Disclaimer:
I don't own Harry Potter
POV: Michael
"Michael, hurry up or there won't be anything left" said Anthony Goldstein impatiently.
Michael Corner looked up from his long and difficult potions essay.
"I'm almost finished" he said "You two go on. I'll meet you downstairs"
Anthony nodded and left the Ravenclaw common room with Terry Boot.
Michael finished writing his essay and put it away safely in his dormitory. When he left the common room he found himself face to face with Parvati Patil, a Gryffindor in his year.
"Michael, could you see if Padma's in there?" she asked.
"Yes alright then."
Parvati and Padma were identical twins. Michael thought it was a bit odd that they were in different houses especially when all the members of some families all went to the same house. Michael's girlfriend, Ginny Weasley, her six older brothers and her parents had all been sorted into Gryffindor. He also knew that everyone in the Malfoy family had been put into Slytherin. Michael looked around for Padma Patil and spotted her sitting a short distance from a fourth year girl who had her face hidden behind a magazine which she was holding upside down. Even though Michael couldn't see her face, he knew that this girl was Luna Lovegood, a fourth year. Michael thought that how Luna had gotten into Ravenclaw was an even bigger mystery than why the Patil twins were in different houses. Luna's unofficial nickname of "Loony" certainly suited her.
"Padma, your sister's waiting for you" said Michael.
"Oh OK" said Padma "I'm coming"
Michael followed Padma out of the common room. The Patils stopped to talk about half way along the corridor. Michael kept going and went down the first staircase he came to. When he was about half way down, he tripped and was met at the bottom of the stairs by the unwelcome sight of a scrawny dust coloured cat.
"Go away" Michael hissed at Mrs Norris as he stood up and saw that his shoelace was untied. Michael cursed under his breath as the cat slinked past him with her tail in the air. Michael tied his shoe and walked off in the opposite direction hoping that Mrs Norris hadn't gone to fetch her master, Argus Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker. Falling down stairs was not a punishable offence at Hogwarts, but Michael knew that if Filch had his way it would be. Luckily for Michael, Filch didn't turn up
What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you of course" said Ginny. "I want to tell you something. You know Hermione Granger, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know Hermione" said Michael. "But you might want to find somewhere else to tell me whatever it is that you're going to tell me because Mrs Norris was hanging around here a few minutes ago."
Michael and Ginny found a disused classroom on the fifth floor.
"Alright then" said Michael "What did you want to tell me?"
"Well Hermione had the idea that we should try to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts ourselves" said Ginny "I thought you might be interested"
"Do you mean like a study group?" asked Michael.
"Not exactly" said Ginny "I think Hermione was thinking more of learning real spells and having practical lessons. But she doesn't think that Umbridge would approve if she knew what we were doing"
"It's going to be hard getting around her" agreed Michael.
"I know" said Ginny "so we're asking people who are interested to meet in the Hog's Head when we have our first Hogsmeade weekend. Anyone who wants to come can hear what Harry's…"
"Harry?" said Michael in a confused voice. "But I thought Hermione…"
"It's Hermione's idea" said Ginny "But Harry's the one who's going to be teaching us. You'll come won't you?"
"It could be interesting" Michael admitted. "What about your brothers?"
"What about them?" asked Ginny.
"Are they going to be in it?" asked Michael.
"I don't know. I suppose Ron will because he's friends with Hermione and Harry" said Ginny. "I don't know about Fred and George. Why?"
"I was just wondering" said Michael. "Do they know that we're going out"
"No" admitted Ginny "but I suppose they'll find out if we all do this thing. But I wouldn't worry about it if I were you"
Michael thought that Ginny's brother's finding out that the two of them were going out was definitely something to worry about.
"Well Ron will probably take it badly, if he notices" said Ginny "but he won't do anything. And Fred and George are still too busy taking the mickey out of Ron for being made a prefect to pay attention to what I'm doing"
"Being a prefect's nothing to laugh at" said Michael.
"It is to Fred and George" said Ginny. "You're not a prefect so they'll probably like you anyway. You are going to come aren't you?"
"I'd like to" said Michael eagerly "do you think it'd be OK if I bought a couple of friends"
"I don't see why not" said Ginny. "Just make sure the Slytherins don't find out what we're doing"
Michael looked quizzically at Ginny.
"But they hate Harry. They won't want to be in a club that he's in"
"I know that" said Ginny "But if any of them find out what we're doing, Draco Malfoy will hear about it and his father's always at the ministry. You know that Umbridge used to work in Fudge's office, don't you?"
"I'd heard that" said Michael. "Are you saying that if the Slytherins find out about this…"
"Umbridge'll know about five minutes later" whispered Ginny
"What took you so long?" said Terry when Michael had sat down next to him in the Great Hall.
"I ran into Ginny" said Michael. He was going to tell his friends what Ginny had told him about forming a secret defence against the dark arts group, but he decided to wait until they were back in their common room. If he mentioned it now there was a very good chance that a Slytherin could overhear them.
"You'd better hurry up and eat. It's half past eight" said Anthony.
"And I suppose you'll put me in detention if I'm wandering around the castle after nine o'clock" said Michael sarcastically.
"I will if no one else is around to do it" said Anthony jokingly. But by nine o'clock the three boys were back in their common room which was rather crowded and noisy. Michael was eager to tell Anthony and Terry what Ginny had told him before dinner, but he didn't want to risk the entire common room overhearing him. He went up to his dormitory where they would be assured of some privacy.
"It's a bit early to be going to bed, isn't it" said Terry.
"I'm not going to bed" said Michael "I want to talk to you two and we won't get any privacy in the common room"
"And I suppose you've got some big secret to tell us" said Terry sarcastically.
"Well yeah" said Michael wiping the smirk off Terry's face. "Ginny told me that Potter's going to give secret defence against the dark arts lessons"
"How?" asked Anthony "We'd need a place to meet in secret for one thing"
"Well Ginny said everyone who's interested should meet in The Hogs Head on the first Hogsmeade weekend – But I think that's just to organise things" said Michael "I don't think Potter's going to start teaching us all defence spells in the pub" He smiled as he imagined a large group of students duelling in a pub full of customers.
"I think it could be interesting" said Terry. "I heard that Potter killed a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office in our second year"
"A what?" asked Michael.
"A Basilisk" repeated Terry. "It's this huge snake and everyone who looks it in the eye will die. You know that's what attacked those people who were petrified. It was just a lucky coincidence that none of them were killed."
"I don't think Potter's going to teach us how to kill Basilisks" said Anthony with a hint of laughter in his voice. "Maybe he'll teach us to speak parseltongue so we can ask them to go away"
"I don't know what sort of stuff Potter's going to teach" Michael admitted. "But it can't hurt to go along and see if we're interested"
"I suppose not" said Terry. "I wonder why Potter's decided to start giving defence lessons"
"His friend, Hermione Granger, she talked him into it" said Michael. "She probably wants to do it because she's afraid of failing her O.W.L. But I still want to go. You'll come too, won't you"
"Well even if we don't learn anything from Potter, it's still going to be more interesting than sitting in a classroom with Umbridge" said Anthony.
"So you'll come?" asked Michael.
"Yeah I reckon" said Anthony.
"Yeah definitely" said Terry eagerly.
Authors notes: Sorry about the long delay between updates. And thank you for your kind reviews.
