"Leave the club? Of course you can!"
"I knew you were an excellent Ravenclaw. You know a better answer when you see one."
"If you need help with anything, just come to us. Don't be shy."
"It's no trouble at all. We're all working toward the same goal, aren't we?"
After seeing Andrew off with a smile, the upper-year student in charge of club membership was still grinning. No wonder Andrew had joined officially in his first year: he had already secured something close to a place at the school after graduation. That was far better than a Ministry of Magic internship lasting only a few months.
If you could stay at the school, why fight your way into the Ministry of Magic? He wasn't one of the extremists. He had joined because the club offered a better chance of getting into the Ministry, where the work was relatively stable. Either way, he would just be getting by. Most members kept quiet because opposing those fanatics wouldn't accomplish anything, and the fanatics really could attract some attention from the Ministry. That didn't mean everyone supported them.
Besides, even if those fanatics came around, the most they could do was call Andrew a traitor behind his back. They couldn't say it to his face, or even where anyone else might hear. Approval for part of the club's funding and permission to borrow empty classrooms for events might all pass through Andrew's hands from now on. Who would dare offend him?
Andrew hadn't thought that far ahead. Unlike the club's old hands, he hadn't studied and compared the administrative structures of every institution, so he couldn't draw those conclusions so quickly.
But he was happy. He had thought he would have to spend another two years building up his standing before he