Chapter Forty Seven
Harry, Pansy, Daphne, Hermione and Cho were all allowed out of the hospital wing the next morning, their bruises fading slowly.
Pansy and Daphne each had a severely bruised ankle and hobbled out on crutches. Draco, Neville and William were all waiting for them when they left. William rushed over the second Pansy was out of the door and gave her a tight hug.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
Pansy shifted her weight and nodded. Her hands were already hurting from the solid crutch handles and would be grateful to come off them; Madam Pomfrey thought that she should be finished with the crutches before lessons began on Tuesday.
"Hem hem," Umbridge coughed, "There seem to be a lot of you in your 'group'."
"So?" Harry asked.
"Educational Decree Twenty-Four says that students may not gather in groups of three or more." Umbridge reminded them.
"Professor Umbridge, it's still Easter half term, and Educational Decree Twenty-Four was suspended." Daphne said slowly.
"After the events of yesterday all Educational Decrees are back in effect." Umbridge nodded patronisingly, "There was a memo posted, in the Entrance hall."
"Ah yes because the squid wouldn't of bothered to attack if there was only three of us together." Harry muttered, rolling his eyes.
"We've not been to the Entrance Hall yet, we wanted to walk them down for breakfast." William said.
"I see." Umbridge sighed, "Well, now you know. I suggest you all head to breakfast and get something yummy. In small groups."
Harry gritted his teeth and stormed off down the corridor, Cho and Hermione following him quickly. Neville, Draco and Daphne walked along next, glaring at Professor Umbridge who smiled patronisingly at them.
"I'm glad I get to walk with you." William smiled, making sure he was at least a foot away from her, "How are you feeling?"
Pansy tried to shrug and nearly tripped over her crutches, William reached out to catch her and pulled his hand quickly from her side.
"I'm all right." Pansy smiled, "Better that you're here."
William grinned.
"Sorry that was a little cheesy wasn't it?" Pansy laughed, "But it is true. You seem to calm me."
"Well I'm glad, very glad." William smiled, blushing slightly, "I actually have something to give you."
"Oh?" Pansy said, smiling back.
William looked around quickly and, seeing no one was watching, tucked a lock of hair behind Pansy's ear.
He dug into his robes pocket and pulled out a delicate silver chain, "It's a replacement for the braided anklet, something a little more sturdy."
Pansy took it and ran her fingers over the fine silver, "Thank you. It's beautiful."
William grinned, "I thought you'd like it. It has a password to undo it, it's in the box and it has three unbreakable charms so it would take a lot to get this one off."
Pansy lowered the chain into the pale pink box William held out for her before tucking it into her school bag, "I'm very grateful. I'll swap over the charms tonight."
"What are you two doing here?" Professor Umbridge asked, marching back up the corridor towards them.
"We were just coming." William smiled tightly.
"Breakfast will be all cold by the time you two get down there with all this dilly dallying." Umbridge smiled broadly.
"It's difficult to walk on my crutches." Pansy hissed, "Professor."
Umbridge sighed loudly, "Watch your tone Miss Parkinson, we don't want a detention do we?"
Pansy gritted her teeth and glared at Umbridge, "Forgive me, Professor."
Umbridge smiled again, "Good girl. Now, trot along."
The Great Hall was not very full by the time Pansy and William said goodbye and slid into their seats. Harry, Daphne, and Draco shuffled over to sit around Pansy.
"We saved you some toast." Daphne smiled, "Is everything OK?"
Pansy gave her a sad smile, "William gave me this." she said, showing them the anklet in its box.
"That's beautiful." Daphne said, "And very thoughtful."
"So what's wrong?" Harry asked.
Pansy waved her hand dismissively, "I'm just being silly. It's just, I'm fifteen, nearly sixteen and I really like William and because of her I can't even eat breakfast with him, let alone hold hands or any of the normal stuff. I just want to be normal."
Harry smiled sadly, he couldn't blame her. He would of gladly given up his magic last year if not taking part in the Triwizard Tournament would of stopped Voldemort from regaining his power and saved Cedric. He would have been normal, going to a normal school and not having a girlfriend who was grieving the death of her last boyfriend or chasing Dementors away from his baby sister or fighting off giant squid.
Nothing in their lives was normal any more.
"I wish it wasn't the case." Draco said kindly, "I wish we could just go back to focusing on exams and not impending doom. But it's only going to get worse, I wish it wasn't but either the Ministry wakes up and we're at battle stations or You-know-who takes power and we've already lost."
Daphne rolled her eyes, Draco wasn't helping, "William really likes you, and he'll wait for you, until all of this is over." Daphne said, giving Pansy's hand a squeeze.
Pansy wiped her nose with her free hand and shrugged, "I know. He's a good one, my biggest worry is that when the time comes, that 'this' is all over, one of us isn't going to be here." she said, breaking out into sobs.
"That's why the DA is so important." Draco said, barely more than a whisper, "This is a war, people are going to die, people have died, we just have to make sure that if our number is up, it's not because we didn't do everything we possibly could in order to make sure we could fight."
Pansy smiled and took a deep breath, "You're right. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it." Harry said, "We're all allowed a wobble now and again."
"When is the next DA meeting?" Pansy asked.
"Don't you have your coin?" Daphne asked.
Pansy shook her head, "I think it must have fallen in the water when the squid attacked."
"We've got spares, and next meeting we will get them programmed into everyone." Daphne assured her.
"Next meeting is tonight, seven o'clock. I took the risk and changed the date last night after Madam Pomfrey had gone to bed." Harry told her, "After the squid went a bit nuts I figured it would be an idea to get a lessen in as soon as possible."
Pansy nodded, "Not sure how much good I'll be on these things," gesturing to her crutches, "but I'll do my best."
"You can help with the coins, if you, Hermione and I all work on them, we should be able to get a lot finished, if not all of them." Daphne said, she looked at her watch and at the quickly emptying tables, "We should head off, Umbridge will get suspicious if we're the last ones out."
Harry, Pansy and Draco nodded and gathered up their things. Harry and Pansy spent a few hours playing chess in the common room, Daphne and Draco were at Quidditch practice. Once they returned they all worked to reduce the large pile of homework that was stacking up, and went over the last details of the next DA lesson plan.
At half passed six they began to pack away their school books and changed into comfortable clothes.
"It's a pity your filthy Ravenclaw boy toy can't give you a kiss." Gemini mocked as they left the common room, "It might improve your face."
"It's a pity we'll never have the chance to find out if it would of worked for you." Pansy spat back at her.
"I doubt it, look at her mother!" Daphne laughed.
"Why would that change anything?" Harry asked seriously, "I'm not sure their dad's ever worked up the courage to kiss 'it'."
Gemini's eyes flared with anger. Rodolphus throw his book down and jumped up, standing up next to his sister.
"How dare you talk about our parents like that?!" Rodolphus hissed, "Especially you." he said, jabbing a finger at Harry.
"Come along." Pansy sighed, "They're not worth the effort."
Harry was sure that they were still screaming insults behind them as the common room door closed but he didn't care. He was too angry at what Bellatrix did last year to have any ounce of respect left for the Lestranges.
They were half way to the come and go room when Daphne stopped and looked behind her, her blonde hair flipping quickly over her shoulder as she turned.
"What is it?" Draco asked.
Daphne shook her head, "Nothing, nothing. I thought I saw a flash of light. Sorry. It was probably just Peeves."
"If it was Peeves, we should hurry." Harry said, looking around, "The last thing we need is him drawing attention to us."
They made their way quickly to the seventh floor where the door to the come and go room stood, blending in slightly with the walls.
Luna, Cho, William, Hermione and Neville were already there, setting up cushions on the floor and talking quietly between one another.
"Hey Harry." Luna said with a smile, "I heard you were in the hospital wing over night, I hope you're not ill."
Harry smiled, "Not ill. It was just a precaution after being attacked by the squid."
"I've never known the squid to harm anyone." Luna mused, "He always seems sweet. Did you upset him?"
"I..." William coughed nervously, "I'm not sure it was the squid exactly. There are just a few things that don't add up."
"What do you mean?" Pansy asked, lowering herself onto one of the sofas.
"I think someone sent it after you." William said, "But I don't know why they would."
"Your book." Draco said suddenly with a frown.
"My book?" Harry asked, not following at all.
"You sleep with your book on your bedside table, even if you've finished it, until you swap it for a new one." Draco said, still frowning, "And when I got back to the dorm, just after the attack, it was in your trunk."
"The one I'd just finished?" Harry said.
Draco nodded.
"Do you remember where you put your book?" Hermione asked, "I mean it would make more sense to put it away in your trunk once you've finished."
Harry thought back but it was all blurry. He thought he could remember it both ways, it was such a small thing, not enough for him to really take note of.
"I'm sorry I can't remember." Harry shrugged, "Was anything else out of place?"
Draco shook his head, "No, nothing."
"I suggest we focus on the lesson for now." Cho said softly as in twos and threes the room filled with the other members of the DA.
Harry waited until everyone had arrived before explaining the lesson plan for that day, working on Patronuses, and that Daphne, Hermione and Pansy would be working on the coins, making it so there could be more communication between the coins.
"It will require a small drop of blood," Daphne explained, "From each of you. However it should make it far easier to have more regular lessons with smaller groups of people."
"Anyone who doesn't want to give a drop of blood, we understand, but it wont hurt." Hermione smiled.
"Any objections?" Harry asked, no one raised their hand, not even Zacharias Smith, "Brilliant, then I suggest we start of the Patronus Charm. This one is tricky but not impossible, the main thing is to really focus on your happy memory."
Harry waited until everyone had spread out and gotten their wands ready.
"The charm is 'Expecto Patronum' and is said with a circular wand movement." Harry showed them, a silver stag burst from the end of his wand and galloped once around the room before fading.
Everyone in the room gave him a round of applause, Harry grinned and bowed to each side of the room before straightening up, "So that's what we're after. It's tough to get the corporeal form though and a shield is also very useful, certainly better than nothing."
"Is it true there was an attack?" Pavati asked, raising her hand, "Over the summer? I heard you and your sister were attacked."
Harry took a deep breath and nodded, "Yes, that's true. I was in a park and we were attacked by two Dementors. With Voldemort around, and more people suffering, there will be more and more random attacks which is one of the reasons it's a very important spell to learn. Believe me, being on the wrong end of a Dementor attack isn't nice."
"William, Neville and Harry." Hermione said, "We'll start on your coins first."
Harry nodded and walked over to where the girls were sitting. He handed his coin to Hermione and focused on watching the group of students.
Hermione pressed her wand against the tip of his forefinger and a tiny drop of blood emerged. He let it drop onto the coin, which glowed red for a moment. Hermione gave him a small nod and muttered under her breath, looping her wand in a figure of eight over the coin.
Harry continued to watch the class, Hermione dismissed him after about ten minutes, calling over Cho. So far, no one in the class had managed more than a thin wisp.
"Really really focus." Harry said, walking amongst them, "Your happiest memor..."
Harry took a deep breath, as the whole class turned slowly towards where the door was silently opening.
Professor Umbridge stood before them, Filch to her side, the broadest smile Harry had ever seen on her face and her wand out stretched.