Hogwarts Love Story pt 29

Here is part twenty-nine. Rebecca Gardener, hp4evr's winning character, makes an appearence in the first DA meeting of the series. I hope you enjoy this edition!

Any comments are welcome, as always. I apologise for the distinct lack of results and options. It's something that I find rarer difficult to do, unless I'm feeling especially creative.

Created by: vulturemonem
  1. It was two weeks, stacks of homework, my rather uneventful birthday and rather too many lots of 'hem hem' later that Hermione brought up the topic of Harry and Cedric teaching people Defense Against the Dark Arts. Cedric was on-board with the plan, but wanted Harry to be involved. After a rather tentative, awkward discussion amongst the five of us, Harry agreed to meet people and talk to them about it. Hermione was estatic, and Cedric seemed pretty pleased. Harry, however, seemed unable to get Sirius out of his mind. I supposed nobody could blame him. After all, Sirius was the kind of man that would risk everything and turn up in Hogsmead, bounding around us. Possibly under the nose of Draco.
  2. So, on a cold, windy day in early October, four Griffendors a d one Hufflepuff made their way into the Hogshead, feeling rather too much like they were doing something naughty. Although, Hermione had checked the rules over and over again, and come back saying that there was no rule against homework groups and the like. Ron had snorted at that. I doubted Umbrudge would consider our little proposal a 'homework' group. We ordered some butterbeers, and the guy behind the counter slammed five filthy bottles down on the table, along with chipped glasses. Hermione winced, and then we paid. "Who's coming?" Harry asked. "Just a few people," Hermione replied, "Oh, that could be them..." she trailed off as the door swung open, to reveal many more than a few Hogwarts students. Most of whom were Griffendors, but there were also a few Ravenclaws, and a couple of Hufflepuffs. Hermione seemed to have neglected to inform any Slytherins. I was totally in agreement with that course of action. "Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves, "Well - er - hi." Everyone looked to Hermione as she spoke, and she introduced the idea to them. When she began to mention Lord Voldermort, her voice became stronger. After she'd spoken, there was a moment of discussion about the proof that Lord Voldermort had returned. With a slight sigh, Harry answered their questions. Nobody moved. "Is it true," a Hufflepuff I knew to be Susan Bones began, "That you can cast a patronus? A corporeal patronus?" "Er, yes," Harry replied, "You don't know Madame Bones do you?" "She's my auntie," Susan relied, smiling, "She told me about your hearing. She believed you." I shot Susan a smile, and she smiled back at me. I had a feeling that we had at least one supporter. And Cho Chang had also turned up. I had no doubt that she'd be supportive of Harry, owing to her little crush. Of course, all of the Weasley's seemed eager too. The discussion changed to what Harry could do, and several people listed the things he'd done over his years at Hogwarts. Harry went on to explain that it was different in the real world, and that he had help with some stuff. "Well, we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it," Zararias Smith said. "That's not what he said," snarled Fred. "Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" enquired George, pulling a long and lethal looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags. I felt the need to step in. "Dyou know what?" I began, keeping my voice calm and level, "Forget about Voldermort. If you like, imagine he isn't back, it doesn't matter at all. But regardless of that, there are two reasons you should shut up and listen to what Harry has to say." By now, I seemed to have the attention of all in the room, so I continued. "Firstly, there is no way in holy hell that you can pass your OWLs by learning the theory, and trying the spell for the first time in the exam. Umbridge clearly doesn't know what she's talking about. I know the theory of a patronus, I've studied it a lot, but I can't cast it. You have to practise. So, if you don't feel the need to pass your OWLs, get out." Nobody moved, so I took a deep breath, before continuing with my second reason. "And secondly, just because Voldermort isn't back - which he is - doesn't mean there aren't people out there that want to hurt you. My brother was killed, ten years ago, by a Death Eater. There are always people that are out to hurt you. Who here watches the muggle news?" A few hands were raised, including that of Hermione and Harry. "Then you know that there are always bad people around that are going to shoot you. If you don't know how to run, you haven't got much chance."
  3. After a little more discussion, Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment, and everyone present signed their name. The students left, and Cho gave Harry a little wave. He blushed a little, and we all walked out, after tipping the bar-man with a sickle. It was a lousy tip, but the Hogshead was a lousy pub. As we headed back to Hogwarts, Hermione let slip that Ginny was dating Micheal Corner, which, of course, caused Ron to mutter furiously all the way back. Cedric chuckled. "Easy Ron. Micheal isn't a bad guy." "He's dating my sister!" Ron burst out. We all laughed. "Seriously Ron, drop it. Girls don't like it when people try to control them," I said as we reached the castle. Ron still didn't look happy.
  4. The following morning, however, we were pulled down from our high rather briskly, and yanked back down to Earth. Umbridge had taken action against us. BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS All student organizations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded. An organization, 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 organization, 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 organization, 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 I stared at the sign, horrified, and looked to Ginny, whom I was walking down to breakfast with. "She knows. Somebody must have told her," Ginny said, "Smith, I bet you." I shook my head. "If somebody has ratted us out, we'd known. Hermione did something to that piece of paper. If you spot somebody covered in red boils, you know who did it." Ginny grinned, but her smile fell as soon as she looked back up at the notice, hanging on the wall. "What do we do?" she asked quietly. "Harry will still do it. So will Cedric," I said, with a sigh, "We'll just have to be more secretive." Still discussing the new development, Ginny and I walked into the hall for breakfast. Just as we sat down, somebody wailed our names. "Ginny! Cailey!" "What's up Angelina?" I asked, turning to face my captain. "You do realise she's including Quidditch in this? We have to seek permission to reform!" "What?" Ron asked, appearing behind her, "Are you kidding me?" Angelina shook her head, appearing on the verge of tears. "Whatever you do Harry, Cailey, don't go loosing your temper with Umbridge again. Please!" "We'll behave, I promise," Harry said, laying a hand on her shoulder. Angelina nodded and sat down by her friends, looking extremely upset. Every face at the Griffendor table, including those of the naí¯ve first-years at the prestigious seventh-years looked grim.
  5. During History of Magic, Hedwig turned up at the window, injured. After wrong-footing Binns, Harry rushed off to find Grubbly-Plank. It brought my mind back to Hagrid. Where was he? What was he doing? Sirius had said that he and Madame Maxine had been separated while doing something for Dumbledore, but was Hagrid hurt? I sighed, and looked across at Hermione, who had taken double the notes I had. When the lesson finished, Hermione, Ron and I headed out of the classroom to find Harry. He'd left Hedwig with Grubbly-Plank, and then showed us the letter. Sirius had told us that he was meeting us 'same time same place'. Hermione said that somebody must have intercepted Hedwig. It seemed probable. All four of us sporting heavy hearts at the grim feeling of our fifth year, we headed to potions. As we waited outside the classroom, we spotted Draco talking to his Slytherin friends. "Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway, I went to ask her first thing this morning. Well, it was pretty much automatic, I mean, she knows my father really well, he's always popping in and out of the Ministry... it'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it?" he drawled, being his typical, Slytherin self. Ron looked ready to take a swing at Draco, so I shot him a warning look. Feeling devious, I snatched Hermione's wand from her hand and rolled my own across the floor. Using Hermione's wand, I nudged it towards the group of Slytherins as Draco continued talking. Throwing Hermione's wand back to her, I went to retrieve my own. "Shut up," I hissed in Draco's ear as I passed him. Pansy shot me a dirty look, but Draco fell into silence. Snape opened the door at that moment, and told us to go in. Umbridge was sitting in the corner, smiling sweetly. I couldn't decide who I wanted to prevail.
  6. That evening, in the common room, Angelina told us that there was no Quidditch practise. "But we kept our temper!" I said, "Honestly Angelina, we did!" "I know. She said she needed the to consider," Angelina said miserably. Ron, having let out a quiet stream of profanities, turned to his Potions homework. Just as I was about to dip my quill in the ink and start on my History of Magic homework, there was a crack in the fire. I hadn't realised how late it was, but nobody else was in the common room, so I turned to the fire. "Sirius!" "Hi Cailey," Sirius said, grinning, "How are things you lot?" After complaining a little about Umbridge, Sirius hinted about our Defense Against the Dark Arts group. "You need to choose your meeting places more carefully. The Hog's Head I ask you," he scoffed. "But the Three Broomsticks is always so crowded-" Hermione began, but Sirius cut her off. "And so there's less chance of being overheard." He went on to talk about Mundungus, and then passed on a message from Mrs. Weasley, begging us not to take part in this. I rolled my eyes. "So you don't want us to do this?" Ron asked. "Me? No, I think it's a great idea," Sirius said enthusiastically. We discussed it for a while, and I begged Sirius not to tell anybody that Cedric was in on this, if Mundungus hadn't already. I didn't want my boyfriend in trouble with the people that would probably be his colleagues the following year. Sirius nodded with the affirmative. Suddenly, he froze, and disappeared. We all frowned, until we saw a hand with stubby finger, upon which resided several old-fashioned, ugly rings. We gasped and stepped back from the fire. Umbridge seemed determined to seize Sirius, which could mean only one thing. The old hag had been reading Harry's mail.
  7. The next evening, the rain was hammering down on the Quidditch field when we headed out to practise, Umbridge having let us reform. Angelina kept us at it for over an hour before finally admitting defeat. "Holy hell," Ron groaned, "I think I'm going to be wet for the next month." Harry and I both grimaced. "Trust me, Oliver wouldn't have given up that quickly," I said. Ron laughed humourlessly. Drenched through, we walked up the stairs and towards the Griffendor common room. Just as we reached the last flight of stairs, somebody called my name. I turned round and found myself face-to-face with Draco. "I'll see you later," I said to Harry and Ron. They watched me for a second, before Harry nodded. Smiling at my two friends, I turned back to Draco and walked towards him. "I'd offer you a walk round the grounds, but it's pouring with rain," Draco said, "And you look wet enough." "Thanks," I said, rolling my eyes, "So considerate of you. How are you?" Draco's expression shifted, and he looked rather uncomfortable. He let out a pained sigh and ran his long, white fingers through his gelled blond hair. "My father is insistent that we support the Dark Lord," he said. "You don't want to?" "I don't know. But, well, it's not like I have a choice," Draco said bitterly. "You always have a choice," I said softly, "But sometimes I suppose the choice can cost your life," I said, thinking about the sacrifice Harry's mother made the day she died. Draco laughed harshly. Ther was no humour in his voice. "Exactly." "Anything in particular you wanted, or did you just want to chat?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're ok for a Griffendor, but I don't talk to you in daylight for a chat," Draco said. I hit him lightly on his arm. "I'm warning you Cailey." "What about?" I asked, sensing the urgency and seriousness of his tone. I had to admit, it worried me a little. "Cailey I-" he sighed, "I'm no good with the sentimental stuff, but I care about you. I never thought I'd say that about a Griffendor. A muggle-born Griffendor at that, but I do. I don't want to see you killed or anything. Please, don't do anything stupid," he begged me. I bit my lip, smiling very slightly in confusion. "I only do stupid things for a good cause," I said eventually. Draco sighed. "I know. That's the problem. Let me rephrase what I said: Don't do anything more stupid than you need to." "I won't," I promised. "Thank you," Draco said, "I need to go." I nodded and bid him goodbye. What on Earth was it with Draco?
  8. The next evening, Harry lead Ron and Hermione towards a room that Dobby had told him about for our very first practise of the year. He told Cedric and I to follow him afterwards. After waiting a few minutes, Cedric and I headed to the location Harry had told us about. "The room of requirement," I whispered when we entered the room, "Of course." "You knew about this?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows. "You're the one that reads all the books, I'm the one that spent her nights sneaking into the restricted section in our second year. Yes," I said, shrugging. Harry shot me a grin. All through our second year, Harry had leant me his cloak so that I could research things about the Chamber of Secrets. While doing that, I came across many other things that filled hour after hour of my night. I was snapped from my reminiscing when a group of students entered. "Woah," Dean Thomas said, "This place is awesome." By eight o'clock, everyone on Hermione's list had turned up, ad Harry and Cedric were elected as leaders. We also named our group the DA, for Dumbledore's Army. It was a great name, though I had been temped my Fred's suggestion of 'The Ministry of Magic are Morons Group'. Harry and Cedric stood up, turning to face us. Harry looked exceedingly uncomfortable, so Cedric took charge. "Ok, so this is where we'll be practising from now on. Make sure that the location stays amongst DA members only. Shall we start practising then?" Cedric looked across at Harry. Harry realised it was his turn to speak, and suggested we start with the disarming charm. After a few mutters, we all stood up and divided off into pairs. I turned to Ginny, who had been standing on my right, but saw that she'd been whisked away by her boyfriend. Sighing, I spotted Neville also standing alone, but felt a cool hand on my arm. I turned round to face the owner of the hand. I didn't recognise the girl. She had blonde, slightly wavy hair that reached her shoulders, pulled back into a neat ponytail. Her eyes were a sharp green, and sat below high, arches eyebrows. This gave her a look of slight disdain, though made her face appear rather neat and pretty. There was something in her eyes that I couldn't quite place, but I shook it off. Her cherry lips were full, and curved into a slight smile, glossed over with a little lip-gloss. Why she had worn lip-gloss to a meeting where she'd be jinxed was beyond me. She was quite tall, and had a slim figure. She stood at the same height as I did - exactly the same height. I smiled back at her. "Can I work with you?" she asked, her tone eloquent. I nodded before I'd realised what I was doing. "Ok then!" Harry called, facing Neville. Cedric was standing in front Storm. I noticed that Arianna was not present. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen her around Hogwarts at all since the end of the previous year. Hm... "One, two, three!" There were shouts of 'Expelliarmus' around the room, including my own towards the girl in front of me, who, I realised, as her wand flew from her hand, I still did not know the name of. She stood up and retrieved her wand. "Hold on a moment," I said, as she prepared to disarm me. "Hm?" "I don't know your name, sorry. I'm Cailey Rivers. I'm in Griffendor," I said. "Rebecca Gardener," the girl said, smiling, "Ravenclaw." Nit a second later, she was shouting her charm, and my wand flew from my hand. I noticed Cedric and Harry wandering around the room, talking to people and fixing mistakes. Both Rebecca and I seemed pretty evenly matched, and soon tired of chanting the same word. "Seriously?" Rebecca asked, nodding to Neville, "What is he? Ten?" I glared at her. "Not everyone can be an amazing wizard," I retorted. Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "You're friends with him?" "Yeah, Neville's a good friend," I said. Rebecca said nothing more on the subject. "Have you been at Hogwarts long?" she asked. I was slightly taken aback. "Well I'm in my fifth year. I've been at Hogwarts since my first," I said, "You?" "I'm in my fifth year too, but I've just transferred from Beauxbatons," she said. "You, er, don't sound French," I said, hesitantly. "I'm not. My father and mother fell out, and my mother moved me to France. They're back together now, so I switched to Hogwarts. My father is a muggle," she said. I nodded, not entirely sure what to say. "You seem to have a lot of friends here," Rebecca said, seeming casual. I frowned slightly, but nodded. "I'm lucky, I suppose. I was never much of a people-person in my primary school. Then again, I was around muggles. I'm a muggle-born," I added, "But my mother has a muggle-born brother. They fell out. My family seem to do a lot of falling out. My father also had a brother, he was a muggle too. I've never met him." Rebecca nodded. "My father was the same. Funny huh?" "How're we doing?" Cedric asked, appearing behind me. Turning back to Rebecca, I disarmed her easily. Cedric nodded at me, and Rebecca took her turn. "Good. I expect we'll do something harder next week," Cedric said, smiling, "Everyone seems to be getting the hang of this one." I grinned at Cedric. "Has Harry moved away from Cho for the last ten minutes?" I asked. "No," Cedric said, laughing, "Go back to chatting, you're distracting me," he said. I turned back to Rebecca. "Was that Cedric Diggory? The Tri-Wizard champion?" she asked. Again, I caught something in her sharp emerald eyes, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Instead, I nodded. "You're friends?" "He's my boyfriend," I said. Rebecca nodded slowly, watching something over my shoulder. Her eyes flickered back to me, and she smiled. "I didn't really want to come to this," she admitted, "But I decided to give it a shot. Umbridge is teaching us nothing, and I want to pass my exams." I agreed with her, and then Harry called us over. The last few wands clattered to the ground, and a time for the next meeting was arranged. With that, Harry and Cedric let people out in small groups. I grinned at Harry and Cedric, and gave them each a hug. "That was great," I said, still smiling widely. I felt happier than I had at all in the entire year.
  9. Little did I know that it was the happiest I would feel for several years to come.
  10. (vulturemonem) I hope you enjoyed that edition. The fifth year is a year I'm looking forward to writing about, although I'll be following the original plot quite closely. The sub-plot for this year will centre around Rebecca Gardener, who was hp4evr's winning character in my recent character contest. I'm going to keep this brief, so I can go and start work on part 30! xXvulturemonemXx

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