This could be fun (🐍 boys gc) - T.N, M.R & D.M

24

"I don't know, Stas, what if we get caught?" Jezelle asked, being dragged along by Anastasia, right past Honeydukes, which they never usually skipped.

"Oh, don't be a baby. The most that toads catching is a couple of flies. We'll be fine," Anastasia said.

The pair joined the crowd filing into the Hog's Head, the overhead sign depicting an image of a wild boar's severed head, its blood leaking onto the white cloth around it.

"Oh look, just in time,"  Anastasia grinned, stepping into the musty building.

"Hi," said Fred to the barman once he had reached the counter, then quickly turned around and did a head count. "could we have... twenty-seven Butterbeers, please?"

"Are there really thirty of us here?" Jezelle muttered, rummaging in her pockets for coins.

"Yeah. Here, I'll pay, go save me a seat," Anastasia said, already walking away.

Jezelle managed to snag two seats at the front, next to Neville.

When Anastasia came back, she sat in between Neville and Jezelle, and then Hermione started to speak.

"Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual. "Well — er — hi."

Everyone fixed their attention on her, even a few surrounding strangers in the bar.

"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 a 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 became suddenly 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."

Ron nodded along, trying his best to seem involved.

Anastasia looked sideways at Jezelle, and they both grinned at each other, as Hermione had not disclosed many details to them, but just enough to get them excited.

She paused, looked sideways at Harry, and went on, "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 O.W.L. too, though, I bet?" said Michael Corner.

"Of course I do," said Hermione at once.

"We're all done for if we continue how we are," another voice chimed in, and muttered agreements could be heard.

"Exactly. So, like I was saying, if you want to learn some defence, we have to work out how we're doing to do it, how often, and the issue of when and where we're going to -"

"Is it true," interrupted a girl - Susan Bones - looking at Harry, "that you can produce a Patronus?"

There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.

"Yeah," said Harry, slightly defensively.

"A corporeal Patronus?" Susan inquired further.

"The fuck does corporeal mean?" Anastasia muttered.

Jezelle shrugged, but Neville answered.

"It basically means that you can see a clear image of it," he whispered softly.

"Ohh, thanks, Nev," Anastasia smiled.

He smiled back at her.

"Blimey, Harry!" said Lee Jordan, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"

"Yeah, well, er... um, yeah," Harry said, shuffling awkwardly in place.

"Right," said Hermione, diverting everyone's attention back to the actual topic at hand. "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week -"

"Hang on," said Angelina, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."

"No," said Cho Chang. "nor with ours."

"Nor ours," added Zacharias Smith.

"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," said Hermione, slightly impatiently, "but you know, this is rather important, the future generation is at stake."

"And because of ours O.W.L.s coming up!" Ernie Macmillan chimed in. "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on us when there are far more suitable options. Why would they give us a teacher who is actively trying to prevent us from using defensive spells -"

"We think the reason why Umbridge is appointed here is because the Ministry has something against Dumbledore, and that he thinks he has a private army or something, to overthrow the Ministry, or something of the sort," Hermione theorised.

"Bit delusional, innit?" Anastasia muttered to no one in particular.

Jezelle nodded her agreement.

The group decided on meeting up at least once a week, but another issue arose with the matter of where they were going to do it.

The library had been ruled out - and the risk of using empty classrooms was too big.

"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," said Hermione. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."

She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.

"I - I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're up to."

Anastasia took the parchment and quill from Hermione's hands. "Sounds good to me," she shrugged, writing her name and offering it to Neville, who then passed it to Jezelle.

Fred cheerily signed up as well, but some people seemed wary to have their names written down on the list.

"Er..." said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying to pass to him, "well... I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."

But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing, too. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"I- well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found... well, I mean to say... you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out -"

"Ernie," said Hermione testily, "do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?"

"No. No, of course not," said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. "I - yes, of course I'll sign."

Nobody raised objections after Ernie, though Harry saw Cho's friend give her a rather reproachful look before adding her own name. When the last person - Zacharias - had signed, Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as though they had just signed some kind of contract.

"Well, times ticking on," said Fred briskly, getting to his feet. "George, Lee and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later."

In twos and threes, the rest of the group took their leave, too.

Once outside, a weird sensation of something being lifted off of Anastasia's shoulders rushed through her body.

"Glad we're out of there. I felt like I was being watched the whole time," she said.

"Yeah, same. Let's just hope nothing goes wrong," Jezelle agreed.