Chapter Eleven: In the Room of Requirement
"How many people are coming?" Draco asked as Harish's close group of friends waited in the Room of Requirement.
"Just a few that I've invited," Harish replied simply.
He was lounging on a rather comfortable chair the room had provided. The young man actually felt that the room had outdone itself that time. The seven of them had paced to and fro in front of the stretch of wall that the Room of Requirement appeared, thinking something along the lines of "We need somewhere to practice were they can't find us…"
After three paces, a pair of doors had materialized in the previously empty wall. Harish had seized the brass handle, pulled the door open, and led the way into a rather spacious room lit with flickering torches like those in the dungeons.
The walls were lined with book cases, and the room seemed to have two sections; a sitting area where there was a chair and several silk floor cushions beside the bookshelves, and a large open space that was obviously for dueling.
Harish was seated on the chair and the twins were both sitting on floor cushions. Draco was also seated on a cushion in between Daphne and Ginny, and Hermione was perusing through the books, occasionally saying something like, "A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions, that'll come in handy!"
There was a knock on the door. Harish looked around; The first group had arrived, consisting of Dean, Neville, Angelina, and Katie Bell.
"Whoa," Neville said, staring around, impressed. "What is this place?"
He started to explain, but before he had finished more people walked through the door. This group included a girl named Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood, Roger Davies, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot. Then, not long afterwards, a gaggle of Hufflepuffs entered: Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan, and two girls that hung out with them.
Once he was sure everyone was there and seated on the cushions, Harish hopped out of his seat, moved across to the door, and turned the key in the lock; it clicked in a satisfying sort of way and everyone fell silent, looking at him.
"Well," Harish said, finally sitting in his chair once again and looking down at the others. "You all know why you are here. We need a teacher—a proper teacher. I know Umbridge says You-Know-Who isn't back. Perhaps he's not. But she is also trying to convince us that defending ourselves is wrong. And there is nothing worse with her logic than that. We are all old enough to think for ourselves, so it is time we took action and stood up for what we need—proper training that might help us pass our exams."
"Hear, hear!" Anthony Goldstein said, earning smiles and nods from everyone else.
"And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the spells—"
"You want to pass your NEWT's as well, then?" Angelina asked.
Harish nodded. "As I'm sure all of the fifth years here would like to pass their OWL's. But more than that, I want you all to be able to think for yourselves, have a little fun, and be rebellious now and then."
"Coming from the three biggest pranksters in the school," one of the Hufflepuff girls muttered with a smile.
"A bit of rule breaking is good for you, now and then," George protested.
"As is a little rule following," Harish said. "Which is why we're here. To learn when we need to fight, and when we need to submit. I tried standing up to Umbridge, but it soon became evident that doing so directly was not a good idea." His hand tightened on his cane and the words 'I will do as I'm told' shone white against the rest of his hand. "So I had to take a different approach."
"Is it true that you can produce a patronus charm?" the other Hufflepuff girl asked suddenly.
There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.
"Yes," Harish replied.
"A corporeal patronus?"
"What is your name?" Harish asked.
"Susan Bones," she said with a smile. "My aunt works with the Ministry. So—is it true? You make a snake patronus?"
"Yes," Harish said again.
"Blimey, Harish," Dean said looking impressed. "I never knew that!"
"And did you really defeat a demon in the Chamber of Secrets?" Terry Boot demanded. "That's what one of the portraits in Dumbledore's office told me when I was in there last year…"
"Yes, I did," Harish said, taken aback. It seemed that nothing was kept a secret at Hogwarts—except this group so far.
Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled, the two Hufflepuff girls exchanged looks, and Cho Chang muttered "wow" under her breath.
"And last year he made first place in all of the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament—getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas and things…"
"And that's not to mention the fact that he managed to fend off an attack right after the third task." Hermione said.
Obviously word had gotten out about why Harish was in the Hospital Wing at the end of the previous year. Of course it helped that they had not had a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher the last few weeks of school; Jugson had fled when his identity had been discovered.
There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the table. Harish forced his face not to show his pleasure; his plan was working very well.
"So…" he said after a pause. "We know where we can have meetings, but how do we determine when we meet? I don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week—"
"Hang on," Angelina interrupted. "We need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."
"No," Cho agreed. "Nor with ours."
"I know," Harish said. "Nor ours—I'm sure we can find an evening that suits everyone. But this is rather important, we're talking about learning how to defend ourselves against attacks."
"Well said!" Ernie Macmillan barked. "Personally I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWL's coming up!"
He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry, "Surely not!"
When no one spoke, he went on, "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to prevent us from using defensive spells—"
"Personally," Draco said. "I think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts is because the Ministry thinks that Dumbledore is raising an army. They think he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."
Nearly everyone looked stunned at this. Draco, being a pureblood, was not one to be expected to have to do with Muggle-borns and blood-traitors, so he was surprising them all just by attending. But the fact that his father worked in the Ministry gave him a credibility in that particular subject. The only one who was surprised was Luna, who piped up, "Well that makes sense since Fudge has his own private army."
"What?" Harish asked in confusion.
"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," Luna replied solemnly.
"No he hasn't," Hermione snapped.
"Yes, he has," Luna said.
"What are heliopaths?" Neville asked, looking blank.
"They're spirits of fire," Luna said, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever. "Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of—"
"They don't exist, Neville," Hermione added tartly.
"Oh yes they do!" Luna protested angrily.
"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" Hermione snapped.
"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you—"
"Hem, hem," Ginny interrupted, sounding so much like Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defense lessons?"
"Yes," Hermione said at once, "Yes, we were, you're right…"
"Well, once a week sounds fine," Dean said.
"As long as—" Angelina began.
"Yes, yes, we know about Quidditch," Daphne said.
"So when is everyone's practices?" Harish asked.
"Ours are on Fridays," Angelina said.
"Saturday," Cho informed them.
"And Slytherins are on Wednesdays," Harish told them.
"So how about…Mondays?" Everyone nodded. "Eight o'clock next Monday evening?"
Everyone nodded their agreement.
"And before we leave," Hermione said. "I-I think everyone should write their name, just so that we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge—or anyone else—what we're up to."
Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully put down his signature, but Harish noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of putting their names on the list. George signed it as well and tried to pass it to Ernie, but he hesitated. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.
"I—well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found…well, I mean to say…you said yourself if Umbridge finds out…"
"We are not doing anything wrong," Harish interjected.
"Are you sure?" Michael Corner asked. "I mean, Umbridge won't be too happy if she finds out—"
"I'm sure," Harish said firmly. "I owled the Wizarding Examinations Authority and they told me that I could start this group. They even gave me a permit." He waved a slip of paper under their noses. "See? We are outside the Ministry and the Board of Governors' authority!"
Everyone looked surprised at his forethought, but they all put their names down without any more arguments. Finally, Harish was the last one to sign it and he handed it back to Hermione, who tacked it up on a cork board that had just appeared. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as though they had just signed some kind of contract.
"Well," Draco said, hopping to his feet and clapping his hands together. "I have some essays to finish, if you'll excuse me."
At that, the rest of the crowd dispersed until it was just Harish, the twins, and Hermione.
"I think that went rather well," Harish said.
Hermione went over to the cork board and started waving her wand around.
"What are you doing?" Harish asked.
"I'm making sure no one will tell on us without us knowing," Hermione replied.
Harish got up as well and said, "I have an idea on the name of the group. May I?"
Hermione stepped to the side and Harish placed a quill to the parchment, writing in large letters DARK ARMY.
"Harish," Hermione said. "I'm not sure—"
"Can you cast a spell on the name?" Harish interrupted.
"What?"
"Can you cast a spell on the name to make it read whatever the person reading it expects?"