A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for not updating in a while... I hope this chapter makes up for it!
As for the title of the DA, I read all the suggestions, but I didn't use a single one; I combined the names—you'll see as you read this chapter. Anyway, thanks to LeaderOfTheDamned and midnightstar19 for their suggestions - which I used. Thanks to my other readers/reviewers too: heavensboy, ebonbon, FatallyUnique, Mirany E.T, and The Troll. Anyway, thanks everyone for your suggestions and reviews!
PREVIOUSLY:
"So, what do you want to learn first?"
"Expelliarmus," Lily offered.
"That's really basic," Fred said. "Who here knows how to cast that spell?"
Everyone except the seven second-years knew Expelliarmus. "What should we do, then?" Fred asked.
"Let's just review it," Rose suggested. "There's nothing wrong with reviewing."
Rose could tell that James didn't like the idea, but he nodded. "Okay, let's get into pairs and practice. For those of you that don't know, the incantation is 'Expelliarmus,' and all you do is point your wand at your opponent."
Rose looked around for a partner as Albus and Scorpius paired up, and Emma and Rachel became partners too.
"You've learned Expelliarmus already, haven't you?" James asked, walking over to Rose.
She nodded. "Most of us have."
"But you've perfected it," James replied. "I know Al has too, but since he's practicing with Malfoy he's busy. If you want, you could just walk around and help out younger students."
"Good idea," Rose said. "But please, don't call him 'Malfoy.'"
James looked confused. "Why?"
"He doesn't like being called by his surname."
"But I don't know him that well… why would I call him 'Scorpius?' "
"His last name brings bad memories," Rose explained. It was true. When Rose first met Scorpius in her first year, she called him 'Malfoy' for a while until they had become closer friends. Then he told her about how he hated his surname. "Just, if you ever happen to talk to him, call him Scorpius, okay?"
James looked confused but nodded. He turned around and started walking around, observing and telling some second-year boys what to do. Rose went in the opposite direction, toward Lily and her friends.
"How's it going?" she asked.
"I think I got it," Lily said. She held her wand up toward her partner and carefully said "Expelliarmus," almost as if she was afraid of saying the whole word. Layla's wand shot out of her hand, and Lily caught it.
"Good job," Rose complimented Lily. "But don't say it so quietly. When you're actually dueling, your enemy is going to be gripping his wand really tightly, and you'll need to cast the spell with much more conviction. The way you say it now sounds like you're afraid of something."
"I just don't want to do it wrong," Lily said.
"It doesn't matter if you get it wrong," Rose replied. "We're here to learn. Out in the real world, there won't be time for error. But right now it's okay. Make as many mistakes as you want."
"At least you can do the spell," Layla added. "I can't even do it!"
"Can you try it?" Rose asked.
Layla nodded. Lily tossed the wand back toward Layla, and she said the incantation and did the movement. Nothing happened, though.
"Try to concentrate more on the wand," Rose suggested. "Imagine you're pulling the wand physically out of her hand."
"Okay," she said. Layla stared at Lily's wand for a few seconds, and then said, "Expelliarmus." The wand didn't jump out, but it gave a slight twitch.
"That's good," Rose encouraged. "A few more tries, and you'll get it."
Thirty minutes later, the meeting was almost over. The older students had mastered Expelliarmus a while ago and were now relaxing, while the younger ones were still struggling. "This isn't working," Rose said to James. "The age gap makes it too difficult."
"That's why I wanted to split into two groups," James replied. "But Albus disagreed."
Albus, who was nearby doing his homework, looked up. "What did you say about me?"
"Just your idea about not breaking into groups," James said. "Some of you are relaxing while others are struggling."
"Right," Albus said, putting his homework away in his bag.
"Now you think I'm right?" James asked.
"No, you're still wrong," Albus replied. "I was talking about me doing homework; I should have been helping the younger students instead. But I still think we should all be learning the same things, and if some don't understand, the older ones should help. It builds a spirit of unity."
"A spirit of unity?" Rose asked, shaking her head.
"I know how we'll get a spirit of unity," Fred said, walking over toward the group of them. "We could end now. It's late; everyone's tired."
Rose nodded. "Everyone! The meeting's over!"
All the students lowered their wands and walked over toward Rose and James. They stood there expectantly, as if waiting for them to say something.
"I don't know about you, but I don't think this meeting has worked very well," James said. "Some of you have already learned this spell, while others haven't, and that sort of divides up. I just want to know your opinions about this. Do you like this meeting? Should we even meet next week? Or is it too boring?"
"I think we should meet," Dominique said. "But if we want to, we need to seriously change a few things. First of all, I don't think we should learn entirely different things. We should just learn at a different pace. Next week, for those who already understand Expelliarmus, we can move onto Stunning or something like that. Others of you can still continue to learn Expelliarmus."
"Won't that make others feel behind, though?" Rose asked.
"We won't feel bad," Lily said. "We're learning stuff that most second-years haven't learned yet. You're all much older, so it's not like we're stupid."
"That's a good idea," James said. "So, when do you want the next meeting to be?"
"Well, since this meeting is completely legal—I mean, we're not breaking any rules, unless we start learning illegal things—I think we should meet at a constant time every week," Rose suggested. "How about every Saturday, in the evening, like today?"
"I think Sunday would be a better time," Albus replied. "We need Saturday to practice Quidditch."
Rose rolled her eyes. Quidditch. "Fine, let's meet next Sunday. I guess we can go now."
"Wait!" Fred shouted. "I think we should have a name."
Rose looked at him oddly. "What's wrong with Dumbledore's Army?"
"We need a new name," Fred said. "This club is much different from the one back then. We're not learning solely defensive spells; we're going to learn other stuff too. Also, Dumbledore's gone, so I don't think the title's appropriate. And this isn't for defense; it's for extra help."
"It would create a better spirit of unity," Albus said thoughtfully. Rose resisted the urge to kick him.
"Fine. What ideas do you have?" Rose addressed everyone this time.
She could see all the students thinking. "How about the Homework Help Club?" suggested one second-year.
"That's okay," Rose said. She thought it was a bit boring but she didn't want to offend the girl. "But this isn't exactly homework."
"How about the Extra Learning Club?" Lysander said.
"That's a horrible name," Lucy said.
"You have a better one?"
Lucy paused, looking thoughtful. "Magic-101," she finally said. "Because we're learning so many things about magic, like the expression '101' always implies."
"That's good," James said. "But I think we should change it to 102 or something like that. Since we're learning more than normal magic."
"Magic-102?" Rose asked. "Why don't we find a number that has some significance?"
"Well, there are 27 of us here, and we could multiply it by 4 since there are four houses to get 108," Lucy suggested. "Magic-108."
James frowned. "Maybe. But the number of people here will probably change, and there are only three houses."
"I think it's good," Rose said. "Magic-108. But we could add something at the beginning or end. Like… Magic-108's army. Or the order of Magic-108."
"We should make it something a bit vague so nobody will know it," Lily said. "How about the Order of the 108? It's shorter but mysterious."
"Alright," James said. "It sounds unique. Anybody not like the Order of the 108?"
Nobody protested. "So our tentative name right now is the Order of the 108," James said. "We can always change it next week if you want, but otherwise I think it's fine."
As the meeting suspended, Rose found her way to Scorpius and Al. "This meeting utterly failed," Scorpius told Rose.
Normally, Rose would have said something sarcastic, but she had to agree. Hopefully next meeting would be better.
A week later, Louis, Lysander, Lorcan, and Lucy were eating breakfast together at the Gryffindor table as they normally did. Today, however, was a Hogsmeade Saturday, which meant they got to go out into Hogsmeade and do whatever they wanted.
"I still can't believe you decided to go with Nicholas," Lysander mumbled while scooping some potatoes onto his plate. "Of all people! Why him?"
Lucy sighed. "I'm not going to repeat myself again." She changed the subject. "What are you three going to do?"
"I have to go see Professor Anderson," Lorcan told Lucy. "I'm falling behind in Transfiguration, so he offered to help."
"Lysander and I are probably just going to wander around in Hogsmeade," Louis said.
Lucy nodded. "Well, I should probably go. It's almost nine." She got up and hurried out of the Great Hall.
"I got to go too," Lorcan added, quickly finishing his food and walking out of the hall. Louis and Lysander exchanged glances.
"We might as well go," Lysander suggested. Louis nodded in agreement.
Ten minutes later, the two of them were walking down the sunny street toward Hogsmeade. Louis couldn't remember a day when the four of them hadn't gone together. It was a strange feeling, sort of like he was leaving behind part of his childhood.
"So where do you want to go?" Louis asked.
"How about Weasleys' Wizard Wheeezes?" Lysander said. A few years ago, the store had opened a new branch in Hogsmeade. It had gotten good business, with all the students buying products from there, but the Hogwarts caretaker was now more and more picky about examining students after they reentered Hogwarts, so they wouldn't bring in love potions or objects like that.
Louis agreed. The two made their way toward the shop. As they entered inside, the bell on top of the door clanged loudly. The store was a rectangular shape; there was a small path from the entrance leading toward the checkout area, and five aisles on each side of the store, branching out from the entrance path. As Louis made his way inside, he spotted Fred and Oliver standing behind the checkout counter, helping sell items. It wasn't a surprise; they had always gone to help during Hogsmeade mornings. He wondered where James was, though.
Lysander walked off toward one side of the store without saying anything to Louis. Louis took that as a sign that Lysander wanted to be alone, so he went in the opposite direction, randomly browsing the shelves for anything good. He spotted a group of his fellow fifth-year Hufflepuffs.
"Hey, Louis!" Eric Davis said. He looked around. "You're here alone?" he asked. "Where'd the rest of your group go?"
Louis shrugged. "Lucy went off with Nicholas Schwab, Lorcan had to catch up on some work, and Lysander… I honestly don't know where he went. He was just here a minute ago."
"Well, he's probably nearby," Eric said.
Louis nodded and said "See you later" before going back toward the other side. He was just about to step on the entrance path when the door clanged open and Lucy and Nicholas entered, laughing about something. Not wanting to act intruding, Louis backed down the aisle until the other two couldn't see him, but he could still see them. As he backed down, he bumped into Lysander.
"There you are," Louis said. "Where'd you go?"
Lysander shrugged. "Just browsing." He lowered his voice. "You saw who just entered the store, right?"
"Yeah," Louis replied. "Why?"
Lysander shrugged again.
Louis then got an idea that only Weasley boys would ever think of. "Why don't we go follow them?" he suggested.
"Who?" Lysander said blankly.
"Lucy and Nicholas," Louis said. When Lysander didn't say anything, Louis sighed. "Come on. It's good practice for following people without them knowing. And besides, we can always stop following them if you want. We're not intruding on anything private. If they really wanted privacy, they wouldn't be staying in the middle of Hogsmeade where everyone can see them."
Louis could see Lysander thinking. He hoped that his friend agreed. Finally, Lysander nodded, albeit a bit hesitantly. "I see no reason why we don't," Lysander said.
"Great!" Louis exclaimed. He walked up toward the entrance and then stopped. "Oh, they're leaving now. Let's go before we lose track of them!"
Louis and Lysander waited for a few seconds and then walked back into High Street, following Lucy and Nicholas from a distance. They were walking side by side, as friends normally did. "I still have a feeling this is wrong," Lysander said.
"Don't be such a spoil-sport," Louis replied. They stayed about a couple of meters behind. "It's just something fun. Now, I'll be quiet so they don't suspect anything."
The two walked in silence along the road until, up ahead, Lucy and Nicholas turned off of the main road into a smaller path. "Oh no," Lysander whispered. "Don't tell me they're going…"
"To the shrieking shack, yep," Louis finished. "No… this means we can't follow them anymore!"
"No—wait," Lysander said, and he ran toward a tree. Louis followed, hiding behind it so they would be out of view. He watched Lucy and Nicholas walk around the shack and disappear from view.
"That's real romantic," Louis commented as Nicholas disappeared. "Doesn't he know that you don't bring girls to dark secluded spots? They like bright areas."
"Not Lucy," Lysander replied. He sighed. "We might as well turn back."
"Wait a second…" Louis said, walking forward.
"What are you doing?"
Louis didn't reply. He walked until he reached the shack, and looked in through a window. "There's something here," he said quietly.
"What?" Lysander whispered, walking forward. Louis pointed toward something on the ground. The Shrieking Shack's only entrance was on the Hogwarts Grounds, near the Whomping willow. There was no entrance in Hogsmeade; you could only observe. But there was something inside.
"Are there… are those bones?" Lysander whispered.
"No," Louis said. There was something that appeared to be long sticks on the ground. "Bones aren't black. I think they're… wands."
"Wands?" Lysander asked. "Why would there be so many wands in the Shrieking Shack? Especially new ones? Because those wands look usable."
Before Louis could answer, he heard a scream coming from the back of the Shrieking Shack. "Lucy!" Lysander exclaimed, and before Louis could stop him, he ran around the shack.
Louis shook his head, annoyed that Lysander gave away the fact that they were following the others, but he walked around the shack too. When he saw the reason why Lucy screamed, though, he stopped. This is not good.
James walked down the path toward Hagrid's hut, alone. He'd told Oliver and Fred to go on by themselves to Hogsmeade. He'd chosen to stay at Hogwarts.
He reached Hagrid's hut and knocked three times. Then he waited.
After a few moments, the door opened and Hagrid appeared, big, hairy, but reassuring. "James," Hagrid said. "Come on in. I haven' seen yeh in a while."
James closed the door as he walked in, taking in the cozy scent of Hagrid's hut. Over his seven years of Hogwarts, the Gryffindor common room and Hagrid's hut were the only things that remained the same.
"So," Hagrid said as James sat down on one of the chairs. "What'd yeh come here for? Thought yeh'd be down in Hogsmeade with all yer friends."
James shrugged. "I wasn't in the mood today."
"I'll make a cuppa," Hagrid said, turning toward his kettle and lighting a fire. "So how'd you like seventh year?"
"It's good," James said, looking at the table. "Look, Hagrid, I came today because I need to ask you something."
"Ask away," Hagrid replied, pouring some water into his kettle.
"I want to talk about my father," James said.
Hagrid stopped pouring water. He set the kettle down and walked back toward James. "What d'yeh wanta know?"
James sighed. "I'm just… I'm just really confused now. And you seemed like the best person to talk to. Look." He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and showed it to Hagrid. "He sent me a letter this morning."
Hagrid took it and read it aloud. " 'James,' " he read. " 'How're Albus and Lily? Al sent me a letter sayin' that you've started a new club. Make sure that nobody gets in trouble durin' it. I don't want anyone complainin'.' Is that it?"
James nodded. "That's all he sent me. That's all my letters have been like for the whole school year. It's as if… as if my father doesn't even care about me at all. I know it's silly… I'm seventeen, for Merlin's sake. I shouldn't be caring about my father."
"I've known Harry ever since he was eleven," Hagrid said. "He always had a sort of savin' people thing, if yeh know what I mean. He didn' like other people doin' it for him. He wanted to solve everythin' on his own. Yer father's probably jus' busy right now. He's head auror. I bet he jus' has a big problem that he needs to spend all his time on."
"That's what I thought," James replied. He dug in his pocket and pulled out another letter. "And then I got this."
"What's that?"
"It's a letter from Anton, you know, the Durmstrang champion I met last year. We've been keeping in contact with each other for a while. Anyway, his sister has disappeared and she's been gone for a month already. Anton's really worried. There have been lots of rumors of kidnapping in Norway . Anyway, he asked me if I could go over to his town this winter to help him find his sister."
Hagrid frowned, listening. "His sister's gone? That's not good. But how would you goin' there help him?"
"Well, we've both been in the Triwizard Tournament together," James said. "We know pretty advanced magic and we can cooperate together. Anton said he's found a few clues as to where his sister might be. But he needs my help, if he has even a chance of succeeding."
"But what does yer father have to do with this?"
"He really wants us to go back home for Christmas," James replied. "It's sort of a tradition. You know, every year at the Burrow, we have this huge party with all family and friends there. Except for last year, since the Yule Ball… but he really wants it to occur this year."
"Did'ya tell yer father about going ter your friend's place?" Hagrid asked.
James shook his head. "I know he's going to say no. But… I don't know. I really want to go, not only for myself, but also for Anton. His younger sister is missing. If Lily were gone… I'd be heartbroken."
"Well, James, I dunno what ter tell yeh," Hagrid said. "Yeh just do whateveh yeh want. But don' tell yer father about this conversation, all right?"
"Thanks, Hagrid," James said. "You helped a lot."
Hagrid looked confused. "I didn' say much."
"No, you did, even though you don't know it. Thanks a lot."
He got up and left the hut, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his chest. He turned to go back toward the castle when he heard somebody call his name.
"Louis?" James asked in confusion, running toward the sound.
It was Louis, with two other boys that James couldn't make out. They were carrying somebody.
"Lucy's hurt!" Louis shouted. "Get help! Anyone!"
James ran back toward Hagrid's hut. "Hagrid! Lucy's hurt!"
Hagrid immediately ran out of his hut and jogged toward the incoming people. "What happened?" he asked.
"I don't know," said a boy that James remembered as attending the Order of the 108 meeting the past week. "We were just talking, behind the Shrieking Shack, when all of a sudden there was a jet of light and then she was screaming. There was blood everywhere, and I didn't know what to do. Luckily Louis and Lysander were there, so we just ran back to your hut as it was the closest place from the Shrieking Shack."
"I'll take her to Madame Pomfrey," Hagrid said, gently picking up Lucy. "You three should probably go to Professor McGonagall. She'll want to know what happened."
James followed along, having nothing to do anyway. Lucy looked so small in Hagrid's arms. It seemed as if whoever cast the spell knew that it would do a lot of damage. It was as if there was an invisible sword stabbed into her chest. Who in the world would do it, though?
Lucy was one of his cousins that he didn't know that well, being the daughter of Percy—who Harry and Ginny preferred not to associate with unless necessary—and two years younger in age. He still felt really worried, though; Lucy might suffer a permanent injury. What if it was Lily? James thought. He would feel even worse. If Lily were hurt, he'd want to kill the person that had done it to her.
Now he knew how Anton felt after his sister disappeared. He must be terribly sad, angry, yet frightened all at the same time.
James made up his mind. He would go to Norway that winter, no matter what his father said. Anton needed him. Katrina needed him.
His father didn't need him.
I hope you like the twist that I put in this chapter! Comments? And I'm not good at writing Hagrid's accent, so hopefully I didn't make any mistakes. Oh, and the title of the old DA is really bad, I know... But I couldn't think of anything.
Happy Thanksgiving (for all of you that live in the USA)!