CHAPTER 25: The New Members

Harry suddenly realized that he was still in the Great Hall being watched by the whole school. He had been concentrating so intently on his duel that after the initial thoughts he had completely forgotten. And now, as he looked around, the whole school was screaming for him, everyone except the Slytherins of course. Harry's eye was caught by Blaise Zabini who gave him a small smile before going back to glaring. Samantha and Ryan Johnson followed suit. After the wards were down Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws came rushing up to both Harry and Neville, wringing their hands and offering compliments. Harry was pleased to see Neville receiving so much attention, he deserved it.

"Well done! We now have our sixth year champion! As a warning, during tomorrow's lunch we will have the fifth year finals between Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey." Harry almost broke out laughing. As good as Colin had gotten during the DA, he was no match for Ginny. "For now, however, I believe that the headmaster has an announcement to make." At this Dumbledore stood up and the Great Hall went silent.

"Today I am pleased to announce that this year we will be having a Christmas ball. It was brought to my attention that we have been frightfully ignorant of the holidays." He glanced at Breannan. "Madame Malkin has agreed to come and fit whoever needs new dress robes. She will be coming every weekend until the ball, dates will be posted in your house common rooms letting you know when she will be taking care of your grade. Now, I'm sure after that duel it will be quite difficult to return to class, so you may have the afternoon off." The crowd cheered almost as loudly as they did after the duel ended. Over the din, however, Harry heard Dumbledore's voice in the back of his head. I'd like to see you in my office for a moment, Harry. Harry looked up and nodded to the headmaster before making his way to the office.

Harry walked out of the Great Hall and walked a few steps down a deserted hallway. After making sure nobody was around he disapparated with a loud crack.

"You just can't help it, can you, Harry?" Remus asked when Harry appeared in his office. Harry just grinned. "I know that grin, Harry. Your father and Sirius had the same grin when they were doing something they knew they shouldn't be doing." Before Harry had time to answer Dumbledore walked into the office. He sat down behind the desk and looked at Harry, his blue eyes twinkling.

"I just hope you were more careful than your father was when he did something he wasn't supposed to be doing. He got caught more times than I can remember, he just knew I wasn't going to punish him." Harry smiled as he remembered his discussion with the headmaster the previous night. "I don't want to keep you too long, as their will probably be quite a celebration in Gryffindor Tower tonight. However I would like to discuss something with you." Harry waited for him to continue. "Your new members of my army-"

"I trust them. I used Legilimency and saw that they all hate Malfoy. I guess I could've been fooled but I think having a few trustworthy Slytherins with us is worth the risk of having a spy in the DA. Its not like we are doing anything terribly important as of yet."

"I couldn't agree more. All I wanted to say is that I believe you chose wisely. I wanted to ask you whether or not you are willing to admit them fully into your club yet. You could work with them separately for a while…"

"I could, but it would be a mistake. The longer I work with them behind my friend's back the more it will hurt them when they do find out." He said with a slight edge to his voice. "It'll also give them more of a chance to find out before I can say anything." Dumbledore smiled.

"I couldn't agree more, Harry. I see that Professor McClaggan was correct when he told me of your amazing ability to adapt and learn from your and other people's mistakes. Now get to your party, I have some things to discuss with your old Professor."

On the way to Gryffindor Tower Harry considered how he would break the news about the Slytherins to the rest of the DA. The problem was that having that many people know a secret is a liability. Harry didn't feel so angry at Dumbledore's choices anymore. He decided that he would tell his friends first, the people he knew he could trust. After the celebration was over he would take Ron, Hermione, Parvati, Neville, and Ginny aside and let them know. But first it was time for the party.

Without realizing it Harry's feet had carried him straight through the portrait hole, which had swung open at the sight of him. Harry wasn't sure if this was because of his special ability or because the Fat Lady was expecting him.

"Hiya, Harry!"

"Oh, Hey, Dennis." He mumbled as he brushed past the kid. All of a sudden Harry stopped and whirled around. "Do you know where Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Parvati are?" Dennis raised his eyebrows but recovered quickly.

"Yea!" He said excitedly, whipping his head in the direction of the empty couch. "Well, they were their a few minutes ago." He finished with a disappointed look.

"Thanks a lot, if you happen to see them can you ask them to come up into my dorm room?"

Harry sped up the stairs, leaving a slightly confused Dennis in his wake. He sat down on his bed and thought about the best way to broach the subject, but didn't get far before the door burst open and the group walked in.

"Watsup, mate?" Ron asked, a look of curiosity mingled with urgency in his eyes. Harry suddenly realized that the last time he called a secret meeting was to announce his plan about killing death eaters, he almost laughed.

"Nothing as important as last time." The five friends let out a sigh of relief. Harry broke into a grin. "What did you think I was going to tell you? That I was leaving to fight Voldemort one on one?"

"The thought had crossed our minds." Neville responded sheepishly, his gaze fixed on his feet.

"Well, I don't want to keep you guys much longer, Parvati and I have to make some plans for the ball," Parvati's head jerked up, she had a huge grin and her eyes seemed to grow as if she were about to say 'awwww'. "So I'll get right down to it. I've recruited three Slytherins to work with us in the DA." Harry looked around, waiting to get yelled at for his stupidity.

"That's a brilliant idea, Harry!" Hermione was the first to speak, and seeing that he got the idea from her he knew she would be happy.

"I don't know about that, mate," Ron murmered, his eyes darting around the room.

"Look at it this way, we aren't doing anything important aside from learning some spells, so the risk of having a spy in the DA is much less than the rewards for having three spies in the Slytherin common room. Also, I checked them out as…thoroughly as possible. I believe we can trust them."

"Who?"

"Samantha and Ryan Johnson, and Blaise Zabini."

"They don't seem like they sympathize with us, they never miss a chance to make fun of us!" Ron exclaimed, his ego had never really recovered from the 'Weasley is our King' incident.

"It's perfect actually. It would be too obvious if they acted like they liked us, they wouldn't exactly be trusted by other Slytherins, would they?" Ginny exclaimed, almost like a light went off in her head. The rest of the group fell into an awkward silence.

"Well, if there are no objections than I'll let the rest of the DA know. I have to start preparing for this Christmas ball, and Ginny has to duel tomorrow so everyone get out of my room." Harry watched everyone's faces as they looked up in surprise.

"Hey mate, you may be the boy-who-lived but this is our room too." Ron said with a smile. Harry tossed a pillow and hit him square in the face.

"Fine, you guys can stay here, Parvati and I will find somewhere else." Harry said mischievously before grabbing his girlfriend's hand and leading her out of the dormitory.

"Where are we going, Harry?"

"It's a surprise." He said with a smirk. "Let's just say I'm making up for the day I dueled Malfoy." Parvati broke into a huge grin.

Harry led the way out onto the grounds and towards the whomping willow. As he approached the tree Parvati held back. "Where are you going, Harry? I've heard that tree attacks people who get near it!" Harry gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and smiled.

"Trust me, I wouldn't let anything happen to you." He said softly. Parvati looked at him skeptically at first, but then submitted to following him. Harry stopped just outside the reach of the branches and reached for his wand. He aimed carefully for the knot in the trunk and shot sparks out of the end of his wand, the branches immediately stopped moving.

"Wow. How'd you know about this, Mr. Potter?" She asked, sounding impressed.

"That, Miss Patil, is a secret." He took her hand once more and led her into the secret passageway and into the shrieking shack. She looked around the room, her eyes lingering for a moment on the large, comfortable looking bed.

"This is incredible, where are we?" Harry had been waiting for her to ask this.

"You are now in the most haunted house in all of Britain." Parvati's eyes went wide with fear. She crept closer to Harry as she peered around the room.

"It's not actually haunted, Parvati. When Lupin came to school he had to come down here during the full moon, back in his day their was no wolfsbane potion. Come to think of it in his day this place wasn't nearly as well furnished, the only things in here were scratch marks." Parvati gasped. "So how would you like to go to the Christmas ball with me, Parvati?" The question took the girl by surprise, but she quickly recovered, giving Harry a kiss on the cheek. She didn't pull back all the way afterwards and whispered in his ear.

"I thought you would never ask. I need to talk to Madame Malkin about our dress robes though."

"You heard Dumbledore, she is going to come visit us. We'll see her when she comes." Parvati just sighed and shook her head.

"I like to do these things right, Harry Potter. I know Madame Malkin very well, I suspect I'm one of her best customers. I believe she will take a custom order from me."

"I don't have to try anything on, do I?" Harry asked nervously, Parvati just laughed.

"No, I know about what size you are, plus Madame Malkin will have your size on record from your last purchase." Harry thought about it for a second before just shrugging.

"Makes sense to me." Parvati smiled and leaned in close again.

"So now that we have that taken care of, there is still the matter of you making it up to me for not spending time with me after your duel with Malfoy." Harry just smiled, put his arms around her waist, and kissed her. They stood their kissing for a few minutes before laying down on the bed, seconds later they were holding onto each other in a peaceful sleep.