Recalled to Active Service
It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life. The rich colours of grass and earth were intensified by the mellow light of a sun almost warm enough for spring...
P.D. James – A Taste for Death
It was a beautiful autumnal day when Parvati arrived in King's Cross to return to Hogwarts, Padma by her side. The sun beamed down on them as they met up with Lavender, and the trio greeted each other with bright smiles and hugs. But all was not well. People seemed more subdued than usual, there were more tearful goodbyes, and only a handful of the older Slytherins were behaving as if everything was normal.
Snape was Headmaster of Hogwarts.
When the Minister had suddenly resigned, when Harry had been declared Undesirable Number One, when the Ministry had started rounding Muggle-borns up, Padma had sat the twins' parents down and explained coldly, calmly, logically, everything they hadn't told them about goings-on at Hogwarts since Cedric Diggory's death. She had explained about the hardliners in the Ministry who had hounded Harry, about the DA, and about Harry's claim that Snape had murdered Professor Dumbledore and why they believed him, concluding by stating flatly that You-Know-Who had clearly staged a coup. Parvati had been shocked by how placid Padma had been – she herself had been raging – and her parents had been horrified, especially given the new law about mandatory attendance at Hogwarts. Padma's emotionless façade had cracked, however, a few days before term was due to start, when Snape was installed as the new Headmaster. Her response to seeing this on the front page of the Prophet when her father opened it at the breakfast table had been to cast a Disarming Charm so strong that the paper had flown out of his hand and hit the kitchen window so hard that it cracked. In seventeen years, Parvati had never seen her sister so angry. But now here they were, sitting down in a compartment with Lisa Turpin and pretending everything was as it should be.
Padma pinned on her Prefect badge and went to patrol the corridors, leaving Lavender and Parvati to make desultory small-talk with Lisa, a frustrating state of affairs when all they wanted to do was discuss the events of the previous weeks. However, Padma returned sooner than they expected, wand drawn and looking absolutely furious.
"Lav, Parvati? Outside now. Please."
They stepped out into the corridor, closing the compartment door behind them. Lavender raised her eyebrows at Padma.
"What's the problem?"
"Bloody Slytherins bloody everywhere throwing their weight around and bullying first years. Malfoy and his crew of thugs are being insufferable and as good as daring the rest of us to confront them. That's it. I'm not putting up with this all year."
"What are we going to do about it?" asked Parvati.
"Well, normally Harry would be doing something about it. But he's on the run and I bet Hermione Granger is too, because she's on the list of Muggle-borns who didn't present themselves for 'registration'. And where they go…"
"…Ron goes too," finished Lavender, frowning slightly.
"Exactly."
"So what do we do?" repeated Parvati.
"We find ourselves a Weasley," smirked Padma, "or, more accurately, we find ourselves the Weasley."
It only took them a couple of minutes to find Ginny. She was sitting in a compartment with Neville, Loony (No, Parvati told herself, Luna. Harry respects her. It's time you did too.) and Seamus. All four were talking to each other quietly, with serious expressions on their faces. Even Luna looked uncharacteristically disquieted. When Padma swept into the compartment they stopped conversing abruptly. Neville looked surprised, Luna smiled her little smile and gave them her signature look of concussed amiability.
"Budge up, Seamus," said Padma, sitting down. "Now, what are we going to do about Snape?"
Neville's jaw dropped. Ginny smirked and bowed to Luna, who said "I told you people would come," looking remarkably pleased with herself.
"We're not sure yet," replied Ginny, "I mean, you know the Death Eaters have taken over the Ministry, right? There was a Ministry raid on my brother's wedding within minutes of Scrimgeour being killed. They were Ministry employees, mostly, there to find 'Undesirable Number One', but they were led by Bellatrix bloody Lestrange."
The muscles around Neville's jaw tightened. Lavender was the first to speak.
"So they killed Scrimgeour then? It was a total takeover?"
Ginny just nodded.
"So I take it the DA is back in business?" asked Parvati.
Neville shrugged.
"If that's what people want then yeah, I suppose."
"Good," replied Parvati, "so, what are we going to do?"
"What do you mean?" said Neville, looking puzzled.
"Well, Harry and Hermione aren't here, are they? And I assume Ron is with them, wherever they are?"
Luna nodded.
"Well, then, you do realise that you three are Harry's closest friends outside of those two?" Luna looked incredibly pleased to hear that. "And you three are the only members of the DA left in Hogwarts who have actually fought Death Eaters? You're the obvious leaders if we bring the DA back."
"I… I dunno…" said Neville, looking slightly panicked, "I'm not exactly a leader…"
Seamus grinned.
"It'll be fine, mate, you three'll do great! Trust me. Now then, bosses, what're we going to do about Snape?"
It was Luna who replied.
"Daddy says that the coup means that He Who Must Not Be Named can win the propaganda war unless people fight back. He controls the Prophet, the Ministry and WWN now. Daddy's devoting the entirety of the Quibbler to covering the crisis until Harry wins, but he can't do it alone. We should do things too. Like graffiti and things, I suppose. Maybe pamphlets."
"We could steal the Sword of Gryffindor from the Headmaster's office," said Ginny suddenly. "Snape shouldn't have that. Harry used it to kill a Basilisk and save my life when he was twelve. If we could steal that and make it known that it was missing, that would look bad for Snape."
"And we have to protect the students," interjected Neville, "and each other. No point in letting DA members get caught and tortured."
He looked more determined than Parvati had ever seen him, and she suddenly felt that with Ginny's fire, Neville's determination and Luna's unshakeable belief in Harry – and herself, for that matter, if half the stories about the DA's few real missions were true that odd little girl everyone had laughed at was showing hidden depths– maybe, just maybe, they could do their bit to help win the war.
"So, are we agreed?" asked Neville. Everyone nodded. "OK, so get the word out to all the DA members left in Hogwarts. Except that wart Smith." Seamus sniggered. "Everyone is to keep their Galleons on them at all times, and be ready for a guerrilla campaign. As of now, Dumbledore's Army is back on active service."
They all looked at each other. There was a sudden sense of solemnity in the compartment. They were really going to war against the greatest Dark wizard of all time. For a fleeting second, Parvati started to fear that they were making a terrible mistake, but then she realised something. If they didn't do something to protect themselves, nobody else would.
It was going to be a long year.
A/N: This was written for three challenges. Tris' Sensational Seasonal Song Quotes Challenge (my season was autumn and my quote was the one in the epigraph), Rae's Lightning Fast competition (a timed challenge) and TeddyBear334's King's Cross Challenge (my character was Parvati and my prompt was 'mistake').