I skipped lunch and wandered around the castle instead before heading to Transfiguration. When I entered Umbridge was standing in the back of the classroom.
"That will do," McGonagall said as she entered the room. "Mr. Finnigan, kindly come here and hand back the homework — Miss Brown, please take this box of mice — don't be silly, girl, they won't hurt you — and hand one to each student —"
"Hem, hem," said Professor Umbridge, employing the same silly little cough she had used to interrupt Dumbledore on the first night of term. Professor McGonagall ignored her. Seamus handed back my essay with a question mark and an A on it. It was only mostly finished because I got bored and just turned it in.
"Right then, everyone, listen closely — Dean Thomas, if you do that to the mouse again I shall put you in detention — most of you have now successfully vanished your snails and even those who were left with a certain amount of shell have the gist of the spell. Today we shall be —"
"Hem, hem," said Professor Umbridge.
"Yes?" said Professor McGonagall, turning round, her eyebrows so close together they seemed to form one long, severe line.
"I was just wondering, Professor, whether you received my note telling you of the date and time of your inspec —"
"Obviously I received it, or I would have asked you what you are doing in my classroom," said Professor McGonagall, turning her back firmly on Professor Umbridge. Many of the students exchanged looks of glee. "As I was saying, today we shall be practicing the altogether more difficult vanishment of mice. Now, the Vanishing Spell —"
"Hem, hem."
"I wonder," said Professor McGonagall in cold fury, turning on Professor Umbridge, "how do you expect to gain an idea of my usual teaching methods if you continue to interrupt me? You see, I do not generally permit people to talk when I am talking."
Professor Umbridge looked as though she had just been slapped in the face. She did not speak, but straightened the parchment on her clipboard and began scribbling furiously. Looking supremely unconcerned, Professor McGonagall addressed the class once more.
"As I was saying, the Vanishing Spell becomes more difficult with the complexity of the animal to be vanished. The snail, as an invertebrate, does not present much of a challenge; the mouse, as a mammal, offers a much greater one. This is not, therefore, magic you can accomplish with your mind on your dinner. So — you know the incantation, let me see what you can do...."
I zoned out as she said we could start vanishing them. I said the incantation and the mouse disappeared. "Nice," I muttered with a small smile before laying my head on my desk.
I gave back the mouse unvanished and left the class quickly, not wanting to stay around any longer. I went outside for Care of Magical Creatures. I hate being outside. If it wasn't for the fact I was being forced to take this class I would go back to the castle and sleep. Harry once again got himself in trouble with Umbridge as she was inspecting the class and I had to pull him aside afterwards.
"I swear Harry. You need to be more careful. You can't keep getting detention. I know she's hurting you somehow. I've heard whispers," I told him. I've heard some of the third years' rumors about her and what her detentions are like.
He grabbed his arm from me, "I'm fine. And how do you expect me not to get mad at her and speak out? You have no idea how hard this is!"
"Yes, I do. There have been times I've been so mad I want to kill someone. And you're not fine!" I grab his hand and unwrap it to see 'I must not tell lies' carved into it. "A blood-quill?" I wasn't shocked. Of course that toad is absolutely insane. "You are going to be more careful or I will have to kill her. I made a promise to keep you safe and that's what I'm going to do no matter how I have to do it." He nodded and we went our separate ways to our common rooms.
"If I kill her would anyone miss her?" I ask, going into the room. I sat down next to a third year who was doing astronomy homework and Theo, placing my bag in front of me.
"Umbridge? Absolutely–" We all look over at Pansy and she looks up. "Not. I'll help if you need it."
"I'm not going to do it, I was just thinking about it," I tell her. I open my bag and take out some paper for our transfiguration homework and pull out a pen.
"You're supposed to use parchment and ink," Blaise says, not looking up from his book.
"Yeah, screw that! It's like using stone, it's 20-1995!" Him and Theo look over at me, catching my mishap. "Whatever, they're lucky I'm even doing the homework in the first place."
"True that. This sucks! If it wasn't our OWL year I wouldn't even be doing this, but I'd rather pass," Daphne complains. "How the hell are we going to pass DADA if our teacher is incopetent?"
A bunch of others in the room look over at us, "Well, maybe the upper years can teach the younger years and then a couple people could learn from some other teacher and teach the rest of their year?" I suggest. "I mean I think other houses are doing something. You know that they would probably not include us, so what if we just start it ourselves?"
"That's a great idea," a seventh year student grins. "What if once a week each grade is taught DADA. Monday for first years, Tuesday for second and so on. I mean we'll have to figure something out for our year, but it's the best plan so far."
"That sounds great, I just don't want to fail," A fourth year student stresses. Soon everyone is talking about it in the common room. The seventh year grabs a piece of paper and writes down a schedule.
"Where should we have it?" They ask.
"We could just have it in here, it's spacious enough, if Snape found out he wouldn't care," Blaise says, standing over the paper. He writes the times and the place. The seventh year hangs it on the message board right in the middle next to the Quidditch tryouts paper.
~
We started the schedule the next week. Anyone who was available taught the first years and any younger grades. It was two full weeks of learning what we needed to and I even helped out teaching. Blaise wasn't the biggest fan, but he did it anyway and so did Pansy. Theo was having a blast everyday.
We were still having trouble finding out what to do with the seventh years so they've just been getting everyone in their year caught up to the same point and helping them with other subjects. Sometimes, they'll teach us younger kids a thing or two.
Apparently, this weekend we're going to their village. I need some kind of signed permission slip. "First we should show you to the candy shop and take you to the three broomsticks," Pansy grins.
"We should also show her to the book shop!" Theo says excitedly.
"You're the only one who ever wants to go there," Daphne rolls her eyes.
"I have a question," I tell them and the four look at me. "Are there any other sports here?"
They all laugh and shake their heads, "Quidditch is the only one here and it's the biggest thing ever. You should see what happens when there's a game," Theo says. "I'm on the team and it's amazing."
I look over to Daphne and Pansy and they both mouth crazy. Our entire table goes silent for some reason and we all look around a little to see Hermione making her way to our table. She sits down right across from me. She sets a piece of paper down in front of me before stnading back up, "Have a good morning," I nod to her and she turns back and walks to the Gryffindor table.
"Let me see what Granger gave you," Pansy said, trying to grab it then the others tried too.
"Yeah, let's see what the mudblood had to say," Draco smirks. I glare at him.
"You think being a bigot is funny? Maybe I should show you some respect," I say, getting up from the table as the others pull me down. I grab the note and read it.
Meet at the Hogs Head tomorrow at 11 o'clock. Don't tell anyone else and come alone.
~Hermione
I quickly took out my wand and burned it. The five of us all watch it slowly light up and fall to the table.
~
We all lined up to get our permission slips checked so that we could go. Everyone else got passes just fine until it came to my group. They all got their names checked off from the list and I tried to walk past with them, but Filch stopped me and I sighed, rolling my eyes.
"No permission slip, no entry," he snarls in my face.
"What's going on over here?" McGonagall asks.
"She's trying to get in without a permission slip," Filch tells her.
McGonagall looks at me before sighing, "She has permission from Dumbledore."
"What about a guardian?" The girl behind me asks. "She has to have permission from a parent or guardian."
"I'm my own guardian," I tell her. She looks at me confused and I look back to Filch.
"Dumbledore is her technical guardian for now," McGonagall whispers to Filch and he glares at me, but lets me move past him.
"What was that about?" Daphne asks.
"My parents are dead, how are they supposed to sign something when they can't?" I ask them.
"Well who do you live with?" Blaise asks.
"I live at a summer camp in America. You can be a year-round camper, but my brother and I hate staying there so we sometimes leave, going to a different camp," I explain.
"Wait, so you basically live by yourself?" Pansy asks.
"No, but I can't go home anyway, don't know where I'm going to live this summer. Doesn't matter right now, I have to do something, I'll see you guys soon. I can meet you at the three broomsticks at 12."
"Do you even know where that is?" Theo asks with a smirk.
"Nope, but I'll find it," I smirk back. I walk away from them and follow Hermione, Harry, and Ron at a distance. I watched the three of them walk through the village and one of the very last places was a rundown bar.
They walked in and I stood in front of the building before I saw other people coming. I sighed before walking inside and standing to the side as people came in and started ordering drinks. The place was old and dirty. Basically covered head to toe in grime and dirt.
There were very few people in here before the trio and one was a guy wrapped in bandages. I stared at him and he glanced over at me and we made eye contact. I kept my face straight and kept staring at him before he looked away.
More and more people filed their way in and it started to get pretty crowded. Fred and George came around with a plate of butter beer. "Hey, you want one, Natty?"
I rolled my eyes, "Don't call me Natty," I tell them. "How much?"
"Two sickles," George answers. I opened one of the pockets of my jacket before I stopped.
"It's the silver ones," Fred clarifies.
"Oh, thanks," I tell him before taking two out and handing it to the twins as they hand me my butterbeer. "Probably going to cause a riot when they realize I'm here."
"Now why would that be, Natty?" I cringe at the nickname.
"Well, people didn't really like me in the first place," I told them.
"Oh, don't worry about that, little snake–"
"Yeah, anyone bothers you, we'll take care of them."
"I can take care of myself boys," I smirk at them.
"No doubt about that–"
"Except you don't even know your own age," they counter.
"If you knew everything you wouldn't know either," I say, taking a sip.
They both raise an eyebrow and grin, "We should go finish handing these out." They both fake salute before heading away. I laugh and turn my head, seeing Neville with Ginny and Luna. He waves, making the others too.
Soon everyone had found a seat and got quiet. I preferred to stay standing, leaning against the wall as they looked to the front where Harry, Hermione, and Ron were standing.
"Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual, probably out of nerves. "Well — er — hi."
"Well . . . erm . . . well, you know why you're here. Erm . . . well, Harry here had the idea — I mean–" Harry threw her a sharp look. "I had the idea — that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts — and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us" Hermione's voice suddenly became much stronger and more confident. "Because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts"
"Hear, hear," said Anthony Goldstein, and Hermione looked heartened. "Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."
She paused, looked sideways at Harry, and went on, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells —"
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said Michael Corner. I mean I would if I was actually going to school. Imagine failing, that would be embarrassing.
"Of course I do," said Hermione at once. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because . . . because . . ." She took a great breath and finished, "Because Lord Voldemort's back."
The reaction everyone had was close to what people had if you mention Kronus rising again. People shuddered, spilled drinks, Neville gave a yelp that turned into a cough.
"Well . . . that's the plan anyway," said Hermione. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to —"
"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said the blond Hufflepuff player in a rather aggressive voice.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it —" Hermione began.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," said the blond boy, nodding at Harry.
"Who are you?" said Ron rather rudely. That's not how you should approach that, but good on you for being defensive for your friend.
Zacharias Smith," said the boy, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."
"Look," said Hermione, intervening swiftly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about —" "It's okay, Hermione," said Harry.
"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he asked, looking Zacharias straight in the face. "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." The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke. Even the barman looked like he was listening to Harry. Observing him while he wiped glasses.
Zacharias said dismissively, "All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know —" Oof touchy subject. Plus, not the best thing to ask. Oh hey, tell us in great detail how you saw this boy get murdered.
"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you," Harry said. He looked angry and he should be. Anger might not be 'great' in an argument, but it sure does get things done. "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."
He cast an angry look in Hermione's direction. But I looked around and no one made a move to get up. "So," said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. "So . . . like I was saying . . . if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and where we're going to —"
"Is it true," interrupted the girl with the long plait down her back, looking at Harry, "that you can produce a Patronus?" There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.
"Yeah," said Harry slightly defensively.
"A corporeal Patronus?" The phrase stirred something in Harry's memory.
"Er — you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" he asked.
The girl smiled. "She's my auntie," she said. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So — is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"Blimey, Harry!" said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"
"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."
"She's not wrong," mumbled Harry and a couple of people laughed. The veiled witch sitting alone shifted very slightly in her seat, making me stare at her for a minute.
"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot. "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year. . . ." Nice, loving killing giant snakes.
"Er — yeah, I did, yeah," said Harry. Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled, the Creevey brothers exchanged awestruck looks, and Lavender Brown said "wow" softly.
"And in our first year," said Neville to the group at large, "he saved that Sorcerous Stone —"
"Sorcerer's," hissed Hermione. Geez, chill girl. It's not that big of a deal.
"Yes, that, from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.
"And that's not to mention," said Cho "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year — getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas and things. . . ." There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the table.
Harry looked around the crowd and saw me and looked at me panicked. I breathed in deeply and out and he copied me. "Look," he said and everyone fell silent at once, "I . . . I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but . . . I had a lot of help with all that stuff. . . ." It's no use for him to try and deny it. He's done stuff to make a lot of the kids in here idol him.
"Not with the dragon, you didn't," said Michael Corner at once. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying. . . ."
"Yeah, well —" said Harry.
"And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer," said Susan Bones.
"No," said Harry, "no, okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is —"
"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias Smith.
"Here's an idea," said Ron loudly, before Harry could speak, "why don't you shut your mouth?"
"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him, and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it," he said.
"That's not what he said," snarled Fred. Wow, the Weasleys are very protective of Harry. Fred reminds me of Reyna a little.
"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" inquired George, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags.
"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred.
"Yes, well," said Hermione hastily, "moving on . . . the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"
There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms and said nothing, though perhaps this was because he was too busy keeping an eye on the instrument in George's hand.
"Right," said Hermione, looking relieved that something had at last been settled. "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week —"
"Hang on," said Angelina, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice." "No," said Cho, "nor with ours." "Nor ours," added Zacharias Smith. I rolled my eyes. Is quidditch really that important to these people?
"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," said Hermione, slightly impatiently, "but you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters —"
"Well said!" barked Ernie Macmillan. "Personally I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our O.W.L.s coming up!" Honestly, I'm surprised I even remembered these people's names. Gods, it's only because Pansy and Daphne are literally telling me everyone's secrets from every house.
He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry, "Surely not!" When nobody spoke, he went on, "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells —" He does have a great point. Why is the Ministry trying to cripple their learning? This would be terrible for their next generation of leaders if they don't know anything.
"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione, "is that she's got some . . . some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."
Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news; everybody except Luna, who piped up, "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."
"What?" said Harry, completely thrown by this unexpected piece of information.
"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," said Luna solemnly.
"No, he hasn't," snapped Hermione.
"Yes, he has," said Luna.
"What are heliopaths?" asked Neville, looking blank.
"They're spirits of fire," said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever. "Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of —" "They don't exist, Neville," said Hermione tartly.
"Oh yes they do!" said Luna angrily. I scoffed, who the hell does Hermione think she is? She doesn't get to say what exists and what doesn't. She would say demi-gods and gods don't exist, but I'm living proof.
"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" snapped Hermione.
"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you —"
"Hem, hem," said Ginny in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm, making me laugh. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defense lessons?"
"Yes," said Hermione at once, "yes, we were, you're right. . . ."
"Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee Jordan. "As long as —" began Angelina.
"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," said Hermione in a tense voice. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet. . . ." This was rather more difficult; the whole group fell silent. There has to be some place. I mean the Slytherins have been doing it for weeks out of our common room and no one has been wiser. Well, that was only one house, but it's a huge castle there has to be somewhere. Where do people meet for other clubs?
"Library?" suggested Katie Bell after a few moments.
"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," said Harry.
"Maybe an unused classroom?" said Dean.
"Yeah," said Ron, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Triwizard. . . ."
"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," said Hermione. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting." She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.
"I-I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge — or anybody else — what we're up to."
Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully put down his signature, but Harry noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of putting their names on the list.
"Er . . ." said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying to pass him. "Well . . . I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."
But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing too. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him. "I — well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found . . . well, I mean to say . . . you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out . . ."
"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Harry reminded him.
"I — yes," said Ernie, "yes, I do believe that, it's just . . ."
"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" said Hermione testily.
"No. No, of course not," said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. "I — yes, of course I'll sign." No one else made a fuss until Neville tried handing it to me.
"Who are you?" Smith asked me. "I've never seen you before."
"Oh, that is our friend Natalia," Hermione explained before hestating. "She's a Slytherin."
All of a sudden people starting shouting and talking over one another as Neville awkwardly held the paper. "SHUT IT!" Ginny shouted, gaining everyone's attention.
"She's here for a reason," Harry defended me and I looked at him in surprise. "I trust her, so does Hermione. You all should too. Now, let her sign."
Neville tried to hand me the paper once more but I didn't take it and everyone was staring at me. "Nat?"
"I don't know if I want to sign," I confess and people tense up. I look at Harry and he seems confused. "What if there's a valid reason to why they told someone else, what if someone gets hurt? We don't even have a place to practice yet. What is the punishment if you do tell? If we get caught, what's the guarantee that we won't be expelled?" I questioned. I looked around at the other kids here and they just stared at me. "Am I even allowed here? People are looking at me like I'm one of them."
He and the other two look at me nervous. "We don't have a guarantee, but this is important. Don't you want to be prepared?"
"I am prepared," I tell them. "I can help teach too, but I need to make sure that I'm trusted. They might not have to say a word about this group, but people can certainly say something that gets me into trouble that I might not be able to get myself out of. If I sign and anyone else that signs has to agree not to say anything about anyone doing anything they shouldn't be doing. Not just about the group but anything else. Dress code violations, miniscule stuff. I'm not just protecting myself, I'm protecting you all too."
Everyone takes a minute to think it over, "HA! That means you can't get us in trouble for testing products!" The twins yell.
"Bloody hell, she's a genius," Ron whispers. I look at him confused and people start nodding in agreement to the amendment. I roll my eyes, taking the paper from Neville and scribbling my name down.
Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. Everyone had pretty much signed their life away. "Well, time's ticking on," said Fred briskly, getting to his feet. "George, Lee, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later."
People left in groups of two and threes. Neville, Luna, and Ginny waved at me and I headed out the door. I stopped before heading back inside. "Does anyone know where the three broomsticks is?" I ask, looking at the clock. I have 15 minutes before I'm supposed to meet the others.
"Oh, yeah, Luna and I were just on our way there," Ginny says, grabbing my hand as she leads us out of the bar. Luna giggles and heads out right after us. She points out different shops along the way and we make it to a restaurant. "This is it, I'm going to meet with my boyfriend."
I waved goodbye as she found him and pulled Luna along. I looked around and saw Blaise and Theo sitting at a table with three empty seats. I walked over and sat down. "Well, hello. Seems you found your way alright," Theo smirks.
Blaise grinned, drinking his butterbeer. "So what are you getting for lunch?"
I looked at the menu and there was Lamb, fish, and some other meats. "I'll probably get the chicken."
I hear some laughing and Pansy and Daphne sit down at the table with some bags. "I found the cutest top you would look amazing in," Pansy says.
"Plus, it had a matching skirt," Daph grins. I rolled my eyes. "It's black and purple."
This makes me look up. It's literally the best color combination, sure green is cool with black and so is red, but purple and black is the best. "I knew you would love it," Pansy said.
"Chill, she's barely seen this place yet, let us take you see the best places," Blaise grins.
We got lunch and ate before running around the whole village. We saw the bookstore Theo liked, a quill shop, a potions store and more. It was an amazing day. Nico would've loved the potions and Leo would've loved Zonko's. Reyna would've had a field day with Thalia in the antique store with how many weapons there were and Hazel would've loved the pet store.
I hate to admit it, but I miss them. Problem is I have no idea how long it's been for them. I could be gone for years for them. They'll probably move on soon. Leo is probably already flirting with Calypso. Nothing wrong with her, I just didn't like him going back for her. I knew she loved him, that was her curse, that and to stay on the island. It's the same way that she liked Percy. Well heck, even I liked Percy. He saved us. My crush on him didn't last long, however, one on someone else lasted a little bit longer than his.