Dedicated to Sailor Sol, my 1200th reviewer, and NasserPotter, my 1221st reviewer! Thanks guys!
In Every Darkness
Chapter Thirty Five: Defence Association
2.9.1996(Night)
The Room of Requirement provided a nice place to rest, Harry reflected, lounging comfortably on a chair and watching Grypis, still in cat form, examining everything.
"I like this place," Grypis announced, playing with a ball of string like a young kitten. "It's fun."
Everything the griffin wanted was provided at a thought, and it greatly amused Harry to watch his young friend playing.
"It's times like these that I remember you are still young," Harry said. Some time ago he'd asked Grypis how he knew so much, and the griffin had told him that all of his kind were born with the knowledge of their language, and knew a lot about the world.
Grypis seemed to smile at him, just as the door opened to allow the first of the DA members to enter the room. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna Lovegood.
Harry smiled in greeting. "Hello Luna," he greeted her, she being the only one he had not seen over the summer. "Did you and your father find that creature that you were looking for?"
"The Crumple-Horned Snorkack, you mean?" She asked him, with her customary vague smile. "No, we didn't, but we found it's tracks once or twice."
"A pity," Harry said, "I would have liked to see it."
Hermione made a strangled sound, and Harry could just tell she was longing to open her mouth and tell them that Crumple-Horned Snorkaks didn't exist.
Harry was relieved when the rest of the group filed into the room a moment later, and Room of Requirement politely made itself bigger.
"Hello everyone. I just thought I'd call you up here to tell you what's going on with DA this year," he said, shifting in embarrassment.
"You mean its still going to be running?" Ernie asked eagerly.
"Yup, I asked Dumbledore. He said that we can make it a proper study group, as long as we change the name back to Defence Association – he said that while Dumbledore's Army was flattering, he thought that the Ministry might take offence at it. We can still call it that amongst ourselves though."
The group laughed and cheered, seeming very happy that Harry was continuing to teach them Defence magic. "I'm sure that you'll be learning a lot with Tonks this year – she's an Auror, after all, and someone who believed Dumbledore from the beginning, but it'll still be fun to hang out and practice."
The group all nodded. "So, since this year we can be open to anyone being in the group, it seems that we'll all have to get used to a few more faces … But we can deal with that later."
"Can we get started yet?" One of Cho's friends asked.
"Wait," Ernie McMillian told the girl angrily. "Harry, can you tell us what really happened at the attack at the Ministry? I heard someone saying that your godfather died there … I didn't know you had one."
"Not many people did," Harry replied with a slight sigh. "This might come as a surprise to a lot of you, but my godfather was Sirius Black – and he wasn't a Death Eater. He died for me last year, fighting Bellatrix Lestrange, his cousin."
Nearly every person present stared at Harry in awe and amazement.
"But how did you find that out? In third year, I could have sworn you hated him," Ernie McMillan said, confused.
Harry sighed, and repeated to them the story of how he'd first met Sirius, and his part in the escape of the ex-convict.
"I'm going to have place you all under a privacy charm, I'm afraid … Last year someone told Umbridge about DA, I can't risk that happening about Sirius – it would mean a lot of trouble for all involved.
Everyone in the room, with the exception of a few of a Cho's friends, nodded agreeably. Harry wasn't surprised – it was one of Cho's friends that had betrayed them the year before.
It was a matter of seconds to perform the charm. "That means that you will not be able to speak of anything you heard here to any but those who already know. The magic will know those who were already aware of Sirius's innocence, and you'll be able to tell. Now, let's get started shall we?"
Harry had fun for the next hour and a bit, teaching his friends a few new spells. Finally, Harry noticed that they were starting to tire.
"Well, that's probably enough for the first meeting," Harry called over the noise of his friends duelling and practicing. "We'll talk again soon about organising a meeting place and time … If we want a permanent one, that is. I'll see you all tomorrow."
He left with the other Gryffindors, not waiting around to talk with anyone else. Cho had been trying to catch his eye – he was in no mood to deal with her tonight.
They walked upstairs, Harry moved with a light step and absently petting Grypis, who was perched on his shoulder, as usual. As he and Ron fell into their beds, Harry remarked to his friend, "Well, that was a pretty good first day back."
Ron muttered sleepy agreement. Harry turned his back on Ron, letting his best friend drift into sleep. "You should sleep also. You'll need it, in the coming months, I think," Grypis told him.
Harry knew that Grypis would be able to give him no concrete answer. The griffin never knew exactly why he said things like that, he just got feeling sometimes.
They were usually right. "Alright, I'll get some sleep," Harry agreed, smiling slightly at his friend the griffin. Laying his head down on the pillow, he let his mind drift, and in seconds was fast asleep.
Grypis shifted position slightly, so that he could see all around the room. He didn't want to sleep yet, but he wasn't at all sure why.
"Sirius?" Harry called softly, looking around the place in which he was standing. "Sirius! Are you here?"
It was not his godfathers welcome voice that spoke next, but something cold and cruel. "Pining for your godfather, Harry Potter? Well, it is not him in your dreams!"
"Voldemort," the name was a curse on Harry's lips as he spun around. Sure enough, there was the Dark Lord, slouched on a throne of black stone.
"Yes, Harry Potter. You are never safe from me …" whispered the dark lord. Fearfully, Harry tested his shield. He hadn't been paying attention to it, of late.
With a shock, Harry realised that it was gone – completely gone. But … how? Swiftly, he concentrated on rebuilding it. Vaguely, he could hear Voldemort speaking. Occasionally his mind processed a few words or a whole sentence, but he paid them no heed.
… "Remus Lupin dead … because of ... the rest of … friends … dead too …"
Suddenly, "what are you doing boy? Stop it!" Voldemort shrieked. Harry smiled triumphantly and threw up his mind shield. Voldemort attacked it, and Harry let the shield shatter, pain jarred his skull and jerked him into the waking world.
His eyes flickered open, to see Grypis bound over him and head to the window. "What is it?" Harry whispered, forgetting to think the question.
"Those you call Death Eaters, I think," was the chilling reply.
Harry swiftly returned to his trunk and lifted the Marauders Map out of it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he whispered, tapping it with his wand.
Immediately lines swept across the blank surface of the parchment, forming a perfect map of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. Harry saw Hagrid out in his backyard, with the blot that was Fang beside him.
Harry recalled something that Sirius had mentioned once … long ago in a dream, and drew a circle around Hagrid and Fang, then tapped the map once.
That area expanded to fill the map and became coloured. It was as if Harry had been transported there.
Hagrid raised his torch to look around, beside him, Fang snarled in warning. In the forest, something moved. Suddenly there was a grunt of fury and the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
A man, clad in black with a silver mask was throne from the forest, and Grawp, towering above Hagrid, lumbered out of the forest. Hagrid looked from the Death Eater to Grawp.
"Grawp, lissen to Hagrid – go back inta the forest, and stay there 'till I come for yeh. Go!" Hagrid bade his brother.
Grawp looked at Hagrid for a moment, then gave something that could have been called a nod, and lumbered off. "C'mon Fang, we'd best go warn Dumbledore," Hagrid said, turning towards the castle.
Harry looked away from the map, clearing it and stuffing it into a pocket. "We have to go to down to the grounds. There's Death Eaters there, they'll see Hagrid," Harry told Grypis.
The griffin hesitated. "Perform the disillusionment charm and fly down then," he said. "I'll go to Dumbledore's office now and try and get him to help. I don't know if I'll be able to communicate very well though …"
"Thanks Grypis," Harry replied, smiling at the griffin before quickly using the charm and swinging onto his broom. He was out of the window in a second, diving for the ground.
He could see Hagrid, just leaving his hut, and he could see the Death Eaters creeping to form a circle around the castle, facing inwards. He thought that he could see some giants, and by the feel of there air, there were Dementors down there also.
Putting on a burst of speed, Harry streaked across the grounds towards Hagrid. He had to stop his half-giant friend before Hagrid got near to the other Death Eaters.
"Hagrid! Stop!" Harry hissed.
Hagrid stopped and spun around, looking for Harry. "Keep your voice down," Harry warned, before Hagrid could say anything.
"Harry! What are you doing here? It's dangerous out here … Grawp just found a Death Eater … stunned the blighter…"
"I know," Harry replied. "There's more of them. They're all around the castle, I came to stop you from getting hurt."
"But … how can we get to the castle?" Hagrid asked, understanding that they couldn't afford to waste time with telling Harry off for coming to him.
"Can we go talk through the fire to Dumbledore?" Harry asked suddenly. "We could probably use Floo to get there …"
Hagrid nodded. "Well, you could. I don't fit into the fireplace," he replied.
Harry bit his lip. What could they do about that? The Death Eaters would almost certainly come here if they couldn't get into the castle. He could put some sort of warding on it …
***Meanwhile***
"He doesn't trust me anymore, Dumbledore," Severus Snape paced across the Headmasters study. "I don't think that he completely believed my excuses for missing his resurrection … I don't know that I'll be able to keep up a double act. It's likely that he will ask me to join him at his little fortress, wherever that is, for a period of time. I can't refuse – he'll know something's wrong."
"I understand … Perhaps if we bring in Michael, Minerva's nephew, he could take your place for a time … You could ask me to go on service leave. You haven't had a holiday the whole time you've worked here, and that's been almost a score of years now," Dumbledore replied.
Snape bowed his slightly. "Thank you, Head-" he broke off as the fire flared green. Harry's head appeared in it, even as his griffin leaped through the door.
"Potter!" Snape snarled.
"Professor Dumbledore – there's Death Eaters on the grounds. I'm at Hagrid's cabin. I had to come, they would have killed him otherwise," Harry said hurriedly, before Snape could say another word.
Snape swore softly as Grypis padded to the fire. "Harry, come through the fire now. It's not safe for you out there. I'll talk to Hagrid in a moment," Dumbledore said hurriedly.
Harry nodded, for a moment his head disappeared from the fire, then he stepped through it. He was dressed in robes and holding a piece of paper up from the flames, watching it.
"You'll have to hurry. They are heading towards Hagrid's now," Harry said, not looking up from the paper in his hands. "There's four of them … they've got Dementors around the castle, and there's nineteen giants. There are another fifty Death Eaters around the castle. I'd expect that they are giving the orders."
Now he looked up. "Oh, you're here, Professor Snape," he said, sounding at least a little bit surprised.
"Harry, you are going to go with Severus now and rouse the teachers to tell them about this threat. The heads of houses should go and tell the students about what's happening … We'll need to defend the castle. I don't think the teachers will be enough."
"I could get the fifth, sixth and seventh years who are in DA to help," Harry offered quickly, ignoring Snape as the man made a face.
"Yes … Yes, that would be well, I suppose. Off you two go now," Dumbledore said, striding over to the fireplace.
Harry stalked outside, not at all happy about having to spend time with Snape. Snape's expression was identical.
"Don't cross me Potter," Snape hissed at him. "I don't want you here, but it seems I have to put up with it."
"The same goes for me, Snape. I'll contact DA while we walk," Harry snapped in reply. "Though I don't know how many of them will work, since the holders are probably asleep."
He took out his fake galleon, fiddling to organise the letters and numbers on the sides of the coin. A tap made it burn and then he tucked it away.
Curiosity got the better of the Potions teacher after a few minutes of silent walking. "What did you say?"
"I told them to wake any who were asleep and bring them to the Great Hall. You'll have to do the rest yourself, I'll go to meet them there now."
Harry turned before Snape could say anything, and headed down a flight of stairs towards the Great Hall. Soon the fight would begin.
***
Well, that was fun! Death Eaters weren't supposed to come till later, but the story demanded, and I had to answer.
~WolfMoon~