Oh my god guys! It's already most of the way through summer, how did we get here? Ermory's been stuck with exams (bless her) and I've got piles of coursework, so this has been happening so slowly, I'm starting to think Ginny's whole six years might take us as many. BUT, hope y'all are having a great day and that our little thing makes you smile ~helena

Protocol: THIS IS ONLY A TRANSLATION, we didn't write the original fic, which was in Italian and called "Sono Ginny Weasley e questa e' la mia storia". We own nothing but the translation. HP belongs to You Know Who. The translator is Ermory and the editor is helena.

DA! BUT IT MEANS DOUBLEDORE'S ARMY

-o-

BY ORDER OF THE SUPREME INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS

all organizations, companies, teams, groups and student circles

are disbanded as of this moment.

Any student who constitutes, or belongs to, an organization,

company, group or club that has not been approved by the Supreme Inquisitor will be expelled.

-o-

When the fat letters of Umbridge's message were plastered over the walls of all the Houses' Common Rooms, those who had attended the Hog's Head meeting swooped in on the three founders of the defense group at breakfast. Did they see the sign? And were they going to go ahead with this anyway despite the toad threatening them with expulsion? Obvious, the decree had changed nothing: a disgusting old toad couldn't have stopped these kids from doing anything. After Hermione nearly came down with a nervous breakdown and Ginny had to rush to stop Michael and his friends from coming to the Gryffindor table and blowing their cover, the day went by rather normally.

Then, Hermione told her about a room they found on the seventh floor that was perfect for practicing, it was behind a blank wall standing opposite a huge tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. She implored Ginny do her best to track down the others and warn them.

"Michael! Oh, I'm so glad I found you!"

Ginny sighed and stopped Michael, who was passing by the Greenhouses on the way to her class, and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. It had been a very busy day for the girl (not in the least from Luna Lovegood spending her last hour had giving a detailed account of the Elipods, which had seriously put Demelza's sanity in danger), running up and down the castle to track down as many people as possible and, of course, with a desire to warn Chang and her horrible little friend first, before Harry could take it on himself and giving Chang the chance to put her towing plan into action.

"What's up?" Michael asked coldly, still angry with his girlfriend over the Smith thing.

"It happens that we have found the place for the meetings"

"Really?" the boy's eyes sparkled.

"Yes, half past seven outside the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor ... understand?"

"Got it, I'll tell the other two. Who else still needs to know?"

"I think ... that Chang and the friend of hers" Ginny replied, emphasizing her choice of words, which particularly irritated Michael because he frowned and glared at her rather harshly, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Cho and Marietta," the boy said, and this time it was he who emphasized the names of the two. So what ... Marietta? What kind of name was that? Her parents must have taken a hit to the head before naming her that, "they are my good friends, so if you don't want to, I can tell them directly."

On for heaven's sake! Ginny thought desperately. Were Cho and Marietta close friends of his? Since when did Michael deal with two Ravenclaws older than him and above all ... why had Michael never told her about those two geese?

"You think I can't? Who said that?" she snapped, pretending to be offended.

"Oh ... well ... I thought ..." Michael stammered, embarrassed, because the girl's tone had been very convincing.

"It doesn't matter. But since when have you and Cho Chang been friends?"

"I'm part of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, we've made a strong bond of friendship recently."

... a strong bond of friendship recently! Ginny mimicked him mentally, staring at her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow. But this wasn't the time to be jealous, though that's not saying much because she never stopped being jealous when it came to her bitter enemy named Cho Chang. With her delicate Asian features, the girl was as expressive as a dead cypress.

"Okay ..." Ginny mumbled with a stretched smile, trying to look as cheerful as possible. "Now I have to run to warn her, you know ... this was my second last lesson and I don't want to feel guilty about not telling someone when we're in the room on the seventh floor. Er ... where are Cho and Marietta? "

"I think they're done for the day, they've got an hour free," Michael promptly replied.

"Thank you very much, honey. See you at half past seven then?"

"Sure!"

And exchanging a kiss, Michael hurried to the greenhouse where Professor Sprout had just entered and were handing out delicate, lethal-looking plants. Ginny had to act fast: she had to find those two first, and she had to move now. Her friends were waiting for her, but she didn't have time to stop and chat when Potions was beginning in ten minutes.

"Aren't you done, you love birds?" Vicky asked hilariously, walking up to her and stalking a look in the direction of the greenhouse. "What were you two saying to each other? I heard you mentioning the names of Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe and then ..."

"Oh, I'll explain later what those two have to do with my colossally cluttered sentimental situation," Ginny cut her short, under the amused gazes of Christopher and Demelza, alarmed by the fact that her friend had used words like colossally cluttered sentimental situation. "But not now, because I have to go. You take my potions kit, see if I can avoid a detention from Snape if I run."

"You can't be late!" Ritchie protested, recalling the scene months ago when she and Selwyn fought in front of the whole class and in front of Snape, and the unexpected bailout by Astoria Greengrass.

"Yeah, you can't be late!" Demelza quickly chimed in.

"They're right, Snape will be pissed off like a Bedouin in the Sahara desert," William agreed with just a hint of a smile.

"And where did that come from?" asked a horrified Christopher, bursting out laughing without thinking of the Herbology class going on.

"Forget about the Bedouin, you don't need to give Snape a hard time," Demelza said, frowning.

"Oh you all are making me late continuing like this ... just take my stuff, I'll be there in a minute!"

Without waiting for them to nod or say bye, Ginny darted away, catapulted to the other side of the castle where Ravenclaw Tower was, feeling sure that Cho Chang and her friend Marietta Edgecombe would have spent their time post-lesson gossiping away in the girls' bathrooms, and afterwards would be heading straight up to the Tower like the good girls they were. After all, quite a few minutes had already passed since the last lesson and they must already be heading back and ... Ginny had never been more right than this occasion. As she walked briskly towards the corridor in which the Ravenclaw Tower was located, the two girls emerged from a nearby bathroom, just as she had anticipated.

"Er ... Cho? Marietta?" Ginny said somewhat awkwardly.

"Yes?" Cho asked absently, whose head was surely still caught in gossip with her friend.

"You are Ginny Weasley, right?" Marietta intervened, in a very haughty and almost bored voice. "You're Micheal Corner's girlfriend? Yes, Micheal told us about your red hair and all those freckles," she pointed to the girl's face.

"Yes, I'm Michael's girlfriend. Anyway, I have a message from Harry ..."

"You have a message from Harry for me?" Cho Chang repeated, becoming animated, and Marietta began to giggle without restraint.

"A message from the founders of the defense group for you and Marietta," the girl corrected her coldly, nervously sniffling at her. Did she seriously think Ginny was sent as some exclusive messenger? Cho's face seemed to fall disappointedly, but she listened intently to the message Ginny was delivering at two. "—and so, you have to be there at half past seven, if you're still interested in participating in the practices. Okay?" she added.

"All right," they said in unison and after a distracted nod, they turned and walked away. Ginny turned too, glad she'd gotten to the two girls first, and took off running to the dungeons where Snape's lesson must have started. She ran the whole while and when she opened the classroom door, she was slightly late and not just slightly out of breath from the trip she went on - it was worth it.

"Weasley, class started two minutes ago," Snape said, but he didn't sound too stern.

Of course, the lesson had only started two minutes earlier!

"Five points from Gryffindor."

But that didn't mean Snape would save points from Gryffindor, obviously.

Trying not to look at the Slytherin side, especially Astoria Greengrass, Ginny mumbled a passing apology for politeness' sake and went to sit next to Ritchie, where he had put down all her stuff. She'd been pretty quick to find them, and even with the two getting lost in their idiotic ponderings like "the message from Harry exclusively for Cho" or "Michael's girlfriend with red hair and freckles" she'd barely been two minutes late for class.

"He didn't have to take any points from us ..." Ritchie snorted, lighting the flame under his cauldron.

"Yes, and when does Snape ever let go the opportunity to take points from Gryffindor?" the girl hissed, annoyed. Then, taken aback by Vicky who had reached out to her to find out what Cho and Marietta had to do with her messy emotional situation, she barked at her to sit in her seat and that she would explain everything after Potions ... or after— the secret training session.

Ginny promptly let the founding trio know that she had already relayed the message to Chang and her friend, and Harry's weird expression when she told everything in detail was priceless ... so funny that Ginny would have gladly laughed in his face and plastered his front with a tag: loser. On the other hand, she would be wearing another one with the inscription: winner.

What was certain, however, was that all the people who had come to the Hog's Head would be there.

"Hi ..." said a different voice that Ginny didn't recognize. She turned to her left and found herself face to face with a tall, muscular and very dark-skinned boy: Dean Thomas, a friend of her brother. He was with Neville and the giggly Gryffindor girls, namely Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.

"Hi, guys," she greeted absently, still thinking about the way she left Vicky and her friends with their inappropriate questions in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Aren't you coming up to the seventh floor?" asked Dean curiously.

"Of course I am!" Ginny retorted, giving the boy a big smile.

"And are you coming with us or are you waiting for your Ravenclaw boyfriend?"

"I..."

Ginny thought about it quickly: Michael hadn't been seen for some minutes, and they too hadn't spoken about walking together to the seventh floor so probably the boy was already up there, waiting impatiently.

"No, I'm not waiting for Michael ... I'm going with you," she agreed and Neville was happy to lead the way with her too.

"So, are you still with Micheal Corner?" Parvati asked curiously, as they set off. She twirled her long dark braid and looked at Ginny intently, evidently curious to affirm a rumor.

"Yes, I'm still with Micheal"

"I thought you two broke up, you know ... no offense" Parvati continued undaunted.

"Broke up?" Ginny repeated with a frown, not understanding where the girl was going.

"Yeah, because he spends so much time with Cho Chang," Lavender answered.

He spends a lot of time with Chang? HE SPENDS A LOT OF TIME WITH THE CHANG?

"Oh yes ... they are friends and they are on a team together" the girl said nonchalantly, trying not to gather attention to the smoke of anger that was coming out of her. That Cho wanted to take both Harry and Michael ... Was all that love for Cedric gone already? Well, poor boy: he was definitely turning in his grave.

Dean, who had been silent throughout the conversation, coughed loudly as Neville said, "Don't do that, girls. I mean, it'll be her business if her boyfriend found a friend ... n-no?"

"You're right, Neville," Ginny agreed and this shut the two up.

"You went to the ball last year together, didn't you?" Dean asked instead, as they climbed the last staircase to the seventh floor.

"Me and Neville?"

"You and Michael."

"I ... let's say ... had a second date and so did Neville."

Neville chuckled, before disbelief promptly took over his face: in front of them was a door, a door that had never been there.

"This door—" Dean said, throwing it open and stepping into a gigantic room. "Wow! What is this place?" he gasped, when he saw the trio exploring the room as avidly.

Ginny did not know whether the Room of Requirements, as the boys had called it, had always existed but from what she heard it was a room that only appeared when genuinely needed, and always brought with it everything that was wished for by those looking for it. In the present moment, the Room of Requirement was equipped with practice dummies, strange gadgets and books ... an infinity of books that had certainly turned Hermione's pupils into pink hearts.

As Harry began speaking, the students settled down on the ground and began to listen intently. Michael seemed quite affectionate with Ginny, so he probably wanted something to be forgiven ... but the girl didn't care at that moment: she had never been happier and she would deal with her boyfriend when she felt like it.

"Anyway ... what, Hermione?"

"I think we ought to have a name," Hermione replied cheerfully, her hand still raised.

"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, proposed hopefully.

"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" Fred suggested hilariously, drawing a round of giggles.

"I was thinking more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to," Hermione broke in again, giving Fred a scowl and warning, "so we can refer to it safely outside of meetings," she added.

A perfect name? Ginny already had a pretty good one in her mind, and was just about to open her mouth and suggest it when her pretty and bitter enemy anticipated her and to her horror, it turned out that she had the same idea as if from reading her mind. Did she manage to read from her mind, then, what she thought of her, that evil harpy?

"Defense Association?" Cho Chang suggested. "The DA for short, so nobody knows what we are talking about!"

Cho Chang wanted war and so war it is.

"Yes, the DA is good ... but let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?" Ginny intervened promptly, raising her voice for everyone to hear. There were giggles and murmurs of approval as the girl stood in all her meager stature and gave everyone a big, encouraging smile.

DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY

The name was written in large print by Hermione on top of the parchment and from that point on ... it was getting serious.

They started from the basics for some of them to catch up on the techniques, but Ginny finally felt herself: she would have loved being known by the world for what she was between those four splendid walls of the Room of Requirement. She had proven herself as a witch with her great skills and lightning flash reflexes, which also caught Harry's attention and compliments. Something about him had definitely snapped, he definitely no longer saw her as Ron's awkward little sister and the conversation with Hermione last night was enough to prove it.

"Expelliarmus!" she shouted swiftly and Michael's wand soared to her again.

"Great, Ginny, that was really good!" Harry said cheerfully, stepping over to their side and patting her arm lightly as he smiled at her. Ginny brushed her hair back from her forehead and returned his smile, only to notice that Michael was pouting at her again: maybe he was jealous of the boy ... maybe he was simply grumpy that her girlfriend had him beaten over and over ...

"I'm just letting you do it ... it's good manners, isn't it?" he replied haughtily as she deftly plucked the boy's wand from the air.

"Very good manners, thank you."

"Yes ... that was absolutely intentional."

"I have no doubts"

"Expe ... oh no ... Expellimellius! Oh ... sorry, Marietta!" Cho was saying, a few meters away from them, as Harry approached her, looking very purposeful and interested. "You made me nervous, I was doing alright before!" the girl added with a whine.

"It was quite good ... well, no, it was lousy, but I know you can do it properly, I was watching you from over there." the boy said, catching Cho's gaze with a smile.

Ginny was so distracted by those two that she didn't even notice Michael was about to disarm her.

"Expelliarmus!" the boy shouted, and then raised his fists in victory. "Well, enough with being a gentleman now!"

"Accio wand!"

Slighting the fact that an opponent in a duel would surely not be staring the other way, Ginny let him have a good time and let the time pass getting disarmed by Michael: she was still thinking about the dialogue between Harry and Chang and how he had said he'd been watching her the whole while, up till the end of their time in the Room of Requirement.

They liked each other, and it was what it was.

"Wasn't that the coolest Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson we've ever had?" Hermione asked proudly that night, when only she and Ginny were left in the common room, snuggling cosily by the fire.

"Yes, I've never been so happy!"

"Michael didn't seem to think so, did he?"

"He pouts about everything, that man! And he gets all chummy with that Chang ..."

"What?" Hermione interrupted, shrieking and annoyed. She was so shrill that Crookshanks hissed angrily and promptly jumped off Hermione's legs to go elsewhere. "Ron was right: this cat is seriously broken."

"Like the voice of its owner?" Ginny suggested amusedly, and was promptly hit in the face with a pillow. "Anyway, yes, Michael is making fast friends with Cho Chang because they are on the Ravenclaw team together and so ... well, they're spending their time together. But how is it fine for him to spend all his time with her, but if Harry compliments me he starts to make a scene ... what do you think? "

"Gin ... Michael is jealous!" Hermione objected with a patient air that always had her nervous.

"It bothers me as much that Cho is with him."

"Mmmh..."

"Don't make that face!" Ginny protested because Hermione's expression didn't bode well.

"You know very well why Cho bothe—"

"—I'm really falling asleep, you know? I'm so tired, today was a tiring day." the girl interrupted, urgency in her voice because she just didn't want to hear Hermione say what she was desperately trying to hide from herself. Hermione understood that about her, because she crossed her arms over her chest before her and then smiled at her, wishing her goodnight while Ginny tried not to let her know that she was literally running away from there.

Surely, talking to Hermione about her colossally cluttered sentimental situation couldn't help but confuse her.

In the two weeks that followed, Dumbledore's Army kept going strong as they trained hard to fight Wilbert Slinkhard's useless theory that Umbridge, undeterred, kept getting the class to read every single day.

Also, Ginny had told her friends about her complicated situation with Michael and all, omitting the part where she talked about the love square that had formed between her, the boy, Harry Potter and that damned Cho Chang, even though that sly Demelza, who always knew everything like Hermione, seemed to have understood everything; and because anyone who knew more than Ginny had to be kept quiet, Ginny silenced Demelza.

As the game between Gryffindor and Slytherin approached, Ron became more and more taciturn. Every time his sister passed him in the corridors he was always rather green and sweaty: the Slytherins had put in place a great strategy to make him nervous even before the game began. Hermione had made Ginny promise that she would watch the game next to her, and then both girls went to position themselves in the stands with Ginny's friends partying behind them.

"Won't you kiss me too, Hermione?" Ginny teased, because Hermione had given a good-luck kiss on Ron's cheek, who had gone all red and was touching the place where she had kissed him as if he had dreamed it. "just a small one, on the cheek here ... right here ..." and she pointed to a spot on the cheek, utterly mockingly.

"Ha-ha," said Hermione sarcastically, but she was smiling. "I just wanted..."

"Yes yes, you did great." concluded the girl for her, because "I just wanted" was always accompanied by something of the sort of: get him back in a good mood, etc. and Hermione had surely succeeded in her intent.

"Don't make that face!" she protested, crossing her arms across her chest and looking away.

"You know, it's the same face you make when you talk to me about my messed up love life," Ginny retorted with a smirk.

"Er ... Gin ..." Ritchie called embarrassedly from behind the stands, "I think your brother is going to throw up ..." he added, handing her a pair of small binoculars and Ginny checked the field carefully to see if Ron was really throwing up his soul from nervousness.

"So?" Hermione asked agitatedly.

"It's okay, he's just nervous ... I'm sure he won't make a scene."

Sure, he wouldn't have made a scene of that kind but he would certainly have made a scene of another kind ... like not saving even one goal because he was too busy listening to the Slytherin choirs— about whom Ginny couldn't care less— to try and win for Gryffindor. The game had started quickly, but Ginny would have given anything to not care about her brother's performance: The first time a Quaffle flew at him, Ron had dived wildly with open arms with the result that the Quaffle had passed right between him. On his second try, he threw himself forward like a drowning dog and the ball had grazed his arm and ended up right in the middle ring ... all of this crowned by a despicable rhyme.

Weasley cannot save a thing,

He cannot block a single ring,

That's why Slytherins all sing:

Weasley is our King.

Weasley was born in a bin

He always lets the Quaffle in

Weasley will make sure we win

Weasley is our King.

Weasley is our King,

Weasley is our King,

He always lets the Quaffle in

Weasley is our King.

In the end, Gryffindor still managed to win because Harry snatched the Snitch from under Malfoy's nose, but ...

"Banned," muttered Angelina Johnson gravely that night in the common room. Ginny and the others had just returned from dinner and discovered that, after Harry and George's fight on the pitch against that treacherous Malfoy snake, Umbridge had decided to ban them ... "For life. No Seeker and no Beaters... what on earth are we going to do?"

"It's just so unfair! I mean, what about Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned him?" Alicia Spinnet asked, stunned.

"No!" it was Ginny who answered, sitting to Harry's side with Hermione on the other, and the rest of the team in a circle around them. "He just got lines, I heard Montague laughing about it at dinner," she added.

"And banning Fred when he did nothing!" Alicia barked again.

Yes, because Umbridge had not only banned Harry and George for life ... but Fred as well.

"I'm going to bed, maybe it's all a bad dream ... maybe I'll wake up tomorrow morning and find out we haven't played yet," Angelina announced, slowly rising from the sofa with an almost absent look. Alicia and Katie followed her, and shortly thereafter the twins also crawled to bed leaving the three teens alone, still wondering where Ron had gone.

"Oh that damned song ... they did it on purpose!" Ginny snapped angrily, trying to get the silly song out of her head. "I'm really sorry..." she added to the boy, patting him on the shoulder as she got up from the arm of his chair. "I'm going to bed, maybe it really is a bad dream" and with a nod to Harry and Hermione, she walked away and climbed the spiral staircase that led to the girls' dormitories.

When she opened the door, she found Demelza sitting on her bed waiting for her.

"You're still awake?" Ginny asked stupidly as her eyes widened in surprise.

"What did you expect?" her friend retorted, getting up and adjusting the sheets on her canopy. "Vick just fell asleep but we were both waiting for you, so don't say we never think about you. So, did Umbridge really ban them for life?"

"Yes," the girl replied, starting to undress and put on her pajamas.

"Look on the bright side ..."

"Is there a bright side?"

"In this case, yes," Demelza replied with a smirk. "Angelina Johnson will start more trials now because the team will need ... well, let me think ... two Beaters who can compensate for the twins and an equally good Seeker to replace your Potter."

"My Pott...?"

"Oh, haven't you understood?" Demelza interrupted impatiently, but she was beaming. "Now you can join the team!"

(I'll make Ermory come back and post hers and the original author's notes soon. Ta for now! Sending lots of love from both of us)