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⏤ 12. a secret meeting


Harry had immediately forgiven Ron and Hermione the next morning. But for the next few days, no one of them had uttered a word about the idea of Harry teaching DADA in front of him. Behind the scenes, the news was going around the deeply trusted ones in the school.

Soon, their first visit to Hogsmeade had arrived too, and Ron, Harry and Asteria followed Hermione through the windy, snowy weather.

"I'm telling you again that this is a bad idea. Who'd wanna be taught by me? I'm a nutter, remember?" asked Harry.

Ron shrugged. "Look on the bright side; you can't be any worse than old toad face."

Harry gave Ron a ridiculed look. "Thanks, Ron." He said sarcastically.

Ron patted him on his back. "I'm here for you, mate."

"Harry," said Ria gently, "but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, because you are."

"Yes," Hermione joined in. "You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely. You can produce a Patronus. You can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't. Viktor always said—"

Ron looked around at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck; rubbing it, he said, "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"

"Ha ha," laughed Hermione in a bored voice, rolling her eyes. "He said Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in his final year at Durmstrang."

Ron was looking at Hermione suspiciously. "You're not still in contact with him, are you?"

"So what if I am?" said Hermione coolly, though her face was a little pink. "I can have a pen pal if I—"

"He didn't only want to be your pen pal," said Ron accusingly.

"Jealous, Ronald?" Ria mused in between the two. The two gave her a look while she wiggled her eyebrows at them, making Harry chuckle. They snapped their gazes away quickly.

"What?" She chuckled as they reached an old, musty bar named the Hog's head. "I just asked! You shouldn't have any problem.. unless you are jealous."

"Oh, shut up!" Hermione scolded, though her face had gone red. "Four butterbeers, please," she said to the barman. The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up four very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar.

"Eight Sickles," he said.

"I'll get them," said Harry quickly, passing over the silver. The barman's eyes travelled over Harry, resting for a fraction of a second on his scar, but he turned away quickly.

Hermione retreated to the farthest table from the bar and sat down, looking around, while the barman served another customer their drink, which was a veiled witch.

Hermione looked cautiously at the veiled witch. "You don't think that's.." she trailed off.

"Umbridge?" asked Ria, "Nah, can't be. She's shorter." She answered, "and anyway.. she wouldn't sacrifice her 'dignity', her 'sophistication', and her 'grace' to be undercover." She rolled her eyes and shook her head, sipping her butterbeer.

"You seem to notice many things about her.. Ria." Harry said, copying the way she was sipping her drink just to annoy her for a second. She noticed it quickly and smacked his arm lightly. He chuckled.

"No, I don't.." Ria laughed, gulping another bit of butterbeer.

Hermione watched Ria suspiciously. "You're planning something, aren't you?" She asked, making her almost choke.

"What? No! Why would you think that?" asked Ria.

"You know what?" Ron murmured, looking over at the bar with enthusiasm. "We could order anything we liked in here. I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try firewhisky."

Ria found this to be a good way of diverting the topic. "Ooh.. me too!" she whispered excitedly and was about to get up from her seat when Hermione shut them both down.

"No!" she gave them a threatening glare, and Ria sank back timidly into her seat. She turned towards Ron. "You— are— a— prefect," snarled Hermione.

"Oh," said Ron, the smile fading from his face. "Yeah.."

Ria turned towards Harry, only to see him conceal a smile behind his fist. "Hey!" she whispered silently, getting his attention. "Not funny."

Harry nodded, pulling her chair closer and swinging his arm around her shoulder. "Sure."

"So.. are you sure?" Hermione asked Harry. "You're still willing to teach us, right?"

"Just you, Ron, Ria and Sophie, yeah? And maybe the twins and Amelia?"

Hermione nervously looked at Ria, who took a giant swig from her butterbeer and silently prayed that Harry wouldn't lose it again.

"Well, uh—" Asteria nervously started. "Promise, you won't get mad.." she said.

"What?" asked Harry. "Why?"


Harry stared at the crowd of students in front of them, dumbfounded. He hadn't even expected half the number— Hell, quarter the number that had arrived. He slowly turned to look at his girlfriend and his best friends, who avoided his gaze with all their might and kept looking forward.

Ria left an anxious breath, constantly staring between the crowd and the door. And all she did was hope that no foe entered through that door while they commenced with their meeting.

The first to arrive had been Neville, with Dean and Lavender, closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil and Cho and her friends. To be honest, Ria was kind of glad that Cho had showed up, because she had personally asked her to come and support them.

The next girl to show up had been Luna Lovegood; another ally that the four trusted. Then, the Gryffindor Chasers, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson and the Creevy brothers.

Ria had left a breath of relief after Sophie had entered the pub with her ex-roommates, Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones, followed by Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley (who she was not as pleased to see, for obvious reasons).

Then three Ravenclaw boys, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot, had arrived with Ginny, surprisingly. Honestly, she had expected her to arrive with Luna or Neville.

She had frozen for a moment after spotting Bonheur entering the pub with his best friend, Matthew, Celine Haynes (who was now hanging out with them because she was a fifth year too), and Zacharius Smith.

She hadn't spoken to Bonheur in months. And she wished dearly to keep it that way.

Lastly, Fred and George, with Lee Jordan and Amelia, all four of whom had been carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko's merchandise, had entered the pub.

"A couple of people?" said Harry hoarsely to the three. "A couple of people?"

"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione happily. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"

The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked as though it had never been washed. Possibly he had never seen his pub so full.

"Hi," said Fred, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly. "Could we have... twenty-eight butterbeers, please?" He stopped when Amelia whispered something. "Oh— yeah. Make it thirty." Fred smiled.

The barman glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably as though he had been interrupted in something very important, he started passing up dusty butterbeers from under the bar.

"Cheers," said Fred, handing them out. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these..."

Harry watched numbly as the large chattering group took their beers from Fred and rummaged in their robes to find coins. Ria had contributed the money for three butterbeers, which Fred had confusingly accepted.

Harry could not imagine what all these people had turned up for until the horrible thought occurred to him that they might be expecting some kind of speech, at which he rounded on Hermione.

"What have you been telling people?" he said in a low voice. "What are they expecting?"

"I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say," said Hermione soothingly; but Harry continued to look at her so furiously that she quickly added, "You don't have to do anything yet. I'll speak to them first."

With much dismay, Harry nodded, and turned towards Ria, who was still looking towards the door. "You'll help me out, right?" He asked anxiously.

Ria looked at him and nodded almost instantly with a small smile, before turning her gaze back towards the door. Then, right after a second, she sighed in relief and slumped back into her seat.

Harry looked at the door too, just to find Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott entering silently, and taking the farthest, unnoticeable seats. Sophie noticed them and walked back with three butterbeers in her hand. Ria smiled at the three, seeming much more relaxed than before.

"Hey.. look!" Smith nudged the students around him. "What are they doing here?"

"Oh— I don't know?" Harry asked sarcastically, but a little defensively, too. "Maybe they're here because Umbridge is kinda— screwing us all at the moment? Maybe they're here because they're students, too?"

The two Slytherins caught Harry's eye, and attempted a polite, but awkward smile, which Harry returned. True, trusting people you don't really know wasn't the greatest choice at the moment. But if Asteria trusted them with her life, he did too.

Zacharius Smith rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure." He chuckled.

"What are you doing here, though?" asked Amelia. "Aren't Hufflepuffs weak?" There was a small uprise from the Hufflepuffs. "What?" She faked a chuckle. "If we're supposed to be evil.. Aren't ya'll supposed to be weak? Aren't Ravenclaws supposed to be snobby nerds? Aren't Gryffindors supposed to be arrogant?"

When there was no response from him and the people that had agreed with him, Amelia shrugged. "Thought so.."

"Stop giving our House a bad reputation, Smith." Sophie spoke out from the back. "Not everyone's as dumb and judgemental as you." Zacharius rolled his eyes while Hermione stood up from her seat.

"Er," she said, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. "Well— er— hi." The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to dart back regularly to Harry and Asteria.

"Well... erm... well, you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here had the idea— I mean—" Harry had thrown her a sharp look. "I had the idea— that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defence Against the Dark Arts— and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us." Several silently agreed. "Because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Hear, hear," said Anthony Goldstein, and Hermione looked heartened, "well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."

She paused, looked sideways at Harry and Ria, and went on, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the proper spells—"

"You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said Michael Corner.

"Of course I do," said Hermione at once. "But I want more than that. I want to be properly trained in Defence because... because..." She took a great breath and finished, "Because Lord Voldemort's back."

The reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho's friend shrieked and slopped butterbeer down herself, Terry Boot gave a kind of involuntary twitch, Padma Patil shuddered, and Neville gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn into a cough. All of them, however, looked fixedly, even eagerly, at the couple.

"Well... that's the plan anyway," said Hermione. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to—"

"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said Smith in a rather aggressive voice. And Ria took a calming breath to maintain her thread-like thin patience with the boy. Sure, she had heard good things about him from Cedric, but he just seemed to be pissing her off since the moment he had entered.

"What more proof—" Ria emphasised, swallowing her anger, "do you need, in addition to a dead body, an almost dead body and two traumatised children?" she asked, acting as if she was genuinely interested. "Was that not enough to fulfil the doubt within that— that Sherlock brain of yours?" she asked, the Sherlock part dripping with heavy sarcasm.

Some of them sniggered, but Hermione decided to break the tension. "Well, Dumbledore believes it—"

"You mean, Dumbledore believes them," he said, nodding at Ria and Harry.

"Yes." Ron nodded with a smile. "As any sane person would. Who are you, anyway?" said Ron rather rudely.

"Zacharias Smith," said the boy, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes them say You-Know-Who's back."

"Look," said Hermione, intervening swiftly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about—"

"It's okay, Hermione," said Harry. It had just dawned upon him why there were so many people there. He felt that Hermione should have seen this coming. Some of these people— maybe even most of them— had turned up hoping to hear their story firsthand.

"What makes us say You-Know-Who's back?" he asked, looking Zacharias straight in the face. "We saw him. But Dumbledore told the entire school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe us. I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."

Zacharias said dismissively, "All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts, with Edwards, who was unconscious too. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered and why Edwards was attacked. I think we'd all like to know—"

"Listen." Ria added with a forced smile. "Look around yourself.. Is anyone or anything here holding you back? Forcing you to stay?" Smith opened his mouth to speak, but Ria had beaten him to it. "Exactly. You still have a choice. You can get up and leave the bar quietly. But your tongue accidentally slips— just in case— in front of specific people—"

"Asteria Edwards will give you a demonstration of her real self." Ron announced, and many students exchanged glances. "No— not the one she's portrayed to be, around the school. That's quite false. I mean, the real one." he explained.

For some reason, Muggle violence, for her, was more satisfying than using spells. Therefore, in all honesty, her real image was quite simple and not much threatening. 

No wondrous magic tricks, just hands.

But they didn't know that, obviously.

"Thank you, Ron." Ria said sophisticatedly. "Now, that's the deal, in case you try something. Take it, or leave it, because there will be consequences either way."

The entire group seemed to have held its breath while she spoke. Harry had the impression that even the barman was listening in. He was wiping the same glass with the filthy rag; it was becoming steadily dirtier. Hell, even Harry himself couldn't take his eyes off her for some reason.

"Why does she sound like Maleficent?" Theo whispered to Blaise and Sophie.

"I mean— that's her favourite villain." Blaise shrugged. "Might've picked it up from her."

"See? Now, she's threatening us!" Zacharius cried out accusingly. "Of course she would. Didn't you see how she bullies several people? Even her own House-mates? Who knows if she's filled with dark magic? Who knows? Maybe she is the one who killed Ced—"

There were many gasps from the crowd, because Ria and Harry had simultaneously leapt from their seats. Ron and Neville (who were the closest to them) had managed to hold Harry back, but Hermione had failed to do so with Ria. The girl had clutched Smith by his collar and pinned him down on the ground, eyes glowing bright gold in rage.

"Complete that sentence. I dare you." She whispered, while Smith managed to let out a cold whimper in fear.

Two pairs of arms pulled her away from him, but her grip on him didn't loosen one bit. "Ria.." Blaise whispered calmly, "it's not the time."

She turned towards him, her breath heaving. "Did you hear what that bastard said—"

"We did—" Theo replied in a rush. "Trust me, I wanna punch his pathetic face as much as you want to— but this is not the time." He whispered in urgency.

"Ria, the real reason we're taking this decision is because of You-Know-Who, because we want to learn how to defend ourselves in situations that you've been in." Sophie whispered to her. "And doing this isn't gonna make them trust you."

With much dismay, Asteria let go of Smith's collar and got up. But as she heard him get up, she turned towards him again, making him back away and Blaise hold her back. "Never fucking dare to say that again—" she pointed accusingly towards him, eyes tearing up in fury. "Never."

The group of people kept watching her— some in fear and some in pity— as she took her seat with tear-filled eyes. Harry quickly sat closer to her and took her hand in his, trying to comfort the girl.

"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders or tortures someone, I can't help you," Harry said. His temper, always so close to the surface these days, was rising again. He did not take his eyes away from Zacharias Smith's face. "We don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."

He cast an angry look in Hermione's direction. Something inside him told him this was all her fault; she had displayed them like some sort of freaks and of course they had all turned up to see just how wild their story was... But none of them left their seats, not even Zacharias Smith, though he continued to glance nervously between Harry and Asteria.

"So," said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. "So... like I was saying... if you want to learn some defence, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and where we're going to—"

"Is it true," interrupted the girl who Ria knew was Susan Bones, "that you can produce a Patronus?" There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.

"Yeah," said Harry slightly defensively.

"A corporeal Patronus?"

The phrase stirred something in Harry's memory. "Er— you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" he asked, referring to the lady that had asked the same question during his hearing.

The girl smiled. "She's my auntie," she said. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So— is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"Blimey, Harry!" said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."

"She's not wrong," mumbled Harry, and a couple of people laughed. The veiled witch sitting alone shifted very slightly in her seat.

"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot. "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year..."

"Er— yeah, I did, yeah," said Harry. Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled, the Creevey brothers exchanged awestruck looks, and Lavender Brown said "wow" softly. Harry was feeling slightly hot around the collar now, while Ria was softly smiling.

"And in our first year," said Neville to the group at large, "he saved that Sorcerous Stone—"

"Sorcerer's," hissed Hermione.

"Yes, that, from You-Know-Who," finished Neville. Hannah Abbott's eyes were as round as Galleons.

"And that's not to mention," said Cho, "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year— getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas and things... Even Ria managed to get past all the obstacles in the maze. It's pretty impressive."

Ria smiled at her. There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the table.

"Look," he said and everyone fell silent at once, "I... I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but... I had a lot of help with all that stuff... Like Ron and Hermione helped— and even Ria taught us a lot of Charms that we didn't know could be used in defence."

"But you managed the dragon task pretty well, without help," said Michael Corner at once. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying..."

"Yeah, well—" said Harry, feeling it would be churlish to disagree.

"And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer," said Susan Bones.

"No," said Harry, "no, okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is—"

"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias Smith.

Ria made a quick move to get up, but Harry had held her back. Though that bit of action was enough to make him cower in his seat.

"Here's an idea," said Ron loudly, before Harry or Ria could speak, "why don't you shut your mouth?"

Zacharias flushed. "Well, we've all turned up to learn from him, and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it," he said.

"That's not what he said," snarled Fred Weasley

"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" inquired George, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags.

"Or any part of your body, really. We're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred, and Zacharius avoided looking at the twins again after that.

"I also heard from someone.." A voice from the group said, much to Ria's surprise, because she couldn't recognise the voice at all. "..that Asteria managed to stop the Dark Lord from stealing her magic last year." At this, murmurs of surprise spread among the students.

Ria was so shocked by that morphed voice that she forgot to clear the rumour for a hot moment. "Oh— I— uh— I didn't actually— do it. It just happened, I don't know how—"

"Bloody hell! Did you actually?" asked Colin Creevy, his face as if he had seen the world's greatest miracle.

"I— I just told you I don't know—"

"That's— That's insane!" Parvati Patil exclaimed. "How did you do that?" she asked, her grin so wide that it made Ria uncomfortable.

She looked at Harry, who had absolutely no reaction, much to her confusion. Hell, none of the people that actually knew had any reaction; it was like they were frozen.

The students got up one-by-one, with their curious smiles slowly growing into creepy ones. Ria cowered back in fear as they all slowly approached her like zombies, murmuring haunting praises in low tones.

"You did that?" whispered Cho, eyes red and cheeks suddenly stained with tears. "What else can you do? Can— Can you—"

"Bring me back?" whispered a hollow voice that resembled Cedric.

She opened her eyes with a small gasp and looked around. The students were just.. there. They hadn't moved from their places. They weren't even looking at her. Their attention was on Hermione as they were discussing a name for their team.

"Love.." Harry whispered. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Was that all not real?

Ria slowly nodded, suspicious of the people in the room. "Yeah.. Yeah, I'm alright." She released the grip on the onyx pendant around her neck she had been subconsciously holding onto.

Good thing was, they hadn't noticed her reaction since she was sitting slightly behind Harry. She didn't fancy giving them all a proper explanation. "Zoned out for a bit.. What name did they decide?" she asked silently.

"Er— DA. Defense Association.. or Dumbledore's Army." He answered, and Ria nodded, trying to calm her racing heartbeat. She was so shaken by the illusion that she didn't even care that they had named the team after a person she didn't really like.

"Right," said Hermione, looking relieved that some things had at last been settled. "I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," said Hermione, slightly impatiently, "but you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V— Voldemort's Death Eaters—"

"Well said!" barked Ernie Macmillan. "Personally, I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our O.W.L.s coming up!"

He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to agree with him. When nobody spoke, he went on, "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously, they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells—"

"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defence Against the Dark Arts," said Asteria, as she had calmed herself down a bit, "is that she's got some... some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilise us against the Ministry with a bunch of wizarding highschool students."

Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news; everybody except Luna Lovegood, who piped up, "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."

"What?" said Harry, completely thrown by this unexpected piece of information.

"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," said Luna solemnly.

"No, he hasn't," snapped Hermione.

"Yes, he has," said Luna.

"What are heliopaths?" asked Neville, looking blank.

"They're spirits of fire," said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening, so that she looked madder than ever. "Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of—"

"They don't exist, Neville," said Hermione tartly.

"Oh yes, they do!" said Luna angrily.

"Why don't we stick to what we believe and not force our beliefs on others?" Ria asked. "Like— Hermione, did you believe that witches and wizards existed before you got your letter?"

"No, but—" snapped Hermione, "but I didn't believe it until I was given proof! Where's the proof that 'heliopaths' exist?"

"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you—"

"Hem, hem," said Ginny in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defence lessons?"

"Yes," said Hermione at once, "yes, we were. You're right..."

"Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee Jordan.

"As long as it—" began Ria.

"Yes, yes, we know about Quidditch, Ria," said Hermione in a tense voice. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet.."

This was rather more difficult; the entire group fell silent. Ria thought about the chamber they had found in front of the Slytherin common room, but that would be too small for all of them. Besides, that chamber was to remain secret between Sophie, Blaise, Theodore, and her until they had figured out what it was built for.

"Library?" suggested Katie Bell after a few moments.

"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," said Harry.

"Maybe an unused classroom?" said Dean.

"Yeah," said Ron, "McGonagall might let us have hers. She did when Harry was practising for the Triwizard..."

But Harry was pretty certain that McGonagall would not be so accommodating this time. For all that Hermione had said about study and homework groups being allowed, he had the distinct feeling this one might be considered a lot more rebellious.

"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," said Hermione. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting." She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.

When Hermione saw them looking too hesitant, she spoke up. "Everybody must write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she inspected all of their faces, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge— or anybody else— what we're up to."

"Or.." She added. "I have the consequences ready in my head." She said with a hint of a smile on her face.

Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully put down his signature, but Harry noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of putting their names on the list.

"Why so nervous?" asked Asteria, her eyebrow raised. "If you're going to remain loyal to us, there's nothing to be worried about."

"Er..." said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying to pass him. "Well... I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."

But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing, too. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him. "I— well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found... well, I mean to say.. you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out.."

"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Harry reminded him.

"I— yes," said Ernie, "yes, I do believe that, it's just—"

His sentence was cut off when Sophie lightly pushed past him. "Oh! Move over." She signed her name quickly, muttering a 'coward' under her breath. Hermione, Ria, Harry and Ron grinned at her.

"Ernie, do you really think she'd leave that list lying around?" said Sophie testily. He signed the parchment without another word.

Nobody raised objections after Ernie, though Harry saw Cho's friend give her a rather reproachful look before adding her name. When the last person— Zacharias— had signed, Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as though they had just signed some kind of contract.

"Well, time's ticking on," said Fred briskly, getting to his feet. "George, Lee, Amelia and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase. We'll be seeing you all later."

In twos and threes, the rest of the group took their leave, too. "Well, I think that went well." Hermione breathed out as Theo and Blaise approached Sophie and Ria.

"Yeah, sure." answered Ria sarcastically. "Not your fault though, 'Mione. You tried your best."

"Well, anyway." Ron brushed it off. "What are you going to do if someone does betray us?" He asked, and Hermione's face lit up.

Hermione pulled Ria and Sophie to a side of the bar, while the boys looked at them in confusion. "Hey!" Ron called out. "Won't you let us know too?"

"No!" She responded.

Theodore raised his hands in the air in question. "Why?"

"Because ya'll are dumb as fuck! That's why!" Hermione and Sophie failed to contain their laughter at Ria's unbothered response.

"Hey!" The three of them exclaimed, offended. "Why— Why are you smiling? She just called you dumb!" Blaise said to Harry, who immediately stopped smiling and snapped back to reality.

"Bold of you to assume he listened to what she said in the first place.." Ron sniggered, and Harry went red.

"Woah, dude!" Theodore cried out in disgust. "Keep your eyes off her!"

"Wh— What?" asked Harry. "I'm her boyfriend!"

"Yeah, and that doesn't give you the permission to eye-fuck her all the time!" Theo replied, and Harry went redder, while Ron snorted.

"You just—" Blaise sighed in disbelief. "You just had to say that, didn't you..?" He tiredly hid his face in the palm of his hand.

"What? It's true!" Theo defended himself. "Look. I think Diggory would haunt you to death before You-Know-Who does. I don't know about Ms. Diggory; she might like it, she might not. There's a chance Mr. Edwards would actually show up after years."

Harry raised an eyebrow, not really knowing where it was going. "And I don't really oppose the idea, but if we're talking about Ria.. personally, I think I am too young to become an uncle—"

Blaise instantly shut his mouth with his hand. "Tell the girls we're waiting outside, would you?" he said and dragged Theo out of the pub, much to Harry's relief and Ron's dismay.

"You know what?" Ron asked, with a wide, amused smile on his face. "I was wrong. That bloke's funny. I like him."

The girls returned with well-concealed smiles. "Oh, hey! You're back, I wish I could say just in time. Anyway," Ron said. "They're waiting outside." He said to Sophie and Ria.

"Oh— Okay." Asteria nodded, then looked at Harry, who resembled a ripe tomato. "Er— why are you so red, Harry?" she asked.

"Ah.. nothing." He shook his head furiously. "It's.. It's hot. Yeah, it's boiling." he answered.

"Mate, it's snowing outside." Ron chuckled. Harry slowly looked at him, his expressions saying, 'you're supposed to take my side'. "But true, it is a bit hot here, isn't it?" Ron attempted, and Harry nodded.

"Okay.." Ria chuckled in confusion, exchanging looks with the girls. "Anyway.. See you later, love." She said to Harry and kissed his cheek before leaving with Sophie.

"Yea.. Bye." He smiled, watching as she left with Sophie.

When they reached their two Slytherin boys, Blaise told them about the incident, and Ria smacked Theo on the back of his head, making the two laugh. Harry found his smile widening as he looked at a joyful Asteria through the glass of the window.

Hermione did an impression of Umbridge's cough, making Harry snap his attention to her and Ron snigger. "Oh Merlin, that was one bad impression." She chuckled at herself, getting a little red in the face. Harry rolled his eyes.

After they got out of the pub, Ron and Hermione just couldn't stop tormenting and teasing Harry about Ria, and he couldn't think of doing anything to stop them either. The only thing he could think of was the day they had finally got together, him and Ria.

He could do nothing but wonder what would've happened if Sirius just hadn't caught them kissing that day. But then, Harry knew they wouldn't have told anyone else that early. They would be under constant turmoil of not getting caught, or not getting enough time together, or telling their loved ones about them.

Deep inside, something told him that Sirius catching the two and then exposing them later had happened for the best. And he couldn't agree more. Because they were all just so happy for them.

"Here he goes again.." Ron trailed away, hand moving gracefully in the air until he placed it around Hermione's shoulder. "Daydreaming about his girlfriend."

Harry scoffed playfully. Yeah, sure, you smooth fucker. He thought. I saw what you did. Be grateful, I'm not going to call you out on that.

His two best friends laughed, not having a clue about his thoughts. "Shut up." Harry said, trying hard to conceal his smile.

"Well, Ron, have you noticed the way Ria looks at the stars?" said Hermione, smiling slightly as she looked at Harry. "You know what else is similar?" Ron curiously raised a questioning brow, even though he knew the answer very well.

"The way Harry looks at her.."

The sentence alone was enough to make Harry's heart flutter and look around to avoid his laughing two best friends. Suddenly, he found the village of Hogsmeade to be more beautiful than he ever did.


The Dark Lord stared off into a distance from the window. His days went by slowly, with no deaths, no screams of pain, no reigns of terror. It all felt empty, just like the place his friend had left.

To say that he never thought about Katherine would be false. Their tale had started the day Katherine had turned up into the Muggle orphanage, covered in blood.. blood of her parents, while no one knew if she was guilty or not.

The moment they had set their eyes on each other, they had known they were similar. Two outcasts, wronged by their past.

And Katherine knew that one day, they would be two outcasts against the entire world.

She had tried to stop it with all her might. But a true Seer couldn't deny their fate for long.

A whoosh of fire echoed down the corridor, and footsteps echoed through the chambers, moving closer to the room. A small smile graced his snake-like face.

"Come in.." He commanded, and the door opened. "I was wondering when I would finally meet you again.."

He slowly turned around. The person bowed on one knee. "Get up, my child." He said. "Have you found out what stopped me from claiming the girl's magic?"

"I'm afraid not.. None of them truly know what it is." They said, but then a small smirk grew on their lips. "But I might have a hunch.. a pretty good one."

A small smile grew on his face. "It's wondrous how sometimes you remind me of your mother," said Voldemort. "Jade Carrow. She was a big part of a noble cause. And now, she has passed the legacy on, to you.." He whispered breathily.

"I aspire to be like her, one day, my Lord." They said, looking down, holding themselves back from entering Voldemort's mind.. just like how they were always trained to.

They would betray the world.. but the Dark Lord? Never.

"Shall I bring it to you?" They asked.

Voldemort shook his head. "No." He ordered. "We fetch our requirements, all at once. I will let you know when."

"I will be waiting for your word, my Lord." They answered, and were about to turn around, when their quenching thirst for someone's blood made them speak again.

"I apologise for my eagerness.." Voldemort gestured for them to continue. "But.. how long before I can finally take my revenge?" They asked, trying to not lose their voice to anger.

Voldemort stayed silent for quite a while. "I like your ambition, my child." The person closed their eyes, hoping for the best. "And I do agree with your eagerness.. It is time."

They sighed in relief, thankful. "But make sure, when you take your revenge.. You do it the right way.." He trailed off.

"You break the girl.. unleash what is trapped inside."

They smiled. "Thank you for choosing me, my Lord. I won't disappoint you." They said gratefully.

"I know you won't."

They turned around to leave, but before they could reach the door, Voldemort had called out their name. They turned around quickly.

"Try not to tell us everything you know about the enemy.." They could make out the smirk Voldemort had by the way he spoke. "Let us have some pity.. Let us make this a little easy for those poor, righteous wizards."

The person smirked. "As you wish, my Lord."


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