The next two weeks passed by without any evident changes. The occasional Quidditch practices, loads upon loads of homework, Harry going to detention, and the occasional run in with Draco Malfoy. One incident, however, did stand out in Addie's mind.
It was a Thursday and Addie was begrudgingly making her way down to Transfiguration without Harry, Ron, or Hermione in hopes of talking to Professor McGonagall before class about the day's assignment.
"Hey! Adds!" She heard, "Adds STOP!"
There was only one person at Hogwarts who called her by her nickname, and it was a person she didn't want to talk to.
"Go hex yourself Malfoy. I'm busy." She called over her shoulde.r
"Anterio" He whispered, forcing her to turn and face him.
"Blocktanis!" He flicked his wand. Addie felt her feet stick to the spot.
"Malfoy," Addie said scathingly, "What in hell do you think you're doing?"
"You won't talk to me anymore Adds." He replied. "This is the only way I could get you to stay still long enough."
She glared at him as he circled her, twirling his wand in his hand.
"Long enough to do what?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"This," He said pulling her close. For a moment she didn't understand. Malfoy was getting closer. His eyes were closing and the next thing she knew he was kissing her.
She pushed him hard on his chest and he fell backward, dropping his wand on the ground. Addie quickly picked it up from her place.
"What on earth?" She seethed, "Did you think you were doing?"
"I want you back…" He muttered, "I love you Adds."
Addie paused for a moment. Could he be telling the truth? Addie thought back to the Draco she had known as a child, and then turned her eyes to the Draco that sat before her. Even the Draco Malfoy she knew would find it hard to love a woman. This new Draco, she mused, surely wasn't any different.
"I don't believe that for a moment." Addie said, using Draco's wand to reverse the hex, "And if you ever, ever, do that to me again I swear on a Golden Cauldron that the entire school will know about the time you wet yourself at the Minister's Birthday Ball."
"I was seven!" He cried.
"I'm talking about last year." Addie sneered.
Whatever color was in his face was gone in an instant. His eyes grew cold once more.
"Don't get too upset Malfoy." Addie laughed, "you're not a bad kisser."
"DON'T GET TOO UPSET?" He shouted after her. "DON'T GET TOO UPSET? I LOVE YOU ADDS, AND YOU DON'T EVEN CARE!"
Addie said nothing, but continued down the corridor.
Though she tried to erase the incident from her memory, she found herself thinking about it a week later as she passed the same corridor back to the Gryffindor common room.
"Addie!" Hermione's voice called as she walked past the library, "Addie come here!"
She snapped out of her trance and turned around, "What's going on? Is something wrong?"
"Harry agreed!" She said happily, "He agreed to teach us!"
"That's great!" Addie replied, "When are we going to meet?"
"This weekend at Hogsmeade. We'll be going to a place called The Hogs Head." she whispered, "And if you can think of anyone who would like to come….don't hesitate to tell them."
"No problem." Addie said.
"Oh and Addie…." She added, "Don't let jealousy get in the way. Everyone deserves a chance to learn. This is bigger than us."
Before Hermione could clarify she looked at the clock and ran out of the library for Ancient Runes, leaving Addie puzzled
Jealousy? She thought, Who am I jealous of?
Right at that moment, as if it were an answer from God, Addie slammed right into Cho Chang.
Of all the people… Addie thought.
Addie admired Hermione's cleverness. She knew that Addie spoke to Cho, or at least had more contact with her than either Ron or Hermione. She also knew that Harry was too love-struck to speak to her himself. For this Defense group to succeed they would need as many trustworthy members as possible. They would need people like Cho Chang.
"Damn it." Addie muttered as she got to her feet.
"Oh I'm so sorry!" Cho cried. "Are you okay?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Addie said, brushing off her skirt.
"Sometimes I get so preoccupied…."
Addie took a deep breath.
"Err…Cho?" She began, "W—would you be interested in learning Defense Against the Dark Arts? You know, real defense, not the stuff Umbridge teaches us?" Addie asked.
Cho exchanged glances with a curly haired friend standing to her right, "Yes….why?"
"B—Because H—Harry Potter has agreed to teach anyone who was willing to learn and…."
"Harry Potter?" She asked excitedly. "Where and when?"
Addie almost told her the wrong place. She almost told her it was a joke. She almost pulled out her wand and hexed her in the middle of the library. But ultimately, Hermione's words seeped into her thoughts.
This is bigger than us.
"The Hogs Head," Addie answered, before she had lost her conviction. "This weekend when we go to Hogsmede."
"Thank you so much!" Cho said happily. "Can Marietta come?"
Addie looked over at Cho's curly haired friend and saw no real objections.
"I don't see why not." Addie forced a smile, "But it's very important that the two of you keep this very secret. We're not doing anything wrong, but it's probably best if Umbridge doesn't find out about what we're doing.
Cho winked, "Your secret is safe with us."
"Excellent," Addie replied, glancing for the door and hoping to make her exit. "Well I have to go now so…bye."
"Bye Addie!" Cho called after her. "Tell Harry I say hello!"
"Over my dead body…." Addie muttered as she walked down the hall.
The day of the Hogsmeade trip came quickly and though Addie was sad to turn down invitations for romantic weekends from various suitors, she was excited to see what Harry had planned.
Addie stepped foot in the Hog Head and immediately regretted the decision. Everything in the establishment was covered with a thick layer of dirt and as Addie looked down at her white dragon leather boots she cursed Hermione for having picked such a terrible place for a meeting. She pulled from her bag a sheet of parchment and laid it down on the seat as a cover before she took her place at the table.
Harry sat across from her, jittering his leg nervously. Hermione was looking nervous as well, going over notes that she had brought with her and compulsively comforting Harry. Ron and Addie exchanged relieved glances that neither of them would have to say or do anything for the duration of the meeting.
"Tut tut tut" A woman's voice said from behind them, "What is my dear cousin Addie doing in a filthy place like this?"
Addie turned around, though she already knew who was behind her. It was her cousin Diana.
"Hi Diana," Addie mumbled.
It had been years since Addie had last seen her. She was at least twenty-one now, and had on a tight fitting black dress paired with slender heels. Addie was shocked, at first, to see Diana working in a place like The Hogs Head, but then she looked from her cousin's loosely braided black hair, her long nails, and the cigarette she held between her blood-red lips, and realized it was exactly the place for her.
"Long time no see, cuz." Diana said, as she blew smoke out of the side of her mouth.
Addie smiled as she saw that her cousin had not changed a bit. During most of the year, Diana toured with a band of girls who had called themselves 'Hex' and had recently earned several high-visibility radio spots. Addie supposed that 'Hex' was currently out of the studio, and that her dear cousin was looking for a few extra galleons on the side. Addie could see the rest of her friends staring. Though Harry and Hermione didn't recognize her, Addie was certain that Ron had.
"Who are they?" Diana asked and nodded her head in their direction.
"Oh!" Addie laughed. "This is Harry, Ron, and Hermione."
Diana turned to Harry and her eyes narrowed. She leaned across the table and wiped his black hair away from his forehead to reveal his scar and smiled sexily.
"Harry Potter," She cooed, "nice to meet you."
"Y—You're Diana White," Ron stammered, "b—bass player for H—Hex."
"That I am!" She replied cheerfully. "Do I have a fan?"
"Yeah, m—me and all my brothers." Ron said, "I bought your CD when I was eleven and all my other brothers…and my sister liked it so…"
"How many brothers do you have?" She asked slyly.
"Err well there's Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, and me…then my sister Ginny…"
"Excellent!" She exclaimed, kissing him on the cheek and leaving the red imprint of her lips (only a shade darker than Ron's ears).
"'EY DIANA 'NOUGH CHIT-CHATTING! WE GOT 'UNGRY CUSTOMERS OVAH 'ERE!" The bartender yelled.
"Oh right," she laughed, "I'm on the job. So what do you guys want?"
"Four butterbeers." Hermione answered quickly to prevent Ron from ordering anything stronger.
"Alright," She said, "I'll see you three later."
"Who else is coming?" Harry asked Hermione as he watched Diana walk back towards the bar to be yelled at by her boss ("This is not social hour!")
"Oh not too many people…" She replied sheepishly.
The first to arriver were Neville, and Dean Thomas. Then, much to Addie's disgust in strode Lavender, Parvati, and by the looks of it her identical twin. Addie noticed Harry go slightly red as Cho entered the room with her curly haired friend and she clenched her fists under the table . They were followed by a strange girl that Addie knew by sight but not by name. She had bulging eyes and looked so dreamy Addie thought that perhaps she was lost, and wasn't there for the meeting at all.
"Hello," She said, her voice as dreamy as her demeanor.
I suppose she was invited. Addie thought as Harry, Ron, and Hermione all returned her greeting.
Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnett followed, all looking as disgusted as Addie had been at the state of the pub. Colin and Dennis Creevey came looking frantically around nearly twitching with excitement with Ernie Macmillan and three other Hufflepuffs, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbot, and a girl that Addie didn't know.
Three Ravenclaw boys, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot, strode in with Ginny Weasley followed by a pompous blonde boy Addie had met briefly in the library weeks before. And last but not least, the twins and Lee Jordan, with bulging bags of Zonko's merchandise.
"A couple of people?" Addie heard Harry whisper to Hermione.
They pulled up some chairs and Diana hurried over.
"What will it be guys?" She asked, "and don't mind taking your time we have a drunk Warlock named Dave over in the corner who won't stop calling me "lovey" and asking me on dates."
"He's cute," Addie said looking over to the man in the corner, "why not?"
"Gr-ross" Diana said, "Been there and done that."
After that disturbing revelation, Addie maintained a dignified silence.
"Hey!" Fred piped up, "Why aren't you taking our orders?"
"Keep your pants on kid I'm having a conversation with my cousin." She replied coolly.
"Hey!" George exclaimed, "Aren't you the Bass player in Hex?"
"Yep," She answered, "That's me!"
"I've had a crush on you since my third year!" George exclaimed.
"How old are you sweetheart?" She asked.
"Twenty five." He replied.
"Honey don't try to fool me." She laughed, "I've been with twenty-five, I know twenty-five, you're not twenty-five."
George looked slightly defeated and sunk down in his seat, "Worth a try…" he muttered.
"So what'll it be Mr. twenty-five? Butterbeers?" She asked.
"Yeah," Fred said, "That looks about right."
"One butterbeer each seems about right." She turned on her heels and walked away.
"Well…" Hermione began, "I suppose you know why we're all here. I thought it would b—be a good idea if we started up a Defense club so w—we can actually p—p—pass our O.W.L's." A sudden wave of confidence came over Hermione and she spoke with clarity, "Because that rubbish Umbridge teaches will never do."
"Here here!" Addie shouted, banging her glass on the table.
"And Harry here has agreed to teach us how to defend ourselves properly because…well…V—Voldemort has returned."
The whole table went silent. Hermione had said the name. Addie had never heard anyone aside from Harry say the name, but Hermione said it. Some people shrieked, some twitched, some just looked shocked and Addie couldn't help but feel the pit of her stomach drop as she heard it.
"And what proof is there that He Who Must Not Be Named is back?" The blonde boy said harshly. "What have we got besides his word and Dumbledore's?"
"Who are you?" Ron asked rudely. Addie smiled at him.
"Zacharias Smith," He replied proudly, "And I think we all have a right to know why he's claiming You-Know-Who is back."
"That's not what this is supposed to be—"Hermione began.
"No," Harry stopped her.
"You want to know why I say he's back? Because I saw him. Dumbledore already told you that. If you didn't believe him, you won't believe me, and I'm not here to tell the story."
Addie smiled at Harry and they locked eyes. The two looked away quickly.
"All Dumbledore said is Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and you brought the body back. He didn't give details. We left school with basically no knowledge of what happened that night. We didn't know exactly how he killed him, we just knew he did."
Addie looked across the table and saw Cho's face fall. She shot an angry glance at Zacharias and then turned her gaze to Harry. She could tell that Harry's fragile temper was on its last let, but he remained surprisingly calm.
"If you want to hear exactly what happened when Cedric Diggory died then you're going to be disappointed." He replied. "I'm not here to talk about Diggory I'm here to talk about defense, and if you think I'm wasting your time then leave."
Zacharias stayed put, but glared at Harry from his end of the table.
"So back to Defense," Hermione said, her voice turning small and insecure again, "We need to figure out where, and when we'll meet and—"
"Can you really produce a Patronus?" A girl asked from the end of the table.
"Yeah" Harry replied shortly.
"A corporeal Patronus?
"Errr…do you know Madam Bones?" Harry asked.
The girl laughed, "I'm her niece. My name is Susan Bones. So it's true? You really can?"
"Yes," Harry replied.
There was uproar at the table. "A corporeal Patronus?" "Wow that's really something!".
Addie remained in her seat, silently growing more and more impressed with Harry as the meeting went on. She looked across the table and saw the same glowing admiration in Cho Chang's dark eyes. She locked her own eyes on the butterbeer in front of her and took a deep breath.
The table had begun listing Harry's accomplishments one-by-one and Addie listened intently.
"The Philosopher's Stone!"
"The basilsisk!"
"And then of course," Cho said adoringly, "all the Triwizard tasks…dragons and merpeople and acromantulas…"
Addie suppressed a desire to kick Cho from under the table.
"Order up!" A voice called, finally drawing Addie's attention away from Cho and Harry, "Here are your butterbeers!"
Diana slid them across the table to each person, not spilling a drop, "Damn I'm good." She muttered as she strode back toward the drunken warlock.
"You guys," Harry said after she left, "I'm not pretending I'm some great Defense teacher. I did some stuff without help but…"
"You're just trying to get out of showing us stuff huh?" Zacharias said.
"How about you shut your mouth?" Ron said loudly, "because in all honesty…nobody cares…"
Everyone at the table laughed, but Zacharias pressed on, "Well we came to learn defense and now you're saying you can't teach it!"
"That's not what he said." Fred snarled.
"Would you like us to clean your ears for you? George asked, pulling out a long metal instrument that looked deadly.
"Or any part of your body really, we're not fussy where we stick this." Fred said menacingly.
"HEM HEM!" Ginny coughed, sounding astonishingly like Umbridge. "We need to decide where we're going to meet."
"The library?" Katie suggested.
"I doubt we'd be able to perform hex's in the library." Ron laughed.
"An unused classroom?" Dean said.
The table muttered agreement, but Hermione shut the idea down quickly, "I doubt McGonagall will let us use her unused class. Our intentions aren't exactly wholesome, and there's no way we could do it without Umbrige finding out."
"We'll find somewhere" Harry said, "and when we do we'll send the message around."
The meeting ended with Hermione passing out a piece of paper for us to sign, and everyone filtered out. Cho Chang, however, lingered behind making a fuss about fastening her bag. Though, to the casual observer, Cho was being extremely subtle, Addie caught her every movement. She hated the sly little glances Cho would throw at Harry as she flipped back her shiny hair, and hated the way he blushed every time it happened. Addie hated the way he watched her and her giggling friend leave the room, but most of all, she hated the way Harry never looked at her the same way.
"That Zacharias bloke's a real arse." Ron said through gritted teeth.
"Well I felt bad because he overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah about it. How could I say no? And it's really the more the merrier. Michael Corner and his friends probably wouldn't have bothered if he wasn't dating Ginny—"
Ron choked on air, "Dating WHO?"
"She's been dating him for a while, you know. They met at the Yule Ball and he asked her at the end of last year." Hermione informed him.
Ron looked as though he had been hit in the face with a particularly vicious bludger, "Which one was he?"
"The dark one"
"I didn't like the looks of that boy…he seemed kind of shifty to me…"
"It seems," Addie laughed, "Ron is suffering from big brother syndrome."
"I thought Ginny fancied Harry!"
Addie paused briefly. Another girl who fancied Harry? Another pretty girl who fancied Harry?
Hermione, being unusually perceptive, shot Addie a comforting glance, "Ginny used to fancy Harry. She moved on ages ago."
"Is that why she talks now?" Harry asked, seeming to have snapped out of a daze, "She never used to talk."
"Exactly," Hermione answered.
They walked back to the train station in relative silence. Ron was consumed with thoughts of his sister and Michael Corner, and Hermione was deeply involved in thoughts of the Defense club, and Addie couldn't get her mine off Harry while he spent his time dreaming of Cho.
"So…" Hermione began, "Did anyone notice the way Cho could not keep her eyes off Harry?"
Harry choked, and little did he know, Addie was choking too.
