* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART TWO
Last Call for Sin
Chapter 4: I Want to Shine On in the Hearts of Men
* ~ HOGWARTS CASTLE ~ *
"The ghosts have agreed to your request."
Neville looked up sharply. He had been half-asleep.
Nearly Headless Nick floated in front of him, a triumphant smile on his face.
"Really?" Neville asked, pushing himself to his feet.
"The council of the ghosts voted in favour of protecting the school and all of its students," Nick informed Neville, "And the Baron asked that I liaise with you about the best way to do that."
Neville grinned, "Yes! I can't believe it worked!"
"You bested the Baron," Nick said, smiling at him, "It is no easy feat. You ought to be proud of yourself."
Neville's grin didn't wafer, "Perfect…this is perfect. We can start to get people to safety tonight. Nick, we will use this room as a hideout, but that means we can't go to classes or leave unless it's under cover of darkness. So we need you and the other ghosts to be our eyes and ears within the castle. Anything you see the Carrows do to the students, you must report it to either myself, Ginny or Luna."
Nick bowed his head and then caught it as it threatened to roll off, "You have my word."
"Thank you," Neville said gratefully.
He grabbed his school bag, looked down at his watch, then cursed, "I need to go, Nick, but thank you!"
He then dashed out of the Room of Requirement and headed for the grand staircase. He had fallen asleep while waiting for Nick to appear with the news, and he had slept through breakfast. He only had three minutes to get to Defence Against the Dark Arts, and it was at best a ten-minute jog from the seventh floor.
When Neville crashed into the classroom, all eyes turned to look at him.
Amycus looked at the clock on the wall, "6 minutes late, Longbottom."
"Sorry, Professor," Neville said as he tried to catch his breath.
Amycus sat on the desk and looked at Theo, "Nott, why don't you show this Gryffindor what happens when we don't obey the rules?"
Theo got to his feet and looked at Neville. The Gryffindor boy drew himself up to his full height and watched Theo warily. He could see the trepidation in the Slytherins eyes.
"You do know how to use the cruciatus curse, don't you Nott?" Amycus asked calmly.
"Of course I do," Theo replied smoothly.
"Then prove it," Amycus ordered.
Theo swallowed and trained his wand on Neville. It required real hatred to use that curse, and he didn't hate Neville Longbottom, not by a longshot. But if Theo didn't use the curse, he would give himself away. In essence, he had no choice but to shut his eyes and focus on something he hated; his father.
"Crucio!" Theo spat, he felt his wand buzz in his hand, and it felt aggressive. It was like his own wand knew that he wasn't made to use this kind of magic.
Theo opened his eyes and saw Neville fall to his knees. The Gryffindor cried out in pain but gritted his teeth, trying not to show how much it hurt.
"Stop it!" A familiar voice cried out.
Neville could have cursed her for standing up and making herself a target.
"Shut up, girl!" Amycus said, sending a slashing charm in Susan's direction.
Susan didn't back down, though. She stayed on her feet and said, "This is sick! You're too much of a coward to use the unforgivable curses yourself, so you get your students to do your dirty work!"
Amycus laughed, "Too afraid? No, no, that's not it, girl. Crucio!"
Susan wasn't as good at hiding her pain as Neville. She screamed as the curse threw her to the ground. Neville suspected that a real dark wizard like Amycus could use the cruciatus curse better than someone like Theo.
"Why have a dog and bark yourself?" Amycus finished. He twisted his wand, and Susan's screams got louder.
"Take notes, Nott," Amycus remarked, "She is screaming in agony. Longbottom is barely phased by what you are doing to him."
Theo swallowed and twisted his wand as Amycus had. Neville felt his arm jerk in the wrong direction, and he cried out loudly in pain. Sweat began to form on his forehead as he gasped for breath.
"Better," Amycus smirked. He ended the curse and threw Susan back against one of the desks. Hannah ran to her friend and helped her up, glaring at Amycus while she did so.
Amycus stood behind Theo and smirked, "This looks familiar," he said. He grabbed Theo's elbow and instructed him to yank his arm back.
When Theo did so, Neville was thrown to the ground, crying out in pain again.
"Your father was there the night that the Longbottoms lost their minds," Amycus continued cruelly, "Did you all know that about your classmate? He may act like the big man, but his parents were cowards."
Neville pushed himself to his knees through the pain of the curse, "They were not cowards!" He hissed.
Amycus laughed, "Oh, but they were. Just ask your father, Theodore. They screamed in pain; they screamed for mercy. They lost their minds because they couldn't take it, some Aurors that they were, huh?"
Neville looked at Amycus with more hatred in his eyes than he had ever managed to muster. He pushed himself to his feet and gripped a desk for support as the cruciatus curse made every nerve in his body feel like it was on fire.
"They were heroes," He hissed, and with that, he broke free from Theo's cruciatus curse. He grabbed his wand and tried to blast Amycus back into the desk with it.
Amycus was faster than him, though; he conjured up a shield charm and turned his beady eyes on Neville, "Attacking a teacher, are we?"
He threw Neville against the back wall of the classroom and used the cruciatus curse on him. He had been right; Theo's curse had been weak, but this was powerful and it hurt like hell. His body convulsed, and he couldn't suppress the screams of pain anymore. Amycus subjected him to five minutes of the curse, but it felt like hours.
When he finally withdrew his wand, he said, "Incarcerous!" and bound Neville to the wall.
"Longbottom will remain there for the remainder of the lesson," Amycus said nastily, "And let that be a lesson to all of you," his eyes fell on Susan, "Especially you, Miss Bones."
Neville spent the remainder of the hour in agony, but he didn't let it show. He didn't want to give Amycus the satisfaction that he was so desperately seeking. When the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson, Amycus instructed Theo to let Neville down.
Theo got closer than he needed to and cut the first tie with a cutting curse. Amycus headed up the stairs into the office above the classroom. Theo then cut the second tie, which freed Neville's legs.
"I'm sorry," Theo whispered as he cut the third tie, "I had to do it, or he would have," he mouthed the word 'suspected'.
Neville hissed in pain as the final tie was cut, and he slid to the ground.
"I didn't know that my father did that to your parents," Theo added, and Neville could tell that he was being honest.
He slipped something into Neville's pocket and leant in to whisper, "Healing potion."
Neville nodded briskly at Theo and limped out of the classroom. He was unsurprised when he found Susan waiting outside.
"That was stupid," Neville said.
She put an arm around his waist to support him, "Gryffindors aren't the only ones who can be reckless."
"Are you okay?" Neville asked as he glanced over at her.
"I'll be fine. I didn't spend the last hour strung up," Susan pointed out, "Are you okay?"
Neville took the phial out of his robe pocket and sniffed it. He then knocked it back and felt it begin to ease his aches and pains, "I will be," he answered.
Susan grabbed his hand, "Come on. I need to talk to you."
"We'll be late for Arithmancy," Neville said.
"No, we won't be," Susan assured him. She dragged him into an old classroom with dust-covered desks and drapes over the windows. She pulled one of them down and revealed a hidden mirror.
"Revelio."
The glass disappeared, and a stone passageway full of cobwebs appeared behind it.
"Hufflepuffs are good at exploring too," Susan said. She grinned at him and stepped through the mirror.
Neville chuckled and followed her in, "I know. I remember all of the weird and wacky shortcuts you used to use to get to the astronomy tower last year."
"You do remember?" Susan asked. She raised an eyebrow at him, "I thought you had forgotten all about me."
Neville frowned and grabbed her hand. She stopped and turned around.
"Of course I haven't forgotten," Neville said as he looked straight into her emerald green eyes, "I know you didn't want to call it dating, but Susan…" he nearly lost his nerve, but then he carried on, "You meant a lot to me. I wouldn't have just slept with someone I didn't care about, especially when it was…"
"Your first time?" Susan asked, a fond smile slipping onto her face.
Neville's cheeks flushed, "Yeah."
"You're sweet," Susan said. She leant in and kissed him on the cheek, "But that's not what this is about. I'm not naïve, Neville. We're in the middle of a war right now. It's hardly the time to rekindle old flames."
Neville smiled at her as her hand lingered on his cheek for a moment longer than it should have done, "I enjoyed our secret meetings last year, but I think the sneaking around this year is going to be for a far more sinister reason."
Neville nodded his agreement.
"So I just wanted to say that I know you have a plan," Susan said. She was keeping it as cryptic as possible, "And I want in on it."
Neville held a finger up to tell her to wait for a moment, then he pulled a scrap of parchment out of his bag and wrote a note.
Susan held it in her hands and glanced down,
"Room of Requirement. Tonight at 7 pm."
The note burst into flames, and Susan blew the ashes away then wiped her hands on her cloak. She looked up at him and nodded.
"Just you," Neville mouthed.
"But Hannah-"
Neville shook his head and caught her eye.
Susan didn't look happy about it, but she sighed and nodded.
"Come on," Neville said, "Because we really are going to be late for Arithmancy now."
"Bugger."
Finding somewhere secluded to have a secret conversation with someone was easier when that person was your boyfriend. There were listening charms virtually everywhere in the castle, but the grounds couldn't be controlled in the same way. This was because it interfered with the magic of the wards, combined with the vastness of the grounds.
The only problem was that the grounds were off-limits. The doors were locked and guarded every night, and students were only allowed on the grounds to access outside classes like Herbology.
There were no flying lessons, and the Care of Magical Creatures class had been suspended. Pansy had no chance of talking to Draco at break because they were treated like prisoners. They were shepherded in and out of the courtyards and watched continuously by Death Eaters.
She put her plan into place after Herbology. The bell rang for lunch, and she grabbed Draco's hand as they left the greenhouse together. Theo often walked with them, but more often than not, now he walked back to school with Sadie. This was mainly because Sadie didn't want to walk with Daphne and Blaise since they tended to slink off when the Carrows weren't watching and slip into the great hall half an hour late to lunch, and Sadie disapproved.
While the others headed up to the castle, Pansy whispered, "Come on," and dragged him towards the clocktower. The two of them dashed through the clocktower courtyard together and into the tower itself. Pansy pulled him into a secret passageway behind a tapestry.
Draco followed her up the back stairs silently. When they reached the top, they found themselves behind the giant clock that looked out over the courtyard.
"We won't be heard," Pansy promised him, "Between the cogs clicking round and the clock ticking."
Draco grinned at her, "You're a genius," he said, leaning in to kiss her.
Pansy smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. He pressed her up against the wall and ran his tongue along her bottom lip. She sighed into the kiss and opened her mouth, granting him access. Draco took one last step so that his body was pressed against hers, and he deepened the kiss, exploring every curve of her mouth with his tongue.
As much as Pansy wanted to spend her whole lunch break kissing him, she had brought him here for a reason. She broke the kiss breathily and rested her forehead against his, "I'd love to do a Daphne and Blaise and spend the next hour kissing you, but I do need to talk to you about something important."
Draco drew back a little, "Hence the clocktower."
Pansy nodded, "The girls and I were talking last week. We have a plan, but we need your help."
"You're talking to Daphne again?" Draco asked in surprise.
"Yes. It's a shaky friendship, but we're getting there," Pansy admitted.
"She isn't talking to me yet," Draco frowned.
"You broke her heart; I didn't," Pansy said honestly.
Draco sighed, "True. What do you need me to help with?"
"If I take you to a bathroom, would you be able to put wards up on it?" Pansy asked, her eyes searching his, "It needs to be unplottable, and it needs to have a perception charm on it so that nobody will see it even if they are walking straight past it."
"I can do that," Draco said, his eyes meeting hers, "Why?"
"Sadie has been experimenting with amazing magic," Pansy said, her eyes shining with pride, "She's discovered a spell which messes with the temporal composition of a room. It effectively jumbles all of time together so that anything said in that room is garbled nonsense. There is a bathroom on the second floor, and with a combination of wards and Sadie's spell, it can become a safe place for us to talk."
"Without being heard," Draco realised.
"Exactly," Pansy said.
"You girls are geniuses," Draco said, leaning down to capture her lips again.
Pansy kissed him back but mumbled, "Draco, we need to ward the bathroom."
"Can't we do it after dinner?" Draco asked, breaking the kiss and moving his lips to her neck.
Pansy breathed in sharply, "I mean we can, but-"
Draco's hands snaked around her hips. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear, "Because I really want to keep you hostage for the next hour."
Pansy caved and kissed him. This time she slipped her hands into his hair and pulled him closer. He deepened the kiss and adjusted, pressing himself against her tightly once more.
She broke the kiss and let her head rest on his shoulder, "I'll happily spend an hour making out with you, but I am so not losing my virginity in a clocktower."
Draco laughed and kissed her lightly, "Deal," he murmured against her lips.
Daphne already knew that her friends disapproved of her relationship with Blaise. She knew that they thought she was using him. She knew that they would go berserk if they knew exactly what she did with him after Herbology on a Wednesday afternoon.
That was why she hadn't told them about their encounters around the back of the greenhouse. She knew what Sadie would say if she ever caught them, but thankfully neither of the girls had come looking for her yet.
These thoughts ran through Daphne's head as Blaise hoisted her up, and she wrapped her legs around him. She didn't really care how wrong it was as she kissed Blaise roughly, biting his lower lip and making him groan under his breath.
"You'll pay for that," Blaise murmured. He shoved her skirt up, slipped her pants to the side then slipped into her.
Daphne gasped and gripped him tightly, "Thanks for the warning," she said sarcastically.
"Don't bite me next time," Blaise said, his eyes flashing playfully as he kissed her again.
Daphne moaned into the kiss and shuffled, pressing herself closer to him.
Blaise groaned and thrust into her hard. She stifled a moan by placing a kiss on his shoulder.
"I don't think Sadie approves."
Daphne groaned and pulled Blaise closer, "Blaise," she said breathily, "Do you really think I want to talk about Sadie right now?"
The dark-skinned boy smirked and pressed himself deeper into her.
"I don't care if she approves," Daphne added as she drew him in for a kiss and pulled him closer with her legs, "She thinks I'm using you, but you're fine with this just being sex. Aren't you?"
Blaise smirked and grabbed her arse, pulling her up and kissing her, "When the sex is this good? Course I am."
"So what's the problem?" Daphne quipped, kissing him once more.
"No problem," Blaise replied, and, thankfully, he left the issue there.
"You're getting a reputation," Sadie informed her friend as they all sat in the common room together one night.
Daphne rolled her eyes, "A reputation?"
Tracey glanced over at her friend, "Sadie's right. People are talking about you."
"And?" Daphne asked. She flipped her hair back carelessly.
"And they aren't saying nice things," Sadie said. She crossed her arms and looked down at her friend.
"You're turning into Slytherin's answer to Ginny Weasley," Tracey said bluntly.
"They are calling you a slut, Daphne," Sadie added.
"I got that, thanks Sadie," Daphne remarked sarcastically, "But I have only slept with two guys. Ginny Weasley is on like her fourth."
"I don't think it's that many," Sadie said, "And Ginny is a nice girl."
"A nice girl who likes older guys," Tracey pointed out, "I mean, she slept with Michael then Dean, who are both in our year."
"And she must have shagged Potter by now," Daphne said with a roll of her eyes, "Merlin knows why she would want to."
"Oh, come on, you totally had a crush on him last year," Tracey remarked.
"I really didn't," Daphne said offhandedly, "I was dating Draco, and when we broke up, I might have flirted with Potter a little because I thought it would annoy Draco the most."
"Which it did," Tracey added, remembering Draco's outburst with an amused smile.
"And it also totally broke Potter's brain," Daphne said with an amused grin.
"Any hot girl talking to Potter is enough to break his brain," Tracey snorted.
"Anyway, that's beside the point," Sadie interrupted.
"The point being that I'm Hogwarts' biggest harlot?" Daphne quipped.
Tracey fixed her friend with a knowing look, "You might have only slept with two guys Daph, but you're only 17."
Sadie nodded, "I mean, most 17-year-olds are virgins."
"Are they?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow at Tracey.
"Hey, I have shagged one guy-"
"Yeah, but it was Theo," Daphne snorted.
Sadie sighed and inadvertently glanced over at Theo.
"Yes, I know. It was an error of judgement that was aided by a large amount of firewhiskey. We went over this last year after I cried about it, remember?" Tracey asked, glaring at her friend.
"Yeah, you did cry for a few days," Sadie said.
"I don't blame you either; you lost your virginity to Theo," Daphne remarked distastefully.
"But my point is that I have learned from my mistakes, and I don't fuck people that I don't care about behind greenhouses, Daphne!" Tracey remarked.
"Back to that, are we?" Daphne asked irritably, "Blaise is fine with it."
"Of course he is, he's a guy, and you're hot," Tracey remarked, "But that doesn't mean it's healthy. I know that Draco broke your heart, but-"
"There are no buts," Daphne said firmly, "I'm not going to get hurt like that again, and that means no dating. Blaise is fun, and do you know what? I need fun because this school is a hell hole right now, and we're at war. We could all die, if you two want to die lonely and sexless, then that's fine with me, but I will have my fun while I'm young."
Tracey scoffed and shook her head, "Come on, Sadie, she's not listening to reason."
Daphne made a face at them as they walked away. She was just about to get up and head to the dorm room when Pansy sat down next to her, "Sorry, I heard that."
Daphne sighed, "What do you care, Pansy? You probably agree with them."
"I agree with you about not wanting to die lonely and sexless," Pansy admitted with a smile, "And I don't think you're a slut, for the record."
"Do you only agree with me because you're sleeping with Draco?" Daphne asked bluntly.
Pansy shook her head, "No, I haven't slept with Draco. I'm in the same boat as Sadie on that one."
"I guess he has grown up since I dated him then," Daphne said, her eyes lingering on Draco as he talked in whispers with Theo on the other side of the room, "I was stupid when I was with him. I lost my virginity at 15; that's slutty, right?"
Pansy shook her head, "I'll tell you what I told you at the time, you were almost 16, and you were in love with him. I'm not going to lecture you about Blaise, but… make sure to use protection, okay?"
"Of course I do," Daphne said. She smiled at her friend, "But I appreciate your concern Pans, you're a good friend. I'm sorry that I've been kind of cold lately."
Pansy shook her head, "I kissed your ex-boyfriend. I deserved it."
"It's in the past," Daphne said, tearing her eyes away from Draco, "There are more important things than my bitterness over our break-up."
Pansy nodded and leant in to whisper in her ear, "We'll talk about that tonight."
Daphne nodded too, and they fell into a comfortable silence.
That night, Sadie used her temporal charm in the common room once more, and Pansy informed the others that Draco had warded the bathroom to make it unplottable. He had also put up a perception charm on the corridor leading into the bathroom so that anyone who looked at it would see a sign saying the hall was flooded and automatically search for another bathroom.
The final step was authorising their magical signatures so that they could see past the perception charm. They agreed to sneak to the bathroom after curfew the following evening to finalise their plan.
The entrance hall was one of the first places to avoid when you were sneaking around after curfew. This was true in ordinary circumstances but was even more pertinent in the current climate. The Carrows ensured that it was permanently guarded to ensure that nobody left the castle through the main front door.
As such, Susan and Hannah, and the Slytherins, had to get to their respective meeting places via secret passages, and it just so happened that they all used the same one. Susan and Hannah snuck into the passageway behind the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff in the upper dungeons, and Susan found herself standing face to face with Theo.
The Slytherin boy blanched and stopped in shock. Susan stared him dead in the eye; she wasn't quite sure what side he was on after his display in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Hannah squeaked in alarm behind her, and Susan put up a silent shield charm to cover her friend.
Theo cleared his throat, "What are you two doing out of bed?"
"What is it to you?" Susan asked, her eyes boring into his. She was aware of Draco's presence behind Theo, but she couldn't see the other Slytherins.
"We enforce the laws of the school, and you are out after curfew," Theo said sternly, "You understand the punishment that comes with that."
"Do it then," Susan said, her eyes boring into his.
Theo made a point of holstering his wand, which confused Susan. He mouthed at her, "Play along."
Susan frowned.
"Crucio!" Theo yelled.
Susan cottoned on quickly and screamed as if she were being tortured.
Theo tapped her on the shoulder, and she stopped, "Get back to your common room and do not let me catch you out of bed again!"
He then mouthed, "Go."
Susan wasted no time. She grabbed Hannah's hand and pulled her up the narrow staircase, and the two Hufflepuff girls ran until they reached the fourth floor. They stopped to catch their breath, then crossed the main corridor and slipped into another passageway which they took up to the seventh floor.
By the time they stepped into the Room of Requirement, they were both breathing heavily.
"What happened to you two?" Ginny asked anxiously.
"And I told you not to bring Hannah," Neville said irritably, "I said just you!"
"She's my best friend. If we're doing this, then she's a part of it," Susan said irritably, "And nothing happened to us, Ginny, but we did just get fake tortured by the Slytherins."
"What?" Seamus asked.
"Exactly," Hannah said breathily.
"We came face to face with Theodore Nott in the secret passage," Susan explained, "And he scolded us for being out after curfew, then holstered his wand and said crucio. I played along and screamed like I was being tortured, then he let us go."
"So he is acting," Neville said, he leant against a desk that had appeared since their last visitation to the Room of Requirement, "I did wonder after something he said to me earlier today."
"He's one hell of an actor," Seamus retorted, "He tortured you in Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"Hardly," Neville admitted, "It was like pins and needles; his curse was weak. Amycus, on the other hand, …what he did hurt."
"It confirms your suspicions," Ginny said pointedly, "The Slytherins are playing along to stay alive. But what happened earlier is proof that we need to get out of the main school."
"I agree," Neville said with a nod, "The ghosts will help us. They have agreed to be our eyes and ears, so they will report anything out of the ordinary to us while we hide out in here. We will need to sneak out to get food unless we can get an elf on our side, and I expect as time goes on, we will need to steal supplies from the potions store and the hospital wing."
"So it is going to be exactly like guerrilla warfare," Ginny said.
Neville nodded and looked at the redhead, "It looks like it, yeah. All the same, is everyone in?"
They all nodded or said that they were.
"This will be our core group," Neville continued, "But I expect our numbers to grow as time goes on."
"What about the others?" Susan asked.
"We can't all disappear at the same time Suse," Neville said, "It would look too suspicious."
Susan narrowed her eyes at him, "So I see that you are looking out for your own; all of the Gryffindors are here."
"That's not it," Ginny said. She stepped forward, "We can only bring people in here when we are sure we can trust them. If this room is discovered, we don't just get in trouble like in fifth year. We could be killed."
Luna nodded, "Ginny is right, Susan. It has nothing to do with house preferences. We just need to protect everyone."
Susan sighed and said no more on the subject.
"Tomorrow night, we disappear," Neville said with a note of finality, "Gather any important possessions and come here after curfew. Susan and Hannah, do you think that you could bring as much food up as you can?"
Hannah nodded, "Of course we can, Neville."
"Luna, would you be able to steal some medical supplies and bring them with you tomorrow?" Neville asked, looking to the Ravenclaw girl.
"Yes, I will."
"And I'll steal some potions ingredients after class tomorrow," Neville said, "That should give us a good start."
Lavender nodded nervously, "So we're really doing this?"
Parvati grabbed her hand.
Neville looked around at their little group, "We're really doing this," he confirmed.
When they reached the second-floor corridor, Draco stopped next to a nondescript door. Everyone apart from Draco thought they were standing next to a door that was concealed mainly by buckets full of water, with a sign on it that said, "FLOODED CORRIDOR – STAY OUT."
Draco held his hand out to Pansy. She gave him her hand, and he placed it on the door. There was a buzz of magic, and her viewpoint changed. All of a sudden, she could see a large wooden door with a golden handle.
Next, Draco held out his hand to Theo. The dark-haired boy gave Draco his hand, and the blond man placed it on the door. Just like it had for Pansy, this allowed Theo to see the door in its true form too.
In this fashion, he placed the hands of Blaise, Tracey and Sadie on the door. Finally, he turned to Daphne and held out his hand to her. She sighed and grudgingly took it. The moment Daphne placed her hand on the door, it added her magical signature, and she saw it as the others did.
Draco opened the door, and they followed him into the flooded corridor. A shield charm on the door contained the water, which was at knee height for most of them. It was slightly higher for Daphne and Sadie, the two shortest members of the group. They waded through the water and followed Draco into the bathroom.
Nobody spoke as Sadie used her temporal charm. A golden glow encased the entire room then Sadie used an advanced freezing charm and a shield charm to hold it in place.
"It will need to be refreshed every so often," Sadie said once she was finished, "Like any sort of ward, it will get dodgy at the fringes over time."
"But for now, we're safe," Daphne said, breathing out a sigh of relief.
"Brilliant plan," Draco said. He smiled ruefully at them, "But I can't be a part of it because if he looks into my mind, he'll see this, and it won't be a safe place anymore."
"So you didn't ask Snape about Occlumency lessons then?" Theo asked his friend.
"I did, and he agreed to help me, but…" Draco sighed, "It's not easy. We're making progress but not enough to keep the Dark Lord out. Do not call him anything other than the Dark Lord; I think that's how they have been catching people."
"That would make sense," Pansy agreed.
"But we're not abandoning you," Theo continued, "You will get better at keeping him out, so I can't speak for the others, but I'll take my chances."
"And I'll take mine," Pansy said, taking a step closer to Draco and grabbing his hand.
Blaise nodded, "I'm with you, man."
"Me too," Tracey said, "Someone in my family has got to do the right thing. Icarus and Daedalus are determined to get themselves killed."
Blaise put his arm around her, "Yeah, my two oldest brothers have joined his ranks too."
"Really?" Tracey asked in surprise, "I mean, I'm not surprised about Blake but Beau too?"
Blaise nodded, "You guys know Beau; he would follow Blake to the ends of the Earth. Those two have a strange relationship."
"Well, they are only half-brothers," Pansy shrugged.
"Still," Theo said, raising an eyebrow at Blaise.
Draco's eyes were on the only two members of the group who hadn't said anything yet, Daphne and Sadie.
"Are you in?" Draco asked, his eyes locking onto Daphne's.
Daphne sighed and grabbed Sadie's hand, "I'm in, but if Astoria gets caught up in this mess, we need to get her out of the common room."
Blaise nodded, "I second that. If anything happens to my little sisters, we make sure that they are somewhere safe."
"Deal," Draco said, "If things get bad, we get Astoria, Beatrice and Billie out of the common room."
"Sadie?" Theo asked, looking at the tentative girl, "Are you in?"
Sadie bit her lip, "I just…what if we're caught, and they punish our families?"
"It's a risk," Theo said honestly, "But I think that it's one that we have to take."
Sadie sighed but nodded, "I'm in Draco. I won't abandon you."
"So we're all agreed then?" Theo asked. He looked around the group, "We help train Draco up so that the Dark Lord can't see into his mind, and we use this place to stay alive this year?"
"Yeah," Pansy said, putting her hand out.
Draco reached out and grabbed it. Theo followed suit. Next, Blaise grabbed their joined hands, then Tracey, then Sadie and finally Daphne.
"To survival," Draco said quietly.
"Whatever it takes," Daphne added darkly.
* ~ TBC ~ *