Dumbledore's Army

"That proves it, Umbridge for sure intercepted your mail by attacking Athena."

"Just when I thought I already reached the heights of my fury towards her." Arthur hissed in outrage.

He saw his frog trying to escape from him so he pointed his wand at it "Accio!" And it gloomily flies back into his hand.

Charms was one of the best lessons for private chats since there was generally so much movement and activity that the danger of being overheard was very sligh. Today, with the room being full of bullfrogs and ravens, along with the heavy downpour pounding against the classroom windows, the trio and Mike all whispered about how Umbridge nearly caught Sirius without being noticed.

"Then it had to be Umbridge who suggested to Filch that you were ordering Dungbombs." Mike whispered. "It would be an excuse to read your mail without being obvious. Think about it, she'd tip off Filch, who would do her dirty work without question and confiscate the letter."

"That such a close call last night, I'm hoping Umbridge didn't know how close it was." Chrys said. "Silencio."

The bullfrog that she practised her Silencing Charm on was dumb struck mid croak and glared at her reproachfully.

"Snuffles cannot do that again. How the hell are we gonna tell him now?" David questioned "Of course I hope he doesn't risk it again, he's not that stupid. Silencio."

The large and ugly raven in front of him was silenced, making it look at him sadly..

After Charms class, with the trio all being able to perform the Silencing Charm perfectly, they were allowed to remain inside during break because of the downpour outside. They found seats in a noisy and overcrowded classroom on the first floor where Peeves was floating dreamily up near the chandelier, occasionally blowing ink pellets at the tops of people's heads.

The trio barely sat down when Angelina struggled towards them through groups of gossiping students.

"I've got permission!" She said to Arthur and David. "To reform the Quidditch team!"

"Great!" The two boys said together.

"Yeah." Angelina beamed. "I went to McGonagall, and I think she might have appealed to Dumbledore. Anyway, Umbridge had to give in. Ha! So I want you down at the pitch at seven o'clock tonight, alright, because we've got to make up time. You realise we've only three weeks away from our first match?"

She then squeezed away from them, narrowly dodging an ink pellet from Peeves, which instead hit a nearby first year, before vanishing from sight.

Shortly later, the bell rang and Peeves swooped down on Katie Bell, emptying an entire ink bottle over her head.

The weather didn't improve as the day kept going, meaning that at seven o'clock that evening, when Arthur and David went down to the Quidditch pitch for practice, they were soaked within minutes, their feet slipping and sliding on the sodden grass. The sky was also a deep, thundery grey.

It was a huge relief to gain some warmth and light from the changing rooms, even if it was temporary.

"Alright, everyone, listen up." Angelina said loudly, emerging from the captain's office. "I know it's not ideal weather, but there's a chance we'll be playing Slytherin in conditions like this so it's a good idea to work out how we're going to cope with them. Arthur, didn't you do something to your goggles to stop the rain fogging them up when we played Hufflepuff in that storm?"

"Chrys did it." Arthur said before he pulled his wand out and tapped his goggles, saying "Impervius!"

"I think we all ought to try that." Angelina said. "If we could just keep the rain off our faces it would really help visibility, altogether, come on, Impervius! Okay. Let's go."

Everyone stowed their wands back in the inside pockets of their uniforms, shouldering their brooms and followed Angelina out of the changing rooms.

They squelched through the deepening mud to the middle of the pitch; visibility still being poor, even with the Impervius Charm, light was fading fast and curtains of rain swept the grounds.

"Alright, on my whistle." Angelina shouted.

Arthur kicked off the ground, spraying mud in all directions as he shot upwards, the wind slightly pulling him off course.

He didn't know if he could see the Snitch in this weather as he already had enough difficulty with the one Bludger that they all practised with; a minute into practice it nearly unseated him and had to use the Sloth Grip Roll to avoid it.

Unfortunately, Angelina didn't see this. She didn't even see anything; no one had a clue what the others were doing. The wind was now picking up and even at a distance, Arthur could hear the swishing, pounding sounds of the rain pummelling the surface of the lake.

Angelina kept them at it for nearly an hour before defeat sunk in. She led her sodden and disgruntled team back into the changing rooms, insisting that practice wasn't a waste of time, though she said this without any conviction in her voice.

Arthur was pressing a towel to his face when his eyes screwed tight with pain from his scar on his forehead searing with pain again, this time more painful than it had been in weeks.

"What's up?" Several voices asked.

Arthur emerged from behind the towel and saw everyone looking at him.

"Nothing." He muttered. "I just poked myself in the eye."

He gave David a significant look and they hung back as the rest of the team filed back outside, muffled in their cloaks.

"What happened?" David asked the moment Alicia disappeared through the door. "It was your scar again, wasn't it?"

Arthur nodded.

"What do you think it could mean?" David asked.

Arthur sank onto a bench and rubbed his forehead. It was clear that wherever Voldemort was, he was currently in an almighty temper.

He started to relax his memory and mind to relax and ended up sensing a confused tangle of shapes as well as a howling rush of voices….

"He wants something to be done, and it ain't happening fast enough." He said, surprised to hear himself say all this, despite knowing it was true.

"How do you know?" David asked.

Arthur shook his head and covered his eyes with hands, pressing down upon them with his palms. This caused little stars to erupt in them as he felt David sit down beside him.

"Is it the same as when you felt it hurt during a previous practice session?" David asked.

"No." Arthur shook his head.

"Then what is it?"

Arthur thought back to when he felt his scar hurt that previous training session. He remembered there was also an odd sensation in his stomach… he realised it was a happy feeling… it wasn't his own because at that time, he was so focused on catching training.

"The last time… he was pleased… as though something good was going to happen. And we know that the scar hurt the day before we came back to Hogwarts because Sturgis Podmore got caught and didn't get what Voldemort's after."

"So you're able to read his mood?" David questioned.

"Yeah. Dumbledore thought this was the case when I mentioned this last year. That the scar would hurt if Voldemort was either near me or if he was feeling hatred. Now I can sense his other extreme emotions."

There was a pause with the wind and rain lashing the building.

"You need to tell someone." David said.

"But who can I tell? I can't tell Sirius because Umbridge is watching the owls and the fires." Arthur pointed out.

"You can tell Dumbledore." David suggested.

"No, if he doesn't want to talk to me, I'm not gonna talk to him." Arthur spat before the two fastened their cloaks and hurried through the dark grounds, sliding and stumbling up the muddy lawns.

Arthur was thinking back to when Sirius was talking to him the night he arrived at Grimmauld Place, how Voldemort is after something he didn't have the last time… like a weapon. Maybe it wasn't exactly a weapon… maybe it's something that can give him an advantage. But what would the Department of Mysteries house that Voldemort would be after to give him this advantage?

"Mimbulus mimbletonia." David said, making Arthur come back to his senses and climbed through the portrait hole and into the common room.

Chrys seemed to have gone to bed early as Crookshanks was curled in a neary chair.

Arthur decided to sit by the fire and think for a bit while David went to bed.

He sat there, looking at the fire, thinking about various things.

The biggest thing is why Dumbledore decided to not go into detail about this connection between him and Voldemort. He remembered how in first year he asked why Voldemort wanted to kill him in particular and how Dumbledore didn't tell him, saying that he'd have to be ready when he's older. Well, he felt like he was ready and yet Dumbledore is avoiding him like he was some plague.

Eventually, his mind and body were tiring and he felt his eyelids close against his will as his head lolled sideways….

He found himself walking down the windowless corridor of Level Nine in the Ministry of Magic, his footsteps echoing in the silence. Then he saw the door to the Department of Mysteries looming larger, his heart beating with excitement… if he could just open it….

He stretched his hand out… his fingers now inches from the door….

"Arthur Pendergast, sir!"

He awoke with a start, finding all the candles extinguished in the common room, though there was something moving close by.

"What?" He said, sitting upright. The fire was almost out and the room was very dark.

"Dobby has your owl, sir!" A squeaky voice said

"Dobby?" Arthur asked thickly as he peered through the gloom towards where the voice came from.

Dobby the house elf stood by the arm of the couch, his large, pointed ears sticking out from what looked like a wool hat. On top of his head was Athena, who hooted serenely and very much cured.

"Dobby volunteered to return Arthur Pendergast's owl." Dobby said squeakily with positive adoration on his face. "Professor Grubbly-Plank says she is all well now, sir." He sank into a deep bow so that his pencil-like nose brushed the threadbare surface of the hearthrug and Athena made an indignant hoot, fluttering onto the couch arm next to Arthur.

"Thank you so much, Dobby!" Arthur said as he stroked Athena's head, blinking hard to be rid of that door from his dream. Looking back at Dobby, he now noticed that he was also wearing several scarves.

"How's Winky?" Arthur asked, suddenly remembering that she's also working in the Hogwarts kitchens.

His question made Dobby's eyes droop slightly.

"Winky is still drinking lots, sir." He said sadly, his enormous round green eyes were downcast. "Arthur Pendergast does not seem happy. Dobby heard him muttering in his sleep. Was Arthur Pendergast having bad dreams?"

"You can say that." Arthur said as he yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Though I've had worse."

The elf surveyed Arthur out of his vast, orb-like eyes before saying seriously with drooping ears. "Dobby wishes he could help Arthur Pendergast, for Arthur Pendergast set Dobby free and Dobby is much, much happier now."

Arthur smiled before he thought of how he could help out.

"There's one thing you can do." Arthur said, making the elf beam.

"Name it, Arthur Pendergast, sir!"

"I need to find a place where twenty nine people can practise Defence Against the Dark Arts without being discovered by any of the teachers, especially Professor Umbridge."

He knew that Hogwarts had to have secrets that the majority didn't know and Dobby just might know one or two. And it seemed he did, because he gave a little skip, his ears waggling cheerfully and clapped his hands together.

"Dobby knows the perfect place, sir!" He said happily. "Dobby heard tell of it from the other house elves when he came to Hogwarts, sir. It is known by us as the Come and Go Room, or else as the Room of Requirement!"

"Why is that?" Arthr asked curiously.

"Because it is a room that a person can only enter…" Dobby said seriously. "...when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs. Dobby has used it, sir…" He continued on, dropping his voice and looking guilty. "...when Winky has been very drunk; he has hidden her in the Room of Requirement and he has found antidotes to Butterbeer there, and a nice elf sized bed to settle her on while she sleeps it off, sir… and Dobby knows Mr Filch has found extra cleaning materials there when he has ran short, sir, and -"

"And if you really needed a bathroom…" Arthur said, remembering what Dumbledore said at the Yule Ball. "...would it fill itself with chamber pots?"

"Dobby expects so, sir." Dobby nodded earnestly. "It is a most amazing room, sir."

"Do you know who else knows about the room?" Arthur then asked, straightening up.

"Very few, sir. Mostly people stumbles across it when they needs it, sir, but often they never finds it again, for they do not know that it is always there waiting to be called into service, sir."

"This room sounds perfect." Arthur said as his heart was racing. "When can you show me where it is?"

"Any time, Arthur Pendergast, sir." Dobby said, looking delighted at Arthur's enthusiasm. "We could go now, if you like!"

Arthur knew that he couldn't do it now, it was very late and he was exhausted. He didn't want to be some reckless brat.

"Not right now, Dobby." He said reluctantly. "This is really important and I don't want to blow it. It's gonna need proper planning. Can you tell me exactly where it is and how to get in there?"

Their robes billowed and swirled around them when they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology, where they could hardly hear Sprout over the hammering of raindrops hard as hailstones on the greenhouse roof.

That afternoon's Care of Magical Creatures lesson was relocated from the storm swept grounds to a free classroom on the ground floor, and much to their relief, Angelina sought out her teammates at lunch to tell them that Quidditch practice was cancelled.

"Good…" Arthur said quietly after she told them. "...because we've finally found somewhere to have our first Defence meeting. Meet us tonight at eight o'clock on the seventh floor opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls. Can you tell Katie and Alicia?"

She was taken aback but promised to tell the others.

Arthur took a bite of buttered toast when he saw Chrys watching him.

"What?" He said.

"Dobby's plans aren't always safe. He lost you all the bones in your arm, remember?"

"But the room isn't some mad idea of his, Dumbledore knows about it as well. He mentioned it in passing to me at the Yule Ball."

This made Chrys look at him now more accepting of this.

The trio all spent most of the day seeking out the people who signed their names on the list in the Hog's Head, telling them where to meet that evening. Mary found Cho Chang and her friend.

By the end of dinner, he was confident that the news had passed to every one of the twenty six people who turned up at the Hog's Head.

By half past seven, the trio left the Gryffindor common room with Arthur clutching a certain piece of aged parchment in his hand. Fifth years were allowed to be out in the corridors until nine o'clock, but all three looked around nervously as they walked through the seventh floor.

"Wait." Arthur said, unfolding the piece of parchment at the top of the last staircase, tapping it with his wand, muttering "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

A map of Hogwarts formed on the blank surface of the parchment and tiny black dots moved, labelled with various names, showing who's where right now.

"Filch is on the second floor." Arthur said as he looked at the map. "And Mrs Norrris is on the fourth."

"Umbridge?" Chrys asked.

"She's in her office." He said, pointing at it. "Let's go."

The three hurried along the corridor to where Dobby described to Arthur, a stretch of blank wall that was opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls to form a ballet.

"Alright." Arthur said quietly as a moth-eaten troll paused his relentless clubbing of the would-be ballet teacher to watch them. "Dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times while concentrating on what we need."

The trio did just that, turning sharply at the window just beyond the blank stretch of wall, then at the man-sized vase on its other side. Arthur's fists were clenched as he stared ahead of him.

We need somewhere to learn how to fight and defend ourselves. Give us a place to practise… where no one can find us….

"Arthur!" Chrys said sharply as they wheeled around after the third walk.

There was a highly polished door in the wall, which wasn't there before.

Arthur reached and seized the brass handle, pulling the door open and led the way into a spacious room lit with flickering torches like the ones that illuminated the dungeons.

All the walls were lined with wooden bookcases and there were silk cushions on the floor instead of chairs. There was a set of shelves at the far end of the room that carried a range of instruments like Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors and a large, cracked Foe Glass, which Arthur was sure hung in the fake Moody's office.

"This place would be perfect to practise Stunning." David said enthusiastically as he knelt down to look at one of the cushions.

"And all these books!" Chrys said excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large leather bound tomes. "A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter Actions… The Dark Arts Outsmarted… Self Defensive Spellwork… wow…." She looked at Arthur, her face glowing. "This is everything we need!"

She then slid Jinxes for the Jinxed from the shelf and sank onto the nearest cushion to start reading.

There was a knock on the door and Arthur looked to see Mike, Mary, Neville, Lavender, Parvati and Dean arriving.

"Holy…." Mike said in awe as he looked around. "This place is incredible!"

"What is this place?" Dean asked.

Arthur would've explained, but more people arrived and waited for them all to arrive until he started explaining about this place.

By eight o'clock, every cushion was occupied. Arthur moved to the door and turned the key protruding from the lock; it clicked in a satisfyingly loud way, making everyone fall silent and looking at him.

Chrys carefully marked her page in the book and set it aside.

"Well, this is the place where we'll practise how to defend ourselves." Arthur told everyone, finding confidence to talk to them all.

"It's fantastic!" Cho said, several people murmuring in agreement.

"Insane." Jack said. "Me and Kevin actually hid from Filch in here. It was a broom cupboard then."

"Hey, Arthur, what's that stuff?" Dean asked from the rear of the room, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe Glass.

"They're dark detectors. They show when enemies are around, but you can't rely on them too much because they can be fooled."

He gazed for a moment at the cracked Foe Glass and saw shadowy figures moving around it, though none were recognisable at the moment and he turned his back to it.

"Well, I think that we should start with -" He then saw a raised hand, making him sigh. "Yes, Chrys?"

"I think we ought to elect a leader." Chrys said.

"Arthur's leader." Cho said at once, looking at Chrys as though she was mad.

"I know but we should vote on it properly. It would be formal and give him authority. So, everyone who thinks Arthur should be our leader?"

Everyone put their hands up, even Zacharias Smith, though he only did it half heartedly.

"Thanks." Arthur said. "And - WHAT NOW, CHRYS!" Arthur snapped at her, hating the interruptions.

"I think we should have a name." She said, taken aback from him snapping at her. "It can promote team spirit and unity."

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

"The Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" Jack suggested.

"I was thinking of something that doesn't tell everyone what we're up to, so that we can refer to it safely outside of meetings." Chrys said.

"The Defence Association?" Cho suggested. "The DA for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"

"DA sounds good." Mike said. "But I'm thinking it should stand for Dumbledore's Army since the Ministry is afraid of that."

Arthur knew full well that Mike did that to one up Cho, which made Arthur feel butterflies in his stomach.

There was also a fair amount of murmuring and laughter at this.

"All in favour for DA?" Chrys said, kneeling up on her cushion to count. "A majority… motion passed!"

She then pinned the piece of parchment with their signatures on it onto a wall, writing across the top in large letters:

DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY

"Okay." Arthur said once she sat back down. "Since this is our first session, we'll start off easy with the Disarming Charm, which may be basic, but it's proven useful -"

"Oh, please." Zacharias Smith rudely cut him off as he rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You Know Who, do you?"

"I'll have you know that it saved my life against him back in June, you twat." Arthur snarled at him, making Smith's mouth open stupidly as the rest of the room went quiet.

"So if you think that it's beneath you, then get out." Arthur spat, pointing at the door.

Smith didn't move, as the rest didn't.

"Alright." Arthur said, calming himself down. "Let's all divide into pairs and practise."

Arthur somehow found it to be natural to give out instructions and felt proud to see that they were being followed.

Everyone got to their feet at once and divided up, leaving Neville alone.

"You can practise with me." Arthur told him. "Okay, on the count of three. One… two… three…."

The whole room was full of shouts of Expelliarmus. Wands flew in all directions, missed spells hitting books on shelves and sent them flying into the air.

Arthur proved to be too quick for Neville, whose wand spinned out of his hand, hitting the ceiling in a shower of sparks and landed with a clatter on top of a bookshelf, which Arthur retrieved with a Summoning Charm.

Looking around, he thought that starting with the basics would be the best start, but there were a lot of shoddy spellwork going on; many didn't succeed in Disarming their opponents, just causing them to jump backwards a few paces or wince as their feeble spell whooshed over them.

"Expelliarmus!" Neville said and Arthur felt his wand fly out of his hand.

"I DID IT!" Neville said gleefully. "I've never done it before - I DID IT!"

"Great!" Arthur said encouragingly, though he didn't want to point out how in a real duel, Neville's opponent would unlikely be staring in the opposite direction with his wand held loosely. "Why don't you take it in turns to practise with David and Chrys for a bit while I walk around and see how the others are doing?"

Arthur moved off to walk and saw something happening with Zacharias. Whenever he opened his mouth to disarm Anthony Goldstein, his own wand would fly out of his hand, yet Anthony didn't make a sound.

Arthur can see that this was because Jack and Kevin were several feet away from Smith and took turns to point their wands at his back.

"Hey, he deserved it." Kevin said when Arthur caught his eye. "Besides, we've heard he isn't even that good regardless."

Arthur walked around the other pairs, helping out to correct them if they did the spell wrong.

Mary was paired with her boyfriend, Michael Corner, and she did very well, whereas Michael was either very bad or was unwilling to jinx his girlfriend.

Mike was paired up with Dean and Mike was making Dean look incompetent with how good he was at Disarming him. Though Dean did a good job.

Ernie Macmillan flourished his wand unnecessarily, giving his partner time to get back at him; the Creevey brothers with enthusiastic, but were erratic and very much responsible for all the books leaping off the shelves around them; Luna Lovegood was similarly patch, occasionally sending Justin Finch-Fletchley's wand spinning out of his hand, other times causing his hair to stand up on end.

"STOP! STOP!" Arthur shouted at the top of his lungs.

He knew that he'd need a whistle next time, yet one was lying on top of the nearest row of books, like the room immediately granted his request. He grabbed it and blew hard, making everyone lower their wands.

"Alright, that wasn't bad, though there's room for improvement." He said, earning a glare from Zacharias. "Let's try that again."

He moved around the room again, stopping every once in a while to make suggestions. This caused a slow improvement on the general performance.

Eventually, he walked by Cho and her friend.

"Oh no." Cho said wildly as he approached. "Expelliarmious! I mean, Expelliarmus! I - oh, sorry, Mariette!"

Her curly haired friend's sleeve was caught on fire, which she herself extinguished with her wand before glaring at Arthur, like it was his fault.

"You made me nervous, I was doing alright before then!" Cho said ruefully.

"I'm sorry." He said with his arms up. "I know you can do it properly, I was watching from over there."

That made Cho smile and Marietta looked at them sourly before turning away.

"Don't mind her." Cho muttered. "She doesn't really want to be here but I made her come with me. Her parents have forbidden her to do anything that might upset Umbridge. You see, her mum works for the Ministry."

"And your parents?" Arthur asked, frowning at Marietta slightly, now knowing that she could be problematic.

"Well, they've forbidden me to get on the wrong side of Umbridge, too." Cho replied, drawing herself up proudly. "But if they think I'm not going to fight You Know Who after what happened to Cedric -"

She broke off, looking confused, leaving an awkward silence between them with Terry Boot's wand whizzing past Arthur's ear and hitting Alicia Spinnet hard on her nose.

"Well, my dad is very supportive of any anti-Ministry action!" Luna said proudly from just behind Arthur, having eavesdropped on their conversation while Justin attempted to disentangle himself from the robes that flew up over his head. "He's always saying he'd believe anything of Fudge; I mean, the number of goblins Fudge had assassinated! And of course he uses the Department of Mysteries to develop terrible poisons, which he secretly feeds to anybody who disagrees with him. And then there's his Umgubular Slashkilter -"

"Don't ask." Arthur muttered to Cho when she opened her mouth, looking puzzled. She then giggled.

"Arthur!" Chrys called from the other end of the room. "Check the time!"

He looked down at his watch and was horrified to see that it was ten past nine. They had to get back to their common rooms immediately or they'll get caught and be punished.

Arthur blew the whistle and everyone stopped.

"We're overrun, we need to leave now. Same time, same place next week!"

"Sooner!" Dean said eagerly, others nodding in agreement.

Angelina said quickly "The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!"

"Next Wednesday night, then!" Arthur said. "We can decide on future meetings then. Now let's go!"

He pulled out the Marauder's Map and checked carefully for teachers to see if they're on the seventh floor.

He left people leave in groups of threes and fours, watching their tiny dots anxiously to see if they returned to their dormitories safely: the Hufflepuffs to the basement corridor that also led to the kitchens; the Ravenclaws to a tower on the west side of the castle, then the Gryffindors along the corridor to the Fat Lady's portrait.

"That was brilliant." Chrys said once it was just her, Arthur and David left.

"Yeah. We were evenly matched." David said as they slipped out of the door and watched it melt back into stone behind them.

They all remained quiet as they made it back to the common room.

The next chapter is one of the roughest to get through for me when reading the book, thanks to what Umbridge does to Harry and the twins, but thankfully, she won't get that satisfaction, and just wait until you see why.