Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

...

Harry hadn't expected to be allowed to leave the Hospital Wing that afternoon but lo and behold, miracles did happen. During the rest of his visit he had been set upon by Neville, Susan, both Fred and George and finally Ron, the youngest of the Weasley boys spending a good hour with Harry. However, his time there was nothing compared to the hours that Hermione stayed by his side, even choosing to skip classes in order to remain with him.

This was unprecedented. Had so much changed already that Hermione was not attending lessons?

Harry wasn't sure whether he was happy with the change or not.

During their time alone they discussed what had happened with Hermione's broom. Hermione stated that Professor Flitwick had taken the time to look over the flying equipment and found that it hadn't been tampered with. Harry couldn't help but believe that Quirrell was responsible but hadn't included that in the discussion. Why he had gone for Hermione though was a troubling thought. Harry assumed that Quirrell had decided to spend some time outside of the castle and had spotted them flying and just misaimed his curse. Considering Harry hadn't seen the possessed professor at the time he had no clue just how far away the terrible teacher was.

Thankfully the conversation had defused when Hermione had said that she had chosen not to send a letter to her parents regarding the ordeal. She had explained that such an event would have her pulled out of school and away from the magical world, to live out the rest of her life as a normal human with a gift she could never develop. Harry respected her decision and when they had finally been shooed out of the infirmary he had made the cheeky joke that Hermione should send a letter to her parents regarding the fact that she now had a boyfriend in him.

Considering the response he had gotten wasn't a bop over the head but rather a crimson blush, Harry wondered whether she'd contemplated the idea of having a boyfriend. Heck, first time around during the Halloween incident she had fled to the girl's bathroom when Ron had said she didn't have any friends. Harry wasn't sure whether Ron and Hermione were on a friendly basis yet but he was certain that it would come in time. He doubted however that Ron would make the comment and force Hermione into danger.

At least that was a positive.

Upon entering the common room they found all eyes on them, one of those moments which they believed only happened in movies. They weren't sure where it began but a clap began to slowly ring out, followed by another person and then another before the whole room was sending the applause towards Harry.

He honestly didn't know how to take it and couldn't help but allow a small blush spread across his cheeks. Eventually the commotion began to die down before individual members of the house came up and said their spiel, revolving mostly around his courage, bravery and broom skill. He suddenly found that his female companion was no longer by his side and spared a glance across to see a number of girls ushering Hermione to one of the rooms; clearly gossip needed to be heard.

Part of him wished he had his father's Invisibility Cloak to go check in on that conversation.

"That was some amazing flying, Potter," said Wood, shaking Harry's hand, bringing the young boy back to the topic in front of him.. "You've got quite a bit of skill on a broom."

Harry shrugged. "I only picked one up for the first time a few weeks ago."

"Add that to the fact you were riding a substandard broom," acknowledged Oliver. "I know this is against protocol, but would you be interested if I were to ask Professor McGonagall whether we could bend the rules a bit and get you on the team? I'd hate to see such talent have to wait another year."

"Uhh, sure, that'd be great," said Harry.

"Excellent," said Oliver, and just like that he was off.

"What's this we hear?"

"Little Harry's going to be joining the team."

"Is such a thing allowed, Brother?"

"We'll just have to wait and find out."

Harry looked at the twins in front of him, both of them speaking as if rehearsing lines from a script. "I believe, however, that young Harry has something to discuss with us in private," said the one on the left.

"Why, whatever could you mean?" asked Harry.

"I believe that this is something we should interrogate him about in secrecy."

"I believe you are right."

Without warning the twin on the right had grabbed onto Harry's wrist and with surprising ease managed to fling him onto his shoulder and started marching him off, earning a couple laughs from the rest of the common room. Harry, for better or for worse, decided to play along. "I wondered how far up the evolutionary scale you guys were," he said cheekily.

"We're high enough," said one of them.

"The old tag and bag tactic is how we'll be getting all the ladies."

"Classy," said Harry as he was dragged into one of the boy's rooms before being deposited on the bed. "Usually you'd ask for a date first."

"Alright, Harry."

"We want answers."

"How'd you do it?" they asked in unison.

"Do what?"

"Fred, you take this one."

"Right," said Fred as he knelt to look Harry in the eye. Had this been any other situation the youngest person in the room would have been terrified. "What we want to know is what you did in order to get that rainbow to appear over the Slytherin table the other morning. Although the title, not the brightest thing imaginable."

Harry knew that the twins would be able to put one and one together and he had been counting on them to do just that. Had they not been able to figure out his prank then he would have questioned their intelligence. "Remember, I'm the son of Prongs," stated Harry as if that answered everything. "The Marauders left me a few secrets, but in their own, cryptic way. Before you ask me to show it to you just know it's charmed that only members of any of the family lines can see it."

"Very well," said Fred, believing Harry's lie. "So then what's your plan for Potter Club?"

"Basically have a bit of fun in a roundabout way," said Harry. "Just so you know, the reason I called it Potter club is to draw attention away from me, I mean it'd be pretty silly for the leader of a group to name it after themselves if they didn't want to get caught."

"So by using your name you're actually drawing the line of fire away from yourself," said Fred.

"Nice," added George.

"What I'm working on at the moment is initialising people without them knowing who the leaders are," said Harry.

"Leaders? So there are more working with you?"

"Well I was under the impression you two would be working alongside me in the long run. Only if you want to, of course."

"What kind of position would we be in? How high up the hierarchy?" asked Fred.

"If you think of it in Medieval terms, while I would be the King I would think of you two as my most trusted Knights, one of you as my sword and the other as my shield," declared Harry. "The only people above you for the moment would be the King and the Queen."

"Queen?" said both boys as one. Harry meanwhile could only smile.

...

"Harry, can you come with me?" asked Hermione forcefully. Of course her declaration was overheard by a number of people who began to share sly looks with one another. Hermione did her best to ignore the sniggers, but Harry could tell that they were slowly eating away at her.

Pushing himself up from the table he had been working at, Harry looked Hermione in the eye. "Lead on, fair lady," he said gesturing to the side elaborately. Hermione did just that, walking faster than Harry had assumed she would. Again he found himself wondering just what had been said in that private conversation that Hermione had been dragged off to.

Exiting the common room, Hermione simply took a few strides before taking a seat on the steps, Harry planting himself right beside her. "Harry," she said slowly. "Firstly, I want to say thank you again. I owe you my life."

"You don't owe me anything," said Harry. "Perhaps helping me catch up on the homework I missed out on, but other than that I don't expect anything from you."

"But I expect something from myself," stated Hermione. "I won't forget that I'm alive because of your actions, I'm not sure if anybody on the pitch knew a spell to slow me down, or if they even had their wands on them. Only you could have saved me, Harry, and you did."

Harry swallowed a lump in his throat.

"I really don't know how I can repay you for that and I don't think me helping you with essays and assignments would cover it, I know you're pretty smart on your own. Unfortunately that's all I can really offer except for one thing, and I'm not really sure I should ask considering how much trouble we could get in. However, I feel that I need to do this."

Harry at this point was sweating bullets as Hermione braced herself to ask the question she had pondered over for days.

"Can I join Potter Club?"

Harry blinked thrice before letting out a small chuckle. "Guess I couldn't hide it from you Hermione," he said. "What gave it away?"

"I think when you asked me to study in the library," said Hermione. "You went straight for something above and beyond what we're even meant to be thinking about studying at the moment. While I enjoyed tackling the subject, questions started to arise, mostly 'why'. I mean if we were pushing ahead with Potions or Transfiguration that would have made a lot more sense. So I figured there was a reason, a goal you were chasing."

"Do you know what the goal of the Potter Club is?" asked Harry.

"I don't, but if both the rainbow and the whoopie cushion are any indicator I'd have to guess that you just want to have a bit of fun. I mean you are the 'Boy Who Lived', but I don't think you're doing it just because you can get away with it." Harry nodded but remained silent as Hermione continued, "I also think that you named it after you to actually draw attention away from you, and something tells me that something will happen soon something that will throw everyone off your scent even further."

"Not a bad idea," said Harry haphazardly. "Now another question for you; on the pretense that I couldn't lie my way out of it, why not report me to one of the professors?"

"Had I not known you as well as I have, I might have," stated Hermione. "That time in the library though, the willingness to sneak out of school to buy a book of all things, not to mention standing up for me and punching Draco, I felt like the only girl in the world. Back home the only people who stuck up for me were my parents, I wasn't so blind. I could tell that I had no real friends. Eventually it was safer for them to find new friends and join in the picking on me. 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.' That saying became my life, I blocked out everything except my thirst for knowledge. Heck, even before I got sorted I was reciting Hogwarts: A History to another student. I believed here that I would find friends, but once more I found myself becoming isolated. So to answer your question, Harry James Potter, I don't believe that friends should dob one another in."

"You know, you could have said that from the start," said Harry causing Hermione to giggle a bit.

"Sorry, when I'm nervous I just can't stop myself," said Hermione.

"Come here," said Harry as he looped his arm over Hermione's shoulder and dragged her in closer. The warmth of her body outweighed his own and he could feel his heart rate increase ever so slightly. "I know what it's like to not have friends and I have been hurt by a lot more than words, but that's in the past. We're wizards now. At the same time though we're kids. Do you ever remember getting a toy and playing with it more than anything else?"

"Yes," said Hermione. Harry guessed that she considered books to be toys.

"Well, I think this wand I recently got is a pretty neat toy and I've got seven years to learn how to play with it properly."

"So...Potter Club's objective is to play with magic?" asked Hermione.

"No, Potter Club is about learning magic that brings a smile to faces, and I intend to share a lot of smiles."

...

"Lady and gentlemen, welcome to the first official meeting of Potter Club. First and foremost, we do not speak of this meeting outside of this room, and we do not interact with Potter Club on the mind outside of this room. Secrecy is key as we are the heads that run the business, if we are to get caught then everything will fall apart."

"Little dramatic don't you think?"

"I thought it created the atmosphere quite well."

"It's got a bit of a James Bond feel about it."

"Who?"

"Muggle movie spy hero."

"Ahh...movie..."

"I think Dad told us about them before."

"Could've, he mentions a lot of things around the house."

"If I may draw your attention back to the meeting, thank you. Rule number one. We have to follow, above all else: our intentions are not to single out students and hurt them both physically or emotionally, we're not bullies."

"Question."

"Yes?"

"Are you saying that we cannot target individual students all together, or make a habit of targeting a single person over a long period of time?"

"Individuals can only be targeted on the pretense that they will likely laugh about it at a later date, so again nothing hurtful physically or mentally, the last thing we need is someone standing in the Owlery contemplating the quickest way to the ground level. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Good."

"Will this be information be passed on to other members of this little shindig?"

"Hermione?"

"I'm writing it all down now and will summarize and clarify after the meeting."

"Good, okay then, rule number two: never will we reveal our positions within Potter Club; as far as every other presenter is aware we are on the same level that they are."

"So apart from us, nobody knows that Harry Potter is the Head of the Potter Club?"

"I believe that's the idea, brother of mine."

"We do have to ponder however..."

"Why is this the case?"

"Boys, I asked that you speak in complete sentences beforehand. Please continue in that way until the meeting is over, you're then free to speak in whatever twin magic synchronicity you want."

"Yes, boss."

"As for the question, I myself will not participate as that would be out of place. I will however be the target for a few pranks. I expect you will be too, in time, in order to create the illusion that we are not a part of the club and avert curious eyes away from us. Also, since we know that these pranks will be going ahead and that we won't be heading to the Owlery for a distinctly disheartening purpose, they may be a little more...elaborate in nature."

"That's foreboding."

"Question."

"What now?"

"Two questions, actually."

"You can ask your question after Fred."

"I'm George."

"After George then."

"Okay."

"But I thought I was George?"

"Whoever you are, please ask your question."

"Right, how do we go about selecting and inducting new members into Potter club?"

"At the moment the only other person I have is Susan Bones, who I was able to convince into putting the whoopie cushion on Quirrell's chair..."

"You got Susan to do that?"

"Yeah, I sent her a letter explaining what she had to do and when to do it, and that failure would result in consequences. I hadn't actually planned far enough ahead for the possibility that Susan wouldn't do it. Answering your question, initial contact will be made through the post using school owls so that it can't be tracked that way. It would be pretty obvious if Hedwig kept sending letters to different students day after day."

"Fair point."

"Arguably it will be picked up on eventually, so we will need another way to contact our existing members and a way to bring new people into the group."

"I'm sure we can think of something."

"I'll look into it over the next couple of days and see if I can make some headway."

"Cheers, Hermione."

"No problem."

"Speaking of new members, off the top of your head, who do you want to join our society?"

"Lee Jordan."

"Katie Bell."

"Er-.I don't actually know who I should ask."

"It's alright, Hermione, we've only been here for a couple weeks, so it's okay. I'll have you write up the letters which will be sent out with the mail tomorrow morning. On it will be an assignment for each of them should they choose to accept. The main thing however is that one of you will be accompanying each of them."

"Dibs on Katie."

"Bugger, guess I've got Lee then."

"Wait, then who do I have?"

"You'll have to wait until tomorrow night to find out. Now, your mission for the evening is simple, each of you need to locate an area somewhere in the school and paint this insignia on a wall."

"I thought we were pranking people."

"We will, we just need them to know it's us."

"Isn't this design a little corny?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look at it."

"I have to agree with Fred on this one."

"I thought you said he was George."

"Did I?"

"Meanwhile, let's face the fact that your design for the Club is pretty bollocks."

"Fine then, George, you're in charge of the new design."

"But which one of us is George?"

"...Meeting adjourned!"

...

Vandalism.

What had she been thinking?

She was going to get expelled when they caught her, she didn't have a wizarding name or title to fall back on and she would have nobody to support her when all was said and done. There was no hope, they would track her down and she would be held accountable for her actions.

So why had she enjoyed herself so much the previous night?

Almost in response to her stress, a hand came up and touched her on the shoulder. Looking to the side she saw Harry giving her a warm smile. She knew that he couldn't say anything that could jeopardize their little operation, especially at the Sunday morning breakfast where prying eyes and ears were everywhere. Yet somehow his touch was enough to calm her down.

He gave a small nod of the head towards the Ravenclaw table and she followed his gaze to where her partner for the crime had been. Hermione had known where Cho was going to meet her but had had no idea if the second year student would have come. Thankfully she had and the two of them had done their best to avoid any and all obstacles before finding a pristine spot to begin their work. During their activities Cho had asked where Hermione had gotten the paint from and Hermione just stated that she had found it left on the ground. Funnily enough this was the icebreaker before they started conversing freely in hushed whispers. Turned out that Cho was going to be trying out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team hoping to claim the vacant Seeker position. Cho learned of Hermione's love for books and was fascinated with the fact that the Muggle newspapers didn't have images that moved.

Little things which made for a highly entertaining night.

"Your attention please," bellowed Dumbledore and Hermione suddenly found all those nerves shoot to the surface once again. Harry's grip tightened slightly which reassured her somewhat. "Last night it would seem that the Potter Club got up to some more mischief, however they have vandalised school property in the process."

A hushed whisper spread around the students present before Dumbledore pulled out his wand and pointed it towards the roof. Three projections spread out, each of them showing an image of a school wall where giant letters were painted in light blue, purple and pink. The letters simply spelled out 'PC' however the downward stroke on the P was changed to look like a lightning bolt, one very similar to the scar etched across Harry's forehead.

Dumbledore looked as if he was going to continue but stopped himself beforehand as the sound of flapping wings began to grow, louder and louder with each passing second. Before anybody could figure out what was happening, hundreds, if not thousands of small birds flew into the great hall through the windows, causing everyone to look in the air in wonder. Nobody could tell what birds they were but the colours they came in blanketed the ceiling in stunning shades of yellow, green, blue, and red. Even the professors watched on in awe, several of them having deduced just what the birds actually were before they started colliding into one another and bursting in blazing glory.

With each explosion a small piece of paper twirled through the air, raining down upon the students, the younger one standing on their seats in an attempt to reach the tiny pamphlet before anyone else. As Hermione watched on with a smile on her face, Harry reached into his back pocket and pulled out one of pieces that he had held onto and passed it to her. Looking on one side showed the logo that one of the Weasley boys had created (she still had no idea which one was which) and on the other was a very simple message.

When called, will you answer?

Hermione looked at Harry only to find his attention elsewhere. Following his line of sight she could see that Dumbledore had seemed to have lost all confidence in what he had wanted to say in light of this display. Flitwick was clapping and only stopped when Snape glared at him menacingly. McGonagall shared a smile with Professor Sprout while every other teacher was a mix of bedazzled and confused.

Hermione then sent her gaze down the table where the Gryffindor students seemed to be in high spirits, many of them asking one another whether they would be called on next. Fred and George were even complaining about why they hadn't been chosen yet which she couldn't help but smirk at.. Even Katie and Lee seemed jovialle and turning her attention to the Ravenclaw table she saw that Cho had a smile spreading from ear to ear.

All in all, she had to say that Potter Club's assignment had been a rousing success.

Provided they didn't get expelled of course.

...