LOST ↝ G. WEASLEY [1]

9 | Dumbledore's Army 2.0

"Two rolls of parchment on Human Transfiguration due by next class!" Professor McGonagall called after the students as they filed out of her classroom.

Joey quickly ran ahead, catching up to Nicolette and Monty and throwing an arm around each of their shoulders. 

"Let's go have some fun, shall we?" she asked as they made their way up to the seventh floor.

"Okay..." Nicolette trailed off with a mumble once the trio reached their destination. "I need a place where we can practice learning magic without getting caught."

The three teenagers could only watch as an arching doorframe began to come into view, a wooden doorway appearing before them. As soon as it was fully in view, Monty pulled the door open, gesturing for the girls to go inside before he shut the door behind himself and watched as it disappeared from view once more.

"There they are," Ginny said. "we've been looking all over for you three,"

"Got a bit sidetracked on our way up here," Joey explained. "is everyone here?"

"All here," Rowan said from where he was leaning over a pile of equipment.

"What's this rubbish?" Nicole inquired, walking over to where he was still putting things together.

"This here is our key to success." he explained, not taking his eyes off his work. "I'll be done soon. Ginny, why don't you get started?"

"Alright," she said, looking around at the rest of the group. The room was made up of Joey, Nicolette, Monty, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Rowan and Arden. "so you all know why we're here. We need to learn to defend ourselves for whatever's coming. I don't have a lot planned for today, just establishing why we're here, and so Rowan can get this all set up. Any questions?"

"I have one," Luna said. "What is it that Rowan's doing exactly?"

"Setting up a radio," Rowan mumbled, still trying to tune the device until a crackling noise came through. "aha! I think I've got it." he pointed his wand at the radio and called out, "Albus!"

"Albus?" Nicole asked. "What does Dumbledore have to do with-"

...and once again this has been Potterwatch." the voice through the radio said, cutting her off. "Our next broadcast will be on Tuesday and the password will be 'Dearborn'. I'm your host, River, signing off!" 

"That was Lee," Joey said with a surprised smile, recognizing the voice. 

"River!" Rowan yelled into a small microphone he had set up next to the radio. "River, this is Woody, can you hear me?"

"Ha, Woody," Nicolette chuckled, smirking and looking around at the rest of the group to notice them staring at her, not catching the humor. "get it? Because Rowan's a type of wood." she scoffed. "You people have no sense of humor whatsoever."

"Woody, this is Rodent, we hear you loud and clear." another familiar voice came through. "And we will see you on Tuesday!"

"And that was Fred," Neville said as the radio station crackled out again.

"What is all this?" Monty asked. 

"It's called Potterwatch." Ginny explained. "It's how we can communicate with the Order while we're here. It's how we're going to keep up to date with what's going on out in the world, without the wait time that comes with mail by owl. It also eliminates the risk of the owl getting intercepted, and with the code names, it remains anonymous."

"That's fuckin' awesome," Nicolette mused. "how does it work?"

"Well, it broadcasts through the radio," Rowan explained. "They're switching locations every time they do it so You-Know-Who can't track the signal. And they're giving out different passwords so only current listeners can find it. The microphone they use has a partner, so that the two have the option to communicate with one another. That microphone just so happens to be this one, so if anything happens here, we can talk back to them. Say, for instance, Harry showed up at the castle. The code word would be 'lightning has struck'. Then they'll know to come here without anyone that we don't want listening to know."

"Wicked," 

The group spent a bit of time practicing spells and dueling back and forth before they all decided to call it a night and head back to their respective common rooms, nobody seeming very eager to be caught by the Carrows should they be wandering the halls after hours. 

"Joey? Are you coming?" Nicolette asked as she grabbed her schoolbag and draped it over her shoulder.

"You guys go ahead," Joey told her. "I'm going to hang out in here a bit, get a letter written to George to let him know how things are going. I'll catch up with you lot later."

"Just be careful," Monty said. "it should be curfew soon. I don't want to know what the Carrows would do if they caught one of us out past curfew."

"I'll see you later," Nicole said as they left the room along with the others. 

Strolling over to where her bag sat near the door, Joey pulled out a roll of parchment along with ink and a quill. Sitting down at a table near where Rowan had set up the radio equipment, she set her things down and began writing.

G,

I hope everything's alright where you are. And I wish I could say that things were fine here, but in reality it's all screwed up. Snape's gone mad, and the Death Eaters are running the school. Two of them are in charge of discipline, and I don't know how far they'll go to teach us a lesson. I fear we'll know for sure in the next couple of days, though I don't expect it'll be pretty.

How is everyone wherever you are? Wherever it might be, I just want you all to be safe. I miss you.

All the best,

J.

Rolling up the parchment, Joey looked over at the clock on the wall to see that it was well past eight, meaning she was past curfew. Gathering her things, she was near the door preparing to sneak through the halls when she heard voices from out in the hallway.

"Anyone over there, Amycus?" the chilling voice of Professor Alecto Carrow rang from outside, causing Joey's hands to shake.

"Just the old poltergeist," Amycus called back. 

Stepping back in horror and praying the door hadn't begun to materialize on the other side, alerting the siblings that she was there, Joey set her bag down. If she had been caught out after curfew, detention would be the least of her problems. 

Not only was she a student out of bed after hours, but she was also a friend of their Undesirable Number One and the daughter of the man who had been one of their greatest threats. If anything, she was one of the students high on their list of ones to look out for, and she didn't think either of them would be so friendly as to let her off with a warning if she had been caught.

Even if she waited, there was no telling if they'd catch her on the way back to Gryffindor Tower. If they caught her, or if Snape did, she would be done for.

As she wished for a way out of their grasp, a dark red sleeping bag began to materialize at her feet. If they were going to patrol the corridors all night, then she'd need to stay hidden, even if that meant sleeping overnight in the Room of Requirement, which was ready to supply whatever she needed for the time being.

Unrolling the sleeping bag and pulling off her shoes and tie, she laid down, begging for sleep to take over and for the nerves of the Carrows being nearby outside to leave so she could attempt at least a few hours of rest. Nicolette was probably worried sick that Joey had been caught, and she had no way to let her know that she was safe.

Until the morning, she was stuck.