The reaction was mixed: most students made noises of appreciation; the more enthusiastic cheered and clapped; on the other hand, a couple of students, primarily those in lower years, looked doubtful, even scared.
'The sword doesn't belong to Snape,' said Neville, turning to face them all. 'It belonged to Dumbledore and he left it in there ... and since we're his Army, we need to get it out.'
More cheers greeted this.
'So – we need a plan of action ...'
The room fell silent again.
'OK – Ginny, Luna, Seamus and I will be the ones to break into Snape's office. We know he is at dinner nearly every day, so we'll leave halfway through. We'll need lookouts in the Great Hall ... does anyone –?'
'We can do that,' said Michael, Anthony and Terry. Neville nodded.
'Then we need lookouts on the ground floor corridor –?'
Parvati, Lavender and Padma raised their hands.
'OK, thanks girls ... it would help if we had some sort of diversion, preferably in the Entrance Hall so that us four can get away when there's a riot ... it won't be easy taking the sword up seven floors without being seen though.'
'Sounds like something for us, Neville,' called Ernie, indicating himself, Zacharias Smith, Susan and Hannah.
'Good ... Ivy and Liz, could you take watch outside the office, if the worst comes to the worst. Then me, Seamus, Luna and Ginny will go in and –'
'Hang on, you don't know the password!' cried Anthony rather accusingly.
'I do, it's "Evans" – I went in there last week,' explained Neville. 'So we'll go into Snape's office and get back up here as soon as possible, with the sword. All clear?'
There were more enthusiastic nods and 'Yes's.
'Wait – when are we doing this?' someone asked.
'Tonight.'
'T – tonight, Neville?' Ernie stammered desperately, as muttering broke out; Seamus and Ginny cheered. 'But –'
'Ernie, we've got a plan, haven't we? It won't be any different if we go tonight or in a week, will it? I've just got a feeling about the sword ... the sooner we get it the hell out of there, the better.'
'Hear, hear!' shouted Seamus.
They spent the rest of the free period gathering and sharing out the 'Weasley Gear', as they called it, according to where they were placed in the mission. The Hufflepuffs had a stack of Decoy Detonators and Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, and the lookouts and four stealers were prioritised for using the Shield Cloaks.
'If you haven't got a fake Galleon, come over here!' called Ginny, who began duplicating her own coin with the use of a Geminio Charm and explained to each student in turn how the coins worked. Neville went over the plan with everyone again; they had to make sure everything was timed right.
Six hours later found all the students seated in the Great Hall in front of stacks of sausages, steaks, roast potatoes and vegetables. Neville was seated in between Ginny and Seamus. The Gryffindor girls had already left to take up their positions in the corridor and outside the Headmaster's office. Neville was facing the Hufflepuff table, barely aware of the existence of a potato on his fork, waiting for Ernie to make his move. He could somehow feel the eyes of Snape on him from the staff table, but he hoped he was just imagining it: he didn't want to check; the Ravenclaws would do that for him.
Ernie wiped his mouth with a napkin before getting to his feet and sidling out of the oak doors, followed closely by Susan, Zac and Hannah.
'C'mon,' Ginny said and the three of them also stood up. Luna had noticed and dreamily walked over from the Ravenclaw table. The foursome casually walked out the Great Hall. They had barely passed through the doors when a number of loud bangs went off, and Hannah's convincing scream pierced the Entrance Hall.
There was a huge movement from behind them. Students and teachers alike stood up and looked through the doors, wondering what could have possibly caused the sudden interruption. Then everyone began scurrying past the tables, crushing each other to get out the Hall.
'PEEVES!' roared Ernie, while throwing handfuls of the Darkness Powder around him, the air filled with the terrible stench of Dungbombs. By now, the whole Entrance Hall was infused with the black, acrid smoke and Ernie continued to loudly curse Peeves, who in fact was nowhere near the Entrance Hall.
Neville almost forgot about the rest of the plan: it was only when Ginny and Seamus each grabbed an arm and pulled him through the door on the left by the marble staircase that he finally took his eyes off the Hufflepuff's diversion. As Luna pushed the door open and strolled through, Neville's coin burned in his pocket. He fumbled for it as they walked briskly down the ground floor corridor.
Neville's heart raced. Holding Seamus and Ginny back, he bent down to pretend to tie his shoelace.
'Neville, what –?' Seamus began, but was interrupted by a familiar stern voice.
'Ah, there you are Mr Finnigan,' said Professor McGonagall, marching down the end corridor towards them. 'I require ten minutes with you in my office if you don't mind.'
'Sure Professor,' answered Seamus and followed her back the way he came, glancing apologetically over his shoulder to the other three. The moment the door closed, the trio wasted no more time, and hurried down, round the corner, until they were face to face with the gargoyle with Ivy and Liz nervously standing either side of it, pretending to look at their timetables.
'Evans,' Luna panted. The gargoyle's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but had no choice but to admit them. The spiral staircase lifted them up to the polished doors. They barged through; many of the portraits jumped awake at the noise, some muttering noises of indignation. But Neville wasn't listening, and had eyes only for the sword in the case. He rushed over to it and pointed his wand at the glass case, while the old headmasters and headmistresses made louder, angry sounds.
'Diffindo!' Neville whispered and the glass cracked and came crashing down. The sword toppled forwards and out of the case. Neville just about caught it by the ruby hilt, as his Galleon went hot again. He dug it out and read:
'Neville, come on!' hissed Ginny desperately. Heart pounding so hard against his ribs he thought they might crack, Neville bounded across the office in seven steps and they jumped down the stairs and smashed through the entrance door.
Neville tried desperately to stuff the sword beneath his robes as they trotted down the corridor, footsteps echoing from up ahead. They rounded the corner when –
Ginny swore.
It was Snape.
He was marching down the corridor, wand by his side. Anger and disappointment, sheer disappointment, welled up inside Neville and he wished, at that point, that he could drown himself in it; he hadn't even managed to get the whole sword hidden. Snape extended a hand, and Neville knew, as did Ginny and Luna, that the game was up and there was no point trying to run away from Snape.
'Well, well, well,' Snape murmured, snatching the sword from Neville's hand; his voice was calm and quiet but unbelievably deadly. 'I need a long hard think about your punishments. You will wait in your common rooms while I decide, and your Head of Houses will inform you.'
So saying, he walked past them with a swish of his cloak and disappeared round the corner. The three of them slumped down the corridor and up the marble staircase. Luna departed with a solemn goodbye as Neville and Ginny made the long trip up to Gryffindor Tower. Neville couldn't bear to look at Ginny, let alone say anything to her. He felt so disappointed; for one shining moment, he thought he was doing something right, something to get on top of Snape's regime, something that might make his parents proud. And as he sat in the common room next to Ginny in front of the fire, head in his hands, he couldn't help the hot, angry tears that slipped down his cheeks.