Ari kept his DA coin with him at all times, and the second it got warm, he notified Michael and Terry. That night, the remainder of the DA gathered in the room of requirement. Neville, Ginny, and Luna were nudging each other, trying to decide who should speak. Finally, Ginny stood up.
"Thank you everyone for coming," Ginny began. "As I'm sure you realize, it is necessary to restart the DA. This time though, our goal isn't only to learn defense. We need to protect ourselves and our school from the three resident death eaters. If anyone has any ideas on how we can do that, please speak up now."
Neville stood up. "I think we need some more members before we can do anything," he said.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Terry asked sarcastically. "If we put up a sign up sheet, we'll have the Carrows joining us."
"A sign up sheet isn't a bad idea," Luna said, "but we can't let the Carrows see it. We need a place that they won't go."
"We first need to spread the word that we need more members," Neville said. "How do we do that?"
"Maybe if we put up signs saying 'Dumbledore's Army still recruiting'," Hannah Abbot suggested.
"We could use spray paint!" Ginny decided. "Fred and George gave me a few bottles for my birthday."
"We should first make sure we're properly disillusioned," Ari said. "I hate to think what would happen if we get caught in the act."
"Who here could do a disillusionment charm?" Neville asked.
Ari immediately raised his hand.
"Good," Neville said, "If you teach a few more people, we can all walk around the castle disillusioned."
Ari demonstrated the spell and everyone tried it on themselves with varying degrees of success.
"That's a good start!" Ginny said cheerfully. "There's also an exciting program on the wireless called Potterwatch. I think we should listen to it to hear the real news."
They all listened as Lee Jordan explained that there was a break-in at the ministry.
"Someone searched the Umbridge toad's office," Lee said cheerfully. "After that, two people, one with a stag patronus and one with an otter patronus, released all the muggle-borns who were waiting for their trials. We suspect that the intruders used polyjuice potion to enter the ministry, pretending to be ministry officials. We congratulate Harry Potter and his friends on a job well done, and advise them to be careful in the future."
There was other news too. A man who Ginny identified as Kingsley Shacklebolt explained that there is a taboo on you-know-who's name and anyone who says the name will immediately cancel all wards and protective spells in the area and alert the death eaters. He explained that the ministry is under death eater control. After giving some more updates about the news, there was some joking around by the members of this new show. Finally, Lee gave the password for the next show and ended the program. Ari couldn't wait to tell his grandmother about it.
That night, the DA snuck into the great hall and spray painted all the walls with big letters reading "DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY STILL RECRUITING." The next day, nobody was surprised to see signs in all the common rooms stating that all clubs are banned and that meetings with more than three students are against school rules.
On Friday afternoon, Ari went to Professor Flitwick's office, ready to floo home.
"As of now, neither of the Carrows is aware that you go home for Shabbos," Professor Flitwick said. "If they're monitoring the floo, they will find out. Do you remember when Umbridge cornered you about it?"
"Of course," Ari said. "I think I can handle the Carrows. If not, I'm sure my grandmother will teach me how to make a portkey and I can portkey in and out as needed."
"I hope you don't get in trouble," Professor Flitwick said. "Good luck!"
Ari stepped into the floo and soon found himself home. He told his family what is happening at Hogwarts.
"I could get plane tickets for America right after Shabbos," Tatti said immediately.
"There's no need," Oma said. "We don't run from trouble. Ari is a big boy and as a prefect, he will help protect the school. He already taught the DA a charm and stood up to death eaters. The best thing is to stay and fight it out."
"You need some protection against those curses," Mommy said. "It's not acceptable for a teacher to encourage students to hurt each other."
"I taught Ari how to dodge and block curses," Oma said. "I think if you do that, you could teach your class more than your teacher is."
"I'm not getting any more detentions," Ari said. "I wrote some gag essays for muggle studies, but I'm not handing them in under my own name. I'm tempted to put names of students on the run, but I don't want them to get in trouble for it if they ever get caught."
"Put on the name of someone who died," Mommy suggested. "Can you imagine if the Carrows would suddenly start receiving essays completed by Albus Dumbledore?"
"The only problem is that I could get caught when handing them in," Ari said.
"Leave it on the desk or in the office when nobody is around," Mommy said. "It just means you'll miss the reaction."
Ari agreed that it was a good idea.
When Shabbos was over, Ari floo'd back to Hogwarts and wasn't surprised to see three professors waiting for him.
"Gut voch!" Ari said cheerfully.
"What nonsense are you speaking?" the female Carrow asked.
"I'm sorry," Ari apologized, "I forgot you only speak English. I wished you a good week. My family still follows wizarding traditions dating back to the days of King Saul who was king of Israel from 1052 until 1025 BCE. I guess your family was still muggle back then if you are not familiar with old wizarding traditions."
"Crucio!" Professor Carrow lifted her wand and sent the curse toward Ari.
Ari dodged out of the way.
"My family is part of the sacred 28," Carrow yelled at Ari.
"Mine isn't," Ari said, "but that's because they were in Germany until 1938. There are only three muggles in my entire family tree and two of them were before 1025 BCE."
"That doesn't give you the right to go home every week," the male Carrow said.
"Actually, it does," Ari responded. "It is a wizarding tradition dating back to before the calendar years started. Hogwarts always accommodated those of all religions, and going home for Shabbos is one of my accommodations."
"Very well," Professor Snape said, "If you earn any future detentions, they will take place on Friday night. Make sure you don't do anything that will get you in trouble."
"Yes sir," Ari said, wondering if Snape was giving in to avoid going through his family history.
"What do you know about Dumbledore's Army?" Snape asked.
"Dumbledore died last June," Ari said calmly, "Therefore, he can't be forming an army."
"Didn't you notice the graffiti in the great hall?" Snape glared at Ari.
"Of course," Ari said, "and I assumed it was someone's idea of a joke since we were all at Dumbledore's funeral last year."
"Are you always this clueless?" the female Carrow asked.
"My friends tease me that I am," Ari admitted. "They say that I'm so self absorbed that I don't notice anything else going on."
"Well, if you do notice anything, let a professor know," Professor Snape said. "I noticed the attention you pay to detail in your potions over the years. Start paying attention to the world around you."
Ari agreed and walked away, glad that he got out of this confrontation without any detentions.
The next few weeks dragged on. Ari had fun with his muggle studies assignments. Terry read one titled "Why muggles are superior to wizards" to the DA and they all liked Ari's idea of bogus assignments, although none of them had time to contribute. They continued advertising for the DA until Ginny was called into Snape's office for questioning.
"I saw Gryffindor's sword in Snape's office!" Ginny told everyone. "I have to get it to send to Harry. Dumbledore left it to him in his will."
Ginny, Neville, and Luna made plans for stealing the sword while others would be wreaking havoc elsewhere in the school. On the chosen night, they divided into groups of three. Ari's group was him, Terry, and Michael. After everyone was disillusioned, they each picked an area to stage their pranks. Ari and his friends went out on the grounds for a fireworks display. They used the Weasley's fireworks that multiply when hit with spells. Ernie's group was in the great hall. They used graffiti to put all sorts of messages all over the hall. Parvati's group focused on the entrance hall. While the Carrows ran around trying to catch the invisible groups of pranksters, Snape headed to his office as Ginny, Neville, and Luna were leaving with the sword. The three had detention with Hagrid in the forbidden forest. The others agreed that it was the most fun night since school started.