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.

When she had sat down again, Harry said, "Right, 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 cut him off. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

"Your big mouth is what's not helping us," Analeigh twisted in her place to tell the boy. Cedric chuckled but stopped himself, knowing that he shouldn't be condoning a possible fight between two D.A. members — it wouldn't be good for their first session. Hiding his amused smile, he gently turned Analeigh back around before she could continue spitting out insults.

"I've actually used it against him," Harry deadpanned. "It saved my life last June."

Zacharias opened his mouth to retort, but no sound came out.

"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry said simply. Zacharias didn't move nor did he make any objections again. "Okay. I reckon we can, er, discuss the spell first. Then we can line up and start practicing on some targets."

With that, everyone got up on their feet and banished the cushions to create space in the middle of the room. Because Harry sought some target objects, the Room of Requirement granted his wish — at the front of the room stood a few wooden, mannequin-like figures that Harry noted resembled the Death Eaters he could remember from the graveyard.

It felt strange to teach his school mates about the spell, from its uses to the incantation and even the wand movement. Most of them already knew how to cast it, but they were willing to go through the basics again as their first lesson. Besides, there were also a lot of younger students there, like Nigel Wolpert. Once Harry had finished what felt like the most awkward lecture in his life, the D.A. members formed a line before the targets. He stood in front to guide each of the members whenever it was their turn, and the first person he would be helping was Neville.

The wooden Death Eater raised up its fake wand. Neville gulped and glanced at Harry who nodded at him encouragingly. Neville took a deep breath before brandishing his wand and saying, "Expelliarmus!"

Analeigh didn't quite know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't that Neville would basically disarm himself. His wand flew out of his hand and shot itself backwards. The students in line gasped and ducked to avoid getting hit by the flying wand, which eventually struck the mirror at the back of the room with a few sparks.

"That nearly took out my eye," Alden commented. Cedric nudged his best friend to shut up, feeling slightly bad for Neville who was wincing at the scene he caused.

"I'm hopeless," Neville sighed.

"You're just flourishing your wand too much," Harry explained. "Try it like this: Expelliarmus!"

The target was successfully disarmed, its fake wand flying out of its grasp and landing somewhere else in the room. Some of the D.A. members mumbled amongst themselves, clearly impressed by Harry. It was only their first meeting, but they all felt as if they were truly going to learn a lot from him.

★ ★ ★

The D.A. progressed slowly but efficiently over the next few days. No matter what age they were or what house they came from, they were all improving one way or another, and Harry could see it happen in every meeting. It was odd being a teacher when he was only a student as well, but at the same time, he found himself learning from the other members, too. They each had something to bring to the table, and it was also a bonus that they were all forming new friendships with each other, too.

On one of their weekend sessions, Harry decided that it was time to transition from practicing on targets to actual people. By that time, everyone seemed to be getting the hang of most of the basic defensive spells he had taught, so there was no better time than now.

"Stunning is one of the most useful spells in your arsenal," said Harry, walking down the aisle between the D.A. members lined up on either side of him. "It's a wizard's bread and butter, really."

"He already sounds like a professor," Analeigh said lowly, causing Hermione and Ron to laugh under their breaths.

"Should we start calling him Professor Potter?" Ron joked. Hermione stifled another laugh and elbowed him to listen.

"So, um, come on, then, Nigel," Harry continued, making his way to stand on the other end of the room. "Give it your best shot."

Everyone's eyes flitted from Harry to Nigel. The younger boy stood directly opposite of him, looking nervous at all the attention.

"Stupefy!" Nigel exclaimed. A jet of light hit Harry and he was sent flying backwards. However, the force from the spell also made Nigel lose balance and fall on his behind with a small thud. A few people gasped, either taken aback by Nigel actually performing the spell properly or worried for Harry who had hit the ground quite hard.

"Good," Harry said when he had recovered. "Not bad at all, Nigel. Well done."

The next pair to demonstrate was Hermione and Ron. Analeigh and Harry shared looks, very keen on seeing how this would unfold.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," Ron reassured.

"Thanks, Ronald," said Hermione, though she looked pretty confident in herself. And then, Ron walked away from her to begin. The room was suddenly filled with cheers for Ron, and Analeigh couldn't tell if they were sincere or done teasingly — perhaps it was a mixture of both.

"Come on, Ron!"

"You can do it!"

"One Sickle," Fred challenged his twin.

"You're on," George replied.

Neville raised a fist at Ron in an attempt to be encouraging. The redhead merely forced a smile before getting into position. He and Hermione raised their wands as the room fell into silence. Almost at the same time, they waved their wands and opened their mouths, but Hermione was just a tad quicker.

"Stupefy!" she said. Ron yelped as the spell blasted him away. Everyone erupted into laughs, and Analeigh couldn't help but join in it, too. Fred sighed in disappointment as he handed George the money he owed him.

"Thank you," George said in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up," Fred muttered.

Ron approached his brothers who had bet on him, looking embarrassed but trying his best to seem nonchalant.

"I let her do that. It's good manners, isn't it? It was completely intentional," he said to them. Fred and George nodded exaggeratedly, knowing that that was not the case at all. Meanwhile, a few feet away from them, Analeigh and some of the other girls from the D.A. were giggling as they congratulated Hermione.

"That was great, Hermione," Harry said, trying not to look too entertained by Ron's loss. "Now, can we have another pair to demonstrate the Disarming Charm now? I think we've got the Stunning Spell down."

"Leigh, you should go next," Ginny urged Analeigh, mildly startling her.

"But why —"

"Yeah, why not?" Harry beamed, having overheard them. "Who'd like to go against her?"

"Come on, Ced!" Alden pushed Cedric forward. It caught him off guard and he stumbled slightly into the empty space just as Harry dragged Analeigh to the other end. Everyone broke out into interested chatter at this combination.

"Two Triwizard champions!" Nigel said excitedly.

"Diggory's gonna win this, for sure," Ernie MacMillian said.

"Are you kidding? He's too much of a gentleman to do that," Michael Corner scoffed.

"Or maybe Leigh will actually beat him fair and square," one of the Patil twins interjected.

"Remember, Leigh, Cedric — you only need to disarm," Harry reminded, stepping to the side to give way for them. The two of them nodded at his instructions. Eventually, everyone quieted down once more. Analeigh readied herself, keeping her feet firmly grounded. Cedric did the same, looking determined as he raised his wand. The air was thick with tension as the onlookers waited for one of them to make the first move.

"Expelliarmus!" Cedric said.

"Protego!" Analeigh countered. Cedric's spell rebounded off of the translucent shield she conjured.

"Er, guys," Harry tried, not expecting Analeigh to block it. "You just need to —"

But both Analeigh and Cedric ignored him as they sent spells at each other again. However, they both blocked them. This happened a few more times — more and more jets of light zoomed from one end to the other, only to be deflected by the opponent. Finally, though, one of them managed to get the upper hand.

"Expelliarmus!" said Cedric. In the split second that Analeigh wasn't prepared, the spell hit her. She staggered backwards as her wand was forcefully taken away from her and flew directly towards Cedric. He caught it with one hand, looking smugly at Analeigh from across the room. Once again, the Room of Requirement was filled with interested murmurs.

"Nice one, guys," Harry grinned. "Brilliant."

Analeigh grumbled under her breath, not pleased at having lost that easily. Then again, this was only supposed to be a demonstration, and it wasn't a surprise that Cedric was a very skilled wizard, anyway — he won this mini duel fairly. However, it proved to be difficult to not dwell on her loss because the Hufflepuff just would not wipe the smug look on his face.

"Good match, don't you think?" he smirked as she walked towards him.

"Alright, you won," Analeigh rolled her eyes playfully. "Now, can I have my wand back?"

"I think I'll hold on to it a little longer," said Cedric, pretending to examine it to purposely irritate her. She frowned and quickened her pace until she reached him.

"Give it back," she insisted. She made a move to grab it, only for Cedric to raise his arm above his head to keep it out of her reach.

"Make me," he taunted, tilting his head down so that his face was only inches away from Analeigh's.

"Are they really flirting right now?" Dean whispered to Ginny who sighed tiredly.

"This is nothing," she shrugged. "You should've seen them over the summer."

A/N: And the DA finally begins! Sorry for the late chapter, all my requirements are piling up right now ahhh :')