It is seven o'clock on a Friday when Daniel and I slip unnoticed from the Common Room and head towards the fifth floor.
"Where are we supposed to meet them?" I whisper.
"Classroom 5B," he replies casually. "Why are you whispering?"
"I was under the impression that we were sneaking around."
Dan shrugs. "If we look like we're sneaking around, it will be obvious that we are."
This comment makes little to no sense to me, but I keep my mouth shut for the next few minutes.
"Where are your friends?" I eventually ask. Dan is usually surrounded by a group of guys who are always joking around or laughing with (or at) other people or flirting with girls. Most of them are annoying, but some of them are nice.
Dan is silent for a moment. Then, "They aren't coming."
"They don't want to?"
"They're scared. And so am I, but I...I want to make a point." He grimaces. "I'm not letting anyone control me. Especially not the Carrows."
I look at him, but he does not meet my eyes. I'd never really thought of Dan as being the type to choose moral over his friends--despite their faults, they're a tightly knit group. They stick by each other no matter what. But then, so did Romilda and I.
Were we ever friends? Or were we held together only by the others? Or was it the other three and I being held together by Jenna? Maybe I haven't even been in our group for a long time. Maybe I never was....
"You seem quiet."
I look up. "Pardon?"
"I said that you seem quiet," Daniel repeats.
"Oh, sorry. I guess just...I've got a lot on my mind."
Dan gives me a look of sympathy. "Millie?"
"Yeah," I mutter, embarrassed. "What's it to you?"
Daniel is silent for a moment. "Beatrice, not all friends are forever," he says finally. "All of that stuff about being best friends forever? It's not true. People grow up. They change."
For some reason, I feel tears prickling my eyes. Romilda and I were friends for so long, and now...we just aren't.
"And how do you know all of this?" I ask. "Being Mr. Popular and all?"
Now he's the one who looks embarrassed. "Look, it's nothing. Just know that it's not your fault if Romilda is acting this way."
We don't talk after that. Not until we reach the fifth floor and slip into classroom 5B.
As we enter the old classroom, several people look up nervously.
"Hi," I say lamely.
"Hi," says a red-haired girl who I recognize as Ginny Weasley. "You here to join or just looking for an empty room?"
I feel my face go red and splutter for a moment. Then Dan regains his voice.
"Er--the former. This is Dumbledore's Ar--?"
"Shut up!" says a seventh year with sandy hair nervously. His voice has an Irish lilt to it. "Don't talk so loudly and just get in here!"
Still embarrassed, I stumble into the room after Dan.
"We're just waiting for the stragglers," a slightly chubby seventh year says. He must be Neville Longbottom, the ringleader. "We'll start in a few minutes."
I sit down as far away from Dan as possible. He looks hurt. I know it's not his fault, but there's no way that I'm having anyone even assume that...urgh.
The last people to arrive are two seventh year girls from Hufflepuff, who duck inside breathlessly.
–Sorry we’re late,†says the taller one. Her hair is woven into two braids, and her wide brown eyes look nervous. –Crabbe and Parkinson were tailing us, and we had to throw them off.â€
–Wonder what they were doing together,†mutters the Irish boy. The girl next to him punches his arm. She’s Lavender Brown--I know her because she had an extremely public relationship with one of the Weasleys last year (though I can’t remember what his name was).
–Alright, Neville,†whispers Ginny after Silencing and Locking charms have been put up around the room. –Go on.â€
Longbottom stands up, looking unsure of himself. –Ah…right. Well, hello, everyone. As you can tell, a few things--well, a lot of things, actually--have changed this year. And not for the better.†He pauses, looking uncertain.
–We mean to counter-attack,†says Ginny, standing up alongside him. –We’re going to show the Carrows and the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who himself where we stand.â€
–Ginny, last time Dumbledore’s Army was around we all got caught,†a sixth year says. –You remember that, don’t you?â€
–Who doesn’t?†Ginny mutters.
–There’s a lot bigger things out there than getting a few detentions now,†Neville says. –Times have changed.â€
–Harry’s still out there,†says a Ravenclaw girl with misty gray eyes and dirty blond hair. She appears to have radishes hanging from her ears, which is rather frightening. –There’s still hope.â€
–But we can’t wait here forever,†the Irish boy says, speaking up. –So Nev is right. We don’t have a choice.â€
If Neville is bothered by the nickname, he doesn’t show it.
–Seamus and the others have a point,†a Ravenclaw boy with shoulder-length black hair agrees. –If we sit around, we’ve already given up.â€
–Most of us are in our later years at Hogwarts,†Neville continues. –When and if we leave the school, what are we supposed to expect? We’re going to have to either join the Death Eaters or go down fighting them.â€
–Where are we going to meet up?†inquires a Hufflepuff. –The Room of Requirement was discovered last time.â€
–We were careless,†Ginny says, dismissing this. –We just need to phrase a few things differently. Neville, Luna, and I have been experimenting with the Room. Neville’s got a knack for it.â€
–All you’ve gotta do is seal up the loopholes,†Neville says modestly. –Last time, we didn’t say anything specific about keeping Umbridge and her cronies out. This time will be different.â€
–So why did we meet up here?†Daniel asks. –Why didn’t we just go straight to the Room?â€
The Ravenclaw girl--Luna, apparently--smiles. –Oh, that’s easy! We just need to give each other a way of communicating with each other.â€
–How?†I inquire, feeling left out of the conversation.
Now Neville smiles. –Simple.†He takes a bag out of the pocket of his robes and shakes it. It emits the jingling sound of money.
–You’re…paying us?†I ask uncertainly.
Ginny rolls her eyes.
–Seamus,†says Neville. –Would you mind passing these out? One to each person.â€
Grinning, the Irish boy--Seamus--gets up and passes out one Galleon to each of us.
–They’re enchanted,†Neville explains. –See those little numbers?†He taps his wand to the coin he holds in his own hand. –Look at them now.â€
I already am. When Neville tapped his wand to the fake Galleon, the one in my hand grew hot.
DA meets in RR.
Half an hour of debating and talking later, we all sign our names on a bit of parchment.
–A similar paper was used in the first DA,†Neville says. –It was Hermione Granger’s idea. She didn’t give anyone a warning, but I will. Anyone who blabs receives gets a bad case of pustules. You all remember what happened to Edgecomb?â€
Some of the older students nod uneasily. Even I know who Marietta Edgecomb was. A Ravenclaw three years above me, she’d had a bad case of acne during her sixth and seventh year. I never knew it was from a jinx, let alone one that lasted for at least two years.
When the meeting is finally over, Dan and I walk back to the Common Room, careful not to be seen. It’s not curfew yet, but it’s getting close.
–You nervous?†I ask. I know that I am.
He shrugs. –Of course I am. But joining up is the right thing to do.â€
I take a long time getting to sleep. Romilda and Erica and Marissa are giggling as they sit together on Erica’s bed, sending occasional glances my way. When I can’t stand it anymore, I draw the curtains close around me and burrow under the blankets of my bed.
I seem to be constantly fighting battles. Whether against the Carrows or my so-called friends, I can’t seem to get a moment’s rest.
â€Be safe.â€
Dad’s words float back to me from over a month ago, way back when I was at King’s Cross Station about to board the Hogwarts Express.
How am I supposed to be safe in such a horrible place? Am I supposed to just let people push me around? Or am I supposed to go against my morals and take the easy path?
As I listen to the other three girls whispering and laughing, the tears that I’ve been holding back over the past few days finally leak out.