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Chapter – 7

Harry POV

"Ready for today, Harry?" asked Ron.

"Almost." Harry replied, trying to get ready while ignoring the magical mirror's unhelpful suggestions. He looked to his side to see Ron lounging on the bed reading the transfiguration textbook.

"Isn't reading in bed indecent, Ron?" Harry laughed.

"Blame Hermione for this appalling habit." Ron grumbled.

"Ha! These are dark days indeed if Ron Weasley is studying!"

"Very funny Potter." Ron stood up. "We should go now if we want breakfast on time."

"Done." Harry fished out his wand from where it was tangled in the bedsheet and straightened his robes. "Let's go."

"Birds will come out of your hair today Potter!" shouted the mirror as they left.

"Oh shut up." Harry called out, while Ron sniggered.

Harry couldn't remember the last time he felt this way. He was actually excited. And not a "stomach dropping I'm in danger" or "catch the snitch or we'll lose" kind of excitement. Today was the day he was relaunching the DA.

Dumbledore's Army had been the best part of his life in the 5th year, and Harry saw no reason why it couldn't be this year as well. Of course, there was no Umbridge to run from this time, but there was always something about those classes that made Harry feel the camaraderie that he had yearned for his entire life. Ever since he was child, he had avoided being in big groups. He had too many bad memories of Dudley beating him up in big groups. But here he was, an integral part of a secret group of thirty people, and he was teaching them. And they liked him! Wonders never ceased.

Harry was specially gratified by the response of the DA members to his call. When he had taken the Protean charmed galleon the other night to set up a new meeting, he was half expecting to go around, asking people to join up again. To his surprise, the next morning almost all the DA converged on to his location and promised that they would attend the first meeting. Many even conveyed how happy they were that he was restarting the classes.

Harry joined Nico, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny in the Great Hall for breakfast. He dodged their questions on the plan for the day as well as he could. Hermione had helpfully given him a lesson plan for the next three months, but this time, Harry had his own ideas. After all, he had spent the entire summer being trained by the Order of the Phoenix. He had even asked for tips from Remus and Moody.

The Gryffindor group soon got up and joined the rest of the DA at the 7th floor. Harry came forward and walked three times in front of the wall facing Barnabas the Barmy. The Room of Requirement opened, and soon everyone was sitting on comfortable cushions, chatting excitedly. He could see Nico sitting with Ron and Hermione in the front, looking around curiously. The room looked exactly the same as last year, with tall bookshelves all around, and dark detectors in various places. There was a wide space in between where people could practice dueling. The restrooms were in the corner, and Harry had a quiet laugh when he discovered that even his whistle was on the chair in the front of the room.

Harry stood up and made his way to the front of the room. Go time.

"Hi everyone." Harry called out.

The group's attention focused on Harry.

"Stay calm and maintain eye contact." Remus had instructed him, when he had asked for advice. "They are looking to you for guidance, so you must show confidence."

He took a deep breath.

"First of all, welcome back." Harry began, smiling when Ernie Macmillan, Terry Boot and Colin Creevey clapped and hooted. "Er- Thank you for responding so quickly to my galleon. Seriously, that was amazing."

"We can see that we are less than before." He continued. "Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia and all have passed out. I've been thinking of expanding the club anyway, so if you folks know anyone who would be interested, please tell me." Harry nodded to Susan Bones, who had come to him before the class to ask if some of her friends could join.

"And finally, speaking of new members, we have our first new member today: Nico Di Angelo!" Polite applause filled the air as Nico waved around awkwardly.

"Alright then." Harry continued once the clapping died down. "I have some good plans for what we can focus on this year. Let's start with a review of everything we learnt last year. Disarming, shield, jinxes – you know the stuff. And then-"

"What about you-know-who?"

Harry stopped and searched for the owner of the voice. Heads swiveled until everyone was looking at Zacharias Smith sitting in the back, who raised an arm lazily.

Harry sighed. He did not want to deal with Smith on the first day. The boy had been a trouble maker through out the last year.

"I'm sorry- what?"

"You-know-who" Zacharias repeated. "What are we supposed to do about him?"

"What do you mean, what to do about Voldemort?" Harry asked, frowning.

Zacharias flinched on hearing the dreaded name but raised his chin. "Well, he's back now. For real!"

"He was back last year." Harry stated angrily. "If you didn't believe me, that's not my problem. But the Daily Prophet gave a formal apology-"

"Yes, yes." Zacharias hastily interrupted. "I- we all saw that. And I am sorry too, for what it is worth. But that's not what I meant."

"Bloody hell, what do you mean?!"

"I mean he's back! Openly back." He took a deep breath. "Look, we all know that you are right – he was resurrected last year. But he was not openly attacking anyone. Not like- now. There was no fear in the streets. Death Eaters were not going around killing people. But it's different now. There have been three death mark sightings last week alone!"

"I must say, old chap, he's right." Ernie spoke up when Harry didn't reply, and the silence had stretched too long. "It is different now from the previous year. Diagon Alley wasn't boarded up, for one, and people weren't hiding in homes. You-know-who and his followers weren't murdering our friends and families left and right."

"Exactly!" Zacharias looked relieved someone else had spoken up in his defense. "That's what I was saying. What do we do if Death Eaters one day show up at our door? I mean, how can disarming and jinxes help?"

"I seem to recall you asking this exact question last year." Harry said coldly. "And I will give you the same answer I gave you then – the disarming spell saved my life against Voldemort-"

"But that's you! You- you're special!"

Harry's eyes narrowed. This was it. This was what it was all leading to…

"You are the Chosen One." Zach finished with a whisper. "Aren't you?"

The entire room seemed to hold its breath waiting for Harry's answer.

"No"

"But-"

"No" Harry replied forcefully, effectively cutting off the topic of conversation.

"Seriously-"

"I said NO!"

"Oh alright!" Zacharias snarled angrily. "Back to the original topic then. What does the great Harry Potter, the not chosen one, suggest we do if we open our doors to Death Eaters?"

"For starters, don't open the bloody doors!" Harry replied snarkily.

"Oh fu-"

"Potter!" Anthony Goldstein cut in loudly. "Last year, when you set up this club, back in Hog's Head, you had mentioned that one of the reasons for starting this club was the return of the Dark Lord. That by learning defense, we could stand up to the death eaters."

"Of course. And now that he is openly back, it is more important – "

"Are you aware that back in the first war, the Dark Lord personally targeted the families who resisted him?"

Harry remembered the photo that Mad-Eye Moody had shown him on Christmas at Grimmauld place. With a lump in his throat, he answered. "Yes."

"Then maybe we shouldn't be planning how to fight the dark lord in a club called Dumbledore's Army? It's like we are shining a big fat Lumos right in you-know-who's face."

Harry shook his head. "These are just terror tactics. We can't roll over and not fight! Voldemort would win half the battle there itself! Look, Vold- You-know-who and his death eaters aren't some mythological monsters. They are humans. They once studied in Hogwarts too. We can face them! That's the point of DA- the more you practice, the more you learn, and you'll be able to stand against them. That will be able to save your lives, and the lives of people around you."

"But we are- we are just kids! What can we do against you-know-who? We'll be slaughtered!"

"Well-"

"You ask what we can do?" a voice came suddenly. Harry looked aside to see Nico di Angelo standing up. He was facing Zacharias and Anthony. There was a fire in his eyes, and his stance and expression showed just what he felt about the skeptics. Harry suddenly recalled thinking Nico had been in a war before. He didn't panic when they were attacked on the train, and the way he moved, and his alert eyes betrayed the fact that this was not his first do or die situation.

"You ask what we can do?" repeated Nico, glaring. "We can fight. We can protect the kids below our years in the upcoming war. Because make no mistake – the war is coming for you, whether you want it or not. You cannot hide. Hogwarts is safe for now. But one day, Voldemort will target the school. How can he not?! This is the foremost magical school in Britain! What will you do then? Will you run? Will you hide in the dormitory as death eaters ravage the school? Or will you stand up and resist?!"

"Hear, hear!" called out Colin Creevey.

Nico smiled grimly, but he wasn't finished.

"And you." He said, pointing at Anthony, who visibly flinched. "Aren't you a Ravenclaw? Well, here's a quote for you from a famous muggle: "the only thing worse than evil men is good men who do nothing". Make of that what you will."

There was stunned silence as Nico finished and sat down. A moment later, Hermione and Ron burst into applause, and soon the entire room joined them.

"Thank you, Nico." Harry nodded gratefully at the American, who smiled bashfully and ducked his head. "And he's right. Guys, I know you are afraid. Hell, I am terrified! But giving in to you-know-who's demands won't keep us safe. I've been reading up on the first war with Voldemort, and you know what? He took out almost half the Auror force before the Ministry woke up to the problem. Until then, they were just passing responsibilities to one another, bowing down to his demands. Even this time, we have lost one year. But no more. We won't give up and expect someone else to save us. We won't be good men who do nothing." Harry grinned at Nico.

"Or women." Piped up Ginny.

"Or women." Harry agreed. "Well, now that we have validated the reason for DA's existence," he quipped, to general laughter, "let's get started. Form a line…"

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Nico POV (the next day)

Nico was impressed. Harry was a natural teacher. It took him some time to get into groove, but he was unstoppable once he did. He had the charisma to make people his age and above listen to him. This was a required quality in any leader. He taught everyone patiently, going around the room correcting positions and wand movements, and giving tips for faster and stronger spells. He devoted the later half of the lesson on strategies and interactive sessions, though he got a shifty look in his eye when Nico asked him where he had learnt those. He had some trouble believing Hermione's favorite answer – the library.

"Hey Nico!"

Hermione's shout shook him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see the golden trio waving him over. He smiled and joined them at their table, which was filled with arithmancy books and complicated looking charts.

"Mental, eh?" Ron smirked, as he noticed Nico staring at some of the equations in the books.

"It's not mental, Ron!" Hermione snatched away the paper Nico was looking at and stuffed it in her bag.

"Maybe not Arithmancy, but it is mental to waste such a beautiful day on work!"

Hermione looked ready to explode, so Nico was quite glad when Harry hastily integrated. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

"Go on."

"Are you alright?"

Nico was taken aback. "Do I not look alright?" he laughed.

"Your speech yesterday." Clarified Harry. "It seemed like it was spoken from experience. I don't mean to pry, but did something happen to you …?"

Nico considered Harry. He was no stranger to losses, losing his parents when he was a baby. If anyone could understand his emotions, it would be the teenager sitting across him. He carefully formulated his answer.

"My sister." Replied Nico finally. "I lost my sister about three years ago."

"Oh Nico, I am so sorry!" Hermione exclaimed, as Ron looked appalled.

"She was killed trying to defend people against a monster." Nico said bitterly. He shouldn't have said the word "monster" but Harry would probably think monster referred to a rogue death eater.

"The worst part is, if someone had tried to help her, she would possibly be alive. And then – " Nico stopped, taking a deep breath. It had taken him a long time to get over his animosity for the hunters of Artemis. No point starting the blame game again.

"I understand." Harry had a far off look in his eyes, no doubt thinking of his own guardians. "Thank you for telling this Nico."

Nico nodded, trying to calm himself.

"Well, this is delightfully morbid." Ron broke in. "But how about a game of quidditch to take the mind off the doom and gloom?"

Harry laughed as he got up. "You know what, that might just be what I need. What about you, Nico? Coming?"

The choice between spending time with the Arithmancy engrossed Hermione and playing quidditch with the boys was an easy one.

Nico smirked. "You are on, Potter."

"Do you have your broom?" asked Ron as they left the common room.

"No, I don't. I will have to use the school brooms."

"School brooms are decent enough, though they tend to tilt to the left. You need to be careful …"

Nico let the chatter of Harry and Ron fade into the back of his mind as he thought furiously. Quidditch. The sport opened a whole Pandora's box. Not the actual one of course – that one was safely being guarded in the deepest pits of hell by the furies. He was a son of Hades, god of the underworld. He had an urge to vomit anytime he was in air or on water. Air travel, kayaking and boating were all forbidden activities to him, on the pain of death, literally. The Connor twins' prank of giving him two tickets for an expensive New York helicopter tour had not been appreciated. He preferred shadow travel anyway.

However, Hecate had been adamant to teach him how to ride a broom, seeing that it was one of the primary modes of transportation in the wizarding world. They were able to get around his problem because of the time bubble in which they were training. It was essentially a pocket dimension of Hecate's magic, and no god's power breached the bubble. (She had also tried to sneak in as much quidditch training along with broom riding as possible, because she was a fanatic. Nico could never understand why learning a reverse sloth grip barrel roll was important, but Hecate was tight lipped. He had then spent the entire week hinging upside down on his broom. Fun times.)

Nico did not know if Hogwarts was considered to be inside "Hecate's bubble". On one hand, it definitely physically existed in Earth, but on the other hand, magic literally surrounded them. So many centuries of children learning witchcraft and wizardry at the same location meant that magic permeated the air and water around. (The giant squid was rumored to have strange powers).

Only one way to find out, thought Nico, as he followed Harry and Ron to the school broom shed. He grabbed one of the newer looking brooms and went to the quidditch pitch.

He took a deep breath and cautiously took off. He skimmed the pitch, low on his broom, his feet almost touching the ground. Nothing happened. His confidence increased, and he slowly increased his height. Still nothing. He was now level with the lowest audience stand, and steadily increased his speed. Nico was surprised to find that he was actually enjoying. The weather was perfect for the game, and the skies were clear as far as the eyes could see. He heard Ron calling him from the goalposts and let he out a big cheer as he aimed his broom up. Ron tossed him the quaffle, and he raised his hands to catch it –

CRACK!

A blinding white flash suddenly blinded Nico. Momentarily dizzy, he could not understand where the ground was. Drifting aimlessly, Nico just covered his eyes and prayed hard to every god he could think to get out of this situation alive.

As the spots in his eyes cleared, Nico aimed his broom to the ground and got off shakily. Zeus's will was clear. No getting on brooms in the air.

Nico grimaced as Ron and Harry descended and ran towards him. Ron reached first.

"Mate, you alright?" Ron asked, worried.

"Yes Ron, I just didn't expect- that!" Nico pointed at the sky.

"I'll say." Harry looked shaken. "I've never seen such a big lightning bolt strike so close to a person! If it had struck you…"

"You would have been toast- literally." Ron finished.

"I know." Nico was a demigod, a child of the big three, so he could generally deal with severe injuries better than mortals, but he knew that even he couldn't have survived a 100-foot drop.

"Strange thing though." Said Harry, his brows furrowed. "I never heard the thunder before the lightning."

"Weird."

As if any more proof was required to prove that the lightning was Zeus's and not arbitrary.

"I need to practice for the upcoming season." Ron said apologetically. "I understand if you don't want to get up in the air after that, but is it okay if – "

"Oh of course!" Nico waved away his apology. "You go and bring us the quidditch cup this year!"

Ron shot him a quick grin and flew up to the sky again. Harry still looked concerned, but at Nico's smile, flew to join his best friend.

Nico looked on for a few minutes as the two friends tossed the quaffle back and forth. He soon decided to explore the grounds. Especially, the forest. He hadn't gone to the forest since the attack. No doubt, Dumbledore must have investigated, but he wanted his own opinion. Also, the headmaster did not know about the monsters, so it was quite possible he missed something.

As he trudged past Hagrid's hut into the forest, a movement caught his attention. A girl with waist length, dirty blonde hair in Ravenclaw robes was standing near Hagrid's giant pumpkin patch. He recognized her as Luna from her radish earrings. He was about to call out when he noticed that she had a bucket full of stuff that disturbingly looked like raw flesh. He watched as she threw chunks of raw meat dripping with blood towards some thick bushes in the forest. He wondered if he should interfere. The girl looked crazy enough.

He had just decided to go on to the place of his attack when he heard crunches of hooves crushing leaves (a distinct sound that all demigods have learnt to recognize, considering the number of monsters with hooves). He drew his wand, alarmed. The sound seemed to be coming from the trees near Luna. He started running towards her, opening his mouth to shout an alarm, for there was going to be another attack without a doubt -

He stopped, befuddled as a skeletal horse's head appeared from the bushes. Luna knelt down and dangled fresh meat in front of the creature. Slowly, the horse sniffed and came out. It was nothing like anything Nico had ever seen before. It had a body of a huge skeletal horse, with big wings on either side. He watched as Luna petted the skeletal creature's snout and whispered soothing words to it.

"These are Thestrals." Said Luna softly, without turning around. How did Luna know Nico was behind her, when he had been masking his footsteps? Nico chalked it up to yet another oddity of Luna.

"What are they?"

"You can only see thestrals when you have seen someone die." She replied. "Very misunderstood creatures. They are highly intelligent, and loyal if trained."

Nico barely heard her. Animals in the mortal world generally shunned him and refused to go near him. Perhaps, they sensed the aura of death around him. Perhaps they didn't like his smell. If he got angry, black tendrils struck out from where he stood, taking the life force of all living creatures near him. Wherever he went, living creatures ran away from him. It seemed fitting, as the son of the lord of the underworld.

But here, he just knew. This animal, this magnificent animal, will not run away from him. He held out his hand and trembled when the thestral pressed its head against him without any hesitation. A second later, Nico started petting its flank. The thestral made a crooning noise, as if enjoying itself.

Unbidden tears sprang into Nico's eyes. The only animal to accept him was also marked by death and misunderstood. It was like meeting of a kindred spirit.

"Hey boy." Nico whispered. "Don't pay attention to the world. Don't let them hurt you. You and me- we're special. And unique. We are creatures of the Underworld, marked by death. People are afraid of us. But we are not evil. We are good. We will stand against the world, yet save it- together."

The thestral pressed its snot against its hand, as if agreeing with him. He smiled and shook himself. Luna had already started returning to the castle. He didn't know if she heard what she said, and to be honest, he didn't care either. She didn't hear anything that could reveal his secret as such. In fact, it wouldn't surprise him to learn that Luna had been waiting for him purposefully. She was one strange girl.

He stood up and stretched. His short crying phase had somehow cleared his head. Glimmers of an idea were starting to form in his head. It was reckless, and audacious. But then, what plans weren't? After all, he was a demigod – being reckless was his job.

He turned towards the thestral. It was licking and finishing the last of the raw flesh that Luna had bought.

"You are Charlie." Nico decided. He didn't know why Charles Beckendorf had suddenly popped into his head but naming his new companion after the heroic ex-head counsellor of Hephaestus cabin seemed like a nice tribute. The thestral, now Charlie, looked at him.

"I will come back for you at night. Wait for me. We'll go flying in the Underworld. You'll like it."

Nico felt ridiculous talking to an animal, but he somehow knew that it understood him. He wondered if this is how Percy felt around normal horses all the time.

Nico walked towards the castle, determined. His one-month time was finishing fast. It was time for a plan. He had a sister to save.

Author's note:

Patient people still reading this story – you are amazing! Sorry for the delay. Had the worst case of writer's block ever. Hence the shorter chapter.

Asking a group of teenagers to fight murderers and maniacs was always going to result in an argument. Harry has a reason to be involved in the war- his parents, but the rest of the kids? Now that everyone could see the effects of Voldemort and his death eaters in real life, they're bound to be afraid. Luckily, they had Nico to inspire them.

Next up: Nico back in the underworld! (This will be fun to write).

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