The Potter Twins and the Order of the Phoenix {5}

17. Uprising

"They will not force us, they will stop degrading us. They will not control us, we will be victorious" ~ Uprising, Muse

Hermione makes no mention of us giving Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons for two whole weeks after her original suggestion. Me and Harry's detentions with Umbridge are finally over (I doubt whether the words now etched into the back of our hands will ever fade entirely); Ron has had four more Quidditch practices and not been shouted at during the last two; Tay has only distanced herself from us more; and all three of us have managed to Vanish our mice in Transfiguration (Hermione has actually progressed to Vanishing kittens), before the subject is broached again, on a wild, blustery evening at the end of September, when the three of us are sitting in the library, looking up potion ingredients for Snape.

"I was wondering," Hermione says suddenly, "whether you two have thought any more about Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry."

"Course we have," says Harry grumpily, "can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us--"

"She didn't mean it like that, Harry," I say in an undertone. 

"Yes, I meant the idea Ron and I had--" Ron casts her an alarmed, threatening kind of look. She frowns at him, "--Oh, all right, the idea I had, then--about you teaching us."

Neither of us answers at once. Harry seems to be pretending to be perusing a page of Asiatic Anti-Venoms, meanwhile, I simply stare at Hermione with a blank expression. 

We have given the matter a great deal of thought over the past fortnight; it's been a pivotal topic of conversation between us since Hermione suggested it. Sometimes it seems an insane idea, just as it had on the night Hermione had proposed it, but at others, we find ourselves thinking about the spells that had served us best in his various encounters with Dark creatures and Death Eaters--find ourselves, in fact, subconsciously planning lessons ...

"Well," I say slowly, swatting Harry to get his attention, "yeah, we've thought about it a bit."

"And?" Hermione says eagerly.

"I dunno,"  Harry says, clearly playing for time. He looks up at Ron.

"I thought it was a good idea from the start," says Ron, who seems keener to join in this conversation now that he is sure Harry and I aren't  going to start shouting again.

I shift uncomfortably in my chair. 

"You did listen to what we said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?"

"Yes, Harry," says Hermione gently, "but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, because you are. You two were the only people last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce Patronus', you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said--"

Ron looks around at her so fast he appears to crick his neck. Rubbing it, he says, "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"

"Ho ho," says Hermione in a bored voice. "He said Harry and Haylee knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang."

Ron is looking at Hermione suspiciously.

"You're not still in contact with him, are you?"

"So what if I am?" says Hermione coolly, though her face is a little pink. "I can have a penpal if I-"

"He didn't only want to be your penpal," says Ron accusingly.

"Oh, let's not have this argument again, shall we?" I say, groaning. 

Hermione shakes her head exasperatedly and, ignoring Ron, who is continuing to watch her, says to us, "Well, what do you think? Will you teach us?"

"Just you and Ron, yeah?"

"Well," says Hermione, looking a mite anxious again. "Well ... now, don't fly off the handle again,  please ... but I really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against V-Voldemort. Oh, don't be pathetic, Ron. It doesn't seem fair if we don't offer the chance to other people."

"Yeah, but I doubt anyone except you two would want to be taught by us; even Tay's been avoiding us. We're nutters, remember?"