On The Hogwarts Express

Luna sighed, looking out the window as the scarlet train snaked its way through the bleak countryside. The sky was grey, as it had been nearly all year, and snow was beginning to fall on the gloomy landscape. The Hogwarts express was quieter this year than ever before, especially seeing as it was Christmas. So many were going home to broken families, so many had lost parents or siblings. She looked over to where Ginny and Neville were chatting animatedly about ways to subvert the grip the Carrows and Snape held over the school.

"Well, we could start putting up posters everywhere. I'm sure the Room of Requirement would be able to create a printing press, or just give us ready-made posters." Said Ginny.

"Yeah, but we need to start being more careful. They know it's us, Ginny." Said Neville, a crease between his eyebrows appearing. His face was bruised and battered, and he had a long cut running down his left cheek that was soon to add to his collection of newly acquired scars. His hair had become unruly, and a confident and rebellious demeanor had replaced his old anxious one.

Hannah Abbott and Ernie MacMillan appeared in the compartment doorway, grinning.

"I got your message, Neville" Ernie said holding up his enchanted D.A. galleon. Ernie, who notably no longer had his silver prefects badge gleaming from his chest, looked thoroughly exhausted. He had resigned as prefect the first day of term, as had most prefects, in protest of the new regime. A green and purple bruise on his left eye clouded his earnest brown eyes, and his blond hair was ashy and gray, leaving him looking worn-out.

Hannah plopped down in the empty seat across from Luna, and Ernie sat down next to Neville across from Luna and Ginny. Ginny grinned, but then said "We can only plan now, but when break is over I was thinking that we should paper the school with DA posters."

"That sounds good, but we have to watch out for Nargles. They love printing presses, and make a habit of tearing posters up," Luna said dreamily, making the others start. "Daddy has a spray to keep them away, he uses it at home. I will bring it back after holiday. I can't wait to get home; I don't think I've ever been this anxious to be away from school."

Ginny looked at her, pain flashing briefly into her warm brown eyes. "It just won't feel like Christmas this year." She said, biting her lip in worry. There was silence in the compartment, because they all knew why she was worried, or moreover, for whom she was worried.

Luna took her hand. "They'll be ok," she murmured. "They always are". Ginny's brown eyes met Luna's silver blue ones. A mischievous grin spread slowly across her also bruised, but freckled, face.

"So assuming we aren't all in detention the week we get back for God knows what, we are doing this. Neville, you should get the posters, you know how to work the Room best. Hannah, can you meet up with Neville to get them to Hufflepuff? Luna you also need to meet him there to get them for Ravenclaw. I will organize the Gryffindors; Luna, can you get someone to gather the Ravenclaws, Michael maybe? Ernie you should organize the Hufflepuffs. Wednesday night we will all get the posters, and start putting them up. Remember to practice in the common rooms, so we can get the permanent sticking charms right. Paper the entire castle, especially the entrance hall. Get as many people as we can, the more the better, and if someone gets caught, fight our way out of it. Avoid the Carrows at all costs; any other teacher we run into will probably just correct our incantations. Only bring along students who can do the charm easily and quickly. Any questions?"

They all grinned. They had been doing small things all year, but never anything of this caliber. This would involve covering the entire school with posters, and they planned on using charms powerful enough that only McGonagall or Flitwick could take the posters down, which they certainly wouldn't do.

"Make sure to get the ceilings of the Carrows' classrooms." Hannah piped up. "That will irritate the hags" she said, her round face alight with determination. Since she had returned to school in September for the first time since her mother's death the previous year, she had been eager to get some revenge. She had a different light behind her eyes than before she had left; her previous carefree attitude had been replaced with a fiery resilience.

"Right." Neville injected. "We want hundreds of them up all around the school. If any of us end up in detention that night, the show must go on. Make sure that we all have someone to back us up just in case".

Ginny's eyes glowed with pride at her friends' willingness to endanger themselves for this rebellion. This wasn't like pulling pranks on Umbridge; if they were caught now, they were tortured for punishment. Luna knew that Ginny had wanted to do something like this for months, and she could not wait to see the school papered over entirely in DA posters. They began to iron out the details, deciding who would be where and when, and who would act as lookouts. They needed some revenge, and now they were going to take it. Just as they were finishing their plans for their next attack, the train came to a sudden screeching halt.

They all knew why the train had been stopped. Someone was going to be taken, but they had no idea who. Neville looked up nervously, his eyes flicking around the carriage. The compartment's stagnant silence filled the air for a few seconds, before Neville broke the tension. "Who stopped the train? Ministry or Death Eaters?" he whispered.

Hannah glanced at him, evidently confused. "Why does it even matter? What's the difference?"

"It will tell us who they are here for" he replied grimly.

They all remembered their last journey on the Hogwarts Express. The train had been stopped as Death Eaters began their search for Harry and Hermione. The Death Eaters had been joined shortly by Ministry officials who came around taking down everybody's name and blood-status. When they had finished, no fewer than 40 muggleborn students, all under the age of fourteen, were herded off to the side and stripped of their wands. The older muggleborns hadn't returned, but had gone into hiding or had gone on the run. A very small number of muggleborns had managed to fake family trees, and were still at school.

"If it's Ministry people, they're after muggleborns. If it's Death Eaters..." Neville said, trailing off at the end of his sentence

Luna, who was sitting nearest to the windows of the compartment, opened a window up and stuck her head out. She could see dozens of curious heads peeking out of their carriages, apprehensive looks on their faces. At farthest end of the train, she could see a hooded and masked figure talking to the conductor. She gasped and pulled her head back into the train.

"Death Eaters" she said, snapping out of her usual dreamy state. "About ten of them, but I couldn't tell who".

"They're coming here, aren't they" Ernie stated. He had been rather quiet since he endured one of the worst detentions with the Carrows a few days prior. His face was bruised and cut up, and one of his eyes was swollen shut, the purple bruise beginning to lighten to green. "Whom else would they be coming for?"

They all were at a loss to answer, but it did not matter. Down the train they could here doors slamming shut as the Dark Lord's servants made their way down the Express. They heard one of them ask in a gruff voice

"Who are we looking for again?"

A female voice answered sharply "Lovegood's daughter. The one who destroyed all of the prophecies, as I'm sure you remember, Nott".

Neville tensed up at the sound of her voice "Bellatrix" he murmured. He jumped to his feet and pulled out his wand, and the others followed suit. As the Death Eaters banged their way closer to the compartment, the D.A. members all stared nervously at the door, awaiting their arrival.

The compartment door flew open, revealing several masked as well as a few unmasked Death Eaters.

Bellatrix let out a cackle. "Oh how cute, they're trying to protect her!" she shrieked. She saw Neville and laughed even harder before casting her curse. His screams rang through the compartment as his body writhed and twitched in pure agony. She lifted her wand and he crumpled to the floor, barely moving. She turned smirking to the others, who each had a Death Eater's wand on them.

"DROP YOUR WANDS!" She screamed. When no one moved, screamed again, "DROP THEM! NOW!" her eyes lit up with an insane glee. She gestured at Neville with her wand before repeating the cry. "I SAID DROP THEM!"

There was a small rustle near the back of the carriage, and Luna stepped forward with her hands in the air in surrender. "No" she said, her voice uncharacteristically sharp. "You want me? I'm right here. Leave them alone".

Her face was pale, but determined. Bellatrix glared at her suspiciously, then grabbed her upper arm and tugged her towards the doorway.

"If you try anything, little girl, your father will die" she hissed.

Ginny sent a hex towards Bellatrix, but was deflected and promptly stunned by another Death Eater, and collapsed on the floor. They were overwhelmed, and Luna knew it.

"Don't!" she choked out. "Don't do anything stupid!"

"That's right, listen to her, you can't save her now." Bellatrix said, glaring around the compartment. "Avery, Nott, Mulciber, you three keep an eye on her little friends. Travers, go and find the others, we're leaving" She kicked Neville in the stomach, and said "Say hi to Mum and Dad for me". He stirred but didn't move off the floor.

She yanked Luna out the door and dragged her down the corridor. Luna's heart was pounding and she was terrified, but she knew better than to show it. She hoped her father could get away, but she knew if she were taken, she wouldn't survive it. She kicked out at Bellatrix, and felt the hand on her arm release in shock. Luna took off as fast as she could, not daring to look back. She veered towards a door on the side of the train, and collided with two Death Eaters standing in the doorway. They laughed cruelly, and pushed her back into the train.

A furious looking Bellatrix was walking towards her, wand out. Luna was trapped, surrounded on all sides by Death Eaters, two more of who had just appeared in the doorway on the other side of the train.

"Crucio" Bellatrix cried, and Luna, unable to defend herself, was hit with the curse.

It was the pain of burning alive, a thousand hot knives and acid all at once. It was unimaginable, her vision went red and she no longer knew where she was or why she was there. All she knew was pain, her world was only pain. She could hear her scream, but it was unattached from her consciousness, almost as if someone else was making the unearthly noise.

It stopped all at once, and she lay on the floor sobbing. She barely had a second to collect herself before Bellatrix pulled her off the ground.

She yanked Luna up by her hair before pinning her to the wall by her neck. Luna struggled to stand, weakly trying to push the woman away from her.

"If you try anything like that again, if you try to escape, not only will your father die, but all of your little friends back there will die a slow and painful death. How long do you think Longbottom will last? I'm betting not very long" Bellatrix spat, her once-beautiful face contorted with rage.

She let go of her throat, and Luna collapsed once more. She slowly pulled herself to her feet, and vaguely registered a commotion in the compartment that held her friends. A few shouts emitted from the compartment, followed by three loud 'bangs', and silence.

Luna watched fearfully as Avery, Nott and Mulciber, now unmasked, strode out of the compartment, and joined the group.

"They heard this one scream and tried to help her. They'll wake up soon enough" Avery grunted, leering at Luna with a yellow smile. He smelled of stale whiskey, and was unshaven.

Travers returned to the group along with another masked Death Eater.

"That's all of us, let's head back," He said.

Bellatrix grabbed Luna's arm in a viselike grip, gave her another threatening look and pivoted on the spot, apparating away with a loud crack.

Neville was the first one to regain consciousness, and awoke to a quiet compartment. His body ached all over, and as he surveyed the scene, he began to panic. He grappled for his wand and woke up the others, all of who had crumpled on the floor, with a simple 'ennervate'. As Ginny, Hannah and Ernie began to get up, he sprinted out to the corridor.

"LUNA! LUNA!" he shouted over and over again. He could hear Hannah sobbing quietly in the background as Ginny joined his side.

"She's gone," Ginny said, confirming his worst fears. "They've taken her"