Whispers in the dark

Chapter 26: Foamy fun

A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes. Also, I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank you all so much for your love and support for this story, and I hope you'll continue to have as much fun reading the upcoming chapters as I do writing them. Today's chapter isn't as thrilling as my others, but I needed a bit of a bridge towards my other chapters, hence why this one's in here. Hope you don't mind too much, and I look forward to seeing you all next chapter! :)

Hermione was the first one to tap her wand to two identical cards that were sprawled out on a table. Right as she did they exploded, and Hermione had to shield her eyes from pieces flying into it, letting out a laugh as she did so.

Luckily for her Ron had settled down a great deal over the past few weeks as she had ignored him for a while. This seemed to have done the trick to let him reflect on his behaviour, and he had even apologized for it. Well, sort of. It was more of a murmur than actual words, but it was good enough. She was more than happy to have her friend back in the first place.

Currently they were in the Gryffindor common room, having played a game of Exploding Snaps for the past half an hour, almost finishing the game as only a few cards remained.

As soon as the cards turned around again, Ron was quick to tap two of them, but unfortunately not the right ones and the explosion was even bigger, the card directing up to Ron's face, scorching half of his eyebrow.

Both Hermione and Harry burst out laughing at the sight of it, one eyebrow hair still on fire as Ron sulked away, though was quick to join in their laughter as he caught sight of his reflection in the window.

"Y'know Harry," Hermione started as the game of exploding snaps had ended, Harry having been the one to have won the game. No wonder, his reflexes were, after all, the fastest of the three of them.

"I really do stand by what I said earlier. I think we could use someone like you to teach us how to defend ourselves," she said, curling up her legs in the chair. "I'm not qualified to teach anyone, 'Mione," Harry defended, but Hermione immediately shot him down. "Nonsense, Harry, you're more qualified than our current teacher could ever be."

Yet, Harry was still not convinced. "Who would want to come anyway?" He mumbled, so Hermione cocked an eyebrow at him. "I can already think of two people," she said.

"Oh yeah, who then?" Ron piped in, stretching his legs so he occupied the entire couch. "Fred and George would be happy to join your classes," well, she hadn't exactly discussed it yet, but even if they wouldn't, she'd make them.

"Would we?" Fred immediately asked her. He was currently not in the common room, and she did not dare ask him whether he was out past curfew right now. "Yes, you would." Hermione openly spoke.

Harry and Ron looked up in her in surprise, then realised she was talking to Fred and let their expression drop, though Harry grinned a bit. "Honestly Harry, don't knock it till you tried it. Let's spread the word around with people we trust, and see if they're into it."

Harry, who was sitting on the ground with his back leaning into the couch, still refused to give in. "George and I could help spread the message," Fred agreed, "Join little Harry's classes, brother," he added, presumably speaking to George. "That would be great, thanks," Hermione agreed, and at this Harry snapped his head towards her, squinting his eyes.

"You already made the deal, haven't you?" Harry asked accusingly. Hermione smiled sheepishly, but then put herself together again. "We need to learn how to defend ourselves, Harry. I know you can do it, you just have to try."

Though Harry did not look enthusiastic about the idea, he did agree to it in the end.

-x-

They had all assembled at Hog's Head, a rather grim place, but perfect to not get noticed by any students that they did not trust.

Fred and George had done a great deal of spreading the message, as half of the people were here thanks to them, having needed a second pair of mouths to convince them that it would be worth getting into potential trouble if they were to be caught.

Ron, Harry and Hermione had taken place in front of the group, representing their new idea, though Hermione did feel slightly uncomfortable. Being in the spotlight like this wasn't exactly one of her favourite things to do.

Fred, noticing her awkwardness as she rose up to speak, gave her a gentle smile as encouragement, so she cleared her throat and dared the leap.

"You all know why we're here," Hermione began, hearing how rather soft her voice sounded, and so she decided to speak up a little louder, looking into all of the expectant faces. "We need a teacher," she said, then clarified, "a proper teacher."

Looking to Harry, who had a bit of trouble with all the burning eyes, looked anywhere but at people in the room. "Harry here has had real experience with Defence Against the Dark Arts, something we're all going to need."

At this a student asked why, not believing Harry's word that Voldemort had returned, but Hermione countered that Dumbledore claimed this as well. Usually that was enough to convince people, but not this time. "So where's the proof then?"

Another student piped in, asking for an explanation about Cedric's death, and at this Harry rose up to. "I'm not going to talk about Cedric so if that's why you here I suggest you leave," then turned to Hermione. "C'mon Hermione, let's go," he said in desperation, having already given up on the situation.

"Is it true you can produce a Patronus charm?" Luna interrupted, and Hermione had never before been so grateful for her existence. This very question could help convince others to join them. "Yes!" Hermione immediately said, knowing that Harry would not plan on boasting himself. "I've seen him do it."

At this Dean voiced his admiration, and Neville jumped in with another heroic story about him killing a Basilisk. Ron talked about the dementors, and Hermione confirmed that he really did fight off Voldemort last year.

"Look, it all sounds great if you say it like that, but I've just had a bunch of luck," Harry piped in, and Hermione wished he hadn't. This was not the way to convince people.

But then he began to explain what it felt like to live through those experiences, and the room fell silent, and people were now listening attentively. "You're right, Harry, we don't. That's why we need you to teach us," Hermione said, and many more students were clearly convinced.

Setting up a table and sprawling out a parchment and a quill with some ink, she told people that they were free to sign up if they wanted to join his classes. Fred was one of the first to rise up and sign, giving Hermione a playful wink.

At his example more students followed, until they all lined up to sign. As they had all finished she explained to them how they were going to meet, and asked if any of them had a bit of a good idea for a location.

Neville offered one, saying he got lost once in search of a toilet and ended up at the Room of Requirement, to which Hermione immediately mumbled under her breath, "of course, why didn't I think of that?" and saw Fred grin out of the corner of her eye, knowing he was the only one to have heard that.

With that they agreed to meet up there, and she passed them all a coin that would give the inscriptions of when to meet.

After all the information had been passed out they all left in pairs, leaving the twins to join her, Ron and Harry for a drink in the Leaky Cauldron.

"That was a nice speech you two gave," Fred said as their drinks arrived. "Yeah, real touching indeed," George spoke up with a bit of teasing grin on his face. "Though I must say I missed your group effort Ronnie," Fred added, to which George let out a laugh.

"Y'know, an endearing word or two," George said.

"- or an act of rebellion if you'd like." Fred finished.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the two of them. "At least he was man enough to sit up front with us," Hermione defended, though the twins grins only turned wider. "Yeah, so were you clearly with that dashing moustache of yours." Fred laughed and at this George took a big gulp of his drink, dipping his mouth into the goblet and coming out of it with a foam moustache.

Realizing what they were referring to, she almost feared that they had put something in her drink to give her a moustache, especially when all the boys at the table let out a hearty laugh as Hermione reached up in horror to feel that there indeed was a thick layer of foam resting above her lips. Luckily, though, it was only from her drink.

Quickly wiping it away, she soon joined their laughter as she shook her head. At least a foam moustache was better than a real one.