Umbridge came down harder on Rosalyn after the girl had the nerve to swear at her the other day. So Rosalyn, with a badly bleeding hand, stumbled back up to the common room at half past eleven that night, having just been dismissed by Umbridge. She had tears in her eyes and a handkerchief wrapped round her hand, when someone caught her up.

"Rosie! Rosie!"

It was Neville.

"Hi," Rosalyn said half heartedly. "What's up? Why are you out at this time?"

"I- I noticed your hand's been bleeding a lot recently," Neville said, and Rosalyn's eyes widened. "I just wanted to say that- I was looking in a book last night and I found something that might soothe it."

"Really?" Rosalyn asked in wonder.

"Ye- yes," said Neville bashfully.

"What is it?" Rosalyn asked.

"I- I've got it here," said Neville, taking a glass bottle filled with a yellowish liquid out of the pocket of his robes. "It's a solution of pickled murtlap tentacles, and it'll help, I promise."

Rosalyn sighed and took the bottle from him, but before she could get it, Neville pulled it back.

"But first," he continued. "I want to know what that foul, twisted woman is making you do, Rosie."

Rosalyn sighed, pausing for a second before telling him. As she spoke, Neville's face became more and more angry. "She- she can't," he said to her. "It's outrageous. Outrageous."

"I know," Rosalyn said, sighing. "But what can I do? She'll punish me more if I don't show up."

"Well, you swore at her the other day," said Neville with a barely suppressed laugh. "No one but you would be as brave as that, Rosie."

Rosalyn smiled gently as Neville sighed and handed her the murtlap solution. Rosalyn took it quickly. She dropped a few drops on her hand and the effect was instantaneous. The relief her stinging hand felt was amazing.

Rosalyn smiled at Neville. He smiled back, and the two of them headed back to the common room together.

☆☆☆

"That foul, evil old gargoyle!" Hermione yelled, pacing in front of the fire in the common room, her three friends on the sofas in front of her. "We're not learning how to defend ourselves, we're not learning how to pass our O.W.L.s. She's taking over the entire school!"

Rosalyn suddenly heard Fudge's voice on the wireless beside her and turned it up.

"...Security is becoming the Ministry's top priority. Furthermore, we have convincing evidence that these disappearances are the work of notorious mass murderer, Sirius Black."

"That-" Rosalyn burst out. "He's blaming the  breakouts of the prisoners on Sirius?"

"He can't do anything else," Hermione sighed. "He can hardly-"

"Rosie?" Said a voice from the flames.

Rosalyn ran round the sofa and knelt on the hearthrug beside Hermione, whisper-yelling. "Sirius?!"

"Yeah, and me," said a more female voice.

"Izzy!"

It, indeed, was the two of them. Sirius and Izzy's faces were projected in the flames, flickering and dancing about.

Sirius said. "We got your letter. It said you were worried about Umbridge. What's she doing?"

"She's not letting us use magic at all!" Harry said from the sofa.

"Well I'm not surprised," said Izzy, eye roll in her voice. "Our latest intell, of should I say, bullshit, from the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."

"Combat?" Ron asked, "What does he think?  We're forming some sort of wizard army?"

"That's exactly what he thinks," Sirius said, to the shock of the four in front of him. "That Dumbledore is assembling his own forces to take on the Ministry. He's becoming more paranoid by the minute."

He paused. "The others wouldn't want me to tell you this, Rosie, but things aren't going at all well at the order. Fudge is blocking the truth at every turn and these... disappearances are just how it started last time. Voldemort is on the move."

"Well, what can we do?" Rosalyn asked, wanting to do something.

A door banged somewhere.

"Someone's coming!" Izzy said warily. "We'll be in touch soon, but for now, at least... it looks like you're on your own."

And the flames they were being projected onto vanished to almost nothing. The quartet stood up and went to a window, watching the rain spatter across it as the storm outside raged on. Hermione stood at the front of the four, talking determinedly. "He really is out there isn't he?" She closed her eyes briefly. "We've got to learn how to defend ourselves, and if Umbridge refuses to teach us how we need someone who will."

She turned to face them. "What d'you mean?" Rosalyn asked.

"We- we need a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, a proper one," Hermione said.

"What d'you mean?" Harry, Rosalyn and Ron said in unison.

Hermione sighed, looking down, then she explained her idea.

☆☆☆

The plan was simple. Umbitch wasn't going to teach them anything, so Hermione said they needed to do it themselves. They needed to form an illegal DADA group so that people could learn how to defend themselves.

And then Hermione explained who she had in mind as the teacher.

On the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, snow fell and made the village look lovely. Rosalyn dressed up warm, putting a pair of knee high boots, a wooly hat and gloves on before meeting her three friends and going out to Hogsmeade.

When they were nearly at the location Hermione had chosen the group to meet at, Rosalyn said. "This is mad! Who'd wanna be taught by me I'm a nutter, remember?"

"Look on the bright side, you can't be any worse than old toad face," was the only thing Ron had to offer.

"Thanks, Ron," Rosalyn said, rolling her eyes at him. "I feel so much better."

"We're here for you, Rosie," Harry said, smiling. He said it jokingly, but he was speaking the truth.

"So who's supposed to be meeting us then?" Rosalyn asked Hermione, playfully slapping Ron and Harry's heads.

"Just a couple of people," Hermione said shakily.

As they entered The Hog's Head, the bar that they were meeting at, they were met with an anticlimax. There were only a few wooden tables, some wobbly stools, a dirty, beer sodden bar and a few customers, one with a goat.

"Lovely spot," Ron said sarcastically.

"Thought it would be safer somewhere off the beaten track," Hermione answered.

So, after about ten minutes, around thirty people had stumbled in.

"A couple of people?" Rosalyn hissed to Hermione, as the quartet was sat at the front. "A couple of people?"

"Well, the idea was popular," Hermione said defensively.

After a few more minutes, after everyone was there, Hermione stood up and said. "Hi," to the crowd. "So, you all know why we're here. We need a teacher, a proper teacher. One that's had real experience defending themselves against the dark arts."

"Why?" A boy called Zacharias Smith asked.

"Why?" Rosalyn and Ron repeated.

"Because You-Know-Who's back, you tosspot," Ron said. Rosalyn and Harry sniggered behind their hands.

"So she says," Smith continued, gesturing to Rosalyn.

"So Dumbledore says," Hermione countered.

"So Dumbledore says because she says. The point is where's the proof?"

"If you think I'm an attention seeking liar," Rosalyn said, standing up herself. "And you think that all the bullshit the Ministry's putting in the Prophet is true, then why the hell are you here?"

Smith didn't answer. Rosalyn sat down and let Hermione take charge again.

"Potter could tell us more about how Diggory got killed," said a boy called Michael Corner. He was sat beside Ginny, and as he said this, Rosalyn swore she saw her little adopted sister reach for his hand.

Rosalyn stood and said, getting more exasperated by the minute. "I'm not gonna talk about Cedric so if any of you idiots are here to see me do that, you might as well clear out."

"Rosie-" Hermione started.

"Come on Hermione, let's go they're only here because they think I'm some sort of freak." Rosalyn whispered to her best friend.

"Rosie wait!" Hermione pled.

Rosalyn was about to leave before-

"Is it true you can produce a patronus charm?" Luna Lovegood asked. Rosalyn turned to face the crowd, which was in awe. She didn't say anything, though.

"Yes," Hermione said. "I've seen it."

"Blimey, Rosie, I didn't know you could do that?" Dean Thomas said in wonder.

"A-a-and she killed the basilisk! With the sword in Dumbledore's office!" Neville said excitedly, going red but beaming all the same.

"It's true!" Ginny said. "She saved my life in second year!"

"Third year she fought off about a hundred dementors at once," Ron said, standing by Rosalyn though he hadn't been part of that adventure.

"And last year she really did fight off You-Know-Who in the flesh," Harry said meaningfully.

"Alright!" Rosalyn shouted haughtily. "That stuff all sounds great but, the truth is, most of that was just luck. I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I nearly always had help-"

"She's just being modest," Hermione addressed the crowd.

"No! Hermione I'm not!" Rosalyn said, looking back at everyone. "Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school, if you make a mistake you can just try again tomorrow. But when you're out there... seconds away from being murdered... or watching a friend die right before your eyes... you don't know what that's like."

The crowd watched and listened, quite dumbstruck. Both Rosalyn and Hermione sat down, the latter saying. "You're right, Rosie, we don't. But we will, if we're going to have any chance of beating-"

She paused. "Voldemort."

A boy called Nigel asked after a pause. "Is he really back?"

Rosalyn was too washed out to argue, and simply nodded.

However, the plan soon worked out. In five minutes, the quartet had gotten everyone to agree to sign a bit of parchment with their names on it. They also decided on a name. The DA. Dumbledore's Army.

Rosalyn watched everyone sign the parchment, then the meeting was over. Walking back across the bridge and into the castle with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Fred and George, Rosalyn talked.

"Right first we need to find a place to practice where we know Umbridge won't find out."

"The Shrieking Shack," Ginny said as if it was obvious.

"It's too small," said Rosalyn, having already thought about this.

"Forbidden forest?" Hermione suggested.

Instead of Rosalyn, Ron shot this down with a. "Not bloody likely."

"Rosie... what happens if Umbridge does find out?" Neville asked.

"Who cares?" Laughed Hermione. "I mean, it's sort of exciting, isn't it, breaking the rules?"

Ron sniggered. "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?"

"Anyway, at least we know one positive thing that came from today," Hermione said, changing she subject.

"What?" Rosalyn asked, but Hermione addressed Harry.

"Cho couldn't keep her eyes off you, could she?"

Harry looked bashfully pleased at this news, and Ginny quite sad. Rosalyn, however, didn't notice either of these reactions, and went of on a tangent of places to practice.

And none of them noticed a Pink Bitch, staring at them from the top of the castle as they entered it, a smug little expression on her face.