06; AREN'T WE OFF TO A PLEASANT START?

The next morning, Elara was a woman on a mission. She woke up, got ready and left Theodore still sleeping with a note to tell him where she went and a kiss on the forehead. She stopped by the kitchens and grabbed herself some toast and peanut butter before heading for McGonagall's office.

She stood outside, her hand still wrapped in the same bandage from last night, but some blood had soaked through, so she unwrapped it and stuffed the bandage in her back. Then, she raised a fist and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Came the familiar Scottish accent.

Elara opened the door and walked in, seeing her professor sat behind her desk, with a teacup beside her and a quill in hand. "Morning, Professor."

"Good morning, Miss Black. Did you need something?"

"Yes, actually." She walked closer. "I- I had a detention with Professor Umbridge yesterday. I normally wouldn't be telling on people like this, but her methods during detention were inhumane, and I couldn't sit there, taking it and not have anyone know."

McGonagall now looked concerned, she dropped the quill and gestured for Elara to sit, and she did. "What did she do?"

"She used a blood quill, Professor."

"A blood quill? As in, those disbanded. Those that take blood from you and use it as ink?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Show me your hand."

Elara held her hand out, revealing the still healing cuts on her hand. "It was worse yesterday, I had blood everywhere and I was light-headed. Theodore cleaned and wrapped it for me."

McGonagall waved her wand and a new set of bandages wrapped around the young girls hand, who winced slightly at the tightening bandage. "Well, I'll see what I can do. But I make no promises. Professor Umbridge is here on order of the Ministry, and I have no authority over the Minister."

"Thank you, Professor. That's all I ask." Elara stood, nodding her head before she departed and headed down to the Great Hall. She walked right over to the Gryffindor table, making a beeline for Harry. She placed a hand on his shoulder, not her wounded one.

"How's your hand, Harry?"

"It's alright. Got it bandaged. Is yours alright?"

"I'll be fine. Have a good day, yeah?" She kissed his forehead before disappearing to the Slytherin table. Opposite Harry sat Dean and Seamus. Dean was watching their exchange curiously.

"Harry, what's your relationship with Elara Black?" Dean asked.

"She's my god sister, considering her father is my godfather. We spent summer together as well, in Romania with dragons. She's like my sister." Harry explained. "She's been there for me a lot. More than anyone else has, really."

"She's not someone I'd imagine to be caring." Dean let his eyes trail to the Slytherin table, where, as if on cue, Elara pulled her wand out and hexed someone.

"Oh, she is. Trust me." Harry grinned. "Unless you piss her off, then she's the scariest person you'll ever meet."

Elara sat down at the Slytherin table, digging into breakfast. Bianca plopped down beside her accompanied by Theodore who kissed her on the side of the head. "Talk to McGonagall?"

"Why'd you have to talk to her?" Bianca inquired.

"Uh- yes, Theo, I did. It's about my detention with Umbridge, Bia. She made me use a blood quill." Elara lowered her voice. Bianca's eyebrows shot up and her eyes widened, mouth dropping open.

"Excuse me? Blood quill? Illegal one?"

"Exactly that." Elara held up her bandaged hand. "This isn't what I wanted my last year to be like. This sucks." She sighed, looking down at her food, suddenly losing her appetite and pushing the plate away. She felt someone grab her hand tightly and run their fingers over her knuckles and looked up to see Theodore giving her a small smile.

"You alright, darling?"

"I'll be fine. I'm just sick of Dumbledore hiring the absolute shittiest and least qualified people to teach in this school. She's a ministry worker for heaven's sake! Ministry!" Elara groaned, dropping her head onto Bianca's shoulder and letting the brunette stroke her hair.

"At least you've got Quidditch try-outs soon?" Theodore said, trying to get her mind off it.

"Oh yeah, they're Friday, aren't they? The notice is in the common room. I'm gonna fix this team. Montague's gone. Thank Merlin."

"That's right. Bring back our glory." Bianca smirked.

"It was never gone in the first place, Bia. Gryffindor just got some temporary fame." Elara lifted her head off Bianca's shoulder, a determined look on her face. "Not anymore."

The rest of the week passed without any more hitches. Elara continued skipping Umbridge's class, and she got a note from her father, stating that as her parent and legal guardian, he didn't wish for her to attend the class anymore. So, she was let off the hook.

When Friday came, Elara got dressed in her Slytherin Quidditch robes and pinned her badge on the front, before walking onto the pitch with her Firebolt gripped in her hand. She was met with a good amount of people, and she whipped her wand out and cast a charm to make everyone hear her.

"Good afternoon, everyone! My name is Elara Black, and I'm the new captain. Societal connections and hierarchical positions won't get you on my team. Size won't get you on my team. I want skill. And just because I'm not called biased, everyone tries out. I'm the Beater. So, that means, I need another Beater, a Seeker, a Keeper and three Chasers. Understood?"

"Understood!" Came the chorus.

"Good! Now, I want you all separated. Keepers to the right here! Seekers to my left! Beater right in front of me, and Chasers behind me!" Once everyone was settled, she continued. "I'm going to start by separating you into teams. We're going to play a few mini games of Quidditch, just so I can see how you all fare. You'll have 15 minutes per game, catch the snitch or not, I don't care. This part of the try-outs isn't meant for seekers. This is me focusing on how Chasers score, how Beaters hit, and how Keepers defend."

She then separated everyone into teams and brought out the massive chest filled with the different balls and gripped a whistle in her hands.

She released the two bludgers and the snitch, then she mounted her broom, and hovered up to meet the rest of the players floating. Elara threw the Quaffle up into the air and blew the whistle, before zooming back down and sitting in one of the seats on the stands.

She cast a spell with a clock to see when the 15 minutes would be over and watched the players. This process went on for a few more games before she made them stop. Her little clipboard had the names of everyone trying out and notes and comments beside all the names. She was going to review it later and select her players.

"Alright, thank you to everyone! I want all of you, except Seekers off the pitch. You can sit in the stands, just stay off the field." She turned to the Seekers and held up the Snitch. "Listen, I'm going to release the snitch, alright? A few times. I'm going to send you up in twos, and whoever catches the Snitch moves on. The best two will go last and then, I'll have my pick of Seeker."

She separated them and started the first pair. Some people sucked. They were terrible, barely managing to get off the ground, or not even looking around for the Snitch, just standing there, looking confused and terrified. Others performed dives and whipped their heads around, watching the pitch, some of them watched their competitors, following their every move, but in the end, it came down to Draco and another girl.

Elara released the snitch, and in no time, Draco had brought it back down to her, a wide grin on his face. She smiled back. "I knew you could do it." She whispered, then turned to the rest of the Seekers. "As you can see, Draco won. He brought back the snitch to me faster than everyone else. I was fair, was I not?" She got nods. "Good, he's the Seeker. Other positions will be posted on the notice board by Sunday the latest. Thank you all for trying out!"

Everyone began heading off, and Elara wrangled the bludgers back to their spot, before slotting the Snitch and the Quaffle back in the case. Then, she ran a hand through her hair, sighing, and swung her bat over her shoulder, levitating the case with her wand.

She put the case back in Madam Hooch's office, locking it and putting the key back in her pocket. Every captain had a key in case they wanted to use the equipment in her office or the broom closet. As she walked back towards the castle, someone joined her.

She smiled when she saw it was Theodore. "Good practice?" He asked.

"Better than I expected." Elara admitted.

"Leadership suits you."

"Everything suits me, Theo." She winked, and he rolled his eyes, laughing as he shoved her lightly.

"You're so conceited." He shook his head, amused.

"Well, better conceited than insecure about myself." She shrugged, linking her arm with his.

The weekend went by peacefully, no activity other than late nights spent in the library and the Slytherin common room trying to finish off countless piles of homework that the Professors have been piling on to students.

When Elara came down to breakfast the Monday after the weekend, she was greeted by a sour look from Bianca, and a scowl from Theodore. "Why the long faces?" She asked, sitting down beside Bianca and pouring herself a mug of coffee.

"Umbridge. That's the fucking issue." Bianca cursed.

"Nothing new. What's happened now?"

"Ministry seeks educational reform. Dolores Umbridge appointed first-ever High Inquisitor." Bianca read the headline of the Daily Prophet laid on the table before her.

"What the fuck is a High Inquisitor?" Elara scoffed, taking a gulp of her coffee.

"Listen to the bloody rest of it." Bianca lifted the paper up and continued. "In a surprise move last night, the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation, giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"This is all because of what happened at the Tournament." Theodore commented.

"Listen to this! Percy Weasley's quoted in this!" Bianca's eyes widened. ""The Minister has been growing uneasy about the goings-on at Hogwarts for some time." Said Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley. "He is now responding to the concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve.""

"How much arse-kissing do you reckon he had to do to get that position?" Elara rolled her eyes, reaching out for some toast and lathering peanut butter on top of it, before taking a bite.

"I can't believe he just betrayed his family like that." Theodore frowned.

"Percy's never really been close to his family. He's always wanted to be the best, and work at the Ministry. I suppose that all worked out for him now." Elara explained, shrugging at the end.

"El, there's a reason Umbridge was appointed." Bianca's eyes flicked over the article, before she looked back up.

"Yeah? Go on."

"This is not the first time in recent weeks Fudge has used new laws to effect improvements at the Wizarding school. As recently as August 30th Educational Decree Twenty-Two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person. "That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts." Said Weasley last night. "Dumbledore couldn't find anyone, so the Minister put in Umbridge, and of course, she's been an immediate success, totally revolutionising the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts."

"It's funny how much bullshit they can fit in one paragraph. She's been the opposite of a success for everyone outside the Ministry. I'm not exactly sure that what she's teaching is Defense, more just, reading. And I'm absolutely certain she doesn't tell the Minister everything. Especially not about the blood quills." Elara finished up her toast. "Does it mention anything else about the High Inquisitor bullshit?"

"The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure they are coming up to scratch."

"You mean, she's going to sit in on other classes now? What the fuck." Elara's eyes widened.

"I'd pay good money to see her 'inspect' McGonagall, or even Snape." Theodore snickered, causing the other two to laugh.

The next few weeks continued by with Elara holding practices for the Quidditch team, whom she was very happy with, and Bianca often came to watch considering her brother was now on the team as Chaser. The inspectors by Umbridge took place during Charms and Potions, leaving Elara thoroughly amused when the lessons were over.

A few days before their first Hogsmeade weekend in October, Hermione had told her about a meeting in the Hogs Head about getting secret Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons. She told her to tell anyone she trusted, and the more the merrier.

And so, Elara passed her message onto Theodore, Bianca, Blaise, Draco and the Greengrass sisters. She knew people wouldn't be very happy to see Slytherin's at the meeting, but frankly, she didn't give a damn.

And so, the morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Elara got dressed in some warm clothes with her leather jacket over top and slipped on her boots. She dragged her friends down the path towards the Hogs Head and walked in just when everyone else was as well. She was surprised to see the bar so filled up.

Pulling a sack of coins from her pocket, she went up to the bartender. "Firewhiskey please. I'm 17. Don't worry." She asked nonchalantly, grinning when he handed her a glass filled with the amber liquid. She sat back down beside Theodore who reached out for her cup only to be rejected. "This is mine. Get your own."

She sipped it, before noticing Harry looking quite nervous. "Harry!" He turned towards her, eyes wide. "You alright, love?"

"Just a little nervous."

"You'll be fine." She sent him a reassuring smile. "I'm right here if anything goes wrong, yeah?" When he nodded, she grinned and took her attention off him, waving at the twins and Lee who were passing around butterbeers. They waved back.

As soon as everyone stopped chattering and settled down with their drinks, their eyes turned to Harry who was stood in front of them. "Er, well – er – hi."

Everyone's attention turned to her and Elara shot her a reassuring look, throwing a thumbs-up her way. "Well, you know why you're here. Harry here had the idea – I mean – I had the idea, that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I mean, really study it, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us, because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Hear, hear!" Elara called out, raising her drink. Hermione looked pleased as other people made noises of agreement, and her voice became more confident as she continued.

"Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands. And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory, but the real spells."

Another kid piped up. "You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?"

"Of course I do." Came the quick reply. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because- because- because Lord Voldemort is back."

The reactions around the bar were immediate and hilarious in some cases. A girl shrieked and spilt butterbeer down herself. Some people twitched, others shuddering in fright. But, everyone looked back at Harry. "Well, that's the plan anyway. If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to-"

She was cut off by a blond student. "Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?"

"Well, Dumbledore believes it-" Hermione tried to explain.

"You mean, Dumbledore believes him." He gestured to Harry.

"Who are you?" Ron intervened.

"Zacharias Smith. And I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."

Elara stood. "Oh, you don't think he's back. Let me just give him a call, yeah?" She mimed holding a phone to her ear. "Hey, you noseless bastard, want to come here and prove to some prick that you're actually back?"

Snorts came from several students at her sarcastic retort, but Harry smiled thankfully and nodded at her. "It's alright, El."

He turned to Zachariah. "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. And 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."

"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-"

"Hey, listen kid." Elara handed her glass to Bianca and turned to face Zachariah. "I don't really think telling an entire school, with students of all ages how a student got murdered during a Tournament was a wise idea. You'd all probably get nightmares, want to live with that information? Be my guest. But don't assume that everyone else wants to know the same information, yeah? And stop attacking my brother. He saw someone die. Let's see you after that happens, everyone interrogating you. see how you deal with it. Give him a fucking break."

He went silent and sat down quietly. People sent grins her way and Harry a thankful smile. "So, like I was saying, if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and we're going to-"

"Is it true that you can produce a Patronus?" A girl asked.

"Yeah."

"A corporeal Patronus?"

"Er – you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" Harry asked.

"She's my auntie. I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So, is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"

"Yes."

Blimey, Harry! I never knew!" Lee looked very shocked and impressed.

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around." Fred laughed. "She said you got enough attention as it was."

"She's not wrong." The messy haired boy replied, causing laughter.

"And you did kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office? That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year." Another kid asked.

"Er – yeah, I did, yeah." Harry nodded.

Elara was amused at how red he was turning, and she let out a wolf-whistle, causing him to playfully glare in her direction.

"And in your first, he saved that Philosopher's Stone from You-Know-Who." Neville informed the group.

"And that's not to mention all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year – getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas and things-"

Harry looked flustered as he spoke once more. "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. that was a seriously cool bit of flying." Someone pushed.

"Yeah, well-"

"And nobody helped you get rid of all those dementors this summer." Susan Bones piped in.

"No, no, okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is-" Harry tried to explain.

"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" Zachariah spoke up causing Elara to scowl and snatch her glass from Bianca, downing its contents quickly and scrunching her face up. Ron butted in and defended him.

"Here's an idea, why don't you shut your mouth?"

The blond boy 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 tried to defend himself.

"That's not what he said." Elara snarled. "Want me to clean your ears out?" She whipped her wand out of her boot, flipping it in her hand, before muttering something and making the tip glow a dangerous green.

"Yes, well- moving on. The point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?" Hermione interjected hastily as Theodore yanked his girlfriend down. Zachariah sat down, a sullen look on his face but his eyes kept darting back and forth between Harry and Elara. There was a murmur of agreement at Hermione's question. "Right, well then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week."

"Hang on. We need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice." Angelina interrupted.

"Yeah, nor with ours." Elara agreed.

"Nor ours." A girl piped up.

"Same here." Zachariah said.

"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone." Hermione sighed. "But you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against Voldemort's Death Eaters-"

"Well said!" Another kid jumped in. "Personally, I think this is really important, possible more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our O.W.L.s coming up!" He looked around, as if waiting for someone to say something. "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-"

"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts is that she's got some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilise us against the Ministry."

Elara turned to Theodore and whispered. "Fat chance I'm going to be in that army." He rolled his eyes but had a smile on his face, agreeing with her statement. Everyone else in the room looked shocked.

"Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army." A girl with platinum blonde hair piped up.

"What?"

"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths." She replied solemnly.

"I like this girl." Elara chuckled to Bianca.

"No, he hasn't." Hermione snapped back at her.

"Yes, he has." She insisted.

"What are heliopaths?" Neville asked the question everyone else had been thinking.

"They're spirits of fire." Her eyes widened. "Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of-"

"They don't exist, Neville." Hermione assured the boy.

"Oh yes they do!"

"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?"

"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you-"

"Hem, hem." Came a cough sounding frighteningly similar to Umbridge from behind Elara. She, and everyone else, turned only to see it came from Ginny. Elara shook her head amused. "Weren't we trying to figure out how often we're going to meet and get Defense lessons?"

"Yes." Hermione jumped onto the subject chance. "Yes, we were, you're right."

"Well, once a week sounds cool." Lee answered.

"As long as-" Angelina began.

"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch." Hermione nodded. "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet."

"Library?" A Gryffindor chaser named Katie suggested.

"Don't reckon Pince would be too happy about that one." Elara winced.

"Maybe an unused classroom?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Triwizard-"

"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere. We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got s time and a place for the first meeting." Hermione then pulled out a quill and some parchment before taking a deep breath. "I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But, I also think 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."

Elara reached out for the paper and happily signed her name before passing it on. "I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is." Zachariah said.

Ernie looked hesitant to sign himself. "Well, we are prefect. And if this list was found, well, I mean to say, you said it yourself, if Umbridge finds out-"

"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year." Harry deadpanned.

"I- yes. Yes, I do believe that, it's just-"

"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" Hermione looked a bit offended.

"No, no. Of course not. I – yes, of course I'll sign." As soon as everyone signed, Hermione took the parchment back and everyone departed their own separate ways, wanting to make the best of their weekend at Hogsmeade.