March To The Sea - George Weasley ✔️

- 1 1 2 - HOG'S HEAD

LORELEI WAS GLAD THAT THEY WERE THE REAR END OF THE LARGE GROUP OF STUDENTS MEETING IN THE HOG'S HEAD INN. Lorelei found four empty seats, watching as Lee slid into one of them while Fred went up to the barman. Fred called out for twenty-six butterbeers, and the barman looked surprised. Lorelei guessed it was because he had probably never seen his bar so full.

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

Lorelei was about to reach for her own money when George sent her a look. Smiling brightly, stunning George for a moment because she looked so beautiful, Lorelei slid the money into Fred's pocket. George shook his head and glared mockingly at the mermaid with a smirk tugging at his lips.

Lorelei watched as Harry became flustered in the front, whisper-yelling to Hermione. Lorelei quickly walked over to the boy who lived. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him to the side, away from Hermione who looked just as flustered.

"You're a wonderful wizard, don't make me say it again. Your ego will rise above your father's if I do that," she teased, smiling when she saw his tense shoulders relaxing a bit. "Just tell them what you feel is right. I'm supporting you through everything, you know that."

Harry nodded and hugged the girl quickly before moving back to Hermione. Lorelei walked to grab her drink from George who kissed her cheek as she sat down. All eyes were on Harry once everyone was seated and settled.

"Well... erm... you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here had the idea--I mean," Lorelei sniggered into her glass when Harry shot the bushy-haired witch a sharp look, "I had the idea--that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts--and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us."

Lorelei smiled and felt George place a hand on her thigh, rubbing small circles. Hermione was growing confident in her words now. "Because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts" --"Hear, hear," said Anthony Goldstein-- "well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands. And by that, I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells--"

"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said Michael Corner. Lorelei took a final sip of her butterbeer, not realizing she had drunk the whole thing so quickly.

"Of course, I do," Hermione said quickly. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because... because... Because Lord Voldemort's back."

Lorelei narrowed her eyes at the students who made a big scene because of the name she used. People shrieked and gasped, but Lorelei felt proud of the bushy-haired witch because not many people had the guts for that.

"Well, that's the plan anyway. 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 blonde Hufflepuff said. Lorelei recognized his face from Quidditch.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it--" Hermione tried.

"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," said the boy again.

Ron asked rudely, "Who are you?"

"Zacharias Smith," he said, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."

Hermione sighed. "That's really not what this meeting is about--"

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry finally spoke up after Lorelei gave him a small, encouraging smile that made Harry think of his mother. "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore's 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."

Then, the idiot boy tried to bring up Cedric making more than one person in the room tense up. George grabbed Lorelei's hand as he saw darkness filling them. She had broken her glass, gathering the attention of everyone in the room. Harry quickly said, "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, so if that's why you're here, you might as well clear out."

Hermione tried to reign the conversation back, but a girl spoke out questionably, "Is it true you can produce a Patronus?"

"Yeah," said Harry.

"A corporeal Patronus?" Lorelei made the connection that the girl was Susan Bones once Harry had asked. "You make a stag Patronus?"

When Harry nodded, Lee yelled out excitedly, "Blimey, Harry! I didn't know you could do that!"

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."

After that, everything Harry had ever done was being brought up. Lorelei could tell he was getting embarrassed as his neck grew red. Lorelei noticed when Cho spoke, his face became impossibly redder. She smiled a bit when he said, "Look... I-I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but I had a lot of help with all that stuff."

"Not with the dragon, you didn't," said Michael Corner. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying."

"And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer," said Susan Bones.

"No," Harry said, "no, okay. I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is--"

"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias Smith.

Lorelei narrowed her dark eyes again as Ron said, "Here's an idea. Why don't you shut your mouth?"

"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him, and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it," he replied, looking flushed.

Fred snarled out, "That's not what he said."

"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" inquired George, pulling out the rod they were looking at in Zonkos. It was metal, and rather frightening.

Fred sniggered. "Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this."

"Keep your mouth shut, Smith," hissed Lorelei, pulling the rod back when she saw the fear in his eyes.

After that, they had a debate on when to meet, heliopaths that Luna said existed but Hermione disagreed, and where to meet. Lorelei had a splitting headache that she was ready to sleep away, but she promised Harry she'd support anything he did. She had to stay here, she thought, because he needed her.

Once the parchment came out to be signed, people like Zacharias and Ernie Macmillan were looking rather hesitant. The parchment, Hermione told them, was to know who came to the meeting and a promise not to tell Umbridge or anyone what they were doing. Lorelei signed first under the Golden Trio's names. George and Fred signed, passing it to Lee. Lee shoved it in Zacharias's hands after Hermione glared at him to just sign it.

After her smile to Harry, Lorelei walked over to the twins and Lee. Fred shouted out, "Well, time's ticking on. George, Lor, Lee, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later."