Atoning

"Hey, Hermy!"

I didn't have to look to see who it was. There were only two people in this school who would dare call me that.

"Weasleys," I acknowledged. They sat down across from me. "Now what are you two troublemakers doing up so early?"

They grabbed biscuits, porridge, bacon, toast, eggs scrambled and over-easy, pumpkin juice, and sausage to fit onto their plates. "Do we need a reason to sit across from our favorite fifth-year?" George asked, a little too innocently. I raised my eyebrow in response.

"All right, all right," Fred said, giving in. "The truth is, we haven't talked much to you this year-"

"At all, really," George put in.

"We don't have classes anywhere near each other this year," Fred continued. "We haven't talked since the summer, and we missed your dazzling conversation."

"And?" I prompted, when it looked like he wasn't going to continue.

He looked wounded, and I realized he was completely serious. They really did miss talking to me.

"Look," I said quietly, leaning across the table, "I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"Please," George said dismissively. "Any snotty little toerag who thinks they can get the jump on us will learn otherwise fairly quickly."

"By which he means immediately."

"So what do you say? Want to hang out today?"

I looked at both of them and smiled. "Of course," I replied. "Where?"

They looked up at the ceiling just as thunder boomed and lightning split the sky in two. "Common room," they said together.

~*~

It was nearly time for my lesson with Ginevra, Ronald, and Chang when I left the Gryffindor common room. I reflected that I really needed to find someone to replace Cedric - there had to be someone else; there were always two. I didn't know how I knew that, but I knew it all the same. I needed to talk to Hannah; odds were she knew more about her housemates than I did.

It had been a nice day. The Weasley twins and I had played Exploding Snap, Gobstones, chess (which I had trounced both of them at), and various card games. Ronald had thrown us nasty looks when we laughed and joked too loudly until the twins had threatened him. Then he'd left in a huff and hadn't come back.

I realized I could probably use this day for a Patronus.

"Come on, you lot," I told them when I reached the room. "We're going to see Hagrid. You're going to learn to talk to animals."

"What use does that have?" Ronald whined.

"Well, it is how I kept that dragon from killing me last year," I said mildly. "And when you're bored, you have friends everywhere. Now come. We're going to see Hagrid."

That night, in my rooms, I tried the Patronus spell. It was slightly thicker, but it still wasn't close to an actual animal.

Damn it. What am I missing?

***

Fred, George, and I spent Sunday together as well, laughing and goofing off. My homework pile had reached alarming heights, and I had brought it with me; Fred and George proved to know enough about Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions - important aspects of a joke shop, which they were apparently dead serious about starting - to help me get my work done in record time. They flat-out refused to let me do my Defense essay, instead talking me into trying their new Fainting Fancies.

When I came floating back to consciousness without even a headache to show for it, I laughed with them. "That's very good magic," I said approvingly. We spent a pleasant hour discussing their ideas for goods, suggestions and marketing terms getting flung about with abandon.

"And to think we owe a lot of it to the Greasy Git of the Dungeons, of all people," George sighed.

"Snape?" I asked, not totally unaware of how he was viewed by most students. "How so?"

Fred snorted. "He's the Potions master, isn't he? We wouldn't have learned anything if it wasn't for him breathing over our shoulders all those years. Greasy, smarmy, unpleasant chav he may be, but he is effective."

"Unlike some of the other teachers," George grumbled. "We need someone who will actually teach us defense, and we get her."

An idea surfaced. "What if we just - do it ourselves?" I asked.

"Do what ourselves?" Fred asked.

"Defense," I said. "What if we just taught ourselves? And anyone else who wants to learn, obviously, but at the rate we're going, nobody will pass their OWLs or NEWTs and we'll be sitting ducks when we get out of school. We need to do this!"

I realized I had gone a bit fanatical at the end when Fred and George exchanged wary looks. "Where would we meet? And who would teach us?"

I deflated a bit. "I don't know where we'd meet, but - POTTER!"

He jumped, falling off the chair at the table he was sharing with Ronald. From the looks of it, they had given up on doing serious homework and were amusing themselves making things up for Divination.

"What's up, Hermione?" he asked when he made it over to us. "Ron and I were discussing our untimely deaths."

"That's actually what we wanted to talk to you about," I said. He raised his eyebrows - a trait he'd picked up from me. "We were thinking of starting a Defense club. Will you teach it?"

"Me?" he asked incredulously. "Why me?"

"Because you've faced Voldemort," I said matter-of-factly. "Throwing spells in class is different than throwing spells in a real duel, I'll bet."

"Well - yes, but -"

"So who better?" I asked.

"I - I'll think about it," he said, ashen.

I nodded. "I expect an answer by Friday night's practice."