A/N: Here's the second chapter! It's a bit longer than the last one but it finally features our favorite trio.

Again, I do not own Harry Potter.

Enjoy!


Chapter 2: How to Start an Army

-oOo-

Hermione looked up from her essay when a heavy weight collapsed beside her. Instinctively, she reached across the table for the bowl of Murtlap Essence she had prepared and the cloth beside it. Her eyes shone with worry and care as she looked at her best friend, heavy bags under his eyes and his hand bloody.

She gingerly took the injured hand in hers and dipped the cloth into the Murtlap. Harry winced when the cool essence touched the cuts before releasing a breath of relief. He glanced over at her, the smallest beginnings of a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Thanks," He muttered, his voice quiet and leaden with exhaustion. Hermione smiled at him sympathetically.

"If she keeps this up through the week, you— you have a chance of scarring," She whispered, her smile faltering and fading away as she finished speaking. Harry let out a strange mix between a groan and a sigh and turned his head upwards against the back of the sofa.

"Probably not the last one I'll get, though," He replied airily. Hermione pressed her lips together in a line but said nothing and continued treating his hand.

"You know, this is serious, Harry—"

"I know, Hermione. I just can't deal with anything else right now. I know you want me to tell a teacher or somebody, but not now."

Both of them fell into silence after that, but Hermione continued scrubbing away at his hand, and soon the scratchy writing "I must not tell lies" began to mend back together. She grabbed her wand and levitated the cloth over her bowl of Murtlap, then wrung it out and dried it with magic before soaking it with the Aguamenti Charm.

Faint footsteps muffled by the carpet made their way closer to the two people on the couch just as Hermione was almost finished cleaning the extra dried blood on his fingers and hand. She put the washcloth on the side of the bowl still full of Murtlap and turned to Ron, who was staring at his hand.

"Mate—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Harry barked. "I know, it's just—" He sucked in a loud breath through his nose. "McGonagall wants to get rid of Umbridge as badly as anyone, and even she isn't able to do anything. We've all managed to get away with getting teachers fired before — bloody hell, I killed one in First Year — but you know she has too much control on the school by now to let us do anything."

Hermione and Ron stared at him as he stood from the couch to move closer to the window. Hermione pushed herself to her feet, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth as she approached him slowly.

"What if—" She stopped herself, taking in a deep breath and moving to stand beside him. "I know you said you can't have anything else on your plate, but… what if we started our own defense class?"

Ron, who had also walked over to them, glanced at Harry and then back at his other friend. Harry turned his head, so he was staring into her eyes, as if he needed to make sure she was being serious. After a minute, a sarcastic chuckle escaped his lips.

"How do we do that, Hermione? We don't have anywhere to hide with Umbridge on my tail twenty-four seven. And who would teach it? None of us have experience with that thing."

"Well, mate, you're better in defense than both Hermione and I," Ron said slowly, and Harry's eyes snapped up to him. "And we'll help you, of course," He added.

"Yes! I can deal with signups, Ron can help me plan meetings, and you can teach," Hermione explained giddily.

"Thanks, really." Harry sighed. "I can try talking to Dobby about any places we can do this, but I doubt it'll be anywhere good."

"Then we'll get started on it then!" Hermione exclaimed. She ran back to the table and grabbed a sheet of parchment, looking at Ron expectantly.

"Wait, now?" He whined.

"Yes, now." She strode forward and pulled him over to the couch. Her doe eyes were sparkling brightly when she looked back up at Harry, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Go find Dobby, we'll handle everything else,"

Harry stared at her like she had two heads. "Hold on, we're doing this?"

Hermione growled in annoyance and rushed over to Harry. "Yes! Now go find Dobby!" She snapped, trying her best to shove him along.

"Bloody hell, I'm going!" He ran over to the portrait hole, then stopped and turned to his friends. "So, we're doing this?"

"Just go!"


A/N: Chapter 3 is coming this Friday, and we'll finally be getting into some Hermione and Astoria scenes, and I'm currently working on some art I'll update it with on AO3 and Wattpad! Thanks for reading and see you then :D

~Eclipse