"Harry, you can't be serious! You're talking about civil war!" Hermione exclaimed.
"There's no other way. We can't step aside, we can't report this, we can't convince Malfoy; we can't STOP it. The only ways is to brace ourselves and prepare to take them down when they rise," Harry said calmly.
There was nothing that Hermione can say to this though she still looked doubtful.
"Ron what do you think?" Harry asked, turning to his best friend.
Ron was silent for a moment then said, "I reckon if that's the only way possible to stop this, then I say we don't really have a choice,"
"I agree with Ron," Ginny said, "And anyways, it not like we can lose or anything, we are much stronger than they are,"
-There is always the chance of losing,-
All eyes turned to Rox, -We are not unstoppable. There is a real chance that we can lose this. The moment we start thinking that we are invincible is when we become the most vulnerable I still say we fight. Malfoy came after us, it's only natural that we defend ourselves and the best defensive is an effective offensive,-
Harry nodded at Rox as Ginny looked at her feet. He then turned to Luna and asked, "Luna?"
Luna looked at Harry in the eyes and said, "If we must fight then we must, but I can't say that for everyone else. You should have them decide whether they want to get involved or not…"
Harry's eyes finally fell back upon Hermione who had been taking in everyone else's opinion, "Hermione…?"
She stared off into the distance in thought for what seemed like years before sighing and turning to Harry, "I still don't think it's a good idea, but if that's what you and everyone else thinks is best then I will follow you Harry,"
Harry smiled at her before asking, "Well it good to know that we all agree here, but what about the rest of the DA. I agree with Luna that we should let them decide whether to get involved or not, but would anyone even fight?"
"Blimey I reckon they would," Ron replied, "I mean most people joined so that they can have a chance to beat on a Slytherin,"
-I believe they will all follow you at the start. I cannot be sure after our first battle though…-
"What do you mean?" Harry asked Rox, but Ginny answered for him.
"I think he means that, they will join this fight not knowing what a real battle is like I think Rox is afraid that after they witness as real full blown battle, they might back out,"
Rox nodded as Harry said, "Definitely a point there. I think we should wait til next meeting to decide. Until then-"
Everyone froze as the door creaked open behind them. Harry quickly pulled out his wand as Rox stopped leaning on the pillar. The door opened more and more until a canine nose poked in followed by a large black dog. Once it saw Harry, it ran up to him and raised it paw.
"Sirius?" Harry exclaimed taking the dog's paw, "Is that you?"
The dog barked and morphed into a man with messy black hair and a goofy smile on his face as he pulled Harry into a headlock, "Harry! It's good to see you! Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna; it great to see you too. How are you all?"
"Hold on! How did you get in here and why are you here?" Harry asked
"Things have gotten boring at the house so I decided to come up here and mooch off of Dumbledore for bit. How is the DA?"
"You told him about the DA?" Ron asked him incredulously.
"I told him about it before I even decided on forming it, he was the one who pushed me to do it," Harry answered grinning sheepishly.
"That is correct now please do tell me that everyone is actually learning-," He stopped mid sentence when he noticed Rox and raised his wand at him, "When did he get here?"
"He never left…" Ginny answered, giving Sirius an odd look.
"But he wasn't here when I entered!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Calm down and put the wand away, he was here since the beginning," Harry said as Sirius slowly put down his wand, "Sirius, I want to introduce you to Rox. He is a good friend of all of us,"
Rox, throughout this entire moment had not said a word nor make a move. He had simply leaned up against the pillar again. He didn't even flinch when Sirius raised his wand at him. The only reaction he gave was a roll of his eyes.
-That must have been the most overreaction anyone has ever had when they notice me. Real jumpy-
"It's your fault for being silent the entire time!" Sirius said before realizing that Rox's mouth never moved and yet he still heard him clear as a bell, "How are you speaking?"
Rox smirked; -Looks like you already learned how to listen with your heart-
Sirius was about to ask him what he meant, but Harry interrupted saying, "Sirius, right now is not a good time for trivial questions. Something has happened er… is happening um…will happen. Look I don't know,"
Sirius quickly shut his mouth and listened as the six teens explained their ordeal.
When they were finished, Sirius paced back and forth pensively. He was muttering to himself many things that the teens could not understand, though the word snake was used many times. After about ten minutes, Sirius said, "So it's happening again,"
Confused, Hermione asked, "What is?"
"The cycle of war here," Sirius said grimly, "Hogwarts has seen a civil war on her ground every single decade since it very existence. It has never been the same circumstances and the causes are always different, but every decade, something triggers a civil war that spreads to all houses,"
"Were you ever in one of the wars?" Luna asked quietly.
"I was. Thirty years ago I was in the civil war. Back then, the courtyards as well as the towers and outside areas of Hogwarts were never under teacher jurisdiction, well not to the students anyway. Back then those areas fell under the student's jurisdiction and of course, the more areas under your jurisdiction, the more influence and power you have,"
"Hard to not see a war starting under those circumstances," Ron admitted, thinking of all the battles that must have happened over a piece of land that they must have walked across at one time.
"What eventually happened?" Harry asked.
"The grounds were placed under strict teacher jurisdiction after a student…the 'owner' of nearly three fourths of the entire school, was killed in what must have been the largest battle that Hogwarts that has ever seen," Sirius answered.
Hermione gasped at this. Rox on the other hand was remained calm though in his mind he was beginning to connect the dots.
-Excuse me Sirius, but do you know what the previous wars have been about?-
Sirius thought for a moment then answered, "Well one was just a competition between the two strongest and most charismatic students as to see who was the strongest, another happened when a faction of the school split off to make their own colony school in the Forbidden Forest, and the last one I know of was about the conflicting ideas that each house had against the other,"
Anyone in the room could hear Rox's mind go into overdrive; -No dueling unless authorized, never go into the Forbidden Forest…, heavily enforced sorting…! No way…-
"What? What is it?" Ginny asked.
"I think Rox might be on to the same thing I'm thinking," Sirius said.
"Well don't keep us in the dark, tell us already!" Ron said impatiently.
It was Luna however that explained the theory, "Well we all know that the school itself is sentient or at least self aware yes?"
Everyone nodded and Luna continued, "What if this is a way for the school to make itself better or to at least make itself more specialized? It seems that a new rule was made for every war that has happened or old rules were looked at much more seriously,"
"But anyone would make a new rule or enforce the old rule even further if the lack of said rule started an entire war," Hermione argued.
"Yes, but it doesn't explain the exactness of the cycle. It happens every decade. Even if wars were to happen consecutively, it would never be this uniform," Sirius explained.
"If that really is the case then what would Hogwarts be trying to improve on or cover with this new war?" Harry asked everyone.
-I think the answer to that is simple…- Sirius nodded grimly as Rox finished; -Pureblood only or no purebloods at all-
"Why would the school try to decide something like that?" Ginny asked hotly.
"Because….this school has seen more violence than normal since Voldemort's revival and the prejudice on the muggleborns and blood traitors are really beginning to show itself violently. The school is trying to minimalize the violence by simply removing one side from the equation," Hermione explained, shivering from the thought of being kicked out from Hogwarts or worse. Ron quickly moved over to her side and placed an arm around her in comfort.
"Then…what can we do…?" Harry asked tersely.
"Fight right? This doesn't change anything!" Ron said boldly.
"It does…it means that if we win then you, Ginny, your whole family, me, nearly all our friends except for Hermione would be kicked out. If they win then people like Hermione will be kicked out…or worse….We're blood traitors, therefore placing us on this side" Harry explained slowly.
"Then we're basically trapped then aren't we…." Ron whispered, "Lose if we win and lose if we lose,"
Even Rox couldn't find a way out of this. He just stared blankly at the ground.
Sirius finally said, "Look everyone including me right now must be exhausted, let's try and get some rest and we'll come up with something tomorrow. Right now, I need to explain to Dumbledore how I managed to sneak in here. I suggest everyone try to get some sleep," And with that, their meeting was over and everyone returned to their dorms and tried to get some sleep.
They all failed to get any.