Kinds of Green
There are many kinds of green. The pure greens; not a harsh colour, but green. A yellow-green, the type you imagine on a bright summers day: happy and cheerful, not sickly. A blue-green: like water, undisturbed water. And red-green, which is just a disliked brownish colour no-one will say they liked. But don't judge green, it's just green.
Set in Deathly Hallows at different times, and not particularly in chronological order.
Dark Arts class bore no resemblance to the subject it had replaced. The classroom showed no resemblance to any of its previous incarnations, save perhaps for during the short tenure of Severus Snape. There wasn't the overpowering smell of garlic from Professor Quirell's spell, nor the ostentatious portraits of Gilderoy Lockhart from his time as DADA Professor. Not light and airy, full of exotic creatures from Lupin's era. No Dark Detectors from imposter Moody. No pink and childish books from Dolores Umbridge's reign. Only the gruesome pictures from Snape's occupancy, the dark shutters on the windows. But somehow, it tasted more ghastly, looked more frightening, sounded more horrific, felt more alarming, and sounded more shocking.
Theodore Nott sat in the back row of Amycus Carrow's class while the squat, unkempt man lectured about the use of the cruciatus curse, and its usefulness re-educating blood traitors. Honestly, that pair gave Slytherins a bad name, though they didn't have a particularly good one before, he mused. Neville Longbottom was chained to the front of the classroom, straining and screaming despite the silencing charms on him. Seamus Finnegan, the only other 7th year Gryffindor boy had a look of pure malice directed at "Amy", as they affectionately termed their instructor. Hand clenched round wand, his white knuckles protruded from his pocket. The two Gryffindor girls sat whimpering at the back of class on the other side to Theo. Lavender Brown was no girly girl, which one might have assumed from her dalliance with Ronald Weasley last year. A mature and sophisticated young woman, she had blossomed this year into a strong and wilful fighter. Yes, she still may have been overly flirty with the Slytherin Boys, but he could speak from personal experience that she held no prisoners when on a mission - many a Slytherin boy had cause to worry if they could still have children after an encounter with her knee. Parvati Patil collaborated in many of her friend's adventures, and was just as feared amongst Theo's peers, to the point where they would turn around and walk away if they saw them come down a corridor. But now, they looked like scared children, terrified for their comrade's safety. Something happened last night, he was sure.
"As ya can see, I 'ave a guest up 'ere with me. Longbottom is gonna be our test subject taday, fa breaking inta the Headmaster's study last nigh'. Mr Nott, let's start with ya. A nice strang curse if ya will."
Theo contemplated it for a minute. He wanted to hear Longbottom scream, but he was fighting YKW, a common cause. It would also suit to have the leader of the rebellion in his debt. He walked forward and whipped out his wand in front of Longbottom's face. Eyes bulged forward, a terror showed in his features. Theo leant to his ear and whispered "Scream". He tried his hardest to say "Crucio" without meaning pain, and it worked, but Longbottom hadn't got it. "Sorry Professor, I'll try again." He whispered again, barely audible, "I said scream idiot". Again, he spoke the words with no feeling, and Longbottom did an admirable impression of someone under the wracking pain the curse should have produced. A final word in the ear "You owe me." And with a smirk he walked back to his place. Yes, this was becoming a great day.
DotDotDot
Astoria Greengrass hated the current regime. She saw the looks the other houses gave Slytherins in the corridor, all because of their most infamous alumni, along with the Headmaster and his deputies. Inside Slytherin house unrest was growing between those who supported the administration, and those who didn't. Her family had opted to remain neutral, thinking it to be the safest place, but had left her stuck in the middle of the conflict.
Giggling Ravenclaw first years past, but seized it when they saw her and carried on hurriedly. It broke her heart, she wanted the world to be at peace, but she really didn't want to get involved. She admired the DA, but that sort of heroicness was too far out of the comfort zone of a Slytherin in her world. It required bravery to the point of stupidity to make a suicide stand, and she couldn't see how the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were possessed with such lack of common sense. Gryffindors, yes, but not the others. This was no time to make a fight to the death; rather, it should be a time to keep your head down, and await a saviour. But she knew they found that impossible. Gryffindors! Where she found it adorable that the Princess wanted the Prince to sweep her of her feet, they thought it pathetic that she should have to wait around and that she should grow some metaphorical balls and ask him out herself. What was so wrong in waiting for Harry Potter to save the day?
Dark shadows loomed round the corner; squeals resounded round the halls. A small Gryffindor was pinned to the wall while ugly and uglier, known to some as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, taunted the poor child. Screaming harder she pleaded for mercy; a mercy that would never be granted.
"Oi, you two!"
"Whacha want?"
Astoria hadn't thought this far ahead. "Uh, I think Draco wanted you. He seemed to be looking for something."
"Thanks," Replied the less ugly of the two, who then turned to the small Gryffindor, "I'll see you later." They cleared off, talking about what must be for dinner.
"Thanks," came a whimper from the wall, "I thought that they'd never let me go. Why did you help me?"
"I wasn't helping you midget! Scram, now!" Running like she was on fire, the child fled down the corridor. Astoria hated it, but it was a necessary deception. If word got round she was a sympathiser, well, she probably wouldn't live to see the sun rise.
DotDotDot
Graham Pritchard felt strangled. Quite literally he felt under a chokehold. The castle was no longer the safe haven it was in a past life. Expression was discouraged, and individuality forbidden. He experienced claustrophobia from the crackdown. He wanted to be free. To feel the air on his skin, to be happy
He stole out of the door and ran down the corridor he was presented with. The Slytherins had found it much easier to take late night jaunts since Snape had more jurisdiction than the dungeons to patrol. Silence lay over the castle. It wasn't right. He wanted Hogwarts back; not the fortress it had become. Smiling, laughing, and cheering. Not screams, yelling or crying. It shouldn't be like that. He came bright eyed and hopeful as an eleven year old, and now his fate appeared to be that he would leave an unrecognisable young man, hardened by war. Why couldn't he be himself?
The 7th floor seemed a buzz with energy, yet still, and empty just like the other floors. A swish of robes. He dived behind a cabinet. Feet passed, accompanied by hushed voices. Peering round the edge he saw Madam Pomfrey along with Ginny Weasley, who was discussing the best way to treat someone. From what he heard, it was a person suffering the after affects of the cruciatus. He shivered. No-one should feel that. He knew this war was wrong, but he felt powerless to do something. That was not a sensation Slytherins were accustomed to.
5 minutes later he came to the Astronomy Tower door. A creaking, ancient door, beautiful and magnificent. Hogwarts: A History said many of the doors in the castle are original to the building. Stupid Filch must have left it unlocked. Better for him, but he could undo whatever the stupid squib had done anyway. Stone stairs were comforting. If they had stood for a thousand years, then maybe it will last this latest test too. A large room loomed out of the darkness. It was empty, all telescopes having been removed for the night. He walked up to the bar preventing people from falling. Wind whipped round him, causing his hair to blow like those muggle movies he once had an obsession with. He felt free for the first time in ages. He stood on the barsand laughed. This is what he wanted to feel like for the rest of his life. "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves", as Abraham Lincoln once said. Those goons masquerading as teachers would pay for what they've done. Because, as Mahatma Gandhi told us "Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would man not pay for living?"
DotDotDot
Tracey Davis stood in the Room of Requirement in front of the other Slytherins. "I don't care what the rest of you say, I'm staying."
"Tracey, they're out to kill! It's not going to be stunners tonight."
"Doesn't matter. What don't you get? This is bigger than me or you, or even Harry Blessed Potter. They aren't just bad, they're pure evil. I can't let them get away with it. I want to take down every Death Eater bastard I can, and if I die trying, so be it."
"How very unSlytherin of you."
"To hell with Slytherin!" Gasps of shock reverberated around the room. "This isn't about what colour tie you wear at school anymore. Why don't you see that?"
"If we just gave Harry Potter up it would end it!"
"Don't be so idiotic Pansy, do you really believe he will have a nice little cease fire? He won't. Dictators want power. When he's done with Potter, he'll move onto the rest of the muggleborns, then Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and guess who is left. I read a poem my Granddad showed me as a kid. He was a muggleborn, and in that world they had something called the Holocaust. Some mad dictator, not too dissimilar to YKW but with a nose, decided to persecute the followers of a particular religion, but when he was done he moved on to other people." Tracey wished harder than she had ever for the poem, and it appeared next to her. She read it out aloud.
"First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
"If we leave it, then who will speak out for us? But this dictator was overthrown and so will…V…Voldemort. All that is needed is for people to stand up and say something."
"I suppose this is goodbye then." Theodore Nott sauntered forwards. He stuck out his hand in an odd gesture of friendship, which Tracey took as it was intended. "I never liked you much, but I think you are right doing what you believe in. I don't have that much courage, to fight a fight that is someone else's, but I admire you. I hope you don't die, but if you do, I don't want you to join me in hell. You deserve better. I wish I got to know you better, too. Who knows, we may have been friends." Tracey was touched. If she had spoken 3 words to Theodore in 7 years, that was it. For him to say she was better than him, well, she didn't know how to respond to that.
"Thank you Theodore, that…that was very kind of you. You do know that I may live. If I don't, please, don't waste whatever freedom you may gain. I want to see you in heaven. Your speech proved you deserve it just as much as I do. Just please, don't do something stupid and join the Death Eaters, or something."
"I'd rather die than that."
"I'll definitely see you in heaven, be it 5 years, or 50."
A voice came from behind, a face that looked older than it was the last time she had seen it. Professor Lupin had come up to help with the evacuation. "Miss Davis, if you wish to fight, you better go back to the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall needs to know."
People swarmed round Tracey, to say goodbye, believing that they may never see her again. She extracted herself from the crowd and began her longest journey, a solitary walk back to the Great Hall. Harry Potter ran past her without a backwards glance, but she plowed on. Heads turned when she re-entered the Great Hall. Gasps came when they saw her tie, but only 8 words escaped her mouth, "So, I thought you might need another body?"
DotDotDot
"Bloody effin' mad!"
"They cruciated some little Gryffindor!"
"Then that Ravenclaw they chained up!"
"They cut open the face of some Hufflepuff as well!"
"Shut up the lot of you! We are Slytherins, not animals! We are civilised, not barbarians. Now, I know today has been a bit worrying, but you must remember to show decorum at all times. We mustn't let standards slip." Daphne flicked a strand out of her face, red from screaming to be heard. "Now, I care not for your politics, I don't care if you want to run off and join Neville Longbottom in his harebrained plans, all I want is a united front."
"Not bloody likely! I won't be all chummy with some blood traitor!"
"I don't care who your father is Harper, I am Head Girl, and you will do as I say!"
"You can't tell me what to do." He mumbled.
"Yes I bloody can. You must understand we will be watched less than, say, Gryffindor, but we aren't immune to it all. I found two of our own firsties in a corridor shaking and screaming for their mothers because they were tortured. For being late. Surely Slytherin is more important than whether someone believes that YKW is going about his plans the right way?"
"Fine. But don't expect me to be nice to the filthy traitors."
"I'll take that as a yes. No-one is to let me down. Do you hear? Or else, I will find someway to make your last minutes on earth so painful the cruciatus would be a welcome relief." A few first years, and some second years gulped in worry at the last statement.
"So then, do we have a deal, to protect ourselves, our housemates, and the integrity of Slytherin House itself?"
Wow, this is the longest thing I have ever written. 10K words later, and I'm still wondering what all the fuss was for my puny 2K word English essay. Sorry this has taken me a while to get up, but GCSEs take precedence according to my teachers, and I do need the grades. The poem was one I read aged 13, and it had a profound impact on me, and the quotes are from random internet searches. Please review, because it will help me improve.