FOURTEEN
There was no sign of Harry Potter or his best friends when they entered, but there was already a small group of students huddled around, mostly awkwardly mingling amongst themselves. This probably having to do with the variance in friend groups.
Most of the students were Gryffindors, understandably so. Eve either recognized them from Quidditch or for being around the twins' circle of friends. Her eyes traveled around to a small circle of Ravenclaws, Cho Chang quickly coming into view. Eve smiled and waved, Cho, doing the same.
"Hey, Eve."
Eve turned to the right, and her stare went to Hannah Abbott and then to those situated around her. The small group of Hufflepuffs stood off to the side, mainly like Hannah, a year or two younger than Eve. This made sense, as they seemingly must know Harry from classes.
Eve smiled at the group and approached them to say hellos. Hannah was accompanied by Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones, who were also in her year. Zacharias Smith was seated next to the group, the boy was two years below Eve, and the girl was not particularly fond of him. Eve found Zacharias immature and obnoxious at times, two qualities that went very much noticed in their respectful house.
"Fernando's getting butterbeers," Ernie nodded to Eve, motioning to the bar top on the other side of the pub. Eve's face furrowed at the name, and she turned, looking to see none other than Fernando Wells standing off in the distance, collecting a round of butterbeer from the older, not particularly pleasant-looking bartender.
Eve made a beeline for the bar, stopping just short from behind him and leaning in close.
"Need help with those?" She muttered casually, and Fernando turned quick with the sound of her voice, his eyes narrowing as he found Eve next to him.
"You here for the astronomy club meeting?" Fernando asked.
"Yeah, brought my telescope and everything. Saturn's my favorite," Eve grinned, grabbing a handful of mugs and watching Fernando turn to the bartender again, ordering another for her.
Butterbeer in hand, Eve and Fernando turned to make their way back towards the group of students.
"Anyone know you're here?" Fernando whispered before they got too close to the other Hufflepuffs again.
"No. You?" Eve asked. Fernando shook his head. He opened his mouth again but was cut short by the sound of the pub door swinging open and Hogwart's golden trio walking in.
"We are talking later," Fernando muttered under his breath as the two retook spots by their housemates, handing out mugs as they went.
Eve watched as Harry, Hermione, and Ron stood awkwardly in front of the group of students, Hermione clearly the one trying to organize the gathering, while Harry spoke back to her in feverish apprehension.
Eve glanced around the group again, studying those she had missed and those that had just come in. She spotted Neville standing with Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw she only knew from her unusual school antics, one being her passing of the Quibbler newspaper around to students. The twins were sitting close to the front now, around their fellow Gryffindors. Fred and George had obviously taken the reigns in controlling the students that had not given their attention yet to the trio in front of them. Hermione cleared her throat, and the twins shouted their own respectful "Oi, shut up!" to the kids around them.
"Um, hi. So, you all know where we're here. We need a teacher, a proper teacher. One who has had real experience defending themselves against the dark arts," Hermione began.
"But why?" Zacharias quickly asked from his spot in front of Eve, her body stiffening at the sound of his reluctant tone.
"Why? Because You-Know-Who is back, you tosspot," Ron interjected, but his words didn't seem to faze the snarky Hufflepuff.
"Yeah, so he says," Zacharias replied, his head nodding towards Harry, who stood looking close to mortified between his two best friends.
"So Dumbledore says," Hermione countered, her own tone growing unsettled at the unrelenting boy. Eve could hear a sharp intake of breath from Fernando next to her.
"But where's the proof?" Zacharias challenged, and there was a moment of silence after his question, "If we could just know more about Cedric Diggory's death…"
"Watch it, Smith."
It was Fernando who spoke up before Eve could at the mention of Cedric's name. Zacharias glanced back at the older boy, his eyes quickly falling to his feet at Fernando's bating expression.
"Look, if you've just come here to hear about Cedric, then you should probably just clear out," Harry finally said, standing up from his seat and whispering to Hermione with a clear intention of leaving the meeting immediately.
"Is it true you can produce a Patronus charm?"
The question came from a faint squeaky voice from Eve's left, and the students all turned to look at Luna Lovegood that had uttered the question.
"It's true, I've seen it," Hermione nodded, her expression now resolving back to its usual stern control. There was a murmur of awe from the group at such an accomplishment. This awe sparked confidence amongst Harry's closest Gryffindor friends, who began listing Harry's achievements over the years. Eve couldn't even begin to grasp the information that was being given.
Did Neville just say Harry killed a basilisk with a sword? Where have I been all of these years?
"Look, this all sounds impressive, but facing this stuff in real life is not like in school," Harry sighed, looking between his friends with tired exasperation, "When you're out there when you are a second away from being murdered or watching your friend die before your eyes… You don't know what that's like."
"You're right, Harry, we don't. Which is why we need your help, if we have any chance of beating…Voldemort," Hermione's voice lingered at the utterance of her last word, and there was a silence in the room that followed. Eve had never heard someone utter the word before, and she felt a cold chill run down her spine. It was as if, for the first time, the word made the man real. The man, the Dark Lord, the creature, whoever it really was.
"He's really back," uttered a boy from the front row. Eve did not know his name, but she did recognize him as another Gryffindor, seemingly in his younger years, judging his small frame and gentle tone.
Harry nodded at the comment, and there was another moment of silence that followed amongst the group. Eve turned to Fernando, who looked back at her with an expression she couldn't quite define. Maybe it was sadness, or indignation, or perhaps something far more complex.
But Harry's words seemed to raise confidence within the group of students, and the meeting soon ended in credence amongst everyone. Harry Potter would teach the small group of Hogwarts students Defense Against the Dark Arts, away from the watchful eye of Umbridge. Where they weren't so sure yet. But even so, Dumbledore's Army was formed.
The meeting ended with each member signing their name on a piece of parchment, a careful recording of a vow of secrecy from each student. And from there, the group dispersed amongst themselves, some leaving quickly to rejoin the Hogsmeade weekend, some lingering to talk amongst themselves, some waiting to exchange words with Harry himself, their new DADA teacher.
Eve said her goodbyes to her fellow Hufflepuffs, making sure to give Zacharias her own look of detestation as he left. Eve heard a familiar laugh off in the distance, turning to look at Fred and George, who were in the middle of a lighthearted conversation amongst their Gryffindor friends. Eve could feel a sensation rise within her as she watched Alicia Spinnet laugh at something George said. This feeling was cut short by a nudge at her side.
"Come on, let's go before it gets too late," Fernando muttered. Eve nodded, adamant on ignoring whatever sentiment she had just felt from looking at the Gryffindor group, and the two made their way out the pub door and into the frigid air of winter.
They began their path down the snowy hill, Fernando turning to her after a moment of silence when all around them was clear of listening ears.
"I wanted to tell Douglas," he began, his voice trailing off as he glanced at the bustling town center ahead.
"Yeah, me too," Eve nodded because it was true. More than anything, Eve had wanted to tell Douglas about the meeting, but every time she had felt an urge to reveal the secret, in all the quiet moments she shared with him during the past days, she couldn't bring herself to say it. And now, knowing that both she and Fernando were sharing the secret, it only made her feel worse.
"I just kept thinking about his dad, you know. I didn't want to put him in that position," Fernando continued. This was also true for Eve, who had considered how telling Douglas about the secret meeting against Umbridge might affect the boy, whose father technically worked under Umbridge with the Ministry. It wasn't that Douglas didn't share the same views as his friends because he did, but he also cared for his family's opinions. The boy was loyal to all who cared for him; it was both his gift and his demise.
"The things Douglas has told me, things he has overheard from his father, I haven't stopped thinking about them," Fernando sighed, and Eve turned to him, now perplexed by his words.
"What things?" Eve asked, and she could see the look on Fernando's face as the boy realized the girl hadn't been told the same things. But he answered her question all the same.
"There's been incidents in the Ministry. People leaving their postings from one day to the next. People mysteriously going missing, mostly all halfbloods and muggle-borns."
Eve knew she shouldn't have been surprised by Fernando's words, but they still caused a heavy lump to grow in her throat. For a moment, she felt she couldn't breathe. She wondered if her reaction was the reason why Douglas hadn't decided to tell her such things.
"My mum's muggle-born," Fernando muttered, in such a lowered tone, it was if he had told himself rather than Eve, but he turned to her now, with a look of quiet understanding, perhaps due to Eve's own blood status.
"She told me before I left for school this year that things were feeling like they did before."
Eve knew what this "before" meant, but she still couldn't quite grasp the profound nature of it. She felt her face heat with emotion. She thought of Fernando's words and Douglas's lack thereof to her. She thought of Harry's look of dark lamentation as he recalled his own past trauma. She thought of Cedric in the graveyard.
"Have could I have spent all these years not realizing all of this?" Eve asked, but she knew this question was more to herself than her friend next to her, "It's like I've been left in the dark while all of these things have been going on around me. Dark wizards are joining together to exterminate people like me, and I've been sitting in my room drawing bloody pictures."
Eve's voice rose as she said these last words, and she could feel the tears well in her eyes, but she didn't allow herself to cry and justify even more her feeling of pathetic hopelessness.
"Eve, did you not see the look of people's faces back there?" Fernando asked, turning to her now and stopping them from approaching closer to the populated Hogsmeade street, "Everyone is feeling exactly how you are feeling right now. It doesn't matter what blood status you are. Harry himself looked about ready to break down completely, and the boy literally killed the Dark Lord when he was still in nappies."
Fernando's words caused an exasperated intake of breath from Eve. She didn't know if she was meant to laugh or cry. But she met Fernando's eyes and nodded at his words, the pair standing for a moment, perhaps neither really knowing what else to say that would sound hopeful enough.
"I can't believe he killed a basilisk," Eve muttered finally, the comment causing a laugh from Fernando.
They began walking again down the snowy path once again.
