A/N: Thanks to everyone who taken the time to read my story! It means a lot. I appreciate everyone who has written reviews, and I have responded to a couple of them.


Ginny spent the rest of Saturday afternoon by the lake with Michael, and then later with Lena and Demelza Robins after Michael went to get a head start on the usual enormous workload his teachers had given him. As the sun went down, Ginny retired to the common room to work on her own homework with Hermione, who sat by the fire while Harry and Ron played wizard chess in the corner.

"I think the meeting went well," said Ginny, opening a Chocolate Frog she had bought at Honeydukes earlier.

"Yes, I agree. Overall Harry had more support than I thought he would. I thought more of them would be like Zacharias…"

As usual, Hermione had bewitched her knitting needles to knit more elf hats and socks while she worked on her homework. Ginny had to admire her perseverance.

"Why d'joo imvie 'im?" she mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate. It took Hermione a second to figure out what she had said.

"He overheard me talking to Ernie and Justin about it and seemed intrigued. I didn't want to refuse, that would have seemed mean."

"He'll probably go to Umbridge, you know," said Ginny. "He seemed like a rat. Damn it," she added as she accidentally left a chocolate fingerprint on her paper.

"Well if he does, we'll know right away, because I jinxed that parchment we signed."

Ginny laughed. "I knew from that smug look you had after everyone signed that something was up."

Hermione smiled mischievously.

"What happens if someone tells?"

"Well… something will happen to their face that will make them not want to be seen in public for a while," said Hermione, her voice trembling slightly. Ginny chuckled again as she went back to her Transfiguration assignment. Hermione had a vindictive streak; it was something that rather surprised her the first time she experienced it.

"Er — by the way — I told Ron about you and Michael," Hermione said quietly, making sure Ron wouldn't overhear.

Ginny looked up from her paper.

"What did he say?"

"Oh, you know. The usual rubbish. Suddenly decided he didn't like him." She rolled her eyes.

"What difference does it make to him?" said Ginny indignantly. "It's none of his business!"

"I know it isn't. I guess he's just overprotective."

Ginny snorted. "So I guess Harry knows too?"

"Yes, and it dawned on him that you're not shy around him anymore. I told him you were over him and he was like 'oh, that's why she talks now?' So I think he's starting to notice you."

"Little late now," said Ginny tonelessly.

"But this is good, isn't it? This is exactly what I hoped would happen!"

"I'm over him."

"Oh stop it," said Hermione rather coldly. "You're only fooling yourself."

"What? Didn't you just say you told Harry the same thing?"

"Yes, but I just wanted him to believe that so he sees you as a friend rather than Ron's lovesick sister," she said composedly.

"Yeah, well," said Ginny, who had no energy to argue the point, "he's still slobbering over Cho anyway. It doesn't even matter."

"That won't last," said Hermione, as Ginny made a disbelieving snort. "I mean, they'll probably date eventually, but I really don't think they're compatible long term."

"Why not?"

"I don't think either of them are in the right frame of mind given what happened to Cedric," said Hermione intelligently.

"They'll get over that."

"Well, maybe, but it's always going to be a source of awkwardness, at the very least."

"I know, but they'll get through it."

Hermione gave Ginny a weird look and didn't pursue the subject further.

"So still not sure where you're going to have these meetings?" asked Ginny, eager to change the subject.

"Not yet. If you think of somewhere, let me know."

Ginny had to admit she was stumped on this one.


Although they had not broken any rules by meeting in Hog's Head and forming the defense club, that all changed in the blink of an eye on Monday morning. Ginny had woken up and dressed quickly, and when she descended the staircase to the common room, she saw a huddle of students around the Gryffindor notice board. As she wedged herself in the huddled mass to get a look, she saw that a new sign bearing the heading "Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four" had been pinned to the notice board overnight. The new decree banned all student organizations not approved by Umbridge, and that those who didn't comply would be expelled.

"This isn't a coincidence," said Ginny shakily.

"That rotten hag!" said Dean Thomas, who had just forced his way into the crowd and was now standing beside her, staring at the notice. "Someone must have blabbed! That Zacharias toad, I'll bet anything!"

"WAIT!" shouted Angelina suddenly. "Look! It says sports teams are included too!"

"No way!" came Katie Bell's voice. "But that means —"

"— we have to get her permission to re-form the Quidditch team!" Angelina fumed. "I don't believe this!"

She stormed out the portrait hole. Ginny wormed her way out of the mob and ran right into Fred and George.

"Hey, sis," said Fred.

"Think Harry's still going to do it?" said George.

"Oh, absolutely," said Ginny. "He's not going to let that twisted harpy tell him what to do."

"He's never seen a rule he didn't want to break," said Fred, smiling.

Sure enough, Harry informed them at breakfast without hesitation that they were still going through with it. Ginny spent the next couple days trying desperately to think of a place to hold the meetings, but now that they were illegal, nothing she thought of was nearly safe enough to risk it. The only place she could come up with was the Forbidden Forest or somewhere secluded down by the lake, but since the Forest was dangerous and anyone could potentially stumble across them near the lake, she dismissed these ideas quickly.

On Wednesday, Ginny was on her way to Charms with Lena after lunch when someone tapped on her shoulder. Ginny looked around and was surprised to find herself face-to-face with Harry, looking happier than she'd seen him in a while.

"Oh — hi," she said blankly.

"Can I have a quick word?" he said.

"Sure." She turned to Lena. "I'll see you inside."

Lena smiled and kept walking to class while Ginny stood, waiting for Harry to speak. She couldn't remember a time she was standing this close to him face-to-face, as they simply did not have many one-on-one interactions. She stared into the bright green eyes that he had inherited from his mother and felt her repressed feelings try to force their way to the surface of her mind, but she quickly squashed them back down and took a deep breath as surreptitiously as possible.

"I found a spot to hold the meetings," he told her. "Can you be on the seventh floor at eight o'clock tonight? Across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. D'you know where that is?"

"Yeah," Ginny replied. "You're sure it's a safe spot?"

"Definitely. There's a secret room there. You'll see."

"How did you find it?"

"Dobby," he said, smiling.

"Bless him." Ginny couldn't help but marvel at how helpful that house elf was. Last year, he saved Harry's chances in the Triwizard Tournament at the last second by supplying him with gillyweed. Still, the elf had also managed to nearly kill him with a Bludger during a Quidditch match in his second year, though Ginny had little recollection of this incident for reasons she preferred not to think about. "I'll be there! And I'll let Michael know."

"Great, thanks! Well, I'm gonna be late for class — see you!" He turned and hurried toward the stairs. Ginny watched him go.

"What did he want?" said Lena, once Ginny had taken her seat in class next to her.

"Oh — he just relayed me a message," said Ginny. She wasn't entirely sure why she wasn't telling Lena about the defense group. She intended to prior to Umbridge banning it, as she knew Lena would be completely on board, but she was also not someone who'd risk expulsion over it either. There was also the fact that Harry and Hermione weren't acquainted with her and probably wouldn't like it if she just showed up without Ginny running it by them first.

Much to her displeasure, Ginny ran into Cho on her way down to Potions later that afternoon, accompanied by her friend.

"Hi," said Cho, smiling at her as they approached each other in the entrance hall.

"Oh, hi," said Ginny dully, thinking that this was the last thing she needed right before two hours of Snape.

"I saw you and Harry talking earlier, was that about you-know-what? Did he find somewhere to meet?"

Ginny felt her cheeks flush. So Cho was spying on her now, was she?

"Yeah, he did," Ginny told her, feeling it was best to be honest. Ginny had a sudden fantasy about giving her a fake time and place for the meeting and having a laugh at her expense but knew full well she couldn't act on it. She had a sneaky suspicion Cho was going to confirm whatever she said with Harry later anyway. Checking to make sure nobody could overhear them, she said, "The first meeting is tonight at eight o'clock, there's apparently a secret room on the seventh floor that Harry wants to use." Cho's friend looked disappointed; it was clear she had only signed onto this because Cho did.

"Oh, great!" said Cho. "Thanks, Ginny!" She walked away and, in sharp contrast to her friend, was looking incredibly cheerful. Ginny glared at the pair of them as they disappeared down the hall. Thoroughly bad tempered now, she stomped down the stairs to the dungeons for double Potions with the Hufflepuffs.

Ginny made sure to find Harry right after she got out of Potions and tell him that she had given Cho the meeting place and time so he wouldn't have the opportunity to tell her himself. She knew she was being very petty, but needed to reward herself somehow for having to endure Cho. Finding him was not difficult; she knew his schedule by heart. Harry looked slightly disappointed when she told him but thanked her as they made their way back to the common room together, each taking turns abusing Umbridge. At dinner, Ginny sat at the Ravenclaw table and informed Michael, Terry, Anthony, and Luna of the meeting at eight o'clock, making doubly sure she did not so much as glance in Cho's direction.

Ginny returned to the common room to work on her homework following dinner, and at a quarter to eight she headed to the portrait hole with Dean, Neville, Lavender and Parvati Patil.

"I thought you didn't believe Harry?" said Ginny to Lavender as made their way into the seventh-floor corridor.

"Well, I was skeptical at first, since my family read the Prophet all summer and that's all the information I had access to, but after they forced Umbridge on us, I changed my mind. My mum would probably kill me if she found out I was participating in this group, but I think it's worth it. I mean, I do need to pass my exams, right?"

Ginny suppressed an eyeroll, but she supposed any reason was good enough. When they reached the spot Harry had indicated earlier, Ginny saw a highly polished door along the wall that she'd never noticed before.

"That must be it!" said Dean excitedly. Neville hurried forward, knocked and then entered.

They entered a spacious room lit by torches with walls covered in bookcases and shelves full of different magical instruments. Instead of chairs, the floor was littered with many silk cushions that Ginny normally would see in Charms class.

"Whoa," said Dean. "What is this place?"

"Hey everyone!" said Harry, striding over towards them from across the room. "So this is called the Room of Requirement, it only appears when someone has real need of it, so Umbridge can't —"

He was interrupted by the door opening again as Fred, George, and Lee Jordan arrived.

"Blimey! What is this place?" said Lee, looking around excitedly. Harry gave a slight groan, realizing he'd have to explain multiple times.

Michael, Terry, and Anthony entered next. Michael gave Ginny a big smile and they took a seat next to each other on two of the cushions. Ernie Macmillan and some other Hufflepuffs were next, with Zacharias Smith bringing up the rear. Cho and her friend took a seat near Ginny and Cho smiled politely at her. Ginny tried to smile back but was pretty sure all she managed was a grimace.

"Well," said Harry, slightly nervously. "This is the place we've found for practices, and you've — er — obviously found it okay —"

"It's fantastic!" said Cho, and there was murmuring of agreement. Ginny had to admit it was better than anything she could have ever thought of.

"It's bizarre," said Fred, frowning around at it. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then…"

"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" asked Dean from the rear of the room, indicating some items on one of the shelves.

"Dark Detectors," said Harry, making his way over to where Dean was standing. "Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled." He looked at one of the artifacts for a moment before turning back to face them. "Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and — er — what, Hermione?"

Hermione had raised her hand as if she were answering a question in class.

"I think we ought to elect a leader," said Hermione.

"Harry's leader," said Cho coldly.

"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," said Hermione, unperturbed. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So — everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"

Everyone raised their hand.

"Er — right, thanks," said Harry, blushing slightly. "And — what, Hermione?"

"I also think we ought to have a name," she said brightly, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"

"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" said Angelina hopefully.

"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" suggested Fred.

Ginny thought for a moment. She thought Fred was on the right track. The name needed to be amusing, but more subtle.

"I was thinking," said Hermione, frowning at Fred, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."

Ginny pondered some more. What was the whole reason they had to do this? Why was Umbridge here in the first place? Because Fudge feared Dumbledore was going to train students to take on the Ministry, she thought, and she almost laughed out loud at how absurd it was.

"The Defense Association?" said Cho. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"

An idea popped into Ginny's head as readily as if someone flipped a switch.

"Yeah, the D.A.'s good. Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

She knew immediately that this was the winner. People laughed and muttered appreciatively, and Hermione promptly said, "All in favor of the D.A.?"

Everyone put their hands in the air.

"That's a majority — motion passed!"

Hermione pinned the piece of paper with all of their names on it on the wall and wrote DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY across the top in large letters. Ginny couldn't help being proud of herself for this one. One-upping Cho was also a delightful bonus.

They broke off in pairs and started with the Disarming Charm. Ginny thought this was a very easy assignment, and she had no trouble whatsoever disarming Michael, but many others were having difficulty. To her delight, Fred and George were disarming Zacharias Smith behind his back while he was trying to disarm Anthony. Ginny met George's eye and grinned; he winked at her in response before Harry spotted what they were doing and put a stop to it, though he looked amused all the same.

Michael, on the other hand, was apparently unwilling to jinx Ginny. Every time he raised his wand he would open his mouth slightly, but no sound would come out. Ginny started giving him an absurdly long time but eventually got fed up and put him out of his misery.

"Expelliarmus!"

His wand flew out of his hand again.

"Come on, Michael, it's just disarming!" said Ginny cheerfully, summoning his wand and tossing it back to him. "We're trying to practice here; there's no need to be so noble."

"Okay, okay," he said, a little flustered.

But after a few more times of the same result Ginny had had enough.

"Maybe it would be better if we partnered with other people? Here, Anthony," — Anthony looked over at her — "you partner with Michael, he's being too much of a gentleman."

Anthony looked pleased to get away from Zacharias Smith and Ginny noticed Michael improved remarkably when he wasn't paired with her. Boys were so stupid.

Zacharias wasn't horrible when he wasn't being secretly jinxed by Fred and George, but Ginny was still superior, and this caused his poor attitude to get even worse. By the time the D.A. meeting ended, though, Ginny couldn't help but feel that it had been a tremendous success overall.


The next week's lesson went just as well as the first one did, as they continued practicing disarming for the first half and then moved on to the Impediment Jinx and the Reductor Curse after. Ginny was paired with Luna this time, as Michael was still uncomfortable jinxing her even in the controlled setting of a classroom, which Ginny found way more annoying than gentlemanly. Still, Michael had a great deal of success when partnered with one of his friends instead, so Ginny couldn't complain too much. Next to Michael and her was Zacharias Smith and Ernie Macmillan. Zacharias was wearing his usual bored sneer while Ernie was looking pompous.

"Oooo, this is neat," said Luna serenely, as she walked forward in slow motion after Ginny had hit her with the Impediment Jinx. "It's like dreaming!"

"Is this spell really that useful?" piped up Zacharias, as Harry walked by. "I mean, merely slowing someone down who's trying to attack us for a couple seconds isn't going to help us much, is it?"

"It certainly wouldn't work on you, you're slow enough already," spat Ginny.

She heard Ron and a few others laugh while Zacharias leered at her. Ginny got the impression he took the remark as flirtatious banter rather than an insult and wished at once she had remained silent.

"I don't think you should keep picking on Zacharias," Harry told her after the lesson. "We don't want him to betray us to Umbridge."

"Harry, he doesn't want to be expelled any more than we do," said Ginny. "Anyone who tells is admitting to participating in the group."

"I dunno," said Harry uncertainly. "Umbridge seems like the type of person who'd reward whoever informed her even if they were breaking the rules too."

"You worry too much, Harry," said Ron, yawning. "Come on, we better get to bed soon, got Quidditch practice tomorrow…"

While Harry and Ron were down on the Quidditch pitch the following evening, Ginny found Hermione in her usual spot by the fire in the common room, working on another long essay.

"Which class is it for this time?" said Ginny, sitting down next to her.

"It's not homework," said Hermione. "I'm writing to Viktor."

"Oh. Well, it looks like you two still have a lot to talk about."

"He's always eager to hear about what's going on in Hogwarts. Unlike Fleur, he actually liked this place and appreciated his time here." There was an edge to her voice when she uttered Fleur's name. "Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing… you know, by ending it with him…"

"I don't see how it could have lasted, it's not like he lives close by."

"He was really cut up about it, though," Hermione persisted. "I could have spent some time with him this summer…"

"You know, I think you just ended it because you're hung up on my git brother."

"That's not true," she hissed.

"Didn't you go out with him at first just to make Ron jealous? Before the Yule Ball, you told me to keep it a secret. You wanted to see the look on his face when he saw you two together."

"I genuinely like him! Now, yes, maybe I did want to get a reaction out of Ron, but that doesn't mean I didn't have any feelings for him."

"Clearly you have more for Ron though, for reasons I will never understand…"

Hermione scowled.

"At least I didn't go out with Viktor just as a coping mechanism," she said sleekly.

"What?" said Ginny, going red. "What's that supposed to mean? You don't think I have any genuine feelings for Michael?"

"No, I don't. But it's okay," she added, seeing Ginny's expression, "I'm not giving you a hard time about it, I'm just a little concerned. You just haven't seemed like you're in the best place mentally this year."

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much," snapped Ginny.

"It's okay to not be fine, Ginny," said Hermione compassionately. "I know Harry's not. Cho's not. Sirius is going berserk all cooped up in Grimmauld Place. And your mum, she was in quite a state this summer, remember? And even me. I don't think I've ever been so anxious and stressed as I've been this year. I think we're all struggling to some degree; don't think you're alone."

Just then the portrait hole opened and the Gryffindor Quidditch team walked in.

"Well," said Hermione, finishing her letter and scrolling it up, "I'm taking this to the Owlery. We'll discuss this later."

She left. Ginny couldn't imagine what she had done to tip Hermione off, but she supposed it was just something that was impossible to hide when spending so much time around a person as observant as she was. Ginny appreciated her concern but still had no intention of discussing it with her. Talking about her problems out loud, even if just to Hermione, would make them seem more real somehow.

Ginny avoided her the rest of the week and spent more of her free time with Lena, Amber, and Michael. When Monday morning arrived, Ginny had woken up early and was sitting by herself at the Gryffindor table during breakfast as most of the other students were still asleep. Just before she was about to get up and leave, she saw Harry approaching her.

"Hi," he said, sitting down next to her and grabbing some food. "Just wanted to let you know we'll have our next D.A. meeting at seven-thirty tomorrow evening, as Hufflepuff has Quidditch practice on Wednesday."

"Oh, right. Thanks, Harry. What are you doing up so early?"

"Have to finish my Potions homework and make up some rubbish for Divination," he said. "I procrastinated too much yesterday and then was too tired to feel like working. What about you?"

"I just woke up early," she said.

"Normally I just go back to sleep when that happens."

"Not me. When I wake up I get up."

They talked about their classes for a little bit, and when the subject of Umbridge came up, Harry told her how much he was enjoying the D.A. meetings as it was the only thing that made Umbridge's lessons bearable.

"I'm glad, Harry," she said, smiling. "It's nice to see you happy again."

Harry smiled back and bade her goodbye as he had to leave to finish his homework. Ginny sat alone at the table for a few more minutes playing with her food before she, too, got up and left. She arrived at her first class forty minutes early and decided to get a head start on that day's chapter reading to keep herself occupied.

The next D.A. lesson went just as well as the first two, and she became decent at performing the Reductor Curse, though she was rather distracted the whole time with the effort of avoiding even looking in the direction of Zacharias or Cho. She tried not looking at Harry either, because when she did, she often found him casting furtive looks toward Cho.

It wasn't until Sunday night that Hermione cornered Ginny in the library and made another attempt at getting her to open up to her.

"Really, Hermione, I'm fine. I don't have anything to talk about."

"It's nothing to be afraid or ashamed of, you know. Like I said, there's lots of people —"

"I don't know why you're so interested in hearing about my troubles," snapped Ginny. "You're such a busybody!"

"I don't think that's fair," said Hermione, stung. "I'm just —"

She hesitated, and Ginny finished her sentence for her.

"Worried about me. Yeah, I know."

"I'm worried about all my friends!" said Hermione, keeping her voice in a loud whisper as Madame Pince stalked nearby. "I'm worried about Harry too. His scar keeps hurting and he's been having a lot of weird dreams, and he seems to be able to sense when Voldemort is feeling a strong emotion. He's mentioned it a couple times but refuses to go to Dumbledore about it."

"Why not? That sounds bad!"

"I don't think he's very happy with him right now," said Hermione. "He thinks Dumbledore is ignoring him. Plus he's stubborn."

Ginny grunted but said nothing. Hermione pulled something out of her bag. "Here," she whispered, handing Ginny a Galleon. "We'll use these from now on to set D.A. meeting times. It's fake; I've bewitched them so the serial number at the bottom changes when Harry picks a date and time for the next meeting, he'll change his and everyone else's will become hot and change to match it."

"Brilliant!"

Ginny tried very hard to feel indifferent about the fact that Harry would no longer have to tell her of the next lessons in person, but couldn't quite seem to manage it.