Poisoned Youth | ✓

25- Hog's Head

Hermione and I made no mention of Harry giving Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons for two whole weeks after our original suggestion. Harry's detentions with Umbridge were finally over; Ron had had four more Quidditch practices and not been shouted at during the last two (or so I heard); and all four of us had managed to Vanish our mice in Transfiguration (Hermione and I had actually progressed to Vanishing kittens), before the subject was broached again, on a wild, blustery evening at the end of September, when the four of us were sitting in the library, looking up potion ingredients for Snape.

Hermione shot me a tentative look and I gave her a simple, curt nod.

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

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

"No, I meant the idea Iverson, Ronald, and I had" — Ron cast her an alarmed, threatening kind of look; she frowned at him— "oh, all right, the idea Iverson and I had, then— about you teaching us."

"Well," Harry said looking up from his book, "yeah, I— we've thought about it a bit."

"And?" I said eagerly.

"I dunno," said Harry looking over at me. I gave him a small smile.

"I thought it was a good idea from the start," said Ron, who seemed keener to join in this conversation now that he was sure that Harry was not going to start shouting again.

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair and sighed, "I'm alright to help you guys. But you did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?"

"Yes," said Hermione gently, "but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, because you are. You were the only one last year who could completely 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 looked around at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck; rubbing it, he said, "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"

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

"Hermione—"

She shook her head exasperatedly and, ignoring Ron, who was continuing to watch her, said to Harry, "Well, what do you think?"

"Just you, Ivy, and Ron, yeah?" Harry said.

"Well—"

"Well?" Harry butted in. "There is no well! I thought it was just—"

"Now," I said anxiously, "don't fly off the handle again, please... But I really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against Voldemort— oh, don't be pathetic, Ron— it doesn't seem fair if we don't offer the chance to other people."

Harry considered this for a moment, then said, "Yeah, but I doubt anyone except you three 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," said Hermione seriously. "Look," she leaned toward us; Ron, who was still watching her with a frown on his face, leaned forward to listen too, "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?" said Ron.

"Because," said Hermione, returning to the diagram of the Chinese Chomping Cabbage she was copying, "I don't think Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up to."