CHAPTER SIX:
HOG'S HEAD

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Amandla didn't know why she allowed to be dragged into this. It was incredibly stupid, completely dangerous, and could expose her for everything she meant to keep for so long. It was a bad decision, an utterly horrible, get-yourself-killed-if-the-wrong-people-found-out one, yet she agreed anyways.

And that was to attend the first meeting that would (hopefully) begin with Harry teaching everyone how to protect themselves for the dangers of Death Eaters. Well, not really, it was said to be their new and better Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but everyone knew what it was really for. Only an idiot would disagree.

It was so stupid for her, Amandla Fitzgerald, known as Amandla Stature ever since she was six, to be there, sitting with them and agreeing, being a part of the organization even though it was to protect people from those like her parents and the rest of her family.

And it wasn't because of that. It wasn't because she would indirectly be saying that she would fight the only blood family she had left, although Amandla did feel particularly guilty of the fact that she would one day have to. It was more because if anyone bad, if anyone who wished her to be the crazy loyal fanatic of the Dark Lord knew she a part of it, they would kill her. She, in their eyes, would be a traitor even though she was never a part of the cause in the first place. Her grandparents might have been, but their two children (Gwendolyn and Aiden) were nothing like that, and neither was her father.

But she knew that she had to. Her mother's spell book meant nothing if she never learned how to use the spells. It was nothing on paper, it only mattered if she practiced them and learned other spells her mother didn't include.

Amandla, if anyone else had asked her, might have said no, that she was doing just fine learning the spells on her own, but it was Hermione Granger who asked her. Hermione with her cute face, bushy hair, and innocent look in her eyes. She was mesmerizing, and Amandla knew she couldn't say no to her.

And she tried to convince herself that, with the lessons, she could get closer to the Granger girl, but that was never going to happen. She knew that Hermione would rather cut off her own ear than spend an afternoon with her, and she didn't blame the Granger girl.

Still, she had to say yes when the girl asked, not wanting to see a defeated or disappointed look on her face. And if Draco was still her friend, she would have asked him if he thought it was a good idea, but he still refused to talk to her. She had tried on many accounts to speak to him, but he had ignored her and she had spent many hours waiting in the Room of Secrets for Draco to turn up, which he never did.

She hated it. She hated that he left her when she needed him the most. She hated that she couldn't tell anyone about who she really was in fear or rejection. She hated that the one person who knew the full truth was ignoring her and she couldn't do anything about it. But that was life, she supposed.

Her mood had dropped enormously, something which everyone at the school who knew Amandla enough could see. On many accounts Professor McGonagall had asked her to come for tea and biscuits, but she had always declined, afraid that being around someone that had taught her own parents would figure out the truth, if she hadn't already.

And Corey had tried to cheer her up, telling the worst jokes he could think of, but even that hadn't brightened her mood. Poor Cevira didn't know what to do either, and on Saturday they headed to the Hog's Head for the meeting, one that Amandla did not really want to attend.

There was quiet at first from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who had stood up at the front. Chatter rang from the others as Amandla took a seat with her own friends, and she didn't miss the longing look Corey had sent to Luna. She had a note to ask him about it later.

"Hi, everyone. I thought it would be good if we met and talked over how we wanted to teach ourselves Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione started, and Amandla could see that she was quite nervous, "Because we need to learn it properly, not the rubbish Umbridge is doing."

One of the Weasley twins (Amandla couldn't tell the difference) brought up their butterbeer and shouted, "Hear, hear!"

"Obviously, this will help us pass our O.W.L.s, but more importantly, it gives us the ability to protect ourselves from...Lord Voldemort," Hermione continued.

Amandla froze at that name. She hated it. She never wanted to hear it again, yet it continued to haunt her, following Amandla her whole life. And flashes of that day flashed through her mind, finding her parents died.

It was a nice day, that day. She had gone with the Malfoys for lunch at the park, a muggle one amongst London where they knew no wizard would go. She had ice cream with them and Draco had played tag with her, it was perfect.

And they went to take the girl home, Apparating them to her house where the front door had been cracked open. She remembered her Uncle Lucius telling the two children to stay back as he got out as wand. Him and his wife went into the house where she could hear the shrill from her aunt, and the two children raced inside, what a mistake it had been.

She saw their dead bodies in the living room like they didn't even try to run, like they accepted their fate with terror in their eyes. Aunt Narcissa told her to turn away, but the younger version of Amandla stood paralyzed at the sight of her parents' dead bodies.

"That's the first time you've said his name," Harry said to Hermione, snapping Amandla out of her worst memory.

Hermione looked pleased with herself, but Amandla, still shocked, couldn't find any reason why saying his name was something to be proud of. She felt like saying something, but nothing came out.

"How do we know You-Know-Who's really back?" Zacharias Smith asked. Amandla knew it was an idiotic question, of course he was back, there was no denying it anymore.

"Dumbledore believes he is," one of the twins, Weasley, of course, answered him.

"You mean Dumbledore believe him," another student pointed out, nodding in Harry's direction.

"And you'd be a fool to not believe it either," Amandla spoke, standing up, "Ignorance gets people killed, Justin, I hope you remember that."

"And what would know about that?" Justin asked her.

"When I was six my parents got killed for being ignorant," Amandla said, sitting down again. Immediately, Cevira brought her hand to Amandla's to comfort the girl.

Harry looked at the crowd, adding onto what Amandla first said, "I believe Voldemort's back because I fought him last year. Dumbledore's already told the school that. If you didn't believe him, you won't believe anyone."

There was a tense silence from everyone. The students looked between Amandla and Harry, but the girl just held Cevira's hand tightly and said nothing.

"Well...anyway...uh, I think that in order to learn properly we'll need a teacher," Hermione continued.

"But we're all students. None of us has the experience to –" Neville started.

"Someone here does," Ginny spoke, cutting him off. All the students looked at her, but her eyes remained on Harry.

"Me?" Harry asked, slightly surprised that she thought he could be their teacher.

"I for one would like to know why Potter's qualified and the rest of us aren't," Michael opened up his mouth, which was the wrong move.

"Well, he's only confronted You-Know-Who himself four times and lived to talk about it," Ginny said defensively.

"One of the portraits said you'd killed a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets with that sword in Dumbledore's office," Susan Bones, another Hufflepuff, continued.

"Uh...well, yeah, I did," Harry sheepishly agreed, not comfortable with the topic at hand.

"Blimey, Harry..." Lee Jordan praised. Amandla only knew him from being the announcer for Quidditch and the fact that he was great friends with the Weasley twins.

"Wow..." Lavender managed, but Amandla couldn't find herself to be impressed that much.

What takes real courage is going against your fear constantly, no matter how afraid you feel. Hers was You-Know-Who, so was Draco's, and she knew that he would be trapped to serve him and she might as well. They would be showing courage by standing in the same room as him no matter how afraid they felt.

"Can't forget that he saved the Sorcerer's Stone from You-Know-Who in his first year," one of the Weasley twins added.

"And last year he got through the Triwizard Tournament!" Cho added excitedly, looking at Harry as if he was the hottest thing in the world.

"Not to mention you dueled with You-Know-Who all alone and he still couldn't kill you!" Ron said.

"And you fought off those dementors that attacked you this summer," Ginny looked around at the others.

Hermione looked pleased with herself, "So all in favor of taking lessons from Harry?"

Most of the students there raised their hands, including Amandla, Cevira, and Corey. After a moment, the rest of them did. Hermione smiled, and Amandla almost melted at the sight of it.

"Where are we going to meet?" Hermione then asked everyone. They all muttered amongst themselves before speaking again.

"What about an unused classroom?" Neville asked, looking at the others for support.

"That might work," Harry agreed, nodding his head, "I'll look into that."

Amandla had to disagree. There was no way an empty or unused classroom would work. Even if a teacher agreed to let them use their classroom, they could be caught at any moment. It was secure, Umbridge or Filch (her new minion) could walk in any moment, or someone else could snitch. But she kept quiet.

"Okay, good," Hermione muttered, pulling out a piece of parchment from her bag. "I think we should put our names down, so we know who was here."

Amandla, like many others, began to grow uncomfortable with that idea. For them, getting in trouble or being expelled from school was the biggest risk. For her, it was death. If anyone found out, she would be killed for treason. Still, she didn't leave or say anything.

"I don't know...if it were found...I mean, Umbridge wouldn't like what we're doing..."

"Honestly, Ernie, do you think I'd just leave it lying around? Besides, its enchanted," Hermione argued. Ernie began to look more comfortable, and Amandla too was more relaxed at that.

Fred and George were the first ones up, eager to sign. Then it was the trio who organized the meeting. Everyone signed their names until Amandla was left. She was afraid, if it was enchanted her name – Amandla Stature – might not work. It wasn't really her name.

I am not Amandla Fitzgerald. I am not Amandla Fitzgerald. I am Amandla Stature.

Then, she signed. Amandla Stature went down with the quill, her cursive writing signing the name. Nothing happened, no burning of the parchment, nothing that registered that it wasn't her name. And she let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.

Amandla went to sit down again as Hermione started to say, "Also, what should we call ourselves?"

"What about the Anti-Umbridge League?" someone asked. Amandla had never met them before, she only knew the girl from the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She was very skilled at the sport.

"We need something that doesn't give away what we're doing," Hermione disagreed.

"I think it should be Dumbledore's Army," Ginny suggested, looking around at the others who all seemed to be shaking their heads.

Amandla wasn't sure about it. It too gave away a little of what they were doing. She thought it should be something like 'Clover' or 'Project Defense', something that didn't incriminate them.

"Dumbledore's Army it is, then. The D.A. for short," Harry nodded, seeing the excited looks on the others' faces.

"We'll let you know when we're going to meet," Hermione finalized everything.

After that, everyone began to leave. Amandla thought about walking up to the front and telling them that she was excited as well or that she thought Hermione was brave for creating it or Harry for leading it. But she didn't. It would be foolish, what would it accomplish?

She would look like a fool doing that. Hermione didn't realize her existence, or didn't care, and Harry already had a funny feeling about her. She could tell after that night with Sirius where he told her that he knew everything. And Ron...well, she didn't know how she felt about him yet. They hadn't spent any time together but she knew he was a good friend.

She walked out with Corey and Cevira, the two arguing with each other again about who caused the deaths of Romeo and Juliet in the play by Shakespeare.

"It was most definitely Friar John, he was the one who was stayed from Mantua!" Corey yelled slightly.

"How dare you accuse him of that, it was Friar Lawrence's fault for giving the fucking potion in the first place!" Cevira hit him.

"Okay, saw that isn't Friar John's fault, but it definitely is not Friar Lawrence's! Let's agree to say the searchers' fault," Corey negotiated.

Cevira looked at him, not really wanting to agree with him. She was, after all, a Stature, who were very stubborn people. And she never liked to negotiate, especially with Corey over something she felt so passionately about. But, she sighed, nodding her head and turning away from him. Corey only rolled his eyes.

They walked back to the castle, none of them having the money to buy anything at Hogsmeade. Corey was given an allowance, which he was saving up, and the two girls didn't get any money from Anastasia, who only gave some to Caesar.

Speaking of him, it was around that time that the three saw him passing with some of his friends. Amandla recalled that she didn't see him at the meeting, leading her to think that he hadn't heard about it. That didn't mean much, she thought, he could have been there and just not have said anything, but that wasn't like Caesar.

So, Amandla concluded that he hadn't been there. The three continued walking, hoping that he wouldn't see them. But of course, he had and he went to cut them off.

"Hey, I didn't see you at Zonko's or the ice cream shop," Caesar noted, "Where were you?"

Amandla didn't have the chance to say anything before Cevira spat, "Window shopping, because some of us don't have money to spend."

She could see the pain in his eyes from only a moment before he scoffed and looked away from them, hoping that they saw nothing. But Amandla had.

"Well maybe if you did better in school or studied more mum would give you some," he suggested.

Cevira rolled her eyes, "We both know that's a ton of bullshit. I study my ass off and she still doesn't notice."

Her brother shook his head, "If you did, you wouldn't done better on the exams last year...or the year before that and so forth."

She looked at him with pained eyes. He knew what she went through, how she begged him to help her study for the past four years and he declined, saying that she had to do it herself. But Anastasia never knew any of that because Caesar never told her, and Cevira would be a fool to tell her that, she believed her son more than she could ever think of believing her daughter.

"You know what?" Cevira stepped forward, "If you just came to ridicule me, you can leave. My day is much more enjoyable without you."

Caesar looked at her, his eyes showing the pain that he had caused for himself. He only nodded before going back to his friends, already smiling and telling them some epic tale or anything to make him seem so cool.

They continued on, not being stopped by anyone else. As they were crossing the bridge, Amandla saw Draco with Pansy and the others, hitting Theo Nott in the arm as he laughed. Like Cevira with Caesar, she felt a pain when she saw him.

Amandla felt like crying as she saw him laughing and living life like nothing ever happened. She was affected by that, her whole world had crumbled when he left her, saying that they couldn't be together in this time when she needed him most.

He left her alone when there was too much weight on her shoulders. Everything was happening so quickly, with so many new things hurtling her way as she hated that every day was closer to Christmas. Even though it was only October and the holiday was so far away, she still felt the dread that came from it. It would all change then, she would met the people that her parents hated – that her parents knew and never wanted her to. Then in summer, she would become one of them.

She would be their good little pet who said and did nothing, agreeing to harm and kill anyone they wanted her to. They would corrupt her and she would have no say in it. She would be trapped, more trapped than she was already.

But she would have Draco back. They would be together, they would be going through everything together and he wouldn't be able to leave her. But, then again, she would lose everything else. Her friends, her family, her girl because of her family.

She would lose everything because of her heritage and after everything her family went through to hide her. Her parents left their whole lives after the death of her Uncle Aiden and her aunt and uncle faked her death before sending her to the Statures to be taught about the wizarding world.

It would all be for nothing when summer came, and she dreaded that season more than any other time in her life.