The rain was still pouring down the following day so Tori wasn't surprised when Angelina announced that quidditch was canceled. She was, however, surprised to hear that Harry had found a place for them to practice.

"What? Where?" Alicia was the first to speak up. "Tonight, eight o'clock, seventh floor opposite that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by those trolls."

Tori nodded, getting up and rushing to tell the twins in Lee. At five to eight they followed the instructions, leading them to the tapestry. There wasn't anything there until Tori heard Alicia gasp.

A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Tori was staring at it, looking slightly wary. She reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open the door, and led the way into a spacious room lit with flickering torches like those that illuminated the dungeons eight floors below.

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 that Tori was sure had hung, the previous year, in the fake Moody's office.

Harry, Ron, Hermione Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean were already inside when they entered.

"Woah..." Tori gasped, looking around.

''Well," said Harry, slightly nervously as he stood in front of everyone. "This is the place we've found for practice sessions, and you've —  er — obviously found it okay."

''It's fantastic!" Cho Chang said, and several people murmured their agreement.

''It's bizarre," Fred nodded, frowning around at it. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then."

''Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" asked Dean from the rear of the room, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.

''Dark detectors," Harry explained, stepping between the cushions to reach them. ''Basically, they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled..."

He gazed for a moment into the cracked Foe-Glass for a moment before turning back towards them. "Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and — er — " He noticed a raised hand. "What, Hermione?"

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

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

''Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," Hermione shrugged unperturbed. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So — everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"

Everybody put up their hand, even Zacharias Smith, though he did it very half-heartedly.

''Er — right, thanks," said Harry, scratching the back of his head. "And — what, Hermione?"

''I also think we ought to have a name," She said brightly, 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?" Angelina asked hopefully.

"Team We Know What We're Doing?" Tori pointed.

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

''I was thinking," Hermione said, frowning 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 Defence Association?" Cho asked. "The DA for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"

''Yeah, the DA's good," Ginny nodded. "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. "I like that." Tori agreed.

''All in favor of the DA?" Hermione was kneeling up on her cushion to count. "That's a majority — motion passed!"

She pinned the piece of parchment with all of their signatures on it on to the wall and wrote across the top in large letters:

DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY

''Right," Harry nodded, when she had sat down again, ''Shall we get practicing 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," Zacharias Smith scoffed, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

''I've used it against him," said Harry quietly. "It saved my life in June."

Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet. Tori closed her eyes, feeling Fred place his hand on her shoulder and give her a comforting squeeze.

''But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry said.

Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else.

''Okay," said Harry. ''I reckon we should start with the dummy, yes?" 

One by one the group fell into a line behind Harry and Neville. "Expelliarmus!" Neville cried, pointing his wand. Instead of hitting the dummy, however, his own wand went flying back, causing everyone to duck

"I'm hopeless." Neville sighed. Harry was quick to shake his head. "You're just flourishing your wand too much. Try it like this. Expelliarmus."

When it was Tori's turn she held her wand out slowly counting to herself before flourishing her wand. "Expelliarmus!" The dummy's wand went flying upwards and hitting the ground with a quiet thud.

"Brilliant Tori!" Harry complimented. "Next time, aim the tip more, that will give you more control over where it goes. Like this, Expelliarmus!" He cast the spell quickly and caught the wand with ease. Tori nodded and headed towards the back of the line.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Excellent Ginny! Alright, partner up now. Take it slow, we want to be able to get the basics down before we start to do any other difficult spells."

Tori partnered up with Alicia and the two began practicing while Harry walked around giving pointers. "Nice aim, Tori. Just point the tip more, yeah that's better. Alicia, don't wait for Tori to strike, strike first. Er— no Collin not like that... Fred, I mean George— don't wave your wand around so much."

"Hey, Harry," Hermione called from the other end of the room, ''Have you checked the time?"

He looked down at his watch and was shocked to see it was already ten past nine, which meant they needed to get back to their common rooms immediately or risk being caught and punished by Filch for being out of bounds. He blew his whistle; everybody stopped shouting ''Expelliarmus'' and the last couple of wands clattered to the floor.

''Well, that was pretty good," said Harry, "But we've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?"

''Sooner!" Dean Thomas shouted eagerly and many people nodded in agreement.

Angelina, however, said quickly, "The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!"

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

it's the weekend for me!
i survived my first week (or technically two days) of in-person school!
yay