November Snow

t h i r t y - f i v e

At night, when everyone had gone to sleep, Juliette and I sneaked out of the Slytherin common room quietly and went straight to the Room of Requirement. We did this every night ever since we found the place for the army's practice about a week ago. We all suffered from lack of sleep, but it was worthy. We had leant a lot, enough to defend ourselves in normal situations. But we still had a big goal ahead of us: defeat Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters. That was a mission to both the Order and the Army.

We weren't the first ones to arrive, but there wasn't much people in the room the moment we stepped in. Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys were already there with Neville.

"Evening, Nov, Jules." Fred and George said.

"Evening." We greeted.

We stood there and waited for all members to come. They weren't that late. Around fifteen minutes later, everyone was already presented. I came up to Fred and George.

"You know Filch's spying on us, right?" I asked "He's seen the door. He'll be sitting out there all night to watch and catch us red-handed."

"That's why Umbridge wanted to question everyone." Fred said.

"Do you still have those Fever Fudge?"

"Yeah." Said the twins.

"Put them in a pink box of chocolate." I said "He fancies Umbridge, he'll think that she gives it to him."

"Brilliant." They said, smiling from ear to ear "We'll get on with it tomorrow."

"Great." I said cheerfully, though there was no tinge of that mischievous happiness on my face.

Harry began to gather everyone around, him and a Gryffindor boy named Nigel stood face to face while others stood on the two sides as Harry told. He started explaining the Stunning Spell: Stupefy, our new lesson for the day.

"Stunning is one of the most useful spells in your arsenal. It's a wizard's bread and butter, really." He sure was bad at descriptions "So, come on, Nigel. Give it your best shot."

He backed away to give Nigel some space to perform the spell on him. Nigel ran his fingers nervously along the handle of his wand, he stuttered the incantation.

"Stupefy!"

Harry was hit square in the chest and sent backwards, landing on his back. The students gasped, then the room went quiet. Harry got back on his feet slowly, giving the young boy an encouraging smile.

"Good. Not bad at all, Nigel." He said "Well done."

Juliette and I stood nearby, lazily joining everyone as they clapped encouragingly at the little Gryffindor boy. Even though Hermione and the twins, along with Ginny and Luna had been persuading the rest of the army, they never seemed to stop throwing dirty looks at us as we were the only Slytherins in the room. Not that we had ever been nasty to them, just that they hated 'the likes of those girls'-quoted a Gryffindor whose fat head I used to want to free from his miserable shoulders. Oh look, maybe that was what made me a Slytherin after all: heartlessness. I never recognized that until that murdering thought popped up in my mind.

Knowing that we weren't exactly welcomed among them, we quietly retreated to a corner and practiced by ourselves. Harry or Ron, two of our close friends, hadn't been on terms with us and we didn't bother making it different any time soon. They hated me for some stupid reasons and now they expressed their hatred on my best friend though she didn't do anything. She didn't complain, but I knew she was quite irritated.

"Umbridge is starting to suspect us." I murmured "We can't run away from her all the time. She'll catch us eventually."

"Yeah, she's questioning all students with suspicious behaviors." She said.

"We'll have to find a way soon." I said.

"I don't even know why we came in the first place." She gritted her teeth after she saw some girl throwing looks at us "They hate us."

"Passionately." I added "They hate the likes of us, Slytherins."

"We've never been nasty to them. Why don't they just take their anger on the people who cause it?"

"Technically most of them are scared of Snape, Malfoy and Parkinson." I said and changed the subject "Now, the Patronus Charm..."

"I still can't produce a full-body Patronus." She sighed "Whatever it is, I hope it'll be as beautiful as yours."

"Considering mine is a python." I grunted "It made them fear and hate me even more, didn't it?"

"And you said you don't fit in Slytherin." She said "Really, you have all the materials."

"Now, we have to improve your spell-casting skills, Jules, because you are terrible at it." I chuckled and got her off the topic "You still can't aim perfectly."

"I'm not November Avery, the girl who jumped class because she's amazing." She rolled her eyes.

"Then will you let November Avery help?" I asked, wriggling my eyebrows at her "She's trying to get you to practice instead of sleeping in over the weekends."

"Fine." She grunted.

-----

Filch had just hung up a new announcement from Umbridge in the Hall. It shouted with her squeaky voice just like all those old ones she hung up on the wall around the door to the Great Hall, giving orders to students who were most unlikely to follow unless they were Slytherins. I couldn't even understand how people from my house liked her. That made Juliette and I felt like outcasts everywhere we went.

"Those wishing to join the Inquisitorial Squad for extra credits may sign up in the High Inquisitor's office." Said the magnified toad-like voice.

"She's recruiting people to keep track on Harry and other students." Juliette said as we walked past the door and sat down at the end of the Slytherin table.

"Look like Malfoy and his band are joining." I said, eyeing the excited group of Slytherins walking by.

"What should we do?" She asked in whispering voice.

I looked down at my sandwich, began my trip deep into my own thoughts. What should we do? That was the big question. I had no idea where we were going with the army. I kept it from the Order, Sirius wouldn't be too happy to hear about his Godson starting an army for him and Dumbledore without them knowing, though I reckoned they wouldn't be happy if I kept it a secret from them either. The army wasn't the best idea we had ever had, I must admit, the Order wasn't going so well at this point, and with that Umbridge toad kept bugging her nose into our business, it felt like I was the person handling all the stress at that moment, being the one standing in the middle. Then, an idea sparked inside my head.

"I have an idea." I said.

"An ingenious one or a pathetically dim-witted one?" She asked, leaning forward.

"Both." I grinned, a smile cracked on her lips too.