I updated toto. See, I haven't given up. Happy?

Chapter 22

• Rebirth •

Sitting alone in the Room of Requirements, Harry didn't know what to think. He'd walked in and it had immediately become the bungalow he'd stayed in while on Icaria. It was quite, spacious, but missing something, something the room couldn't bring him. He sat, letting the breeze tickle his face, and he smelled the perfumed scent that had always been present, as if it were the wind itself.

Then, he pushed it away, knowing that it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Tonks was gone again, she had barely stayed a day. When she'd been called back to work she threatened to quit, but Harry wouldn't let her. Now it was four days later and he was regretting it. He loved Ron and Hermione, they were excellent friends, but Tonks was something else. She hadn't even kissed him goodbye. He supposed he deserved that, for all the pain he'd put her through.

"I'll always be listening," she said just before leaving, pointing to the necklace she was wearing.

The door opened and Harry's thoughts focused on something more Spartan, something clean and empty. He wanted the meeting to be very straightforward tonight. Dinner had gotten over almost an hour ago, and even though it was twenty minutes until the meeting was planned, he knew people would start filtering in.

He took a seat at the head of the table, nodding at Luna, who was again the first one in the room. She looked elated about something, and wandered all the way around the table twice before sitting halfway between Harry and the other end of the table. She didn't speak, or even make eye contact, she just played with a small piece of glass that looked rather like it belonged in a pair of glasses.

Harry smiled as the second visitor entered, and he looked to Luna, who was completely ignoring her. Then he nodded towards a door that appeared in the wall. "Wait there," Harry said and in turn received a threatening look. "Don't worry, it's as large as I feel it needs to be."

The person frowned, and started to say something, but decided against it and slipped into the doorway. Harry glanced to Luna again, who had looked up, but had a dazed expression that meant she probably wasn't going to say anything.

By the time the room had filled up it was almost ten minute past, and there were almost a dozen people that Harry was sure hadn't been in the DA before. He looked to Hermione, who was surveying them all with interest, scribbling some things down on parchment she'd pulled from her bag. Ron was trying to make small talk with Seamus once he found out that Harry wasn't in the mood to talk.

There was a good deal of small talk going on when Harry finally stood up abruptly, his chair screeching as it slid out behind him. The room instantly went silent, and Harry smiled, thinking about how they instantly responded to him. Was the ministry right? Was he creating a sort of army, perhaps not specifically for Dumbledore, because he was rather disillusioned with Dumbledore at the moment, but still an army.

"I have been told that everyone did an excellent job of protecting the castle," Harry said quietly. The room echoed even the quiet voice, making him sound sharp, superior, even though he hadn't intended it.

Several people smiled. Harry had heard it from a lot of the teachers, how the DA had really helped keep things running smoothly, that it was likely nothing would have been ready without them. He'd also heard they had fought off some of the enemies who'd made it through. However, most of them had been Hogsmeade residents, and only two real Death Eaters had gone in. Still, they'd all been stopped before making it to the other students, and that had been the point.

"I know Dumbledore has already publicly thanked you in front of the rest of the school, but I would like to thank you as well. You're all dedicated to fighting Voldemort –" a wave of shudders passed through the table. Harrry closed his eyes for a moment, having forgotten that they still weren't over the name yet. He'd fic them of that soon enough though. "That may not be the original reason you're here, you all came last year to learn defense when that woman told us there was nothing to fear, that we could learn the theory of defense and instantly be able to use the spell."

The nods of agreement continued down the table. Harry glanced towards the door for a moment and then took a deep breath. "But, we have a Defense teacher this year, a good one from what I've heard. We won't be needing that anymore. This group will not be shut down though," he paused here, not for effect, but to think. He didn't want any of this information to get out, and there were too many people here that weren't bound by the contract.

"If you want to find out what we're going to do this year..." the door opened. The wind howled in the room, apparently having broken its temporary reprieve for the day, and coming back full force. The newcomer pushed the door closed with some trouble, and then turned to face the group again. A cloak was pulled away and Harry blinked, surprised.

"Hello," Marietta Edgecombe said tentatively, trying to keep her eyes set on Harry. "I know I did something last year," she said tentatively, sneaking a glance to Cho, who was staring at her, utterly surprised. "Cho told me I betrayed you all to the ministry. But... I don't remember doing it, and when my coin got warm I thought I might be able to come and..." she stopped, looking rather frightened. It was the first time Harry had seen that particular expression on the girls face. Usually it was a glare and a disapproving look.

Inside Harry wanted to yell and scream at her, let the DA have her for an hour, see how she faired after that. However, he heard the whispers, and they reminded him of the whispers he heard around him. She had done something wrong, she'd betrayed them, but she didn't remember it. Did it feel the same as when people talked about him behind his back for something he didn't do? Or didn't remember doing? He stared at her, saw the lonesome look in her eyes and sighed.

"Wait outside," he said, pointedly. He wasn't ready to trust her with everything yet.

She looked crestfallen, but nodded. Most of the rest of them made loud jeers until Harry slammed his fist into the table. As angry as he was at her, he wasn't going to let them through jeers at her, he had been on the opposite side of it enough time. "Be quiet," he snapped, just before the door opened, and the roar of the wind covered up anything else that was said. Harry had forgotten about the wind, forgotten that the halls were particularly chilly at the moment. However, he dismissed it, he'd apologize later if she was still there.

"As I was saying, the DA is not going to be the same group it was last year. We will be learning defense, I assure you, but it won't be for tests."

A lot of people where waiting for him to continue. But Harry wasn't prepared to quite yet. He looked to Hermione and spoke quietly. "Dumbledore returned the parchment, right?" he asked. Hermione nodded. "Do you have it with you?"

Digging in her bag, Hermione pulled the sheet of paper from it. Harry smiled. "Before we talk about anything else, I'd like for the newcomers to sign the parchment," he glanced at it as he took it from Hermione. Marietta's name was no longer present, but there was a black stain where it looked as if something had been burned with precision. Marietta would be signing again.

"This is only a precaution," he said, looking back up to the group. "And only a temporary measure, it will make sure you don't talk about the things you head today. If you leave, nothing will happen. This will only keep you from talking about the DA, if you're a member or not. I'm sure some of the non-members heard about the repercussions."

A lot of people glanced at the door that Marietta had walked out of only a few minutes before. Harry smiled. "There are other options of course. I could memory charm you, but I don't know the spell well enough, and if I did it and made a mistake—" Harry remembered the sight of Lockhart wandering the halls of Mungo's. "It's not something I'm going to think about. So, it's the parchment again."

As Harry looked out at those seated at the tables adjust themselves, he had an oddly satisfying feeling. Hermione was quite terrifying when she needed to be. "Hermione," Harry said, and she nodded, remembering she was suppose to have the parchment out. Harry had asked her to bring it, and hadn't said anything even though she'd been quite annoying about finding out why he still needed it.

More members exchanged glances, and Harry wondered if they were going to sign. Standing, Harry decided he wasn't going to let people take their time, they were in or out, that was their choice. "This means there is two options. You can sign the parchment now - you'll still have the choice to leave later - or you can join Marietta outside the room and you won't be welcome to return."

"That's a little harsh," Hermione said in a whisper that only Harry could hear. She didn't understand what he was proposing, didn't understand what he wanted to do, and so she didn't know why it was so critical that everyone sign that parchment.

The sheet passed down the table and stopped in front of a chocolate haired boy. He frowned and looked at the paper for a long minute, trying to decide whether to sign it. Another new person, a dark black fellow sitting next to him, pulled quill from somewhere and dipped it in. He made sure to sign his name with flourish, which completely melted away the skepticism that anyone seemed to have. Within minutes the list was back in front of Harry, with everyone's signature on it.

Harry pulled a quill to the side and made sure it was dipped in an inkwell, there was still another person that hadn't signed the list, she'd be signing it soon though. "If you'd like to leave once I've finished, please, feel free to cross your name off the list and leave the room."

Harry glanced towards the side door, he needed to hurry before the person inside got too impatient and burst out. It was sort of funny that the one person that knew about his plans was someone he had barely known before three weeks ago.

"Everyone here had heard about the Department of Mysteries, and what went on there. We proved that even kids can stand up to Death Eaters. We didn't defeat them, but we were strong enough to hold them. I propose we become more than that. That all of us in this room work to fight off Voldemort –" the room shuddered around him and Harry stopped speaking for a moment. " –so that we can say his name without fear, so that we can say that we did something about him."

Both Ron and Hermione were wide-eyed, and several of the other students looked surprised. "I've been fighting him since I came to know I was a wizard," Harry continued. "It seems it's my destiny to do so. I can't stop, I can't let people I know and love be hurt. I think that all of us here understand that, but I don't think you know just how powerful you can be. As a group we can make a change in how much control Voldemort –" another shudder, though Harry could see that, this time, most of the members were trying to fight against it, " –and his Death Eaters have on our world. If we don't fight him he'll win, it's that simple."

"You mean to take him on yourself, if none of us will help?" Zacharias Smith asked smartly. He had grown to be one of Harry's friends, but he was still contemptuous, it was in his nature to question.

"Yes," Harry replied immediately. "If I have to do it myself, I'll do it myself. I'm willing to die to make sure that he doesn't have his way with the magical, and eventually the muggle, world."

No one really understood that Harry was accepting it, accepting that the prophecy was either going to get him killed or get Voldemort killed. No one knew how much his words meant, that it really was his destiny, and that he was accepting his fate, whatever it was.

"I'm in," Zacharias said, shrugging and sitting down. "I see what has happened since the Minister publicly revealed that You-Know-Who back. I saw how it affected my parents, they're afraid to go out. They had Anthony's family come over just so that I could get my stuff at Diagon Alley. They're scared, real scared, and I don't want to be like that when I get older."

Zacharias had been the last person that Harry expected that to come from. Still, he understood Zacharias' thoughts and he could see that several other people were nodding along with him.

"Alright then," Harry said, feeling a little more confident now that someone had backed him up. "I want to make the DA a group that fights Voldemort with whatever means necessary. If you've heard of the Order of the Phoenix you might understand what I'd like to do, but they don't accept us, because we're students. I think we can make just as much of an impact as they can, even though we're still in school."

As Harry finished up he looked along the table, getting a good look at everyone's reactions. Some of them sat in stone faced silence, some frowned, thinking hard, but most of them were nodding along, happy about the proposal. "If anyone wants to leave, now is the time."

Harry had done this the last time they'd met, set it out to see if anyone planned on leaving and he hoped I would work just as well. There was silence for a minute and then a seat scooted out. Harry glanced up to see a the muscular semi-dark boy who'd signed the parchment first stand. He looked vaguely familiar, but Harry was sure it was more than just seen in the halls. He wasn't particularly tall, but the way he moved showed that he was powerful. Harry knew he was one of those who'd kept a stone-face when Harry was talking.

The boy didn't step forward to cross of his name though, he stopped in front of Harry, placed his right hand on Harry's shoulder, and smiled. "You can count me in," he said, smiling. "My older brothers an Auror and fighting for everything he's worth. But, it'll take too long to go through Auror training, if the wars going to start now I won't make it through Auror training before it's over. There's no way I'll let that happen."

"Shacklebolt?" Harry asked, recognizing where he'd seen the strong facial features before. Shacklebolt was a lot darker, and taller, but their faces looked as if they'd been formed from the same mold.

"Yeah, Wesley Shacklebolt," he grinned broader, his white teeth gleaming. "You've met my brother."

"When I was at the ministry last year, just before my trial," Harry said. He could see that Wesley was thinking about something, but nodded and accepted the story all the same. Harry was surprised that he hadn't been to the DA meetings earlier, if he brother was a member of the Order, but it was possible he didn't know, and so Harry wasn't going to comment about it.

"I'm in," another voice spoke up.

"And me."

Harry let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He was relieved to see that people were willing to fight. He hoped after their first real conflict with a Death Eater they'd still be willing. He was sure that some of them would leave, suddenly grasping that some of them were going to die.

"Good," he said with a nod. "After this meeting tonight I want all of you to think about who you know, and what they might be able to do to help. If your parents are in the ministry, and may know something that isn't being put in the papers I'd be interested in knowing. We're going to have to have sources of information, write your friends and family that might know anything. But, don't be discouraged, and don't be too suspicious either."

Hermione was so shocked that she was still wide-eyed. Harry smiled at her. "Hermione can probably help you out if you need it. She's wonderful at deception when she needs to be." Several people chuckled and Harry was met with a pointed glare from Hermione.

"We're going to need to put everything we know to use. I am personally going to research all the curses, hexes and charms I can, to see if we can't come up with some especially effective curses for the next time we're faced with Death Eaters. "

"About that..."

Harry looked over to Terry Boot, who had her hand half-raised, as if she wasn't sure how she was suppose to ask the question. He nodded to her, and she breathed. "You mentioned the Department of Mysteries earlier, said we'd probably heard all about it. We haven't, not really, we've heard rumors, that those that went beat a whole group of Death Eaters in a duel..." she shifted uncomfortably. "But, that really doesn't sound like something that could happen."

"Voldemort was there too," Harry added, causing everyone to shudder.

"So it's true what we heard?" Terry continued, "you fought a whole group of Death Eaters and you were the ones that walked away?

"That's hardly what happened," Harry said, sighing. He didn't particularly want to talk about the Department of Mysteries, even if he'd accepted Sirius' Death he still had a hard time thinking about it. "I was tricked into going there to get a prophecy that was made about Voldemort –" shudders yet again. "–and I," Harry had finally had enough of it.

"Listen, being afraid of a name only makes you more afraid of a person. It's a name, he's not going to appear to strike you down for saying it. You're only helping him by letting him have that much control over you. Maybe that should be one of the first things we do, learn to say his name without being afraid of it. He's powerful, yeah. But I've dueled with him and survived, he can't be all that powerful. We dueled his Death Eaters last year. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville, all of them. We didn't win, but we didn't exactly lose either."

Harry paused. He didn't want to say what happened, that they'd almost been crushed, that if it hadn't been for the Order of the Phoenix showing up, they probably would have, but he didn't want to lie either. "Neville..." he said, glancing to the boy and seeing the boy staring back, a look that told Harry he'd follow him to the ends of the earth. "Neville showed what it means to be a Gryffindor that night. He proved that, no matter what, he could keep fighting, with or without a wand. He showed that the Death Eaters that night that he's not someone to be taken lightly, and he saved my life."

Breaking eye contact, he could see a few of the DA members glancing to Neville, who hadn't changed his stone face look. Harry could see some pride glimmering in his eyes, pride of Harry acknowledging his strength. "Luna proved she's not as dotty as everyone seems to think. She fought right alongside the rest of us. Ginny, Ron, Hermione," Harry said, not bothering to glance at them. he knew what they would look like, all stone faced, thinking about what had happened. "I couldn't ask for better friends to stand by my side. They got hurt, but they survived, we all did. We didn't win, we weren't strong enough, but we could be."

Harry stopped and let everyone take in what he'd said. He was proud of everyone and how they had acted at the ministry and was willing to show it. Even though he never wanted something like that to happen he was pretty sure that it was unavoidable. Even if the students didn't fight him outright eventually they'd either have to bow to him or fight him when he showed up at their homes.

"This prophecy..." Zacharias started.

Harry looked at him and the words stopped. "It was smashed," Harry said, "and in the confusion of the fight no one heard it."

He was telling the truth, and as much as anyone in the room knew. He didn't mind them knowing that there had been a prophecy, it only kept them thinking about it, about what it could be about.

"There's something else," Harry said, finally getting to the other thing he needed to discuss. He glanced to the door that was semi-concealed at the side of the room, the one that had appeared when he had first come in with Blaise. "In the spirit of inter-house relations, another person has volunteered to join."

On his cue, the door opened and Blaise stepped out, looking a hundred percent Slytherin. She smirked and did a short little bow to Harry before stepping forward. She leaned against him gently, and signing the sheet that he had in front of him. She smirked as she drew away, breathing in his ear for good measure, and then stood behind him, waiting for the onslaught.

No on had spoken the whole time that she'd been moving around, and as she stepped behind him, Ron exploded. "What's she doing here?" he demanded, his fists balled up and his face twisted in revulsion. "She's a Slytherin!"

"Right in one guess," Blaise said with a smirk. "I guess Gryffindors aren't as stupid as they lead us to believe."

Harry turned to her and she shut her mouth while everyone else stared. "He's right," Wesley pointed out "she is a Slytherin. Why is it you think that you can trust her?"

Harry blinked in surprise, he hadn't expected a new DA member to speak out against them. Especially Wesley, his older brother Kingsley didn't seem to be so jaded about things - unless of course it was Death Eaters. However, he didn't know Kingsley that well, so he couldn't say for sure that he was as suspicious.

"Because she's proven her loyalty to me," Harry said quietly, but loud enough that the whole room heard. He glanced to Hermione, the only other person that understood just how far that loyalty had taken her, and saw that she was able to keep a blank face. He looked up at everyone, sort of angry that they were questioning him, even though he understood it. "If anyone has anything to say about her being in the group they can come and speak with me in private. Otherwise, if you're not happy to have a Slytherin in this group, you can leave, no one's keeping you here."

Originally, he had intended to get it out earlier, before everyone else had been given the option to leave, but he'd lost himself and he wasn't exactly the very best leader even though he'd been doing it for well over a year. Looking down at Ron, he could see that his best friend was actually considering leaving, as were a few others. He let them, he didn't want people in the group that were going to cause arguments with one another, it would make things a whole lot more difficult.

"I don't like it," Ron said, staring hard at her. "I don't think any Slytherins can be trusted, look at what they did last year."

"Look at what I did last year," Harry said. "I broke a dozen rules making this club and most of us here today were a part of it. You to Ron, you and Hermione where the one's that convinced me to do it. I'm serious when I say that if you can't live with a Slytherin in the club you need to leave," he said, trying to keep a straight face. It wasn't something that he wanted to do, but he had to, for more than one reason, and he was hoping that, when faced with a decision, Ron would make the right one. He usually did.

"You know I'd never leave you Harry," Ron said, giving Blaise a nasty look. "I just don't trust her."

"Anyone else?" Blaise asked. Harry shivered at the command she showed with her voice. She was a little forceful and he wasn't sure it was going to go over well.

Finally, realizing that she wasn't going to give him an inch unless he pressed it he turned to her. "Sit," he commanded. It seemed to startle Blaise a little, but she nodded and waved her wand, conjuring a seat next to him. He wasn't happy about it, but the table was full, and he couldn't sit her in a seat that was already taken.

"Now," Harry said, finally getting to the part of the meeting that he understood best. "I want to know what everyone has done to keep in practice since the meeting last year that was broken up."

It turned out that only one person had even practiced over the summer, and, to his surprise, it was Luna. "It's not that difficult to get past the wards," she explained airily, as if he'd asked the question everyone was thinking. "Father knows several charms that keep the ministry from invading the privacy of the home. We've even had a few articles about it. They're not even illegal, that would be an invasion of privacy and there are was against it."

Harry gaped. He had never even thought about masking his own magic so that he ministry couldn't detect it. It would have made his life a hell of a lot easier if Dumbledore had just taught him the spell and got it over with.

"Alright then," he said, smiling. "Next meeting Luna is going to teach all of us to disguise magic so that the ministry can't keep track of us when we're practicing. I know that most of us will be of age next summer, but I'd rather prefer it if they didn't know what magic I was using or be able to locate me through magic if I was trying to keep from being found."

"Now, for the rest of the evening, I want everyone to practice on some of the old charms and find out what you need to work on. Focus on that."

Harry spoke a few words to Hermione, and then exited the room to see if Marietta was still waiting outside.

•

The wind had somehow broken one of the unbreakable windows, and the hallway was cold, with water from the rain starting to flood the outer hall. It wouldn't be long before Filch showed up, to fix the window and mop up the water.

Marietta was not in sight. Harry sighed, and turned to enter the doorway again, glad he didn't have to deal wth her, and a little sad that she wasn't dedicated enough to stay. Some part of him had wanted to be able to forgive her, even if the other part wasn't ready for it.

He stopped and stared at a dark spot behind the statue of Jervel and Jaunty, he stared at it for a few moments before he saw it move a little. "Marietta?" he said, then repeated himself, louder so she could hear over the wind. A face peaked out from the black cloak and Harry cringed. He shouldn't have made her wait outside, and he was feeling especially horrible about it when he saw her shivering.

"Why don't we take a walk?" he said, trying to force a smile, and offering her his hand. She nodded slightly and took his hand. Harry had to practically pull her off the floor, and he could see that she was soaked. He sighed, and thought back. It took him a few minutes to remember a drying charm, but he did, and she was soon dry, but still cold.

They walked down the halls quietly until Harry found a classroom that was empty, he pushed the door open and entered it, holding it open for Marietta, who's mouth was chattering from the cold. Harry tried a warming charm, but was unsuccessful, and so they moved to the back of the room, when an old fireplace was. Harry lit a fire, and they pulled two rickety chairs as close as they could.

"You don't remember any of it, do you?" Harry asked.

"Well," Marietta said quietly, "sometimes I remember flashes, little pieces of things that happened. Other than that no, I don't remember most of it."

"Why do you want to come back?"

"Have you ever made a mistake?" she asked, rubbing her hands together and holding them out to let the flames lick at them. "Something that was so bad, no matter how much you try and ignore it, you can't. Something you would give almost anything for to make right?"

"This is just a group of people, it's not something that's life and death," Harry replied, surprised that she'd asked the question. It was just a group of people, a group of friends working together.

"I made a mistake," she said quietly, a long, long time ago. I was only twelve. My father, he's a muggle, was a muggle. We haven't seen him in almost fifteen years. So, my mum, she took care of me, took me to work with her, schooled me through self-study. She worked hard to make sure I was educated for my age. It's one of the reasons I made it into Ravenclaw."

Marietta pulled the hood away from her face now that the room was starting to warm up. The fire crackled, and sparkled in her eyes, giving them a forlorn look. "When I was eleven, she found out that I was going to go to Hogwarts, and was so happy. But, I wasn't. I wanted my father to know, wanted to tell him I was a witch, and I was going to be the best person at the school. I tried to find him, I spent the whole year trying to track him down, asking frends of my mother who worked at the ministry for any information involving him. I didn't get far, no one seemed to know much about him. So, when school got out at the end of the year, a few days into the summer, I knicked the folder from the Department of Records to see who my father was. They know, the ministry keeps track of those sorts of things like that, especially in the case of interhuman relations. I found out, but I was also caught."

Harry was surprised to hear that the ministry did something like that, but when he thought about it more he wasn't really that surprised. After the sort of things he'd heard about the magical world and its prejudice, it made a lot of sense.

After taking a breath of air, and letting Harry think, Marietta continued. "My mother was placed in the spotlight because of it, and she was removed from her position at the ministry pending an investigation. She did get a job again, but it set her career back almost to the beginning. After that I promised myself that if I made a mistake I would always do whatever I could to fix it."

"So, that's what you're trying to do now?" Harry asked, frowning.

Marietta sighed. "Last year, I betrayed you, right?" she asked. "Cho said that I told Professor Umbridge about the group. She also says that I never told them everything, that in the end I just didn't say anything. The problem is, is that I don't remember any of it at all. I think someone put a memory charm on me."

"Someone did," Harry said immediately. "To make sure that no one got in trouble. Since all you could do was say it was the first meeting you knew of, they couldn't really do all that much about it. However, they had the list, and it said Dumbledore's Army on it, so it forced Dumbledore to flee instead of them expelling me."

Marietta opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again. "Dumbledore's Army?" she asked surprised. "I thought we were a defense club."

"We were," Harry told her. "It was originally called the Defense Association. But, since the ministry was worried about Dumbledore creating an army, we decided to call it Dumbledore's Army to spite them."

"Oh... ok," Marietta said with a slight nod. "I wanted to tell you that, I think I thought... well, since the ministry said that we weren't suppose to have the group, I think eventually I thought we were going to far. Maybe that's why I told the professor. I know I was wrong now, that they were lying about everything, but I don't know if I knew it then. Maybe I thought I was telling the right people. I know it's not a good excuse, but I wanted to tell you why I did it."

"And you think I'd forgive you because of that?" Harry asked calmly. He wasn't angry that she was trying to explain himself, he knew the feeling, knew what it was like to need to explain himself.

"No," she said quickly. "No, no. I wanted to tell you, because I made a decision yesterday when my coin changed the date again. I sat down to think about it, really think about it, and I made a difficult decision."

"What was the decision?" Harry asked, interested in hearing what it was.

"Last time I joined the DA because Cho brought me along," she said calmly. "I remember that. I remember what happened before the first meeting, how shed begged me to come along with her, so I know it was because of her that I joined. Last time I told the ministry, I don't know why exactly, but I told you why I think I did it."

Harry nodded, waiting for her to get to the point.

"I want to join again this time, without anyone else telling me to come."

"Why?" Harry asked. He certainly didn't want her if she only wanted to be forgiven.

"Because... my father was killed by Death Eaters," Marietta said sullenly. "I found out this summer, since I'm of legal age I requested the files that I tried to steal when I was little. I know a few people in the Ministry — because my mother works there — and the Ministry also owed me a favor. I used to always think the Ministry was right, that they could deal with anything, and anyone. Now, I hate them, and I know they lie, and about more than just things they're afraid about. They knew about my father, knew he'd been captured, but it was more important to keep themselves safe, because they had their own spy, and so they didn't try and save him, they let him die. I hate them for that, I hate them for making my mother work so hard, do things she hates to do, and I hate the Death Eaters and ... him... even more."

"So you're joining because you want to fight Voldemort?" Harry asked. Marietta shivered at the mention of his name, and tried to suppress a scream, it came out as a high pitched burp, but she did a much better job than most people did.

"I want to stop him," she said after she'd recovered from the scream. It looked like she'd swallowed air though, and she had to take a minute before she spoke to breathe properly. "I want to fight him, like you did when you guys went into the Ministry last year. I want to be strong enough to make sure that my friends and family don't die with me unable to help."

After considering for a short while, Harry nodded. "How far are you willing to go?" he asked. Wanting to know exactly how much he wanted to do with her. If she was truly set against the ministry, and the Death Eaters, she could provide a good asset. He was going to have to talk to Hermione about her, and maybe Blaise, since she was the one that seemed to know so much about the spy business.

"I'll do anything to stop them," she said shortly. "I'll make sure that, no matter what happens, they won't be able to mar our world more than they have."

"Anything?" Harry asked, thinking. If she really was willing, there were a lot of things she could help with, if only she could be trusted. He really needed to talk to Hermione about making something up.

Forty minutes later, having sent Marietta back to her common room, Harry was wondering if it would have been better to bring her back, to the group. He stared at all of them, throwing curses at each other, and felt pride that they were – in a way – his students.

"Alright everyone," Harry said, gathering them together. "We'll have another meeting before the week ends, I'll be talking with everyone to find out when the best time is, and then go from there. Any of the new members will have to check with someone who has a coin so that they know when the meeting will be. I don't want us out too late. Even though we're a legal group now, I don't want anyone to get in trouble."

Everybody nodded and filtered out of the room in groups. Harry watched as Ron, who had been intent on staying, seemed to be dragged out of the room by none other than Lavender Brown. Harry grinned as he saw the horrified look on Ron's face just before the door shut behind him.

Hermione straightened up and sat down, finishing organizing some of the pillows. "You know," she said in a sharp tone. "I really would have liked to know about this before tonight."

Harry, relieved that everything had gone as well as it had, just glanced at her. He was exhausted from the workout he'd had after returning. Wesley had been one of the only students who could compete with the previous DA members, and he'd been quite the competition. Harry had even had a time when fighting him, which awed nearly the whole group.

Of course, when the duel was over, Blaise had gone and gone and made a comment (loud enough that several people heard of course) about Harry being too easy on newcomers. Wesley, happy to have gone as far as he had, got a determined look on his face as he left and Harry had glared at Blaise. He hadn't gone easy, and to anyone truly experienced in dueling, they would have known it. However, it seemed everyone else had taken her word for it, and it seemed by the end of the evening Harry's mystique had been given a new height in everyone's mind.

Sitting at the table while everyone cleared out, Harry barely heard Hermione's words. He was still angry with Blaise for her earlier remarks. She'd of course been annoyed with his disregard of her words over the last few days, but he'd spent a lot of the time absent mindedly thinking about the DA and what he was going to do with them.

In addition, he had to worry about Blaise now, who obviously wasn't going to just play a minor role, it was to lowly for a Slytherin to even bother doing such a thing. As his mind turned back to Blaise he remembered he was suppose to be angry with her and frowned as he looked her way.

"Trying to think of the proper words to tell me off?" Blaise asked.

Harry glanced around and, after noting that no one other than Hermione was present in the room, nodded. "You can't just go and take over things here," he stated matter-of-factly. "Hermione, Ron and I spent a lot of time last year getting this group worked out and I don't want you going and screwing up all the trust that we've built up. It's hard enough for some of them to deal with a Slytherin."

From the corner of his eyes he could see Hermione shake her head, trying to keep from being a part of the argument. He didn't care though, he needed to set Blaise in her place, and the only way that was going to happen was if he didn't let her have an inch.

"Oh please," Blaise said haughtily. "You think trust is the only thing you need for this group to work? Potter, you really need a lesson in how witches and wizards think. Maybe it was growing up with muggles that created such an allusion in your head, but I can tell you for certain that you've got it wrong. Here people thrive on fear, on joy, on hope, you don't get them to battle because they trust you, you get them to battle because they think you'll win. You really need to build that image up before they fight a real battle, because the moment that the battles finished you're going to lose a lot of the group."

Hermione was watching Blaise with interest, and Harry was keeping quite, listening to her lecture. One thing he had learned about Blaise since he'd met her, was that it was better to let her talk and listen than to try to stop her from talking, or not listen at all. She did have some good ideas, he could give her that. However, he wasn't sure if she was right on this matter.

"Your little army of brats at the ministry are the most loyal of the bunch," she said harshly. "Don't expect the others to stay by your side after a real fight with Death Eaters. No matter how much it's demonstrated and discussed, none of them have the slightest inkling of the pain of the Cruciatus curse. They don't realize how quickly your best friend can die on the battlefield, right next to you. They're not soldiers, they're children, wanting to play soldier. When the real battles begin, and they're forced to fight, they're going to rethink fighting. You've got to give them a good reason to fight, and you've got to appear unstoppable to them. You had a good start, telling them you'd fight with or without them, now you just have to show them that you're the best of the best, and that they can rely on you no matter how hard it gets."

"That's trust," Hermione pointed out.

"It's not trust you're trying to gain," Blaise snapped at her, and then turned towards Harry. "You can't be regular Harry Potter anymore, you have to be the boy-who-lived, you have to be the-boy-who'll-live. They have to have faith in you, be completely devoted."

"You're talking like he's going to become the next Dark Lord," Hermione said after a moment. "Like they should worship the ground he walks on."

"And why not?" Blaise asked. "He's not a Dark Lord by any means, but what's wrong with a little worship, people that worship you will go to a lot further lengths than people that are your friends."

"Harry is not a god."

Harry couldn't help but stare as the two girls went at it. Hermione, her eyes burning with defiance while Blaise kept her cool for the most part, a smirk growing on her face.

"Well, gods aren't exactly omnipotent beings, are they?" she asked smartly. "You have Merlin, who became a god in the history books, and he's far from omnipotent. Look at the dedication that people give to him even now. The highest award the ministry gives out is the Order of Merlin, first class, and Merlin's been dead for centuries."

"That award is given because of the respect people give to what he did." Hermione said smartly. "According to ..."

"Yes, yes, yes, according to some book, I'm sure that Merlin was really everything that they talk about in the myths, and I'm sure that muggles have successfully proved magic doesn't exist. I'm also sure that there's a book about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks as well. Now, the only difference in what you know and I know, is what we believe. You rely on nothing but facts, the cold hard truth. You're very different from most witches because of it. I gained a lot of knowledge from experience. I know what it's going to take to win this war, and Harry's going to have to be the key."

Sitting on the side, Harry couldn't help but wonder if he'd done the right thing, letting Blaise into the DA, it certainly seemed like she was trying to take control of his life.

"Do I get a say in this?" he inquired and he got a cold glance from both girls, who were too riled up with each other to even bother with him.

"That doesn't matter, there is no possibility that Harry is the next Merlin, it's not like they're going to create a Harry Award or something like that. It's completely ridiculous. Harry I don't mean to be cold about it or anything," Hermione added, glancing at him, "I just don't see you becoming some all powerful being."

"He doesn't have to try all that hard," Blaise said slyly. "After some of the rumors that have been circulating the school about how he managed to get back into Hogwarts like he did, somehow apparating right through the wards, he's already got a new level in most peoples minds, it just needs a bit of cultivating. That is what I'm working on. If people are going to revere you they'll need to keep hearing about your exploits, so I expect you to make sure to pull off some wonderful new trick every few weeks, something that no one in their right mind would do, or be able to do."

"You can't just tell him he needs to do something like that, and you're implying he should break the rules."

"No," Blaise said, standing up. "I'm telling him he needs to make sure that everyone sees him like they should see him, as the person that can defeat the Dark Lord."

A little confused now, Harry watched Blaise as she smirked. "The prophecy, it was about you and Voldemort, right?"

Blinking, Harry stared at her. Had she figured something out? Had she possibly heard a part of it, since Voldemort knew a part of it? That was unlikely, he told himself, Voldemort wouldn't be the sort of person that would share such information. If someone were to be told he could be killed it was possible that they would defect, and he couldn't have people defecting.

Until now, Hermione had been showing deep disgust for Blaise, but at the mention of the prophecy she blinked and suddenly became interested. Harry opened his mouth to say no, but the words wouldn't come out. "I said that didn't I, during the meeting. Why does it matter?" he asked.

"Because you obviously either know it, or you don't believe much in prophecy," Blaise said.

Harry couldn't hide the surprise that lit up his face. How could she possibly know he knew?

"I said the prophecy was broken," Harry defended. "I didn't hear what it said."

"But you know it," she said, smirking. "I told you you'd make a wonderful Slytherin."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked, plainly shook. It was almost as if she was reading his mind, but he'd learned that that wasn't possible, people could read thought and emotions, not direct words. Plus, he had a strong understanding of Occlumency, so he was sure that Blaise wouldn't have been able to get through his shields without some sort of traces.

"Voldemort knows you know," Blaise said smartly. "It was one of the things he brought up in that meeting that he showed up at. He was quite ready to take you to the very edge of death over and over to find out what it was. I don't care if you're going to deny it, but I know you know."

"So who told you?" Hermione asked from the side. Then, she seemed to realize the answer to her own question. "Of course!" she said, delighted. "A.P.W.B.D. — Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, he knew it, it was made to him by..."

"Sybill Trelawney," Harry said calmly, "the first real prophecy she's ever made in her life, according to the Dumbledore."

"Not the only?" Blaise asked, her eyes narrowed. "That fraud's made real prophecy's? And more than one?"

Harry glared at her. He didn't like the way that the conversation was going. He really didn't want to get into the fact that he'd seen her make another prophecy, and that it had come true, exactly as it had been prophesied. It was much easier to not believe in prophecy, no matter how apparent it was becoming, especially since it involved him directly.

"Alright, fine," he said, making up his mind. "Voldemort knows about the prophecy, obviously, and he knows the first couple of lines."

"So you do know it," Blaise said, completely throwing aside the fact that she'd thought it a fact only a moment ago. "It's interesting that Voldemort knows some of it, but not everything. If it hast to do with the both of you, and he's obviously dead set on getting it, it must say something about him losing, failing, dying, or something like that. Am I right?"

Harry watched her, eyes narrowed. He wasn't about to tell anyone the whole prophecy, it'd work out much better if he had that later to fall back on, and if he and Dumbledore were the only ones that knew the full content of it, who was to say that he had to tell Voldemort the real content? Fudging a few words if he had to might make everything seem a little more difficult to deal with.

"Well, maybe not just that," Blaise said, when Harry didn't answer. "It could involve some power he seeks, something that would make him even more powerful than he is. However, the prophecy is about the both of you, so there must be some sort of connection, some reason why you're important, why you keep living."

Blaise looked up, her eyes burning with interest. "I heard you have another scar," she said. "Cin said it was one of the most beautiful things that they'd ever seen. Will you show it to me?"

The question was so far off topic that Harry didn't react right away, his mind was still on the prophecy and what it did mean, what it meant to him, and what it meant to the world. It might be best if the world knew what Voldemort knew, the first bit that had already been spread. It could bring around some of the people that were not sure which side to fight on. But, if it was a good idea, why hadn't Dumbledore already done it? If he knew the world needed someone that could be seen as a savior, why not let the rumor spread after Voldemort had reappeared? Was there some reason he hadn't, other than his apparent foolish notion it would be too much for Harry to bare?

"No," he responded quickly after his mind had digested the question, he didn't want her to think that he was thinking it over. There was no way he was going to just strip down for Blaise. That would be far too embarrassing.

"I could very well force you to," Blaise threatened.

Harry frowned. "I don't want you to even try," he said, feeling threatened. "It's not beautiful either, it's just a scar, a little bigger than my last one, but just a scar. Scars can't be beautiful."

Blaise studied him for a moment and made a move towards her wand. Harry moved quicker and had his own wand pointed towards her so fast that it barely registered in his mind. Blaise was smirking widely as Harry found himself staring at her, wand out while hers had disappeared.

"You're quite jumpy Potter, and you are fast, I'll give you that. But you're still not fast enough."

Harry blinked and looked down, his robe had been slit open, in the front more than halfway down. He blushed and covered himself, turning away from her, only to find that the back of his robes had been cut as well and were slipped off his shoulders. He tried as best as possible to pulled them back up while keeping himself covered, but it didn't work very well.

He heard Hermione gasp and he tried harder, eventually deciding it was best to face them and hold his robes up. He really didn't want someone else to see the scar, especially Hermione. The damage had been done though. Her face betrayed the horror and shock of the scar and he bowed his head. "It's just a scar," he said quietly, keeping his head down so as not to show the embarrassment and pain on his face.

The door opened and Harry looked up surprised, to see Tonks standing there, looking shocked. He realized what it must have looked like, he was partially bowed before two girls, his robes down to his waste, and both of them staring at him in revolution, or shock, or a little of both.

As surprised as he was that she was there, he didn't say anything, he just stared at her with pleading eyes. "What are you doing!" she demanded.