The Seventh Year

Memorandum Rodentium

Ginny practically ran from the room to her dormitory. Not hearing Luna shouting after her, she sprinted up the stairs and said, "In ignotis," while panting. A few housemates were sitting in the common room, staring at a breathless Ginny who looked fatigued. Ignoring their stares, she began her way up towards her room.

A large pile of books waited to greet her. She had been flipping through every last one of them, searching for a way to keep secretly message all the D.A. members. But the Dark Mark was the more concerning issue. She had to get word to the Order. What if they look through letters, though? It didn't matter. She had to let him know their suspicions were correct.

She searched through her trunk and finally found a quill and some ink after throwing several clothing items on the floor. Swiftly, she wrote:

Dad,

You were right; they've overrun the school. Nasty and dangerous they are, trying to get into your head threatening to hurt you. The nargles won't be gone anytime soon, though. It'll only get worse as the year continues. We'll all be alright, but it won't be easy getting rid of them. 

Love, Ginny

As she folded the letter, she hoped her father would understand the message. Before the start of the year, he expressed his concerns about Snape as headmaster. That's when Ginny agreed to write hidden messages in code, but only if it was necessary. 

Ginny walked down to the West Tower, where the owlery was. Her pace quickened with each step, fearful of any Death Eater's watchful eyes. Climbing the steps took little time, and she quickly tied her letter to Pigwidgeon and sent him off. She did not leave the tower until the owl became merely a speck of black in the sky. 

After returning to her dorm, Ginny grabbed the top book in the stack and began scanning through it. She was losing hope of finding secret means of communication, but then she saw it. It was in a magical history book written very recently.

Beginning in 1926, Memorandum Rodentium was created to send memos from employees in the Magical Congress of the United States. The paper notes would fold themselves into rats and scamper through tubes connecting each office. Although most arrived in the correct room, few memos fought with one another. These brawls almost always ended in both messages being torn to shreds. (A History of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the United States)

It was perfect! Ginny had found a way to alert the members of the D.A. without raising suspicions! It wasn't foolproof by any means, but if she planned it right, the group would be together practicing spells by the following Wednesday!

Excited, Ginny began preparations, starting with learning and perfecting the spell. It took several tries before the paper finally folded itself into a mobile rat. Scattered beside the bed were dozens of failed, half-folded rats twitching slightly. She used the vanishing spell taught to her the previous year by Professor McGonagall. 

To ensure she had perfected the spell, she cast it three more times. Sure enough, three more paper rats folded themselves. Ginny smiled to herself and took a moment to admire her handiwork. Four rats ran around the bed, fighting one another. Leaving them to tear each other to pieces, Ginny ran to tell Neville. 

To her surprise, he wasn't in the common room. She ran to the boys' dormitories on the other side of the tower and found that he wasn't in his room either. Lessons were done for the day, so he should be in the Gryffindor Tower waiting for dinner. 

Heading back to her room, she found shreds of paper with no rodents in view. Hastily cleaning up the ripped papers, she grabbed a stack of parchment and began scribbling twenty-three vague messages to the D.A. members.

Dinner was ready as she finished writing the eleventh memo. She finally found Neville next to a first-year, Elias Michaels. She had seen him a few times in the common room. Taking the seat in front of the pair, she waited for Neville to finish his conversation with Michaels. 

"It's too dangerous for you to try anything with them," Neville said, urgency in his voice. "Leave it to the older years to defy the Carrows, alright? I don't want any first-years to go around getting into trouble. You're too young for this fight. I can try and teach you some defensive spells later on if you'd like." He paused to see if Michaels would nod in agreement, and he did. "Great. I promise I will teach you, but you can't get into any trouble with the Carrows or Snape. Is that clear? Do we have a deal?" The boy nodded his head once more and stood to sit with the other first-years. 

Neville looked up and saw Ginny sitting in front of him drinking pumpkin juice. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ginny cut him off. 

"I've found a way to alert everyone. You know, to check the coins." She smiled and cheerfully continued, "I think you should be the main leader of the group, now that Harry's not here." Neville looked down at his empty plate; he was at a loss for words. "Neville, I know you can be a leader,  I know it!" Neville nodded unconfidently and looked back up, meeting Ginny's eyes. "You can lead us to rebel against Snape and the Carrows! Please, consider it at least?" she pleaded. 

There were a few long moments of silence. Neville's lips curved into a smile, and reluctantly he responded, "Okay, let's do it."