The day found one Harry Potter, sitting idly by himself in the Hogwarts Library, near the nigh hidden table beside the Restricted Section. Holding a book on one hand whilst clutching a quill on the other, tickling his chin on the end of said quill in thought.

'At this rate, we're going to be passing this year's curriculum by a huge margin. What else can I even include in the next meeting?' Harry mentally sighed, if only Hermione was here, but she and Ron had taken the opportunity to spend some time together and Lilith was accompanying Luna on one of her visits to the thestrals - A habit that came out of the exposure of Cho and Marietta's bullying of the girl - and so they both could not be with him.

Harry had been staring at the same page for the past ten minutes, trying to figure out what to do, when the chair across from him let out a noise.

"Hello, Potter. A knut for your thoughts?"

As Harry raised his head, he was met with a pair of black irises, and a polite smile from an unknown boy. Although he didn't know who the person was, the green trim of his robes had made him tense up and become cautious.

This shift of behaviour did not go unnoticed by the stranger, who raised his hands up in a surrendering gesture, "Now, it may seem a bit strange and suspicious, but I come in peace."

The peculiarity of the situation had caused Harry to be a bit dumbfounded, never before had a Slytherin come up to him without it having be some sort of attack against him or to his friends, and a strange piece of attire that made the boy all the weirder was the black gloves he had unwittingly shown with his gesture.

"Forgive me if I find that a bit hard to believe." The harsh remark was met with an unexpected smile from the boy, which made Harry less trusting of him.

"And I expect nothing else, your experiences with my fellow housemates are a bit… well crap, for a lack of a better term. Trust me, not all of us advocate for Draco and his clique; some of us just want to get along, hard to believe as it is."

That stumped Harry. Yes, it was hard to believe, but he didn't really have any reason to distrust his statement, mostly because there was a possibility that he did mean it, and that there were Slytherins that were not just clones of Malfoy.

With a glint of caution, Harry stared at the boy, "Alright, I guess I can suspend my disbelief for a second. Still doesn't explain why you've decided to talk to me now of all times if you had the past four years to come up to me."

The boy took the chance and explained, "Well, not like Draco was the only one who made it easier. Not to mention the rest of the Slytherins, such as Flint and Pansy, making your view of our house as bad as it could be. There really wasn't an opportunity to talk to you without risking either Weasley or Granger's wrath. Honestly, we had wanted to talk to you as soon as we heard of the rumours of you giving special tutoring to some of the other houses, but with Umbridge getting Draco and his goons to sniff you guys out, it made it all the harder to approach you."

At the mention of Dumbledore's Army, Harry immediately wanted to get out of the conversation. He did not want to even entertain the thought of the whole operation being found out because of him, and his thoughts may as well have been telegraphed on a screen, as the boy donned a small grimace.

"Look, I know you don't trust me, but please, just give us a chance. There are some of us who actually want to learn and not listen to the drivel that Umbridge has been spitting out since she's arrived." The pleading tone the boy had adopted had an effect on Harry's empathy.

Harry took a few moments to ponder the possibility, even if he agreed, he couldn't guarantee that it'd be easy for them to just trust them outright, which he relayed to the boy.

"As much as there is a little part of me that wants to give you a chance, this isn't just me, I can't guarantee that it'll be pleasant for you."

"I know, but it's either that or having to be left in the dust while you guys speed ahead, and I think I can speak for the rest of us that we can at least be amicable for the remaining year, or at least until we get an actual competent teacher."

Once again, Harry took a few silent moments to collect his thoughts. But there was something bugging him about the conversation.

"You keep mentioning "us" and "we." Who are you talking about?"

The boy took on an embarrassed expression and glanced slightly behind him, which caused Harry's eyes to shift towards the same direction. Two heads of hair were visible behind the bookshelves, trying their best to seem inconspicuous.

With a defeated exhale, the boy spoke out, "You know you two can still be seen from behind there, right?"

The two jolted out of surprise, before emerging from behind the bookshelves. The flowing blond of hair and the short cut hair of auburn had surprised Harry, as the two identified females made their way to the table where he and the still unnamed boy sat.

"Potter, this is Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis, and I guess I still haven't introduced myself, haven't I? Pardon my lack of manners, I am Blaise Zabini, a pleasure."

Now Harry was flabbergasted, never before would he have thought that he would be speaking to three Slytherins. He resisted the urge to pinch himself to see if he was still dreaming.

Daphne and Tracy took a seat besides Blaise, leaving him in the middle. The awkward silence that had appeared after Blaise's introduction weaving around them. With a cough, Harry decided then to finally speak his mind, "Okay, so let me get this straight, you three actually want to actively be against Umbridge and possibly become social pariahs in your house?"

"If you say it like that, it sounds preposterous, but all we want is to actually learn something, and Umbridge is not a suitable instructor for what we expect from Hogwarts. Thus, it is in our best interest if we at least attempt to extend an olive branch to you."

Harry wasn't prepared at all for Daphne to rebuke his words, and by the looks of exasperation of Blaise and Tracy, they too didn't expect her response as well.

"What she means to say, Potter. Is that we just want to get quality education, and if that means having to get glared at and possibly ridiculed… Well, we're just saying we're prepared for the worst."

Now it was Tracy speaking out, and this time Harry was more than a bit overwhelmed. If they really did mean everything they said, then maybe this could be a positive change that can bring about the reckoning of Umbridge; it never hurts to have an inside man or two checking what Malfoy and the others were doing.

But for now he had to give them a response, "I'll see what I can do."

Those six simple words gave so much relief to the three Slytherins, who now wore identical smiles.

"Thank you, Potter. We'll await your response, just give us a signal or something when you want to speak to us. I suppose we shall take our leave now, have to keep appearances and we don't want to risk anyone else seeing you talk to us."

With Blaise's parting words, he stood up and stuck his gloved hand, which Harry accepted and gave a firm shake.

As Harry watched the three Slytherins leave, he thought of how to break the news to his friends.

'They are not gonna believe this.'

"I don't believe you."

Harry rolled his eyes as he sat on the sofa made by the Room Of Requirement, right beside Lilith, who was busying herself by playing hangman with Luna and Ginny. Neville and Hermione sat near them on another table, drawing up plans for the next D.A. meeting. That left Ron and him, playing a game of chess, which he was losing quite badly.

"Ron, you weren't there. I really do think they just want the same thing we wanted when we - or Hermione I guess - created this club in the first place: To learn actual lessons that we can use in our day to day lives and not have to read the propaganda Umbridge spreads around everytime we walk in her classroom."

The disbelief on Ron's face was still prominent, making Harry frown a bit, "And if they have the courage to come to me and say their piece, then the least we can do is give them a chance."

Ron looked down on the chessboard, whether he was thinking of Harry's words or his next move, Harry didn't know, but he hoped that Ron would at least see reason. With a tired sigh, he directed his attention to Neville and Hermione.

"How about you two?" They both looked away from their work and considered Harry's proposition.

"I think it couldn't hurt to try, I've met with Daphne a few times when we were children, and she seemed pleasant enough."

Hermione nodded along, sharing the same sentiment with Neville, "I think it's a wonderful idea to include the three of them. We'd be no better than Malfoy if we decided to just leave them out just because of what house they're in."

Harry gave a thankful smile, glad that they both shared the same thoughts as him. Then he moved his attention to the three girls playing hangman - which by the looks of it, they seemed to have lost ages ago but just kept on putting accessories and different items of clothing on the stickman - and asked them the same question he did with Hermione and Neville.

"Oh, it's always a splendid idea to include more friends!" Luna exclaimed happily.

Ginny nodded along as she scribbled a pair of mittens on the stickman, "So long as we can keep an eye on them and they don't do anything to jeopardise the club, I say we take them in."

"Uhuh, and who knows, maybe they can be useful in keeping an eye on Malfoy and his band of merry idiots."

The fact that Lilith had the same thought process as him made him feel a sense of elation. Finally, he once again looked towards Ron, who matched his smirking expression with one of his own.

"I was already convinced when Mione' said it was a good idea"

On Harry's peripheral vision, he could see Hermione wearing a wide smile as she continued to draft up lessons.

"And checkmate, by the way."

The flipping of the chessboard caused the room to erupt with laughter.

When the next D.A. meeting arrived, Harry waited with bated breath as the room was slowly being occupied with the members of the D.A. After a few stragglers entered, he put his wand to his throat and casted sonorus.

"Hello everybody, and welcome back. I hope your Christmas break was well spent and that you did your homework and continued on with your training regiment." As Harry scanned the room, he was pleasantly surprised to see most, if not all of them buff up since he last saw them.

"And now, I hope you're all ready. Now let's start with some warmups…"

The practice session continued on, and with the help of Hermione and Neville's lesson draft, the meeting went off without a hitch. Harry kept a close eye on the three Slytherins, making sure that no one was starting any fights or making a ruckus. But yet again, he was surprised to see that no altercation happened, in fact, he saw some of the D.A. members chatting with them. Of course there was the occasional glare and an air of caution with those interacting with them, but all in all, it was more peaceful then he could have expected. He met Lilith's eyes and gave a happy smile, which she returned with a toothy grin.

By the end of it, it seemed like everyone had taken a liking to the Slytherins, which he was glad to see.

"Alright, see you guys next meeting!"

As people started to leave one by one, he caught the eye of Blaise and gestured towards himself. He watched as Blaise talked to Daphne and Tracy and walked towards him, wearing a smile.

"Hello Harry, thank you once again for including us in your club."

Harry waved off his thanks, "It's nothing, I hope you and the other two didn't come across any problems?"

"No, none at all. In fact, it was certainly a kinder reception than we would have expected." Harry smiled at that, glad that house bias wasn't a big part among the club members.

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

With Blaise's inquiry, Harry gave a raise of his brow, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on, Harry. I know that you accepted my and my friend's request with an ulterior motive in mind. Which I've come to expect, being a Slytherin and all."

Putting his hands in his pockets, Harry nodded in acknowledgement, "Well, truth be told, I really did see the earnest attitude you three had. It's just that I learned to use what I have to my advantage, so that I can stack the odds in my favour."

"My oh my, looks like we've got a snake in lion's clothing." Blaise said, an appreciative smirk upon his face, "So, what do you need from me, or do you want to include the girls as well?"

"Just keep an eye on Malfoy and give us a heads up if he starts getting on to us. We might need your help for something big if the opportunity arises, are you guys up for it?"

Blaise pulled on his glove and nodded, "We can do that, and we're all ears if you need us to do anything else."

The Slytherin boy then took his leave, talking to Daphne and Tracy on their way out, presumably to fill them in on Harry's request.

"So, what was all that about?"

Harry turned and met the eyes of Lilith, who had a curious glint in her eyes.

"Just wanted to keep the door open for any help we need to take down Umbridge, along with extra security for the D.A."

Lilith nodded in understanding, "Then, I'm guessing you want to get right into Umbridge's downfall?"

Now the curious look was on Harry's face as he gazed towards Lilith, "You've got something planned?"

"I might..."

With that, the two planned their way into the night. Umbridge's days being numbered by the second.

A/N: Ohhh, wonder what they got cooking up. Leave a review, I need the fuel to fire up my mechanical sleigh dogs.