Chapter Sixteen

"Umbridge has been reading your mail, Harry. There's no other explanation."

"You think Umbridge attacked Hedwig?" Harry said, outraged.

"I'm almost certain of it," said Hermione grimly. "What your frog, it's escaping."

Charms was always one of the best lessons in which to enjoy a private chat: There was generally so much movement and activity that the danger of being overheard was very slight. Today, with the room full of croaking bullfrogs and cawing ravens, and with a heavy downpour of rain clattering and pounding against the classroom windows, Harry, Ron and Hermione's whispered discussion about how Umbridge had nearly caught Sirius went quite unnoticed.

"I've been suspecting this ever since Filch accused you of ordering Dungbombs, because it seemed such a stupid lie," Hermione whispered. "I mean once your letter had been read, it would have been quite clear that you weren't ordering them, so you wouldn't have been in trouble at all — it's a bit of a feeble joke, isn't it? But then I though, what if somebody just wanted an excuse to read your mail? Well then, it would be a perfect way for Umbridge to managed it — tip off Filch, let him do the dirty work and confiscate the letter, then either find a way of stealing it from him or else demand to see it — I don't think Filch would object, when's he ever stuck up for a student's rights? Harry you're squashing your frog."

The frog was being squeezed so tightly, by Harry that its eyes were bulging; he hastily replaced it on the desk.

"It was a very close call last night," said Hermione. "I just wonder if Umbridge knows how close it was. Silencio!"

The bullfrog on which she was practicing her Silencing Charm was struck dumb mid-croak and glared at her reproachfully.

"If she'd caught Snuffles…."

Harry finished her sentence.

"He'd probably be back in Azkaban this morning." Harry, not really paying attention, waved his wand; his bullfrog swelled like a green balloon and emitted a high-pitched whistle.

"Silencio!" said Hermione hastily, pointing her wand at Harry's frog, which deflated silently before them. "Well, he mustn't do it again, that's all. I just don't know how we're going to let him know. We can't send him an owl."

"I don't reckon he'll risk it again," said Ron, "He's not stupid, he knows she nearly got him. Silencio!"

The large and ugly raven in front of him let out a derisive caw.

"Silencio! SILENCIO!"

The raven cawed more loudly.

"It's the way you're moving your wand," said Hermione, watching Ron, "You don't want to move it, it's more a sharp jab."

"Ravens are harder than frogs," said Ron through clenched teeth.

"Fine, let's swap," said Hermione, seizing Ron's raven and replacing it with her own fat bullfrog. "Silencio!" The raven continued to open and close its sharp beak, but no sound came out.

"Very good, Miss Granger!" said Professor Flitwick's squeaky little voice and Harry, Ron, and Hermione all jumped. "Now, let me see you try Mr. Weasley!"

"Wha — ? Oh — oh, right," said Ron, very flustered. "Er — Silencio!"

He jabbed at the bullfrog so hard that he poked it in the eye; the frog gave a deafening croak and leapt off the desk.

It came as no surprise that Harry and Ron were given additional practice of the Silencing Charm for homework.

Due to the downpour outside they were allowed to remain inside during the break between classes. They found seats in a noisy and overcrowded classroom on the first floor in which Peeves was floating dreamily up near the chandelier, occasionally blowing an ink pellet at the top of somebody's head. They had barely sat down when Angelina came struggling toward them through the groups of gossiping students.

"I've got permission!" she said. "To reform the Quidditch team!"

"Excellent!" said Ron and Harry together.

"Yeah," said Angelina, beaming. "I went to McGonagall and I…."

Hermione stopped listening to the conversation and turned to look out the windows, which were opaque with the hammering rain. She began to think about the dreams she had had the previous night, what Sirius had said, and a seemingly long lost question reemerged in her mind.

What will you do when wands fail you?

Between everything that had been going on so far, she had forgotten the question that Kit had yelled to her on her first day back at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had said the next day that he thought that Kit was somehow revealing his plans. Hermione frowned.

"… What's up with you, Hermione?"

"Just thinking…" she responded, still frowning.

"About Siri… Snuffles?" said Harry.

"No… not exactly…" she said slowly. "More… wondering… I suppose we're doing the right thing… I think… aren't we?"

Hermione wasn't even sure what she was talking about, her thoughts darted back and forth between the question and if they were doing the right thing with the Defense Against the Dark Arts group.

"Well, that clears that up," said Ron. "It would have been really annoying if you hadn't explained yourself properly."

Hermione finally snapped out of her half daze and looked at Ron.

"I was just wondering," she said, her voice much stronger now, "whether we're doing the right thing, starting this Defense Against the Dark Arts group."

"What!" said Ron and Harry.

"Yes," said Hermione, she turned and stared back out the window. "Yes, that's what made me think maybe it wasn't a good idea after all…."

Peeves floated over them on his stomach, peashooter at the read; automatically all three of them lifted their bags to cover their heads until he had passed.

"Let's get this straight," said Harry, angrily, as they put their bags back on the floor, "Sirius agrees with us, so you don't think we should do it anymore."

Hermione sighed mentally and tensed, she looked down at her hands feeling slightly off balanced and somewhat zoned out, "Do you honestly trust his judgement?"

"Yes, I do!" said Harry at once. "He's always given us great advice!"

An ink pellet whizzed past them, striking Katie Bell squarely in the ear. Hermione, put on alert by the ink pellet whizzing past them, watched as Katie leapt to her feet and started throwing things at Peeves; not wanting to set Harry's temper off anymore than it already was Hermione began to speak, choosing her words very carefully.

"You don't think he has become… sort of… reckless… since he's been cooped up in Grimmauld Place? You don't think he's… kind of… living through us?"

"What d'you mean, 'living through us'?" Harry retorted.

"I mean… well, I think he'd love to be forming secret defense societies right under the nose of someone from the Ministry…. I think he's really frustrated at how little he can do where he is… so I think he's keen to kind of… egg us on."

Ron looked utterly perplexed.

"Sirius is right," he said, "you do sound just like my mother."

Hermione bit her lip and did not answer. The bell rang just as Peeves swooped down upon Katie and emptied an entire ink bottle over her head.

The weather had not improved when Hermione said goodbye to Harry and Ron as they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. Hermione sat staring blankly out the window in her dormitory, absent-mindedly scratching Crookshanks behind the ears. Hermione was unsure of why she felt the way she did, she had been out of it all day when she wasn't in a lesson.

'Hermione.'

Hermione took half notice of the voice.

'Hermione, are you there?'

Hermione turned to look down at her bag the same shell-shocked expression on her face; she took a considerably longer time getting the mirror out of her bag than usual.

'Hermione… are you alright?' asked Kit, looking slightly off color.

"What? Oh, yes, I'm fine. Just tired," she wondered if she should tell Kit about the dreams.

'Are you sure?' asked Kit looking concerned.

"Yea — I don't know, listen I need to tell you something," said Hermione.

'Okay, but hold onto that for one second. I just wanted to let you know that with the weather the way it is our birds are grounded until the rain lets up some, so if anything goes down you're going to have to rely on Dobby's unit until we can get there in Humvees. Okay, now that's out of the way, what's up?' said Kit.

"Well, last night…" Hermione began to recount the dreams of the fire, and then the voice. Kit said nothing the entire time she was talking. When she finished he sat quietly for a few moments before speaking.

'Well, erm — I uh… buh… I um….' Kit fumbled around clearly unseated by what she had told him, 'I'm afraid I really can't think of anything to respond to that with. I've never been too good on the whole dream department stuff, so I'm pretty much useless. But, um… how're things goin' with the Defense Against the Dark Arts group?' asked Kit.

'Not so good right now, we don't have any place to practice yet,' replied Hermione.

'Well, I'm sure there's some place that you can fit however many people y'all have. But I'm supposed to see Dumbledore tomorrow, and I'll probably wind up being at the castle all day, so if you can find some place to practice and are able to hold a meeting tomorrow night let me know and I'll roll on up to where ever y'all are at.'

"Okay," said Hermione, her eyes drooping down.

'Okay then, hopefully see you tomorrow, but in the meantime, Captain, you need to get some sleep. So I will leave you to that, good night,' said Kit.

"'Night," said Hermione.

Kit's head disappeared from the mirror. Hermione put the mirror back into her bag. She pulled the covers back on her bed, changed into her nightgown and lay down.

If she had any dreams like the previous night, she either was sleeping to hard to register them, or she didn't have any dreams.

Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology, where they could hardly hear what Professor Sprout was saying over the hammering of raindrops hard as hailstones on the greenhouse roof. The afternoon's Care of Magical Creatures lesson was to be relocated from the storm- swept grounds to a free classroom on the ground floor and, to their intense relief, Angelina sought out her team at lunch to tell them that Quidditch practice was cancelled.

"Good," said Harry quietly, when she told him, "because we've found somewhere to have our first Defense meeting. Tonight, eight o'clock, seventh floor opposite that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by those trolls. Can you tell Katie and Alicia?"

She looked slightly taken aback but promised to tell the others; Hermione sat across from Harry and Ron, eating quietly. Hermione was thinking about Dobby telling Harry where they could go to practice. She couldn't help but be worried, as Dobby's plans weren't always the safest in the world.

"What?" Harry asked thickly.

"Well… it's just that Dobby's plans aren't always that safe. Don't you remember when he lost you all the bones in your arm?"

"This room isn't just some mad idea of Dobby's; Dumbledore knows about it too, he mentioned it to me at the Yule Ball."

Hermione felt all of her worries leave.

"Dumbledore told you about it?"

"Just in passing." Said Harry, shrugging.

"Oh well, that's all right then," she said briskly.

The rest of the day was spent locating all the people who had signed their names to the list in the Hog's Head and telling them where to meet that evening. Hermione had just finished telling Ernie and Hannah where and when to meet them, when she suddenly remembered that Kit had asked her to let him know where and when they were going to be meeting. She waited until Ernie and Hannah were out of sight before she pulled out the two way mirror from her bag and spoke into it.

"Kitoriav Lightningstider," the mirror went hazy and Kit's face came into focus.

"What's up? Did y'all find a place to meet?" Kit asked.

"Yes, we're meeting tonight at eight o'clock, seventh floor across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls."

"Ten four on that one, I will see y'all there."

"Bye," said Hermione as Kit's face disappeared from the mirror.

At half-past seven Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the Gryffindor common room, Harry clutching a certain piece of aged parchment in his hand. Fifth years were allowed to be out in the corridors until nine o'clock, but all three of them kept looking around nervously as they made their way up to the seventh floor.

"Hold it," said Harry warningly, unfolding the piece of parchment at the top of the last staircase, tapping it with his wand, and muttering. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

A map of Hogwarts appeared upon the blank surface of the parchment. Tiny black moving dots, labeled with names, showed where various people were.

"Filch is on the second floor," said Harry, holding the map close to his eyes and scanning it closely, "and Mrs. Norris is on the fourth."

"And Umbridge?" said Hermione anxiously.

"In her office," said Harry, pointing. "Okay, let's go."

They hurried along the corridor to the place Dobby had described to Harry, a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry de-picitng Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.

"Okay," said Harry quietly, while a moth-eaten troll paused in his relentless clubbing of the would-be ballet teacher to watch. "Dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need."

They did so, turning sharply at the window just beyond the blank stretch of wall, then at the man-size vase on its other side. Ron had screwed up his eyes in concentration, Hermione was whispering under her breath. Harry's fists were clenched as he stared ahead of him.

"Harry," said Hermione sharply, as they wheeled around after their third walk past.

A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Ron was staring at it, looking slightly wary. Harry reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open the door, and led the way into a spacious room lit with flickering torches like those that illuminated the dungeons eight floors below.

The walls were lined with wooden bookcases, and instead of chairs there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large, cracked Foe-Glass.

"These will be good when we're practicing stunning," said Ron enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with his foot.

"And just look at these books!" said Hermione excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large leather-bound tomes. "A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions… The Dark Arts Outsmarted… Self-Defense Spellwork… wow…" She turned and looked at Harry, finally convinced that they were doing the right thing. "Harry, this is wonderful, there's everything we need here!"

And without further ado she pulled Jinxes for the Jinxed from its shelf, sank onto the nearest cushion, and began to read. But was interrupted minutes later when Kit walked into the room, carrying all of his gear, rifle included. He nodded to Harry and Ron, and put down his rucksack on the far side of the room near the bookshelves. He then took a seat on a cushion next to Hermione (laying his rifle flat across his lap).

There was a gentle knock on the door, Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean had arrived each one of them looked around the room, and cast surprised glances at Kit.

"Whoa," said Dean, staring around, impressed. "What is this place?"

Harry had begun to explain, but before he had finished more people had arrived, and he would start all over again. By the time eight o'clock arrived, every cushion was occupied. Harry locked the door in a loud way that made the room fall silent, and looked at him. Hermione carefully marked her page of Jinxes for the Jinxed and set the book aside.

"Well," said Harry, slightly nervously. "This is the place we've found for practices, and you've — er — obviously found it okay —"

"It's fantastic!" said Cho, and several people murmured their agreement.

"It's bizarre," said Fred, frowning around at it. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then…."

"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" asked Dean from the rear of the room, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.

"Dark Detectors," said Harry, stepping between the cushions to reach them. "Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled…."

Harry stared at the Foe-Glass for a minute and then turned around.

"And who is that?" asked Zacharias pointing to Kit.

Harry didn't have a chance to respond before Kit snapped back, 'That's need to know. And you don't.'

Eyes darted back and forth between the two before everyone's attention was diverted back to Harry.

"Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and — er —" Hermione raised her hand. "What Hermione?"

"I think we ought to elect a leader," said Hermione.

"Harry's leader," said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad, and received a vicious glare in return from Kit.

"Yes, but I think we out to vote on it properly," said Hermione, unperturbed. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So — everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"

Everybody put up their hands, even Zacharias Smith, though he did it very halfheartedly.

"Er — right, thanks," said Harry, blushing. "And — what, Hermione?"

"I also think we ought to have a name," she said brightly, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"

"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" said Angelina hopefully.

"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" suggested Fred.

"I was thinking," said Hermione, frowning at Fred, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside of meetings."

"The Defense Association?" said Cho. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"

"Yeah, the D.A.'s good," said Ginny. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this. Hermione found herself smiling uncontrollably at this latest suggestion, and occasionally casting glances at Kit to see his reaction to this.

"All in favor of the D.A.?" said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. "That's a majority — motion passed!"

She pinned the piece of paper with all of their names on it on the wall and wrote DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY across the top in large letters.

"Right, said Harry, after Hermione had sat back down, "shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful —"

"Oh, please," said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

"I've used it against him," said Harry quietly. "It saved my life last June."

Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.

"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry said.

Smith did not move nor did anybody else.

"Okay," said Harry, "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."

Hermione, along with everyone else stood up from their cushions and found someone to partner with. Hermione and Ron wound up being partners. Standing a few feet apart from each other Hermione and Ron faced each other with their wands in the ready position.

"Right — on the count of three, then — one, two, three —"

Hermione shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

Ron's wand flew out of his hand, landing at the base of the bookshelves. Hermione then retrieved his wand with the Summoning Charm and handed it back to Ron. A few minutes later Neville joined Hermione and Ron's group.

Hermione had just finished successfully disarming Neville when a whistle blew, and after giving Neville back his wand she turned to face Harry.

"That wasn't bad," said Harry, "but there's definite room for improvement. Let's try that again…."

Hermione was picking up her wand from where it lay on the ground beside her, Ron had tripped and his foot hit Hermione's wand hand thus knocking it to the floor. As she was standing back up she looked at Kit who tapped his wrist and nodded. She looked down at her watch and was surprised.

"Hey, Harry," Hermione called, "have you checked the time?"

Harry blew his whistle once more and the last few wands clattered to the floor.

"Well, that was pretty good," said Harry, "but we've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?"

"Sooner!" said Dean Thomas eagerly and many more people nodded in agreement.

Angelina, however, said quickly, "The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!"

"Let's say next Wednesday night, then," said Harry, "and we can decide on additional meetings then… Come on, we'd better get going…."

As Harry allowed people to leave in groups of three and four Kit pulled Hermione off to one side.

'First off, very nice spellwork there Hermione.'

"Thanks."

'Now, to business, with the recent developments in the war it has come to my attention that y'all need a proper training. In addition to this, I am going to speak with Dumbledore on this one, but probably after the first Quidditch match there's going to be a special meeting held. But I'll contact you on a date closer to that, okay?' said Kit.

"Okay," said Hermione, somewhat unsure as to what exactly Kit was talking about.

'Right then, I'm gonna roll on out of here. And I will talk to you later. See ya 'round Hermione,' said Kit as he slung his gear onto his back, and slung his rifle over his shoulder.

As Kit walked towards the door he snapped his fingers, pointed both index fingers at Harry and Ron before giving them a thumbs up, saying, 'Harry, Ron.'

"That was really, really good, Harry," said Hermione, when everyone else had gone except for Harry and Ron.

"Yeah, it was!" said Ron enthusiastically, as they slipped out of the door and watched it melt back into stone behind them. "Did you see me disarm Hermione, Harry?"

"Only once," said Hermione, stung. "I got you loads more than you got me —"

"I did not only get you once, I got you at least three times —"

"Well, if you're counting the last time where you tripped over your own feet and knocked the wand out of my hand —"

They argued all the way back to the common room.