When Was The Last Time You?
Chapter Thirty Seven: When Was The Last Time You Succeeded?
A Tale By: In The Shadows I Dwell
"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
I stood firmly at Neville's side glancing into the staring eyes of all present in the large hall that the Room of Requirement had become. It had transformed from a rather messy looking dormitory to a neat and spacious hall in which we could conduct our first official training session. There had been great excitement among the students who had received the message, I had also had to track down several recruits and give them a coin each and explain how each of them worked. They too had a look of excitement in their eyes as I informed them that there would be a meeting that night. I noticed that most were above the third year, and in the recent recruiting most were Ravenclaws. Neville had told me that it was currently the Ravenclaws struggling at the hands of the Carrows, their wit proving to be somewhat of a downside at times.
"Welcome everyone to our first official training session for Dumbledore's Army. I would like to extend a particularly warm welcome to our newest members. I'm sure you will all make them feel most welcome." I said. "Before we begin Neville has a few words to share."
"Thanks Hermione." He said confidently, once again I could see the timid boy I knew opening up to the world before a crowd, as though all that it required for him to extend from his shell was a slight push. "Today we'll be learning the basics of shield charms, but also must ask that on a more serious note, none of you participate in further vandalism or rebelling against the rules in the name of Dumbledore's Army. I myself have been foolish and have wrongly organised such acts, however for now this stops. The Carrows and Snape are more present in the corridors than ever and it is far too dangerous to allow any of you to put yourselves in such risk. I would ask that all you do as part of Dumbledore's Army is come here, train and leave, knowing that perhaps one day the lessons you have learnt may very well save your life. Now, could everyone please get to their feet and pair off." He called through the hall.
The room was filled with the sound of movement students jumping to their feet as quickly as possible. I stood in the centre of the Room as Neville had asked earlier paired with Draco. I was demonstrating the usage of the spells we taught for all present. That was one of the only things Neville had asked of me, that I be the one to demonstrate the spells as I knew them better than he did. I stood several meters away from where Draco stood wand already drawn. He smiled at me, as I attempted to look as serious as possible. I too ended up smiling at him, the smile almost infectious. Neville stood to my right as he walked in front of the crowd explaining the basics of the spell before the demonstration.
"Shield charms are an exceptionally useful spell, although they will not protect you from the more dark and dangerous spells, and when I say this I do mean the Unforgivable Curses, they will protect you from minor spells, hexes, jinxes and charms. Hermione and Draco shall now be demonstrating the use of such a charm, now for those of you have not used this charm the incantation is 'Protego' and this spell will cause a shield to form between your opponent, or incoming object and your wand. If the spell is unable to block the spell or object completely it will alter the affect and prevent them from taking a full affect against you. Hermione and Draco if you will." He asked.
I nodded in response and he begun a slow countdown, "Three, two, one."
"Protego." I said loudly and clearly.
At the same time I heard Draco cry "Expelliarmus" I watched as a red light erupted from his wand, hurtling towards me.
Barely a meter away from me the oncoming spell rebounded from the invisible shield that lay between us and hit a student standing within the crowd. She shrieked as her wand was sent flying from her hands across the room where it hit the floor with a dull thud.
"That was perfect usage of the spell, thank you Hermione and Draco." Neville noted indicating we could move away now. "As you can see the spell will rebound, this will of course some issues, but just watch those around you and it should not cause much of an issue. Pair off and we'll come round and see how your doing." He said cheerfully as the students paired off excitedly and moved to their own spaces.
Draco, Ginny, Neville and I walked among the students observing and helping them achieve the spell where possible. For those present last year this was merely revision, however I noted that the new students mastered the spell with such ease it was almost dizzying. Within half an hour the all present could use the charm with ease. We paired each of the students off with another partner, and asked them to test each other using different combinations of spells against the shield, attempting to prepare them for those spells that the shields could only lighten, not completely reflect. So far we had found that only the older students were capable of such spells, however watching the younger students face the older students with not a hint of fear in their eyes was a sight to behold.
They may not have been able to fend off the spells completely, leaving some with minor cases of the Jellylegs Jinx or the Bat Bogey Hex in Ginny's case, which proved to be quite difficult to fend off, but you could see the enthusiasm in their eyes, the thirst for knowledge they were missing out on. You could see the triumph within their eyes when they managed to successfully ward off one of the older students spells, the disappointment in the eyes of the older students. At the end of the hour there were many disappointed faces, those begging to be for us to continue just that little longer. However we knew that this was not possible, we had already risked enough holding the meeting, and by the time each of the students reached their dormitories curfew would have fallen, I had warned them at the completion of the session that they were not to dawdle, that they must go straight to their dormitories.
As I waved off the students in small groups from one of the several exits I noticed the smile upon Draco's face again as he looked over at me. I smiled back to him as I waved to the last of the students before taking a seat next to him upon the large cushions in the corner of the room. The smile seemed to be etched upon his face, as though it would never truly be washed away. I took his hands in mine and leant over to kiss him gently.
"I'm guessing you enjoyed that?" I asked softly.
"It was more than I was expecting." He replied. "Much more."
"What were you expecting?"
"You all to be sitting around planning to bring down Hogwarts from within, maps and all." He said with a laugh.
"No, really what were you expecting?" I asked seriously.
"To be honest, I was expecting some form of Potter worship group. I didn't really expect you to have elected another leader in his absence."
"That proves that we are a step ahead of you clearly." I said with a laugh.
"Several." He replied kissing me gently.
We were interrupted from quiet yet rather rough clearing of the throat from nearby. I broke away from Draco to notice Ginny standing a little off into the distance trying to look anywhere but at Draco and I. "We need to leave the room for a moment, so that it can change back into the dormitory. It can't change with us within it." She said avoiding my eyes.
Draco climbed to his feet grabbing my hands and pulling me to my feet with ease wrapping his arm around my waist and leading me from the room. I stood outside for several moments with everyone, in silence before I finally decided to find out how they had discovered that the room could not change with people within it.
"How did you know that the room could not change with people in it?" I asked.
Neville replied, "I tried it earlier, but it is unfortunately impossible. I tried everything."
"Well clearly the room can't do everything." Ginny added.
"It's quite powerful." Luna noted. "Quite charming really."
Her words were followed by an awkward silence as most of her statements were. She seemed to have that affect upon people. Yet she never battered an eyelash, she seemed to find this perfectly normal. After several minutes the door appeared once again, and Neville pulled the door open to reveal the dormitory once again. It was almost as we had left it, only more neat and each person in residence of the room had their own individual rooms, I open the door to the one that could only be Ginny's to reveal a small room that mirrored hers at the Burrow, however in the corner there was a door that lead to a small bathroom. In the centre of the four rooms sat a large open area with several couches, a fire and desks for studying. From it's appearance it seemed to be a cross between the Gryffindor Common Room, and what I assumed to be the Slytherin Common Room.
Ginny and Luna each bade us goodnight, walking tiredly to their individual rooms and closing the door. Neville, Draco and I sat upon the couches talking of how each of us thought the meeting to have gone. The general consensus was that it had gone off without anything to fault, however there had to be a more efficient means of allowing the students to leave. The current method was somewhat inefficient. Neville suggested that the students organised to be there at specific times, some starting ten minutes before the other, with six groups the number of students leaving after an hour would be barely noticeable. I could not deny the brilliance of this plan; however we were still left with the fact that we need to plan ahead, however we decided that this could wait until later, night was well and truly upon us and the flames of the fire were growing weaker.
As Neville closed his door I got to my feet slowly, Draco following me to the door. I wrapped my arms around his neck gently gazing into his eyes. Our lips brushed gently, and I found myself becoming lost in the sheer depth of the blue-grey irises before me. I breathed softly as I brushed my nose against his.
"I wish I didn't have to leave." I whispered.
"You don't have to… You could stay if you wanted…" He added awkwardly.
"What would the others think?" I added.
"We could just sleep. There is nothing wrong with that." He said quietly.
"There isn't." I confirmed taking his hand.
He lead me to the far room, the large wooden door with a silver ornamental handle being his. I noticed a small Slytherin banner hanging from the door, almost as though he didn't wish to forget his true place. He opened the door slowly revealing a room larger than Ginny's but at the same time it was not oversized. It was modest and well furnished. I smiled noticing the large King size bed that dominated most of the space complete with a lush green bedspread.
"Is this what your room at home looks like?" I asked.
"Not exactly, it's larger but I like this more. I prefer this; it is less showy and more comfortable."
"It's nice." I whispered noticing a pair of pyjamas upon the bed for me; nothing else explained the purple flannelette pyjamas. I took then in my arms and slipped into the bathroom changing into the comfortable and warm clothes the room had provided and walked back into the room where Draco stood wearing an old tee-shirt and tracksuit pants. I felt suddenly somewhat overdressed. He pulled back the large bedspread and slipped beneath the sheets. I followed him lying beside him staring endlessly at the dark roof.
"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if you didn't sit in the same carriage as me?" I asked softly.
"No, because I don't want to think about what wasn't. I want to think about what is, and never forget the moments like this." He replied softly wrapping his arms around me.
I placed my head upon his chest softly, "I do. All the time. I'm glad you did." I whispered closing my eyes.
He pressed his lips to my forehead carefully before I slowly shut my eyes, the feeling of success finally dawning upon me. I had actually made it through a meeting without any substantial injuries to myself or to those in the room. Draco had been welcomed by all there with open arms as though he and always been there. For the first time winning this war actually felt possible, as though when united the power we could wield against Lord Voldemort was unfathomable. We had each other, and that in itself in times like these was a success.
Dedicated To: The Yahoo Answers B&A Community. Their help and encouragement is amazing, and proves the sheer power of Harry Potter to me each and every day.
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Author's Note: A whole fourteen chapters early we have broken the hundred thousand word mark, my first major word count goal, one I was not expecting to achieve until at least chapter fifty. However here I stand looking upon my longest story written. I hope that it's living up to the expectations you held for it also. Two more days of updates to go! Reviews are appreciated!