business. These were the ordinary people, unsupportive of the Death Eaters but unwilling to put themselves in personal danger so long as they and their families were not molested. If Percy had not had such a questionable recent past himself, he imagined he would have felt a rather great deal of contempt.
Richard paused near a boarded up old building which Percy recognized as having once been Ollivander's. Percy took a deep breath. He didn't know what had actually happened to Ollivander when he had vanished months ago. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. The boarded up shop now seemed a foreboding place. Nonetheless, Richard glanced around to make sure that no one was looking at him and then moved casually towards the building. Percy followed. Richard touched one of the boards, pulling it gently aside to reveal that it was not truly nailed over the window, at least not anymore. He slid in through the opening. Percy followed.
The inside of Ollivander's was as abandoned as the outside. The room was mostly empty with shards of furniture, broken glass, and the remnants of boxes and materials strewn about. There was an ugly bloodstain on one wall. Richard ignored all of this as he made his way to a door in the back, leading Percy down a stair-well to a large storage room. Percy had to rub his eyes to make sure that what he saw wasn't an illusion.
Penelope Clearwater was moving among a small crowd of about a dozen people. Percy recognized the Creevey brothers, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Donaghan Tremlett, and Oscar Alderton. The others in the crowd, he assumed, were also Muggle-borns stripped of their wands. To one side, he recognized Amos Diggory and Wilkie Twycross. Penelope glanced at him only briefly before looking back at Justin and taking the wand he was holding from his hand. Her fussy tone reminded Percy of the way he had heard her speak to her Ravenclaws back when she was a prefect at Hogwarts. "No, Justin. You can't just hold on to the first one you touch. The wand has to choose the Wizard. Otherwise, we're just stealing it like those wretched thugs say we are." She put the wand away and took another from its box. "Try this one. 11 ¾ inches, yew, unicorn tailhair."
"We have to hurry," Justin argued, even as he tested out the new wand, vanishing a discarded box from the floor. "The Galleon says that Dumbledore's Army is assembling in the Room of Requirement this very moment. We wouldn't want to miss the fight."
"We won't," Penelope said fiercely, moving on to Dennis Creevey. "We owe the bastards too much."
When almost everyone had been chosen by a wand, Percy heard a loud noise upstairs. He took out his own wand and turned to face the stairs. Amos looked to the stairs with something akin to desire in his eyes. Percy imagined he must have been waiting for a chance to hurt Death Eaters for a long time now. Albert Runcorn swaggered into the room, his muscular body relaxed but his expression set in a small frown. "What's going on down here?" he asked in his rough, gravelly voice. "This shop is off-lim…"
Some dozen curses, hexes, and jinxes hit Albert all at once. He was unconscious, tied up, petrified, covered in warts, and had his head swollen to roughly the size of a pumpkin by the time he hit the ground. Penelope lowered her wand with a small, almost savage, smile. "We have two more Wizards in need of wands and then we can move out," she said.
Padma
Padma Patil frowned as she looked at the small tunnel leading down the Hog's Head. Neville had gone to check on whatever had set off the Caterwauling Charm the Death Eaters had been using to enforce their curfew on Hogsmeade. She couldn't help but worry. She turned to the small group of her fellow students surrounding her: Michael Corner, Terry Boot, and Anthony Goldstein. Anthony looked frightened. He was staring at the same tunnel as she, yet he was shaking visibly. Terry looked restless. He kept rising from his seat and pacing around the room. Michael, on the other hand, simply looked worried. "I'm sure she's fine," Padma said, placing a hand lightly on his arm.
Michael shook his head slightly. "You don't know that, Padma. Anything could have happened to her. I haven't been able to send an owl out in weeks. The last one…I think I let slip how they used the Cruciatus Curse on me when I saved that first year. I don't know how she'll take that. She can be emotional sometimes and she might do…"
"Cho's safer out there than we are here," Padma assured him, giving him what she meant to be a sympathetic smile.
"Well, that's bloody cheerful," Anthony muttered. It seemed he would prefer to think that the Room of Requirement was a safe place.
Padma took a deep breath and reached up to place a hand on Anthony's shoulder as well. She'd be lying to herself if she tried to pretend that she didn't feel some of their tension. Dumbledore's Army had been waging a guerrilla war against Snape and the Carrows for months but there was something different about today, something in the air. She felt that she had to be strong for her housemates, nonetheless. She, Ernie, and Hannah had stepped increasingly into leadership roles ever since Luna and Ginny had left. They were prefects, after all. At least, they had been before the Death Eaters took over.
Padma was about to say something else to Anthony when Neville returned, leading Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. The entire room burst out in cheering and applause. The band of students, holed up in the Room of Requirement for months, was eager to finally take the fight to the enemy. Padma found herself cheering as loudly as anyone else. Her twin sister Parvati rushed over from where she had been sitting with her fellow Gryffindors to give her a tight embrace. "We're finally going to get the bastards, Padma!"
Cho
Cho Chang clung tightly to her broom as she flew high over Britain, rushing towards Hogsmeade Village. As had often been true in her life, her emotions were conflicted. Naturally, she was afraid. She was no fearless Gryffindor and she certainly had no love of battle. She could have stayed home and remained safe but she couldn't have lived with herself had she done so. She was also a little excited. She had easily dodged the few enemy patrols she had seen thus far. She was a skilled Seeker, after all. She felt that this might really be it, that it might really be the end of Voldemort and she could be a part of it. However, Cho's deepest feelings were hardly so generalized. They concerned three men and one woman.
Marietta Edgecombe had been her best friend since before she even came to Hogwarts. She had always found the other girl charming, witty, considerate, and just a joy to be around. When most of Cho's other friends had deserted her in her sixth year, Marietta had been the only one to stay by her side. It was loyalty Cho had repaid in kind. When Marietta betrayed Dumbledore's Army, including Cho herself, Cho had been understanding and forgiven her. She had even tried to smooth things over with Harry and the other DA leaders and, in the attempt, had sacrificed a relationship and several friendships, alienating the very people she was now flying to help. She had stuck with Marietta through ostracism the following year. However, only a month ago, Cho had been betrayed again. Marietta had planned to visit but Cho had gotten an owl instead. Apparently, Marietta had decided that, because Cho refused to specifically denounce Harry Potter and continued to be friendly towards Muggles and Muggle-borns, Marietta no longer considered it prudent to be associated with her in the current political climate. Marietta, after all, was a respectable Witch. She did add, apparently thinking herself rather generous, that she would refrain from mentioning Cho's name to the authorities if she could. It still made Cho's blood boil to remember that letter but it also made her heart ache. Her best friend, former best friend, of eight years could hurt her as badly as any lover.
Cedric Diggory had been the first boy she ever loved and she remained unshakably convinced that, had he lived, she would have made her life with him. This had been a large factor is destroying one subsequent relationship and sometimes troubled her current boyfriend but it wasn't something she could simply change her mind about. He had shown her the sort of love that she had imagined only occurred in storybooks. He had been kind, considerate, sensitive, caring, and just. It didn't hurt that he had been popular and good-looking as well. He had been her prince but, more simply, he had been someone she could laugh with, someone she could tell anything, someone in whose arms she had felt completely safe, as though nothing in the world could ever hurt her. When she cried (even in the happier times in her life, Cho was the sensitive sort), he would hold her, wipe the tears from her cheek with the back of his hand, and deliver some horrifically soppy line which left her grinning and giggling despite herself. Voldemort, however, hadn't known or cared about all that he was to her, to his family, to his friends. He'd killed Cedric almost in passing three years ago and Cedric's memory, a desire to make Voldemort and his lackeys pay for extinguishing Cedric's life when he had barely begun to live it, extinguishing the life she imagined they might have had together, was a large part of why she was heading to join the rest of the DA tonight.
Harry Potter had been her second boyfriend. She had had something of a crush on him since her fourth year but, when they actually tried to date in her sixth, it had gone terribly for both of them. They had left things on extremely poor terms and Cho had found that perfectly natural at the time. She was hurt and angry and she imagined Harry was as well. However, the last year had seen Harry become "Undesirable Number One," hunted throughout Britain by the Death Eaters. As Cho and her family had listened to what little news there was on the illicit Potterwatch, she had discovered that she was beside herself with worry. She did still care deeply about Harry Potter, just not in the way she'd once expected to. She didn't really wish things between them had lasted. She was, frankly, happier with Michael and she didn't doubt Harry was happier with Ginny as well. She simply wished things had ended differently, that they had somehow been able to become friends. She hoped there might still be time to clear the air.
Then, of course, there was Michael Corner. Michael was everything Harry hadn't been. She never had to worry about what Michael really thought of her and she never had any trouble getting his attention. Michael had come along shortly after she'd broken up with Harry and he with his own ex-girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. Their relationship had been born out of his concern over all that she'd gone through recently and he had continued to be a source of comfort to her, one that she wasn't completely sure she deserved. How could anyone deserve such gentle, unconditional understanding? Michael, however, was still at Hogwarts, fighting a guerrilla war against the Death Eaters who now ruled the School. He had even been tortured for rescuing an innocent first year. The thought of Michael writhing on the floor under the influence of the Cruciatus Curse still made Cho cringe. They would pay for that, just as they would pay for Cedric!
Cho shook her head briefly to clear it, turning her gaze to her left. There were three indistinct shapes moving through the air, flying in the same general direction as her. As she watched, the two larger shapes dipped down and the smaller shape seemed to fall back. Years of Quidditch practice kicked in and Cho leaned forward on her broom, increasing her speed even as she drew her wand. She knew the smaller figure wasn't really gone and she kept all of her senses open, even as she seemed to be concentrating purely upon speed. At just the right moment, Cho dropped suddenly, allowing the sudden change in direction to slow her even as she ducked below the bright flash of color which raced by, presumably a Death Eater's curse.
Cho raised her wand as she fell back, expecting to see the back of the other flyer in moments. However, the other was skilled too and it took Cho perhaps a moment too long to realize that he or she had pulled up sharply as soon as Cho had dropped. She'd only known five or six flyers capable of pulling up so sharply. Had she had more time, Cho might have tried another maneuver but, without looking, she already knew her opposite number would be swooping down behind her. Cho simply spun on her broom, raising her wand and preparing for a face to face confrontation lightly to knock them both off their brooms. At least she would take a Death Eater with her.
There was barely time for recognition to sink in. Cho jerked her broom hard to the left and, fortunately, the other woman did the same. She looped around, letting her broom come to a stop in the air. "Oh, it's you," Ginny Weasley said, her tone reserved if not exactly hostile. "I didn't think you'd still have your Galleon."
"Of course I do," Cho said indignantly.
"Well," Ginny frowned slightly. "I suppose you'd better fly with us. Bill, Fleur,Dean, Luna, and I are all headed down to the Hog's Head to join the battle. I'm flying defense, over the heated objections of my overly protective big brother, because I have the most skill on a broom and they can't move as fast, doubled up two to a broom like they are. You can guard the left flank from here on out and I'll take the right. Sound good?"
"Sounds good," Cho agreed simply.
Remus
Remus Lupin stepped out of the fireplace at the Hog's Head. It was nice to finally be able to use the Floo Network again. The Order's intelligence indicated that Luncinda Edgecombe had gone off to battle with the rest of Voldemort's Ministry stooges. A quick glance around the room showed him that he was hardly the first to arrive. Remus recognized Barnabus Cuffe, Elphias Doge, Angelina Johnson, and Griselda Marchbanks. Barnabus, as editor of the Daily Prophet, had routinely slandered Harry and Dumbledore. Remus frowned slightly at his presence and stepped forward to pull Elphias aside. "Do you know why he's here?"
Elphias started slightly and Remus remembered it was a full moon. Fortunately, the wolfsbane potion he'd secured from Horace Slughorn seemed to be doing its job. As long as the moon's rays didn't actually touch him, he would remain human. Even if they did, he would keep his human mind. After ascertaining that Remus was not about to turn into a huge, deadly monster, Elphias shrugged slightly. "Horace is calling in his Slug Club, just as Neville's calling in Dumbledore's Army and Minerva's calling in the Order. This is war, Remus. We don't get to worry about old grudges."
Remus nodded. "I suppose not." He turned to watch as his wife and her mother emerged from the fireplace. "I wanted Tonks to stay with Teddy or at least Andromeda. They're here for his future and Ted's memory, though. I can't deny them that. Teddy's with Ted's brother. The Death Eaters don't know who he is. He'll be relatively safe if…" Remus left that sentence unfinished. He didn't want to think about what might happen if they lost.
Viktor
Viktor Krum frowned as the exhausted, redheaded Wizard caught his breath in the rather stentorian wooden chair which sat against one wall of his small apartment. Like any sane Wizard, Viktor was wary of strangers these days. Voldemort and his followers still had many sympathizers in Bulgaria and Viktor was known to be their enemy. This man, however, was Fleur's brother-in-law and Viktor's respect for his fellow Tri-Wizard champion was enough for him to trust Charlie Weasley, at least for now. "So you say they confiscated the dragons?" he asked slowly. It was hard to wrap his head around. He had heard of dragons kept as dangerous animals or feared as wild beast but he had never known of Wizards so arrogant as to think they could control them so thoroughly as to unleash them as weapons of war.
"They bewitched them," Charlie said. "I'd like to undo the spell but it's possible they'll have to be destroyed. Either way, there's only a handful of dragonologists who know how to deal with them. I'm heading back to Britain tonight. I'm only stopping here because Fleur would have wanted me to, because Dumbledore would want us to work together across international lines."
Viktor nodded faintly. "Albus Dumbledore was a great Wizard. I'm not sure how many of my friends from Durmstrang will fly with me but I will join you, Charlie Weasley."
"Thanks," Charlie said. "I just hope we're not too late. Harry might have done alright against one Horntail but he can't fight off a flight of dragons on his own."
"I suppose he'll need good flyers with him, then," Viktor said with a small smirk. "I still have my team. They'll fly with me, even if most of my fellow students don't. Zograf's mother was killed by Grindelwald, after all, and Ivanova's been looking for some excitement ever since she and Levski broke up."
"How the hell did Luboslav Levski ever get Ilyana Ivanova to go out with him in the first place?" Charlie asked. "He's an obnoxious braggart and she's the…" Charlie trailed off, flushing.
"Ilyana's a lovely enough Witch," Viktor said kindly. He had actually briefly considered asking her out himself once he finally figured out that Hermione Granger was serious about Ron Weasley. At the time, he had dismissed the idea. He wasn't over Hermione and Ilyana was too good a friend to use as a mere rebound. "And Luboslav was one of my Chasers and he's coming with us, so try to be nice." Viktor smirked faintly. "Jealousy doesn't become you, after all."