|
Legwork | ||||||
|
Category: Ginny's Accomplishment Challenge (2012-2), Ginny's Accomplishment Challenge (2012-2) Characters:Harry/Ginny, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Other Genres: Action/Adventure Warnings: Mild Language, Violence Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 43 Summary: *** Winner of Best Overall & Most Adventurous in the Ginny’s Accomplishment Challenge *** *** Winner of The People’s Choice Award, a tie, in the Ginny’s Accomplishment Challenge *** legwork n. \ˈleg-ˌwərk\ The work done in preparation or to create the basis for the stated task. ex. research done in order to write an essay Submitted for Ginny's Accomplishment Challenge. Hitcount: Story Total: 25267; Chapter Total: 3776 |
Previous Next |
|
||||
|
Ginny stood at the front of the DA Room, tapping her wand against her thigh. They’d been meeting nearly every other day for two weeks now, but nothing much had come of it. At least today they were finally introducing the new recruits for the DA. “Alright,” said Neville, getting everyone’s attention. “We’ve got a couple new kids here. Hannah, Ginny, Luna, care to do the introductions for your houses?” Luna stepped to one side of the group. “This is Justin Goldstein, fifth year and Anthony’s younger brother, and Esme Vance, third year.” “Third year, that’s too young!” “Vance, did she say? As in Emmeline Vance? She’s the one who was killed last year, rather nastily too.” Ginny eyed the girl standing beside Luna. She was rather small, with a pale face under wavy dark gold hair. She didn’t really look like she could hurt anyone. Hannah stepped forward hurriedly. “This is Maisie Boot and Duncan Macmillan, fifth years,” she said. Duncan was a miniature Ernie, but Maisie was as petite as Terry was solid. Ginny was surprised that Terry had let her join. “Demelza Robins, Richie Cootes, sixth years,” she said bluntly, pointing. “Vicky Frobisher, fifth year. Jimmy Peakes, fourth year.” She had been hoping for a lot more than four, but she’d only been able to convince the remnants of Harry’s old quidditch team and her friend Vicky to join. “Right, kids, time to get started,” she barked, shaking herself out of her thoughts. “Find a partner and line up. New babies, pair with each other for now, and we’ll mix you in next time. We’re dueling until someone wins. You’ve lost if you lose your wand or can’t fire a spell for more than five seconds.” “Five?” shouted Ernie. “Justin used to say Muggle boxers got ten!” “It should be two,” Neville countered. “Ginny’s going easy on you. You think a Death Eater is going to give you five seconds to pull it together? They’re going to finish you as fast as they can.” An uneasy silence followed his words, but the pairs started forming lines. “And kids?” Ginny called out. “As much as I want this to be realistic, try not to damage each other too badly. We don’t really want to go running to Madame Pomfrey if something happens here. She knows when we’re telling stories.” “Yes, Mummy Gin,” the students chorused. Ginny rolled her eyes. When Seamus had accidently sliced Lavender’s forehead open during the second meeting, Ginny’s raging lecture had been unanimously ranked better than her mum’s Howler to Ron. Lavender had been fine, but Ginny’d been stuck with that stupid nickname ever since. “Alright guys, begin on the bell,” Neville said, and flicked his wand at the bronze bell hanging from the ceiling. It tolled a clear note and the room was filled with shouts and flashes of spell fire. After nearly two hours of trading shots, Ginny rubbed her face tiredly and shooed students out of the Room. They’d learned quickly to ask for brick walls instead of mirrors so that the jinxes couldn’t be reflected back at anyone. She wondered idly why hexes and curses didn’t get reflected as she walked over to Neville, Seamus, and Luna. Hermione probably could have told her. Seamus looked nervously at her as she approached, and Ginny groaned to herself. “What, Seamus?” she asked flatly. “I was telling Neville we need to learn something new. I mean, practicing dueling is great, but Neville made a point about Death Eaters today. They’re going to be trying to kill us, and we’re still using stupefy and expelliarmus,” he said. “Stupefy and expelliarmus work just fine for Harry,” she said hotly. “We’re not all Harry bloody Potter though, are we,” Seamus shot back. He held up his hands to ward of Ginny’s explosion. “Look, Ginny, I’m just trying to help.” Ginny eyed him, her temper simmering. “He’s right, Ginny,” Neville said quietly. Ginny turned to him, diverted. “But we have to do something,” Ginny said desperately. “We can’t just stop!” Neville sighed. “Do what, Ginny? We’re running out of ideas, and there are so few of us.” “You’ve skipped your legwork,” said Luna knowingly. “Legwork?” Seamus looked skeptically at Luna. She nodded. “Oh yes, it’s very important. Terry taught me the name for it.” Terry looked around, hearing his name, and Ginny waved him over. “Well, if it came from Terry,” Seamus muttered. Ginny fixed him with an evil eye. “If what came from Terry?” asked Padma, who had followed him. “Something called legwork,” Ginny replied. “Luna mentioned it, and we’re not familiar with it.” “Not unusual,” Seamus said under his breath. Ginny reached out and smacked the back of his head. “Oi!” he said, making Neville laugh. “Shut it,” said Ginny. “Legwork,” said Terry, amused, “is the work you do to get ready for the actual work.” “That sounds…tedious,” said Seamus dubiously. “And very Ravenclaw.” Padma smirked. “It’s actually not all that uncommon; even Gryffindors manage it sometimes,” she said, teasing. “Take Quidditch. The actual task is to win a match, right? But you don’t just play scrimmages to practice. You practice throwing and catching the Quaffle, aiming the Bludgers, and other smaller skills that add up to make a strong team. That’s the legwork.” “Thank you, Professor Patil, for that illustrious example,” Ginny said dryly. “But I still don’t understand how it will help us.” “We don’t have anything new to do with the DA,” Neville said quietly. Terry and Padma nodded, unsurprised. “We noticed,” Terry said, “but we didn’t want to say anything. Just doing this is something.” He thought for a moment. “So you need new ideas,” he said. “Or more people,” said Seamus. Terry gave Seamus a long look. “The kids who joined today were already targets,” he said quietly. “They’re our younger siblings and close friends, or relatives of victims, or knew Harry. Everyone else is scared. They don’t want to be noticed.” No one spoke for a moment, until Padma cleared her throat. “New spells could help though,” she said awkwardly. Neville nodded. “Harry always seemed to have something new for us to learn, but we just don’t have as many ideas,” he said. “That’s because Harry did his legwork,” Luna said idly. Seamus chortled. “I lived with the bloke, Luna. He didn’t do any planning for the DA.” “Maybe not,” she said, “but he did lots of experiential research.” Ginny looked at her blankly. “I think the Muggle phrase is to have seen the kraken, though I don’t know how they would know about the kraken.” Even Terry and Padma looked puzzled. “I think she’s trying to say he’s actually been in real situations,” Neville said, trying not to laugh, “and practiced defending himself from real Death Eaters.” “Or he had Hermione plan for him,” Seamus said. “Well, we don’t have Hermione, and I don’t think we really want to invite the Death Eaters to the meetings,” Ginny said, glaring at Seamus again, “so what should we be doing?” “Theoretical research,” Padma said promptly. “The Room has bookcases sometimes; you can look through these books to find useful jinxes and hexes to learn.” “There are books in the library too,” Luna added. “Alright!” Ginny said. “I can take a hint, you brains! We’ll do some research! Now get out of here before we get caught, would you?” The three Ravenclaws smiled and slipped out the door, leaving Ginny, Neville and Seamus standing in the Room. “Our turn, I suppose?” Seamus asked. He bowed gallantly to Ginny. “After you, my lady.” Ginny giggled as Neville offered her his arm. “What has gotten into you two?” she asked as they headed to the door. “It felt good to laugh,” Neville said quietly, looking down at her. “Oh Neville,” she whispered, as they stepped into the cold, empty hallway. She would do anything, including stints in the library, if it meant they could keep fighting. Ginny went through the motions of school automatically the next day, trying to find a solution to their problem. Snape had banned all of the defense books from the library, and you couldn’t take any book out unless you could prove you needed it for an assignment. How on earth had Harry managed to do this? Ginny felt like she was fumbling around in the dark, looking for a ribbon in a heap of snakes. Admittedly, she didn’t want to change the DA much either. It was Harry’s, and he should be the one leading it and changing it. Ginny firmly turned her mind to McGonagall’s lecture, blocking out any thought of the boy she loved. She did not have time for pining right now. She was no closer to a solution that evening. She’d spread her charms homework out over the table in front of her, but the parchment remained blank as Ginny stared out the window, toying with her opal. She couldn’t give up. There had to be something she could do, but her mind just kept drawing blanks. Ginny was so involved with her thoughts she didn’t notice the tiny first year come barreling through the portrait hole until the girl screamed. “Ginger!” she shrieked, running towards Ginny. Ginny whipped around, staring at the girl. Ginny knew she was definitively red-headed, yes, but that hardly seemed- “They’ve got Ginger!” the girl cried as she collided with Ginny’s legs. Her head of short dark curls barely came up to Ginny’s waist. She had to be the tiniest first-year Ginny’d ever seen, and she was sobbing wildly into Ginny’s robes. “Who’s got Ginger?” she asked as she peeled the girl off her and knelt down. “The Carrows!” she wailed, and Ginny froze. Many of the other students in the common room scattered at the name, scrambling for their dormitories. “They said she was laughing when the Avery boy couldn’t do the spell but it was Thad making faces and now they’re hurting her! She was screaming and it was awful and you have to save her!” “I- what?” Ginny couldn’t keep up with the girl’s rushed words. Avery must be the son of the Death Eater, but who was Thad? And how did the girl know- “You’re Ginny Weasley! I know you can save her, you and Neville, because you’re heroes,” the girl said. “Please! They’re hurting her!” The last bit came out somewhat garbled as the girl started sobbing again. Ginny’s temper blazed, and details weren’t important. Getting to Ginger was. “Where is she?” she asked intently. The first year gulped. “In the dungeons,” she said. “I can show you, I know where.” “Right,” said Ginny, “up you go.” She grabbed the girl by the waist and picked her up, sliding her around so she was clinging to Ginny’s back. Bill had done the same to her a million times when she was little. Ginny snatched up her wand and was climbing out the portrait hole when Neville skidded down the boys’ staircase. “Ginny Weasley!” he bellowed. “What do you think you’re doing? Seamus said something about the Carrows torturing someone with ginger-” “A girl named Ginger,” Ginny cut him off, “and me and-” she paused. “Wren!” the girl said fiercely from her back. “Wren,” Ginny continued, “are going to save her.” “You can’t, Ginny! They’ll get you instead-” “They’re hurting her, and it’s not her fault!” Wren shrieked. Ginny winced. Wren’s voice was painful at that proximity to her ear. Neville glared at her, and Ginny glared back, daring him to stop her. “Oh hell,” he snapped. “Let’s go.” Ginny turned and ran out of the portrait hole, sprinting down the staircases towards the dungeons. She could hear Neville panting behind her as she slipped a little on the stones going around a corner. The dungeons were too damned far away from Gryffindor Tower, Ginny thought as she clattered down another staircase. Wren’s arm materialized by her right eye, pointing the way through the dark corridors. Then Ginny heard a high-pitched scream, and her breath caught for a moment. Wren clutched her a little tighter as Ginny redoubled her speed, nearly slamming into a wall in her haste to get around another corner. “Here,” Wren choked, pointing out the door. Ginny stopped abruptly, causing Neville to stumble behind her. Ginny pulled Wren off of her and shoved her into Neville’s arms, pushing Neville out of the immediate line of sight of the door. “Thought you could get your little girlfriend off the hook, did you?” Amycus Carrow was taunting as Ginny whipped the door open. A blonde boy was writhing on the ground, screaming, and a girl with a mass of rusty curls was collapsed next to him. The door made a thump as it hit something behind her, and Carrow turned to see Ginny standing in the doorway pointing her wand at him. “You little bitch!” he spat, turning away from the boy on the floor. “Get Ginger and go!” Ginny shouted, keeping her wand trained on Carrow. The boy scrambled up and dragged his friend towards the door as Ginny and Carrow shouted. “Crucio!” “Stupefy!” T he jets of lights collided and ricocheted off each other. Carrow growled and pointed his wand to Ginny’s left, towards the door. “Protego!” she shouted. Just let them get to Neville, she thought desperately, and then he’d better get them far, far away- “Crucio!” She didn’t have time to recast the shield spell, and Carrow’s curse slammed into her. Harry had tried to describe the Cruciatus Curse to her one afternoon by the lake, but there were no words for this pain, for how it became the only thing in the world and there was nothing but pain- Ginny was staring at the ceiling, gasping. “You wanted to try it for yourself, did you, pretty?” Carrow sneered down at her. “Couldn’t let the first years have all the fun, could you.” Ginny tried to roll away, but Carrow stomped on her wrist, pinning it to the floor. Ginny heard something snap and felt the same fiery ache that had heralded her broken ankle in the Department of Mysteries. “I don’t think so, pretty. You deprived me of one toy, so I think it’s only fair you let me play with you, don’t you think?” There was something disturbing about Carrow’s tone, even with the obvious pleasure he took in her pain. He wound his hands through her loose hair. “So soft,” he murmured. Ginny hissed and tried to kick him. “Up,” he growled, yanking on her hair. Ginny scrambled to her feet, casting about for her wand. It was her left wrist he’d broken, so if she could just find it- Carrow shoved her against the wall. “You are a pretty one, aren’t you, and feisty too,” he said in a low voice. Ginny turned her face away from him, shuddering. “Crucio!” he yelled again, letting her fall back to the floor, and Ginny again felt the rest of the world cease to exist and there was nothing but the pain- Alecto Carrow slammed the door open, letting it clang into the suit of armor in the corridor, and her brother’s curse was broken. “Aren’t you finished yet? Snape wants to see us,” she whined. She didn’t even glance down at Ginny, still laying on the floor, before whirling around and clomping out the door. Amycus growled grabbed Ginny by the upper arm. “You can come, and you can tell Snape all about your little adventure,” he said, dragging her out of the room. Ginny tried to jerk away, but his grip was too strong and Ginny too dazed. Finally he shoved her into a chair and muttered “Incarcerous!” at her. Ginny realized they were in the office behind the potions classroom, not the headmaster’s office. She grimaced as the ropes pushed on her broken wrist, but she didn’t make a sound. “And what do we have here?” Snape drawled. “She interrupted a detention I was giving,” Amycus said. “I wasn’t done with her, but Alecto said you wanted us.” Snape’s black eyes were expressionless as he considered her, and Ginny glared back as fiercely as she could. “She looks…sufficiently…punished,” Snape said finally. He studied her a moment longer. “You are, without a doubt, a Weasley,” he murmured. He flicked his wand, and the ropes binding her to the chair vanished. “Get back to your common room,” he said. “And consider this a warning, Miss Weasley.” Ginny pushed herself out of the chair with her right hand, forcing her shaky legs to walk out of the office. She needed her wand. Wand, common room, she told herself, and gritted her teeth. Ginny pushed the door open and surveyed the empty room. She didn’t see it. She leaned against the doorframe, hearing the little boy’s screams and feeling the remnants of the Cruciatus burn through her. She clutched her opal tightly, its points digging into her hand. Wand, common room, she repeated. She surveyed the room again and finally spotted her wand lying against the wall in the far corner. She felt much better once she had it firmly in her hand, and headed to Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady squeaked when she saw Ginny, and ran off as soon as she’d opened the portrait. Ginny ignored her and stumbled through the portrait hole, straight into Seamus. “Ginny!” he said as he caught her. “You’re back! Where are Neville and the bitty lass? Did you find the other one?” Ginny stared at him. “Neville’s not here?” She’d hoped he’d be back by now. “Not yet,” Seamus asked. “Are you alright? You look like you got smashed.” He reached down and grabbed her left hand, pulling her towards the couch. Ginny muffled a scream as he put pressure on her broken wrist. “Seamus!” Lavender scolded, and Seamus dropped her hand. “Sorry Ginny, I wasn’t thinking. What’d you hurt?” “This is broken,” Parvati said, holding Ginny’s arm gingerly. “Why didn’t you go to Madame Pomfrey?” “Because she’s a Weasley, and they’re all stubborn as mules,” Madame Pomfrey said briskly. Everyone in the common room whirled around as Neville and Wren followed the matron through the portrait hole. “Neville!” Ginny cried. He was carrying the blonde boy, and Madame Pomfrey was cradling Ginger. Ginny made to move towards Neville, but Madame Pomfrey stopped her. “Sit, Miss Weasley, and do not move while I put these girls to bed.” She swept up the girls’ staircase, Wren straggling behind her, and Neville smiled wearily at Ginny as he handed Seamus the blonde boy. “Bed for this one, too,” he said. Lavender followed Seamus up the stairs and Neville came over to Ginny. Parvati was trying to get her to sit, but Ginny ignored her. “Neville,” Ginny said again. “You got the first years away? You weren’t hurt? You- why is your jumper covered in blood?” Neville had dropped his bloody jumper on the back of the couch. “Because you broke my nose,” Neville said. Ginny stared blankly at him. “I what?” “Broke my nose,” Neville repeated. He flopped down on the couch. “Someday I want a better battle injury, one that lets me speak properly so I can shout war cries and all that,” he said to no one in particular. Parvati snorted. “I broke your nose?” Ginny asked again. “Yes, Miss Weasley, you did. I’ve already healed it. Now sit before you pass out at my feet!” Madame Pomfrey ordered. Ginny sat. “Stay still while I mend your wrist,” Madame Pomfrey said firmly. “There are too many little bones in there to start with, and you managed to crush a great number of them.” Ginny nodded, trying to get her brain to catch up. “What the bloody hell happened?” she said finally. “Language, Miss Weasley!” Madame Pomfrey scolded, while everyone else laughed. “That’s what we’d like to know too, actually,” Lavender said, returning with Seamus. “The first year Gryffindors and Slytherins had Defense today with Carrow.” Neville spat the name, “and Thad, the little blonde, was trying to cheer Ginger and Wren up. Ginger giggled just as Magnus Avery said he couldn’t do whatever spell it was, and Carrow gave her detention for ‘mocking the best student in the class.’ Thad and Wren followed Ginger to her detention after dinner tonight, and it’s a good thing they did. Carrow was using Cruciatus.” Lavender gasped. “Not on that little girl?” she asked. Neville nodded. “So Wren came tearing up here,” Ginny said. “Looking for her heroes, Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom, who ran off to save the day” Seamus snickered. Neville ignored him. “When we got there Ginny shoved Wren at me and whipped the door open- straight into my face,” Neville said dryly. Ginny gaped at him. “So that’s why it didn’t hit the suit of armor!” she said “I thought it made a funny noise.” Seamus roared with laughter, and even Madame Pomfrey’s mouth twitched. “Quite,” said Neville dryly. Ginny blushed. “So my nose was broken and bleeding everywhere, again, when Thad dragged Ginger out of the room. Ginger didn’t look so good, so I picked her up and we started towards the hospital wing.” Neville looked at Ginny. “Then he hit Ginny with the Cruciatus.” “You’ve had it as well?” Madame Pomfrey asked sharply. Ginny nodded. “Oh, you should have said!” She picked Ginny’s hand up and moved it through the range of motion. “Does anything hurt?” she asked. “It clicks a little,” Ginny answered, “just…there.” Madame Pomfrey put it back in her lap and pointed her wand at it again. “So then what, Ginny?” Lavender asked. “Carrow was a beast,” she said bluntly, “and then Alecto interrupted him. Said Snape needed them both. I got dragged along, Snape told me I was undoubtedly a Weasley,” there was some chuckling at this, “and then he said I’d been punished enough. I went back to get my wand and I dragged myself up here.” Madame Pomfrey humphed. “You’re lucky the Fat Lady told me you’d need attention before I brought the others back,” she said. “Rotate it now.” Ginny did. “It still clicks,” Ginny said. “I’m afraid that’s the best I can do,” she said. “It probably always will.” Ginny rotated it a few more times, and shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt. And it was mangled. Carrow stomped on it,” she said. Madame Pomfrey shook her head. “Here,” she said, handing Ginny a pale green potion. “That should help with the Cruciatus, but only if you sleep!” she told Ginny sternly. “And I should tell you all that I am no longer allowed to keep students overnight unless they are contagious, and I’ve been warned I’ll soon be even more limited if I’m not careful. So please do try to take care of yourselves,” she implored them. The other students glanced at each other. This was bad news. “We’ll spread the word around, and we’ll do our best,” Neville said. “Good,” Madame Pomfrey said. “Then I’ll be getting back.” “Thank you, Madame Pomfrey,” Ginny said. The matron nodded once before leaving. “No more Madame Pomfrey,” Parvati said. “She can be fussy sometimes, but she always fixes you up.” They all stared at the fire morosely. “At least we got all the munchkins back,” Seamus said eventually. “Don’t call them munchkins, Seamus,” Lavender said automatically. Parvati snorted. “You two act like a married couple,” she said, standing. Lavender and Seamus both gaped at her. “Do not,” muttered Seamus. Lavender looked askance at him, then stood also. “Good night,” she said haughtily, following Parvati up the stairs. Seamus shook his head. “Women,” he sighed. “You coming up, Neville?” “In a minute,” Neville said quietly. Seamus shrugged and headed up the stairs. Ginny and Neville watched the fire crackle in the quiet common room. “You ok, Ginny?” Neville asked after a moment. Ginny studied the fire. Her wrist didn’t hurt anymore, the chair was cushy, and the fire was warm, but she felt cold or numb or something. The memory of the Cruciatus Curse was still singing in her veins. “It shouldn’t have happened to them,” she finally said. “They’re so young, and to have something so awful happen…” Ginny shuddered. Neville wrapped his arms around her. “I was so scared when you started screaming, Ginny,” he whispered. “I knew what he was doing, and I know what it feels like, and I left you there.” Ginny shook her head. “You did the right thing, Neville. You got the first years out. I can handle it.” Her voice cracked on the last word, betraying her dispassionate front. “No one can handle the Cruciatus, Ginny,” Neville said bluntly. “But better you than them. It’s a twisted logic, isn’t it?” Ginny rested her head on his shoulder. “This is why I get so frustrated when I can’t do anything,” Ginny said quietly. “We have to protect them. We have to fight, Neville.” Neville smiled sadly. “You are a Weasley, through and through,” he said. “It’s a Prewett thing too,” she muttered. Neville rubbed her shoulder. “You’d better drink your potion and go to bed,” he said gently. Ginny yanked the cork out with her teeth, spat it into the fireplace, tipped the phial back and downed the potion. “That actually tasted…decent,” Ginny said, surprised. “Don’t get used to it,” he said. “I’d rather you didn’t need that one again.” Ginny rolled her eyes and levered herself off the couch. “Thank you for coming with me, Neville,” she said. She looked up at him. “I’m sorry I broke your nose,” she added sheepishly. Neville chuckled. “You didn’t mean to,” he said. He ruffled her hair. “Let’s go for breaking the other team’s bones next time though, yeah?” Ginny swatted his hand away. “Good night, Nev.” “Night, Ginny.” Gin climbed the steps to her dormitory. Despite how exhausted she was, her mind just kept whirling. The DA just couldn’t do enough to protect the other students from the Carrows and Snape. They didn’t have the knowledge or the people, though they certainly had the nerve. She flopped onto her bed and pressed her face against her pillow. Again she felt the relentless urge to do something, anything, to protect the other students. But what was she supposed to do? Rolling over, Ginny tried to go to sleep. You can’t do anything tonight, she told herself, but random images kept floating across her mind. She saw Luna telling her she needed to do her legwork, and Wren’s face when she said she knew Ginny could save her friend. Terry was explaining to Seamus that no one wanted to be a target. Madame Pomfrey was saying she was a stubborn Weasley. Funny, she actually agreed with Snape about something. Without a doubt, a Weasley. And Neville too, he’d said she was a Weasley through and through. It’s a Prewett thing too, she’d told him. It’s the Weasley in you and your brothers that has to make a stand at all costs, though your father laughs at me when I tell him that, Mum had said on the platform. She could see Charlie when Mum told him he was in no way shape or form allowed to move to Romania to work with dragons, Fred and George leaving Hogwarts and opening Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. And Ron had stood with Harry for the last six years. Oh yes, she and her brothers were definitely Weasleys. Luna drifted by again, saying something about the kraken and experience, and then Ginny’s half-conscious mind presented her with a very old memory. She had been sitting on the ground of her dad’s shed, surrounded by various sharp implements and cradling Charlie’s broom in her lap when her dad opened the door. “Ginny?” her dad called softly. “What’s all of this?” “I wanted to help Charlie’s broom,” she sniffed, “so he can be the best seeker in the world! I know it’s supposed to look like that,” pointing to a picture of the new Cleansweep 5,” but I can’t trim the twigs right.” Dad took in the various knives, scissors, and clippers scattered on the floor. “I think I see the problem,” he said. He reached up to the very top shelf and pulled down an old broom-care kit. “You just need the right tool for the job, sweetie.” He handed her a pair of twig trimmers, and helped her with Charlie’s broom. The right tool for the job. Dad’s voice echoed through her head. Remember when and why to fight, her mum said. And then the pieces fell into place. Ginny sat straight up in bed. It was so simple. The DA wasn’t working because it was trying to do the wrong thing. It wasn’t meant for taking care of others, it was for fighting and undermining authority. It was pure Weasley; nerve and courage and a fine sense of mischief. But the school needed more than Weasley-style action, and it needed more than the DA. It needed people who could- “Fight to protect those we love and those who can’t fight for themselves, but recognize when we can’t do anything and we keep ourselves safe to fight again tomorrow,” she said out loud, echoing her mum’s words from the platform. We need a new group, she thought, scrambling out of bed for a piece of parchment and a quill. A group that the teachers don’t know about, that they can’t catch. She ran lightly down the steps to the common room, where there was still some light. We’ll let the DA do all the risky jobs, she thought as she wrote, and we’ll have the others ask the teachers questions about spells and look things up in the library and help cheer up the younger ones. Maybe someone would even know some healing spells, since they couldn’t go to Madame Pomfrey as often. There were seven years of Ravenclaws in this bloody school, after all. Surely one of them would have an idea they could use for her new group. Ginny paused, her quill hovering over the parchment. She should probably name it. Ginny thought for a moment, chewing on the side of her thumb. It needed something they could call it so no one would suspect anything if they heard it. Ginny grinned to herself, and wrote LEGWORK in blocky letters at the top. It wasn’t Hermione’s elegant script, but it would do. Ginny looked over the ideas she’d scrawled over the parchment and nodded to herself. Yes, it would do. Well, Ginny's finally figured out how she's going to help with the war effort. Never doubt the power of a Prewett woman! Next chapter we'll see everyone else's reaction to Legwork and the beginning of the group in action. (That first bit was actually supposed to be in this chapter, but it took Ginny longer to figure it out than I anticipated. She is a stubborn Weasley too.) That one should be up much faster than this one, depending on how many tangents Luna goes off on. |
| Reviews 43 |
Previous Next
|
