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chapter thirty six | the secret meeting

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"HIGH INQUISITOR?" Kaya said, pulling a face as she, along with her friends, scanned a new notice that had been placed on the wall by Dolores Umbridge herself. "What the fuck's that?"

"No idea," said Maisie. "But, if it involves that old cow, it's probably ass."

"For once, I actually agree with Mais," Jaeden nodded.

"I think everyone agrees with Mais, if it involves insulting Umbridge," said Kaya. "But still, I have no idea what High Inquisitor is. Miles, you're smart, what does this mean?"

Milo stared with a blank expression, before shrugging.

"I dunno,"

"Brill,"

"What's all this, then?" a voice said, and Kaya looked to her left to see two second year boys pushing their way through to work out what was going on.

"Alf!" the brunette girl greeted, ruffling her little brother's hair. He swatted her hand away, sending her a quick dirty look. "Alright, Jer?" the girl nodded to Jeremy, who smiled and nodded back.

"What's Umbridge done, now?" His eyebrows creased, as he read the newly placed sign on the wall.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Milo said. "Anyway, how's things? What lessons do you have next?"

"History of Magic," said Alfie with a dull expression. "As if we have to learn about the Gargoyle Strike again. We learned all about that last year, none of it was interesting,"

"Ah, yeah," Jaeden nodded. "I remember - it was boring. I've got Divination, next, so you can imagine the pain I'll be in, sitting and staring at a crystal ball for an hour,"

"That sounds way better than what we're learning!" said Jeremy. "Divination sounds so interesting,"

"Yeah, it is interesting," said Jaeden. "Until you have to study it. Then it becomes annoying, like everything else,"

"Here we go," Kaya muttered. "Jaeden and his everlasting hate for Divination,"

"Oi, K," said Alfie, with a mischievous grin. "Can you crack your knuckles?"

He held up his hands to her ear and did so, causing the girl to cringe and lean away.

"No," she replied bluntly, giving him a dirty look.

"Caleb told me girls really like boys who can make their knuckles crack,"

Maisie snorted, and Kaya pulled a face before saying sarcastically,

"Yeah, that is a well-known aphrodisiac. The sound of grinding bones."

"Well, this has been nice," Milo interrupted, shaking Kaya's shoulder slightly. "But there's an old lady dressed in pink heading our way, and she might shove her cat plates up our asses if we don't get a move on,"

"And that's our queue," Kaya nodded, glancing Umbridge's way for a split second. "See you, boys,"

"Bye," the twelve year-olds murmured in response, before both turning and heading to their own lessons.

The four teenagers avoided eye contact with Umbridge as they passed her, although they didn't fail to notice her arrogant stance, as they reluctantly made their way through the corridor.

Kaya certainly didn't feel guilty for making fun of her at the Welcoming Feast, anymore.

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Many students at Hogwarts had a lot of different views on various topics - but most agreed with one another when it came to their hatred for Dolores Umbridge.

Fred and George were unfazed by her random boost of power in the school, and had the time of their lives setting off pranks to disturb the woman. It was all on her really - if she didn't expect them to continue with their most favourite thing in the world, she was mental.

Kaya and Jaeden were completely baffled by the woman, and never understood a single word that came out of the woman's mouth, as if she was speaking a different language.

One day, Fred and George had timed a few fireworks to set off in the corridor during their lesson, and after their awful teacher left the room rather furiously after explaining another pointless task for the class to do, and it was confirmed everyone was feeling the same as Kaya when she took the classroom's silence as an opportunity to say,

"Okay, show of hands, who the fuck knows what they're doing?"

Nobody had a clue, surprise, surprise.

And when Umbridge decided to continuously make her appearances at other lessons, as though she had some kind of qualification to judge other teachers, it was decided something should be done about her.

Which brought them to a meeting at a pub in Hogsmeade, organised by the golden trio themselves - although, when Kaya walked in with her friends, it was visibly obvious Hermione seemed to be the only one who knew what she was doing.

The Hog's Head wasn't the most pleasant pub in the world - and it definitely wouldn't have been Kaya's first choice if she wanted a few pints with her friends. It was small, dirty and groggy which a slight stench of something Kaya couldn't quite put her finger on. It had bay windows, coated with grime, candles lit around the room and rough wooden tables - some looking as though they might collapse any second.

"This looks cozy," said Maisie, as the group caught the eye of the many Hogwarts students seated as close together as they could inside the small pub.

Fred decided to head to the bar, Kaya joining him, as the two counted the companions quickly.

"Hi," said Fred. "Could we have... thirty butterbeers, please?"

"Thirty five," Kaya corrected, as a few more appeared.

"Oh yeah - thirty five, please,"

The barman glared at the two for a moment, before throwing down a rag he'd been using to clean out a cup and started passing up Butterbeers.

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

The large chattering group took their butterbeers from the couple, rummaging in their pockets to find coins.

"So... what are we actually here for?" Kaya mumbled to Fred, glancing the barman's way to ensure he wasn't listening. He wasn't - he was busy miserably passing up more butterbeers.

"I'm not too sure," Fred replied. "They said something about Harry sorting us out with Defence Against the Dark Arts... and Umbridge? They'll explain it,"

"Yeah," Kaya nodded.

After a short while of handing out Butterbeers, she and Fred walked back to their friends - Fred's arm casually wrapped around her waist - before sitting down.

The brunette didn't get much of a chance to glance around the room at who was here, although she could pick out a fair few. Cho Chang, a girl in the year below her... Zacharias Smith, who appeared more curious than excited, in contrast to a curly brown haired girl sitting next to Ron and chatting to Lee. Kaya could only assume this was the infamous Maddie she had been told about.

The chatter soon died out, though, and everyone's eyes landed on Harry, who was looking rather awkward as he glanced around, acknowledging who had turned up. Hermione was the first to speak.

"Er - hi," she began. Everyone's attention flicked to her. "Well... erm... well, you know why you're here. Erm... well... Harry, here, had the idea - I mean," Harry had shot her a sharp look. "I had the idea, that it might be good if people who really wanted to study Defence Against the Dark Arts - and I mean really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us..."

Kaya overheard George muttering to Maisie,

"You don't even take that class?"

"Yeah, so?"

"...Because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts,"

A Ravenclaw boy Kaya didn't know said, "Hear, hear!" which caused a heartened expression to flash over Hermione's face.

"Well, I thought It'd be good to take matters into our own hands,"

She paused, looked sideways at Harry, before carrying on. "And by that, I mean how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory, but doing real spells-"

"You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L too, though, I bet?" someone else said. Kaya didn't know who he was, either.

"Yeah, no shit," Jaeden muttered to Milo, who sniggered.

"Of course I do," said Hermione. "But more than that. I want to be properly trained in defence because... because..." she took a breath and finished. "Because Lord Voldemort is back,"

Everyone's reaction might as well have come out of a poorly produced dramatic film. Someone shrieked and slopped Butterbeer down herself. Someone else gave some kind of twitch. Neville Longbottom gave a small yelp he managed to play off as a cough.

Maisie ran her fingers through her hair, and Milo leaned back in his seat, before the door of the pub creaked open again and many heads turned to see three girls walking in - once again, Kaya didn't know who they were, apart from one. She needed to start taking note of the people around her.

The first had long, white hair and a resting scowl that was probably unintentional - a 'resting bitch face' as some would call it. Kaya immediately recognised her as the Slytherin Prefect she had to explain duties to on the Hogwarts Express - Diana Silverstone. The second girl was dark skinned and had lustrous, short brunette locks in a voluminous curly hairstyle. The third had a naive sense about her, as she followed behind the first two. She had pretty blonde hair which was tied back into a pony tail at this moment, and folded her hands as she glanced towards the first girl, as though unsure of what to do.

"This looks like a fun party," Diana said, crossing her arms. Nobody spoke, and instead exchanged inquiring glances with friends. The girl turned to Harry, giving him a cold stare. He looked back, uncomfortably.

"Where was my invite, then?" she said, raising her eyebrow slightly. The tense atmosphere did not go unnoticed - Kaya looked anywhere but where the uncomfortable conversation was taking place.

"We-," Harry said, turning to Hermione for help. The girl cleared her throat.

"Um, we weren't sure if you'd have wanted to come," she said softly. "It was a bit last minute, and... well, we couldn't remember everyone..." Diana didn't look entirely convinced, and paused for a split second, eyeing the two Gryffindors. "Sorry, Diana... you're... you're welcome to join, us, though,"

"Whatever," she huffed, rolling her eyes - although she did give them a tiny smile that was either forgiving or suggesting that she didn't care to waste her energy on being pissed at them, for too long. Diana wasn't going to be continuously bitter - Kaya supposed this was because there were bigger issues to be dealt with, anyway.

"Silverstone," George whispered to the group, informing those who didn't know on who this white-haired intruder was.

Diana and her two friends sat themselves amongst the group, and everyone waited for Hermione to continue.

"Where was I?" she said, slowly, now slightly embarrassed at the small confrontation. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to-"

"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said Zacharias in an aggressive voice. Kaya cringed, and sighed in annoyance. Trust him to start mouthing off.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it-" Hermione began.

"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," he retorted, nodding at Harry.

"Who are you?" Ron said rudely. Kaya couldn't blame him.

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

"Look," said Hermione. "That's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about-"

"It's okay, Hermione," said Harry, actually speaking up, for the first time. "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he asked, looking Zacharias straight in the face. "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you don't believe him, you won't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone,"

Kaya did not envy Harry, at all. Everyone seemed to have held their breath as he spoke.

"All Dumbledore told us last year that Cedric Diggory-" Kaya tensed up at the mention of her friend, "got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought his body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us any details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know,"

"I, for one, wouldn't really like to know all the gory details of how my friend died, thanks," Kaya spoke up hotly.

She could feel her cheeks burning, and the familiar stabbing pain that regularly haunted her heart resurfaced. But she couldn't say nothing - Zacharias was always a prick, but wanting to know exactly how someone was killed? Someone they had personally known? What was wrong with him?

"I think if you do, you're sick. He died, he didn't deserve it, end of,"

"Exactly," Jaeden nodded in support.

Fred reached down to Kaya's small hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. How that boy always managed to make her feel better just by holding her hand, she didn't know. Fred was some kind of miracle worker.

Harry had glanced Kaya's way with a soft expression, before returning to his stern stance.

"If you've come here to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone, I can't help you," he said. "I don't want to talk about Cedric, alright? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out,"

Nobody moved a muscle.

"So," said Hermione. "So... like I was saying... if you want to learn some defence, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and where we're going to-"

"Is it true you can produce the Patronus charm?" A girl interrupted. Susan Bones, her name was - Kaya remembered helping her out when she first joined Hogwarts. She'd forgotten the taps on the barrel to get into the common room, and was scared of being drenched with vinegar.

There was a murmur of interest around the group at the mention of this.

"Yeah," Harry said, slightly defensively.

"A corporeal Patronus?"

"Er - you don't know Madame Bones, do you?" Harry asked.

"She's my auntie," Susan smiled. "I'm Susan Bones, she told me about your hearing. So - is it really true? You can make a Stag Patronus?"

"Yeah,"

"Shit!" Kaya and Jaeden muttered with surprise.

"Blimey, Harry!" said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"

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

"She's not wrong," Harry mumbled. Kaya and Maisie laughed, as did a blonde Ravenclaw across the room and her friend.

"And did you kill a Basilisk? With that sword in Dumbledore's office?" somebody else said. "That's what one of the portraits on the walls told me when I was there last year,"

"Er - yeah, I did, yeah," said Harry.

"And in our first year," Neville continued. "He saved that Philogical stone,"

"Philosopher's," Hermione corrected.

"Yes, that - from You-Know-Who,"

"And not to mention," Cho said, smiling. "All the tasks he had to get through in the Tri-Wizard Tournament last year - getting past dragons, and merpeople, and Acromantula, and things,"

"Sounds to me like Harry needs a bloody break," said Jaeden.

There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the room.

"Look," Harry said, and everyone fell silent almost at once. "I... I don't want to sound like I'm being modest, or anything, but I had a lot of help with that stuff..."

"Not with the dragon, you didn't," said another boy, at once. "That was seriously a cool bit of flying..."

"Yeah, well-"

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

"No," said Harry. "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 your way out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias.

"Here's an idea," said Ron, loudly. "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!"

"Listen, pillock!" Maddie Jordan yelled. "Everything that has come out of your mouth today has either been complete bull or entirely useless, so shut the fuck up so we can get this over with!"

"I just-"

"Shut up!"

Zacharias flushed, and closed his mouth. Maddie turned her head back to Harry and nodded at him to continue. Ron was eyeing him like he wanted nothing more than to punch him.

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

"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" said George, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside his Zonko's bag.

"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred. Kaya and her friends laughed.

"Yes, well," Hermione said hastily. "Moving on... the point is, we all agreed to take lessons from Harry?"

There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms, and said nothing.

"Right," said Hermione, looking relieved that something had been settled. "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I don't really think there's any point in meeting less than once a week,"

"Hang on," said Alicia. "We need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice,"

"No," Cho agreed. "Nor with ours,"

"Nor ours," Zacharias added.

"Nor ours, either," said Jaeden.

"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," said Hermione. "But, you know, this is rather important - we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters,"

"Well said!" Ernie Macmillan barked. Kaya hadn't even realised he was here, until now. "Personally, I think this is really important - possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year - even with our O.W.L's coming up!"

He looked around impressively, before continuing. "I, personally, am at loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on us at this critical period. Obviously, they are in denial, about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher that is actively trying to prevent us from using defensive spells-"

"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defence Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione. "Is that she's got some... some mad idea that Dumbledore could use his students in the school as some kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilise us against the Ministry,"

Everyone seemed to freeze at the mention of this - either stunned, or thinking it over. Kaya could understand where Hermione was coming from.

"Well, that makes sense," said another blonde Ravenclaw with a dreamy voice. "After all, Cornelius Fudge has his own private army,"

"Does he?" Kaya heard Maisie mutter with a crease in her eyebrows.

"What?" said Harry - also taken aback by this unexpected piece of information.

"Yeah, he's got an army of heliopaths," said the girl solemnly.

"No, he hasn't," Hermione snapped.

"Yes, he has," the girl retorted.

"What are heliopaths?" Neville Longbottom asked, looking as blank as the rest of the group.

"They're spirits of fire," the Ravenclaw girl said, her eyes widening slightly causing her to look even more mad than she sounded. "Great, tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground, burning everything in front of-"

"They don't exist, Neville," Hermione interrupted.

"Oh, yes they do!" The Ravenclaw said angrily.

"Ooh," Jaeden muttered to Kaya, smirking. "Do I sense a fight?"

"I'm sorry but where's the proof of that?" Hermione snapped.

"There are plenty of eye-witness accounts. Just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under her nose before you-"

A chorus of 'ooh's' sounded - mainly from Kaya and Jaeden, who were exchanging amused glances.

"My money's on 'Mione-" Kaya smirked, jokingly pulling out a galleon and waving it in front of Jaeden's face. He snorted.

"Hem, hem," A voice sounded, and several people (including Kaya, Jaeden and Maisie - Milo knew his fellow Gryffindors too well to fall for it) flinched with alarm, before letting out laughs to realise that it was Ginny Weasley who was excellent at imitations. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet, and have defence lessons?"

"Yes," said Hermione, quickly. "Yes, we were, you're right, Ginny,"

"Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee.

"As long as-" Angelina began.

"Yes, yes, we know about Quidditch," said Hermione. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet..."

Everyone fell silent - this was more difficult to figure out. Kaya was completely clueless.

"Library?" Katie Bell suggested, after a few moments.

"I can't see Madame Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," said Harry. Kaya chuckled to herself at the thought.

"Maybe an unused classroom?" said Dean Thomas.

"Yeah," Ron spoke up. "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Tri-Wizard,"

There was another short silence.

"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," said Hermione. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and place for the first meeting,"

Kaya was itching to stand up - her legs were starting to feel dead now.

Hermione rummaged in her bag and pulled out a sheet of parchment and a quill. She hesitated, before saying,

"I - I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath. "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So, if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody what we're up to..."

Fred took the parchment first, and signed happily. Kaya couldn't help but notice that there was a couple of students not so fond of the idea of signing.

"Er..." Zacharias said slowly. Maddie Jordan shot him a threatening glance, as though daring him to say something, before signing her own name. "Well... I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is,"

Ernie wasn't looking too enthusiastic about signing, though, either.

"I- Well, we are prefects," he burst out. "And if this list was found... well, I mean to say... you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out..."

"Don't worry, Ernie!" Kaya said brightly. "I'm Head Girl-"

"The worst Head Girl Hogwarts has ever seen," Jaeden added, as he was passed the list.

"Yes, I like to pride myself on that," Kaya retorted, before returning back to Ernie with an encouraging smile. "If anyone'll be in the most shit when caught, it'll likely be me and Mr. Head Boy over there-" she gestured to Milo, who smiled, and gave Ernie a thumbs up. "Plus, almost all Prefects in your year are here, anyway, aren't they? Even Diana turned up, uninvited, and she's a Prefect. I wouldn't worry,"

"Anyway," said Harry. "You said this group was the most important thing you'd do all year,"

"I- Yes," Ernie said. "Yes, I do believe that, it's just..."

"Ernie, do you honestly think I'd leave this list lying around?" said Hermione testily.

No," said Ernie, all of a sudden looking less anxious. Kaya signed her name, before passing the parchment to him. "No, of course not. I - yes, I'll sign,"

Nobody gave any objections after Ernie. Zacharias was the last person to sign - no surprise there - but still, he signed. Hermione took the parchment and slipped it back into her bag.

"Well, time's ticking on," said Fred, casually grabbing ahold of Kaya's hand again and getting to his feet. "George, Lee and I have a few items of sensitive nature to purchase - you lot coming?" He nodded to the group of four.

"Yeah," said Kaya, as the rest of her friends got to their feet.

"Right - we'll be seeing you all later," said Fred.

"Bye!" Kaya gave the trio a small wave, and as her friends also said their goodbyes, everyone began to head out of the pub in groups.

"That seemed to go well, didn't it?" said Milo, as they walked through the village, now spilling out with students.

"Yeah," said Lee. "As long as Umbridge doesn't fuck it up,"

"She won't find out though?" said Maisie. "There's no way she could?"

"Nah," George agreed. "We'll be fine,"

Kaya could only hope it would go as well as everyone thought.

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A/N: Me realising I'm gonna have to end up writing scenes where all my OC's in this series are gonna crossover in one place 👁👄👁

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought!

<3