PART TWO ( NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY ) CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
015 || Stay Gold, Sunflower Girl
"in which aurelia black's teen angst has a rebellion count"
x
"STAY AWAY FROM my sister," Draco says, when he spots Abigale about to leave the common room. It's obvious that she's going to see Aurelia much to Draco and Pansy's chagrin; it's all Abigale ever does nowadays.
Draco wouldn't mind it as much if he didn't think Abigale was up to something or Aurelia didn't always looks so distressed or annoyed whenever he saw them together. Abigale may only be the Mudblood that they had befriended because of her mediocre ability to see the future but Draco had to admit Abigale could be as cunning and smart as a Pureblood at times. And, despite the fact that Aurelia had been raised by his parents she had come out a bit weak which makes her easy prey to even Abigale. That is if Draco's correct in thinking that Abigale is up to something.
"Asterope Aurelia isn't your sister," Abigale says coldly, "She's your cousin. And you can't tell me what to do, Malfoy, I won't listen to you."
Draco sneers at her "You're getting cocky, Mudblood, I'd watch yourself."
Abigale gives Draco the coldest stare ever and although he doesn't show it, it kind of unnerves him. He doesn't know what happened but this wasn't the same Abigale he knows and, doesn't exactly care about but still, knew.
"No, Malfoy, it is you who should watch yourself," Abigale snarls in a raspy voice, "You truly don't know whom you're dealing with anymore, I wouldn't dare try anything, you will regret it."
"Is — is that a threat," Draco says, trying to sound more offended than scared because Abigale looks like she'd go through with it this time around.
"You bet your albino-looking ass it is!"
Draco swallows thickly but he quickly composes himself, reminding himself that she's merely a Mudblood — she's below him and he shouldn't cower before her. He fixes her with a disgusted sneer, Abigale's expression softens as does her tone.
"Besides, I'm not going to see, Blue," Abigale says, "I'm going to see Longbottom, I've got a book to give him."
Then she gives Draco her annoying, signature all-knowing smile "Aurelia has had enough stress for one day — first the whole Donum Vitae possession thing which she's technically unaware of but it still, like, screwed with her — but, she shouldn't complain because it's nothing compared to the real deal! And then there's this whole thing with Lyra and, wow, I'm like impressed that she hasn't lost her mind yet."
Draco rolls his eyes, wondering exactly how Aurelia had managed to survive without his family. He'd often thought this exact sentiment many times over the years since she decided to leave and his parents just let her. It started with her getting petrified because of the chamber of secrets and now every time something bad happens to her, which is a lot, he wonders how she manages to get out without his parents help.
Abigale quirks an eyebrow at him "You think Asterope Aurelia is weak? Ha, you think the daughter of daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange and, well, you know . . . Is weak?! I have to laugh! You must be dumber than I thought, Malfoy, that girl has a lot more power and strength than you can even imagine. Then she herself can he comprehend."
"Her father is a werewolf," Draco says, "She can't be that powerful."
Abigale gives him a cold smile "She's more powerful than you or anyone knows. Although she's not as powerful as the other's could've been and she can't do shit with it now but — anywho! Books to be delivered!"
With that Abigale slips out of the Slytherin Common Room leaving Draco behind to worry about the girl he once knew as his sister and the Mudblood he sort of, maybe, sort of, cared about.
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
ABIGALE MONTGOMERY INTIMIDATES the bloody hell out of Neville, at first it was because he had thought her and Aurelia were really dating but now it's due to the fact he thinks she's hiding something. Scratch that, he knows she's hiding something, she's not exactly subtle about it. He just can't figure out what it is and that worries him — what if she's like Goyle — or what if she is Goyle? That theory has crossed his mind more than once and he knows it has definitely crossed Aurelia's mind.
Both of them kept their guards up around Abigale but Abigale's relentless. The fact that Aurelia nearly trampled a first year to get away from her or the fact that both Neville and Aurelia are standoffish towards her doesn't phase Abigale at all.
In fact Abigale has remained quite nice towards the both of them which confuses and unnerves Neville — wasn't Goyle/Noelle nice in the beginning? Abigale seems to really want to help Aurelia — just tonight she had given Neville two books to give to Aurelia, one is about American Potions and the other is about Blood Magic, she tells Neville that Aurelia would be needing them. In other words: Neville's very confused on how he should feel about Abigale Montgomery outside of being intimidated by her.
After his weird little encounter with Abigale, he heads up to Gryffindor Tower where he waits for Aurelia to show up.
She's late and Neville begins to worry that she's forgotten about him but an hour and a half after classes have ended, Aurelia shows up. She's in tears, her uniform is soaked in a green-ish liquid her knees are bruised and one is even bloody, her forehead is beaded with sweat, and she looks minutes away from collapsing.
"Hey," She says.
"What the hell," Neville says, rushing to her side.
"Aw, you swore," Aurelia says, "You know, you sound bloody cute when you swear — why are you staring at me like that?"
"You — you look —"
"Like hell. Aye, I know. I just got back from Lyra's — uh, she's, um, she's teaching me Legilimency. It's, um, it's not going to well."
Neville looks mortified "Lyra did this — did this to you?"
He's not surprised, Lyra's always been violent but he's upset that she did this to Aurelia.
"Can we go up to your dorm," Aurelia asks quietly, clinging to his arm.
Blushing, Neville nods his head and shows her up to his dorm. Out of curiosity, he asks: "What did Lyra make you see?"
Aurelia's face crumples and she shakes her head, sobbing quietly. Her hair turns green and she looks away from him.
"It's alright," Neville says softly, opening the door to his dorm, luckily no one is there.
"No, it's not!" Aurelia cries.
"It's not your fault she put things in your head," Neville says, "Sometimes if I mess — if I've messed up she'd make me remember their . . . My parents' screams and —" Neville cuts himself off, saying that out loud makes him realise that maybe what Lyra does to him isn't the best, especially with how Aurelia reacts to it, "She made you think of Lestrange . . . Didn't she?"
"Aye," Aurelia says in a small voice, sitting on Neville's bed.
Sitting next to her, Neville says: "They're probably false. Lyra's good at false memories, you —"
"They weren't," Aurelia whispers, she knows they weren't fake because if Lyra was going to put false memories into her head she wouldn't have done something as nice as those memories Aurelia witnessed.
"Were they bad," Neville wonders and Aurelia shakes her head, sobbing a little louder.
"Then why are you crying — is it your leg? Does it hurt? Did Lyra do that you?"
"The memories they . . . Uh, they startled me and I fell against something made of glass in her office," Aurelia says, "Neville, when you said Lyra —"
"There's glass in your cut," Neville says quickly, "Hang on."
He leans down and pulls out what Aurelia assumes in a small first-aid kit from under his bed. "There's a pair of tweezers in here, you could use those to put it out."
Aurelia glad's he doesn't tell her that they should go down to the Hospital Wing because she'd rather just leave the glass there than walk down all those stairs again but she's a little incapable of pulling it out herself. She shows Neville her shaking hands, saying: "Can you did it instead?"
His eyes widens, pointing at himself as he says: "Me? Are — are you sure?"
"Aye, Plant Boy, just yoink that sucker right out."
"Please don't say yoink," Neville says, using the tweezers to pull the shard out. It hurts but Aurelia reckons it would've hurt worse if she had done it herself, Neville tries to be as gentle as possible.
"I swear this woman hangs over me like a dark cloud — why are you even friends with me," Aurelia asks through clenched teeth.
Neville dabs something damp on her thigh that makes it sting even more than it already is.
"Well for start — starters, you're not her. You're really not, no matter what anyone says or what you seem to think. You're not Bellatrix Lestrange. You're a good person, you've got a good heart and you'll always been so — well, you've always been patient with me. You've always believed in me, you're the only one that does. You're my best friend and no matter how close she is to you, nothing is going to change that —"
Neville falters to pull out a Scooby-Doo band-aid, Aurelia smiles softly and her heart warms at both his words and the fact that he still has those band-aids. She had given him a box of his own two Christmases ago.
Her brain ruins the moment by going: but, there is.
There is definitely something that could ruin it. Aurelia's a lot closer to Bellatrix Lestrange than he knows. She's actually her daughter and her Donum Vitae and if Aurelia had read the book correctly, that makes her even more closer to her. Of course, Aurelia's learned to take everything about Blood Magic with a grain of salt because no one really knows nowadays. It could be false. She hopes it's false. It could ruin everything even more if it's true.
Once he's placed the band-aid on, he places a kiss over top of it. A habit he's learned from Aurelia, she always kisses the band-aid after putting it on even her own. However, it shocks Aurelia, apparently she's really sensitive there. His lips which barely touched her actual flesh had sent a jolt up her spine, her stomach does this weird little flip, and her cheeks burn.
Completely unaware of the blushing mess he had just turned Aurelia into, Neville continues speaking: "Not at all. We'll always be best friends."
Aurelia gives him a half-smile, half-frown, it's unlikely that you'll want to be my friend when you find out the truth.
"I'm not a good person, I — not someone someone like you should be friends with. You — Neville, you deserve better than me."
"What, no! Ari, you're an amazing person! You really are! You're the best person I know — I mean — I — you're literally golden," He says, pointing at her gold curls.
Aurelia laughs softly, leaning closer to him "I'm not golden, Plant Boy."
"You are," Neville says stubbornly, "You — always go on about how you want to be golden and make yourself gold but you're already golden. You've always been golden!"
"Is this the part where you tell me to 'Stay Gold, Ponyboy'," Aurelia asks sarcastically.
Neville doesn't understand the reference but he still gives her a look because he doesn't like her tone: "No."
There's a pause, Neville smiles slightly.
"I'd tell you to stay gold, Sunflower Girl," He says matter-of-factly, leaning up to kiss her on the cheek.
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
IT'S NEARING MIDNIGHT now and Aurelia's still with Neville, the pair had resorted to staying in the common room since Seamus and Dean had went to bed a while ago. Aurelia would probably end up staying the night on the couch at this point, Ellie's done it before with Fred and George and he's had no problem with it, so Aurelia should be fine. Hermione and Ron are also in the common room, they're up waiting for Harry to return from detention with Umbridge.
When Harry does arrive, Hermione gives him a bowl of yellow liquid — Murtlap essence, if Aurelia's correct; he thanks Hermione.
"I still reckon you should complain about this," Ron says lowly, eyeing the wound on Harry's hand.
"No," said Harry flatly.
"McGonagall would go nuts if she knew —"
"Yeah, she probably would," Harry says dully.
"All the teachers would but there's nothing they would be able to do. Umbitch works for the Ministry, they've probably given her permission to do it. And, well —" Aurelia says, pulling away from Neville's side so she can join their conversation.
"And how long do you reckon it'd take Umbridge to pass another decree saying anyone who complains about the High Inquisitor gets sacked immediately," Harry says.
Both of their points effectively silencing Ron.
"She's an awful woman," Hermione says in a small voice, "Awful. You know, I was just saying to Ron when you came in . . . We've got to do something about her."
"I suggested poison," Ron says grimly.
"Which, isn't a bad idea," Aurelia says, finger-gunning him.
"No . . . I mean, something about what a dreadful teacher she is, and how we're not going to learn any Defense from her at all," Hermione says.
"Well, what can we do about that," Ron says with a yawn, "It's too late, isn't it? She's got the job, she's here to stay. Fudge'll make sure of that."
"Well," Hermione says tentatively, "You know, I was thinking today. . ." she shoots a slightly nervous look at Harry and then plunges on, "I was thinking that — maybe the time's come when we should just — just do it ourselves."
"Do what ourselves," Harry says suspiciously, still floating his hand in the essence of Murtlap.
"Well — learn Defense Against the Dark Arts ourselves," Hermione says.
"Come off it," Ron groans, "You want us to do extra work? D'you realize Harry and I are behind on homework again and it's only the second week?"
"That's not what she means," Aurelia says excitedly, "What she's talking about, well, there would — wouldn't be any homework!"
Hermione casts Aurelia a nervous glance, then says: "Aurelia's right. This is much more important than homework!"
"I didn't think there was anything in the universe more important than homework," Ron says, a hint of mockery in his tone.
"Don't be silly, of course there is — it's about preparing ourselves, like Harry said in Umbridge's first lesson, for what's waiting for us out there. It's about making sure we really can defend ourselves. If we don't learn anything for a whole year —"
"We can't do much by ourselves," Ron says defeatedly, "I mean, all right, we can go and look jinxes up in the library and try and practice them, I suppose —"
"No, I agree, we've gone past the stage where we can just learn things out of books," Hermione says, "We need a teacher, a proper one, who can show us how to use the spells and correct us if we're going wrong."
"If you're talking about Lupin —" Harry says.
Aurelia perks up at the mention of Remus, realising that she really misses him. And she had forgotten to reply to his last letter — oh, shit! She reminds herself to write her response tomorrow but she'll probably forget, she's been forgetting a lot of things lately.
"No, no, I'm not talking about Lupin," Hermione says "He's too busy with the Order and, anyway, the most we could see him is during Hogsmeade weekends and that's not nearly often enough."
"Who, then," said Harry, frowning at her.
"Harold, you oblivious fuck," Aurelia sighs exasperatedly.
Hermione heaves a very deep sigh but not before shooting Aurelia a scolding look for her use of foul language.
"Isn't it obvious," Hermione asks.
"She's talking about you, Potter," Aurelia says.
"About me what," said Harry.
"Jesus Christ," Aurelia groans, burying her face into her hands. It was so obvious to her, how could it not be obvious to him?
"I'm talking about you teaching us Defense Against the Dark Arts." Hermione says.
Harry stares at her. Then he turns to Ron, looking for help or maybe someone to laugh with, however, Ron looks to be onboard with the idea so far.
Ron was frowning slightly, apparently thinking. Then he said, "That's an idea."
"What's an idea?"
"You," Ron says, "Teaching us to do it."
"But —" Harry says with a grin, "But I'm not a teacher, I can't —"
"Harry, you're the best in the year at Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione says.
"Me?" Harry says, now grinning more broadly than ever, "No I'm not, you've beaten me in every test —"
"Actually, I haven't," Hermione says coolly, "You beat me in our third year — the only year we both sat the test and had a teacher who actually knew the subject. But I'm not talking about test results, Harry. Think what you've done!"
"How d'you mean?"
Aurelia rolls her eyes, he can be as smart as a brick wall at times. But she decides not to laugh because she thinks if she was in his situation she'd probably react the same way.
"You know what, I'm not sure I want someone this stupid teaching me," Ron says to Hermione, smirking slightly then he turns to Harry, "Let's think — uh . . . First year — you saved the Sorcerer's Stone from You-Know-Who."
"But that was luck," Harry says, "it wasn't skill."
"Second year," Ron interrupts, "You killed the Basilisk and destroyed Riddle."
"Yeah, but if Fawkes hadn't turned up, I —"
"Third year —" Ron says louder, "You fought off about a hundred Dementors at once —"
"You know that was a fluke, if the Time-Turner hadn't —"
"Last year," Ron says, almost shouting now, "You fought off You-Know-Who again —"
"Listen to me," Harry says, "Just listen to me, all right? It sounds great when you say it like that, but all that stuff was luck — I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I didn't plan any of it, I just did whatever I could think of, and I nearly always had help! Don't sit there grinning like you know better than I do, I was there, wasn't I? I know what went on, all right? And I didn't get through any of that because I was brilliant at Defense Against the Dark Arts, I got through it all because — because help came at the right time, or because I guessed right — but I just blundered through it all, I didn't have a clue what I was doing — STOP LAUGHING!"
Except Hermione and Ron aren't laughing, they're only smirking but Aurelia can understand why Harry had a problem with it. The bowl of Murtlap essence clatters to the floor and the smiles fall from their faces.
"You don't know what it's like! You — neither of you — you've never had to face him, have you? You think it's just memorizing a bunch of spells and throwing them at him, like you're in class or something? The whole time you're sure you know there's nothing between you and dying except your own — your own brain or guts or whatever — like you can think straight when you know you're about a second from being murdered, or tortured, or watching your friends die — they've never taught us that in their classes, what it's like to deal with things like that — and you two sit there acting like I'm a clever little boy to be standing here, alive, like Diggory was stupid, like he messed up — you just don't get it, that could just as easily have been me, it would have been if Voldemort hadn't needed me —"
Aurelia frowns at the mention of Cedric. She hadn't been able to save him it's all her fault that he's dead. It should've been me. She exhales shakily, getting ready to say something to Harry, to calm him down or just stop him from talking about that night.
"We weren't saying anything like that, mate," Ron says, looking aghast, "We weren't having a go at Diggory, we didn't — you've got the wrong end of the —"
"Harry," Hermione says timidly, "Don't you see? This . . . This is exactly why we need you . . . We need to know what it's r — really like. . . Facing him... Facing V — Voldemort. Well . . . think about it, please?"
Neville sits up, grabbing ahold of Aurelia's hand as he quietly says: "I think — I think it's a good idea. Who better to teach us than Harry and Ari! She's really good at defensive spells, she — she learned loads last year for the tournament and she can even make her owns spells. We'd learn loads more than we'll ever learn with Umbridge."
Harry frowns. The tension in the room is stifling to Aurelia, she nervously looks around.
"Neville's right," Ron agrees, "You and Blue could teach us loads, you two could be the best teachers Hogwarts has ever seen next to Lupin, of course!"
Harry looks to Aurelia as if to say: you're in on this too?
Aurelia nods "We could teach them. We need to learn how to defend ourselves and just think while we're teaching them we'll be teaching ourselves too."
Harry looks like he's going to say something but he pauses to think.
"And, now that I think about it, I can't . . . I can't do it without you, Potter. Hermione's right, you'd be the best leader, you're better at magic than I am. I just know theory but you know how to preform. We need you."
Harry shakes his head, at a loss for words.
Aurelia takes a breath, her heart racing in her chest as she's filled with a need for this idea to actually happen. "You've fought Voldemort, I fought Goyle. We know enough to teach others to defend themselves, we can help protect people like I couldn't protect Cedric. This is my chance to fix that. It doesn't matter how we know the things that helped us survive all that matters is we know it and we need to share it with others . . . It's a good idea, Potter, we should do it. Cedric would want us to do it."
x
ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ
x
AT FIRST, HARRY didn't seem to agree with the idea but eventually he came around. So two weeks later Aurelia finds herself gathering with her friends (plus Abigale who insisted on coming) in Hogshead. Aurelia's rather excited for this meeting Hermione had planned and so are Olivia, Neville, Susan, and Abigale. They aren't, however, excited to be in Hogshead, which has got to be the sketchiest fucking place Aurelia's ever been to. Which is saying something because she's been to Knockturn Alley.
"I don't know about this, Hermione." Harry mutters to Hermione, they mutter back and forth to each other for a few seconds before Hermione approaches the barman and says: "Three butter-beers, please."
"Make that six butter-beers!" Susan cuts in, reaching for the money to pay as the barman adds their price to the total.
"I've got it," Harry says, paying the barman.
The seven teens retreat to the furthest table from the bar. Aurelia sips on the Butterbeer as Ron makes a comment about possibly getting Firewhisky only for it to be shot down by Hermione.
"So, who did you say was supposed to be meeting us," Harry asks, opening his Butterbeer and taking a swig of it.
"Just a couple of people," Hermione replies, glancing at the door with a nervous expression "I told them to be here around now and I'm sure they all where it is — oh, look, that must be them now." she adds just as the door to the pub opens.
First comes Colin Creevey then Hannah Abbott, they're soon followed by Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown, in two are the Patil twins. It's not until Fred, George, Lee, and Ellie have entered the pub does she notice that there are a lot more than a 'couple people' and Harry Potter, the boy who won against Voldemort four times, looks absolutely mortified.
"A couple of people," Harry mumbles hoarsely to Hermione, "A couple of people?"
"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," Hermione says happily, oblivious to Harry's distress, "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"
Once everyone had taken a seat, Hermione begins to speak: "Er. Well — er — hi."
The crowd stares at Hermione, keeping silent as they shift their eyes to look at Aurelia and Harry.
"Well . . . Erm . . . Well, you know why you're here. Erm. . . Well, Harry here had the idea — I mean —" Hermione says but corrects herself because Harry throws her a sharp look, "I had the idea — that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts — and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts —"
"Hear, hear," A boy whose name, Aurelia thinks to be, Anthony Goldstein, cuts in and Hermione looks encouraged by it.
She continues "— Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands. And by that, I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spells —"
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet," Michael Corner asks.
"Of course I do," Hermione says, "But more than that, I want to be properly trained in defense because . . . Because. . ." she takes a great breath and finishes: "Because Lord Voldemort is back."
The reaction is immediate and predictable. Someone shrieks, Neville gives an odd yelp that he manages to turn into a cough, and Aurelia thinks of Cedric and how he had been murdered in cold blood, she blinks the tears from her eyes.
"Well . . . That's the plan, anyway," Hermione says, trying to move past their reactions, "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to —"
"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back," Zacharias Smith says in a rather aggressive voice.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it —" Hermione says.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," Zacharias cuts her off again, nodding at Harry.
"Who are you?" Ron asks, sounding just as rude as Zacharias is acting.
"He's technically like my family, sadly — Smiths and Macleods are very distantly related," Aurelia drawls out as she fixes Zacharias with a hard stare, "But, I'm technically 'adopted'."
(Aurelia pass up on opportunity to flaunt the fact that Mae is her family, not a chance!)
"Zacharias Smith. And I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."
"Uh, me too. I'm saying that shit too," Aurelia says only to be completely ignored.
"Look, that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about —" Hermione says.
"It's okay, Hermione," Harry says, "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you won't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."
"All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Aurelia and Diggory's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know —"
"Shut the fuck up, Smith," Olivia snaps, glaring at Smith with glossy eyes as she places a comforting hand on Aurelia's shoulder.
Aurelia bites her lip, digging her nails into her palms. She tries to distract herself from the pain in her chest, the flashing of that green light and Goyle's horrible, mocking laugh but no matter how hard she digs her nails into her flesh it doesn't compare. It feels as though someone's sitting on her chest, she's having trouble breathing. Neville slips his hand in hers and squeezes lightly but she continues staring straight ahead — don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.
"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you." Harry says, "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."
Nobody, not even Zacharias Smith, moves.
Hermione speaks again: "So . . . like I was saying . . . If you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet and where we're going to —"
"Is it true, that you can produce a Patronus," Susan says.
There's a murmur of interest around the group at this.
"Yeah," Harry replies, slightly defensively, "So can Black." he adds, Aurelia's certain that's his attempt to get the attention off of him.
"A corporeal Patronus," Susan says, playing with her braid.
"Er — you don't know Madam Bones, do you?"
"She's my auntie. I'm Susan Bones," Susan says, "She told us about your hearing. So — is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"
"Yes."
"Blimey, Harry," Lee exclaims, looking deeply impressed "I never knew that!"
"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," Fred tells Lee, "She said you got enough attention as it was."
"She's not wrong," Harry mumbles, and a couple of people laugh.
"And did you kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office," Terry Boot questions, "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year."
"Er — yeah, I did, yeah," Harry mumbles awkwardly.
Justin Finch-Fletchley whistles and Lavender Brown, awestruck, whispers: "Wow!"
"And in our first year." Neville says, "He saved that Sorcerous Stone —"
"Sorcerer's," Hermione hisses.
Aurelia gives her a withering look "Who cares what it's called all that matters is that Harry brave ass Potter saved it. Leave him alone."
"Yes, er, that — from You-Know-Who," finishes Neville.
"And that's not to mention," Wen speaks up, "All the tasks he and Aurelia had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year — getting past dragons and Merpeople and Acromantula and things"
There's a murmur of impressed agreement around the table, but everyone quickly falls silent when Harry says: "Look, I . . . I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but . . . I had a lot of help with all that stuff."
"Not with the dragon, you didn't." Michael Corner says, "That was a seriously cool bit of flying!"
"Yeah, well —"
"And nobody helped you get rid of those Dementors this summer." Susan points out.
"No," Harry says, "No, okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is —"
"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" Zacharias questions.
"Sweet Merlin, Smith! If you were like this during Quidditch practice I would punch you right in the honker!" Aurelia says angrily, "Why don't you just shut up and listen to Potter!"
Zacharias stares at her, an uncomfortable expression on his face. There are tears on her face from earlier and she looked like she might start crying at any moment; he certainly doesn't want to get beat up by a girl much less a crying girl.
"That's a great idea, Blue!" Ron says then gives Zacharias a pointed look, "Why don't you shut your mouth?"
"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it." Zacharias says.
"That's not what he said!" Fred snarls.
"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" George says, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags.
"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this!" Fred adds.
"Yes, well." Hermione cuts in, "Moving on . . . The point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"
"And Aurelia," Ron adds.
"Right, Aurelia as well," Hermione says, doing her best to avoid another one of Aurelia's withering glares.
There's a murmur of general agreement.
"Right," Hermione says, "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week —"
"Hang on," Angelina cuts in, "We need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."
"No," Wen adds, "Nor with ours."
"Nor ours," Olivia concludes, who is doing a much better job about being Hufflepuff's Quidditch Captain than Aurelia, who is the Quidditch Captain.
"I'm pretty sure that learning how to properly defend ourselves is more important than Quidditch," Aurelia says sarcastically, "But, sure! We best make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice!"
"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," Hermione replies, "But you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V — Voldemort's Death-Eaters —"
"Well said," Ernie Macmillan says in agreement, "Personally I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up! I, personally am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on us at this critical period. Obviously, they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells —"
"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione says, "Is that she's got some . . . Some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."
Luna Lovegood, who doesn't look all that shocked by the news, pipes up: "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."
"What," Harry asks in disbelief.
"Yes, he's got an army of Heliopaths," Luna says.
"No, he hasn't," Hermione snaps.
"Yes, he has," Luna argues.
"What are Heliopaths," Neville asks.
Aurelia glances at him, whispering: "I could be wrong but I don't think they exist."
Meanwhile Luna says: "They're spirits of fire. Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of —"
"They don't exist, Neville," Hermione interrupts.
"Oh, yes, they do," Luna disagrees angrily.
"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that," Hermione retorts.
"There are plenty of eye-witness accounts. Just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you —"
"Hem, hem," Ginny pipes up, in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people look around in alarm and then laugh as they realise the demon is nowhere to be seen: "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and have defense lessons?"
"Yes," Hermione says at once, "Yes, we were, you're right, Ginny."
"Well, once a week sounds cool," Lee says, agreeing with Hermione's previous suggestion.
"As long as —" Angelina begins.
"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch. Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet."
This task proves to be much more difficult; the whole group falls silent.
"Library," Katie Bell suggests after a few moments.
"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," Harry replies, dismissing that idea.
"Maybe an unused classroom," Dean suggests.
"Yeah," Ron agrees, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Triwizard Tournament."
Suddenly Aurelia remembers hearing Mae telling her about a secret room that appears to people who need it and they certainly needed it now "My mum told me about this — this room, it's a hidden room that only shows itself to those who need it s — s — supposedly built by Helga Hufflepuff her — herself, what about that?"
Ron looks at her, interested, so does Harry who asks: "Really, did she say what floor it was on?"
Aurelia frowns, she can't remember where Mae had said it was, "No, I — I — I can't remember, sorry."
"Dobby knows a great place," Abigale pipes up, startling Aurelia who had almost forgotten she had come with them.
She doesn't elaborate on that, a few seconds pass and Hermione gives Aibgale a weird look. Abigale just smiles knowingly and shrugs her shoulders at Harry and Ron who are also giving her odd looks.
"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," Hermione says, "We'll send a message around to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."
Hermione rummages in her bag and produces a piece of parchment and a quill "I — I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think . . . That we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're up to."
Fred reaches out for the parchment and cheerfully writes his signature, Aurelia reaches for the paper, eager to sign it. She feels something different bloom in her chest, and she wonders if this is her chance to finally prove herself. Once she had signed it, she hands it to George.
"Er," Zacharias says slowly, not taking the parchment from George, "Well . . . I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."
But, Ernie looks rather hesitant about signing, too. Hermione raises her eyebrows at the two boys.
"I — well, we are prefects," Ernie bursts out, "And if this list was found . . . Well, I mean to say . . . Uou said yourself if Umbridge finds out —"
"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Harry reminds him.
"I — yes," Ernie says, "Yes, I do believe that it's just —"
"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around," Hermione says testily.
"No. No, of course not," Ernie mutters, looking slightly less anxious, "I — yes, of course, I'll sign."
When everyone had signed it, Hermione takes the parchment back and slips it carefully into her bag. There's an odd feeling in the group now; a buzzing kind of feeling. It's as though they had just signed some kind of life-changing contract.
X
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
So Draco is aware that Asterope is not his sister and at first I was gonna let you wonder how long he had know for and if he knew since she disowned herself but I thought telling you how he really knows ( since it's not important to the story and won't be shown ) would be funnier. Basically the day of Aster's fifteenth birthday which is when it would be safe for her to know, Lucius goes into Draco's room and tells him, with no sugar-coating, that Aster isn't his sister but rather his cousin. And that's pretty much it. It wouldn't be all that shocking because everyone around them could've hid it better but Draco is still pretty shooketh about it. However Draco doesn't become an important character until half-blood prince where everything is going to be CHAOTIC and I'm super excited for that. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter please let me know what you thought of it in the comments, your thoughts/feedback means a lot to me!