Heart of Yours | Harry Potter

XV.

Lalia felt the slight touch of the lips whispering to her in the Great Hall before she heard the words. 

"Defense meeting tonight around eight, seventh floor. It's opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy," she heard the familiar and comforting voice whisper. 

Lalia felt the hairs on her arms raising and shivered from the chill that ran through her. She slowly turned to make eye contact with Harry, who was still extremely close to her. She nodded at him and they exchanged small smiles before he began walking away to the Gryffindor table. 

When she looked back, Morag and Sue were both looking at her with raised eyebrows and smirks, assuming that the whisper had been about something more intimate. 

"Stop," she hissed, blushing slightly. "He was just saying the meeting is tonight, eight. Seventh floor, opposite to old Barnabas." She spoke much quieter this time. The girls nodded. Sue immediately shared the news with Terry and his two friends who were on her right. They all exchanged nods before returning back to their dinners. 

Lalia left the Great Hall to run into the Gryffindor trio waving at her. She jogged over to them and they convinced her to wait in their common room with them until the meeting; mainly Harry convinced her, the other two just agreed. 

They warily made their way through the corridors. 

"Hold it," said Harry warningly, enfolding the piece of parchment at the top of the last staircase, tapping it with his wand, and muttering, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Lalia leaned closer to the boy to look at the map. 

"Filch is on the second floor," said Harry, holding the map close to his eyes and scanning it closely, "and Mrs. Norris is on the fourth."

"And Umbridge?" said Hermione anxiously. 

"In her office," said Harry, pointing. "Okay, let's go." 

They hurried towards the tapestry of Barnabas, Lalia coming to a stop unsure of what their plan was as she noted the bare wall across from the tapestry. 

"Okay," said Harry quietly. "Dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need." 

The friends did as instructed, Lalia thinking that they must look a little odd before focusing. 

We need somewhere to learn ... somewhere they can't find us ... somewhere to practice ...

"Harry," said Hermione sharply, as they wheeled around after their third walk past. 

A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Lalia felt herself staring dumbly at the sudden door. She gathered herself as Harry stepped forward and opened it. 

There was a large room lit with torches. It was filled with bookcases and had large silk cushions on the floor. There were Dark Arts objects on another set of shelves in the room. 

"These will be good when we're practicing Stunning," said Ron enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with his foot. 

"And just look at these books!" said Hermione excitedly, running her finger along the spines. "A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions ... The Dark Arts Outsmarted ... Self-Defensive Spell Work ... wow ..." She turned to look at Harry. "Harry, this is wonderful, there's everything we need here!" 

There was a great knock on the door and Lalia was embarassed that she jumped at the sound, but glad no one had noticed. Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean had arrived. 

"Whoa," said Dean, staring around, impressed. "What is this place?" 

Harry stopped mid-explanation as more and more people arrived to the room, deciding to wait for everyone to get there before addressing them. Mahealani had immediately made her way to Lalia after entering the room, the two girls sitting next to each other.