Chapter 14

Neville

Pandemonium had broken out all over the school long before I made it to the Dark Arts classroom. Everywhere you looked, people were screaming, covering their ears from excruciating wails, running for their lives from fireworks exploding all over the place, struggling not to puke at the smells billowing through the hallways. No one had been spared, Death Eaters, DA, Controllers, teachers, students, everyone was struck by something.

DA members in particular were putting on just a big of a show as the Slytherins and Death Eaters. They were deliberately getting covered in the worst of the sludge, singed by firecrackers, passing out from sleep powder, and were screaming about it, ensuring everyone knew it happened. Meanwhile, with the area surrounding the Slytherin Dungeons untouched, and with us having considered where most Slytherins would be right now, though they were being as uproarious about, they'd been hit the least by far. Just a little trick Seamus thought would be useful for redirecting the blame.

The first part of Ginny's plan was going off without a hitch. The only downside to it was that so many hallways were made tricky to cross and others were packed with panicking students, making it difficult not to get trampled on my way up to the classroom.

"Look at my hair!" Ginny screamed, startling me. She'd appeared right out of nowhere. I couldn't stop snickering as we continued pushing ahead, getting a reproachful look in return. Her hair was so full of slime that it looked pure, neon green. "Don't you dare laugh at me! do you know how long this will take to wash out? AUGH!"

"Oh, like you're only one with problems!" I retorted, holding up my collar to reveal feathers growing out of my skin as a Death Eater tried to make his way to us through the throng of students only to be slowly dragged away. "At least you weren't hit with metamorphic gunk! I'll be shedding feathers for weeks!"

"AAHHH!"

"OH MERLIN! The smell!"

"Can't...breathe." Our little argument was cut short as we made it up the stairs only to stumble into a hallway filled with the most foul smell I'd ever had the displeasure to come across and a flood of sludge rolling down from the other side. This time, it was completely impossible to break from the crowd, not that we wanted to stay for that, and were swept off back the way we came. Reaching the top of the stairs, we finally wrenched ourselves from the masses and headed off through another corridor.

We had taken into account just how much trouble getting anywhere in these conditions was likely to take, but it still took a lot longer than we'd hoped to reach the room. At least for the two of us. By the time we reached the Dark Arts hallway, screams of spells and explosive lights were already all over the place.

"WHAAA-OOOOPPPHHHFFF!" Ginny and I stopped dead in our tracks as Parkinson was flung out of the room by what looked like a whip wrapped around her torso, the leathery fabric unwinding and retreating as she rolled across the floor. An attack Hannah had grown particularly fond of.

"STOP THEM!"

"AAHHH!"

"DUCK ALREADY!" More and more screams, these ones of pain, fury or defiance, as opposed to the rest of the school's fear filled ones, bellowed through the damaged door as we joined in. Or went to, before deciding that we were of more use where we were.

The only prank contraptions put anywhere in this hallway were the sirens, but you'd think we'd added every destructive thing imaginable in the room. Broken tables were everywhere, chair legs were swinging around like Beater bats at more than half the room's population and there was more bursts of light than there were when the Weasley twins struck the DA's detention with a life-sized dragon made of fireworks.

Most of the Hufflepuffs in the classroom, including a few DA members, along with the odd Ravenclaw, were ducking for cover in the corners, trying to stay safely out of the way. Rivers and the others weren't close to Hannah or Terry's league yet, so the best thing they could do was keep up the innocent act here.

Hannah and Susan on the other hand, were pretending to be innocent whenever focus were on them and laying waste to all the Slytherins attempting to help Carrow at every instant that they could. The near constant movement of everyone in the classroom was the perfect cover for them to hit and run successfully undiscovered.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the room, Terry and Fay were on the warpath. Wanting to be an Auror, Fay had been learning every combat spell she could since second year and Terry had reflexes comparable to a professional dueller and an understanding of how to make even the most simple and harmless of spell useful in confrontation. Back to back, they made a deadly duo, causing chaos all around the room of unprepared, once cocky adversaries.

The Slytherins were having their butts handed to them. However, the Death Eaters were another story. In addition to Carrow, there were two other adult dark wizards watching over the room, which had apparently become a habit ever since Ernie and I busted a kid out of here over a week ago, and while Terry, Hannah, Susan and Fay were able to hold them back and distract them quite well, they still hadn't managed to take the three down and Terry and Fay were slowly getting forced closer and closer to the far corner of the room. They'd soon be pinned. The four of them could probably take the Death Eaters on with a pretty good fight, but the Slytherins simply continued to get in the way and the Hufflepuffs revealing themselves, as they would to fight such highly trained fighters, would only cause more problems later. Of course, now that we were here and Padma and Lisa were moving in, opening a space in the crowds running nearby...

"Now!" I hissed already raising my wand, Ginny right in step with me. Ignoring the Death Eaters, we simultaneously shot reductor spells straight at the ceiling. None of our enemies even noticed them until they reached and struck the stone.

BOOM!

"AAHHH!" Fortunately for us, they did notice the resulting explosion and falling chunks of stone. We weren't trying to kill after all. Panicking, almost everyone in the room turned their attention to the falling stones and shot spell after spell, stopping or obliterating each and every piece. And that left plenty of an opening for me and Ginny.

Casting silently I quickly shot flipping spells at Carrow and one Death Eater, catching them completely unaware, while Ginny struck the third with a jelly legs curse. Flipped off their feet and stumbling off balance, none of them were prepared as Ginny, Fay and Terry attacked with a stun charm and two bombardment curses, knocking all of them out, some more painfully than others.

"Don't mind us. Just keep working on that roof." Terry grinned chipperly, swaggering his way out, passed just about every glaring Slytherin as they held up or destroyed stone plates. A little more of the ceiling was starting to crumble from the damage. Great, that did a bit more than I'd intended. I hope no one falls through from above.

With Fay right behind him, Terry joined us and the four of us bolted down the hall to the Ravenclaw girls, with me only lingering to ensure that Hannah was alright and on top of things. The blonde Prefect had already taken charge, even working with some students to retain the ceiling's structural integrity. What a girl, she even managed to get a good few Slytherins in line. I only waited until she gave me a small nod and a grin before taking off and letting her get back to work. Honestly though...I wouldn't have minded watching her in action for a few more minutes.

Still, it was best that I didn't stick around. Me, Ginny, Seamus, all of us that had been in the dungeons needed to keep all our involvement in anything today under wraps. Us getting caught using the chaos to our advantage would have the DA immediately getting the blame for all this. It was best that we did everything we could to keep them from pegging this on us.

Which was why every DA member was duplicating a very familiar cackle and writing 'Peeves was here' in whatever filthy substance was used near them whenever all the attention was off of them.

Well, we've definitely kept everyone's attention. I mused, sprinting into the crowd and heading towards the Room of Requirement while Fay got herself lost in the crowd and the Ravenclaw girls headed to the library. Let's just hope that the others were as successful as we were.

...

As it turned out, heading straight to the Room of Requirement was impossible. Far too many of the hallways were covered in muck or filled with distressed students and frustrated teachers. More than once, we had to take a detour to avoid fuming Death Eaters looking for someone to punish. And of course, when he was done in the chambers and saw all the 'fun' being had in the rest of the castle, Peeves went on a riot. You know how he really turned it up during the time Umbridge was Headmistress? Well, one look at the pandemonium we'd set off, and he made that time period look like the era of his best behaviour. Needless to say, everyone truly did believe that this was all his doing and were cursing whoever was dumb enough to give him the tools to do it.

With all the avoidance issues that popped up, we actually ended up outside at one point, dragged there by the masses, and didn't even get close to the seventh floor until all the duplicated prank toys faded away and the original sirens' wails had faded from unbearable to just annoying. Even then, we had to sneak around a little. It would be really bad if the Death Eaters were made aware of the Room of Requirement and our use of it. Honestly, I wasn't sure how at least Snape didn't know about it after fifth year, but I wasn't going to question or ruin our good luck.

"The others must have already gotten back." Ginny mused as we finally made it to the right hallway, her eyes instantly narrowing in on the visible door. That made some of the tension in me relax. I was really worried about them. To be honest, I absolutely hated the plan. If Peeves hadn't shot from left to right like a madman, even with everything we did to hide the proof, we'd probably would have been labelled the perpetrators and the consequences would have been dire. But what worried me even more was the fact that I was sending three of us into the biggest stronghold the Yeerks had at about ground level in Hogwarts, with a plan that required some of them to demorph in the heart of it, and no idea how many Controllers were sticking around, like the Hork-Bajir, or coming up from the pool, unaware of what had happened above. It was the only way we could think of doing anything to the chamber of course and we had to do something, but it was still ridiculously risky.

Still, neither I, nor Terry, did truly calm down until I opened the door to find the all the others kicking back around the room. Seamus looked a little bored and Zabini was staring blankly at the wall, but other than that, everyone was in reasonably high spirits.

"So, no problems I take it?" I asked, grinning a little as I took a seat, Ginny following suit next to me after she locked the door, making it disappear from sight on the other side of the wall, while Terry flopped down next to Anthony. "No one was spotted? The ears are safely in place?"

"Those who got close to the trap door won't remember what knocked them out." Seamus shrugged. He and Luna had been guarding the forbidden corridor since not long after the pranks began, beginning as soon as they were sure all the Controllers had vacated the area. If he said our little tactic was still a secret, I believed it.

"The Hork-Bajir almost caused a few problems. They stumbled around randomly and nearly bumped into me a few times." Ernie stated, worrying me again before he shrugged. "But we got around that. All the ears were set up and no one will ever know we were there. What damage we did to their tunnel, well I doubt they'll notice Anthony's runes or realise the danger they possess even if they do and the cave in will be blamed on reckless Taxxons having a snack of themselves."

"Runes?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow. "What Runes? They weren't part of the plan."

"Runes that will send tremors right through the tunnel when they're powered up." Anthony answered calmly. "Don't worry, their camouflaged in with the rock and aren't charged, so they won't do a thing right now and probably won't be recognised even if they are noticed. They're just set in place for when we do want to destroy that tunnel. You know, save us time later."

"Nice." Seamus grinned broadly, raising his hand out for Anthony to fist bump.

'So Taxxons showed up?" I asked with a frown. That wasn't expected.

"Yeah, but like I said, that's no issue." Ernie waved off. "I stabbed one and the others started eating it. They never even made it out of the tunnel. Zabini made it look like they caved the thing in on themselves in their scuffle. So, how'd your end go?"

"Even more dramatically than expected." I groaned, grimacing as I scratched my arms to find more feathers. At least they'd started moulting now, a few falling out of my sleeves. "It took forever to get anywhere! And I'm not even going to tell you how bad it got after Peeves decided to join in on the fun back above ground. At the end of it, I'm surprised a second poltergeist wasn't born from all the chaos."

"That bad huh?" Anthony asked, scrunching his face up.

"It's a total riot." Ginny nodded, scowling as she tried and failed to get the green gunk out of her hair. "Even with the duplicates fading away, it'll take days to clean up the mess. I even saw a swarm of Cornish pixies fly in through the windows while we were outside, so I doubt it's even going to end anytime soon. Be on the lookout for those little pests."

"Aww, man." Anthony groaned loudly, surprising us all as he threw his head back onto his seat and stared miserably up at the ceiling. We all turned to stare at him with curious frowns or raised eyebrows, but he didn't look like he was going to explain that exclamation anytime soon, he stubbornly ignoring us. Though, through the corner of my eye, I did noticed Zabini's blank face slip into a slightly guilty and sympathetic look, if only for a few seconds. I'm guessing there is a really embarrassing or disturbing story there, but I let it go. It wasn't my business. Besides, after those pixies hung me from the ceiling in second year, I could fully appreciate not wanting to talk about experiences with the nuisances.

"Sooo..." Terry started slowly, drawing everyone's attention away from his roommate, and turned a raised eyebrow to me. "Are we going to activate those ears now? Seems as good a time as any to me."

Especially since it gets prying teenagers' attention away from your best mate. I thought with smirk as I nodded, turning pointedly to Ginny. The youngest Weasley smirked right back as she pulled a box from her robes and opened it to reveal a good number of inch long fake ears. Placing them on the table before us, the two of us, Seamus and Luna quickly cast a few engorgement and vocal enhancement charms, allowing all of us to hear them clearly all around the room, before pressing a finger to the earlobe of each one, activating them.

"...with buffoons!" Everyone bar Luna and Zabini jumped as Slughorn's furious yelling bombarded us. I hadn't actually expected him to be back there just yet. We knew that he would go there soon, he had to check the damage done by the resident spook himself if he wanted a full understanding of the damage. Teenage wizards and specialist adults could only tell him so much, he had the greatest amount of magical talent and knowledge of all the hosts. But still, I'd thought he'd wait a bit, especially considering that the teachers' attention would be demanded right now to regain order.

Good thing we hooked in now.

"Your hosts are amongst the most durable of all the species we've obtained and yet you act like clowns! Every trap sprung but your own stupidity!" The low, guttural growls of the alien Controllers were present with every word spoken, but not one of them dared argue. It was a complete and total tongue lashing.

"Sir...we..."

"Spit it out!" Slughorn practically screamed. I could practically hear the Controller quivering under what had to be an absolutely livid gaze.

"The runes are all gone!" The underling said quickly and nervously, almost connecting the words together. "They've been smudged or slathered with slime and deteriorated."

"DAMN IT ALL!" A few Controllers actually let out low screams right as resounding BOOM came through the ears so loud that actually had Seamus, Ernie and I jumping further back into our seats in startled fear. It looked like Slughorn had blown something up. "The traps are all sprung, many of the chess pieces have cracks in their armour, the moronic Taxxons have caused a small cave in, half the wards have been disrupted and now we have to set the runes up all over again! Has ANYTHING been left untouched?"

"The basin was left alone." A feminine voice spoke up, though it was so quiet and hesitant that I almost missed it. "All the Yeerks in it are perfectly fine as well."

"And the first chamber wasn't touch at all." Another one added, this one much more masculine. I'd say a fifth or sixth year student. "All the wards are still in place, so at least we should have to worry about anyone unwelcome coming down here."

"I suppose. Though coming here is a tricky matter in itself right now." Slughorn conceded before growling again. "The mess down here is an irritation, but the state of the castle is horrific. More than half the blasted pranks fade away and it's still difficult to move around. It'll take days to clean up everything that happened before the pixies showed up and don't even get me started on them!"

"Hmm, it seems my little plan was more effective than we thought in more ways than one." Ginny smiled proudly as Slughorn only continued to rant about spell resistant goo and flying troublemakers. "Everyone is going to be busy cleaning and looking out for pixies."

"So much hindering movement through the castle will make capture and discretion much trickier." Zabini agreed, his voice remaining calm, but a little amusement shining in his eyes. "Though it will be an issue for your band of merry followers too."

"A small price to pay." Luna replied, a small, content smile gracing her face. "There are always other ways to fight for your cause. Perhaps it will be good for the DA to discover just how much little things can do."

I was a bit confused by what she meant by that, but it was quickly put out of my mind as Slughorn finally stopped his rant. All of us went deadly quiet as he deep, calming breaths rumbled from the ears.

"Have everyone do as much to restore this place as they can as quickly as they can. Snape is already planning how to respond to the work of that cackling nightmare. The time of every person in the castle is going to be...limited for a while. And I don't care what Visser Three says. The tunnel was technically completed and the need for alternate, unnoticed transportation is become more and more apparent. We will begin infesting House Elves as soon as all this has died down."

"House Elves?" Seamus cried, wide eyed, as the rest of us tensed, gasped and hissed. "That's bad. They go everywhere and can come at any time. They're not even noticed most of the time."

"The anti-apparition wards don't bother them." Luna added, for once looking really troubled. "Taking people to and from the Yeerk pool would be simple."

"And no one would suspect them of attacking even if they did see them." Terry bit his lip, looking around with glare. "They almost never fight or cause any trouble at all. They could easily capture new hosts."

"Then we'll just have to stop it from happening." Ginny responded. Though while her voice made her sound confident, her face told of a much grimmer story.

"If a teacher or student calls or approaches them, they will obey." Zabini said coolly, staring blankly at the far wall. "Infesting them will be far too simple for us to stop."

"Unless we could find a way to make them wary of approaching people for a while." Ginny retorted with much more intensity. "Hermione actually managed to deter every House Elf except Dobby from coming to Gryffindor tower at one point, according to Harry. Surely we can figure something out. Dobby would help in an instant, especially if we said it help Harry."

"Then we'll talk to him at the first opportunity. See if he can work with and protect the other elves." I decided. It wouldn't be enough on its own, I knew that, but it was a start and would buy us a little more time to figure something else out. "For now, everyone shut up and listen."

We listened intently for another half an hour rarely making a sound. Slughorn had left long before we stopped and we didn't get all that much more on their plans, but we were still able to add a few more names to our list of known Controllers, including, unfortunately, the infestation of a new host. Sue Li, a Ravenclaw Seventh year. It was beyond horrible just to listen to it happen. I couldn't imagine how Anthony must have felt, having actually watched it happen to Parvati and Lavender.

Apparently she'd been using the main staircase at just the right time for the Controllers to catch her without anyone's notice, the area being mostly avoided due to all the gunk on and around many levels of the stairs. She was conscious and screaming, pleading to be let go the whole time. Anthony was pale as a ghost and crying the whole time while Terry looked ready to break everything in sight. Even Luna looked particularly distraught, not that the rest of us weren't feeling the same. Zabini himself looked disgusted and saddened as he placed a comforting hand on Anthony's shoulder.

After that, I called it a day. We got what we needed, we didn't need to hear any more suffering that couldn't stop. Besides, if most of us were out of the public eye too long, the Death Eaters were going to come breathing down our necks.

So, shutting off the ears and hiding them in what looked like a book, we headed out of the Room, mostly in pairs. Our goals were accomplished and then some today. Now, all that mattered was making sure our cover wasn't blown.

...

It turned out that our disappearance was never even noticed in all the confusion. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day as all the teachers and the older portion of the school was drafted into trying to remove the more hazardous substances left behind. Not an easy task, both because the Weasley twins had added some unknown spells to make it more difficult to vanish or remove and because the pixies were still running riot and undoing just about everything we'd cleaned. In the end, Snape demanded all cleaning be postponed in favour of removing the blue troublemakers first. By the time the sun went down the pixies were finally believed to be gone and a few of the most used hallways were cleared enough to walk through, but most would only take single file.

We were smart enough to use just about all the original, messy prank toys in the most used areas hit.

By the time dinner appeared on the tables in the Great Hall, most people were starving, myself included. Still, no one dared touch it. Snape had risen from his seat and was staring around coldly, silently demanding everyone's attention.

"Listen carefully, for I cannot be bothered to say this a second time." He started stonily. "We have seen quite a bit of commotion today. It...appears that Peeves was responsible for most." He stated. However, he didn't look like he believed it for a second. That scared me more than a little. If Snape looked into it, he would probably find the truth in no time. He was that kind of man that was quite happy to delve into other people's business. Even their minds. If he pointed the finger at us... "However, that does not explain where he managed to obtain duplicated contraband. Therefore, every student will have their belongings searched tomorrow morning by their Head of House and either one of our Professor Carrows or our guards." Well, that was expected. Actually, we were expecting the inspection to happen tonight and had already hid what little we had left in the broom closet...McGonagall had spoken to me in a few nights back and a Notice-Me-Not spell.

It was weird that Snape was leaving it so long considering all that disruption we'd caused today, but I shrugged it off quickly enough. Plenty of mess still remained and even if the pixies had all been gathered up, Peeves was still up to something somewhere. Maybe he just wanted to speed up the cleanup.

"On another note...Boot, Dunbar!" Snape snapped, causing Fay to glare up him defiantly. Over at the next table, Terry visibly tensed. "The two of you have each lost your Houses one hundred points for leaving detention prematurely, attacking the staff and classmates and damaging the ceiling! You will also receive detention three nights a week with Professor McGonagall and Filch for the next two months. In addition, you shall have detention on Saturday afternoons assisting Hagrid with his duties for one month. Finally, if either of you causes the slightest bit of trouble before your detentions are completed, you will be suspended and held within the dungeons for its duration!"

"Ouch." Seamus muttered, wincing guiltily down at his plate. I was feeling pretty bad about it myself. It was after all, part of our plan that the two of them got caught in the first place, even if they did volunteer for it. It was the perfect way to distract the Carrows and Slytherin Controllers.

Still, it wasn't the worst that could happen, a fact that had both the Carrows glaring daggers at Snape. They'd just had their positions as Heads of Punishment overruled. They would have kept the two of them for themselves, to torture of have others torture. Filch's detentions would be horrid for them, most likely involving cleaning without magic with the very possible threat of a whip coming down on them, but Hagrid's would be almost pleasurable and McGonagall's...I didn't know, but considering the circumstances of their offenses, I didn't see her doing anything too taxing or unpleasant to them.

The only real threat was being locked out of the their Houses afterward and with the list of spells and counter spells Zabini had given us, those wards weren't going to be a problem for much longer.

"Now, eat and get back to your Common rooms. I do not want to see a single student out after curfew tonight." Snape went on slowly and menacingly, pierce everyone with a cold, terrifying glare that had most of us shivering. Even Seamus and me. "If I catch even a single student out in the halls, regardless of House affiliation, a single portrait alight or a even one lousy joke shop toy go off...I will have our guards and the Carrows set about to perform disciplinary action upon every student in the school. The only students to be wandering the halls after dinner at all are the Prefects, who are being recruited to assist the teachers continue to clean up the state of the castle. That is all."

With that, he spent just enough time necessary to pierce everyone with one last vicious glare before stalking his way back to Dumbledore's chair with his usual bat-like style. Still, even then, no one in the Great Hall said a word, opting to shovel their food down and head back to our House common rooms. It was probably the first time in history that the entire school was complying with Snape's demands.

...

"Dorm, sweet dorm." Seamus sighed. You'd think he'd found paradise as he jumped onto his bed and snuggled into the blankets. When he finally came up for air, the smile on his face was one of full bliss. "Oh, you never realise just how much you love your soft sheets, feather mattress and snug, warm blanket until you're shoved into a cold, ill prepared dungeon."

"Or the privacy offered by the four poster's curtains." I agreed, chuckling as he hugged his pillow. "But must you make out with the furniture again?" He'd been doing this every evening since we got back into the tower. I swear, the first night back, he actually kissed almost every inch his pillow.

"I'll stop when your guests get here." Waving me off uncaringly, he didn't even stop rubbing his face in the pillow. A second later, his blanket was wrapped all around him too.

Shaking my head and smiling, I just let him be and walked over to my own bed. If he wanted to make a fool of himself, then he was completely free to. Besides, it did take me three times the amount of time and effort to pull myself from my own bed the last few days. I did know the feeling, even if I didn't go nuts like that at every opportunity.

Instead, I opted to tend to my plants. I was relieved to find out that Jason had taken care of them for me while I was gone. That first night I came back, I almost didn't want to enter the dormitory for fear of seeing my beloved plants dead. You can imagine my joy when I saw them strong and healthy. I had tears running down my face as I thanked Jason. I made quite the scene in common room too, embarrassing myself and the younger Gryffindor.

Gently tracing my fingers over their stems and leaves, I raised my wand and cast a weak water charm over them, lightly bathing their leaves and soil.

I kept all of my focus on them for I don't know how long, pruning away a few leaves and adding some new topsoil. It's important to keep your plants well fed and the old dirt only has so much nutrients. I was so into my work, that I didn't notice any new arrivals until an owl had landed on my shoulder.

"Bwah!" And almost dislodged it right into a wall with a violent jerk when it's clawed feet and pressure came down on me.

"Hahaha! You should really pay more attention Neville." Seamus laughed as moved away from a newly opened window and back to his bed where a small, blue feathered bird had come to rest on the covers. Kneeling in front of his trunk, he quickly pulled out a shirt and sweatpants before tossing them on the bed and closing the curtains.

/Sorry Neville. I thought Seamus had mentioned our arrival./ Luna apologised serenely as she fluttered to the floor and shocked both of us as she immediately started demorphing. While all of us had been forced to lose a bit of modesty during our week in the dungeon, Seamus was still the only one ok being seen naked by everyone. The rest of us always waited until at least the members of the other gender had turned away before demorphing.

"Luna, you could have warned us." I cried, quickly turning around with Seamus doing the same. "Hang on, let us see if we have anything in here that will fit you first."

/Oh, just a jumper would be fine./ Luna responded airily, not slowing her transformation down at all, if the crunching and ripping noises behind me were anything to go by. Though they could have been actually all coming Seamus' bed. /I'm not as lacking in fabric as you would believe./

"Say what?" Seamus asked, turning right back around.

"Shay!"

"What, you heard her! She just claimed to be wearing clothes!" Seamus exclaimed, waving a hand toward her. "And last I checked, her skin's not green."

"Green?" I asked, turning around, albeit much more slowly and hesitantly than Seamus had. Sure enough, as her feathers rapidly shrunk and disappeared, dark green and white fabric revealed itself and grew with her form. By the time she was done a minute and a half later, it was apparent that it was a swimsuit. "You...you figured out how to morph clothes already?" I gaped incredulously.

"Well, I did have something skin tight to practice with." Luna answered dreamily, not showing a single sign of discomfort as...well basically Seamus and I were staring at her whole body. Not that we...well, at least I was trying to be a pervert or anything, but neither of us, nor Ginny at the least, had even tried morphing clothes yet. None of us had spandex or anything close to skin tight. We're witches and wizards for Merlin's sake, our culture tends to like loose and flowing robes. The newer generations had lessened on them somewhat, but we still wore loose, comfortable pants and shirts. Of course Luna would be the only Pureblood to choose to don formfitting, Muggle swimwear.

"If you guys are willing to put your eyes back into your heads now..." Anthony spoke up, pulling back the curtains. Almost forgetting he was there, I turned right around immediately at the sound of his voice to find him sitting cross legged on the bed in Seamus' clothes and a raised eyebrow pointed right at us.

Blushing embarrassedly, I moved straight to my wardrobe and pulled out a large sweater, while Seamus didn't even bat an eyelash, simply giving Anthony a grin.

"Oh, and you didn't stare the first time you saw her like that?" He asked mischievously.

"This is the first time and she's standing right there." Was Anthony's response, his disapproving look not shifting even slightly while Luna took and put on the sweater with a soft smile. "This is Luna, do remember to be respectful please."

"Wow, our little boy's found his backbone. Reprimanding me and not even stuttering. I'm so proud." Seamus said playfully, wiping away a fake tear. "Now he's cute and has an attitude. You my boy, are going to be a heartbreaker." He added with a wink. Anthony seemed to have no response to that other than blushing. "Ah, but still bashful I see. That will only make your admirers love you even more."

"Seamus, stop teasing Anthony." I stated, though a big grin was spread right across my face the whole time. "If you must continuing flirting with someone, your pillow is still right there."

"Yeah, but I get better responses from the lovely Ravenclaw blonds you've brought in." Seamus quickly replied, grinning at each of our friends, Luna staring right back with a dreamy, amused gaze while Anthony only blushed harder.

"Later Shay." I just shook my head at him before calming down. After all, I didn't ask them to take the risk of coming here for flirting. "Anything happening in Ravenclaw Tower?"

"No, the Controllers are simply acting like their hosts." Luna answered immediately. Most people would claim that she looked just as detached as ever, but I'd grown to notice the subtle differences. The way she grew slightly rigid, the more calculating look in her eye, the spilt second she bit her lip. She was very serious at the moment, down to Earth and focused. "The Death Eaters haven't shown any interest in us. Terry has been left alone and is currently in the company of Lisa, Michael and Stephen."

"Good. That's really good." I sighed in relief. The Yeerks had already tried to infest him once more since the night we were released, though Padma and Anthony had quickly intervened. Since then, watching out for him was a job we'd all taken seriously. With Snape's threat hanging in the air and so much focus being placed on the mess of the school, I'd worried that a few unnoticed Controller might have made another attempt. But I guess I worried for nothing. I guess even the Yeerks were too wary of crossing Snape. "So, what about the cleanup?" I moved on, turning to Anthony. "Anything worth mentioning?"

"Slughorn was extremely persistent about a particular stairway being cleared first." He answered, staring intently. I knew instantly which one he was talking about. The main stairway connecting their new territories. "Snape intended to start on areas more heavily hit, but gave in and let Slughorn take Sinistra, Babbling and go get some of the new Death Eater apprentices to start work there. It is a major stairway, probably the most used of all after all. But apart from that, no. Ernie and I both checked on Slughorn at one point and their group had stayed hard at work cleaning the whole time, mostly near and on the third floor area. Sludge, swamps and slime still cover plenty of the areas of course."

"Great. A night where everyone's plans are on hold in favour of janitor work." Seamus stated happily.

"Even ours." I reminded him, though he didn't look all that upset about that. He was enjoying the R&R. "That means there are plenty of portraits still unprotected." That reminder quickly dampened his mood.

"Which is why I had Ernie, Hannah and Padma help me place alarm spells on every hallway, corridor and room anywhere near Yeerk territory that we could." Anthony responded, grinning proudly. "If so much as one spark goes off in any of them, a horribly loud alarm will wail loud enough to have half the staff running. I informed Professors McGonagall and Flitwick of the plan already, they both approved." He added as an afterthought as the rest of us smiled at him. "We can have the DA continue protecting portraits tomorrow and add more alarms while walking to classes. It's not like setting up the alarms takes nearly as much time as protecting each portrait and they'll last more than long enough to set more permanent protection spells in place."

"Simple, but brilliant. I love sneaky Goldstein." Seamus smiled proudly. "The Yeerks get a headache and then busted. What could be better?"

"Not much, given the circumstances." I said happily with a proud grin of my own. "You organise some pretty good plays when you get into it Anthony. I wish we brought this out of you long ago."

"Well, it was a move I could make without anyone's notice." Anthony muttered bashfully, picking at Seamus' blanket. "And the other Prefects are always happy to listen and help me. Besides, it's just a small trap."

"With rather large effects." Luna stated calmly as she stared right at him knowingly. "Something Zabini or Terry would have done. A simple, unseen act that could have a very damaging outcome for the Yeerks. One that could possibly be used against them outside the original intent. The marks of a superior strategist."

"Can't be denied." Seamus agreed, clapping the shyly grinning Anthony on the back. "You've come a long way my friend. From wimpy and unsure to a confident and strong. And a good reprimander to boot, if what I've heard about that meeting you Prefects organised is right. And you even got Peeves to play nice with you! You could keep just about anyone in line now."

"Except you." Anthony retorted, though he was still grinning that bashful grin.

"Well, no one can control Shay." I chuckled as my roommate puffed up his chest proudly. "He's right though, you really stepped up. You made quite a good leader. Not many could rein our rebellious organisation in."

"Thanks, but I'm very happy that you guys are back to take that off my shoulders." Anthony smiled softly. "A strategist I can be, but I don't like being the leader. Handling that kind of pressure...it's just not me."

"It's not really me either. Even Harry hated it." I nodded understandably. "If you want to take a step back, that's fine, but still, it's good to know that you can do it when you need to. Just like Ginny, Luna and me."

The Ravenclaws left long after that. Even Anthony, who was still blushing bright as a candle at all the praise he'd gotten, hadn't been spending much time within their tower and was keen to relax with his housemates. Besides, a random inspection of any House could happen at any time, so it was best if they headed back.

Watching them leave, I was really tempted to morph owl and follow them. As birds, they looked so relaxed and free, something that we'd all felt the need to experience again for a long time and the cleaning induced reprieve in our enemies' movements was the perfect opportunity to.

"You know what? Bugger it." I decided, drawing Seamus' curiosity as I yanked off my tie and turned to him with a smile. "What do you say we go grab Ginny and take to the skies? See how you go with that new owl morph of yours?"

"Sounds like a plan." Seamus smirked, already heading for the door. Smiling after him, I quickly set the pillows on our beds and cast the glamour charm Terry taught me to create the illusion of the two of us sleeping. By the time the other two had ran back into the room, I'd already ditched most of my clothes and was more than halfway to owl form.

/Hurry it up guys./ I called as the last of my changes settled. Spreading my wings, I shot straight out the window. /I'll see you out there./

"Show off!" Ginny called happily after me, laughing as I pulled every fancy aerial trick I knew. It consisted of about three.

I don't think I'd ever felt so good as I did when the others finally joined me. We had the time of our lives, racing, comparing moves and just simply gliding on the wind. We'd earned it. This was likely going to be the only time we would truly have a reprieve in these wars anytime soon, I made sure that we had fun throughout it. The day was ours, completely ours. Our traps and spy network was all in place and the Yeerks were none the wiser. The chaos we'd made had turned the Death Eater guards into cleaners and both enemies were far too busy with the need to remove our mess to cause any harm. Peeves had taken all the blame for the disaster, leaving us free and clear of more Death Eaters. This was our day.

And we had best enjoy it, because the war only just beginning. Even harder times than we'd already experienced lay very close down the road. We weren't going to be this happy and free of problems again for a long time.

It was best to take every moment that we can. So I let all my worries go and just flew. And I never felt more alive.

AN: Well, that's the final chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed the story. Thanks again to those that reviewed the story, I'll probably never stop reminding people that I appreciate it.

Well, I guess that's just about all there is to say. I guess I will say that Magical Animorphs 2 will follow Harry's group. I'm not sure when that will appear, but I will try to get it going sometime soon.