BORN TO DIE    ╱    DRACO MALFOY
꒷꒦ · ˚.‧ . written by ella . . . © -lostgardens
087 ━━━━━━ ❛ dumbledore's army ❜

"Pss."

That was all Olivia heard from behind her as she stood in the library, in front of a table, looking at the book she held. At first, she thought she was hearing things, but then she heard it again, this time adding her name, and she looked up with furrowed brows before she turned around to try and find whoever was making the noise, obviously wanting to get her attention.

It took her a moment, but her eyes landed on Granger, who was peeking her head around the corner of one of the bookshelves. If she was trying to be discreet for some reason, she was going to get more attention doing that than if she were just to come up to Olivia.

Olivia closed the book she was holding and crossed her arms over her chest, giving the girl a bored look. "Granger," she whispered back in the same secretive tone. "What are you doing?"

Granger looked around, then waved her over. "Come here."

"No," Olivia told her. "You"—she pointed at the girl—"come here." She pointed to the ground under her boots. Then she watched as Granger rolled her eyes and let out a huff, stepping around the bookshelf and coming closer. "What do you need, Granger?" she asked, her tone now normal, when the Gryffindor stopped in front of her.

Granger opened her mouth to speak, but seemed hesitant to say what she wanted to say and closed it again. Then she just stared at Olivia, who simply stared back for a long moment before she finally spoke. "Can I trust you to keep a secret?" she inquired, her voice still low since they were in the library. Granger was always the one to follow the rules. "Can I trust you in general?"

Olivia tried not to look offended by her words. She thought she had already proven herself trustworthy with the numerous times she had risked her life for the girl in front of her and her two sidekicks (one of which resulted in her being hit with the killing curse). "Of course you can," she replied sincerely, though now she wasn't sure if her word meant much.

Granger let out a breath, then turned to look around. When she finally focused back on Olivia, who was still staring at her and waiting for her to say what she wanted to say, she chewed on the inside of her cheek as she picked at the skin around her nails. She was clearly nervous. "Harry, Ron, and I have been talking, and we were thinking, since Umbridge is refusing to teach us how to defend ourselves against the dangers of the world, that we could find someone who could teach. We were thinking of Harry... Harry and you." She gingerly gestured at the girl with an offering hand.

"Me?" Olivia raised her brows in surprise, rather caught off guard by the request. She didn't know if it was a good idea. No one trusted her anymore because of what they thought happened in the graveyard. Nor did they ever. There was no way that anyone would listen to her teachings, even if the Golden Trio was involved—Harry wasn't on the most liked and trusted list as of late, either. "Why?"

"Well, you're talented and advanced in spellwork, charms, hexes, and such, and both of your parents are skilled as well. And you train with them, don't you? Didn't you also teach Lucas most of what he knows?" She racked her mind with reasons why Olivia would be qualified to teach a bunch of her classmates how to defend themselves. "And you faced You-Know-Who and other dark wizards, who showed you grave danger, and you still survived."

"So did you and Weasley. Well, not Voldemort, but you've been in danger since you got to this school and became friends with Harry. And when I faced grave danger, I was hit with the killing curse and almost died. I was stunned by Peter Pettigrew and tortured by Voldemort. I almost died in the Chamber of Secrets because I stupidly followed your two best friends down there. I almost had my soul taken by a dementor because I had gone with you and Harry to find Weasley when Sirius took him. And I got stabbed and almost died from an infection that Pomfrey said she'd never seen before, and mind you, they still never figured out who did that," Olivia reminded her, letting out a breath. "Why don't you and Weasley teach with him?"

"Because we're not as advanced with defensive spells like you and Harry are," she replied, seeming to grow frustrated with Olivia's doubt of her own skills and using her almost-deaths as an excuse. "You won the tournament last year—"

"Yeah, because Cedric died," Olivia retorted.

"No," Granger countered sharply, "it was because of your abilities and quick thinking. You can do this. You can teach us, and you'll be wonderful at it. You are more advanced than anyone else is; you have faced nearly as much, if not more, than Harry has; and you have knowledge of these kinds of things that's unlike ours." She huffed out another breath, taking a step forward. She placed her hands on Olivia's arms, squeezing them for reassurance. The contact was odd to Olivia. They'd only really been close like this the night of the Yule Ball. "You are Olivia Mallard, okay? Folks are frightened of you for a reason—because you are clever and advanced in magic. You know more than most. For Godric's sake, you study up on spells, potions, hexes, curses, and everything like the sort for fun."

"So do you," Olivia argued, but she felt a little better about it all. She did love compliments, and Granger had been giving her a ton of them.

"That's true." She let out a small laugh. "But you've actually had practice with them, right?"

Olivia nodded, thinking about her and her mother's training sessions to make her a better dueler.

"So, will you do it?" Granger asked with hope in her tone and expression.

Olivia took a moment to think about it before she sighed. "Fine," she murmured, and Granger beamed with a smile, hugging her tightly and wrapping her arms around the back of her neck. It was weird having the bushy-haired girl hug her. It was even weirder when she hugged her back. "But I am still not sure who would want to be taught by me," she admitted, her voice low, but the girl could hear her clearly because they were so close.

Granger pulled back, her hands going back to Olivia's arms. "I do. Besides Harry, you were the first person I thought of."

Olivia raised her brows. "Really?"

Granger took a step back, nodding with a hum and a smile. Then she continued to walk backwards, turning around but still looking over her shoulder. "See you later, Olivia. I'll tell you what we have planned then."

"All right."

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

It was a few days later, and Olivia was walking to Hog's Head with the Golden Trio. They were all bundled in their winter clothes as snow covered the ground and everything else around them, and the chilly air bit at their skin. Granger had made good on her word, having come to Olivia earlier that day, before they came to Hogsmeade, to explain everything.

"This is mad," Harry said. "Who'd wanna be taught by me? I'm a nutter, remember?"

Olivia gave Granger a knowing look, causing the girl to smile. "I said the exact same thing to Granger," she then told Harry. "Not that I'm a nutter; I'm sure that was known a long time ago," she joked with a flat expression, not letting them know if she was serious or not. She wasn't, but she was. She had her moments of insanity, just as everyone else did. Well, most everyone else.

"Look on the height side; you two can't be any worse than old toad-face," Weasley said with a bit of amusement in his tone.

"Thanks, Ron," Harry and Olivia replied at the same time, though the girl said Weasley instead.

"I'm here for you, mate," he told Harry, then sent a short glance in Olivia's direction. "And you as well, Olivia. I guess."

"Who's supposed to be meeting us then?" Harry asked, looking up at the meeting place.

"Just a couple of people," Granger answered, then opened the creaky old door.

As they looked inside, they saw an old man, probably the owner or caretaker, standing at the bar with a goat by his feet, which bleated at them and then ran off. There was a hog's head (clever, Olivia thought) mounted on the wall. And a few small tables were placed around with four chairs each, as well as two stools at the counter. It was a rather small place, but no one ever came there, so it was perfect for this meeting, which was meant to be a secret, after all.

If Umbridge got wind of a secret group forming to learn how to defend themselves, she'd have them all expelled in an instant, and Fudge would probably lose his mind, thinking that Dumbledore had started it since he believed the Headmaster wanted his job. Olivia would like to think that her parents would probably be proud that their daughter was taking some action against these people, though her mother had told her to keep her head down, but she wasn't completely sure about that. She knew, however, that the woman would be happy about her spending time with the trio and not her Slytherin friends, specifically Draco.

"Lovely spot," Weasley muttered, taking in the place.

"Thought it would be safer somewhere off the beaten track," Granger explained as the old man walked away, probably going after his goat.

"Hey, matey, come back here," he called out to the animal.

They walked in a moment later, finding seats to sit in, and waited for the others to arrive. Olivia sat between Granger and Harry, who sat next to Weasley. Only a beat had passed before the four of them were staring silently at the ones in front of them, which included Lucas somehow. Luna, as well as the rest of his Ravenclaw friends, was there too, so one of them probably told him about it.

Olivia had wanted to keep her brother away from this, just in case it didn't work out, or the off-chance it did work out, but they got caught. She would've told him eventually.

Some other familiar faces stuck out to her, including the rest of the Weasley clan that still went to Hogwarts (Ginny and the twins), as well as Neville Longbottom, Cho Chang, Colin Creevey, the Patil twins, Michael Corner, and Dean Thomas. The rest were others that she'd seen around school but couldn't put the names to.

Granger stood abruptly from her seat, causing Olivia to look up at her quickly. "Um... hi," she said awkwardly. "So, you all know why we're here. We need a teacher or two." She paused, thinking about her words for a moment. "Proper teachers," she then corrected herself. "Ones who've had real experience defending themselves against the Dark Arts."

"Why?" a boy stupidly asked.

"Why?" Weasley repeated, sounding as if he were questioning the boy's question. "'Cause You-Know-Who's back, you tosspot," he answered, almost causing Olivia to snicker. Almost. He wasn't that funny.

"So they say," the boy, whom Olivia, upon closer inspection, believed to be called Zacharias Smith, added, narrowing his eyes at Olivia and Harry. She knew him to be a Hufflepuff, but he sure wasn't acting Hufflepuff-like—though she'd learned last school year that she shouldn't go off house stereotypes, even though most did with her.

"So Dumbledore says," Granger countered.

"So Dumbledore says because they say," he argued, clearly not being one of the ones who believed Olivia and Harry about what happened in the graveyard. Why was he even there, then? Olivia questioned him in her mind with a roll of her eyes. "The point is, where's the proof?"

"If they could tell us more about how Diggory got killed," Michael Corner added.

Harry and Olivia shared a glance at each other, and she felt her stomach churn uncomfortably at the reminder that Cedric was murdered. She tried not to think about it much, and it had been working for a while since this school year had been keeping her mind occupied. But the guilt still ate away at her whenever it did come to her mind or when someone reminded her of it, like now.

Olivia just remained quiet as Potter stood. "I'm not gonna talk about Cedric, and neither is Olivia, so if that's why you're here, you might as well clear out now," he told them, then turned to Granger and lowered his voice. "Come on, Hermione. Let's go. They're just here because they think Olivia and I are some sort of freaks." He then turned to walk away.

"Harry, wait," Granger whispered back.

"Is it true you can produce a Patronus Charm?" Luna then inquired, speaking in her soft and kind voice that was sort of calming to Olivia, especially in this moment. Everyone turned to look at her, but her focus was solely on Harry, who had stopped in his tracks.

The boy just remained quiet, staring at the girl as he took in heavy breaths.

"Yes," Granger answered for him, her tone strong. Then she and Harry looked at one another before she looked at everyone else once more. "I've seen it."

Luna focused on Olivia, who was staring at Harry. "And can't you as well, Olivia?"

Olivia's attention snapped to her with slightly wide eyes as everyone else focused on her. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could answer, some boy, whom she did not know the name of, snickered and said, "You have to have happy memories to produce one, and I'm sure she's too miserable to have any."

"Watch your mouth," Lucas said sternly, taking a step forward and glaring at the boy.

Olivia felt amusement from his assumption and the fact that she was going to wipe the smirk right off his face, which grew a bit deeper at Lucas's defense of her. She pushed herself up from her seat with a confident smile on her face, standing up straight and clasping her hands together in front of her. "Actually, I can," she confessed, staring right at the boy and seeing his smirk die a bit. "I have been able since I was six."

"Yes." Lucas took another step forward, this time with a more prideful expression. "Olivia taught me how to cast one as well," he admitted, looking at the others. Then he focused on his sister again. "I learned everything from her that I knew before coming to Hogwarts." He smiled at her, giving her a bit of reassurance, and she softly smiled back.

"Blimey, you two," Dean Thomas said, his tone amazed. "I didn't know you could do that."

"A-a-and he killed a basilisk," Neville added, coming to Harry's defense as best as he could as everyone turned to him, "with the sword in Dumbledore's office."

"It's true," Ginny confirmed, focusing on Harry.

She should know; she was there, after all, Olivia thought, remembering back to that blasted Chamber of Secrets.

"Third year, he fought about a hundred dementors at once," Wealsey continued, causing everyone to then focus on him, then he looked up at Harry.

"And last year, he really did fight off You-Know-Who in the flesh," Granger told them. "And Olivia..." she fell silent as she looked at the girl, who found her gaze, not being able to come up with anything to say.

Olivia let out a small laugh, though nothing was funny. She knew that she'd never been the most heroic person in the world, always looking out for herself or the ones closest to her above all else, so it wasn't surprising that no one was coming to her defense with tales about why she should be able to teach them. She couldn't even think of anything to say as to why these people should trust her to teach them defensive magic against the Dark Arts. Not even Lucas was speaking up, not having anything more to say except: She's my sister, and she cares for a close few; she'd protect them with her life. She fended off bullies for me when I was younger, and now she's in lo— she's infatuated with one of them.

"She... She survived the killing curse at the Quidditch World Cup last year," Granger finally said, raising her hand to Olivia as she looked at the ones in front of them. "All by herself, without the protection of someone else's magic. That should count for something."

"Harry survived it too," Olivia reminded her. "And he'd been a baby."

"Well, you—" Granger went to speak again, but Olivia raised her hand to stop her.

"It's all right, Granger," she told her with a small smile. Then she faced forward. "Look, I know I have always been a bit selfish—"

"Understatement of the year," someone muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"But I am truly not the monster everyone assumes I am," she continued, ignoring the little remark. "No, I haven't killed a basilisk, though I'd been in the Chamber of Secrets as well. And I didn't face Voldemort—" Some looked frightened by the use of his name, like he was going to creep out of the shadows and get them due to her saying it. She wanted to roll her eyes, but she held the action back. "I didn't face him directly in the graveyard," she went on, "like Harry did, and I didn't fight off a hundred dementors by myself, or at all, for that matter. But I—"

"Wait," Harry interrupted, focusing on Olivia, who looked over at him. She was, frankly, glad he had spoken over her because she had no clue as to where she was going with that defense of herself. He then focused on the others, seeming sheepish. "Look, it all sounds great when you say it like that, but the truth is, most of that was just luck," he admitted. "I didn't know what I was doing half the time. I nearly always had help."

"He's just being modest," Granger interrupted.

"No, Hermione, I'm not," he countered, looking over at her quickly. Then his eyes found Olivia's again, and he swallowed nervously, as if his mouth were dry, facing forward again. "For example, in the graveyard, Olivia didn't show You-Know-Who fear. In fact, though she couldn't physically help me go against him, she was one of the main reasons I even had the strength too," he explained, and Olivia just watched him closely, feeling something peg at her heart. "Her standing up to him, even when she was bonded, wandless"—he could've left that out, Olivia grimaced, thinking of Peter Pettigrew getting the better of her—"and knowing that he could do something to hurt her or even kill her, gave me the courage to know that I could do it too. That I could face him again and get us out of there." He paused, finding Olivia's gaze and seeing her staring at him with shock and gratitude. She smiled at him softly, and he returned it. "Facing this stuff in real life is not like school," he told the ones in front of them as he faced them again. "In school, if you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow. But out there... when you're a second away from being murdered or watching a friend die right before your eyes"—Olivia felt a pit in her stomach again, her mind flashing to Cedric—"you don't know what that's like."

A second of silence went by, and then he sat down again, and Olivia joined him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"You're right, Harry, we don't," Granger replied, sitting down again as well. "That's why we need both of your help. Because if we're going to have any chance at beating..." she paused, struggling between saying his name or the one that the world had given him, then finally said, "Voldemort."

"He's really back?" Colin Creevey asked.

Olivia and Harry just nodded, not meeting anyone's gaze as they all stared at them. The realization seemed to dawn on everyone in that moment when the two of them finally looked up.

Voldemort was back, and now they all believed it.

After that, everyone who was there agreed to be part of their "army," or whatever they were calling it. It was sort of like the younger version of the Order, in a sense. They made a list titled "Dumbledore's Army," and Granger, Weasley, Harry, and Olivia were the first four to sign it. Then the others lined up, waiting for their turns.

First, it was the Weasley twins, then Lucas and his Ravenclaw friends, whom Olivia really needed to remember the names of (she knew Luna, Akeno, and Evelyn, but that was it), the Patil twins, Colin Creevey, Cho Chang, Dean Thomas, and a whole slew of others who'd been there with them that day.

Once everyone's names were signed, they all went back to Hogwarts, and Harry, Olivia, Granger, Weasley, Lucas, Ginny, Neville, and the Weasley twins all walked down the bridge.

"Right," Harry began, with new excitement about him. "First, we need to find a place to practice where Umbridge won't find out."

"The Shrieking Shack?" Ginny suggested with a smile, and Olivia shuddered at the reminder of that dingy old place.

"It's too small," Harry told her as they all continued to walk with quick steps.

"Forbidden Forest?" Granger offered.

Weasley gave her a look of bewilderment. "Not bloody likely."

While they'd been talking, Olivia had been thinking. She thought she knew of a perfect place where they could practice. No one knew where it was, which was a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because the fewer people that knew about where it was, the less of a chance there was of Umbridge finding them. But it was a curse because the fewer people—this case being none—that knew where it was, the less likely they'd be able to find it. It was still an idea, though, one that she wanted to share with the class.

As she opened her mouth to suggest her idea, Ginny said Harry's name, causing them to look back at her. "What happens if Umbridge does find out?"

"Who cares?" Granger asked rhetorically with a bright grin, then faced forward as everyone looked at her with confusion as she sounded completely unlike herself, the girl that they all knew and... knew. "I mean, it's sort of exciting, isn't it?" She looked between all of them, then down at the floor of the bridge as they walked. "Breaking the rules," she clarified, making Olivia smile and feel like a proud older sister, though she was not related to Granger. Everyone else smiled as well.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Hermione Granger?" Weasley inquired with a hint of amusement in his tone, but he also sounded as if he didn't believe what he was hearing. Olivia didn't blame him for it; it was quite shocking, indeed, to hear Hermione Granger excited about breaking the rules.

"Anyway," Granger moved on, like she hadn't even heard his comment. "At least we know one positive thing that came from today," she told them with another smile and her chin held high.

"What's that?" asked Harry.

Granger looked over at him as everyone waited for her to answer. Then she looked down to the ground, fighting back the urge to make her grin wider. "Cho couldn't take her eyes off you, could she?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

The Golden Trio then walked a bit forward as Olivia sent a look back at Lucas with a smirk on her face. Her eyes caught onto Ginny, however, who seemed to have an odd expression on her face upon hearing this—an expression that Olivia was all too familiar with.

Olivia raised her brow at the Weasley girl, waiting for her to notice her knowing look. And when she did, she seemed to realize that her disappointment was clear on her face and looked away from Olivia quickly, her cheeks turning a bit pink. Olivia just faced forward, shaking her head in amusement as she caught up more with the trio in front of her.

"Right. Over the next few days, we should each come up with a couple of possibilities of places we can practice," Harry continued as they walked closer to the steps of the school. "We've got to make sure, wherever it is, there's no chance she can find us."

"Will do, Harry," Weasley replied.

Olivia stopped in her tracks, and it took the group a couple of steps before they realized she was no longer moving with them. "I have an idea of a place," she admitted as they turned around to face her with questioning looks.

"Well, what is it?" the green-eyed boy asked, raising his brows.

She opened her mouth to answer, but then she felt eyes on her from up above. She didn't look up or let the awareness show on her face, in case she was right. Her gut told her that it was Umbridge. So she just continued walking, brushing past the group, and going into the school.

They muttered in confusion behind her as they followed her trail. "Olivia, where is it?" Granger questioned her, but she didn't get an answer.

Olivia didn't even turn to them until she was sure they were in a spot where no one would hear them. Then she looked around the corridor before turning to face them, seeing all of the confused looks littering the faces of the ones in front of her. She took a step closer, like she was going to tell a secret. "It's called the Room of Requirement," she told them, speaking quietly.

Weasley furrowed his strawberry-blonde brows, looking at her as if she had two heads. "What the bloody hell is the Room of Requirements?"

Olivia rolled her eyes and sighed. "The Room of Requirement, Weasley, not Requirements, which is plural," she corrected him, shaking her head like it was supposed to be obvious. It was; she had said it clear as day the first time around. She ignored how he mocked her by muttering her words under his breath with annoyance. "I read about it once," she went on as the others stared at her with interest and fascination. "It's somewhere here in the castle, and it is meant to appear to a witch or wizard whenever they are desperately in need of it, and it gives them the type of room that they require. Hence the name."

"Wicked," the twins said in unison, smirking.

Granger had a bit of excitement on her face as she told her, "Oh, yes. I've heard about this."

Based on the look on Harry's face, he seemed a little skeptical, and what Olivia said next didn't help the matter one bit. "But there's just one problem, though," she admitted.

He raised his brows. "What is it?"

"I have no clue where it is," she answered, fiddling with her hands and giving him a sheepish smile. "And neither does anyone else. Well, not that's been reported, at least."

"Brilliant!" Harry sighed, tossing up his arms.

Back to the drawing board it was, Olivia supposed.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

━━━━ ella's speaking !
almost two months after this was written and i'm finally publishing it lmao

olivia's a part of dumbledore's army!! are we surprised?

i really hope you enjoyed this chapter, and make sure to comment and vote 🫶🏻 more updates are to come soon! :)

kisses.

━━━━━━━━━━ born to die,
© -LOSTGARDENS,     aug 2024

word count: 4609. written: 6.20.24. published: 8.19.24.