Beneath Her Skin

Chapter Ten

Alastriona sat with Darcy, Dawn, Tracey, Blaise and Theo in the Hogs Head Inn, waiting patiently for either Harry, Ron or Hermione to start.

"Er, well, hi." Hermione said, the nerves obvious in her voice, she probably wasn't used to talking to such a loud crowd and right now there were thirty sets of eyes on her. "Well... erm... well, you know why you're here. Well, Harry here had the idea - I mean - 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 Umbridge is doing with us because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts, well I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."
Thirty heads were nodding at her, so far agreeing with everything she said. "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells--"

Michael Corner, not someone Alastriona knew very well, interrupted Hermione. "You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L too though, I bet?"

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

Alastriona heard Darcy try to cover up a massive flinch by coughing but she needn't have worried, poor Neville Longbottom nearly fell off his chair.

Hermione softly cleared her throat. "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?" The abrupt question came from the pompous Zacharias Smith, Alastriona rolled her eyes at the same time Darcy did.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it--"

Zacharias interrupted Hermione again. "You mean Dumbledore believes him--" He stared pointedly at Harry.

"Who are you?" Ron asked, fed up with him already.
Alastriona couldn't blame him, her fellow Hufflepuff tended to bring out the most aggressive side of people.

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

Alastriona fidgeted in her seat, all she wanted to do was hex him, but she was on her best behaviour today. Blaise, probably sensing her unease, grabbed her hand and pulled it onto his lap, holding it gently in his own.

Hermione glanced briefly at Harry, clearly worried about his reaction to Zach. "Look, that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about--"

"It's okay, Hermione." Harry said and captured everyone's attention. "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 don't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."

Zach rolled his eyes. "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. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know--"

"Shut up, Smith!" Alastriona snapped loudly, unable to bite her tongue anymore. So much for good behaviour... she hadn't removed her wand from her hair though. Blaise squeezed her hand gently.

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

There was a second where everyone looked around, to see if anyone was leaving, but even the idiot Zach Smith stayed in his seat.

Hermione tried to get the meeting back on track. "So, 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--"