❝I think the war changed me a lot, yeah. I hope you noted the sarcasm.❞
The Kingdom of the Magical folk had never been at rest ever since the birth of the Dark Lord. Constant wars and bloodshed had become children's bedtime tales.
One such gloomy d...
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The evening was gentle with a settling breeze. The sun was just hiding below the horizon, its last rays giving a glowy orange aura to the entire population on the grounds.
The grounds spanned for as far as eyes could see. Tough soil and bare vegetation made up the landscape. Tents were set up for the teams, each enchanted to occupy six and all their things. To the further left was a small stall that was set up for food distribution.
To the front was the High Commander Sirius' chambers. Adorned with red and gold linen, his tent stood towering over the others. Ginny had expected theirs to be the same as well, considering Harry was no less than royalty, and was mildly surprised to see a simple, emerald lined tent instead.
She was not complaining, though. It was a gorgeous place to live in and a much welcome change after being stuck in her house for years together.
Lunch had been a peaceful affair, the only problem being the distance that everyone had to walk to reach the food distribution stall. Everyone had just started to settle in and Ginny clung close to Neville. The fear of her true identity getting known was much too overwhelming to socialize.
After dropping her things at the room that she shared with the boys, she hurried outside. Harry and Neville were sitting around a fire along with Luna.
"Good evening!" Ginny greeted, taking the empty seat beside Harry. "I hope I'm not too late."
"Ah, we're waiting for Granger so that's fine," Harry reassured her. "Girls take a long time, don't they?" he added, annoyed after a good five minutes. When his eyes landed on Luna, he apologized quickly. "Er, I did not mean you, Luna."
Luna smiled in a dreamy fashion to reassure him. For some reason, Ginny (as well as Neville and probably Harry now) felt a strange, calming aura from the blonde. She was just too much of a cinnamon roll to hurt her in any way. They could only hope to use that as an advantage against enemies who had a weak heart.
"My sincere apologies for being quite late. I was doing a little bit of a light reading on such organizations and lost track of time!" a voice spoke hurriedly. Ginny wheeled around in her place to see the bushy-haired girl sprint towards them. She moved closer to Harry just in time for Hermione to plop down beside her.
"Er, right." Harry cleared his throat, trying to ease the sudden tension that had cast upon them like a cloud. Standing up, probably due to the congestion, he started pacing around. "It's the five of us in this team right now. We are in short of one person but that doesn't mean we give up when there's a huge number in front of us. All of us should be united no matter what or how stressful the circumstance may be.
"Even a pint of doubt will give rise to an ocean of pointless arguments. So, I ask of you all to do one thing, honestly. Is there anything that we should know about you that might influence the decisions we take and the training we will undergo?" With sharp emerald eyes, he observed his teammates.
