Part IV: Revolution
Chapter VII: In Which Dumbledore's Army Recruits
Corinna went down the next morning to the Great Hall to see McGonagall passing out timetables. "Ah, Miss Crouch, here you are," she said and handed over the parchment. Corinna looked it over, not completely displeased with her schedule. Each of her classes were well spread out so she only had two or three classes a day. She did not have any real complaints until she reached Friday.
"I'm sorry, Professor," she said as she interrupted McGonagall handing a couple of second years their timetables. "There seems to be a mistake. I have double Muggle Studies on Friday."
"Yes, that is a new rule that our Headmaster enacted," said McGonagall, her lips pursed in a way that suggested she wanted to call Snape something else. "All students are required to take both Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies despite OWLs marks or interest."
Corinna's jaw dropped. If it wasn't for Muggle Studies, she wouldn't have any classes on Friday. "Professor, is there anyway to—"
"I'm afraid not, Miss Crouch," said McGonagall. "Now, unless there is an error with your schedule, I still have timetables to hand out."
Corinna dropped down on the bench and grabbed a piece of toast from the rack. "This is a load of rubbish!" she muttered. "Muggle Studies? Really? They're making that a requirement."
Neville made a face as he looked at his timetables. "I know," he said with a sigh.
"Something else is going on," said Corinna as she looked up at the staff table. Snape was notably absent, and the female Carrow looked at all the students hungrily. The male Carrow was busy handing out timetables for the Slytherins, and Slughorn kept giving him dirty looks over the water jug. "Why else would the two subjects taught by Death Eaters be a requirement for all students?"
"Better to control us, maybe," suggested Ginny when she joined Neville and Corinna after overhearing their conversation. "Neville, your suggestion for restarting the DA is sounding better and better."
"But again, who would teach it?" asked Corinna. "We know only what Harry taught us. Plus, Snape wasn't that awful of a teacher when he wasn't being a huge git."
The two of them looked at her. "What? The man might be a murderous bastard, but at least I feel like I have a better grasp on curses and counter-curses because of him."
"We'll figure something out," said Ginny.
"We also have Defense first thing, Neville," said Corinna as she looked at their timetables.
"Lucky," said Ginny. Corinna wondered what could possibly be lucky about that when she saw that Ginny had Muggle Studies. "I thought sixth year was supposed to be easier after taking OWLs."
"The fewer classes are an illusion," said Corinna. "You're just in the classroom less."
They joined the stream of students heading up to the various classes. They waited outside the Defense classroom, not quite knowing how this new teacher was going to be. Just before the bell was about to ring, the door opened and the students filed in. The classroom had the same set up as it did with Snape, and Corinna automatically walked to the table she shared with Harry. It hurt to see Neville take his spot, but she didn't say anything.
The class was silent as it always was whenever a new teacher was presented, which happened every year since their first year when they had Quirrell. They all looked at Carrow as he seized them up with a wicked grin on his face.
"Welcome to the Dark Arts," he said, and he gave a wheezing laugh as if he just made a joke. No one corrected him in what the class was actually called. "I am Professor Carrow and I was given the highest honor of teaching the next generation the greatness that is the Dark Arts. Can someone tell me about the affects of the Cruciatus Curse?"
Several hands went up, all of them Slytherins. It seemed that the only one who didn't raise their hand was Malfoy. The class already knew the answer as they covered it in both their fourth and sixth years, but it seemed that word got around that he was a Death Eater.
"Miss Parkinson," he called.
"The Cruciatus Curse is known as the torture curse," said Parkinson who was sitting up ramrod straight and seemed to be giving her best Hermione-ish impersonation. Only Crabbe and Goyle found it funny. "It causes the victim excruciating pain. Isn't that right, Longbottom?"
Neville's cheeks when pink and his fists clenched under the table.
"Five points to Slytherin," said Carrow as he looked about the room. "Yes, it puts the victim through excruciating pain. It's very effective if you need to get information out of them and you don't have any truth serum around." He gave a wheezing laugh. "Or if you just want to have a bit of fun."
Corinna shot her hand up.
"Yes, Miss Lestrange?"
The beginnings of whispers grew around the class. People kept glancing at her direction, but only three people were openly staring at her: Carrow, Neville, and Malfoy.
"I'm sorry, but I think you made a mistake," said Corinna as she kept her hand raised. "There are no Lestranges in class. I'm not even aware of any being at Hogwarts."
Carrow gave another wheezing laugh. "Must have mixed you up with someone else, Miss…"
"Corinna Crouch."
"Then Miss Crouch, you should know that is not how you introduce yourself. You always give your family name first. It is of pureblood tradition, after all."
"I'll keep that in mind," she said coolly. "But as the Cruciatus Curse is one of the Unforgivable Curses, it's illegal to use, as you should be well aware."
"It seems you are behind in the times, Crouch," said Carrow. "While other administrations have made the uses of the three Unforgivable Curses illegal, our new Minister had just passed into law to make them of fair legal use." He laughed again. "As it should have been all along."
There was excitement coming from some of the Slytherins, but all the other students were oddly still when they heard that.
"In fact, now would be an excellent time for a demonstration," said Carrow. "Crouch, Longbottom, why don't you come up to the front."
They looked over at each other, both looking terrified.
"I'll start docking house points if you don't follow my simple instructions."
Corinna just sat there, not caring if she got detention over something like this. She was not about to perform or get the curse performed on her. She looked sharply when the bench shifted and Neville stood up and headed right up to the front of the room. "Neville, no!" she said before she stopped herself, which earned more snickering from the Slytherins, but it seemed that the others around the room were also calling for Carrow to stop this.
"I'm sure your parents would be proud," said Carrow and he gave another wheezing laugh. "I was hoping to have Miss Crouch practice on you as it would be very fitting, but this will do. Cru—"
His wand flew out of his hand and landed on the floor with a loud clank. No incantation was uttered, but Corinna's wand was out, and it was pointed right at Carrow. Any other time, Corinna might have been proud of herself for finally managing wordless spellwork.
Carrow stared at her in amazement as the students waited with bated breath to see what he will do.
"It seems Crouch wants to be a part of the teaching opportunity after all," said Carrow as he calmly picked up his wand again. "If you have failed to notice already, this is a new era here at Hogwarts. While a previous professor might have docked house points for such insubordination, instead you will find that we have different methods of weeding out undesirable behavior."
He stepped forward so that he was directly in front of Corinna's table. "Crucio!"
Pain filled every part of her as the near-familiar feeling of white-hot knives stabbing her to the point that was all she could focus on. But it didn't last long. When she came to, clutching onto the table to keep from falling over, she saw that Neville had tackled Carrow to the ground. Even a few of the students had stood up and had their wands ready. Corinna noted that they were all old D.A. members.
When murder seemed to flash in Carrow's eyes, Seamus rushed up to the front of the room and dragged Neville off him. Neville was purple in the face from the rage burning in his own.
"Detention, Longbottom," said Carrow as he rose to his feet and tried to regain whatever dignity he believed he had. "I will see you in my office tomorrow evening. Now get out of my sight. All of you!"
No one mentioned the lack of homework assigned or that they still had half a period left. Corinna grabbed Neville's bag as Seamus all but dragged Neville away from Carrow as he went over to talk lowly with the Slytherins.
"You alright?" asked Seamus once they were out into the corridor and headed away from the classroom. Now that he was away from the Death Eater, Neville seemed to be trying to compose himself.
"Yeah, that wasn't my first time," she said casually. "He's not even pretending to be sane."
"Gonna just gloss over that, I take it," said Seamus. "Bloody hell, there's a lot to unpack there. What was up with him calling you Lestrange?"
She had managed to keep that secret from the school for two years. Two years without much incident beyond Hermione hounding her for answers and Neville hearing it from Bellatrix herself. And in one supposed misstep by the Death Eater and now seeds of doubt were being planted about her. "No idea," she said. "He's mental, what he is. I think we should go to McGonagall about this."
They all headed the Transfigurations Department. They had to wait outside as she was still in the middle of teaching third years about animagi. They would probably had to wait until the official end of classes, but Peeves decided that they were perfect victims to drop inkwells on, and being loud and obnoxious to draw her out.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, and Peeves whizzed away, cursing loudly. It was an easy sweep of her wand and the ink was removed from their hair and clothing. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
"We were dismissed early," said Corinna quickly.
"We were in Defense, which isn't even Defense anymore," continued Seamus.
"Carrow used the Cruciatus Curse on Corinna," said Neville, talking over the tail end of Seamus's statement.
"How about one person talks at a time," suggested McGonagall. "That would seem to be the best way to get the point across."
Seamus launched into the explanation of what had just transpired, using spots of colorful language that McGonagall periodically scolded him for. At least, until he got to the part where Carrow used the Cruciatus Curse.
"Do not worry Mr. Finnegan, Mr. Longbottom, and Miss Crouch," she said coolly. "I will be bringing this up with Carrow and the Headmaster. Just because the Ministry made it legal to use such a curse does not give the teachers grounds to use it on students." She steeled herself with righteous anger. "Finnegan, the students should be reading about animagi. The homework is already written on the board, so keep an eye on them until the bell rings. Longbottom, Crouch, with me."
They walked down the corridor until they reached the Gargoyle that protected the Headmasters office. As Dumbledore had a thing for sweets, the passwords were always of that theme. Even though he had finally realized his goal of being the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Snape was still a Potions Master at heart.
"Asphodel," said McGonagall and the Gargoyle leapt to the side. They walked up the stairs that lead to the Headmaster's office. "You both wait here," she said and strolled into the office.
Before Corinna could have a peak inside, the door slammed in her face. She could make out the distinct voices with McGonagall's loud, angry outbursts and Snape's uninterested tone, but she could not make out exactly what they were saying. Corinna and Neville would briefly look at each other and go to say something, but simply remained silent as they waited.
"This is an outrage!" said McGonagall as she opened the door, but had turned to give Snape a few more parting shots. "Allowing teachers to torture students as a form of punishment is not how we do things in this school."
"It is how we do them now," said Snape as he stood behind the desk that was once Dumbledore's. Anger burned in Corinna's belly momentarily until she glanced at the glass case behind Snape. "If you do not agree with them, Minerva, you are more than welcome to resign."
"Albus would be ashamed," said McGonagall. She let the words hang in the air before stepping through the threshold and slammed the door shut.
"What is going to happen now, Professor?" asked Neville.
"You lot are going to keep your heads down," she said. "Give the Carrows no reason to punish you."
"That's it?" Neville demanded as they headed to the Common Room as they both had a free period. "We are just supposed to stand by and take it?"
That was now two people she respected telling her to behave herself and toe the line. So she only felt a little guilty about what she was going to say next.
"You're right, Neville," said Corinna. "We are going to need the DA back together. If nothing else, we are going to need to teach the younger students how to defend themselves. The punishments won't end with us. But that is not all we should do."
She dragged Neville back to Gryffindor Tower after giving the password "Male iter facturus." As the Common Room was crowded with sixth and seventh years who currently did not have class, she found a secluded corner and cast "Muffliato."
"It will make it so we won't be overheard," she explained when Neville questioned what the spell was. "I am about to tell you something that can only stay between us. Well, we can include Ginny and Luna as well." She quickly explained to Neville what had transpired on Harry's birthday with Dumbledore's will. She did not talk about the three objects that were bequeathed, but the one that wasn't. "Dumbledore left the Sword of Gryffindor to Harry for a reason. I think it's to help him defeat Vol—sorry, You-Know-Who."
Neville's jaw tightened when Corinna almost said the name. "So we have to steal the sword from the office and somehow get it to him."
"Yeah, basically," said Corinna with a shrug. "Easy enough, right?"
There were many, many logical missteps involved in their scheme, but Neville was not about to point them out. "If it helps Harry, we'll do what we can."
"We'll do what we can to recruit," said Corinna. "But stealing the sword should only be between the four of us."
"Do the coins still work?" asked Neville. "We can use those to get in contact with the old members."
Corinna shook her head. "You and Luna were the only ones beside Harry, Ron, Hermione, and me who carried them around. Besides, I'm pretty sure only Hermione's coin was able to change the message, and I do not know the Protean charm to whip something up in the scale that she had done it."
"We'll have to recruit the old-fashioned way," said Neville as he thought for a moment. "Who has patrol tonight?"
"You, me, and supposedly Malfoy and Parkinson. Why?"
Neville didn't say as they went down to lunch. Since it was a nice day outside, he joined Luna outside so they could sit together. Corinna saw Ginny talking with some of her other friends, so she went to sit with Seamus. Of course, he asked what happened after they left with McGonagall, and he was livid to find out that the Carrows were going to be allowed to do such things to students.
She glanced over at the staff table. Snape and the Carrows were missing, and the rest of the staff were talking much more animatedly than they were the night before, uninhibited by the presence of Death Eaters. She wondered how the staff felt about the rapid changes occurring within Hogwarts. Knowing McGonagall and the others, they certainly were going to do what they could to protect the students.
After lunch, she followed the students back up to the Transfigurations classroom. There were fewer students in the class as it wasn't a broad requirement once one got to their NEWTs. She sat towards the front as McGonagall was barking at the students to sit closer since there were so few students in class.
"Mr. Malfoy, there's an open seat next to Miss Crouch. There's no point in you sitting all the way back there."
Corinna refused to look over at him as he lowered himself onto the bench. She merely unloaded her bag of her text, notebook, and quill. It was much better for everyone involved if she just ignored the fact that Malfoy even existed.
Once the class was settled, McGonagall launched into a speech about how important this year was going to be for their futures. "Despite what might be going on inside and outside these halls," said McGonagall, and she seemed to look right at Corinna when she said it, "you are here to learn what you can before you take the NEWTs in June. In some ways, these are more important than your OWLs as this will determine if you will continue your education, whether it be to become an Auror or Healer or other posts that need secondary education. Your future employers will also look at your grades even if further education won't be necessary for your chosen career paths. Trust me when I say that jobs such as the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes would not accept anyone below an Exceeds Expectations in Transfigurations as you will need to be able to undo anything odd that may come your way."
"Today, we will be reviewing Disillusionment Charms. Yes, I know, Mr. Macmillan, we have already covered this. But that was with subjects that are no bigger than your average pet dog. Today, we will focus on using Disillusionment Charms on people."
She reviewed the theory, but it seemed there was much more to keep in mind when using it on humans as the bigger the object you were trying to Disillusion, the harder it becomes and the more dangerous it can be if it goes wrong. With all the warnings in mind, she told the students to pair off with their table partner and practice on each other.
With no other choice, Corinna turned to face Malfoy, who also looked less than pleased at the arrangement. "Do you want to go first or shall I?" asked Corinna when Malfoy did not say anything. He shrugged and Corinna pulled out her wand. "Calamitatis," she said and flicked her wand at the top of his head.
"Ow!" he hissed, rubbing the top of his head, mussing with the platinum hair. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"
"Sorry," said Corinna, not sounding sorry at all.
Malfoy continued to his scowl but lowered his hand so Corinna could try again, properly this time. She thought he had gone a bit paler, but he had been devoid of most color for over a year at this point, so it was hard to tell. Either way, she said, "Reparifarge" to undo any damage that was done and sat still so he could perform the charm. She felt as if egg was dripping down her hair, but she looked at her limbs and she seemed to be about the same.
This went on for a few more attempts, but it seemed that, whenever Malfoy was tasked to perform the spell, he was taking his time to do anything. "Look, I don't want to do this with you either," she hissed when he made no move from being slouched over the table. "But unlike you, I care about doing well in my classes—"
"Who said I didn't care?" asked Malfoy, glowering at Corinna.
"Gee, I don't know, maybe it's your slumped over posture or the fact you won't put in any effort for being a head prefect? We get it, your family has money and you don't have to work a day in your life once you're done with school, but others don't have that luxury."
"It's not like your Weasley poor yourself," said Malfoy coolly. "The Crouches were always well off. It's not as if you were left with nothing."
"Then tell me what the hell you're doing in school after becoming a bloody Death Eater?"
With students shouting spells in hopes that saying it louder will produce better results, and McGonagall rushing over as someone's attempt to repair the damage was not working. It gave them the perfect cover to have such a conversation.
It also helped that Malfoy managed to pale even more when the accusations were being thrown around.
"Do you think I wanted that?" he asked in a low voice. "Do you think I wanted them to brandish me and give me a task that was sure to get me killed? Do you think I really wanted Snape to…"
The soup she ate for lunch boiled in her stomach. "You could have said something to anyone, even Dumbledore—"
"He would have killed me!"
That caused some heads to swivel in their direction and Corinna quickly flicked her wand to give the illusion of casting the charm. Nothing happened as she was absolutely not focusing on the task at hand.
"By 'he' I assume you mean Vol—"
"Don't say his name!" said Malfoy and he looked around in a panic as if expecting Voldemort to show up. "Haven't you lot figured it out yet? He put a taboo on his name. Anyone who dares to say it will cause Snatchers to come by and arrest you."
"Snatchers?"
"It's what he calls the people he sent out to track down runaway Mudbloods and others they know are part of your little Order of the Phoenix gang."
"I won't say his name if you quit using slurs like that around me, Malfoy." But her heart was beating fast in her chest. She was worried about Dora and her unborn child. She thought of Harry, who always said Voldemort's name without abandon. She even thought of Remus. As much as he's a git, she did not want him arrested by Snatchers. She would have to hope that the Order's information was up to date enough for him to know about such things.
"You act like we're having a real conversation here."
"Well what do you call it? It's not like we are trying to make each other invisible or anything."
"Calamitatis!" said Malfoy as he hit Corinna over the head with his wand.
"Now look who's hitting me!" she muttered as she reached up to rub her head as the egg-drop feeling spread around her. To her amazement, when she lowered her hand, it was gone! Well, when she stopped moving, she couldn't see it. When she moved her arm, she could see the background shift as the charm worked to blend it back in. It was very disconcerting to know that your limb was supposed to be there, but it couldn't be seen.
"Well done, Mr. Malfoy," said McGonagall as she appeared next to them. "Ten points to Slytherin." She used her own un-Transfiguration spell to fix Corinna. "Let's see your attempt, Miss Crouch."
Trying not to be annoyed with Malfoy, she cast her own Disillusionment Charm. He was very nearly invisible as he himself was so white, but his black robes were still faintly seen. Corinna was told to practice more until the end of the period, in which McGonagall assigned homework and sent them off.
She automatically headed towards the library during break only to tense when she saw the usual table that she shared with Terry. When she looked upon the spot he always sat, instead of seeing his joyful face or his concerned one during their most serious conversations, she saw his dead body with a hooded figure hovering over him.
She rushed out of the library as fast as she could, only to run headfirst into Ernie. "Sheesh, where's the fire?"
"Nothing," said Corinna quickly as she tried to compose herself. "I just went in there expecting to find Terry."
Ernie immediately turned grave when she said that, and he nodded. "Yeah, I keep looking out for Hannah and Susan and…" He gave a shuddering sigh. "It's weird to think that they should be here and not seeing them is like…"
"I know," said Corinna, feeling the loss of everyone that wasn't there. She sighed heavily as she glanced back at the library. "I know."
That evening, Corinna learned what Neville had planned. They met in the Common Room before their rounds and produced a clear pot of what looked like nothing.
"It looks like my arm when I had the Disillusionment Charm on me." She moved it around as the background shifted to help it blend in. "What is this thing?"
"A new Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes product," said Neville with a smile on his face. "It's anti-disappearing paint. You remember that joke ink from Zonko's that would turn invisible?" After Corinna nod, he continued. "Well, this is has the opposite effect. When you put it on, it's invisible, but after a few hours, the message appears."
"That's brilliant," said Corinna. "And it would give us plausible deniability. We do our rounds, put the messages up, and they will only show up after we have gone to bed. Neville, you're a genius!"
"Fred and George did all the hard work for us," said Neville with a shrug.
"Having to figure out the best way to use something is just as important," said Corinna with a smile. "Here," she said, handing it back.
Neville refused to take it and shook his head. "I have my own," he said as he pulled out another pot.
"Why did you buy two of them?" asked Corinna, and then she narrowed her eyes at Neville. "Hang on, you expected something like this, didn't you?"
"I didn't think that they would put literal Death Eaters in charge of Hogwarts," said Neville quickly. "Just, you know, thought it would be useful."
"All that aside, we need to be careful about this." Neville handed her a paintbrush and she put both in her pocket. "Only do it when you know for sure no one else is around, but also make sure you are seen by professors just walking about. It will look oddly suspicious if we aren't seen at all. We only need a few messages up to get the point across."
"Okay," said Neville with a nod.
Corinna was thankful for the messages to give her something to do as patrolling the corridors was rather boring. Word had gotten around that the male Carrow used the Cruciatus Curse on a student and got away with it. Now it seemed that everyone was mostly sticking within their Common Rooms and, if someone did come across them in the corridor, they rushed to wherever their destination was without looking back.
She was surprised to see that Malfoy and Parkinson decided to join them for patrol. Parkinson taunted the younger students whenever she came across from, for which Corinna immediately sent them to their Common Rooms to get them away from Parkinson.
"You definitely aren't a Lestrange," she teased. "You would have joined in if you were."
"It's a good thing that I'm not, then," said Corinna as she headed back the way she had came to avoid Parkinson. Once she heard Parkinson's own footsteps retreat and disappear, she found a blank wall and took out her paintbrush. She put the message in a messy scrawl, right in the Charms corridor that was an intermediary between wings.
It was a mostly uneventful evening. Professor Slughorn struck up a conversation with her, so she couldn't get a message in the Entrance Hall as she wanted to. He seemed to want to stick with Corinna like sellotape as he talked about what he had planned for class and how disappointed he was that Harry wouldn't be joining them. A darker part of Corinna thought that this may be her time to finally shine in Potions without Harry and Hermione there, but she quickly dashed those thoughts away. She would much rather have the three of them here.
She was glad to have shaken Slughorn off so she was alone to tag more walls before they were sent off back to their Common Rooms as no more students had been seen.
They wouldn't see their handiwork until morning, but that was not the reason for Corinna's tossing and turn. As much as she shook off being tortured by Carrow, it trudged up the feelings she had started to get over as August progressed. She felt it whenever she closed her eyes and forced her mind to relax.
It also didn't help that, whenever she turned onto her side, she saw the empty bed that was always occupied by Hermione. She always wanted the bed closest to the door, which both Lavender and Parvati were fine with as it opened them up to be closer to the bathroom. It was a silent agree between her and Lavender that they would just take their usual beds and leave the ones that held their friends ghosts alone.
She walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast that Wednesday morning, feeling more like an inferni than a human. At least she got to witness all the graffiti in its visible glory. It seemed that Neville was able to put up more messages than her. He also deviated from their original plan of simply telling people that the DA was recruiting new members. He added phrases such as 'Down with the Death Eaters' and 'What Would Harry Potter Do?'
It seemed that Neville was also able to put up a message where Corinna could not, but the message itself made her stop in her tracks. Covering the wall just above the marble staircase in large, block letters was the phrase:
SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE!