After that, their secret group—which they had decided to call Dumbledore's Army—held lessons nearly every day. They were making good progress, but as usual, Draco Malfoy continued to be a thorn in his side. The Slytherin member was always watching them with those suspicious eyes and smug smile that never failed to make Harry's skin crawl. Draco obviously knew that they were up to something, and Harry knew that he wouldn't stop until he figured out what it was.

They had no choice but to become even more cautious. They started varying their meeting place and time, and always took a roundabout route to avoid being followed. Hermione even created a code that allowed them to plan their lessons during the day without risking anyone else overhearing. And finally, Harry had everyone pair up into groups that would stay with each other whenever they weren't in class. If Malfoy decided to make his move, there would be more safety in numbers.

One afternoon they were meeting up to go out for another lesson. Everyone had arrived except for Hermione and Ginny, who had been paired together. He glanced at his watch again. They should have been here by now. He was on the verge of starting a search for them when he spotted Hermione running towards him, followed closely by Ginny.

"I'm sorry we're late!" Hermione said breathlessly. "Ginny wasn't feeling well, so we were delayed."

Harry looked at Ginny in concern. "If you're not feeling up to it, you can take a break for today, you know."

Ginny merely shook her head.

"She feels fine now," Hermione explained. "She's just lost her voice, that's all."

"I see…," Harry said. He turned to Ginny. "Are you absolutely certain you feel ok?"

He received a nod in answer, and deciding he'd have to be satisfied with that, they set off. The group made it to the Forbidden Forest without incident and began the lesson as usual. His group had mostly mastered stupefy and they were now working on the levicorpus spell.

"Good, Luna!" He watched as she lifted Neville about a foot of the ground, looking a bit uneasy. That time was perfect."

"Alright, Ginny." He walked up to her. "Your turn. Go ahead and give it a shot."

Ginny's face contorted into a foreign yet strangely familiar smirk. "Sure thing, Potter. Expelliarmus!"

Harry would have recognized that drawling voice anywhere. Draco Malfoy. Even though he was taken off guard, his real-life battle experience didn't fail him. In an instant he had pulled out his wand and cast the spell back, effectively nullifying it.

"Malfoy," he spat out the name, hating the very taste of it on his tongue. "What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too, Potter," the other boy said sarcastically.

"What have you done with Ginny?" he said, his voice shaking with fury.

"The Weasley girl? Ah, I put her to sleep for a while. I must say, though, she did put up a good fight. She's as timid as a mouse, so I thought she'd give me her hair willingly, but she actually used stupefy on me!" He chuckled slightly. "She's still too soft, though. The second I acted like I was having trouble breathing, she dropped her wand and ran over to me. Foolish girl."

"You…!" Harry grabbed his shirt and glared at him threateningly. "Pick a fight with me if you want, but you leave her and the others out of it."

"Harry!" Hermione cried. "Now's not the time for this. We have to go back and find Ginny."

Harry reluctantly released him, but not before snatching his wand out of his hand.

"Give it back, Potter," Malfoy said in a low voice.

Harry gave him a leveling glare. "You'll get it back as soon as I see that Ginny's alright."

He used the diminuendo spell on Malfoy and the rest of the group and started heading back to the castle with more haste than ever before. Since his pockets were already mostly full and he didn't want to risk him getting away, Harry held Malfoy in his hand as he walked. Also, this way, he could gain some pleasure from occasionally closing his fist tighter around him, making the other boy yelp with panic.

Once they had made it back to Hogwarts, he literally squeezed Ginny's whereabouts out of Malfoy. They found her lying on the floor of the abandoned west wing bathroom.

"Ginny!" Harry knelt down on the floor beside her and shook her gently.

Her eyes fluttered open. "Harry…I'm so sorry…I tried to stop him, but I couldn't…"

"Don't be sorry," he told her. "It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad you're alright."

It was true, but now that his worries regarding Ginny were relieved, he began to realize how bad this was. Malfoy knew—he had seen everything. The lessons would have to stop, of course, and he knew that they would likely be expelled as well.

Malfoy cleared his throat expectantly. "My wand?"

Harry threw it to him without a backward glance.

"We're in a bloody lot of trouble, aren't we?" Ron said.

"Listen," Harry began, "if you guys tell them that I forced you to do it, then—"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione interrupted. "We're not going to let you be the scapegoat for this. If you're going to blame anyone, it should be me. This was my idea, after all."

Harry shook his head. "This isn't a game, Hermione. We're talking about getting expelled here. It's not a big deal for me, but you're a model student with a perfect record. I can't let you throw all that away. If anyone gets expelled, it's going to be me."

"No one has to be expelled if you agree to my deal."

They all looked up in surprise to see that Malfoy was still there, watching them with amusement.

"Deal…? What do you mean?" Harry eyed him suspiciously.

"I'll keep quiet about this—on one condition." He paused dramatically. "Let me join your lessons."

"Huh?!" Ron burst out. He looked at Harry. "Has he gone mad, do you think?"

"It's your choice," Malfoy said simply.

Harry narrowed his eyes. What was he playing at?

"There's no way we can trust him!" Ron said.

He looked around at the small band of students. He knew that if they were found out, they would insist on taking the fall with him. That knowledge made his decision easy.

"We'll let him join."

"B-But he's Draco Malfoy!" Ron exclaimed.

"I know," Harry answered calmly, "but I don't think we have much of a choice."

He turned to Malfoy. "You can join us. But," he lowered his voice threateningly, "if you lay a hand on any of my friends again, you won't get away with it. Understand?"

Malfoy smirked in reply. "Perfectly."