I felt happier for the rest of the weekend than I had done all term. Me and Terry spent much of Sunday catching up with all our homework, and although this could hardly be called fun, the last burst of autumn sunshine persisted, so rather than sitting hunched over tables in the common room or the back corner of the library, we took our work outside and lounged in the shade of a large beech tree on the edge of the lake. Fred and George, who of course didn't do homework (I preferred to do it to the worst of my ability), sat beside us and distracted us, chatted loudly, and worked on the Snackboxes. 

Knowing we were doing something to resist Umbridge and the Ministry and that I was a key part of the rebellion, gave me a feeling of immense satisfaction. I kept reliving Saturday's meeting in my mind: all those people, coming to me to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts... and the looks on their faces as they had heard some of the things I had done... knowing all those people thought me someone to be admired, buoyed me up so much that I was still cheerful on Monday morning, despite the imminent prospect of all my least favourite classes.

The twins and I headed downstairs from our dormitory, discussing this night's Quidditch practice, and not until we were halfway across the sunlit common room did we notice the addition to the room that had already attracted the attention of a small group of people.

A large sign had been affixed to the Grffindor noticeboard, so large it covered everything else on it - the lists of secondhand spellbooks for sale, the regular reminders of school rules from Filch that I had graffitied all over, the Quidditch team training timetable, the offers to barter certain Chocolate Frog Cards for others, our latest advertisement for testers ("Rude!" I said huffily), the dates of the Hogsmeade weekends, and the lost and found notices. The new sign was printed in large black letters and there was a highly official-looking seal at the bottom beside a neat and curly signature.

'BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS    

All student organisations, societies, teams, groups, and clubs are henceforth disbanded.   

An organisation, society, team, group, or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No student organisation, society, team, group, or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organisation, society, team, group, or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.

Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor' 

Terry came bowling through the portrait hole as a few third-years were leaving, hair messed up as if he hadn't brushed it this morning. 

"Did you guys fuckin' see it yet?!" He skidded to a stop beside Fred, George, and I, and we all read the notice together over the heads of some anxious-looking second-years.

"Does this mean they're going to shut down the Gobstones Club?" One of them asked his friend.

"I reckon you'll be OK with Gobstones." I said darkly, making the second-year jump. 

"I don't think we're going to be as lucky, though, do you?" Fred asked George and I as the second-years hurried away.

I was reading the notice through again. The happiness that had filled me since Saturday was gone. My insides were pulsing with rage.

"This isn't a coincidence." I said, my hands forming fists. "The motherfucker knows." 

"There were people listening in that pub. And let's face it, we don't know how many of the people who turned up we can trust... some of them aren't even our friends, they're just our classmates -" Terry said. 

"Zacharias Smith!" I said at once, punching a fist into my hand. 

"Or maybe those Brooke twins, I haven't seen much of them about the place -" George started, grinning. 

"Wasn't us." The pastel-pink-haired girl, Bonnie, said as she and her sister swept past. 

"Snitches get stitches." The chestnut-haired one, Connie, said. 

"And we're not looking to go to the hospital wing today, are we, Connie?" Bonnie smirked. 

"Not at all, Bonnie." Connie grinned, and the two clambered out of the portrait hole. I watched George's eyes on Bonnie's ass until it disappeared behind the Fat Lady. 

"Bushy likes a bit of bubblegum, huh?" I smirked. 

George jumped, then shot me a stare with narrowed eyes. I simply stared back, my smirk widening. 

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I looked away to see Harry blowing up my phone. He'd seen the notice and was in the Great Hall with Ron, probably ranting away to the poor ginger. 

"I wonder if Hermione and Kylie've seen this yet?" I said, looking round at the door to the girls' dormitories.

"Let's go and tell them." Terry said. 

"Okay." I grinned, knowing what was going to happen if the three boys stepped foot on the stairs. 

I bounded forwards, pulled open the door, and set off up the spiral staircase, Terry and the twins hot on my heels. 

I was halfway up when there was a loud, wailing, klaxon-like sound and the steps melted together to make a long, smooth stone slide like a helter-skelter. I turned gleefully, dropping onto my ass. There was a brief moment when Terry, Fred, and George tried to keep running, arms working madly like windmills, then they all toppled over backwards and shot down the newly created slide, coming to rest on their backs. I joined them a second later, falling over the boy-heap, sniggering. 

Two fourth-year girls came zooming gleefully down the stone slide as the four of us staggered up, snickering and slapping each other on the back.

"Oooh, who tried to get upstairs?" The girls giggled happily, leaping to their feet and ogling the Insurgents. 

"Us." Terry said, who was still rather dishevelled. "I didn't realise that would happen. It's not fair!" He added to me, as the girls headed off for the portrait hole, still giggling madly. "You're allowed in Red and Bushy's dormitory, how come we're not allowed -?" 

"Well, it's an old-fashioned rule." Hermione said, who had just slid neatly on to a rug in front of us and was now getting to her feet. "But it says in Hogwarts: A History, that the founders thought boys were less trustworthy than girls." 

"Didn't you know that, guys?" I turned to Fred and George. 

"Aye." Fred said. "We just wanted a little slide." 

I grinned. 

"Why were you lot trying to get in there?" Kylie zoomed neatly behind Hermione. 

"To see you - look at this!" I said, grabbing Hermione and Kylie's arms and dragging them over to the noticeboard.

Hermione's eyes slid rapidly down the notice. Her expression became stony.

"Someone must have blabbed to her." Fred said angrily.

"They can't have done." Hermione said in a low voice.

"Why not, honestly I thought Zach was a bit sketchy -" 

"No, they can't have done, because I put a jinx on that piece of parchment we all signed." Hermione said grimly. "Believe me, if anyone's run off and told Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are and they will REALLY regret it." 

"What'll happen to them?" I said eagerly, as Fred and George looked at her with admiration. 

"Well, put it this way," said Hermione, "it'll make Eloise Midgeon's acne look like a couple of cute freckles. Come on, let's get down to breakfast and see what the others think... I wonder whether this has been put up in all the houses?" 

"It's in mine." Terry huffed. 

It was immediately apparent on entering the Great Hall that Umbridge's sign had not only appeared in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Tower. There was a peculiar intensity about the chatter and an extra measure of movement in the Hall as people scurried up and down their tables conferring on what they had read. Me, Terry, Fred, George, Hermione, and Kylie had barely taken our seats when Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, Seamus, and Ginny descended upon us.

"Did you see it?" 

"D'you reckon she knows?" 

"What are we going to do?" 

They were all looking at me. I glanced around to make sure there were no teachers near us.

"We're going to do it anyway, of course." I said quietly.

"Knew you'd say that." Seamus said, beaming and thumping me on the arm.

"The prefects as well?" Fred said, looking quizzically at Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Of course." Harry said.

"Here come Ernie and Hannah Abbott." Terry said, looking over his shoulder. "And Suzanne and Draco and Anthony and Smith... and no one looks very spotty." 

Hermione looked alarmed.

"Never mind spots, the idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really suspicious - sit down!" She mouthed to Suzanne, Ernie, and Hannah, gesturing frantically to them to rejoin the Hufflepuff table. "Later! We'll - talk - to - you - later!" 

"I'll tell Draco." Terry said impatiently, swinging himself off his bench. "The silly little boy, honestly..." 

He hurried off towards the Slytherin table; I watched him go. Fred threw an arm around me as I munched on my toast, gazing around the hall. 

But the full repercussions of the sign were not felt until we were leaving the Great Hall for History of Magic.

"Daisy! Harry! Fred! George! Ron!" 

It was Angelina and she was hurrying towards us looking perfectly desperate.

"You realise she's including Quidditch in this?" Angelina said. "We have to go and ask permission to re-form the Gryffindor team!" 

"What?" Harry and I said.

"No way." Ron said, appalled. 

"What the fuck?" The twins chorused. 

"You read the sign, it mentions teams too! So listen, Daisy... I am saying this for the last time... please, please don't fuck around with Umbridge again, at least for a while, or she might not let us play any more!" 

"OK, OK." I said, for Angelina looked as though she was on the verge of tears. "Don't worry, I'll behave myself..." 

"Bye, Freddie..." I stood on my tip-toes to kiss Fred quickly while the group moved ahead. Fred still had to bend down as I wrapped my arms behind his neck and moved my lips with his. Kylie glanced back at me and started, rolling her eyes and scoffing, and turned back to Harry and Ron. 

"Bye, Georgie." I grinned at George as I pulled away from Fred, and George stepped forward gesturing for me to come kiss him too, and I slapped his hand, giggling, and ran to join the others as George grinned and Fred scowled at him. 

"Bet Umbridge is in History of Magic." Ron said grimly, as we set off for Binns's lesson. "She hasn't inspected Binns yet... bet you anything she's there..." 

But he was wrong; the only teacher present when we entered was Professor Binns, floating an inch or so above his chair as usual and preparing to continue his monotonous drone on giant wars. I did not even attempt to follow what he was saying; I doodled idly on my parchment ignoring Hermione's frequent glares and nudges. I was sitting beside her in the corner today as Terry and Draco had decided to skip class to make out on a random windowsill near Ravenclaw Tower. 

"Hey, Mynee." I whispered. Hermione tilted her head towards me. "How did you feel about our kiss the other week?" 

Hermione sniffed. "I... I may have liked it." 

"You like girls, then?" I grinned. 

"I've known for a while." Hermione whispered, putting down her quill. "You've... kind of always caught my eye. Even more so now that you've... er... filled out a bit." 

I grinned wider. Hermione liked a curvy girl, too, then. 

"I've always thought Shannon was rather attractive, as well. And... I know you and her are involved in some way, so sorry, but Kylie's also... really hot." Hermione was blushing. 

"Oh, I know, right?" I said, placing my hand on Hermione's bare knee under the table. Hermione's blush grew a deeper pink. 

"Daisy, what are you...?" 

"Shh." I said teasingly, moving my hand up. "No talking in class, Miss Granger. Naughty girl." 

Hermione flushed bright red. Her eyes darted to Binns and back, and she bit her lip. 

"Let's say you skip a class for once. C'mon." I smirked, letting my hand trail up the inside of Hermione's thigh, just before her skirt. "Live a little, Mynee. You KNOW you already know all this stuff and you'll be able to pass your History exam with flying colours. Live a little before your school days are over and you won't be able to experience it again." 

Hermione bit her lip again, glancing at Binns. I shifted my hand underneath her school skirt, and Hermione made a strangled noise, standing up and grabbing my hand, yanking me up too. Binns was writing some shit about giants on the chalkboard, his back turned, and Hermione stormed up the aisle, dragging me behind her, and we escaped the classroom to our classmates' looks of surprise and amusement. 

Hermione pulled me into the nearest bathroom, into the end cubicle, and slammed me against the locked door, her lips on mine. I grabbed at her school shirt, pulling it open, the buttons sliding easily out of the holes with my Grace. My hands exploded Hermione's body as her hands slipped underneath my shirt, fumbling with the buttons, feeling across my body, our tongues tangling. 

I drew back, the taste of Hermione's lips still on mine. Her gorgeous dark brown eyes were even darker now, and her messy brown hair had fallen around her face. She was panting, her eyes locked on mine, and I let my gaze trail lazily down her body. Godric, she's beautiful. Her cute little turquoise bra, her smooth skin, her big pink lips, the way she's looking at me. 

I pulled her back, our lips connecting again... 

~~~

Me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Kylie, and Draco trudged down the stone steps to the dungeons for Potions, all six of us messing around (except for Hermione) and chatting, but as we reached the bottom of the steps we were recalled to ourselves by the voice of Floppy, who was standing just outside Snape's classroom door, waving around an official-looking piece of parchment and talking much louder than was necessary so that we could hear every word.

"Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway, I went to ask her first thing this morning. Well, it was pretty much automatic, I mean, she knows my father really well, he's always popping in and out of the Ministry... it'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it?" 

"Don't rise." Hermione whispered imploringly to me, Harry, and Ron, who were watching Floppy, faces set and fists clenched. "It's what he wants." 

"I mean," said Floppy, raising his voice a little more, his grey eyes glittering malevolently in mine and Ron's direction, "if it's a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance... from what my father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years... and as for Weakling... my father says it's a matter of time before the Ministry has her carted off to St. Mungo's... apparently they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic." 

Floppy made a grotesque face, his mouth sagging open and his eyes rolling. Crabbe and Goyle gave their usual grunts of laughter. In the Slytherin line, Pansy and Shannon looked at him with disgust, shaking their heads. 

Something collided hard with my shoulder, knocking me sideways. A split second later I realised that Kylie and Neville had just charged past me, heading straight for Floppy.

"Kylie, Neville, no!" 

I leapt forward and seized the back of Kylie's robes; Harry grabbed Neville's. Kylie and Neville both struggled frantically, Neville's fists flailing, Kylie growling, both trying desperately to get at Floppy who looked, for a moment, extremely shocked.

"Help us!" Harry flung at Ron and Draco, managing to get an arm around Neville's neck and dragging him backwards, away from the Slytherins. Draco grabbed Kylie's robes too and helped me drag her back. Crabbe and Goyle were flexing their arms as they stepped in front of Floppy, ready for the fight. Ron seized Neville's arms, and together he and Harry succeeded in dragging Neville back into the Gryffindor line. Neville's face was scarlet; the pressure Harry was exerting on his throat rendered him quite incomprehensible, but odd words spluttered from his mouth.

"Not... funny... don't... Mungo's... show... him..." 

Kylie struggled away from me and Draco, panting slightly and scowling. "Sorry." She said, folding her arms tight. "Fuckin' asshole just had no right to talk about you like that." 

I beamed. 

The dungeon door opened. Snape appeared there. His black eyes swept up the Gryffindor line to the point where Harry and Ron were still wrestling with Neville.

"Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom?" Snape said in his cold, sneering voice. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Release Longbottom, Potter, or it will be detention. Inside, all of you." 

I flipped him off, but he didn't notice. 

Harry let go of Neville, who stood panting and glaring at him.

"I had to stop you." Harry gasped, picking up his bag. "Crabbe and Goyle would've torn you apart." 

Neville said nothing; he merely snatched up his own bag and stalked off into the dungeon.

"What in the name of Merlin," said Ron slowly, as we followed Neville, "was that about?" 

Harry shrugged. I did not answer. I knew exactly why the subject of people who were in St. Mungo's because of magical damage to their brains was highly distressing to Neville, but I had sworn to him that I would not tell anyone his secret. He had confided in me years ago, and I was not about to break his trust now for the sake of some gossip. 

Our group took our usual seats at the back of the class, pulled out parchment, quills, and our copies of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. The class around us was whispering about what Kylie and Neville had just done, but when Snape closed the dungeon door with an echoing bang, everybody immediately fell silent.

"You will notice," said Snape, in his low, sneering voice, "that we have a guest with us today." 

He gestured towards the dim corner of the dungeon and I saw Umbridge sitting there, clipboard on her knee. I glanced sideways at Draco and Kylie, my eyebrows raised. Snape and Umbridge, the two teachers I hated most. It was hard to decide which one I wanted to triumph over the other.

"We are continuing with our Strengthening Solution today. You will find your mixtures as you left them last lesson; if correctly made they should have matured well over the weekend - instructions -" He waved his wand again "- on the board. Carry on." 

Umbridge spent the first half hour of the lesson making notes in her corner. I was very interested in hearing her question Snape; so interested, that I was becoming careless with my potion again.

"Salamander blood, Daze!" Hermione moaned, grabbing my wrist to prevent me adding the wrong ingredient for the third time. "Not pomegranate juice!" 

"Right." I said vaguely, putting down the bottle and continuing to watch the corner. Umbridge had just got to her feet. "Ha." I said softly, as she strode between two lines of desks towards Snape, who was bending over Dean's cauldron.

"Well, the class seem fairly advanced for their level." She said briskly to Snape's back. "Though I would question whether it is advisable to teach them a potion like the Strengthening Solution. I think the Ministry would prefer it if that was removed from the syllabus." 

Snape straightened up slowly and turned to look at her.

"Now... how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?" She asked, her quill poised over her clipboard.

"Fourteen years." Snape replied. His expression was unfathomable. I, watching him closely, added a few drops to my potion; it hissed menacingly and turned from turquoise to orange.

"You applied first for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?" Umbridge asked Snape.

"Yes." Snape said quietly.

"But you were unsuccessful?" 

Snape's lip curled.

"Obviously." 

Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard.

"And you have applied regularly for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?" 

"Yes." Snape said quietly, barely moving his lips. He looked very angry.

"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to appoint you?" Umbridge asked.

"I suggest you ask him." Snape said jerkily.

"Oh, I shall." Umbridge said, with a sweet smile.

"I suppose this is relevant?" Snape asked, his black eyes narrowed.

"Oh yes." Umbridge said, "Yes, the Ministry wants a thorough understanding of teachers' - er - backgrounds." 

She turned away, walked over to Pansy, and began questioning her about the lessons. Snape looked round at me and our eyes met for a second. I smirked, dropping my gaze to my potion, which was now congealing foully and giving off a strong smell of burned rubber.

~~~

Umbridge entered her classroom, wearing her black velvet bow and an expression of great smugness.

"Good afternoon, class." 

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge." Everyone but me, Terry, Draco, Suzanne, Shannon, and the Gryffindors chanted dully.

"Wands away, please." 

But there was no answering flurry of movement this time; nobody had bothered to take out their wands.

"Please turn to page thirty-four of Defensive Magical Theory and read the third chapter, entitled 'The Case for Non-Offensive Responses to Magical Attack.' There will be -" 

"- No need to talk." Me and Terry said together, under our breaths, sighing and preparing for an uneventful, boring class with absolutely no banter. 

"No Quidditch practice." Angelina said in hollow tones when me, Harry, Ron, Kylie, the twins, and Hermione entered the common room after dinner that night.

"But I behaved!" I said, horrified. "I didn't say anything to her or do fuck all, Angelina, I swear, I -" 

"I know, I know." Angelina said miserably. "She just said she needed a bit of time to consider." 

"Consider what?" Ron said angrily. "She's given the Slytherins permission, why not us?" 

But I could imagine how much Umbridge was enjoying holding the threat of no Gryffindor Quidditch team over our heads and could easily understand why she would not want to relinquish that weapon over us too soon.

"So I didn't have any banter in that class for nothing." I said miserably, and the twins slung their arms around my shoulders sympathetically. 

"Well," said Hermione, "look on the bright side - at least now you'll have time to do Snape's essay!" 

"That's a bright side, is it?" Harry snapped, while Ron and I stared incredulously at Hermione. "No Quidditch practice, and extra Potions?" 

Harry slumped down into a chair, dragged his Potions essay reluctantly from his bag and set to work. The twins steered me away from the homework table and into the centre of the room. 

"C'mon, Softpaw, we've perfected the Puking Pastilles!" Fred grinned, shaking a big paper bag at me. Lee came up beside George, carrying a couple of buckets. 

"Demonstration time!" George said. 

"They can't stop us if we're just eating our own sweets." Fred said, taking a bucket and handing Lee the bag. 

I grinned, taking my own bucket. 

In just five minutes, we had attracted quite a crowd, who were all cheering and whooping. Fred, George, and I took bites out of the orange end of our chews, at which we vomited spectacularly into our buckets that we had placed in front of us. Then we would force down the purple end of the chews, at which the vomiting would immediately cease. Lee, who was assisting the demonstration, was lazily Vanishing the vomit at regular intervals with the same Vanishing Spell Snape kept using on Harry and Neville's potions.

Over the regular sounds of retching, cheering, and the sound of Fred and George taking advance orders from the crowd, I noticed Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Kylie moving closer to watch. 

"Unfortunately I can't stop them, they're not technically doing anything wrong." I heard Hermione say through gritted teeth. "They're quite within their rights to eat the foul things themselves and I can't find a rule that says the other idiots aren't entitled to buy them, not unless they're proven to be dangerous in some way and it doesn't look as though they are." 

I watched George projectile-vomit into the bucket, gulp down the rest of the chew and straighten up, beaming with his arms wide to protracted applause. I applauded along with the crowd, grinning widely. 

"You know, I don't get why Fred and George only got three OWLs each." Harry said into my ear, making me jump, as Fred, George, and Lee collected gold from the eager crowd. "They really know their stuff." 

"Oh, they only know flashy stuff that's of no real use to anyone." Hermione said disparagingly, coming up behind my brother.

"No real use?" I smirked. "Hermione, we've made about twenty-six Galleons already." 

It was a long while before the crowd around Fred, George, Lee, and I dispersed, then we sat up counting our takings even longer, so it was well past midnight that we were all up to, sitting around and bantering. Lee had only just closed the doorway to the boys' dormitories behind him, rattling his box of Galleons ostentatiously so that Hermione scowled, when Ron, who was dozing lightly in an armchair, gave a muffled grunt, awoke, and looked blearily into the fire.

"Sirius!" He said.

I whipped round. Sirius's untidy dark head was sitting in the fire again.

"Hi." He said, grinning.

"Pads!" I grinned, throwing myself onto the hearthrug in front of him. Sirius focused on me, grinning fondly. 

"Hi." The others chorused, all kneeling down on the hearthrug beside me. Crookshanks purred loudly and approached the fire, trying, despite the heat, to put his face close to Sirius's.

"How're things?" Sirius said.

"Not that good." I said, as Hermione pulled Crookshanks back to stop him singeing his whiskers. "The shitty Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams -" 

"Or secret Defence Against the Dark Arts groups?" Sirius said .

There was a short pause as another grin slowly unfurled on my face. 

"I was getting to that." I said mischievously.

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

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

"Which means you'd have been harder to overhear." Sirius said.

"That's what I said!" I exclaimed, tilting my head dramatically at Hermione, who pursed her lips at me. 

"You've got a lot to learn, Hermione." Sirius said. 

"Who overheard us?" Harry demanded.

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

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

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

"I'm still being followed?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"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 organise an illegal defence group." 

But he looked neither angry nor worried. On the contrary, he was looking at me with distinct pride.

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

"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, Fred, George, Ron - I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother." 

"Oh yeah?" Ron said, sounding apprehensive, as the twins sniggered.

"She says on no account whatsoever are you three to take part in an illegal secret Defence 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 us others) "- advises Daisy, Harry, Hermione, and probably you too, Kylie, 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?" Fred said quickly.

"Never you mind, just stuff for the Order." Sirius said. "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 in which Crookshanks, mewing, attempted to paw Sirius's head, and Ron fiddled with a hole in the hearthrug.

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

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

"You do?" Harry said. 

"Of course he does, Harry." I said. 

"Your sister's right. D'you think your father and I would've lain down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge?" 

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

"Last year, all the evidence was that someone inside Hogwarts was trying to kill you and your sister, Harry!" Sirius said impatiently. "This year, we know 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!" Kylie said, 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." Sirius said.

"Hear, hear." The twins, Harry, Ron, and I chorused enthusiastically.

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

"Well, that's a bit of a problem now, isn't it, lads?" I said. "Dunno where we're going to be able to go." 

"How about the Shrieking Shack?" Sirius suggested.

"Hey, that's an idea!" Ron said excitedly, but Hermione made a sceptical noise and all of us looked at her, Sirius's head turning in the flames.

"Well, Sirius, it's just that there were only five of you meeting in the Shrieking Shack when you were at school," said Hermione, "and all of you could transform into animals and I suppose you could all have squeezed under a single Invisibility Cloak if you'd wanted to. But there are forty-two of us and only four of us are an Animagus, so we wouldn't need so much an Invisibility Cloak as an Invisibility Marquee -" 

"Fair point." Sirius said, looking slightly crestfallen. "Well, I'm sure you'll come up with somewhere. There used to be a pretty roomy secret passageway behind that big mirror on the fourth floor, you might have enough space to practise jinxes in there." 

"It's blocked." Fred said, shaking his head. "Caved in." 

"Oh..." Sirius said, frowning. "Well, I'll have a think and get back to -" 

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

"Sirius?" I said anxiously.

But he had vanished. I gaped at the flames for a moment, then turned to look at Harry. 

"Why did he -?" 

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

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 seven of us ran for it. At the door of the boys' dormitory I looked back. 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.