When Myths Meet Magic || 5

16|| Jason

"All student organizations, societies, teams, groups, and clubs are henceforth disbanded," Jason read aloud, his voice rising with each word. "An organization, society, team, group, or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No student organization, society, team, group, or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organization, society, team, group, or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled. The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four. Signed, Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor."

"This isn't a coincidence," muttered Percy darkly. "She knows. Someone told her."

"But we'd know," Annabeth argued. "Remember, she put the curse on it? No one can say anything."

"Wonder if the other Houses know about this," said Nico. They headed down to the Great Hall and walked through the doors to an immediate scene that made it evident that it wasn't only in Gryffindor that the notice appeared.

"Well apparently they do," Thalia said. "But I wonder — when she said all teams... she can't possibly include —"

"Annabeth! Jason!" Angelina sprinted up to them, her face pale. "You realize she's including Quidditch in this?" She burst as soon as they were in whispering distance. "We have to go and ask permission to re-form the Gryffindor team!"

"What?" Jason blurted.

"No," Annabeth said in disbelief. "This is out of control."

"I know!" Angelina was near tearing out her hair. "I need to find Harry. If he loses his temper with Umbridge one more time, I'll bet my wand she won't let us play."

Angelina stalked off, wringing her hands in worry.

>>>•O•<<<

But despite all the negativity in the air of the new decree, things were beginning to perk up the next few days. Hedwig was found with an injured wing in History of Magic, but Harry refused to say anything and simply took her to Chiron to get fixed, as he was in charge of Care of Magical creatures, after all. Quidditch, which had been approved for Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw (in that order), was finally approved for Gryffindor, although Jason suspected McGonagall had stepped in firmly. The weather, which was awful the first night, horribly windy and rainy, was cleared up and with help from Thalia, they stopped the storms and now the sky was only a gentle overcast and puddles no longer splashed at their robes. Mud still covered the grounds, but it was a small price to pay.

Then, two days after the anti-club decree, Ron leaned over to Jason at the Great Hall and whispered, "we have a location."

"For what?" Jason asked distractedly, madly scribbling away at his Charms paper.

"The — group," Ron said, and Jason nodded in understanding, his quill stopping as he registered which group Ron was talking about.

"Really?" Jason asked. "Where?"

Later that evening, the Gryffindor demigods strolled casually past the blank wall three times, in pretend discussion of the proper wand movements for Silencing Charms.

"A jab tends to work better because it's direct and you can aim where you want the charm to go faster," Thalia argued, sounding incredibly sage as the door appeared and they slipped inside.

"Wow, Thals," Percy said in mock amazement. "You really seem to be getting this whole magic thing. It's like you've been here for years!"

Thalia stuck her leg out to trip Percy.

"Wow!" Annabeth gushed. "This is amazing! The layers of magic surrounding this place..."

When all thirty six of them had gathered, Harry cleared his throat nervously. "Well," he began. "This is the place we've found for practices, and you've — er — obviously found it okay —"

"It's fantastic!" Cho exclaimed, and several other people nodded in agreement.

"Well, I've been thinking on the sort of stuff we ought to do first, and — what, Hermione?" he asked, noticing the raised hand in the back.

"I think we ought to elect a leader," she said.

"Harry's leader," Ginny pointed out.

"Yes, but we ought to vote on it properly," Hermione said. "It makes it formal, and it gives him authority. So — everyone who thinks Harry ought to be leader?"

The vote was unanimous, even Zachariah Smith, who looked less than enthusiastic.

"Er — right, thanks." Harry's face had begun to slowly make its way up the Red Meter. "And — what, Hermione?"

"We ought to have a name," Hermione exclaimed brightly.

"How about the Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina asked hopefully.

"Or the Mutant-Toad-Troll-Humans-Are-Gross-And-Weird-And-Therefore-They-Must-Be-Put-To-An-End club?" Leo suggested. "M.T.T.H.A.G.A.W.A.T.T.M.B.P.T.A.E. for short. Or we can make it one word and call it the Em-teetee-Hag-a-Watt-embee-Puhtay."

"You've clearly put too much thought into this," Piper muttered under her breath.

"Or the Cool Kid's Club," Percy said with a snigger.

"How about the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" Fred asked.

"It does have a nice alliteration," mused Annabeth. "So does Cool Kids Club."

"Hah!" Percy and Fred exclaimed triumphantly.

"What's alliteration?" Percy asked.

"I was thinking more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we are up to so that we can talk about it at meetings," said Hermione, frowning at Fred, Leo, and Percy.

"How about the Defense Association," Cho suggested. "D.A. for short."

"D.A. is good," Ginny agreed. "Only let's make it Dumbledore's Army, because that's the ministry's worst fear."

"D.A. it is," Hermione said, scribbling Dumbledore's Army on the paper in bold letters.

"Now." Harry stopped his pacing and faced them. "For the spells."