Chapter 11: A reformed DA

Thanks to all my reviewers, I really wanted to get this chapter out fast before I start work, so here it is. I hope you enjoy!

"Okay guys, now is the time to get to work. I, along with these eight people up here, am going to be heading up your training. Everyone needs to make a group of five to ten people. These people will be your workout group. You should all start out running once around the lake five days a week. After your run, you will do 25 pushups and sit ups; if you can't do them the right way, go slow. In these 'classes' you'll be learning how to fight and how to get out of a fight with Death Eaters. Remus…"

Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna, Moody, Remus, and Tonks were all sitting in the Room of Requirement in front of the members of the DA on a raised platform; about 25 students were sitting in chairs around the room listening and memorizing everything Harry was saying. He'd been gone for a week with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, and the DA knew it was an important mission he was on; something only a very few knew about. It was Saturday and they were having the meeting after lunch.

"Everyone here is to call me Remus or Mr. Lupin, not Professor. I will be with you all during your mediation time. We want you to work on learning Occlumency every night before you go to bed. After everyone has accomplished this, and we expect there to be significant progress within the month, we start another kind of training. Tonks…" Remus said with an evil smile that made the class wonder exactly what was going to be thrown at them.

Tonks stood and tripped while walking to the center of the raised platform. "Everyone is to call me Tonks, and only Tonks," she added glaring at everyone there, "and him," she pointed at Moody, "Moody. I will be teaching martial arts with the help of my husband Remus, and Moody will be teaching stealth with my help. Your professors will not know who you are, but Harry will be getting a report of how everyone is doing in their classes. If anyone isn't doing well in an area and needs tutoring, go to a Head Student," she said waving her hand in their direction, "or come of one of us and we'll be happy to help. Form study groups and make sure you can trust the people you're around. DO NOT talk about the DA just anywhere." At this point Luna and Ginny got up and started passing out mirrors to everyone. "If you need to talk to someone, say their name in the mirror and if they're available, they'll answer right away. Put up silencing charms if you're going to use a room or your bed to talk with these. They are a secret; everything you do with any of us is a secret. No one knows, not even your parents. This group is made to help you survive the war. Some of you may not make it, but at least you'll die knowing you tried. Progress should come quickly to everyone. " She waited making sure everyone had listened, then said "Thanks! I can't wait to see you guys in action." Tonks finished and walked back to her sit beside Remus.

Hermione stood with a piece of paper. "Everyone needs to sign this paper. It says that you will to the best of your ability help to protect the side of the light and not let any secrets out to anyone."

Collin raised his hand.

"Yes?" Hermione asked.

"What happens if we let something slip?"

"You'll regret it for the rest of your life, no matter how short it may turn out to be," she said with a smirk.

"Now…" Ron stood up and conjured a desk with a quill on it. He placed the paper beside it and sat back down. "Everyone needs to sign this. Make a line, please but continue to listen."

Once everyone had quieted down and were signing the paper on the desk, she said, "If you know anyone who would like to fight for our side in this war, please tell one of us five and we'll set something up. Make sure you know these people are purely for the light side, and would not be swayed toward Voldemort or his supporters at all." People flinched at the name and Hermione added, "You 

WILL also not be scared of that name. You already know more powerful people than him and they're completely good. You all need to work on that also. A great man once said 'Fear of the name increases the fear of the thing itself' and you should not be afraid of Tom Riddle." At the confused looks, she added, "Voldemort is a half blood. His dad was Muggle and his mom was thought to be a squib. His real name is Tom Riddle. He went through school trying to prove himself better than his mother and father. That's partly where the whole Mudblood idea came from." Several people gasps as Hermione used that word. "He wanted to prove that he could be greater than anyone in the world, to prove himself to people who are already dead. Harry's had twice as hard of a life as he had and Harry's still good, still loving, and being loved by people who trust and respect him." She walked away and sat down.

Harry stood. "This was pretty much an informational meeting. You're new training starts tomorrow. If you have your coins, check those-"

"Harry…" Ginny started interrupting him. "We need to get the groups together and then tell them the rest of the instructions from there first."

Harry turned and thanked Ginny. "Right. As Ginny was saying, get into your groups, then Neville will go around and write the names of everyone in each group." He waited until they were assembled before he continued.

"One person in each group will need to report to us after each training session is completed. Discuss that amongst yourselves and then let that person always be the one who communicates these things with us. We need to know that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, so it's important that you remind your group members to do practice Occlumency before bed and check in with us after you finish your workouts. Like I said, you start tomorrow. You'll get a schedule in the mail disguised as a letter from home. It'll tell you who to meet with and when. We'll see you later." Harry finished dismissing the class.

He waited until they had all left, before telling Remus and the others goodnight and heading off to the Head dorms.

As Harry and Ginny were getting into bed that night, Ginny said, "You were great tonight."

"We all were," Harry said, cuddling down beside her.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Gin, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Hermione, Ron, and Harry were up the next morning by eight completing the schedules for the groups. There were five groups of five people, some groups were mixed of houses and some weren't; most were with people they were dating and their friends. Every group had a different schedule so that 33 people weren't missing four periods of the day at a time.

The first group was going to Remus for their Occlumency session every Saturday morning after breakfast, the second after lunch, and the third after dinner while the fourth and fifth groups were to have their session with him after breakfast and lunch on Sunday.

Tonks and Moody would join them shortly after these sessions, which would last an hour, and they would end up spending a total of three hours in the Room of Requirement each Saturday or Sunday. The actual DA meetings would be every Wednesday night at eight, even if Harry and the others weren't there for it.

After they finished with the letters and gave them to 24 different school owls to deliver with the usual morning post, the six students walked into the Great Hall just as they had every other day. Some members of the DA looked toward them, but kept composure. Although the idea of the DA wasn't new and people knew about it, the fact that they had started up again was new, so they were sure no one would figure anything out about it.



As the morning owls came in, they received a letter from Mrs. Weasley. She had been worrying about them and had found out at an inopportune moment that they'd been on a mission Dumbledore had left them, and were gone for almost a full week. They had to convince her not to come to the school to check up on them in a letter. They all really wanted to wait until Christmas to tell everyone about the engagements and didn't want Mrs. Weasley accidently figuring it out.

"So, everyone is getting their schedules and I'm pretty sure they're surprised that they won't have much time during the weekends for much of anything," Hermione said.

"Well…I know that Quidditch is usually on Saturdays, but I'm not sure if the Headmistress is going to allow it this year. It might be too dangerous to allow everyone to be so free right now," Harry said.

Ron looked as if he had swallowed a bug but said, "I'd like to play this year, but there is more important stuff to worry about. I understand why she thinks it's too dangerous. What if there was a Death Eater attack while we're all distracted?"

Everyone looked at Ron stunned.

"What?" he asked.

Hermione smiled at him. "That was a very mature observation." She kissed his cheek and then whispered something in his ear that made the tips of his ears go red.

"Wow," Ginny said amazed. "Ron's really maturing. Hermione you're a great influence on him."

Neville snorted and got up from the table, having finished his breakfast, and held his hand out for Luna, who took it. "We're going to do our training now; we'll meet you guys later."

"We'll come with you, we need to catch up on some homework and stuff before tomorrow," Harry said, taking Ginny's hand as she got up from the table.

"I'm going to finish breakfast," Ron said, and they knew Hermione was going to stay with him.

As the weeks went by, things were running smoothly inside of Hogwarts but outside things were deadly. Voldemort had been very active since Dumbledore's death and the Order was afraid that he was recruiting easier than ever.

After a month of being at school, Harry decided it was time to go meet with the goblins. He sent out a note to the Head Goblin at Gringotts for a meeting.

While he was waiting for the response, Harry upped the DA's training. They were now training three times a week plus getting their other work done. Harry tried to convince Hermione that winning the war was more important than homework, but Hermione reminded him that after the war was over, people would be relying on their NEWTs and OWLs to get them jobs. They started training harder; they started karate sooner than they were originally going to and they started using more defensive spells.

A week after Harry sent his letter to the head goblin he got a response and set up a meeting for the week before Halloween.

When Harry told Ginny that he would be going alone, he almost got his head chewed off.

"I've talked to McGonagall and she said Remus would go with me."

"Well…you're taking either me or Hermione with you Harry," Ginny said with finality. "Actually, I need to go speak to the Headmistress now." She finished walking out of the room heading toward the Headmistress's office.

"Ginny don't do this," Harry said, but his words fell on deaf ears.

So the week before Halloween Harry found himself walking down to Hogsmeade with Hermione and Remus.

As soon as they Apparated, Death Eaters moved toward Hogsmeade village.

Harry and "company," as he liked to say, walked into Gringotts a few moments later.

"I have a meeting with Hipnook," Harry announced to one of the goblins behind the counter.



"Of course, we've been waiting for you Mr. Potter. Follow me please."

Together the three walked down a long hallway and up a set of stairs until they reached an elaborate wooden door.

"Go ahead and enter," the goblin said, before disappearing back to his counter.

Harry opened the door, and walked inside.

"Good morning Mr. Potter." An ugly looking goblin in an expensive looking suit was sitting behind a huge ornate desk.

"Good morning Mr. Hipnook," Harry said politely. The goblin motioned that they should sit, and they all sat before the desk.

"What is it that you wanted to speak about?"

Harry took a deep breath and said, "I want to know if the goblins will have our backs in this war against Voldemort?"

Hipnook studied Harry for a while before saying, "We goblins have nothing to gain from this war-"

"Actually," Hermione interrupted, "Harry was a lot of power right now, not just magically, I mean within the bank."

Hipnook looked toward Hermione and stared at her to gesture that she finish speaking. "Harry's the richest wizard in Britain right now; he could easily sway the public to do just about anything he wanted. He can also withdraw all of his possessions from Gringotts and not return it, even after the war is over. How will it look if the boy who lived mistrusted the goblins so much that he wouldn't even leave his money in their hands?" Hermione said smiling evilly.

Hipnook looked like he'd just swallowed a blast ended newt. "Mr. Potter wouldn't; he has investments that we control."

"Harry would, I can handle all his investments if necessary and he has plenty of safe places to store his money. Maybe he could open his own bank and have his many house elves help him with everything. Or he could always run it the Muggle way," Hermione said.

"Mr. Potter's ancestors have always invested in a lot of stock, Miss; it would be ill advised to put someone new on the case if they know nothing about investments."

"But Mr. Potter is not alone. He has me and Miss Granger and others how would love to help him manage his money," Remus said speaking up for the first time.

Harry was amused. He was listening to them talk about him like he wasn't even in the room. "How about we settle this?" he asked.

"Yes, let us," Hipnook said.

"Will you support us? We only need your support in the final battle, which I will tell you at a later date, and if any…certain dark objects belonging to the founders of Hogwarts show up we'll need you to send them to a secure room of our choosing while contacting us in the most secure way possible, so that we can come and handle them. Do you understand?" Harry asked giving the goblin a meaningful look.

"Of course Mr. Potter," said Hipnook.

"Can you get the objects I'm asking for to Hogwarts?" asked Harry.

"Yes, just tell me where to send it."

"What about a secret room that not many people know about?"

The goblin studied Harry for a second. "We can always try."

"Well, no matter. If you can send it to Godric Gryffindor's room, if not send it to the Headmistress and make sure she knows that it's dangerous and important that I get it as soon as possible. Is that understood?"

"Yes Mr. Potter."



"Great!" Harry said clapping his hands together and standing up. "Just remember that if you double cross us in anyway, we'll make sure you pay…that's not just a threat either, it's a promise," he finished smiling.

"Yes Mr. Potter"

"It was good doing business with you." Harry said walking toward the door. "Oh," he added, "we'll also make sure to make more equal laws for the goblins after the war is over and we'll make sure the goblins get credit for helping in the war. We'll also make sure to acknowledge any deaths."

"We're here to change the way the wizarding world lives," Hermione said. "We just want to make sure we have a chance to change it," she said following Harry out of the room

"Thank you," Remus added as he, too, followed Harry.

The goblin sat there looking shocked that mere humans would be so generous yet harmful at the same time. He knew it was time for a meeting to be set up so that they could get started on finding the founders dark objects and so that all the goblins knew that they were not to accept any bribes from Voldemort and in any way double cross Harry Potter…

The three walked very pompously out of the bank and walked through Diagon Alley to the Leaky Cauldron so that they could Floo to the Headmistress's office where everyone was waiting on them.

During Harry's trip to the bank, Death Eaters were destroying everything in their path through the outskirts of Hogsmeade, trying to quickly make it to the town before anyone could come and stop them.

Ginny was sitting by the window in the Headmistress's office when she saw the smoke coming from the direction of the train station. "Ron," she said quietly, "get the DA together. We have a battle to fight. McGonagall, please call the Order together while we stall…I think we have major problems in Hogsmeade." And then she was racing to get Tonks and Moody and inform them about what was happening. She felt her mirror warm up but didn't bother to get it out of her pocket; she knew that Ron was group calling the DA on them and that Neville and Luna would get theirs so that they could group up just the way they practiced.

"Tonks! Moody!" she screamed coming up to a stop in front of their rooms. She quickly said the password to the Lupin's room and rushed inside. "Tonks!" Ginny called out.

"What wrong Ginny?" Tonks said coming out of a door on the left.

"We need to get the DA grouped. There's something wrong in Hogsmeade!" Ginny said before running out of the room.

"Ginny!"

She stopped and looked around and saw no one.

"Ginny!"

Ginny realized that the voice was coming from her pocket.

"What?" she asked taking it out and seeing Ron's face looking panicked but determined.

"We need someone to stay to tell Harry, Hermione, and Remus about this…I want you to stay."

"No, you're crazy! I'm the one who saw what was happening. I AM NOT staying behind. Tell McGonagall to stay and keep the other students safe, and tell her to keep all the professors here just in case it's a distraction."

Ginny slipped her mirror back into her pocket and took off toward the Entrance Hall where the DA was getting organized.

She arrived just as Ron was talking strategy. Tonks and Moody were helping to pep the DA for their first real battle.

"Make sure you're always under cover and remember to keep in groups…always watch from all sides and do your best not to get distracted. You've all been working very hard to get this right, I'm confident you'll do great! Now…those of you still in your school robes, take them off. Make sure you're 

wearing as comfortable clothing as possible. I'll transfigure anyone's clothing that I need to," Tonks was saying while Moody went around making sure everyone knew some minor healing spells to help in major disasters.

"Do NOT heal every cut you get right now! Only try to heal the major stuff, and any healing you do needs to be out of the line of fire so make sure you're somewhere a little safe." Moody yelled as Tonks transferred some of the students clothing into more comfortable stuff. "It's important that you stay concentrated on the main problem. Now, let the first groups go." He finished just as Ron and Luna's groups moved out.

They had decided earlier, once the DA started training, that, since some members were better at offensive spells and others were better at defensive spells, making groups with members who were all best at what they did would be better than letting everyone go separately. Ron and Hermione had written down names while Harry and Ginny tested each member to see what category they went into. After they had finished, they had five groups. Harry would be the leader of the DA, leading them into battle and so it was decided that he wouldn't be in a group, but Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Neville were all the head of a different group. Ron and Luna were best with defensive spells so they would go first to distract the Death Eaters. Their groups would later join everyone and would rotate to protect one another. Then, Neville and Ginny, who were better at offensive spells, would take their groups and from two different sides, and start attacking. Hermione's group would go last and help wherever needed. Harry was in charge of making sure each group was where they needed to go before finding Voldemort if he was with his followers and if not, then Harry would help defensive and with evacuation of hurt and/or townspeople. Harry was in charge of making sure no one got hurt or killed by accident during the battles.

When Ginny and Neville's groups made it to the battle line, they all got a taste of what war is about.

Ron and Luna's groups were doing great as a distraction but as soon as Ginny and Neville's groups started attacking, the Death Eaters split up and started firing spells at a rapid speed. Ginny used her wandless Bat Bogey twice but decided to save her energy and just use her wand.

She ducked and twisted but still managed to get hit a few times. The groups found cover around some buildings and damaged pieces of wood that had fallen off the roof of a building.

They were still a good bit away from the town, but the Death Eaters were pushing them back. They needed help and the sooner, the better.