Moonlark Rising

Relevations

A slightly different song caught her ears. What if... Sophie twitched one of her tails, and a tendril of water rose from the river and healed her paw.

How? She would have to find out later. She left the room, and the door disappeared. She turned into a mouse, then an owl, landing in the empty commonroom and switching back to normal. She sat in one of the chairs, thinking. 

She quickly realized that her crown was still on her head, and she studied it thoughtfully before putting it away in her pocket. What was that feather diadem full of malevolence? Why was it there?

She slowly fell into a dreamless sleep, which was broken a few hours later, when the sun peeked over the horizon, and the answer to the mystery of the diadem was clear.

Harry

Harry walked down the streets of Hogsmead. Hermione was conferring with Sophie in sign language next to them. They soon ended their conversation.

"We're going to the Three Broomsticks. More noise means less chance of being overheard, and even if we are, we can play dumb. Say they misheard what we had said. We were studying the ministry approved DADA book so we could get ahead in class."

Hermione continued, "We instructed the others to get there in twos and threes, going with people they usually hang out with so they don't draw suspicion. We'll sit at one of the larger tables and talk in our normal voices. That way, we can hide in plain sight."

Their little group entered the busy pub, and Harry instantly saw the wisdom of Sophie's words. Anybody could have a secret conversation without even whispering. There was a large table in an especially noisy part of the room, where a large group of students was waiting. 

Neville, Dean and Lavender were laughing about something, Cho and one of her friends were giggling, and Luna Lovegood was chatting airily towards Katie, Alicia and Angelina. Parvati and Padma were talking to each other animatedly. 

Ernie and Justin were there too, plus a smiling Hufflepuff girl whose name Harry didn't know and three Ravenclaw boys he was only halfway sure were called Anthony, Michael and Terry. 

Ginny and the twins Fred and George were there, with Lee Jordan and a player on the Hufflepuff quidditch team arguing about broomstick regulations. They all went quiet when Harry, Ron, Hermione and Sophie took seats at the table.

"Why's she here?" Ernie said.

Hermione replied stiffly, "She's going to be one of the teachers."

Katie cut in suddenly, "I thought Harry was going to teach us."

For the first time that evening, Sophie spoke to the table at large. "Have you fended off a group of attackers with a spell cast on you to attack your mind, all the bones in your hand broken into unrecognizable shards and three unconscious friends to worry about? 

Have you ever been kidnapped? 

Tortured? 

How many battles have you been in? 

How many times have you rescued your friends? 

How many times have you been broken and battered to the point where you were on the knife edge of death and then come back better than ever? 

Almost fifteen times? 

Because all that, and more has happened to me, and I'm still here. 

If any of you have the same credentials, you could be a teacher too."

Everyone at the table looked even more stunned than Harry was. Sophie had told them more about her past, and from the sounds of it, she had been through even more than Harry. It was a wonder she had survived.

"So," Sophie said, as if her outburst hadn't happened. 

"We called you here today because we need to teach ourselves true defense. Not only to pass our O.W.L.s, but because Voldemort's back. 

I have experience with truly evil people, people like him. We need to learn from that experience. 

But we also need to learn Voldemort's weaknesses, and who better to teach us of them than Harry?" That was met with a cheer from some of the Gryffindors.

But, the blonde boy, who identified himself as Zacharias Smith, said nastily, "How do you know he's back?"

Harry felt his blood boil. Sophie looked at him pointedly, and he calmed down a bit before saying cooly, "I saw him. I'm not going to talk about what happened, though."

When several people made noises of disapproval, Sophie said, "There are plenty of things that happen in wars like this. 

Sometimes, the details are best left forgotten. Yes," she said in response to the incredulous looks she was getting. "I called it a war. 

That's what it is. There's no sense tiptoeing around it."

The other kids there began asking Harry about his adventures, and he began to get flustered. He quickly began brushing their flattery off him, and Sophie rescued him. 

"Harry's being modest, yes, but he's also right. I've resisted torture, but my friends had to rescue me. 

No one person can win a war, it's a team effort. 

And that's one of the reasons evil people lose."

Ginny asked, "Why would Fudge give us such a useless teacher?"

Hermione replied tartly, "Fudge thinks Dumbledore's building an army."

Sophie smiled wickedly. "So, we have to build an army. We can meet once a week, in the Room of Requirement." 

At the odd looks from half the group, she said, "That hidden door in the seventh floor across from Barnabus the Barmy? I could make it so that Umbridge can't get in. We can meet at night."

Hermione smiled, then pulled out a piece of parchment. "We should all write our names down, so we know who was here. 

But, signing this is also a promise to not tell anyone, especially Umbridge what we're doing."

Sophie looked thoughtful, and muttered, "I might have a jinx that will help with that..."

Everyone signed, then the group split into smaller clusters and walked off to enjoy the Hogsmead weekend.

Do you ever reread something expecting it to be complete trash then realize it's somewhat decent?