A Valentine’s Day Rebellion
Chapter Two
Friday, February 13th, 1998
“Okay,” gasped Neville as he practically fell into the Room of Requirement. “We’re on. Kreacher will make sure everyone gets an invitation at breakfast. You are certain they are unreadable to the teachers, right?”
“Only the person holding the invite can read it,” Ginny confirmed as she helped Winky put ready some food the house elves had generously provided, “and even then there is an Age Lock so no one of over nineteen can read it. You got the Secrecy charm worked out?”
“Yeah. I have all we need to know here. I would feel better if you didn’t have to be Secret Keeper though. Harry would want you safe and out of harm’s way.”
“Neville!” Ginny shook her head in exasperation. “We discussed this! I handwrote all of the invites especially because I have to be the Secret Keeper. You know the Carrows already suspect you for most of the DA’s tricks, even the times when something happened while you were in class or detention. You know they’ll be extra hard on you if they find out we did this. It’s safer for all of us if I’m the one to do it.”
“Still…” Neville wavered, but Ginny cut him off: “Anyway, it’s too late now to change the plan! You know the Secret Keeper is the only one who can divulge the information, whether it’s spoken or in writing. Unless you are going to write hundreds of invites as well as charm them in a single night?”
Neville flopped down in the armchair. “Fine. But tell me the truth now, since we can’t change the plan anyway. You knew all this when you volunteered to do the invitations in the first place? You can’t still claim you handwrote all of them just for that personal touch, as you claimed last week. You knew if you wrote them, you would have to be the Secret Keeper. Didn’t you?”
For once, Ginny had the grace to blush and look embarrassed: ”Yes. I knew. I’ve known for two and a half years how it worked, since before my fourth year. Dumbledore wrote a note to my parents when we moved into the Order’s Headquarters that summer, and they couldn’t tell us about it but they had to let us read the note. I didn’t know the charms and all that to work it though, I was telling the truth when I told you to research that part.”
Neville rolled his eyes. “Well, thank you for your honesty. I still wish you would have told me but too late now. Let’s just get this over with, okay? Before I change my mind and call this whole hare-brained scheme off…”