* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART TWO

Last Call for Sin

Chapter 3: I Want to Let Go

* ~ HOGWARTS CASTLE ~ *

The castle was indeed under 24-hour surveillance. Neville and Ginny came to realise this as the week wore on. Lavender made a comment against one of the Carrows in the Gryffindor common room, and ten minutes later, Alecto had dragged her out of Gryffindor Tower. When she returned, she had been tortured and needed tending to by Gryffindor's most promising Healer, which happened to be Ginny.

It had only confirmed Neville's suspicions that there were spies and listening charms everywhere. He managed to get a message to Anthony Goldstein and Susan Bones. He urged them to pass this information on to any former DA members that they could.

As the week wore on, he tried to get a moment alone with Draco. He knew that doing so was going to be difficult because, first of all, he had to catch Draco when he didn't have Pansy or Theo with him. But he also had to think of somewhere away from the listening charms.

It was apparent that Draco and Theo were regarded as royalty by the Death Eaters. They swanned around the school like they owned the place with smirks on their faces, but it didn't escape Neville's notice that they never hurt anyone. When rules were broken, they shot warning sparks in the rule-breakers direction. They used minor burning or cutting curses but nothing that could do any damage. He had never seen them use the unforgivable curses either. It just furthered Neville's belief that they didn't want to be doing what they were doing.

In the end, Neville decided that he would have to corner Draco near the statue of the humpbacked witch. It was a secret that he didn't want to give away, but it was a small one compared to the Room of Requirement. However, it was on the third floor, and Draco would only be there when he was coming in or out of the Charms classroom. The Carrows domains were on the sixth floor and in the Defence Against the Dark Arts Tower, respectively, so Neville thought it would be safe enough to delay Draco after class then ambush him.

Neville left the classroom immediately and disillusioned himself in the corridor outside. When Draco left the class, he hit him with a confundus charm. The blond man stopped and frowned.

"What's up, Draco?" Theo asked his friend.

"I think I left something in the classroom," Draco replied.

"I'll come in and get it with you," Pansy offered.

Neville cursed wordlessly. If she did that, then his whole plan would be ruined.

"No, you go to Defence," Draco said quickly. He dropped Pansy's hand, "I don't want you guys getting in trouble for being late. I can only imagine what Amycus will do."

Pansy opened her mouth to object, but Theo grabbed her arm, "He's right, come on, Pans. Don't be too late, mate."

"I'll try not to be," Draco said, and he disappeared back into the Charms classroom.

Neville blew out a breath of relief. By the time Draco left the classroom for the second time, the third floor corridor was empty. Neville followed Draco along the hallway and opened the passageway with a whisper and a tap of his wand. When Draco reached him, Neville shoved him into the passageway then dove in after him.

Draco fell down the small gap and landed on the concrete floor with an irritated humph. A few seconds later, Neville landed on top of him.

"What the-" Draco scrambled back, his eyes wide with fear.

"Sorry for the smoke and mirrors," Neville said, taking the disillusionment charm off.

"Longbottom!" Draco exclaimed, "What the fuck?"

"I needed to talk to you alone," Neville told him, "And there are listening charms everywhere."

"Exactly! So how do you know that there aren't any here?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes at the Gryffindor.

"Because the Carrows don't know about this passageway," Neville assured Draco.

Draco looked around, "Where does it go?"

"Hogsmeade," Neville answered, "It's a useful one to know about if you ever need to sneak in or out of the castle. Mind you; I doubt that's a worry for you."

Draco frowned but said nothing.

"You can use dark magic to get in and out, can't you?" Neville asked.

"What's it to you if I can?" Draco asked defensively.

"Just confirming a hunch," Neville said honestly, "Look, Malfoy, I don't know what side you're on here, but I'm hoping it's ours."

"I'm not on anyone's side Longbottom, I'm just trying to survive," Draco said irritably.

"Well then, I hope you'll do the right thing and help a lot of other people survive," Neville said with a sigh, "I'm not asking you for a miracle, Malfoy. I just need to know that if a large chunk of people disappear and if those people happened to be members of a secret society, that you wouldn't tell the Carrows where those people had gone even if you know."

Draco frowned and looked up at him, "And why should I help you, exactly?"

"You don't have any reason to," Neville agreed, "But it would be the right thing to do and…I don't think that you want this life."

Draco scoffed, "I was chosen-"

"Against your will," Neville cut in sharply. His eyes met the blond man's grey eyes, "This isn't you Draco, you don't want this. I remember the 5-year-old kid I used to play Aurors and Death Eaters with, and you were never the Death Eater."

Draco sighed and glanced down at his feet.

"You always wanted to be the Auror. I was always lumped with being the Death Eater who got chased around the garden," Neville said with a slight smile, "Which was okay until the peacocks started chasing me too."

Draco cracked a small smile, "That was rather funny."

Neville smiled at him, "What do you say? Can we call a tentative truce?"

Draco caught his eye and wavered, "I…no, I can't do a truce. I can promise not to divulge any information about your whereabouts, even if I suspect that I know where you have gone. But I need you to obliviate me first."

Neville frowned, "Why?"

"Because I will get called out of the castle for Death Eater meetings, and when I do, my mind is going to be probed," Draco admitted, "Regardless of whether or not I remember this conversation, I will not tell them where you are. I know that is probably hard for you to believe, but even if you hadn't asked me to, I would have stayed quiet."

"So if I obliviate you, it protects all of us?" Neville realised.

"Yes," Draco said with a nod, "You can do it without frying my mind, can't you?"

"I'm not Ron," Neville snorted.

"And you have a new wand," Draco noted.

Neville nodded, "Yeah, it's amazing what you can do when you get bought a new wand for the first time going into your sixth year. You ready?"

Draco nodded and closed his eyes, "Do it."

"Obliviate!"

"I have a small number of people I would trust with my life. Tonight at 7 pm. Be there."

Neville looked up and caught Ginny's eye across the hall. The note in his hand burst into flames, and he crunched it in his hand, turning it into ash. He gave her a brief nod then looked back down into his dinner.

After they had eaten, they retired to the common room, where they did not speak about the note. As it neared 7 pm, Neville and Ginny slipped out of the common room into the Room of Requirement. Luna was already there, and a few minutes later, they were joined by Seamus, Lavender and Parvati.

Luna pointed her wand at the door and said, "Nostra celare."

"What did you just do, Luna?" Lavender asked curiously.

"Oh, I used a powerful concealment charm on the door," Luna said with an airy smile, "To anyone glancing at it, it will look like a window."

"Genius," Ginny said, smiling proudly at her friend.

Neville smiled around at them, "So this is your small group, Gin?"

Ginny nodded, "Beyond the people in our own house and Luna, I don't trust the others enough yet."

"Not after what happened in fifth year," Seamus agreed darkly.

"So what are we going to do?" Parvati asked nervously.

"We are going to hide out in here," Ginny replied, "We won't go to classes, and we will only leave when we need to."

"What about everyone else in the DA?" Lavender asked with a frown, "Are we just going to leave them alone?"

"No, we need to work out how we can keep an eye out for them," Neville said honestly, "If someone is in danger, we'll bring them into the fold, but it's the only way to ensure that we can trust everyone in the DA."

"How are we going to keep an eye on them from here?" Parvati asked. She narrowed her eyes at Neville, "Because my twin sister is a Ravenclaw, but I would trust her with my life."

"I think we can make an exception for Padma," Ginny admitted, looking at Neville, "Don't you, Neville?"

Neville nodded, "Yeah, Parvati. When we move in here, make sure Padma is in on the secret too. But you make a good point about keeping an eye on the others."

"It's simple, really," Luna spoke up, "We can ask the ghosts to help us."

"The ghosts?" Neville asked slowly.

"Yes, I'm sure that the Grey Lady would help us," Luna continued, "She is very kind. I talk to her all of the time."

"The ghosts," Neville said with a frown, "If they were willing, they would be the perfect lookout and…the Carrows would never expect it."

"It's brilliant, Luna," Ginny said with a grin, "Do you think you can get the Grey Lady to come here so that we can talk to her about it?"

"I think the ghosts must know about this room," Luna mused as she looked around the room, "And I know how to call the Grey Lady."

"Is that a yes?" Lavender asked.

Luna nodded, "Oh, would you like me to do it now?"

"No time like the present," Neville said.

Luna hummed, "Well…I will need a mirror."

Upon these words, a mirror appeared in the centre of the room.

"And the lights must be out," Luna added.

Neville glanced at Ginny warily. Ginny shrugged and said, "Nox."

The lights in the room went out. Lavender moved closer to Parvati and gripped her friend tightly.

Luna used her wand to transfigure a candle then she lit it with a flick of her wrist.

Ginny moved a little closer to Neville as Luna looked into the mirror and began to chant, "Helena Ravenclaw. Helena Ravenclaw. Helena Ravenclaw."

By the time she got to the tenth 'Helena Ravenclaw', Ginny had caved and grabbed Neville's hand. Luna could be dreamy and odd, but right now, she was just downright scary.

There was a scream on the 13th utterance of the name, and a ghostly grey figure appeared inside the mirror. Lavender and Parvati shrieked as the candle flickered, and the ghost came out of the mirror.

"Holy fuck!" Neville exclaimed, jumping back in alarm.

The candle stopped flickering, and Luna cheerfully said, "Hello, Helena."

The ghost, Helena, sighed and cracked her neck from one side to the other, "Did you have to summon me in such a medieval fashion, my dear Luna? It is ever so painful."

"Sorry, we needed you to talk to us in this room," Luna said apologetically.

Neville cleared his throat, and Ginny dropped his hand, "Can we put the lights back on now, Luna?"

"Oh, of course, Neville," Luna said. She raised her wand and said, "Lumos."

Even Ginny breathed a little easier as all of the lamps along the walls lit up.

"This is Helena Ravenclaw, the ghost of Ravenclaw house," Luna explained.

The ghost, who was a beautiful medieval lady, looked at the occupants of the room warily.

"It's okay, Helena," Luna said, "They are my friends. I trust them."

"And we need your help," Neville admitted.

"How so?" Helena asked.

"We were hoping that the ghosts of the castle would be able to help us stay away from the Carrows," Neville explained, "I know that part of your job as a ghost is to protect the school and its students, so I hoped you would be our eyes and ears while we go into hiding."

Helena frowned and floated back a little, "I can guarantee that I will do my part to help you, and I expect you will have the support of some of the other more empathetic ghosts. However, if you wish for all of the ghosts to work together to help you protect the school, you would have to call a meeting of the ghosts."

"A meeting of the ghosts?" Ginny asked.

Helena bowed her head, "Yes, and such a thing has not happened for over one hundred years."

"Well, how would one call a meeting?" Neville asked.

"They must summon the leader of the ghosts," Helena answered.

"The ghosts have a leader?" Neville asked in surprise.

"Of course we do," Helena replied. She sounded moderately offended.

"Sorry," Neville said sheepishly, "But how does that work exactly?"

"Traditionally, the leader of the ghosts is the person who ranked the highest while they were alive," Helena replied.

Neville sighed, "Okay, so I think I know the answer to this question, and I don't think I'm going to like it. Who is the leader of the ghosts?"

"The Bloody Baron," Helena replied darkly.

"I knew it," Neville muttered, "And I don't like it."

Ginny looked over at him, "You do realise what this means, don't you?"

Neville nodded, "Yeah, it means I'm going to have to talk to Malfoy again."

"Malfoy?" Seamus asked in surprise.

"He's sort of an ally," Neville said offhandedly, "But it's a tenuous peace at best."

"But he will know how to get the Baron to help us," Ginny pointed out.

"Yeah…" Neville said, his eyes widening as an idea formed in his head, "But he's not the only Slytherin who will."

"What other Slytherin do you know who would help us?" Parvati asked curiously.

"There's one person," Neville admitted, "Sadie, she lives near my Grandmother. We spent a bit of time together before sixth year."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him, "Did you?"

"It wasn't like that," Neville said with a shake of his head, "She was my first kiss. It was awkward, and we laughed about it later, but that's all there is to it. She isn't like the other Slytherins though, she's kind, and she's smart."

"Well then," Ginny said with a note of finality, "You had better think about how to corner her because until we have a plan in place, we have to stay in the castle, and the longer I spend with the Carrows, the harder it is to keep my mouth shut and my head down."

Neville nodded, "I'll talk to her. Until then, we communicate by notes when nobody is looking, and we make sure that they incinerate within thirty seconds. We do not speak a word about the plan outside of these walls."

The others all nodded. They didn't need Neville to drum the seriousness of this into them. They knew that it was war.

Sadie was walking from Charms to Herbology when Neville walked by her very closely and pressed something against her hand. She opened it instinctively, and he murmured, "Read it now."

Sadie was aware of Daphne and Tracey's wary eyes on her, but she looked down at the note anyway.

"Hang back after Herbology. Behind greenhouse 3. It's important."

The note then burst into flames.

"Aguamenti," Sadie whispered, vanishing the evidence.

"What was that?" Daphne asked in a whisper.

"It was…" Sadie trailed off, aware of Alecto Carrow's nearby presence.

"It was a booty call," Tracey waded in to save Sadie's arse, "Which you are not going to be responding to."

Daphne cottoned on quickly enough, "You had better not for at least three reasons."

Sadie smiled in amusement, "Three?"

"Yes, the first reason being that you are so much hotter than him," Daphne said matter of factly.

"The second being that he is a Gryffindor," Tracey added.

"And the third being that he's Neville Longbottom," Daphne finished.

Sadie laughed, "Thanks for the ego boost, girls, but I wasn't planning on responding to the booty call anyway because I respect myself."

Alecto rolled her eyes, "Less gossiping, more walking. Hurry up!"

"Yes, Professor Carrow," Daphne said, casting her eyes down.

The other two girls fell silent as they walked to Herbology. While they were in the greenhouse, Neville kept glancing over at Sadie, and she was trying very hard not to notice it.

"Longbottom is making eyes at you," Tracey whispered.

"No, he isn't," Sadie said with a roll of her eyes.

"You used to date him," Daphne said, nudging her in the side.

"I didn't date him," Sadie scoffed, "I kissed him once when I was like 15."

"He was your first kiss, though," Tracey whispered.

"So?"

"So the first kiss is a big deal," Daphne murmured, "My first kiss was with Draco, and I fell head over heels for that prick," she looked up and caught Draco's eye across the table.

Draco had heard his name mentioned, but he hadn't been close enough to understand precisely what Daphne said. He smiled at her, but she rolled her eyes and looked back down at her workbench.

"You can't ignore him forever," Sadie pointed out in a whisper.

"I know, but I can ignore him for a little bit longer," Daphne muttered, "It's been less than six months since we broke up, and we dated for nearly two years."

"Yes, Daphne, I know, you went on about it all summer," Tracey reminded her best friend.

"She has a right to be upset," Sadie cut in, giving Tracey a warning look. She then turned to look at Daphne, "But you can't stay mad at him forever, and…it's not Pansy's fault, you know?"

"I know," Daphne muttered irritably.

"Girls," Professor Sprout said politely, "Less chattering, please."

"Sorry, Professor," The girls chorused.

After Herbology, the bell rang for lunch, but Sadie hung back like Neville had instructed her to in his note. Daphne shot her a knowing look, and Tracey made kissy faces at her, which Theo frowned at as Draco dragged him out of the greenhouse.

Neville left the greenhouse first, and Sadie purposefully took a while to pack up her bag, then she left too. Instead of heading up to the school, she slipped around the back where Neville was waiting for her. The reason that 'behind greenhouse 3' was a notorious hook-up spot was pretty apparent. There was a thin gap between the glass wall of the greenhouse and the brick wall of the courtyard behind it. Venomous Tentacula and other vine-like plants grew up the greenhouse wall, which obscured this little gap from view.

"Neville, I hope this is serious," Sadie whispered, "Because Daphne and Tracey are both winding me up something rotten because they think I'm hooking up with you."

"Sorry," Neville said sheepishly, "I kind of needed them to think that. I knew they would see the note, and I didn't want to arouse suspicion."

"What's going on?" Sadie asked, looking up at Neville and leaning against the brick wall.

Neville leant against the greenhouse wall, "I need your advice, and there are listening charms everywhere in the castle. You know about them, don't you?"

"Of course we do, Draco told us," Sadie answered, "What do you need my advice about?"

"The Bloody Baron," Neville admitted, "I can't tell you why but I need to call a meeting of the school ghosts and to do that, I have to call their leader."

"So you need to get the Baron on your side," Sadie realised.

"Exactly," Neville said, "But I don't know how to do that because he hates Gryffindors and well…pretty much everyone apart from Slytherins."

"He hates most of us too," Sadie admitted with a slight smile, "But I do know how to get him to listen to you."

"Okay?"

"He feels forgotten," Sadie explained, "Like history has forgotten about the good he did and has only remembered the bad. He hates being treated like a villain, and he likes being able to tell his story from his point of view. If you listen to him and sympathise with him, whether you agree with his point of view or not, then he might just do what you ask of him."

Neville smiled, "That information is solid gold. Thank you, Sadie."

Sadie smiled, "I don't want this, Neville. The things that are happening in the school right now scare me. I'm worried about my friends and my family. My brother is out there fighting right now, you know?"

Neville nodded; he knew that Sadie's older brother was an Auror, "These are dark times, that is for sure, but the only way to get through them is together."

Sadie caught his eye, "Do you really believe that?"

"I have to," Neville replied, "But Sadie, can I ask you something else?"

Sadie nodded, "Yes?"

"Malfoy and Nott…are they really as bad as it looks like they are?"

Sadie bit her lip, "It's complicated, Neville. We're all just trying to stay alive."

"But-"

"That's all I can say," Sadie said firmly, "I need to go. The girls will get suspicious if I'm much later to lunch."

"Be careful what you say and who you say it to, Sadie," Neville said when she made a move to leave, "There are ears everywhere."

Sadie nodded, "You look after yourself too," she said.

Before Neville could say anything else, she had slipped out into the grounds.

Sadie sucked in a breath and hurried up to the castle, hoping that everybody was already inside for lunch. Unfortunately, she wasn't that lucky.

"You're crazy."

Sadie looked over and sighed when she saw Theo hovering by the doors to the entrance hall, "Theo, that wasn't what it-"

"Really?" Theo muttered under his breath, "Cause it looked like you were hooking up with a Gryffindor, a Gryffindor associated with Potter. Are you out of your mind? You're putting a massive target on your back by doing that!"

Sadie wanted to say that she hadn't been hooking up with Neville because she wasn't like Theo. But she knew that she couldn't because then Theo would demand the truth, and the truth could get a lot of people in trouble.

"I get it," Sadie said, looking Theo in the eye, "It was stupid, and it won't happen again. Okay?"

"Okay," Theo said, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulder and ushering her into the castle, "You need to look out for your own right now, Sade."

"Like you're looking out for Draco?" Sadie asked. She couldn't help herself.

"What?"

"Oh, come on Theo," Sadie scoffed, "Everyone knows that you slept with him, Blaise told the whole of Slytherin house."

Theo looked around the hall and shook his head. He pulled Sadie into a secret alcove behind a tapestry and wrote in the air. I didn't. We talked in secret, but the Carrows couldn't know that. So we had to pretend.

Sadie raised an eyebrow at him. Did you kiss? She wrote.

Theo made a face and nodded. He then wrote, He's a terrible kisser.

Sadie laughed out loud at that and wrote, Not gay then?

Theo shook his head and kissed her on the cheek, "No, Sade, definitely not. See you in Potions."

Sadie smiled as he slipped out of the alcove, "See you."

"Did you have a nice smooch with Longbottom?"

"I wasn't hooking up with him," Sadie muttered as she climbed into Daphne's four-poster bed and pulled the covers over herself.

"So you were just chatting about plants behind the greenhouse then?" Daphne asked, lying on her side and propping herself up on her elbow as she surveyed her friend.

Sadie rolled her eyes and pointed her wand up at the roof. She whispered, "Tempus perturbare."

A golden glow spread from the centre of the roof, down the walls and over the floor.

"Wow," Tracey said, popping her head out of her bed, "What did you just do?"

"I disrupted the temporal composition of the room. It will mess with the listening charms briefly so that we can talk privately," Sadie answered.

At this, Pansy peered out of her bed, "You froze time so that you could tell us about how you weren't hooking up with Longbottom?"

Daphne snorted, "Sounds like Sade."

"I didn't freeze time; I disrupted it," Sadie said with a wave of her hand, "It will jumble five minutes of conversation up so that it sounds like garbled nonsense to anyone listening in."

"You are awesome," Tracey said, staring at her friend in awe, "I love you."

Sadie smiled slightly, "I wasn't hooking up with him. He was asking me for advice about something because we used to be friends. Yes, he was my first kiss, but that was a long time ago."

"You disrupted time to tell us that?" Daphne asked in disbelief.

"No, I disrupted time to tell you that I've been working on something," Sadie said honestly, "It's a long-term version of the spell that I just used. If I can perfect it, it will disrupt the temporal composition of an entire room permanently."

"Meaning that anything said in that room would just sound like garbled noise?" Daphne asked.

"Wouldn't that just make the Carrows suspicious?" Pansy questioned.

"Yeah, Pansy has a point," Tracey admitted, "Wouldn't they just come and check out the room?"

"Not if it had been made unplottable," Sadie said.

Daphne's eyes widened, "That is…"

"Genius," Tracey finished.

Pansy nodded, "They would assume it was just an error. They wouldn't be able to find the room even if they were standing right in front of it."

"Exactly," Sadie said.

"One problem," Tracey said as she raised her hand.

"We don't know how to make a room unplottable?" Sadie guessed.

"We don't," Pansy agreed, "But Draco does."

Daphne's eyes widened, "Of course he does. He helped his father redesign the wards for the Manor."

Pansy nodded, "That required powerful magic, but we would only be hiding one room. If we make it a relatively small one, it shouldn't be too difficult."

"Do you have a room in mind?" Daphne asked Sadie.

"I have an idea," Sadie admitted sheepishly, "But it's a bathroom."

"A bathroom?" Daphne asked distastefully.

"A flooded bathroom," Sadie added.

"Oh no, not Myrtle's bathroom?" Tracey groaned.

"No, the boys' bathroom just down the hall from Myrtles," Sadie answered, "The corridor leading into it is flooded and always has an out of order sign on it. All that leads off that corridor is the bathroom, an old potions store and a broom cupboard. I thought we could use it to meet up, to begin with. But if such a time comes when the common room is no longer safe, then we may need to use it on a permanent basis, so having a potions store nearby would be helpful."

"She's a genius," Daphne said with a shake of her head.

Pansy smiled at the blonde girl, "You're officially in charge."

"In charge of what?" Sadie asked nervously.

"The Slytherin rebellion," Tracey said, her eyes flashing with excitement.

The golden glow flickered. Sadie looked up, "The spell will end soon. Pansy, will you be able to take Draco somewhere private so you can ask him to put the wards up in the bathroom?"

Pansy nodded, and the glow flickered again, "I know somewhere perfect. Once he has made the bathroom unplottable, I'll let you know, and then you can do your fancy glowy magic."

Sadie smiled, and the glow flickered for a final time. The spell came to an end and fizzled out; golden sparks rained down on them all.

"Ugh," Daphne muttered as she waved them away with magic, "I feel like a Gryffindor."

Pansy chuckled and caught her friend's eye, "Does this mean we're on speaking terms again, Daphne?"

Daphne looked over at the dark-haired girl. She looked torn for a moment as she remembered what Sadie and Tracey had said to her in the greenhouse earlier that day, "Yeah, Pansy, it's not your fault that Draco and I didn't work out."

Pansy smiled genuinely at that.

"If you can love him, Death Eater and all, then that's up to you," Daphne added, "But I couldn't."

Pansy nodded, "And you're dating Blaise now, right?"

"I'm not dating him," Daphne muttered because she wasn't, "I don't do dating, okay? Dating just leads to heartbreak, and I will not be wasting any energy on that."

"Does Blaise know that?" Tracey asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"Of course he does," Daphne replied smoothly, "And he is fine with it. If we all die in a horrible battle at the end of this, at least he will have had a year of fabulous broom closet encounters with me, right?"

Sadie snorted, "Not that you're at all big-headed," she remarked.

Daphne shot her friend a grin, "I'm a wonderful kisser; just ask Blaise."

The other girls laughed at this, then Daphne nudged Sadie, "Are you going to sleep in your own bed at all this year?"

Sadie shook her head and snuggled in closer to Daphne, "No, I can't sleep on my own right now."

Daphne shook her head in amusement, "You're worse than my baby sister," she said, shooting an exasperated look in Tracey's direction.

Tracey just chuckled and turned out the light, "Night, girls."

"Night Trace."

Neville thought he was ready to face the Bloody Baron, but when push came to shove and he found himself standing in the Room of Requirement, having just summoned him, he felt less sure.

When the Baron spun into view, he looked down at Neville and Ginny warily.

"Yes?"

"Uh…good evening Baron," Neville said nervously, "How are you?"

The Baron raised an eyebrow at Neville, "Get to the point, student."

"We need your help," Neville began.

"I do not help Gryffindors," The Baron said, looking at them distastefully.

"No, but you are a house ghost and a Hogwarts ghost," Neville said firmly, "You have a duty to the students of this school, and right now, because of Snape and the Carrows, students are in danger. You would be lying if you said you hadn't noticed. Alecto is torturing students who step out of line. Amycus is forcing students to torture each other, and Snape is turning a blind eye to all of it while he hides out in his dark cave like the bat that he is."

"And what do you expect me to do about it?" The Baron asked coolly.

"I formally request a meeting of the ghosts of Hogwarts," Neville said authoritatively, "So that they may help the students who are in peril during this dark time. I believe if the leader of the ghosts puts it to a vote, the ghosts would be in favour of helping us."

The Baron narrowed his eyes at Neville, "And if the leader of the ghosts does not want to do this?"

"Then the leader of the ghosts is not doing what is in the best interests of the school that he protects," Neville said, staring the ghost down, "You let people down while you were alive. All of history remembers you as a villain and a murderer. Do you want that to remain the way they see you in centuries to come? Or do you want to be known for the good that you have done, finally?"

"You dare to speak to me in that manner, boy?" The Baron asked coldly.

"Yes, I dare Baron," Neville said calmly, "Because all it takes for evil to win is for good men to do nothing."

The Baron scoffed and spun around, "I shall call a meeting of the ghosts at the witching hour. If the vote goes in your favour, you will liaise with Nicholas from now on. I do not like students, especially headstrong Gryffindors."

With that, he disappeared through the wall.

Ginny looked over at Neville, "That went…well? I think that went well."

"Yeah," Neville said, frowning at the spot on the wall, "I think it went well too."

"How did you do that?" Ginny asked, looking at Neville in surprise, "It was like you knew exactly what buttons to push."

"I need to thank Sadie for that one when I get the chance," Neville admitted with a smile.

"Are you coming back to the common room?" Ginny asked as she headed for the door.

Neville shook his head, "No, I'm going to wait here until Nearly Headless Nick tells me how the meeting went. I don't want to risk him talking to me about it where the Carrows can hear."

"Don't be late for your Defence Against the Dark Arts class tomorrow morning," Ginny warned him, "You know what Amycus will do to you."

"I know," Neville said curtly, "I'll be fine, Gin. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Nev."

* ~ TBC ~ *