Chapter Thirty-Two
Whilst it was a rare occurrence, Hermione Granger did not like being wrong. And yet, here she was, forced to stand corrected. Harry's punishment from Umbridge could probably not have been worse.
Suspicious, she had grabbed his forearm over dinner one evening and pulled back his sleeve. Carved into the skin, as though traced there by a scalpel, were five inflamed red words. Hermione stared and, feeling sick, released him.
"I thought you said she was just giving you lines?"
Harry hesitated but told her the truth about the hours he had been spending in Umbridge's office.
"That old toad," she cried. "This is completely wrong, you have to go and say something to Professor McGonagall, Harry."
"No," he said at once. "I'm not giving her the satisfaction of knowing she's got to me."
"Got to you? You can't let her get away with this!"
Harry shook his head, "we don't know how much power McGonagall's actually got over her, do we?"
"Dumbledore, then, tell Dumbledore!"
"No," he replied emphatically.
Hermione was surprised at his flat refusal. She wasn't sure what could have happened to cause Harry not to want to seek support from the headmaster. "Why not?" she asked.
"He's got enough on his mind," he said. "I have to go, I'll see you both later."
She watched him go before turning to look worriedly at Ron. He shrugged, not knowing what to do either.
Things continued to go from bad to worse after Umbridge was made High Inquisitor and given the power to inspect other teachers. Hermione had just stormed out of the DADA classroom, rage clouding her vision. She didn't realise, therefore, that someone was walking very closely behind her.
"Granger," Draco muttered. "Second classroom on the left, go in there."
He didn't witness her impressive scowl as he glanced briefly around the corridor before slipping in behind her.
She was breathing fast and her eyes were very bright, "I can't believe this. It's outrageous!"
"You have to stop goading Umbridge, Hermione," Draco implored. "Based on some of the things I've heard, she is not someone you want to mess with."
"What? I had read the whole book, and I did disagree with the author. I was perfectly within my rights to seek a discussion with her."
Not for the first time, Draco wondered what it might be like to have an easy life. He tried a different tact, "not that I am disagreeable to Potter receiving numerous detentions, I'm surprised that you would wish that upon him?"
"It's not my fault!"
"Well, you didn't help matters."
"And what about you, Draco, why were you criticising Hagrid to her earlier?" she glowered. "I thought we'd gotten past the Buckbeak issue?"
"I was doing it for you! I could see your expression and knew you were moments away from provoking her again."
Hermione sighed and said in a small voice, "she's just such an awful woman. We have to do something about her."
"Poison?" Draco replied, hopefully.
"If only. No, I mean something about what a dreadful teacher she is, and how we're not going to learn any Defence from her at all."
"There's nothing we can do."
"Well… you're not going to like this, but," she said, pretending to ignore Draco as he grit his teeth, "I was thinking maybe the time has come when we should just – just do it ourselves. I was thinking of asking Harry to start teaching a group of us."
"You can't be serious?"
"Why not? He could show us different spells and correct us if we're going wrong."
Draco looked at her incredulously. He was tense as he said, "there are innumerable things that could go wrong, Granger. I imagine Umbridge would be strongly against such an endeavour, who knows how she might punish you?" Hermione shifted uncomfortably as he continued, "it's also completely unsafe, you can't have a load of untrained witches and wizards running around doing new spells! What if someone hits you with something and you get hurt? The whole point of us being so secretive is to keep you safe, and now, here you are, throwing yourself into ridiculous situations yet again."
She squared her shoulders, "I'm not some flower or a delicate piece of glass, Draco."
"No, you're not, but you are mine. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."
"You can't promise that, and I wouldn't expect you to." Hermione said softly, taking a step towards him. "We know what's coming, Draco. I, and everyone else, need to be prepared."
"Stop," he snarled, thundering past her and towards the door. "I can't talk to you about this anymore."
Despite Draco's vehement disapproval, Hermione broached the idea with Harry. It took some persuading, but he eventually agreed. They even got a significant number of sign-ups from the students that attended the Hog's Head meeting.
Knowing they were doing something to resist Umbridge, and the Ministry, gave Hermione a feeling of immense satisfaction that refused to be dampened by Draco. She could tell that Harry's mood was more positive because of it as well.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long before 'Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four' had been announced: No student organisation, society, team, group, or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organisation, society, team, group, or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
"Someone must have blabbed to her!" Ron said angrily.
"They can't have done," Hermione told him in a low voice.
"You're so naïve, you think just because you're all honourable and trustworthy –"
"No, they can't have done because I put a jinx on that piece of parchment we all signed," she said grimly. "Believe me, if someone's run off and told Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are and they will really regret it."
It was immediately apparent on entering the Great Hall that Umbridge's sign had not only appeared in Gryffindor Tower. There was a peculiar intensity about the chatter and an extra measure of movement as people scurried up and down their tables conferring on what they had read.
Hermione, Harry, and Ron had barely taken their seats when Neville, Dean, Fred, George, and Ginny descended upon them. With a quick hushed conversation, they all agreed the decree would not change their plans. The Defence group would be going ahead.
Dobby was officially a genius. Without him, they would never have found the Room of Requirement. Hermione was incredibly impressed by this hidden facet of Hogwarts; a room that only appeared to someone in need, always equipped for whatever this might be.
It hadn't been easy to relay the details of their first meeting to everyone who turned up in the Hog's Head, but they managed it. At eight o'clock, on the seventh floor, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls, Hermione stood with Harry and Ron, ready to follow Dobby's instructions.
They walked past the blank stretch of wall three times, concentrating hard on what they needed. Ron had screwed up his eyes in concentration; Harry's fists were clenched as he stared straight ahead; and Hermione was whispering under her breath.
We need somewhere to learn to fight… she thought. Please give us a place to practice… somewhere they can't find us.
A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Harry reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open the door, and led the way into a spacious room lit with flickering torches. The walls were lined with wooden bookcases and, instead of chairs, there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large, cracked Foe-Glass.
There was a gentle knock on the door. Hermione looked around. Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean had arrived.
"Whoa," said Dean, staring around, impressed. "What is this place?"
Harry began to explain but, before he had finished, more people had arrived and he had to start all over again. By the time eight o'clock arrived, every cushion was occupied.
Hermione was pleased with how smoothly electing Harry as leader had gone, as well as the naming of the group: the DA, Dumbledore's Army. It was perfect.
Before everyone left for the evening, she had one further thing to bring up. As Harry handed each student a fake Galleon, Hermione started talking.
"You see the numerals around the edge of the coins?" she said, holding one up for examination. It gleamed fat and yellow in the light from the torches. "On real Galleons that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. One these fake ones though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket you'll be able to feel them. We take one each, and when Harry sets the date of the next meeting he'll change the numbers of hiscoin and, because I've put a Protean Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic his."
Hermione had initially become interested in mastering the Protean Charm as a way of providing her and Draco with an easy communication channel. However, it had now also turned out to be an ideal way of keeping in touch with other DA members.
There was a silence as everyone in the room stared at her in awe, she blushed and gestured at Harry to finish up the meeting.