Untitled Part 18
"Umbridge has been reading your mail, Harry. There's noother explanation."
"You think Umbridge attacked Hedwig?" he said,outraged.
"I'm almost certain of it," said Hermione grimly. "Watchyour frog, it's escaping."
Harry pointed his wand at the bullfrog that had beenhopping hopefully toward the other side of the table —"Accio!"— and it zoomed gloomily back into his hand.
Charms was always one of the best lessons in which toenjoy a private chat: There was generally so muchmovement and activity that the danger of being overheardwas very slight. Today, with the room full of croakingbullfrogs and cawing ravens, and with a heavy downpour ofrain clattering and pounding against the classroomwindows, Harry, Ron, and Hermione's whispered discussionabout how Umbridge had nearly caught Sirius went quiteunnoticed.
"I've been suspecting this ever since Filch accused you ofordering Dungbombs, because it seemed such a stupid lie,"Hermione whispered. "I mean, once your letter had beenread, it would have been quite clear you weren't orderingthem, so you wouldn't have been in trouble at all — it's a bitof a feeble joke, isn't it? But then I thought, what ifsomebody just wanted an excuse to read your mail? Wellthen, it would be a perfect way for Umbridge to manage it— tip off Filch, let him do the dirty work and confiscate theletter, then either find a way of stealing it from him or elsedemand to see it — I don't think Filch would object, when'she ever stuck up for a student's rights? Harry, you'resquashing your frog."
Harry looked down; he was indeed squeezing his bullfrogso tightly its eyes were popping; he replaced it hastily uponthe desk.
"It was a very, very close call last night," said Hermione. "Ijust wonder if Umbridge knows how close it was. Silencio!"
The bullfrog on which she was practicing her SilencingCharm was struck dumb mid-croak and glared at herreproachfully.
"If she'd caught Snuffles ..."
Harry finished the sentence for her.
"He'd probably be back in Azkaban this morning." Hewaved his wand without really concentrating; his bullfrogswelled like a green balloon and emitted a high-pitchedwhistle.
"Silencio!" said Hermione hastily, pointing her wand atHarry's frog, which deflated silently before them. "Well, hemustn't do it again, that's all. I just don't know how we'regoing to let him know. We can't send him an owl."
"I don't reckon he'll risk it again," said Ron. "He's notstupid, he knows she nearly got him. Silencio!"
The large and ugly raven in front of him let out a derisivecaw.
"Silencio! SILENCIO!"
The raven cawed more loudly.
"It's the way you're moving your wand," said Hermione,watching Ron critically. "You don't want to wave it, it's morea sharp jab."
"Ravens are harder than frogs," said Ron testily.
"Fine, let's swap," said Hermione, seizing Ron's raven andreplacing it with her own fat bullfrog. "Silencio!" The ravencontinued to open and close its sharp beak, but no soundcame out.
"Very good, Miss Granger!" said Professor Flitwick'ssqueaky little voice and Harry, Ron, and Hermione alljumped. "Now, let me see you try, Mr. Weasley!"
"Wha — ? Oh — oh, right," said Ron, very flustered. "Er —Silencio!"
He jabbed at the bullfrog so hard that he poked it in theeye; the frog gave a deafening croak and leapt off the desk.
It came as no surprise to any of them that Harry and Ronwere given additional practice of the Silencing Charm forhomework.
They were allowed to remain inside over break due to thedownpour outside. They found seats in a noisy andovercrowded classroom on the first floor in which Peeveswas floating dreamily up near the chandelier, occasionallyblowing an ink pellet at the top of somebody's head. Theyhad barely sat down when Angelina came struggling towardthem through the groups of gossiping students.
"I've got permission!" she said. "To re-form the Quidditchteam!"
"Excellent!" said Ron and Harry together.
"Yeah," said Angelina, beaming. "I went to McGonagalland I think she might have appealed to Dumbledore —anyway, Umbridge had to give in. Ha! So I want you downat the pitch at seven o'clock tonight, all right, becausewe've got to make up time, you realize we're only threeweeks away from our first match?"
She squeezed away from them, narrowly dodged an inkpellet from Peeves, which hit a nearby first year instead,and vanished from sight.
Ron's smile slipped slightly as he looked out of thewindow, which was now opaque with hammering rain.
"Hope this clears up ... What's up with you, Hermione?"
She too was gazing at the window, but not as though shereally saw it. Her eyes were unfocused and there was afrown on her face.
"Just thinking ..." she said, still frowning at the rainwashed window.
"About Siri ... Snuffles?" said Harry.
"No ... not exactly ..." said Hermione slowly. "More ...wondering ... I suppose we're doing the right thing ... Ithink ... aren't we?
Harry and Ron looked at each other.
"Well, that clears that up," said Ron. "It would've beenreally annoying if you hadn't explained yourself properly."
Hermione looked at him as though she had only justrealized he was there.
"I was just wondering," she said, her voice stronger now,"whether we're doing the right thing, starting this DefenseAgainst the Dark Arts group."
"What!" said Harry and Ron together.
"Hermione, it was your idea in the first place!" said Ronindignantly.
"I know," said Hermione, twisting her fingers together."But after talking to Snuffles ..."
"But he's all for it!" said Harry.
"Yes," said Hermione, staring at the window again. "Yes,that's what made me think maybe it wasn't a good ideaafter all. ..."
Peeves floated over them on his stomach, peashooter atthe ready; automatically all three of them lifted their bagsto cover their heads until he had passed.
"Let's get this straight," said Harry angrily, as they puttheir bags back on the floor, "Sirius agrees with us, so youdon't think we should do it anymore?"
Hermione looked tense and rather miserable. Nowstaring at her own hands she said, "Do you honestly trusthis judgment?"
"Yes, I do!" said Harry at once. "He's always given usgreat advice!"
An ink pellet whizzed past them, striking Katie Bellsquarely in the ear. Hermione watched Katie leap to herfeet and start throwing things at Peeves; it was a fewmoments before Hermione spoke again and it sounded asthough she was choosing her words very carefully.
"You don't think he has become ... sort of ... reckless ...since he's been cooped up in Grimmauld Place? You don'tthink he's ... kind of ... living through us?"
"What d'you mean, 'living through us'?" Harry retorted."I mean ... well, I think he'd love to be forming secretdefense societies right under the nose of someone from theMinistry. ... I think he's really frustrated at how little he cando where he is ... so I think he's keen to kind of ... egg uson."
An ink pellet whizzed past them, striking Katie Bellsquarely in the ear. Hermione watched Katie leap to herfeet and start throwing things at Peeves; it was a fewmoments before Hermione spoke again and it sounded asthough she was choosing her words very carefully.
"You don't think he has become ... sort of ... reckless ...since he's been cooped up in Grimmauld Place? You don'tthink he's ... kind of ... living through us?"
"What d'you mean, 'living through us'?" Harry retorted.
"I mean ... well, I think he'd love to be forming secretdefense societies right under the nose of someone from theMinistry. ... I think he's really frustrated at how little he cando where he is ... so I think he's keen to kind of ... egg uson."
Ron looked utterly perplexed.
"Sirius is right," he said, "you do sound just like mymother."
Hermione bit her lip and did not answer. The bell rangjust as Peeves swooped down upon Katie and emptied anentire ink bottle over her head.
The weather did not improve as the day wore on, so thatat seven o'clock that evening, when Harry and Ron wentdown to the Quidditch pitch for practice, they were soakedthrough within minutes, their feet slipping and sliding onthe sodden grass. The sky was a deep, thundery gray and itwas a relief to gain the warmth and light of the changingrooms, even if they knew the respite was only temporary.They found Fred and George debating whether to use oneof their own Skiving Snackboxes to get out of flying.
"— but I bet she'd know what we'd done," Fred said out ofthe corner of his mouth. "If only I hadn't offered to sell hersome Puking Pastilles yesterday —"
"We could try the Fever Fudge," George muttered, "noone's seen that yet —"
"Does it work?" inquired Ron hopefully, as the hammeringof rain on the roof intensified and wind howled around thebuilding.
"Well, yeah," said Fred, "your temperature'll go right up—"
"— but you get these massive pus-filled boils too," saidGeorge, "and we haven't worked out how to get rid of themyet."
"I can't see any boils," said Ron, staring at the twins.
"No, well, you wouldn't," said Fred darkly, "they're not ina place we generally display to the public —"
"— but they make sitting on a broom a right pain in the—"
"All right, everyone, listen up," said Angelina loudly,emerging from the Captain's office. "I know it's not idealweather, but there's a good chance we'll be playingSlytherin in conditions like this so it's a good idea to workout how we're going to cope with them. Harry, didn't you dosomething to your glasses to stop the rain fogging them upwhen we played Hufflepuff in that storm?"
"Hermione did it," said Harry. He pulled out his wand,tapped his glasses and said, "Impervius!"
"I think we all ought to try that," said Angelina. "If wecould just keep the rain off our faces it would really helpvisibility — all together, come on — Impervius! Okay. Let'sgo."
They all stowed their wands back in the inside pockets oftheir robes, shouldered their brooms, and followedAngelina out of the changing rooms.
They squelched through the deepening mud to the middleof the pitch; visibility was still very poor even with theImpervius Charm; light was fading fast and curtains of rainwere sweeping the grounds.
"All right, on my whistle," shouted Angelina.
Harry kicked off from the ground, spraying mud in alldirections, and shot upward, the wind pulling him slightlyoff course. He had no idea how he was going to see theSnitch in this weather; he was having enough difficultyseeing the one Bludger with which they were practicing; aminute into the practice it almost unseated him and he hadto use the Sloth Grip Roll to avoid it. Unfortunately Angelinadid not see this; in fact, she did not appear to be able to seeanything; none of them had a clue what the others weredoing. The wind was picking up; even at a distance Harrycould hear the swishing, pounding sounds of the rainpummeling the surface of the lake.
Angelina kept them at it for nearly an hour beforeconceding defeat. She led her sodden and disgruntled teamback into the changing rooms, insisting that the practicehad not been a waste of time, though without any realconviction in her voice. Fred and George were lookingparticularly annoyed; both were bandy-legged and wincedwith every movement. Harry could hear them complainingin low voices as he toweled his hair dry.
"I think a few of mine have ruptured," said Fred in ahollow voice.
"Mine haven't," said George, wincing. "They're throbbinglike mad ... feel bigger if anything ..."
"OUCH!" said Harry.
He pressed the towel to his face, his eyes screwed tightwith pain. The scar on his forehead had seared again, morepainfully than in months.
"What's up?" said several voices.
Harry emerged from behind his towel; the changing roomwas blurred because he was not wearing his glasses; but hecould still tell that everyone's face was turned toward him.
"Nothing," he muttered, "I — poked myself in the eye,that's all. ..."
But he gave Ron a significant look and the two of themhung back as the rest of the team filed back outside,muffled in their cloaks, their hats pulled low over their ears.
"What happened?" said Ron, the moment that Alicia haddisappeared through the door. "Was it your scar?"
Harry nodded.
"But ..." Looking scared, Ron strode across to the windowand stared out into the rain, "He — he can't be near us now,can he?"
"No," Harry muttered, sinking onto a bench and rubbinghis forehead. "He's probably miles away. It hurt because ...he's ... angry."
Harry had not meant to say that at all, and heard thewords as though a stranger had spoken them — yet heknew at once that they were true. He did not know how heknew it, but he did; Voldemort, wherever he was, whateverhe was doing, was in a towering temper.
"Did you see him?" said Ron, looking horrified. "Did you ...get a vision, or something?"
Harry sat quite still, staring at his feet, allowing his mindand his memory to relax in the aftermath of the pain. ...
A confused tangle of shapes, a howling rush of voices ...
"He wants something done, and it's not happening fastenough," he said.
Again, he felt surprised to hear the words coming out ofhis mouth, and yet quite certain that they were true.
"But ... how do you know?" said Ron.
Harry shook his head and covered his eyes with his hands,pressing down upon them with his palms. Little starserupted in them. He felt Ron sit down on the bench besidehim and knew Ron was staring at him.
"Is this what it was about last time?" said Ron in a hushedvoice. "When your scar hurt in Umbridge's office? YouKnow-Who was angry?"
Harry shook his head.
"What is it, then?"
Harry was thinking himself back. He had been lookinginto Umbridge's face. ... His scar had hurt ... and he hadhad that odd feeling in his stomach ... a strange, leapingfeeling ... a happy feeling. ... But, of course, he had notrecognized it for what it was, as he had been feeling somiserable himself. ...
"Last time, it was because he was pleased," he said."Really pleased.
"He thought ... something good was going to happen. Andthe night before we came back to Hogwarts ..." He thoughtback to the moment when his scar had hurt so badly in hisand Ron's bedroom in Grimmauld Place. "He was furious...."
He looked around at Ron, who was gaping at him.
"You could take over from Trelawney, mate," he said in anawed voice.
"I'm not making prophecies," said Harry.
"No, you know what you're doing?" Ron said, soundingboth scared and impressed. "Harry, you're reading YouKnow-Who's mind. ..."
"No," said Harry, shaking his head. "It's more like ... hismood, I suppose. I'm just getting flashes of what mood he'sin. ... Dumbledore said something like this was happeninglast year. ... He said that when Voldemort was near me, orwhen he was feeling hatred, I could tell. Well, now I'mfeeling it when he's pleased too. ..."
There was a pause. The wind and rain lashed at thebuilding.
"You've got to tell someone," said Ron.
"I told Sirius last time."
"Well, tell him about this time!"
"Can't, can I?" said Harry grimly. "Umbridge is watchingthe owls and the fires, remember?"
"Well then, Dumbledore —"
"I've just told you, he already knows," said Harry shortly,getting to his feet, taking his cloak off his peg, and swingingit around himself. "There's no point telling him again."
Ron did up the fastening of his own cloak, watching Harrythoughtfully.
"Dumbledore'd want to know," he said.
Harry shrugged.
"C'mon ... we've still got Silencing Charms to practice ..."
They hurried back through the dark grounds, sliding andstumbling up the muddy lawns, not talking. Harry wasthinking hard. What was it that Voldemort wanted done thatwas not happening quickly enough?
"He's got other plans ... plans he can put into operationvery quietly indeed ... stuff he can only get by stealth ... likea weapon. Something he didn't have last time."
He had not thought about those words in weeks; he hadbeen too absorbed in what was going on at Hogwarts, toobusy dwelling on the ongoing battles with Umbridge, theinjustice of all the Ministry interference. ... But now theycame back to him and made him wonder. ... Voldemort'sanger would make sense if he was no nearer laying handson the weapon, whatever it was. ... Had the Order thwartedhim, stopped him from seizing it? Where was it kept? Whohad it now?
"Mimbulus mimbletonia," said Ron's voice and Harrycame back to his senses just in time to clamber through theportrait hole into the common room.
It appeared that Hermione had gone to bed early, leavingCrookshanks curled in a nearby chair and an assortment ofknobbly, knitted elf hats lying on a table by the fire. Harrywas rather grateful that she was not around because he didnot much want to discuss his scar hurting and have herurge him to go to Dumbledore too. Ron kept throwing himanxious glances, but Harry pulled out his Potions book andset to work to finish his essay, though he was onlypretending to concentrate and, by the time that Ron said hewas going to bed too, had written hardly anything.
Midnight came and went while Harry was reading andrereading a passage about the uses of scurvy-grass, lovage,and sneezewort and not taking in a word of it. ...
These plantes are moste efficacious in the inflaming ofthe braine, and are therefore much used in Confusing andBefuddlement Draughts, where the wizard is desirous ofproducing hot-headedness and recklessness. ...
... Hermione said Sirius was becoming reckless cooped upin Grimmauld Place. ...
... moste efficacious in the inflaming of the braine, andare therefore much used ...
... the Daily Prophet would think his brain was inflamed ifthey found out that he knew what Voldemort was feeling ...
... therefore much used in Confusing and BefuddlementDraughts ...
... confusing was the word, all right; why did he knowwhat Voldemort was feeling? What was this weirdconnection between them, which Dumbledore had neverbeen able to explain satisfactorily?
... where the wizard is desirous ...
... how he would like to sleep ...
... of producing hot-headedness ...
... It was warm and comfortable in his armchair beforethe fire, with the rain still beating heavily on thewindowpanes and Crookshanks purring and the cracklingof the flames. ...
The book slipped from Harry's slack grip and landed witha dull thud on the hearthrug. His head fell sideways. ...
He was walking once more along a windowless corridor,his footsteps echoing in the silence. As the door at the endof the passage loomed larger his heart beat fast withexcitement. ... If he could only open it ... enter beyond ...
He stretched out his hand. ... His fingertips were inchesfrom it. ...
"Harry Potter, sir!"
He awoke with a start. The candles had all beenextinguished in the common room, but there was somethingmoving close by.
"Whozair?" said Harry, sitting upright in his chair. The firewas almost extinguished, the room very dark.
"Dobby has your owl, sir!" said a squeaky voice.
"Dobby?" said Harry thickly, peering through the gloomtoward the source of the voice.
Dobby the house-elf was standing beside the table onwhich Hermione had left her half a dozen knitted hats. Hislarge, pointed ears were now sticking out from beneathwhat looked like all the hats that Hermione had everknitted; he was wearing one on top of the other, so that hishead seemed elongated by two or three feet, and on thevery topmost bobble sat Hedwig, hooting serenely andobviously cured.
"Dobby volunteered to return Harry Potter's owl!" saidthe elf squeakily, with a look of positive adoration on hisface. "Professor Grubbly-Plank says she is all well now, sir!"
He sank into a deep bow so that his pencil-like nosebrushed the threadbare surface of the hearthrug andHedwig gave an indignant hoot and fluttered onto the armof Harry's chair.
"Thanks, Dobby!" said Harry, stroking Hedwig's head andblinking hard, trying to rid himself of the image of the doorin his dream. ... It had been very vivid. ... Looking back atDobby, he noticed that the elf was also wearing severalscarves and innumerable socks, so that his feet looked fartoo big for his body.
"Er ... have you been taking all the clothes Hermione'sbeen leaving out?"
"Oh no, sir," said Dobby happily, "Dobby has been takingsome for Winky too, sir."
"Yeah, how is Winky?" asked Harry.
Dobby's ears drooped slightly.
"Winky is still drinking lots, sir," he said sadly, hisenormous round green eyes, large as tennis balls,downcast. "She still does not care for clothes, Harry Potter.Nor do the other house-elves. None of them will cleanGryffindor Tower anymore, not with the hats and sockshidden everywhere, they finds them insulting, sir. Dobbydoes it all himself, sir, but Dobby does not mind, sir, for healways hopes to meet Harry Potter and tonight, sir, he hasgot his wish!" Dobby sank into a deep bow again. "ButHarry Potter does not seem happy," Dobby went on,straightening up again and looking timidly at Harry. "Dobbyheard him muttering in his sleep. Was Harry Potter havingbad dreams?"
"Not really bad," said Harry, yawning and rubbing hiseyes. "I've had worse."
The elf surveyed Harry out of his vast, orblike eyes. Thenhe said very seriously, his ears drooping, "Dobby wishes hecould help Harry Potter, for Harry Potter set Dobby free andDobby is much, much happier now. ..."
Harry smiled.
"You can't help me, Dobby, but thanks for the offer. ..."He bent and picked up his Potions book. He'd have to tryand finish the essay tomorrow. He closed the book and as hedid so the firelight illuminated the thin white scars on theback of his hand — the result of his detention withUmbridge.
"Wait a moment — there is something you can do for me,Dobby," said Harry slowly.
The elf looked around, beaming.
"Name it, Harry Potter, sir!"
"I need to find a place where twenty-eight people canpractice Defense Against the Dark Arts without beingdiscovered by any of the teachers. Especially," Harryclenched his hand on the book, so that the scars shonepearly white, "Professor Umbridge."
He expected the elf's smile to vanish, his ears to droop; heexpected him to say that this was impossible, or else that hewould try, but his hopes were not high. ... What he had notexpected was for Dobby to give a little skip, his earswaggling happily, and clap his hands together.
"Dobby knows the perfect place, sir!" he said happily."Dobby heard tell of it from the other house-elves when hecame to Hogwarts, sir. It is known by us as the Come andGo Room, sir, or else as the Room of Requirement!"
"Why?" said Harry curiously.
"Because it is a room that a person can only enter," saidDobby seriously, "when they have real need of it. Sometimesit is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it isalways equipped for the seeker's needs. Dobby has used it,sir," said the elf, dropping his voice and looking guilty,"when Winky has been very drunk. He has hidden her in theRoom of Requirement and he has found antidotes tobutterbeer there, and a nice elf-sized bed to settle her onwhile she sleeps it off, sir. ... And Dobby knows Mr. Filch hasfound extra cleaning materials there when he has runshort, sir, and —"
"— and if you really needed a bathroom," said Harry,suddenly remembering something Dumbledore had said atthe Yule Ball the previous Christmas, "would it fill itself withchamber pots?"
"Dobby expects so, sir," said Dobby, nodding earnestly. "Itis a most amazing room, sir."
"How many people know about it?" said Harry, sitting upstraighter in his chair.
"Very few, sir. Mostly people stumbles across it when theyneeds it, sir, but often they never finds it again, for they donot know that it is always there waiting to be called intoservice, sir."
"It sounds brilliant," said Harry, his heart racing. "Itsounds perfect, Dobby. When can you show me where it is?"
"Anytime, Harry Potter, sir," said Dobby, looking delightedat Harry's enthusiasm. "We could go now, if you like!"
For a moment Harry was tempted to go now; he washalfway out of his seat, intending to hurry upstairs for hisInvisibility Cloak when, not for the first time, a voice verymuch like Hermione's whispered in his ear: reckless. It was,after all, very late, he was exhausted and had Snape's essayto finish.
"Not tonight, Dobby," said Harry reluctantly, sinking backinto his chair. "This is really important. ... I don't want toblow it, it'll need proper planning. ... Listen, can you just tellme exactly where this Room of Requirement is and how toget in there?"
Their robes billowed and swirled around them as theysplashed across the flooded vegetable patch to doubleHerbology, where they could hardly hear what ProfessorSprout was saying over the hammering of raindrops hardas hailstones on the greenhouse roof. The afternoon's Careof Magical Creatures lesson was to be relocated from thestorm-swept grounds to a free classroom on the groundfloor and, to their intense relief, Angelina sought out herteam at lunch to tell them that Quidditch practice wascanceled.
"Good," said Harry quietly, when she told him, "becausewe've found somewhere to have our first Defense meeting.Tonight, eight o'clock, seventh floor opposite that tapestryof Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by those trolls. Canyou tell Katie and Alicia?"
She looked slightly taken aback but promised to tell theothers; Harry returned hungrily to his sausages and mash.When he looked up to take a drink of pumpkin juice, hefound Hermione watching him.
"What?" he said thickly.
"Well ... it's just that Dobby's plans aren't always thatsafe. Don't you remember when he lost you all the bones inyour arm?"
"This room isn't just some mad idea of Dobby's;Dumbledore knows about it too, he mentioned it to me atthe Yule Ball."
Hermione's expression cleared.
"Dumbledore told you about it?"
"Just in passing," said Harry, shrugging.
"Oh well, that's all right then," said Hermione briskly andshe raised no more objections.
Together with Ron they had spent most of the day seekingout those people who had signed their names to the list inthe Hog's Head and telling them where to meet thatevening. Somewhat to Harry's disappointment, it was Ginnywho managed to find Cho Chang and her friend first;however, by the end of dinner he was confident that thenews had been passed to every one of the twenty-fivepeople who had turned up in the Hog's Head.
At half-past seven Harry, Ron, and Hermione left theGryffindor common room, Harry clutching a certain piece ofaged parchment in his hand. Fifth years were allowed to beout in the corridors until nine o'clock, but all three of themkept looking around nervously as they made their way up tothe seventh floor.
"Hold it," said Harry warningly, unfolding the piece ofparchment at the top of the last staircase, tapping it withhis wand, and muttering, "I solemnly swear that I am up tono good."
A map of Hogwarts appeared upon the blank surface ofthe parchment. Tiny black moving dots, labeled with names,showed where various people were.
"Filch is on the second floor," said Harry, holding the mapclose to his eyes and scanning it closely, "and Mrs. Norris ison the fourth."
"And Umbridge?" said Hermione anxiously.
"In her office," said Harry, pointing. "Okay, let's go."
They hurried along the corridor to the place Dobby haddescribed to Harry, a stretch of blank wall opposite anenormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolishattempt to train trolls for the ballet.
"Okay," said Harry quietly, while a moth-eaten trollpaused in his relentless clubbing of the would-be balletteacher to watch. "Dobby said to walk past this bit of wallthree times, concentrating hard on what we need."
They did so, turning sharply at the window just beyondthe blank stretch of wall, then at the man-size vase on itsother side. Ron had screwed up his eyes in concentration,Hermione was whispering something under her breath,Harry's fists were clenched as he stared ahead of him.
We need somewhere to learn to fight. ... he thought. Justgive us a place to practice ... somewhere they can't find us...
"Harry," said Hermione sharply, as they wheeled aroundafter their third walk past.
A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Ron wasstaring at it, looking slightly wary. Harry reached out,seized the brass handle, pulled open the door, and led theway into a spacious room lit with flickering torches likethose that illuminated the dungeons eight floors below.
The walls were lined with wooden bookcases, and insteadof chairs there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set ofshelves at the far end of the room carried a range ofinstruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and alarge, cracked Foe-Glass that Harry was sure had hung, theprevious year, in the fake Moody's office.
"These will be good when we're practicing Stunning,"said Ron enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions withhis foot.
"And just look at these books!" said Hermione excitedly,running a finger along the spines of the large leather-boundtomes. "A Compendium of Common Curses and TheirCounter-Actions ... The Dark Arts Outsmarted ... SelfDefensive Spellwork ... wow ..." She looked around atHarry, her face glowing, and he saw that the presence ofhundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione thatwhat they were doing was right. "Harry, this is wonderful,there's everything we need here!"
And without further ado she slid Jinxes for the Jinxed fromits shelf, sank onto the nearest cushion, and began to read.
There was a gentle knock on the door. Harry lookedaround; Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean hadarrived.
"Whoa," said Dean, staring around, impressed. "What isthis place?"
Harry began to explain, but before he had finished morepeople had arrived, and he had to start all over again. Bythe time eight o'clock arrived, every cushion was occupied.Harry moved across to the door and turned the keyprotruding from the lock; it clicked in a satisfyingly loudway and everybody fell silent, looking at him. Hermionecarefully marked her page of Jinxes for the Jinxed and setthe book aside.
"Well," said Harry, slightly nervously. "This is the placewe've found for practices, and you've — er — obviouslyfound it okay —"
"It's fantastic!" said Cho, and several people murmuredtheir agreement.
"It's bizarre," said Fred, frowning around at it. "We oncehid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just abroom cupboard then. ..."
"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" asked Dean from the rearof the room, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.
"Dark Detectors," said Harry, stepping between thecushions to reach them. "Basically they all show when Darkwizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to relyon them too much, they can be fooled. ..."
He gazed for a moment into the cracked Foe-Glass;shadowy figures were moving around inside it, though nonewas recognizable. He turned his back on it.
"Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we oughtto do first and — er —" He noticed a raised hand. "What,Hermione?"
"I think we ought to elect a leader," said Hermione.
"Harry's leader," said Cho at once, looking at Hermione asthough she were mad, and Harry's stomach did yet anotherback flip.
"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," saidHermione, unperturbed. "It makes it formal and it gives himauthority. So — everyone who thinks Harry ought to be ourleader?"
Everybody put up their hands, even Zacharias Smith,though he did it very halfheartedly.
"Er — right, thanks," said Harry, who could feel his faceburning. "And — what, Hermione?"
"I also think we ought to have a name," she said brightly,her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of teamspirit and unity, don't you think?"
"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" said Angelinahopefully.
"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" suggestedFred.
"I was thinking," said Hermione, frowning at Fred, "moreof a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, sowe can refer to it safely outside meetings."
"The Defense Association?" said Cho. "The D.A. for short,so nobody knows what we're talking about?"
"Yeah, the D.A.'s good," said Ginny. "Only let's make itstand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry'sworst fear, isn't it?"
There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring andlaughter at this.
"All in favor of the D.A.?" said Hermione bossily, kneelingup on her cushion to count. "That's a majority — motionpassed!"
She pinned the piece of paper with all of their names on iton the wall and wrote DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY across thetop in large letters.
"Right," said Harry, when she had sat down again, "shallwe get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing weshould do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm.I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful —"
"Oh please," said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes andfolding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly goingto help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"
"I've used it against him," said Harry quietly. "It saved mylife last June."
Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the roomwas very quiet.
"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harrysaid.
Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else.
"Okay," said Harry, his mouth slightly drier than usualwith all those eyes upon him, "I reckon we should all divideinto pairs and practice."
It felt very odd to be issuing instructions, but not nearlyas odd as seeing them followed. Everybody got to their feetat once and divided up. Predictably, Neville was leftpartnerless.
"You can practice with me," Harry told him. "Right — onthe count of three, then — one, two, three —"
The room was suddenly full of shouts of "Expelliarmus!":Wands flew in all directions, missed spells hit books onshelves and sent them flying into the air. Harry was tooquick for Neville, whose wand went spinning out of hishand, hit the ceiling in a shower of sparks, and landed witha clatter on top of a bookshelf, from which Harry retrievedit with a Summoning Charm. Glancing around he thoughthe had been right to suggest that they practice the basicsfirst; there was a lot of shoddy spellwork going on; manypeople were not succeeding in disarming their opponents atall, but merely causing them to jump backward a few pacesor wince as the feeble spell whooshed over them.
"Expelliarmus!" said Neville, and Harry, caught unawares,felt his wand fly out of his hand.
"I DID IT!" said Neville gleefully. "I've never done itbefore — I DID IT!"
"Good one!" said Harry encouragingly, deciding not topoint out that in a real duel situation Neville's opponentwas unlikely to be staring in the opposite direction with hiswand held loosely at his side. "Listen, Neville, can you takeit in turns to practice with Ron and Hermione for a coupleof minutes so I can walk around and see how the rest aredoing?"
Harry moved off into the middle of the room. Somethingvery odd was happening to Zacharias Smith; every time heopened his mouth to disarm Anthony Goldstein, his ownwand would fly out of his hand, yet Anthony did not seem tobe making a sound. Harry did not have to look far for thesolution of the mystery, however; Fred and George wereseveral feet from Smith and taking it in turns to point theirwands at his back.
"Sorry, Harry," said George hastily, when Harry caught hiseye. "Couldn't resist ..."
Harry walked around the other pairs, trying to correctthose who were doing the spell wrong. Ginny was teamedwith Michael Corner; she was doing very well, whereasMichael was either very bad or unwilling to jinx her. ErnieMacmillan was flourishing his wand unnecessarily, givinghis partner time to get in under his guard; the Creeveybrothers were enthusiastic but erratic and mainlyresponsible for all the books leaping off the shelves aroundthem. Luna Lovegood was similarly patchy, occasionallysending Justin Finch-Fletchley's wand spinning out of hishand, at other times merely causing his hair to stand onend.
"Okay, stop!" Harry shouted. "Stop! STOP!"
I need a whistle, he thought, and immediately spotted onelying on top of the nearest row of books. He caught it upand blew hard. Everyone lowered their wands.
"That wasn't bad," said Harry, "but there's definite roomfor improvement." Zacharias Smith glared at him. "Let's tryagain. ..."
He moved off around the room again, stopping here andthere to make suggestions. Slowly the general performanceimproved. He avoided going near Cho and her friend for awhile, but after walking twice around every other pair inthe room felt he could not ignore them any longer.
"Oh no," said Cho rather wildly as he approached."Expelliarmious! I mean, Expellimellius! I — oh, sorry,Marietta!"
Her curly-haired friend's sleeve had caught fire; Mariettaextinguished it with her own wand and glared at Harry asthough it was his fault.
"You made me nervous, I was doing all right before then!"Cho told Harry ruefully.
"That was quite good," Harry lied, but when she raisedher eyebrows he said, "Well, no, it was lousy, but I know youcan do it properly, I was watching from over there. ..."
She laughed. Her friend Marietta looked at them rathersourly and turned away.
"Don't mind her," Cho muttered. "She doesn't really wantto be here but I made her come with me. Her parents haveforbidden her to do anything that might upset Umbridge,you see — her mum works for the Ministry."
"What about your parents?" asked Harry.
"Well, they've forbidden me to get on the wrong side ofUmbridge too," said Cho, drawing herself up proudly. "Butif they think I'm not going to fight You-Know-Who afterwhat happened to Cedric —"
She broke off, looking rather confused, and an awkwardsilence fell between them; Terry Boot's wand went whizzingpast Harry's ear and hit Alicia Spinnet hard on the nose.
"Well, my father is very supportive of any anti-Ministryaction!" said Luna Lovegood proudly from just behindHarry; evidently she had been eavesdropping on hisconversation while Justin Finch-Fletchley attempted todisentangle himself from the robes that had flown up overhis head. "He's always saying he'd believe anything ofFudge, I mean, the number of goblins Fudge has hadassassinated! And of course he uses the Department ofMysteries to develop terrible poisons, which he feedssecretly to anybody who disagrees with him. And thenthere's his Umgubular Slashkilter —"
"Don't ask," Harry muttered to Cho as she opened hermouth, looking puzzled. She giggled.
"Hey, Harry," Hermione called from the other end of theroom, "have you checked the time?"
He looked down at his watch and received a shock — itwas already ten past nine, which meant they needed to getback to their common rooms immediately or risk beingcaught and punished by Filch for being out-of-bounds. Heblew his whistle; everybody stopped shouting,"Expelliarmus!" and the last couple of wands clattered tothe floor.
"Well, that was pretty good," said Harry, "but we'veoverrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same placenext week?"
"Sooner!" said Dean Thomas eagerly and many peoplenodded in agreement.
Angelina, however, said quickly, "The Quidditch season'sabout to start, we need team practices too!"
"Let's say next Wednesday night, then," said Harry, "andwe can decide on additional meetings then. ... Come on,we'd better get going. ..."
He pulled out the Marauder's Map again and checked itcarefully for signs of teachers on the seventh floor. He letthem all leave in threes and fours, watching their tiny dotsanxiously to see that they returned safely to theirdormitories: the Hufflepuffs to the basement corridor thatalso led to the kitchens, the Ravenclaws to a tower on thewest side of the castle, and the Gryffindors along thecorridor to the seventh floor and the Fat Lady's portrait.
"That was really, really good, Harry," said Hermione,when finally it was just her, Harry, and Ron left."Yeah, it was!" said Ron enthusiastically, as they slippedout of the door and watched it melt back into stone behindthem. "Did you see me disarm Hermione, Harry?"
"Only once," said Hermione, stung. "I got you loads morethan you got me —"
"I did not only get you once, I got you at least three times—"
"Well, if you're counting the one where you tripped overyour own feet and knocked the wand out of my hand —"
They argued all the way back to the common room, butHarry was not listening to them. He had one eye on theMarauder's Map, but he was also thinking of how Cho hadsaid he made her nervous. ...
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