Authors note:
Several people have asked what is going on with Luna (and Harry). Basically, Luna is pissed that Harry blew her off all summer. She's too immature to see things from Harry's perspective and realize that he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and not able to function properly.
So she decided to 'punish' him by pretending she doesn't know him (social skills are not her strong suite)
Once back in school, having survived the summer, Harry feels better. He realizes on some level that Luna is upset with him, but he has no idea why, and he's too much of a wuss to talk to her about it. His ego is still a little delicate and he can't take being told that he screwed up somehow.
Yes, they are both acting stupid.
START
"So, where do you want to go?" Asked Harry as they walked down the hill to Hogsmead. It was the Saturday after Umbridge's pronouncement, the one that killed their study group, so both Hermione and Harry were feeling rather down, but Harry figured that going to Hogsmead like they had planned anyways might cheer them up.
"Well, we could go to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shoppe - It's supposed to be the place to go." Volunteered Hermione.
Harry blanched. "Have you ever been to the Tea Shoppe? It's the most horribly kitsch place."
Hermione frowned, "well, here do YOU want to go?" Her self confidence was a little delicate right now, and Harry's incredulous tone as he shot her idea down hadn't helped any.
"Well, we could go to Tomes and Scrolls."
"A book store? For a date?" Hermione asked, surprised.
"Well, why not? We'll both enjoy going there. And we can talk about whatever we see there."
"I guess…" Hermione was ambivalent. On the one hand, book stores were always fun. But it felt wrong. What would Fleur say if she found out that Hermione was going out on a date to a bookstore. She would laugh her head off. Just like all the other girls she had met. but.. "As long as we have something we can talk about, I guess the location doesn't matter" She smiled up at Harry.
The weather was still warm, so they strolled slowly down the hill, holding hands. "You know, the Defense group might be done, but that's no reason that students can't study on their own."
"But where would we study? I bet that 'that woman' will find some way to punish those that skirt her decrees." Hermione's voice dripped venom when she said 'that woman'. "And I'm certain that word will get out if we study in the common room."
"The Weasley twins mentioned that they knew some secret places around Hogwarts, and they hate Umbridge with a passion."
"Those lunatics? Can you trust anything that they say?" Hermione was skeptical. Those were NOT proper students. There was a good chance that they would end up in jail. Or worse, unemployed.
"I lived with the Weasleys over the summer, remember? They are not as bad as they pretend to be."
"Hmm."
The little bell jangled as they stepped into the book store. The shopkeeper looked up morosely from the newspaper that he as reading, but didn't say anything. "Let's see if they have any journals" Hermione bounded away, and was soon leafing through 'Proceedings of British Council of Thaumaturges'.
Harry stood and read over her shoulder for a few minutes. "Uhm, Hermione, how about we look for something a little lighter?" 'Like something that I can actually understand'.
After several tries (Hermione didn't like light fiction, Harry refused to read study guides), they ended up in the humor section, flipping through books of comic strips. "Oh, wow! Wizarding comics are SO much better than the muggle ones." Harry wasn't certain how he had managed to miss these. Seeing the characters actually carry out their hijinks instead of just having to imagine it gave the comedy an extra effect. They ended up giggling over some cartoonist neither one had heard of before, and read nearly the whole book.
"Lets get this." Harry volunteered.
"I don't know.." Hermione wasn't certain that she wanted something like that in her room. It just wasn't PROPER. But the biting humor was very funny. "It's expensive, and we've already read most of it."
"That's ok" Harry took the book, "I'll buy it for you." he took the book up to the counter, where the shopkeeper was still reading at the paper.
He put the Daily Prophet away with a laden sigh, "Sorry I was a little distracted when you two came in. I just found out that an old classmate had passed away. We used to be really good friends, but I lost track of him after Hogwarts. turns out he was living as a muggle. I just read that he had a heart attack."
Harry looked up at the shopkeeper. He looked to be no more than 40. Wizards rarely had heart attacks, especially that young.. "Uh, what was his name?" Harry asked with trepidation. He wasn't certain why, but he had a really bad feeling about this.
"Saul. Saul Neeper."
Harry stood, frozen, as the man rang up his purchase, and he paid automatically, not even counting his change. "Harry? Are you ok?" Hermione took his elbow and lead him off to one side of the path.
" I think… that that man - Saul Neeper - was murdered by You Know Who."
Hermione looked worriedly at Harry, "Are you feeling ok?"
"I saw it. Or.. I dreamed it, last night."
Hermione frowned, "I don't know. Why would you be dreaming something like that?"
"I don't know, but I did!" Harry replied. Now it was his turn to be defensive. Nobody ever believed him. "I'm not making this up! Why would I?"
"I don't think you are," Hermione soothed, "But you know how hard it is to remember dreams. If you had a bad nightmare last night, your brain could have grabbed the jumbled, half remembered bits of it and mixed them with what you just heard. It's called concatenation, and it happens all the time with traumatic memories."
"I.. Maybe you're right. But it felt like I really dreamed it."
"You did dream it. Or at least something like it. It's just the details that your brain couldn't remember, so it filled in with similar sounding names."
Harry smiled, "You're really smart. What would I do without you?"
"Get all stressed out over nothing? Maybe go interrupt Dumbledore's staff meeting to tell him the news?" Hermione teased.
Harry laughed and took her hand. "Come on, lets see about getting some butterbeers!"
*Meta*Meta*
"So, how is Harry handling this year?" Dumbledore turned to Flitwick. the staff meeting was winding down, and the professors were chatting before heading out of the meeting room. For once, Dumbledore had used a regular sized room, with space for a large table. Possibly because Dolores Umbridge was the sort to take offense at the slightest perceived slight, and pretty much everything about the school offended her - it was filled with children, after all.
"He's holding up surprisingly well, but he has become more socially isolated, as many of the students don't know what to make of him, between all the rumors going around about what happened last year. I must say, is there anything you can do to get the Prophet to stop spreading such inflammatory slander? It's almost an invitation to a lynching!"
"I know, I know," whispered Dumbledore, casting a sideways glance at Dolores, who was talking to (or down to) Sybil Trelawney, "I have spoken to them on several occasions, but they keep claiming freedom of the press, and they do not care that the target of their slander is a child."
Flitwick nodded, "I guess the best we can do is set a good example for the students - by carrying on as if Harry and everything about his is completely normal. I just wish that there was something more active that we could do to make this go away/" Flitwick also glanced at Umbridge as he said that.
"You and me both" Dumbledore patted the shorter professor on the shoulder as he exited for his office.
*Meta*Meta*
"Thank you for the butterbeers" Hermione smiled up at Harry. They were sitting at a table in Rosmerta's pub, It was very cozy, except that Harry had taken a table a little too close to the front door for Hermione's liking - students kept walking by them. "You have been a perfect gentleman."
"It's the least I could do for my lady." Harry bowed as best he could while seated. Hermione blushed.
"Does that mean that we're officially dating?" she asked.
Harry paused, and answered tentatively, "If you don't mind?"
"Don't mind? You are the nicest person I have met at either school." Hermione gushed, 'you even ignored Fleur to talk to me', "you always so considerate, and you support my ideas" 'and ask me for help.' She reached across and took Harry's hands, and the two sat staring at each other with happy smiles on their faces.
"Oh, hello Harry" came a familiar female voice, "can we steal one your chairs?" Luna asked. She gestured at Collin Creevy, so Harry would know who 'we' were.
"Um, ok." Harry watched in bemusement as Luna pulled their spare chair over to a table right in the middle of the room. She then held it out for Collin to sit down on, before taking her own seat. 'Collin? Really?'
Hermione watched the show with a scowl, "Maybe we should go, Harry."
"Yeah." As two students made their way out of the Three Broomsticks, the tension that Harry hadn't even noticed until that moment eased away, and they were soon chatting again, this time about Defense. Hermione was overflowing with theories that she wanted to test, and Harry was coming to understand that this was Hermione's natural rest state.
"Hey - I think that's Fred" Harry pointed to the Owl Post building. One of the twins was sitting on a wooden box that was longer than he was tall.
"How can you tell which twin is which?"
"It's something I learned from Ron over the summer - pick a name and stick with it. I just call whichever twin I see first Fred." Harry hurried over to the twin, with a skeptical and slightly worried Hermione in tow. She wasn't certain that it was safe to be associating with known malefactors. Not out of fear of the twins pranks - Harry had reassured her on that account, but more of a 'guilt by association' sort of thing.
"Hey, Fred, where's George?" Harry asked by way of greeting.
"In the box" Fred replied, as he casually leaned back against the wall and stretched out his legs.
"Oh, ok. I got a question for you.." Harry began when Hermione interrupted "Why do you have your brother locked up in a box?"
"Because he was bad. He said that he was handsomer than me."
"Than I" corrected Harry.
"Than I" agreed Fred.
"But you're twins!"
"Exactly" agreed Fred. Before he could say anything further, Hermione interrupted again "But that's no reason to throw him in a box!" Hermione was starting to hyperventilate. She knew this was a bad idea. She started looking around for an authority figure to reprimand the Weasley, before her standing next to him made her into accessory to something.
"Hey, George, I was only able to find 50 feet of rope, but I think that... oh, hello there." The other twin said as he came around the corner. "What are you two doing here?"
"Hello, Other Fred. We're here on a date!" Harry said proudly. Hermione's scowl at being played melted away at Harry's exuberant statement.
"Good for you. I wish Ronnie-kins would follow your good example. Getting laid would do him a world of good."
"No! No!" Harry waved his hands back in forth in panic as he glanced around to see if anybody was in earshot.
"How DARE you!" roared Hermione. "What made you assume that I was THAT sort of woman!"
"It's a logical assumption" said Fred One, "Given how many 'French Letters' we have sold to our classmates." finished the Other Fred.
"Well! Well, maybe you Gryffindors leap into such things on the first date! But not.. I would NEVER..." Hermione was turning purple.
"Would you like one?" asked the seated Fred. The standing one pulled a box out of his robes. "two sickles each. Guaranteed not to be a joke."
"SHH!" hissed Harry. "And put those away! That's not what we are here for. We are looking for someplace where we can study without interruption"
The two Freds looked at each other, "I thought you said you weren't into that yet?" Said one. The other continued, "The shrieking shack used to be really popular for that sort of thing. It even has a bed." the other nodded, "That's how it got the name 'Shrieking shack', after all. But that was before they found the dead body there."
Hermione started to purple again as she realized what the twins were insinuating. "No. Remember Umbridge's decree against non-sanctioned clubs? That was to stop our Defense Study group. So now Harry and I are looking for a place that we can study on our own." She managed to force out through her clenched teeth.
"Well, maybe you DO want the Shrieking shack. Nobody has wanted to go there for over a year."
The other twin looked more thoughtful, "What are you studying, exactly?"
"Mostly OWL prep, but we're also learning spell chains and other dueling techniques." Hermione replied.
"Well, anything to tweak the nose of our dear Dolores" said Fred, pulling out a sheet of parchment and drawing a sketch.
"If you get serious about the dueling, call us - we wouldn't mind getting some practice in, now that You-Know-Who is back."
"Wait, you believe me?" asked an incredulous Harry.
"Of course. Dumbledore vouched for you" said Fred handing over a map.
"And just because something sounds unlikely doesn't make it untrue. Faking people out is our stock in trade." finished the second before pointing to the map, "That's Hogwarts, and that's the Whomping Willow. If you touch it right there, on that root, it will freeze and you can get into a secret passage nestled right here that lets out into the Shrieking Shack."
"That will be 10 sickles, for information provided."
"Wait.. What?" Harry looked confused, "I thought you were helping us because you didn't like Umbridge."
"That's true. But business is business."
*Meta*Meta*
As Harry and Hermione made their way back into the castle, their way was blocked by Draco lecturing Neville. "And you better shape up, FatBottom. You don't show me the proper respect, and the Inquisition Squad might have to pay you a visit." Draco leaned in menacingly. Or it would have been menacing, if he was taller. Neville was paying more attention to Crabbe than to Draco.
"So, what, you're going to abuse your position to harass innocent students?" asked Neville.
"No, but I bet you got some porn up in your trunk. That's against school rules" Crabbe added.
Hermione grabbed Harry's arm, and whispered, "Don't get involved - They aren't going to do anything to Neville." Harry realized that he had involuntarily taken a step forward.
Seeing Harry, Neville just rolled his eyes at Draco,"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind" and walked off to join the two. "Draco's been even more of an ass than usual, since he got named as a squad leader for one of the Inquisition squads."
"I think something's bothering him - I tried to talk to him a few days ago,and he acted like he was in some sort of trouble."
"Well, good for him!" added Hermione, "I can't believe that he would talk to Neville like that."
"Believe. Draco's always been like that, except before he didn't have the authority to back it up."
"No.. Something's changed:" Harry defended his sometime friend.
"How about the fact that You-Know-Who is back, and Draco's dad is a Death Eater? I bet Draco got an earful for hanging out with 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that" Harry considered, "Hey, Nev, you want to join Hermione and me in studying Defense?"
"I'll think about it. I want to see how this Inquisition Squad thing shakes out first."
*Meta*Meta*
Harry and Hermione didn't waste any time - that same evening, they made their way to the Shrieking Shack. It took them several tries to figure out how to press the root without getting thumped by the Willow (The twins hadn't bothered to give them any tips on that - either because of a simple oversight, or because they thought it would be funny to have them get whacked).
"Ok, I'll start the spell chain, and you see how long you can defend" They were squared off about 20 feet apart - the length of the shack, and Hermione had her best spell chain ready to go.
As she started casting, Harry began casting protego. He had to recast the shield spell a couple of times, but otherwise, the spell chain had no effect - the spells were weaker, and easy to deflect.
"I want to try something. You cast at me, and I will counter attack." Harry said. He had put some thought into this. 'This isn't about winning a dual, it's about defeating your opponent'.
As Hermione began casting jinxes, Harry started a spell chain - it was all protegos at different angles mixed with a few Lumos. The spells came out weak, but Harry was casting them at angles and step off the line of fire with each one, so that instead of stopping Hermione's spells, they just deflected them off to the side. They rarely lasted for more than one hit. At the same time, he steadily advanced on her.
Hermione began to panic. Her spells were bouncing off all over the place, and the periodic flashes of light from Harry were disorienting. She tried to back away, but lost track of where she was going. She glanced off to one side to see if the way was clear. Her attention was pulled back to the front as Harry twisted the wand out of her hand. Hermione found herself inches away from Harry. The two teens stood like that.
Harry was on an emotional high - something he had come up with actually worked. He looked at Hermione, inches away, 'Lets see if this works as well.' Harry leaned in and kissed a rather surprised Hermione.
*Meta*Meta*
The following morning, Harry watched in bemusement as Luna and Collin sat together at the Gryffindor table. "Harry" Hermione scowled, Harry looked back to his girlfriend, "Are you certain we want other people to come practice? I'm not just asking because of you know.." she blushed slightly, "But the more people that are involved, the more official it is , and the higher the chance that somebody will let something drop.
"Yeah, I know. but I don't want Neville or Ron or " Harry paused. He was smart enough not to say 'or Luna', but that was the third name that came to mind. "or anybody I know to get hurt if they... if they get into a bad situation." Harry didn't want to say the words 'Death Eaters'. Somebody could be listening in, even though the young couple had a clear area around them - they had taken seats as far from the other Ravenclaws as they could, and nobody had wanted to intrude. Especially since the saccharine level was extremely high, with the two teens leaning in close.
"Hmm. I guess we can find some other place for.. ah extracurriculars" Hermione blushed again. "But what you did with the spell chain was pretty impressive. We should see if that works again."
"Sounds good to me. But we'll need some privacy."
Hermione smacked Harry's arm and blushed again, "No, you goof. I meant about how you managed to shrug off some of my best spells without slowing down."
"Oh that - I just didn't bother trying to maintain my protego – that's what the spell chain was for: I cast them just strong enough to deflect a spell, and then cast another. It's just like in Martial arts - unless you are caught flat footed, you don't actually block an attack - you just guide it past you as you step in to retaliate."
Hermione nodded. "We need to work on that. I'll see if I can come up with some way of countering it."
Harry sighed. With Hermione, everything was competition
*Meta*Meta*
"Now, class, please turn to page 23. We will take turns reading. If anybody does not understand a section, please raise your hand." Dolores Umbridge said sweetly. Harry rolled his eyes. He knew what happened to students foolish enough to question the 'Gospel of Umbridge' (™). Students took turns reading, and nobody had any questions.
Harry glanced at Hermione who was sitting next to him at the round, doily covered table. He wished there was some way to communicate, to reduce the boredom, but the last person to try passing notes was promptly caught sentenced to detention. It just wasn't worth it.
'This blows.' Harry waited patiently for the period to end.
*Meta*Meta*
"Ok, you all. This year, you're goin' to have a real treat in Care of Magical creatures" rumbled Hagrid. Harry rolled his eyes. Hagrid said that same thing every year, usually in reference to some potentially lethal creature that he had somehow managed to smuggle into Hogwarts (or possibly England - Harry was pretty certain that the dragon that had ended up burning down Hagrid's hut first year was not legal to own in England or any other civilized country.)
"This year, we're goin' ta learn about th' care an' feeding of Thestrals." Hagrid lead the way to the coral behind his hut and pointed to a rotting pegasus standing quietly munching the grass. Harry's eyes got big 'Oh, that's what I saw pulling the carriages.'
"Um, Professor Hagrid?" asked Padma, "There's nothing there."
"Arh!" Hagrid groaned and slapped a huge paw into the side of his face, " I forgot that you wouldn't be able see them! Only people who have seen death can see a Thestral."
"Oh god," groaned Terry. He leaned over to Simon, whispering quietly, "I bet he's going to take us to a morgue." Harry was standing in front of them, and he was hard pressed to suppress a laugh.
"Ok, Ok! I've thought of something," mumbled Hagrid, "I'll ask Dumbledore for permission to take yer on a field trip to the London Morgue. Tha'll fix you right up!"
Terry snorted, "Told you you so."
'Oh, this is shaping up to be another wonderful year of Hagrid Theater' Harry smiled. The smile froze on Harry's face. 'So that's what Luna meant.' pieces snicked together in Harry's head and the smile slipped off 'I hadn't realized that she had actually seen her mother die.. Poor girl.'
*Meta*Meta*
As Harry walked back from Care of Magical Animals, he heard Crabbe laughing, the way he did when somebody else was suffering. 'Those jerks aren't my problem.' Harry kept walking.
"I'm head of an Inquisition squad now, Creevy, so I can ask whatever I want. And if you don't answer…" Collin muttered something, to which Draco replied, "Well, We'll find out when we see what's under your mattress." As he rounded a small copse of trees, Harry could see Draco and Crabbe standing around a smaller boy - Collin Creevy. Without knowing quite why, Harry found himself heading towards them.
"Hey, Draco. What are you up to now?"
"None of your business, Potter. Creevy and us were having a conversation" replied Crabbe. He shifted his stance, so that Collin didn't have any room to slip past him. Harry looked at his former friends, and then at the face of the young Gryffindor. Collin was trying to maintain a stiff upper lip, but both boys were larger than him, and he looked scared. Harry noticed something on the grass next to him - Collin's Camera. He picked it up and pointed it at the boys.
'click'
"Say cheese!" The Pure-blood wizards looked confused at the idiom. Harry held up the camera. "I'm taking this to lost and found. If you do anything to Collin, I bet he can get this photo published. He's really good at that. I wonder what caption the Daily Prophet will put on it? Will it make your parents proud?"
The two Slithering paled, "We ain't doing anything. We're just talking."
"You keep your mudblood loving ways out of this" added Draco.
Harry shrugged, and motioned for Draco to bring it on.
Draco snorted, "Don't be childish, Potter" and walked off, followed by the lumbering behemoth that was Crabbe.
"Thanks, Harry" Collin said, not looking at his savior.
"This had nothing to do with you," Harry handed Collin his camera back, "I just hate bullies".
*Meta*Meta*
After lunch, Harry spotted Luna peering at something in the grass. She was pushing the blades of grass apart and peering at their bases.
Harry made his way over to the rather spacey girl, "Um, hi, Luna" .
Luna turned to look at Harry, "Why, hello, Harold" Harry was taken aback slightly, both by Luna's formal address as well as the fact that she actually replied. This was the first time this year that she had acknowledged his existence. He wanted to say something. "Um, you know about Collin.." But he was fairly certain that this wasn't it.
"Yes?" Luna asked softly.
"You do know that you're not fooling anybody. Half the school knows that he's gay." Harry continued, not certain why he felt it necessary to bring this up.
Luna gave a Harry a hard, flat look, "just like half the school knows that you're a psycho killer?" But just like a summer storm, she her glare melted away, "But it's ok - anything that helps you sleep at night" she patted his arm and walked off.
*Meta*Meta*
In next couple of days, Harry modified his routine. In addition to the martial arts training before breakfast, and classes during the day, he added Defense training in the afternoon and make-out sessions in the evening.
"Ok, let's wind it up." Hermione said, lowering her wand. Neville had started joining them for the defense practice, and it was a tight squeeze in the shack with three people, "I think we're making good progress"
"I just wish we could bring in more people" Neville grabbed a bottle of water. "I think Ron would really enjoy this."
Harry snorted, "get him to show up for our morning sparring sessions and I'll believe that."
"It's just as well - we couldn't fit more people in" Hermione didn't say it, but she preferred the sessions back when it was just Harry and her - Neville could take care of himself.
"Actually, we could. The Weasley twins know how to cast the space expanding charms, and I bet they would be willing to cast them if we invited them to join us for. We're not really doing OWL work most of the time."
"I KNOW!" sighed Hermione. "I still don't see why we have to spend so much time on the drills - the written part of the exam is worth 75%."
"It's not the exam I'm worrying about" Harry had had another nightmare last night. This time of a muggle being tortured. He hadn't told Hermione about it - she would probably explain it away as his guilt over Cedric. But it had seemed so real.
"Um, guys? I'll just leave you to your lovers quarrel," Neville said with a waive as he headed for the door.
"It's not a quarrel!" replied an exasperated Hermione.
Neville smirked, "given how saccharine the two of you act most of the time, I think this counts, for you guys."
"Thank you? I guess?" Harry replied, not certain if they had been insulted or complimented.
*Meta*Meta*
It was much later that evening when Harry and Hermione headed back to Hogwarts - after Neville had left, they decided to take a walk out to the lake. As they made their way to the Ravenclaw dorms, they were surprised by the large number of students milling about.
"Hey, what's going on?" Harry asked a cluster of third year Slytherin boys laughing about something.
"Somebody placed a portable swamp in front of Umbridge's office." Said one, barley restraining his laughter.
"Yeah, and they disillusioned it, so that she walked right into it! You should have seen her! She was covered in mud up to her chest!"
"Oh, man I don't know who did it, but they are going to be in SO much trouble!"
"But how could they get a portable swamp into the school? Those come in a box as big as a coffin, and you can't cast shrinking spells on it without busting it."
"It's got to be Weasleys. Who else could it be?" The debate moved to possible culprits.
"Harry." Hermione pulled Harry away, to a quiet cross corridor. But whatever she had to say was interrupted by a prefect coming along, calling out "All students are to return to their common rooms immediately. All evening activities are canceled until further notice." He saw the cluster of students, "Go on. Head to your common room. Any student not in their common room by 9pm will serve detention."
The two Ravenclaws looked at each other and quickly made their way to the tower.
*Meta*Meta*
"So what's going on?"
"I have no idea," the Ravenclaws had been confined to their common room until the following morning. Rumor was running rampant, and breakfast was a noisy affair as everybody was talking to everybody else.
"Hem! hem!" the noise died away as the pink toad waddled up to the the middle of the room. "We have a crisis in this school! Hooligans are running wild in the halls, the students are disrespectful and inattentive. Therefore, with the Minister of Magic's blessing, I am assuming full authority until we have cleared away the rot." She scowled around the room. Her usual artificial cheer was gone, replaced by barely concealed fury. Harry glanced up at the head table - Dumbledore was notably absent, and several of the teachers were scowling at the High Inquisitor's back. "All extra curricular activities will be suspended until further notice. No student will be out of their dorms except to attend class. The Inquisition squads will be investigating exactly WHERE each student was last night after dinner. That is all!" Umbridge turned around and stormed off.
"Oh, this is not good." Harry whispered, "we can't account for where we were, not without explaining about the Defense practice."
"We'll just say that we were spending a romantic evening together. Alone" Hermione replied half heartedly. She hated lying, especially to teachers.
"And what about Neville? Are we going to include him in our 'romantic evening'?"
"What? NO!" Hermione sighed, "I guess we can't let him hang on his own. We'll have to get together and concoct an alibi." Apparently they were not alone in their worries - numerous whispered conversations were taking place, and several students were heading to the other houses' tables.
"All students will return to their tables. there will be no congregating until after the crisis has passed!"
After that announcement, the whole of the great hall fell into a funereal silence.
Harry whispered, "I'll see Neville in Herbology, after lunch,
*Meta*Meta*
It was during first period Potions that the Inquisitorial squad made it's appearance.
"Professor Snape, we have an order from Head Inquisitor Umbridge to question the students present about their activities last night."
"Be quick about it." Snape scowled, "I have a class to teach here."
"Uh, yes, sir, professor!" Draco deflated. Snape had that effect even on people who thought he was their best friend. Draco turned to the two boys with him - one was Crabbe, the other was an equally large fourth year Hufflepuff.
"Ok, you two, stand there, and keep the others out of my hair." He turned to Ernie "where were you last night after dinner?"
"I went to bed early. I always go to bed early" replied the Hufflepuff.
"That early? Nobody does that!" Draco scoffed. "If you don't tell me, I will have your trunk searched."
"Like whoever is the culprit is going to be stupid enough to hide incriminating evidence in their own trunk!" called out Terry.
"Yeah, I bet they would hide it in somebody else's trunk. Somebody that they don't like!" added Simon.
"Quiet! I am asking the questions!' replied Draco, sweating intensely. interrogating people was harder than he had expected. He glanced to see what Prof. Snape's response would be, but Severas was taking the opportunity to grade some second year essays, and appeared oblivious to everything transpiring in his classroom. Which is why when Crabbe yelled out in pain and started hopping on one foot, Draco had to deal with it alone. "Who did that? Professor, somebody cast a hot foot on Vincent."
"When you have determined who the perpetrator is, I will assign them a detention" replied Snape without looking up, his greasy hair shielding his face from view.
"Ok, then - hey, watch out! " Draco skipped back as Harry inconspicuously flung a ladle full of potion at Draco's leg.
"Oh, sorry, you bumped my elbow as I was stirring." Harry replied, "Don't worry, it's harmless."
"It's not harmless! It stinks like vomit!" shrieked Draco. "You assaulted a member of the Inquisition Squad, and I will see you punished for that! Wait until.." Draco had lost his usual composure wand was starting to yell.
"Detention, Potter. See me after class." Snape interrupted, without looking up.
Draco stopped mid rant, not certain what to say next.
"Maybe you can conduct these interviews this evening, when you won't be interrupting class?" Asked Snape pointedly, "And you might want to change your robes in the interim - Potter was not completely correct when he said that potion was harmless. The smell will permeate your skin if you don't take care of it."
*Meta*Meta*
Fortunately, the Inquisitorial squad's heavy handed ways did not enjoy any more success anywhere else either. By the time lunch rolled around, the word was that they had gotten into two jinxing contests and a fist fight, and had managed to accomplish absolutely zero, "Of course, that isn't stopping Umbridge" Neville pointed to the woman in question, "look at that fat toad. She looks pleased with herself" He was whispering, As were the other students at the Ravenclaw table. Nobody wanted to draw the attention of the High Inquisitor.
"We still need an alibi for last night," whispered Hermione.
"I was thinking about that. I talked to Ron, and he's ready to swear that he saw you two up on the Astronomy tower when he was making his rounds last night. And I'll just claim that I was in the greenhouse taking care of the Nightshade."
"That's believable enough" started Harry.
"No, it's not, I mean it is, but I don't want a reputation as a scarlet woman!" fumed Hermione.
"A lot of couples go up to the Astronomy tower. Even some Third years do. It's not like you were caught in the second floor broom cupboard or something." Neville replied.
"We weren't 'caught' anywhere! We're fabricating all this to avoid a detention. That is all. There is NO veracity to it!" Hermione insisted. Out of the corner of her eye, she says Harry try to restrain a smirk, and blushed crimson.
Neville looked between the two teens "Oookay. I don't think I want to know what that's all about. I'm going to go back to the Gryff's table now, and let you two have your privacy."
"Hey" Hermione punched Neville in the arm.
He just smiled and waved.
*Meta*Meta*
"I know why Snape assigns so many detentions - he needs slave labor to clean all the spills." Harry said as he slid into breakfast the following morning. The Ravenclaw table was half empty, as the many students had already left for class.
"He could just scourgify the classroom" Andrew replied.
"Have you ever seen the room after the Gryffindor Potions class? The stuff that spews out of Longbottom's cauldron is magically active - you scorgify that and it might come after you and eat your face," Terry scoffed.
"Yeah, Neville's area was a disaster - the floor was purple and throbbing. Snape had me sand it down" Harry shuddered. "Where's Hermione?" Harry realized that his girlfriend was not at the table.
"Detention."
"What? When?"
"The Inquisitorial squad visited the Advanced Arithromancy Seminar. Not certain how it happened, but apparently it turned into a free for all. Two members of the Inquisitorial squad had to go to Madam Pomfrey to have their wands removed from their noses. The whole class ended up with an early morning detention with Um-bitch" Anthony scowled. Before he could say anything else, Padma stumbled into the great hall.
"Mumphmum! Fneet Nktum!" she mumbled, pointing at her mouth.
Terry whipped out his wand "Finite Incantatem"
"Thank you! That arsehole Montague cornered me and started asking me 'what do you do with your evenings?' and made suggestive comments. When I refused to answer, he cast the mumbling spell on me!"
"5 points from Ravenclaw for using spells between classes" Draco sang out as he approached the Ravenclaw table.
"You're not a prefect. You can't take away points."
"Actually, the High Inquisitor has just assigned that responsibility to the Inquisitorial squads, to help maintain discipline." He smirked.
Harry looked up at the head table 'Dumbledore won't allow this will he?' but the Headmaster was again absent from the head table.
"Where is Dumbledore?" he whispered to Terry.
"Nobody's seen him since last thursday." Terry glanced up at Draco, who was still lording it over the Ravenclaws, telling them of his power over their lives. "We need to do something about this."
"I don't know what we CAN do." Harry sighed, "They have the authorities on their side."
"Well, we can at least come up with strategies to avoid getting picked on. Maybe some peaceful resistance stuff, like Gandhi."
"Um, I'm bollocks at the whole passive resistance stuff." Harry's voice grew louder, "I'll just blast the balls off of anybody that tries that shit on me." He looked up, locking eyes with Draco, "Or maybe just break their arm."
Draco noticeability paled, "5 points from Ravenclaw for making threats." Harry continued to stare at the Slytherin. Draco pivoted and walked off, trying to maintain his dignity.
"You and Hermione are still practicing Defense, right?" asked Padma, "I want in."
Terry nodded, "Yeah, if you two are up for it, I can pass the word. I think there are a handful more that would like to practice defense."
"Yeah, it makes sense," bobbed Andrew.
*Meta*Meta*
"Hey, how are you doing?" Harry gave Hermione a quick hug as he joined her on the shore of the lake for a picnic lunch.
"Tired, I had to get up 5 am this morning so that the whole AAS could stand in Umbridge's room for an HOUR, doing nothing. Anybody who so much as twitched had to stay extra."
"I heard." Harry sighed as he sat down against a tree, " a couple of people have approached me about joining our Defense session. I know you don't want a lot of people there but I felt bad saying no to all of them."
Hermione scowled, "with the way things are going, this school is going to turn into the Balkans - this faction fighting that faction. Let anybody who wants to come join us - push comes to shove, I want to have a faction of my own to back me up."
"You really think it will come to that?" Harry asked, surprised.
"I don't know. Maybe all this will die down over winter break." Hermione leaned back against Harry's shoulder, "But if I learned one thing from hanging out with Fleur, it's that in a tough situation, you need minions."
"Did something like this happen at Beauxbatons?" Harry asked, incredulous.
"No. It was just Fleur. For her, dealing with boys - whether ones she wanted to avoid, or those whose attention she sought - involved many well orchestrated actions - this person had to be overheard saying such and such to her, who then had to act shocked and run to tell this other person, but only when this boy was present, etc. etc." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I thought you liked Fleur."
"I.. I do. It's just.. maybe it's something in the British air that is affecting my thinking, but it all seems so silly now."
"Well, at least you can put those tactical skills to good use."
Hermione turned part way around to give a mock glare at Harry, "What, you don't think I need those skills to attract the right boy."
Harry leaned forward and kissed her, "No".
It was several minutes before conversation resumed.
*Meta*Meta*
The first meeting of the Defense Association, as Harry decided to name their 'illegal club activity' was in the same third floor classroom as before. That way they could see who showed up before letting them in on the secret of the Shrieking shack (and it would let them get some wands over there to cast expansion charms in the meantime).
"We'll look really stupid if nobody shows up." muttered Neville as he sat down on a desk.
"Or if the only people that show up are Umbridge and her goons." Harry paced.
"Would you two stop stressing? It'll be fine" Hermione interrupted without looking up from her teaching notes, which she was obsessively reviewing. So far, they were the only ones there.
"Hey, Are we early,"
"or are you practicing disillusionment?" The twins came in. Before Harry could say anything, more students started to trickle in. Mostly fifth years, but a handful of third and fourth years as well, and even a couple of sixth years.
"Hey, mind if we join?" Harry turned in surprise to see Goyle and Hannah standing behind him.
"Umm.. I thought you were friends with Draco…" Harry asked nervously, looking for an escape path in case the Inquisitorial Squad burst in.
"Not so much this year." Greg shrugged. It was like watching an avalanche, "Or ever, really. I just hung out with him because… I don't know" another shrug. Hannah took his hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Harry!" Hermione came over, hyperventilating. Several strands of hair had escaped from her coiffure and were waving around like floating seaweed.. "This way, WAY more than I was expecting! I can't teach this many!"
Harry looked around - the room was full. Harry noticed Luna and Collin in the crowd. He wasn't certain what to think of that.
"I'll help" interrupted Neville, "You take a group and start on the material that you want to go over. I'll take some the younger years and go over basics with them. And Harry can take a group that you already taught and have them practice. That way the ideas will stick better."
"Ok. ok, I can do that" Hermione brushed her hair back and cast a charm to pull it back into the the bun so tightly Harry was certain he could hear it scream.
The rest of the session went remarkably smoothly. Neville had a real talent for making the younger students feel comfortable, and he could tell when they understood what he was saying, as opposed to when they just THOUGHT that they did. Meanwhile, Hermione was going over spell chains, and when it was worthwhile to use them, to trade power for speed.
"I bet that's why Dualists use them - they don't need to get much power in their spells - they just need a clean hit." Terry commented, " But in a real fight, you want the maximum power."
"Let's give it a try" Harry motioned for Terry (and a couple of others that were like minded) to step off to the side. "let's do a quick bout - you cast at full power, and I'll cast spell chain style" They walked 20 feet apart and took fighting stances.
"Expelliarmus!" Terry started'
"Protego lumos impello accio protego" Warry began to weave. Terry's expelliarmus smashed through his protego, but it was nocked just enough off to the left so that when Harry stepped to the right at the same time, it missed him narrowly. At the same time, Terry had to protego to avoid Harry's spells. The spells kept coming, so Terry was forced to keep his protego up. His concentration was starting to waver as he waited for Harry to run out of spells when there was a brief pause. It was unexpected enough that he didn't drop his protego, so he was greatly surprised when a regular strength Expelliarmus from Harry slammed right through it and nocked him onto his keister. Which is saying something, as Harry's regular strength spells were nothing spectacular.
"How did you do that?" Asked one of the Weasley twins. He had been one of the students watching the demonstration.
"When I started casting, Terry was stuck - his full power protego is slow to cast, so he couldn't cast a new one to counter each of my attacks."
"But your attacks were weak - my protego could block them without any effort. so why WOULD I cast a new one?"
"Because it's hard to keep it at full strength. If you have to keep protego, or any shield, up for a long time, it will tend to weaken as your concentration wavers. And since I was casting weak spells, you didn't notice that you had slowly lowered your guard, so when I cast a full power spell, it went right through it like tissue paper. Think of it as a fighter throwing all jabs at your body. Your arms will lower as you block them, and then when he changes it up to throw a hook at your head, you aren't ready to block it. Two things you can do to counter this: use quick, targeted protegos, and avoid getting roped into a static defense. Always think offensively. Cast a shield only so that you can get to your next attack."
"What if you are in the middle of the room, and you have spells coming from all sides?"
"In that case crouch down and raise your strongest Protego"
"You crouch down so that you're a smaller target, right?"
"No, you do it so that you can kiss your ass goodbye, because you're going to be toast." replied Harry, "Be aware of your surroundings so that you don't get caught in a crossfire in the first place."
The session went on for an hour before Hermione finally called time, "Ok, guys I hope you learned something"
"And had fun," interrupted Harry.
"And had fun. We'll have another one next week, but I need to figure out schedules, so I'll get back to you with when.
After a few goodbyes, all the students filed out, leaving Harry, Hermione and Neville.
"That went great!" beamed Harry, "I can't believes so many students showed up, and we did some cool stuff. Padma had a neat idea for casti..." Harry noticed that Hermione didn't look so thrilled, "What's the problem?"
"It's too many people! And I'm not talking about teaching - your idea worked great. I'm worried that somebody will rat us out to Umbridge, and we'll spend the rest of the school year in detention, writing lines!" She shuddered, hugging herself. Harry walked over and put his arms around his girlfriend.
"We could have each student cast an unbreakable vow not to reveal the meetings."
"You can only make a magical promise like that for something that already happened" Neville shook his head, "You'd have to have each student cast the vow after each meeting - it would take too long."
The three friends pondered. "I can't think of any spell that would do the job. We need a ritual or something" Hermione finally said in defeat.
"Maybe I'll floo Professor Loew and ask if he knows anything - he knows all sorts of non-hermetic magic." Harry stood up and stretched.
"It's worth a shot." Hermione continued to gnaw on her thumbnail as she pondered the problem.
"That means you can stop worrying about it for right now!" Harry grabbed her hand and pulled his girlfriend to her feet. "Let's go - it's almost curfew."
*Meta*Meta*
"It's always nice to hear from you, Harry. Next time, don't wait to call until you need help." Adam responded. It was late that same evening, and the Ravenclaw common room where Harry was floo- calling Professor Loew was almost empty.
Harry had wanted to wait until all the students went to bed, but Hermione had pointed out that Professor Loew might not be taking floo-calls in the middle of the night. So they had compromised, and Hermione was sitting in a couch near the fireplace, maintaining a weak Muffliato to cover Harry's conversation.
"Well. I had heard that there were some odd goings on at Hogwarts, with Dumbledore suspended and.."
"Suspended!" Harry started,
"Shh!" hissed Hermione, "I can't make the Muffliato any stronger or people will notice!"
"Sorry!" Harry turned back to Adam, "what do you mean suspended?"
"It's not official, but I heard from some people I know that Dumbledore has been quietly asked to take some time off. Your Ministry doesn't want to make a big deal about it, so it hasn't been in the news."
"Oh. That makes this all the more important - is there any way to guarantee that nobody will tell Umbridge?"
Adam sighed, "Yes, there is. We used it in the French Resistance when we were fighting against Grindelwald and his Nazi sorcerers. It is a contract that prevents any who sign it from speaking or revealing the organization in any way. Be very careful with it Harry - it is very strong magic. I usually wouldn't give out a powerful magic to a school boy, but I do NOT like the direction that the British Ministry is heading. I have seen enough repression to recognize the early stages. I will write up the contract for you tomorrow. But right now, I need the name of your organization and its goals."
"We are.. the Defense Association and our goals are to learn how to defend ourselves from those that wish to do us harm!" Harry said quickly. Hermione scowled, but didn't say anything, as she was concentrating on the Muffliato
"And who are the commanding officers, I mean club heads?"
"That will be Hermione, me and Neville."
"Ok, I'll have it for you tomorrow."
*Meta*Meta*
"This looks serious!" Harry read over the contract that Adam Loew had sent him. "It makes us sound like a group of guerrilla fighters.
"I'm not surprised" Hermione replied, "After all, it IS based on the one used by the Resistance. Though I hadn't realized that Professor Loew is that old. That would make him almost the same age as Dumbledore, but he looks like he's no more than middle aged."
"I don't think Adam is actually human," Harry replied quietly, "Last year when I was training with him, he made references to being several hundred years old. So.. At the next meeting, we have everybody sign this?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, we can't call another meeting until everybody's signed the contract. It's too risky. We got really lucky that nobody called the Inquisition squad down on the first meeting. They probably didn't realize how many people were going to show up."
"Ok. I guess we can go from person to person and have them sign." Harry was skeptical. getting people all to sign something ominous like this contract would be much easier in a group, when you had a feeling for what you were joining. On your own.. it was kind of scary.
"And I can cast the Protean Charm on some sickles which we can hand out at the same time. The coins will then all be linked together, and if we transfigure one, they will all show the same thing. It will let us send secret messages to the members."
*Meta*Meta*
"I thought you wanted to learn Defense?" Harry asked. He had pulled Andrew Goldstein aside after Care of Magical Creatures to have him sign the contract.
"Yeah, but this is too messed up, man. I'm not signing something like that." he walked off.
Harry leaned back against the Thestral's corral. Andrew was the fourth Ravenclaw in a row to turn him down.
"Hey, is this for the Defense club?' Harry turned to see Collin. 'Oh, yeah, fourth year Gryffs have Magical Creatures next.'
"Yeah. We need everybody who want to be a member to sign a magically binding pledge not to reveal the club. To, you know, Umbridge" Harry said half heartedly.
"Makes sense. Let me see it." Collin quickly skimmed the contract and then signed his name. "I'll talk to the other Gryffindors that were there - I'm certain that most will understand."
Harry's jaw dropped open, "Great! Thank you!" 'I guess that's the difference between Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. I wonder if the 'Puffswill sign it as easily?'
*Meta*Meta*
That evening, Terry sat down next to Harry in the Common Room. "What's this I hear about having to sign a contract in order to train in Defense?" Several other Ravenclaws who had been at the Defense session were came also, standing in a clump behind him.
As Harry looked up, Hermione interrupted, "You know it makes sense."
"Yeah, it does. Give it here." Terry took the contract and spread it out on the table. All the hovering Ravenclaws descended on it like crows. Simon pulled out a dictionary, and Padma brought out a dusty tome titled "British Ministry of Magic Basic Law - Vol IX: Self Enforcing contracts"
Soon the the group of Ravenclaws were picking apart the contract, "This is way too harsh!" Simon looked up, "You gotta change this clause." He pointed to a section that was written in legalize and made no sense to Harry.
"Oh, this is good!" Crowed Terry,
"Yeah, that closes a bunch of loop holes, some of which I hadn't even thought of until I read it." Agreed Mandy, "But you need to make the language more gender neutral.."
"Legally, 'He' and 'him' are considered as applying to both wizards and witched" corrected Padma.
"That's offensive" returned Mandy.
"Yeah, I know. We need to come up with a gender neutral pronoun for the English Language," Andrew agreed.
"Guy's, we're getting side-tracked" Terry pulled the the arguing students back to the document in question.
After a half hour, he leaned back, "So, what do you think?"
"Well, I think with a few correction, I would be willing to sign it." volunteered Simon.
"We can't correct it - a bunch of Gryffindors have already signed on" Harry answered nervously, 'besides, I'm certain that changing the wording would weaken the magic' Harry thought back to his lessons on Gematria and other word magic from last year.
"We could just have them initial the emendation."
"No." Hermione scowled down at the gaggle of students clustered around the table. "It's too late to change the contract. Either you sign it as is, or you don't sign it. And we will only tutor the Gryffindors."
The Ravenclaws looked at each other. "We'll sign, we'll sign." Terry grabbed a pen.
*Meta*Meta*
Harry knocked on the Hufflepuff's door. 'I hope this doesn't take too long - it's almost curfew' He glanced at his watch as he waited for somebody on the other side to let him in. "I hope it's not Ernie - he won't even listen to me.'
"Oy. What are you doing way out here, little 'claw. This isn't your dorm. " Harry looked up - it was Cassius Warrington, a seventh year Slytherin and a member of the Inquisitorial Squad.
"I'm visiting friends. That's allowed isn't it?" Harry scowled. He tried to recall if it was or wasn't - the 'High Inquisitor' had been blasting out so many decrees that he wasn't certain.
"I don't like your attitude, Potter. I want you to get down and give me 10 push ups." Cassius put his hands on his hips and pronounced imperiously.
"What?" Harry boggled, "Do you think this is the army and your a drill sergeant? You're just an arrogant arsehole who thinks that being part of a gang makes you better than everybody else." Harry couldn't believe what he was saying. 'What happened to keeping my head down and not drawing attention?'
"What…?" Cassius' hand crept for his wand, but Harry was faster.
"Expelliarmus!"
Unfortunately, he jerked his wand too fast, and the the flash of light that hit the Slytherin only was strong enough to knock his stunner off target.
"Hey, What's going on?" Harry looked up to see the other two members of the Inquisitorial squad running up.
'Shit!' Harry took off running as spells rained down on his heels.
He raced through the almost empty hallways, with the three older boys in close pursuit. Periodically a spell would flash out at him, but Harry avoided long straight corridors were he would be an easy target.
He swerved right and raced up the stairs. He paused for a moment to cast a slipping jinx on one of the steps before continuing. As the stairs doubled back on themselves after the landing, he whirled around and hunkered down. Moments later, the Inquisitorial squad came running up, taking the steps two at a time. The first boy leaped over the slippery step without noticing it. But just at that moment, Harry opened up with a barrage of spells. As they ducked away from the spells, Cassius hit the slippery step and went down flailing.
"Lumos, Expelliramus, lumos, stupefy, lumos" He rained down on the boys. The two who were still standing cast protego over themselves and Cassius, who was holding on to the banister as he tried to regain his footing.
'I can't keep this up. There are three of them. Sooner or later one of them will clue in that it only takes one to cast protego over all of them.' Harry cast a quick glance to see where the stairs were headed, 'Not good. these go up to the Astronomy tower. There's no where else to go, except…' there was another stair that ran.. somewhere, probably the sixth floor, going by crosswise ten feet away.
A flash of red hit the stairs near Harry. 'Shit! they figured it out!' He ducked down as several more Stupefies hit near him. But just then, an flash of purple hit one of the Slytherins from the other stair, knocking his wand from his hand. The other two boys looked around in confusion. Harry took the opportunity to cast Lumos, momentarily blinding his antagonists.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" he cast on himself and leaped to the other stair. 'I wonder who…"
Luna caught him as he landed, "Nice flying, but you really should try using a broom. It's more comfy on the tuchus." She remarked as she pulled him through the door to the third floor.
"Uhm, thanks." Harry wasn't certain what to say. " I appreciate the help."
"Well, I've come to realize that you're the sort of boy that needs a lot of it. Come on, there is a another staircase over here." She pulled him along. After several breathless minutes of running, they were back on the second floor, with no pursuit in sight.
"So, are you wearing the Wrackspurt net that I gave you last year?" Luna asked, as the two teens leaned back against the wall, panting.
"What?"
Luna sighed, "That explains it. Helpless AND mindless." she patted Harry's arm, "Don't worry. I'll get you another one. That way you can at least keep the few wits that you have left about you."
"Thanks. I think?" 'Did she just insult me?'
"I'll see you around" Luna rubbed Harry's arm again and walked off.
*Meta*Meta*
In the end, Neville was the one who got the Hufflepuffs to sign on.
"It was no problem. Susan and I are still friends, so she and Hannah were willing to sign the contract right away. And once they did, the rest followed without question." Neville replied as he handed back the contract at dinner. He was sitting at the Gryffindor table, near the end, so that he and Neville could talk in relative privacy.
Harry took a quick glance. The bottom half of the document was now filled with names. "Goyle is on here."
"Yeah. He and Hannah are inseparable. Susan's joking about wedding bells and stuff. Except I'm not certain if she's actually joking."
Harry shrugged. He didn't want to think about that sort of thing, "I need to ask Hermione when she wants to have the next meeting. You did give the 'Puffs the enchanted Sickles, right?"
"Yes, yes. Don't worry. And I made sure that all the Gryffindors have theirs as well" Neville reassured his co-conspirator. "AND I told Ron not to let the twins get their hands on his."
"The twins aren't going to rat us out. They hate Umbridge." Since Harry had gotten to know them over the summer, Harry was a lot less nervous about the Twin Terror of Gryffindor.
"I'm not worried about that. But you know how they are - they'll end up breaking it while trying to figure out how it works. And you can't tell them not to - they have a serious problem with authority."
Harry nodded. The twins had refused to sign the Contract because they felt it was too restrictive. Neville glanced at the Ravenclaw table. "Speaking of 'authority', why don't you invite Hermione over to sit with us the next time?"
"I don't know, maybe it's because she hasn't attended Hogwarts until this year, but she's a stickler for rules. She's a Ravenclaw, so she figures she should eat at the 'claw table." Harry glanced back at the table in question. Hermione was sitting by herself. Again. 'She really is bad at making friends'
Neville snorted, "So how does she manage to put up with you?"
"What do you mean? I follow the rules."
"Oh? Who's organizing an illegal club? Who snuck illegal herbs into school last year?"
"I told you - Marijuana is not illegal in Magical England!"
"That's only because British Wizards don't know what it is."
"And the club is only illegal because Umbridge's rules are stupid" Harry continued. He glanced back at Hermione again. "Look, I'll talk to you later. Hermione's sitting all by herself, so.."
"Go, Go" Neville made a shooing motion. As Harry walked off, he muttered, "whipped."
*Meta*Meta*
The rest of the semester went much the same way. DADA was a waste of time, Umbridge was insufferable, and none of the other professors did anything. And nobody saw hide nor hair of Dumbledore.
For the first time, Harry was looking forward to leaving Hogwarts for winter break.
The only bright spot in this dreary landscape was the Defense Associations. More than half the original students ended up signing on, and with the polarizing atmosphere in the school, they had soon coalesced into a tight knit group - having signed the contract that made them feel like rebels also helped. And in some mysterious fashion, Harry 'keep-his head down, don't take any risks' Potter had become their de-facto leader.
"Are you certain you want to do this?" Hermione asked Neville. The day before end of term found the three leaders of the DA in the size-expanded Shrieking Shack, waiting for the rest of the group to show up. What had once been a small, ramshackle room, more a shed with pretensions than a real house, was now a hundred feet across on the inside (give or take - Luna had done the size expansion charms, and some of the walls had ended up not quite straight. She insisted that that it was better that way). They were going to have a team competition: Blue team (aka Team Hermione) versus Green team (aka Team Longbottom). Except that Team Hermione was going to smear team Longbottom. "I have all Ron and Terry, and a lot of your team are the younger students that you train."
They trio continued to teach the same way as on the first day: Neville covered the basics, Hermione covered advanced theory, and Harry covered tactics. Unsurprisingly, when teams were drawn up, many of the students that were learning with Neville volunteered for his team.
"No, I actually like the group that I got. Besides, we already practiced together all of last week."
"Practice will only carry you so far. Neville, you need native talent as well" reminded Hermione.
"And what, you're saying that they don't have talent, because most of them aren't Ravenclaws?" Neville asked, sternly.
"No!, not at all.." Hermione defended., looking to Harry for help. He just shrugged, as if to say 'it's your argument'. "many of the Gryffindors are very talented spell casters. But age does make a difference. The younger students just aren't as good."
"Not on their own," Neville replied with a smile.
As the students made their way into the giant shack, they filtered to their respective captains, with a little cheerful trash talk along the way.
Harry watched the scene with a feeling of burgeoning pride. He was going to be refereeing the contest, so he sat off to one side. 'People really like the DA. We made something really cool'. The students were happy and relaxed, something that they weren't able to be out in Umbridge's Hogwarts. A smile crept onto Harry's face. He didn't have a lot of experience at success. "Ok, everybody. Listen up! You know the rules - It's capture the flag, with a twist. You can cast any spells you want in the middle section here" He pointed to the majority of the room, "As long as they aren't going to injure anybody. But in the safe zones," He pointed to small areas at either end of the room, "only the defending team can cast spells. The point of the game is to capture the flag from the opponents safe zone and to bring it over to me. Take ten minutes to prepare, and then I'm going to blow the whistle."
Harry watched as both teams transfigured their safe zones. Team Hermione caused a row of stalagmite-like obstacles to sprout from the floor, while team Neville created a platform half way up the wall.
"Oy, Neville - that's against the rules - your flag has to be accessible to the other team. And we aren't using brooms"
"Don't worry, our flag won't be up there." Neville replied.
Harry shrugged, "this is going to be interesting'. After the promised ten minutes, Harry pulled out a whistle and gave a blow.
"TWEET!"
The two teams began casting spells and jockeying for position. Some of the older students transfigured the floor to provide better cover. Others just blasted away at anybody on the opposing team that they saw.
Soon, the relative ability levels of the team began to show. Ron was a talented wizard, and his training with Harry had given him a good situational awareness. He was Incarcerous-ing and stupifying Neville's' younger players one after the other
"protego" Goyle blocked a tickling charm aimed at a third year who was trying to untie the laces of his sneakers, which were now tangled together from a tripping jinx. The third year looked up and realized his error.
"Thanks" he pulled off his sneakers and darted for cover as Goyle blocked another spell from Ron. Ron frowned and began a spell chain. Goyle grunted and cast protego. Goyle was a slow caster, so he had had no chance to switch to the offense, but every time there was a pause, he cast another protego. Ron tried to circle around him, but Goyle managed to squeeze out a quick jinx to block his way.
Terry was having similar problems with Luna. Part of successful dueling was being able to predict what your opponent was going to do next. In some ways, dueling a talented opponent was easier than going against a novice. But there was no way to predict what spell Luna would cast next. She would cast defensive spells when Terry expected her to go on the offensive, and using aggressive spells to protect herself, by throwing him off balance so that he couldn't get a bead on her. But she wasn't an amateur either - her spells weren't sloppy, and they were effective. Mostly. It was a stalemate.
As for the rest of the teams, if one of Hermione's Blue players could get one of the Greenies in a one on one dual, it was no contest. but Neville's Greenies worked together in teams to keep their superior opponents from overpowering them. And to help that along, Neville and two other Greens were on the raised firing platform, casting spell chains to prevented Hermione from sending reinforcements to any Blues that were locally outnumbered.
"Stupify!" Ron cast, hammering away at Goyle shield. Goyle grimaced and reinforced his protego. What had started as a dual had degenerated into a static contest of endurance. Who would last longer - Ron or Goyle? Tactics favored Ron, as defending was harder than attacking. Goyle already had a rope wrapped around one arm, and his shoelaces were acting like love-sick anacondas.
Ron was just circling for the kill when...
"Incarcerous"
Glowing ropes flew in from Ron's left side, wrapped around him, as Hannah stepped into view.
"You ok, honey?" she asked, just before being hit by a Stupify from Hermione. Goyle cast Protego again, but he was hammered down by Hermione, Simon and Padma working in concert. The three fifth years took turns casting Protego to ward off the chain spell-fire from above, while the other two combined their not-inconsiderable strength to blast any of the Greens that they could catch. They finally stupified Luna, and had made their way to the edge of the safe zone when...
TWEET
"And the victor is team Neville!" Harry called out. A third year boy stood next to him, holding the blue flag.
"What?!" hermione turned back to her safe zone. "Andrew! I told you to guard the flag!"
"I kind of got distracted", the Ravenclaw replied sheepishly, as he got up from behind a stalagmite which he had been using for cover while dueling Mandy.
"Everybody played well!" Interrupted Harry before Hermione could get started on a rant. He loved his girlfriend, but she had a competitive streak a mile wide, and didn't always know when to turn it off. "Everyday get cleaned up, and get Finite'd if you need it. I figure we all deserve a party! Hermione, Neville, help me bring out the soda and snacks."
"That was really very impressive, Nev" Harry complemented his friend as they carried in the Pumpkin Juice and butterbeers.
Neville shrugged "Hermione is really smart, but she tends to focus too much on one thing. And she gets competitive, so she tends to forget teamwork. I used that to my advantage."
"Yeah, but that firing platform was brilliant!" gushed Harry.
"Yes.. Well played Mister Longbottom!" Hermione held out her hand to shake. Harry rolled his eyes and Neville just smiled.
It didn't take long for the group to degenerate into a loud, raucous mob. "It's a good thing that I bought those sound wards" Simon said with smug self satisfaction, pointing to the small ward stones placed around the perimeter of the huge room.
"Hey, I ponied up most of the money for those!" Terry replied, in mock anger, taking a sip of his butterbeer.
"If I had sent out my players in trios from the start.." Hermione was still analyzing the game, an hour later. Harry sighed. Everybody else was having a good time, but Hermione wouldn't let it go. They were standing off to the side of the drinks table
"Hermione, tis isn't the time for that" he grabbed his girlfriends hand.
"Oh? What is it time for?" she asked, distractedly, still lost in thought.
"How about this?" Harry stepped in and snaked a hand behind her head as he kissed her.
Hermione got a panicky look on her face, and her eyes darted to all the people around. But Harry was persistent, so she resigning herself to being the center of gossip for the next week. At least it would be vacation. Besides. The kiss was nice.
The whole DA broke out in in uproarious applause. Except Luna, who was scowling, With a sigh, Collin puled her in for a liplock as well.
Goyle and Hannah glanced at each other and rolled their eyes at the antics.
*Meta*Meta*
It was almost curfew when the party broke up. "Do you think Umbridge will go easy on the curfew, since it's the end of term?" asked Terry.
"This is Um-bitch we're talking about. No." Collin replied.
One of the big changes in the DA was how students from different houses and years had started to mingle more. With even quidditch being broken up by house, the DA was one of the few clubs that crossed House boundaries.
The students filed out in twos and threes to return to their dorms. Harry and Hermione were the last to leave. "Come on, Hermione, we can finish cleaning later."
"When? Are you staying for break?" asked Hermione.
"Definitely not. But it's just a little litter. It will be fine until next term. We won't make curfew if we don't go now" Harry pulled at her sleeve.
"I guess that's more important. I just hate leaving something half done!"
"Come on, miss perfect." Harry said with a smile as he looped arms with his girlfriend. They walked back into Hogwarts. Where they were met by a scene right out of a war movie.
Umbridge was standing in courtyard yelling something and shaking her fist as George and Fred flew their brooms, jinking and dodging as several Inquisitorial squad members fired spell at them.
The Weasley twins retaliated with stink bombs and other "novelties", such as the one that had turned Umbridge a shade of emerald green.
"What's going on?" Harry sidled up to a sixth year Puff who was watching in rapt attention.
"Umbridge just stormed into the great hall, saying she had proof that the Twins were the ones who had brought in the swamp. They took off on their brooms and started throwing stuff - dung bombs and color changing powders. Now it's all spilled outside.
"YOU! You are expelled!" Yelled Umbridge. She was shaking with fury, barely able to speak.
"No, We quit." Yelled one of the twins, using a sonorous charm from way up high. "If this… this prison is what Hogwarts has turned into, we are dropping out!" both twins waved and streaked off into the distance.
"Oy. Things are going to be ugly at the Weasley's over break. Maybe I should stay at Hogwarts" Harry muttered.
"Don't you dare!" Hermione glared at him. They had plans to get together over break.
"I was just joking. How bad can it get?"
.
chapter end