Harry, Ron, and Kelly got to the Room of Requirement early the next day. He thought he'd got word around to everyone that he had something important to say to them, and that if they could they should come fifteen minutes early.

Sure enough, most of the D.A. was there at seven forty-five, the few exceptions arriving just a few minutes later.

Harry took a deep breath once everyone was seated. He looked around, hoping this would go around well. "As some of you know, there was a ransom note sent to Dumbledore regarding Hermione Granger."

Some people looked interested while others gave nods of acknowledgement; apparently not everyone knew.

"If I don't go to the Bryth, Hermione will die," Harry said shortly.

Those who hadn't known gasped in horror, and Ginny breathed, "Hermione!"

"If I go, of which I'm planning to do, the probability that I'll come back, or that Hermione will come back, is slim to none."

Some nodded in agreement, others stared dumbfounded.

"We've all been in this since the last year, with that foul Umbridge toad. At the end of last year, five others had the misfortune of going with me into the Department of Mysteries--"

"It wasn't a mistake!" Neville interrupted. "I don't regret it one bit!"

Harry gave a wary smile. "Allow me to rephrase myself. Some of you came with me into the Department of Mysteries last year when I was lured there on wrong terms. Now, if you are willing, I ask you all to come with me to Bryth. You are not forced to, but if you are willing, any help would be acknowledged. We would rather like to get out of this alive, but that's just our preference."

Some gave small smiles at this. Ron, Kelly, Ginny, Luna, and Neville all abruptly stood up.

"We're with you, Harry," Ginny announced.

"We're coming, whether we get out alive or not," Ron agreed.

"You can count on us," said Neville.

"When do we leave?" Luna asked, though sounding like she didn't really care much.

"We'll be there, we'll help you fight this battle. Hermione will come out alive, I promise you," Kelly said.

"I'm coming too," Parvati said shakily, standing up as well.

"If Parvati's going, I suppose I'll go," Padma said, standing up too.

"Well, I'm not going to be the only sixth year girl staying behind!" Lavender announced, standing bolt upright.

"We'll come, too, if you'll let us." Michael Corner, Terry Boot, and Anthony Goldstein stood. They looked accusingly at Cho and the other Ravenclaws.

"Well? What will they do without us? We're the smart ones; without us they'll die!" Terry exclaimed. He winked at Harry so that Cho couldn't see it.

Cho stood next. "I'll be there."

Ernie stood up. "A chance to do something real!"

Ernie made Hannah stand. "Oh… I guess… but if I don't come out alive, Ernie, I'm coming back to haunt you!"

Slowly, one by one, the entire remainder of the D.A. had stood, some forced by friends, others on their own free will. Zacharias Smith was the last to stand, but then shrugged and stood (he tried not to let anyone see that Ernie was forcing him to stand up).

"Thanks," Harry said quietly. "Thank you all. It means a lot."

"After that exciting adventure at the Ministry, do you think we'd let you go on another without us?" Ginny asked him, smiling.

Harry smiled back. "Of course not."

"So when are we leaving?" Luna asked again, though still sounding like she could care less.

"Friday the thirteenth," Harry said. Some people sat back down again, though they were forced back up by their neighbors.

"Oh, what a splendid day, what a lovely day indeed, to go on a search for VOLDEMORT!" Zacharias Smith said loudly.

"What a lovely day indeed," Cho echoed.

"Don't tell me you believe Trelawney's nonsense?" Ron asked.

No one answered.

"Oh, please!" Kelly said. "How many times has that woman been right about anything? Only TWICE in the thousands of 'prophecies' she's made, only TWICE has she been right! If you hear her saying anything in her misty 'I-wish-I-was-my-great-grandma' voice, DON'T BELIEVE HER!"

There was silence after this, but then Michael Goldstein spoke up. "She's got a point… she once told me that my aunt had just won the muggle lottery… turns out my aunt was the one who was paying the git who won…."

"Yeah… and, I mean, she told me once that I was going to get pink bunny slippers for Christmas, and I haven't yet to this day gotten pink bunny slippers!" Ernie exclaimed.

Silence met this.

"I mean… it'd have been for my little sis, ya know…" Ernie said.

Some people looked relieved at this, but Harry heard Hannah whisper to Cho that Ernie didn't have a younger sister.

"Right… well, then I guess we'd better start learning to block a couple things, instead of always casting them. I'm sure you can do all right when you cast them, but… well, I know a lot of the curses they throw at us won't be blockable," Harry admitted. Several shivers ran down the room as the Unforgivable curses ran through people's minds. "But we have to learn to block some of them. First, I want you all to just show me a simple Repelling Charm…."

And so it went. It turned out that Neville's had been the best of them all, since Hermione wasn't there. Susan Bones had a little trouble, and Hannah somehow hit Cho with a Stunning Spell, though Harry brought her back to consciousness.

"Okay… well… there is one kind of spell I want to practice on… but…." Harry stopped.

"What?" Terry asked.

"Well, it's an Unforgivable. Some of you have had experience with it when Moody was here, but I want everyone to be able to throw it off. I'll see if I can't do anything about that. Would that be all right if I could fix it up, practicing to repel the Imperius Curse?" Harry asked.

Several people looked scared, but all nodded their heads without their neighbors help.

"Okay," Harry said, "well, then let's try another spell. Neville, come up here and help me. You remember when Lupin used it on you at the Department of Mysteries?"

Neville carefully stepped up and nodded, thinking he knew what Harry was talking about.

"Well, first I'm going to make Neville's feet go crazy, so if you're close by, watch out. This next spell can come in handy at times." Harry pointed his wand at Neville's feet. "Tarantallegra!"

Neville's feet started zooming wildly.

"With this little spell, you can make most minor jinxes like this one stop." Harry pointed his wand at Neville's feet again. "Finite!"

Neville's feet stopped at once.

"Okay, now I want you all to get into pairs and try that out…."

Neville, miraculously, was not the last picked this time, since he seemed to have done it already. The last person picked was Cho.

Cho blushed a little as they approached. "So… what was the counter curse again?"

"Finite," Harry said, accidentally making Anthony Goldstein stop laughing before Terry could say the counter curse.

"Harry!" Terry scolded before shouting "Rictusempra!" again.

"Tarantallegra!" Cho said, and Harry's feet started dancing uncontrollably. She giggled and said, "Finite!"

Harry's feet kept dancing.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm not good at this… Finite, finite, finite!" Cho exclaimed, jabbing her wand at Harry each time she said it.

"No, not like--" Harry flew backwards, crashing into many other D.A. members in the process.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Harry, I didn't mean to!" Cho exclaimed, rushing over. "I told you I was no good at this!"

At least his feet had stopped dancing, Harry thought dully as he stood. "It's okay. I didn't expect you to. But you're doing it wrong; it's not a jab like that, it's a kind of wave…"

When Cho had finally got the wand movement down, he asked her to join Ron and Kelly while he went around the room.

Many people seemed to have made Cho's mistake in a jab rather than a wave. Harry politely corrected them and went around, though he corrected Colin and Dennis four times before they got it right. He tried to go by each person a fair number of times, but could have sworn his feet were taking him toward Kelly, Ron, and Cho a little too often. He grinned a little as Kelly gave Cho many mistrustful looks. Indeed, in the end, it was Cho and Kelly hexing each other while Ron got all the practice with the new spell, trying to get them to lay off each other.

Harry blew the whistle that he always kept on the shelf of books. Kelly hexed Cho one last time and looked up innocently while Ron rolled his eyes and said "finite" with less vigor than he had at the beginning.

"Good job, everyone, I think you're getting the hang of it." Harry tried not to look too pointedly at the Creevey's. "It's almost nine thirty, though, so we'd better get going."

Using the Marauder's Map as he always did, Harry led them out pair by pair, making sure they all got to their destinations. Finally it was just Kelly, Ron, and himself in the Room of Requirement, Kelly looking livid (Cho had given Kelly a last, hateful glance before she walked out).

"That was an excellent lesson, Harry," Ron congratulated, frowning; before Cho had come in, Kelly had refused to make him stop laughing for two minutes.

"Yes, fantastic," Kelly agreed through her teeth.

"I take you and Cho are still getting along good?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"Just dandy," Kelly said stiffly.

Harry and Ron refrained from making eye contact until they had reached the common room.

"I'm gonna go to bed," Kelly said when they entered. "I'm not much for staying up tonight. Maybe I'll help Hermione with her stupid elf hats…." Kelly yawned. "She'll be so worried about being behind…."

She walked upstairs after biding them goodnight.

"So…" Ron said as he and Harry sat down.

"So…" Harry echoed.

"Whatcha think about think about tonight? With the D.A., I mean," Ron asked.

Harry thought. "Well, I'm really glad to have the D.A. coming with me. We'd be slaughtered otherwise. The way the Bryth sounds…"

"Oh, don't listen to what everyone says about it," Ron said.

"Why?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Because it's worse than everyone says," Ron answered.

"Oh that's helpful." It occurred to Harry what Ron's statement meant. "Wait… how d'you know?"

"Bill," Ron said vaguely.

"What about Bill?" Harry asked.

"He told me."

"He told you--"

"He's been there, just on work for the goblins, he said. Told me a little about it. And Harry, from what he said, it's a lot worse than people make out. You have to been there to know. The look on Bill's face when he told me…." Ron trailed off.

"What was it like?" Harry pressed quietly.

Ron looked at him, a slight look of fear in his eyes. "I've never seen Bill like that before. He's all tough, like Charlie; you don't expect them to show fear. But Harry, he did, and I don't ever want to see anyone look like that again." Ron shuddered and went quiet.

"It's that bad, huh?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, it is," said Ron.

"Wanna give me a heads up on what we're gonna encounter?"

And so for the next half hour to hour, Ron elaborated on everything he could remember Bill telling him. Harry went to bed that night shuddering. It was a good thing he'd asked the D.A. to come--Voldemort sounded like the least of their problems. Goblins, hags, trolls, giants, mutated humans, a few dementors were rumored, the shopkeeper was said to have a pet Nundu in the back if anyone he didn't like came around, and the building itself had tricks and traps all over the place. The safest place was the ground floor, where all you had to worry about was a wild Nundu and a lot of shady characters. Harry lay awake for hours pondering such things, and finally went to sleep dreaming about Hermione being eaten by a troll.