A.N.

I realized that I never named the new slytherin head of house! I was working on this just assuming that Slughorn was the Head of House, and I completely forgot that I never wrote that! So, to clarify things: Slughorn is the slytherin head of house. I'm going to add that into McGonagall's beginning of year speech for new readers.

Also, I am SO SO SO sorry that it took me ages to update! Christmas and the following week have been crazy, and I got a pottermore account and it held me captive for several days!

Happy Holidays!

I don't own Harry Potter.

…

Even though he was exhausted Harry had a hard time getting to sleep that night. The slytherins were haunting his thoughts. Why had they not acted? Surely they had a plan by now? Who had been following him and why?

Harry pondered these questions again and again, his mind running in circles until finally, he dropped into a sleep troubled by dreams of green-clad death eaters hexing him in the Hogwarts corridors.

…

The next morning Harry was in the common room at seven, having been woken up at six by a nightmare. Not surprisingly, it had combined Voldemort, his muteness, and the slytherin students into a confusing jumble of Harry-tailored horror.

As a result he spent the first hour of his day finishing his third and final book on sign language. He was sure that as he used his new language he would discover words that he could not express, and then he would have to do more research. But for now, he knew plenty enough to be able to simply work on his speed and fluency until it was as natural as English had been.

He cast the tempus charm and the numbers "7:23" appeared in the air before him before dissolving. It was time to head down to breakfast, but neither Ron nor Hermione had come down yet. They had probably slept in, tired from patrolling the halls. He would have to ask them if they had seen anyone; maybe his stalker had been caught.

A few minutes later Ron and Hermione came down, both looking rumpled as if they had gotten ready in a hurry.

"Just what time did you two get up?" Harry asked, amused, as he raced out of the portrait hole with them to breakfast.

"Five minutes ago." Ron answered, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

"I woke up at least forty minutes ago, but Lavender kept asking questions about you, Harry, and I barely managed to escape without being downright rude."

"So what did you tell her?"

"In the end, that you were the same. She was surprised, so I had time to leave before she started prattling again."

Ron's blush, Harry noticed, had not left but had instead intensified at the mention of Lavender.

"She didn't want to know about her little won-won?" Harry teased. Ron instantly flared up bright red.

"Won-Won." Hermione said, choking on smothered giggles. Both she and Harry exchanged glances, and then burst out in full fledged laughter. Some other students stared, especially at Harry and his strange silent gasps, but Harry at this point didn't care. Who would, when remembering the ridiculous nick-name Lavender had given his best friend?

He and Hermione broke out in several more fits of chuckling as they walked to the Great Hall, and Ron just got redder and redder until he looked like a beet. Just his face alone was enough to set Harry and Hermione helplessly laughing again.

Finally Harry remembered to ask them whether they had caught anyone out in the corridor the previous night once they had served themselves breakfast.

"No, Harry. Ron and I didn't see anyone, except Professor Flitwick and the other prefects, and I haven't heard anything about a student being out after curfew. If there was someone out, they didn't get caught." Hermione replied.

"Why did you want to know?" Ron asked, so Harry explained the footsteps from the previous night.

"Harry, don't you think that you should tell Hagrid – since he's our new head-of-house – or McGonagall? If the slytherins are stalking you in the corridors now, they may want to do more than just prank you. We know that it is possible some of them are marked. Malfoy proved that it was possible for death eaters to live in the castle. Maybe they want to take you to Voldemort." Hermione said. Ron nodded in agreement.

"I don't know what they plan to do. As far as I know, all they want to do is embarrass me. It may make me nervous, but it would still be a prank, which isn't a crime. The most that would happen to them, even without proof that they are planning something, is that they get a few point deductions or a single detention. The teachers can't help here."

"I suppose you are right, but I don't like this. Stalkers? That is taking it pretty far."

"Their egos and pureblood fanaticism go pretty far." Ron grumbled.

"It will be okay, guys. I just need to get it behind me. As it is, I'm nervous…once it has happened I''ll be able to relax a bit."

"Hey, I'll see you tonight, Harry, Ron, Hermione." Dean said as he stood from the bench and slung his school satchel over his shoulder. Harry nodded, and watched Dean go. He had nearly forgotten about the DA meeting that night, but he supposed he should be thinking in more detail about it. He was going to have to asses everyone's skills and work from there, he guessed. That way he would know exactly what skill levels he was dealing with, and would be able to decide on what to work on more effectively.

"We should head to classes too. We have Herbology first, and it will take a few minutes to get to the greenhouses." Hermione said.

"Hold on a minute, I just need to finish this." Ron said, speaking around the jam-slathered toast in his mouth. Hermione snorted and Harry smiled amusedly. At least he could count of Ron's appetite never changing.

…

Herbology passed without much incident, although Ron and Harry accumulated a fair number of small cuts on their hands from the thorny plants they were working with. Nothing out of the usual.

History of Magic was next, and Harry used the time to think some more about the DA meeting instead of getting extra sleep.

He figured that he would most likely have to focus on silent magic, although he wasn't sure how much help he would be with that. His method wasn't what was taught in classes, and for many students it would be extremely difficult. But he could try, and he did know the method of silently repeating the incantations in your head. The trick would be to get the students to not cheat and whisper the spells, like they did in ordinary classes.

Yes, he decided. That was what would be challenging. Getting everyone to cooperate.

That decided he reminded himself that he still needed to inform Hagrid that he needed the quidditch pitch for Friday morning. Hopefully none of the other team captains had scheduled practices this early in the year, and he wouldn't have any trouble with the scheduling.

Harry wrote out his plans on the piece of parchment he was supposed to be using for class notes and sighed, satisfied. He thought he could take a nap for the remaining half an hour of class, but the next, and recently most prevalent, issue popped to the surface of his mind.

The slytherins.

Oh, why couldn't they just do whatever they were going to do? Their behavior hadn't altered from the previous day, and it was really wearing on Harry's nerves. Not to mention that he couldn't stop pondering his stalker from the previous night. Why had he been followed, if not to be ambushed or pranked? Had that person followed him just to increase his anxiety, or had the stalker had a more physical purpose? Had that person's plans somehow been thwarted, or had he carried out his plans perfectly?

Maybe the only reason Harry had been followed was to try to ascertain his weaknesses.

For instance, to find out how he got into the common room: with help, or without. Or if he could make sounds at all, like a cry for help.

No one except his friends knew the details of the injury that caused his mutism. Most only knew he couldn't speak, but other mutes could make basic sounds like screams or cries or moans even if they couldn't talk. So maybe the slytherins had wanted to see if he made any sounds at all?

Harry put his head in his hands, thoroughly perplexed.

What would he do if he wanted to thoroughly embarrass a mute wizard who had recently displayed unusual power?

Well, he would play on the muteness, but he had already decided that was what the slytherins would take advantage of. But how would he do that, when the wizard was still more than capable of magic?

Disable the wizard's only means of communication. His hands.

That, Harry decided, would be the slytherins' target. His hands were his link to the world now. He couldn't sign or write without them. Without them he would be reduced to facial expressions and body language to communicate, and Harry knew that that wasn't too effective.

The slytherins wouldn't permanently harm him; that would get them expelled and they wouldn't risk that. No, it would be something temporary, like a partial body bind or a binding charm.

But those could be disabled with a simple counter-curse once the cause was discovered. All it would take would be a finite incantatum and Harry would be back to normal. What, then, could the slytherins possibly do?

Nothing, without getting expelled. Harry grinned. The most they could do would be a few minutes of embarrassment. Then Harry would be able to tell the teachers who had done it and the slytherins would all get a detention or two and some point deductions.

His smile faded. The slytherins wouldn't settle for that. Detentions and point deductions just to cause a few moments' embarrassment? It was a lousy trade, and now that Harry thought about it, the slytherins weren't that stupid.

Finally, he gave up, not able to figure out the slytherins' plan. He let his mind wander freely, and wander it did.

To Ginny.

He had said he would be able to spend time with her tonight, he remembered. Maybe he could spend an hour or so with her after the DA meeting before dinner. Actually, maybe they could skip dinner entirely and use the time to have a private meal in the Room of Requirement…he could write to Dobby and ask the house-elf if he and the other elves could help with that. Harry would have to rush to the kitchens to manage it before the DA meeting, but he could do it if he really hurried.

Harry grinned to himself. That would be really nice, to have a private dinner with her. Just the two of them, away from the rest of Hogwarts. Now that Hogsmeade visits had been cancelled, there would be very few opportunities for couples to have a private night. Harry and Ginny would be lucky because of their knowledge of the Room of Requirement.

Harry ended up spending the rest of the class period daydreaming about Ginny and thinking of ways to make their night special. Maybe Dobby would have some ideas to add to Harry's. Come to think of it, the Room of Requirement would probably take care of the setting.

It was perfect.

…

The rest of the day crept by, classes followed by lunch followed by more classes.

Transfiguration was his last class. Harry literally sprinted out of the classroom as soon as the period ended, followed by Hermione and Ron's shouts of "where are you going?"

But Harry dashed through the corridors, passing students just exiting their classrooms. They stared as he raced madly by, his school satchel banging against his side and his textbooks probably giving him a bruise. But he didn't care. He had to get to the kitchens before four forty-five, when he would have to get to the Room of Requirement, seven floors above the kitchens.

It was four forty now.

Finally Harry got to the painting of the pear and entered the kitchens. Panting, he pulled out his notebook and pen and scrawled a message, which he showed to the nearest house-elf.

"I need to see Dobby. Is he here, and if he isn't, can you call him for me?"

"Oh yes, Harry Potter Sir! Me's will get Dobby for you right away, Sir!" The house-elf dashed away, weaving through the other house-elves that were working in the kitchen to prepare dinner. Harry watched him go, and then waited impatiently for Dobby to appear.

Suddenly, with a loud crack, Dobby was in front of him.

"Harry Potter! It is so good to sees you, sirs!" Dobby said excitedly, and hugged Harry's legs. He had somehow gotten a hold of a baseball cap and was wearing it atop a sombrero. He also seemed to be wearing a boy's basketball top which was too big and pooled on the floor. Harry smiled at the house-elf, amused at Dobby's appearance.

"Dobby, I'm in a hurry. Can you get a meal for Ginny and I ready and send it to the Room of Requirement at the usual dinner time?" Harry wrote, and showed the message to Dobby.

"Of course, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby will do anything for Harry Potter!" Dobby replied exuberantly, not seeming to be the least disconcerted by Harry's means of communication.

"Thanks, Dobby. See you later." Harry tore the paper from his pad and gave it to Dobby to read, and then dashed out of the kitchens. He was already going to be five minutes late for the DA meeting.

…

When Harry finally reached the Room of Requirement, he was seven minutes late. He paced impatiently in front of the blank wall, focusing on the training room, and waited for the door to materialize while tapping his toe.

As soon as the door was whole he quickly opened and then shut it behind him. Everyone was there already, and they stared at his abrupt – and late - entrance. He smiled apologetically and dropped his school satchel by the door against the wall, out of the way.

"What took you so long, mate?" Ron asked as he approached. Harry made sure he was turned away from Ginny and signed his reply.

"I had to arrange something for tonight in the kitchen. Had to run all the way there from class and then all the way here."

"Alright…well, everyone is waiting, so…you'd better get started. I guess I'll translate for you."

"Thanks, but Hermione said she'd do the introduction."

"Oh, alright then." Ron said. Harry walked to the back of the room, and Ron and Hermione stood beside him. He nodded at Hermione, letting her know it was okay to start.

"Thanks everyone for coming back. Umm…Ron and I will be translating for Harry, unless you learn sign-language. But…anyway…the reason the DA has been restarted is because we all need to know the most we can about combative magic. As you all know, we are at war again, and when we graduate we will probably need to fight at one point or another. We need to be prepared. So, that is why we are meeting again, to help each other refine our existing skills and learn new ones."

"Okay, someone translate this. I'll be assessing skill levels today, to determine whether everyone can participate at an equal level. If we can't, then I'll be dividing the DA into groups and working with each individually. I want to get a feel for who knows what. So everyone line up."

Ron translated Harry's words to the letter, and the students scrambled to form a line down the length of the room.

"I want everyone to cast a patronus. You all remember that, right?" Again, Ron translated, and students nodded down the line.

"Good, go on, then." Brows furrowed down the line, and wands came up in front of the students. Then, voices echoed around the room, exclaiming, "Expecto Patronum!""

Silver patronuses of various animal forms came from wand tips, and then proceeded to run, swim, fly, and slither around the room. Gradually they disappeared and Harry gave the next instruction.

"Good. Now, I want you all to perform your best silent spell in combative magic, one at a time. Ron and Hermione, you two are included!" Harry signed, grinning.

Hermione translated while Ron groaned. The two of them got in line with the rest, and Harry nodded to Hermione, signaling for her to start.

After that exercise, Harry knew that silent magic would be what he would have to focus on. Almost none of the students, beside Hermione and Ginny, could perform a stunner silently well enough to be any use in a fight. Thankfully, everyone was at an even skill level so he didn't have to divide the DA into different groups. Which would have complicated matters.

"Alright, here's what we're going to be doing. It's obvious almost none of you have yet gotten good at silent magic, and silent magic is a very useful ace up your sleeve. So, since you all know plenty of spells verbally, we're going to be working on combative spells silently. And I know that some of you have gotten by in classes by whispering the incantation. Please don't do that here…it defeats the point of coming. If you need help, I'll help. You don't have anything to prove. Okay?" Hermione translated, and students nodded, a few a bit guiltily.

Harry went on to explain the method of silent magic he had learned and now used, and then told the students to practice stupefy silently. Many didn't succeed by the time he called an end to the meeting at four-thirty, but he hadn't expected them to master it just yet. He was going to have to be patient.