Notes: Only two more weeks until the semester ends. Until then, things will be a bit hectic, which is exactly why this chapter was a bit late. Well, it was also because for some reason the page wouldn't open properly in my browser. As always thanks to everyone for the wonderful feedback.
I should REALLY be studying right now.
….
MOTA Chapter 22: Better Friends
The next morning Harry woke up to a series of bizarre occurrences. First of all, Ron was already awake and ready. Secondly, Neville was arguing with Zidane in a matter that was more expected coming from a housewife than a male teenage student. He foreigner was at the same time trying to pacify his friend, but it was clear that the blonde was too tired to reply properly, making Neville leave the room, accentuating his anger by slamming the door behind him.
"Look, I'm sorry I forgot alright!" Zidane called before grabbing his things and leaving as well.
Harry blinked owlishly as he looked at the strange occurrence. Neville was really not the type to react like that, so he assumed whatever Zidane forgot, it must have meant a lot for him. Perhaps it had something to do with yesterday's incident.
"Bloody hell, what do you think that was about?" Ron said. "Bloke almost sounded like Hermione for a second."
Harry just gave a small shrug. "No clue."
Things had only gotten stranger when, on the way over to the Great Hall, they heard a piercing shriek and turned quickly, just in time to see a certain Slytherin blonde being chased by what appeared to be a small army of ferrets, some of them even managing to cling to the back of his robes and head despite Malfoy's frantic moves.
"Those are polecats, not ferrets." Hermione said as she corrected him.
"Who cares? That was bloody awesome!" Ron said with something akin to glee.
Yet the last surprise was the one he personally enjoyed the most. After sitting down to have breakfast, Harry chanced a glance at the staff table and saw what appeared to be a very angry Umbridge. At least that's what he could see from the way her face was currently that 'Vernon Puce' color he had become so familiar with. And yet, the woman hadn't said a word. Instead, she appeared to be writing on a piece of pink parchment frantically as Dumbledore just smiled amiably with that ever present twinkle in his eyes.
"I'm afraid there is nothing I can do about this Dolores." Harry heard Dumbledore say after straining his ears to listen. "As I told you on the previous occasion, Hogwarts does not condemn its students for harmless pranks such as these. In these situations it's really best to just join in the laughter."
Harry glanced at Fred and George, seeing as the twins were also eavesdropping. After giving them a questioning look, the two of them just shook their heads, but looked thrilled to learn more. And they were not disappointed. The group was about to head to class, when a loud clatter came from the staff table, followed be several hurried apologies. Professor Trelawney had apparently tripped over one of her shawls making her frantically grab Umbridge's chair and accidentally make the woman spill tea all over her fluffy pink cardigan. Umbridge shook in rage as her face turned purple, yet the moment she opened her mouth to retaliate, a loud toad-like croak made its way out, making the whole Great Hall go silent before bursting out into laughter.
"How did you guys do that?" Ron asked the twins who only laughed.
"Wasn't us Ronnie-kins." George said.
"But we must admit that he is getting rather proficient at it." Fred supplied.
"You mean it was the same mystery bloke? How can you be so sure?" Ron asked.
"Ah, my dear little brother …"
"…there are a lot of things you must learn about our art." The twins said.
"Like what?" Ron asked sarcastically.
"The style…"
"…it's far too subtle for something we would do."
"…but he has style and a decent skillset."
"The spell you mean." Hermione said. "She would have taken care of it already if she had the power. To accomplish something like that, the culprit must have been within wand range of Umbridge, unless of course he or she somehow got her to ingest the spell."
"See Ronnie-kins?..."
"….even Hermione gets it." The twins said.
"Bloody hell, even you guys wouldn't be able to pull that off!" Ron said in realization. "Now I really want to know who this guy is."
Hermione scoffed. "It could also quite easily be a girl."
"Well, whichever it is, I think this noble search demands our attention Fred." George said.
"Why of course George, we should thank our good friend here for filling out for us." Fred quipped back.
"Tis indeed a shame that our business must take away so much time from us." George said dramatically.
"Indeed dear brother, but alas, it is a burden we must carry together." Fred replied in equal amounts of drama.
"But I wouldn't have it any other way." George said and locked arms with Fred.
"Neither would I." Fred replied and pointed off into the distance. "Now my brother, our search begins!"
The twins left the Great Hall together, arms still locked with each other. Harry just shook his head with amusement, as did Ron.
"Blimey, can you imagine what would happen if the three of them joined forces?" Ron said with a hint of fear. Harry nodded. He doubted that Hogwarts would ever be the same if that ever happened.
"As worrying as that may be, I'm afraid that's not our biggest problem right now." Hermione said.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Don't you realize it? With this prank, Umbridge won't stop harassing you. She'll probably think that you are behind it. I mean, what if she was the one intercepting your mail? I thought about that possibility ever since you told me that Filch suspected that you were ordering dung bombs. It didn't make sense at first, why would he even suspect you? You´ve never pulled that sort of prank before. Then I realized that it could easily just be an excuse to get to your mail. Filch would probably do whatever Umbridge told him. And yesterday too, she was monitoring the chimneys. If we hadn't gotten out of there while we did, we would have gotten into some serious trouble. Can you imagine what they would have done to Sirius?"
"He'd be in a cell in Azkaban by now." Harry said as he realized just how lucky they had gotten. "But how will we tell him to watch out, we can´t exactly owl him."
"He probably knows already. In any case, we will have to be very careful in front of Umbridge from now on." Hermione said.
"You're not backing out of the DADA club idea are you?" Harry asked. "Even Sirius said it was a good idea!"
"But that's just it! I'm not so sure anymore."Hermione admitted.
"You don't trust Sirius's judgment, do you?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes.
Hermione just shook her head and began explaining how she believed that Sirius's wasn't really in his right mind due to his isolation in the house, which was something that was completely ridiculous in his opinion. Sure Sirius hated that house, and maybe he did miss the old days, but that didn't mean that he was unreliable.
"Come on, we will be late to class." Hermione said with a huff before turning around and leaving.
…
Zidane sighed as his day turned out to be particularly crappy. Charms was actually quite boring this time too. They were supposed to use silencing charms on these ravens and bullfrogs and make them shut up. It was really quite easy so he didn't know what the big deal was. It was basically a simplified version of the spell 'silence', only you could do it with a wand and your target could still perform magic afterwards.
What he had done yesterday to Umbridge was even more complicated than this. He had used a weak silence spell so that Umbridge wouldn't be able to counter it using magic, and added a spell that made objects make animal noises (his curiosity had been piqued by Chocolate Frogs). He had made sure to make the spell rather weak so it would wear off in a day or so.
'Short enough to be a harmless prank, but long enough to settle the score. It's 6:4 in my favor isn't it?' Zidane thought, recalling the score as he lazily started turning his bullfrog into different colors, and actually letting out a chuckle as it turned pink.
Professor Flitwick passed by, seeing that he wasn't really doing the class activity, but then left with a satisfied smile when he lazily made a nearby raven stop cawing. Two seats away, he could see Neville struggling with his own animal. Zidane was about to go and help him when he remembered that the teen was still mad at him. Letting out a small huff, the thief settled more comfortably on his chair, rested his head on his desk and tried to ignore the noise around him.
'I really shouldn't have forgotten.' Zidane thought to himself. 'I bet Neville was just about ready to pour his feelings out on me last night about whatever it was that was bothering him yesterday and I just dismissed him. He won't even talk to me now. I guess I have no real reason for forgetting, I've just been so stressed out and restless lately, with everything that is going on, and especially with the trio nearly finding out my secret. It's like everything is finally catching up to me. Even back then we just kept moving on, crossing seas, traversing continents, exploring new sites. But now I am just stuck in this castle while the storm brews outside. I just needed to unwind.'
Zidane packed up and left as soon as the bell rang. He was considering just skipping the next class, and maybe spending the rest of the afternoon in the Room of Requirement now that his arm was mostly healed. Heck, he could even sneak out and explore Hogsmeade to his heart's content since he didn't exactly get the chance to last time.
'Anything to take me out of the routine at this point is fine.' Zidane thought sourly as he avoided the throngs of students.
He saw Angelina rush past him with a happy look on her face. When she stopped on front of the Golden Trio, Zidane overheard them talking about the Quidditch Team. Apparently they managed to get the permission to reform it.
'Hmm, maybe I'll go see them practice later.' The teen mused, but when he looked outside and saw the massive Burmecia-like downpour, he inwardly winced and decided to stay indoors. 'There goes my plan to visit Hogsmeade.'
…
Practice turned out awful. The weather was simply foul, and even with the Impervius spell to help, it was still nearly impossible to see. In the end, Angelina had to admit defeat and lead her cold and sodden team back into the changing rooms. Harry had honestly hoped that the weather would be more merciful when they went up against Slytherin.
But just when he thought things couldn't get gloomier, his scar had decided to remind him that, in fact, things could and would turn for the worst. He was left to explain to a tired and slightly scared Ron, that somehow, he could tell what Voldemort was feeling. Apparently he wasn't the only one in a lousy mood. Whatever Voldemort wanted done was simply not being done fast enough for the dark wizard's liking.
And when he finally got back to the tower and got to enjoy the warmth of the Common Room, there was the matter of homework to attend to. He still had a half-finished essay to finish for Potions and the extra practice for Charms, not to mention the work he needed to give in for other subjects.
Yet as hard as he tried to concentrate on the words before him about the uses of scurvy-grass, lovage, and sneezewort, nothing seemed to sink in. His mind just kept circling around other subjects. Was Hermione right about Sirius being too cooped up in that house? Was it really a good idea to continue the DADA club? What was Umbridge really after? What was the Ministry's plan? Why could he feel Voldemort's moods. What was Voldemort so impatient about? Was it that weapon that the Order mentioned? What was the weapon anyways?
Harry nodded off slowly while his mind was still going around in circles. Before him, the book still lay open. He had barely realized that he had gone over the same exact sentence for the fifth time now. He was just so tired.
If he could just sleep…
…..
Back in his dream world, Zidane let out a content sigh as he crossed his arms behind his head to make a makeshift pillow. He was currently perched high on one of the oak tree´s rather sturdy branches. The sound of rustling leaves surrounded him like a melody, and he found himself more at ease than he had been in a rather long time. He supposed he had made the right decision by going to sleep early today. There was nothing else to busy himself with, he was already tired, and he didn´t want to wake up tomorrow feeling even worse. Dagger was right when she said that sleep was sometimes the best medicine. That, and that he was quite annoying when he didn't get enough rest.
'Speaking of Dagger…' The blonde thought as mischievous smile made its way to his lips. The wind blew again loudly, and this time he was sure he felt another presence under the oak. She had taken quite her time, but his queen had finally arrived.
His grin grew wider as he thought about surprising his lovely fiancé. He did like spicing things up, and he rarely got the chance to do this since he was usually the last one to arrive in these dream escapades. So with his tail swaying playfully in the air and his legs wrapped tightly around the branch, Zidane readied himself and then flipped downwards with a loud 'BOO'.
"GAAHH!" A surprised and distinctly male cry ensued, startling the blonde, and making him loose his grip and fall headfirst on the ground below.
"Rusty?!" Zidane stuttered out with wide eyes as he rubbed the back of his head, his heart was still pounding rapidly in his chest. Rather than his queen, an adult male clad in slightly rusting armor was there in her stead. He was honestly surprised that he didn't hear his armor a mile away. Maybe it was due to being inside a dream.
"Why you devilish scoundrel! How dare you?!" Steiner called out in one of his typical tantrums as he pointed an accusing finger at the blonde currently sprawled unceremoniously on the ground.
"Well obviously I didn't think it was you! What the hell are you doing here anyways?!" Zidane said as he struggled to get up.
"Her Majesty told me to tell you that she would be away on a trip-are you telling me you expected to greet her Majesty that way?!" Steiner said, his face turning a bright red color. "I don't know what you were scheming, but if I find out you've been doing scandalous things to her Majesty before she has even been wed, I will not hesitate to maim you! Am I clear?"
"Aye, aye." Zidane said with a roll of his eyes. "You should really relax Rusty. You probably wouldn't be this tense if you went ahead and got laid."
"Why you little monkey-" Steiner began, but was interrupted by the blonde.
"Though I admit I did miss that stick-in-the-mud attitude of yours." Zidane said with a smirk.
Steiner's anger seemed to drain instantly and giving a small formal cough, he replied. "Well then, I suppose I feel similarly about that reckless attitude of yours. You will do well in coming back safely. You are highly missed here."
"Will do Rusty, will do." Zidane replied and both males lapsed into a long silence.
After a while it was the blonde genome the one who broke the silence.
"So…" Zidane said, gaining the other man's attention. "Have you finally gotten it on with Beatrix or what?"
Steiner's face turned red in anger and a vein threatened to pop in his temple as his whole body shook with suppressed rage. "THAT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSSINESS YOU MISCREANT!"
…
"Harry Potter sir!" A voice said, making him wake up with a start.
He had been having this weird dream about a dark and windowless corridor. Yet just when he was about to turn open the door at the end with excitement flowing through his veins, he had been jolted back to reality and greeted with an empty Common Room. Even the fire place and the candles had long since been extinguished, making the room look cold and eerie. So it was not surprising when, the second he turned to see a large pair of tennis-ball sized eyes looking right at him, he would have automatically reached for his wand.
Thankfully, he recognized the creature in front of him before any damage was done.
"Dobby!" Harry said in surprise as he saw that the House Elf was holding Hedwig and was covered by what appeared to be every hat Hermione had made so far piled up on top of the other.
Dobby insisted that he didn't keep them all, though the revelation that the other House Elves were refusing to clean the tower had come as a bit of a surprise. Surely Hermione wouldn't have seen that coming. Other than that Dobby seemed strangely proud of taking on the task of cleaning all on his own. He also mentioned that he was glad to have met with him tonight, and though the strange House Elf had come close to killing him in the past, Harry also admitted that he was glad to see Dobby again, even though he was so tired that he found it hard to outwardly express it. Not to mention that he was glad to see that Hedwig was with him. She really did look a lot better.
Giving a small hoot, Hedwig flew over to his shoulder and proceeded to affectionately nip at his hair. Dobby however, continued to look at him with those huge orbs he called eyes. "Is Harry Potter sure he feels okay? Dobby has heard that Harry Potter has had bad dreams at night. Dobby wishes he could help Harry Potter, for Harry Potter set Dobby free, and Dobby is much happier now."
Harry was surprised that Dobby knew about his nightmares, but he gave a tired smile in return. "You can't help me Dobby, but thanks for the offer. I've had worse anyways, so it's really not that bad."
Dobby's large ears drooped with the response, but Harry was just glad that he no longer punished himself like he used to when he first met him. With a sigh, Harry decided that he might as well head back to the dormitory, so he grabbed his things and picked up the discarded Potions book he had unknowingly dropped when he woke up. When he reached out to grab it and saw the very faint scars on his hand, the results of Umbridge's detentions, an idea popped into his head.
"Wait a moment, there is something you can do for me Dobby." Harry said slowly as the gears in his head turned. Dobby just beamed at him.
"Name it Harry Potter, sir!" The elf said happily.
"I need to find a place where a large group of people can practice Defense Against the Dark Arts without being discovered by any of the teachers, especially Umbridge." Harry said, almost growling out the last part.
He honestly expected Dobby to look down with ears drooping and tell him such a place was impossible to find. That's why he was taken by surprise when the house elf almost seemed to dance with glee and beam at him.
"Dobby knows the perfect place. Harry Potter wants the Come-and-go room, also known as the Room of Requirement!" The little elf said with a huge smile.
…..
When Zidane woke up the next morning, he felt a lot better. At least physically, not emotionally, since he hadn't really had the encounter with Dagger he had been hoping for, and Neville had yet to speak to him. It was for that reason that he decided to stick with sitting at the Gryffindor table during breakfast while Neville sat next to Luna at the Ravenclaw table.
'I already apologized to him, and either way I don't want to start something in front of the whole school.' Zidane thought as he idly picked at his food.
Above him the hall was suddenly greeted with the sight of several owls carrying the morning mail. A pair or two landed close by, carrying editions of the Daily Prophet or, in some rare cases, some kind of parcel for a waiting student. Zidane didn't really pay much attention since he knew he wasn't likely to get any mail himself. He wasn't from this world and the only contacts that would likely mail him, had long since decided to stop now that more and more owls were getting intercepted. Ever since Harry's snowy owl was attacked, the Order members decided to avoid unnecessary risks. All contact with the Order, if any, would be directly given by Dumbledore or one of the members that taught at the school. In other words, he was practically isolated.
It wasn't really something he was used to. He disliked the feeling of being put away while everyone else was on the front lines. He was a warrior as well as a thief. He had already experienced a war, and had even been a key part of it. He was as close to the front lines as you could really get. Even then, he knew better than to take offense, since he knew that the people here were kind and really only meant to get him away from any serious danger. They still saw him as a teen, not as a boy who had to grow up fast because of his peculiar circumstances, not as one of the heroes that had saved Gaia, and definitely not as the future monarch of a recovering kingdom.
'Though knowing myself, I guess the trouble will come to me either way.' Zidane thought with a sigh. 'Just like old times.'
"Hey Zidane." A voice called and when Zidane turned around to return the greeting he saw that it was Ginny.
"Oh, hey Ginny." Zidane said and he scooted over to let Ginny sit down next to him.
"Are you okay?" The red head asked frowning.
The blonde genome just blinked in question, before grinning sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I'm missing home a bit."
"You haven't received any letters from home?" Ginny asked curiously as she saw the many owls leave the hall.
"No really." Zidane replied with a shrug. He didn't mind having the redhead pry. Her straightforwardness reminded him a bit of Eiko. "It's a bit complicated actually."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Ginny said and Zidane just shook his head.
"It's alright." The blonde assured her.
"Anyways, I came here to tell you about Neville." The redhead said and Zidane raised a blonde brow in question. "He's really upset. I mean, he hasn't said anything, but it is quite obvious. You probably don't know this since this is your first year here, but Neville hasn't really been as close to anyone else in the same way he has with you. I know he really considers you his true friend."
"I-I see." Zidane said a little surprised. He had suspected something like this since he met Neville. Considering that he was on his 5th year, it was odd that he didn't usually hang out with anyone else.
"So you guys can get over that petty squabble right?" Ginny said with a smile. "It pains me to see him like this, and though I consider him a friend, it's really you who he needs at the moment."
Zidane was taken back once more, his eyes widening slightly before he gave a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry then, I did want to have a proper chat with him, but I really thought it would be best once things calmed down." Zidane said and then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess it really was my fault though."
"Well, that's really great to know." Ginny said before getting up. "Anyways, I really should get going if I want to get to class in time. You should too."
"Yeah, I guess I should." The thief said and thee laughed nervously as he remembered that he had Herbology today.
"Bye." Ginny said as she left to join a group of giggling girls. Zidane just waved back, earning a round a high pitched giggles coming from the other girls in the group. With a sigh, he got up as well and headed off to class with heavy steps. Guilt weighed heavily in his stomach as he recalled Neville's words. The teen regarded him as a friend, yet so far Zidane had done little to reciprocate. Besides, was it really a friendship if your supposed friend knew nothing about you?
His day turned out to be as gloomy as the day outside. The rain kept pelting the roof of the green houses rhythmically, creating a somewhat soothing and hypnotic effect on him that just made him want to curl up near something warm and fall asleep. Unfortunately, that was not such a great thing when you were in a room filled with murderous vegetation. Even the sweet Professor Sprout seemed baffled by the amount of hostility the green house plants seemed to show towards him. Not to mention that Neville had given him the silent treatment throughout the class.
Care of Magical Creatures was thankfully kinder to the blonde. Since it was pouring outside, the class had been relocated to an empty classroom rather than outside in the grounds. Even better was that the lesson was more about theory and less about practice. Zidane just didn't think he would be able to withstand another class about stick demons without burning the whole place down.
When lunch time finally rolled in, he was not surprised to see Angelina walk in with news that Quidditch practice was cancelled. You'd have to be a complete idiot, or at the very least suicidal to practice with weather like this. Even HE wouldn't dare to do it, because as he had learned since a very young age that cold rainy weather plus staying out too long outside, usually meant catching the flu, and catching the flu usually meant feeling like crap and staying in bed for days while taking horribly-tasting medicine. Being the active person he was, the thought of that was simply appalling.
What did surprise him was that shortly after he finished his meal, he found himself suddenly flanked by the twins.
"Hello mate." Fred, or maybe it was George, said.
"Fancy some fudge?" The other one said, holding out to him a rather innocent-looking piece of chocolate. Yet as the blonde came to learn, you should never take sweets from strangers, and even less when they were the Weasley twins. Ever since the Canary Cream accident, he had vowed to stay away from things of dubious origin.
"Do I look stupid?" Zidane deadpanned.
"Well, it was worth a shot." One of the twins said with a shrug.
"We just came to tell you-" The other twin said, wrapping an arm around him.
"…that Harry told us…"
"..to tell everyone…"
"…that we are having our first DADA meeting tonight!" The twins chorused together with a frightening amount in synchrony.
"So they finally found a place?" Zidane asked in curiosity.
"Yep." One of the twins said, getting directly in his line of sight. "In the seventh floor, opposite to this old tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy."
'The Room of Requirement? Did Dobby tell them?' Zidane asked himself, and then mentally nodded. It was a great choice. 'But I guess I will have to be more careful with when I practice from now on.'
"Funny since we don't recall seeing anything but an old broom closet there." One of the twins piped from a place that was dangerously close to him, but it was impossible to see exactly where since the other twin was in his face.
"The meeting is at 8 o'clock sharp so don't be late." The two twins said before turning around and heading off to another table.
Zidane shook his head slightly at their antics, and turned his attention back towards his forgotten meal. Grabbing his glass of pumpkin juice, he brought it up to his lips, but then paused before the liquid could reach his mouth. With another shake of his head, he put the drink down and then ignored the remainder of his food in favor of leaving. It had been a single moment he had left his food out of his sight, but surely that was more than enough for the twins to set up a trap.
From two tables away the redheaded twins saw this odd behavior and two identical grins appeared on their faces.
…..
When the trio went through the polished door that suddenly appeared, they were nothing short of impressed. The room that materialized was better than any of them could have hoped to find. It was big enough to practice comfortably. The walls were lined with several bookcases containing many tomes about defense. Hermione in particular was ecstatic. There were several silk cushions on the floor instead of chairs, that he was quite sure they could use to practice spells. A set of shelves at the very end contained all manner of instruments, like Sneakoscopes, secrecy detectors and even the cracked foe –glass he was sure had sat in Moody's office last year.
The room only increased their belief that what they were doing was right. It almost felt as if the castle itself wanted them to fight back. It was simply perfect.
Hermione quickly took out 'Jinxes for the Jinxed' from one of the bookcases and then plopped on one of the cushions. A low knock was heard and when Harry cautiously opened the door, he was greeted by Ginny, Neville, Parvati, Lavender and Dean. They all proceed to take a seat on the rather squishy cushions as slowly more people trickled into the room. Harry was quite proud to see their growing numbers and felt even better when he saw their reactions to the room.
"This is amazing!" Cho said as she arrived with her rather cross-looking friend.
"It's bizarre." Fred said as he looked around. Along with George, they reminisced about this one time where they had to run away from Filch and this turned into a room cupboard.
"Hey Harry, what are these?" Dean asked as he pointed at the Sneakoscopes and Secrecy Sensors.
"Dark detectors." Harry replied as he looked at the Foe-glass. Thankfully none of the dark shadowy figures inside were recognizable, which meant that no enemies were close by. "Basically they show when a dark wizard or an enemy is close by. They can be fooled though."
"Are we all here?" Hermione asked as she marked the page and put the book away.
There was a series of murmurs amongst the crowd before Ginny stepped up.
"Zidane is still missing." The redhead said.
Hermione checked the time and saw that it was already eight minutes passed since the accorded time. "Does anyone know if he's coming?"
Another series of murmurs rose from the group before being quieted by a knock on the door. Looks of nervousness were exchanged in fear of being found out. It was Harry that got up from his seat and went to open the door. What greeted him was a rather disheveled and soaked Zidane.
"Sorry for being late." The blonde said as Harry let him in. "I had a little incident with Peeves."
Harry gave him a pitying look since he knew just how terrible the poltergeist could be when he wanted to. He couldn't help but find the blonde's irritation somewhat funny though. With his soaked long hair and rather pissed off cyan glare, the closest thing the blonde resembled was an angry wet cat.
"Nice place you have here." Zidane said and then grinned when he saw a fluffy towel appear on one of the shelves. After taking the towel and using it to dry his hair (or at least stop it from dripping on the floor), the blonde exchange student went to join the rest of the group who greeted him warmly.
Hermione cleared her throat to gain everyone's attention and then spoke. "Alright, so I think-… Zidane aren't you going to sit?"
The blonde just looked a bit surprised from where he stood with his arms crossed and towel draped over his shoulders, but then shook his head after taking one look at the silk cushions on the floor. "Nah, I'm good. Just carry on."
"Alright…anyways, as I was saying, I think we should elect a leader." Hermione said.
"Harry's the leader." Cho called out and said bespectacled boy's stomach did a flip.
"Yes but I think we ought to vote on it properly." Hermione said unfazed. "It would make it formal, and give him official authority. So who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"
Everyone seemed to raise their hands, even Zacharias Smith, though he did it very half-heartedly.
"Er…right, thanks." Harry said, his cheeks flushing at the attention he was getting. Seeing as Hermione's hand had yet to fall with the rest of the others, he turned his attention to her. "Yes, Hermione?"
"I also think we should have a name. It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?" Hermione said brightly and everyone seemed to agree with the idea.
"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina asked hopefully while earning a few laughs from the others.
"You mean Toad-Hunters?" Zidane asked, making more than just a few people burst into laughter.
"How about the-Ministry-of-Magic- are-Morons group?" Fred suggested, getting a pat on the back from George.
"I think it should be a name that doesn't tell everyone what we are up to, so we can safely refer to it outside of meetings." Hermione said thoughtfully.
"The Defense Association?" Cho suggested. "DA for short, so nobody knows what we are talking about."
"Yeah, DA is good." Ginny said in agreement. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army instead. That's the Ministry's worse fear right?"
There were several murmurs of agreement and laughter, before Hermione cleared her throat and spoke once more. "Alright then, all in favor of the DA?"
Hands rose quickly into the air, some more reluctant than other, but in the end, the answer was clear.
"That's a majority, motion passed!" Hermione said and there were a round of cheers.
…..
Zidane cursed his luck when they were separated into pairs. They would be practicing the disarming spell, expelliarmus today, but to do so they would all have to get in pairs and practice it on one another.
'Figures something like this would happen.' Zidane thought to himself as he slowly walked over to the only other person without a partner; a person who just so happened to be Neville. He just hoped Neville would be willing to give him a chance. 'Well it's now or never.'
"Hey."
The round face boy turned to look at him and when their eyes made contact, a scowl quickly formed on his face. From the other side of the room, Harry had called for everyone's attention and started demonstrating the proper wand movements and incantation for the spell.
"Listen I'm sorry about what happened. Can we just put it all behind us?" Zidane said in a voice just high enough for both of them to hear. When the boy remained silent, Zidane just continued. "You're not still mad are you?"
Neville just gave a defeated sigh, and for the first time in almost two days, he spoke to him. "I'm not, I mean, I am, but not really… I just…don't know. When I hurt you the other day, I was really angry at myself for letting that happen and it ate me from the inside. That's why I wanted to talk to you, and I waited for so long in the Common Room, but you just didn't show up. I thought you were really just upset or that you really just didn't see the point of talking with a loser like me anymore…I guess that just made me feel worse."
"I'm sorry about that, making you wait that is. I was so preoccupied with something else…but that's really no excuse. I know I can be really careless sometimes. Everyone does say that it's one of my worst character traits." Zidane said with a small humorless laugh. "I didn't mean to make you feel like that."
Neville looked surprised at the statement but then shook his head. "I-I guess I over reacted too. It was a pretty idiotic thing to get upset over. Sitting alone during break today made me realize this. I just wanted us to be friends again and forget this ever happened. Though, if you don't mind, I would like to finish the conversation we never had."
"Deal." Zidane said with a smile and extended his gloved hand. "Friends again?"
Neville smiled as well and reached for his hand. "Friends."
"Look, it's not like I'm not happy for you two, but this is a defense class, and as your professor, I would like to see you practice the spell." Harry said from behind them with a mischievous smirk on his lips and amusement shining brightly in his emerald eyes.
"Arlight then!" Zidane said with a smirk. "Neville, do you wanna go first?"
"A-are you sure?" Neville looked stricken as he looked at his own wand with uncertainty. After all, everyone knew that he wasn't very good at casting spells.
"Yeah sure, give me your worst." Zidane said with a grin and a hint of a challenge as he backed away, pulled out his wand, and braced himself. Harry winced a bit, before demonstrating the spell once more, maybe in hopes that it could lower the odds of something going wrong. It wouldn't be good if anybody else caught on fire like Marietta did earlier, even if it was just her sleeve.
Unfortunately, it didn't work quite well.
"Alright…here goes nothing." Neville said nervously before jerking his wand sharply and yelling 'Expelliarmus'.
Zidane had tried his best to suppress his urge to dodge aside when he saw the flash of light coming out of Neville's wand. The idea was to play the test dummy, so he would have to stay still. On hindsight, maybe he really should've moved out of the way, since the second the jet of light struck him, he was sent flying through the air before violently smashing against one of the shelves on the sides of the room, making pain explode all over his side, a cloud of smoke rise, and the whole room go silent.
"Zidane!" Harry and the trio headed towards him, while Neville stood frozen for a second before following closely behind.
"Bloody hell, do you think he's dead?" Ron's voice hovered over him before he let out a cry of pain.
"Ronald!" Hermione admonished, though there was clearly worry in her voice. "Maybe we should take him to the Hospital Wing if anything is broken. Hopefully Madam Pomfrey won't ask…though she usually doesn't."
"Broken?! Hermione, I don't even think he is even conscious. Did you see how he flew?!" Ron said, as more people started to gather.
"Actually Ron, I am pretty sure I am conscious right now." Zidane said, startling more than one individual in the room. With a groan he ignored the flare of pain to his side, and slowly got up. After slowly walking up to a stunned Neville (and past an equally stunned crowd), he just patted him on the shoulder and joked. "I suppose this makes us even now."
"Zidane are you alright?" Hermione asked as she approached him and started fussing over him.
"Yeah don't worry too much, I'm built sturdy." Zidane joked, assuring both her and the crowd that gathered. "It looked worse than it really was. I'm fine, though I will probably wake up pretty sore tomorrow."
"Are you sure you don't want to go see Madam Pomfrey?" The girl asked.
"Are you kidding? She'll probably never let me hear the end of it. Like I said, I'm fine. It's practice anyways, it wouldn't be worthwhile if we didn't get a few bruises." Zidane said, and thankfully this quelled everyone's unease.
"All right everyone go back to practicing." Harry said after blowing on a whistle that he wasn't quite sure where he had gotten it from.
'Probably from the room.' Zidane mused.
Everyone turned back to whatever they were doing, while Harry began to explain to a still rather shell-shocked Neville exactly what he had done wrong. Apparently you had to focus the spell on the person's wand or weapon to disarm them, not at their entire being. Also, the wand movements had to be done swiftly and with precision rather than jerkily and with too much force. Afterwards and to avoid another incident, Neville was told to practice his focus on the cushions.
"Alright, so can you show me your disarming spell? U-unless of course you're not really up to it, and that's fine." Harry said, amending himself at the end.
"Nah, it's fine. I just have to move my arm anyways." Zidane said as he took out his pale bluish-green wand and practiced the movements in front of Harry to see if he was getting it right. Thankfully, he was a lot better at casting than Neville was.
"Alright, now use it on me." Harry said as he drew his wand.
Without hesitation Zidane quickly flicked his wand and called the incantation at such speed that even Harry looked somewhat surprised. Harry's wand flew right out of his hand, landing several feet away with a bit more force than he intended. Thankfully, he had managed to focus on his target well, so in the end Harry was left unscathed (and the boy surely looked relieved too). All he would have to do, was learn to gauge the amount of power he put in a spell, which was thankfully easier when using a wand to channel the magic. So after a few more tries at it alone, he was quite pleased with the results.
The whistle blew again and soon everyone gathered around Harry.
"Well that went brilliant everyone, great job! We've overrun so we'd better leave it here, though." Harry said. "Same time, same place next week?"
"Sooner!"Dean explained, with many others agreeing, but the idea was soon turned down by Angelina and many others claiming that Quidditch season was approaching and they needed the practice.
"Alright, so how about next Wednesday? We can decide on additional meetings then." Harry asked and an agreement was made. "Now come on, we'd better get going."
The scarred boy took out a piece of parchment from his school robes, and tapped his wand on it, muttering a few unintelligible words under his breath. With his curiosity peaked, Zidane snuck closer and just so happened to take a small glance at the parchment that was now filled with several lines and moving dots. The lines made a sort of outline similar to those in blueprints, while the dots seemed to have small labels.
'Wait a minute…is that a map?' Zidane thought in amazement as Harry began sending groups of students out of the room while making comments about the locations of certain teachers. 'Wait it IS, and it looks like the dots are the people since each one has a label. The map can see where everyone is in the castle.'
It was then that another thought occurred to him.
'Wait, do I show in the map, as well? Crap, does this mean they can track my movements?' Zidane mentally cursed as he suddenly became aware of what it implied. From the beginning Harry could have known about his daily escapades. Sneaking in closer, the blonde noticed that none of them really showed on the map, or rather, the Room of Requirement wasn't drawn in. In fact, every time small group left, the dots belonging to each member would suddenly materialize in the corridor.
Turning away before he was caught staring, his eyes then landed on the cracked artifact he'd seen when he first entered the room. Harry called it a Foe-Glass or something like that. Several undefined shadows were shown on its cracked surface, belonging to the other students that were now leaving. What really caught his attention however, was the lack of his own reflection on the glass surface; not even a silhouette or shadow that would otherwise prove he was standing there.
'Does it not detect me? But why? Is it because I'm not a wizard?' Zidane thought as he touched the cracked surface.
"Hey Zidane, we're leaving now. Harry says it's safe and Luna already left with a group of Ravenclaws." Neville said, and the genome flinched visibly in surprise as the taller teen touched his shoulder. Seamus and Dean were right behind him. In fact, along with the Golden Trio they were the last group left. He'd likely been too preoccupied to notice.
"Oh, right!" The thief replied, positioning his body between the teens and the cracked artifact behind him, in hopes that Neville hadn't noticed it.
"Are you okay?" Said teen asked, frowning.
"Oh, it's just that my arm is still a bit sore. It's nothing that a good night of sleep won't fix, though." The blonde said with a chuckle.
"So then, are you coming?" Neville asked once more.
Zidane was about to reply with a 'yes', when a thought occurred to him: what if the map was like the cracked Foe-Glass?
Chancing a small look at the Golden Trio, the teen saw that Harry was still looking at the map, and almost as if detecting his gaze, the teen had turned and was now looking at him with curious emerald eyes.
Would Harry see him on the map once he left the room? If his name didn't show would Harry notice that the group was one person short?
"Actually, you guys go on ahead. I think I may have dropped something earlier when I hit the shelf. I'll catch up to you guys later.
"Are you sure? I can help you find it." Neville asked, and by then, the rest of the Golden Trio had taken notice, including Hermione and Ron who'd previously been arguing.
"It's nothing. You guys just better leave before you lose your chance. I can sneak back into the Common Room alone. Besides, the smaller the group, the better." The genome insisted.
"Zidane, are you sure? You could get into a lot of trouble if you're caught out at this hour." Hermione warned.
The teen just waved a hand in dismissal. "It's fine. It's not the first time I sneak out at night."
"Well, if you're absolutely sure, I guess there's no problem." Harry said with a frown. "Just, be careful, okay?"
"It'll be fine." Zidane said carelessly as he watched the group of six leave. Once the door was shut, his easy-going smile was replaced with a frown. Hermione didn't comment about the bit about him sneaking out often, meaning that they all probably knew.
'That time right after the Hogsmeade incident I told them I had been at the Ministry. Back then Hermione was really insistent on knowing whether I had just arrived or not, though I had been at the Hospital Wing all along. Could it be because they had been tracking my movements with the map? She didn't seem suspicious afterwards, so could it be that I really didn't show on the map back then? If that's the case then the map really doesn't detect me…' The teen thought. 'The map is a problem either way. I'll either have to be very watchful of Harry's actions from now on, or just plain avoid him. I could also just steal or destroy the map, but it would be too suspicious seeing as only a few people know about it and even less people would have access to it. I don't really know how it works, either.'
When Zidane finally left the room, the corridors were already dark, save for a few dimly lit torches. He met no resistance on the way back, not even from the Fat Lady who was seemingly too drunk even care about him making it back to the Common Room at this hour. Sneaking in with silent steps, Zidane paused midway through when he heard the light snores from the single occupant of the room, his eyes somewhat softening when he realized who it was.
"Hey, wake up" The genome whispered as he prodded Neville's shoulder.
The teen shifted slightly, eyes barely slits as they stared into Zidane's own cyan orbs.
"You…took… too long." The teen said, sounding hardly coherent from being just barely awake.
"You didn't have to wait for me, you know." The thief said with a sigh as he ran his gloved hand through his hair. "Come on, let's get you to bed. You look like crap."
Summoning strength that looked impossible for someone his size, the genome helped the much taller teen up, while ignoring the pain that stung dully from his injured side. After barely making it up the stairs and into their room, the teen all but dumped the gently snoring Neville on his four-poster bed, robes and all still on. Everyone else had long since gone to sleep already.
With a sigh, Zidane then sat on the adjacent bed, his bed, and silently looked at Neville, the genome's eyes dimly reflecting the light from the bright moon outside.
"You know, you should really find some better friends." Zidane whispered.
Nothing but quiet snores answered him.
To be continued….
….
A/N: Zidane and Neville aren't really romantically involved with each other or anything. It's really more of a bromance. Zidane originally took interest in Neville because he reminded him of Vivi, thus gave him a sense of familiarity. Neville, on the other hand, initially took an interest in Zidane because, he makes him feel like he can achieve things and become and overall better person in his presence. Zidane really just has the ability to draw in different kinds of people.