Chapter 26:
Hermione made no mention of the twins giving Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons for two whole weeks after her original suggestion. Harry's detentions with Umbridge were finally over, Ron had had four more Quidditch practices and not been shouted at during the last two and all four of them had managed to vanish their mice in Transfiguration, Hermione and Alicia had actually progressed to vanishing kittens. Of course Alicia had to stop playing with her's before begrudgingly causing it to vanish ("Why does it have to be kitten, they're so cute!" she exclaimed).
Hermione and Alicia were in the dormitory together alone when Alicia spoke.
"Hey Hermione." Alicia said and she paused "About these Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons." Hermione perked up instantly "I think it's a good idea." she said "But I don't think we should just teach you and Ron…" she said
"You mean teach other people?" Hermione asked "I was hoping we'd do that too!" she said smiling and Alicia smirked slightly, not at all surprised by this.
"But…" Alicia said "I don't feel like doing it by myself… so if Harry agrees too…"
"I thought you were more confident than that?" Hermione smiled
"Well, this is something that could mean…" she bit her lip "It could mean the difference between life of death later on." she said carefully and Hermione's smile vanished. "You haven't seen someone murdered Hermione, but trust me when I say you never do. I never want to have to go through something like that again and if that means teaching others then so be it. Because you're right, we have done a lot and we do know a lot so,"
"So we need to ask Harry." Hermione nodded and the girl did the same.
"What do you think he'll think?"
"Well I told him why I thought it was a good idea, and… I don't know, I think I made a fair point…" she said not wanting to get her hopes up.
"He's had time to think about… right?" Hermione asked
"I think so…" Alicia nodded "But you realise if we do this, you and I are going to have to work a little harder to keep the boys on track with their homework and keep Harry's mouth shut around Umbridge, we might not be able to afford that on top of everything." Alicia warned and Hermione nodded
"I'm sure we can figure that out. But who should we ask? To join us I mean?" Hermione wondered
"Well I think we can start with the Weasleys. After all Ginny, Fred and George definitely wont argue. Ginny might bring Michael. Dean might come and Neville definitely…" Alicia said
"What about Ernie and Susan Bones?"
"You don't think the prefects would be worried?" Alicia asked
"I'm not."
"Yeah but…" Alicia looked concerned
"Well we can always ask and find out."
"But we need to be careful, I mean if Umbridge ever catches wind of this…" Alicia said looking very concerned now.
"Yes, it needs to be kept silent." Hermione agreed as she thought.
"How about we ask Harry first?" Alicia offered and Hermione nodded.
Hermione brought the subject of the twins teaching lessons up to Harry on a wild, blustery evening at the end of September, when the four of them were sitting in the library, looking up potion ingredients for Snape.
"I was wondering," Hermione said suddenly, "whether you'd thought any more about Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry." Alicia glanced at the girl and said nothing as Hermione addressed her brother.
"'Course I have," said Harry grumpily. "Can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us —"
"I meant the idea Ron and I had" — Ron cast her an alarmed, threatening kind of look; she frowned at him — "oh, all right, the idea I had, then — about you and Alicia teaching us."
Harry did not answer at once. He pretended to be perusing a page of Asiatic Anti-Venoms.
Alicia looked at him with scrutiny, leaning closer. He turned to her from the book and she raised an eyebrow.
"You have debated it." she realised when no surprise was shown to indicate Harry had forgotten. "Well," he said slowly, "yeah, I — I've thought about it a bit." he admitted
"And?" said Hermione eagerly.
"I dunno," said Harry. He looked up at Ron.
"I thought it was a good idea from the start," said Ron, who seemed keener to join in this conversation now that he was sure that Harry was not going to start shouting again.
Alicia however was grinning.
"What?" he asked her
"You're gonna do it." she said and the other two looked at one another "If you weren't you'd have down right refused straight up and probably stormed out to avoid the topic." she admitted. Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?" he said to Hermione, not saying anything to his twin who was looking smug.
"Yes, Harry," said Hermione gently, "but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, because you are. You and Alicia were the only people last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said —"
Ron looked around at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck; rubbing it, he said, "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"
"Ho ho," said Hermione in a bored voice. "He said Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang."
Ron was looking at Hermione suspiciously.
"You're not still in contact with him, are you?"
"So what if I am?" said Hermione coolly, though her face was a little pink. "I can have a pen pal if I —"
"He didn't only want to be your pen pal," said Ron accusingly.
"Ron, that's not really what we're discussing here." Alicia said changing the subject as Hermione shook her head exasperatedly. She turned to Harry, ignoring Ron who was watching her.
"Well, what do you think? Will you teach us?"
"You want to ask Alicia?" Harry asked.
"Alicia already agreed." Harry looked at her and she grinned sheepishly
"Well, only if you do it with me." she said when Ron took his eyes from Hermione surprised too. Harry looked at the three to them. "Come on Harry, clearly you've been thinking about it…" Alicia said carefully, leaving the sentence open for him to prove her correct.
"Just you and Ron, yeah?"
"Well," said Hermione, now looking a bit anxious again. "Well… now, don't fly off the handle again, Harry, please… But Alicia and I both really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against V-Voldemort — oh, don't be pathetic, Ron — it doesn't seem fair if we don't offer the chance to other people."
Harry looked at Alicia who shrugged and gave him a look to ask what he thought and the boy considered this for a moment, then said, "Yeah, but I doubt anyone except you two would want to be taught by us. I'm a nutter, remember?"
"Well, I think you might be surprised how many people would be interested in hearing what you've got to say," said Hermione seriously. "Look," she leaned toward him and Alicia; Ron, who was still watching her with a frown on his face, leaned forward to listen too, "you know the first weekend in October's a Hogsmeade weekend? How would it be if we tell anyone who's interested to meet us in the village and we can talk it over?"
"Why do we have to do it outside school?" said Ron.
"Because," said Hermione, returning to the diagram of the Chinese Chomping Cabbage she was copying, "I don't think Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up to."
Alicia grinned.
"That's an understatement. Blood quills for us all." she sounded and Hermione rolled her eyes as the boys winced slightly.
Hogsmeade always brought a grin to Alicia's face since she was allowed to actually visit the village the previous year, their third Harry and Alicia did it without permission with the help of the Marauders Map and the invisibility cloak Harry had received from Dumbledore, having belonged to their father before hand.
This time however she was a little worried. Sirius had maintained a stony silence since he had appeared in the fire at the beginning of September and Alicia knew he was angry by them refusing to see him. Of course she was angry he took offence to their worries for him but she worried Sirius might just show up anyway. Of course Sirius didn't know their first Hogsmeade trip date as far as Alicia was aware but that didn't stop him from finding out.
Then there was fact that they would be meeting the people Hermione had gone out and scavenged for Alicia and Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, the thought of which made Alicia nervous, yet determined. She also worried if no one would turn up at all as well.
It turned out Harry was worrying about Sirius turning up at Hogsmeade as well as Alicia, as he voiced his fears to her, Ron and Hermione.
"Well, you can't blame him for wanting to get out and about," said Ron. "I mean, he's been on the run for over two years, hasn't he, and I know that can't have been a laugh, but at least he was free, wasn't he? And now he's just shut up all the time with that lunatic elf."
Hermione scowled at Ron, but otherwise ignored the slight on Kreacher.
"The trouble is," she said to Harry, "until V-Voldemort — oh for heaven's sake, Ron — comes out into the open, Sirius is going to have to stay hidden, isn't he? I mean, the stupid Ministry isn't going to realise Sirius is innocent until they accept that Dumbledore's been telling the truth about him all along. And once the fools start catching real Death Eaters again it'll be obvious Sirius isn't one… I mean, he hasn't got the Mark, for one thing."
"Well let's hope to gods that's what happens and Sirius is let off the hook as well as the rest of us." Alicia sighed
"I don't reckon he'd be stupid enough to turn up," said Ron bracingly. "Dumbledore'd go mad if he did and Sirius listens to Dumbledore even if he doesn't like what he hears."
When Harry continued to look worried, Hermione said, "Listen, Ron and I have been sounding out people who we thought might want to learn some proper Defence Against the Dark Arts, and there are a couple who seem interested. We've told them to meet us in Hogsmeade."
"Right," said Harry vaguely, his mind still on Sirius.
"Don't worry, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "You've got enough on your plate without Sirius too."
She was quite right, of course; he was barely keeping up with his homework, though he was doing much better now that he was no longer spending every evening in detention with Umbridge. Ron was even further behind with his work than Harry, because while they both had Quidditch practices twice a week, Ron also had prefect duties. However, Hermione, who was taking more subjects than either of them, had not only finished all her homework but was also finding time to knit more elf clothes. Harry had to admit that Hermione was getting better at knitting; it was now almost always possible to distinguish between the hats and the socks. Alicia, while, had the extra subjects and Quidditch seemed to be keeping up with the work load as well as find the time to read her extra books just for her own curiosity.
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 parents 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. Then he gave a curt nod that set his jowls aquiver again and Harry walked on, out onto the stone steps and the cold, sunlit day.
"Er — why was Filch sniffing you?" asked Ron, as he, Alicia, Harry, and Hermione set off at a brisk pace down the wide drive to the gates.
Alicia started chuckling.
"I suppose he was checking for the smell of Dungbombs," said Harry with a small laugh. "I forgot to tell you…"
And he recounted the story of sending his letter to Sirius and Filch bursting in seconds later, demanding to see the letter. To his slight surprise, Hermione found this story highly interesting, much more, indeed, than he did himself.
"He said he was tipped off you were ordering Dungbombs? But who had tipped him off?"
"I dunno," said Harry, shrugging. "Maybe Malfoy, he'd think it was a laugh."
"I think it's a laugh." Alicia said laughing "But I didn't tell him I promise." when Harry rose an eyebrow at her.
They walked between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars and turned left onto the road into the village, the wind whipping their hair into their eyes.
"Malfoy?" said Hermione, very skeptically. "Well… yes… maybe…"
"To be honest if could be anyone these days." Alicia sighed and Hermione nodded. And she remained deep in thought all the way into the outskirts of Hogsmeade.
"Where are we going anyway?" Harry asked. "The Three Broomsticks?"
"Oh — no," said Hermione, coming out of her reverie, "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."
"If you're worried about being over heard then the three broomsticks would definitely be better because it's noisy." Alicia admitted and Hermione shrugged.
They walked down the main street past Zonko's Joke Shop, where they were unsurprised 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 upon it of a wild boar's severed head leaking blood onto the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. All three of them hesitated outside the door.
"Well, come on," said Hermione slightly nervously. Harry led the way 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 earthy, though as Harry stepped onto it he realised that there was stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries.
"I see what you mean." Alicia whispered "No wonder we've never been here." she mumbled
"Remember Hagrid mentioned this pub?" Harry asked "Yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head,"
"In our first year… didn't he meet Quirrell and get the Dragon Egg here?" Alicia asked
"Yeah, keeping his head hidden." Harry nodded as they glanced around.
It seemed this was the fashion of the Hog's Head. There was a man at the bar whose whole head was wrapped in dirty grey bandages, though he was still managing to gulp endless glasses of some smoking, fiery substance through a slit over his mouth. Two figures shrouded in hoods sat at a table in one of the windows; Harry might have thought them dementors if they had not been talking in strong Yorkshire accents; in a shadowy corner beside the fireplace sat a witch with a thick, black veil that fell to her toes. They could just see the tip of her nose because it caused the veil to protrude slightly.
"I don't know about this, Hermione," Harry muttered, as they crossed to the bar. He was looking particularly at the heavily veiled witch. "Has it occurred to you Umbridge might be under that?"
Hermione cast an appraising eye at the veiled figure.
"Umbridge is shorter than that woman," she said quietly. "And anyway, even if Umbridge does come in here there's nothing she can do to stop us, Harry, because I've double and triple-checked the school rules. We're not out-of-bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed to come in the Hog's Head, and he said yes, but he advised me strongly to bring our own glasses. 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."
"Thorough." Alicia mumbled
"No," said Harry dryly, "especially as it's not exactly a homework group you're planning, is it?"
"Could be seen as one though." Alicia shrugged
The barman sidled toward 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 and Alicia looked up at him surprised. There was something about him that she recognised, though she was sure she'd never seen him before… maybe she'd seen his dopple-ganger somewhere…?
"What?" he grunted.
"Four butterbeers, please," said Hermione.
The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up three very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar.
"Eight Sickles," he said.
"I'll get them," said Harry quickly, passing over the silver. The barman's eyes traveled over Harry, resting for a fraction of a second on his scar. Then he turned away and deposited Harry's money in an ancient wooden till whose drawer slid open automatically to receive it. Harry, Ron, and Hermione retreated to the farthest table from the bar and sat down, Alicia glancing back at the man who looked at her as he finished despoiling the money before the man in the dirty grey bandages rapped the counter with his knuckles and received another smoking drink from the barman.
"You know what?" Ron murmured, looking over at the bar with enthusiasm. "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," snarled Hermione.
"Oh," said Ron, the smile fading from his face. "Yeah…"
"Poor Ron." Alicia sighed and he stuck his tongue out her "Oh you're so mature." she said laughing lightly.
"So who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" Harry asked, wrenching open the rusty top of his butterbeer and taking a swig.
"Just a couple of people," Hermione repeated, checking her watch and then looking anxiously toward the door. "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 Neville with Dean and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with Cho and one of her usually giggling girlfriends, then (on her own and looking so dreamy that she might have walked in by accident) Luna Lovegood; then Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, and a Hufflepuff girl with a long plait down her back whose name Harry did not know; three Ravenclaw boys, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot; Ginny, followed by a tall skinny blond boy with an upturned nose whom Harry recognised vaguely as being a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and bringing up the rear, Fred and George Weasley with their friend Lee Jordan, all three of whom were carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko's merchandise.
"A couple of people?" said Harry hoarsely to Hermione as Alicia blinked in surprise. "A couple of people?"
"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione happily. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"
The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked as though it had never been washed. Possibly he had never seen his pub so full.
"Hi," said Fred, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly. "Could we have… twenty-five butterbeers, please?"
The barman glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably as though he had been interrupted in something very important, he started passing up dusty butterbeers from under the bar.
"Cheers," said Fred, handing them out. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these…"
Alicia watched slightly worried.
"I'm feeling nervous all of a sudden." she mumbled and her brother nodded numbly as the large chattering group took their beers from Fred and rummaged in their robes to find coins. Alicia knew some people would believe her and Harry, she just wasn't sure how many… and what were they expecting? Harry and Alicia knew things and were willing to teach it to others. Were they seriously all interested in that?
"What have you been telling people?" Harry said in a low voice as he rounded on Hermione. "What are they expecting?"
"I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say," said Hermione soothingly; but Harry continued to look at her so furiously that she added quickly, "You don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first. Plus Alicia's great with people."
"Yeah when I'm not being thought of as a lying git." Alicia grumbled to which Hermione shot her a disagreeing look.
"Hi, Harry," said Neville, beaming and taking a seat opposite Harry.
Harry tried to smile back, but did not speak; it looked like he's lost his words. Cho had just smiled at him and sat down on Ron's right. Her friend, who had curly reddish-blonde hair, did not smile, but gave Harry a thoroughly mistrustful look that told Harry plainly that, given her way, she would not be here at all.
"Hey Alicia." Anthony turned and sat near the four, Anthony grinning at Alicia as he was followed by Michael beside him, Ginny next and Terry last in a group.
"Hey." she said lightly with a nod.
In twos and threes the new arrivals settled around Harry, Ron, Alicia and Hermione, some looking rather excited, others curious, Luna Lovegood gazing dreamily into space. When everybody had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out. Every eye was upon the twins sitting beside one another.
"Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. "Well — er — hi."
The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to dart back regularly to Harry or Alicia.
"Well… erm… well, you know why you're here. Erm… well, Harry here had the idea — I mean" — Harry had thrown her a sharp look — "I had the idea — that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defence Against the Dark Arts — and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us" — (Hermione's voice became suddenly much stronger and more confident) — "because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts —"
"Hear, hear," said Anthony Goldstein, and Hermione looked heartened
"Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."
She paused, looked sideways at Harry who looked at Alicia. Alicia however was looking at everyone around them, keeping her attention forwards.
"And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells —"
"You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said Michael Corner.
"Of course I do," said Hermione at once. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defence because… because…" She took a great breath and finished, "Because Lord Voldemort's back."
Alicia looked around expectantly, waiting for the doubt that could follow these words. The reactions were 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 and Alicia
"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 them," said the blond boy, nodding at the green eyed twins.
"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 okay, Hermione," said Harry. Alicia was glaring at Zacharias and was looking around at a few others, wondering if this was their only purpose for coming to today. So many might not have cared about learning spells and passing their O. . No. They wanted to know what happened that day. They wanted to be told how Cedric died and how the twins had escaped.
Harry looked at Alicia and she gave him the strong look back, knowing he'd realised the same thing and she turned back to everyone with her lips pursed. Harry took this as an agreement and turned back to the blond Hufflepuff.
"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he asked, looking Zacharias straight in the face. "Alicia and 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, you don't believe Alicia, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."
The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke. Harry had the impression that even the barman was listening in. He was wiping the same glass with the filthy rag; it was becoming 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. "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."
He cast an angry look in Hermione's direction clearly blaming her for this but Alicia had gotten to her feet so everyone could see her and Harry looked surprised. Her expression was set as she took a breath.
"I can't say for all of you, but I'm gonna assumed some of you have lost people." She said, her voice calm and steady "For those of you who don't know what that feels like, it's not easy. It's only been a few months and talking about the horrors a person has seen is like reopening a flesh wound and letting it get infected." she admitted "Harry and I don't want to relay what happened because it's not a pleasant thing to think about. I know everyone wants to know what happened and that in a way telling the school might cause more people to believe what we're saying but, it's just too difficult at the moment to do so." she explained and everyone looked at her. Her words were soft and graceful, full of sympathy and hurt for Harry, herself and even those sitting around them frustratedly. "I'm sorry, but no matter how much people want to know, it's just not something we're capable of explaining yet. And if that's not good enough for you, like Harry said, we're happy to have you leave now." She remained standing as she looked at everyone who were looking at her with different expressions.
And yet, none of them, not even Zacharias Smith, who continued to gaze intently at Harry, left their seats. Hermione stood up with Alicia and gave her a glance to which Alicia nodded her head and turned back to everyone.
"So," said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. "So… like I was saying… if you want to learn some defence, 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.
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 Patronus?"
"Yes," said Harry. "A stag. And Alicia's is an owl." he pointed to her and everyone turned to her as she smiled.
"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 and a couple of people laughed. The veiled witch sitting alone shifted very slightly in her seat.
"Well, you saw what the dementors did to us at the Quidditch game, and heard about the train ride in our third year, we decided we needed Professor Lupin to help us fend them off as they were causing such trouble." Alicia nodded.
"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot.
"Godric Gryffindor's sword." Alicia said and Terry nodded.
"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.
"After he got stabbed in the arm by it." Alicia added and a few gasped while 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 "the two of them saved that Philosophical Stone —"
"Philosophers," hissed Hermione.
"Yes, that, from You-Know-Who," finished Neville. Hannah Abbott's eyes were as round as Galleons.
"And that's not to mention," said Cho. Harry's eyes snapped onto her, she was looking at him, smiling. "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year — getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas 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… I wouldn't have gotten threw any of it without Alicia there." he said looking at her
"Not with the dragon, you didn't," said Michael Corner at once. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying…"
"Yeah, well —" said Harry, feeling it would be churlish to disagree.
"And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer," said Susan Bones.
"No," said Harry, "no, okay, 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?"
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 can't really do any of it," he said.
"That's not what he said," snarled Fred Weasley.
"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" inquired 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.
"Boys." Alicia interjected and they stopped as she turned to Zacharias. "That's not what he was trying to do." and she looked at everyone "The point he was trying to make, is that none of that was as easy as it sounds. Some of the stuff we've learned took practice and the heat of the moment to work." she admitted "I guess it's another way of saying that some of this stuff might be tricky to teach as well as learn. We don't want you coming to us thinking we'll show you something and it'll be a walk in the park." she confessed "As Hermione pointed out a little while ago, some of the things Harry and I have done are past school standards." Alicia looked at the girl who nodded and looked at everyone.
"This'll be hard work." she said to them all "So… are we agreed we want to take lessons from Alicia and 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 George'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, whom 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 O.W.L.s 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 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 trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells —"
"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defence 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 mobilise us against the Ministry."
"Which we can't do if we're useless at defending ourselves." Alicia nodded.
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.
"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.
"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" snapped Hermione.
"There are plenty of eyewitness 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. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defence lessons?"
"Yes can you two just agree to disagree?" Alicia asked them "Everyone has their own beliefs let's not tell people off for having them." she said to the two girls. "So, a meeting place." she said to Hermione beside her
"Yes," said Hermione at once, "yes, we were, you're right…"
"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.
"Especially as she doesn't like noise." Alicia nodded
"Maybe an unused classroom?" said Dean.
"Yeah," said Ron, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Triwizard…"
"Yes but that was a necessity to Harry's immediate life and was sort of a given. Unfortunately I doubt any of the teachers will allow us to be sending jinxes everywhere in a random class room and if Umbridge found us…" Alicia said before she paused looking at Hermione.
"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 put down 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 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…"
"If you don't sign the paper then you're not committed and we can't trust you not to tattle on us. And if that's the case, we can't risk telling you were we're meeting and when the meetings are, can we?" Alicia said strongly and a few looked at her, most seeing the relevance in her words.
"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 Harry saw Cho's friend give her a rather reproachful look before adding her 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."
In twos and threes the rest of the group took their leave too. Cho made rather a business of fastening the catch on her bag before leaving, her long dark curtain of hair swinging forward to hide her face, but her friend stood beside her, arms folded, clicking her tongue, so that Cho had little choice but to leave with her. As her friend ushered her through the door, Cho looked back and waved at Harry.
"Well, I think that went quite well," said Hermione happily, as she, Harry, Alicia and Ron walked out of the Hog's Head into the bright sunlight a few moments later, Harry and Ron still clutching their bottles of butterbeer.
"Alicia you did very well, kept your voice straighter than I did."
"Well, it's not at all helpful when you stutter along." Alicia grinned and Hermione shot her a look
"I guess that's proof you'll make a good teacher."
"Especially as she's considered it." Harry added
"That Zacharias bloke's a wart," said Ron, who was glowering after the figure of Smith just discernible in the distance.
"I don't like him much either," admitted Hermione, "but he overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table and he seemed really interested 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 and Anthony wasn't interested in Alicia —" she nudged the girl who rolled her eyes.
Ron, who had been draining the last few drops from his butterbeer bottle, gagged and sprayed butterbeer down his front.
"He's WHAT?" said Ron, outraged, his ears now resembling curls of raw beef. "She's going out with — my sister's going — what d'you mean, Michael Corner?"
"Well, that's why he and his friends came, I think — well, they're obviously interested in learning defence, but if Ginny hadn't told Michael what was going on —"
"When did this — when did she — ?"
"You do remember that we weren't supposed to tell him?" Alicia said to Hermione
"You — Alicia you — how come —" Ron stuttered
"Course I knew." Alicia nodded
"They met at the Yule Ball and they got together at the end of last year," said Hermione composedly. They had turned into the High Street and she paused outside Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, where there was a handsome display of pheasant-feather quills in the window. "Hmm… I could do with a new quill."
She turned into the shop with Alicia. Harry and Ron followed her.
"Which one was Michael Corner?" Ron demanded furiously.
"The dark one," said Hermione.
"I didn't like him," said Ron at once.
"Big surprise," said Hermione under her breath.
"But," said Ron, following Hermione along a row of quills in copper pots, "I thought Ginny fancied Harry!"
"You saying a girl can't change her mind?" Alicia asked him annoyed as Hermione looked at him rather pityingly and shook her head.
"Ginny used to fancy Harry, but she gave up on him months ago. Not that she doesn't like you, of course," she added kindly to Harry while she examined a long black-and-gold quill.
"So that's why she talks now?" he asked Hermione. "She never used to talk in front of me."
"Exactly, it also helps that she's not worried Alicia's gonna steal you anymore, now knowing your siblings and all." said Hermione. "Yes, I think I'll have this one…"
She went up to the counter and handed over fifteen Sickles and two Knuts, Ron still breathing down her neck.
"Ron," she said severely as she turned and trod on his feet, "this is exactly why Ginny hasn't told you she's seeing Michael, she knew you'd take it badly. So don't harp on about it, for heaven's sake."
"What d'you mean, who's taking anything badly? I'm not going to harp on about anything…"
"Well, on the bright side he's at least taking his position as the older brother seriously." Alicia said to Hermione who simply rolled her eyes.
Ron continued to chunter under his breath all the way down the street. Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry and then said in an undertone, while Ron was muttering imprecations about Michael Corner, "And talking about Michael and Ginny… what about Cho and you?"
"What d'you mean?" said Harry quickly as Alicia chuckled.
"Well," said Hermione, smiling slightly, "she just couldn't keep her eyes off you, could she?"
Harry had never before appreciated just how beautiful the village of Hogsmeade was and Alicia laughed as he suddenly radiated with glee.