Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter 9
The New Army

It seemed that within minutes of Harry returning to the common room and explaining Dumbledore's idea for the new DA group, word had seemingly spread throughout the entire school. On Tuesday morning, Harry put up announcements around the school (although it seemed unnecessary considering it was all anyone could talk about). Dumbledore made a decision to limit the group to third years and up, which made a few of the younger students upset but seemed appropriate.

"This is going to be great Harry." Ron said as they settled in for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the new year. "We'll probably have a big advantage over everyone else after all the practice we got this summer."

"Your probably right Ron." Harry replied. "But that's not what's important. This will be a way to get more people interested and hopefully train them up in case Voldemort strikes." Ron's face fell momentarily. Harry thought that it was probably not because he mentioned Voldemort's name, (Ron seemed to be getting over that) but because Ron was always seemingly trying to find a way to stand out and hearing Harry trivialize it probably upset him.

"Of course your right Harry." Ron said a little deflated. Harry didn't mean to upset his friend so he thought he'd change the subject quickly to something that would cheer him up.

"So Ron, what are your ideas for the quidditch tryouts?" Harry asked. He knew this would catch Ron's attention.

"Right, I haven't been able to tell you yet." Ron said happily. "Well, I think the most important thing for us to do will be to test the chasers endurance so I was thinking we could."

"Hello class." Professor Altesterio said as he walked in the room. Immediately everyone turned their attention to him. Harry gave Ron a nod that told him they would discuss this later. Professor Altesterio went around the room and had everyone say their name and something about themselves so that he could get to know them better. The class was made up of students from all four houses since many students dropped the Dark Arts class or were unable to continue due to their scores on their OWL's. Harry noticed that there were not many Slytherins in the class. Although Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini were sitting together near the front of the room. It occurred to Harry that although each of them told the professor something about themselves, he did not tell them anything about himself.

"Well, now that we are through with the pleasantries," The professor started, "I am going to tell you what I expect from you in this class. This is going to be a mainly practical class. From time to time, I may ask you to research and write about a particular subject, but for the most part, your grade will be based on how well you learn and perform the things that I ask of you. Also, it would be a good idea for all of you to join the new DA dueling group that will hold it's first meeting tomorrow. I will be in charge of the group and although it is not mandatory for you to join, it will certainly help you to succeed in this class. Are there any questions?" No one, including Hermione raised their hand so the professor continued. "Good. Now the first thing that I want to cover is producing a Patronus. Now I know from talking to my.good friend professor Dumbledore that some of you can already do it, but I want to make sure everyone in the class is proficient at it."

Professor Altesterio went over how to perform the charm and then brought the students up one by one to practice it. Harry was very proud to see that everyone who was in the DA last year was able to produce some sort of patronus on their first try, although some were very weak. He was also happy to see that Malfoy was unable to produce more than a little silver mist. But by the end of the class, Harry noticed that more and more students were able to produce solid forms.

"All right." The professor said as class came to an end. "We will work on this some more at the DA meeting tomorrow night." With that the students began to leave. Harry found Hermione after class and they said goodbye to Ron as he headed to Divination and they made their way down to the Potions dungeon.

"Well this ought to be fun." Harry said sarcastically. "Not only am I going to have to do Occlumency with Snape, but I also have to go to potions four times a week."

"Harry, you have to learn Occlumency and Snape is the best person to teach you, and don't worry about potions, I will help you if you need it. But you have to learn to be more civil to Professor Snape. You know Dumbledore trusts him for a reason, and after all, he was right about your vision this summer." Hermione was starting to preach which was one thing that Harry couldn't stand.

"I know Hermione." Harry said with an angry tone. "But he doesn't have to be a bloody git all the time just because he didn't like my father and Sirius." Mentioning Sirius' name made Harry shudder. Snape had made a point to suggest that Harry was responsible for Sirius' death last time he saw him and Harry would never forget it. He may have to cooperate with Snape in order to accomplish the goals that he had, but he still didn't trust him. Hermione seemed to understand that this was a difficult thing for Harry to go through and didn't comment about it again.

They entered the dungeon and sat down at a table in the back as Snape swept into the room. The class basically consisted of Snape giving them a schedule of what they would be learning this year and then telling them to read the first chapter of their potions book quietly because they would be working on the potion in question in tomorrow's class. The potion described in the first chapter was a very complex invisibility potion. Harry began to read about it when Hermione leaned over and whispered to him.

"I almost forgot, we haven't even seen Hagrid yet since we've been back." Hermione said with a smile on her face. She had always had a special soft spot for Hagrid.

"Well, we have him in class next, so I expect we'll see him then." Harry Replied as he turned away from Hermione and saw Snape starring angrily at him.

"Potter, Granger, five points from Gryffindor for talking while you should be reading." Snape said in a very loud voice so that the whole class could follow along. "You especially Mr. Potter, can not afford to take any time away from your potions studying."

"Sorry Professor." Hermione said as she buried her head back into her book. Snape did not agknowledge her apology but instead kept his gaze fixed on Harry. Harry in turn, gazed back intensely.

"Mr. Potter, outside." Snape said as he turned around in a flash and made his way to the door. Harry followed him out, but made sure to not go to quickly as he didn't want Snape to think that he was intimidated. After Snape closed the door and they were seemingly alone in the hallway he spoke.

"We will be starting Occlumency lessons again on Monday night after dinner." Snape said in a fairly civil tone. "I expect you to put forth your best effort at all times. People are not putting their lives on the line so that you can get yourself or others killed." When Harry looked back on this conversation later, there were plenty of things that he would have liked to say to Snape, but at the time all he could do is nod. Thinking about Sirius dying to keep him safe was always a terrible thing to replay in his head and Snape always seem to bring back those bad memories.

The rest of the day Harry was very on edge. The only image that he could see was Sirius falling through the veil over and over again. He even briefly yelled at Hermione for getting points taken away from Gryffindor for engaging him in conversation in Snape's class, but he apologized shortly thereafter and she accepted it. Hagrid's class seemed to go on forever. Probably because Harry was not really paying much attention. After class, Hagrid asked Ron, Hermione, and Harry if they wanted to stay at his hut for some tea but Harry didn't feel much like it so he asked Hagrid if they could reschedule for the weekend and he was understanding. Ron and Hermione decided that they would also take a rain check and they followed Harry back to Gryffindor tower.

"You all right Harry?" Ron clearly did not want to ask this question but Hermione probably convinced him.

"I'm alright." Harry replied. He didn't talk much the rest of the night and Ron and Hermione let him be. He went to bed early and fell asleep trying to get the image of Sirius out of his head.

In his dreams Harry saw the back of a man talking to hundreds of people who were all listening intently to what he had to say. He couldn't see clearly enough where they were or who they were, but the prickling in his scar told him that it was probably Voldemort. The pain had woken him up and he thought momentarily that he should go straight to Dumbledore but instead drifted back to sleep.

The next morning Harry woke up to Neville knocking over a glass, which shattered all over the place. Harry and Ron, who were the last to wake up, both sprang out of bed.

"Uh sorry." Neville said as Seamus came over and did a simple spell that sent all the tiny pieces back together. Harry didn't feel all that tired and was able to climb out of bad rather easily.

"Hey Harry." Ron said in with a very excited tone in his voice. "New DA meeting today." Harry had almost forgot about it and was very happy when Ron brought it up. He was anxious to see what things Professor Altesterio had in store for them. They talked all day about what sorts of things the professor would teach them. The whole school was buzzing and the classes seemed to fly by that day. Well except for potions, which seemed to drag on no matter what the circumstances. After dinner, all the house tables and the chairs were vanished and the people who wanted to join stayed in the Great Hall waiting for Professor Altesterio to arrive. While looking around, Harry noticed that there was somewhere around a hundred people. There were definitely people from all four houses, including Malfoy and Zabini from Slytherin.

"Alright listen up." Professor Altesterio said as he entered the room. "He was speaking into his wand which in turn projected his voice loudly through the Great Hall. "The first thing I want is for you to break up into two groups. All the third and fourth year students go to the left side of the room and all the fifth, sixth and seventh year students go to the right side of the room." Everyone did as they were told and it seemed that there were only about fifteen or twenty third and fourth year students. Harry was glad to see that every sixth year Gryffindor was present. For his first meeting, the professor again concentrated on teaching how to deliver a Patronus. He worked with the third and fourth year students and asked Harry to go around and help the fifth, sixth and seventh year students. The meeting lasted about two hours and by the end it seemed that almost every student fifth year and up were able to produce a solid Patronus including Malfoy who looked very smug when a large python shot out of his wand. The professor assured everyone that next week they would be learning multiple spells that will be very useful in a duel and then dismissed the meeting. When they got back to the common room, Ron and Harry settled in to a game of chess and Ron finally got to tell Harry his plan for the quidditch tryouts.

"Wait, before you tell me, we should get the rest of the team here." Harry said as he looked around the room. He spotted Ginny studying on a couch in front of the fireplace. "Why don't you go upstairs and see if you can find Sloper and Kirke and I'll go tell Ginny." Harry saw Ron quickly maneuver the stairs as he headed over to get Ginny.

"Hem hem." Harry cleared his throat as he stood in front of Ginny.

"Can I help you, Captain Potter?" Ginny said with a sly little smile.

"Actually you can." Harry replied. "We are going to have a quidditch meeting right now to discuss tryouts and I want everyone on the team there."

"And what if I say I'm too busy right now." She replied starring at him now with a very straight face.

"Well than how does the position of back up beater sound to you?" He couldn't help but smile when he said this and she returned a smile to him as she got up and began to walk to the other side of the room where Ron had returned with the two beaters.

Ron explained that he wanted to give those who were trying out a thorough endurance test. He figured that since Harry was the best seeker in the school, the best strategy would be to outlast the other teams. If they could wear the other team down than they could rack up as many points as they could and Harry could hold off catching the snitch as long as he could. The team agreed that it was a good strategy and when Friday rolled around, there were no less than fifteen people out on the quidditch pitch vying for the two open chaser positions. Ron and Harry set up drills for them to do including doing three laps around the pitch and then attempting ten shots on Ron. When it was all said and done the tryouts lasted for over five hours and there were two people that clearly stood out among the rest.

Harry was happy to see that Dean Thomas was as good as Seamus suggested. He had extraordinary endurance and was able to score on Ron a few times, which was a task that not many of the participants accomplished. The other person was Geoffrey Hooper who was in Ginny's year. Harry remembered that he had tried out for keeper last year and nearly made it over Ron except for the fact that Angelina felt he was a bit of a whiner. But, Harry could not deny that he had played very well. He actually got the quaffle past Ron five out of ten times which was very impressive.

At the end of tryouts Harry announced the two new members of the team and three alternates including Sara Zedmore who was incredibly fast and small with great reflexes. She was only a second year and Harry could see that she would make a great seeker someday. He privately thought to himself that he would work with her personally at practice. He then addressed his new team and told them that he expected them all to work extremely hard, because this year they were going to win the cup by a long shot. The whole team cheered and hollered and they all began to walk back to the castle full of positive energy, until Neville came running out of the castle screaming for Harry.

"Calm down Neville, what is it?" Harry said as Neville tried to catch his breath.

"I'm, I'm not sure." Neville replied. But Professor McGonagall needs to see you right away. Something's happened to Dumbledore.