Hindsight

The Silver Trio

'I think we need to bring Neville into this. And Ginny and Luna, too,' Hermione said to Harry as they relaxed late at night that Saturday in the deserted Gryffindor Common Room.

'What? Why?'

Hermione turned to him. 'Remember what Ragnok said? About the Head of House business? He recommended us talk to a pure-blood or half-blood who grew up in the wizarding world. Neville is perfect, and Ginny would know a thing or two, as well. Luna might, too. They were all raised in the magical world, unlike us.'

'Besides, you saw what the other Ravenclaws did to Luna earlier. It's despicable. I think if nothing else, we could support her in some way, show her that she doesn't have to suffer through everything alone.'

'Yes, but…can't we ask Sirius?' Harry pointed out. 'We can definitely trust Sirius, but Ginny and Neville and Luna… Not that I don't trust them, but are you sure?'

'We have no guarantee of when or if Sirius is going to be freed,' Hermione said sadly. 'For all we know, Fudge might block him from getting a hearing, which would be ridiculous, but it's Fudge we're talking about. This might be urgent. Did Ragnok not want you to go back to Gringotts next week? We need to find out what this business is all about.'

'The political stuff, you mean?'

'Exactly,' Hermione said, 'The political stuff's important. We know we'll need to depose Fudge somehow and rid the Ministry and Wizengamot of Death Eaters. If we want to do that, we'll have to know how the wizarding world's political system really operates. Neville's grandmother's a formidable witch in the Ministry. And Arthur's a civil servant. They'll know stuff we don't. Things we can't learn out of a book.'

'Hermione, what's gotten into you?' Harry teased, 'Saying that some things can't be learned out of a book?'

Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Well, it's true! What do you think?'

'Okay…you have a point. How much do we say, though?'

Hermione thought for a minute. 'I think everything that happened at Gringotts – minus the Horcrux. We can tell them Sirius is innocent, the Godfather Ritual, and how we're in contact with Amelia Bones to get him cleared. Maybe about how we know Riddle will be returning soon. Anything else?'

Harry had a sudden idea. 'Not necessarily telling them anything, but I want to train them. Sort of like the DA but…more proactive. We know the Ministry under Fudge will probably sit around and do nothing and the Order's going to be too busy with the Prophecy or whatever it is they're doing, so it'll be up to us to do the heavy lifting again. We can tell them that we have a hunch that Riddle's going to return soon, and we should learn to fight.'

Hermione thought for a long minute. 'I suppose you're right. But what do we teach them?'

'Everything,' Harry answered, 'Everything we know. All the darker stuff, too. We're not going to sit back this time and meet Avada Kedavra's with Stupefy's. We had mercy the "last time around" and what happened? All the Death Eaters we locked up in Azkaban came right back out and started killing again the next day. If they're going to throw Killing Curses at us, then we fling Killing Curses right back.'

Hermione gasped. 'Do you think they'll…they'll agree to it?'

'To learning it? I don't know,' Harry admitted. 'It's a huge leap from Defence Against the Dark Arts to just Dark Arts. But I think they'll understand why…why they need to learn this to protect themselves and fight back. The fact that Riddle will return eventually isn't really a secret, after all. It'll take some convincing – or a lot of convincing – and if they don't want to, then they're free to leave.'