janus ~ hermione granger

xlviii

"where are you taking are you taking me?" maddy groaned as hermione dragged her to the common room, where harry, phoebe and ron were waiting.

"don't ask questions," hermione replied, giving her a quick kiss before the five left to the seventh floor.

"hold it," harry stopped, pulling out a piece of parchment and tapping it with his hand. "i solemnly swear that i am up to no good."

a map of hogwarts appeared, labeled, tiny, black dots moving around.

"filch is on the second floor and mrs norris is on the fourth."

"and umbridge?" hermione spoke rather anxiously.

"in her office. okay, let's go."

they hurried along the corridor to where dobby had explained to harry.

"lovely entrance."

whack.

"there's literally no door!" maddy exclaimed, throwing her arms up in exasperation.

"dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need."

so that's what four of them did.

maddy pretended to tie her shoes until hermione caught everyone's attention.

a highly polished door had appeared.

ignoring ron's wary looks, harry reached for the brass door handle and led the way into the large room.

"these will be good when we're practicing stunning," ron pointed out as he poked a cushion with his foot.

"and just look at these books," hermione spoke excitedly, causing her girlfriend to giggle. the bushy haired girl continued to mumble the titles of certain books before looking at the scarred boy. "harry, this is wonderful, there's everything we need here!"

the bright witch chose a book and dragged maddy to one of the cushions, plopping down and laying her head on the older girl's shoulder.

several people began showing up and soon enough, every cushion became occupied.

after harry locked the door, maddy and phoebe took this as a sign and got up, walking to the middle where everyone had a good view of them.

"well, this is the place we've found for practices, and you've—er—obviously found it okay-"

"it's fantastic!" cho interrupted.

"it's bizarre. we once hid from filch in here, remember, george? but it was just a broom cupboard then," fred trailed off.

"hey, guys, what's this stuff?" dean asked the three fifth-years standing up, gesturing at the sneakoscopes and the foe-glass.

"dark detectors," harry responded, stepping between the cushions to reach them.

"basically they all show when dark wizards or enemies are around."

"but don't rely on them too much, they can be fooled," maddy finished off.

"well, i've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and—er—what, hermione?"

"i think we ought to elect a leader."

"harry's leader."

"yes, but i think we ought to vote on it properly. it makes it formal and gives him authority. so—everyone who thinks harry ought to be our leader?"

"i personally believe maddy would be a better leader," harry shrugged, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck while some people murmured in agreement.