Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Harry Potter Series. That right belongs solely to the amazing J.K. Rowling. I DO, however, own the plot, Oura (not her last name, again J.K. Rowling) and my favorite cat Sterling.
xXxHey, guys! I know I haven't updated in a while and I'm sorry about that. Regents and Finals are coming up and my teachers are absolutely freaking out. I really only have time to type of Saturdays, and should have the chapters up here on Mondays or Tuesdays. No promises, though. Anyways, I just wanted to thank everyone for their reviews and encouragement. Also, next week and Memorial day weekend, I might not be able to write, or even be on the computer, so don't freak out on me if I don't have chapters up for a few weeks. Thanks again, Rose xXx
Chapter 5
The morning of the Hogsmeade trip was cloudy, and with the chilly October air Oura could see her breath as she walked with Luna down to the carriages. The carriages weren't much warmer than outside, but at least they were out of the biting wind. Oura was looking forward to getting to Hogsmeade. She had never been and was anticipating getting a warm butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. Her pocket was laden with a handful of Galleons for some Chocolate Frogs and Fizzing Whizbees. The real thing she was looking forward to was learning where the secret Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons would be held.
Oura knew the basics that were covered in her previous years, plus she'd been taught some spells by her mother and the French Aurors when they learned Oura and her mother were heading back to find Oura's father. Her father was a very dangerous man. He had many supporters as well, ones that were willing to die for him, or to protect their family from him. The French Aurors had tried to persuade Sicila, Oura's mother, not to go back. Then they tried having at least Oura stay at Beauxbatons, but Oura's mother was having none of that; she would not be separated from her daughter. And so, here Oura was.
Hermione had warned Luna and Oura to not make for the Hogshead right away, lest they attract unwanted attention to themselves. So, the pair ambled around the small town, buying some sweets and "just happening" to end up in front of the bar. A few other people had arrived, but soon more and more appeared, crowding the semi-empty pub. Oura recognized a few of those interested, other than Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Ginny. She saw the Gryffindor chaser Katie Bell, Terry Boot, Michael Corner, and Anthony Goldstein, fellow Ravenclaws in her year, Angelina Johnson, the Gryffindor quidditch captain, and, to Oura's disgust, Cho Chang and her minion, Marietta Edgecombe. The pair sneered at Oura and Luna when they walked in, taking a seat as far away from the two and wondering aloud who invited the "Looney and her French girlfriend." Oura simply ignored them, but laughed silently at Cho's expression when Terry and his friends sat at Oura's table, their backs to the angry Chinese girl.
When everyone was settled, the Golden Trio glanced around nervously then Hermione began.
"Er, Well - er- hi." The group peeled their eyes from Harry to look at her, "Wel... erm... well, you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here had the idea - I mean I had the idea" She amended when Harry threw her a look. "Anyways, I thought 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," Hermione seemed to become more confident, "because no one could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts" - Someone yelled a "Hear, hear" - "well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands.'
She paused, looking sideways at Harry, and went on, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but the real spells-''
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" said Michael Corner, who was watching her closely.
"Of course I do," said Hermione at once. "But more than that, I want to be properly trained in defense because ... because ..." she took a great breath and finished, "because Lord Voldemort is back."
The reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho's friend shrieked and slopped Butterbeer down herself; Terry Boot gave a kind of involuntary twitch; Padma Patil shuddered, and Neville gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn into a cough. All of them, however, looked fixedly, even eagerly, at Harry.
"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?" 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."
"Look," said Hermione, intervening swiftly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about-"
"It's OK, Hermione," said Harry. The boy seemed to realize something.
"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he repeated, looking Zacharias straight in the face. "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you won't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."
The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke. Oura had the impression that even the barman was listening. He was wiping the same glass with the filthy rag, making it steadily dirtier.
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, 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. His temper rising. He did not take his eyes from Zacharias Smith's aggressive face. "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." None of them left their seats, not even Zacharias Smith, though he continued to gaze intently at Harry.
"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 the girl with the long plait down her back, looking at Harry, "that you can produce a Patronus?"
There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.
"Yeah," said Harry slightly defensively.
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"Er-you don't know Madam Bones, do you?' he asked, as though something clicked in his mind.
The girl smiled.
"She's my auntie," she said. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So-is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"Blimey, Harry!" said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"
"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said one of the Weasley twins, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."
"She's not wrong," mumbled Harry, and a couple of people laughed.
A veiled witch sitting alone shifted very slightly in her seat.
"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.
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 that Philological Stone- "
"Philosopher's," hissed Hermione.
"Yes, that-from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.
Hannah Abbotts eyes were as round as Galleons.
"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.
"Look," he said, and everyone fell silent at once, "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 Michael Corner at once. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying ..."
"Yeah, well-" said Harry.
"And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer," said Susan Bones.
"No," said Harry, "no, OK, I know I did bits of it 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 Smith.
"Here's an idea," said Ron loudly, before Harry could speak, "why don't you shut your mouth?" Ron was 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 can't really do any of it," he said.
"That's not what he said," snarled Fred.
"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" enquired George, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags.
"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred.
"Yes, well," said Hermione hastily, "moving on ...the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"
There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms and said nothing; though perhaps this was because he was too busy keeping an eye on the instrument in Fred's hand.
"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-"
"Hang on," said Angelina, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."
"No," said Cho, "nor with ours.'
'Nor ours," added Zacharias Smith.
"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, who Harry had been expecting to speak long before this. "Personally, I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up!"
He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry 'Surely not!' When nobody spoke, he went on, "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on 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 trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells-"
"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."
Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news; everybody except Luna Lovegood, who piped up, "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army.'"
"What?" said Harry, completely thrown by this unexpected piece of information.
Oura sighed. She loved Luna, but sometimes the girl got carried away. 'Don't ask,' Oura mouthed to Harry.
"Yes, he's got an army of Heliopaths," said Luna solemnly.
"No, he hasn't," snapped Hermione.
"Yes, he has," said Luna.
"What are Heliopaths?" asked Neville, looking blank.
"They're spirits of fire," said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever, "great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of-"
"They don't exist, Neville," said Hermione tartly.
"Oh, yes, they do!" said Luna angrily. Oura glanced at her friend. Luna hardly ever got mad, so when she did, it was scary.
"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" snapped Hermione.
"There are plenty of eye-witness accounts. Just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you-"
"Hem, hem," said Ginny, in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. "Aren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and have defense lessons?"
"Yes,' said Hermione at once, "yes, we were, you're right, Ginny."
"Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee Jordan.
"As long as-" began Angelina.
"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," said Hermione in a tense voice. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet ..."
This was rather more difficult; the whole group fell silent.
"Library?" suggested Katie Bell after a few moments.
"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," said Harry.
"Maybe an unused classroom?" said Dean.
"Yeah," said Ron, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Tri wizard."
But Oura was pretty certain that McGonagall would not be so accommodating this time. For all that Hermione had said about study and homework groups being allowed, she had the distinct feeling that this one might be considered a lot more rebellious.
"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."
She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.
"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 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."
Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully wrote his signature, but Harry noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of putting their names on the list.
"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."
But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing, too. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.
"I-well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found ... well, I mean to say ... you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out-"
"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Harry reminded him.
"I-yes," said Ernie, "yes, I do believe that, it's just-"
"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" said Hermione testily.
"No. No, of course not," said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. "I-yes, of course I'll sign."
Nobody raised objections after Ernie, though Oura saw Cho's friend give her a rather reproachful look before adding her own name. When the last person-Zacharias- had signed, Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as though they had just signed some kind of contract.
"Well, time's ticking on," 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."
With that the Twins and their friend left, and the group began to disperse in small groups of two or three, as to not draw attention to themselves. Oura followed Luna out the door and they headed to the Three Broomsticks to get decent butterbeer and listen to Luna rant about how real Heliopaths were real. She didn't notice Draco watching her from the time she entered the pub 'till he was pulled out by his friends to go and bully a first year.