Elemental

Breakthrough

It takes weeks for anything to happen. Weeks as March progresses into April. Weeks of more detentions, weeks of watching students undergo torture beyond explanation. Madison has left mental scars as well as physical; I'm badly shaken. I can't take the pain—for myself, let alone the others; I'm too weak now.

Then, finally, a breakthrough.

There's a knock on the door during Muggle Studies. "What?" Professor Carrow shouts.

The door opens to reveal Seamus Finnigan. "Professor McGonagall needs to see Mia, Lawrence, and Alexander."

The three of us stand up, as does Juliana, still reluctant to leave me alone, not that I'm complaining. "You should come, too," Seamus decides. He leads us out into the hall.

"What's going on?" Juli asks the second the door shuts.

"Listen," he whispers, "you guys are on the Carrows' list, right?" We nod, except for Juliana. Seamus doesn't seem to notice, and if he does, he doesn't care. Juli's my best friend, anyway, which means she's in danger as bait (but I think we all already knew that). "Alright, meet me on the seventh floor in front of the statue of Barnabus the Barmy at 7:00 tonight. Bring anything you need with you."

"For what?" Alexander asks.

"Just anything you need." He runs back to class, leaving the four of us confused as to what just happened.

"What was that?" Lawrence asks. "What statue?"

"The Room of Requirement," I realize. "My sister's mentioned it once or twice."

"But what is that?" Juli asks.

"It's probably a safe place. A hideout," Alexander says.

I shrug. "We'll find out, I suppose. Are you going?"

Juli is the first to agree. "I'm in."

"Me, too," Alexander decides.

"I suppose if you are," Lawrence concludes.

After dinner, Juli and I head to Gryffindor Tower to pack our belongings into our respective bags and meet at the statue. Neville Longbottom is there waiting, and, after a few minutes, Lawrence and Alexander join us. "Good, you're all here. Lucy and Claire are already inside." He opens the door to reveal a room full of hammocks in each corner of the unnaturally large room, with hangings depicting the emblems of each house—except for Slytherin, that is. I wonder what's keeping them out—discrimination? Fear? Maybe they just don't need protection. Nearly everyone, however, is near the center of the room, most of them practicing Stunning or Disarming each other, or practicing darker spells on dummies or other objects. "So, um, kind of self-explanatory," he continues. "Just make yourselves at home, I suppose."

We each set our bags down by a hammock in our house's corner. Claire and Lucy join the older students practicing spells. Alexander pulls out a deck of cards and invites us to play Exploding Snap. Juliana and I politely refuse, but Lawrence joins eagerly, grateful for the distraction.

"What's going on?" Juli asks. "You seem...off."

"Guess I am," I reply. "I...that thing with Madison really rattled me. I mean, I've healed a little over the weeks, physically, but...I'm scared," I admit. "Juli, what's going to happen to us? The war could easily become a real battle. I've read the history books, you know, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Hogwarts is probably the safest place for miles, and just look at us. You're being kidnapped left and right along with half of the teenage wizarding population, and I'm not the only one with scars." We look around the room and, in fact, many people have jagged lines running down their arms or faces.

After a moment, Juliana suggests, "Do you want to play Snap with the boys? It might take your mind off things."

"Sure," I decide, walking over. "Hey, is it too late to join?"

"Not at all, we just finished." Alexander smiles. "It's much more fun when the cards—" CRASH! "—explode," he finishes as the rest of us laugh at the perfectly-timed irony. Lawrence deals out the cards and we play for hours. It gets boring, maybe, but boring is good right now. Less to think about, an easy distraction.

And that's how the days pass. Most of the time, we learn spells from the older students or play mindless, meaningless days. I can't do much more than Stun (which, don't get me wrong, is very useful), but the older kids are teaching themselves a few Unforgivable Curses. Not the Avada Kedavra, of course, but the Imperius Curse can be necessary at times.

Until the one day when Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger arrive, led by a gleeful Neville. Everyone else is excited, of course, Harry being a symbol for hope these days. He confirms that the rumors of breaking into Gringotts and escaping on a dragon are true, as are many others. A few more kids have joined, including Luna Lovegood, who was kidnapped, and several of the Weasleys, who were in hiding. Luna—I saw her! When we went to get Juli, she was there. So was an older man...I hope he's all right.

Everyone is celebrating Harry's return as he and Luna leave in search of something, but I've got something else on my mind as all of the underage students are lead to the Great Hall.

If Harry Potter is here, You-Know-Who must be on his way.