60. The Call to Arms

She'd been right to assume that he would torture them both, and it was easier to take the Cruciatus Curse yourself than to see it done on someone you loved. She couldn't watch as Neville screamed in agony, his body twisting in ways that should've snapped his spine. And like Lavender, she had also covered her ears, desperately trying to block out the sounds he was making. It was all she could do not to kill Carrow. Kill him and grab Neville and run for the nearest exit, and try not to get their souls sucked out by the Dementors as they took off for anywhere but Hogwarts Castle.

The good news was that nobody else had had to endure the Torture Curse. As Carrow had guessed, it was simply too advanced for anyone to be able to perform on their first try. Even Malfoy hadn't been able to get it, though Callie wondered if he hadn't only been pretending. Next week, they would be practicing on rats, and Carrow had warned them all that those who were unable to manage it on a mere animal would be in for more than just a failing grade.

After class - if you could call it that - Callie joined the Gryffindors in their common room. Everybody stood silent, and a little bit dazed, and when Ginny asked what was wrong, it was Seamus who explained.

"No!" the redhead exclaimed, looking around at the others. "He couldn't have."

"He did," Parvati replied angrily.

Ginny ran over to Callie and asked, "Are you all right?"

"I'll live," she replied. "For now."

The Gryffindor girl then looked over at Neville, who leaned against the window, gazing out over the grounds. He had a distracted look in his eye, as though he weren't paying attention to anyone or anything around him. Ginny approached him and asked, "What about you?"

His only response was a small grunting sound. Callie came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Say something," she whispered. "Yell if you want to. Or hit something." Angry silence had always been so much more unsettling to her than having the person simply lash out. Perhaps that was due to her father's brand of quiet intimidation, in those rare instances when he'd been cross with her. Whatever the reason, not knowing what the hell was going on in Neville's mind was almost frightening.

"Eh," she said, turning him to face her. "It's all right. We're still here, we're still standing."

As he gazed at her, his face took on a pained expression, and tears began to form in his eyes. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, sobbing as he said, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," she whispered.

Behind them, Katie explained to Ginny, "When it was Neville's turn, Callie told Carrow that she'd take it for him. But instead, he did them both."

"Three times, for her," Seamus remarked. "I don't know how she's still standing."

Neville pulled back to look his girlfriend in the eye, and she wiped the tears from his face. "You should've just cursed me," he said.

"I couldn't," she replied. "I wasn't just saying that, Neville, I really couldn't."

"You've done it before," he argued.

"Yeah, to a Death Eater that was trying to stab Lupin. I didn't even think about it then, I just... reacted. But I couldn't do that to you. Hell, I couldn't even do it to Malfoy."

"What are we supposed to do?" Lavender asked. "We can't let them do this, we have to tell somebody!"

"McGonagall won't stand for it," Parvati chimed in. "We need to go to her."

"No," Callie said. "McGonagall won't be able to do anything, not without getting sacked. Or worse."

"This is bullshit!" Seamus exclaimed. "It's two of them against the entire school."

"Three, with Snape," Ginny corrected.

"All right, then three. And what, six-hundred students? Fifteen other teachers? Why is everybody letting Snape and the Carrows run things?"

"Because Snape and the Carrows have You Know Who behind them," Callie explained. "We could toss them all off the Astronomy Tower just like Dumbledore, and he'd only send in others to replace them."

Poor Seamus deflated before her eyes, and everybody else sat around looking just as miserable and hopeless.

"We could break out," Neville suggested. "Join up with the Order. Think we just might stand a better chance out there than locked up in a classroom with Carrow."

"We can't get out," Ginny reminded. "The whole place is surrounded by Dementors. They're not here to keep people out, but to keep us in."

"Why?" Lavender asked. "Why not just let us go if we want to? Why did they make attendance mandatory? It never was before."

Callie explained, "Because they're trying to recruit us."

"Wh- What do you mean?" Parvati asked.

She paced the room, thinking back on what Snape had said to her on the Astronomy Tower. "Snape told me the Dark Lord could offer more than the Order. He even tried to use my mum as bait, said she could be protected, even if she is a muggle."

"Wait," Neville cut in, "when did you talk to Snape?"

"On the first night of term. I went out to the Astronomy Tower and he followed me."

He looked completely horrified by that. Stepping up to her, he said, "You were with Snape, alone, on the Astronomy Tower?!"

"It's not like I planned it, he cornered me!"

"Damn it, Callie, are you out of your mind? You let him get you alone - at the very place he killed Dumbledore?" He shook his head in frustration and began to pace. "This is why I don't trust you to protect yourself. How am I supposed to feel all right leaving you alone if on the first night of term you're off by yourself with a God damn murderer and nobody knows where the hell you are?!"

All the others were gaping at him. Ordinarily he was soft-spoken and timid; they had probably never seen him so incensed. But Callie was glaring at the boy, thinking that this may have been the first time she had ever been angry with him.

"You don't trust me to protect myself?" she said bitterly. "Did you really just say that?" He seemed to shrink a bit, knowing that she was so much tougher and more vicious than he could ever be. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Neville, but you were the one who got knocked on your arse during the battle while I was protecting Lupin and McGonagall and trying to break through the barrier and dodging spell after spell and dueling that bloke that was shooting off curses in every direction! And let's not forget that it was me teaching you the Disarming Charm and the Shield Charm. Christ, I don't know when you got the idea in your head that I'm this weak little damsel who can't defend myself. I know more about defense than you, I know more about Dark Magic than you, I'm a better dueler than you, and I'm not terrified of Severus Snape like you are!"

Now everybody was gaping at her. She had to give the boy credit, he didn't seem nearly as hurt by her words as she might've expected. Instead he asked, in a rather calm tone, "Are you done?"

She rolled her eyes and turned away from him, crossing her arms in an almost defiant manner.

After a moment of very awkward silence, Katie said, "Maybe we should all just take a break and have a butterbeer."

"Aye," Seamus agreed, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly.

As the others went to grab their drinks, Callie ran her hands through her hair and tried to calm herself. Almost immediately, her anger had dissolved into guilt. How could she have said all that to him? After years of trying to build up his confidence, she had beaten him down just as bad as his grandmother used to, going after his intelligence, his dueling skills, his fear of Snape...

You're a bitch, she thought. All he's ever done is worship you and try to protect you, and this is what you give him in return?

She was just about to leave and go back to the dungeons - where she belonged - when he came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Cal?" he whispered.

She turned to face him, not bothering to try and hold back the tears that began to roll down her cheeks. He looked just as guilty as she felt as he said, "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" she replied in disbelief.

"You're crying. I've never made you cry before."

"Well, once," she countered, a small smile curling her lip. "When you asked me to the Yule Ball."

"Hmph." He smirked at the memory, but his face quickly fell again. "Will you come upstairs with me?" he asked.

She took his hand and the two made their way up to his dormitory. He closed the door and joined her on the edge of the bed, keeping his head down as he began, "I don't think you're a damsel. And I know you're not weak."

"Then why do you act like..." she paused, trying to come up with the right way to phrase it, "...like you're my bodyguard? Or like I'm a little girl that can't take care of myself?"

"I can't help it sometimes," he replied. "Maybe it's... condescending, but it's hard not to feel protective of the woman I love." He met her eye and added, "You know what it's like, you were ready to take a Cruciatus Curse for me."

"Well," she said, "I'm a bit of a masochist. This one time in fifth year, I asked Snape to Cruciate me. I wanted to know what it felt like."

With a horrified expression, he asked, "Did he do it?"

"No, he refused. But I also told Slughorn and Healer Winslow that I wanted to study the curse, and have it done on me so I could try to come up with a counter-curse."

He furrowed his brow at her and said, almost inaudibly, "What the fuck?"

A wide smile spread across her face. "I'm twisted," she said. "But... I thought I could handle it." A pause. "And now I know I can, so that's something," she said sardonically.

"Cal-"

"Don't 'Cal' me." She sighed, burying her face in her hands. "I am so sorry for saying all that in the common room. In front of everyone, at that."

"You don't have to be sorry, it was all true. You were brilliant in that battle, you did teach me, and you are a better dueler."

She looked like she was about to argue, but he put a hand on her thigh and said, "Don't. I'm not finished yet. You said you're not afraid of Snape, and I believe you on that." He paused, looking away from her again as he went on, "But that's what worries me."

"You want me to be afraid of him?" she asked.

He hesitated, then said, "I don't trust him around you. I mean, I don't trust him with anyone, but... it's different with you."

"Why is it different?" she asked. Again, he hesitated, and for the first time in ages, a blush swept across his cheeks. "Talk to me," she urged.

Biting his lip, he explained in a low voice, "You said he was good to you. Protective, even. And he gave you private lessons and talked you up to Slughorn and all that."

"Yeah," she said, her heart aching as she was reminded of her Snape.

"Well..." Neville went on. There was apprehension in his voice, like he didn't want to say out loud whatever it was that he was thinking. "Have you ever... thought that maybe..."

When he didn't go on, Callie prodded, "Yes?"

"Did you ever get the feeling that he might... fancy you?"

She gaped at him a moment, then breathed out a laugh. "You... you're joking, right?" she asked.

But he was dead serious when he said, "No. It'd make sense, Cal. The way he treated you? He favored you even more than he did other Slytherins. And every male in this school has been keen on you at some point. Why not him?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because I've been alone with him a million times, and he's never done anything... inappropriate."

"But that was then," Neville argued. "What's to stop him now?"

She stared at him, pondering his concerns and thinking back on the one time...

But that had only been a game. He'd been testing her. And aside from a brush against the cheek, he hadn't touched her. Shaking her head, she replied, "Trust me, if he wanted to... do something like that..." He would've taken the chance when I was actually willing.

"I just don't want you to end up alone with him again," Neville said in a quiet voice. "I mean, look at what Carrow said. 'If I wanna touch you, then I will'?"

"That was Carrow, not Snape."

"But they're cut from the same cloth. And I know a part of you still trusts him-"

"I don't."

"A part of you does. But you don't know what he's capable of. You don't know how he thinks." She could see that he was genuinely concerned about this as he begged, "Just... be careful, okay? Don't be alone with him." When she didn't respond right away, he added, "Please, Cal."

She couldn't honestly promise that, because he was right. She did trust him not to hurt her, and especially not in that sort of way. But the boy would never be convinced, so she bit her tongue and said, "All right."

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A while later, Seamus, Ginny, Lavender, Parvati, and Katie joined them in the dormitory. "You really think they're trying to recruit us?" Seamus asked.

"They'd be stupid not to," Callie replied. "What better way to increase their numbers than to pull from the student body?"

He looked skeptical. "Who's going to seriously consider going over to the Dark Side?" he asked. "No one in their right mind would ever follow You Know Who."

"Don't be so sure," she said. "Look at what they're doing. They didn't make Muggle Studies mandatory just so the sister could spout off hate speech. They're trying to sway people, make them think that muggles are a threat and that the wizarding world would be better off with them out of the way. We all know it's rubbish, but some people are more easily influenced, especially the young. It's brainwashing. After a year of this, they're not going to know what they believe."

"Bloody hell," Parvati exclaimed.

"And even if that's not enough," Callie went on, "people may just think it's safer to align themselves with You Know Who. He's already got the Ministry and the school under his control. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?"

"To hell with that," Seamus said.

"Oh, I agree. But others may not. Look at what Snape tried to do to me. He told me that the Dark Lord was good to those who are loyal to him, that my mum and I could be protected. My mum! He went after the one thing that could possibly convince me." Noting the looks of objection on their faces, she added, "It didn't. But that's the kind of offer some people might find too good to pass up on."

"Christ, she's right," Katie said. "I mean, wouldn't we all do anything to protect our families?"

They gave it a moment of thought, and then Ginny shook her head and replied, "My family wouldn't want me to give in just to spare them. My mum and dad? I think they'd rather die then see me standing behind You Know Who."

"So would my gran," Neville said. "Hell, I wouldn't put it past her to kill me herself if I joined him."

"My dad's left the country," Seamus said. "And mam's prepared to go down fighting if it comes to that."

"But some people aren't," Callie argued. "Malfoy, for instance."

"Harry told me that You Know Who threatened to kill his parents," Neville cut in. "He'd been holding that over Malfoy's head as incentive to kill Dumbledore."

"Then, of course," Callie went on. "There are some who are already convinced. Crabbe, Goyle, Nott... their fathers are all Death Eaters. I'd be surprised if they haven't already received the Mark too, just like Malfoy."

"Ugh!" Lavender groaned. "So we've got up to seven Death Eaters wandering around the castle, three of them are in charge, and by the end of the year, they could have converted who knows how many more? Fuck the Dementors, we've gotta get out of here!"

"No, we don't," Seamus said. "I'm not going to run and hide from these bastards. There's gotta be something we can do." He paused, and then a wicked smile curled his lip. "I say we get everybody out of the castle, lure You Know Who in, and then blow the place up!"

That got a laugh out of everyone, but Ginny said, "Really though, what can we do? Callie's right, it's not just Snape and the Carrows, but You Know Who's entire army. We could run them out of the castle and he'd only send in reinforcements."

"Army," Callie muttered to herself. Then, to the group, "Dumbledore's Army. The seven of us can't do much of anything on our own. Do you think the others would be willing to get the D.A. going again?"

Neville scoffed. "Let's not hold our breath," he said.

Callie shot him a look. "It's worth asking." To the others, "What about all of you? Are you in?"

"Absolutely," Seamus said.

"We're going to reform the D.A.?" Parvati asked. "Hell yes, I'm in!"

"Me too," Lavender agreed.

"And me," Katie said.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Neville exclaimed, rising to his feet. "Where was all this enthusiasm last year when Hermione called before the battle?"

"I told you, mate, I missed the call," Seamus replied. "I didn't have my coin on me."

"Neither did I," Lavender said.

"There hadn't been a meeting in over a year," Parvati explained. "I'd thought we were done with it."

"He thinks you all 'abandoned' us," Callie informed them.

"What?!" Seamus exclaimed. To Neville, he asked, "Are you mad?"

"Bloody hell, is that what you think of us?" Katie asked.

"Well," Neville shrugged, "you weren't there."

"Because we didn't know," Parvati said, "not because we didn't want to be."

"Neville," Ginny spoke up, "I didn't have my coin on me either. If Ron and Hermione hadn't come and gotten me, I wouldn't have even known anything was going on."

He still looked unsure about the group's loyalty, but Seamus stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We're with ya, mate," he said. "Hell, this is our fight, too, and we're not going to let you and Weasley and Warbeck have all the fun." He pulled out his wand and incanted, "Accio D.A. coin!" It flew into his hand and he held it up for Neville to see. "I'm not taking it off me from now on."

"Put it in your shoe," Callie suggested. "That's what I did."

He sat down and did as she said, while the others agreed to do the same.

"So," Ginny said, "should we try to call the others? Maybe they still don't have theirs on them."

"Where are we going to meet?" Parvati asked. "The Room of Requirement again?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Callie replied. "Snape knows that's where we met the last time. If he gets suspicious that we're up to something, he may have someone patrol the corridor."

"Damn it, that's true," Ginny said. "Any other ideas?"

"We'll think of something," Neville said. "For now, let's just work on getting everyone on the same page."

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Throughout the rest of the week, they had met up with all of their remaining D.A. fellows, and almost everyone was more than willing to rejoin. Ernie Macmillan was especially enthusiastic, as Justin, his muggle-born best friend, was currently on the run. In addition, he'd been particularly disgusted by Callie's suggestion that, as a pureblood, he was a prime candidate for recruitment by You Know Who.

The only one they hadn't been able to convince was Zacharias Smith, who'd felt the risk of getting caught by Snape or the Carrows simply wasn't worth it. "Bloody coward," Seamus had remarked. "Always been a little shite, he has."

Meanwhile, Callie had racked her brain trying to figure out where they were going to meet. One day she had gotten an idea that was rather convoluted and had all the potential of failing miserably, but she'd decided to give it a shot. On a piece of paper, she scribbled the words:

Puffy is needed. Send directly to Alistair's bedside and instruct to wait there.

Important - Puffy shall me mine. Payment is included.

Signed,

Callum David

Reading it over again and again, she felt that no one who might intercept the letter would have any idea what was being said. But hopefully Mrs. Longbottom would read between the lines and not ask questions. She sent the letter and warned Neville that his gran's house-elf might show up in his dormitory. "Don't let him out and don't let anybody see him," she said.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked, utterly confused.

With a sigh, she explained, "It's a long-shot, but I've got a plan. Puffy is going to work in the kitchens. The other elves won't ask questions, and I guarantee nobody's going to notice him. Meanwhile, he'll be transporting all of us to wherever we decide to hold our meetings - house-elves can Apparate inside the castle, remember?"

"Yes, but..." Neville said, shaking his head "...why do we need an elf to transport us to meetings?"

"Because we can just-" she snapped her fingers "-disappear from our common rooms. We won't have to risk being seen going from place to place, so Snape and the Carrows won't have any idea where to look." She paused, before adding, "And I think it should be somewhere in the basement. No one ever goes down there, except for the Hufflepuffs. But it runs the entire length of the castle, so we can find a place far enough away from their common room. And Puffy will already be down there, maybe he can find something that works."

"Well, why Puffy?" Neville asked. "Why not use a house-elf that's already here?"

"Because they have to answer to Snape and the Carrows. I sent Gran money so I could buy Puffy. If I'm his Mistress, he'll have to answer to me, and only me. If I tell him not to say anything to Snape, then he'll be forced to keep quiet."

Sure enough, the elf appeared in Neville's dormitory two days later, with a note from Gran that said he was all "Callum's" now. God bless the woman, Callie thought. Seventy-six years old and she'd been sharp enough to crack all the codes.

"You've got two jobs," she informed the elf. "Well, three." Handing him a sheet from Harry's vacant bed, she said, "First, get out of the suit. You need to dress down if you're going to fit in with the others. Fashion something out of that."

"As you wish, ma'am," he replied with a nod.

"Once you've got that taken care of," she went on, "go down to the basement, find the other elves, and tell them you've been hired to work the kitchens. Be vague about it, don't tell them who hired you. They probably won't even ask. But most important-" she knelt down to make herself eye-level with him "-do not tell anyone that you work for me. Or that you used to work for Mistress Longbottom. Pretend that you don't even know me or her. Or Neville."

"Certainly, ma'am. Whatever you say."

She grabbed him by the wrist and said, "Puffy, this is extremely important. I need to know that your loyalty is to me, and that you'll do as I say."

"Mistress Longbottom has been over all this, ma'am. Puffy belongs to Mistress Warbeck now. He is to obey Mistress Warbeck's commands."

"Yes, he is. But the other elves here at Hogwarts answer to many masters and mistresses. You can't do that. You must only answer to me."

He patted her hand in a reassuring sort of way. "Puffy understands, ma'am," he said. "Though Puffy must pretend to be a stranger to Mistress Warbeck, he will do as she says. I serve only Mistress Warbeck now, ma'am."

She gave him a satisfied smile, then straightened up. "All right then," she said. "Work the kitchens, pretend you don't know us. And one more thing - we've got some special work to do and we need a place to be alone for it. Somewhere that nobody will find us, some place hidden, ought of sight. Can you try and find a place like that in the basement? Away from the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room?"

"Puffy will do his best, ma'am."

"Thank you. Now, you can't go wandering about the castle. When you need to speak to us, you Apparate directly to this room. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. So go ahead and get changed, and then go on to the basement. And remember - as far as anybody knows, you're only here to work the kitchens. You don't know us or Mistress Longbottom."

He bowed to her, and she and Neville left the dorm so he could undress. On the way down to the common room, Neville chuckled to himself.

"What?" Callie asked.

"If Hermione knew you'd bought a house-elf," he said, "you wouldn't have to worry about the Carrows. She'd Cruciate you herself."