A/N: Yes, most of the dialogue comes straight from OoP. As it is considered canon, I didn't touch it but simply tried to write my character in. Tell me if it's awful.
"Luna are you sure?" Isabella struggled through the snow behind Luna. They were in Hogsmede and it was cold. Isabella didn't like the cold.
"Yes. See, there's Ginny up ahead," Luna pointed to a girl with flaming red hair. She was accompanied by a Hufflepuff boy named Zacharias Smith.
"Bella!" They turned and saw Cho Chang running up the path toward them. A girl with freckles and very curly red hair followed, looking bored and disdainful. Isabella recognized her as Marietta Edgecomb, one of Cho's friends.
Together the four Ravenclaws walked along the side street and entered the grimy Hog's Head Pub.
There was a huge group of people inside: Padma Patil and her twin Parvati, Colin and Dennis Creevy, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Ginny, Fred, George, Lee Jordan, Zacharias Smith, and four or five others Isabella didn't recognize.
At the front of the pub stood Hermione Granger, another red-haired Weasley boy, and Harry Potter.
Fred and George ordered twenty-six Butterbeers. Isabella took out her purse and paid enough money for four. She liked doing that, partly out of goodwill and partly out of the enjoyment of seeing three other people's surprise.
Isabella sat down and Luna drifted over to her.
"You know, it's the funniest thing," Luna mentioned. "Every time we go out, someone always messes up the bill." Isabella frowned, slightly put-out by Luna's observation. The other Ravenclaws, Terry, Anthony, Cho, Marrietta, and (to her supreme annoyance) Michael, settled down around her.
Isabella O'Reagan really was very popular. She was, for the most part, quiet and kind. The boys flocked to her because of her pretty features. She was intelligent, but not formidably so, and had the added quality of being foreign born. She was Italian, living in England since her mother worked in the English Ministry of Magic.
"Looks like we're spending our Saturday together after all," Michael smiled, edging his chair a little closer.
"Only because Terry made you come," Isabella hissed, and turned away as everyone went quiet. Every eye was on Harry.
"Well - er - hi," Hermione began. Everyone turned their attention to her instead. "Well...erm...well, you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here had the idea - I mean, I had the idea - that it might me good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts - and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us - because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts-"
"Hear, hear," Terry Boot chimed in. Isabella smiled at him, causing the older boy to blush slightly.
"Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands," Hermione continued, looking heartened. "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spells -"
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" Michael Corner added, glancing hopefully at Isabella. She did not even dane to give him a glance.
"Of course I do," Hermione said at once. "But more than that, I want to be properly trained because... because..." she took a great breath and finished, "because Lord Voldemort is back."
Marrietta shrieked and slopped Butterbeer down her front; Anthony Goldstien gave a kind of involuntary twitch; Padma Patil shuddered.
"Well said," Isabella spoke up firmly. She cast an acid look at Michael who visibly withered. Hermione looked at the Ravenclaw gratefully.
"Well... that's the plan anyway," said Hermione. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to -"
"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" Zacharias Smith asked. Isabella noted, from his hand twined around Ginny's, that the Hufflepuff had replaced Michael in the Griffindor's affections.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it -" Hermione began.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," Zacharias said, nodding at Harry. There was a brief, heated exchange between Zacharias and Harry.
"I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out," Harry said. Isabella slipped her arm around Cho's waist and gave it a comforting squeeze. The older girl said nothing, but leaned into the welcoming embrace.
"So," said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. "So... like I was saying... if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet and where we're going to -"
"Is it true," interrupted Susan Bones, looking at Harry, "That you can cast a Patronus?" There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.
"Yeah," Harry said, slightly defensively.
"A corporeal Patronus?" Susan insisted.
"Yes," said Harry.
"Blimey, Harry!" said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"
"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."
"She's not wrong," mumbled Harry. Isabella and a few other people laughed at this.
"And did you kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot. "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year..."
"Er - yeah, I did yeah," said Harry. While people whistled softly or exchanged awed glances, Isabella tapped Terry on the shoulder.
"What were you doing in Dumbledore's office?" she asked, her dark eyes sparkling. Terry blushed even more and mumbled something incoherent.
"And in our first year," Neville was saying to the group at large, "He saved that Philological Stone - "
"Philosopher's," hissed Hermione.
"Yes, that - from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.
"And that's not to mention," said Cho who was looking at Harry and smiling. "All the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year - getting past dragons and merpeople and Acromantula and things..."
"Hey," Michael whispered hopefully to Isabella, inspired by Terry's Dumbledore story. "I got into detention this week!"
"I'm not surprised," she said coldly, turning away from him firmly and looking back toward Harry.
"Look," he said. "I... I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest out anything, but... I had a lot of help with all that stuff..."
"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias.
"I'll turn you into a weasel, so help me!" Isabella said, standing and pulling out her wand. Zacharias yelped and tried to hide behind Ginny, knowing that the Ravenclaw really could and really would keep that threat.
"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it," he said from behind Ginny, who looked slightly disgusted by him.
"That's not what he's saying," snarled Fred.
"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" enquired George, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument form inside one of the Zonko's bags.
"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred. Zacharias looked from the twins to Isabella, and kept his mouth clamped shut.
"Yes, well," said Hermione hastily. "Moving on... the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons form Harry?" There was a murmur of general agreement.
"Right," said Hermione, looking relieved that something had at last been settled. "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week -"
"Hold on," said the girl Isabella recognized as the captain of the Griffindor Quidditch team. "We need to make sure this doesn't interfere with our Quidditch practice."
"No," said Cho, "nor with ours." Isabella sat down at last, nodding vehemently.
"Nor ours," added Zacharias, sensing a threat had passed.
"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," said Hermione, slightly impatiently. "But you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters -"
"Well said!" barked Ernie Macmillan. "Personally, I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up!" This was the second mention of OWLs, and Isabella now realized that she, Luna, Colin, and Dennis were the youngest people there. Almost the entire group consisted of fifth years, people in Harry's year.
Ernie was going on about how useless a teacher Umbridge was, and what on earth Fudge could have been thinking making Dumbledore hire her.
"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione. "Is that she's got some... some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."
Everybody looked stunned at this news, except Luna who piped up, "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army." When everyone turned to look at Luna in astonishment, Isabella groaned.
"What?" said Harry, his mouth slightly open.
"Luna, please," Isabella begged her friend. "Not the Heliopaths thing again." But Luna could not be stopped.
"He has," she insisted, her protuberant eyes wider so that she looked slightly mad. Well, madder than normal. "They're spirits of fire, great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of -"
"They don't exist," said Hermione tartly.
"Oh, yes, they do!" said Luna angrily. Isabella gestured for Hermione to back out of this argument, mouthing, "You can't win." God knows she, Alex, and Morgan had tried.
"Hem, hem," Ginny coughed, in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and have a defense lessons?"
Then followed a discussion about where to hold the lessons, then Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment.
"I - I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath. "That we all ought to agree not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're up to."
Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully wrote his name down. A few people were not so happy about signing their names.
"Er..." said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying to pass to him. "Well... I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is." Zacharias was stopped a sharp jab in the middle of his back. Isabella stood there, her wand digging into his spine and a murderous look in her eye.
"Okay, okay," Zacharias said, practically tearing the parchment in his haste. Isabella took the paper next and looked up at Hermione.
"Full name?" she asked. Hermione nodded and Isabella put down her signature with a flourish.
As people began to leave, Isabella stayed behind with Luna.
"I was wondering, you said to tell nobody else," the Ravenclaw said. "But Luna and I have a few friends who might be interested."
"Yes, Alex and Morgan would love to have extra lessons," Luna agreed, glaring at Hermione.
"Well, I suppose so," Hermione said, looking over at Harry. "If you trust them that is." Isabella nodded happily and left with Luna, passing an impatient Marrietta. As the door closed behind them, Isabella could be heard soothing Luna and assuring her that her theory about Heliopaths just wasn't very well known.
"Check it out," Ron said, looking over the parchment. "Twenty six, not bad, eh?" Hermione took the parchment and skimmed over it.
"Good lord!" she breathed, pointing to the fourth name down. It read, in fancy curling script: Isabella Petrroci O'Reagan.
"What's a Petrrocis?" Ron asked.
"Not what: who. They're the most famous pure-blood wizarding family in Italy!" Hermione said breathlessly.
"Pure-blood?" Harry asked, slightly unnerved.
"They're not prejudice," Hermione assured him. "But Old Leonardo Petrroci practically has the Italian Ministry of Magic in his pocket. His daughter... Merlin's Beard! Leonardo must be Isabella's grandfather! Her mother is the Italian ambassador to the English ministry!"
"And that makes her mum... how powerful?" Ron asked as they left the bar.
"She makes all of Italy's decisions concerning England," Hermione said. "If she wanted, there could be a war between the two countries."
"So... powerful," Ron concluded.