Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
————————————
Aurora Areli
HERMIONE, RON AND I didn't mention Harry giving DADA lessons for the next two weeks. In front of him, at least. We did discuss it a few times when he wasn't around, but only a few times. Despite the subject not being anything bad, I still didn't feel right talking behind his back.
On the bright side, Harry's detentions with Umbridge were finally over. I only used that new healing spell after his last one, though, because he told me he thought Umbridge might have noticed. But even with magic, I doubted the marks on the back of Harry's hand would ever fade.
There had been four more Quidditch practices in those two weeks, and Ron had only gotten yelled at during the first two. He was showing a lot of improvement, especially because Harry and I were helping him train. Also during that time, all four of us had managed to Vanish our mice in Transfiguration (well, Hermione and I had moved on to Vanishing kittens, but I didn't like to point that out as much as she did).
The subject of learning Defence Against the Dark Arts outside of Umbridge's class was finally broached one blustery evening at the end of September. Harry, Ron, Hermione and I were sitting in the library, looking up potion ingredients for Snape. A truly riveting way to spend our time, I thought.
"I was wondering," Hermione said suddenly, "whether you'd thought more about Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry."
"Course I have," Harry said grumpily, "can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us —"
"I meant the idea Ron, Rory and I had —" Ron and I cast her alarmed looks (though Ron's was a bit more threatening), and she frowned at us, "— Oh, all right, the idea I had, then — about you teaching us."
Harry didn't answer at first. He just continued to stare at a page of Asiatic Anti-Venoms for a while, though I had the feeling he wasn't actually reading. Finally, Harry slowly looked back up at us.
"Well," he said, not any quicker, "yeah, I — I've thought about it a bit."
"And?" Hermione said eagerly.
"I dunno," Harry said evasively, before glancing over at Ron.
"I thought it was a good idea from the start," Ron said, looking keener to join the conversation now that Harry didn't seem to want to yell.
The boy himself shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and then his gaze turned to me.
"You know I think it's a good idea," I said, "we need to be able to protect ourselves."
"You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?"
"Yes, Harry," Hermione said 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 were the only person who could throw off the Imperius Curse without any trouble, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said —"
