Even Royalty Falters || Draco Malfoy

Chapter 32 - D.A. & Inquisitorial Squad

Because Umbridge had refused to actually teach us anything useful for protecting ourselves this year, Hermione suggested to Harry that we create a club for it. Dumbledore's Army, he had decided to call it. As we returned from a successful recruitment meeting at Hogs Head, I encountered Draco on the way to our common room. My friends went on without me, clearly annoyed but they didn't say anything.

"I'm headed to Snape's classroom, but how's my princess today?" He asked, lightly pecking my forehead once he made sure no one was around.

"Tired and stressed," I said giving him a lopsided smile, "but always less when I'm with you."

Pansy turned the corner and Draco immediately backed away from me. "I've got to go, talk to you later," he murmured, walking towards her.

I stared after him, Pansy glared at me down the hall. She said something to him and together, they headed in the direction of Snape's classroom. It was definitely something about our brief conversation.

I quickly headed back to the Gryffindor common room, remembering that we were going to discuss it more. As I was about to step into the room, I saw the three of them by the fireplace, heads together debating something. The mention of my name caught my attention as I stepped behind the wall, wondering what they were going to say about me.

"Do you think she'll tell Malfoy?" Ron asked Hermione. "Even if it's accidental. I wouldn't be surprised if she already told him when she stopped to talk to him on our way back," he added.

"She's still our friend, she knows what she can tell others and what she can't," Harry replied, but his voice wavered unsurely.

"Cress won't. Besides, I've enchanted the scroll so that if anyone that signed it told another person, I would know. In fact, everyone would know," Hermione snapped. "We should trust her, we're only pushing her away towards Malfoy if we don't," Hermione sighed. In a lower voice she added, "things have changed since she became so close with him..."

"Crescent, you're kind of in the way," Seamus said, coming up behind me.

I whipped around and moved to the side, dipping my head in apology. Hermione, Harry and Ron looked over, their faces paled.

"Sorry, I took so long," I said, taking a seat next to Hermione. "What'd I miss?" I asked, pretending like I hadn't heard them. It was for the better, I didn't feel like confronting them, it probably would've made them trust me less.

"Nothing much. Hermione was just telling us how we would know if someone on our sign up list told someone outside the club about our plans," Ron took a jab at me indirectly.

"Oh, that's good. That way, we'll know who to trust," I emphasized, smiling.

Apparently, while no one told outsiders, there were rumors that made their way to Umbridge, and so she disbanded all school clubs, which put us in a predicament. Where to meet up and practice now?

~~~

We stared in awe as the Room of Requirement shaped the room into our needs. Neville had come to us one day, informing us that he had found the room while walking down the seventh floor corridor, thinking about how we would be able to train.

Over the next few weeks, we snuck in through one entrance and exited out another wall to prevent from being caught. One day, Harry taught us how to cast patronouses and I watched in awe as animals of various shapes, sizes and forms sprung from the tips of everyone's wand, leaping, jumping, flying across the room in a string of blue light. When I cast my patronous, a thick streak of blue light appeared, twisting and turning in the air, gradually taking the form of an elegant yet fierce dragon.