The notice had appeared on the board that morning, banning all clubs and groups. Much to the surprise of the boys, Gryffindor had no more trouble than Ravenclaw securing the Quiddich team. The Defence Against the Dark Arts club was another story all together though. She'd met Harry and Ron in the common room that morning, joined quickly by the rest of the Weasleys.
'She must know.' Ginny pointed out into the general din of concerned voices.
'We're still doing it of course.' Hermione announced to the group and everyone fell silent, looking at her in shock. 'Well, Voldemort is out there and we need to be prepared.'
'Hermione's right. Voldemort's already been inside the school twice. We're not safe anywhere.' Fred added, his twin nodding along.
'Look, we've found a place. How about we meet tonight?' Harry decided, speaking lowly so as not to be overheard. There was a chorus of agreements, and Harry described where to find the room and asking everyone to pass the message around. Hermione couldn't help but smile proudly as Harry directed his peers. She had been right, he would make an excellent teacher.
The day dragged by. She couldn't concentrate properly in class, her thoughts kept drifting to the upcoming meeting and she had to struggle her way through Runes and Transfiguration, feeling empathy for the boys for their lack of focus for the first time. Fortunately she had a free afternoon, so after lunch she hurried to her dormitory to work on an idea she'd had.
With their little group now illegal, it had become vital that they find an efficient and subtle way of communicating with each other. Fortunately the gossip created by the new decree covered the organisation of today's meeting but they would need something better for the future. She'd taken inspiration ironically from those they were trying to fight; another illegal group with a need to coordinate meetings. Her idea was a little different – she didn't want it to be burned onto their skin for a start, nor should it be something obviously identifiable. Scrap parchment had been her first idea but it was too obvious and too easy to throw away accidently.
Then she'd come up with the idea of a galleon, transfiguring the writing around the edge to read a serial number that corresponded to the date of the meeting. The tricky part was the spell that would change all the coins at the same time – it was a complex one, far beyond OWL level and the frustrating part was that she knew Grindelwald could have had this little hiccup arranged in minutes. She spent the entire afternoon slaving over it.
By the time the meeting rolled around she had managed to produce just enough functional coins. They were a little rough around the edges; the font around the edge wasn't exactly the same and they were prone to getting uncomfortably hot when the date changed but for now they would do the job.
She swept the coins into her bag and battled a brush through her frazzled hair. Harry and Ron were waiting for her in the common room and they quickly hurried down to the corridor. They'd decided to get there a couple of minutes early to make sure everything was as it should be, but the door appeared without any issues.
She pushed the door open, eagerly heading over to the bookshelves again. Then she froze, there was already someone sitting on one of the cushions. His blond hair was instantly recognisable and she felt cold dismay trickle through her. Of course Gellert had been with her when she had discovered the room but how did he know they would be having a meeting here tonight? In fact, how did he know they would be having a meeting at all?
She levelled her wand at him, knowing even as she did that it was a stupid idea. Surprisingly she wasn't disarmed immediately and she soon felt the reassuring presence of the two boys at her side, seeing their wand tips in her peripheral vision.
'What are you doing here?' Ron demanded and Gellert looked up at their three wand tips with an expression of mild surprise.
'I'm here for your lesson.' He replied, as if his knowing about their illegal society was nothing for them to be concerned about.
'Don't lie.' Hermione jabbed her wand at him threateningly and he went slightly cross eyed as he tried to focus on the tip. Finally he gave a frustrated huff and knocked her wand away in a lightning fast movement.
'I didn't. I'm here for your lesson.' He stood in a smooth movement that had the trio scrambling backwards in alarm.
'How did you know about us?' Harry demanded, stepping forwards again.
'Well you were hardly subtle.' Grindelwald scoffed, 'I overheard you talking about it.'
'I don't trust you.' The Boy-Who-Lived decided but he sheathed his wand and cast him one more suspicious glance before wandering away with Ron. Hermione was less inclined to believe him, but she knew she was more likely to get answers from him alone so she waited for Ron to follow before summoning a pillow from the pile and sitting opposite the dark wizard.
He soon joined her, picking up his book again. The doors opened and a flood of red-headed and red-robed Gryffindors poured in, filling the massive room with activity and noise as Harry and Ron greeted them.
'Why are you really here? You don't need lessons from Harry.' Hermione asked quietly, peering at Gellert over her book.
'Neither do you.' He pointed out, 'I'm here because there's nothing he can teach you.'
With Dumbledore's warning to keep him close ringing in her mind, Hermione decided to let his indiscretions with Malfoy slide. She already knew he operated differently to her, in fact he probably had more in common with You-Know-Who than he did with the order in how he did things and Dumbledore hadn't been at all concerned about his behaviour so she dismissed it, intent on giving him a second chance.
They both returned to their books and read in silence until the loud click of a lock echoed through the room. Silence fell and Hermione quickly stood, her bag of galleons clinking. She let Harry introduce the lesson, then insisted on a name and an election, catching Gellert's exasperated expression from the corner of her eye. When that was done she handed out the coins, trying to remain modest as her use of the complex magic was recognised by the Ravenclaws.
'That's some impressive magic.' Gellert told her as she finished handing out coins. Unlike with the Ravenclaws, she couldn't suppress the smile that bloomed on her face at his compliment. Her father had often said to only take compliments from equals, so his compliments were worth far more than the rest of the group combined. 'What, don't I get one?' He asked, humour colouring his tone.
'Somehow, I doubt you need one.' She joked as Harry split them up into pairs and set them practicing the disarming charm. Her wand flew out of her wand and Gellert caught it neatly. She huffed. 'I wasn't ready.'
'You won't be most of the time.' He replied, tossing the wand back. She bellowed the incantation as soon as the wood touched her fingers and a jet of powerful red light shot from her wand... and soared past Gellert's left shoulder. He laughed, and she deflated. Her father had also taught her to only take insults from equals too.
The lesson was excruciating. Gellert's spells hurt so much that she was certain they weren't just disarming spells, although that might have had something to do with how determinedly she was clinging to the thin strip of wood each time. On the positive side, when he'd let her disarm him she'd actually managed to catch the wand. Of course, he'd then managed to wandlessly disarm her to get his wand back. She hadn't even managed to gain any satisfaction when one of Luna's strange blue iterations of the spell caused the nearby bookshelf to catch fire. He'd erected some shield in the blink of an eye and wordlessly extinguished the fire.
'The best defence against disarming is to deflect it.' He instructed after Harry had made everyone pause, relentlessly restarting his assault as soon as the noise started up again. She hurriedly cast a Protego, which dissipated before the spell even hit it. He returned her wand and this time she cast the shield later, after the spell had hit.
'Reactions, reactions. Know what the spell is before you react. Don't shield against a Killing Curse.' He managed to lecture even as he sent another disarming charm at her. She managed to intercept this one but she didn't celebrate this time, instead casting a disarming charm immediately in retaliation. He praised her as he too deflected her jinx (which hit Neville in the back, sending his wand twirling into the rafters).
By the end of the lesson she was only too happy when he melted away, disappearing before Harry had wrapped up without her even noticing the exact moment that he left.
She listened to Ron congratulate Harry all the way up to the common room, too exhausted to do much but murmur vague agreements. It had been good, she'd learned a lot but that didn't make it enjoyable.