Too Young » Fred Weasley

1.6

Lessons with Umbridge seemed to be growing progressively worse. Phoebe had learnt nothing. While the material they had to read through was at Phoebe's level - for once - she couldn't focus at all in that dreaded classroom. From the moment they entered the room to the moment they left, the room was stuffed to the brim with tension. Everyone was tense and bored, which were not good combinations.

The terrible lessons were what caused Hermione to call a meeting during their first Hogsmeade meeting of the year in a dingy pub. She had come up with the idea of Harry giving them all secret Defence lessons to better prepare themselves for the upcoming war. This was one of the first times she had heard people openly talking about the war without immediately dismissing it, so she thought it best to attend, even if she didn't necessarily want to be there.

Around thirty people had showed up, which was more than Harry was expecting by the look on his face as he observed the crowds entering the pub. He had been reluctant to come according to Hermione, and she hadn't informed him of the amount of people invited in case he was put further off the idea.

"Well - er - hi," Hermione stuttered out once everyone had got settled down with some butterbeer, which was delicious, Phoebe wanted a hundred bottles of it.

"Well... erm... well, you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here had the idea, I mean, I had the idea that it might be 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, because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts-"

"Hear, hear," interrupted a boy near the back, which seemed to brighten Hermione's spirits and give her more confidence.

"-well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands," she paused, glancing at Harry "and by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells-"

"You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said a boy who was holding hands with Ginny. Phoebe thought this was a stupid question, no one wanted to fail.

"Of course I do," Hermione agreed. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defence because... because..." She took a great breath and finished, "Because Lord Voldemort's back."

Phoebe was once again struck by just how silly wizards and witches could be. Much like in that first DADA lesson, people shrieked and gasped, Phoebe watched one girl spill butterbeer down herself in shock.

"Well... that's the plan anyway," Hermione continued, "if you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to-"

"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" A boy in a yellow scarf asked, rather aggressively.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it-" Hermione started, only to be interrupted again, honestly where were these people's manners?

"You mean Dumbledore believes him." The boy pointed at Harry, who looked like he's rather be anywhere else than here.

"Who are you?" Ron asked bluntly, causing Phoebe to let out a laugh.

The boy sent her a nasty look before answering Ron's question, "Zacharias Smith," he said, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."

"Look," Hermione intervened before the situation could get out of hand. "That's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about-"

"It's okay Hermione," Harry said quietly, stepping forward and taking centre stage.

"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he asked, looking right at Zacharias Smith, "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."