Chapter 15: The Start 

The next day, Lucy found herself running towards the great hall. She was trying to do her tie at the same time and avoid the crowds of people that were heading the same way as her, she had to tell Harry about the Room of Requirement. 

She would have done it yesterday but she hadn't got over the shock of Cedric Diggory and truth be told she hadn't wanted to tell anyone that Cedric Diggory had kissed her in the tri-wizard tournament, she still kept that under wraps in case it destroyed her and Fred's relationship. The only person that knew was Harry and he surely wouldn't tell anyone. 

When she was about to run around the corner, someone stopped her with an outstretched arm. She was about to yell at them to let go but when she stood up straight she saw Fred, his face not showing any emotion and he seemed unreachable. 

"Hi," Lucy smiled awkwardly. 

"Hey," he replied and stared at her, as though trying to figure out something. "What are you doing?" 

"Going to the great hall for breakfast." 

"You seemed rushed, though, why aren't you walking at a normal pace like everyone else?" 

"Because..." Lucy looked around and saw they were being overheard by dozens of Hogwarts students so she took his hand and dragged him down an empty corridor and fixed her tie, just before meeting Fred's eyes again. "I've found a place for the Wizarding Army and Dumbledore's Army." 

Fred's eyes widened in shock. "You have? Where?" 

"Well, it's very hard to find. So hard it disappears when it's not needed." 

"Woah...so, how did you find out about it?" 

"Don't be selfish, I've got to tell the others." Lucy said sternly and Fred's expression turned blank again but she grinned. "Are you going to come with me?" 

"Might as well, I think George is still in the great hall." 

Lucy and Fred made their way to the great hall and then Lucy sat down next to Harry but Fred lingered in the background awkwardly while Lucy discussed the plan. The others — who were part of the DA and WA — nodded eagerly, even those from the other houses had come over to join Lucy's discussing. 

"So we've got somewhere to train?" Hermione whispered excitedly as the others beamed. 

"Most definitely, none of the other students or any teachers will find us, except — " Lucy replied but was interrupted by Snape from behind. 

"And what might you be talking about, Lucy?" Snape asked as everyone else's eyes widened and they all held their breaths. 

"Just telling everyone else about the Wizarding Army and Dumbledore's Army," Lucy smiled and took a bite out of her toast as everyone else stared at them worried and confused. 

"B-But..." Collin Creevy stuttered. 

"I know as much about the secret as you do," Snape narrowed his eyes at Collin who immediately shrunk down in his seat. 

"Why did you tell him, Lucy?" Ron asked as Snape glared at him. 

"Because if it wasn't for my dad we wouldn't have a room and he's very prepared to keep it a secret and help us if we need any assistance." Lucy replied simply as Shona, who was sitting opposite Lucy lowered her Daily Prophet from her face and grinned. 

"He's still an old git though," Shona smiled innocently and everyone laughed apart from Lucy and Snape. 

"Maybe so, but we wouldn't be able to start this club without him." 

Snape gave a 'don't mess with me or my daughter look' to the children then walked out of the great hall and ran straight into Jessica Stone, who squealed. Snape just growled at her and she picked up her books off the floor that she had dropped on the floor in her encounter with Snape. 

Lucy got up and began to help her while the others stared shocked. 

"Thank you, Miss Snape, for your assistance." Jessica breathed and tried to act in her new persona she was taking on as 'Miss Wave.' 

"My pleasure, Miss Wave, it's what prefects do...don't mind my father, he's always like that." Lucy replied as Jessica giggled then headed out of the great hall. As soon as Lucy turned around, her grin faded and all the others stared at her. 

"Oh I hate being nice..." Lucy groaned and walked out of the great hall herself. 

*      *      * 

After all lessons had finished, Lucy ran back to Snape's quarters and found him sat down in his usual chair and reading the Prophet. Lucy sped past him and ran up the stairs to her room. She threw her school bag on her bed and then took her wand out of her robe and closed her eyes. 

She then stood at the top of the stairs and crept down them slowly, trying to avoid making the stairs creak which they were prone to doing. But as she made it to the bottom step she aimed her wand at Snape and then without warning she ran forward at him. 

"Expelliarmus!"  She yelled and just when she thought the spell was about to hit Snape, he pulled out his wand from his robe and blocked the spell effortlessly and Lucy's shoulders slumped. 

"You're far too predictable," Snape said not looking up from his prophet. 

"Or maybe it's because you know me too well." 

"Ah, maybe so. But Zuc and Kingston have seen you fight as well, they're going to find you too predictable as well. That's what you've got to practice, using different spells and techniques." 

"Hmm..." 

"That's what you've started the Wizarding Army and Dumbledore's Army up for, so you can all practice and help each other. Pick up on others faults and help them and they can help you with yours, it's simple. For example, others can teach you defense spells while you could teach them the patronus charm."

"Sounds good to me, I hope all goes well."

"Well it's not going to go very well without you there, is it?" Snape looked up from his prophet and nodded to the clock on the wall and Lucy's eyes widened.

"Oh! Dad, I'll see you later, I've got to go meet Harry before everyone else gets there!" Lucy panicked then dashed out of the door and up the dungeon stairs, leaving Snape to shake his head and continue to read his prophet. 

When Lucy had made it to the seventh floor, she looked left and then right before deciding the coast was clear. She closed her eyes and then wished for the room and it appeared in front of her when she opened her eyes. 

She smiled to herself happily and walked towards it and opened the door and stepped inside to find the empty room that she had only visited yesterday, yet it felt like so long ago. She immediately took out her wand and aimed it at the wooden figure of a death eater. 

"Expelliarmus!" Lucy yelled and it hit the figure. 

"Hey, don't start without me!" Harry yelled from behind her as he opened the door. 

"Oh, hi, Harry." Lucy waved and put her wand away. "Couldn't resist attacking something before the lesson began." 

"Fair enough. So what spells do you think we should demonstrate today?" 

"Start off with the basics, I suppose."

"Like 'expelliarmus'?" Lucy suggested. 

"Most certainly." Harry nodded as the door swung open and students began to flood in. Lucy saw Shona talking to Neville and Seamus following eagerly behind them and Lucy waved, Shona grinned and took out her wand. 

"When we starting?" Shona asked and aimed her wand at the figure of the death eater. 

"In a moment, but we'd all appreciate it if you listened to a lecture first," Harry said nervously as Lucy slipped off her robes and threw them behind her. 

"No time for lectures! Well a quick one, because I suppose you're all interested as to how I got my first detention." Lucy laughed and stood in front of all of them and a few people laughed. 

"Er, yes," Harry nodded awkwardly. 

"So how did you get in detention, Lucy?" Shona smirked although she already knew the answer. She just wanted to amuse people and let Lucy announce her exciting story to everyone else who didn't know what had happened. 

"Well, lets just say that Umbridge and I don't get along fantastically together and I decided to give her a piece of my mind...as a result of these events I got detention and got to write in my own blood — " Lucy quickly un-did the bandage that was still on her hand and then held it up for all to see. The writing was faded and it had been made into a scar but you could still read the writing clearly. "But we're not really here to discuss my detention, what we're here for is — " Lucy whipped out her wand again. "Magic." 

People nodded in agreement and spoke happily amongst themselves as Lucy and Harry split the group in half and put some of them on one side of the room and the other lot on the other side of the room. Lucy went and stood on one side of the room in the middle of the watching crowd and Harry stood on the other. Lucy called for silence and hush fell on the group. 

"Now! I think you all know why we're here but if not it's because we want to get you all trained up for if Lord Zuc or Voldemort decides to bring their troops over here and attack us all. So, if that does happen we don't want you to suffer and wonder what on earth you should do if that happened. Instead we want you to be able to kick some death eater and knight butt!" Lucy declared and a few people cheered. "I assume you all remember the duelling club with Professor Lockhart and my father — " 

"David Hasselhoff! Does anyone know what happened to him by the way?" Shona called out. 

"Don't remind me of Lockhart!" Ron whined. "I was stuck with him while you were fighting a basilisk! I'd rather of been fighting that basilisk rather than looking after Lockhart!" 

"Anyway," Lucy raised her voice and put emphasis on it. "As I was saying, the duelling club. Some of you were there to witness it and others weren't. So, just a quick re-cap; Lockhart and my father were the hosts and they had me and Shona to help out. The only spell we were supposed to use was the disarming spell and that was it. So, this afternoon we are going to relive those days from my second year and start off with the basics of fighting." 

"Every great wizard in history started out just as we are now," Harry added confidently. 

"OK, you ready, Harry? Throw that disarming spell my way." Lucy said and put her wand behind her ear. 

Harry turned pale. "Aren't you going to block the spell?" 

"No, we want to show our class the impact of the spell first." Lucy said. "Don't worry about hurting me, I'm used to getting hurt." Lucy pointed to a faint scar on her face, reminding them all of her third year and the incident with Kingston. 

"A-Alright," Harry trembled and aimed his wand at Lucy. "Expelliarmus!" He yelled and the spell hit Lucy square in the chest, she flew back towards the wall and then hit the floor with a faint thud. A few people gasped as Lucy slowly stood up and addressed the class. 

"I'm OK!" She assured and picked up her wand up from the floor. "Simple spell yet it has a big effect! I guess I should try blocking that spell this time...take it away, Harry!" 

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled again and this time Lucy blocked the spell. 

"Easy enough," Lucy shrugged. 

"Do we get to practice yet?" Shona whined. 

"Yes, Shona, you do. But everyone else will have to wait." 

A few people groaned as Shona smugly walked forward. "What are we going to demonstrate?" 

"A proper battle but only using the disarming spell." 

"You do realise that I'm not going to go easy on you?" 

"Right back at you...but remember, my dad will kill you if you kill me." 

"Got it..." Shona nodded, Harry stood back as the two girls aimed their wands at each other and began the battle. 

The class watched eagerly as though they were watching a tennis match until Shona, after a short while, disarmed Lucy and took her wand. 

"Thank you!" Shona said and caught Lucy's wand. "Now what to do with this? I could hide it somewhere..." 

"Expelliarmus!" Someone yelled and they caught Lucy's wand. 

Everyone turned to the door and a figure of about 6ft walked slowly in to the classroom. They walked towards Lucy and then handed her her wand. 

"Fred?" Lucy asked.

"Sorry I'm late, had a detention to serve with Filch. Apparently he doesn't like fireworks." Fred laughed. 

"You did that without me?" George frowned and everyone turned to him. "I thought we'd agreed to do that together?" 

"It's OK to be independant sometimes, you know?" 

"But we always prank together!" 

"I'll make it up to you, we'll start selling those skiving snack boxes early." Fred said simply. 

"Well...I guess we should get you all paired up so you can practice the disarming spell," Lucy said awkwardly. "Harry you can go with Shona, I'll go with Fred...George can go with Seamus." 

As soon as everyone had been paired up, they each took a spot in the room and began to practice the disarming charm. 

"Did you really prank someone without your brother?" Lucy asked Fred and he nodded. "But why?" 

"Felt like it, you know?" 

"You've been acting a little bit...off, lately. What's wrong with you?" 

Fred shrugged. "Don't know, I'm just in one of those moods." 

"Fair enough..." Lucy nodded and she threw the disarming charm at Fred which he easily blocked. 

*      *      *

"Thank you for coming — we'll see you next time! Remember, same time next week!" Lucy said as everyone exited the room of requirement and Lucy and Harry stood by the door and made sure they were informed about when the next meeting was. 

When everyone was gone, Harry turned to Lucy. "I'll see you tomorrow, I'm going to head up to the Gryffindor common room. I've got a lot of homework to get through now." 

"OK, I'll see you tomorrow," Lucy nodded and Harry left without another word. But instead of leaving with him, Lucy closed the doors behind her and turned around to look at the vast room. 

"Go on then, what's up?" Lucy asked Fred who stood in the middle of the room with a blank expression on his place. 

"I've already told you, I'm just in one of those moods," he shrugged. 

"But what put you in one of those moods?" 

"I don't know...I guess I'm just a little upset by the fact that there really is going to be a war soon." 

Lucy sighed and walked over to him. He gave her a sad look but instead she gave him a hug to try and lighten his mood. 

"Hey, that's why we're hosting this club. So we all know how to fight properly and we'll know what to do if anything attacks us." 

"But the groups not big enough, that's not many of us and I don't think we'll be able to fight off two big army's with just us small group of kids that will have no guarantee that we'll be able to fight or surive or the teachers who even though can fight, won't be enough." 

"We've got plenty of time to practice." 

"How do you know? Zuc and Voldemort could easily strike at any moment." 

Lucy smiled. "Voldemort's too weak and Zuc can't even get over here yet, Merlin banished anyone like him and knights from getting over here. So, we're perfectly safe for now...if any trouble arises we'll have to make the meetings more frequent." 

"Right, OK..." Fred nodded. 

"So what else is wrong?" 

"I'm sad for you." 

"Why for me?" 

"Because...because..." Fred closed his eyes, Lucy let go of him and he breathed in. He then re-opened his eyes. 

"Is it about fighting?" Lucy whispered. 

"No." Fred shook his head. 

"Then what is it?" 

Fred put a hand on her shoulder. "Anastasia." 

"What about her?" 

"She's dead."