Purple Rain.

Chapter Forty-Two.

"Okay," Harry said, calling Dumbledore's Army to order. "I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break—"

"We're not doing anything new?" said Zacharias Smith in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come."

"We're really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," said Fred loudly.
Several people snickered. Harry's eyes lingered on (Y/n), who was wearing a holly crown that Luna had magically made on her head. Harry quickly averted his eyes the moment (Y/n) sent him a side-eyed look that read of amusement from Fred's comment.

"We can practice in pairs," said Harry. "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."

They all divided up obediently; Harry partnered with Neville due to Leanne coping (Y/n) before Neville could. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of "Impedimenta!" People froze for a minute or so, during which their partners would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn with the jinx.
Neville had improved beyond all recognition. After a while, when Harry had unfrozen three times in a row, he had Neville join (Y/n) and Leanne again so that he could walk around and watch the others. When he passed Cho, she offered him a smile before turning her attention back on Marietta, who had just unfrozen.
After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the floor and started practising Stunning again. Space was really too confined to allow them all to work the spell at once; half the group observed the others for a while, then swapped over. Harry felt himself positively swelling with pride as he watched them all. True, Neville did Stun Padma rather than Dean, at whom he had been aiming, but it was a much closer miss than usual, and everybody else had made enormous progress.
Fifteen minutes from the full hour, Harry had the sixth and seventh years practice both wordless magic and full-on duelling due to the fact that they were either in N.E.W.T. classes or would be taking said exam at the end of the year. The duelling between the sixth and seventh years was quite the experience for all— The younger students got to see new spells and a break whilst the older students got to practice at their level.

"You think that Warrington would have survived if he knew the basics?" Smith whispered. Susan, Hannah, Ernie, and Justin all gave him disgusted looks.

"Really? In front of his girlfriend?" Justin scoffed.

"What's your problem?" Ernie frowned. Susan and Hannah sent (Y/n) pitiful looks. (Y/n) pretended as though she hadn't heard or seen them due to the music playing from her headphones. She merely focused on blocking Alicia's spells.

At the end of an hour, Harry called a halt.

"You're getting really good," Harry said, beaming at them all. "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff— maybe even Patronuses."

There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished Harry a Happy Holidays as they went. Feeling cheerful, Harry collected the cushions with Ron, Hermione, and (Y/n) and stacked them neatly. Ron and Hermione left before Harry did; he hung back a little because he got the feeling (Y/n) was taking her time tidying up due to wishing to talk to him.

"No, you go on," (Y/n) told Marietta and Cho. Harry briefly glanced up, catching sight of Cho's frown as she obliged, following Marietta out of the room. The two took their time tidying up almost as though expecting the other to speak up. When he looked up, he found (Y/n) looking quite upset with herself as she cried.