Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to get the chapter up! I have had so much going on I have barely had time to think. I finally found my angle to make the 5th year more interesting so I hope you like it. Enjoy the chapter!
"Alright, so um, I guess welcome to the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army. Allie and I have a lot planned for today so it should be pretty productive," Harry announced to the twenty or so kids that stood in front of us. We met in the Room of Requirement at 7:30 sharp that night. Everyone who signed up came to the meeting which was pretty impressive. So now Harry and I stood in front of our peers trying to look like we knew what we were doing. To be honest I was terrified to be stared at by all these students. Me and attention didn't mix so well (do I have to explain the mental breakdown I suffered after the school found out I was a vampire? The answer would be no) but I couldn't let that weakness show through.
"Allie, is there anything you would like to say before we get started," Harry asked. I gave him a look that showed my discomfort and tried to say something.
"I-I. Um, hi." That was a great one, Allie. Pure genus there. "Harry and I will do our best to supply you with an adequate education of Defense Against the Dark Arts," My gaze slipped to Hermione who nodded encouragingly to me. I continued. "Um, the main goal of this group is too ensure that you guys are prepared for anything that could happen out in the real world so if you are ready to learn to defend yourselves we are ready to teach you,"
Red gave me a thumbs up from his position next to Hermione. I smiled at them. Harry came up to me and placed a warm hand on my shoulder. He took a step closer to the kids standing in front of us. "Okay, get in two lines but keep a space between them so we have room to demonstrate," Harry instructed. Everyone did what they were told and made a sort of runway between the two lines. Harry took up a position standing next to the door and I went to stand opposite him by the fire place on the other side of the room. "Now, this is the most basic disarming spell called Expelliarmus. I know you all know of this spell already but we want you to get it perfect, technique and all. Now what we are going to do is show you two ways of performing this spell. One example will be good, the other bad,"
Harry focused his green eyes on me and nodded. One side of my mouth pulled up in a small smirk. I nodded back at him. "Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted. He cocked his wrist instead of flicking it causing the spell to go flying past my left ear. Several girls gasped and one guy whispered 'nice' to his friend. Harry looked at me with worry in his eyes. I gave him a wink to show no harm done. He smiled before returning to the new found teacher version of himself. "In short guys, without the right wrist movements your spell will not give you the results you desire. Okay?" The students around mumbled their agreement. "Now for the good example,"
We went back to our places across from each other and I shot the spell. The small flash of light met it's mark and caused Harry's wand to go flying, almost hitting a poor little first year in the head. Luckily, the boy was able to duck out of the way.
"Sorry," I called out to him. He stared at me with a blank expression. I turned to Harry who indicated that I should take this explaination. I inhaled deeply. "Okay, um... Spell casting is an exact science so you must flick your wrist in one fluid motion or else it will turn out screwy," I waited for a response from anyone. Maybe a slight nod or a small smile or something. But nothing or no one moved. I could almost hear the crickets coming from the crowd of DA members, making me feel uneasy.
"Alright, how about you guys try it?" Harry suggested. The group broke into groups of two or three and spread out through the Room of Requirement. Once everyone was out of ear shot I vampire ran to Harry. He flinched slightly but stayed where he was. I must have frightened him a bit.
"What am I doing Harry? They don't want to listen to me. I can't do this,"
"Allie," Harry started to argue. I cut him off with a wave of my hand.
"No, Harry. I'm not you. I can't be a leader," I whispered the last couple of words, kind of embarrassed. This whole club thing was great but I just thought I would be a member not one of the 'leaders'.
I looked down at my feet. Harry lifted my chin so I was forced to look him in the eye. "You taught me, love. And you made it so easy Why can't you teach them?" He said softly.
"That's different," I fought back. A spell flew past our heads and I whipped my head around to see Neville red in the face from his mishap. I gave him a wink before looking back at Harry. He burned a hole in my eyes and went deep inside my mind, searching for something. "What's really bugging you?" He asked with his eyes never leaving mine. I pursed my lips together and watched as two little second years tried to do the spell. I smiled at the sight of them but it quickly disappeared. Harry followed my line of sight and lowered his head to look me straight on. "What is it, love? You can tell me anything," His emerald green eyes sucked me in and I had no choice but to tell him what had been running around in my mind.
My gaze drifted once more to the two young members of the DA before answering. "I'm not a role model, Harry. I've done somethings... some things that I'm not proud of and I can't take them back. These kids deserve better, someone they can look up to," Harry gave me a quizzical look before taking me by the arm and leading me to the very corner of the room.
"What are you talking about?" His voice was laced with a degree of concern and... fear. I crossed my arms and uncrossed them anxiously. This was never a topic I wanted to discuss with Harry. This was something I never wanted to tell anyone. Jake was the only one who knew about my past and I wanted to keep it that way.
"I don't want to talk about it," I said.
Harry scoffed. "Well that is too bloody bad," He was getting angry now. I pinched the bridge of my nose and shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "You were the one who brought it up," I set him with a look that said he shouldn't have gone there.
"Because you asked!" I counted to five and tried to calm down. The next time I spoke my voice was more relaxed and less tense. "Harry I love to be honest with you but... this is something I need to keep to myself," He pursed his lips and forced out a breath.
I started to walk away but Harry grabbed my wrist. "We all have our secrets, Allie and I get you won't tell me until you're ready. But you have to remember that we all have a past," I nodded my head and walked away from Harry. Everyone might have a past but I wasn't ready to face up to mine yet.
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"Hey missy, miss. What's goin' on?" I asked as I approached Hermione. She was sitting in the courtyard with a book glued to her hands. I plopped down next to her on the bench and drew my legs up so I could rest my head on my knees. The Hogwarts grounds were freezing now since it was late November but the Brit's didn't seem to mind the bone chilling wind. I wrapped my cloak tighter around me and laid my head so I was looked at my best friend.
"Nothing much," She said with her eyes still on her book. She flipped the page and finally looked at me. "What are you doing out here?"
Avoiding Harry. "Nothing much," I repeated to her. It had been three days since the first DA meeting and Harry and I haven't been on the best of terms. Sure we talked and sat together at dinner and in the common room but there was always that uncomfortableness between us.
He has been trying to be patient with me but every time I was near him I hear his mind. It was buzzing with ideas of my past and why I didn't trust him. I tried to block out his thoughts but it seemed like they always were able to weasel their way back into my brain. The way we danced around the subject out lout was pretty awkward too. Hermione nodded and continued with her book. I scanned the courtyard and saw a pale figure with platinum blond hair coming towards our bench. Draco looked almost translucent against the paleness of the castle and the cloudy grounds. He caught my eye and smiled. I waved a little while still keeping my hands wrapped up in my cloak.
"Hey," He called once he reached us. Hermione looked up from her book and scoffed a little. Draco let out a chuckle and smirked at her. "Granger," he acknowledged her presence before returning his attention to me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked. I nodded and stood up.
"I'll catch you later, 'Mione," She mumbled 'bye' under her breath as we walked away. Draco led me to the path down by Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Forest. We walked on until the students became scarce then trickled to none. We ended up stopping at the old runes of some building that had once stood tall on the Hogwarts grounds. "What's up?" I questioned my potions partner.
Draco twisted the end of his scarf up then released it. His eyes slowly made their way up to meet mine. From his expression I could tell that whatever he needed to discuss was serious. His eyes held less mischief than normal and his mouth held no smirk. At the sight of my friend I could tell something was wrong.
"What are you doing, Allie?" I scrunched my eyebrows together at his rather weird question.
"I'm talking to you?" I asked, still not sure what he was getting at.
"Not now!" He squeezed the bridge of his nose and paced. "What are you doing in that club?"
I took a step back. Draco knew about the DA? That wasn't possible. The members had all made an oath and if any of them went back on it we would know who it was. Every one was still boil free. "How do you know about that?"
"Umbridge. You know I'm on the Inquisitorial Squad," He said.
I recalled what he told me about it that one brief time we talked about the group in Potions. "That group of thugs? You're still in that?"
Draco nodded. "She told us to find those responsible for this 'defiance against the Ministry',"
"I thought you said she already knew?"
Once again he nodded. "She knows there is a group but she doesn't know who is in it and she has no proof to catch you guys. But she is on a witch hunt," I almost laughed at his pun but it wasn't the right time too. I remained focused on trying to figure out how this happened.
Great. Just freaking perfect. I walked away from Draco and started pacing back and forth. An inquiry popped into my head while I was verbally bashing Umbridge in my head. I turned to the blond watching me from a very old, crumbling wall. He looked at me and cocked an eyebrow. "How do you know I'm in this supposed club that you don't even know exists for sure?"
He walked a few steps toward me. "Well one, you already confirmed it by asking how I knew about it and two it has you written all over it,"
I pursed my lips together and rolled my eyes. Dammit. "So are you going to turn me in?" I asked with a little hint of anger in my voice. Draco's eyes widened and he walked to me and placed his hands on my upper arms to make sure I was paying attention.
"Of course not! But you have to leave that club before the others find out," He said.
I wretched myself from his grasp and walked a few feet away from him. In my heated state, distance was always a key factor to preventing accidents like the one I had with Harry at Grimmauld place. My vampire side and a Slytherin could only lead to disaster if I wasn't careful. "I'd rather stab myself repeatedly with a quill before I listen to anything the Ministry or Fudge tell us to do. Oh wait, I already did that!" I flashed him my hand that read 'somethings are better left unsaid'.
Draco breathed out, defeated. He rubbed his hands over his hair in frustration causing his usually perfect, sleeked back hair to become a mess atop his head. He set me with his gray gaze. "Just don't get caught. Okay? I've seen what she does to some of these kids and it's... it's not good,"
I crossed my arms securely over my chest and nodded my head. Draco returned the gesture and started back up the hill. I thought about following him but I got a better idea. I could smell a deer just inside the tree line and it's blood was hard to resist. Letting the Umbridge situation and Harry leave my mind I was engulfed by the darkness of my vampire side and let those instincts take over me.
This chapter was inspired by Here's To The Past by A Day To Remember. It's a really great song that gave me the idea for Allie to have a... past. =]
I hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought please! I love to hear from you guys and it really does help to get some feedback. Thank you for reading!