Heaven ♡ Luna Lovegood

04.

Chapter Four

Life at Hogwarts was dark, dull, and eerily quiet.

It was only the first week, but Annie could sense the Carrows slowly sucking the spirit out of everyone. There was hardly any laughter in the castle anymore, nor loud conversations and jokes. Even in the common rooms, which were hidden from the Carrow's eyes, felt like they'd had a Silencing Charm cart over them.

Well, Annie couldn't speak much for the other Houses, but she knew that was the case in the Hufflepuff common room. Instead of joking and laughing people huddled close together, searching for a warmth in each other they couldn't find anywhere else. What people were looking for right now wasn't joy, but comfort to get through each day. It wasn't uncommon to see hugs being given and for people to sit so close together that their shoulders brushed.

Annie had made a friend in her House - Felicity Saunders. They were next to each other in their dormitory and often talked quietly to each other at night. Felicity was exceptionally kind, but she had her own large group of friends that Annie felt rather uncomfortable in.

Instead, she'd gravitated even closer to Luna - and being friends with Luna meant being friends with Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom, too.

Not that Annie minded. Ginny and Neville were both kind to her, and had been from the moment they met. Annie liked them both, and looked forward to the time they spent together - which was often spent in the library getting through their homework.

"There's almost nothing worth doing here anymore," Neville groaned one night, when they were in the library. The four of them sat close together, heads bent and speaking in whispers in case any unfriendly ears happened to overhear. "Quidditch has been banned, so have all other gatherings. There's nothing to look forward to."

"And that's how they want it, they don't want us in any way rowdy or excited," Annie noted with a sigh, as she ploughed through her particularly nasty Muggle Studies essay. She felt sick writing it, and was almost ashamed of herself for writing such horrible things against Muggles. It was almost like she was directing the words at her father.

Annie wondered if the other teachers were trying to be sympathetic and concerned for them, since they weren't setting nearly as much homework as Annie expected they would.

"And on top of that we have the Carrows' lessons," Ginny said darkly. She dotted an I on her page with such ferocity a hole appeared in the page. "Any day now I'm about to snap in Muggle Studies. And don't even get me started on Dark Arts."

Annie shivered. The class had recently been renamed, and so far she'd left that class trembling both times. Being actually taught curses and expected to perform them ruthlessly... Annie thought she'd rather be attacked by a Venomous Tentacular and a Snargaluff plant and Devil's Snare.

"It's all rather horrible," Luna said softly. "The Carrows are already sapping life out of everyone and soon, they'll be convinced they have us all under their thumbs."

Silence was met at her words.

"We can't let that happen," Ginny said, her voice as fiery as her hair.

Neville nodded, lips pressed in a thin line. "You know what I've been thinking?"

"What?" The question echoed from everyone around the table.

Neville leaned forward and beckoned for them to do the same. They huddled together, heads touching. To anyone who saw them it would look incredibly suspicious, but at least no one would be able to overhear them. That's all that mattered - no one wanted to be dragged to the Carrows for punishment. Rumours had already begun to spread about what happened in those detentions.

After ensuring no one was nearby Neville breathed in a voice that was nearly inaudible but still laced with grim determination, "Let's bring back Dumbledore's Army."

It must've have meant something; Luna and Ginny's eyes widened and they were grinning - well, Ginny was grinning, and Luna was smiling serenely. She rather looked like all her dreams had come true. It was a beautiful expression, and Annie was so transfixed that she almost didn't ask, "What's that?"

For though it was obviously important, she had never heard of it before.

"It's an organisation we started two years ago, when Umbridge taught and we couldn't learn any defensive magic," Ginny exclaimed. "Everyone hates Snape and the Carrows. If we can get organised, we can cause some serious headaches."

Annie bit her lip. "It sounds dangerous."

"But it's something we need to do," Luna said softly. Instantly Annie's eyes swivelled to face her friend, every little bit of attention focused on the blonde girl. "If we don't, the Carrows will believe that we are under their control. We must prove to them that we won't be broken."

Annie was left breathless at her friend's speech, but it all returned to her at once when Ginny chuckled lowly. "I like the sound of this," she said, grinning.

"But how will you contact everyone?" Annie asked. "It'll be hard to organise everyone without the Carrows suspecting something's going on."

Inter-House communication had been forbidden at breakfast and dinner. Lunch was excluded since people had lunch breaks at different times, but it would be difficult to find every single person and relay the message. Things could get confused so easily

"Would anyone happen to still be in possession of Hermione's Galleons?" Luna asked eventually.

Ginny and Neville exchanged glances, while Annie sat back, thoroughly confused. That was happened a lot, she'd noticed, when you'd been out of the loop for sixth years.

"I'd like to think they would," Neville said,

"It's perfect, no one would ever suspect that's how we communicate, Galleons are so commonplace." Ginny beamed. "Hermione really is a genius."

"What coins?" Annie demanded.

Ginny quickly explained (by the end, Annie was rather in awe of Hermione Granger), and then groaned. "Of course, you don't have one! How will we get around this?"

The others sat back in thought.

"We could make one?" Neville suggested after a pause.

Ginny bit her lip. "We could try, but charm is exceptionally tricky, only Hermione could do that..."

Everyone frowned.

"I'll keep her in the loop," Luna said. She glanced at Annie and smiled. "We're always together."

Annie blinked at the plain statement. Were they really?

She cast her mind back to the past week, and gasped when she realised the only times she wasn't with Luna was when they were eating, or in their dormitories. Every other second they'd been side by side - not even their classes had separated them.

And whenever she had Luna by her side... Hogwarts was actually bearable.

"That's a good idea," Neville said, nodding in approval.

Luna turned to Annie, her pale blue eyes staring intently into Annie's green ones. "You'll be joining us won't you, Annie?"

Annie swallowed. Her brain screamed at her that she most definitely shouldn't. It was so dangerous, and the smallest slip up could have them caught and landed in detention for days on end,

But she knew they couldn't let the Carrows run the school so easily. They had to stand up. Her brain told her no, but her heart was saying that she had to.

The others were staring at her. Annie met each other their eyes in turn and lifted her chin.

"I most definitely am," she proclaimed and, if they hadn't been in the library, Annie was sure the others would've cheered.

Annie caught Luna's eye and she smiled, a small blush appearing on her cheeks.

Maybe the Carrows weren't the most dangerous things at Hogwarts. Maybe it was Luna, and her way with words that made Annie see things from perspective she'd never seen before, and her eyes that were so mystical, and so full of light at the same time.