Chapter eight: Three Broomsticks, Five Death Eaters and Nine Gryffindors
'This' Ginny thought to herself, 'is something that I'd never have done in my time!' She was sitting in the Three Broomsticks, on a Friday evening, without permission, with eight other Gryffindors. Although she was sticking to Butterbeer, she was one of only two with several of the others on mead or wine and both James and Sirius becoming quite effusive and enthusiastic on Firewhisky.
The evening started simply enough, in the common room, a group of sixth and seventh years sat around engaging in the usual banter. Then someone, OK Sirius, suggested a quick drink to celebrate the fact that it was the 2nd of December. Well it had seemed like a good reason at the time. So the nine of them had snuck out of the tower, narrowly avoiding the insane Fitch, and disappeared down one of the secret tunnels from the school to Hogsmeade.
Ginny was surprised that Madam Rosmerta, the barmaid of the Three Broomsticks, although always nice to students on their Hogsmeade days, was apparently fairly willing to turn a blind eye to less than permitted activities when she was younger. She spotted them sneaking in on over to a half-hidden table at the back of the pub and came over happily to serve them.
She had been in the middle of laughing at Benjy Fenwick's impersonation of Professor McGonagall when the pub went quiet. She turned to look, as did the other students. Five Death Eaters, in full masks, had entered.
"Well now, what have we here?" One of them spoke, with a nasal whine to his voice. "Looks like these good" he almost spat the word, "folk were having fun, not caring about their heritage, drinking with Mudbloods!" One of the other Death Eaters laughed, a female voice. Beside her, Ginny felt Sirius twitch. "Well we want some fun too, but we are a little more discerning in our tastes."
Three of other Death Eaters stood at the exits of the pub, the fourth held Madam Rosmerta at wand point. The leader of the group started wandering around the pub, he hadn't seen the students but it was only a matter of time. "What have we here!" He said grabbing a nearby witch by her hair and pulling her out of her seat. "A Mudblood! What a surprise." He sneered, pushing her to the floor. He pulled out his wand. "Can anyone tell me what we do with Mudbloods?" There was a deathly silence in the pub. "No-one? What a pity. Perhaps I'll give you some incentive to answer then. Crucio!"
"Stop!" Ginny stood up, before she even realised that it was her who spoke. "Leave her be!"
The Death Eater turned to her. "And what do we have here? A schoolgirl, if I'm not mistaken. One of Dumbledore's precious ones. Out of bounds without permission, dear me, how very unfortunate." He strode forward a few steps as Ginny moved to place herself in the middle of the floor, ignoring the arms trying to pull her back into her seat. "An arrogant one, who presumes to tell me what to do!"
Ginny looked at him steadily. "I may be a schoolgirl," she said firmly, "but I'm not afraid of playground bullies." She endowed the word with all the contempt she could, hoping desperately that he didn't notice that it was mere bravado that spoke. Hoping that there were enough people in the pub, in a relatively sober state, who would realise that together, they were more than a match for just five Death Eaters out to scare them. She tossed her head in a defiant gesture.
"Arrogant and a fool. Gryffindor no doubt, bravely sacrificing yourself for others. How … noble!"
"No-one is going to be sacrificed tonight. I think you should take your little friends and leave now."
"Crucio!"
She was hit briefly by the curse, but it quickly ended when all eight of her companions, and several others in the pub, hexed the man simultaneously. He collapsed in a heap on the floor. There were twenty people in the pub now standing, wands in their hands. They turned towards the four remaining Death Eaters. The four of them disapparated, the one by the front door however (the woman who had laughed earlier) managed to hex Ginny with something before doing so. She blacked out.
Ginny came round in the hospital wing to the sound of whispered voices. "Is anybody hurt?" She asked as she opened her eyes. She was immediately surrounded by her friends. After several assurances that she felt sore, but fine, she repeated her question.
"I believe, Miss Weston, that you were the only one to sustain a serious injury." Professor Dumbledore replied. "And I am assured by Madam Pomfrey that you will not suffer any long term consequences."
"That woman …"
"She received the Cruciatus curse for only a few moments, she is sore but will undoubtedly recover fully by tomorrow."
"Good." She said and sat up. Remus immediately arranged her pillows behind her so she was able to sit comfortably and she smiled at him in thanks.
"Of course the question," Dumbledore continued, "of what nine young Gryffindors were doing in the Three Broomsticks on a Friday evening instead of in Gryffindor Tower, fast asleep in their dormitories, is one that will need to be asked at some point." James opened his mouth to respond but Dumbledore beat him to it. "Not asked by me however, I believe Professor McGonagall will be investigating that little matter."
The Gryffindors were silent for a moment. All in all, they felt, it had been worth the excursion but …
"How are you feeling?" Sirius sat on the bed beside her.
"A little sore, but it's nothing." She replied with a smile. "Honestly!"
"You were fantastic!" Said Benjy with a broad smile.
"I was an idiot!" Replied Ginny.
"I don't understand." James confessed. "Why did you do it, you could have stayed hidden in the corner, why did you confront them?"
"They had gone there to torture someone, to scare us. If it hadn't been me it would have been someone else."
"But you stood up, you made it you. It needn't have been you. It could have been someone else."
"In what way would that have been a good thing?"
"Well you wouldn't be here, in the hospital wing."
"But someone else would have, I repeat, in what way would that have been a good thing?"
"Well it wouldn't but …" he trailed off.
"Look James" she said intently, "there's a muggle quotation a friend of mine once told me. 'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing'. This is what it is talking about. I could have said 'someone else can take care of it' but if everyone said that, then no-one would do anything and Voldemort will win by default." She paused, and looked past him, straight at Dumbledore. "We have to stand up and say 'No!' Everyone who believes it's wrong. We have to be heard. One voice may not make a difference, but the lack of one voice might." She looked back at James. "Tell me, what happened when that Death Eater was torturing me, tell me?"
"We all hexed him."
"All of you." She repeated. "Did it work?" She knew the answer of course, it wasn't something she was likely to forget, but she wanted James to supply it.
"Yes. The hexes combined and knocked him unconscious."
"You see, together we are stronger. If we all say 'No!' we can win."
"Is that something your Harvey said?" James smiled at her.
"No. It's just something he does without thinking about it. He's always done it, since I've known him. He's always put himself between others and danger, but he could never explain to you why, it's just something he does. An instinct. I'm not nearly as brave as him. I had to work through my reasoning first!"
"I'm scared." Lily said, manoeuvring herself under James' arm.
"We're all scared." Said Remus. "But Jenny is right, that's why we have to do things."
Ginny nodded. "Personally, I'm terrified." She said in a conversational tone of voice. Sirius couldn't help it, he laughed, more at her tone than anything else. Pretty soon they had all joined in.
"Madam Pomfrey," said Professor Dumbledore, "is Miss Weston free to go?"
"Yes, she should be fine." The nurse replied walking off, muttering under her breath "Death Eaters, hexes, curses, why me? Why me?"
The students all laughed again as they helped Ginny out of the bed.
"I think all of you are now well overdue for your own beds." Said Professor Dumbledore firmly. But as they headed off he caught Ginny's eye and, quite clearly, winked at her.