Always and Forever

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Hermione POV

The day finally came of the Hogsmeade trip. She was nearly jumping up in down with the nerves that were filling her entire being. Anyone who was walking by would just assume that the curly haired girl was excited to get a break from the castle. How wrong would they be? If was safe enough to have the meeting earlier in the castle somewhere, she would have pushed for it. With Umbridge as the new High Inquisitor it just simply was not an option.

When the trio stood in front of the meeting place, Hermione was nervous. The sign of the Hog's Head was cracked, and the pub looked run down. "Well, come on." She held her head up high and with all the Gryffindor bravery she could summon, stepped inside.

The three students were looking around and Ron's eyes lit up as he eyed the old bartender. "I bet we could order anything we liked in here, I want to try a fire whisky—"

"Ronald! You are a prefect! That would be a horrible way to influence others. We need our heads clear." She hit his arm.

"Calm down, Hermione. It's not like it would matter."

She hit him again and he finally resigned to simply ordering a butterbeer. Once the three were seated, other students began to walk in. Hermione nudged Harry who gave her a small smile when Cho Chang walked in. He still had a rather large crush on her from last year and this should give him some courage.

Hermione blushed as the twins walked in with Lee Jordan. George looked at the girl and jokingly said, "These bags from Zonko's are not going to be used for pranks. Scouts honor." He winked at her before the three sat next to the Gryffindor Chasers who claimed a table already.

What is wrong with you, Hermione? It's just... George. She shook her head as if to clear it and focused back on the task at hand. Once everyone was settled with a drink, the girl stood up in front of the large group of students. "Umm... well, hello. You all know why we are her. Harry here had the idea—I mean—" he nudged her and shot her a look "Well actually I suppose I was the one who came up with the idea. We might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts and not just read about it—I mean—" She closed her eyes sharply silently cursing to herself that she hadn't wrote down what she wanted to say. When her brown eyes opened back up she caught George smiling at her, encouraging her to continue. Suddenly, she was filled with the courage to go on. She flipped her curly hair behind her shoulder and held her chin up high. "I thought it would be a good idea if we took matters into our own hands and found a teacher that actually could instruct us on how to defend ourselves. By that I mean, learn from casting actual spells not just books and theory. I want to be properly trained in Defense because Lord Voldemort's back."

Hermione heard gasps of shock in the room, but her focus stayed locked on George's eyes. He smiled proudly at her and nodded in agreement with what she had just said.

"Where's the proof?" A Hufflepuff boy interrupted the Gryffindors' locked eyes.

The golden trio turned to look at him. "Dumbledore believes it—"

"You mean, Dumbledore believes him." He pointed to Harry who had stiffened next to Hermione.

Ron rudely sneered at the boy. "Who are you?"

"Zacharias Smith and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who is back."

Harry finally stood next to her. "What makes me say he's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone. You can leave if that's all you're here for."