Hi everybody.
Once again sorry for the delay, but I was away from home and had no way to post something.
Also, I'm afraid that I won't be able to update for the next three weeks at least, because I'm on holidays in Croatia (Once again without technology... running around with a tent in the backback, you know?)
I hope you keep up with the Reviews, even if I won't be able to respond at the moment if someone has a question.
Really, they give my imagination a boost and when I come back from my vacation and see that I've got lots of reviews I'll be in heaven!
Thanks to my beta knitchick as always.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Enjoy!
Chapter 21
Harry grimaced slightly as he looked at the five new bruises on his chest. Somehow he always lost feathers when he flashed in his Phoenix form.
They were currently training in the Room of Requirement, and in the dueling section of the room Hermione was firing curses at some training dummies and dodging and jumping to avoid some of the reflected curses.
Neville was sitting in the library part, busy with his animagus transformation even if he wasn't very successful at the moment, because he wasn't really sure what he would become. Harry could see that he had his eyes closed at the moment and seemed to be meditating to try and see his animal form.
Ron was flying around over the replica of Hogsmeade in his red Phoenix form, and occasionally Harry could see tiny flames dancing around on his feathers – a sign that he was also trying to flash around and nearly had the hang of it.
Harry looked over towards the potions lab section where Draco was. He seemed to be in heaven there and Harry just shook his head. He couldn't really understand how somebody could be that good at brewing every potion he got his hands on.
Harry knew he could brew potions that where necessary for survival or essential for their training. Like Pepper-Up-Potion, the Animagi-Potion, Healing Potions and even Skele-Grow and Polyjuice. He could even do some venomous potions and exploding potions that worked like a hand granate, but he didn't need them at the moment, did he? And he was proud to say that he could rival Snape with the potions he could do.
He shook his head. But Draco… was currently brewing the Wolfsbane Potion for Merlin's sake! Something even Snape had to be careful with – and he had invented it!
With a sigh Harry vanished his slightly bloody shirt and waved his wand over the bruises, which slowly but surely disappeared. If this goes on I'll be a naked Phoenix by the time I'm finally able to flash without complications, he thought as he headed over to the second part of the dueling section where some training dummies for hand-to-hand combat stood.
He had fought the animated dummy for fifteen minutes before Hermione called them all over to the library section.
"We've got homework to do," she said. "We've got Potions tomorrow and have to look for some Anti-Venoms."
They all slowly finished what they were doing and Ron landed with a 'thud' on the sofa. He had transformed back a little too early it seemed, and did a little free fall.
Draco carefully stirred the Wolfsbane Potion and turned the fire off before he put the cauldron in a cupboard that resembled a Muggle refrigerator.
Harry flopped down on the sofa and immediately a book about Venoms and Anti-Venoms flew from the shelves over to him. He sighed happily. A library like this was sure something. He no longer spent hours searching for a single book.
They all sat in silence for a while as they were busy taking notes and copying drawings of specific ingredients.
"I was wondering," Hermione said suddenly, "whether you'd thought any more about helping the other students."
Draco set his book aside and Harry put his quill down before stretching his limbs. Neville and Ron also looked up from their work with curious expressions.
"Course we have," said Draco carefully and cracked his neck. "But…"
Harry did not answer at once. He pretended to be perusing a page of Asiatic Anti-Venoms because he still wasn't really sure if it was a good idea.
He had given the matter a great deal of thought and talked possibilities with Draco and even with Nicolas. At times it seemed like an insane idea, just as it had on the night Hermione had proposed it, but at others, he found himself thinking about the spells that they could teach without having all that much to worry about.
"Well," he said slowly, when he could no longer pretend to find Asiatic Anti-Venoms interesting, "Draco and I talked a little bit about it…"
"And?" said Hermione eagerly.
"I dunno," said Harry frowning and looked at each of them.
"I thought it was a good idea from the start," said Neville hesitantly. "It's only fair."
Draco shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "You know that it could bring us a whole lot of trouble, don't you?"
"Yes," said Hermione gently, "but all the same, there's no point trying to tell them that Voldemort's back then. It won't do them any good if they can't defend themselves. And they all know that you, Harry, are good in Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Harry snorted. "Course I am… I'm learning the Dark Arts for Merlin's sake! And so are you."
"He has a point there," Ron threw in.
"Hush, you be quiet," said Hermione softly and turned back to Harry. "You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Corporeal Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said -"
Harry rolled his eyes and gave Hermione a teasing smile. "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"
"Funny," sighed Hermione in a bored voice and swatted his arm. "He said you knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang. And that was last year."
Ron was looking at Hermione suspiciously. "You're not still in contact with him, are you?"
"So what if I am?" said Hermione coolly and Harry took her hand so that she wouldn't blow up on him. "I can have a pen-pal if I-"
"He didn't only want to be your pen-pal," said Ron accusingly and Harry raised his eyebrows.
"Ron, don't you think its Hermione's business who she's writing to?"
Ron looked at Harry in disbelief. "But she's your girlfriend. How can you be so calm about her hooking up with-"
"Shut up!" snapped Harry coolly and looked him in the eyes. "It's neither yours, nor my business. So don't even try to argue about it."
"But she and Krum… she may be ch-"
"Ron… I have faith in Hermione, so don't you dare finish that sentence!" said Harry his voice growing in volume and his hand itching to take his wand.
"Ron, what's wrong with you?" asked Neville quietly. "You're not acting like yourself."
Hermione huffed and slammed her book shut. "Oh yes, he's acting like himself. Just like the prat he is! He's accusing me of cheating on Harry! That is just the tip of the iceberg!"
"I… I just… I didn't mean it like that…," stuttered Ron. "I'm just worried about you. Durmstrang is a school for Dark Arts and Krum was at that school."
Hermione stood up to put her book onto the shelf, which she normally didn't need to do because of magic. She disappeared behind the shelves and Harry sighed.
Neville also sighed and looked at Ron with a frown. "Listen to yourself. You're saying that everyone who's learning the Dark Arts is bad."
"But they are!" insisted Ron and then groaned and sunk deeper into his chair. "Damn… we're learning them ourselves…"
"So your point is?" asked Draco with a raised eyebrow, sounding bored.
Harry, who meanwhile had put his list with Anti-Venoms in his bag, looked up and then asked with a calm voice. "You fancy Hermione, don't you?"
Ron started to splutter incoherently and his eyes widened slightly, "How… why d'you… I don't…"
"Just answer the damn question!" said Harry, a little louder now.
"I… Harry… please don't be mad… no… yes, I think so… but… yeah…," answered the redhead very quietly and his cheeks colored slightly.
"I'm going to be blunt Ron," replied Harry when Hermione slowly came over to them again.
Ron cowered slightly in his seat, but Harry noted that the redhead didn't look away. A good sign at least.
"Forget it," Harry said then. "Hermione and I are together. You're my best mate and I trust you with my life, but Hermione's someone I'd die and even kill for. To tell you the truth… you're no exception there," Ron gulped and Harry looked over to Hermione who had stopped to browse through the shelves. "She's the best thing that's happened to me in the last three years and I really hope it lasts. So it's pointless for you to hold onto your crush."
Ron was silent, but nodded after a short while.
Hermione took her seat again and shook her head exasperatedly, ignoring Ron, who was looking at her and then at the ground over and over again.
She turned to Harry and Draco. "Well, what d'you think? Are we going to help the others?"
"About how many people are we talking here?" Draco wanted to know.
"Well," said Hermione who was putting one of her parchments into her bag now. "I really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against Voldemort. It doesn't seem fair if we don't offer the chance to other people."
Draco rubbed his head. "Did you already talk about it with someone?"
"Um…," Hermione hesitated. "I talked to Ginny and Luna Lovegood about it... you know? The Ravenclaw girl we've met on the train."
Harry and Draco once again looked at each other.
"Well, we could talk to all those who want your help during the next Hogsmeade weekend," suggested Neville frowning. "It's the second weekend in October."
"Why do we have to do it outside school?" asked Ron, apparently having found the courage to talk again.
"Because," said Hermione, returning to the diagram of the Chinese Chomping Cabbage she was now copying, "I don't think Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up to."
"Yeah…," said Draco slowly. "So we're playing teachers. That'll be interesting when someone's coming."
******
The morning of the Hogsmeade visit dawned bright but windy. After breakfast they queued up in front of Filch, who matched their names to the long list of students who had permission from their parent or guardian to visit the village.
When Harry reached Filch, the caretaker gave a great sniff as though trying to detect a whiff of something from Harry, who wrinkled his nose in disgust. Then Filch gave a curt nod that set his jowls aquiver again and Harry walked on, out on to the stone steps and the cold, sunlit day.
"Er - why was Filch sniffing you?" asked Ron perplexed, as the five of them set off at a brisk pace down the wide drive to the gates.
"D'you think he wanted a taste of you?" asked Hermione teasingly and Harry paled.
"That's just wrong…," shuddered Draco and Harry nodded furiously.
They walked between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars and turned left on to the road into the village, the wind whipping their hair into their eyes.
"So Hermione, where are we going, anyway?" asked Neville. "The Three Broomsticks?"
"Oh - no," said Hermione, "no, it's always packed and really noisy. I've told the others to meet us in the Hog's Head, that other pub, you know the one, it's not on the main road. I think it's a bit… you know… dodgy… but students don't normally go in there, so I don't think we'll be overheard."
"Are you nuts?" asked Harry and Hermione stared at him slightly offended.
"Why?" she asked.
"You want to go to the Hog's Head? Then you can just ship us over to Azkaban, it'll make things easier," said Draco who looked annoyed because the wind was ruining his styled hair.
"Why?" asked Hermione once more, this time stopping and putting her hands on her hips. "It's perfect. There will be no other students."
Harry nodded and gently took her hand so that they could start walking again. "Maybe there won't be any other students, but the Hog's Head… it's full of dark wizards and there's usually an Auror in disguise inside. Not to mention that there's probably a member of the Order in there now, too."
"But there's no other place we could meet and those who know about it will all be waiting there." answered Hermione.
Harry sighed and then looked at Draco. "Would you be so kind? He always liked you better than me… even if I don't know why."
Draco shrugged and smirked over his shoulder as he quickened his pace. "It's just that I'm able to have a civilized conversation. This usually makes people like me more."
"Gee, I wish you luck," snorted Harry. "Having a conversation with you is often as interesting as talking to a doorknob."
Draco threw him a mild glare and then disappeared behind a corner.
"What's he doing?" asked Neville, curiously.
"He's talking to the owner of the Hog's Head. He's not very… friendly, but you can count on him. If everything goes smoothly, the pub will be empty while we're there. And listening-devices won't be a problem anymore."
"Damn… you know everybody, don't you?" asked Ron impressed.
Harry shook his head and drove a hand trough his hair. "Nope, just the people that can be of use to me."
"You know what?" chuckled Hermione. "That just sounded an awfully lot like Snape."
"Yeah," nodded Neville with a smile. "So slytherin-ish."
"That's not even a word," said Ron frowning, and Neville shrugged.
They walked down the main street past Zonko's Joke Shop, where they were not surprised to see Fred, George and Lee Jordan; past the post office, from which owls issued at regular intervals, and turned up a side-street at the top of which stood a small inn. A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door, with a picture of a wild boar's severed head leaking blood on to the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. Hermione, Neville and Ron hesitated outside the door.
"Well, come on," said Harry and led them inside.
It was not at all like the Three Broomsticks, whose large bar gave an impression of gleaming warmth and cleanliness. The Hog's Head bar comprised one small, dingy and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats.
The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first glance to be compressed earth, but Harry knew that it was a stone floor with the accumulated filth of centuries.
The room was completely empty, except for Draco standing on the counter.
"So you're sure you want us to teach someone?" he asked when they went over to him. "This'll mean more work for you too, because we have to double your training to stay on the schedule."
"Yes," answered Hermione. Neville and Ron nodded. "And I've looked up everything I can think of about study groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed. I just don't think it's a good idea if we parade what we're doing."
"Really now?" said Harry dryly. "But it's not exactly a homework group we're starting here."
The barman sidled towards them out of a back room. He was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long grey hair and beard. He was tall and thin, just like Harry remembered him.
"What?" he grunted and Harry grinned.
"Five Butterbeers please," said Hermione.
The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up five very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar.
"Make it four Butterbeers," said Harry and gave one bottle back "I'd like to have a Gillywater."
"Three," yawned Draco. "I'll take a Gillywater too."
"But that's illegal," chided Hermione. "You're underage."
"Nope, we aren't." smirked Harry. "We're over sixteen. We're old enough to do magic outside of school, so we're old enough to drink."
"Nine sickles," said the bartender and Harry chuckled.
"I'll get them," he said, passing over the silver and leaning forward. "Don't always be so grumpy Abe. It's not good for your health."
"Shut it brat!" was the reply and the man disappeared in the back room once more.
Harry, Draco, Neville, Ron and Hermione retreated to the table in the corner, where they could see the whole pub, and sat down.
"So, who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" Harry asked, sipping at the Gillywater and licking his lips happily.
"Just a couple of people," Hermione said, checking her watch and then looking at Harry.
"We're doomed," whispered Draco in Harry's ear and he nodded slowly while eying his girlfriend.
"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."
The door of the pub had opened. A thick band of dusty sunlight split the room in two for a moment and then vanished, blocked by the incoming rush of a crowd of people.
First came Dean and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati Patil, Cho and one of her usually-giggling girlfriends, then (on her own and looking so dreamy she might have walked in by accident) Luna Lovegood, then Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson and Colin and Dennis Creevey.
"Isn't he a second year?" asked Neville pointing at the last one.
It was Ron who answered. "I bet Fred and George had something to do with that."
After them came Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones, then two Ravenclaw boys Harry was pretty sure were called Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner. Then Ginny, closely followed by a tall skinny blond boy with an upturned nose whom Harry recognized vaguely as being a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and, bringing up the rear, Lee Jordan.
Harry's eyebrows however shot up then he saw who entered next. Granted, first came Fred and George, carrying Zonko bags, but after them came Padma, Terry, Hannah, and then Harry grinned. Blaise, followed by Daphne, came in. So everyone (the first years excluded) in the Phoenix house was there.
"Potter?" asked Blaise. "There are three people waiting outside… may they come in?"
Harry shrugged and Blaise disappeared shortly.
"I don't believe it!" said Draco sounding surprised, but happy.
Harry grinned when he saw Blaise, now followed by Theodore Nott, Adrian Pucey and a girl he hadn't met before.
"It's Astoria Greengrass," whispered Draco. "She's Daphne's little sister, a third-year."
"Um… that's a lot of people," said Neville dryly when he looked around.
"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione happily, "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"
"Hi," said Fred, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly, "could we have… twenty-seven Butterbeers, please?"
The barman, Abe, glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably as though he had been interrupted in something very important, and started passing up dusty Butterbeers from under the bar. Harry had to chuckle at this.
"You're right," said Draco. "Abe really needs to loosen up."
"Cheers," said Fred, handing the bottles out. "Cough up, everyone; I haven't got enough gold for all of these…"
"I guess we should write a will, each of us…," muttered Harry and once again sipped on his Gillywater. "This many people just can't be good…"
"What have you been telling people?" asked Draco and looked at Hermione who gulped. "What are they expecting?"
"I just told them we want to learn Defense," said Hermione.
Harry meanwhile was looking around. Cho had just smiled at him and sat down on Ron's right. He tilted his head, but she really seemed to have understood that he didn't want to be more than friends.
His eyes travelled to her friend, who had curly reddish-blonde hair and gave Harry a thoroughly mistrustful look which plainly told him that, given her way, she would not be here at all.
He narrowed his eyes. 'She's up to something… isn't she?'
When all the people were seated they looked expectantly at Harry. But he remained silent and seemed to ignore all of them while staring into his drink.
"Er," said Hermione slightly nervous. "Glad you all could come."
The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to dart back regularly to Harry and occasionally to Draco.
"Well you all know why you're here. 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. Well, I thought it would be good if we took matters into our own hands."
She paused, looked sideways at Harry, who still ignored everything around him, and went on, "And I don't mean just theory, but practicing also."
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" said Michael Corner, who was watching her closely.
"Yes, but not only that," said Hermione "I, no, we want to be properly trained in Defense because Voldemort's back."
The reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho's friend shrieked and slopped Butterbeer down herself which finally brought forth a reaction from Harry, who chuckled slightly.
Draco leaned over to him. "Anyone we should throw out?"
Harry put his glass down and looked through the room now that everyone was looking at him. Then he looked back at Draco and used the telepathic link. 'If they really want to train, I will sort it out.'
"Well…," 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?" said the blond Hufflepuff player in a rather aggressive voice.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it-" Hermione began.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," said the blond boy, nodding at Harry.
"Who are you?" said Ron, rather rudely.
"Zacharias Smith," said the boy, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."
"But the Daily Prophet wrote that Harry took that statement back because he was in shock and Dumbledore just fooled him into saying that," frowned Lavender.
"The Daily Prophet is a load of rubbish," scoffed Blaise annoyed.
"But the Minister said so too!" interjected Michael Corner.
"The Minister has a bad case of Foolinitis," said Luna dreamily. "It's totally normal that he's like that."
Everyone decided to ignore her, but Harry smirked. Luna sure was something. He looked at his four friends and they too had realized that she had just discreetly called the Minister a fool.
'I like her already,' commented Ron through their link and they all nodded.
"But why are they saying he's back now?!" asked Zacharias Smith again. "I mean he's-"
"Are you quite finished now?" asked Harry and everyone's mouths snapped shut.
"The Minister can easily be fooled," he stated calmly when he had the full attention of everyone. "I just got tired of being portrayed as an idiot, so Draco and I had a small chat with dear Cornelius that shut him up. You can see the story we fed him was printed."
"It was a lie?" asked Dean astonished. "Damn! I now know why you were re-sorted into a house that supposedly has the traits of all four."
Harry chuckled and then nodded. "But to tell the truth: Voldemort really is back. You can believe me or not. If not," he waved his hand. "there's the door. I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."
The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke.
Zacharias said dismissively, "All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, and I think we'd all like to know -"
"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you," Harry said coolly and his magic flared slightly. "It's a private matter. So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."
But none of them left their seats, not even Zacharias Smith, though he continued to gaze intently at Harry.
"So," said Hermione, her voice slightly angry. "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 t -"
"Is it true," interrupted the red-haired girl he knew as Susan Bones, looking at Harry, "that you can produce a Patronus?"
There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.
"Yeah," said Harry slightly annoyed. "And before you ask: It's corporeal. A stag to be exact."
"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 said she protects you from all that stuff."
"Oh dear me. I have a bodyguard!" smirked Harry and a couple of people laughed.
"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…"
"Yeah," said Harry. "It was a nasty little snake, I tell you."
Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled; the Creevey brothers exchanged awestruck looks and Lavender Brown said "Wow!" softly.
"And in our first year," said Neville to the group at large, "he saved the Philospher's Stone from Voldemort."
The group looked at him with wide eyes. Not one of them would have thought that Neville, Neville Longbottom, the scaredy cat, of all people, would call him by his name.
"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 acromantula and things…"
There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the table. Draco nudged him and Harry sighed.
"Look," he said, and everyone fell silent at once, "I admit that I'm good at Defense, but I had help, too." He raised his hand when someone started to interrupt. "Let me talk first. I did some things alone as well. I fought a basilisk with a sword, but I was lucky still. I fought the dragon in the first task last year and I'll tell you, I had really interesting holidays this year."
"What do you mean?" asked Cho and everyone stared.
Harry smirked at Draco who smirked back. "I spent some time with Draco and let me tell you that we learned that dragons, chimera and other magical beasts are not very tame."
"You're kidding, right?" asked Lee Jordan.
"Nope," chuckled Harry. "And let's just say I had a very short meeting with some dementors too. But I really don't think it's a good idea to do what Hermione suggested."
"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias Smith.
"Here's an idea," said Ron loudly, before Harry could speak, "why don't you shut your mouth?"
Perhaps the word 'weasel' had affected Ron particularly strongly. In any case, he was now looking at Zacharias as though he would like nothing better than to thump him. Zacharias flushed.
"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us he doesn't really want to teach us," he said.
"Because it's dangerous," snapped Harry. "We're not talking about playing chess here. We're talking about learning serious magic. And I'll tell you now, and I'll tell you only once: I will only teach someone who can keep his trap shut!"
"What are you implying?" asked Zacharias venomously.
"That you should move your ass out of here. You are someone I'm definitely not going to teach anything to," said Harry calmly. "And I bet my friends think so, too."
Zacharias stood up and threw his chair on the floor when he did so. "How dare you?! Who do you think you are?!" he raised his wand, but Harry was quicker.
Moving so fast that no one had really seen him move, Zacharias found himself pinned against the wall by Harry. A dagger at his throat. His wand lying useless on the floor.
The eyes of the other students in the pub were wide.
"Who am I? I believe I'm Harry Potter," said Harry quietly, calmly. "But Harry Potter is going to lose his temper if you don't get your sorry ass out of here immediately."
"Why you…," growled Zacharias and Harry let his dagger disappear.
He still held him by his cloak however and dragged him out of the room. All eyes following him when he slammed the pub's door shut.
"Did you see him move?" asked Collin in awe and everyone shook their heads.
Draco scoffed and sipped on his drink. "That was nothing."
Ron chuckled. "So I guess you want to be taught by him? And us for that matter?"
There where murmurs of agreement and the four friends smiled while some of the students continued to occasionally glance at the door where Harry had disappeared.
Draco looked around and his eyes rested on Dennis Creevey. With a sigh he looked at the others and then back at the small boy. "Dennis?"
The boy's head shot up and he stared at Draco with wide eyes. "Yes?"
"I'm afraid," began Draco, "that you are too young to learn what we will be teaching. I'm really sorry," he added after the boy opened his mouth with a hurt look in his eyes, "but it's dangerous and we can't risk anybody getting hurt when we aren't looking."
The younger Creevey looked at Hermione, Ron and Neville for help, but they also shook their heads.
"He's right," said Hermione softly. "The material we'll be going through is too advanced for second years."
'Harry', Draco asked mentally. 'Would you take Dennis Creevey with you when you're finished?'
'Sure,' came the reply as he stuck his head back in and looked around. "Marietta Edgecombe? Would you please come out here? There's someone waiting for you," he asked in a totally innocent voice and she nodded. "Dennis, you can come out, too."
Marietta reached the door and disappeared. Dennis slowly followed her with his head down in disappointment. Hermione, Ron, Neville and Draco shared a look and then simultaneously chuckled slightly.
"She's out," said Draco quietly and they nodded.
"Hem, hem," said Ginny, in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. "Shouldn't we try to decide how often we're going to meet and have defense lessons?"
"Yes we should," said Harry who entered the pub once again and flopped down on his chair. "You're right, Gin."
"Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee Jordan. "Or maybe twice."
"Or thrice," chirped George and chuckled.
"As long as -" began Angelina.
"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," said Hermione and rolled her eyes.
"We'll tell you when and where the first meeting is," said Harry. "But just so you all know, none of you will be able to tell anybody about this meeting. It'll have… unpleasant side effects if you do."
"I don't want to know what those could be," said Dean and cringed slightly.
"One more thing," said Harry when they all started to get up. "Those three people that I took out of the pub with me aren't to be told about anything. They have no knowledge of the meeting that had just transpired here. So no telling, Collin, Cho. Is that clear?"
They nodded and the students all waited to see if anyone had anything else to say.
"Well then, time's a tickin," said Fred briskly, getting to his feet. "George, Lee and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase; we'll be seeing you all later, Harry."
In twos and threes the rest of the group took their leave, too.
"Well, I think that went quite well," said Hermione happily, as she, Harry, Neville, Draco and Ron walked out of the Hog's Head into the bright sunlight a few moments later.
"Did you obliviate them?" asked Neville curiously. "This Zacharias guy and the other two, I mean?"
Harry just nodded and they slowly walked down the street.
"So? You want to go shopping for a little bit?" asked Draco and looked around on the busy street.
"Hmm… I could do with a new quill," nodded Hermione and grabbed Harry's hand.
She turned into a shop and they all followed her. When they entered, Hermione stopped at the shelf next to the door and frowned.
"But I could just go to the Room of Requirement…," she mumbled to Harry while she examined a long black and gold quill.
Harry, who was having a little debate with himself about whether he should write a will and cart himself off to Azkaban beforehand, just nodded.
So they left the shop once more and continued their way down the street. When they reached the gates to Hogwarts half an hour later, Hermione smiled mischievously at him and he raised his eyebrows.
"I sense something I'll like," grinned Harry and Hermione blushed slightly while nodding.
"So?" he wiggled his eyebrows. "We have patrol this evening, don't we?"
"Yes…," she said slowly and he laid an arm around her shoulders.
Harry just grinned when as went to their respective Common Rooms.
That was the latest chapter. I hope you liked it and give me a Review while I'm not here.
Until next time (Three weeks, remember?)
Dark Phoenix of Slytherin