A/N: Well, most of you know that my computer had a huge major horriblebadscary crash this weekend, causing me to lose around ten-thousand of my words for NaNoWriMo. Fortunately, I had backed up almost all of Daphne and my other fanfic works too, so *yay!* But let this be a lesson to all of you: back up all of your stuff. Every night if you have too. Okay, kids? Do it for me. Do it for you!
A couple of eagle-eyed reviewers pointed out that Reducto is the blasting spell not the shrinking spell. I'm now not sure if a Shrinking Spell exists, so I made one up. And to JJ Rust and Dr. Shanty--the following correction is for you two!
Rated T as usual. Thanks to stella8h8chang for beta-reading.
Chapter 28: Stealing the Sword and Other Calamities
Daphne took the last two flights of steps, making sure the perpetually moving staircase did not accidentally throw her off.
She also had to keep her eye out for Peeves, always the pesky poltergeist.
As she reached the next-to-last platform waiting for the final flight to finish its rotation, she took a quick glance at the hovering hourglass that kept time on the castle wall above the portrait of Boris Bloomfield, Hogwarts most famous Herbology professor who had discovered the Probitus Plant, the active ingredient in Veritaserum.
The bottom chamber of the hourglass was now filling up, and soon it would be half past ten o'clock in the morning.
(And then let the games begin!)
Daphne took two deep breaths to calm down. She had to time her appearance just right by arriving on the second floor, where Parvati Patil and Hannah Abbott were both waiting for her.
First, she and Parvati would start in on each other.
("Stupid, Gryffindors!" "More worried about their pride than staying safe!")
Then, she would turn her ire onto Hannah Abbott.
("So like a Hufflepuff! Gotta latch onto that foolish Gryffindor bravado, right? Nothing unique there!")
Finally, Michael Corner and Terry Boot would try to put a stop to the whole kerfluffle, which would end up with Michael and Daphne "breaking up" very publicly and very loudly.
("How did I even stand you? You're in Ravenclaw! I thought you were smarter than to defend these pieces of—")
Daphne shut her eyes. It had been a bit harder than she thought it would be to get into character for the fight. She had gone over the insults in her head, the script that all of them had worked out. Daphne had found herself apologizing over and over while they were writing it all out.
After several more apologies to all of them, Michael had pulled her to the side and kissed her.
"Daphne, this is a mission all right?" he had whispered in her ear, softly pecking each cheek. "They're just words. They don't mean anything. We know that."
"Y-yeah . . . I, uh—" Her voice was very shaky.
"What?"
Daphne had looked back up at him. "I don't really want us to say that we're breaking up. I know it's all made up, and we're not really and that I'm being stupid a-and barmy a-and—"
She hadn't been able to get another word out, as Michael had planted his lips firmly on hers. It was only after a couple of coughs and loud, intrusive "Heys!" and "Ois!" that they finally broke their clinch apart.
Now, it was time to put the plan into action.
She looked back at the hourglass. She had two more minutes until she needed to be walking through the corridor, towards the two girls. Daphne brought out her D.A. Galleon and activated it to tell all the parties that she was on the second floor, just outside the doorway leading to the corridor where the tussle would begin.
Her feet touched down off the last step. Daphne shut her eyes and took two breaths and reached into the depths of her robes, feeling for the various Wheezes -- the Nosebleed Nougats, some Puking Pastilles, a couple of Bruising Bon-Bons. These candies insured that the participants in this scheme would look like they had just stepped out from a war zone.
(Okay! Showtime.)
She spotted Hannah and Parvati several meters away, talking amongst themselves. There were just a few other students milling about, but no teachers. It was the setup they were hoping for; enough students to make sure there were some eyewitnesses to the skirmish, but no authority figures to stop it before Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones could lure Snape out of his office.
Daphne inhaled deeply again. She reached for her Galleon and sent another message—
"Now!"
"Oi! Patil, over here." Daphne spoke in a clear tone; her voice echoed down the corridor. As soon as Hannah faced her, Daphne adopted the most absurdly exaggerated frown that she was capable of. "Abbott, move along! This is prefect business."
Hannah merely crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow. "Something tells me," she said in an overly loud voice, "that Parvati might need a witness. Dealing with you, that is."
Daphne glanced around, seeing that they had caught the attention of a few of the students that were lingering around the hallways. "Whatever. Patil." She spoke sharply to the Gryffindor prefect. "I need your reports about the so-called 'Dumbledore's Army' vandalism on the fourth floor and in the Dark Arts classroom from last week."
She put her hands on her hips and aimed her most serious expression at them.
"You need them? Or Snape needs them?" Parvati faced her dead-on. Hannah stood in a similar pose as Daphne.
"Both of us, Patil! I need a copy. Malfoy needs one. And the Headmaster does too. Show a little respect while you're at it. He's not Mister 'Thank-You-Very-Much'—"
"You're standing there, defending him?" Parvati said, disgusted. "How can you do that? How in the world can you possibly want to work with him?"
"We thought you didn't like what was going on." Hannah jumped in now. Daphne noticed that the students in the corridor had turned their attention to the ever-increasing voices of the three girls.
"Patil," Daphne intoned in a deep, but loud, voice, "No matter what now, Snape and the Carrows are in charge. They're the ones who set the rules, and they're the ones we have to follow." She shook her head and walked around the two prefects. "Y'don't get it, do you . . . either of you. You," she pointed at Parvati, "with your idiotic Gryffindor nobility and you, Abbott," she turned towards Hannah and shook her head. "You've got too much Hufflepuff in ya."
Daphne smirked, but more to cover up her wincing at the next thing she was about to say to Hannah. "Always one step behind a bloody Gryffindor!"
They had planned out and scripted everything. Hannah had even suggested to Daphne saying something like that so she could get properly riled up. "I mean, it does make sense, you know?" Hannah had told Daphne, with a shrug, even though her eyes were sad. "There had been a lot of talk in our common room after Cedric's death and the circumstances surrounding it, whether Cedric was simply following Harry to his own death and so forth. . . ." Hannah had continued talking, but all Daphne could think about was the night of the Triwizard Tournament, when she saw with her own two eyes Cedric's dead body in Harry Potter's arms.
It was a transformative moment for her; Daphne had decided right then and there shun the common wisdom and tradition of Slytherin House to support Harry and his cause. Even though it had taken her almost a whole year later to realize that she really and truly had rejected the Slytherin beliefs.
Although both girls knew and anticipated exactly what Daphne was going to say, it still disgusted Daphne to have to utter — and to utter loudly and publicly — such a sentiment. She tried to show Hannah just how sorry she was with her eyes, even as she continued to talk, but she wasn't sure if her apology was coming through.
"—And you and Snape and Malfoy can all take flying leaps off of the Astronomy Tower!"
Daphne narrowed her eyes at both Parvati and Hannah, and reached into her robes, her right hand reaching for her wand and her left for a handful of Wheezes. "Oh, I'll give you something to leap after! Everbero!"
She threw the Bludgeoning Hex at them, hitting the suit of armor behind both girls. Hannah and Parvati shrieked and ducked. "Yeow!" Hannah exclaimed. "What was that for?" she asked in a loud voice.
"For pissing me off!" Daphne trained her wand on them, positioning her other hand near her mouth as if she was going to wipe it. However, concealed in her hand was a Bruising Bon-Bon, which she popped into her mouth.
("In five minutes time, you might be black-and-blue, but feelin' sublime!")
(Thank Salazar for Skiving Snackboxes!)
Daphne kept scowling at Parvati and Hannah. All the students that had been milling about the hallways had now turned their full attention toward the feuding witches.
Daphne gave Parvati and Hannah both a subtle nod, which both girls reciprocated, signaling that all three had taken the bruising sweets. At the exact same time, all three girls pressed their Galleons, embedded deep into their palms.
Daphne felt hers go warm mere seconds after.
She stifled a little grin as two Ravenclaw boys, both with indignant expressions, emerged from around the—
"Corner!" she shouted, "Leave. Now! This doesn't concern you—"
What's goin' on here?" Michael spoke up first. "Daphne? Parvati . . . Hannah?"
"Don't worry, lassies," Terry Boot answered, putting an arm protectively around Parvati. Daphne had to stifle a laugh as the Gryffindor prefect rearranged her outraged expression as Terry made contact with her, squeezing her tightly around the shoulders. "The cavalry's here. Greengrass," he said, glaring at her, "if you're so much as bothering Parvati—"
"They bloody started it! They started in on me!" Daphne shouted, while taking note they still had about two minutes until all the girls' faces turned black and blue. "You're siding with them?!"
"They would never do anything to anyone, Daphne," Michael said, crossing his arms. "And we saw you throw a Bludgeoning Hex!"
"They deserved it," Daphne twirled her hand around her wand and brought it to the ready position. "And, I swear Michael, I won't let a little snogging between us stop me from hexing you!" She pursed her lips together. To her utter amazement — not to mention amusement — Michael looked like he was trying not to laugh.
Which only made matters worse for her own composure.
"You think you can take me on? It's one against four. Greengrass."
Daphne sneered at him, while trying not to break out into giggles.
"Right! Well, y'should know I've been practicing some rather creative curses—"
Daphne barely noticed Parvati, Hannah, and Terry all mouthing frantically at her, "Now!"
The two girls both took opportunities to throw Stunners, just past Daphne's head.
"Wha' the—!" Daphne spun around, clutching at her face. "Ow! Fucking hippogriff's testicles . . . that hurt!" she yelled. Gritting her teeth, she cast another Bludgeoning Hex right through the space that the two girls were standing. Both Parvati and Hannah yelled loudly enough to cover up the sound of the hex hitting a tapestry right behind them.
"Get to cover!" Terry shouted as all the girls were fighting, or rather, throwing random spells here and there. He and Michael cast a couple of Shield Charms around the area to contain the spell work so others wouldn't get hurt in the "fray". Terry managed to get a Canary Crème into his mouth, just as he surreptitiously deflected some unknown spell from Daphne. He promptly erupted into a large canary as Daphne laughed, trying to make herself sound maniacal.
Michael kept yelling out in pain as he stuffed a Nosebleed Nougat into his mouth. "Oi! Fuckin' hell!" He cupped his now bleeding nose; there was a small, but steady trickle of blood. "Lookit what you've done!"
"I do say, Corner, I think this means we should see other people!"
"Ya think?" He gave her a subtle wink, and Daphne hoped that the rush of blood to her head made her look flush with anger rather than affection.
Other students had gathered around and started whistling and clapping, taking sides and wagers about who would win.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" came their raucous chants.
"OOOH! What have we here?"
Daphne looked up. "Peeves! Get out of here . . . this doesn't concern you!"
"Oh, is the wittle Slytherin Head Girly-girl fighting?" Peeves tsked. "Not good for school unity . . . no, no, no!" He picked up three helmets from the fallen suits of armor and juggled them in his hands. "Oh, who to hit . . . who to hit? Ah-hah!" And he started chucking them at both sides.
"Oi! Peeves!" Michael and Terry shot spells at him. Peeves laughed gleefully and swished around the teens, ducking spells left and right. When he ran out, he went for more, and the students were now cheering the onslaught of spell work and metal being tossed about with utter abandon.
"Hey, look," Hannah pointed off into the distance. "It's the Bloody Baron!"
"Eep!" With a little squeak, Peeves disappeared. Daphne could not help but be relived at Hannah's quick thinking.
The wizards and witches kept throwing several curses at each other but refrained from doing any real physical damage, although it wasn't obvious to anyone observing them. Terry had several bumps all over his face and a large number of facial bruises; he coughed up an obscene amount of feathers and made a chirping sound every time he tried to utter a spell. Michael's nosebleed was still going, and Hannah and Parvati had numerous things that looked like slimy boils and swollen body parts all over them, all thanks in part to some rather creative spell work and a random assortment of Wheezes. They were shouting and yelling in furious voices.
"Get her!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Dammit! She's too good." Michael shouted. Daphne couldn't help but laugh.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"C'mon!" Some boys shouted. "Take her down!"
In the middle of throwing a Furry Face Hex ("Saeta in Visio!") right at Terry Boot, making him resemble a rather skinny ape, Daphne heard the pounding of footsteps growing louder as they approached her. Ducking an intentionally poorly aimed curse from Hannah ("Ha! Try again, Huffle-suck!") the Slytherin looked up and saw Blaise Zabini panting as he approached her. She fumbled into her robes, noticing Michael and Terry doing the same. All of them pressed their Galleons, and they went hot in seconds.
(Ernie and Susan will go get Snape and tell him about the fight . . .)
(And it'll allow Ginny, Neville and Seamus to retrieve the sword!)
She took a quick glance at her Galleon. It said, "S and E with Snape. Lion is in."
Just as she re-pocketed it, Blaise kneeled besides her. But he wasn't alone.
"Parkinson!" Daphne shouted at Pansy. "Make yourself fucking useful and hex those bastards!"
She stared at Daphne in shock.
"Come on, you stupid girl!" Daphne yelled, a little too over-enthusiastically. "Don't just sit there like a bloody useless Hufflepuff! GET THEM! This is your chance, Pansy!"
Pansy looked at Daphne and looked at the group of students that she was attacking. As if a light clicked on in her head, Pansy smiled evilly. "You filthy, Mudblood-lovers! Everbero!"
Daphne's heart plummeted as she saw the Bludgeoning Hex soar right towards Hannah and Parvati. The girls ducked and the hex missed them by mere inches.
Acting fast, Daphne and Blaise both turned to their left. "Stupefy!" And Michael Corner, thinking quickly — and simultaneously staunching his nosebleed with the other half of the nougat — aimed his own Stunner towards Parkinson, but didn't hit her. Three Stunning Spells, after all, would be a bit much for anyone to take.
Pansy looked to her front, her face frozen in a shocked "O" face, and fell backwards. Blaise caught her in his arms and Daphne scooted over her, slapping her a few times to make it appear as if she was trying to wake Pansy up.
Breathing rapidly, Daphne aimed her wand right at Pansy's head. Thinking carefully about the assignment that Amycus Carrow had given to Pansy and all the information that Pansy had gathered on Dumbledore's Army, Daphne uttered decisively, "Obliviate!"
Pansy shuddered and for a fleeting moment, Daphne thought she was having a seizure. However, her body settled back down and she remained unconscious. Blaise laid Pansy's body down on the floor and continued throwing poorly aimed hexes and curses at their "opponents", while he tossed Pansy's book bag at Daphne. Daphne caught it with her other hand, but kept her wand trained on the other witch's head.
"Consilium!"
Pansy's eyes fluttered open, and Daphne suppressed a start; it looked like the other girl was very much conscious. Steeling herself, making sure that Pansy was indeed not awake, Daphne leaned over to the girl's ear.
"Michael Corner and Parvati Patil just hit you with two very powerful Stunners, and I tried to protect you from them." Daphne whispered to Pansy. "Amycus Carrow asked you to find out any information you can about Dumbledore's Army from our fifth year," Daphne whispered in Pansy's ear. "You already gave it to him. If he asks you about it, you will insist that you gave it to him." She swallowed, quelling her jumpy nerves. "In two weeks' time, you will find a sealed document labeled 'D' and 'A' on your desk in the dormitory. That document will contain the only students that have ever been involved in any variation of Dumbledore's Army."
Daphne sucked in a breath. A few inches above her head, a feeble curse sailed over her and hit the Shield that had been cast around the fight. She looked at Pansy, and then her eyes moved towards the bag that Blaise had tossed to her.
"Macero!" The book bag shrunk into a small parcel no bigger than the palm of Daphne's hand. She picked it up, thrust it into her pocket and suppressed a grin.
Daphne nodded.
"All right. Revive her, Blaise!"
He nodded. "Ennervate!" Pansy's eyelids flew open and she bolted upright.
"Wh- . . . what—"
Pansy looked around, completely disoriented. She stared at the students in front of her, who had stopped throwing spells and were now panting and giving her the angriest of looks.
She furrowed her brow and looked around her angrily.
Daphne threw her arm around Pansy's waist and put Pansy's around her shoulders and neck. The other girl looked as if someone had just viciously insulted her . . . and promptly winced in discomfort.
"Wha' the f- . . . ?"
"We've got to get you out of here. Go see Madam Pomfrey, Pansy. Someone got you really bad with a Disorientation Hex and Stunner."
Blaise had a hold of Pansy's other side. The two of them lifted her to a more upright position.
"Oh-ohhh . . ." Pansy moaned. "M-my h-head hurts—"
"You fell backwards," Daphne kept her voice as even and as mollifying as possible. "We need to get it checked out by either Pomfrey or—"
"Pomfrey's little gopher, Eddie Carmichael." Blaise intoned, giving Daphne a very pointed look. She drew her lips together, like she had just sucked a lemon. She tried desperately to suppress a snort.
Pansy nodded slowly; it was clear she was very disoriented and groggy. She looked over at Daphne. "Why're you . . . h-helping . . . ?" Her voice faded and her eyes were at half-mast.
Daphne looked at her and spoke in the most sincere-sounding voice she could muster. "Because, I was wrong and you were right. I'm sorry, okay?"
The other girl just shook her head. "I-I don't underst-stand . . ."
"Don't talk anymore," Blaise interrupted. "Let's get going." Daphne nodded, but took the opportunity to look just behind her; on the stone floor, rolling around, were the rather bruised and bashed forms of Michael, Terry, Parvati and Hannah, all clutching their stomachs, faces and other body parts and groaning in "pain". Daphne snickered at them, but shot a knowing smirk at Michael, who winced and winked at her at the same time.
(Prat!)
It was at that point that she had realized she had not looked at her Galleon since Blaise and Pansy had joined them. Daphne suddenly got an odd feeling in her guts, that something might have gone horribly awry. After all, they would've sent them all a message immediately, saying they got the sword out of the office. But if they had been caught by Snape, they would not be able to get to their Galleons, and they would not be able to tell them--
And just as the teenagers turned around, Daphne and Blaise found themselves staring right into the faces of Professors McGonagall and Sprout. Snape was nowhere to be seen.
Daphne couldn't stop the surprised gasp that escaped from her.
"But S-Sna- . . ." She caught herself before she could finish the headmaster's name. She blinked rapidly. "Er, I mean . . . professors? Um, hello!" She tried to smile brightly, but she sensed it looked more like an awkward rictus.
"What," McGonagall strode forward into the middle of the now-over battle, "is the meaning of this, Miss Greengrass?" The Scottish witch stared furiously at Daphne, her teeth bared, her nostrils flaring. "How could you place yourself and these students," she swept her hands around the corridor, "in such danger?"
Sprout walked briskly towards Daphne; she pressed her face close to hers and spoke in a low tone. "I do not need to remind you, Miss Greengrass, that we as teachers are required not only by the Headmaster's decree, but by the Board of Governors themselves, that all decisions regarding disciplinary proceedings against the students shall go through either the Headmaster himself or," Sprout steeled herself, "the Carrows."
There was a pained tone in Sprout's voice and a sad and fearful look in her eyes that made Daphne's stomach fall to her feet.
"Er, r-right," Daphne stammered. She looked around nervously at all the other students who had staged this fight as a distraction so the Gryffindors could steal the sword of Gryffindor from Snape's office.
(Oh Merlin!)
(Had they been caught?)
"Are you going to send us to s-see Snape?"
McGonagall lifted her head up. "We will try to avoid him if at all possible. But he is attending to three other students who attempted to break into his office, not but a few minutes ago."
Daphne squeezed her eyes shut, trying to suppress a wince.
(Godric! What have we done?)
The old Scottish witch approached Pansy Parkinson, whose head was now drooping downwards. She tried to get a better look at her face. "What happened with Miss Parkinson?"
"A, er . . . Disorientation Hex. I think."
McGonagall placed two fingers under Pansy's chin and tried to lift her head up. "Must have been quite a powerful one. She's still very Disoriented." McGonagall looked at Daphne with a firm expression. "Escort Miss Parkinson to the Hospital Wing." She then snapped her neck around towards Michael, Terry, Hannah and Parvati.
"Can the four of you walk by yourselves?"
They all nodded, clearly shocked by the news that Ginny, Neville and Seamus had all been caught.
With a chorus of heavy, rueful sighs and nervous mutterings between them, the injured and the "injured" started the trek upstairs, flanked on either side by McGonagall and Sprout.
And wondering just what the hell had happened.
"Ow!" Seamus Finnigan rubbed his legs. "When the hell are they gonna get into position? It's been ages, already—"
"It's only been fifteen minutes Seamus," Ginny said in an exasperated tone. "Just be a little more patient."
"Try tellin' that to m' legs!"
Seamus, Ginny, and Neville were all crouched underneath Blaise Zabini's Invisibility Cloak. Ginny observed that it wasn't as effective a cloak as Harry's, but it was definitely of a high quality; even if a few of the folds caught the light and became momentarily visible as gleaming fabric, the cloak would quickly smooth itself out and become once again invisible.
Blaise had warned them, however, that it was permeable to anti-concealment spells. Thus, it would do them no good to have it on while inside Snape's—
(No! It's not his office. Never has been, never was!)
—Dumbledore's office, since it was very likely that Snape might have such spells protecting the room.
Ginny let out a breath. They were waiting on the signal from their Galleons to start their phase of the plan. The Gryffindors were currently smushed against a large torch pedestal that provided them a decent vantage point, hidden safely away from curious eyes. It mattered not whether they were under an Invisibility Cloak; all three had agreed that they needed to take any and all precautions to make sure they weren't caught.
Ernie and Susan had started their part of the mission on the second floor, patrolling it so any students in the area would see them; it had to be believable that the two prefects saw the fight building up enough to get Snape out of his office and intervene.
"Okay," Neville turned around, "Ernie and Susan are over on the other side of the corridor. The fight's started. We're just waiting for Blaise to show up with Pansy—"
"If he shows up with Pansy!"
Ginny swatted Seamus in the guts. "Stop it! Blaise has gone to a lot of trouble and effort to help us. Remember, Seamus," she wriggled her finger at him, "he took Veritaserum."
He waved his hand dismissively towards her.
"Shush!" Neville swatted the air in front of both of them. "Feel your Galleons, you two. It's time!"
Ginny and Seamus scrambled through their pockets and pulled out their coins. Indeed, they had gone hot and writing appeared around the edge of the Galleon—
"Fight on! B.Z. with P.P. in three!"
Neville looked back up and nodded when he saw Ernie and Susan bolt for the Headmaster's office.
They heard Susan utter the password, "Eileen Prince!"
Slowly, the statute of the gargoyle twisted away and a set of spiraling stairs wound up, curving and wrapping around a long stone column. Ginny felt her heart beating fiercely against her ribcage. This would be the first time she had stepped into Snape's den since he had taken over headmaster duties. She had only ever seen Dumbledore's office one other time — at the end of her first year. She had sat in there with her Mum and Dad and listened to the old Headmaster give an account of what had happened with Tom Riddle's diary, how it had possessed her, and how she had been forced to open the Chamber of Secrets.
She shut her eyes and calmed down her breathing.
"You okay, Ginny?"
She started at Neville's voice. "Y-yeah. F-fine, Nev. Ready?"
Neville nodded. "We're just waiting for Ernie and Susan to emerge with Snape—"
Right on cue, the greasy-haired Death Eater flew down the steps, Ernie and Susan right on his heels. They looked rather pale, but they kept their composure and their cool. Snape strode forward in long steps, his cloak billowing in the air behind his body and arms, giving him the appearance of wings.
"H-Headmaster, we tried to intervene," Ernie spoke up behind him, "b-but there was a shield around them—"
"It's four against three. And the fight was only getting worse . . . er, sir!" Susan added.
Snape's hand snapped into the air. "Enough! I'll judge for myself — last thing I need are two sniveling teenagers giving me a report that's fifty-percent accurate . . ."
The three Gryffindors held in snickers as they spied Ernie and Susan rolling their eyes at each other, sneering at Snape's bitter tone. They waited as the party turned the corner further down the corridor, before Neville threw the cloak off. Quickly stuffing it behind the torch, they tiptoed across the hall, sweeping their eyes left to right to make sure they were alone.
"Well, look at that!" Seamus couldn't hold back a smile. "Snape forgot to shut the staircase up."
Neville sucked in a breath. "No time like the present, then." He took hold of the railing and stepped onto the stairwell. Ginny and Seamus followed him.
They walked up the stairs at a steady, medium pace. Neville reached the door to Snape's office, and turned around to look at the others, his eyes wide with surprise.
"It's open! He left the bloody door open—" Without waiting for another word from the other two, Neville pushed on it. The door gave way easily, and he entered the office.
As they stepped over the threshold, Ginny viewed the space carefully. She took in the appearance of the office with slowly increasing shock. She felt her body squirm and shake. Everything seemed so normal, so ordinary. And suddenly Ginny realized why the discovery had shocked her so viscerally.
Nothing had changed.
There was not a single thing that had been altered from the first time she had been in this office after the hellish ordeal in the Chamber of Secrets. The memories came flooding back to her: her parents sitting right in front of the Headmaster's desk, listening to Dumbledore tell them in that sweet, gentle voice of his about what had happened with her, assuring them he would do anything in his power to help them help Ginny.
And Ginny had sat right there too, trembling and crying. She remembered being so scared, shaken and traumatized. All because of Riddle—
She whipped her head around, cutting off her own train of thought. There wasn't a detail out of place, save for the absence of several spindly-legged tables that had held several bizarre objects that were always making some strange whirring noise or releasing puffs of smoke or interesting odors.
But she did notice with a heavy heart, a gold perch standing empty next to some tall, black cabinets. Ginny realized this must have been for Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, who had rescued her, Harry and Ron from the Chamber ages ago.
Blinking a few times, Ginny forced herself to return back to the present. She turned back to the other two wizards. "Um . . . this is. . . . It's—"
"Dumbledore?"
Ginny and Seamus both pivoted and watched as Neville walked slowly towards the portrait of the old headmaster, still deep in sleep. Daphne had warned them that it may be a jarring experience, seeing Dumbledore contained within a picture frame. It seemed to make the fact that he was gone that much more real.
"It's so odd to see him like this," she whispered breathlessly. Neville could only nod in agreement.
"Look, I . . . uh," Seamus stumbled over his words, "Don' really wanna break this up, but we've gotta get moving, right? We don't have much time—"
"Y-yeah . . . you're right." Neville allowed one final glance at the portrait and turned around to head back towards the sword. Ginny followed behind him, though she managed one more glimpse of the old headmaster. Briefly — all too briefly — she would've sworn on her mum's treacle tart that she saw the glimmer of Dumbledore's eyes, and a quick smile appear on his face.
Neville reached the glass case, positioned on the shelf right where Daphne had described. He reached out to touch the glass cover, but stopped just before his fingers made contact. Seamus made his way towards the still-open door, his Extendable Ear already out and in use.
"Shit! Ginny," Neville snapped a couple of times as if trying to remember something, "what's the spell that can reveal whether there's any magic around an object?"
"Oh . . . the Revealing Spell. 'Specialis Revelio'," she offered.
Neville nodded. "Well . . . pray this works then." Both Seamus and Ginny looked at him, smiled and nodded for him to start.
"Specialis Revelio!"
Nothing happened. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Neville tried it on other objects in the immediate vicinity; they simply wanted to make sure there were no magical booby-traps nearby that might be activated once the sword was taken out of the case.
"All right, then." Neville grinned. "Coast clear." He gestured to both Ginny and Seamus. "Either one of you want to do the honors?"
Seamus shook his head vigorously. "Nope! Remember I wasn't all 'rah-rah Harry' during our fifth year." He winced and he shook his head, "It should be one of yeh. I don' think I'm that great of a Gryffindor."
"Shay, don't be barmy—"
"Well, go on!" Seamus interrupted Ginny and gestured frantically at them. "One of yeh grab it and let's get out of here."
Ginny nodded and turned to Neville. "Do it!"
"Me?" Neville stared at her. "If anyone here deserves to take it, it should be you, Ginny!"
She rolled her eyes at him, but smiled. "We can spend the entire time discussing who's the better Gryffindor, but we need to do something or we're gonna end up Snape-fodder."
Neville looked at Ginny doubtfully.
"I don't think there's another person in this school right now, at this moment, that I look up to more than you, Nev." She walked over and put a hand on his arm. "The things you've accomplished, the life you've lived. I am so glad I got to be your date to the Yule Ball all those years ago."
"Er, why?"
"Because I realized that was who you were, Neville. You were really nervous when we started dancing, but you kept dancing and you got so much better by the end of the night. And that's you! Neville Longbottom — no matter what comes your way, you'll always keep dancing."
Neville's face softened, and his eyes sparkled at Ginny's words.
"Never knew you felt that way about me."
"Yeah, well, I'm trying to be more honest with people that are special to me, y'know?" Ginny thrust her hand at the sword. "Now, if you want to hear more nuggets about how wickedly great and spectacular you are, take the bloody sword so we can get out of here and I'll sing out your praises from the mountaintops!"
He started, and, almost as suddenly, his face became firm and determined. "Right!"
Neville turned back around and faced the sword. Licking his lips, he raised his hands in the air. "Okay . . . I'm going in."
He touched the door of the case . . . but it didn't move. He tried again and again.
The glass cover didn't budge.
"Dammit!" Neville exclaimed. He pulled out his wand. "Alohomora!"
Nothing happened.
"Neville, we need to do something and fast." Ginny looked down at her hot Galleon. "They just knocked Pansy out."
Neville shook his head and looked around frantically.
Suddenly a whispery voice floated over the three students. "Smash it."
Neville looked around the room for the source of the airy voice. "Ginny? Seamus? Was that—?"
"Not us. It sounded like a man's voice," Ginny said, shaking her head with a worried expression. "'Smash it'?"
Neville shook his head, but a flash passed over his face as if realization had just hit. He looked over at Dumbledore's portrait, and even though the Headmaster was snoring away, there was something odd about the portrait. The snoring sounded a little forced, and looking closer, the old wizard's robes seemed to have shifted.
A grin slowly appeared on Neville's face and he turned to Ginny, speaking clearly and with authority. "Your Reductor Curse, Ginny. Use it!"
Without hesitation, Ginny pointed to the glass. "Reducto!"
The front of the case shattered instantly, and the sword fell to the floor. Neville picked it up and held it in front of him, smiling at the other two. The sword of Gryffindor sparkled and gleamed in the candlelit office. Ginny looked over Neville's shoulder and the rubies embedded in the sword's hilt caught her eye with their scarlet light.
Seamus pumped his fist into the air and Ginny patted him on the back.
"Brilliant!" Neville flashed to his companions a lopsided grin. "Okay," he nodded, "let's get away with this and have Dobby help us with hiding it."
Thrusting the sword underneath his shirt and school jumper, Neville followed Ginny towards the door that Seamus held wide open. However, as soon as Neville's feet crossed over the rug with the sword, the room suddenly filled with a smoky, powdery fog that enveloped all three teenagers.
Neville, Ginny and Seamus all started hacking away violently, and, just behind them, Ginny heard the door to the office slam shut. She brought her hand up to cover her face and nose, and she watched as her vision started to grow blurry. She strained to look for Neville and Seamus, her hand tightening around her face as the powder found ways to sneak into anything less than airtight spaces. She brought another hand up, caked though it was with the insidious powder that was making it impossible for Ginny to focus.
"N-Nev!" Ginny croaked into her palms. "Sh-Sh-Shay . . ."
She heard their hacking coughs behind her. Ginny managed to turn around. Seamus was staggering in dizzy circles, his jumper over half of his face. She tried to lunge for the door, but as she made her sudden moves, she grew even more woozy. She watched as Seamus fell to the floor, unconscious.
Somehow — and she didn't know how — Ginny made it to the door that was now closed. She reached for the doorknob and her fingers close around it, albeit weakly.
The door remained shut, locking them in the room.
"N-no-ooo . . ." Ginny got an odd, detached falling sensation, and she felt her body hit the floor, but it was as if some part of her had floated away, separated from her physical self. She realized that as she hit the floor, the door had opened . . .
The fog immediately evaporated.
And just before she slipped into unconsciousness, Ginny saw a tall, dark form that seemed to resemble Snape.
