Oma spent the holidays training Ari again. She insisted that the only way he can succeed in school this year is by being trained by her. Once again, Ari found himself dodging and blocking curses. He also had to practice all the hexes he did in the summer plus he covered a nice amount of sixth year transfiguration. He practiced doing silent charms and hexes.
Ari's family also discussed the news. They saved all the copies of the Quibbler that they got so far in case Ari missed anything when he was in school. They also enjoyed listening to Potterwatch. Tatti had to buy a wizarding wireless since they always used a muggle radio before, but this program was worth listening to.
Over the holidays, The Quibbler stopped reporting news and started reporting death eater propaganda. Ari explained that Luna was kidnapped from the train and probably her father is cooperating in order to get her back.
Ari reluctantly went back to school after the holidays. The Carrows insisted on searching everyone's luggage in the entrance hall, hoping to prevent any more pranks like the ones that took place in the fall semester. It got interesting when they got to Seamus.
"There's nothing in there for you," Seamus told the Carrows.
"You need to let us check," the male Carrow said.
Seamus managed to pull off a confundus charm on both professors before leaving with his unchecked bag.
"I'm hoping you have good things there," Ginny told Seamus.
"Of course I do," Seamus said. "The question is when is the best time to use our fireworks?"
They agreed to save them for when they need distractions.
Ari's bag check was also interesting.
"What are these?" the male Carrow asked, gesturing toward the piles of yarmulkes and tzitzis.
"Clothing," Ari said confidently.
"What language are these books in?" Carrow asked, taking out Ari's siddur, chumash and gemara.
"Hebrew," Ari told him, "The first language ever developed. When the world was first created, everyone spoke Hebrew. It wasn't until more than ten generations after the world was created that people started speaking other languages."
Carrow gave Ari an odd look before moving on.
The DA continued to meet without Luna. They tried listening to Potterwatch, but it was off the air until March.
"I could transfigure water into firewhiskey," Seamus announced at a DA meeting.
"That's not possible," Michael told him.
"All transfigurations are possible," Seamus said. "Does anyone want a drink?"
Not much was accomplished at that meeting. Ari watched everyone else get drunk and was relieved that firewhiskey isn't kosher.
One day, Ginny announced that Hagrid was having a support Harry Potter party. Everyone agreed that it was a crazy idea, but somehow, the entire DA made it.
"Thank you for coming, everyone," Hagrid said when he saw the crowd."Oh, it looks like more people are coming."
A quick glance out the window showed some familiar adults slowly approaching Hagrid's hut.
"That's the Carrows and Snape!" Ginny called, peeking out the window.
A bunch of disillusionment charms later, everyone was safely back at school, leaving Hagrid and his giant brother to deal with the death eaters.
Ari listened to the next Potterwatch report with his family when he was home for Purim. They all laughed at Weasley's jokes although Oma wished she could do more to help.
Almost the entire school went home for Easter Holidays this year. The few who didn't were unfortunate enough to see you-know-who at the school.
Ari spent most of Pesach training with his grandmother again. He tried telling her that he's not going to face any dark wizards in school except for his professors, but Oma insisted that he can't be too prepared.
After the holidays, the room of requirement became home for those who needed to escape. It happened gradually. The DA couldn't do as much since they were missing two out of their three leaders. They still did small things, but tried not to get caught.
"They chained up a first year!" Susan announced during one meeting. "The poor kid probably doesn't even know what he did! We can't leave him!"
"I'll get him," Michael said. "Someone else could stage a distraction."
"I love doing distractions," Seamus called out. "I think I still have some fireworks that I smuggled in."
Seamus set off his fireworks outside while Michael sneaked down to the dungeons to get the first year. Ari and Terry nervously stood guard. When they saw the female Carrow coming, Ari sent Michael a talking patronus and two of them ran off.
Michael didn't return to the dorm that night. The next morning, he was brought in front of the great hall for a public punishment. The whole school was expected to sit quietly and watch as Michael endured several rounds of the cruciatus curse, sectrumseptra, impedimenta, and stinging hexes. Finally, Michael is removed from the great hall and sent to the hospital wing.
Dark Arts classes were getting worse. Carrow was having lots of fun teaching students curses to do on each other. Finally Neville couldn't take it anymore.
"Stupefy!" he said, stunning his professor.
Three quarters of the class ran out while the Slytherins attended to their professor.
Neville found himself in detention that night. It wasn't an unusual occurrence. The Slytherins who stayed in class all took turns putting him under the cruciatus curse. As Neville staggered to his feet to leave after the detention, he saw some death eaters waiting for him.
"Over here!" Ari whispered loudly.
Neville followed his voice and was immediately grabbed by a disillusioned Seamus.
"They're coming to arrest you," Seamus explained. "We saw them coming in and eavesdropped. You need to hide in the room!"
The entire DA blocked the death eaters as Neville ran to the room of requirement.
"Where is Longbottom?" Carrow asked during the next dark arts class.
Nobody answered.
"For once, the big mouth is quiet?" Carrow said, looking at Seamus. "You always have answers to everything. Answer me now!"
"He probably went on holiday," Seamus suggested. "After all the nights he had to spend with you and your ugly sister, can you blame him for leaving?"
The whole class watched in horror as Carrow beat Seamus up. As he lost consciousness and bled on the floor, the remaining members of the DA decided to do something. Ari confunded Carrow, while Ernie and Terry did the Slytherins. Meanwhile, Lavender, Parvati, and Padma brought Seamus to the room of requirement.
Without Seamus running his mouth in Muggle Studies, Ari could no longer keep quiet.
"Blood traitors are almost as bad as muggleborns," Carrow said.
"Who decides what makes someone a blood traitor?" Ari challenged.
"A blood traitor is someone who doesn't recognize the superiority of pure bloods," Carrow explained.
"I wonder what Professor Dumbledore's opinion is on that topic," Ari said, causing Michael and Terry to snicker.
"Are you the one writing Dumbledore's essays?" Carrow demanded.
"Dumbledore always wrote his own essays," Ari said innocently. "Of course, now that he's dead, he's not writing anything."
"Someone has been leaving foolish essays on my desk all year with Dumbledore's name on them," Carrow explained. "I would like to know who is behind it. I always assumed it was Finnegan, but he's gone now, and they're still coming."
"I never knew Finnegan was a good writer," Ari commented.
"We all know that you are," Carrow countered. "Are you responsible for the essays?"
"Why don't you ask Dumbledore's portrait how they're being written?" Ari suggested. "I'm sure he has interesting techniques for sharing his views."
Ari finds himself knocked back onto his desk and cruciated. When told that he has detention that night, he boldly announced that he was writing Dumbledore's essays all year before running to the room of requirement, knowing that he can't show his face in class again.
Ari sent a message to his family that he is safe and hiding with other DA escapees in the room of requirement. He explained that they get food from Hog's Head which isn't kosher. He got a message back from his grandmother saying that she brought a loaf of bread and a pack of kosher cheese to the Hog's Head and told Aberforth to keep Ari's food separate and fresh. He will tell her when something gets used up and she will replace it.
Ari wasn't going to risk going home for Shabbos again. He didn't want to compromise the safety of the room by using a portkey, and the only Hogwarts students who knew that he could make a portkey were himself, Michael and Terry. Ari didn't want anybody else to find out unless it was absolutely necessary.
Michael joined them in the room when he was discharged from the hospital wing. He didn't feel up to going to class again and didn't want a repeat of his previous torture.
Over the next few weeks, more students found themselves living in the room. Neville kept insisting that Harry will show up any day and lead them in a battle against the Carrows. He made sure they all kept up their training for that time.
"You remind me of my grandmother," Ari complained.
"My grandmother is proud of how we're fighting," Neville told him. "She's on the run now too. She stunned the auror who came to capture her."
But bantering about grandmothers didn't stop Neville. He was ready for war.
In May, there was a special update on Potterwatch stating that Harry, Ron and Hermione escaped Gringotts on a dragon after a successful break in. Terry was visiting the room when they heard the broadcast and ran to the great hall to share the news with everyone eating dinner.
"Harry, Ron and Hermione broke into Gringotts!" he shouted. "They escaped on a dragon!"
People started cheering until the Carrows beat Terry up. Poor Terry was stomped on and cruciated before Padma grabbed him and brought him to the room of requirement. Now the entire DA was confined to the room.