Hermione raised her hand.
"How would we go about using this magic if we were attacked outside of class?" she asked. "There won't be blackboards everywhere we go, and it must have taken you at least a full ten seconds to write the runes…"
"Nobody is going to attack you outside of class, Miss Granger!" Umbridge said shrilly, but Professor Babbling ignored her.
"It's always better to have the runes written down on something physical," she said with a nod, "for example, if you're outside, you can always write in the dirt with your foot, but your runes will be very imprecise. But if you do not have a surface to draw on, there's always this handy spell… Flagrate!"
Professor Babbling drew her wand and started slashing at the air; with every flick of her wand, a trail of molten fire would appear in its wake. Within seconds, the Full Set of Armour of Elhaz had reappeared in scarlet runes of flame in front of her; suspended in midair, a few feet off the ground.
Oleandra's eyes widened; this was what she'd been looking for! A way to accurately draw her runes anytime, anywhere!
"I have a question," said Oleandra, raising her hand.
Professor Babbling did a double-take, seemingly unable to believe that the runic magic know-it-all actually had a question.
"Suppose I knew of a Lokk with stronger defensive capabilities than Elhaz," Oleandra said, thinking of Ægishjálmur, the Helm of Awe. "Would the Armour of Elhaz still function if I replaced Elhaz with it?"
"A Lokk within a Galdr? I don't believe anyone's ever tried it with our ancient runes, but this sort of thing was sometimes done in the east a long time ago by Array Grandmasters, for army destroying formations," said Professor Babbling thoughtfully. "There's no reason why it shouldn't work; but you would need to prepare your spell in advance, as such complex designs would surely prove to be impossible to draw mid-combat."
"Once again," said Umbridge in annoyance. "There is no danger outside of Hogwarts. You will likely never see combat in your lives, the Ministry's Aurors are highly competent, and—"
"The written form of a Galdr is called a sigil, and the written form of a Lokk is an insigil," Professor Babbling continued, ignoring her. "You can also layer sigils on top of sigils like mandalas for even greater complexity, but that is far above N.E.W.T. level—"
It's at that moment that the bell rang.
"Homework!" Professor Babbling called out. "Pick a library book of your choice that is written in Ancient Runes, and translate a chapter into English. And for bonus points… try to resonate with the rune Elhaz!"
The classroom was soon filled with the noises of chairs scraping against the floor and the buzzing of students discussing the unusually exciting contents of the lesson. As she left the classroom, Oleandra couldn't help herself but to come up on the spot with new ideas about how she could increase her powers.
In her reverie, she didn't notice Hermione calling out to her repeatedly:
"Oleandra! Oleandra? We need to talk!"
"Your other girlfriend's asking for you," Daphne told Oleandra.
"I beg your pardon?" Tracey sputtered.
"Hm?" said Oleandra distractedly. "Since when do I have a girlfriend?"
"Let's talk elsewhere," Hermione whispered behind her. "Professor Umbridge's watching."
===================================================================================
Oleandra's stomach rumbled slightly. Much to her annoyance, she had somehow allowed herself to be convinced by Hermione's words; she was currently stuffed inside a cramped stall in the second-floor girls' bathroom along with three other girls, instead of being in the Great Hall and eating a delectable meal prepared by Hogwarts's House Elves.
And someone had graffitied on the side of the stall at about her eye-level, 'Emmeline Vance is a dirty slut.' Very classy.
"Can we make this quick?" Daphne grumbled. "My neck hurts."
She was about a head and a half shorter than the rest of them, so she was forced to crane her neck to look at the others face-to-face; not the most comfortable of positions.
"Why don't you just stand on the toilet?" Tracey suggested, but Daphne just glared at her.
"I suppose you're all wondering why I've gathered you here today…" Hermione began, before blushing slightly. "I'm sorry, I've always wanted to say that line…"
Oleandra nodded. That was understandable, but could Hermione possibly get on with it?
"Harry told us what happened when you were in detention together with Umbridge," Hermione continued. "You said that Professor Dumbledore had asked you to tutor some students, and that got me thinking. If Umbridge won't teach us Defence Against the Dark Arts, why don't we teach ourselves? I was thinking we could gather a group of people who are willing to learn. I can get Harry to teach us; he tied with you for the Cup, and he's the best in our year at Defence Against the Dark Arts, but—"
Oleandra could already see where this was going.
"You want Oleandra to help teach them how to fight, is that it?" Daphne asked in confirmation.
"Well, you could always teach us your runic magic as well, while you're at it," Hermione said hopefully. "The magic Professor Babbling showed us, it's like a permanent version of the Shield Charm, isn't it? It seems like it would be something useful to learn."
"And how does helping your lot benefit us?" said Daphne squarely, crossing her arms in front of her.
"You should know better than anyone that V… Vol-Voldemort's back," Hermione said with difficulty. "We need to know how to defend ourselves. Think of all the lives you'd help save…"
A strange silence fell over the cramped bathroom stall. At first, Oleandra didn't quite know what to make of Hermione's proposition— because Tracey was really close. Oleandra could see her delicate lips, the tasteful hint of make-up around her eyes, the slight curve of her cheekbone… she could feel her soft breath against her cheek… her long, shiny hair against the back of her hand…
"Not interested," said Daphne sharply. "We have better things to do than play teachers. Let's go, Sis, Tracey…"
Daphne was thinking of her parents, taken hostage by the Dark Lord. The Greengrass family needed to remain neutral, which meant no picking sides, or at least no openly joining the Dark Lord's enemies' faction. If other Slytherins ever learned that they had taught a bunch of Dumbledore supporters, then it wouldn't be long before their parents learned about it as well, and then…
"Wait," Oleandra said suddenly.
Oleandra's goal was to save the Fairies of Avalon, which according to prophecy, could only be done by completely upending society and revealing the existence of magic to the Muggles— but that wasn't something that could be done alone.
Finding the Deathly Hallows, overthrowing the Ministry, defeating Voldemort— not even Dumbledore could hope to achieve all of this on his own. Oleandra needed allies, supporters— soft power. And where better to recruit allies than among her peers, here at Hogwarts?
"You make a persuasive argument," she said firmly. "I'll do it."