"Hey," (Y/n) quietly greeted. She was almost amused by the fact that she was the one to frighten a ghost.
"(Y/n)!" Cassius Warrington beamed. "I thought you were avoiding me."
"I was," (Y/n) admitted, looking down in shame. Cassius seemed to have made some sort of attempt to get her to look up, for (Y/n) was filled with shivers, making her peer at Cassius. He was right in front of her now. "It's not you, I promise," (Y/n) said quickly. "It's just... well, you know..."
"I've heard you cut everyone off for about a month," Cassius murmured.
"Who told you that?" (Y/n) asked nervously, averting her eyes.
"I've got my sources," Cassius grinned, shrugging as though the question didn't answer.
"Snitches," (Y/n) mumbled. "But I did cut them off... only because I didn't want to feel anything at the time."
"Why not?" Cassius frowned.
"Gosh, I can't win, can I?" (Y/n) huffed. "I'd be guilt-tripped for being upset and now I feel guilty for not talking to anyone at—"
"(Y/n)," Cassius interrupted, staring at her with the same comforting eyes that he always used when (Y/n) felt she was in the wrong. "How many times do you need to hear it to learn that people that genuinely love you won't guilt trip you for being emotional? Especially after... well, you know..."
(Y/n) couldn't help but notice the fact that Cassius didn't seem at all affected by the fact that he was dead. Despite Cassius having been murdered, it seemed that Cassius was the least affected by the matter. His presence was there, but Cassius was not and that was what hurt (Y/n) the most.
"The people that do care have made themselves known, haven't they?" Cassius added softly.
"You're right. They have," (Y/n) confirmed. "But I don't want to—"
"Burden them?" Cassius finished. (Y/n) nodded in confirmation, much to Cassius's dismay. "They're the ones trying to get you to talk, (Y/n)!" he exclaimed. "If anything, you're getting on their nerves by not doing so!" (Y/n) pursed her lips and looked down, kicking at the dusty ground. "Hey," Cassius said quietly. "Look at me."
(Y/n) met Cassius's eyes again and he offered her the very same, contagious smile that (Y/n) couldn't help but return. Cassius pumped his fist in accomplishment, flying in a small circle around her. And, for the first time in a while, (Y/n) found herself genuinely laughing into her hand.
"Of all pestering people, you, Cassius Warrington, are the worst," (Y/n) stated. Cassius smiled widely.
"Good!" Cassius said. "If I didn't pester you, I'm scared you'd continue drifting away from everyone." The two stood silently for a moment.
"Do you... know what today is?" (Y/n) asked quietly. Cassius tilted his head.
"I kind of stopped caring about dates after I died, but if I had to guess... today's the day I took you on a date two years ago?" Cassius said. (Y/n) smiled and looked down at the ground.
"No, that was on Halloween, Cass," (Y/n) laughed. "It would have been our one-year anniversary."
"Oh," Cassius mumbled. His face lit up and he smiled warmly. "I'm glad that you remembered."
"Yeah," (Y/n) said softly, nodding and refusing to take her eyes off the ground. She promised herself she would not cry that day and she planned on holding true to it. Even if she was shamed that day for having friends and even if people had been so incredibly dismissive of Cassius's death that day.
"You've all got your choices down?" (Y/n) asked upon noticing everyone was present. It was later in the evening after everyone had returned from Hogsmeade. After several confirming nods and words, (Y/n) nodded at Angelina.
"Ginny Weasley."
"I was going to suggest her," Hermione murmured.
"I'm down for Ginny," Parvati agreed. "She can get a bit... rude when it comes to girly things but she's allowed to have different opinions."
"Ginny's cool," Lavender nodded.
"All right..." (Y/n) murmured, giving Cho the chance to write down Ginny's name on the welcoming letter. "Leanne?"
"You never use the flower names," Angelina said suddenly. (Y/n) averted her eyes.
"I hope you won't snitch on me at the upcoming reunion," (Y/n) said.
"Never," Angelina gasped. (Y/n) nodded at Leanne.
"Luna Lovegood," Leanne said rather hesitantly. There were several murmurs of disagreement.
"I like Luna," Padma said in protest of the disagreement. "She's funny."
"What does she bring to the table?" Hermione asked impatiently. "Lousy theories?"
"Hey," (Y/n) said warningly.
"I know she's like a sister to you, (Y/n)," Hermione continued. "But I personally can't imagine Luna bringing much to the table."
"Other than weird world views," Pansy snorted.
"Or her dad's magazine," Lavender grinned.
"Or odd earrings," Parvati snickered. Padma gasped and whispered hurriedly to Parvati, whose eyes widened. "B-but I'm sure whoever made them is really creative," she stammered, averting her eyes.
"I, personally, don't mind Luna," Daphne said.
"Yeah, what's your problem with her?" Hannah chimed, frowning at her fellow fourth years.
"Well... she's loony," Lavender said simply.
"Loony for keeping to herself or loony for having different outlooks than you?" Susan asked. "Whichever it is, I suppose we're all loony, aren't we? I mean, we're in a secret society that, apparently, discriminates against girls different to their own... You're going against everything we were taught last year. All for what? Because you're tighter-knit to this group than you were to last year's?"
The girls all fell silent and (Y/n) gave a proud smile to Daphne, Hannah, and Susan. She herself was unable to say anything due to getting no say whatsoever on who the society welcomes. After a few moments of letting the girls sit in self-shame, Angelina spoke.
"I don't see how there's any problem in sending Luna a letter," Angelina said. "I don't know her well enough to have much of a say, but we don't even know if she'll decode the letter or pass all seven tests."
"Let's have a vote, hm?" (Y/n) suggested. "In favour of sending Luna Lovegood a letter?" Leanne, Daphne, Padma, Susan, and Hannah all raised their hands. "And those against sending Luna Lovegood a letter?" Cho, Hermione, Parvati, Pansy, and Lavender raised their hands. Angelina did not raise her hand for either option, leaving the results to be evenly torn. "Angelina, you're the deciding vote."
"What's the harm?" Angelina shrugged. "Go ahead and address Luna, Cho." Despite there being several disappointed looks, nobody openly protested.
"Cho, anyone in mind?" (Y/n) asked. upon noticing Cho had stopped writing. Cho laughed nervously.
"I don't think I was paying attention so I've been spending these two weeks keeping a watch on the third years," Cho admitted.
"All right..." (Y/n) murmured, glancing over at the girls in the room. "Anybody else?"
"I couldn't find anyone," Padma sighed. "They're all a tad on the... timid side." There were nods of agreement.
"So that's a wrap, then? Luna and Ginny?" (Y/n) said.
"Guess so..."
"(Y/n)!" Cho exclaimed the moment (Y/n) had finally reached the common room on Monday morning.
"What's up?"
"Look at the notice board," Cho said. (Y/n) and Cho joined the queue of people that were waiting to see the notice board. As they got closer, (Y/n) noticed a large sign in addition to the regular club promotions, tutoring, and the Weasley twins' ad (that (Y/n) herself hung). Padma had joined Cho and (Y/n) the moment the two got closer.
"'All student organizations, societies, teams, groups, and clubs are henceforth disbanded,'" (Y/n) read. "'An organization, society, team, group, or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor, Professor Umbridge. No student organization, society, team, group, or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organization, society, group, or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled. The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four. Signed, Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor...'"
The three quickly stepped aside to allow other people to gain access to the board a few others that had overheard (Y/n)'s reading had also stepped out of line, angrily whispering to their friends about needing to wait for approval for their clubs.
"What about the Quidditch team?" Cho murmured.
"What about the society?" Padma added in an undertone.
"The Ministry doesn't know who's in the society or where meetings are being held," (Y/n) murmured. "As long as there's no traitors— and if there is, they'll pay greatly— then we're in the clear... but the Quidditch team and other clubs..."
"What does that mean for us?" Padma asked. "We're a group of three."
"Will friendships really apply?" Cho asked, frowning.
"She can't just give us detention for talking during meals or in our own common rooms, can she?" Padma asked.
"I would hope friendships don't apply," (Y/n) said. "Because that's going to be a problem for each and every student in the school— Hey, Roger! Have you seen the notice board?" she hollered.
"Yeah. I'm putting in a request to reform the Quidditch team sometime today," Roger assured.
"This is so unfair," Cho frowned. "Why are school-approved clubs also being disbanded? I maybe understand study groups because the Ministry is so convinced that Hogwarts is forming some kind of army, but really?"
"Maybe somebody told Umbridge about the Defence classes?" Padma suggested.
"Probably that Zacharias Smith," Cho said angrily.
"Sirius wants to meet tonight," Hermione whispered as (Y/n) snuck her way into the Gryffindor common room to talk about the Defence Against the Dark Arts meetings.
"Rad," (Y/n) said. She strode past Hermione and set a container down in front of Dean, who blinked as though trying to process what (Y/n) was giving him. He let out a gasp.
"You actually made them?" Dean beamed.
"Mhm," (Y/n) hummed. "I'm testing recipes for them." She nodded her head at Fred and George, who seemed to have perfected one type of Skiving Snackbox, which they were taking turns to demonstrate to a cheering and whooping crowd.
First, Fred would take a bite out of the orange end of a chew, at which he would vomit spectacularly into a bucket they had placed in front of them. Then he would force down the purple end of the chew, at which the vomiting would immediately cease. Lee, who was assisting the demonstration, was lazily vanishing the vomit at regular intervals. Lavender and Parvati outright voiced their disgust whilst Dean, Seamus, and (Y/n) all averted their attention with grimaces.
"Um... let me know how I did if you're able to stomach the truffles," (Y/n) said at length, wishing to quickly get to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all of whom sat on the opposite side of the room to Fred and George.
"Any idea what they're going to do with your truffle recipe?" Parvati asked nervously.
"Oh, it's part of the products I'm in charge of," (Y/n) said proudly.
"Why don't you sell them separately?" Lavender asked.
"Because I can only sell and give them out at Hogwarts," (Y/n) said. "Why limit myself?"
"A real businesswoman," Parvati swooned.
"Get lost," (Y/n) said, sticking her tongue out before she turned on her heels and walked over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She caught the end of Hermione's disapproving sniffs.
"Just go and stop them, then!" Harry exclaimed, breaking from Hermione's lack of doing anything.
"I can't, they're not technically doing anything wrong," said Hermione through gritted teeth. "They're quite within their rights to eat the foul things themselves, and I can't find a rule that says the other idiots aren't entitled to buy them, not unless they're proven to be dangerous in some way, and it doesn't look as though they are..."
Hermione, Harry, Ron, and (Y/n) watched George projectile-vomit into the bucket, gulp down the rest of the chew, and straighten up, beaming with his arms wide to protracted applause.
"How can they do that repeatedly?" (Y/n) murmured. "Throwing up on an empty stomach hurts."
"Whose to say their stomachs are empty?" Ron asked.
"Well, if they were full before, they'd be empty by now," (Y/n) said.
"Can we not talk about vomit, please?" Hermione frowned
"We're talking about how they're able to keep going," (Y/n) said matter-of-factly.
"That's still throw-up related!"
"You know, I don't get why Fred and George only got three O.W.L.s each," said Harry, watching as Fred, George, and Lee collected gold from the eager crowd. "They really know their stuff..."
"Oh, they only know flashy stuff that's no real use to anyone," said Hermione disparagingly.
"No real use?" said Ron in a strained voice. "Hermione, they've got about twenty-six Galleons already... Can you turn down your music? I can hear it from here and it's distracting me..."
"Distracting you because of the noise or distracting you because of my awesome taste in music that you can't help but want to dance to?" (Y/n) said. Hermione cracked a grin and Harry shook his head with a smile.
"Right, 'cause ten-year-old music is the epitome of great taste," Harry jeered.
"I know you aren't talking," (Y/n) said.
"How do even get your walkman working?" Hermione asked. "Electronics don't work at Hogwarts because of the surges of magic."
"Battery-run," (Y/n) answered. "It just plays cassette tapes with no access to Muggle stations... My more expensive one is the one I use from beyond Hogsmeade and my radio won't work until I'm passed the magical barriers here... So my only source for the world outside is newspaper."
"What about your watch and Spyders?" Hermione asked.
"I can send brief messages from an offline program I've got on my watch and the robots were a bit more of a hassle but I've got a miniature recreation of the motherboard for the Spyder's controllers, so I can use the controllers and the watch to—" (Y/n) cut herself off upon catching Hermione's puzzled expression and Ron and Harry's blank ones as though they had stopped listening. "Just... a lot of tampering." Hermione smiled and nodded. (Y/n) was quite glad for her ability to catch when people got sick of her talking. She silently began the Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment she was assigned that day.
It wasn't a long while before the crowd around the Weasleys dispersed, and then Fred, Lee, and George sat up counting their takings even longer, so that it was well past midnight when Harry, Ron, Hermione, and (Y/n) had the common room to themselves. At long last, Fred closed the doorway to the boys' dormitories behind him, rattling his box of Galleons ostentatiously so that Hermione scowled. Harry, who was making very little progress with his Potions essay, decided to give it up for the night. As he put his books away, Ron, who was dozing lightly in an armchair, gave a muffled grunt, awoke, looked blearily into the fire and said, "Sirius!"
Harry whipped around; Sirius's untidy dark head was sitting in the fire again.
"Hi," Sirius said, grinning.
"Hi," chorused the four teenagers, all four kneeling down upon the hearthrug. Crookshanks purred loudly and approached the fire, trying, despite the heat, to put his face close to Sirius's. (Y/n) quickly scooped him up in her arms.
"How're things?" said Sirius.
"Not that good," said Harry. "The Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams—"
"—or secret Defence Against the Dark Arts groups?" said Sirius. There was a short pause.
"How do you know that?" Harry demanded.
"You want to choose your meeting places more carefully," said Sirius, grinning still more broadly. "The Hog's Head, I ask you..."
"Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks!" said Hermione defensively. "That's always packed with people—"
"—which means you'd have been harder to overhear," said Sirius. "You've got to learn, Hermione."
"Who overheard us?" Harry demanded.
"It was Tonks, wasn't it?" (Y/n) said. "Disguised as that old lady in the pub?"
"Close," said Sirius. "It was Mundungus."
"He was the witch under the veil?" Harry asked, stunned. "What was he doing in Hog's Head?"
"What do you think he was doing?" said Sirius impatiently. "Keeping an eye on you, of course."
"I'm still being followed?" asked Harry angrily.
"Yeah, you are," said Sirius, "and just as well, isn't it, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is organize an illegal defence group." But Sirius looked neither angry nor worried; on the contrary, he was looking at Harry with distinct pride.
"Why was Dung hiding from us?" asked Ron, sounding disappointed. "We'd've liked to've seen him."
"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago," said Sirius, "and that barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately... Anyway... First of all, I've sworn to pass on a message from your parents."
"Oh yeah?" said Ron, sounding apprehensive.
"Molly said on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret Defence against the Dark Arts group. She says you'll be expelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also—" Sirius's eye turned to the other three "—advises Harry, Hermione, and (Y/n) not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that she has no authority over either of them and simply begs them to remember that she has their best interests at heart. She would have written all this to you, but if the owl had been intercepted you'd all have been in real trouble, and she can't say it for herself because she's on duty tonight."
"On duty doing what?" Ron asked quickly.
"Never you mind, just stuff for the Order," said Sirius. "So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all on, because I don't think she trusts me to." There was a pause in which Sirius seemed to be looking down at something. "Harry, Lily says that, though she understands your need to learn Defence, forming illegal groups is not the way to go about it. She says that you've already been trialled for something you had no control in and one more offence might end in more than just your expulsion. She wishes to remind Hermione, Ron, and (Y/n) that they are prefects and are meant to be leading a good path, not a dangerous one..." There was another long pause and Sirius seemed almost hesitant to read the last message.
"(Y/n), Anastasia says to step up your watch and if she hears anything else about illegal Defence groups will result in—"
"Go ahead and tell her that Harry, Ron, and Hermione don't need a babysitter," Ron interrupted furiously. "She's got a year on us, not three!"
"And also kindly tell her that (Y/n) is not responsible for Harry, Ron, and Hermione or their actions!" Hermione added heatedly.
"And that (Y/n)'s got a life that isn't solely there for caring for everyone but herself," Harry finished coolly. (Y/n) hid her aflame face in Crookshank's fur and Sirius smiled proudly at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Don't say any of that please," (Y/n) stammered. "It may not seem it, but I do care for my life..."
"So... you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the defence group?" Ron muttered to Sirius.
"Me? Certainly not!" said Sirius, looking surprised. "I think it's an excellent idea!"
"You do?" said Harry, his heart lifting.
"Of course I do!" said Sirius. "D'you think your father and I would've lain down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge?"
"But— last term all you did was tell me to be careful and not take risks—"
"last year all the evidence was that someone inside Hogwarts was trying to kill you, Harry!" said Sirius impatiently. "This year we know that there's someone outside Hogwarts who'd like to kill us all, so I think learning to defend yourselves properly is a very good idea!"
"And if we do get expelled?" Hermione asked, a quizzical look on her face.
"Hermione, this whole thing was your idea!" said Harry, staring at her.
"I know it was... I just wondered what Sirius thought," Hermione said, shrugging.
"Well, better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school without a clue," said Sirius.
"Hear, hear," said Harry and Ron enthusiastically.
"So," said Sirius, "how are you organizing the group? Where are you meeting?"
"Well, that's a bit of a problem now," said Harry. "Dunno where we're going to be able to go..."
"How about the Shrieking Shack?" suggested Sirius.
"Hey, that's an idea!" said Ron excitedly, but Hermione made a sceptical noise and all four of them looked at her, Sirius's head turning in the flames.
"Well, Sirius, it's just that there were only four of you meeting in the Shrieking Shack when you were at school," said Hermione, "and all of you could transform into animals and I suppose you could all have squeezed under a single Invisibility Cloak if you'd wanted to. But there are thirty-five of us and only one of us is an Animagus, so we wouldn't need so much an Invisibility Cloak as an Invisibility Marquee—"
"Fair point," said Sirius, looking slightly crestfallen. "Well, I'm sure you'll come up with somewhere... There used to be a pretty roomy secret passageway behind that big mirror on the fourth floor, you might have enough space to practice jinxes in there—"
"Fred and George told me it's blocked," said Harry, shaking his head. "Caved in or something."
"Oh..." said Sirius, frowning. "Well, I'll have a think and get back to—" He broke off. His face was suddenly tense, alarmed. He turned sideways, apparently looking into the solid brick wall of the fireplace.
"Sirius?" said Harry anxiously. But Sirius had vanished. Harry gaped at the flames for a moment, then turned to Ron, Hermione, and (Y/n). "Why did he—?"
Hermione gave a horrified gasp and leapt to her feet, still staring at the fire.
A hand had appeared amongst the flames, groping as though to catch hold of something; a stubby-fingered hand covered in ugly old-fashioned rings...
The four of them ran for it; at the door of the boys' dormitory, Harry looked back. Umbridge's hand was still making snatching movements amongst the flames as though she knew exactly where Sirius's hair had been moments before and was determined to seize it.