Chapter 8: And the Gears of War Turn Ever so Slowly

It had been three weeks since team RWBY's first lesson, and it had been going fairly well. Most of the students had dropped the class when they learned that they were allowed to drop it. That had saddened Ruby and Yang, but it had the effect of letting them teach the students better, as only twelve of the 5th year students had stuck around. None of the 6th or 7th year students saw a reason to use muggle weapons, and dropped the class quickly.

Of the students that had stayed, most went for weapons that others wouldn't have thought them to use. Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley had both chosen to use the chain-sickle, and both boys had shown remarkable skill with it. Nowhere near Blake's, but for teens who had never used one in their life, they were doing well. Susan Bones, along with Harry Potter had both fallen under the teaching of Yang and hand to hand combat. Seamus Finnigan had picked Rifle training, as the guns intrigued him, and they involved fire in a way, and he was the pyro of the group, so it made sense for him to pick a rifle. You just had to think on it for a while.

Other picked weapons that were kind of surprising, but as not as much as others. Hermoine Granger had picked rifle training with Ruby, as being muggleborn she had a better understanding of guns over her half- and pureblood peers. Paravati Patil trained with Ruby for scythe fighting, while her sister Padma trained with Yang for hand to hand.

The remainders picked weapons one would have expected. Lavander Brown, seeing her best friend Paravati training for scythe usage, went with it. Dean Thomas picked the Chain-sickle, his artistic abilities allowing him a slightly better grip on how to use the weapon over Ron and Neville.

The one person who stayed that surprised all the students though, was Daphne Greengrass. She was the only Slytherin to stay in the class. She had chosen the sword, and more importantly the rapier, which cemented the view as Daphne 'Ice Queen' Greengrass, as the students had seen how cold both girls could act, although there were moments when both Weiss and Daphne would show that they did in fact have a beating heart, and not some pump made of ice instead.

For team RWBY, they were kinda glad they still had students to teach, even if it was a small number. Ruby was having a blast teaching the art of scythe wielding to Paravati and Lavander, and also picked up the gossip that went around. This led to Ruby having a good idea of how the school was reacting to the changes this year. It mostly negative.

Ruby also like who she had for rifle training. Hermoine was able to tell Ruby a lot about this world, including the muggle and wizarding sides.

Yang quite liked having Harry, Susan, and Padma as her students. All three showed some skill, and had the pent up anger for the fighting style of hand to hand combat. They weren't on Yang's level yet, but got closer with each passing day. Harry showed the most skill with it, however he traded speed over power, which Yang helped him to find a balance by having him do weight training, to build the muscle one needs for hand to hand fighting. Susan and Padma were also doing the same.

Blake like the three boys she had been given to teach. Sure Ron took a little bit of time for something to get through his head, but once it did he picked it up fairly well. Neville had some confidence issues, which Blake helped him with, and his skill rose a lot due to the pep talks Blake gave the Gryffindor. Dean Thomas though, was Blake's favorite out of the three. He wasn't discriminatory, as he hadn't commented on her cat ears, as Blake had decided to not wear her bow at Hogwarts. Dean was the only one that saw them and just went with it. That made him Blake's favorite. And his skill with the chain-sickle wasn't half bad either.

Weiss, having only Daphne, was able to to train the single snake in fencing quite well, as the eldest Greengrass child had some lessons when she was younger on fencing. Even though she was born into a pureblood family, her's was one of the few that saw the advantages muggle weapons had, and swords were one of those. So fencing lessons had been arranged, and Daphne had excelled at the sport, but it had been years since the girl had held a rapier, so she was very rusty.

Weiss had like the fact that Daphne listened, and she was able to hold her own against the heiress for a good bit of time before she slipped up and lost the duel. Daphne had shown the most progress in weapon proficiency, but she did have an advantage, so she was more or less on par for the course.

So all in all, Physical Combat and Defense 101 was going well. As time passed, a Hogsmeade weekend came up, and while the rest of the team didn't want to, Yang decided to go out, grabbing a white cloak Ruby had in her bag.

Walking into the little village, Yang saw a few shops that caught her eye. One was a sweets shop that Ruby would have loved and raided. There was a joke shop that Yang would have to visit later on. The last two things to catch her attention were the two pubs. One, called The Three Broomsticks, looked like a cheery kind of place, and one Yang didn't feel like visiting on her own. That would have to wait till she had the rest of the team with her.

The other pub, the Hogs Head, however, looked like the perfect place for some light drinking alone. Walking into the pub, Yang kept her head down, and walked up to the bar while listening to the conversations around her.

Ordering the weakest drink they had, Yang listened in on the large group of students there. That was something Yang didn't expect. So her shock was even greater when she heard Harry's voice, and them plotting to form a secret group to train in Defense Against the Dark Arts, seeing as how Umbridge wasn't teaching anything.

Yang smirked as she took a sip of her drink. This was something the rest of the team needed to know, and maybe having a teacher, or four, on the side of this 'Dumbledore's Army' would be a good thing. Having Daphne Greengrass walk in, with Susan Bones in company however, was an unexpected development, even to Yang.

Ron it seems was about to argue, but Daphne beat him to the punch. "Umbridge is trying to make some sort of squad of students to act as something above a Perfect, and they answer to her and her only. You're going to need someone that's in the Snake Pit so you have information on what Umbridge is up to." Daphne said, heading off any argument that could be made to keep her out. She, along with Susan, also signed the parchment that Hermoine had brought.

Yang got up to leave. As she was walking over to the door, she had the idea to go and sign the paper, but thought against it. It felt like someone had their eyes on her, and Yang wasn't sure if they were entirely friendly.

Shaking it off, Yang stepped outside, and walked back to the castle, with vital information to tell the others. A student army, to fight against the will of the government. This was something Yang felt they would need help in.

After a quick walk back, Yang found her team in the room they had been sleeping in, which was close to the classroom they used. It was a normal scene Yang walked into. Ruby was polishing Crescent Rose, Weiss was practicing with Myrtenaster, her rapier, and Blake was reading, as always.

"Guys, I have to tell you all something. And for once it's important." Yang said, her voice much more serious then it normally was. That had the other three girl's attention quickly.

"It seems Harry has formed some sort of student army, and he intents to train them for the upcoming war. I think we should help him. Anyone else agree?" Yang said and then asked the team.

Ruby only nodded her head yes. She had the thought about talking to Harry for something like that, so the red themed girl would fully support the Boy Who Lived in this endeavor.

Blake was unsure about it. She had seen what a group like what Harry had made could become, but then again, what else did they have to lose? These kids had a war coming up on their doorstep, and yet no one was willing to train them. "I'm in." The cat faunas said.

Weiss was the last one to respond. She knew something like this was needed, and fully supported it, but she did have a reputation to uphold as Ice Queen. "I suppose this can't hurt. As long as we keep plausible deniability, I say we help." she said.

The other all were in agreement then. "We keep it on the down low, and we help them any way we can. I'll have Harry stay back after the next lesson to tell him about our want to help." Yang said, a small grin on her face.

A/N: Sorry if you guys are wanting quick updates. I try to keep ahead f whats posted by a chapter, so that way if things hit the fan, I can quickly post a chapter. By the time this goes up, I'll have started chapter ten. Till then, this is Lone, signing off.