Hello everyone! I hope you had a fabulous weekend and start to your week! Nothing new to report from me.
As always, read, review, and enjoy!
Neville had officially announced the first meeting for the reformed DA, setting off the fake galleons for the day after next. Directly after dinner in the Room of Requirement.
The weather had just begun to turn, the strong wind becoming bitterly cold as the middle of autumn brought on rain storms, forcing the leaves on the trees to fall violently to the ground. Which meant that the students were staying indoors. Neville thought, quite smartly Lavender believed, that the students disappearing after dinner in the Great Hall was far less suspicious than attempting the meeting at another hour of the day.
It was made better, though, that Draco Malfoy was far more subdued this term than last. It seemed that (allegedly, it was merely a rumor to the students) watching the death of Albus Dumbledore unfold in front of him had been a mental block he hadn't been able to get past.
That made it much easier for the students to create a secret group underneath the nose of Professor Snape.
Lavender was wrapped up in her Charms essay for Professor Flitwick, the theory of weather changing charms, just at the beginning of the weekend. It was the kind of weekend that, merely a year ago, she would have been looking forward to a quidditch match to attend.
Evidently, You-Know-Who found no use in organized sports.
The library was quiet; the only sound was Lavender's quill scratching lightly against the parchment as she wrote. There were only a handful of other students in her area, all of them wrapped up in their own work as well.
The theory of snow versus rain is in the motion of the wrist, but that has been much debated by scholars in the past 150 years… Lavender had just scribbled down before pausing to stretch over the back of her seat. This fifteen-inch essay was going to be the death of her, as she was having a hard time coming up with fifteen inches of content.
"Have you thought about what I said?"
Lavender jumped in her seat, immediately breaking her concentration. "Merlin, Ginny, what the hell?"
Ginny didn't bat an eye. She grabbed the back of the chair closest to Lavender, scraping it backwards loudly against the stone floor before plopping herself down and leaning over the table. Lavender backed away, her brows furrowed in mistrust.
"I asked if you had thought about what I said."
Lavender sighed, putting her quill down on the table next to her parchment roll. She had thought about it, quite a bit, in the last week or so. She had minimally attempted to find out more about Sirius Black's daughter, the thought of why still stumping her, but had become increasingly frustrated as she weeded through countless articles from years past.
"I hadn't given it much thought at all," she lied smoothly, looking at the Weasley girl with cool eyes, "I've been busy."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Busy reading articles about Sirius Black? I've seen you in here while I've been studying. I've seen you perusing through the aisles containing old Daily Prophet editions."
Lavender's cheeks flushed as she licked her lips, not sure of what to say next. It was clear she had been caught red-handed.
"Listen," Ginny sighed, planting her elbows on the wooden library table, "I know we've seen our share of differences. I'm not sure why, but I feel like I should help you. I have information that could come in use."
Lavender sighed, eyeing the other girl. "And what's in it for you then?" She was mighty suspicious that Ginny was offering up help…even extending an olive branch between the two was more than surprising.
Ginny put up her hands in surrender. "Merely trying to help a fellow Gryffindor, that's all. Sirius was- Sirius is- Harry-" She stopped herself, pausing for a moment to regroup. "If you want me to be honest, Sirius was a great friend to Harry. With Harry gone, with this war…I don't know. Maybe I'm hoping that finding out more about Sirius will bring me closer to Harry."
It was well known that Sirius Black was the godfather of Harry Potter. Lavender took a deep breath. She understood too well wanting to feel closer to the person she loved. Her mind flitted over to Seamus and how she had hurt him so badly last year in her attempts to find herself. She hadn't meant to be so selfish, sometimes she did things without thinking.
"Fine, yes," Lavender finally said, "you can help."
Ginny grinned, quickly reaching under the table. Lavender went into automatic defense, expecting an oncoming curse to be flung her way just as she had slightly let her guard down. She grasped her wand tightly in time for Ginny to slam a book on the table in front of her. Lavender realized that the book had been sitting at Ginny's feet all along.
"Great!" she exclaimed, randomly flipping the book open. Lavender glanced at the pages Ginny was scrambling through, recognizing the header at the top of each one.
"The Daily Prophet?" she questioned, her eyebrow shooting up in response. "I've looked through a TON of articles, there is no mention of a daughter, her name, anything like that."
Ginny leaned forward, lowering her voice so much that Lavender also had to lean forward in order to hear her. "The last time I spoke to Sirius about his daughter, or even his fiancée for that matter, was just before my fourth year. He talked about how they met and such, but all he mentioned about her death was that he was in Azkaban when he found out she was killed…a year later-"
"But I found the article from, when was it, November 1981?" Lavender interrupted, "I would barely even CALL it an article, to be honest-"
"Here's the thing though," Ginny interjected, her turn to cut off her fellow Gryffindor, "Sirius said there were articles following the trial of Haley Brams's murder. That's how he found out about it. The articles mentioned that her daughter wasn't with her when she was found dead, that she was missing."
Lavender squinted her eyes, her thoughts racing through her head. "So, we should be looking at articles from 1982?"
"Precisely," Ginny nodded, clearly pleased that Lavender had caught on so quickly, "For the life of me, and I absolutely HATE to admit this, but I cannot remember the name of his daughter. It would make things so much easier. I'm hoping we can find at least one article containing her name, then we can find her birth record and go from there."
Lavender rubbed her temples, quickly becoming overwhelmed by the work in front of her. "Ginny, there are…hundreds of articles from 1982. Daily reports, special editions. Hell, the Sunday paper is twice the size of every other day of the week. It's going to take us weeks of diligent research to find what we're looking for."
Ginny grimaced. "I know. My best bet is that we start in November 1982. Sirius said he learned of her murder almost a year after it happened. Hence-" She gestured toward the book containing the Daily Prophet articles in front of her.
Lavender sighed, glancing at the essay that lay forgotten about on the table. "Let's start after the…meeting. It'll give me time to catch up on school work." Ginny nodded, slamming the book shut, getting ready to check it out. "But, Ginny- please don't mention to anyone what we're doing. I already feel like a complete dunce for beginning this."
Ginny shot her an incredulous look. "Like we want the death eaters running the castle to know we're looking up information on a dead Order member. We'll probably be killed."
…..
Lavender was feeling much lighter as she entered the Great Hall for dinner later that evening, a pep in her step that she couldn't hide. She was grateful for Ginny, surprisingly enough, for offering the help and easily giving up the information she needed to get an actual start.
She hadn't mentioned the research project to Parvati, even though they had spent the afternoon playing exploding snap and wizard's chess together. She couldn't bear the frustrated look she was sure she would have received from mentioning it, the look that Parvati couldn't help but send her every time she pulled out her set of tea leaves.
She knew that Parvati meant well, that as her best friend, she would do ANYTHING to help Lavender whenever she needed. Lavender also knew that Parvati's patience with the subject was running short. That after 4 years with the same results, Lavender was nothing short of insane for continuing to obsess about it.
As far as Parvati was concerned, Lavender knew that she had mentally stopped caring so much about the tea leaves when Ron Weasley was a useless path to take. If anything, that disappointment fueled her more.
She took a seat between Neville and Seamus, Parvati sending her a wink from across the table. She blushed slightly as Seamus turned to her, animatedly describing his day. She couldn't help the flutter that went off in the pit of her stomach every time he made eye contact with her. The crush she had on Seamus had been years in the making.
The dinner for that evening, roast lamb with red skinned potatoes and green beans, appeared on the gold serving plates in front of them. The chatter quieted down significantly as the students reached forward to serve themselves, but the food disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, sending a look of confusion through the crowd.
Professor Snape rose slowly out of his seat in the headmaster's chair, commanding the attention of the entire hall.
"There will be no dinner tonight," he began, immediately sending angry, protesting shouts through the air.
Alecto Carrow stood up at her seat, pounding the head table with her fists. "YOU LISTEN TO HIM YOU UNGRATEFUL BRATS!" She shouted over the dull roar that had rung out from the student tables. "MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU'LL THINK BEFORE-"
"Thank you, Professor Carrow," Snape interjected loudly as the crowd of students began to quiet down, curious as to what the fuss was about, "it seems we have some students taking issue with the way things are run. It seems these students have taken it upon themselves to reform a certain…group."
Lavender was flabbergasted, wondering silently how Snape had found out so quickly about the DA. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Neville smirking and glancing over to the Ravenclaw table.
"Dumbledore's Army-" Lavender knew it was going to be about the DA- "specifically falls under the rules of this school for organized groups to be formed. I assure you, if the Dark Lord doesn't want you to play quidditch, he doesn't want you to form resistance groups." He paused, scanning the hall quickly. Neville was able to straighten his face just in time. "As no one had been officially caught writing on the wall, individual punishment is not possible at this time. Rest assured, if we find out who was responsible, you will be punished for the highest extent of your actions. There will be no dinner tonight, the hall is dismissed."
There was a collective groan amidst angry shouts as students stood dejectedly out of their seats. Lavender leaned over to Neville. "Do you know what he was talking about?" she hissed into his ear as she gathered her book bag from the floor and swung it over her shoulder.
Neville grinned at him. "You mean the message written in paint on the wall outside of Snape's office saying the DA has been reformed and is actively recruiting?" He paused to shrug. "I have no idea who would do something like that. OY! PATIL! Help me get some food from the kitchens to bring back up to the common room. Can't have our fellow Gryffindors surviving on old candy through the night!"
Lavender smiled, even the news that Neville (and whoever else was responsible for helping him) had tagged the walls in an obvious attempt to antagonize the professors.
"Brown!"
She turned, watching Seamus jog up next to her.
"Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me."
She laughed, adjusting her book bag on her shoulder. "Seamus, I always go to Hogsmeade with you!"
Seamus smiled, shaking his head. "No, I mean, I was hoping you would go WITH me."
Lavender stopped in her tracks, staring at Seamus with the most unladylike open mouth. "WITH you? As in…?" She trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud in case she was very wrong.
"Lavender, go on a date with me."
Dumbstruck that it seemingly happened out of nowhere, all she could do was merely nod her head.