THE ANGEL OF WOE | RON WEASLEY [BOOK THREE]

10. DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY

"It was just a question!"

Ron huffed as he trailed behind Gene annoyingly, while she was attempting to escape him and get back to the common room to study some sections of her Defence against the Dark Arts textbook that they hadn't ventured into in class, thanks to Umbridge. She had to prepare for the lessons with Harry, but she was behind on schedule.

"Why does it matter to you anyways?" Gene asked over her shoulder, though she didn't slow down for him.

"Well– it doesn't–" he stuttered out, and Gene just knew that his ears had turned pink at the tips.

"Then leave it, Ron." she said.

"Hey–" Ron grasped for her sleeve and she was pulled to a stop, glaring at him as he towered over her. "You've got a lot of people counting on you. Don't let them down."

"This isn't about that," Gene scoffed, "This is about Finn. You're annoyed that I've been spending time with him. Except, I can't figure out why." she said, raising an eyebrow as his cheeks flushed.

"That's– that's not even– I'm not. I'm not annoyed–" he began to stutter out.

"Look, if I wanted to date Finn Maddox, trust me– I would be by now." Gene said bluntly. "If that was what you were worried about, then don't."

Ron swallowed hard, the red in his cheeks beginning to fade away. It was as though the last five minutes hadn't happened, and he was back to normal.

"Gene! Gene, Ron, come quick!" Ginny's voice called for them at the very end of the corridor, causing the moment between the two to end quickly as they followed after her hurriedly.

Finally catching up with Ginny, they rounded the corner, passing the Potion's classroom to find a large wooden door with steel adorning it. Gene saw Harry and Hermione already stood there with Neville, Fred and George, before breaking into a smile. They'd found their practice room.

Over the course of the next few weeks, they would meet in the Room of Requirement, to hold their lessons on spells, enchantments and everything else in between. Gene's intentions with Dumbledore's Army were clear. She wanted to defeat Voldemort like everyone else did. But most of all, she wanted him to pay for what he did to Cedric. Gene wanted to avenge him. So that was what she would do.

Lying somewhere in her dorm, she found an old newspaper from the tournament last year, Cedric's picture on the front. She'd carefully cut around it and kept it on her person until it was time for their first lesson. Gene walked past the group that had formed in the room and approached a mirror at the back, before sticking Cedric's picture to it.

A reminder, almost, of what they were fighting for. What she was fighting for.

But it was day one, and Gene was beginning to think they had their work cut out for them.

They had an enchanted dummy, that looked dangerously close to a Death Eater before them, its arm extended and holding a makeshift bone wand. They were making do with what they had.

"Ready when you are." Gene nodded to Neville, giving him a small smile of encouragement before stepping aside.

Neville took a deep breath, staring up at the death eater and practically shrinking under its gaze.

"Expelliarmus!" he cried, before his wand went spinning out of his hand with a shower of sparks and shooting over the heads of the students lined up.

Gene's brows furrowed slightly. This was going to be harder than she thought. Neville's shoulders slumped in despair, stepping aside though Gene held his wrist to comfort him.