chapter seven | feelings? what feelings?

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The Room of Requirement was filled with students, eager to learn. After partnering up and practicing disarming spells, the students got in a line to go one on one with a disarming dummy with Harry overlooking and helping. After almost being hit with Neville's wand, however, Harry and his friends decided to move on to stunning spells.

"Right. Stunning is one of the most useful spells in your arsenals. It's a wizard's bread and butter, really," Harry spoke as he beckoned students to watch on the sidelines, "come on, then, Nigel."

Harry and Nigel stood on opposite sides of the room as everyone else looked on. Stella stood between Hermione and Ron as she watched.

"Give it your best shot."

"Stupefy!"

Both boys fell on their backs as the spell hit. Everyone muttered in amazement as Harry sat up grunting, "good. Not bad at all, Nigel. Well done."

Next pair to go was Ron and Hermione. Stella sighed from her spot with a sly smile, knowing Hermione could carry her own. Let's just say, Ron didn't even have time to utter the spell before he was flown to the ground. She gave Hermione a high five before Ron could see, and then gave the boy a pat on the back for support, making the Granger snort at the sight. The next thing Harry said, however, caught her by surprise.

"Let's have Dean and Stella."

        The Mason snapped her head to look at her friend in surprise, in a sort of 'what the hell?' kind of way, as she made her way to one side of the room. Everyone seemed intrigued as to how the quiet and seemingly soft girl would handle herself. The pair was silent as they made eye contact, and before Dean could raise his wand, Stella sharply raised her own and spoke clearly, "stupefy!"

The girl didn't even move from her spot, her feet planted on the ground as her partner sailed through the air, landing on the floor against the wall. The hall was still until everyone cheered for the girl. Stella, not used to the attention, shyly looked away and went back to her place in between her friends, who gave her a high five. She looked across the room to lock eyes with Harry, who had a proud smile on his face. He knew exactly what he was doing, and deep down, she was thankful for what he did.

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For the next couple of classes, the students focused on levitation, quickness, and disarming. During which time, Umbridge had decided to conduct meetings with every student trying to figure out what they were hiding. Of course, at least with Stella, she was unsuccessful. Having her father in the Order had its perks from time to time. He always made sure she was prepared for anything, including detecting truth serum in her drink through the very pungent smell. She immediately warned her friends, who warned as many people as they could about Umbridge's agenda. Stella just hoped everyone in the DA got the message in time.

        The woman clad in pink asked her some rather bizarre questions. How her mother died, or in Umbridge's word, how her mother 'actually died', implying her mother did not die from breast cancer. Stella didn't appreciate that in the slightest. She was even asked where Sirius Black was. That made Stella very confused. Why would Umbridge think Stella would know where a 'mass murderer' was hiding? Of course, the Mason knew, but she would never tell a soul outside of the Order or her three friends. She was thankful she caught the Veriterserum in her drink before she started speaking, or else the meeting would've gone a lot different.

Their last meeting before holiday ended on a high note, Neville finally got the disarming spell down. Everyone was so elated for him.

"So, that's it for the lesson," Harry started, him and his three friends in front of the group, "now, we're not gonna be meeting again until after the holidays," everyone muttered in disappointment, "so, just keep practicing on your own as best as you can. And well done, everyone. Great, great job."

Stella smiled and clapped along with everyone else in the room. As everyone started to pack their bags to leave, the blue eyed girl couldn't help but notice how her green eyed friend couldn't lift his gaze from a certain Ravenclaw. She sighed heavily before following Ron and Hermione out the door, looking back once more.

"See you in the common room, Harry."

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Pride and Prejudice always seemed to bring Stella Mason's mind at ease. The light words danced on the pages in front of her as she begged her mind to think of something other than Harry and Cho alone. What were they doing? What were they talking about? Why has Harry been gone for so long? She was reading the novel on the couch in the common room with Hermione next to her, writing a letter of some kind, and Ron next to Hermione trying to figure out his homework. It wasn't until Harry Potter came through the portrait did the three look up to see him somewhat floating towards them, taking a seat in front of the fire facing them.

"Well," Ron spoke after a few moments of silence among the four, "how was it?"

"Wet," the boy answered bluntly. Stella furrowed her brows slightly before returning to her novel, pretending to read it, "I mean, she was sort of crying."

"That bad at it, are you?"

"I'm sure Harry's kissing is more than satisfactory," Hermione interrupted the Weasley's snickering, "Cho spends half her time crying these days."

"You'd think a bit of snogging would cheer her up."

"Don't you understand how she must be feeling," the Granger asked rhetorically, Stella's eyes looked up to watch her friend talk, "well, obviously she's feeling sad about Cedric, and confused about liking Harry and guilty about kissing him. Conflicted because Umbridge might sack her mum from the Ministry and frightened of failing her OWLs because she's simply sorting about everything else."

"One person couldn't feel all that," Ron breathed, "they'd explode."

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon."

A couple moments of glances got the three laughing heartily while Stella Mason simply smirked and shook her head while going back to her book. Noticing this, Harry glanced at the girl.

"You alright, Stella?"

The Mason met his gaze, blue met green as she simply spoke.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Stella didn't even know how to answer her own question, and that bothered her.

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tried so hard to make this chapter longer, didn't work out lol—don't be a silent reader!
edited: 6 april 2021