Marina looked at the new sign on the Slytherin notice board with narrowed eyes.

- BY ORDER OF -
The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts

All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.

"No!" Louis screamed from behind her. The short first-year threw his hands up in the air quite dramatically. "Not the Gobstones Club!"

"Lou, I think you'll be fine," Marina answered, grabbing his hands to push them back down.

But was she going to be fine? If Umbridge knew about the army, she sure would expel her.

"Are you ready, Marina?" a soft voice asked from across the room. Draco was adjusting his Prefect badge, walking down the stairs from the boys' dormitory. It was time for their daily inspection of the dungeons.

The two hadn't talked much since the day of the Quidditch match. Draco had gotten away with no punishment. As had the rest of the Slytherins - yet Harry had got banned from Quidditch for life.

The snow had now started falling on Hogwarts' grounds, and December had arrived quickly. It was too cold for Marina to swim in the Great Lake now. Instead, she had found herself spending more time with the members of Dumbledore's army. After the duel with Harry, the members had started to show more respect towards her (although they were mad at her house for what they had done to Ron during the match).

The day after the match, Marina had written to Lucius as promised to Harry. She received a howler from him shortly after, which she, fortunately, opened when she was alone. He yelled that she should be more grateful and accepting of the High Inquisitor. There was nothing he would do. And so, Harry had to keep away from Quidditch. Marina had not long after heard rumors that Ginny Weasley would replace his spot as Seeker after Christmas.

"Do you see this note?" Marina said to her cousin, pointing at the notice board. Draco approached it and read through it quickly. "She's mad!"

"Yeah," he grunted, "she was here yesterday to hang it up, wasn't she?"

"And you talked to her?"

The pair started walking towards the door, exiting the room. The cool air of the dungeons gave Marina chills.

"Of course, she's been really nice to me. You know, she knows Father well, as he's always popping in and out of the Ministry." He crossed his arms behind his back and smiled a sly smile.

"Nice?" Marina echoed, "Umbridge?"

"Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway. I went to ask her first thing yesterday when she came in. I'll be interested to see whether the Gryffindors are allowed to keep playing. Aren't you?" He took a pause to chuckle when they passed the Potions classroom before he continued, "If it's a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance. From what Father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years..."

"What? Why haven't you told me?"

"And as for Potter..." He stopped, turning to face her. "Father says it's a matter of time before the Ministry has him carted off to St. Mungo's - apparently, they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic..."

He made a grotesque face, his mouth sagging open and his eyes rolling. Marina looked at him with disgust.

"Neville, no!" a familiar voice suddenly shouted. Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom leaped down the stairs at the end of the hallway. Harry had seized the back of Neville's robes, while the boy was desperately trying to get at Malfoy. "Stop!"

"Not... funny... don't... Mungo's... show... him..." Neville's face had now turned purple, and he was blurting out words that made no sense at all.

"I take it you want to lose more house points, Longbottom?" Draco smirked at the sight in front of him, bringing a finger up to point at his Prefect badge as if the rest of them weren't aware that it was there already.

Marina chose to ignore him and looked between Harry and Neville. "Are you alright?"

"Er- D.A."

"Oh! Well!" She turned to Draco and crinkled her nose. "I'm sure you can do the rest alone, just... don't take any more house points, okay?" Before he could answer, she was already running up the stairs with Harry and Neville.

The Room of Requirement was packed. Harry had called in for the last meeting before Christmas - an emergency meeting that was, as everyone had seen Umbridge's notes by now.

"Well, these are nice, Harry," Marina laughed: the room had been decorated for Christmas with tens of golden baubles strung from the ceiling, each showing a picture of Harry's face and the words 'HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!'. "You put them up yourself?"

"No!" he quickly confirmed, "it was Dobby the house-elf."

The sentence simply made her laugh harder. "Nope, think it was you."

"Marina?" a known Hufflepuff called from the corner of the room. He was holding hands with Cho, smiling wide. "Marina Black?"

"Cedric!"

"I didn't know you were a member?" he sprinted to her, throwing his arms around her. Cedric was just a little taller than her, making her only reach his chest. She remembered memories of him comforting her after Isak's death, and Junior telling her he had made sure Cedric only thought good of her after the happening.

"I didn't know you were!"

"Now..." he smiled, letting her go, "just because I've been a little busy doesn't mean-"

"Er- sorry, how do you know each other?" Harry quickly interrupted them.

"How do you think I figured the Golden Egg last year?" Marina replied, still not taking her eyes off Cedric.

"Okay!" Harry clapped his hands together, and every head turned to him. "As you all know, Umbridge has now the power to expel students. She has decided to suspend those belonging to any team, or organization, or army, like in our case. I- I just want you all to know that I don't want you to get in trouble... Therefore, I'll give you the chance to leave this group today."

Hermione stepped forward, pulling a piece of parchment and a quill out from her bag.

"We're many," she began, "we don't know who's here to learn magic and who's here just because their friend is."

"We want those who are taking this seriously to write their names down," Harry continued, creating an odd feeling in the group as if the students were about to sign a contract. "Those who are agreeing to not tell Umbridge - or anybody else - of this club. Look, we're not going to be mad at you if you want to leave. Just... please don't run around spreading rumors, okay?"

Fred Weasley reached for the parchment and cheerfully put down his signature before he passed it to his twin brother. Marina noticed that several people were now shaking their heads and whispering.

It took several minutes before the list reached her. People had now either signed their names or started walking towards the door. Cedric passed her the quill, as she read the list quickly:

𝐃𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐘
-
ℌ𝔢𝔯𝔪𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔊𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯
rσn wєαslєч
𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙿𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛
Fɾҽԃ Wҽαʂʅҽყ
𝒢𝑒𝑜𝓇𝑔𝑒 𝒲𝑒𝒶𝓈𝓁𝑒𝓎
͏g͏i͏n͏n͏y ͏w͏e͏a͏s͏l͏e͏y
ᴸᵁᴺᴬ ᴸᴼᵛᴱᴳᴼᴼᴰ
ภꂅᏉᎥլլꂅ լԾภgცԾϮϮԾო
𝙋𝙖𝙙𝙢𝙖 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙡
ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕚 ℙ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕝
ѕєαmuѕ fínnígαn
KᗩTIE ᗷEᒪᒪ
ʂųʂąŋ ცơŋɛʂ
Cʜᴏ Cʜᴀɴɢ
𝙲𝙴𝙳𝚁𝙸𝙲 𝙳𝙸𝙶𝙶𝙾𝚁𝚈

"Wait, wait, wait," Marina blurted out. "Ginny, where's that guy you dueled with last time?"

The room turned silent for a moment. Ginny raised her eyebrows and glanced around the room with an expression that said 'I scared him away, didn't I?'.

ℳᴀʀɪɴᴀ ℬʟᴀᴄᴋ

She handed the list to Hermione, who put it back in her bag at once. In just a few minutes, the army had lost twelve members. Harry was looking at people walking out the door with his shoulders dropped.

"I thought we could try some disarming spells today," he put out. "If you could just partner up..."

"Is it true that you can produce a Patronus?" Luna interrupted him with a smile.

Harry scratched his neck.

"He can. I've seen it," Hermione admitted. A few gasps were heard - everyone knew that only skilled wizards were able to produce a Patronus. It was one of the most complicated spells known to wizardkind, and even Marina had to admit that she was surprised by his skills.

"Teach us," Cedric howled, "it would be so cool!"

Marina nodded - it would impress her father and his servants an awful lot if she was able to produce a Patronus when she came home for the holidays.

"No, I can't..."

"Try," Susan Bones stepped forward, "we're good learners."

"I guess we could... But you have to understand that it is an incredibly hard spell," Harry gave in, making several people jump up and down of excitement. "If you could all just find your wands... and a free space..."

Marina brought out her Hawthorne wand and watched Harry step out to the middle of the floor.

"So, the Patronus Charm conjures a magical guardian, a proctor of all your most positive feelings. It's difficult, yes, and many are unable to produce a full Patronus, but if you can, the guardian will take shape of the animal with who you share the deepest affinity to. Er- like this..."

Harry closed his eyes and brought his wand out. There was silence for a few seconds before he smiled and muttered two words to himself. Out of the end of his wand burst a blinding, dazzling, silver animal, galloping away from him. It was a stag, who disappeared not long after.

"Okay, your turn now." He put his wand back in his pocket and started walking around the room. "Think of your happiest memory - it can be anything - a powerful memory. Allow it to fill you up."

Hermione was the first to mutter the words 'Expecto Patronum'. Then, one of the Weasley twins stepped onto the floor, moving his wand in a circle and yelling the magic words. All he produced was a small light of silver which disappeared as quickly as it came.

"Let's try," said Luna to Marina, just as Harry was explaining how important it was to keep focus when casting the spell, and the blonde found an interesting hole in her sweater.

"Expecto Patronum!" Ginny Weasley cried. Marina turned to face her. Out of the girl's wand came a silver horse, which galloped around her twice before disappearing into the air.

"Fantastic, Ginny!" Harry burst out. "This is really advanced stuff guys, you're doing so well."

"Expecto Patronum," yelled Cedric just before he watched a badger fly out of the tip of his wand. He laughed to himself before turning to kiss Cho's cheek.

"Well, Merlin," Marina mumbled to herself. She closed her eyes, just like she had seen the others do, and searched for a memory.

First, she tried thinking about the Christmas she had gotten Nagini, but all she could think about was how she was not allowed to see the snake anymore - her father had needed to keep it at the manor this year.

Then, she tried thinking of receiving her and Draco's Prefect badge, but all that came out of her wand was a glimpse of light.

She watched as Luna successfully made a hare with her wand. She watched Hermione squeal as a silver otter ran around her. Then, she watched Ron call on a Jack Russell terrier before Harry finally called the meeting done.

"You're getting really, really good," he smiled looking around the room. "When we get back from the holidays, we can start doing some even harder spells..."

There was a murmur of excitement, and several people ran to hug each other and wish each other Happy Christmas.

Marina stood alone on the floor, still staring at her wand with a disappointed look when Cedric came to wish her a good holiday. She faked a smile, which Harry noticed from across the room.

"You go on." She could hear him mumble to Ron and Hermione. They exchanged a few words in a low tone before they found the way out of the room.

When Marina was certain that she was alone with Harry, she tilted her head upward. He was walking closer to her.

"You know that this is a very hard spell, right? Don't be disappointed if you can't get it right the first time..."

"No," she sniffled, "it's not that. I'm not dissapointed... it's just that I can't find a memory to think of."

"I-" Harry took a step closer to her, fidgeting with his wand. "I can help you with that."

Marina could feel her heart start to race as Harry walked to stand behind her. He put his hand around hers, making her tighten the grip of her wand, and leaned his head on her shoulder. Unlike Cedric, Harry was about her height, and his head fit perfectly in her neck. She could feel the blood rush to her face.

"Close your eyes," he whispered. "Now, think. Think about the last day you were happy. Truly happy. Think of how you smiled until your cheeks hurt, how you forgot about the rest of the world at that moment, how you never wanted to leave the room..."

Marina did as she was told: she gently closed her eyes, and searched for a memory. Feeling Harry's warmth, her mind automatically traveled to the moments she had shared with him... and it became clear. Marina thought of the day in the bathroom; the day she had truly felt like herself; the day she had nearly kissed Harry. Specifically, the moment she had forgotten about her father, about the mission, and about all her duties.

The moment she had fallen in love.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A light of silver shot out of her wand. It flew high up in the air, several feet, and for a second, she thought it would crash with the ceiling. But then, the light shaped into an animal. She smiled wide as she felt the warmth in her chest grow.

"A tigress."

He froze for a moment. She had managed to create a Patronus - a very powerful one, that was. The tigress ran around the room, before she stopped in front of them, throwing her paws their way and flashing her teeth, before disappearing in a matter of seconds.

"I did it!" Marina squealed, feeling like she could take over the world. "I did it! I did it!"

"You did," Harry echoed, letting go of her hand. The Black quickly turned around to face him, throwing her arms around his neck. Without thinking much, she pressed her forehead against his, still smiling wide.

"I thought of you," she whispered with a weak voice, looking down at his lips.

And then, Harry closed the space between them: he leaned in and kissed her softly. Marina felt her cheeks flush pink; she felt as if her heart was falling to the bottom of her stomach. She put her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him closer, kissing him back with a swift gradation of intensity. He responded by humming against her lips and trailing his fingers down her side, making goosebumps rise on her arms.

Suddenly, it was over. Marina pulled away from Harry, bringing her thumb to his lip, which was now stained by her lipstick. She let out a soft giggle, realizing that he had not yet found the courage to open his eyes.

"Stay with me," Harry said with a now hoarse voice. "Stay with me over the holiday, please."

"Okay."