Seventh year had a free period next, so Neville trudged up the seven staircases, panting slightly as he gave the password to the Fat Lady. No one else was here yet, so he rushed up to the dormitory and sat on his bed, his head in his hands. The experience so far was much, much harder to deal with than he'd first imagined. The image of Carrow slashing through the air with her wand was nightmarish, and her expression of hatred wasn't something he'd forget in a hurry.
He absent-mindedly rummaged through his trunk, perhaps for ideas. It was only when he lifted a pair of jeans and something small and gold dropped out with a glimmer, that he felt excitement, though he wasn't quite sure why at first. He bent to pick it up and registered what it was, his excitement much more authentic now. It was the fake Galleon, the Galleon that Hermione had so cleverly developed two years ago, the Galleon that every member of the –
He bolted downstairs, now grinning, and burst into the common room. The room was now partially full with the seventh-years, and they all looked up in mild surprise at the sight of Neville standing there rather strangely, grinning from ear to ear.
'I've got a plan!' Neville said, flicking the fake coin to Seamus, who caught it and examined it in confusion.
'Neville, what –? Wait, isn't that –? Dumbledore's Army!' Seamus exclaimed, evidently spotting he false dates and words. 'Why did we not think of this before?'
Parvati and Lavender also hastened towards them, excited, before shooting up to their dormitories to fish for their own coins. Now that the solution had arrived at last, Neville couldn't answer Seamus' question and he felt foolish for not thinking of the DA at all. But it didn't matter – in a way, it was very fortunate that he'd thought of it on the second day back, instead of facing weeks of hopelessness. He dug out his wand once Seamus returned the Galleon and carefully etched tiny words upon the coin. When satisfied, he rubbed it between thumb and forefinger – he couldn't count upon everyone to have not lost their coin but he would be seeing many of them at lunch soon at any rate.
Parvati and Lavender returned with their other two room mates, Ivy and Lizzie. Although they were in Neville's year and the DA, he'd never really spoken much to Ivy and Lizzie; but having said that, they went everywhere together and were closer friends with the Hufflepuffs.
'Hey Neville, it worked!' Seamus exclaimed happily, returning from upstairs. 'I'd forgotten it went hot like that, but you can see the writing – this is great!' The boys grinned and Neville gestured the girls to come over.
'We'll organise the first meeting at lunch when we see everyone,' said Neville. 'It's got to be as soon as possible, they'll see what Muggle Studies or Defence Against the Dark Arts is like soon enough.'
'It's going to be different without Harry,' piped up Parvati.
'I know ... it will be ... but as long as we set apart ourselves from the rest of the school, that will be something worthwhile.'
'Well said,' said Seamus.
They had little to do during the rest of the free period, so decided to go for a walk on the grounds. The Dementors in the distance sent a chill across the castle and nullified most of the sun's warmth and light. They discussed ideas for the DA. Since none of them had the combative skills of Harry, or Hermione's brains, they deemed it unwise to try and learn new spells, and therefore decided on doing their best to fix the terrible, Voldemort-influenced state of the school.
The lunch bell rang and they headed into the castle and through the doors of the Great Hall. It was hard to not look suspicious as they split up and started low-profile conversations with students from other tables, particularly with Alecto Carrow watching them over a chicken roll. Neville approached the Hufflepuff table and gestured them to lean in.
'Neville, I got your message!' Susan Bones whispered before Neville began. Ernie looked at her questioningly, but comprehension dawned on him as she displayed her coin.
'We're starting the DA again?' asked Ernie, adding, 'Brilliant,' when Neville nodded.
'First meeting's tomorrow evening, seven o'clock sharp, Room of Requirement. I'll be in there to let you in. Tell the younger Hufflepuffs, will you?'
'Of course, this is great!' Ernie said and bustled off with Susan and Wayne Hopkins. Neville looked up at the staff table and saw Alecto staring at him full of suspicion. Resisting the urge to wave and smile at her, Neville spotted Ginny enter the Hall with Luna and approached them without hesitation. Ginny looked a good deal brighter than yesterday, which encouraged Neville.
'Luna – Ginny – we're starting up the DA again.'
'Oh, Neville, that's great! When –?' Luna began to ask, but she was interrupted.
'We all seem very happy – what's going on 'ere?'
It was Alecto's sister, Amycus, and had crept up behind Neville, who jumped sideways at the sudden voice.
'Oh, are we not allowed to have fun?' asked Neville in mock wonder.
'Don't get cheeky with me, mate,' Amycus hissed, breathing down Neville's neck. 'Just checking that you're not ... up to something in secret ... tha' would be an extremely stupid thing to do, wouldn't it?' He strutted off, with a whip of his cloak. Neville brought his head lower and the girls leant in.
'Seven o'clock tomorrow, Room of Requirement. If you've got any ideas about undermining the Carrows and Snape, tomorrow evening would be a great time to mention it.'
The girls nodded quickly and helped themselves to some lunch. Seamus, Parvati and Lavender rejoined the Gryffindor table after speaking with Terry Boot, Michael Corner and the other Ravenclaws, each looking satisfied and grinning, as though they'd just closed a deal for a large broomstick order.
'This is fantastic,' said Seamus, clapping Neville on the back, 'can't wait to get started.'
Neville couldn't either.
His concentration wavered in Charms, he was too busy thinking about tomorrow. They were practising the Fidelius Charm, an extremely complicated spell that required a lot of meaning and emotional power. In demonstration, Professor Flitwick asked Anthony Goldstein to step up to the front. Flitwick removed a random book from his shelf and edited the title. He would then close his eyes, in deep concentration and cast the Fidelius Charm, which was like a silvery sheet that covered and clung to the book. He showed it to the class, after whispering to Anthony what its real title was.
'What is this book called?' Flitwick asked, after climbing back up his pile of books to see over his desk.
'50 Charms for Beginners,' the class read aloud.
Anthony then said, with Flitwick's encouragement, 'The book is called The Glossary of Wand Movement.'
The letters in the title slipped away and were replaced by its real title.
Now that they all knew how the charm worked, they all tried it for themselves, working in groups of three; however, Flitwick had made it look a lot easier than it really was, and they all departed the classroom tired after an hour of straining to concentrate, something which Neville had dismissed before the lesson had even started. Apart from the Muggle Studies lesson, the first day back had certainly been bearable. They had the DA to look forward to tomorrow and Neville lay in his bed that evening with higher hopes than he ever could have imagined.