Author's note: Next chapter. Times are getting harder and it's going to get even harder now. The danger's increased. Hope you guys like it.
Legionary Prime: They were funny. I watched a couple of videos and couldn't get the insults off my mind. Thank you for the recommendation and review. Hope you like this chapter as well.
Starzinmieyez: Yes, they are. I'm glad that you liked the prank scene. Hope you like this chapter as well. Thank you for the review and looking forward for your next ones!
The thing which the DA Core didn't realise when they got back from the hilarious prank of Fred and George was the abrupt changes in the situations that were going to take place after this. They were all so engrossed in their classes, DA and training that they completely forgot about Draco's letter to his father which he had sent the previous day.
When the DA Core got back to the Room Of Requirement they saw Draco's family owl perched on a table waiting for Draco to return. As soon as Draco saw the eagle like owl he had paled, more then he normally was which wasn't a good sign. The laughter had died down immediately as they all turned to look at Draco who was shivering very slightly. Hermione intertwined his fingers with hers and led him forward towards the owl. He smiled at her gratefully all the time dreading what was waiting for him there.
He untied the letter and the owl flew out of the open window. He straightened up and tried to put on a brave face but his trembling fingers gave it all away. They all seated themselves on the couches and looked expectantly at Draco. Draco opened the scroll and his eyes swept over the letter and he paled even more.
He sat back with a loud thump and Hermione took the parchment from his hands and read out loud for everyone.
Draco,
I knew you were a coward and would disgrace the family name soon. Why did you think I punished you in such a way when you were growing up? I think now, that it wasn't enough. The Dark Lord is not happy Draco and it would be better if you get your guts together and be a man. If you don't I'll make sure that at the end of this year you do. If you don't reply I'll know what your decision is. In case you don't reply, I'll still see you soon.
L.M.
Silence hung over the room for good five minutes. Hermione sat beside Draco holding his hand and rubbing small circles on his back. Theo and Blaise had creases on their forehead and Daphne looked panicked. No one knew what to say. They all understood the undertone threat that Lucius had given him.
At last when the silence became to deafening Harry spoke up.
"We all knew what we were risking when we took this in our own hands." Everyone looked at Harry as he spoke. His eyes were trained on the ground as he began but then he looked up at Draco and spoke again, "Especially you Slytherins but you all were firm and so I took you guys in because I knew you wanted to change and staying true to my word I swear I'll do everything to protect you guys."
Harry looked at everyone but more fixedly at the Slytherins. "There's not much I can do when we are still at Hogwarts." Harry continued when no one spoke. "But I don't think that will be the case till the year end since your father confirmed of the danger at the end of the school year. So all I can say till the time we are in Hogwarts is to be more alert of your surrounding and do not wander off anywhere on your own. Have someone with you all the time and do not hang around with other Slytherins who you are suspicious of. I would recommend you hang around with each other."
"What after that?" Blaise spoke when Harry stopped. The creases on his forehead had not disappeared but deepened even more.
"Our parents will hunt us down." Daphne spoke slowly.
"We won't be safe anywhere out of Hogwarts." Theo piped in. Draco was still silent and listened to everybody as they spoke.
"Don't worry about that." Harry said and Draco's head snapped up at this. "I'll take care of it. They won't even catch the wisp of where I'll hide you once the danger at this year-end is over."
"Are you sure Potter? Will you be able to do that?" Draco asked after thinking about Harry's words.
Harry smiled a little and nodded his head. "Yes Malfoy. You guys did something which needs true bravery and it's quite honourable. Don't worry about it, leave it up to me. I know a perfect place where to hide you all. We just need to be prepared. If there is some serious danger on Hogwarts I'll smuggle you guys out and into that hiding place."
No one said anything after that as they relaxed into their seats. Everyone had their own problems and thoughts to consider. They knew it wasn't going to be easy and the Slytherins knew what they were signing up for. Still, this caught them off guard. They had been training for the past month continuously keeping the faces of their enemies clear in their minds. But to think of their parents as their enemies disturbed them the most. Sure, their parents wouldn't give a second thought about killing them but it was difficult for the children to retaliate to their parents. But they wanted freedom, freedom to make their own choices at life. It wouldn't be a war only to rid the world of evil but it would also be a war for their freedom as well.
-….-
Monday morning breakfast in the Great Hall wasn't a cheerful occasion. Students hated Mondays; half because of the wonderful weekend everyone enjoyed and half because they had double potions with Snape.
The DA Core was seated at their regular tables chatting with their own friends. Harry and Ron looked sleepily as Hermione read out important news from the Daily Prophet. Ginny was arguing with George about Quiddtch while Neville sat silently listening to the brother-sister fight.
The Slytherins were seated in their regular places too enjoying their breakfast silently unlike the Gryffindors who chatted nonstop. Suddenly Luna came into the Great Hall looking pale and walking briskly over to her table. Something was not right. Hermione's head snapped up as she saw a very pale looking Luna hurrying over to her table. She could tell something had happened otherwise the usually calm Luna never tripped over her own shoes.
Harry and Ron noticed Hermione's alert look and they turned back in their seats to look at a much panicked looking Luna sitting at the Ravenclaw table and pushing some eggs on her plate. They eyed each other and then looked over at the Slytherin table. Surely they all had noticed Luna's behaviour as well. As if sensing their eyes on her, Luna looked up and saw the entire DA Core watching her with narrowed eyes.
She nodded very slowly in their direction, took a sip of her pumpkin juice and raced out of the Great Hall as fast as her legs could allow. No one noticed Luna as she exited the Great Hall as if her skirt was on fire. They all got the message and slowly the five Gryffindor's got up from their table. Harry looked up at the Slytherins as he packed his bag and again nodded slowly before following the others out of the hall. Five minutes later no one noticed or suspected anything as a group of four Slytherins exited the Great Hall as well.
They all gathered in the Room of Requirement to know what was wrong with Luna. They were all again sitting on the couches, the fireplace burned with small fire allowing them some warmth. Luna's hands were clamped tightly with Neville's and they all looked nervously at her. After a couple of minutes Luna finally spoke.
"She knows." As these two words left her mouth they all paled.
"H..How?" Neville asked.
"I don't know… someone sold us." Luna said looking worriedly at Harry.
"But that's not possible." Hermione said her heart beating loudly in her chest. "The oath won't allow them to." Hermione knew the oath was strong enough to punish whoever sold them out. She had researched it thoroughly.
"But someone did Hermione." Luna said looking desperately at her. "And as far I heard she has known about it for quite some time. She just doesn't know who to catch or investigate."
"What did you hear?" Harry asked speaking for the first time.
"She was talking to someone I didn't recognize. They had their back to me. But she was talking about us that much I could tell because it involved words like self-defence, illegal student organization and Harry Potter."
"Oh dear!" Ginny held on to Harry tightly as Luna spoke.
"But she doesn't have any evidence. Whoever told her didn't know where to find us or who to ask and she couldn't ask Harry about it either." Luna continued.
"This is shit." Theo said running his hand though his thick black locks.
"And the other day when Daphne heard Umbridge talking about something to discipline us?" Luna said when Harry refused to speak again. He nodded for her to continue.
"That is to catch us. She is setting up something…something similar to prefects. She wants us to be caught. Whatever that is will be out today."
They all had gone back to their classes after that. No one spoke about it again but they were tensed and they could tell that the others were thinking about the same thing they were. They couldn't concentrate, they were all just waiting for that thing whatever Umbridge was going to declare today and Harry didn't know why but he had a negative about it. He knew something good wasn't going to come out of this. They barely ate anything at lunch. Harry had lost all appetite after speaking to Luna. Umbridge had kept shooting suspicious smiles at Harry the entire lunch hour and that's when he knew something terribly bad was going to happen.
And it happened as the students entered the Great Hall for dinner. Filch was putting up another Education Degree.
PROCLAIMATION
Education Degree No. 47
Formation of Inquisitory Squad with
Respect to the permission from
Minister for Magic – Cornelius Fudge
Interested students please sign up with Umbridge for an interview.
IS Squad will be a squad who are supportive of Ministry of Magic. The Squad is supposed to ensure order among the student populace. This squad will have its own prefects who'll have powers above the school prefects and will be responsible for the peaceful environment of the school.
– Dolores Umbridge
Everyone ate glumly after the notice was put up by Filch. No one spoke and no one questioned. The dinner hour went by silently with none of them speaking or eating to their full limit. Before getting up Harry motioned the Slytherins and Luna to meet him in the Room of Requirement.
-…-
"What is it Potter? Why did you call us?" Theo asked, taking a place between Ginny and Blaise.
"I want to talk to you all regarding today's notice." Harry said standing up and giving his place to Luna to sit next to Neville.
"What is there to talk about it? We are all officially screwed." Blaise said leaning back against the couch.
"No, not if we use this to our advantage." Harry said slowly looking at everyone. They all straightened up and listened attentively.
"How?" Luna asked, the dreamy look was back on her face.
"See its simple, Umbridge is setting up Inquisitory Squad to catch the DA. But she has no clue who's behind it or who are its members. So we'll take advantage of this thing. We'll send some of our DA members to sign up for Inquisitory Squad. It'll better to have someone on the inside if we have to keep DA a secret."
"That's brilliant Harry." Hermione said beaming at him.
Harry smiled at her and turned back to the others. "So we'll choose those people who Umbridge thinks will sign up." He looked at the Slytherins in particular.
"Potter what exactly are you trying to say?" Draco asked not liking the way Harry was looking at him.
"I want you and Blaise to sign up for The Inquisitory Squad. There is no doubt that you'll make it to the Inquisitory Squad's prefect's team." Harry's eyes twinkled as he laid down his plan.
"No, that's not possible." Blaise said before Draco could react.
"Look Blaise Umbridge will expect you and Draco to sign up for the Inquisitory Squad from the Slytherins and if you don't she'll be suspicious." Harry said creasing his forehead.
"Harry's right." Neville said supporting his elbows on his knees. "You guys are supposed to be the 'so called' leaders of your Slytherins and if you don't sign up for something that is going to give you ready made powers over others she'll definitely know something is wrong. And the last thing we want her to know is that you guys are a part of this as well."
"Neville's got a point." Ginny said smiling at him.
"But Ginny…" Blaise began but Theo cut him off.
"Look mate, they are right. If none of us sign up she'll know. I don't want our parents to barge in through the front door and force us out of the school. We can't let them know we are damn serious about deflecting the dark side."
"It'll only work to our advantage. And you won't be the only ones from DA. I'll tell few other members to sign up as well. The problem is the chances of them getting into Inquisitory Squad's prefect's team are difficult whereas it's easy for you guys. I just want someone from us to be on the inside so it works to our advantage. It'll only help to keep the DA a secret and hopefully running till the year end. It's going to get even more difficult from now on."
Harry sat on Ron's armrest and looked at Draco and Blaise waiting for their decision. "Okay, we'll do it." Draco said after a minute and Blaise nodded following Draco's words.
"Okay, the sign up is tomorrow before lunch. She'll most probably interview you guys for the prefect's team. Make sure you say and do everything that will reserve your place in it." Harry said getting up and collecting his bag from the floor. He swung it over his shoulder and looked at everyone else.
"I don't think it'll be wise for us to stay here tonight. Go back to your dormitories." Harry said, approaching the door. Everyone stood without a word. They all were worried about the changes that were going to come. "Don't worry…" Harry said as Draco and Blaise walked up to him. "..We'll be around when you go to sign up." He smiled and walked out of the room.
-xxxxxxxxx-
Done! Hope you guys like it!
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