A/N: Hey everybody! I'm back for chapter 3! I would like to give a BIG thank you and an enormous virtual cookie to M. A. Wyandotte, northstar9195, gackt groupie, and Yreva13 for reviewing. Your reviews mean so much to me- thank you so much for taking the time to leave your opinions! I hope you all enjoy Chapter 3!

Students woke to a cloudy first day back at Hogwarts. There was tentative talking in the dining hall, many discussing about their classes while almost all looked to the ceiling for the owls to come pouring in with news of their families.

Ginny surveyed her schedule over her bowl of cereal. Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Ruins, Potions, and Herbology. Not a bad schedule; but she was a bit anxious about her DADA class, what with Carrow teaching and all. Ancient Ruins also seemed tricky, but Hermione told her it was really interesting and even left her some of her notes. She looked up as Neville sat next to her and tucked in with a piece of toast and some eggs.

"What's your schedule like this term?" she asked, reaching for her pumpkin juice.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, Muggle Studies, and Herbology," he recited as he picked up his fork.

"Oh, Herbology- of course," Ginny said chuckling a little, "we can't forget that one."

"Well it's my best subject- it wouldn't do much good to forget about it," Neville replied back with a grin. Ginny suddenly looked taken aback and piped up:

"But wait- you have each of the Carrows- how on earth are you going to deal with that?" He waved his fork in the air, trying to look more nonchalant than he felt. Before either of them could say more, owls began pouring into the Great Hall, smattering tables with letters, parcles, and brown- papered packages from home. A letter landed square on Ginny's bowl, thankfully missing the milk and dregs of cereal at the bottom.

"Anything to report?" Neville asked tentatively, thankful when Ginny shook her head.

"Nope; Mum says everything is normal at home, though still no word from those three," Neville nodded.

"Alright, well I guess that's a good thing, isn't it? And don't worry about my classes with the Carrows. It'll be fine; I'll let you know how it turns out later," Ginny shot him a concerned look before packing up her schedule and getting up.

"Alright. I've got class now, but I'll talk to you later."

"Sure- see you," Neville waved her off, trying to maintain a calm façade while his insides squirmed around like he had swallowed a Flutterby bush instead of toast.

"Oh hello, Neville," before he could shoo away his nerves, he was greeted by Luna. "You look like you could use a friend about now," she sat down on the bench and smiled. He nodded, trying to smile back.

"Just thinking about how classes are going to go this term."

"Hopefully just as interesting as ever. Maybe this term, we'll learn about Wocky Pockies! They're fascinating creatures who climb into people's pockets and steal whatever's in them." Luna said, "But even if we don't talk about those, I still have Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ginny- so that's nice. Oh," she said, upon realization, "the coins still work- I got your message last night-"

"Yeah, we found out last night that they work; probably a good idea to not mention the coins very much," Neville said in a low voice.

"Oh yes, of course," Luna said, smiling apologetically. "When does your first class start?"

"Pretty soon- I should be heading out," Neville said, tucking his schedule back into his bag and getting up. Luna followed suite.

"I'll be going too; my class is going to start soon," Neville bade Luna goodbye outside of the Great Hall and walked quickly to the familiar corridor where all of his DADA classes had been.

A few students had gathered in the classroom and taken their seats. Their books and wands were out. Some of them were doodling on spare parchment while others talked to their friends. Neville, seeing no one he knew, sat down at an empty table and got out his book, his wand, some parchment, and a quill. After settling himself, he looked around the classroom.

By the looks of it, Carrow had the same sense of style as Snape when it came to décor. Pictures and scenes depicting people in pain or dead were mounted on the walls. A list of various means of torturing victims was posted on the wall behind the teacher's desk and dark curtains had been drawn on all of the windows so the air felt dank and cold. The only sources of light came from sconces that held small flames and had been placed, scattered, on the walls. Neville sighed, feeling quite alone until he felt a hand clap him on the shoulder.

"Dean!" he smiled up at his fellow seventh year.

"Neville! How've you been, mate?" Dean Thomas dropped his bag and sat down, pulling out his book.

"Fine, fine- you?" Neville asked eagerly, glad to have someone he actually knew in the same class with him.

"Oh, not bad. This year should be…well, interesting for lack of any other words," he grinned nervously.

"Yeah; definitely interesting," Neville nodded, a grin spreading across his face as well.

The classroom filled quickly and soon the room echoed with the sounds of nervous chatter and the clatter of quills and wands on the wood tables. All sounds vanished, however, upon the door to the classroom slamming open. Rows of students turned around to look at Professor Amycus Carrow as he strode down the desks. He reached his desk and turned back to look at his class. His eyes glossed over the books placed in front of the students.

"What the bloody 'ell is this rubbish?" he asked, approaching a Ravenclaw girl's desk and picking up her text.

"It's o-our book," she answered quietly. Neville couldn't blame her for stuttering; thus far, Carrow was proving more intimidating than perhaps he gave him credit for.

"A book?" He asked incredulously, holding it by its back cover, letting the pages fall. He grabbed at them and tore as he spoke. "In…this…class…there…will…be…no…books," and with that, he threw the pages he had left in his hand at the Ravenclaw who flinched. "In fact," he said, a wide smile appearing on his face, "our first lesson will be a demonstration- of how things in this class will be run." He picked up a list of names and read off:

"Crabbe! Get up here." The scraping of chairs and the shuffle of feet were the only noises in the room. Everyone else was dead silent.

"Now," Amycus said, his eyes glinting with malice, "choose one person on which to use an Unforgivable Curse." Neville knew everybody's eyes would be shifting down, trying to avoid being chosen. But to his surprise, Hannah Abbot spoke up from the middle of the rows.

"You can't do that- Unforgivable Curses are illegal." Her words were terse and short but beneath them was a twinge of fear. He could hear it; he just hoped no one else did. She knew, Neville thought, of the danger she was putting herself in.

"Brilliant," Amycus's grin stretched across his face. "You'll be the first to help demonstrate our little duel Miss…"

"Abbot," she said her name as she stood.

"Abbot…yes…" his eyes gained a look of recognition and his eyes glinted viciously. Hannah made her way to the front of the room, her wand held tightly as she faced Crabbe.

"Well don't keep us waiting, Crabby- let's see what you've got!" Amycus laughed. Crabbe nodded and raised his wand.

"Cru-"

"Expelliarmus!" Hannah cried, sending Crabbe's wand flying away from him. Several students clapped; Neville, joining in, felt an enormous rush of pride for Hannah and for all the work she had done in the DA in their fifth year.

"No, no, no!" Amycus yelled at Crabbe who got his wand back at once. "Accio wand!" he pointed his wand at Hannah whose wand flew from her hands and into his. She looked at him, panicked.

"What are you-"

"Crucio!" Crabbe's curse hit Hannah and she fell to the floor, her high- pitched screams echoing in the dungeon along with Slytherin students jeering. Even after the noise all stopped, Neville's ears still rang with her yells. He felt himself shaking- but not with fear. Previous years and instances flashed through his mind's eye of Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy terrorizing him when he was younger, bullying him and belittling him, but never before had his anger toward Crabbe been greater. He saw Crabbe raise his wand to curse her again. Before he could stop himself, Neville stood quickly, shouting:

"Protego!"

The shield spell was so strong, it sent Crabbe flying into the wall behind him. Adrenaline was pumping hard through Neville's heart, so much so, that he barely heard the cheers from his classmates or felt the clap on his back from Dean. He walked up to Hannah and put an arm across her shoulders.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded and got up.

"Longbottom!" Amycus yelled, and Neville looked up to see a look of irritation on his face, "congratulations. You get to be the first student to receive a detention. Meet me here tonight at eight o'clock! Class dismissed!"

Chairs scrapped and students scrambled to gather their things. It didn't seem to matter to them that only twenty minutes had passed in the class, and they certainly weren't going to speak out against it.

"I'm fine- you don't have to keep holding onto me, you know," Hannah told Neville as he helped her stand Slightly embarrassed, he let go.

"Right- sorry. You just seemed like you could use a hand," she smiled, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

"Thank you, Neville. You're very sweet." They each collected their things and hurried out of the classroom.

As Hannah turned to go down another corridor, Neville reached into his pocket and pulled out his gold coin.

"Hannah- hey, Hannah, wait!" She stopped and turned around to find him running after her. "I just…" he panted, "I wanted to know if you were coming to the DA meeting. You were incredible today."

Surprised and perplexed, she said: "Yeah, I'll be there," and smiled slightly. It was then Neville noticed the streaks of dried tears on her cheeks.

"Will you be okay?" The question tumbled out of his clumsy lips, but Hannah only nodded and gave a small smile.

"Yeah; you don't need to worry about me, Neville," and with that, she turned to go. The rest of the morning, Neville tried to satiate himself with her answer but was unable to get her tear streaked face to leave his mind.

A/N: Hey everybody! Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all like the story so far- I'm really enjoying writing it. Please leave a review if you liked it or if you see something you would like changed. Thank you again to all of my loyal readers and reviewers!