"All right, all right," Hermione said hastily, attempting to regain control of the increasingly scattered conversation. "Let's get back to the matter at hand... The crucial question is whether everyone agrees to establish this study group?"
Murmurs of general agreement rippled through the assembled students, though a few individuals remained conspicuously silent.
"Right then," Hermione said, visibly relieved by the positive response. "The second issue we need to address is meeting frequency. I think anything less than once weekly would be rather pointless..."
"Hold on," Angelina interjected firmly. "We absolutely must ensure this doesn't conflict with our Quidditch training schedule!"
"Same goes for our team, and Ravenclaw's," Cedric added diplomatically.
"I'm confident we can identify at least one evening when everyone's available," Hermione replied with barely concealed impatience. "But you need to understand that this group carries equal importance—we're discussing literal self-preservation here."
"Hear, hear!" Ernie Macmillan declared with characteristic pomposity. "Personally, I consider this more vital than anything else we'll undertake this year—including our O.W.L. examinations!"
He surveyed the room expectantly, as if anticipating contradiction, but silence greeted his proclamation. Emboldened, he continued: "I'm genuinely baffled why, at such a critical juncture, the Ministry insists on installing a completely useless instructor at Hogwarts. Obviously they're in complete denial about You-Know-Who's return, but their solution is systematically sabotaging our Defense Against the Dark Arts education?! It's absolutely preposterous!"
"Cornelius Fudge fears Dumbledore infinitely more than he fears Voldemort," Orli observed with cutting sarcasm. "After all, in his deluded mind Voldemort remains merely a nightmare, while Dumbledore represents tangible, breathing reality. Perhaps he genuinely believes Dumbledore intends to recruit a children's militia here at school to storm the Ministry itself."
Nearly every person present stared at her in stunned silence, including Harry and their close friends, who exchanged deeply unsettled glances. But Luna calmly broke the shocked quiet:
"Yes, that analysis makes perfect sense," she said with matter-of-fact certainty. "Fudge maintains his own private army, you know."
"What?!" Harry exclaimed, completely blindsided by her casual revelation.
"Oh yes, he commands an entire regiment of Heliopaths," Luna explained with unwavering seriousness.
"No, he absolutely does not," Hermione stated bluntly.
"Yes, he most certainly does," Luna insisted, her pale eyes wide and unfocused in that distinctly unsettling way that made her appear even more detached from reality. "They're not the harmless classroom variety, though—they're massive, blazing creatures that thunder across terrain, incinerating everything in their path..."
"They don't exist, Luna," Hermione declared loudly, her voice sharp with exasperation.
"Oh, but they do," Luna maintained serenely. "And sometimes the Pink Lady commands them as well."
"What exactly is the Pink Lady?" Ron asked, thoroughly bewildered.
"You mean some of you haven't heard about the Pink Lady?" Fred exclaimed with theatrical amazement, extracting several copies of the Daily Prophet from a crumpled paper bag and distributing them strategically across the tables.
"I suspect you'll easily deduce the Pink Lady's true identity," George said with barely suppressed mirth. "Though I haven't the faintest idea who's been authoring this material, they've already progressed to 'The Pink Lady and the Minister for Magic: Secrets They Don't Want You to Know.' If anyone feels inclined to voice dissenting opinions after reading it—well, there are considerably more revelations waiting."
Hermione snatched the newspaper immediately, her initially dismissive expression freezing completely the instant she glimpsed the byline.
"Miss Beetle?" she demanded, fixing Orli with an accusatory stare. Orli responded with an expression of perfect innocence, batting her eyelashes angelically. Hermione's glare intensified, clearly conveying the message: "You deliberately kept this from me? We'll be having words about this later."
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (180+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here: patreon.com/DarkGolds
Happy reading, everyone!