Hey guys! Hope you have all had a lovely week. If you are wondering why these chapters suddenly got more frequent when I said they wouldn't be, it is because I quit my part-time job! I get a lot of University work and needed some more downtime, so now I get to write Guardianship, woohoo! This chapter is all about the DA's first meeting!
Enjoy, and please review :)
The next week went by quickly, filled with Harry, Hermione and Ron making plans for the meeting at the Hog's Head. Harry was glad he had persisted with his involvement in the plans, rather than just leaving it to Hermione as usual. He knew how many people would be there, who those people were, and had thoroughly planned what he was going to say to them; and that made him marginally less nervous to talk to them.
Between Hermione, Ron and himself, word had been spread to all the invitees of the meeting. So far, Umbridge did not seem to suspect anything. They had not talked about the meeting in the Great Hall, or classes, or anywhere they could be heard by her or someone who would tell her. Most of the week Hermione had been inviting people for walks on the grounds, loudly exclaiming how she was enjoying the autumn weather.
Everyone had agreed to come, too, intrigued by the prospect of getting their own back on their vile new teacher. They all settled they couldn't sit around and wait for the Ministry to come to their senses. Even those who were dubious about Harry and his sentiments regards Voldemort had agreed to come. Harry suspected it was just out of curiosity for what he would say, but he didn't particularly mind. As long as they came and he convinced them, or at the very least they didn't tell Professor Umbridge what they had heard, it would be alright.
As Ron had predicted, Seamus apologised to Harry early on in the week. He had sheepishly made a small speech on how he was wrong, and how even his mother was regarding the Prophet as rubbish now. Harry smiled, forgave him, and promptly let him and Dean in on the secret of the meeting. The Irishman did not look happy at the thought of being in cohorts with Slytherin's (Harry felt it was necessary to pre-warn him that members of all four houses would be present at such a meeting), but he accepted it, if it meant getting the upper hand on Umbridge.
Jane and Sophie had been winking at Harry in the corridors all week, both excited for the Saturday coming. Hermione had said they smiled at her when they passed each other too. She had been with Padma Patil one time, who had apparently looked pleasantly surprised that Slytherin's were smiling at them. According to Hermione, Padma and Parvati were looking forward to see who else turned up, and so was curious if the two Slytherin girls would be attending. Hermione had affirmed to Padma they were, and Padma had let out an excited squeal. She was all for inter-house unity and fully supportive of the study system, Hermione had learned.
Severus had his precautions about the plan. He had not been approving of their meeting place, but knew Harry and his friends could do little now the information was already spread. Changing it now would cause confusion, and possibly get them noticed. The Potions Master had also taken Harry into his personal library and given him some books that could help them construct a decent curriculum. He had made a list of all the spells he believed the teenagers should research, learn and teach, and made a note of which book they were in.
Unfortunately, at the same time, Severus was also greatly annoyed at his ward. Harry had told his friends about Malfoy confronting him, and then let slip to Severus that his friends knew. Severus had lectured him on what he had promised Harrison Townsend, and the rules of the Slytherin Common Room, and had been incredibly strict with him. Harry knew that Severus had initially been very proud of his accepting behaviour and was probably disappointed, but he did argue back, saying it was an accident, which only caused Severus to become more irate. He reminded Harry that as Head of Slytherin House he had a responsibility to his students; perhaps Harry should not go to the Slytherin Common Room again, if he couldn't follow the rules.
Harry had been furious, knowing he needed Severus' permission to visit Jane and her friends there. Now, at the end of the week, they still hadn't spoken to one another. Severus had made only short comments to him in Potions class, and Harry had actively avoided Severus in the corridors. He had not been back to his room in the dungeons since Monday, when the argument had taken place.
He could tell Severus was very upset with him, and honestly he hadn't meant to make the mistake of telling his friends about Malfoy. They had just made up, they were talking comfortably, and it had slipped out. Harry had apologised but it hadn't quelled Severus' anger. And that had angered Harry, why couldn't the man just accept his apology and realise it was a mistake?
He had pondered all of this while he walked down into Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione on Saturday, flanked by the Weasley twins and Neville Longbottom. All of the invitees had been told to do their shopping first, and then steadily make their way to the Hog's Head in small groups, so they didn't attract too much attention. That was Harry's idea.
He was nervous to speak to everyone, but at the same time feeling quite sure of himself considering no-one had turned down their invitation. Clearly everyone hated Umbridge enough to bend the rules this far and even speak about the possibility of starting something; Harry just hoped they would take that a step further.
The six Gryffindor's split quickly, and the close knit trio made their way to the Hog's Head, so they would be there before anyone else. This had been Hermione's suggestion. She had held her head up high when she had said it, declaring that, after all, they were the leaders of this new group. She was more excited than anyone for the meeting, and practically bounced through Hogsmeade. They had done a quick run around the shops, and had one bag each swinging in their hands (filled with Zonko's and Honeydukes' products).
The wind was sharp and cold. Harry and Ron were glad when Hermione led them up a small side street off the main village road, and came to stop outside of a grimy inn there. The bracket above the door was rusted, and the battered sign hanging from it had clearly seen better days. It had a picture emblazoned on it; a wild boar's severed head, leaking blood on to white cloth. The sign creaked as the breeze flew up the street.
"Come on then." Hermione said, though her confidence seemed to be lacking suddenly.
Harry pushed the door open, and held it for the other two. They hesitated by the door, and once Harry had shut it, he turned to look around their venue. His first thought was how different it was to the Three Broomsticks, which stood with the shops on the main road through the village.
The Hog's Head was exactly as Ron had described it; dirty and smelling of goat. It compromised of just the one room, barely lit by stubby candles sitting on the wooden tables (the windows were covered in grime, and you couldn't see a thing out of them). The floor was stone, but looked as though someone had littered soil all over, or just hadn't been cleaned in the last two centuries.
There was a man at the bar, with his head covered in greying bandages. He was gulping down a strong looking liquid through a slit in the coverings (Ron whispered that it looked like something called firewhisky). Two figures in hoods sat near the window, talking in thick Yorkshire accents. Harry strained to hear what they were saying but couldn't make it out. In one of the shadowy corner, beside the fireplace, there was a witch with a thick veil made of black silk, which went all the way to her toes.
"Hermione, are you sure about this place?" Harry whispered to her, as they made their way across the bar, "I'm concerned about that witch. Umbridge could be under that veil."
Hermione's eyes slid from the man at the bar to the witch in the corner, "Umbridge is shorter than that woman." She said quietly, "And anyway, even if Umbridge does come in here there's nothing she can do to stop us. I've double and then triple-checked the school rules. We're not out of bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed to come in the Hog's Head and he said we were, though he advised us to bring our own glasses."
"What about the formation of the group itself?" Harry whispered back, still eyeing the witch in the corner.
"I've looked up everything I can think of about study groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed." Hermione said firmly, "We don't even need teacher permission. After all, it is just an extension on the new study system, and we're promoting house-unity by including all four houses. I just don't think it is a good idea for us to parade what we are doing, so to say."
"No," Harry chuckled, now feeling calmer, "We're not exactly planning a simple homework group, are we?"
The barman came out of a back room, stopping their conversation. He was an older man, with a long grey beard that looked as dirty as the rest of the bar did. He was tall, and thin, and Harry thought there was something that seemed quite familiar about him. He made his way over to them, looking irritated at the sight of customers.
"What?" He grumbled.
"Three butterbears, please." Hermione asked him politely.
The man reached under the bar to retrieve three butterbears, slamming them onto the bar so the liquid frothed even more than usual. The bottles were dirty, and Ron grimaced at them.
"Six Sickles." The barman grunted.
"I'll get them." Harry said, handing a handful of silver coins over to the barman. The man looked at him, eyes resting on his scar for a second, before he turned away. He deposited the money in a wooden till at the other end of the bar, and served the man in bandages another drink.
Harry, Ron and Hermione retreated to one of the unoccupied corners of the room. They opened and sipped their drinks, looking around, feeling nervous and waiting for the others to arrive.
"You know what?" Ron suddenly whispered, "We could order anything we liked in here. I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try Firewhisky –"
"You – are – a – prefect." Hermione practically snarled across the table, her eyes still watching the door.
"Oh, yeah." Ron laughed awkwardly, his enthusiasm dying away, "Right."
"Plus," Harry said lightly, "I won't risk getting caught and Severus finding out. Can you imagine the Prophet's front page tomorrow? Boy Who Lied Defies New Guardian, Potion's Master Severus Snape, and gets caught drinking underage. No thanks."
They waited a few more minutes in silence. Hermione kept checking her muggle watch, looking anxiously towards the door, "The first set of people should have arrived by now. They all know where it is. Oh… Maybe this is them?"
The door of the pub creaked as it was pushed open. The dust that erupted from the movement blocked the trio's view momentarily, but died down quickly, and six people made their way over to the corner. Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Fred and George smiled at them, pulling up chairs.
"Hi Harry." Neville said, pulling off his scarf, taking the seat opposite, "Hi Ron, Hermione."
"Sorry we're a little late; we were distracting the Slytherin's by starting a snowball fight." Fred said.
"We haven't had snow yet." Hermione said suspiciously, and Fred and George grinned at her.
Padma and Parvati Patil came next, closely followed by Jane and Graham and Sophie. Seamus and Dean and Ron tensed up a little of the sight of the green cloaks and silver ties, but Sophie just pulled a chair up right next to Harry and started asking questions about the potions homework, not taking the slightest notice. Cho and her friend Marietta were next, and just behind was Luna Lovegood (reading the Quibbler as she walked).
It was a good few minutes before the next group came in, so everyone already there ordered their drinks and sat to discuss other things. Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson came in together, taking their seats quickly. They were followed by Colin and Dennis Creevey, and then Hannah Abbott and Megan Jones (Hermione quickly waved her study partner over).
Slowly, the rest trickled in; Ginny Weasley, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, Zacharias Smith, Susan Bones and Lee Jordan all took their places in the corner of the Hog's Head. They took turns going up to the bar to order their drinks from the barman, who probably had never seen his inn so full of people. He looked very irritated at the disturbance.
The last three people to arrive were friends of Jane's. Harry had met Christopher, Faye and Lydia during their Friday night sessions in the Slytherin common room, and had become quite close to them. The three Slytherin's still looked anxious as they walked into the pub, finding seats on the edge of the semi-circle the group had created.
Harry's mouth had gone a little dry. There were over thirty of their classmates surrounding them, all waiting for some kind of speech and explanation as to why they were there (and more than the little detail Hermione had given so far). Cho smiled at him from across the room, but frowned when Jane leaned in to whisper something in his ear, "Stop panicking, you are going to be great."
Harry gave her a weak lop-sided smile, wringing his hands. He was very glad that he at least knew who everyone was. He hadn't recognised some of the names on Hermione's list, so she had pointed them out to him in the Great Hall. Cho was sat next to Marietta Edgecombe, who was giving Harry a thoroughly distrustful stare.
Everyone was whispering between their small groups, each of them looking curious and excited. As they all got seemingly comfortable with their own dusty bottle of butterbear, the talking died down and all eyes turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione. They were waiting for the speech to begin.
"Hi." Hermione said, breaking the sudden silence. She and Harry had agreed she would talk first. The group focused their eyes on her, "So, well… You know why you're here. Harry – I mean – We had the idea that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defence Against the Dark Arts – and I do mean study it properly, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us because nobody can call that Defence Against the Dark Arts –"
"Hear, hear!" Anthony Goldstein called out, to chuckles. Hermione looked brightened.
"Well, we thought it was about time we take matters into our own hands." She looked to Harry, who nodded, "By that, I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly. We need to learn proper spells not just the theory –"
"You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" Michael Corner said loudly, interrupting Hermione.
Hermione replied at once, "Of course I do, but there is more than that. I want to be properly training in defence because… because…" She looked to Harry, and took a breath, "Because Voldemort is back."
There was an immediate reaction to her use of Voldemort's name. Some people shuddered, twitched or let out small yelps (Neville managed to turn the high pitched squeak into a cough). Marietta Edgecombe spilled butterbear down the front of her top. Hermione sat down after this, as they had decided this would be the best point for Harry to take over. He stood up, and all eyes bore into his.
"Our plan is to construct a proper curriculum." He began, trying to make his voice strong, "One that would have been used in previous years, one with spells that will actually aid us both in our academics and in real life defence. You will have already been made aware of some of the rules of joining us, such as secrecy, and if you do want to join us then we need to decided how we're going to –"
Harry was interrupted by a snide voice, "Excuse me, that all sounds very good and all," Zacharias Smith said, his tone bored, "But you are saying that You-Know-Who is back, and we have no proof."
"Dumbledore believes it –" Hermione began to argue.
"You mean Dumbledore believes him." Zacharias Smith said, nodding at Harry, "I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say that You-Know-Who is back." Crossing his arms, the boy sat back in his seat, looking smug.
"Look, that isn't the purpose of this meeting." Hermione intervened, as Harry stood frozen for a second, "We are here to discuss the possibility –"
"I want to know his reasons; I want to hear his proof." Zacharias said, clearly not taking no for an answer. Harry suddenly understood why so many people had come, people that he had no interaction with before this meeting (or very little interaction), people that had previously debunked him as being a liar.
Harry had prepared for this, so he looked the Hufflepuff straight in the face, "What makes me say Voldemort's back?" He said, using the name firmly, "I saw him, and I fought him. Dumbledore told the whole school what happened at the end of last year. I am not here to convince you about the return of Voldemort, if Dumbledore can't do that, I certainly can't. I am telling you, though, clearly and plainly, that he is back. I won't say anymore, but we are trying to help you to defend yourselves. Take that help, or leave it."
Zacharias was still dismissive, and said, "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, and I think we'd all like to know –"
"I am not here to tell you that." Harry said, his voice rising. He waited a few seconds to get his temper back in check, "I am not here to tell you what it looks like when Voldemort murders an innocent human being. I am not going to talk about Cedric today. I am going to talk about preparing for the war that is going to hit us, and our family, and our friends, and our neighbours, very, very soon. If you aren't interested in that, then you need to leave. It is all I am here to talk about."
He cast an angry look at Zacharias, who slipped a little lower in his seat, looking disappointed. He then glanced across the rest of the occupants of the room, wondering if any of them would get up and leave. None of them moved. Neville and Luna both smiled at him encouragingly.
"Good." Harry said decisively, breathing a small sigh of relief, "As I was saying then, we are here to learn proper defence in order to prepare ourselves. If this interests you, then we need to work out how we are going to do this. Factors such as how often we will meet, where we will meet –"
"Is it true," Someone interrupted, and before Harry could become annoyed he recognised the speaker as Susan Bones, a sweet girl from Hufflepuff, "That you can produce a corporeal Patronus?"
There was a quiet murmuring around the room at this. Zacharias Smith sat up slightly straighter, now looking at Harry with interest.
"Yes, it is." Harry said, confused and slightly defensive, "How are you aware of that?"
"There was a rumour going around the Hufflepuff students this week, I am not sure if other houses were aware of it." Susan told him, "So it is really true? You produce a Patronus in the form of a stag?"
"Yes, that is true." Harry confirmed, now feeling heartened by her interest in defensive magic.
"Blimey, Harry!" Lee Jordan exclaimed, and he looked very impressed, "I never knew that!"
Fred laughed, "Mum told Ron not to spread it around." He told Harry, "She said you got enough attention as it was."
"She's not wrong." Harry agreed, and a few more laughed.
"And did you kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office? That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year…" Terry Boot asked him.
"Yes, yes that's true as well." Harry admitted, blushing slightly. Someone let out a long whistle, the Creevey brothers seemed stuck between shock and awe, and Lavender was leaning forward with her head in her hands, her mouth open. Jane was smirking beside him, and then turned to beam up at him. He blushed redder.
"And in our first year!" Neville exclaimed loudly, "Harry saved the Philological Stone –"
"Philosopher's!" Hermione corrected him quickly.
"Yes, that – from You-Know-Who!" Neville finished.
The other Slytherin's were smirking. Harry realised that Jane must have told them all of his stories. He had told them all to her within the first month of term. The Gryffindor's, however, were only just catching up.
"And that's not to mention," Cho piped up, and Harry finally let his eyes slide back to her, "He had to complete all those tasks in the Triwizard Tournament last year – getting past dragons and merpeople and Acromantula and things…" There was another murmuring of agreement. Hermione was looking particularly pleased at this point. Harry smiled gratefully at Cho.
"That all sounds great. I don't want to sound modest, but I did have a lot of help with all of those things –"
"Not with the dragon, you didn't." Michael Corner said immediately, "That was a seriously cool bit of flying."
"Well, yes, but the point I am trying to make is –"
"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" Zacharias Smith said.
"Here's an idea," Ron said, speaking for the first time, "Why don't you shut your mouth?"
Harry clamped a hand on his friend's shoulder, trying to calm him down. He thought the meeting was getting out of hand, and so far it was due to Zacharias Smith meddling and causing controversy.
"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it." Zacharias said defensively.
"That's not what he said." Fred snarled.
"I think," Hermione said loudly, "We are getting off topic."
Harry looked at her gratefully, and then back to Zacharias, "Fred is right, that is not what I said. I said I had help in a lot of those cases, which is true. It is a very important point to keep in mind that a lot of your strength will come from the people around you, and that will help you succeed in defensive or offensive situations. Take that as your first lesson, since you turned up to learn from me." He quirked an eyebrow at Zacharias, who said nothing.
Hermione stood back up, "That's right, we are here to learn. That's the point. Are we all agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"
Everyone nodded firmly, and a few people even called out their agreement. Harry practically collapsed in relief. His worst fear was that they would all turn up and then just walk away, but they seemed to have confidence in him. Hermione too looked very relieved.
"Excellent," She said, "The next question is how often we meet. Harry and I have discussed this, and we really believe we have to meet at least one a week to make this worthwhile. Are we all in agreement?"
Another round of nodding, and Angelina Johnson stuck her hand up, "Hang on," She said, "We need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."
"Nor ours!" Cho agreed.
"Nor ours." Zacharias said.
"Probably best to schedule during ours, really," Jane's friend, Christopher piped up, and everyone turned towards him. This didn't seem to bother him, "Malfoy's the seeker. Flint's the captain. Crabbe and Goyle are beaters this year. That's a few of Umbridge's main cronies. If we meet during their practice, they won't be in our way, trailing us, anything like that."
Hermione looked very pleased, "That's a great idea! That's a time that would suit all the other Quidditch teams as well, thank you. It is, can I just add, really important that we do this. We need to learn to defend ourselves against… Well against V-Voldemort, and his Death Eaters."
"Well said!" Ernie Macmillan, a loud Hufflepuff, shouted, "Personally, I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up!"
Harry waited for someone to disagree. His eyes his flicked to Hermione, who was constantly working towards her exams and qualifications and had never thought anything was more important than that. To his surprise, she was nodded to Ernie's words.
"Personally," Ernie continued, when no one disagreed with him, "I am at a loss as to why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on 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… It's absurd!"
"We are under the impression," Harry said slowly, aiming his words at the whole group, "That Umbridge has been employed exactly for that reason. The Ministry does not want students trained in Defence Against the Dark Arts. They are under an insane belief that Dumbledore could use the students as some kind of private army. They think he'd use us to attack the Ministry." As Luna Lovegood went to speak, he hurriedly carried on (her tangents were not what they needed), "That is why we need to act. They are not going to change their minds, not while they are so deep in denial and paranoia."
There was a moment of silence, before Marietta Edgecombe spoke, "Did Professor Snape tell you all of that? About the Ministry?"
"No," Harry immediately lied, "Se- Professor Snape is in no way involved with this group. He does not know and it is going to remain that way. As for how we know about the Ministry… Well, you all know I spent a lot of time here over the summer, the whole of August in fact. Umbridge was not so vague when the students weren't around."
Everyone nodded solemnly, taking his lie for fact. Jane looked up at him, seemingly impressed that he had fabricated a story with such ease, "Any other questions?" Harry said.
Ginny called out, "Don't we need to decide where we are going to have these lessons?"
"Yes, yes exactly Ginny. We have decided on once a week, but we need to decide where."
"Library?" Katie Bell suggested. The idea was quickly dismissed, for Madam Pince's sake.
"Maybe an unused classroom?" Dean then said.
"McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practising for the Tournament last year." Ron added, but Harry shook his head.
"We can't get any official teachers involved with this. We can't risk them being fired, and being replaced with more Ministry employees." Harry stated, "An unused classroom is our best bet at the moment… But it would need to be shielded, in case someone walks by."
"We'll try to find somewhere as soon as possible." Hermione said, "If anyone has any suggestions in the meantime, please let us know. We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."
"We can let you know the Slytherin practice schedule." Sophie said, and everyone looked at her in surprise, "Hermione, shall I write it down for you? It changes on alternating weeks."
Hermione looked grateful as Sophie passed her a scrap of parchment with a list of days on it, "Thank you Sophie."
"Are we done then?" Ron said, making to get to his feet.
"One last thing," Hermione said quickly, pulling a piece of parchment and a quill from her bag, "We also decided that… Well, everybody should write their name down, just so we know who attended the very first meeting. Also, we all ought to agree not to shout about what we are doing. This group will be meeting and discussing defence in secret, for ourselves and not others. So if you sign, you are agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're up to."
The parchment already had Harry, Hermione and Ron's names scrawled at the top. Ron blushed a little for forgetting. Fred immediately reached for the parchment and signed his name right below theirs, handing it to George afterwards. A few people looked less than happy at the prospect.
George then tried to hand it to Zacharias, who hesitated, "Err… Well, I am sure that Ernie will tell me when the meeting is." Ernie looked hesitant too.
"What's the problem?" Hermione said sharply.
"Well," Ernie began, and then said rather loudly, "Well we are prefects. If this list was found… I simply mean to say, that if Umbridge finds out about this, and our names are on a list –"
"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year." Harry quickly reminded him.
"I – yes, yes I do believe that, it's just –" Ernie began, now looking uncomfortable.
"Ernie, can I remind you that Ron and I are prefects as well." Hermione told him, pointedly, "And might I also remind you that the whole of the Ministry and especially Umbridge is gunning for Harry, whose name is at the top of this list. Do you really think I'd leave it just lying around?"
"No. No of course you wouldn't." Ernie shook his head, and managed a small smile at Hermione, "Of course I'll sign."
There were no objections made after Ernie. It took a while for everyone to sign, and Jane was the second to last. She walked across the semi-circle, and thrust the parchment into the hands of Zacharias. With the Slytherin girl standing over him, Zacharias signed. Jane smirked at him, turned around, and handed the parchment back to Hermione.
"Thank you Jane." Hermione said, scanning the list to make sure no one had been missed, and then she slipped it back into her bag. A few people looked hesitant as to what they were meant to do now, "We're done, everyone. Make your way out slowly, in groups, not all at once please. Remember, don't attract attention."
"Good, time's ticking on." Fred said briskly, standing up and grinning, "George, Lee and I have got some items of a sensitive nature to purchase; we'll be seeing you all later."
Everyone else left slowly, some waiting a few minutes after the last group had left, to which Hermione looked appreciative. Cho hung around a bit, but her friend was clearly impatient, and practically dragged her to the door of the Hog's Head. Cho gave a wave to Harry as they left.
"I think that went really well." Jane told Harry, grinning at him.
"Yes it did." Hermione interjected, very happily, "Well done Harry, you did wonderfully."
"That Zacharias Smith is a wart," Ron muttered, "Almost thumped him when he said weasel…"
"I don't like him much," Hermione admitted, "I didn't intend to have him here, actually. He overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah, I think he followed us out onto the grounds. What could I say? The more people the better, I suppose. I mean, Michael Corner and his friends wouldn't have come if he hadn't been going out with Ginny –"
Ron was outraged, "He's WHAT?" He yelled, "What do you mean he's going out with my sister?!"
Hermione picked up her bag, and they all headed towards the door. Jane and Sophie stood back with Harry, giggling at the expression on Ron's face, "I think that's why he and his friends came, of course they are interested in learning defence," Hermione said, not seeing the issue , "But Ginny asked if she could tell Michael what was going on –"
"When did this – When did she –"
"They met at the Yule Ball," Hermione said calmly, as they turned back onto the main high street of Hogsmeade, "They've been together since the end of last year, very sweet, actually. Hm, I could do with a new quill. Can we go in here?"
"Yes, I need a new quill." Jane said, quickly following Hermione into the shop.
"Which one was Michael Corner?" Ron demanded.
"The dark one, sat by Ginny." Hermione told him, fingering a peasant feather quill.
"I didn't like him." Ron muttered darkly.
"Big surprise." Hermione chuckled.
"I thought Ginny fancied Harry!" Ron continued to complain, as the girls went to the front of the store to pay for their quills.
"Ginny used to fancy Harry," Hermione corrected him, "She gave up on him months ago. Not that she doesn't like you; of course, she thinks you are a wonderful friend." She added to Harry, who shrugged. He was too interested in pointing out a few quills to Jane, and asking which she preferred. He needed to start thinking of Christmas presents.
"Well she could have told me!" Ron said, as they left the shop. It was just the four of them now, since Sophie and Graham had split off to go a different way.
"Oh for Merlin's sake Ron," Hermione said crossly, "This is exactly why Ginny didn't tell you, she didn't want you to overreact. Don't you dare go on about it to her, she's very happy. Just leave her and Michael both be."
Ron huffed, and continued to mutter under her breath all the way up the street. Jane laughed, pointing out the fake snow on the side of the road. That must have been what Fred and George were talking about. They went back into Zonko's and Honeydukes', making sure they had everything they wanted. Hermione dragged them into the bookstore, and both she and Harry picked up two new titles. Then, they made their way back to the castle.
A couple of Slytherin's passed them on the way, and looked disgusted at Jane, who was happily skipping next to the three Gryffindor's. Harry tried to take no notice, because Jane seemingly did not care in the least. He just hoped she didn't face any backlash.
It was early afternoon by the time they arrived back, so they quickly dashed into the Great Hall to enjoy what was left of the lunch feast. Remembering Dumbledore's permission at the start of the year, Hermione invited Jane to sit with them. She politely declined, having spotted Graham and Sophie at the Slytherin table. She waved as she walked away, and went to excitedly show her friends what she had brought.
"I really like Jane." Hermione commented, as they sat down.
"Yeah, I suppose she's actually not too bad. That joke she made about the troll was really funny." Ron said, almost begrudgingly.
"Good, I'm glad you like her." Harry smiled, before biting into an apple. He did not miss the sly look Hermione sent his way, but decided to ignore it.
He was also trying to ignore Severus, who was sat at the teacher's table, overseeing the lunch. The meeting had gone so much better than he had expected, despite the odd Hufflepuff-shaped hiccup. He sincerely wanted to tell his guardian all about it… but they weren't talking.
Harry put the apple down on the table, decided it wasn't the best option to just ignore Severus, and looked up. There weren't many people in the Great Hall, so when Severus looked back at him and quirked an eyebrow, he waved slightly. Severus nodded at him, and then raised a brow again, as if silently asking how it went. Harry smiled, and Severus smiled too, nodded once, and turned back to speak to Professor Grubbly-Plank.
"What was that?" Ron asked, confused with the silent movement of heads and eyebrows.
"Just letting him know that everything went well." Harry shrugged, taking another bite of the apple.
"Oh." Ron said, "You going to go tell him everything?"
Harry paused, "Yeah, I will. We're kind of in a fight at the moment though."
Ron grimaced, lowering his voice, "I know but… well, you've consistently told us how well he cares for you. I think he'll want to know it went alright. At the very least this is something we need his help with, it's best to keep him updated."
Hermione looked surprised, and then said approvingly, "You are right Ron." She turned to Harry, "You should. He obviously cares for you and you for him. Maybe it is best to just move on from that fight, focus on more important things?"
Harry smiled at her. She was so careful with her phrasing, so as to not seem bossy, since they had spoken about it a week ago. Then, she would have just told him to get down to the dungeons and apologise.
"You're right," He said, swinging his legs over the bench, "I'm going down to the dungeons. I'll see you guys tonight. I might come up for dinner, but not for definite. I'll be back in the Tower before curfew."
As he walked away, he thought about the meeting. They hadn't mentioned a few things, such as what the group should be called, and they hadn't decided on a final meeting place, but he felt confident about what the group would do.
If Severus was still going to help them, that was.