When he and Seamus Finnigan meet before dinner, Seamus has bruises all over his face and is holding one arm to his chest. He grimaces at Anthony and shrugs
"How did you manage to get beaten up again?" says Anthony, unsure he wants an answer.
"Asked Crabbe and Goyle if they'd miss me when I'm in Azkaban," says Seamus, and grins. Anthony suspects that Seamus said a little more than that, but he lets it go.
"Then we're off," he says, and they head off.
They're already on the seventh floor; they just need to walk around the castle to the Room entrance and duck inside.
There are three neat hammocks in the Room when they arrive, and Neville is enjoying a plate of ham and peas.
"Oh, you got food?" Seamus asks, dropping his backpack on one of the hammocks and grimacing.
"Passageway," says Neville, mouth full. "Goes to the Hog's Head."
"Oh," says Anthony, making a face. Euck.
They spend a full day in the Room, two Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw. Anthony goes down the passageway to ask for food the next day, because Neville and Seamus are both beat up and shouldn't be walking down tunnels that much, and because he wants to ask Aberforth if it'd be too much trouble to make something with no pork at least. When he comes back up the passageway with the food, Lavender Brown is berating Neville and Seamus about the state of the Room.
Now she mentions it, Anthony can see why she's upset. There's a lot of dirty laundry around, and someone's trainers on a nice plushy chair, and the bathroom is small and insufficient. Neville and Seamus aren't particularly neat people.
Parvati, at the moment, is in the process of levitating the dirty laundry into a hamper. Hannah Abbott is standing behind Lavender, hands on hips sternly, but far too amused to appear stern. Padma is sitting in an armchair watching the lecture with interest; she grins at Anthony when he comes in.
"Hey, Anthony!" says Neville, desperate for a distraction. Lavender laughs.
"Good, you can help clean!"
The Room has grown a little bit bigger, the Hufflepuff banner hanging between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw on the wall, the bathroom expanded.
"That's more like it," says Lavender, of the laundry. Anthony smiles around the room and agrees.
Michael is kicked out of the Hospital Wing unceremoniously after a week, ostensibly to return to classes, but he fetches his things and stands outside the Ravenclaw Tower door facing Terry.
"You take care," says Terry. "Don't go getting heroic ideas."
"You too," says Michael, and grins slightly. "Keep on keeping on, Terry."
"And same to you, Michael."
And then Michael turns and starts towards the Room. Terry turns his back and knocks on the door.
"Why is a Dementor like a Boggart?" says the voice, lilting and whimsical as per usual.
"Wouldn't wanna shove either of them up my arse," says Terry.
"You're not even trying anymore, are you?" says the knocker, but the door swings open.
It's April twenty-second. The castle is thoroughly searched twice that day, the Carrows apoplectic at the number of dangerous students just disappearing into thin air. There are no seventh year Gryffindors left, and on the same day Michael disappears, so do Wayne Hopkins, Oliver Rivers, Ernie Macmillan, and Sally-Anne Perks.
Two days later, Zacharias Smith is the only seventh year Hufflepuff left. Terry, Stephen, and Lisa are the only seventh year Ravenclaws. There are no Gryffindors. The sixth years don't fare much better, and even some of the younger students have to run.
Though the Carrows don't outright admit it, some of the students kidnapped had been taken from right under their noses. Morag MacDougal had been rescued from the dungeons, as had Demelza Robbins and Andrew Kirke.
The school is under lockdown by now. Colin Creevey and his brother disappear into the Room. Curfew is moved to nine and Death Eaters are put on guard at every Common Room door. The Montgomery sisters disappear, with Romilda Vane and Vicky Frobisher. The remaining seventh years are Cruciated publicly just to set an example. Someone whispers a Trip Jinx when Alecto passes. It could have been anyone; every student in the hallway is lined up and Cruciated, one after another.
"So this is what they meant when they said it would get worse," says Stephen one night. Their dorm is almost empty. Just the two of them.
"You never listened?" says Terry.
"Nah. I always thought Michael was sort of a worrywart, truth be told. Paranoid."
"Well, he is," says Terry, just to be fair.
"Well, he was right, paranoid or not. He deserves a medal." Stephen's voice is deep and amiable in the dark; by day, Terry has always thought of it as somewhat insincere and overcompensating.
"Don't we all?" says Terry. He's never really liked Stephen, and he suspects the feeling is mutual, but this year has been really weird already, so he might as well get along with Stephen Cornfoot on top of it.
"Yeah," says Stephen.
It's April thirtieth, and Michael and Anthony are playing chess.
"How do you reckon everyone else is?" says Anthony.
"Bad," says Michael, which Anthony had expected. "Carrows will be apoplectic, by now, people've been disappearing literally every day. Bet You-Know-Who's really pleased with them."
"Would you be glad if he wasn't?" says Anthony. Michael shrugs.
"Not to put too fine a point on it, but I reckon it'd be good for them to get a taste of their own medicine," he says. His face is still healing- Sectumsempra doesn't heal fast or easy- but he twists his mouth in displeasure as best he can.
"Probably," says Anthony, watching the board instead of Michael. "The way I see it, it's not right to wish anyone that—"
"It's not particularly right to torture teenagers, either," points out Michael. "They acted first. It's only fair."
"Nothing's particularly fair," points out Anthony.
Michael moves a pawn. "You know," he says, contemplating the chessboard, "You've gotten a lot better at chess."
It's almost two weeks since the first few DA members started running to the Room, and the school outside seems to be lying in wait. Even Lisa retreats to the Room, and now Terry is officially the oldest DA member left in Hogwarts.
"You should come in," Anthony says, when Terry is in the Room visiting. There's nothing to do in the school. "Permanently, I mean."
"Nah," says Terry. "Still stuff to do out there." He nods along to the radio, playing the Northern Trolls.
"At the very least, then, you shouldn't be coming here," says Anthony. "Sooner or later the Carrows are gonna ask you where you keep going, and you don't have any alibi."
"They don't care about me," says Terry. "I'm just a criminal's bastard kid. And halfblood."
"Being a criminal's bastard halfblood kid makes you less safe," points out Michael.
"You're the oldest DA member out there," says Anthony. "They're going to catch on."
"Doubt it, they're really not all that bright," says Terry.
"Maybe not the Carrows, but Snape is," says Michael.
"We don't have to worry about Snape," says Terry. "Haven't seen his face in a few days, it's the Carrows what're running things."
The radio squelches off into static; Demelza Robins kicks it and the static resolves.
"—special broadcast here for some very special news! Harry Potter—"
"Blimey," says someone, and there's immediate and fervent shushing.
"-along with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, the famous trio of troublemakers, has just broken into Britain's most famous wizarding bank! That's right, folks, Harry Potter and two accomplices broke into Gringotts! After seizing an unknown item or items from a top-security vault, they then took their leave on a dragon. Hopped on and soared away, leaving the confused bankers behind!"
"Holy Merlin," says Michael.
"Lee," hisses a voice.
"Code names, code names, you moron—" hisses River back.
"Lee!" says the same voice, louder. There's a moment of silence, then three yells of "Stupefy!" and a thudding sound and someone shouts "That's all!"
There's a loud click, then the static comes back, and Michael claps his hands over his ears again.
The balcony is used, at this point, mostly for storage- it's where they relocated their contraband, so the Dungbombs didn't stink up the Room, and it's where the senior DA has elected to meet following the announcement.
"So," says Neville, rubbing his hands together almost manically. "Harry broke into Gringotts, and I have a very good idea of what he got."
"The Sword!" says Hannah. "Remember, Jimmy said they'd sent it to Gringotts, how d'you think he figured out it was there—"
"Someone's gonna have to tell the kids out there," says Anthony. "Just so they know, y'know. Harry's alive, he's fine, fight's still going—"
"I can do it," says Terry.
Neville gapes at him. "Terry, mate, you're—"
"The only one of us who can go to dinner," says Terry. "You're all fugitives." Anthony blows out a breath.
"Couldn't we put it on the Galleons?" says Ernie, brow furrowed. "Seems a bit risky, sending someone out to actually say it, with the Carrows—"
"Wouldn't fit, we only get thirty characters in on the Galleons," says Neville.
"Terry, are you sure about this?" says Padma. "The Carrows are going to—"
"Then I'd better be prepared to run," says Terry, but he grins anyway. "Don't worry about me. I'm fast."
"Not if you're trying to fend off the Carrows and holding your glasses," Neville points out. "Absolutely not, Terry, you can't—"
"Oh, for Christ's sake," says Terry, his tone easygoing but his hurt expression betraying him. "I can stick the glasses on, simple enough Charm, and Shield Hats do a world of good—"
"Terry," says Michael. "Are you sure? You get caught and captured, they won't give you the time in the dungeons for us to come rescue you. We barely got Andrew out before the Carrows came to get him—"
"I'm sure," says Terry. "Least I can do, really. And I've got a hell of a Protego."
Neville, Hannah, and Seamus hold whispered arguments in the corner. Michael lies still in a hammock and pretends to be asleep. Anthony practices the wand motions for curses and jinxes and hexes.
If he ever has to fight, he knows, it's not economic to use jinxes or hexes. He doubts he's really good enough to whip off any Killing Curses, and he's really not sure he wants to, but too many jinxes and hexes and spells can be easily remedied, too many jinxes and hexes and spells are useless in battle.
It's not about disabling the enemy, not when the enemy is outnumbering you and you're desperate. It's about giving as good as you get, it's about making it as difficult for them to continue. It's about destroying them.
And if that means they need to kill, then they need to kill.
He doubts he could do the Killing Curse. It's a powerful spell, saps a lot of energy, but Anthony isn't a fool. Anything can be used to kill, if used right. Levitation, Summoning, even Jelly-Leg Jinxes.
A long time ago Anthony had thought himself a good person, or at the very least, someone who tried damn hard to be. But here he sits, practicing the harmless jinxes and hexes and spells he's been learning for seven years and fully prepared to kill people with them. It's shameful, really, the worst way to use magic. Magic is supposed to be beautiful, Anthony has always believed that.
A man feared that he might find an assassin;
Another that he might find a victim.
One was more wise than the other.
"I think Harry's coming here," says Neville. Seamus, arms folded, lips twisted cynically, says nothing. Hannah, face mirroring Seamus's, presses her lips together.
"Why?" says Anthony, who can't think of a single reason that Harry Potter would want to come to Hogwarts. Not when he's a wanted man, not when half the school has openly hated him at some point, not when it's run by Death Eaters.
"It makes sense," says Neville. "He knows we're here, he probably knows we'd be resisting any way we can. Hogwarts was like Harry's second home, really. He'll want to help us."
"Harry walking into a hive of Death Eaters, when he's got a thousand Galleons on his head, isn't gonna help anyone," says Anthony.
"Told you he'd agree with me," says Seamus to Neville.
"Seamus," says Hannah.
"There's more," says Neville. "Word from Jimmy Peakes is that Snape's scared. Says that he's been ordering searches, nobody leaves the dorms, and that Carrow told the Slytherins that he has reason to believe there's a criminal coming to Hogwarts."
"The Slytherins—"
"Jimmy's sister is Slytherin," says Hannah.
"Whatever his sister says," says Seamus, face still twisted dubiously, "I don't trust it. Harry's not dumb enough to come here, Death Eaters and bloody Dementors swarming about. This isn't anybody's home anymore."
"It used to be Harry's," says Neville. "He's got the Sword—"
"Yeah, so he won't need to be coming here," says Seamus. "Wasn't that what he was after in the first place?"
"If he's coming, we better be ready," interjects Anthony, because Neville opens his mouth and looks ready to snap back. "But honest, Neville, I doubt it. Even Harry wouldn't do that."
"Guess we'll see, won't we?" says Neville, shaking his head. Anthony inclines his head towards the Gryffindors; Hannah puts a hand on Neville's shoulder.
"Guess we will," she says solemnly.
"Oi!" shouts Terry. He's right in the middle of the Great Hall, poised to flee, and he's grinning despite himself, because the students are all looking at him, terrified and wary, and he has good news. "Hey everyone, guess what? Harry Potter's alive! Just robbed Gringotts, broke in and escaped on a dragon! Still out there, still fighting for us—"
It's then that he's knocked hard onto the floor, and Alecto stomps over to him. He can't see anything- not because he lost the glasses, they're Charmed stuck to his face- because he hit his head.
Alecto kicks him in the ribs and Cruciates him—God—then jinxes him again. He slides a few meters away into the Hufflepuff bench. Someone screams. He relates very strongly.
But that gives him five seconds to grab his wand out of his robes and cast a Protego and scoot on his ass backwards while she's approaching; there's another Cruciatus Curse that gets deflected into the stone- the stone cracks and Terry yelps and he's scrambling and then he's on his feet and running. There's a door waiting for him, in an empty classroom just outside the Great Hall, and Padma is dangling out of it. Terry staggers and practically falls into the passage; the door seals behind him and he kneels panting on the floor.
"You okay?" asks Padma, leaning over Terry with a concerned look.
"I think that went well," gasps Terry.
[Poem: A Man feared that he might find an assassin, by Stephen Crane. Thank you for reading!]