[LOG] The Huddle in the Greenhouse

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

Who: Ora Yang, Alison Mallory, Lysienne Aldrern, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood
Where: The Herbology Greenhouse
When: late October, during dinner
What: Plotting to steal the Sword of Gryffindor



Dinner was the usual affair for this year, though much different than it had been in previous years. The Gryffindor table was fairly subdued, the Slytherin table more boisterous than usual. The food was the same, but the atmosphere was completely different. As usual the earliest leaving the Great Hall were the most studious Ravenclaws, headed to the Tower or to the library to finish the day's studying. Ora and Alison ate, talking amongst themselves about trivial matters, glancing up from their plates to notice that Luna Lovegood was leaving the Great Hall, and a shortly after her followed Ginny Weasley. They waited until Neville Longbottom had left too, with the only other Gryffindor boys left their year, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan.

Ora and Alison polished off the last of their meal and quietly left the table, ostensibly headed up the corridor that led to the library before taking a sharp turn in the wrong direction once they were alone, and backtracking through dark, little-traversed staircases, arrived at the entrance of the Greenhouse. The knocked tentatively, and the door swung open, Neville beckoning them quickly inside before closing and locking the door after them.

"Perfect meeting place, Neville," Ora complimented.

"Thanks," he said simply, making his way in the darkness of the greenhouse as if he knew it by memory.

It was crowded as Neville led them to the center of the greenhouse, beset on all sides by rows of flutterby bushes, and the occasional thing with thorns. A Fanged Germanium almost latched onto Ora's jumper as she brushed past it, jumping in alarm as it reached over in the darkness and snatched at her arm.

"Hi," Ora said to Luna and Ginny as they exchanged hurried greetings, and then crouched down on the floor of the greenhouse to discuss their plans. She looked to Luna, who seemed her usual flitty self, and then to Neville and Ginny who looked more determined than she'd ever seen them. Ora's stomach sank down on the ground. It was going to be difficult to convince them to abandon their foolhardy mission.

"So," Ora said, raising her eyebrows, "I hope you have a plan."

Neville nodded. "We do."

Ora frowned doubtfully. "Last things first, then. You're going to get the sword out of the school...how?"

Neville's face broke in a smile. He'd obviously been hatching this plan for a few weeks. "We're going to leave with it. As fast as we can, and never come back."

Ora's jaw dropped. "What?" she gasped. Neville had said his words in earnest, and he shrugged as Ora continued to stare at him in disbelief. She looked to Ginny for confirmation, who gave a short nod.

"You've all gone mental!"

"Well," came Luna's quiet voice, "I think I'm actually going to stay, but they're going to need a hand getting it all the way over to Gryffindor Tower. Ginny said you might be able to help."

Ora glanced at Neville, who had a very expectant look on his face. She looked to Alison, a worried knit to her eyebrows.

"Please tell me they're pulling my leg."

Comments

[heartswill.livejournal.com]

Lysienne studiously avoided looking at her fellow Gryffindors, Luna, and Ora and Alison as they left the Great Hall in turn. Instead, she pulled out her Muggle Studies homework and pretended to read yet another article on the oppression of wizards by Muggles in the Middle Ages while keeping an eye on the teachers' table. When the Headmaster and both Carrows got up and exited the Great Hall, she pulled out her journal and placed it beneath the textbook.

Ten minutes later, she saw writing beginning to scrawl itself out on the page:

"Headmaster. You wanted to see us?"

"The students have been unusually quite lately. I suspect that they're hatching some plan, especially those meddlesome Gryffindors. Starting today, I'd like you to start patrolling the grounds with Mr. Filch. Whomever you catch will serve detention with you. You may also ask any students you trust to help you, provided that they return to their dorms before curfew."

"Gladly, Headmaster. We'll teach those troublesome brats to obey the school rules, eh, Amycus?"

Lysienne hurriedly shut both books and tucked them back into her bag, then stood and left the Great Hall, Rolan, as usual, at her side. They made their way outside, heading for the darkened greenhouse. Once there, she tapped quietly at the door and let herself inside.

"Hello," she said into the quiet darkness. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

It was a bit hard to eat and pretend everything was normal when they were plotting to help (or perhaps prevent) a major theft after dinner, but Alison was relatively skilled at hiding worry and otherwise less-than-good intentions. She and Ora had managed to pass dinner without much incident, and had thereafter managed to sneak undetected into the Hogwarts greenhouse, greeting Neville, Ginny, and Luna before the small group crouched at the back, to discuss their plans - or possible lack thereof.

When Neville announced proudly that their plan was to run, Alison reacted in much the same way as Ora. She stared at the students crouched across from her and Ora for a moment, as Ora voiced her thoughts exactly - they'd gone mental. There was no other way to explain it.

She glanced worriedly at Ora, but she had to shake her head and admit, "I don't think they are..." She turned back to Neville, frowning, glancing between him and Ginny. "That's not exactly the brightest plan, you know - there are better ways to get things in and out of the school than just taking them yourselves. You do realize that you're only going to make targets out of yourselves -"

Before she could try and list the number of reasons this was a terrible idea, there was a soft tap at the greenhouse door and Lysienne appeared, looking worried from what Alison could make out of her face in the darkness.

Alison felt her stomach drop as she looked up at her friend. "What is it?"

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

Ora stared at the three, still in shock. Her mind was churning like a storm; there were so many ways this plan was going to go wrong that she didn't even know where to begin. Supposing that they did manage to pull off this stunt, how did they know it wasn't some elaborate trap for Snape to track down the headquarters of the Order or even Harry Potter himself? Ora was about to protest when she heard the rap on the door.

Ora drew her wand instantly, pointing it at the direction of the sound until the figure of her friend emerged into the dim light. Ora breathed a sigh of relief.

"Bad news?" Ora murmured. She'd already heard her fair share of bad news. She hoped silently that it was bad enough to get Neville to abandon his objective. She might be able to stick in him in a full body bind for the night, but not for the rest of the school year.

Ora looked at Lysienne, her lips set in a straight, unhappy line. "Tell me they haven't found us."

[heartswill.livejournal.com]

"Oh no, nothing like that," Lysienne replied quickly, following the sound of Alison and Ora's voices to take a seat next to her friends. "But the Headmaster just called the Carrows into his office and told them that he wants them to patrol the grounds. He seems suspects that something is up. That's going to make it harder for everyone to move around. I just hope you have a good plan..."

Lysienne looked inquiringly at her friends as Ora and Alison both frowned, then at Neville, Ginny, and Luna. "You do, right?"

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

"Well, they have a plan..." Alison murmured - she still was not very sure that it was a good one - or even the best one they could come up with at the moment - and now that the Carrows would be patrolling the grounds... that made things a little more complicated.

"There's only two of them," Ginny put in; Neville nodded, though Alison was still sure that even one Carrow was more than she'd like to deal with.

"I guess that is a bit of an advantage... we'd better hope we know the school better than they do," Alison said, glancing at the two Gryffindors and seeing they were not very open to changing their plans. "... Look. If you really want to do this, you'd better be as careful as you can." She looked at Ginny, Neville, and Luna in turn. "It's probably best to split up and take separate routes there - that should increase your chances of someone getting there, right? And probably on the way out too."

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

"Patrolling the grounds?" Ora repeated, not liking the sound of those words. Security around the school had been gradually tightening since the beginning of the year, despite the relative quietness of the student body so far this year. It was kind of surprisingly what little happened in the school now that Harry Potter was no longer a student here. Nevertheless, the very fact that Professor Snape was recruiting the Carrows to patrol the school themselves meant that they were expecting trouble and suspicious of the students.

Ora pursed her lips, hoping that her silence about the Gryffindors's plan was all that needed to be said about it. She looked pointedly at the three of them as they brightened after Alison's words.

"Look," she said, "if Snape is getting the Carrows to patrol the school now, it means he's expecting trouble. With the Carrows being his lieutenants, you can be sure that if they catch you wandering around, not to mention in the Headmaster's office with the Sword, you three will be lucky to make it out of detention alive." She looked to Neville, whose look of determination had been growing over the past few minutes. Ora was just as determined to persuade him not to carry out his plans.

"And what's not to say that this isn't a trap laid by Snape to lead him directly to the headquarters of the Order?" Ora said. "Supposing you can even get as far as home with the Sword."

[heartswill.livejournal.com]

"But we've got to get that sword out of here," Neville said stubbornly, and Ginny nodded.

"Headmaster Dumbledore willed it to Harry, and there must be some important reason for it. We can't just let it hang uselessly in the Headmaster's office when Harry might need it," Ginny added.

"He might have to kill another basilisk on his quest," Luna agreed serenely.

Lysienne said into the silence after that proclamation, "It sounds like you're pretty serious about getting the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Headmaster's office, but how are you going to get it out of there? I don't think any of us knows the password, and Pro- Headmaster Snape seems to be in there most of the day anyway. And he's sure to have placed anti-accio charms on it...."

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

"Besides," Ora added, as her friend left off, "he could have hidden it in his office somewhere, or maybe even another secret room in the castle itself, and what would you then?"

"If it's in his office, we'll find it," Neville replied. "And if it's not, then we'll look again somewhere else. As long as Snape has it, we're going to keep trying to take it away from him."

Ora made a growling noise in the back of her throat, beside herself with frustration. It was becoming more and more evident that she and Neville were butting heads on this issue, and that neither of them were going to budge anytime soon, if ever.

"Look," Neville said finally, "Ginny said you might be able to help us. If you can't, or don't want to, that's fine, we'll do everything by ourselves."

Ora's mouth opened and closed like a fish as she tried to think of a proper retort, but decided against it. She looked to Alison for some sort of support.

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison was a bit torn - on the one hand, it sounded like a completely Gyriffindor - well, blockheaded - way to go about things. And worse, it was obvious they were going to go through with it, with or without help. On the other hand, Potter probably needed all the help he could get - if he'd been willed a sword, then he very well might need it. Professor Dumbledore had always seemed to have a way to know when someone might need things. And while most of her wanted to tell the three before them that they were on their own, somehow she just couldn't do that to them. Especially Ginny - if she was going to be fool enough to try something like this, she might as be a well-informed fool. Right?

Alison sighed. "When I said we might be able to help, I assumed you had a better plan," she put in, eyeing Neville. He really had picked the wrong time to grow a backbone, but there was nothing for it now. "We're not going to sneak in there with you - it's mad. And there really is no guarantee that the sword is in the Headmaster's office. But..." she trailed off, glancing to Ora and Lysienne, a bit hesitant to go on. "We might be able to tell you if the office is occupied or not, at least." There - she didn't have to reveal too much, and if they asked, no one was required to tell them.

Ginny and Neville glanced at each other - Alison could practically see the questions forming in their minds. "Oh, that would be lovely," Luna commented airily, "have you set up a network with the Bibbering Humdingers, then?"

[OOC: Uh. Bibbering Humdingers were the only thing Luna ever mentions that don't have some kind of description that I know of...]

[heartswill.livejournal.com]

"Well, not quite," Lysienne temporized, and turned to her fellow Gryffindors. "Neville, Ginny, I think everyone here wants to help. But we need to find a way to get the Sword out of Hogwarts, not get everyone caught, right? So it sounds like the first thing we need to figure out is the location of the Sword. Can anyone make up an excuse to visit the Headmaster in his office? If he's still keeping the Sword where Headmaster Dumbledore used to keep it, it should be easy to spot..."

Lysienne looked at Ora and Alison, who would probably most easily approach the Headmaster with a valid reason, or find someone in Slytherin who could...

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

Ora glanced between Alison and Lysienne, and with a long-suffering sigh, finally decided to help. "All right," she said, her brows furrowing as she thought out loud. "One of us can probably ask Dobby where the Sword is, since we should be sure before we go in." She looked to Lysienne, hoping that she wasn't going to be the one to ask Dobby. She didn't want anything awkward between the Malfoy's old house elf and herself if she could possibly help it.

"And," she added, "we can tell you when Snape is away from his office." She held up her hands before Luna opened her mouth to speak. "Bibbering Humdingers," she lied, and Luna managed to look rather pleased that they'd accomplished that feat, whatever sort of feat it was anyway. Ora wasn't entirely sure. Ginny raised her eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Finally, you're going to need a diversion to get the Carrows, Filch, and Mrs. Norris out of your hair if you want to take the Sword beyond the wards." She glanced at Alison and grinned. "I think we can think of something on our side."

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

"It might be safest if Lysienne talks to Dobby," Alison mused out loud - she was better acquainted with the house elf, and probably had the best chance of getting him to help. Though if she didn't want to do it, Alison wouldn't object to talking to him - Potter'd always thought he was all right, if not a bit odd...

She glanced at Ora as she decided to go with Luna's "Humdingers" theory - Ginny didn't do much more than raise an eyebrow, so Alison let it be. It was best if they didn't know how they were getting their information, anyway - there was no way they could rat anyone out if they didn't know, right? She was suddenly rather glad she wasn't going on this lunatic expedition herself - maybe it was brave, but it was foolhardy too. Just because they wouldn't be talked out of it didn't mean it was a good idea.

Besides, helping to create a diversion sounded much more up her alley. She grinned over at Ora and nodded, already racking her brain for ideas. Maybe a little accident for someone... or some good old-fashioned graffiti or something similar...

She glanced back at the other students crouched before them. "Ora and I can take care of the diversion, then. But we shouldn't do much more than that - I really don't want to get caught and tortured, you know." Just because she was on the right side didn't mean she wanted to pay for it if she didn't have to. "If you need brooms for an escape, I might be able to help..." She nodded to Ginny. "Though you can probably take care of that yourself." All the Quidditch captains had access to the communal school brooms, though it was seldom necessary to use one.

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

Ora nodded, seconding the not-caught-or-tortured notion. She still didn't believe in Potter as much as the rest of the DA, Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs included. Whether it could be attributed to her "Slytherin nature" (as she'd heard Ron Weasley term it once), whatever that meant, or just because she was too skeptical to blindly believe that Potter was the solution on all their problems, Ora still found herself siding with Potter's group in most things. If only the rest of the DA had more sense than they did now.

Nevertheless, Ora was not one to sit idly by and watch her friends throw themselves into danger, for Potter's sake or not, so she was helping. The plan they'd come up with was a sound one--it had been an excellent idea to contact the house elf that was Potter's friend, and she was glad that Neville, Ginny, and Luna at least had the sense not to rush into Snape's office without at least some information. Borrowing communal brooms would be a good idea if the three of them were going to escape. At least Neville knew how to Apparate, so once beyond the Wards his location would be lost to all inside Hogwarts, though how long he could stay hidden from the Death Eaters with the Sword of Gryffindor in tow was a different question altogether. There was still the possibility that this was an elaborate trap set up by You-Know-Who to crush the Order, though she had to admit that if she was currently sitting in his position of power, with most of the members of the Order known, a trap such as this was hardly necessary.

"Three days then," Ora said simply, looking between the members of the group as it seemed they all reached a decision. "We'll meet again in three days if the Sword is in Snape's office to finalize plans."