Chapter ten

The Gathering

By the next week, winter was definitely arriving, as snow had settled throughout the village of Hogsmeade, a small village that was within traveling distance of Hogwarts school, and it delighted the resident dragons to hear that they were to go with the visiting students in order to protect them from, quote unquote, "evil ghosts that pelt you with snowballs", although this was confirmed to be just Harry with his invisibility cloak playing a prank on his rival, Draco Malfoy.

It had been decided that the group would meet up with a few people who agreed to hearing about Harry teaching them Defence Against the Dark Arts in secret, and they had decided to wait until this weekend to be able to talk about it without risking Umbridge finding out. Hermione had told the people they were to meet to wait in a building called The Hogs Head, an Inn that was mostly off the beaten track in case of spies. As the group entered, Spyro, Cynder and Sparx visibly cringed at the sight of where they would be meeting; it comprised one small, dingy, and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats. The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first glance to be earthy, though as they stepped onto it, they realised that it was in fact stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries. This was disgusting, and Spyro and Sparx had been raised in a swamp, and Cynder had been technically raised by apes, so they all had low standards to rooms.

In the corner, all sat at tables, were a group of children of all ages, and luckily, the dragons knew all their names, there was: Hannah Abbott, Lavender Brown, Katie Bell, Susan Bones, Terry Boot, Cho Chang, Michael Corner, Colin Creevey, Dennis Creevey, Marietta Edgecombe, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Seamus Finnigan, Anthony Goldstein, Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Ernie Macmillan, Padma Patil, Parvarti Patil, Zacharias Smith, Alicia Spinnet, Dean Thomas, Nigel Wolpert, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and even Elora Mander was there!

"Just a few people?" Cynder hissed, not expecting this large a crowd, "I dread what you think a lot is!"

"Um, hi." Hermione stood and addressed the group, "so, we all know why we're here, we need a teacher."

"a proper one to be honest", Spyro added. He, Sparx, Cynder Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in front of the whole group, with Harry right in the middle.

"Yeah," Cynder interrupted, "one that has had a true experience in facing the dark arts."

"Why?" Zacharias questioned, clearly not understanding the seriousness of the meeting,

""why?"" Ron repeated in disbelief, "because You-Know-Who's back you Tosspot!"

"so they say" Zacharias argued, nodding at Harry, Spyro and Cynder,

"so Dumbledore says" Hermine retorted,

"so Dumbledore says because they say, the point is, where's the proof?" Cynder was getting angry with him at that point, he was even turning the people who were near him!

"Potter could tell us more about how Diggory got killed" Michael Corner pointed out, and enough was enough,

"I'm not going to talk about Cedric," Harry decreed as he stood up to leave, "so if that's why you're here, you might as well clear out now," he then whispered so only the group in front could hear, "come on let's go, they're just here because they think I some sort of freak" but just as he was about to walk away, Luna's voice called over the gathered students,

"Is it true you can produce a Patronus charm?" she asked, leaving a stunned silence around The Hogs Head,

"Yes," Hermione confirmed, "I've seen it"

"Blimey Harry," Dean Thomas exclaimed, "I didn't know you could do that"

"And he killed a basilisk" Neville piped up, "with a sword in Dumbledore's office"

"it's true," Ginny agreed,

"Third year, he fought off about 100 dementors at once," Ron added

"And I heard he stopped one Professor Quirrell from sealing a Philosopher's Stone, took down a mountain troll and walked through enchanted fire!" Cynder pointed out, "all in his first year!"

"And last year he really did fight against The Dark Lord and Master in the flesh" Sparx confirmed, "that was how I came to be here"

"Alright!" Harry stopped the statements at that point, "look, it all sounds great when you say it like that, but the truth is that most of that was just luck. I didn't know what I was doing all the time, I almost always had help"

"he's just being modest," Hermione explained, but was shut down by Harry,

"No." he said, "Hermione, I'm not. Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school, if you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow. Out there, when you're a second away from being murdered, or watching a friend die right before your eyes, you don't know what that's like."

"We do…" Spyro whispered, tears in his eyes, the same could be said for Cynder, "we've lost friends from our world, and we've been in a life-or-death situation far too many times in our lives."

"Yeah," Cynder slowly nodded, she was now thinking not just of Ignitus, but of all the victims of her reign as the Terror of the Skies. "You don't have any clue what it feels like,"

"You are all right guys, we don't" Hermione agreed, "that's why we need your help, because if we're to have any chance at beating… V-Voldemort." This got everyone's attention, as most people were afraid to say his name.

"he's really back?" Nigel Wolpert asked,

"And he's more powerful that ever" Spyro explained.

After that, every single student signed a piece of paper to show their allegiance to the newly formed Dumbledore's Army, or DA for short. Even Spyro, Cynder and Sparx signed it, albeit with a pawprint/handprint due to their inability to hold a quill.

"Right," Harry stated as the DA walked back into Hogwarts via the Covered Bridge, "we need to find a place to practice where Umbridge won't find out."

"The Shrieking Shack?" Ginny offered,

"Too small," Harry pointed out,

"The Forbidden Forest?" Hermione asked,

"Not bloody likely" Ron retorted,

"Harry, what happens if Umbridge does find out?" Ginny asked, sounding a little nervous.

"Who cares?" Hermione asked, "I mean, its sort of exciting, isn't it? Breaking the rules." This made Spyro and Cynder chuckle,

"Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?" Ron asked in disbelief. At this point, Cynder blocked out all the talking and focused on one thing only: she was officially part of a force for good!