HYDEN

I crept along the seventh floor corridor, clutching my bag tight to my body, wand in hand. Though I was technically not anywhere out of bounds, and it was only half past dinner, being caught doing literally anything by a Carrow or one of their cronies outside of class or a dorm could spell trouble. Especially if my bag was confiscated.

I made it safely to the stretch of wall where I knew the door to the Room of Requirement would be, and as I approached where I remembered leaving the room, the door appeared. I checked once again that I hadn't been followed before slipping inside.

Our little safe house smelled very odd, like vegetables cooking that didn't all go together, or burnt. Launa was attending to the cauldron she had set up on the floor, her hair plaited back and brows furrowed in concentration. She looked up and beamed at me when I stepped towards her.

"Ah! 'Ayden, were you successful?"

"Pretty much," I said, setting my bag down next to her to let her root through it. "Took me a bit longer than I expected in Greenhouse Four, Sprout had it rearranged."

"Merci, 'Ayden," she said with a grin. I grabbed a pillow off of one of the low slung bunk beds to cushion myself against the floor as I sat down next to her. She had pulled out everything I had managed to pick from the greenhouses, muttering under her breath as she organized them. Tiny beads of sweat were on her tan forehead.

"Where is Neville? 'E was supposed to be with you."

"We split up, didn't want to get caught together. I think he's gone to get Ginny and Luna."

"Perfect."

She busied herself adding one of the herbs to the cauldron, stirring the contents as a small puff of pink smoke rose from it. This had to be one of the most complex things I had ever seen her brew.

"How long will this last?" I asked.

She frowned, bundling up some of the blue and silver flowers so she could chop them. "I, er, don't know. 'Opefully at least an 'our, but... I 'aven't been able to brew it for as long as I'd like..." She sliced the flowers very thin, then added them to the potion. "Zer will be plenty, though. Twice what we will need, I tink."

"Well, that's good then." I tried to think of something else to say, but decided against bothering her. She was back in her familiar state of focus. Instead, I summoned the bottle of Dittany that was on a bedside table and rolled up my left sleeve. The cut marks from my last detention were still red and aching, though at least had closed up since this morning. I carefully rubbed a thin layer on, enjoying the relief it brought. I couldn't decide what was worse - having Crucio or Diffindo practiced on me as a punishment.

The door opened again and Launa and I both jumped, but it was just Ginny, Luna, and Neville. The bruises on Ginny's neck looked a lot better today than they had yesterday.

"Sorry, we almost got caught by Nott near Ravenclaw, had to backtrack down to the fifth floor," Neville said. "You got everything you needed, Launa?"

"Yes! I believe everyting is on track. It should be finished by lunch tomorrow."

"Excellent," Ginny said, sitting down on a bed with a grimace. "Bloody hell I'm still aching. Pass me that Dittany, would you, Hyden?"

"All yours."

Ginny rolled down her socks and began to rub Dittany on her own cuts, criss-crossing her calves.

"Let's go over the plan again, shall we?" Neville asked. He had become a different person as of late — determined, willful, insolent. It was almost as if Harry was back with us, sometimes. "Just after dinner tomorrow, we know Snape will go back up to his office. We beat him there, take the Invisibility Potion, and hope he follows us quickly."

"We listen for the password," I added. "And then wait for him to leave again."

"Hang on, we're all going to wait around for Snape?" Ginny asked. "Seems excessive."

"Just one of us could wait," Luna offered. "I can do it."

"Alright, one of us, then," Neville conceded. "I think there's a secret passage not far from the Headmaster's office."

"There is," I said. "It's about a corridor and a half east, behind a tapestry of the blokes with all the figs."

"Excellent. So we'll wait there for you, Luna, and you'll be invisible for—how long, Launa?"

"Erm, 'opefully an 'our, but at least twenty minutes."

Ginny frowned. "And how about when you take it, how long does it take to turn you invisible?"

"Oh, zat is instant," Launa replied, glancing down the potion book propped up against a bedpost next to her. "Zat much I am sure of."

"I'll take it as soon as I hear him gliding down the corridor," Luna said, staring off out the window.

"Right. So then, after we get the password, we've got to lure him out. Launa, Hyden, you still think you can find Peeves?"

"If we can't, I'll come up with something," I said. "I think I've still got some of Fred and George's fireworks."

"I do," Ginny added. "I'll get them to you tonight when we're back in the dorm."

"Excellent," Neville said. "And Luna, you'll be watching for when Snape leaves his office?"

"Naturally."

"And we will know from ze coins, yes?"

"Yes."

"We won't have long in there," I pointed out. "Maybe ten minutes."

"What are we liberating from him again?" Luna asked.

"Gryffindor's sword," Ginny replied. "It belongs to Harry now, we've got to get it to him."

"Well, it does belong to the goblins," Luna reasoned very sagely. "I'm sure Harry is planning on giving it back to them."

"What do you mean it belongs to him?" I asked.

"Dumbledore willed it to him," Ginny replied. "I overheard them whispering about it at the Burrow, right before the wedding. Remember Scrimgeour ruining the party?"

"Right, yeah, but—"

"And if Dumbledore said he should have it, it's got to be important," she added stubbornly. "We can work out how to get it to him later, we've got to get it first."

"Anyone know where in the office it is?" Neville asked.

"I would display it, if I were Dumbledore," Luna said. "It's a very beautiful relic."

"Yeah, but Snape's a prat, not stupid. He might have it hidden away, or it might not even be there anymore," Ginny said. "But, we have to try. We have to."

"Exactly," Neville said, nodding his head. "Ten minutes, in and out, all of us with some of Launa's potion, and hopefully we can make it back up here before he even gets back to his office."

Everyone sort of nodded in agreement before drifting into quiet for a moment. I had done a lot of risky things when I was part of the rebellion against Umbridge, and with the DA, but breaking into the Headmaster's office had never exactly been on my to-do list. Snape could have all sorts of mad defenses set up that we couldn't even dream about. But one glance at Ginny's determined face told me that she was going to do this with or without us.

Better with than without.

The small vial that was in my pocket felt incredibly heavy, and large, and just visible to everyone around me. Ever since Launa had passed me the Invisibly Potion at the beginning of Herbology, I could not stop thinking about it. The slightest weight in my pocket. Fretting over if anyone noticed it; they must notice this incredibly important and highly against the rules potion. The same with the fireworks that were very carefully concealed between textbooks and under parchment, jammed together so they wouldn't shift around. I carried these bombs all afternoon with me, walking with my head down and deep in crowds so teachers couldn't pick me out. I hardly talked in class. Anything I could do to be inconspicuous. There wouldn't be time in my day to run back to the dorm until we had the sword with us. It was absolute torture walking around like this. Professor Sprout asked me if I was sick. I said I wasn't in my most convincing tone, which must have been mediocre. She didn't push the subject, but she still looked at suspicion at me. I muttered something about not getting good sleep.

I couldn't eat at dinner. I put some things on my plate, pushed them around. The thought of eating made me sick, my stomach twist even tighter in on itself. As usual it was terribly quiet and subdued in the Great Hall. I hadn't realized how much I enjoyed the buzz of conversation around me until it was gone this year. The only people talking above a whisper were the members of Slytherin House who had so far deeply enjoyed Snape's reign. I sat with Neville and Seamus, the only boys left in our year. I hadn't ever much cared for Seamus, but when Dean didn't turn up for his last year, an odd sort of comradery between the three of us struck up. We hadn't spoken much, just the two of us, but he had inexplicably stood up for me in our Dark Arts class at the beginning of the month and earned himself a rough detention for it. Launa and Ginny eventually joined us, the five of us distanced from other students along the Gryffindor table.

"Anything from the Quibbler today, Ginny?" Neville asked quietly, hunched over his plate of roasted vegetables.

"Nothing on Harry," she replied, forking baked fish onto her plate. "But it did confirm that story about Dirk Cresswell. He did escape Auror custody on route to Azkaban, fully in the wind, but he didn't kill anyone. Dwalish is fine."

"Good man," Seamus breathed, tone daring to be optimistic. "Serves 'em right."

"I'll say," Neville agreed.

We couldn't talk about the plan, but we couldn't not talk about the war. The four of them rehashed all the information they had learned since day one, adding in new slivers of information they had learned or overheard from others whispering between classes just like them. I didn't want to know. Everything was bad enough in here. I couldn't fathom the murder and despair happening outside the walls. It was too much.

Across from me, Neville's eyes darted to his left every minute or so. He looked twitchy, but I knew from following his gaze once that he was watching for Snape to get out of his seat at the center of the teacher's table. After maybe twenty minutes of pretending to eat, Neville abruptly got up. "Sorry Seamus, just remembered some homework I need to finish, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, right, later," he said, and waved as Neville left. I glanced over to Ravenclaw and saw Luna getting up from the table.

"Erm, Launa, can you still help me with this Potions homework?" I awkwardly asked, not sure how else to excuse myself as Ginny just rose and left, following Luna out of the hall.

"Oh, yes, ze book is back in my dormitory," she said, standing up as well. "I'm finished if you are?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, swinging my legs over the bench and following suit. "See you later, Seamus."

"Bye," he replied moodily, stabbing at his food. "I'll be up in a bit."

"Right."

I felt a bit bad just leaving him here alone, but we had other plans. Unsure of where the others had gone, Launa and I wound our way up to the second floor in a very roundabout way, trying our best to not be followed and still look like we were just heading up to the dorm or library. We didn't dare speak a word to each other, even casual small talk, as we walked. My bag and pocket felt heavier than ever.

Eventually, we came to the tapestry that concealed the hidden staircase up to the fourth floor. Neville and Ginny were already here, their bags a few steps up from themselves, expressions relieved when it was Launa who pulled back the tapestry and not a teacher.

"Luna's gone ahead," Ginny said, holding up the coin she was clenching in her left hand. "Hope she doesn't get caught."

"Does she 'ave a cover story if she is?" Launa asked, adding her bag to the pile.

"It's Luna," Ginny shrugged. "She'll think of something. Nargle hunting, or whatever."

No one had a retort for this, so we waited in quiet. I fished my my own DA coin out of my bag, along with the fireworks, and held them all tight in my arms. I tried to think of where I had seen Peeves today, or rather, heard about him being. Then again, he was nearly impossible to find when you wanted to, and always showed up when you didn't. The fireworks would probably be a more reliable distraction.

After what felt like an eternity, the coin gripped in my hand started to warm uncomfortably. I unclentched my fist and checked the coin. The numbers had changed, but not in a way that I could understand as a code. I resigned to shoving the burning Galleon back in my pocket. Hopefully, this was a good sign, and not one that she had been caught. I watched Neville turning his own coin over and over again in his hands as we all waited with bated breath for something more to happen.

Finally, a lone pair of footsteps could be heard in the corridor, gentle and calm, before the tapestry moved on its own. I jumped, but the tapestry fell back into place as we heard Luna's voice say, "Oh, sorry, I'm still invisible. I should have given you all Spectrespecs."

"Did you get it?" Ginny asked.

"Oh yes, it's very simple. Wolfsbane, how silly," Luna said, laughing a little.

"What, really?" Neville let out a laugh as well. "That's it?"

"What an idiot," Ginny muttered, casting a Disillusionment charm over our gathered bags on the stairs. "Right, time for the fireworks. Send a signal once you've got them going off."

"Right," I muttered, and Launa and I took off again down the hall, fireworks in hand. We passed the statue that concealed Snape's office, continuing past and towards the grand staircase. "Honestly, I didn't think Snape was that daft," I whispered to Launa. "Wolfsbane?"

She just shrugged. "It 'as to be simple enough for ze Carrows to remember."

"Good point."

As we approached the staircase, we could hear lots of footsteps and voices echoing up. Dinner must have finished.

"Let's take ze potion," Launa suggested. "Are you sure this is ze best place?"

"Yeah," I replied, though now that she was asking, it felt like the stupidest plan I had ever concocted. I didn't know why everyone expected me to be the pro at pulling stunts like this now. I hadn't orchestrated any of the pranks against Umbridge - just helped pull them off. I had no clue what I was actually doing. But targeting a large place with heavy traffic and a lot of valuable portraits that will complain loudly seemed like our best bet. So we pressed ourselves against the wall twenty or so paces away from the staircase, pulled out the tiny bottles of shimmery potion, and drank them. I watched Launa fade rapidly from existence, and looked down to find myself disappeared as well. Disconcerted, we bumped into each other before grasping hands to walk down the rest of the corridor together. It was terribly odd not being able to see my own hand, or the fireworks I was grasping, as we reached the landing.

There were a large number of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws on the stairs, all working their way up towards the seventh floor. One group of young Ravenclaws was just turning up the stairs that lead right to our landing.

"Quickly," Launa hissed, and I pulled out my wand.

"I'll light them, you throw," I whispered back, letting go of her hand to fumble with a firework. I tapped it with my wand, and it started to vibrate in my hand. I handed it off to her, and the firework appeared in midair, arching up towards another staircase, when it exploded.

My ears rang as the sound rattled my bones, and I heard vague screams as silver stars began shooting out and bouncing all around the staircase. Without thinking, I lit another and handed it off, this one firing off down below us. Launa tugged me up the stairs, and we continued until we had thrown 6 more and the staircase was engulfed in chaos.

"Back, now," I muttered, and we links hands again before descending again and slipping past fleeing students, following a few along the second floor. I reached in to my pocket and gripped the coin hard, making it burn in my hand. We stumbled along, trying to avoid being jostled by students, until we saw Snape walking briskly towards us. Launa and I flattened ourselves against the wall as he snapped questions at the panicked students, but none of them answered his questions.

"Get to your common rooms immediately," he snarled, and continued down the corridor to the stairs. We waited for a few moments for the hall to clear, and then continued to creep down to the statue. Our hands were sweaty, locked together, and I could feel my erratic pulse beating all the way down in my fingers. I didn't dare let go of her, for fear of not finding her again.

As we approached the gargoyle statue, we heard Ginny's voice hiss, "Hyden? Launa?"

"It's us," I replied to the air where it seemed her voice came from.

"Let's go," Neville's voice said. "Wolfsbane."

The statue leapt aside, and I bumped shoulders with someone as we all moved towards the staircase now accessible to us. Our footsteps echoed in an awkward rhythm as we ascended, the statue jumping back into place behind us. We finally passed through the doorway at the top and toppled into the office. I had been here exactly once before, during my third year. Snape didn't seem to have the same affinity for weird, whistling objects that blew smoke as Dumbledore did. The office was nearly bare of furniture apart from the desk, chairs, and bookshelves that lined the room.

"There! In the case," I heard Ginny whisper out from somewhere in front of me. We all started to more forward, clumsily bumping into each other. I heard Launa hiss out as I accidentally trod on her heel.

Just as we reached the desk, I hissed, "Wait! What are the chances we can't even get through the glass? Or that it's charmed with an alarm?"

"We'll be even faster," Ginny snapped back, and before I could say anything else, there was a bang and crash as Ginny's spell shattered the glass case. I saw the sword tip out of the case before it vanished, clearly in someone's hands.

"I say! Who's there?" one of the portraits asked indignantly, but I didn't care to glance up and see who it was. I just ran back to the door, fumbling with the knob. Not being able to see my own body was making this much harder than I expected it to be.

"Go!" I heard Neville call out behind me, and I threw myself down the stairs with little thought. It didn't register that there were also footsteps coming from in front of me until I took two more steps and ran full force into Snape. We both yelled as we toppled down the stairs. I struggled to free myself from him, kneeing him in the stomach as I scrambled over him, kicking at him as his fingers tried to grasp around my ankles. We were just two steps from the bottom of the stairs, I was so close to getting away—

I felt chains wrap tightly around my body, and I couldn't get my hand in my pocket fast enough. I wriggled limply on the stone steps, hoping the others would be able to rush Snape and get away. I tried to roll and see what was happening in the struggle, but all I could see was Snape's legs and hear the sounds of spells flying and people shouting. It seemed to last forever, and Snape got shoved further down the stairs by Neville, but eventually, there was quiet except for labored breathing. I lifted off the ground and began floating back up the stairs, facing downwards. My heart was still racing. There was no way he would expel us — it was much better for the Death Eaters to know where we were at all times. But there were much worse things he could do to us in the castle. I thought of Neville's parents, tortured out of their minds… would Snape go that far?

I flipped and dropped to the floor back in the office, eyes locked up to the ceiling. I couldn't move a muscle, now that I tried.

"Black," Snape said in his most deadly, soft voice. "Weasley… Lupin… Lovegood… and Longbottom." I heard the scrape of metal on stone. "What do you think you're doing in my office?"

One of the curses lifted and I could at least wiggle again, though the chains still bound me. Somewhere to my left, I heard Ginny spit, "Leaving you some soap."

Snape swept away from us, and I rolled to try and follow him. Ginny was closest to me, then Neville a little further away from her. Snape had walked up towards his desk, the sword in one hand and his wand in the other. With a wave, the glass case repaired itself, and he set the sword on his desk.

"You will be facing detention for the rest of the month," he finally said, voice devoid of emotion. "Beginning tonight." He waved his wand and conjured a Patronus, a silvery doe, and said, "Come up to my office, immediately. I have a job for you."

We waited in dead quiet for what felt like an hour. Ginny and Neville both tried to wiggle out of their bonds every now and then. Luna hummed a non-sensical tune from somewhere behind me. I tried over and over to think of who Snape had sent for, each theory worse than the last. Finally, there were lumbering footsteps on the stairs, and the door opened.

"Ye called—galloping gargoyles! What'er they doing tied up like tha'?"

Thank Merlin it was Hagrid.

"I caught these five breaking into my office to try and steal this," Snape said, addressing Hagrid from where he sat behind the desk. "They will be serving detention with you for the rest of the month in the forest. Every night after dinner until midnight." Hagrid seemed too stunned to respond. Snape waved his wand, and the chains finally disappeared. Body numb, it took me a few moments before I could stand, wobbling as I went. Ginny looked angry; Launa looked like she had been trying not to cry.

"Come on, then," Hagrid mumbled, and he lead us carefully down the stairs. When we made it to the corridor, he finally spoke up. "Wha' do you think yer doing, messin' with Snape like tha'?"

"Harry needs the sword," Ginny said through gritted teeth. "We just weren't fast enough—"

"You are damn lucky he called me and not the Carrows." Hagrid cut her off, frowning at all of them. "Or Azkaban."

I swallowed hard. I hadn't even considered Azkaban.

"We'll talk more when we get down there," Hagrid said, and he forced us to walk in front of him all the way down to his cabin so he could keep an eye on us. The cold air was biting, and we all shivered without our cloaks. "Now," he began again, "I don't have pleasant work to do in there, but you lot don't have yer cloaks, so… I suppose we'll go easy tonight."

"What are we doing?" Neville asked, clearly steeling himself.

"Dark creatures have been stirred up." Hagrid left us briefly to get some lanterns from his hut. "You lot will be more than enough to help, but it's not safe work."

We all exchanged glances. No one looked particularly up to arguing or trying to escape. This was the best detention any of us had been set in months.

I sighed and accepted a lantern from Hagrid, lighting it with my wand. "Just tell us what to do."