REWRITTEN: August 10th 2015


Chapter 8

Make Lemonade

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," Granger said once she had overcome the initial shock.

"I'm sure you do," he said. "How about we take this conversation to an empty classroom?"

She looked ready to protest, but only swallowed heavily and followed him through a door nearby.

"So," she said, leaning against the closed door, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I know that you, Longbottom and Weasley founded a Defence Club. I want to be part of it."

She hesitated. "Let's say that – hypothetically speaking – such a club exists. Why would you want to spend time with a bunch of Gryffindors? During the holidays you weren't exactly eager to hang out with us."

"I like you just fine, otherwise I wouldn't have helped you with your research," Harry said. It wasn't exactly true that he liked her, but it probably wouldn't hurt to remind her that she was kind of in his debt. "And why I want to join? Well… Umbridge is useless. And I want to be able to defend myself. That's all there is to it."

She seemed torn. "How did you find out about it?"

"Hypothetically?" Harry grinned. He couldn't help it.

She rolled her eyes.

"Hypothetically I would have been sitting in the Hog's Head one day, enjoying a butterbeer, minding my own business, when a rather large group of students entered to discuss said Defence Club."

Her mouth dropped open. "You have known since then? Why didn't you…"

"Why didn't I rat you out?"

Her cheeks reddened a bit, but she stubbornly held his gaze.

"Because, as I said, I don't have anything against you. I wouldn't gain anything from getting you in trouble."

She looked at him sharply. "But if you could gain something?"

"I didn't mean that literally," he said. Of course he did. "I didn't say anything until now because I don't want to get you in trouble. We all know that Umbridge wouldn't like it. And I think it could benefit us both if I joined."

She looked at him warily, but then, suddenly, her expression cleared. As if she had come to some satisfying conclusion.

"Too true," she said. "If you join, you'll have to agree to the same conditions as everybody else. Alright?"

"Of course…"

"Then"- she opened her bag and took out a roll of parchment–"you have to sign this and agree not to speak a word of our group to anybody. Understood?"

Harry hesitated. His name on a list with all the other members... That was kind of incriminating, wasn't it? The Slytherins surely- His train of thought came to abrupt halt, and his temporarily forgotten anger back full force.

"I'll do it," he snapped, and snatched the parchment out of her hand. As he signed his name on the bottom of the list, he decisively ignored the headline, where "Dumbledore's Army" was written in bold letters. Their hero worship apparently knew no bounds.

.

When he returned to the Common Room that night, he was still angry, but able to keep it inside. They had their secrets, and he had his. The balance was restored, somewhat.

"Harry?" Theo said carefully as he slumped down next to him in an armchair near the fireplace. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Harry said, forcing a smile. "Well, except that I still have to write the essay for Binns." He groaned.

"I'm already done," Theo said. "You wanna take a look?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at his friend. It seemed Theo really was feeling guilty. "Sure."

.

The next morning on the way to breakfast Harry, Theo and Blaise walked past a large group of students gathered in the Entrance Hall. Members of all the houses were present, some students were whispering in small groups, others talking agitatedly, pointing at a large sign that was fixed to a wall.

"What's that about?" Harry asked.

"No idea." Theo yawned. "Way too early in the morning for a commotion like this."

"Hey Tracey!" Harry called. The girl was just elbowing her way out of the crowd. "What's going on?"

She walked towards them, a troubled look on her face. "There's a notice on the wall. From Umbridge," she added lowly. "Apparently there is a new Educational Decree, saying that all student organizations, clubs and whatever are disbanded and only Umbridge can give the permission to reform them."

Theo took a step closer to Harry. "I guess that means she too found out about the you-know-what," he whispered.

The Gryffindor Defence Club. "Guess so," Harry said, a heavy feeling settling in his stomach.

"That means all the Quidditch teams are disbanded," Tracey went on. "How can she do that? What gives her the right?"

"She's with the Ministry," Blaise said darkly. "Means she can do whatever the hell she wants as long as the Minister is standing behind her."

"Yeah, no kidding," Harry said. "Just think of those dubious inspections. She is the worst teacher ever, but has the power to judge other teachers. Because Fudge says so."

"Urgh, yes… She was in our last Divination class. By the end of it, I really had to fight the urge to hit her over the head with that stupid clipboard of hers," Tracey said.

Theo laughed. "Didn't you want to hit her with her bag just last week?"

"With the flowery one, yes." Tracey shrugged. "The woman makes me so aggressive. But I'm hardly the only one."

"We should write the prophet. Hogwarts High Inquisitor triggers wave of violence. Now that's an article I would read," Blaise joked.

"Sadly though, the Prophet would never print it," Harry said, thinking of what he had observed over the summer. The others fell silent, a pensive look on their faces.

Even though they reached the Great Hall a bit late for breakfast, it was still buzzing with students. They were not seated and eating like usual, but running up and down, and even between the different House Tables. A few concerned looking Hufflepuffs – Harry recognised them as members of the DA – were walking towards the Gryffindor table, but thankfully came to their senses and turned around before they could draw untoward attention.

At the Slytherin table, Harry made a beeline for the lower end, where the Quidditch team was gathered around their captain.

"Potter," greeted Montague. "Heard the news already?"

"The Educational Decree?"

"Yeah. But don't worry. I already talked to her. Our team can continue as it was."

"Great!" Harry exclaimed relieved. "But don't think it ever really was about the Quidditch teams…"

"About that," Montague said, narrowing his eyes on Harry. "We can still trust on your discretion, can't we? Despite our recent… differences?"

Harry bristled. "Differences?"

"Yes. If you don't want them to affect your Quidditch position, don't let your mouth run away with you."

"Graham, we talked about this," Miles Bletchley, their Keeper, moaned.

"I just wanted to give Potter a proper warning," Montague replied, turning away from and apparently already dismissing Harry.

"Well," Harry said; he tried to keep his voice level, but it wasn't easy, not with the white-hot anger that burned in his stomach like lava, "then let me give you a warning too. I never even thought about going to Umbridge, because, no matter what you think, I'm no snitch. But if you ever threaten me again, then I won't hesitate to lead Umbridge right to you."

"Didn't you listen to me just now? The team-"

"I love Quidditch. I love winning for Slytherin. But don't for one fucking second think that you can use this to blackmail me."

Montague stared at him, angry and apparently also confused. "So you won't tell… just because?"

Harry sighed. "Yeah, just because."

He snatched up a piece of toast, and returned to his friends. "Let's go. I don't want to stay here anymore."

Blaise and Theo exchanged worried glances as they accompanied him out of the hall.

"What did Montague say?" Theo asked carefully.

"That he'll kick me out of the team if I breathe a word about your thing."

"Merlin, Harry. I'm sorry, I don't know what got into-"

"Don't be," Harry said. "I told him if he ever tries blackmailing me again, I'll make sure that Umbridge finds out."

Theo stared at him.

"Of course, I wouldn't do it for real. Not to you." He looked between his friends. "But don't tell him that."

"Course not. Maybe when they see that you keep our secret, they'll come to their senses."

They fell silent as a group of first years rushed past them.

"No running in the corridors!" The portrait of an old wizard, with a long, braided beard shouted after them, one fist raised, the other clutching the book that had nearly fallen out of his lap.

"Why don't you use this situation to blackmail your way into our group?" Blaise asked when they were alone again.

"And alienate, possibly permanently, the most magically and politically powerful students in our house all at once?" Harry asked. "I'm not sure if that's such a bright idea."

"Yeah, so far all they have are suspicions and doubts," Blaise agreed.

They'd reached the Transfiguration classroom by now. Only moments after they had taken their seats, McGonagall swept into the class with a scowl on her face, and shut the door with a rather aggressive swipe of her wand.

"Who can tell me the incantation for the Vanishing Charm?"

A few students tentatively raised their hands.

"…pissed because Umbridge won't give the Gryffindor team permission…" Malfoy whispered to Goyle.

It seemed Harry wasn't the only one who had heard him, as McGonagall zeroed in on Malfoy immediately. "Mr Malfoy?"

"Evanesco," Malfoy answered, grinning smugly.

McGonagall though, was not through with him yet. "Your pronunciation is lacking. Try again."

"Evanesco," Malfoy repeated, drawing out the 'E'.

"No, wrong. Five points from Slytherin. Can someone help Mr Malfoy out?"

Not wanting to direct McGonagall's ire at themselves, all hands staid down. When the class was finally over – and Harry had managed to vanish the better half of his snail (for some reason the feelers and eyes just wouldn't disappear) – the students almost ran from the class. Harry had never seen McGonagall this irritated; Umbridge must really be getting to her.

"That bitch took fifteen points from us," Blaise said, as they walked down to the dungeons for Potions.

"Yeah, because Malfoy just couldn't keep his stupid trap shut," Harry said, the prospect of enduring another lesson of Potions not really helping his mood.

Snape at least, didn't seem influenced by Umbridge's Decree. Although, Harry mused, the Potions Master was supremely irritated at the best of times, maybe his mood simply could sink no further.

Potions was one of the few classes they shared with the Gryffindors, and on the way out Granger passed by him, bumping into his shoulder.

"Your pocket," she whispered, her face obscured by bushy hair. She hurried along, and a moment later had caught up with her friends and was talking to them as if nothing had happened.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Harry said, turning right just before the Great Hall. "Safe me a seat!"

He rushed into a cubicle, and fished the note out of his pocket. Granger's handwriting was as neat as expected, and very curvy. Kind of girly.

Tomorrow. 7 pm. 3rd floor corridor.

A quick Incendio later a small pile of ash swirled down into the toilet, and Harry left the bathroom to join the others for lunch.

In the evening Harry shouldered his Firebolt – a present from Sirius he'd gotten in 3rd year – and went down to the Quidditch pitch. The sky was clear, for once, and the warm sun lifted his spirits.

"Harry, wait up!"

The Slytherin Keeper fell into step beside him. "I just wanted you to know," Miles said quietly, "that I don't agree with the decision to exclude you from the club."

"Thanks," Harry said. He had suspected as much at breakfast.

"And there are a few others in your corner too - mainly guys from the team, and Nott and Zabini, of course. The others don't really know you so…"

"They think I'll spy on them. It's ridiculous," Harry said bitterly.

"Yeah… Just give it some time. They'll come around."

"Sure hope so," Harry murmured. And until then he'd train with the Gryffindors. He wouldn't fall behind due to his own housemates' misplaced distrust.

He suddenly noticed a shiny new object in Miles' hand. "You got a new broom?"

"Yeah." Miles grinned as he lifted it off his shoulder and showed Harry. "Bought it this summer, the latest Cleansweep model. "

"Nice." Harry eyed it appreciatively. "How fast?"

"Zero to seventy in ten seconds and with built in vibration control. We'll flatten those damn Gryffindors, they won't stand a chance."

"If they are allowed to play, that is. I hear Umbridge is indecisive." Harry grumbled under his breath. He wasn't sure how he felt about the whole thing. It was worrying that Umbridge had been able to seize control of Hogwarts so easily.

"I hope she stays indecisive until the last minute. Allows them to play but without the chance to train beforehand." Miles grinned wickedly.

Harry smirked back. "And with a bit of luck we could set a new record."

"Yeah, we'd go down in 'Hogwarts: A History'."

"The new edition would have a green cover in honour of our achievement."

"Less dreaming more training boys!" A loud voice interrupted them from behind and a moment later Graham Montague, Chaser and Captain of the Slytherin team, passed by.

Montague nodded at both of them in greeting, apparently deciding to ignore their earlier altercation... which was more than fine with Harry. He had enough stress in his daily life, he didn't need it on the pitch too.

He followed Miles into the locker room and quickly changed into his Quidditch uniform. When everybody was dressed their Captain stood and the room quieted down.

"Listen up everybody! Two weeks, two weeks until our first game! So far we've taken it pretty easy-"

"Easy? Were we at the same trainings?" Miles whispered but didn't dare look at Harry probably afraid of attracting his Captain's attention.

"- but those days are over now. We are at an advantage because we can train while the Gryffindors are forced to sit on their arses, and I want, I expect, I demand, damn it, that we make this advantage count! Two weeks people! Two weeks! This is my only year as your captain and I want that Quidditch cup to be mine."

"He does know that the cup will be in Snape's office, right?" someone behind them whispered and a few players sniggered, though only until Montague threw them a stern look and signalled them to follow him outside.

When Harry pushed off the ground and soared through the air, he smiled an honest smile for the first time in days. The strong wind pushed against his body, tugged at his clothes and tried to steer him off his chosen direction, and for a moment, he allowed it and the wind tossed him right and left, up and down. He relinquished all responsibility and savoured the feeling of complete and utter freedom, a sensation he only ever found high up in the air.

Hidden under his invisibility cloak, Harry tiptoed up the Grand Staircase. He was nervous… no, more than that. What if they got caught? With Umbridge's new Decree this whole thing had just taken a turn for the serious. More serious than before. Had he made the wrong decision? Should he have waited for the Slytherins to come to their senses?

He shook his head. The Dark Lord had returned. The Ministry was unwilling to teach them. The Slytherins had betrayed him. A war was brewing on the horizon. No, he had to learn how to defend himself, and if signing his name on a list with Longbottom and Co. was what it took, then that's what he had to do. Or had already done, as was the case. He would not leave this school unprepared, that much he knew.

At the end of the third floor corridor was only one door. He'd come across it before, in his first year, when he'd followed Longbottom and his friends into the room with the Three-headed dog. He really hoped the dog had been relocated since then, because honestly, that was a reunion he could do without.

He looked around to make sure that he was still alone and took off his invisibility cloak. Only Theo, Blaise and Tracey knew of its existence and he planned to keep it that way.

The door was closed but opened easily. The room he entered was empty – or at least seemed that way up until the moment a person slipped out of their hiding spot behind a dusty sculpture.

Harry jumped back in alarm, but recognised the witch a moment later. "Bloody hell Granger! Don't do that to me," he said, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

She sniggered. "Did you close the door firmly?"

At Harry's nod she pointed her wand at it. "Colloportus."

The door shuddered and sealed itself with a squelching noise.

"It's usually locked like this. I guess they don't want students running around in unused parts of the castle. Not that they're trying very hard to keep us out, mind you," she said while pulling open the trap door situated in the middle of the room.

"We're the last ones. We try to never be exactly on time. Twenty-eight students coming here at the same time would be too noticeable. To be able to coordinate all of this better, we use fake Galleons." She handed Harry a golden coin, and he turned it in his hand fascinated. On first glance it looked just like any other Galleon.

"How?" he asked.

"Well, on real Galleons the number around the edge of the coin refer to its manufacturer, on our fake ones, the numbers will change according to the date of the next meeting.

"Brilliant," Harry said, honestly impressed. "Who came up with the idea?"

"Me." She smiled proudly. "It's a Protean Charm."

"I've never even heard of that one," Harry said, inspecting the Galleon in more detail. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought it was real.

A sense of relief filled him. This made him much more confident that he could follow through with this without getting caught. It was good to know that the other members took the secrecy of the club just as serious as he did. The fact that he had already learned of a new spell before he even attended his first meeting also put him in a more optimistic mood.

"Did you pocket it? Great. You can climb down first, I'll go second and close the door behind me," Granger said, turning her attention back to the trap door.

"How far down is it?" Harry asked, peering down into the hole that awaited him.

"Quite far actually. The ladder leads down to the dungeons."

Harry stared into the pitch-black nothingness, trying to make out, well… anything.

"Come on, all the others are already there," she urged.

"Yeah, yeah," he said and carefully climbed down the narrow steps of the ladder.

Soon Granger followed, and when she closed the trap door, darkness enveloped them completely.

It felt like they were climbing down forever.

Step… after step… after step.

The further they descended the colder it got. Soon his fingers were clammy, and he was sure if there were any light he'd be able to see his breath. More than once he thought about getting out his wand and casting the Lumos charm, but in the end he decided against it. Climbing while holding his wand was probably a bad idea.

Finally his feet touched solid ground instead of another metal step. A quickly cast Lumos showed him that they were standing in a small chamber. The only ways to leave it were by either climbing up the ladder or by following a narrow path that led into darkness once again.

"You weren't kidding about the dungeons part, were you?" he asked, amazed that they had just climbed down the distance of four storeys on a ladder. In a way he was glad that he hadn't known beforehand just how far he could have fallen.

"Of course not." Hermione dispelled the ladder before casting the Wand-Lighting Charm herself.

She took the lead and he followed her down the dark passage. The air was noticeably damper down here, and as his hand brushed against cold stonewalls, his fingertips dipped into grooves created by water erosion.

"How did you find this place?" This had to be the place they had ended up after slipping past the guard dog in their first year, but he was curious about her own explanation never the less. Also, asking this question was probably expected.

"Oh you know," she said airily. "Neville and Ron always attract trouble. So one day when we were running away from Filch, we found this room. Once the boys saw the trapdoor, they had to find out what was hidden beneath it. That's all there is to it, not a very exciting story, I'm afraid."

He doubted her last statement severely.

The path ended in an equally dark chamber, the only difference was that now the ceiling was too high for the light of a simple Lumos spell to reach it.

It was unsettling not to know what was above him.

A heavy wooden door led into the next room. It looked just like the one before, only twice as big.

"There are five chambers like this. We use the last one. It's the best place we could find. I mean obviously it's not perfect, to get here takes way too long, but on the plus side: Nobody comes here by accident. It's pretty safe as long as we make sure that we don't get followed. That's the most important rule besides not talking about the DA by the way."

She turned to look at him seriously.

"When you come here always make sure that nobody follows you. I don't think we could come up with another place to train if this one were discovered. Not to speak of all the other consequences…" she trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

Harry nodded in agreement.

They passed through two more chambers without speaking another word. The environment didn't get any friendlier. Finally she stopped in front of yet another wooden door and turned around to face Harry.

"We're here. All the others are already inside. Don't expect a warm welcome, with you being a Slytherin and all…"

She grimaced; for a moment she looked as if she were sorry for him but the moment passed quickly and she turned back to the door.

"Alohomora." The door unlocked itself with a loud klick. The noise echoed in the large, empty chamber and made a shiver run down Harry's spine.

The moment Granger pressed the door handle down some sort of silencing charm seemed to break and a cacophony of different voices descended on them.

Harry stepped through the door and his mouth nearly dropped open. The room was big, easily the size of two classrooms and was lit by presumably about fifty torches. To the left side of the room was a narrow passageway, separated from the main chamber through three big archways.

A few members of the DA were sitting there on comfortable looking cushions, reading or talking, while most students were standing around in the main room. They had their wands drawn, but instead of facing each other, their gaze was directed upwards. Harry followed their line of sight.

The ceiling was unbelievably high, and Fred and George Weasley were flying on their brooms, circling each other up in the air. Both had their wands drawn. They raised them in mock attacks several times, swaying left and right on their brooms to avoid curses that never flew.

Harry watched for a few more seconds but nothing exciting happened. Just as he was about to turn away, a blue beam of light shot out of one twin's wand.

His aim held true, the jinx travelled incredibly fast and for a moment even the intended victim looked on flabbergasted. Then, not one second too early, he bent forward, making a somersault on his broom. The small crowd of onlookers cheered as the beam of light sped past him, almost but not quite touching him.

A moment later, instead of hitting the twin, the spell connected with the wall behind him, where several fist-sized stones broke out and fell to the ground.

Both twins somersaulted in the air once more, bathing in the attention. Not for long, though.

"I can't believe it!" Hermione Granger's voice could be heard very clearly and the cheering slowly subsided. Apparently she was well respected in this group.

"Do you want the whole room to come crashing down on us?" She glared at the debris on the ground, then back up at the twins. "I thought we agreed that we couldn't take that risk. Not until we found better protection charms for the walls."

"It's a magical castle Hermione," one twin started.

"And it's not like I used the Reductor Curse," the second one said.

"Yes, it was only a Knockback Jinx, nothing that could bring down the ceiling."

She didn't deign them with a response, only pointed an accusing finger at the hole in the wall.

"Hermione," Ron Weasley, who had been among the spectators, said, looking abashed for reasons Harry did not understand.

"And you!" She rounded in on him, forgetting the twins.

Apparently whatever he had done was even worse than attempting to bring down the ceiling. She had lowered her voice considerably, but Harry could still understand her. "You forgot all about the map, didn't you? It's important that someone keeps an eye on it at all times."

What map?

"I know… I just… And Fred and George…"

When no more details about the mysterious map followed Harry dismissed their conversation as uninteresting and turned back to the other students.

Most of them were staring at him, some bemused, others with varying degrees of hostility.

"So, um… welcome, I guess," said Neville Longbottom. It didn't sound very convincing, but he still held out his hand.

"Thanks for having me." Harry shook it.

It seemed he had passed some sort of test, because many of the students were now smiling tentatively. The hostile looks had disappeared.

Well, almost.

Once the others had returned to reading, chatting or firing hexes at each other, Ron Weasley took a step closer to Harry.

"I don't know what you want here," he said in a low voice, eyeing Harry mistrustfully. "And I don't know what you told Hermione to get in. But I haven't forgotten about this summer. You call her a mudblood again, and I'll make sure to throw you out myself."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Harry smiled pleasantly.


Hope the changes are satisfactory. Yea? Nay?