Luna POV:
A faint light breaks through the curtains which hang in front of the window, giving the room a cold blue-ish atmosphere. A bird is making scratching noises nearby our window, an owl I suppose.
I rub my eyes and yawn, stretching my arms in the process. Once my eyes have adjusted to the morning light, my sight sharpens on what's in front of me. The ceiling of our room is, as usual, covered with miniature stars and planets, who constantly circle around the sun right in the middle of it all. My former roommate, Clarisse, put the enchantment there in our first year at Hogwarts and as it only appears at night, no one really bothered to undo it.
Especially now, Clarisse's family had been ambushed by Death Eaters during mid-August. She's a Muggleborn, and just like any other Muggleborn she has been taken away by the Ministry. We assume she's currently locked up somewhere, or dead. Anyways, even though they kinda creep me out right now, we kept the stars to remember her.
The clock says it's only six o'clock, and that on a Saturday. I groan, turn around and stuff my face in my pillow.
But sleep wouldn't embrace me again any time soon, and after several minutes I gave up and got up. By the time I entered the Great Hall it's somewhere around 06:30. Few Ravenclaws already sat there - none that i recognized -, and together with one lonely Gryffindor.
Neville sat there at the end of the table, alone and in clear sight of the Carrows who seem to eye him every few seconds. What's he doing there, on his own? I start approaching him, but he doesn't notice me, at least he doesn't move. His back is slightly turned to me and his dark hair look uncombed. You'd assume he's asleep if you had only taken a quick glance at him.
"Neville?" His head snaps in my direction with a rather painful looking movement, revealing his even more painful looking face. He has a heavily swollen, split lip and an unhealthy-looking black eye. I blink a few times and sit down opposite to him. "What happened?" I ask calmly. He tries to cover up his face but gives up, groaning slightly. "The Carrows happened." He takes a sip of water but soon stops due to his lip. "After I left Ravenclaw Tower I bumped into Alecto. They had averted from their usual routes. I spent the entire night in their bloody office, paying for the sprayings on the walls, not that I admitted doing it, of course."
"So they let you go eventually?" I ask, the feeling of guilt clawing at my throat. He laughs bitterly and nudges his head towards the Carrows standing both sides of the Great Hall. Amycus' gaze meets mine and I rapidly turn back to Neville, as if their looks were able to burn my eyes. "As you might've noticed, not quite." He says and his lips twist into some sort of grin. It appears to hurt him so he straightens his face immediately. He looks horrible.
"Have you tried some healing spells?" I ask while grabbing a slice of toast and covering it with a thick layer of butter. "Haven't had the chance, not that I think it would work, dark magic isn't to be healed so easily." Sighing, he grabs his wand and books and stuffs them in his backpack. "I've got to go, see if Seamus is already up." He says after taking a nervous glance at his two new bodyguards. Distressed, frustrated and in pain, he stands up and looks at me apologetically.
"Ehm, see ya" He eventually sorta blurts out and leaves, slightly limping out of the Hall, leaving me alone at the wrong house table.
Neville POV:
"Merlins beard, man, did they attack you with a sledgehammer?!" Seamus practically yells in front of the whole Gryffindor common room. Several heads turn around to us and I just awkwardly grin at them until they turn away. I had bumped into Ginny and Seamus after I left Luna and we decided it would be better to finish - or start - today's homework. "Could you be anymore sympathetic, Seamus?" Ginny hisses at him. Seamus smirks "Sorry mate, but how are you always getting in trouble?"
"Yeah, like I do it voluntarily!" I murmur angrily and Ginny lays a soothing hand on my shoulder. "Let's just not talk about it and.. finish our homework." She says, later realizing that doesn't sound any better. Seamus and I have got an essay to do for our Muggle Studies class, about how dangerous they are for the wizard society.
"Have you got anything?" Seamus asks, tapping his quill against the table. "Nope, you?" "Nada." Seamus groans and drops his head on the table. "I'm hungry." he whines and I chuckle "Aren't you always?" He lifts his head a bit so I can see his expression at my comment that clearly states Not helping. He drops his head again and I yawn, dipping my quill in some ink. It's way too early to do this. Why do we always have to stall our homework until the last minute?
I write down the title of my essay as big and neat as I can, ready to actually start writing, when I notice the two Death Eaters standing behind us. I drop my ink bottle in surprise. "Nice." Seamus chuckles at my spoiled parchment, but decides to shut up when he notices them as well. "C-can we help you?" He hesitantly questions, making one - the one with the weird facial hair - form an amused toothy smile. "We'd like you three to come with us. Orders from Headmaster Snape." The other says in a deep voice. "And for what reason, exactly?" Is Ginny being brave or stupid?
"Your nice pieces of art on the walls would be, according to me, the reason." He responds and for a second Ginny is visibly taken aback. "What, thought we wouldn't find out who it was? We've got some lovely students who check our halls as well, Miss Weasley." Her surname is pronounced as if it is something utterly disgusting to say. She stands up and looks him in the eye. "Well, we wouldn't want to keep our Headmaster waiting." After a match of staring he laughs and averts his eyes, turning around and nudging us to follow him.
I try my best to keep a straight face during our silent walk and to ignore the shocks of pain my ankle sends throughout my entire leg. One of last night's spells had caused me to shoot up in the air and take a bad landing on my ankle, after that unfortunate occurrence Mrs Carrow had found that she had educated enough for one night.
Nobody has seen Snape very often since our first night back here, he usually eats in his office and lets the Carrows do his dirty work. As we stand in front of the gargoyle, he murmurs something inaudible for my ears and it moves aside, revealing a circular staircase. I've never been to the Headmaster's Office before, not even when Dumbledore was still around. Guess I'm just not that special. I suppose Ginny has been there, after she was possessed by Voldemorts diary and when her dad was attacked at the Ministry few years back.
With the black curtains closed, blocking every stream of morning sunlight trying to peak into the large area, the room we entered looked dark and radiated an unpleasant aura. It was filled with lots of stuff - from half of which I didn't know the name - and portraits of the previous Headmasters covered most part of the stone walls. There were doors leading to what I supposed were his chambers and a large oaken desk on one side of the room, with a dark silhouette standing behind it. Although his face was mostly covered by shadow, the unreadable expression I remember since first year was once again painted on his features. His dark eyes gazed at us as we came in, whilst neither saying or doing anything in acknowledgement of our presence.
Opposite to him, a bit to the side, stood Luna. Her long blonde hair was tied into a loos ponytail hanging over her shoulder. She was wearing her Hogwarts robes, just as earlier on this morning. Her fingers kept tugging nervously at the fabric and when her eyes met mine she gave a faint smile. However, a certain uneasiness was able to be found within her large silver eyes. I took a quick glance of her, examining for any scars or bruises, who knows how long she'd been here already?
"I've received a tip." His voice had a slight echo. "It says that you four have a secret, how shall I say it, club?" I could hear Seamus swallow loudly besides me, practically giving us away right this second. The corners of Snape's thin mouth twitched a bit. "Now I will not waste any of my precious time on you." He grabbed a book from his desk and started to study it slowly, giving us the time to share an uncomfortable look.
Suddenly he dropped the book with such a smash that multiple echos spread through the place, causing Seamus to visibly jump in surprise and for Ginny to release a small shriek, covering her mouth with her hand instantly. "Let me make this clear, if I ever hear even rumors about you being up to something I will not hesitate to take serious consequences. Am I understood?" He spoke quickly with a threatening tone, something any first year would be frightened to death with. As I noticed nobody taking the initiative of answering his question I managed to bring out a faint "Yes, Professor"
"That would be Headmaster for you, Mister Longbottom." He noted. I cleared my throat and answered, louder this time. "My apologies, Headmaster." He nodded swiftly and turned around, his back facing us in a motion for us to leave. After that none of us really bothered to say anything. We went to our classes for the day, had dinner, shared a few words and went to bed. Realization dawned to me that being rebellious might seem so glorious in books and stories, but in real life it felt nearly impossible.