Another Very Long Chapter

A/N: This is all J.K. Rowling's Idea I am merely entertaining myself and hopefully you all with my musings.

The first week of school passed by uneventfully in Harry’s standards. He had already been to at least one of all his classes and was pleased to see he thought he might be able to keep up, even in Snape’s class. Harry’s first N.E.W.T. level potions class went by somewhat bearably, Snape either had been told to back off by Dumbledore, or he was too upset to even speak to Harry; either way he didn’t mind.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was now without a doubt his, and almost everyone else, favorite class to date. The N.E.W.T. level class consisted mainly of all old DA members and several Slytherins, all the other students who hadn’t decided to continue with Defense Against the Dark Arts were deeply disappointed with Dumbledore’s announcement. Dumbledore taught with a gusto which belied his age, and seemed much more animated when he taught. It also appeared that Dumbledore didn’t believe that heavily in homework, his only assignment so far was to practice the new defensive spells with a friend.
Harry’s other new favorite class was Offensive Light magic which was being taught by none other than Kingsley Shaklebolt and a still recuperating Mad-Eye. None of the students knew what to expect that first class and were therefore surprised when the walked into the classroom which appeared to be a perfect replica of a place only Harry and a few others knew of; the Department of Mysteries.
Once the last student came in the door slammed shut and they were thrown into darkness. The DA members all lit their wands immediately and the others followed suit.
Harry’s heart was beating heavily and Ron and Hermione were also mirroring his stress. All three of them still had nightmares of this place and what occurred there only a few months ago.
As Harry took the lead with his friends his mind kept flashing back to the memories of his friends and the Order members fighting each other and then Dumbledore and Voldemort’s duel. When they reached the large spinning door the whole room illuminated at once. Out of the door right in front of the group stepped Moody and Kingsley both looking determinedly serious. No one spoke or even seemed to be breathing. The two Aurors were formidable looking; Moody’s new arm was painted flat black and its texture appeared to be that of a rock; it reminded Harry closely of Wormtail’s magical appendage.
“This will be your classroom for the first half of the year, you will train, fight, and study with this group. Does anyone know what this place is supposed to be?” Moody asked both his eyes surveying the students. In the back Neville slowly put his hand up. “Mr. Longbottom, I’m sure you know what this place is.”
“It’s the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic,” Neville said in a strong voice which Harry had not yet heard from the timid boy.
“That’s right, ten points to Gryffindor. This is an almost exact replica of the Department of Mysteries, minus some places that you don’t need to see. Can anyone tell me why we are going to be training here?” Moody asked.
This time Hermione’s hand shot into the air, Kingsley nodded at her and she said, “So we can all learn the best ways to use offensive magic in an actual setting, one which has already been battle tested by people.”
“I couldn’t have put it better myself, take ten points Miss Granger,” Kingsley said smiling. “She is correct. As many of you know several of the students in this class were involved in a full on battle with Voldemort’s Death Eaters.” All of the students either focused on Harry, Ron and Hermione, or Neville. Kingsley continued, “The reason we chose this location is because the students performed so admirably, and the setting was so adverse to both sides. This will hopefully teach you all how to think on your feet and show you which spells are beneficial in which areas of combat.”
“This is NOT Defense Against the Dark Arts, this is Offensive Light magic, Offensive. We will be learning spells, jinxes, and hexes which if used correctly will help you win a fight not just protect yourself,” Moody said with an empirical look on his face. “There will not be any homework unless we assign you to find useful spells for the situations we are working on. Your tests will simply be to see how well you fare in the simulations that we hold. Kingsley and I will be magically controlling up to twenty mock fighters and sometimes we may have guest Aurors come any train with you lot.”
Harry raised his hand now, Moody just smiled and nodded. “Uh, professor, you said that we’d be training in this for the first half of the year, what about the other half?”
“Good catch Potter, well let’s just say we’ll be working in something with a little larger scale. Hopefully it will prepare all of you for the upcoming war. Now if there aren’t any more questions lets start the class.” Kingsley said smiling approvingly.
“We’re going to practice entering an insecure location such as this one where you do not know if there are hostiles inside. We’re going to try it once without any hints and see how you do first. Everyone line up, when the lights go out the first person can step through this door and face us, once the light goes on again the next can come in.” Mad Eye growled then he and Kingsley walked into the adjoining room.
The rest of the class was passed facing off against different groupings of Death Eaters, all of which appeared to look strikingly like Lucius Malfoy much to Harry and the other’s chagrin.
The whole week all the house tables were buzzing with discussion over both Dumbledore and O.L.M. many students were up at the teacher’s table discussing possible course changes with their heads of house so they too could have Dumbledore as a teacher. There were also rumors circulating over who his assistant teacher would be; some even went so far as to claim Harry was going to be.
While Harry was confident that he wouldn’t be suddenly asked to become an assistant teacher his mind was still weighted down with the worries of both the D.A. and the Quidditch Captainship which he’d been given just the day before by a very happy McGonagall. The Quidditch Captainship was a small irritation at the moment, both Ron and Katie Bell were constantly asking when tryouts were going to be and if he’d gotten the pitch reserved; although that had lessened slightly after he announced next week would be the tryouts for the empty positions.
The D.A. however was not as small a problem. Everyday people were going up to him and asking whether or not they would be holding the club or not, and every time he just told them he wasn’t sure and he’d tell them when he figured out. He finally had had enough and decided to ask his friends that Saturday as they sat in the private bedroom drinking butterbeer Dobby had nicked from the stores.
Hermione of course was first to respond. “I think that we should start it up immediately, we can never have enough training! Plus it’s a great thing for inter-house unity.”
Harry smiled, that’s the prefect in her, always thinking about the school. “Well I agree but I still think it may be a good idea to keep it secret, even from Dumbledore. I have a feeling that it may be useful to keep our actions quiet fro at least right now, first and foremost to keep Malfoy and the others from telling on us to Voldemort. The last thing I want is for more people to get killed because of me.”
“Harry, it isn’t your fault people have been getting killed by Voldemort,” Ginny said comfortingly, squeezing his hand. Harry was still getting used to having someone who he could tell everything to but he had been slowly letting loose small bits of his worries. It was amazing how much good it did for him also, he could feel the pain dissolve away as he told her about parts of his abusive childhood.
“Ginny’s right Harry, it isn’t. I agree with you on the secrecy thing though, I don’t trust Malfoy an inch, I bet’ll just go tell his dad everything we’re doing.” Ron said supportively as always.
“I’m glad you agree, I was hoping you might be able to work out a better system for us; maybe groupings of some sort just so we can figure out who’s who and what each group has study so far. Remember what Moody said about the Auror divisions and how they’re divided into expertise maybe we could do something similar.” Harry said, he’d been thinking the idea over for a while now and had finally gotten enough courage up to tell them about it.
“I’ll start working on it right away. ’Mione will you help me look for books in the library tomorrow; we don’t have that much homework so we can probably spend some time on it.” Ron asked, there seemed to be a hidden question under it and both Ginny and Emma noticed Hermione blush.
“Anything that would make you want to go to the library is ok in my books, lets do it after lunch. Harry how do you plan on keeping it a secret still if half the school wants to join?” Hermione asked her eyes kept flicking back to Ron who was smiling triumphantly.
“Well that’s why I want it in groups so each will meet once a week, and then the group leaders will meet up to keep the groups connected. That way we’ll also keep the information controlled. Only a few people will know how many kids there really are in the DA.” Harry said. Hermione just smiled and nodded, apparently she didn’t have any other questions.
“Well then, we’ll first use the coins to set a meeting for the originals and then they can help spread the message. As of now DA II has begun.”

The word that the DA had been reinstated spread like wild fire throughout the entire school, a very quite wildfire however. Harry was quite surprised when not a single teacher had yet approached him about the club yet. It appeared that the student’s one year under Umbridge’s tyrannical rule taught them something about operational security. In-between meals and homework Harry and the others would meet in their room and discuss the details of the new divided groups. Ron, much to Hermione’s delight, had taken to reading piles of Muggle books all about war and strategy. His strategic chess mind allowing him to absorb all the moves just like the one’s he’d learned for the chess board. It appeared to Harry that Ron had finally found his calling, he was spending almost all his free time now either in the library or playing with a little piece of parchment Hermione had charmed for him. It was able to simulate battle sequences that Ron had created so he could see if his strategies would work or not against Voldemort’s.
With the other’s help he slowly but surely designed a plan for how the D.A. would be run. Late at night in Harry and Ginny’s room he laid it out for them for the first time.
“Okay, well ‘Mione and I have been reading a lot on Muggle warfare. We would’ve used wizard but there isn’t any strategy to it really. It was all just a bunch of spells flying everywhere, even when Dumbledore fought Grindlewald; there just wasn’t a real attack. The only reason Grindlewald’s army was defeated was because they didn’t have a rank system so they just argued about who’d do what. That’s the first thing I think we should do… create a ranking system.”
Seeing Harry cringe slightly at the idea of dividing an already divided school Hermione interjected, “It wouldn’t be to show who was better and who is worse, Harry, just so we can have a chain of command so people would know what to do if they need to.”
Ron gave her a smile then continued, “Right. So we’d have a general then commanders, then division groupings. Each commander would be in charge of one of the groups that you talked about Harry. And each group would be divided into divisions; each one of those would be have the same training as the rest of the group but would be able to work by itself if it was necessary. Each group would also have a colour or a symbol to show who was who and keep it a little more organized. This strategy has been used by almost every Muggle war in the past two-thousand years so I figure it should work for us.” Ron shrugged, his face showing immense confidence in the plan.
Harry smiled and patted him on the back. “Brilliant work mate! I knew if I left it up to you you’d come up with something. It sounds like a great idea so we’ll use it, hopefully it’ll keep us safer than if we just did it like last year.” Harry said excitedly. His idea for the new DA was coming together. “Hey Hermione, could we make more of the coins? We’ll probably need a hundred or so from what I’ve heard from different students who want to join. I really don’t want anyone to figure out about what we’re doing. I know that if Malfoy figures out what we’re doing he’ll run and tell his father all about who’s in it and what we’re doing. I think the coins will help keep it secret.”
“I’ve already started working on them, only, they’re a little difficult to make. I have only 23 so far. I could definitely use some help making them.” Hermione said.
“I’ll help ‘Mione! I’ll help!” Emma said jumping out of her seat excitedly. She had been listening to everything they’d been doing but hadn’t been able to help them with anything so far.
Hermione and Emma had grown to be really good friends and she was a little sorry that the little girl hadn’t been able to help them out in anything. She looked over at Harry and Ron, they both just nodded smiling. “Alright Emma, you can help me. I’ll have to teach you a couple of spells but from what I’ve heard from Professor Flitwick you shouldn’t have any problems.”
“Wicked! When can we start? Can we start now? I don’t have any homework; come one ‘Mione!” Emma said tugging at the older witch’s robes.
“Well… if you don’t have any work I guess we could start now, we have a lot of coins to make. Let’s go to the library so people won’t see what we’re doing.” Hermione stood up, bid farewell and walked out of the portal with Emma tailing her.
Harry and Ginny both noticed Ron’s silly grin as he watched Hermione walked out and gave each other a knowing looking. Harry spoke up first, “So Ronald, when are you going to ask Hermione out on a date?”
Ron spun around in chair his face already turning red, “What do you mean? Why would I ask her on a date?”
Ginny shook her head, “Ron, you’d have to be blind and deaf not to notice that you fancy her. She fancies you too, did you know that?”
Ron’s face lost a little of its red hue, “She’s like my sister; she wouldn’t go out with me.”
“Why wouldn’t she Ron? Hermione has asked me a hundred bloody times if you like her. Every time I tell her that you do but she just doesn’t believe me. You both like each other so just do something about it.” Ginny said exasperated.
“Or we will…” Harry said teasingly, grinning at his friend.
“Well, what should I do? I mean…how should I do it. If you haven’t noticed there aren’t exactly a load of date opportunities here,” Ron asked a little embarrassed. It was the first time he’d admitted his crush to anyone, let alone Harry and his sister.
“Not quite sure you want to take advice from me, I’ve only gone on one real date, and that was with Cho. Don’t forget I made her cry within ten minutes of the trip. Ginny and I haven’t really gone on any dates because we didn’t need to, we just sort of hang out.” Harry said shrugging, “You can always use the invisibility cloak to sneak out to Honeyduke’s with her.”
Ron smiled, “That’s a good idea, doubt she’d go for it though, her being a Prefect and all. Maybe Dobby can help me work something out.”
“He’d probably carve an ice sculpture for her if you asked him,” Harry joked. But Ron didn’t seem to hear him; he was already too wrapped up in thinking for what to do
“Well I’m tired, I think I’m going to head up to my bed,” Ron said absently, his mind focused on finding the best way to ask Hermione out.
“Night Ronald, have a good night patrolling the hallways with ‘Mione,” Ginny called out over her shoulder. Surprisingly Ron didn’t even respond and just continued out of the room.
Once the portrait close the couple broke into hysterics, both of them laughing until their sides hurt.
“I can’t believe that they’ve liked each other for at least three years and all it took us was one question to get the ball rolling.” Harry said sitting up on the floor.
“Yeah, I guess Fred and George don’t need to send us any of their Blabbing Bubblegum, shame.” Ginny said. She was always eager to try out any new prank that her brothers made.
“We could always use it on Malfoy, I’m sure he’s got some embarrassing secrets he’d tell everyone in the Great Hall.” Harry hinted mischievously.
“Wow I like the way you think. My brothers really are starting to rub off on you aren’t they? Let’s wake up early tomorrow, maybe Dobby could help us.” Ginny said as she curled up next to Harry in front of the crackling fire.
“If he isn’t too busy carving a life-sized ice sculpture of Hermione,” said Harry, and they both broke into laughter once again.

During breakfast the next day Harry and the others were approached ceaselessly throughout their entire meal. Every person trying to discreetly inquire into when the D.A. would be first meeting and where they were going to hold it. At some points during the meal there was a line of people waiting to talk to Harry, Ron or Hermione.
“Harry, we need to do something about this, Snape and Dumbledore are starting to look a little suspicious. Why shouldn’t they anyways, we have half of Gryffindor lined up trying to talk to us.” Hermione said in-between a momentary break in the stream of DA members.
“I know, I know, but I can’t exactly make an announcement can I?” Harry said exasperatedly.
“Well then lets just leave, we can go to your room, no one will find us there, plus Dobby can sneak us some food,” Ron asked hopefully.
“No, we can’t just run away from them Ron, if we just disappear then it looks like we don’t care about the DA anymore. Maybe we can just pass a message somehow, Hermione?” Harry looked at his friend, hoping she might have some idea as to what to do.
Hermione just shook her head, “Sorry Harry. All the spells that we could do are either too noticeable or just too complex to perform while we’re just sitting here. Oh, heads up Harry, here comes Colin.” Sure enough the small blonde haired boy walked right up to Harry smiling as usual.
“Heya Harry, haven’t seen you around lately. No one seems to know where you’re spending your nights. I’ve been meaning to ask you about the DA, when is the first meeting?” Colin spit out the whole conversation in breath and waited anxiously to hear what Harry would say.
“Yes Colin, the DA will be starting soon, we’re just getting the last kinks out of our new plan. I promise you’ll know when the first meeting is just as soon as we do. Hermione is working on making more coins like last year so everyone will be able to figure out when to meet. Remember though, keep it secret, we don’t want Malfoy to figure out.” Or Dumbledore, I can’t imagine what he’d do if he figured out I was running this thing again. He thought to himself.
“Sure thing, Harry. I can’t wait for it to start, is there anything I can do to help out?” The boy asked with his usual alacrity.
No it’s okay, we have everything figured…” Harry paused suddenly thinking of something, “Actually there is something Colin, but it’s really important that you do it right.”
“Sure, I’ll do anything to help! You name it I’ll do it.”
“Right, well we need you to quietly spread the word around the school just what I told you, we can’t let anyone get suspicious. Make sure they are members of the DA also, there are probably not going to be many Slytherins asking about our next meeting.” Harry said in a whispered voice.
Colin nodded seriously, just like a soldier receiving an order from his general, “You can count on me Harry! I’ll start right away, and I promise not to tell people who aren’t in the DA.”
“Thanks Colin, that’s a load of help.” Harry said gratefully. Colin could be a pain most of the time but he certainly had faithfulness, Harry wasn’t worried about him spilling their secret.
“Well I better go get started, wait till my brother hears about this, a mission for the DA!” Colin said as he ran off presumably to brag to his younger brother.
Harry turned to face the others and let out a breath of relief. “Well I’m glad we took care of that. No I can finally eat my breakfast, I’m starving. Plus we have Double D.A.D.A. with Dumbledore today and we finally get to figure out who is going to be our assistant teacher he keeps talking about.”
“Maybe it’s Lupin or Tonks, we haven’t seen them at all.” Ron said through a mouthful of hash browns.
“I don’t think so, we all know Lupin wouldn’t hurt anyone but not everyone else. I doubt he’s going to be coming back to Hogwarts to teach. And can you honestly see Tonks ordering around students? I mean she’s sometimes a bigger prankster than Fred and George. Remember the time she charmed that jar of potpourri follow Dung around everywhere? She said it was to cover the smell of his awful pipe but I think she just did it because he hates the smell of anything clean.” Hermione said grinning.
“Well I wonder who it’s going to be then,” Ginny said still not completely awake. She wasn’t much of a morning person and it usually took her a while to completely wake up.
“It is Dumbledore we’re talking about, so it could be anyone,” Harry shrugged.
“Well we probably should head down there, breakfast is almost over and I want a good seat.” Hermione said as she gathered her books and her bag, the rest soon followed suit bidding Emma and Ginny farewell as they headed out of the Great Hall and to the D.A.D.A. classroom.
Unsurprisingly there was already a long line of other students who were just as anxious to learn who their assistant teacher would be for the rest of the year. The crowd waited outside the classroom for about five minutes until the door swung open and Dumbledore called. “Let’s start class everyone, come inside quickly. I can assure you we will want all the time that we are allotted.”
Everyone pushed through the entrance and there was a small skirmish over who got the seats closest to the front. Once everyone was settled down Dumbledore raised his hand for silence. “Excellent! Now that we’re all situated I can introduce our new teacher, he will teach whenever I am not available or when there is something that requires a little extra teaching. I daresay he has several hundred years of experience on me.” Dumbledore chuckled, his eye twinkling. Harry hadn’t seen Dumbledore truly smile or laugh in a long time, ever since Voldemort returned that night at the Ministry of Magic. “Would you please give your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher a warn welcome. Nicholas you can come out now.”
Out from the teacher’s quarters strolled an old man who looked as if he were Father Time himself. Innumerable wrinkles covered his entire face yet it did not hide his large smile and piercing dark blue eyes. He seemed to posses a certain sense of calm and knowledge that reminded Harry of what Merlin might have been like.
“Nicholas Flamel, Professor Flamel to you students, has been a dear friend of mine for countless decades; he and I go back many years. You may recognize him from the Chocolate Frog cards that I know you, just like me, collect religiously. He has been kind enough to offer his time to supplement my teaching with some of his own ideas,” the Headmaster smiled, his eyes were distant however, as if he were recounting some past memory. “Perhaps you’d like to say something to your new students Nicholas?” The classroom was obviously bubbling with excitement over the announcement of their new teacher. Almost everyone had heard about Nicholas Flamel, who was most well known for his creation of the Philosopher’s Stone. Hermione, Ron, and Harry shared a uncertain look. They were told by Dumbledore that Nicholas had destroyed the Stone and had only enough elixir to organize his estate. Maybe he still is putting his affairs in order, I mean he has been alive for six-hundred years. Harry reasoned, but still didn’t completely believe it. Five years sure was a long time for anyone.
“Thank you Albus for that flattering introduction, I doubt I will be able to supplement your teaching much however. You seem to have a better knack at it than I do, I daresay I’m more of a tinkerer.” The man let out a laugh that filled the room. His voice seemed to be both kind yet assertive at the same time, probably born from what Harry knew was 600 years of life. “Your headmaster asked me to help him because he wants to make sure you are all prepared for the next few years which I am sad to say are most likely going to be filled with strife. I owed him a favor and figured it would be nice to return once again to Hogwarts. I hope to be able to help you all learn how to protect yourself and your family. Oh, and one other thing, I’m not much on titles so you can just call me Nicholas or Nick in class. Seeing as I am a teacher now I think that is okay Albus?” Nick smiled at his old friend then laughed.
“Of course Nicholas, whatever you see fit. What do you say we start our class then, we have a double period so hopefully we can cover a decent part of the more mundane literature and still have ample time for demonstrations,” Dumbledore waved his wand and a black board appeared along with notes on how to check and set simple wards around a house.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the other students listened for an hour as Nick and Dumbledore covered everything there was on the blackboard. Usually lectures had a soporific effect of students yet everyone in this room was wide awake, scribbling furiously at their notebooks. Having Dumbledore as a teacher was one thing but having both Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel teaching was another thing completely.
Harry couldn’t help but compare this class to one of Umbridge’s. Hers involved a completely silent room where the only noises was the occasional turn of the page or a muffled cough. This new class was loud and filled with energetic discussion. Dumbledore and Nick fed off each other each one adding onto the other’s arguments or ideas. If someone had a question they barely had to raise their hand before the question was answered.
By the time they had gotten through the whole blackboard Harry realized he probably had learned more in that one hour than all of last year. And when it was time for the practical section of the class almost everyone was able to cast a ward strong enough to repel an intruder if he or she touched it. Harry had never seen Neville cast anything in class that hadn’t taken him at least half –a-dozen tries, yet today he was casting each ward with little difficulty.
“Alright everyone, superb job today! I cannot tell you how excited I am to be teaching such an enthusiastic class. Judging by the way things went today we’ll be finished with the scheduled curriculum by mid December.” Nicholas said clapping his hands happily, his smile growing even wider.
“Homework for tonight is to review your notes from class and be prepared to be tested on them in this class or Professor Moody and Shaklebolt’s. Be forewarned, anything taught in this class or theirs is fair game on a test. If there aren’t any questions you are dismissed.” Dumbledore said waving his and making the door swing open. The students filed out the door each stopping to shake Nicholas’ hand and thank both of their teachers. “Harry, do you have a moment?” Dumbledore asked as he was walking to towards the door.
“Sure, I have lunch next,” Harry stalled as the other students left the room, he told Ron and Hermione he’d see them for lunch, then approached Dumbledore and Nicholas.
“So you’re Harry Potter. The savior of my stone, ‘the?” Nick said as he shook Harry’s hand.
“I didn’t really do anything sir, Professor Dumbledore’s mirror just gave it to me.” Harry said modestly.
“Nonsense! Albus told me the whole story, you and your two friends managed to get by the traps and puzzles of every teacher here. I think I owe you a thank you; you prevented Tom from getting his hands on it.” Nicholas said with a kind look on his face.
“Er, your welcome, but I couldn’t have done it without my friends.” Harry said blushing slightly under his praise.
“Of course, that’s that friends are for! Albus has helped me out countless times when it got a little sticky. I still owe you for getting me out that spot of trouble with the Ministry. You know, the one with the barrel of leeches and a box of that Muggle dynamite?” He nudged Dumbledore, tipping his head in thanks.
“How could I forget Nicholas, they were forced to write up a new bill after I used that loophole to get you out of the trouble,” Dumbledore smiled softly. “Harry I noticed your confusion when Nicholas walked in, I assume that is because of my last mention of him a few years ago?”
“Umm, yes sir, I mean you said he’d destroyed the stone didn’t you?”
“Well I guess you don’t know much about the Philosopher’s Stone, there isn’t much information out there anyhow. Well even if you stop taking the elixir the potion will last in your bloodstream for a certain amount of time. This increases exponentially the longer you consume it, so for Nicholas here he still has it in his blood for…oh, you’ll have to help me Flamel, I don’t have the same mind as you do when it comes to math.”
“My wife and I ran out of elixir about two years ago which means I have about a decade left before it is completely out of my system. So I’m afraid I’ll be around for just a bit longer.” Flamel said jovially.
“Quite so, and I am really glad that you agreed to teaching,” Dumbledore said.
“Well I was pleasantly surprised today; you and the others have quite a work ethic!”
“You have Harry to thank for that too, last year he started and ran a defense club outside of school when he realized our last teacher wasn’t exactly teaching them what they needed. The club members all scored over outstanding on their O.W.L.s this summer which is quite a feat.” Dumbledore looked proudly at Harry.
“Excellent, well I shan’t keep you any longer my dear boy, I just wanted to meet your personally so I could thank you. I know how important lunch is around here, I’m pretty hungry myself right now.” Nick shook Harry’s hand once more and waved him out the door.
As Harry walked up to lunch he smiled as he thought to himself. Maybe this year won’t be too bad. I’m bonded to the person I love, no one thinks I’m a nut, and I’m learning how to fight from some of the best wizards in the world. For the first time in a long while Harry started to hum to himself.

The corridor was obsidian black, even the light coming from the wand seemed to be devoured by the walls. It was well past curfew at Hogwarts and even most of the teachers had turned in for the night. There were some people still out and about however, one of which who was currently running down a corridor trying to make it to the Gryffindor entrance without being caught by Filch or Mrs. Norris. As the person briskly walked down the stony, dark corridor, they failed to notice the dark shadows that were following stealthily. The stalkers were cloaked entirely in black and moved lithely between hiding spots never allowing themselves to be in the wand light for more than a second.
As their target rounded a corner both of them acted on some unnoticeable signal. The two hooded assailants jumped the young girl. One grabbed her by the shoulders while the other muttered silencio, effectively muffling her shout of surprise. They then dragged her into the nearby empty classroom and threw her to the floor.
As the larger of the two checked the hallway then locked the door the other assailant walked slowly up to the sobbing girl. His wand was the only light source in the entire room, which consequently gave the boys face an even more pallid complexion. His blonde hair and sunken eyes now gave him the appearance of a ghost. He lowered his wand to the little girl’s tear stained face and smiled cruelly; his face was the picture of pure malice.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” the boy chided using the wand to lift the girl’s chin. “Well now, first years really shouldn’t be wandering around in the dark all alone, it really isn’t safe. You never know who you could run into.” The other hooded person now approached, his face was barely visible in the light, but the girl could recognize it anywhere.
“Nott, come over here so we can do it together,” Malfoy said never letting his eyes leave the girl.
Nott strode up next to the Slytherin drawing his wand as he did so. “You don’t have Potter here to help you know do you? You’re going to pay mudblood, we’re going to make you an example to the entire school!” The two of them looked at each other and nodded, both then raised their wands simultaneously and shouted CRUCIO!
Harry bolted awake at that very moment, his scar was burning and there seemed to be another pain, one he hadn’t felt since that night at the Department of Mysteries.
It seemed that Ginny too had woken up at the same time, she looked over at Harry, and even in the dark she could see the fear of realization in his eyes. “Emma,” he whispered in horror then grabbed his glasses, wand, and the Marauder’s Map and ran for the door pulling it open so hard the hinges pulled out of the stone wall.
Ginny jumped out of bed and grabbed her wand and was soon on right behind Harry as he scanned the map with his wand looking for Emma. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were now glowing brightly, his whole body seemed to be radiating energy. If Ginny had looked at herself in a mirror she would have seen a similar thing in her eyes, which were glowing ruby red now.
Harry moved with frantic desperation, murmuring to himself as he scoured the map for Emma. Ginny simply tailed behind, her wand ready.
Harry finally found the small dot labelled Emmaline Massey it wasn’t moving. Right next to hers were two other dots one labelled Draco Malfoy and the other Theodore Nott. They were in a classroom on the second floor, almost directly above where Harry and Ginny were right then.
“Gin, come on!” Harry said, his tone of voice unsettled Ginny, she’d never heard him this angry before. As he grabbed her hand she felt something like a shock of electricity pass through her. They ran the entire way only slowing when they neared the door. Harry’s eyes were burning deep green, he didn’t even raise his wand as he neared the door yet the whole thing ripped off its hinges and hit the wall across the hall.
Harry strode into classroom, his wand now drawn already aimed at Malfoy and Nott who had been thrown on their backs by the force of the door being opened.
“Potter! How did I know, oh yeah, because you’re the only one who cares about fucking mudbloods!” Malfoy spat kicking the little girl on the floor as he slowly moved his hand towards his own wand.
Harry didn’t need anymore encouragement; he pointed his wand at Malfoy’s face and without a word from either of them Malfoy simply fell to the floor unconscious; his eyes rolling up into his head then going completely limp. Harry then turned on his heels fuming to confront Nott only to find him hanging upside down from the ceiling bound up; Ginny was already on the ground next to Emma checking to see if she was okay. Harry’s heart was racing, he looked down at Emma. The little girl wasn’t moving and her entire face seemed to be covered in bruises, she was curled up in the fetal position trying to cover the blows to her face.
Ginny turned up to look at Harry the fire in her eyes was now replaced with tears, “Harry, we have to get her to Dumbledore. She’s really hurt, I can’t find a pulse.” While Ginny had done some volunteer work for Madam Pomfrey she’d never learned any spell or charm to restart someone’s heart.
“We can’t carry her, not in her condition. Maybe I can run up to his office, it isn’t too far from here. Take care of her while I go get help.” Harry said already making for the door.
Ginny just nodded, too afraid to speak.
Suddenly there was a burst of fire and out of nowhere appeared Fawkes hovering in the middle of the room. Harry seemed to immediately know what the phoenix was there for; he ran over picked Emma up in his arms and then grabbed hold of one of Fawkes’ feathers. Ginny followed suit grabbing hold of another one of Fawkes’ tail feathers. Immediately she felt the familiar weightlessness and then a burst of light as she Harry and Emma were transported with Fawkes.
A moment later they appeared again in what Harry recognized to be the infirmary. The torches were out and the whole ward was deathly, the only light was coming from the corner room which was Madam Pomfrey’s quarters. Ginny ran to rouse Madam Pomfrey while Harry lifted Emma gently and set her down on one of the nearby beds. He hadn’t seen her move or even breath the whole time he’d been there; he remembered learning something in elementary school about helping someone breathe but he all he could recall was that it was called CPR.
There was a commotion from inside the room and out came Madam Pomfrey, dressed in her nightgown and a robe, with Ginny close on her heels. She saw the little girl on the bed and sped up nearly knocking Harry over as she reached Emma.
“Merlin! What happened to this girl?” She said as she began casting various diagnostic charms over Emma. “How long has she not been breathing? Have you checked her pulse yet?”
Harry was first to reply, “Ginny couldn’t find a pulse, and when we got to her she wasn’t breathing. It was Malfoy and Nott, they were using the cruciatus curse on her. Malfoy was kicking her also, I think that might have been what knocked her out.”
Madam Pomfrey face showed alarm. She quickly pointed her wand at Emma’s heart and shouted Cardium Renervium! Emma’s whole body spasmed in the bed as she gasped for air then fell back unconscious. Madam Pomfrey checked her pulse then her breathing, seemingly satisfied that the girl was at least alive and breathing now, she stepped back to face Harry and Ginny. “Very well even though she isn’t conscious she’s at least breathing that was the greatest danger. Potter go and get the headmaster, he’ll want to know of this attack. The password is peanut brittle; tell him to have Professor Snape bring his best cruciatus reliever. Hurry now!”
Harry was turned and ran down the ward, heading straight for Dumbledore’s office as fast as he could. He only made a few steps however before he ran into something and hit the floor. He grabbed for his glasses and shoved them on, only to see the headmaster in front of him holding out his hand to help him up.
“I am already here Poppy, Fawkes was kind enough to alert me to the situation as soon as he returned, Severus should be here momentarily.” Dumbledore helped Harry up then strode quickly to the bedside. “How is she Poppy?”
“She wasn’t breathing and her pulse was practically nonexistent headmaster. I actually had to use the revival charm, that’s only the second time I’ve ever had to use it. Whatever these boys did to this little girl was enough to almost kill her.”
“Thank you Poppy, Severus should be here momentarily. Harry, Ginevra, if I could talk to you for a moment in private?” Dumbledore asked the two teens.
Harry and Ginny were both reluctant to leave Emma’s side.
“Emma is going to be quite alright now that she’s breathing again, we just have to let her get her rest, I’ll call you two over immediately if she awakes.” Madam Pomfrey said trying to reassure them. They both nodded and hesitantly joined Dumbledore.
“Now then, I know a little about what occurred, but phoenixes can only tell me so much. I hope you wouldn’t mind filling me in on what just transpired?” Dumbledore asked softly. Harry was holding Ginny in his arms; both of them were obviously still recovering from the shock of seeing the friend in such a state. “I need to know Harry, that way we can take care of Miss Massey as well as possible.”
Harry nodded, knowing he would have to tell him. But the adrenaline had worn off now and he suddenly realized how close Emma had come to dying, and how lucky it was that they had found her in time. Harry then did something he hadn’t done since the first few days of summer, he cried.

Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron were sitting in chairs around Emma’s small bed in various states of exhaustion and grief. They hadn’t left the infirmary since last night’s attack and Dumbledore had told them they would be excused from classes the next day so as to not leave Emma alone in the infirmary.
After Harry and Ginny had recounted the entire story to the headmaster, including the fact that they both had the same vision at the same time, the group returned to the bed where Emma was laying, still unconscious. Madam Pomfrey had found that along with the effects of the Cruciatus curse, she had three broken ribs and a large bruise on the side of her body.
“She’ll have to remain here for at least this week before I will even consider letting her go back to the dorms. Considering what those two boys did to her I’m surprised I didn’t have to send her to St. Mungo’s.” The nurse said in her usual curt voice that morning, talking to Dumbledore at the entrance to the infirmary.
“Thank you Poppy, you have done, as always, an excellent job.” Dumbledore said kindly. “Miss Massey’s mother should be arriving shortly, I hope that it is okay with you if she stays with her for the rest of her time here?”
“Yes of course, I will make up a bed in the private ward so they can have some privacy.” Madam Pomfrey said and bustled off to work on the room.
The room was silent for a moment, all of the just looking at Emma, still too shocked about what happened to her. Harry was still trying to figure out how he and Ginny had seen Emma being attacked last night in their dreams, he knew Voldemort hadn’t been there so it wasn’t like the normal intrusions he had upon the Dark Lord’s mind. Dumbledore was simply standing there, and although Harry still had some resentment towards the headmaster he decided to ask anyway.
“Professor?” Harry asked tentatively, Dumbledore looked at him, his blue eyes seemed to be lacking some of their usual lustre.
“Yes Harry?” He responded, his voice revealing his exhaustion. The headmaster had been up all night running in-between the floo, the infirmary, and the tower room where Mr. Malfoy and Nott were being held. Everyday his list of things to do seemingly grew longer and longer as the war grew inevitably closer and closer.
“Well, I was wondering about last night. How was Ginny and I able to see what was happening to Emma? I mean I know Voldemort wasn’t there that night, so I couldn’t have been in his mind.”
“That is a good question indeed, I might have a possible reason for this, but there is very little information on the specifics of the Heartbond. From what I have read so far of a few ancient papers on Myrddin, you probably know of him as Merlin, he would occasionally refer to his ability to know the whereabouts, and feelings of not only his lover Gwendoloena, but of his apprentice Arturius. While I would usually consider this just being some reference to legilimency, the ancient Coptic language he was using has several translations and one of the meanings for the word he used when describing the connection was that it was like a bond between them.
“This now leads me to assume that this bond you and Miss Weasley posses not only link you two together, but connects you to your closest friends. In your dream state your mind is much more open than when you are awake, and when Emmaline found herself to be in peril the bond somehow allowed you to see where she was.”
“If we are all bonded why didn’t Ron or I see anything last night? I mean we figured out when Professor McGonagall woke us both up last night.” Hermione interjected, her mind sharp as always.
“Quite right Miss Granger. Well, and I’m only hypothesizing now, but I believe that you may have felt something rather than seen anything. How did you feel when you woke up last night?” Dumbledore asked, enjoying Hermione’s keen questioning.
“I can’t really remember, there were other things on my mind obviously. Now that I think of it though I did feel a bit nauseous, but I just thought that was from the combination of waking up early and hearing about Emma.” Hermione said slowly, working through the night’s rather hectic events.
Dumbledore only nodded then turned to face Ron. He hadn’t said anything yet, but a look of surprise had come across his face as Hermione was talking.
“Blimey ‘Mione, I think he’s right. I woke up and was achy and had a headache, I just thought it was either something to do with dinner or I wasn’t coming down with something!” Ron said now looking up at Dumbledore, hoping he would confirm what the two had just said.
“It would seem that your friends did have some reaction to the attack through the bond. I believe they were feeling trace effects of both the Cruciatus curse and the kicks Mr. Malfoy delivered; only they did not notice it because of all the commotion.” Dumbledore said, and then looked out the window to the grounds below. He was silent for a moment, then spoke again, not turning to face them. “This bond continues to surprise even me every day; I believe that as you grow stronger magically the bond will continue to grow with it. We will have to continually monitor to see what new developments occur over this school year, if anything happens please tell me or another Order member what it was. That goes for all of you, if anything changes please te-…”
But Dumbledore was cut off by a commotion in the hallway. A second later the doors opened and a stricken Joy Massey came striding in closely followed by McGonagall.
Joy saw Emma lying in the cot unconscious and gasped, her eyes filling with tears. She stood there momentarily paralysed, just staring at her daughter then at Harry, then Dumbledore, then at the three other children. Her mouth opened as she tried to say something, but then she closed it again as her gaze returned to her only daughter lying there unconscious. Finally after a moment of complete silence she managed to speak the one question that sprung to mind first, “Is she going to live?”
“She is going to be quite alright, Miss Massey, I can assure you. Madam Pomfrey says she will make a full recovery in only a week. Why don’t you have a seat and you can ask any other question you want while we wait for your daughter to wake up.” Dumbledore said consolingly, and at Joy’s stunned nod he conjured two rather comfortable looking chairs and a small side table with a teapot and two cups.
“Who…what…did this to her? Why did this happen?” She asked as she stroked her daughter’s hair lovingly.
“I am afraid that Lord Voldemort’s followers are even in the school. They blindly obey his commands, and commit acts of violence just for fun or in hopes of being recognized by their master. Tom believes that witches or wizards who are not born from two wizards are ‘impure’ and not worthy to be considered wizards. He feels that it is the pureblood wizards that deserve to have the power. He looks upon anyone who is not a pureblood with utter contempt. His one goal is to rule the wizarding world and have Muggles as his slaves.” Dumbledore finished with sadness in his usually jovial eyes. Although he and Harry had discussed Voldemort with her before they hadn’t really told her what his goals were.
“Did you catch them, the people who did this to my little girl?” An intensity entered Joy’s eyes, a maternal instinct Harry knew well from Mrs. Weasley’s ministrations around the house.
“Harry and Miss Weasley were able to find Emma and apprehend the perpetrators before long, Emmaline is very lucky that they found her, any later and her situation might have been much graver. Her attackers are currently locked up in a secure room and will be dealt with appropriately.” Dumbledore’s voice had an edge of what seemed to be sorrow when he said the last sentence. His look of anguish was not lost on Harry who thought it odd to be talking about Malfoy and Nott’s capture with sorrow.
At the mention of Harry Joy turned to him and without a single word scooped him up in a giant hug, while not at strong as Mrs Weasley’s, definitely left his ribs aching. She then kissed him on the forehead and whispered, as if speaking louder would cause her to cry, “Thank you Harry.”
She then went over to Ginny and did the same thing; Ginny too looked as if she were holding back tears. Once joy finished she turned back to face the headmaster, her face stoic.
“Professor Dumbledore, I know that I’m a muggle and I know I’ve only known about wizards for a few months now but I want to join the Order. Before you say anything let me explain. I know about the Order, it was somewhat difficult not to figure out once we were at the house, and I know that they are fighting this Voldemort. I don’t have a wand or any other skills, but I know that I want to do everything I can to stop this if I can. My daughter was hurt by his followers and I want to hurt him now because of it. I’ve already lost my husband, I will not lose my daughter.” Tears were now coming down her face, but her eyes showed only determination.
“Mum, please don’t cry. I okay, please don’t cry. I’m not dead.” A feeble sounding voice emanated from behind Joy and the headmaster. The whole group spun around to find Emma sitting somewhat upright in her bed, her bruised face the picture of worry.
Joy immediately ran up to Emma a grasped her in a tight hug. It looked as if she were trying to hold her as close as possible, trying to protect the only person she cared about in the world.
After a few minutes of hushed sobs and quite pleas from Emma for her mom to stop crying Joy turned to face the headmaster once again.
Dumbledore seemed to consider the woman’s request for quite some time, he finally nodded slightly and spoke. “Very well Ms. Massey, your reasons are completely justified. And I do not see why we could discriminate against Muggles; it would simply be doing what Tom does. We have our next meeting at headquarters this Thursday night. I will arrange to have your fireplace attached to the Floo Network and will have Remus Lupin pick you up so he can instruct you on its use. As for what you said about not having any skills I believe we could always use a person knowledgeable in Muggle ways; The lack of a wand may also be able to be taken care of if I know the Weasley twins.” The headmaster smiled slightly at that ad turned to face Ginny, Ron and the other two. “I’m afraid I must beg my pardon as I have many things I must attend to, it would seem my work is never finished. Madam Pomfrey has already seen to it that you have a private ward and a bed so you can stay with your daughter as long as necessary. If you need anything do not be afraid to ask. Now before I leave I must ask to borrow Harry here for just a moment.” Dumbledore nodded at Harry and let him lead the way out of the infirmary.
“Professor, what are you going to do about Malfoy and Nott? Are they going to be expelled?” Harry asked, eager to know the answer the moment he’d learned of their captivity.
Dumbledore sighed, he knew that this question was coming. “Draco and Theodore are currently being lectured by Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. While I would usually ask the Board of Governors to allow any rule breakers to stay in school,” Dumbledore held up his hand asking Harry to hear out his full explanation before he spoke out, “this is quite an unusual and extreme case. Therefore I have decided to turn them over to the Ministry of Magic and the Auror Department. Their court dates have been set for next month and meanwhile they will be sequestered in their current holding place. I never want to abandon a student if at all possible but in this case I am afraid there was no other choice.”
“It’s fine with me, them being sent to Azkaban means there’s two less Death Eaters to deal with.” Harry said angrily, his mind still playing back that horrible scene from his dream last night.
“Harry, I know you are angry right now, and you very well deserve to be. But do not let it overshadow the good, Emmaline is okay, and you caught those responsible. If we live on anger we only follow the path that Tom took. Never forget that Harry.” Dumbledore patted him on the shoulder in a fatherly way, then turned and walked down the hallway leaving Harry to contemplate his words.

Emma was released from the infirmary later that week, Madam Pomfrey finally acquiescing to the dozens of pleas from both Emma and the others.
Emma’s face was still covered in bruises from Malfoy’s kicks and she was moving visibly slower than her usual hyper level. Occasionally she would have to stop in the halls to take a break during her walks to classes around school. Overall everyone was overjoyed that she had managed to spring back from a life threatening attack.
There were some side effects however. Emma had been visibly shaken by the strange way she had become the target of this hate crime. While Harry and Dumbledore had told her about the supposed war that was going on, she hadn’t heard or read anything to make her think that she was in danger.
Emma had heard from her dorm mates and other first years that there were people in the school, specifically Slytherins, who hated anyone who wasn’t a pure-blooded wizard. When she had heard that she didn’t really put much thought into it, but now the words Malfoy had called her, mudblood, filthy half-blood, and the likes, were running through her head almost continuously.
Emma was currently walking with Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. Dinner had just been let out and they were now heading up an obscure hallway to the first DA meeting of this year.
Harry was holding onto Emma’s hand as he led them up to the Room of Requirement, she had been sticking close to either Harry or one of the others whenever she could. The castle seemed larger and more foreboding than even when she’d entered it for the first time before the Sorting.
On their way up to the meeting place Harry passed several other groups of past-DA members heading up to the room by another direction. He nodded at them and kept on going upwards. He was a more than a little nervous about this meeting because of two things; he hadn’t gotten permission from Dumbledore, in fact he was keeping it a secret, and two, he wasn’t sure if the other members would like the new system Harry and the others had been working on.
There was a small crowd gathering in front of where the door usually was. Apparently no one else knew exactly how to operate it so they were waiting on Harry to arrive.
As he had done countless times now he stood in front of the door, closed his eyes and thought to himself about what he needed. I need a place that we can study in, a place that we can keep secret but big enough to fit a large group of people and have sparring competitions. Harry opened his eyes, and sure enough there was a large door in front of the used-to-be blank wall.
The doors were different from what it looked like last year, although it looked sturdy enough it didn’t have the same bank vault look that it did last time. The doors were made of heavy ancient wood and were at least twelve feet high. Each one had a large brass ring one of which Harry pulled on. The doors swung open easily not making a sound, revealing the space inside.
There was a general intake of breath from all the assembled members at the sheer enormity of the room that they were now facing. Harry was the first to enter and as he stepped through the doorway torches ignited all around him, shedding light on the dark room.
The room had massively high ceilings, and resembled a miniature version of the Great Hall, with the exception of the enchanted ceiling. There were dozens of chairs around small lamp lit table near the left wall. The whole wall was covered in bookshelves, containing massive tomes, and small rolls of parchment. Hermione gave a small gasp of delight, grabbed Ron’s arm, and ran over to scour the books. On the other side of the room, the other wall was draped in elaborate tapestries that looked ancient even when they were surrounded by the dusty books and old chairs. Each tapestry was depicting a different scene, each one showing different points in what appeared to be a battle. They vaguely reminded Harry of the picture books he’d read in muggle elementary school, pictures depicting great stories and myths of ancient times. Emma tugged on Harry’s robe, “Hey Harry, what’s that thing over there?” she pointed over to the large platform that was in the far back of the massive room.
Harry smiled when he saw it, “I thought we could use one of these. It’s a professional duelling pitch; it even has special wards around it to stop stops from hitting spectators. It should be a good way to train for Kingsley and Mad-Eye’s course, and it’ll be a good way to watch our skills improve and see where we can do better.” Harry turned around and saw that there were now at least forty students inside and were listening to Harry’s conversation. Many were smiling, others were nodding in approval.
“I guess we should start Harry, it looks like most everyone’s here.” Ginny whispered. Harry nodded, taking strength from her firm grip of his hand, and then called for everyone’s attention. Once the noise had settled down and everyone was looking at where Harry and the others were standing he started to speak.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting this many people. Umm, this is the DA II, short for Dumbledore’s Army, and if you don’t know me I’m Harry Potter.” He stammered, he still wasn’t used to talking in front of such large groups.
“Everyone in the world knows who you are!” someone shouted from the group, people laughed.
Harry pushed on, “I guess I should introduce the others, this is Ginny Weasley, next to her is Hermione Granger, and next to her is Ron Weasley. We’re going to do our best to help every one of you learn how to protect yourself and fight. Now, one thing before I continue; no matter what Fudge or the paper tells you there is a war going on! Voldemort has returned and he is as strong as ever, trust me on that. We’re here to help you get ready.
“Also, I noticed how all of you flinched when I said Voldemort. Let me tell you something about that. His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he is infact not a pureblood as he says, his dad was actually a muggle. If you let yourself be afraid of a name, just imagine how you’re going to stand up against a Death Eater. So from now on when we’re at meetings you will call him either Voldemort or Tom, not he-who-must-not-be-named.
“Now that I got that out of the way, we need you all to sign the piece of parchment that Hermione is passing around before we go any further.”
“And yes, before you ask, I did charm it with several new jinxes I’ve wanted to try. If you break this contract you will end wishing you looked like Marietta.” Hermione said, the older students laughed the younger ones looked at each other with hesitancy.
“The only reason we’re having people sign this is to protect everyone here. This is still an illegal organisation, Dumbledore does not know about this, nor does any adult for that matter. What we practice and talk about in here will remain secret; no one may discuss what we do outside of this room. You will be informed of further meetings by the coins you already have.” Harry was getting back into the groove of speaking now; people seemed to be hanging on every word that he spoke eager to partake in this illegal organisation.
“Tonight’s meeting is only for us to sort out all the logistics of the group. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and I have been working on a new plan based on a lot of research into muggle combat methods. Now I’m not a battle strategist, and if you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to play chess with Ron you’ll know he is one. So for the next part of this meeting you’ll be listening to Ron.
Ron was obviously nervous about speaking in front of a group and his face was flushed his usual red. “Right, well…hmm. Okay then, were going to…uh…” He glanced nervously over to Harry, looking for help.
“You’re going to tell us about how the groups are divided up, and how the meetings will be run.” Harry prompted his friend.
“Oh yeah, thanks. Right, well I’ve, I mean we’ve, been studying a lot of books and tactics about how to fight in a real battle and what combat is really like. Surprisingly, there was almost nothing helpful about wizarding combat except for a few rules on duelling. It took us a while but we finally did find a good source, turns out the muggles have this whole fighting thing down to a science. Anyways, we took notes on different battles that muggles fought over the years and one thing that kept popping up, even as early as Merlin’s time; it was the idea of a rank system.” Ron paused, and seemed to gain some strength as he noticed everyone was listening to him.
“Well for our first change to the DA we’ve created a rank and group system for everyone. The main reason for this is to streamline the way we communicate. At the Department of Mysteries last year, it was utter chaos because of the lack of communication.” All of the students broke out in excited chatter. Everyone had read or heard about Harry and the other’s involvement in the battle at the ministry, yet no one knew more than what was published in the Daily Prophet.
“It was pandemonium down there. No one knew who was good and who the enemy was. So we think it would be a good idea for us to be split up into smaller groups of people who could work separately from the larger whole and still be capable to fighting Death Eaters successfully.” Ron said, his nervousness having now completely vanished, and in its place was confidence.
Hermione now spoke up, “this division will not only be for communication but will also help divide up into more specialized groupings. For example, we need a group of healers, or medics as muggles call them, to take care of anyone who is injured in a fight. We will also have
“Right, well there are going to be four groups. There will be medics, like Hermione said. Defence, who are a group of fighters that will cast shields and other charms to ensure everyone is safe. There will be a runner, someone who will communicate with the leaders and keep the groups together. The last group will be an offensive magic group, they will be in charge of our actual fighting. “ Ron stopped then looked over at Ginny, jerking his head to tell her to start talking now.
“You will train with your group separately once a week in this room. Each group will train individually from the others except for once a month we will all meet for a bigger practice. The final plan is to have one medic, one runner, two defensive, and two offensive fighters in a group. Hopefully each one will be self sufficient and be able to fight by themselves if needed.” Ginny stopped, and looked over at Harry to continue the rest of the speech. The crowd remained completely silent, everyone seemed eager to be involved in the DA, even if it meant they had to fight.
“Right, well they couldn’t have said it better. Now for the rest of the meeting we’re first going to split up into the different groups and discuss what our plans are for the rest of the semester. If you want to be a healer go over to the bookshelves over there and wait for Ginny, she’ll be the leader of that group. If you want to be a runner, go over to Hermione by the fireplace. If you want to be a defensive fighter go over by the tapestries to Ron. Anyone who wants to be an offensive fighter come in closer to me, I’ll be your instructor.”
The whole group stood and began to disperse into the different groups. Harry was afraid that the groups would be somewhat uneven but what he saw surprised him. There were almost a dozen people in both the medical and runner groups. Ron’s group had over two dozen and his own was just a little smaller with twenty kids in it, most of them were older students, including Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Harry was pleased to see Emma had joined the medical group and was standing close by Ginny eager to learn.
Harry turned to face his own group and pulled out his wand. “Well, this is the offensive fighting group. First let me just say even though I’m called the leader I don’t expect to be treated any differently. I am here to help teach you guys, that’s it. We are all going to have to work together to fight properly. Now, last year we learned just some basic hexes and a few defensive charms as well. Neville and I can tell you that most of those weren’t too helpful when it came to fighting, but it was surprising how few of the Death Eaters bothered to stop a leg locker curse or a stupefy.
“While we will be working on those Ginny and I did some research over the summer and found loads of curses that aren’t as bad as the Unforgivables but will certainly do damage. We figured if Death Eaters can use the Killing Curse then we should be able to use something like diffindo or another spell we found ignatus which will light anything on fire, no matter what. I don’t want to kill, and probably couldn’t but I do want to make sure none of our people will get hurt.” Harry’s voice was low but strong, it was difficult for him to discuss the Department of Mysteries with his friends let alone 20 strangers. He wanted to stop people from dying though, and thought it was a small price to pay to save people’s lives.
“Well, before I show you the list are there any questions so far?”
“Are we going to get to duel?” Dean asked anxiously, there had been talk about duelling in both Light Offensive magic and DADA, but Tonks had said it wouldn't be until second term.
“Yes we will be duelling almost every meeting in some form or another. Being able to move quickly is just as important as being able to fire the right spells.” Harry said.
A fourth year girl raised girl hand nervously, “is it true? I mean I’ve read it in the Prophet but did you really duel he-who-must…Vold…Vold. Tom?” The girl stuttered several moments trying to figure out what name to use, finally pushing Tom out at the end.
Harry sighed, he was expecting at least one question like this, he knew it was inevitable, but it didn’t make that any easier to discuss. “What’s you name?”
“Jenn, Jenn Sloan. I’m from Ravenclaw, Mr. Potter.” She stuttered, she was nervous being so close to someone she had been told about in stories by her parents.
“Well Jenn first off, my name is Harry. I’m not a sir or a Mr. or a professor. I’m way too young for that. And yes I did have to fight Voldemort, although not very well, if Dumbledore hadn’t been there I would have been killed, you can ask Neville about that. That’s exactly why I researched more powerful spells to use, I want to be able to survive a fight on my own.” Harry knew none of them knew about the prophecy but that was the true reason behind him and Ginny’s research into more powerful hexes and curses. He knew he was going to have to fight him in the end and he wanted to live now, because of Ginny he now had something to look forward to after Voldemort was gone.
Lost in his own thoughts he also noted he hadn’t told Ron and Hermione of his prophesized destiny with Voldemort. He didn’t like keeping secrets from them, especially one this important. But he knew that telling them would only put them in even more danger than they were in currently. It was becoming harder for him to keep it from them every day and he knew he would have to tell them soon.
“Harry? Are you alright?” Neville asked, Harry had been silent for almost a minute now. Harry shook those depressing thoughts from his mind and brought himself back into the present.
“Sorry, I was just daydreaming there for a moment. Well let’s take a look at the list of spells we have compiled and try and sort out what the rest of the year is going to look like for us.” Harry unrolled a long piece of parchment he, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny had come up with.
For the next forty-five minutes of the meeting the groups planned how they were going to turn Dumbledore’s Army into an actual army.

Harry was walking out of the DADA class with Ron and Hermione after a class with Flamel, and were all eagerly talking about the new shield charm he had just taught them, when he a hand grasped him firmly by the shoulder. He turned around and saw the old man smiling at him. In a hushed voice he whispered, “Harry, a word please?”
Harry told Hermione and Ron he’d see them at lunch and went back into the classroom, following the professor into his office.
Flamel sat down heavily in a large leather chair and motioned for Harry to take the seat across from him. Harry followed suit and sat down in the comfortable chair. “Sir, is there something wrong. Am I in trouble for something?” Harry asked nervously. The DA had now been running for two weeks and had successfully avoided detection by any teacher so far; personally Harry wanted it to stay that way.
“No, no Harry you are not in any trouble,” the ancient man laughed heartily. “But there is something wrong, and I think it’s about time I do something about it.” The professor leaned closer in to Harry staring right at him. His eyes were just like Dumbledore’s; they seemed to cut to your very soul. Harry wanted to look away but forced himself to continue to look into the man’s brown eyes. The two stayed that way, staring right at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, finally Flamel blinked and pulled back.
“Well, that hadn’t happened for quite some time, usually the only person who can give me a run for my money when it comes to stare downs is your headmaster!” He waved it off and continued to speak. “As I was saying, you’re not in trouble but I feel that I should be. School has already been in session for over two months now and I haven’t been able to teach you anything at all!”
Harry was unsure where this was going but was relieved knowing it wasn’t about the DA. “You’ve taught me loads! I mean just today you taught us that new shield I’d never even heard of! You’re loads better than Umbridge.”
The professor laughed again, “well thank you Harry. It is good to know that my teaching skills are above those of Dolores. I know I have been teaching you in class, and you have been doing quite well if I may say so, but I haven’t been able to teach you personally. Albus and I think that it would be a good idea for you to learn some rather specialized branches of magic. Now I’m not exactly sure what you’d like to learn or even what you know so far. So if possible I’d like to have a meeting with you one night and see what we can work on. Do you have any particular night that would work best for you?”
Harry thought for a moment, trying to sort out what nights, if any, he had free. Every Tuesday now he met with his group for the DA and would occasionally go help Ginny, Ron, or Hermione when needed. On top of that Moody and Kingsley had given their students the assignment of going through the course they had set up alone and outside of class once a week
“Well I’m busy tomorrow, and I have to do the training course sometime this week, but other than that…oh bugger!” Harry cursed as he remembered that he had told his team-mates he’d be holding Quidditch tryouts on Friday. “Oh, sorry professor, it’s just I remembered I have Quidditch tryouts on Friday, I almost completely forgot about them.”
“It’s quite alright Harry, it sounds as if you still have either Wednesday or Thursday free, and I have a faculty meeting on Thursday, so it seems as if our meeting shall be on Wednesday. One more thing I almost forgot, Albus has recommended, and I quite agree considering the current state of things, that we keep this a secret. Therefore it would be wise for you to tell any inquirers that you have volunteered to help me makes the class plans for the younger students. Now I could never stand it when I missed one of Hogwarts’ famed meals, and I believe I have kept you from your lunch long enough. I’ll see you on Wednesday night right after dinner.” The professor smiled and waved Harry out of his office.
As Harry headed down the hallway he decided he didn’t feel like having lunch today, the sudden realization that he had to organize the tryouts for the team made him more than a little queasy. Even though he’d only been back at school for a few weeks the pressure was slowly building everyday, and now on top of everything else he was going to be taking advanced magic lessons from Flamel. And there was the inescapable worry over the prophecy he had to deal with constantly also. Although Ginny usually was able to take care of some of his worries, his quandary over when to tell Ron and Hermione about his fate was unshakeable.
Harry climbed through the portrait hole into his room hoping to maybe get a nap in before double potions began. He walked into the bedroom and tossed down his book bag, and then just flopped down onto the bed. He closed his eyes and tried some of the occlumency lessons Snape had taught him last year to try and clear his mind of all his worries. Every time he tried to clear his mind however his problems seemed to just grow in size. Harry finally just gave up and stared up at the ceiling letting his worries surround him.
He laid there for several minutes, just happy to at least have a respite in the constant questions from his fellow class mates. As he was going over how to solve the Quidditch problem for the fifth time he heard the portrait door open and close. A moment later Ginny came into the bedroom.
“Hey Harry,” she said softly, sitting down on the other side of the bed.
Harry mumbled something incoherent and pulled a pillow over his face. Ginny lightly pried it off and looked right down at him. “Harry, is everything okay? I know something isn’t alright, I feel it.” She put stress on her last words. “This bond just keeps getting stronger Harry; I could tell that you were stressed about something ever since this morning.”
“I’m alright Gin’,” Harry muttered, avoiding looking her directly in the eyes.
“No, you’re not. I told you I can feel it now.” Ginny leaned in closer, now stroking Harry’s hair out of his eyes. “Do you remember what I told you that night Harry; the night you told me about this prophecy? Well I do, I promised you I would do anything I could to help you beat him; I still mean that Harry.” She said, now struggling to hold back the emotion in her voice and face.
Harry now looked right at Ginny, her red eyes were now sparkling with unshed tears, and her face was red from her passionate talk. Something about Ginny struck Harry. He had been bonded with her for over three months now, and although they were sleeping in the same bed, and held hands, it wasn’t what Harry thought of as a usual couple. Their relationship seemed to be more based out of sheer necessity, and although he knew he loved her he hadn’t really seen Ginny in that light since she first showed up on his bed in the summer. But now, the way she was right next to him, every line of her face showing utter compassion and love, he realized he really did love Ginny Weasley.
“I love you,” he said quietly, in fact he wasn’t entirely sure she’d heard him.
“What?” Ginny asked, either she really hadn’t heard him or she was startled.
Harry sat up now, and took her hand in his this time he looked into her eyes and again said, “I love you.”
Ginny’s mind stopped for a moment, stunned by Harry’s sudden absolute sincerity. While she had had a crush on him even before she’d met him, and she thought she was the world’s luckiest person for actually being bonded to Harry, she felt that ever since the revelation of the prophecy Harry had come to see the relationship as a formality more than anything else. Now actually hearing those words from the one of the people she cared more for than anything in the world made her heart skip a beat. Harry opened her mouth to say something but couldn’t seem to find the words; instead she just grabbed him in an embrace and kissed him.
Harry was a little shocked by her sudden movement but as the kiss continued all of his earlier worries were erased, he was kissing the person he loved. After what seemed like a lifetime the two broke apart, both of their faces flushed from their first true kiss.
Ginny wiped a tear from her face although she was smiling brightly, her eyes now alight with passion.
“Am I that bad, why is it whenever I kiss a girl they start crying?” Harry said perturbed, excluding one or two kisses from Ginny over the past months his only other kiss had been from Cho; and Harry tried to forget that moment.
Ginny laughed softly, smiling even more widely, “No Harry, you’re not a bad kisser, in fact your quite good; It’s just I’m happy. When you said you loved me I knew you weren’t lying, I knew in my heart that it was true. I’ve had a crush on you ever since I met you and even with the Heartbond I still thought there might be a possibility you didn’t love me, but now I know.” Ginny grinned and before Harry could say anything she kissed him again, savouring the fact that they were really and truly meant to be together.

The next morning Harry and Ginny headed over to Gryffindor commons to wait for Ron and Hermione to go down to breakfast. They sat in one of the large couches and held each other’s hands as they talked lightly, laughing every few moments. When Ron and Hermione came down the dorm stairs they looked at the couple sitting closer than usual to each other and talking happily
Ron looked at Hermione questioningly but she just shrugged her shoulders and went over to join the two.
“Morning Hermione, Ron, you guys ready to go down to breakfast, I’m starving.” Harry said as he and Ginny stood up from the couch.
“Careful there Harry, you’re starting to sound like Ron,” Ginny teased him playfully, the two then broke into laughter again.
Ron once again gave the two an uneasy stare before replying, “Whatever you two are up to cut it out ‘cause its freaking me out. I just want to get some food; in case you forgot Harry we have double Offensive Magic today. And Moody seemed pretty eager to test out his new charm that shocks us every time we make too much noise.” He led them out the portrait door and down the staircase.
Harry smiled back at him, “We’re not doing anything Ron, I’m just happy today. And trust me I didn’t forget about Moody’s class. Maybe you don’t remember but Hermione was the one who so kindly offered him that new charm.”
“Yeah I do, and you better be glad I don’t know the incantation or else you’d be shocked every time you took a step,” Ron said turning to Hermione resentfully.
“Moody asked us if we knew any charms and I just told him one I read about the night before,” Hermione said defensively. Ron snorted and shot an argument back at her.
Harry looked at his two friends; they would quite frequently bicker about the most pointless things, almost like an old married couple. Even though Ginny and Harry had told Ron Hermione liked him he still seemingly hadn’t done anything about it. He shared a look with Ginny, and without saying a word agreed on the next plan of action.
“So Ron, Hermione? Dumbledore announced the Halloween Ball last night; do you know who you’re going to take?” Harry asked mischievously right as they walked into the Great Hall.
Both of them had identical reactions. Their faces went bright red then turned absolutely pale. Both of them were trying to catch glimpses of each other out of the corners of their eyes. Then Ron’s face suddenly went still and he took a deep breath then turned to face Hermione. His hands were visibly shaking and it looked like he might start coughing up slugs if he opened his mouth.
“Hermione?” Ron barely whispered.
“Yes?” she said, a shimmer of hope appearing in her eyes.
“Would you want to ball…would you go to the me…would you go the ball with me?” he finally uttered out in a surprisingly natural voice.
The two stood there completely silent, in the Great Hall entrance, with Harry and Ginny behind them. For a moment Hermione didn’t say anything but then a huge grin broke across her face and she wrapped her arms around Ron, causing quite a commotion.
“I would love to Ron,” she said her arms still wrapped tightly around him. For his part Ron looked quite pleased to finally have Hermione hugging him instead of lecturing him.
Noticing she was hugging him in the middle of the Great Hall she pulled away but gave him a quick peck on the cheek as she did so, then headed for the usual seat at Gryffindor table as if nothing had happened. Ron stood still touching his cheek and probably would have continued to do so if Ginny hadn’t pinched him. On the arm.
“Earth to Ronald Weasley, you do know the whole school is watching you look like a complete idiot right now?” Ginny asked as she grabbed his arm and guided him into his seat.