Chapter 5: Defense Group

While Hermione would not usually describe herself as a particularly vindictive person, she had to admit that she got a certain amount of satisfaction from seeing the fear in the eyes of the other students as they realized that maybe Harry had been right, and Voldemort really had returned. Whispers still filled the halls as she walked by, but from what she could hear, it sounded like people were beginning to accept that Harry had been telling the truth.

Unfortunately, with the good came the bad. Umbridge, likely having sensed the change in the school atmosphere, was worse than ever. Any student who was overheard in suggesting the possibility that Harry had been correct was given detention. Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, of course, still consisted of silent reading, but now there was a sort of tension to the silence that had not existed before.

And to make matters worse, she had overheard some conversations between students suggesting that Harry was to blame, having run away like that. That he had known about the threat, but, in an act of supreme cowardice, just abandoned them all, rather than staying and fighting as was his duty.

That bit of hypocrisy made Hermione want to pull out her wand and start cursing people. Not surprisingly, it was those students who had been so quick to say that Harry was a delusional liar that were now calling him a coward, as though they were somehow entitled to his protection.

Still, the fact remained that Voldemort moving in the open, or at least, more in the open than before, was a sign that things were just going to get worse. Hermione would be the first to admit that she wasn't ready to get into a fight with Death Eaters. And that was why she was standing in a deserted classroom, waiting for one of her classmates.

"Hello, Susan," Hermione said, pushing all her frustrations away as the Hufflepuff entered in order to focus solely on the upcoming discussion.

"Hello, Hermione," the red-haired girl replied. "I have to admit, I was surprised to get your note. What exactly do you want to talk about?"

"Correct me if I am wrong, but it was my understanding that your aunt is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Is that correct?" Hermione asked.

Susan's expression of pleasant curiosity faded into one of guarded suspicion. "Yes, that's correct. Why do you care?"

"Obviously, our current Defense professor isn't going to actually teach us what we need to know in this dangerous climate," Hermione began.

"That's not something my aunt can control," Susan stated flatly.

"No, that wasn't my point. It's clear that if we can't rely on the teachers to give us the information we need, then we have a responsibility to find it for ourselves. I was thinking it would be wise to start a small group focusing on learning defense skills. We can practice together and teach each other what we know. It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than relying solely on Umbridge's lessons. And it seemed to me that the niece of the Head of the DMLE might know a bit more about Defense Against the Dark Arts than the average student."

Susan looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, I've had some people try to persuade me to try to influence my aunt, or just befriend me hoping to develop some sort of connection there. I'm just a little sensitive to it." She frowned. "I think it's a good idea, but I have to admit, I'm not really all that good at DADA. I do alright, but it's not like I've gotten special training outside of school or anything. Truth is, despite what many people expect, I'm not planning on being an Auror. So, while I think the idea sounds great, I don't really have anything that I could add to it."

Hermione did her best to hide her disappointment. "That's alright, I knew it was a bit of a long shot anyway." She looked off into the distance, eyes unseeing. "If Harry were here, I think he would do a great job at something like that, but I don't know who else to approach. I know spells and theory, but I have no way of determining if my knowledge is actually applicable to the real-world situations we might be facing. Harry's the only one I know of, outside the teachers, of course, that's actually fought Death Eaters and lived."

Susan's face fell, likely at the reminder that the Hufflepuff champion, Cedric Diggory, had not lived through his encounter with Voldemort's forces. "Well, if we don't have an expert, we can still learn from each other. That's got to be better than nothing. Maybe we take turns, each person studies and learns one spell, then presents what they learned to the group. That way, we're still learning more useful spells without having to take the time to research them for ourselves."

"I suppose that works well enough. I just think it would be very helpful if we had someone with some actual experience, rather than relying on guesswork."

The other girl looked pensive for a moment. "I suppose I could write a letter to my aunt, asking if she had any ideas of spells to learn. That way, we can be sure that we're not wasting our time on useless spells."

Hermione brightened. "That's a great idea."

Susan's aunt, unsurprisingly, had a great deal of advice for the two girls, both in terms of spells to learn, and various drills to help develop the ability to cast rapidly and accurately.

"This is something I never would have thought of," Hermione admitted in the deserted classroom where she and Susan had met to go over Susan's aunt's ideas. "I'm always so focused on casting a spell perfectly that the idea of 'just cast something as fast as you can' is completely foreign to me."

"It does make sense though," Susan replied, still panting in the corner as she tried to get her breathing under control after running through the drill. Amelia Bones had pointed out that in any sort of magical combat situation, a moving target was much harder to hit than a stationary one, so it was important to practice running while casting. It was far more strenuous than it sounded, the girls had discovered. "Like Auntie said, five poorly-cast spells are better than one cast perfectly."

"And the spells don't even have to be on target," Hermione remembered. "Just so long as they're close, and don't hit any of your allies. It's a good thing you thought to contact her. It's obvious now that I think about, but I never would have realized that on my own."

"So, we've got a list of spells that we should learn, and some drills that we can use to practice casting under realistic conditions," Susan stated. "Should we start talking to other students, bring them into this? I know that Hannah's getting curious about where I've been going these past few days. I think she would like to learn."

"I can think of a few in Gryffindor that would be interested as well," Hermione agreed. "But I think the most important thing is finding a way to keep it all a secret from Umbridge. I had an idea about that."

Susan looked at her for a moment. "What is this idea?" the Hufflepuff asked when it was clear that Hermione wasn't going to continue.

Hermione was a bit reluctant to respond, but felt that it was probably a good idea to let her partner know her plans. "I did a little bit of research, and found a way to enchant a piece of parchment so that anybody who signs is bound to certain conditions. I was thinking of putting the condition that if anybody tells Umbridge, there's some sort of penalty. Pimples spelling 'sneak' on their forehead, for example."

"No one would sign that!" Susan exclaimed.

"They wouldn't have to know," Hermione suggested.

Susan's horrified expression made her opinion clear, but that didn't stop her from responding. "No offense, Hermione, but that's a terrible idea. First off, using magic on people that are on our side without their permission is not right. Second, it doesn't actually solve the problem. It punishes anyone who tells Umbridge, but unless they have been informed of the enchantment, it doesn't deter them from doing so. And it makes it clear that we have something to hide." Seeing that Hermione was about to respond, Susan raised her hand to stop her friend and continued. "Yes, we want to keep this away from Umbridge, but we aren't actually doing anything wrong. If you start enchanting things to curse people, the Aurors will respond, and it won't be pleasant for you. That's the type of thing that can get you sent to Azkaban."

"Then what do you propose?" Hermione asked, trying not to sound bitter at how harshly Susan had rejected her idea.

"We ask people not to tell Umbridge! Remind everyone to be discreet when discussing the group, and vary up the meeting times so that she doesn't notice any patterns," Susan replied.

"You really think that will be enough?" Hermione's skepticism was clear.

"I think it will have to do, unless you have a better idea that doesn't involve tricking people into unknowingly signing a magically-enforced contract," the redhead replied hotly, before her expression softened. "Look, if Umbridge does find out, we can reevaluate our options then, but for now, there's no point in putting ourselves in a precarious position from the start. If we limit the group to people that we feel we can trust, we probably won't have any problems."

"Is that really fair, though? I mean, shouldn't everybody have the chance to learn to defend themselves?" Hermione objected.

"Then they can learn on their own," Susan said bluntly. "The more people we tell, the more chances that somebody will tell Umbridge, deliberately or by accident. If we keep the group small, we'll have a better chance of going undetected."

It still didn't sit right with Hermione that learning should be restricted to a lucky few, but she had to admit that the other girl was right. "So, when should we start this?"

Susan shrugged. "Meet here tomorrow after dinner? I'll bring Hannah, and maybe Ernie. We can add more people later if we want."

While her first thought had been to have some sort of inaugural meeting, Hermione had to admit that maybe keeping things simple was the better idea. "Okay. I think Ron and Neville would do well. Maybe Dean, but it would probably be better to let one of the boys tell him, rather than me bringing it up to him directly."

"Great," Susan said. "I'll see you tomorrow after dinner. Now I need to go. I promised Hannah I'd meet her in the library to go over charms," the redhead added as she gathered her things and made her way to the exit.

After the Hufflepuff girl had gone, Hermione remained in the room, thinking. It was different having to cooperate with somebody that was not afraid to express their own opinions or views. Harry and Ron tended to be more passive, allowing her to make decisions for the group, which they then followed through on without complaint. Susan, of course, was not that type of person. And, if Hermione was honest with herself, that was probably a good thing.

Looking back, it was clear that Susan had been correct. Hermione's idea of the cursed parchment was not nearly as good in hindsight as it had appeared when she first conceived of it. Any number of things could have gone wrong. Would the jinx have activated if a person had accidentally revealed something? And how much would have to be revealed before the spell took effect? Not to mention the ethical issues that came with using magic on fellow students and nominal allies without their permission.

Hermione frowned as a less pleasant thought came to mind. She had been so angry with the headmaster over the summer because of his decision to isolate Harry, and the outcome that decision had produced. If only somebody had been willing to disagree with him; to tell him that it was a bad idea. But, given her current situation, she had to wonder if she was really so different.

She liked to think that she was the smart one, and that Harry and Ron would always be best served by listening to her, but Susan had quite thoroughly debunked that idea by showing how foolish her plan had been. And that opened the door to other doubts. Had some of her previous decisions been flawed in some way that she had not seen? Would things be different, be better now if she had sought advice or input from Harry, rather than simply pushing him into agreeing to do things her way? Was she, in some way, to blame for the current situation?

Ideas came to mind of times where she might have made different choices that could have produced more ideal outcomes. Perhaps there would have been a way to capture Pettigrew as well as saving Sirius at the end of third year. Harry might have been able to come up with a plan if she hadn't been so quick to take charge. Or what about her choice to blackmail Rita Skeeter a few months ago? Did that play some part in the debacle she found herself in now?

It was an unpleasant train of thought, but it was difficult to turn her mind to other matters. In the end, it was an unsettled, yet introspective girl that exited the room, still deep in thought as she made her way back to the Gryffindor dormitory.

The first meeting of the defense group was not quite what Hermione had envisioned. Rather than a group of students proudly declaring their intention to cast off the yoke of ignorance the ministry was attempting to force upon them, five teenagers were gathered in a grimy classroom in an unused part of the castle, discussing plans to learn the spells Amelia Bones had sent them. Ernie had to leave early, and Neville arrived late because he had forgotten about the meeting, but Hermione, Susan, Hannah, and Ron were there for the whole time. The whole time turned out to be only about an hour and a half, but still, it was productive. Hermione and Susan demonstrated some of the drills they had been practicing, and each of the students selected a spell that they would learn and prepare to explain to the group.

Hermione would be the first, having agreed to teach on a large-area disorientation spell on Tuesday of the next week. She had to admit that having such a small group made scheduling much easier than she had anticipated. With the exception of Ron's Quidditch practice, none of the students had any regular activities that might conflict with a meeting of the defense group. And if she were brutally honest with herself, Hermione doubted that Ron would be an avid participant in these meetings. Without Harry to push him, he seemed to be reverting more and more to his apparent default of focusing solely on Quidditch and chess. She'd heard a number of complaints from the other prefects regarding his performance in the position, or lack thereof.

She'd tried to encourage him to take his duties more seriously, but that hadn't had any real effect. Or, more precisely, not the effect that she had wanted. Instead, the boy had gotten defensive and surly. If anything, now Ron was even worse, though they had resumed speaking to each other after a few days.

In short, it was more apparent than ever that Harry had been the glue that held the trio together. It was times like this that Hermione missed him more than she could say.

Weeks passed, and the atmosphere in the castle had settled into a sort of watchful tension. There had been no further attacks, but it seemed all of the students were dreading (or anticipating, in the case of some of the more loathsome examples of humanity, such as Draco Malfoy) the inevitable when the other shoe finally dropped.

And drop, it did. As the students were anticipating the upcoming holidays, many excited at the chance to return home and get away from the oppressive aura that Umbridge had brought to Hogwarts, the Daily Prophet announced a mass breakout from Azkaban. Hermione read quickly, horrified to learn that ten of Voldemort's top Death Eaters had managed to escape. Cornelius Fudge, of course, had tried to deflect blame from his administration by claiming that Sirius Black had set the escape in motion before his death, but offered no explanation for exactly how such a feat had been accomplished, given that Sirius had been dead for two months. While the Prophet wasn't willing to come right out and contradict the Minister, it was clear that people weren't satisfied with the official explanation.

Hermione glanced over at Neville, who had gone white with shock when he saw the headline, and now, seemed to be turning red with rage. Given that, according to the paper, Bellatrix Lestrange had tortured and permanently incapacitated two people she assumed to be his parents, that was certainly understandable.

Not surprisingly, there was a sort of fervent energy present at the next meeting of the defense group that had been missing before. Everyone knew that the stakes had been raised. With Voldemort now being supported once again by some of his most loyal followers, it was only a matter of time before the war began in earnest. While Hermione had to admit that this affected her on a purely theoretical level since she hadn't had any connection to the wizarding world during the first war, the others in the group had been impacted in a much more personal way. Neville, having lost his parents, was probably the most affected, but the others had lost family as well. Susan had lost an aunt, uncle and cousins to Death Eaters. Ron's uncles Gideon and Fabian had been killed by Antonin Dolohov. Ernie had two cousins who had been killed, while another committed suicide after being forced under the imperius to burn down a neighbor's home, killing not only the wife, who was a muggle-born, but also two young children.

"I think we should invite more people," Ernie said after the group had finished. "I know we originally kept it small to keep it a secret, but I doubt most people would tell Umbridge now. Not with everything that's at stake."

"Ginny and the twins have been getting suspicious about where I've been going," Ron mentioned. "I'm sure they'd like to join."

"I think Dean would as well. He's a muggle-born, or at least, he doesn't have any proof that he's not. He's mentioned a few times that he's worried about Death Eaters coming for him or his family," Neville added.

"Same with Justin. And I know Wayne would like to learn more," Ernie stated.

"I think we should probably invite all of the muggle-born," Hannah suggested. "They're the ones most at risk, right?"

"Do we really need to keep it secret anymore?" Neville wondered. "I mean, with so much happening, Fudge is losing a lot of ground with his refusal to consider that You-Know-Who might be back. Would anybody really object to us learning and practicing together?"

"I think Umbridge would still try to stop us, but I agree that we should bring in more people," Hermione replied.

"So, everybody tell people that you think might be interested. If Umbridge does find out, we'll pretend that we just barely started, so they can't punish us," Susan suggested.

Everyone seemed to be in agreement. It was a bit of a relief for Hermione, now having the option to bring others into the group.

And even if Umbridge did find out, how bad could it really be?

A/N – I always thought the idea presented in the books that Harry is some sort of expert on magical combat to be utterly ridiculous. First, it's implied that Hermione learned all the same spells that Harry learned for the Tri-Wiz. And when we ignore the deus ex machina from the first two books, Harry's real combat experience consisted of casting one spell (expelliarmus) when surrounded by Death Eaters who were specifically told not to attack him. And of course, he only survived that encounter due to another fine example of deus ex machina. (For anyone who doesn't know, deus ex machina is the term for when the hero wins not because of skill, but because of a lucky turn of events that could not have been predicted, such as Harry's skin burning Quirrell, or the brother effect of the wands, or Fawkes somehow sensing Harry's dedication to Dumbledore and showing up with the sorting hat which has the lost sword of Gryffindor)