A Twist of Fate

Chapter 4: Dumbledore's Army

Harry lingered outside the Room of Requirement. Today was another meeting for the DA, but he wasn't quite as confident as he was last time. Taking a deep breath, he slipped inside and was instantly welcomed by a few other members who had come in early.

"Hey, Harry!" Colin Creevy bounced up to him energetically.

"Hullo." He replied with a smile.

"What are we gonna learn ab0ut today? A new hex? Or, or, even something completely mind-blowing!" Colin had started theorizing what they were going

to do, but Harry just shook his head at all the options.

"You'll just have to wait and see. It's a surprise." Harry teased.

"How come? That's no fair..." Colin pouted.

Harry chuckled. "It's completely fair, and don't worry, nobody else knows what we're doing today either."

Colin's shrugged in agreement, and trotted off to his brother, Dennis.

"Hello Harry." A softer voice greeted him, revealing itself to be Cho Chang. Harry's heart hammered in his chest, threatening to burst out.

"Hi Cho." He felt stupid, that hadn't sounded right. What if she just crinkled her nose at him, and ran away in disgust?

"I'm excited for tonight." She said. "I heard about what happened, and wasn't sure if you'd be well enough to teach us today, so..." Her words trailed off.

"Oh, no, I'm fine. I was just knocked out for an hour or two. It wasn't fatal or anything."

"Yeah." A chunk of dark hair fell on her face, concealing one of her eyes. She tucked it behind her ear and continued. "Well, I'll look forward to your lesson

then." She waved, and walked away.

Once everyone else had arrived, Harry took his usual stance in front of the crowd, and cleared his throat.

"So, today we're going to try out the exploding spell, Confringo. The spell explodes whatever it comes into contact with, so today a bunch of dummies are

set up to withstand these hits. So, er, have fun, and don't blow anyone up." A round of soft laughter from the crowd, then people stated to form lines, and

tried out the spell.

"Confringo!" Seamus cried out, setting a dummy aflame.

"Good one!" Harry observed.

"Thanks, I have a talent with blowing things up." Seamus grinned, heading to the back of the line, as the dummy quickly rebuilt itself. The class went

smoothly, and not a single peep from Malfoy started to bother Harry.

"Malfoy? You still there?" He whispered, barely audible.

"Don't have anywhere else I could go. So this is what you lot were doing..."

"If you dare let a word of this reach Umbridge I will make sure you wish you stayed in my head forever." Harry threatened.

"Okay, okay, I'll keep it a secret."

"That's rich, coming from you."

"As of now, my lips are sealed."

"They better be." Harry whispered a final time, and went back to seeing how everyone was doing with the spell. It seemed they all were getting the hand

of it well enough. Perhaps he should try it out for himself, Harry pondered the thought.

"Excuse me, could I have a go?" Harry asked Hannah Abbott.

"Go for it."

And with that, Harry faced the dummy and shouted.

"Confringo!" The dummy exploded, and quickly rebuilt itself almost instantly.

"Nice one." Hannah complimented.

"Heh. Thanks."

The DA meeting had gone rather swimmingly, Harry figured, thinking about the class. Everyone was able to make their dummy explode, and all seemed to

enjoy themselves while doing it, especially Seamus. Even more gleeful was the fact that Harry was getting better at spell casting with Malfoy, they were more

in sync every time. When he told Ron and Hermione that they were in the clear to head back to the common room, Ron gave him a quick pat on the back.

"Good one, mate." Then he disappeared out the door, and out of sight. Leaving Harry alone with Malfoy- again. He checked the Marauder's map, watching

Ron and Hermione's dots reach Gryffindor Tower. They made it successfully, Harry smiled. Another meeting done without any complications. He was about to

head out himself, but Malfoy interrupted.

"So you teach them?" He sounded almost like Luna, completely in wonderment.

"Yes and no. We practice the spells that are most likely going to come up on the O.W.L's and I just kind of... lead them." Harry stared awkwardly.

"In other words, you teach."

"Somewhat."

"Everyone seems to like you."

"We've been doing this for a while." Harry scratched the back of his head.

"Especially that Cho girl. Isn't she a Ravenclaw?"

"Yes. Why does that matter?" Harry's voice turned stiff with anger.

"It, er, doesn't. I just thought I'd mention it. You're good at teaching." He finished weirdly. Harry hesitated before answering.

"Thanks." There was a long period of silence, in which Harry was just about to head back to the common room when Malfoy interrupted, again.

"Are you going to teach here once you finish seventh year?" The question was off-topic, so it took Harry a minute before he was able to come up with an

answer.

"No, actually. I was thinking of being an... well, an Auror." He shifted uncomfortably.

"Really?" Malfoy mused, surprised.

"What are you planning on doing?" Harry asked in return.

"I'm not sure, but I was thinking of something like a Healer."

"That seems unlike you." Harry chuckled. "I didn't know you liked medical things."

"You never really asked, with us being enemies and all."

"True."

Another pause.

"We don't have to be enemies, you know. We could be... er..." Malfoy fumbled for the words.

"Acquaintances?" Harry suggested, causing Malfoy to laugh.

"Something like that, yeah. Maybe even distant friends." He joked.

"But what would the others think if we hung out too often together?" Harry furrowed his brow.

"To hell with what everyone else thinks! We don't have to see each other every day, just occasionally. It could be nice instead of feuding." Malfoy said

firmly. Harry wasn't quite sure what to think. On one hand, perhaps being 'friends' with Malfoy would be better than constantly fighting and dueling. On the

other hand, he was almost certain that Ron and Hermione would give him the eye if they saw him with Malfoy voluntarily.

"I'll think about it, but I like the idea." Harry smiled, checked the map, and slipped into the corridor back to the common room. It could be better, or it could

be worse, being friendly with each other. For now it seemed that a friendly approach was best while he was attached to Malfoy, at least. Maybe things would be more clear in the future, like a sky after a storm, shining in the sun for once.