Disclaimer- All characters, plots and setting belong to their respected owner, JK Rowling. I am just playing with the Harry Potter universe, and promise to return it back to normal when I'm done.

Chapter One

By Ocher Eyes

Ron and I sat in the common room and watched the crackling fire in the magnificent stone fireplace slowly dwindle away as the hours of the night passed. We were waiting for Harry to complete his detention with Professor Umbridge, with a bowl of pickled Murtlap tentacle solution for his hand. My mind was filled with hatred towards that Umbridge woman for what she was doing to Harry, and I could see Ron fuming beside me- obviously his mind was on the same track as mine.

Harry had earned another night's worth of detention from Umbridge this afternoon in Care of Magical Creatures class. I can understand why he was mouthing off towards her; he's just trying to prove his point. Ron and I know that Harry is not seeking attention when he has his outbursts, and I am beginning to feel a bit of sympathy for him.

"Why did it have to be in our OWL year?" Ron moaned helplessly, his face hidden by an arm of the squashy armchair from me.

"Why did what have to happen, Ron?" I asked keeping my eyes focused on the knitting needles hovering above my lap.

"Why did we have to have this Umbridge witch teach us Defense against the Dark Arts this year? She won't even let us touch our wands in class. What the hell are we learning right now, anyways!?" He sank out of the chair and landed in a pathetic pile on the carpet.

I sighed. Ron was right. I was the first to pick up that it is not in our curriculum this year to actually practice defensive magic, but we were still expected to do spells for our OWLs test at the end of this year. I could understand why Ron was worried about that. How are we supposed to correctly perform spells we've never practiced?

"Well, Harry has nothing to worry about there. He's so good at Defense against the Dark Arts. It'll be so simple for him, since he's done all of that stuff before…" Ron mumbled and looked into the fire with frown on his face.

Crookshanks crept out from under one of the chairs on the other side of room and made his way over to where Ron and I were. Ron, who was lying on his stomach, rolled over onto his back and sat up, eyeing Crookshanks. My ginger cat rubbed up against Ron's arm and Ron began scratching him behind the ears. The only noise was Crookshank's purrs and the occasional "pop" from the fire for a couple of minutes as Ron and I got wrapped up in our own silent thoughts.

Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning hit Ron in the butt, he jumped to his feet and stared at me. "What…" I started uneasily.

"Harry!"

"Sorry?" I asked him in confusion, considering Harry wasn't present at the moment.

"No no, Hermione." Ron said rolling his eyes. "Harry's really good at Defensive against the Dark Arts!"

"I still don't follow you Ron…"

"Harry could teach us how to defend ourselves! He could be our teacher instead of that Umbridge hag!"

"Ron, that's completely ridiculous…" I said, but then considered the possibilities. I stood up from my armchair and waved away my knitting needles. Harry had more experience than most of our previous Defense teachers, and could show us how to perform the spells that he has found helpful.

"Think about it, Hermione!"

"I am, I am… we could make a study group, or a club that's open to anyone who wants to learn how to really defend themselves against what's really out there. Harry could show us what he did when he was in those tight situations. Ron, this is BRILLIANT!"

Ron beamed, obviously pleased with himself.

"That's only IF Harry's willing to teach us." I added.

"Oh yeah… he'd never go for it."

"And both of you are so far behind on your homework already. It's not like you two need to be part of club on top of that." I scowled at Ron. Really, he should be doing some homework right now, but I refused to let him copy mine, so he gave up on the idea.

"If we just lightly asked him if he'd do it-"

"Without forcing him-"

"So that he won't blow up in our faces-"

"Like a raging volcano, you mean?"

"Exactly." I said. "We should just ask him to consider the idea of teaching a small group of us how to properly defend ourselves. That's all."

Ron nodded and looked at the watch on his freckled wrist. "He's got to be on his way back by now, it's almost midnight."

And with a loud squeak from the portrait hole opening, Harry stepped into the Gryffindor common room with a glum look on his face and a bloody scrap of material wound around his hand.

"Ready?" Ron whispered in my ear.

"Yes. Hopefully he'll listen to us." I whispered back, as I smiled warmly and held out the bowl of yellow liquid for Harry.

I waited two whole weeks before I breached the subject with Harry again. Against Ron and my hopes, Harry had made quite an uproar with our suggestion of him teaching us how to defend ourselves properly that night. To me, it seemed that Harry thought that he would make an inadequate teacher for us, but I know that Harry is a natural born leader.

Snape had just assigned us a particularly nasty essay to complete that day, and the three of us were looking up ingredients in a little nook in the library. I decided that we had nothing to lose, so I asked Harry if he had given any thought into our plan out of the blue, as I opened up a large dusty book titled Grade Five Common Potion Ingredients and Where to Find Them.

And by the end of the conversation, Harry had agreed to make a meeting for anyone who was interested in joining the club. Ron seemed very excited.

But, watching Professor Umbridge carefully for a couple of weeks now has given me the impression that she would be very against the idea of forming a club to practice defensive magic. I cautioned both boys not to tell people what we're doing yet, and to keep their mouths shut.

We will have to pick the members of our club very carefully indeed if we were planning to meet in secret. Only people who we can trust and who will be loyal will be able to join. This will take some serious planning, and it doesn't seem like Ron or Harry have the spare time to help me do this.

Sigh.