The Next Generation and the Followers of Darkness

There was talk of hardly anything else on Monday other than the masquerade ball and the special feast. Even Oliver, who had been knocked out in the hospital wing the night the announcement had been made, was talking excitedly about the upcoming events of the school year.

After breakfast on the first day of the week, Melody and Rose made their way down to the Herbology gardens discussing the occurrences of the weekend. Albus had left them moments before to walk with Carter, Kyler, Matthew, and Tyson. The five Gryffindor boys had become good friends in the past couple weeks. The same could not be said for the girls, despite the help they gave each other when it came to homework.

So, Rose and Melody consented to walking to classes without the other Gryffindor first years, freely conversing about whatever they liked.

"I'm sort of disappointed that we're not allowed to go to the ball," Rose whined. "But we are only eleven — and there's bound to be other dances in the next six years."

"Of course," agreed Melody. "And at least we get to go to a feast. It's not like we've been left with nothing."

"True. I wonder . . . do you think anyone we know has been asked already?"

"I don't know. I guess it's possible, but there's still almost a month and a half until Halloween. If people are already finding partners, the picking is going to be slim by the time the ball rolls around. Anyone who waits is going to have trouble finding someone to go with. Who do you think Victoire will go with?"

The seventh year girl had a boyfriend outside of Hogwarts — Teddy Lupin. He was Harry Potter's godson and very close to both the Potters and Weasleys, so it wasn't too surprising when Victoire and Teddy hit it off. Still, the two families had not found out about the relationship until the beginning of this term, so the news was still fresh.

"No idea." Rose thought for a moment. "I don't even know if she'll go, honestly. Victoire has never really been one for parties."

As they walked across the grounds, they looked out at the forest. The trees swished in the light breeze, scattering leaves around Hagrid's hut. They had not been to visit since the first week. Maybe it was time to drop by again.

Albus and the other boys ran by at different speeds, laughing about something. Rose was nearly trampled by Matthew, who didn't even bother to apologize. Still, the two girls couldn't help smiling at how open Tyson was acting now, as if the other Gryffindors were his family. There was a huge difference in Carter's personality now. Although he was completely confused about some aspects of Wizarding society, the Muggleborn boy was beginning to accept and understand the basics. And, of course, Kyler lead the lot of them, the other four following his lead in any situation. It could actually be quite annoying.

"Boys," someone muttered behind Rose and Melody.

They turned to see Isabella, Lissa, and Gianna walking along close by, glaring at the boys as they sped off toward where Professor Longbottom was waiting for the Gryffindor first years. The Ravenclaws were already there, which wasn't surprising. Aubree Bremner, the girl who had befriended Melody and Rose on the train, waved as the two of them neared the greenhouses; however, someone pushed her hand down. Melody's confusion must have shown on her face, as she walked toward the Ravenclaws, who smirked smugly at the approaching Gryffindors.

"What's their problem?" Melody asked Rose discreetly.

Rose didn't respond, but that was simply because Longbottom had silenced the two gathered Houses.

"Now, now, settle down," he snapped. "You all have plenty of time to discuss what is happening during your free time. But now it is time for Herbology. Listen up so I won't have to repeat myself. Today we will be harvesting nettles. Professor Alpheus tells me that she needs a fresh supply of these in her classroom after your disasterous attempt to brew a cure for boils" — he eyed the Gryffindors disapprovingly, but with a slight grin — "and would like me to tell you that you will all get a second chance at this potion. I myself cannot say that I did any better with that my first week. In fact, I spilled it all over myself and gave myself boils."

He laughed heartily. In return, the students gave him a collective, uncertain chuckle.

"Well, come on. Let's get to work."

Picking the nettles was as boring as it was effortless. The plants didn't do much, so the students chattered amongst themselves as they worked. Longbottom didn't protest to this, as he too was harvesting something from the nearest greenhouse. Every once in a while he would poke his head out the door to check that they were still working — or he was making sure that the Headmistress hadn't decided to take a stroll.

Unlike many of the teachers at Hogwarts, Professor Longbottom had been a pupil of Professor McGonagall during his years at the school. Although they worked on the staff together now, he knew just how temperamental she could be if one was caught off task. Of course, she would disapprove greatly if she discovered he was not watching his class closely.

Melody and Rose, harvesting nettles very near to each other, resumed the conversation they had been having before the start of class as they had walked out of the castle.

"So, what else do you think the ghosts do?" said Melody. "I mean, other than dances and parties."

"Probably feasts, kind of like the one we're going to have," replied Rose. "Maybe even concerts from bands, if they can."

Melody shrugged, then pulled at a bundle of nettles. Although she had grown up knowing she would be a witch and attend Hogwarts, Melody hardly listened to the Wizarding radio. Her parents had adopted the Wizarding world pretty fully, but when it came to music, their Muggle background was evident. So Muggle music had infected the Smith children. Each of them had come to enjoy different genres, though. In Amelia's case, pop music had taken hold. Her particular favorites were any boy band that came about — which were horrible in Melody's opinion. The worst of them all was Only Way, a group of five boys who wrote repetitive songs with lyrics that contradicted themselves. Melody could hardly stand being in the room whenever one of their songs came on the radio, let alone listen to Amelia's terrible singing as she belted out the words. Jeremy, on the other hand, loved to listen to almost anything foreign, which also helped him in Muggle Studies. When he had had a project over summer, songs in French had streamed from the radio in the sitting room for days as he covered rolls upon rolls of parchment in lyrics and information about the artists. Oliver had complained loudly every time the elder boy was hogging the radio, but he was quickly silenced by Jeremy, who turned the volume up to drown out his brother's ranting. As for Oliver, being true to his nature, had began listening to classic rock during the past few years. This contrasted greatly with the music everyone else in the family enjoyed, but it wasn't surprising that he was different from the rest of them, as they had figured that out when he was Sorted into Gryffindor. Like most Muggles, one of his favorite bands was the Beatles, but he also liked to listen to Cream. He tended to blast it early in the morning, before being chased about the house by Amelia. And Melody, who loved her Muggle grandparents on her father's side and had stayed with them often during the last two school years — when Amelia, Jeremy, and Oliver had been at Hogwarts and her parents had been at work — had taken to classical music. That was all they ever listened to, and her favorite composer was Johann Sebastian Bach. This astonished her parents. But she was always shocking them. So the Wizarding radio had taken a back seat while Muggle music reigned. Melody hardly knew any bands other than the older ones her mother and father had been introduced to during their days at Hogwarts.

"Hey, Mel," someone said at her elbow. It was Albus.

"Yeah?" she muttered as Longbottom peeked out of the greenhouse.

"What d'you think the Ravenclaws are up to? They all seem a bit stand off-ish, huh?"

She glanced over her shoulder to where the Ravenclaws were kneeling in the dirt, picking nettles. Her gaze were met with spiteful glares and diverted eyes from all of them, even Aubree, who refused to look in the general direction of any of the Gryffindors. Something was going on. They were all a bit tense.

"Why would they be mad at us?" asked Rose. "We haven't done anything to them . . . at least . . . I think we didn't . . ."

At lunch, Albus tried to have a conversation with Pierson but was turned away from the Hufflepuffs before he could say a word. He returned to the other Gryffindor first years looking confused.

Melody stared about the Great Hall, realizing something. Every House was sitting at a separate table, not socializing with anyone from rival Houses. This had always been seen from the Slytherins, who imagined themselves higher in rank than the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. But when Melody tried to ask Jeremy what was going on, she received no answer but silence.

There was simply no logical explanation. Every other House seemed to know why everyone was so tense but Gryffindor. Eventually, Victoire went over and harassed Amelia until the Head Girl lost her temper.

"Fine! If you're too idiotic to figure it out — everyone is convinced that you Gryffindor arses are favored by the Headmistress, and one of the other three Houses is determined to win the House Championship this year." She grinned smugly at Victoire's wide-eyed expression. Then she added quietly, "And we're not afraid to make alliances to bring Gryffindor down."

After Amelia's near-explosive explanation, many of the Gryffindors retreated up to the Tower for the remainder of lunch. No one seemed very hungry, so the entire common room decided to have a debate on what had just happened and what should be done about the issue.

"Oi!" Edward yelled as he and Victoire, who were the seventh year prefects, stood on a low table by the bookshelves. "Listen up! If we're going to have a discussion like this, we're gonna do it the proper way. None of this shouting all over each other as we all try to be heard at once. If you have a legitimate statement on the matter, please stand to my left. If you have a possible, realistic solution, on my right."

There was a short shuffle was people moved about the common room to stand on either side of Edward or to get a good seat to watch the debate. Melody, Rose, Albus, Carter, and Tyson found a spot to sit to the far right of where the prefects stood that didn't have a very good view of the speakers but allowed them to listen without the subtle whispering at the edges of the common room.

"Okay," continued Victoire. "First, we will hear the comments."

Most of the commenters were actually complainers, saying that the House rivalries were ripping apart relationships. These people were dismissed as soon as their speeches were finished, muttering under their breath something about hexing Edward and Victoire for disregarding their thoughts on the matter.

But a few people had interesting insights on the problem. The second to last person to speak stood before them, seemingly determined not to complain. It was the sixth year girl who had tried out for Seeker.

"The House rivalries have gone too far," she said. "In addition to relationships being torn apart, friends are turning on friends, family on family."

Melody felt a stone drop into her stomach as she remembered the contempt she harbored toward Amelia and Jeremy.

"And while a little competition between the Houses is healthy, this sort of feuding is dangerous," the girl continued. "You all have seen how desperate the other Houses are getting. What will hold them back? They all have ways of getting around the rules, just like us . . . we have to fix this problem before it becomes too big to repair."

With that she took a seat in the nearest armchair, not waiting for any commentary from anyone. But no one had a chance to speak before the portrait hole opened up and someone tumbled inside, his robes balled up in his hand. The grey jumper he wore was sooty black on the elbow and slightly frayed, as if it had been singed.

"My God, Hayden!" said Roxanne. She and everyone else looked at the boy with wide eyes. He was fuming. "What the hell happened?"

"Slytherins . . . Ravenclaws . . . and Hufflepuffs . . ." said Hayden quietly through gritted teeth. "Set my sleeve on fire as I walked past. It seems they aren't afraid to bend the rules a bit to mess with us."

Rain started to splatter the tower windows as outraged Gryffindors began to threaten to tear apart the next person who messed with one of their House-mates. But Melody knew that none of them would follow through. Gryffindor was outnumbered three to one.

~~~~~

Despite the big talk of the Gryffindors the day before, in reality, most of them were terrified to be caught alone in an hallway. And after Hayden had been ambushed, the rest of the Gryffindors weren't to keen to be attacked. The other three Houses were walking around in packs, eyeing the bravest House as if they were a meal.

So in the end, the House as a whole voted on a decision to keep each other safe until they could face the problem head on. It was suggested that a pair of students in the fourth year or older would walk inconspicuously behind younger students — who would travel in groups of three or more — on their way to classes to make sure nothing happened to them. This was the best idea they had, so it was nearly an unanimous vote, other than the students that had had other suggestions. No Gryffindor would travel alone until the issue had been sorted out. In the mean time, Edward began a smaller Defense Club within the walls of Gryffindor Tower, when Professor Longbottom wasn't in there. Although he had been in a club similar to this in his younger days, he would never approve of the use of defensive spells on other students.

The first meeting was on Wednesday, only two days after the House meeting in which they had made the decision to fight back. Edward wanted everyone — and he meant every student from the first years to the seventh years — to have basic defensive spells up their sleeves. This meeting was mostly for first and second years, as many of them hadn't learned much from Defense Against the Dark Arts yet.

Once all the chairs and tables had been pushed to the very edges of the room and a few of the elder students had gathered there to watch — the rest of them turned into bed early — Edward stood in front of the youngest Gryffindors, his wand in hand.

Melody and Rose stood near the front of the group, wondering what exactly Edward was waiting for. But they were patient enough as the room fell into an unbroken silence. Like most of the students sitting around, they had left their robes up in the dormitories and were now wearing jeans or skirts and t-shirts or sweaters. Melody tugged the sleeves of her oversized blue jumper up to her wrists, then let them fall again, repeating this movement over and over as they waited. She had done very little magic so far this term. Any kind of defensive spells would prove to be difficult, so she fidgeted continually, trying to ease her nerves. For a minute or so, she spun her wand around with her fingers, testing different grips and hoping against hope that she would be less stubborn that usual. Long ago had she proved to be irritable when it came to doing things. If she failed the first few times, Melody would typically give up for a while, not even attempting until it became unavoidable and she would have to try. She just hoped that the spells they were learning tonight would come easily enough.

"You know, you missed last Saturday's meeting," said Rose suddenly, making Melody flinch. She had been so caught up in her thumb twiddling and thoughts that she had not been expecting someone to speak, let alone right into her ear.

"What?" whispered Melody, the silence of the tower pushing in on her. It seemed to strangle her as she tried to take deep breaths. All eyes were on the little group of first and second years huddled in the center of the room, but Melody could have sworn they were all watching her.

"You missed Defense Club this weekend," continued Rose, who took no notice of the staring elder students. Maybe she was just able to ignore it. "I know you were with Oliver in the hospital wing, but I also knew you wanted to go."

"Dammit. What did you learn?"

"We just started on the Disarming Spell. It's not too hard, but it takes concentration. None of us" — she indicated the other first years around them — "were able to figure it out . . ."

Rose's voice trailed off as Victoire came through the portrait hole, closely followed by Dominique and —

"Professor Wordsworth, thank you for coming," said Edward graciously, shaking Professor Wordsworth's hand eagerly. "You have no idea how grateful we are for your help."

"Victoire already explained the situation," said Wordsworth, his voice raspy. "And I'm only doing this because it's Gryffindor."

He turned to face the first and second years.

Professor Wordsworth was an older gentleman, with wrinkles around his eyes and a crease between his eyebrows. Although he had been around during the Second Wizarding War, he had refused to fight, despite his incredible talent with a wand. Apparently, it had taken months of pleading on Professor McGonagall's part to convince him to take the job as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Hello," he said. Rather than taking the time for formalities, Wordsworth got right to the point. "I see a few familiar faces from the Defense Club meeting last weekend, so I guess we can start right where we left off. For those of you who couldn't make it" — he gave Melody a knowing look — she couldn't help feeling relieved that he understood her absence — "we began learning the basic Disarming Charm. It is not a very complex spell. Er . . . Nathaniel, if you will . . . please be my 'assistant' for this. . . . The incantation is, 'Expelliarmus!' Now, Nathaniel, draw your wand. Do not cast any spell, I'm simply going to demonstrate."

Melody, Rose, and the rest of the assembled group took several steps back as Wordsworth and Nathaniel — a scrawny, brown-haired fourth-year — pointed their wands at each other. Wordsworth counted to three, his abnormally short wand pointing determinedly at his student.

"One — two — three! Expelliarmus!" he cried.

Nathaniel's wand flew out of the boy's hand and into the air, towards Professor Wordsworth's outstretched palm. The Defense teacher caught the wand effortlessly, then tossed it back to Nathaniel. He fumbled as it reached him, but didn't drop it. Professor Wordsworth motioned for him to take his seat again and Nathaniel thankfully sat down at the edge of the room.

"All right," said Wordsworth. "Now that you all have seen how the spell works, I want you to pair up for practice."

He glanced at the clock.

"I'm only able to stay until eight thirty so hurry up. We've got twenty minutes."

Melody and Rose linked arms automatically and walked to the back of the group, then spreading apart, their wands aimed at each other. Wordsworth stalked around the pairs, spacing them evenly apart so no one would run into each other if a spell went wrong.

"On the count of three, I want you all to try and we'll go from there."

Melody adjusted her grip and gave Rose a determined smirk, which was mirrored by her best friend.

"One . . . two . . . three!"

"Expelliarmus!"

Wands went flying, as did people and furniture. Victoire and Molly escaped to the girls' spiral staircase, but Edward was not nearly quick enough. He along with several other people were hit by spells that had missed their mark. They all collapsed on the rugs, gasping for breath. There was a great deal of gasping before the elder Gryffindors got up and there were sighs of relief. The spells had only stunned them for a moment. This hypothesis was proven correct by Wordsworth.

But some of the spells had worked correctly, and Melody found herself wandless. She crossed her arms but couldn't help smiling about Rose's success. This surprised herself.

All throughout her life, Melody had to be the best at everything. Competitiveness was "important" to her siblings, so it had always been important to her. But seeing someone succeed even when she failed had some kind of worth.

"Here!" said Rose over the babble in the room about headaches and sore muscles. Melody's wand came back at her through the air and she caught it before it hit the floor.

"Thanks," replied Melody.

"No problem."

Rose flashed a smile at her before the two girls continued practicing, Melody picking it up quite fast, soon taking Rose's wand with a particularly quick spell. At eight thirty, Professor Wordsworth left after he made sure everyone hit by stray spells was fine. Melody and Rose stayed out in the common room finishing some Transfiguration homework, but closer friends than they had been since they had met on the train.