A/N: Hello! I'm actually really proud of this chapter, and I hope I made all of you proud with it as well. Please be patient with me as I slowly write this story, I really think this one might be longer than any other story I've written, as it is were still fairly new to fifth year and this is chapter 20! Please review! Much Love- Bookworm
The Hog's Head was crowded, the bartender was staring at the crowd, his mouth hanging open as he polished a singular glass repeatedly. He was finally distracted from the glass when drink orders began to come in. A lot of orders. Hermione watched sympathetically as he rushed to grab as many bottles of butterbeer that he could. Once every student had a drink in hand, Hermione cleared her throat and stood, all eyes in the room falling on her.
"Erm… Hello. You all know me, erm… thank you for coming." She took a deep breath and sought out Fred's face, when they locked eyes he grinned and gave her a gentle nod. She smiled and took a deep, calming breath. "Right. You all are here because we all agreed that we need to learn defense against the dark arts. We need a teacher. A.. Well, a proper teacher." She said, feeling satisfied when she saw many students nod and murmur their agreement to her statement.
"Well we," she gestured to Harry and Ron, both of whom she noted looked mildly uncomfortable. She rolled her eyes and amended her wording. "Okay, I had the idea that we could possibly learn from someone here." She said, and a couple of her classmates sat up straighter, apparently that caught their proper attention.
"You mean you're going to be teaching us?" Someone asked.
"You do have top marks in all your classes." Someone else stated, and Hermione shook her head.
"Actually, Defense is the only class I do not have top marks in. That would be Harry, at least it would be, if we had a competent Professor this term." She stated as an afterthought. "I think Harry should teach us." She said, stepping to the side and clearing her throat, Harry looked up at her and stood quickly. Everyone stared at the pair of them, clearly disagreeing with Hermione.
"But... He's mad. He thinks that You-Know-Who is back..." One student muttered, and Hermione glared at the boy who had spoken.
"Well I believe him, and if you rather would be taught by Umbridge and fail your exams, then by all means the door is right there." She said, pointing to the exit, and all eyes then turned to the boy, who shrunk in his seat.
"Harry has fought V-Voldemort, he has fought dementors, he battled a basilisk second year and saved Ginny. You lot all saw him last year in the Triwizard Tournament. You know he's good. He's brilliant at defense." She said, making an argument for Harry. It was that moment he finally decided to speak up.
"Hermione stop. Look, that all sounds great, but I had help. Loads of it. Hermione and Ron helped me study, they helped me with the Chamber of Secrets, with the Triwizard Tournament, they both helped me with all of it." He said, and Hermione frowned at him.
"He's just being modest." She said, and he shook his head.
"No Hermione. I had help with all of it." He protested, when another voice spoke up from the crowd of children.
"Is it true that you can produce a corporeal patronus?" A girl who Hermione recognized as Susan Bones, asked.
"Er, yes." Harry simply stated, and he was drowned with questions.
"How'd you learn to do that?"
"Who taught you?"
"When have you used it?"
"What form does it take?"
"Will you show us?"
Eventually, Harry, looking overwhelmed, glanced at Hermione, pleading for her to save him.
"Okay!" She called out, and it slowly quieted down in the room. But one more person decided to speak.
"Were you really there when Diggory died? Is You-Know-Who really back?" The same boy from earlier asked, and Hermione glanced nervously at Harry, who looked enraged.
"I'm not going to talk about that. Yes, he's back. But that's all I'm saying, if that's why you came here, to find out how Cedric died, then you might as well clear out." He said, and again, the boy shrunk down in his chair.
"Erm, okay, look. I have a piece of parchment for everyone to sign, we don't have a meeting place yet, but I figured out a way for us to figure it out. I have these coins." She said, reaching behind her and picking one up out of the basket that sat in the chair next to her. "We can send messages to each other, when a date appears on it, then we will have found a meeting place. Just come find Harry, Ron or I and we will tell you where. After you sign the parchment, I will give you a coin." She said. "Just form a line, and we'll start."
The line formed fairly quickly, though there was some jostling as everyone tried to form it. Hermione, Harry, and Ron had already signed, leaving room at the top of the parchment for a name of the group. Hermione was pleased that Fred and George were the first two to sign the parchment, Fred giving her a wink as he did so with a flourish. It took about five minutes for everyone to sign the parchment, there had been a bit of a delay when Cho's friend Marietta was reluctant to sign, though Hermione threatened that she would need to erase her memories from this meeting if she refused. After everyone had signed, Hermione reassured them that they would find a meeting place soon, and would let everyone know when they did. They then proceeded to disperse, Hermione falling in place outside of Hog's Head with Fred, George, and Lee. They walked a few meters in silence until Fred spoke.
"So that's what you wouldn't tell us about? Very sneaky of you." Fred stated, grinning and raising a singular eyebrow at his blushing girlfriend.
"Well I didn't tell anyone except Harry and Ron why we would be meeting, didn't want it spread around and reach the wrong ears. Though I wouldn't mind finding out who invited Smith." She said, rolling her eyes at the mention of the insistent and rude boy. Fred chuckled and nodded his head.
"Not a smart move there, but it looks like Harry set him back in place." He said, still giving her his lopsided smile. Hermione and The other two boys nodded in agreement.
"So where shall we go on a lovely day like today?" George asked, and Hermione gave him and incredulous glance, it had snowed overnight, and it was freezing outside, nothing lovely about it. He was looking at her hopefully, and she rolled her eyes, knowing exactly where the three boys would want to go since they were in Hogsmeade.
"Why don't we go to Zonko's?" She asked, exasperated, and the three boys cheered. Fred pulled her in close and gave her a sloppy kiss, making George and Lee groan.
"You have to do that right in front of us mate? It looks like your eating her face." Lee said, pretending to gag at the sight and making Hermione laugh.
"Why I take offense to that. This is me eating her face." he said, opening his mouth and clacking his teeth together as he moved his face closer to Hermione's. She laughed and ducked out from under his arm, moving to stand between George and Lee.
"Well boys, I don't think I can date a vampire. Maybe I should move on?" She asked innocently, glancing back and forth between her boyfriend's twin and their best friend. Fred growled as George grinned at him and he ran behind Hermione and scooped her up off the ground, throwing her over his shoulder and marching away.
"No! Dear brother please don't take her from us!" George wailed dramatically, clutching his heart. Hermione waved at George and Lee, laughing and clutching Fred's jumper tightly with one hand.
"Goodbye George, goodbye Lee! I'm afraid Fred is stealing me away and I may never see you again." She got out, managing to hold in her laughter for the short moment. When they finally reached Zonko's, Fred set her down gently and grinned.
"Here we are. Maybe that pesky twin of mine won't find us here." He whispered dramatically as he opened the door to the shop. They stepped inside and were greeted by an eager employee and what Hermione could only guess were very strong warming charms placed on the shop. George and Lee quickly joined them in the shop, though Hermione was content to stand behind them and listen to them chat about various things and ideas about new products they could make. Strangely enough, they left the shop empty-handed, and Hermione realized that it had been a scouting trip, as Zonko's would become their competition when they opened their own shop after they were done with school. Hermione was happy though, she realized, it was probably the first time she had truly been happy at school since Fred had told her that he loved her.
"Should we head back to school?" George asked, and it pained Hermione to hear the disappointment in his voice. She had heard it before, but never to this degree. Hermione also realized that she didn't have the normal desire to head back up to the school either, though it was starting to get dark.
"Yes, we probably should." She sighed, and they glumly walked back up to the school, where they were searched by Filch before being allowed back on the grounds.
At dinner that night, Hermione heard many whispers surrounding the meeting that had taken place earlier that day, and she rolled her eyes. She leaned across the table to Katie Bell and grabbed a roll.
"We need to get the word out to stop talking about it, otherwise, it'll reach unsavory ears." She whispered, finally grabbing a roll and grinning at Katie, who blushed and nodded before turning and whispering the same thing to Alicia. Hermione watched as the news spread quickly and quietly, everyone seemed very casual about the news they were spreading, and when she looked up at the Head Table, Umbridge seemed oblivious to what was happening before her eyes. She turned and looked at Fred, who was gazing at her in awe.
"What?" She asked, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion.
"You are scary when you need to be." Fred asked, and her eyebrow ticked up.
"You think I'm scary?" She asked, and he thought for a moment.
"Yes. And I think it's a good thing, given everything that's happening." He said, turning casually back to his plate of food.
Educational Decree Number Twenty Four
"Hermione, you're the one who's always saying that we should follow the rules." Ron said, and she glared at him.
"Yes Ronald, sensible rules that are in place to keep us safe." She emphasized. "Not idiotic decrees set by that... toad that make it impossible for us to get ourselves a proper education." She hissed angrily, lowering her voice as they walked past a small group of students.
"Harry?" Ron asked, turning to the boy who, until that moment, stayed silent on their walk.
"I want to do it still." He said simply, and Ron sighed in defeat as Hermione grinned. They reached the Gryffindor table and sat down, making plates of breakfast until they realized just how many people were staring at the three of them. Hermione slowly looked around and then back at Harry. At that moment, Luna came floating casually to the Gryffindor table.
"Hello Ginny, How are you?" She asked loftily before turning to Harry. "Harry? Are we still on?" She asked, winking at him.
"Oh erm… yes?" He asked, and she nodded.
"Lovely. I will go let everyone know that study group is still going." She said, turning and walking back to her own table. Fred plopped down in the seat next to Hermione, leaning over and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"We still doing it?" He asked in her ear, and she smiled and turned back to him, nodding. He then poured three cups of coffee, putting one in front of George, one in front of Lee, and keeping one for himself. George and Lee both looked at him questioningly.
"Yes?" He asked, and they both grinned and picked up their cups. Hermione rolled her eyes at their simple code they had obviously discussed before coming down to the Great Hall. Suddenly, Katie was standing behind Harry.
"Harry, I need to talk to you." She said, and Harry turned to her.
"Don't worry, we're still doing-" He began, but she cut him off.
"No not that. Didn't any of you see it? It said teams too. We have to petition to get the Quidditch team back!" The Gryffindor captain said, obviously distraught. Harry, Fred, and George all looked at each other, scandalized. "Please Harry, and you two as well, please keep your noses down. Please don't give her any reason to deny our request." She begged, and Harry nodded furiously.
"Of course Katie. Anything." He said as she walked away, muttering to herself about how of course this had to happen the year she's captain. Harry turned back to Hermione, looking guilty. Fred and George were looking down at their plates, not speaking.
"She'll probably deny it just because you are on the team." Ron said, venom dripping from his voice as he stabbed a sausage on his plate. Harry looked down at his own plate, knowing that Ron could very well be right.