Destined | The Order of the Phoenix : Book 5

Banned

Kiana

"You see the numerals around the edge of the coins," I said, holding one up for examination at the end of our fourth meeting. "On real Galleons that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On these fake coins, though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket you'll be able to feel them. We take one each, and when Harry and I set the date of the next meeting we'll change the numbers on our shared coin, and because I've put a Protean Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic ours."

A blank silence greeted my words. I looked around at all the faces upturned to me, rather disconcerted.

"Well I thought it was a good idea," I said uncertainly, "I mean, even if Umbridge asked us to turn out our pockets, there's nothing fishy about carrying a Galleon, is there? But well, if you don't want to use them we don't have to. It was just an idea."

"You can do a Protean Charm," said Lucas.

"Yes," I said.

"That's a NEWTs level spell," Jace said.

"Oh," I said. "Oh well yes, I suppose it is."

"How come you're not in Ravenclaw," Luna said. "With brains like yours?"

"Well, the Sorting Hat considered putting me in Ravenclaw well practically any of the Houses during my Sorting," I said brightly, "but it decided to put me Gryffindor in the end. So does that mean we're using the going with my idea?"

There was a murmur of assent and everybody moved forward to collect one from the basket. Harry looked sideways at me then Cho. I felt my blood boil. I can tell I wasn't the only one.

"You know what these remind me of," Harry said.

"No, what's that," I asked.

"The Death Eaters' scars. Voldemort touches one of them, and all their scars burn, and they know they've got to join him," Harry said.

"It's where I got inspiration but instead of it being on our body it'd be a sort of camouflage way of letting everyone know," I said.

"I prefer your way," said Harry, grinning, as he slipped his Galleon into his pocket. "I suppose the only danger with these is that we might accidentally spend them."

"Fat chance," said Ron. "I haven't got any real Galleons to confuse it with."

****

As the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, drew nearer, our D.A. meetings were put on hold because I insisted on almost daily practices. The fact that the Quidditch Cup had not been held for so long added considerably to the interest and excitement surrounding the forthcoming game.

I realized how much Professor McGonagall cared about beating Slytherin when she abstained from giving us homework in the week leading up to the match.

"I think you've got enough to be getting on with at the moment," she said loftily.

Nobody could quite believe their ears until she looked directly at me and said grimly, "I've become accustomed to seeing the Quidditch Cup in my study, and I really don't want to have to hand it over to Professor Snape, so use the extra time to practice, won't you?"