Voicing is in regular
Thoughts are in italics
Parseltongue is in bold


Dinner that evening was strained for the Trio. The people who believed Harry kept quiet and those that didn't believe him were rather vocal about that fact.

"I'm going to detention." Harry murmured, "I can't take any more of this."

"See ya Harry." Ron said through a mouthful of food.

"Keep your head down." Hermione hissed as Harry's retreating back. "I'm going to the Library."

Hermione swept out of the Great Hall and ran straight into Madam Hooch. "We missed you this summer."

"Yes, well Minerva had me in Order planning meetings the entire time. I had no chance to slip away. Severus covered for me." Hooch whispered. "Run along now."

Hermione raised her eyebrows but listened nonetheless.

As soon as she entered the Library, she went to her favorite spot in the corner. She wanted to get a head start on her homework.

A couple of hours later, Madam Pince shooed her out of the Library.

As she was walking back to the Common Room, Hermione ran into Harry. The first thing that she noticed was that his left hand was very red.

"Harry, what happened to your hand?!" Hermione exclaimed as she grabbed it. She gasped when she saw what was written on it 'I must not tell lies' in Harry's messy handwriting. "How did think get there?"

"She made me do lines with one of her quills." Harry explained as he took his hand back.

"We need to do something about her." Hermione growled.

"What do you have in mind exactly?" Harry warily asked.

"Don't know yet, but when I do you'll know." Hermione assured him as they walked into the common room, to see a very pissed off Ron.

"Ron, is everything all right?" Hermione asked, very concerned.

Ron snapped his head up, "Percy – is – the – world's – biggest – git! I'm – gonna – kill – him!" every word was punctuated by Ron tearing up a letter.

"Why is he the world's biggest git?" Harry asked.

"He wants me to 'sever ties with that liar Harry Potter and his Mudblood friend Hermione Granger. For being friends with them Ronald, you cause even more taint to fall on our name.' I'll sever ties; I'll sever ties with him!" Ron growled.

"Ron, let's not be too hasty." Hermione tried to calm him down.

"I'm not, he is! I either side with him and the Ministry or I side with you guys and the rest of my family. It's not that hard of a choice, Hermione."

"I'm sorry, Ron." Harry said, "I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Percy was always a git." Hermione stated, as she swept up to her dorm room.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Ron asked Harry.

Harry just looked at Ron and shrugged his shoulders.


They woke up the next morning and found announcements littering the hallways: "Ministry Seeks Education Reform Dolores Umbridge Appointed First-Ever 'High Inquisitor'"

"What the hell does that mean?" Ron asked.

"The Ministry is officially interfering with Hogwarts." Hermione growled. "It looks like she is going to observe the professors and decide if they are 'fit' to teach. It also says that she can make rules and enforce them. Oh, I hate that bitch!"


It was interesting to have Toad Face in all their classes. She took notes the entire time and asked questions incessantly. Snape and Minerva almost took her head off multiple times.

She kept putting up Educational Decrees that made the student and teacher's lives miserable.

Harry kept going to detention with her. One night Hermione had finally had enough.

"Harry, you have to go to McGonagall." Hermione asserted.

"I don't want her to get in trouble."

"We have to do something. We are not learning to defend ours. We won't pass ours Owls. This woman is ruining our life." Hermione forcefully exclaimed.

"Harry can teach us." Ron said.

"What!?" Harry exclaimed.

"It's perfect! Harry, you have faced monsters we couldn't dream of and lived to tell the tail. You can teach us how to defend ourselves. All we need to do is identify those people who would like to learn more and are not loyal to the Ministry."

"No, I'm not a teacher." Harry asserted.

"Harry, we need you." Ron said, "You can teach us how to defend ourselves against You-Know-Who."

"Alright, I'll teach. But you two have to find the students."

"I'll find them, Harry." Hermione smiled. Ginny, Luna, Fred, George, we are going to start a DADA club go find students who wouldn't betray us. We'll meet on Saturday to finalize where we are going to meet. We will meet at the Hog's Head. "We will meet at the Hog's Head on Saturday. I'll have found the students by then. We will need a way to communicate. I'll be in the Library."

Hermione spent all night in the Library looking for information on how to communicate secretly. She finally opened a book on advanced Transfiguration. "Yes!" Hermione yelled, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

She ran all the way back to the common room and up to the boys dorm, "Harry! Ron! I figured it out! I figured it out!"

"Hermione, it's two in the morning. Go to bed. We'll talk in the morning." Harry grumbled

"Fine, but can I have twenty knuts please?"

"Yeah, sure, in the side table over there."

Hermione took twenty knuts out of the side table drawer and went to her bed. She Transfigured them into Galleons and then cast a spell on them that caused them to heat up and give a time to designate when the meeting would be.

When she finally got to bed it was after for in the morning. She would have to use a pepper-up potion in the morning.


Twenty people showed up on that Saturday: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Cormac McLaggen, Dean Thomas, Colin Creevey, Dennis Creevey, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Katie Bell, Lee Jordan, Lavender Brown, Neville Longbottom, Nigel Wolpert, Parvati Patil, Romilda Vane, Seamus Finnigan, Anthony Goldstein, Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood ,Marietta Edgecombe, Michael Corner, Padma Patil, Terry Boot, Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones, Zacharias Smith, Luca Caruso, and Alice Tolipan.

"Come on guys let's go upstairs." Hermione took charge of the meeting.

Once everyone had settled down, Hermione began her speech, "You are all here because you believe that Umbridge isn't teaching us to defend ourselves. There is a war going on and we need to be prepared. Voldemort is back and if you don't believe you can leave now. And if you want to hear about what happened at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, don't let the door hit you on the way out."

When no one moved, Hermione continued "Harry will be teaching us. We need a name. A good name, a name that will mean something."

"Dumbledore's Army." Ginny said. Harry nearly choked on his Butterbeer.

"We should shorten it to 'DA' so no one will know what we are talking about." Luna dreamily said.

"That sounds like a plan." Hermione smiled, as she pulled out a roll of parchment and wrote in big letters at the top: Dumbledore's Army and Hermione Jean Granger underneath. "I want us all to sign this."

It took about ten minutes for them to sign the parchment and for Hermione to hand out the coins.

"Now, we will meet on the seventh floor in the left corridor when your coins give you a time." Hermione smiled, "We need to head back before we are missed."

All but Hermione, Harry, Luna, Neville, Ginny, Ron, and the Twins left immediately. They walked slowly back to the castle. When they were halfway across the bridge, Hermione exclaimed smiling "This is fun, don't you think, breaking all the rules."

"Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?" Ron asked.

Unfortunately for them, Flitch had heard the beginning of their meeting and had run to snitch to Toad Face. There would be a new Education Degree in the morning.