This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter universe, which are trademarked by J.K. Rowling. I do not claim ownership of these characters nor the locations such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc. that are Rowling's creations. This work also includes Pokemon, which belong to the Pokemon Company, and I again claim no ownership of these characters.
I thank both Rowling and the Pokemon Company for the universes they have created that allows me to do something like this for my own entertainment and, hopefully, the entertainment of the readers.
With the battle now over everything started to settle down. The crowd of students regrouped, Smith returning his Electabuzz and ducking his head to avoid notice, and Hermione stepped forward.
"Alright, well we should probably start then," she said, slightly breathless after witnessing the battle that had taken place. Harry imagined she had not anticipated such a dramatic start to proceedings. "We'll start by splitting up into pairs."
"Hang on," Fred spoke up. "We can't start yet."
"Why not?" Hermione asked, bewildered.
"We haven't got a name," George pointed out, as if it was obvious. "You can't forget about that."
"Yeah, we've been working overtime on some ideas," Fred told her. "Want to hear them?"
"Do I?" Hermione questioned wearily.
"George, the list." George fished a sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolding it and straightening it out. Writing could be seen stretching over onto the back.
"Our first thought was Harry's Harem," George announced, much to Harry's embarrassment. "But Ginny shot that down. Something about not being child friendly."
"Thanks," Harry said, throwing a grateful look at Ginny. A ripple of laughter swept through the group.
"Our second one was Death To Umbridge," George continued in a businesslike tone. "Fairly accurate, I'd say. Firm, clear, stating our goals… "
"We're not killing anyone," Hermione said hotly, not amused. "The whole point of this group is to help each other learn since Umbridge refuses to teach us, not to commit murder."
"How about something a little softer then," Fred suggested, leaning over his brother's shoulder and scanning down the list. "Ah, this is a good one. Umbridge Haters United. U.H.U. for short."
"U.H.U.?" Hermione questioned carefully.
"Uhu," said Fred. It took a moment for Hermione to pick up on the joke and when she did she put her face in her hand. Not everyone was so quick.
"Uhu?" Dennis Creevey asked, peeking out from behind the tall form of Anthony Goldstein curiously.
"Right," George said. "Like if you're talking to your mate and you wanted to know if he was going to the meeting you'd say 'Going to the meeting tonight, mate?' And he'd say 'Uhu'." A few people laughed. Many copied Hermione's reaction.
Dennis frowned. "And what if they're not going?" He asked, as though not realising it was a joke. Fred and George grinned.
"Nuhu."
Hermione groaned.
"Why don't we call it something else," Cho suggested, thankfully pulling the conversation back to the matter at hand. "I think we should call it the Battle Association."
"What, Ba?" Ron questioned, head clearly elsewhere.
"Not Ba," Cho corrected. "Tba, like to be announced. That way we can get away with using it around other people." Ron raised an eyebrow.
"It is better than Uhu," he admitted.
"Nuhu," Fred and George said together, to the sound of laughs and faces hitting palms. Ron had really set them up there.
Hermione was annoyed. "Lets just avoid any of this codeword nonsense," she said sharply. "All we need is a name to be able to call ourselves. Something simple, that reflects what we're actually doing, and doesn't involve hugely convoluted backstories that are bound to get us caught."
There was silence for a moment, the group properly chastised and only now starting to put their minds seriously to the task. It was Ginny that spoke first.
"What about Dumbledore's Army," she suggested, her face serious. "After all, that's what the Ministry is so worried we are doing at Hogwarts, raising an army. We could call it the DA for short. Don't even think about it!" Fred had opened his mouth, presumably to make some sort of crack about the name, but stopped himself. He closed his mouth firmly under Ginny's blazing glare.
"The DA," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I like that. Simple, easy to remember. What do you think Harry?"
Harry nodded. "I like it," he told her. "Shall we do it then?"
Truthfully Harry didn't care one jot what the group was called, whether it was the DA or Uhu or Tba, but somehow the name felt fitting. Dumbledore had the Legion, his primary force to fight the war outside of Hogwarts' walls. Now he had something on the inside too.
"Shall we take it to a vote?" Hermione questioned. "A show of hands, who wants to be called Dumbledore's Army?"
A few hands rose at first before the rest followed, every single member of the group satisfied with the name. Hermione, having seen all hands raised, raised her own and turned to Harry. Harry nodded.
"So it's unanimous," he said. "We are Dumbledore's Army."
They didn't do much more that night, it had been eventful enough, but they did have time to split up into pairs for a battle, Dean's Hariyama and Seamus's Hawlucha being the last pair to wrap it up before the session ended. The group decided to meet at the same time next week for their first real meeting and then split up, Seamus and Gardevoir taking the DA members back in twos and threes as Harry, Ron and Hermione watched them go.
"So this is it," Ron muttered as the Ravenclaw fifth year boys disappeared. "It's really happening."
"No turning back now," Hermione said, her voice slightly anxious. "We're committed."
Harry wasn't worried. Yes, the stakes were high and if Umbridge got wind of what they were doing then they'd be in serious trouble. But Harry had always performed his best when the stakes were high and it was all on the line. His greatest achievements came when failure wasn't an option. And he would make sure this group, the DA, would be the greatest there ever was.
As the weeks went by Harry's excitement and delight with the DA grew and grew, and what's more it didn't seem like Umbridge had any clue as to what was happening. It was with tremendous satisfaction that Harry watched her stand at the front of the Pokémon Battling classroom with that smug, sickly smile on her toad like face with no idea that they were subverting her authority right under her very nose.
The meetings themselves were brilliant and had quickly switched from being weekly to twice weekly, and it would have been more had Hermione not pointed out that the more often they met the more likely they were to get caught. However, that did little to curb their enthusiasm.
At one meeting, the very first after that first night where they had officially formed the group, Harry set up a drill, one he felt highlighted what they needed to learn most from him.
"One of the most important things to remember when battling a Death Eater is that they do not view Pokémon battles the way we do," he announced to the group. They were lined up in front of him, spaced evenly across the clearing, each with a Pokémon at their back.
"Death Eaters do not measure a battle's success by the fate of your Pokémon, but by the fate of you," Harry continued. "If given the chance a Death Eater will attack you directly, not your Pokémon, and if they are successful they will claim the win, and you won't be able to claim anything."
"This drill is designed to train you to be just as aware of Pokémon attacking you as you are about them attacking your Pokémon. The situation is this: Behind you are Death Eaters. They are chasing you but you've got a head start on them. Over there," Harry jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Is safety. If you can get there you cannot be harmed. But in the way are more Death Eaters," he pointed to each side. On his left stood Ron's Wartortle, Neville's Dewott, and Colin's Bibarel. To his right stood Hermione's Buizel and, swimming in the shallows of the stream, Lavender's Gorebys and Parvati's Lumineon.
"These Death Eaters want you dead just as much as the ones behind you," Harry told them. "But you don't have the opportunity to stop and battle them. You do that and the Death Eaters behind you will catch up and you will have nowhere left to run."
"The aim is to get past me," Harry told them, holding out his arms to indicate an imaginary line, with him standing in the centre. "On your marks. Get set. Go."
The DA probably hadn't realised just how hard this was going to be until they'd tried it themselves. Michael Corner, thinking to beat the Pokémon to the mark, sprinted out in front of the pack. He was promptly hit by Buizel's Water Gun attack and fell flat on his back.
In the end no one made it successfully across. Nobody even came close. Fred and George showed some teamwork but they were stopped short half way across by Gorebys and Lumineon. Ron barely even got started, Wartortle focusing in on his trainer and giving Arcanine little chance of protecting him. Last to fall was Hermione, Misdreavus doing a good job deflecting attacks as they came, but once all other competitors were gone all six 'Death Eaters' focused in on the Gryffindor girl and she too fell short.
Harry hoped that this drill taught the DA just what they were meant to be learning here.
Of course it wasn't just drills that the DA indulged themselves in, particularly as they were quite hard to think up while including the whole group. Often much of the meeting time was devoted to individual Pokémon battling and the traditional form of training. It was during this, with Ginny's Chikorita taking on Ron's Wartortle, that something incredible happened.
Wartortle, more powerful than Chikorita despite the type mismatch, leapt into a Rapid Spin, easily deflecting Chikorita's Razor Leaf. Chikorita responded with a Vine Whip, sending Wartortle crashing into the ground, and with a triumphant cry started to glow. She grew and grew and suddenly the glowing stopped, and a Bayleef stood in her place.
Bayleef was only the first of many. Seamus's Monferno was next, evolving into a powerful Infernape, and then Fred and George's Magby and Elekid evolved into Magmar and Electabuzz simultaneously in battle with one another. The biggest one, in Harry's mind, was Pig, Ron's rambunctious Pidgeotto, evolving into a Pidgeot.
It wasn't all fun and games, as the Christmas holidays drew near. Perhaps sensing that something was going on at Hogwarts, though not knowing exactly what, Umbridge had become unusually active once more.
The first warning sign came when Umbridge was spotted in Professor Trelawney's tower-top classroom, an unusual place for anyone to be voluntarily, clipboard at the ready and sickly sweet smile on her face. It had been awhile since Umbridge had first done the rounds, interviewing teachers and watching them as they taught, and now it seemed she was back at it.
This was not too much of a concern, at least when it came to Fortune Telling. As far as Harry was concerned Trelawney was a hack and he couldn't remember learning much of anything in her class. If Umbridge were to suspend Trelawney it would be rather hard to argue with the decision.
What was a problem to Harry was Umbridge's presence down at Hagrid's hut at the next Pokémon Care class. Again she had her clipboard at the ready, scribbling down notes periodically as Hagrid did his best to ignore her and act normal. Whereas Trelawney was worthy of scrutiny Hagrid wasn't. He was a fantastic teacher.
Of course the worry was that Umbridge's decisions likely had little to do with actual teaching ability - she'd be the first to go if that were the case and Binns would be a very close second - but had a lot to do with loyalty. And it was widely known that Hagrid was unfailingly loyal to Dumbledore.
And so it was with relief, one morning as frost covered the castle grounds and Harry wandered down to the Great Hall for one of the last days of classes before the holidays, that it was only Trelawney that was put on probation, not Hagrid.
"Can't really say she doesn't deserve it," Ron muttered over breakfast, keeping his voice low to avoid being overheard by a distraught Parvati and Lavender. "I still don't know why Dumbledore hired her in the first place. Mind you, he did hire Lockhart."
"I'm just worried about what happens now," Hermione said anxiously. "There's no doubt that Umbridge wants to fire Trelawney, and she'll probably manage it too. But what about Hagrid?"
"Hagrid's a good teacher," Ron pointed out. "Not like Trelawney." Unfortunately this time he forgot to keep his voice down, earning him glares from down the table.
"But people don't trust Hagrid," Hermione said. Harry frowned.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I mean the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione pointed out. "People think he was responsible."
"But we cleared his name," Ron pointed out.
"We said it was You-know-who," Hermione reminded him. "That argument isn't going to hold up well right now. And it doesn't really matter what the truth is, it's all about perception. Lots of people thought Hagrid was guilty and not all of them will be convinced that he's innocent, especially if they only have half the story."
"Yeah, but he'll be alright," Ron said, as though trying to convince himself as much as Hermione. "He's got Dumbledore looking out for him. No way is he getting sacked."
Harry hoped he was right. So far the power to hire and fire staff still seemed to lie with Professor Dumbledore, but with how much the Ministry had been able to take control over the last few months Harry wondered for how much longer that would be the case. Without Dumbledore's protection it didn't seem like Hagrid had much of a chance.
The post arrived, breaking Harry out of his depressing thoughts. He pulled himself together, turning his thoughts positive as he'd been so keen to do since the formation of the DA. They had one more session planned before everyone went home for the holidays and Harry thought that perhaps they could do something fun.
His hopes were dashed as Hermione opened up the morning's Daily Prophet and gasped.
"What?" Ron asked, orange juice having spilled onto his collar at the noise but ignoring it in favour of looking at Hermione. "What is it?" Hermione didn't say anything, she just moved a plate of toast out of the way and spread the Prophet out on the table.
The headline blared out at Harry.
Azkaban Mass Breakout!
"Oh no," Ron moaned as the three of them crowded round. Around the hall Harry could hear others reacting to the news. There were cries of shock, yells of anger, and Harry heard someone who sounded distinctly like Seamus swear.
The reason for such a reaction was clear. Underneath this already horrifying headline were ten pictures, mug shots, that showed nine men and one woman, and Harry recognised the woman well.
Bellatrix LeStrange, the caption of the photo telling him even if he hadn't recognised her himself. The last time Harry had seen her, the only time as a matter of fact, she had looked in much better condition. She'd been young, and beautiful in her own deadly way. Now all of that was gone, claimed by Azkaban, and what was left could only be described as a feral animal.
But then again maybe that's what she'd always been. Her crime, the one that sent her to Azkaban in the first place, was so heinous that Harry could barely stomach just thinking about it. And the way she had been so accepting about what she had done, the torture of two good people, parents to a tiny baby boy, was horrifying.
Thinking of the scene in the courtroom from many years ago Harry's eyes flitted to the faces of the other nine prisoners. Sure enough he found Rudolphus LeStrange, Bellatrix's husband, right next to her, with his brother, Rabastan, sitting below.
"How could this happen?" Hermione gasped. Her eyes were wide and she was staring at the pictures with shock and horror. "How could they escape?"
"Sirius managed it," Ron muttered.
"But Sirius was one man," Hermione argued. "And he was innocent. This… this is something else."
Harry had nothing to say to that for Hermione was right, and so he instead turned his attention to the article, hoping it would shed some light.
He wished he hadn't.
The Ministry of Pokémon announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban prison.
Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Pokémon, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening.
'We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago when the mass murderer Sirius Black escaped,' said Fudge last night. 'Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and who else would be able to pull this off but the only man to have ever escaped the Azkaban Dusknoir. We think that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix LeStrange, have rallied around Black, no doubt encouraged by the false rumours that You-know-who is once again amongst us. We are doing everything we can to round up these criminals and if to return You-know-who to power is their goal then they will fail. In the meantime I beg the Pokémon community to be careful. On no account should any of these individuals be approached if you happen to see them'.
If sightings of any of these ten escapees or Sirius Black are witnessed then please contact the Auror office immediately.
"I can't believe this," said Harry, outraged. "They're trying to blame Sirius."
"And taking a potshot at you and Dumbledore while they're at it," Hermione added in disgust. "It's so typical of a politician to use something like this to score cheap points against their opponents."
"It won't work though," said Ron worriedly. "People will be able to see through this. With Death Eaters now out and on the loose people won't be able to keep sticking their head in the sand. The truth will come out."
Harry wished that were the case but at the same time he doubted it. Reading Fudge's words again he found they were so perfectly crafted. By pinning the blame on Sirius rather than Voldemort he had indirectly tied the breakout not just to the presumed lies Harry and Dumbledore were telling but also to the fact that it was under Dumbledore's watch that Sirius had been able to slip through the Ministry's grasp. It wasn't hard to see how people could come away from this article feeling that Dumbledore had lost his touch and be glad that it was the Ministry who were out searching for these people. They wouldn't find them, of course, not until it was much too late.
The last DA meeting before the end of term was a somber affair, completely the opposite of what Harry had originally planned. Every single one of the students there had been shocked by what had been reported in the Prophet just two days ago and they had all channelled it into their training, working harder than ever before in their desire to become strong enough to defend themselves and their families. Harry hoped that it would never come to it, that the war would hold off for just a bit longer and that he'd see all of them again at the start of next term, but he knew with some of Voldemort's most loyal supporters now once again at his side that time was running out. Voldemort was about to make his move.
The meeting ran longer than the previous ones, no one wanting to leave. Harry wondered how many of them worried about the same thing he was. But eventually people started to decide to call it a day, in some cases simply because their Pokémon were just no longer able to battle, and the clearing started to empty.
"Marietta, wait, just give me a minute," Cho was pleading with her friend, who huffed in annoyance. Harry didn't know what was going on there and didn't particularly want to find out. The clearing was almost empty now, just the last of the Gryffindors still to go with Hermione, Parvati and Lavender disappearing into thin air.
"Okay, girls, I can't wait all day," Seamus said as he walked towards the two Ravenclaws, Gardevoir reappearing at his side. Cho looked anxious, glancing at Harry as though she wanted to say something. She didn't though, seeming to decide against it, and a moment later both Cho and her friend were gone.
"It's just us now," Seamus announced, walking over to where Dean and Ron stood waiting, Gardevoir appearing silently at his side. "Ready Neville?"
"Go on ahead," Neville said, not turning round to face them. "I'll be there in a few minutes."
Seamus sent a questioning look at Harry, looking somewhat concerned, but Harry just shook his head.
"Let me talk to him," he said quietly. Seamus nodded.
"Alright, I'll send Gardevoir back when we get there," he promised. "Don't be too late, we're going home tomorrow." And with that he, Ron and Dean disappeared.
There was only Harry and Neville left in the clearing, that is if you only counted humans. Before Neville stood his hulking Venusaur, a real powerhouse of a Pokémon if ever there was one, and behind Harry Gardevoir reappeared, floating silently in the background.
There was silence for a moment.
"Neville," Harry said softly. Neville jumped. He hadn't noticed Harry was there.
"Oh, Harry," he said hurriedly, wiping at his face quickly as he turned around. "What are you still doing here?" He let out a sniff.
"I wanted to talk to you," Harry said simply. "If that's alright?" Neville nodded, looking confused.
"What did you want to talk about?" He asked. Harry stepped forward. This seemed like a conversation he needed to be closer for.
"I've noticed you've been a bit… obsessed, since the breakout," Harry told him, watching carefully. "Especially today, you've been pushing your Pokémon to the limit. I was just wondering if you needed someone to talk to. I'm here, if you do."
Neville sniffed again. "Thanks Harry," he said. "But I'm alright. Just realised I needed to get stronger." Harry didn't buy it. He might have, had he not known just why these breakouts effected Neville so badly, but he knew that, despite what he said, Neville needed someone he could talk to about it.
He stepped forward again.
"Here, I've got something to show you," he said, fishing his hand into his pocket and coming up with what he'd been looking for. Neville looked surprised, and curious, and so he instinctively came closer to look.
It was the picture of the original Legion of Ho-oh, though faded and crinkled it wasn't immediately obvious at first and Neville frowned down at the paper in Harry's hands.
"This picture was taken about sixteen, seventeen years ago," Harry told him. "It's the Legion of Ho-oh, have you heard of them?" Neville shook his head. "They fought against Voldemort the first time round. There's my parents, right in the middle."
"I see them," Neville muttered, taking a hold of the corner of the picture to look more closely. "You look just like your dad."
"I've got my mum's eyes," Harry said. "You can't really see in this picture but I've got others. Everyone always told me but it is good to see in person." He paused for a moment, letting his eyes rest on his parents, before he moved on. This wasn't about him.
"And see, there's Dumbledore," Harry pointed out. "And Professor Moody."
"They haven't changed," Neville noted with a small smile. Harry chuckled.
"And there is Professor Lupin, next to my mum," Harry pointed out.
"Wow," Neville said. It must be a surprise to see what their professor had looked like when he was younger. Harry probably wouldn't have guessed it was Remus had he not known he was part of the Legion.
"And there's Gideon and Fabian Prewett," Harry continued. "They're Ron's uncles. And there…" he didn't need to finish his sentence. The moment his finger had drifted over to where Frank and Alice Longbottom stood Neville had let out a gasp and his grip on the picture tightened.
"My parents were in the Legion?" Neville gasped. "Gran always said they fought You-know-who but I thought she meant with the Ministry."
"Well, she didn't," Harry told him. "The Legion of Ho-oh were the premier fighting force responsible for stopping Voldemort. Dumbledore ran it and he still runs it today. It reformed when Voldemort returned."
"Are there lots of people there?" Neville asked cautiously. Harry nodded.
"There's a fair number," he told him. Saying whether there were 'lots' really depended on what Neville's expectations were. "And they're fighting Voldemort every day. They're strong, Neville, powerful, skilful, and good. I know it is scary, to think of how many people in that picture aren't here today, but there are so many people willing to fight, if only you knew where to look. We're not alone in this, Neville, and trust me, we'll win. And Voldemort and the Death Eaters, they'll have nothing."
He wished he was as confident as he pretended to be. It turned out he was a much greater liar than he thought. But Neville needed to hear this. Throughout Neville's life he'd suffered from a lack of confidence. It'd held him back at school, in classes, and socially in the common room. And even if Neville's confidence wasn't in himself then at least he had it in Harry. Everyone needed something to believe in.