The Will of the Wands
Chapter 9 – The New Members
"So you mean to tell me that we've been accepted into a secret club training to fight Death Eaters? But what about what we've been doing?" Millie said, confused.
"I would have said something earlier, I swear, but after what happened last year with bloody Edgecombe...I didn't say that, sorry, we can't be too careful," Hermione explained. "Harry wanted to tell you, honestly, but I wouldn't let him."
Both girls turned their startled gazes to the raven-haired boy, eyes wide. He looked down at them, wondering just which one of them it was that Voldemort wanted. If he'd had to guess, it wouldn't be Madison, the American. She'd just come into the picture, and if he knew Voldemort, he'd have been planning an attack long before the agreement between wizarding schools. No, he told himself firmly, It's one of these two, or Alexis. It has to be. He stared at Millie, with her thick brown hair and clear blue eyes, and then at Dakota, with her dark skin and hair, and brown eyes. He remembered his dream, and recalled the blatant referral to a key and Williams. Yes, Dakota was definitely in the picture, but the key?
"You did?" Dakota asked. Her brown eyes were wider than Harry had ever seen them, and her lower lip was quivering.
"Yeah," he replied offhandedly, hoping that it would take the shock off their announcement. It didn't.
"So what does that mean? Are we still going to be able to ask you questions and stuff without feeling stupid?" Millie burst out.
Hermione laid a comforting hand on Millie's shoulder. "Of course you'll be able to ask us questions. You're able to do that whenever you want. And we'll make sure that no one makes you feel stupid. I promise."
"When's the first meeting?" Dakota asked.
Hermione cringed. "Tomorrow." After seeing the younger girl's horrified face, she hastily added, "Of course, we could always reschedule, but-"
"No," Millie interrupted. Three sets of concerned eyes fell on her, and she muttered, "We shouldn't be messing stuff up for you."
"Well," began Hermione, "With the Christmas holdiays coming soon, we can't really afford to lose time, can we?"
The following evening, Harry and Ron (Hermionie was in the library), caught up with Madison, Alexis, and Cho in the Ravenclaw common room at half-past seven before leaving to meet the other member of the DA.
"Is it hard to learn the stuff Harry teaches you?" Madison asked conversationally as she and Alexis followed quietly behind Cho.
"Er, yeah, sometimes," the Asian girl replied placidly. She reached a cross in the corridor, and snuck a peek in both directions before motioning to the others. "Come on."
"It's here?" Madison exclaimed when she saw that their destination was, in fact, the Room of Requirement, which, of course, they were all too familiar with.
"Yeah," Cho said, giving the American a strange look. "Why wouldn't it be?"
Cho, like Alexis, began pacing back and forth in front of the wall, while Madison stared at them. She cursed herself for being so stupid- of course it made sense that their meeting would be held in a place that no one could get into, unless they knew the room's secret.
Cho grasped the handle, and looked over at Madison. "You coming?"
Madison nodded, and followed them in. She was temporarily shocked at how many people belonged to this club- there had to be at least twenty. Some she recognized from Ravenclaw, like Michael Corner and his friends, Luna Lovegood, and Cho, obviously. There were a few scattered Hufflepuffs, a sixth year Prefect she didn't know, a girl someone referred to as Susan, and a large group of Gryffindors. She immediately spotted Millie and Dakota, and pulled Alexis over to sit with them.
"Hey, Maddy," Dakota greeted them. Millie sat beside her, twirling her thick brown hair in between her fingers nervously. "Lexi."
"Hey," Alexis said, shaking her red hair out of her eyes. "So, what d'you think'll happen?"
"Dunno," said Madison, plopping down next to Dakota, accidentally sitting on her hand. "Oops, sorry 'bout that."
Just then, Hermione, Ron, and Harry made their way to the front of the room, where a tall, gold-encrusted podium materialized.
"Okay," Harry began, fiddling with a loose button on his robes, "Before we continue with the Double Materialization Charm we were going over last week, I'd like to welcome four new members to the D.A, or Dumbledore's Army. They are quite..." he trailed off, silently pleading with Hermione for help.
"Unique," she supplied readily.
"Unique," Harry repeated. "Yeah, thanks, 'Mione...unique in their own ways...you see, despite our selectiveness in the past when it came to new members-" -here his voice stiffened as he stared at Cho, who had the good graces to blush furiously, "-and their loyalties to others, we'd like to welcome four first years who have shown exceptional skill in their personal sessions with us. Erm... Millie Eliot, Dakota Williams, Madison Reed, and Alexis Van Carte." He gestured lamely at the floor in front of him.
The members of the D.A. applauded politely, although it was clear in their expressions that they were wondering what on earth Harry was thinking.
Susan Bones finally summoned her courage enough to ask, "Er, why is it necessary that they join?" Shrinking under Hermione's sudden glare, she added, "Not that I'm against them joining or anything."
Harry sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. "I had a dream a couple of weeks ago that...Voldemort's getting stronger." He flinched at the collective intake of breath. "Yeah, I know, obvious, but...anyway, I saw a bunch of Death Eaters arrive in rowboats off the coast of somewhere, couldn't tell you where even if it were my own backyard, but I recognized one of them- Lucius Malfoy. He and Voldemort met, and Voldemort said something to the effect of, 'I'm not sure Williams is ready to give up his last daughter yet.' Dakota's the only Williams I knew of, so I had Dumbledore and McGonagall round up her and her friends, just to be safe. They've been meeting with me and Ron and Hermione for..."
"At least a week or two," Madison blurted.
Harry stared at her. "Yeah," he said finally. "So here they are. Any other questions, while we're taking?"
A bunch of people's hands shot up. Harry stared at them dumbfounded, and began pointing at people.
"So how do we know if they'll keep their mouths shut, especially after bloody Edgecombe?" a fifth year Hufflepuff said loudly. Harry looked at the speaker, a large brown-haired boy with long bangs and an earring.
"Hermione's arranged for them to take a potion that'll turn them into something disgusting if they tell," Harry answered proudly. In front of him, the first years looked at each other with stricken faces.
"So the security's gonna be much better than the boils, then?" the boy asked excitedly.
"Yes," Hermione replied testily. "I don't think they'll be in a hurry to tell anyone. Something I'd like to make clear, though, is, they're not the only ones taking the potion. Everyone is. Fudge and his men still make routine checks on the school, and we don't know how they're doing it. So, like last time, with the parchment, everyone's taking the potion. Right now, in fact." She rummaged in her rucksack, and pulled out a large flask containing a rather putrid-looking substance. "After, you'll sign another jinxed parchment, over there."
Gagging and retching sounds filled the room. "Don't worry," Ron said, "It tastes like chocolate and peppermint." He was met with confused looks. "Hey, believe me, Harry and I already took it."
Within seconds, Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom had organized a queue in front of Hermione and Ron, equipped with the potion and individual plastic flasks that led them directly to the parchment table that was set up in front of Harry.
"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Alexis said, after she and Madison finished their share of the potion.
"Nah, Ron was right, it kinda did taste like chocolate," Madison said thoughtfully. "Really old chocolate, but still." Madison made her way over to the parchment. "Alright, let's give this baby the old John Hancock, eh?"
"The what?" Ron blurted out.
"The John Hancock," Madison repeated slowly. "Signature, yeah?" She pretended to swipe at an imaginary piece of paper in the air.
"Sure," he said weakly, handing a flask to Michael Corner. "I could have sworn you'd said something else."
After they signed and put their ages and House on the paper, they wandered over to the many bookshelves, and waited for Dakota and Millie. On the way, though, they saw a third year boy smile at Millie. Dakota giggled hysterically when Millie blushed.
"Yeah, Mil!" crowed Alexis later, ruffling her hair. Millie scowled.
"C'mon, Mil, go talk to him!" Dakota cheered, her braids flopping every which way as she bounced.
"Shut up, Kota," Millie grumbled, catching the third year's eye again and blushing. "You're too loud."
"Want me to talk to him for you?" Dakota offered. Millie shook her head in defeat.
"I'll go, I'm going, gone." She rose unsteadily, and made her way carefully to the cluster of Hufflepuff boys across the room. Meanwhile, Madison and Dakota sobbed theatrically onto each other's shoulder.
"My baby," wailed Madison.
"Growing up so fast," Dakota chimed in, wiping an imaginary tear away from her cheek.
"Chatting up older men," Alexis said wistfully. "I taught her well."
A new voice behind them startled them. "What are you on about?"
All three girls' heads turned slowly, and spotted Harry sitting on the couch behind them casually, raising an eyebrow at their antics.
"Er, how much of that did you hear?" Alexis asked.
"Enough," Harry replied. He leaned forward. "So why're you so keen to poke fun at Mil?"
"It's weird," Dakota said, waving a hand about. "It's not malicious or anything, we're just having fun, lighten up."
"Why's it weird?" Harry prodded.
"It just is!" Dakota said sharply. "It's like, if she goes off with that Hufflepuff boy, then we'll all be left in the bloody dust like old shoes in a dark closet or something."
"It's like we'll be a throwback," added Alexis.
"Abandoned," Harry said quietly.
Dakota nodded. "How'd you know?" Her brown eyes fell on him, reflecting the haunted shadows in Harry's cheeks. She climbed up on the couch next to him.
"Ron an' Hermione," Harry said simply. "They've gotten together, and now I'm the one left."
"It doesn't seem to bother you very much, though," Madison said thoughtfully. Harry nodded.
"Yeah, I try to keep to myself. They're still my friends, but I've got to get used to the fact that they have secrets and stuff between them that they can't tell me. Hey, Ron and I have secrets that Hermione doesn't know, and Hermione and I have played one too many pranks on Ron without telling him it's been us, he thinks it was the twins. The point is, we've got to get used to be out of the loop, as you say, Madison," he explained.
"Wow," Dakota said a few minutes later, after a prolonged silence. "Thanks, Harry."
"You're welcome," he grinned.
"No, really," she repeated. "You keep us in line all the time. No one's ever done that without bossing me around like a house elf. Thanks." Without pausing to think, she threw her arms around his neck. Madison and Alexis followed suit, and Harry, startled at first, hugged them back.
Across the room, someone in the shadows watched the particular scene with a renewed sense of joy. They held a large spotted handkerchief to their slightly crooked nose.
"Aah, Harry," Dumbledore whispered, "This is why you need to defeat him. They trust you, they regard you as a friend. In the end, this is what will save you, and us."
The morning after the initiation meeting in the Room of Requirement, Millie and Dakota sat at the Gryffindor House table, chewing on toast and marmalade, arguing about what to get their friends for Christmas.
"I swear, Mil, if my mother had her way, we wouldn't even know what Christmas is," Dakota said, taking a long drink from her goblet.
"You live in England, not Sri Lanka," Millie said, stabbing a sausage on her plate savagely with her knife. "Honestly, your mother can be so infuriating sometimes."
"You're telling me," Dakota said. "Sometimes I wonder if her sari's wound a bit too tight."
"Sari?" Millie looked confused for a minute, but then asked, "That's the silk thing your mother's always trying to get you in, right?"
Dakota nodded, and looked up. "Oh, no," she said, putting her face in her hands.
"What?" Millie asked, craning her neck. Then she saw. "Oh," was all she could manage.
Among the owls bringing the Daily Prophet and the morning mail, a ruffled-looking owl, brown in color, made its way towards them. People all around the hall were pointing at it and laughing, as it had been laden with several heavy packages, the most noticeable of all trailing a yard of pink silk behind it. It swooped down over the table and landed near a group of fifth and sixth years, all of whom immediately drew their plates back.
"What the hell is that?" Ron Weasley asked aloud. "It looks like it's dead or something." He looked around the table. "Who's it belong to?"
"It's Dakota," a first year boy named Marshall crowed, pointing his finger at the sullen girl. "See? It's from her mother, I bet."
"Shove off, Marshall," Millie growled, helping her friend untie the thongs holding the packages to the bird's legs. "Hold still, Ramesh, I'm trying to get these off you." The impatient bird continued to shake his feet angrily, anxious to get home. Turning to Dakota as she finally got the last package, a thick letter, untied, Millie said, "Here, I bet it's from your parents."
Dakota took the envelope gratefully, trying hard not to notice the boy, Marshall, doing imitations for his friends. He caught her eye and grinned. She glared at him, and ripped open the seal, which was still warm, the ancient caldari leaf of India glinting innocently back at her. Unfolding her mother's letter, she skimmed carefully as Millie waited for news beside her.
The marriage proposals have been pouring in for Riley, and we wish to have you home for the bride-viewings this holiday, since your school gives its pupils time off for Christmas. I'm quite busy, and Ramesh has been as well, bringing in more proposals every week. You sister, of course, has been difficult as to which she will see, but that's to be expected. She's been made the director of her orchestra, and they're planning to travel abroad right after the New Year. Typical of her, but that's fine. She is happy, and hopefully she will be even more so after we find her a match.
Kennedy sends her love, and she hopes that you will wear your enclosed sari on the ride home to London. She made it herself- she's begun her own sari shop, right next to the Chang's Emporium in Diagon Alley. I'm sure by now you've heard of their daughter, Cho? A disgrace to the family name, I say, to have let their daughter run around with a boy, and an Anglo at that. There's nothing that can be done now, of course, the boy has died. We shall see them on the New Year, and for once, will you try not to eat all the almond pastries? Kennedy has time to make you a new sari for the occasion, and so you shall go for measuring as soon as you arrive.
Give my blessings to Amelia, and tell her that I wish her a happy holiday, and a good New Year. I will see you as soon as the train arrives.
With Love,
Mother
Dakota folded the letter haphazardly, and threw it back into the envelope, picking up the trailing silk of her sari dejectedly. "I have to wear this?" she said under her breath. "Of course, if Kenny made it, then of course I must. I musn't upset Kenny, it would be bad luck for her shop."
Millie took all of this in quietly, as expected of the best friend, and waited for Dakota to cease ranting. "How's everyone?" she asked.
"Oh, brilliant," sighed Dakota, throwing the sari back in its plastic case disgustedly. "Riley's been receiving marriage proposals, and Kenny opened a sari shop, which explains the bloody sari. Apparently her shop's next to Cho's parents', isn't that neat? Mum says we'll be getting together for New Year's. Ughh."
"Marriage proposals?" Millie repeated, folding the sari neatly and putting it in the case, much to Dakota's dislike. "Isn't that a big thing for Riley?"
"Yeah," Dakota replied. "It's big for every Indian girl. It's this huge thing where the mother of the bride and all the aunties get together and screen the boys to see who the best one is. And, when they've narrowed it down to a few, the bride has to participate in bride-viewings. Enough to make a person sick." She paused, throwing down her toast. "C'mon, Herbology next."
They got up from the table and packed the various parcels into Dakota's rucksack. "Is that where the groom gets to meet the bride?" Millie asked, drawing her cloak closer to her to shield from the winter cold.
"No," Dakota said slowly, as if she were speaking to a small child. "It's when the groom's parents get to bombard the bride with questions. Oh, well. Riley'll probably tell them everything they want to know, even if she isn't telling the truth." She sighed. "I really wish I didn't have to go."
They reached the greenhouses, where they pruned strange ferns that looked as though they had seen better centuries, at least. From there, they proceeded to troop down to the dungeons for Potions. There they met Madison and Alexis, and, through clenched teeth, told them what the letter had said.
"But you can't leave!" Madison protested. "The -" she lowered her voice, "-the D.A. party's tomorrow!"
"Calm down, Maddy," Dakota said, laughing, "I don't leave until the day after the party, anyway."
"Oh," Madison said, looking very chastised. "Okay, then."
"S'okay," Dakota reassured her. They stopped talking, however, because Snape had decided to step out from behind his desk, of which the paint was slowly peeling off, and make rounds about the cauldrons set up about the room, to see who was in need of assistance. More likely, though, was that he was bored and he wanted to make someone else's life hell.
The latter seemed more appropriate, because he immediately made his way over to Alexis, like a pesky mosquito would to light. She tensed, and continued to add the ingredients with a renewed sense of courage. She seemed determined to prove to him that she was perfectly fine on her own, as that was the way of the Ravenclaw.
As soon as Snape stopped in front of her, Alexis willed herself not to look up, for if she did, she would crumble, and then he would walk all over her. She looked down at her notebook, where she'd written the process, and poured a few drops of armadillo bile more into the measuring cup she'd left out. After a few moments, the potions master moved on, this time targeting Millie, who had been vulnerable once before, and was most likely to crack under the pressure.
Millie racked her brain as quickly as she could when she noticed Snape's shoes at the side of her cauldron- he was testing them on the last day of the quarter on their Forgetfulness Potions, the only potion on the list of twenty that Millie had neglected to study.
"Eliot," came the familiar hiss. She looked up and saw the smirking face of Severus Snape, baring his yellowing teeth.
"Professor," she replied readily, hoping that it didn't look like she was panicking. I'm not panicking, so he shouldn't think I'm panicking, because I'm not. Panicking, that is.
"I wouldn't use that tone with me," he began silkily, bending so they were eye-to-eye, engulfing the girl in black orbs, "if I were trying with all of my measly Gryffindor might to remember my potion. Tell me, Eliot, did you prepare for this exam?" When she didn't answer right away, he snapped, "Eliot, answer me!"
"Millie!" Dakota hissed from behind her, kicking her in the back of the legs, "Answer, darn it!"
"I'm waiting," Snape said, folding his arms in front of him. The effect of the drawn-over robes was astonishing- he looked exactly like a vampire, or, as many students said, a largely overgrown bat.
"No," Millie whispered. She didn't dare draw her eyes away from Snape's, for fear of being labeled a coward.
"Excuse me?"
"I said, no," Millie repeated. "I studied the others, but forgot about this one."
"How convenient," Snape mused, "Forgetting the Forgetfulness Potion. Hmm. See me after class, Eliot. Kindly tell me, though, as I'm curious. Which potions did you study?"
"Er, the Confusing Concoction, um, the Draught of the Intellect, and the Hair-Raising Remedy, sir," Millie said after a minute.
Snape paused, his brow furrowed in concentration. Then he pointed his wand at her cauldron, which held half a potion, and said, "Evanesco." It vanished. "There. Begin again, on the Draught of the Intellect." With that, he swept away.
Millie watched him walk away briskly, and had to think for a minute to realize what had happened. Either I'm losing my mind, or Snape was...dare I say it... nice. Her mind spinning, she opened her notebook to her note on the Draught of the Intellect, and began stirring items in her cauldron hurriedly. Twenty minutes later, the bell rang, and Snape told everyone to bottle a flask of their potion, label it, and leave. Stopping a flagon and labeling it A.E., Millie made her way carefully to Snape's desk, as he had asked. He sat down in his chair unceremoniously, and waited for the other students to leave before speaking.
"I realize what I may have done this afternoon startled you," he began, scratching something down on the edge of a lesson plan booklet, "because I have the impeccable reputation for hating each and every student that passes through that door." He pointed to the entrance, where Millie could see the dark outline of Dakota, most likely waiting for her. "However," he continued, moving to shut the door, "I can see that you, like your mother's great grandfather, have the particular mindset needed for potion-making. I shall ask, however, for forgetting exam material, that you complete a five hundred word essay on how to brew a Forgetfulness Potion. Books may be used, and I would like it as soon as possible, before the start of the new term. Understood?"
Millie nodded.
"Good," he said briskly. "We understand one another, then. You may go now." He spun around, and exited the room, leaving a very confused Millie behind.
A/N: Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I wonder what that could mean. Don't say it. Oh, Siaryst, you worry too much. It's not like I could give away the fact that this might be important later or anything. DUFOLI! Honestly, Siaryst, I'm not saying a word, not a single word, not even a peep- SHUT UP! Okay, okay, okay! You're really strict sometimes, you know that? I have a bloody right to be! If I weren't, then you'd blab the plot before we even wrote it down! But- NO BUTS! But, Siaryst, the plot is written down. (Siaryst opens mouth to speak, then shoots surprised look at Dufoli) It is? It is. Okay. Feel a lot better now, thanks. Okay, buh-bye! Siaryst-Dufoli
