The week in the lead up to the first Hogsmeade trip dragged, as it always did.

Safe in the knowledge that Ron and Hermione would cover for them now, Violet and Harry slipped off to their room most evenings in the week to work and spend time together in general. The weight of secrecy from their two best friends had been lifted from their shoulders, and the pair of them were much happier for it. They hadn't realised it was even a problem until it suddenly wasn't.

Harry had taken to bringing his Invisibility Cloak along too. They almost had a run in with Filch one night on their way back to the Common Room after realising that it was nearly midnight and they had to sprint back before they were caught - or lest, they spend a night in the room and have Ron and Hermione tease them about a night long disappearance.

There was a rare evening where they didn't have any work to do, as they had managed to finish all that day during lunch. So when Harry came in from Quidditch practice, he found Violet curled up on one of the beanbags reading. Instead of occupying the one next to her, he squished onto the same one.

"You smell of broomsticks and sweat," Violet muttered, demurely turning a page. "I prefer you post-Quidditch practice smelling like petrichor."

"Petrichor?"

"Dust after rain. That's what you smelt and tasted like last week."

"Tasted?" It took Harry a moment before he actually remembered what Violet was referring to. "Oh. Right, yeah - when we were… snogging."

"Eloquent," Violet quipped, and Harry put an arm around her. She shifted so that she could lean into him and rest her head against his chest; something of which she'd never done before. Either way, it felt nice. Calming. Until she realised she had to take her down out of that stupid bun otherwise she wouldn't be comfortable at all.

Violet pulled her hair down, the long black tresses coming to rest over her left shoulder in a thick mass that Harry immediately started to play with with his free hand.

"I've said before your hair's nice when it's down," he murmured, twirling a lock of it around his fingers repeatedly in an attempt to turn the messy waves into a nice, loose curl.

"You have," Violet replied. "Thank you."

"'S'alright. I miss it being in the plait as well."

Violet tensed for a second, then merely shrugged off Harry's comment. "Well, I don't really fancy Malfoy or anyone grabbing at it again. Same reason why I won't keep it down. Besides - it's just easier to keep out of my face if I have it up."

Harry felt a pang go through his heart. Why was it that every time Violet grew confident in one regard, something else had to knock it back? Malfoy was lucky that Harry was keeping his temper in check, as well as the fact their group often avoided him, otherwise he was fair game for practicing a hex or two on.

"Hmm, ow," Violet protested. Pulled from his thoughts, Harry realised he'd tugged on her hair a bit too hard. She didn't seem to mind too much - in fact she was distracted from her book and ended up setting it down.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

She'd already captured his lips with hers, blushing more madly than she had ever done before.

"Could you - could you do that again? While you kiss me?" Violet whispered, breaking away from him for just a second.

Harry didn't even have time to respond because she was kissing him again. A strange sensation overtook him as he processed her question, as if he had blacked out and all he could register was the feeling of Violet's hair entrapping his fingers, her lips on his - always so hungry…

He tugged on her hair again, gently, coming back to reality. She smiled against his mouth, and a deep satisfaction coursed through Harry when he realised that okay, as awkward as the pair of them could be, he was doing something right. He could never be sure in cases like this, and he knew Violet felt the same.

She pulled away from him, her hazel eyes big, round, and somewhat shy. She picked up her book again and settled back down to resting against him as if the past few minutes hadn't happened at all. Not in a bad way, in fact Harry found it amusing she was just going to brush that new nugget of knowledge he had about her under the rug.

"That was nice," she said quietly.

"It was," he agreed, resting his chin atop her head. He liked the quiet moments like this, where they didn't have to worry about anything else and just be, wishing that he could freeze their moment forever. Not in a photograph - photographs were prone to fading over time - but in a more organic way. Harry wondered if one day when he was older he should get a Pensive like the one in Dumbledore's office.

For now, he settled for watching Violet handle her book delicately as she turned the pages. She had a habit of chewing on her bottom lip when really thinking about what she was reading, no matter if it was fact or fiction. It was like he was watching the cogs in her brain turn, and she'd only release her bottom lip once she was clear on what she had just read. A few fluttery blinks would also tell Harry she was done with her thought processes too.

"Do you like watching me read?" Violet asked abruptly.

How the bloody hell- Harry shook himself. "I - uh - yeah. It's calming. I've always thought that."

"Hermione told me last year you always watch me read. I hadn't noticed until she pointed it out, if I'm being honest."

"You? Not noticing something? Wow. The world really is ending."

"Oh - shut it, Potter."

He laughed, and Violet couldn't keep the smirk off her face.

It was something to be said that the next day at breakfast, she kept her hair down. The side part with more hair was merely clipped back to keep it out of her face, and Harry had to respectfully not keep looking at her, much to the amusement of Ron and Hermione.

Violet cleared her throat awkwardly as she slid onto the bench next to Hermione. "Morning."

"Morning," the three of them chanted back. Harry furiously dug into his cereal, apparently in disbelief at what he was even seeing if he looked at Violet.

"While you were off wherever it was last night, I was able to round up a couple more people for this weekend," Hermione said, idly flipping through that morning's Daily Prophet. "Hufflepuffs, to be exact."

"Oh! Lovely. Earlier this week I managed to grab Luna and Cho…" Violet replied.

"You spoke to Cho?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes… she has a raging crush on you, by the way, so if she does show up to the Hog's Head on Saturday it'll be all the more entertaining," she said, pouring herself a cup of tea.

Harry was resigned to the fact she may be right in that regard, but it still didn't stop him from telling her, "you're terrible. Also isn't that mean?"

"It's on you to reject her if she broaches you on the subject of dating. Besides, the real reason I invited Cho was because she heard me chatting to Luna in the library. I've not spoken to her since she and Cedric used to sit with me if they ever found me upset."

Harry said nothing. That particular aspect of their fourth year was not something either of them spoke about much, if at all if they could help it. Not that there was any need to at this point in time anyway - it was water under the bridge for all they cared.

"Exactly how many people will be coming on Saturday?" Harry asked.

"A handful," Hermione said simply. Ron gave a shrug - he'd left it to the girls to sort this out.

"And er… well, how long do you think we'll be? It's just - well - Vi and I planned to… yeah."

Hermione was holding back a smirk. "Shouldn't take more than an hour, if you two plan on disappearing for the rest of the day."

"Brilliant."

He got back to his cereal after that, and Violet hid behind her cup of tea to the best of her ability.

By the time Saturday finally rolled around, the four friends were tense - Violet and Hermione in particular. They weren't entirely sure who they could bank on actually showing up to the dingy little pub in the corner of Hogsmeade, but were pleasantly surprised when everyone they spoke to appeared and then some.

At first it seemed like it wasn't going to go well. Harry was in disbelief that anybody there really wanted to be taught by him, that they were only really there to ask him about Cedric (which Zacharias Smith, one of the Hufflepuffs, did) and was ready to give up when Luna single handedly saved the day. She asked him about his Patronus.

It got the attention of everyone in the Hog's Head back to where it should be, and ignited a flame in Harry. He told everyone who came about how out in the real world they couldn't just pick themselves up and try again tomorrow if they got into a fight. That it had to be taken more seriously than that. It bewildered them all to see him speak so passionately, but not his closest friends.

They had been with him in some of those dangerous situations, after all.

"You just gave the room very good reasons why they need you - why we need you," Violet said, much to the surprise of a few nearby Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. For them it was a rarity to see her speak. "In fact, you're only reinforcing the idea that you should be a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. After all - you got my marks up to scratch the past two years."

Zacharias Smith chuckled the loudest out of everyone who did chuckle at that remark. Violet shot him such a bizarre look that it took everything in Harry not to start laughing. Zacharias shrunk down in his seat after that, and ended up being one of the last people to write their name on the sign up sheet that Hermione had created. An agreement had been made that everyone would get back to Harry with their Quidditch practice and other extracurricular activity times so he could decide on a suitable date for the first official meeting.

"Just so you all know - this is effectively signing a contract," Hermione announced, as everyone queued up to write their names down. "So you cannot go running off and telling a teacher about this."

"What'll happen if we do?" Fred said, writing his name down. "Not that I would."

"You don't want to know to find out," she replied coolly. The ambiguity of her response made a few of them second guess - but they still signed up anyway and headed out of the Hog's Head thereafter. Cho lingered in the doorway for a few seconds longer, trying to catch Harry's eye until her friend practically dragged her off.

The four of them waited until everybody else had departed from the pub before setting off themselves, with Hermione happily rolling the scroll of parchment and popping it into her bag. They walked slowly back towards Hogsmeade, the silent question hanging between them about if and when they were going to part ways for the rest of the day.

Even though Violet was practically glued to Harry (it was easy enough to play off the fact her arm was looped through his elbow because of the crisp breeze), they both knew it would be awkward to ditch Ron and Hermione knowingly right now.

"Honeydukes, anyone?" Violet finally broke the silence and tension. The murmurs of agreement were filled with relief and she had to refrain from laughing about that.

They headed to the little sweet shop which wasn't as packed as it normally was: most people were leaving and making their way towards the Three Broomsticks with their pockets full of sweets and eager for a hot Butterbeer. Obviously, Honeydukes still had a hefty amount of customers inside, but that meant the four friends could talk without fear of being overheard.

"Sorry if this ruined your… date…" Hermione muttered to Violet once the girl had broken away from Harry on entering the shop. The two girls had split off from the boys, eyeing up the Sugar Quills.

"This was more important," Violet said with a shrug. She went on tiptoe and glanced over the top of the shelf to see Harry and Ron apparently also in deep conversation on the other side of the store. When her boyfriend caught her looking, she went a little pink in the cheeks and set back down on her heels, more bashful than before. "Besides, it's not like we're going to be out of opportunities."

"Careful though, Cho really couldn't take her eyes off Harry," Hermione warned her. Violet merely shrugged again, actually picking up a couple of Sugar Quills and some Peppermint Toads.

"Hardly matter," she replied. "I think you and Ron are in agreement he can't take his eyes off of me. And at least half of Hogwarts would be if they paid more attention… I mean, did you see how Zacharias Smith was-"

A sharp elbow to the rib from Hermione cut Violet off, who turned around to see that the aforementioned Hufflepuff was standing not more than three feet behind her alongside Ernie McMillan. He was apparently waiting patiently for the girls to finish their hushed conversation before he spoke.

"Didn't mean to startle you both," he said, clearing his throat. "Violet - I was wondering if you'd like to grab a Butterbeer with me?"

Violet's eyebrows shot into her hairline and she blinked a couple of times. No… surely not…? She'd never spoken to him until today and even then it was mostly addressing a whole room. Not to mention how she had been entirely unamused at his enthusiasm of her blase statement about her Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"S-Sorry?" Violet found her tongue and voice somewhere inside her body again, not sure where they had disappeared to for a good ten seconds.

"Butterbeer? You and me?"

"I… erm… thank you? But no thank you… O. year, you know? I don't really - um - don't really have the time to think about going for drinks with boys… or girls… um… yeah. Sorry." Quite possibly the worst sentence she'd ever had to string together, and as put out as Zacharias looked, he mumbled something in understanding and then scurried off out of the shop with Ernie.

Even better: Harry and Ron had witnessed the entire interaction.

"Someone's popular," Harry teased her.

Violet rolled her eyes, telling him to "shut up" as she headed over to the counter to pay for her goodies. It didn't phase him in the slightest, and when she came back he still couldn't wipe the grin off of his face. She wasn't annoyed - not really - but knew that it was going to be painfully awkward having to deal with Zacharias in the secret meetings now.

Once they were done in Honeydukes, they quickly nipped to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer (with Violet actively hiding behind the boys so as to avoid any eye contact with Zacharias) and after that hasty drink, returned to the castle. The little bubble of secrecy was burst by the copious amounts of homework waiting for them once they returned, and much like the rest of the fifth years and upwards, they remained glued to the tables until late that night.

By the time the Common Room was emptying out, it was them, Ginny, Fred and George left. Time was spent idly chatting, and since nobody else was around, they dared to speak about the new group they had formed with a select few other students.

"It's mad how you nearly got thirty - that's a decent number," Fred said.

"Enough to really make the Ministry think we're in the process of starting an actual army," Violet added, curling up with her head on the arm of the sofa. She was tired, and wanted some sort of alone time with Harry once everyone else had gone to bed. He was sitting on the floor opposite her, and she sleepily watched him as the conversation carried on.

The warmth of the fire settled over her like a blanket, hazing her thoughts and making the voices around her muddy. As she started to drift off into slumber, a very sudden thought occurred to her and she sat bolt upright.

"That's it!" she announced.

"Bloody hell, Vi, what's it?" Ron had his hand over his heart. None of them had expected her to jump up so suddenly.

"Have we got a name for this group?" she asked, more wide awake than she felt like she'd ever been before. "If not - then the word 'army' has to be a part of it. Why not Potter's Army? Since Harry is at the forefront of this."

"Only because you, Hermione, and Ron made me," he reminded her.

"I'm liking this…" Ginny mused, a thoughtful look on her face. "But don't the Ministry thnk Harry's a nutter?"

"Cheers for the reminder…"

She shook her head. "What I meant is that it's not a name that would scare them. So why not Dumbledore's Army? They're bloody terrified that this is what he's doing! So why not play into it?"

"Oh, Ginny, that's brilliant," Violet beamed at her. "Who's up for that? Dumbledore's Army, but D.A for short?"

There was a resounding agreement between the seven of them, and Hermione eagerly wrote it at the top of the parchment scroll that had all their names on it.