So, I'm back!...Kind of. Sorry about this, guys. Life's been pretty hectic lately. Everyone always says junior year is hell year, but I'm pretty sure senior is worse in terms of work load. Not to mention actually work. :(
Anyway, done with with my bitching. This thing is short because I wanted to get it out tonight and hopefully the next will be longer. In actuality, I haven't written anything longer than three thousand words recently because I'm doing a portfolio of flash fiction for a scholarship, so I guess this is to be expected. Also, if there are any disconnects between the writing in my last chapters as compared to the writing in this one, or any really awkward tense changes, sorry about that. On top of being short, all my writing lately has been post-modernism. And I've been reading Vonnegut. He is amazing. So it goes.
Disclaimer: Just borrowin'.
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Chapter Ten
"Four butterbeers, please," said Hermione on an afternoon at the end of the month. Ron had been wrong when he guessed the first Hogsmeade trip would be right before Halloween; one came the last week of September.
The bartender rummaged around under the counter before pulling out four dirty bottles, placing them down on the wood with a thunk. He said, "Eight Sickles."
"I'll get them," said Harry before anyone else could offer.
The three headed to the farthest possible table and sat down. Looking at the glass, Kakashi wasn't sure if he really wanted to drink it or not, but after a quick inspection he realized it wasn't really all that dirty—it just looked that way, almost like the bartender didn't want too many people to come in. He took a sip, and relieved to find he was right. Next to him, Ron, who had other ideas, said, "You know what? We could order anything we liked in here, I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try firewhisky—"
"You—are—a—prefect," said Hermione, eyes hardening into a glare.
"Oh," said Ron, enthusiasm leaving him. "Yeah…"
"So, who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" asked Harry.
Hermione answered, "Just a couple of people. I told them to be here about now and I'm sure they all know where it is—oh look, this might be them now."
Then the door opened and a cold draft blew in. Kakashi shivered, still not used to the cold after seven weeks, and was incredibly thankful for the warm scarf around his neck and the gloves on his hands (they were Ginny's present—it seemed everyone but Fred and George understood the concept of usefulness). The sunlight was suddenly blocked as a large group of people suddenly entered.
The first few were Gryffindors—Neville, Dean, Lavender, and Parvati—but they were quickly followed by Padma, Cho, one of her friends, and Luna, all Ravenclaws, which meant this was a meeting consisting of more than just one house. Honestly, Kakashi wasn't expecting that. It seemed like with Umbridge stalking around every corner, finding time for Hermione to have this conversation with anyone from Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff (three he vaguely recognized entered after the Ravenclaw trio) was borderline impossible. And yet somehow she managed to gather twenty-five people, something Kakashi might've been able to pull off, but her doing it was just amazing.
If she was born in Konoha, she would've made an excellent undercover liaison after enough practice.
Harry, looking terrified, turned to Hermione and said, "A couple of people? A couple of people?"
"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," she answered with a smile. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"
None of the new arrivals came straight to the table; Fred went first to the bar and said the bandage-covered man (all these covered faces put Kakashi on edge, but through a quick deduction his first moment, he was relieved to find Umbridge wasn't there), "Hi. Could we have…twenty-five butterbeers, please?" After a short glare from the bartender, which furthered Kakashi's opinion that he liked slow business, he started pulling butterbeers out from under the counter and handing them around. "Cheers. Cough up, everyone, I haven't enough gold for all of these."
After handing over the money—the boy Ginny came in paying for her, he took note of—the group came over and sat down in the multiple chairs Ron brought over, all looking rather cheerful.
"What have you been telling people?" said Harry under the noise of all the talking. "What are they expecting."
"I told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say," said Hermione. "You don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first."
"Hi, Harry," said Neville, taking a seat opposite from him. Twenty-five people. If the castle was attacked some time after Orochimaru was neutralized and he could go back to Konoha, they could have a chance if this went well.
Once everyone settled down, Hermione said, "Er. Well—er—hi."
How very eloquent.
"Well," she continued, "erm…well, you know why you're here. Erm…well, Harry here had the idea—I mean, I had the idea—that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts—and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts—"
"Hear, hear," said a boy, and Hermione instantly gained confidence.
"And by that," she said, "I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory, but the real spells—"
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too, though, I bet?" said another boy Kakashi didn't recognize.
"Of course I do," she answered. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because…because…Because Lord Voldemort's back."
The reaction was like Ron's: there were a few screams, a couple of twitches, multiple shutters, and Neville coughed. Then their eyes zoomed to Harry.
"Well," said Hermione, either not noticing that the focus was off of her or not caring, "that's the plan anyway. If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to—"
"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said yet another boy Kakashi didn't know. Maybe asking Dumbledore for a roster of the school's students in the beginning of the year would've been a good idea.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it—" started Hermione.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," the boy interrupted, disregarding common courtesy entirely.
"Who are you?" asked Ron, the Best Friend face coming on.
"Zacharias Smith," answered the boy, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."
"Look," said Hermione, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about—"
"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said, coming to the same conclusion Kakashi had: to hear the story was the reason most of these people showed up. "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he said, looking at Zacharias. "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."
Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi noticed the bartender listening in. As this was supposed to be private (as as private as possible, since it was somewhat difficult), he quickly sent him a glare, causing the man to avert his eyes.
Zacharias said, "All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed—" Wow, no respect for the dead at all. "—by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered—"
"Ever think he didn't tell you for your sake?" said Kakashi, cutting him and causing the entire table to look at him. For once, he didn't feel uncomfortable, since taking command was something he was used to after leading his own squads for the past three years.
"What're you trying to say?" said Zacharias, which pissed him off, because goddamnit, he was used to respect.
What a jackass.
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Rin.
"I'm not trying to say anything," he answered, crossing his arms and leaning back. "This is me directly telling you that you're being an idiot. From what I've learned even before I came here, there was another war, one that ended fourteen years ago, and Dumbledore was an essential part of it. What does this mean? Your headmaster's seen people die. If he didn't tell you, he did it for your own sake, not because he was withholding information for the sake of holding information."
"He's right," said Harry suddenly, shooting him a grateful look. While Kakashi didn't necessarily believe everything he said, he did know that was a reason, and that in this society and the way it worked, then Dumbledore had the right to keep details for a minimum. Besides, it was no one's business but who Harry chose to tell and the Order's anyway. "If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you. 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."
No one moved; Hermione took over again. "So…" she said. "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," said a girl that, again, he didn't recognize, "that you can produce a Patronus?"
"Yeah," said Harry as the group suddenly piped again with interest.
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"Er—you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" he asked, and the girl smiled.
"She's my auntie," she answered. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So—is it true? You make a stag Patronus?"
"Yes."
"Blimey Harry!" said Lee. "I never knew that!"
"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred. "She said you got enough attention as it was."
"She's not wrong," he said, causing a few people to laugh.
Suddenly, everyone seemed to have a question. A boy whose name Kakashi was pretty sure was Terry Boot said, "And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office? That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year…"
"Er—year, I did, yeah."
"And in our first year," said Neville, "he saved the Sorcerous Stone—"
Kakashi held down a snicker; Hermione whispered, "Sorcerer's!"
"Yes, that, from You-Know-Who."
"And that's not to mention," said Cho, "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year—getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantuals and things…"
What the hell was an acromantual? The table was filled with excited murmurs.
"Look," he said, causing everyone to settle down again, "I…I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but…I had a lot of help with all that stuff…"
"Not with the dragon, you didn't," said Terry Boot's friend. "That was some seriously cool bit of flying…"
"Year, well—"
"And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer," said Susan.
"No," said Harry, face flushing, "no, okay, I know I did bits without help, but the point I'm trying to make is—"
"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias.
"Here's an idea," said Ron, obviously offended by the word weasel, "why don't you shut your mouth?"
Several people laughed, and Zacharias' face turned bright red.
"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him, and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it."
"That's not what he said," defended Fred as his twin pulled out a deadly-looking metal rod from a bag.
"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" he asked, brandishing the metal thing.
"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred.
"Yes, well," said Hermione, ending the argument before it could really start, "moving on…the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?" George put the metal thing away. "Right," she continued. "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—"
Angelia said, "Hang on, we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."
"No," agreed Cho, "nor with ours."
"Nor ours," said Zacharias, but everyone ignored him.
"How about a rotating schedule?" said Kakashi, looking to Hermione.
She smiled. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea," she said. "I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone. But you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters—"
"Well said!" Again, Kakashi didn't recognize the boy who said it, but he was pretty sure he was a Ravenclaw. "Personally, I think this is really important, possible more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our O.W.L.s coming up!" He paused, but no one said anything, not even Hermione. "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Minister has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is actively preventing us from using defensive spells—"
"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts is that she's got some…some made idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army," said Hermione. "She thinks he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."
Everyone but Luna appeared completely shocked by this, but she just said, "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."
"What?" said Harry.
"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," she answered.
"Fire horses?" said Kakashi, confused before he could stop himself, causing everyone to look at him. "What?" he said. "In the Japanese-English dictionary I learned from, it said that the root 'helio' comes from the Helios, the Greek god of the Sun, and 'path' comes—somehow—from something with the Greek god of the sea whose name I can't remember. If you put the two roots together, you get fire horses."
"That—that's right," said Hermione, surprised. "That what it would mean, but that doesn't mean Fudge has got an army of them."
"Yes, he has," Luna snapped in a very un-Luna-like way.
"They don't exist," said Hermione.
"Oh yes they do!"
Then Ginny did a near-perfect imitation of Umbridge's throat-clearing thing, causing several people to look around in fear before realizing the woman wasn't there and dissolving into laughter. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defense lessons?" she said ending the logical versus illogical debate.
"Yes," said Hermione, "yes, we were, you're right…"
"Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee.
"As long as—" started Angelina before Hermione cut her off.
"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," said Hermione. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet."
"Library?" said Katie after a long pause.
"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," answered Harry.
"Maybe an unused classroom?" said Dean.
Ron brightened at this. "Yeah, he said, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Triwizard…"
Personally, Kakashi couldn't much see Minerva allowing this, but he wasn't going to comment.
"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," said Hermione. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."
"Discreetly," said Kakashi firmly, looking Hermione straight in the face to remind her of their agreement. "Going around to each person'll probably cause Umbridge to notice. No one approach each other's tables; we'll circulate the information through a chain or something."
"Yes," said Hermione as she pulled a parchment and quill from her bag. "I-I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge—or anybody else—what we're up to."
Without any prompting at all, Fred grabbed the quill and put down his signature. Not everyone seemed so enthusiastic about it; Kakashi wasn't either, but he was pretty much positive Hermione had some idea behind it. She was too smart not to.
Zacharias said, "Er…Well, I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."
"I—well, we are prefects," Ernie said. "And if this list was found…well, I mean to say…you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out…"
And this was why the boy wasn't a Gryffindor.
"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," said Harry.
"I—yes," he said, "yes, I do believe that, it's just…"
"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" said Hermione, annoyed.
"No. No, of course not. I—yes, of course I'll sign."
Ernie's consent seemed to erase any other hesitations and one by one, everyone signed their name (Zacharias was last, naturally). Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it into her bag.
"Well," said Fred, "time's ticking on. George, Lee, and I have got some items of sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you later."
Group by group the crowd left; Cho, leaving last, took a moment to wave goodbye to Harry.
"Well, I think that went quiet well," said Hermione as the four of them exited. "Come on, now, we promised Kakashi we'd show him the sweet shop."
"That Zacharias bloke's a wart," said Ron as they led Kakashi off in the direction of the shop.
"I don't like him much either," said Hermione, "but he overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table and he seemed really interesting in coming, so what could I say? But the more people the better really—I mean Michael Corner and his friends wouldn't have come if he hadn't been going out with Ginny—"
This news apparently came as a surprise to Ron, who gagged on his butterbeer.
"He's WHAT?" said Ron, ears going red. "She's going out with—my sister's going—what d'you mean, Michael Corner?"
"Well," said Hermione, "that's why he and his friends came, I think—well, they're obviously interested in learning defense, but if Ginny hadn't told Michael what was going on—"
"When did this—when did she?" Ginny and Ron were siblings, why didn't he know this?
"They met at the Yule Ball and they got together at the end of the year," she answered as they reached a shop. "Hmm…I could do with a new quill. Kakashi, do you mind waiting?"
With a shrug, he answered, "Sure. We've got time."
"Which one was Michael Corner?" asked Ron as they entered.
"The dark one."
"I don't like him."
"Big surprise."
"But," said Ron, "I thought Ginny fancied Harry!"
Well, that meeting was interesting, said Rin, and Kakashi tuned out the conversation.
I guess you could say that.
You jumped to Harry's rescue, I noticed.
Are you planning to point out every time I show the fact that I actually like them?
It's fun!
Yeah, well, not for me.
They're leaving.
Yes, I know. I have eyes.
Bye?
Yeah. Bye, Rin.
His friend left and he exited the store along with the others. Ron and Hermione were still bickering, and for once it felt familiar rather than annoying. Kakashi looked around at the small village and smiled slightly, because he recognized with familiarity the forgotten feelings of having friends.
And this time, he'd try not to fuck it up.
.
"To see you—look at this!"
It was the Monday after the Hogsmeade visit, and the boys had entered the common room to find Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four—all student societies needed to be proved. This being a coincidence was a very slim chance, and Kakashi's first thought mirrored Ron; it was Zacharias Smith. Of course, he doubted Hermione would let anything like that happen, but it was possible that he was overestimating her. And if he'd been right, then how the hell did Umbridge find out?
Goddamnit, he was the one who gave them permission, which meant this was all his fault.
"Someone must have blabbed to her!" Ron said furiously, glare turned to Hermione rather than the board.
"They can't have done," she said, rereading the notice.
"You're so naïve," said Ron, glare intensifying, "you think just because you're all honorable and trustworthy—"
"No, they can't have done because I put a jinx on the piece of parchment we all signed," she said, thankfully brushing off the argument before it could start. "Believe me, if anyone's run off and told Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are and they will really regret it."
Well, at least he wasn't wrong about her. "What'll happen to them?" asked Ron.
"Well, put it this way," she answered, "it'll make Eloise Midgen's acne look like a couple of cute freckles. Come on, let's get down to breakfast and see what the others think…I wonder whether this has been put up in all the Houses?"
When they entered the Great Hall, they saw the answer without even having to ask. Groups of students clumped together throughout the tables, all talking in their separate huddles. Umbridge sat up at the teacher's table, looking satisfied and superior, which wasn't reassuring in the slightest. Still, her eyes didn't gravitate to Harry's at all, instead surveying the room as a whole. And as soon as the four took their seats, the Gryffindors who met in the pub swarmed them. He managed one last glance up at the teacher's table before Fred blocked his view.
"Did you see it?" he asked immediately, sliding into the seat next him.
"D'you reckon he knows?" said Ginny.
Neville's face was paler than usual. He asked, "What are we going to do?"
All eyes were turned to Harry; Kakashi looked quickly to Umbridge, and found that she still wasn't focusing on their group. Yes, it was possible that it really was just a coincidence. The notice did say teams, too, so it was possible she wanted a specific Quidditch team disbanded for one reason or another (probably Gryffindor), but something still wasn't sitting right. If no one in their group told, then there might've been someone else in the pub who reported it to the Ministry. But then why not antagonize them directly? This didn't seem like a normal Umbridge action.
After a moment, Kakashi said, "Let's get out of before people ignore what I said and start heading over." Already, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Zacharias stand up from his table, because hell, if anyone was going to being an idiot, it was naturally him.
"But food!" said Ron, who stood up along with the other three anyway.
"We'll go to the kitchens," Harry said and they left. Neville, Dean, Ginny, and the twins turned back into a huddle, whispering. Ron nodded as they exited, narrowly avoiding a very angry-looking Zacharias Smith.
"I—" began Hermione, but she was quickly cut off by a shout of, "Harry! Ron!"
Angelina ran up to them, with a face on like she just saw someone die. "It's okay," Harry said, completely missing the fact that this definitely wasn't about learning Defense. "We're still going to—"
"You realize she's including Quidditch in this?" Angelina asked, and Kakashi wasn't particularly surprised. "We have to go and ask permission to re-form the Gryffindor team!"
"What?" said Harry.
"No way," said Ron, eyes going wide.
Frantically, she answered, "You read the sign, it mentions teams too! So listen, Harry…I am saying this for the last time…Please, please don't lose your temper with Umbridge again or she might not let us play anymore!"
"Okay, okay," said Harry quickly. "Don't worry, I'll behave myself…I haven't gotten detention since the first week…"
She nodded and turned away without goodbye, shoulders quivering slightly and not looking particularly steady on her feet.
"Bet Umbridge is in History of Magic," said Ron, looking nearly as shaken as Angelina. "She hasn't inspected Binns yet…Bet you anything she's there…"
Luckily, Umbridge wasn't there; History of Magic was as boring as usual. Next to him, Hermione was fidgeting, and Ron and Harry both just sort of stared blankly down at their desks. Other students were like that, too, which meant Umbridge's mind games were already working. Eventually, Harry succumbed to Binns' monotone and laid his head in his arms.
About fifteen minutes into the period, a piece of parchment was shoved in front of him. He looked to Hermione, confused, because he doubted Binns would care if they started whispering. Her eyes flicked to the paper before she went back to taking notes. When he opened it, he almost immediately dropped it out of surprise because it read,
I need you to help Harry teach.
Why? he wrote back.
After a minute passed, the parchment was back in front of him.
Before you say anything, no, none of us will tell anything to anyone. It's just that you know more practical things. I think that a lot of people coming still aren't fully aware or don't believe what's going on and I don't know how fit Harry is to tell them. I bet he'll be an excellent teacher, but he just doesn't know how to talk about certain things.
Unfortunately, that made sense even to him. Though Kakashi was good at a lot of things, public speaking wasn't one of them. Actually, he was completely horrible at public speaking. It was naturally, he guessed, because he social issues were already so bad that talking in front of a crowd was never going to be easily. Hopefully in front of twenty-five he'd be okay and he sort of had to bad since this inevitably went along with the philosophy of protecting them by teaching them to protect themselves. Still, this was going to hurt.
Fine, he answered, scribbling with the quill Ron had gotten him. I'll figure out a way without giving anything away.
After she read it, she sent him a relieved smile that almost made this worth it. So maybe this was just a persona that was good at everything he wasn't, but maybe he'd also let enough slip that they liked the real him too, which was a lot more than he could say for other people.
And Kakashi was surprisingly okay with this.