New chapter! Woop woop! RxR.
(Monday, September 1st)
Aubrielle woke up the same way she fell asleep, with tears trailing down her cheeks. She was absolutely devastated from the new rules that were set into place because it meant that her chances of seeing Neville were all up to her classes. She had to have him in at least one too, or else their relationship was going to be put in danger.
The witch threw back the navy duvet and swung her legs around. She sat there for a moment, thinking of the day she had ahead of her. She was scared to see her schedule, but anxious at the same time. She padded over to the bathroom and examined herself in one of the mirrors. Just as she thought; her eyes were bloodshot from crying and there were already dark circles forming under her eyes from the restless nights she had been having for the past two weeks or so. She let the water run, making sure it was hot before splashing it onto her face. She dried her face and applied a coat of mascara, the only make-up she wore, before heading back into the bedroom to open her wardrobe. It was easy picking out an outfit now, since Snape had made it very clear that students had only one choice. Another new rule she hated; all students, year level aside, now had to wear their full Hogwarts uniform everyday, including the weekends.
She buttoned up her crisp white shirt before slipping her tie over her head and tightening it. She tucked her shirt into her wool skirt, pulled on her knee high socks, and buckled her Mary Jane's. She pulled her robe off the hanger and felt a soft pain in her heart as they missing garment revealed her Quidditch sweater. And that, was the rule she hated most of all. No Quidditch.
She brushed her sadness away and put on her robe, completing her outfit. She quickly combed through her hair before heading down to the Common Room. Just as she suspected, Nielah was sitting in an armchair, waiting for her sister. Aubrielle smiled at the fifth year and took her hand before heading out of the portrait and down towards the Great Hall.
"Are you nervous about classes Aubs?"
"Very."
"Worried you won't be in a class with Neville?"
The older witch gave her sister's hand a tight squeeze, "Very."
The Song Sisters walked into the Great Hall to see that everyone, for the most part, was dead silent. They quickly walked to the Ravenclaw table, being intimidated by the lack of usual morning conversation, and sat down next to Luna. Aubrielle leaned over to her fellow Ravenclaw, "What's going on?"
"The owls aren't arriving with the class schedules for another five minutes and everyone is on edge. I think it's silly though. We'll know eventually."
The blonde casually took a sip of her pumpkin juice, displaying how trivial the set back seemed to her. Aubrielle looked at her younger sister, who simply shrugged and starting filling her plate with food. They nibbled away at some eggs and toast and before they knew it, the familiar screeching of owls filled the Hall. Aubrielle looked up to see the Song snowy owl, Hera, who swooped down to the table with a piece of parchment rolled up on each leg. The sisters carefully untied the scrolls before patting their owl on her head and watching her fly back towards the owlry.
Aubrielle quickly unrolled the paper and scanned her classes.
Monday:
University Level Potions: 10:00-11:30 A.M.
Seventh Year Herbology: 13:00- 15:00 P.M.
Tuesday:
Seventh Year Defense Against the Dark Arts: 9:30- 11:00 A.M.
Seventh Year Charms: NOON- 14:00 P.M.
Hogwarts High Choir: 15:00- 16:30 P.M.
Wednesday:
University Level Potions: 10:00-11:30 A.M.
Seventh Year Herbology: 13:00- 15:00 P.M.
Seventh Year Divination: 15:30- 16:30 P.M.
Thursday:
Seventh Year Defense Against the Dark Arts: 9:30- 11:00 A.M.
Seventh Year Charms: NOON- 14:00 P.M.
Hogwarts High Choir: 15:00- 16:30 P.M.
Friday:
No classes for sixth and seventh year students
Aubrielle smiled as she saw that she didn't have classes on Friday. At least some things were staying the same at the school. She scanned over her classes, quickly memorizing how long she had in between classes and the route she would take to get to each one. She looked over at Neville, who was sitting in between Ginny and Dean, to see if there was any sign on his face as to whether he had a good schedule or not. She knew they wouldn't be in the same Herbology class, since he was appointed as Professor Sprout's teaching assistant, they wouldn't be in the same Potions class since Aubrielle was a year ahead of him, and he wouldn't be in her choir class because…well, he didn't sing. She looked back down at the parchment in front of her; Divination and Dark Arts were her only hope in seeing her boyfriend.
The wizard at the Gryffindor table brought his head up to see his girlfriend looking at him. He nervously looked into her eyes before leaning over to the person across from him and handing the boy his parchment. The boy shrugged his shoulders and passed the note behind him, reaching for a girl sitting at the Hufflepuff table. Aubrielle realized what was happening as the note made its way across the tables. Finally it reached her and her hands shook as she grabbed it from Michael Corner. She unrolled the paper, her hands now shaking with fear. This was it. If she didn't have Neville in any of her classes she would most likely break down, right there, in the middle of the Great Hall. She carefully unrolled the scroll while her boyfriend nervously stared at her from across the room. He was looking for any kind of sign from her. As she looked over his classes and carefully read the dates and times, he got what he wanted. His girlfriend's hazel eyes lit up as she smiled at the words. She quickly took out a feather and circled something on the paper before passing it back to Michael, who continued to pass it from person to person until it finally got back to Neville. He unrolled the paper to find that one of his classes was circled, Defense Against the Dark Arts.
He smiled at the circle and looked up to meet Aubrielle's smile with his. He had a class with her, hallelujah! 'We're gonna make this work.'
(Friday, September 12th)
Classes sucked, and that was an understatement. The Carrows were pretty much the spawn of Satan and if anyone put one toe out of line they were severely punished. One thing was nice though; they never saw Snape. He was always locked up in his office or away from the school, doing business with the Dark Lord, no doubt. Keeping things strong with Aubrielle was tough too because quite frankly, one class that met twice a week wasn't enough.
None of the Gryffindors talked about Dumbledore's Army either because they were swamped in schoolwork. Snape had completely changed the courses and their homework assignments were ten times longer and ten times harder. There was no time for talking or socializing and it made the entire school seem like a morgue. Everyone walked from class to class with pained expressions on their faces and with bricks in their shoes. Hogwarts use to be such a happy place where you could explore and learn with your friends. Now, it was about as happy as a graveyard.
Neville had worked hard on his schoolwork during the past week so he could have some free time today to check out the Room of Requirement. He walked through the maze of halls until he reached the familiar stonewall. He stood in front of the blank surface and closed his eyes, knowing that there was more behind that very few knew about. He took a deep breath and relaxed himself, letting his wants and needs flow out him so the Room would know exactly what he wanted. He needed a safe haven, a place where they could learn to protect themselves, a place where they could go to get away from the Carrows and the Hell that they were living in.
He opened his eyes when he heard the memorable cracking as the stone gave way and large double doors appeared. He smiled at the bronze carvings, loving that the castle knew who to trust and who not to trust. He walked forward and pushed one of the doors open. His jaw dropped as he saw what the room had turned into. The room was vast with fully dressed cots along the west and east walls. There were also hammocks hanging in various spots around the room with pillows and blankets inside of them. Along the north wall, where there use to be a fireplace, was a large portrait of a young woman. Neville stepped into the room and closed the door. He walked towards the painting and stared at the beautiful girl. Who was she and why had the room put the painting there? It obviously was put there for a reason but he had no clue why. He shrugged it off before looking around the room again. There was a desk in the far corner with fresh ink and feathers in the drawers and multiple scrolls of blank parchment. There was also a small radio sitting on the corner of the desk next to a phonogram. In another corner stood a mechanical deatheater like the one they had used back in fifth year when they first formed the Army. Neville surveyed the room, extremely pleased; it was absolutely perfect. On top of all that, there were beds so people could stay in the room over night, which meant that he could stay here with Aubrielle. His heart started racing at the thought of holding his girlfriend in his arms again.
He quickly pulled out his wand and started casting protective enchantments over the room. He used every one he knew to make the room as secretive as possible. All he needed now was to bring Aubrielle down to the room so she could make a password-protected ward for it. He looked back at the room, satisfied with his work, before walking out and letting the doors disappear behind him.
He hurried back to the Gryffindor Common Room, excited to tell Ginny the good news, so they could start recruiting new students. He walked up to the Fat Lady and said, "Dirigible Plums," before rushing into the gold and red embellished room. A fire was roaring and the heat from it encased everyone, making them feel like they were back at the old Hogwarts again. He spotted the red head sitting on the floor with Seamus and plopped down next to them. They looked up from their potions homework, happy to have an interruption.
"I went to the Room of Requirement today."
"Oh! Right!" Ginny started putting away her homework, "And?"
"And it's perfect! It's got cots in it with the sheets on them and everything. There are also hammocks tied to the ceiling and a desk full of school supplies for kids who need to do work. There is even a new mechanical deatheater."
Neville started talking faster and faster as his excitement came to him. Ginny and Seamus smiled at him, loving that he was so happy about something. He took a breath before continuing.
"I put protective enchantments on it and all that needs to be added is a ward, which Aubrielle will do. The fact that there are so many beds and hammocks make me think that we should sleep there too. You know, guard the room."
"Sleep in the Room of Requirement?"
"Why not?"
"Well I don't know, it just seems…weird to me."
"We'll be fine! We'll have the enchantments and the ward-"
"The little ones shouldn't stay there."
Ginny sat up straighter, her voice becoming more stern. The older ones could stay there, that was fine with her, but the little ones needed to be in the towers were they were out of harms way. She wouldn't allow anyone under the age of 16 to spend the night in the Room and that was final. She looked at both boys, showing that she was right about this. Neville rolled his eyes at her, "Fine."
Seamus started putting his homework away as well, "So when are you going to get Aubrielle to make the ward? That's the first thing that needs to be done."
"I was hoping tomorrow. We're meeting up tomorrow in the back of the library to just get away from everyone for a little bit. I figured I would show her the room and she could make the ward than."
Ginny smiled at her friend. It was good that he was willing to break the rules for Aubrielle. She knew that Neville would never let her slip away without a fight. Just then, Parvati and Lavender walked into the Common Room and Ginny waved them over. The two seventh year girls sat down on the rug next to their friends and Seamus awkwardly smiled at Lavender, never taking his eyes off of her. The witch shrugged her robe off.
"What's up?"
"Neville found the Room of Requirement again and it looks like we can start recruiting. Parvati, can you get your sister to talk to the Ravenclaws this weekend?"
"Of course."
"And Lavender, can you approach Katie and Romilda?"
"Easy enough. Who are you going to deal with Ginny?"
"Well Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott are both in my Charms class since I'm a year ahead in that class. I'll talk to them than since Flitwick is the teacher and the Carrows are no where near that classroom."
"Sounds good to me."
The two girls got up and Seamus watched them as they went into their bedroom. They shared it with Katie and Romilda so the task of talking to them would be easy enough. The hard part would be convincing them to join, especially Romilda, who wasn't really one to get her hands dirty. Ginny turned back towards Seamus, "Can you talk to Cormac?"
"Yeah, no problem."
"Thanks. Okay, there isn't much more that we can do today and I need to get started on my pile of Charms homework so I'll talk to you two later."
The youngest Weasley gathered her things and went up the stairs to her room, leaving the wizards behind. Neville gave his friend a playful punch on his shoulder and winked at him.
"Lavender, huh?"
Seamus turned a deep shade of red as his friend teased him, "Oh hop off it Longbottom."
The two wizards cracked up before Neville looked at the Gryffindor seriously.
"If you like her, go for her mate. There is a bloody war looming above us and no one knows how many days we have left. Tell her while you can. You'll regret it if you don't."
Neville stood up and went up the stairs to his room, leaving Seamus to think about what he just said. Truth be told, he needed to think about what he just said too because even though he told Aubrielle every moment he could that he loved her, he wanted to do more than that. He wanted her to know, with everything in her being, that he truly loved her. Their one-year anniversary was coming up on November 25th and he was determined to make it special for her. He wanted it to truly be a night to remember and now that he had the Room of Requirement at his disposal, he could make it happen. He smiled at himself as he stepped out of his shoes and threw his Herbology folder on his bed. The only subject that he actually liked working on was Herbology but it was a bit boring being a teacher's assistant. Most of the time he just sat at a desk and graded first year and second year students' papers. As he started looking over his week's marks, his mind wandered to his girlfriend, like it did so often. He would see her tomorrow. He would be able to talk to her tomorrow. He would get to hold her in his arms tomorrow. He would get to run his fingers through her long, dark waves and kiss her tomorrow. Tomorrow.
(Sunday September 13th)
He was sitting on a windowsill in the very back of the library, waiting for her. He undid the clasp on his robe, hating that he had to wear his full uniform on the weekends, and threw it aside. Suddenly his dream witch turned the corner and was standing in front of him, causing him to leap up and wrap her in his arms. She bound her arms around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder, taking in the moment. They clung to each other tightly before Aubrielle pulled her face out of his sweater to kiss him. She locked lips with him so hard that he stumbled backwards and hit the bookcase. She was hungry for his touch because it had been way too long for her liking. He pulled away and smiled at her; he always loved her aggressive side.
"Easy there killer."
"S-sorry," the Ravenclaw said between breaths, "I haven't kissed you since the train ride here. Do you know what that's done to me?"
He laughed at her and dipped his head down to give her another longing embrace.
"It's been torturing me too Aubs."
He pushed her away a little, taking his arms out from around her, and sat down on a chair before pulling her down onto his lap. She looked at him longingly and gently ran her fingers through his hair. Unexpectedly, her eyes started to swell up the longer she looked at him.
"I-I've missed you s-so much! D-defense Against the D-Dark Arts is not e-enough!"
She hid her face in his chest and he gripped her protectively, wishing he could make her feel better. Whenever his girlfriend was hurting, he wanted to just whisk away the pain as quickly as it came. He covered the top of her head in soft pecks and scratched her back until she calmed down. She hugged him harder but still kept her head on his chest because the sound of his heartbeat always calmed her down.
"I love you Neville. I know I say it all the time but…I love you."
The Gryffindor let out a loud chuckle, "I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday! I know I say it to you all the time but I really mean it Aubs. I do."
She laughed before bringing her hand up to cup his face, giving him a soft kiss. She pulled away and had a dazed look in her eyes. She lowered her voice.
"What is the important task that you need me to do? Your letter sounded urgent."
Neville sat up straighter and adjusted his girlfriend so she was looking right at him. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath.
"I need you to create a password activated ward."
Aubrielle's hazel eyes widened, "What for?"
"For a room, more specifically, the Room of Requirement."
She got off his lap, "Neville…why do you need the Room of Requirement to be password protected? What are you up to?"
"I'll explain it to you on the way there. Please Aubs, it would help me out so much. Not only that, but it could help us win this war."
The witch grabbed on to the table to steady herself as the pressure of the task wore down on her. It could help win the war? What was this all about? She wanted answers.
"Okay. But you better do a lot of explaining."
"I will babe, I promise."
The two walked out of the library and peered down the hallway, making sure the Carrows weren't there. When they saw that it was empty, they rushed out, Neville taking the lead.
"Okay. Back in fifth year, Harry, Hermione, and Ron started this secret society called Dumbledore's Army. They trained us and taught us how to properly defend ourselves against deatheaters and dementours. Gin and I want to start it up again to help teach the younger ones. Try to understand Aubrielle. We need to get students as skilled as possible before this war hits."
"And why did the Army stop before?"
"We got caught by Umbridge. You remember her? Yeah, she found us. That's why we need a ward this time."
He suddenly stopped, reaching their destination. He closed his eyes and the doors appeared. Before Aubrielle could even understand what was happening, her boyfriend was pulling her into the room. She looked behind her to see the doors disappear before her eyes. As she scanned the room, her jaw dropped in amazement, just like Neville's had yesterday. It was a lot larger than she thought and it looked like it was prepared to house a small army. Which, in a way, was exactly what Neville had in mind. He looked at her and snaked his hand into hers, "Think you can do it?"
"Definitely. What do you want the password to be?"
"Uhm, Merlin…" The wizard scratched his head as he thought. It needed to be something notable that everyone in the Army would remember. It needed to be clever and something that meant something to them…
"We're fighting to stay alive."
The witch nodded her head, took her wand out of her pocket, and walked along the perimeter of the room. She walked back to the middle before reciting some spell that Neville had never heard.
"Clipeum me ab inimicis meis… fac me securum…quod si velim reverti…tantum in me haec… We're fighting to stay alive."
Long streams of light shot out of her wand and the room started to glow from the spell. Soon the whole room was engulfed in the enchantment. She flicked her wand a few times and muttered a few more words until the light stopped streaming from her wand. She walked over to her boyfriend, "There you go. The Room will only open to the password now."
"How long will the ward last?"
"Until I reverse the spell. Password encoded wards can only be destroyed by the witch or wizard that created it."
Neville pulled the seventh year into his arms, "You're bloody brilliant."
Aubrielle responded by flashing him a playful smile and she gave him a quick, passionate kiss.
"I know."
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Translation to the ward enchantment…
Shield me from my enemies
Make my being secure
And if I should want to return
Only let me at these words
…We're fighting to stay alive.