Chapter Forty-Four

Planning the Dark Lord's Downfall

'Okay, guys it has come to my attention that we missed a rather obvious location for You Know Who's object,' Neville said.

After Neville and she had realised what a large job searching through the room of missing things was going to be they had called the rest of Dumbledore's Army. They were now currently assembled in the room of hidden things. Neville could see them looking around in curiosity.

Ginny was still reeling from Neville's confession of his feelings towards her. More she wondered how she hadn't noticed before. Ginny remembered Neville's stuttered asking her to the Yule Ball three years ago. Ginny had thought that it was because he was the only girl he vaguely knew like how Ron and Harry had asked the Patil twins.

And she had made it quite clear she wasn't interested in Neville as anything more than a friend. And Neville had accepted it without expecting anything more even as he wished it. Ginny couldn't say the same with Harry who she had pursued even when it was clear he wasn't interested in her – or girls for that matter.

But now Ginny wondered now what she should do with that information? Ginny enjoyed Neville's company and was able to be herself around him – more than she ever was with Harry. And, looking at Neville he had grown into a rather attractive wizard in the last few years.

She had broken down in front of Neville and he hadn't seen her as weak but strong for having survived something like that when she was so young and still be able to keep going! But if she had done that in front of Harry who was stronger, braver and had been through much more than anyone else she knew. What would he think of her for breaking down for something that had happened five years ago?

But was that just their friendship? He and Luna were probably Ginny's best friends having made few friends in her own house and year. Not after having spent the first year possessed and the second year trying to recover from the trauma. By the time she was ready to reach out and make friends she was in her third year and everyone else had formed their own friendships leaving Ginny feeling like an outsider amongst those in her year.

Ginny had managed to keep her childhood friendship with Luna Lovegood who didn't care if she didn't talk to her for months or just wanted to sit in silence not talking about anything. It was peaceful listening to Luna babbling on about made-up creatures rather than Ginny's thoughts. Then in her fourth year become close to Neville during Dumbledore's army. But they were her only real close friends. Did she really want to risk that when she wasn't even sure if she liked Neville?

'The Room of Requirement,' Ginny smirked not showing any of her previous distress. 'I know right under our nose!'

'What makes you think it's here?' asked Seamus folding his arms.

The Irish boy looked unnerved at the idea of Voldemort hiding something in their home base. Ginny agreed with Seamus the idea of another diary being so close to her made her shudder. Ginny took a breath not wanting anyone to see her break as she had done before in front of Neville.

'Harry said so,' Neville said simply which quelled most of the whisperings.

'And it would be just like him to think that only he could discover the secrets of Hogwarts,' Ginny said sharply.

Neville nodded, 'now this is serious the object is incredibly dangerous and may influence your mind. If anybody finds it, they are not to touch it! You activate your Galleon, and we contact Harry. You will also be being going in pairs and if anyone thinks their partner is acting oddly you alert the rest of us immediately. If anyone does not feel comfortable searching for this object you are welcome to sit this one out no questions asked!'

Neville waited for a few minutes, but nobody left. He hadn't really expected anyone to leave. They were all hear because they wanted to stop You Know Who. They all knew if they were found as a member of a group called Dumbledore's Army which had been started by Harry Potter they would not be expelled. No, they would be killed for rebelling against the Dark Lord. But they were here anyway.

'Okay, then,' Ginny said bracingly. 'Take these ribbons for the rows and piles you've looked mark them with a red ribbon, so we don't end up checking the same place twice.'

Ginny ended up partnering with Luna who was chattering easily about Nargles. Still Ginny could tell that she was worried about what they were doing, about her father still publicly supporting Harry or about her boyfriend Ginny couldn't tell. However, she was not the only one as Ginny's mind was still on Neville's confession.

'Neville told you,' Luna said softly.

'You knew?' asked Ginny sounding hurt.

Luna nodded, 'the Nargles were always present when he was near you.'

Ginny blinked but shrugged – it was Luna, 'what should I do? I mean Neville's my friend and I like him and he's not unattractive. But what if I act on it and ruin our friendship.'

Luna was quiet, 'I don't know, Ginny, but sometimes you won't know until you take a risk.'

'Is that what happened between you and Draco?' asked Ginny.

'Yes,' smiled Luna.

'And how's that going?' asked Ginny.

'Quite well,' Luna replied dreamily. 'He is a very good kisser.'

Ginny grimaced, 'and that's more about Draco Malfoy than I ever needed to know, but I am glad you are happy.'

Luna smiled, 'thank you, Ginny.'

They continued to walk and look for the object even as Ginny felt shivers of fear of ever being near the Diary again. The search continued for ten minutes when Seamus and Neville shouted them over to a where an ugly bust of a witch stood with the diadem perched on top of it.

They had found it.

Ginny was tense as they waited for Harry and Hermione to arrive. She did not like being so near to the thing like Riddle's diary that had hurt her so much. She especially hated the fact that her friends were also being exposed to it. Oh, she knew that possession took weeks to happen, but she still hated it. She was relieved when Harry and Hermione turned up.

'That's it,' Hermione said.

'That's it,' agreed Neville. 'So, what happens now?'

'First we destroy it,' Hermione said.

Luna made a sound of disagreement, 'Daddy has been trying to recreate the Diadem for years. Daddy would love to see it.'

'Luna's right,' Neville said softly staring at the Horcrux in a worrying way. 'It is precious … older than Hogwarts …'

Ginny could see straight away what was happening. Her best friends were being influenced by the power of Riddle's diadem. It was a truly horrific object; not that that was surprising given who had made it.

'Don't listen to it,' Ginny said sharply taking Neville and Luna's hands. 'It lies … it will twist you.'

Luna appeared to mentally shake herself, 'you are right, Ginny. Harry it should be destroyed.'

But then from the Diadem of Ravenclaw burst forth the visage of Tom Marvolo Riddle. Older than when she had last seen him but not yet He Who Must Not Be Named. Ginny instinctively took a step back as the object of all of her nightmares appeared before her.

'Ah this one knows me,' Riddle said eyes glowing red. 'We were friends were we not.'

'N-n-no,' stuttered Ginny trembling like she was eleven years old again.

'Yes, we were,' smiled Riddle. 'You told me everything – all your fears and your hopes and dreams.'

Ginny was shaking unable to speak as suddenly a sword was thrusted into her hands. She looked down and saw the name GRYFFINDOR on the side. Harry was right – she was a Gryffindor. She couldn't let He Who Must Not Named win.

She gripped the sword in slippery, sweaty hands and thrusted the sword through the diadem. The diadem appeared to scream and began bleeding black. It was over, it was dead. She had defeated her monster.

As it died Ginny felt stronger than she ever had. This time she had saved herself. Maybe it was time to stop waiting on her hero to come and save her. Maybe it was time to live for herself. She really needed to have a talk with Neville, alone.

'Well done, Ginny,' Harry smiled kindly at her.

'Are you alright?' asked Neville soft brown eyes looking at her concern.

Ginny nodded, 'better than alright. I think we need to talk later.'

Neville nodded gulping, 'okay. So, what happens now?'

'He Who Must Named has more,' Luna stated matter-of-factly.

'He does,' agreed Harry. 'One more …'

'And when it is destroyed, we can kill him!' Ginny said fiercely.

'We can,' agreed Harry.

'How?' asked Neville frowning.

Harry frowned looking wary.

'You can trust us,' Neville said. 'We have followed you, fought beside you and are still fighting in your and Dumbledore's name. Please, trust us.'

Harry considered but then nodded, 'when we destroy the final one, he will know … and he'll be terrified. He will want to know the rest of them are safe. That will mean checking out the locations of the old ones – if we can lay a trap for him, we might have a chance of defeating him.'

'But it's not that simple,' Hermione said frowning and biting her lip in the way she always did when there was a problem to solve. 'Last time around the Ministry was still in control, losing, but in control. Now, even if You Know Who is defeated it doesn't change the fact that Death Eaters and sympathisers are in powerful positions within the Ministry. And do you really think they will give up power even if He Who Must Not Be Named is killed?'

'No,' Ginny said frowning.

'Then we need to lure him into a battle where we can fight most of the Death Eaters,' Neville said.

'They outnumber us ten to one,' Hermione said voice raising in pitch.

'We need a defensible location,' Luna said dreamily.

'Like Hogwarts,' Neville said. 'You already have us, and the teachers, and we can smuggle the Order in.'

'NO!' Harry almost shouted. 'There are eleven-year-olds here!'

/

'I think Longbottom's right,' Severus said his lips curled like he couldn't believe he was saying it.

'But it's too dangerous,' Harry argued. 'We can't let a first or second year be exposed to the Death Eaters.'

'They already are – I am trying to keep them safe, but I am fighting a losing battle,' Severus sighed. 'This has to end. Yes, Hogwarts is a risk, but it is defensible especially as I am the Headmaster and if we don't rush into this and carefully plan it. And we could assure that there weren't any non-combatants there when the Dark Lord came.'

'How?' asked Hermione.

'Firstly, we do it during the winter holidays when most of the students are at home,' Severus said.

'Especially this year,' muttered Hermione.

Harry wondered what he would do if he was at school during this year (and wasn't Harry Potter). Would he go back to the Dursleys or stay in the dictatorship that Hogwarts would be. Would the Dursleys even let him go back even if wanted to go back. Would there be other children in that situation. Harry and Severus shared a look understanding this in a way that Hermione and Ron could never understand.

'Some might,' Harry said darkly.

'I can arrange a school trip if anyone does stay,' Severus said. 'I will have to convince the teachers to help.'

'I'll go with you,' Harry said. 'We also need to speak to the DA.'

'Do that first,' Severus said. 'I will need them to distract the Carrows to speak to the teachers alone.'

'A chance to fight back against the Carrows,' Harry said dryly. 'Neville will be thrilled.'

/

Harry and Hermione made their way through Hogwarts for the second time in forty-eight hours. The DA would all be there. He knew that they would be pleased to be fighting back, but at the same time they would want to fight now.

'Hi guys,' smiled Harry. 'First, I want to say thank you for your help in finding the object.'

'So, are we going to fight?' asked Ginny said fiercely.

'Yes,' Harry said.

The whole DA cheered.

'But not now – in the winter break when the castle is empty,' Harry said. 'Until then we need time to plan, prepare and train so that when the battle comes, we can defeat the Death Eaters. I want you to start training as much as possible, making traps that we can set to incapacitate the Death Eaters – who here does Ancient Runes?'

Terry Boot, Ernie MacMillan and Padma Patil put up their hands.

'Right, I want you start to research any defensive and offensive wards or curses with a basis in Runic magic that can be created and laid,' Harry ordered. 'Who does Muggle studies?'

Five hands went up.

'Hannah, Stephen, Sean, I want to see if you can make any Muggle objects work at Hogwarts – that we can use to fight,' Harry ordered. 'Luna, Lavender, Parvati, I want you to focus on magical creatures that we can bring into Hogwarts to beset the Death Eaters. Neville, Justin, focus on plants like Devil's Snare which can be moved and used defensive and offensively. Ginny, Fay, Susan, I want you to focus on curses, hexes and other defensive or offensive spells that can be set to trap or otherwise disable Death Eaters. Michael, Colin, I want you to focus on brewing potions that can be used – Luna would Malfoy be willing to help.'

'We can't trust him he's a Death Eater!' Colin said sharply.

Harry sighed, 'yes, he is, but when push comes to shove, he refused to kill … and his scare of him as anybody else is. If we are to defeat him and the Death Eaters, we cannot allow petty house rivalries to continue.'

'I think he will if he thinks there's a real chance of winning,' Luna said.

'Good, do so,' Harry said. 'Ask him if there are any other Slytherins who can be trusted to join the fight back.'

'Yes, Harry,' Luna said usual faraway look not present on her face.

'Dean and Seamus, you focus on charms,' Harry said. 'Seamus, I know you are good at elemental spells – that could be useful. Anthony, Dennis, you two on transfigurations. For those of you who I haven't mentioned think what subject is your strongest and join that team.'

There were serious nods and fierce looks.

Harry wished for a full-scale model of Hogwarts which came into existence as soon as he wished for it.

'I want Hogwarts to be protected,' Harry ordered. 'Each team choose a colour and mark of the areas they are protecting. Neville is in charge of planning and coordinating. I am not arrogant enough to believe we can protect the entirety of Hogwarts. When battle comes it will mean blowing up parts of Hogwarts ourselves to block anyone from accessing them. But we keep certain passageways open to push Death Eaters into our traps and have hidden escape roots. You know the type; the trick walls which are actually doors, things that Death Eaters may have forgotten in the years since graduating. Hogwarts is our school, use that to our advantage!

'Now this is important,' Harry said seriously. 'If we are to succeed the Death Eaters cannot know! I cannot empathise this enough. You be good little soldiers, don't argue back, don't do anything that make them suspicious. If anyone sees you researching together say its for your NEWTs or OWLs. Does everyone understand?'

They nodded.

'Okay good,' Harry said. 'Just to contradict this – I need you to do something tonight that will keep the Carrows entertained while I speak to the professors. If we are to do this, we need to all work together. Please, don't get caught.'

…

MUDBLOODS ARE MAGIC STEALERS AND A THREAT TO OUR SOCEITY AND SHOULD BE REPORTED TO THE HEADMASTER.

MUGGLES ARE ANIMALS AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH.

THOSE WHO CHOSE TO MIX MAGICAL BLOOD ARE ABOMINATIONS AND SHOULD BE CONDEMNED AS SUCH.

HALF-BLOODS ARE INFERIOR TO PURE-BLOOD WITCHES AND WIZARDS AND WOULD DO WELL TO REMEMBER THAT.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE WAS A TRAITOR TO THOSE OF MAGICAL BLOOD AND ANY OF THOSE WHO STILL FOLLOW HIM SHOULD BE REPORTED TO THE HEADMASTER.

DARK MAGIC IS SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHER KINDS OF MAGIC AND IS WHAT IS TAUGHT.

LIGHT MAGIC IS WEAK AND ONLY WEAK WIZARDS AND WITCHES PRACTICE IT.

THE DARK LORD IS THE ONE TRUE LEADER OF THE WIZARDING WORLD AND WILL BE FOLLOWED.

THE DEATH EATERS ARE THE DARK LORD'S MOUTH PIECES, THERE WORDS SHOULD BE SPOKEN AS LAW.

IF ANYONE KNOWS OF ANYONE WHO SPEAKS TREASON AGAINST THE DARK LORD OR PROTECTS MUGGLES OR MUDBLOODS OR TRAITORS YOU SHOULD REPORT THEM TO THE HEADMASTER ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE YOUR FAMILY.

Ginny gritted her teeth at the new "rules" of Hogwarts that were displayed pride of place on the doors to the Great Hall. It was the first thing that the first years had seen when arriving at Hogwarts. Gone was the excitement that had been felt in previous years. The twelve new Gryffindors had been pale and clutching at each other's hands as they sat down. Hogwarts was not the same.

But if Harry was right, it would all be over by new year. But thinking of her little cousin and the other first years she wondered whether that would make up for everything they were witnessing. Ginny still hadn't healed from her first year … but they might be stronger than she was.

'Can't believe we're really going to blow it up,' grinned Seamus.

This was the most animated Ginny had seen Seamus Finnigan since the start of the year. Not that that was surprising – they were all down this year. And Ginny knew that he was missing his best friend.

'Have fun,' Ginny grinned.

'Okay, to make this as big as possible Ginny and I are going to destroy the gargoyle guarding Snape's office,' Neville said. 'Seamus, Padma and Susan – you destroy up those horrible rules. Michael, Anthony and Terry – you cause havoc to the Dark Arts classroom. Ernie, Hannah and Morag – you do the same to the Muggle studies classroom. Lavender, Parvati, Luna and Terry – split up and graffiti as much as the school as possible. When you feel the Galleon burn – stop.'

'And this is important – DON'T GET CAUGHT!' Ginny said. 'If Snape or the Carrows catch you they will make what Umbridge did to us seem nice.'

Ginny was tense as she and Neville made their way to the Headmaster's office. Ginny was excited that she was going to be getting revenge on Dumbledore's murders. Making it clear to the Death Eaters that just because they had won didn't mean they would lie down and take it. On the other hand, Neville's confession was making her feel awkward and strange.

'So, you wanted to talk,' Neville said.

'Yeah,' Ginny said biting her lip. 'Look, Neville, you're one of my best friends … and I don't want to hurt you. I have spent so many years waiting for my hero to come and save me.'

'Harry,' Neville said coolly.

Ginny nodded, 'it wasn't really about him. Not really. My first year was the worst time of my life … I thought I was going to die,' Ginny's voice cracked but she pressed on. 'And then Harry was there, and I was safe. I spent the next few years … trying to convince myself and everyone around me I was alright … but I wasn't. the only time I felt safe was when Harry was there because I knew no one could hurt me when he was around. But it wasn't fair, it wasn't healthy; not on Harry.'

'Or you,' Neville said softly.

Ginny nodded, 'yeah, maybe. But fighting Riddle again, I just realised that I didn't need to be saved I can save myself.'

Neville smiled, 'I always knew that. I don't want to save you, I want to be with you, because you are amazing – brave, kind, caring, smart and able to handle yourself in ways that I never was. If something like that had happened to me when I was eleven, I think I would have curled up in bed and never come out again.'

Ginny smiled, 'I know. But I don't know what I want. I think I need to figure myself out before anything else.'

Neville smiled and nodded, 'okay – still friends?'

'Of course, you can't get rid of me that easily,' Ginny smiled. 'Now let's go blow things up.'