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“Neville!” Lavender sprinted across the Room of Requirement, dodging round a group of Ravenclaws who were putting together a complicated-looking prank potion, nearly tripping over Ginny Weasley, who was lying on her back levitating a large bookcase.
“Sorry Ginny!” she yelled, not looking back as she headed for the miniature indoor greenhouse sanctuary which the Room had added on for Neville when the ever-increasing crush of scared younger students joining the DA had started getting too much.
Neville poked his head out, a smear of dirt on one cheek contrasting with the livid welt on the other, courtesy of one of the Carrows. “Lavender? What is it?”
He was all business immediately, his face grim.
“It’s Ariana!” Lavender panted, skidding to a stop in front of him. “Ariana’s at the tunnel, she says it’s urgent!”
Neville immediately dropped the trowel he was holding, and yanked his wand from its holster. “On it.”
Lavender watched as Neville disappeared into the rough opening in the wall, the portrait swinging shut behind him to show him alongside Ariana Dumbledore (and hadn’t that been quite the reveal), striding into the darkness.
She sucked in a breath, fighting down the spike of adrenaline. The last person she had seen disappear down that tunnel had been Luna, determined despite the risks to go home for Christmas. But she’d never made it home, snatched from the train by Death Eaters and taken Merlin only knew where.
It was only a combination of illegal veritaserum brewed up by some enterprising Ravenclaws, and Neville taking a cruciatus to administer it to Malfoy which had revealed that Luna was hostage at Malfoy Manor but otherwise unharmed, that had saved Lavender’s sanity.
Since the awful day when her whole life had turned upside down a year ago, Luna had been the light in the darkness for Lavender.
The ethereal little Ravenclaw had sat by Lavender’s bed in the Hospital Wing, tending her wounds while everyone else crowded around the oldest Weasley. Both of them had been savaged by the horrific, partially transformed Greyback, but Bill had his veela fiancee and his entire, enormous family around him. Lavender had no-one but Luna.
Throughout that summer, Luna had found ways to appear mysteriously whenever Lavender needed her most. Lavender had always believed in Divination, but Luna was the real deal, as mystical as the moonlight she was named for, and just as attractive to Lavender’s new, lupine senses.
When the DA had reformed, just a few days into the new school year in the face of the horrific new regime, and students began moving into the Room of Requirement permanently, Lavender and Luna had been the first to break out of the little House huddles forming at each corner of the room, placing their red and blue hammocks side-by-side.
It didn’t take long before they were sharing more than just proximity.
When Luna didn’t come back after Christmas, Lavender had literally howled. Her wolf felt restless and angry, desperate for its Mate.
The knowledge that Luna was alive helped, but it didn’t heal. Five months on, she could still feel her whole self yearning for her Moon. She’d channeled the pain into teaching, instead.
Between them, she, Neville, Seamus and Ginny had taken charge, schooling the younger children in magic and in battle in equal measure. By now, even the smallest first-year Hufflepuff was a force to be reckoned with when it came to a disarming charm, and some of the older Ravenclaws were downright scary in the ‘prank’ potions and jinxes they were creating to wreak havoc on the Slytherins.
Lavender kept her eyes fixed on the portrait, willing Neville to return.
***
“It’s Harry Potter!”
“What? No.”
“It is! That’s Harry! And Ron and Hermione!”
Pandemonium ensued.
***
Barely half an hour later, Lavender was almost knocked over by a glowing patronus.
“We fly as Eagles and walk as Lions,” the Hare told her, softly. “I am coming.”
Lavender didn’t actually know when she’d started crying, but her face was wet.
She turned to the portrait, instinctively. People were pouring through it still, members of the Order of the Phoenix, members of the old DA, parents, children, everyone and anyone who still stood on the side of the Light, and wanted to take you-know-who down.
She almost thought it was another patronus, the first glimpse she caught of Luna’s hair, but then she glimpsed the soft half-smile of her Mate, and without really knowing how, she found herself across the room, pulling her into her arms.
***
Lavender took a deep breath, unconsciously tucking her hair behind her ear to display the livid scars which marred the left-hand side of her beautiful face.
Her eyes drifted to the gorgeous mural she and Luna - mostly Luna - had painted above their hammocks; the eagle and the lion, victorious.
Luna squeezed her hand, their interlocked fingers meshing together, and tiptoed to press a kiss to Lavender’s cheek.
Lavender’s wolf howled with joy inside her, and she opened her mouth to rally her pack.
"If we're going to fly, we fly like Eagles!"
The crowd quieted, turning to her. DA, alumni, Order members alike paused at the leader’s authority in her voice, standing to attention.
"If we're going to fight, we fight like Badgers!"
There was a whoop from somewhere in the Hufflepuffs, and she saw DA members pulling their wands, recognising the fighting words.
"If we're going to walk, we walk as Lions!"
The Gryffindors responded as only they could, erupting in cheers, stamping their feet and screaming defiance to the sky.
"For months, we've held our breath, waiting for tomorrow!" She called over the din, bringing their attention back. The room was focused, hanging on her words.
"Now tomorrow is today.
"Today we live!
"Today we breathe!
"Today we are strong!"
Deafening cheers; wands raised. Red and blue and yellow sparks, singing and fizzing in the air as houses declared their wands and their magic to fight for their freedom.
Lavender turned to Harry, standing a little awkwardly to the side, flanked as ever by Ronald and Hermione. All of them looked harder, hungrier than before, but they still looked taken aback by the corps of guerrilla warriors and teenage berserkers the DA had become.
"Today is ours, it always has been. We're not waiting for permission. But today, before we face the fight, we know who's going to win!
"We don't want safe and quiet; we don't want to run and hide any more. This is not an intermission - this is our time, and we are not going to miss it!"
Ronald's face was twisted into an odd grin as he watched her; Hermione looked surprised, and dare she say it, impressed? But Harry wore an expression she had come to know and admire - though she more often saw it on the face of Neville Longbottom; sheer, grim determination.
She grasped Luna's hand tightly as she raised it along with her own to punch the air.
"If we're gonna fly?!" Luna yelled to the crowd, her voice carrying all the pent up energy in the room and sending it flooding through them all.
"WE FLY LIKE EAGLES!" Came the answering roar of the Ravenclaw battlecry.
"If we're gonna fight?!" Susan Bones screamed from behind them.
"WE FIGHT LIKE BADGERS!" The Hufflepuffs screamed back at her as one.
Harry met Lavender's gaze, and she nodded to him.
"If we're gonna walk?!" He roared.
As one, Dumbledore's Army rallied around their General.
"WE WALK AS LIONS!"