"Stick All Day Spray," Ginny said as she rummaged through the bag she had brought and tossed a couple of cans to Neville and Seamus. "Spray it on whatever we want to be permanent and it'll stay."
"Nice." Seamus turned the cans over in his hands before passing them to Ernie and Parvati only to have more bottles shoved into his arms by Ginny.
"I'm assuming that these are a product made by your infamous brothers?" Susan raised an eyebrow as she read the label on the can.
"You betcha," Ginny said brightly as she dove into the bag once more, this time emerging with an armful of vibrant spray paint cans.
"They're brilliant," Terry marveled, looking down at the product. "Destructive, but brilliant. Never want to get on their bad side." He gave a little shudder.
Ginny sighed and turned around, hands on her hips. "I know that tone of voice, I've heard it all too many times when I'm left to clean up their mess and counsel their victims. What did they do to you?"
Terry laughed, blue eyes twinkling. "In fifth year they decided to have Mike and I test out theirs Portable Swamps. Snuck one into my bag and we accidentally opened it in our dormitory. We were stuck in there for hours just trying to locate the door. Tony finally found us and made the twins clean it up."
"Er, I'll have them make it up to you sometime?" Ginny said with a wince, cursing her dumb brothers. Terry merely waved it off with a smile.
"I heard 'trapped in our dormitory for hours', you must be talking about the swamp situation," Anthony called out from where he stood a ways away with Padma, grinning impishly.
"Oi! I thought we promised to never talk about that again!" Michael yelled from the other side of the room, putting his hands on his hips.
Neville shook his head with a fond chuckle. "Alright, everybody over here now!"
The small crowd of people eagerly regrouped into a semicircle around Neville, Luna, and Ginny. Since Terry and Seamus's detention, the DA members had been on their best behavior for the past week, all in preparation for that night.
"This group of people standing in front of me I have slowly gotten to know these past few years. I don't know your secrets, and you don't know mine. But I would trust any of you with my life, hands down." Neville hesitated slightly. "We're strong, but we're also small. Our job is simple tonight, get the message out. Let the Carrows know who they're dealing with and let the other students know that we want them to join us."
Seamus raised his hand but Neville stopped him. "And no inappropriate language, Finnegan." Seamus put his hand down, causing Ginny and Lavender to snicker.
"Does everybody have a partner? And does each pair have a can?" Luna stood on her tiptoes, scanning the pairs and nodding her head. Everyone grabbed their partner and nodded their heads yes.
"And don't forget these!" Ginny held up a pair of Soundless Shoes, also courtesy of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. She scanned everybody from the knee down and nodded in satisfaction. "Good."
"Slytherin patrol ends in fifteen minutes, so stay away from the dungeons and don't get caught by them. Be as quiet as you can, the shoes will help. Once you're done, meet up with your housemates at the place you've discussed. Questions?" Ginny looked around at the group expectantly. They shook their heads, eyes bright. "Let's go, then," she grinned.
Neville, Ernie, Michael and Susan left first. They slipped out of the Room of Requirement's door and crept down the dark halls quietly. In the silence, Neville studied his friends. They were all dressed in black with no blue or gold ties poking out of their cloaks. A chuckle built up in his throat at the sight of Susan and Ernie, both devout prefects, outwardly breaking the rules. He caught Michael's eye and the Ravenclaw gave him a wink. He gripped his paint can tighter.
Susan suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway and threw her arms, causing the boys to crash into her.
"What was that for?" Michael whispered angrily, rubbing at his aching torso.
"Shut up!" Susan hissed and grabbed the three of them by their cloaks. She dragged them around a corner and shoved them behind a statue. When they had stopped wriggling and whining, she held a finger to her lips, causing them to fall silent. The sound of footsteps moving closer to them echoed through the empty halls. From his place crouched on the ground, Neville held his breath. The sound drew closer and closer until they could hear whispering voices. Susan slapped her hands over Michael and Ernie's mouths as a pair of Slytherin robes fluttered past them. Neville craned his neck to see the backs of Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini walking farther and farther away until they disappeared down another hallway.
Susan let her arms drop and the four of them let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. Ernie shooed them out from behind the statue and they continued their journey.
"Thanks, Susan," Neville said, clearly impressed with her perceptiveness. "You really saved us back there, that could've gone very poorly."
Susan brushed her bangs away from her forehead. "Of course, it was nothing. We can't get caught on our first outing." She said tersely, but her amber eyes twinkled mischievously.
"What do you think?" Michael addressed Neville, having stopped to stare at a tall wall to their right. He looked over his shoulder at Neville expectantly.
Neville studied the empty stone wall that was graying with age. No portraits or flags obscured the bare stone, it was simply naked. He smiled. "It's perfect." Susan and Ernie nodded at them and continued down the hall.
In comfortable silence, they unloaded the bag hanging over Neville's shoulder, uncapped their paint, and went to work on the wall. Michael was shy at first with the paint cans. "Terry's the artist, not me," he had admitted quietly as he sprayed bits of blue paint here and there. But soon his eyes began to shine and a smile had graced his face. Soon he was running down the hallway, arm outstretched with the can of paint. Neville followed after him with his own paint, laughing silently.
The pair passed by Lavender and Seamus who had just exited a classroom, shoulders shaking with silent giggles. Paint covered Seamus's hands and Lavender's cheeks. They smiled brightly at Neville before joining hands and sprinting off around another corner. Padma and Hannah shot past them with their arms linked, Hannah pouring the colors out of the cans and Padma charming them into magnificent rainbow swirls on the walls. He waved at them before chasing after Michael.
Down another hall, Neville could see Terry sitting on Anthony's shoulders, eyebrows drawn in concentration as he carefully decorated the helmet of a stone knight with a small paintbrush. Anthony was clumsily spraying the chest plate of the same knight, nothing close to Terry's precision, but he was grinning. Parvati was cross-legged beside him, back arched as she looked up to study their work and pass them paint cans. Up ahead he could see Michael's head of curly brown hair joining Ginny and Luna as they attacked a wall with color. He grinned and ran to join them.
The time passed by in a blur of fluorescent colors and silent laughter. Neville couldn't remember the last time he had felt so alive and free, despite their caged situation. He smiled as he closed his eyes and let his hands do the work.
And just like that, the adrenaline was suddenly gone and reality had come back. They stood in a line, thirteen in number, in the Great Hall as they admired their handiwork splashed on the walls.
"It's beautiful," Lavender whispered, her blue eyes wide.
"Not bad," Ernie acknowledged with a short nod, but he was smiling proudly.
"It's just what we need." Neville bobbed his head, pleased with their work. "It's just what this school needs."
The Great Hall was no longer an empty stone foyer, rather, it looked like a page of The Quibbler. The walls were splashed in bright colors worthy of the Weasley twins' approval. Lightning bolts mimicking Harry's scar decorated the vacant benches and steps. Neon colors zigzagged across the dusty floors in intricate patterns. Phrases were written on the wall, telling the world that Dumbledore's Army was alive. Ernie had charmed Luna with a levitation spell up to the higher parts of the Great Hall and she had sprayed a raging fire across the walls that moved and flickered in the light of their wands. The rest of the school's corridors were just as vibrant and bright. Neville studied the Great Hall and couldn't help but imagine Dean with them, painting beautiful lions and twinkling stars, his artist eyes wide in wonder. From the corner of his eye, he caught Seamus staring off into the distance and could tell that he was thinking the same thing.
Ginny patted Seamus's shoulder, understanding as well. As if broken from a trance, Seamus shook his head and stepped forward. Parvati offered him a purple can of paint and he took it. Looking up at the blank space on the wall, Seamus began to spray the paint with big motions until he stepped back next to Neville.
'Dumbledore's Army: Still Recruiting' decked the blank surface. Susan waved her wand and the writing was suddenly mirrored multiple times throughout the hall.
The thirteen of them left the Great Hall and moved through the school, their message splayed across wall after wall, hall after hall from Susan's wand. From where she was walking in front, Ginny turned around."Terry, Michael? Are the two of you ready?"
The pair of Ravenclaws held up their wands and nodded. "Accio brooms!" They said in unison, raising their wands high in the air. After a few seconds, a pair of brooms came whizzing down the hallway straight towards them. They grabbed them out of the air and mounted them before kicking off. The two of them zoomed off down the hall, spraying the Stick All Day Spray onto the walls. Not to get stuck to the floors, Padma whispered "Parapluvia," and the rest of the group was instantly shielded by an invisible umbrella-like covering. Hannah and Susan collected all the paint cans and stuffed them into their bags.
"Thank you," Ginny whispered into Neville's ear as they followed the pair of broomsticks. "Truly. This is exactly what we all needed."
Neville looked around at the rest of their smiling friends and couldn't help but agree. Their happy, shining faces were a drastic but satisfying difference from the previous solemn days. His stern expression softened and he allowed a small smile to stretch across his lips.
Up ahead, Susan tensed in a similar way to how she had earlier. She turned her ear towards a hallway, holding her hands out and indicating everyone to stop. "Do you hear that?" She whispered to the group.
Michael and Terry touched down beside the rest of them and dismounted their brooms, looking to their friends for answers. Everyone was silent, not daring to make a sound. Neville could tell that Parvati and Hannah heard it too because they had both suddenly stiffened. And suddenly he heard it too, it was the sound of a cat meowing.
"Mrs. Norris," Ginny hissed, cursing under her breath angrily. "I hate that bloody cat!"
The cat's meows were growing louder, soon accompanied by a shouting voice. Neville strained his ears and could finally make out what it was saying. "...students out of bed! Students in the corridor!" Mrs. Norris's howls clashed in discord with Filch's rough voice.
Neville's friends turned to him with pale faces, as if silently asking him what to do. He wasted no time in responding. "Ravenclaws, your common room is on the West side of the school, right? Take your brooms and go! I know that three is a tight squeeze, but you'll have to make it work. Put the three lightest on one broom. Be as quiet as you can."
The Ravenclaws followed his order and quickly rearranged themselves. Anthony pulled Padma and Luna onto Terry's broom while Terry and Michael mounted Michael's Cleansweep.
"Anthony, did you bring what I asked?" Ginny whispered urgently before they took off. From his spot on the front of the broom, Anthony nodded and tossed a bundle to her. "Thanks, I'll return it soon. Now go! Avoid the dungeons at all costs."
The two brooms silently sped off down the hall. Luna cast one last worried look over her shoulder at Ginny and Neville before her broom disappeared around a corner.
Ginny tossed the bundle she had received from Anthony to Hannah and pushed her towards the staircase. "I'm sure that the three of you will all be able to fit under this. Get back to your house and be careful. Anthony had better get this back in one piece or he'll make a fit."
Confused, Hannah tentatively unwrapped the bundle. Her eyes widened in recognition and she beckoned Susan and Ernie towards her. She threw the invisibility cloak over the three of them in one sweeping motion. Her head popped out. "We'll see you tomorrow." She whispered before disappearing once again.
"What is the meaning of this, Mr. Filch?" The Gryffindors looked at each other with scared expressions when they heard Snape's cool voice join the discord from somewhere nearby. There were also two grumbling voices added to the mix; Neville assumed it could only be the Carrows. The footsteps indicated that the group of people was walking up the set of steps that Hannah, Susan, and Ernie had just disappeared down. There were no cries or shouts of surprise, so the Hufflepuffs must've slipped past them.
Parvati and Lavender clutched Ginny's arms in terror as Seamus wildly looked around for an escape route. "We gotta get outta here," he whispered urgently. As if snapping out of her shock, Ginny tugged on Lavender and Parvati and lead them down a hallway, gesturing for the boys to follow.
"Anyone know the quickest way back to the Common Room?" She hissed, looking over her shoulder. "Snape'll literally kill us if he catches us."
"What is all of this?" They could hear the male Carrow cry out, his voice ringing down the hall. "Where did this come from?"
"There are children out of bed," his sister cackled, her crude voice filling the darkness. "Where are you, chickies? Chickies mustn't play with paint."
"Keep going! We're almost there," Parvati whispered frantically as Lavender gasped in fright. Their feet silent, the group shuffled down the hall hurriedly, occasionally throwing nervous glances over their shoulders as the voices got louder. When they had finally made it down the correct hallway, a figure passed by the portrait hole and made their way towards them.
Professor McGonagall looked up from tying her dressing gown around her body and gaped as she saw five of her students barreling down the hall towards her. "Wha-"
Her voice was cut off by the Gryffindors wildly shaking their hands to quiet her down. They were looking at her pleadingly, begging her with their eyes to not say anything.
"I heard something down here!" Alecto Carrow's elated cheer followed them down the empty hallway. McGonagall looked at her students once again, taking in their disheveled appearances and wild eyes. She nodded tersely at them and gestured behind her. They hastily scurried past her and threw themselves through the portrait after Neville had whispered, "Grapevine!"
"Who's down there?" Amycus Carrow growled, rounding the corner just as the Fat Lady's portrait swung shut, shielding the Gryffindors from sight. He lowered his wand in surprise when he saw that it was McGonagall he was threatening with his wand. "Professor McGonagall."
"The one and only. I heard shouting and came to investigate," McGonagall said tightly, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's late, professors, why are you yelling? You could wake the students."
"See for yourself," Carrow spat, throwing his pointer finger up and directing her down the hall. She followed the line of his finger and saw the bright graffiti decking the halls.
"They've vandalized the school!" Filch wailed as he clutched his hissing cat to his chest. McGonagall had to refrain from rolling her eyes at the caretaker's theatrics.
"Minerva, what is the meaning of all this?" Snape asked McGonagall suspiciously. He looked into her face for any signs of guilt.
"How should I know, Severus?" She shot back in an equally cold voice, holding herself up. "I was sleeping soundly until I was woken up by these two." She pointed a finger at the heavily breathing Carrows.
The Headmaster's face flushed ever so slightly. He gritted his teeth but did not question her further. "Very well, then. Now that you're awake, would you care to investigate with us?"
"I would, thank you very much." McGonagall threw her nose up in the air as she strutted past him and walked down the stairs, gesturing for the others to follow. Filch immediately trotted after her, as did the Carrows after a good amount of grumbling. Snape followed the small group of people down the staircase but tossed one last suspicious look back at the Gryffindor portrait hole. From her ornate picture frame, the Fat Lady glared at Snape, as if daring him to take her students.