The Carrows' Calling

Disclaimer: None of this belongs to us. All goes to J.K. Rowling.

Hope you will enjoy this chapter! We've had a lot more time than we normally do when we write chapters, so here's a longer one! Happy reading!

Chapter Seven

The next few weeks flew by as Ginny, Luna and Neville continued to plan their stealing of the Sword of Gryffindor. They spend the weeks planning in Ginny or Neville's dormitory. Neville had to levitate himself up the stairs to get to Ginny's dorm; the staircase to the girls' tower had a hex cast on it so boys' couldn't enter. Soon, the weeks that they spent planning lead them into early October. Ginny didn't realize that it was already October, but then again she had been occupied with D.A.

One bright, sunny morning of a Sunday, an owl came flying in, but Ginny found it hard to see. Ginny wondered what it was, Filch now checked all of the mail that flew in and out. When the owl landed at her window, she opened it and a gust of warm fall air came in. Then Ginny realized why she found the owl hard to see. It was charmed with a Disillusion Charm. Who would do that? If it wasn't anything dangerous—crap! Why did I let the owl in? But when Ginny was just about to shoo the owl and the package back out, she saw the familiar logo of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. Of course Fred and George had to charm it; Filch would have never let something from Fred and George come in. Ginny let the owl come in and removed the package. She flipped it over, and as she expected, there was a letter taped to the back. Ginny unfolded it and began to read.

Dear Ginny,

We heard about the greasy git becoming Headmaster. And how are the Carrows? I hope you're giving them hell Ginny. You should follow in our footsteps more. Ah, I can see it already, Ginevra Molly Weasley working at Weasley's' Wizarding Wheezes. How are the other professors? There has been no news of Harry, Ron or Hermione yet. Oh yeah, Ginny, there is a new radio station called 'Potterwatch'. It was made by Kingsley and the other Order members. The password for this night is 'Hogwarts'. Normally the passwords have to do something with either Dumbledore or Harry. Listen in on tonight, we'll be on! If you're not giving the Carrows and Snape hell yet Ginny, you better start. Do better than we did with Umbridge. You better.

Yours,

Forge and Gred

Ginny laughed in amusement at Fred and George's letter. She pondered about the sack of strange blue powder in the package, and decided to keep it in her pocket, in case it would come in handy. Ginny dug around in her trunk for the old wizarding radio her father had given her. She found it and began to tune it to the correct radio. Once the name of the radio station 'Potterwatch' came up, Ginny tapped in the password with her wand. The radio station began to play, but it kept on saying 'Wait for tonight at nine for the next Potterwatch,' over and over again. Ginny sighed. I guess I'll have to wait .But at least I'll be able to listen to it with Luna and Neville. Wait… Ginny set the radio in her trunk again and ran downstairs to talk to Neville. An idea had popped into head.

"Neville, do you know where the Ravenclaw common room is?" Ginny needed to speak to Luna, now.

"No, why?"

"Well, I was thinking that, well maybe, we could charm the coins to send messages, instead of just numbers," explained Ginny. Neville scratched his head in deep thought.

"Well, maybe we could use the coins again to tell Luna to meet us in the Room of Requirement. Just set today's date." Ginny nodded.

"Do, do you wanna do it in my dorm or yours?" asked Neville hesitantly.

"Um, what about we go to the Room of Requirement?" suggested Ginny.

"Sure, why not?" Ginny and Neville left the common room and made sure that there wasn't anyone following them. Neville walked past the empty corridor of where the Room of Requirement door was. When he had walked past the seemingly blank wall three times, a large double door with delicate designs appeared. Neville pushed them open and walked in. Ginny rushed in after him, not wanting the doors to close. Right after she was inside the room, the door slammed shut without anyone touching them. Ginny walked into a circular, spacious room with many armchairs and a warm, crackling fireplace. There was a large oval table in the middle of the room with chairs surrounding it. The four house banners that hung on the curve of the wall towered over them. When Ginny looked back, there were two windows looking out into the halls of Hogwarts. The scene outside of the windows seemed to change; when she walked in, they were looking out in front of the Gryffindor common room. Now, the scene outside of the window had changed to outside of the Headmaster's office. Merlin, we can keep check on what's happening around the school! Just then, the scene changed yet again, and Ginny was looking at the Hogwarts school from the outside. It looked beautiful, the leaves had turned to gorgeous red and orange colours. Is it October already? Ginny wondered again, completely forgetting that she had realised before. Even with the Carrows, time in Hogwarts seemed to fly by.

She was interrupted by a particularly loud crackle of the fire. With a start, she realised Neville made this.

"How… how did you do all this?" Ginny sputtered. Just then Ginny noticed something. She saw the air ripple right beside the fireplace.

"It's just the Room. It'll do whatever you ask for. And I wanted the doors closed for everyone, including the Carrows. Anyone else in the Order or in D.A. can come in. So that's what's happened," Neville explained. Suddenly, Ginny let out a gasp.

"Wait, Neville, did you see that? The air just rippled there!" Ginny said, pointing beside the fireplace.

"No, what happened?"

"I just told you; the air beside the fireplace just rippled! Like something was there!"

"Ginny, you're probably just imagining things," Neville said, gently.

"Yeah, I probably am. With everything going on." Ginny let her arm drop.

"You know you can command the room too, right?" Neville said, turning the subject around.

"Yeah, but I would never be able to do it like you," Ginny replied. She looked around the room, taking in once again the magic. Neville blushed.

"OK, do you have your coin?" he quickly said, changing the subject again. But Ginny didn't notice. Oh, crap. I totally forgot!

"You forgot, I'm guessing, by looking at your face."

"Yep. Damn it."

"It's OK, we can use the room to get it. Just think that you want your coin, your coin specifically, in this room right now without anyone else in the world knowing," Neville instructed. Ginny closed her eyes and thought about her D.A. coin in the Room of Requirement without anyone else in the world knowing that the coin was coming to the room. Then, with a small crack, like when witches/wizards used Apparition, her D.A. coin appeared on the oval table in the Room.

"Wow! Are you sure the Carrows can't get in?" asked Ginny. A sly smirk was on Neville's face.

"There's only one way to find out." Ginny's jaw dropped.

"Are you serious?" Neville simply nodded. "Wait, wait. We have to have Luna here first. Then we can go and annoy the hell out the Carrows." Ginny said.

"OK, sure."

"Neville, is it possible to have the room transport a person here?" asked Ginny, an idea blooming in her mind. Neville smiled. from the look on his face, she was sure that he knew what her idea was.

"I'm not sure, we can try though. We'll have to close all loopholes too." Ginny smiled.

"But maybe you should do, you're better with the Room."

"Sure. Ready?" Ginny nodded. She watched as Neville closed his eyes and placed his hands on his temple. Ginny could see the faint scar on his left hand. As Ginny remembered Neville's scar, she subconsciously pulled up her sleeve and looked at her right arm. The scars were there, the biggest one was still scabbing. The more carefully Ginny looked at her arm, the more she saw a pattern. The largest cut ran straight down from her forearm to wrist. The stabs were somewhat arranged around the line in a 'S'. 'S' for Slytherin, most likely, thought Ginny.

Then Ginny heard a faint pop in the air. A dazed Luna stood in front of them onto the oval table, still in her pajamas that were decorated with the Ravenclaw symbol.

"Where am I?" asked Luna, blinking her eyes once or twice. Ginny quickly pulled down her shirt sleeve, but Luna noticed.

"Welcome to the Room of Requirement, Luna Lovegood," Neville said with a dramatic arm gesture. Luna smiled.

"What were you doing, looking at your arm, Miss. Weasley?" Ginny jumped. Luna sounded very much like her Head of House.

"It's not a crime to look at my arm, is it?" Ginny retorted, getting a little annoyed.

"Ginny, it doesn't still hurt, does it?" asked Neville with concern laced into his voice.

"No, it's fine. It just seems as if there's a design on it, from the scars."

"What?" asked Luna shocked, jumping down from the table, her bare feet pattering on the floor.

"Here, I'll show you," Ginny said, pulling up her right arm sleeve. Neville and Luna crowded around her. Luna furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. Neville glared at her scars as if he could make them disappear by doing so.

"Do you see it?"

"No," replied Neville bluntly. "But they still didn't have the right to do that to you."

"I know, but do you see it?" asked Ginny exasperated.

"No, not really," replied Luna.

"OK, look," Ginny said. tracing her finger over the scars. "They form a 'S', see? It forms a 'S' around the line."

"Oh, I see it now. It kind of looks like the Dark Mark," stated Luna. Ginny looked at it closer. Luna was right, the 'S' seemed to be curling up around a stick, like the Dark Mark that the Death Eaters wore did.

"Yes, it does, but THEY STILL DIDN'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO THAT!" Neville yelled. She jumped back at him in shock, but then Ginny's body moved before her mind could think. She slapped Neville across the face.

"I know they didn't have the right to do it, but it's the whole point of why we're doing this!" exclaimed Ginny, throwing her arms up. "We are doing this so more people like me, like you, like the first years' that stay here won't have to go through what I went though! This is why I don't want more people joining us! People will get hurt, people will die and people will be killed during this war!" Ginny felt all of her anger pour out. All of the anger against the Carrows, against Snape, against Voldemort. But she didn't seem to realise that her anger was directed at Neville. " I DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO DIE FOR ME! I don't want people to die because I wanted them to join some club!" Neville looked shocked, from which event, Ginny wasn't sure.

"Ginny! How could you slap him! He just cares about you!" Luna exclaimed. Ginny suddenly very felt ashamed. She shouldn't have slapped Neville. That wasn't necessary. Once again, she didn't think. Can't I do anything right? Neville straightened up.

"OK. I get it. You don't want me to risk my life for you. Ginny, but you have to realize that not everything is about you. I didn't join this—" Neville swept his arms out, indicating to the room. "I didn't join this because I wanted to risk my life for you. I joined this so I could help stop people from dying. To prevent what happened to you to happen to others. Not to risk my life for you. You were a part of the reason why, but Ginny, you're not the only reason. Not everything is about you, Ginny."

Ginny was taken aback. What Neville had just said was like a slap to her heart. Merlin, he hates me now. Neville was about to turn and leave, but Ginny grabbed his arm with her left hand.

"Please don't leave Neville. We need you. How will we work the room? How will we defeat the Carrows? How can we annoy the hell out of them? I'm so sorry Neville. I truly mean it. Please, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I was being arrogant, and stupid. I get it now. Will you ever be able to forgive me?" Ginny begged, tears were beginning to form in her warm hazel brown eyes. She didn't normally cry, but the thought of Neville leaving them forever, well, it tore Ginny's heart out of her chest and cut it to millions of pe. Neville stopped in his path to the door.. He turned and looked at her. Now, tears were starting to flow down her cheeks now and Ginny made no movement to wipe them away. Her eyes were on Neville, his clear blue eyes. She had begged him. Ginevra Molly Weasley, begging, begging, for Neville to stay. His eyes turned sad.

"I know." Ginny nodded. Tears continued on coming. They seemed to burn on her cheeks.

"Neville. Please, stay. Ginny's sorry and we need some who will really annoy the Carrows," Luna said gently. Neville looked lost in thought.

"OK. I'll stay. I forgive you Ginny. Now wipe away those tears, we have people to annoy!" Neville said, trying to penetrate the gloomy cloud over their heads with a ray of sunshine.

"Thank you," Ginny whispered to Neville. He smiled at her. She smiled back.

"I don't want to interrupt this moment, but we have to start planning now. Ready?" asked Luna, sitting down in one of the many seats at the oval table.

"Yep," replied Ginny, sitting to the left of Luna. Neville sat on the right. Neville had forgiven her for now, but with times like these, Ginny didn't know what would become of their relationship. The rest of the day was spent planning; about stealing the sword. Luna had promised that she would try to charm the coins to send messages. They had skipped lunch, they were too wrapped up in their conversation. Soon, before Ginny knew it, the school clock had struck 6:00 for dinner.

"I think we should go for dinner, I'm starving," suggested Ginny.

"Yes, I totally agree,' said Luna. "And you, Neville?"

"Yep." They walked out of the Room and ran down to where the entrance of the Gryffindor common room was. They paused there; their cover story would be that Luna came down to wait for friends. But when they were almost to the Great Hall, Ginny heard yelling.

"Do you hear that?" Ginny asked. Luna and Neville nodded. They proceeded to the Great Hall with caution and the yelling soon got louder until they could make out what the people were saying.

"It's not my fault that you're a prat and hate students!" yelled a familiar voice.

"Well, it's not my fault your students refuse to listen to me!" a nasty voice spat back.

"MY STUDENTS REFUSE TO LISTEN TO YOU? REFUSE TO LISTEN TO YOU!" Once Ginny, Luna and Neville got to Great Hall, they saw who were yelling at each other. Professor McGonagall was on one side of the staff table and Professor Carrow was on the other side. From where Ginny could see, Professor McGonagall's wand was drawn in anger and Professor Carrow's face was bright red. I bet he's too dumb to have his wand drawn out too. You should always have your wand out when yelling with McGonagall.

"It's my students that refuse to listen to you? You're the one teaching shit, not me!" screamed Professor McGonagall. Everyone gasped. Ginny had never heard Professor McGonagall swear.

"You're not one to say that I'm teaching shit, that's you!" Professor Carrow bellowed.

"SO I'M THE ONE TEACHING SHIT NOW, AREN'T I? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S GIVING STUDENTS DETENTIONS FOR STUPID REASONS!"

"YOU HAVE ALWAYS GIVEN OUT DETENTIONS, MINERVA. NOW I'M THE ONE WHO GIVES OUT STUPID DETENTIONS?" Ginny looked at her friends. Neville face was pure terror. Luna looked like she wanted to hex Professor Carrow into oblivion. Then Ginny heard crying. She hadn't heard it at first, but the crying was getting louder now. But sure enough, it was there. Ginny's eyes scanned the room. The sobs were coming from a young girl; first year with light blonde hair, a few feet in front of her. She had tears flowing like a waterfall down her face. Ginny rushed up to her. She kneeled in front of the little girl.

"What's your name?" Ginny asked gently. She looked up from her crying and stared Ginny straight in the eye. She seemed hesitant to tell Ginny anything.

"I'm, I'm, my name's Elizabeth, Elizabeth Abagot," the little girl replied timidly. Ginny recognized her from the Sorting; she was the first to be sorted. She smiled warmly at her. The corner of Elizabeth's mouth tweaked up.

"I'm Ginny Weasley. It's OK. The shouting is going to end soon. Don't worry," Ginny said, pulling her in for a hug. Elizabeth soon began to cry in her arms.

"I—I, I was really excited—to come to Hogwarts this year, and, and— I really hoped that it would be different from my old life, but, but—but not really," Elizabeth sobbed into Ginny's shoulder.

"It's going to be fine. Professor McGonagall would never let anything happen to you," said Ginny reassuringly, patting Elizabeth on her back. At that very moment, Professor McGonagall had shouted at Professor Carrow.

"I WOULD NEVER LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO MY STUDENTS!"

"Would you?" asked Professor Carrow menacingly. "Didn't that lovely Miss. Weasley tell you anything about her detentions?" Professor McGonagall looked taken aback. Professor Carrow must have seen her face because he said, "Oh really? I suppose she didn't tell you about her painless detention of the Cruciatus Curse? Or her bloodless detention of the Imperious Curse?" sneered Professor Carrow. Professor McGonagall didn't let any sign of emotion show on her face, but Professor Carrow seemed to know that he had hit close to home. Elizabeth, still in Ginny's arms, looked up.

"Are they talking about you?" she asked curiously, her tears starting to subside.

"Oh, nothing. It's not me, it's another Miss. Weasley. There's two," Ginny said, technically not lying; there were more that one Miss. Weasley, but it was her that they were yelling about.

"OK. I don't want you to be hurt." Ginny's heart swelled. She had just met Elizabeth and she was saying that she cared about her. This is why I'm fighting. For young students like her. They will have Hogwarts back again. I won't let the Carrows and Snape take it away from them. Never. Then Professor McGonagall yelled something offensive to Professor Carrow.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH! YOU PRICK! YOU COWARD! ONLY COWARDS TORTURE STUDENTS FOR DETENTION! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE—" Professor McGonagall was cut off.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, YOU OLD, SENILE IDIOT! YOU'RE THE LITTLE BITCH, NOT ME!" Professor Carrow yelled at Professor McGonagall. Just then he whipped out his wand, but Professor McGonagall was too quick for him.

"PROTEGO!" Professor McGonagall yelled, pointing her wand at the students. Although Ginny didn't see the force field, she knew it was there. The shield charm appeared in front of the students, protecting them from the Carrows. But that was her mistake. As Professor McGonagall's arm was stretched out, casting the Shield Charm, Professor Carrow had shouted, "Crucio!" pointing his wand at her chest, unprotected by her outstretched arm. A stream of bright red shot from his wand, straight to McGonagall.

Before Ginny knew it, she was running towards the scream of Minerva McGonagall, only to realise that the Shield Charm that was cast prevented her from jumping in front of the spell. Ginny was forced to look in the direction of the scream. Professor McGonagall's back was arched and she was held in the air by the curse. Her teeth were clenched in pain; it looked like she was trying not to scream. After what seemed like an eternity, Professor Flitwick had shot a Disarming Spell at Professor Carrow and the Cruciatus Curse stopped. Professor McGonagall dropped down from the air and collapsed in a heap on the ground. Ginny wasn't sure how long the curse was held on for, but it seemed a lot longer than her's had. But just when she had collapsed, Professor McGonagall pulled herself up from the floor, wincing as she stood up. As she was just about to hex Professor Carrow, Headmaster Snape came striding into the Great Hall. Ginny looked back and the look on his face was pure anger. Fire seemed to burn in his eyes.

"What is going on, Professor Carrow?" Snape asked in a low whisper. Ginny was slightly surprised, as Snape seemed to be more angry at Carrow, than McGonagall. Time seemed to freeze as Headmaster Snape spoke. Professor Carrow spoke.

"Ah, Headmaster Snape. There had just been a small spat, between Minerva and I." Why would this idiot tell him the truth? Ginny thought.

"Oh really?" Snape said, raising an eyebrow. Professor Carrow nodded frantically. "It is true, isn't it, Minerva?"

"Headmaster Snape, I assure you that it happened. Professor Carrow also just happened to tell me that the Cruciatus Curse has been used on students in detention. Is this news to you?" said Professor McGonagall coldly, her arms crossed and she stood tall once again. It didn't seem like she was hurt at all, much less tortured.

"The Cruciatus Curse?" asked Snape emotionlessly, turning to Professor Carrow.

"Why yes, you said never said that it wasn't allowed," Professor Carrow replied, defending himself.

"Very true but—"

"Yes, but it is not necessary," Professor McGonagall seethed, cutting into Headmaster Snape's sentence.

"We never asked for your opinion, Minerva," Professor Carrow snapped. She glared at him.

"Well, it seems that dinner is almost over, Minerva, you will come with me. Amycus, you will meet me in my office after dinner at 7:30. No later," Snape instructed. He began to leave, then beckoned McGonagall to follow him. She reluctantly followed him, limping slightly as she went on. She's not going to get into more trouble, is she? Professor Carrow sneered.

"What are you all looking at? Get back to your dinner, ungrateful brats," he said, glaring at the students. Ginny slowly walked back to a shaking Elizabeth. She knelt in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. Elizabeth looked up.

"Elizabeth, I want you to quickly eat your dinner and straight after, I want you to run back to the common room. OK?" Ginny instructed Elizabeth. She nodded and headed to the Gryffindor table. Luna and Neville joined her side, watching the little girl walk to the Gryffindor table; sitting down and beginning to grab her dinner.

"This is the reason we're doing this, right?" Yes, so young girls and boys can still have Hogwarts the way I did. Ginny nodded and leaned against Luna. I'm not going to let the Carrows take that away.

Author's Note:

We really hoped that you have liked this chapter. Please, please, please review, even if you didn't like it. We really would want to know if people are reading our fanfiction and if they enjoy it or not. And those who have reviewed, thank you so much! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, we really, really hope that you will keep on reading and keep on reviewing! Once again, we don't think we can say this enough, thank you.

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