A Change in Fate || Cedric Diggory [1]

Chapter 41: Dumbledore's Army

When Neville Longbottom said that he had found a place that they could use to hold their secret Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, Harry and the others were admittedly a little skeptical. After all, the only other available rooms they knew that existed within the castle were old classrooms, but they gave Neville the benefit of the doubt and followed him anyway. He led them through numerous corridors until they reached a blank wall on the seventh floor. Then, he walked past it a few times in silence, causing Analeigh, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Fred and George to exchange confused looks.

All of a sudden, a large, brown door appeared on the wall before their very eyes. Analeigh's jaw dropped, and she was still speechless as Neville shyly brought them into the room.

"You've done it, Neville," Hermione said in awe. "You found the Room of Requirement."

"The what?" asked Ron.

"Wait, this is the Come and Go Room?" Analeigh said to which Hermione nodded.

"Yes, that's its other name. The Room of Requirement only appears when a person has real need of it, and it's always equipped for the seeker's needs."

"So, say you really needed the toilet..." Ron trailed off.

"Charming, Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes. "But, yes, that is the general idea."

"It's brilliant," Harry said sincerely. Everyone else looked his way to find him beaming. "It's like Hogwarts wants us to fight back."

And that's exactly what they set out to do only a few days later. After they had gotten the word out to the students involved — which Hermione had done through fake Galleons that she and Analeigh had placed Protean Charms on — it was officially time to start. On the day of their first meeting, all the students who signed up back at the Hog's Head had gathered inside the Room of Requirement, eager to start learning real magic. Cushions and floor pillows had been fashioned by the room out of nowhere, so everyone took their seats on them. Analeigh sat in between Hermione and Cedric while Harry stood in front of them.

"Well," Harry began a bit nervously. "This is the place we've found for practices, and you've — um — obviously found it okay..."

"It's fantastic," Cho complimented, and a few people made sounds of agreement.

"I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and — er —" Harry stopped short when he noticed Hermione had her hand raised as if she was in class. "What, Hermione?"

"I think we ought to have a name," she said. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"

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

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

"I was thinking more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"The Defense Association?" said Cho. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"

"Yeah, the D.A.'s good," Ginny agreed. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

Another round of appreciative murmurs and even laughter echoed around the room.

"All in favor of the D.A.?" said Hermione. Everyone raised their hands, and Hermione kneeled so that she could count the votes — she seemed to be enjoying handling all the formalities as if this was a legitimate organization. "That's a majority — motion passed!"

With a bright smile, Hermione stood up to pin the piece of paper with all of their names on it on the wall and scribbled DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY on the top.