AN:
Nightwing2013 - True, but they did say he could talk to them, which would reveal he doesn't have to choose. I happen to agree that Umbridge probably would be rather homophobic. I guess you'll just have to see if I run with that. The prank war will be a nice ongoing way for me to spread some fun and joy through Year 5, so I'm glad people enjoy the idea. I think Molly will be fine with the whole polyamory/polygamy thing. I think she just wants her kids to be happy and find someone in that regard. I do think she has mostly conservative values, so while she won't frown at the relationship itself, she will want them being rather chaste and not be overly familiar together. Definitely do her best to ensure they have a chaperone when she can. That sort of thing. She might be a little hesitant at the polyamory thing at first, but overall I see her issue being just like it was with Fleur in that she's just a bit overprotective and will judge on whether she thinks someone is good enough for her kids or not.
scrappy8 - Soon! The DA will come into fruition real soon. And yeah, Alicia doesn't need that type of negativity. She deserves better.
GreengrassRebel - Thanks! Yeah, poor Ali, but she'll get someone better, just like she deserves. The DA is definitely coming soon. Yeah, no beating around the bush. Wouldn't make sense since most of them already study outside of class, and Harry helps them as is, so the focus was about him helping others, beyond their group. I do not intend to make the DA more exclusive. I don't agree with that either. The point of it was teaching people to survive Death Eater attacks, and has the unintended consequence of creating a resistance group against Voldemort and his ilk.
Definitely more people than just Marina and Witcher studying the deities, and I'll explore that more with the DA. I've hinted at it, but a lot of the old pureblood families have deities that they might have some sort of patronage, matronage, or at least favor from, and that extends to elemental magic as well. Most aren't going to be at Harry's level with their element, not having a god demanding mastery, but we'll definitely see more soon. As for who will be in the DA? Well, I guess you'll just have to read this chapter.
Guest - Thanks! I guess you'll just have to see if Angelina and Alicia's chat helped, or if the older sisters will meddle a bit more, and hopefully you enjoy the prank war which I intend to be an ongoing thing for the rest of the "Year."
michaelc100 - Thanks! I guess you'll just have to wait and see.
stars90 - Yeah she is, and it'll get thrown back in her face when it all comes out into the open.
Direwolf51 - Glad you got the issues fixed. I do post on AO3 as well if you keep running into issues, though if you're like me, you have favorited/followed too many stories on this site to just give it up. I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and that you like most of my ideas. The sibling relationships have been a lot of fun to write, and I look back on my original draft of this story (which lacked the chasers), and I'm so glad I delved into these pseudo/adoptive bonds. Well, don't you worry about Ginny being left out. I am generally a Harry/Ginny fan, though I've recently (I guess in the last year or so) gained a real appreciation for some other pairings (namely Harry with any of the three chasers, Tonks, Fleur, or even Daphne Greengrass), but I'm still a big Harry/Ginny fan. She's definitely not going to get relegated to the background.
ChaosDracon - Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy my changes to characters and the worldbuilding I've done, and I'm glad people really enjoyed the interplay between siblings. Definitely a big focus for this story, and it's humbling a lot of people love it so much.
Chapter 54
"Ahhh!" Hermione screamed, and Harry along with the whole Great Hall glanced over at Hermione before they all started snickering.
Hermione now had seaweed for hair and her robes had been transfigured into moss.
"Merlin curse that Sirius Black!" Hermione swore, and Harry snorted in laughter.
It hadn't even been a full week since the "declaration of war" and nearly Harry's entire group of friends and family had been pranked. Angelina actually had decided she liked hers slightly. Dora had done something fairly tame and turned her hair purple, along with Harry's and Alicia's. Harry's had been bright pink (thanks Dora), and Alicia's was emerald green, though with Alicia there had also been a small firework that blazed the House Potter symbol right above her, which sent a clear message to all of who claimed her as family. The smile hadn't left Alicia's face for the entire day. Angelina had decided she kind of liked the hair color, and after the prank had faded had highlighted a couple strands of her hair purple, leaving a streak of purple in her hair, since "Lady Potters needed a bit more color in their hair."
It had actually been the second prank to go off with Dora as the culprit.
Harry had been the first "casualty" just before the group one with Alicia and Angelina. Dora had somehow managed to dose him with a potion that made him super soppy and had him clinging to both Angelina and Alicia bawling about how much he loved his sisters, which amused the whole Gryffindor Common Room since it took effect after dinner.
The group prank had been next, followed by a single one for Alicia. Alicia had opened a letter only for an actual pie to fly out of a pocket dimension and smash her lightly in the face.
Fred and George had fallen on their arses after they were covered in slime that made them slip and fall off the table, and then continuously slip and fall every time they tried to get back on their feet before the laughing stopped long enough for someone to help them. Ron had had his robes turned Slytherin green and silver, which he took as a personal affront on his character.
Ginny and Katie were both dosed with laughing potions that had the two of them clutching each other howling at things only they found funny. Trying to calm the two laughing witches involved a merry chase around the castle, though it wasn't too difficult once they decided to start "hiding" considering they couldn't stop loudly snickering and laughing, as they cuddled up in a broom closet.
The two menaces had jumped Harry when he, Alicia, and Angelina finally tracked them down, slamming him into the ground and laughing about their "handsome seeker" before Astra helped them get away. Bloody dog was an even bigger menace that kept up that game of hide and go seek for almost an hour and a half, even if finding them was fairly easy.
To their credit, it wasn't just the "kids" that had fallen to pranks. Sirius spent half a day scratching all over when Harry gave him fleas, even in his human form. Dora's metamorphmagus powers were temporarily halted and she was forced to assume the face of an old crone for two hours, despite her best efforts.
Remus was somehow locked down to Shadow Hold by the twins for two hours. No matter what he did, every time he tried to leave the house, he appeared back in the room he left. He wrote them back, complimenting the brilliant piece of magic and returning the favor by hexing them so that they were unable to speak, write, or make any noise for nearly half a day. Everything they tried somehow was silenced. They were very impressed, but also miserable. Everyone learned a healthy respect for Remus Lupin that day.
Based on the letters he'd received, he knew Fleur had found herself stuck to Bill, though from the letter he got from Fleur, she and Bill had quite enjoyed the prank and dedicated alone time. Something told Harry that that had not been the original intent or the person she was supposed to have ended up stuck to. Remus and Sirius were less happy when they were chained together. Harry, Alicia, Angelina, Katie, and Ginny were dying with laughter though hearing about how Remus and Sirius spent the whole time hitting each other with various charms, prank transfigurations, stinging jinxes, and other minor hexes before they both managed to annoy each other enough to both cast a stunner at each other at the same time, knocking them both out. Alexis and Dora enjoyed movie time when they too were chained together. Harry wasn't really sure who pranked Fleur, but he suspected the two subsequent pranks were her retaliation or "thanks" for some quality time with her boyfriend, which did not work out in quite the same manner.
Their pride and joy though was pranking Mad-Eye. Astra had managed to steal Mad-Eye's flask during the night when he had let his guard down slightly since he was behind his wards. They had then mixed in a solution that turned Mad-Eye's hair bright pink. Harry thought the best part was Dora writing to them angrily about how Mad-Eye had complimented her – legit complimented her! – before realizing she had not done the prank and had immediately then told her he knew he should have really congratulated the better protege. He had been a bit smug in his reply to her, which he knew was going to earn some retaliation, but it had been worth it.
"Well, well, Ms. Granger," a simpering voice said, and their humor faded immediately. "I'm afraid that will be 10 points from Gryffindor for disturbing the rest of the Hall."
They all glared at Umbridge, and she smirked at them maliciously.
"I also believe that with the influx of hexed mail that you've received this week that I'm going to have to start confiscating your mail until it can be checked over."
"It's mail from our families," Harry responded, holding his anger back. "You have no right to take our mail."
"Oh, but as High Inquisitor, I do," she said in a simpering sweet voice. "Anything that affects the attention at this school is something I must work to prune. Clearly your guardians and parents are irresponsible and must be taught a lesson. Now, Ms. Potter, please turn your hair back to a normal color and show some pride in your heritage. Another 10 points from Gryffindor."
"My hair color is not outside of the Hogwarts standards," Angelina said angrily.
"The points were for your lack of pride in your heritage," Umbridge said with a wide smile. "The advice I gave you about your hair color was just that, advice. However, since you feel the need to assume what your superiors are implying then I'll just have to give you a detention. Report to my office tonight."
"Madam Umbridge, we are not allowed to take points for "lack of pride in heritage" and we are definitely not allowed to take a student's mail as long as it isn't contraband in the school," McGonagall said coldly, and Umbridge turned her glare onto the Head of House. "I will return those points to Ms. Potter and Gryffindor House and rescind her punishment," McGonagall said.
"You have no right," Umbridge said, her eyes flashing.
"I believe, as Deputy Headmistress, I do," McGonagall said stiffly. "This is further proof that you should have no say in any punishments at this school, and I will be pushing for that to happen."
"We'll see about that, Minerva," Umbridge said angrily, before she huffed up to the Staff Table.
McGonagall gave them a slight nod before she followed suit.
"This needs to end," Harry muttered darkly. "I'm going to go use the mirror to let Dora and Sirius know about this. Maybe they can use it to reign her in more at the next Wizengamot meeting."
"Or get the bitch out of here," Angelina growled out.
**HP**
Harry was given two weeks without anyone mentioning Defense lessons, but finally he was doing some potions homework, with Alicia's help, and Angelina, Hermione, and Ron around when Hermione re-broached the subject.
"I was wondering," Hermione said suddenly, "whether you'd thought any more about Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry."
"I try not to," Harry said grumpily. "The less I think about that hag the better."
Alicia and Angelina giggled at that.
"I meant the idea I had about you teaching Defense."
Harry sighed. He had thought about it, and had certainly listened to what Alicia and Angelina said. He had then written to Mad-Eye, Sirius, Dora, and Remus, and to his chagrin, all four had agreed that he was well placed to help people and teach them how to survive. They'd advised him to be careful with it, but that it was a good idea. After he'd been faced with all the support, he'd found himself inadvertently thinking of lessons, thinking of the spells he'd like to teach, the techniques, the drills, everything he could teach to help people survive encounters with Death Eaters.
"Yes," he finally admitted. "Yes, I've thought about it."
"And?" said Hermione eagerly.
Harry looked at her eager face and nodded wearily.
"I'll do it. I'll teach whoever wants to learn, but I still don't think Umbridge is going to let me."
"Well, yes," Hermione agreed. "We'll have to be discreet to start. We won't advertise openly with flyers or anything like that. Mostly word of mouth. We'll see about interest first from people we think will accept. After a couple lessons, hopefully they'll be recommending the club to their other housemates, and then we can come out into the open, and Umbridge shouldn't be able to oppose us in any way."
"Well, I'm not sure there will be that much interest," Harry said. "I'm still a nutter to a lot of people, you know."
"That's their loss, then," Angelina said darkly.
"I think you'll be surprised, Harry," Hermione said seriously. "Still, what do you think about having a meeting during the Hogsmeade trip this upcoming weekend? We can meet in the village with anyone who might be interested."
"Why do we have to do it outside school?" said Ron.
"You seriously think Umbridge would like us forming a group for defense study?" Angelina asked with a raised brow. "Do you think she'd let us hold that meeting in the castle without interfering and scaring everyone off?"
"Oh, I guess not," Ron admitted.
"We'll spend the rest of our year in detention if she learns about it before we have a Professor backing us, or at least somewhat covering for us," Alicia said glumly.
"And a Professor won't stick their neck out for us until we can ensure this will be a success," Hermione agreed.
"I guess the Hogsmeade weekend is as good as any time," Harry admitted.
It was only two days away after all. That was certainly one way to get the ball rolling. He had been looking forward to enjoying the day at the village with his friends and family, but a meeting would only take a small amount of time.
"Good," Hermione said brightly, and looked at Angelina and Alicia who both nodded, looking pleased.
"We'll go feel out people in our year, or people we know," Angelina said, before she glanced at a bemused and exasperated Harry with a sly smile. "Would you go and let Ginny and Katie know? They have some people they'll want to tell too. We've been planning this."
Harry huffed. "Fine, where are they?"
Angelina and Alicia giggled.
"I'm pretty sure they're in the Room of Requirement," Angelina said with a smirk, and Alicia giggled.
Harry frowned at the two seventh years in confusion who were smiling at him giddily, but finally he nodded, and got up.
"I guess I'll see you all back here in a bit," Harry muttered, and made his way out of the common room, wondering when he became an owl, and realizing he didn't ask why they couldn't just wait for Katie and Ginny to come back for the night.
Harry made his way to the seventh floor and to where the Room of Requirement would appear, and then realized he didn't know what room the girls might be using. They could be in the training room, the common room, the Room's version of a library, or some other room he hadn't thought of.
Maybe he was overthinking this. Unless they had specifically asked for a room others couldn't get into, then he probably could just ask for the room they were in. Walking past three times, he did just that, and grinned seeing a door appear.
He walked up, opened the door and walked right in, recognizing the common room that they normally used for studying, and for enjoying some peace and quiet. Harry walked in, looking around and then stopped in his tracks, at both the sounds he was hearing and what he was seeing.
Both Ginny and Katie were making small gasps and moans, locked in an embrace on a couch. Katie was straddling Ginny, one arm wrapped in Ginny's hair, the other on her jaw, while Ginny's arms were on Katie's waist, their lips pressing together passionately.
As a teenage boy, he couldn't help but stare in amazement, but at the same time he felt his emotions crumble, thinking it bad luck that both of the girls he really liked clearly liked each other far more. Of course, he was happy for his friends, but that didn't make him feel much better.
Harry was about to back away when the door to the Room closed behind him with an audible click, and Ginny and Katie both stopped, and glanced his way, both breathing a bit hard.
"Oh . . . Harry," Katie said breathlessly, staring at him and then she grinned and stood up, getting off of Ginny, a slight blush on her face.
Ginny was blushing hard, but then she smiled, and took Katie's hand to get to her feet, both girls straightening their clothing a bit.
"Um — er — I'm s-sorry for interrupting," Harry stammered, as the two girls looked at him warmly.
"Oh, that's no problem, Harry," Katie said, still a little breathless. "We got a bit carried away as it was."
"Er, how long — when did —" Harry continued to ramble.
"How long have we been snogging?" Katie asked helpfully, and Harry blushed and nodded.
"Oh, what, just about two weeks now, isn't that right, Gin?" Katie asked, and Ginny nodded helpfully.
"Oh," Harry said, rather surprised that he hadn't realized that they had something going on. He was also a bit surprised that they hadn't told him.
"Is that a problem?" Katie said archly, moving towards him.
"Of course not!" Harry said, eyes wide. "I — er — I don't have a problem with you being together," he finished, even if inside he was wincing at that partial lie.
"Really?" Katie said, stepping up next to him. "Something seems wrong though?"
"No," Harry said quickly, and Ginny huffed.
"You're not a very good liar, Harry," she said simply. "At least not to us."
"No, really, I'm — I'm happy for you both," Harry said, trying to not sound so hollow.
"Oh, spit it out, Harry," Katie said, sounding annoyed. "We can't fix whatever the issue is if you won't tell us."
"It's nothing," Harry said, determined not to say anything.
"Harry," Katie said sternly, eyes narrowed, and Harry winced, not liking to disappoint any of his friends or family, and really not good at holding out against any of them.
"Please, Harry?" Ginny said softly.
Harry groaned, and slumped.
"Fine," Harry said, face downward. "I am happy for you, really, but I'm also a bit disappointed about you both dating each other . . . because I . . . I kind of fancy you."
Because his face was towards the ground, he missed the two smiles that appeared on both girls' faces.
"I see," Katie said blandly. "Do you fancy me or Ginny?"
"Er . . . both," Harry admitted weakly, again missing the smiles that bloomed on both girls' faces.
"Well, that's good," Katie said brightly, and Harry glanced up in surprise. "It would be a bit of a shame for one of us if you didn't fancy us both."
"Um — what?" Harry asked incredulously.
"He's cute when he's confused," Katie said with a grin, and Ginny giggled as Harry blushed.
"What do you —" Harry started to protest before he was cut off by Katie . . . specifically her grabbing the front of his robes and pulling him into her as her lips met his.
Harry only had a chance to make a grunt of surprise before he leaned into the kiss, savoring the sweet taste of her lips, and the tenderness with which she kissed him, before she pulled back, leaving him with a stupid grin on his face that went well with his confused feelings.
Before he could get his bearings, Ginny moved forward and kissed him, a bit more passionately than Katie's, but just as with Katie, Harry committed after a brief moment of hesitation, getting a soft moan out of Ginny before she pulled back, leaving Harry even more confused, even if his dopey grin had grown.
"If you haven't figured it out yet, Har," Katie said, smiling wide. "We both like you too."
Harry stared at her, finding it a bit hard to process that somehow both of the girls he liked were interested in him too. Sure, Angelina and Alicia had hinted at it, but it didn't seem real. It didn't help that he'd seen them both just kissing each other not a moment earlier.
Ginny and Katie both giggled at his disoriented look.
"But you were both just . . ." Harry tried to say, and both girls laughed.
"Harry, I like you," Katie said firmly, and he felt his heart thump hard in his chest, and she grinned, "and I really like Ginny too."
"Same, but in reverse," Ginny said brightly. "I fancy you and Katie."
"You — er — you both fancy each other?" Harry asked, dumbly.
"Yep," Katie said, popping the p. "It really was quite fortunate, you know," she said brightly. "We all started hanging out together so much last year because of the Tournament, and while Leash, Lina, and I really do like Hermione, Ginny just meshed with us. She was like the D'Artagnan to our Three Musketeers," Katie continued, smiling brightly at Ginny, who clearly did not get the muggle reference. "Soon, we realized we both fancied you, and while neither of us would have held it against the other if you only fancied one of us, we kind of hoped you'd be interested in both of us. We'd originally talked about being open to sharing if you were up for it and interested in us, since we both really like spending time with each other, so we figured we could make it work."
"Er, sharing me . . ." Harry said in disbelief.
"Yep," Ginny continued, "but after all the time we spent with each other last year, I realized that I kind of like witches too, and Katie already knew she did, but she realized that she kind of fancied me. We kind of talked about it at the end of last year, and then decided to give it a shot this year after we talked a bit on the train." Ginny shrugged. "Figured either you'd decide you liked us and we could talk about all being in a relationship together or you would find someone else and we still had each other."
"Um, if you both er — liked — er — me, and each other — er why . . . why didn't you say anything?" Harry asked, his brain still trying to wrap around everything. He'd never felt so slow on the uptake. Athena was surely mocking him right now.
"Well, last year you didn't really seem like you wanted or were ready to try dating at all," Katie said with a shrug. "Besides, we didn't want to pressure you or manipulate you into liking both of us, or make things awkward. You mean too much to both of us for that. Neither of us have exactly been subtle with our flirting, but I guess maybe you've just gotten too used to it from us, or you're just really daft, love. We felt like you liked us, but you also never really made any sign of pursuing either of us, so we accepted that."
Harry stood rather stunned at that, sometimes still struggling to remember that his friends enjoyed him as much as he did them. It was something Dora was very adamant about drilling out of him.
"Well, what do you say, Harry?" Ginny asked, looking a bit nervous. "Can you handle being with us knowing we're dating each other too?"
"I — I don't have a problem with that," Harry admitted, and he honestly didn't. The fact both girls liked each other and wanted to date each other while dating him didn't really bother him. At least, he didn't think it would. Them snogging only moments ago was rather seared into his mind and not in a bad way. "How — how exactly would this work?"
Katie smiled easily.
"Simple, really," she said. "We can go on dates or spend time with each other as a group of three, or we can do the same just as pairs. We just need to be open with each other and communicate. Communication will be key. If you want to take Ginny on a walk and snog her senseless," Katie continued, and Ginny and Harry both blushed, "or if you want to have your wicked way with me in this room," she said loftily, a glint in her eye, and Harry blushed deep red, "then we certainly will do that, but we just need to talk. It's the same for if I want to just take Ginny down to the kitchens for ice cream, girl talk, and some fooling around on the way back," Katie said, without a hint of a blush, while Ginny reddened again. "I think the only thing I really want is to be open about our relationship. Gin and I were keeping things quiet while we were testing the waters, but I must say I'm rather done hiding the fact I'm dating this hot firecracker, and I wouldn't want to hide dating you either," she finished with a wink at Ginny, who blushed yet again, but giggled and nodded in agreement.
"I — er — um — yes," Harry finally said, and then he took a breath. "Yes, I would like to try this and I certainly don't want to hide that we're dating or that you're dating each other. You shouldn't have to."
Katie and Ginny both smiled wide, and soon Harry found himself engulfed in a group hug from the two very excited witches.
"Well, now that we have this wonderful arrangement figured out," Katie said pulling back, "was there a specific reason you came looking for either of us or did you just want to come see us and see which one of us wanted to fool around?"
Harry blushed again and Katie cackled, enjoying teasing him far too much, and he knew he was going to have to start dishing it back or she'd never quit.
"Well, I did come for a specific reason," Harry admitted, before deciding to be a bit bold, "but your other reason has merit. Snogging Ginny senseless does sound nice."
Katie laughed in delight, as Ginny blushed the color of her hair, but her smile was wide.
"Well, I can't say I blame you there," Katie said, with a saucy smile towards Ginny, "but I would like to hear the specific reason you came to see us. We can get to the other part afterwards."
"Angelina wanted me to let you both know that I . . ." Harry sighed. "I agreed to teach defense. Hermione wants to have a meeting in Hogsmeade this weekend for anyone interested in learning from me."
Katie smiled wide with joy.
"Perfect!" she exclaimed. "I need to go talk to Hermione then. I'm glad you finally came around, Harry. This is going to be really good for a lot of people."
"I guess we'll see," Harry said weakly, but his lack of enthusiasm faded as Katie leaned forward and kissed him soundly.
"It'll be good, trust me," she said confidently, and then she turned and gave Ginny a firm kiss, making Harry fairly sure he would never tire of seeing his two — girlfriends? bloody hell — two girlfriends kiss. Then, she quickly made her way out of the room.
"This will be really good, Harry. I know it," Ginny said, also sounding very confident and Harry shrugged his shoulders, suddenly feeling a bit awkward, with the situation, and Ginny huffed again before Harry found himself being pulled into another passionate kiss, which left him feeling rather smooth brained.
Ginny gave him a smug look and then put her hand on Harry's cheek.
"No awkwardness," she said softly. "Some things will change, and we'll have some awkward moments while exploring new things, but you're going to hold mine and Katie's hand, you're going to kiss us, cuddle us, and do other coupley things, but first and foremost, we're friends. You're one of my best friends, Harry, and I've worked too hard to get past my awkwardness around you, with your help, Hermione's, Tonks's, and Katie, Leash, and Lina's. We're not losing the closeness we found since that blasted tournament helped us all come together. Understand?"
Harry smiled and chuckled, and feeling bold again, he leaned forward and kissed her, getting a pleasant sigh from her.
"Understood," he said, after pulling back, and seeing the smile on her face. "Thanks, Gin."
"Anytime, Harry," Ginny said, and then she grew a rather coy smile. "Now, we've got a bit of time before we really need to be back before curfew so how about we revisit that whole snog me senseless thing . . ."
A while later, Harry and Ginny returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, both of their lips a bit puffy, both of their hair a bit more messed up, and both sporting grins. Harry looked about the room, and saw Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia all sitting in the couches and chairs near the fireplace. Harry figured Katie must be out and about still.
"Where were you two?" Ron asked absently as they made their way over to the group. Angelina and Alicia took one look at them and smirked, while Fred and George's eyes widened.
"Looks like they were spending some quality time together," Angelina said suggestively.
"Looks like our little push worked," Alicia said with a wide smile.
"Wait, what?" Ron asked, looking at them strangely.
"Oh, bloody hell," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes, and before Harry knew it, she'd grabbed his shirt and pulled him in for a firm, passionate kiss, and without really thinking about it, he put an arm on her waist and another on her cheek.
"OI! What the hell are you doing?!" Ron shouted in shock, with a hint of anger.
"Getting this out of the way," Ginny said, already a bit breathless as she pulled back. "Harry and I are dating."
"The hell you are," Ron said furiously. "You're too young!" He rounded on Harry. "You should know better! That's my sister!"
"I noticed," Harry responded dryly, a bit hurt at Ron's reaction, even if it was a bit predictable, and he felt a bit better when Fred and George both snorted in amusement.
"Oi, Ron, shut up," George said, raising an eyebrow at Harry and Ginny. "Gin, you're happy?"
"Of course," Ginny said confidently.
"Harry, you'll treat her well?" Fred said, more warningly.
"Of course," Harry said solemnly, and both twins smiled.
"Gin, you'll treat him well?" George asked, looking stern, and Harry's jaw dropped, as she nodded firmly.
"Good enough for us," they said, and Ron gaped at them.
"But . . . but . . . she's too young!"
"Why?" George said with an incredulous snort. "Just because you're not ready to date doesn't mean she isn't. Hell, technically she's old enough for a marriage contract."
"It would be very old fashioned," Fred conceded, "but it's possible, and it's definitely legal for a marriage contract to be made. It's one of the rather unfortunate laws still in place that many of the wealthy purebloods still utilize, especially for arranged marriages."
"Sure, there's no need for dating with a contract," George added, "but generally those in a marriage contract tend to date, since they need to adapt to the circumstances. There's also a reason why fourth years were allowed at the ball last year, and it wasn't because of Harry. At least half of your yearmates have already dated around in their own year and above, and some possibly have marriage contracts already in place . . . some perhaps have been planned since birth, even if they weren't put on paper."
Ron spluttered, before turning angrily to Ginny and Harry.
"Ron, you're my best mate, but Ginny's one of my best friends too, and I really, really like her," Harry said solemnly. "I hope you'll support this, but I'm not breaking up with her for you."
"Fine," Ron snapped, sitting back in a huff, "but I don't want to see it at all."
"You don't get to tell a couple how they can act, Ronnie," George said with a frown. "I certainly don't want to see Gin Gin snogging all over the place either, and I doubt Harry's the type —"
" — but if they want to snog, cuddle, and hold hands in public, then they are well within their rights," Fred finished firmly.
"Hmm, not bad," Angelina said, approvingly. "I think I'll keep you," she said, kissing George soundly, which got a look of disgust from Ron. "Now, Ginny," Angelina said, pulling back from a stunned but smiling George, and leveling a look at her. "Treat Harry right, or you deal with me. Got it?"
"And me," Alicia added. "Plus Dora."
Ginny nodded firmly, her lips twitching slightly.
"Harry, you treat her right or Dora, Leash, and I will sort you out as well," Angelina said, and Harry nodded firmly, and she smiled.
Ron scowled at them all, which really just made Harry want to hex him and get this over with, since he figured some spell fire would actually be good for them, but he didn't say anything. So, Ginny and Harry settled on the unoccupied couch, and Ginny curled into Harry's side happily, which was probably poking the bear a bit, but Harry was fine with Ginny wanting to make a point, and besides there weren't a ton of other open seats. Angelina and George were curled up together as well, both of them talking with Fred and Alicia about the Professional Quidditch League and the last match between the Arrows and the Tornados. Ron went red, but wisely didn't say anything, and Harry saw Ginny smirk smugly.
"This isn't over, you know," Harry whispered, and Ginny chuckled softly.
"Of course not, but we won the first round," she replied.
Of course, Harry's words were more prophetic, even if Ginny's were accurate as only a few minutes later, Katie came walking into the Gryffindor Common Room. She came waltzing over to them, a smile on her face and she saw them cuddled up together on the couch.
"Oh, perfect!" she said brightly, sitting on Harry's other side. "You already told them."
Then she leaned over and firmly kissed Harry on the lips. Gasps drew her back and Harry saw Fred and George had their jaws dropped in surprise. Hermione looked bewildered, but Ron . . . Ron looked furious.
"What the hell!" Ron exclaimed. "You just said you were dating Ginny! Now you're kissing other girls!"
"Oh, shut up and stop yelling," Ginny said fiercely, and Ron looked over at her furious face and started looking more controlled, wrongfully assuming she was going to lay into Harry.
His face went from angry to slightly nauseated and bewildered when instead of laying into Harry for cheating on her, she leaned over Harry, cupped Katie's cheek and kissed her passionately.
"Wha — wha — what!" Ron exclaimed looking at them.
"Harry isn't cheating on me by kissing his girlfriend," Ginny said, pulling back from a bemused Katie.
"You said you were his girlfriend!" Ron said accusingly.
"I am," Ginny said with an eye roll. "We're both dating him. We're also both dating each other. I've been seeing Katie for a couple weeks now."
"You — you —" Ron seemed completely unsure how to voice what he was angry about or who he was angry with. Finally he looked at Harry. "I don't understand . . ." Ron said with an angry huff.
"Ginners obviously bats for both teams," Fred said.
"Yes, Ronnie, you've heard of people being bisexual right?" George asked, with a smirk, and Ron flushed.
"Of course I've heard of it!" he exclaimed. "But she's always liked Harry! She's clearly doing this for Harry! Katie flirts with everyone."
Ron chose his words poorly as Katie looked slightly hurt, and Ginny's eyes flashed angrily and she stood up.
"Again, Katie and I have been dating for two weeks," Ginny spat. "Well before Harry even came into the picture. Merlin forbid my brother just be happy that I found two people that I like and who like me back! No, he has to be an unsupportive, jealous prat! Charlie's bi too. How come it's unacceptable for me to have a boyfriend and a girlfriend?"
"I'm just trying to protect you!" Ron shot back. "You think I want people calling my sister a — a — a scarlet woman!"
"Ron, shut up," George said, not sounding amused at all.
Ron turned on his brothers and looked startled to see both twins looking at him with clear disappointment in their faces and bearing.
"Her dating two people does not make her a scarlet woman," Fred said severely. "First of all, mum's old fashioned, and if women who date around are scarlet women, then you need to go yell at Charlie and Bill for dating around because they're no better . . . though Bill does seem to be finally settling down for the lovely Fleur Delacour . . . though is it really settling when it's a beautiful part Veela?"
"Back on track, my wise brother," George said. "Second, unless she dumps these two and almost immediately picks up another set of people to date, she's not dating around . . . she's dating," George said. "She is certainly allowed to date, but if you're so sure that you're right . . ."
"Then be our guest," Fred continued. "Write to mum and dad, but you better be honest with what you tell them because we're going to write as well . . ."
" . . . and I think you're going to find that mum, who started dating at fourteen, herself, isn't going to be all that sympathetic to your plight," George finished, and Harry saw Alicia, Angelina, Katie, and Ginny all smiling at Fred and George's defense of their sister.
Ron scowled, but looked less sure of himself.
"Mum started dating at fourteen? That can't be right. Mum and dad got married right when they graduated Hogwarts. They were seventeen and eighteen . . ."
"Dad wasn't mum's first boyfriend," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes. "Mum wasn't dad's first girlfriend either. They both dated a couple people before they got together near the end of their sixth year. Dad's last girlfriend before mum was a muggleborn that made Mum jealous as hell. You should listen to their stories more."
Ron groaned, and then he sighed.
"Fine, I'll leave well enough alone, but I still don't want to see it at all," Ron said.
"That's not our problem, Ron," Katie said flatly. "That's your problem."
Ron scowled at her, but didn't respond, and Harry could only hope that was the end of it . . . and with Ron, it seemed to be for now, but by breakfast the next morning, the whole school had somehow learned that Harry Potter, Katie Bell, and Ginny Weasley were all dating each other, which attracted interest from some, some jealousy from others, and of course the completely unwanted, bloodist, and misogynistic insults that came from Malfoy. The only truly unsettling thing was Umbridge's calculating, partially disgusted, and rather evil smirk that was directed at both Katie and Ginny while the gossip was going around the Great Hall. It was noted by two very overprotective sisters. Still, Harry was riding on a new high with his two girlfriends, and even Malfoy and Umbridge were unable to bring him down.
**HP**
The last day of the week before the Hogsmeade visit passed by swiftly. Ginny, Katie, Angelina, Alicia, and Hermione were all gone for most of the day, seemingly searching out interested parties for the defense club, much to Harry's chagrin, and Ron, while being polite, was still a bit distant after the fight. Granted, Harry was quite familiar with this tactic of Ron's and knew it would pass. It was usually Hermione dealing with it, so it was a bit strange being on this end of it, but he still knew that things would be alright eventually. Probably by the end of the weekend, once Ron realized Harry, Katie, and Ginny were going to stick through their date.
So, with his girlfriends, sisters, and most other good friends occupied, Harry spent his day with the twins, listening to their ideas for their joke shop, trying to add his two cents to some of the products that they were struggling to develop, which admittedly he found rather fun, since it involved utilizing the arithmancy and magical theory he'd been studying for two years.
The twins really were brilliant . . . incredibly brilliant even, perhaps arguably the two smartest people at the school, or at least up there in comparison. They didn't care for school work, but they did care for magic, magical theory, and overall knowledge. Harry hadn't realized it, but school subjects were one of the few things that the Twins had mostly chosen differently from each other, but it was masterfully strategic in execution.
It was obvious that they shared information from classes, but only what they deemed relevant, and only when necessary. George had apparently drawn the short straw and had taken Arithmancy, Runes, and Magical Theory for his three main OWL electives, and he and Fred had both done Muggle Studies, mostly for fun, and because the muggle world interested them both socially, but also professionally. Fred had done Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Magical Law, Government, and the Wizarding World. George, having done all the spell theory type of electives, had dedicated his time to passing Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He'd put no effort into Herbology, Potions, History, or Astronomy. Fred had done well in Defense, the only one the core classes the two had shared, prior to dropping this year, but they both attributed that more to being Harry's friend and picking things up and having a larger interest in the subject than they had originally planned. Outside of that, Fred had done well in Potions and Herbology, and focused on most of his electives, failing the rest of the OWLs, which confirmed to Harry that they shared information and taught each other because Fred was still very capable with charms and transfiguration just as George was quite good with potions and herbology. They just only shared when they had time, and neither dedicated time to studying for the OWLs they weren't going to achieve.
Hearing that, Harry knew that George had been laden down with the harder or at least more tedious electives during OWL years, while Fred now had the more tedious, or at least boring classes for his NEWT years.
For NEWTs, George continued with the three core classes he passed (Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense), then added Enchanting, Spellcrafting, Gods/Goddesses and Ritual Magic, and Domestic Magic, having (Harry suspected purposely) not passed the muggle studies OWL. Fred continued with three of his core classes he passed (Herbology, Potions, and Defense), continued with most of his OWL electives (Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, and Magical Law with Divination being dropped after being failed), and then added Alchemy, and Economics and Accounting. George had seven classes and Fred had eight classes or at least they had before dropping Defense this year, and between them, they were learning nearly every magical or scholastic discipline taught at Hogwarts. Harry didn't think they'd even pass all of the NEWTs or proficiency exams at the end of their seventh year, but he was sure they would know all the important material when they left regardless of their scores.
As much fun as he had, talking with the twins, and even planning a prank or two, by the end of the day he was exhausted, after having kept up with the twins, and soon he was dead in his bed and waking up the next morning, eager to go to Hogsmeade for his first official date with both of his beautiful girlfriends, even if he had to go through Hermione's meeting first.
**HP**
"So where are we doing this?" Harry asked Hermione as they, Ginny, Katie, and Ron all made their way into the outskirts of Hogsmeade. "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."
"Eh, I'd say we're far more noticeable though," Katie said with a wince. "Granted, I could see it going either way.
"I guess that's true," Hermione admitted as they passed Zonko's, where they saw Fred, George, and Lee, and just passed Angelina and Alicia who waved before heading into Spintwitches Sporting Needs. Harry knew Angie badly needed some new chaser's gloves.
He couldn't help but grin slightly knowing and remembering that despite her not ending up getting a job the past summer, she did have a fair bit of spending money, which would easily allow her to get the gloves she'd needed. Sirius had opened up a vault for her, and added a fair bit of gold into it, telling her that she needed to be able to get things if she needed them or wanted to buy a trinket or go out for meals with friends. Naturally she had protested, but Sirius had hit her with his, by that point patented, "No goddaughter of mine is going to go without."
Angelina, despite being a fierce and independent witch, was a sucker for any time Sirius called her his goddaughter or Harry or Dora called her sis or dear sister, or when Remus would give her chocolate frogs "for his favorite pseudo niece." Even Mad-Eye calling her lass and playing a game of chess, bringing her in for storytime, or helping her with her summer homework had gotten her beaming and happily babbling about those instances to Harry. Never having really had a family, she tended to crave those forms of affection (and none of them were stingy about throwing them around), and she caved into their demands pretty much every time, though Harry could admit that he wasn't much better and generally caved into demands in the same situations.
Finally, after walking past the post office and turning up a side-street, they found themselves in front of a battered wooden sign, hung from a rusty bracket over the door. The sign had a picture of a wild boar's severed head on it.
"Cute," Katie muttered, and Ginny laughed.
"Alright, let's do this," Harry said with a sigh, leading the way in, with the rest of the group following him.
The bar was certainly nothing like the Three Broomsticks. It was dingy, only had one, very dirty room that smelled like goats, and the windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could enter the room. Needless to say, Harry was pretty sure they had just entered their first 'dive bar' which would make Dora and Sirius enormously proud. They always did love when he got into 'normal' trouble.
"I think Katie's right," Harry muttered, looking around at the 'clientele' in the room. "We stick out like sore thumbs here."
"Yeah, but we have a fair few people coming," Hermoine said, and Harry grimaced, and then glared at his friends who were all chuckling lightly. "Besides, I double checked. We're allowed to be here, and there's no rules against setting up a defense study group."
"I doubt Umbridge will agree with you on that one," Ron muttered.
"I bet she would, but this was just to ensure the meeting happened," Hermione said, "and hopefully avoid Umbridge's attention."
The barman sidled towards 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 looked vaguely familiar to Harry.
"What?" he grunted.
"Five Butterbeers, please," said Hermione.
The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up five very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar.
"Ten Sickles," he said.
"I've got them," Harry said, passing over the silver, and sighing internally as the barman scanned Harry's scar before he took the money. Grabbing the butterbeers, the five of them retreated to the furthest table from the bar and waited patiently.
"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.
Katie and Ginny giggled.
"Oh," said Ron, the smile fading from his face. "Yeah . . . "
"Fred and George would be proud," Ginny said, and Ron grinned at that. "Mum would murder you." His grin widened.
It was only a few minutes before Hermione brightened. "I think everyone's coming now."
The door of the pub had opened, and Harry could only gape as a large crowd of people entered the room . . . a very large crowd of people.
From Harry's Gryffindor yearmates were Neville with Dean and Lavender, Ava, Alison, and Chris, closely followed by Parvati and her Ravenclaw sister, Padma. Also from Gryffindor were both Creevey brothers, two of Ginny's yearmates, Demelza Robbins and he thought the boy's name was Ackerly Drake, Alicia, Angelina, Fred, George, and Lee, and lastly were two of Katie's friends and yearmates, Phoenix Barnwood and Rae Goldfinch.
With Padma from Ravenclaw were three boys he thought were Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot, and entering behind them were Cho Chang, one of her usually giggly girlfriends, a dreamy looking Luna Lovegood, and Marina Witcher accompanied by a Ravenclaw boy Harry didn't recognize.
The next group were all Hufflepuffs. Harry recognized Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Gabrielle Truman, Susan Bones, and Justin Finch-Fletchley. There was also one other girl and a boy Harry didn't recognize, and one blonde boy who Harry knew was on the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, but didn't know his name.
Harry continued to gape at the large crowd, but his surprise grew, and silence filled the crowd when another group of people walked in . . . a group of Slytherins. Harry recognized Daphne Greengrass and her sister Astoria, as well as Haley Quentin, Tracey Davis, and Byron Miller, but there were also three girls and six boys who Harry didn't recognize. The Slytherins had come in force, and Harry was shocked at that.
"What are you slimy snakes doing here?" Ron demanded, and Daphne glared at him, seemingly acting as the leader of the group.
"I thought we were here about possible defense lessons," Daphne responded coldly.
"I invited them," Angelina, Alicia, Ginny, and Katie all said, before glancing at each other and grinning.
"Ron, enough," Harry said firmly, and Ron rounded on him.
"You can't seriously be thinking about welcoming these snakes here?!" Ron demanded, before he shot a betrayed look at the four girls.
"They're welcome to stay," Harry said firmly. "I don't even recognize half of these Slytherins, which means they've never done anything to us. The ones I do recognize are all generally neutral, and regardless, Daphne and Astoria's father helped me out this summer. If Daphne vouches for them, and Kate, Gin, Ali, and Angie invited them, then they're welcome to stay."
"Who cares if they've never done anything to us?!" Ron retorted. "They're Slytherins. Everyone knows what Slytherins are like."
Harry glanced around, seeing that people were already starting to get irritated, and while this had not been his idea, he was at least committed to seeing it through.
"That's enough," Harry said firmly, letting his power out a bit, and his energy charged the air slightly. "If you hate Slytherins for being Slytherins, then you should probably start hating me. The only reason I'm not a Slytherin is because I asked the Sorting Hat to not put me in Slytherin after meeting Malfoy. Also, remember, Pettigrew was a Gryffindor."
Ron's eyes widened in shock, and his jaw dropped, and Harry heard mutters going through the crowd. Finally, Ron shut his mouth, and sat back in his chair with a huff. Harry glanced around and saw that the barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a filthy rag. He probably had never had so many students in his pub.
"Well, it seems like we need to get some more chairs, and we need butterbeers," Fred said cheerfully, and then made his way over to the bar. "Could we have . . . forty-nine butterbeers, please?"
Harry wanted to snort in laughter as the barman glared and then started pulling up dusty butterbeers from under the bar. Harry had to wonder if they had just bought the man out of his entire stock. Still, including Harry and his four friends that were already with him, that meant they had fifty-four people interested in this . . . club. Far, far more than he'd expected.
"Cheers," said Fred, handing them out. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these . . ."
"What are all of them expecting?" Harry asked his friends with a pointed stare as people took their beers and coughed up coins to Fred. "Why are so many people here?"
"Because they want to learn from you," Alicia said. "Though, yes, I'm sure a few are just hoping to try and hear some answers."
"Don't worry, I'll speak first," Hermione assured him, as people finally started grabbing chairs from around the room and taking their seats around Harry's group, which had swelled with Angelina, Alicia, Fred, George, and Lee. Harry couldn't help but notice that you could clearly see the House lines between those around him.
"Hiya, Harry," Neville said, and Harry nodded at him, with a smile.
"Hi, Harry," Marina said with a nod, and he returned her smile and nod with one of his own, a bit surprised to see her. He highly doubted there was much, if anything, he could teach her, especially not in the group setting that this was supposed to be.
He glanced around the large group again, noticing that some were smiling at him, while others were giving him thoroughly mistrustful looks. Soon, everyone was seated, and their eyes were all on Harry.
"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.
"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. We want to learn more than just theory. We want to do real spells and learn to defend ourselves properly."
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" said Michael Corner, who was watching her closely. Harry had to hold in a chuckle at that. Hermione's need for good grades was well known throughout the school.
"Of course I do," said Hermione at once, "but more than that, I want to be properly trained in defense because . . . because . . . " she took a great breath and finished, "because Lord Voldemort is back."
The reaction was immediate and predictable. Nearly everyone shrieked, flinched, gasped, or winced, with the only exceptions being most of Harry's friends and family, and Marina Witcher. Afterwards though, they all glanced at Harry, some even eagerly.
"Well . . . that's the plan, anyway," said Hermione. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to —"
"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said the blond Hufflepuff player in a rather aggressive voice.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it —" Hermione began.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," said the blond boy, nodding at Harry.
Harry sighed, figuring it was time for him to speak. He knew what most of them wanted to hear. They weren't going to hear it now.
"I can't tell you anything that will make you believe me," Harry said with a shrug. "If you didn't believe me last year, then you're not going to believe me now. I can't tell you what it's like to see Voldemort murder someone. All I can do for you is teach you to defend yourself, if you want to learn from me."
The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke. Harry had the impression that even the barman was listening. He was wiping the same glass with the filthy rag, making it steadily dirtier.
The blonde hufflepuff 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 —"
"I think you can figure out how he died," Harry said coldly. "The killing curse doesn't leave marks, after all. I'm not here to talk about Cedric Diggory. If that's all you care to hear about, then you might as well clear out."
Nobody moved though, not even the blonde hufflepuff. They all just kept staring at him.
"So," said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. "So . . . like I was saying . . . if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet and where we're going to–"
"Is it true," interrupted Susan Bones, looking at Harry, "that you can produce a Patronus?"
There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.
"Yeah." said Harry with a furrowed brow and a nod.
"A corporeal Patronus? I heard about your hearing from my auntie. Is it true? You can make a grim Patronus?"
"Yes," Harry admitted.
"Blimey, Harry!' said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I didn't realize that silvery thing you shot at the Quidditch match was a patronus. It just didn't click at the time."
"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.
"And did you really 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." said Harry.
Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled; the Creevey brothers exchanged awestruck looks and Lavender Brown said "Wow!' softly. Harry was feeling slightly hot around the collar now.
"And in our first year." said Neville to the group at large, "he saved that Philological Stone —"
"Philosopher's," hissed Hermione.
"Yes, that — from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.
Hannah Abbotts eyes were as round as Galleons.
"He's the two time Under 16 British Dueling Champion for a reason," Angelina said with a proud smile, with many people looking impressed at that, especially considering he had some of the people he'd competed against in the room. Gabrielle Truman nodded, giving him a respectful look.
"Under 16 British Sword dueling champion also," Daphne said mildly. "Took second place with the quarterstaff and did very well with a bow as well."
There were murmurs of agreement around the room.
"Qualified Shadow Elemental Master," Katie added proudly, getting a round of surprised gasps.
"And that's not to mention," said Cho smiling, "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year — getting past dragons, grindylows, merpeople and acromantula and things . . ."
There was a murmur of agreement around the table, all of them having watched the Tournament. He grimaced.
"Listen, I had a lot of help with all of that stuff," Harry said, and his friends all sighed at his predictable complaints about his accomplishments.
"Not with the dragon, you didn't." said Michael Corner at once.
"Yeah, that magic was insane," Alison said.
"Your dueling abilities were well respected during the Second Task," Marina said.
"You were the one to save Delacour too," Ava said.
Harry sighed again, ready to argue again for a moment, when Hermione cut him off.
"Yes, well," said Hermione hastily, moving on, "the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"
There was a murmur of general agreement.
"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 —"
"Hermione," Angelina said warningly. "No messing with our Quidditch practice."
Katie, Ginny, Harry, Alicia, Fred, and George all snorted in amusement.
"No," said Cho, "nor with ours."
"Nor ours," added the blonde Hufflepuff.
"You can mess with ours, it won't matter to us," Astoria said with an impish smile.
"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," said Hermione, slightly impatiently, "but you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters —"
"Well said!" barked Ernie Macmillan, who Harry had been expecting to speak long before this. "Personally, I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up!"
He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry "Surely not!" Most of the Slytherins, Harry noted, were either looking at him amused with his pompousness or annoyed. When nobody spoke, he went on, "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on us at this critical period. Obviously, they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from learning more advanced 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 mobilize us against the Ministry."
"Wait, that's why Fudge sent Umbridge?" Daphne said incredulously, her icy countenance changing to thinly veiled anger. "He's stupid enough to think Dumbledore of all people would mobilize students against the Ministry? Against the Aurors and the DMLE?"
"That's the report we have from a . . . source," Harry said, shooting Hermione a look.
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.
"Hermione," Katie said, and Hermione glanced at her, and Katie gave her a "get on with it" look.
"We were discussing how often we're going to meet for these lessons," Ginny added helpfully.
"Yes." said Hermione at once, "yes, we were, you're right, Ginny, Katie. "
"Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee.
"Once a week would be perfect," Harry said.
"Okay," Hermione said with a nod. "Then, now we need to discuss where we'll meet."
Harry glanced at his friends, and they all nodded, even if none of them were too happy with revealing their secret spot.
"We have a secret room," Harry said. "We'll spread the word before the first meeting."
He got a round of confused or surprised looks at that admittance, but finally he received mostly nods.
"Right," 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 . . . at least until we get a Professor to sponsor us."
Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully wrote his signature, but Harry noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of putting their names on the list.
"Ooh, the Gryffindors are smart enough to use a contract," Tracey Davis said, sounding impressed, and she walked up and signed easily, seeming at ease.
Tracey's words seemed to be a catalyst, and soon the rest of the people were moving forward and signing the paper, though Cho's friend gave Harry a very reproachful look while she was putting her name down.
As everyone signed, people started disappearing in groups of twos and threes. Fred and Lee left together, while George and Angelina went off for an enjoyable date. Cho made a business of fastening the catch at first but soon she was leaving with her irritated friend, shooting a slight glare at Katie and Ginny, which really just made the two girls smirk. Soon it was just Ron, Hermione, Katie, Ginny, and himself.
"Well, I think that went quite well," said Hermione happily, as they walked out of the Hog's Head into the bright sunlight a few moments later.
"I still can't believe you invited Slytherins, and some of those other people were warts too," Ron muttered.
"Well, I only invited Astoria," Ginny admitted, "so I figured she'd bring her sister, and maybe a friend or two, but I didn't know about the rest."
"How did you get friendly with a snake?" Ron asked, looking stunned.
"She and I had detention with Umbridge together," Ginny said darkly. "We both needed to vent after a couple hours of slicing our hands open. It turns out that Astoria is very friendly, has a delightful sense of humor, and is a lot of fun to talk to."
Ron looked at his sister with a shake of his head, not believing his sister could be friends with a snake.
"I know Angelina invited Daphne," Katie said, "and I invited Haley Quentin. She's always been quite nice. Figured she'd invite Byron Miller, though I think Alicia might have invited Byron herself."
"A lot of the others showed because they overheard us asking or they came because of others," Hermione said. "The blonde Hufflepuff, Zacharias Smith, overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table, and seemed interested. Michael Corner wants to date Ginny, and his friends came with him."
"Wait, what?!" Harry exclaimed, looking at Hermione. "You invited people that are only interested in the group because they want to date my girlfriend!"
"I already turned him down," Ginny said with a grin and kissed his cheek. "No need for jealousy. I turned him down before we were even dating."
"That's because you were dating me," Katie said smugly, and Ginny giggled and winked at her.
"Besides, the more the merrier," Hermione said. "The more people who learn to defend themselves the better, and frankly, the more people that spend time with you, the more they'll realize that you're not off your rocker."
Harry couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"Well, I'm not so sure about that, Hermione. I think that they'll think that I'm definitely off my rocker if I decide to run them through Mad-Eye's training program."
Katie and Ginny laughed, while Ron and Hermione winced, having heard the stories.
"Well, now that that's all over, I think I could do with a new quill," Hermione said, looking in the direction of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop.
"And we have a date to get to," Katie said, linking her arms with both Harry's and Ginny's. "So, this is where we part ways."
Ron grimaced at them, but held his tongue, and finally waved goodbye tersely as he and Hermione headed off towards Scrivenshafts's.
"So, Mr. Potter," Katie said coyly. "Do you have a plan for us?"
"Well, Ms. Bell, we have a table already reserved at the Three Broomsticks," Harry said, guiding her and Ginny away. "I think lunch and butterbeers are a good way to start our date. What do you think?"
"Sounds brilliant," Katie and Ginny both said, and the three of them walked off, and Harry still couldn't believe his luck, but he knew he was going to do everything he could to make sure both girls had a wonderful time for their first date together.