The Dark Mark (The Girl Who Lived part II)

Expelliarmus: Simple, But Disarming

We returned to Hogarts when the break had ended. As much as I liked Hogwarts, I was rather saddened to return. Yes, a majority of my friends would be there, but I didn't quite feel quite right leaving Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Mr. Weasley was still healing and it was most likely that Mrs. Weasley would be the only one caring for him. And Mrs. Weasley already had her hands full with the house, now Mr. Weasley, and Percy who decided that he was too good for Mrs. Weasley's sweater. Upon hearing that from Fred and George who had heard it from Mr. Weasley because Mrs. Weasley didn't like to discuss it, I felt a hate for Percy. There weren't many people that I hated. Just a select few. Voldemort, Lucius, my fellow death eaters, and the ministry (now more than ever) on occassion.

Percy, much like Bill and Charlie wasn't around very much, so I could't develop as deep of a connection as I had with the younger Weasley children. In fact, I hadn't seen Bill, Charlie, or Percy more than a few times since I'd become a member of the Weasley clan. But within those short meetings, I was able to get an idea of what they were about. Much like the other Weasley's I was able to place the three of them under a general title. Bill, was the "cool" one. He was full of adventure. Charlie was rather difficult to put under a title. He was a mix of all of the other Weasley's. I'd never tell Fred, George, or Ron this, but I liked Charlie the best. If they knew my thoughts, they'd pout for weeks. For lack of a better word, Charlie was the "normal" one. He wasn't the "glutton", like Ron was. Nor, the "jokester" like the twins.

And Percy was the "uptight" one, or the "stuffed shirt". I certainly wasn't close enough to be the judge of his character based off of a few encounters. But from the stories I've heard from Fred and George, I could most certainly say these things. Percy was rather different from the other Weasley's. As Fred and George said, "We believe that when he was a baby, he was dropped on our doorstep". But dropped on the doorstep or not, he was still a Weasley. And from those many years I'd spent at Malfoy Manor being as one would call, "the help" instead of an adoptive daughter, I learned that family comes first. Because when  the day ends, all you've got is your family.

Upon our return to Hogwarts, it felt as though everything returned right where we had left off. As if time had stopped when we had left and only continued when we returned. The members of the Inquisitorial Squad were no closer to finding out about Dumbledore's Army than they were when they had first heard of it. "Come on, Scarlet". The twins pushed me along the hallway, as easily as you would a broom. We were one of the last few people to enter the Room of Requirement through the shrinking door. It was a rare occasion in which I'd go to the meetings. Being a member of the Inquisitorial Squad and all, I couldn't risk being caught. 

But the twins wouldn't stop complaining on how Neville was the only one that wasn't making any progress and insisted that I had to come and how they thought Harry was about to lose it. We crossed the room to Harry who was busy instructing Neville. Unlike the the last meeting, I did not catch anyone's eyes except the ones of my friends. The other D. A. members no longer saw me as a threat. They all knew that I was on their side. Harry sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. A definite sign of frustration. The twins, stood behind me, making their bets on how much longer it would take before Harry blew a gasket.  "5 minutes". Said George. "10". Wagered Fred. "Harry, go ahead and take a break and I'll see what I can do". Harry excused himself, while I was left with Neville.

"Sorry Scarlet. You've risked getting yourself found out because of me". He said, awfully embarrassed. "I haven' gotten caught yet. And the Inquisitorial Squad isn't any closer to finding out than when I joined. Anyway, what are you having trouble with?" I rubbed my hands together and pulled up my sleeves, exposing my silver cuff on my left arm. Neville looked down at the floor. "Everything". He answered.  Maybe this would be a little more difficult than I had thought. "Let's practice the disarming spell. Please demonstrate it for me without your wand so I get an idea of where you are". I observed Neville as he tried to do the disarming spell. "I see the problem. Your hand movement isn't quite right. Here". I stood beside and slightly in front of him as I said this, facing him. I placed my smaller hand over his. Funny how I never quite realized how short I was compared to Neville despite how much time I spent with him. I used Neville's hand to do the correct hand movement in the air for the spell.    

"Alright, let's see it". Neville's face was a bright red. As were his ears. This time, he said the correct pronunciation and mimiced the hand movement perfectly. "That's wonderful! Let's try it with your wand this time". I stood yards away from him, wand at the ready. "I couldn't possibly. What if you fly backwards and hit your head?" Neville said as he worried about all of the possible negative outcomes. "Come on, Neville". I tried cheering him on, but no good came from it. Harry returned. "How's it going?" He asked. "Neville won't do the disarming spell because he's worried that I'll get hurt". I said. "We certainly wouldn't want that to happen". He said to me, smiling. "Neville, you can face me". Harry said this, turning towards Neville, wand out. "Hang on". I switched sides and stood beside Neville. Even from quite a ways away, I noticed the corners of his mouth twitch.

"Why does Neville get a cheerleader?" Harry jokingly complained. "Don't worry Harry, you have Fred and George. Two is better than one, after all". I motioned towards Fred and George who placed a hand on each of Harry's shoulder. After hearing this, Fred and George wrapped pieces of fabric around their waists to imitate a cheerleader's skirt and began doing acrobatic tricks one after another. One of these tricks included  the basket toss, in which Fred and George were the basket, and Ron was the one being tossed. Though, unlike these usual routines, Ron had no idea what was going on. The twins threw him in the air with all their energy. Ron flew so high that he could almost touch the ceiling. All was going well until the twins were several meters off for catching Ron, who fell face first onto the ground. The twins watched as Ron picked himself up, not uttering one apology or anything of the sort.

"I don't think thats the case right now. And if those two are going to be cheerleaders, then they'd better shave their legs first". Harry joked. The twins would've normally felt very insulted, but they were too busy spelling out Harry's name and doing weird dance moves that were ten years too late to be used. Neville and I couldn't hold back our laughter. Laughing both at Harry's joke and the twins' last minute dance routine. When all was calm again, Neville mentally prepared himself. "You can do this. Just remember the hand movement". I said to him. "Harry, are you ready?" I glanced over my shoulder. "Ready". He answered. "I have all the faith in the world in you. There's not a doubt in my mind that you can't do this". I said to Neville before he cast the spell. "Expelliarmus". Neville shouted. A bright white light was emitted from his wand and blew Harry off his feet. "I did it?" Neville inspected the end of his wand as if I had tampered with it. I crushed him in a massive hug. I couldn't quite get my hands all the way around him, so he may not have had considered it as a "massive" hug. "That was brilliant, Neville! You were brilliant!" His face and ears returned to that hue of red it had been earlier. I looked across the room so that I could share the joy with Harry.

Instead of seeing Harry as ecstatic as I was like I had anticipated, he was still sprawled on the floor. "Harry!" Neville and I made our way to him. a small crowd formed around us. I poked his arm several times to see if there was a reaction. There was none. I ordered several of the D. A. members to check if the hallway was clear, in which they would then creep out of the room and bring us several things we did not have handy such as a bucket of water, a rag, and a few other items. The twins, and Hermoine who dragged a complaining Ron by his ear went to fetch the supplies while the other D. A. members returned to whatever they were doing before the meeting so as not to draw any attention to the large number of missing students. It was just me, Neville, and Harry left in the Room of Requirement. Neville paced back and forth, muttering things. He was panicking. After finally sitting down on the floor because I had pulled him down because his pacing had made me dizzy, he uttered one final phrase before letting the deadly silence fill up the room. "I killed Harry Potter. I killed the "Boy Who Lived"".