Enjoy!
Y/n
I shove my gloved hands in my pockets as the four of us walk to the Hog's Head in the cold, Harry's been complaining about how he's a nutter and how he can't ever be a teacher. I roll my eyes as I follow behind Hermione. "Look on the bright side, you can't be any worse than toad-face." Ron says, shrugging his shoulders as we approach the front of the Hog's Head.
"Thanks, Ron." Harry says. "Who're we supposed to be meeting here, anyway?" I ask, kind of starting to get pissy because of the cold. "Just a couple of people." Hermione responds, opening the partially rotting door of the bar. "Lovely spot." Ron says, glancing around the room.
"Thought it would be safer off the beaten track." Hermione says, looking around the room.
We set up for everyone, the four of us sitting in front of the unlit fireplace. "Hi. So you know why we're all here," Hermione says, standing up off her stool and presenting herself to everyone that she invited to this dump, "We need a teacher. A proper teacher. One that's had real experience defending themselves against the dark arts."
"Why?" Some random kid in the front retorts, giving a weird face. "Why? 'cause You-Know-Who's back, ya tosspot." Ron says to the kid in the front. I look at the kid and he keeps talking, "So he says."
"So Dumbledore says." Hermione fires back.
"So Dumbledore says because he says," The kid says again, "The point is, where's the proof?"
Another kid with long hair sitting next to Ginny starts asking how Cedric got killed. Harry stands and says, "I'm not going to talk about Cedric, so if that's why you're here, you better clear out now."
Everyone stays where they are, silently. I look up at Harry as he whispers to Hermione about him being a freak. "Is it true you can produce a Patronus Charm?" Luna asks out of the blue. "Yes. I've seen it." Hermione responds for him.
"Blimey, Harry, I didn't know you could do that." Dean exclaims from his spot next to Neville. "And he killed a basilisk with a sword in Dumbledore's office." Neville tells everyone. Ginny confirms it and Ron starts talking, "Third year, he fought off about a hundred dementors at once."
"And last year, he really did fight off You-Know-Who in the flesh." Hermione tells them proudly. "Wait, when you say it like that, it sounds great, but the truth is, most of that was just luck. I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I nearly always had help." Harry says, trying to dim down the truth.
"He's just being modest." I say, shaking my head. "No, Y/n, I'm not. Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. At school, you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow. But out there, where you're a second away from being murdered, or watching a friend die right before your eyes, you don't know what it's like." Harry sits on the stool and stares at the ground.
"You're right, Harry, we don't. That's why we need your help. Because, if we're going to have any chance of beating..." Hermione stays silent for a few moments before picking back up again, "Voldemort."
"He's really back." A young boy in the front says. I nod and look at Harry as he sits there silently.
The four of us write our names on a piece of paper, then leave it on the table so everyone else can write their names. They're all lined up, writing their names one by one, and the page starts gradually filling up. I look at Ron and smile.
We've all left the Hog's Head and a few of us are now following Harry back to the castle, "Right. Now we need to find a place to practice, where Umbrige won't find out."
"The Shrieking Shack?" Ginny suggests. "Too small." Harry says. "Forbidden Forest?" Hermione asks, walking next to him. "Not bloody likely." Ron says.
I keep thinking, but then a thought comes to mind, "Harry, what happens if Umbrige does find out?" Hermione looks at me and shrugs, "Who cares? I mean, it's sort of exciting isn't it? Breaking the rules?" I smile and Ron retorts, "Who are you and what've you done with Hermione Granger?"
"Anyway, at least we know one positive thing that's came out today?" I say, looking at Harry with a smile. "What's that?" He asks.
"Cho couldn't take her eyes off you, could she?" I answer, seeing a sly smile on Harry's face as we keep walking.
"Over the next few days, we should each come up with a couple possibilities of places we can practice. We've got to make sure, whatever it is, there's no chance she can find us." Harry tells us while we walk into the castle's grounds.
***
"You've done it, Neville. You found the Room of Requirement. Also known as the Come and Go Room. The Room of Requirement only appears when a person has real need of it. It's always equipped with the seeker's needs." Hermione congratulates him as he show us the inside.
"So, say you really needed the toilet..." Ron says, watching the walls form to rusty looking mirror. "Charming, Ronald, but yes that is the general idea." Hermione says, also peering around the room. "It's brilliant. It's like Hogwarts wants us to fight back." Harry says, a really happy look appearing on his face as he looks around the room.
Once we finally told the rest of the group, and finally got them in there, we started practices. A practice dummy stands in front of Neville and Harry as the two head the pair of lines we're all standing in. Neville's drawn his wand, pointing it at the dummy. He looks at Harry and says, "Expelliarmus!" Once he does though, his wand goes flying back at us. Everyone ducks, then turns back to see Neville's wand jabbed in the crack of the wall.
"I'm hopeless." Neville says sadly, looking at Harry for reassurance. "No. You're just flourishing your wand to much. Try it like this: Expelliarmus!" Harry flicks his wrist just enough to make the wand fly out of the dummy's hand.
Over the course of a few days, Harry's really grown into his role as our teacher. He's teaching us defensive spells before all else, so we're able to protect ourselves, "Stunning is one of the most useful spells in your arsenal. It's sort of a wizard's bread and butter, really. So, come on then, Nigel. Give it your best shot." Harry stands at the front of the room and Nigel, a small redheaded boy with dark eyes, stands on the other end.
The rest of us stand in two rows mirroring each other, watching Nigel raise his wand and stupefy Harry, also knocking himself back in the process. Harry gets up and tells Ron and Hermione to go up next. Ron tells her that he'll go easy on her and I start to snicker, covering my mouth so he won't see. "What're you laughing at?" Ron smirks and walks to the end that Harry was previously standing in.
Most of the boys just start repeating the same phrase, "C'mon, Ron," as he stands there with his wand raised and pointed at Hermione. "Stupe-" Ron starts, Hermione obviously cutting him off and stunning him first, knocking him back a few feet and onto the floor. I look across me and at the twins, seeing Fred giving George a sickle, most likely from a bet.
"I let her do that. It's good manners, isn't it?" Ron says to the twins, shoving his hands in his pockets. All the girls gather around Hermione and start giggling. I stand at the back and smile at Ron, seeing him rocking back and forth on his heels.
As we continue our lessons throughout the week, sneaking in and out of the Room of Requirement, Umbrige starts becoming suspicious of us. She solicited us to questioning, most likely putting some truth serum in the tea she offers all of us.
She eventually puts together this "Inquisitorial Squad" put together entirely with Slytherins, obviously Malfoy and his goons one of the first ones to sign up for it. Harry decided to try something new as our mentor, showing us that we can work together. The dummy on wheels is rolling between the circle of us as we continually cast spells at it when it approaches us.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Stupefy!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Reducto!" Ginny casts her spell and the dummy just disintegrates. Everyone stares at the dust on the ground with wide eyes as it seeps into the filter gates in the floor. I look up and across the group at her and she's smiling, her wand arm still outstretched. All her brothers, older brothers might I add, are standing next to her, looking overwhelmed.
After that amazing sight, Harry pairs us up and tells us to disarm each other. I got paired with Ron and I'm letting him try and disarm me first. "Go ahead, Ron." I smile and hold my wand out as if I'm about to cast a spell and he quickly yells, "Expelliarmus!" making my wand fly out of my hand, and fall over by the fireplace. "Wow, Ron! That was good!" I smile and go over and pick up my wand. I come back to a very blushy Ron, scratching at the base of his neck with a small smile on his face.
"It's your turn." He says, sheepishly. I nod and even before he gets ready, I knock the wand right out of his hand. "Oops... Sorry, I guess you weren't ready." I apologize, smiling and going over to get his wand for him cause it was my bad. I place my hand down on the ground and pick it up, turning around and bumping into someone. "Sorry, my bad! Wow, I've been pretty clumsy today, haven't I?" I look up to see who I bumped into and it's none other than the guy who I disarmed just now.
I blush furiously and hold out his wand. Just as I'm about to apologize again, he stops me by grabbing his wand and putting his hand on mine with a smile. "You don't have to apologize again. In fact, stop apologizing at all, it's part of training. That's the whole reason why we're here." He smiles when he finishes talking and the butterflies in my stomach start going wild.
"A-Alright..Sorr-" Just as I'm about to apologize for apologizing, he shushes me and drags me back to our spot. We keep practicing successfully and we hear Neville casting a spell right behind us, "Expelliarmus!" and both of us whip around, seeing as he disarmed Parvati.
"Good job, Neville. That was really good." Harry patted him on the back and everyone around him, including Ron and I, congratulated him on his success.
"So, that's it for this lesson. Now, we're not going to be meeting again until after the holidays. Keep practicing as best you can and well done, everyone. Great, great work." Harry announces as the rest of the group gathers in front of the four of us. They all look a bit disappointed at his announcement, but they all clap at the end, feeling good about themselves.
Harry stares off at Cho as they all grab their bags and prepare to leave. "See you in the Common Room, Harry." Hermione says, walking away with Ron and I following her. As we all pour out of the Room of Requirement, Ron grabs my hand and pulls me aside to go down the emptier hallway with a few others.
Now I'm conflicted. This movie and the next are gonna be very hard to pair Hermione and Harry up together... I'm not sure whether I should do Harmione or Hinny. You guys let me know what you think I should do. It's you're vote, so let me know in the comments! Harmione or Hinny!
Word Count: 2025
P.S: I'm starting school on August 31, so I'm going to try and flush out more content before then, so expect a new chapter soon this week.