Wizards XII

The mysterious appearance of the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw buoyed the mood in Hogwarts for a few days, especially with the Ravenclaws, but Umbridge managed to bring it down again. Educational Decree Number Thirteen declared that "all unauthorized suspected magical objects are subject to confiscation by the High Inquisitor" and she tried to enforce it right away with Ravenclaw's Diadem.

It burnt her fingers as soon as she touched it.

When trying to levitate the diadem to her office caused Umbridge's wand to start smoking, she finally gave up and went around tearing things away from students. Lavender Brown complained and cried for three days when Umbridge confiscated her diary, which bit anyone who wasn't Lavender.

Hermione was very, very annoyed about that.

Umbridge also tried to confiscate Sapphire Levesque's necklace, but came out of that confrontation looking like she'd just faced down a dragon and lost. Somehow none of the Americans got into trouble over that, though the Slytherins and Umbridge-sided students (mostly Slytherins) started actively avoiding them afterwards.

The infection of Umbridge in the school started to get so bad that Ron, Ginny, and Hermione sat Harry down in the common room and started to talk. By the time Harry's brain had caught up to what they were saying the three of them had become silent and were looking at him expectantly.

"Well?" Hermione asked.

"Are you mad?" Harry exclaimed. "I can't teach!"

"You're the best at defense," Hermione argued. "And you know all those spells from the Triwizard Tournament."

"You know those to."

"You beat You-Know-Who three times!" Ron said loudly. Nico Levesque looked over at them and Ginny quickly shushed her brother. "You did," Ron insisted, more quietly.

"But I had help! Every time I've faced Voldemort I've had help and gotten extremely lucky."

"But Cedric's—" Harry cut Hermione off.

"Do you want to say that because I'm alive and Cedric's dead that I must be better than him? Cedric was ten times the wizard I'll ever be!"

"I was not going to say that!" Hermione said crossly. "And don't sell yourself short, Harry."

"Mate, even if you think you can't teach, we're bound to learn more from you than we ever will from Umbitch."

"Ronald!"

"It's true."

Hermione took a deep breath. "Look, I'll set up a meeting for the next Hogsmead weekend. You can still back out if you want to, but we want to do something."

"Hermione, how big of a meeting are you talking about?"


They took up four tables at the Three Broomsticks. The pub itself was, as usual, filled to bursting which, as Nico Levesque explained, would make it harder for them to be overheard. He was part of the meeting, as was his sister Hazel, but Zhang and Sapphire had been excluded for the sole reason that they were Slytherins, and because Nico and Sapphire together would probably scare everyone who wasn't a Hogwarts student out of the pub.

Okay, so there was more than one reason.

"So that's why we're here," Harry finished, "to learn to defend ourselves. And if you're just here to hear stories then you'd better clear off right now."

"I'm in." Everyone sitting around the defense club tables turned to look at Nico, who hadn't said a word since Hermione had started the meeting. "Where do I sign?"

"We're in to," Fred and George chimed, with Lee Jordan half a second behind them.

Every person at the meeting agreed that they wanted to join this club, or as some of them seemed to see it, a student resistance against Umbridge. Hermione passed around a sheet of parchment and they all signed their names on it.

"You didn't put a curse on this or anything, right Hermione?" Hazel joked as she handed it back to her. Hermione blushed noticeably.

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Well, ah, no one can discuss this club with anyone aside from the people on this list."

"Or-"

"-what?" Fred and George asked. Hermione ducked her head.

"You'll get huge pimples on your face that spell out 'sneak'."

The Weasley twins began laughing. Cho Chang's friend looked uncomfortable. A few other people looked at the parchment warily.

"None of you are going to say anything," Hermione said fiercely. "So you have nothing to worry about."

"Sure, Hermione," Ginny said quickly. Her boyfriend was one of the ones looking like they might like to rip the parchment to bits. "What are we going to call ourselves?"

"We do need a name," Luna Lovegood said in her dreamy voice. "What about the Crumple-Horned Snorkack Protection Group? No one would ever guess that we're a defense club."

"What about Dumbledore's Army?" Ginny suggested. "Isn't that what Umbridge is really afraid of?"

"And Fudge," Ron said. "I like it."

"All in favour of Dumbledore's Army..?" Everyone's hand shot into the air and Hermione wrote their new name across the top of the parchment with a flourish. "Thank you, everyone. We'll let you know when our next meeting is soon. We just need to find a place to practice."

"What about the Room of Requirement?" Hazel suggested. Looks of confusion were sent her way.

"The what?"

"The Room of Requirement," Hazel repeated. "Also known as the Come and Go Room. Do none of you know about it?"

Head shakes all around. Hazel blushed and sunk a bit under the table.

"It's something the house elves know about. You could ask one of them how to find it."

"It's a room in Hogwarts that came become anything you need it to, within reason," Nico explained. "Seriously, all of you have been here longer than we have. How have none of you found it?" He looked at Fred and George. "Especially you two."

Fred and George looked at each other.

"Did he just—?"

"I believe he did."

"We can't let that stand."

"Indeed we can't."

They looked back at Nico and said together, "Challenge accepted."

"I think Fred and George have offered to find the Room of Requirement," Harry muttered to Hermione.

"You'll ask Dobby if they don't."

"Sure."

Hermione raised her voice slightly to address the whole group. "We'll have our next meeting in a week. And before you ask, we'll arrange it not to clash with any Quidditch practices. Thank you again, everyone. Enjoy the rest of your day."