Chapter 15

There was a deafening silence in the room.

Ron had left with the invisibility cloak to get some of the D.A members to their dorm without getting caught.

Harry was keeping it small; bringing so many people to the dorm would surely get them caught one way or the other. That, and the lack of space.

So far it was just him, Ron, Hermione, Neville, the Patil twins, Dean, Seamus, and Lavender.

This is what Harry called the 'A' team, also known as the ones who would attend the meetings. The rest of the D.A members were known as the 'B' team, who would receive the summary of the meeting through text message.

He didn't like to play favorites, but he had to pick the most trustworthy members, those being the ones he knew better.

Harry expected the first D.A meeting to be some simple, enjoyable training. He wasn't hoping for a meeting on the discussion of the possible kidnapping of a student and their likelihood of execution at the stake.

All heads turned as Ron walked in with the last member of 'A' team, Lavender. She took the invisibility cloak off, and looked around the room.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Geez, don't you know how to clean a room?"

Harry looked around in confusion. Other than a bunch of paper lying on the floor, the unmade bed and snacks all over the table, he couldn't see anything wrong with it.

Harry and Ron shrugged as Lavender muttered something about 'boys'.

She took a seat next to Parvati, and the meeting began.

Harry started off by explaining their situation with Amber. Gasps and whispers broke out as soon as he mentioned her having found out about the secret.

They seemed to relax only slightly when Harry explained why she wouldn't rat them out, leaving out the details of what they'd said to her.

Seamus stood up. "So what if she feels threatened? That might just make her call for help!"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not going to go into detail, but you have to trust us. She won't tell anyone. She works for us now."

"Works?"

Harry continued by telling them of their situation with Cole and how Amber could be of use. He could tell they still doubted Amber as they looked at each other uncertainly. To add to their trouble, their faces tinged with a new worry when Harry told them of the phone call and the Witch Slayers Society.

Something about muggles possibly attempting to murder them called their attention more than the knowledge of a cheerleader.

"So it's decided then," Neville said "We're going to that meeting Tuesday!"

"Not exactly..." Harry replied "Ron, Hermione, and I will go inside. You guys stand guard in case we...you know, don't come out."

Harry looked around, not liking how the whole 'we might die' thing was sunk in.

"Don't worry, we got your back," Dean said "They're just muggles after all."

Harry nodded. "Text team 'B' for backup if we don't come out."

Harry pointed to the beds. "Let's place them at the sides of the room and clear some space for training."

"So we are going to train today?" Padma asked.

"They might be 'just muggles', but we still have to be prepared."

They cheered up slightly as he said that, quickly helping to arrange the room.

There wasn't nearly as much space as in the room of requirements. If anything, this was giving Harry a newly discovered fear; claustrophobia.

Everyone took turns training, about two partners at a time. The other two teams sat on the beds awaiting their turn, along with Harry who instructed them from there.

Soon the cramped space was barely noticeable as they concentrated on their dueling spells. Laughter began as Hermione blasted Ron backwards against the closet. The force caused the thin wood doors to break, Ron falling in and getting stuck.

After Harry and Neville managed to pull him out, he mumbled something along the lines of 'I let her do it'.

The damage done to the closet marked the end of meeting. Hermione cast a repairing charm on the closet doors as they all sat around in the middle of the room, attempting to finish last minute homework.

Much to Ron's displeasure, laughter from the incident was still present.

Though, luckily for him, the topic was soon changed to the school.

"I have never been more confused with fashion," Lavender said "Why would anyone want ripped jeans?"

"You're telling me. I saw some guys wearing their hats backwards."

"That's the 'cool' way to wear them," Dean argued.

"They look stupid."

"Yes, because robes and pointy hats look awesome," Hermione laughed.

They continued on like that, moving from fashion to music to technology. Most of them seemed particularly interested the popular muggle movies they kept hearing references to (excluding WICCA).

E.T appeared to be one that mostly called their attention, yet, not for the expected reasons. Apparently the movie had plenty of bike scenes, which was basically something they never rode before.

That, and the possibilities of enchanting a bike to make it fly like in the movie. As interesting as that sounded, after crashing a flying car into the Whomping Willow, Harry pretty much tried to stay as far away from magically enhanced vehicles as possible.

"Okay, I'll admit they have better movies, but their fashion still sucks..."

Harry hadn't realized how fast the time had passed. It was almost lights out when he finally looked at the clock. He swiftly rushed everyone out, only he and Ron remained.

It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, just as it didn't take long for his brief escape from reality to vanish as his dreams of Voldemort returned for another night.

Once again, Ron had cast a silencing charm around his bed so he wouldn't hear Harry's screams during the night. Harry wished Madam Pomfrey were here, she could at the very least give him some Dreamless Sleep potion. He and Ron hurried to breakfast. They had more time this morning than usual. Hedwig had come to visit early this morning, bringing them the gift of obnoxiously loud hooting at 5am.

To Harry's disappointment, she bore no reply from Sirius.

They ran into Mike and Darren on their way to the cafeteria. Harry waved at them, but they only gave him a quick glance before walking a bit further ahead.

"What was that about?" Ron asked.

Harry only shook his head. He stared at them as they walked further into the hall. Darren looked back at Harry, giving him a sad smile. What was going on?

He didn't have much time to worry about it. Amber spotted them as they approached the doors of the cafeteria.

She walked timidly up to them, Draco a couple meters behind her. He gave a nod towards Harry, slight disgust in his stare. Harry guessed he was still upset about their temporary alliance.

"I took care of the article problem. The principal assembled a team of students to confiscate most of them."

"What about the students?" Harry asked "Did you convince them?"

"Yeah, they most all think it's Photoshop," She paused, looking at Harry. She bit her lip, afraid to ask a following question.

Harry tapped his foot impatiently. "What?"

"That was you in the picture, wasn't it?"

Harry nodded "What's your point?"

"So you can really fly those?" she said, eyes sparkling.

"Cole Quinn," Harry said, ignoring her question. "I need you to follow him around, and see what he's up to."

"The geek with the camera?" She asked. "They already kicked him off the school newspaper."

"It doesn't matter, he's still a threat."

"Why?"

Harry narrowed his eyes, attempting to look threatening. "Don't worry about why, just do as I say," he said, raising his tone.

Amber eyes flashed with fear, but other than that, she wasn't visibly shaken. She simply nodded, looking from Harry to Ron.

She scratched her head thoughtfully before whispering. "You should look in a mirror first."

"Why is that?" Harry asked, taken aback.

She shook her head, her lips twitching upwards in a slight grin. "You're clothes say it all. That geek can try all he likes to blow your cover, but you're doing fine on your own."

Harry looked down at his clothes.

He'd been wearing Dudley's old hand-me-downs since he arrived at the school. They fit him a couple sizes too big, making him look thinner than he already was. That, and the clothes were more of a tween type style than a teen.

Ron didn't look any better. His clothes fit him fine, but he practically looked like the result of someone who went clothes shopping at lost and found. It was a complete train wreck of mismatched pieces of fabric. Of course, most wizards looked like this when visiting the muggle world. It usually wouldn't raise too much suspicion, but given the circumstances, it was more obvious than usual that they didn't belong.

Amber crossed her arms. "See what I mean?"

Harry nodded slowly. "I see, but I don't exactly have time for a shopping trip at the moment."

Amber smiled eagerly. "I'll go afterschool. You can pay me the money back later."

Harry raised an eyebrow, wondering what the sudden act of generosity was all about. Was she trying to get on their good side? Protecting herself was the only reason for helping them, but why go out of her way to do it?

That's when he saw the slight hunger in her gaze. She wanted something.

"And I suppose you're not doing this out of the goodness of your heart?"

Ron smirked, having come to the same conclusion.

"It's simple," she said, her eyes begging for a 'yes' before she gave the request. "I might even throw the clothes in for free."

"What is it?"

"Take me flying on your broom?"

Harry laughed. He half expected the request to be jinxing someone she despised, or worse. He had not seen this one coming.

"Are you mad? I already nearly got expelled for that!"

"You won't get caught! We just have to be really careful about it."

"You saying I'm not careful?" Harry frowned.

Amber rolled her eyes. "Obviously not."

Harry waved her off "It's too dangerous."

Amber pouted slightly. "Pleaseeeee!"

Harry looked at Ron, expecting him to back him up.

Ron only shrugged "free clothes, mate."

"You've got to be kidding me," Harry mumbled.

Amber looked at him with pleading eyes.

He sighed. "Fine, the muggle gets her first broomstick ride."

They walked towards the food line, Amber followed not far behind. She beamed with excitement at Harry, something which made him feel uncomfortable. Sure she was still afraid of them; Harry could still sense the tension hidden behind her gaze. Yet, it was almost like it'd been mixed with daredevil excitement to explore Harry's world.

Honestly, Harry could care less as long as she kept her end of the deal. He would have to make sure the fear remained as Amber's curiosity continued to grow.

On their way to a table Draco eventually pulled Amber aside and went to his usual spot. Amber seemed slightly disappointed, but wouldn't dare protest against Draco.

Harry and Ron did the same.

They found Hermione across from Linda, Mike, and Darren. Only when seated could they feel the awkward silence fill the air. Linda looked down at her food, taking an occasional bite. Mike had his headphones in. Harry couldn't tell if he was ignoring them, or was suffering from his 'Monday morning' effect.

Hermione looked up as they sat down, scooting closer to Harry.

Harry thought of some way to break the unknown tension. He looked at Darren who scribbled absentmindedly on his sketch pad. "Er... How are you feeling Darren?"

He looked up. "Good," He answered with a genuine smile.

They remained in silence for a couple minutes more before Hermione finally spoke up

"So, um... what's with the silence?"

Linda looked up. "We're a bit tired from homework,"

Hermione frowned. "You finished your homework, though."

"I was helping Mike and Darren with theirs," She answered "I don't lie about my plans."

Darren coughed loudly, sending Linda a warning glare.

More silence continued, the wizards having acknowledged what was wrong.

Harry didn't know what to say, any excuse at this point would be hard to believe. He looked to Ron, then to Hermione. Both of them just gave him the same 'what do we say' expression he had on his face.

"We're sorry, we really didn't want to lie to you," Hermione began "It's not that we don't want to hang out with you."

Linda looked at her skeptically "What is it then?"

Harry had never actually seen Linda angry before. She was always so calm, and friendly with everyone. Even when angry, she didn't exactly snap at them. It was more of an intense flame hidden behind a sarcastic gaze. She hadn't been mad when they cancelled plans with them before because of wizarding homework. She didn't mind excuses, as long as they were legit. Linda did, however, have a pet peeve for lies.

"It seems like you had plenty of time to hang out with Amber and her snobby boyfriend."

"We weren't hanging out with them!" Hermione argued.

"Than what were you doing?"

Mike put an arm around her to calm her down. It appeared he had been listening to the conversation. Harry assumed he'd put the headphones in to have a valid excuse to ignore them.

His face demonstrated a different type of anger. Almost like when you lend a friend a prized possession, them promising to take care of it, only to have it returned shattered. It was more of a broken trust expression.

Darren appeared to be the only one not acting silently hostile towards them.

Harry partially wished they would've found out the truth rather than Amber. At least then he could just tell them he was practicing magic rather than making up excuses (which ironically sounded less truthful).

"Look, I would love to tell you the truth," Harry said "but I can't. I'm sorry."

"Amber knows," Linda whispered.

"What?"

"She knows, doesn't she? You'll tell her, but you won't tell us."

"That's enough Linda!" Darren said, standing up. "It's none of our business what they do, quit being nosy!"

The whole table was silent. Linda stared up at Darren, mouth slightly agape. The anger washed away from her gaze. It'd been replaced with shock.

Darren sat down, having made his point. He looked down at his sketch pad awkwardly, slightly ashamed of the outburst.

Linda pursed her lips, arms crossed. She didn't look like she would say anything for the rest of breakfast, yet Harry was proven wrong.

After a couple minutes of one of the most uncomfortable silences Harry had ever known passed, Linda spoke again.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Harry looked up, his eyebrows raised a notch. She didn't look mad, or shocked, she looked genuinely sorry.

"Darren's right, I shouldn't be angry. What you three do isn't really my business.

I guess it can also be blamed on curiosity."

"Curiosity?" Ron asked.

Linda turned to Ron "Well, you guys are always... running off. Whenever there's a homework assignment, you never want to work with us. You've done it on plenty of other occasions too."

"We're sorry too," Hermione said "We shouldn't have lied, we'll make it up to you!"

"How?" Mike asked, interested.

Hermione thought about it before answering "You choose, pick a day and we'll go hang out, our invites."

Mike smiled and winked at her "Sounds like a date."

One of the things Harry liked about Mike was how easy going he was. He wasn't the type of person to be mad at someone for too long. Mike had even been the first to introduce himself to the trio on that first day.

"Okay, so what day?"

"I was thinking we could all just go to Ajah's party on Tuesday." Mike said

"The cheerleader?" Linda asked

Mike shrugged "She's inviting the entire school, even dorks like us can get in."

Harry bit his lip. "How much would you hate us if we told you we can't make it Tuesday?"

Linda huffed. "You can't be serious."

"Guess you won't be telling us about those plans either, right?" Mike laughed.

"Sorry?" Harry tried.

"Whatever, as long as you don't make fake excuses."

"Speaking of that," Linda said "You two didn't finish Mr. Short's assignment either, did you?"

"No more lies starting now?" Harry smiled sheepishly.

Linda uncrossed her arms, outstretching one reluctantly. "Deal?" she said.

"Deal," Harry agreed.

"Guess I better give you two a quick summary of the summary."

Harry gave her a grateful look. He and Ron spent the rest of breakfast listening to the long story of the Holocaust.

Harry couldn't remember the last time he hadn't been bored in a History lecture. He wasn't exactly sure what he'd expected it to be about. One thing was for sure, he wasn't expecting this.

Six million people, dead. He wondered how far apart Wizards had to be from the muggle society to never have learned about the historical event. He was sure some older adult wizards might've known about it, but to never teach it to the next generation was a sort of education system failure.

Sure, the wizards never indulged much in the conflicts in the muggle world, but for them to be so separated by differences to not help even in the slightest.

He was sure that the assistance of magic in this event could've prevented most of these deaths.

Had they been aware it was happening? Why did no one care to help? Did they really care so little for muggles that they let so many of them die?

The more Linda spoke, the more he began to see the point behind the field trip. He couldn't imagine just sitting back knowing millions of muggles were being tortured and slaughtered by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Wizards or not, people were still people.

He'd always known he'd have to fight Voldemort, for the good of the wizarding kind, because he was meant to, because he killed his parents. But now, he had a new reason. Harry never really thought about it, but if Voldemort gained as much power as Hitler, not just thousands of muggles would be slaughtered like before, all of them would.

It was that same saying of 'history repeats itself'. Once Voldemort gained that power, he would create his new race of pure-bloods, just as Hitler had attempted to create the Aryan race.

The faces of Linda, Mike, Darren, and even Amber flashed in his mind. All of them, locked up, tortured, awaiting death.

"You alright there, man?" Mike asked.

"I'm fine," Harry replied "Just worried about memorizing it all."

"You'll be fine, you have Linda and ten more minutes," Darren said "She's really good at history."

Harry knew he was telling the truth, he'd had enough proof of it already, but he could also tell he said it to make up for yelling at her earlier.

Either way, Linda smiled at the compliment. Mike noticed too, and sniggered.

Harry held back a laugh, not eager to return to Linda's bad side again. He passed it off as if he were simply brushing his hair back.

Linda, Mike, and Darren paused. Mike, who was right across from Harry, squinted.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," he said "I- We were just wondering... how'd you get that scar on your forehead?"

"You just noticed it?"