Halloween

A few weeks later and everybody was still discussing the Potters' argument with Snape. The Slytherins kept pushing Harry and then yelling how sorry they were, asking him not to tell his mother.

"Great.", huffed Harry. "Now instead of one person, I have a whole House bullying me."

"Don't worry, mate. They'll get bored sooner or later.", said Neville, glaring at the fifth-year who had almost knocked Harry over.

"Do you really think your father showed Snape's underwear to the whole school?", asked Ron. Harry rolled his eyes.

"For the last time, Ron, I don't know. I wasn't there when it happened, remember?", he replied. Ron shrugged.

"Hey, are we going to Hagrid's today?"

"No idea, Neville.", they had visited Hagrid twice a week after they first met him. The first-years from Gryffindor all loved him. "I guess we should stay in the castle, it's Halloween."

"Oh, I can't wait for the feast.", said Ron, licking his lips. Harry nodded in agreement. He had heard very good things about the Halloween feast at Hogwarts.

"Last time we went to Hagrid's…", started Neville, but he stopped. Harry turned to him.

"It was nice, wasn't it? He talked about your parents, how great they are."

"Yeah… It's just…", he paused. "It reminded me how not great I am.", Neville murmured.

"What? That's not true!", exclaimed Harry. "You're awesome, Nev!"

But Neville just shrugged. Harry kept thinking about it during the afternoon, trying to find a way to help his friend. Once they sat at the table for the Halloween feast, he was getting ready to put his plan into action.

"Good evening!", shouted Dumbledore. "It is with a great pleasure that I welcome all of you to this very special day. More than a Halloween celebration, today is the anniversary of Lord Voldemort's downfall.", many people shuddered at those words. "Sometimes I wonder how different things could've been…", he trailed off. Harry noticed Dumbledore was watching him. "But now… Enjoy the food!"

Everybody clapped and started eating. Harry, knowing how dangerous it could be when you sat next to Ron while you were hungry, got everything he wanted quickly. He ate while he thought of how to approach the subject. Luckily, Dean made a question that helped him.

"So, Harry? Why did you want us first-years to sit isolated from the rest of the Gryffindors?"

"Right… Uh, thanks.", he said. His friends stared at him as if he were retarded. With a deep breath, he decided to just go for it. "I've been thinking a lot about our classes."

"Oh, Merlin, he's turning into Hermione.", Ron rolled his eyes.

"I'm not!", Harry replied. He looked at Hermione and noticed that his tone had hurt her. "Look, there's nothing wrong with how Hermione is, okay? If you'll just let me tell you my idea, everything will make sense."

Some of his friends exchanged some glances, shrugged and others simply nodded. Happy to continue, Harry took another deep breath.

"We've all been having a hard time with some of the classes, right?", he asked. The others nodded. Encouraged by that, Harry smiled. "But… we're all good at some of them too."

"Not me.", said Neville sadly. Harry turned to him.

"Are you kidding me? Nev, you're the best in our Herbology class! Even Professor Sprout said so!", but Neville still looked miserable.

"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be great in the future. While all of you get to have jobs, I'll have a nice garden.", Harry shook his head.

"Well, now you're being stupid.", he said. He realised he had been harsher than he expected, but the hell with it. He needed to help his friend. "At St. Mungo's, they keep a whole department that takes care of the plants they need for their potions. That department helps the healers save thousands of lives! And you, Nev, could be amazing there! Or… Professor Sprout will have to retire someday. You could teach here! Can you imagine that? Nev, you could even go abroad, research different plants and write books about them. And if you just want to have a quiet life, you can have a shop at Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley.", Harry looked at the others. They seemed impressed as they all stared at Neville. It was as if they had suddenly seen the boy's talent. Neville himself looked back at Harry. He was surprised.

"You really think I could do all that?", he finally asked. Harry grinned.

"And much more. Which is why I wanted to talk to all of you.", he couldn't be happier. They were giving him their full attention. "I'm completely useless at Herbology. I need help. Neville is brilliant at Herbology. But Neville is terrible at Defence and I'm pretty good at it. So, basically... We can all help each other.", Harry said.

"That's a great idea, actually. I'm great at Astronomy, but I suck at Charms.", smiled Dean. Harry smiled back.

"My idea was this: we get together everyday for two hours and work on something. Even if you think you don't have a problem with that subject, you could be wrong or you might end up helping somebody.", the others seemed excited about it, although Harry could feel there was something troubling them. "What?"

"You want to study two extra hours everyday?", Ron asked. Harry noticed that he sounded amused rather than disgusted.

"We'll be all together, just us. We'll be hanging out as friends, as we always do, but we'll be doing something useful other than doing… well, the usual nothing.", he shrugged.

"I like this idea.", said Neville.

"I think I have a better idea.", grinned Seamus. "Last time we went to Hagrid's, he gave me a book about magical creatures. And I love it. We're not going to have it until third year, but I know lots already. I can teach you!"

"And I love Divination!", exclaimed Lavender, now extremely excited. "Can I teach Divination to the group?", she asked.

"That'd be fantastic!", Harry replied, with a huge grin. He had heard his parents talking about it and he thought it was crap, but whatever made them agree with his idea.

"Harry?", said Parvati. "Can I invite my sister?"

"I… I hadn't thought about that…", answered Harry. Suddenly his idea seemed to get much better. "But I guess we should all invite first-years from other houses!"

"Really?", asked Neville. "I think Justin from Hufflepuff would love this!"

"Yeah! So, we're all okay about doing this?", Harry had to be sure. To his relief, they all nodded. "Great! Now we have to see who's going to teach what. I'd really like to take Defence…"

But he never finished that sentence. Professor Quirrel had come into the Great Hall, running and sweating. He looked terrified. He went to Dumbledore and everybody was silent, waiting to hear what had caused their professor to get more scared than usual.

"Troll… in the dungeons… thought you ought to know.", and he fainted.

Ahhh, I'm really sorry for the delay... I didn't know how to approach this subject... I had a whole Harry/Ron conversation about it that I really wanted to put in this chapter, but I guess I'll have to find a way of putting it into the next one...

Anyway, we get a first glimpse of the DA now! :D But much more complex and much less clandestine. ;) I want Neville to grow and the houses to be closer. Hopefully it'll work and you'll enjoy! :D

And there'll definitely be another chapter before Christmas. I plan on two, actually, but... things are about to get complicated for Harry. ;)