Even though Homework was still creating a ridiculous pile of parchment on their desks every evening, Harry's state of mind was far healthier and happier than it was earlier in the term. Knowing that at least something was being done about Umbridge's apparent iron grip over Hogwarts, and especially its defence against the dark arts teaching made him far less irritable. Furthermore, the last dregs of Autumn sunlight were still there, even though it wasn't blisteringly hot outside, providing near-perfect weather for him and his friends to do their homework outside at their favourite spot underneath a beech tree.
Hermione and Delilah were as usual, up to date on their homework, and Hermione was therefore, knitting hats for house elves. Delilah was helping Harry with his charms work.
Knowing that a lot of people, more than two-dozen at the school didn't think him to be a lying crackpot, but someone to be admired kept him happy all the way to Monday. At least until they saw the noticeboard. Over the advertisements for Fred and George's products, the reminders of school rules from Filch, the Gryffindor Quidditch training schedule and offers for chocolate frog card trading, there was one large notice with a professional, official appearance with a neat, curly signature topping it off at the end.
BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS
All student organisations, societies, teams and clubs are henceforth, disbanded.
An organisation, society, team or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.
Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).
No student organisation, society, team or club may exist at Hogwarts without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.
Any student found to have formed or belong to an organisation society, team or club without the approval of the High Inquisitor will be Expelled.
This is in accordance with EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR
Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor.
"See that? That shit right there? That's not a coincidence" said John instantly.
Harry felt sick. He thought the people who came to hear him out had believed him... believed in him. Any of them could have blabbed to Umbridge.
"I'll bet you it was that Zacharias Smith. Or Michael Corner" said Ron in a low, angry voice.
Ignoring the comment about Michael Corner, Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Zacharias Smith was indeed responsible.
"Have the girls seen this yet?" he asked.
"Probably not" said Ron, rushing to the staircase leading to the girls' dormitory. Ron made it up six of the stairs before they made a loud, wailing sound and shifted to form a slide. Ron ungracefully fell backwards down the slide and onto the floor.
"Forgot about that" Ron grumbled, just as two fourth-year girls appeared at the top of the staircase.
"Ooh, who tried to get in?" one of them asked. Both of them were ogling the three boys.
"Me. How did I forget the bloody staircase does that?" Ron asked as the girls slid down to the bottom and walked away giggling and talking excitedly to each other.
"You looked like you had something urgent on your mind" came Hermione's voice as she and Delilah slid much more neatly than Ron did onto the floor.
"Damn right I did! Look at this!" said Ron, picking Hermione up off the floor and dragging her hurriedly to the noticeboard, Delilah following.
Hermione's expression became cold, and Delilah's was furious.
"Somebody blabbed" said Ron with gritted teeth.
"They can't have" said Hermione with a low voice.
"Come on Hermione, just because you've got some integrity, doesn't mean everyone else does" said Harry, rolling his eyes.
"They can't have because I put a jinx on the parchment we all signed" said Hermione firmly.
"A jinx?" John asked, a smile slowly spreading over his face.
"What happens if they blab then?" asked Ron.
"Ask Delilah, it was her idea" said Hermione, giving Delilah an uncharacteristic evil smirk that looked like it would be more at home on John's face.
"Simply put, if anyone blabs, their face will make Eloise Midgen's acne look like the freckles on the bridge of Hermione's nose" said Delilah.
"Damn. Nice one" said John, nodding approvingly.
Apparently, the same notice was put up in the common rooms of the other houses too, based on the more fervent chatter amongst the students. However, none of those who signed up for the defence against the dark arts group seemed to have sprouted spots galore, and so there was another way Umbridge had found out.
"You think she has an invisibility cloak?" asked Ron.
"Not out of the question" Hermione mused. "We can test that though, using the" she started, looking around carefully. "Map" she finished.
"If she's capable of monitoring us at Hogsmeadede, then where does it end? Does she have some bullshit network of spies or something?" asked John.
"I don't think so. But the Minister? I'm sure he does" Delilah said darkly.
"You don't think Fudge has spies looking in on Hogwarts student activity?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Why not? Fudge is paranoid about Dumbledore using Hogwarts as a training ground for an army, one that can act as an insurrection and stage a coup. I think he'd dedicate a lot of resources to spying on Hogwarts students. Umbridge is probably just the face of the Ministry's new influence here" Delilah explained.
"You sure you want to be a healer and not a government strategist?" John asked, staring at her in amazement.
Delilah laughed.
"I'm sure"
That evening, Sirius was to appear in the Gryffindor Common room fireplace, and there was a lot on their minds. Apparently there was a lot on his too.
"Hi" came his voice late that night. It woke Ron up, and he in turn poked John awake, before all five of them sat down on the rug in front of the fire.
"Before anything else, Harry, John, why didn't you tell us about the blood quills?" asked Sirius.
"Because we can't do anything about it. Before she became the High Inquisitor, we just stopped showing up to her detentions, but now she's got the power to just expel us" said John.
"Things aren't great then I imagine" said Sirius solemnly.
"Understatement of the year. Umbridge has this new rule where all groups operate with her knowledge only, like Quidditch teams, gobstones clubs..." Ron started.
"Secret defence against the dark arts groups?" asked Sirius, grinning.
"Wait... what? How did you know?" asked John. Sirius' grin broadened.
"You'll want to choose meeting places more carefully. The Hog's head? Honestly..." said Sirius.
"We went there because the three broomsticks is always packed!" Hermione said defensively.
"You have a lot to learn Hermione. A packed establishment makes you harder to overhear. Just be glad that Mundungus was the one who heard you" said Sirius.
"Dung was there?" Harry asked, confused.
"Yeah. In disguise of course" said Sirius cryptically. "Now I've been asked to pass a message from your mother Ron"
"What's that?" asked Ron.
"She's not too keen on you joining this group. I on the other hand... think it's a brilliant idea" said Sirius.
"You do?" asked Delilah, sounding astonished.
"I do. Under no circumstances would James and I have lay down and taken orders from someone like Umbridge" said Sirius.
"What changed from last year? You said that I needed to not take risks and be careful and all that" said Harry.
"Last year, the evidence was that someone in Hogwarts wanted you dead. Now, there's someone outside Hogwarts who'll want us all dead. Learning and practicing defence sounds like a good idea to me" said Sirius simply.
"It'll be hand-to-hand stuff, like you taught us too" said John.
"Great. Now how are you organising this?" asked Sirius.
"That's the problem. We have no idea where we'd meet" said Harry.
"Shrieking shack is too small, the passageway on the fourth floor on the map is caved in, we're not about to head into the forest while there's a colony of arcromantula running around... I'm just not sure" said John.
Sirius pondered for a moment.
"I'll have a think myself and-" he started, before his face took on a mask of shock and vanished. Seconds later, a pudgy hand was in the flames, as if making to grab Sirius' head where it had been mere moments before.
The five youngsters exchanged shocked looks. Umbridge was monitoring absolutely everything.
The only explanation any of them could come up with was that Umbridge was monitoring Harry's mail. It also explained how Hedwig's most recent arrival was marked by her wing being damaged.
The good news was that Gryffindor was finally allowed to practice again, and yet even this was marred by Harry's scar at the end. A sharp, piercing pain shot through his forehead as he got changed.
"OW!" Harry yelped.
"Poked myself in the eye by accident. I'm fine" Harry grunted when the faces of the team turned to him.
Ron and John both knew what Harry was actually pained by.
"Scar?" John asked in a low voice when the three of them were on the way back to the Gryffindor common room.
"Yeah" said Harry grimly.
"Hang on... he can't be near now, can he?" Ron asked.
"No. It hurt because... he's angry, he... he wants something done and it's not being done fast enough" said Harry. It didn't feel like he himself had said those words.
"Did... did you have some kind of vision?" Ron asked.
"No... it's more like I'm feeling his mood. Well... not feeling. More like reading his mood" said Harry.
"Dumbledore. You've got to tell him" said Ron instantly.
"He already knows" said Harry. The truth was that he just didn't want to talk to Dumbledore if Dumbledore didn't want to talk to him.
"He'd still want to know about this one" said John.
Harry shrugged.
"Come on. We're all still shit at silencing charms" said John in a resigned tone.
Silencing charm practice did end up occurring, but Harry also needed to stay up later than the others to work on an essay Snape assigned him specifically, owing to him not correctly brewing last week's potion. Why Snape was easing up on John and cracking down on Harry was beyond either of them. His head and eyelids were getting heavy as he read about befuddlement drafts, and before he knew it, he was walking along a dark corridor with no windows. He saw a door at the end and felt excitement rush through him as he neared it. He stretched out his hand, ready to touch the handle...
"Harry Potter sir!"
Harry confusedly woke up and lifted his head off the desk, feeling slightly dizzy and disorientated for a moment, before realizing that he was in Hogwarts, sat in the common room at night with none other than Dobby, and he wasn't alone. Hedwig was perched on top of him. Rather... Hedwig was perched on top of Dobby who appeared to be wearing every hat Hermione had ever knitted, forming a two foot pile on his head.
"Dobby?" Harry asked groggily, taking his glasses off to rub his eyes.
"Dobby has Harry Potter's owl sir!" said Dobby, walking up to Harry and allowing Hedwig to happily perch herself on Harry's shoulder, where she so often spent time outside her cage. Hedwig had been attacked and intercepted, but managed to deliver Sirius' letter, and she had been under professor Grubbly-Plank's care for a few days.
"Thanks Dobby! Err... have you been taking all the clothes Hermione's been leaving then?" asked Harry.
"Not all of them sir! Dobby has taken some for Winky too" said Dobby brightly.
"Right. And how is she?" asked Harry.
Dobby's eyes fell.
"Winky is still drinking a lot sir. But she is better than last year" he said. "Has Harry Potter been having bad dreams?" he added.
Harry thought for a moment. The dream he just had. Was it bad? He didn't know how to describe it.
"Not bad. Just... weird" said Harry, vaguely.
"If there is anything Dobby can do to help, please tell Dobby!" Dobby said eagerly, bouncing on the spot almost like a child.
"No, you can't help, but thanks for the offer" said Harry politely, before picking up his half-finished essay for Snape. The scar on his hand, which was now white and illuminated against the dying firelight showed very prominently as he did so...
"Wait a minute, there is something" said Harry.
"Anything sir!" Dobby squeaked happily.
"So... I need to find a place where thirty or so people can practice defence against the dark arts" said Harry. He expected Dobby's ears to droop and for him to promise his best efforts. He did not expect an excited bounce and a clap of the elf's tiny hands.
"Dobby knows the perfect place sir! He heard of it from the other house elves! It is known as the Room of Requirement or the Come and Go Room!" said Dobby.
"Why's that?" Harry asked.
"Because it only appears when a person has great need of it. Dobby has used it when Winky has been very drunk, and laid her down on an elf-sized bed with antidotes, and he has heard of the caretaker getting extra cleaning supplies" said Dobby.
"Wait a minute..." Harry started, remembering something Dumbledore talked about at the Yule ball. "If someone really needed to use the bathroom, would a room filled with chamber-pots show up?" asked Harry.
"Dobby would imagine so. It is a most wonderous room" said Dobby.
"Who knows about it?" asked Harry.
"Very few people. Mostly they stumbles across it and never find it again" said Dobby.
"Brilliant! This sounds perfect... can you tell me how to get there? I need to plan this really carefully"
The next day, aside from lessons was spent spreading the word among the twenty five who showed up at the Hog's head about the Room of Requirement.
Harry waited inside the room with John and the marauder's map. Hermione and Delilah were the first to arrive, apparently having just finished ancient runes work, followed by Ron, who was accompanied by Ginny, Fred and George.
The room was filled with useful practicing objects, including crash mats, bookcases filled with defensive magical theory books, foe glasses and sneakoscopes, as well as a few wing-chun dummies.
"What are all these things?" asked Ron, pointing to the foe glasses and dummies.
"Foe glasses. They show when your enemies are near, but they can be fooled, so don't trust them too much. No idea what those padded poles with padded branches are" said Harry.
"Wing-chun dummies. There were a couple at the youth centre. Really useful to practice hand-to-hand techniques" said John.
"Show us how they work" said Ginny eagerly.
"Sure" said John, walking up to one of the dummies and taking a standard stance. The dummy's branches acted like outstretched arms, so John had to dodge them while he made his strikes, as well as striking them along with the main pole.
"The key" John breathed out as he continued striking and dodging. "Is to look at the centre, not the arms. I'll show you why later" said John, throwing a hard, low kick and a swift elbow-strike to the centre.
John continued striking them for another five minutes and hadn't noticed everyone else arrive, so when he turned around, slightly out of breath, but pumped full of adrenaline, he found himself rather surprised.
"Wow... how long was I on that dummy?" asked John.
"Five minutes" said Delilah, looking at John with wide, impressed eyes.
John found himself swelling with pride at Susan's wide-eyed look of awe, but didn't let it show.
"So now everyone's found this place, let's get a few things out of the way" said Hermione.
"What do we need to work out now?" asked Fred.
"A name I think" said Hermione. "I'd like a bit of team-spirit and unity"
"Anti-Umbridge league" said Angelina instantly.
"The ministry are morons group" said George thoughtfully.
"I'd rather use a name which doesn't give us away" said Hermione, raising an eyebrow.
"The defence association then? Or the DA for short" Cho offered.
"DA isn't bad" Ginny said, thoughtfully "But we should make it Dumbledore's Army. That's what the Ministry is really afraid of" said Ginny.
Everyone either murmured agreements or laughed enthusiastically.
"I'm totally up for that" said John.
Hermione nodded and took the parchment everyone had signed, and at the top, wrote 'Dumbledore's Army' in bold, black letters, before pinning it to a noticeboard.
"And now we need a leader" said Delilah.
"That's Harry!" said Cho, looking at Delilah as if she were insane. Harry swelled with pride.
"Or John" said Susan loudly, though when a few people looked at her, she seemed to shrink. It did make John feel good though.
"We should vote really. It'd give the person some democratic power" said Delilah.
Fifteen people each voted for Harry and John.
"We'll share it then. Simple enough" said John.
"Right then" said Harry. "To start, we need everyone properly casting Expelliarmus, the disarming charm. Sounds basic, I know but I've found it really useful" said Harry.
"Oh please" said Zacharias. "I don't think Expelliarmus is going to help against You-Know-Who, is it?"
"You'd be surprised. It's exactly the spell which saved Harry's life a couple of months ago against Voldemort himself. And I only used stunning spells" said John.
Zacharias fell silent.
"Well... we did have help from a bear" John added.
Ron, Ginny, Fred George and Delilah laughed.
"Alright. Get into pairs and try to disarm each other" said Harry. Giving instructions felt bizarre. As if he were only filling in, doing someone else's job.
It wasn't long before incantations were yelled, wands flew, and missed spells sent books flying. It was a good idea to start with basics. A lot of shoddy wand movements were going on.
Harry and John walked amongst everyone, correcting mistakes as they saw them. Harry found himself blushing when he had apparently 'distracted' Cho and made her nervous when she disarmed herself instead of her friend Marietta.
Improvements were made, but not quite enough, and yet they were running out of time. I need a whistle, Harry thought, and sure enough, a whistle materialized in his hands, and he blew it.
"Alright, so that wasn't bad, but there's room for improvement. We don't have a whole lot of time. John needs to go through a couple of basic hand-to-hand stuff as well. You can always use this room on your own time to practice of course" said Harry.
People nodded and murmured in agreement, and John stepped forwards.
"Alright, so some of you are probably wondering how hand-to-hand stuff helps in a duel when you're throwing spells at each other from range" said John.
Zacharias scoffed, but didn't say anything this time.
"Harry, stand there. We'll duel for a bit, only to disarm. I'll show everyone why it's useful. So Harry's probably a shade more skillful with wands than I am, so he'd probably win eventually if it were just wands. Here's what you do in that situation" said John, bowing to Harry, who bowed back.
Harry threw the first disarming spell, which John ducked under and returned in kind. Harry stepped to the side of it, but by the time he was returning another spell of his own, John had closed the distance between the two of them, struck Harry's wrist hard enough for him to drop his wand. Harry looked at John uncertainly, but John nodded. Harry threw a punch his way, John blocked it, wrapped his arm around Harry's back, swerved his hips, and before Harry knew it, he was thrown over John's back, though with a safe landing on a crash mat.
"Pretty simple actually" said John, as Harry stood up. He couldn't help but look at Susan, who looked particularly impressed.
"So we'll start off with the simple stuff. Who knows how to block punches? Not a punch, but punches. Not you three" John said, pointing at Hermione, Delilah and Ron, who had some decent experience themselves.
Zacharias raised his hand, with a bored expression.
"Alright, come here" said John. Zacharias did look quite intimidated though. John was much bigger and much stronger.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Just testing how you block" said John reassuringly.
Zacharias nodded, and John threw one light but fast punch at Zacharias' stomach, which he blocked, and then another at his shoulder, which he failed to block, and yet another at his stomach, which he also failed to block. John stopped, knowing that Zacharias was already too far behind.
"Alright, so you don't. You can block one, but that's not enough" said John. "Common mistake actually. So does anyone know what he was doing wrong?" asked John.
No one answered at first though John knew that Ron, Hermione and Delilah knew what Zacharias did wrong.
Susan raised her hand.
"I'm not Umbridge" said John, laughing. Susan blushed.
"Was he looking at your hands?" she asked.
"Exactly" said John. Susan's blush intensified. "Where should he have been looking?" asked John.
"Your... hips?" Susan guessed.
"I can see why you'd think that, but no" said John. "He should be looking anywhere from my eyes to my upper chest. It allows him to see which way my body turns. before I throw a punch. His peripheral vision does the rest" John explained. "And yes, if you're paired with a girl and you're a guy, I'm saying you're allowed to stare at their chest" he added, causing most of the group to laugh. He saw Hermione blushing furiously.
"I won't stare at your chest" Ron mumbled nervously. Hermione nodded.
"So... pair up again. Size doesn't matter yet. We're not aiming to hit hard and knock each other out. One of you make unpredictable strikes at your partner, the other block. Remember to stare anywhere between the eyes and upper chest. Again, please don't hit hard. Make the strikes fast, but don't put weight behind them. We can't injure each other doing this" John explained.
John was surprised by how easily everyone seemed to understand the concept. Everyone was blocking almost everything with relative ease. However, before he knew it, it was already past nine in the night, and people needed to be back in their common rooms or risk detentions.
"Same time next week?" asked Lavender.
"Earlier!" said Dean eagerly.
"But what about Quidditch practice?" asked Angelina.
"We'll work that out and spread the word, alright?" asked John.
"Yeah, if we meet regularly, we'll get to be too predictable" said Harry.
"Makes sense" Ron mused.
"We'll have to think of a way to communicate covertly. Actually, I have an idea, I'll need your help though Hermione" said Delilah.
"Oh? Can any of us help?" asked Ron.
"I wish you could, but Hermione's the only one good enough at charms" said Delilah.
"Fair enough. So we'll meet here whenever we can, probably a weekend. Practice here in your own time, bring partners, whatever you need. This room appears whenever you have a real need for it" said John encouragingly.
As they headed back to the common room, Harry could only think about how Cho found him to be a distracting presence. Ron used to say the same thing about Hermione. He still did.