"I think Umbridge read Harry's post, that's the only explanation I can come up with." Cole announced to me the next day.
It was break time, and the two of us were in an empty classroom with about thirty other people and Peeves throwing ink on people. It was raining so hard outside that it was like somebody was spitting every thirty seconds; so the teachers let us stay inside for once.
Gennie was off trying to get permission to re-form the Quidditch team, while everybody else was.. who knows where. So it was just me and Cole.
"Hmm," I said, stifling a yawn before lying back on the table. I'd been awake most of last night, worrying about Umbridge nearly getting Sirius in the fire. "I don't know how she could have done it though. The letter didn't even look open."
"Evil people always surprise you." Cole said, his voice faraway. "You think you have the upper hand and that everything's fine, you won. But then they come along with a metaphorical punch in the gut and leave you breathless and wishing you'd never thought everything was fine..."
Scared by the flat indifferent tone Cole was speaking in, I looked at him. Like, really looked at him. His clothes were rumpled and it looked like he'd slept in them (there was the same stain on his jumper that there had been yesterday) and his tie and hair were more askew than ever. He had his hands up his jumper sleeves, something he did when he was anxious--I knew this because I did it as well.
"I'm guessing we're not talking about Umbridge now, right?" I asked tentatively. Cole had spoken or mentioned Cameron since way last year, and it was strange he suddenly brought him up. "Are you okay?"
Cole shrugged, and looked outside into the rain. "It's stupid, I guess. But it's his nineteenth birthday today, and it's so odd... I mean I don't miss him or the stupid dark artifacts he forced me to buy or anything, I've just been remembering the fun we had when he wasn't a psychopath... Is that stupid of me?"
Cole had clear tears in his eyes, and wiped at them furiously with his sleeves. "It's not stupid." I said quietly. "He was your brother once."
"Yeah, was." Cole snorted, not looking at me. "I couldn't wait for this day, I was relishing it. I couldn't wait for this day to come, where he wouldn't get what he wanted for his birthday, he'd only have dementors and screams as his presents.... But of course, I was wrong. My father has screwed that lovely plan up."
I hadn't heard much about Cole's father from him, but from what I grasped they didn't have the closest relationship. "What did he do?"
Cole sighed deeply. "Well Camille wrote to me to say that my father has gone to visit the bastard in Azkaban for his birthday."
"That's sick." I declared. "Why should he get anything? He should just rot in there until he gets a dementor's kiss."
"That's what I said!" Cole said, nodding in agreement. "But nooo, the son who tortures and abuses the other one for five years gets a visit and probably a hug on his birthday. What did I get from my father for my birthday? A five galleon voucher for Zonko's. It's bullshit, man."
"What does your mother think about this?" I asked quietly. If I had a husband who wanted to visit my psycopath of a son for his birthday, I would have divorced him immediately.
Cole shrugged, still not looking at me. "Camille heard it from her, and she was furious about it. Though she lost all love for him when she found out. She didn't even attend the trial--but my father did. And he cried when the verdict was handed out--cried. How sick is that? But Cammy was always father's favourite, he was the strong and capable son who loved the dark arts, and I was the wuss who loved piano and kittens."
"Remind me to slap your father if I ever meet him."
Cole smiled, but it looked quite forced. "But why does he keep getting to win? He's in Azkaban, he's not meant to have power over me anymore, everyone's meant to forget about him... that's the rule, right? But now even when absent, he's making me feel this way."
I had a bad feeling in my stomach about this. "Like what?"
Cole gave a forced smile again. "Like I can't cope."
Before I could ask him what he meant by this, Harry, Ron and Hermione came in. They all climbed onto the table with us, and Cole began talking to Ron about a quidditch match on the radio tonight, acting like our conversation didn't happen.
"Where's Gennie to?" Harry asked curiously.
"Trying to re-form the team." I explained. "She should be back soon."
As soon as I said that, Gennie barrelled into the room, a bright smile lighting up her face. She practically skipped over to us, and stood in the circle of Cole's arms. He looked much calmer at Gennie's presence, though his expression was strained.
“I’ve got permission!” she sang. “To re-form the Quidditch team!”
“Excellent!” Ron, Harry and I chorused.
“Yeah, I know!" Gennie said, beaming. “I went to McGonagall and I think she might have appealed to Dumbledore. Anyway, Umbridge had to give in. Ha! So I want you down at the pitch at seven o’clock tonight, all right, because we’ve got to make up time. You realize we’re only three weeks away from our first match?”
"Jesus, that's come quick." I said, raising my eyebrows. "It's against Slytherin, right?"
Gennie nodded grimly. Cole pulled at the end of her plait. "You'll be fine, Gen. You're like the best captain to lead them."
She rolled her eyes, but gave him a quick kiss. "I've gotta pass this onto the twins and Katie. I'll meet up with you all later." she gave Cole another kiss. "Love you Cole, see you later!"
"Love you too." Cole said, sounding relieved as Gennie skipped off towards Katie to break the great news.
Ron’s smile slipped slightly as he looked out of the window, which was now covered with hammering rain.
“Hope this clears up. What’s up with you, Hermione?”
She, too, was gazing at the window, but not as though she really saw it. Her eyes were unfocused and there was a frown on her face.
“Just thinking…” she said, still frowning at the rain-washed window.
“About Siri— Snuffles?” said Harry.
“No… not exactly…” said Hermione slowly. “More… wondering… I suppose we’re doing the right thing… I think… aren’t we?”
“Well, that clears that up,” said Cole irritably, scratching at the tiny amount of stubble on his chin. “It would’ve been really annoying if you hadn’t explained yourself properly.”
“I was just wondering,” she said, her voice stronger now, “whether we’re doing the right thing, starting this Defense Against the Dark Arts group.”
“What?" We said together.
“Hermione, it was your idea in the first place!” said Ron indignantly.
“I know,” said Hermione, twisting her fingers together. “But after talking to Snuffles…”
“But he’s all for it,” said Harry.
“Yes,” said Hermione, staring at the window again. “Yes, that’s what made me think maybe it wasn’t a good idea after all…”
Peeves floated over them on his stomach, peashooter at the ready; automatically nearly all of us lifted their bags to cover their heads until he had passed. Cole didn't, and allowed himself to be pelted. He seemed pissed off enough at the world to endure ink on his hair.
“Let’s get this straight,” Cole said, sounding very annoyed now, “Sirius agrees with us, so you don’t think we should do it any more?”
Hermione looked tense and rather miserable. Now staring at her own hands, she said, “Do you honestly trust his judgment?”
“Yes, I do!” said Harry at once. “He’s always given us great advice!”
An ink pellet whizzed past them, striking Katie Bell squarely in the ear. Hermione watched Katie and Gennie leap to their feet and start throwing things at Peeves; it was a few moments before Hermione spoke again and it sounded as though she was choosing her words very carefully.
“You don’t think he has become… sort of… reckless… since he’s been cooped up in Grimmauld Place? You don’t think he’s… kind of… living through us?”
“What do you mean, ‘through us’?” I said defensively. "He's not a ghost, so that isn't possible."
“I mean… well, I think he’d love to be forming secret Defense societies right under the nose of someone from the Ministry… I think he’s really frustrated at how little he can do where he is… so I think he’s keen to kind of… egg us on.”
Ron looked utterly perplexed.
“Sirius is right,” he said, “you do sound just like my mother.”
Hermione bit her lip and did not answer. The bell rang just as Peeves swooped down on Katie and emptied an entire ink bottle over her head.
The weather did not improve as the day wore on, so that at seven o’clock that evening, when Gennie and I went down to the Quidditch pitch to look at strategies in the office before hand, we were soaked through within minutes, feet slipping and sliding on the sodden grass.
I stared through the office window miserably as the rain carried on. I was dressed ready for practice, and now we were just waiting for everybody else. Gennie was busy sorting out a chaser strategy with a compass and protractor, and didn't notice when I got up to see where everybody was.
I found Fred and George debating whether to use one of their own Skiving Snackboxes to get out of flying.
“… but I bet she’d know what we’d done,” Fred said out of the corner of his mouth. “If only I hadn’t offered to sell her some Puking Pastilles yesterday.”
“We could try the Fever Fudge,” George muttered, “no one’s seen that yet -”
"It's nice to see you're both committed to Quidditch rain and shine." I said sarcastically, sitting on the bench next to them. "Real comforting for team morale."
“Does it work?” enquired Ron hopefully, ignoring me as the hammering of rain on the roof intensified and wind howled around the building.
“Well, yeah,” said Fred, “your temperature’ll go right up.”
“But you get these massive pus-filled boils, too,” said George, “and we haven’t worked out how to get rid of them yet.”
“I can’t see any boils,” said Ron, staring at the twins.
“No, well, you wouldn’t,” said Fred darkly, “they’re not in a place we generally display to the public.”
"NO, please stop this conversation now!" I said, standing up. "Jeez, guys, that's not necessary!"
I stormed into the captain's office, to see Gennie pulling on her boots. "Come out, please." I begged. "The twins are talking about boils in awkward places."
"Not what I expected you to say." Gennie said, tying her hair into a bun. "Right then, let's go turn into drowned rats!"
We emerged from the office, for the other five members of the team to fall silent.
“All right, everyone, listen up,” said Gennie loudly. “I know it’s not ideal weather, but there’s a chance we’ll be playing Slytherin in conditions like this so it’s a good idea to work out how we’re going to cope with them. Harry, didn’t you do something to your glasses to stop the rain fogging them up when we played Hufflepuff in that storm?"
“Hermione did it,” said Harry. He pulled out his wand, tapped his glasses and said, “Impervius!”
“I think we all ought to try that,” said Gennie. “If we could just keep the rain off our faces it would really help visibility - all together, come on - Impervius! okay. Let’s go.”
We all stowed their wands back in the inside pockets of their robes, shouldered their brooms and followed Gennie out of the changing rooms.
We squelched through the deepening mud to the middle of the pitch; visibility was still very poor even with the Impervius Charm; light was fading fast and curtains of rain were sweeping the grounds.
“All right, on my whistle,” shouted Gennie, to be heard over the rain and wind.
I kicked off in the mud--causing it to spray all up my legs--and shot upwards, the wind making my Nimbus go off course slightly.
It was the worst practice of my life. I could barely see the Quaffle, and I nearly got hit in the face several times. The bludger kept pelting towards me, as I couldn't see it. I couldn't see anyone really, except when Katie or Gennie came close with the quaffle.
Gennie had us plough on for nearly an hour before accepting defeat. She led us all shivering back to the changing rooms, insisting that the practice had not been a waste of time, though without any real truth in her voice.
I ended up bundling up in two jumpers, plus my coat and hat as I was shivering so badly from the rain and wind. I just prayed I wouldn't get a cold from this--sneezing and Quidditch never mixed.
I pulled on my gloves, but then my hand started spaspming on it's own in pain, causing me to drop them. Letting out a hiss of pain, I lent down to pick them up.
"You okay?" Gennie asked, kneeling down by me.
"Twisted my wrist." I lied, knowing full-well it was my scar prickling with pain.
Gennie saw past my lie. "I know it's your scar, you can't lie to me Rory."
"It was only for a second." I said, getting to my feet and finally putting my gloves on. "Harry usually has it worse... It's only really bad if he's close. It was practically on fire in the graveyard..."
“But…” looking scared, Gennie looked around. “he - he can’t be near us now, can he?”
“No,” Harry muttered, sinking on to a bench and rubbing his forehead. “He’s probably miles away. I hope, anyway. I just want to focus on the Quidditch match an rebelling against Umbridge."
* * *
The next day was just as dismal, and thankful we were located inside for care of magical creatures. During lunch, Gennie came up to us after seeking out the twins and Katie.
"I've cancelled practice tonight." She told Ron, Harry and me. "It's just too dangerous and wet outside."
“Good,” said Harry quietly, when she told him, “because we’ve found somewhere to have our first Defense meeting--"
"Have we?" I interupted. "You didn't say anything earlier."
Harry shot me a 'please shut up' look and continued on: "--Tonight, eight o’clock, seventh floor opposite that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by those trolls. Can you tell Katie and the twins?"
"I just came from them." Gennie said irritably, but she headed off in any case.
Cole got to his feet, leaving his un-eaten food that he'd just pushed around his plate. "I'd best get a letter to Sam, then. She's coming through the secret passage--the one we took to Hogsmeade in third year--and I need to give her all the information."
I stared after Cole in worry. "Do you think he's feeling alright?" I asked Hermione. "He didn't eat any of his food."
"He's just got a lot on his mind, I suppose with Sam and the group and everything." Hermione said dissmissivley. "Cole never goes off his food, Rory, he's fine."
She was quiet for a few minutes, and started staring at Harry. "What?" he asked.
“Well… it’s just that Dobby’s plans aren’t always that safe. Don’t you remember when he lost you all the bones in your arm?”
“This room isn’t just some mad idea of Dobby’s; Dumbledore knows about it, too, he mentioned it to me at the Yule Ball.”
Hermione’s expression cleared.
“Dumbledore told you about it?”
“Just in passing,” said Harry, shrugging.
“Oh, well, that’s all right then,” said Hermione briskly and raised no more objections.
We spent the rest of the afternoon seeking everybody else out to tell them about when the meeting was. Harry seemed more than a bit annoyed that Ginny told Cho before he could get to her, and everybody knew it.
At half past seven we left the Gryffindor common room; I clutching a certain piece of aged parchment in my hand. Fifth-years were allowed to be out in the corridors until nine o’clock, but all five of us (Cole was finding Sam in the secret corridor) kept looking around nervously as they made their way along the seventh floor.
"Wait a second!" I said, unfolding 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.”
A map of Hogwarts appeared on the blank surface of the parchment. Tiny black moving dots, labeled with names, showed where various people were.
“Filch is on the second floor,” I said, studying the map carefull, “and Mrs. Norris is on the fourth. Sam is out of the secret corridor, she and Cole are coming now.”
“And Umbridge?” said Hermione anxiously.
“In her office,” I told her, pointing. “Okay, lets go.”
We hurried along the corridor to the place Dobby had described to Harry, a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy’s foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.
“Okay,” said Harry quietly, while a moth-eaten troll paused in his relentless clubbing of the would be ballet teacher to watch them. “Dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need.”
So we all started pacing, and I was unsure of what to say. We need a place to practice magic, I thought. Somewhere Umbridge will never find.
"Harry, look!" Hermione exclaimed, and I looked up from the floor.
A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Harry reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open the door and led the way into a spacious room lit with flickering torches like those that illuminated the dungeons eight floors below.
The walls were lined with wooden bookcases and instead of chairs there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes and foe-glasses.
“These will be good when we’re practicing Stunning, “ said Gennie enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with her foot. I know she was thinking of all of Cole's moaning last year when I practiced stunning him.
“And just look at these books!” said Hermione excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large leather-bound tomes. “A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter-Actions… The Dark Arts Outsmarted… Self-Defensive Spellwork… wow…” She looked around at Harry, her face glowing, and I saw that the presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione that what they were doing was right. “Harry, this is wonderful, there’s everything we need here!”
And without further ado she slid ‘Jinxes for the Jinxed’ from its shelf, sank on to the nearest cushion and began to read.
There was a gentle knock on the door. I looked around, to see Cole and Sam standing in the doorway. Sam had a Hogwarts robe thrown over her muggle clothes, I suppose so nobody would question her walking in the corridors.
"Holy shit." she said quietly. "I take back everything bad I said about this place last year. It's... magic."
"It is a school for magic, Sammy." Cole rolled his eyes, looking a bit happier than he was earlier. "Duh."
Harry began explaining to them about the room, but more and more people showed up that in the end Harry just gave up. By eight, every cushion had an owner.
“Well,” said Harry, slightly nervously. “This is the place we’ve found for practice sessions, and you’ve - er - obviously found it okay.”
“It’s fantastic!” said Cho, and several people murmured their agreement.
“It’s bizarre,” said Fred, frowning around at it. “We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then.”
“Hey, Harry, what’s this stuff?” asked Dean from the rear of the room, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.
“Dark detectors,” said Harry, stepping between the cushions to reach them. “Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don’t want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled…Well, I’ve been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and - er -” He noticed a raised hand. “What, Hermione?”
“I think we ought to elect a leader,” said Hermione.
“Harry’s leader,” said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad.
Harry looked like he was going to cheer and throw up at the same time.
“Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly,” said Hermione, unperturbed. “It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So - everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?”
Everybody put up their hand, even Zacharias Smith, though he did it very half-heartedly.
“Er - right, thanks,” said Harry, who could feel his face burning. “And -what is it, Sam?”
“I think we ought to have a name,” Sam said nervously, suddenely aware the other thirty odd people in the room were looking at her. “It would make things more official and well, cool, right?"
“Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?” said Angelina hopefully.
“Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?” suggested Ben eagerly. Apparantly his family were high up in the Ministry like Umbridge, and he loathed everything about it.
“I was thinking,” said Hermione, frowning at Ben, “more of a name that didn’t tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings.”
“The Defense Association?” said Cho. “The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we’re talking about?”
“Yeah, the D.A.’s good,” said Ginny. “Only let’s make it stand for Dumbledores Army, because that’s the Ministry’s worst fear, isn’t it?”
There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this.
“All in favor of the D.A.?” said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. Everyone put their hands up. “That’s a majority - motion passed!”
She pinned the piece of parchment with all of their signatures on it on to the wall and wrote across the top in large letters: DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY.
“Right,” said Harry, when she had sat down again, “shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it’s pretty basic but I’ve found it really useful -”
“Oh, please,” said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eye s and folding his arms. “I don’t think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?”
“He used it against him,” I said quietly. "It saved our lives in June.”
Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.
“But if you think it’s beneath you, you can leave,” Sam said with a smile, though her eyes were pure steely and tough. Like she would eat Zacharias for breakfast if he said the wrong thing.
Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else.
“Okay,” said Harry, sounding nervous “I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice.”
Sam and I ended up pairing up, since Cole wanted to partner up with Gennie. I stood opposite Sam, wand raised. "Oh, it's on Lockwood." I said playfully. "Expelli--"
But before I could even finish saying the spell, my wand had flown out of my hand and across the room. I frowned at Sam, who hadn't even spoken. "Non-verbal spells are always an adavantage." she said dryly. "Accio!"
My wand flew into her hand, and she tossed it to me. "I believe that's cheating." I narrowed my eyes. "Actually speak it, make it fair."
Sam didn't seem to want to make it fair. She took my wand another few times, claiming I needed to be ready for non-verbal attacks as well. Then she kept using tripping jinxes on me non-verbally (mostly to impress a Ravenclaw girl, I think). Then when I finally begged her to speak aloud, I managed to get her wand a fraction before she fiished her spell.
"HA!" I shouted. "IN YOUR FACE!"
Several people stared at me, and Sam raised her hands as if to say 'yup, she's completley mental.'
“Okay, stop!” Harry shouted. “Stop! STOP!”
Everyone lowered their wands.
“That wasn’t bad,” said Harry, “but there’s definite room for improvement.” Zacharias Smith glared at him. “Let’s try again.”
Sam and I practiced properly this time, and Sam let her guard down a few times to actually give me a chance. "How are you so good at this?" I asked her as she tossed my wand back to me.
She shrugged, playing with one of the earrings in her ear lobe. "Well my parents wanted me to be the best witch ever. So they tutored me from a young age to be the best. I could do water casting spells by the time I was seven."
"Woah." I said. "That's impressive."
Sam shrugged. "Is it? I was never taught about levels of ability, I was just told I could do more, aim higher. So I did."
"Hi!" a bright voice said suddenely. It was the girl Sam had been trying to impress.
I had seen her around school before, I think she was maybe in divination? She had wild black curls and hundreds of freckles dotted across her face. Her eyes were a dark grey, and from the rips in her tights to pins on her tie she looked rather manic.
"I'm Mira," she said with a bright smile. "You're Sam, right?"
"Uh-uh y-yeah." Sam said looking like a startled rabbit in the headlights. "Don't you know who I am?"
Mira rolled her eyes. "Of course I know, you're Samantha Lockwood. You got Cole Wilde's psycopath brother thrown in prison and saved Harry and Aurora in June."
Sam's smiled at Mira, looking relieevd. I supposed she thought Mira would go for the obvious assumption of her being a death eater.
"Uh, I'll leave you girls to talk." I said, feeling awkward. Giving an encouraging wink to Sam, I made a beeline towards Gennie and Cole.
Cole was lying on the floor, seeming to be accepting defeat. "I can't do this anymore, I suck."
"You don't suck." Gennie said irritably. She noticed me and smiled. "Cole thinks he sucks because he can't disarm me."
Cole sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "Ugh, I just used to be so good at disarming people. I could disarm like ten people without stopping--why are you all smiley, Rory?"
"I think Sam's flirting with that girl over there." I said happily. I glanced over at Sam and Mira, who were both smiling and laughing. "I think she'll be good for her."
I glanced at Cole, wondering what'd he think about this. He was in love with Sam not long ago. But instead of being irritated, he smiled. "Good for Sam."
The rest of the session I spent helping Cole to disarm Gennie, and then helping anybody else who was struggling. I had to admit, it was quite enjoyable to see people learn--even though I thought it would be boring
Just as I helped Eloise Midgen disarm me, Harry blew his whistle; everybody stopped shouting “Expelliarmus” and the last couple of wands clattered to the floor.
“Well, that was pretty good,” said Harry, “but we’ve overrun, we’d better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?”
“Sooner!’ said Dean Thomas eagerly and many people nodded in agreement.
Gennie said quickly. “The Quidditch season’s about to start, we need team practices too!”
“Let’s say next Wednesday night, then,” said Harry, “we can decide on additional meetings then. Come on, we’d better get going.”
I hurried over to Harry, and pulled out the Marauder’s Map again and checked it carefully for signs of teachers on the seventh floor.
I let people out in threes and fours, though the girl Mira offered to take Sam back to the secret tunnel, and I let them go. While I didn't really know this Mira girl, she seemed really bubbly and exactly what Sam needed to get through her fugative status.
“That was really, really good, Harry.” said Hermione, when finally it was just the six of us.
“Yeah, it was!” said Ron enthusiastically, as they slipped out of the door and watched it melt back into stone behind them. “Did you see me disarm Hermione, Harry?”
“Only once,” said Hermione, stung. “I got you loads more than you got me -”
“I did not only get you once, I got you at least three times -”
“Well, if you’re counting the one where you tripped over your own feet and knocked the wand out of my hand -”
"They're totally in love--" I giggled to Gennie, who just smiled as she held onto Cole's hand.
As we headed up to the tower, I noticed Cole looking almost wistfully at Gennie. He looked almost at peace when he looked at her, so different from when he spoke of his brother and father the other day.
He said that Cameron made him feel like he couldn't cope. He obviously seemed to be coping when he was with Gennie, there was no hidden tension or mania under his tired eyes. But what was is that he couldn't cope with?
The thought of his brother still being alive? Or something else?
- - - - - -
A/N Hello :) How is everybody? I'm okay, I've been having some rough days so this took a bit longer to write than I would have liked. I still plan on having this finished by September, so watch this space.
And where is everybody? Nobody's really commenting anymore, and I miss you all.... Sorry if the last few chapters have been crap fillers, but I'm trying to lead up to a big thingy a few chapters time...