For the past two weeks, Hermione didn't bring up the idea up to Hailey again. Mandy had finished her round of Detention with Umbridge and she would scowl at her hand every few minutes. Ron had four more Quidditch practices and hr told them that he hadn't been shouted at all during them, and they had managed to Vanish their mice in Transfiguration, apparently Hermione had progressed to Vanishing kittens. It was a wild, blustery evening at the end of September when Hermione brought it up again. They were sitting in the library, looking up potion ingredients for Snape.

"I was wondering whether you'd thought any more about Defence Against the Dark Arts, Hailey," Hermione said suddenly.

"Course I have," Hailey replied. "Can't forget it with that hag teaching us nothing—"

"I meant the idea that Ron, Michael, and I had—" Hermione started, but the two boys gave her surprised looks. She corrected herself, "The idea that I had, then—about you teaching us."

Hailey pretended to read a page of Asiatic Anti-Venoms. She had thought about it for the past two weeks. Every now and then, she had considered the idea, thinking about the spells that had helped her with her encounters with Dark creatures, Death Eaters, and even Voldemort himself. However, at other times, she had thought the idea was silly and insane. Once, she had suddenly found herself planning a lesson when she was snogging Michael in the empty common room. That had startled her so much that she had accidentally pulled roughly on Michael's hair when she jerked back in surprise.

She realised that she couldn't pretend that Asiatic Anti-Venoms very interesting, even though it was. Slowly she said, "Yeah, I—I've thought about it a bit."

"A bit?" asked Michael incredulously.

Hailey guessed that he was still a little annoyed by her accidentally pulling his hair.

"Anyway?" prompted Hermione eagerly.

"I dunno," replied Hailey. She was trying to bid herself some more time so she can gather what she really wanted or how she felt about that idea. She looked at Ron to see what his reaction would be.

"I thought it was a good idea from the start," replied Ron looking keen knowing that Hailey wouldn't start yelling at them.

Hailey shifted feeling uncomfortable She pointedly asked, "You did listen to what I said about a load of luck, didn't you?"

"Yes, Hailey, but all the same, there's no pretending that you're not good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, because you are," Hermione stated. "You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said—"

"Yeah? What did Vicky say?" asked Ron. He had looked round at Hermione so quickly that he must've gotten a crick in his neck because he was rubbing his neck.

"Ho ho," replied Hermione sounding bored. "He said that Hailey knew how to do stuff that even he didn't, and he was in his final year at Durmstrang."

Ron was now looking at Hermione suspiciously. "You're not still in contact with him, are you?"

"So what if I am?" replied Hermione coolly, her face a little pink. "I can have a pen-pal if I—"

"Only he didn't want to be your pen-pal," interrupted Ron sounding accusatory.

"Oh, my god," groaned Michael looking up at the ceiling.

Mandy rolled her eyes and Hailey almost face-palmed at that because she wasn't in the mood to hear them argue.

Hermione turned to face Hailey, apparently ignoring Ron's accusation. "Well, what do you think? Will you teach us?"

Hailey was momentarily thankful that Hermione wasn't going to argue with Ron. She looked at her friends, "Just you four, year?"

"Well," Hermione started looking anxious. "Well…now, I really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against V-Voldemort." Ron winced, "Oh, don't be pathetic, Ron. It doesn't seem fair if we don't offer the chance to other people."

Hailey considered that. Would anyone, besides probably Luna and Colton, want her teaching them? She was the school nutter after all. Everyone acted like she was contagious and probably wouldn't want her craziness to rub off on them. "Yeah, but I doubt anyone, except for you four, would want to be taught by the school nutter."

"Well, I think you might be surprised how many people would be interested in hearing what you've got to say," said Hermione seriously. "Look—" she leaned towards Hailey, "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?"

Hailey wondered what Hermione had done and wondered how many people Hermione was talking about.

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

"Umbridge would have a heart attack if she knows what we're up to," said Mandy.

"Oh," said Ron. In a cheerful tone, he added, "In that case, I don't see why we can't do it in Hogwarts."

Hailey worried over Sirius. He had been silent with them since the beginning of September since he had appeared in the fire. Hailey knew that they had made him angry by saying that they didn't want him to come, but they had to be smart about it. Draco implied that he knew that Sirius was an Animagus, and it would look suspicious if a big black dog just bounded up to them in Hogsmeade. Hailey told Mandy and Michael about her fears.

"Well, I don't blame him for wanting to go out," said Michael. "He's just shut up with that horrible elf all the time."

"And he was on the run for two years, which although probably wasn't fun, but at least he was free, you know?" replied Mandy.

Hailey felt bad for turning Sirius down like that now that they had put it like that.

"The problem is," started Michael quickly, "Until You-Know-Who comes out in the open, Sirius is going to have stay hidden. The bloody Ministry isn't going to accept Sirius's innocent until they accept the fact that Dumbledore's been telling them the truth. And once the damn fools start catching real Death Eaters, it'll be obvious that Sirius wasn't one…he doesn't even have the Mark for starters."

"I doubt Sirius is stupid enough to turn up in Hogsmeade," said Mandy. "I think Sirius listens to Dumbledore, even though Sirius might not like what he'll hear."

"Hermione told me that she and Ron had been talking to people who they might want to learn some proper Defence Against the Dark Arts and apparently there's a few who seemed interested," said Michael. "And I've talked to Terry, Anthony, Stephan, and Roger Malone about it. Terry and Anthony seemed interested though. We've told them to meet us in Hogsmeade."

Hailey almost didn't hear him since her mind was still on the situation with Sirius.

"Don't worry about Sirius, Hailey," said Mandy in a quiet voice. "You're dealing with enough without Sirius bothering you. He spent twelve years in Azkaban, which doesn't sound like a picnic in a meadow, but being in a place he hates for a bit should be a pic"

It was true. She was barely managing keeping up with homework, even without dealing with Umbridge's detentions. She had Quidditch practice with Roger Davies. Ron was far behind with his Quidditch practice twice a week, but he also had his prefect duties.

The morning of the Hogsmeade was bright and windy. After breakfast they lined up in front of Filch, who matched their names to the long list of students who had permission to visit the village. Hailey remembered that if Sirius hadn't signed her permission form, she wouldn't be going to visit Hogsmeade at all and she felt a slight pang of guilt. When Hailey got to Filch, the caretakers inhaled deeply as if trying to smell something coming from the fifth-year. After Filch deemed her clean he gave a curt nod and Hailey walked on and outside onto the stone steps of the castle where her friends were waiting.

"Er—why was Filch sniffing you?" asked Ron as they started off towards the gates.

"I suppose he was checking for the smell of Dungbombs," replied Hailey and gave a small laugh. "Oh, I forgot to tell you…" She recounted the story of sending off the letter to Sirius and Filch bursting in a few seconds letter, demanding to see the letter that she had already sent. She had purposely left out the part of kissing Michael and Filch running in on that, since they didn't need to know that. Hermione and Mandy seemed to find it a lot more interesting though.

"But who told him that you were ordering Dungbombs and why?" questioned Mandy.

"Yeah, who did?" asked Hermione.

Hailey shrugged, "I dunno. Maybe Malfoy. He'd think it would be a laugh."

"Malfoy?" questioned Hermione, sounding skeptical. "Well…yes…maybe…"

She remained deep in thought as they walked all the way into the outskirts of Hogsmeade.

"Where are we going, anyway?" asked Hailey. "The Three Broomsticks?"

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

They walked down the main street past Zonko's Wizarding Joke Shop spotting Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, which wasn't a surprise. However they were surprised to see Eva and her friend, Ivy, with them, talking. They went past the post office and they turned up a side-street where at the top stood a small dingy looking inn.

A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door, with a picture on it of a wild boar's severed head, leaking blood on to the white cloth around it. The sign was creaking in the wind as they approached the inn. They stood outside the door looking at the Hog's Head.

"Well, come on," said Hermione in a slightly nervous tone.

Hailey wasn't sure why Hermione was nervous since she was the one that was supposed to be meeting a few people that she was supposed to teach. She took a deep breath and grabbed Michael's hand for comfort. She led the way inside.

The Hog's Head wasn't clean or warm like how the Three Broomsticks was. The Hog's Head bar was actually made up of one small, dingy and very dirty room which smelled strongly of something that Hailey was sure was goats. The bay windows were so dirty that very little daylight could even break into the room. The only light source was coming from the stubs of candles that were sitting on rough looking wooden tables that looked like it needed to be sanded down. Hailey glanced down to see that the ground had looked to be made out of dirt but now that she looked more closely it was made up of stone that had picked up filth over the centuries.

Hailey remembered Hagrid mentioning the pub during their first year when he was explaining how he won a dragon's head from a hooded stranger. She could see that keeping their faces hidden was mandatory. There was one person who had their head wrapped in dirty grey bandages, though they was still managing to gulp a smoking, fiery substance through a slight over their mouth, there was two figures shrouded in hoods at a table in front one of the windows, and in a shadowy corner beside the fireplace was a witch with a thick, black veil that went down to her toes. The only thing that they could see was the tip of her nose which protruded out.

"Mmm," said Mandy. "I'm definitely feeling the warm, welcoming environment, Hermione."

"I agree with Mandy," replied Hailey quietly as they walked to the bar. "I don't know about this, Hermione."

"Do you think that Umbridge might be under that veil?" asked Michael.

Hermione looked at the woman for a few moments before saying, "Umbridge is shorter than that woman. And anyway, even if Umbridge does come in here, she can't do anything to stop us, because 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 he advised me strongly to bring our own glasses."

"Did someone get sick from drinking from the glasses here?" wondered Mandy. "And if so, how badly?"

"That's a very good question," replied Michael eyeing one of the dirty glasses on the counter.

"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 if we parade what we're doing."

"Obviously not," replied Hailey dryly, "Especially as it's not exactly a homework group you're planning now is it?"

The barman sidled towards them out of a back room. He was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long grey hair and even had a short beard. He was tall and thin and looked vaguely familiar to Hailey.

"What?" he grunted.

"Five Butterbeers, please," said Hermione.

The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up six very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar.

Mandy jerked back in shock.

"Twelve Sickles," replied the man.

"I'll get them," replied Hailey quickly, passing over the silver.

The barman looked over Hailey, looking at her scar for almost a second, and then he turned away, depositing the money in an ancient wooden till. The till's drawer had opened automatically to receive it. The fifth-years grabbed their drinks and went to a table furthest from the bar. They sat down and looked around. The man in the bandages rapped the counter with his knuckles and received another smoking drink from the barman.

"You know what?" Ron murmured, looking over at the bar, "We could order anything we liked in here. I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try Firewhisky—"

"You! Are! A! Prefect!" snarled Hermione.

"Oh," said Ron his smile fading, "Yeah…"

"So, who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" asked Hailey wrenching open the rusty top of her Butterbeer. She took a swig. "Michael mentioned that Anthony and Terry seemed interested."

Hermione checked her watch, "Just a couple of people. I told them to be here about now and I'm sure they all know where it is—oh, look, this might be them now."

Hailey turned to see the door of the pub opening and a crowd of people walked in.

First was Neville with Dean and Lavender, followed by Cho and Marietta, then Luna and Colton, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Malachi Lovelace, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Anthony, Terry, Ginny, Zacharias Smith, Ginny, and to her surprise Eva and Ivy came in followed by Fred, George, and Lee Jordan. All four of them were holding bags from Zonko's.

"A couple of people?" replied Hailey hoarsely. She looked at Hermione and repeated, "A couple of people?"

"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione happily. "Ron, do you want to pull some more chairs?"

The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked as though it had never been washed. It was possible he had never seen his pub so full before.

"Hi," said Fred, reaching the bar first. He counted his companions quickly and said, "could we have…twenty-seven Butterbeers, please."

The barman glared at Fred for some reason and threw down his rag, and started passing up dusty Butterbeers from under the bar. Hailey guessed that the barman had figured cleaning his glasses was a lot more better than taking a customer's order.

"Cheers," said Fred passing them out. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these…"

Hailey felt numb as she watched as the large group took their drinks from Fred and rummaged in their robes to find coins. She wasn't sure what they were expecting? A speech perhaps? She turned to Hermione, "What have you been telling people? What are they expecting?"

"I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say," replied Hermione. Hailey glared at Hermione, "You don't have to do anything yet; I'll speak to them first."

Neville was beaming as he sat across from Hailey, "Hi, Hailey."

Hailey tried to smile back at him, but she was to nervous to even smile back.

In twos and threes the new arrivals settled around Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mandy, and Michael. Some looked excited, others were curious, while Luna gazed into space while Colton looked interested in whatever Hailey had to say. When everyone was seated, they looked at Hailey.

"Er, well, er, hi," said Hermione, her voice higher because she was nervous. "You all know why we're here. Hailey here had the idea—" Hailey gave her a sharp look. Hermione corrected herself, "I had the idea—that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defence Against the Dark Arts—and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us—because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts—"

"Hear, hear," called Anthony.

Hermione looked heartened and continued, "Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands. And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spells. We need a teacher. A proper teacher. One who's had real experience defending themselves against the Dark Arts."

"Why?" demanded Zacharias in a rather aggressive sounding voice.

"Why, because You-Know-Who's back, you tosspot," snapped Ron.

Michael turned to look at Zacharias.

Zacharias nodded towards Hailey, "So she says."

"So Dumbledore says," countered Hermione.

"So Dumbledore says because she says!" snarled Zacharias, "The point is, where's the proof?"

Before Hailey could say anything, Hermione said, "Look, that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about—"

"It's okay, Hermione," replied Hailey. She was sure that some of these people—maybe even most of them—had turned up in the hopes of hearing Hailey's story firsthand. She looked at Zacharias, "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you won't believe me now, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."

The whole group seemed to be holding their breath. Hailey had the impression that even the barman was listening in because he kept wiping the same glass with his filthy rag, making it dirtier than it previously was.

"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," said Zacharias dismissively. "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 with that," interrupted Hailey coldly. She kept looking at Zacharias as she spoke, "I don't want to talk about Cedric, all right?" She looked at the group as a whole, "So if that's why you're here, you might as well leave now." She glared at Hermione since she was sure that it was Hermione's fault. Hermione was the one who brought them here after all. Hailey looked back at the group. None of them had moved. Surprisingly, Zacharias didn't leave.

"So," started Hermione, her voice high-pitched again. "So…like I was saying…if you want to learn some defence, 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?" asked Susan.

"Yeah," replied Hailey a little to defensively for her own liking.

"A corporeal Patronus?" questioned Susan.

Hailey remembered that same question being asked from her expulsion hearing. "Are you related to Madam Bones from the Ministry?"

"She's my auntie," Susan said smiling. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So—is it really true? You make a doe Patronus?"

"Yes," said Hailey.

"Blimey, Hailey!" said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"

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

"She's not wrong," mumbled Hailey and she heard a few people laugh.

"And Michael and Mandy told us that you killed a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office," said Terry. "Also one of the portraits on the wall told me that when I was in there last year…"

"Er—yeah, I did, yeah," replied Hailey taken aback.

"It's true," supplied Ginny.

Her input seemed to work since she was down in the Chamber of Secrets while that happened, since she was the other witness, besides Michael.

Justin whistled, the Creevey brothers exchanged awestruck look and Lavender said, "Cool!"

Hailey felt slightly embarrassed over that.

"And in our first year," added Neville, "she saved that Philological Stone—"

"Philosopher's," corrected Hermione.

"Yes, that—from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.

"Third year, she fought off about a hundred dementors at once," added Ron.

"And all the tasks that you had to do for the Triwizard Tournament, getting past the dragons, merpeople and Acromantula and all that stuff," said Cho.

Hailey thought it was a little strange with Cho complimenting her, but she figured that Cho said it because she was watching Cedric too.

"Wait…look it all sounds great when you all say it like that. But the truth is most of that was just luck. I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I nearly always had help…" started Hailey.

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

"Yeah, well…" started Hailey feeling like it be rude to throw off her boyfriend's compliment.

"And nobody helped you get rid of those Dementors this summer," added Susan.

"No, no, okay," said Hailey quickly, "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 of this stuff?" asked Zacharias.

"Here's an idea, why don't you shut your mouth?" said Ron loudly. Apparently the word 'weasel' was a trigger word for him. He was also looking at Zacharias like he wanted nothing better than to thump Zacharias.

Zacharias countered, "Well, we've all turned up to learn from her and now she's telling us that she can't really do any of it."

"That's not what she's saying," snarled Eva. She and Ivy was sitting with the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan. "She's saying that she did all that stuff, but she had help from others getting to that point. Clean out your ears, Smith."

"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" asked George pulling out a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside on of the Zonko's bags.

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

"I'll hold his arms down," said Eva standing up.

"And I'll get his legs," said Ivy getting to her feet too.

"Yes, well," said Hermione quickly to diffuse the situation before the two third-years could get their hands on Smith. The two third-years sat down. "Moving on…the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Hailey?"

There was a murmur of agreement. Zacharias crossed his arms and said nothing; because he was too busy keeping an eye on the instrument in Fred's hand. Zacharias was also keeping an eye on Eva and Ivy who somehow moved their way to be closer to him so they can glare at him without anyone noticing.

"Right," said Hermione looking relieved. "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," said Angelina, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."

"No," said Cho, "Nor with ours."

"Nor ours," added Zacharias.

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

"Well said!" said Ernie. "Personally, I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our O.W.L.s coming up!" He looked around as if waiting for someone to contradict him. When he was satisfied that no one would, he went on, "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on 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—"

"We think it's because she's got some…some mad idea that Dumbledore might use all of us as some kind of private army to attack the Ministry," stated Mandy.

Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news, except Luna.

"Well, that makes sense," said Luna. "After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army." Colton looked like he wanted to face-palm at Luna's statement.

"What?" asked Hailey feeling thrown off by the unexpected piece of information. But then again this was Luna…

"Yes, he's got an army of Heliopaths," said Luna in a solemn tone.

"No, he hasn't," snapped Hermione.

"Yes, he has," said Luna.

"What are Heliopaths?" asked Neville.

"They're spirits of fire," said Luna. Her eyes had widen so she looked madder than ever, "They're great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of—"

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

"Oh, yes, they do!" said Luna angrily.

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

Luna said, "There are plenty of eye-witness accounts. Just because you're so narrow-minded you need to—"

A shrill whistle sounded in the bar, making everyone cringe at the sound.

Mandy had her hand to her mouth. "As much as I love watching arguments, but I think this is more important than hearing two people argue over the existence of Heliopaths. We still need to decide on how often we need to meet."

"Yes, you're right, Mandy," said Hermione at once.

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

Angelina started, "As long as—"

"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," said Hermione in a tense voice. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet…"

They fell silent, trying to decide where.

"Library?" suggested Katie Bell after a few moments.

"Madam Pince won't be too thrilled with us doing jinxes in the library," said Mandy.

"Maybe an unused classroom?" suggested Dean.

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "McGonagall might let us have hers. She did when Hailey was practising for the Triwizard Tournament."

"I think this is considered more rebellious," said Eva with her hand raised. "We're doing defence spells that Umbridge won't teach us. Actually, we're learning things that she's not teaching. She won't be too happy if word spreads. There's bound to be rumours if we used a classroom."

"You're right, Eva," said Hermione. "Well, we'll try to find somewhere. We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting." She looked through her bag and took out parchment and a quill. She hesitated, as if she was preparing to say something. "I—I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think, that we all ought 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 was the first one to cheerfully sign his name.

Hailey noticed that several people didn't look happy to sign their names. "Do you all honestly think that we'll just leave the list lying around? We're not that thick."

When Zacharias finished signing his name, Hermione took the parchment and put it carefully into her bag as if she had something explosive. Well, Hailey was sure that it if the list was found, it would probably make Umbridge explode in anger.

"Well, time's ticking on, George, Lee, Eva, Ivy, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later," said Fred.

Michael looked confused at that as the Weasley twins, Lee, Eva, and Ivy left the pub with their bags.

The group left the pub in twos or threes.

After a few moments, they left the Hog's Head, Hermione said, "Well, I think that went quite well."

"That Zacharias bloke's a wart," grumbled Ron as he glared at Zacharias as the oddly aggressive Hufflepuff walked away in the distance.

"I don't like him much, either," admitted Hermione.

"He's a prat," said Michael.

Mandy shrugged, "Well, you just got to think about it from his point-of-view, though." They looked at her and Mandy continued, "Hailey came back with Cedric's body and Dumbledore says not to ask her any questions on how he died, and Dumbledore claims You-Know-Who is back. You got to remember that he supposedly died fourteen years ago. He's a person so evil that he killed families and he struck fear in everyone.

"Hearing he's back will make anyone laugh. It's no wonder why no one wants to believe he's back because they want to live in safety. It's hard to believe especially with no proof other than a girl who has been slandered as an attention-seeker and who's being slandered as a stark-raving madwoman. I had to convince my parents that Hailey wasn't a liar, because it was hard for them to believe that someone so evil is back."

Mandy looked at Hailey, "I get it's a frustrating thing for you, knowing the truth, but you've got to think about their point-of-view."

"You got a point, Mandy," said Hailey softly.

They turned into the High Street and Hermione stopped outside Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. "Hmm…I could do with a new quill." She walked into the shop and the others followed after her.

"I just wonder what Eva and Ivy are doing with the Weasley twins," muttered Michael.