❝Give 'em hell kids❞
In which Harry Potter decides he needs the help of a certain troublemaker to make it through his Third Year at Hogwarts.
[The Prisoner of Azkaban - The Deathly Hallows]
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The Ministry is Afraid of A Child Army
Frankie felt her mouth go slack jaw, the idea of a bunch of first years trying to fight government officials running through her head like some Looney Tunes sketch. Turning towards her friends in disbelief, Theo and Draco gravely nodded at her, confirming the whole idea.
"Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army." Luna Lovegood, a girl from the year below them, said.
"Do they actually?" Tracey asked her group, her eyes wide.
"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," Luna turned to Tracey solemnly, who simply gaped at the idea.
"No, he hasn't," Hermione snapped, turning to Tracey with a glare, "Tracey, stop freaking out,"
"Yes, he has,"
"I'm sorry, I don't think I'm familiar with the word 'heliopaths', could you explain?" Daphne asked nicely, giving the girl time to explain herself.
"They're spirits of fire, great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of -"
"They're not real, Daphne," Hermione cut through Luna's speech, glaring at the girl.
"Oh yes, they are!"
"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?"
"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts. Just because you're so narrow-minded, you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you -"
"Catfight?" Blaise whispered to the group, watching intently.
"Hem, hem," The voice sounded painfully familiar, Theo flinching beside her before Ginny Weasley laughed, "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defence lessons?"
"Well, once a week sounds cool," Lee Jordan decided.
"As long as-"
"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," Hermione cut off Angelina impatiently, "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet. . . ."
The group fell silent for the first time since entering the pub, Tracey mouthing that they could possibly use the Slytherin common room. Daphne shook her head at that, mouthing back a single name: Professor Snape.
"Library?" Katie Bell offered.
"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," Harry pointed out.
"Maybe an unused classroom?" said Dean.
"Yeah," said Ron, "McGonagall might let us have hers. She did when Harry was practising for the Triwizard tournament"
Frankie looked towards Harry, who frowned at the mention of the year prior.
"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," Hermione decided, rummaging through her bad. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."
"I-I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," Hermione continued with a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you agree not to tell Umbridge — or anybody else — what we're up to."
Frankie could feel Theo's glare land on her as she watched the parchment get sent around. Turning towards her friend, she gave him a sickly sweet smile before her face morphed into an annoyed expression.
"I'm not signing that," Theo told her.
"You're signing it,"
The two were locked in a staring competition, as the paper finally approached their table. Hermione followed wherever the paper went, landing the Gryffindor to watch on in nervous confusion.
"Ignore them. They do this sometimes," Draco told Hermione, signing his name on the paper.
"I'm not signing that, I can't," Theo repeated, hardening his gaze, "I will join, and I'll happily hex anyone that steps out of line, but I can't sign that,"
"We just talked about this with Ernie," Hermione said in annoyance, "No one is going to see this,"
"Yeah, no offence, Hermione, but it's not something you can fully understand," Theo told her, looking at the paper with disgust, "Should anyone tell and it gets back to Umbridge, I'm the one who will have to deal with my father when I get home,"
There was silence at the table.
"I'm not signing," Theo repeated harder this time.
"Fine, just don't go telling people you didn't sign," Hermione whispered viciously but understandingly at the same time, "Any others?"
The Slytherin table looked towards Daphne, who gave a guilty and apologetic smile as she pushed the paper away from her and towards Tracey.
"I really would. I just can't risk my mum finding something like that out," Daphne told Hermione, who nodded and took the paper back once the rest of them signed.
As the tables of students began leaving directly after Fred Weasley, Frankie hung back as she waited for everyone to leave.
"We'll be at Hogsmeade," Theo told her as the Slytherin group made their way towards the exit.
Frankie nodded, turning her attention towards the three Gryffindors left to pack up the area. Harry was the first to notice her, quickly followed by Ron and Hermione. Walking towards them, Hermione and Ron moved away from the two and pretended to be busy paying attention to the tables in the room.
"Nice public speaking there," Frankie said, standing in front of him.
"I felt like an idiot," Harry told her, offering her the remaining half of his butterbeer, "I can't believe they're all going to be expecting me to teach them,"
"I mean, the bar is pretty low," Frankie shrugged, giving him a smile, "As long as you don't attempt to kill Harry Potter, I think you'll do great,"
"I will if I make a fool of myself," Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Do you think I can really do this?"
"Of course," Frankie replied simply, drinking from her butterbeer, "No one else could even try,"
