The first defense meeting took place in the Room of Requirement at the end of October. It had been labeled the Hogwarts Alliance, or HA for short. The room had configured itself into a large rectangle with curved ends. Each end had an area to rest and get water, or a snack. The center area had dueling dummies, but Hari didn't think she would use them in the first meeting.
"Alright!" she called out. "Time to get started." Everyone turned to face her and quieted immediately. It made her feel funny. She conjured an assortment of pillows and instructed everyone to take a seat. "What we'll be doing in this room is practical defense. In order for us to train together, we have to trust each other. So," she took a breath, "here are the rules. Obviously, you can't talk about the group outside of these walls. In this room," Hari said slowly as she let her magic fill the room, "everyone will be treated equally. I don't care about your house, your blood, or any rivalries that go on outside of these walls. You never," she let sparks fly from her fingertips, "attack someone in anger. Slurs are prohibited and punishable by an assortment of creative curses I learned last year," she sucked her magic in and gave them a warm smile. "Let's begin."
They started with shields. Most of the younger kids struggled, as was expected, but Hari and Cedric wandered around, helping those in need.
"Protego is your best friend," Hari told them. "Learn to cast it on instinct."
"Protego!" Neville called out, deflecting a spell from a seventh year.
"Shit Nev, that new wand really suits you," Hari complimented him.
He smiled widely at the praise and got right back down to business. Being a prefect had done wonders for him. Hari found that she and Neville were quite similar. They were both willing to suffer in silence if they were the only one being harmed, but as soon as someone under their protection was threatened, they could be fierce and unafraid. All the first-year girls loved Neville. He was almost constantly surrounded by them in the common room.
The Slytherins were all grouped together, so Hari went over to break them up a little bit.
"Hey, Astoria," she called.
"Hi, Hari," the girl blushed.
"Your pronunciation is perfect, and your wand movement is good, but your stance is a little off. You want your feet shoulder length apart, just like that, that's perfect," she praised the small Slytherin. "Now move your dominant foot back behind you, good, and bend your knees a little bit. You want to be a little loose," she smiled as Astoria wriggled around. "Alright, this stance is going to help channel your magic through your body, but it's also helpful when you get hit by something." Hari moved over to the girl and gave her a slight nudge, "See, your body reacts to stabilize you before your brain does."
"That's cool," Astoria said.
"It is," Hari agreed, "Now let's try the shield, alright? I'll send something soft at you, don't worry," she said with a wink. "Ready?"
Astoria nodded, looking fierce and ready.
"Flipendo!"
"Protego!" Astoria still got pushed back a little bit, but less than she was expecting.
"Good!" Hari told the girl after she successfully deflected the spell. "Let's go again, but I'm going to increase the amount of magic I put into my spell. Ready?" She nodded again, and Hari recognized something in her eyes that she couldn't place.
"Flipendo!"
"Protego!" she called again. The shield broke but Astoria hadn't been pushed back at all.
Hari smiled, "That was brilliant, you're doing a great job, Astoria." Hari turned around and found the head of brown hair she was looking for. "Colin!" He ran over right away, practically beaming. "You've got a lot of power behind your spells, Col, but I noticed that your stance is a little off. I just taught Astoria, and she's going to teach you," she'd used the term of endearment on purpose, sweetening him up to the idea of working with Astoria, knowing Gryffindor prejudices might bleed through. As she left the pair her doubts faded away. The elder Greengrass had been watching the exchange and gave Hari a slight nod as their eyes met. Hari nodded back and moved on to bother Draco.
"Fancy a duel, Potter?" he asked with a laugh, and heads turned. All spells ceased as people from all houses turned to gage Hari's response.
"I'd be delighted," she said, smiling sweetly. "Fourth year and below?"
"Agreed. What do we fight to?" he asked as they made their way to the center of the room. The crowd parted as kids scrambled to get a good place along the walls.
"First blood?" she asked, removing her outer cloak and tossing it to the side. Draco had done the same and was rolling up his sleeves.
"Sound's fair," he replied with a smirk.
Cedric had come over to assist Hari in rolling up her own sleeve, and they faced each other when he was done.
"Scared, Potter?" he asked with a lightness in his voice she hadn't heard before.
"You wish," she smirked.
They bowed to each other, and Draco got the first spell off.
"Expeliarmus!"
Hari dodged and sent a hose of water at him. He, and others, were drenched, but he'd taken no damage. That would come next.
"Glacius!" Hari called, and the clothes on him froze, and his feet were trapped in place.
"Flip-,"
"Protego!" Hari got the spell off first, and deflected to knockback jinx, sending one back at him. "Flipendo!"
Draco fell on his back with feet that were still stuck to the ice. She ended the spell on the ice and held a hand out to help him up. He took it with no hesitation and Hari returned to her place at the end of the room.
He sent a wordless spell at her, and she blocked it. He sent two more, but she dodged, taking one step closer each time.
"Carpe retractum!" Hari yelled. Draco was seized and pulled close to her. As soon as he was close enough to touch, Hari elongated her nails, dropped her wand, and sliced Draco's shoulder.
Draco regained his composure and walked forward to shake Hari's hand. "Don't feel bad, Hari," he joked, "We all know I'm better than you."
"Very funny," she laughed as she took his hand.
"Yeah, yeah, you win," he replied as he walked away, still smiling. "I'll get you next time, though."
"Go get patched up, Draco," Hari laughed and checked her watch. She found that they only had fifteen minutes left in their allotted time, so she called everyone back to the floor with cushions.
"Alright, I'll take four questions," Hari began, and hands went up immediately, but she stopped them from shouting them out. "But you have to decide as a group which questions. Slytherins will work with Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaw with the lions, two questions each. And you have three minutes."
The move happened immediately as they separated themselves and began whispering to each other furiously.
"That was hot," Cedric whispered in her ear as he came up behind her.
"What was?" she asked, trying not to blush.
"You in professor mode," he replied. "And the intimidation as well."
"Yeah?" she asked, eyebrows raised. "I should do it more then."
"I agree."
They flirted for a bit more until Hari's watch beeped. "Alright, let's start with green and yellow, what's your first question?" Hari asked like she was a game show announcer.
Zabini stood, "What happened to your arm?"
"It was the price for Cedric's life," Hari said evenly. "I deflected a spell from hitting him and my arm has been numb ever since. But I can move my fingers a little bit," she wriggled them to demonstrate. "You're up ravens!"
"Where did you disappear to at the end of the maze?" Cho Change asked without standing.
"A graveyard," she responded. "I don't know, geographically, where we were, but it's where Tom's father, Tom Riddle Sr., is buried."
Draco rose again as she turned to them, "Is there really a Chamber of Secrets?"
Hari smiled, "Yes," she confirmed, and the snakes began happily whispering to each other. "I'm even willing to take your selected participant down for a little show-and-tell. Lions!" she turned to the other group, "Last question, make it a good one," she said with a wink.
To her surprise, it was Ron who stood up. "Why are you so chummy with Malfoy?" he asked, barely containing his anger. Hari turned back to Malfoy and asked for his permission by raising her eyebrows. He nodded shortly in response and Hari turned back to Ron.
"Draco and I have put our petty, childhood rivalry aside. Turns out we have a lot more in common than we thought." Ron didn't look convinced, but Hari didn't really care. "That's all for tonight! The twins are at the door, and they'll let you go in small groups." Hari walked over to the Slytherins, who were whispering amongst themselves.
"Will you really take someone down?" Zabini asked.
"I wouldn't have offered otherwise," she replied. "And we've got an hour until curfew. It's too late to go down but I can show you the entrance, so you know I'm not full of shit."
Their eyes widened and they shared another hushed conversation. Draco was arguing in favor of something, but she didn't know what.
"When you go down, will you take Blaise and Astoria?" he asked when he finally looked up.
"Why those two?" Hari asked.
"Both are universally seen as being neutral. The older crowd still favors Blaise, despite the fact that he's openly friendly with me, and the youngers favor Astoria."
"That's a part of why Daph brought me," Astoria said. "The younger years want to come but are scared. If I say it's alright, they'll come."
"I knew I liked you," Hari grinned. "Alright, let's go."
When the coast was clear, she led the Slytherins, and Cedric, down to Myrtle's bathroom and motioned for them to enter.
"No boys allowed!" Myrtle yelled.
"It's Cedric!" Hari called in a sing-song voice, knowing it would entice the girl. She came out of her stall immediately and chatted with Cedric while Hari opened the Chamber of Secrets for Draco, Blaise, Daphne, and Astoria.
"Holy fuck," Daphne said under her breath as the sinks disconnected from each other to reveal a giant hole.
"Last time we just… well, we jumped," Hari said, thinking back on how stupid that was, "~stairs? ~" And stairs appeared. "Of course," she laughed. "We were dumb at twelve."
"You were twelve?" Astoria asked.
"Yup," Hari replied with little feeling. "Wait till you see the corpse."
"There's a corpse?" Blaise asked.
Hari scoffed and looked around the room feeling super annoyed. "What do people think happened to the basilisk?"
"It was a basilisk?" Daphne almost screamed.
"Merlin," Hari sighed and shook her head, "That's a story for another day."
They nodded, all looking pale, and left the bathroom. Myrtle made her promise to bring Cedric next time, and he walked her back up to the tower.
"I can't believe you used me like a piece of meat," he laughed.
"It worked, didn't it?" she laughed back. "Myrtle is pretty easy to please."
"You were brilliant tonight," he said once they reached the portrait.
"So were you," she said, giving him a quick kiss. "I'm exhausted, but I'll see you at breakfast, right?"
"Course," he responded and kissed her again once more before they said goodnight.
Hari had been so stressed recently and Cedric hated to see her like that. She carried the weight of the world on her shoulders, but at the end of the day she was only fifteen. She needed to relax, and he knew exactly how she could. He broached the subject at the end of an HA meeting.
"I've thought of another way for you to relax," he said when they were mostly alone.
"Oh?" she asked with a coy smile while wiggling her eyebrows.
Cedric couldn't help but chuckle, "Not that," he said. "Do you know what Hufflepuff parties are known for?"
"Weed," she responded immediately. Then it clicked and she raised her eyebrows at him, "Are you offering?"
"I am," Cedric confirmed. "Have you ever done it before?"
"No," she replied. "Does Sprout grow? Please tell me she grows."
"She does," Cedric laughed.
"Yes," Hari said. She balled up her good hand into a fist and drew her arm down. "Ron owes me five sickles." Cedric chuckled again.
"There are rules for outsiders though. You'll have to stay the night in Hufflepuff."
"That sounds amazing," Hari replied.
"You won't be able to stay with me," he informed her, and she pouted a bit.
"Susan and Hannah are great, though. They'll take care of you."
Cedric was a bit nervous to have Hari spend the night in the Hufflepuff dorms. He felt it was a cruel twist of fate for her to be so close to him without being able to spend the night together. He was also a bit nervous to see how she would react to weed. It could be fine, she might be able to relax and forget about her worries for a bit, but… it could also go very wrong. A bad high for Hari would be unpredictable. He'd heard stories of people's magic not agreeing with the drug as well. Hari was incredibly powerful, if her magic reacted poorly there was no telling what would happen. For Cedric, it was worth the risk. Hari needed to relax, she needed a night to just be a teenager and he wanted to give that to her. It wasn't a surprise that she showed up with one of the Weasley twins, in fact, he should have expected it.
"Hey, I brought George with me," Hari said as Cedric opened up the door to the Hufflepuff common room.
"The more the merrier," he smiled.
"Thanks," George said. "Fred doesn't like smoking, so I don't get many opportunities."
"Woah," Hari said as she took in the room. "This place is awesome." It was very yellow, but it wasn't as aggressive a yellow as their robes. It was more pastel. The room was littered with dark furniture and plants. So many plants. It felt like the room was breathing. She almost wanted to stay forever.
"Thanks, Hari," Susan said, smiling sweetly. "Cedric says this'll be your first time?"
"Yeah," she said nervously.
"No need to be nervous," Cedric reassured her as he walked over to put an arm around her shoulder and kiss the side of their head. "Smoke room's this way," he said.
They settled into a small, circular room that was completely made out of pillows. On top of the pillows that made up the walls and floor, were even more pillows of all shapes, sizes, and shades of yellow. There were also blankets piled in each corner. More blankets than you could ever need.
Cedric sat in his favorite spot and held his arm up so Hari could snuggle into his side. George settled himself on Hari's other side, while Susan, Hannah, and Ernie sat across from them. Hannah had rolled the joint and was lighting it with the tip of her wand while Hari was trying to settle her nervous energy.
"So, what am I in for?" Hari asked the room.
"Fun," Ernie said with a smirk while Hannah giggled.
"You get really aware of your body," George said. "And time feels weird. Sometimes it feels really fast and sometimes it feels really slow."
"It's nice," Susan added, "It'll get you out of your head."
"That does sound nice," Hari said.
Ernie took a few puffs and passed it to Susan, who then passed it over to George.
"And if you don't like the way it feels, there's always a sobering potion," George told her.
Hari coughed horribly after taking a small hit, and the rest of the room laughed. She passed it to Cedric after catching her breath.
"Everyone coughs the first few times," Ernie said.
"Nothing to be embarrassed about," Susan said with a smile.
The joint went around a few more times before Susan put it out. Ernie and Hannah left soon after, but Susan stuck around to chaperone.
"You're sooo pretty, Ced," Hari laughed. "I don't tell you enough how pretty you are."
"You're feeling it, aren't you?" he laughed.
"Yes," she laughed again, "And it's wonderful. But seriously, Ced. Your hair is like, golden! Especially in the sun, it's such a vision."
"I agree," George said. He'd slumped over and was laying on his back with his legs over both Hari and Cedric. "It's pretty in the sun."
"See!" Hari said. "So pretty." She leaned her head against his shoulder and listened to him giggle while she petted his hair. Cedric let out a breath he'd been holding for days. She deserved this. One night to be happy and carefree before they went back to the trenches.
Susan pulled out a deck of muggle cards and the four of them spent the night playing different games, both muggle and magical. None of the games were played correctly, rules were ignored, and cards were thrown, but they had fun. Hari was smiling and laughing, and Cedric wanted the moment to last forever. He wanted to bottle her laughter and save it for a rainy day.
"I only need to get into Ravenclaw now," Hari said, mostly to herself.
"What was that, love?" Cedric asked. The cards had mostly been abandoned as the four of them relaxed against fluffy pillows and under soft blankets.
"Ravenclaw is the only common room I haven't seen now," she replied.
"When were you in Slytherin's common room?" Susan asked without opening her eyes.
"Second year," Hari replied. "We thought Malfoy knew something about the Heir of Slytherin so we," she giggled, "we brewed Polyjuice and snuck in," she giggled more. "He didn't know shit."
The rest of the night was a blur of laughter, giggles, and card tricks. Just before he fell asleep, Cedric leaned his head on Hari's and inhaled deeply, getting a different kind of high from the scent of the woman he loved.