A/N: Okay, ok, ok…so I haven't updated in a morning and a blue moon. Sorry 'bout that. However, receiving another review has once again lifted my spirits, and once again I am picking up my laptop to write another chapter. It's summertime…so I don't have a lot of time on my hands. What with work and all. PLUS I've had mono. So..here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: Don't own nufink 'cept the plot.
Chapter 5: In the Hog's Head
As prompted by Hermione Granger, Luna made her way to the Hog's Head on the next Hogsmeade trip. Luna was excited, and yet a little worried. Harry was wonderful and all that, but perhaps Malfoy really did think her interesting. What, with that kiss and all. Luna couldn't stop thinking about it. She almost made her way straight to the Hog's Head, but then she got a sudden craving for chocolate, and instead steered herself straight into Honeydukes.
While selecting a slab of chocolate however, she spied Cho Chang and one of her friends. Giggling, and talking in undertones, Luna wondered what they were up to. Picking up her chocolate and tiptoeing closer to them, she tried to overhear what they were saying.
"In the Hog's Head?" Cho's friend asked. "Why there? That place is filthy!"
"I suppose they didn't want to be spied by Umbridge. Honestly, it can't be all that bad. Besides, you don't like Umbridge anymore than I do. Please come with me!" Cho seemed earnest.
"Why don't you just go alone?"
"Because I don't want it to seem like I'm in love with Harry or anything. Support and romance are two completely different things. Please come!"
"Wasn't it you who made all these plans to seduce him?"
"Please! Just come! I promise it won't take long."
"Oh, fine. But it better be good, and worth the waste of my time."
"Alright. Let's go. We should be getting there by now."
They moved off, and Luna followed. Then, realizing she hadn't paid for her chocolate, she doubled back, handed over the sickles, and rushed after Cho. When she reached the Hog's Head, Cho and her friend were just going inside. Before going inside though, Luna plucked off a piece of chocolate from her slab and put it in her mouth. Then she proceeded inside.
She was in heaven; the chocolate was melting in her mouth, and tasted like…perfection. Luna's eyes rolled up, and, looking like she was in a dream all by herself, she marched into the Hog's Head. After Luna, a couple members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team that she didn't know walked in, some Gryffindor fourth years, a couple of Hufflepuffs, more Ravenclaws by the names of Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot, the Weasley girl with a Hufflepuff, and then some more Weasleys and another Gryffindor Luna didn't know. These last three were carrying armloads of paper bags from Zonko's Joke Shop.
Luna overheard Harry talking to Granger.
"A couple of people?" he said hoarsely to Granger. "A couple of people?"
"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Granger happily. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"
Luna watched as the Weasley boy moved and started grabbing chairs from nearby tables. Then she heard someone shout, "Cheers. Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these…" it was Fred Weasley. He had asked for enough butterbeer for everyone. 'Well, that was quite rude,' Luna thought. 'Got everyone butterbeer before asking if everyone wanted some first. Guess I have to pay now.' Luna reached into her pocket and grabbed two sickles from her pocket. She put the change down on the bar, grabbed a butterbeer, and headed back to her seat.
Sitting at the table, Luna could see everything that went on around her. She watched the Longbottom kid from the train. He walked up to Harry. "Hi Harry," he said, and then pulled out the seat directly opposite from him. She watched as everyone settled down after getting their butterbeers. Then she found herself staring off into space, thinking once again of Draco and his kiss. Finally, she realized that everyone had sat down, and she looked earnestly at Harry, just like everyone else.
"Er," said Granger, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. "Well—er—hi."
The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to dart back regularly to Harry.
"Well…erm…well, you know why you're here. Erm…well, Harry here had the idea—I mean"—Harry had thrown her a sharp look—"I had the idea—that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts—and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us"—(Granger's voice became suddenly much stronger and more confident)—"because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts"—"Hear, hear," said Anthony Goldstein (much to Luna's embarrassment…I mean, he was from her own house), and Granger looked heartened—"well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."
She paused, looked sideways at Harry, and went on, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells."
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said Michael Corner, who was watching her closely. Luna silently slapped him across the face for this comment. Yet another person from her own house embarrassing all of Ravenclaws.
"Of course I do," said Granger at once. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because…because…" She took a great breath and finished, "Because Lord Voldemort's back."
The reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho's friend shrieked and slopped butterbeer down herself, Terry Boot gave a kind of involuntary twitch, a Gryffindor fifth year shuddered, and Longbottom gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn into a cough. All of them, however, looked fixedly, even eagerly, at Harry.
"Well…that's the plan anyway," said Granger. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to…"
"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said the blonde Hufflepuff player in a rather aggressive voice.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it…" Granger began.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," said the blond boy, nodding at Harry.
"Who are you?" said the Weasley boy rudely.
"Zacharias Smith," said the boy, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."
"Look," said Granger, intervening swiftly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about…"
"It's okay, Hermione," said Harry.
A look of understanding crossed over his face. "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he repeated, looking Zacharias straight in the face. "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."
The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke. Luna had the impression that even the barman was listening in. He was wiping the same glass with the filthy rag; it was becoming steadily dirtier.
Zacharias said dismissively, "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. 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," said Harry. Luna could tell his temper was rising. He did not take his eyes from Zacharias Smith. "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."
He cast an angry look in Granger's direction.
"So," said Granger, her voice very high-pitched again. "So…like I was saying…if you want to learn some defense, 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," interrupted the girl with the long plait down her back, looking at Harry, "that you can produce a Patronus?"
There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.
"Yeah," said Harry slightly defensively.
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"Er—you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" he asked.
The girl smiled.
"She's my auntie," she said. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So—is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"Blimey, Harry!" said the Gryffindor with the Weasley twins, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"
"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said one of the twins, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."
"She's not wrong," mumbled Harry and a couple of people laughed. Luna noticed the veiled witch in the corner sitting alone shifted slightly in her seat. She wondered if perhaps the witch hadn't been listening to every word they had been saying. Perhaps she was a spy for Umbridge.
"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot, "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year…"
"Er—yeah, I did, yeah," said Harry.
A Hufflepuff boy whistled, the Gryffindor fourth years exchanged awestruck looks, and a Gryffindor girl said "wow" softly. Harry was looking slightly embarrassed, and Luna noticed that he was looking at everyone…everyone but Cho Chang.
"And in our first year," said Longbottom to the group at large, "he saved that Sorcerous Stone…"
"Sorcerer's," hissed Granger.
"Yes, that, from You-Know-Who," finished Longbottom.
"And that's not to mention," said Cho (Luna watched as Harry's eyes snapped onto hers, she was looking at him, smiling; Luna knew it was all fake though), "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year—getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas and things…"
There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the table.
"Look," he said and everyone fell silent at once, "I…I don't want to sound like
I'm trying to be modest or anything, but…I had a lot of help with all that stuff…"
"Not with the dragon, you didn't," said Michael Corner at once. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying…"
"Yeah, well…" said Harry, feeling it would be churlish to disagree.
"And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer," said Susan Bones.
"No," said Harry, "no, okay, 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?" said Zacharias Smith.
"Here's an idea," said Weasley loudly, before Harry could speak, "why don't you shut your mouth?" Zacharias flushed.
"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him, and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it," he said.
"That's not what he said," snarled one of the Weasley twins.
"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" inquired the other, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags.
"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said the first twin.
"Yes, well," said Granger hastily, "moving on…the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"
There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms and said nothing; though perhaps this was because he was too busy keeping an eye on the instrument in the Weasley's hand.
"Right," said Granger, looking relieved that something had at last been settled. "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 the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."
"No," said Cho, "nor with ours."
"Nor ours," added Zacharias Smith.
"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," said Hermione, slightly impatiently, "but you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters…"
"Well said!" barked a Hufflepuff. "Personally I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our O.W.Ls coming up!"
He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry, "Surely not!" When nobody spoke, he went on, "I personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon 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 the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Granger, "is that she's got some...some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."
Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news; except Luna. Luna, who had been listening extremely intently to this part, remembered what her father had put into the Quibbler. "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."
"What?" said Harry, seemingly thrown off at this information. Luna was surprised he hadn't heard it before now.
"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," said Luna solemnly. No one seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation.
"No, he hasn't," snapped Granger.
"Yes, he has," said Luna. Why didn't she of all people understand? She was the greatest witch in Gryffindor; at least Luna had thought so until now.
"What are heliopaths?" Longbottom asked, looking blank.
"They're spirits of fire," said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever. "Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of…"
"They don't exist, Neville," said Granger tartly.
"Oh yes they do!" said Luna angrily.
"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" snapped Granger. Luna didn't like her very much at all right now.
"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you…"
"Hem, hem," said the Weasley girl in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defense lessons?"
"Yes," said Granger at once, "yes, we were, you're right…"
"Once a week sounds cool," said a Gryffindor boy.
"As long as…" the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain began.
"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," said Granger in a tense voice. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet…"
This was rather more difficult; the whole group fell silent.
"Library?" suggested the Gryffindor Chaser.
"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," said Harry.
"Maybe an unused classroom?" said a Gryffindor fifth year.
"Yeah," said Weasley, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Triwizard…"
"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," said Granger. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."
She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, and then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.
"I-I think everybody should write their names down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath, "that we all ought to 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."
A Weasley twin reached out for the parchment and cheerfully put down his signature, but Harry noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of putting their names on the list.
"Er…" said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying to pass him. "Well…I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."
But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing too. Granger raised her eyebrows at him.
"I—well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found…well, I mean to say…you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out…"
"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Harry reminded him.
"I—yes," said Ernie, "Yes, I do believe that, it's just…"
"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" said Hermione testily.
"No. No, of course not," said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. "I—yes, of course I'll sign.
Nobody raised objections after Ernie, though Luna saw Cho's friend give her a rather reproachful look before adding her name. When the last person—Zacharias—had signed, Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as though they had just signed some kind of contract.
"Well, time's ticking on," said a Weasley twin briskly, getting to his feet. "George, Lee, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase; we'll be seeing you all later."
In twos and threes the rest of the group took their leave too. Luna was one of the first to go, and glad of it. She missed Cho trying to flirt with Harry by taking to long to clasp her bag. The sight would have made Luna Lovegood sick.