Disclaimer: Rowling, not me.
A/N: I debated over whether I should write this as a HBP canon story or AU. In the end I decided to keep this in the same universe as my other challenge fics, but I did make one brief reference to HBP canon. Because it is only October, Dean and Ginny are still together. Sorry, no beta -- my computer had trouble and I was just barely able to post before the deadline.
It was October, approaching Halloween. The Hogwarts students had spent much of October building a huge maze on the Quidditch pitch, but by now most of them had finished. Now it was Hogsmeade weekend, and a time for the students to relax.
For Harry, October had been a particular tough month. In Transfiguration, there was a three-foot long essay due the previous Friday, and since he had put it off until the last minute, he was up half the night as he struggled to finish it. But the main reason his month was unpleasant was that Ron and Hermione were not speaking to each other. Their row had lasted nearly the entire month, and Harry couldn’t even remember why it all began. So he was happy when it was Hogsmeade weekend and he could escape reality, even for one day.
Harry didn’t want to choose sides and sit with Ron or Hermione. He was resigned to go to Hogsmeade alone when he saw Ginny, passing through the Entrance Hall as Filch checked to make sure that no first or second years were leaving the castle.
“Hey, Ginny,” Harry smiled, “why don’t we go to Hogsmeade together?”
“Because she’s with me, that’s why,” his roommate Dean Thomas replied, and Harry suddenly remembered that Dean and Ginny were dating.
“I can speak for myself, thanks,” said Ginny. “I’m sorry, Harry, but --”
“But I don’t want you talking to other blokes,” Dean spoke in a irritated tone, “especially him. Now let’s hurry up before Madam Puddifoot’s shop is too crowded.” Ginny rolled her eyes as Dean pulled her out of the castle, causing her to trip on the threshold of the oaken front doors.
“Ouch,” Ginny muttered, “I scraped my elbow.”
“Do you want me to kiss it and make it feel better?” asked Dean hopefully as he extended his hand.
“No thanks!” said Ginny as she stood up unaided.
Harry stepped outside into the cold and bitter autumn day and continued on the path towards Hogsmeade, hoping to run into someone else he could hang out with in the village. Finally he was able to catch up to Neville Longbottom.
“Hi, Neville,” Harry greeted his other roommate. “You going to Hogsmeade alone?”
“I always go there alone,” Neville explained. “Well, except for that time last October when we all met in the Hog’s Head for the first D.A. meeting. That was fun, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Harry agreed.
“I wish we could still have the D.A. meetings,” said Neville. “I learned a lot of neat spells then. Why don’t we have them anymore, anyway?”
“Because Umbridge is gone, remember?”
“I know, but You-Know-Who isn’t gone, is he?” Neville pointed out.
“And anyway, as you just said, you learned a lot already,” Harry reminded him. “I have full confidence in you that you’ll be able to defend yourself when the time comes. I’m sure of it.”
“Thanks, Harry.”
“So where should we go?” asked Harry.
“I haven’t been to Honeyduke’s in a while,” Neville informed them.
“Let’s go then.”
But when they were just outside the sweet shop, Harry looked through the window and saw Ron standing in the middle of a long queue. He waved at Ron briefly, but then left before Ron could say anything to him. He was not in the mood to hear Ron complain about Hermione again.
“Good idea,” Neville agreed, “the queue was much too long. Why don’t we go to Scrivenshaft’s instead? I don’t think it’ll be crowded there.”
Neville turned out to be right, for when they arrived at the quill shop, there was only one student there. To Harry’s dismay, that one student was Hermione.
“Ahhh, I sure am thirsty,” said Harry suddenly. “Let’s go to the Three Broomsticks.”
When Harry and Neville arrived at their favorite watering hole, they saw that, as usual during Hogsmeade weekends, the place was packed. The only two available seats that were somewhat adjacent was at the table where Luna Lovegood was sitting.
“Hello, Harry and Neville,” she called out to her friends.
“Hi, Luna,” Harry greeted her.
“What’s that you’re drinking?” Neville asked. “That sure doesn’t look like a butterbeer.”
“No, it isn’t butterbeer,” said Luna. “It’s gillywater. I don’t like butterbeer.” Her finger played around with the onion floating in her glass.
“Why not?” Harry asked.
“Don’t you know what’s in butterbeer?” Luna countered. “And besides, the other Ravenclaws had too much butterbeer to drink at Professor Flitwick’s party three nights ago.” Harry figured that, since Professor McGonagall had held a huge party for the Gryffindors a fortnight earlier, the Head of Ravenclaw would do the same for his house.
“No, I don’t know what’s in butterbeer,” Neville replied.
“And maybe I don’t want to know,” remarked Harry, who expected that he might not pick up another butterbeer if he heard Luna’s version of what its ingredients were.
Luna changed the subject. “Harry, I have some great ideas for the D.A. to tell you.”
“Not you too! As I told Neville earlier, there’s no need for the D.A. to restart.”
“I think you should continue it,” Luna told him.
“That’s what I said to Harry,” Neville informed her. “We want the good guys to win the war.”
“And I thought we were the good guys,” Luna added.
“I know we are the good guys,” Harry agreed, “but as I said earlier, I think you are already --”
Suddenly, the students heard three loud cracking noises right outside the bar, followed by the sounds of footsteps hurrying away.
“That’s odd,” said Luna. “Why would someone Apparate then run away?”
“I think it may be Death Eaters,” Harry voiced his fears. Then he turned to Neville. “It’s time to put what you learned in the D.A. to the test. If I’m not back in five minutes, it means they have caught me, and it’ll be up to you to stop them.” Then he ran towards the door and stepped outside, his wand poised, ready to fight.
“Stupefy!” Harry fell to the cold, hard ground.
“If it isn’t Potty-Wotty,” a female voice spoke in a mocking tone, and Harry knew that it was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange.
Harry stood up and drew his wand. “So,” he spoke coldly, “we meet again.”
“I guess you didn’t have enough fun at the Ministry last summer,” the Death Eater replied. Then she raised her wand again and uttered, “Crucio!”
“Protego!” Harry called out simultaneously, but unfortunately, the Shield Charm was powerless against the Unforgivable Curse. Once again, Harry doubled over, the pain in his entire body too much to bear. He started to cry out.
“Silencio!” said Bellatrix Lestrange. “I can’t have the entire village hearing you. Now to go inform my master that I have captured you.”
“Expelliarmus!” Neville appeared on the scene, backed up several former D.A. members, including Luna, Seamus Finnegan, Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil. The Death Eater’s wand flew out of her hand.
“Give me my wand back, Longbottom!” she demanded. “Give me my wand, and I swear I won’t hurt you!”
“Stupefy!” Neville called out, and Bellatrix fell to the ground right next to Harry. He kept his wand pointed at her heart.
“Please,” she begged for mercy, “please don’t kill me!”
“I don’t kill for pleasure -- I’m not a Death Eater like you. But I will torture you all the same, just as you tortured my parents. Diffindo!” Neville called out his favorite spell from Herbology, a spell which normally cut into plants. But this time it caused the Death Eater’s cotton cloak to rip, causing her to freeze as she remained immobile on the ground.
“Here,” said Luna, and she force-fed Bellatrix a dozen butterbeers. “They say these make you crazy.”
Neville then saw Harry lying on the ground. He extended his hand and helped Harry return to his feet.
“Harry,” Neville asked, “whose blood are you wearing all over you?”
Harry wasn’t sure either. It was most likely his own from a wound somewhere around his torso when he fell to the ground the first time, although it could have been Bellatrix’s. He started to respond to Neville, only to realize that, although the Cruciatus Curse has worn off, the Silencing charm had not.
“Harry, what’s wrong?” Neville repeated. But Harry ignored him as he suddenly remembered that there had been three cracking sounds, meaning three Death Eaters were in Hogsmeade. He had to warn all the students in the village that there were two more Death Eaters wandering somewhere about.
Harry raced over towards the next shop, which happened to be Zonko’s Joke Shop. When he entered, he tried to tell a group of Ravenclaws there that there were Death Eaters in Hogsmeade, but the Silencing Charm was still in effect.
“Look at Harry Potter, wearing his Gryffindor red robes,” Michael Corner called out. “And it looks like he wants to play a game of Charades with us. Let’s see, two words, first word, sounds like red” -- Harry was pointing at his body, then at his scar -- “bed, fed, no, head, is it head?”
Harry shook his head, but Michael continued to call out, “Head, yes, it’s head. What, you want us to put something on your head?”
Harry continued to shake his head violently and wave his arms. The Ravenclaws all began to laugh, and he saw that among the crowd was his ex-girlfriend, Cho Chang.
“You want us to put some red Filibuster’s Fireworks on your head?” asked Michael gleefully. “Whatever you say, Harry!”
And so Michael lit the party decorations, which, although the magical fireworks did not burn Harry’s hair, they did sting a little. Harry, now indignant, ran outside of the joke shop, the Ravenclaws continuing to laugh at him.
For members of the reputedly smartest house, Harry thought to himself, they sure acted stupid. He needed to find someone who would actually understand what he was trying to say. And then he suddenly realized where he needed to go. He headed for Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop.
“Hello, Harry!” she said, but then her expression changed after she took one look at him. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it? What happened?”
Harry pointed to his scar. “Voldemort,” Hermione began, “you don’t mean that there are Death Eaters here in Hogsmeade?”
He nodded, then pointed to his robes. “But Harry, your robes weren’t red when you arrived here. Or is it blood -- have you been attacked?”
Harry nodded once again. “So that’s why you can’t speak -- someone must have put some sort of spell on you to stop you from talking. Harry, do you know where Ron is?”
He motioned for her to follow. Hermione dropped the quills she was about to purchase, then followed Harry across the village towards Hogsmeade.
Hermione gasped. “We’re too late.”
A Death Eater, whom Harry failed to identify, was inside Honeyduke’s sweet shop. He’d already stunned a queue of Hufflepuffs, including Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, and Susan Bones, and now he was in a one-on-one duel with Ron.
“Petrificus Totalus!” Ron called out, and his opponent fell down as immobile as a statue.
A pair of Slytherins, namely Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, entered the shop, but Ron was unable to see either one of them since his back was to the door.
“Ron,” Hermione called out, “quick, get behind the counter!” But she didn’t call out in time to prevent what would happen next. Right then, Crabbe invoked a stunning spell. Ron’s head crashed into the counter, and he was knocked cold.
Goyle raced towards the prone Death Eater. “Father, what did that weasel do to you?” he asked. Harry was surprised for two reasons. The first was that Goyle rarely spoke -- in fact, the last time he’d heard Goyle’s voice was when he had used the Polyjuice Potion to transform into the Slytherin. The second reason was that the Death Eater was Goyle’s father, but he should have remembered Mr. Goyle was a Death Eater.
Gregory Goyle now faced the unconscious Ron, his wand pointed directly at Ron’s heart. “For what you’ve done to my dad, you deserve the worst curse that I know how to perform. And I learned this one from my dad, of course. Electrificus magnus!”
Harry’s mouth gaped open. That spell would cause a major shock through Ron’s body, and if Goyle’s wand was aimed where Harry thought it was aimed, it could even cause Ron’s heart to stop beating for a few moments or so. Only an evil wizard would use this curse when his opponent was already knocked out.
“Noooo!” Hermione screamed. Harry, unfortunately, was too far away from Ron to deflect the curse. As a yellow beam shot out from Goyle’s wand, Harry saw that Hermione was closer to Ron. And she was able to leap in front of Ron before the curse hit him. The beam deflected off of Hermione’s hair, and as a result, her usually bushy hair rose and stood up on her head as a result of the shock.
Ron finally regained consciousness. “Hermione, what are you doing he -- what happened to your hair?”
“Oh, nothing,” Hermione laughed as she embraced Ron. Harry was glad that his two best friends were finally speaking to each other again.
“What the -- how can both of you still be walking and talking?” asked Goyle, who was now walking towards Ron and Hermione.
“Watch out, Hermione!” Ron called out, but he was too late.
“Expelliarmus!” Goyle caused Hermione’s wand to fly out of her hand.
“Stupefy!” Ron’s curse missed Goyle, but soon the two young wizards were engaged in a one-on-one duel.
Harry stood watching, helpless. Since the Silencing Charm still had not worn off, he was still unable to utter any spells to help Ron out, while Hermione still had no wand. He considered handing Hermione his own wand, but realized that wands seldom worked except for their original owners.
Then Ron suddenly had an idea. “Hermione, when I give the signal, you slap Goyle!”
The two young wizards continued to duel each other, with Ron and Goyle deflecting the other’s curses. A few minutes later, Ron finally said, “Now!”
Hermione obliged. “Ahhhh,” Goyle called out. “A Mudblood touched me! I need a shower!” Then the Slytherin dropped both his and Hermione’s wands and stormed off towards the castle.
Ron and Hermione laughed. Harry thought to himself, Goyle may have learned many curses from his father, but in the end he was the same old stupid Goyle.
“Well,” Ron smiled, “he won’t be attacking anyone else today.”
“And at least all the Death Eaters have been stopped,” Hermione agreed.
But was that really all of the Death Eaters, Harry asked himself. He thought back furiously to when he was still at the Three Broomsticks. He had heard three Apparition cracks but seen only two Death Eaters. That meant that there was still another Death Eater out there. He immediately ran outside to find the villain.
“Harry,” asked Hermione, “where are you --”
But Harry had no time to explain, especially since he still couldn’t speak. He raced along the streets of Hogsmeade and into each shop, trying desperately to see the last Death Eater, but to no avail.
Finally, Harry arrived at the last shop, which happened to be Madam Puddifoot’s teashop. Harry knew that there were several Hogwarts students inside, including Dean and -- Ginny. Harry’s heart leapt as he opened the door to the teashop.
Draco Malfoy was standing a few feet from Dean and Ginny, but none of the students noticed the junior Death Eater save Harry because most of them were too busy snogging.
“Come on,” Dean begged his date as he continued his futile attempt to kiss her.
Now Draco was only inches from the couple. Harry realized that he was trying to attack them somehow without betraying his presence. If only he could perform a curse without speaking, Harry thought to himself.
Then he suddenly remembered that there were nonverbal spells as well as verbal ones. But he had never been able to perform one successfully. He thought back to a spell he had found written in a book somewhere and said over and over in his mind the word “Levicorpus.” It worked to perfection.
By this time every couple had stopped snogging and started watching the scene. Harry opened the door, and as a burst of cold wind blew past, the junior Death Eater suddenly floated high in the sky, much higher than Harry had ever flown on a broom. At that moment Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and several other former D.A. members entered the tea shop.
“Wow!” Hermione commented as he saw the junior Death Eater continue to soar ever higher. “What happened?”
Harry scarcely heard Ginny say, “Good job, Harry.”
“Thanks, Ginny,” Harry replied, the silencing charm apparently out of effect.
“That was brilliant,” Neville congratulated Harry. “You’ll have to teach us that if the D.A. meets again.”
“What spell was that anyway?” asked Ron. “Was it Levicorpus?”
“Yes,” Harry replied.
“Good job,” came the voice of Nymphadora Tonks, and Harry was glad when he saw her with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. “We’ll be able to put Mr. Gary Goyle in Azkaban. That is good, of course.”
“As for Bellatrix Lestrange,” explained Professor McGonagall, “she’ll have to be sent to St. Mungo’s due to the brain damage. I think there’s a bed available right next to Frank and Alice Longbotttom.”
“Poetic justice,” Neville said, and the students all laughed. As the students all returned to the castle, Harry noted that he would always remember that dark autumn evening and the D.A.’s first victory.
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