Lily

Chapter Forty Nine:

The first DA meeting took place in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade. Lily wondered what the four founder's deal with pigs was, but that was besides the point.

She entered the dingy looking pub with December, Ginny, Neville and Lena. They glanced around at the gloomy atmosphere before joining the others.

"Hey guys!" December greeted.

"Hey Deci." Hermione acknowledged.

"Is this everyone?" She asked.

"No, we're still waiting on a few more." Hermione said, making eye contact with Lily for a moment.

So Lily may have neglected to tell Harry about the Slytherin attending the meeting with her friends. She really was tired of having to defend the house as a whole for the actions of a few.

Fred and George arrived with Lee, and Fred ordered them all butterbeers before telling them to pay up before he didn't have enough to pay for the whole lot of them. Lily laughed and handed a few coins up to the front. The door to the pub opened and a few heads turned casually to see who it was. Then someone gasped and everyone looked over.

"Hey." Was all Hayden said, but people were glaring at her and even pointing accusatory fingers.

"What're you doing here?" Seamus demanded.

"Same as you lot." Hayden said, walking further into the pub and taking a seat next to Lily. Four Slytherins followed behind her and took their seats in various places around the room while everyone was too shocked to say anything. That shock didn't last.

"If you're here to report us to Umbridge, we haven't done anything wrong!" Cho said icily, eyeing a Slytherin boy next to her.

"Did you not hear Hayden?" The boy replied, "We're here for the same reason you all are- to learn defensive magic."

"What a load of rubbish." Seamus scoffed.

"You can't expect us to believe that." Lavender added.

"Don't really care if you believe us or not-"

"Spying-"

"Listen!" Hayden, clapped her hands together loudly, interrupted the argument brewing, "We're here the same way you all are- we were invited!"

"By who?" Harry asked, confused.

"Yeah, by who?" Someone else echoed.

Hermione glanced at Lily nervously, but Harry caught the movement and looked at his sister with his best "please don't let it be you" expression.

"Lily."

There was another outburst of protests and now people were glaring at Lily as well as the Slytherins.

"What gave you the right to jeopardize-?!" Lavender, who sat nearby, exclaimed.

"I-"

"I'm leaving." A Hufflepuff declared, standing up with a few of his friends.

"Wait!" Hermione blurted out.

Everyone paused and the attention was on her.

"We are making this group to learn defensive magic, yeah? And yes, Umbridge won't be happy if she finds that out, but did you all really think we wouldn't have some precautions? I have a paper, I think we all should sign it. It's enchanted so you can't betray the group to Umbridge." Hermione said, bending the truth a bit.

"Right, and who's going to teach us?" Zacharias Smith asked.

"Harry." Ron said.

All eyes fell on the boy who lived. Harry swallowed nervously.

"Well then, Harry, surely you think it's a bad idea to invite Slytherins to these meetings." Zacharias, "Or are you just as ignorant as your sister?"

"Hey!" Harry snapped, "Shut up!"

Hermione and Ron glared at Zacharias, along with all of Lily's friends.

"Look, it doesn't matter what I or anyone else personally think about the Slytherins here. Like Hermione said, there will be enchantments in place to prevent anyone from snitching. Besides," Harry looked at Lily, "You can't judge a whole house of people on the actions of a select group."

George whistled.

"Wise words Harry." He said.

"Let's just hope you're right." Fred finished.

"Okay, well I think we should have a name." Hermione said, trying to steer the topic away from the Slytherins present.

"How about The Anti-Umbridge Association?" Someone suggested.

"Or the Umbridge Is Awful Society?" Lavender asked.

"Bit of an understatement," Fred said.

"How about The Potter Protection Group?" A Gryffindor said.

"No," Harry said immediately.

"What about Dumbledore's Army?" Ginny asked, "The DA for short?"

Everyone fell silent, apart from some noises of agreement. Hermione grinned.

"That settles it then- well done, Ginny." And she wrote the name "Dumbledore's Army" at the top of her parchment, "Now everyone gather around and sign this!"

They did, albeit some a bit reluctantly at first. Once everyone's name was down, and a few people double-checked that the Slytherin's present wrote their names down too, the group moved on to their next matter of business.

"Now, we just need a place to meet," Harry said.

"The library?" A Ravenclaw suggested.

"No, too obvious. Besides, I doubt Madam Pince would appreciate that." Hermione dismissed.

"And I'm still banned," December added.

"Right... that too," Hermione said, a bit awkwardly.

"It needs to be somewhere secret." Harry said, "Someplace Umbridge wouldn't think to look."

Everyone went silent in thought.

"Well, think about it, and if you find anyplace, let me, Lily, Hermione, or Ron know," Harry said.

Lily froze up for a second at hearing her name listed as a person in charge. She looked to her brother.

"Um, Harry, are you sure...?" She asked quietly.

He nodded once as if there wasn't a single doubt in his mind.

"Well, I guess that concludes our first meeting," Hermione said.

Students slowly trickled out of the pub and Hayden walked up to Lily.

"Thanks for having us," Hayden said.

"Thank you for coming," Lily replied with a nervous laugh.

"Of course, we came. We're a part of Dumbledore's Army now, right?"

"Right."

"Well, see you around!" Hayden said and left with her friends. Lily watched them go before hearing someone else come up beside her.

"You know," Harry began, "For a Slytherin, she didn't seem that bad."

Lily gently shoved him. Harry laughed.

"Come on, let's get back to the castle before Umbridge gives us detention for being "late" or something," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

Lily shuddered at the thought of another detention with Umbridge and followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione out of the Hog's Head.