OH MY GOD! O.O I am so sorry!!! Bridgette is a senior so she's really busy and so am I and the two hour time zone difference doesn't help... ugh.
BTW, for those of you who don't know, this is a role play. That means that Bridgette is a few characters (mainly Ron and Harry), and I am others (mainly Hermione). If she doesn't get on, or I don't get on, neither of us can just randomly write this because we need the other characters in here. We do this over AIM, and if she's not on, or she gets on at like 10 her time which is 12 mine on weekdays and really late on weekends, I can not stay up and RP with her so none gets done. It's a double effort here, and we'll try our hardest to get more done sooner.
Well... here it is. It may be somewhat bad (on my part) and there may be mistakes but I really wanted to post this, so ignore anything that may be in little (()) things or what not. -.-"
Oh yeah. There will be no more naming a chapter, because it takes too much effort on my part and I'm just lazy too so... yeah. From now on, chapter 11 will be: Chapter XI and stuff. I love Roman Numerals, so deal with it.
The letter read:
Ron,
I managed to find some paper to write on, and Hedwig got me a quill or stick or something... can't really see that well. Oh well; it works, right? Since there was no ink, my body is numb from pain anyways, and I think bleeding, I just used my own blood. Again, it works. I wanted you to read this first, so maybe you can calm down Mum beforehand. We're down here in some dank and dark cell. There's about 20 kids in each cell... and if I'm not correct, Hagrid has his own across from us but he's in darkness in what I think are shackles. He wakes up sometimes and tries to escape, thrashing around in the darkness just well enough that we can see him but they have fun hurting him until he passes out from pain. We get food every few days, and it's usually something rotten or leftovers. Anyone that's too sick to move, they continuously pester and make them do things that is hard to do for a perfectly okay person, and when they can't do it, the Death Eaters use the Cruciatus curse on them over and over. It's sickening to watch your friends and former classmates lying there, screaming in pain...
There's good and bad news, so I guess I'll give you the good first. Ginny, me and George are all alive. One person has been killed though – some Hufflepuff bloke who was beaten to death when he tried to protect his sick sister from having to do something. I don't know what it was but I have a thought and... just, I'm not going to let that happen to innocent Ginny. I think it's happened to a few girls. The prettier ones are taken, screaming and crying but everyone's too scared to protect them. It's mostly 'protect your family members and yourself but be too scared to stand up for your friends', then they are thrown back, lifeless and bleeding from everywhere. But here's the bad news... or the worse news. That small cold that I had before they captured us, it has gotten worse and I can barely move. It hurts to breathe, I don't eat or I throw it right back up, and it's so bloody hot down here. Everyone else is complaining how cold it is but it feels like it's a hundred and fifty degrees.
George always puts up a fight when Malfoy (who finds it the most fun to torment us but has stopped coming lately, thankfully) wants me to do something insane. Can't remember what some were. I can't remember much of anything anymore. He can barely do it, as he hasn't been eating and barely drinking. And he's failed quite a few times, and Malfoy had the most fun beating him. So most of the time, he's just huddled in a corner near me as he tries not to breathe too hard for his broken bones to hurt more but not too soft so he passes out. It's hard to tell anything we're doing anymore. After the first few days, everyone went from crying and yelling to silent. So bloody silent... it's deafening, if that makes sense.
I don't think we're ever going to get out of here. They have Death Eaters patrolling 24 hours a day, but thankfully, Parvati did something down at the other end of the hall to attract attention so I can write out this letter quickly.
But Ginny's the one I'm mostly worried about. Since we came here, she's been huddled in a corner away from us. She never speaks to us unless I talk about the family, but even then, it's just a simple word or two when it should be a sentence, but lately, it's just been a nod or shake of the head. She's been clinging to Dean though, and starts to cry whenever he walks only a few feet away. Every night, she sleeps against his chest and will only eat or drink if he brings her something. I was expecting her to cling to George or me but she seems to be scared by us. When George tries to get close, she always whimpers and backs away and when I come close, she flinches but talks. I think it's because when he could actually move without pain, he never stopped yelling at every Death Eater and had this wild look of anger that I've never seen before. It scared me, and I'm guessing it scared Ginny even more. But it's still scaring me. Her mental state is really worsening. When I mentioned Bill's name yesterday, she seemed like she didn't even know who he was. Luckily, Dean is holding up probably the best out of all of us. Maybe it's because he's stronger, or maybe it's because he knows Ginny needs him. Whatever it is, it's a good thing he's here or Ginny would have been totally messed up.
I think they're going to see Hedwig when she leaves, so I'll send her at night. I really hope she's okay by the time you get this (if you get this).
You don't know how lucky you are. You have friends there that will die for you, something that George and I don't have. Sure, we have friends but not as good friends as you have. Don't ever forget that. And you have a nice, warm bed and food... It's sort of funny. George brings me to get better, and then it slowly leads to my death. Doesn't life suck? All I know is that I miss the feel of the sun waking me up and the warmth of the blankets against my skin and I miss George as he seems to be slowly drifting away. I just want to feel again. I want to be able to breathe again and actually be glad I took the breath...
Fred
P.S. Tell Harry that no matter what Voldemort gets his henchmen to say, not to hand himself over. They'll never let us go. Not the way they treat us. They're having fun with hurting us, too much fun. We're going to die one way or another, and don't let him ever believe this is his fault, because it isn't. And I think I should know who I want to be angry with, since two of my siblings, some of my old friends, and I are never going to see the light of day again.
P.P.S I guess I'll see you when I see you. Tell Mum and Dad that we miss them and we are glad for everything they've ever done (even if Mum has been a bit of a perfectionist who enjoys yelling), and we are proud of you Ron, no matter how much we tormented you throughout the years. You're going to go on to do great things, and it would stay the same even if you weren't friends with Harry. Tell Bill and Charlie thanks for everything, even if they had fun tormenting us more than we tormented you, and Percy... just... I don't even know anymore. A short time ago, I wanted him dead for hurting Mum and the family like he did but now... just if he cares, tell him that I'm disappointed in him but I don't hate him. Only way I could hate him if he were one of these bastards that have fun slowly killing and breaking us.
Ron read over it, and collapsed to his knees. "Oh god," he whispered quietly as he stared at the paper.
Hermione ran to Ron's side, about ready to ask what was wrong until her eyes saw the blood on the paper and quickly scanned over it. When they got to the bottom, tears were filling them and she could barely even notice that she was clutching Ron's left arm rather tightly.
Harry took one look at the two of them and then took the letter for himself, cursing loudly enough to make Hermione jump.
Ron didn't hear though. He didn't seem to be able to even sense them there. He was, Harry thought, going into shock.
The cursing was enough to bring her back to reality and notice that something was wrong with Ron. More wrong, at least, then how he should have been acting. "Ron?" she asked a bit unevenly as she took her hands off of his arm to take his face in her hands.
His eyes were blank, completely glossed over.
Harry knelt next to Hermione and winced when he saw how pale his friend was, freckles standing out so starkly in his face it looked like patches of blood-blisters were smattered over his nose and across his cheekbones.
"Ron!" When she saw the worry in Harry's eyes, she couldn't help but begin to shake slightly in fear but kept saying Ron's name over and over, not knowing what else to do. She was still taking in the letter so it was much harder to think of anything rational.
He didn't respond, just kept his gaze trained on nothing and was still; rigid and barely breathing.
Harry bit his lip. "What do we do?" he asked.
"I don't know," she barely managed out as she resisted the urge to cry. He was scaring her worse than she had been in a long time, even worse than when the raid had happened.
"Dumbledore... we should go to him. Or Snape or McGonnagal or somebody," he said. "But I'm scared to leave him alone."
"You go. Get somebody. I'll stay," she responded as she slipped her arms around Ron's waist and pulled him into a hug, trying to do anything to get him to snap out of it. Burying her face into the spot where his shoulder and neck met, she couldn't help but start to cry while attempting to whisper things into his ear that may help.
Harry wouldn't know quite how he managed to get his legs to work. Or how he turned his back on Ron and Hermione and rushed toward Dumbledore's office. He wouldn't know how he fielded off Seamus and Neville and Dennis and several others with as many questions as he himself had. He wouldn't know what he said when he caught Snape in the hall to get him to rush toward Gryffindor tower. He was in a haze... he didn't see anything clearly or in color. All he saw, all he'd ever remember seeing, was red.
When Snape and Harry had returned, Hermione nearly gave a cry of relief. Being scared of out her mind wasn't helping her think very clearly, and nothing she seemed to do was helping Ron.
"What's going on?" Snape asked.
Harry watched as Hermione handed him the letter with shaky hands and looked away when the potions professor read through it.
"He... make him respond! Snap him out of it or something!" she said as she stayed on her spot on the floor next to Ron. "Please!" she said almost desperately.
Snape blinked and looked, for the first time since Harry'd ever met him, at a complete loss. "What happened to him?" he asked slowly.
"He just... read over it and then didn't respond and I think he's in shock," she responded and looked at Ron, who seemed almost as if he was paler than before.
It didn't look like the dark-haired man knew what to do, but then, neither did Harry and Hermione. They stared at him for what seemed like ten minutes but was only a few seconds before he dropped to his knees in front of Ron and put his hands on the boy's shoulders.
Watching the teacher who seemed to know little as they did about what to do didn't help her. And she just stared at Ron while thinking about anything that could help, but not one idea came to mind, so she just leaned forward and started to say anything that came to mind, so quietly that Ron would be the only one who could hear. "Please, Ron. We need you here. Please... Be okay. I love you so much and I don't think I can go on without you."
Ron's eyelids fluttered slightly but he disappeared back into himself as soon as he responded.
Part of it, Harry realized, was that several students were rushing up the stairs. "They can't come in here!" he whispered urgently to Hermione.
Hermione glanced at the door then to Snape. "Keep them out!" Normally, she would have felt terrible in bossing a teacher out but asking and waiting for an answer would have taken time they didn't have.
He didn't argue, just nodded and left the room.
They could hear his oily voice wafting toward them, but Harry didn't care what he was saying. He was too worried about Ron. "Come on," he whispered. "You've got to be okay. You've got to. We'll handle this but..." he trailed off and cursed violently, looking away.
After becoming as silent as Ron for a few seconds, she looked at Harry. "Kiss him," she said in such a simplistic manner that it almost seemed she was joking. "He almost snapped out of it when I said all the other stuff. Do something to prove that we care about him."
Harry blinked at her. "Herm..." but she just looked pointedly at him. He looked back down into Ron's deadened eyes and would do anything to bring his best friend back. He didn't have a lot of experience, and he could count on one hand the number of kisses he'd given or received that had been memorable in a good way, but this time it came so naturally. He tipped his friend's face toward his, brushed his thumbs over Ron's cheekbones and feathered his fingertips over the slightly parted lips. Then he kissed him, softly and gently.
In any other situation, she would have been compelled to watch. Even then, she was interested and watched silently, blaming it on wondering how Ron would react but it was then that she realized how much she had missed in her life.
Harry didn't think it had worked. He moved to pull away but Ron's arms came up and he framed the dark-haired boy's face with his hands and kissed him back with a whimper.
Rather quickly, she felt as if she were intruding but watched anyways, more than joyed that Ron had responded. It just looked so right to her and she bit her lower lip so she wouldn't let out a small moan that wanted nothing more than to sound.
It was really the most peculiar thing. Harry was sitting in the middle of his dorm, kissing his male best friend and being kissed back voraciously and it felt right somehow. Like a natural progression of the comfort and love they'd always offered one another.
Hermione watched silently and stopped biting her lip as she had to so hard that it was ready to break, and a small moan escaped them. It was true that she had always imagined them together but this somehow was better than any fantasy in Potions or before going to bed could be.
The moment was shattered in the next moment.
Snape swept into the room, mouth open, saying something about how he'd gotten rid of the nosy little Gryffindors but he stopped short at the sight of the two boys in the middle of the floor.
She almost had a want to laugh at the situation but turned her head, looking at the Potions master. "H-Hello. We got... Ron to respond," she said quickly before the other two would even have a chance to search for the right words.
Snape swallowed hard and then nodded. "Right... well then... I think that we're going to have to have a meeting in the Great Hall to inform the other students of what's going on," he said haltingly.
She simply nodded, then looked to her best friends silently. Not for the first time, she wished that Snape wasn't a teacher there, so they would have been interrupted.
The first meeting of DA in over a year had started. Within the Room of Requirement, now with multiple locks on the doors and spells to keep certain people out, people slowly entered and sat around on the cushions.
A boy of what appeared to be sixteen and a Ravenclaw suddenly entered, dragging two girls behind him. He didn't notice the stares settled on him, but knew they were there. Grabbing a seat towards the back of the room, he pulled the older of the two girls into his lap and the other next to him.
"I don't want to be here," the older girl complained who went by the name of Gaia. A hood covered her face but because of the patch on her robes, it was clear both her and the other girl, Jasmine, were in Slytherin.
"I know you don't but you need to be," the boy, Sean, said simply.
"Why?" Jasmine asked. It was rather clear why – many bruises covered her face, along with cuts that were barely healed.
"This," he pointed to Jasmine's face, "and this," he said then pulled the hood off Gaia's face. The older girl was much worse than her sister and the two sighed.
"I hate you," Gaia said at once.
"I love you too," he responded in such a way that it was clear he was both her boyfriend and was used to getting those 'threats' all the time. It wasn't long before he noticed Harry staring at him and grinned a bit timidly at the raven–haired boy.
Harry surveyed the group. He recognized a few of the people there.
Seamus and Dennis were sitting in a corner with Neville nearby. Ron and Hermione were behind him and a few other random sixth and seventh years were in the room from other houses.
They'd all signed up and were now all looking up at him with varied looks – some small smiles, some wide eyes begging for help or truth or something to make it better.
Hermione looked back at the Slytherins, almost unsure of trusting them. But the papers were signed, and they couldn't tell anyone. Small thoughts of how the spells could have been cast wrong ran through her mind but she just looked back at Harry.
He took a deep breath. "We're all here for the same reason," he started. "To be able to protect ourselves. With everything that's happened this is more important than ever. If we want to stand a chance of making it out of this war alive we have to be able to hold our own in a battle."
Pulling her knees to her chest, she listened.
The two Slytherins in the back, the only two that had came, sat quietly also and listened, almost caring about what Harry had to say. From everything they had heard, the boy was insane and annoying, but he just seemed so normal and almost a bit scared of being in front of people that the two relaxed.
"We'll start with easy spells, disarming, stunning, things like that. They're effective and you can't move on to harder spells if you haven't mastered the basics." He looked around at them all. "This is extremely serious," he said. "We've seen what happens, the kind of rules they play by. Anything that'll help us should be taken into consideration and we have to be ready for anything."
A few students looked about ready to complain about learning the basics, but after Harry finished, only a few looked slightly skeptical.
Gaia almost looked ready to say something rather rude after Harry said the part about the rules, but went quiet when her sister pinched her rather painfully. Unlike the others, the two knew many things about the Death Eaters and even about Voldemort, but kept quiet just so they wouldn't get into trouble – not with Harry, but with their parents.
Harry looked around at all of them and then nodded. "All right, get to work. We'll start with stunning spells but we won't spend too much time on them. If I see a group who should keep practicing I'll let them know, otherwise we'll move on in twenty minutes."
Everyone stood and split into groups with either a friend or sibling. Hermione paired with Ron, and Gaia paired with her sister.
In less than five minutes, Jasmine had stunned Gaia too many times and the latter was getting mad. "Stop it!" she yelled and sent, without even meaning to, a powerful curse similar to the Cruciatus Curse at her, causing the younger girl to fall to the ground and gasp in pain.
Hermione looked over at the pair and her eyes widened as she saw tears come to the younger girl's face.
Harry, who had been nodding in approval at Neville's technique heard Hermione call his name and turned. What he saw made him sick. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" he yelled, rushing over with a muttered 'Accio wand'. He caught it in midair as Jasmine rolled over onto her back and Gaia glared at him.
Gaia counted quietly under her breath, and when she counted to zero, Jasmine gasped as the pain was removed.
"I couldn't help it! I didn't mean to!" Gaia shouted and glared. "Whatever. I shouldn't even be explaining to you..."
"Stop it," her sister said to Gaia as she stood slowly, but the girl ignored her, glaring at Harry.
Hermione sighed. Of course a Slytherin would act this way... So much for getting help from every house, she thought.
"You couldn't help it?" Harry repeated incredulously. "Well, you'd better learn how to help it. I can't allow you to stay here if I have to worry about you cursing someone when you get angry because you 'can't help it'." He turned to the rest of the students. "That goes for all of you. I'm not doing this for fun. I'm doing this because we need to learn to work together if we want to survive and aside from learning a useful hex or two, it means learning to cooperate and to reign in our tempers. I'm not going to babysit you. I don't have time." He offered Gaia a final glare. "Now get back to work," he said coldly.
Gaia grumbled curses under her breath, trying to remain calm and went back to working with her sister.
Hermione sighed, then looked at Harry. Seeing that the two weren't watching, she mouthed, "Put up with her. They're the only Slytherins we have here," then went back to working with Ron.
Harry didn't need Hermione to tell him that, not really. It wasn't even about Slytherin vs Gryffindor anymore. This was too serious a problem to deal with separated. But the fact that she'd just cursed her own sister into a quivering mass of pain at her feet couldn't be ignored either. He frowned, tugging on his ear. He'd need help with them. But he didn't know who to ask.
There's like one more line from me but this is a good place to leave off, I think. So... REVIEW! Please? And once again, I'm SO sorry for taking FOREVER to update this but me being a freshman and her being a senior means a shit load of work for each of us and... ugh. ::trotts off to learn first 36 elements for Chemistry::
And if I haven't stressed it enough, REVIEW!