"We're getting stronger now from things they never found. They might be bigger, but we're faster and never scared."-Taylor Swift (Change)
I didn't really like separating myself from Ginny and Neville once we reached the great hall. I gave Neville's hand one last squeeze before heading over to the Ravenclaw table.
Snape was sitting in Dumbledore's old chair and I have to admit that it didn't look right. He was the last person that anyone pictured headmaster. Ever. But maybe that was because he was the last person anybody wanted as headmaster.
I saw two new teachers sitting at the staff table, a man and a woman, and I just knew they were Death Eaters. They were dressed in all black and had smug looks on their faces. I figured they would be taking the Muggle Studies and Defense Against the Dark Arts positions, both of which had been unoccupied until now.
Professor McGonagall led the first year students in, as she had every year. It was nice to see something normal going on. The poor eleven year olds looked absolutely terrified. I felt sorry for them.
As the Sorting went on, I noticed that the cheering that usually erupted from each house as a student was sorted into it was a lot quieter this year. It was as if everyone was afraid Snape wouldn't allow happiness or excitement. Come to think of it, I wasn't too sure he would either. He sat in his chair during the whole sorting, expressionless, only clapping when someone was sorted into Slytherin.
Once everyone had sat down and the last bits of chatter had died down, Snape stood up. I noticed a lot of people were giving him glares. Except for all of Slytherin house, of course; they all looked simply thrilled that Snape was headmaster.
"Before we start eating," Snape began, "I want to introduce two new teachers to our staff." He spoke as quietly and slowly as he ever did, but his voice sounded terribly loud in the silent room. "Firstly, the position of Muggle Studies professor-,"
"What happened to Professor Burbage?" a boy in Gryffindor that I didn't know asked. "She was murdered, wasn't she?"
Professor Snape sent a stony glare at the boy. "The position of Muggle Studies professor," he said again, "will be filled by Alecto Carrow." He gestured towards the woman sitting at the table, who didn't move a muscle. She continued to look out at the room with her blank and unfriendly expression. There was the sound of a few people clapping from the Slytherin table.
"Muggle Studies," Snape continued, "will now be a mandatory class for all students."
"Why?" a student called out.
"Silence," Snape said. "The position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," he continued, "will be filled by Amycus Carrow." Amycus smiled nastily.
"Brother and sister, I expect," I heard someone whisper a few seats away from me.
"As I'm sure most of you have gathered," Snape said, "things are going to be run a little differently at Hogwarts. All rules that have been in effect previously still stand and punishments will be enforced, I can assure you. There will be no roaming the corridors after hours. You will all be in your common rooms by eight o'clock every evening. You will go to meals and you will go to classes. The Forbidden Forest is off limits. There will be no Hogsmeade trips and no Quidditch. All secret passageways in and out of the castle have been blocked off."
I rested my elbow on the table and my chin in my hand. The Forbidden Forest had always technically been off limits, but when I had gone to visit the thestrals, I never had to walk very deep into the forest and I could always find my way out. I was sure that Dumbledore knew that I enjoyed feeding them and he had never said anything. I knew that Snape wouldn't be so lenient with me. It didn't look like I was going to be able to visit the thestrals this year. There weren't going to be any more walks to the greenhouses, or time spent in the clock tower or the owlery. I understood what Snape was saying. The students were basically going to be prisoners.
Finally, the food appeared in the middle of the table. At least that was another thing that hadn't changed. It was one of the very few things that seemed to be staying the same and again I was glad for it. It was nice to have something, anything that reminded me of the way Hogwarts used to be.
"Now, it has been made clear to all of the teachers that the Carrows are in charge of punishment," Professor McGonagall said in Transfiguration the next morning. She was walking up and down the rows as she talked. "We are supposed to refer any wrongdoers to them and let them handle it the way they see fit." She looked around the room and we all knew what 'the way they see fit' meant. It wouldn't be pretty.
"Surely you don't think that's acceptable?" a girl on the other side of the room asked.
"I think it's utter rubbish and therefore I won't be paying any attention to it," Professor McGonagall said as most of the class broke into applause. "However, if I feel you deserve it, I will give you a detention with me. Just because I don't agree with the new rules doesn't mean I don't agree with rules at all."
The class groaned.
"Would you rather be sent to the Carrows?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"No," everyone chorused.
"I didn't think so," she sniffed, making her way to the front of the room to begin the lesson.
I had Muggle Studies after Transfiguration and after what Professor McGonagall had said, I was a little nervous. At least Ginny would be in my class. She was in my Defense Against the Dark Arts class as well, which made me glad. It would be good to have a friend in the two classes everyone was the most worried about. It would somehow make things a little more bearable.
"Neville, what happened to you?" Ginny gasped when the two of us stepped out of Muggle Studies. Neville was waiting by the door with a gash on his cheek.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Neville said. "Amycus said as soon as kids start getting detentions, we're going to have to practice the Cruciatus Curse on them as punishment. He wanted to grade us on how well we did it and everything."
"So where did this come from?" I asked, reaching up and gently touching the spot below the cut. Neville flinched slightly and I pulled my hand away. He gave me a small smile and took my hand in his.
"I refused to do it. I told him I'd rather fail than do something like that, so he gave me this." He pointed to the cut.
"Wow, Neville, getting in trouble on the first day of school," Ginny said, "and standing up to a teacher like that."
"The Carrows aren't teachers," Neville scoffed.
"Who are you and what have you done with Neville Longbottom?" Ginny asked, smiling.
"He's still here," I said, grinning at Neville. "Come on, let's go get that cut healed. Or at least stop the bleeding."
We said goodbye to Ginny and headed upstairs. "So, what was Muggle Studies like?" Neville asked.
"It was a waste of time. Alecto went on and on about how Muggles are cruel and brutal and forced wizards to have to go into hiding. She made them seem like some kind of monsters. No one believed her, though."
Neville shook his head. "This is ridiculous."
"We knew it would be bad," I said.
"Yeah, but now that we're living it…" Neville began. "I wonder if we can get more people to join Dumbledore's Army. I'm starting to wonder if we can do this on our own."
I shrugged. "I don't know. We can try, but how?"
Neville didn't answer right away. Finally he looked over at me. "I think I have an idea. I'll let Ginny know, and then can you meet us in the entrance hall tonight at 7:30?"
"Yes, of course," I answered instantly. I didn't care that he was asking me to meet him half an hour before curfew. I didn't care about getting in trouble. What we were doing needed to be done and I couldn't wait to see what Neville had in mind.
"Will this ever come off?" Ginny asked, actually letting out a quiet laugh.
Neville shrugged. "I don't know. I've never done it before. I just learned how to do it. The library's really good for finding useful spells like these."
"Who knew?" I asked with a tiny smile.
Neville and Ginny laughed quietly. "And," Neville said, "who cares if it comes off or not?"
"I'm sure it'll fade eventually," I said reasonably, "but not for a while."
"The longer the better," Neville said, working quickly on what he was doing. We had to work quickly so that we wouldn't get caught. We knew Filch and Mrs. Norris would be patrolling the hallways as usual and this time the Carrows would be joining them.
"Do you think this will work, Neville?" I asked.
"I hope so," he said.
"It's a brilliant idea," Ginny said.
"But even if it doesn't work, we won't give up, will we?"
"Of course not," Neville assured me. "Harry wouldn't want us to, so we won't, no matter what. The Carrows aren't going to scare us into doing what they want."
Finally we stood back to admire what we had done. The message was fairly large, taking up a good amount of space on the wall. We had used three different colors-blue, red and yellow- to write four very important words and they stood out magnificently even in the dark: Dumbledore's Army, Still Recruiting.