𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗢𝗬

ACT ONE, CHAPTER SEVEN
the hog's head.

TWO WEEKS HAD passed since that night of Hermione originally suggesting that Harry give them Defense lesson. The days had consisted of Venus spending more time with Charlotte and Elijah (although Charlotte would often times be spotted with Neville and Elijah would be spotted with Ginny), Ron and Harry going to Quidditch practice, and more magic — all of them had managed to vanish their mice in Transfiguration and Venus and Hermione had even progressed to vanishing kittens (which was incredibly hard, by the way.) The subject of Harry teaching them was only brought up again on a wild and windy evening at the end of September when the group of six were looking up potion ingredients for Snape in the library.

"I was wondering whether you'd thought any more about Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry," Hermione announced.

"'Course I have," Harry replied grumpily. "Can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us—"

"I meant the idea Ron, Venus, and I had—" Ron cast her an alarmed and threatening look, making Hermione frown "—oh, all right, the idea Venus I had, then — about you teaching us."

"Wait, Harry's teaching us Defense?" Charlotte asked, looking up from her book. "Dude, you would be so good at it."

Elijah nodded. "If I'm ever going to pass the O.W.L. for that class—" Charlotte hit his arm. "Ow! Lottie, what was that for?"

"Shut up about your stupid O.W.L.'s for two seconds. I think this is way more important than exams."

"Charlie, I'm serious. My parents will disown me if I get anything less than an O."

"Well, then you can come live with me. You leave your stupid parents, I get an annoying brother. It's a win for all of us."

"Well," Harry cut in slowly, interrupting their conversation. "Yeah, I — I've thought about it a bit."

"And?" Hermione urged eagerly.

"I dunno."

"I thought it was a good idea from the start," Ron admitted at Harry's glance to him.

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair from his place next to Venus. "You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?"

"Yes, Harry, but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, because you are," Hermione told him. "You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said—"

Ron's head snapped over to her. "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"

"Ho ho. He said Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang."

"Viktor?" Venus questioned quietly.

Harry leaned his head closer to hers. "Viktor Krum. Famous Quidditch player. Him and Hermione had . . . a thing."

"Ooh, scandalous."

"Tell me about it."

Ron looked at Hermione suspiciously. "You're not still in contact with him, are you?"

"So what if I am?" Hermione inquired coolly, her face a little pink. "I can have a pen pal if I—"

"He didn't only want to be your pen pal."

Hermione shook her head in exasperation and looked back to Harry. "Well, what do you think? Will you teach us?"

"Just you, Ron, Star, Charlie, and Eli, yeah?" Harry asked.

Venus shook her head. "Don't you think more people would want to learn, too? I mean, for example, Penelope told Umbridge that a theory would do her no good if she managed to see her mother. It wouldn't seem fair if we didn't offer the chance to her and other people who are interested."

Harry thought it over for a moment. "Yeah, but I doubt anyone except Lestrange and you five would want to be taught by me. I'm a nutter, remember?"

"Well, I think you might be surprised how many people would be interested in hearing what you've got to say," Hermione revealed. "Look, you know the first weekend in October's a Hogsmeade weekend? How would it be if we tell anyone who's interested to meet us in the village and we can talk it over?"

"Why do we have to do it outside school?" Ron questioned.

Elijah leaned back in his chair. "You think Umbridge would be happy if she found out about this? After all, she only believes we need a theory."

Hogsmeade weekend was approaching quickly. With Harry admitting he was worrying about Sirius, doing lots of homework, more Quidditch practices for Ron and Harry, Charlotte scolding Elijah about working himself too much, and Venus having Hermione teach her to knit (not Elf clothes, just some scarves and such), the weekend for Hogsmeade was suddenly there.

After breakfast, Venus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah all met up and queued up in front of Filch. Filch matched all of their names to the long list of students that had permission from their guardians to visit Hogsmeade. Harry was the last one to be checked, and Filch gave him a great sniff. Venus laughed slightly and her and Harry shared a bright grin as they descended the stone steps on the cold, sunlit day.

"Er — why was Filch sniffing you?" Ron questioned as the group set off at a brisk pace down the wide drive to the Hogwarts gates.

"I suppose he was checking for the smell of Dungbombs," Harry answered, him and Venus still laughing. "Venus and I forgot to tell you . . ."

He then recounted the story of sending his letter to Sirius, Filch bursting in seconds in later demanding to see the letter, and Penelope Lestrange defending him.

Hermione apparently found this story highly interesting. "He said he was tipped off you were ordering Dungbombs? But who had tipped him off?"

Harry shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe Malfoy, he'd think it was a laugh."

They walked in between two tall stone pillars topped with winged boars and turned left onto the road, the wind whipping their hair into their eyes.

"Ugh," Charlotte complained, attempting to move her hair out her eyes. "Anyways, it probably was Malfoy. He's been acting extra annoying lately. I think it's because he just wants to get on Penelope's nerves."

"Where are we going anyway?" Harry questioned. "The Three Broomsticks?"

"Oh — no, no, it's always packed and really noisy," Hermione replied, coming out of her deep thought. "I've told the others to meet us in the Hog's Head, that other pub, you know the one, it's not on the main road. I think it's a bit . . . you know . . . dodgy . . . but students don't normally go in there, so I don't think we'll be overheard."

"What's the Three Broomsticks?" Venus inquired.

Charlotte's face brightened. "Oh my gosh, you've never seen Hogsmeade! Come on, come on, let's show you around."

They entered, Venus looked around at the village in wonder. They didn't have anything like this by Ilvermorny. It was filled with little thatched cottages and a bunch of shops. Her eyes were lit up with so much amazement that — in a way, a very confusing way — it made Harry stare at her like she was the only one in the village.

The six of them walked down the main street past Zonko's Joke Shop where Fred, George, and Lee were, past the post office where owls were coming and leaving, and turned up a side street where a small inn stood at the top. A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door and had a picture of a wild boar's severed head leaking blood onto the white cloth around it. All of them hesitated outside the door.

"Well, come on," Hermione encouraged, a little nervous.

Harry was the first one to go inside. Venus followed after him to see the Hog's Head was a small, dingy, and very dirty room that smelled strongly of goats. The bay windows barely let any daylight in because they were so encrusted with grime, so the bar was lit with stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. Accumulated filth covered the floor. Venus looked over to see a man with dirty gray bandages at the bar downing glasses of a smoky, fiery drink through a slit. Two figures shrouded hoods talking with strong accents at another table. In a shadowy corner beside the fireplace sat a witch with a thick, black veil that fell all the way to her feet.

"Nice place," Venus commented.

Harry elbowed her. "I promise we'll all take you to the Three Broomsticks and the shops after this."

"I'll hold you to it."

"I don't know about this, Hermione," Harry continued as they crossed the bar, looking at the veiled witch. "Has it occurred to you Umbridge might be under that?"

Hermione considered the woman for a moment. "Umbridge is shorter than that woman. And anyway, even if Umbridge does come in here there's nothing she can do to stop us, Harry, because I've double- and triple-checked the school rules. We're not out-of-bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed to come in the Hog's Head, and he said yes, but he advised me strongly to bring our own glasses. And I've looked up everything I can think of about study groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed. I just don't think it's a good idea if we parade what we're doing."

"No, especially as it's not exactly a homework group you're planning, is it?"

The barman — who was old with long gray hair and a beard — then approached them from a back room, looking very grumpy. "What?"

"Six butterbeers, please," Hermione replied.

The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up six very dusty and dirty bottles, slamming them on the bar table. "Twelve Sickles."

"I'll get them," Harry offered and passed over the silver coins.

Venus smiled graciously at him. "Thank you."

Harry's cheeks turned pink. "No problem."

The barman studied Harry for a second before depositing his money into an ancient wooden till. Their group then retreated to the farthest table from the bar and sat down. All six of them glanced around the entire bar.

"You know what?" Ron began, looking at the bar with enthusiasm. "We could order anything we liked in here, I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try firewhiskey—"

"You — are — a — Prefect," Hermione scolded.

"Oh. Yeah . . ."

"So who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" Harry questioned, wrenching open the rusty top of his butterbeer and taking a swig — which Venus found ridiculously attractive for some reason.

"Just a couple of people," Hermione replied, checking her watch and then looking anxiously toward the door. "I told them to be here about now and I'm sure they all know where it is — oh look, this might be them now—"

The door of the pub opened, lighting the room for a second before the crowd of people blocked it. First came Neville, Dean, and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati Patil, a girl who looked exactly like her — her twin, Venus assumed, Cho Chang, and one of Cho's giggling friends. Then came Luna Lovegood, two girls with Angelina Johnson, two boys that looked like brothers, four people with Hufflepuff scarves, three boys with Ravenclaw scarves, Ginny, another Hufflepuff, Fred, George, and Lee with a large bag from Zonko's, and finally, Penelope.

"A couple of people?" Harry repeated to Hermione. "A couple of people?"

"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," Hermione responded happily. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"

The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a filthy rag. He might have never seen his pub so full.

"Hi," Fred greeted, doing a quick head count of everyone there. "Could we have . . . twenty-six butterbeers, please?"

The barman glared at him for a moment before throwing down his dirty rag and passing up dusty butterbeers from under the bar.

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

The large, chattering group took their beers from Fred and rummaged through their robes to find some coins.

"What have you been telling people?" Harry demanded to Hermione in a low voice. "What are they expecting?"

"I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say," Hermione answered soothingly. Harry just continued to look at her furiously. "You don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first."

"Hi, Harry," Neville voiced with a beam, sitting down in the empty seat next to Charlotte.

Cho Chang smiled at Harry in a way that made Venus' stomach twist uncomfortably as she sat on Ron's right, her friend following in suit. Penelope then took a seat by Chang, where they engaged in a short conversation of why Penelope was there in the first place. Groups of twos and threes then settled around the original group of six, looking either excited or nervous. Once everyone had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out and everyone was looking at Harry.

"Er," Hermione stated, her voice high from the nerves. "Well — er — hi. Well . . . erm . . . well, you know why you're here. Erm . . . well, Harry here had the idea—" Harry threw her a sharp look "—I mean — I had the idea — and Venus, kind of — 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—" Her voice became much stronger and more confident "—because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts—" a Ravenclaw boy let out a hear, hear, making Hermione look heartened "—well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands." She spared a quick glance at Harry. "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?" another Ravenclaw boy inquired.

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

The reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho's friend shrieked and spilled her butterbeer down herself, another Ravenclaw boy twitched, the girl who looked exactly like Parvati shuddered, and Neville yelped before crouching after the look Charlotte gave him.

"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?" one of the Hufflepuffs asked.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it—"

"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," the boy corrected, nodding over to Harry.

Venus' eyes narrowed. "Sorry, who are you?"

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

"Look, that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about—" Hermione intervened.

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry reassured her. He looked Zacharias straight in the face — a small detail that made Venus' mind go a little haywire. "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore 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."

"All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts," Zacharias responded dismissively. "He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know—"

Penelope immediately shot him down in a way that made silence ring throughout the bar. Venus blinked in surprise at the way she could just shut anyone up.

"So," Hermione said after a couple seconds, her voice high-pitched again. "So . . . like I was saying . . . if you want to learn some defense, 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 that you can produce a Patronus?" a girl with a long braid down her back interjected, staring right at Harry.

"Yeah," Harry replied, slightly defensively.

"A corporeal Patronus?"

"Er — you don't know Madam Bones, do you?"

The girl grinned at him. "She's my auntie. I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So — is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"

"Yes."

"Blimey, Harry!" Lee exclaimed, looking very impressed. "I never knew that!"

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

"She's not wrong," Harry mumbled, making Venus laugh along with some other people.

"And did you kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" one of the Ravenclaw boys demanded. "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year . . ."

"Er — yeah, I did, yeah."

A couple of people made murmurs of impressment.

"And in our first year, he saved that Sorcerous Stone—" Neville announced.

"Sorcerer's," Hermione corrected.

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

Cho smiled at Harry prettily, which made Venus' heart sink as she watched him turn a little red under her gaze. "And that's not to mention, all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year — getting past dragons and Merpeople and Acromantulas and things . . ."

More murmurs of impressed agreement.

"Look," Harry voiced, making everyone fall silent. "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," a Ravenclaw boy reminded him. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying . . ."

"Yeah, well—"

"And nobody helped you get rid of those Dementors this summer," Susan Bones added, and Venus whispered Dementors? to herself in a panicked manner.

"No, 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?" Zacharias inquired.

Penelope then shut him down again, defending herself due to him thinking she was an enemy because she was in Slytherin. However, with a sexist comment at the end, Fred and George were actually the ones to intervene.

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

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

"Yes, well, moving on . . ." Hermione trailed off. "The point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"

There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias crossed his arms and said nothing — but it was probably because he was avoiding eye contact with Penelope and was staring at the instrument in George's hand.

"Right. Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week—"

"Hang on, we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice," Angelina voiced.

"No, nor with ours," Cho agreed.

"Nor ours," Zacharias added.

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

"Well said!" Ernie Macmillan, the Hufflepuff boy who told Harry the other day at the greenhouse that he supported them, exclaimed. "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!" Elijah gave out a little shudder. "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells—"

"Hermione and I were discussing this the other day," Venus revealed. "The two of us think that Umbridge has this crazy idea that Dumbledore could use the students at Hogwarts to create a private army and mobilize us against the Ministry."

"Well, that makes sense," Luna voiced as everyone looked stunned. "After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."

"What?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, he's got an army of Heliopaths."

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

"Yes, he has."

Neville looked blank. "What are Heliopaths?"

"They're spirits of fire," Luna explained, her eyes widening. "Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of—"

"They don't exist, Neville," Hermione cut in tartly.

"Oh yes they do!"

"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?"

"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you—"

"Hem, hem," Ginny interrupted in such a good imitation of Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm before laughing. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defense lessons?"

"Yes, yes, we were, you're right . . ." Hermione responded.

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

"As long as—" Angelina began.

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

That was more difficult, and the whole group fell silent.

"Library?" a Gryffindor girl suggested after a couple of moments.

"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," Harry countered.

"Maybe an unused classroom?" Dean questioned.

"Yeah, McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Triwizard . . ." Ron replied.

"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," Hermione stated. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting." She reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill before hesitating. "I — I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think 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 else — what we're up to."

Hermione was the first to sign, then Ron, then Harry. He passed the parchment to Venus, who signed her name in cursive before handing into Charlotte. The process went on of people signing, but several people looked less than happy at the idea of putting their names on a list.

"Er . . ." Zacharias trailed off, not taking the parchment George was passing to him. "Well . . . I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."

Ernie also looked hesitant, and Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"I — well, we are Prefects," Ernie insisted. "And if this list was found . . . well, I mean to say . . . you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out . . ."

"Hey, Ernie, Prefect to Prefect," Penelope interjected. "Didn't you say that this group was the most important thing you'd do this year?"

"I — yes, I do believe that, it's just . . ."

"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" Hermione inquired testily.

"No. No, of course not." Ernie looked slightly less anxious. "I — yes, of course I'll sign."

Nobody raised objections after Ernie. When the last person — Zacharias — had signed, Hermione took the piece of parchment and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd sort of feeling in the group now. It was almost like they had just signed a sort of contract — which, Venus guesses, they did.

Fred was the first to stand. "Well, time's ticking on. George, Lee, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later."

The rest of the group left in twos and threes. Penelope was the last one to leave, since she had paused to say something to Ron before leaving with a wave and a smile. Venus let out a deep breath and stood up as well. She was ready to explore more of Hogsmeade. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah followed in suit, and the six of them left the bar into the bright sunlight.

"Well, I think that went quite well," Hermione voiced happily.

"That Zacharias bloke's a wart," Ron admitted, staring at his retreating figure in the distance.

"I don't like him much either, but he overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table and he seemed really interested in coming, so what could I say? But the more people the better really — I mean, Michael Corner and his friends wouldn't have come if he hadn't been going out with Ginny—"

Ron choked on his butterbeer and spilled it down his front, his ears turning extremely red. "He's WHAT? She's going out with — my sister's going — what d'you mean, Michael Corner?"

Elijah frowned. "She's going out with Michael?"

"Well, that's why he and his friends came, I think — well, they're obviously interested in learning defense, but if Ginny hadn't told Michael what was going on—" Hermione started to explain.

"When did this — when did she—?" Ron stammered.

"They met at the Yule Ball and they got together at the end of last year." Hermione stared into the window of a shop called Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, which was on the main road. "Hmm . . . I could do with a new quill."

"All right, Eli and I are going to take V to Honeydukes," Charlotte said, linking her arm with Venus'. "Talk to you guys later."

Venus waved to the three of them. "See you back at Gryffindor Tower."

They left Harry, an angry Ron still demanding about Ginny and Michael, and Hermione by the quill shop and headed off down the road. Venus sighed and pulled her cloak in a little tighter. God, it was cold.

"What was up with Harry?" Charlotte questioned suddenly.

Venus' eyebrows knit. "Huh?"

Elijah scoffed. "Come on, Ven. He couldn't keep his eyes off of you."

"I think it's your American smile," Charlotte teased.

Venus' face felt very hot now. "Shut up, you two."

Yet now, she appreciated the beautiful village of Hogsmeade even more.

» • » ✧ « • «

decided to not go into too much detail of what penelope was saying in this book bc it would just become repetitive so, that chapter of brutal will be out soon :))

anyways I am severely sunburnt please send help