LOST ↝ G. WEASLEY [1]

27 | Reunions, Discoveries and Mournings

In the weeks following Valentine's Day, things had been pretty quiet. The Easter holidays came and went, with few people leaving the Room of Requirement unless they were either feeling bold enough to go to the Great Hall instead of eating another bite of whatever it was Aberforth kept sending, or they were sneaking into Hogsmeade for the day. In Joey's case, sneaking out usually meant meeting up with George in the Shrieking Shack, hiding away from the world.

"Joey?" Nicolette said, nudging the girl with her shoulder and pointing toward Ariana's painting, where the girl had her eyes locked on Joey and gestured eagerly for her to come meet her. "I think she wants you."

Joey slowly pushed herself to her feet, leaving her Potions homework with the group as she wandered over to Ariana, seeing the painting swing open as soon as she arrived.

"I'll be back soon," Joey assured them, ducking into the passage and hearing it swing shut behind her. "Lumos," she muttered, her wand illuminating the passage beyond.

Nearly running, though careful not to slip on the wet stones, Joey hurried through the passage, eager to see what awaited on the other side. She could only hope Aberforth was alright, and the Death Eaters hadn't caught him for assisting the kids. 

Regretting not bringing the others in case of a fight, Joey held her wand out in front of her defensively as she approached the end of the tunnel, preparing for the worst. However, when the painting finally swung open to reveal the three figures standing in the room, her eyes couldn't help but widen as she looked back and forth between them, astounded.

Bill was there with Luna and Dean.

"Thought these two belonged with you, Jo," Bill said with a smile as she jumped out of the passage, rushing towards Luna and pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Luna, we were so worried!" Joey exclaimed, hearing her familiar laugh. "When you didn't come back after Christmas, we thought..."

"I'm alright, Joey," she insisted. "Dean's alright too."

"Hi Joey," Dean said with a smile as she pulled him into a hug. 

"Get these two back to the Room of Requirement." Bill ordered sternly. "They're not to leave the room under any circumstances. They're wanted."

"I'll get them back safely," Joey promised Bill, giving him a quick hug and bidding Aberforth goodbye before leading Dean and Luna up into the passageway.

"What the bloody hell is this?" Dean asked, looking around the dark tunnel nervously.

"The only way in or out of the castle these days." Joey explained. "Looks like we all have a lot to explain to each other when we get back. Like where the hell both of you were."

Ariana's painting swung back open to reveal everyone standing around the entrance nervously, waiting to see what Joey had been summoned for. She hopped down onto the floor with a smile, revealing Dean and Luna standing in the passage as everyone's jaws dropped.

"Luna!" Ginny exclaimed, rushing towards the blonde girl and pulling her into a hug.

"Dean!" Tommy and Seamus yelled, doing the same to their best friend.

"You guys look like hell, what happened to you two?" Nicolette asked. "How did you get to Ab's?"

"Bill brought them," Joey explained as the group led the newcomers back to where they had originally been doing homework, the parchment and quills discarded on the floor and long forgotten.

"So before we start, will someone tell me why the hell you're all in the old Dumbledore's Army room?" Dean asked, taking a seat on the stone floor between Seamus and Tommy, Arden sitting on the latter's other side as Dean took notice of the couple. "And when the hell did that  happen?"

"You've been away for quite a while, mate." Tommy said with a laugh, wrapping his arm around Arden's shoulders. 

"Long story short, two Death Eaters called the Carrows have taken over Dark Arts, Muggle Studies and discipline under Snape's rule." Ginny explained. "They're the ones you need to watch out for, not him. We hardly see him anymore. They've resulted to torturing students, both in class as lessons and as a form of punishment. So we've been hiding out here, escaping them and training to fight when the time comes. As long as you're in here, you're safe."

"Alright Dean, you're up." Neville said. "What have you been up to all year?"

"I was running for a while." Dean admitted. "Since I don't know my father's... heritage, I didn't know if I qualified as a half-blood or a muggle-born. I didn't want them bringing me in for questioning, so I ran. Met up with that old goblin from Gringott's, Griphook, for a while. We had been in a large group, but Snatchers caught up at one point and we were forced to scatter. Rowan's dad was even with us at one point. Speaking of which, where is he?"

"He's down at the Great Hall getting lunch with Hannah," Arden explained.

"They're a couple now too?" Dean asked, eyes widened. "Merlin, how much did I miss?"

"I told you mate, a lot," Tommy snickered.

"Anyways," Dean continued on. "one night I did get caught. Griphook and I were taken to Malfoy Manor, where they tortured us for information, anything they could get out of us about Harry. As a Gryffindor in his same year, they assumed I was bound to know something."

"That's where I came in." Luna added on. "When I was on my way back to school after the Christmas holidays, I was taken from King's Cross. They knew my father and I have always been vocal supporters of Harry, so they wanted my dad to stop publishing the things he was putting in the Quibbler. That's where I found Dean, Griphook and Mr. Ollivander. He'd been there for a year and a half now."

"Snatchers found Harry, Ron and Hermione in the woods." Dean continued. "However, Hermione messed up Harry's face, so they didn't know who he was at first. They all gave fake names, I guess. Until their leader caught a glimpse of his scar, and took them back to Malfoy Manor, where Harry and Ron were thrown in the cellar with us while Bellatrix Lestrange tortured Hermione, demanding to know where she got some sword, or something like that. Eventually, a house elf showed up in the cellar to save them."

"Dobby," Luna added in.

"Right, Dobby." Dean said, nodding. "Harry had them get us all to Shell Cottage, then the elf went back to get them. The next thing I knew, they showed up on the beach, and the elf was dead. We stayed for a day, and then Bill brought us here."

"Sounds like you both have been through hell." Monty said as the door opened and Rowan and Hannah came in.

"There you are," Joey called over to them. "you'll never believe who's-"

She stopped short when she caught sight of the look on Rowan's face.

Hannah had an arm around him, as if to steady him as he walked forward, a blank expression on his tearstained face. She looked as if she was ready to start crying, though he had been way past that. He held a piece of parchment crumpled up in his right hand, which was clenched tightly around it.

"Rowan, what's happened?" Joey asked.

"Got a letter from my sister." he said, choked up. "Ministry officials were combing through the woods when they found bodies of some of the muggle-borns found by Snatchers a while back. One of them was my dad's."