Hermione Granger and the Paradigm Shift

Chapter 14 - Part 2

Her afternoon had been infinitely less peaceful as Hermione realized their concern about a lack of volunteers was entirely unfounded. Ron and Lavender had taken over the Draco watch at lunchtime and Hermione had been harassed for details by seemingly her entire Arithmancy class that afternoon. Between Neville and Luna spreading the word and their skiving off of Defence class that morning it seemed the entire castle was taking an interest in what was going on.

As she and Harry ate supper before their planned meeting she noticed one pair of eyes purposely avoided looking their way, however. Despite the fact that Draco purposely kept his gaze on his food Hermione could tell how panicked he was at the current happenings. Anyone not looking at her or Harry seemed to be staring at him suspiciously and it was clear the unwanted attention was already having an impact on the boy's mental state. Only his most loyal of sycophants seemed to want to be associated with him at the moment as the other Slytherins seemed to be making an effort to sit as far away from him as possible.

The staff table all wore looks of concern save for the headmaster and Professor Snape. The former looked severely disappointed while the latter simply wore a slightly more pronounced sneer. Harry had enjoyed Ron's retelling of that morning's Defence class...particularly Snape's reaction once Parkinson had returned with the news that they wouldn't be joining and why. Professor Snape had been particularly adept and adamant about deducting points from Gryffindor for the remainder of the session.

She was so busy musing on the day and reviewing her notes for their upcoming meeting that it took a forceful nudge from Harry to get her attention. He pointed at the gathering crowd and she gasped. There was still fifteen minutes before the meeting was scheduled to start but it was already standing room only with more students pouring in by the moment.

"I think we're going to need more chairs," she muttered bemusedly, drawing grateful cheers from the assembled masses as the room immediately fulfilled her request.

Despite the amount of people the crowd had remained relatively silent during her introduction and explanation of what would be happening. Any untoward comments were quickly quashed by D.A. members sitting amongst the crowd. After finishing her planned soliloquy she took a breath and prepared for the onslaught. "Any questions?"

Hermione was thoroughly unsurprised by the first question and fought the urge to roll her eyes in annoyance. "What about Quidditch?"

"We won't be making any accommodations for Quidditch practices or matches," she answered calmly. "If you sign up to help you are agreeing that this will be your top priority. Above classes, Quidditch, clubs, everything."

As expected her reply caused loud murmurs throughout the crowd as another questioner spoke up. "What are we supposed to say to our housemates when we start losing points?"

Before she could answer Ron piped in. "If you are worried about Quidditch or losing the house cup you might as well save yourself the trouble and leave now," he declared, drawing a proud squeeze from Lavender.

"The entire Gryffindor team has already resigned their positions," Ginny interjected, drawing yet more murmurs.

"What do we tell our parents when we get detentions?" a younger Hufflepuff piped in nervously.

"You tell them the truth," Harry answered. "The more people who know what we are doing and why the better."

"Why isn't the Headmaster doing more to stop Draco?" the same girl queried.

Harry smiled. "That is a really good question, Miss-"

"Greengrass," the girl supplied. "Astoria Greengrass."

"Well, Astoria, as I said that is a really good question and I wish I had the answer. I would urge you and your parents to ask him. Maybe you will have better luck."

"Like Ron said if any of you aren't interested at this point there is no shame in leaving," Harry declared. To Hermione's shock only a few people exited the room. Excluding Slytherins she estimated that at least three quarters of the remaining students from fourth year and up had effectively signed up for duty.

After the crowd settled down once again the questioning resumed.

"I heard they were using Polyjuice potion as a disguise," a Ravenclaw stated more than asked, "he could pretend to be one of us to get in again." The fourth year, Richard Pembleton if Hermione remembered correctly, seemed very proud of himself for coming up with such an ingenious strategy.

"You are right. That is why you only will be notified thirty minutes prior to when you will be needed to guard the room," she answered. "The less time anyone knows who will be on guard the less time they will have to react."

"I also have another...tool...that allows me to check where anyone is in the castle and it isn't fooled by polyjuice," Harry interjected. "The plan is to have someone monitoring where Draco is throughout the day at all times."

It was a testament to the ridiculous stories they had heard about Harry that the group seemed to accept the news about this mysterious magical device unquestioningly.

"You said you want to have three or four people in front of the room at all times. What if Malfoy or his friends ambush us?"

That was Harry's cue to start handing out the coins as she took back over.

"There is always going to be a risk if you volunteer to help but it will be up to all of us working together to minimize it as much as possible," Hermione answered. "Draco is restricted to Slytherin House except for classes and meals. You will be able to use the coin Harry is handing out to let everyone else know if you spot him anywhere besides class or in the Great Hall. If he is late or leaves class unexpectedly you can let everyone know to be on the lookout as well. You can also use it at any time to call for help. This is also how we will be notifying you when it's your time to stand guard." She quickly explained how the coins worked before continuing. She could feel the excitement growing in the room as the group collectively realized that she and Harry actually seemed to have a plan and knew what they were doing.

"We will also be trying to make sure every group includes at least one seventh year student or a member of our defense group from last year. Show of hands...how many people here can manage a corporeal patronus?"

The look of unfettered shock from most of the assembled at the multiple hands that shot up in the air was amusing. "We've learned a way to send messages using a patronus," she continued. "If you stay after the meeting we can show you how to do it. We thought it would be a good public way to show people what is happening if we used them to send messages whenever possible."

"I want to learn how to cast a patronus!" someone exclaimed, drawing multiple confirmations amongst the crowd.

"I'm sorry but with everything going on we aren't going to have the time for that sort of instruction. Harry and I already have detention for the rest of the week and-" she replied before being interrupted.

"The rest of us can do it," Neville volunteered. "We can even use the Room of Requirement like we did for the D.A. meetings...using the room will provide a bit more protection." Neville looked around to see several D.A. members nodding in agreement and stood to address the group.

"Anyone who is interested in practicing Defence, including learning how to cast a Patronus, come back here tomorrow night at the same time and we'll get it organized," he declared before sitting back down and nodding for her to continue. Things had escalated well beyond anything she or Harry had imagined.

"Are you as terrified as I am right now?" Harry asked her quietly as they waited for the crowd noise to die down. He was doing his best to not look terrified.

"Thoroughly and utterly," she responded as she attempted to remain outwardly calm and composed. She and Harry were meant to be in charge...or something.

She glanced at Harry and could tell he was relieved not to be the only one a bit intimidated by what was happening in front of their eyes. As she waited for the excited rumbling to die down Harry leaned into her ear and whispered. "Let the revolution begin..."

"It's about time," she muttered back, reaching for his hand under the table.