First, I would like to apologise for the exceedingly short chapter, but I can tell you that chapter twenty-two is eighteen pages, so hopefully that should make up for the shorter chapters that I have recently been putting up.
Prongs Rides Again
Chapter Twenty: The First Meeting
The first meeting of the DA club soon approached. With James' guidance and help, Harry, Ron and Hermione succeeded in informing everyone who was interested in the D.A club. James and Harry had spent the last few nights going over a list of spells and hexes that the students should learn about.
At seven-o-clock on the night of the first meeting, James left Sirius alone in his quarters, and proceeded to the seventh floor. He met with Harry, Ron and Hermione as he walked up the stairs. He flashed a grin.
Reaching the stretch of wall where the Room of Requirement was, Harry stepped forward and began pacing, his hand on his chin, and eyes squeezed shut as he concentrated on the place that he wanted the room to provide.
James kept his fingers cross, wishing that it would turn out all right. The door appeared and Harry exchanged glances with his father before summoning up the courage to step forward and see what was inside.
Placing his fingers on the handle he turned it and stepped inside.
James followed, holding his breath.
It had worked.
The room had transformed. There was enough room to practice, and what was more, was the fact that the room was very spacious, with enough room to manoeuvre and practice the spells that he and Harry had gone over only the night before.
"It certainly fits what we need." Hermione pointed out, picking up a Sneakoscope, which was laying on a cabinet with various other instruments that dealt with the Dark Arts.
James agreed. "Definitely. There is more then enough room, and all of these books will help us to."
Harry walked up to the bookcase that lined the walls. He frowned, reading the titles. Picking one up, he brushed the dust from the cover and read the title aloud: "'How to Defend When Darkness Blocks Your Path' by Kacey Gorgan."
"Who'd write a book about that?" Ron asked, dumbfounded by the obscure title.
"Kacey Gorgan was a respected writer in the fifteen hundreds." James said, remembering Remus' history notes from sixth year. "You haven't learnt about her yet. You will, only if you take History of Magic for N.E.W.T. Moony did which is why I remember it. I had to test him before the end of year exams and he told me a lot about Kacey Gorgan and her amazing life."
"What exactly does the book entail?" Harry asked.
"I've never read it but my guess would be is how to defend oneself when faced with a dark wizard. That is what the title implies." James answered.
Harry shrugged and put the book back on its shelf. As he did so there was a knock on the door and it opened, admitting Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati and Dean.
"Whoa!" Dean said, amazement in his eyes as he took in the practice area. "This place is amazing!"
More people arrived before anyone could answer and soon the whole room had filled up with the required students that had wanted to attend.
James remained unnoticed, standing comfortably in the corner, watching and waiting.
Harry began to explain the process of what they would go through, listing the various spells and jinxes they would be working on.
Hermione raised her hand, mid-way through Harry's speech, asking him about electing a leader (which everyone agreed Harry should be) and then she asked about a name for the club, in which resorted in a debate of names being called out from different people.
"Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina asked.
"What about the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" Fred suggested.
It was a pretty, young Ravenclaw who picked the winning name.
"The Defence Association?" Cho asked. "Only the DA for short, so nobody knows what we are talking about?"
Ginny agreed. "Yeah, the DA's good. But lets make it stand for Dumbledore's Army instead, as that is what the Ministry fears the most, right?"
Laughter echoed round the room, and James grinned slightly, appreciating the irony.
"What do you think, dad?" Harry asked, turning to James. "The DA good?"
James stepped forward so that the students could see him properly. Silence reigned. None of them had even noticed his presence. Horror seemed to be written across their faces.
"You let a Professor know?" Zacharias Smith demanded.
"He isn't just any Professor." Harry growled. "He is my dad!"
James swallowed. "I think this club is a good idea. I support it. I was the one who told Harry where this place is. I'm not going to run off and snitch on you lot. You need a good defense education. I am here to make sure you do it right and to aid any of you in any help that you may need. You're fighting for a cause: to help defeat Voldemort, the one Wizard who took away the love of my life. My Lily. Why would I aid the Ministry when they won't even believe what I say? They won't even believe in what my son says, so why would they believe me?"
"Because you were once a famous Wizard." A Hufflepuff answered.
James shook his head. "Once a famous Wizard. No more. All I am is a disillusioned man who believes he is James Potter. If I am not James Potter where did I get those memories from? I know you have doubts over me, but I am who I say I am. I never lie. I don't want to hurt the people I care most about."
"I believe you." Neville Longbottom ventured.
Gradually the room filled with people's answers. Even though it was impossible that someone could come back to life, the students were willing to believe it. James' voice had convinced them of that. No man would have so much emotion if they didn't care, and anyone could see that James held so much bottled up inside him, it was impossible to dismiss his claims. Though they had never known him, they were willing to believe, and it was this that James felt hope blossoming inside him. If he could convince fifteen year olds, it was possible he could redeem himself in front of the Wizarding World.
It gave him something to work towards.
He smiled. "I do agree with name of the club. Dumbledore's Army is acceptable."
Hermione beamed and passed the motion. She wrote it at the top of a piece of paper.
Harry clapped his hands and began the first lesson of the DA.
It was nine-o-clock before the DA members made there way back to their common rooms. James had kept an eye on the time, knowing full well that if they ran over, they could be caught by Filch and punished. If that happened, it was likely that Umbridge would suspect something was going on.
Once everyone was gone James turned to Harry. "Congratulations. You did a great job, especially teaching them how to cast the Disarming Spell properly."
Harry blushed. It was not everyday that his father praised him. "Thanks dad, but you know, I have found that spell quite useful in the past."
"So have I and so has your mother." James remembered. "A simple, but rather effective spell. If you know how to use it properly, you should have no properly fighting Voldemort. If you can disarm him, it will work well in your favour. Only if you can disarm him though. It's pretty hard, but if you get the aim right, you should be able to do it."
"We'd better go," Hermione said glancing at her watch.
"Right." Harry nodded.
Gathering the Marauders Map he checked it to make sure there was no teachers around and then with Ron and Hermione exited the room and went back to Gryffindor Tower.
James took one last glance round the room, and then he too, left, and headed back to his rooms.
TBC
I hope that wasn't too disappointing…I'm not entirely sure about this chapter. Can I improve it in anyway?
Thank you's go to the following people: Padfoot's Sidekick; ambereyes2873; thinkingpink; none; spiritualfantasy (yes, I live in the UK); RainingInsanity; MonkeytoMan; Frisbee400; Eric2; PrincessSkywalkerOrgana; xLaceMeWithWindx; Loonie Potter; prongspadfoot2003; Dark Angel's Blue Fire; emuerz; faeriekittie306 animielover; Lilac; Jb; Sirius-Black-SFan; supernova8610; HarryxJames; shadow08; MarauderKid; School-of-Rock101; IamSiriusgrl; Inumaru12; Daftlilme; Padfoot Reincarnated; Crazy-Physco; Suicidal Bunnies; missy mee; zippyfox; Lunatic Pandora1; Pure Black; RoschLupin-Black; queen-of-monkey-magic; shannyauburn; The Munchkin; RSegovia; Jojo;
realpyromaniac: I live in the UK. Thanks for the review!
RSegovia: It's okay about your nitpicks. It gives me something to think about, however I am changing my opinion about James and Sirius not playing Pranks. They are there to protect Harry, not to have fun. They are now grownups and have responsibilities, and I just don't see them doing that. They will play some pranks in the future…I can promise you that. It just won't happen yet. Thank you for your reviews.
magicgirl45852: Well, this chapter was shorter, but chapter 22 is longer, much longer, and I'm working on making chapter 23 long as well. Hopefully I will get back to my normal length for chapters in the near future. With updates, it will be once a week at least until the start of the summer holidays (which for me start around July 23rd, as I live in the UK, that is when our schools break up). Hopefully (fingers crossed) I should be able to update twice a week from August. Thanks for the review!
littlewolf-moony: No…I don't think your that bad. The personality test was wrong. I see you more as a Ron/Harry person based on your reviews. When I took a Marauder HP test it came up with Wormtail, and then Padfoot! So, who am I? Don't feel too scared about your exams for next year. I've got mine in a few weeks and they determine whether I can stay on the courses that I am studying, but then I am dropping them to take up something else, so really, what exactly is the point of me taking these exams if I'm dropping the subjects? Very odd but I suppose I should complete half the course. Heh, heh.
amrawo: I think the no original works means that if you have created everything in that story, eg. Characters, places, situations then you are not allowed to put it on the site, as it is not fanfiction. The other fanfiction site is for that stuff. An example of original fiction would be Harry Potter when it was first released. It was new; different and original, based on many other ideas put together. What we as authors are doing, is fanfiction, expanding on the world that Rowling created for us. That, what I believe, is what original and fanfiction writings entail.
HarrysGrrl: You read my SPOILER? For shame on you…oh well…I don't mind. There are certain plot points that I don't mind giving away, but others I can't. As I am roughly following the OOTP plot, Harry and Hermione will lead Umbridge into the forest, however James will not be with them, so I won't add this part into the story. You'll hear about it but not read it. Only the scenes with James in are rewritten to be incorporated into the story.
Lady Taliesin: Yeah! You reviewed! Good thing I checked my emails before posting this chapter! I'll see if I can draw a picture of you and Remus together…don't know where I'll scan it in though…might take a while, but I'll give it a shot. I'll have a look for those stories on that site. Yep, Umbridge knows about the DA even before it's started, but then she did in the book, but didn't act upon it. Or that's what I got from it. Eh. You really don't like that ferret do you? But then Malfoy is good as a Ferret. I wonder if that is what his Animagus form would be? Yep, Blair won the election again! ARRRGH! I was just a few months too young to vote. Oh well, next time I will be able to vote. And yes, I will read your story. Just send it along. I am not busy…save for writing this story and playing on my PS2 with my new Star Wars Episode 3 game which I've sort of nearly completed. I'm kind of a bit on the dark side now (I'm more into Star Wars at the moment, but HP is not far behind). Thanks for the review!
Thank you for all the wonderful reviews!
Next chapter: The Unfair Punishment - in which Harry play Quidditch and Umbridge delivers a punishment to Harry and the twins…coming, hopefully next weekend!
Bye for now,
MissBlackPotter