Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
...
Harry couldn't help but lightly bite at the inside of his lip as he considered the announcement that he had found in the Gryffindor common room. It seemed that Triple M was sick of not being able to play music with one another and had made it known they were not afraid of the consequences.
Harry just wondered whether or not those who organized it or everybody who attended it would be punished once Dolores stumbled upon them. The woman likely needed to make a statement and Harry wouldn't put it past her to choose to punish everybody who found themselves there at that moment in time.
Ultimately the best course of action would be preventing Umbridge from striking at Triple M in the first place. However he couldn't be there every time to prevent them from being caught, most of their sessions seemed to just happen over time. Harry knew of this upcoming meeting but that didn't mean he would be informed of when the next one would occur or if it would even be announced beforehand.
Taking a seat in the common room, Harry considered his options in regards to just how best to approach the situation. "Well, well, well, look who it is," said a familiar voice as an older student plopped themselves next to him. "What could be going through that brain of yours at this moment in time?"
"Well Fred...George...Gred?" said Harry with uncertainty of which of the twins he was conversing with. It was also mildly unnerving to find that they were alone. "Where's Forge at?"
"You're just speaking with George today," they announced. "Fred is off with one Katie Bell at the moment and I feel that it is a situation which I should not be a part of."
"Wise words, wise words indeed," mused Harry. "To answer your previous question George, I'm contemplating of making a move."
"Is this something in which the whole cabinet should be made aware of?" asked George in return.
"This is something which I should be able to manage myself, after all the date and the time has been set for me," said Harry. "If you would be so kind as to organize the first meeting of the year and run it on my behalf the following day that would be most appreciated. Contact them in whatever way you feel would be nost appropriate."
"You're not going to be there?"
"I might but depending on how successful my idea goes may require having to do it in quick succession. This is going to take some outside help and it may need a bit of bartering done."
"I see."
"I'll write down the spell and the prerequisites for you to share if I'm unable to make it."
"Very well then," said George with a light tip of his head. "May I ask just who you're going to be getting in on the action?"
"Nearly Headless Nick," said Harry calmly.
George wasn't sure what answer Harry had been willing to give but that most certainly hadn't been on the top of his list.
...
Daphne Greengrass steadily worked away at her homework, two books in front of her working as her guides. While she did feel that she had gotten enough information from Professor Lupin during his lesson, there was nothing wrong with any extra information.
She had to admit that Professor Lupin was the first Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher she had had throughout her schooling that seemed competent at his job. Professor Quirrell lost all credibility when he fainted in the Great Hall during the Halloween feast. Lockhart's fame barely meant anything after he let loose the pack of Cornish Pixies on the class and that was their first lesson of all things.
It was a different change of pace for sure and she for one was grateful for it.
The two books she did have held a secondary use however, holding a small bit of parchment beneath it. This parchment, for the moment, was blank yet she had no intention whatsoever of writing on it. After all, if Potter Club was going to contact her she wanted to know the moment they did so.
Her eyes continued to dart to the blank parchment in between the sentences she was writing for her assignment. She knew the likelihood of them contacting her at that exact moment in time was unlikely but she still wished to hear from them.
She needed to hear from them!
As if the world had heard her internal pleas, her peripheral vision managed to catch ink marks appearing on the hidden piece of parchment. For the briefest of moments she wanted to knock the books out of the way but restrained herself. She was in a public place after all and while there wasn't currently anybody watching her movements that didn't mean that uncharacteristic actions would go unnoticed.
Instead she took a deep breath and returned to her homework with the intent of finishing the paragraph she had been working on. Just because a few words had been written in front of her didn't mean the whole message was there. It would still be there when she had finished her own work.
She couldn't help but notice the speed she was writing at was far quicker than normal. Regardless, once she had finished her own work she lowered her quill and grabbed hold of the parchment where she could read and decipher the foreign letters to know where they were meeting up.
Or at least that had been her initial thought until she didn't see the Japanese symbols in front of her. Instead there were numbers. Dozens upon dozens of numbers spread across the parchment, all in blocks of three. How on Earth was she meant to figure this out!
It seemed though that she would be given a lifeline as a single sentence showed itself at the bottom. "Harry Potter and the Dance of the Mountain Troll," she said slowly before resisting the sheer need to tear up the parchment in front of her. She swiftly realized that when the first block of three numbers read '42, 12, 9,' it related to either the forty second, twelfth or ninth page. Figuring out which number related to what wouldn't be too much trouble.
At least it wouldn't be difficult if she managed to get her hands on a copy of the children's book!
She knew that there was a copy of the book at her home but the last thing she was planning on doing was sending an owl to her parents asking them to send her the copy in her bedroom. The questions that her parents would ask in response and the embarrassment she would feel would be unbearable. She was in the middle of the library but knew that there wasn't a single children's book amongst the thick tomes of knowledge. Daphne had no idea if anybody had a copy in the school but, again, the embarrassment of asking for such a childish book would ruin her.
That meant that she had to order a copy. Daphne could only hope that her order would get there before they were meant to meet up.
It seemed however that there was another option she hadn't considered as one final sentence appeared underneath the book title. "The statue of Gregory the Smarmy," she read. She knew of it, everybody did but nobody really paid it much attention. The bigger question though was what was she meant to do with this information? She would have to be patient and find an appropriate time to find out just what the clue meant.
...
Susan stood in front of the statue of Gregory the Smarmy, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at the inanimate object. After having received the message she had immediately excused herself from her friends and made her way to the statue without a second thought. There was clearly a secret here but she didn't know what it was. Surely it wasn't a joke.
The other part about it all, was that while the statue wasn't in the most popular of corridors it was still out in the open. Meaning that she was now out in the open and in the line of anybody who turned around the corner. Subconsciously, Susan found herself creeping closer to the statue in the hope of reducing her visibility.
It was with this closeness however that Susan noticed that one of the bricks behind the elbow of the statue seemed to be protruding an inch further out from the rest of the wall. Had she not been so close then she doubted that she would have seen it in the first place and unless somebody was actually looking for something, they wouldn't have even given it a second glance.
Pulling her wand out of her robes, Susan tapped the extended brick with her wand. Several seconds passed and she couldn't help but feel somewhat foolish for having thought that it would be so simple. Such thoughts shattered however as the brick clicked into place, causing a follow on effect as the nearby wall seemed to shudder before peeling in on itself to reveal a hole large enough to fit a door leading on to a tunnel.
"When did this get here?"
Susan nearly felt herself leap in shock as she swiftly turned around to find herself face to face with somebody she hadn't expected to see. "Uhh, Tracy, good to see you," Susan stammered out. "You, uh, you been, you know, up to much?"
"Not as much as you it seems," said Tracy.
"Well, yeah, I kind of, you know, found it like this?" said Susan with as much conviction as she could muster. Which was sadly, none.
"As much fun as it is watching you squirm, I think it would be better if the two of us made our way through this devious looking tunnel to wherever it leads to find a book," said Tracy, leaning back with a smile. "I never would have thought that you were in Potter Club though."
Susan shushed Tracy with an upright finger, looking down the corridor to make sure that they hadn't been seen before gripping her by the arm and dragging her into the tunnel. After the two of them had passed no more than ten steps, their light source vanished as the wall reshaped itself into normality. Both Tracy and Susan quickly cast Lumos and the two of them found themselves with a white light illuminating the otherwise dreary surroundings.
Susan made no sound as she pushed forward into the darkness, Tracy close on her tail. "So you're really not going to say anything?" asked Tracy to the teenager leading the way.
"If I can avoid it," replied Susan in a salty manner.
"Sheesh, and I thought you were a bubbly one," said Tracy.
"I am," said Susan defensively.
"Are you worried that I'm going to tell people that you're in Potter Club? You know that me and Daph essentially walked into one of your meetings where all of you had your disguises on so you all knew who we were. None of you told on us so there's no reason for me to tell on you."
"It's not that," said Susan as she slowed down her walk. "Within the first couple weeks of first year I was inducted into Potter Club and I did really well to make sure that nobody knew that I was part of it. I knew that somebody in Potter Club invited me in the first place so they knew who I was but other than that I didn't think that anybody knew. Then last year after the whole Potions Class fiasco I needed to be comforted by another member who didn't mind showing themselves just because I was upset. I told myself then that I would only reveal myself to others if they needed my support."
"Then I just came in unannounced and broke that promise to yourself," summarized Tracy only for Susan to nod. "Well, if it's any consolation I may very well need your support very shortly."
"What do you mean?" asked Susan as she turned to look at her peer.
"Well, I'm only now realizing that this is probably going to lead us somewhere close to a bookshop," said Tracy sheepishly. "Problem is, I kinda ran here without any money."
Seconds trickled by before Susan couldn't help the laughter that escaped her lips. "Fine, I'll support you Tracy."
"Oh, we probably should buy one for Daph as well."
"The two of you can share."
"Oh you meanie!"
...
Dolores Umbridge stalked the halls of Hogwarts, her destination well in mind. It had come to her attention that there was going to be a group of students gathered together to play Muggle music, something that she would not tolerate in the slightest. The sheer thought that such audacious music would be willingly made within Hogwarts was madness of the highest level and could not be tolerated for so much as a second.
Marching up a flight of stairs, Dolores found herself grinding her teeth as a melody made its self known to her ears. It appeared that they weren't even trying to hide the fact they were making such a brazen crime occur. She would see all who were present punished for their actions. The music of Muggles had no place here.
As she ascended to the top of the staircase and turned down the nearby hall however she found herself stopping in her tracks at the sheer sight in front of her. Part of her had expected some sort of resistance or even a scout ready to alert their friends of her incoming presence. What she had not expected in the slightest was to come face to face with a corporal Patronus.
The white stag eyed her off with caution and she couldn't help but wonder who had manifested such a beast. Surely it hadn't been one of the teachers but that could only mean that it was a student and she dared not consider why a student was studying a spell to ward off dementors. That along with the fact that most adult witches and wizards were incapable of making little more than a wispy white shield when casting the spell made the fact that there was a stag standing before her rather surprising.
Before she could consider the next course of action, the stag turned it's head sharply before charging towards her. Dolores couldn't help but unceremoniously dive out of the way only for the pursuer of the stag to show themselves. "This is the greatest hunt of my afterlife!" shouted Nearly Headless Nick as he rode his steed after the stag, his sword arm raised triumphantly. He gave chase as the stag bounded around a corner and the two of them vanished from sight.
It was only then that Dolores noticed that it wasn't the only thing that had vanished with the music she had been hearing earlier having stopped completely. It seemed as if they had escaped.
For now.
After all, there would always be another chance.
Her higher priority however would be discovering just who in the castle was capable of casting a Patronus. The members of the music group were mere pixies compared to that giant. She would catch them one way or another and it would be a glorious occasion when she did so.
...
Hope you enjoyed.