Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Obviously.

Author's Note: This story assumes that in the '97-'98 school year, the D.A. was expanded. I don't think it was just the people who remained from the book 5 D.A. - I definitely think that more people joined this time around, and this story reflects that by focusing on these new D.A. members, as well as some other non-D.A. students. Also, all of the characters focused on in this story are canon characters, not original creations.

Also, this is rated T for language, torture, violence, and sexuality/innuendos/implied sexual situations.

Written for 'The Hunger Games Fanfic Style Competition', 'Dumbledore's Army: Still Recruiting Competition', 'Honeydukes Competition: Drooble's Best Blowing Gum', and 'The Ultimate Doctor Who Episode Competition: The Beast Below', all on the HPFC forum.

i. Romilda Vane (late September, 1997)

"Demi! You missed it - there was a one walking by! A freaking one!" Romilda turned to look at Demelza. The two girls were standing in the Entrance Hall, watching as the other students went into the Great Hall. Romilda was rating the passing students from one to ten based on appearance, a pastime she found highly amusing.

"That's rude," Demelza replied, shaking her head. "Merlin, Romilda. There's more to life than looks."

"Oh, I know that," Romilda said airily, waving her hand to dismiss what her friend had just said. "You're right. There's more to life than looks. But I can't help it if some of the people here are just freaking disgusting. Like them." She nodded her head at two Slytherin seventh years, both overweight and dumb-looking. "I mean, I'd give the tall one a two and the short bloke a one and a half. You?"

"Will you keep your voice down?" Demelza replied. "That's Crabbe and Goyle - they're buddy-buddy with the Carrows, so you might not want to insult them too much."

Romilda scoffed, running a hand through her mane of dark, wild hair. "If they're friendly with those arseholes, then they deserve to be insulted." She peered at the crowd of students. "Now that - see him, Demi, the one with the blondish-brown hair? - that is a fine male specimen. I would give him a strong nine. You?"

"I thought you fancied Harry Potter."

"That was last year, keep up! Besides, he's not even here, and nothing ever happened between him and me, so I've been looking around. And oh, I'm looking at him." Romilda's eyes moved up and down the student she was talking about, a Ravenclaw two years above her. "What's his name? I've seen him before at D.A. meetings, I know that."

"Michael Corner." Demelza sighed. "Please don't go and slip him a love potion, too."

"I've moved on from that!" Romilda protested, collecting her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. Demelza followed her lead, and the two girls joined the assortment of students entering the Great Hall for supper. "I'm not going to try that again. And I never said I fancied Michael Corner, just that he's quite nice to look at. I barely know the bloke."

"You barely knew Harry Potter," Demelza muttered, and the conversation was finished, for they had joined the Gryffindor table, and Romilda found someone else to talk to.

ii. Su Li (early October)

"They canceled Quidditch!" Su slammed the door of the Ravenclaw seventh-year girls' dormitory, causing Padma and Mandy - the only two in there, since Morag had gone to the library - to jump slightly. "That bastard Snape! I went up to the headmaster's office to talk to him, because none of the others on the team knew who made Captain. We would have had to schedule tryouts since we're missing a couple players. But no, I go into Snape's office and he just says 'Quidditch games and practices are canceled this year, Miss Li,' and turns back to the papers on his desk." She swore again, kicking the corner of her bed.

"The Carrows and Snape want to take all our happiness away," Padma said wisely, setting her book on the bedside table. "It's pretty obvious. Even with Hogsmeade weekends - they'll take those away from people in a second. Seamus Finnigan's already lost his privileges to go to Hogsmeade for the whole year - he said so at the last meeting."

"Yeah, but he punched Amycus Carrow in the gut. Even a normal, not-evil teacher would have punished him pretty harshly for that." Su shook her head. "Taking away Quidditch is just...I dunno, the stupidest thing I've ever heard?" She was ready to slam the door again. Su couldn't recall the last time she had been this furious. Even with her hot temper, she had never been this angry. She had been on the Quidditch team since her third year, and probably would have become Captain this year, if it hadn't been for Snape and the Carrows.

"It is rather stupid," said Padma. Su couldn't tell if Padma - who never seemed to have any interest in Quidditch before - actually cared, or if she was just saying that to placate Su. "It doesn't make any sense."

"No, it doesn't," Su growled, mentally vowing that she would get back at the Carrows and Snape somehow, someday.

iii. Rose Zeller (mid-October)

"What's the matter?" Rose said kindly as a first year stumbled into the Hufflepuff common room, tears streaked down her face. The girl - who was no more than four and a half feet tall - was shaking, and she winced as she sank down into the seat across from Rose. "What happened?" Rose said, leaning over and brushing the girl's blonde hair back from her face.

"The-the C-Carrows," the girl stammered, and Rose sucked in a sharp breath. Of course. It seemed to Rose that every single time something happened, Alecto and Amycus Carrow were to blame. They hadn't even been at the school two months, and yet already they had gained a reputation as being worse than Dolores Umbridge and Severus Snape put together. Rose had seen Dolores Umbridge's reign at Hogwarts her first year, and now she was dealing with the Carrows this year, her third at Hogwarts. Hogwarts was definitely not all it was cracked up to be.

"What did the Carrows do?" Rose said, trying to keep the soft, sweet, motherly tone she had heard some of the upper year students use. "Did they hurt you?"

The girl nodded. "T-they b-brought me to the d-dungeon and had some seventh year..." She took a deep breath, trying to wipe the tears away. "C-curse me. And it hurt so b-b-bad and it still hurts."

Rose wished she could bring the girl to Madam Pomfrey. Madam Pomfrey always had pain-killing potions on hand, and it would have been very useful this year. The Cruciatus always left lingering soreness afterwards, and to an eleven-year-old, it would have been even more intense. But no, she couldn't bring the first year to the hospital wing, since the Carrows had forbid Madam Pomfrey from treating any detention-related injuries. Rose sighed. "I know. I know it does. It'll go away, all right? It doesn't last forever."

She knew she was right with that - the aftereffects faded away within hours, as long as the curse hadn't been done for a really long period of time - but there were other problems. There would be more detentions. She was a third year; this girl was a first year. They had years left with the Carrows, and that was the scariest notion of all.

iv. Megan Jones (late October)

Halloween at Hogwarts was always Megan's favorite time of the year. The decorations were amazing, and she had never seen anything like them - although she was a half-blood, her parents didn't use magic for what they deemed 'extravagant' or 'silly' things, so she hadn't seen displays of magic like this until Hogwarts. The Halloween feast was full of amazing, delicious food, also, and there was always an excited, cheerful atmosphere in the air - Halloween meant the end of fall, the end of fall meant winter, and winter meant Christmas was coming.

This year, things were different. There weren't many decorations, for one. Hagrid had started putting them up, as he had the previous years, but the Carrows had told him to stop. Because Hagrid hadn't taken them down - and the Carrows couldn't be bothered to - a few lonely skeletons hung from the walls, and two pumpkins - carved but not lit - sat near the staff table. It looked strange to enter the Great Hall on Halloween night and see minimal, unfinished decor.

The food hadn't changed, but the atmosphere had, and that was the change that was most noticeable. There were no happy, loud, high voices eagerly chatting about what their pre-Hogwarts Halloweens had been like, how they couldn't believe it was almost winter, or their favorite traditions of Halloween. The tables were subdued, the only conversations murmured and quiet. While in previous years people had hung out with their friends in the Great Hall long after they had finished eating, now people couldn't wait to get out of there, away from the cruel, watchful eyes of the Carrows. Megan hated to see Hogwarts like this, but she knew that as long as the Carrows were there, it would remain this way - subdued and unhappy.

She looked around at the Hufflepuff table, meeting the eyes of a few other D.A. members, and she felt glad that at least she wasn't alone.

v. Hestia Carrow (mid-November)

"Like this," Alecto said impatiently, holding her wand out. "You know anything, girl? That fool older sister of mine teach you anything?"

"Mum never taught me the Cruciatus Curse," Hestia said quietly, her voice steady and neutral. She definitely did not want to be taking lessons in the Dark Arts from her aunt, but there was no way around it. Alecto had approached Flora and Hestia earlier in the month and asked them. Flora, always interested in the darker side of things, had automatically agreed - for both of them. Hestia had figured that it would be like classes, where they would practice on an animal, but that wasn't true.

They were down in one of the dungeons, and a third year Hufflepuff was on the floor in front of them, having already been subjected to Flora's attempt at the curse. Flora shook her head at Hestia. "It isn't that difficult. Merlin, you're thick if you can't get this. Even Crabbe and Goyle - the year above us, you know them - can do it, and they're dumber than a sack of dirt." Flora grabbed Hestia's hand and corrected her position, so that her wand was now pointing the same way Alecto's was. "You know the incantation. Go on, do it!"

"Get on with it, girl," Alecto snarled, beginning to look suspicious. Hestia couldn't let her get suspicious. She had only survived being Flora's twin for this long by pretending to be a worse person than she really was. She was used to doing things that made her uneasy and uncomfortable, but this surpassed all of Flora's other things by far. This wasn't playing a mean prank or calling someone a Mudblood. This was torturing someone with an Unforgivable Curse. But she had to do it; there was really no choice.

The Hufflepuff girl on the floor closed her eyes, curling up into a tight ball just as Hestia spoke the incantation. "Crucio," Hestia said, focusing as much as she could. She had to do it decently well, or else both Alecto and Flora would begin to think that she wasn't really on their side after all, and she couldn't let that happen. Hestia was a Slytherin, and she would do anything for self-preservation, even if it meant listening to a thirteen-year-old scream in agony on the floor.

vi. Kevin Entwhistle (late November)

"Su! Merlin, Su, are you all right?" Kevin crouched down next to Su, who was laying on the floor. Blood was seeping out of a long - although not particularly deep-looking - cut on her shoulder and upper arm, and her eyes were half-closed. Kevin had never felt more nervous than he had in this moment. This was the girl he loved laying there on the floor, hurt after a detention with the Carrows. For once in his life, he wasn't cracking a joke or mentally planning a prank. He was completely serious, and he knew that the other Ravenclaws would have been shocked to see that. All of this, though, was in the back of his mind. The only important thing right now was Su.

"'M fine," Su mumbled, trying to sit up. She winced, her face contorting in pain, as she pushed herself to a seated position. "Or not."

"Let's get you to Anthony," Kevin said, glancing back at the door. "He can probably heal that cut." Anthony Goldstein, one of the other seventh-year Ravenclaws, was planning on becoming a Healer. As a result, he had become the unofficial Ravenclaw Healer, just like Susan Bones was for Hufflepuff and Fay Dunbar was for Gryffindor. "You think you can make it?"

Su shot him a look. "I'm sure as hell going to try, thank you very much," she answered, in typical Su fashion. "Help me up, will you?" She extended her good arm to him, and he took it, helping her to her feet as gently as possible. She was breathing heavily as she rose to stand, but once she was upright, she was able to stand straight without his assistance. "I think I can walk," she said. "Not very fast, though - the Carrows did a number on me, and I'm - damn," she said as she took a step. "Damn sore," she finished.

Kevin walked with her to Ravenclaw Tower, sneaking peeks at her the whole time, and wishing things were different - wishing that Su wasn't in love with Lisa, wishing that she was in love with him, and wishing that the Carrows would never hurt her again.

vii. Stephen Cornfoot (early December)

"Stephen?"

Lisa's voice, high and sweet like a child's, woke him from his light, uneasy sleep. He pushed himself up and looked across at where she was sitting, on the hotel's other bed, not even in her pajamas or underneath the covers. The clock read twelve-thirty at night, but Lisa was obviously not ready for sleeping. Stephen - never a night person - definitely wanted to, but he didn't want to snap at Lisa. Snapping at Lisa always felt like being mean to a puppy or kitten, considering how innocent, naive, and kind she was. "Yes?" he answered.

"Do you think we're safe from Death Eaters and Snatchers here?"

"I do not know," Stephen replied, his tone precise and clipped, as it had been since he was little. Morag always used to tease him about it, saying that he sounded like an Oxford professor, especially compared to her, with her thick Scottish accent and informal way of talking. Stephen was always the mature, intelligent, almost-uptight one out of the tight-knit Ravenclaws in their year, and it showed even in the way he talked. "I can assume the Death Eaters and the Snatchers will not search Muggle places, though. That is probably too much below their station." A dark note crept into the last few words of his sentence.

"I'm sure the others are all right. Safe at Hogwarts, y'know?" Lisa said next, twisting a loose thread on the duvet with her fingers. "I know Snape's Headmaster, but nothing too bad can be happening. I mean, Hogwarts is Hogwarts, right?" She was obviously trying to convince herself as much as him, and it showed. Lisa had grown up since last year, and it showed as well. Stephen knew that they all had.

He sighed. "I certainly hope so," he answered, and left it at that.

viii. Euan Abercrombie (mid-December)

"Rose, it's snowing outside," Euan said slowly, waiting for her response a little too eagerly. He almost leaned forward on his chair, like a little kid - which he most certainly wasn't, despite being the height of a ten-year-old - but he stopped himself before he could be too overeager.

"Yeah, it is," Rose Zeller, sitting across from him in the library's corner, replied dully, looking back at her homework. "What book did you use for -"

"Rose." He knew he was interrupting, but he didn't particularly care. "The past two years, we go outside on the first day in winter that the snow sticks to the ground. That's today." He also knew that it was a childish tradition, made up by two first years who had been really bored one snowy winter morning and vowed to always go outside on the first good snow day. It was the same day they vowed to be friends forever. Two years had passed since then, but it was obvious that both Euan and Rose felt a lot older.

"I know," she said, sighing. "It's just...you know. Everything that's going on." Their voices are quiet, and no one was around, but even so, Rose wasn't taking the chance of having somebody overhear her say something negative about the Carrows, Euan knew. She was already in detention enough.

"Maybe that's why we should still go outside," Euan answered, glancing out the nearest window. The snow was falling quickly, but it wasn't heavy enough to be considered a bad storm or a blizzard. It looked beautiful on the small portion of the grounds that he could see, and he knew the whole of Hogwarts and its grounds looked amazing in the winter. "Come on. Forget about the Carrows for a little while, Rosie."

She made a face at him as she got up. "I'll go outside with you if you stop calling me Rosie."

"Deal."

ix. Theodore Nott (late December)

He walked through the corridors of Hogwarts to the Great Hall, noticing how few people had remained over Christmas holidays. It was true that most people went home, yes, but this year there were even fewer students who had remained. He wasn't even completely sure who else was there; at every meal, he sat down at the Slytherin table and buried his face in the Daily Prophet as he read, not paying attention to anybody around him. He knew no one of note was there, and so there was no reason to acknowledge these other remaining students.

He didn't mind the silence and the emptiness of Hogwarts at this time. Theodore Nott had never been a people person, and he had always preferred his own company to that of others. While he consented to talk to the other Slytherins in his year, he didn't consider himself best friends with them, or even friends. In a way, he was glad that they were gone; it meant that he could have time to himself, with nobody pestering him for his opinion on whatever the hot topic was at the moment.

The Great Hall was not festive and holiday-ish like it normally was, but that didn't bother Theodore at all. He knew that it was because of the Carrows, not wanting to allow anything that the general population of students considered fun, but Theodore didn't care. Decorations were of no concern to him - and even if they were, he did not want to get on the Carrows' bad sides. He did not want to get himself in trouble like the foolhardy Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws that always found themselves staring down the end of a Slytherin's or Carrow's wand in the dungeon after classes.

Theodore Nott was a proud Slytherin, and he did what Slytherins do best - avoid anything that might result in problems for himself.

x. Jimmy Peakes (mid-January)

"So," Jimmy said, racking his mind for something to ask Romilda. The two of them weren't particularly close friends, but like the whole D.A., they had developed a camaraderie that came from the constant meetings, shared glances in Dark Arts and Muggle Studies, and sneaking back to Gryffindor Tower in the dead of night. At this point in time, they were sitting in the Room of Requirement, waiting for their turns to practice dueling, "What do you want to do after Hogwarts?" he finally settled on, trying not to stare at Romilda in a creepy way and make it obvious he fancied her.

"If Moldy-mort and his Minions Of Doom are not in charge any more," Romilda said matter-of-factly, as though saying the words 'Moldy-mort and his Minions of Doom' was an everyday occurrence, "I'd like to become an Auror." She shrugged. "If they're still running everything, though, I have no bloody idea. Might leave the country. What about you?"

Shit. Shit shit shit. When you ask a girl a question like that, Peakes, you better assume she's going to ask you the same question, and you better have an answer, he berated himself. Jimmy ran a hand through his hair, trying to look casual and cool, and most likely just messing up his hair. "Dunno," he answered, still trying to sound much more suave than he really was. "Maybe something with Quidditch."

"Then you better step up your game from last year," replied Romilda, smirking slightly. Not for the first time, Jimmy wished that he had decided to fancy someone much less outspoken than Romilda Vane; he wished he fancied someone who would definitely hesitate before making fun of him. Of course, no one could choose who they were crushing on, and Jimmy Peakes was no exception to the rule.

xi. Vicky Frobisher (late January)

Vicky pushed open the door to the Gryffindor girls' dormitory, wiping a sheen of sweat off of her brow and hoping with all her might the other girls weren't awake yet. She knew it was quite obvious where she had been and what (or who, as Romilda would say) she had been doing. She was disheveled, her hair a mess, her pajamas rumpled and wrinkled, her body still a bit sweaty and warm. She looked around, and a sigh escaped her mouth as she saw Demelza Robins, out of bed and looking critically at her.

"Demi..." Vicky started, taking a deep breath. "Why are you awake?"

"Why am I awake?" Demi asked, her voice low and dangerous. "Why am I awake? Oh, sure, this coming from the girl who doesn't come back to the dormitory until one in the morning." She shook her head in obvious frustration. "Merlin, Vicky, you're not even sixteen. How many blokes have you slept with - and, er, done other things with - so far?"

"I don't count," Vicky snapped, realizing at the last second that was not as good a retort as she had immediately assumed, and rolling her eyes at Demi's euphemism of 'other things'. "I mean, I could remember them all, if I tried and stuff," she blustered, thinking that this really wasn't the discussion she wanted to have post-sex, and that any happiness and high she had been experiencing was now completely gone. "Look, can't we talk about this in the morning?"

"No," Demi said. "You're losing yourself, Vicky. Don't you remember the Vicky Frobisher who was a Quidditch fan, who was the best in our year at Charms, who was in way too many clubs to name? Don't you remember that girl, not...this?" She waved her hand in front of her, gesturing to Vicky, who crossed her arms. "I know we all have different ways of dealing with what's going on this year, but you're taking it way too far."

"It's my life, not yours," Vicky replied, climbing into bed and closing the hangings, trying not to think that maybe - just maybe - Demi might be right.

xii. Blaise Zabini (mid-February)

Blaise slung his arm around Daphne Greengrass as they made their way to Hogsmeade. He generally wasn't overly affectionate - most of the Slytherins weren't, with a few exceptions in the lower years - but this was an exception. It had taken the whole of his seventh year to get Daphne, the hottest girl in the school, in his opinion, to go out with him. She had been unwilling, mainly because of his reputation with using girls, but finally she had consented to go with him on Valentine's Day.

He knew that he didn't love her the way that he had heard the lower-year girls gossiping about in the hallway. He wasn't in love with her. He thought that she was beautiful - no denying that. He got along with her well enough to tolerate spending time with her alone. They could have a cordial conversation together without disagreeing too much. But what she was worried about - that all he was doing was using her - was somewhat true. Blaise wanted to sleep with Daphne - what straight male wouldn't?

Blaise knew the reputation he had was true, but he couldn't bring himself to care. It was easier to focus on girls - and how many he could get with by the end of his Hogwarts life - than to focus on other things, like the Carrows, the Death Eaters and Dark Lord, or his mother's husbands' mysterious deaths. This was how he dealt, and everyone else just had to deal with it.

xiii. Mandy Brocklehurst (early March)

Mandy Brocklehurst was always known as the quiet one, and she was fine with that. She had no objections to the fact that she had overheard people say "Mandy? Does she even talk?" and other similar phrases. She didn't care that people didn't know her well. She was reasonably close with the other Ravenclaw girls in her year, since they shared a room together; Padma and Lisa always made an effort to include Mandy in any conversations they would have when she was there. What Mandy liked about being quiet, though, was that she always overheard people talking.

She overheard people talking, people would spill secrets in front of her because they didn't think she would pay attention, and she could pick up subtle facial and bodily language much better than the average person. Because of this, she knew many secrets about the other students at Hogwarts.

She knew that Su was in love with Lisa. She knew that Hannah and Neville were secretly together, but they didn't want to tell anybody quite yet. She knew that Amycus and Alecto Carrow had been caught coming out of empty classrooms together, and that most of the older Hogwarts students thought they were together. She knew that Astoria Greengrass wrote rude messages on the Carrows' chalkboards in the middle of the night. She knew that Morag had a Squib sister. She knew many, many things, and she kept them all hidden.

No one ever knew the secrets that Mandy hid; after all, she was the quiet one, and she wasn't about to tell anyone all the things that she knew.

xiv. Jack Sloper (mid-March)

"If you could do one impossible thing," Demelza said idly to Jack, "what would it be?" The two were laying on the grass near the Black Lake, taking advantage of one of the first not-freezing days of the year. They had bonded during their brief stints on the Gryffindor Quidditch team the previous year, and now their memberships in the D.A. this year.

Jack glanced over at her as she spoke, and the first impossible thing that popped into his mind involved Demelza Robins and alone time in the Room of Requirement. Deciding not to say that, though, since she might take it as inappropriate, he said the first non-Demi-related thing that popped into his mind. "Destroy You-Know-Who," he said slowly. If You-Know-Who was gone, then the Carrows would probably be removed from Hogwarts. If the Carrows weren't there, Demelza might actually be able to think of romance instead of all the other things that Jack knew constantly went through her head.

She nodded in response. "That's a good one. And then, if that happened, I'd make it so that Muggle-borns were on equal footing with half-bloods and purebloods."

Jack knew that was a big issue with her. Demelza was half-blood, technically - the daughter of a Muggle-born mother and a half-blood father, she fell under the realm of half-blood - but she had been raised by her Muggle grandparents, and identified much more with the Muggle-born community at Hogwarts, which was now nonexistent. "Good idea," he answered. "Who knows - maybe, when this is all over, you can do something like that."

"If this is ever over," Demelza replied, lapsing into silence as Jack watched her.

xv. Astoria Greengrass (late March)

Being out after curfew, in pre-Carrow days, was always exciting. There was no real threat of danger; after all, the worst detentions involved sorting through Potions supplies or cleaning up a dirty area of the castle. Astoria had left the Slytherin common room many times before this year, in the middle of the night, for no reason at all. Now, being out at night was scary, but now, Astoria had a reason to do so. What she did might have been trivial, compared to some of the things that the Gryffindors did, but at least she did something. More than she could say for the other Slytherins.

Leaving the Slytherin common room was easy. No one ever patrolled nearby, since no one expected Slytherins to be troublesome in any way. This made sense, for most of them weren't. Astoria was the exception to that rule.

She crept down the empty, dark, silent corridors, tightly gripping her wand, but not daring to do Lumos for fear of being seen. She made it to the Dark Arts classroom without noticing anybody, and tiptoed to the chalkboard, picking up a piece of chalk. Scrawling 'Amycus Carrow sucks' on the board did not take very long, and so she left the room within a minute of entering it.

Going back to the Slytherin common room was nerve-wracking, as her luck getting to the classroom had made her wary. She took extra care this time, pausing at even the slightest sounds, being completely sure that her footsteps were nearly silent. She made it back without running into anyone patrolling, though, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped back into the safety of the common room. One day, she might get caught and subjected to the Carrows' idea of a detention.

That day wouldn't be today, thankfully.

xvi. Owen Cauldwell (early April)

"I didn't do anything for April Fool's Day," Owen said darkly, sitting down across from Stewart Ackerley, his fellow fourth-year. The two boys had met on the train, and although Owen was in Hufflepuff and Stewart was in Ravenclaw, they had managed to remain close friends all that time.

"And is that a bad thing?" Stewart said dryly, sorting through a pile of books on the table.

"Yes, it's a bad thing," snapped Owen, loud enough so that Madam Pince glared in their direction. "Since I was six, I've been planning practical jokes for April Fool's Day. And this year, I didn't do a single thing, because I was too busy helping Rose to even think of anything. Not to mention that if I did anything, I'd get a week's detention."

Stewart grimaced. "I can fully understand why you were prank-free this year, with everything that's going on. And what on earth are you doing with Rose Zeller? She's a third year - how do you even know her?"

"We've seen each other in the common room often enough. And she's trying to steal pain-killing potions from Madam Pomfrey at night, to give to those who've come back from detention." Owen's voice was quiet now, and he glanced around him, not wanting anyone to overhear him talking about something that would earn him - and Rose - much more detention than anyone had received yet. "It's a great idea, you know it," he whispered as Stewart's expression turned disapproving. "I know you don't support what the Carrows are doing."

"I don't," Stewart said, "but I also don't think you two should risk something like that. If you were caught..."

"Well, we'll just have to make sure we aren't caught," Owen said, setting his jaw. There would be no discussion on the matter. He was helping Rose, and that was final.

xvii. Lisa Turpin (mid-April)

Lisa ran through the forest, her arms pumping, branches scratching her face, leaves crunching underfoot. She could hear Stephen right next to her, but she didn't dare to look; her eyes were focused straight ahead, focused on getting out of there. The Snatchers were pursuing them, and the question remained of what would happen if they were caught. Lisa didn't know, and she didn't want to know, either. They would get out of it - they had to, the alternative was much too horrible to imagine.

She leapt over a particularly large branch and heard a thud, but kept running for several meters until she realized that Stephen's footsteps were no longer matching hers. She whirled around, drawing her wand, and looked in the direction of where they had just come. Stephen was laying sprawled on the ground next to the large branch, and the Snatchers - four of them - were drawing close. "Go!" Stephen shouted. "Lisa, go - you can make it! Merlin, go!" He shot a spell at one of the Snatchers, causing the man to fall to the ground, clutching his arm.

Lisa paused, and then whirled on the spot, attempting to Disapparate, but to no avail. Damn it, she though,t in un-Lisa-like fashion. The Snatchers must have performed an Anti-Apparition Jinx. She turned to run, but looked back at Stephen one more time. Just as she did, she saw a flash of green light, and Stephen - who had been on the ground but almost sitting upright - slumped to the ground as it struck him.

The Snatchers cheered, slapping each other's hands and backs, and Lisa ran from the scene, tears pricking her eyes. Stephen Cornfoot was dead at eighteen years old. Lisa finally managed to Disapparate away from the forest, all the while knowing that she was no longer the innocent, naive girl her roommates teased her about being.

xviii. Ritchie Coote (late April)

"Oi, Nev!" Ritchie called out, waving Neville over. Ritchie was lounging on a hammock two meters off the ground in the corner of the Room of Requirement, where about twenty of the D.A. members were currently staying. Not all of them had felt the need to seek shelter in this room, but many of them had chosen to - not out of necessity, but out of simple want to avoid the Carrows, who had gotten even worse in the last month. "Nev!" Ritchie shouted again, when Neville didn't instantly come over.

"What is it?" Neville said, walking over to where Ritchie was. He was tall enough so that he didn't have to crane his neck all the way back to look up at Ritchie.

"Didja get food from Ab?"

Neville sighed. "It's mid-afternoon, Ritch, we don't need food quite yet. I was seeing if there was any news."

"Ah, you're boring." He chucked a pair of socks at Neville's head, but the older boy easily dodged them, looking up at the ceiling as he walked away. Ritchie grinned, relaxing on the hammock even more. It felt good to be here in the Room of Requirement, not worrying about punishment from the Carrows. It was nice to be surrounded by just other D.A. members, and to be able to talk completely freely, with no fear of being overheard. He doubted that he had been this comfortable all year.

He wondered how long the comfort would last. What would happen when the year was over? Would the D.A. just continue hiding in the Room of Requirement, right under Snape and the Carrows' ugly noses, until it came time to do something huge? Would this last forever?

Sometimes, he wished that they could stay there forever, because it was better than going back out there and facing the real world.

xix. Morag MacDougal (early May)

The words rang in Morag's ears. 'If any of-age students wish to stay and fight, they may'. Or at least, she knew Professor McGonagall had said something similar. She wasn't quite sure of the exact words, for they were ringing and repeating in her ears until they sounded like nonsense. The idea of staying and fighting Death Eaters sent a cold chill up her spine. There was a chance she might die. There was a chance she might be so seriously injured that she would never be able to be with the people she loved again.

She watched as the whole Slytherin table stood up and left, and she watched as not one of the Gryffindors wanted to leave, and the younger ones had to be escorted out. She didn't move from her seat, even when the younger Ravenclaws started leaving. She stayed there, like a true D.A. member, not saying anything about how two fifth-years were quietly plotting how they would sneak back in to fight.

Morag was terrified for her life. She was scared that what they had practiced in the D.A. all year long might not be good enough. But she was determined, more than anything, to stand up for what she believed in. She knew in her heart that the D.A.'s cause was completely good and right, and the Death Eaters were wrong. And for once in her life, she wanted to make a stand, and she would do so.

She took a deep breath, and drew her wand, standing tall with the others. The D.A. finally had their chance. They would fight - and she hoped with all her might that they would win.

xx. The students who stayed and fought

All of the people who fought in the Battle of Hogwarts against the Death Eaters were heroes. It didn't matter whether they lived or died. It didn't matter when or if they were rendered incapable to fight any more. It didn't matter if they had been injured or if they walked away with barely a scrape. They were all heroes, all immortalized in the Wizarding world as people who stood up for what was right.

Many of them were no more than children. The entire D.A. fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, even those who were underage; they snuck back into Hogwarts to fight, even though they weren't supposed to. Other students returned as well, even some students who had even been too young to be D.A. members, even those who weren't even in their teens yet. There were even a few Slytherins who came back and fought against the Death Eaters.

All of them made contributions. All of them were important. All of them will be remembered.

I am so happy with this fic. I would honestly say that this is my best work yet, and it was also very easy for me to write. My own head!canon factors into this very heavily (for instance, if you read Secret Enemy and its follow-ups, you'll recognize this version of Astoria), and I adore writing about minor characters like these. Plus, Hogwarts-during-DH is one of my favorite things to write about, since I think that's such an interesting time period.

A couple little things:

Yes, I realize that these are all pretty minor characters, apart from Astoria, Blaise, Theodore, and Romilda. I assure you, though, they are all canon characters. It's just the details of their personality that I made up, since most of them are nothing but a name.

Not all the people mentioned here were in the '97-'98 D.A.. Those who didn't have the D.A. specifically mentioned in their section, you can assume that they are not members.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and know which section you liked the most!