𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐎 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 // Percy Weasley

50. dumbledore's army

:quinquaginta:
~dumbledore's army~

✰✰✰

"Right" Hermione beamed "thank you all for coming"

Patrick sat rather close to Anna in the most dingy pub he had ever seen in his life. Earlier that day Elle Lupin had informed them that a meeting was happening in a Hogsmede pub called the Hogshead.
He wasn't entirely sure why he was here but he didn't appreciate the fact that there were goats wandering round and the glasses looked as though they hadn't been washed in years.

"Now I presume you're wondering why you're here?" Everyone nodded. Patrick was surprised by the amount of people who had shown up. Students from every house were there. However there were only two Slytherins (Kaylee and Dan who were in his year) and everyone around them seemed to be giving them odd glances. There were also younger years gathered round. It seemed Hermione had been asking everyone.
"Well I think we can all agree that it is ridiculous that Umbridge isn't teaching us how to use spells" she began "especially over the recent developments"

Patrick and Anna both nodded in agreement and Patrick lowered his glass slightly as he realised exactly what this meeting was about.
He'd only had a few lessons with the god awful teacher but he could already tell that she was the worst thing that had happened at this school since the great big basilisk was wandering around. In fact she might even be worse than the basilisk.

"The recent developments?"called out Michael Corner (a Ravenclaw a few years below him) "you mean the rumours he's been spreading?" The boy pointed at Harry earning him a glare from the majority of students in the room.
"Dumbledore said-"
"Dumbledore said because he said" the boy protested,
"Oh shut up Michael" Patrick yelled across the room "we all know you were relived when practical work got cancelled, you can't even tie your own shoe laces"

A laugh echoed around the room and the boy named Michael fell quiet, Anna nudged Patrick in the side either to warn him to stop mouthing off or to congratulate him for the amazing insult.
"We need a better teacher" Hermione spoke up,
"Your suggesting him?" Called out Marietta Edgedomb, Patrick turned around and glared at her wishing that everyone would shut up and let Hermione speak.

"Yes I am, Harry has great experience with defence against the dark arts I think he would be perfect"
"Maybe if you told us more about Cedric's death?" Another student spoke out but Harry quickly shut him down,
"I'm not going to talk about Cedric so if that's all you're here for, you might as well leave"

Silence fell again, no one left but it seemed that no one else was planning to speak up against Harry,
"Is it true you can produce a patronus charm?" A wispy voice rang out from the corner. Patrick turned to see a smiling girl with pale blonde hair and unique earrings. Luna Lovegood.
"Yes he can" Hermione beamed proudly "I've seen it"
"Woah that's great Harry" Dean Thomas chimed "I didn't know you could do that"

"And he fought of a basilisk in his second year" Ginny Weasley called out,
"He saved the philosophers stone in his first year" Neville added,
"And he fought of thousands of dementors on his own" Ron beamed,
"And last year he really did fight of you kn- Voldemort" Hermione finished. There was a slight since from a few when Hermione said the name but overall everyone just seemed impressed.

"So what are you saying?" Lauren (a blonde Gryffindor) called "that Harry's going to teach us defence against the dark arts?"
"I... I'm not going to stand here and pretend that I'm some sort of hero" Harry began "most of those things happened with good luck and I had a lot of help"
"He's just being modest" Hermione interrupted,
"No Hermione I'm not" Harry protested "defending yourself in real life is different to in class... in school if you make a mistake, it's fine you can try again next lesson but in the real world... you can't make mistakes"

Everyone glanced around anxiously as he talked,
"I think that we all need to be prepared" he continued "Umbridge isn't allowing us the practice we need and yes I think we do need more preparation... I know what the prophets been saying about me but.. I did see Voldemort come back last year... he is back" Some students gasped but Patrick smiled happily about this declaration, he was glad Harry was standing up for himself.
"I would love to stand here and claim that I'm the best hope we have but I'd be lying" he sighed "but if you all agree that we need more preparation then... I'll do it" he looked to Hermione "I'll teach them"

Hermione's face lit up immediately,
"Brilliant Harry" she grinned "if anyone wants to sign up there's a sheet here, we'll have to find a place to practice obviously and we'll need some means of sharing dates and stuff but I'm sure I'll be able to sort that out" she spoke rapidly.

The crowd formed a line before the piece of paper and Patrick noticed that everyone had written down their names. Patrick did so too and smiled at Hermione as he reached the front,
"I'm glad someone's standing up against Umbitch" Patrick told Hermione and Anna nodded in agreement as they left the pub.

"Maybe now we'll have hope of actually being able to defend ourselves" Anna smiled happily, "I mean obviously we still have to pass out exams so the lessons will be important ... but considering what the futures looking like... this could be important too"
"Yeah... yeah I think it will be"

✰✰✰

The first meeting was only a week later, Elle had informed them that they'd found a place to practice. The room was called the room of requirement and was one of the most interesting things Patrick had ever seem. He and Anna were enthralled by it as they entered. The room could transform into anything that a student wanted, it was a wonder neither of them had come across it before.

"Right" Harry smiled "thank you all for coming I-" he was interrupted by Hermione who raised her hand as though in a classroom, Harry nodded towards her.
"I thought we would need a way to keep in touch so ,thanks to a suggestion from Elle" Hermione beamed "I've charmed these fake galleons so they display the date and time of a meeting, they grow hot when the date changed".

Everyone seemed impressed by this, and they passed the coins round and hid them safely in their pockets,
"If Umbridge asks any of us to turn out our pockets well she's not going to suspect a galleon" Hermione grinned at Elle.
She looked back to Harry suggesting he could start,
"I thought we'd do the disarming charm today because it can be quite-"
"This disarming charm" a snide voice came from the group, it belonged to an Hufflepuff quidditch player Patrick knew to be Zachariah Smith "how's that going to help us in the real world"

"I used expelliarmus against Voldemort last year, it saved my life but if you think it's beyond you feel free to leave" Harry smiled. The smirk on Smith's face vanished much to everyone's amusement.
"So if everyone could pair up, we'll get started"

Anna and Patrick turned to each other and grinned immediately knowing they were going to pair up.
"I'll go first" Anna smiled, "try to counter it ... if you can"
"Course I can" Patrick stated confidently knowing he probably wouldn't be able to.

"Expelliarmus" Anna called and before Patrick could even think about what was happening, his wand flew out of his hand and collided with the floor at the other side of the room,
"Brilliant" he muttered as he traipsed over the room of requirement to retrieve it.

"Right your turn" Anna grinned as the blonde boy finally returned,
"Right" Patrick murmured as he raised his wand,
"Expelliarmus" Patrick called, at first he thought he'd done it however his wand flew out of his hand yet again and hit the wall behind him.

"You've got to be kidding" Patrick groaned, "you didn't even say anything"
"It's called non verbal magic" Anna laughed, "you should know this by now"
Patrick rolled his eyes before yet again turning to retrieve his wand.

✰✰✰