Heir Of Gryffindor
Chapter 15 - Decisions
Granger had had enough with Ron following Lily around like a lost puppy. It was time to turn the tables. A week had past, and Ron and Draco had already gotten in two 'secretive' fights - rather, after Lily left the area, Ron and Draco would squabble.
She studied the book of glamour spells she'd come across in the library - the same books she had studied when she'd dressed for the yule ball. Casting the non-verbal spells, she tapped her hair, which straightened with a slight curl - it fell to her waist, and then her lips, which plumped slightly and colored them a deep pink. Lily wouldn't be the only pretty one anymore. Luckily, in third year, when Malfoy had cursed her with the growing tooth curse, she was able to get Mrs. Pomprey to stop it at the perfect size. So her teeth were brilliant already.
As it was the weekend, she could wear what she wanted, and chose a pair of jeans that flaunted her hips and legs, choosing a pretty red knit shirt - it was closing in on October now, so the weather was starting to get chilly. She headed downstairs to breakfast when she saw Ron in the common room. "Hey, Ron, earth to Ron." said Hermione, waving her hand in front of the newspaper he was reading. "Mione, not now. . ." he called then looked up - then flushed. Was it just him or was her chocolate eyes clearer - and her lips looked suddenly kissable. . . her hair - it was straight again, like the yule ball. "Wow, Mione, you look really amazing. . . what's the occasion?" he asked.
Hermione merely smiled. "Well, we're going to work on the you-know-what today, so I wanted to look nice." she said and grinned. "Want to grab some breakfast together?" asked Hermione and Ron set aside the paper he had been looking at. "S-sure Mione." he said, standing. Together they went downstairs.
~*~-~*~
After Hermione had been gone a bit, Lily woke up and rubbed her eyes sleepily, then rememebered the letter. Lily drew out the letter out of her robes. She opened it with magic, then reached into the envelope, pulling the letter out. Unfolding it, she read it:
'Dearest Draco,
My son, how have you been? Have you been eating well? Yes, your correct, I did give you a forgetful potion, but only because it was the last resort. You and Lily were very close as children and you would stand at the door, waiting for her, even though our families separated - I can't exactly blame her father, as he had left our ways for love.
His wife was killed by a death eater on our lord's command, and ever since then he had turned against the death eaters. You've met her again, have you? Are you certain you would like to reactivate the betrothal? Your father will be angry, but perhaps I can talk him into it, saying you are bringing her onto our side.
Your mother,
Narcissa Malfoy
Lily smiled. His mother cared deeply for him, he could tell. And Snape was correct about the potion! And then she gasped - he wanted to reactivate the betrothal? She felt her face heat up. And his mother wouldn't mind that, even though her father was an auror?! Now she had a decision to make. And how sweet! Draco had really missed her when they were younger. Now it was her turn. She took out a quill and ink with some scrap parchment.
'Dear Father,
How have you been? Eating well I hope. Father, at Hogwarts I ran into Draco Malfoy and learned of our betrothal from when we were younger, and the potion you used on me perhaps to make me forget when we moved. A teacher here reminded us of the betrothal and Draco wishes to reactivate the betrothal. And I can't help but find myself liking him. He has taken a step in the right direction as well. Please respond whenever you can.
Love,
Lily Dawn Luchesi
She folded the letter and flushed, unable to help herself. Draco was so sweet, and it was really kind how he trusted her with this personal letter. Her father would probably be upset though - he was a death eaters' child after all. But, Lily decided, it shouldn't matter - it was what he did with his life that mattered. And last night, Draco had made that step towards what was right.
As she folded it, she remembered the house they were working on and happily got ready, brushing her hair quickly before donning a green tank top with a dark pair of jeans, throwing her red hair into a ponytail, secured with a hairband that had a green butterfly on it that was a shade lighter than the emerald green tank. She slipped on her gray jacket and headed downstairs to have breakfast when she saw Ron and. . . was that Hermione? She had straightened her hair! Then her eyes searched the Gryffindor table until they came to rest on Tess, not far away, eating by herself. Lily waved to Hermione and Ron before going to sit down in the emtpy seat next to her. "Hi!"
Tess looked surprised at the happy hi! someone had just called out before sitting beside her. "Oh, um, hi." she said quietly and smiled uncertainly at the red haired girl. "I'm Lily, Lily Luchesi. I saw that you were new yesterday, and I was just wanting to welcome you to Gryffindor. Would you like to go sit with me and my friends? We won't bite, I promise - or I haven't been bitten yet at least!" joked Lily.
Tess looked amused by what the girl said. "I'm Tess Welding. Um, sure, I guess. And thanks for the welcome. Lets hope they don't bite." joked Tess and Lily grinned, leading her over to the table with her friends as Harry sat down. Harry grinned at Lily. Already on the move, before he was even woke up properly. Smart girl.
"Hey Tess." offered Harry. "Hello." said Hermione, smiling. "Oh hi. Nice to meet you." said Ron. "Let me introduce my wonderful friends to you." said Lily with a warm smile. "This is Harry Potter, the celebrity." she said with a giggle at Harry's groan, "he hates that but I still like to tease him, Ron Weasley - he's really great at wizard chess - he kicks my butt at it, but I love playing even if I lose everytime, and Hermione Granger - one of the smartest witches here at Hogwarts!"
All three flushed lightly. "I'm not a celebrity." complained Harry. "But Ron is very good at strategy and Hermione is one of the smartest witches at Hogwarts." said Harry. From the teacher's table at the front, he could see that Dumbledore was smiling at him.
"Wow, this is quite the group you have Lily." said Tess. Lily nodded happily, and began fixing a plate. "Yeah. They are all wonderful." she said, taking a bite out of a cranberry mini-muffin. Tess made a face. "What?" Lily asked quizzically. "Cranberry - I so would prefer banana nut -" she said, then her green eyes, which reminded Harry of deep forests, suddenly grew distant and sad. "Well, maybe I wouldn't mind cranberry. . . I've never tried it before." she said, taking one from the plate in the center of the table. She lifted it to her lips and took a bite. "Oh wow, these are good!" she said. "I figured they'd be bitter, but its really sweet."
"Right? They are delicious." Lily said happily, not noticing Draco grinning at hearing that. "Morning Luchesi." said Draco behind her, grinning as he made his way to his table. Then he blinked at Hermione. Her hair was straightened now. And - was that makeup? She must be getting desperate to pull this to get Ron to notice her. "Keep up with that Granger, and a muggle model agency may be in touch." he half-joked with her.
Hermione just flashed Draco a smile. He returned a smirk as he noticed Ron taking notice as Malfoy headed towards the Slytherin table. "Good morning Dr-I mean, Malfoy." said Lily, trying to keep that they knew each other well hidden. "See you there?" she whispered and he nodded, his smirk growing wide.
"Hey Tess, would you like to join us after breakfast? We're working on something. Can't talk about it here though." Harry asked, making the rest of the group to raise their brows but nod. Tess raised her brows as well but nodded. "Sure."
~*~-~*~
After breakfast, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Tess Welding waited in the Transfiguration classroom. "What exactly are we doing here?" Neville asked. Ginny shook her head. "No idea." she answered. "Harry asked us to gather here. We should wait on him." said Luna. "I have a feeling it may be important. And hello by the way. I don't think I've met you before." she said to Tess. Her radish-like earrings waved around as she talked.
Tess swallowed nervously. More people. . . she didn't know it'd lead to all this, she thought but smiled. "I - I'm new to Hogwarts. My name is Tess Welding." she said. "Yeah, I heard there was a new Gryffindor," said Ginny, "but why wasn't it announced?"
"Well, I arrived late, so. . . Professor Dumbledore thought that it would be wise to just put me in classes instead of worrying about it. I have to say, I'm glad. I mean, it would have been completely embarrassing to be up there by myself." said Tess.
"I can imagine." said Neville just as the door opened. "Come on." said Harry, glad that they were taking Tess under their proverbial wing. This would make things much easier. He lead the group to the room of requirement, and went in. "Is this another D.A. meeting?" asked Neville excitedly and Harry grinned. "Consider this an elite D.A. Meeting." he said, and opened the door connecting to the room.
Hope surged into the new members and there was a definate skip inbetween their steps as they entered the old hovel. Ginny gasped. "Is this - the shrieking shack?!" she asked. Neville yelped - it was the most haunted place in Hogsmeade after all. "The stuff you guys heard about this place is untrue - it was actually purchased by Dumbledore from a person who couldn't finish the house. Dumbledore did finish it, but fell out of disrepair. And he used it for students that needed help keeping secrets. I purchased it from him and I want it to be our headquarters for our own Order of the Phoenix - Tess, Neville, Luna, the order fights against you-know-who-"
Harry started to say when the door opened and two more entered. Wands immediately pointed in Malfoy's direction but then Lily leapt in front of him and the wands hesitantly lowered. "No! He's a friend!" cried Lily as she leapt in front of him. Harry nodded.
Neville was hiding behind Ginny, with his wand pointed at him. "H-how can you trust him?! He's the biggest bully in school. . ." he said. Luna looked at him surprised. "Everyone can change." she said. Draco nodded, impressed by the strange Ravenclaw. "Anyways Potter, lets get on with the meeting shall we?" asked Draco.
"Certainly. Well, as I said, I bought this house from Dumbledore, who was happy to sell it to me after I told him what I was going to use it for. His only request is that it be painted in house colors - at least one room. And I thought it would be nice if the den would be painted in a color not included with the house colors, and have the four houses represented thusly." he said and the others nodded, happy for the idea. "We also would like to invite a Hufflepuff into the group - I thought about Susan Bones but I don't know."
"I think she would be an excellent addition. She's very insightful." said Luna, wearing her crazy glasses while flipping through the Quibbler. The others agreed. "Oh, why not the other prefect as well? Or how about Justin - that could help repair what happened in second year?" suggested Neville. "Great thinking Neville." said Harry.
Harry hadn't had much to do with Hufflepuffs besides in Herbology, and Justin had avoided him ever since. "I think it would be better if someone else approached him though, to be safe." he said, and looked at Ginny. She nodded, understanding. "Luna, would you ask Susan and Ernie?" he asked and Luna nodded. "Of course."
"Excellent. I was also thinking if Hogwarts were to ever be attacked, that we could use this as a safe area to take students to, particuarly the younger students." said Harry. The others agreed. "In order to do that, we're going to need your help Hermione and Ginny." he added.
Ginny looked surprised. "Me?" she asked, blinking. Harry smiled at Ginny. Sure, she wasn't exactly like Mrs. Weasley except whenever she was angry, but surely she had learned a few charms for housekeeping. "Yeah, I figured you could ask your mom for some household spells that might be helpful."
Ginny looked thoughtful but nodded. "Alright Harry." she said and smiled, glad to be trusted with a task. "I also have another thing we need your help with, Hermione, and you too Malfoy." he said and Draco's brow went up. "We need a way to defend the house from magic and possibly muggle attacks as well. I'll speak to Dumbledore about it as well." he said. Draco nodded. Ron sighed. He didn't exactly see how he would be very useful. Once again, he thought bitterly, left out of the loop.
"Ron, I'd like you to look into illusion spells. We want the house to be in sound shape before we do major work on it." he said and Ron nodded. Then Harry whispered something in his ear and Ron grinned. "Alright Harry." he said. "Ron, your our Knight. Your role is one of the most important." Harry said seriously. Ron nodded. "Come on Hermione, lets go to the library." he said, and Hermione's brows raised. "I NEVER thought I would hear him say that. . ." she said but followed him, her straightened hair flowing around her as she exited with Ron.
"Anyways, we need names for it - we could continue with Dumbledore's Army, if you wanted." said Harry. Everyone was in unison, Draco agreeing half-heartedly. Then, he went to the corner of the room, which had a handsome mahogany side table, which was covered. Harry walked over, pulling the table to the center of the room. All eyes followed him. "As this is the D.A.'s inner group, I thought we would have code names." he said.
"And wizard chess is popular - so I thought we would use the names of chess pieces." he said, pulling the cloth covering the table carefully to reveal a chessboard with glass chess pieces. Two Rooks, Two Knights, Two Bishops, a Queen and a King were on the board with tags under it. "Lets start with the King - in fifth year, when we went to the department of mysteries, after we got back, I found out there was a prophecy about me." he said, telling them it. Many gasps escaped their lips and even Draco seemed impressed. "Knew it."
"King fits you as your the leader." said Ginny. Draco smirked but nodded. "Then our queens. On this chess board, we have two - Hermione and Lily. Then our Bishops are Neville and Luna." he said, continueing. "Then we have our Knights, Ron and Draco." he said. Draco seemed surprised. 'Me?' he seemed to want to ask Harry and Harry nodded. "Then last but not least, our Rooks, Ginny and Tess."
Neville and Tess both stared up at them shocked. Neville was a blunder with magic until Harry had taken him under his wing, and Tess was new to the school. "If, you want to join Dumbledore's Army that is Tess." he asked and Tess thought for a moment. "Your talking about defending this school and fighting that man that was - that killed my mom, right? Of course I'm in!" she said strongly and everyone cheered. "Alright then! The rest of the D.A. Members will be pawns." he finished. "I'll ask Hermione to make us each special coins that will heat up in your pockets when your needed, like the D.A. ones, but, for us each individually." he said and the group nodded. "That's pretty smart." said Ginny.
"So, the house - we're going to fix it up for our headquarters then?" asked Luna. "Shall we begin?" she asked. Harry nodded, smiling faintly. Luna would be the one to get to what they needed to focus on right now.
"Yes. Lets get cleaning!" he said, ready to teach the scrougify charm. It took a few tries, but he had taught Neville and Tess the spell and they were off. Draco suggested using an x-ray spell he taught to Harry to search for plumbing problems. And after discussing each room after Ron and Hermione were back, loaded with books, they began painting, repairing and cleaning furniture. Soon the place was spotless. Hermione had added a few extra rooms with spells found in 'Magical Home Renovations'. Ron was outside, working on something in the yard while Lily went to the kitchens to get celebration food. Luna added designs to the paints that made everyone smile.
Hermione went outside to join Ron and then Lily came back, laden with sweets and drinks on a large tray, borrowed from the house elves. She handed something to Draco and he grinned at her, slipping from the room.
Once in a room alone, Draco opened the envelope and found two letters. On the letters were - Read first! Read Last! Naturally, he went with the first one, his curiosity piqued by the second. The letter read:
Dearest Daughter,
You would wish to be betrothed to the Malfoy boy once more? I would normally never agree, but since you spoke so highly on his behalf, I will allow an engagement - until I meet him. He must pass my tests in order to marry you however. His parents are death eaters after all. However, I would very muchly like to see him rise above his parents and become something truly great. He was always a sweet boy when I was around, particularly sweet around you.
Your Father,
Gregory Luchesi
Draco started. She had asked permission as well? Had she gotten the idea from his letter to ask about the betrothal? He grinned - then she must like him in order to say that. And what had her letter said about him that he would say it spoke so highly on his behalf? Once he passed the man's test, and he would, he would ask for that letter. . .
So, now the question was, how to announce it to the general populace? And what exactly to do about Pansy, who still wouldn't leave him alone even though he had dumped her this summer after hearing what Potter had said about her was true. Then he grinned, coming up with the answer. It was going to be brilliant. . .
~*~-~*~
The house was coming together and they all sat down to the food that Lily had brought on a tray. Draco Malfoy called in his own house elf which supplied them with higher class foods. When they went to go and get Ron and Hermione outside, they found them snogging. Lily's eyes widened and Draco smirked. "Well, well, look at what the kneazle drug in." he said and the pair separated fast, their faces bright red. "Guess you won't mind if I steal Lily now then. . ." he said with his smirk widening. Lily's face flushed and Ron muttered something about him being a git.
"Congradulations you two." said Lily smiling at the pair. "Oh yes, I brought some food from the kitchens and Draco had his house elf whip some really nice food as well." said Lily and Ron grinned. "Come on Mione, lets go in." he said with a smile, getting her hand. As he was passing Draco he hissed, "Better be good to her, or you'll be sorry, you git." he said and the smirk grew even wider. "Well Weasley, thanks for the sentiment, but remember, you were the one that almost killed her." he said, and went inside, leaving Ron flushed with embarrassment.
Inside, the tensions faded and Harry had even used the opportunity before the shops closed to purchase a case of butter beer and snacks from Honeydukes. "Brilliant Potter!" called Draco and Hermione cast a soundproofing spell on the walls to the dining room, where the were now, carrying it forwards into the kitchen as well. Closing the doors, Luna repaired an old radio which started playing the Weird Sisters song, 'This is the night'. Harry approached Ginny and smiled sheepishly. "Would you - ah, care to dance?" he asked nervously. Ginny beamed at Harry and nodded, taking his hand. "I'll chat with you later then, Tess." she said as Harry twirled her onto the dance floor.
"No problem." Tess said. She took a seat at the banquet table they had repaired and began to munch on a levitating sorbert. Meanwhile, Neville was looking lost when Luna came up. "If you don't want to, I understand, but the floor looks pretty open." she said. Neville looked questioningly at her and then flushed when he realized she was trying to ask him to dance without asking. "I - I mean, Luna. . . w-would you want to dance?" he asked. She smiled up at Neville. "Yes, if you would like." she said. Neville lead them to the dance floor.
Lily was talking to Tess when Draco snuck up behind her, grabbed her hand and twirled her to the dance floor without saying a word. She yelped, dizzy, but he caught her. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Or maybe I did. Want to dance?" he asked, giving her his usual smirk. "Draco! That wasn't funny!" she cried and pouted and then she laughed. "Okay, so it was a little funny then." she said and took his hand in hers after he helped her up.
Ron and Hermione joined the group shortly after and soon, they had to leave before dinner. "Tomorrow is a hogsmeade holiday. Lets all meet up." said Harry and they all nodded. They waved goodbye to Luna and Draco, then Lily, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Tess and Ron heading to the common room.
~*~-~*~
"See you Lovegood." said Draco as Luna waved to him and he went up to his dorm, eager to read the other letter that had been in the envelope. He had forgotten to look at it during the after-party. So he unfolded it now.
Dear Draco,
Um, gosh, I don't know what to write! Well, I do but why does it have to be so difficult? Well, I wrote my father as you saw, and after I read the letter your mother wrote, I was wondering if you meant what you said about the betrothal. I would really love like that.
Yours Truly,
Lily Dawn Luchesi
Well, thought Draco with a drawl, she IS interested after all, but I could tell that from her father's letter. "Well, my Monday plan is ruined, but then, since tomorrow we'll be going to Hogsmeade, I guess that would be the best time. And Monday the whole school will be talking about it." said Draco with a grin.