"All right, first off, we want to thank you all for coming," Harry began, gesturing to Ron and Hermione at his sides. The three had eventually directed their fellow students to sit on the cushions, which, as Ron had predicted, were ridiculously comfy. Every single one was occupied, and Harry couldn't help but wonder if this was mere coincidence or if the Room had somehow known exactly how many cushions to provide. He'd have to remember to ask Hermione (and Rowena) about that at some point. When he'd asked Slytherin, the man had just shrugged. Or at least given the mental, disembodied equivalent of a shrug. At times Harry thought it was just a little scary how accustomed he was getting to having someone else in his mind.

"Honestly, when we first came up with this idea, we had no idea if it would work or if we could find a place to meet without the risk of interference. However, as you can see," Harry paused a second admire the Room yet again, and he wasn't alone. The wide-eyed looks of surprise, curiosity, and amazement still hadn't left the faces of many of his peers. "As you can see," Harry continued with a grin, "we've found a place that I think will work rather well."

This was met by a multiple smiles, nods of agreement, and some loud whooping noises from the Weasley twins.

"Before we start properly, though," Hermione added, once the group had quieted, "there are a few basic things to decide on. The first is that we need to elect a leader."

"Harry!" Cho all but exclaimed, warranting a few startled looks from her neighbors at the sudden outburst. Blushing, she added a bit more hesitant, "Harry's our leader. He's the one that's done all those impressive things. That's why we agreed to be taught by him. I thought we already decided that."

Harry was also blushing and looking much less comfortable being up front. He really wasn't sure what to think of Cho. Sure, he'd had a massive crush on her the year before, but that had faded somewhat over the summer. However, she seemed to be paying attention to him a lot more this year, and he wasn't completely sure why. He couldn't really think of her without thinking of Cedric, though, and that really hampered any existing romantic feelings for the girl. At this point, he really just didn't know what to do about the whole matter, and Slytherin proved to be far too uninterested and unqualified in the realm of teenage drama to provide any advice. Thankfully, Harry noted, his fellow students probably thought his embarrassment was due to being singled out rather than his current predicament, which was likely for the best.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, but we ought to have a proper vote, just so that everyone's on the same page. It makes it more formal and actually gives Harry the authority rather than him just assuming it. So, show of hands, please, who votes to elect Harry as leader?"

Every hand went up, though a few, such as Zacharias Smith, seemed to do so grudgingly. Harry did his best to note the names or at least memorize the faces of the ones who didn't seem happy about his leadership. If anyone was going to make things difficult, it would likely come from them.

"Right...thanks everyone. I know you all may have a lot of expectations for this group. And for me, I suppose. After all, my name does seem to come up pretty frequently, doesn't it?" There were definitely some smiles from that, Harry was glad to notice. He didn't want them taking him too seriously. "I can't promise anything other than that I'll do the best that I can to help you all and to live up to those expectations. I don't have years of teaching experience like many of the professors here, so I probably won't get everything right. I know I won't. So please be patient with me, and don't be afraid to let me know how I can do better. Here in this room, I see a lot of people I don't know very well. And a lot of that's my fault. Up until recently, when a good friend set me straight, my fame was something that scared me. I'd been trying to hide from it, shutting people out in a misguided attempt to avoid unwanted celebrity status. So I guess what I'm asking is for a chance. A chance to try and help us all learn to properly defend ourselves, and a chance to try and build the friendships and connections I should have been reaching out for back in First Year."

The applause that followed seemed almost deafening to Harry, and he felt relief wash over him. He hadn't really planned on saying all that much, but the words had just kept coming out. The expressions of surprise on many faces, especially on the people who had seemed reluctant about making Harry the leader, were also quite amusing.

"Anyway, what else is there yet to do, Hermione?" Harry asked, bringing the attention back to his friend. Slytherin had been incessantly coaching him about getting over his unease revolving around large groups of people, giving speeches, and acknowledging his fame in general. As the older man had said, "Your fame is an extremely powerful resource that you've done almost nothing with until now, and it's basically been handed to you freely. It took me years to even come close to the level of influence at your fingertips, and that was just within the relevant circles. You're a household name! And besides, even if we disregarded all the benefits, your fame isn't something that's going to suddenly disappear. You need to learn how to handle publicity and the public eye." That said, Slytherin had also warned Harry about acting too comfortable in the public eye or seeming too politically savvy too soon, pointing out that such behavior might seem suspicious and bring people to question what had brought such dramatic change in the previously-shy teen. Granted, most probably wouldn't jump to the conclusion that a horcrux of the Slytherin Founder was currently hitchhiking in Harry's body, but some might think he was trying to use people or possibly under the Imperius or some other mind-altering spell. All in all, that sort of attention and scrutiny would definitely hinder Harry and Slytherin's plans and make it harder to build useful connections.

"Well," Hermione replied, brightly, "I think it's also important that we choose a name for this group. After all, we can't just go around calling it 'that thing where we go and get better at badass magic and stuff.'" Amidst the quiet chuckling, Harry noticed Ron was very focused on straightening out his robes, trying to look like he hadn't been paying attention in the slightest. "Also," she continued, with an impish grin on her face and a glance in Ron's direction, "it would help add a bit to our sense of unity and actually being a part of a group, don't you think?"

"I think it's a great idea!" Ron proclaimed, very enthusiastically.

"Thanks, Ron," Hermione answered, "So? Anyone have any ideas?"

Put on the spot a bit, the students turned to look around at their peers, trying to think of what they could call such a group.

"Well," Angelina Johnson ventured, "if we're going for the honest approach, how about the Anti-Umbridge League?"

"Why stop there? The Ministry of Magic are Morons Group rolls nicely off the tongue!" Fred Weasley added.

"Good points, and true enough," Harry answered, smiling, "But, well, we might want something a bit more...subtle, especially if we want to be able to safely refer to these meetings in a public setting."

"Well, you could just call it Triple M for short!" Fred pointed out.

"Or mmm, because our sweet revenge on Umbridge will be mmm, mmm good!" George added. All the muggleborn students turned to look at the twins with a mix of surprise and confusion.

"Did you just, um, come up with that on the spot?" Hermione asked, bewildered.

"Nah, reckon I heard it from somewhere. Can't remember where, though," George answered, scratching his head.

"Anyway," Harry continued, "good suggestions. Other takers?"

"Defense Association?" Harry turned to see that it was Cho who had spoken up. "We can call it the D.A. for short." She smiled warmly at him, and Harry hesitantly returned the gesture.

"I like D.A." Ginny added, "because then it can also stand for Dumbledore's Army! That's what they're all scared of, isn't it? That Dumbledore's training us to be some sort of army against the ministry? Jokes on them, though, because now it's Harry who's training us!" There seemed to be overwhelming support for D.A. as now many students came up with new things for it to stand for. Slytherin also liked this thought, pushing once again for 'Potter's Army.' Harry did his best to ignore the man's antics and focus on the suggestions his peers were throwing out. Granted, these weren't a whole lot better.

"Or Delores's Archenemies!"

"Dope Alchemists?"

"Deaf...Albus."

"Dat As-"

"THANK you, everyone." Harry's voice shut down further speculation of what D.A. could stand for, and for good measure he added in a glare at Seamus for that last suggestion. "D.A. will be great. Easy enough to sneak into conversation without tipping too many people off. We'll officially go with Defense Association, though if you'd like to refer to it in a different way in private or with peers, go for it. Not like I could stop you anyway." Harry tried to ignore the conspiratorial grin he noticed shared between the twins, Seamus, and Dean.

As Harry addressed the group, Hermione was pinning the piece of paper with everyone's name on it upon one of the walls, now adorned at the top with the title "Defense Association." One it was up, a glance and a nod toward Harry was enough to tell him that all the beginning formalities were out of the way.

"Right," said Harry, gesturing for Ron to join him up front. "For these first couple of meetings, we'll be starting off with relatively basic spells. Have to learn to walk before you run and all that. This will also help Hermione, Ron, and myself get an idea of where you all are at so that we can better plan what to practice. Today we were thinking we could go over the the Disarming Charm, Expelliarmus. Pretty basic, but it can be useful if -"

"Please," Zacharias Smith interrupted, his posture and rolled eyes clearly displaying to all what he thought of the spell. "I doubt that Expelliarmus is going to be any good against You-Know-Who. Do you honestly think that's going to help anyone?"

Harry coolly turned his eyes toward Smith, letting the room grow awkwardly quiet for a few seconds and internally enjoying the awkwardness directed at Smith, who was now self-consciously glancing around. "Well, Smith, as it saved my life against him last June, I might have to disagree with you there."

As that settled in, Smith opened his mouth but couldn't seem to form a reply.

"Granted," Harry continued, "I can understand why some of you might have been thinking along similar lines. Thanks for not being rude about it, though. Hermione? Care to explain our reasoning behind it?"

Hermione, still in the back, smiled as all the students now turned around to look at her as she entered 'Lecture Mode.'

"It's true, Expelliarmus is a very common, easy to cast spell. Quite a few Second Years are capable of casting it, in fact. The required magical activation energy of the spell is fairly low, and it doesn't need any complex wand movements. However, one thing that sets the spell apart is that it is relatively easy to alter the power you channel into it. As many of you might know, most spells require a fair amount of concentration to vary their power or more tightly control their effect. That's why we have the Lumos Maxima charm to create very bright light, rather than just trying to alter how we channel magical power into the more basic Lumos charm, or the Summoning and Banishing Charms rather than alterations of the simpler Levitation Charm. After all, theoretically, summoning and banishing are just specific forms of levitations, controlling the direction of the targeted object. You could get the same effects of a Summoning Charm using a very controlled Levitation Charm. For most, though, it's much easier to cast a spell specific in what you need, with a magical activation energy very close to the desired effect, rather than altering a more basic spell to fit your needs in the moment. The trade-off is that you lose precision, speed, and efficiency. In this way, beyond just reviewing a spell that can be useful in the heat of the moment, as Harry already pointed out, we think Expelliarmus is a good way to start being more conscious of how we channel our magic. So if you're already quite familiar with the spell, you can try fine-tuning it or better controlling it, or you can focus on the basics of the spell if you could still use some practice with that. Overall, if we can get used to altering the power of Expelliarmus, maybe we'll find it less challenging to alter other spells. And, even if that doesn't turn out to be the case, it's still a good way to practice our aim with casting and our reflexes with dodging."

Many of the Ravenclaws were nodding along with Hermione, while a good share of the Gryffindors looked ready to just get on with the dueling. Thanking Hermione for her explanation, Harry and Ron demonstrated the spell a few times, giving the students a good idea of how to practice and suggesting different alterations for more advanced students, such as trying to make the wand go in a certain direction or altering how strong the spell would be.

Ron left everyone with one final piece of advice. "In a lot of ways, what you put into this whole thing will determine what you get out of it. Me, Harry, and Hermione aren't going to grade you or make you write essays." Ron paused and shuddered. "We're assuming you're all here because you actually want to learn some useful magic and how to defend yourselves, rather than settling for what you need to know to get a pat on the back and a passing O.W.L. grade. So try to take this seriously. When you practice with each other, treat it like the real thing. Learn how to aim a moving target, learn to dodge enemy spellfire. Shake things up if you get too comfortable, maybe try different handicaps or two or three against one. It's like this: if you learn these spells in a classroom setting, that's the only place where you'll really be able to use them. But if you practice them like it's the real thing, you'll be ready if you ever need to use them for real." Ron's ears brightened red as many students, especially the Gryffindors, clapped and otherwise made their approval of his words known.

After that was done, Harry instructed everyone to get into pairs to start with or, if necessary, groups of three with one person rotating out each time. He, Hermione, and Ron would walk around giving help or new things to practice on. The three then walked over to a corner of the room to watch, and soon the air was filled with spells and wands flying out in all directions.

"Well?" Harry asked, trying to take in everything he was seeing. With more than a dozen pairs of students, it was hard to see everything all at once. Plus it was just strange seeing all their plans for a defense group finally coming into fruition.

"We've definitely got something here, Harry." Ron smiled. "With the help of our friends," Ron gestured to his head, indicated the Founders, "I think we can help prepare a lot of people for when Voldemort finally steps out of the shadows. Granted, it's definitely not going to happen overnight. There's a lot of-"

Ron was cut off as a stray spell just barely missed his head, nearly grazing his hair and exploding with a shower of sparks on the wall behind him and Harry.

"Oi! Colin! Am I your bloody partner? No? Well then maybe next time you should try and actually aim instead of blindly firing!"

Harry and Hermione tried but failed to maintain straight faces as Ron let out a sigh of exasperation and pinched the bridge of his nose. "As I said, we've got a long way to go before we're worthy of being anybody's army, much less Dumbledore's."

"It is a little bit disturbing how, um, how much some might need to keep practicing before they're ready for anything new, isn't it?" Hermione agreed.

She's right Harry thought as he watched his peers. Michael Corner seemed unwilling to hit Ginny with anything as he halfheartedly cast at the witch. Interestingly, Ginny seems to have no such inhibitions. After Ron's rebuke, the Creevey brothers were performing with a bit more accuracy, though that still wasn't saying much. Ernie Macmillan didn't seem to have heard the "no complex wand movements" part of Hermione's description of the Disarming Charm. Zacharias Smith seemed to be having a lot of trouble keeping his wand in his hand, but funnily enough his partner, Anthony Goldstein, didn't seem to be casting most of the times Smith's wand escaped his grasp. A raised eyebrow toward one of the twins (Harry wasn't sure which), who was just about the cast Smith in the back once again, seemed to put a stop to that, though neither of the Weasley twins looked at all abashed. Harry didn't really mind. And Luna...granted, Harry could never completely tell what Luna was trying to do, so it was possible she just doing her own thing. Regardless, most of the time her partner, Justin Finch-Fletchley, wasn't being disarmed. And countless others were failing to actually disarm their opponents, rather than just making the wand tug a bit in the target's grasp. There is a lot of shoddy spellwork going on here.

"Don't blame them." Slytherin voice again echoed in Harry's mind. "They're children after all, or at least just coming out of being children. In an ideal world, they wouldn't have any need for such skills. Unfortunately, with a corrupt government in the pocket of the enemy, a defunded, short-staffed, and likely laxly-trained Auror force, and a Dark Lord amassing power, such skills will likely prove necessary."

Harry shook his head. But still! I know your presence has helped me a lot, but I don't think I was like this even before you came. Maybe First Year and possibly Second, but almost all of us are Fifth Year or above! It's like they…

"Were raised in a time of assumed peace, where their parents were so overjoyed with the disappearance of Voldemort that they tried to just forget such evil had happened and likely did their best to shield their children from it as well? That's very likely the case for the purebloods and half bloods. And most muggleborns don't know how bad things truly got for the wizarding world before Riddle went and got blasted to smithereens after trying to curse a toddler. So why push hard to learn defense? There's nothing out to get them. And the Aurors could surely handle anything if there was. That's the mentality that magical society seems to have been plagued with for the past decade. That's why Riddle poses such a threat. You, Harry, are an exceptionally talented wizard, and you have been long before you met me, not matter how much you try to hide behind false modesty or embarrassment of your gifts. You've also had the, while I hesitate to use the term, the benefit of knowing the stakes since you were introduced to magic. You've always had to defend against the darkness. It's all you've known, and your experiences have only bolstered this mentality. When you look at both your gifts and your mindset, is it any wonder that many of your peers aren't anywhere near your level in defense?"

Harry sighed. When you put it like that...Fair enough. That just makes this group all the more important.

"Indeed."

"You know," said Hermione, bringing Harry back to the outside world, "while I may be loath to admit it most times, I can say right now that I'm thankful for all the shenanigans you two have dragged me into. It's really forced me to look at things from a more practical and problem-solving side rather than getting too caught up in the theory. If not for that, I'd probably be struggling through in this group rather than helping teach it."

"Wait, so you liked turning into a weird cat thing, Hermione? That's a little weird…" Utilizing both his improving reflexes under Godric's tutelage as well as a deep knowledge of his friend and her likely response to such a comment, Ron expertly ducked the swat to head Hermione intended for him.

"Speaking of teaching," Harry added, "we've sat here and watched long enough. We should probably start going around and correcting some of this instead of just talking about it, huh?" Hermione and Ron nodded, though a look from Hermione let Ron know that she'd get him back for that comment eventually. Ron just gave a cheeky smile, though Harry couldn't help but notice that the redhead chose to move toward the far end of the room, placing a wide berth between himself and Hermione. Likely a tactical retreat rather than a victory march. Seeing Neville practicing with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott, Harry decided to start there.

"Hey, Harry!" Neville had just finished up going against Susan and was now taking a break as the redheaded girl now attempted to disarm her friend.

"Hey, Neville! Gotta say, I'm a bit surprised to see you with Hannah and Susan. Do you know them well?"

Neville smiled and blushed a bit. "Not exactly. Well, I didn't have a partner and I thought about asking Dean and Seamus, but before I got the chance, Hannah and Susan asked if I needed a group and if I'd like to join them."

"And, of course, you'd have to be daft to refuse," Harry chuckled, causing Neville to blush even more. Thankfully for Neville, the girls were far too focused on each other to notice the conversation. "Anyway," Harry continued, not wanting the make Neville too uncomfortable, especially since this seemed to be good for his normally quiet and shy friend, "looks like you were doing pretty well against Susan just now."

"Yeah!" Neville's excitement seemed to burst out of nowhere, and Harry was happy to see Neville looking so proud of himself. "I actually did it! I didn't think I could at first, but Susan and Hannah were great about going over the spell with me. They said all I needed was a bit more confidence and willpower to make the spell go, and I think they were right!"

"That's awesome, Neville. Really." Harry smiled. This was exactly the sort of thing that he, Hermione, and Ron had been hoping for. Maybe the encouragement of some pretty girls was all Neville needed to start breaking out of his shell.

"Shoot, looks like I'm up again!" Neville muttered as Hannah's wand hit the floor and Susan cheered. "I tell you, Susan's aunt must have given her lessons or something. I can't let her go three in a row. Thanks, Harry. For everything."

With a wide grin, Harry continued to weave through the groups, giving an encouragement here and a correction there. For the most part, after the first couple of tries, most were starting to get the hang of things, and many of the issues he pointed out were corrected fairly easily. He also didn't want to nitpick too much. Some people developed bad habits with casting, like Ernie with his extra want flourishing, and Harry himself wasn't perfect either. Slytherin had been quick to point out how horrendous his footwork and balance could be, and while Harry was quite good with aiming his spells, he could be a bit too rigid at times, especially when dealing with more than one enemy or one enemy moving around a lot. Slytherin pointing all this out made it easier for Harry to spot some of these issues in others, but now wasn't really the time to try and correct habits formed back in First Year.

Harry tried to avoid Cho and her partner, but he'd walked by every other group around them, and he couldn't really justify ignoring them any longer, as much as he might want to. As he approached, a clearly frazzled Cho seemed to be really struggling with even the incantation for the Charm.

"Expelliarmious! I mean, shoot, um...Expellimellius! No - sorry, Marietta!"

Marietta, Cho's partner, was forced to extinguish the small flame on her sleeve that Cho's miscast spell had caused. She glared at Harry as if it was his fault that Cho's casting had been so dreadful. Granted, given the way Cho was nervously eyeing him, Harry couldn't deny that Marietta probably had a point.

"Oh Harry, you made me nervous!" Cho exclaimed. "I was doing fine before you showed up!"

Harry nodded and tried to encourage her a bit, though a sour look from Marietta causes Harry to wonder how true Cho's claim really was.

"Don't mind her," Cho muttered as Marietta turned away, leaning in a bit closer to Harry than he would have preferred. "She didn't really want to come here, but I dragged her along anyway. Her mum works for the Ministry, you see, and she's apparently not to do anything that might upset Umbridge."

"Then why'd you make her come? Not a very nice position for her." Harry pointed out, a little uneasy about D.A. members not really wanting to be there. If more people felt similarly, that definitely wouldn't be good for productivity or secrecy.

Cho shook her head. "She needs it. Marietta's always struggled somewhat with Defense. Not that I'm perfect myself, of course," she added with rueful smirk, "but I was worried about her. While I'm pretty sure she believes you about You-Know-Who being back, she doesn't seem to think that she needs to do anything about it. I just...with her mum working in the Ministry and all that, I want to help make sure she's safe. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her. And I think deep down she knows it's important and wants to be here. I didn't completely bring her here against her will if that's what I made it sound like. She just...she doesn't want to believe how bad things are yet. But I don't care what the Ministry says, or if my parents want me to obey Umbridge or not. I know that it's gotten...what with Cedric…"

Cho trailed off, with Harry a bit unsure what to say or do to comfort her. He was quite impressed with her desire to protect her friend, though. Thankfully, Terry Boot's wand whizzing between them to hit Angelina on the nose with a hearty 'crack' was enough to dissipate the awkward silence. Harry winced, both in sympathy for Angelina and what he knew would be coming Terry's way in the near future.

"My father, of course, is all for any anti-Ministry action!" Luna seemed to pop into the conversation from out of nowhere, and Harry looked over to see Justin Finch-Fletchley attempting to disentangle himself from his robes, which seemed to have wrapped about his head and body almost like a mummy's linens. Weird. But typical Luna.

"After all," Luna continued, "given the amount of goblins Fudge has had assassinated, it's a wonder that the goblins haven't declared war on the leprechauns. Fudge is, after all, the first of a special branch of leprechaun secret intelligence division sent to establish himself in a powerful political position."

"Thanks Luna," said Harry, hoping to spare himself and Cho from another of Luna's entertaining yet extremely confusing rants. "How goes the disarming practice? Looks like Justin's still got his wand on him." Harry nodded toward the Hufflepuff boy, who looked like he'd finally escaped the trappings of his robes.

Luna shrugged. "Oh, you know, it works well enough. A little boring, if you ask me, but not everyone can have their own style. Maybe if I had the souls of my ancestors living inside of me, giving me extra power and ancient wisdom, I could do it a bit better, but that's not for everyone of course."

What….

"the bloody hell..."

Now it was Harry who could only open his mouth stupidly.

Luna tilted her head. "Are you all right, Harry? I think you may have just been a victim of a very nasty wrackspurt. You should really have put some wrackspurt siphons in here if you wanted to help people learn. I was just talking about Fudge's the all-troll anti-ghost squad the Department of Mysteries is working on."

With a skip and a wink, Luna was gone as Harry and Slytherin both were still trying to process what had just happened.

"Does she know?"

How could she know? How would I know if she did? It's Luna!

"Indeed she is. The memories I witnessed certainly don't do her justice..."

I swear she's either completely mental or a genius just playing with us all.

"You'd be surprised how often those two go hand-in-hand."

A loud whistle almost made Harry jump, and he saw Hermione in the middle of the room. Slowly the shouts of "Expelliarmus!" died down and the last few wands clattered to the floor. Seeing a clock on the main wall that he was almost certain hadn't been there before, Harry realized that it was a quarter past nine. Definitely time to wrap up then. It wouldn't do for the D.A. to get busted on the first night just because they'd all been out too late in the corridors.

"Ok everyone, sorry to stop you all but it's past time we wrapped this up. Same time, same place next week?" Amidst many affirming comments, she added, "I'd say we could meet sooner, but some of you seem to be overly fond of some little thing called Quidditch and I'd rather not try to compete with your busy schedules. Let's try to exit in groups of two to four so we don't arouse too much suspicion! Goodnight everyone! Thanks for all your hard work!"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron stood at the door, thanking their friends and peers for coming. Trying not to draw too much attention to himself, Harry routinely checked the Marauder's Map and did his best to warn students to avoid certain routes or areas so they wouldn't have an unwanted meeting with everyone's favorite Hogwarts caretaker. After everyone had left, and the Marauder's Map confirmed no one had been caught, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all slumped onto unbelievably comfy cushions.

"Wow."

"That all you have to say, Ronald?"

"I mean, I'd have to agree him. That was a lot."

"They're just so bloody comfy…"

"Oh you meant just the cushions. Fair enough."

The trio shared a laugh, all a bit exhausted from their work the past few hours. Ever since that fateful night, Harry thought, he and his friends really hadn't gotten much time to relax, what with all the preparations and new things to absorb.

"Literally absorbed, in some cases," Slytherin chuckled.

Yes, Slytherin, you're very witty and I respect your intellect greatly. Happy?

"Spoilsport."

"Well, we certainly made some progress today." Harry remarked. "Still a lot of work to be done, of course, but I think this was definitely a good first meeting."

"Smith was arse, but yeah." Ron muttered.

Harry shrugged. "We knew that people wouldn't just immediately flock to us and accept anything we told them. There was bound to be some pushback, and he was probably the most likely candidate. I'm honestly surprised that he was the only one. Things went really smoothly, despite having around thirty people practicing defensive magic and only being supervised by three of their peers."
"You really stepped up as a leader, Harry," Hermione pointed out. "You were calm, collected, and definitely looked like you knew what you were talking about, which you of course do. When someone acts like a leader, people tend to listen to them. And don't go thinking that it's just because Slytherin's giving you advice now. This is all you. And I know Slytherin will back me up on that."

"She's right!" announced the voice in Harry's head, and he sighed. "I guess. But yeah, it went well, and while it's definitely something I'm not very used to, it felt...good. It felt right, like I was doing something I was meant to do. Almost like when I'm on a broomstick."

"You're just a natural, Harry. That speech you gave on the spot was amazing!" Ron agreed.

"Don't try to pin all this on me, though," Harry argued. "You gave a great speech too! Both of you have been just as much a part of this as I have, and I couldn't have done anything without you two! You're just as much the leaders as I am!"

"Nah," Ron answered. "I just talked about being prepared. I'll take the compliment, mind you, as I was pretty proud of that speech myself, but what I mean is that you're the face of all this, Harry. I doubt half these people would have come if you weren't here leading things. Sure, I know I can help a lot with training people to be better fighters and at defense in general, especially with dodging and aiming and stuff like that. And I know Hermione is already making lesson plans and researching new spells for us to teach and new ways to improve our spellwork like that all that about power control. But you're the one leading all these people, Harry. Say what you want about it, but they were hanging on your every word. You're the leader in the spotlight, mate, for better or for worse!" Ron chuckled and clapped Harry on the back.

"I hope you're both right about my apparent leadership skills, because I'm going to need every bit of it if I'm going to start working with the Slytherins." Harry sighed.

Ron and Hermione shared a worried glance, and Ron asked, "Harry, are you sure? We want to keep this thing a secret, remember, and it just takes one person to ruin it."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "I've taken a few steps to hopefully make it harder for someone to give us away. That piece of paper everyone signed is more than just a cute little list for nostalgic purposes. But still, it can't actually stop anyone, and as Ron said, it just takes one person. I know a lot of the Slytherins side with Umbridge, if only because she's against you."

Harry sighed. "I know, and I'm not talking about bringing them in on the D.A. Not yet, or at least not all at once. But Slytherin and I have been talking a lot, and it's really something that means a lot to him. Plus, a lot of them are on the fence about all this. They're not all prats like Malfoy. But, if they don't have an alternative, a lot of them are going to flock to Voldemort just because that's what their parents or housemates are doing and they don't really have another choice. Self-preservation is a pretty big dominant instinct, especially for Slytherins."

"So what do you have in mind?" Ron asked.

Harry smirked. "Early stages yet. I'm just hoping to stir the pot, I think. Get them thinking. Probably best if I just do this on my own, though I'll ask you guys for advice or help if I need it. I want us to appear as disconnected from this as possible."

"Just be careful, Harry," said Hermione. "We don't want you getting hurt or getting in over your head." Ron nodded. "But I trust you to be smart about this. Or, at least," Hermione smiled, "I think I trust Slytherin to keep you reined in."

"Ugh, I feel like a lot of the time I'm the one reining him in," Harry laughed.

"Oh good it's not just me!" Ron exclaimed.

"Should I be taking offense to this?"

Oh, grow up!

"I'm far older than you, I'll have you know."

Yeah, yeah.

Hermione sniffed. "I don't know what you're talking about. Rowena and I may have a bit of a...intellectually competitive relationship, but she certainly carries herself with the dignity of a Founder of Hogwarts."

"I think I'll take Godric over that any day," Ron muttered, though if Hermione heard him she decided to ignore that comment.

"Any plans or ideas for the D.A. then, either of you?" Harry asked, hoping to avoid an argument.

Ron shook his head. "Nothing that big yet. As I said before, me and Godric might be able to come up with some good exercises for dodging, aiming, and battle simulations, but I think a lot of that will be too much too soon at this point. Hermione?"

"Well," Hermione bit her lip, "I've been looking into some more complex spells once we've moved on from the basics, but I'll spare you the details on that for now. One thing I was wondering if we wanted to try and split people off into groups based on what they're skilled at. For further down the road, of course, once we feel we're all fairly competent with the O.W.L. standards."

Ron nodded. "From a tactical standpoint, it makes sense to focus on strengths. For instance, Neville might improve a lot in defense, but he'll always be best with Herbology. It makes more sense trying to help him grow and specialize in that than trying to get him and everyone else to the same level in everything. A lot of diverse, specialized talent is better than a group of average people."

Harry shook his head. "It's kind of sad that we keep going back to how this will all help us in the war to come. I know it's necessary, but still."

After a bit of silence, while the three reflected on that, Hermione ventured, "Well, we can try to do more with the Order, if they'll let us. We don't have to do everything on our own, and it's best we remember that. And if they don't, we keep up with this. And we'll see what comes up and work with it as it does. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves or lose sight of the present when planning for what might happen. We should all be getting to bed anyway. It's late, and I'm sure Umbridge and Filch would just love to catch us in the corridors, especially you, Harry."

Harry nodded, grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map, and soon they were safely back in Gryffindor Tower with no complications. As he got ready for bed, Harry couldn't help but smile. There was a lot to do, for sure, but with his friends helping him, Harry had a lot of hope for what they could accomplish together.