Dumbledore's Army
The date for the first official meeting of our group is set for the following Monday, for eight o'clock, giving us a full hour before curfew. Luckily, Snape doesn't seem to stick to a certain day for our extra lessons, and so I am free to attend the meeting.
We four slip down to the portrait first, cautioning the other Gryffindor students to stagger their departure, in the event that someone wanders by just as they're leaving. Groups of two or three are much less suspicious than a group of ten.
"This is it, I guess," Harry says, stopping in front of a portrait of a man in old-fashioned clothes waving a giant bone around like the musical directors do with much smaller sticks. We turn to face the wall across the hall, and find it strangely blank.
"How do you propose we get in?" Ron asks casually, as we study the wall.
"Maybe we have to focus on what it is we're looking for," I suggest, grasping at straws. "We should've asked Dobby."
We all stare at the wall in silence for a moment, and when nothing happens, I begin to pace the hall in front of the portrait, thinking it over and over in my mind. Just as I'm about to give up, I walk past the wall as a door appears out of nowhere.
Hesitantly, Hermione reaches for the doorknob and turns it. Finding it unlocked, she pushes the door open and steps in, the rest of us following quickly behind her.
"It's perfect!" she says happily, and as I step through, I find I agree with the sentiment.
The room is quite large, big enough for all of us to fit and still have room to practice spells. In one corner, there are several shelves filled with books, which when I examine them, turn out to be different spell books and how-to books on defence. A large granite fireplace on the far side of the room from the shelves gives off light bright enough to see what we're doing, and keeps the room a comfortable temperature.
We aren't there long when the door opens again, revealing Ginny and Neville, who stare at the room in stunned silence. Cho Chang and her friend enter in short order, followed quickly by Fred, George, and Lee. Angelina, Katie, and Alicia arrive at the same time as Zach Smith and a couple other Hufflepuffs. We are all here by the appointed time and gather into a semicircle around Harry.
"Right," Harry says, scanning the crowd. "I was thinking we ought to start with a disarming spell –"
"I thought we were here to learn important stuff," Zach pipes up annoyingly. "What good is a spell like that going to be against anyone?"
"Expelliarmus saved my life last year," Harry says stonily. The room is uncomfortably quiet at that.
"Maybe you've got a better idea of what we should be learning, Smith?" I say sweetly. "If not, I think disarming your opponent is a good start. If we only learn one thing here, at least we'll know how to give ourselves a fighting chance of escaping whatever danger we end up in."
"Okay," Luna nods. "But we should figure out the details before we start. What sort of name are we going to call ourselves?"
"How about Defense Assembly?" a Hufflepuff girl suggests. "We could just call ourselves the DA for short, and no one would know what we're talking about."
"I like it," Ginny agrees. "But let's have it stand for Dumbledore's Army. It'll be our little joke at the Ministry."
"Perfect," Fred grins, several of us mirroring the expression. The group nods their consent.
"How will we know when to meet?" Katie asks next. "Is it going to be every Monday, and if not, how are we going to let everyone know when it's happening?"
"Only Mondays?" the same Hufflepuff girl asks. "We should meet more often than that, or else what's the point of doing this at all?"
"We need time to practice Quidditch, too," Angelina cuts in immediately. "The other Houses will need time for their sports, too, I'd imagine." Zach, a Quidditch player himself, nods at that.
"It's probably best to keep changing what day we meet," Hermione muses. "That way there's no pattern for anyone on the outside to pick up on. Maybe if we decide on the next meeting date at the end of every meeting, we could let everyone know before they leave the room? If that doesn't work, we can think up another way later on."
"Well, then," Luna says, rubbing her hands together. "Shall we get started? We've only got a half hour left until curfew."
"Right," Harry nods, taking a breath. "Okay, everyone pair up and face your partner and then we'll start."
It's a good thing the disarming spell is one I catch onto quickly, since I miss the next meeting to practice with Snape. We've moved on from lighting a lantern now, though I can tell Snape isn't overly impressed with my weak flame-making abilities.
Now he has me stand across the room from his desk, where he places a sleeping mouse in a wire mesh cage. I'm supposed to learn how to wake up the creature with no wand, and without making any noise. The second time he sets the task before me, I'm gratified when, after a couple hours, the rodent wakes up.
"Ha!" I celebrate.
Snape simply rolls his eyes, and with a wave of his wand, the mouse drops back into a deep sleep.
"That wasn't you, stupid girl," he says to me. "The spell just wore off; you've been at this so long. Try again."
Convinced he's just saying that to make me feel bad about my performance, I return to the task. When I still haven't managed to wake the mouse up by the time Snape excuses me for the night, even I have to admit he was right.
Frustrated, I stomp back up to the Tower, where I breeze right by Fred and George and up to bed, where my mind, tired from hours of concentration and frustration, drops off to sleep almost immediately.
