–Until when, Sir?†asked Summerby when there was order in the room once.
–Indefinitely. Please know that this is not the fault of me or of your professors. We wanted to allow Hogwarts to continue as normally as possible in spite of circumstances beyond our control. However, this group of students has made it clear that they have no respect for anyone’s safety and we can’t therefore risk any more of these stunts at future matches. It is our only option.â€
He turned and swept out of the common room, his black robes billowing behind him. Professor Carrow stayed behind. He took a list of names out of his robes and began reading.
–I will begin with the Quidditch team, and then move on to the rest of you, in decreasing age order. This entrance is sealed until questioning is complete. You must not attempt to leave the room until you have been cleared by me to do so. Lunch will be served in here. Ralph Summerby, you’re up first.â€
The Quidditch captain followed the Professor from the room. He looked completely thunderstruck and for a moment Adrian worried about what he might do to the Professor. He then remembered that this was the Carrows they were dealing with and they were sure to return any action against them equally harshly.
The room erupted in to chatter as soon as the two of them had left, but the Quidditch team sat in silence, not really sure what to say or do without the guidance of their captain.
Summerby returned several minutes later, and one by one the rest of the team were escorted out to be questioned. Finally, Carrow entered the room and called out, –Adrian Radley.â€
His legs shaking slightly, Adrian stood up. But then he remembered that he had done nothing wrong and he found a bit more confidence. He was after all one of the victims in this situation.
Professor Carrow led him along to a small dungeon room, not far from the Hufflepuff common room. He motioned for him to sit, and then took a chair opposite.
–Tell me what happened at the match today, in your own words.â€
Adrian explained as quickly as he could exactly what had happened.
–When the darkness fell, why did you not attempt to reach a member of staff?†Carrow asked.
–I couldn’t see anything. I was scared to move in case I hit something or fell. I couldn’t really hear above the crowd either.â€
Carrow barely seemed to acknowledge each answer before moving on to the next question.
–Tell me, have you heard of Dumbledore’s Army.â€
Before he could stop himself, Adrian replied, –No, Sir.â€
–You’re lying,†hissed Carrow immediately. Adrian was startled by his tone.
–I mean, I have heard of them but only when I was in second year, not since I have been back at school this year. I don’t know what they are or what they do.â€
Carrow held his gaze for a moment, obviously trying to decide whether or not he was telling the truth.
–Your brother is a Squib isn’t he?†Carrow asked suddenly.
–Yes, Sir,†replied Adrian, feeling suddenly defensive at this change in questioning.
–And why do you believe he is a Squib, Adrian? Do you think he is the same as a Muggle?â€
–No, Sir. He is a wizard without magic. Our family has many years of magic so Samuel must have had some once.†He hesitated. –I think it was taken from him by Muggles, like the Ministry says.â€
Carrow nodded his approval. –I’m glad you think so,†he said. –You seem like a sensible boy, Adrian. You could do very well in your life. Just don’t let the wrong people influence you.â€
–Yes, Sir,†Adrian replied, hoping the interview was finally over.
Sure enough, Carrow stood and escorted him back to the common room. Now that the Quidditch team had been questioned he started with the seventh year Hufflepuffs. It looked like it was going to take some time. Food had appeared on trays and most people had started eating, hungry after the morning’s drama.
The team were still sitting together. They looked like they hadn’t really spoken since Adrian left the room. When Adrian sat down, Summerby looked up. –Does anyone know what happened?†he asked.
The team shook their heads.
–I can’t believe it’s over,†Cadwallader said in a hollow voice. –This was supposed to be our year.â€
No one knew how to reply to that. For some of them, there could be some hope that one day they might play again. For the seventh years, this was the end.
Suddenly Adrian felt a flash of rage like nothing he had ever experienced.
–This isn’t fair,†he erupted, his voice coming out as a shout. There was still no much noise in the common room that only a few turned at the sound of his voice, but even so Summerby motioned to him to keep his voice down.
–No,†Adrian continued. –We all know who’s responsible for this. You said it yourself this morning - Ginny Weasley was banned from playing Quidditch giving the Gryffindor team no hope of winning the cup and if she couldn’t play, she didn’t want anyone else playing either. Everyone knows it was Gryffindors behind the original Dumbledore’s Army.â€
Gradually more people had stopped talking to listen, and Adrian became aware that silence had fallen over the common room.
–Well,†he said, –what did they actually achieve today? How did that help anyone? It was attention seeking. It was selfish. It was a bunch of Gryffindors who were bitter that they couldn’t be on top for once. All that they’ve achieved is to make people miserable. It was the one thing we had to look forward to this year. And Hufflepuff were going to win this year. No one in this room ever got to see what our team was capable of. What was the point?â€
To his surprise, he could see people around the room nodding, and hear mutterings of agreement. Perhaps he wasn’t alone. Perhaps he wasn’t the only person who disagreed with the people who insisted that something terrible was happening in the wizarding world.
He waited for someone else to speak up, to argue against him but nothing happened. Instead, gradually the regular noise returned to the common room. Adrian looked back at his team, but knew there was nothing more that could be said. All he wanted to do was get out of there.
He nodded to his teammates and headed across the room to the dormitory stairs. On his way he looked to the far side of the room and saw a small group of seventh years, including the two he had overheard on the first night in September, one of whom he had since realised was the seventh year prefect, whispering in a huddle. To his surprise Gemma was with them. His frown deepened. Of course, it made sense that she’d be involved in some way.
He felt too angry to do anything. He started writing letters to both Samuel and his parents but he couldn’t concentrate on it. He wondered if he would get into trouble for leaving the common room but he didn’t really care. He had already been questioned and he was still technically in the Hufflepuff area of the castle.
He spotted the wireless in the corner and reached into the case for the new record he had been given a few days before. He put it into the player and lay back on his bed letting the music wash over him. It was odd how calming music from a band called the Screaming Vampires could be, but Adrian gradually felt the tension ease out of him.
He didn’t move from the room for the rest of the day. He knew he was sulking but he couldn’t help it. After such a rubbish start to the year Quidditch had been all he was looking forward to. He couldn’t stand to be around the team, knowing they were all sharing in the same pain, and he didn’t have any other friends.
The record finished, and silence fell over the room. At some point late in the evening he heard Dorian come in. Adrian kept the curtains around his bed tightly closed, not interested in anymore awkward conversations with his former best friend. What was the point, when it was clear that Dorian wouldn’t even look at him when they were in public?
The next morning, Adrian headed nervously for breakfast. He wasn’t sure who he was supposed to sit with. Were Duncan and Hector still his friends even now they weren’t all on a team together?
To his huge relief, the two boys still beckoned him over. They were less energetic that unusual, and it was clear that everyone was still feeling the huge disappointment of the day before.
–So,†Hector said, –what do we do now?â€
–Dunno,†replied Duncan. –Become good at school work I suppose.â€
Adrian managed to let out a chuckle. One of the things he had learnt about Duncan over the last few weeks was that he hated school. There was not a single subject he really excelled in and he frequently talked about leaving school after completing his OWLs and attempting to get signed to as a junior reserve to a Quidditch team. Of course, with no matches for scouts to watch now, that probably wasn’t going to happen.
–We’ve got Hogsmeade in a couple of weeks, at least,†said Hector. –Are you going to come, Adrian?â€
–Definitely! I need to get out of this place. Let’s just hope they don’t cancel that as well.â€
The two boys nodded fervently.
Fortunately, the trip was not cancelled, and two weeks later, all the students in third year and above were released to go to the village.
Adrian joined Hector and Duncan on the walk down to the village. Almost everyone who could was taking advantage of the opportunity to get out of the castle, though there were several of the older students who had been banned from attending. Since the Quidditch match, there had been more and more incidents started by Dumbledore’s Army. Graffiti frequently appeared throughout the school with slogans and messages of contempt for the Headmaster and the Carrow professors. Adrian was still clueless as to what exactly they were trying to achieve.
Though he had so far avoided talking about anything too serious with the two boys but he was curious to know how much they knew about what was going on. He knew that the Muggleborn laws had caused a bit of a stir in the wizarding world, and that their effect was especially noticeable at Hogwarts, but he felt like there had to be something more happening.
–How much do you know about Dumbledore’s Army?†he asked casually as they were wandering down the main street of Hogsmeade.
The two boys looked nervous. –Why? You’re not spying for Carrow, are you?†ask Hector
–What? No! What made you think that?â€
–It’s just that someone said that the Carrow professors seem to - OW!†He broke off as Duncan elbowed him hard in the ribs.
–It doesn’t matter what other people have said. But yeah, we know a little bit about Dumbledore’s Army. It was created a few years ago as a protest against Professor Umbridge.â€
–I know that,†Adrian replied. –But what are they hoping to achieve now.â€
–It’s all to do with the war isn’t it,†said Duncan. –And You-Know-Who.â€
All three boys shivered involuntarily at the thought of the dark wizard.
–You-Know-Who?†What’s he got to do with it? And since when have we been at war?â€
–You really are a bit clueless, aren’t you?†Duncan said. –You-Know-Who came back a few years ago - even the Ministry confirmed it. And everyone’s scared that he’s going to start killing people again. It’s all been a bit confusing so far though because he seems to be in hiding. But some strange stuff has started happening - people are going missing, and then there’ve been all those changes at the Ministry.â€
–Do people think You-Know-Who is behind all of that?â€
–No one’s really sure. He’s not directly responsible, but a lot has changed in the Ministry recently, according to my mum.â€
–What does You-Know-Who actually want?â€
–He wants to get rid of all the Muggles,†Hector said. –He thinks wizards are better than Muggles and shouldn’t have to live in secret anymore.â€
–But what have the Muggles ever done?†Adrian asked. He could understand wizards resenting Muggleborns but the Muggles who knew nothing about magic could hardly be blamed for anything.
–Nothing, but he thinks that wizards are superior because they can do magic. Lots of people think that, but not many of them actually want to do anything about it.â€
–So how come these new laws only target Muggleborns and not all Muggles? Imprisoning people for doing something against the law is a bit different to killing them as well.â€
–There’s nothing our Ministry can do to Muggles. They only have responsibility for the Muggleborns. And there’re all sorts of rumours about what is happening to the Muggleborns who are arrested.â€
Adrian didn’t ask any more questions. Everything was getting more and more confusing. Surely his parents wouldn’t support something that You-Know-Who was doing - they weren’t evil people after all. But they definitely agreed with the new laws, or his mother did at least. He was never quite sure about his father who had started to just stay quiet when the issue came up. But You-Know-Who was definitely back - he had read that. He definitely didn’t agree with getting rid of all Muggles, but that didn’t mean the Muggles who had done something wrong shouldn’t be punished.
Hector and Duncan didn’t push him to say anything more, but he could see they were curious about how he felt. He wasn’t quite ready to put it into words, however, so he said nothing.
The trip to Hogsmeade was uneventful. It was good to get out of the grounds and see something different to the familiar sights of the castle however. The three of them wasted a bit of money on things they didn’t really need and then headed back to the castle.
Once again over the next few weeks of term Adrian had to find a new routine to settle in to. Without Quidditch practice to distract him, everything seemed a lot more boring. Long evenings stretched ahead of him without much to do other than work or play the occasional game of Exploding Snap with Duncan and Hector. As they were both in their OWL year, they found they had a lot more homework than Adrian did and so he often found himself at a loose end while they were still in the library.
The three boys remained good friends but without the bond of Quidditch to hold on to, Adrian rarely spoke to the rest of the team. They were all older than him after all, and had other interests and problems to worry about. He would have felt like too much of an idiot to just approach Summerby or Cadwallader for a casual chat. Bethany would still smile at him when they passed each other in the corridor and every now and then she would sit near them at meal times, but it was nothing like it had been when they were all on a team together.
For the first time, Adrian found himself counting down the days until he could leave Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays. When the Saturday morning finally arrived, he was one of the first Hufflepuffs to be packed and ready to go.
During the train ride, the three boys exchanged stories of their families’ Christmas traditions. Just as Duncan was entertaining them with a story of an exploding Christmas pudding, the train ground to a halt.
–We can’t be there already?†Hector said, looking out the window into the darkness that had fallen during the course of the journey.
Before any of them could do anything, the door to their compartment opened and one of the black-robed guards Adrian remembered from the first of September entered.
–Names?†he barked at the three of them, and they quickly supplied their names. The man checked them off a list and left the carriage again. After a few minutes train rumbled into life again.
–What was all that about?†asked Duncan.
–Maybe someone’s missing?†Dorian suggested, but he couldn’t help but feel that the presence of those men on the train meant nothing good.
The journey continued and by the time they arrived in London, the random stop had been almost forgotten. It was only when they got off and Adrian overheard Ginny Weasley and another boy talking to an older man that he thought about it again.
–They just took her,†Ginny said. –Stormed into the carriage, asked for our names and then ordered her off.â€
–There was nothing we could do,†the boy added.
Before Adrian could hear anything else, he heard his name being called and turned to see his mother smiling at him.
–Mum!†he called, running over to him. She pulled him in to a hug.
–Hello, darling. It’s lovely to see you at last.â€
Before they left the station, Adrian turned back to see if the trio was still there, but they had vanished. He found himself wondering however, exactly what had happened on the train when it stopped, and who could be missing. There was no point in speaking to his mother about it however, so he simply took the hand she was offering and in an instant she had turned on the spot and Apparated them home.