Here we are! Chapter 19! About 10 chapters left…including the epilogue! So crazy! I have about 3 chapters after this one written, so look for a new update in a couple of days. I'll be working on finishing up this series and THEN I'll be working on outlining In the Name of Being Honest from Sirius's point of view. Just the schooling part though. Quite a few people had requested I write that. If you have any other suggestions/any other pairings you want me to write about (even if it's a one shot), feel free to give me a shout! I love new ideas (and, of course, I will absolutely credit you for it).
I think that's it for now! As always, read, review, and enjoy!
"In line," Professor Flitwick called out in his squeaky tone as the bell rang, signifying the end of classes for the day. Lavender and Parvati looked at each other, rolling their eyes as they stuffed their notes and books into their bags and slung them over their shoulders.
Near the beginning of February, Professor Snape, in an effort to conform with the wishes of You-Know-Who, had made students walking from place to place in a line a mandatory action. Lavender figured it was just the start of propaganda geared toward the younger students, but many had small ways of being defiant.
Neville routinely walked a half of step to the left of the line, just enough to make the Carrows eyes' twitch, but not enough to warrant a punishment. Seamus would step on the heels of the person in front of him, making them trip over the hem of their robes. He would do this more often if that person was a Slytherin.
Lavender would sneak her wand out of her robes and point it toward Malfoy, rifling through spells to make his chair change color at rapid fire. The students behind him would have to stuff their fists in their mouths in order to keep from laughing as she smoothly turned his hair back to his natural, pale blonde as the professor escorting them turned around.
"Do you think with it being Valentine's Day there will be anything special for dinner tonight?" Parvati piped up as they entered the Great Hall, her face falling as she glanced around the bare stone walls.
Lavender snorted as they split off from the line of seventh years, letting her bag slid off her shoulder and land on the ground with a clunk. "Something tells me the Carrows aren't nearly as excited about Valentine's Day as Professor Lockhart was."
Parvati dropped onto the bench beside her, lowering her voice so only Lavender could hear. "Could you imagine Amycus or Alecto hiring a bunch of elves to dress up as cupids?"
The two girls glanced to the head table, where the siblings were seated on either side of Professor Snape with upturned noses, as if someone had put something particularly foul in front of them. They burst into a fit of giggles as Seamus and Neville dropped down in front of them.
"Another meeting tonight," Neville said in a hushed voice as he leaned over the table toward them. "I sent out a message already." Lavender spotted the coin Neville was tucking into the pocket of his robes.
"Are we going to have a Valentine's Day party?" Pavarti asked excitedly, clapping her hands together.
Neville sent her an odd expression, furrowing his brow. "I mean- I wasn't- erm-"
"Just ignore her," Lavender said with a roll of her eyes as Parvati swatted her on the arm. She leaned forward to dig the serving spoon into a bowl of mashed potatoes, plopping them quickly onto the plate in front of her. "She has this impression that we all want to celebrate Valentine's Day despite everything that's going on in this world."
"I just think," she stated impatiently, stealing the serving spoon from Lavender and digging her own potatoes out of the bowl, "that the more we focus on things that make us happy, the better we will feel about everything going on." She paused to shovel a fork full of potatoes into her mouth. "And holidays make me happy."
Neville grinned as he put a piece of chicken onto his own plate. He had been happy in the past few weeks, more than he had been since the beginning of the year, because members of the DA were finding solace in the meetings. Since Luna had been taken off the train at the end of last term, more and more students requested twice a week meetings, then three times a week meetings. It was now up to between four and five a week, an hour here and there after meals.
It kept them out of trouble and gave them something to look forward to.
"So are we going right from dinner to the DA meeting, then?" Seamus asked, taking a large swig of pumpkin juice. "Because I'm going to leave early to drop my bag off in the common room before, if that's the case. I'm tired of hauling these books around all damn day."
Lavender giggled again, raising her goblet into the air. "Here, here," she said importantly and Seamus winked at her.
Neville shook his head. "No, no. I set the meeting for 8. I…I'm behind on Herbology homework," he replied with flushed cheeks. "Professor Sprout is going to have my head if I come to class with an essay three inches short like last week."
Dinner ended soon after and Lavender gathered up here things, dragging her book bag on the stone floor as they headed toward the staircase. Up the stairs to the seventh floor, muttering the password to the Fat Lady, she flung herself into an armchair in front of the fire, enjoying the feeling of sitting in a comfortable chair for the first time in seven hours.
"An hour," Lavender sighed as Parvati attempted to shove her Divination book into her hand, "just an hour break is all I need." She tossed the book to the floor. "I can't do it anymore! My brain is cooked."
"All students must report to the Great Hall immediately," a loud voice echoed into the common room, "all students to not appear will be subjected to detention."
Lavender heard Ginny groan at the entrance to the common room, having just clambered through the portrait hole herself. They caught each other's eye as Lavender thrust herself out of the armchair, stretching her arms over her head. "I guess we should get this over with," she said, slapping Neville on the back just as he took a bite out of a chocolate frog. He coughed, choking on the head as he swallowed it down, not expecting the sudden contact.
The five of them, Ginny tagging along to the seventh year group, made their way back down the seven flights of stairs to the Great Hall, where students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were glancing at each other with furrowed brows.
"What's going on?" Lavender heard Seamus mutter to Ernie MacMillian. Ernie, who held himself to high standards when it came to information passed down from the professors, merely shook his head as they crossed the threshold.
The four house tables, that only twenty minutes ago were set up for dinner, had been pushed against the far walls. Lines of students had already begun to form, edging from the platform where the head table was sitting. Lavender's heart began to thud nervously against her chest. The last time the Great Hall was set up like this, Ginny, Luna, and Neville were in trouble for attempting to break into Professor Snape's office.
Lavender glanced over to Parvati, who was playing with the braid that was hanging down her back. They exchanged heavy looks, thinking the same thing.
Once the hall was filled up, the last minute Slytherin stragglers sauntering in at the last moment, Alecto Carrow shut the doors with a quick snap of her wand.
"It has come to our attention," Snape began, pacing the platform in front of the silent students, "that a resistance group has been formed under the nose of You-Know-Who-"
"What nose?" a fifth year Ravenclaw sniggered behind Lavender. He and his friend succumbed to fits of laughter. Lavender, whose heart was beating erratically now at the mention of the DA, didn't find anything remotely funny about the comment.
"I want to show what happens to members of resistance groups," he went on slowly, gesturing for someone to come forward. Lavender stood on the tips of her toes, glancing over the heads of the second year Hufflepuffs in front of her.
Amycus, his hand clutched tightly around the arm of a student, climbed the steps up the platform before throwing the student onto the floor in front of him. Whispers jetted around the students, everyone turning to face their neighbors.
"Michael-"
"It's Michael CORNER-"
"That sixth year Ravenclaw?"
"Michael Corner?"
Lavender's heart sank to her feet as she closed her eyes.
"SILENCE!" Amycus yelled to the crowd, the students immediately clamping their lips shut. Professor McGonagall was shifting uncomfortably on her feet, exchanging knowing glances with Professor Flitwick.
"This young man," Snape went on, gesturing toward the floor with disgust, "was caught attempting to free first years from the dungeons, who were in detention for missing Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Neville gulped, his face flushing quickly as Michael Corner struggled to his feet, using the head table as a crutch. His right eye was already bruised, beginning to swell magnificently.
"Crucio!" Alecto yelled from the front of the crowd of students, her wand pointed at Michael. He let out a scream so terrible that it pierced Lavender, sending a shiver her spine.
"What on earth!" McGonagall hustled to the front of the hall, her mouth set in a thin line. "We do not use ANY unforgivable curses on students, we don't-"
"STUPEFY!" Amycus pointed his wand at her, which she blocked easily with a flick of her own wand.
"Crucio!" Alecto said again, sending Michael into another fit of pain, his arms contorting unnaturally around his back. Lavender had to close her eyes, tears gathering into their corners.
"Professor Snape-" McGonagall pleaded, blocking another curse that Amycus sent her way, "I implore you stop this immediately. These are students-"
"Who will pay the consequences of their actions," Snape retorted slowly, turning his back on her.
"Coward," she spat out, Lavender shocked with how unlike the professor it was, "you horrible, evil-" She paused to block another jinx, this one imbedding into the stone wall, where dust flew from the chunk that fell to the floor.
"What do you have to say for yourself, boy?" Amycus growled as Alecto laughed shrilly, finally letting up on the cruciatus curse.
Michael panted for a moment, clutching his sides as he fell to his knees. Looking up at the professors, pain flitting in his eyes, he let out a defiant smirk. "Dumbledore's Army." He raised a clutched fist into the air before passing out.
The students erupted. Cheers and chants filled the hall as Lavender swelled with pride. She punched a fist into the air, whooping alongside Neville and Ginny, who had begun to swing her Gryffindor scarf over her head like a lasso.
"SILENCE!" Professor Snape shrieked, his arms extending to the sides through his robes, giving him a battier appearance than usual. "If I EVER find who the ringleader for this little group is-" but his words were drowned out once again by another round of whoops and cheers.
"That's the last thing he needed to do," Seamus said with a grin, throwing an arm over Lavender's shoulders, "give the DA even MORE exposure."
It had been months since they had heard from Luna. Kidnappings and murders littered the Daily Prophet. But Lavender's heart felt as if it had grown three sizes in that moment. There was a resistance. There was hope. It was something to hold onto.