Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on 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 –’
    ‘We think the reason Umbridge doesn’t want us trained in Defence Against the Dark Arts,’ said Hermione, ‘is that she’s got some … some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he’d mobilise us 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.
    ‘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.
    ‘I’m sorry, but where’s the proof of that?’ snapped Hermione.
    ‘There are plenty of eye-witness accounts. Just because you’re so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you –’
    ‘Hem, hem,’ said Ginny, 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 have defence lessons?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Hermione at once, ‘yes, we were, you’re right, Ginny.’
    ‘Well, once a week sounds cool,’ said Lee Jordan.
    ‘As long as –’ began Angelina.
    ‘Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch,’ said Hermione in a tense voice. ‘Well, the other thing to decide is where we’re going to meet …’
    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.
    ‘Yeah,’ said Ron, ‘McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practising for the Triwizard.’
    But Harry was pretty certain that McGonagall would not be so accommodating this time. For all that Hermione had said about study and homework groups being allowed, he had the distinct feeling that this one might be considered a lot more rebellious.
    ‘Right, well, we’ll try to find somewhere,’ said Hermione. ‘We’ll send a message round to everybody when we’ve got a time and a place for the first meeting.’
    She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.
    ‘I – I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think,’ she took a deep breath, ‘that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we’re doing. So if you sign, you’re agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we’re up to.’
    Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully wrote his signature, 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 to him, ‘well … I’m sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is.’
    But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing, too. Hermione raised her 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 –’
    ‘Ernie, do you really think I’d leave that list lying around?’ said Hermione testily.
    ‘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 own name. When the last person – Zacharias – had