The Hog's Head wasn't, Teddie noted, any more homely inside the bar than it was outside. It was comprised of a small, dingy, and very dirty room smelled strongly of goat, the bay windows were crusted in grime, the room was lit with stubs of candles sitting on rough tables, and the floor looked like it hadn't been swept in centuries.
"I don't like this place," said Mason quietly.
"Stay close," said Teddie, ushering him in front of her and squeezing his shoulders.
"Anyone want a drink?" Blaise asked.
His friends hesitated and glanced at one another. Could they trust anything that came from this place?
"Teddie, over here."
Teddie looked around at the call and spotted Hermione, Harry, and Weasley sitting at a small table in the far back. They were all drinking Butterbeers, which seemed to settle her decision. "Maybe one," she said to Blaise.
Blaise nodded and headed to the bar with Theo, while Daphne, Teddie, Mason, and Astoria made their way towards the Gryffindor trio.
"You made it," Hermione grinned, making room for Teddie as she pulled a chair up from an empty nearby table.
Teddie nodded and sat down. Mason sat on her right, and Theo, when he returned, pulled up a chair on her left. He slid three bottles of butterbeer onto the table, passing one to Mason and another to Teddie.
"So, who else is supposed to be turning up?" Blaise asked, settling himself into a seat beside Daphne and Astoria. "Or is this it?"
"A couple more people should be arriving soon," said Hermione.
Teddie sipped her butterbeer. There was an awkward silence around the table, as everyone waited on the rest of the group to turn up.
"Can we go to the Shrieking Shack after this?" Mason asked Teddie, breaking the silence that had fallen over them.
Teddie nodded and glanced at Astoria. "What about you, Tori?" she asked. "What do you want to do after this?"
Astoria shrugged. She looked almost too scared to speak.
The door opened with a creak, and a thin ray of sunlight streamed in from outside. A horde of people pushed their way into the small pub, and Teddie wasn't sure if they would all fit.
"A couple of people?" Harry asked. "A couple of people?"
"Yes, well the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"
Teddie, Mason, and Theo shuffled around the table after Hermione as more and more people joined them. In the scuffle they lost sight of Daphne, Astoria, and Blaise.
"You ever stop to think that they aren't here to learn?" Teddie asked, leaning across Mason to speak with Hermione.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
Teddie nodded at Harry. "You said that he is willing to talk to us about possibly starting a defense group," she said. "You ever consider that people are just here to see if he will speak about last term?"
"They can leave right now if that's why they're here," said Harry. "I'm not making myself sound any more a nutter than they already think."
"Maybe talking to them could be a good thing?" Mason asked. "I mean, they would get the truth straight from the source and not from outside sources like the paper. We all know how bias the Daily Prophet is, after all, and you can't trust a media outlet with anything that is remotely close to the truth."
Teddie inclined her head. "He's got a point," she said. "That's why I revealed what happened to me in the first week of Summer. I didn't do it to get sympathy votes. People needed to know what will happen if Avery and Voldemort think they are useful to them."
"It didn't help though," said Harry. "People still didn't believe you."
"Because of Umbridge," said Teddie. "She's willing to do anything to stop us from telling the truth. Like I told her, she and Fudge are scared, that's why they're trying to shut us up."
Harry sighed and shook his head. "I'm not ready to talk about it," he said.
Teddie smiled. "That's fine," she said. "If you don't want to talk – "
"What are they doing here?"
Teddie, Harry, Hermione, Theo, and Mason looked around and spotted a tall skinny blond boy with an upturned nose pointing at Daphne, Blaise and Astoria.
"They're with me," said Teddie, standing up. The whole room turned to face her. "You got a problem with it?"
The boy, Teddie was sure he was a Hufflepuff, drew himself up to his full height and turned to Harry and Hermione. "No one said there would be Slytherins here," he said, in a tone that was supposed to make him sound important.
"No one said there would be pompous Hufflepuff's here either, Smith," said Blaise. "But here we are."
There was a scatter of snickers around the room.
"Why would invite Slytherins?" Smith asked, staring at Harry. "What if they're here spying for Umbridge?"
Teddie rolled her eyes. "Yeah," she nodded. "I'm here spying for the woman who punished me for telling the truth."
"How do we know you told the truth?" Smith sneered. "For all we know, it could be a story to get us to lower our Défense's."
"Look," said Teddie, biting back her anger. "If you don't like it that we're here, you're more than happy to leave."
More snickers.
Smith narrowed his eyes.
"I invited Teddie and her friends," said Hermione, standing up. "And Harry wants her here, don't you?" she nudged him.
Harry choked on his butterbeer. "Uh, yeah, of course," he said, spluttering. "Besides, I actually trust Teddie."
Teddie smiled at him.
Smith huffed and sat down, sipping his butterbeer moodily and casting suspicious glances at Daphne, Blaise, and Astoria. He narrowed his eyes again as he looked up and met Teddie's gaze, she didn't even know the guy and she hated him already.
Once everyone had a butterbeer, and was ready to begin, all eyes turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Er, well, er, hi," said Hermione nervously. "Well, erm, well, you know why you're here. Erm… well, Harry here had the idea."
Harry shot her a look.
"I mean, 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, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us."
"I wouldn't call what she is teaching us Defense Against the Dark Arts," Teddie muttered.
There was a collective of laughter around the room.
"Which is why I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands," Hermione paused, looking sideways at Harry. "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 thought, I bet?" said a third year Ravenclaw. Mason recognised him as Michael Corner.
"Of course, I do," said Hermione at once. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts because… because…" she stumbled, glancing from Harry to Teddie and back again. She steeled herself, took a deep breath, and finished. "Because Voldemort is back."
The reaction was, as Teddie expected, immediate. Several people screeched, as if they had been suddenly jumped upon, others shivered and twitched at the name, Neville yelped, and everyone else stared at Harry with an excited fixation.
"Well… that's the plan anyway," said Hermione. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to – "
"Where's the proof that You-Know-Who's back?" the blond boy asked, his tone aggressive.
Teddie turned to glare at him again.
"Dumbledore believes it," said Hermione.
"You mean Dumbledore believes them," said the blond boy, nodding at Harry and Teddie.
"Who are you?" Weasley asked.
"Zacharias Smith," the boy answered, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes them say You-Know-Who's back."
"Actually," said Teddie, gritting her teeth. "You don't have a right to know anything. What happened to me and Harry is our business, if we want to share it with you then we will, but if we choose not to then you can't demand us to tell you."
Smith glared at her. "How do we know you're not here to find out what our plans are and then report them back to You-Know-Who?" he asked.
"Kind of hard to do that if he's not back, don't you think?" Teddie shot back.
"Look," Hermione interrupted. "This isn't really what this meeting is about."
Harry glanced at Teddie. He noted her hands clenched into fists in her lap, the fire in her eyes as she glared at Smith, and the tightness of her jaw as she clenched it, fighting back her anger. He touched Hermione's arm and stood, causing everyone to look at him.
Even Teddie looked stunned.
"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" Harry asked, looking straight at Smith. "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."
There was silence.
"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 – "
Teddie stood, abruptly and turned on Smith. "You want Harry to recount a traumatic experience just so you can get your kicks off?" she snapped; her eyes narrowed. "If you want someone to tell you what it is like to kill someone, even by accident, why don't you ask me what I did to kill Professor Quirrell in my first year?"
Teddie could feel everyone's eyes looking from her to Harry and back again, while others deflected and looked away. Almost ashamed that they were being drawn into this, but even though they hadn't asked the question, they were curious to hear what had happened.
"Why don't you ask me what Avery Sutherland showed me as part of her torture triage at the beginning of the summer?" Teddie continued.
"Go on then," Smith challenged. "Tell us something that will convince us she is back. No one has seen Avery Sutherland since her parents died fourteen-years-ago."
Teddie swallowed and stepped back. She hadn't been expecting him to challenge her, normally people backed down when she set down a challenge. She wasn't sure if Smith was brave or plain foolish.
Smith smirked. "Go on, Green, tell us…" he said.
Hesitating, Teddie glanced over her shoulder at Mason. Mason cocked his head to the side as he caught his sisters look, and then reached for her hand, pulling her back into her seat beside him.
He stood and glared at Smith. "My sister doesn't have to prove anything to you," he said. "Neither does Harry, to be fair. If you don't want to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, then maybe you should leave. It doesn't matter if You-Know-Who is back or not, we can't pass our exams unless we can put the theory into practice, and Umbridge isn't going to teach us how to do that."
"But she did say that if we knew the theory inside and out then casting the spells would be easy," said Lavender Brown.
"And you believed her?" Mason asked. "How many of you struggle with practical magic? Not just this year, but throughout your whole years at Hogwarts? Not everyone can cast spells from just the theory. Some people need a practical approach. Besides, practice makes purpose."
No one spoke or moved from their seats.
Mason turned back to Harry and nodded.
Harry smiled and looked back at the group. "Mason's right," he said. "Neither Teddie nor I owe you anything. Regardless of whether you believe us about You-Know-Who or not isn't why we're here. If you are here to talk about Cedric or what happened last term, you can clear off now."
Again, nobody moved.
"So," said Hermione. "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 that you can produce a Patronus?" asked a shy voice from the back of the group. It was a fair-skinned girl with red hair in a plait down her back.
There was a murmur of interest.
"Yeah," said Harry.
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"Er – you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" Harry asked.
"She's my auntie," said the girl. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So, is it true? You make a stag Patronus?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"Blimey, Harry!" Lee Jordan exclaimed. "I never knew that."
"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" asked a second Ravenclaw student. His name was Terry Boot.
Ron glanced up at Harry. "Yeah," he said. "He did."
Someone whistled.
"And in our first year," said Neville, "he saved Teddie and that Stone."
"The Philosopher's Stone," Teddie muttered.
Harry shot her a grin. "We didn't exactly save it," he teased. "I mean, you did smash it."
Teddie rolled her eyes. "Quirrell was seconds away from killing you," she defended. "What was I supposed to have done?"
There were a few laughs from around the room.
"Not to mention all the things he got past last year," said Cho Chang. "The Dragons, the merpeople, and acromantulas and things…"
Teddie grinned at the light blush that overcame Harry's face.
"Look," Harry said, and everyone fell silent again. "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 only from my friends, but from Teddie, too," he nodded at the Slytherin. "She was the one who smashed the Philosopher's Stone so that Quirrell couldn't get it for Voldemort, she also destroyed Tom Riddle's diary in the chamber that stopped Voldemort's spirt from killing me."
Teddie looked down as people looked at her. Mason smiled and squeezed her hand.
"So, are we all in agreement that we'll take lessons from Harry?" Hermione asked.
Mason looked up and nodded. All over the room, people followed suit.
"Right. 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 – "
"What about Quidditch practice?" Angelina Johnson, the Gryffindor team captain asked.
Cho Chang, Smith and Theo looked up. He still hadn't heard if he had made Slytherin seeker yet, but if he had, he couldn't miss practice for Defense lessons, that was one sure way to get kicked from the team entirely.
"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," said Hermione, calmly. "Now, we need a place to practice."
Silence fell again.
"What about the library?" a seventh-year Gryffindor asked.
"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," said Harry.
Teddie nodded. "She doesn't like us using her books on the best of days," she agreed.
"Maybe an unused classroom?" Dean Thomas asked.
Mason shook his head. "That's a sure way to arouse suspicion," he said. "What if Umbridge sees us coming and going from there? Besides, there's not enough magic in the world to conceal a location from other witches and wizards. Some even have the ability to detect when a spell is being cast."
Hermione nodded. "He's right," she said. "Besides, do you know of a Professor that will agree to let us use their classroom for something like this?"
There was a scattering of hopeful looks. But no one offered a third suggestion.
"I can write home," said Teddie, looking to Hermione and Harry. "Maybe Marcus or one of the others has an idea."
"That's a great idea," Smith sneered. "Let the snake write home to her snake friends and tell them what we're up too."
Fred and George rounded on Smith.
"Why don't you just shut your mouth?" Fred asked.
"Yeah," said George. "We're the only ones that can call her snake, alright?"
Teddie smiled as the twin shot her playful smiles.
"How do we know even know she is writing to her friends?" Smith asked.
Teddie ignored him and turned to Harry. "Marcus, Derrick, and Adrian were already in their fifth year when we started Hogwarts," she said. "Maybe they know of a place we can practice. I won't put any sensitive information into the letter, I promise."
"I trust you," said Harry.
Teddie smiled and nodded.
"Right, well, we'll send a message around to everybody when we've got a time and place," said Hermione. She reached into her bag and rummaged around, withdrawing a piece of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. "I-I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think that we 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."
Mason reached for the parchment and scratched out his name. He passed it to Teddie, and she scratched her name out underneath her brothers, before passing it on to Theo.
"Er – "said Smith, slowly, refusing to take the parchment from Blaise. "Well, I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."
But Ernie, too, was looking rather hesitant. "I- well, we are Prefects," he said. "And if this list was found… well, I mean to say, you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out…"
"We signed it," said Daphne, motioning between herself and Blaise. "And Granger and Weasley are onboard, too. That's four out of eight Prefects."
"Yeah, but well," Ernie stammered.
"Ernie, do you really thing I'd leave that list lying around?" Hermione asked.
"No. No, of course not," said Ernie. "I – yes, of course I'll sign."
Nobody raised any objections after and soon the parchment made it back to Hermione. She smiled, satisfied and stuffed it back into her backpack.
"Well, time is ticking on," said Fred, checking his watch and getting to his feet. "George, Lee, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you soon."
As the group filed out of the pub, Teddie turned to her friends. "So," she said, clapping Mason on the shoulder. "Shrieking Shack?"
Mason grinned, his eyes alight with excitement as he led the way out of the Hogs Head, and back onto the High Street.