Chapter 28 – Amongst Friends

Ron and Hermione had been anxious over Harry's whereabouts all evening. They hadn't dared to shift from the common room since Ginny had volunteered to go on a search and rescue mission. Ron was trying to distract himself by seeing how fast he could perform refilling charms on a tankard of butter beer, and Hermione was pacing around and quickly becoming a bundle of nerves, whilst occasionally suggesting that she should go out looking for both of them.

"Hermione, will you just calm down?" sighed Ron, "There's already two missing in action and you won't make things any better by wandering off yourself. There are members of the Order on duty, and you know perfectly well that they can both take care of themselves anyway."

It wasn't often that she was unable to fault Ron's logic, but she now conceded and slumped into a comfy chair. She had barely a second to rest before the portrait hole swung open, and in walked Harry and Ginny, dishevelled in appearance and both wearing idiotic smiles. Despite having been more rational than Hermione, Ron was the first to leap up and demand an explanation.

"We've been waiting for ages!" he cried, "Did you fancy an impromptu stroll around Hogsmead on the way back or something?"

"No of course not, Ron!" replied Ginny, still grinning, "We were ambushed by that sack of puke who calls herself Pansy Parkinson."

Hermione was thoroughly confused.

"But…what's so funny about that?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing at all," Ginny assured her, trying to straighten her face, "There were two of them actually. Do you know, they even used some poor little first year as bait?"

Ron was shaking his head, even more puzzled than Hermione.

"Well, it still looks as if you found it all very amusing," he grunted, picking up his newly filled tankard, "Perhaps you could tell us what we're missing here?"

"Neither of us were hurt, but Harry attacked them so fast after they missed that they never saw what hit them," she beamed, "Really, I'd never seen him move like that in my life, and the speed of those jinxes was unbelievable…and to be honest, I've never been so strangely turned on…"

They were then treated to a shower of butter beer from Ron.

"Do you mind?" he spluttered, "As your brother, that's more information than I need thank you very much!"

Ginny sneered as she dried her face and sweater.

"It's for drinking, Ron. Try to remember that."

"Hey, I try to be an understanding person, but a line has to be drawn SOMEWHERE," he protested, wiping the butter beer from his chin and retreating to the fireside.

Hermione pulled Ginny aside and whispered in her ear.

"Really?" she asked.

Ginny nodded with a guilty smile.

"Professor Sprout had to…err…separate us in the corridor."

"Oh my…" was all Hermione could manage in reply.

They were interrupted by a loud cough from Harry.

"Um…Ginny said that you two wanted to speak to me about something or other?"

It was then that Ron turned his head back to the group, relieved that the conversation was now becoming more palatable. He exchanged glances with Hermione, who felt she should start the ball rolling.

"Well, the thing is, Harry…We just felt that we should be doing more to help you out."

This threw Harry a little, as Hermione wouldn't usually ask permission to help. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed that she hadn't been constantly giving advice since the beginning of term.

"Not quite sure how you could really help me," he shrugged, before adding quickly, "Not wanting to sound ungrateful or anything, but I just don't fancy using my friends as target practice."

"Well what about Charms and Transfiguration?" she enquired hopefully.

Harry considered this. He wasn't aware of what Ron and Hermione had been learning for their N.E.W.T studies while he had been schooled in certain specialist fields, but surely it could do no harm to let them help him test the effectiveness of the magic he had learned?

"Hmmm…okay," he replied, "Just don't let on to McGonagall that I told you about any of this. You know how she likes things done by the book, and this isn't exactly part of a Ministry-approved Transfiguration lesson."

They both nodded, Ron joining the other three for a closer look. Harry positioned himself about a foot away from the common room wall, facing his expectant audience.

"You'll all have to bear with me for this one, because I still have to use the verbal spell, and the timing isn't always quite right."

Pointing his wand downwards with both hands, he closed his eyes, concentrated hard, and hoped that the demonstration would go well.

"Misceorum," he murmured, stepping swiftly backwards.

The three gasped in amazement as Harry disappeared into the wall. There was a silence for about five seconds before they finally saw a nose and a pair of glasses emerge, followed by the rest of their friend.

"That was bloody incredible, mate!" exclaimed Ron excitedly.

Ginny looked equally impressed and even Hermione wore a slightly stunned expression as she tried to remember where she had read about a spell such as this.

"I messed that up a bit," he mumbled bitterly, "I think my feet were still sticking out."

Ron stared at him as if he were a raving lunatic and then turned to Hermione.

"Do you have any bright ideas as to how we are supposed to 'help' someone who's learning magic like that?" he grumbled sceptically, "And from what Ginny said, I doubt he'll need our help defending himself either."

Harry couldn't bear this. He knew Ron had often felt as though he was left standing in the shadows, and this was no way for a friendship to function. As for Hermione, he didn't like the idea of Ron feeling neglected as she burned the midnight oil over a pile of books from the school library. This had to be sorted out as quickly as possible.

"Look, I'll be fine," he said, trying to reassure himself of this at the same time, "If you really want to help me, just cover for me as best you can when I go to visit my parents' graves. Or better still, get plenty of practice defending yourselves. I know all three of you have done really well with that, but I'm worried enough about myself. I couldn't bear it if I thought you were unprepared in any way."

As he walked towards the fireplace, he stopped dead in his tracks as he was struck by a flash of inspiration.

"That's it!" he cried, "Hermione, do you know if everyone still has those enchanted coins?"

Like a salute and a grand pledge of allegiance, Hermione, Ron and Ginny all simultaneously drew a large Galleon out of their pockets and smiled.

"I believe it's time to call the DA out of retirement."

To accommodate the timetables of all concerned, Harry had scheduled the official DA re-opening meeting for the following Saturday night. He had no idea how many of the original members would be attending, as many had left or hadn't returned to Hogwarts that year. As he pondered this question, as well as the meeting plan and which books to bring along for reference, he was aware of a voice at his elbow.

"Harry?"

"Oh Dale, it's you," he said, shaking himself back to reality, "What did you want?"

Dale paused, a little embarrassed to have disturbed his new role model.

"Well…I just wondered…I…mean, if you know…what is the DA?"

Harry was looking at him properly now.

"Who told you about that?" he enquired.

The young boy hesitated. Would he get in trouble for knowing something he shouldn't?

"I…um…heard one of your friends talking about it."

Harry restrained his feelings. It was well known amongst the members that the DA should remain a closely guarded secret.

"Do you know much about Defence Against the Dark Arts?" he asked.

"Not much," replied Dale, "Only what we've been taught so far."

Realising it had been a stupid question to ask, Harry decided that it was a time for bluntness.

"Well, it's something to do with that. Look, it's very important that you don't tell anyone else about it, so I appreciate it if you could forget this conversation ever happened."

As he turned to leave the common room, he heard the words that were as inevitable as the rising of the sun; the words he really didn't want to hear.

"Can I be a part of it?" Dale ventured cautiously.

Harry closed his eyes, cursed under his breath, and slowly turned back to face him. He couldn't rightly say no. Dale's father had been murdered by Death Eaters, so who was to say that they wouldn't one day come looking for Dale. Perhaps he should have simply left the young boy disappointed and walked out, but this was now an option he didn't seem to have.

"I'll take you to see Hermione," he said after the deepest breath he could muster, watching painfully as Dale's face lit up with excitement, "You can come along and see what it's like, but I need you to promise me two things. Firstly, that you will tell nobody that the DA exists, and second, that you don't use or talk about anything you learn at the meeting in front of anyone else unless, for whatever reason, you have no choice. None of these things would be taught to first years, and we'll all be in trouble if the teachers find out."

Dale nodded vigorously as Harry reached into his bag and drew out the invisibility cloak.

"Put this on," he ordered, "If we're caught, I don't want you being questioned about it."

The boy readily agreed and jumped in shock as his body seemed to disappear before his eyes.

"Follow me and be as quiet as you can."

The two of them left the common room and made their way carefully up to the seventh floor. The DA had formerly held their secret meetings in the Room of Requirement, a room that would change its appearance to suit the needs of anyone who happened to be in need when passing it. In Harry's fifth year, when the DA had been founded, their security had been breached by Draco Malfoy and members of the Inquisitorial Squad, assembled by the widely-despised temporary headmistress Professor Umbridge. Now that Malfoy had fled, and word had got around about Pansy Parkinson's failed attack on Harry and Ginny, it was safe to say that they wouldn't be in any danger of Slytherin interference.

Thankfully for the DA, the weekend behavioural pattern of the staff had become fairly predictable. Harry gave a few subtle nods of greeting as he passed members on the stairs, and made sure to be in sight of a couple of them as he and Dale reached the point where the entrance to the room would appear. Quietly requesting that the room became the DA headquarters, he watched as the door materialised in front of them. One by one, keeping a look out for staff on patrol, the members followed Harry inside, each seeming somewhat comforted by the old familiar surroundings. Ginny, who had not seen Harry all day (owing to additional lessons with Professor McGonagall), ran over and savagely wrapped herself around him.

"Woah!" came a cry out of thin air, and after a struggle on the ground, where he had been knocked by the enthusiastic greeting, Dale emerged from the invisibility cloak.

All eyes suddenly turned to him, and then to Harry, and it was then that Ron and Hermione made an entrance.

"Sorry we're late," babbled Hermione breathlessly, "I was in the library and lost track of time. I brought the…What the…? Harry, what's he doing here?"

She had now joined the group stare, and Dale had turned a vivid shade of pink. Harry, on the other hand, was perfectly prepared for this.

"He's here because someone felt the need to discuss the DA while he was within earshot," he said, addressing the whole room with a satisfactory hint of accusation in his voice, "I've said time and time again how careful everyone has to be about mentioning it outside of meetings. Just because Umbridge is gone, it doesn't mean that we can now go blabbing about it to everyone under the sun. Dale's here so there can at least be some damage control. Even he joins so he can just come along to watch, it will stop the rest of the school from finding out."

There were silent nods around the room as the members remembered what happened to the last person who broke their code of silence. Hermione remained unconvinced.

"But Harry, he's only a first year! He won't have been taught much about duelling, or even basic defence. I don't mean to sound horrible, but what's he supposed do here if he hasn't been given any groundwork to start on?"

"Even if he just picks up a few things here and there, it's all for the good," he replied, taking a side glance at Dale, who still hadn't got to his feet, "You know as well as I do that being a first year doesn't mean you're safe from harm."

She saw that there was little point in arguing, but still wouldn't admit that Harry was in the right.

As the DA members instinctively divided up into pairs, Harry could see just how many members he had lost. Ernie Macmillan, Neville, Luna and the Creevey brothers had been among the more dedicated, but this was only to be expected. Harry had always thought that Neville in particular, despite being a little accident prone and absent minded, had been ideally placed in Gryffindor at the beginning of his magical education. There were few as brave or unquestionably loyal, and he had become a most reassuring presence.

"Erm, well…I've decided that we should make a real start on non-verbal duelling," Harry began, now that all eyes were turned expectantly to him, "Now, I realise that this will be completely new to some of you, so we'll just take it one step at a time."

The excitement in the air was almost visible. It had been a long time since the last meeting, and Harry couldn't help feeling that they all relished the opportunity to practice such spell work away from the critical eyes of Hogwarts staff. Dale was watching with undisguised curiosity.

"Now, the key behind this, for those of you who haven't covered much of it in normal defence lessons, is to focus on the words and the effect they should have. Just keep the spell locked in your mind and imagine it finding its target. So if everyone on this side of the room can try disarming those opposite them without actually speaking aloud, then…well, we'll take it from there."

Just as the group prepared to follow these instructions, Harry turned back to them.

"By the way, who's taking your normal lessons?" he enquired, realising that he had never thought to ask before.

"It's been split between Tonks and McGonagall," sighed Hermione, "Neither of them really have the time to take all the classes properly, so we sometimes have other aurors from the ministry coming in to fill the gaps."

For the first half of the lesson, Harry could hear a few strangled whispers as the students struggled to perform disarming and defensive spells by thought alone. Of those below seventh year, Ginny had managed this first, and had even succeeded in sending Hermione flying off her feet by accident. This had come as quite a shock to everyone, but Harry still wouldn't tell the others of the advantage she had.

He was exceedingly pleased at the progress being made. The group had also managed to tackle the non-verbal casting of various paralysing, summoning and levitation charms by the end of the meeting (though Harry's patience had worn thin at the boisterous levitated pillow fight that ensued).

Just as Harry finished his closing remarks to the DA, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Very impressive, Potter," smiled Professor McGonagall as she emerged from the wall, "I do hope that you consider a teaching career if you ever happen to have a change of heart about becoming an auror."

The whole room was now staring open-mouthed at the new arrival.

"Why so shocked?" she continued, "After the fiasco of Dolores Umbridge, the existence of your little organization could hardly have remained a closely guarded secret, and with the tightened security at Hogwarts, there is very little in the way of student activity that is unknown to the staff. I must admit though, I have been eagerly anticipating the sight of one of these meetings. There are others who would also voice their support for the idea, mark my words."

This seemed plain enough to accept, but Harry was still a little dazed by this revelation.

"So, did you…er…hear anything from the members themselves?" he asked, apprehensively picturing a facially disfigured student or two in the hospital wing.

"No, Potter, this was all the telling of Albus Dumbledore," she smiled, "Not having been a member himself, I'm sure he was spared whatever dire consequences were in store for imparting the information. Now, if you've quite finished, I would be most grateful if you could all return to your respective dormitories as quickly as possible."

With these words, the group remembered that this was an order from their Headmistress, and so began to file out of the room.

"Oh, and Potter," she called after them, "A most competently given lesson, but please remember that there are good reasons why we don't make a habit of teaching N.E.W.T standard defensive magic to first years. These things must be taken…how did you put it…one step at a time?"

"Yes Professor, sorry about that" he replied, somewhat embarrassed.

As McGonagall left behind them, she was confronted by a most anxious and out of breath Professor Lupin.

"Oh Professor, I'm so glad I've found you at last," Lupin gasped, "I really need to have a private word with you."

With a momentary glance at the departing DA members, she nodded and headed down the opposite flight of stairs with him. Only Harry was consciously hanging back and staring curiously after the two of them, when he heard a voice in his ear.

"I'll make sure Dale gets back to Gryffindor safely," whispered Ginny, handing him the invisibility cloak, "Just don't be too long."

Harry was confused.

"How did you…? I thought you weren't going to use your 'gift'"

"I didn't," she smiled, kissing him warmly on the cheek, "It's just a witch's intuition."

The look she gave him as she walked away sent him into the briefest of daydreams, and he almost forgot the task in hand. Shaking himself, he pulled on the cloak and crept furtively down the stairs after the two professors.

Despite being accustomed to stealthily wandering the corridors at night, Harry was not finding this an easy job. Having partially outgrown his father's cloak, he found it necessary to adopt a slightly stooping posture as he pursued Lupin and McGonagall. His efforts were further hampered by two dangerously close encounters with ministry aurors and the fact that his quarry could obviously cover ground a lot faster.

In the corridor approaching the stairs to Professor McGonagall's office, Harry finally came within earshot of them.

"Professor, this could well be time we don't have!" hissed Lupin.

"Look, I wish I could help, but my hands are tied," McGonagall responded, "Is there any reason to suggest that he still has valuable information to tell us?"

Lupin sighed helplessly.

"Most of his speech is confined to incoherent ramblings, but whenever he seems to focus at all, he keeps mentioning the name Fabian. None of us have any idea what he could be going on about, but if we try asking him about it, he just turns to stone again."

"Fabian?" asked the Headmistress thoughtfully.

"Yes. It sounds like he was trying to warn him about something, whoever 'he' is," Lupin went on, "I really fear that time is running out. No amount of questioning is improving matters, it's quite impossible. Why don't we get Slughorn up there and sweat the truth out of him?"

"You know perfectly well that what you propose is out of the question!" replied McGonagall sharply, "I'm getting owls from St Mungo's every week, complaining about all this interrogation as it is, and if you put that kind of pressure on his mind at this stage, it could very well kill him!"

"Look, I'm telling you…!"

Lupin was then interrupted by the sudden appearance of Mad Eye Moody, at which time Harry rapidly retreated. He had no wish to be discovered at this point, and spent the desperately careful journey back to Gryffindor house wondering if Moody had actually seen him, and about the mysterious conversation he had overheard.