Bluebell

Book 5 Chapter 13 DA

"Hi!" I chirped, slightly awkward but with a wide smile on my face. "So you all know why we are here."

We were all crowded around a corner table at the back or the Hog's Head. Snow was falling outside and the fireplaces were unlit making the dark pub even more menacing. People who I hadn't spoken to in months, some even years looked up at me and Harry with curious eyes and eyebrows raised.

"We need a teacher, a good teacher." Harry continued surveying our fellow students. "One who has had experience defending themselves against the dark arts."

Why?" Seamus chipped in, drawing everyone's eyes towards him.

Ron smirked and rolled his eyes. "Why? Because you know who is back, you tosspot."

"So they say." Seamus added, looking at me and Harry as I scowled at him.

"So Dumbledore, our headmaster, says." I smiled, standing up from the table.

"So Dumbledore says because you say."

"The point is, where's the proof?" A random boy I couldn't remember the name of added.

"If Weasley or Potter could tell us about how Diggory got killed..." Dean breathed out as if sick of the topic but I quickly cut him off.

"So is that why you are all here? To hear the story of a boy who was murder by Voldemort. A boy who was innocent and had a life to live." I said squeezing Harry's hand under the table. "If so then leave, no one is forcing you to stay here with the boy who cried wolf and the girl who kisses the ground he walks on."

Silence filled the space before Harry interrupted it with a quite whisper. "Come on, Mione. They're here because they think this is a freak show."

"Is it true that you can produce the patronus charm, Harry?" Luna chirped dreamily, smiling happily towards us.

"Yes, I've seen it." Hermione confirmed.

"Blimey, Harry. I didn't know you could do that." Dean gasped.

Del smiled happily. "And be killed the basilisk, with the sword in Dumbledore's office."

"It's true, he was also only twelve." I grinned.

"Third year, he fought off about a hundred dementors at once." Ron gushed like a child talking about their favourite super hero.

"Last year, he really did fight off You Know Who in the flesh." Hermione said mournfully.

"Wait." Harry interrupted. "Look, it sounds great when you say it like that but the truth is most of the time it is just luck. I didn't know what I was doing half the time. I nearly always had help."

"He's just being modest."

"No, Hermione. I'm not. I always had something to lose and it made me fight harder. I always did have support, Blue was there most the time, even if she was only watching with her powers."

"Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school if you make a mistake, you can try again tomorrow." I said.

"But out there, when you are a second away from being murdered... or watching a friend die right before your eyes, you don't know what it's like." Harry lectured professionally, making even Seamus shut up.

"You're right, we don't. That's why we need your help." Del said.

A few hours later...

We were all back at Hogwarts, the snow that had been falling outside whilst we were in Hogsmead was now more like a blizzard. The castle was cold so me and my friends stayed hidden in the warm depths of the Gryffindor common room.

Umbridge had spies everywhere, it was common knowledge around Hogwarts so to stay safe from prying eyes and nosey ears you had to keep all secrets hidden. That's why we held the DA discussion in the Hogs Head, but it turns out she had spies there too.

She had disbanded all student organisations and if people were caught attending such things they would be expelled. She must of heard about the DA and was now trying to stop us from going forth with it. But were we going to listen? Obviously not!

The portrait hole swung open and Del came running in. The only member of our little gang that had not been sat by the firelight with us.

"A... room... in the... the wall!" She gasped, clutching her stomach and breathing heavily.

"What the hell are you going on about?" I snickered, putting down my book.

"This room, appeared out of nowhere." She said again but without the heavy breathing.

"Del! You've found the room or requirement!" Hermione grinned, jumping up from her armchair and rushing forward.

Del rose an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly. "The what?"

"It's also known at the come and go room. The room of requirement only appears when a person has a real need for it." Hermione explained happily.

"Say you really needed a toilet..." Ron asked.

"Charming, Ronald. But yes, that is the general idea."

"That's brilliant!" Harry beamed.

We spent the rest of the snowy day in the safety of our common room. No one daring to venture past the portrait hole, in fear that the Umbridge monster would steal them away and make them perform lines with her tortures quill.

We all laughed and talked like a war hadn't begun, all except Harry who wore an absent expression on his face and clutched his scar sneakily but I noticed. Something was wrong and I needed to know what.

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