For those of you in our facebook group - Bubbleybear & Pienuniek's Story Nook - this news will come as no surprise. But I recently lost a very dear friend to cancer who was also an unofficial Pre-Reader for the Under Her Spell Series. Leonie Price, I miss you, so very much but I hope that you are free from pain, wherever you are.

In her honour, I am dedicating this entire book to her. Her enthusiasm helped me continue to write on many days where I felt ... lost. In fact, one of the last emails she sent me was that she wished that these books had been on the big screen; that they were better than the originals. I know it will never happen, but the thought was enough to encourage me. Please keep her in your thoughts as we continue with this story. Cheers.

I'm so glad that I can finally give you the next in the series. Just know I've already read Book Six and have taken my notes. Now ... I can say that I've started to write!

Thanks must go out to my team. My pre-reader Pienuniek and my Beta Alice's White Rabbit. I would be lost without the pair of you, truly.

I don't own Twilight, or Harry Potter, I'd be a richer person if I did. But I do so love to create my own places for them out in the world. No copyright infringement is intended.

See you at the bottom ...

Chapter Fourteen ~ Meeting of like minds

"How long is that woman going to keep Harry?" Hermione grumbled tiredly as she sat down next to Bella.

I ranged my hearing out as Bella answered with an, "I don't know. She's a teacher. She has every right to keep him until she thinks he's learned his lesson."

"It's nearly midnight, Bella," Hermione growled. "He needs his sleep too."

Neville yawned. "Don't we all. Why are we still up?"

Ginny was leaning against Neville's shoulder. She didn't even open her eyes when she answered with, "Because Hermione wants to talk to all of us about something. And Edward won't even tell us what it is."

I snickered. It was a brilliant idea, and it was something Bella and I had thought about quite a bit over the last few days. We had spoken, again, about it on our way back from dinner. We had taken a walk before heading upstairs. We both had decided that Harry wouldn't accept it from us, considering the run-ins we'd had with him over the past couple of days, so Hermione suggesting it was going to be the better idea. But … "Harry's almost here. It seems that Umbridge didn't feel he'd learned from the last time."

Conversation dropped off as we all waited, not so patiently, for Harry to arrive in the common room. He seemed to be walking slower than usual. I could attribute that to the fact that he was tired, but it wasn't just physical that he was feeling it. He was mentally exhausted as well, and not just from Umbridge. He'd had a lot of truths shoved in his face in the last couple days, and he'd had a lot to think about. Bella telling him that he wasn't the only one in the line of fire had shocked him. He hadn't thought about how this had been affecting me, only him. But since Bella had blown up at him, and me too, he'd done nothing but think about it. In fact, he was still thinking about it. I wondered how long it would take for him to realize that Bella and I were both right.

I closed the book I was reading as Harry stepped up to the Fat Lady and mumbled the password: "Mimbulus Mimbletonia." All heads spun to look at Harry when he climbed over the knee knocker and stepped into the common room. He'd expected to see me awake but stopped short when he noticed the others. "What are you all doing still up? You didn't have to wait."

"We didn't wait for you, per se," I snorted. "Hermione wanted to talk to you, so she made us all wait. You weren't supposed to be gone this long."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Umbridge didn't think that my punishment was harsh enough because I argued with her again. So, she made me stay later so the indentation was darker and farther in." Harry held up his hand to show where his "I must not tell lies" was worse than before. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?"

Hermione indicated the armchair next to her. "Take a seat, Harry." He looked around at all of us as he took his seat. Harry wondered if he was going to get chewed out again, and he wasn't sure he could take another talking to. Hermione let out a deep breath before she started speaking again. "I think it's safe to say that none of us are happy about the way Umbridge is running our defense lessons."

We all nodded in agreement. It was only the five of us here at this point. We had decided that it was best not to overwhelm Harry with what Hermione wanted.

Hermione leaned forward and reached out for Harry's hand. "We"—she indicated to all of us there—"don't think that we're going to pass our OWLs if we continue to only read the theory …"

"And first year theory at that," Bella interrupted with a huff, causing the others to snicker.

Harry smiled at Bella. "I think she's sabotaging us on purpose."

"She is," I spoke up, wrapping my arm around my grumpy girl. "She doesn't want us to learn further combat skills. You know, because"—I rolled my eyes—"we're building an army."

Quiet laughter broke out again from the five of us. But this was the opening Hermione had wanted. "We may not be building an army," she started, turning back to Harry, "but I think we should be teaching ourselves the spells we need to pass our Defense Against the Dark Arts examination."

"You … what?" Harry asked, tilting his head and frowning at Hermione. "But why?"

Hermione rolled her eyes because she thought Harry was being obtuse.

"Hermione, he's tired. Let him catch up," I reprimanded quietly.

"Sorry, Edward, and to you too, Harry. But I think we need someone who knows more than just what's in the books. Someone who can perform the spells," Hermione said emphatically.

Harry stared at her uncomprehendingly. We probably should have waited until he'd had some sleep. "Teach ourselves? We're not supposed to practice magic in the hallways. Where exactly are we supposed to do this? How? And who is supposed to teach us?"

"We could always ask someone to teach us," Ginny whispered. She was afraid that someone was going to report this conversation to Umbridge. She wasn't sure having it in the common room was a good idea. I looked around at the pictures on the wall. Most were asleep, and those who weren't were not paying us any attention anyway.

"What about Lupin?" Bella suggested, curling into me. She was getting tired too.

Hermione shook her head. "I think we need someone more accessible. Someone who is here every day. If Lupin started showing up, it would be a little bit suspicious."

Harry looked around at all of us. He knew we could all do the spells, but teaching was another thing all together. He wasn't sure who was capable of that. "What about Edward and Bella? They know more than we do."

"I don't think so," Neville mumbled. His eyes were closed, and I had a feeling we'd lose him soon.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

There was a small snore out of Neville. Seemed his eyelids had won the battle. I snorted but turned back to Harry as Hermione spoke. "I think it needs to be you, Harry."

"What?" he yelped before he started shaking his head and waving his hands. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. Edward and Bella are better at this sort of thing. People respect them. They'll listen to them. I can't teach someone."

Bella sat up as I leaned forward. I wanted Harry to see the sincerity in my eyes. "You can, Harry. I've seen you do it. I've seen you help other students find their center. You've helped Neville with spells." There was a small snore from the boy in question, making us snicker. "Besides, Bella and I aren't human. We cast stronger than the rest of you, which would make it dangerous to practice spells on, or with, most of you. We could be there to help, but the more decidedly human witches and wizards need a human teacher."

"Besides, Harry, you've survived the killing curse twice," Bella whispered to soften the harshness of that statement. "You have real world experience that others will appreciate."

"Edward has survived it too!"

"Again, Edward isn't human, Harry; you are. Because of that, it makes it more unbelievable. It's why people would want to be taught by you," Bella said.

Harry looked wide-eyed at all of us. Well those of us still awake. "People? As in more than just our friends?" His eyes narrowed in on Bella. I growled at him before he stated angrily. "I thought I wasn't the only one just being targeted. That Edward was in the middle of this too. Why am I being singled out now?"

"Because you're human!" Bella growled back. She stood with her hair beginning to float around her. "People are intimidated by Edward. That's why you need to teach them. But we said we'd be there to help." She spun around to me. "Why are teenage boys so hard-headed? Is this what you were talking about?"

I smirked up at my angry girl. "Yes, baby. Why don't you head to bed? Hermione and I can handle this. Ginny, you too." I shook Neville softly until he woke. "Go on, Neville. Off to bed."

"Did Harry agree?" he asked sleepily.

"We're still talking it over," I replied. Bella walked off after a soft kiss to my forehead and lips with Ginny and Neville trailing behind her. I turned back to Harry, who had the grace to look at least a little ashamed. "Why would you think we wouldn't offer this 'club' of sorts to other people? We aren't the only ones being disadvantaged by Umbridge."

Harry shrugged but remained mute. His stubbornness was in full force.

I sighed, leaning my elbows on my knees. I looked down at my feet, thinking, before turning back to Harry. "I know you don't think you can do this," I said, tapping my temple. "You've gotten quite good at blocking your thoughts from me, but when you're this tired, you're not as controlled. But, Harry, Bella's right. You are who people will want to teach them. We're in this together, and we'll help, but we're not Harry Potter. In this instance, your face, your name, will bring them in."

"It'll be your group in name only," Hermione whispered, catching Harry's attention. "We would all have a part to play. But they will want you, Harry. There's no avoiding that."

Harry didn't say anything. He was looking down at his fidgeting fingers. He was overwhelmed, that much I could see, but I wondered whether this was going to be the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. I stood, as did Hermione, and placed my hand on Harry's shoulder. "Why don't you take some time to think about it? Sleep on it for a while, and then we can discuss it more when we all aren't so tired."

Hermione kissed the top of Harry's head, then my cheek, before following Bella up the stairs with a whispered goodnight. I sat down in my recliner and pulled out my astronomy book. I was waiting to see if Harry had any more questions, but he just sat there blank for a few more seconds before standing and heading up to bed. He never said a word.

It seemed that Harry was exhausted from the last few days, and today especially, because his occlumency slipped once he was asleep. His dreams came thick and fast, but the one that stood out, the one that was recurring, was the dream about long corridors and locked doors inside the Ministry for Magic.

Was he dreaming or was he accessing Voldemort's thoughts once more?

~*~UHS~*~

For the next couple weeks, Harry was able to stay under Umbridge's radar. There were no more detentions, nor any more arguing with the old hag, but there was also no mention of what we had spoken about either.

In fact, nobody spoke about it. Not to Harry anyway. We all wanted to give him some space to really think about what we were asking him to do. Bella and I decided that if Harry didn't step up and become the head of this group we wanted to start, we would do it without him. We needed to be able to learn how to do our spells. According to Fred and George, the testers from the ministry who would come to see us for our OWLs would expect us to be able to perform them. That meant we actually had to learn them.

It was a few days before we were due to go to Hogsmeade for the first time this year that Hermione was brave enough to broach the subject once more. We were quietly studying in the room of requirement when she just stopped and looked at Harry.

He must have caught the movement from the corner of his eye because he turned to look at her. "What's up, Hermione?"

"Have you thought anymore about the discussion we had?" Hermione asked cryptically because there were others here who hadn't been privy to that conversation … not that it stopped them asking. So, before Harry could give us an answer, we had to explain to Fred, George, Luna, Fleur, Gabrielle, and Draco what we had thought about.

Once we did though, the support flowed through from all of them. They thought it was a brilliant idea, especially once we explained why Bella and I couldn't do it.

"Besides, Harry, do you know what Viktor said to me last year?" I smirked at Harry's instinctual jealous reaction whenever Krum was mentioned. He still hadn't gotten over the fact that Viktor had wanted to ask Hermione out. Once he'd relaxed, Harry shook his head. "Viktor told me that you knew spells that even he—in his last year at school—didn't know."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. So, what do you think? Wanna teach the good folks at Hogwarts how to defend themselves?" I snorted. "Should we become the army that Umbridge and the ministry fear so much?"

I had been joking about the army, but everyone around me froze for a fraction of a second. They were all watching Harry, trying to gauge his reaction.

The corner of his mouth twitched before a small smile started to curl up at one end. "That … that might not be such a bad idea, Edward." Harry looked around. "I'll do it. I'll teach, but I think we need to set things up outside of Hogwarts. Find a way to get people there, and we'll show them what happened in that graveyard last year."

Bella smirked. "What a way to get them on our side. But how can we recruit without Umbridge finding out?"

"Leave that to me. I have an idea," Hermione said. "Thanks to The Truth, we should have a good group of people. But where shall we meet?"

"Somewhere off the beaten track," Fred and George answered together.

"Vere not many ozz … others will go," Fleur spoke next. Her accent was changing the more time she spent with us, and as such, sometimes she tripped over her words. "Is there somewhere like that in Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah," Bella and I answered together. I continued, "We could go to Aberforth's place. The Hogs Head Tavern. He'll let us hold it there."

Gabrielle was looking around at everyone, keeping track of the conversation. "I can't come to the meeting in Hogsmeade. How am I going to participate?"

We all sort of floundered for a moment, but it was Draco who helped to comfort Gabrielle. "Just because you won't be at this meeting, doesn't mean you won't be part of the group. We'll be holding the training sessions somewhere where the youngest can come. We just have to figure out where."

"And that'll be our homework," Ginny said, standing up to get ready for dinner. "We'll all have to come up with a place for discussion after the meeting in Hogsmeade." She held out her hand for Draco. "Now, I'm hungry. Who's coming?"

With laughter all around, we began gathering our books and bags to make our way to the Great Hall. But as I listened out for thoughts in the corridor from the Room of Requirement, I caught every single one of the misfits trying to think of a location to hold our practice sessions; however, it was Bella's thoughts that caught my attention.

This room would be the best, she thought, looking around. The Room of Requirement would be able to provide us a space big enough for us all to work in. Bella's eyes slid to meet mine. But we'd have to know who we're working with first. I nodded in response. I'll suggest it when we have the meeting.

I opened the door, letting everyone sneak out into the corridor. Once I closed the door and waited for it to disappear, I pulled Bella to me. I used the fact that we were the last ones to give us the illusion of privacy so I could kiss her with passion. I pulled back and looked down at her. "I think that's a brilliant idea, my love. They'd be stupid not to go with it."

"Thanks, Edward. And feel free to kiss me like that all the time." Bella snickered.

"Sure, baby," I said, linking my fingers with hers and pulling her down the corridor after our friends with a laugh.

~*~UHS~*~

Friday night, the night before our Hogsmeade visit, I was sitting alone in our quiet common room. Everyone was getting some sleep so they were well rested for the next day. I was relaxing in my recliner, my eyes closed, and just scanned the thoughts around the castle. Most of the thoughts were dreams of the children who were sleeping, and some were of the teachers still at the castle preparing for their lessons next week.

Most of the time, I didn't bother to check Dumbledore's office because he used Occlumency, as did the majority of his visitors. But as I scanned past his office, I realized that one of the people in there had his mind wide open. I could hear every word that was being said between Kingsley and Albus.

"What happened to Pudmore, Kingsley?" Albus asked, which is what caught my attention to start with.

Kingsley shook his head. "He doesn't remember a damn thing, Albus. I've placed every remembrance spell, jinx, and charm on him, as well as using a few potions, and he still cannot remember. I have my suspicions that he was placed under the Imperious Curse."

"What do you think he was doing?"

"I have my guesses."

Dumbledore frowned at Kingsley over his shoulder. "Will you share with the class?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

I smirked with Kingsley for that answer. I had wondered before if he played into Dumbledore's bull, and from that answer, I was pretty sure he didn't.

"I believe Voldemort put Pudmore under the curse to use him to get into the Department of Mysteries. Unfortunately for him, Pudmore wasn't able to get any farther than the corridor." It was a surprise to me when Kingsley pictured the very corridor that Harry was dreaming of every now and again.

Dumbledore sighed. "So, Voldemort is still trying to get into the department then?"

"Just about every night," Kingsley answered. "But we are always there, always guarding. He hasn't succeeded in breaching the last door." Again, the corridor popped into Kingsley's thoughts, but this time, his thoughts were focused on the door at the end. The one with silver knob in the middle. Behind which the Department of Mysteries lay.

So … it's very possible, and more than likely, that when Harry is bone tired Voldemort's thoughts are still coming through when he's dreaming. It's the one area where he needs practice, and also the one area that's hard to work on.

"Good. Let's keep it that way. We don't want Voldemort getting in there."

"Certainly, Albus. I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Thank you," Dumbledore said as Kingsley made his way to the fireplace.

I thought about everything I'd heard long after Kingsley had left. Instead of dwelling on the fact that Harry was still gaining access to Voldemort's thoughts—even if it was only when he was tired, sleeping, or overwhelmed—which wasn't a good thing. No … what I did was pull out some parchment and penned a letter to Jasper. He needed to know, so that when he and Harry practiced next, they would have something to work toward.

I love that you're sending this at night. Owls should not be awake to take mail in the middle of the day, Athan said as he flew through the window I had opened. Can you send all your mail like this?

I snorted. "Athan, I don't ask you to take much. Don't complain. Besides, you may need to start taking more as things change."

Athan held out his leg while I attached the letter. I know. Maybe I'm spoiled.

"There is no maybe about it." I chuckled. "Can you take this to Jasper please?"

Sure. See you later. Athan flew off without another word from me. I shook my head; that bird truly was spoiled, by more than just me or Bella.

~*~UHS~*~

The next morning dawned bright but a little windy. It would be a chilly carriage ride down to Hogsmeade. Every member of the misfits was up early, so we were down at breakfast before many of the other students were.

Hermione had managed to get word out to the students of Hogwarts. At least in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff anyway. She wouldn't tell us exactly how, but I'm sure it was brilliant. The way her mind worked astounded me sometimes.

Fleur, Gabrielle, and Draco wandered over when they had finished eating and took seats at our table. Gabrielle was a little down when she sat.

"What's up, Gabrielle?" Bella asked, leaning sideways and wrapping her arm around her.

"I want to go into Hogsmeade too. What am I supposed to do while you're gone?"

"Don't you have any friends in your own level?"

Gabrielle nodded with a sigh. "But not many of them are at my level."

"I know zat it's hard, Gabrielle," Fleur said, shaking her head a little but reaching out for her sister's hand. "But you need to make friends with the others in your grade. Ze rest of us will not be 'ere forever." Fleur rolled her eyes when we snickered. She was making an effort to work on her accent, but sometimes, it still slipped through. We had told her she didn't have to, but as she spent more time around us, it started changing anyway.

"Gabrielle, just be yourself. You can't help that others aren't as knowledgeable as you. And just remember, you will always have us," Hermione said. She'd had experience with bullying, so she was hoping that Gabrielle listened to her.

Gabrielle looked around at all of us. She could feel the love and support. "Thanks, guys. I appreciate it."

Harry leaned forward. "And if all else fails, go to the Room of Requirement and spend some time by yourself. Sometimes, that's better."

"Ain't that the truth," I snorted. Everyone stopped to look at me. I shrugged. "You've met Emmett and Jasper." Everyone laughed. "Sometimes, it was better when I was by myself."

We ate breakfast while we chatted about anything that had absolutely nothing to do with Umbridge, Fudge, Voldemort, and Hogwarts. We stayed there until it was time to leave to catch the carriages to Hogsmeade. We said goodbye to Gabrielle, who had decided to hang out with a lovely girl named Sarah from Hufflepuff, who was shy, just like Gabrielle.

We were waiting for our turn to climb up on the carriage as Gabrielle walked away when I caught the flash of a memory in her mind. It was a dream. One that looked eerily familiar. It seemed that Gabrielle had begun dreaming of her mate. I could see the love emanating from the brief flash. There was only one problem—not that it would be hard to fix if he's willing—he was a traditional vamp, as evidenced by the red eyes in her dream. Now to find out who he was.

"Edward? You okay?" Bella asked as we waited for our turn to climb aboard the carriage our friends were getting into. "You kinda zoned out."

I nodded, then replied at vampire pitch. "Gabrielle has started dreaming." I gave her a pointed look to which she caught onto. "I'll have to draw him later. He's a vampire. A traditional one."

Gotcha. Wonder where he's from, and what his name might be, Bella thought as she sat down next to me. I think it would be best to ask Gabrielle away from the others because she hasn't said anything to anyone.

"That might be best, baby. She may open up to you and Fleur alone."

Bella nuzzled under my chin, placing a kiss there. Yeah. I'll talk to Fleur later. You're the best.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confusion coloring my tone.

You didn't just blurt it out for everyone to hear. You're letting us find out why, without making it known to everyone.

"There's a reason she hasn't told anyone. She may need some help figuring it all out, but it might be because she knows more than I saw. He's her mate, and she has the right to tell everyone without someone blurting it out for her."

And that's why you're the best. Bella smiled before kissing me hard on the lips, earning cat calls from Fred and George.

Fleur had heard what we were saying and had figured out that Gabrielle had been dreaming of someone. She knew what that meant. Fleur had listened and realized that Gabrielle was going to need some help with her dreams, but she would wait until Bella approached her to go to talk to Gabrielle.

Bella and I reveled in the opportunity to relax and just be together without any of the constant scrutiny we seemed to be under this year. What with Umbridge watching our every move and what happened in the Triwizard tournament—although, for the most part the school population was on our side—it seemed that everyone was waiting for something to happen. Something big. What they didn't realize was that it was already happening. And right under their noses.

Once we arrived at Hogsmeade, we started to walk through town. As we did so, we pointed out many of the places we'd been to, giving Fleur the tour because we didn't come to Hogsmeade during the tournament last year. We started with The Three Broomsticks, the pub we usually frequented, Honeydukes Sweet Shop, and Zonko's joke shop. Of course, seeing that shop had the twins trying to recall every single joke they'd played in their time at Hogwarts. I had no doubt it would take the rest of the year to tell us all of them. It was those stories that kept us going all the way to The Hog's Head pub.

Aberforth nodded when we walked in the door. He wasn't one to make a big deal, and considering he had a full pub, he didn't want to draw attention to us. I scanned the patrons as we made our way to the table that Bella and I usually used when we were here. All seemed to be here just for a drink until the image of Umbridge popped up in someone's thoughts. I homed in on the person thinking it to find a wizard by the name of Willy Widdershins, and it seemed that this wizard—and I use that term lightly because he was more of a troublemaker—had been hired by the Ministry of Magic. Well, hired might be a bit of a stretch; it seemed that dear Willy had been given a way out of a prison sentence by Umbridge. If he spied on Harry Potter.

"Bill!" Fleur squealed, pulling my attention away from Willy. I turned to see that Fleur had flung herself at Bill. Not the actions of the demure Fleur from a year ago. It made me smile to see it.

But Willy's thoughts pulled me back in. He recognized Harry and myself from the information that Umbridge had given him, including photos from the paper. Now that Harry had come into range, he had to alert Umbridge to the fact that there was a group of children—a large one at that—meeting outside of school. Away from her influence.

He stood to make his way from the pub as I told Bella that I was going to go and talk to Aberforth.

"Edward, how are you, my boy?" he asked when I approached the bar.

"I'm good, Aberforth. How are you?"

He shrugged. "Can't complain. What can I help you with?"

"We're gonna need somewhere a little quieter for this meeting of ours. Do you have a back room?"

Aberforth's eyebrows raised as he looked at our group before he nodded. "I can do you one better. Gather everyone up and meet me by that door."

I followed where he was pointing to see a door at the end of the bar. "Okay. Gimme a minute." I made my way back to where the others had brought together a few tables. "Hey, guys?" Everyone stopped talking and looked to me. "We need to take this to somewhere a little more private." I tapped my temple. "Aberforth has got somewhere for us."

Without a word, they all stood up and followed me over to where Aberforth had indicated. By the time we got there, he was waiting.

"This way." Aberforth opened the door and led us up a flight of stairs, only to guide us into a very opulent living room.

I snorted. "This is well hidden."

"Haven't you ever heard the saying 'Not to judge a book by its cover'?" Aberforth chuckled.

"I may have heard that a time or two." I laughed. "We're hoping there will be more students from Hogwarts making their way here. In fact, I know there will be."

"Not a problem. I'll send up any I see coming into my bar. Make yourselves at home. I'll send up some jugs of butterbeer and mugs shortly." Aberforth waved as he turned and made his way back down the stairs.

I sat down next to Bella. "What time did you tell everyone to be here, Hermione?"

"Um …" Hermione looked down at her watch. "Around ten. So, we have about ten minutes to get set up."

With that, all of us stood and started to shift furniture around while Hermione pulled some chairs out of one of our, kind of, sort of, illegal bags. As we were doing all of that, Bella also set up her memovisum. We had a feeling the others brave enough to come here would want proof of what we were saying.

Just after ten, the door let in several students from Gryffindor, as well as some from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Hermione stood and was about to start the meeting when I heard more minds enter my range. I indicated for her to wait a few more minutes. Ten minutes later, there were several more students sitting around, waiting for the meeting to start.

Edward? Anyone listening? Hermione asked as she stood in front of the group.

I had been listening constantly, waiting to see if anyone was paying attention to the number of students who had been coming to The Hogs Head. I had been especially listening for Willy Widdershins to make sure that he hadn't been paying attention. As far as I could hear, he was no longer in my range. And if he was no longer in my range, he hadn't seen the number of students coming to The Hogs Head.

I looked back at Hermione. "You're good to go."

"Thank you all for coming," she said as she looked around. Hermione shook her head. "I didn't realize that so many of you would come to this meeting."

I looked around to see that every chair was taken. There were our original ten, plus Draco, as well as a further twenty or so. It was a big group, and we were going to have to stagger them when we left.

"What are we doing here?" an impatient voice asked from the back of the group. I recognized the voice as the one belonging to Justin Finch-Fletchly. He had always been critical of us, and it made me wonder why he was here.

"We're concerned," Hermione began pacing a little. "We know that we aren't learning how to protect ourselves. We know that Professor Umbridge is shortchanging us when it comes to our education. We need to be able to protect ourselves from what's out there."

Justin snorted. "And what exactly is out there?"

"Lord Voldemort is out there."

"So, he says," Justin argued after the shudder that accompanied hearing the name.

Hermione replied with, "So Dumbledore says."

"Dumbledore says because Harry and Edward say so. What proof do we have that they aren't lying?" Justin demanded.

Bella stood. Almost flinging her chair backward. "You want proof?" She waited until Justin nodded. "You didn't have to be an ass about it. If you'd asked nicely, we would have shown you!" She punctuated her statement with a finger to his chest as she'd stalked over to him. "I think you need to sit down."

Justin sat with an expression of awe and fear as Bella spun back to face me with a smirk on her face. She stalked over to where she had placed the memovisum. Bella levitated it over to the center of the room. "This is a device I invented. All you need to do is watch." With that, Bella tapped the side of the memovisum with her wand hand before she turned and sat down next to me.

Instead of watching the replay of my thoughts from the graveyard last year, I buried my face in Bella's hair. I listened to all the thoughts of the children who hadn't seen this footage before. They were in awe of the product Bella had created, but that awe slowly changed from confirmation to fear. They all watched, the misfits included, as I was hit with a killing curse, and Harry was captured by the statue. Before all hell broke loose.

The thoughts were horrified as they watched Voldemort rise from the cauldron and fought Harry with everything he had before Harry escaped with me.

There was stunned silence as everybody absorbed what they had seen.

"What was that?" was the first thing that was said, and of course, that came from Justin.

I snorted. "That was my memories of what happened when Harry and I went up against Voldemort last year in the graveyard. This is your proof that Voldemort is back."

"Your memories?" that question came from Dean.

"My memories. Bella here"—I patted her leg—"created this wonderful piece of technology from a pensieve. It's able to show more than one person someone's memories. She calls it a memovisum. That is exactly what happened when we encountered Voldemort last year."

Colin spoke up before anyone else. "So, he's really back?"

"He's really back," Harry said as he stood. "I fought him. Our government is doing everything they can to deny what happened. And that includes not teaching us how to defend ourselves. We're here to change that. To help you learn how to do that very thing. To help you pass this year's exam and beyond."

"Beyond to what?" Angelina asked.

"To the very war that Voldemort is looking for," Harry answered in a no-nonsense tone. "He won't stop until he has what he wants. And that … is control over everyone." He looked around at everyone sitting there listening. "If you want to learn how to defend yourself, if you want to learn how to defend others, then sign up to become one of our group."

There was a pause before Susan Bones asked the pertinent question. "What group is that?"

Harry spread his arms out to indicate all of us. "This group. We're not going to go down without a fight. Be that the ministry or Voldemort. We're going to create the army that the ministry is so afraid of."

Everyone stared at Harry like he had three heads. Several of them spoke at once. "What army is that?"

I smirked when Harry answered. "Dumbledore's Army, of course. The ministry has Umbridge stalling our magical lessons because they're afraid Dumbledore is training us to become an army. They think he's going to use us to take on the ministry." Harry stopped to look around. "So, I say we give them the army. Only it's not to take on the ministry but to pass our exams, to defend ourselves. That's why we've decided to call ourselves Dumbledore's Army. Because we won't just lie down quietly and slink away. We will do everything we can to be better. To defend ourselves and the ones we love."

Bella snickered as those around us went quietly into shock. She laughed harder as Hermione placed a table in front of Harry with a piece of parchment and a quill. Harry watched for a few more moments while the others digested the news before he reached down, picked up the quill, and wrote his name. He stood up and held the quill out to Hermione. For the next few minutes, our small group all wrote their names down on the piece of parchment. By the time we were done, all but Draco had written down his name.

To start, we had:

Harry Potter

Hermione Granger

Isabella Swan

Edward Masen

Fleur Delacour

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Ginny Weasley

Luna Lovegood

Neville Longbottom

We had left a place for Gabrielle to add her name should she choose to. While it would be good for her to learn the spells that we were, Fleur thought Gabrielle should have the chance to make her own choice.

Harry stood in front of the group once more. His hands were behind his back, standing much like a warrior commanding his army would. He looked over the children in front of him before he spoke. "We have the beginning of our army. The leaders, the teachers. What say you? Are you going to join us and learn? Or are you going to pretend—like the ministry—that this isn't happening?"

"And if we don't want to join?" Marietta asked from the back of the room. She was sitting next to Cho Chang.

"Then you are free to continue on like normal," I said as I stood up next to Harry. "The only thing we ask of you is not to let on to Umbridge what we're doing. I have no doubt that she would put an end to us learning the spells we need to learn in defense." I looked around at everyone. "You guys are our friends. We won't hold you hostage. You can come to as many or as few of these lessons as you like. But we're suggesting that you at least try to learn the spells we're going to need. It's up to you if you want to come."

It took less than a minute for all the others to stand and line up to sign the parchment. Discussions broke out as each of them stepped forward to sign. They were happy that someone was going to stand up to Umbridge, even if it was discreetly.

Once they were all done, the signatures on the parchment included:

Dean Thomas

Lavender Brown

Pavarti Patil

Padma Patil

Cho Chang

Marietta Edgecombe

Katie Bell

Alicia Spinnet

Angelina Johnson

Colin Creevey

Dennis Creevey

Ernie MacMillian

Justin Finch-Fletchly

Hannah Abbott

Susan Bones

Anthony Goldstein

Michael Corner

Terry Boot

Zacharias Smith

Lee Jordan

Seamus Finnigan

"What happens now? And what can you teach us?" Lee spoke as he sat down. "I know you guys are good, what with all the people you know, but what do you know that's different from what we've been taught?"

"Have you seen one of these? Expecto Patronum!" Harry waved his wand, his stag jumping out of the end and standing proud in front of everyone watching.

There were more looks of awe as they stared at the stag. "You can cast a patronus?" Cho whispered. "Since when?"

Harry waved the question away as he looked at the rest of us behind him. "We all can. We've been able to since the summer before third year."

Before we could however, Colin stood up with his ever-present camera and took a photo. "Can I ask why you were taught to do this? Can we see them all?"

"You can't print any pictures, Colin," Bella said in response as she stood.

"Why not?"

Bella tilted her head at the boy. "Because we need them to stay secret. When this war happens, we may need them to send messages, to protect us. You included. Do you understand?"

Everyone nodded, so we all stood. But Harry had changed his mind and shook his head at us. "Now that everyone has decided to learn, we need to discuss where we're going to practice," Harry called, drawing attention to himself once more. "Can we have some ideas?"

He's handling this really well, Bella thought. He's a natural-born leader. He's going to need that later on.

"That he is," I whispered to her as answers flew around the room. Places from the library—which I knew Madam Pince would never let happen—to the Shrieking Shack, to the Forbidden Forest. Each of the answers were thrown out when a reason against it was shared. Not a chance. Too small. Would get us all in trouble if we were caught.

Conversations broke out among the others, but another one of the group stepped up to where I was sitting. "Can I ask a question?" Dennis Creevey, Colin's little brother, asked me. It seemed Colin had been singing our praises.

"You can, Dennis." I smiled at the younger boy.

He blushed. It seemed that he wasn't used to this kind of attention. Or Colin had talked us up too much. "Um … why did Draco not sign the parchment?"

"Because Umbridge is going to want to recruit one of us to her side. He's the most obvious choice because of who he is, who his father is."

Colin looked over at Draco. "He's a Malfoy."

"Exactly."

"So, he's going to what?"

Draco patted Colin on the shoulder, scaring the poor boy. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I'll be a spy, my friend."

"A spy?"

"Mmhmm," Draco hummed as he sat in Bella's chair. "Someone who is on our side but is seemingly working for the other side. I'll pass information on while pretending to play both sides."

"But you'll only be passing information to us? Or to the other side?"

Draco smirked. "I'll only be passing it to us. You can't tell anyone though. It may not be safe if everyone knows."

Draco and I both laughed as Dennis nodded so fast that I thought he was going to hurt his neck. "Stop, Dennis. Can we trust you with this information?"

"Yes, absolutely. I won't even tell Colin!"

"Good, good. Off you go." We couldn't help but laugh as he took off to the other side of the room. He was so excited to be included that it was fueling his adrenaline.

"Think he'll keep it a secret?" Draco asked with his smile still intact.

"His mind says yes. I guess only time will tell."

~*~UHS~*~

"How are we going to let them know where they need to go for the meetings?" Ginny asked after everyone else had left.

We're still in Aberforth's living room. We had managed to stagger the others leaving so that we didn't draw excess attention to The Hogs Head. We were continuing our meeting, but this one was more for the teachers, for us, than for the rest.

"Leave that up to me. I have some ideas," Hermione stated as she looked over the list of people. "I can get them there using the same method as the one I used for this meeting."

Bella nodded against my chest. "But that isn't going to last forever. Umbridge already suspects The Daily Prophet and too many of those types of flyers, and she'll know something's up."

"You're saying that we need something more subtle." Fleur pointed at Bella.

"I am. Something smaller. Something that she'd never suspect. But after everyone knows where the Room of Requirement is."

"Like what?" Fred asked.

Everyone stopped speaking and started thinking about what we could use.

"You know," I spoke up. "In the muggle world, we have cameras and spy gear, as small as a button. A coin. Do we have something like that?"

"No," George answered, but I could see the moment a lightbulb went off over his head. "But I think we might be able to create something." He looked over at Hermione. "Want to help? We could use your idea with the flyers to create something small and hidden."

"You got it," Hermione answered. She smiled at the twins. It wasn't often that the three of them agreed on an idea. Hermione wasn't sure about their joke shop or their pranks, and they thought Hermione was a bit of a stick in the mud, but it seemed that their thoughts had aligned for this project.

Putting those minds together might be a mistake. But it could also be the best thing to happen at Hogwarts. Let's hope the twins continued to use their minds for good.

~*~UHS~*~

You're gonna keep everyone busy for the time being? Bella asked as she placed a soft kiss on my forehead.

"I'll keep them away from the room, yes, ma'am," I answered returning her kiss. "Do you think Gabrielle will be receptive?"

Bella looked down at me. I was seated in a chair in the library, the others around here somewhere, and she was going to take Fleur and Gabrielle to the Room of Requirement. I believe she will. At least, she might tell us what she knows. I hope so anyway.

"Good luck, baby," I whispered. "I'm sure she'll want to find him. She'll want the love that you and I have. Which will lead to the love Fleur and Bill have."

If she has enough information.

"Then you can offer to help her as she gets more information." I kissed Bella softly on her lips. "She may not want the help. She may just need to talk to someone. You and Fleur are uniquely qualified to help her, Bella. See what she says."

Okay, Edward. See you later. With another kiss, this one harder and to my lips, she left with Fleur.

I kept out of their heads as much as possible over the next couple hours. I only heard a word here or there. I knew Bella would fill me in once we were safely in the common room. Instead, I worked on some homework for our current classes and continued to study upcoming Defense Against the Dark Arts text books.

Bella didn't return to me until well after dinner. I was already in the common room when I heard her mental voice calling out to me. I looked up as the portrait swung open, revealing her. "Bella," I whispered reverently. It was like I hadn't seen her in days rather than hours.

"Hey, Edward," Bella breathed. At least, I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"How did it go?"

Bella made her way across the room quickly, sitting down in my lap before she said another word. "You were right. Gabrielle had recently started dreaming of her mate. She's a little late, age wise, but it is her mate none-the-less. Here, she's drawn this." Bella pulled a piece of parchment from a pocket in her robes and passed it over to me. "She says his name is Dean, but that is all the information she has at this time."

I unrolled the parchment to see the exact image I had seen in Gabrielle's thoughts earlier. He was a handsome vampire with dark hair.

"Have you seen him before?" Bella asked, looking down at the parchment with me.

"No. He's new to me. I can send it to Carlisle and the others and ask them."

Bella shook her head. "She's not ready. She knows that he isn't ready for her, just yet. It's why she just knows his first name and what he looks like."

I looked up at Bella. I couldn't stand knowing about her but not looking for her. No matter how ready or not we were. "Will she let us know?"

"When they're both ready, according to her dreams, then yes, she'll let us know."

I wondered how long they would be waiting for each other.

~*~UHS~*~

A lot happened in this chapter. From trying to stay under Umbridge's radar, to starting a rogue "study group", to discovering that Gabrielle has been dreaming of her mate. I cannot wait to hear what you have to say about this one.

See you in a fortnight!