A/N: Harry's first weekend will be a bit longer than the rest, and I realize that it seems a bit day by day at this point but things will pick up once most of the setting for the new year is done.

I'm always looking for reviews and suggestions so please don't hold back if you have something that is nagging you.

One question though, are the chapters a good length? Are they too short? Too long? I'm never sure what I should be making them. Let me know.

Please favorite and review.

-PP

Saturday brought light showers, which seemed to subdue the entire population of Hogwarts. The gloom was more present in the Great Hall than anywhere else with the ceiling broadcasting the cloudy and damp day outside. Harry was unusually bright as he worked his way through the most balanced breakfast Hermione had ever seen him eat. "Harry," she started after joining him at the table with Ron, Ginny, and Neville close behind her, "how can you be so chipper this morning? You practically passed out when you went to bed last night." Harry grinned and speared a last piece of fruit from the serving bowl in front of Ginny. "I was up early, I went for a run before it got too disgusting out, had a glorious shower, and now I'm eating a lovely breakfast, what isn't there to be happy about?"

Ron, who thoroughly disagreed with rising before 9 a.m. let alone doing exercise that early looked worried about his friend, "Who can be that excited about morning exercise? I thought you were having a lie in. You're slipping mate." Harry just shook his head and stood up from the table. "If anyone needs me I'll be in the Room of Requirement training. Feel free to join me when you're done, just have Dobby pop in before you to make sure that I'm not doing anything dangerous." He winked at Hermione, who looked as if she were going to tie him to the bench if he was just going to wander off and get himself hurt, before turning to leave the hall, whistling as he went.

"Is it me," Ginny began slowly, "Or did we get an entirely different Harry back after his summer away?" Neville finished his hastily crafted breakfast sandwich and wiped his hands on his jeans before replying, "Definitely different Ginny, he's much more confident in himself and doesn't consider anything that he accomplishes simply a fluke. Dumbledore seems happy with his performance in class and Snape has even accepted his forced attitude adjustment. Our old Harry would be nervous and would shy away from praise. Now he takes everything in stride and still has the reflexes to stun and disarm Malfoy without breaking a sweat. Harry isn't entirely gone, but he has certainly been refined." With that the no longer stocky boy stood and followed Harry's path out of the Great Hall.

When Ginny, Hermione, and Ron finally made their way to the Room of Requirements and had Dobby to check that the coast was clear. The elf nodded quickly and the door creaked open to reveal a larger replica of Harry's classroom. In the center was a dueling shield and Harry and Neville were throwing spells at each other, deflected and missed spells sparking against the barrier as they dueled. A few minutes later Neville finally submitted and the shield fell as Harry walked across the scorch-marked floor. "Good duel Nev, you've got a lot of power to burn through, and a few of your spells could have used more of a kick though." The brunet boy nodded and took Harry's offered hand up, Dobby popped in with water and a tray of orange slices and chocolate pieces. Harry and Neville took a few bites of each to restore their energy and each took a pull on the water bottles to rehydrate. "Thanks Harry, I've been practicing all summer and Gram finally got me a new wand after Dad's got smashed at the ministry."

"Your new one definitely suits you better." Harry agreed readily. He turned to the rest of his friends and smiled brightly, "You all ready to work on Tapping?" They all nodded excitedly and the room morphed to a comfortable lounge. "Pick a seat that would make you the most comfortable and we will get started." Neville threw himself onto a beanbag chair while Ginny curled up in a deep cushioned papasan chair. Ron and Hermione settled into a love seat, their pinkies intertwined, and Harry fell into a leather recliner. "Okay, Neville since you got the hang of this last night I want you to try to tap everyone else, just a quick message to say 'Hello'." Neville nodded, his eyes closed, and a few minutes later they all felt a strong and sturdy presence knocking on their occlumency shields. Harry greeted his friend readily and the rest worked more slowly, working their almost unfamiliar shields to allow their friend access. "Good job Neville, now I want the ladies to try to reverse that feeling and tap Neville while I work with Ron." They all nodded and closed their eyes.

Harry immediately tapped his friend and opened a connection, "I want you to focus on this feeling, feel your shields and how they react to what I'm doing." He could feel Ron's affirmation and felt as his friend sent feelers along his shields, working out the space that they covered and the holes and weaknesses that existed throughout. "Good, now I'm going to break the connection, and I want you to focus on recreating it. Force your mental will outward and search for my mental signature, do you think you can recognize it?" Again, Ron's affirmation was obvious to Harry so he gently disconnected their minds and sat back, mentally examining the room around him. The room was a powerhouse of psionic energy, which made sense to Harry since the room morphed to the user's will. He was about to examine the source point for the energy when he felt a feeble scraping of tendrils against his shields. Focusing, he threw out a life preserver of mental energy to Ron, reassuring him that he was on the correct path. Soon he felt the overwhelming sense of loyalty that was the base of Ron's personality and allowed him to make the connection, "Harry? Did I do this correctly? I couldn't find you but then I suddenly felt your mind and pushed forward…" Harry grinned to himself and used the connection to talk to Ron, "Yeah Ron, no worries, you've got it all sorted out. Good job, try tapping Neville and then the girls in turn." Ron cut the connection and Harry opened his eyes, watching his friends concentrate on their psionic efforts.

Neville grinned suddenly and Harry knew that Ron had managed the connection. Harry mentally stepped back and realized that he could see the interactions as they formed. He grinned at the discovery and watched his friends work, gently nudging them as they went so that by the time they finished around lunchtime; they were all able to easily tap one another. "Okay guys, good work. Your shields all need some work, yes even you Neville. I'm crap at teaching people that aren't natural Legillimens so Professor Smith is going to have to cover that with you this week in class." They all nodded in understanding and they stood to stretch and head down to the Great Hall for lunch.

They sat in a large empty space in the middle of the Gryffindor table, Luna joining Ginny at one end of their group. The girls were soon pointing to various boys around the great hall and giggling, causing Ron and Harry to roll their eyes and start a conversation of their own with Neville and Hermione. They chatted about their first week of class and what they were looking forward to covering this year. Hermione mostly dominated this topic but the boys nodded along with her, allowing her to outline each of their courses. Harry looked around at one point and, noticing that the hall was quite full, stood and made his way to the dais that the Headmaster used for announcements. Most of the hall quieted down when they saw him take the stage and the rest followed suit when he cleared his throat. "I will be holding a meeting of the DA tonight after dinner in the Great Hall. I want everyone to know that you are all welcome, no matter your house or your strength in Defense Against the Dark Arts. In fact, I would like to invite you all to take advantage of your peers to come and do homework and have tutoring sessions to help keep everyone up to date with all of their classes and to help those that have fallen behind. If you think that you would like to offer your services as a group leader for a subject please come up and chat with me. I hope to see you all there tonight."

Harry stepped away from the podium and students from each table came forward to sign up. Slytherin students signed up for Potions tutorials mostly, but among the other houses all of the other subjects were covered, even Muggle Studies by a 7th year Hufflepuff. Harry thanked them all and told them that he would see them after dinner. He rejoined his friends at the table and was met with a proud side hug from Hermione who had slid into his spot next to Ron when he had left the table. "That is a really good idea Harry, using our organization to the benefit of everyone. What made you think to do that?"

Harry laughed slightly and recounted the tale of the staff meeting, explaining that he felt that since he was now a Professor he should act like one, dong whatever he could to support his colleagues and to help push the school forward. "Also, this way we have people who's strengths don't lie in Defense able to take either a leadership role or take the time to study ahead in their preferred class. The better that we and the other students do, the more money Hogwarts gets from the Ministry, and the more extracurricular activities we can hold to break up the monotony of the school year." He held a straight face for a few seconds before Ron burst into laughter and everyone else in earshot followed suit.

"You almost had me there for a second," began Ron, catching his breath, "Monotony, at Hogwarts, oh man." He was holding his stomach now, his laughter dying down to a fit of shakes as he gasped for air. Hermione rolled her eyes and rubbed his back while he recovered. Harry looked at his watch and saw that he had all afternoon and nothing to do. "Okay, since I missed out on the fun last night, I am going to go flying, or if Ginny prefers, take her flying and teach her the limits of my broom." Ginny nodded enthusiastically and pushed her food away to show that she was ready to leave.

"If we leave now, we should get there before anyone decides that they need it for an early quiddich practice." Harry asked Dobby kindly to retrieve his broom and by the time they had made it outdoors the hyper-loyal elf had handed the broom to Harry and popped away without a word. Soon they were both on the broom and in the sky, Harry showing Ginny how to eek the most out of a turn and just how low she could dive before she had to pull up. Soon he hopped off onto the stand and she raced around a few laps before going through a set of dives and loops that tested her ability and the capabilities of the broom simultaneously. It was a broom for racing but it served the role of seeker well, since catching the Snitch once it was visible was always a race with the opposing seeker.

They made their way back to Gryffindor tower with half the afternoon remaining and spent time catching up on their homework for the week. Since they were going to attend the new DA that night, it would be beneficial to know which classes they may have trouble in. It was still the first week but Ginny found that her Muggle Studies was getting confusing, and Harry had some theories that he wanted to discuss with some 7th years about spell work that Dumbledore had brought up to him during the week. Before long it was time for dinner and the Gryffindors in the tower made their way down to the Great Hall for dinner.

When the last student, Malfoy, finally rested his dessertspoon onto his plate the food all vanished and Dumbledore beckoned everyone remaining to rise. He flicked his wand and two sets of two house tables stacked on either side of the hall. Harry made his way through the group of students and hopped up onto the stage that held the head table. "Right, so, welcome to the new and improved DA. This is now a school-backed activity that will be held every Saturday evening save for Hogsmeade weekends where we will on Sunday evening. I will hold Defense review here," he paused and flicked his wand, and a red hue came over a third of the hall. "The rest of the area will be divided up into other courses, if more room or furniture is needed let me or a professor know and we will take care of you." He flicked his wand again and the remaining two thirds of the hall was sectioned off into equal areas, each with their own sign denoting what subject was to be covered. Dumbledore flicked his wand and the house tables broke into smaller 8-10 person tables, which oriented themselves equally among the less physical course areas.

"If you feel that your time would be better spent going over Potions or Ancient Runes I encourage you to work on your weaknesses. I won't be offended if you decide that figuring out how Neville got away with tweaking Professor Snape's own recipe is more important than your syllabi for my class. I'm sure that by the end of September you'll be past where you need to be." The students all nodded and began murmuring to themselves as they broke into groups. Most of the DA remained in the Defense area, but a few went with their friends to the Charms or Transfiguration tables.

He broke the Defense students up into groups based on the spells that they were having trouble with and assigned a team leader to each group to help teach them the spells that they were having issues with. Once Draco realized that he wouldn't have a good opportunity to disrupt the activities, he and Crabbe and Goyle slipped out the back of the hall. Harry smiled to himself at this, he was doing something to help make a difference and he wasn't dueling anyone to get results. Once he had the Defense group going he snuck away to the Arithmancy group and started picking the brains of the upper level NEWT students. Since he was more or less auditing the course he only had his own projects to go on but he made some progress and by the time the warning bell for curfew rang he felt comfortable in his next few steps.

He ran up to the stage again when the bell rang and raised his hands for silence, "I hope that you all learned something tonight or got some use out of the meeting tonight. You don't have to come every week but I encourage you to come if you have any problems, and hopefully you've made some friends in other houses that you can go to between meetings for help if need be. I hope to see a lot of you next Saturday evening, but until then, I will see you all in class. Thanks for coming." This was met with polite applause and he jumped from the stage, but not before getting hit with a moderate wave of admiration.

Hermione came up to him while everyone was getting their things together and starting to file out into the castle. "Didn't you say that you were going to have Mark, Simon, and Coggy come by and give the boys some extra work?" Harry nodded and paused to shake someone's hand as they left the Great Hall.

"For one, Simon had a date with some girl he met in town. For another I don't think the guys are ready for the kind of training I want them to do with Simon and Coggy. I'll give them a few more weeks to get their Occlumency down and I'll teach them some of the basics and then I'll bring in those guys to help Ron and Neville with the more physical stuff." Hermione nodded and the two of them joined the rest of their house as it filed out of the Hall.

The Gryffindors made their way up to their tower alongside the Ravenclaws in good spirits. As they began to climb the moving staircase Harry had an arm around Ginny and Luna, pulling them close to tell them a rather inappropriate joke in a stage whisper. Luna was laughing so hard that she nearly fell into the vanishing stair. Harry took advantage of his position and slid his arm down to grip her tightly around the middle and lifted her to the next stair. As he did he nearly dropped her as a sharp point of jealousy lanced into the back of his shields. When he turned there was nobody standing at the entrance to the dungeons that led to the Slytherin and Hufflepuff dormitories and he frowned to himself. "You alright there Harry? It was just the vanishing stair, nobody attacked me." Prompted Luna, bringing Harry's attention back to his friends.

"No I just…I thought I saw something back there. Never mind, it's probably nothing, I'll be more careful about my jokes on this part of the staircase." Luna and Ginny shrugged and Hermione called to them from the top of the stairs. Harry waved an acknowledgement and the three of them finished their climb. Harry and Ginny hugged Luna goodbye as she split from them to join her housemates making their way to their own tower. Hermione asked what had kept them and he explained that he was telling a joke and it caused Luna to miss her step on the vanishing stair. When asked to repeat the joke, he did, causing Hermione to frown at him shaking her head.

"That is entirely inappropriate Harry." She chastised as they climbed through the portrait hole and into the tower. Harry adopted his imitation Sirius grin and shrugged at Hermione before pulling her and Ginny into a group hug. He released them a moment later and threw his arms around the shoulders of his roommates, dragging Ron and Neville towards the stairs that led to the boys' room. "Is it me," began Hermione, watching as Harry tried to force the three of them up the stairs that were barely large enough for two people to pass comfortably, "Or is Harry a bit more touchy-feely this year?" Ginny shrugged and grabbed Hermione's hand and led her towards the girls' dorm.

"Honestly Hermione, I think you're just mad that he's the group hugger now." She grinned and raced up the stairs two at a time, before Hermione realized what she had said.