"Should we bring McGonagall into this?" Ginny asked quietly.
After the meeting with the professor, Ginny had thought it was time to relax, for as long as she could, that is. Where to go but the kitchens?
Once there, she was surprised to see Neville already sitting on a bench near the large fire.
"Neville?" she had asked. He turned around, and Ginny recoiled. He was nursing a very puffy black eye. She had ran to him, requesting a piece of meat.
So now they sat, Ginny supplied with a large custard pie, Neville with a steak slapped over his eye.
"I'm surprised she figured it out." Neville said.
Ginny snorted. "This is McGonagall we're talking about. Of course she figured it out."
"Okay, okay, but what should we do?"
"That's what I'm asking you, Great Leader."
Neville turned red, and Ginny laughed.
"Stop it." he spluttered. "We should conference with the Generals."
Ginny nodded, pulling out her Galleon. "I'll set up a meeting. How's tomorrow?"
"Too risky. And you've got detention."
"After the detention?"
"Like I said, too risky."
"How about we skip lunch?"
"...check with the others."
. . .
. . .
Parvati was the first one in the RoR. She had a house elf bring a bit of food to eat while they talked. Skipping lunch wasn't a good idea in her condition. The Charm had weakened her a bit, but she would be fine.
The door opened, and Ginny, Neville, and Seamus entered.
"Hey, Parvati."
"Hey. Why the meeting?" she asked.
The others got comfortable, and Neville started to talk. However, at that moment, the other generals came in and sat down.
"Yesterday, Ginny met with Professor McGonagall. She, obviously, figured out what we're doing. She offered to vouch for us, but Gin couldn't say anything. Well, we know the Charm works."
"Yeah, that's a plus."
"So the question is, do we bring Parvati to talk to her?"
"The D.A. has always been for students, I don't think we should. She would understand, the professor is really good like that." said Ernie.
Susan shook her head. "It would be good to have someone on the staff." she said. "And, anyway, I don't think she'd take it very well. We don't know how powerful the Charm is, no doubt McGonagall can break it."
"But would she?" Terry argued.
Luna nodded. "There's a point, she wouldn't do anything that would compromise the security of the group. However, I think we should tell her, Wrackspurts are usually attracted by unfulfilled answers."
The party was so used to Luna's talk that they ignored that last bit.
Neville stood. "Shall we take a vote?"
After a brief argument(Neville decided not to vote, as he was Leader and therefore couldn't be prejudiced, and Parvati wasn't a general anyway), they agreed.
"All in favor of letting McGonagall in?" he asked.
Four raised their hands; Seamus, Luna, Susan, and Ginny.
"Well, that's it then." Ginny said. "Sorry, guys."
Terry shook his head. "No hard feelings. Parvati, meet with her later today?"
She nodded, and the group dispersed, probably to make the most of their lost lunch period.
. . .
. . .
Though the drama in the RoR made up for boring lessons in the afternoon, Ginny had something else to prepare for. That night was her first detention with Carrow.
Upon reaching his office, Ginny felt a slight pang of both nausea and nerves. She was a bit scared, of course she was, but Gryffindors never backed down. Feeling her confidence reassert itself, Ginny pushed open the door.
She had only been in this office three times, with Lockhart, Lupin, and Umbridge. The former two had been for trivial things, delivering a note, or asking a question about the homework. She got quite a good look at those teacher's personalities by the way they kept the office. Lockhart, for instance, covered every inch of the walls with pictures of himself, but it hadn't done anything to change Ginny's admiration for the then popular author. She was quite ashamed of that, even meeting the man in St. Mungos couldn't do much about that. Lupin, however, had a dark office, filled with books and most probably, a dangerous creature.
Umbridge, however, shoved a doily explosion inside that office. Ginny never wanted to go back there.
Now, with Carrow, the room was dark, there was no light except for the fire in the fireplace. She looked around in alarm-where was the teacher?
"Weasley."
She whirled. Carrow was standing in the deepest shadow cast by the fire. She felt dislike mounting in her. Was that necessary? No doubt he wanted to spook her. Well, a Weasley didn't get intimidated very easily!
"Professor." she replied, keeping her voice cool. "Good evening."
He gestured to a hard wooden chair in front of the desk. A quill sat next to a roll of parchment. "Lines."
Lines? That was all? Ginny sat, still apprehensive. She lifted the quill, a long, black one-
No.
"I want you to write the words, 'I must not be impudent'."
Ginny didn't hear him, she felt herself flush with anger. A Blood Quill? That was surely illegal, but Ginny was stupid to think the law had anything to do with anything anymore. This was...clever. Far too clever for Carrow.
"No, sir, sorry, I didn't hear you."
Carrow repeated himself, annoyed.
Impudent...that's quite a big word for you...
Ginny would have laughed at that, only she was too frozen from shock. Who's idea was this? She lifted the quill, taking the first line. Sharp pain raced across her hand, and Ginny winced. The sort of punishment she thought she was getting, well, that was more like getting a Cruciatus Curse all night. This wasn't Carrow's style.
As Ginny mentally prepared herself for the next sentence, she made a note to tell Neville about this first chance.
. . .
. . .
"They did what?" she gasped.
Neville nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid so. Just got word from Fred and George, they figured mailing me was safer than you."
Ginny nodded, but nothing could abate her anger. They were sitting in the Common room, just after the detention, but he had to tell her something first.
"They broke into the Ministry?" Ginny yelled. Neville winced, glad that the common room was empty. "They broke into the MINISTRY!"
"God, remind me to never get on your bad side-"
"Where the hell is my idiot brother so I can hex him into next week! God dammit, what the bloody hell is Hermione there for? She's supposed to keep them from doing anything stupid! And Harry, oh don't get me started, I didn't go out with an idiot-"
She continued on this vein for a while, then paused when Neville reminded her of the detentions.
"What? Oh, those. You won't believe this, Neville!"
Ginny then proceeded to explain what happened. It was Neville's turn to appear outraged.
"How could they use a Blood Quill, I thought Dumbledore put a stop to that last year!"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "That wasn't the point. Do you really think they care?" He flushed. "What I'm saying, is that it really wasn't his style. Wouldn't he just, I dunno, Crucio us until we fell unconscious?"
Neville shrugged. "Blood Quills seem pretty demonic to me."
AN: Yup, I'm ending it here! I know that scene feels like a repeat of OotP, but I will get in some torture, promise!
God, that is a weird thing to promise. Oh, fanfiction, you so silly!
Thanks again to my reviews, repeat the action? Please?