Nico di Angelo and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 6: Defense Against the Dark Arts

Ron and Hermione caught Harry up on what had happened at the welcome feast the day before. He was pretty thankful that he had missed Professor Umbridge' speech, seeing as it had sounded terrible. Hermione disagreed, saying it had many important fragments in it, but Ron sided with Harry, saying most of it had been full of rubbish. He figured out that the toad that McGonagall had been talking about was Professor Umbridge, and when he shared this with Ron, both of their respect for Professor McGonagall grew immensely.

He hadn't been seeing Will recently at the start of term, but they had managed to keep in touch by owl about every week or so. He didn't know what the other boy was up to, since his replies were always cryptic, seeing as anyone could intercept the owls, but he hadn't found Nico yet. They were planning on meeting in person, but it was taking Will some time to find a secure spot where they could meet.

Another thing he had been doing was writing to Sirius. He knew how little interaction his godfather was allowed, so letters made his whole week. Harry tried to write as frequently as possible-updates about classes, Quidditch, Ron and Hermione. Sirius would reply with what he knew was going on, and his advice to Harry, which was always helpful.

It was a month into term when he had started sneaking out of the castle to meet Will nightly. He had to take a strange route to meet Will, which was outside of Hogsmeade, in a muggle village about twelve miles away. He was able to fly half of that on his broom, but the six miles there and back took a toll, adding even more to his growing exhaustion. The benefit he got from it was that he wouldn't get tired from doing more physical classes.

The last concern was where Hagrid was. He hadn't been able to talk with Dumbledore, and he wasn't sure if the headmaster would even give him the answers he wanted.

It was early one morning, around three, when he was meeting with Will. The chat had been the same as always, so he was able to return a bit before seven. Thankfully, no one was awake earlier, or not in the Great Hall yet, so he could just go and sit down for breakfast. Breakfast and caffeine. Caffeine was what was keeping him running now.

Hermione showed up thirty minutes later. "Good morning!" She said brightly.

Harry glanced up at her. "Hey."

She glanced down at her timetable while loading eggs onto her plate. "Defense Against the Dark Arts is the first period."

Harry groaned. "Argh. We're not even learning anything, and the lies she's telling."

"I know," Hermione sighed. "So I've been thinking about something-um, well, maybe someone else should teach Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"We can't just hire someone." Harry said dully. He was already tired and his brain wasn't working at full capacity.

"Harry, I mean you!"

Harry glanced at her. He was about to protest when he realized that it made sense. "I can't teach, though. That's the only problem."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What if you had a helper? Harry, you're the most advanced in Defense Against the Dark Arts, we could all learn from you."

He smiled. "What if it's not a student?"

Hermione looked immediately concerned. "Who?"

"Will."

She relaxed. "Sure, would you ask him?"

Right then Ron entered. "Hello."

Harry and Hermione said their greetings, then Hermione began explaining her idea to Ron. He agreed, pointing out that they would need a way to communicate with the other students. Hermione said she'd work on that, and with that they made their way to their first class, the one they had been wanting to replace.

At the end of the week, Harry had convinced Will to help, Hermione had made coins for communication, and they had around twenty signed up.

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