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— (chapter fifteen.) —
Aurora felt gradually worse for the rest of the weekend than she had done all term. She, Atlas, and Selene spent much of Sunday catching up with all their homework again, and although this could hardly be called fun, the last burst of autumn sunshine persisted, so rather than sitting hunched over tables in the common room they took their work outside and lounged in the shade of a large beech tree on the edge of the lake, joined later in the afternoon by Draco, Theodore, Pansy, Circe, Bia and Blaise. They had brought with them a small picnic of sorts which Circe and Bia had acquired from the kitchens with great skill.
Knowing they were doing something to resist Umbridge and the Ministry and that she was a key part of the rebellion, gave Aurora a feeling of immense satisfaction. She had always loved to rebel, to break free of the stick rules that had been imposed on her for her entire life. She kept reliving Saturday's meeting in her mind: all those people, coming to Harry to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts... and the looks on their faces as they had heard some of the things he had done... and Cho praising his performance in the Triwizard Tournament — that soured her mood slightly — but knowing all those people did not think her a lying madwoman, but someone to be trusted and admired like Harry, buoyed her up slightly from her pit of self-pity so she was ready to face the Monday morning as it came.
She and Selene headed downstairs from their dormitory, discussing Angelina's idea that they were to work on a new move called the Sloth Grip Roll during that nights Quidditch practice, and not until they were halfway across the sunlit common room did they notice the addition to the room that had already attracted the attention of a small group of people.
A large sign had been affixed to the Grffindor noticeboard, so large it covered everything else on it — the lists of secondhand spellbooks for sale, the regular reminders of school rules from Argus Filch, the Quidditch team training timetable, the offers to barter certain Chocolate Frog Cards for others, the Weasleys' latest advertisement for testers, the dates of the Hogsmeade weekends and the lost and found notices. The new sign was printed in large black letters and there was a highly official-looking seal at the bottom beside a neat and curly signature.
"BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS
All student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded. An organisation, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No student organisation, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organisation, society, team, group or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled. The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.
