Spells and Visions; A Harry Potter story

Chapter 5: Walk as Lions

The Carrows lessons got worse, the other lessons got more boring, and Potions was the only class that felt a bit normal. Slughorn constantly tried to keep up the positive mood, and it seemed to work. Neville didn't continue Potions, and since the trio and Dean were gone, I was left with only Seamus. Honestly, I think Slughorn winced everytime he walked past us, as if he could feel every bruise and cut on our faces. Draco continued to be silent as if non-existing, and he was right to do so, since some of us did know that he had planned to kill Dumbledore, but Crabbe and Goyle were the complete opposite of him.

We didn't bother to read the Daily Prophet anymore, and got the Quibbler every morning instead. There were actually really good things in it, and it said that anyone who was against Voldemort should be helping Harry as much as possible. And since we hadn't heard that he had been kidnapped, or worse, I assumed that everyone did their best to help them.

We used the coins to communicate with the DA members, and some of them actually answered, such as Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbot, Michael Corner and more. The Patil twins and Lavender were also in, and the Carrows didn't notice that quite a big group was behind it. During the Carrows' lessons, we had to do other spells than the Cruciatus Curse as well, and we deliberately pronounced them wrong, accidentally aimed at the Carrows, or just stubbornly refused. More than one of us got hurt doing that, but we didn't give in. 

Snape, however, seemed to guess that something was going on, and on one morning, in the Entrance Hall, an old decree from Umbridge had been hung on the wall.
"Gatherings of three or more students are forbidden, or any unofficial students societies," Neville read. I sighed. We had been gathering in Hog's Head with small groups, but it seemed Snape had found out, or someone had told on us. It couldn't be anyone from the DA, since we still had the list, and anyone on there would get the same punishment as Marrietta, two years ago.
"We can't just stop these gatherings," Hannah said from behind. "We're doing really good now."
"Yeah- no, we'll find a way," Neville said, getting slightly red in the face. "We can keep contact with the coins for now."
Hannah smiled.
"Okay."

When she walked away, I turned to my brother.
"Do you fancy her?" I smirked.
"Shut up."
"No, no, I need to know."
I threw my arm around his shoulder as we walked to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"You've been really confident lately, but as soon as she is around, you get all soft."
"I mean-" Neville started.
"So I was right!" I grinned.
"Shh, not so loud!" Neville pushed my arm away.
"When are you going to tell her?" I said, still smirking.
"Sometime... this year..."
"Well, it's almost winter, so you might want to hurry up. I never got enough time with Cedric."

My smile faded.
"Haven't you heard anything from him?" Neville asked.
I shook my head.
"I always fear the worst..."
"Don't," Neville said, as we sat down next to Ginny. "He'll be fine. He'll let you know something when he can."
I nodded slowly. I hoped so.

~

For some reason, well, it was pretty clear to us, Ginny, Neville, Luna and I had gotten a Hogsmeade ban. Although we didn't see Snape often, he was aware that we did a lot of things against the Carrows.
What Snape didn't know, was that we could transfigure the numbers on the coins into words. Everytime someone had something to say, they just dropped a message, with the initials of their name.
We also could keep contact with others from outside of Hogwarts, such as Lee Jordan, Fred and George.

The Carrows also increased in cruelty. They really liked to beat up first years, or use their Slytherin cronies to bully them.

"Jynx, come quickly!" I heard as I walked went to Potions. It was Ernie.
I hurried to where he stood.
"I wanted to walk away from the classroom," he said, taking me further into the dungeons. "when I heard crying."
A first-year Hufflepuff was chained up to the wall.
"I forgot the spell to break things," Ernie told me. "I saw you walking, and you're really smart, so I thought you might know it."
"Yeah," I said, pulling out my wand. "Diffindo." The chains cut where I had pointed my wand.
"Ah, that was it," Ernie sighed.
"Are you okay?" I asked the boy, helping him up.
He nodded, and wiped his tears away.
"Are you sure? Are you not hurt?"
"I'm fine," he whispered.
"Okay," I sighed. "If you say so. Come on, you've got to go back to whatever class you have now, before the Carrows come back."