ruins ; harry potter [1]

nine ; d.a.

Diana had been slipping. She noticed it sometimes in passing; she was just a tad bit angrier and a little bit sadder. She didn't laugh as hard at things. The world just seemed darker, like someone had flipped a switch off. Just the other day, she had passed a mirror in her bedroom and she could've sworn her eyes were a blood red for a mere second.

She was much more irritable, too. It was something she noticed increasingly in Harry, and often they were caught gazing at the breakfast table hardly, not listening to conversations or being just generally off.

Diana would sit day after day on a windowsill in a far-off and unused corridor, just contemplating her life, and her future. It only made her sadder to think about such things, but she really couldn't help it. Today, she thought about her father. She wondered what he was really like as a teenager; she tried to put herself in his shoes at her age. It honestly made sense to her, the way he thought. Of course, she didn't think the same way he did, but it didn't mean she couldn't empathize with him in a way most people couldn't. It made sense that he turned out the way he did: a heartless, bloodthirsty, animalistic sub-human. He was conceived under a love potion, which made him seceptible to such traits. He had grown up unwanted and unloved, with a gigantic ego that was only inflated by his superiority. He was in an orphanage with ordinary muggles, and he was already arrogant. It wasn't a surprise that his extraordinary gift only fed his inflated sense of self until he turned bad.

She sometimes saw him in herself. She'll catch herself thinking things that she really shouldn't be thinking, or sometimes there'll be a voice in her head that sounds like hers but is saying things that she would never say in a million years. It was like sometimes she had two sides, battling endlessly for dominance: the side that made her belong in the Order, and the side that was much too similar to Tom Riddle.

If Tom was so heartless, how is it that he could've been the father of a child? Who would possibly feel any kind of love towards Tom Riddle, a love that could break him down enough to have a child? It was bizarre to her, to think that there was someone who broke down his walls; someone who loved him, someone who was amazing enough to be loved by such a man.

Diana didn't know anything about her mother. She assumed from small snippets of conversation that she had accidentally overheard between Dumbledore and the portrait of the late Headmaster Dippet, that they both knew her, which means that she must have gone to school with Tom. Diana liked to think that her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world, extraordinary enough to catch the attention of the illusive Tom Riddle, but another side of her wondered: What kind of person fell in love with a man like Tom Riddle?

She looked towards the nearest clock, and she immediately jumped out of her perch on the windowsill and started towards the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor. She got there quickly, using some secret passages she found when she would go exploring.

She paced three times in front of the blank wall, noticing that everyone would already be there. The large door appeared, and she yanked it open and quickly walked to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Where have you been?" hissed Hermione quietly.

"Sorry, I, uh, got distracted," she said, staring at the copious selection of books on the shelves.

Hermione motioned for Diana to start, for they had all made a silent agreement that Diana was obviously the best speaker in front of a large group.

"This is the place I was talking about, the Room of Requirement."

"It's fantastic!" Cho interrupted, and everyone muttered small agreements.

"It's bizzare," said Fred, frowning at the walls. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then..."

Dean asked about the all of the bizarre instruments lining the wall.

"Dark Detectors," said Diana at once. "They can tell you when Dark wizards are around, but they can sometimes be faulty."

Diana glanced at a Foe-Glass. She saw her face swirl in the Glass until it was distinctly recognizable, with eyes the color of crimson.

"I think we ought to elect a leader," Hermione said.

"Harry's leader," said Cho at once. Diana rolled her eyes.

"Harry and Diana," said the twins at the same time, and everyone muttered agreements.

Everyone voted on it, and every single person voted for Harry and Diana (even Cho, albeit reluctantly.)

"I also think we ought to have a name," said Hermione. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"

People spewed out a few different names. It wasn't until Ginny gave a suggestion that Diana was thoroughly excited.

"Yeah, the D.A.'s good," Ginny responded to someone. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

"You're a genius," Diana said, and they grinned at each other. Everyone once again voted, and majority won for Dumbledore's Army. Hermione wrote the new name up at the top of the list of all participants.

"Right," said Harry finally, relieved he could actually talk without getting interrupted. "Shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful—"

"Oh please," interrupted Zacharias. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who."

"Harry used it against him last year," Diana said, which shut Zacharias right up. Diana had a dream, the day of the Triwizard Tournament, revealing what was going to happen that night. She remembered how she screamed at the nurses, telling them that a boy was going to be killed by the newly-risen Voldemort. They didn't listen.

Harry looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed. "How did you know that?" he asked quietly. She froze, and merely shook her head, hoping that he would just drop it.

Harry pried his eyes away from her. "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."

They all did. Neville had to work with Ron and Hermione, for he had no partner. They practiced for awhile, until even Neville could do it. Harry and Diana walked around, giving critiques and advice to anyone who needed it. They started over many times, and even by now Harry had a whistle that he blew to get everyone's attention.

Eventually, it was over, and people started filing out. It was just the usual four left, and they cleaned up the room.

Before Hermione filed out after Ron and Harry, Diana pulled her aside.

"Have you noticed anything off about Harry?" Diana asked her. Hermione glanced around, as if making sure there was no one around.

She nodded. "He seems much more distant lately, I've noticed. I think his nightmares have been getting worse."

Diana sighed, upping circles onto her temple. "Can you look out for him?" She asked Hermione. "During classes and such when I'm not there."

Hermione smiled lightly and nodded. They, too, left the room and caught up to an unsuspecting Harry and Ron.