CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE;

EDUCATIONAL DECREE #24

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"By order of the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, all student organizations, societies, teams, groups, and clubs are henceforth disbanded. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor. 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 belong to, an organization, society, team, group, or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled."

The speaker from which the bells rang repeated this decree four times over the period of the next day – once, while Cassie was at breakfast; then again, when she was on her way to Charms; another time, when she was nearly asleep in the library; and it had just been announced for the fourth time whilst she sat in the common room.

Harry and Ron entered through the portrait hole, whispering very urgently to each other. Ron caught sight of Cassie on the couch and nodded toward her; immediately, the two of them approached her and pulled her off to the corner. She followed, glancing over her shoulder in confusion.

"Erm.. yes?" She raised an eyebrow curiously.

"D'you have any idea who might've blabbed to Umbridge about... you know," Ron whispered, his eyes darting around to see if there were any eavesdroppers.

"No clue," said Cassie honestly. A realization hit, and her mouth popped open in silent shock. "Atticus."

Harry and Ron looked to her as though she were crazy. "What?" Harry asked, his brow furrowed.

"It had to have been," she said darkly, clenching her jaw. "He's all buddy-buddy with Umbridge..."

"It wasn't Atticus," said Ron, still looking at the girl as though she had sprouted wings from her back. "We can trust him–"

"It was him, I know it," she said indignantly, glancing between the two boys. "You should ask him about it. If he starts avoiding looking you in the eyes, it's definitely him."

   "It's not Atticus," said Hermione from behind Cassie, startling her. "Nobody snitched. Umbridge found out for herself."

   "You're so naïve," said Ron, shaking his head in disbelief. "You think just because you're honorable and trustworthy–"

   "No, they can't have done it because I put a jinx on the piece of parchment we all signed," said Hermione grimly. "Believe me, if anyone's run off and told Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are and they will really regret it."

   "What'll happen to them?" Ron and Cassie asked in sync – Ron seemed to be more eager to find out; Cassie, skeptical.

   "Well, put it this way," said Hermione, "it'll make Eloise Midgen's acne look like a couple of cute freckles. Come on, let's get to dinner and see what the others think."

   It was immediately apparent upon entering the Great Hall that Umbridge's announcement had put everyone on edge; there was a peculiar intensity about the chatter and an extra measure of movement   as people scattered up and down their tables. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Cassie had barely taken their seats when Neville, Dean, Fred, George, and Ginny descended upon them.

   "Did you hear?"

   "Reckon she knows?"

   "What are we going to do?"

   Harry seemed quite overwhelmed all of a sudden, so Cassie leaned in and answered for him, "We're going to do it anyway, of course."

   "Brilliant," said Fred and George together, grinning brightly. They dipped their heads together and walked off in deep conversation.

   "I'll tell Michael," said Ginny, swinging her legs over the bench and beginning toward the Ravenclaw table.

   "What's Michael got to do with her?" said Ron loudly, watching his sister's back.

   "They're going out–" answered Hermione, but Ron sputtered over the rest of her reply.

   "He's WHAT?" he said, outraged. "She's going out with – my sister's going– what do you mean, going out!?"

   "Well, it's why Michael and his friends came to the meeting, isn't it?" said Hermione, her lips drawn tight to hide an amused smile.

   "When did this – when did–"

   "They met at the Yule Ball," said Hermione. "They got together at the end of the year."

   "This is outrageous!" Ron cried, dropping his head into his hands. Cassie and Hermione shared a single look before bursting into laughter.

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The Room of Requirement was a place Cassie could easily spend the rest of her life in, if she really wanted to. All she had to do was think of something she really, really needed – and boom, it appeared.

So, she squeezed her eyes shut and thought very hard about a chocolate frog. When she peeled her eyes open, she grinned at the sight of the sweet sitting on the floor before her.

"Now that we're all aware of the Room of Requirement's abilities," said Hermione pointedly, sending Cassie a sharp look as she stuffed the candy into her mouth, "let's begin."

"Well, I've been thinking about what sort if stuff we ought to do first and–" Harry faltered, turning to face the raised hand. "What, Hermione?"

"I think we ought to elect a leader," she replied promptly.

"Harry's leader," said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad. Harry's cheeks flushed and he looked to the side. Again, Cassie felt no jealousy boiling in her stomach – perhaps she was completely and entirely over Harry.

"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," said Hermione, raising her eyebrows. "So – everybody who thinks Harry should be our leader?"

Everybody put their hands up eagerly – even Zacharias Smith, though he seemed more halfhearted with it.

"Er– right, thanks," said Harry, suppressing a smile. "And – what, Hermione?"

"I also think we should have a name," she said brightly. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity. Don't you think?"

"Did you rehearse this?" Cassie asked, very seriously, though a few people chuckled. Hermione flushed.

   "How about the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" Fred suggested happily.

   "I was thinking," said Hermione, frowning at Fred, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside the meetings."

   "The Defense Association?" said Cho. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about."

   "The D.A.'s good," said Ginny, nodding. "Only lets make it stand for Dumbledore's Army, because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

   "All in favor of the D.A.?" said Hermione, standing from her floor cushion to count. "That's a majority. Motion passed!"

"Now that that's out of the way," said Harry, pretending to be bothered by Hermione's interruption (but obviously very pleased that the meeting was going so well), "let's begin, shall we? Erm.. how about we break off into partners–"

No sooner than the words had left his lips did the students sitting on cushions stand and gravitate toward their partner. Cassie glanced over her shoulder to see Atticus approaching her. She turned around quickly and moved to Neville's side.

"Alright then, sorry Atticus," said Harry, as Atticus ended up being the only one without a partner. "Er– d'you wanna be with me?"

"I'd be honored," said Atticus, sticking his tongue out at Cassie and spinning around to face Harry. Cassie rolled her eyes and turned to Neville.

"Alright, let's start simple," said Harry, pulling his wand from his robes and pointing it at Atticus. "The Disarming Spell – Expelliarmus."

He flicked his wrist and a small jet of white light hit Atticus's hand – his wand flew from his grip and landed on the ground beside Harry.

"How's a Disarming Spell going to help us fight.. whatever's out there?" said Zacharias Smith loudly, seeming to be very disapproving of Harry's teaching skills already. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

"I've used it against him," said Harry quietly. "It saved my life last June. But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave."

Smith opened his mouth stupidly, then shook his head.

"Right then," said Harry, now addressing the entire group, "let's try it. Everyone – wands out – in three, two, one–"

The room was suddenly full of shouts of "Expelliarmus!"; wands flew in all directions, missed spells hit books on shelves and sent them flying into the air. Cassie faced Neville and, in a split second in which she was going to ask who should go first, Neville had shouted, "Expelliarmus!" and disarmed her successfully.

She stared at her wand in his hand with her jaw open, blinking in a very dumb looking way. Her mouth fell dry. She swallowed and suddenly grinned, rushing over to Neville and throwing her arms around him, and said, "You did it, Neville!"

   Neville's face turned a deep shade of red as many people began to cheer him on – he smiled sheepishly and allowed the congratulators to ruffle his hair or clap him on the back.

   "Brilliant, Neville, really," said Harry with a bright smile. He caught eyes with Cassie for a moment and she gave him a friendly simper before she turned back to practice with Neville more.

   She successfully disarmed Neville eight times; beating him by a score of two. The two of them had decided to keep tallies, and whoever won got bragging rights.

   "I won," said Cassie once Harry told everyone to clean up. She gave Neville a cheeky grin and he told her to shove off, though he was laughing quietly as he packed up his stuff.

   "Hey, Cass, I gotta talk to you," said someone from behind her. Cassie's smile faded into a thin line and she turned to face her cousin.

   "Whatever about?" she asked tonelessly, raising an eyebrow.

   "You know what about," he said. The way he lowered his voice and leaned in reminded her too much of Cedric – she had never realized, really, how alike the pair of them were; they shared too many mannerisms, spoke in much too alike voices, and smirked the same charming smirk.

The two stared each other down for a moment in a silent battle of stubbornness, until Cassie rolled her jaw and turned to face Neville. "You go on, I'll catch up later."

   Once Neville had, reluctantly, walked off, Atticus said, "Can't you get over this? I'm–"

   "Get over what? The fact that you like Umbridge?"

   "Yes, actually."

   "No, I don't think I can. Do you know how horrible she is, Atticus? Or was the scar on the back of my hand not enough proof that she's a bad professor?"

   "I get that she's done some bad things," he said in a calm tone – his lack of emotion only sparked more rage inside Cassie. She flared her nostrils and exhaled a dignified huff, daring him with her eyes to go on. "I just– I can't not like the woman, okay? I'm learning a bloody lot in her class and I've got the best grade out of all of my years here. Can't you let me be happy that I'm succeeding in Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"I suppose," she said, very slowly and in cold anger, "we could agree to disagree. Possibly go back to being friends. But not.. right now. I've got a lot going on, and you are not helping."

"Okay," said Atticus, smiling brightly. "See, I knew you couldn't stay mad at me forever. I'm your favourite cousin!"

"You're my only cousin," she grumbled, hiking her bag onto her shoulder and turning around.

"Not true – Malfoy's your cousin!" he called after her.

She was glad she was not facing him – he could not see the simpering of her lips from behind her. She called over her shoulder, "I'd take you and Umbridge over Malfoy any day!"