[Side Story] - The New Group

(In the character profile tab I've added pictures of Oz's wand and Oz himself. I drew them myself so they aren't the best however I hope they provide a sort of 'image' for you all reading. Thanks for reading my novel up to this point :), [Ill also add them to this paragraph])

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Currently it was after school hours and a group of students had gathered in the library. The table they had was one of the biggest there and the houses they were all in were diverse. This group was in fact Harry, Cho, Luna, Hermione, Daphne and Rose. Oz at this point in time was not present.

"Harry, did your plan work? You know the one that involved messing with Draco".

Luna spoke across the table to Harry who wore a mischievous grin on his face.

"I'm glad you asked Luna. Me and Daphne worked our magic and managed to get him to spew his guts all over the Slytherin common room. Snape even came in at one point and he threw up on him! The second that happen he was destined to be put in detention for a while... The best part is he has no clue how it happened! Hahaha".

Everyone on the table laughed out as Harry explained the recent prank on Draco. After learning that Draco's father was responsible for Craig's death he became the focal point of Harry and Daphne's pranks. Hermione chimed in with a voice of reason after some of the laughter.

"Draco isn't truly at fault though is he? He didn't know his father was doing all of that..."

The tables laughter soon diminished into a sombre silence. They all knew that fact deep down however they just wanted to feel like they were getting payback one way or another. Breaking the silence was Luna who called over to Hermione.

"How has it been in the Gryffindor common room? I heard Craig had quite a standing among some of the guys there so...".

Hermione sighed as she looked over to Luna.

"Even though a couple months have passed now, the atmosphere hasn't changed in the common room. It still feels 'heavy' whenever I go back to there"

Luna nodded sadly at Hermione's response as she turned her head to Cho.

"Have you been holding up well Cho?".

Cho who seemed listless shook slightly as her name was called out to.

"Oh me? Ah I'm doing better now...".

Everyone looked towards Cho with as comforting smiles as they could muster. Oz only found out about Cho's feelings towards Craig after his death however some of the others in the group already had inklings before that fact. With Craig's sudden death, Cho was still having a hard time coping.

"We're always here for you Cho, you should know that. We can cope together".

Hearing a rare supportive comment from Daphne who'd usually stay quiet in times like these Cho's head sprung up as she gave a light smile and nodded. Rose at the end of the table let out a small sigh as she began to speak.

"I-I'm so sorry... Maybe if I was stronger I could have beat back that diaries hold on me-".

Cho shook her head towards Rose as did everyone else on the table.

"It's not your fault Rose... You are as much of a victim as Craig was. If Oz didn't save you there's a chance you would have been killed soon after Craig was...".

Rose felt the tears gather in her eyes as she nodded towards everyone else. In the past few months these people had let her join their group and treated her warmly despite the fact that she had technically been involved in Craig's death. After everything she had been through this felt like heaven to her as she could enjoy her school life thoroughly. Hermione who has a book in front of her snaps it shut and starts to speak.

"Rose do you really not remember anything else besides Oz saving you? Did you see how Oz took down the Basilisk? I've been reading through books about that beast and to kill it would take an extremely powerful wizard... At the beginning of the year he even managed to fool Gilderoy Lockhart's eyes".

Everyone on the tables eyebrows rose as they heard the latter half of Hermione's comments. They had no clue that Oz had managed to pull the rug over someone like Lockhart.

"Then again Hermione, I've heard rumours that Lockhart isn't what he seems... The second a death occurred at the school he apparently started to pack his bags instead of help the other teachers".

Daphne shot back at Hermione describing what happened to Lockhart in the aftermath of the death of Craig.

"But I do also want to know Rosie... Do you remember anything else?".

Rose looked towards Daphne angrily.

"I told you not to call me that! Why do you insist on calling me Rosie!?"

Everyone on the table broke out into laughter after seeing Rose's reaction to her real name being said. To them it never seemed to get old how defensive she got. Sitting back down in her seat Rose sighed as she recalled that night.

"I wish I could tell you more however I was truly knocked out the entire time Oz was fighting that thing... When I looked at the beast as I awoke and Oz was stood in front of it I do remember seeing that its eyes were destroyed. There was also a hole on the side of its neck that was bleeding profusely... the smell of that blood was disgusting".

Hermione seemed to write down notes as Rose explained her story. Looking over to Hermione's notes, Rose saw that she was trying to theorise how the fight went with Oz and the Basilisk.

"So he managed to destroy the basilisk's eyes and then proceeded to kill it afterwards... on top of that he used a spell so strong that it left a hole in the side of the basilisk's neck... I honestly can't fathom how strong that guy is, its absurd".

Rose and Harry found themselves sighing hearing Hermione's stress. Out of everyone here they had experienced first hand how proficient Oz was. Harry saw it when he was taken by Oz down to combat Quirrell and Rose saw it when Oz helped her from the cellar, killing those dark wizards instantly and quickly. Rose looked around the table at everyone before asking her own question.

"H-How well do you all know Oz? I mean... How long have you all known him?".

Everyone on the table seemed to look at each other for a minute. Luna was the first to start the conversation.

"I first met Oz when I was very young... He himself was young too probably about 10 at the time. He was on a trip with his orphanage and accidently walked into my Mother and Father's ward. I remember how excited he looked when my father kindly offered him some learning material to do with magic... My mother berated my father for giving an unknown boy too much after he had left however my father seemed to have a weird amount of faith in him. The next time I met him was at the beginning of this year where he approached me, giving back all the books and my mothers notes...".

Luna's eyes grew sad as she recalled her mother in St Mungo's still comatose. Everyone on the table looked over to her with pity tinged in their looks. It was clear that along with Daphne explaining her troubles Luna also explained the troubles at her own home and her mother who was now drifting between life and death. Trying to divert the conversation, Rose turned to the others.

"So Luna has known him the longest technically... Who was next?".

Cho chimed in as she heard her que.

"That would be me and... me and Craig. In Oz's first year here he was placed in Slytherin and due to knowing nothing about his lineage at the time he was bullied harshly by all the Slytherins in that house. They viewed him as someone unworthy of being there. Craig met Oz earlier than me and avoided Oz after hearing he was in Slytherin... they made up at the end of the year though. I remember I met Oz when he was making a trip up to the Owlery. I'd sometimes spot him walking up there on his own with no letter in hand so I imagine he was always there to visit his owl. Knowing how knowledgeable he was I asked him if he would help me with homework and he smiled accepting my request... Oh I also almost fell of the cliff there and he helped me".

Everyone listened intently to Cho's story and after it finished they all turned their heads towards Daphne and Harry. Harry was the first to start.

"I met Oz in Diagon Alley... well more specifically the Leaky Cauldron. Hagrid had just brought me to London after breaking me out of the hellhole I was in and was taking me to Diagon Alley to get my equipment. Oz at the time was staying in the Leaky Cauldron over the summer as he didn't want to go back to his orphanage. I remember spotting him from across the room with those 'Health Spec' things on. He came over and got very angry as he saw the damage the Dursleys had done to me in the years I'd been there... After that I started to trust him and appreciated his help in getting me out of that place. From then on I've hung out with him ever since... Well hung out with him whenever he was around".

After Harry's story everyone finally turned their heads to Daphne. She shook her hands slightly as she went on.

"I only met Oz through Harry... My first impression of him was that he was 'unobtainable'. You see around the time his identity was exposed as the descendant of Merlin a lot of pureblood families sent out requests for his hand in marriage. I was actually told to... pursue him as well. When I first met him though I knew that I would never be able to succeed. He did jump at the idea of helping my sister though which shows he does value our relationship somewhat...".

Rose nodded her head as she listened to all their stories. Cho sighed out loudly as she let slip a thought in her mind.

"Do you think he truly 'likes' us though? He's so distant at times and is always focused on his own endeavours it becomes hard to tell if he actually sees all of us as 'friends'".

Everyone grew silent hearing Cho's remark. Rose looked at all of them and spoke up.

"Each of your stories of meeting him including mine show that he means well... He gave Luna back her mothers notes after hearing about what happened to her, he offered to help Cho with her homework and saved her from falling from a cliff, he helped Harry in regards to the abuse he was receiving and exposed that abuse allowing him a better living situation, he offered help to Daphne about her sisters blood curse and finally he saved me from that Basilisk".

Everyone listened in as their doubts about Oz seemed to clear slowly.

"It's clear that while he's definitely not the best at socialising and also seems to draw a sort of 'wall' around him, he does mean well. Even if he is secretive at times and does a lot on his own he doesn't ever do anything that would put us in harms way. I think thats enough to realise that he's not a bad person and that he does see us as important in his own way...".

Hearing all of Rose's points the gang around the table all smiled and nodded. They agreed with Rose's synopsis of the situation.

"Wow Rosie it seems that you're quite the speaker considering you're usually so nervous and shy... Where were you hiding such a speech?".

Rose looked over at Daphne and growled towards the usage of 'Rosie' trying to keep herself from quipping back with the usual 'Don't call me that'. Seeing her supress herself everyone on the table laughed. As the laughter simmered down Harry looked out the window of library as he spoke.

"I wonder what that Oz is up to right now...".

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A/N - So far I have planned a total of 7 countries for Oz to visit next year. It's looking to be a long next volume.