I do not own Harry Potter
Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
Hans Christian Andersen
There was a slight problem. Umbridge was coming up with new decrees at a quickly increasing speed. The newest one is the source of the problem. Her newest decree states that all clubs and organizations were banned and needed her permission to be reformed. I wondered if she had somehow found out about the meetings.
She had also appointed herself the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. She has begun to observe classes and she now had the power to put teachers on probation if she saw it necessary. The other day, I walked into Charms to see her sitting in the back of the room, looking extremely toad like and constipated. If I had the same fiery attitude and courage as Ginny I would suggest that Umbridge pay a visit to the nurse for that.
"Harry's found a place to hold the meetings from now on," Neville whispered into my ear. I jumped slightly and turned to face him. I hadn't expected anyone to come up behind me. It was dinnertime and I was swirling my fork through my mashed potatoes, making designs.
"Has he?" I asked. "What about the new decree?"
"We're pretending that it doesn't exist," Neville said, grinning. He was excited. It was showing all over his face and in his eyes. I was excited too. This was really happening. We were really going to start a group against Umbridge and the Ministry, ignoring the new decree.
"Oh, how exciting," I said with a smile. Lowering my voice to a whisper, I asked Neville where the meeting would be held.
"The seventh floor," he answered. He gave me directions on how to get there and instructions on how to get in. According to him, Harry had found something called the Room of Requirement and the door only appeared if you walked by three times, thinking each time of the thing you needed. It sounded very interesting.
The meeting wasn't until the next Wednesday, and I spent the next week anxiously waiting for the time to come.
I left Ravenclaw tower early the next Wednesday. I simply couldn't wait any longer to go to the Room of Requirement. I didn't mind if I was going to be a little early and I was sure Harry wouldn't either. I also didn't mind the rather long walk to get there. Going for walks through the castle is relaxing, especially at night. It's too bad I don't have an Invisibility cloak like Harry because then I would be able to go out after hours.
I happily skipped down the hallway until I reached the blank stretch of wall that Neville had described. I looked around to make sure nobody was coming before walking past the wall three times. I stared as a door slowly appeared in front of me, just like Neville had said. I reached out and turned the doorknob, slowly pushing the door open.
"Luna, you're here! Great!" Harry said. From the looks of it, I was the first one there besides Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry actually looked pleased that someone other than his two best friends had decided to show up.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, Harry," I said cheerily, staring around the room.
The door opened behind me and Neville stepped into the room. His eyes lit up when he saw me and he smiled. I smiled back.
"Why don't you all sit down while we wait for everyone else to get here," Harry suggested. I sat down on one of the cushions lying on the floor. Neville sat next to me, brushing his arm against mine. I didn't know if it was accidental or on purpose, but I didn't especially care.
Once everyone had arrived, Harry attempted to talk, but Hermione interrupted by throwing her hand in the air. It wasn't a surprise. She always had something to say. It was quite funny, actually.
"Yes, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"I was just thinking that we should elect a leader," she said.
"Harry's leader," Cho Chang said.
"Obviously," Neville whispered to me. I giggled.
Harry being the leader made the most sense. I had already just assumed that Harry was the official unspoken leader.
"Can we all agree on Harry being the leader, then?" Hermione asked. Everyone nodded and Harry blushed.
"Okay, and I also think we should come up with a name," Hermione continued.
"What about the Defense Association?" Cho asked. "The DA for short."
"The DA is good," Ginny said. She was sitting on my other side, holding hands with Michael. "But let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army. It's what the Ministry's afraid of, isn't it?"
"What a good idea, Ginny," I said, smiling.
There was a unanimous vote to make Dumbledore's Army the name of our club. I personally liked the name a lot. I got the feeling that if Dumbledore knew what we were doing, he would be proud.
"Alright, so I thought today we could start with the disarming spell," Harry said.
"Expelliarmus?" Zacharias Smith asked, wrinkling his nose. "That's such a simple spell."
"It saved my life last June," Harry said quietly.
Zacharias didn't say anything else. It was a good thing, too. I didn't very much like him. His head was probably filled with Nargles.
"So get into pairs and just start practicing," Harry said. "I'll walk around to check your progress and give help to anyone who needs it."
"Be my partner?" Neville asked.
"Of course," I answered.
He stood up and grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet. We stood a few feet apart and got ready to practice.
"You can go first," I told him.
He cleared his throat. "Expelliarmus!" Nothing happened.
"It was a good try, Neville," I said with a small smile.
"I'm not very good at this," he mumbled.
"Just keep trying," I answered.
Neville never succeeded in disarming me during the meeting. I successfully disarmed him three times and I felt bad about it. He was clearly upset that he wasn't able to do it at all.
"Don't worry," I told him, patting his arm. "You'll do it someday."
"When exactly is that? When is someday?" he asked with a sigh. Harry was dismissing the DA in small groups so we wouldn't look suspicious.
I looked at the ceiling as I thought. Most people would have said 'I don't know' or 'soon' or 'eventually,' but I wanted to give him a real answer.
"I don't think I can give you an exact date, but Harry is a good teacher, don't you agree? He'll make sure that you'll be able to learn how defend yourself and defend yourself well. That's why we're all there, isn't it?"
"But I'm the worst out of everyone. Disarming is easy, but I can't do it."
"You will when it's meant to be," I said with a smile. "It wasn't meant to happen today but it will happen. I promise. You'll just have to keep practicing and listen to Harry's advice."
"He says I'm 'flourishing my wand too much,'" Neville quoted.
I nodded. "Harry will make sure you can do it."
"I think so too," Neville agreed. We had come to the place where we had to go our separate ways and we stopped and looked at each other.
"Well, I guess we'd better hurry. We don't want to get caught by Umbridge."
"Do you want to feed the thestrals with me again this weekend?" I blurted out.
Neville blinked a few times. "If you're sure-,"
"I'm sure," I answered.
"I'd like that," Neville answered. "What time?"
"How about Saturday an hour before dinner?" I suggested. That was my favorite time to feed the thestrals. It was right when the sun was going down. My other favorite time was in the early morning when the sun was coming up. I loved sunrises and sunsets. They were so beautiful to watch.
"Okay, I'll meet you down there. Saturday before dinner."
"Saturday before dinner," I repeated.
We walked our separate ways and I glanced over my shoulder when I got to the end of the hallway. Neville was just glancing over his shoulder at me. I quickly turned around, my cheeks red.
I wondered vaguely if the times I spent with Neville feeding the thestrals counted as dates. I wasn't sure how this whole thing worked. I didn't even know for sure how he felt about me. Then I remembered how he had blushed when Dobby told him he was lucky to have a friend like me.
I really didn't know what to make of any of this. That was Ginny's job. I just wasn't gifted with understanding the male species. Instead, I ended up gifted with understanding unusual creatures. Although, I suppose it could be argued that boys are unusual creatures. I certainly thought so anyway.
On Saturday, I actually reached the thestrals earlier than the time I agreed to meet Neville. I wanted a few minutes alone with them before he got there. Not that I didn't want his company, but it's hard to explain. There's something about the quiet and the sunlight filtering through the trees that makes me feel really calm.
"Hey, you got here early."
I spun around. I had been patting a thestral on the nose, completely in my own little world, and Neville's voice had scared me. "Yeah, I suppose I did," I answered.
"I didn't mean to scare you," Neville came over to stand next to me and smiled up at the thestral.
"It's quite alright," I answered, turning back to the bag of food I had brought with me. I handed it to Neville. "Your turn. I've already had a head start with feeding them."
Neville took the bag. He was getting really comfortable with feeding them and they were learning to trust him. It was nice. I actually didn't mind sharing this with Neville. I think he found it as interesting and relaxing as I did.
"Luna, can I ask you a question?" Neville asked.
"Of course," I responded.
He looked at me and smiled. "What's your favorite color?"
I thought for a minute. "I'm not sure if I have one," I answered finally.
"Why not?" he asked, looking interested.
"Because," I said slowly, carefully choosing my words. "Every color, even the ones that most people don't tend to like, you know, like brown or gray, is useful and beautiful in its own way. For example, not many people will say their favorite color is brown, but that's probably because they associate it with things that they don't think are pretty, like dirt or mud-,"
"Or poop," Neville added, gesturing to a spot where a thestral had done its business on the ground.
That got me laughing. It was just the way he said it, so calm and with a straight face that had been funny. "Yeah, that too," I said. "Anyway, my point is that even though brown is a 'boring' color, it still is a color that adds life to something. Plus, there are good things that are brown. Like chocolate."
"Chocolate is probably the best brown thing I've ever heard of," Neville said, nodding. "Beats mud and poop by a landslide."
"How disgusting," I said with a smile.
"You brought it up," Neville said, pointing at me.
"Do you know what I'm trying to say, though?" I asked.
"Yeah, you basically think every color is worth loving and just because one of them is universally considered ugly or boring doesn't mean it really is."
"Exactly. It all depends on how you look at it," I said.
"I've never thought about it like that," Neville said. "That's why I asked you though. I knew you'd have an interesting answer to such a simple question."
I smiled again. "Most people don't find me interesting at all."
"Well I do," Neville answered forcefully.
I blinked up at him in silence.
"Sorry," he said quietly. "I just really do think you're interesting."
"Thank you," I said quietly.
We finished feeding the thestrals and walked back up to the school. I was hoping we wouldn't be caught by Umbridge, but dinner was just about to start and with some luck we could blend in with the crowd.
"Excited for the next DA meeting?" Neville asked as we reached the front doors.
"Of course," I answered. I started looking forward to it right after the last one ended."
"Me too," Neville grinned. "I feel like the DA will help me to actually learn."
"Yes," I agreed. "It's like having a big family."
"Except Zacharias," Neville said. "I wouldn't want him in my family."
"Neither would I," I said. "Although, I think he's generally good, but just a little obnoxious."
"Do you always find the good in everything?" Neville asked.
I shrugged as we blended in with the students heading to dinner. "I try to."
"Good because we need more people who do that, I think," Neville smiled.
I had to agree with him.
