The evening of October 30th found the usual suspects gathered in the Gryffindor common room.
"You're being called to the headmaster's office again?" said Parvati in dismay. "What could Snape possibly want with you? Does… does he know?"
Ginny shrugged. "Dunno. He's just suspicious of us in general, if you ask me."
"Whatever his reasons, this is exactly what we needed," said Neville seriously. "Tomorrow evening's the Hallowe'en feast, which means everyone's going to be in the Great Hall. It'll be the perfect opportunity to steal Godric Gryffindor's sword. I doubt Snape will have changed the password to his office between now and then, so once we've got it, we'll have everything we need to pull off this heist."
Ginny could only offer a weak smile in response to Neville's enthusiasm. If she so wanted, she could simply ask Snape for Gryffindor's sword, since they were both on the same side…
"Have you talked to Luna?" Neville asked. "Are the Ravenclaws in?"
Having failed in their every endeavour to score some kind of victory over the Slytherins through feats of magic, Neville and the old RC club members were now attempting to secure a symbolic victory by stealing Gryffindor's sword. If they could only get their hands on this legendary weapon, they would have a standard around which to rally the resistance, and prove that the Death Eaters and their whelps were not invincible.
After all, their every attempt to ambush or provoke the Slytherins' elite into duels had failed miserably. So far, they had not even managed to scorch a single hair on the heads of the Greengrass twins. Even Malfoy seemed to have turned, almost as if by magic, into a master duellist over the summer, becoming untouchable… no doubt the result of some dark magic, the Gryffindors had told themselves. A reward for his servitude and his help in planning Dumbledore's murder.
"INQUISITION, STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"
Instinctively, the Gryffindors rose from their seats around the fireplace as one, their hands already reaching for the wands buried in their robes as they turned towards the entrance. Professors Alecto and Amycus, followed by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, and several other Slytherins, marched into the Gryffindor common room as though they owned the place.
"This is Gryffindor's common room!" Neville roared. "You have no right to…"
Neville's voice trailed off as Professor McGonagall brought up the rear, her expression far more pinched and severe than usual. Evidently, she had been the one to open up the way for the Slytherins, but why?
"You there, Weasley girl," said Amycus, sneering. "You're needed in the headmaster's office. Run along, now."
Ginny didn't move.
"Professor McGonagall, why?" Parvati asked in disbelief. "What's going on?"
"Miss Astoria Greengrass… is accused of the attempted murder of her own sister… Daphne Greengrass," Professor McGonagall said with difficulty. "At the insistence of Professors Carrow and Carrow, I have let them in so that they may search Miss Greengrass's room for clues…"
Professor McGonagall was visibly distraught by this turn of events; in all her years at Hogwarts, she had never witnessed a case in which a student had been pushed so far as to contemplate fratricide, let alone go through with the act… she felt responsible for failing to see through her own pupil's inner despair.
"Astoria… tried to kill her sister?" Parvati whispered. "Oh no…"
Neville and the others exchanged guilty glances. They felt, in some measure, that they shared the blame as well… after all, they had quietly encouraged the others to ostracise Astoria, judging her untrustworthy because of her Greengrass blood… and they had no doubt that it was their exclusion had driven her to such extremes.
"Where is she now?" Ginny suddenly asked. "If you're going through her things, that means you haven't caught her yet, yeah?"
"None of your business, blood traitor," Alecto snapped. "You're wanted in the headmaster's office, so hop to it!"
"I won't have you talk to my students in their own home like this!" Professor McGonagall said shrilly. "Do what you must, then leave!"
It was obvious to Neville and the others now that she had only let the inquisition in so that she may keep an eye on them. If she'd refused to let them in, they would have simply returned later and conducted their investigation on their own terms.
"I'm going, I'm going," Ginny said, catching Neville's eye as she turned towards the exit. He gave her a subtle nod. "Oh, and incidentally… what's the password, again?"
"You will be let in when…" Professor Carrow began, but Professor McGonagall interrupted her.
"It's Tristan and Isolde," she said. "Now go, it's best not to keep Professor Snape waiting."
Ginny looked back one last time, before ducking through the Fat Lady's portrait, which was still hanging open, and disappearing into the cold and dark corridor beyond the warmth of the Gryffindor common room.