Through The War

spread the word

I was curled up by the common room fire, writing my essay for charms when Professor McGonagall burst through the door. Many peoples heads popped up, alarmed, because Mcgonagall doesn't come in here unless something bad has happened. All awaiting the news of a dead loved one or leader.

Clearly she was not expecting many people to be up at the late hours, but most people have been avoiding the dorms, causing  them to stay down here, with friends rather than being alone. She looked rather weary, and I felt my heart ache for her, lines of stress and worry lined through her expressions.

She composed herself, and drew her back to her fullest height, leveling her chin. She caught my eye, and with the swiftest nod of the head, she gestured me outside. Most people had gone back to their work, so I decided it was safe for me to run over to her without suspicion. I grabbed my bottle of pumpkin juice, something I always carry around to steady my shaky hands. Or something to squeeze in anger, trying not to retort to something nasty said about my family, or Harry or Hermione, as the Carrows loved to taunt.

" Professor? Is there something the matter?" I asked, failing at keeping my voice from wavering. My mind crossed worrying thoughts, and so couldn't help but think it about the worst possible scenarios.

Dead Harry, Ron, Hermione, the rest of my family attacked... This war was really getting to me, paranoia setting in as a default emotion.

McGonagall saw my expression and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. " Nothing horrible, Miss Weasley. Have you seen the papers?" I shook my head, the paper this morning was not delivered - most students thought it to be the Ministry, probably hushing something up again.

Profesor McGonagall seemed to read my mind, and she nodded to confirm my suspicions. " I better show it to you, as you were or are involved with Mr. Potter, obviously your brother and Miss. Granger." My heart rate picked up, and she handed me the paper, rolled up and wrinkled, as f she had been clenching it tightly for hours. She probably was.

I unravel the paper and read the headline.

HARRY POTTER  (no. 1 most wanted)
HERMIONE GRANGER (muggle born)
RONALD WEASLEY (blood traitor)

BROKE INTO MINISTRY OF MAGIC!

This group of three, all missing from Hogwarts, infiltrated the Ministry, supposedly looking for something, an object probably used to be a source of rebellion against the Ministry or even more dangerous... The Dark Lord. Most eyewitnesses have counted them disguised as other Ministry workers, in polyjuice potion, and stole something from Dolores Umbridge, a ministry official, who is held in high security and honor. The trio made it out of the Ministry right when they were caught, polyjuice potions wearing off and a defensive charm performed by Potter, something easy to defer from others, his strong Expelliarmus. However unscathed they left the building, another Ministry official made it out with them. Is this the start of an uprising? More information on this infiltration is on pg.7.

I stared at Professor Mcgonagall incredulously, my eyes wide. She shook her head in exasperation, though I saw a slight smirk on her lips. " And they let them print this? They didn't stop them? Isn't the Ministry technically controlled by Death Eaters?" I questioned, and she shook her head.

" Obviously, this was printed without permission, and precisely the reason they stopped them from being delivered to Hogwarts students. They couldn't do much to other owls delivering subscriptions to homes out of the school, but they can control what comes in through here and out." She said curtly, as if merely speaking of the Ministry tainted her tongue badly. She have me a nod, a quick hug that shocked me, and walked briskly from the portrait door with a rushed goodbye.

" Bloody hell... breaking into the ministry - he said he'd be careful that bastard..." I whispered to myself, forgetting that McGonagall was there and could hear me, though she didn't seem to be bothered, just merely gave me a nod of the head and walked away.

I stood there stupidly for a few moments before I rushed into the common room. Surely Neville would want to hear this bit of information. I ran through the common room, ignoring the questioning looks of others and rushed up the to the boys dorms, and rapped on the door urgently, expecting Neville to answer. And too my surprise, a tear streaked Seamus Finnegan opened the door. I looked up at him quite awkwardly and he blushed.

" Oh, hey Ginny." He said glumly, and I stared inquiring to him. He sighed and wringed his hands together.
"Wrote to Dean, dunno if you knew, we went out for a while during the summer, of course we're still together but it's harder because..." He trailed off, and looked at me surprised, as if he forgot I was standing there.

"Anyways, Neville is serving a detention." And I groaned. " Yes, I know, for the fifth time this week." It was Wednesday.

" What did he do this time?"

" Oh nothing too bad, it's with Amycus, and he only got cheeky with him in Muggle Studies. As he should, of course, but Amycus is in an easy mood today, so he shouldn't be too hurt." I nodded at his words, trying to find comfort in his empty reassurance. Why was everything going to shit?

And we stood in silence before he let me in, and I sat glumly on Harry's old bed. They still smelled like him, and it was probably because Dobby wouldn't let them touch anything in this dorm over the summer. I laid my head on the pillow, breathing in the woody scent of his musk, and I blink back the tears. I've been on the edge of tears for the past weeks, but I refuse to let myself cry infront of anyone. I have to stay strong. I bury my face into the covers of the bed, trying to pretend Harry was there, his arms around my waist, his head in the crook of my neck.

I should be happy. He's alive, and I'm pretty sure the mission is going well, since he's gotten something from the Ministry. And maybe that would bring him back here sooner, and I could see him before... and I could say goodbye.

But would I make it much longer without him?

I was wallowing in my depressing thoughts when the door burst open to a distraught Neville, blood coming from him mouth profusely, Seamus and I immediately jumped up to help him.

" What happened, Neville?" Seamus exclaimed, summoning a rag and wetting it with the aguamenti charm. I took it from him and began to dab at the cuts and bruises, snatching up a special cream Madame Pomfrey gave me last term. I used it to treat Harry a lot of the time, and it was still there.

" Oh nothing much, I ran my mouth again, Amycus got fed up and punched me in the mouth - short fuse you know?" He said reasonably and I rolled my eyes.

" He has a short fuse? Neville what about you? It's like you're trying to get yourself killed!"

" A lot like Harry with Umbridge, eh?" He said, smirking and I smacked him on the arm.

" Shut it. At least Umbridge didn't use the crucio-

" Yeah... never mind. She almost did. And Harry's getting into a lot of trouble lately, anyways." I said, cutting myself off, my mind returning to what I was up here for in the first place. " Harry, Ron and Hermione broke into the Ministry. They have a plan and it's going well!" I yelled, some excitement finally setting in.

" That's great! We can fight back properly now! I was waiting for an alert from them to start the D.A again." He said, and dropped his voice. " Spread the word."

A/N (PLEASE VOTE)