Chapter Text
Chapter One
Late September, evening. The Great Hall
"Almost done?" Ron asked as he shoveled a final spoonful of food into his mouth.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "What's the rush? Really cutting dinner short to finish Umbridge's essay?"
"Of course not," Ron snorted, "Wanted to go over our strategy for the match against Ravenclaw."
Harry glanced over to the Ravenclaw table, scanning for a glimpse of the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang. She was talking animatedly to Roger Davies, the length of her smooth black hair falling flawlessly behind her. He'd really only noticed how pretty she was after playing several matches against her, and now he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. A sharp jab to his side startled him.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about." Ron sniggered.
"Piss off, mate. I haven't lost a match against her yet," Harry retorted.
"We'll be lucky to continue that at this rate. C'mon, let's head up," Ron replied.
Shaking his head, Harry took a final sip of his pumpkin juice and started the trek up to their dormitory with Ron. Halfway to the third floor, a sneering voice echoed through the castle's corridors. Harry exchanged glances with Ron, and they hurriedly followed the voice which they'd recognize anywhere.
"So, Longbottom - " Malfoy drawled, his wand out and pointing towards a cowering Neville. Harry turned the corner and burst into view, wand in hand, with Ron closely behind him.
"Malfoy! Wand down and leave!" Harry ordered dangerously, red sparks flying out of the tip of his phoenix feather wand. Malfoy, outnumbered without his goons, pocketed his wand and strolled away, whistling a merry tune. With a murderous look on his face, Ron took aim at Malfoy's retreating form and opened his mouth to speak.
"Don't," Neville said, his hand shaking as he pocketed his wand. "It's not worth it, I'm fine, anyway. Malfoy always does that, harassing students in the corridor and trying to scare them."
Harry frowned. "We can't let him and his goons keep getting away with it. How long has this been going on, Neville?"
"He's always been a git to me, but he's never drawn his wand before this term began." Neville said dejectedly. "Not that I could ever beat him in a duel. And now with that hag Umbridge teaching Defence, it doesn't look like I'll be learning anything useful."
"Wait, Harry - you're great at Defence, couldn't you give Neville a couple of pointers? And... maybe even teach me a couple of tricks?" Rona asked excitedly, smiling at his own genius. Neville looked at Harry, a glimmer of hope shining in his eyes.
"Well, I'm really not that great of a teacher" Harry started.
"Rubbish," Ron said, "Everyone knows you're the best at the practical stuff. There's no way we can just let Malfloy go waltzing around and bullying people for fun." Neville nodded fervently.
Harry sighed, weighing his options. He definitely wouldn't match up to the likes of Lupin or Moody, but Ron was right. They had to take a stand against Malfloy and the Slytherins. "Alright, fine we can try it out. Let's head in here," Harry said, motioning towards the nearest empty classroom.
"Well, er, I suppose we can start with expelliarmus" Harry said once they were positioned inside the classroom. "Taking away your opponent's wand will make them unable to do anything in most situations. It also doesn't cause any physical harm, making it one of the safest Defence spells."
"C'mon, we learned this years ago," Ron complained, "can we try something cooler?"
Harry's eyes narrowed. "Well, since you're an expert, disarm me!" Ron grunted, and they moved to the front of the classroom, facing each other. Harry held his wand firmly, concentrating hard on the connection between his hand and the phoenix feather wand.
"Expelliarmus" Ron shouted. A jet of silver light shot out and hit Harry. His wand gave a feeble jerk, but remained in his hand. Ron's face transformed into one of bewilderment and awe.
"It's true, this spell is basic to learn, but there's many ways to defend against it, and ways to combat those defences too. Expelliarmus!" Harry said, and caught Ron's wand with ease as it soared past Neville's head.
"Neville, get up here, I'll have you two practice against each other." Harry said. Neville stood to face Ron as Harry handed his wand back. Harry began lecturing, "Now, Neville, expelliarmus is all about the wand, not the wizard, so concentrate on the opponent's wand and not their body..."
The Library
Hermione Granger's quill scratched along the bottom of her twenty inch parchment before finally being slammed unceremoniously on the tabletop. She gave a huge sigh. What was wrong with her? She thought. Being in the library, in her cushy chair farthest from the entrance and learning from her homework was usually an exciting part of her day. Except, she learned exactly nothing from this piece of homework. She glared angrily at her textbook. Slinkhard was even worse than Lockhart, she decided. At least Lockhart was entertaining to read. Of course, it wasn't Slinkhard's fault, it was Professor Umbridge and her simpering smile that had intentionally stripped their entire fifth year of their Defence education. Ignoring the practical portion of Defence was like learning to walk from a textbook. In other words, impossible. She shook her head; it would almost be time for her patrols as prefect, and she didn't want to be late.
She neatly packed her essay into her bag and then slung it over her shoulder as she walked back toward the Ravenclaw tower. She went up a flight of stairs and turned left onto a corridor, completely lost in thought of how she could supplement her Defence education, when a loud bang startled her.
" Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus! I did it! I finally did it!" a voice coming from the classroom on her left sounded. She sighed. Her patrols hadn't even officially begun and she'd already found students dueling in the classrooms. Adjusting the badge on her robes and readying her wand, she pulled open the door and stepped inside.
"Stop! Dueling is strictly prohibited outside of specific class sanctioned activities" she ordered, zoning in on the three boys inside the classroom. Three boys, she recognized a second later, as her Gryffindorian friends. Well, perhaps acquaintances would be a better term. She knew she wasn't the most popular girl like Cho, who had boys from every house wrapped around her finger, but having to reprimand her only allies outside Ravenclaw wouldn't bode well for her.
"We weren't dueling!" Ron asserted. "We were just - er - practicing!" Hermione snorted. Did he really think he'd get away with that excuse? Crookshanks could have come up with a better reason.
"It's true," Neville said, "Malfloy was harassing me so I asked Harry to teach me some ways to defend myself. With that hag Umbridge, there's no way I'll learn anything useful." Hermione sympathized. Neville was a nice boy, and Malfloy was notorious for focusing on Harry and him.
"Yeah, I was showing them expelliarmus, which, as you know, is completely harmless, so no one could have gotten hurt," Harry offered. Hermione finally lowered her wand, glaring at each of the boys. Suddenly, her eyes caught on a badge on Harry's robes and she remembered.
"Harry! You're a prefect! You're supposed to follow the rules and be a model for others to learn from!" Hermione shot another glare at the dark haired boy.
"Sorry Hermione, I know," Harry said, a puppy eyed look forming on his face. "I just wanted to help Neville and Ron now that the Umbridge woman won't let us learn anything. Are you really going to dock points from your friends?" Hermione felt butterflies in her stomach at the look Harry gave her. Get it together, Granger. She bit her lip, thinking. It was true: Umbridge had really punched a hole in her education, and here they were, taking matters into their own hands. MAybe if they - no, maybe Harry would also agree to teach her? He was top of the class in Defence practicals and he did say they were friends. Her heart gave a hopeful squeeze at that thought. Get it together, Granger.
"Well, why are you only teaching Neville and Ron? Could you also teach m- others who are interested?" Hermione asked as her expression relaxed.
"Yeah Harry, think about it - we could get the rest of the Gryffindors and any Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs who are interested so we know how to defend ourselves" Ron suggested again, excitement creeping back into his voice.
"I dunno about that, with just you two I'm fine but for that many people I'm not that great of a teacher," Harry replied.
"Rubbish," Hermione said. "You're the best in our class! You always master the spells in Defence the fastest, you come up with variations in class that take real creativity, you've never lost a duel before, you - " Hermione cut herself off, looking slightly embarrassed. She hadn't meant to start rambling over Harry, but he was just so... accomplished at Defence. Hopefully none of them had noticed.
"You really think so?" Harry asked hopefully. She rolled her eyes.
"Didn't you hear what I just said? Yes, I think so," she replied.
"Well I guess we can give it a shot and see who's interested," Harry replied. He checked the time. "We should really get back to our dorms now, curfew is in ten minutes."
She nodded in agreement and turned to leave. As she exited the door, she looked over her shoulder on a whim and saw a pair of green eyes locked to hers before quickly looking away.
The next morning. The Great Hall.
"Well, what do you reckon?" Ron asked as he piled pancakes onto his plate.
Harry gave a noncommittal shrug. He had thought about Hermione's proposal of starting some type of Defence group quite a bit. Well, he had decided fairly quickly to try and help his fellow classmates with Defence. Even if he wasn't the greatest teacher, it was, as Ron and Neville had suggested, better than anything Umrbdige would ever offer.
What had stayed on his mind was a certain brown-haired witch. He glanced over at the Ravenclaw table, searching for her trademark soft curls. She had changed over the summer: she had carried herself with more authority last night, and - did she do something with her hair? His daydreams kicked into overdrive as he imagined running his hands through her hair and inhaling her sweet cinnamon scent. They've always been close - or as close as different Houses would get - Ron and he would often study with Luna and Hermione for various classes or group up for projects. When she'd burst into their impromptu Defence lesson last night and started praising his Defence talents, well, he'd certainly never felt butterflies in his stomach when anyone else talked to him like that. Not even Cho.
A waving hand interrupted his thoughts. He scanned up the length of the arm, finally landing on the face of Cho Chang, smiling brightly at him, which he responded with a small smile and a wave of his own.
"Again, Harry?" Ron groaned. "At least she looked at you this time. C'mon, eat or we'll be late for Herbology." Harry grunted and started piling up his plate as well.
After the two had finished their breakfast, they headed out towards the courtyard, walking to the greenhouses. The greenhouse had barely come into view when they heard a voice calling out from their left.
"Over here, class! We're starting here today!" Professor Sprout said, waving her arms over her head.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, "I thought all the dangerous plants had to be kept in the greenhouse."
"Beats me," Ron replied. They walked towards Professor Sprout as some of their other classmates came, the same confused look on their face. Behind Professor Sprout was a large array of potted plants, most of which looked like ordinary flowers. They came in every shape and size and would have put Petunia's small garden to shame. Harry didn't even know this many flowers existed.
"Today I will be teaching uses of various flowers, their effects and uses," Professor Sprout began. "Normally, I would not have grown these, but someone," she broke off, coughing several times before recovering, "decided that they would need flowers. I'd like you to first take a look at all the flowers and see which ones you recognize." The class dispersed through the field and a chatter broke out.
"Fat load of good this sunflower'll do against deatheaters, eh?" Ron said, as he and Harry approached the field.
"Yeah, can't believe Umbridge is - " Harry began.
"Oh my god!" a voice to their right squealed, "I absolutely love tulips." Harry started, looked up, and saw Cho twirl a deep red tulip on her fingers as she batted her eyelids in his direction.
"Girls," Ron groaned, "leave it to them to think flowers are more important than venomous tentacula." He signalled to Harry and they quickly strolled to the other side of the field, hopefully with fewer flower enthusiasts. A new voice floated over.
"So Hermione, do you have a favorite?" Luna asked as she peered at a large violet flower.
"Er, not really, but if I had to choose, I think I prefer the hydrangeas the most," Hermione replied, pointing out a pot carrying beautiful light-blue hydrangeas.
"C'mon, we're not safe in the field," Ron said, "I think we've seen enough." Harry nodded in agreement and followed Ron out, hesitating for a split second to memorize what a hydrangea looked like.