Chapter - 75 : Rising Resistance

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Several seconds passed and no one moved, finally Harry nodded once in satisfaction and sat back down.

"We didn't expect you to," Terry Boot suddenly spoke up. "I can't speak for everyone, but my friends and I didn't come here hoping you'd give us a blow-by-blow account of what happened the night of You-Know-Who's return, what you told us was enough. We came here only for what was offered, a way to learn to defend ourselves." The Ravenclaw bit his lip nervously. "But I have to admit I'm curious about some rumors I've heard and didn't know if I should believe or not." Harry arched an eyebrow in question. "Is it true you killed a basilisk in second year?"

"Where did you hear that?" Ron asked.

"One of the portraits in Dumbledore's office was telling me about it. He said you killed it with a nothing but a dagger. Is it true?"

Harry looked to Hermione, silently asking how he should respond, she shrugged and gave him a half smile "It's true." Harry said simply.

"You killed a king of serpents with a dagger?" Susan Bones asked disbelievingly.

Harry flicked his wrist and his trusty silver dagger fell into his hands, he held it up for her to see before quickly re-sheathing it.

"Dumbledore let you keep it?"

"It was mine," the fifth year shrugged, "he couldn't just take it from me, and he assured me that as long as I didn't use it to harm anyone, I could continue to bring it to Hogwarts."

"Well now that that's settled," Hermione interrupted, much to the disappointment of most everyone in the room, "we need to decide whether or not you lot are interested in what we have planned." there was an almost immediate slew of affirmatives responses. "All right, then. You all will be told on when and where to meet by the end of this week, but only," Hermione produced a long sheet of blank parchment from her bag, "if you sign this. We need to know exactly who is interested, for future references,"

This idea was met with much less enthusiasm, but after several minutes spent cajoling everyone into signing, and assuring that the parchment would not be left lying around for prying eyes to see, the parchment was signed and the meeting was over.

BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS

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

An organization, 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 organization, 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 organization, 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

Harry, Draco, and Blaise groaned in exasperation at the obnoxiously large sign fixed over the Slytherin notice board.

"Damn," Blaise muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"That just about sums it up," Harry agreed. "Come on, the other's should be at breakfast by now."

"Oh, thank goodness you guys are here!" Hermione exclaimed when the three Slytherins joined her, Ron, and Neville at the Gryffindor table. "So have you seen the new "Educational Decree?'" she spat the words as if they were something foul.

"It was kind of hard to miss it," Draco said. "The poster took up most of the space on the notice board."

"This isn't a coincidence," Harry said as he began piling breakfast onto his plate. "Umbridge knows about our plans. One of the patrons at the pub must have informed her."

"Or one of the students," Ron added.

"No," Draco said. "There was a jinx on the parchment Granger had everyone sign. If anyone's run off and told Umbridge, we'd know immediately."

"So what should we do?" Hermione asked, nervously biting her lip. "There's no way Umbridge will approve of our…club."

"We're not giving it up, that's for certain," Neville said. "We've worked too hard to make this possible and I'll be damned if we give it all up because of that toad masquerading as a teacher. Does anyone disagree?"

No one did.

Between the time it took for Harry to travel from the Great Hall to his first class of the day (Herbology) he was stopped by nearly half of the people present in the Hog's Head the day before who wanted to know if the new Educational Decree would be affecting their plans. Each time he assured them that no, it would not have any effect on the group, they would be proceeding as planned, approved or not. By the end of the day not only had the news that they were continuing as planned spread to all that it applied to, they were also informed when and where the first meeting would be held: the day after next in the Room of Requirements at eight.

The night of the first meeting found Hermione, Blaise, Ron, Draco, and Harry in the Room of Requirements a half an hour before the scheduled time, making sure the room was prepared and that their plans for the night were in order.

"Oh, I'm so nervous," Hermione muttered as eight o'clock rolled around and the six friends sat in the center of the room waiting for their peers to begin arriving. "What if something goes wrong? What if we get caught? This is a big act of rebellion we're not just taking part in, but leading. If we're caught, we'll be expelled, no questions asked. I don't think I could ha-Oh, Merlin they're here!"

The small group leapt to their feet as the door swung open and Ginny, Parvati, Lavender, and Dean entered the room.

"Wow," Dean said, looking around in awe. "Nice setup you've got here."

Harry made to explain the room's abilities, but before he could get more than a few words out more people filed into the room, declaring their amazement at the room and asking endless questions until he gave up on trying to answer and just waited until everyone had arrived.

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Loving the story so far? There's a whole world of magic and mystery waiting for you with over 85+ chapters still to come! By supporting my Patreon.

You not only get early access to new chapters but also exclusive content, behind-the-scenes insights, and special perks just for fans like you.

Join us on this enchanted journey and help shape the future of the tale. Your support makes all the difference—discover more and become part of the adventure today!

http//patreon.com/Kun_kanshi

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~