After my seventeenth birthday, I took advantage of the fact that I could do magic whenever I wanted and had my wand out frequently. I expected my siblings to be jealous about this, but if they were, they didn't say anything. Brenda still hid out in her room. Ben and Brianne would ask me to show them different spells, and I was more than happy to oblige.
Most of the time, I tried doing all my spells non-verbally, but when I was showing Brianne or Ben, I would say the spell out loud.
"I can't wait until I get to your level," Brianne said as I showed her how to summon non-verbally. "I can't even summon anything yet. We know the spell because Isabella has been trying to practice it, but neither Harriet or I can do it at all. I've always wondered how Harry was able to do it with that dragon. He was only a fourth year."
"Hermione told me last year that the two of them practiced it for hours," I said. "It takes time, but you'll get it eventually. It's just like all spells."
"Some are easier to learn than others," Brianne said.
"Do you think it will take me hours to learn?" Ben asked me.
"Ben, you managed to lock your door without a wand," I pointed out. "You'll be able to do it with a wand."
"One time and I've never been able to since," Ben responded. "I've tried since then, but it tires me out too much. I'll just have to wait until I can get my wand, but with Ollivander gone, I don't even know where we'd get one."
"There are other wandmakers, they just aren't as popular," I told him. "But maybe the war will be over by next summer, and he'll turn up."
Ben looked at me as if he doubted this, but I doubted it as well. He'd been gone since the summer, and no one had heard anything about his whereabouts. I had my doubts that the war would be over by then.
"We'll probably go into hiding after this year," Ben responded. "The main reason mum and dad are letting you lot return is for Brenda's fifth year. Dad also wants to hear what is going on at the Ministry, but they were talking when you went to see Tasha. Dad is seriously considering pulling you lot out of school as soon as Brenda finishes her OWLs."
"I wish they would," Brianne said. "I really would like to help fight, but none of us know if we will have a battle or not. I think I know enough if I have to fight anyway. If mum and dad came in right now and told us that we couldn't go back, I wouldn't be too upset."
I was on two sides of it. I wanted to return to learn more, especially since I knew I could fight in the battle since I was officially of age. On the other hand, Brianne was right. We didn't know if there would be a battle or not, and the Carrows could go too far. They'd already taken Luna from the train. Now that I was seventeen, I could practice spells whether I was in school or not, so I wouldn't fight mum and dad on their decision. It was only Brenda who would, and they knew that. I knew the last thing they wanted to do was upset her more with the loss of Kendra.
"And you could still contact the DA and let them know we're okay," Brianne continued.
I'd told them how paranoid dad and Cousin Jerome were when it came to Tasha, and the two of them had agreed that they were going overboard as well. The Fidilius Charm protected them from all that. I was pleased that my friend was protected, but I was sure she or anyone could do magic, and the Ministry wouldn't know it.
"And we could send them messages with any information we find out," Ben added.
"If we're in hiding, we won't be finding anything out," I told him. "Dad is the only person Cousin Jerome has contact with. Once we go into hiding, we'll be in the same boat."
"Well, dad will have some contacts he trusts," Ben told me. "They have a couple of people they talk to using the Protean Charm. They just don't know I know that. They do their best to hide things from me, but most of the time, they want me in their sight, so I overhear things."
I didn't see or hear much from Nick unfortunately during the Christmas holidays. The girls were still given permission to practice their Patronuses (mum and dad didn't ask any of us why we could suddenly do it) so they along with me showed them off for Ben. Ben complained that he wished he had a wand so he could try as well.
Brenda had trouble producing hers at first, but after some begging from Ben, she finally managed to show hers off. Mum and dad were impressed by them when they came out to watch us. Dad praised her crow so much that Brenda finally wore a smile as she watched it fly around the yard.
"Are you quite sure this is okay?" Brianne asked dad nervously.
"The Ministry can't tell who is casting the spell," dad told her. "And I doubt they're watching us at the moment. We haven't given them a reason to yet."
Brianne still seemed nervous to try, especially while we were outside. She was more relaxed when we were all sitting in the living room. Dad also began telling me more about how apparition worked, and how it would be taught to us when we started.
"We still want you to come home for the Easter holidays," mum told me as the holidays neared to an end. "You can still take your test, and the extra lessons but we will take you. All three of you will be coming home, but not on the Hogwarts Express."
They'd arranged with a friend of theirs in Hogsmeade for us to use their floo to get us to Hogwarts. Dad was going to apparate there and meet us there while mum stayed at home with Ben. He was then going to walk us to the school gates.
Our good-bye to mum and Ben seemed even more tearful than the one on the first day of school. Ben had barely shown much emotion most of the holidays, but I could see unshed tears in his eyes as we left. I was sure he was going to cry for real once we were all gone. He was at an age where he didn't want anyone, but especially me, to see him cry.
I hated leaving them, and part of me wished that mum and dad had decided it was too risky for us to go back. My mood changed almost instantly when I saw that Nick was waiting for me after I'd gone through.
"Hey mate," he said as he helped me take my trunk out of the fireplace. "Glad to see you. Mum and dad weren't sure if they wanted me to go back, but they're not ready to go into hiding. They told me to tell them if things get to be too much at school."
"We're mainly here for Brenda," I said as the fireplace lit up.
I didn't see the owner of the house anywhere and I questioned Nick about this as Brenda appeared with her trunk. We helped her out of the fireplace to make room for Brianne.
"Outside checking to make sure the coast is clear," Nick said. "They weren't wrong when they said there would be more Death Eaters and Dementors around, mate. They're in the school grounds and even in Hogsmeade."
"Dementors are here?" Brenda asked.
"I think they're mainly guarding the secret passages but sometimes they get bored and roam around," Nick told her. "I've been here an hour waiting for you lot. The owner, Mr. Higgs said that the residents have protective spells and anti-dementor wards on their homes, and they recast them often. I used to wish I could live in Hogsmeade but now I'm glad I don't. A lot of the shop keepers are thinking of closing up shop, so there go Hogsmeade visits."
"Do we really want to go now?" I asked as Brianne appeared.
"Go where?" She asked while Nick told her trunk for her.
"Hogsmeade," I answered. "They weren't wrong when they said there would be Dementors and Death Eaters in the grounds."
Brianne went pale as she stepped out of the fireplace. She'd never been around one, but she remembered our stories. Brenda had only been eleven the last time she'd seen them, so I could understand her fear more than anyone. I hadn't been much older, but it'd been her first train ride to Hogwarts.
"We'll be fine," Nick said.
"But what if they use them as punishment?" Brianne asked.
"They won't," an elderly tall man said as he entered the room, and I couldn't help but wonder my dad's relationship to him. I'd thought it was a friend his own age. "You-Know-Who wants as many followers as possible. He lets them hurt you but you'd be useless if you're soulless. I am Mr. Higgs. Your father worked for me in the summers as a young lad."
"Here in Hogsmeade?" Brenda asked. "He never told us that."
"To be fair, we've never asked," Brianne said.
"Yes, I had a small second-hand shop of muggle and wizard items until the larger one moved in and ran me out of business," he responded. "Your father came in the first time in his third year looking for a few muggle items for his Muggle Studies class. We struck up a conversation, and I mentioned my love for butterbeer. He came back every Hogsmeade visit to bring me a butterbeer all the way to his seventh year. I offered him a job the summer after his third year, and he worked with me every summer, even after his seventh year. I'm more than happy to look after his children and friends of his children. You may use my fireplace when you need to."
Dad was taking a good while to come, and I wondered if he'd done this on purpose so we'd get to know Mr. Higgs. I often forgot my father had a life before we came along, and here was a man who'd he apparently brought butterbeer to. It seemed odd to think of my father as a teenager.
"You look quite like your father," Mr. Higgs continued. "There are some obvious differences but it could be your father at seventeen staring back at me. A handsome boy you've turned out to be."
"Thanks," I said feeling somewhat awkward.
It wasn't that I didn't appreciate it, he was just still a stranger to me. Thankfully, the fireplace lit up and dad stepped out moments later looking a bit frazzled. I wondered if Ben had thrown a fit about not coming or something.
"Everything okay?" Mr. Higgs asked him.
"Our security alarms went off," dad responded and Brianne gasped. "Everything is fine," he told her quickly. "They were just going off to alert me that someone was leaving. I forgot to turn that one-off. It went haywire after Brianne went, especially since this is an unfamiliar place."
"But why would you need that?" Brianne asked. "Surely no one would sneak in and then sneak out."
"Well, the house does have anti-apparition charms on it most of the time, so they could," dad told her, "but no, it's more because I have three teenaged children and a preteen at home. It's been on the fireplace since Barry started his first year. It's one I must strengthen as it let three of you go before going off."
"So you were worried we'd sneak out?" I asked laughing.
I felt some tension leave as it was such a normal topic to talk about. I wondered if things were different if I ever would have snuck out in the past. However, most of my teen years were spent worrying about you-know-who or even Sirius Black, so I'd never bothered. I'd never had the normal teen years that I was hoping Ben could have someday.
"Teenagers have been known to do that," dad said.
"Particularly this young man," Mr. Higgs said. "The stories your grandparents used to tell us about him! Used to be a bit of a troublemaker, this one."
I gazed over at dad with new eyes. This was definitely not something he'd ever told us. I could see the girls and Nick gazing over at him with surprise as well. Dad cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject to getting us to the school. He thanked Mr. Higgs for letting us use his fireplace and told him he'd back.
"All four of you, wands out," dad said as we left the house. "The term has officially begun, but you're also allowed to use magic if you have to. I don't want to take any risks if there are dementors are around."
The moment we left the house, I felt tense again and I automatically grabbed Brianne's hand to keep her close. We didn't see anyone around, and there was already a chill in the air as it was winter, and Hogsmeade was always cold anyway. We all stuck together as dad led us to the great. There were other footsteps big and small in the snow going in the same direction we were. This told me that mum and dad weren't the only parents who didn't want their children to go on the train. A lot likely had apparated them here or knew someone so they could use their floo.
There were no carriages waiting for us at the gates, so we would have to walk the whole way there. Dad said goodbye to us there, giving us all a hug. I didn't look back, but I knew he was watching us to make sure we got to the school.
"What do you think will be different in school?" Brianne asked.
"They probably spent the holidays coming up with new punishments for us," Nick said.
Once arriving at the school, we found that there were two Death Eaters guarding the doors, and checking the students who came back inside. We had to wait while our trunks were searched and we were all checked over with a secrecy detector. Usually, they'd left that job up to Filch. I wondered what they had him doing.
None of them found anything suspicious in our trunks and we were free to go inside.
"I have something for your seventeenth birthday," Nick told me. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for it, but mum and dad were scared after what happened to Luna. The floo network isn't even trustworthy right now. I'm surprised they even let me take it, but they weren't sure about apparating to Hogsmeade either."
"Mum said there is some kind of charm that lets them know if people apparate into Hogsmeade apparently," Brenda said.
"Only after curfew I think," Brianne said. "I think it's after eight or something, and it alerts people if anyone goes outside too. Apparently it's to let them know if Harry Potter goes to Hogsmeade."
"I suppose they think if he's going to sneak into Hogwarts, he'll do it at night," Nick said with a nod. "We'll celebrate our seventeenth birthdays together," he added to me. "Maybe we can see if there is a way to get some drinks and have a party. You'll have to tell me how it went."
"When we're alone I will," I answered.
I was going to mention that I'd seen Tasha, but I also wanted to tell him about Gretchen as well. Ever since I'd seen Tasha again, I'd been regretting I hadn't waited for her but I also couldn't stop thinking about it when I wasn't worried about other things. I wanted to know Nick's opinion on the whole thing. I could never talk about it in front of my sisters, and I was hoping they weren't going to want to hang out once we were in Ravenclaw tower.
Thankfully, Brianne was more than eager to look for her friends, Hilda in particular, who'd stayed at Hogwarts. Brenda took off at a fast pace up to her dorm the moment we entered the common room.
"Think Philip and Darren are back?" Nick asked me as we made our way through more slowly.
There weren't a lot of people sitting around, and I figured most of them were likely on the train still. It wasn't due for another few hours, so I thought it was safe to say that we'd have our dorm to ourselves.
Thankfully, when we did enter or dorm, it was to find that their trunks weren't even there yet.
"Bet they're wondering where we are," Nick said.
"Well, I'm glad they're not here," I said as I set my trunk in it places in front of my bed. "I saw Tasha on my birthday-"
"What?" Nick asked dropping his trunk on the floor. "How?"
I sat down on my bed and explained how dad had arranged with Cousin Jerome for me to go for a visit. He kept quiet as I told him about our visit and what she'd told me.
"So you didn't even tell her that you fancy her?" Nick asked.
"It wasn't the time, Nick," I said. "I was there for a short while. It has to wait until the end of the war, but there is more I'm not telling you-" and then I went on to tell him about Gretchen.
"I had a feeling that was going to happen when you took her as your date," Nick said. "She does that with all her dates, but I think she's wanted you for a while. And I knew you wouldn't say no. To be honest, I'm surprised you've held out this long."
"You're definitely not reacting as I thought you would," I said.
I had to admit, I was disappointed by his casual reaction. I figured he'd be happy for me as blokes usually were for their friends. I'd seen it with the older boys when I was younger, and I remember how big of a deal my cousins had made it out to be. Nick and I used to talk late into the night about what it'd be like and he seemed calm.
"I had it a long time ago with Anita mate," Nick responded. "I just didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd try to compete. You'd think you would have to have it because I did. I'm happy for you, I really am… but I just can't believe it was with Gretchen. You can do better. She's easy, mate."
I barely paid attention to the rest of what he said. Apparently he'd had it a long time ago with Anita and he'd never told me. I understood his point, and he was spot on about me, but we'd never kept anything this big between us. I'd wanted to tell Nick sooner, but it'd been hard with all that was going on before term, and we'd gone home the next day.
"When with Anita?" I finally asked him.
"Last year," he said. "We'd actually talked about it after Slughorn's Christmas party, but she wasn't comfortable with it while I was still fifteen," and then he rolled his eyes. "As if a couple of months made a difference, but I respected that. We never really had a relationship, we had what she once had with Lance, I'd say. You had enough going on last year with Tasha, and we had OWLs… I just didn't want to put you under that pressure. I know you mate, I know you'd try to give it up to the first girl you could just because I had it. I didn't want you to do something stupid. Unfortunately, you still did."
"She's not that bad," I said. "And if you're thinking I should have waited for Tasha, well, that would have been nice, but what if we never have that freedom?"
"Tasha, or at least with a girl you're in a relationship with," Nick said. "Anita and I didn't technically date, but we respected each other and we didn't see anyone else during our relationship. Gretchen will be onto her next conquest and you and I both know she wanted Neville Longbottom. You seem to get used by girls a lot, mate."
"She didn't use me, I knew what it was going into it," I told him. "Don't try to make Gretchen out to be some bitch. I would never date her anyway. You're making it out to be something it's not."
"I'm sorry mate," Nick responded. "I am. I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I just want to make sure you're not going to try and start anything with her. She doesn't want you for anything else."
"She's a nice girl now, but she isn't the one I want to be with," I said. "I still can't believe you didn't tell me about Anita, even if your intentions were good."
Nick finally laughed.
"It was hard keeping it from you, but we've had other things on our minds as well, so it wasn't that hard," he responded. "Good for you mate, but try to choose better next time eh. Anyway, what else happened?"
We spent the rest of the day catching each other up, though I still felt disappointed by Nick's lack of enthusiasm. It almost seemed as if it wasn't that big of a deal. After all, he hadn't told me about his first time.
A notice went up for Apparition lessons on the first day. Nick and I as well as our classmates all signed up right away. I'd been worried that they would cancel it as they seemed to want to take away everything from us. Ginny warned us not to get too relaxed about it though, as it was something they could try to take away from us at any given moment.
Many people kept questioning them when we'd have another DA meeting, though thankfully most were smart enough to use the DA coins to do so. It got to the point, that I'd feel it constantly heating up in the Common Room, and I grew annoyed. Finally, one evening I pulled it out as I tried to work through the most complicated Arithmancy question I'd experienced yet, and wrote as small as I could, without it being unreadable: Could people stop asking? I'm sick of false alarms. I'm trying to do homework.
Moments later, another message appeared saying: Thank YOU!
Another appeared saying: We will let you know as soon as we can.
I was sure they were trying to lie low as many eyes were on them, and there were even more Death Eaters in the castle than before, most guarding the secret passages out of the castle. Some also just stood in the corridors against the walls watching us, but oddly enough, none were outside of the Room of Requirement. I think it was this reason that Ginny and Neville were so hesitant about having a meeting so soon into the new term.
Brenda continued to work on her own, and if we tried to sit with her in the Common Room to keep her company, she would get up and go up to the girl's dorms. I didn't want to bother her too much, so I tried to refrain from going over to her much, but she looked as if she'd lost even more weight.
One afternoon, a couple of weeks into the new term, I went over to sit with her, though I knew it would annoy her.
"Barry-" she began in an exasperated voice.
"I will leave," I interrupted quickly. "I promise, but Brenda, I need you to eat more. You were already losing weight before the holidays, but you look even thinner. You're skinny as it is. Just eat more, and I promise I won't bother you unless you come to me."
"Fine, but I'm sure you remember the late nights from last year," Brenda told me. "You got skinnier last year too, and you've always been a string bean as it is. You look like you could do with a good meal as well."
"I think I'm growing again, but you and I both know this isn't just about OWLs," I responded.
"I'll eat more, now go away, please," she told me.
It was all I could ask for, so I got up to go over to where Nick was sitting when I felt the coin in my pocket burn. Hoping it wasn't another person asking when the next meeting would be, I pulled it out to see that thankfully, it wasn't.
"Tonight," Brenda said looking up at me.
"You're going, right?" I asked her and she rolled her eyes.
"Do you even have to ask?" She asked.
I hurried over to Nick to see that he was examining his own coin as well. I knew without a doubt that he'd be there as well. I didn't even have to say anything, he just nodded as soon as our eyes met.
We'd all be taking the DA seriously before the holidays, but after what happened to Luna, I knew people were even more determined. We might not have been close to Luna, but she'd been in our house and year. Her absence was missed, and every one of us Ravenclaws was pissed off, and we wanted her back.
The corridor outside of the Room of Requirement was empty, though we'd passed a few Death Eaters on the way. I still found this very odd, and it made me think they were doing this on purpose. They wanted to catch us at it, just as Umbridge did a couple of years ago. Why else was this corridor always empty?
At first, I'd been worried that maybe there was someone there who was invisible, but after using Homenum Revelio during many prefect patrols, it was to find that no one there. If they were, they knew some kind of spell that Homenum Revelio couldn't even detect. Nick didn't think they'd go that far yet, but I wasn't so sure.
We kept quiet while Brenda paced in front of the wall to reveal the door. We quickly hurried inside, just in case. So far, no one we didn't want to get in couldn't get in, but we still weren't sure of how secure the room was, or if they even had spells outside to detect if people were using it.
When we entered the room, it was to see that it wasn't too full yet, but I saw many new faces, including the new Ravenclaw bloke, Alistar, in our dormitory. He'd still never said a word to any of us, so we'd never been sure if we could trust him. I knew we likely should have done more to be friendlier and to make him feel more welcome, but these were different times. Last year, we likely would have, but we were all scared.
"I wonder who invited him," Nick muttered to me as we went over to join some of our classmates.
"I dunno, but at least we know he's on our side," I whispered.
"He could be a spy," Nick whispered back. "We don't know anything about him, and he's never talked to us. Now he's suddenly here after term?"
"Well, he's sworn to secrecy no matter what," I responded with a shrug. "But there are other new faces too. A lot of people are upset about Luna."
I wasn't even sure of how many new people we had, but it was clear that Luna's disappearance had affected them all. We had people from first year all the way to seventh year. For the first time since the DA had opened, there were a few Slytherin students who appeared to be nervous, and I certainly hoped no one would give them a hard time. Even if they were spies, they couldn't tell anyone anything without us finding out. I just wondered who'd brought them in.
"Well, I hope no one bothers them," Brianne whispered when Hilda pointed them out. "There are good Slytherins too. I know it's hard to trust a lot of people, but look how scared they look. I don't think they're spies. I think they want to help as well."
I think most people were in agreement with this, though a few people did give them a wide berth when they came in. Thankfully, as soon as it seemed the last person was there for the meeting, Neville started the meeting and addressed this right away.
"I know some of you are worried about our Slytherin members," Neville said as he glanced over at the three nervous students. "But they are already sworn to secrecy. They cannot sell us out, even if they want to, but all three have promised that it is not their intention. They have also promised to give us information as well. So I ask that no one bothers them, and if you do, we may ask you to leave. Now-"
And he continued on to let us know what the days meeting would be about. Apparently, we were going to have an even longer mock battle than usual. They wanted to prepare us to be able to fight for hours now. So far, the longest battle we'd had gone over an hour. Today, the entire meeting would mostly be fighting in the maze, and in the end, they were going to let us practice dark hexes and jinxes on the targets.
"Remember, anyone found using anything we learn against another student will be kicked out," Ginny told us. "Minor hexes or jinxes are one thing, but no one here is to ever use an illegal curse on someone unless it's a real battle."
"What about Luna?" Anthony Goldstein called out. "What happened that day? Have you heard anything else?"
"We don't know any more than everyone here," Neville said. "They used Peruvian Darkness Powder in our carriage, and then took her from the train. They restrained every single one of us, even people in the other carriages as well. We don't know how many Death Eaters there were but there were a lot."
"But why Luna and not you two?" Zacharias Smith asked. "There must be a reason for it. They want you two as much as her. Why not take out all of you?"
"We think it was to shut her father up," Ginny said. "He's been printing so much information in The Quibbler that they don't want the public to know. We don't have any Quibblers on hand, but if you get a hold of one, take a read through. It seems he is printing other stories lately, including one about Harry being the enemy. So far, even though Neville and I have been acting up, our families haven't been doing too much to anger them. Though, I do think it's only a matter of time."
I thought about Potterwatch and I quickly put my hand up to bring this up. Surely, if Ginny's family was behind it, she'd know about it as well.
"I was going to bring that up at the end of the meeting," she assured me. "But thanks for bringing it up, Barry. There are people who are willing to broadcast everything they're finding out on the wireless called Potterwatch. The people who are running it felt it was too risky to let me know even by the coins, but I don't see the harm in letting you all know now. You can even listen to it in the Common Rooms, as more people probably found out about it over the holidays. They might start doing the same. Just don't tell anyone the connection, just tell them that you found out about it over the holidays. I think it's something every single person should have the right to listen to, so Potterwatch doesn't need to be kept secret. It's not on every day, and never at the same time. They do it when they can, and they leave a password for the next one. It usually has to do with The Order or Dumbledore."
"There's also something else," a girl who I didn't know said as she raised her hand. "My family used to use You-Know-Who's real name, though they haven't spoken it lately thankfully. Anyway, dad told me that the name is now taboo. If anyone says the name, it breaks all magical enchantments and they can find you. So you should stop doing it if you do it, and you should tell as many people as you can."
"Yes, I meant to bring that up as well," Ginny said with a nod over at her. "Thank you for bringing it up, Lila."
Brenda surprised me when she stood up suddenly and said: "It's how Kendra was murdered," she said in a steady voice as she gazed around at everyone. "Her family used to use the name all the time, and they were on the run when it happened. They were found before Christmas, and they'd all been dead for months. And I also think-" she continued in a louder voice as people began to whisper, "-that we should all have a moment of silence for Kendra and her family, and everyone else who has fallen. We should be honouring all the dead, as well as fighting at all of these meetings."
She said this directly to Ginny and Neville who both nodded simultaneously. Several of the fifth years were looking over at her, and whispering behind their hands. She didn't seem to notice, and if she did, she hid it well. She just took a seat again and stared down at the ground.
"I think that's a great idea, Brenda," Neville told her. "And we'll do that at the end of each meeting. We do need to remember everyone who has been fighting for us, and anyone who has been found dead, including muggles."
"It's the advice they give on Potterwatch as well," Ginny agreed. "We're going to start dividing everyone up as Death Eaters and Hogwarts students in a moment, but we need to finish swearing in our new members as there are a lot more than usual, and then we'll start."
"Have you found out anything else new?" Terry Boot asked.
"Not yet, but we'll talk more at the end of the meeting," Ginny said as one of the Slytherin students put up their hands. "We promise, we'll let you tell everyone what you do know," she added to the boy. "For now, we want to give all of you a chance to fight as we want a long battle tonight, and we'd like to make sure everyone is back before their curfew."
While they were swearing in the new members, Nick and I went over to the three Slytherin students to welcome them. All three still looked terrified, particularly the only girl. The two boys stared at us wearily as we approached them. They were a lot shorter than us, and I figured they were either third or fourth years. Nick and I both held our hands out to welcome them and introduce ourselves, both boys hesitated before taking our hands and introducing themselves as well.
"We don't agree with any of those blood purist views," the boy named Jimmy told me. "I was scared when I was first sorted into Slytherin, but I've always just kept my head down."
"Me too," the boy named Gan told me. "I'm just very ambitious, and I'm top of our year, we're fourth years," he added.
The girl introduced herself as Maryam in a very small voice as she stared at the ground. She didn't say anything else, and I figured she must have been very shy.
"All of her dormmates, even her best friend have stopped talking to her," Gan told me. "We've been looking out for her. Some have been more brutal with her than us. She should know how to fight, and all three of us will fight if there is a battle here. We want to help get rid of You-Know-Who as much as the rest of you."
All three (including Maryam) stared up at us all looking very determined.
"Well, we're all glad to have you, and if anyone gives any of you a hard time, let us know," Nick told them.
I told them they could come to me as well. I suddenly felt as protection for Maryam as the boys were. I couldn't help but notice how pretty she was, she had the darkest brown eyes I'd ever seen, naturally long eyelashes, and her dark skin appeared to be very flawless. Girls were the last thing on my lately, but I still noticed the really cute ones, and she was gorgeous.
Others seemed to take our example as they all came over to start introducing themselves to the Slytherins as well. As they did this, Nick grabbed my arm and dragged me over to Alistar. I didn't even have to ask why. He looked up at us in surprise when we approached him. The two of us introduced ourselves, though he already knew our names, as he was in our classes.
"I'm sorry we didn't talk to you before-" I began.
"But I haven't been here the last five and a half years," he interrupted. "I get it, and it's why I didn't talk to you either. My parents kept me home because they heard about some teacher trying to steal a Philosopher's Stone, and he died from it. They didn't want me to come, especially with all the mad stuff that keeps going on, but we also couldn't go into hiding. At least not yet, but mom and dad work in the Ministry and they want to work for as long as possible."
"It's the only reason we're still here," Nick told him. "Mom and dad even debated sending me back, but they don't see the need in it yet."
"We probably will after this year," I admitted. "We're here just so that Brenda can do her OWLs."
"But what about you? If the war ends, do you think you'd come back here?" Nick asked as Neville suddenly blew a whistle to let us know we were going to start. "Hogwarts has always been fun, despite some of the mad stuff. We've had a lot of good times here."
"I'd like to. I've always wanted to," Alistar admitted while Neville and Ginny began dividing people up. "We'll see what happens, but if the war isn't over by the end of our seventh year, it won't matter will it? I dunno why you lot seem to think it will all be done soon. I think we're in for years of this. I hope we're not, but You-Know-Who seems unbeatable, and no one has heard from Potter in months."
"We think that too," I said. "But we're still holding onto that hope."
He seemed as if he were a nice bloke I decided as I was named a Death Eater. It was a shame he hadn't come when we all started. Maybe he would have ended up as a friend, but maybe he still could be.
Ginny was a Death Eater with the rest of us, and she wanted all of us to work in groups if we could, and to disguise our voices. I planned to do it this time since last time, both Gretchen and Phillip had recognized me. I still wasn't too fond of being a Death Eater, but there wasn't much I could do about it, and it was also the best way to learn strategy.
As we were all disguised, I didn't even know who was in my group of four. We stood together discussing how we'd be able to sneak up on any Hogwarts students, and what we could use besides spells to defend ourselves. We decided two of us would wait in secret passages that were near each other to ambush anyone if we could.
Inside the maze, we began looking for any secret passages that were near each other, but we had our battles to fight just from the maze itself. It was worse than the last time we'd been in here. We didn't move very far before we were attacked by two statues, and painting fell on one person's head.
Whoever it was cursed and we did our best to fight to get out of it. I knew we were making a lot of noise, and I wondered how long it would take before we drew attention to ourselves. Thankfully, we finally got past the statues, but it wasn't long before a few stones shot out in front of us, nearly taking me out.
"Damn, I get we need to be prepared, but will this really happen in a real battle?" Someone asked as another stone shot out.
"I think it's to test our reflexes as well," someone else said.
It was bizarre not knowing who anyone was under the cloaks. All of us had voice disguiser spells on us, and we'd all done it so well, that no one could even tell what gender each of us were. I had no clue if I was talking to Nick, or my sisters, or anyone I may even dislike. At the moment, we had to work together just because we were on the same team.
Thankfully, we did find the perfect secret passages to hide out in as they were pretty much across from each other in a dead-end corridor. One was hidden by a tapestry, and another was in a hidden corridor. My partner and I took the hidden corridor. We were hoping that some Hogwarts students would come down this way, and we'd be able to corner them.
It wasn't long before we had to wait. We could hear some whispering voices not too far from us. I waited until the moment they passed before peaking out to see if they were Death Eaters or Hogwarts students.
One of them was just checking the Tapestry as I looked out. I saw that it was six Hogwarts students. Four of them were checking the end of the passageway together, likely to see if there was a hidden corridor in there, while the other two were looking over the tapestry. Before any of them noticed me, I sent the boil hex at the tallest one. My partner jumped out as well to help.
The six students immediately began fighting us, and I just missed a stunner as one shot one at me. The other two Death Eaters stepped out from behind the tapestry to join us in the battle. The Hogwarts students had an advantage over us as there were six of us, but the people I was fighting with were good fighters. All of us were able to keep up, despite being outnumbered.
I'd been practicing conjuring ropes since my seventeenth birthday (though I still wasn't doing too well, as it was above my level) and as we pushed the six students into the dead end, I decided to try this now. I was surprised that not only was I able to finally do it, I was also able to conjure a long enough one to wrap them. One of my partners, seeing what I was doing began helping as they tried to fight it. The other two began disarming our opponents. It felt like we'd been fighting for a long time, but I didn't even think it was for five minutes.
Moments later, all six students were tied up in the rope. One of the Death Eaters was murmuring spells at the rope, though I wasn't sure what they were doing. The rope lit up, but I didn't see it do anything else.
"What are you doing?" One of the other Death Eaters finally asked.
"It should be unbreakable now," they responded. "At least, for now, it's only temporary," he added to the Hogwarts students all protested. "And I can take it off. Good idea, whoever you are. I never thought of conjuring a rope. You must be a seventh year too."
I decided not to confirm nor disagree with this. We all walked off, leaving the Hogwarts students who shouted after us that we were bunch of gits, and that this wasn't even real.
"It will be!" I called over my shoulder as we left.
I hadn't expected it to go that well, and I wondered if we'd be lucky for the rest of the battle. Unfortunately, the longer we were in there fighting, the more tired we grew as we kept running into obstacles the maze provided, as well as Hogwarts students who were really good fighters. I found myself eventually trapped behind a large painting a couple of Hogwarts students threw at me, and I was separated by my group as they continued fighting.
I still had my wand, so I had to fight to move the portrait, but I didn't know how they even managed to barricade me in. It took a good long while, and many times, Hogwarts students would appear to shoot random jinxes and hexes at me, and I had to fight them. Finally, someone sent a stunner at me, and everything went black.
I woke up later on with someone kneeling over me. I saw that it was a Hogwarts student. My mask had come off at some point, so the person knew who I was. They pulled of their mask, and I saw a grinning Phillip.
"Guess it's me saving your ass this time," he said laughing. "The battle is over. It has been for ten minutes. We're just getting everyone out now."
"I wonder how long I've been out," I said sitting up. "They trapped me behind this painting, and eventually I got stunned."
"I know," Phillip said, helping me to stand up. "I'm the one who trapped you here. Dad showed it to me over the holidays. It's like a sticky shield charm, but not really. It just makes it so you can't get out. You don't need an object every time, but I don't know how to do it without an object. It's possible to make an invisible barrier that makes it hard for you to get out, but it's easier to use things to strengthen it. I'll teach it to you later, and the counter curse as well."
"Does your dad know that you're doing this?" I asked him while we made our way through the corridors. There were now red arrows on the walls showing us the way out.
"He doesn't know about the DA but I think both mum and dad know suspect I'm in it," Phillip said with a shrug. "I told them I'm not going to sit back and a be a good boy while the Carrows and other Death Eaters take over the school. They didn't ask any questions, but dad did teach me some defensive spells. We were worried the Ministry might notice, but they didn't send anyone."
"Mum and dad say that in Wizarding homes, they know a spell was cast, but not who cast it," I told him.
"That's what dad said too, but we still worried anyway," Phillip told me. "But dad also wants me to be prepared, and he's willing to risk that if I can be."
We found an exit ahead and quickly went through it, to find that we were close to the front of the maze. Most people were either washing up, or sitting around and talking. Philip and I walked over to where the rest of the sixth year Ravenclaw's, including Alistar, where they were all comparing stories about their time in the maze.
Philip and I both told them what had happened to me, and then I told them what happened before getting trapped behind the painting.
"It was me you tied up you know," Gretchen told me. "You tied up Brianne as well. She's the one who told you that you're gits."
"Guess she's not as ready for a real battle after all then," Nick said.
"Neither am I," I said.
"You put up a good fight behind that portrait," Philip told me. "You had three of us attacking you when you couldn't move, and you dodged every spell anyway. You managed to hit one of them with that slug curse."
Nick started to laugh. "That was the kid Brianne was kind of dating last year. He' went off back to his dormitory to hide out until it wears off."
I laughed at the irony of it, even if I'd left the two of them alone. I hadn't even minded the bloke that much. He'd always been respectful with her.
Neville blew a whistle and everyone stopped talking to look over at him.
"We let that go on a bit longer than we meant to, so we don't have time to practice any dark curses, but we'll save that for the next meeting," Neville said. "I just wanted to thank all of you. This was the best we've done so far. It felt like a real battle this time. None of you showed anyone any mercy, and we'd like you to keep fighting at every mock the way you did today. We'll open the floor, so that you can tell us how it went."
Just like the last time, everyone had interesting stories to tell. Brenda had managed to trap a few Death Eaters in one of the secret passages. She'd used a door to block them, and then used a temporary sticky charm to hold it there. I thought that was the most creative way so far, and it was one I was going to remember.
I told them the story of trapping the Hogwarts students in the dead-end passageway, and how I'd tied them up with a rope, which someone else helped me out with.
"That was me," Terry Boot called out to me. "You're welcome, Barry!"
"And it was me who made it unbreakable," Ernie Macmillan responded. "But how did you learn how to conjure a rope? We're just learning how to do that."
"I've been practising since the holidays," I answered. "I turned seventeen in December, so I decided to practice what I could for new defensive techniques as well as spells. I just thought a rope was obvious. I didn't know you lot were learning it."
"We just started," Padma Patil told me. "And it's hard. You'll have to help us with that."
There were a few more stories from others before Neville called Gan up to the front of the room.
"You told us you have some information so share. Could you tell us now what it is?" Neville asked him.
"Snape is bringing back the Inquisitorial Squad," Gan announced. "It's why we thought we should join now more than ever. Most people know the DA is active because of your antics last term, and they all assume that Slytherin's aren't involved. There was a new notice on the notice board on the first day of term. It is only open to Slytherin's, and they have more power than prefects, just as they did last time, but they are also allowed to use hexes and jinxes against us for punishment as well."
There was a lot of indignant shouting at this, and I was one of them. They couldn't be serious! The Inquisitorial Squad abused their powers last time, but this was ten times worse! They'd be able to hex or jinx little first years as well as older students. It wasn't right. Neville blew his whistle and there was silence again.
"We fight back, and we defend any student they attack," Ginny told us. "Do not use any of the dark magic we've learned so far, as we all know that's only as a last resort if we have a real battle. Use any legal curses we've learned. We can use this as a way to prepare ourselves. Is there an age limit for the Inquisitorial Squad, Gan?"
He shook his head. "No, it's open to first-years and older. First to fourth years are junior members just like last time. They can't take away any points, but they can put us in detention and hex us for punishment. Fifth years and older can take points away as well."
"I dunno about anyone else, but I want Umbridge's regime back," a fifth-year boy said which caused some people to laugh, but most were too angry.
"Most Slytherin's don't want it," Gan said. "So please don't take it out on all Slytherin's. We aren't the only ones who want to be part of it and expect to have more asking to join. Even a lot the blood purist students don't it to go that far. So far, it's only been the older students who have signed up. A couple of the girls in Maryam's dorm has signed up."
Jimmy suddenly stood up as well and made his way to the front of the room as well.
"I'd also like to add that most of the first and second years are terrified in our house," he said. "Even some of the ones who were loudmouths at the beginning are quiet and scared. So if you could just leave the younger kids out of this, please do."
"We only attack if they attack first," Neville told him. "The DA isn't about attacking random people. They have Death Eater's for that. This is a rebellious group who is also preparing for the war. We don't know when Harry will kill You-Know-Who, it could be ten years from now. We want the DA to keep going to prepare everyone for the outside world as well as what is happening here. We'll make sure the first and second years are protected. None of us want to hurt the younger kids."
"But you might want to tell the first and second year Slytherin's not to attack us first either," a small dark-haired girl called out. "I'm in the second year, and I have second years from Slytherin attacking us all the time. I don't care if they're doing it 'cause they're scared. They have to stop too then. They start it most of the time."
"I'll see what I can do to pass the message along without being obvious," Jimmy told her. "I know a lot of kids from our house aren't innocent. Not all the people in the other three houses are innocent either though. They randomly attack Slytherin's as well. We all need to stop attacking each other, and we need to work together, just like the Sorting Hat has been saying for the last three years. It shouldn't just be a DA thing, everyone should be following that rule."
"We'll try to pass it along discreetly as well," Ginny assured him. "That's what we're trying to do, but it's not easy, especially when you can't trust your own dormmates. We know you guys have it worse than us, but we can't trust everyone either. We can't even trust everyone in this room. The only reason we do is because we're bound to secrecy, but we all know that some people could be spies in here as well as our own houses."
"Do you any of you know why they're letting us do this?" Parvati Patil asked. "We find it really suspicious that no one is ever guarding this room."
"If Snape or the Carrow's share that information with anyone, we have no idea who," Gan said. "They don't exactly come in the Common Room to tell us things like that. The Slytherin Common Room is full of secrecy. Most people are too scared to talk about anything that anyone might overhear. Contrary to what you guys might think, no one announces Death Eater plans in there, and the three of us aren't exactly trusted anyway. We've let them know since our first year that we don't share those views, and we're not cowardly enough to back down on our beliefs. And our fellow fourth-years should be able to vouch for us."
"It's true," a blond Gryffindor girl spoke up. "They've always been decent, and I'm sorry we ignore you three, but you're right. We have no idea who to trust. We should have known better about Maryam. We should all be looking out for her, because she is a sweetheart, and she's very shy too."
"It hasn't been easy for her at all," Gan said. "The girls have always been catty, but they were at least nice to her. Every single one of them, even her best friend have turned against her."
I glanced over at Maryam, who seemed determined not to look at anyone. She continued to stare down at the ground. The Gryffindor girl got up and then walked over to sit beside Maryam. She put an arm around her.
"I'll protect her, we all will," she told her. "We won't let any of them hurt you anymore if they have been."
I did wonder how well we could protect her though. The Slytherin boys couldn't get into her dormitory and none of us could get into the Slytherin Common Room.
"Right, from now on, I want all three of you to wear disillusionment charms when you come up here, but especially Maryam," Neville said. "If it's that bad for the three of you, we don't want any more attention drawn on you. We also don't think any of you should be recruiting anyone from your House. If they want to join, they can come to us themselves."
"Next time we put up Graffiti, we should mention that all Houses are welcome," Lavender Brown called out. "I know we run into the risk of spies, but they can't tell on us without us finding out, and there could be more scared Slytherin's who need protection. If more of you know you're on the same side, more of you can protect each other."
Neville and Ginny decided this was a good idea, and we decided we'd put Graffiti around the castle but this time in the middle of the night. They began asking for volunteers for this, I put my hand up as I'd enjoyed it last time, and I wanted to be involved again. Not just for Luna, but for any scared Slytherin who wanted to join as well. In my bias, I hadn't even considered them. I was sure a lot of the people in the room were feeling bad about this.
The meeting was dismissed shortly after, though Ginny and Neville called out that they were looking for representatives for Ravenclaw and Slytherin to report any news they couldn't put on the coins to any DA members.
"Preferably Sixth or Seventh Years," Neville called out, "but we'll consider everyone."
"I'll represent Slytherin," Gan told him.
I seriously considered signing up to be the Ravenclaw rep, but I had a feeling they wanted one of their seventh-year friends. I'd seen Neville eyeing both Michael Corner and Padma Patil as he talked. I figured they'd want a former DA member, but I also realized I didn't want that responsibility. I liked helping the DA, but I didn't want to be a leader.
A/N: I know in Death Hallows, it said that they had crests for all the Houses except Slytherin. However, I've always believed that all the people hiding out were seventh Years, and none of them were Slytherin hiding out. By the time Harry goes back to Hogwarts, the DA had stopped being as active because they were too scared to let people keep pulling the pranks they were pulling. By that point, all the people in the Room of Requirement were hiding out from the Carrow's and the Death Eaters, and they were living in there.
I've wanted to include Slytherin's for a while, and so any Slytherin who joins will be underage and will obviously not be hiding in the Room of Requirement when Harry shows up. I'm part of a Harry Potter roleplay, and at the moment, we're working on doing a roleplay for the year right after the Battle of Hogwarts. There is a lot of discussion about whether or not Slytherin's helped fight, and if they were part of the DA, and we all agree they likely did help. We just didn't see it in the books or movies, and so I've decided to include Slytherin's helping out in this story as well. I try to stay as accurate to the books as I can, but I'm always felt there was some injustice to the Slytherins in the books. I just wanted to add this bit in case anyone pointed out that no Slytherin was involved. We don't know exactly what happened at Hogwarts while Harry was away. Slytherins could have temporarily been involved.
