Hi again! Read on and enjoy.

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It was a smart idea for me to make things right with Neville and the other Gryffindors, because the next couple of months strengthened our friendships like nothing before. Circumstances at Hogwarts were slowly but surely getting worse. People's relatives were disappearing more frequently, and even a few students were vanishing. The Death Eaters and the Prophet tried to cover it up, of course, but we all knew how bad it was.

The only silver lining was the approaching Easter break, and this time, I looked forward to it. Neville and I had been getting along much better, so the time away from school would give us an opportunity to think of some new ideas for Dumbledore's Army. Unfortunately, we suffered another loss before reaching this reprieve. Hagrid had drawn the wrong kind of attention to himself via a "Support Harry Potter" party in March. I would've loved to go if I'd known of the occasion beforehand, but it was an awfully risky move on his part. Luckily, he got away just in time and was able to hide himself. All the rest of us could do was hope for him to stay that way.

Only when we were finally back at the Longbottom residence could I let myself relax. Even Belle seemed to be more at ease there. It was still difficult to have such negative feelings about Hogwarts, but given how things were, the chances of the place ever going back to normal weren't of an optimistic number.

"Any ideas?" I asked my friend a few days after we arrived.

"Well, I don't think we should do anything too drastic. The Carrows are getting reckless with detentions, and Hagrid's not there for easier punishments anymore."

"There must be something that'll keep morale up. Especially the first-years, if they get too scared, everyone will give up."

"I just don't want anyone else hurt."

My thoughts wandered towards Luna upon hearing this. I couldn't keep from feeling bad again, especially in light of Neville's feelings for her. Still, I eventually pushed the guilt away and regained my focus. If we were to save Luna, we had to stick together.

"I get that. But even the smallest bits of rebellion will keep people's spirits high."

"Yeah, maybe we can write more stuff on the walls and go from there."

It wasn't anything new, but at the moment, it was all we had.

OOOOOOOOOO

The rest of the break was surprisingly enjoyable, and when we got back to Hogwarts, we didn't really need to raise morale all that much. Our common room was soon buzzing with news about Harry's whereabouts. Apparently, he'd been brought to the Malfoy residence, along with Ron and Hermione.

"It's true!" Parvati told me.

"But how d'you know? Is it in the paper?"

"No, it's Potterwatch on the radio. They're trying to keep tabs on them."

"Wait, what happened? Are they hurt?"

"I dunno the specifics, but they got away."

That was such a relief. Plus, the fact that they were still alive filled me with so much hope. I didn't know what this unfamiliar radio channel was all about, but whatever it was, I already liked it. And this wasn't the only good news of the day. After getting back to the common room from the lavatory, I saw Neville sitting in a chair with a tiny bit of parchment in his hand.

"What is it?" I asked hesitantly.

Without a word, he gave me the paper. There was one word on it: Nargles.

"She's free," he ultimately muttered. "She's alive."

"Oh, thank God."

Hearing the news was a wonderful thing. No matter how jealous I felt towards Luna, I never wished her any harm, to say nothing about wanting her dead. And now that she wasn't a prisoner anymore, she and Neville had a chance to be reunited. However painful that concept was in my gut, all I wanted was for my best friend to be happy. At least there was hope for him.

OOOOOOOOOO

Despite the renewed morale amongst the students, it was getting harder to ignore the bad things. I nearly lost it when Alecto Carrow threw a curse at Neville during Muggle Studies around the start of April. By the grace of God, he wasn't fatally hurt, and he even managed to restrain me before I could think of hexing the "teacher."

"Don't," he muttered. "Don't make things worse."

I accompanied him to Madam Pomfrey's office right after class, and luckily, the wound was a mere cut on his shoulder.

"It'll take longer to heal since it's a magical wound, but this should numb the pain." She handed Neville a small vial before continuing her exam. "What were you thinking?"

"I didn't like what she said about Muggles having blood that was biologically similar to scum, so I asked how much non-magical blood she had."

I grimaced at the memory, but Pomfrey was aghast.

"You need to hold your tongue with these people, boy!"

She was obviously trying not to say anything incriminating, but I could've sworn that there was a glimmer of pride in her eyes.

"Run along now," she said as she ushered us to the door, "and try not to get yourself killed next time."

This incident didn't damper Neville's rebellious spirit in the least, and that night, we gathered a subtle group of Gryffindors to scatter graffiti again. Seamus went with Lavender Brown, Parvati went with a sixth-year named Philip, and I went with Neville. The two of us took the most daring route: the hallway leading to the Headmaster's office. It was unspeakably dangerous, but once people learned of it, spirits would surely soar.

Once the group split up, we sprinted to our destination, took out our wands, and immediately got to work. I wrote OFFICE OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE with an arrow pointing towards the magic staircase. On the other side of the gargoyle, Neville wrote something about Snape that nearly made me laugh out loud; I'd never heard him use such profane words in any conversation we'd had up to that point. But I concentrated, and once we both felt satisfied, we ran back to the common room as quickly as we could. Seamus and Lavender were all right, but Parvati was crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked, hesitantly approaching her. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I…Philip fell behind, and the Carrows caught him. I wanted to go back, but—"

"You couldn't have helped," Neville said. "Don't blame yourself."

When poor Philip limped to breakfast the next morning with bruises covering almost every inch of his face, it was tough for any of us to fight off the guilt. He laughed it off like it wasn't a big deal, but it looked really painful. With every new horror story about the Carrow siblings, my hatred for them grew even more, and I didn't know how much longer I could hold it back.

OOOOOOOOO

"Today," Amycus drawled in Dark Arts class with us and the Ravenclaws a few days later, "we'll be revisiting the effects of the Cruciatus Curse."

My stomach felt like it was twisting. We'd seen this too many times already, and it was obvious that our teacher had a sick enjoyment for it. To be honest, I didn't know what the hell he expected from us. You had to have a desire to cause pain in order to use the curse, and aside from a handful of the Slytherins, nobody could give the subject anything more than a bellyache. Amycus always ended up torturing the poor victim himself, and if he were in a bad mood, he'd give the failed curser a taste of it as well.

"Our volunteer is this little rotter." He pulled out a terrified Hufflepuff boy from behind the blackboard and threw him to the floor. "He was heard badmouthing the Headmaster, so you'll be giving him a lesson in manners."

My eyes teared up a little bit. The child had to have been a first-year, and the fact that he was brave enough to talk down Snape was amazing. But my heart was hurting badly for him. After kicking the boy a few times, Amycus turned to us and gestured with his wand.

"Will any of you volunteer, or must I pick someone out again?"

A few tense seconds went by. Looking back now, I'm not really sure what came over me, but my hand slowly went up. It was odd to see the Death Eater look so gleeful.

"Ah, Miss Ravensdale! Figured you might come around."

Neville gave me a concerned look, and I attempted to reassure him with my eyes. As I stood up and approached the front of the classroom, I quickly threw a plan of action together.

Lacey, are you mad?! What the devil is your idea?

Still, I thought of getting the first-year's attention long enough to mouth the word "scream" to him, and then, if he understood my intentions, pretending to cast the curse. But I wasn't sure it would work, so I tried to stall for time.

"I forgot, professor…what's the wand movement?"

"None." By now, Carrow had folded his arms in front of him in a seemingly prideful way. "Just point and curse. But you've got to mean it, girl. Alecto told me about that Mudblood teacher of yours, so maybe pretend you're hexing him."

This made something shift within me. Yes, I'd written about Mr. Dewhurst for a Muggle Studies assignment. We were supposed to do reports about horrid examples of non-magic people, and he was the only thing I could come up with. I was afraid of what Alecto would do if I didn't follow the assignment. And now, this excuse for a man actually thought I was capable of evil acts just because of a mean teacher I had when I was eight? The very notion of it made my brain heat up. I wasn't shaking, but it felt like a stick of dynamite had been lit in my belly.

I still feel like an idiot for what happened next, but I did it all the same. After forming the first syllable of the curse on my lips while pointing my wand at the sobbing boy, I instantly turned towards Amycus.

"Expelliarmus!" His wand flew to the side of the room, and before the rotten man even knew what hit him, I spoke again. "Petrificus Totalus!"

He was on the floor in an instant, stiff as a pole. People were gasping all over the room, and I even heard Neville shouting out to me. But I didn't care. It all became an echo as I approached the unmoving Death Eater and aimed my wand right at him. My blood was boiling like never before, and consequences be damned, this bastard would feel pain for all the hurt he'd brought onto us.

"I've got to mean it, huh? Don't worry, I do!"

I was just about to say the word when a shock-like jolt struck me from my left side. The blow didn't knock me over, but my wand suddenly flew from my grasp, and an eerie silence filled the room. Once the absence of the thin smooth wood against my fingers registered in my brain, I quickly looked in the direction of the attack. My guts felt like they were turning to ice.

Standing a few feet from the back desks, with my wand in his free hand, was Snape.

I couldn't think for a moment, but once the ability returned to me, it was pure loathing. The sight of him holding my beloved wand was repulsive to the point where I barely noticed him undoing my curse against Amycus. In an instant, the furious man stood up, snatched up his wand, and stormed at me.

"Why, you impudent little piece of—"

"No need, Professor Carrow," Snape muttered all too casually.

At this point, my eyes drifted over to Neville. He'd risen to his feet, and he was looking at me with pure terror in his face. That expression made me realize what I had done, and by the time the headmaster started speaking again, a cold fear was growing within me.

"Miss Ravensdale has been nothing but trouble ever since her first year at this school. You may rest assured that I will take great pleasure…in dealing with her myself."

I hadn't stopped looking at my friend, but the hateful man's glare still penetrated the side of my head. The full weight of what was to come hit my thoughts like the Hogwarts Express at full speed.

I'm dead. Oh God, I'm going to die today. It's over.

The satisfied smirk that appeared on Amycus's face a few moments later broke me out of my shock, and I noticed Snape pocketing my wand and gesturing towards the opened door with his own. Despite my stiffening fright, I persuaded my legs to move. Not wanting to be near this despicable traitor, I walked right next to the Gryffindor desks on my way to the exit. It was such a numb feeling, almost like I was in a trance. But before I could pass Neville or my empty seat, he reached out and grabbed me by the wrist.

"No," he said, trying to move me behind him while reaching into his pocket for his wand. "Leave her alone!"

I suddenly felt afraid for him. It was too late for me, but I couldn't let Neville put himself in danger. Amycus had already stepped forward, ready to intervene. Unable to bear what might've happened next, I grabbed Neville's hand before it could dip into the pocket.

"Neville, stop."

All I could to was tighten my hold on it and focus on how warm his palm felt against mine. Though the film of tears that were filling my eyes made it difficult, I stared into his and tried to burn him into my brain. A dormant section of my thoughts attempted to doubt that I would be dead by sunset, but then again, it was entirely possible, if not probable. I wasn't even a pure-blood, so the Death Eaters wouldn't consider my demise to be that big of a loss.

And Snape…I called him things, I pulled my bloody wand on him one time. He's most likely going to torture me first, and then he's going to kill me.

Part of me wondered if my fears were exaggerated, but deep down, I knew that if Snape was capable of murdering Professor Dumbledore, he was capable of doing the same to any of us, to say nothing about anyone who'd ever given him a hard time. Yes…I believed with all my heart that those moments with Neville was the last time I would even see him. I would never lay eyes on Mum and Dad again, or my other friends, or any of the trusted professors. And if these were my last seconds with the person I loved, I wanted to absorb them to the fullest.

"Lacey…" Neville whispered, his eyes tearing up.

"It'll be fine," I replied, even though I knew it wouldn't. "Just..."

At that moment, I wondered if I should tell him how I felt. I would never get another chance to do so, and I wanted him to know someone else loved him. But I couldn't. Despite the actual Angel of Death looming over me like an ugly cloud, I was still too afraid to reveal my love for my best friend.

It felt like hours, but it had only been a matter of moments. I didn't want to fend off the inevitable for too long, so as much as I hated doing so, I let go of Neville. My own hand felt cold upon doing this, but I balled it into a fist. After taking a shallow breath, I carefully walked towards the door, followed closely by Snape. Something compelled me to turn around and gaze at my friend just one more time. He was looking at me, and since Seamus was holding onto his shoulder with an expression of pity on his face, I wondered if he'd tried to come after me. But he didn't get a chance to, as the door slammed shut from the inside a few seconds later.

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