The next two weeks passed in a haze of routine of classes, homework, and detentions for Bryt. Plus daily arguing with Ron once the cuts began to stay on the back of Bryt's hand. Each day, Ron would curse Umbridge while constantly insisting that Bryt and Harry needed to tell McGonagall, and each day, they both refused. It was a relief once Bryt's detentions were finally over, though it wasn't until the Monday after Bryt's final detention that the bleeding cuts had finally healed over fully—something else Ron kept complaining about. Still, the white lines of 'I must not commit violence' in Bryt's own handwriting stayed and Bryt was positive that the scars would never go away. With the detentions finally done, however, Bryt was able to put more time into her homework, as she was doing now in the library with her friends, trying to make their way through their latest Potions assignment.

"I was wondering," Hermione suddenly spoke up, not looking up from her work, "Whether you'd thought any more about Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry."

Bryt blinked at Hermione. It had been two weeks since the first, and only, time Hermione had made the suggestion. Until now, anyway. Bryt just hoped this time would go better than the last.

"'Course I have," Harry replied, "Can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us—"

"I meant about the idea we had," Hermione said, then frowned as Ron suddenly gave her a 'don't drag me into this' look, "All right, the idea I had," she corrected, turning back to Harry, "About you teaching us."

Bryt looked over at Harry, bracing herself for him to lose his temper again—and get them thrown out of the library for making too much noise. Bryt stayed tense, watching Harry closely for a couple of minutes before he finally replied.

"Well, yeah," he said slowly, keeping his focus on his book, "I've thought about it a bit."

"And?"

"I dunno," Harry said, glancing over at Ron and Bryt.

"I thought it was a good idea from the start," Ron said and Bryt nodded in agreement, glad that Harry wasn't going to start yelling at them again.

Harry got an odd look on his face as he glanced between the three. Bryt wondered if he had been hoping they'd try to dismiss the idea.

"You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?" he asked.

"Of course," Bryt said, "But you're still the best when it comes to Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Exactly," Hermione added, "You were the only one last year who could throw off the Imperious Curse completely—"

Bryt gave an involuntary shudder at the memory of what it was like to be under that particular curse.

"—You can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't. Julio's told me a lot of things you've done he hasn't even learned yet, and he's now in his final year at Salem."

Harry gave Hermione a look that said he was thinking over what she had said.

"So?" Bryt asked after a couple of minutes, "What do you think?"

"I'll just be teaching you three, right?" Harry asked.

"Well," Hermione said slowly, "Now, don't go flying off the handle again, Harry, please...But I really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against V-Voldemort. It doesn't seem fair if we don't offer the chance to other people."

"Yeah, but I doubt anyone except you three would want to be taught by me," Harry said after a minute, "I'm a nutter, remember?"

"I know for a fact my brothers and their friends will want to learn," Bryt said. She didn't like the idea of her brothers being prepared to fight, but she'd rather they know how to defend themselves than to be killed because she didn't take the chance to teach them. She'd just have to hope they'd never have to put these lessons to use.

"I think you'd be surprised how many other people would be interested in hearing what you've got to say," Hermione added, looking back at Harry, then leaned closer. Bryt and Ron had to lean forward as well to hear. "Look...you know the first weekend in October's a Hogsmeade weekend? How would it be if we tell anyone who's interested to meet us in the village and we can talk it over?"

"Why do we have to do it outside school?" Ron asked.

"Because I don't think Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up to."

"No kidding," Bryt whispered, looking down at the scars on the back of her hand. She had a feeling if they were caught, there'd be even more scars there, and she wouldn't be the only one with them.

xxxxx

Hermione, Ron, and Bryt spent the next week-and-a-half trying to spread the word to students they knew would be interested in coming to the meeting in Hogsmeade. Considering her brothers and their friends were too young to go to Hogsmeade, Bryt told them that she'd give them information about it later.

The three also got in contact with practically the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team, as well as Dean, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Ginny—Parvati said she'd tell her sister about the meeting, and Ginny said she'd tell her boyfriend and Luna the next time she saw them. Bryt had gotten in contact with the Hufflepuffs Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley, while Hermione said she talked with Hannah and Ernie, though another Hufflepuff, Zacharias Smith, had overheard—luckily, he seemed interested in the meeting as well. Bryt also went to tell Terry about the meeting—something Ron, oddly, insisted on coming along for—but it was unnecessary, as Terry told Bryt that Michael had already told him about it.

"Michael who?" Ron asked as he and Bryt had started back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Corner," Bryt answered, "I should have figured Terry'd already know, since Ginny said she'd tell Michael."

"Why would Ginny tell Michael anything?" Ron asked suspiciously. Bryt sighed.

"Because she's dating him," she answered.

"What?" Ron asked, coming to a stop and staring at Bryt, "My sister's—what do you mean she's dating him?"

Bryt rolled her eyes.

"I mean they're a couple," she said, crossing her arms over her chest, "Ginny's fourteen, Ron. Of course she'll start dating guys now. We started dating at fourteen."

"Well, that's different!"

Bryt raised an eyebrow at Ron.

"What is your problem with other people dating?" Bryt asked, "You had this same issue a couple of years ago with me and Terry."

"Yeah, and look how that one turned out," Ron said. Bryt rolled her eyes.

"Sure, that ended badly," she said, "But that doesn't mean Ginny's relationship will go bad. C'mon, let's just get back to the common room."

Not wanting to argue about Ginny's love life anymore, Bryt turned and started off back down the hallway. Ron didn't seem ready to give up, however, as he matched his pace with Bryt's.

"I thought Ginny fancied Harry, though," he said.

"When she was eleven," Bryt pointed out, "A little girl crush thing, she's obviously grown out of it." Bryt sighed, brushing the strands of her headband back over her shoulder. "Ginny never told you because she knew you'd overreact. But Michael's a great guy, don't worry."

Ron didn't seem to hear Bryt as he kept grumbling under his breath all the way to the Gryffindor common room. Bryt rolled her eyes, deciding she'd just head Ron off if he tried to corner Ginny about her boyfriend—after all, it wasn't his business who Ginny dated. Luckily, Ron left Ginny alone, which was a relief to Bryt. She didn't want to have to get in the middle of an argument between her boyfriend and one of her friends.

When the Hogsmeade trip came, Bryt was ready for it. She bundled up for the cold October day before heading down with her friends, her hand wrapped around one of Ron's. They waited their turn as Filch checked off names on the list of students permitted to go to Hogsmeade and Bryt felt a bit creeped out as Filch leaned closer to them, sniffing. She was definitely eager to get out of the castle after that.

"Why was Filch sniffing you?" Ron asked Harry, sounding just as creeped as Bryt had been.

"I suppose he was checking for the smell of Dungbombs," Harry said with a laugh, "I forgot to tell you...That morning I wrote Snuffles, Filch barged into the Owlery, saying he'd been tipped off that I was ordering Dungbombs. Luckily, I had already sent off my letter."

Bryt rolled her eyes, but Hermione looked far too interested.

"He said he was tipped off you were ordering Dungbombs?" she asked, "But who had tipped him off?"

"Malfoy?" Bryt suggested, "Wouldn't put it past him."

"Yeah, he probably thought it'd be a laugh," Harry said with a shrug.

"Maybe..." Hermione replied, staring off in front of her. Harry, Bryt, and Ron exchanged confused looks, but dropped the subject.

"Where are we going anyway?" Harry asked once they reached Hogsmeade, "The Three Broomsticks?"

"Oh, no," Hermione said, shaking her head, "No, it's always packed and really noisy. I've told the others to meet us in the Hog's Head, that's the other pub, you know the one, it's not on the main road. I think it's a bit...dodgy...but students don't normally go there, so I don't think we'll be overheard."

As the four started through Hogsmeade, Bryt realized why very few went to the Hog's Head. The tavern was along a nearly-deserted road, and the building itself looked almost as if it had been abandoned for years. Bryt wondered if there were some people who thought the place was actually closed down. Bryt tried not to look at the sign above the door that depicted a severed, bleeding head of a boar. She already didn't like this place.

"Well, come on," Hermione said, taking a deep breath. Harry gave a small nod and headed inside, while Bryt and the others followed.

The inside of the tavern seemed just as run-down as the outside. The place was dark, only lit by a few candles, and looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in years. The air held an odd odor that reminded Bryt of an animal that was in a desperate need of a bath. It seemed only three other were in the tavern that day—a couple of men in long, black cloaks with the hoods pulled up, and a woman who was just as obscured by a long, black veil.

"I don't know about this, Hermione..." Harry said quietly, then nodding to the veiled witch, "Has it occurred to you that Umbridge might be under that?"

"Umbridge is shorter than that woman," Hermione replied after taking a good, long look, "And anyway, even if Umbridge does come in here, there's nothing she can do to stop us. I've double and triple-checked the school rules. We're not out-of-bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed to come in the Hog's Head, and he said yes, but advised me strongly to bring our own glasses. And I've looked up everything I can think of about study groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed. I just don't think it's a good idea of we parade what we're doing."

"Especially since this ain't exactly a normal study group," Bryt pointed out.

A tall, grouchy-looking old man with long gray hair and beard came from the back room, looking over towards the quartet.

"What?" he asked sharply.

"Four butterbeers, please," Hermione said.

Harry offered to pay for the butterbeers, even though the bottles were very dusty and had rusted lids, then the four sat down at a table in the corner. Bryt pried the lid off hers and studied it closely, wanting to make sure she could get all the rust off the bottle before she felt it was safe enough to drink.

"You know what?" Ron whispered, glancing towards the bar, "We could order anything we liked in here, and I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try firewhisky—"

"You are a prefect!" Hermione hissed.

"But I'm not," Bryt said, "One drink wouldn't be so bad, would it?"

Hermione answered that with a glare and Bryt decided against trying anything alcoholic.

"So, who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" Harry asked.

"Just a couple of people," Hermione said as she checked her watch. Bryt resisted the urge to roll her eyes. There were definitely more than 'a couple of people' coming.

As if on cue, the tavern's doors opened and, in groups of two and three, the people Bryt, Ron, and Hermione contacted were coming in—though there was extras. Bryt noticed Cho Chang had come with one of her friends, as well as Colin and Dennis Creevey—though she wondered how Dennis had managed to sneak into Hogsmeade. Bryt saw Ron glaring towards Terry and his friends, especially when he noticed Ginny was with them, and Bryt elbowed him in the side.

"A couple of people?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione in horror, "A couple of people?"

"A lot of people just seemed interested," Bryt said with a small grin.

Once everyone was seated and had a butterbeer, Bryt noticed they were all looking towards Harry. Suddenly, she wasn't too sure if this had been the best idea.

"What have you been telling people?" Harry whispered, looking between Bryt, Ron, and Hermione, "What are they expecting?"

"I've told you," Hermione said, "They just want to hear what you have to say. You don't have to do anything yet. I'll speak to them first."

Hermione slowly rose to her feet, clearing her throat. Everyone looked over at her, but kept glancing back towards Harry. Bryt wished they'd stop, she knew Harry couldn't have been liking this attention.

"Hi," Hermione said awkwardly, "Well, erm...well, you know why you're here. Erm...Well, Harry here had this idea—" Harry suddenly glared at Hermione and she straightened herself up some. "I mean, I had the idea—that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts—and I mean really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us." Now that Hermione got going, her voice was stronger now, as if she had practiced this speech for months. "Because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts. I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."

Hermione paused for a moment and Bryt looked over the group. They were still casting glances at Harry, though most of them did seem very interested in what Hermione was saying.

"And by that, I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly," Hermione went on, "Not just theory but the real spells—"

"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" Michael Corner spoke up.

"Of course I do," Hermione answered, "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because..." Hermione trailed off, glancing around. Finally, she took a deep breath and said the rest in a rush, "Because Lord Voldemort is back."

The crowds' reaction was a mix of shrieks, shudders, and flinching. Though once that passed, all heads turned towards Harry again. Bryt was starting to get annoyed over that. They were supposed to be here to plan a Defense Against the Dark Arts club, not stare at Harry.

"Well...that's the plan anyway," Hermione said and everyone turned back to her, "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to—"

"Where's the proof You-Know-Who is back?" Smith asked loudly. Bryt glared over at him.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it—"

"You mean Dumbledore believes him," Smith gave a sharp nod towards Harry.

"Who're you?" Ron snapped.

"Zacharias Smith, and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."

"That's not what we're here for," Bryt snapped, clenching her hands into fists. This blond idiot was quickly asking for a kick in the ass.

"It's okay, Bryt," Harry said. Bryt looked over at him, her anger subsiding some, as she noticed he was looking around at the group with an odd expression.

"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" Harry asked, now focusing his gaze completely on Smith, "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."

"All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts," Smith said, "He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know—"

"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you," Harry snapped and Bryt watched him closely, hoping he wouldn't start yelling again, "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."

Harry glared at Hermione, who flushed and looked away. Still, no one left. They glanced around at each other, but all stayed in their seats.

"So," Hermione went on, getting the attention back to her, "So...Like I was saying...If you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and where we're going to—"

"Is it true that you can produce a Patronus?" Susan asked, looking back at Harry. Several of the students started whispering with each other.

"Er...yeah," Harry said slowly.

"A corporeal Patronus?"

"Er...You don't know a Madam Bones, do you?"

Susan smiled and gave a nod. "She's my auntie. She told me about your hearing. So—is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"

"Yes."

"Blimey, Harry! I never knew that!" Lee said, impressed.

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," Fred said, then looking at Harry, "She said you got enough attention as it was."

"She's not wrong," Harry muttered and Bryt gave a snort of agreement. Harry definitely didn't like attention.

"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" Terry asked, "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year."

Bryt gave Terry a surprised look. She had only ever been in Dumbledore's office once—and it had been under extremely serious circumstances during her second year. What in the world had Terry done that he had been there? And when did this happen that he never told Bryt about it—after all, except for a couple of months, the two had remained friends after their break-up.

"Er—yeah," Harry said awkwardly, obviously not wanting to talk about it, "Yeah, I did."

"And in our first year, he saved the Sorcerous Stone—"

"Sorcerer's," Hermione corrected Neville.

"Yeah, that, from You-Know-Who."

"And that's not to mention all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year," Cho said, a smile on her face and her gaze fixed on Harry—Bryt had noticed Cho had been staring at Harry far more than anyone else had, and Cho's look had been something far different than curiosity. "Getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas and things."

Bryt looked over at Harry and noticed he was looking like he was fighting hard not to start grinning himself. Bryt started smirking. Sometimes his crush on Cho was far too obvious.

"Look," Harry said finally, "I...I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest of anything, but...I had a lot of help with all that stuff..."

"Not with the dragon, you didn't," Michael said, obviously impressed, "That was a seriously cool bit of flying."

"Yeah, well—"

"And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer," Susan said.

"Okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is—"

"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any stuff?" Smith cut in.

"Here's an idea, why don't you shut your month?" Ron snapped.

"Agreed," Bryt added, glaring at Smith, her anger coming up again. She really didn't like this guy—she was wondering how a jerk like him ended up in Hufflepuff.

"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him," Smith replied, "And now he's telling us he can't really do any of it."

"That's not what he said," Fred said.

"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" George asked, pulling some type of object from one of his bags and Bryt had a feeling whatever it did was something nasty.

"Or any part of your body, really," Fred added, "We're not fussy where we stick this."

Bryt snorted as Smith eyed the object closely.

"Yes, well, moving on," Hermione said, casting Fred and George a dark look, "The point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"

Hermione was answered by mutters of agreement, though Bryt noticed Smith didn't answer. He kept his arms crossed over his chest and was staring over at the object George was still holding.

"Right," Hermione said with a nod, a relieved look on her face, "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week—"

"Hang on," Angelina said, "We need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practices."

"No, nor with ours," Cho said.

"Nor ours," added Smith.

"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," Hermione said, looking annoyed, "But you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters."

"Though if Quidditch practices keep being canceled, Umbridge will know something is up," Bryt pointed out.

"Well, I personally think this is really important," Ernie Macmillan said loudly—Bryt wondered how he managed to stay quiet as long as he did. He was probably preparing a speech of his own or something, "Possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs!" Ernie looked around to see if anyone would protest—Bryt rolled her eyes—and when no one did, he went on. "I, personally, am at a lost to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells—"

"It's because the Ministry has this insane idea that Dumbledore's building an army from his students," Bryt said, "And that he'll use them again the Ministry."

"Well, that makes sense," Luna spoke up, "After all, Cornelius Fudge has his own private army."

"What?" Harry asked, confused, and Bryt almost laughed. As much as she liked Luna, she knew better than to believe half the stuff the girl said.

"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," Luna said with a small nod.

"No he hasn't," Hermione snapped.

"Yes he has."

"What are heliopaths?" Neville asked.

"They're spirits of fire," Luna said, her eyes widening, "Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of—"

"They don't exist, Neville," Hermione cut in.

"Oh yes they do!"

"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?"

"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you—"

"Hem, hem."

Bryt jumped and most everyone started looking around wildly, expecting Umbridge to be standing in the doorway. Then Bryt noticed that Ginny was smirking, her hand up to her mouth. Bryt couldn't help but laugh—she had forgotten how well Ginny could mimic voices.

"Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defense lessons?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, we were, you're right," Hermione said slowly.

"Well, once a week sounds cool," Lee said.

"As long as—"

"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," Hermione said, irritated, "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet..."

It didn't take long for them to realize they weren't going to settle that idea anytime soon. They finally agreed that they'd get word out where they would meet once the first date was set. Before they all could leave, however, Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill, an odd look on her face that Bryt didn't like.

"I think everybody should write their name down," Hermione said slowly, "Just so we know who was here. But I also think..." Hermione paused, looking at the parchment, then back at the crowd, "I also think that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge—or anybody else—what we're up to."

Fred, George, and Lee signed instantly, but some of the others were starting to look wary.

"Er...Well, I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is," Smith said slowly. Bryt rolled her eyes. She would be surprised if Smith even showed up for one meeting.

"Well..." Ernie said slowly, "We are prefects. And if this list was found...I mean to say...you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out..."

"You're the one who said this'll be the most important thing we do all year," Bryt said sharply.

"Yes...Yes, I do believe that, it's just..."

"Ernie, do you really think I'd just leave that list lying around?" Hermione asked.

"No, no, of course not. I—yes, of course I'll sign."

After that, no one objected and soon everyone had signed their name to the parchment. Hermione folded it carefully and slipped it down into her bag, the odd look still on her face. Then, everyone slowly headed from the Hog's Head in twos and threes—much like they had come in. Bryt noticed Cho seemed to be finding any reason to stay behind, but her curly-haired friend became impatient and finally forced her to leave.

"Well, I think that went well," Hermione said as the four left the Hog's Head after they were sure everyone else was out of sight down the street.

"That Zacharias bloke's a wart," Ron said sourly.

"Tell me about it," Bryt said, rolling her eyes.

"He overheard me when I was talking to Ernie and Hannah, though," Hermione said, "And he seemed interested in coming, so what could I say? But the more people the better, really."

After that, the four's trip to Hogsmeade was basically the same as any other—though Bryt found herself a lot happier than usual. The idea that they were going to be learning to defend themselves—and right under Umbridge's nose—was satisfying. Bryt couldn't wait to find a place for them to have these lessons. She was eager to get started.