House: Ravenclaw

Category: Themed

Prompt: [Speech] "Well, I had this plan…"

WC: 2010

Ginny glared at their new 'Dark Arts' Professor. He was probably talking about some random curse she didn't care about. Why would she want to know how to perform whatever random evil thing he was teaching? She wasn't a Death Eater and she certainly would never join Voldemort. Placing her elbow on the table and using her hand to prop up her head, she glanced around the room, her eyes finally resting on Luna.

Luna was staring vacantly into space, as usual. Surprisingly, she seemed unaffected by the new school atmosphere, although Ginny knew that she was, on the inside. Luna had never been very good at…

"Miss Weasley, would you care to demonstrate the curse we've been learning these last few days," Professor Carrow asked, an evil glint clearly shining in his eyes.

"Nope," Ginny said, popping the p. "Firstly, I don't do dark magic. Secondly, I haven't been paying attention. Don't know what spell we've been learning, and I simply don't care."

Carrow scoffed loudly and turned to the person behind her. "Mr. Stafford, would you care to make the demonstration."

"But sir… Isn't the Cruciatus curse illegal?" Stafford, a student in Ravenclaw, asked fearfully.

"Not anymore, Stafford, not anymore. You'll all soon learn that you no longer have to hide your eminent curiosity about the dark arts. Now that the ministry of magic has been reformed, we can…"

Suddenly, Ginny stood up and grabbed her bag, clenching the strap so tightly that her knuckles went white. She didn't need to listen to a Death Eater ramble about the 'wonderful changes' being made in their new society. A society she knew was ending, and she desperately hoped it was ending soon.

Dark Arts was her last class of the day, so Ginny headed slowly down to the lake. Why was she even here? Why wouldn't Harry let her help him? It's not like she was any safer here at Hogwarts than she would've been helping him, wherever he, Ron and Hermione were. Why has she even bothered to come back to Hogwarts? She should ha've know that no school run by Death Eaters could be anything like the Hogwarts she had known.

"Hello Ginny." Luna's light voice disturbed Ginny's thoughts.

"Hey, is class over?" Ginny asked, surprised at just how long it had been since she had walked out of that dreadful lesson.

"Yes," Luna said. "I was thinking, remember in fourth year when Ms. Umbridge was teaching?" Ginny nodded, an idea of what Luna was trying to get at forming in her brain. "Well, Harry started the DA so that we could all learn Defence Against the Dark Arts, even though she wouldn't teach us. And well, Professor Carrow isn't teaching us defence so shouldn't we restart the DA?"

Ginny's jaw dropped as Luna finished talking. It was a brilliant idea, and she cursed herself for not having thought of it sooner. "Luna Lovegood, you are the most brilliant person I've ever met." She stood up, newfound fire in her eyes and a spring in her step. "We're going to need Neville's help. He's a Prefect and can help us schedule meetings behind Snape and the Carrows' backs."

Luna followed as Ginny began half running across the lawn and back to the castle. They found Neville straight away, sitting in the Great Hall, scowling fiercely at his dinner. He looked up as the two approached and sat on either side of him, leaving practically no room on the packed bench.

"You know Ginny, next time Carrow sees you, he's going to give you a detention for leaving class," Neville said, turning back to jab at his food.

"And?" Ginny asked, she was beyond caring about detentions. Her brother and friends were who knows where, risking their lives doing who knows what. Neville rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but she spoke first, cutting off whatever he was about to say. "That's not the point. We need to restart the DA. It was Luna's idea but we're going to need your help."

"How do you suggest we let everyone know?" Neville asked, his curiosity officially piqued.

"Well, I had this plan…" Ginny began slowly, uncertain at first. Then threw caution to the wind, confident in her friends' faith. "Paint." She let the word hang tantalisingly in the air before continuing. "Specifically, red paint."

"How will this help us?" Neville asked, not understanding what Ginny was alluding to.

"I think she's suggesting we do something like when the Chamber of Secrets was opened," Luna said, her eyes shining.

"Dumbledore's Army, still recruiting," Neville said, a fond expression crossing his face as he remembered the days of adventure, of camaraderie and friendship.

"So," Ginny said after a small silence, "tonight?"

"Not tonight, tomorrow night. Slytherin has patrol tonight," Neville said, mentally going over everything they would need to do to make this insane idea work. "I suppose neither of you happen to have an invisibility cloak?" The two girls shook their heads, wishing that they still had Harry to help them. "Then I can do the painting."

—

After much discussion, deliberation, and planning, they ended up deciding that it would be safer for Ginny to sneak out at night and do the painting. That way, Neville and the other Gryffindor Prefect could say that they hadn't seen who had done it, leaving them completely in the clear of any punishment the Carrows might decide to send their way. Not that an alibi would prevent punishment of the extreme kind. Sneaking into the entrance hall was easy. She was a Weasley, after all. Neville had successfully given her a route that meant she wouldn't encounter anyone, except perhapsmaybe Mrs. Norris. But, with Death Eaters roaming the halls, a nosy cat was the least of her worries.

Ginny smiled up at the stone wall outside the entrance to the Great Hall, remembering the 'rules' that Umbridge had posted there. Those Educational Decrees It felt like a lifetime ago. Ginny was momentarily torn over whether she would prefer Umbridge back again. But then Sshe pulled out her wand from her robes and began the spell that would paint the words on the wall. This specific spell that she and Luna had found could only be removed by scrubbing, the Muggle way. Any magic would just make it harder to get off, and being the Pureblood bigots that they were, the Carrow twins were sure to try that first. Brilliant, really. Of course, if she did get caught, she would be the one scrubbing it all off., However, shebut she had absolutely no intention of letting that happen.

Writing with her wand in the air seemed odd and unnatural, but the resulting effect was perfect. The words were slightly wobbly, but clearly readable to anyone who would happened to walk past. As she started back down the hallway towards the Gryffindor Common Room , Ginny was suddenly struck with an idea. Making a quick detour to the Room of Requirement's corridor, she carefully lifted the left corner of the tapestry, pulling it back across the wall. And, with her wand, she drew a tinylittle galleon, barely visible unless you knew exactly where to look.

—

Breakfast the next day was a complete and utter mess. One might even say chaos. The Carrows were more than furious., Hhaving heard countless stories about the DA, Headmaster Snape was keeping an eye on the Gryffindor table like a hawk, and McGonagall was trying her best not to grin. The students wouldn't sit still, running from table to table and shouting things to people all the way across the room. Former DA members were recruiting their friends and siblings, as well as explaining to the younger years what the DA was. The former members of the Inquisitorial Squad were either following the Carrows' example or Snape's. They all had looks on their faces like they had just smelled something rotten, and their hands were buried inside their robes, all of them obviously itching to draw their wands and perform one illegal hex or another.

Ginny tried to look innocent, but she couldn't keep a small smirk from her face. She, Luna and Neville had stayed up all night writing countless notes to pass around the student body, giving the time of the first DA meeting: that very same night at seven o'clock.

—

The turn out at the meeting was astounding, far more than the three of them had ever hoped. All of the original DA had come, as well as several first and second years, and some other higher years too. Neville was leading the meeting, using his newfound confidence to control the rowdy group. It was quite a task, as they were all raring to go and reluctant to be quiet.

"All right everyone, listen up!" Everyone, from the tiniest first year to the most cocky and confident seventh year, promptly shut up and stared in awe at Neville. "Welcome to the new DA's first meeting. A lot of you were here when Harry was leading it during Umbridge's time here. It's going to be very similar, only more serious now that we have the Carrows to deal with. I have here the original signup sheet, if you were in the DA before you don't need to sign it. If not please sign your name here at the bottom as you leave. That way, we'll know who's going to be attending our meetings from here on out. Just to warn you, there are preventative measures in case you were thinking about blabbing." The grave tone he had adopted vanished, and he smiled, wide and friendly. "To start, we're going to learn some defensive spells."

Ginny smiled as Neville divided them into groups of five. She couldn't believe it was actually happening, they were really doing something, really fighting against the Death Eaters. Every group had at least two old members, and most had someone from every house that was there. They started out simple, with the protego charm, it didn't take long for everyone to have mastered it. Everyone was helping each other and by the end of the night, all the new people could produce a corporeal patronus. It was fun seeing the silvery animals prance around the room, seeing friends and enemies alike laughing and joking with each other. The next meeting was set for two nights later at the same time and they dispersed in groups of three. Soon, only Neville, Luna, and Ginny were left, all beaming at their success.

"That went better than I hoped," Neville said, shocked at his newfound ability to lead. If only he could see his Grandma's face. She'd be more than shocked, having always viewed Neville as weak and good for nothing.

"Well, we all have the same goal. Strength in numbers, right?" Ginny said. She leaned back against the edge of a table, happy for the first time in months. They stood in silence for several minutes, basking in the warm glow of friendship.

.

"Well, I'm tired, so see you all later," she said, yawning and stretching her back with a crack. Neville nodded, his eyelids drooping with tiredness, and followed her to the door.

—

The next night at dinner Snape stood to address the school. Clearing his voice, he spoke, "As I'm sure all of you are aware, yesterday someone decided to paint on the wall outside the Great Hall an inappropriate message. Some of you have decided to act upon that message." He paused to stare around the room suspiciously. "If any of you are found to be participating in this so called 'Dumbledore's Army' you will be expelled, immediately." He spun on his heel, black cloak swishing dramatically, and walked back to his seat.

Ginny held back a laugh. As if that would be punishment. Although, it did seem different, holding such a big secret. Like the DA was a joke that none of the Professors were in on.

"Ginny," Neville whispered, leaning over to her. "What should we write next?"