October 23rd, 1995. Wednesday.
Selena thumbed to the next page in Uncovering Unicorns and Other Creatures of Magical Nature, which she'd checked out from the library a week ago. "Liz, did you know that adult unicorns like girls more than boys?"
Elizabeth nodded, scribbling something down on her parchment. "Yeah, Professor Grubbly-Plank told us that right before the lesson on diets for unicorns."
"Hm..." Selena bit her nail, scanning the page, looking for anything that could help with their homework assignment, a short essay on porlock classification.
Wendy sighed, taking a sip of her hot tea, flipping through a musty novel. "You guys have it easy, unicorns. We did that last year. Do you know how hard it is to label the body of a bowtruckle? Very hard."
Elizabeth shrugged. "I guess, but everyone knows that they enjoy tree habitats, preferably wand trees, but unicorns-"
"Guess what?" Sasha appeared, flying and bouncing onto the soft, plush couch, interrupting Elizabeth's speech.
"What?" Wendy asked, closing her book. "Anything to keep me from homework."
"Quidditch is back! We just had practice!" Sasha said, glowing. Her emerald eyes sparkled happily.
Selena nodded, watching her friend's hair drip beads of rainwater onto the couch. "We can tell... Is it still raining out there?"
Sasha nodded, brushing her long curls back. "Yep, but that's not the point. C'mon, aren't you all excited? Quidditch is back! Now we can crush the Slytheridiots again!"
"Aren't you more excited about the..." Wendy paused, lowering her voice. "The efense-day lub-cay. Harry said it was still on."
As if on cue, the girls heard familiar voices calling them.
Selena's eyes flicked over towards the portrait hole where Ron and Harry were walking towards them. "We found a spot for our meetings."
Sasha clapped her hands together. "Yes! Okay, where?"
Harry leaned in, speaking in a hushed voice. "The seventh floor. Take a left, then straight down until you see a troll tapestry. The door is enchanted, it's opposite it. You'll have to think about needing a room for the meeting, and then walk in front of the tapestry three times."
Selena and Sasha exchanged awed glances. Despite it being her third year, Selena thought that she would never cease to be amazed by Hogwarts.
Wendy nodded. "What time?"
"Eight," Ron said simply.
Harry glanced up, watching one of the Patil twins and someone else cross the Common Room. "Oh, Parvarti! Dean! Wait!"
Ron followed, the two boys rushing to catch up with their friends.
Sasha grinned. "Finally. Umbridge couldn't stop us, could she?"
Almost eight o'clock
Selena bit her lip, looking up at a large tapestry hanging in the seventh floor corridor. It was a magical picture of a wizard cowering as trolls, dressed in pink tutus, tried to dance around him. Several were holding clubs, which they whacked the wizard with as they clumsily twirled by.
"Barnabas the Barmy," Elizabeth said from beside Selena. She shook her head, tutting. "He tried to teach trolls ballet."
Selena gave her friend an amused smile before she took a deep breath. "Okay, so... the door." She stepped back from the tapestry, walking over to the side. The idea was curious to her, this enchantment on the room. Usually secret passages required spells to reveal them. This? This almost felt like wordless magic.
Elizabeth watched patiently, firelight from lamps reflecting in her glasses. "Remember to concentrate!"
Selena nodded, trying to focus. I need a room to practice spells in, defensive spells. It needs to be hidden - Umbridge can't find it. She walked in front of the tapestry, repeating the thought. She turned the other way, squeezing her eyes shut. A room preferably across from this tapestry. Can't get more specific than that. She turned on her heel, making the final turn. Selena reached the final step, her white Converse high tops scuffing the stone floor.
Elizabeth gasped, making Selena jerk her head towards the wall across from them. There, where stone had been, a door appeared, polished with a brass handle.
"Wicked," Selena whispered. This beats having just an old classroom for the meeting.
"Shall we?" Elizabeth asked, glancing over her shoulder as she strode to the door. She grasped the handle, Selena joining her. Elizabeth pulled the door.
Swinging open, it revealed a large room bordered with bookshelves, though a shelved display of silvery instruments was at the other side. Many students were already there, sitting on cushions, chatting and marveling at the place they'd be using.
"Come in, hurry," Hermione Granger said, waving them towards the room. She was on a cushion, reading.
Selena and Elizabeth walked inside, shutting the door behind them, and sat down on two cushions. Selena watched as the door opened and closed as more people walked in.
Hazel walked in eventually, grinning at them. She quickly headed over and sat beside her two friends. "Hey guys."
Selena smiled. "Hey... Oh, how did you do in your Potions test?"
"I got two ingredients wrong, and Snape took my cauldron," Hazel murmured, looking dejected.
Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Harry moved, locking the door. He then turned to the room of students, everyone hushing. Selena perked up expectantly.
"Well," Harry said. "This is the place we've found for practices and you've - er - obviously found it okay-"
"It's fantastic!" Cho Chang said. Selena agreed, looking around the room again.
"It's bizarre," Fred Weasley said without a smile. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then..."
"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" Dean Thomas asked, pointing to the collection of silver objects.
"Dark Detectors," said Harry, walking over to the shelves. "Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled..." He looked into one of the objects, staring for a moment.
Selena squinted, looking into the glass. She could just make out dark shadows she couldn't define float in the shiny surface.
"What do you suppose they are?" she whispered to Hazel.
The Hufflepuff shrugged, thinking. "I don't know. Death Eaters, dementors, vampires... could be anything in a black cloak. Maybe it's Snape."
The two girls stifled their giggles as Harry turned back around.
"Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and - er-" Harry said, gaining everyone's attention again until Hermione raised her hand. "What, Hermione?"
"I think we ought to elect a leader," Hermione said smoothly.
"Harry's leader," Cho said quickly, looking at Hermione as if the Gryffindor had suggested her parents were gargoyles.
"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," Hermione said, unfazed. "It makes it formal and gives him authority. So - everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"
Raising her hand, Selena glanced around, and noticed that every person in the room had raised their hand - even Neil and Zacharias Smith.
"Er - right, thanks," Harry said, his face turning red. "And - what, Hermione?"
"I also thought we ought to have a name," the bushy-haired girl said without putting her hand down. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"
"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina Johnson asked.
"What about the No-Dark-Magic Group?" Alexanda piped up.
"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" Fred added.
"I was thinking," Hermione said, shooting a look at Fred, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."
"The Defense Association?" Cho offered. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"
"Yeah, the D.A.'s good," Ginny Weasley said, sitting by Neville Longbottom and Dean. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"
A few people laughed, including Selena. Murmuring filled the room, agreement in every corner.
"All in favor of the D.A.?" Hermione said, looking around. "That's a majority - motion passed!"
She scribbled the name on the paper everyone had signed. Once she looked up again, Harry continued to speak.
"Right," he said. "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." Zacharias Smith rolled his eyes, his arms folded. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"
"I've used it against him," Harry said softly. "It saved my life last June."
Zacharias opened his mouth to speak, but didn't, noticing the silence of everyone else. Selena tried to not make a peep.
"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry said.
No one moved.
"Okay," Harry continued. "I reckon we should divide into pairs and practice."
Selena and Hazel teamed up, Elizabeth turning to Bronwen, who was sitting near them. It was seconds until everyone began shouting the spell.
Selena ducked a wand flying through the air, watching flashes of light throw people and Dark Detector's across the room.
Selena took out her wand, pointing it at Hazel. "Expelliarmus!" she said. Instead of going towards Hazel's wand, the pale light of the spell ricocheted off of a Dark Detector, and struck a book shelf. The books fell off, and some shot towards other students. Selena flushed with embarrassment.
Harry walked past students, watching the spells.
"Expelliarmus!" Hazel said. The spell hit Selena's wand, but instead of knocking it out of her hand, the line of light ran up the Gryffindor's wrist, shocking her.
"Ouch!" Selena cried, rubbing her wrist.
"Sorry!" Hazel called, twisting her wand, staring at Harry as he turned and focused on someone else.
Before long, a whistle cut through the loud noise. Everyone stared at Harry, who was holding the whistle.
"That wasn't bad," he said. "But there's definite room for improvement. Let's try again..."
Again, the spells shot around the room, but slowly people began to stop hitting items around them. More and more, wands were cast out of hands, cheers sounding now-and-then.
"Expelliarmus!" Hazel yelled. Selena braced herself, nervous for another shock. However, her wand jump from her hand, rolling across the floor.
"Good job!" Selena said, grinning at her friend. She walked over, picking up her wand.
Without warning, Ron Weasley's wand flew across the room, smacking Hazel on the nose, making her gasp.
"Sorry, Hazel," Ron said, embarrassed, grabbing his wand and heading back to his spot.
"S'alright," Hazel muttered, touching the red welt blooming on her nose. Selena gave her a friend a sympathetic look, which Hazel shrugged off with a smile.
The whistle sang shrilly, everyone quieting.
"Well, that was pretty good," said Harry. "But we've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?"
"Sooner!" Dean Thomas said eagerly.
"The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!" Angelina contradicted.
"Let's say next Wednesday night, then," said Harry. "And we can decide on additional meetings then... Come on, we'd better get going..."
Slowly people left, muttering to one another in quick voices. Selena smiled to herself, reluctant to leave the room.
Not one person that left wasn't excited for the next meeting.
This took a LONG time... I apologize for that.
So, I hoped you liked this. These chapters are also odd, quoting from the book, but I like it. Well, next chapter is a Quidditch game! YAY! I love writing those.
Anyway, I hoped you like the chapter, and I hope you review!
Recently, I've gotten a lot of PM's from people that I haven't heard from in a while. I think, about 5 people...? Well, I have to catch up with them, and talk, and I'm really happy about that! Thanks to:
CharmedMillie
IamGwendaughterofArcus
for reviewing! Your reviews always make me happy!
Thanks for reading! Please review! Bye!
~Meghan
author: Hm. You know, I normally wouldn't take time to answer pointless reviews. Anyway, I loved the fact that you criticized my story with no reason behind your logic. I accept critique's, but not unreasonable blurts. So, I doubt that you have actually read the story. Introducing new characters is a part of the story, just like in real life. You meet new people, I hope you know that. It's not like I've just stuck twenty people in there randomly. Count the characters in Harry Potter, and you'll see what I mean. Get it?
My Second Reviewer: I don't think I'll go back again, just because I like the way I've written them. I do agree, I could have included more, but at the same time... I like the progression, because it shows the way I've grown. As for characters, the authors decided on the personality's, and "nice, sweet, loyal" is just common. I can't change their character, but they do each have something special about them. I think everyone does have someone to relate to though, I've tried to make Selena that person partially, and also if you ask everyone, they have a relatable character. :) And which nice character acted rude? And even if they did, everyone get's mad at some point... It's part of life. Nobody is kind all the time. And I have developed the characters, they each are relatable and good characters. Plus, just because they're in the same house "gryffs would mingle with gryffs" isn't true. Just because you're in different classes, you don't talk? Nah. Everyone mingles. And everyone has hated the Yule Ball chapter. However, I think I did a good job. I tried to make it short and disappointing for Selena and Alisson. You couldn't have expected me to let them attend it right? Did you read the book, under 15... Not allowed.
12/23/17: I apologize for my past-self's attitude in review responses. It was uncalled for, and, frankly, brattish of me. I'm sorry. I couldn't really take critiques, but I'm working on it now. Also, in the books, this day was October 9th, though I changed the dates for my story.