Going Forward
“I thought you Gryffindors were supposed to be brave. I never expected one of you to rat us out.”
Ginny turned on Michael angrily. “Ravenclaws never bottle an exam?” she asked.
“This is a lot more important than any exam. This is reality. That kid hurt us. Carrow knew everything - our objectives, our escape plan.” Michael waved his arm as he spoke dropping the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He was as angry as she was.
Ginny had called an emergency meeting in the Hufflepuff common room. Michael Corner, Terry Booth, and Anthony Goldstein sat by the fire with Ginny and the Gryffindor seventh years. Susan, and Hannah wrapped those back from detention in heated blankets while Ernie plied them all with warmed wine. Hufflepuffs had firm ideas about how to treat guests who have been tortured.
“You’re sure it was him?” Hannah asked.
“Euan admitted it,” Neville said. He pulled his blanket closer around himself. Euan’s confession had hit close to home for Neville. The funny little kid with the stick out ears had been a picture of guilt and shame. Guilt and shame had been painfully familiar to Neville in his own third year. “Euan came forward and told us what he’d done.”
“After we went out and got caught and Cruciated. Cruciated, not once but over and over again,” Seamus complained. “Jesus, it was bad. Carrow wasn’t playing.” Seamus’s hands shook as he wrapped them around his cup. “I don’t feel sorry for Euan one bit. He could have warned us. He could have made sure we knew what Carrow was planning. He could have stopped us.”
“Carrow, threatened to Cruciate him, if he warned us ahead of time and we canceled the job,” Ginny said wearily. “You knew that already.”
Seamus snorted in response. “What’s his punishment to be? That’s what I want to know.”
“There isn’t going to be a punishment,” Ginny replied quietly.
“What?” Seamus and Michael both shouted simultaneously.
“We’re not going to punish a little third year, for not being able to stand up to Carrow’s tortures,” Neville said. He couldn’t do it, not to some kid who messed up because he was scared. Neville had spent too much time being scared himself not to understand.
“If we punish this kid what will we get?” Neville asked. “Fear. He and everyone who hears about it will be afraid. Afraid of us, afraid of failing.... Failure is going to happen. If Carrow tortures enough kids someone is going to give in and talk. When they talk, if they are afraid of what we’ll do to them after, they’ll go to Carrow to get protection, protection from him and us both. They’ll be his. Carrow will own them.”
The others stared at Neville like he was crazy -- crazy and weak, too wet to do anything about a kid who’d set him up to be tortured.
“Neville’s right.” Anthony Goldstein said. Everyone turned to him. “Anyone who can’t stay firm will despair. They’ll either give up on us and go over to Carrow’s side, or they’ll keep it all a secret and spy for him. Either way we lose. We lose our chance to know what’s going on. We lose a fighter, we lose a friend and we lose a kid to the Death Eaters.”
“Snape and the Carrows are trying to drive the regular students into their hands,” Ginny added. “That’s why they set this thing up, to turn us against each other. Carrow doesn’t want the regular students to trust us.”
“So we do nothing?” Michael asked.
“We make sure we know who our friends are,” Ginny snapped. “It’s one thing to forgive one of our own, but I won’t close my eyes to a rat. We have to be very, very careful about who we trust and who we let in, because this is going to get very ugly. That’s clear.”
Ginny turned on Michael angrily. “Ravenclaws never bottle an exam?” she asked.
“This is a lot more important than any exam. This is reality. That kid hurt us. Carrow knew everything - our objectives, our escape plan.” Michael waved his arm as he spoke dropping the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He was as angry as she was.
Ginny had called an emergency meeting in the Hufflepuff common room. Michael Corner, Terry Booth, and Anthony Goldstein sat by the fire with Ginny and the Gryffindor seventh years. Susan, and Hannah wrapped those back from detention in heated blankets while Ernie plied them all with warmed wine. Hufflepuffs had firm ideas about how to treat guests who have been tortured.
“You’re sure it was him?” Hannah asked.
“Euan admitted it,” Neville said. He pulled his blanket closer around himself. Euan’s confession had hit close to home for Neville. The funny little kid with the stick out ears had been a picture of guilt and shame. Guilt and shame had been painfully familiar to Neville in his own third year. “Euan came forward and told us what he’d done.”
“After we went out and got caught and Cruciated. Cruciated, not once but over and over again,” Seamus complained. “Jesus, it was bad. Carrow wasn’t playing.” Seamus’s hands shook as he wrapped them around his cup. “I don’t feel sorry for Euan one bit. He could have warned us. He could have made sure we knew what Carrow was planning. He could have stopped us.”
“Carrow, threatened to Cruciate him, if he warned us ahead of time and we canceled the job,” Ginny said wearily. “You knew that already.”
Seamus snorted in response. “What’s his punishment to be? That’s what I want to know.”
“There isn’t going to be a punishment,” Ginny replied quietly.
“What?” Seamus and Michael both shouted simultaneously.
“We’re not going to punish a little third year, for not being able to stand up to Carrow’s tortures,” Neville said. He couldn’t do it, not to some kid who messed up because he was scared. Neville had spent too much time being scared himself not to understand.
“If we punish this kid what will we get?” Neville asked. “Fear. He and everyone who hears about it will be afraid. Afraid of us, afraid of failing.... Failure is going to happen. If Carrow tortures enough kids someone is going to give in and talk. When they talk, if they are afraid of what we’ll do to them after, they’ll go to Carrow to get protection, protection from him and us both. They’ll be his. Carrow will own them.”
The others stared at Neville like he was crazy -- crazy and weak, too wet to do anything about a kid who’d set him up to be tortured.
“Neville’s right.” Anthony Goldstein said. Everyone turned to him. “Anyone who can’t stay firm will despair. They’ll either give up on us and go over to Carrow’s side, or they’ll keep it all a secret and spy for him. Either way we lose. We lose our chance to know what’s going on. We lose a fighter, we lose a friend and we lose a kid to the Death Eaters.”
“Snape and the Carrows are trying to drive the regular students into their hands,” Ginny added. “That’s why they set this thing up, to turn us against each other. Carrow doesn’t want the regular students to trust us.”
“So we do nothing?” Michael asked.
“We make sure we know who our friends are,” Ginny snapped. “It’s one thing to forgive one of our own, but I won’t close my eyes to a rat. We have to be very, very careful about who we trust and who we let in, because this is going to get very ugly. That’s clear.”