Summary: The Carrows have entered Hogwarts, the Death Eaters have taken over, the Golden Trio are on the run, that is known. But what happened at Hogwarts, to the students? Alison and Lisa are in precarious positions, but will do everything they can to help their schoolmates.

QLFC

Team: Pride of Portree

Position: Chaser 3

Main Prompt: [Using your power just because (neutral)] Your character has decided to remain neutral, but they still want to use their unique skill-set! Neither on the side of good, or the side of bad, what shenanigans are they getting up to?

Other Prompts: [Creature] Thunderbird, [Creature] Cat, [Quote] "War didn't care for carefully laid plans." - Wicked Saints, by Emily A. Duncan

ILVERMORNY

Class: Magical Government

Task Number: Task #3 - Write about someone not wanting to get involved in conflict

HOGWARTS

House: Hufflepuff

Assignment: 1

Subject: Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Task Number: Task #10 - Write about a rebellion

WRITING CLUB

Character Appreciation - Percy Weasley - [Non-Canon] Single Parent!AU (Focuses more on the kids, but they are single parents)

Record Collection - What Is It About Men - [Restriction] Females Only

Time Machine - The Last Execution in the Tower of London - [Task] Write a story set during a war

Showtime - Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now - [Relationship] Mother and Daughter

Amber's Attic - To All the People I've Loved Before - [Style] Letter!fic

Elizabeth's Empire - Tropes and AUs - [AU] Dark (Slight)

Angel's Archive - Magician's Red (The stand can freely control fire) - [Trait] Gryffindor Student

Marvel Appreciation - Agent Carter - [Requirement] A female as the main character/most of the story in her point of view

Lyric Alley - Set Me Free by The Chicks - You've taken enough from me

INSPIRED BY HAMILTON: A CHALLENGE

Challenge Level: Elizabeth Schuyler-Hamilton

Song: Wait For It

Lyric Prompt: If there's a reason I'm alive when so many have died, I'm willing to wait for it

STORIES!? WHAT STORIES!?

Lisa Cullen - Lisa Cullen was a Gryffindor student attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the 1990s. She competed in the school Exploding Snap tournament during the 1996-1997 school year. She was born in 1982 or earlier

Alison Denshaw - Alison Denshaw was a Gryffindor student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the 1990s. She competed in the school Exploding Snap tournament during the 1996-1997 school year. She was born in 1982 or earlier.

BOOK CLUB

Book: The White Queen

Prompt: [Style] Letter

POKEMON MASTER

Starter: Bulbasaur

Evolving into: Ivysaur

Prompts: [Word] Nourish, [Word] Energy, [Word] Aroma

QUIDDITCH SUPPLIES

Prompt(s): [Title] One Down (Two To Go)

Galleons Earned: 20

Title: One Down (Two To Go)

Wordcount: 2024

A/N: This is still a T rating, but a high T? Is that a thing? I don't know. It's not a full Dark!AU, which in this case I would class as an M, but on the higher end of a T rating. Definitely the darkest thing I've written, so... First time for everything, right?

Trigger Warnings: Slight gore, Mentions of the smell of blood, Minor Dark!AU content

Dear Mum,

Lisa and I are well, though sore. The punishments here at Hogwarts are getting worse. It's – it's not good. Alecto and Amycus Carrow, the newest Professors, are making life hell. Speaking in class is being punished now, even for a reasonable question!

The plans we had made for our final year of Hogwarts are now gone, though war doesn't really care, does it? As long as there is fighting and bloodshed, war doesn't care. Well, it would make sense. After all, it was born because of the most destructive race, and their endless battles.

No longer are we allowed to choose our subjects, the headmaster, Snape, has abolished all but the mandatory classes. Alecto Carrow, the new Muggle Studies Professor, is trying to teach us that Muggles are like animals; stupid, dirty, less than wizards and witches. Her brother Amycus Carrow, the Dark Arts Professor, is forcing us to cast the Unforgivables of first and second years as their punishments for stupid things. If we don't cast the curses, we get punished with the Cruciatus.

I'm getting a bit wound up about this, but Hogwarts is crumbling. Mail is being regulated, though not at all times, so I can sneak this letter to you. Some of my friends, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, have started the DA back up, as a bit of rebellion and a way to help treat the younger students' pain.

I am taking on more responsibility and detentions than ever before, but that's to be expected, after all. Remember when you told me I had a knack for protecting the innocent? I'm doing my best to lessen the torture the younger students are going through, but it's killing me, not being able to help them any more than casting numbing charms and helping teach the DA. Apparently I know some more rare protective spells, so Ginny, Neville and Luna are getting me to teach everyone.

I enjoy it though. I'd never really known what I wanted to do once I graduated, but now I think I want to teach – if I get out of this war alive.

You said you wanted to know how Bianca was doing? Well, she's alive and staying hidden, because the Carrows have banned pets. But, Bianca has seemed… off, these past few weeks, though that could be due to the fact that she hasn't been eating as much. I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems serious, so I'm trying my best to figure it out.

Lisa's thunderbird comes and goes, and keeps us in contact with the Order of the Phoenix – that's the group fighting against Voldemort. At least Buddy – Lisa's thunderbird – can stay hidden and come and go easily. Bianca, on the other hand, was almost caught multiple times. She only just escaped each time.

The Inquisitorial Squad was restarted, though have been renamed to DE Patrol, with Death Eaters-in-training as the only members, and they have nearly caught Bianca. I'm debating sending her home to you, or to one of the neutral Pureblood families – I've heard the Abbots have wanted a cat for a while, but haven't gotten around to get one; maybe I could ask Hannah?

Oh! Right! Neville finally asked Hannah out, so they're dating, finally. It wasn't fun to watch them skirt around each other, both at the Yule Ball a couple years ago and the rest of the years since then, so I'm glad they're dating. I tried so hard to set them up on dates, but they always seemed to have magically filled schedules? It was odd. Maybe they wanted to start dating on their own? Or they didn't know they liked each other yet? They may not have planned it, though. It's just suspicious. And unusual.

Also, no matter where you are in the castle, you can always smell the disgusting aroma of blood. I guess the Carrows have a lovely new hobby – using blood quills on students! It's illegal, but that has never stopped them before, and Umbridge decided it was a good idea two years ago. I still have the scars from it: I will not talk back to Professors. I guess the Carrows have gone insane? I wouldn't be surprised, to be honest. They've always been crazy, but this seems a little too much for them to still be even a little bit sane.

The assessments have become more stressful, and deplete our energy – I'm surprised I'm still conscious, they've been so taxing. We have to cast the Unforgivables for Dark Arts, and ten feet of parchment for Muggle Studies, but the rest of the subjects seem more normal than the Carrows'.

The house elves have never been more helpful. Nourishing our hope and keeping us in fighting fit shape, even if we won't need the energy and ability – it never hurts to be prepared. I just hope we will never need to use the spells we've learnt in the DA – though it's unlikely that we won't. War comes around eventually, it always does, and I'd rather finish off the fight before the next generation comes – though I don't want to fight either.

I can only hope I survive this year, because otherwise? I don't know what will happen. I don't know what will happen if I do survive this war.

I've spent this whole letter talking about the Hogwarts situation, that I didn't even try to ask you about your day, or week, or anything! So, I'm going to ask. How have you been? What's been happening? Any new developments at home? Any new love interests?

You haven't been the same since Dad died, and I want you to move on. I know what you're going to say: 'But I can't, Alison! I can't move on from the man I married and loved with my whole heart!' Just try. It's hard, Merlin it's hard, but we need to try. If we don't try, we'll never know. Please, just get out there and meet some people – it doesn't have to be guys. Meet some people, and become friends with them; who knows, it may help you move on.

I just want you to be happy, Mum, and for you to live your life the way you want, because no one is the boss of you. You are an absolutely amazing person, and you deserve the world for everything you have done for me.

One thing I do know is that I will do everything I can to keep you safe, because I can't live without you. I know you are going to say that you can't live without me, but I'd have to last longer without you; I depend on you.

One trimester down, two to go, and then I'm free from this place that has become a hellhole.

Lots of love,

Alison

Hey Mum,

It's been a hell of a year, what with the Carrows and all. Snape is now headmaster, as you should know, but he's putting ridiculous rules in place.

You speak in class? Detention – Cruciatus Curse.

You work against the Death Eaters publicly? Detention – Cast Cruciatus on first or second years.

You do anything against the Carrows? Detention – Various punishments, including being subject to Cruciatus and having to cast it on younger students.

This is getting out of hand! The worst thing is the Board of Governors is not doing a single thing. Like, Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, and none of the rest are, but they've obviously been threatened – otherwise they would be doing something; they care about their childrens' education and safety, after all.

The Aurors have come by multiple times, and yet they have never found anything outside of the 'usual', because the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies classes have been moved to the dungeons.

Though, the house elves have been extremely helpful. They've provided us with more nourishing food, and tried to hide the unpleasant aroma of blood that coats the castle. The house elves have been stretched extremely thin, they barely have enough energy to clean the common rooms each day, though we tell them they don't have to.

Even though the Carrows and Snape have been doing everything they can to divide the houses and turn them against each other, we're more united than ever. There have been no snide remarks about blood purity or family status, because we've banded together for our own safety. If we don't work together, we know we will start dying off, so we work with each other. No one is excluded, and we often sneak into each others' common rooms. Each student has a uniform for each house, and the Carrows and Snape can't keep track of our houses, so we're free to roam the castle.

That is just about the only benefit of this situation; that the whole school is completely united, because even the Slytherins never expected to have to cast the Unforgivables on people. It's barbaric, and we can't go to the Ministry because they never find anything – plus, the Ministry is being controlled by Voldemort. And no, dad, I will not stop saying his name, because he wants people to be scared of his name; of his abilities. I won't give him that – not willingly. The day I do is the day I say I am a werewolf – and I'm not one, at the moment, by the way. There's no telling what will happen in the future.

I'm so glad you gave me Buddy when we were in America, because I've been needing to sneak these letters out of Hogwarts. The only letters students can send out with the Professors' knowledge are ones that paint the current situation in a positive light, with nothing appearing to be wrong. Some students have a code they use – that they'd prepared with family just in case of a worst case scenario happening.

The school owls are the only animals allowed to carry letters to and from Hogwarts, because apparently 'personal or family pets may be accessories to defiance of the rules'. Luckily, Buddy is registered as a school animal, so he is still allowed to deliver letters and packages for students.

Alison has sent so many letters to her mum, I'm pretty sure she's almost finished her parchment stash for school – and it's only the end of the first trimester! Luckily, she always prepares for stuff like this, so she has quite a bit more parchment somewhere in her trunk, I think.

Ginny, Neville and Luna have started the DA back up, so we've been training in counter-curses and defensive spells for just over a month. The Room of Requirement was compromised when Umbridge found out just over a year and a half ago, but we found a similar room in the dungeons – and the Carrows don't seem to know about it, thank goodness. If they did know, we'd have nowhere to practice.

Alison knows some rarer protective spells, so she's been teaching them to us over time. It's really interesting, seeing the way the spells have been lost to time and all. But, we can only do so much.

The Carrows have a new hobby – slash – punishment; using blood quills. It's even worse because many of us still have the scars from Umbridge two years ago, including me. The older students are having flashbacks, and the Unforgivable Curse punishments are just making it worse.

So many people are dead. No one here at Hogwarts is, but the Carrows are getting close to killing us. We're malnourished, the scent of our blood permeates the air, and our hands are covered in scars from blood quills. Why are we still alive, when the Carrows are torturing us? I don't expect an answer to that, I guess, considering you wouldn't know. But, I'm willing to wait for an answer, if I were to ever get one.

I do hope you're doing well, and hopefully this situation at Hogwarts will improve. It probably won't improve, though.

Lots of Love,

Lisa