Ever since they started the D.A., it had been tiresome work for Griff trying to find the perfect meeting spot for everybody, while Harry and Brooklyn continued discussing classes and what to teach them. He did enjoy Hogsmeade when they went there for their meeting.
Patrolling one afternoon, the griffin gargoyle felt like he had reached the end of his rope, ending up in a hallway he never been in facing a wall in front of him, which he ended up kicking just to let lose his frustration, only to have painful stubbed talons after.
I wish I can find the perfect meeting spot for my friend's club! He thought desperately to himself at random.
Sighing, Griff turned and began walking away, but then he heard rumbling and cracking behind him. Turning about, Griff stared, in complete disbelief as a door suddenly appeared out of nowhere!
He at first didn't touch it, for Brooklyn had told him the story of when he first encountered a mirror that showed you your heart's desire and could turn you mad. But, it was just a door. Perhaps something useful could be inside.
Taking a shaky breath, Griff turned the handle, and opened it. What he saw, it was perfect! The perfect place! Giving out an excited noise, he quickly turned to tell Brooklyn and the others what he had discovered. The discovery of a lifetime!
After telling them about the secret room, the group all went back to it, for they wanted proof. Griff did his wish, and made the door appear, much to everybody's surprise. So he wasn't crazy!
It was filled with everything a secret club could need! According to Hermione, it was known as the Room of Requirement.
Brooklyn looked at everything, even browsing some of the books that looked like pretty cool reading! Some of the items reminded him of the fake Moody's office.
"This is perfect, Griff! We even have Foe glasses, dark detectors, and sneakoscopes!" He complimented. Griff grinned embarrassedly.
"Anything for the D.A., Mate. Sometimes the answer just sometimes pops up right in front of you when you don't look so hard!" He said humorously, as he tested out one of the pouf cushions.
Eventually Dobby was able to gather up everybody for the first meeting. During one of the first weeks here, Fred and George showed the four friends the Hogwarts Kitchens, where the house elves worked, and Brooklyn had a reunion with Dobby, who was happy to see his friend Brooklyn again.
Their first lesson was the Disarming Charm, Brooklyn's favorite. Harry called up Neville to try, but his wand flew out of his hand, nearly missing Colin's head and hitting the mirror behind them. Brooklyn winced. These kids were definitely out of practice.
"I'm hopeless," Neville muttered. Brooklyn shook his head, stepping forward. "No, you're just flourishing your wand too much. Try it this way, Expelliarmus!" He shouted, doing the quick swish of the hand, successfully knocking the dummy's wand out of its hand. Harry grinned at how his brother demonstrated it, he really had been getting good at that spell.
Soon, everybody else had been able to disarm their dummies, and next was Stupefy, the stunning spell.
Brooklyn volunteered to demonstrate for Colin Creevey, who didn't want to hurt Brooklyn, but he assured he would be fine. Taking a breath, Colin shouted "Stupefy!" Brooklyn grunted as it hit him in the chest, sending him flying onto the pile of cushions, slightly winded. Colin had fallen over from the force of the spell.
The red gargoyle got to his feet, congratulating the young boy on being able to do it.
Ron and Hermione were up next.
"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," he promised. But Hermione simply smiled. "Thanks, Ronald."
Before Ron even had a chance to try, Hermione shouted first, knocking Ron back onto the hard floor, making everybody laugh. Griff helped the red head to his feet. Brooklyn even thought he saw the Twins exchanging Sickles with one another, and rolled his eyes.
It progressed really well, as Harry and Brooklyn agreed to only do them on weekdays. Filch occasionally spotted one or two D.A. members and looked suspicious, informing Umbridge who then put up another decree about creating an Inquisitorial Squad. Malfoy and his goons were more than happy to become members, and constantly tried uncovering the gang, to no success.
Fred and George once snuck joke candy to Filch. When he ate it, nasty pimples appeared on his face, much to Umbridge's fury that she snapped one of her pens in half.
One day, they practiced Levicorpus, one other levitating spell. Brooklyn spotted Katie having trouble and came over, gently holding her arm up higher, she had been practicing on Dennis.
The two of them then blushed as Brooklyn and Katie found themselves staring at each other again, and Katie lost focus, causing Dennis to fall to the floor. Katie helped the young boy, apologizing.
In Brooklyn's eyes, everybody seemed to be doing really well. He was especially impressed with Ginny's Bat-Bogey hex, and Reducto. Harry one day said an inspirational speech to motivate everybody while practicing the Shield Charm.
"Think of it this way, every great witch and Wizard in history that had started out, were nothing more than what we are now, as students. If they could do it, why not us?"
It was now the final week before Christmas Break, with their last lesson on Expelliarmus. Neville had been successful at disarming Katie, and she clapped, along with everybody else. Brooklyn thumped Neville heartily on the shoulder, congratulating him.
Harry then announced they wouldn't meet again until after the holidays, much to everybody's disappointment, but they all praised the brothers for their awesome teaching.
Everybody left except for Harry and Cho. Brooklyn noticed how they were speaking to one another and decided to give them privacy, exiting the door. And to his surprise he saw Katie waiting.
"Hey, uh, Katie." Brooklyn greeted awkwardly, and she smiled again, her black hair looking soft and shiny, and her brown eyes sparkling, but they seemed troubled too.
"Can I speak with you privately?" She asked, and Brooklyn's heart jumped at this.
"Yeah, sure," he replied, heart thumping, as the two of them entered an empty classroom.
"So? Have you been okay?" Brooklyn questioned in concern. She looked away, her smile fading, and he thought he heard a small sniffle.
He put a soft hand on her shoulder. "Don't cry, Katie, what's wrong?"
Katie gazed up into Brooklyn's eyes. "It's-it's just, you know so much how to defend yourself from teaching us all these spells, and-and- it had been making me wonder, why you had returned from the maze so-so-." She couldn't finish, starting to cry, and Brooklyn then knew what she meant, feeling guilty now from worrying her that night, but it had all been unexpected for him and Harry, to watch Cedric die, and to be tortured.
"I'm sorry that you had to witness us like that, but we didn't know that the Cup was a Portkey, or that Demona was with Voldemort. Life will always have unexpected and sometimes not so great surprises like this. This is why we started this, Katie. I won't let anybody else get what me and Harry had gotten in that graveyard. And-and I still love you, and want you to be safe," he said gently. Katie gave a small gasp at his last words.
The two of them gazed at each other for a while, Brooklyn found himself moving even closer, it was hard to pull away. Katie was getting too close, but he didn't care...
He and Katie returned to the common room later after 20 minutes, to find Harry Ron and Hermione sitting together by the fire, and Harry had a dazed look on his face.
Don't tell me, he kissed that Chang girl, didn't he? Brooklyn thought in disbelief, not imagining that at all, as they joined them.
Ron eyed them. "Where have you two been?" He questioned inquisitively, noticing their red and flushed faces.
"S-she just wanted to talk, that's all," mumbled Brooklyn awkwardly, hating himself for still feeling red. It wasn't so awkward during the Yule Ball but now...he just didn't know how everyone would approve of their continuing relationship, even after introducing her to the Weasleys.
Ron then looked shocked, looking between the two. "Oh, no, not you, too, Brook! What's this world coming to?" He then cried out dramatically, much to Katie's embarrassment. Harry elbowed Ron sharply, shutting him up.
"But could that even work between you two?" Hermione asked curiously. This question had Brooklyn immediately think of Goliath and Elisa.
"Well, Goliath and Elisa have been kind of together. Even if they haven't been able to produce offspring, because of our different, you know, they're still happy just being together," Brooklyn explained, with Ron snickering softly.
Hermione and Katie both nodded in understanding, with Katie in thought. Sure, if they couldn't mate, adoption could always be on the table. But Katie didn't really want to think about starting a family just yet.
Eventually, they all started laughing about it, just enjoying themselves for the remainder of the evening.
