Chapter 193: Dumbledore's Army

So Thursday evening at half-past seven Chris, Ginny, Colin and Luna entered the Room of Requirement. Today before approaching the room they had clearly instructed the room that they don't need their own practice place but a big space for their defence group. So today the walls were lined with wooden bookcases, and instead of chairs, there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large, cracked Foe-Glass.

"Perfect." Colin grinned.

"Why can't I use my Animagus form to walk around the school?" Ginny said looking irritated as she threw the invisibility cloak away from her. 

"Because Gin, a white peacock in the school is manageable, a cute dog is still okay but if people see a tiger roaming around, what do you think will happen?" Chris chuckled.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"You are saying this cause people don't notice a snake roaming around," she snorted.

"True," Luna said smiling. "But you have to agree, you both are dangerous."

Ginny made a face and Chris and Colin sank onto the cushions laughing.

There was a gentle knock on the door. They stopped laughing and looked up to find Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Wow," Ron and Hermione's faces were hanging open.

"How did you find this place?" Harry asked looking at the Sneakoscopes and Secrecy Sensors.

"Long story short, this is the Room of Requirement. It changes itself according to people's need. We kinda stumbled on it last year," Ginny recited as they have decided.

"Great, just look at these books!" said Hermione excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large leather-bound tomes. "A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions . . . The Dark Arts Outsmarted . . . Self-Defensive Spellwork . . . wow . . . This is perfect."

"But how many people know about this place?" Harry asked.

"Not many," Chris answered.

"Maybe it's only us, not sure though," Colin said.

"It changes according to the person's need so it's possible that the room looks different for others," Luna said. "You will find books if you need to read, and —"

"— and if you really needed a bathroom," said Harry, suddenly. "would it fill itself with chamber pots?"

"Maybe. Never tried that one." Ginny laughed.

At that moment there was another knock on the door and Cedric entered with the rest of the Hufflepuffs.

"Woah," Cedric grinned looking around. "You weren't kidding when you said this room will be amazing."

"Yeah, what is this place?" Irena asked Chris.

Chris began to explain, but before she had finished more people had arrived, and she had to start all over again. By the time eight o'clock arrived and every cushion was occupied. 

Ginny closed her eyes and muttered something. The door vanished.

"For safety," Ginny said to the amazed crowd. "The door will appear when we want to leave."

Ginny sat down with the rest as Chris, Harry and Cedric stood in front of them.

Cedric and Harry gave Chris an encouraging nod and a little push forward. So Chris cleared her throat and everyone expectantly looked at her.

"Well, alright so we need to decide the first spell we are going to — er —" Chris noticed a raised hand. "What, Hermione?"

"I think we ought to elect a leader," said Hermione.

"I thought all three of them are leader," Cho said.

"Yeah, I thought that too," said Chris looking puzzled.

"Yeah, but don't you think it will complicate things a little bit?" Hermione said. "I think we ought to vote on it properly."

The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors mainly exchanged uneasy looks which Chris noticed. The last thing they need the inner battle between those two houses like last year.

"No," Chris said firmly. "We don't need to vote among us, Hermione. The main purpose of this group is to unite not to divide. We three are going to be the leaders or teachers or what do you want to name us."

Several people murmured in relief and agreed with Chris.

"Alright, sorry, but I think we ought to have a name," Hermione said a little nervously, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"

"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" said Angelina hopefully.

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"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" suggested Fred.

"I was thinking," said Hermione, rolling her eyes at Fred, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we 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 it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this.

"All in favor of the D.A.?" said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. "That's a majority — motion passed!"

She handed the piece of paper with all of their names on it to Chris, who waved her wand and the words appeared on the wall: DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY. Then the paper pinned itself under it.

"Right," said Harry to Chris, "shall we get practising then? I was thinking, the first thing we should 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 and folding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

"Oh, are you planning to duel with You-Know-Who tomorrow?" Chris smiled at him. 

"No," Smith gritted his teeth. "I'm saying —"

"You are saying a lot of things from day one, Smith and I'm listening," Chris sighed. "So let me tell you something, I don't give a damn about your crap, because you strike me as a person who will run away the moment any Death Eater decided to come after us, let alone Voldemort. Got it? Now if you really want to learn something then shut up."

Fred whistled. Smith opened his mouth stupidly but then just glared at Chris.

"Keep that attitude up and I will gladly kick you out," Ginny returned his glare.

"Okay, so as Harry said we can start with Harry's favourite spell Expelliarmus," Chris said briskly. "Okay with you, Cedric?"

"Absolutely," Cedric turned his gaze back to Chris from Smith.

"Good, so I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice," Harry said and everybody got to their feet at once and divided up.

Cedric went to partner up with Cho.

"You wanna disarm me, Potter?" Chris asked grinning.

"Oh you better be prepared," Harry chuckled as they face each other.

"Right — on the 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 on shelves and sent them flying into the air.

Chris didn't utter the spell so before Harry realized it, his wand went spinning out of his hand, and then hit the ceiling in a shower of sparks, and landed with a clatter on top of a bookshelf.

"But you didn't say anything!" Harry exclaimed looking shocked.

Chris winked as she summoned Harry's wand and hand it back to him.

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To be continued...