The students of Hogwarts had all gone up to bed once dinner was over. Ginny stared up at the moon through the window thinking Harry Potter was looking at it at the same time. (He was.)
Neville came up the steps to the boy's dormitory and cleared his throat, catching Ginny's attention. Ginny turned around and said, "Ready?"
Neville nodded. "Luna should be meeting us on the sixth floor. As always, stay quiet, be aware."
It was the perfect night for mischievousness. Almost every night the trio would paint along the walls and every morning, it had the Death Eaters irritated and annoyed.
Ginny and Neville quietly made their way to the sixth floor where they met Luna Lovegood. Every few corridors, they would spray paint phrases that stood up against the dark forces. It was only a matter of time before they got caught.
The Carrows patrolled the halls, looking for students to punish. Usually, a teacher would hope not to find a student out of bed, but not the Carrows. They wanted to punish students. They enjoyed torturing, the screams in pain, the begging to stop. They were almost as bad as the Dark Lord.
"Luna, come on," Neville told her in a whisper. "It doesn't have to look like the Mona Lisa."
"Maybe... " she replied, looking at the writing. "But wouldn't it be nice to see something colorful in Hogwarts?"
"The only color we may see is red from our blood if they catch us," Neville responded. "Come on. We need to head to Dumbledore's office. If Seamus is right, Snape should be in the dungeons."
"We'll catch those pesky students," said Alecto. "I swear it."
"Stop," said Amycus, putting a finger to his lips, signaling to be quiet. He pointed in the direction he heard the voices.
The two drew their wands and walked quickly to the sound, getting excited to catch the misbehaved students. However, when they entered the corridor, all they saw was black.
Neville, Luna, and Ginny had run up the stairs in a rush. When they stopped in front of the Headmaster's office, they were able to catch their breaths.
"Good thinking, Ginny," Neville complimented.
"Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," Ginny explained. "My brothers thought I'd need this."
"And good thing," he replied. "Otherwise, we'd have been given a detention worse than death."
"What are students doing up at this time of night?" asked the gargoyle, displeased. "The Headmaster is not in."
"We aren't here for Snape," said Neville.
"Then do you have the password?" the gargoyle asked.
"Password?!" Neville exclaimed, whisper shouting. "I had forgotten we needed a password."
"We don't have time," said Ginny. "Think! What would the password be?"
"Maybe something like... earwax?" Luna suggested. "Professor Dumbledore— "
The gargoyle leaped aside at this. The wall behind it halved, revealing a spiral staircase. "Brilliant, Luna!" Neville exclaimed as they began to climb the staircase.
"Lumos."
Each of their wands had illuminated. Ginny had walked towards the wall and her light shined upon Gryffindor's sword that was encased in glass. "Here it is!"
"Alohamora!" Neville cast, but nothing.
After trying spells to open the case, they all figured they'd have to cause a scene that involved noise, which would alert anyone near. But nothing would stop them from gaining back what was Gryffindors — what was Harry's.
"Diffindo!"
A crack in the case formed. Then, with another spell, the case shattered, the pieces falling to the ground. Ginny looked around instinctively just in case someone had heard the noise.
"THIEVES!"
They looked at the entrance to the office, but there was no one. Luna lifted her wand and the light shined onto Phineas Nigellus.
"SCOUNDRELS, MISCREANTS, BLOOD-TRAITORS, STEALING FROM HEADMASTER'S OFFICE?!"
"Thank you, Phineas," said another portrait. Neville shined light onto Dumbledore's portrait. "Perhaps we should listen to their explanation."
"Professor, we wanted to give this sword to Harry," Neville explained. "You meant to give this to him, didn't you?"
"Indeed I did," he answered. "However, sometimes things don't go the way we plan. Sometimes we cannot have everything we desire."
"That's very true," Luna spoke.
"We can get this to Harry, Professor!" said Neville. "We'll find a way!"
Excited the three were. They were proud to be doing some good instead of sitting inside classrooms pretending none of this was happening. The thought of being able to defeat the Dark Lord motivated them.
They exited the great oak doors and started to creep back down the spiral staircase. But then, they heard voices halfway down.
"How much more can my family take, Snape?" Ginny and Neville shared looks upon hearing Cassie's voice. "How much more torture?"
"You should stay faithful to the Dark Lord, Cass," he told her. "What the Carrows did was just a sample of what the Dark Lord would have done to you."
"I did nothing!" Cassie told him.
"It is not false that your feelings for the Weasley boy were true," he said. "Everyone knows this or at least speculates this. You need to earn back their trust."
"What am I to do?" she asked. "There isn't another Dumbledore lying around is there?"
Snape looked at her, half scowling, half with a shocked look. "I did not do that to earn his trust. I did it— "
"I know," Cassie cut him off. "Thank you for that."
Snape and Cassie stopped halfway up the stairs, face to face with the two Gryffindors and one Ravenclaw.
"Weasley... " Snape spoke, the menace in his voice letting the three know just how big of a mistake they made. "Followed by Longbottom and Lovegood. I knew something like this would happen in my office."
"It isn't your office!" said Ginny furiously. "It's Professor Dumbledore's!"
"Be quiet, Weasley, or a greater punishment will fall before you," said Snape and he looked at Longbottom. "The sword, and I may be lenient to your punishment."
"No, this sword belongs to Harry," said Neville.
There were heavy footsteps from the corridor below. "I knew I heard voices." He looked at the trio before them. "Always causing a scene. Got you this time, filthy blood traitors. Crucio!"
Ginny felt pain everywhere in her body, but it wasn't for long. Cassie had disarmed him, then caught his wand. He looked at her in disgust and anger.
"What are you doing?!" he yelled. "They are to be punished!"
"You can't just do that to everyone who disagrees with you and punish them," Cassie told him. "This isn't World War II again."
"World War II?" Alecto questioned. "And what would a pure-blood be doing knowing about Muggle stuff, hmm?"
"You fool," Snape sneered. "Everyone knows about that war that murdered millions of people."
"Well— "
"These three stole from my office," Snape continued, ignoring Alecto. "I shall deal with these three on my own."
Alecto and Amycus walked back down the steps, swearing and muttering words against Snape and Cassie. Cassie looked back at Snape as he grabbed the sword from Ginny Weasley.
"I should have expected this from you, Weasley, after all, it seems to run in the family," he snarled. "You three shall serve detention with Hagrid. If the consequences of breaking into my office do not terrify you, perhaps the beasts in the Forbidden Forest will. Now, return to your dormitories."
Cassie shared glances with Ginny as she walked past her, bumping shoulders. She looked at Snape who said, "Would you care to finish this conversation tonight or tomorrow?"
"Never mind," Cassie said, heading back down the spiral staircase.
Snape walked into the office, Dumbledore's portrait eyeing him. Snape shook his head and put Gryffindor's sword on the desk saying, "Do not give me those looks."
"What looks?" Dumbledore questioned with a smile. "How are our Slytherin friends? You seem to care for the girl."
"They are torturing her," he answered. "I thought the Dark Lord's plan was a bad idea."
"The pressure on her will make her do the right thing," said Dumbledore. "Sad to say, but she will break."
"You wish Cassie to suffer mentally?" he questioned, looking at him in disbelief. "Her family already has gone through too much."
"Cassie has a strong mentality," said Dumbledore. "It will take a great sacrifice for her to know wrong from right— "
"She knows what is wrong and what is right," Snape had interrupted. "She is backed into a corner."
"But she doesn't have to be," said Dumbledore. "We must hope Ms. Murphy can get through to her before it is too late. But perhaps a great loss is what she needs to realize it."
"A great loss?" Snape questioned, then his eyes widened. "You don't mean— "
"I hope it doesn't occur, but if it does, it will be our victory."
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A/N:
Yay! Finally updated! Sorry guys it took a while. I also want to say that this chapter of stealing the sword was inspired by someone named danielle, who had written a version of stealing the sword of Gryffindor. Unfortunately, I don't know which site it was exactly.