The morning of the Hogsmeade visit dawned bright but windy. After breakfast they queued up in front of Filch, who matched their names to the long list of students who had permission from their parents or guardian to visit the village.
Celestia stood beside Harry, he had informed her that his friends will be joining them in Hog's head bar, and admitted he had no idea where it is. Celestia felt a sense of relief by his words, she wasn't particularly keen on being seen with three Gryffindors in one day.
Celestia was glad her Slytherin group of girls had already left along with her twin brother Draco, as she didn't want to be spotted together with Harry Potter.
With a slight pang, Celestia remembered Daphne Greengrass hadn't spoken to her since last two weeks, Celestia hadn't tried reaching out either.
When Harry and Celestia reached Filch, the caretaker gave a great sniff as though trying to detect a whiff of something from Harry. Celestia looked around, anywhere but at Harry who stared at her accusingly.
Then Filch gave a curt nod that set his jowls aquiver again, Celestia and Harry walked on, out on to the stone steps and the cold, sunlit day.
The gryffindor and the slytherin walked hand in hand, feeling a sense of comfort in each other's presence. Celestia felt deeply loved, knowing that Harry had no intentions of hiding their relationship like she did. However, with Daphne keeping her distance, Celestia couldn't help but feel a pang of loneliness. She wondered if her friends were truly her friends, or if they were only interested in her because of her status as a Malfoy heiress.
"What's this Hog's Head place anyway?" Harry asked, breaking the silence. "Hermione mentioned it's a bar, but I've never heard of it."
Celestia nodded, intertwining her fingers with Harry's. "Students don't usually go there," she explained. "Theo and I have been there a few times. It's not on the main road, so it's a bit dodgy..."
At the mention of Theodore's name, Harry's expression darkened. They continued walking down the main street, but Celestia quickly let go of Harry's hand, not wanting to be spotted by any slytherins. By the time they walked past the Owl Post Office, Harry was seething, to lighten the mood, she led him to a secluded spot behind the trees.
After almost twenty minutes, they turned onto a side street and saw a small inn at the top.
A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door, with a picture on it of a wild boar's severed head, leaking blood on to the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. Harry hesitated outside the door.
Celestia wrinkled her nose in distaste, eyeing the dimly lit pub with a mixture of disdain and resignation. "Merlin, I hate this place," she muttered under her breath, her aristocratic features contorting in distaste. "All the stuff is unhygienic, but the gin is to die for."
Harry didn't say anything, he stared at the door nervously.
"Well, come in" Celestia said, opening the door, "No one's gonna murder you, iam here with you"
Harry nodded, they walked in.
The Hog's Head bar comprised one small, dingy and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats. The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first glance to be compressed earth, though as Harry stepped on to it he realised that there was stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries.
"Fun fact" said Celestia, as they spotted Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger arguing in whispers on the table at corner, "This bar belongs to Aberforth Dumbledore, our dear Headmaster's younger brother."
As Granger and Weasley spotted them, they quickly stud up and made their way towards the couple; Harry rounded on Celestia "what?" He said.
"Yeah," Celestia shrugged, "it is a common knowledge? It's rumoured that he does... Inappropriate things with goats, apparently he has a fetish"
"What is?" Weasley asked, Harry's friends avoided her presence.
"This bar is ran by Dumbledore's brother" Harry informed them.
"Well, Aberforth is a Dumbledore too..." Celestia said slowly, whispering to Harry, looking around the room she continued "don't go around saying that, he hates our Headmaster, we'll be kicked out, father says he's savage and a disgrace to Dumbledore lineage"
"This is ran by Dumbledore's brother?" Granger repeated, interrupting Harry "excellent, then this place is perfect for the meeting"
Celestia wanted to ask what meeting but decided to see for it herself, "I don't know about this, Hermione," Harry muttered, as they crossed to the bar. He was looking particularly at the heavily veiled witch sitting by the wall. "Has it occurred to you Umbridge might be under that?"
Hermione cast an appraising eye overnthe veiled figure.
"Umbridge is shorter than that woman," she said quietly. "And anyway, even if Umbridge does come in here there's nothing she can do to stop us, Harry, because I've double-and triple-checked the school rules. We're not out of bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed to come in the Hog's Head, and he said yes, but he advised me strongly to bring our own glasses. And I've looked up everything I can think of about study groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed. I just don't think it's a good idea if we parade what we're doing."
Celestia secretly agreed.
"No," said Harry drily, "especially as it's not exactly a homework group you're planning, is it?"
The barman sidled towards them out of a back room. He was a
grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long grey hair and beard. He was tall and thin. "What?" he grunted.
"Aberforth" Celestia greeted, forcing a smile "Four shots of Ogden's Old Firewhisky, please"
"Show your IDs" Aberforth drawled.
"Ah... We forgot it?"
Aberforth stared at her coldly, as if debating whether to kick them out.
"Okay, four butterbeer" said Celestia, cooly.
The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up three very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar. "Six Sickles," he said.
"Til get them,' said Harry quickly, passing over the silver.
Aberforth turned away and deposited Harry's money in an ancient wooden till whose drawer slid open automatically to receive it.
Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at her blankly.
"What? It was worth a try" Celestia shrugged as they retreated to the furthest table from the bar and sat down, looking around.
"You - are - a - prefect," snarled Hermione.
"I didn't see any rule stating prefects can't order whiskey" Celestia snapped, her eyes boring into Granger's "besides Aberforth wouldn't care for IDs if you lot aren't wearing those hideous Gryffindor scarf of yours"
Hermione opened her mouth to argue but Harry interrupted her.
"You told me I looked cute in it" he said, offended, taking his scarf off "you lied to me"
Celestia smiled, "you look cute in everything, Potter"
Weasley quickly looked away, as if he's ready to throw up.
The man in the dirty grey bandages rapped the counter with his
knuckles and received another smoking drink from the barman.
"So, who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" Harry asked, his cheeks slightly red, as he wrench open the rusty top of his Butterbeer and taking a swig.
"Just a couple of people," Hermione repeated, checking her watch and looking anxiously towards the door. "I told them to be here about now and I'm sure they all know where it is - oh, look, this might be them now."
The door of the pub had opened.
A thick band of dusty sunlight split the room in two for a moment and then vanished, blocked by the incoming rush of a crowd of people.
First came a couple of Gryffindors along with Patil twins, then Cho Chang and one of her usually-giggling girlfriends, Celestia instinctively looked at Harry who was staring at the students nervously, she was pleased to see Harry hadn't been giving any special attention to Cho. then (on her own and looking so
dreamy she might have walked in by accident) Luna Lovegood; then came along few Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, Celestia recognised a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and, bringing up the rear, Fred and George Weasley with their friend Lee Jordan, all three of whom were carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko's merchandise.
"A couple of people?" said Harry hoarsely to Hermione. "A couple of
people?"
"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione happily "Ron,do you want to pull up some more chairs?"
The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked as though it had never been washed. Possibly, he had never seen his pub so full.
"Hi," said Weasley, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly, "could we have... twenty-five Butterbeers, please?"
The barman glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably as though he had been interrupted in something very important, he started passing up dusty Butterbeers from under the bar.
"Cheers," said Fred, handing them out. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these..." he says, as the large chattering group took their beers from Fred and rummaged in their robes to find coins.
Harry rounded on Hermione "What have you been telling people?" he said in a low voice. "What are they expecting?"
"I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say,' said
Hermione soothingly; but Harry continued to look at her so furiously that but Harry continued to look at her so furiously that she added quickly, "you don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them
first."
Celestia frowned at Harry's discomfort, "if you don't want to," she says slowly, assuring him "or if you feel uncomfortable with anything, if they are rude to you or anything, we can leave whenever you want"
"Hi, Harry," said Longbottom, staring at Celestia cautiously and taking a seat opposite Harry's other side.
Harry tried to smile back, but did not speak; his mouth was exceptionally dry. Cho had just smiled at Harry and sat down on Ron's right. Celestia was sitting in between Hermione and Harry.
Cho's friend, who had curly reddish-blonde hair, did not smile, but gave Harry a thoroughly mistrustful look which plainly told him that, given her way, she would not be here at all. Celestia had a certain urge to punch the girl in the face.
When everybody had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out. Every eye was upon Harry.
"Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. "Well- er - hi."
The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to
dart back regularly to Harry. Some of them gazed at Celestia distrustfully.
"Well... erm... well, you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here
had the idea - I mean" (Harry had thrown her a sharp look) "I had the idea that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defence 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 Defence 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 looked at Harry sideways and continued, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spells -"
"You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?' said Michael Corner, who was watching her closely.
"He's a creep" Celestia whispered to Harry.
"Of course I do," said Hermione at once. But more than that, I want to be properly trained in defence because... because..." she took a great breath
and finished, "because Lord Voldemort is back."
Celestia almost immediately straightened her back, her mind screamed at her to leave the room at once, this is what Daphne meant when she told her to keep distance from Harry.
Celestia was about to stand up, but Harry quickly grasped her hand underneath the table, "stay" he said. Several people turned to look at her, but most avoided her gaze. Meanwhile, the reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho's friend shrieked and slopped Butterbeer down herself; several students gave a involuntary twitch; Padma Patil shuddered, and Longbottom gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn into a cough. All of them, however, looked fixedly, even eagerly, at Harry.
"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.
By now, Celestia's heart was beating furiously.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it -" Hermione began.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," said the blond boy, nodding at Harry.
"Who are you?" said Celestia, rudely. Feeling defensive of harry.
"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. Besides, isn't your father supposed to be a death Eater? If he's truly returned, what are you doing here."
"I will hex you in the face so bad, puff" Celestia drawled warningly, "Your own mother wouldn't be able to recognise your vile face"
The Hufflepuff shuts up immediately.
"She's here because I asked her to" Harry states plainly, confidently he continued, "if anyone has a problem with it, please leave."
When no one said anything, Hermione continued, "Look," said Hermione, intervening swiftly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about -"
"It's OK, Hermione," said Harry. "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he repeated, 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 won'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.
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 -"
Celestia was seething in anger by their audacity.
"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you," Harry said. His temper raising, He did not take his eyes from Zacharias Smith's aggressive face, "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"
none of them left their seats, not even Zacharias Smith, though he continued to gaze intently at Harry.
"So," said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. "So... like I was
saying... if you want to learn some defence, 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 -"
A girl asked about his abilities of producing a Patronus and defeating a Basilisk. Despite feeling uncomfortable, Harry admits to these feats, prompting admiration from his friends. They recall various instances where Harry displayed courage and skill, such as saving the Philosopher's Stone and navigating the Triwizard Tournament. However, when a classmate questions Harry's abilities, his friends come to his defense, showing their loyalty and support. The tension escalates momentarily when Ron confronts the classmate, but the situation is diffused by humor as Fred and George jokingly offer to clean out the classmate's ears with a strange instrument from their bag.
"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.
In the midst of a discussion about forming a defense group, Hermione raises the question of frequency, suggesting weekly meetings. However, the conversation takes a turn when concerns about Quidditch practice schedules arise. As they debate the logistics, Angelina and Cho emphasize the importance of not conflicting with their Quidditch commitments. Ernie passionately expresses his belief in the group's significance, despite apprehensions about potential repercussions from Umbridge. The conversation shifts to the location for their meetings, with suggestions ranging from the library to unused classrooms. Despite initial reservations from some members, Hermione assures them of discretion in handling the sign-up list. Eventually, everyone reluctantly signs up, recognizing the importance of solidarity in resisting Umbridge's restrictions.
Celestia hesitated as Hermione handed her the sign-up list, offering a feeble excuse about having a personal dueling tutor over the summers to justify her reluctance. Murmurs rippled through the group, and Hermione's skeptical gaze seemed to bore into her soul, she seemed determined to convince her to join. But before Hermione could persuade her further, Harry chimed in with a puzzled expression, revealing that he had already taken the liberty of signing her name.
Caught off guard, Celestia's mind raced as she scanned the list, her eyes widening as she spotted her name followed by a plus sign next to Harry's and then an equals sign, ending with the word "love." Harry's cheeks tinged with a faint blush as he explained his absentmindedness, leaving Celestia speechless amidst the murmuring crowd of students peering at the list.
Hermione was arguing with Harry about writing silly things on their importance official Parchment.
Trying to save face and avoid further embarrassment, Celestia reluctantly agreed to join, much to Harry's delight and Cho's apparent dismay. With a nod from Hermione, the parchment disappeared into her bag, sealing Celestia's unexpected commitment.
As Cho made a dramatic exit, her friend casting disapproving glances, Celestia couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction at the unexpected turn of events. Even Hermione seemed to soften, offering a small smile as Celestia bid her farewell alongside Harry. It was a strange, yet strangely satisfying, conclusion to an unexpected encounter.