Later that night while Harry was already well asleep there was movement in other parts of the castle. All students were oblivious to such happenings because they were, as stated, asleep.

In the moonlit corridors there were footsteps echoing faintly on the high stone walls. Snape was going for a midnight stroll of his own accord and he had no intentions of telling anyone, or anything for that matter, what exactly his intentions were. He knew that it was probably a useless cause. That he would never accomplish such a task. He knew that if he were caught then the picture wouldn't look too good. Dumbledore would have reason to doubt his trust...

Snape tried shunning these particularly disconcerting thoughts away from his mind for the time being. Snape knew that what he was doing was very important, so he attempted ignoring the burning sensation on his forearm for the time being, but knew that in the end it would become too intense to ignore and he would have to go about his other duties.

By now Snape was out on the grounds and working his way towards the Forbidden Forest. He told himself once again how hopeless his efforts were, but convinced himself to do it anyway. He knew that if he didn't then Hogwarts would be in imminent danger.

He had found his way fairly deep into the forest, he thought that he was getting lost and had to keep pointing himself in the right direction through use of his wand. After twenty more minutes of walking he arrived at his general destination. His cloak was heavily scratched and had thorns all over it. He thought to himself that it was better his cloak then his skin before walking forward into a clearing he had seen only a couple times before. He knew that he was as deep as he would ever dare go into the forest.

Snape walked out into the center of the clearing and then brushed himself off with an air of urgency before clearing his throat and letting loose a wild call,

"Carcharhimidae!!!!!"

Then he sat in the middle of the clearing. He hoped that a response would came fairly quickly to his call because he was starting to weaken to the pain on his arm...he knew that Voldemort was getting impatient and that he would either have to come up with a good excuse for his lateness, or he was to be punished. He was not looking forward to the prospect of a punishment from the merciless Lord Voldemort, but knew that he had to stay within the inner circle.

Snape sat for at least a quarter of an hour. He got up to leave seeing that his call was not to be answered any time soon. He thought that maybe he'd have better luck the next night, when Voldemort wasn't interfering. Snape cleared his mind efficiently so that the Dark Lord would not sense his feelings of dread and betrayal before casting one last nervous look around and disappearing to meet Tom Riddle.

It was a cloudy morning the next day when Harry and Hermione walked into their NEWT potions class. They immediately noticed something wrong. This was the fact that their teacher, Snape, who had never been absent from class for the last six years, was, indeed, absent. This was a puzzlement. Harry knew that there had to be something seriously wrong to be keeping Snape away. Not that Harry liked Snape because that matter was quite the opposite, but Harry was just taking in all the signs and clues. He knew for a fact that Snape's absence was a clue to the fact that something unusual was up.

Instead of the normal torture that was potions in Harry's mind, he experienced that morning everything that a potion's class should be. The substitute, Professor Malloy, was a very neat man with a hard voice that could become raspy if he talked quietly. He was fairly easy going, despite his strict appearance, and was rather fun to have as a teacher. Harry found himself wishing that he had Malloy as his teacher all the time.

"Hello, class. My name is Professor Malloy." He gestured his hand to make his name appear on the blackboard in large, neat script. Then he continued, "I shall be teaching for the next couple weeks. Your normal teacher, Professor Snape, will be out for a while due to circumstances that I am not at liberty to discuss. Now, let us begin by opening our books to page 504 where we can read up on the poly-juice potion. You shall all be making this potion by the end of this week with use of pre-stewed lacewings and other prepared ingredients so that the potion does not take a month to make. Luckily the full moon appears next Wednesday night, so we shall be meeting here that night to observe and add to our potions." He now paused and took a breath. Then he conjured the directions for the day onto the board. "Now, you will begin by reading about the potion and we shall begin the brewing next meeting."

After this speech there was much quiet chatter that Malloy did not seem to mind, or he was slightly deaf...the class was not sure. By the end of the class there were many questions from anxious students. Hannah Abbott asked concernedly,

"Umm, professor, who shall we be changing into?"

"Why, your partner, of course."

As Harry and Hermione were headed off towards lunch, and giggling in the process at the prospect of making the poly-juice potion again (once illegally and now in class), Harry said,

"So, you planning on becoming a cat? Or does becoming me for an hour suit you?"

Hermione giggled very much at this, trying to contain herself from bursting out laughing in the crowded corridor before replying, "Not as long as you give me one of your hairs...and don't go petting Crookshanks beforehand!"

"I won't, I won't."

That evening was rather busy. On top of some homework to do so that they were not buried with it by the weekend, telling Ron about Snape (for he had not had potions that day), and speculating about why Snape was gone, there was the prospect of the first DA meeting that Harry and Hermione had planned for that night upon them.

Harry was getting the finishing touches ready, going over his planned schedule, and getting any certificates ready for new members. Harry had appointed Ron and Hermione as his assistants because ever since posting a note in all House Common rooms, there had been a fresh buzz around the school about who would be joining the DA. All of the old members (except those that had left Hogwarts) were reentering into the club. Professor Stalney said that she would happily look in on the first meeting to make it seem more official.

At a quarter to eight Harry was found in the Room of Requirement along with Ron, Hermione, and Professor Stalney. Harry was going around making sure everything was ready, while Hermione, knowing that in the Room of Requirement everything was always ready, sat and read one of the many books. Ron was practicing a spell in which you could turn a slug into chocolate for a limited time. After two minutes the spell, of course, reversed, therefore turning the slug back into, well, a slug. Ron had a glint in his eyes that said all to well that he had something evil planned for the next slug he came across, but the real evil would be for whoever took him up on an offer for some chocolate...

"Wow, this is quite a setup you have, Potter," said Professor Stalney as she was wandering around looking through the many books and the assortment of dark detectors. "I must say that there is quite an extensive bit of magic to be learned here. Can I ask what you'll be covering?"

"Yes, professor, we shall start the returning members with some new shielding charms I've read about. Hermione and Ron will also help me with the new members so that they can learn what the others did last year."

"Quite daring, Potter, starting this thing up under that toad's nose last year. I'm glad Dumbledore is letting you keep it. Even after it got him on the run. He's a good man, he is."

Harry thought that he had heard people say this about Dumbledore quite often. He just naturally assumed it to be true. He never expected to ever find himself questioning whether or not that man had plans to murder him. Harry knew deep down that it couldn't possibly Dumbledore who wanted to kill him, because Harry just knew. It was like how when humans are born they know to start breathing right away. But for some reason Harry had a little nag at the back of his mind...

Harry drew his mind off of these thoughts as the first few people began arriving for the meeting. Harry saw the Creevy brothers, Katie Bell, all the Gryffindors in his year, quite few Ravenclaws including Cho Chang. Harry found that there was no jump anymore in his stomach. Then there was quite a fair few number of Hufflepuffs, including Ernie Macmillan among some others. About two minutes after the rest of the members marched in the door opened very slowly to let in an ever dazed-looking Luna Lovegood. Harry could've sworn that shed wandered in on accident, but greeted her all the same. He figured as long as she didn't start babbling about gnargles, then everything would be alright.

When Harry had everyone at his attention and they were all seated on the cushions that the room supplied, Harry began the meeting,

"Well, err, hello again everyone, and if you're new then I'll say hello for the first time and say that I hope that you enjoy this class. From what the previous members have told me about this club, I think that I am doing something pretty good here. What's going to happen is this. Instead of this year there just being one teacher, me, there shall be three, maybe four," said Harry casting a glance at Stalney, who nodded.

"We shall be dividing the group into two smaller groups: those that were here last year, and those that are new. Everyone will be taught by each instructor equally; meaning that you all will be taught by me, Ron, Hermione, and Professor Stalney here if she is available. I have changed the schedule so that the DA will meet every Monday. All I ask of the other Quidditch captains is to not plan a practice on Mondays. Those have been specially preserved for DA. If there is a very good reason for a change in the day of the meeting then you will all know from your coins getting much colder, rather than hotter.

"With all that said, I think that we should start with today's lesson. Now, I would like to ask all of you whom I taught last year to form in a group on the right side of the room, and all of the new people to go to the left."

This task was quickly accomplished as the students were eager to begin learning. Sometimes Harry thought it ironic that people actually wanted to learn in his class. This made him feel slightly accomplished. Then, before feeling too accomplished about himself, Harry began to demonstrate the shielding charm that he had been working on. He was surprised at how easy DADA always came to him and was even more surprised when Professor Stalney informed him that she could not even perform a shield that strong. Indeed, everyone else's shield except for a few people were all a bit dimmer and weaker when tested by a partner's destructive spell. It had taken an average of three impediamenta s to break through everyone else's shield. Harry's had taken on seven before fading away. Harry said that this was only because he had been performing the spell for a while longer then the rest of them. This was a lie because in truth he had only learned the spell that afternoon.

That night all were very tired, but happy when returning to their dorms. Harry watched with a smile as the students left and as they passed giving him a wink or wishing his a good evening. Harry knew that starting the DA had been a great idea. As the last student had left and it was back to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Stalney, they were just tidying up a little before getting ready to turn in. Before leaving Stalney complimented Harry graciously on his club and told him that she would drop by every once in a while.

By the time the trio was back in the common room and sitting by the fire, they were all pretty tired and getting ready to go to sleep. Ron and Harry decided to stay up a while talking about Quidditch and the practice that they would be having that Wednesday. Hermione informed them that she was exceptionally tired before saying that they'd all done a great job and then gave Harry a kiss before going to bed.

Harry and Ron needed to talk because they had their first match of the season coming up in a few weeks. They were facing Ravenclaw and knew very well that they were brutal. The two went over different tactics and before they knew it were alone in the common room and it was a little past midnight. They were extremely tired by this time and promised themselves to keep track of the time next time they had a serious Quidditch discussion that didn't include torturing Malfoy with a cursed broomstick.

By the time Harry was falling asleep there were images of shields and brooms and bludgers racing through his head. He went off to having a dream where if he could only catch the snitch, then everything would be alright. He couldn't see or think of anything past the capture, but knew that it was all that mattered. He needed to get it.