"That foul, evil gargoyle!" Hermione fumed as she paced up and down the Gryffindor common room. They were the only ones in the warm, safe dorm. "We're not learning how to defend ourselves. We're not learning how to pass our O.W.L's. . . . she's basically taking over the entire school!" 

Hermione was interrupted, however, when Cornelius Fudge's voice came through the small radio. Finally, Annie had enough and turned it off. 

Of course, the Ministry was going to blame Sirius Black for every little thing that happened. As if it was her godfather's fault, which it was not. But she was lucky, however, when a voice interrupted her thoughts. 

"Annie, Harry!" 

"Sirius!" Harry breathed. 

They immediately began to gather around the fire, listening intently of what he was about to say. 

"What are you doing here?" Annie asked, amazed. 

"Answering your brother's letter, of course," Sirius answered in a 'duh' kind of voice, acting as though it was a bit obvious. "Harry, you said that you're worried about Umbridge. What is she teaching you? Is she teaching you how to kill half-breeds?" 

"No," Harry answered, his voice laced with anxiety. "Sirius, she's — she's not letting us use magic!" 

"At all!" Annie added in frustration. 

Sirius let out a disappointed sigh, though he didn't seem to be surprised. "Well, I'm not surprised. The latest intelligence is that Cornelius Fudge doesn't want you training for combat."

"Combat?" Annie echoed, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Combat? He thinks that we're going to be creating a wizarding army to go against him?" Dante scoffed, rolling his eyes. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of, if my suspicions are correct." 

"You're right, Dante. That's exactly what he thinks is going to happen. He's worried that young students like you five will be able to overthrow the Ministry and have Hogwarts rule over the Wizarding World instead."

"But that's just crazy!" Annie exclaimed. "I mean, Hogwarts is a school. Not a place where us teenagers can go and rule the entire Wizarding World. That's outrageous!" 

"But there's more," Sirius insisted. "He thinks that Dumbledore is plotting to go against him to take over the Ministry. He's becoming more paranoid by the minute! The others wouldn't want me to tell you this, Annie and Harry, because they don't want the two of you to worry. But things aren't going so well in the Order right now. Fudge is blocking the truth at every turn, and these disappearances are just how it started before with the first Wizarding World. Twins? Voldemort is on the move."

That was not the news Annie had wanted to hear, but she had expected it. She gave her godfather a look of defeat. 

"Well, what else can we do to help?" she asked, defeated. "I mean, I'd like to help the Order in some way, despite the fact that we're so far away from Grimmauld Place." 

Sirius suddenly tensed. "Someone's coming. I'm sorry, Sera. I can't answer your question right now. But for now, at least, it looks as though the five of you are on your own."

He slowly faded away. Thunder rumbled loudly, shaking the building. They all got to their feet, looking out the window to the stormy sky. 

"He really is out there, isn't he?" Hermione asked. "We've got to be able to defend ourselves! If Professor Umbridge isn't going to teach us magic, then we'll need someone who will." 

****

The next morning, snow had blanketed the grounds of Hogwarts. Annie was relieved, as she had longed to see the snow. And now was her chance. 

They walked towards Hog's Head, an underrated pub in Hogsmeade. Not very many people enter the restaurant. In the meanwhile, Harry was complaining to his friend about why he shouldn't be the one who should teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. 

"This is mad, Annie! I'm telling you!" Harry exclaimed as Annie walked him through what hers and Hermione's plan was. "Who would want to be taught by me? I'm a nutter, remember? Malfoy said it himself!" 

"I don't think you're a nutter, brother," Annie answered calmly. "I think that some people are just overreacting." 

They opened the door leading to the pub. Hermione let out a hum of approval. 

"This looks cozy," she finally commented.

Finally, the entire pub was filled with students. They sat there awkwardly, waiting for the meeting to start. Finally, Annie stood up, smiling at her friends nervously. Some did not look pleased to see her there.

"Erm . . . . hi," she began. She ignored the frantic, nervous thumping in her heart. "So you all know why we're all here. We need a teacher. A proper teacher. One who knows more about the Dark Arts than any of us." 

"Why?" Zacharias Smith asked. 

"Why?" Dante echoed. Annie glanced over at him to see that his eyes were narrowed in anger, his face red. She had never seen him look so angry before. Usually, Dante was a chill guy, unless you mess or threaten his friends and family. "Because You-Know-Who is back, you tosspot!" 

"So he and his sister says?" Zacharias scoffed. 

"Because Dumbledore said," Annie snapped back. "Not me and my brother. Yes, Harry announced his return, but no one was really listening back then. Dumbledore was the one that announced it to the school during Cedric's funeral."

She winced. She hated the thought of Cedric's funeral. His unexpected death was like a stab in her heart. Sure, sure didn't know Cedric very well, but he was always helpful, and kind. Just like any Hufflepuff was. 

"The point is, where's the proof?" Zacharias went on, ignoring Sera's comment. 

"If only Potter can give us more details on how Cedric Diggory got killed," someone else in the crowd commented. 

Harry got to his feet, looking rather irritated. "Look, I'm not going to be talking about Cedric Diggory's death. So if that's why all of you came out here, then you might as well leave, because I am not going to tell you anything." To his sister, he added in a hushed voice, "C'mon, Sis. Let's go. They're making me look like an idiot, here."

Annie was about to agree, only to be stopped by Luna Lovegood. 

"Is it true that your sister can produce the Patronus Charm?" 

Annie immediately stopped, surprised by Luna's question. But at the same time, she was grateful. Hopefully, these more appropriate questions would convince them to believe her and her brother. 

Her chest expanded with pride. She tried to not feel too prideful about it, but it wasn't easy. Annie can't remember the last time a third-year was able to produce a full Patronus.

"Yes," she answered, standing up straight and tall. "I can." 

Dean Thomas looked impressed. "Blimey, Annie! I didn't know that you could do that!" 

"And she defeated the Basilisk in our second year and saved Dante with the Sword of Gryffindor!" Neville piped in. 

"Yeah, that much is true," Dante agreed, giving Annie a glowing look. 

Annie blushed and looked away. Something warm fluttered in her stomach as he gazed almost lovingly at the red-haired girl. 

"Third year, she fought about a hundred dementors at once," Ron added, giving his sister a proud look. 

"And last year, Harry had his moment and fought You-Know-Who in the flesh," Hermione added defensively. 

"Hermione," Harry interrupted. He got to his feet again. "Look, it all sounds really great when you all say that. But I think that it was mostly just luck. Annie and I, we didn't know what we were doing half of the time, and we almost always had some kind of help —"

"He's just being modest," Hermione interrupted. 

"Hermione, I — I'm not," Harry defended. "Listen. Facing this stuff in real life, is not like the stuff you face in school. In school, when you make a mistake, it's okay! You can go back and fix it tomorrow. But when you're out there, in the real world, when you're a second away from being murdered, or you watch a friend die right before your eyes, you — you don't know what that's like." 

He finally sat down after his moving speech. Sera nodded and also sat down. 

"You're right, Harry," Hermione spoke up after a stunned silence followed. "We don't know what that's like. Which is why we need you and your sister's help. You know about more magic than any of us do. Because we need to defeat V — Voldemort." 

That was the first time Hermione had finally spoken his name aloud. Most people refuse to say his name. It was that dark for many of the wizarding world. Only the Potter twins were unafraid to say his name aloud, because they had dealt with him the most. 

"Is he really back?" Nigel Wolpert, a second-year Gryffindor, asked. 

Harry nodded in response, still in too much shock to say anything. 

Fred finally got to his feet, glaring at everyone in the room. The action surprised Annie. The Weasley twins were usually the most hilarious ones of the group. They never seemed to pay attention to the darkness around them. 

"Well, I'm with them," he declared proudly. "If you other dimwits aren't going with them, you might as well leave, now." 

Everyone glanced at each other. Slowly, one by one, everyone began to rise to their feet. At first, Sera thought that they were going to turn their backs on them and leave. But to her surprise, they approached the five friends. 

Hermione smiled and pulled out a piece of parchment from her bag. The five friends signed their names first before everyone else in the group did as well. As everyone continued to sign their names, Annie noticed that Dante kept glancing over at her. His actions made her blush and she tried hard to not make it so obvious that she knew what he was doing. 

Finally, they began to leave. Annie felt as though they had accomplished something important. As they continued to walk back to the castle, Harry began to give out instructions. 

"First, we need to find a place to practice where Umbridge won't find out." 

"The Shrieking Shack?" Ginny suggested. 

"Too small," Harry responded. 

"What about the Forbidden Forest?" Nigel suggested. 

"Not bloody likely," Ron snorted in return.

"Harry?" Dante asked. "What will happen if Umbridge does find out?" 

"Who cares?" Hermione butted in at once. Everyone stared at her in surprise. She grinned sheepishly. "I mean, it's kind of exciting, isn't it? Breaking the rules?" 

"I'm usually one to not break the rules, either," Annie agreed. "But what choice do we have? I don't want to live in Umbridge's control." 

"Who are you, and what have you done to the Hermione Granger I once knew?" Ron asked half-jokingly.

Hermione didn't respond. Instead, she smirked almost triumphantly. "Anyways. We know a couple of good things that have happened today."

"Oh, really?" Annie teased. "And what's that?" 

Hermione looked around before leaning into Sera. "Dante couldn't keep his eyes off of you, could he? And Cho . . . . she couldn't stop staring at your brother." 

Annie felt heat rushing to her cheeks. She was a bit alarmed that Hermione had noticed how weird Dante had been acting.