A/N: This chapter is twice as long as usual, and I'm not even halfway done with their trip to Hogsemeade! More adventure to come (tomorrow, because I'm too tired for any more quality writing tonight) with some IVY CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Aren't you all exited? I know I am.

Anyway, just a two of quick notes before it's story time.

First, I used a couple of direct quotes from Order of the Phoenix later on in the chapter, but it was only with things that characters actually needed to say. Please forgive me and don't charge me with copyright infringement. I paraphrased most of the conversation, because I figured that we all know what went on, and if you really want to know exactly what was said, you can go and read the books.

Second, I broke canon. For the first, and hopefully only, time. The D.A. now has two additional members. Once again, please forgive me!

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, here's the next chapter! Please read, enjoy, and review!

The rest of the week went by in a blur; I was so excited for Saturday. There was, of course, the memorable moment the next day when I saw Fred, George, and Lee, and couldn't help but tell them that I would be going to Hogsmeade with Ivy. They congratulated me as if I had told them that we were getting married, making sure that everyone within earshot knew that little, shy, invisible Avalon was making new friends. One of these people, incidentally, had been Ivy herself, as the entire fiasco had happened in the Great Hall over lunch. I rushed to my next class, blushing hard and swearing vengeance.

Luckily, nothing else so eventful happened after that. Umbridge was still being Umbridge, and still in control of that pitiful excuse for a class. I was finally getting better at non-verbal spells, after a month of nearly continuous practice. And I passed Ivy in the corridors a few times. We were always moving, and didn't have time to stop and chat, but she made sure to smile at me and wave, and I always returned with a smile of my own.

At dinner Friday night, I didn't pay an ounce of attention to what I was eating, due to the fact that I was busy thinking of what to do with Ivy the next day. I didn't want something boring; I figured she had probably been to the Three Broomsticks and Zonko's a million times. I tried to think of other places where we could go. Madame Pudifoot's was always full of snogging couples, and I tended to avoid it at all costs. The Shrieking Shack was just downright terrifying, so that was out. And the Hog's Head was a bit dodgy for my taste.

"Hey, Av," said Fred, sitting down across from me, and George slid in next to him. He looked strangely serious, and scanned the table up and down before speaking again. "Could you meet us in the Hog's Head tomorrow?"

I looked at him, confused. "But I'm going to be with Ivy, and…the Hog's Head? Why?"

"Look, she can come too, if you want," George said, also being quiet. "But it's important, okay?"

I raised my eyebrows, but was interested. "What's going on?"

"We were just talking to Hermione Granger," he replied—

"And she was telling us," Fred continued—

"That there's going to be a meeting there tomorrow."

"With Harry Potter."

"Some sort of anti-Umbridge club."

"A secret club?" I asked. It definitely sounded interesting, all right.

"Well, the old hag wouldn't be too happy if she found out, now would she?" George replied.

I smiled. "It sounds exciting. I guess I can come."

"Excellent," said Fred, standing up. "See you at noon in the Hog's Head. And bring your new friend. The more, the merrier."

The two of them traipsed out of the Hall, and I finished off my dinner. At least now I had one thing to do with Ivy tomorrow, I thought, exiting the Hall as well.

At ten o'clock the next morning, I was bundled up and waiting in the Entrance Hall for Ivy to arrive. I kept an eye on the staircase that I knew led to both the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room, and Ivy crossed through it after only a couple of minutes. She came over to me, smiling.

"Fancy meeting you here," she greeted.

"Same for you," I smiled back, trying to figure out a tactful way of telling her about going to the Hog's Head later. I wanted to get it out of the way now, but I also didn't want to make her feel like I was eager to go off and do things with other people.

"So," She said, before I had a chance to do anything. "Shall we go?"

"Sure," I nodded, and we left through the oak front doors. It was rather chilly, despite only being early October. Ivy pulled out a yellow-and-black striped hat and put it over her cropped hair, while I was silently thankful that I had thought to wear a scarf that day.

"A bit crisp isn't it?" she commented. "We should go somewhere inside."

I nodded in agreement, and took my chance. "Last night, at dinner, my friends Fred and George invited me—well, us—to the Hog's Head at around noon today. They said something about Harry Potter making a club…?"

I looked over, to gauge her reaction. "Is it going to just be a bunch of Gryffindors…?" She asked, and I could tell that she was nervous about being left out. I certainly knew the feeling.

"I don't know," I said, truthfully. "But maybe not. We don't have to go if you don't want to." I gave a half smile, hoping that I didn't sound passive-aggressive.

"Maybe we could go for a little while?" She said, smiling a bit too. "It sounds like something that could be fun."

"George had said something about it being anti-Umbridge," I replied, trying to win her over.

She smiled wider. "I'm interested, then."

For the rest of the way to Hogsmeade, we continued on a conversation of bashing Umbridge, and were both in good spirits when we reached the Village.

"Were should we go first?" I asked. We still had some time before we needed to be at the Hog's Head.

"What about Honeydukes?" she suggested. "I haven't been there since last year, and I need to stock up on Sugar Quills."

"I'm up for that," I replied. Honeydukes was a staple of any Hogsmeade visit, regardless of how many times you've been there before.

We walked up the Main Street until we reached the sweets shop, and slipped inside.

It was warm, welcoming, and packed with students, as usual. Ivy and I spent an enjoyable hour there, taking samples of the candy and daring each other to try some of the more the outlandish products (such as "Gnat Gut Nougat, Made with Real Gants!") We both ran into a few people that we knew; Ivy introduced me to her Ravenclaw friend, Beth, who was rather loud, and I saw Katie and Alicia there together. By the time we had both decided what we wanted and made our purchases, it was a few minutes before noon.

"Well," said Ivy, checking her watch. "It looks like it's about time to go meet up with everyone, isn't it?" She seemed a lot more cheerful about the idea now than when I had introduced it.

"Let's go," I said, and we went back out into the cold. I had a vague idea of where the Hog's Head was; I knew that it would be on one of the side streets. We walked around for a few minutes before we finally saw it. It didn't look all that appealing. The windows were dingy, and there was a wooden sign hanging over the door that depicted a severed boar's head on a table.

"Lovely," Ivy raised her eyebrows. "Any idea why they wanted to meet in a place like this?"

"Probably because it was less crowded than the Three Broomsticks," said a voice from behind us, and I turned to see the Lee and the twins walking up the street, loaded down with bags of Zonko's merchandise.

They stopped when they were next to us, and I could see a few more people making their way up the street in our direction. I assumed that they had been invited to this mystery meeting, too.

"So you must be Miss Ivy," Fred continued, shaking her hand jovially. "Pleasure to meet our little girl's newest friend. I'm George Weasley, and this is my talented, wonderful, handsome brother Fred, who anyone in the world would want to be." He pointed to George, who rolled his eyes.

I giggled. "Don't confuse her like that." I turned to Ivy. "That one is Fred," I pointed to the real Fred. "And that one is George." I pointed to the real George. "And this is Lee." I didn't feel like there was a need to point him out, seeing as he wasn't identical to anyone, and thus not easily confused.

She smiled back at them, deciding just to go with it. "Nice to meet you."

By this time, a small crowd had gathered outside of the pub, and we decided to let ourselves in.

Upon entering, it was obvious why students didn't venture here too often. It was small, dark, grimy, dusty, and smelled like goat stool. I wrinkled my nose. "Quaint."

Lee was the only one who heard me, but he chuckled.

I noticed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were already waiting there, and I followed Fred up to the bar, where he was buying drinks for everyone in the party. About twenty-five people had come in after us.

"Cheers," said Fred, passing out the grimy bottles. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these…"

I passed him two Sickles, and when Ivy had done the same we moved away and took a seat in a couple of chairs.

"Looks like it's not just Gryffindors," I commented, seeing a mix of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, as well as members of my own house.

"Yeah," she said, looking around too. "Did you know this many people would turn up?" I shook my head, beginning to feel uncomfortable around so many unfamiliar faces.

The twins and Lee came and took seats next to us, and were about to start showing me what they had bought in Zonko's; but before they could, Hermione Granger called the meeting to order.

"Er…Well—er—hi." She said in a slightly higher voice than she would have usually used. Evidently, she hadn't been prepared to be speaking in front of so many people. "Well…erm…well, you know why you're here. Erm…well, Harry here had the idea—I mean—I had the idea—that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts—" She continued on for another minute or two still stuttering at first, but getting more confident as people began showing that they cared about what she was saying. I listened attentively, and was very happy to hear her criticisms of Umbridge. Her speech came to a close, and she took a deep breath and finished, with the bomb shell statement: "Lord Voldemort's back."

I just about choked on my butterbeer at this, and Ivy's eyes widened in fear. All around the room, people were recovering from the shock of hearing the name.

I listened on the edge of my seat to the ensuing conversation…Maybe now Harry would tell the truth of what had gone on in the maze last year? He got close to the subject, but didn't tell the crowd of students as much as they wanted to know. I of course had an idea of what had happened, because of what Fred and George had told me, and from my habit of sometimes eavesdropping in the common room at night.

I could tell that Ivy wanted to know more, but was also rather upset by the topic; I remembered that Cedric had been in her house. It must have been really hard for her, too. Everyone had loved him.

It was established that we were going to make a Defense Against the Dark Arts club, to learn what Umbridge wasn't teaching us. It only seemed natural. Under the current circumstances, we would need to know everything we could about defending ourselves.

The conversation turned to less interesting things, such as where we were going to meet, and when. Finally, a sign-up sheet was passed around, and Ivy and I both put our names down. I hoped that the first meeting would be soon. I looked over at her, but her expression wasn't readable.

When everyone had signed, people began standing up and getting ready to leave.

"Well, time's ticking on…George, Lee, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, so we'll be seeing you later." Fred said, and ruffled my hair as he made his way out. I said goodbye to the three of them, but was distracted by Ivy. She still looked thoughtful, as she put her hat back on and gathered up her bag.

"Ready to go?" I asked, wondering if she was alright,

"Oh—yeah. Yeah, let's go."

And with that, we exited the Hog's Head.