Hog's Head Inn

First half of book:

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003829962

Previous Chapters:

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003833123

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003838588

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003840013

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003841380

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003842029

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003842653

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003843726

Tags:

@SaphireStark @Missy Clara Oswald @CatsAndRoblox @Pervaza972 @Mega.mind.harry.potter

(Because they're both short and I already have them finished, I'm going to post both chapters 26 and 27 today. Enjoy.)

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Final Hiding Place

There was no means of steering; the dragon could not see where it was going, and Harry knew that if it turned sharply or rolled in midair they would find it impossible to cling onto its broad back. Nevertheless, as they climbed higher and higher, London unfurling below them like a gray-and-green map, Harry’s overwhelming feeling was of gratitude for an escape that had seemed impossible. Crouching low over the beast’s neck, he clung tight to the metallic scales, and the cool breeze both stung and soothed his burned and blistered skin, the dragon’s wings beating the air like the sails of a windmill. Behind him, whether from delight or fear he could not tell, Theodore kept swearing at the top of his voice, and Tracey seemed to be sobbing, Allison on the other hand was cheering from their impossible victory.

After five minutes or so, Harry lost some of his immediate dread that the dragon was going to throw them off, for it seemed intent on nothing but getting as far away from its underground prison as possible; but the question of how and when they were to dismount remained rather frightening. He had no idea how long dragons could fly without landing, nor how this particular dragon, which could barely see, would locate a good place to put down. He glanced around constantly, imagining that he could feel his seat prickling.

How long would it be before Voldemort knew that they had broken into the Lestranges’ vault? How soon would the goblins of Gringotts notify Bellatrix? How quickly would they realize what had been taken? And then, when they discovered that the golden cup was missing? Voldemort would know, at last, that they were hunting Horcruxes.

The dragon seemed to crave cooler and fresher air. It climbed steadily until they were flying through wisps of chilly cloud, and Harry could no longer make out the little coloured dots which were cars pouring in and out of the capital. On and on they flew, over countryside parceled out in patches of green and brown, over roads and rivers winding through the landscape like strips of matte and glossy ribbon.

‘Where is he going?’ Allison yelled as they flew farther and farther north.

‘No idea,’ Harry bellow back. His hands were numb with cold but he did not date attempt to shift his grip. He had been wondering for some time what they would do if they saw the coast sail beneath them, if the dragon headed for open sea, he was probably just as cold and numb as they were, not to mention desperately hungry and thirsty. When, Harry wondered, had the beast itself last eaten? Surely it would need sustenance before long? And what if, at that point, it realized it had four highly edible humans sitting on its back?

The sun slipped lower in the sky, which was turning indigo; and still the dragon flew, cities and towns gliding out of sight beneath them, its enormous shadow sliding over the earth like a giant dark cloud. Every part of Harry ached with the effort of holding on to the dragon’s back.

‘I could be hallucinating,’ shouted Theodore from far behind Harry after a considerable stretch of silence, ‘but I think we’re losing altitude!’

Harry looked down and saw deep green mountains and lakes, coppery in the sunset. The landscape seemed to grow larger and more detailed as he squinted over the side of the dragon, and he wondered whether it had divined the presence of fresh water by the flashes of reflected sunlight.

Lower and lower the dragon flew, in great spiraling circles, honing in, it seemed, upon one of the smaller lakes.

‘I say we jump when it gets low enough!’ Harry called back to the others. ‘Straight into the water before it realizes we’re here!’

They agreed, Tracey a little faintly, and now Harry could see the dragon’s wide yellow underbelly rippling in the surface of the water.

‘NOW!’

He slithered over the side of the dragon and plummeted feetfirst toward the surface of the lake; the drop was greater than he had estimated and he hit the water hard, plunging like a stone into a freezing, green, reed-filled world. He kicked toward the surface and emerged, panting, to see enormous ripples emanating in circles from the places where his friends had fallen. The dragon did not seem to have noticed anything; it was already fifty feet away, swooping low over the lake to scoop up water in its scarred snout. As Theodore, Allison, and Tracey emerged, spluttering and gasping, from the depths of the lake, the dragon flew on, its wings beating hard, and landed at last on a distant bank.

The gang struck out for the opposite shore. The lake did not seem to be deep. Soon it was more a question of fighting their way through reeds and mud than swimming, and at last they flopped, sodden, panting, and exhausted, onto slippery grass.

Tracey collapsed, coughing and shuddering. Though Harry could have happily lain down and slept, he staggered to his feet, drew out his wand, and started casting the usual protective spells around them.

When he had finished, he joined the others. It was the first time that he had seen them properly since escaping from the vault. All of them had angry red burns all over their faces and arms, and their clothing was singed away in places, Tracey and Allison were burned the worst as they had both been submerged in the cursed treasure.

After a few minutes of rest, while wincing, Tracey extracted three concoctions from her purse. The first one he recognized as Wound Cleaning Potion which he gladly accepted and applied then passed around, but the bottle of orange potion and jar containing an orange paste were unfamiliar.

‘Sorry, I’m all out of Essence of Dittany and Restorative Draught,’ said Tracey when she noticed his expression. ‘While it isn’t as good we’ll have to make do with Burn-Healing Paste and Invigoration Draught.’

They were wincing as they dabbed the slower healing paste onto their many injuries. once that more immediate problem was out of the way, Tracey pulled out four bottles of butterbeer as well a tin lunch box containing tuna sandwiches she had brought from Shell Cottage and clean, dry robes for all of them. They changes, ate, and then gulped down the juice.

‘Alright then, we accomplished one goal,’ said Theodore finally, who was sitting watching the burns on his hands heal, ‘we successfully stole the Horcrux. However—‘

‘—no we lost the fang,’ said Harry through gritted teeth. It was at that moment that Tracey burst into tears.

‘I am so unbelievably sorry for dropping it, this is all my fault! I tried desperately to get it back, but just as you told us we had to leave the heat must have been too much because I watched it burst apart just out of my reach and—!’

‘Tracey!’ said Harry sternly. ‘This isn’t your fault.’

‘Yeah, this is all Griphook’s doing,’ added Allison.

‘She’s right, and it’s for the best you didn’t reach it because if it had burst in your head you probably would have been infected with its venom and then you wouldn’t be here with us,’ said Theodore while trying to be supportive but coming off a little morbid.

‘What we’re trying to say is, Griphook betrayed us, he probably would have grabbed the Basilisk fang even if you hadn’t dropped it,’ concluded Harry. This managed to get Tracey to nod, and she began to calm down.

‘He betrayed us in more ways than one,’ said Allison suddenly, and the others turned to see her holding an empty tiara case. ‘He must have removed it from the case and kept it in his bag.’

Harry sighed.

‘I should have listened to Remus more carefully. He said goblins will only view goblin-made items as their own, he was never going to let us have the tiara back,’ explained Harry. ‘Oh well, that’s not that important right now I guess.’

Harry pulled the Horcrux from the pocket of the wet jacket he had just taken off and set it down on the grass in front of them. Glinting in the sun, it drew their eyes as they swigged their bottles of butterbeer.

‘Well, one blessing I guess is that we won’t be carrying this one around our necks,’ said Allison as she finished eating.

Tracey looked across the lake to the far bank where the dragon was still drinking.

‘He’s been in captivity probably for his entire life, do you think he’ll be ok on his own?’ she asked.

‘Tracey, this is probably the sickest and most malnourish dragon in the world and yet it still broke through several layers of solid rock and foundation then flew the length of the entire UK. It will be just fine,’ said Theodore. ‘We got other problems on our hands.’

‘And that is?’ asked Allison.

‘Well I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you all,’ began Theodore sarcastically, ‘but I think the entirety of the wizarding world now knows that Theodore, Allison, Tracey, and the famous Harry Potter just broke out of Gringotts on the back of a giant bloody dragon!’

All four of them started to laugh, and once started, it was difficult to stop. Harry’s ribs ached, and despite the sandwich he felt lightheaded with hunger, but he lay back on the grass beneath the reddening sky and laughed until his throat was raw.

‘What are we supposed to do from here, though?’ said Allison finally, hiccuping herself back to seriousness. ‘You-Know-Who knew what was in that vault, he has to know by now what we’ve been doing all this time. That we are hunting his Horcruxes!’

‘Perhaps the goblins will be too scared to tell anyone which vault was robbed?’ said Tracey in a false hope, ‘maybe they’ll cover the whole thing up—‘

The sky, the smell of the lake water, the sound of Tracey’s voice were extinguished. Pain cleaved Harry’s head like a sword stroke. He was standing in a dimly lit room, and a semicircle of wizards faced him, and on the floor at his feet knelt a small, quaking figure.

‘What did you say to me?’ His voice was high and cold, but fury and fear burned inside him. The one thing that he had dreaded—but it could not be true, he could not see how...The goblin was trembling, unable to meet the red eyes high above his.

‘Say it again!’ murmured Voldemort. ‘Say it again!’

‘M-my Lord,’ stammered the goblin, its black eyes wide with terror, ‘m-my Lord…we t–tried to st–stop them...Im–impostors, my Lord...broke—broke into the—into the Lestranges’ vault…’

‘Impostors? What impostors? I thought Gringotts had ways of revealing impostors? Who were they?’

‘It was...it was...the P–Potter b–boy and the th–three accomplices…’

‘And they took?’ he said, his voice rising, a terrible fear gripping him, ‘Tell me! What did they take?’

‘A…a helmet an–and a s–small golden c–cup m–my Lord...’

The scream of rage, of denial left him as if it were a stranger’s. He was crazed, frenzied, it could not be true, it was impossible, nobody had known. How was it possible that the boy could have discovered his secret?

The Elder Wand slashed through the air and green light erupted through the room; the kneeling goblin rolled over dead; the watching wizards scattered before him, terrified. Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy threw others behind them in their race for the door, and again and again his wand fell, and those who were left were slain, all of them, for bringing him this news, for hearing about the golden cup—

Alone amongst the dead he stomped up and down, and they passed before him in vision: his treasures, his safeguards, his anchors to immortality—the diary was destroyed and the cup was stolen. What if, what if, the boy knew about the others? Could he know, had he already acted, had he traced more of them? Was Dumbledore at the root of this? Dumbledore, who had always suspected him; Dumbledore, dead on his orders; Dumbledore, whose wand was his now, yet who reached out from the ignominy of death through the boy, the boy—

But surely if the boy had destroyed any of his Horcruxes, he, Lord Voldemort, would have known, would have felt it? He, the greatest wizard of them all; he, the most powerful; he, the killer of Dumbledore and of how many other worthless, nameless men. How could Lord Voldemort not have known, if he, himself, most important and precious, had been attacked, mutilated?

True, he had not felt it when the diary had been destroyed, but he had thought that was because he had no body to feel with, being less than ghost…No, surely, the rest were safe…The other Horcruxes must be intact…

But he must know, he must be sure…He paced the room, kicking aside the goblin’s corpse as he passed, and the pictures blurred and burned in his boiling brain: the lake, the shack, and Hogwarts—

A modicum of calm cooled his rage now. How could the boy know that he had hidden the ring in the Gaunt shack? No one had ever known him to be related to the Gaunts, he had hidden the connection, the killings had never been traced to him. The ring, surely, was safe.

And how could the boy, or anybody else, know about the cave or penetrate its protection? The idea of the locket being stolen was absurd…

As for the school: He alone knew where in Hogwarts he had stowed the Horcrux, because he alone had plumed the deepest secrets of that place…

And there was still Nagini, who must remain close now, no longer sent to do his bidding, under his protection…

But to be sure, to be utterly sure, he must return to each of his hiding places, he must redouble protection around each of his Horcruxes...A job, like the quest for the Elder Wand, that he must undertake alone…

Which should he visit first, which was in most danger? An old unease flickered inside him. Dumbledore had known his middle name...Dumbledore might have made the connection with the Gaunts...Their abandoned home was, perhaps, the least secure of his hiding places, it was there that he would go first…

The lake, surely impossible…though was there a slight possibility that Dumbledore might have known some of his past misdeeds, through the orphanage.

And Hogwarts…but he knew the his Horcrux there was safe; it would be impossible for Potter to enter Hogsmeade without detection, let alone the school. Nevertheless, it would be prudent to alert Snape to the fact that the boy might try to reenter the castle…To tell Snape why the boy might return would be foolish, of course; it had been a grave mistake to trust Bellatrix and Malfoy. Didn’t their stupidity and carelessness prove how unwise it was ever to trust?

He would visit the Gaunt shack first, then, and take Nagini with him. He would not be parted from the snake anymore…and he strode from the room, through the hall, and out into the dark garden where the fountain played; he called the snake in Parseltongue and it slithered out to join him like a long shadow…

Harry’s eyes flew open as he wrenched himself back to the present. He was lying on the bank of the lake in the setting sun, and Theodore, Allison, and Tracey were looking down at him. Judging by their worried looks, and by the continued pounding of his scar, his sudden excursion into Voldemort’s mind had not passed unnoticed. He struggled up, shivering, vaguely surprised that he was still wet to his skin, and saw the cup lying innocently in the grass before him, and the lake, deep blue shot with gold in the falling sun.

‘He knows,’ his own voice sounded strange and low after Voldemort’s high screams. ‘He knows and he’s going to check where the others are, and the last one,’ he was already on his feet, ‘is at Hogwarts. I knew it. I knew it.’

‘What?’

Theodore was gaping at him; Tracey sat up, looking worried. ‘But how do you know? What exactly did you see?’

‘I saw him find out about the cup, I–I was in his head, he’s—‘ Harry remembered the killings— ‘he’s seriously angry, and scared too, he can’t understand how we knew, and now he’s going to check the others are safe, the ring first. He thinks the Hogwarts one is safest, because Snape’s there, because it’ll be so hard not to be seen getting in. I think he’ll check that one last, but he could still be there within hours—‘

‘And where in Hogwarts is the other Horcrux?’ asked Allison, now scrambling to her feet too.

‘I don’t know, he was concentrating on warning Snape, he didn’t think about exactly where it is—‘

‘Sorry, wait!’ cried Theodore as Allison and now Tracey joined Harry as he picked up the Horcrux and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak again. ‘Are you saying be go now? We’re injured, hungry, we’ve got no plan, and—‘

‘We need to get going,’ said Harry firmly. He had been hoping to sleep, looking forward to getting into the new tent, but that was impossible now, ‘Can you imagine what he’s going to do once he realizes the ring and the locket are gone? What if he moves the Hogwarts Horcrux, decides it isn’t safe enough? We’ll never find it after that!’

‘Answer me this then, how in blazes are we getting into Hogwarts?’ asked Theodore, finally standing up to join them.

‘We’ll go to Hogsmeade,’ said Harry, ‘we’ll break into Honeydukes and use their passageway. Everyone get under the Cloak, I want to stick together this time.’

‘Harry, half of our legs will show—‘ began Tracey.

‘It’ll be dark, no one’s going to notice.’

The flapping of enormous wings echoed across the black water. The dragon had drunk its fill and risen into the air. They paused in their preparations to watch it climb higher and higher, now black against the rapidly darkening sky, until it vanished over a nearby mountain. Then they all huddled as closely together as possible, Harry pulled the Cloak down as far as it would go, and together they turned on the spot into the crushing darkness.

Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003622070

Chapter 2: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003623371

Chapter 3: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003624429

Chapter 4: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003627163

Chapter 5: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003627566

Chapter 6: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003628099

Chapter 7: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003629240

Chapter 8: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003629849

Chapter 9: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003633592

Chapter 10: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003636880

Chapter 11: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003637775

Chapter 12: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003637976

Chapter 13: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003644162

Chapter 14: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003647807

Chapter 15: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003659216

Chapter 16: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003662863

Tags: @Bellatrisblack @CatsAndRoblox @Rose.gold.kiisses @MeowTasticCat

Chapter Seventeen: In The Hog’s Head

Theodore made no mention of Harry giving Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons for two whole weeks after his original suggestion. Harry’s detentions with Umbridge were finally over (he doubted whether the words now etched on the back of his hand would ever fade entirely); Quidditch practices had been going well, Harry was impressed by how quickly the new teammates were improving in their positions; and all four of them had managed to fully vanish their mice in Transfiguration (Terence 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 them were sitting in the library, looking up potion ingredients for Snape.

'So Harry,' Theodore said suddenly, 'have you give any more thought into Defense Against the Dark Arts?'

‘Course I have,’ said Harry grumpily. ‘Can’t forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us—‘

‘I’m talking about what we proposed a couple weeks ago,’ Theodore specified. ‘How we think you should be teaching us?’

Harry did not answer at once. He pretended to be perusing a page of Asiatic Anti-Venoms, because he did not want to say what was in his mind.

The fact was that he had given the matter a great deal of thought over the past fortnight. Sometimes it seemed an insane idea, just as it had on the night his four friends had proposed it, but at others, he had found himself thinking about the spells that had served him best in his various encounters with Dark creatures and Death Eaters—found himself, in fact, subconsciously planning lessons...

‘Well,’ he said slowly, when he could not pretend to find Asiatic anti-venoms interesting much longer, ‘yeah, I—I’ve thought about it a bit.’

‘Well?’ said Tracey eagerly.

‘I dunno,’ said Harry, playing for time. He looked up at Allison.

‘Don’t look at me if you want to back out,’ she said with an uncharacteristic smirk. ‘I think you teaching Defence is a wise choice.’

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

‘You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn’t you?’

‘We did, Harry,’ said Tracey gently, ‘but you can not deny that a lot of what you have done also wasn’t luck, you have practiced very heard, learned everything you could, you got private lessons from Lupin who was probably the best DADA teacher we ever had. At the age of fourteen you held your own against a sixth year and two final years and all the challenges the tasks held.’

‘Will you do it Harry?’ Theodore asked in a hopeful voice.

‘Just you guys, Terence, and maybe Canini, right?’

To Harry’s surprise, Theodore suddenly became quite sheepish, ‘Er, not exactly. We aren’t the only ones getting a poor education from Umbridge, so I think anyone who finds her lessons inadequate should join. Outside of Hogwarts we’re all vulnerable to You-Know-Who and his forces, so we shouldn’t be the only ones with a slight advantage.’

Harry considered this for a moment, then said, ‘Yeah, but I doubt anyone except you guys would want to be taught by me. I’m a nutter, remember?’

‘I think you’re wrong,’ stated Allison, ‘I think many people at our school would like to listen to what you have to say, but you won’t believe us until you see it so let’s put it this way, we spread the word to those we think would be interested and see how many show up.’

Harry gave a sigh of defeat, ‘Alright then. Show up where by the way?’

‘Well, since Umbridge probably wouldn’t approve of a bunch of kids meeting to discuss how to undermine her attempts at re-educating us, I think we should have our first meeting during the upcoming Hogsmeade trip. Depending on how it goes we can try and find a better meeting spot later,’ Theodore explained.

Harry had been looking forward to the weekend trip into Hogsmeade, but there was one thing worrying him. Sirius had maintained a stony silence since he had appeared in the fire at the beginning of September; Harry knew they had made him angry by saying that they did not want him to come, when got the the chance to use the mirror only Remus would answer and would reluctantly say Sirius was always busy doing something else—but Harry still worried from time to time that Sirius might throw caution to the winds and turn up anyway. What were they going to do if the great black dog came bounding up the street toward them in Hogsmeade, perhaps under the nose of Blaise Zabini?

‘They have both been trapped in that ancient house for over three months, and without the Weasley’s their only company is each other, Kreacher, and the occasional Order meeting,’ said Tracey, when Harry discussed his fears with her and the others. ‘They are probably both bored out of their minds but Sirius seems to be more impatient than your other dad. At this point I’m not sure I could blame him if he tried to stretch his legs.’

But Theodore suddenly became very grim, ‘I don’t care how antsy either of them are to leave, Dumbledore’s right that You-Know-Who would do anything to get some leverage over Harry, and capturing one of them would do the trick nicely. Until it’s more safe they should stay put.’

Harry couldn’t help but think there might be more to what Theodore was saying, but didn’t press on.

Realizing the subject needed to be changed, Allison continued on the subject, ‘We all asked around to people we believe we can trust about if they’d like to learn some more traditional Defence Against the Dark Arts then we’re currently learning. Only those we trust will be at Hogsmeade, don’t worry.’

‘Right,’ said Harry vaguely, his mind still on Sirius.

‘It’ll be ok, Harry,’ Tracey said quietly. ‘You only need to worry about Umbridge and assignments right now, not Sirius.’

She was quite right, of course; he was barely keeping up with his homework, though he was doing much better now that he was no longer spending every evening in detention with Umbridge. Allison was even further behind with her work than Harry, because while they both had Quidditch practices twice a week, Allison still spent many late evenings keeping her mother company through the floo and it was leaving her exhausted. Tracey had started the year as bad as Harry, but with the help of Terence was figuring out better studying methods. Theodore of course was constantly ahead, but tripled his efforts in Potions anyway to not get another A.

The morning of the Hogsmeade visit dawned bright but windy. After breakfast they queued up in front of Filch, who matched their names to the long list of students who had permission from their parents or guardian to visit the village. With a slight pang, Harry remembered how became of Wormtail he and Theodore had not been allowed to go in their third year, and how their parents just barely allowed them to go both last year and this very year.

When Harry reached Filch, the caretaker gave a great sniff as though trying to detect a whiff of something from Harry. Then he gave a curt nod that set his jowls aquiver again and Harry walked on, out onto the stone steps and the cold, sunlit day.

‘Um—why did Filch smell you?’ asked Canini, who had just met up with them as she, Harry, the gang, Terence, and Colin set off at a brisk pace down the wide drive to the gates.

‘I suppose he was checking for the smell of Dungbombs,’ said Harry with a small laugh. ‘I forgot to tell you...’

And he recounted the story of sending his letter to Sirius and Remus, and Filch bursting in seconds later, demanding to see the letter. To his slight surprise, Theodore found this story highly interesting, much more, indeed, than he did himself.

‘I wonder who told him you were ordering Dungbombs?’ asked Colin.

‘Don’t know, probably Pansy or Blaise trying to get me in trouble, they likely just wanted a laugh,’ responded Harry.

They walked between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars and turned left onto the road into the village, the wind whipping their hair into their eyes.

'Pansy' said Theodore, very skeptically. ‘It could be her...maybe...’

Soon they reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade.

‘Where are we going anyway?’ Harry asked. ‘The Three Broomsticks?’

‘Not there,’ said Allison, ‘you remember how crowded it was there when we met up with Sirius and Remus, it was to easy to over hear conversations. No, we are meeting at the Hog’s Head, it’s the other village pub. It has a sketchy reputation so students never go there, well, until today.’

They walked down the main street past Zonko’s Joke Shop, where they were unsurprised to see Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, past the post office, from which owls issued at regular intervals, and turned up a side street at the top of which stood a small inn. A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door, with a picture upon it of a wild boar’s severed head leaking blood onto the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. All three of them hesitated outside the door.

‘Alright then, let’s go,’ said Tracey slightly nervously. Harry led the way inside.

It was not at all like the Three Broomsticks, whose large bar gave an impression of gleaming warmth and cleanliness. The Hog’s Head bar comprised one small, dingy, and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats. The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first glance to be earthy, though as Harry stepped onto it he realized that there was stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries.

Harry remembered Hagrid mentioning this pub in his first year: ‘Yeh get a lot o’ funny folk in the Hog’s Head,’ he had said, explaining how he had won a dragons egg from a hooded stranger there. At the time Harry had wondered why Hagrid had not found it odd that the stranger kept his face hidden throughout their encounter; now he saw that keeping your face hidden was something of a fashion in the Hog’s Head.

There was a man at the bar whose whole head was wrapped in dirty gray bandages, though he was still managing to gulp endless glasses of some smoking, fiery substance through a slit over his mouth. Two figures shrouded in hoods sat at a table in one of the windows; Harry might have thought them dementors if they had not been talking in strong Yorkshire accents; in a shadowy corner beside the fireplace sat a witch with a thick, black veil that fell to her toes. They could just see the tip of her nose because it caused the veil to protrude slightly.

‘I don’t know about this, you guys,’ Harry muttered, as they crossed to the bar. He was looking particularly at the heavily veiled witch. ‘Has it occurred to you Umbridge might be under that?’

Theodore cast an appraising eye at the veiled figure.

‘That woman is much taller than Umbridge,’ he said quietly. ‘But even if she did find out she can not punish us, I enlisted Hermione Granger to do some research for me and she found that there currently is no school rule about not entering this Pub, and what we are about to do is considered a study group which students are allowed to form without a teacher’s direct permission.’

‘Still,’ Allison added, ‘given who we’re going up against it is best we still try and keep Umbridge in the dark as much as possible.’

‘Yes,’ said Harry dryly, ‘especially as it’s not exactly a homework group you’re planning, is it?’

The barman sidled toward them out of a back room. He was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long gray hair and beard. He was tall and thin and looked vaguely familiar to Harry.

‘What?’ he grunted.

‘Can we get seven butterbeers, please,’ asked Tracy.

The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up seven very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar.

‘Fourteen Sickles,’ he said.

‘I’ll get them,’ said Harry quickly, passing over the silver. The barman’s eyes traveled over Harry, resting for a fraction of a second on his scar. Then he turned away and deposited Harry’s money in an ancient wooden till whose drawer slid open automatically to receive it.

The group retreated to the farthest table from the bar and sat down, looking around, while the man in the dirty gray bandages rapped the counter with his knuckles and received another smoking drink from the barman.

‘Well...’ said Canini with a nervous laugh, ‘I wasn’t expecting this to be how my first Hogsmeade trip to go. Going behind the schools back to a secret meeting in a sketchy bar, drinking the oldest butterbeer I’ve ever seen.’

‘You don’t have stay if you don’t want to Cani,’ Harry reassured her, ‘none of you do if you don’t want too.’

Her face quickly changed to her regular confidence, ‘You’re not getting rid of me that easy. Umbridge wants me to fail, so I want to see the look on her face when I pass the June exams with flying colours.’

‘So who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?’ Harry asked,

wrenching open the rusty top of his butterbeer and taking a swig.

‘Only a select few,’ said Tracey, checking her watch and then looking anxiously toward the door. ‘This is the time we told everyone to arrive, I don’t know why no ones here yet—oh wait, that might be some of them—‘

The door of the pub had opened. A thick band of dusty sunlight split the room in two for a moment and then vanished, blocked by the incoming rush of a crowd of people.

First came Ron and Hermione, with Neville and Dean Thomas close behind. Gryffindor’s must come in packs because the next people to come through the door were Fred and George with Lee Jordan, all three of whom were carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko’s merchandise. Next came Sophie Roper, and two Gryffindor boys Harry didn’t recognize. The final Gryffindors for the moment were Lavender Brown, who was closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with (Harry’s stomach did a back flip) Cho and one of her usually giggling girlfriends.

Harry thought that might be it but a steady stream kept arriving, Luna Lovegood came all alone and looking so dreamy that she might have walked in by accident; then Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson who had managed to smuggle Colin’s little brother Dennis out of the castle, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch- Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, then Harry’s good friend Susan and her girlfriend Lily Moon, cousins Sally and Zacharias Smith, three Hufflepuffs Harry did not know, then four of Canini’s friends named Bhavana and Ashish Patel, Graham Romsey, Laura Madley; three Ravenclaw boys called Anthony Goldstein, Terry Boot, and Michael Corner who arrived with Ginny, followed by four more Ravenclaws who Harry didn’t know; what surprised him the most was the amount of fellow Slytherins who showed up including Allison’s good friend Daphne Greengrass, Niall Urquhart, Ella Wilkins, Adrian Pucey, Scarlett Lympsham, Penelope Padgett, Bridget Maloney, and Maynard Hatton.

‘A couple of people?’ said Harry hoarsely to his friends. ‘A couple of people?’

‘Well we each only invited a few, but all combined it’s a bigger group, and then it looks like some people we invited went and invite someone people to,’ stated Allison.

‘We need more chairs,’ said Canini.

The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked as though it had never been washed. Possibly he had never seen his pub so full.

‘Hi,’ said Fred, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly. “Could we have...forty-nine butterbeers, please?’

The barman glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably as though he had been interrupted in something very important, he started passing up dusty butterbeers from under the bar.

‘Cheers,’ said Fred, handing them out. ‘Cough up, everyone, I haven’t got enough gold for all of these...’

Harry watched numbly as the large chattering group took their beers from Fred and rummaged in their robes to find coins. He could not imagine what all these people had turned up for until the horrible thought occurred to him that they might be expecting some kind of speech, at which he turned to Theodore.’

‘What have you been telling people?’ he said in a low voice. ‘What are they expecting?’

‘I didn’t lie Harry, they just want to hear you out and practice DADA,’ said Theodore calmly; but Harry continued to look at him so furiously that he added quickly, ‘You don’t even need to say anything yet, I’ll give the opening remarks.’

‘Hi, Harry,’ said Neville, beaming and taking a seat opposite Harry.

Harry tried to smile back, but did not speak; his mouth was exceptionally dry. Cho had just smiled at him and sat down on Allison’s right. Her friend, who had curly reddish-blonde hair, did not smile, but gave Harry a thoroughly mistrustful look that told Harry plainly that, given her way, she would not be here at all.

‘I want you to know, Potter,” said Ernie Macmillan in a loud, carrying voice, ‘that I personally believe you one hundred percent. My family have always stood firm behind Dumbledore, and so do I.’

‘Er—thanks very much, Ernie,’ said Harry, taken aback but pleased. Ernie might be pompous on occasions like these, but Harry appreciates his support.

In twos and threes the new arrivals settled around Harry, Tracey, Allison, and Theodore, some looking rather excited, others curious, Luna Lovegood gazing dreamily into space. When everybody had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out. Every eye was upon Harry.

‘Um,’ said Theodore, his voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. ‘So—um—hi.’

The group focused its attention on Theodore instead, though eyes continued to dart back regularly to Harry.

‘Ok...well...so you’ve all heard of our idea. Our current Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons are not adequate, so it might be best if we study it on our own’—(Theodore’s voice became suddenly much stronger and more confident)—‘because what Umbridge is doing can’t even be called teaching’—

‘Hear, hear,’ said Anthony Goldstein, and Theodore looked heartened

‘—We need to take these lessons into our own hands, and learn what we actually need to know about defensive spells, and how to perform them. Theory won’t do us any good if we are in danger and just know the history of a spell and nothing more—‘

‘You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?’ said Michael Corner.

‘Yes, that is one aspect of why we are here,’ said Theodore at once. ‘However there is a greater purpose to be truly trained to use defensive spells than just passing some test. We need to be prepared because...because...’

He took a great breath and finished, ‘Because Lord Voldemort has returned.’

The reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho’s friend shrieked and slopped butterbeer down herself, Terry Boot gave a kind of involuntary twitch, Padma Patil shuddered, and Neville gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn into a cough. All of them, however, looked fixedly, even eagerly, at Harry.

‘At least...that is what we hope to accomplish,’ said Theodore. ‘So if you are interested in learning, our next step will be to find a place—‘

‘Where’s the proof You-Know-Who’s back?’ said Zacharias Smith in a rather aggressive voice.

‘If you listened to what Dumbledore said—‘ Theodore began.

‘Dumbledore only said he’s back because he believes him,’ Zacharias, nodding at Harry. ‘And I think Dumbledore is out of his mind for believing a lying Slytherin like him. So why should we believe anything any of you lot say without proof? I think we’ve got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who’s back.’

Her face now turning red with rage, Allison stood up with her fists clenched. ‘We don’t care if you believe he’s back or not, it doesn’t make it any less true, we just wanted to help your sorry a—‘

‘It’s okay, Allison,’ said Harry.

It had just dawned upon him why there were so many people there. He felt that Theodore should have seen this coming. Some of these people—maybe even most of them—had turned up in the hope of hearing Harry’s story firsthand.

‘What makes me say You-Know-Who’s back?’ he asked, looking Zacharias straight in the face. ‘I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn’t believe him, you don’t believe me, and I’m not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone.’

The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke. Harry had the impression that even the barman was listening in. He was wiping the same glass with the filthy rag; it was becoming steadily dirtier.

Zacharias said dismissively, ‘All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory’s body back to Hogwarts. He didn’t give us details, he didn’t tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we’d all like to know—‘

‘If you’ve come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can’t help you,’ Harry said. His temper, always so close to the surface these days, was rising again. He did not take his eyes from Zacharias Smith’s aggressive face, determined not to look at Cho. ‘I don’t want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that’s what you’re here for, you might as well clear out.’

He cast an angry look in Theodore’s direction. This was, he felt, all his fault; he had decided to display him like some sort of freak and of course they had all turned up to see just how wild his story was...But none of them left their seats, not even Zacharias Smith, though he continued to gaze intently at Harry.

‘Alright,’ said Theodore, his voice filled with nerves again. ‘As I had been saying...if any of you would like to learn some actual defensive spells, then our next step is to figure out somewhere private to meet and how often—‘

‘Is it true,’ interrupted Susan Bones, while looking at Harry, ‘that you can produce a Patronus?’

There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.

‘Yeah,’ said Harry slightly defensively.

‘A corporeal Patronus?’

The phrase stirred something in Harry’s memory from the hearing.

‘Er—did your aunt Amelia tell you?’ he asked. Out of all his old friends from when he was growing up, he should have assumed Susan would know, her aunt and guardian was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and had been at Harry’s hearing. Some people in the room were now putting together that Susan was related to her and were now staring at her with equal amount of attention as they had at Harry.

Susan smiled, ‘Yeah, she told me about your hearing. So—is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?’

‘Yes,’ said Harry.

‘Goodness, Harry!’ said Daphne, looking bewildered. ‘I didn’t know you could do that!’

‘He didn’t want us bragging about it,’ said Allison, ‘but it’s true.’

‘I didn’t want it bragged for a reason,’ mumbled Harry and a couple of people laughed. The veiled witch sitting alone shifted very slightly in her seat.

‘And did you really kill a basilisk all on your own to save a student you barely knew?’ demanded Allison’s second cousin Terry Boot. ‘That’s what the portrait of Headmaster Trimbleon on the wall in Dumbledore’s office told me when I was in there last year...’

‘Er—yeah, I did, yeah,’ said Harry.

Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled, the Creevey brothers exchanged

awestruck looks, and Ella Wilkins said ‘wow’ softly. Harry was feeling slightly hot around the collar now; he was determinedly looking anywhere but at Cho.

‘And in our first year,’ said Neville to the group at large, ‘he saved that Philosopher’s Stone from You-Know-Who.’

Hannah Abbott’s eyes were as round as Galleons.

‘And that’s not to mention,’ said Cho (Harry’s eyes snapped onto her, she was looking at him, smiling; his stomach did another somersault), ‘all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year—getting past dragons and merpeople and boggarts and things...’

There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the tables. Harry’s insides were squirming. He was trying to arrange his face so that he did not look too pleased with himself. The fact that Cho had just praised him made it much, much harder for him to say the thing he had sworn to himself he would tell them.

‘Look,’ he said and everyone fell silent at once, ‘I...I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to be modest or anything, but...I had a lot of help with all that stuff...’

‘Not with the dragon, you didn’t,’ said Michael Corner at once. ‘That was a seriously cool bit of flying...’

‘Yeah, well—‘ said Harry, feeling it would be churlish to disagree.

‘And nobody helped you get rid of those dementors this summer,’ said Susan Bones.

‘No,’ said Harry, ‘no, okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I’m trying to make is—‘

‘Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?’ said Zacharias Smith. This earned him a dirty look from Ernie Macmillan.

‘Why don’t you shut your mouth for a bloody second and let him actually speak,’ said Tracey uncharacteristically loudly, before Harry could speak.

Her outburst worked however, as Zacharias now sat sheepishly and quite flushed.

‘Well, we’ve all turned up to learn from him, and now he’s telling us he can’t really do any of it,’ he said.

‘That’s not what he said,’ snarled Fred Weasley.

‘Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?’ inquired George, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko’s bags.

‘Or any part of your body, really, we’re not fussy where we stick this,’ said Fred.

‘Alright then,’ said Theodore hastily, ‘are we in agreement that we want Harry to teach us?’

There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms and said nothing, though perhaps this was because he was too busy keeping an eye on the instrument in George’s hand.

‘Ok then,’ said Theodore, looking relieved that something had at last been settled. ‘With that settled, our next order of business is how often we will be meeting. If we are actually going to learn all we need to know we should meet at least once a week—‘

‘Hang on,’ said Angelina, ‘we need to make sure this doesn’t clash with our Quidditch practice.’

‘No,’ said Cho, ‘nor with ours.’

‘Nor ours,’ added Zacharias Smith.

It was Terence’s turn to speak up, ‘I think if all four teams communicate with each other we’ll be able to come up with one or two time slots that none of us are practicing. For any of this to work we are going to have to work as a school, not as four houses.’

‘Terence is right,’ said Theodore, ‘we have to work together as this could mean life or death. I now live with Harry’s family, but my biological father was and still is a Death Eater, I know first had how much pain and destruction them and Voldemort are capable of. We are not prepared, but we can learn to be.’

‘Well said!’ barked Ernie Macmillan, whom Harry had been expecting to speak long before this. ‘Personally I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we’ll do this year, even with our O.W.L.s coming up!’

He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry, ‘Surely not!’ When nobody spoke, he went on, ‘I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells—‘

‘It is our belief that Umbridge and the Ministry as a whole don’t want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts,’ said Theodore, ‘they have the crazy idea that Dumbledore wants to use us students as his own private army. An army to use against the Ministry.’

Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news; everybody except Luna Lovegood, who piped up, ‘Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army.’

‘What?’ said Harry, completely thrown by this unexpected piece of information.

‘Yes, he’s got an army of heliopaths,’ said Luna solemnly.

‘No, he hasn’t,’ snapped Hermione Granger, who seemed to hold a grudge against Luna.

‘Yes, he has,’ said Luna.

‘What are heliopaths?’ asked Neville, looking blank.

‘They’re spirits of fire,’ said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever. ‘Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of—‘

‘They don’t exist, Neville,’ said Hermione tartly.

‘Oh yes they do!’ said Luna angrily.

‘Hem, hem,’ said Ginny Weasley in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. ‘Weren’t we trying to decide how often we’re going to meet and get Defense lessons?’

‘Ginny’s right,’ said Theodore at once, ‘so what is our final decision on how often we’ll be meeting...’

‘Well, once a week sounds cool,’ said Lee Jordan.

‘As long as—‘ began Angelina.

‘Yeh, yeh, yeh, it won’t interfere with Quidditch,’ said Theodore in a tense voice. ‘Well, the final thing we need to figure out is where we will hold these meetings...’

This was rather more difficult; the whole group fell silent.

‘Library?’ suggested Katie Bell after a few moments.

‘I can’t see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library,’ said Harry.

‘Maybe an unused classroom?’ said Dean.

‘Perhaps,’ said Allison, ‘Professor McGonagall might let us use hers, she let us help Harry train there for the third task...’

But Harry was pretty certain that McGonagall would not be so accommodating this time. For all that Theodore had said about study and homework groups being allowed, he had the distinct feeling this one might be considered a lot more rebellious.

‘Well then, everyone keep thinking of location ideas,’ said Theodore. ‘We’ll let everyone know when we have a time and place for our next meeting. Before you all leave, Allison has a sheet of paper, anyone who wants to join should sign it so we know who to contact when we’re ready to meet again.’

Before people could stand, Theodore had one last thing to say, ‘For our own safety I also think it’s in our best interest that we keep this a secret from Umbridge, or anyone we don’t trust. If you’re signing, you’re promising to keep this quiet.’

The Weasley’s reached out for the parchment and cheerfully put down their signatures, but Harry noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of putting their names on the list.

‘Er...’ said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying to pass him. ‘Well...I’m sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is.’

But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing too. Theodore raised his eyebrows at him.

‘I—well, we are prefects,’ Ernie burst out. ‘And if this list was found...well, I mean to say...you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out...’

‘You just said this group was the most important thing you’d do this year,’ Harry reminded him.

‘I—yes,’ said Ernie, ‘yes, I do believe that, it’s just...’

‘Once signed, the list is going somewhere safe,’ said Allison suddenly. ‘And we’ll be protecting it with our lives. I promise.’

While Harry and his friends knew Allison was more than this, the rest of the year mostly knew her as the school’s toughest Beater, and knew several Hexes, so her promising to protect the list seemed to boost confidence.

‘No. No, of course not,’ said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. ‘I—yes, of course I’ll sign.’

Nobody raised objections after Ernie, though Harry saw Cho’s friend give her a rather reproachful look before adding her name. When the last person—Zacharias—had signed, Allison took the parchment back and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as though they had just signed some kind of contract.

‘Well, time’s ticking on,’ said Fred briskly, getting to his feet. ‘George, Lee, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we’ll be seeing you all later.’

In twos and threes the rest of the group took their leave too. Colin decided to escort Dennis back instead of walking back with Theodore and the others. Cho made rather a business of fastening the catch on her bag before leaving, her long dark curtain of hair swinging forward to hide her face, but her friend stood beside her, arms folded, clicking her tongue, so that Cho had little choice but to leave with her. As her friend ushered her through the door, Cho looked back and waved at Harry.

‘All things considered I think today was quite successful,’ said Canini cheerfully as they started packing up.

‘Is Zacharias in your year, Cani? He’s a bit of a jerk,’ asked Harry.

‘No, he’s a year older, and it’s not just you who thinks that, Sally barely tolerates him. I think he only came in the end because she was going.’

‘As long as he keeps his mouth shut I say the more the merrier,’ said Tracey. ‘Like, Michael Corner and his friends wouldn’t have even come if he wasn’t dating Ginny, but thanks to that we have several more members.’

Now finished cleaning up, Harry and the gang walked out of the Hog’s Head into the bright sunlight a few moments later, Harry, Theodore, and Terence still clutching their bottles of butterbeer.

Only moment’s after leaving the pub they heard from around the corner, ‘Psss!’

Cautiously Harry and the gang turned the corner, only to see an elderly woman standing there, though Harry quickly recognized this disguise.

‘Tonks,’ Harry whispered, ‘is that you?’

‘Yeah, the Order doesn’t know I’m here so I had to come in disguise.’

Harry gestured to Terence and Allison, ‘Guys, this is my cousin Tonks, she doesn’t normally look like this. And this is my good friends Terence and Allison.’

‘It’s nice to meet you Terence, though I’ve actually met Alli.’

‘Yeah, after your hearing I hung out with her at the auror office multiple times until school started.’

‘Oh, well, what bring you here?’ asked Harry, ‘not that it’s not good to see you again.’

‘Sirius asked me to check up on you, he told me about what has been happening. It took me a while to find you, didn’t think you knew the Hog’s Head even existed. I arrived just as you gave your big speech, I’m really proud of you, you too Theo, really I’m proud of all of you. You are doing what the Order could only imagine, swaying the wizarding world to believe You-Know-Who is in fact back and convincing them to fight back.’

A big smile had crossed all of their faces, even Allison had a little smirk.

‘I can’t stay as people will soon notice I’m missing, but I want you all to know I support what you’re doing and I’m sure Sirius and Remus will be too when I tell them. Stay safe everyone.’

‘You as well,’ Harry said, and with a popping noise she apparated away.

There confidence in what they were doing at an all time high they returned to heading back towards Hogwarts. When they were about halfway through Hogsmeade Tracey pipped up.

‘So are you and Cho official now?’

‘What d’you mean?’ said Harry quickly.

It was as though boiling water was rising rapidly inside him; a burning sensation that was causing his face to smart in the cold—had he been that obvious?

‘Well Harry,’ said Tracey, smiling slightly, ‘I’m not sure how you didn’t notice, but her eyes didn’t leave you once.’

Harry had never before appreciated just how beautiful the village of Hogsmeade was.