Phoenix|| A Harry Potter Love Story

32

Monday. Not the typical morning that everyone loved, except if you were Hermione. Hermione LOVED Mondays, she loved the start of the week. She loved the feeling of it giving her a fresh perspective and the sense of excitement.

Rosie and Hermione got up at about the same time, and they headed down to the common room together to search for the boys. Neither the lanky, red-haired boy or the messy dark-haired one was there. It wasn't that big of an alarm that they weren't there. For once, Harry and Ron had gotten up early and got their butts down to the Great Hall before they had.

The girls made their way down to the Great Hall, and when they got there they sat down with the girls from their dorm, Heather and Pavarti. The four of them started up a harmless conversation, and before long it became a humorous conversation. It was good for Hermione and Rosie to connect with the girls from their dorm, as Heather and Pavarti barely spoke with Hermione and Rosie. Heather and Pavarti, had formed a pair, Hermione and Rosie had formed another pair, and it was on rare occasions that they could converse like this.

It was amidst this giggle-filled conversation, that Rosie saw Harry.

Talking to her.

Cho and Harry were laughing with each other, the sort of laughter that was awkward when you were with someone you deeply fancied. He reached over and tucked some hair behind her ear that had fallen out of her headband. And their eyes locked, daring not to look away.

Rosie felt a pain deep in her chest. Perhaps this was what they all talked about. Heartache. This physically hurt. It felt as if something was eating her inside out. She could handle the thought of them being together. But seeing them together, that was an entirely different matter.

Rosie forced herself to peel her eyes from the scene. She found it hard to look away as if she was lured to the sight of them together. She had to rip her gaze from them and try to focus on her conversation, though she didn't have the same amount of gusto as before.

—

For the members of Dumbledore's army, days that their meetings would commence were filled with excitement. On these days, they had a motivation to get out of bed in the morning, and they earnestly looked forward to when they would walk through the hidden door into the room of requirement, wands ready.

Dumbledore's army meant that the members could escape Umbridge for a few hours. They could escape her cruelty, they could escape her rules and they could escape her judgment. But, most of all, they could do something about her when they were in that room, training for an uprising.

Harry was an excellent teacher, as well. Sure, he was a student like they were, he was even younger than a few of them, but he still was a brilliant teacher. He was more of a guide than a formal professor. Harry tried to keep them interested, but little did he know that they loved the lessons he would put on.

Today's lesson: Dueling.

"Duelling is a skill that is necessary for a great witch or wizard to have. They, at least, need to know how to do it well," Harry took a deep breath, scanning the brave witches and wizards that stood before him, " So, let's pair up. Uh- Fred and Hermione, George and Rosie, Ron with Zacharias, Ginny an-"

Harry continued to spit out names, and in the midst of all this, George and Rosie locked eyes from their separate positions across the room. George tilted his head a little to the left which was accompanied with a few hand gestures that signified where they were going to duel. After Harry gave out a few instructions, he let them go to practice. The best form of education was simply practicing.

George and Rosie met before the fireplace, and after they conversed a few words, they stood back to back, wands held a few centimeters from their chins, the tops of the wand reaching just beyond their eyesight. On the right count, they each took three consecutive steps, all in sync. Then, after the steps, in the corner of Rosie's ear, she heard George yell the incantation.