Apparition lessons began at the beginning of February out in the grounds. I'd heard due to bad weather that sometimes they were held in the Great Hall, and I'd been hoping it would happen for us, but unfortunately, we had to do it out where there was a good amount of snow, and it was freezing. I knew it was always cold this time of year, but with all the dementors around, it was a lot worse. It was hard to even concentrate knowing they were out there.

I tried my best to pretend they weren't lurking around somewhere, or that I was wet and cold, and did my best to focus on what Wilkie Twycross was saying about the three D's. We were supposed to try and apparate in the middle of the old-fashioned wooden hoops five feet across from us. They were charmed to sit on top of the snow. Around me, many people were muttering to their friends about the instructor.

I tried to do as he said, and focus on the hoop but was immediately alarmed when he wanted us to do it right away. I tried to spin on the spot, but all that happened was I lost my footing and I fell forward, but I managed to break my fall. Around me, I wasn't the only one who had fallen, most people were picking themselves up. I tried to remember what he'd said as I brushed the snow off myself. Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. I had to admit, I hadn't been determined enough and I most definitely hadn't been deliberate with my attempt. I'd just spun on the spot thinking about how ridiculous it was that we had to try and apparate right away.

The instructor didn't seem surprised that none of us could do it. I wondered if anyone ever managed to do their first try. All he had us do was straighten our hoops if we needed to, and try again. I worked hard to remember everything he'd said since the beginning of the lesson, but unfortunately, my thoughts had been on the dementors. At the moment, I was doing my best not to think of them as I didn't want to apparate to one.

We were instructed to keep trying, and I worked on focusing only on my hoop and no one else. I'd always been able to tune people out when I did schoolwork, I should have been able to do so as well. It wasn't until the sixth attempt that I grew excited as it began, but my excitement went to horror when I felt a horrible pain around my right elbow.

I cursed as everything came into focus. It was nothing like the Cruciatus Curse, but it still really hurt like hell. I swore again when I glanced down at my right arm only to see that my forearm and hand were no longer there. I'd managed to splinch myself as I'd apparated.

Around me, I could see my classmates staring at me with open mouths. Thankfully, the Heads of Houses surrounded me immediately, and there was a loud bang. We were suddenly engulfed in purple smoke and I began to cough, but thankfully, my arm was back. Dad had warned me about getting splinched, and I'd heard about older kids splinching themselves but I'd never thought it would happen to me.

The instructor didn't seem to care either, he just told me without emotion that I should have been concentrating better. I knew he was right, but I would have thought he'd be more sympathetic.

However, it was a lesson well learned, and from that moment, I tried hard to concentrate better. Unfortunately, I was too worried that I'd end up splinching myself again, so I wasn't able to do it again. At the end of the lesson, Olivia was the first to finally do it without hurting herself.

"Of course, it had to be her," I muttered.

"You should let it go, mate," Nick told me. "At least you did it."

"Was it really painful?" Gretchen asked as she rushed over to my side.

"Nothing compared to being tortured, but it wasn't pleasant," I told her. "It was worse to realize that my arm was gone. I hope it's a sight I never see again."

"I don't blame you, that looked horrible and disgusting," she said grabbing a hold of my arm.

I raised my eyebrows at her and then glanced over at Nick who smirked at me. I hoped she didn't think there were going to be more repeats of our drunken night. Once was enough for me when it came to her. The only girl I wanted to shag at the moment was Tasha, but if not, I'd decided I was going to just take Nick's advice and only do it with a girlfriend, or something similar to what he had with Anita. I didn't want Gretchen to be my Anita.

"You might want to say something to her before she gets any ideas," Nick said to me later.

"I will if it comes up, but maybe she was just being friendly. Girls often do that," I said with a shrug.

"Barry, if it was Katrina or Samaira, I'd say it was just innocent, but she was looking at you as if she wanted you," Nick told me. "Make sure you say something just so you don't lead the girl on."

"I'm not doing anything to lead anyone on," I said. "We're not twelve anymore. A girl touching us doesn't always mean they like us. If she keeps coming on strong I'll say something. Don't get me wrong, I worried the same thing when she did it, but for all I know, I have an ego."

"You do have an ego, otherwise you'd be dating Tasha right now," Nick responded. "But this is different. She was obvious, mate. Just make sure you do it soon."

I didn't want to worry about Gretchen at the moment. It was such a minor thing, though I knew my fourteen-year-old self would be stressing about it. It was funny how age and experience could put things into perspective. I couldn't see her getting too hurt over it either since her eyes were still on Neville Longbottom.

We had a couple more DA meetings before we set a date for when we'd put up the rest of the graffiti. They wanted to do it during a night when they'd least expect it.

Slughorn was going to have a Valentine's Day party which made a lot of us happy. I was single and I wasn't looking, and I didn't care about the day itself but I did want another party just for a night to relax. I would have dragged my feet in the past, but this time I was relieved by it.

They decided to set it for that night. They were going to try and get some of our younger members who were not invited to distract key teachers and the ones who were invited needed to get caught with alcohol while the rest of us put up the graffiti. I wasn't one hundred percent certain it would work, though Nick and Ernie who had suggested it were.

One thing that was on my mind lately was what we'd discussed at length during the last meeting. The leaders and many of the seventh years were worried there would be a time we'd have to evacuate the castle. We just weren't sure how or where but they were certain the teachers would know what to do. They figured the younger students would be sent to Hogsmeade.

It made me think of Mr. Higgs who had promised we could use his fireplace at any time. Would he allow Brianne and other students to go home? I knew I had to ask him first but I needed to send him a letter first, disguised as a thank you letter.

On one side would be the letter, the other side would have the protean charm on it. We'd be able to communicate with each other on the parchment and if he allowed them to go home through his fireplace, he could let me know instead of sending a letter. I would keep a piece of parchment on me at all times. It was less obvious than the coin and it would look like schoolwork anyway.

I began working on it one afternoon near the time we'd be putting the graffiti up. The protean charm was easy for me now that I'd made the coins, but I also wanted to preserve both our parchments with a spell so that I could carry it in my pocket without it getting ruined.

It took an extra few steps but soon enough I had both pieces working. Just as I was finishing my letter to Mr. Higgs asking him to not only look out for Brianne but Ben too, in case it went onto next year and beyond, Gretchen sat down across from me.

"Hey stud muffin, want to go to Sluggys party with me?" She asked as she reached to try and take my hands.

"I'm just going to go solo with Nick," I responded, pulling away.

"We had a good time last time," she said, winking at me.

"Gretchen, you know I'm in love with Tasha. You've been bugging us about it for years-"

"I'm not asking you to date me," she said quickly. "And it's hard to admit, but I did crush on you for years, even if I like other blokes. I just like what we have. It can be no strings attached."

"No," I answered, shaking my head. "Look, this is no offence to you whatsoever. I had a good time that night, believe me. I just want the next time to be with Tasha. Only Tasha. I regret not waiting, to be honest."

Gretchen grinned at me.

"I always knew you were a romantic at heart. That's sweet, and I hope I didn't take advantage of you-"

"Trust me, you didn't," I said quickly.

"Well, I respect that. I think it's sweet, to be honest. I just thought it was a fun way to let off steam," she said.

"Well, at some point we have to leave anyway," I said, lowering my voice.

"That's why I thought of it. Perfect alibi," she said giggling.

I laughed as well. "I'll pass, but you know Gretchen, I don't get why you don't wait either."

"I've had this conversation with the girls. I'm not having it with you," she said standing up. "I'll talk to you later, Barry."

Shaking my head, I stood up as well to go to the owlery. I was sure it would be safe enough to send it to Mr. Higgs but I still worried anyway. I knew mail was checked and that owls were intercepted. I was being paranoid, but I kept worrying that the spell would wear off.

I would worry until I received a message back. On the way there, I bumped into Philip and Nick who decided to walk with me. While they talked in low voices I thought about making one for Nick and me to communicate too. I wasn't sure why we hadn't thought of it before. I would do it when we returned.

"Keep your voices down," I hissed as Philip mentioned some things he wanted to write in the corridors.

"Relax mate, we have muffliato up. We'll see them before they hear us," Philip told me. "Ginny asked several of us to scope out the best areas and asked us to use it. We obviously don't want to be anywhere near the party."

"I'm just worried about Peeves," Nick said. "If we can get someone to distract him too, we should be fine, but you know him."

"We'll just have to run," I said. "Or maybe encourage him to go after Filch. Peeves will be easy. He's the least of our worries."

"We still have to think of everything," Nick said. "I've been wondering about talking to the Bloody Baron too. The ghosts will protect us first, so maybe he can keep him in line."

"What are you sending anyway?" Philip asked me.

"Letter to Mr. Higgs, the man who let us use his fireplace. I've been thinking a lot about how the school could be evacuated. I just want to ask him if Brianne and Brenda can go to his place if they go to Hogsmeade. It's got the protean charm on it. It's disguised as a thank you letter," I explained.

Thankfully we didn't run into anyone on the way up, though Draco Malfoy and his mates were leaving just as we entered. His friend Crabbe elbowed Phillip on the way out.

"I can't wait until they do meet their downfall," Philip muttered. "Even if it's ten years from now, I'll be happy when it happens."

"And we'll be the ones to help," I said, tying the letter to an owl's leg after giving it some owl treats. "I just hope it's soon."

"I've had a feeling it will be," Nick said with a sigh. "I don't know why. Maybe it's just dumb hope but I just think we have a year at the most left of this."

"I hope you're right," Philip said. "I think you're too optimistic, but I hope you're right."

I certainly hoped he was too. I wanted Ben to come next year with this behind us. I wanted his years to be better than ours had been.

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long to hear from Mr. Higgs. When we reached the common room about ten minutes later, I felt the parchment burn in my pocket. I pulled it out to see that writing had appeared on it.

'Of course, they can, Barry. I hope you'll have the sense to come as well. Any student is welcome. Let me know as soon as you know. I'll meet them and keep them safe.'

That was one less thing to worry about, so I thanked him and then began working on some parchments for Nick and me as well. There could be a time when I'd need him, and I made sure we could use our wands if we didn't have a quill handy just as I had done with the ones I made for Mr. Higgs.

"Should have made one for Tasha. Maybe you still can. Send it to your dad disguised," Nick said.

"I do need to write home soon," I said deep in thought. "It could make things easier, especially if she picks up on things. I'll make some for both of us."

I was going to wait a few days before I did so though. Writing to Tasha was a lot riskier than writing to Mr. Higgs. I had no doubt that they checked the letters I sent home. I'd write to dad to see his opinion on this first.

I was nervous the night of Slughorn's party. We were all to show up at different times and leave at different times. I was supposed to go off with Ernie, Philip and Terry Boot to do the first floor. We just needed to wait for Brianne and her friends to get 'caught' with alcohol before we left.

I tried to act casual but it was hard. It was almost as if the Carrows were expecting something. They were watching the older students a lot.

Thankfully, Hilda dropped a bottle of alcohol while pretending to be drunk. I felt guilty as the four of us rushed out. I knew they'd be punished, and I hoped it wouldn't be too harsh.

We hurried through the corridors, taking as many secret passages as we could until we reached the first floor. We knew we had to be quick, so we spread out a bit, but kept in sight of each other in case we had to warn each other.

I was just in the middle of writing that the DA was accepting all years and houses when Peeves burst out of the wall. I let out a yelp and he began making a commotion about students vandalizing the walls.

Just as I was about to run, Professor McGonagall stepped out of a door pretending to be a wall.

"Professor-" I began while the others hurried over to me.

However, she ignored me and walked straight over to Peeves.

"Cut this racket out now!" She told him and the poltergeist fell silent. "I don't know how much you understand what is at stake here, but it is time you choose sides! Are you going to stand with those who are willing to kill these children or are you going to be loyal to the school and protect those who are innocent? If you choose the former-"

"I do not wish to help those inbred mother-"

"Then prove it. Get out of here and cause chaos somewhere else. Ignore any of the students who may be doing minor vandalism and go distract the students, Death Eaters, and teachers who wish to harm them. They're the ones you need to be a nuisance to, not us! Go on, prove your loyalty to us and Dumbledore! Get the other ghosts in on it as well." She said.

I stared at Peeves in astonishment. He actually looked as if she'd offended him by suggesting he was with the Death Eaters. For the second time, I saw him salute someone and then he vanished. We could hear him screaming around the corridor that there were students running up the stairs.

"Think we can trust him?" Terry asked her.

"I think so," McGonagall said. "Peeves has impressed us one more than once. Now you four, follow me. Let's get you far from here."

She turned and walked quickly, leaving the rest of us to hurry after her. She didn't stop until we were a couple of floors up. She took us to an unused classroom, where she cast several spells on the door.

"I'm sorry Professor, but are we in trouble?" Philip asked. "I understand if we are, but why are we here? Why not your office?"

"No one is on this floor unless your DA group is up here. No one else should be. I just want to know what's going on? I'm willing to be your alibi-"

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"This is much bigger than Umbridge and I'm sure all four of you and your group members know this. You're supposed to be at Slughorn's party, and I'm sure the others are supposed to be somewhere. I don't want to see anything happen to any of you," she said, her voice shaking a little. "I'm tired of seeing children get hurt. We all are. You don't have to tell me everything but just explain enough."

"I don't know if we can," Ernie said. "You're a teacher."

"Nick should be with one of our leaders," I said. "I'll get him to ask their opinion."

I said and feeling grateful I'd thought to make the parchments, I pulled the one I had with Nick out of my pocket and quickly wrote to him and explained the situation.

"It's fine, she's not the enemy and she's an Order member," I said quickly reading through Nick's message when he sent it back. "I'm sorry Professor, but we do have to swear you in first. We can't take risks with anyone. Even my little brother had to be sworn in and he's not a member, he just already knew."

"Do what you have to do, but be quick about it," she said and I held out a pinky to her while she looked at me in confusion. She however took it with her right pinky while Ernie did the rest of the spell. He took out a piece of parchment that many of us kept if we needed someone to sign outside a meeting and handed it to her to sign.

"You know, it could be useful to have a teacher on our side anyway," Terry said.

"I'm willing to do what I can but you must remember my duties as a teacher," she said. "I'd like to know as little as possible but I'll always protect you. You can decide amongst yourselves what I should or shouldn't know. For now, tell me who is involved tonight. I'll make sure none of it points in your direction or anyone else's."

Nick quickly explained the plan since it had been his.

"Are you all mad? It's going to be obvious what those students were doing! They'll know they are a distraction." She said.

"That's kind of the point but now that you're willing to be our alibi, what can they do?" Nick asked.

"But what about the kids causing these distractions? They'll come down hard on them. Listen to me, they'll do whatever it takes to find the culprits. They were upset the last time you did it, but they'll guess what happened tonight," she hissed. "I'll see what I can do on my end, but please try to be more careful when it comes to stunts like this. I know this isn't the last of it. Come, Ernie, I'll walk you to your common room. The rest of you get to Ravenclaw tower please."

She wasn't wrong about that. While no one who had actually put the graffiti up was punished, those who had caused the distraction were.

They were used as some of the first students to be hung up by shackles, including Brianne, who was in a dungeon classroom alone, dangling a few feet up by her wrists. I tried to free her but she wouldn't let either Brenda or I help when we snuck down to free her.

"They'll know who did it, we knew our part in it," she hissed when Brenda swore when the shackles wouldn't unlock.

"They're threatening to whip you!" Brenda said angrily.

"Not yet," Brianne said. "Now go before one of the Inquisitor Squad comes. They guard us and you two don't need to be caught!"

"I should be up there, not you!" I said. "Brenda is right, what if they whip you?"

"I'll heal," she responded.

"Then at least let me put some spells on you so that you don't feel pain," Brenda said.

"Fine, but then go, please. Don't you have apparition lessons Barry?"

I wasn't comfortable at all with leaving her there. None of the DA was comfortable with it, but all the students who were punished were just as stubborn as my sister. They all warned us away, though we had a meeting about how we'd free them, especially before they were whipped. I'd never forgive myself if Brianne was.

It was hard to even focus on apparition lessons, but I decided to use my anger that day for help. So far, the only time I'd apparated was when I'd splinched myself. Others, including Nick, could do it. He'd done it four times already. So had Darren. Oddly enough, it worked. Those who could apparate had their hoops spread further and they were a slight distance from the rest of us.

That day when we were asked to apparate, I did it right away and with all limbs intact. I wasn't able to the next few times but by the end of the lesson, I'd done it five times in total. Many people had that day, including Philip.

"Too bad we can't apparate in the castle," I said thinking of Brianne.

"We'll think of something," Nick said. "We're having another meeting tonight," he added in a whisper. "We will help her."

"It's not just Brianne. There are first years, Nick," I said. "We can't let them hurt them. We should have let the younger ones do the graffiti. McGonagall was right when she said they'd come down harder on the ones who caused the distraction."

"Thing is, I think they're hoping those who did it will come forward," Nick said. "I think they're hoping that Ginny and Neville will, and maybe some of the other Gryffindors. It's that house that is watched the most. I've noticed them watching Ginny and Neville the most."

"If it comes down to turning myself in to save Brianne, I will," I said.

"And I think we should talk about that at the meeting," Nick responded. "We won't yet but maybe we will need to step in for them. We'll talk to Neville and Ginny later. I just know we can't let those two do it. They've got Luna already. You and I both know they're next."

I nodded. Everyone in the DA would protect each other but we all knew we'd help our leaders first. They were the wanted ones, not us. They'd been watching Ginny the most a lot lately, and it worried me a lot.

The students were let out of their shackles shortly after, and we believed McGonagall had something to do with it, but we weren't exactly sure what. I was just thankful none had been whipped, but we knew it could happen.

Something changed in all of us after that, we'd always stood up to the Carrows but after seeing our fellow members chained up, we became more aggressive than before. It helped us feel more in control of the situation.

Brianne's wrists were swollen and bruised for days from being shackled up, but she wore her injuries with pride. Some of us worried our little stunt would scare people off, but the opposite happened, more people wanted to join.

McGonagall did her best to look away from our stunts, and she'd try to ease our punishments while trying to keep the suspicion off herself. So we all agreed to rely on her only as a last resort, and not for some of the more stupid stunts, such as a party Hagrid was trying to plan. He wanted to have a Support Harry Potter party.

He'd asked Ginny if some of us would like to go one day after her class. She brought it up to us at a meeting while Neville tried to get Potterwatch on. We'd just had a quick battle, but often lately they were insistent we listen to Potterwatch. Sometimes we got it during a meeting and sometimes we got it in the common room, but not always. We hadn't been able to tune into them for a few meetings.

Nick and I exchanged guilty glances. We hadn't seen him as much, though I knew Brianne and her friends often visited.

"A Support Harry Potter party?" A Hufflepuff second year asked. "Is he mad? That's just inviting trouble for the wrong reasons!"

"I agree, so it's why I'm leaving it up to you to decide, but do not bring it on the DA, and be careful. It's truly unwise but I'm not going to stop you. We should be putting our efforts into helping people when they get shackled up," Ginny said.

"You know what's odd, Amycus gave Filch permission to whip a student, but he didn't do it," Katrina said. "For all the years we've been here, it seems it's been his dream to whip students."

"I'm starting to wonder if his heart is in it," Margot, a fifth-year Gryffindor said. "If it was just Umbridge, I think he'd do it with no hesitation. He was ready to whip Fred and George Weasley. He was excited about hurting them. I think he disagrees with Snape and the Carrows."

"Oh, believe me, he still loves punishing us," Darren said laughing. "I was shackled up two days ago, remember. He was excited to do it."

"I think he enjoys it to an extent but I don't think he's comfortable with how the Carrows handle it," Meaghan said. "I've noticed too that sometimes, not always, but sometimes he looks away. There's a chance he's more on our side than we realize. I think he's playing his part just like our teachers."

I wasn't sure if we could trust him or not, but there was some truth in what they were saying. I'd been late after curfew one evening a couple of weeks before our stunt, and I was sure he'd seen me. He knew I wasn't on patrol and he often enjoyed ratting prefects out, but he'd just gone into his office. I remembered thinking it odd and wondering if he'd actually seen me. Perhaps he'd given me a break.

"I wouldn't let your guard down around him though," Neville said as he tapped the wireless. "Are you sure it could be tonight?" He added to Ginny.

"Kind of and I hope we do get in," she responded.

"Are you expecting to hear anything?" Zacharias asked.

"I've wanted to tell you for a while, but I've wanted confirmation first. There are rumours that Luna's dad was arrested and that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were spotted at his house around Christmas," Ginny said.

"And you didn't tell us?" Michael demanded which caused the rest of us to speak up as well.

Why hadn't mum and dad sent us any messages about it? Had they heard? They must have.

"I know, I'm sorry but I wanted to be sure it was true first. There are so many Harry and You-Know-Who sightings. We know most have been bogus. I just didn't want to bring it up unless I knew for sure," she said.

"But why did they go there?" Brianne asked.

"Maybe they heard Luna was missing," Neville said.

"Or Harry saw that he turned against him," Seamus said chuckling. "That bloke has a temper."

"I think it has to do with whatever they're supposed to be doing," Ginny said and then sighed. "It just bothers me knowing that they were so close but I didn't see them."

"I can see if my parents have heard anything about that," I said. "They haven't brought it up but maybe they forgot."

"But do you think it's good news then?" Ernie asked. "Maybe there was something there that could help them. Maybe Luna contacted Harry somehow and asked him to go there. The Lovegoods believe in mad stuff but some of it is true. I wouldn't be surprised if Xenophilius Lovegood has something up his sleeve."

"That's what we've been hoping," Neville said. "I don't think it's just because she was kidnapped. It was something else. That's why we wanted to be sure because it could mean they're nearly ready to fight him."

"And we're sure he will come here?" Gretchen asked. A lot of people had been questioning this lately. Myself included.

"We're not sure of anything but we have to explore all possibilities. Something tells me Harry Potter will be back at Hogwarts sooner rather than later and we'll be ready to help him," Neville said.

We didn't end up tuning into Potterwatch that night but I did write home to mum and dad as soon as possible to see if it was true.

Several of us waited in the dormitory for their response. Sure enough, they wrote back saying it was true but they didn't have any details besides that. The Lovegoods house was unfortunately destroyed.

"It's got to mean something," Brenda said while Nick sent a message on his coin letting the others know it was indeed true. "They wouldn't risk it otherwise."

"But what exactly?" I asked.

"I'm just glad they're still alive," Nick said. "There hasn't been a sighting since The Ministry I think. They must be coming up with a way to destroy him. They must have to do something first before Harry can."

"Like what?" Brianne asked.

"That I have no clue. The only people who know for sure aren't here," Nick said.

"What about Hagrids party?" Brianne asked.

"No, absolutely not," I said. "I would support Hagrid any other time but this. It's bad enough we're getting beaten up but it's worth it. We can support Harry by running the DA. I don't want to hear of you going down there, Brianne."

"I'm going to try and convince him not to," Nick said. "You know, he's always lecturing us to be careful but he's asking to be arrested. It tells you something if even Ginny won't go. I think she said it's not until March to a few people asking. Hopefully, I can convince him not to do it."

I was going to be watching my little sister closely. She could be as stubborn as the rest of us. There was no way I'd let her get in trouble over a party. It was bad enough she'd been shackled up once. I didn't want it to happen again.

We went into March with more recruits joining. More people were getting into detention, but so far no one had been whipped. Instead, Amycus and Alecto tried to get us to use hexes against them, but more of us fought against it.

I certainly hoped Harry was getting close to fixing things. I was tired of the endless battles day after day. I wasn't sure how I kept my grades up, but thankfully I never went below an E in any of my classes. I was getting better with apparition as well. Nick and I both signed up for extra lessons, though our parents all insisted we still go home for Easter at the end of March.

None of us fought this though, I knew even Brenda was ready to be done with it all. I even overheard her telling some of the fifth years that she'd go off the moment she was done her last exam if she could. She'd been beaten up by Alecto for refusing to hurt a first year, and one of her eyes was swollen.

None of us stopped though, we continued to leave messages on the walls, and we continued to stick up for ourselves and others. We were all fed up, and Nick often joked we'd have an uprising before Harry showed up.

"If he even comes," I said one afternoon on our way back to the castle after apparition classes. I'd managed to do it every time that time. "What if he doesn't?"

"Neville and Ginny are sure of it," Nick said. "They must have a reason for that. I've always suspected they're open with us, but they hold things back."

"I've thought that too, especially when it came to the sword. I'm glad I'm learning a lot, and I can fight if I have to but sometimes I wonder if it's a waste of time. After Brenda finishes her OWLs we could go into hiding," I said.

"But we'll always be prepared no matter what," Nick said.

I just wanted some good news. So far, all we heard about were muggle deaths, families we knew about dying, or about people who were attacked by dementors. Mum and dad had reported more had been spotted near our place but they kept a distance. It scared me that any of them could be attacked.

Unfortunately, the bad news just kept pouring in. As we suspected Hagrid's attempt at a Support Harry Potter party was crashed, not only by the Carrows but several other Death Eaters as well. Fortunately, he got away and was now on the run, but the people who had attended weren't so fortunate. They were chained up for a week, and nothing McGonagall or the other teachers tried worked. Filch was tasked to whip them, but we later learned he didn't do it that hard or as long.

"Something is going on there," Samaira said. "I went down to try and free little Susie but she asked me to leave. She said he whipped her once but she barely felt it. Are we sure he's the real Filch?"

"I think he isn't a You-Know-Who supporter," Gretchen said. "We all know that if Umbridge was here instead, their backs would be bloody. He's different for sure. He's getting less strict all the time. I think he's sick of it too, but he's a squib. He has to be careful."

"I think it's been happening since the beginning of the year," Darren said. "But what about Hagrid?"

"He's with his brother, he'll be fine," Philip said, meaning Hagrid's brother, who was a giant. "Grawp will just step on them. It's us who need to be worried."

I was just thankful that Brianne had heeded my warning, and had stayed away from him.

I waited for Slughorn to have an Easter party but he didn't send out any invites. He'd been rather subdued since his last party. Most classes he seemed to be somewhere else and didn't get as excited over successful potions as much. Once, we did the same potion for three classes in a row until Gretchen asked about this. He was just so distracted, he hadn't noticed.

The Carrows on the other hand were getting worse, and their eyes seemed to be following Ginny even more. There were more patrols in the corridors, making it harder to have our meetings, though oddly enough, there were still no guards around the entrance of the Room of Requirement. We were still all able to slip in without getting caught.

Neville and Seamus began worrying that they were going to wait outside the entrance to catch us on our way out. They thought the lack of people guarding it was too suspicious. However, shortly after Neville brought his concerns up about this, the room did something that surprised us all.

It began letting us out in different places around the school, and a good amount of the time, it was near our common rooms. It did one afternoon a couple weeks before our Easter holidays were to start and continued to do so.

"That room really surpasses itself," Nick said one evening when it let out near the library, where we'd decided to go after the meeting. "I wonder if it would ever help us escape if we needed it to."

That was a good question and one I wondered if we'd need to explore soon. I wanted to know if there were other evacuation points, especially near our common rooms. I found it odd that there wasn't. What if we had to escape the school from our common rooms one day, but we couldn't? One could never know, even once You-Know-Who was gone. Ginny in the meantime was managing to get some supplies delivered from her brothers that seemed to pass the checks. The Weasley twins had outdone themselves when it came to concealing spells.

They sent us supplies from their shops that could help give us an edge. Ginny and Neville wanted us to soon learn how to duel with Peruvian darkness powder up, but they were still trying to figure out how we could make it work. We didn't want to end up hurting each other.

"I'll talk to my brothers over the Easter holidays," she promised us. "I'm hoping there is a way we can figure out how to see each other still, but not let them see us. I've been thinking about it ever since Luna was taken from the train. I think they must know something or can figure something out," and then she sighed. "Times like these are when I miss Hermione the most. I'm sure she could come up with a solution."

They wanted those of us who could to practice hexes and jinxes over the holidays as well. The problem was that most of us were going home. I was starting to wonder if I could convince dad to duel with me though. He'd fought in battles before after all, but would he want to duel with his son?

Neville and Ginny seemed worried we'd need to do more when we did come back, especially since more and more people were getting chained up and beaten up. A first-year boy had gotten it just for tracking mud in the other day.

During our last DA meeting before the holidays, the leaders all pleaded with us to be careful. A few people even said their goodbyes, many worried we wouldn't even see some people again.

Ginny and Neville seemed stressed that something would happen after Easter, and they'd been right before. Luna had been taken from the train the last time they'd been worried.

Even as Nick, my sisters and I were ready to depart, our dorm mates all hugged us goodbye. Most of them were leaving too, though we were going back to Mr. Higgs to go home. Dad was waiting for us down in the Entrance Hall to take us there and then home.

"But at least we just have a term to go," Nick said as we left the common room. "And after the holidays if we pass our apparition exams, we can apparate home. We can take your sisters home faster."

"I'm not sure I trust either one of you to do side-along apparition yet," Brenda said but she was grinning so we knew she was joking.

"Hey Barry is the one who splinched himself, not me," Nick said laughing. "Since the end of the second lesson I've been able to do it with no problems."

"Just one time," I said laughing as well glad to have things lightened up between us. We needed these moments. "And I'm sure I'll do much better in Hogsmeade. It's got to be more interesting to do lessons there instead of trying to apparate into a hoop in the grounds."

That was most certainly something to look forward to. I could apparate no problem, but I figured going to Hogsmeade would be a lot more fun and it would seem more real.