'I guess we should start then,' Hermione said suddenly, throwing a disappointed look at the trio of boys beside her. 'Professor Umbridge doesn't want to teach us any real magic, so we'll have to learn it and practice ourselves. Neville has already helped us from time to time,' she looked faintly embarrassed having to admit to needing assistance, 'and he's agreed, with a few stipulations to help teach a larger group.'
'Longbottom?' A blond Hufflepuff laughed. 'He doesn't even know which end of the wand to hold.'
Neville flinched, and Hermione opened her mouth to retort in his defence. Surprisingly, Neville beat her too it.
'Let's see your shield charm, Smith,' he ordered, in an oddly authoritative tone. The Hufflepuff flushed and sat down without saying anything else.
'Protego,' Neville said, and he was instantly surrounded by a bright wall of silver light. There were more than a few exclamations of surprise. Harry shot his friend a grin when Neville looked up to give him a grateful nod. Neville let the shield hover for a few moments before dispelling it, and Harry noted that it was still trembling slightly.
'So now it's obvious that Neville can help, we want to know if you're interested in being part of the group,' Hermione announced.
'How will it be run?' One of the other Hufflepuffs asked. 'And what were Neville's Ravenclaw asked warily.
stipulations?'
A
'I had three,' Neville replied, answering the Ravenclaw's question. 'They are not negotiable, if you wish to be helped you will have to accept them. Firstly, nobody tells Umbridge, none of us want to spend any time in her office doing lines. Secondly, the locations and dates of meetings will be conveyed secretly and are to kept a secret, along with the group's name and the names of the other members. Lastly, Harry Potter will be assisting me.'
'I'm not letting him use dark magic on me,' Smith declared over a none too quiet murmur of discontent. 'I read about what he did to Malfoy.'
'Malfoy pretty much deserved it,' Ron snapped. 'I was there, and so were Angelina, Ginny, Katie and my brothers. He thought it was funny to gloat over having deliberately attacked Katie.'
'Look on the bright side,' Katie piped up in the silent shock of hearing Ron defend his former friend for the first time in a year. 'You'll get very good at defending against the Dark Arts if Harry's helping.'
'Thanks, Katie,' Harry congratulated her sarcastically. She gave him an innocent stare in return and finished her drink.
'What's wrong with just learning from Neville?' Terry Boot demanded.
'Harry is the one who taught Neville,' Hermione answered simply. 'You're learning from him indirectly anyway.' The room fell silent at that.
'Fine,' Smith sneered, 'but don't expect us to like it. I don't trust him.' 'It will give you a good motive to work on your shield charm, Smith,' Neville noted uncharacteristically viciously.
'So how are we doing this?' Terry Boot asked.
'Everyone who wants to join signs their name on this list,' Hermione waved an inauspicious piece of parchment in the air, 'anyone else might as well leave now.'
A handful of students from Ravenclaw left, but nobody else did.
Harry waited until last to sign his name, running his forefinger down the list of names as if he was reading them while quietly checking for enchantments with his wand held in his sleeve.
There were some quite nasty ones.
Hermione's serious about this remaining a secret. Should anyone ever knowingly betray the group they would find their treachery quite hard to conceal. It was quite ingenious, but not ironclad. An indirect betrayal would leave the perpetrator's face completely free of pimples.
Harry signed his name with a flourish and rejoined Katie in the middle of the group.
'So how do we know when to meet and where?' Angelina asked. There were a handful of students from older years who had come to join. Harry presumed it was because they believed Dumbledore and wanted to be prepared rather than concerned about retaking their OWLs.
'That's easy,' Hermione answered, glowing with pride. 'You all get one of these.' She held out a box of horribly familiar badges. Neville paled slightly at the sight of them. S.P.E.W.
'Since I had nothing to do with them, I've enchanted them with the Protean Charm. When Neville changes the numbers on the back of all the badges it will change on all the others. The number will give you the time and date of the next meeting.'
'Do we have to wear them?' Lavender asked, distinctly nervously. Ron sniggered.
'No,' Hermione conceded, 'but do try to be more careful about losing them this year than you were last year.'
'That's very clever,' Boot voiced, sounding genuinely impressed, 'but it doesn't tell us where to meet.'
The Protean Charm was a NEWT level spell if Harry remembered correctly, and not one he knew as it had not seemed obviously useful to him. Hermione's use of it was quite clever, and more than a little impressive.
It's actually quite a versatile charm, he decided. Maybe I'll have to learn it after all.
'All our meetings will be held in the same place, you'll know where to come from the second time, but for the first you should meet next to Hogwarts' worst tapestry on the seventh floor.' Neville's announcement was greeted by blank looks for the most part and only a handful of knowing grins. The Weasley Twins didn't know of it, but a blonde-haired, grey-eyed Ravenclaw, one of Ginny's friends, smiled and so too did Susan Bones.
'We need a name for the group,' the nearest Weasley twin decided.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you enjoy reading? Visit my site on Tiendup! There you will find the advanced chapter in PDF format, ready for your convenience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/