When we rounded to corner to Room of Requirement, the hall was deserted. When we entered the room, everyone was there.
"Hey, Harry's here!" Fred called as we closed the door behind us.
"So, does this mean we're actually going learn something this time?" Seamus asked in his usual annoying tone, but he was smiling.
Harry glanced over at me; I merely waved my hand, gesturing for him to answer. "Um, yes, we are," he said at last, tightening his hold on his wand. He cleared his throat as he moved further into the room. "Uh, today…going to learn…um…Hermione, what are we going to learn?"
"Don't ask me, you're the teacher."
"Well, I appoint you teacher's assistant."
"Harry, just make a decision!" I said with frustration.
"Today we're going to learn…Expelliarmus."
"We already know that spell," said the same Hufflepuff boy from the Hog's Head. "We learned it in Loony Lockhart's class."
"Exactly, we 'learned' it," Harry said using air quotes. "And I'm going to teach you the proper way to do it."
"How do you know how to use it properly?" asked the Hufflepuff boy.
"I've used it against Voldemort!"
Everyone was silent.
"So, who wants to learn it?"
I stepped forward, pulling my wand from my robes. "Ready to learn, Harry!"
"Me too!" said Ron
"HU!" cried Fred and George holding their wands above their heads.
I saw Harry glance at the Hufflepuff boy who rolled his eyes and pulled out his wand.
He turned to the practice dummy and waited for everyone's attention. He recited Expelliarmus using the same wand movement we learned from Snape and Lockhart in the Dueling Club second year.
The dummy's wand fell to the floor with a clatter.
Harry turned to face everyone, smiling slightly. "See, it's simple." He put his wand back in his pocket. "Who wants to try it first?"
Neville stepped forward. "I'll give it a go." He looked anxious. "Expelliarmous!"
Nothing happened.
Harry went to stand beside him. "You're flourishing your wand too much, try it more like this." He repeated his movements from before.
Neville tried again. "Expelliarmous!" he said this time with more feeling.
The dummy's wand fell to the floor.
"I did it!" he said happily. "I've never done that before!"
"Great job, Neville!" said Harry patting him on the shoulder. "Anyone else?"
Several people raised their wands. Harry conjured some more practice dummies and assigned two students to each one.
Harry walked up to me. "Since we have an odd number of people, would you mind if I partnered with you?"
I smiled. "Why would I mind?"
He smiled back before leading me over to the remaining dummy.
I quickly found out that the Expelliarmus spell was a lot harder than Harry made it look.
"Here, try it this way," he said, adjusting my wrist, after several failed attempts.
"Expelliarmus!" I cried after he released my hand.
The dummy's wand fell to the floor.
"It worked! Thanks, Harry!"
"No problem," he said.
We each took turns disarming the dummy until Harry decided he was going to walk around and check everyone's progress. As I watched him leave, I glanced over to where Cho was working with her friend Marietta. While Cho was cheering over her latest success, Marietta looked my way and gave me a dirty look.
"Great job, everyone," Harry said after a few more hours. "That's all for today. I'll let you know when the next meeting will be. Before everyone leaves, make sure the hall is clear."
The last ones to leave were Harry and Cho. I stayed behind to clean up a little. I heard the doors close as I swept the floor. I looked behind me to see Marietta standing by the door.
"Hey, Marietta."
She didn't say anything, only crossed her arms over her chest.
"Is something wrong?"
She stepped closer to me, arms still crossed.
"I know what you're trying to do," she said, her glare returning. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from Harry."
I froze as I put away the broom.
"Excuse me?" I asked, acting as though I didn't hear her. "What did you say?"
"You heard me," she said. "Just because Cedric is gone that doesn't mean you can take Harry from Cho."
"I don't see how my friendship with Harry is any of your business," I said also crossing my arms.
"Cho is my best friend, I don't want to see her hurt," said Marietta, tucking back her hair then returning to her original position.
"Has Cho said anything about having a problem with my friendship with Harry?" I asked.
"No."
"Then back off," I said. "Harry is my best friend and no matter what you say or do that's never going to change."
Marietta unfolded her arms and moved to stand in front of me.
"I mean it, Granger," she said, shoving me with her index finger. "Watch what you do around Harry."
"Is that a threat?"
Marietta sneered. "Could be." She gave me one last finger shove before turning and leaving.
I scoffed. "I might have to talk to Cho about her choice of friends," I muttered to myself as picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder, and turned to leave the room.
"Tonight was a success!" Ron whooped as I entered the Common Room. "The old toad didn't have a clue!"
"Yeah," Harry agreed as he and Ron shared a high-five.
"Guys, it was just the first meeting," I said sitting in one the armchairs in front of the fire.
"Yeah, but we didn't get caught," said Ron.
"And you assume that since we didn't get caught the first time, we won't ever get caught?"
Ron just rolled his eyes in response and then moved over to the closest table and began to work on his homework.
"Come on, Hermione," said Harry as he joined me by sitting the armrest of my chair in front of the fire. "Ron's right. Tonight was a success. Why aren't you happy about this?"
"I am happy," I said, putting on my best smile. "I'm just saying just because she didn't catch us this time it doesn't mean she won't ever catch us."
Harry didn't say anything.
I stood up. "Harry, if you don't mind I'm going to work on my homework alone. If you or Ron get stuck on something try to figure it out for yourselves."
I didn't let him say anything else as I headed for the dormitory steps. As I descended them I could hear both Harry and Ron questioning each other about me.
I tried to work on my homework but I kept getting distracted. Fed up with my thoughts, I went to the window and peered outside.
I was surprised to find that the lights in Hagrid's hut were on and smoke was coming from the chimney, this could only mean one thing. I hurried downstairs to tell Harry and Ron.
"Harry! Ron!" I said happily.
"What?" asked Ron.
"The lights are on in Hagrid's hut! He's back!"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go see him!" said Harry.
"What a perfect excuse to pass on homework."
"Oh, don't worry, Ron, you can go back to it later," I said with a grin.
Ron grumbled incoherently.
"Stop grumbling and come on," said Harry coming down the stairs with his invisibility cloak over his arm.
