"This was definitely a broom cupboard last time we were here," George could be heard saying to Lee and Fred as Calliope and Natalie walked into the room of requirement that evening.

Although the two girls were perfectly on time it seemed that they were among the last to arrive for the meeting, as there was already a clamour of excited chatter among the students gathered, all of whom were seated on cushions.

The room had walls lined with bookcases which must've contained every book about Defence Against the Dark Arts since Hogwarts was founded, space was large and open which would allow for duelling practice, there was a noticeboard (which was empty) and a table containing a wide array of dark detectors.

The cushions on the floor were rapidly filling up. Natalie and Calliope seated themselves beside Fred, George and Lee, before Harry awkwardly cleared his throat, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"Well..." said Harry, "this is the place we've found for practice sessions, and you've eh-obviously found it okay."

"It's fantastic," Cho Chang said. Calliope couldn't help but agree, she could almost feel the magic woven through every molecule of the room.

"Hey Harry, what's this stuff?" Dean Thomas asked, gesturing at the dark detectors.

Harry gave a description of them, telling the group that it was best not to fully rely on them as they sometimes malfunctioned. "Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and- what Hermione?"

Hermione's hand was in the air, she withdrew it as she answered, "I think we ought to elect a leader."

"Harry's leader," said Cho, looking at Hermione as if she were mad. 

"Yes but I think we ought to vote on it properly, it will make it formal and give him authority," said Hermione, "so everyone who thinks Harry should be the leader?"

Every single person (apart from Harry) put their hand in the air, a unanimous decision. Harry was the leader.

"Right... thanks..." said Harry, his face growing red, "And I was thinking- what Hermione?"

"I also think we ought to have a name," said Hemione brightly, her hand once again 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 Johnson hopefully.

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

"MoMaMG for short!" Natalie grinned.

"How about something that doesn't tell everyone exactly what we're up to?" said Calliope, rolling her eyes at Fred and Natalie.

"Yes, so we can refer to it safely outside of meetings," nodded Hermione.

"The Defence Association?" said Cho, "DA for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about."

"Yeah, the DA's good, but let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army," said Ginny, "because that's the Ministry's worst fear isn't it?"

There was a collective murmur of agreement. Hermione got those in favour to raise their hands, quickly counting the hands to find that it was a majority, meaning that the group received its new name, Dumbledore's Army, which Hermione wrote across the list of everyone's names and then pinned up on the noticeboard.

"Right," said Harry, once Hermione had sat down again, "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, "I don't think Expelliarmus is going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

"I've used it against him," said Harry, "It saved Fred's, Calliope's and my life in June."

Smith opened his mouth and then closed it again like a fish.

"But if you think it's beath you then you can leave," Harry said, no one moved, "okay, I reckon we should divide up into pairs and practice."

The group began to divide up into pairs, scrambling to be with their friends. Naturally, Natalie immediately grabbed Calliope's arm and pulled her off into a space. 

Harry had paired up with Neville Longbottom, who had been left partnerless. "Right," Harry raised his voice above the chatter, "-on the count of three then -one, two three-"

There were deafening shouts of 'Expelliarums' from all over the room. It seemed Calliope was the only person who didn't need to speak in order to cast her spell, as Natalie's spell missed Calliope and Natalie's own wand flew from her hand and hit one of the large bookcases, bouncing off of each shelf, before clattering to a halt on the floor.

Calliope spent the rest of the evening allowing Natalie to practice her disarming charm, as Calliope was already quite good at this particular spell. Natalie was a clumsy caster, which tended to let her down in defensive magic. Her spells were often not powerful enough, or they completely missed her target. So this practice was very useful for Natalie. Harry offered the girl a few useful tips, and soon she was performing the spell flawlessly.

It seemed like the time whizzed by until Harry blew his whistle and announced that they had run over and all ought to be getting back to their common rooms.

"Same time next week?" Harry asked the room at large.

"Sooner!" said Dean Thomas, to a collective nod and murmur of agreement.

"The Quidditch season is about to start!" said Angelina Johnson in a concerned manner, "We need team practices too!"

"Let's say next Wednesday night them," said Harry, "we can decide on additional meetings then. Come on, we'd better get going!"