laconic • t.nott ✓

34 ➺ rebellion and runaway

「 REBELLION AND RUNAWAY 」

MUCH TO THE CARROWS' CHAGRIN, the news of Luna's escape spread through Hogwarts within their first day back from Easter break. It didn't take long for people to find out that it was Harry Potter who had been behind the rescue mission. After months of not hearing anything about him, this sudden news seemed to elevate the vigour of the students, especially the members of the Dumbledore's Army. The first morning greeted them with a large mural on the wall mocking the Dark Lord's failed attempt at keeping a teenage girl imprisoned.

Of course, the message wouldn't reach the Dark Lord. It was simply to humiliate the Carrows for they had been the ones to kidnap Luna.

Blaise was quiet when Theo had broken the news to him. He did it on the horseless carriage, on their way back to the castle. Blaise looked out of the curtained window, the dusk light casting eerie shadows across his face. "I'm sorry," he said, so quiet that Theo almost didn't hear him, "about Luna."

"It wasn't your fault," Theo replied, surprising himself. Blaise whirled away from the window to look at him. Theo saw the effort he took to hide the relief from his face. He shrugged. "If you had refused, the Carrows would have got someone else to do it. Maybe they would have done it themselves. At least you saved Luna from getting hexed and possibly badly hurt."

Blaise hadn't seemed very convinced. The rest of the carriage ride passed in silence.

After the initial push, more and more rumours about the Chosen One began to circulate Hogwarts. There were reports of people spotting him in various places all over the country, though how the reports entered Hogwarts was a mystery. Nevertheless, it did succeed in rattling the Carrows to their bones, who retaliated by first tightening security and recruiting more Slytherins into the Inquisitorial Squad, and second, by banning Hogsmeade weekends and forbidding certain areas of the castle.

Punishments were made harsher. Any culprit caught were not only subjected to the torture curse but were also force-fed various potions that were said to induce nightmares or temporary immobility or intense clawing inside their stomachs. It wasn't clear what the potions really did - if they really did anything - but the foggy uncertainty was enough to force many to submit themselves to the Carrows' mercy.

The Dumbledore's Army, of course, fought back with equal intensity. They created makeshift newspapers out of spare parchment and distributed them to students and teachers and anyone who wished to read them. Seamus had given one to Theo. It was a very accurate copy of the first page ofThe Daily Prophet, on which was handwritten a few paragraphs about the latest rumours surrounding Harry Potter. On the title section was crafted the words DA Daily.

When Theo spoke his doubts about whether the news was actually true, Seamus beamed and clapped his hands over his shoulders, looking as excited as he had never before been. "You see, that's the beauty! It doesn't need to be true. We just need to paint an image in people's minds that Harry has not given up on us, that he is still fighting." He paused to smile at Theo. "And it's not all entirely untrue. We get our news from reliable sources." And he dropped a wink that raised more questions in Theo than answered them.

The Carrows were oblivious of the DA Daily for the first few days after its inauguration. But when they did get hold of some of the newspapers, they were met with a bank page that hurriedly filled up with Arithmancy or Potions notes, with little words scrawled along the margins that said things like Hush, it's the ugly Carrow. Quick! Write your notes!

Needless to say, they weren't pleased with it.

As the days dragged on slowly, Hogwarts saw more and more innovative methods employed by the Death Eaters as well as the Dumbledore's Army. But the line seemed to have truly been crossed toward the end of the second week when the population of Hogwarts - or what remained of it - filed into the Great Hall for breakfast. Theo sat with Blaise and waited for the food to appear in front of them.