A/N: Now, I'm back to a foundation chapter that will have affect on later chapters. Thank you to all those that have been reviewing. Please continue. I'm open to suggestions to the story so please R/R.

Disclaimer: I wish I could be as good as JK Rowling but I'm not. This is her stuff and not to mention the influence that this story took from various fanfics.

Chapter 14
The DA Returns

Ever since Hermione and Ron became a couple that fateful night, there has been less bickering and all out fighting between the two of them but they still had their moments where everybody just ran and left the two to fight. They still argued about needless subjects but have made a greater effort to tolerate and respect each others opinion. They were even caught snogging a few times around school when they thought they were alone.

Everybody also seemed to notice the changing relationship between Ginny and Harry. They continued to spend ever other night talking to each other in secrecy through their mirrors. During the day, the two of them could be seen together much of their free time that is considering the time outside of preparing Ginny for the first task from Durmstrang and Harry's practice with Kayla or practicing by himself. When asked whether or not they were a couple, both of them said no. Ginny wanted to be with Harry more with every passing moment they spend or talk to each other.

The gang was gathered at breakfast early October when the morning mail arrived. The Great Hall was filled with the sound of owls hooting and hopeful expectations from everybody in the hall that they were going to get a letter or package. An owl dropped a package in front of Ginny. She was surprised by the package and drew everybody's attention that sat around her especially from her friends because Ginny doesn't normally receive packages.

Ginny took the letter that was attached to the package and read it with surprise and a bit of disappointment in her expression. Ron asked, "What does it say, Ginny?"

Ginny said, "It's from my admirer."

Once she finished that statement, Ron made to grab the letter but Ginny was too quick for him. This also drew the attention of a few other people who were walking by especially Lavender and Parvati, the two biggest gossips at Hogwarts. The two sat down near the group and leaned over in an attempt to hear what the group was talking about.

Ginny noticed that Harry wasn't looking at her anymore and asked him, "Harry, what's wrong?"

Harry turned to look at her and with some reluctance said, "Ginny, I'm not sure if I should say what I want to say."

Ginny asked, "What is it?"

Harry said, "Well, it's just how much do we know about your admirer? Is he safe?"

Ginny started to get angry and said, "Harry, how many time do I have to say this? I can take care of myself."

Harry raised his hands in mock surrender and said, "Ginny, I know that you can take care of yourself. We want to make sure that you're safe also."

Lavender interrupted them and said, "So is Harry Potter jealous of this secret admirer?"

Harry gave her an annoyed look and said, "Why would I be jealous of this admirer?"

Lavender and Parvati gave each other a look and Parvati said, "Everybody sees how much time you two spend together. We also know that the two of you are denying that you're both a couple."

Lavender continued, "If you're not jealous and are not going out with Ginny than that means you're available."

Ginny gave Lavender a look of contempt while Harry just shook his head. Hermione decided to take the heat off of Harry and asked, "Ginny, what did your admirer say?"

Ginny said, "I don't want everybody to know what he said," as she looked at Ron, Lavender and Parvati. She handed the letter over to Harry, Hermione, and Kayla to read. The three of them leaned together to read.

Ginny,

I'm sorry for not having written to you in such a long time. A girl like yourself should not be neglected. I saw this in a catalogue and thought you would like it. I also charmed it so that it will help protect you against harmful spells.

Please don't be afraid of what I'm about to say but you do know me in real life. Although you don't know who I am right now, I hope to reveal that to you soon. Just so you know, I'm really close to you right now and love every little moment we spent together. I'm just waiting for the right occasion and hopefully you will be taken with me as much as I am taken with you.

FireFlight

Ron impatiently asked Harry, "What does it say, mate?"

After reading the letter, Harry looked around the group to see who was sitting around them and who was looking at the group. Harry said, "I don't see anything suspicious as everybody seems to be sitting where they usually do."

Hermione and Kayla looked around also and Hermione said, "I agree. I don't see anything out of the usual either."

Kayla nodded her agreement as Ron asked more forcefully, "Is anybody listening to what I'm saying? What does the letter say?"

Hermione said, "Ron, if your sister does not want you to know than we can't tell you what the letter said."

Ron turned to his sister and said, "Ginny, what does the letter say?"

Ginny's voice rose as she said, "Why Ron? Why do you want to know so much? If I tell you what it says than you're just going to go off the deep end."

Ron's voice also became louder and said forcefully, "It is my business. I'm your brother and it's my job to make sure that you're protected." He pointed to Harry and said, "Even Harry agrees with me."

Kayla came to Harry's rescue by interrupting with, "Ron, Harry is just concerned. You don't see him ready to jump down somebody's throat even after reading the letter. You on the other hand don't know very much of what's going on and you're ready to kill somebody."

Ron prepared to argue with Kayla by taking a deep breath but it was too long of a wait because Hermione sided with her boyfriend and said, "Don't judge Ron because you don't know him Kayla. We know him better than you do and he does have a right to know that his sister is safe."

This erupted into a war of words with Hermione and Ron going up against Kayla and Ginny. Kayla was arguing based on a defense for Harry and that Harry and Ron are two different people with two different relationships to Ginny. Ron was arguing that he deserves a right to know anything that concerns Ginny. Ginny was arguing that she can live her own life without her big brothers becoming defensive with every person that shows an interest in her. Hermione was pushing the idea that Harry and Ron share the same relationship with Ginny.

Lavender and Parvati along with a few people sitting near them were taking an interest in this dispute because nobody heard Kayla get involved in an argument before. To make it more interesting, she came to the defense of Harry and everybody knew that the two of them were working together outside of class. Nobody knew exactly what they were working on but they had a general idea of defense practice.

The relationship that Harry and Kayla shared with working so much on spells and defense work made many people envy Kayla. Many did not believe that the two of them shared a romantic relationship or had romantic feelings toward one another. This came to a great relief to most of the male population that The Great Harry Potter was not after one of the prettiest girl at Hogwarts which gave everybody else some hope that they might be able to become involved with her. Kayla also became an envy of many girls because she was spending so much time with Harry.

The general consensus was that Kayla must be really talented witch if she and Harry were working together so much and teaching each other things. This sparked greater interest in working with Harry and Kayla so there were lots of talks about starting the DA. This resulted in Harry telling Kayla about the details of the DA and the events of last year minus a few details from the Department of Mysteries.

Flashback to a few days ago…

After one of their training sessions the two of them were making there way back to the castle from the quidditch pitch. After a moment of comfortable silence which the two have been doing after their training session to help clear there minds before getting back to class.

Kayla asked, "Harry, I've been hearing many people asking about the DA. How come you don't start it up again?"

Harry thought about it for a moment and said, "There really isn't a need to restart the DA. Remus and Tonks are really good teachers and everybody seems to be learning a great deal from them."

Kayla nodded than said, "From what I hear, many people want to restart the group again. They said that they learned so much from you."

Harry replied, "It's nothing really. I had a great time helping them learn new things but Remus and Tonks are covering most of the same things that we learned last year."

"Nobody said that you couldn't cover the same things again and add a few things that you know that they aren't going to teach in class. Plus the younger students would be learning a lot of new things before they arrive to where we are now."

Harry thought about it for a moment and said, "I guess we can start it up again but I guess it wouldn't really be necessary until something happens like last year when we had to take the learning into our own hands."

"Harry, if you wait for something to start than it might be too late. Wouldn't it be better if we started the training early so we will be ready just in case anything was to happen?"

"I guess you're right. I'll think about it though and start it back up when I feel it is needed."

"Alright, just think about it. I'm sure that Hermione, Ron, and Ginny will be more than willing to help you. I can also help if you need me to after all, we can teach them some of the stuff that you're learning from me right now. But at the pace we're going, you'll know everything I can do and I'll just be learning from you afterwards."

"Well, I only learned so much because you're a good teacher. I'm sure anybody else would be learning as quickly as me if they were learning from you. Oh, before I forget, maybe you should talk to Hermione and get a coin made for you just in case I decided to start it up again. That is if you want to join."

"I never thought you to be a sweet talker Potter. Thanks, I'll talk to her later. But, speaking of other people, what's going on between you and Ginny? If I'm not mistaken, the two of you are pretty much inseparable now a day outside of class and you being with me."

Harry was thinking about what he has been doing ever since he returned to Hogwarts than said, "I guess you are right that I do spend much of my time with her. We're really good friends and nothing more. Why are you interested?"

Kayla turned to him and said, "It's just everybody either believes that you're involved with me or with her. Don't get me wrong, you're a great guy and all but I don't have a romantic interest in you."

"Well, I guess the feeling is mutual than. Don't be offended and all but you're incredibly pretty and fun to be around but I think that my heart belongs to only one other." Harry wanted to slap himself for that slip just now.

Kayla pulled Harry's arm to stop him from walking and said, "Who is this girl?"

Harry became defensive and said, "That's a secret and I can't reveal it yet. It's too dangerous for anybody to be involved with me."

"You know, if you like her than you should pursue her. If you let Voldemort control how you live your life than I guess you're not really living."

"I guess you are right. It's just another thing for me to contemplate about, I guess."

End of Flashback…

As the two groups were arguing with each other, Harry took that as his cue to leave. He slowly pulled away from the table and made his way to leave the Great Hall. Nobody seemed to notice that Harry was leaving. He made it about half way through the Hall when a single owl showed up that appeared to be running a little behind all the other owls delivering the morning posts. The owl flew over to Harry and dropped a letter in front of him and immediately turned and flew away. Harry picked up the letter and read it while standing in the middle of the Great Hall while nobody noticed.

Harry,

I know that there is no reason for you to really listen to what I have to say but please hear me out. I know that you don't trust me but I can not betray you because of my life debt to you and right now I'm trying to pay that debt back. If the Dark Lord or any of his men were to know what I am doing right now it would result in a torturous death.

There are spies all among you. I do not know right now who they are but all I know is that they are extremely close to you and are feeding information to Dumbledore about your actions. I know that you're still not on the best terms with Dumbledore and he knows that also that is why he has enlisted spies to inform him on what is going on.

The Dark Lord only knows that you're being spied upon and has not received any useful information about what is going on. The Dark Lord's spy at Hogwarts only knows bits of information as this person couldn't retrieve all the information. As a result, there is talk here in the Dark Circle that we should get you to join our side. Just look at those that you trust as betraying you.

Remember there is no such thing as good and wrong. There is only power and those that are willing to fight for that power. Come join the Dark Circle, I will contact you later to get your answer.

Wormtail

Harry crumpled up the letter as the anger in him was building. He turned to look at everybody in the Great Hall to see if anybody was paying attention but once again nobody seemed to notice. He looked up to the head table and saw Dumbledore talking to Remus. Harry glared at Dumbledore as his mind started to race.

He was thinking, 'Who is it that is betraying me? I can't believe that Dumbledore would do this behind my back. Wait, what if Wormtail is lying and this is just another trick from Voldemort? There are still too many questions unanswered but how will I find them out without some help? I can't tell anybody until I find out more information. This is not a good thing. I must prepare and the students need to get ready also.'

Harry reached down into his pocket and felt what it was that he was looking for. He felt the gold Galleon that was used to notify the DA members in secrecy. Harry hoped that all the members were carrying there coins with them so he held the coin with a firm grip and assigned the date and time for a meeting.

Throughout the Great Hall with the exception of the Slytherin table and the head table, there were startled expressions as students felt something warm in their pockets. There were many people who reached into their pockets to pull out their coins to see what the date and time of the meeting will be. They also looked around to see if they could find Harry but all they saw was Harry leaving the Great Hall.

Harry spent the rest of the day and the next day avoiding everybody because they wanted to find out more details about the meeting. This came at great difficulty at night time so he locked himself in his trunk to avoid his friends. Ginny tried calling him a few times in the mirror but it didn't work.

Harry showed up at the Room of Requirement before anybody was there and thought of what he needed in that room. Harry walked in with a box and sat behind a small table that was on a slightly elevated stage. In front of the stage were rows of comfortable arm chairs for members of the DA to sit in.

Harry's friends were the first to show up and Ginny asked, "Harry, what's going on? Why have you been avoiding us?"

Harry sighed and said, "I'm sorry about that but I had something that I had to work out before the meeting today."

She didn't like the explanation that he just gave so she pressed him and asked, "What is it that you're not telling us?"

"There is just something I need to work out but when the time comes, I'll tell you about it."

Hermione said, "You'll tell the rest of us also, right?"

Harry replied, "I'll tell all of you when I figure it out."

Everybody from the DA last year showed up again minus those that graduated and Marietta Edgecombe, the girl who betrayed the DA to Umbridge last year. Harry told his friends, "Why don't you all go take a seat so we can start the meeting."

The group nodded and went to take a seat with Ginny saying, "This isn't over yet, you're going to tell me what's going on," than went to take a seat.

Harry stood up and looked at everybody who all seemed to share a look of anticipation of what Harry was about to tell them. He took a deep breath than said, "First off, I want to welcome everybody back to the DA. Today is just a quick meeting to let everybody know that I will be starting the DA up again but we will be known as the Defense Association now instead of Dumbledore's Army until another name can be settled upon."

There were some confusion in the room but most of the people knew it had to do with the strained relationship between Harry and Dumbledore over the last few months ever since he returned from the Ministry of Magic at the end of last year. Not too many people knew why but many of them knew not to ask what happened.

Harry continued on by asking, "I want to know right now, who is willing to fight against Voldemort and his Dark Army that consists of wizards, giants, dementors, and who knows what else?"

There were widespread wincing at the mention of the name Voldemort. Ginny stood up first and said, "We'll follow you Harry. We'll be there to fight against the Dark Army."

That encouraged everybody else to stand up and voice their agreement with Ginny. The noise became deafening as people started to chant, "Potter, Potter!"

Harry raised his hands to calm everybody down than asked, "How many of you will follow me if I go against the Ministry of Magic?"

There were murmurs of disagreement and discussion at what Harry was asking than Hermione stood up and asked, "Why are you asking us that?"

Harry said, "Everybody knows that I don't agree with what the idiot Fudge is doing. If he continues on his path than all of us will end up dead anyway, what I want to know is if I believe what I am doing is right is different from what the Ministry believes is right than who will you all choose?"

There was discussion than Ron said, "You know I'm by your side no matter what. I stood by you through thick and thin and now I won't abandon you either." This sparked an overwhelming agreement that they would follow Harry as many yelled out, "The Ministry is full of idiots," or, "We know that you'll always defend the light."

Harry waited for the room to calm down than asked, "I have given this some thought and believe that we should expand our membership to others who may be interested in joining. Only those that we believe to be loyal and trustworthy will be admitted with disregard to what house and what year they are in."

Michael Corner stood up and asked, "Are you saying that you would let a Slytherin join the DA? How do you know that you will be able to trust them look at what happened to somebody that we thought we could trust last year." Everybody knew that he was talking about Marietta Edgecombe as whispers broke out with agreement to what Michael just said.

Harry said, "I don't believe that all Slytherins are evil and believe that a few of them can be trusted. It may come as a surprise to many of you but the Sorting Hat during my first year wanted to sort me into Slytherin but I managed to persuade it not to."

There were surprised expressions throughout the room than continued on by saying, "We'll make them take a Wizard's Oath when they join and question them under Veritaserium. We will know if they are truthful or not in their membership and if they break their Oath than they would lose their credibility in the Wizarding World. Plus, I have other ways of teaching those that betray us that will be much harsher than what happened last year to Marietta."

After saying that, there were some reluctant agreements to allowing the DA to allow new people to join. Harry than asked the hardest question for many of them to answer by asking, "If I were to go in a different path from Dumbledore, who here will follow me, follow Dumbledore, or stay on the sidelines?"

The room was completely quiet with shock at what Harry just asked. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Kayla were just as shocked as everybody else. Ginny stood up again and said, "Harry, that is a big thing that you're asking of us right now and especially since we don't know what the situation requires." There was nodding from everybody else in the room to show their agreement with what Ginny was saying.

She continued on by saying, "I trust you with my life and know that whatever happens than you will be following your heart. Because of your heart and the purity and love that live inside of it, I will follow you to hell if you needed me to." There was a pause than she said, "Even if you didn't need me to or want me to, I'll follow you anyway just like last year."

Harry sighed at what Ginny just said because he knew that she would follow him to death if he were to go there just to finish his task. He said, "Look, I'm not going to demand your loyalty to what I do. I know that I've screwed up many times in the past and it has cost lives. I just want to know if I can trust you all not to betray me to Dumbledore if things get down to between me and him."

Kayla stood up and said, "I can not promise that I will follow you in whatever decision that you choose to make. About all I can promise is that I will do what I believe is right."

Harry nodded and said, "That is all that I can ask for. For you all to do what you believe is right and not because you are afraid of some kind of consequences like death or expulsion from Hogwarts. You must do what is right or else you will become like the Deatheaters. They are a group of cowards that sold their soul to an evil man because they were too afraid to stand up for what is right."

Cho Chang stood up and asked, "We're not allowed to be afraid now? What gives you the right to say that we are not allowed to be afraid?"

Harry shook his hand and said, "I'm not saying that you can not be afraid. It is within human nature to be afraid. I'm fearful every single day that one of my friends or their family members will be hurt or killed but I will be there to fight for them and not run away or turn evil just to save my life."

Cho sat back down in agreement to what Harry just said. Neville stood up and said, "I promise that I will do what I believe is right and I guess you know that I will go after them with everything ounce of strength left in me to defend the light."

Harry nodded as he remembered that Neville's parents were tortured into insanity because they were protecting Neville and refused to surrender to Deatheaters. He said, "I know that I can trust you Neville."

Everybody else expressed the same sentiment that they would fight and defend in what they believed to be right. Harry raised his hand for everybody to calm down and said, "If you ever want to leave than feel free to. We are not going to force any ideas on anybody else for we must practice tolerance for different beliefs. We must educate each other on the reasons why we believe what we do so everybody will understand what they're doing and the consequences of their actions."

Harry lifted the box off of the ground and placed on the table in front of him. He said, "If you still want to continue being a member of the DA than I will ask that you come up here to sign a new piece of parchment that will require your loyalty to the organization and not betray us. This does not bind you to our beliefs but you will not give away what we are learning here and what plans or actions that we may partake in."

He reached into the box and pulled out a simple watch and said, "This watch is made out of white gold, has a leather black band, charmed to run on magic, and always show the correct time. It is a simple analog watch that will also show you the date and day of the week." He paused and said, "The coins were too suspicious and many people would find it awkward that all of you were looking at your coins especially like what happened a few days ago in the Great Hall when I set the date and time. Therefore, I decided to go with a watch so it would look like you're just checking to see what time it is. These watches have other options on them to make it more useful."

Harry tapped the watch that he was holding with his holly wand to make the face of the watch as large as he was to show everybody. He said, "The face of the watch as you can see is white so that messages can be color coded. If there is a message than the watch will become warm to let you know what is happening, the message will scroll along the edge of the face of the watch." Harry pointed to the area between the outer rim of the watch and the diamond shaped ticks that marked the time.

He continued on by saying, "If the message is in black than it is not critical like the time and date of the next DA meeting and where we will meet just in case we have to move our meeting. If the message is in red than it is urgent like an attack is happening or will happen soon to alert you to be on your guard and to inform you on the location of the attack and time. If the message is green than it is a private message to the person wearing the watch like some kind of private issue needs to be resolved. Another feature on this watch is a distress and locator option. If you are in trouble than you just pull this knob out and leave it pulled out than my watch will be alerted to you being in trouble, find you, and send help."

The room was pleasantly surprised at the planning that went into setting up these watches and Hermione asked, "Are there any other features on the watches?"

Harry nodded and said, "There is one more feature which is more cosmetic and reduces suspicion than anything else but will be useful to many who like to coordinate their accessories to what they are wearing. This watch can change shapes and colors to what you would like by tapping it with your wand. I know this feature will be more useful to girls especially when they are getting dressed for some kind of occasion that requires a less conspicuous accessory."

This sparked the interests of many of the members especially Lavender and Parvati as they were looking at the watches as great accessories to play around with every day. Harry said, "If you want to continue your membership than come up, sign your name, get a watch, and you may leave unless there is anything anybody would like to say or talk to me in private."

Nobody said anything so a line formed as everybody walked up, signed their name, picked up their watch, and left. Many of the members, mostly girls, were playing with their watch to see what they could turn it into and the different colors that it would become.

After the last person left, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Ron, Ginny, and Kayla were all waiting for Harry before they all left. Hermione said, "That was a really good idea with the watches Harry."

Harry said, "Thanks, it was based on your idea."

Ginny asked, "What's up with those questions? I hope you're not trying to create an army to go against the Ministry and Dumbledore."

Harry replied, "I just want people to think about a few things before they have to make these decisions at the last minute or worse in the middle of a fight."

Ginny accepted his explanation and decided not to press the issue any further. The group made there way back to their private suite which now included Kayla as she became part of their inner circle.

When they made it back to their suite, Hermione and Ron headed off to do their Prefect rounds but many suspected that they went to go snog while Neville and Luna did their assignments on the table in their common room while Harry worked with Ginny and Kayla in trying to get the two of them ready for Durmstrang but Kayla seemed to already know these things so it was more of Harry and Kayla were working with Ginny. Ginny meanwhile only wanted to work with Harry and spend some alone time with him.

A/N: Now to answer all of my reviewers since my last post.

Nightwing 509: Thank you for your review and hope you like the DAs return

Ima Quidditch Fan: Thanks on the review and I hope that this makes you feel a bit more comfortable with Kayla.

Dancerrdw: I hope that this still gets your awesome approval and thanks for your review.

IamSiriusgrl: Thanks I hope you liked this chapter just as much.

Bobboky: Thank you and hopefully you liked this posting also. Don't we all wish we were as smooth as him?

Jbfritz: Thank you.

Bandgsecurtiyaw: Thank you.

HPandGWfan: Thank you and I'll try to keep you satisfied

Rivenn: Thank you and I guess I could tell you without harming the story. But later on it will be explained that the reason why he didn't tell them because it was his safe haven away from everything.

Unik: Thank you and hopefully I'll keep you as happy as it continues

Lonsome-love: Thank you and sorry they're not kissing yet. Still needs a bit more tension, yes I know its evil but hopefully it will make it better. Hopefully you like this chapter also.

Santa Claus: Thank you and I still think you're insightful. Sometimes I do feel like I'm forcing the internal dialogue but I thought they needed it to make the readers understand more. I'll try to work on improving that.

Cynthia1850: Thank you for the praise and I wish that I could just drop everything and write but I guess school and work are just as important.

Johnny Emo: I felt that I'm taking Harry's character a bit out of what JKR's synopsis but I felt the hero should be a bit more confident as he develops his ability. I will try to deny him things and this will most likely take place after Christmas. Ginny and Harry will get together soon so don't worry. I know how you feel about holding them off and its difficult for me not to throw them together but I need to hold it off so the story can work better. Oh and Neville did become more confident with a combination of a new wand, events of the DOM, and being close friends with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione.

Deathcanwait89: Thank you and the first challenge is arriving really soon so hang in there.