I cannot pinpoint exactly when it was I first began seeing Harry as more than just a friend. It wasn't as if I simply woke up one morning and suddenly fell in love with him. No, I think it was more of a gradual process. But I can remember specific moments where I really began to feel something different. Something other than friendship. It wasn't exactly attraction at first, though. It was more of a protectiveness. I had always been very protective over the people I love, but this was different. It was like I wanted Harry to be safe from people, from their words and their actions. It was like I wanted him to be safe from hurt, both physically and emotionally. I wanted to see him happy and I wanted to see him smile. I loved his smile. I think I've always loved his smile. It just took me a long time to realize why. For such a clever girl, I was pretty thick.
"What," said Harry thickly, taking a drink of his pumpkin juice. Hermione had been staring at him.
"Well…it's just that Dobby's plans aren't always that safe. Don't you remember when he lost you all the bones in your arm?" And made you miss the train, and almost got you expelled from Hogwarts, Hermione thought.
"This room isn't just some mad idea of Dobby's; Dumbledore knows about it too, he mentioned it to me at the Yule Ball."
Hermione's expression cleared.
"Dumbledore told you about it?"
"Just in passing," said Harry, shrugging.
"Oh well, that's all right then," said Hermione briskly.
Ron rolled his eyes.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione went the rest of the day seeking people out and telling them about the meeting at eight o'clock that night. Finally at half past seven, they reached the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy. Once inside, all Hermione's doubts disappeared. It was fantastic. She immediately rushed to the book shelves where about a hundred titles sat just waiting for her to devour.
"These will be good when we're practicing stunning," said Ron enthusiastically, prodding a cushion with his foot.
Hermione turned around to face them. "And just look at all these books!" she added excitedly, running her finger along the spines of the many large leather-bound books in front of her."Harry this is wonderful, there's everything we need here!"
It was a big, spacious room and it was perfect. Hermione wondered fleetingly how the Room of Requirement could not have been mentioned in Hogwarts, A History, but decided it was probably best that it wasn't. The fewer the people who knew about it, the better.
Hermione, who was currently engrossed in Jinxes for the Jinxed, looked up at the sound of a gentle knock on the door. Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean had just arrived and were staring around in awe at the room before them.
Pretty soon eight o'clock rolled by, and every member had arrived and taken up residence on a cushion. Hermione reluctantly marked her page in the book and set it aside, looking up at Harry who was standing before them all.
"Well," said Harry, slightly nervously. "This is the place we've found for practice, and you've—er—obviously found it okay—"
Very nicely put, Harry, Hermione thought sarcastically.
"It's fantastic!" said Cho.
"It's bizarre," said Fred, "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then…"
Harry, who had just finished describing to Dean the array of dark detectors situated in a corner of the room, looked back upon everyone and cleared his throat nervously.
Hermione tried catching his eye to instill some confidence in him that he was clearly in need of at the moment, but to no avail.
"Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and—er—what, Hermione?" he asked, for she had just raised her hand.
"I think we ought to elect a leader," said Hermione.
"Harry's leader," said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad.
"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," said Hermione unperturbed. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So—everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"
Everyone, even Zacharias Smith albeit half-heartedly, raised their hands.
There, Hermione thought with satisfaction, now maybe he won't feel so insecure.
"Er—right, thanks," said Harry. "And—what, Hermione?"
"I also think we ought to have a name," she said brightly, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"
Ron threw her an exasperated look causing Hermione glared right back. Harry simply looked weary.
"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" said Angelina hopefully.
"Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" suggested Fred.
"I was thinking," said Hermione, frowning at Fred, "more of a name that didin't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."
"The Defense Association?" said Cho. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"
Hermione felt Ginny shift beside her.
"Yeah, the D.A's good," said Ginny. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"
Ginny's suggestion was met with much approval, and Hermione pinned the piece of parchment with all their names on it to the wall, writing DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY across the top in big letters.
"Right," said Harry after Hermione had sat down again, "shall we get practicing then? I was thinking the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful—"
"Oh, please," said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"
Out of the corner of her, Hermione could see Fred lean over and whisper something into George's ear, causing him to grin maliciously. While an act like this would normally cause her to be wary, Hermione found that she didn't particularly mind whatever prank the twins' were sure to be concocting at this very moment.
"I've used it against him," said Harry quietly. "It saved my life last June."
The rest of the room went very quiet.
"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry said.
Smith did not move.
That shut him up, Hermione thought with satisfaction. The git.
"Okay," said Harry, "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."
As instructed everyone paired up and spaced themselves around the wide room, with the exception of Neville who had, predictably, been left partnerless.
"Poor bloke," Ron stated shaking his head.
"Oh that's okay, look, he's pairing up with Harry," Hermione pointed out. "That'll be good practice for him."
"Yeah I guess," Ron shrugged. "Okay, give me your best shot."
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "Well if you insist…Expelliarmus!" Ron was blasted about three feet away, landing hard on the ground. Hermione who had deftly caught his wand, walked up to him and leaned down to hand it over. "Your turn?" she asked innocently.
Ron took his wand from her begrudgingly and stood up, looking around to make sure no one had seen them—
"Well done, Ronniekins!" shouted George from halfway across the room.
"Way to go down like a man!" added Fred.
"Oh, stuff it," Ron mumbled to himself, turning a bright shade of red. He turned back to face Hermione who was trying her best to hide a giggle behind her hand, but was failing miserably. "All right, let's try this again, shall we?"
And so they did, Hermione successfully blocking Ron each time. They were soon joined by Neville, as Harry had to walk around the room and observe each pair. Hermione took a moment to look around as well. Some people were doing very well, others…not so well. She noticed something very odd happening to Zacharias Smith; every time he opened his mouth to disarm Anthony Goldstein, his own wand would fly out of his hand, yet Anthony did not seem to be making a sound. She did not have to look far to find the solution to this mystery, however, for she could see Fred and George several feet away, taking it in turns to point their wands at his back.
Hermione shook her head at this but couldn't find it in her to tell them off. Turning back to Ron and Neville, she realized too late that her own wand was flying out of her hand. She looked up to see Ron grinning broadly at her.
"Your turn?" he asked, mocking her.
"Oh please, my back was practically turned!" Hermione scoffed.
"Oh, it was not!" Ron exclaimed. "Tell her, Neville!"
Neville looked between the pair nervously. "Uh…"
"Oh, never mind," Hermione huffed. "Let's just go again."
They carried on for a while, both Ron and Hermione successfully disarming Neville almost every time. Harry continued to make his rounds throughout the room, stopping here and there to fix peoples' technique.
Hermione noticed him make his way over to Cho and her friend, who were practicing some ways to the left of her, Ron, and Neville. She could just hear their conversation over the shouts of Expelliarmus throughout the room.
"Oh no," said Cho rather wildly as Harry approached. "Expelliarmious! I mean, Expellimellius! I—oh, sorry, Marietta!"
Marietta's sleeve had just caught fire. She extinguished it quickly, glaring at Harry as though it was his fault. Hermione laughed softly to herself, pitying Harry who seemed to recoil under Marietta's gaze.
"You made me nervous, I was doing all right before then!" she heard Cho tell Harry ruefully.
This made Hermione irritated for some reason.
"That was quite good," said Harry, reassuringly. Hermione rolled her eyes at this. Even Cho would be able to see through that lie.
"Well, no, it was lousy, but I know you can do it properly, I was watching from over there…"
Suddenly, Hermione could feel her wand once again being stripped from her hand. Whipping her head around she saw Ron twirling it between his fingers with a smug expression on his face.
"That's two," he stated simply.
"Ugh, I wasn't even looking," Hermione mumbled to herself.
"Sorry, what was that?" Ron asked, his hand cupped over his ear.
"Nothing," she said viciously, "just give me my wand back!"
In the next round, Hermione disarmed Ron and sent him flying back onto the ground for good measure. She smiled satisfactorily to herself as Neville went to go help Ron up again.
"Blimey, Hermione," said a voice behind her, "remind me never to duel with you." Hermione turned around to see Harry grinning at her.
"He was patronizing me!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Yeah, take it easy on Ron, Hermione," said Fred who had now joined the conversation, "he's fragile."
"I am not!" said Ron indignantly, carefully getting back up on his feet with the help of Neville.
"Of course not, Ronnie, of course not," said George, appearing out of nowhere.
"Okay, okay, that's enough making fun of Ron, guys," said Harry, barely containing his laughter. "Let's get back to work."
After about ten minutes, Harry called everyone's attention. "Well, that was pretty good, but we're overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?"
"Sooner!" said Dean Thomas eagerly and many people nodded in agreement.
In the end, everyone agreed to meet the following Wednesday night.
"That was really, really good, Harry," said Hermione, when finally it was just her, Harry and Ron left.
"Yeah, it was!" said Ron enthusiastically. "Did you see me disarm Hermione, Harry?"
"Only once," said Hermione, stung. "I got you loads more than you got me—"
"I did not only get you once, I got you at least three times—"
"Well if you're counting the one where you tripped over your own feet and knocked the wand out of my hand—"
And they continued arguing all the way back up the common room.
It was not until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and Harry gave the password, that Hermione had realized he had barely said a word the whole way there.
His face held a familiar dazed expression that Hermione had noticed before.
Oh, she thought, Cho.
A/N: Hiyah! I would adore your reviews, please and thank you :)