Sentimental Reasons

27. Dumbledore's Army

"I am so so so sorry; I wasn't watching where I was aiming." Neville rushed to say as he helped me up. "The dummy dodged my attack at the last minute. I am so sorry." He repeated. I winced at the pain in my stomach as I sat upright. At this point, everyone stopped doing whatever they were doing to look at me. I heard whispers by the window from girls I had never seen before. They weren't the only ones who noticed my green tie. I was the only Slytherin amongst them; I guessed it was normal. I started to get the feeling I wasn't welcome here. As I scanned the room, I could count only a few people with honest looks: Ron and Hermione. The others were suspicious of me. 

I forced a smile on myself as I looked at Neville. "It's fine. Don't worry about it." I stood up with Harry and Neville's help. "At least you aced this spell. You can trust me." I tried to ease up the tension. 

Harry must've noticed my discomfort and started talking. "Hi." He started but didn't know how to continue. The room stayed silent, waiting for an explanation before he continued, "Audrey will be joining us for the rest of the practices." Again, a long silence stood. "Audrey has some great-"

"She's a Slytherin." A girl at the centre of the room exclaimed before Harry could continue. I believe her name was Romilda Vane. 

"Yes. I'm glad you're not colourblind, Romilda." Harry snapped back. A smile crept on my face. Harry definitely knew how to be sassy when he wanted to. "As I was saying-"

"How do we know she's not a spy for you-know-who?" Romilda whispered the last part. She definitely had a big mouth but not much braveness. 

Harry searched everyone's eyes and looked disappointed. "She's not."

"But how-" She continued.

"She's not." He exclaimed louder. "I trust her." He turned his head to look at me. "And if any of you don't, you can leave." Harry had total power over Dumbledore's Army, and he had earned it. It showed as he waited for a second for people to leave. But not one person left. That was influence. Power. "Alright, can everyone go back to practising now? Brilliant." And with that, mannequins groaned again. "Neville, you can practice with Audrey." Neville had a genuine smile. It reassured me. I knew Harry set me up with Neville because he knew Neville was the first person he could count on to welcome people. Neville accepted everyone; he didn't judge by appearances. He was a real sweetheart.

"Of course," He responded and led me toward a corner of the room.

Harry nodded before going to see Romilda. I turned my attention back to Neville. "What was that spell you used? Can you teach it to me?" 

Neville's smile turned into admiration once he processed what I said. He had never had anyone ask him about spells. Amongst Dumbledore's Army, he was always considered the one who messed up all the time. For me to ask him for bits of advice had to be an honour for him. "Of course." He seemed excited as he directed me to a side of the room where we had enough space to practice. "I'll try to aim correctly this time." A soft chuckle came out of both of us.

~~~~~~~~~~

"So, how was your first practice?" Hermione asked me as everyone started to depart the room. I had watched her from afar and could tell she had great powers within her. She was always the one to win battles. Furthermore, she was very popular. Every time she won, she was quickly submerged by a crowd asking her for advice. 

"Great! It's amazing here. I've learnt more here than from my teacher in Beauxbatons." I responded. "Everyone is so good too. It's amazing what you've done here." I looked at the golden trio. 

"All thanks to this big fella," Ron said as he tapped Harry's back, who stumbled in response. Hermione looked at them, exhausted by their behaviour. Their friendship was pure. It was adorable to see. 

"I'm glad you're a part of it," Harry said as we headed outside the room. Everyone had to leave the room separately to not summon any suspicions from any other students. Of course, Harry, Ron and Hermione could go together as everyone knew they were inseparable. "Next lesson's in two weeks." 

"Count me in," I said before leaving the room, a bright spirit within me.

I was nearly back to my common room and started getting more excited about the ball. I'll be able to give some feedback to Harry. It was an absolute honour. 

"So you've found it." I heard a voice from behind me. I turned around to meet Malfoy's grey eyes. My heart pounded a mile an hour as I saw his face. I started to worry I had blown my cover and had exposed Dumbledore's Army's hideout. "What'd you play this time?" I didn't know a single sentence could relieve so much tension in my body at once. I loosed a breath and smiled faintly. 

"Chopin." I lied and turned back towards the right direction. 

"You really shouldn't roam the castle grounds this late." He walked behind me. "You don't want to owe me once more now, do you?" I didn't have to turn around to know he had a smirk on his face and whispered the password to the door without caring about Malfoy's remark.

As soon as I entered my dorm, Daphne stood up from her bed to hug me. "There you are. Where were you? You weren't at dinner. We were all worried sick. Everyone went looking for you, even Malfoy." She gave me a lecture. She pulled back from the hug to scan me. "You weren't in the library nor the garden. Dumbledore told us not to roam around the castle at night." She reminded me. "I need to see if Malfoy came back."

"He's fine. I saw him." I explained. "I'm sorry, I should've told you. I was playing the piano and lost track of time." 

"Don't ever do that again." She warned and hugged me one last time. "You haven't eaten anything; you must be starving." She quickly went to her nightstand to search for some snacks.

"I'm fine. I took some snacks with me." I lied. 

She looked over her shoulder without her eyebrows raised. "I know you're lying." And continued searching. Finally, she handed me some chocolates and some sweets. "Here, eat it all. I'll restock my stash of snacks later." So that was where the sound came from every night. She must've eaten snacks in the middle of the night quite often. 

"Thank you." I loved her. Thank Merlin she was here as my stomach was growling from hunger and Neville's attack earlier. 

I took a shower without any humming, not to disturb the girls and thought about what Daphne had said. Malfoy searched for me. He searched for me longer than any other did, longer than Daphne did. 'Weird', I thought.