Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness

Chapter 8: Dreams and Realities

The Room of Requirement no longer looked anything like the halls and classrooms of the school beyond. Instead, it had transformed into an odd cross between a gymnasium and a meeting room. The floor was smooth golden wood, the walls were mirrored, except for the one Neville stood in front of, which sported a large blackboard in place of one of the mirrored panels. Large cushions on which most of the D.A. was now sprawled were scattered everywhere, a table beneath the blackboard set with water, tea, and various snacks being attentively presided over by Dobby.

Half the D.A. were wearing black robes the room had copied for them off of those provided by Runcorn, the other half still in their school uniforms, but all looked the worse for wear, dripping sweat and scattered with scrapes, burns, and the ghoulish effects of various spells. The initial flare of anger fading now, Neville sighed. "Just... undo the jinxes, heal it up if you're hurt, and for goodness sakes strip off, get some water, a bite to eat, whatever. It's no use yelling at you when everyone's still too beat to listen anyway."

There was a ripple of sighs, murmured thanks, and even a few chuckles as the floor became immediately littered with heaps of black cloth as robes and ties came off everywhere. Almost all of the boys stripped down to undershirts, if not completely shirtless, the girls primly contenting themselves with rolled-up sleeves and collars unbuttoned low enough that Dennis Creevey was not the only boy to accidentally make matters worse while trying to heal a minor wand scorch.

Neville took the opportunity to seek out Hannah, who was mending the bloody lip of Orla Quirke, a fourth-year Ravenclaw girl. She gave him a withering look as she saw him approach, and he offered what he hoped was an appeasing smile. "Look, Hannah," he started, "I didn't mean to get us—"

"We're going to have to be soldiers now, not just friends and classmates. I don't care who it is, I don't want to see anyone doing anything stupid because they feel like they have to play the hero, and that goes doubly for us Gryffindors." She was good, and Neville winced slightly to hear his own words flung back at him in precise imitation, down to the more pronounced than he would have liked Yorkshire edge of his accent. He spread his hands in helpless acknowledgement.

"Yeah, I know. But you were hurt, I couldn't just let you—"

"I hit my funny bone really hard when I went down with the Jelly-Legs, for your information, Neville. It hurt like dragon's teeth, sure, but I was fine. That's not the point. I don't mind you barging in to save me, in fact, I'm kind of grateful. But you should have stopped at the point you took out the one attacking me. Blocking your own wand hand with your white-knight heroics... what were you thinking?" Red sparks shot out of Hannah's wand in anger as she snapped at him, and Orla ducked, doing her best to pretend she wasn't noticing anything.

"Okay!" Neville was surprised to find that he was shouting back at her. "So I wasn't thinking! I'm sorry. I thought you were hurt, and I didn't think beyond that, is that what you want me to say?"

"No, it's not!" Hannah whirled to face him fully now, and Orla slipped away quickly to join the other Ravenclaws, leaving her two commanding officers to battle it out. "This is what scares me about you, Neville! Not some prophecy, not you being in command of the D.A.. It's that you always put yourself last. It's not just that you made that mistake for me. I can forgive you that. Love messes with people's heads as much as their hearts. But you'd have done it for Fritz bloody Bagman just as fast!"

"And if I would?" Neville crossed his arms over his chest defiantly.

"Don't you see?" Her voice had become shrill with anger and frustration. "Lose Bagman, lose me, lose Anthony, Vane... lose any of us, really, and we're down numbers. Just numbers! Lose you, and we're out a lot more than another wand, we've lost our leader! You matter, Neville Longbottom, and not just to me, you matter to everyone, and if you want to be in command, you'd better start acting like you know that!"