Draco-
The first few weeks back at Hogwarts passed uneventfully enough. Perhaps the most trying of lessons had now become Defence Against the Dark Arts, which was taught by Amycus Carrow, and which had us practicing the Cruciatus Curse on first years who'd gotten themselves detentions.
Primarily, I had acted only as my Death Eater nature would allow, performing the curse quickly and efficiently, receiving top marks in my first few lessons- and then I noticed how, outside of class, everyone was acting subdued around me- more so than usual.
"What's gotten into everyone?" I demanded of Blaise as we sat in our usual fireside seats one evening.
It had been a particularly trying day- we'd had double DADA, which meant we were also practicing the Imperious Curse on unruly children in the years below, as well as the usual Cruciatus practice, which was dwindling now that the first years had pulled out all the stops to keep from getting detentions. This was followed by Potions, which was taken once again by Professor Slughorn, who now looked like he was being force fed a Blast-Ended Skrewt every time he had me in his line of vision.
To make matters worse, whenever I saw the Weasley girl in the corridors or the Great Hall, and I attempted at some form of pleasantries with her, she merely glared at me coldly, hatred burning in her brown eyes, before swinging her blazing red hair over her shoulder and turning her back on me. This raised the main implication of how was I meant to get her to fall for me if she hated my guts?
"What do you mean, what's gotten into everyone?" asked Blaise, his eyes darting to my face and back to the flames again before I could even be sure he'd looked at me.
I frowned- was Blaise hiding something from me?
"You know what I mean. Everyone is skirting around me more than usual, even the rest of the Slytherins- even you, Blaise. I don't understand exactly why. I understand, of course, that I am a Death Eater, and therefore a dangerous person, but many of our fellow Slytherins are also under His command, and they still act as though I am a Basilisk waiting to strike," I frowned again, and put my hand up to my forehead- I was beginning to get a headache.
"Well, mate, to be perfectly honest with you-" began Blaise, before stopping and looking concerned.
"Yes?" I snapped. "What?"
"They are scared of you, and you have no one to blame but yourself. The way you perform those Unforgivable Curse in Defence, well, don't get me wrong, it's impressive, but even Crabbe and Goyle show some reluctance when it's younger Slytherin students before our curses- you don't blink no matter who is stood in front of you. Some people-" he paused again.
"What?" I asked, looking at him and feeling, for the first time, concern and regret at how I had been behaving.
"Some people… they're saying you'd Cruciate your own mother if you were told to. They say you'll stop at nothing to get what you want from the Dark Lord, whether it's power or recognition, or both."
My blood ran cold through my veins as I heard him talking.
"My own mother?" I whispered, feeling nauseous. I put my head back in my hands and let out a small groan of exasperation. "How could anyone even suggest that? Who would do such a thing?"
"I know mate, I know," said Blaise quickly. "But it's what they're saying, and you know how susceptible to rumours this school is- do you remember when everyone thought-" he dropped his voice to a mere whispered and hissed "-When everyone thought Potter was the heir of Slytherin?"
I let out a short laugh which caused any Slytherin within hearing range to wince and step backwards as they eyed me warily.
"Don't remind me. It was the most ridiculous rumour ever spread around this pathetic excuse for a school. How could he have done it, anyway? Pathetic Potter and his filthy friends, as if they'd have the brains to pull off such a-" I cut myself off, remembering who actually had opened the Chamber- the Weasley girl. I gulped, feeling my head throb, and sat back into my chair, closing my eyes and groaning again . "They're all idiots here, they'll believe anything."
"That's right, mate," said Blaise, looking at me worriedly. "Don't let it bother you. Maybe you should try and show a bit of emotion in lessons though? It's really rather disturbing to watch."
"Disturbing?" I asked, opening my eyes and raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah. Disturbing," he said, his voice firm.
"Fine. It's disturbing. I get it," I rolled my eyes. "Hang on a second, is that why Weaslette has been avoiding me?"
Blaise's hand snapped up and his eyes bore into mine- I'd spoken my thought out loud.
"What?" he demanded quietly.
"What?" I replied, trying to sound confused.
"What did you say?"
"I agreed with you, that my behaviour with the curses has been disturbing-"
"That's not what I meant and you know it, Malfoy!" he snapped, glaring at me.
"Malfoy, hmm? Back to last name terms… Well then, Zabini, I would like to point out that whatever I may or may not have said, may not being the more appropriate term in this situation, is none of your business."
"You know how I despise the blood traitor, she's worse than any of her brothers," grumbled Blaise.
I glanced at him, smirking, as I remembered his intense dislike of Weasley had started the previous year when she had insulted him in Slughorn's train compartment.
"If I find out you have anything to do with that traitor, even if you look at her, I shall tell the Dark Lord, and He shall be most displeased," said Blaise, with an air of triumph about him as he uttered what he assumed was a great threat.
"Alright then. I won't-"
"Good."
"Allow me to finish, Zabini. I won't let you find out."
I jumped up from my armchair, smirked at Blaise, who looked like he'd just been asked to babysit a dozen Blast Ended Skrewts, and marched off to the dormitory, trying to ignore the terrified Slytherin students who scuttled out of my way as I went.
Once again, I found I was the first one to ascend to our Seventh Year dormitory. I barely paused to undress before collapsing face down onto my bed, groaning again. They all thought I was a sadist who would torture his own mother for power from the Dark Lord. Well, if that's what they thought, I'd just have to change it.
Draco Malfoy never conforms to the labels placed upon him.
Ginny-
Dear Mum and Dad-
School is dragging. We've only been here for about a month, but it feels like we've been here forever already.
I can't tell you half of what I would like to in this letter. Our mail is still being monitored. However, I shall be coming home at Christmas, as I'm sure you already suspected. I can't wait to be home again- Hogwarts no longer feels like a second home to me, but more of a prison.
I hope Ron is feeling better, and that George's wound is healing nicely.
Is Muriel still there?
Give my love to everyone.
Love, Ginny xxx
I gave the letter to Ron's owl Pigwidgeon, who he'd given to me before he'd disappeared with Harry and Hermione. He'd said I needed a way to keep in contact with the family whilst I was at Hogwarts, and he said he wouldn't need Pig anymore.
The small owl hooted excitedly and flitted once around the room, tilted to one side from the weight of the parchment, and swooped out of the open window, disappearing into the distance quickly. I watched him leave with a sort of sinking feeling in my stomach- I wanted to be headed back to The Burrow, too.
Sighing, I headed back down to the common room- it was only 7pm, and I knew people would think something was wrong with me and start bugging me if I disappeared to bed this early in the night, and I was trying to avoid too much humanity- if in doing this I had to be present in the common room every night, then so be it.
It was subdued in the Gryffindor common room this year. Most nights, everyone was cleared out and up to their dorms by 10pm, unless they were working on late homework- which only happened if the Carrows set homework. No one dared hand in their homework late- the punishments differed between the skin slicing quills and as far as the Cruciatus and Imperious curses.
Neville sat over in a corner, his head in a book. I headed over to him and, moving Trevor out of the chair besides Neville, plonked myself down. Glancing over at Neville, I could see suddenly that he wasn't actually reading the Herbology book in front of his nose- his eyes were fixed on the page and he was staring blankly, not taking in the words.
"Neville?" I asked tentatively, watching to see if he was paying any attention to his surroundings.
He didn't move. I began to feel worried- he'd been even more quiet than usual, no doubt due to his mysterious disappearance earlier this week. He'd had us all terrified, but had shown up a couple of days later looking perfectly fine, although a little worse for wear.
"Neville!" I said, louder this time, leaning towards him.
Neville jumped and slammed his book shut, glancing around him guiltily as though he'd been caught out doing something forbidden. He blinked as he saw me sitting beside him and settled back into the arm chair, his face relaxing, but the tension still showing in his eyes.
"Hi, Ginny," he said, his voice small.
"Are you alright, Neville?" I asked, concerned.
"What? Oh, yes, I'm fine," he replied, picking Trevor up off the floor and placing him on his lap. "I was just thinking…"
"What?" I asked, not paying too much attention.
"Well, you remember a couple of years ago when Umbridge was out Defence teacher?" he asked, his voice even smaller.
"Course I do, who could forget it?" I ask, letting out a small snort of disgust.
"Well, yeah. I was just thinking- do you remember what Harry did?"
My head snapped up and I looked at Neville intensely.
"Harry?" I asked, my voice suddenly radiating worry and concern for my lost love.
"Yeah. Remember what he did?" asked Neville again, more urgently.
His eyes were burning with determination and trepidation as he looked back at me. I started to shake my head- and them something clicked.
"The DA!" I replied suddenly, memories of our rebel group clouding my mind.
"Exactly. I was thinking, we should start it up again!" blurted Neville in a rush, sounding both excited and terrified. "We could use the old Room of Requirement, and anyone looking for a place to escape for even a couple of minutes could hide there, so long as they're part of the DA! What do you think?"
I stayed silent for a moment, thinking about it all, my mind churning the idea Neville had just put forward. This was the sort of thing I'd expect from one of the more outgoing students, but not from Neville.
Neville was watching me anxiously, excitement still burning in his eyes. I looked back at him, realising why he was doing this.
"This is in rebellion against the Death Eaters, isn't it?" I ask quietly. "You think that, if we do this, we're rebelling against the Carrows, which by default we're rebelling against the Death Eaters, and by that logic… we're rebelling against Bellatrix Lestrange."
I watched as Neville's face went deathly pale at her name and the skin tightened around his eyes as they narrowed. His hatred for the insane Death Eater was so intense it hurt sometimes. I understood his hatred for her- she'd tortured his parents into insanity, after all. I worried though that soon, his thirst for vengeance would get him deeply into trouble- or dead.
"I… It's nothing to do with that, it's just… look, with the school being overrun by Dark magic I just thought it'd be a good idea to show some resistance to it," he muttered, looking down at Trevor as he spoke.
"Neville… I don't know…" I began, and he glanced up at me looking hurt and disappointed.
"Ginny, this is our only chance to keep some form of our Hogwarts alive," he whispered.
"Have you spoken to Luna about this?" I asked, knowing that Luna would no doubt want to be involved. Aside from Harry, Ron and Hermione, the three of us had been the most involved in the DA.
"I thought I'd speak to you about it first; see if I could get some Gryffindors on board before I try any of the other houses. I mean, if I can't even persuade people from my own house, what chance have I got of recruiting members of other houses?" Neville was beginning to sound desperate, although he was trying to hide this with his ever decreasing enthusiasm.
"Neville…" Neville looked at me beseechingly, and suddenly I realised that this mad idea of his might be our only chance of making this new Hogwarts bearable. "Alright, Neville. I'm in."
Neville's face lit up, his eyes regained their previous excitement, and a large grin spread across his round face.
"Really, Ginny?" he asked quickly, as though worried I might change my mind.
"Really, Neville," I replied, grinning back at him weakly.
"Wow, great! I'll talk to Luna tomorrow if I get a chance, and then we can start getting people together again!"
"What even made you think of this, Neville?" I asked, feeling sort of in awe of this rebellious idea coming from round face, forgetful Neville Longbottom.
"Well, earlier this week, remember how I disappeared for a day or so?" he asked.
"Course I remember, I was so worried," I said, shuddering.
"Well, I was running from the Carrows- they were angry cause I'd refused to do any detentions they kept dishing out to me, and I ended up outside the Room of Requirement, which appeared for me, so I dashed inside, and there was a hammock in there, so I stayed a day or so until I knew they'd forgotten about me, and then I reappeared," he explained.
I stared at him, amazed. He'd been in the Room of Requirement for those terrifying days, perfectly safe, comfortable and warm?
"While I was in there," he continued, not noticing the shock on my face, "I kept thinking about the DA and how great it felt to be a part of that. I was remembering how well I was doing with magic then, and it made me think- what if we could bring back the DA? I mean, we're still Dumbledore supporters, even if he is gone- and now he has gone, we're all supporting Harry, the whole Wizarding world, cause he's a lot of the wizard's new hope for defeating You Know Who and…"
"Neville!" I said, shaking my head. "Stop, just for a second. I said I was in, and I'm in. But we need to think about how to do this. Right now, I think we both need to get some sleep. I'm going to go to bed, and I'll talk to you tomorrow evening and you can tell me if you've spoken to Luna."
Neville looked slightly disappointed at my abrupt end to the conversation, but I couldn't talk about Harry- it was still too painful, considering I didn't know where he was, if he was ok…
"Alright, Ginny. See you tomorrow then," he said, picking up Trevor and the book he'd been staring at. He gave me a small smile and headed off to his dormitory. I sighed, heaved myself to my feet, and quickly followed Neville's example, heading up to the sixth year girl's dorm.
It looked like life at Hogwarts was about to get a hell of a lot more complicated.
A/N: I apologise for not updating as much as some people do, I get easily distracted. However, I am on my summer holidays now, and seeing as I have less than no money and there is nothing to do where I live, I hope to update more often.
Please leave some reviews, they are very much appreciated :)
Love, Beccari
