star shopping ✰ d.m.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Surprisingly, things began to slightly look up for Arabella after Professor Trelawney was sacked. Professor Dumbledore had found a replacement for her before the Ministry could and now Divination was taught by a centaur named Firenze. Because of this, the class moved from the top of North Tower to a previously unused classroom on the ground floor. Dumbledore had modified it to resemble the Forbidden Forest, where Firenze had previously lived before accepting the job offer and being banished from his herd. Now Divination lessons consisted of lying on the mossy floor and staring up at a replica of the night sky while Firenze talked. During the very first lesson, he said that Wizard-kind was currently living in a calm between two wars and that Mars shining above them meant that fight would be starting again soon. This worried Arabella, but because Firenze said that nothing is certain and that even centaurs can read things wrong, she was able to push this to the back of her mind fairly quickly.

Since Seamus had finally come around, he was told about Dumbledore's Army and was eager to join. His first meeting was in mid-April, and it just so happened that they were to be working on Patronuses that day.

"Make it a powerful memory, the happiest you can remember," Harry advised them. "Allow it to fill you up. Keep trying, Seamus."

"You've got this, Seamus, just focus," Arabella called to him. She stood with Ron as the two were preparing to try to conjure their Patronuses.

"A full-bodied Patronus is the most difficult to produce," Harry went on, "but shield forms can also be equally useful against a variety of opponents. Just remember, your Patronus can only protect you for as long as you stay focused."

"Together, yeah?" Ron asked Arabella. She nodded, and they readied their wands, recited the incantation, and produced their Patronuses.

They watched as Ron's Jack Russell terrier ran in between Neville's legs, knocking him down, and then proceeded to chase Hermione's otter. However, Arabella's St. Bernard intervened and stood between the two Patronuses. The three of them laughed as they watched the way their Patronuses interacted with one another.

"Interesting, you've both got dogs," Hermione said, approaching the twins once their Patronuses had evaporated.

"It is interesting, isn't it?" Arabella agreed, smiling. Then she noticed Ginny standing with Luna and Evelyn. "Hey, Gin, let's see you try!"

Ginny did, reciting the incantation and succeeding in producing her horse Patronus.

Just then, a fox Patronus began to run around Arabella before running back to Seamus and evaporating.

"You did it?" she asked him. He nodded. "Yes!"

The excitement didn't get to last, however. The members of the DA fell silent as they felt the Room of Requirement shake. All remaining Patronuses evaporated as everyone turned towards the booming noise coming from where the entrance usually was. The mirror there shattered and behind it was a hole. Nigel began to look through it, but at the sound of a voice, Harry pulled him back.

"I'll make short work of this," Professor Umbridge said from the other side of the wall. "Bombarda Maxima."

The wall exploded and once the debris settled, the members of the DA were able to see who exactly had come for them. Some of the people present came as a shock, others not so much.

Arabella personally was not all that surprised to see Umbridge, Filch, and many Slytherin students, but instead was angry about the presence of Draco, who was smirking at her as he held onto Marietta, who looked like she would have liked to have been anywhere else at that moment.

"Get them."

[word count: 616]
[written: 8/23/20]
[published: 8/23/20]