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Author: Kathryn Story: Hogwarts Rebellion Rating: Teens Setting: DH-interview Status: Completed Reviews: 15 Words: 103,858
Disclaimer: 'Any people, objects, places and so on that you recognise belong to JK Rowling. I'm just having fun playing in her sandbox for a while. "Miss Weasley." Ginny froze on the spot as she stared straight back at the Hogwarts Headmaster. She may have been stupid not to check the corridor before she ran out of it but she was not going to back down. She had not backed down to Snape as a first year who the then greasy-haired Potions master had tried to intimidate and she would be damned if she would back down now. She was a lot stronger than she was back then. Ginny looked straight into the cold black eyes, defiantly, for just a few seconds until she remembered his ability as a skilled Legilimens. She dropped her gaze instantly; she had too much going on in her head and knew far too much to give one of Voldemort's key supporters access to everything she had in her mind. She was not going to betray her friends, family or Harry by letting Snape into her head, she would not willingly give him any information that he did not already know. She was going to be strong and use her stubborn streak to hold out. She was not going to be the weak link, the one who gave away information on Harry. "Miss Weasley," he spoke again in his dry cold voice. "what are you doing here?" She shrugged, continuing to look at the floor. "Just wandering." "After curfew, that is against the rules," he sneered at her, "And I do believe that is not the only rule you have broken today." Ginny shrugged again, this time without speaking. Snape was still glaring at her and a chill ran down her spine, his gaze really was unnerving. "You were also missing from the Muggle Studies register that I received this afternoon." "I haven't learnt my new timetable yet." She swore in her head but continued to keep her voice free from any emotion, this was just another part of her great act. If she could act carefree around Harry and not like her heart was tearing in two, she was positive that she could keep her emotions in check now. After all, she wanted to keep this act up. "I thought it was a free." "I strongly suggest that you carry your timetable around in future, Miss Weasley," the Headmaster said, spite lacing the tones of his voice as Ginny felt her face being forced upwards as she glared back at Snape. She was disgusted that he had manipulated her actions. Quickly she remembered Snape's special talent as the Death Eater studied her face and kept it blank. "Where have you been?" "Just wandering," she repeated in a slightly muffled tone. "Wandering around Hogsmeade?" His cold black eyes bore down on her, sneering at her. "If anyone uses the passageways to Hogsmeade an alarm goes off in my office." His sneer grew to a grin and his eyes narrowed to slits as if he was a snake closing in on his prey. "Empty your pockets." Thoughts quickly flashed into and out of her head, all equally useless, there was no way to avoid this and she just had to hope that Snape did not manage to read the whole truth. She pulled her enchanted Galleon out of her pocket, rueing the fact that she had not left it in the common room, and passed it over to the Death Eater. Her heart was pounding so fast as Snape studied the D.A. coin — if anyone knew what this coin really was it would be Snape. He had to know what it was after everything that had happened at the Ministry two years ago these coins had to have been mentioned in Order meetings. She struggled to keep her face impassive and if Snape could have heard her heart, that clearly would have given her away as it pounded so hard inside her ribcage. She silently cursed the fact that Dumbledore had trusted his murderer and now they were left with the consequences. Snape frowned, throwing the coin back at her. "And your bag." Whispering silent prayers that Fred and George had done a good job with disguising the products, she handed over a mixture of her own quills, parchment and books. She held her breath as he rolled out a long piece of parchment and slowly studied it. She forced herself to breathe naturally, letting out long, slow, calm breaths as the Headmaster ran his hands over the disguised products but she could not help a sharp intake of breath as Snape got out his wand. Snape smiled. "Hand over your bag." The Hogwarts Headmaster snatched the bag from her as soon as she offered it. He quickly pulled out of the bag of sweets. "And what are these?" Ginny shrugged, trying to hide the sarcasm from her voice. That would not go down well and she hardly needed to land herself in anymore trouble. "Sweets, sir." "Confiscated," Snape said, venom dripping in his tone, "I shall personally be checking all your mail in and out of this school in the future." He smiled. "And I think it would be appropriate to ban you from Hogsmeade too. Just to make sure you do not choose to associate with any undesirables as well as other blood-traitors." His cold black eyes met her warm brown ones, fire meeting ice, in the space between them. "You will learn the importance of your blood status, Miss Weasley." He took hold of her hand, smiling at the word on it, and sending a shiver down Ginny's spine, as she attempted unsuccessfully to pull against his grip. "And we will teach you to honour your birthright." Ginny's eyes looked down at the single word marked into her skin. There was one thing for certain; no matter how little she cared about her birthright, she was not going to be able to forget it. She was going learn the new regime's view on pure-bloods and accept them or be made into a scapegoat and be a target at every opportunity possible. "Severus," a wheezy voice called as Ginny glared back defiantly at the Hogwarts Headmaster. "Amycus," Snape greeted the Dark Arts teacher, breaking the gaze. Carrow was leering at her; using all her power she glared back at him with a look of disgust in her eyes. That man really was sick. She was young enough to be his daughter and if he was looking at her like that in her school uniform he really needed his mind tested. But then Death Eaters were hardly known for either their intellect or morals, so she should not really be surprised by the Dark Arts [rofessor's behaviour. "I heard the girl was breaking school rules," excitement was ringing in his voice, "I believe my skills are needed here." "Ah, Amycus," Snape crooned, stroking his wand, "I believe we are going to have a change in the procedure here." "What?" The Death Eater spat, clearly shocked. "I am responsible for school discipline." "Miss Weasley here has already proved herself to be a chronic offender when it comes to school rules, and we both know what acquaintances she has." He looked at Ginny, attempting to make eye contact, but instead of meeting his glare she looked down at the floor. She knew what he was about to try and Snape was not entering her mind — not if she could help it. "I will be taking personal responsibility for Miss Weasley's punishment. I'm sure we will all benefit when I access her mind." "And her punishment is?" "Life ban from Hogsmeade." Ginny forced herself not to shrug at Snape's words. That was no real big deal, especially after the close encounter she had already had with Death Eaters there. Besides, as Umbridge had shown before, the life ban would only be valid while Snape was in control. The arrogance of some would never cease to amaze her. "And she is going to be copying out some of my personal notes on Undesirable Number One and the stain he is on respectable society." Ginny felt her eyes widen as she looked up into Snape's eyes in shock; she felt that she had just been kicked in the stomach. Whatever was in that Death Eater's accounts on Harry was not going to make pleasant reading. "It is obvious in that worthless mind of hers that she loves," he scoffed at the word, "that boy. It will be her punishment to hear some truths and I have no doubt that the punishment will be long and painful for her." Snape turned to face her. "My office, tomorrow. Wait by the gargoyle outside the office at six o'clock." He let out a cold laugh that chilled as it echoed round the corridors and ran down her spine. "And it would be polite to meet my eyes then, Miss Weasley. Now back to your common room." She did not need telling twice; she was more than eager to leave the two Death Eaters. Ginny scooped up her bag and almost ran down the seventh floor corridor, before taking the staircase down to the safety of the sixth floor. This route may take longer, but it felt safer. Her heart was pounding hard with every step she took, making controlling her emotions all but impossible. The frustrations of the day were starting to take their toll as tears welled in her eyes. Her emotions were all over the place: the fear, anger, guilt, sense of longing, pain, feeling of helplessness and the need to rebel. She felt like she was going to explode and now tomorrow she was going to be alone with Snape for Merlin knew how long. She gulped down her fears, trying to push them into the pit of her stomach. She had known the risk what she was taking when she left the school and this would not be her first detention with the former Potions Master, nor was it likely to be her last and she would not let some greasy haired git get the better of her. Things would work out and no Death Eater in Hogwarts, Hogsmeade or anywhere else was going to scare her. The further she got from the pair of Death Eaters, the slower her heart rate got. It stopped pounding against her chest and started to return to normal. She slowed her run to a quick walk and pulled her arm roughly across her face to dry her tears. Making sure that all her tears had fallen, she was careful to be sure they were well hidden, interwoven in the coarse wool of her school uniform. She would not go back to the common room defeated. She was a Weasley and stronger than this. If Harry could face Voldemort, she could deal with a couple of hours with Snape. She slowed her walk further still as she reached the seventh floor corridor. Avoiding any chatter with the Fat Lady she gave the password and climbed through the portrait hole. She glanced round the common room to see it still almost full, cursing under her breath as she made her way further into the room. "Ginny!" Neville called. "Where on earth have you been? We thought the Death Eaters had you." She forcibly stopped herself from falling to her knees; Neville's worried face was like another hammer blow hitting her as her guilt returned. That added to her fear, she could still see those Death Eater's in Hogsmeade, still hear their voices. Things had been so close earlier; all those rumours were obviously true. Blood-traitors were taught lessons and she, in the eyes of this regime, was a blood-traitor. Ginny gulped, the reality sinking home. Death Eaters would love to get their hands on her. Teaching Harry Potter's girlfriend a lesson and sending a blow against her family would be too good to resist if they could get their hands on her. "They almost did." Neville's expression softened as he went to her, wrapping his arm round her and leading her to the large sofas. "What happened?" "I met Fred and George in Hogsmeade." She offered him a weak smile that died almost instantly. "I have some great products to use but they have Death Eaters all over Hogsmeade and at the entrances to the secret passageways and the rumours are true: they want to punish blood-traitors. And I'm probably one of the biggest blood-traitors that there is. Then, Snape was waiting at this end." "Are you okay?" Ritchie asked, looking at Ginny with concerned, worried eyes and holding Demelza closer to him, as if he could shield her from this. Ginny nodded. "Yeah, I'm banned from Hogsmeade but really with the Death Eaters there, that's no big deal." She forced a smile, this one lasting a little longer. "And a detention with Snape in his office tomorrow." "Oh, Ginny," Demelza sighed, it was clear that everyone knew the impact of these words. Neville took her hand in his. "Listen to me." She looked into his warm, caring brown eyes. "I'm not going to say this again. You do not fight this alone and you need to stop putting yourself in so much danger." "But it's…" she started. "No! We fight as a group," Seamus interrupted her, getting up from his chair, "We are all Dumbledore's Army here and will all work together." "And none of us are taking any risks," Parvati backed him up. "Especially you, Ginny," Lavender continued her friend's train of thought, "they seem to want to get you bad and to make you suffer for Ron, Harry and Hermione's disappearance." "And it's not hard to tell why, they want Harry so bad," Demelza continued, "not to mention any Order member they can get, and you're here as their sitting duck." "So we fight, but we do it together, without pushing you on the frontline," Neville continued. "Frontline soldiers may be brave but they fall first; we don't want anyone to fall to him and suffer what they are offering. We can show up on the frontline occasionally, raising the profile but we take things in turns, no one gets hurt so bad that they can't come back and you're already hurting." His voice was so strong and contained a powerful quality. "So it's about time you listen to those older than you." He added with a grin. "You got it this time?" "Yeah," she nodded, "it's nothing like being bullied." The tension in the room broke slightly with a couple of laughs, and Ginny forced another smile. "But Fred did mention something that might help. Pass me the radio." Ginny slumped down to the floor with her back against the large cushy chair. She pulled out her wand, beating out various rhythms on the top while all the dials whirled. She caught a couple of different stations, but as soon as she hit the password the radio lit up and familiar voices breathed life into the room. The sixth- and seventh-year Gryffindors all fell still and became hooked on every single word, eager to get an uncensored account on the outside world. "Hello, my name is River and welcome to the very first episode of Potterwatch." "That's Lee Jordan," Seamus hissed. "Shh," several voices shot back at him. They were all hooked, as if they had fasted for too long and now they had a great feast before them to fill them. Ginny herself sat stunned, emotion welling inside her. This is what she had wanted, what she had needed, and the feeling that she was not alone was refreshing. They were all fighting, those both in and out of Hogwarts, and in some way that kept them contented. "We have found a secure location and are hoping to bring you regular updates about the wizarding world." Lee continued, "but before all that, I would like to introduce you to two of my fellow contributors, joining me here this evening, Royal and Romulus. Evening, boys." "Hi." "Evening, River." "But before we hear from Royal and Romulus," Lee went on, "let's take a moment to update you on the news that the Wizarding Wireless Network News and the Daily Prophet don't think is important enough to mention." "First, the chief Death Eater, you know the one, has tabooed his own name so for your own safety, folks, we encourage you to come up with some more creative name for Lord Thingy." "Second, we have some very sad news. The bodies of Reginald Cattermole, his wife Mary Elizabeth and their children, Maisie, Ellie and Alfred have been found just north of Portsmouth. And a Muggle family of four has been found dead by the killing curse in Swansea." Lee paused. "Listeners, I'd like to invite you to join us in a minute's silence in the name of Reginald, Mary Elizabeth, Maise, Ellie and Alfred Cattermole and the countless number of unnamed Muggles that have been murdered by Death Eaters." Silence fell both on the radio and in the Gryffindor common room, the reality hitting home. They were at war. Things outside the castle walls were unbelievably worse than what was going on inside it, at least the Death Eaters had not shed any blood so far within the wizarding school. Outside was different. People were dying. Any hopes that they may have clung to for continuing their childhoods had gone. Now was not the time for games, or even for studying. Now was the time for action. "Thank you," said Lee's voice. "And here is Royal with an update on how the new wizarding order is affecting the Muggles." "Thanks, River," a deep measured voice spoke. "Who's that?" Lavender hissed. "Kingsley Shacklebolt," Ginny replied quickly, not wanting a debate to interrupt her lifeline. "He was one of the best Aurors in the Ministry, before its fall." "As well as Muggle-borns being sent into hiding, I regret to inform you that many Death Eaters have taken up a new sport of Muggle killings, a fact that many Muggles are blissfully ignorant of." "Is there anything we can do to help this, Royal?" "While we support all acts of bravery and wish to encourage anyone to help the Muggles, I wish to reinforce the sentiment of 'Safety First' in these dangerous times. Many lives can be saved though with simple measures that do not put yourselves in danger. One example is a protective charm over any known Muggle dwellings." "Thanks, Royal, and now over to Romulus with 'Pals of Potter'." Ginny's heart stopped, her mouth dried and her hand reached out to touch the radio. She closed her eyes and felt a moisture there. Right now she would give anything to know that he was alive, to get that conformation that he had not done something stupid and noble that had ended badly. She needed to know that he was okay. Ginny was only dully aware of a hand on her shoulder, probably Neville's, as she held her breath and prayed: please don't let him be hurt. Everything could be okay, everything could work out if he was still okay. "Thank you, River," the next voice came. "Professor Lupin," Seamus said. "We know," a chorus of voices echoed. "Romulus, do you maintain that Harry Potter is still alive?" Ginny's throat felt tight. It was almost impossible to breathe now. "I do," Lupin spoke with firm conviction. "His death would have been widely celebrated by members of the new wizarding order. It is what they want and it would be a deadly blow to the morale of all those who support Harry. 'The Boy Who Lived' is our symbol of hope and his actions give us that hope to keep resisting." Ginny felt herself release her breath and relief flooded through her body. Slowly her breath returned to normal. She let the tears fall as she gave in. Right now nothing mattered. He was okay. "And is there anything you would like to say to Harry and his supporters, Romulus." "Keep fighting! We are all there in spirit with each other no matter how far apart we are and we will have our day. This new wizarding order will fall." The radio show went on into the early hours of the morning and not a single Gryffindor NEWT student left the room. It was nearly three o'clock in the morning when an exhausted but more optimistic Ginny finally climbed into her four poster bed. After the long night, Ginny was grateful for her free period on Thursday morning and took full advantage of it by having a well deserved lie-in, missing breakfast. In the rest of the time before break she quickly finished her Herbology essay. She was aware as she handed it in to Professor Sprout that it was far from her best work. Her mum would really not be impressed with the marks of her school report that would be owled home at Christmas but she didn't care and at least she had something to hand in. Double Herbology went reasonably well, unless you counted the fact that the Venomous Tentacula tried to attack her and Sprout both lectured her and asked her to rewrite her essay on 'the correct way to juice a Snargaluff.' With her work really adding up, Ginny borrowed Demelza's E grade essay as she took her place at the back of the Dark Arts classroom. Building her normal protective wall of books, she hid behind them without listening to a word that the Death Eater said and keeping her temper for once well under control. Once Carrow had set the chapter to copy out and had returned to his desk and his copy of the Daily Prophet, Ginny pulled Demelza's essay out. Using Demelza's essay and Luna's strange but helpful comments, she spent the double lesson rewriting the Snargaluff essay. Not wanting to earn another group lecture about not eating when she got back to the common room late that night, after she got back from detention, Ginny went down to dinner with the other Gryffindors after her Dark Arts lesson. She forced down several mouthfuls of toad-in-the-hole and some pumpkin juice before handing her school bag to Demelza to take back up to the safety of the common room and well away from Snape's hands in her detention. "Be careful," Demelza whispered giving her a hug as she got to her feet. "Will be," Ginny turned round, to see Neville standing up. "I'm walking you up there," Neville told her. "Thank you," she muttered. The two left the Great Hall together and walked up the seven flights of stairs in silence. The closer she got to the Headmaster's office the more nervous she got. The reality of what she was facing suddenly hit her straight on, and she pulled both hands round her stomach in a protective hold. Her breath had quickened and she was struggling to keep any oxygen in her lungs. Neville's soft hand fell on her shoulder. "It'll be okay, Ginny." She nodded mutely at his words. "I promise you'll survive this." Ginny forced a grin at his words. "Weasleys are strong and facing this daily just goes to prove you're the strongest of the lot." Ginny's smile felt a little less forced. "You'll be fine, we're all going to wait up," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "and tomorrow in Muggle Studies I'm going to ask that bitch how much Muggle blood she has in her." Ginny smiled at him and gave him a quick hug before attempting a joke. "Okay, into the snake's lair." The Order traitor, the hook-nosed Professor was standing next to the large and ugly gargoyle. She followed the Death Eater up the stairs without comment, head down. As they got to the large circular office, Snape gestured to the small table that was set aside. Ginny glanced up once, looking at the portrait of Dumbledore before sitting at the table. "I would like you to start by copying out the disciplinary record of Undesirable Number One." She kept her head down as she wrote, determined not to look up and using all her willpower just to think about only what she was writing. Each time she saw Harry's name it was like a shot in her heart. She was missing him so much it hurt and she could not help but picture him each time she saw his name. She was aching in every part of her. She could see his face so well, but would give anything to hear his voice, to touch his hand, to give in to her imagination to have him back next to her. To give in to the pull of her heart and dare to dream that they could return to what they once had. She thought about taking a potion, anything that would numb her pain. She would give anything to know that he was okay. The rest of the week faded without much note, apart from another lecture, this time from McGonagall and being informed that her parents would have to be contacted about her recent behaviour. She really was getting sick of these lectures, but worse than that feeling was that this lecture earned her another pang of guilt. Saturday was taken up by a long Quidditch practice and as Ginny watched her team take flight she was quietly very proud of them. They really had so much energy it was infectious and they seemed to be picking up the moves so quickly. In fact it was more a case now of just drilling them to perfect the moves. The following day brought their next D.A. meeting. They choose to focus on spell practice while they had a rethink of the tactics that they were going to use against the Hogwarts Death Eaters. It was after the meeting that things really got going. "So," Neville started as he sat down onto the cushions that they used for Stunning, gesturing to the two sixth-years to do the same as everyone else left the meeting. He looked directly at Ginny. "What else were you doing in Hogsmeade?" "I was getting some stuff for the first match of the season," Ginny replied as she pulled her bag towards her. "Won't you be playing in that match?" Neville looked confused. "I was always under the impression that you enjoyed hanging off a broomstick while others throw those heavy balls around." Luna fixed her gaze on her, which was only slightly less unnerving than Luna's uncompromising truth. "You always appear to be experiencing so much pure joy when you're flying and I was under the impression that you wanted to pursue it when you finish Hogwarts." "Yeah, I do, but there are more important things this year and with the whole school watching, I thought we could make a bit of a display and spread the message." Ginny grinned. "Get a bit of revenge." "But you're the captain," Neville said, still looking concerned. "You're in the middle of the pitch with everyone there. It will be easy to watch you." "That's why we use this." Ginny pulled out one of the disguised quills and handed it over to her friends. "This is Peruvian Instant Darkness powder. Snape will no doubt know a spell to clear it, but that's the point really; we want it cleared so that they can see the message. We just need the powder to stop them seeing us spread that message. Tap your wand on it and say 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' and you'll be able to use it." "Oh, it will look so spectacular all in black," Luna mused," I always have liked black; straight colours are pure, natural." "So that's Luna's and my job in the stands." "Only after Natalie has the Snitch," Ginny insisted. "We're going to get that win first to give us something to celebrate." The plans were discussed and by the time the trio left the Room of Requirement, Ginny was confident that they could pull off this first stunt. It was defiantly a lot better planned and less rushed and impetuous than her earlier acts of defiance against the new regime. This could not help but inspire confidence. Knowing that she had a plan allowed her to keep her head down in her Dark Arts and Muggle Studies lessons. She allowed the words to wash over her as she used the double periods to write her Charms and Potions essay respectively. It was easier to do this when she knew that she could strike back against them. She was going to be smart this time, just like everyone had encouraged her to be. Quidditch practice on Wednesday went even better than the one at the weekend. Maybe it was because she was more relaxed, having finally given in and stopped trying to fight the Hogwarts Death Eaters alone. While she had had to put up with some topics of conversation that she would have preferred not to, it was getting easier to tune things out. She had even managed to keep up with her lesson and achieve some acceptable marks. She even found herself enjoying playing Quidditch, leaving her problems on the ground as she weaved in and out, scoring a dozen goals. Her Chasers even perfected the Porskoff Ploy and the Woollongong Shimmy by the end of her two-hour session, and Natalie, after a lot of one-on-one time with her captain, even managed to pull off a Wronski Feint just before the end of the practice. There was real sense of reluctance when she landed her broom. She was going to miss this. She was giving up the one thing that took her mind off Harry, the one thing that she was really good at. "Great session," Demelza said then quickly changed her tone after she looked at her face. "Are you okay?" Ginny shrugged. "Yeah, I'm fine." "You sure?" Demelza was displaying Luna-ish qualities for understanding the truth. "I'm fine," she insisted again, "I just need to ask you a favour." "Anything." "Well," Ginny looked directly at her, "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be pulled off the team after the display at the Slytherin match." Demelza sighed. "I thought we'd talked you out of this." "You talked me out of working alone," Ginny smiled, "I'm not doing this on my own, and it's not me being rash either. We've planned it out." "So you want my help?" "Not with this, I'm really not sure we'll get away with it," she looked directly at her friend, "I just need someone to take my place here." "I've got your back, Ginny," Demelza paused, "whatever you need."
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