Lily Potter (Harry Potter's Twin)

Chapter 21

I felt as though I was carrying some kind of talisman in side my chest over the following two weeks, a glowing secret that supported me through Umbridge's classes and even made it possible for me to smile blandly as I looked into her horrible bulging eyes. The D.A. and I were resisting her under her very nose, doing the very thing that she and the Ministry feared, and whenever I was supposed to be reading Wilbert Slinkhard's book during her lessons I dwelled instead on satisfying memories if the most recent meetings. 

Hermione soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members in case we needed to change it at short notice. She gave each member a fake Galleon, something I was very excited to get.

"You see the numerals around the edge of the coins? " Hermione said, holding one up for examination at the end of the fourth meeting. The coin gleamed fat and yellow in the light from the torches. "On real Galleons, that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On theses fake coins, though, the number will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grown hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket you'll feel them. We take one each, and when Harry sets the date of the next meeting he'll change the numbers on his coin, and because I've put Protean Charm on them, they'll all changed to mimic his. "

A blank silence greeted Hermione's words. She looked around at all the faces upturned to her, rather disconcerted.

"Well- I thought it was a good idea," she said uncertainty, at the silence, " I mean, even if Umbridge asked us to turn out our pockets, there's nothing fishy about carrying a Galleon, is there? But if you don't want to use them... "

"You can do a Protean Charm?" said Terry Boot in astonishment.

"Yes, " said Hermione, as if it were obvious.

"But that's... that's N.E.W.T. standard, that is," he replied weakly.

"Oh, " said Hermione trying to be modest. "Oh... well I guess it is... "

"How come you're no in Ravenclaw?" he demanded. "With brains like yours?'

"Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting," said Hermione brightly, " but in the end it decided on Gryffindor. So dose that mean we're using the Galleons?"

There was a murmur of assent and everybody moved forward to collect a coin from the basket.

As the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor verses Slytherin, drew nearer, the D.A. meetings were put on hold because Angelina insisted on almost daily practices. The fact that the Quidditch Cup had not been held for so long added considerably to the interest and excitement surrounding the fourthcoming game. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were taking a lively interest in the outcome, for they of course, would be playing both teams over the coming year. The Heads of Houses of the competing teams, though they attempted to disguise it under a decent pretence of sportsmanship, were determined to see their sides victory.

I had enough savings to order the Firebolt, which came 3 days before the match, giving me only one practice to fly on it.

Snape was turning a deaf ear to the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex Gryffindor players in the corridors. When Alicia Spinnet turned up in the hospital wing with her eyebrows growing so thick and fast that they obscured her vision and obstructed her mouth, Snape insisted that she must have attempted a Hair-Thickening Charm on herself and refused to listen to the 14 eyewitnesses who insisted that they had seen the Slytherin keeper, Miles Bletchley, hit her from behind with a jinx while she worked in the library.

I however wasn't used to the snide comments of the Slytherins. Harry would have to step up for me in the corridors whenever Pansy Parkinson would talk to me. "Hey, Potty twins, I heard Warrington's sworn to knock you off your brooms on Saturday," but Harry would laugh and reply," Warrington's aim is so pathetic I'd be more worried if he was aiming for the person next to me. "