1Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Season Eight
Round : Round Two—Celestial Wonders
Team : Puddlemere United
Position : Captain
Task : The Sun—Write about a character heavily relied upon by someone/others. Ginny and Neville are heavily relied upon by the students of Hogwarts during the Carrow twins' reign to save them and give them hope.
Word Count : 1413
A/N: Set during Deathly Hallows, how they try to steal the sword.
Endeavours
The Carrow twins will both seize any opportunity they get to torture them, to break whatever little strength and hope Hogwarts has, and that is not someting Ginny can let happen.
"Shh," Ginny whispers, "it's going to be okay."
She looks around what used to be a classroom during better times and had now been turned into a torture chamber. There are three students in total there, all of them hurt and scared. Ginny draws a vial of dittany from her robes and holds it up to the one nearest to her—a small girl who had been in Ravenclaw when houses meant something.
"Take a small sip," she instructs the girl, who reaches for it with a shaky hand. The Ravenclaw sips the potion and grimaces, but the effects of the potion are immediately visible—some color has returned to her face. Ginny gets up and walks over to the other two students, a fourth year and a second year, both Gryffindor. They are in worse shape than the girl, but the fourth year whom Ginny recognizes as Lance Harrowling grins at her as she begins administering the potion.
Neville enters the room quietly, closing the door behind him. "Alecto has left the dungeons. We have an hour until she returns."
Ginny repockets the vial of dittany and turns to him. "And the prefects? Other Slytherins?"
"None that I saw," he shrugs. "If we do come across them we'll just have to Stun them." He glances over the three younger students. "How are they holding up?"
"Better now," Lance says, and the boy beside him nods. The little girl doesn't reply at all.
Neville and Ginny glance at each other.
"Alright then," Neville says finally, "no point delaying. The sooner you're in your common rooms the better."
They go to the Ravenclaw tower first to deposit the girl—Fiona—with Luna, who is up waiting for them, various potions in crystal vials arranged on the table before her.
"Someone is going to get hurt," she says when Ginny casts a curious look at the arrangement. "The Nargles are quite agitated tonight. They sense danger in the near future."
Neither Neville nor Ginny say anything to that. Luna doesn't mind, instead opting to escort Fiona to her dormitory. There is no doubt that danger lies in the future if they are going to be continuing their rebellion, but the present isn't too safe either.
They don't wait for her to come back—Alecto and Amycus will be on rounds before too long, and they really don't fancy getting caught again. The twins will both seize any opportunity they get to torture them, to break whatever little strength and hope Hogwarts has, and that is not someting Ginny can let happen.
It is when they are halfway to the Gryffindor tower that they hear voices and footsteps making their way towards them, moving downwards, and they have no choice but to duck into the nearest classroom they can find. Ginny casts the Muffling Charm in haste as the two injured Gryffindors with them groan, and opens the door of the class to just a narrow crack. Neville settles beside her silently, both of them peering intently through the gap as the sound of voices grows louder.
They can't really see anyone—they are just beyond their vision—but a nauseating and prickly feeling settles into her heart as they draw closer. The whispers grow louder until they can make out two voices, one that she recognizes as Snape's drawl, the other more high pitched. It has been six years since she had found Tom Riddle's diary, since he had tried to kill her, but she knows this feeling—this aura is of Tom Riddle's. Of Voldemort's. She doesn't have to tell Neville, because they pass the door at that very moment—Voldemort and Snape—and Neville squeezes her hand as she purses her lips. They catch a part of their conversation,
" . . . left it to Potter in his will . . ."
". . . is an important instrument . . ."
". . . must be here . . . keep it safe . . ."
They are gone before the rest of the conversation can be heard, but Ginny sits glued to the floor, brow furrowed. The two others haven't heard the conversation, which is good to avoid rumours and panic, but Neville looks at Ginny with a mixture of fear and bewilderment.
"Why do you think he's here? Is he taking over Hogwarts?"
"I don't think so … they were talking about finding something."
"He mentioned Harry. You reckon it's—"
"No. Something someone left to him in their will …" Ginny sighs, then looks at the two boys seated heavily on the benches. One of them is almost asleep. "I have a hunch," she says finally, "but we should get these two to the tower before anything. How much time before the Carrows start their rounds?"
Neville removes a pocket watch from his robes. "About ten minutes before they start the ground floor. Come on. I'll check out the hallway for signs of those two first, then come to fetch you."
"Well?" Neville asks once both boys have been helped up to their dormitories. There are still a few people about the common room—older students going about their work, although when the two of them had entered they had given them bright smiles and helped them with the boys—so they settle in a remote corner away from curious ears. Ginny puts up a Muffling charm just to be safe.
"Rufus Scrimgeour had come to visit Harry, Hermione, and Ron on Harry's birthday before the Ministry fell. Ron told me it was a will … Dumbledore's will."
Neville's eyes widen slightly, but he doesn't interrupt.
"He had left them a few things. And among them was Godric Gryffindor's sword."
"Whoa," Neville exclaims, and Ginny echoes the sentiment.
"They didn't give him the sword though—it's the school's property—and anyway it was lost back then."
"And you think You-Know-Who is looking for that sword."
Ginny nods and there is silence for a while before Neville speaks.
"If Dumbledore left it to Harry it must be for a reason. Maybe they need it to do whatever they are doing. We should get the sword to them."
Ginny nods. "It was in the headmaster's office the last I had been there. We could steal it and smuggle it to the forest to keep it safe until we find some way to send it to Harry."
They've collected Luna too, and the three of them make their way towards the headmaster's office silently, all of them Disillusioned. The sword is hung up on the wall, behind Snape. It looks as though it wants nothing more than to escape, straining at its belts. It is a matter of time before Snape too leaves the office. Then would be their chance.
Sure enough, after tying a bundle of letters together, he gets up and leaves, and they are the only ones in the office.
"We can't make too much noise," Luna whispers, "or we'll wake up the portraits. It's trying to go somewhere. Maybe if we free it, it'll find Harry on its own."
"Well," Ginny says after a full minute. "One way to find out." She undoes the strap to the sword slowly until it is free, and it falls into her hands cold and heavy. It strains no longer. Ginny looks at her companions who are both looking at the sword with a mixture of disappointment and expectancy.
They don't have time to decide what to do next. They don't have time to decide where to hide either. The door opens with a bang and Snape has them all disarmed and pinned to the wall, even disillusioned.
"What are you doing, Weasley?" he asks with grit teeth, not really interested in knowing the answer.
"The sword is Harry's!" Luna says with effort and Snape pushes them into the wall harder before releasing them. They fall to the floor in a heap.
"Fools," he says softly under his breath. "You'll spend the next week in detention with Hagrid." His eyes flash dangerously. "Next time I find you doing something like this I won't be as kind. Now get out!"
It is two weeks later when they are in the Dungeons again, this time to rescue a larger group of students, all of whom had been rebelling against the Carrows. The Carrows had taken their revenge, however. The number of students surprises Ginny, and their wounds shock her. Much worse than they would've been not too long ago.
All of them grin at her, however, and Lance Harrowling, who has wound up in the dungeons again, winks at her. "You're not alone in your endeavours, Weasley."
Ginny grins back.
