23rd September

"I was wondering…" Hermione asked as the four of us sat in the library, looking up potion ingredients, "whether you'd thought any more about DADA Harry?"

"Course I have," Harry said grumpily, "can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us-"

"I meant the idea we had…" Hermione corrected, "about you teaching us."

Harry did not answer at once, so I added, "We think you'd be great, Harry."

"Well," Harry said slowly, "I have thought about it a bit."

Hermione looked up eagerly, "And?"

"I dunno…" Harry looked to Ron.

"I thought it was a good idea from the start," Ron said, now that Harry appeared calm and unlikely to yell at Hermione for bringing up the subject again.

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He stared at the book in front of him and spoke, "You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?"

"Yes, Harry," Hermione spoke softly, "but all the same, there's no point saying you're no good at DADA, you were the only person who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely-"

Harry looked at me, "You threw off the curse-"

I screwed up my face, "I'll happily help, Harry, I threw off the Imperius Curse because Barty Jr was too busy thinking about you and – look, Harry, you can produce a patronus, I wish I could do that!"

"Yeah," Hermione joined in, "You can do loads of things even adult wizards can't do! Viktor always said-"

Ron looked around at Hermione so fast I wondered if he had whiplash, "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"

"Ho ho," Hermione said in a bored voice. I couldn't help but smirk, but she continued nonetheless, "He said Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in his final year at Durmstrang."

Ron was looking at Hermione suspiciously, "You're not still in contact with him, are you?" He spoke with such jealousy in his voice.

"So what if I am?" Hermione said coolly, but her face had gone pink, "I can have a pen-pal if I-"

"He didn't only want to be your pen-pal," Ron said accusingly.

I really wanted to bang the two of their heads together. Why would Ron be so protective if he wasn't completely in love with Hermione? I just didn't get why the two of them hadn't shacked up already. Well, you know what I mean, it was painstakingly obvious for anyone with two eyes to know there was something going on.

Hermione shook her head exasperatedly and, ignoring Ron, turned to Harry and said, "Well, what do you think, will you teach us?"

"Just you three, yeah?"

Hermione and I exchanged glances, "Well…" I began, "Hermione and I thought that other people may want to learn how to defend themselves against Voldemort. We hoped you'd think about teaching anyone who was interested?"

Harry looked at me and considered, "Yeah, but I doubt anyone would want to be taught by me. I'm a nutter, remember?"

"You'd be surprised, Harry." I couldn't help but smile.

"Look," Hermione leaned in, Ron, who was still staring at Hermione with a frown on his face leaned forwards to listen, too, "you know there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up? 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?" Ron moaned.

I sighed, "Because Umbridge is watching."

27th September

"Hey guys!" I smiled, having returned down the marble stairs from grabbing my bag, "All set?" I asked, "Fred and George went down early to get supplies and I decided to not ask any questions after they mentioned long metal instruments..." I shuddered at the thought.

Ron pulled a face similar to what I imagined I gave the twins when they told me their plans. When the four of us reached Filch, he gave a good sniff of Harry before letting us through.

"Em – why was Filch sniffing you?" Ron asked Harry as we walked out into the Hogwarts grounds, where we were greeted with a cold breeze.

"I suppose he was checking for the smell of dungbombs," Harry laughed lightly, "I forgot to tell you…"

Harry recollected a story to us about being up in the Owlery, sending a letter to Sirius when Filch turned up demanding to read the letter, thinking he was sending an order for dungbombs! Hermione and I wondered if Filch had been tipped off about Harry being in contact with Sirius and was wanting to read the letter that was addressed to him. Hermione later asked if I thought that dungbombs were the cover-up. After thinking about it, there was no other reasonable explanation.

Hermione insisted that the Hog's Head pub was the most suitable for not being overheard. We turned up the side street and stood outside the small in. 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.

"Lovely." I pulled a face.

We walked inside and were greeted with one small, dingy room that smelled strongly of goats. On first appearances, I desperately wanted to walk back out. I felt a little bit stressed out by the lack of cleanliness. The bay windows were encrusted with grime and so very little light could penetrate the room, which was instead lit with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor looked like they hadn't been swept in years. Then we approached the bar and I saw the dirt of the glasses and felt like I was about to throw up. Hermione ordered three butterbeers and I took a seat. I didn't care if it was proper etiquette to order something, I thought I'd leave the pub with more than I bargained for.

As I sat in the back corner, I did a bit of people watching: the man at the bar was wrapped in dirty, greying bandages and drinking firewhiskey, two figures sat shrouded in hoods at a table in one of the windows, in the opposite corner sat a witch in a black veil that fell to her toes. Harry, Ron and Hermione joined me.

The door of the Hog's Head opened. A thick band of dusty sunlight split the room in two for a moment and then vanished, blocked by the incoming crowd of people. First came Neville with Dean and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati and Padma, then Cho came in with a friend, then Luna, Katie, Alicia and Ange.

"Erm… 'Mione." I whispered, "How many people did you talk to?" I asked as Colin and Dennis Creevey followed by Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones all came in…

"A few… Your Muggle Studies crowd came!" she smiled.

I laughed quietly, "I didn't think they actually would!"

Next through the door was Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Ginny and the first person I didn't recognise. He was tall, blonde and was wearing a face on him like a slapped arse. Finally, the last three to arrive were Fred, George and Lee who were carrying crammed bags of Zonko's products.

The pub owner looked as though he was in shock – I doubt there were ever that many people in here all at once. "Hi!" said Fred chirpily, "could we have… twenty-five butterbeers, please?" he looked at me and I shook my head. "Cheers." Fred said handing them out, "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these…"

When we all got seated and comfortable, everyone started staring at Harry. I felt very on the spot, as everyone appeared to be facing Harry, Ron, Hermione and me. It was seriously daunting.

"Er," Hermione said nervously, now all eyes were on her, I crossed my legs and made myself more comfortable, "Well – er – hi." She welcomed everyone.

"Well… erm… well, you know why you're here. Erm… well, Harry here had the idea –" Harry gave Hermione the dirtiest of looks.

I laughed.

"I had the idea," Hermione continued, "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-" she started gaining confidence in herself, "-because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts-"

"Hear, hear!" Anthony Goldstein said.

"Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands. And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but in doing the real spells-"

"You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too, though, I bet?" Michael Corner said.

I shook my head incredulously, "We're not here telling you to stop going to class." I stated, "Think of this as… an extra-curricular, a group of people getting together, learning a bit of self-defence."

Hermione nodded, "Yeah, I want to be properly trained in defence because… because… because Lord Voldemort is back." She sounded relieved to have gotten the words out.

The reaction was immediate, but I ignored it.

"Well… that's the plan, anyway," Hermione said, "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 boy with the face on him like a slapped arse rather aggressively.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it-" Hermione began.

"You mean, Dumbledore believes him." He replied.

"Who are you?" Ron said rather rudely.

The boy answered, "Zacharias Smith, and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who is back."

I stood, "And I think we have the right to demand a little respect." I walked towards him, "Because the four of us aren't sitting at the front for the shits and giggles you know, this is serious, You-Know-Who is back. He's forming an army and he's becoming even more dangerous by the minute. If you don't believe us, the door is right over there." I pointed.

"But what makes you all so sure he's back?" Zacharias asked, slightly less aggressively.

"Well, I know he's back, because I've seen him." I spoke quietly, drawing in everyone's attention, retreating back to my seat, "Thankfully he didn't see me."

The look on Hermione's face was one of utter shock. I decided not to look at George or Fred or Ginny's reactions. Instead I returned to my relaxed seating position, took a deep breath and looked at Harry as he began to speak, "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" Harry stared Zacharias in the face, just as I had done, "I've seen him, too. 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."

Zacharias spoke 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-"

I sat up but Harry put out his hand to stop me, "If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone, I can't help you," Harry said, his temper was clearly rising, "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well take Kathryn's advice and walk out the door."

I think Hermione realised she was sitting between a live wire and an unexploded bomb and decided to round it all up, "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," Susan Bones asked, "that you can produce a patronus?"

There was a slight murmur around the group.

"Yeah," Harry said, slightly defensively.

"A corporeal Patronus?"

"Er – you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" Harry asked, he clearly didn't know who she was.

Susan smiled, "She's my auntie. I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So – is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"

"Yes."

"Blimey Harry," Lee looked deeply impressed, "I never knew that."

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," Fred said, grinning at Harry, "She said you got enough attention as it was."

Harry mumbled, "She's not wrong."

A few 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 there last year…"

"Er – yeah, I did, yeah," Harry said, "But I couldn't have done it without Kathryn… she was with me the whole time… without her I'd definitely be dead…"

I shook my head, feeling heat rise in my cheeks, Ginny looked at me, her eyes thankful, but embarrassed.

"And in our first year," said Neville to the group at large, "he saved that Philological Stone-"

"Philosopher's," Hermione corrected.

"Yes, that – from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.

The crowd of people were mesmerised.

"And that's not to mention," said Cho, who's eyes had not broken contact from Harry the entire time she had been in the room, "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.

"Look," Harry said, I was waiting for this speech, the one where he played the modestly card, "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, "that was some seriously cool flying!"

"Yeah, well –"

"And nobody helped you get rid of those Dementors this summer," said Susan.

"No," Harry said, "no, okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is-"

Zacharias Smith opened his mouth again, "Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?"

"Here's an idea," Ron said loudly, before Harry could speak, "why don't you shut your mouth."

"Here, here." I said.

Zacharias blushed, "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," Fred snarled.

George added, "Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" he pulled out a 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," Fred held the instrument threateningly.

"Yes, well," Hermione cleared her throat, after nudging me to stop the twins from provoking him, "moving on…" she realised I wasn't going to stop them, "the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"

There was a murmur of general agreement. George caught eyes with me and mouthed 'I'd like to have a few lessons from you' he then made some very rude gestures and I had to look away before going beetroot. I noticed that Zacharias folded his arms and stayed silent, possibly due to Fred continuing to hold the instrument, staring at him.

"Right," Hermione said, "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," Ange said, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."

"No," said Cho, "Nor with ours."

Zacharias Smith added, "Nor ours."

"I think I'd miss you the most if you couldn't come, Zacharias." I said with a deadpan expression, "I think I'd enjoy humiliating you during a duel…"

There were a few giggles from people who knew me well.

"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," Hermione said slightly impatiently, "but you know this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters."

"And they're certainly not a bunch of pussy cats." I commented in more of a mumble than anything.

"Well said," Ernie Macmillan barked, "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 paused for reaction then continued, "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such as 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 Defence Against the Dark Arts is that she's got 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." Hermione answered.

Nearly everyone looked stunned at the news, everyone except Luna, who piped up, "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."

To say Luna grabbed my attention was an understatement, seemingly she had done the same with Harry who said, "What?"

"Yes, he's got an army of Heliopaths." Luna answered in her usual dreamy voice.

"No, he hasn't." Hermione snapped.

"Yes, he has." Was Luna's response.

I caught eyes with George and had to force my lips together to stop myself from laughing. Hermione vs Luna was always going to be hilarious. Hermione was always a very literal person, she believed in what she could see for herself and Heliopaths, I knew from reading, were mystical creatures that had no proof of existence.

"What are heliopaths?" Neville asked, looking blank.

"They're spirits of fire," Luna explained, "great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of-"

"They do not exist." Hermione said tartly.

I had to stare at the floor.

"Oh, yes, they do!" Luna said angrily.

I really wanted to go all pantomime on the situation and reply, 'Oh no, they don't!' but I was already thoroughly entertained.

"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 Umbridge, getting a number of laughs when people realised who it was, "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and have defence lessons?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes, yes, we were, you're right, Ginny."

"Well, once a week sounds cool." Lee stated.

"As long as-"

"Don't worry, Quidditch will be factored into the equation." I smiled.

Hermione was tense, "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet…"

This question seemed to stump the group. There were several moments of silence before Katie gave an answer, suggesting the library, but we had to scrap that idea as Madam Pince would have us all hung for doing jinxes. Dean suggested an unused classroom, but we doubted that McGonagall would let us meet for a 'study session' that involved firing spells at each other.

"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," Hermione said, "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting." She rummaged around in her bag for a second and lifted out the piece of parchment we had all signed as members of this group and a quill, she hesitated for a second before saying, "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-"

"First rule of fight club is: you don't talk about fight club." I quoted.

Hermione looked at me and shook her head, "We're not going to call it fight club."

I rolled my eyes, she clearly didn't get the reference. I suppose I read too many books over the summer that belonged to Draco and wouldn't exactly be in her remit of knowledge.

"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… "Er…" Zacharias had a problem with the idea, "well… I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is." George took the parchment off him and signed, winking at me. Ernie also seemed a little hesitant about signing too.

"I – well, we are prefects," he 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," Ernie said, "yes, I do believe that, it's just-"

"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" Hermione said testily, she was about to start tapping her foot on the ground, and she only did that when she was really impatient.

"No. No, of course not," Ernie said, looking slightly less anxious, "I – yes, of course I'll sign."

Nobody else decided to object after Ernie signed his name. One by one, everyone signed the list. It was an overly formal sort of feeling, like we had just signed our lives away.

"Well, time's ticking on," Fred said briskly, getting to his feet, "George, Lee and I have items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later." George looked to me as he walked to the door but I shook my head, I had this odd sense of duty to stay with Harry, Ron and Hermione. After all, it was our idea.

Cho made rather a business of fastening the catch on her bag before her friend (whose name is Marietta) looked so impatient, that she couldn't wait to get out of there. At the door, Cho looked back and waved to Harry.

"Well, I think that went quite well." Hermione said as we stepped outside.

"That Zacharias bloke's a wart." Said Ron, who was glowering at his figure, just discernible in the distance.

"I will challenge him to a duel on the first day and teach him a thing or two about humility." I commented, "Nothing we can't handle, Ronald."

Hermione admitted, "I don't like him much, either, but he overhead me talking to Ernie and Hannah confirming the time and venue 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-"

Ron, who had been drinking the rest of his butterbeer gagged and sprayed butterbeer down his front, "HE'S WHAT?" Ron spluttered, outraged, his ears bright red, "She's going out with – my sister's going – what d'you mean Michael Corner?"

I smiled, "Don't worry, Ron, when I found out-"

"Ginny told you?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, she told me, I walked into the middle of one of their dates." I said to her shaking my head disapprovingly, then looked to Ron, "Don't worry, I made him sweat."

Ron nodded, "Interrogation?"

"Of course." I raised an eyebrow mysteriously, "They met at the Yule Ball and started dating during the summer. I found out a couple of weeks ago."

"Which one was Michael Corner?" Ron asked.

"The dark one, he was sitting beside her." Hermione responded as we went into Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop where she was looking to buy a new quill.

"I didn't like him." Ron said.

Hermione looked at me and rolled her eyes, "Big surprise." She said under her breath.

Ron started following behind Hermione and me, "But, I thought Ginny fancied Harry!"

Hermione looked at Ron rather pityingly, "Ginny used to fancy Harry, but she gave up on him months ago. Not that she doesn't like you, of course." She said to Harry.

"So that's why she talks now?" Harry asked Hermione and me, "She never used to talk in front of me."

"Exactly," Hermione smiled at Harry, but the smile soon faded as Ron was standing very close to her, "Ron," she spoke with such severity as we left the shop, "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 harping on? I'm not taking it badly." Ron asked.

I decided to stick up for Ron, "He's actually taking it quite well, in fairness, 'Mione. He hasn't tacked Michael to the ground and beaten him senseless yet." Ron looked at me and smiled, as though he had a great idea, "Don't even think about it." I said.

Ron continued to mutter under his breath as we walked back up to the school.

Hermione and I linked arms on either side of Harry, "Speaking of Michael and Ginny," Hermione said in an undertone, "what about Cho and you?"

Harry went bright red, "What d'you mean?"

"Do you think we're blind, Harry?" I asked, "She couldn't keep her eyes off you, could she?"

29th September

We woke up this morning to a new Educational Decree from Umbridge, disbanding all student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs.

"Oh no, boys…" I said sarcastically, "The three of us aren't allowed to meet any more…"

The twins had just come down the stairs from their dormitory, yawning, "What, why, what's happened?" they peered at the new notice from behind my back.

"It clearly states that regular meetings of three or more students are disbanded… Looks like Hermione, Harry, Ron and I aren't to study together, either."

Hermione, who had also just come from our dormitory sounding panicked she said, "What? No more studying together?"

Fred, George and I looked between each other and laughed and I pointed at the new notice. Hermione looked deeply interested, "You know what this means?" she said, "either this is very well timed, or someone heard our conversation in the Hog's Head…" Hermione had put a jinx on the parchment that everyone signed. She had the decency to tell me this after I had signed, that if anyone was to tell Umbridge, we'd know all about it as boils would appear on the traitor's face.

"Either way," I smirked, "I don't really care. I'd like to see her try and stop us."

George clapped a hand on my shoulder, "Atta girl."

In History of Magic this morning, Harry and Ron were half asleep as Hermione and I were frantically taking notes in the hope that something would help for the end of year exams. The many giant wars were a topic I found difficulty in concentrating to. Within half an hour, I was just taking down the names of different individuals and random sentences in which Professor Binns read out. That was until my attention was completely taken away by Hedwig, who was perched at the window, trying to get Harry's attention.

Even Hermione got distracted as she elbowed Harry. Harry realised what the extra commotion in the class was about as he got up off his seat and slowly opened the catch of the window to allow Hedwig in. She hopped onto his shoulder and Harry brought her back over to the desk and placed her on his lap. Some of her feathers were bent the wrong way and her wing was not in great shape.

"Professor Binns?" Harry stood, hiding Hedwig behind his back, "I'm not feeling very well, I think I should go to the hospital wing."

"Hospital wing… hospital wing, yes, Perkins, off you go." Binns looked stunned to be interrupted and even more surprised to have a class sitting in front of him.

Then Harry left and Ron, Hermione and I had to endure another fifty minutes before we saw Harry again on the way to potions. He had left Hedwig with Grubbly-Plank and the letter was from Sirius, same time same place.

As we descended the stairs to the dungeons, Draco was sounding very happy with himself, "Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway, I went to ask her first thing this morning. Well, it was pretty much automatic, I mean, she knows my father really well, he's always popping in and out of the Ministry… it'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it?"

"Don't rise." Hermione whispered to Harry and Ron who were both watching Draco intently, their faces were set and their fists clenched, "It's what he wants."

"I mean," Draco carried on, speaking even louder than before, "if it's a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance… from what my father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years…. And as for Potter… my father says it's a matter of time before the Ministry has him carted off to St Mungo's… apparently they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic." Draco made a grotesque face, sagging his mouth, rolling his eyes to the back of his head.

I was nearly knocked off my feet as Neville had charged past me straight to Draco.

"NEVILLE, NO!" Harry leapt forwards and seized the back of Neville's robes. Neville fought against Harry to get to Draco, his arms were flailing, his fists tight.

Neville's parents.

"Help me!" Harry appealed for Ron's assistance, who grabbed Neville around the neck and pulled him backwards. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were poised ready to fight.

As Harry and Ron struggled to get Neville back into the Gryffindor line again, I walked up to Draco, who was expecting me to yell. Instead I slapped him, hard, on the face. Then I turned my back and walked away.

"I'm going to tell father about you." Draco yelled, rubbing his face, which had become to look similar to the Northern Irish flag, the Red Hand of Ulster.

"I dare you," I snapped back, "Tell father? What's he going to do? Ignore me? Yell at me? I implore him to do his worst."

The dungeon door opened, "Fighting, Weasley, Potter, Longbottom?" Snape said in his cold, sneering voice, "Ten points from Gryffindor. Release Longbottom, Potter, or it will be a detention. Inside, all of you."

"But, Professor," said Draco, "She slapped me."

Despite the red mark on Draco's face, Snape looked blankly at him, "I see no proof, Mr Malfoy, take a seat."

Draco looked at me in utter disgust as he sat down, "That was uncalled for."

"You know you deserved it, now shut up or I'll slap you again." I threatened.

"You will notice," Snape sneered, "that we have a guest with us today." He gestured towards the dim corner of the room where Umbridge sat with her clip board. I took a few deep breaths to settle myself, I wondered why Snape had let me get away scot-free. Perhaps he was holding up his end of the deal. "We are continuing with our Strengthening Solution today. You will find your mixtures as you left them last lesson; if correctly made they should have matured well over the weekend – instructions," he waved his wand, "Are on the board. Carry on."

Draco didn't look at me, or talk, at all, that whole lesson.

Umbridge rose from her seat in the corner and approached Snape, "Well, the class seem fairly advanced for their level, though I wonder whether it is advisable to teach them a potion like the Strengthening Solution. I think the Ministry would prefer it if that was removed from the syllabus."

Snape looked at Umbridge up and down.

"Now…" Umbridge began her interrogation, "how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?"

"Fourteen years." Snape answered.

"You applied first for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?"

Snape whispered, "Yes."

"But you were unsuccessful?"

Snape's lip curled, "Obviously."

"And you have applied regularly for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe."

"Yes." Snape said quietly, his lips barely moving.

"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to appoint you?" asked Umbridge.

"I suggest you ask him."

Umbridge smiled sweetly, "Oh, I shall."

Snape was clearly pissed off, "I suppose this is relevant?"

"Oh yes," Umbridge said, marking something on her clipboard, "yes, the ministry wants a thorough understanding of teachers' – er – backgrounds."

Umbridge turned from Snape and began questioning Pansy. Snape took one look at Harry's potion, and gave him zero points and an essay for homework.

Quidditch practice was cancelled that evening for the boys. Angelina had failed to gain permission from Umbridge to reform the team, saying that she needed more time to consider it. So as Hermione and I sat in the Common Room with a disgruntled Harry and Ron, I found it very difficult to concentrate. Fred and George were showing off their new and perfected products.

Fred was taking a bite out of the orange end of the chew, and would vomit spectacularly into a bucket and would force down the purple end of the chew and the vomiting would cease immediately. The crowd cheered and cheered. Lee was lazily vanishing the vomit at regular intervals. The sound of retching was making me feel queasy, but I said nothing in aim of supporting George. He, Fred and Lee were taking advance orders and that made me feel proud. Hermione, on the other hand was finding it difficult to concentrate, too, but she was giving loud and disapproving sniffs.

"Just go and stop them." Harry said, he was very frustrated with his added Potions homework.

"I can't, they're not technically doing anything wrong," Hermione spoke through gritted teeth, "They're quite within their rights to eat the foul things themselves and I can't find a rule that says the other idiots aren't entitled to buy them, not unless they're proven to be dangerous in some way and it doesn't look like they are." Hermione looked at me, "You are probably one of the few people who could get them to stop. You are white as a sheet."

I shook my head, "I might need one of those purple chews to stop myself throwing up, if and when it starts."

"You know, I don't get why Fred and George only got three O.W.L.s each," Harry said whilst watching them perform for the crowd, "they really know their stuff."

"Correction," I raised my hand, "George has five and Fred got four O.W.L.s."

Hermione spoke disparagingly, "Oh, they only know flashy stuff that's of no real use to anyone."

"No real use?" said Ron in a strained voice, "Hermione, they've made about twenty-six galleons already! I hope you're not staying with George because of all the money."

I looked up at Ron and swallowed hard as one of the twins was vomiting again, "For that sound, no, definitely not. And I swear if he comes over to kiss me later, I promise you, I really will throw up."

It was nearing midnight when Fred, George and Lee were finished their entertaining and had counted up their takings for the day. Harry tapped his watch to remind me about Sirius and was wanting me to get rid of them.

"Katy! You'll never guess how much-" George came over and saw me, "You look really pale, are you okay? Can I get you something?

"No, no, it's okay, you get yourself up to bed," I nodded, "I'm just going to finish this essay."

George leaned in.

"I swear that's not a good idea right now." I put my finger up to my nose and covered my mouth with my hand, "Sorry…"

George walked up the stairs sheepishly.

"I was wondering if they were ever going to leave." Sirius spoke in the flames, "Nice one, Kathryn. I imagine he's wondering what's done."

"Sirius!" Harry jumped down to in front of the fire.

"Hi!" Sirius smiled widely, "How're things?"

"Not that good," Harry said, "The Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams-"

"Or secret Defence Against the Dark Arts groups?" Sirius said.

Harry sat up straighter, "How did you know about that?"

"You want to choose your meeting places more carefully." Sirius was grinning, "In the Hog's Head, I ask you."

"Well, it was better that the Three Broomsticks!" Hermione said defensively, "That's always packed with people!"

"Which means you'd have been harder to overhear, you've got a lot to learn, Hermione." Sirius was still smiling.

Harry demanded, "Who overheard us?"

Sirius' smile got wider still, "Mundungus, of course, he was the witch under the veil. He was keeping an eye on you, and just as well, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is organise an illegal defence group." Sirius did not look angry, in fact, he looked proud.

"First of all, Ron, I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother."

"Oh, yeah?" Ron sounded apprehensive.

Sirius started mocking Molly, "She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal Defence Against the Dark Arts group. She says you'll be expelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also advises Kathryn, as her responsibility and Harry and Hermione not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that she has no authority over Harry and Hermione and simply begs them to remember that she has their best interests at heart. She would have written this all to you, but if they owl had been intercepted, you'd all have been in real trouble, and she can't say it for herself because she's on duty tonight."

"On duty doing what?" said Ron quickly.

Guarding the prophesy in the Department of Mysteries. I thought to myself.

Sirius glanced at me quickly, "Never you mind, just stuff for the Order. So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all on, because I don't think she trusts me to."

Ron stared at a hole in the hearthrug and sighed, "So you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the Defence group?"

"Me? Certainly not!" Sirius looked surprised, "I think it's an excellent idea."

"You do?" Harry sounded so happy.

"Of course I do!" Sirius answered, "D'you think your father and I would've lain down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge?"

"And if we get expelled?" Hermione added.

"Hermione! This was all your idea!" Harry stared.

Hermione shrugged, "I know it was, I just wondered what Sirius thought."

"Well better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school without a clue." Said Sirius.

"Hear hear!" Harry, Ron and I all said in unison.

"So," Sirius was beaming, "how are you organising this group? Where are you meeting?"

"Well, that's a bit of a problem now," said Harry, "Dunno where we're going to be able to go."

I opened my mouth and closed it again, I didn't know if I wanted to say, "I've got an idea, but I've got to check it out first."

"Oh…" Sirius raised his eyebrows, "Are you going to divulge or are you going to be all mysterious Miss-"

He broke off. His face was suddenly tense, alarmed. He turned sideways, apparently looking into the solid brick wall of the fireplace. Then he vanished.

"Sirius?" Harry called out anxiously, he looked to Hermione, Ron and me, concern filled his face, "Why did he-?"

Hermione gasped. I immediately knew why. In the flames was a stubby, short-fingered hand covered in old-fashioned rings and the sleeve of a pink cardigan. Umbridge's hand groped around in the fire, hoping to grab Sirius, as though she had known where his head had been seconds before. A quick glance between the four of us told us to run and not look back.