Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Belated happy winter holidays, everyone! I hope you all had a good one!

Also, I've updated this fic on AO3 to include the Harry (Hyleth)/Luna pairing. I'll probably do this for her next few relationships, but obviously not all of them lol. That'd be too many!

Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoy. Until next chapter,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~daughter of briganti~

~meet me in the woods~

~chapter 20~

20 September 1995
Hogwarts, Scotland, Great Britain

"I just can't believe that woman!" Hermione seethed whilst she inspected Hyleth's hand, the words I must not tell lies bleeding once again, before she put it in the bowl of Murtlap Essence for her. "She's just – she's just – ugh, she's just so cruel!"

"That's the point," Theo muttered sleepily. Next to him, Ginny was already asleep – it had just passed midnight, and while hers wasn't nearly as bad as Theo's had started out, her morning sickness had begun on Monday morning, and it'd been taking its toll her on her.

Luna was on the other side of Ginny, and Cedric, Tonks, and Ron had taken their own places on another couch and an armchair, respectively.

"I know it's the point," Hermione huffed. "I just – I don't know."

"I still reckon you should complain about this," said Ron in a low voice. "You should tell your dad, at the very least. I'm still surprised he didn't question your bandage too much at the wedding."

"What is he going to be able to do?" Hyleth retorted. She did feel bad about not having told her dad about it, then, but it wasn't like there had been much time. And yesterday had not been the time to tell him, either. "Or McGonagall? Or even Dumbledore? Like, once Umbridge would know they know, how long do you think it'd take for her to pass another decree saying that nobody can complain about the High Inquisitor, lest they or their children suffer the consequence?"

There was a moment of silence afterwards, no one being able to refute her.

The news of Umbridge's new position had additionally come on Monday morning, approved by a slim majority of votes in the Wizengamot. As part of her new duties, she'd begun to inspect her fellow professors right away, apparently cancelling her other classes to do so – because, of course, she hadn't cancelled her class with the Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years.

Hence why Hyleth had gotten a week's worth of detentions again, plus several House points taken away. During the class time when they should have been reading Chapter Three: The Case for Non-Offensive Responses to Magical Attack, Hermione had gotten into it with Umbridge over their book material. It had led to Hyleth getting involved.

To be fair, Hermione had told her not to. But after hearing Umbridge put down their previous DADA professors, sans Quirrell, she hadn't been able to help herself. "Yeah, Quirrell was a good teacher," she'd said loudly. "There was just that minor drawback of him having Lord Voldemort sticking out the back of his head."

Umbridge had given her the detentions following one of the loudest silences Hyleth had ever heard. The House points, thirty of them, had been taken away by McGonagall later when Hyleth and Angelina had gotten into it. Their Head of House had told her it was "because detentions do not appear to have any effect on you whatsoever!"

Oh, if only she knew.

She wouldn't, because Hyleth didn't want to tell her.

Still...

"We do need to do something about her," Tonks said. She clasped her chin in her right hand. "We could poison her."

Cedric groaned. "Tonks, no."

She crossed her arms. "What? Do you've got a better idea?"

"We need to do something about what an awful teacher she is," Hermione specified. "How we're not going to learn any Defense with her around at all."

"Well," Luna said airily, "we could just do it ourselves."

Theo stared at her with his slitted gold eyes. He mumbled, "Do what ourselves?"

"Learn Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Come off it," Ron said. "You want us to do extra work? On top of the homework that we've already been assigned?"

"I think," Hermione started. She paused and bit her lip, then continued on speaking. "I think Luna may have a point. This may be more important than homework."

Ron and Hyleth ogled her.

"Did I just hear you right? Did Hermione Granger just say there might be something 'more important than homework?'"

Ginny suddenly startled awake. She rubbed at her eyes as she sat up and slurred, "Wha's going on?"

"Oh, hush, Hyleth," Hermione, meanwhile, chided. The beta girl's face was taking on a fervor that Hyleth had only seen for a few other things, such as her SPEW campaign. "We need to prepare ourselves, like you said in our first lesson with Umbridge, for what's waiting for us out there. We have to make sure that we can really defend ourselves. If we don't learn anything for a whole year – "

"We can't do that," Ron finished for her in a defeated voice. "But, I mean, I don't think we can just go and look up jinxes in the library and try to practice them – "

"No, we've passed the stage for that," Luna interjected. "We need a teacher, a proper one, who will have the expertise to show us the spells and correct us when we're doing them wrong."

She was staring at Hyleth as she spoke. Only Hyleth.

A cold feeling washed over her. "You can't be serious."

"No, that's your father."

"It is an idea," Cedric mused. "A good one."

"But I'm not a teacher," she protested. "I can't – "

"Hyleth, you're the best in our year at Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione.

"No I'm not, you've beaten me in every test – "

"Actually, I haven't," Hermione replied coolly. "You beat me in our third year – the only year we both sat the test and had a teacher who actually knew the subject. But I'm not talking about the test results, Hyleth. Think about what you've done!"

Hyleth frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You know what, I'm not sure I want someone this stupid teaching me," Ron muttered with a slight smirk. "Let's think, Hyleth...first year, you saved the Philosopher's Stone from You-Know-Who."

"But that was luck," she said. "That wasn't skill."

Tonks snorted. "Real modest, aren't you?"

"No, she actually believes it," Theo said, sitting up.

"I know. That's the sad part."

"Second year," Ginny said then, a bit quieter than the rest of them, "you killed the basilisk and destroyed Riddle. You saved my life."

"Yeah, but if Fawkes hadn't turned up, I – "

"Third year," Ron said, in his same overly loudly tone as before, "you fought off about a hundred Dementors at once – "

"That was a fluke! If the Time-Turner hadn't – "

"Last year," Cedric spoke up, with all the authority of a Head Boy. The others settled down, turning towards him. "You participated in the Triwizard Tournament just as well as me, Krum, and Delacour. And then you fought off You-Know-Who again. You also saved my – "

"But that was luck!" Hyleth insisted, before she shirked back at her own tone. She ran a hand through her hair. "Or...maybe it wasn't, I don't know. It's just – it sounds great when you guys all say it like that, but I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I didn't plan any of it, I just did whatever I could think of, and I nearly always had help..."

"D'you think Mad-Eye Moody always knew what he was doing? Well," Tonks said, her face scrunching up. "Maybe he's a bad example. The real one, I mean. He's a quick-thinker, that's how he got so many Death Eaters during the War. My point is, a lot of aurors might not know exactly what they're doing in the heat of the moment because of how quickly they're reacting, like you. But that's a good thing. And if there's even a chance that you could teach it to some of the rest of us – not me, though, 'cause I'm just that good – "

Cedric rolled his eyes.

"Just think about it," Hermione requested, her voice small. "Please?"

Wide, dark brown eyes.

Hyleth felt her resolve crumble.

"I'll think about it," she muttered, taking her hand out of the bowl of Murtlap Essence to dry it off.

"That's all we ask," Theo said.

It wasn't, but she appreciated their attempt to humor her.

Hyleth did not hear anything about the plan for her to give some Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons for a whole week. When she did, it was only after Hermione, Ginny, Theo, Cedric, and Tonks had put their brains together to better flesh-out the idea.

They wanted her to teach DADA to "anyone who wants to learn." Hyleth tried to point out that a lot of people thought she was a nutter, but to no avail.

"I think you might be surprised at how many people would be interested in hearing what you've got to say," Hermione said.

The meeting for people to join was supposed to take place during the first trip to Hogsmeade in the Hog's Head, the only other pub and inn in the village besides The Three Broomsticks, but much more rundown. Tonks said it was the best place, because no one would be looking for a bunch of students there; plus, it would likely be too packed and noisy for any meaningful conversation in a large group. The meeting would start about an hour and a half after the visit officially did, to give people time to get anything they really wanted or needed from the stores.

"Just how many people are going to come to this?" Hyleth asked.

"Oh, a few," Hermione replied. "We've been asking around, just to see who would be interested."

"You should tell Isra about it," Ginny said, nudging her gently. "None of us have, 'cause we thought it might be better for you to."

Hyleth caught Isra in the hallway in-between classes the next day, walking with Lyra Fawley. "Shafiq!" she called out to her, highly cognizant of the fact it would seem more than odd to anybody else if she called her by her first name when they hadn't even interacted with each other until recently.

Isra paused in her tracks, turning to face her. "Yes?"

Lyra repeated her best friend's movements, sans the speaking, albeit with a very strange expression on her face.

"Listen, I, um," Hyleth began. She looked from her left to her right, trying to make sure that nobody was paying too close attention to them. They had garnered a few looks, but that was all. Good. She lowered her voice: "My friends and I are having a...study session for Defense Against the Dark Arts at The Hog's Head during our Hogsmeade visit, starting around one-thirty, and I was just wondering if...you wanted to come."

"'A study session?'" Lyra quoted speculatively. It was the first time Hyleth had ever heard her speak.

"You can come too, if you want," Hyleth told her.

Lyra wrinkled her nose.

She didn't know if that was a good or bad sign.

"We'll come," Isra said with a smile. "Thank you for the offer."

On the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights before the Hogsmeade trip, Hyleth asked Dobby and the other Hogwarts house-elves for the favor of having dinner in the married wing, which they were more than happy to oblige. Since she'd gotten married to Luna, they'd done this one other time, which had been on September 17th, as a joint birthday celebration for Hermione and Cedric, who had been born on September 21st.

These three nights, Hyleth had a one-on-one dinner with each of her mates, in the order that she'd bonded with them. She felt it was rather important; between her detentions with Umbridge, homework, Quidditch, and more, she didn't feel like she'd been able to spend a lot of more...intimate time with them as of late.

And no, that did not necessarily include sex. Luna was actually the only one she had sex with; Theo had sworn off sex in the evenings for now because he'd realized it was a trigger for his morning sickness, and Ginny was too tired on Wednesday night. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I really want to, but..."

"No need to apologize," Hyleth said, pressing a kiss to her forehead, and another to her lips. "I promised 'in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.' Besides, sex isn't everything."

Ginny giggled. "You better not let the others hear you say that."

Hyleth snorted. "Come on, how does a bath sound? I'll run it, and I'll do your hair."

"That sounds absolutely marvelous," Ginny sighed in response. "My back has been killing me."

"'A few people?'" Hyleth said hoarsely. "This is 'a few people?'"

"Yes, well, the idea was quite popular," Hermione said. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"

They – Hyleth, Ginny, Theo, Luna, Hermione, Ron, Cedric, and Tonks – had arrived at The Hog's Head about fifteen minutes early, and had gotten themselves some butterbeer while they'd waited. A few minutes before one-thirty, in had first come Isra and Lyra, with Hyleth's betrothed giving her a smile. Then Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Emma Vane, and the Patil twins had arrived, as well as Cho Chang, who had said her "hello's" to Cedric, and one of her friends; then Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson had entered, fourth year Colin Creevey and his little brother Dennis right behind them; next had been Susan, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan, and five or six more Hufflepuff upper-years; three of the fifth year Ravenclaw boys, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot; and then Fred and George Weasley and their friend, Lee Jordan.

And as if that hadn't been enough, last but not least were Theo's friends, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, and Diana Runcorn, and a third year Slytherin who must've been Daphne's sister. They had the same catlike green eyes, facial features, and curls to their hair, only Astoria's – Hyleth thought that was her name – was a light brown.

The barman, who had been rather rude to Hyleth when she'd ordered their butterbeers, had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked as though it had never been washed. Hyleth thought he'd probably never seen his pub so full before.

"Hi," Fred said brightly, approaching the bar after doing a headcount. "Could we have...thirty-six more butterbeers, please?"

The barman glared at him for a moment, before he went about fulfilling the order.

"Cheers," Fred said. He and George started to pass them out. "Alright, everybody, cough up, I haven't got enough gold for all these..."

The large chattering group took their drinks from the elder Weasley twins and rummaged in their robes to find coins. Hyleth watched them numbly; at least ten percent of the school had to be here!

"What have you been telling people?" she asked her mates and friends in a low voice. "What are they expecting?"

"They just want to hear what you've got to say," Theo said.

"You don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first," Hermione tacked on.

And she did. Once everybody had settled in their chairs and gone quiet, looking expectantly at Hyleth, the beta girl stood up. "Well – err – hi. You all know why we're here. Hyleth, um, here had the idea – I mean," she hastened to rephrase when Hyleth threw her a sharp look, "we had the idea that – that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts – and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is trying to teach us – " here, her voice suddenly became stronger and more confident " – because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts – "

"Here, here," said Anthony Goldstein.

Hermione looked relieved. "Right. Anyways, we thought it might be good if we could take matters into our own hands. And by that – " she paused, looking sideways at Hyleth, then went on " – we mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spells – "

"You want to pass your OWLs and NEWTs too, though, I bet?" Michael Corner interjected.

"Of course we do," Tonks said waspishly at once. She looked towards Hermione apologetically, but Hermione seemed even more relieved with the spotlight being taken away from her. So, Tonks took it from there. "But more than that, we want to be properly trained in defense, because, no 'if's' or 'what's' about it, Lord Voldemort is back."

The effect was instantaneous, as several students reacted to the name: Cho's friend, Terry Boot, Padma Patil, Neville, and etcetera. All of them, however, looked fixedly, even eagerly, at Hyleth.

"And where's your proof?" one of the upper-year Hufflepuffs, a blonde who Hyleth recognized from the Quidditch team, said in a rather aggressive voice.

"Zacharias," Cedric said in a warning tone.

"Well, I'm just saying. I know you believe her, because of what you thought you saw that night, and I know Dumbledore believes her, but you guys don't have any hard, physical evidence, do you?"

"That's not what this meeting is about," Ginny snapped. "And if you don't like it, you can shove your questions up – "

"It's okay, Ginny," Hyleth said, placing a hand on her arm.

It had just dawned on her why so many people were there. She thought her mates and friends should have seen this coming. Some of these people – probably most of the, really – had turned up in the hopes of hearing Hyleth's (and Cedric's) story firsthand.

"'What's my proof' that Voldemort is back?" Hyleth elaborated, looking Zacharias straight in the face. "I saw him. I fought him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you won't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."

The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Hyleth had spoken. She had the impression even the barman was listening. He was wiping the glass that he had before with the filthy rag.

"And what about your marriages?" Terry Boot asked – before, Hyleth suspected, Zacharias could've said something else rather stupid. "They're not just a front to make you look more innocent, are they?"

Theo and Ginny abruptly laughed. "Of course not, who gave you that idea?"

Terry Boot flushed, perhaps as an answer to the question. Ernie Macmillan, of all people, grinned. "Time for you to pay up."

Hyleth couldn't dwell on what he meant by that for long, because then, much to her chagrin, another person was saying, "How come you presented over the summer, anyways? Because that shouldn't be – "

"Did you know that she can perform the corporeal Patronus Charm, including to produce messages?" Luna asked suddenly.

Hyleth really loved her mates sometimes – because yes, she'd come to realize that she was falling in love with Luna.

And by "sometimes," she meant all the time.

The attention of the group was swiftly diverted; they began to murmur with interest.

"What's its form?" Blaise Zabini inquired. There were some looks at him and the other Slytherins besides Theo at the sound of his voice, as if some people had only just recognized there were Slytherins in attendance, but that was it.

She had the feeling he already knew the answer to his question. Still, she said anyways, "A stag."

"Blimey, Hyleth!" Lee said, looking deeply impressed. "I didn't know you could do that!"

"Mum told us not to spread it around," George said. He grinned at Hyleth. "She said you got enough attention as it was."

"She's not wrong," Hyleth muttered, causing a few people to laugh.

"And did you really kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded one of the Hufflepuff upper-years. "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year..."

"Err – yeah, I did, yeah."

Like it had when the idea had been brought up in the first place, the conversation soon delved into all of Hyleth's feats over the years. She shifted uncomfortably.

Cedric cleared his throat. "Listen, while I'm sure we could go on for at least another hour more – " Hyleth felt her cheeks heat up; he grinned at her crookedly " – let's get a move-on here. Are we all agreed that we want to take lessons from Hyleth?"

There were various forms of assent. Zacharias folded his arms and said nothing, but he was the only (passive) naysayer.

The next two items of business came up: how often and when they wanted to have the meetings, and where they would have them. Angelina, Cho, and Zacharias understandably didn't want the meetings to conflict with their Quidditch schedules; Cedric had quit being Seeker for the Hufflepuff team to make room for his NEWTs and responsibilities as Head Boy (and now, his impending bonding with Hyleth and pregnancy with their child), so it wasn't really a concern for him, but he did offer up some possible times. It was a requirement for him as Head Boy to know all of the Quidditch teams' schedules.

As for the place, there were a few lackluster suggestions, like the library or an unused classroom, until Neville said hesitantly, "I think I might know a place."

"Where?" Tracey Davis asked.

He shrunk back sightly when the entire group's attention fell on him, yet remained firm enough. "There's a place on the seventh floor...I hid in there once during third year...it's opposite this tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. You have to walk past it three times, think about what you'll need...then it'll appear..."

"We'll check it out," Hyleth promised before anyone else could say anything.

The final item on the agenda was for them all to sign their names on a piece of parchment. Some, like Ernie Macmillan, weren't too thrilled about it, worried what would happen if the parchment was found. Hermione pointed out it wasn't like she would just leave it laying around, since she would be the one holding onto it, and it partially helped allay their fears.

But what helped the most was how Cedric was the first person to sign. He stood up with his signature smile and wrote his name on the parchment. He was followed by Alicia Spinnet, and with them being the Head Boy and Head Girl, that apparently said enough. Everybody else formed a line behind them, Hyleth included, and when the last person of the forty-four – Zacharias – had signed, Hermione took the parchment and carefully slipped it into her bag. There was a slight odd feeling among the group; it was as though they had just signed a contract. No one commented on it.

"Well, time's ticking on," Fred said briskly, getting to his feet. "George, Lee, and I have got some items of sensitive nature to purchase, so we'll be seeing you all later."

In the same arrangements that they had come in, nearly all of the group took their leave, too.

The only exceptions were Isra and Lyra. "Hello, Hyleth," Isra said, gravitating over to them. She glanced at the others. "And you all, too."

"Hi, Shafiq," Theo said.

"Isra," she corrected. Back to Hyleth: "You did very well. And since you brought me something for our first meeting, I thought it only right that I return the favor." From her robes' right pocket, she brought out a leather bracelet. It had a small token on it, a hand with an eye in its center. Hyleth recognized it from her Ancient Runes class, even before Isra said, "The charm is a hamsa. It should give you protection."

"Thanks," Hyleth said.

A clearing throat interrupted them. It was Lyra; she was standing in front of the chair she'd been sitting at, tapping her foot impatiently.

Isra rolled her eyes. "Give her some time. I am sure she will come around, too," she whispered. Slightly louder: "You're welcome. I will see you soon, khatibati."

With that, she joined her friend, and together they went out the door.

Word Count: 3,990