Jeremy couldn't help it. He always seemed to lose control when he heard anyone mention the word. The word that made his skin crawl. The word that made him want to scream and stamp his feet and cause whoever had dared utter it the worst kind of pain. The word that gave him such hatred that he absolutely knew that he could use any unforgivable curse on whoever had said it, even the killing curse, with perfect precision. Mudblood.

So that was why Jeremy was currently being practically forced to stay in his seat by Cali and Roger, who flanked him and were pushing his arms dangerously hard against the desk as Alecto Carrow spewed forth "information" about the importance of blood supremacy in his first ever muggle studies lesson.

Alecto had started the lesson by explaining to the class of fourth year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors exactly why muggle born witches and wizards should be immediately removed from wizarding society and sent to be given the Dementors kiss. This was approximately the point where Jeremy had brandished his wand and had been planning to Crucio Carrow before Cali had snatched his wand out of his hand, and pushed him back into the his seat while Carrow's back was turned. About ten minutes later, while Carrow was drawing a series of very intricate diagrams about how muggles and animals were more similar than muggles and wizards, Roger had had to help Cali restrain Jeremy as he had begun to make very violent motions and had attempted to jump over his desk in his attempts to kill the teacher.

Now though, twenty minutes after his attempted murder, Jeremy had to admit that there was probably no point in his friends continued restraints. He could practically feel his energy and spirit being sucked out of him by Carrow's lecture. He could begin to feel the true message of her class sinking in. Behind all the muggle hating and bigotry there was another, more important, message that was being fed to the class; it was hopeless to fight back.

"Muggles live like animals." Carrow drawled while flourishing her wand and magicking yet another diagram on the board."As you can see by this diagram, they are constantly killing each other over land and resources and have little ability to run an effective government- yes Ms.-?"

"Vane," a cold girl's voice said. Jeremy glanced to a few tables over where Romilda Vane, a Gryffindor girl in his year who he had rarely spoken to, was standing up and piercing Carrow with a hard stare.

"Would you like to ask a question about the inferiority of muggles Ms. Vane?" Alecto asked, her voice just as cold as Romilda's.

"Not exactly," Romilda replied. The whole class looked at her in awe, "I was actually just wondering, if it's so bad that the muggles are killing each other over land and stuff how exactly is it not bad that your "master" is out killing people just because he's afraid of Harry Potter?"

"The Dark Lord is not afraid of Harry Potter!" Carrow roared, beginning to move slowly towards Romilda as she spoke, "He has never feared anybody! He is doing the noble work of purifying the wizarding race!"

"He's scared that Harry Potter will triumph over him like he did when he was just two years old, and again when he was only eleven, and again and again, more times than you can imagine!" Romilda shouted back.

Carrow was still moving slowly towards the girl, like a panther waiting to strike it's prey. "You think you know what you're talking about?" She said quietly, "YOU! DON'T! KNOW! ANYTHING!" Every word was sharp and clear, strong and threatening.

"NO! YOU DON'T!" Romilda screamed back, and then suddenly Carrow ripped her wand out of her robes and swung it violently, pointing it at Romilda as an orange streak of light came shooting out of it. The girl fell to the floor. Her body lay perfectly still as the room filled with silence.

Roger and Cali let go of Jeremy's arms and the three friends stood up and ran towards the Gryffindor girl, joining another boy who Jeremy recognized as Jimmy Peakes. He was shaking furiously, crouching over Romilda. For a few seconds there was silence and then Romilda began to make the most unholy and terrifying sound that Jeremy had ever heard in his entire life. It was like a scream only much, much worse. It seemed as if she was possessed by some terrible spirit.

She began to shake uncontrollably. All the color seemed to drain from her face, leaving her as white as a ghost. Her eyes were as empty as a corpse's. Jimmy Peakes was trying to hold her still as tears cascaded down his cheeks. "Please!" He pleaded, looking up at Carrow. "Please stop it! Please!"

Carrow laughed wickedly at Jimmy's pleading face, "You think I'll just listen to you?" She asked, "No! I will not let her go until every single student in this class gets the message. You can't fight! If you try you'll be destroyed. Mudbloods-"

"CRUCIO!" Every face in the room turned to Jeremy as he screamed the curse.

A look of shock passed over Carrow's face and then suddenly she was on the floor, writhing in pain and screaming. Romilda had stopped shaking as the curse Carrow had cast was broken and she lay on the floor very still. After a few seconds Carrow stopped writhing. Slowly she began to sit up, and turned to face Jeremy.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Carrow was thrown back into a desk as both Cali and Roger shouted the spell at the same time.

The rest of the class seemed shocked. Everyone stared at Carrow. Slowly, fear began to build up inside of Jeremy as he realized how much trouble he was going to be in, and perhaps even more importantly how much trouble Roger and Cali were going to be in because of him.

"Run." The voice of Andrew Kirke broke the silence and tore his gaze from Carrow's still body.

"Is she-?" Jeremy asked, unable to complete the sentence, motioning to Romilda Vane.

"She'll be fine," Jimmy Peakes replied, but he didn't take his eyes off her. "You guys need to leave though." And he looked away from Romilda for just a quick second, and muttered, "Thank you."

"You should get her out of here," Cali said, "Take her up to your guys common room, and find Ginny Weasley, or Neville Longbottom. They'll be able to take care of her."

"What about Madame Pomfrey?" Andrew asked, "Shouldn't we take her to her."

"I don't think Snape would approve." Cali replied, "But if that's what Ginny or Neville says then do it."

"Why should we listen to them?" Jimmy Peakes asked, "Aren't there people who would be better, like Seamus or Parvati? I'm pretty sure both of them have better marks than Neville or Ginny."

"Trust us," Jeremy said. He turned his attention to Cali and Roger, "We should go."

The other two nodded, and they walked briskly out the door together, trying to appear braver than they felt.

Outside the classroom Jeremy slumped down against the wall, his breathing heavy. He had let his anger get the best of him in the classroom, and it had certainly been a mistake, but he couldn't bring himself to regret his actions. Carrow had deserved what she got.

"Jeremy." Cali's soft voice penetrated Jeremy's thought. He looked up at her. She was looking at him with gentle, understanding eyes, which was certainly not the kind of look that he usually got from his wild friend. "We can't stay here."

"Why not?" Jeremy asked, and he could barely stifle a sob as he began to break down completely, the impact of his actions bearing down on him, "It's not like we can hide forever. We're going to have to face what we've done eventually."

"You're right." Cali squatted down so that she was sitting face to face in front of him, "They are going to find us eventually and we are going to be punished. But we can't just sit here and wait for that to happen. We have to make capturing us hell for them."

"But-"

"Jeremy a second ago you were crucioing a professor. I would say that you have proved yourself capable of creating a little rebellion." Cali's tone had turned brisk and sharp, and Jeremy was reminded strongly of Professor McGonagall. She stood up and held up a hand for him. Sighing, he took it and she pulled him up. Cali smiled, "That's better. Now let's go."

They sprinted down the hallway, not stopping until they reached the turn that would take them to Hufflepuff tower. Jeremy and Cali paused but Roger firmly said "no," and they continued down the hallway, moving slower now that they were away from the classroom.

"We need to make sure to avoid teachers," Roger said.

Cali nodded, "We have to find somewhere secure to stay."

"I don't know any hidden passages..." Jeremy said, "At least not any that the teachers wouldn't know about."

"The Room of Requirement is available."

Jeremy, Cali, and Roger spun around in shock. Jeremy could feel his breathe hitch and panic seemed to strangle him. But at the sight of the person behind them he calmed.

Ginny Weasley didn't smile. She seemed to be considering the three of them. After a long silence she finally said, "You shouldn't attack unless you have a plan."

"How do you-?" Jeremey began but Ginny interrupted him.

"I was on break and suddenly Jimmy Peakes is in the Common Room with an unconscious Romilda Vane slung over his shoulder totally in hysterics. I couldn't get any information as to how it happened until Andrew Kirke runs in ten minutes later going on about you," she shot an accusing glare at Jeremy, "crucioing Carrow and then the three of you knocking her out and taking off. So I left Vane with Neville and came to find you."

"Oh."

"Anyways you guys can't run for long," Ginny continued. "Snape'll be out for blood and personally I think it's probably a good idea for you three to learn a lesson on not jumping the gun and making stupid hot headed decisions." She paused, "Not that I'm really one to talk. But I'm not just gonna give you guys up. We're going to the Room of Requirement for tonight to make a plan that will hopefully take the Carrows and Snape's minds off of your little stunt long enough that they won't kill you." Her gaze seemed to soften a little bit and she sighed. "At the very least you guys have forced us into taking action right away. Now come on." She headed down the corridor, not looking behind her to see if Jeremy, Cali, and Roger were following.

The three of them stood in shock for a second before following Ginny Weasley down the corridor to their first official meeting of the DA.