Chapter 14: Sixth Time Lucky

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. As if this wasn't enough cause for woe, I only own ONE Easter egg. Pity me, ye lovers of chocolate!

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A/N: Some American/English things to address: A jumper, as someone asked, is what I think is called a pullover in America. Also, someone said Defence should be spelt with an s… I checked in the books and it is with a c. Don't know if that's an American/English difference, but Ill put it here anyway.

I'd also like to draw your attention to the first original story I've written in quite some time, which you can find under this account name over at fictionpress. If you're too lazy to do that, I've linked to it in my profile (temporarily under homepage, to be moved into the actual profile when I get it sorted out). And anyone who's receiving my update emails will have had a link with theirs. Its called The End Of Eden, and I'll say no more here – go read it!

The holiday season is upon us, so a very happy Passover/Easter/chocolate-getting-time to all of you!

Anyway, here is the latest chapter. Enjoy!

~*~

A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others.

Author Unknown

~*~

There was a definite first-day-of-lessons feeling in the air as the Great Hall slowly filled with sleepy students, wondering if they really had forgotten everything they'd ever learnt or if it just felt that way.

'Why do we have to do NEWTs?' Ron moaned as he slumped into a seat. 'I mean, we've already done OWLs, isn't that enough?'

'You know NEWTs are important,' Hermione chided Ron. 'They're one of the first things a potential employer will look at, you know…'

'Well what was the bloody point of OWLs then?'

Hermione sighed, helping herself to some toast. 'OWLs demonstrate your ability to do well in a diverse range of…'

'Hermione,' Ron cut in, 'I know you mean well, but the last thing I want at this time in the morning is a lecture on the importance of exams.' He started to heap a pile of food onto his plate.

'Well next time you ask a rhetorical question, Ron Weasley, I suggest you make it clearer.' Hermione told him, biting into her toast with a slightly put off expression, but she brightened up almost immediately as the caught sight of the two fifth year prefects making their way around the tables. 'Oooh, timetables!'

'Oh no,' Ron moaned from beside her, 'timetables…'

Harry spluttered into laughter at this, almost choking on a mouthful of bacon. Hermione frowned. 'Are you alright?'

Harry gave a final cough. 'I'm fine,' he grinned. 'I'll just have to remember not to eat when there's a possibility of you two making me laugh.'

'You'll end up starving to death then,' cut in Ginny, coming up behind them with a grin. 'They'll always make you laugh.'

'True,' Harry said, nodding. 'I'll just have to risk choking to death.'

'Oh, hush, you two,' said Hermione, shaking her head. 'Ginny, can we have our timetables?'

'Sure,' Ginny replied, shuffling through the parchments she was carrying. 'Granger, H, Potter, H and Weasley, R. Here you go.'

She handed them each a piece of parchment, gave them a cheerful grin, and headed off towards a group of third years, leaving her friends to pour over their timetables.

'Brilliant,' Ron grinned, 'we get free lessons this year, I can get loads of Quidditch practice in…'

'No,' Hermione contradicted him, 'you can get loads of homework in. We get a lot more this year than last year, you know.'

Ron shrugged this off.  'I'll still have plenty of time to practice flying,' he assured her. 'And I need some practice guarding the hoops… hey, Harry, want to have a practice later? We're both free at the same times, look…'

Hermione glanced at her friends' timetables and was very glad to see that she had the same lessons free as they did. She let their conversation turn to Quidditch, as she knew it would the moment the word was mentioned, and began reading over her timetable, noting what free lessons she had and when, how she could schedule her homework to her advantage, when all her lessons were, and other such details.

Their first lesson, it seemed, would be Defence Against the Dark Arts, which they all had in common. Breaking up the Quidditch conversation, she pointed this out to her friends. 'Guess we'll be the first ones to see what Delaney's like… I hope he's a good teacher.'

Harry nodded. 'Well, he can't be any worse than Umbridge, that's for sure.'

'Wonder if he'll manage to stay more than a year this time?' Ron asked. 'I mean, no one has so far…'

They all looked up to the staff table, where Professor Delaney was sipping a glass of orange juice and talking politely to Professor Snape.

'Well, he doesn't look like a minion of Voldemort,' Ron remarked.

'Neither did Quirrel. Or the false Moody,' Hermione pointed out. 'We don't seem to have much luck with Defence teachers, do we? Apart from Lupin.'

Harry sighed. 'Lets hope we're sixth time lucky, then.'

~*~

They went to their lesson early – it was the first day back, after all, and they were curious to see what the new professor was like. It seemed that everyone else had had the same idea, however – the classroom was already half full with chattering students when they got there. The three of them grabbed some seats around the middle of the room, pulled out books and parchment and quills, and wondered how long it would be before the new teacher arrived.

Hermione looked around the room. 'It looks like quite a large class this year,' she remarked. 'Well, it would be, with Voldemort back and everything. People will want to know how to defend themselves…'

Ron seemed to remember something. 'Oh yeah,' he said, 'are we going to carry on the – you know – the DA this year? People still need to learn to defend themselves…'

'I'd taken it for granted that we were,' Hermione said. 'I mean, Umbridge isn't here, so we don't have to keep it secret any more. It could even be an official club!'

Harry, however, seemed uncertain. 'I don't know… If this professor is rubbish, I guess we'll have to… We'll talk about it later,' he finished, as Professor Delaney swung the door open, and all eyes swivelled towards him with interest.

He grinned brightly at them all as he reached the front desk. 'Good morning, everyone,' he greeted them brightly. 'As Dumbledore told you all last night, I'm Professor Delaney. That's D, E, L, A, N, E, Y, and the first person I catch making a pun on that gets detention with Filch.' He raised an eyebrow teasingly, suggesting that he wasn't altogether serious, and managed to elicit a good few wicked grins as half the students instantly vowed to make puns if it was the last thing they did.

'Right, down to business,' he said, grabbing a few sheets of parchment off the front desk. 'Seems your Defence teaching's been rather patchy, hasn't it? You got a good start in first year, it seems… goodness, second year was dreadful… third year, you concentrated on Dark creatures, fourth year, curses… and as for last year, well, there's not much I can say that doesn't involve the words 'bloody awful'.'

Most of the class laughed at this, and the trio shared a glance and a grin. Delaney seemed to be one of those teachers who could hold a class' attention without trying. Even the ones who sat at the back of the room and chattered the lessons away were looking towards him with interest.

'You've done most of the Dark creatures I'd have expected you to do already, which is good news,' Professor Delaney went on. 'We might do a few weeks on some of the more exotic ones at the end of this term, depending how we're doing. But for the most part, we'll be building on your fourth year work. Defensive spells, a few of the more useful offensive ones, and some strategy, of course.'

A buzzing whisper of excitement streaked through the class as they heard this news, especially from those who'd been members of the DA, which made up just over half of the class. Delaney raised his hand for silence.

'Okay, I want you all to split up into pairs,' he said over the growing enthusiastic chatter. 'Today, I just want to see where everyone is with their curses, so find a partner and try some practice duels.'

He gave them a minute or two to sort out their partnerships – Hermione and Ron decided to work together, as they were only together in two lessons, and Harry ended up with Susan Bones. Professor Delaney swept the tables to one side of the room with a flick of his wand, and they spent the rest of the lesson duelling merrily.

~*~

As first days back go, the rest of the day was rather a good one for Harry. In the Charms lesson immediately after Defence Against the Dark Arts, they'd managed to get Professor Flitwick rambling on about the next two years' work with various amusing Charms-related anecdotes mixed in, which meant they didn't get much work done.

Their first ever free lesson had been directly after lunch, and Ron and Harry had gone off to practice Quidditch while Hermione got to work on their Defence homework (research any spell you think would give you an advantage in a duel: write a short essay about why you chose it, and be prepared to use it next lesson).  The final lesson of the day, Transfiguration, had been filled as usual with hard work as they attempted to turn a burning candle into an apple.

The Gryffindor common room was packed with nervous first-years still learning the ropes, worn-out students and a lot of moaning over the first homework of the year. Ron was particularly miserable; he'd managed to make his candle spontaneously combust, splattering himself with hot wax. Madam Pomfrey had, of course, been able to provide him with a potion, but he kept complaining that his hands still hurt.

'You should be thankful none of it got in your eyes,' said Hermione, as Ron moaned about it for the hundredth time. She scribbled down a line of her Herbology essay. 'And besides, it was your own fault the thing exploded.'

'It didn't explode,' Ron pointed out sulkily, 'it kind of… melted and then splattered everywhere.'

She sighed, putting the finishing sentence on her homework, and looked up. 'Well it looked like an explosion to me...  Harry? Are you done with that work?'

Harry, who was staring blankly into space, started at this. 'Oh, er… what?'

'Are you done?' she repeated with a frown. 'You were daydreaming…'

Harry looked down at his essay: he'd stopped writing in the middle of a word, about halfway through his essay. He sighed. 'I think I should take a break,' he said, finishing off the word and rolling his parchment up, then sinking back into the soft cushions.

He'd been thinking about Sirius. Again. Oh, he hadn't meant to, it was just that something he'd been writing had reminded him of something Sirius used to say, and then he'd got caught up remembering, and then he would have got started thinking about… the veil, if Hermione hadn't broken into his thoughts. Harry did try not to remember it, but it seemed that everything reminded him, somehow.

And he missed Sirius. He missed just knowing that there was someone there, someone grown-up who could help him if he needed it. He had Ron and Hermione, and they would help him, but they were the same age as he was and sometimes he needed advice from an adult. There was Dumbledore, but Dumbledore wasn't like Sirius had been. Dumbledore was very old and very wise, like some ancient wizard in a Muggle storybook, while Sirius was more like… an older brother, or a playful uncle. He didn't have anyone like that left now. And – no matter what Lupin had said – it had been his fault that Sirius died.

'Harry?'

It was Ginny's voice, which startled him: he hadn't even noticed her come over. She was frowning at him, and Harry realised he'd not been paying attention again. 'Sorry,' he apologised, cursing himself, 'what were you saying?'

'We were discussing the DA,' Hermione explained with a frown. 'Are you sure you're okay? Do you want to… you know, talk or anything?'

Harry shook his head. 'I'm fine,' he said firmly. 'Lets talk about the DA. I assume we aren't carrying on? I mean, Delaney's a really great teacher…' he said hopefully.

Truthfully, he didn't want to carry on the DA. It had been a matter of luck that only one person was killed at the Department of Mysteries: he still had nightmares where Hermione died too, or Ron, or Ginny, or anyone that had been there that day. And it had been members of the DA who followed him to the fight. If they hadn't been DA members, they would never have come, never have risked their lives… and he didn't want to be responsible for yet another death.

'Well, we thought that too,' Hermione was saying, 'but there's lots of people that aren't doing Defence, and they need to learn to defend themselves.'

'Plus, he isn't teaching defence spells and duelling to all the years, he's doing creatures with us,' Ginny chipped in. 'My year needs it, and I think there's some other years that he's not doing spells with…'

Ginny raised an eyebrow, and then gave him the same pleading look he'd seen her use when she wanted to borrow Ron's broomstick, or wanted Charlie to help her with her Care of Magical Creatures homework.

He wasn't convinced. 'Yeah, but… will people still want to do it?'

Ron gave him a bemused look. 'Will they want to do it? Of course they'll want to do it! They wanted to do it last year, when that bloody Umbridge woman banned us from doing it, they'll want to do it this year.'

Hermione nodded. 'We could make it official this year,' she pointed out. 'And since people know Voldemort's back, they'll be scared, they'll want to learn to defend themselves. We need to carry on with it. And to do that, we need you.'

Harry realised he had no good arguments against it, except for his fear he'd get more people killed. And Hermione and Ron would just say it wasn't his fault the DA was in danger.

'Okay,' he sighed reluctantly, 'we'll start it up again.'

The others grinned. 'Okay, if we're going to do this officially, we don't need to maintain secrecy any more,' Hermione said.' Which means we can advertise it openly, and hopefully reach a lot more of the students.'

Ginny cut in. 'Shall we still use the Room of Requirement as a meeting place?'

'Yes,' replied Hermione, 'it's more convenient. It has everything we need, and we know that however many people we turn up, there'll be enough room. Harry, do you agree?'

'What?'

Hermione managed to look both worried and annoyed at once. 'Do you agree we should use the Room of Requirement as our meeting place?'

Harry nodded, and tried to pay attention. If he was going to be forced to do this, he may as well do it properly.

'Are you sure you're okay, mate?' Ron asked him with a frown.

'Yes, yes, I'm fine,' Harry assured him. 'Carry on, Hermione.'

She nodded. 'Well, I was thinking. If Hogwarts were to be attacked, then the older years and the DA could all fight fine, but what about the lower years? The first and second years, maybe the third…'

'The teachers would get them out of the fighting,' Ron pointed out.

'Yes, but I don't think the Death Eaters are going to just sit back and let them huddle in safety,' Hermione said darkly. 'I mean, if you were a Death Eater, would you fight the older students who have a good idea what you're doing, or the little children who can't do much beyond Transfiguring matchsticks into needles?'

Silence greeted this remark. Ron broke it. 'So we need to teach the younger years some things too.'

Ginny nodded. 'Definitely. What do you think we should teach them, Harry?'

He was slightly put off by the sudden question. 'Well… we shouldn't teach them anything too difficult, like Patronuses. But…' He tried to think of something as safe as possible. 'Defence spells, and things like escaping from them. They aren't going to be fighting the Death Eaters…'

The others nodded. 'So, would we have two DAs, then?' Ginny asked.

'Yes,' replied Hermione, 'I think so. One for the first - three years, do you think? – and one for fourth year through seventh year. Of course, we need to clear all this with Dumbledore first…'

'Dumbledore will let us,' Ginny said with certainty. 'We need to plan things first, then get his approval. Like how we're going to advertise it, what we're going to do, how we're going to arrange the sessions…'

'It'll be difficult, if we're running two DAs.' Hermione remarked. 'But I'm sure we'll think of something… It'll all be around Quidditch team schedules again, won't it? And other clubs…'

They carried on, discussing various aspects of what they were going to do, as Harry became more and more worried. The DA was a good idea, but he knew it'd end up with people getting in danger again, fighting against Death Eaters and getting hurt and it would all be his fault again…

Finally, their impromptu meeting ended, and Harry quickly took the chance to leave, making some excuse about having to fetch a book. He didn't quite know why, but he wanted to be alone for a while.

~*~

Back in the common room, Ron frowned at Harry's retreating back. 'What's up now?' he asked. 'I mean, the DA's not depressing at all…'

Hermione sighed. 'I think I know,' she said. 'It was all DA members who went to the Ministry with him at the end of last year…'

'He's worried something similar will happen again, and people will get hurt because of him,' Ginny concluded grimly.

'But that's ridiculous!' Ron said incredulously. 'I mean, if he hadn't taught the DA all that stuff in the first place, they'd all have come off a lot worse…'

'I know,' Ginny sighed. 'Do you think one of us should talk to him?'

'I don't know…' Hermione frowned, 'I mean, if he wanted to talk, he'd have asked one of us already…'

'Harry's very… independent. He might refuse to ask anyone, even if he wants to,' Ginny pointed out. 'I think one of us should say something to him, at least about the DA thing… if we talk to him about one thing, he might talk to us about others.'

Hermione and Ron nodded. 'Which one of us should go, do you think?' asked Hermione.

'Not me,' said Ron, 'I'm no good at talking about stuff like this…'

'Oh, Ron, that's nonsense, you're perfectly wonderful at it.' Ginny said, before leaning over and messing up his hair.

'Oy, that's my hair!'

Ginny laughed and sat back down. 'Alright, not you then. Hermione?'

Hermione looked thoughtful. 'I don't know,' she said slowly. 'He knows me better… would he listen to someone he knew well or someone he didn't?'

'I reckon Ginny should go,' Ron offered. 'I mean, Hermione and I tried to talk to him about it in the holidays… plus, if he gets mad, you're good at calming people down, Ginny.'

'You don't think he'll get mad, do you?' Ginny frowned, getting to her feet. 'I mean, I'm only going to try and persuade him that the DA isn't going to end up with droves of children dying…'

'These days, I haven't a clue what'll get him angry.' Hermione sighed. 'Good luck, Ginny.'

~*~

He was in the boy's dormitory, which meant that Ginny had to peer round very cautiously before entering. She wasn't strictly supposed to be in here – it wasn't actually forbidden, just something that wasn't done. But there didn't appear to be any half-naked boys, to her relief (and, perhaps, her disappointment). Harry was sitting on the windowsill, staring broodingly out onto the grounds, a slight frown on his face.

Hoping this went alright, Ginny approached him. 'Harry?' she asked tentatively.

She must have startled him; his head snapped round so fast he almost fell off the windowsill. 'Ginny?' he asked, then frowned. 'What are you doing here?'

'I was wondering,' she began, 'you didn't sound very happy about carrying on with the DA…?'

His face went blank, hard. 'I think it's a great idea,' he said stiffly, 'you must have been… imagining it, or something.'

She could either leave it there, or tell him that she knew why he didn't want it back. She chose the latter. 'You're scared that if the DA starts, it'll end up with people dying, because everyone who went to the Department of Mysteries with you was from the DA.'

He was taken aback for a moment. 'How did you…?'

She grinned. 'Women's intuition. Hermione figured it out too.'

There was a moment of silence, long enough for Ginny's grin to fade, and Harry to return to staring uncomfortably out the window. Ginny fidgeted for a moment, then spoke up.

'It won't, you know.'

'What won't what?'

'End up with people getting killed,' Ginny clarified. 'Harry, the only reason no one from the DA got killed last time was your teaching. If it hadn't been for that…'

'If it hadn't been for the DA, they'd never have come,' Harry said darkly.

'Ron and Hermione would have come,' she pointed out, then placed her hand on the wall, near where he was resting – the closest she dared get to this strange, troubled Harry. 'I would have come.'

He glanced at her then, and his expression softened. 'Maybe,' he sighed. 'But the only reason they followed be was that they were used to having me as a leader…'

'And they all survived,' Ginny said firmly. 'What does that tell you?'

He sighed. 'That the DA was a good idea.'

'Yes,' she said. 'Look, if Voldemort attacked Hogwarts right now, what do you think would happen?'

'Lots of people would die,' he said grimly. 'And we should have the DA, because it would stop people dying and give them the skills to defend themselves. I get it.'

'Do you really get it, or are you just trying to get me to shut up and leave you alone?'

'I really get it,' he assured her. 'I know that before, it's just… You can't promise that there won't be another incident like the one at the Department of Mysteries, and next time people might get killed…'

'I can't promise you that,' she agreed, 'but I can promise you that I'll tell every single person in this school that, should you get it into your head to go off on a rescue mission, they're to Stun you and tie you to a chair.'

He laughed at that, and the smile stayed on his face. 'Okay,' he said at last, 'I guess we're doing the DA again then. Come on, lets go back downstairs.'

She grinned, and gave him a helping hand down from the windowsill.

~*~

A/N: I'm very much looking forward to the next chapter. This one was all about DADA, the DA and our favourite Gryffindors; in the next one, I can promise some more on the intriguing Ella, Draco flying AND Draco naked, though not both at the same time, and the return of someone you all know and love. In the meantime, every reviewer gets a virtual Easter egg – in the shape of Draco. The only question is, will you eat it or drool at the sexiness? The only way to find out is to review!