Before I get started, I'd just like to point out that the majority of this chapter, if not all of it, was entirely unplanned and just randomly popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone. I never actually intended to involve the DA in this, but alas, I am not the one in charge of my brain, my muses are, along with all the other freeloaders that occupy the vast cavity known as my brain. Also, I'd like to tell you all to enjoy this chapter, as it just might be the last. All the various signs of the Apocalypse have been adding up more and more, and today I found out I have a 100 in my trigonometry class. This is the last sign. Especially considering I barely passed it with a D last semester. The world as we know it is over. Enjoy your last few days of life. And now that I've let Quillian have his Emo Death Rant, I'll let Kate back in so she can actually write this for me, cuz I have no idea what is supposed to happen. Supposedly she does.

Kate: indeed. I have a wonderful idea for this, and as long as this pesky human I've been spawned from doesn't make me forget it—

Me: hey! You're my muse! Aren't you supposed to be nice to me?

Kate: who the hell gave you that idea? You should know better by now anyway.

Me: -sulks-

Kate: anyway, as long as she or any of her other selves don't distract me from it with thoughts of homework, it should turn out relatively well. I've been plotting, and I've come up with several ideas. Now let's just see if they all work out…

Rachel: Now, without further delay, we present to you:

Chapter 25: The Secret Meeting

Harry found himself mildly surprised that almost all the DA he had left behind in the fifth year were there, and not only that, but there were even new faces. The list Hermione had created that bound them to loyalty still hung on the wall, no names crossed off, but several added on. He didn't take a long time to examine it as he had other matters at hand. He had asked Ed to stand guard outside of the door to make certain they would not be caught. Although most of the students that remained at the school would not be a problem, he was certain that Voldemort still had spies positioned at the school to relay any suspicious activity, just as Harry himself did, and he didn't want to take any chances. There still were no Slytherins in the DA, as it had become almost an unspoken rule that none from that house were to be trusted. He waited for about ten more minutes for any other DA members to trickle in unnoticed before sticking his head out the door and telling Ed to come in. Several of the DA members now inside the room looked quizzical at this, as they hadn't seen anyone out there when they had come in, but those who were standing in a position that allowed them a clear view of the hall saw a shadow from one of the suits of armor move and walk out into the light, taking the form of a young man about five four with long blond hair pulled back into a braid and a long, trailing red trench coat. The young man, whom they assumed to be Ed, quickly crossed the hall, letting his eyes sweep to both sides of the room as he went, and upon entering the room, he swiftly closed the door behind him.

"No one's coming. I didn't hear anything on the floors above us or below us. We should be fine," Ed reported to Harry.

"Good, that means we can start. Hermione, could you cast wards around the room to make sure it stays that way?" Harry asked, turning to the bushy-haired girl to his left. She nodded and instantly set to work, waving her wand in complicated patterns and muttering convoluted phrases.

"Alright, let's get started. I'm assuming you all had a vague idea as to what you are doing here once you saw me. We came here to gain extra information about the horcruxs, because we recently ran into a dead-end. I figured that as long as we were here, it wouldn't hurt anyone to exchange some information. Don't expect me to tell you everything that has been going on while I've been gone, or what we are doing in full detail, because none of us intends to divulge all of that information just yet. We'll let you ask us questions first, but once you're done we have some questions of our own to ask. Correspondence has been rare, and we still think Hogwarts is our strongest ally right now, other than the Order, and so any additional information you have may prove to be crucial, even if it's just a rumor. So, who wants to start?" Harry asked, leaving it open to the group to ask a question.

"Who is that, and how do we know we can trust him?" asked one of the new faces of the group.

"I think it would be best to let him answer that for himself," Harry said, turning to Ed.

"First of all, I'd like to point out it's not smart to insult someone who is standing right in front of you, especially when you don't know what they're capable of," Ed said, glaring at the boy who had asked the question. "Second, my name is Ed and this 'Voldemort' you are fighting is actually Envy, a homunculi that comes from my side of the Gate, and isn't something (1a) you 'wizards' would probably be capable of handling, so I agreed to help Harry and the others fight him, as it was my job long before it was theirs."

"What do you mean by 'your side of the Gate?'" asked a blond-haired girl in the corner.

"It's not something you will probably understand, but my universe is connected to yours by the Gate. The Gate controls the flow of powers, and after an… occurrence… on my side of the Gate, I ended up here on your side," Ed said. 'God damned snoopy kids,' he thought. 'This is gonna be one hell of a long night…I wish I had a nice strong drink right now…' and suddenly a shot glass filled with scotch appeared in front of him. He tried not to look suspicious or surprised as he glanced over to Harry, who shrugged his shoulders to show it was alright. Ed took it in one go and continued, putting away a mental note to ask about that later, once he noticed the glass refilled itself.

"How old are you anyway?" asked another student, whom Ed didn't bother to look at.

"It's complicated. I could tell you I'm nineteen, or I could tell you I'm in my twenties. Which would you prefer?"

"The truth," The student responded.

"Alright, then I'm both. Next question."

"How could you be both?" Ed took another shot of the scotch. These kids were really dense.

"I believe I recall saying something about the other side of the Gate, correct? Then wouldn't it make sense for me to have been to both sides? And wouldn't it also make sense for both sides to have a different speed of time? Use your brain next time kid," he said.

"Who are you calling a kid! I'm taller than you are!" the trio winced, only briefly wondering if they should attempt restraining Ed. They sided with self-preservation and let Ed go at the kid.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT! ARE YOU SAYING I'M NOTHING BUT THE SIZE OF A BEAN! THAT YOU WOULD NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE ME!" Ed ranted, running over to the unfortunate kid who had spoken and punching a sizeable hole in the wall next to him with his right fist. "WATCH WHAT YOU SAY OR NEXT TIME IT'LL BE YOUR HEAD!" Ed warned, extracting his fist from the wall while mumbling something about Mustang Complex and a shrimp mobile.

"And that is why you should watch what you say about people before you know them," Ron pointed out, not bothering to hide his laughter. Ed huffed and stalked back over to the trio.

"How did you do that?" asked another student, without particularly thinking about it as their brain was still in shock from what they had just seen.

"It's called automail, and where I come from it's rather common to see. It's a mechanical substitute for limbs like arms and legs that have been lost. I have two automail limbs, and no, I will not tell you why I have them. It's nothing you need to know. To be honest, I've probably already told you more than you need to know, and just in case you were wondering, if news of this gets out, I have my ways of finding the source of the information leak, and let's just say you won't be happy if that source just so happens to be you." That seemed to end all additional questions about Ed, but Harry decided to tell them a little more, because he had a feeling that their lack of questions wasn't due to their lack of curiosity.

"Ed has been a valuable ally for us. He's right when he says he's had more experience with dealing with the homunculi than we have, and so in addition to helping us, he has also agreed to teach us sparring and a form of magic he calls alchemy."

"It's not magic, it's science. How many times do I have to tell you that?" Ed groaned in exasperation. Harry ignored him and continued.

"We asked him on the train ride here if he would be willing to teach you a little bit of each. We don't expect any of you to get it, because we've had even longer to learn and are still barely scratching the surface. You'll need to be open minded about learning something other than magic, and realize that these methods can be just as useful. But that won't be until later. In the meantime, does anyone have any more questions for us?"

"Harry, I'd have assumed by now you'd have figured out yourself that you should tell everyone what you've been doing since you left. What are the most recent threats, and is there anything that may concern the safety of the school?" asked a red-haired girl Ed identified as Ginny, Ron's little sister.

"Right. By the way, great to see you too, Ginny," Harry said before continuing. "Right after we left we headed for the first possible location for a Horcrux. This was Gryffindor's old house. We didn't find a horcrux, but we did find a journal that gives a clue as to what it might be. After that, you have probably all found out some way or another about Ed's fight with Envy during Bill and Fleur Weasley's wedding. This means Voldemort, or Envy, whichever he may be, is not going to just sit back and watch. It is safe to assume that he still plans to finish what he set out to do, only now it seems more of something he's taken on to himself rather than putting it off on his minions. I don't think he'll try attacking Hogwarts again, as there isn't anything in it anymore for him, but I could be wrong, so don't let your guard down. After that fight we were informed of the location of Ravenclaw's Cup," Harry said, pausing for a moment in reflection before catching himself and continuing. "It has been destroyed. Theoretically there are only three more horcruxs that we have to break, and we can go after Voldemort."

"Only now we have to worry about if Envy will still remain once Voldemort is destroyed. If this is the case, we will have yet another contingency to deal with. Envy is not as easily killed, and is even closer to immortality that this 'Voldemort' of yours," Ed said, startling even Harry. The trio hadn't thought of that. They had assumed that because Envy was inhabiting Voldemort that would mean that killing one would result in the death of both.

"Now you know the severity of the situation outside the castle walls, however there is still much that we don't know. Are there any more questions?" Harry asked, still attempting to fulfill the task at hand, though Ed's words rang in his head.

"How long will you stay?" a girl asked. Harry and the others knew her as Luna Lovegood. She was impossible to mistake for anyone else, and as usual her face looked compleatly blank (1c), but they all knew for a fact that she was probably one of their most valuable members. Because of her disposition, she was often ignored and disregarded as insane. This was actually an advantage, because she could pick up more information than any of the other members of the DA.

"We plan on leaving in three days. That will give us enough time to gather new information and replenish our resources. It will also be a good chance to teach you some more magic, as well as alchemy and sparring before we leave. However, if anything comes up, we might be prompted to leave earlier," Harry responded.

"Have the Death Eaters been active around the muggles?" questioned another student.

"Not too much so. Every other week or so you might see a report of a mysterious muggle death, but other than that, not much," Hermione responded (1). It remained quiet for a few moments before anyone else spoke.

"What can we do to help?" Ginny asked, breaking the thick silence.

"We will need to know any new developments at the school. Who might be viewed as an enemy, rumors about the movements of the Death Eaters, random information you have collected while we were gone, anything," Harry responded.

-------------this is a page break because Kate went out for coffee--------------

At the end of the meeting, the group had collected a notable amount of information. First, they had discovered that there were only about fifteen Slytherins left in the school, as most of them had fled after the attack on the school the previous year. Also, Slughorn was no longer teaching, and in his place was Remus Lupin. Tonks was teaching the DADA class, and all the other professors remained, although Trelawney seemed even more distant than usual, and most of her classes had gone to Firenze. Harry and the others thought this would have caused much argument from the "mysterious" professor, but it seemed as if she had not even noticed. In addition, Mrs. Pince, the Librarian, suddenly lacked much of her previous, book-obsessed vigor, and practically ignored students who talked loudly in the library or took the occasional note in a book. Other than that, not much had been happening. Harry had thanked everyone for their information, and slowly people had started trickling out of the classroom, each one shaking hands with the trio as they left, and walking past Ed, sometimes giving an acknowledging nod.

(1): mainly because I forgot about her and decided to make her say something. All bow before the mighty powers of the authoress of this fic!!

(1a) note from the editor: "heh. You called yourself a thing." And for anyone who doesn't understand this, NinjaSquirls and I, along with several friends, cosplay, and I am Envy. My editor is Ed. And yes, we're both girls, and yes, gender does get rather confusing. Especially for me.

(1b): note from editor, and this goes for many things, so it has no citation. "DAMN YOU EVIL, INCORRECTLY APOSTROPHIZING HOMUNCULUS! I AM GOING TO TIE YOU DOWN AND FORCE YOU TO READ THE PANDA BOOK!!!!"

(1c): ) yet another editor note, in regards to the previously written sentence of "her face looked glossy and blank.": "I hate that description. How does one's face look glossy? Does she have overactive sweat glands or something? Change it." And so I did.

A/N: dear god that was a lot of dialogue! Not to mention a crappy ending.

Kate (drinking her coffee): what did you expect? It was an informational meeting. Usually people talk during those. And you try to think of a better ending!

Me: true, but still!!

Kate: you wanna push the point? –waves machete threateningly—

Me: no, not really!

Carlos: tu estas muy inteligente.

Me: thanks… I think…

Kate: because this was my creation, I get to be the one to threaten you for reviews! You have been warned, I have many methods to get reviews, and I will…

Me: Kate, stop threatening the readers with death. I like my readers. I like my reviewers even more, but threatening them is a bad idea. They might go away. And that would be bad.

Kate: you have a point… but then when will I get to use my Furby-Ninja-Mountie-Assassin army? They've been getting restless.

Me: don't you use them to torment me and my friends? And to help run your bar?

Kate: true…

Amanda: while they're off having a conversation, I'd like to ask you to reviews. Reviews are used to motivate both of them to be productive rather than work on homework or watch anime. It takes lots of motivation to do that, and so the more reviews they receive the more likely they are to update. The multiple personalities of Hanjuuluver thank you for your wonderful contribution. Have a nice day:D