"Rumour has it that we've caused quite the stir in Wizarding Britain, my fellow wizards and witches!"
Harry stood in front of Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna in the Hogwarts Voice version of the Room of Requirement, grinning like the lunatic he was.
"And you're just enjoying the show aren't you?" Ginny asked.
"Bloody right, I am!" Harry exclaimed. "This is amazing!"
"Just think though; we're only just getting started and we've caused such a stir," Ron chuckled.
"I quite like imagining how things will turn out once we've accomplished our goal." Luna smiled.
"Right, right." Harry began pacing up and down in front of them. "Now, we've made some pretty bold statements in our opening issue and we really should keep the momentum going. I know that we've dug up some dirt on the old toad's background- as well as a few select members of our highly esteemed and extremely competent government, but we're not a tabloid like what the Daily Prophet is nowadays."
"We'll just use those facts to support our arguments then; highlight the hypocritical stance that the great majority of them seem to have." Hermione shrugged.
"See? I knew it was a good idea to have you on the team, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed.
He banged the table with a flat palm, making the rest of them jump.
"Alright, peers. Let's do this!"
Working with both the Hogwarts Voice and Dumbledore's Army gave Harry a new zest for life, keeping him much happier than he was when the year first started and Umbridge first showed her ugly face in his beloved school.
With this particular DA meeting, he was working his students particularly hard in the physical aspects of duelling.
"Come on, people! You won't always have time to cast a spell!" he bellowed. "Sometimes you'll have to run, dodge and bend over backwards like you're doing the Limbo!"
The non-Muggle raised of the bunch that weren't actively duelling looked at him quizzically, while the ones familiar with the Muggle dance contest/game rolled their eyes at the comparison.
"And while you're moving, have your next spell ready and firing off because you know they'll try to kill you while you're on the move!" Harry dodged an off-kilter spell from one of the Creevey brothers as he spoke.
"How about a demonstration, Potter!" Zacharias called out.
"Sure! If anyone wants to volunteer to go against me that is." Harry twirled his wand idly, grinning.
They all immediately looked terrified.
"I'll do it Harry!" Luna's voice called out from somewhere in the back of the room.
Harry's grin got even bigger as the crowd parted to let the small, blonde girl through.
Luna was one of the more unorthodox of his students, who he remembered had performed particularly well during those times that the DA was working on using unconventional spells in a duel.
This was going to be fun.
When she was close and raised her wand, everyone ran for cover.
Even Ron and Hermione, Harry noted, rolling his eyes.
Cowards.
Harry raised his wand and cast the first spell, which Luna immediately spun out of the path of, while firing off another spell mid-motion which Harry stepped aside to dodge.
After his and Luna's duel (which involved several soap bubbles, whipped cream, tickling jinxes, pillows and several other weird items and spells and was ruled a draw by Hermione), Harry decided to call it an early night and opened the floor to any discussion about the session they had just been through.
Instead, it veered off-topic to one that he didn't mind.
"Well, that Hogwarts Voice is something special, ain't it?" Seamus started it.
"I'll say." Terry chortled. "It was quite an entertaining read. Definitely made the right first impression on me!"
Those in the room responsible for the Hogwarts Voice started sharing looks.
"Oh?" Harry thought. "This could be interesting to hear..."
"I wonder who's behind it though. Those were some pretty bloody bold allegations to make!" Hannah exclaimed.
"I'm not so sure that some of the things that they (whoever they are) allege are mere allegations..." Susan scowled. "I've been hearing some positively awful things about Umbitch that would make your hair curl- or straighten it..."
Harry didn't miss the look that she gave Hermione with those words.
"Must be Gryffindors behind it." Zacharias scoffed. "Only they would be so foolish as to openly antagonise her like that!"
At this, Harry shared a look with Ron and Hermione.
"Well, I for one look forward to seeing what these people have to say," Harry heard Ernie say, although he was mildly surprised that he hadn't spoken up before now. "It is about high time that that woman be brought to heel like the monster that she is!"
Everyone in the room turned to stare at him.
"What? She is, isn't she?" Ernie looked completely unbothered by the looks they were giving him. "It's the truth!"
"He's right," Neville piped up. "I've been hearing some pretty horrible rumours about what she does to people who get detentions with her. Not even Snape (as unpleasant as he is for certain) does that..."
"Bloody hell," Ron looked at Neville, wide-eyed. "You're defending Snape?"
"Not at all!" Neville looked horrified at the very idea. "It's just that he doesn't make people mutilate themselves on purpose- or so I've heard!"
The gasps that filled the room told Harry just how many people didn't hear.
Harry himself wondered where Neville did, however, as he knew he didn't hear it from him about his own torture sessions with the pink amphibian.
"It's not a rumour..." Colin spoke quietly (though the entire room could somehow hear him), holding up his hand, displaying the marks there for anyone to see. "...it's the truth. And I for one hope they manage to cover that in their publication."
"But... but... that's illegal!" Susan looked horrified as she took the younger boy's hand in hers to inspect it closely. "Making you write lines in your own blood? That's torture! Why haven't you reported it?"
"Fat load of good that would have done," Lee scoffed, showing his own marks. "especially with the Ministry being as they are now. They'd probably find some way to make her look innocent!"
"I say let these Hogwarts Voice people have at her," Harry spoke up, showing his own Umbridge induced scars. "Let them rip her apart limb from limb. Figuratively, of course. It simply wouldn't do to have their work curtailed by murder charges..."
Ginny shot him a look, but Harry waved off her concern that he was treading in dangerous waters.
Basically, they all were by being a part of this group anyway and him being part of the Hogwarts Voice crew wouldn't change the amount of trouble he'd be in if he was discovered.
"I wish I knew who they were. I'd want to send them some pictures of this evidence," Colin said, looking upset, but still mildly pleased at the amount of girls sympathising over his injured hand.
And judging by the looks on the faces of certain occupants of the room, the relative break from pranks that Umbridge was having was about to come to an end.
He smiled to himself as he spoke and listened; gathering material from the students present for future issues of the Hogwarts Voice, though of course, they didn't know it.
As he glanced around the room at Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna, they all appeared to be doing the same.