☤ Pseudonym ☤

~Chapter Eighteen~

It was impossible to fix a regular night of the week for the DA meetings, as a result of there being members from three different Quidditch teams. Hermione however, had soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members. She gave each member a fake Galleon. The numerals around the edge of the coin change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins grow hot when it changes. Harry's coin carried a Protean Charm so when he changed his one, they would all mimic his.

All the members were in awe of Hermione's talent.

"You can do a Protean Charm?" said Terry Boot.

"Yes," said Hermione.

"But that's... that's NEWT standard, that is," he said weakly.

"Oh," said Hermione, trying to look modest. "Oh ... well ... yes, I suppose it is."

"How come you're not in Ravenclaw?" he demanded, staring at Hermione with something close to wonder. "With brains like yours?"

"Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting," said Hermione brightly, "but it decided on Gryffindor in the end. So, does that mean we're using the Galleons?"

There was a murmur of agreement and everybody moved forwards to collect one from the basket. I looked sideways at Hermione.

"You know what these remind me of?"

"No, what's that?"

"The Death Eaters' tattoos. Voldemort touches one of them, and all their scars burn, and they know they've got to join him." I said grimly, gently running my touching my own through the sleeve of my shirt. 

"Well ... yes," said Hermione quietly, "that is where I got the idea ... but you'll notice I decided to engrave the date on bits of metal rather than on our members' skin."

"Yeah ... I prefer your way," I said, grinning, as I slipped my Galleon into my pocket. "I suppose the only danger with these is that we might accidentally spend them."

"Fat chance," said Ron, who was examining his own fake Galleon with a slightly mournful air, "I haven't got any real Galleons to confuse it with."

-----

As the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, drew nearer, our DA meetings were put on hold because Angelina insisted on almost daily practices. The fact that the Quidditch Cup had not been held for so long added considerably to the interest and excitement surrounding the forthcoming game; the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were taking a lively interest in the outcome, for they, of course, would be playing both teams over the coming year; and the Heads of House of the competing teams, though they attempted to disguise it under a decent pretence of sportsmanship, were determined to see their own side victorious. 

I realised how much Professor McGonagall cared about beating Slytherin when she abstained from giving us homework in the week leading up to the match.

Snape was no less partisan; he had booked the Quidditch pitch for Slytherin practice so often that the Gryffindors had difficulty getting on it to play. He was also turning a deaf ear to the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex Gryffindor players in the corridors. 

I felt optimistic about Gryffindors chances; we had, after all, never lost to Draco's team. Admittedly, Ron was still not performing to Wood's standard, but he was working extremely hard to improve. His greatest weakness was a tendency to lose confidence after he'd made a blunder; if he let in one goal he became flustered and was therefore likely to miss more.