Hello everyone! I am sorry it took me so long to finish this, but I just had all the ideas and couldn't put words on them. Anyways, I hope you like this! :)

Summary: Neville takes on a role as a leader... and he's not sure he can actually make it work.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling and nothing belongs to me, as always. I don't make any money out of this story.

.:.

Written for:

[HSWW]: Assignment #6: Notable Witches and Wizards: Gellert Grindelwald / Task #3 - Write about a leader, good or bad

Word count [without the A/N]: 2,231 words

How To Fight: Neville Longbottom and Dumbledore's Army

Neville stared outside the window, and the greenness he usually marvelled about looked dull. He had a strange feeling that this year was not going to be the same. Dumbledore was dead (how could he be dead?) and the one who was going to replace him was Snape, of all people, and he would not go easy on any of them.

He was startled a little when Ginny put a hand on his shoulder. He had not even heard her come into his compartment.

He smiled and waved at her, but she didn't grin back like she usually did. He could understand, of course, and didn't take offence.

"I'm tired," she whispered and sat in front of him. "And I have a feeling it won't get any better."

He took a better look at her and saw the dark circles under her brown eyes.

"I haven't slept much since the wedding," she told him, almost like it was a secret. "I know most of us are safe, but it's just not the same. I mean, a wedding is supposed to be a happy thing, you know, and right now..."

She paused, and he tried to think of something comforting to tell her.

"We'll have to fight back too," she informed him before he could muster the words, and he nodded because she was right. "We'll need to reassemble Dumbledore's Army. We can't let Snape control us."

"You're already making plans?" another feminine voice joined in, eerier. They both turned towards Luna, who was now standing before them. "Not that you're wrong. I think we'll need those this year," she affirmed.

And they did need them. The new teachers (Death Eaters, just like Snape) were using any means to maintain discipline in the school, and one evening in October, Neville showed up in the Gryffindor Common Room with a deep gash on one of his cheeks.

"Neville!" Ginny exclaimed, and she rose from her seat.

"I'm okay," he said in a calm, cold voice, so unusual for him. "It's just a -"

"If you're going to say it's just a scratch, let me disagree," Lavender stepped in and put a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to sit down on a couch. "Don't move," she advised, "and let me heal this."

He shook his head and rose, and all the Gryffindors who were present in the Common Room at this late hour stepped back a little. There was a fierceness in his eyes that worried them deeply.

"We have to start fighting back," he scowled. "You said that in the train, Ginny, and we've done nothing so far! They are using us to torture children, and look at what happened to me because I refused to do it!"

"It's not like we can do something, Neville," she answered. "They're watching the Room, we can't even come close to it, much less enter it. They could have found a way in!"

He knew she was right and ran a hand through his hair; he felt so hopeless right now. Snape and his fellow Death Eaters were going to break them, and there was nothing he or anyone else could do to stop it.

"Maybe we could meet somewhere else," a young voice proposed, and they all turned towards Colin Creevey.

"I wish it were that simple," Parvati sighed. "But they're everywhere. We can't even move without them knowing it."

Neville suddenly frowned. They certainly wouldn't be able to meet somewhere else (Parvati was right, they were watching them too closely), but maybe he had a solution to their problem.

"All right, everyone," he called out, and all the whispers quieted down. "I might have an idea... But we'll need Luna's help."

"I'll talk to her tomorrow," Ginny offered, and for the first time in a while, he saw her smile. Until she thought about something else and sobered down. "You do know we'll need someone to lead us, right?" she asked.

He understood what she meant the second he crossed her eyes, and he shook his head. "No, Ginny. I'm no leader," he started, and she smirked. He looked around and saw everyone was smirking as well.

"You were the only one strong enough to stand up to the Carrows... until now," Seamus pointed out.

"But you want to as well. That doesn't make me special."

Seamus just shrugged, and apparently, it marked the moment when every Gryffindor present went back to their previous activity. Lavender and Parvati started talking in hushed and hurried voices, Colin and his brother went back to their books, and Ginny came closer to him. She put a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "Let me heal this, Neville."

"They'll notice," he sighed.

"Let them."

She frowned in concentration while healing the wound, and when she was done, she sat next to him and stared at the ceiling.

"Do you think he's right?" Neville suddenly asked. "Do you think I can really be a... leader?"

She looked back at him and smiled a little. "I trust you. And I think they do too. It has to be enough, right?"

He did become the leader of Dumbledore's Army after that confrontation. And a good one at that, if he was to trust what his friends told him.

Their meetings were happening in the Room of Requirement since Luna had intervened. Of course, she had agreed to his plan without a single hesitation (she was one of the best when it came to distracting people), and the morning after her talk with Ginny, she had gone to see the Slytherin students responsible for watching the entrance of the Room. They didn't really know, even to this day, what she had said or done to them, but when they had approached the Room at noon, they had found it unguarded and had smiled excitedly.

For now, though, Neville sighed tiredly. He felt so exhausted, and how they turned to him every time they needed someone to make a decision was becoming tiring. Besides, he couldn't swallow back the lump that had risen in his throat when he had discovered that Luna wasn't present at their meeting that day. It had been the first meeting since the Christmas holidays. They had had to improvise, and they had stayed hidden in the Room of Requirement for the rest of the day (which had been a stupid decision on his part, because of course the Carrows would have doubted something was going on if most of the Gryffindors weren't in class for the afternoon).

That night, they slept in the Room, sitting on the floor against the columns or sleeping in hammocks. Neville didn't close his eyes for one second though. He watched over the others, and a tired smile grazed his lips when he noticed Lavender was curled next to Seamus, her head leaning on his shoulder.

"They're cute together, huh?" a voice suddenly whispered next to him, and he jolted before turning towards the owner of the voice.

"Ginny!" he seethed, and he thought he saw her smirking in the dark.

She stayed silent though, and he couldn't make out her expression anymore. When he felt like the silence was too much, he suddenly blurted out, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been this foolish, and now look at ourselves. If we're not punished tomorrow, it will be a miracle."

"We chose to be here, Neville. You haven't forced us into anything," she tried to reassure him.

He sighed and shook his head, but didn't say anything, and she didn't either, for a time. Then, she whispered, so low that he barely heard her, "I think something happened to Luna during the holidays. She should have been here today."

He nodded and thought about it for a long time, and he didn't even realize he had fallen asleep before opening his eyes the next morning. A blanket was covering him, and even though his shoulders were now sore, he felt grateful for having a friend like Ginny.

He stared at Ginny, and the pain hidden deep within her eyes made him shudder. She was supposed to be brave and courageous, not this lost girl with fear in her warm (or were they cold now?) brown eyes.

He took a step towards her, and her gaze hardened. "You should look after Lavender and Parvati first," she said, pointing towards them.

Lavender was shaking in her seat, and it didn't seem to matter that Seamus was trying to comfort her (probably because he was shaking as well). She kept trembling from head to toe, and Parvati wasn't in a better state. She sat alone in a corner of the room, and flinched away from anyone who tried to touch her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered when he walked in front of Ginny, and he thought he saw her nod, but that might as well just be his imagination.

He knelt down in front of Parvati, who looked so lonely, her arms around her knees. She didn't look up, but at least, she didn't flinch away from him like she had from all the others.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way," she whispered, and he saw a tear rolling down her cheek. The worst thing was that he could only agree with her.

"I didn't think it would hurt that much," she continued, and it was like she couldn't stop talking now. "I mean, of course I knew that the Cruciatus Curse is meant to hurt, but I didn't think it would feel like every bone in my body was shattered into a million pieces."

She finally looked at him, and what he saw in her eyes made him stand up. There was a fire there, and he heard it in her voice when she declared, "I don't regret it, Neville. And I'll do it again if I have to."

He heard everyone in the Common Room agree with her, and hope surged inside of him. Hope that maybe he was strong enough to lead them all, that maybe they would be able to do something against Snape and the Carrows, and that maybe they would be able to fight back during the war they knew was coming.

When he learned that Harry had died, so soon after getting him back, he felt like he couldn't breathe. It had to mean that they had lost.

When he heard the cold voice of Lord Voldemort, when he saw his red eyes which terrified him so much, he didn't feel like he had lost though. And so he stepped forward, not caring that he was hurt and battered and bleeding. He didn't care either that he was probably walking to his death. All he cared for (all he ever cared for) was justice. Justice for those who had died fighting Voldemort (Fred, Remus, Harry... to think that he was never going to see them again broke his heart).

When his cold voice asked him his name, he answered with defiance in his voice, "Neville Longbottom."

There was laughter all around him, and he could literally feel his friends stepping forward to help him. He shook his head and they stayed away, but when he glanced at Ginny and Luna, who stood side by side on his left, a little behind him, he realized that they gave him strength, and that right now, he couldn't really complain.

He then focused back on Voldemort, and he heard his offer, but a scowl painted itself on his lips.

"I'll join you when hell freezes over!" he seethed, and then called out (just to prove that they were still there, still fighting), "Dumbledore's Army!"

There were screams behind him, and for the first time in a long time, he felt a smile (a real smile) tugging on his lips. A victorious smile that disappeared when the Sorting Hat was placed on his head, and -

Everything was burning, and it felt like an eternity, and he heard their screams, but nothing mattered except the fact that he was burning.

And then, he was free again. The pain was (mostly) gone, and he was free to move, so he did. He had no idea that the sword he pulled out from the Hat was the sword that would allow him to kill the snake so that Voldemort could be killed as well.

After everything was over, Luna sat beside him quietly. When finally, she spoke up, all she said was, "The sun is beautiful today."

It certainly was; the sun was rising and it was beautiful, but it was red as well, and he didn't want to see red again for a long time.

Suddenly, Parvati and Ernie and Katie and... everyone from Dumbledore's Army were around him, and they mourned silently for all those they had lost. There were too many holes in their close circle, and no one would ever be able to fill them again.

And yet, there were smiles (tired smiles) on their faces. Because finally, they had won.

Luna looked at him and whispered, "Thank you," a whisper that echoed throughout the group. He realized then, that maybe he hadn't been as good a teacher as Harry had been, as fierce a leader as Ginny would have been, but he was the one that had glued them together, and it was all they had needed to thrive.

I hope you liked this! :) I kind of feel like in some parts, there are too many characters mentioned (I don't know if I'm being clear...), so tell me what you thought!