14

Sarah POV

Hermione smiled smugly, while Harry and Rita gaped at me. Luna dreamily sang 'Weasley Is Our King' under her breath and stirred her drink. "You want me to report what he says about He Who Must Not Be Named?" Rita asked in a hushed voice. Her eyes had grown about two sizes, and her hands were trembling a little around her glass.

"Yes we do," said Hermione, grinning at me. "All the facts, exactly as Harry tells them. He can tell you anything, all the details, all the Death Eaters, what Voldemort looks like, oh for Merlin's sake." She muttered, throwing a napkin at Rita when she jumped, spilling her drink all down her front at Voldemort's name. Rita mopped at the front of herself, blinking rapidly, as if trying to realize what we'd just said. Then she seemed to get a hold of herself.

"The Prophet won't print it. No one believes his crazy story. If you let me right it from a more…delusional angle-"

"We don't need any more stories bashing Harry," Hermione interjected. "He deserves the opportunity to tell the truth."

"There's no market for a story like that," Rita said coolly.

"You mean Fudge won't let the Prophet print it." I fired back, and for a moment she stared at me before leaning closer.

"So Fudge is putting pressure on the Prophet, but it's the same thing. No one will print this story; it's not what people want to read. It goes against the public mood."

"I thought a newspaper was supposed to uncover new stories, and go against public opinion to tell the truth, not what people want to hear." I said frostily, raising an eyebrow.

"The Prophet exists to make money, you foolish girl." Rita very nearly spat.

"My dad thinks that it's an awful paper," Luna piped up unexpectedly, turning her round, slightly protuberant eyes on Rita, who leaned back at the sight of Luna. "That's why he started The Quibbler."

Rita snorted so loudly, other tables looked over to us. "The Quibbler? I could manure my garden with The Quibbler." I frowned at her, and she scowled back.

"Then you can change its tone, because that's who will be publishing it." Hermione said sweetly. Rita looked at her, dumbstruck.

"You think anyone will take you seriously?" She sniggered. I glared at her and she stopped, taking a swig from her drink. I had just started talking to Luna Lovegood this year, and despite her strangeness, I thought she was a really great person. Rita didn't have any right to snub her and her father like that.

"Some people won't, but the Prophet's version of the Azkaban breakout was missing a lot of facts, and people will be wondering whether or not there is a better version of what happened. If it's in a more…unusual paper, they might be more inclined to read it." Hermione said confidently. Rita looked at her a moment, looking rather shrewd.

"Let's say that I'll do it," she said. "What will you pay me?"

"Daddy doesn't pay anyone to write for the magazine," Luna said dreamily.

"I'm supposed to do this for free?" Rita rounded on Hermione, looking as if smoke was supposed to be coming out of her ears.

"Well, yes," she said casually. "Otherwise, as you well know, I will inform the authorities that you are an unregistered Animagus." Rita stared at her for a long time, looking very displeased, and that was putting it lightly.

"I suppose I've got no choice then, have I?" She said at last, pulling out her quill and the parchment again.

"Okay, Harry? Ready?" I asked him. For the majority of the conversation, he had been silent, staring at his glass. Now he looked a little taken aback, and I hoped that he wouldn't back out.

"I suppose," Harry said, watching Rita, who was poised to take notes.

"Fire away then, Rita," Hermione said placidly.

OoOoOoO

A few days later, while we were sitting in the Great Hall eating, a huge flock of owls came down, all jostling for position to Harry. I ducked as one tried to land on my head, then snatched its circular package from it. I passed it to Hermione, who slid it open. A copy of The Quibbler rolled out, it's headline in large print. Harry grinned sheepishly at us from underneath it. "These must be people writing in to you, Harry!" Hermione said, snatching a letter and tearing it open. Ron and I followed suit.

"This one thinks you're off your rocker," Ron started, balling it up and throwing it over his shoulder.

"This one- yikes, I won't tell you what they say, it's not appropriate," I said, crumpling it and grabbing another.

"This person believes you! 'Having read your side of the story I am forced to the conclusion that the Daily Prophet has treated you very unfairly…Little though I want to think that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned, I am forced to accept that you are telling the truth!' Harry, this is great!" Hermione said excitedly.

"What is going on here?" Asked a sickeningly sweet voice of Umbridge. The four of us slowly turned, our hands full of envelopes. Owls swooped around the horrid woman, but she didn't seem to notice. Her piggy eyes were fixed on Harry.

"People have written to me because I gave an interview," said Harry after a moment. "About what happened to me last June." Dead silence fell, minus the mad flapping of the owls around us.

"An interview?" Umbridge asked, her voice higher and more strained. She lost the color in her face, and I had to fight down the urge to laugh. She was getting exactly what she deserved.

"Here," Harry threw The Quibbler at her, and she caught it. Her eyes quickly scanned the front page, her face turning a nasty violet color.

"When did you do this?" She asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"Last Hogsmade weekend." Harry replied nonchalantly.

"There will be no more Hogsmade visits for you, Mr. Potter. I've tried to teach you over and over again not to tell lies. I see it hasn't worked. 50 points from Gryffindor and another weeks worth of detentions." Umbridge said, almost baring her teeth before quickly going back up to the staff table. She banned The Quibbler fairly early in the day, but it seemed that by the end of it, everyone had read it and was talking about it. The majority of the mail Harry was receiving was positive, something that made Hermione and I very happy. Despite Rita's unwillingness to write the article and the combined worry from Hermione and I, it had worked perfectly.

That night, Harry had his dream about Rookwood giving Voldemort new information that none of us understood. I used the dream as further evidence to suggest that it wasn't a weapon at all, because how could you retrieve a weapon from the Ministry without being seen? But then Hermione just fired back that maybe the weapon was very small, which caused us to deliberate for about twenty minutes. Harry remained silent, and I knew that he was dwelling on the fact that in his dream, he was Voldemort. It probably scared him more than he would admit.

"Then let's have a D.A. meeting," I spoke up after Hermione started to chastise Harry for not being better at Occlumency, which was probably the last thing he needed. Harry shot me a grateful look from behind Hermione's back.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Besides, you haven't finished explaining dueling."

"Alright, let's call one," Hermione said with a sigh. "We'll have one tomorrow."

So we did. It took me awhile to get there, though. To throw Luke and Danielle off of my trail, I made Ron, Harry and Hermione go first, so that Luke and Danielle wouldn't be able to find me as I went around the long way. But, somehow, they did find me. In the end, I had to hide in the Prefect's Bathroom (with thanks to Ron and Hermione) until they gave up. By then I was already late, and I had to basically run to the seventh floor. "Sorry," I gasped, slipping inside and crossing to Harry. On the fifth floor, I thought I heard someone running after me, so I had to sprint to lose them.

"You ok?" Ron asked, watching me as I panted lightly, drawing my wand.

"Fine," I said with a smile, which he didn't buy, because he poked Hermione as Harry got everyone's attention. Hermione looked at me and frowned. We locked eyes for a second, but I looked away when Harry spoke.

"Hey, part two for dueling. Then we'll learn Patronus' next time, so we can use them while we duel." Harry said clearly, so that everyone could hear.

"Right, so review. Transfiguration is handy in duels. Transfiguration is not your only tool in a duel, but it is one of your most flexible. I hate to coin a phrase, but broaden your minds. There is more to dueling than running through a rehearsed plan. It is spontaneous and unpredictable. Also, any seventh years in the room?" I asked, but everyone shook their heads. "Well, later on, when we can Apparate, it adds a whole dimension to dueling. You have to concentrate to be able to move around and keep dueling without losing focus. It's difficult."

"Wait, you're a fifth year. How'd you know?" Zacharias Smith said rudely from the back, and I felt myself flush.

"I've been taught the theory of Apparition, but it's illegal for me to do it at the present. However, I've talked with those who do Apparate while they duel." I explained, willing the flush in my face to go down. "Oh, and other review, tying into next time," I said, eyeing the clock. "If you can keep a Patronus going while you duel, you can have it do things for you. Some of you already know that you can send Patronus' to people with messages, but they can also distract your opponent and block Dark spells." I looked to Harry, finished. That was all I could do for now. I was itching to get into a classroom setting and show kids how to duel. This was going to be fantastic!

"Cool, well, that's it for tonight. We'll message you for when the next meeting is. We'll be doing Patronus', so think of some happy memories for you to use!" Harry had to shout as the mass of kids started to drift for the door. "Good job," he said to me, and I shrugged.

"I'll feel better when I get a chance to teach, not instruct." I said, already worrying about trying to teach what I had been taught over 4 years in the last few months of school. I could talk hot shit in front of the classroom and make it sound cool, but dueling was really hard. I didn't want Order members to give up because they didn't understand all the complexities of dueling.

"Don't worry about it," Harry said, as we walked for the door. "Now, I'm assuming that you were followed here, weren't you?" He switched subjects fast, making me blink, then frown. I really was hesitant admitting it- my friends had enough to worry about.

"Yes. At first it was both of them, but towards the end, it only sounded like one person. I can't be sure."

"We'll figure it out," Ron said in a surprisingly comforting way. As we walked back to the Common Room, I felt a sense of security. Maybe, just maybe, they trusted me now. That was the best feeling in the world.