Four: Raising the banners

Tuesday went by as if in a dream. More classes, more stares, more whispers. The Patils and Lavender trying to corner her. Colin avoiding her. McGonagall's words still echoing in her mind.

On Wednesday, the sun shone and after classes, Ginny and Astoria found themselves sitting at the lake, far away from the rest of the student body. The giant squid waved lazily at them, then disappeared into the water, probably on its way to frighten some first years. Their Charms homework was lying next to them, but so far neither of them had suggested they should actually do something with it. Ginny was too busy staring at the lake and trying not to think about the Triwizard Tournament. Astoria had closed her eyes and was lying on the grass, her pale skin shining in the sun. No doubt she was trying very hard not to think about something either.

"How did you meet Luna?" Ginny asked finally.

"First year," Astoria murmured without opening her eyes. Maybe that made it easier. "I was sitting on the ground in a side corridor, one with all those empty classrooms no one uses anymore. The place where no one ever goes. I was having difficulty breathing and didn't want anyone to see. I missed home. Hogwarts was too big. Too scary. Too much. And when I looked up, there she was, sitting next to me. Suddenly, she started talking about Nargles and all other kinds of magical creatures. She just kept going and I listened, until it dawned on me that it no longer felt like I was suffocating.

"That's when we began hanging out. In secret, at first. I didn't want to be seen with some loony Ravenclaw," Astoria muttered sourly. "But around second year, I grew out of that. Around the time that Harper stole my bag and tossed it in the lake. It made me realise there was no point in pretending. They already hated me anyway, and Luna deserved better. I just wish I'd figured it out sooner," she said, letting out an angry breath. "How did you become her friend? First year as well?"

"Second year.," she replied, leaning back and closing her eyes as well. "I knew her before as well, but my first year at Hogwarts was difficult."

"The Chamber," Astoria said.

"The Chamber," Ginny agreed and she could feel Tom stir inside her head. "Second year was difficult as well. Slytherin's Monster was gone, but somehow the hallways seemed even scarier and I was even lonelier than before. And then I saw some Ravenclaws who were picking on her. Emptying her bag, shredding her latest copy of the Quibbler. And Luna just watched, not moving. It just made me so angry. At them, at the world and at me.

"I hexed them sideways, I got five weeks of detention for that. And as I was standing there, panting and screaming at them that they were horrible, horrible people, Luna just walked up to me and said I hadn't needed to do that, that she was used to it," she said, the scene replaying in her head again. It made her even angrier than it had back then.

"And then you decided that someone who said something like that, needed it all the more," Astoria added.

"Yeah," Ginny admitted. "I suppose so. What are you, a mind reader?"

"Hardly," Astoria laughed softly. "But that was what Luna told me when I told her I didn't need her help. I'd just had another panic attack, the fifth or something that week, and I felt so weak. So stupid. And she was there and had seen it all, just like all the previous times. It made me just want to lash out, because somehow that would make me less weak. Or something. Compassion can be difficult to bear sometimes."

"You can say that again", Ginny agreed.

"But from her, I learned to accept it. Because that was just who she was. So wonderfully kind and incomprehensible."

"Yeah."

"I miss her," Astoria said in a choked voice.

"So do I," Ginny agreed.

"Did she…" Astoria began and then fell silent. "No, never mind."

"Suffer?" Ginny filled in.

"Yeah."

His name is Travers. Ginny has heard the others call him that. She tries to keep an eye on him as he duels with Luna, but she's rather busy fending off Mulciber herself. Curses and hexes fly everywhere. This is what they trained for. Not to defy Umbridge, but to fight. To survive. Only, she's beginning to realise it might not be enough.

Somehow, Luna's soft gasp rises above the spellfire. She's just standing there, as if frozen in place, arm still raised but wand already slipping from her fingers. A small red stain is forming on her chest. Then she folds in upon herself.

"It was quick," Ginny said, opening her eyes again to drive away the sight of trembling, dying Luna. Travers was a horrible fiend who deserved to die, who would die if Ginny had any choice in the matter, but unlike the others, he'd at least been efficient.

A drop fell on her nose, then another. She wasn't quite sure when the sun had disappeared, but on its trail had been rainclouds. Quickly, she propped her Charms homework in her bag.

"I hate Scotland," Astoria remarked as she levitated her own belongings in her bag in a way so organised that it reminded Ginny of Percy. "So, do we try to find an unused and no doubt dusty classroom? Or are you back to the Gryffindor common room?"

The thought of returning there, Lavender and Parvati no doubt lying in wait for her again, made her stomach turn. But a disused classroom didn't sound too appealing either.

"I might have a third alternative. Can you keep a secret?" she asked.

Astoria sighed and tapped her house crest.

"Ginny, I'm a Slytherin."

"So is Pansy Parkinson."

"Touché. Ginny, I am a proper Slytherin. I can keep a secret," she promised.

"Great, you're going to love this," Ginny said before sprinting off towards the castle. The first few raindrops had brought plenty of reinforcements.

Soaking wet and dripping water all over the seventh floor corridor, Ginny paced up and down. She just hoped Filch wasn't around to see them. To him, this would no doubt look like malicious defiling of the castle. Astoria was studying Barnabas The Barmy's attempts to teach Trolls ballet.

"A ballet enthusiast?" Ginny asked as she walked past.

"A bit. I'll hand it to Barnabas, he could have chosen better pupils, but it is a sound curriculum for beginners," she concluded as she turned back to Ginny. "So, what is it that I'm not seeing?"

"This," Ginny declared as she finished her third trajectory and a door sprang into existence to what, if she'd done it right, should be a safe room no one could find.

"Oh," Astoria said. Ginny doubted she'd get tired of breaking through her unflappable Slytherin façade anytime soon.

"Ohhhhhh," she repeated, louder this time as they walked in.

Ginny had known the room to be larger, or more impressive, but it had never been quite so cosy before. A burning hearth, a high pile carpet that looked like a fire hazard and an assortment of couches and chairs, including a bean bag chair Astoria was eying rather suspiciously.

"What is that?" she asked, approaching it cautiously. "Is it alive?"

"No, no, it's a chair. Something Muggles came up with a few decades back. I saw a picture of it in one of dad's books."

Not in the slightest reassured, Astoria circled it and then prodded it, withdrawing her finger as soon as the chair gave way.

"Will it swallow me if I sit in it?" she asked.

"It's not magical, Tori," Ginny said with amused exasperation. "It can't harm you."

"Maybe," Astoria said and then drifted towards a more normal red velvet loveseat and sat down in it slowly, as if she expected it to think blink out of existence any second. "Well, this is not bad. Comfortable. Bit tasteless. Who ordered this? Lockhart?"

"Magic," Ginny said, dropping down in the bean bag chair. It was less comfortable than she hoped and it did feel a bit like being engulfed by quicksand. Not that she'd admit that to Astoria though.

"Magic? After four years of Hogwarts education, that's the best you have?"

"Yeah. It can be any kind of room, but that's all I know. We- I call it the Room of Requirement."

"Oh. This is the room you used for the D.A.?" Astoria asked. "Malfoy was spouting a lot of nonsense about some hidden room last year."

"Yeah, this was it. It looked different then, though," she said, wondering if she was breaking some sort of D.A. rule by introducing Astoria to the room. Then again, the Inquisitorial Squad had already gotten in and the D.A. was done, so what did it matter? If the rest saw her as the heir to the D.A., Ginny figured she could at least show the room to her friend.

"Yeah, hard to practice here," Astoria said, surveying the room. On a side table rested a gramophone that hardly looked spellfire resistant. "And you just need to pace up and down in the hallway?"

"That and you need to think about what you require."

"Room of Requirement, yeah, makes sense," Astoria said, walking to the gramophone. "Does this thing work?"

"It should," Ginny said, readjusting her position in the chair. It didn't get any more comfortable.

"Celestina Warbeck," Astoria declared as she studied the pile of records next to it, disgust written across her face. "This really won't do. I'll bring some of my own along next time."

"You brought records to Hogwarts? Why?"

"I brought a gramophone from home. When the rest is not in the dorm, I like to play a bit of music," Astoria said, still sifting through the records. "Ugh, it's really all Celestina Warbeck."

Imagine, just bringing your own gramophone to Hogwarts, not even worrying about it being stolen or broken. It was yet another reminder that she and Astoria came from different worlds. She'd gotten used to her fine robes by now to the point that she hardly even noticed them. The same applied to her ever-changing necklaces, bracelets and earrings. But still Astoria kept surprising her, whether it was with stories of three trips per year on average to distant lands, or gramophones.

"Everything alright, Ginny?" Astoria asked, finally looking up from the scorned records.

"Yeah, just thinking."

"Okay," Astoria replied, not sounding fully convinced. "The Patils still on your case about the D.A.?"

"The Patils and Brown," Ginny said with a sigh. "They keep trying to corner me in the common room. I keep avoiding them."

"It's not that bad an idea, though."

"It is if I'm the one supposed to be in charge," Ginny said. "Can we talk about something else instead? Charms, if necessary?"

"Alright," Astoria said, fishing out a few books and a particularly fine quill. "Countercharms," she read from her book. "Countercharms are spells specifically designed to counteract a different spell. They are, in essence, negative and... "Astoria paused and then slammed the book shut. "Can we do this a different time?"

"We have our next Charms class tomorrow," Ginny reminded her, though her heart wasn't in it. Countercharms. Countercharms sounded like…

"The prophecy, Potter. The prophecy for a countercurse."

She shook her head and pushed the memory back, focusing instead on the still wavering Astoria, who looked like she was on the verge of tears herself. Ginny closed her own book as well and sat upright in the bean bag chair to get a better look at her friend. She was just staring ahead, lips moving without making a sound.

"What's the matter, Tori?"

"I wish I hadn't been Sorted in Slytherin," she said in a small voice.

She sounded just like Ginny had in the summer before her second year, when she'd told her parents she didn't want to return to Hogwarts. Ginny got up and sat down next to her in the couch, draping an arm around her shoulder.

"Why?" she asked.

"It's our first year all over again, they're strutting around the castle, like their time has finally come. Every new Prophet headline is a victory to them. Muggleborn family of five missing. Twenty-seven Muggles die from 'gas leak'. Harry Potter memorial vandalised. And then they laugh," she said, letting out a hoarse breath. "Lately, they've been acting like it's all already settled… Is You Know Who going to win, Ginny?" she asked, sounding so scared.

A question that had been tormenting her for months now. She thought of Dumbledore's hesitation and his bold promises. Of her parents, who looked ever more exhausted after each Order meeting. Of the Department of Mysteries and how easily the Death Eaters had batted their hexes aside. A reassuring lie was already on the tip of her tongue and she wanted to say it, because then it might feel a bit more true. But what would that get them?

"I don't know," she admitted.

"He was supposed to be dead," Astoria muttered. "That's what mum and dad always told me and Daphne, how we should be careful not to get too close with people like Nott, because they were finished anyway. Give it ten years, and we'll have a Muggleborn Minister of Magic, they said And then this summer they told me and Daphne that it might be best to cosy up to Malfoy and his friends. You know, just in case," she spat. "And next I know, Daphne's sitting with them on the train, laughing at Zabini's bigoted jokes and trading makeup tips with Pansy."

"I'm sorry," Ginny said, but Astoria didn't seem to hear her.

"And then last night she told me she'd heard I sat with you in class. How that wasn't smart. How I should spend more time with the right sort, or people might get the wrong ideas. What about Harper? He's in my year, right?"

"I know you're in a difficult position. If you'd prefer we only met here, or not at all…" Ginny began, even though it hurt her to even voice the thought. She'd only just made two friends, and already she might be losing one. But she could have known. Slytherins put themselves first, and could she blame them? Gryffindors were the ones with principles, and that had gotten four of them killed already.

"Their parents killed Luna!" Astoria screamed. "How can I be friends with them? How can I pretend it's alright to laugh at some poor Muggleborns getting butchered in their home? The past four years were tolerable. Not great, but tolerable. But now? I hate them. I hate them all," she spat. "People like that can't win, can they?" she asked, her voice wobbly.

"Hey," Ginny said, pulling her in a hug. "We won't let them."

"But how?"

How? Ginny didn't know either. She thought Harry might have known.

"How, Ginny?" Astoria repeated, eyes shining with tears. She could see herself reflected in them, scars and all and wondered what Harry would have done.

It is just her and Harry now, and she doesn't count. She can barely breathe, let alone stand or cast a spell. The Death Eaters are coming ever closer, stepping over what once were their friends.

"The Prophecy, Potter. You can still save yourself and the girl at least," Malfoy says.

Harry ignores him and looks at her. Something's broken inside him, she can tell. But still, a fire burns in his eyes.

"Don't you dare give it to him," she says, struggling to articulate. Her lips still feel so sluggish. She's not quire if he's even heard her.

"I'm sorry, Gin. But we can't let them win," he says finally and then hurls the Prophecy through the arch. It comes apart slowly, breaking into a thousand shards without a noise, a thousand shards that gently drift in the air. Smoke rises, and with it a figure and words. But before they can begin to mean anything, they fade.

"No," Malfoy whispers and Ginny can hear the terror in his voice. The Death Eaters just stand there, frozen in place.

"Filthy Half-blood!" Bellatrix screams and hurls a green curse at him.

"We just keep fighting," she said. "No matter how bad it looks. Because what else can we do?"

She found them in the library. Padma, Parvati and Lavender surrounded by what looked like their Transfiguration homework, the task McGonagall set for them apparently so harrowing they didn't even notice Ginny approaching. They started when she cleared her throat. Lavender let out a cry of surprise that earned her an evil glare from Madam Pince.

"Got a second?" Ginny asked.

"Of course," they three chorused and then exchanged pained looks. Padma prodded Parvati, who prodded Lavender.

"Listen, Ginny. We talked amongst ourselves and we realised-" Lavender began, but Ginny cut her off.

"We're doing Dumbledore's Army again this year," she announced.

She wasn't sure how yet, and if anyone would still care to join. But after talking to Astoria, how could she not try? It's what Harry would have done. And if she was honest with herself, it was the only way that Hogwarts could still make sense to her.

The three of them looked like fish on the dry. They gaped, opened their mouth, then decided against it and opted for simply blinking. It was rather amusing, really.

"You sure?" Padma finally asked. "We'd like that, we want that," she admitted, looking shamefaced, "but we had no right to ask. Not after…"

"After the Department of Mysteries?" Ginny filled in. "No, you were right. That just proves we need it. I'm still not sure I'm the right one for the job though. If you think I know more than you do… I just started my O.W.L. year."

"That's not why we asked. I mean, you're a great witch. But we asked because they trusted you. Because Harry trusted you," Parvati said, her voice low.

Ginny took a deep breath, something stirred in her stomach that made her want to smile and cry at the same time.

"Plus, you nailed the Patronus charm. Unlike us," Lavender said, sounding a bit snippy despite it all. Her Patronus. She'd thought of Harry when she cast it. She wasn't sure if she could still do it.

"And we can take turns teaching the material," Padma added, reasonable as always, already drawing up charts in her head. This is why you needed at least one Ravenclaw in your team. "Everyone has their own talents, we just need to apply them well. But we need someone to rally around."

And that would be her. She hated it. But Harry had hated the attention ever since he'd come to Hogwarts, and still he'd done what needed to be done. Stop Quirrell. Save her. Save Sirius Black. Bring back Cedric. Go to the Department of Mysteries.

"Fine, but don't blame me if no one shows up."

"I think you'd be surprised. I'm sure we can count on last year's group. They all showed up in the train as well," Parvati said.

"Yeah, I'd been meaning to ask about that. How did that happen?"

"I wrote to them beforehand," Padma admitted.

"Thanks," Ginny said.

"The least we could do, really," Padma said, leaving the rest unsaid. That they hadn't been at the battle.

Ginny hardly held that against them. Not anymore at least. At first, she'd wanted to send Howlers to them all, that if the whole D.A. had been there, her friends might have lived. But those had been delusions, attempts to shift the blame. Nowadays, she was grateful, if anything. Otherwise, more would have just died.

"So, just the group from before?" Padma asked. "Except for Marietta of course," she added with a wry smile.

"No. This is about people defending themselves. That's too important," Ginny said.

"So, what? We just make it public? The Headmaster might approve, but it'll be chaos. Remember the duelling club?" Padma said, earning her a chuckle.

"Lockhart was such an idiot. Great smile though," Lavender said.

"We'll make it invitation only," Ginny reassured them. "But I know people I want in."

"Demelza?" Parvati guessed.

"Yeah, and Astoria."

"A Slytherin?" Parvati and Lavender chorused, Padma just looked thoughtful. "But they're the enemy!"

"Some of them. Most of them," she admitted. "But I trust her."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Padma said. "She's already in a difficult position. Being in the D.A. would just add more pressure. Marietta eventually cracked under it."

"She's not Edgecombe," Ginny snapped. "I can vouch for her," she added. The three exchanged looks and then acquiesced. They probably didn't want to push their luck now that she'd finally agreed.

"You're the boss. But people aren't going to like it," Parvati warned her.

"I'll handle it. We'll do the first meeting with the old guard, plus Demelza and Astoria if they want to come. We can discuss just how other invitations will work then."

"Sure. When's the first meeting?" Padma asked, getting out her agenda. It looked surprisingly Muggle. "Monday in two weeks?"

"I can't," Ginny said.

"Quidditch already?" Lavender asked.

"Slug Club," she admitted grudgingly. The three girls just nodded, clearly just as unsurprised as Astoria had been that Slughorn had recruited her.

"The Tuesday thereafter?" Padma asked, and her proposal was met by agreement from the rest. "I'll spread the word. Do the Galleons still work?" she asked.

"No, they were linked to Harry's and… and I don't know where his is," Ginny said, wondering if it had been in his pocket still in the Department of Mysteries. Lavender patted her on the knee.

"We'll use word of mouth then," she said. "And see if anyone knows the Protean charm. Maybe one of the seventh years," she said.

"Maybe," Padma said, no doubt thinking the same thought as the rest of them, that Hermione would be difficult to replace.

"We'll see. I'll leave you to your homework," Ginny said, feeling exhausted all of a sudden. Her right arm was beginning to shake again. She needed to lie down again.

"Want us to come with you?" Parvati asked, watching her arm.

"No, it's fine," she said, pushing her chair back. "I'll see you in the common room. Or around," she added with a look at Padma.

"Sure. And Ginny? Thanks, really. I know this isn't easy, but the school needs the D.A."

"We'll see. I hope so."