32: Harry's Lessons

                                    

                                          
[victoria's pov]
Hermione and I handed out the fake Galleons in the Gryffindor common room, as Hermione and I explained how they worked.
"You see the numerals around the edge of the coins?" I asked the room, holding one up for examination. "On real Galleons, that's just the serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. But on the fake coins, they will show the date and time of the next D.A. meeting. Thanks to Fred and George, we've got enough for everyone in the D.A."--Fred and George smiled proudly.--"Hermione and I will hand out more to the other houses, so don't worry."
"Did you use the Protean charm?" Terry Boot asked. "Isn't that N.E.W.T.s standards?"
"Hermione did it," I said, looking at her.
"Why aren't you in Ravenclaw?" he demanded. "With brains like yours?"
"Well, the sorting hat seriously decided on putting me in Ravenclaw, but I got put in Gryffindor," she said. "So, we need a place to meet up. Has anyone got an idea where?"
No one raised their hands.
"That's fine," Hermione said. "We can search later."
"You know what these remind me of?" Harry said.
"What?" I asked.
"The Death Eaters' scars. Voldemort touches one of them, all the scars burn, and they know when to join him."
"Well, yes," I said. "But at least ours isn't engraved in our skin. It's much more... kid friendly."
   
Hermione and I were in the library with Ron and Harry, reading a book about the secret rooms of Hogwarts. We wanted to find a place before Saturday and it was already Friday.
"I don't believe it!" Hermione said. "Why can't we just use one of the classrooms? After all, McGonagall let Harry use them when he was practicing for the tournament!"
"I think McGonagall would let us," I said. "But with Umbridge as the Inquisitor, she'll be everywhere. And there's Filch."
Hermione sighed in frustration and someone burst into the library loudly, almost tripping over a chair. It was Neville.
"Harry, Hermione, Ron, Victoria!" he cried, panting. "You won't believe your eyes of what I've discovered! It's for-"
"Professor Sprout's new plants!" I said loudly and stood up, making some Slytherins jump and scowl at me.
"Oh.. yeah... for the new plants. They really are interesting," he said. "Come on!"
The four of us followed Neville down an empty corridor. It wasn't the usual path I took, but I knew the way around. Eventually, Neville came to a stop. He closed his eyes in focus and said, "If you ever need a place to go, just think about it. Imagine the room you want the D.A. to meet in."
Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "We haven't got time for-"
"Harry, look!" Hermione exclaimed, pointing to a door that wasn't there before.
A highly polished door had appeared in front of them, in the wall. Ron stared at it, looking slightly wary. Harry reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled the door open, and we all entered.
The walls were lined with wooden bookcases, and instead of chairs, there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakascopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large cracked foe-glass.
"These would be great to practice stunning!" Ron said, prodding one of the pillows with his foot.
"And look at these books!" Hermione said excitedly. "A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions... The Dark Arts Outsmarted... wow..."
I could see her face glowing. The presence of hundreds of books had convinced Hermione that what they were doing was right.
   
"Wow," Fred said, looking around. "We hid in here, remember, Victoria? But it was just a small broom cupboard then..."
"I remember clearly," I said, grinning at the memory.
It was finally Saturday and the twenty-five of us were gathered in--which Neville called--the Room of Requirement. Hermione had told me they weren't mentioned in any of the books we read because very few people knew about it.
"Harry, what are these called?" Dean Thomas asked, holding a Sneakascope.
"Dark Detectors," Harry replied.
I saw Ginny with the same boy I saw the other day and smoothly walked over to her.
"Who's that boy?" I whispered. "You never told me."
"Oh, him?" she asked, blushing. "Michael Corner... he's my boyfriend."
"Aw," I said. "But if he hurts you, let me know."
She laughed and said, "Oh, I doubt you would be able to get to him before Fred and George."
We laughed even harder and Hermione gathered everyone to start the first lesson. Harry nervously gave his first order.
"Shall we get practicing then?" he said. "I was thinking we should start with the simple Expelliarmus, you know, the disarming spell. I know it's pretty basic, but it's really useful-"
"Oh please," Zacharias Smith interrupted, rolling his eyes, and folding his arms. "I doubt Expelliarmus is going to exactly help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"
I gave him a dirty look and Harry said, "I've used it against him. It saved my life last June."
Smith opened his mouth stupidly and Fred and George snickered.
"Ok, I reckon we should pair up for practice," Harry said.
Everyone scattered and someone tapped me on the shoulder. To my surprise, it was Cho. She smiled weakly and said, "Wanna pair up?"
Since Fred was paired with George and Lee was paired up with his crush, Angela, I figured why not?
"Of course," I said.
The room was suddenly full of shouts of "Expelliarmus!" Wands flew in all directions. Some spells missed and knocked books off the shelves.
"Expelliarmus!" I shouted, disarming Cho.
She was taken by surprise when her wand flew several feet into the air and all the way across the room.
"Good one!" she said enthusiastically.
"Accio Wand!" I shouted and her wand flew into my hand. I threw it back at her as we repeated the steps.
Several times, Cho was getting distracted by Harry. She would glimpse at him and blush heavily when he made eye contact with her.
Oh my Godric, I thought. Cho likes Harry!
But others might have thought it would be weird if they started dating because some thought Harry killed Cedric or something like that. So, some people would think badly of her if she started dating him. Things would get very complicated.
I saw Fred and George on pause, disarming Zach every time he opened his mouth. I laughed and Fred looked at me with a twinkle in his eye.