Plans and Comfort

It was the first trip to Hogsmeade since Christmas and little flurries of snow danced around the students, not enough to settle but to numb hands and freeze feet. Even this didn't daunt the students, the youngest of whom had never seen the wizarding village before.

The Carrows had tried to convince Snape that the visit should be banned but, for some inexplicable reason, Snape had put his foot down and allowed the students out of Hogwarts.

Neville, Ginny, Ernie and Hannah trudged up the hill towards the Shrieking Shack. The wind whistled eerily around the building, banging doors and shutters and even though Neville knew the place wasn't really haunted he still felt a shiver go down his spine. The entire place looked bleak, forlorn and completely deserted.

Which was just what they wanted: a completely deserted place where they could talk about what the DA was going to do next. Of course, the Three Broomsticks with it's warm fire and hot drinks would have been the ideal choice but it was either comfort or privacy and privacy won out - it was impossible, they felt, to talk about secret organisations in a crowded pub.

Hence the Shrieking Shack.

When they got to the fence they stopped and Hannah climbed up to sit on a railing whilst Neville and Ernie leaned against fence posts. Ginny jumped up and down and blew on her hands, trying to thaw both feet and fingers at the same time.

"I think we need to do something more this time," Hannah shivered. She and Ernie had started to help Neville and Ginny lead Dumbledore's Army since they had lost Luna.

"You mean freeing locked up students and the graffiti isn't enough?" Ginny joked.

Hannah risked withdrawing a hand from her pocket to flap it at Ginny before stuffing it back into the warmth of her coat pockets. "You know what I mean."

Neville agreed. "She's right," he said. "So far Snape and the Carrows are ignoring us as much as they can. They throw a temper tantrum whenever we make a mess of the walls but then just paint over it and carry on as normal. We need to do something that can't just be covered up as soon as they find it."

"But equally we don't want the little'uns getting the blame," Ernie said. "We don't want them to start torturing the First and Second Years just because they can't find anyone else to blame."

The others were silent for a moment as they digested this, then Neville leaned forward.

"How about-" he started to say and soon they were in the middle of a discussion on the merits of various plans.

They were interrupted a while later by the sound of someone crying out.

"And I thought we were the only ones silly enough to be up here on a day like today," Ginny muttered as they turned to find the source of the sound.

"But I don't want to give you my money," a little boy was protesting. "I wanted to get a birthday present for my mum." The wind whipped Crabbe's words away but they could hear the little boy proclaim: "I don't have anything to fear from a blood status investigation - my family's been pureblood for more generations than I can count!" Goyle's voice was louder than his friend's and they could hear his every word.

"I wouldn't be too sure if I were you."

Ginny aimed her wand at Goyle's back. "I could get a nice Bat Bogey Hex from this angle," she informed the others. Neville put a hand on her wand. forcing her to lower it.

"Hang on," he told her as an idea occurred to him. Aiming his own wand at Goyle's back he used the portable fire spell Hermione had taught him and the effect was instantaneous - Goyle's cloak burst into blue flames, as he did the same to Crabbe. Both boys gave a yelp and flung themselves down on the ground where they rolled around, trying to put the flames out. The little boy took the opportunity to escape.

"The best thing about his spell is that the flames are completely waterproof - they'll have to go up to the castle to find a teacher to put them out, probably. Plus, the flames won't burn them - they'll be scared and angry but not hurt and, because they're so thick everyone will assume they did it themselves so we won't even get detention."

Ginny laughed. "Brilliant," she gasped. "Come on - I want to watch the other's faces when they see Crabbe and Goyle on fire." She and Ernie set off. Neville waited whilst Hannah jumped off the fence , then they walked back to the village behind the other two.

"Are you alright?" He asked her. She heard that her father's body had been found the day before. Most of the time she was her old self, if more aggressive but occasionally she lapsed into a miserable silence.

"Hmm? Oh, I'll be alright," she said, and made an effort to throw off her sadness as she chattered about various unrelated things.

But her small gloved hand somehow managed to slip into Neville's own, much larger hand, as they followed Ginny and Ernie back to the village.