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THE NEWS THAT THERE WOULD BE A SECRET DEFENCE GROUP got to more people than Lyra thought it would. The four girls entered the Hogshead and about twenty other people were there too including Michael and his friends. They all sat down as Hermione started speaking.
"Well . . . erm . . . well, you know why you're here. Erm . . . well, Harry here had the idea — I mean" — Harry looked at her sharply at the mention of his name. "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 that Umbridge is doing with us, because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Hear, hear," said a Ravenclaw.
"Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands. And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells —"
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" asked Michael and his voice alone caused Lyra great annoyance.
"Of course I do," Hermione told him at once. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because . . . because . . ." She paused for a second and finished, "Because Lord Voldemort's back."
Many reacted to the mention of his name and Lyra tried not to laugh when Cho's friend spilled butterbeer on herself. "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?" bit a blond Hufflepuff boy.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it —" Hermione began.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," he said and Lyra never wanted to slap a Hufflepuff in the face so bad. "Zacharias Smith," the boy responded when Ron asked him who he was. "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."
"Look," Hermione intervened rapidly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about —" Harry told her it was okay and quickly informed everyone that if they were here to hear what happened to Cedric, they might as well leave.
"So," Hermione continued in a high pitched voice, "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 —"
