Chapter Six

A Plan

- FOR THE LOVE OF HARRY-REVIEW!

"THE WHAT?"

"The sword of Gryffindor," Ginny answered, in a voice that suggested that she had repeated herself several times before, "And do keep your voice down Neville, we are in the library, and Pince hates me as it is."

"Maybe she wouldn't so much if you stopped eating in the library." Luna suggested dreamily, staring out of the closest window, "she has asked you several times to stop you know."

Ginny just grunted in response and proceeded to prop her feet up on the table in front of her.

"So, wait," Neville said, rubbing his eyes to clear his head, "Tell me again how you know this?"

"I've known Dumbledore left them the sword since the summer, I was eavesdropping when Scrimmgoer was reading the will to them."

"So the sword is Harry's."

Ginny answered yes the same time Luna said no.

"No? What do you mean no?" Ginny snapped, rounding on Luna. Her temper, always close to the surface these days, had been even shorter then usual since her return to Hogwarts. With her bright red hair and face to match, teeth bared, nostrils flared and eyes flashing, not to mention her wand clutched tightly in her hand, Ginerva Weasley made for a very intimidating sight indeed.

Luna, however, seemed unaffected by her friends anger, and regarded her calmly, and, in a tone appropriate to commenting on the weather replied, "Well, its as the minister said, the sword was never Dumbledore's to give away in the first place."

"Yeah, but Dumbledore wouldn't have left it to them if they didn't need it for whatever it is that they're doing." Neville said, having recovered himself a little.

"Exactly." Ginny nodded her head in agreement, "So what I'm proposing is that we…barrow the soward and get it to Harry somehow."

"By barrow, do you mean steal?" Luna inquired pleasantly.

"Yes, Luna," Ginny sighed, "I mean steal."

"And it's right there? Out in the open?" Neville asked, still a bit incredulous.

'Yes." Ginny snapped, her patience waning yet again, 'its right there, right above Snape's chair, I could have grabbed it while I was doing lines in his office if the old bat hadn't been right there the entire time."

"I wonder what it is that they need it for?" Luna asked, her eyes glazing over as they did when she was thinking particularly hard, 'I mean, they do have their wands, surely they wouldn't need a sword to fight Voldamort."

Neville started and made a strangled coughing noise at Luna's casual mention of that name.

"Oh for goodness snakes Neville," Ginny growled, slapping him on the back, "You minds well get used to it, we're going to be using it a lot."

'A lot?" he wheezed, trying to get a hold of himself.

"Yes, a lot, 'Luna smiled, "It's as Dumbledore always said, isn't it? Fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself."

"Right Luna," Ginny nodded, "And we need to stop being afraid right now and do something about this mess we're in."

She glared at Neville, as if daring him to protest, but Neville was not looking at her. Instead he was gazing off into one of the many cobwebbed corners of the library, his mind elsewhere. He wondered what his parents would think (if they could think at all) about what he was considering doing. He mulled over what they might have done, had they been in his shoes. He thought of Harry, Ron and Hermione, of Dumbledore's Army, the best friends he'd ever had, and then he thought of Voldamort, the man who would take all of that away from him, whose servants had already managed to steal away his parents minds. And then his eyes snapped back to Ginny's.

"Alright." He said, holding up a hand when she opened her mouth, "But it has to be meticulously planed, it's no small thing, sneaking into the headmaster's office, so we're going to do this my way."

'Agreed." Ginny said, and Luna nodded, both girls spurred on by the sudden fire in their friend's eyes.

"Ok," Neville said, leaning forward, "Here's what we're going to do."