Chapter: Twenty

Dumbledore's Army

Weeks had passed by.

If the situation in Hogwarts might have gotten worse. Umbridge made sure that everyone had a bad day. She made these unbelievable rules that were impossible to follow. "Maybe we should like... Form an organization ourselves." Hermione had suggested.

"How?"

"Harry could teach us. He's pretty advanced in this. He should be able to teach us a few spells."

"Yet he only uses expelliarmus." Hailey laughed. But it could come into use. He did know some good spells. And the way the ministry was running Hogwarts, they wouldn't learn anything. And with Voldemort back, they needed to be prepared to face the worse. "But I suppose we could propose the idea."

And so they did. And surprisingly, Harry agreed.

It was the day. The day they were finally going to meet in Hogs Head with all the students who were interested in learning something relevant to protect themselves from what's really out there.

Hermione, Hailey, Ron and Harry sat in the great hall along with the rest of the students as they were having breakfast. Speaking of Ron, both of them pretended as if nothing happened... Maybe they did kiss a few times again, but no one had to know about that. Especially since they didn't put any label on it.

Hermione was about to pick up her goblet to drink some water when an owl came in and dropped a letter in front of her- Well, a howler to be exact. Hailey's jaws dropped as she stared at her friend. "Why in the name of Godric is there a howler?!"

"Do you think I know that?!" She exclaimed.

"Open it."

"I'm scared."

"Do it!"

By now almost all the Gryffindors were staring at the girl. She was the goody-two-shoes. Why did she get a howler? And not to mention her parents were muggles.

Hermione slowly extended her arms to open it and-

"HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER! I FRED WEASLEY HAVE BEEN IN LOVE WITH YOU FOR A VERY VERY LONG TIME! I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU AND YOU ARE THE PRETTIEST GIRL I'VE EVER SEEN- NO OFFENSE GINNY AND HAILEY! I LOVE YOU BOTH AS WELL! SO WILL YOU DO THE HONOUR AND BE MY GIRLFRIEND AND MAKE ME THE HAPPIEST WEASLEY- NO HAPPIEST MAN ALIVE?!"

The howler ended and tore itself into shreds. All eyes in the great hall- Including all the professors were now on her.

Fred stood up from where he was sitting and walked over to her. "Will you?" He asked, and for the first time, Hailey had seen Fred getting nervous. Guess everyone was scared of rejection. Everyone was now waiting for an answer. Hailey jabbed her best friend in the stomach bringing her back to reality.

"Uh yes." She replied as all the Gryffindor tables followed by the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws burst into cheers making Hermione turn the reddest she's ever been.

"Go up and at least hug him, idiot," Hailey muttered as she got up awkwardly and hugged him.

"Ahem Ahem." The hall fell silent as Umbridge walked over to the two of them. Her lips pressed in a thin line. "What are you doing Mr Weasley?"

"Asking her to be my girlfriend." He replied as if t was the most obvious thing in the world. Well, it was actually.

"This sort of behaviour will not be tolerated-"

"And that is why he will be serving detention with me for one week." Professor McGonagall said smiling at Umbridge, who frowned before going back to her seat.

"I knew she was rooting for us," Fred whispered and shouted as he did a little victory dance before sitting down beside Hermione who was still blushing furiously.

"About time!" Ginny yelled. But it made Hailey realize how bad of a friend she has been for the past few days. She didn't even know when all of this was going on. Yes, she did see Fred and Hermione spending time together. But she had been so absorbed in her own world, that she didn't even know her friend was in love with someone. "One down, two to go."

_______________________

"You realize no one would want to learn anything from me. I'm a complete nutter." Harry whisper and shouted as the four friends made their way to Hog's Head where they were supposed to meet everyone. Hailey knew her stubborn ass brother was going to say that.

"Look on the bright side mate, how bad can you be than ugly old toad face?" Ron asked.

"Thanks, Ron," Harry said sarcastically as they opened the door to walk in. Loads of people, including Fred, George, Ginny, Dean, Neville, Seamus, Luna, and Cho were sitting there. Harry scoffed. "Couple of people? A couple of people?" He asked as Hailey gave him a death glare that refrained him from saying anything further. She sat down in between him and Ron.

"Umm... Hi." Hermione started. "Erm... You all know why we're here. Harry had this idea-" She stopped when she felt Harry throw a glare in her direction. "I had this idea... We need a teacher. A proper teacher who will teach us real magic. What we are being taught won't help us in the real world-"

"Why?" Asked Zacharias Smith.

"Because you know who is back you tosspot." Ron sassed. That idiot deserved it.

"Says who?"

"Dumbledore says."

"That's cause he says." The Hufflepuff continued. "We don't know what happened. All we know is Cedric got killed by you know who last year. I think we have the right to know what happened." Hailey saw Harry squirm uncomfortably in his seat. Hermione was about to open her mouth but was cut off by her best friends.

"Hey badger, listen up." She started. "If you have a problem. Leave. I can show you the exit myself if you want." Ron stared at her for a moment. At moments like this, he feared Hailey more than anything else in the world. When she got mad, she spoke slowly but with a venomous tone. "You were in the quidditch team weren't you?" She asked standing up.

"Cedric was a great guy. What happened to him was unfair. We can't let him die in vain. I didn't know him that well, but enough to know he would've wanted us to stand up. Fight for what's right. The ministry wants to keep us quiet. People aren't ready to accept the truth. They're scared. And it's okay to feel that way... Harry doesn't want to talk about what happened that night. So if you want, leave. If you want, stay."

Ron smiled proudly at her while Cho Chang was nearly in tears. Ron looked up at Harry who kind of shared the same look as him.

"Is true that you guys can produce the Patronus charm?" Asked Luna Lovegood in her sweet dreamy voice.

"Yes. I've seen it." Hermione said nodding.

"Blimey Harry, Hailey. I didn't know you could do that!" Said Dean Thomas.

"And h-he killed the Basilisk! With the sword in Dumbledore's office!" Neville added proudly defending his friend, as Hailey smiled at him.

"And Harry fought off hundreds of dementors in our third year," Ron added. "Alone."

"Look..." Harry started. "It all sounds great when you say it like that... But I nearly always had help with it. It's not like school. In school you make a mistake, you can try again tomorrow. But when you're out there and seconds away from being murdered or watching a friend die right in front of your eyes. You don't know what it's like."

Hailey sighed as she sat down beside her brother and took his hand in hers. "We don't Harold. And that's why we need your help. We can't defeat Voldemort without you."

That was all everyone needed as one by one, they got up and signed their name on the paper. They named the group Dumbledore's Army. Something that the ministry hated and feared.

"I didn't think we'd have so many people," Ron said as they made their way back to the castle.

"Me neither," Hermione said with a bright smile. "And, we got something good from today."

"And what is that?" Harry asked.

"Cho couldn't take her eyes off you." She said making the boy blush. But at the corner of Hailey's eyes, she could see Ginny's smile fall. She slowly wrapped an arm around the younger girl's shoulder and squeezed it in a comforting manner.

"Forget my brother. He's lowkey blind to see how amazing you are." She whispered causing Ginny to smile up at her. She always wanted a sister. A cool older sister who would understand her. A girl she could look up to.

She thanked God cause now she had two.
__________