when i met you

94

Angelina and Alexis had gone to see Professor Umbridge to ask for permission to reform the Gryffindor Quidditch Team and it hadn't gone terribly. Umbridge had said they could start practice in two days but not immediately—Slytherin were already practicing.

Then, Lexi had been informed by Ron that Sirius sent a note implying for another meeting in the fire that night. The fifth-year trio and Head Girl stayed in the common room until finally everyone had left (Lexi dozed off multiple times).

"Shouldn't you be using this time to study for NEWTs or do homework?" asked Hermione as she, Harry and Ron had been doing homework.

Lexi shook her head, "You don't much homework in seventh, teachers want you to focus on NEWTs. I study the courses in the holidays to give me free time like this."

Lexi hadn't been the only one to doze off a few times over the past hour or so, Ron had too.

Finally, Sirius' head popped into the fire.

"Sirius!" they all exclaimed in quiet voices.

"How're things?" said Sirius.

"Not that good," said Harry. "The Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams —"

"— or secret Defense Against the Dark Arts groups?" said Sirius.

There was a short pause. Dammit.

"How did you know about that?" Harry demanded.

"You want to choose your meeting places more carefully," said Sirius, grinning still more broadly. "The Hog's Head, I ask you..."

"Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks!" said Hermione defensively. "That's always packed with people —"

"— which means you'd have been harder to overhear," said Sirius. "You've got a lot to learn."

"Who overheard us?" Harry demanded.

"Mundungus, of course," said Sirius, and when they all looked puzzled he laughed. "He was the witch under the veil."

"Of course he was," Lexi let out an eye roll.

"That was Mundungus?" Harry said, stunned. "What was he doing in the Hog's Head?"

"What do you think he was doing?" said Sirius impatiently. "Keeping an eye on you, of course."

"I'm still being followed?" asked Harry angrily, looking from Sirius to Lexi and back again.

"Yeah, you are," said Sirius, "and just as well, isn't it, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is off is organize an illegal defence group."

But he looked neither angry nor worried; on the contrary, he was looking at Harry with distinct pride.

"Why was Dung hiding from us?" asked Ron, sounding disap­pointed. "We'd've liked to've seen him."

"Because if we'd seen him, we wouldn't have started blabbing about the group!" Lexi muttered

"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago," said Sirius, "and that barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately..."

"Anyway... First of all, Ron—I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother."

"Oh yeah?" said Ron, sounding apprehensive.

"She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group. She says you'll be ex­pelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also —" Sirius's eyes turned to the other three "— advises Harry, Alexis and Hermione not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that she has no authority over any of them and simply begs them to remember that she has their best interests at heart. She would have written all this to you, but if the owl had been intercepted you'd all have been in real trouble, and she can't say it for herself because she's on duty tonight."

"On duty doing what?" said Ron quickly.

"Never you mind, just stuff for the Order," said Sirius, eyes flicking past Lexi quickly. "So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all on, because I don't think she trusts me to."

There was another pause.

"So you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the defence group?" Ron muttered finally.

"Me? Certainly not!" said Sirius, looking surprised. "I think it's an excellent idea!"

"You do?" said Harry, his heart lifting.

"Of course I do!" said Sirius. "D'you think your father and I would've lain down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge?"

Lexi felt a pit inside her stomach.

"But—last term all you did was tell me to be careful and not take risks —"

"Last year all the evidence was that someone inside Hogwarts was trying to kill you, Harry!" said Sirius impatiently. "This year we know that there's someone outside Hogwarts who'd like to kill us all, so I think learning to defend yourselves properly is a very good idea!"

"And if we do get expelled?" Hermione asked, a quizzical look on her face.

"Hermione, this whole thing was your idea!" said Harry, staring at her.

"I know it was. ... I just wondered what Sirius thought," she said, shrugging.

"Well, better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school without a clue," said Sirius.

"Hear, hear," said Harry and Ron enthusiastically.

"So," said Sirius, "how are you organizing this group? Where are you meeting?"

"Room of Requirement," said Lexi proudly.

"The roo— you found it?!" Sirius' eyes doubled.

Lexi nodded, "Yeah, in fourth-year actually."

"Oh, wow! That's —"

He broke off. His face was suddenly tense, alarmed. He turned sideways, apparently looking into the solid brick wall of the fireplace.

"Sirius?" said Harry anxiously.

But he had vanished.

"Why did he —?"

Hermione gave a horrified gasp and leapt to her feet, still staring at the fire. Lexi jumped back.

A hand had appeared amongst the flames, groping as though to catch hold of something; a stubby, short-fingered hand covered in ugly old-fashioned rings.

The four of them ran for it. Umbridge's hand was still making snatching movements amongst the flames, as though she knew exactly where Sirius's hair had been moments before and was determined to seize it.

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