...
And so, the summer passed.
Harry enjoyed staying in the tent more than he thought he would. He was looking forward to staying in the castle next summer though. He was surprised by how rapidly the construction was going but it would take another two months before it was complete, according to the builders.
The DA continued researching; they'd kept up a list of spells and charms they wanted to learn in the coming year or had learned in the summer. This allowed everyone to have a sort of measure to catch up to.
The twins had even joined Hermione in sneaking into the Black library and had begun their own section in the journal for potions research.
Madam Bones had taken her signed draft into Gringotts the very next day — she'd known since the check had glowed gold when Harry had signed it that the check was real, but it hadn't hit her until she'd seen the sum deposited in the account.
Her department meeting had felt more like a party as there wasn't much to deliberate with un-stretched funds.
Harry continued to receive letters from the Order that he ignored until the last week of summer. Then, he arranged to be picked up at the Leaky Cauldron by Remus Lupin and Alastor Moody.
Lupin had lectured him on the dangers of running away knowing who was out there. Moody had given him an assessing look before nodding, satisfied, and congratulated him on taking his security seriously. He knew the grizzled old auror had seen the amulet, his wand holster, and probably the dagger strapped to his thigh.
Remus had looked pissed off at the statement of support but couldn't argue because Harry had, after all, remained hidden despite the Order's best efforts.
"So where are we going?" Harry asked.
"We'll tell you when we get there," Lupin said simply.
If Harry hadn't known where they were going, that bullshit probably would have bothered him. As it was, he just followed docilely.
When they landed on a dingy London street, a piece of parchment was shoved under his nose. In Dumbledore's loopy handwriting were the words 'The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number 12, Grimmauld Place, London.'
Before his eyes, a house appeared between 11 and 13 Grimmauld place. Lupin looked to him, expecting a reaction.
"Fidelius, nice," he commented.
"This is Sirius' house," Remus told him after a beat, covering his surprise.
"Sirius is here?" Harry asked with excitement he didn't have to fake.
"Aye," Moody agreed. "Now quit lolly-gagging and get inside boy."
"Call me boy again and I'll take that peg-leg down a few inches," Harry promised as he walked by the old auror.
"Don't go making threats you can't keep, boy."
Moody had made the mistake of waiting until Harry crossed the ward threshold to retort.
Protected by the Fidelius, Harry had no worries about his magic being detected. Faster than Moody had thought him capable of, Harry's wand had dropped into his hand via holster. Silently and with no wand movements, a relatively high-powered cutter shot out and took the lower six inches off of Moody's prosthetic leg and pant leg.
Nonchalantly, Harry followed the voices he could hear coming from down the hall.
"Constant vigilance, Moody," he called, resisting the urge to turn and look at the stumbling auror who was supporting himself on the wall. "I even told you what I was going to do."
Remus went to scold him both for using magic and for what he'd done but he was cut off by a gruff laugh.
"That you did, Potter," Mad-Eye chuckled. "That you did."
Harry smirked and pushed into the kitchen before Remus could scold him. Something about the werewolf rubbed him the wrong way. He supposed it was leftover resentment from the time Remus had made an ass of himself about the Marauder's Map.
"Harry!" Sirius said as soon as his eyes landed on his godson.
Mrs. Weasley was the first to reach him with a crushing hug. Hermione was the second.
"Where have you been?" his bushy haired friend began immediately according to their prearranged act. "I can't believe you'd run away from your relatives. Do you know how foolish that was, Harry?"
"I never ran away from them, Mione," he said. "I just never went back. And I won't be going back either, you can bet on that."
"I fear that I must disagree, Mr. Potter."
"Fat lot of good that did you this summer, Professor Dumbledore," Harry said without even turning to face the floo. He did after a moment though, watching as the wizened old man brushed himself off. "I don't imagine the blood wards will do much good anyways. Voldemort did use my blood to resurrect himself, didn't he?"
The old man's eyes widened.
"Merlin, you hadn't even thought of that, did you?" the emerald-eyed young man laughed. "He even made a whole point about how he'd negated my mother's protection while he had me tied to the headstone."
The room at large, filled with a wide variety of people he didn't recognize, flinched at both the reminder and the use of Voldemort's name.
"I'm sure that the wards are-"
"No, you're not," Harry cut him off. "Because you hadn't even considered the possibility and you haven't thought about it for more than a minute. On top of that, you didn't set the wards, did you? How would you know their state?"
"Harry," Molly scolded. "You'll speak to the Headmaster with respect-"
"Or what, Mrs. Weasley?" Harry cut her off; this was part of the plan the Golden Trio had discussed.
Harry wanted to push the distance between him and Dumbledore now more than ever. The last thing he needed was the headmaster attempting to cozy up to him. He felt like the upcoming year was going to be too busy to put up with his manipulations.
"For all that you've treated me like family, my mother and father are dead. Plus, I somehow doubt my mother would want me living with those wretched people. You're my headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, and there ends the extent of your authority of me. I came here so we could avoid doing this at Hogwarts."
"I don't know what I've done to earn such vitriol, Harry-"
"Honestly?" Harry cut him off. "I think this all started at the end of my first year. You admitted then that there were things you weren't telling me. You know Voldemort's back and you still haven't told me whatever it is. In fact, you've done nothing to prepare me except insist I go back to living under a rock with my aunt and uncle."
Harry took a deep breath and shot the man an accusing look.
"I watched one of my friends die and you still can't tell me what it is that you know about my life that I don't."
The Order members in the room shot looks at Dumbledore.
"Although it looks like you've told them," he nodded to all of them. "Some of whom I don't even know, let alone trust, and one who looks like he can't be trusted with a bar of soap."
Harry glared at Mudungus Fletcher.
"And I'm talking about the hobo you dragged out from under a bridge, not Snape."
Sirius laughed but worked to stifle it under the combined glares of mum Weasley and mum Remus. None of them thought to question how Harry knew Snape was a member when the greasy man wasn't even present.
"So thank you for trusting complete strangers with aspects of my life that you haven't seen fit to trust me with — when you feel like coming clean, we can talk about my hostilities ending. Until then, you can keep your distance plenty fine."
Before he left the room, he shot a wink at his godfather. "Can I talk to you, Sirius? In private?"
"Sure, pup," Sirius agreed, jumping up from his chair.
"Ron, Mione?"
His friends joined him quietly, leaving the room and Dumbledore wearing shocked looks.
Moody, however, just looked on in approval.
…
"You going to fill me in on what's going on, Harry? That was some pretty good acting."
"How'd you know I was acting?"
"I didn't," Sirius told them. "I was talking about Hermione. You lot knew where he was?"
"I spent the first couple weeks of summer with him," she admitted.
"Doing what?" Sirius asked curiously.
"Same thing as the Order of the Phoenix," Harry said with a shrug. "Getting ready for war."
"What?" Sirius asked. "Harry-"
"Don't start Sirius. You're lucky I'm telling you this much without a secrecy oath."
"You don't trust me?" he asked, wounded.
"I don't trust you not to go running to Dumbledore. You tell him anything I tell you, you'll lose a god-kid."
Sirius looked surprised and hurt but shook his head. "I wouldn't betray your trust, Prongslet. What are you getting into?"
"I'm not getting into anything," Harry shook his head. "I'm already in this, Sirius. I've probably faced and fought Voldemort head on more than any member of the Order combined except Dumbledore and Snape."
"How'd you know Snape's in the Order? And how do you know he's faced Voldemort at all?"
"I've seen his Dark Mark — he and Igor Karkaroff were comparing tattoos last year. As for knowing he's in the Order; Well, Hermione cast an identity recording charm above the kitchen door before an Order meeting."
Sirius shot them an impressed look.
"Didn't know you were owling," he commented. "Didn't think you were in contact with anyone."
"We weren't owling," Harry said without telling him anything else about how they were communicating. "We do have a favor to ask."
"Oh?"
"I know you were an auror before the war," Hermione spoke up. "And Harry and our friends could use some tutoring during the year."
"At Hogwarts?"
"We can get you in undetected," Harry promised. "We have the map and the invisibility cloak, though I doubt we'd even need it."
"And your friends would be okay taking lessons from an Azkaban escapee?"
"They're all sworn to secrecy," Hermione assured him.
"How many of you ruffians would I be teaching?"
"Just our most trusted friends. Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, the Weasley kids, a few others," Harry answered, stretching the truth a little bit.
"I'll do it."
"Without telling Dumbledore?"
"Yes, without telling Dumbledore," he agreed. "If what Remus has been telling me is true, you three have a penchant for trouble that not even the Marauders can match and you need all the help you can get."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all shared grins before Hermione pulled out a journal and two velvet pouches.
"The journal connects to all of ours," Harry informed him. "The twins and Ginny have one too. Just write whoever's name you want it to go to and they'll get it."
The journal was smaller than the DA's because it was a very limited version of the ones they all had, missing some of the more sensitive sections and lacking access to the huge group chat.
"What're these?" he asked as he pocketed the nifty journal and took the pouches.
"Protection, as much as we can give you."
Sirius raised an eyebrow before emptying the pouches into his hand. When he saw them he couldn't stop his other eyebrow from joining the first in surprise.
"The work on these…this could only be from…"
Harry just nodded. Apparently this Madam was more popular than he'd realized among the right circles.
"Never take them off," Harry directed firmly. "If you're in trouble, touch the ring to the pendant."
"If I'm in trouble?"
"You'll understand more later, Sirius. But if something should happen, Death Eaters or anything, do what I said."
"Alright," Sirius agreed slowly.
"We should probably go back downstairs, mum normally has dinner done by now," Ron said once Sirius finished tucking the amulet under his robes after Hermione's warning to keep it hidden.
"Yeah, let's go."
Sirius pulled Harry into a firm hug.
"Promise me something?" he said as he pulled away and held Harry at arms length.
"Yeah?"
"Be careful."
"As much as possible, Sirius," Harry promised.
Sirius watched him go with a protective glint in his eye. Whatever his godson was up to, he'd be part of it whether the headmaster would approve or not.
He looked at the amulet and ring calculatingly — they weren't trinkets. He could feel the power in them and knew they'd been custom made and probably ordered months in advance. Whatever the trio was doing, they were serious about it.
…
The last week at Grimmauld passed quietly.
Once they were on the Hogwarts express, they were joined by Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Neville, Luna, Ginny, and the twins. Daphne Greengrass joined them briefly but left when their conversation finished.
"Harry what were you doing at my house this summer? Who's Lord Ravenborough? My Auntie's been raving about him!" Susan began immediately, obviously unable to contain herself. She hadn't thought to ask him in their new journals.
"I'm Lord Ravenborough — I inherited the title through my mum. She must be from a squib line, didn't really ask," he answered. "I was making a large donation to the auror department. We were going to try something more subtle to help the DMLE but we're just students; can't really effect ministry policy. We can throw money at them though."
"You're the reason the auror force has been growing by leaps and bounds, Potter?" Greengrass asked, laughing.
"Heard something about it?"
"Only at my father's dinners. Just general grumbling about 'that Amelia Bones and her haranguing.'"
"She's already recruited thirty new aurors," Susan agreed. "And almost all of the standing aurors failed the physical fitness requirements she imposed. They've all had to go back to the academy."
"The Minister tried to complain about not having the budget to retrain them all but she was able to find the money somewhere," Daphne added. "Apparently, she pulled the rug right out from under him and he made a fool of himself, the great buffoon."
"That's great," Harry grinned. "Better than I could have hoped for."
"They'll be ready for the Dark Lord," Daphne agreed.
"The rest of the ministry won't be," Ron reminded. "And the dark tosser will be ready for them."
"It's been the habit for the Ministry to be somewhat taken over by the DMLE directly after war is declared," Hermione noted. "We can only hope that's what happens when he finally reveals himself."
"When're we meeting, Potter?"
"Just after dinner, you think?"
"We can't," Hermione said. "Prefects have to escort the first years."
"Right," Harry shook his head. "When works?"
"And hour before curfew?" Hannah suggested. "It doesn't need to be a long meeting."
"So that's," Harry cast a tempus. "Five hours from now?"
"Mhm," Hermione agreed.
Harry tapped his ring twice, then tapped it five times. Immediately after, everyone felt their ring vibrate one long time, then five short times. It repeated that three times.
Just to be sure everyone understood the rather limited signaling method, Hermione wrote 'Urgent: Full meeting in five hours — one hour before curfew' in the journal. Tagging something as urgent made the journals vibrate much more strongly.
"Effective," Daphne said, glancing at her own ring.
She was rather fond of it — it was pretty and she knew the protections were the kind that lasted a lifetime. Harry probably hadn't known it, but he'd gifted them all rings and amulets that they'd wear for the rest of their lives.
"These must have cost a fortune. I recognize the Madame's work," she said softly.
"Well they could save our lives," Harry said simply, shrugging. "Can't put a price on that."
"Some people could," she said imperiously as she left the compartment. "Some people would."
Harry just gave her a half-shrug and a crooked smile. It went without saying that he wasn't one of those people.
…
Hermione had come back to the compartment with every member of the DA who was also a prefect. All of them were wearing angry scowls and looked upset. Daphne, the Slytherin prefect, was more incensed than anyone.
"What's going on?" Harry asked with a furrowed brow.
"You're not gonna believe it, mate," Ron said with a look of angry disgust.
"What?"
"They made Malfoy a prefect."
"They what?" Harry asked, jaw dropping.
"They made Malfoy. A prefect."
"Bloody hell. You're not having me on?"
"I wish I were," Ron said.
"I can't believe it's possible with his record," Hermione said while Daphne made outraged noises of agreement.
"I'm not going to patrol the corridors with him at night!" she growled. "He's the sort we're doing patrols to catch, for Circe's sake."
There was much conversing over what to do before Hermione decided right then an there that a petition needed to be written and signed before they even got to Hogwarts.
"A petition?"
"You think that would work?"
"I think we have to try before he gets too comfortable in the position. Our protests lose power if we wait."
"Good point. Can you draft one before we reach Hogsmeade?" Daphne asked. "It'll be far easier to approach everyone on the train."
"I've already got a rough draft in my head. I need a roll of parchment."
"On it…"
Within thirty minutes, Hermione had a formal petition drawn up. Daphne and every Slytherin DA member had been sent out with a copy of it. They approached other prefects first and encountered no resistance. Every prefect signed it, even the upper-year Slytherin prefects. They'd been dealing with the blonde ponce since he'd come to Hogwarts and he hadn't made a good second impression when he'd pranced into the prefect carriage and made it sound as if every Slytherin prefect answered to him.
For the ethics of it, only Slytherin non-prefect students were allowed to sign the petition. Every second and third year Slytherin signed the petition happily. Most of the third years did and plenty of fourth and fifth years too.
Near Hogsmeade, Daphne marked that she had collected all the signatures she could.
Ron, Gryffindor prefect, signed the petition after all of the names stopped pouring in. Hermione did the same with a flourish before bringing it hurriedly to the Head Girl and Head Boy.
…
Madam Bones had come through on her promise. Retired auror Henley Hollingsworth had volunteered to take the position at the last minute. Harry just shared a secretive smile with the trio when they'd looked at him suspiciously, sure of his involvement.
"And another wonderful conclusion to a Hogwarts welcoming feast. I'm sure we're all quite tired so, off you trot," Dumbledore smiled benignly. "Prefects, if you could lead the first years to the dorms."
"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore," Gabriel Truman, Hufflepuff and Head Boy said as he stood.
"Yes, Mr. Truman?"
"The prefects would like to have a word with you and the heads of houses in the antechamber."
"I'm sure this can wait, Mr. Truman," he declared. "We do have a whole hall full of students."
The students digressed — they were quite interested in watching this bit of drama.
"I quite disagree, Headmaster," Melinda Robertson, Ravenclaw and Head Girl, said as she stepped up.
Every other prefect followed their lead, clearly not intending to drop the matter. Draco Malfoy looked spectacularly confused but followed everyones lead; after all, they looked quite sure of what they were doing.
Reluctantly, Dumbledore and his four heads of houses entered the antechamber with twenty odd students. The people in the Great Hall watched the door to the left of the teaches table with confused anticipation.
…
"…and so, it is with firm intentions that we, the undersigned, do hereby declare our refusal to suffer under Draco Malfoy as a prefect." Melinda finished reading resolutely.
Every prefect nodded in firm agreement and ignored the gasp from McGonagall, the indignant cries from Draco, and the hissed litany of snarking abuses from Snape
Melinda handed Dumbledore the unfurled scroll.
"That list is signed by every single prefect and a vast majority of the Slytherin house." Gabriel said firmly.
"Mr. Truman," Dumbledore said, looking taken aback. "I can see now that you've put a great deal of thought into this petition, but I must insist…"
Gabriel began to talk, trying to interrupt, but Dumbledore continued over him; no one could fault Gabriel for quieting.
"I must insist that you at least do him the courtesy to see how he performs as a prefect. Regardless of personal difference in opinion-"
"Regardless of your personal opinion, headmaster," Melinda butted in strongly. "I've watched Draco Malfoy bully his way through Hogwarts for five years. I've seen him push, shove, and curse other students both verbally and with magic. He spews unfounded, witless pureblood rhetoric to anyone who will listen and uses filthy, derogatory words like mudblood."
Dumbledore looked shocked by the head girls vitriol; Hermione and the other prefects were too. None more shocked than Draco Malfoy, who looked too dumbfounded to speak.
"When Helga Hufflepuff instituted prefects in this school, she made sure only the best students would receive the honor. Prefects are supposed to be kind, helpful, courteous, and moral. The prefect position is not a position given to rehabilitate petty, rude little boys. Giving him the title spits on the very foundations of this school and it spits on each and every one of us." Gabriel spoke up strongly.
Sprout looked like she was torn between scolding her student or being proud of him.
"Headmaster, this is nonsense," Severus cut in silkily. "Draco-"
"Draco Malfoy is your godson," Hermione spoke up. "Honestly, this is nepotism at it's finest. But if you're so insistent on keeping him as a prefect, then have it your way."
Every prefect in the room removed their badges; some of them didn't want to and hoped they wouldn't have to actually give up their position but they would do it anyways.
"He can be your only prefect," Daphne finished for Hermione, further shocking the professors.
"Albus this has gone on long enough," McGonagall cut them off. "I told you very clearly I didn't approve of your choice of prefect. I never thought the students would have something quite so definitive to say about it, but there you have it."
McGonagall turned towards the prefects sternly.
"Five points to each of you for having the sheer moral fiber to stand up for what you believe in. Now please, escort the first years to their dormitories."
The prefects hesitated for a second, waiting for something. The head boy and girl sized up the Deputy Headmistress who looked near ready to scold them for impertinence but, after a moment, the two seventh years nodded.
That was all the signal they needed. The prefects poured out of the antechamber; Draco Malfoy was asked to remain behind.
…
At that nights DA meeting, they found the room had been changed quite a bit. Harry had asked the new DA Hall elf to help with some redecorating.
The most noticeable thing in the room for the entering students was the silent but moving portrait over the large fireplace.
It was Cedric, in the Cathedral, wearing his favored black and yellow muggle track pants that Hermione had introduced to the DA and a plain black shirt. Though he was silent, every so often he'd turn and look over his shoulder to smile at an indistinct form.
A large number of tall, empty shelves had been added to the upstairs loft area at the back of the Cathedral. Five large round tables were up there circled by plush, green upholstered chairs.
Beneath the loft in the only portion of the room with a lower ceiling were tall pin boards. About half was left empty aside from the Death Eater pictures and parchment slips. They had plenty more to add though. In front of the pin boards was a long desk with five seats on either side. The stairs were to the right of the boards and right near the dining tables.
The dueling platform had been left alone but the spaces alongside and behind it had been turned into a pseudo-hospital with two large potions cupboards and a few beds occupying the U-shaped floorspace. The middle of the room was left free for an expansive blue matted area that was currently occupied by a multitude of plush beanbags.
All of the students paid some small sign of homage or respects to Cedric, the puffs especially, before taking a seat at the dining area to the right of the fireplace or picking a spot to stand.
A small chime went off when everyone was present and Harry looked at the assembled members with a small smile.
"Welcome back," he said simply, shrugging.
He was never sure how to start talking and he was constantly shocked by how large the group was. He was also surprised to realize he felt connected to all of them on an individual level. He cared for all of them thought that didn't make it any easier to address them all at once.
"Hope everyone had a decent summer," he continued.
"Quit with the chit chat, Potter," Daphne, ever so encouraging, spoke up from the back of the room.
"Thanks, Daphne," he responded, rolling his eyes. "Alright, everyone happy with the new contract?"
"You bloody bet," Anita responded. "New robes and everything."
Everyone nodded in agreement at that; the pay certainly wasn't anything to scoff at. Most of them would struggle to find a rate that good out of Hogwarts. Most of their parents didn't even get paid that much. Even the students who weren't hard pressed for money could appreciate spending money their parents didn't know about.
"And we all know how the jewelry works?" he clarified, receiving various nods.
"So, Professor Henley was sent by Madam Bones herself — he's bound to be competent. That means we're not going to be responsible for organizing study groups for the first years," Harry began. "I spent most of this summer visiting back and forth between you all and studying. Hermione and Ron, however, spent their summer at the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters."
Hermione stepped up now.
"If you'll look at the back pin board, we have a list and pictures of every Order of the Phoenix member below the map of Hogsmeade," she began. "Their main goals consist of forming alliances and tracking the movements of the Dark Lord; they have no real infrastructure or goals besides those two. They were an active part of the first war but they're sitting on the sidelines for this one."
"Well there's not much else Dumbledore can do," Zacharias Smith, fifth year Hufflepuff, spoke up. "Things haven't been going so well for him in the Wizengamot or the ICW."
"If you ask me, that's intentional on the Dark Lord's part," Zara Valli, sixth year Puff, added. "I've been working on some numbers based on the way the Wizengamot's voting; normally, when Dumbledore proposes something, there's about a 14% dissent rate. This last quarter has seen his dissent rate spring up to 34%. Granted, about 6% of those are neutral and light leaning seats that are being swayed by the Ministry and Prophet's campaign against Harry and Dumbledore, but the rest is support for darker factions rising."
"Voldemort must be using his allies to pressure Dumbledore and his faction. It's just the sort of maneuver he'd pull. I've been working on a few political treatises about the Dark Lord's politics and regime handling in the first war and that seems right in line with it," Lisa Turpin spoke up. "I've got a good couple scrolls on it actually, even if the research is hard."
"There's books on that?" Ron asked.
"The French took an active interest in cataloguing what they viewed as the downfall of the British Wizarding World," Lisa answered. "And I'm quite fluent in French."
"I'd like to see those numbers, Zara," Hermione spoke up, looking thoughtful. "And those scrolls too, Lisa."
"Sure thing," they both agreed.
"I think we're gonna need a meeting of our more politically savvy members sometime soon," Harry admitted. "I believe I now have 10 votes on the Wizengamot and not a clue what to do with them."
"We can talk about that in the journals tonight," Susan Bones spoke up. "I might have some ideas, especially if Neville thinks his Gran might be willing to help."
"Agreed," Harry nodded. "If only just the Potter seats."
"Also," Hermione continued. "Our defense professor this year is no slouch — if we use any above average spells in any sort of classroom duel or setting, even against another member of the DA, we run the risk of raising suspicion."
The fit young woman brought out her own journal and tapped it with her wand.
"The fifth, sixth, and seventh pages of your journals now contain a list of spells you should avoid, a list of spells you should know based on your year, and a list of spells it's plausible for you to know. It's up to you to decide if it's plausible for you personally to know if you're aiming to avoid presenting as a particularly advanced student. Please note that any sort of battle or defense transfiguration will raise suspicion — this includes mutated forms of incarcerous that use any form of metal chains or ropes. It also includes any sort of spell chaining."
All of the DA grumbled a bit, since the lists included some of their favored spells, but quieted down as Ron stepped up.
"Over the summer, the Sally's, Gareth, and I worked on different defensive plans for Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Ministry, and Diagon Alley. Hogwarts is, of course, our biggest priority."
Ron began pacing now, like he tended to.
"We have about 300 students in Hogwarts right now. In the event of an attack, we can estimate there are roughly 25 students who might be sympathetic to or outright following the Dark Lord. Counting them and our numbers, there's still roughly 220 students who need looking after and most of the common rooms are externally vulnerable or too close to the areas of the school that'll see Death Eaters. The Great Hall is the only room large enough. It's also in a shite position."
The students were all listening attentively, a few of them opening their journals and looking at the defensive plans section.
"The ideal place to keep them is underground; windows are just another entrance to guard. But the dungeons just aren't safe. If Voldemort does plan an attack and we have no forewarning, the Slytherins could be in position before we can move all the students. And we've got the Marauders map but we can't be map checking, shielding, and casting while leading around scared students."
"We get the problem, Ron," Neville spoke up. "What's the solution?"
"The Chamber of Secrets."
The room at large looked shocked by that.
"It's large enough to house every single student. It's close enough to the main staircases to be accessible to every house and the tunnels are narrow enough to be defended and barricaded to protect the students. Harry already has house-elves cleaning up the main room, draining the water, and dismantling the basilisk."
They shuddered as they remembered viewing that memory. Ginny shuddered especially hard as she remembered living it. The slim redhead received more than a few reassuring shoulder pats.
"The disadvantage; Voldemort knows about it and he probably knows it better than we do. There might even be a second entrance that we don't know about that's possible to exploit. The entry point might be within the wards but it's still something that should be closed off. We've got time to learn the chamber like the back of our hands. We'll need a team willing to go in with Harry pretty much every night until we've finished unsealing, mapping, and trapping every nook and cranny."
A small group raised their hands and looked around.
"Yeah, we're good with magic detection charms," Megan Jones spoke up. "Daphne covered it one meeting and we all got interested this summer."
"That's perfect." Ron nodded, waving at Sally-Anne to make note of the people who'd volunteered.
"Once we've got it mapped out, we need a group to decide the organization of it. I want the Chamber to be able to house the entire student population for a week minimum. That means bathrooms, changing areas, separate sleeping areas, tables and chairs, the works."
They all nodded, some of them clearly beginning to make some plans in their heads.
"Where are we getting this furniture from?" Lavender asked.
"Talk to Wayne about the expense account and we'll find some furniture catalogs. Maybe ask the Hogwarts elves if they have any spare furniture," Harry suggested.
They all nodded in agreement before turning their attention towards Hermione.
"One last thing," she said. "We can make as many evacuation plans as possible but they're useless if the students don't follow them when the time comes. If the majority of the students are up and following us in the event of an attack before the professors have time to protest, they won't be able to slow us down."
Hermione looked at the ten or so prefects in their midst.
"To that end, we've decided that having a group dedicated to Castle Security is a good idea. We'll hash it all out in the next few meetings, but their primary job will be coordinating with the twins and the tactical teams about defensive measures, traps, and the chamber-evacuation routes."
She paused to breathe.
"The second most important thing is getting all of the younger students and non-DA students in general to trust us. Prefects especially should be branching out within the houses. Even if the other students don't know about us, we need them to be with us and willing to listen in the event of an attack. In the event of an attack on Hogsmeade or Hogwarts, it would be this squads job to secure the castle and students before breaking up into their usual teams. Some would, of course, remain in the chamber."
All of the students nodded readily; a few of them looked quite interested in the position.
"So, who's the new Slytherin prefect?" Harry asked Daphne a few minutes later when the group started breaking up and leaving.
"Blaise Zabini — strong dark-neutral, known for his black widow of a mother. She's had seven husbands, including Blaise's father, that all died in mysterious circumstances. They fell on both ends of the political spectrum."
"Think you can recruit him?"
"I wouldn't be a Slytherin if I didn't try," Daphne smirked.
…
And so, the DA carried on.
September passed into October and the group began recruiting and settling into Hogwarts again. Daphne successfully brought Blaise into the fold.
"I knew there was something going on under my nose," he said as he looked around with wide eyes the first time he'd attended a meeting. "I would have never guessed it was something like this…"
"That's rather the point," Daphne smirked.
"And everyone thinks Potter is Dumbledore's golden boy," Blaise chortled. "But he has no idea what's happening under his nose. Incredible."
As Harry had predicted following their clash at Grimmauld Place, the Headmaster had left him alone since the beginning of the year. That worked out well for him since there was a lot he needed to do.
"He really doesn't," Tracey Davis agreed. "He'd eat his own beard if he realized how much time Harry spends off-campus."
"Let alone if he knew about the rest of us," her friend agreed.
"That has to be the best perk of being Lord Gryffindor," Blaise said.
"Well the prestige and power has its perks too," Daphne pointed out. "But while we're all still in school, being able to leave freely is pretty invaluable."
The Weasley twins in particular made great use of that perk for supply runs and the like. They had to do a lot more of those than usual with how quickly the DA was expanding. By the end of November, they had more than 65 members. The Cathedral looked pretty full when they had one of their rare full meetings at the end of that month.
"Everyone here?" Harry called out.
"Think so," Kevin Entwhistle called back.
"Alright, his portkey goes off in one minute!" Harry said as he joined Ron and Hermione in the center of the room.
"I can't wait to see the look on Sirius' face," the redhead chortled.
"He's not the curse first, ask questions later type, is he?" Neville asked as he joined the circle they were making around the portkey landing area.
"I don't think so," Harry answered.
"That's not reassuring…"
"Don't worry," Ron said. "He's no Mad-Eye."
"Incoming!" Sally-Anne called out.
A moment later, Sirius Black landed in the open space at the center of the Cathedral. He was expecting to meet a handful of Gryffindors — what he got was several dozen students from what looked like every house including Slytherin. Not only that, but he appeared to have been portkeyed directly through Hogwarts wards and into a massive, secret room.
Needless to say, he was not at all prepared for the sight that greeted him.
"Hey Padfoot," Harry said brightly.
Sirius was still blanching as he looked around. He had gone surprisingly pale before, true to form, cursing and looking back at his godson.
"Bloody fucking hell!"
"It's good to see you too, Sirius," Harry said with a loud laugh.
The rugged but much healthier looking Azkaban escapee spun around and gave his godson a drop-jawed look — his fingers definitely twitched towards his wand in surprise.
"Harry- You said- And this is- What? How?"
"I asked you to tutor me and my friends," he said with a cheeky grin.
"You definitely made the group sound very very small."
"Well, Sirius," he said, waving around. "Meet 70 or so of my closest friends. Now partner up guys and spread out."
While the group immediately began yammering and partnering up, Hermione, the Weasleys, Harry, Neville, and Luna all stayed.
"Sirius, this is Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood," he introduced.
"Harry what is going on here?"
"This is our study group," he said with a shrug; Sirius cast him an immediately doubtful look. He'd seen the rings on all of their hands; prankster he may be but slow on the uptake he was not. Most times.
"This is clearly more than a study group," he said near hysterically as he looked around again before double taking. "Is that the Marauder's Map? And pictures of the Order?"
"Welcome to the Defense Association," he said grandly, sweeping out an arm. "Hermione, Ron and I started it in our first year. It was supposed to be a study group but we quickly grew more interested in practical defense and, as you can see, some physical defense."
Jimmy and Sean Peakes were demonstrating some grappling techniques to Dean and Seamus — those two were the youngest in the group, recruited in their second year by Fred and George for their extraordinary propensity for trouble.
"And they all know that I'm- that I didn't-"
"They all know and believe you're innocent," Harry said with a nod; Neville and Luna smiled with friendly nods of confirmation.
Sirius still looked stunned but was processing what Harry had told him. "They know about Pettigrew?"
"We know about the traitorous rat," Neville assured him.
"So this group has been around for five years under Dumbledore's nose?"
"That's right, Padfoot…"
"…And it houses the largest amount…"
"…Of pranksters in Hogwarts." Fred and George spoke with a grin, slinging an arm around Sirius' shoulders.
"Obviously more than pranksters," he noted, looking around. "Blimey pup…does Remus know about this?"
"Remus confiscated the map in third year; he gave it back when he left, but it was the principle of it."
"It's the Professor in him — it's always been there, lurking," Sirius said, looking around shiftily as if Remus' inner professor could be around any corner. "Blimey, is that the Greengrass heiress? And the Valli heiress? And Amelia Bones' niece?"
Harry looked out and nodded. "Yep."
"Bloody hell…" the Marauder didn't seem to have words for a moment. "Those are some big guns. You're obviously organized."
"And we're a very secretive bunch — magically binding contract and all," Harry added.
"Is that your way of asking for a secrecy oath?"
"If you wouldn't mind."
Sirius looked around, watching the students for a minute. It wasn't hard to see that this was common place for them. A few had looked towards Ron who gave a thumbs up before they began to spar, small circles of watchers forming around the fighters. They knew what they were doing, throwing punches and kicks with efficiency. It wasn't precisely that they had a whole lot of grace or skill, though some did have that. It was more that they showed easy familiarity; the moves were well rehearsed and practiced. A skilled physical fighter would make short work of them but you found almost none of those in the wizarding world. Coupled with magic, no matter the level, they'd be deadly.
So, it was with no hesitation that Sirius took the secrecy oath and began tutoring Harry and "70 or so of his closest friends."
Two weeks was all it took to confirm one thing for Sirius; these kids were far better than he could have ever expected. Any one of them had the potential to outclass a regular Order member. With the right training, they could be even better.
Soon, Sirius had pretty much fully joined the DA.
"You already swore a secrecy oath," Harry said as the assembled DA members looked on. "And you can't sign the contract with your fugitive status. But we figured we should make it official somehow so — here it is. Your full journal."
"Merlin," Sirius said as he took the much thicker journal than the limited one he already had. "It's bigger than some family grimoires."
"It has a shrinking feature," Lisa Turpin pointed out.
"And it's deceptively light," Hermione added on. They'd put a lot of work into the journals.
"Well thank you," Sirius said as he placed a hand over it. "I'm glad to be a part of this."
"Wait until you see your room at Firewall," Harry said. "It's so much better than Grimmauld Place."
Sirius had already been told the secret of Firewall Island. In a surprising move, he had shared the secret of Grimmauld place with them after carefully warding the already secure Cathedral and checking for imposters. It turned out that he had a piece of paper that Dumbledore had written the secret on in his possession. That's why Harry was finally able to speak freely about the Fidelius-warded Order hideout with other DA members.
"Of course I wasn't going to let Dumbledore take over my house with no conditions," Sirius explained. "I'm a prankster not a fool. No Black would ever relinquish full control of their own home."
"With the handwritten secret, you can always dismantle the ward," Hermione realized.
"Oh yes," Zara said in a similar tone. "It's a key component in the ritual to pull it down, isn't it?"
"Exactly," Sirius nodded. "I haven't shared it with anyone other than you lot for obvious reasons but I think it'll be easier than having Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys trying to talk around the Fidelius."
"It might also make it possible for us to map the building," Graham pointed out. "Since Harry is Lord Black and Sirius is a direct blood relative, it should be easy to make a new sort of Marauder's Map for Grimmauld Place."
They couldn't do detailed maps like that for places like Diagon or the Ministry because the wards were too diffused or not under their control. The Marauder's were only able to make their map work in conjunction with the Hogwarts wards because of a number of unique circumstances. The fact that they were all students and therefore castle occupants made the wards recognize them enough to allow a small addition (though absolutely no alterations). James' link to the Gryffindor bloodline helped as well.
"That's an interesting idea," Harry said thoughtfully.
"We'll always know if they get new members or if the building is ever infiltrated."
"Or if the building is ever infiltrated by new members," Sirius muttered. "You should see some of the people Mudungus tries to bring in. Dumbledore's already had to do a couple obliviations."
"Really?" Susan asked. "That's highly illegal, isn't it?"
"Most of what the Order does is technically illegal already," Sirius pointed out.
"Hell, so is a lot of what we do I think," Ron pointed out.
The meeting went on from there. Sirius was more glad than ever that Harry had decided to take him into his confidence. He didn't regret it in the slightest; supporting his Godson would always be the best decision in his eyes.
"Are you willing to schedule a couple more sessions after class hours or on weekends?" Hermione asked, drawing him out of his thoughts. "There's a lot of interest."
There were some mutters of agreement from the DA. Sirius may enjoy goofing off but he'd been raised as the Black Heir and had a lot to teach them. They didn't have too many experienced adults to draw on so many of them were interested in learning from the older wizard.
"Absolutely."
"Great," Hermione smiled as she made some notes in her planner.
"Thanks, Sirius," Harry said. "We appreciate it."
"Happy to help."
Sirius Black, the responsible former-auror godfather turned tutor, was indeed happy to help. Padfoot, the roughish old dog, however, took it as a renewed lease to corrupt as many young minds as he could.
"Just try not to blow anything up again," Hermione said with a slightly consternated look. It was almost as if she were sensing the direction of his thoughts.
"Now now, that's the fun part," the older wizard said with a grin. "Education can still be entertaining, Hermione. Learning can be fun, you know."
"I mean, well, yes," she stuttered, shaking her head. "I know that, of course."
"Someone needs to tell that to Professor Binns," Dean muttered.
"But, explosions?" Hermione said, trying to get back on track.
"Expounding on explanations is excellent with explosions," Sirius said in a professional voice that none of them bought for a second.
"Nice alliteration," Dean complimented.
"What's alliteration?" Seamus asked.
"The occurrence of the same letter or sound near closely connected words," Stephen Cornfoot answered. "In this case, the 'ex' sound."
"I'm already learning because of explosions," Seamus said as he glanced at Hermione.
"Coming from you, that doesn't surprise me," Dean laughed. "Pyromaniac."
"Most of the time it's a bloody accident," Seamus defended. "I've got a Chinese Fireball heartstring in my wand and it had a particularly fiery disposition, alright?"
"So to be clear, your issue is with wand performance?" Lavender asked, wiggling her eyebrows and grinning. "Goes off with a bang a little too soon?"
"Oh shove off," Seamus huffed as everyone broke out into laughter.
"Anyway," Hermione said loudly as she gave Sirius a look that said she blamed him for this tangent. "Let's just try to avoid having to rebuild the dueling platform again."
"I'll see what I can do," Sirius offered noncommittally.
…