Sweets

CHAPTER 6

"Hey. do you have a moment? Both of you?" It was the first day of october, when Cho Chang approached both me and Kristie.

"Ya, sure. What is it?" Kristie, always up for a chat, instantly replied.

"Um..." She hesitated. "There is a- a meeting. On saturday, you know? The first Hogsmeade Trip?"

"Yes and what about it?" I asked tentatively. Why was she telling us about this? That meeting sounded as if it was supposed to be a secret.

"Well, it's just that if you are interested in learning proper Defence Against the Dark Arts, you should come and see what it's about. I don't really know much either but Loony came to me and said that I should come and also see if some other people were interested, too. You just seemed like people that could be interested and well yeah..." Cho lost herself in rambles.

"Sure, we'll come. I'm dying to get some real skill and the Toad isn't doing her predecessors any justice in teaching us and that includes that useless fool we had in second year." Kristie agreed and to be honest, I couldn't have phrased it better.

"So to sum it up, we will be there. Where exactly is the meeting?" I asked.

"Oh right. That. Loony said to come to the Hog's Head. You know that dodgy place at the rim of the village?"

"Yup got it." Kristie said cheerfully. "See ya 'round then Cho!"

As soon as Cho had gone, Kristie gave me a sideways look and grinned. "'Tis exciting isn't it? Fooling the Toad right under her nose?"

"Yeah, I suppose. It is the first thing to look forward to in forever after all." I couldn't resist the temptation and gave a small grin, too.

"So, Are we asking Ryuzaki to come, too?"

#

That saturday morning we made our way to the front gates to get checked off the list of students that were allowed to visit Hogsmeade. Having passed through, we walked along the path feeling giddy inside.

"So do you want to head straight for the Hog's Head or do you still want something from the other shops?" Kristie asked eagerly.

"We can go on my account." I shrugged. "But I doubt that anyone will be there this early. Merlin we were one of the first out of that castle!"

"Well, you can't blame me from wanting to get away from a pur-etty unnerving stare at breakfast, now can you?" Umbridge had once again been scouring the Great Hall for any wrongdoing students.

"Touché."

"Alright. As you don't have any complaints, we're going." She decided, slipped an arm through the crook of mine and we strode off.

I didn't like the Hog's Head much. It looked rather ruddy and didn't give off the vibe of a welcoming pub. But nevertheless it was a quite good meeting place because not many people resided in it at the moment. When we stepped in, it immediately became clear that we were the first ones to arrive because apart from us, there were only grown wizards and witches present. But it didn't take long for the door to open again, only to reveal Harry, Ron and Hermione. They nodded at us, got Butterbeers and went off to a secluded corner. They just started talking as the door burst open yet again revealing a bunch of people standing outside. Hermione told Ron to pull up some more chairs and, I think it was Fred who said it, asked for the barman for twenty-five - no, he corrected himself, smiling at us - twenty-seven Butterbeers.

"Cheers!" He said, handing them out. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these..."

Rummaging in robes we gave him the right amount of coins and settled ourselves into some chairs. Harry and Hermione were mumbling to each other in quiet tones as the others came up now, too, occasionally greeting them. When everyone was settled, Hermione stood up.