A/N: So, quite a while ago I was doodling—just messing around, and I drew out the characters from this story. I ended up posting it on DeviantArt. If anyone's interested you can look up my profile on the site (AbbyKlick). Unfortunately my penname had already been used by someone on the site, so I used another one. Just go to my gallery (there's only three pictures that are related to this story) and click on the Reckless Abandon Series section. They're really just rough cartoonish doodles. But I posted them just for fun anyway :P I'll also post the link to my DeviantART on my profile page :D
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my character and my plotline. Everything you recognize, including characters, plot developments, settings, and certain scenes and lines from the Harry Potter series, belong to JK Rowling.
--- CHAPTER NINE ---
Dumbledore's Army
Juliet Christie
Our heads were absolutely full of ambition and confidence for the remainder of the weekend. The prospect of going against Umbridge and taking matters into our own hands really had the whole lot of us excited. Harry, in particular, was walking around with a newfound sense of authority and an air of defiance. Hermione warned him that he best keep his head down if he didn't want to draw attention to himself. That seemed pretty much impossible. Harry Potter drew more attention than a herd of rampaging hippogriffs. Now that he was walking around feeling superior to Umbridge, he was definitely at risk of raising suspicion.
Even so, that didn't stop everyone—Hermione included—for feeling a bit self-righteous and empowered.
That is, until this appeared on the notice board in the Gryffindor common room on Monday morning:
BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS
All student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded.
An organisation, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.
Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).
No student organisation, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.
Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organisation, society, team, group or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.
Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor
Having met in the common room, Fred, George, and me noticed the post at once and gaped at it in horror. As soon as the three of us had taken it all in, we made straight for the Great Hall without waiting for Lee, Angelina and Katie to stumble down the stairs. On the way there we met up with Neville, Dean and Ginny—all of whom had read and were equally disturbed by the notice.
"What the bloody hell is she playing at?" Dean said sounding flabbergasted.
"She thinks she can stop us?" Ginny said with a defiant edge in her voice. I smirked at how much she reminded me of Fred and George at times.
"We'd better talk to Harry," I suggested. "Maybe he'll have an idea of what to do."
As soon as we had made it to the Great Hall we made a beeline for the Gryffindor table where Hermione, Ron and Harry were already sitting down to breakfast. It was immediately obvious that the statement had appeared in the common rooms of every house, as students were bustling about nervously whispering to each other throughout the massive room.
"Did you see it?" George asked as soon as we reached the Gryffindor table and were within earshot of Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"D'you reckon she knows?" Dean asked anxiously.
"What are we going to do?" Ginny groaned angrily.
Our voices were all low as we huddled around the three of them. We glanced around nervously to ensure no teachers were near, and looked expectantly at Harry.
"We're going to do it anyway, of course," Harry muttered.
"Knew you'd say that," George said, beaming brilliantly at Harry and thumping him on the arm.
"The prefects as well?" Fred asked, sending a challenging look at Hermione and Ron.
"Of course," Hermione replied easily.
Fred smirked almost maniacally, enjoying the idea of Hermione breaking the rules, I'm certain.
"Here come Ernie and Hannah Abbott," Ron said, glancing over his shoulder as the lot of us sat down at the table. "And those Ravenclaw blokes and Smith…and no one looks very spotty."
I shared a confused look with Fred and George.
"Spotty?" I asked.
"Never mind spots," Hermione said, sounding alarmed. "The idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really suspicious—sit down!" she mouthed furiously at Ernie and Hannah, gesturing wildly with her hands for them to stay at the Hufflepuff table. "Later!" she mouthed. "We'll—talk—to—you—later!"
"I'll tell Michael," Ginny said impatiently, getting up from her seat. "The fool, honestly…"
"We're getting unwanted attention from our local cow," I said, noticing Umbridge's beady stare. "Don't look," I added hastily as both Fred and George moved to gaze in her direction.
"We'll see you later," George said, slapping Harry on the back before the three of us moved to our regular spot at the Gryffindor table. There was no need to hang about and get ourselves into even more trouble than we already were.
Obviously Umbridge had somehow managed to catch wind of our little gathering. She was surely going to be keeping a very close watch on us now that her suspicions had been raised…again.
"That bird is going to seriously regret messing around with us," George grumbled, chancing a look up at the front table.
"You're not seriously thinking of pulling a fast-one on her?" I asked, my eyes widening in alarm. "Have you forgotten what she did to Fred?"
To emphasize my point I grabbed hold of Fred's wrist and pushed his hand toward George. Fred snatched it away from my grip forcefully and instead placed it on my thigh underneath the table.
"It wasn't so bad," he said stubbornly.
"Yeah," George agreed. "And we all know I'm the tougher twin. I can handle anything she throws at Fred and then some!"
"I was fine," Fred said, frowning at me. "Just because you overreacted…"
"Excuse me for worrying about you," I said, shoving Fred's hand off of my leg and digging into my breakfast. "And as much as I'd love to hear what you have in mind for the old hag, I think it'd be for the best if we all just lay low for a while."
Fred grumbled in response, and slung his arm around my shoulders good-naturedly.
"You're a bit of a grump this morning," he said, poking me in the side of the face. "I'd have thought plotting against ol' Dolores would put you in a better mood."
"Maybe later," I said, distracted by the sight of Lee, Katie and Angelina heading toward us. "Ange doesn't look too happy."
The twins turned to look in the direction I was indicating, and immediately spotted the others rushing to the bench opposite us. As they slumped down in their seats across from us, my eye was caught by the sight of Alicia entering the Great Hall alongside two Ravenclaw girls I had never known her to get along with. I frowned, but turned away almost immediately as Angelina started speaking.
"Can you believe this?" she said, sounding outraged and horrified. "No student organizations? Is she mad?!"
"Relax, Ange," I reasoned as she, Katie and Lee took a seat across from us. "We'll just have to be more careful."
"Yeah," Fred agreed, locking his arm around my neck and pointing in Harry's direction. "Harry's already agreed we're going to go through with it regardless."
"It's not just about that," Angelina said, shaking her head. She bent low over the table, and the rest of us leaned in to hear her while trying to remain inconspicuous.
"What are you on about, then?" Lee asked, casting a wary look up to the Professor's table to ensure Umbridge's attention was elsewhere.
"I'm talking about Quidditch," Angelina said, her eyes wide with meaning. "She's counting the Quidditch teams as student organizations!"
"You can't be serious?" I asked, astonished.
Angelina nodded her head vigorously, her eyes so wide they looked as though they might pop out of her head. "I got a notice this morning from the High Inquisitor," she emphasized with distaste. "Said I should be aware that the Gryffindor Quidditch team would not be able to reform without her permission, and I should seek her for a meeting."
Katie's eyes were wide with surprise, and Fred and George were sporting identical looks of disgust.
"What does she reckon we'll do?" Fred asked.
"Come up with some sort of anti-Ministry tactic leading you to launch a military attack on your broomsticks?" Lee suggested.
"She's barmy," I said, infuriated.
"And now our team has been indefinitely disbanded!" Angelina cried, looking hopeless.
"Ange, it'll be fine," Katie soothed. "You'll just meet with her—like the notice said—and she'll have to let us reform. It's not like she can stop us playing Quidditch."
"Dumbledore would never allow it," I agreed.
"What if he doesn't have a choice?" Angelina continued to fret. "She's got the entire Ministry of Magic behind her."
"If the Ministry of Magic is that concerned about a silly little Quidditch team, then they're in serious need of some new leadership," Fred pointed out.
"That may be so," Angelina conceded, "but it doesn't seem like anyone is really thinking straight over there, does it? I can't see Umbridge being reasonable about this at all."
"There's no way she'll disband all four teams," George said.
"And if she lets one team through, she's got to let us all play," I agreed. "It's Quidditch for heaven's sake!"
"Ange," Katie said, seeing as Angelina didn't look any less worried by our logic, "just go meet with Umbridge like she wants, and if she gives you a hard time go to McGonagall. It's not like she can turn down a bloody Quidditch team."
Our reassurances didn't help calm Angelina's nerves much—especially after she heard Draco Malfoy bragging about the Slytherin Quidditch team being reinstated immediately. The way he told it, they were only allowed to play because his father was on the in with the Ministry. I had my suspicions that the real reason behind their immediate reformation was the fact that every person on the Slytherin team openly despised everyone and everything to do with Harry Potter.
And, because Umbridge was quite obviously on the anti-Potter side of the fence, the Slytherins were in high favour.
Unfortunately, our team wasn't so lucky.
When Angelina met up with the rest of us that night after her meeting with Umbridge, it was to announce with a glum expression that we would not be holding our scheduled Quidditch practices until further notice.
"She just said she needed time to consider," she said grouchily.
"Consider what?" Ron asked angrily. "She's given the Slytherins permission, why not us?"
Everyone's good moods had certainly dwindled almost into non-existence. Harry and Ron tried feebly to work at a Potions assignment they had received, and Fred and George took it upon themselves to try and make the rest of us smile.
They had perfected their newest attempt at a Skiving Snackbox, and jumped up eagerly to demonstrate to Katie, Angelina and myself. Lee had been instructed to assist. Of course, within moments an entire crowd had formed and were eagerly eyeing the twins.
"Behold!" George was announcing, "The most effective way to ditch class—"
"Guaranteed to produce top-notch results!" Fred continued.
The group of us watched as Fred took a bite out of the orange end of a chew and proceeded to vomit spectacularly. Obviously, the twins had been prepared for it, as they had placed a bucket precisely in the right location directly in front of Fred.
Lee, who looked thoroughly unimpressed with his position as 'vomit vanisher', was only marginally less disgusted than I was.
Yep, nothing says sexy like your boyfriend projectile-vomiting for the entire Gryffindor population to see. Although, I couldn't deny that he never once winced in discomfort. I suppose that earns him some sort of recognition.
As Fred continued to puke his guts out, he would force the purple end of the candy down his throat and the retching would immediately cease.
The other students seemed to be much more impressed by the display than any of us were. It was quite clear that they were excellent salesmen, and their products certainly were ingenious…but Umbridge had managed to drain me of any scrape of exuberance I had possessed at the beginning of the day. I was no longer in the right state of mind to enjoy the antics of Fred and George Weasley. That was a fact that Dolores Umbridge would probably be delighted to hear.
Once Fred had finished his demonstration, George shoved him aside and tried to impress the next batch of watchers. With each display students would bustle about and line up to buy the chews from the twins.
Hermione, who was seated alongside Ron and Harry, was positively seething. I think it only gave Fred and George more satisfaction—they both knew there wasn't a single thing Hermione could do to stop them. They weren't breaking any Hogwarts rules by eating the things themselves. And there was nothing stating that students couldn't purchase the chews from them, either.
It was well over an hour before the crowd around the twins dispersed. All the while Katie, Angelina, and I had taken to coming up with humorous—albeit, ridiculous—situations in which Umbridge would find herself at our mercy.
Once the boys had dealt with the last of their eager customers, they rejoined us—claiming seats on the floor by our feet—and began ostentatiously counting out their earnings.
"Puking Pastilles!" Fred was saying. "Brilliant work, George."
"Same to you, Fred," George beamed as Fred leaned his back against my legs obnoxiously.
"Lee, you've earned yourself five percent for all those well-rehearsed Vanishing Spells," George said, clapping him on the back.
"Make it four," Fred objected. "Lee's got no salesmanship—I didn't see him smile once."
Lee scowled, and Fred and George grinned cheekily, and then both of them shifted uncomfortably.
"These boils make sitting on the floor a right pain in the arse—so to speak," Fred said, rubbing irritably against my legs so much that I kneed him in the back of the head to get him to stop.
"Ouch!" he protested.
"What boils?" Katie inquired, and the twins frowned darkly.
"Fever Fudge," George said with a scowl.
"We haven't worked out all the kinks yet—" Fred continued.
"Probably for the best that Quidditch is scuppered. I can't imagine sitting on a broom would be much fun," George pointed out.
The girls and I exchanged disgusted looks.
"Best keep away from Fred's nether-regions for the time being, Jules," Lee said with an evil smirk.
Fred had to dodge out of the way as I executed an effective kick to Lee's stomach. He groaned in pain and slumped to the floor.
"Serves you right for talking about my nether-regions, mate," Fred grinned at him. "You haven't earned the right."
"Has Juliet?" George asked, only to dive away moments later to avoid the hex I sent his way.
"Not yet," Fred said with a teasing wink.
I scowled at him.
"If you're not careful, Weasley, your nether-regions are going to be suffering a fate much worse than Fever Fudge-induced boils," I threatened, waving my wand conspiratorially.
"Can we stop talking about Fred's nether-regions?" Katie said, looking thoroughly disgusted.
Fred only smirked, batting his eyelashes at me in a falsely sweet attempt at appearing cute.
Moron.
…My moron.
-------
The next day, Angelina announced—with a bright smile and a much happier persona—that she had talked to McGonagall, and the Quidditch team was officially back in order. That was generally very good news—although Fred and George were now looking extremely unenthused at returning to a broomstick in their current…er—condition.
The good news only continued when, only days later, Harry announced that he had found a place to hold our Defence meetings.
"Seventh floor opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and the trolls," Ron had said. "Eight o'clock."
"A corridor is a bit conspicuous, dear brother," George said with a maniacal glint in his eye. "Are you sure you know what you're talking about?"
"Just make sure you're there, you big git," Ron answered.
We all headed down to meet the others promptly at eight. What we found there was both extraordinary and brilliant.
"What is this place?" Dean Thomas asked, staring around looking impressed.
"The room of Requirement," Hermione informed as people began to file through the door. I was a little taken aback. I had never known such a room existed within the castle.
"Well," Harry said once everyone had settled into one of the many cushions (which had apparently come prepared with the room). "This is the place we've found for practice sessions, and you've—er—obviously found it okay."
"It's fantastic!" Cho Chang said, and there was a general murmur of agreement.
"It's bizarre," Fred said, frowning around at his surroundings. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then."
"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" Dean asked, pointing at a few objects at the back of the room.
"Dark detectors," Harry answered. "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…"
Everyone looked on in curiosity. I'm sure each and every person was anxious to see what we would be learning today. What I found more interesting than the prospect of learning Defensive Magic was the reaction that everyone seemed to have at the idea. I'd never seen Lee look so enthusiastic about school in his life. And Fred and George had never behaved as respectfully to their actual teachers as they were with Harry. It was quite eerie, actually.
"Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and—er—" he stopped, as Hermione had raised her hand high into the air. "What, Hermione?"
"I think we ought to elect a leader," she said, glancing around the room for approval.
"Harry's leader," Cho said at once, staring at Hermione as if she were mad.
"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," Hermione said. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So—everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"
There wasn't a single hand raised within the room. Even Zacharius Smith—the smarmy git—managed to agree, albeit half-heartedly.
"Er—right, thanks," Harry said, his face burning with embarrassment. "And—what, Hermione?"
"I also think we ought to have a name," she said, her hand still upright and stiff in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"
"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina asked, her eyes glinting with hope.
"Umbridge is an Ugly Hag Assembly?" I put in.
"Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" Fred suggested.
Hermione frowned pointedly at Fred. "I was thinking more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."
"The Defence Association?" Cho suggested. "The DA for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"
"Yeah, the DA's good," Ginny agreed. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army, because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"
Everyone laughed appreciatively.
"Well, that and factual evidence," I said. "They seem to prefer fabricating rubbish."
"Hear, hear," Lee commended.
"Right. All in favour of DA?" Hermione said—with a rather bossy air about her. Everyone raised their hands again. "That's a majority—motion passed!"
She stuck the piece of parchment that we had all signed up on the wall with the heading DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY. I could feel the atmosphere filling with excitement.
"Right," Harry said, pressing on. Everyone watched him anxiously. "Shall we get practising 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," Zacharius Smith said with a roll of his eyes. "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 quietly. "It saved my life in June."
Zacharius didn't seem to have a reply for that. He gaped stupidly up at Harry and everyone else remained silent.
"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry told him.
He didn't move, and neither did anyone else in the room.
"Okay," Harry said firmly. "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practise."
"Ange, you'll be my partner, right?" Katie asked immediately, turning to Angelina. She looked as though she would rather eat a flobberworm than get stuck with one of the boys. I, on the other hand, was up for the challenge.
Practising Expelliarmus actually proved to be quite entertaining. I was partnered up with George, as Fred vehemently refused to practice spells against me. I'm near positive he simply didn't want to chance me being better at him. Thus, he was partnered with Lee. George, on the other hand, was quite happy to practice spellwork against me, and it quickly turned into a competition.
"That's fourteen to eleven, Jules," George said cheekily. "And I let you have that last one."
"Guess I know who I'll be standing behind if we ever come face-to-face with any Death Eaters," I joked.
"Hey, George," Fred called, and the two of us turned to see him grinning at us mischievously. "Watch this."
Fred wordlessly flicked his wand toward the back of the room—in the direction of Zacharius Smith, and we watched as his wand went flying out of his hand and across the room. Lee doubled over with laughter as the Hufflepuff bloke searched around for the culprit. His partner—Anthony Goldstein—looked just as confused. He hadn't even opened his mouth to disarm Smith yet.
George grinned, and as soon as Zacharius had retrieved his wand, George muttered Expelliarmus and it went flying back out of his hand again.
The group of us snickered, taking it in turns to disarm the nasty little twit, until Harry came round—clearly noticing our lapse of attention.
"Sorry Harry," George said with a wide grin that completely contradicted the sorry in his statement. "Couldn't resist."
I had a feeling Harry didn't mind in the slightest.
Time seemed to fly by as the lot of us got back to work disarming each other. One minute I had made Lee's wand fly straight out of his hand to smack George in the back of the head, and the next George was racing around with my wand held high in the air as I chased after him yelling for him to give it back.
It wasn't until I had pinned George to the ground—with help from a very effective Confundus Charm by Lee—that Harry blew a whistle for everyone to stop with the lesson. I barely heard it over George's disgruntled grumbles.
"I still won," he muttered. "You're a great bloody cheat."
"Which is why I refuse to be paired with her under any circumstances," Fred said cheekily. "It's bad enough being her Potions partner. She can't tell her cauldron from her desk."
I grinned at Fred in good humour as Harry dismissed us, saying we would meet again the following Wednesday where we would discuss future meetings.
We left the Room of Requirement in small groups so as to avoid getting caught out of our Houses after curfew. Harry gave us the go-ahead, watching with the Marauder's Map to ensure none of the teachers—or Filch—were lurking nearby.
Fred purposely held me back, sectioned off from the rest of our group, so we could have some alone time heading back to Gryffindor tower.
"You know, Harry will be able to see that we're not back in the tower," I pointed out, as Fred showed absolutely no interest in making it back to our common room straight away. In fact, he seemed much keener on snogging me in a hidden corridor behind a dusty old tapestry.
"Well the sod should keep his nose out of our business, I reckon," he answered, smirking at me as he pushed me against the cold stone wall.
"We'll get him into loads of trouble if we're caught out here and have to explain ourselves," I warned.
Fred kissed me, ignoring my concerns. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I wasn't so worried about anything once his lips found mine.
Since Fred and I had been together, he was much more easy-going with me. No longer did either of us have to tip-toe around. There was no more suppression of our feelings, and although some things were still awkward between us—being boyfriend and girlfriend was still generally foreign between Fred and me—there was no doubt that we were comfortable with each other.
Fred moaned into my mouth, and I laughed breathily as I tangled my hands in his hair. I had forgotten what a bloody good kisser he was. Of course, I'd never tell him he was, or he'd never let me hear the end of it.
"I haven't had any alone time with you," he said.
I understood. Between classes, Quidditch, the twins Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and the newfound Dumbledore's Army, there was very little time that wasn't spent surrounded by other people. A five minute snog session seemed like a very good idea to me.
"Well we'll have to do this more often, then," I said, biting down on his bottom lip playfully.
"Be careful," he warned. "I may just take you up on that."
By the time we made it back through the Fat Lady portrait, the others were readying themselves for bed. George, Lee, Katie, and Angelina all rolled their eyes at us as we stumbled into the common room, late, but with grins on our faces.
"I thought you weren't in any condition to use your—er—man-parts," Lee said with a wicked smirk on his face.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Jordan," Fred scolded, brushing off the accusation with ease.
"Well, you two weren't the only ones hanging back for a snog-session," George pointed out, nodding his head in the direction of the portrait hole.
The rest of us turned around to see Harry walking in, looking flushed and a little dazed. The twins grinned wickedly.
"We'll see you girls in the morning," Fred told us as he and George made a beeline for Harry. "Oi, Potter!"
"Ah, poor Harry," I said, shaking my head. "Reckon it's time for bed?"
The girls readily agreed, and the three of us headed up to our dormitory for some much needed sleep. All of the meddling behind the High Inquisitor's back really managed to drain you.
We were laughing as we climbed the girls staircase, but stopped almost immediately as we entered our shared dormitory. Alicia was already there, looking just as cold and unapproachable as she had been since school commenced.
She was curled up in bed, reading some rubbish romance novel (the kind she had been fond of since first year). The three of us tensed up a bit, and were careful not to speak a word about the DA or Harry. We knew we had to be careful with Alicia. We couldn't afford to take the risk that she would overhear something and share it with her father. If her dad were to find out he could get everyone into trouble with the Ministry. It would be horrible if one slip of the tongue got Mr. Weasley—or anyone else—fired.
Alicia glanced up from her novel as we entered the room. None of us were really intent on speaking to her, so we headed for our prospective beds without a word of greeting. It was a ritual that had become painfully common in the past weeks.
Alicia cleared her throat as I pulled my pyjamas on. Angelina shot a look towards me, but none of us acknowledged her.
"Don't think I don't know the lot of you are up to something," Alicia said, breaking the silence.
The tension immediately increased in the room. It was almost palpable. Katie glared from her spot in the room.
"Excuse me?" I asked, turning to look at her as I pulled back the covers on my bed.
"I'm not stupid," she answered. "I know there's something going on."
I shot her an annoyed look.
"What, exactly, do you reckon we're up to, then?" Katie asked with obvious resentment in her voice.
"The whole lot of you—you're planning something," she said shortly. "With Potter and Granger. You were all gone tonight."
"What's it to you if we weren't around?" Katie asked. "Or are you saying you missed us?" she joked darkly.
"You lot should watch who you get mixed up with, is all," she said coldly.
"You lot," I scoffed. "You mean, your friends?"
Alicia buried her face in her book again.
"None of you are friends," she muttered.
Katie scoffed.
"Are you kidding?" I asked incredulously.
"Alicia…?" Angelina said.
"I'd prefer not to talk to people who are going against the Ministry…going against my father. Me," she answered.
"Alicia, how can you even say that?" Katie said. "We've been friends since first year."
"Well, that was before any of this happened," she said.
"So what?" I asked. "Because of some moronic belief your father has about Dumbledore and Harry, you can't see reason either?" I questioned irritably.
"Don't you speak about my father like that!" Alicia snapped. "And it's all of you who can't see reason."
I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling and Katie shook her head in disbelief.
"Whatever, Leesh," Katie said, throwing back her covers and crawling into bed.
I curled up in my own bed and sent Alicia a cold look.
"When you come to your senses and decide to stop treating your friends like rubbish, we'll be here."
I yanked the curtain of my bed shut forcefully, nearly ripping it down.
It seemed Dumbledore's Army was up against a heavy force.