DA 2.0
Professor McGonagall was quite surprised when not only Albus, Roy and Julian, but also Harry and Ginny got out of the fireplace in her office. While Albus was sent off to get Orpheus, Arabella and Ares, Harry explained the situation to her in a rough outline. The old professor was shocked to hear that Harry had just been fired by his best friend and listened closely when he told her about Sulphangel's book and explained what he was planning to do.
His explanations were only briefly interrupted when Albus came in with the other three. When Roy told them that Albus would now be part of the group, they were astonished, but raised no objections. Even Ares, who was obviously not very pleased, remained silent.
"You are aware of what you are expecting me to put up with, Harry?" asked McGonagall after Harry had finished. "You want me to deliberately allow Hogwarts students to put themselves in danger?"
"I wouldn't suggest it if I could see any other way," Harry replied. "The one trace leading to the Aurors I can and must pursue alone but finding Rodolphus Lestrange or identifying a Dark wizard among former Death Eaters is something only Slytherins can do. It would be different if I could still use the Aurors, but that's gone."
"I get your point, Harry. But you do realise that this is a dangerous mission?"
"I will prepare them thoroughly for this mission."
McGonagall looked at him thoughtfully, then said:
"All right. If you grant me that, I agree. I guess there's no other way. However, as Headmistress I have to set one condition: The performance of the students must not suffer from it. All of you," she turned to the students, "will not miss a single lesson and you will do your homework. And just as a precaution, I point out that I reserve the right to grant you permission to leave Hogwarts on a case-by-case basis, or not, and that I want to know where you are heading if necessary. If you leave Hogwarts without my permission, you will have to face serious consequences. The same applies if you misuse my permission to make investigations to have a night on the town in London or elsewhere. And believe me, I'll find out. Did I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Professor, you did," the six answered simultaneously. Minerva McGonagall was not someone to argue with.
Albus cleared his throat: "Excuse me if I ask something stupid, but what is actually so dangerous about it? We're not doing anything forbidden, are we?"
"There are no stupid questions," his father replied. "What is dangerous about this is that it is almost impossible to carry out such investigations without the unknown person to whom they apply getting wind of it. Perhaps he himself is one of the Death Eaters to be questioned. Maybe one of these informants will betray you to the Ministry or is in cahoots with the unknown target person. In any case, we assume that this unknown wizard is controlling Hermione, and this means that he has all the power of the Ministry on his side. From now on, we have to expect to be spied on and observed. Hermione wanting to hand over the Auror Department to Susan Bones, of all people, is a very bad sign."
"You always got on well with her, didn't you?" objected McGonagall.
"Personally, I like her," Harry admitted. "But since Hermione became Minister and Susan Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, we have clashed more and more often because she considers my policy too lax. When it comes to hunting so-called or even Death Eaters, she disregards the law even more unscrupulously than Hermione does. And that's saying something."
"She's afraid of them," McGonagall objected. "The Death Eaters killed virtually her entire family."
"And mine they didn't kill?" asked Harry, slightly piqued. "Well, everyone is different and has their own way of dealing with such things. – In any case," he picked the subject again and turned to the Slytherins, "we will erase the Trace the Ministry has put on you, so that you can do magic outside of Hogwarts, especially Apparate and Disapparate, without the Ministry noticing. Because we have to assume that the Floo Network is being monitored, so you can't travel through the fireplace. Apparating is the first thing you have to learn."
"I already learned it," said Ares, who was seventeen and had taken his exams in early summer. "And there is at least one former Death Eater we can question right now, namely my dad. He would never snitch on us to the Ministry, and he doesn't want at all to have anything to do with that kind of thing. He's happy if the Ministry leaves him alone," he said to Harry, not without a certain insinuating undertone, "but he still has good contacts with his old comrades, as far as they are still alive and not in Azkaban. If he doesn't know himself, at least he could give us tips on who might know."
"Good," Harry said, thinking silently: Good that I don't have to ask the old scumbag for a favour myself. For that alone, the alliance with the Incorruptibles is worthwhile. Then he continued:
"Well, I think you should go and see him next weekend, preferably with Julian, after all, it's also about the fate of his grandfather, among other things. You can Apparate side along. Do you agree, Professor?"
"Of course I do," the Headmistress answered.
"Great," said Ares, "then I'll send him an owl."
"You won't! First rule of any conspiratorial activity: Never leave anything in writing. You don't write letters, and if there's something you must not forget, you don't write it down, but memorise it."
"And if I don't meet my father at home?" asked Ares.
"Then try as many times as you need until you do. Never tell anyone in advance that you are going to see him unless it is absolutely necessary. But now to our training programme: First of all you learn to Apparate ..."
"Am I going to learn that too?" asked Albus, his eyes wide.
"You will learn everything the others do. Just don't be disappointed if there are some things you don't master at your age. And just to avoid any misunderstanding, my son: Even if you can Apparate, you won't leave Hogwarts! You leave the research outside to your older friends. You got that?"
Harry had asked the last question with great emphasis.
Albus swallowed. "Yes, of course. It's perfectly clear."
"Apart from that, you will have to learn a lot of things that you haven't had in class yet and some of which you will never have: Conjuring Spell, Invisibility Spell, Patronus ..."
"The Unforgivables too?", Ares demanded.
Harry hesitated, then said: "Not the Unforgivables. Cruciatus and Killing Curse are out of the question anyway, and the Imperius is sometimes quite useful, but belongs to Dark Magic too, harming the one who uses it almost as much as the one it is cast to. However, what you will learn is the defence of the Unforgivables."
He saw Ginny smile. "What's so funny about that?" he asked.
"So there are DA lessons again?" she asked.
Now he was grinning too. "Yes, there are."
"In this case I want to take part in them too, I think there are a few things I need to brush up."
Harry hesitated. "We are under pressure of time and will have to meet here at least three times a week in the evenings. But I wouldn't like to leave Lily at home alone. Not in this situation. I don't want to come home one day and ..." He broke off.
"My parents will be delighted to have her with them three times a week," Ginny said.
"Hermione will also be delighted to hear that we need a babysitter three times a week," Harry replied dryly. "She'll wonder why and charge Susan to find out. Anyway, it is possible that our house is being observed."
Ginny swallowed. It was hard for her to get used to the fact that Hermione was now their opponent.
"On the other hand, you're right," said Harry. "Indeed, you need to brush up on your magic skills. We will practise together at home."
"When do we meet?", asked Julian. "I'll have to align Quidditch training times with that."
"Is Monday, Wednesday and Friday at seven o'clock in the evening in your special room possible?"
They all nodded.
"You will have dinner before. Never leave the Great Hall all together and make sure no one is following you. Well. Then I have something for you now, Albus," he turned to his son. He drew the Marauder's Map out of his robe. "This is yours now. I'm afraid you will need it. You remember how it works?"
"Sure," Albus said. Often enough he had played with the map.
"And this." He gave his son the Invisibility Cloak.
A little incredulously, Albus asked: "But Dad, don't you need that yourself?"
"I can help myself with an Invisibility Spell, but I don't know if you will already be able to learn it, so you'd better take the cloak."
Albus gazed in awe at the map and the cloak. He knew what these objects meant to his father. They were sanctuaries for they connected him to his father James. And to him, Albus, he entrusted them!
"One more thing," Harry said. "No one must know you have them because I don't want to explain to anyone why you have them."
"You don't want James to know?"
"Above all, I don't want Hermione to know, and everything the Gryffindors get wind of will sooner or later end up on her desk. Therefore, no one, again: no one, outside this group must know, not even your friends."
"Okay," Albus said. "And if any of the Incorruptibles need the cloak or the map, may I give it to them?"
"That's up to you then. I've no problem with it."
Professor McGonagall had meanwhile opened a vitrine, taken a vial from it and now handed it to Roy. "This one is for you."
"What's that?" asked Roy, puzzled.
"Polyjuice," replied McGonagall, sounding as if it were a matter of course. "You know you can use it to get transformed into any other person. I rely on you not to do nonsense with it. I'll brew another kettle, but that will take about a month."
"All right, I guess we're done for the day," Harry said after no one said anything else. His gaze met Ginny's.
"Who would have imagined," he said to her, smiling sadly, "that I would have to be up against the Ministry again? And my forces consist of nothing but half a dozen Hogwarts students."
He sighed. "Slytherins at that! ... No, that's not what I meant!" he shouted hastily as he became aware of the indignant looks of the Incorruptibles, including Albus. "It's just so unfamiliar to suddenly be in the same boat with a group of Slytherins!"
"Indeed it is, but it confirms a fundamental Hogwarts law," said a familiar friendly voice behind him. Harry wheeled around. Professor Dumbledore was benevolently smiling down at him out of his portrait.
"What law do you mean, Professor?"
"No matter how fiercely we may oppose him: In the end, the Sorting Hat is always right."