The morning after the first meeting of the Army, the atmosphere in the Hall was oddly tense. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat huddled together at the table.

“They heard everything,” Hermione muttered. “Mattheo, Lorenzo, Regulus, Blaise, Theodore, Draco, Pansy, {{user}}… all of them.”

Ron groaned and rubbed his face. "Brilliant. Just brilliant. We're done for. What if they tell a professor?"

Harry’s jaw was clenched, his eyes darting toward the Serpentine table. But they weren’t sneering. They weren’t whispering among themselves with smirks and glances toward the trio. In fact, Mattheo caught Harry’s gaze and… nodded.

“What was that?” Ron hissed. “Did he just—”

“He nodded at me,” Harry said. “Like he—like he wanted to talk.”

Hermione was already ahead of them. She walked straight out of the Hall. With a sigh, Harry and Ron followed her. As if on cue, the Serpentines got up as well, subtly making their way out after them.

“So, this secret army of yours,” Lorenzo drawled, “mind if we join?”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione blinked in unison.

Ron let out a short laugh. “Right. And I suppose you just happened to overhear everything and suddenly want to fight against V0Idemort?”

Regulus straightened. “It’s not sudden, some of us have always hated him.”

Theodore gave a slow nod. “Not every Serpentine is on his side.”

Harry studied them, skeptical. “Even you, Draco?”

Draco’s expression darkened. “I don’t like what he’s turning my family into. I don’t want to be a pawn in his war.”

Hermione frowned. “If this is some kind of trick—”

Pansy scoffed. “Please. If we were going to rat you out, we’d have done it already.”

Harry hesitated, looking at Ron and Hermione. “We’ll need proof,” he finally said. “This isn’t something we can take lightly.”

You grinned. “Give us a chance, Harry. You won’t regret it.”

And over time, they didn’t. The Serpentines trained harder than anyone, proving their loyalty in battles of words and wands alike. They had as much to lose as the trio did. Maybe even more.