'Harry, aren't you coming?' Hermione asked, looking back at the raven-haired boy curiously. Ron stopped beside her and also looked back, frowning in confusion as he took in his best friend's expression, which seemed downright fearful.

'Harry, are you all right, mate?' he asked concernedly.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' Harry answered, trying his best to convince himself as much as his friends. 'There's something I want to do, and it scares me a little, to be honest.'

'What's wrong?' Hermione asked at once, her eyes crinkling heavily with worry. 'Do you need our help?'

'No,' the green-eyed fifteen-year-old replied slowly. 'I appreciate it, but I feel like this is something I have to do myself if I want it to work.'

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, evidently confused by their friend's words. After a few moments, Ron shrugged and said, 'Suit yourself, just don't do anything too crazy, yeah?' With that, he passed through the large double doors into the Great Hall for dinner. Hermione, however, stayed right where she was.

'Harry, are you having second thoughts about the Defense group?' she asked shrewdly.

Amazed at how close her first guess was to the subject of his worry, Harry said, 'Not exactly; I still want to do it, but I'm having reservations about its members so far. There's a small problem and I want to try and fix it.'

Hermione stared at him for a long time then said, 'Well, if you need my help just ask, okay?'

'Okay.' Harry nodded and Hermione gave him a small smile before following Ron to the Gryffindor table. Harry stood framed in the doorway to the Great Hall, looking around at the mess of students and the teachers up at the staff table. He sighed as he remembered the opinion most of them held of him; it would do nothing to make what he was about to do any easier. He was scared, he had no illusions about that, but he was not a Gryffindor for nothing. He gathered his courage and made his way to the table where he was least welcome - and that was saying quite a lot.

'Good evening, Davis,' he said in his best attempt to sound cheerful and pleasant, 'Greengrass, Runcorn. D'you mind if I join you?'

Four girls looked up at him in utter disbelief - as did the rest of the occupants of the Great Hall, he knew. He could feel their stares and pointing, as well as hear their whispers. He ignored it all as best as he could, determined to do what he had determined needed to be done after the meeting at the Hog's Head.

Keeping her voice down to a conspiratorial whisper, Daphne Greengrass asked, 'Have you lost your mind, Potter?'

'Yes; don't you read the papers?' Harry retorted derisively; he mentally punched himself, chastising his attitude. He did not need to work against himself at the moment. 'Sorry about that, I get a little…defensive when my sanity is questioned, as I'm sure you've had opportunity to witness. So how about it - would you let me join you?'

The girls all looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Harry could tell that their first instinct was to pull out their wands and send him - probably violently - back to the Gryffindor table, but he could also tell that they were intrigued by his appearance at the table belonging to the house that was as "anti-Potter" as it could get. Everyone was still staring at him, he knew, and he could feel himself working up a small, cold sweat as a result. He wondered what they were all thinking. No doubt Ron thought that he had indeed taken leave of his senses, whereas Hermione would probably alternate between wondering if he had come down with some ailment or if something bordering on the impossible had occurred to spur these strange events.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts when the Greengrass sisters, who had been sitting together, scooted apart to make room for him. He thanked them with an appreciative smile, feeling some of his tension leave him as he took his seat; it rose right back up, however, when he finally looked around and caught most of the Slytherin students staring at him with murder in their eyes. He had done it: he had jumped into a pit of snakes, and many of them were poised to strike. He knew they wouldn't, not with everyone - including the teachers - watching the proceedings intently, but it did nothing to make him feel any better. He spotted Draco Malfoy, self-proclaimed Prince of Slytherin, glaring hatefully at him - and, quite uncharacteristically, doing nothing else. If even Malfoy wouldn't try anything when he encroached upon his domain, then Harry was relatively sure that he was safe - at least for the time being. He glanced up at the Head Table and saw, to his immense relief, that Umbridge was not there, just as he had hoped when he had enlisted Fred and George for help in distracting the old toad. He didn't doubt for a second that she would have attempted to drag him away from the Slytherin table by his ear for daring to try and "pollute the minds of honorable students" with his "lies".

He looked back at the four girls that he had addressed earlier to find them staring at him with a kind of wonder that confirmed to him that they really did think that he had gone nutters. He shrugged and reached a hand out for a flagon of pumpkin juice before he stopped himself. He didn't need Mad-Eye Moody to tell him how stupid it was to have anything at a table where almost everyone - at least he hoped it was almost everyone, as opposed to the entire population - reviled him. They might not do anything as conspicuous as hexing him outright for fear of being caught, but he wouldn't put it past some of the Slytherins to put something in a drink and Switch his own for the contaminated one. He drew his hand back and ran it through his already messy hair in frustration. He needed to stay alert and highly suspicious if he wanted to leave the Great Hall in one piece.

He looked at the girls again; they were now eying him as though he might suddenly explode. He sighed and said, making sure that no one else could listen, 'I, er…I wanted to talk to you.' They said nothing, just continued staring at him, much like everyone else was. He shook his head of the thought of all those eyes on him and continued, 'I wanted to ask you if - if you're satisfied with Umbridge's teaching.'

That elicited expressions that he never would have dreamed of finding on any of these girls' faces - expressions that, if it had been any other situation, would have made him laugh himself stupid at them. Now, however, they made him gulp a little.

'That's what you wanted to say?' little Astoria Greengrass asked incredulously. 'I thought it was something serious like you wanted to ask permission to date Daphne.'

'Of course I find that Umbridge's teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts leaves a lot to be desired,' Daphne said, resolutely ignoring her younger sister's nonsense as she normally did, 'but why do you ask?'

'Well, er, we - I mean I had a meeting with a few other students about Umbdrige. They were all dissatisfied with her teaching, particularly the fifth and seventh years. We thought it would be best if we took matters into our own hands, seeing as she's very likely to ruin our career choices by not teaching us Defense when we need to pass our exams.'

The girls looked back at each other, eyebrows re-raised.

'You mean you and your friends are going to teach yourselves the correct Defense curriculum?' Thea Runcorn asked, her eyes narrowed heavily in suspicion as she regarded Harry.

'Y - Yeah,' Harry answered, feeling more than a little intimidated; they outnumbered him, after all, and he had never doubted the in-born ferocity that most girls seemed to possess.

'And who's going to be teaching?' Thea asked, her eyes narrowing further into slits.

Harry took a deep breath. 'I am.'

Many of their reactions were not at all unexpected; Thea scoffed, Tracey Davis gave him a derisive smirk and Daphne performed her trademark eye-roll. He was surprised to see that Astoria was not regarding him with any negativity. Instead, she seemed to be sizing him up thoughtfully.

'Well, it looks like your ego has finally inflated your head just a bit too much, Potter,' Tracey said nastily, still sneering.

'I think you're confusing me with Malfoy, Davis,' Harry said shortly. 'Now if you wouldn't be so hasty to pass judgment on me, could you listen while I explain the situation to you?' Tracey seemed cowed by the hard glare that Harry was giving her, and none of the others said anything. When he was sure that they weren't going to interrupt, Harry said, 'This wasn't my idea, it was Hermione Granger's. When she approached me about teaching other students Defense Against the Dark Arts, I was just as skeptical as you are. I'm no expert; personally, I think I have quite a long way to go. I'm not even in my final year yet. But Hermione reminded me of something - something that I couldn't deny: I have the experience that most people our age typically lack. It's no secret that I always find myself in some…unique situations, and I've managed to survive them all. I'll be the first to admit that I had help with most of it, and that I seem to have some uncanny amount of luck on my side, but I also have to admit - after Hermione practically forced me to - that not everyone, my age or otherwise, could have come out of it like I did. I realized that my experiences have given me something that I can teach others: how to do your best to stay alive.'

Their faces had gone from full of contempt at his supposed arrogance in thinking that he was qualified to teach others back to raised eyebrows.

'That seems more than a little dramatic for passing our exams, don't you think?' Tracey pointed out, all ill feeling gone from her voice.

'It is,' Harry agreed, 'but I think it's only appropriate what with Voldemort running around again.'

He took the shrieks, shudders and gasps silently, determined not to sabotage his efforts.

'There's no proof that he's returned -' Thea began.

'Don't try to act stupid, Runcorn, I know you're not - far from it, actually. In fact, I don't doubt that you're all smarter than me -'

'No argument there,' Tracey interrupted.

'You're Slytherins,' Harry pressed on, ignoring Tracey. 'You know how to read in between the lines. If you were in the stands that night then I'm sure you all saw Cedric Diggory's body. He didn't have a scratch on him; how many things do you know of that could kill someone that way?'

'A Basilisk,' Astoria answered at once, 'and the Killing Curse.'

'Right,' said Harry with a nod in the third year's direction. 'Seeing as I killed the last Basilisk seen in at least three centuries -' The girls' eyes bugged out at this pronouncement. '- that leaves the only plausible cause of death being the Killing Curse. So tell me: do any of you think that I killed Cedric Diggory?'

The girls looked at each other again then Daphne shook her head and said, 'No.'

'Then you agree that it had to have been someone else that killed Cedric?' When they nodded, Harry said, 'It was Voldemort.'

'Potter,' Thea said slowly after they had finished another round of shudders at the Dark Lord's name, 'I believe that you didn't kill Diggory, but the Dark Lord? It's so unlikely -'

'I told you not to try acting stupid,' Harry said hotly. 'I'm sure that every Slytherin knows what's going on; I don't doubt that Malfoy's been prancing around your common room even more than usual now that his daddy is back to being one of Voldemort's favorite pets.'

There was a long silence before Astoria finally said, after looking carefully around, 'All right, we know that he's back, but you have to admit, Harry, that the idea of a fourteen-year-old fighting him and living to tell about it sounds highly ridiculous.'

'Yeah, I've come to that conclusion myself,' Harry said with a smile at the younger girl, surprised that she had addressed him using his first name. 'I can only explain it in one way: I got lucky again.'

'How? What happened?'

They were all looking at him with keen interest now. Harry heaved a deep sigh and said, 'That's a story for another time, I'm afraid. I realized that I have to tell everyone what happened if I want a chance at them believing me, but there's someone I think deserves to hear it directly from me before I do that.'

'Chang,' Tracey stated simply, to which Harry nodded. He didn't know why, but he got the feeling that they had suddenly warmed up to him a little.

'So you aren't starting this group just to learn the Defense curriculum, you're all trying to learn to defend yourselves,' Daphne summarized, eliciting another nod from Harry. 'If that's so, then why approach us? We're Slytherins, after all; our reputation is none to flattering, and from what I've seen, you hate us.'

'I hate Malfoy and his goons,' Harry corrected. 'I abhor bullies, having dealt with a particularly annoying one for most of my life, and that's the biggest reason why I detest Malfoy.'

'Don't you count us among them?' Tracey asked curiously, indicating herself, Daphne and Thea, all of whom were in Harry's year. 'We've laughed at your expense far too many times for me to count'

'Yeah, you have,' Harry agreed tonelessly. 'But you've never been outright mean to me or my friends; you've never actually said or done anything against me or my friends, which tells me that you may not want to chop me up into potion ingredients, unlike many in your house.' He glanced around again and saw that many were still staring at the hitherto unimaginable interaction. 'Malfoy flaps his gums about anyone he thinks is beneath him, Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson are his sycophants and I don't know much about Bulstrode, but if my memory serves me correctly, she tried to strangle Hermione to death during the Dueling Club in second year, hence my not talking to any of them. Nott's father is a Death Eater, but I don't know much about him, and I know practically nothing of Blaise Zabini. You four are the only ones I thought I could approach, if only because you aren't entirely antagonistic towards me.'

'Okay,' Astoria said slowly. 'You're still taking a great risk, Harry; what's to stop us from singing about this to anyone else - less savory Slytherins, Professor Snape and Umbridge, for example?'

'Umbridge already knows,' Harry said bitterly. When he saw the Slytherin girls look confused, he explained, saying, 'Don't you think it's a bit weird that a bunch of students want to start a Defense Against the Dark Arts group and Umbridge just happens to declare a new decree banning all student societies?'

Their eyes bugged out once more as they seemed horrified that they had not noticed that very, very large coincidence. Seeing that they had grasped their situation in relation to Umbridge, Harry continued, 'I'd wager Snape already knows, only because I'm positive that Dumbledore knows; hardly anything gets past him in the castle. As for less savory Slytherins, the only terrible thing they could do about it would be to tell on me to Umbridge, but she already knows, so they can't do anything at all, can they?'

'But if Umbridge knows,' said Tracey slowly, 'why aren't you in a year's worth of detention right now?'

'Because we haven't actually done anything - at least not yet, or as far as she knows,' Harry replied. 'Without her actually catching us in a meeting or something, she can't possibly prove without a doubt that we're breaking the Educational Decree, so that's the only way any of us could land in trouble.'

Harry fell silent to allow them to process his words. He looked back up at the Head Table and saw that Umbridge was still missing; Snape, however, was there, and staring unblinkingly at him, as though trying to Conjure fire right on his person. He turned back to his companions and found them all with thoughtful expressions on his face.

'I want to know why you would want any Slytherin joining your little group, Potter - and no tricks or lies, if you please,' Daphne said, her icy blue eyes staring into his emerald green ones.

'I wouldn't try to lie to or trick you, Greengrass; like I said, I believe you're a lot smarter than me. Besides, it's not really how I work.' Harry took a moment to collect his thoughts and said, 'I've been thinking that we need more eyes and ears in the enemy camp, so to speak. It's a well-known fact that many Slytherins are Death Eater kids - I know none of you are, though - and a lot of them are only too eager to follow in their parents' footsteps. I'd like to keep an eye on them, because I don't put it past Voldemort -' Shriek. Shudder. Gasp. '- to use these students to execute whatever plans he may have towards Hogwarts.'

'And that's where a few Slytherins would come in useful,' Tracey said, catching on. 'They could effectively become spies.'

'Exactly. But that's not the only reason.' Harry looked down at his fingers, which he was nervously twisting around each other. 'I want to do what I can to make sure that as many people as possible have the capacity to defend themselves and their loved ones. And then I remembered that Slytherins, no matter what the Wizarding world thinks of them, are people; they have loved ones as well, people that they want to protect above all else. How can I help one group of people fulfill their wishes while shunning another aside? I know I don't come across as the most Slytherins-are-friends kind of person, but even I realize that not every Slytherin could possibly be evil or Dark, just as it's impossible for every Gryffindor to be a good person.' Harry's voice tightened as he thought of Peter Pettigrew.

Again, he could tell that he had gained a little bit of respect in the girls' eyes.

'I don't think you give yourself enough credit, Potter; you're not nearly as stupid as I thought you were,' Thea said appreciatively.

'Gee, thanks, you have no idea how much your praise means to me,' Harry retorted playfully, and he was actually happy to hear them laugh a little. 'Seriously, though, I don't want good people to suffer just because of whatever pre-conceived notions the Wizarding world has on Slytherin House.'

'Okay, you've convinced me,' Astoria said brightly. 'I think I want in on this little plot.'

'Astoria, maybe we should think more about this,' Daphne said cautiously even as Harry smiled at the younger Greengrass girl.

'I've already thought about it and I have to say that Harry makes some excellent points. Why shouldn't we learn to defend ourselves and our families and friends? We know what's waiting out there Daph, and it's anything but pretty. We need to be prepared, and if we have to take matters into our own hands, what possible reason is there for us not to?'

'Getting in trouble with Umbridge and the Ministry?' Thea suggested. 'My father works at the Mnistry, you know.'

'We're working on a couple of ways to make sure we aren't caught,' Harry assured them. 'Nothing's solid as of yet, but believe me when I say I don't want anyone to land in a fire because of something I had a hand in cooking up. Besides, even if we do get caught, Fudge and Umbridge will be much too happy about finally nailing me to care about anyone else.'

They laughed a little more at that before Tracey asked, 'But what do we say now that we've been seen talking to you? People are obviously going to wonder what you wanted from us, and I'm sure Umbridge will be close to the top of the list.'

'Tell them whatever you can come up with,' Harry replied with a shrug. 'My reputation has pretty much gone down the tubes, so I don't really care at this point - just try not to make it something too embarrassing, yeah?' He was not at all assured by the sudden grins that spread out on many of their faces.

'We'll think of something,' Astoria said, still smiling evilly. She looked at Daphne and said, 'So what say you, dear sister; are you in on this or what?'

Daphne alternated between staring at her sister and Harry for a long time before she sighed and nodded. 'I have to agree with my sister in that you've made your case quite well, Potter.'

Harry smiled and looked at Thea and Tracey. They seemed to think for a while before they also confirmed their participation.

'Brilliant,' said Harry happily. 'I'll let you know when and where the first meeting is as soon as I can.' He paused in the action of getting up and looked back at them. 'Er, I know I said that it wouldn't hurt much if you talked about this with other students - which I honestly believe - but I'd rather you didn't if it's not too much trouble.'

'Of course, we're not stupid Harry, as you so rightly said.' Astoria waved an airy hand and grinned as she said this. Harry smiled at her again before getting to his feet, wishing them a pleasant night and heading to the Gryffindor table, where he was instantly mobbed as he sat down. He didn't know it, but four Slytherin girls were staring thoughtfully at him long after he had left their presence.