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Conveniently, the Monday after the Hogsmeade trip, Umbridge had written and put into place what she likes to call "Educational Decrees" and this particular one banned the formation of student organisations and all clubs had to get permission from her in order to reform and carry on.
Of course, many of the members of the DA were concerned with the introduction of the new decree, but Harry reassured them that they would carry on with the idea, telling them all to not go over to him all the time as it would cause suspicions from Umbridge. This quickly turned their recreational group which was made up of a few students practising ministry-approved defence spells, into an illegal club going behind the teachers - and the Ministry's - back.
This was a risk that frightened Veronica just a bit, but she felt the DA was far more important, not only to pass her exams in the summer but to learn how to defend herself and that was something she was passionate about.
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Veronica had been avoiding Harry since the realisation of her feelings for him, completely unintentionally. Every time she saw him and he spoke to her, she would find herself getting lost in his eyes, and was worried she was constantly smiling dreamily up at him. To stop this from occurring she thought the best idea would be to just stop looking at him.
However, Harry had noticed that the girl hadn't been speaking to him as often as she would usually do, it wasn't hard to see as she would continue to occasionally sit, and hang out with, the Trio, but would address Hermione and Ron if she spoke up. He wanted to ask her what was wrong but couldn't find the words to say it nor the correct time to bring it up.
The time arrived when she accompanied Harry to Professor Grubbly-Plank, who was the substitute Care of Magical Creatures Professor while Hagrid was away. Veronica was disgusted when Harry told her of how Hedwig returned after delivering a letter injured and immediately offered to take the poor animal to be looked at by an expert.
Harry glanced over at the girl, who was stroking and cooing at the white owl just before handing her over to Grubbly-Plank. Hedwig seemed to like her as much as Harry did, as the owl had been happily perched on Veronica's wrist the whole walk, closing her eyes occasionally when the girl's fingers gently ran through her feathers.
As they were walking back, he placed a hand on her elbow and lead her over to the edge of a corridor, so they weren't in the way if anyone were to go past. She looked at him in concern, wondering why he randomly pulled her to the side.
"Is everything okay, Veronica?" Harry said after a few moments of silence, but after seeing the confusion in her face he rephrased his question, "why have you been avoiding talking to me?".
Veronica's eyes widened at the question, blushing slightly as she realised what he was hinting at. However, instead of telling him the truth and facing eternal embarrassment she decided to play dumb.
"What do you mean, I'm talking to you right now" she smiles, covering her discomfort with a small amused smile.
Except he didn't buy it. "Come on Veronica I know something's wrong," he pushed but she carried on staring at him with a blank look on her face. "Are you having nightmares again?" he guesses, the idea being the first thing he thought of when pondering why she was acting so strangely.
She jumped at the mention of the nightmares and took this opportunity to tell him about what had happened when she asked Trelawney about them. "Wow, so this is why you've been acting so weird?" Harry challenged, feeling slightly suspicious but, noticing the angst in her eyes when she nodded in reply, knew she wasn't lying.
"Well, you could've told me sooner, I would've even helped you ask her," he informed her, happy that he now knew what was wrong, or so he thought.
"Yeah, I know that now, thank you Harry" she smiles relieved that she'd gotten away with it and happy she did it without technically lying to the boy.
After promising Harry she'd tell him before doing something like that again, he leaned in to give her a hug - sensing the helplessness she'd been feeling about the whole situation.
Veronica welcomed the hug more gingerly at first but then sunk into his embrace, loving the warm feeling she got when his arms were around her. They stood with their arms wrapped around each other for a few minutes, neither one of them wanting it to end, but eventually, Harry slowly pulled away from her, reaching down to entwine their hands as they wandered back to the Great Hall.
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The next time Veronica sees the Golden Trio is during their first DA meeting. Dobby had told Harry about a secret room on the seventh floor, that only appeared when the individual thought of it, called the Room of Requirement.
When Veronica walked in that evening, she was immediately astounded by how perfect the place was for practising defensive spells. With dummies on one end of the room and a few fully stocked bookshelves on the other with a large empty space in the middle, it was if it was made for them.
This was confirmed by Ernie, who she had entered with followed by Hannah and Zacharias, who told her the Room of Requirement turned itself into whatever the individual desired at the time of the request.
Harry soon addressed the group once they'd all turned up and he decided they should start simple, with the Disarming Charm. He quickly shut down Zacharias' complaints about the easy spell by claiming it had saved him last year whilst duelling You-Know-Who, making Veronica smile at him proudly.
Soon after they started practising, it was clear that the spell wasn't as easy as first thought, with multiple people failing to perform it correctly. Veronica had no issues with the spell luckily, and so with a quick affirming nod towards her, Harry swiftly moved along to help others, mainly Neville.
The first meeting was a blast, full of laughter and jokes as people disarmed each other and seemingly ended too quickly much to the chagrin of the students. Harry promised they'd meet again soon and Hermione handed out fake galleons that would have the date of the meetings on them once decided.
People started filtering out of the room, stopping occasionally to say goodbye to Harry and praise the meeting. Soon it was just the Trio and Veronica who stood by the door.
"Hermione you continue to amaze me with your skills" Veronica compliments, holding up the coin as she referenced the charm the Gryffindor placed on it. The bushy-haired girl blushed and replied "thank you, Veronica, see you soon," and she gave her a quick hug.
The Hufflepuff looked at Harry and smiled at him "Good teaching today, by the way, you have incredible patience with some of the people here", grinning playfully at him which he returned. "It's not like you needed me here anyway, looked like you had it all under control," Harry said, in reference to Veronica's ease with the disarming charm earlier.
Ron interrupted the two with a teasing smirk "Okay you two its curfew, stop flirting you'll see each other tomorrow". This made Veronica flush and so she bid them goodnight, then jogged out of the room, not making eye contact with a blushing Harry, who was watching her leave.
He turned to face a snickering Ron and punched him in the arm, before the Trio went to their dorm, a content smile on each of their faces.
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YOU ARE READING
Undistinguished (H.P.)
Fanfiction[adjective] lacking distinction; unexceptional. Veronica Green is a simple and average half-blood. Hidden in plain sight and blending into the background are what she does best. Until her fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, wh...
