62. Taking a Stand

She dragged him up to Gryffindor Tower, absolutely livid, and shouted, "God damn it, Seamus!"

"Don't yell at him," Lavender said, "I was in on it, too, and so was Parvati."

"And what in the hell were the lot of you thinking?" Callie asked. "You just exposed us!"

"Yeah, what of it?" Seamus replied. "I told you, I'm not going to run and hide from the Carrows. None of us should. We oughta let them know we're not afraid of them and that we're fighting back."

"Why, so they can Cruciate us some more?" She then turned on Neville. "And you, why didn't you stop them?"

"I tried to," he argued.

"Yes, you 'begged them,'" she said mockingly. "Why didn't you stun them or bind them or snap their bloody wands in half? And why didn't you tell me this morning what they were planning to do?"

"We talked about it last night and I thought we were in agreement," he explained, shooting a derisive look at Seamus.

Crossing his arms over his chest, the latter shrugged and said, "Sorry, mate. You were overruled."

"You all insisted that I become the leader," Callie reminded him. "And then you don't even tell me anything about this?"

"You were so opposed to letting Wayne and Lisa and the others join," Lavender said. "We knew you wouldn't go for it."

"That's right, because it's God damn stupid to go shouting about the D.A.," Callie shot back. "Snape and the Carrows never had to know what we were doing, but they're sure as hell about to find out."

"So let 'em," Seamus said. "They're never going to find out where we've been meeting, you made sure of that."

"But they'll come after us, Seamus. Snape knows who was involved the last time. Every one of us is in danger now." She paused, then said scornfully, "Except maybe Wayne."

Seamus was quiet for a moment, and then he threw his hands up in a "so be it" type of way. "Then we fight," he said. "We all knew it would come to that eventually. That's exactly why we got the D.A. back together."

"We're not ready," Callie said. "We're nowhere near ready, it's only been three weeks!"

"So how long are we supposed to let this go on?" he asked. "Until graduation? Is that what you're waiting for? And then you can take off and leave the rest of us to fight?"

"Eh!" Neville spoke up, storming over to him. "She was the one at the battle last year while the rest of you were tucked under the covers."

Glaring at his roommate, Seamus said, "I told you, I-"

"Didn't have your coin on you, we know," Neville cut in. "But she did. All year, she'd had it in her shoe, she didn't toss it away like you all did. So don't question her loyalty to the D.A."

"Ya know what?" Callie said, holding up her hands as if in surrender. "Fuck it. If you're all going to go behind my back and ignore what I say, and if you still don't trust me after all this time, then how 'bout you run the D.A., Seamus? In fact..." She pulled off her shoe and sock to retrieve her D.A. coin, then threw it at the boy. "Maybe I oughta just quit all together. I'm not getting myself Cruciated or killed because you can't keep your bloody mouth shut!" With that, she turned on her heel and left.

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That night, she holed up in her and Neville's dungeon to work on Slughorn's latest assignment. He had taught them how to make Blood-Replenishing Potion the previous week, and as always, she wanted to have her own personal sample to store in her collection.

"'Take off and leave the rest to fight,'" she muttered bitterly. Bela swooped around the room as Callie vented to him, offering up one of his grapes every once in a while. "Thank you," she said, popping one in her mouth and giving him a pet. "Bela's a good boy. Unlike that ruddy git Seamus Finnigan." As she kept her hands busy with the potion, she thought back on the boy's suggestion that she was either cowardly enough or selfish enough to leave the others behind after graduation.

"I was the first one that wanted to join up the fight against You Know Who when he returned," she told Bela. "How could he think I'd abandoned the D.A.?" She gave it a moment of thought, then said, "Oh, I know why. It's because I'm the Slytherin lass. After all this time, he's still holding that against me."

She continued to work, muttering angrily to herself, when suddenly a house-elf appeared. She jumped at the creature's unexpected arrival, yelping and drawing her wand. "Mistress Callie Warbeck?" he asked in an old, croaky voice.

"Aye," she replied, struggling to catch her breath. "That's me."

"Master Snape has sent me to come get you, ma'am," the elf informed her. "Saffron is to bring you directly to his office."

Her stomach dropped. Christ, he's heard about it already. "You're Saffron, I'm assuming?" she asked.

"'Tis correct, ma'am."

She hesitated, but took the creature's hand. A second later, they were standing outside the headmaster's office. "It's still a griffon," she remarked, eyeing the brass knocker on the door. "Hmph. I would've thought he might've changed it to something more fitting. A basilisk, perhaps?" Saffron didn't seem to know how to respond to that.

What am I doing here? she thought, pondering Neville's plea for her to never end up alone with Snape again. It's not as if I have a choice. If I don't go willingly, he'll come and get me himself. She went to hide her wand under her sleeve, but it suddenly flew out of her hand and into the elf's.

"Eh!" she barked. "Give that back!"

Shaking his head, he replied, "Saffron can't to that, ma'am. Master Snape insisted that Saffron disarm you and bring your wand to him." As Callie moved to try and snatch it back, he disappeared.

"Damn it!" she exclaimed, turning back to the door and slamming the knocker against it. It swung open, and she barged up to Snape, who was standing in front of the desk and tucking the wand into his coat. "Give it to me!" she demanded.

"I ought to snap it after what I've just been told," he growled back.

"Give it to me right now, or I'll... I'll..." She trailed off, having noticed the portrait hung up on the wall behind the desk. It was Dumbledore, snoozing in a big leather chair. Though it was tradition for the previous headmasters' pictures to be hung around the room, she wouldn't have expected to see this one included, considering the circumstances. With her eyes still on the portrait, she said to Snape, "You actually kept it up?"

He shot a glance at the image of the man he had murdered, and explained, "I didn't have a choice. They appear automatically when the subject resigns or dies, and they can't be removed."

Callie knew that, like all the other portraits around the castle, they were capable of speaking. She called out, "Professor Dumbledore?" But the old man remained sleeping. "Please, sir, talk to me." Again, nothing.

With a smirk, Snape remarked, "I suppose he does deserve a nice long rest. Better we should leave him to it."

Callie rolled her eyes and sneered at him, shaking her head in disgust.

He went on, "I would've thought you'd learned your lesson after the events that transpired two years ago, Warbeck. Or did you enjoy having Parkinson smash your face in?"

"Let us get straight to the point," she said derisively. "I assume you've called me here to tell you where we've been meeting, but I can't do that."

"No?" he replied, cocking a brow. "Then maybe Longbottom can. Shall we get him up here?" He had picked up his own wand from the desk as if to emphasize the threat.

But Callie said, "Actually, sir, I'm afraid he couldn't tell you either. Because he doesn't know where we've been meeting."

With a scoff, he asked, "Do you expect me to believe that he isn't a part of this?"

"Oh, he is," she replied. "And I'm sure that if you put that penetrating mind of yours to the task, you would be able to find out who else is involved. And you could bring every one of them in here and question them all night. You could even try to torture it out of them. But it wouldn't do any good, because none of them know where our headquarters is located."

He studied her a moment, clearly confused. "They don't know where their own meetings are being held?" he asked.

"No, they don't. They've only ever seen the interior of the place. But they don't know its location within the castle."

Again, he simply stared at her in confusion. "If they don't know where it is," he asked, "then how are they getting there?"

She couldn't tell him that they were being transported in and out by Puffy, so she replied vaguely, "I have my ways."

"Your ways?" he said, squinting at her. "They don't know the location?" He paused, and then asked, "Is that to say that you do?"

"Yes, of course," she replied. "Somebody has to, but only one of us."

Stepping closer to her, he said in a mocking tone, "And they've entrusted you - the wicked Slytherin - with their greatest secret?"

"I found the place," she said. "And before you get the idea to try Legilimency or a truth potion on me, you should know that I performed the Fidelius Charm. And, of course, I'm the Secret Keeper. So not only am I the only one who knows the location, but you can't force it out of me with any of your tricks. As I'm sure you know, the information has to be given willingly."

By God, she had never seen Severus Snape look so... beaten. He didn't know what to say, how to come back from what she'd just told him. Torture wouldn't work, truth potion wouldn't work, mind-reading wouldn't work. There was absolutely nothing he could do to get the location of their meeting place out of her - or anyone else.

He glared at her, but muttered, "Clever girl."

"What happened to 'exceedingly stupid'?" she shot back. He merely scowled, and she glanced up at Dumbledore's portrait again. "Does he speak to you?" she asked. "What must that be like, having the person you killed looking down at you every day?" She paused, locking eyes with Snape before she went on, "Sort of haunting, I imagine. Although I suppose it wouldn't bother someone without a conscience."

Apparently she'd struck a nerve, because he reached out and grabbed her by the collar, holding his wand in her face. "You oughtn't test me, Warbeck," he growled. "Considering the fact that I'm clearly not opposed to murder."

She wanted to tell him to go ahead and do it, to call his bluff. But the thought of her mum and that heart tattoo gave her pause. Don't get yourself killed over that big mouth of yours. "All right, sir," she said. "I apologize." Her voice was heavy with sarcasm and disdain for the man, but after a moment, he actually released her.

Stepping back, he remarked, "I pity you, Warbeck. You really believe that your precious little army stands a chance against the Dark Lord's forces?"

"Well if you don't believe it, then you've got nothing to worry about," she argued. "So let us have our fun." She gave it a moment, and when he didn't say anything else, she asked, "Is that all?"

He crossed his arms and stared at her, no doubt trying to find something in her mind that he could use to his advantage. It's not going to work, she thought. You know Legilimency is useless against the Fidelius Charm.

Looking as though he wanted to throttle her, he sighed and said, "If that's the way you want to play it, Warbeck, then be my guest. I've given you the opportunity to get out of this in one piece. Be advised, however, that the Dark Lord doesn't tend to afford second chances to those who seek to undermine him."

"Thank you, sir, I'll take that into consideration," she replied with attitude.

He continued to stare, and for a fraction of a second, she thought she saw a hint of the old Snape - her Snape - somewhere behind those blank eyes of his. "I hope you will," he said. "How regrettable it would be for such a mind as yours to go to waste."

"Funny," she replied, "I've often thought the same about you." Once more, he glared at her. "May I have my wand back now?" she asked, holding out her hand expectantly.

He pulled it from his coat, but said, "Step outside and I'll have the elf return it to you."

"Hmph," she breathed. "What, are you afraid that I'm going to hex you or something?" That had to be the only explanation for it, though it was hard to believe that he could possibly feel threatened by her.

As if to prove that he was not the least bit concerned about her attacking him, he held out the wand and let her take it. If Seamus were here right now, he'd tell me to Cruciate the bastard, she thought. But she wasn't as stupid as Seamus; there was no way she was going to try anything. He can read my mind. He'd anticipate an attack.

Turning to leave, she made a mental note to get on with her Occlumency practice.

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All anyone could talk about for the next two days was the D.A. reassembling. There were whispers about who all was involved and what they were doing, and Callie begged the others to be extra careful about what they revealed to outsiders. Amycus Carrow was foolish enough to share the Death Eaters' tactics with them; Callie didn't want her comrades to make the same mistake.

He had announced that they were going to start learning how to perform the Imperius Curse, and Callie was actually happy about that. So far, she was the only one in the D.A. who could do it. There had to be somebody else who could perform the curse on her, so that she could practice blocking it with Occlumency.

However, Carrow began the next lesson by announcing that he had received confirmation from several informants about who was involved in the D.A. "When I call your name, stand up and move to the front of the room," he instructed. "Seamus Finnigan... Ernest Macmillan... Lavender Brown... Parvati Patil... and Anthony Goldstein."

Callie sighed to herself. The five of them had been some of the biggest proponents for recruiting new members, and had probably talked to more people about joining. I told them not to go shouting about this, she thought. And they ignored me. Apparently I really don't know how to be a leader. No one ever disregarded Harry this way.

Carrow went on, "You five have made the foolish decision to associate yourselves with an organization named for the Dark Lord's greatest enemy. For that, you will be punished appropriately. However, I might be persuaded to go easy on you - if you're prepared to reconsider where your loyalties lie, and renounce your association with Dumbledore's Army."

Do it, Callie thought. You don't have to mean it, just say it.

But when Carrow asked, "What say you?" not a one of them gave in. They all stood with their heads held high and their expressions defiant.

"Very well," Carrow said, scowling. "I had hoped you all would come to your senses on your own, but perhaps you need a bit of convincing." He aimed his wand on Lavender. Callie could see that the girl's bottom lip was trembling, but still, she refused to stand down.

"Wait," Neville called out, drawing Carrow's attention to him. He got up on his feet and joined the others at the front of the room. "I belong to the D.A., too. In fact, the whole thing was my idea," he lied. Glaring at the man, he went on, "So if you're looking for somebody to Cruciate, it may as well be me."

Callie shut her eyes and thought, Bloody hell, why would you do this to me? He just had to play the noble hero, didn't he? But by claiming responsibility for the D.A., he had put himself in more danger than anyone. If they were lucky, Carrow would only Cruciate the others, but what might he have planned for the mastermind of the group? Azkaban. Ship him off to Azkaban. It was either that, she figured, or the man would simply kill him.

"I'm in this, too," Padma called out, rising up and moving to stand at her sister's side. The two nodded to each other and clasped hands. Obviously, they had decided that they were in this together, no matter what.

"So am I," Michael announced, joining the group. One by one, everybody took their stand, and Carrow's expression grew ever more enraged as they openly defied him. Eventually, the only people still in their seats were Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott - and Callie.

Don't do it, she thought. Don't implicate yourself. But all of her comrades had been brave enough to declare themselves members of the D.A. What must they have been thinking of her as she sat amongst her four housemates rather than standing up with them?

Sighing to herself, she rose up. "That's thirteen of us and one of you," she said. "Be reasonable, Professor, you can't get us all."

Christ, why had she decided to challenge him that way? His nostrils flared like a bull's as he glowered at her, and she braced herself for the curse he was about to subject her to. But after a moment, he let out a deep breath and said, "No, I suppose I can't." Turning to the others, "Sit down, all of you."

They were all quite surprised and suspicious, keeping their eyes on Carrow's wand as they made their way back to their seats.

"Right then," the man went on. "Let's say... ten points a piece. That's-" he did the math in his head "-fifty from Gryffindor, thirty from Hufflepuff, forty from Ravenclaw." No mention of Slytherin. Apparently, like Snape, he wasn't keen on taking points away from his own house. "I'll be speaking with your heads of house. They can decide what should be done with you."

This was way too easy. Did he think the other teachers would do anything as cruel as what he'd had in mind? "Your head of house is Slughorn, right?" Neville asked her after class. "He likes you and he's decent enough. You don't think he's going to...?"

"He isn't evil like the rest of them," she replied. "I'm not worried." Glancing up at her boyfriend, she added, "But that was insanely stupid of you, taking responsibility for the D.A. This isn't going to be the end of it. They'll go after you, Neville." There was worry in her voice, but he didn't look particularly concerned. Only angry.

"I don't care," he said. "I know how you feel about keeping our heads down, but I can't just stand by and let him torture us all."

Rolling her eyes, she remarked, "You're becoming like Seamus. A month ago you were suggesting we run for it. Remember how scared you were of being in the castle with Snape? Now it isn't only him, but those two sadists. Suddenly you've got the balls to openly challenge them?"

He stopped in his tracks, staring down at her with a rather offended look on his face. "Well excuse me for gaining a little bit of courage," he said sarcastically. "Aren't you the one who's always told me to be more assertive? To not let people walk all over me? To have confidence?"

"There's confidence and then there's recklessness," she argued. "Why can't anybody just be smart about this? We could've gone on without the Carrows ever knowing what we were up to, but now..." she sighed and shook her head to herself. "I feel like I've got to be looking over my shoulder everywhere I go. Snape already confronted me about the D.A., he tried to get the location out of me."

Slowly Neville's mouth fell open, and his brows furrowed. "You talked to Snape again?" he asked.

"He called me to his office Monday night," she explained. "After he found out about the banner."

"And you actually went?"

"What choice did I have, he's Snape. If he wants to get at me, he's going to do it one way or another."

"But you promised me you wouldn't be alone with him," he reminded. "Bloody hell, Cal, you think we're reckless? The man is a murderer and you keep on shutting yourself up with him."

"And you can thank Seamus and Parvati and Lavender for that. If you want to protect me so badly then you should've told your God damn friends to keep their mouths shut."

"I did."

"And you shouldn't have stood up and told Carrow that you're in the D.A. Once you did that, everybody else followed, and then I had to do the same or else look like the out-for-herself Slytherin who'd abandon the rest of you."

"Nobody believes that, Seamus is just being stupid."

"Yes, he is. They all are. They've been spouting off about the D.A. to anybody who'll listen, and whoever they told went and turned them in to Carrow." She scoffed, before continuing, "For God's sake, Neville, I did everything I could to ensure that we wouldn't be found out. Bringing Puffy in, the Fidelius Charm... And it was all for nothing. So don't talk to me about Snape, because he never would've known about the D.A. if it weren't for your idiotic housemates."

He had no argument for that, and looked away from her with a guilty expression on his face. "I'm sorry," he said. "I should've done more to stop them."

"Too late now," she replied. "Sorry isn't going to save us from whatever is coming."

She turned to leave, but he called out, "You're not coming back to the common room with us?"

"No. I'm going back to my common room. Where nobody there has done whatever they can to put my safety at risk."