December 26th 1997

Penelope's letter arrived during lunch the next day, causing conversations to cease round the table.

Only the Hogwarts students were there, since Sirius and Addie were visiting Frank and Alice to discuss the logistics of keeping them hidden, and Jen and Remus were discussing pregnancy and parenting tips with Molly and Arthur at The Burrow.

"Who do you think that's from?" Ginny asked.

"Who knows?" Harry raised an eyebrow as it landed in front of him. "Is that for me?"

The owl hooted, holding his leg out.

Harry removed the letter and opened it, handing the owl a piece of cold turkey.

"Harry, we've got owl treats for a reason," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"And I can't be bothered to get up," Harry said, scanning the parchment. "It's from Penelope."

"Refusing the money?" Ron guessed through a mouthful of food.

"No, quite the opposite," Harry said, handing it to Hermione so she could read it. "She says she's very grateful, because she gave up on getting a job at the Ministry the summer before last when they refused to admit Voldemort's return."

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, she wrote to Mum after Percy walked out. The poor girl was distraught about ending things, but she still wrote to apologise for his behaviour!"

"Well, apparently, Muggle-born and not working for the Ministry adds up to unemployment," Harry said.

Draco snorted. "The Ministry's got nothing to do with it."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Hermione muttered. "And people wonder how people like Voldemort get such a hold."

"What does she want to do?" Daphne asked.

"Reporter," Hermione answered, still perusing the letter. "Although she refuses to work for the …" she broke off with a chuckle. "Well, the Prophet, but that's not what she calls them."

Luna smiled dreamily. "I'll talk to Daddy. He's looking for another reporter."

"That's kind of you, Luna," Hermione said.

"He'll still interview her," Luna said. "But then she wouldn't take the job otherwise, would she?"

"No," Hermione said. "I shouldn't think she would."

At that moment, another distraction arrived, in the form of a very distressed house-elf.

"Kady!" Hermione cried, sliding off her chair. "Kady, what happened; are you alright?"

The house elf tried several times to speak, but only managed a few shuddering gasps.

Knowing that offering her water would only create more hysterics, Hermione could only try to calm her down. "Kady, it's alright. Whatever's wrong, we can make it better."

"Lady Ravenclaw miss is not claiming the castle," Kady wailed, "so Headmaster is still Kady's master, but Kady is not wanting to spy on Lady Ravenclaw miss!"

"Why that …"

"Harry!" Hermione interrupted sharply. "It's alright, Kady; we can work something out. Take a deep breath for me please."

The gasp of air, however forced, did seem to at least help Kady calm down a little.

"Kady, why don't we give you the information I don't mind Dumbledore knowing," Hermione suggested. "That way you can follow your orders and you won't be spying on me."

Kady's eyes had slowly dried and she was now beaming up at Hermione. "Oh, thank you, Lady Ravenclaw, miss."

"You're very welcome, Kady," Hermione said. "Any chance you can call me Hermione?"

Kady gave Hermione a surprisingly stern look. "Lady Ravenclaw miss is not being used to house elves."

"That's a no then," Draco said with a smirk, after she had disappeared.

Hermione shrugged. "It was worth a shot. Who wants to help me come up with things Kady can tell Dumbledore?"

January 3rd 1998

All too soon, it was the beginning of the Spring Term.

Neville and Susan took Catherine to The Burrow, to floo back to Hogwarts.

Addie gathered Harry, Hermione, Draco and Daphne together, kissed Sirius goodbye, and portkeyed back to Hogwarts.

Expecting a welcoming committee, she did not use her own portkey, but a one-off that took them to just outside the castle gates.

Sure enough, when they reached the Entrance Hall, Dumbledore was waiting for them, looking extremely disappointed. "Harry, I thought we agreed that you wouldn't go home for the holidays."

"No, Headmaster, you agreed I wouldn't go home," Harry said. "I promised I wouldn't floo home."

"And since I took him by portkey, there was no problem," Addie said. "I need not remind you, Headmaster, that Jen is Harry's legal guardian and keeping him here against her consent is classed as kidnapping under wizarding law."

Dumbledore sighed. "Of course not, Addison. I was just concerned about Harry's welfare, that's all."

"Well, as you can see, he's absolutely fine," Addie said briskly. "Alright, kids, off to your Common Rooms please."

"Yes, Professor," the four of them chorused.

"Good evening, Headmaster," Addie said, heading towards her office.

It was a few moments before she 'noticed' that he was accompanying her. "Was there something else you wanted, sir?"

"I was just wondering if you would pass on my congratulations to Remus and Jennifer," Dumbledore said.

Addie frowned. "How on earth did you know, sir?"

"Ah, Hogwarts holds a great many secrets," Dumbledore answered vaguely. "I do not claim to understand all of them."

"Of course not, sir," Addie said, injecting just enough awe into her voice to be believable.

Jen's pregnancy – at her agreement – was one of the things they had agreed Kady could tell the headmaster.

Her own engagement was not.

After all, Dumbledore could nothing to manipulate Mother Nature, whereas she herself was in a somewhat vulnerable position.

"Oh, for your information, sir, I will be leaving Hogwarts over the next Hogsmeade weekend to take care of some family business," she said.

"May I ask what kind of business?" Dumbledore asked.

"My parents left quite a few things in the lurch," Addie said. "Lady McKinnon has some affairs to attend to."

"Of course, Lady McKinnon." Dumbledore inclined his head in gracious permission, before taking his leave.

The benevolent god ruling over his mindless subjects.

Addie shook her head and continued on her way to her private quarters. Marrying on Valentine's weekend was a little cheesy for her liking, but there was no way she was going to play Dumbledore's game to get the students out of the castle, so it was going to have to be on the same day as a Hogsmeade visit.

It was going to be difficult, planning a wedding from the castle, but it would be oh so worth it.

January 8th 1998

The first DA meeting of the New Year began with a surprise.

Already, the group and formed a different structure from the year before. Although the first half of the meeting was taken up by Defence Against the Dark Arts, the students split into groups for the second, preparing for the worse, if something should happen.

Luna and Daphne – as the most proficient in healing charms – had taken the least able fighters to teach them those to staff the infirmary Jen was arranging.

Hermione and Susan took another group and taught them protective charms to hold off any attackers and give them time to prepare.

Ginny and Cedric took all the Quidditch players and ran aerial strategies, getting direction from Ron and Neville, who poured over the Marauders Map and maps of Hogsmeade, coming up with defence plans.

Draco and Harry … Well, no one – not even Hermione and Ginny – knew what they were doing, but they were planning something.

At Addie's suggestion, Harry planned on warning them that Voldemort's snake needed to be destroyed, even if they weren't going to mention the Horcruxes.

However, when they arrived at the Room of Requirement, the rest of the DA was already there.

"Wow, you're eager," Harry said with a chuckle. "I thought Professor McKinnon's lesson was pretty good this week. Not that they aren't always.

Ernie MacMillan – the obvious spokesman – stepped forwards, clearing his throat pompously. "Well, you see, Harry, we've all been thinking about what you said in September about Dumbledore, and we concur that something will have to be done about him."

"Okay." Harry exchanged a confused glance with the nine that had entered with him. "I thought you'd already done that."

"Well …" Ernie drew himself up in preparation for what promised to be a long speech, but Katie Bell cut him off.

"We can't fight as Dumbledore's Army, Harry. We just can't."

There was a murmur of agreement through the room.

"What a minute," Hermione said. "You mean I spent ages coming up with a speech to convince you all that we needed a new name and you beat me to it?"

"I told you that you were overreacting," Neville said. "I vote we revert to the Defence Association. Then we can still call it the DA."

"I think we need a battle-cry though," Justin said. "I mean, if we'd ever had to take on Umbridge, yelling "Dumbledore's Army" would've been hilarious, and it'd probably piss Mouldy-Shorts off, but I'm not going to lower myself."

Hermione couldn't help smirking. Harry's suggestion – that they come up with a more insulting nick-name if they couldn't bring themselves to actually say 'Voldemort' – had borne some interesting results.

"So we need something to yell," harry said thoughtfully. "Any ideas?"

"Marauders Forever," Daphne suggested.

"I like it," Dean agreed.

"And this way it takes some of the focus on you, mate," Seamus pointed out, grinning at him. "You're always saying how it was your mum that took the Dark Bastard down the first time, so why don't we give her the credit for once? Give them all the credit."

Seeing that Harry was a little choked up, Hermione took charge. "Any other ideas?"

No one answered.

"Very well." Hermione cleared her throat. "All in favour?"

The response was unanimous. "MARAUDERS FOREVER!"