Note from LbN: Before anyone yells at me for the time cut, JKR skipped two months in one sentence, so I figured I could do the same :D. Hope you like the chapter!
AWF
GPOV
I only got to see Nym another three times during break. After it was over, I went straight back to Hogwarts; and we've been talking less and less on the mirrors, because she's doing stuff for the Order. I have a feeling it has something to do with helping us hide the kids that are going to be taken, because McGonagall seems to always tell me just in time.
It's been three months now. Neville's permanently in the Room now, and his grandma's on the run. I'm sitting on my bed, reading for Potions when a loud crack sounds in my room. It's an elf…wait a second…
"Kreacher?"
"Miss must hurry and come with Kreacher," the elf croaks, "They are coming for you. Kreacher has Professor McGonagall holding them off, but not for long."
Throwing my mirror and some clothes into a backpack, I speed into the common room with the elf. The Creeveys are the only ones there; it's a Hogsmeade weekend, but we're not allowed to go.
"Ginny?" Dennis asks.
"I have to go," I say, climbing down the portrait hole. As the portrait swings closed, I hear Colin say sadly, "Not her too…"
Kreacher and I are racing down the corridor towards the Room, when suddenly he shoves me into a tapestry that I thought was a solid wall. Standing there is Nym…
"What the—" she clamps a hand over my mouth as we listen to footsteps approaching. We hear McGonagall's voice, "I really must protest! Ginny is an excellent student and a pureblood!"
"Brats o' blood traitors don' belong at 'ogwarts," one of the Carrows grunts.
They walk right past our tapestry and when we can't hear them arguing anymore, Nym relaxes. Before we move, I send a message to Colin and Dennis to hide in one of the classrooms by Gryffindor. I don't want them getting tortured because of me. Hopefully they'll have time to go…
Nym holds a finger to her lips as Kreacher checks the corridor. He gives us the "all clear" and we run the rest of the way to the room.
Tumbling inside we hear,
"Thank god you made it!"
"Oh no, they're after you too?"
"Ginny," Neville says picking me up, "Where are Colin and Dennis?"
"I sent them a message to hide. They might be able to make it down here, if they got out of the common room in time. What's with sending Kreacher to get me?" the elf's gone by now, but all of us know him.
"I don't know my way around Hogwarts like I used to," Nym says, "Traveling by secret passage is hard, and I knew I wouldn't make it to you in time; so I called Kreacher and asked him to bring you to me."
"Oh. We can wait till Colin and Dennis get here, right?"
"In the meantime," Nym nods, "Let's see if we can't get a message to your parents."
She sends her Patronus into the air.
"It might take a while for them to reply," she tells me, "They're at your aunt Muriel's house, and I expect they're quite busy."
"Are they working on the same thing you were working on?" I ask.
"Yeah," she smiles, "Making sure you and all your friends are safe. We've been keeping tabs on the Death Eaters within the Ministry, to see who they're going to target next. You haven't heard from Dean have you?"
As she looks around the room, all of us shake our heads. He's been missing for months now…
She runs a hand through her blue hair and says,
"I'm going to get some food from Ab. Neville, will you help?"
They set off down the portrait passage way and I settle down on the new bunk the Room has just made for me.
In about an hour, they make it back with a lot of different sandwiches for all of us. Kreacher turns up around dinner time with two other elves and they give us some ham and potatoes and cakes. Judging by the reactions around the room, this is the first time they've had desert in a while. Another hour passes…
"Nym," I say quietly, "You don't think they took Colin and Dennis?"
She looks at me with a worried expression and squeezes my shoulder.
"Don't worry," she says, "Let's just wait. They just might be waiting until they can leave the common room."
Two more hours pass, but just as everyone is dropping off to sleep, Colin enters. He's carrying his brother…
"Please! Help him!" he sobs.
"What the hell?" Nym says walking over quickly.
"We didn't hide in time," Colin cries, setting Dennis down on a bed, "They got mad when we said we didn't know where Ginny was. They tortured him for a long time, and he just passed out. I don't know what curse they were using; he looked so scared."
"Colin," Nym says softly, "This is very important. I need you to tell me exactly what happened to Dennis when they put that spell on him."
"He just…his mouth fell open," Colin began, "And his eyes got all wide, but he didn't make any noise. And he started turning around in midair. He never made a sound. Until they put him down," Colin shivered, "He started crying, horrible crying. I couldn't get him to stop. They laughed and left. And he kept crying and crying and then he just passed out…I had to wait until dinner to bring him here, and they were patrolling the halls. So we had to hide in one of the tapestries. Please say you can help him," Colin begs.
"Neville," Nym says, "Take Colin to Ab, get him something to eat. Don't worry," she tells Colin, "Your brother's going to be fine."
"I want to stay with him!"
"He's perfectly safe. You're perfectly safe," she assures him, "But you look dead on your feet. Go get some food with Neville, and bring some crackers back for him," she nods at Dennis before whispering something to Neville.
Colin nods tearfully, pats Dennis's head, and heads down the portrait with Neville.
"Why," Seamus starts after they've gone, "do I get the feeling that Dennis is about to be in a lot of pain?"
"If you don't want to watch, go into the bathroom. Neville's made it sound proof, so you won't be able to hear."
The younger students run to the bathroom with fearful looks on their faces. All of the seventh years and I stayed, though all of us were looking extremely apprehensive.
"What are you going to do?" Ernie asks.
"I'm going to extract a nightmare," Nym replies, taking out her wand.
"What?" all of us ask.
"Think of the worst dream you've ever had," Nym sighs, "Got it? Now multiply that by a thousand, and add the fact that you can feel pain or sickness or whatever is in the dream; that's what our Dennis is facing right now."
All of us look in horror at the younger Creevey brother. Nym continues,
"When they cast the spell, they took him through the whole dream, that's why he cried. Now, he's stuck in the nightmare. Or, rather, the nightmare's stuck in him. Last chance to leave; Neville won't be able to stall Colin for long."
All of us look down at Dennis, but stay near the table.
"Ok, here goes," Nym says.
She puts her wand inside of his mouth. Nothing happens for a moment, and then Dennis starts to make horrible gagging sounds. She doesn't remove her wand, however. After about five minutes of this, Dennis begins to whimper, then scream. And before any of us can remember whether or not we've heard a scream that horrible before, Nym begins to slowly remove her wand.
But when it's out, there's something connected to it. Padma retches and goes to sit down. Coming out of Dennis is something indescribably disgusting, but I'll give it a try. Imagine purple slime, give it green mold, some small, spiky tentacles, and black fur. Then, imagine it pulsing. Got that? Now add Dennis's screams and that's what we're witnessing.
After a minute, Nym has the whole thing out. She sets it on fire with her wand, and it's gone.
Seamus and Michael have fainted. Ernie is throwing up. Padma can't stop crying, and Parvati and Lavender are trying to stop hyperventilating. I'm speechless. I look over at Nym, whose hair is now green, and she just squeezes my shoulder. She turns back to Dennis.
"Enervate," she says weakly, pointing her wand at him.
He starts to stir and blinking, slowly sits up. Ernie pushes an empty wastebasket in front of him just in time. Dennis vomits violently and begins to cry. I watch as Nym sits down and holds him. He sobs uncontrollably onto her shoulder for a while before his cries turn to small gasps.
"Where," he chokes, "Where's Colin?"
"He's gone to get you some crackers," Nym says, "Don't worry, he's safe."
Without another word, Dennis faints. Nym sets him back against the pillows on his bed and runs her hands through her hair, shaking. I walk over and hold her.
"Had you done that before?" I ask quietly, after a minute.
"Once," she says, "But it wasn't nearly as bad as that. I don't even want to know what Dennis was dreaming about…"
Neville and Colin come in right then, and Colin runs over to us.
"What's wrong with him? Is he okay?" he asks.
"He's fine," Nym says, "He's just sleeping."
We spend the rest of the evening quietly. The younger students begged to know what happened, but we all have an unspoken agreement to never talk about it again.
"Ginny?" Nym says as we get into (separate) bed, "We'll go to your aunt's tomorrow. In the morning, ok?"
"But what about everyone else?" I ask, "What if there are others who get hurt? Or need to hide?"
"McGonagall is still moving them. She's made one of you guys' nifty coins to get in touch with Neville. Other Order members drop by every now and then to check on them."
"Mr. Kingsley plays Exploding Snap with us when he comes!" says a first year Ravenclaw named Aaron.
"See?" Tonks smiles, "They'll be fine. And I'll have someone stop by everyday this week to make sure Dennis is ok," she added, to Colin.
Colin nods and goes back to helping Dennis eat some soup.
"Ok," I say and she kisses me on the forehead. Catcalls ensue…
"Nice to know they're not too traumatized," Nym mumbles…
LbN: Hope you liked the chapter! Reviews make me feel warm and fuzzy inside!