Chapter 68: Loyal army P2

The Gryffindor common room was packed with students. Only third-years and above were included in the meeting, mainly because the prefects of Gryffindor house insisted on keeping an age barrier for the meeting. Some pragmatism was also involved as first-year and second-year students were not what some would call army material. Nonetheless, Harry would address that particular issue at a later date as Umbridge's stupid class would deal more damage to the first-years and second-years than anyone else. Instead of studying small jinxes, and dangerous magical animals and plants prevalent in the wizarding world, they were taught to run away instead of using their magic.

Truth be told, Harry was more concerned about the gossip queens and the loudmouths in Gryffindor than some snot-nosed firstie. His eyes strayed to the corner where he saw the gossip queens of his year huddled together. It was good that he came prepared with the means to plug the gaps to keep the information about this meeting a secret for as long as possible.

"All right, everyone. Please make yourself comfortable with the seats available. And those who don't have a seat, please sit on the floor." Harry started, standing at the centre of the common room and waiting for everyone to settle down around him.

He looked at the Weasley twins, and they gave him a thumbs up for the go-ahead. He had handed the twins the Marauders' Map to keep an eye on the Hogwarts staff. The last thing they needed was for McGonagall to crash their meeting accidentally. Taking a deep breath, Harry decided to start things off;

"As you all know, Umbridge is on the warpath against Hogwarts. So far, she has been targeting our education by messing with our DADA lessons. But now she has switched her ire to Gryffindor house alone. This is why she went after Colin. When we didn't react strongly, she went after our Quidditch team. If we don't react this time, she'll only get more aggressive with us in the future." said Harry.

"But why is she after us?" someone in the crowd asked.

"To make an example. Everyone knows we are the most proactive house in Hogwarts. If Umbridge manages to wind us up, the other houses will naturally go along with what she's doing. Trust me, her next step will be forming a secondary prefect squad to stifle us." Harry explained.

"What can we do against her? Even Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore failed to do anything against Umbridge." Cyril Meaking asked with a raised hand.

Harry supposed the sixth-year prefect would know better about the uselessness of Hogwarts staff as the Gryffindor prefects had tried their best to support him while moving the complaint against Umbridge.

"You're right. Dumbledore and McGonagall are not going to do anything against Umbridge. But if we keep our heads down, Umbridge will only gain more power and make our lives difficult in Hogwarts. Dismissing our Quidditch team was just a start. She's testing the waters, and we can't allow her to gain a foothold in our school. It's time that we take a brave stand."

"All right, Harry. What do you suggest we do?" Angelina asked.

"If we are to do something against Umbridge, we need power. I can handle the political situation by shielding any of our actions in the Ministry. But we need to build our personal magical power if we are to contend against Umbridge. And most importantly, we need to be united in our actions.." Harry said, nodding at Hermione and Neville, who passed leaflets to their fellow Gryffindor students. "Read it carefully before writing your name and sign at the bottom of the parchment."

While the Gryffindor students began reading the parchment, Harry further explained his plan.

"We'll be creating a club exclusive for training in defensive magic. In this club, I hope to impart to everyone the knowledge and skill to defend yourself and your family against dangerous magical creatures and, if need be, the death eaters of the Dark Lord." said Harry, earning a few wide eyes and muttering from the crowd. "We certainly won't be learning anything from Umbridge this year other than how to run for our lives."

That little joke towards the end garnered a smattering of chuckles from the crowd.

"This is a magical contract enforcing secrecy!" Jacob Flinton, a seventh-year student, claimed loudly.

"Yes. We cannot afford to let a word about this meeting reach Umbridge's ears. Should anyone purposefully betray our secrecy, they'll be exposed. The details are on the parchment. Sign the contract if you are loyal to our cause, or leave the common room if you are not brave enough or lack the courage to be a lion."

Harry nearly smiled when all the Gryffindors rushed to sign their names on the contract as fast as possible. After ensuring everyone signed the contract, Harry began explaining the finer aspects of how the contract worked and what he intended to do with their secret club. Everyone agreed that they'd meet once a week for the club activity, and he promised the meeting would not interfere with other activities like Quidditch practice, prefect patrols, tests etc.

"Now that we are all agreed on how the club functions, we need a leader for our club. Someone who can organise and make decisions on the club's functioning."

"Harry should lead. He came up with the idea of the club, so he should lead." said Angelina.

Almost everyone supported her suggestion immediately, and no one contended.

"All right. So, we have a leader. But we need a meeting place for the club." said Hermione.

"I know a place." said Harry, earning a curious look from Hermione.

"It'll have to be a place we can train and learn secretly." Hermione warned.

"I know. I've got the perfect place for our needs." said Harry, with the Room of Requirement in mind.

"We have a leader and a place to convene. Now we need a name for the club. Any suggestions?" asked Neville.

"The anti-Umbridge Army." Fred suggested, letting out a snicker along with George.

"The Defense Club."

"The DADA club."

"The Lion Army."

"Okay. Enough! This will get us nowhere." Hermione put a stop to all the names being thrown around. "Harry, you suggest a name."

"Knights of Avalon. We can use KA for short. That should make our conversations easier in public, and it keeps the identity or intention of our group shielded for the time being." Harry suggested.

There was some murmuring in the group until, finally, everyone agreed to go along with the name.

"There is one more issue. What about adding more members from other houses?" Hermione asked.

"We'll function as a Gryffindor group for now." Harry said after a moment of thought. "Any new member will have to be accepted by a Senate formed out of representatives elected from each year. The election for formulating the Senate starts now. Please arrange yourself into your year groups and elect a representative."

It took nearly twenty minutes, but the elections finally ended with representatives for thirds-years and above. Dacey Lyn represented the third-years. Ginny Weasley represented the fourth-years. Dean Thomas represented the fifth-years. Katie Bell represented the sixth-years. Alicia Spinnet represented the seventh-years.

Harry was a bit surprised to see Hermione not getting the majority vote among the fifth-years.

'At least, she won't complain she lost because she was a girl seeing as the majority in the senate goes to female representation.' Harry thought with some amusement.

Shaking such inane thoughts away, he focused on the next step. It was now time to formulate certain powers of the senate and his own position in the Knights of Avalon. The date for their next meeting also had to be fixed, which of course, was going to be a problem as the following weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend. He had his work cut out for him.

XXXXXXX

"So, you want me to keep the Ministry tied up should Umbridge make a ruckus in the Ministry about any of your activities?" Sirius asked with a frown.

"Yep. Keep Fudge on his toes. But don't go to him tomorrow itself. I'll warn you if any major incident in Hogwarts requires tactic silence from the Ministry." Harry said, looking into the two-way mirror while lying in his bed with the covers down and a silencing ward for good measure.

"I don't know about this, Harry. Don't you think this is going a little too far?" Sirius asked with some trepidation.

"I know. But Umbridge was the one to cross the line, and then the Hogwarts staff, the Board of Governors, and the Ministry of Magic all crossed the line. It's time to game the system and defeat them at their own game." Harry said firmly.

"All right. If you're confident this is the way forward, then that's what we're gonna do." Sirius said in a placating manner. "Anyway, you'll be happy to know we're all set to open the joke shop on the Christmas holidays."

"Huh. That's rather fast."

"Yeah. We could open it tomorrow if we want, but we're letting it stall a bit for the twins. Fleur and Remus sped things up a lot."

"I see." Harry said.

He was tempted to ask Sirius about Fleur, but then he thought better. He didn't want to involve a third person in their problems. Besides, he would see Fleur face-to-face a few days from now.

"Have you informed the twins?" Harry asked.

"Not yet. I'll send the letter tomorrow. We did a small pre-opening sales as they suggested to gauge the customer reaction, which was good."

"They'll be happy to know that. Goodnight, Sirius."

"Goodnight, Harry."

Harry put the mirror away and stared straight ahead at the ceiling with thoughts swirling around his head. He was tempted to recall Rita Skeeter to Hogwarts and run a smear campaign on Umbridge. Still, that particular action would deprive Rita of pursuing her leads for her story on Albus Dumbledore. The last contact he received from Skeeter put the woman in Germany trying her best to gain access to Nurmengard prison to have a one-to-one talk with Gellert Grindelwald. He dearly hoped the former Dark Lord hadn't ripped his asset to pieces. Skeeter was a useful tool and a potent one at that. It'd be a significant loss if the woman were shredded to bits by Grindelwald.

'I'll have her come to Hogwarts after she returns from Germany.' Harry thought.

Clearing his mind, Harry relaxed into his bed and slowly drifted off to sleep. He didn't know how long he slept but was jolted awake when his senses triggered a malicious magical signature in his proximity. Sitting up in his bed, he quickly took his wand into his hand and looked around for the danger to present itself. A few minutes passed, and he could sense no dangerous magical signature in his proximity. He laid back into the mattress with a frown on his face, but he did not let go of his trusted wand.

Harry was just about to close his eyes when he sensed the same malevolent magical presence again. But this time, he was awake and alert; therefore, he identified it as a presence trying to breach the sanctity of his mind. Realising what was happening, Harry immediately immersed himself in the depths of his mind and shored up his defences. It was pretty easy for him to identify the foreign presence, which was desperately trying to breach his mind to no avail. After some deliberation and reinforcing his mind, he allowed the foreign presence entry into the core of his mind. But once he did, he immediately clamped down his faculties on the mental probe and contained it in a well of darkness. After that, he began to dismember it bit by bit until the malevolent energy accompanying the probe dissipated, leaving the probe safe for the sanctity of his mind.

It didn't take long for Harry to assimilate the probe and see what was contained inside the mental attack. When he saw what the probe contained, he was not surprised. It was a fake memory of a large door with an abandoned hallway leading to the door.

'So, you are getting desperate. Good.' Harry smirked.

No doubt, Voldemort expedited his plans to get the Prophecy, most likely because of the Dark Lord's waning strength.

'I suppose I'll have to employ some countermeasures and prepare my mind for intrusions during sleep hours.' Harry thought before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

From the next day, he picked up the pace of his training and his experimentation with Nagini. Since the lightning element was oddly easy for him to master, he went back to making variants of the lightning spell. The Room of Requirement was quite a useful tool when it came to researching and finding ways to modify spells. Within three days, he found a way to tweak the lightning spell to create a new lightning spell which had a wide area effect. It was now only a matter of time to perfect the spell and master it so that he could use it in battle.

It was unfortunate, though, because the RoR was not that helpful when it came to creating a spell to extract the soul shard in Nagini. Slytherin's chambers contained a lot of information on Horcruxes, but he was still in pursuit of any substantial breakthroughs.

Days passed until finally, the meeting day with Fleur came, coinciding with the first meet of the Knights of Avalon. So, Harry had to rush the meeting with Fleur if he was to oversee the first meeting of the Knights in time. Therefore, he was forced to switch their meeting place from muggle London to the Room of Requirement with Dobby's help. His trusted elf teleported out of the Room and collected Fleur from her apartment, and then returned with her to the RoR. All of that happened within five minutes, saving a lot of time.

"Hey, Fleur." Harry greeted her by giving her a loose hug before directing her to a seat across from a table.

Harry sat across from her on the other side of the table and saw Fleur was looking somewhat awkward. If it weren't for Daphne, he would have never drifted apart from Fleur. Even now, he could feel his heart churning against his mind for the decision he was about to make, but his survival mattered more to him. The need for shoring up every scrap of power was a necessity. There was no room for even small mistakes when his life depended on amassing all forms of power in a short time. Clamping down his Occlumency shields, he purged all emotions tugging at his mind while facing Fleur.

"Hi, Harry. How've you been?" Fleur asked tenderly.

"I'm okay. I'm just busier than usual with the OWLs exam and my preparations for the Dark Lord."

"Oh. I see. I… Harry, I wanted to tell you something."

"I know. Our relationship is not working as we had hoped. It's in our mutual interest to pursue a healthy friendship between us instead of being lovers." said Harry.

The brazen openness briefly shocked Fleur, but her mind quickly caught on to what he was saying.

"Harry, I don't mean to hurt you. I…"

"And you never will. I'm the cause of our failed relationship. You don't have to blame yourself." said Harry. "You'll always be a treasured friend, and I hope you'll see the same in me."

Fleur was speechless for a long moment but finally relented and let the matter drop. They shook hands and vowed to become good friends. After that, it was only too easy for Harry to cajole her into signing the secrecy contract, which helped him keep her silent about his actions against the Death Eaters. In return, Fleur got negotiated a favour she could ask of him so long as it was within his abilities to grant. By the time the meeting ended, they had parted on friendly terms without any emotional trauma lingering behind for either of them.

Once Dobby teleported away with Fleur, he immediately went outside the Room of Requirement and changed the room to his wishes. He had tested out with the Room for this precise moment, and the Room didn't disappoint him. The Room of Requirement was tethered to a nexus point in space, connecting it with all of Hogwarts. This feature of the RoR also facilitated in the building of secret pathways to any part of the castle.

Harry stopped pacing outside the room, and a door suddenly materialised on the plane wall. The door behind him vanished when he entered the room, leaving a smooth brick wall on his back. The room he stepped into was long and wide capable of holding a large number of people. But most importantly, there was a red door on the side, which Harry was quick to open. The door opened outward, and he saw a long dark tunnel. Harry quickly conjured his patronus and sent it off down the tunnel. A few minutes later, he saw the Weasley twins lead the members of the KA through the tunnel.

"Harry…"

"Old chap…"

"Tell us all about this place!" they said together while placing their arms over his shoulder from both sides.

"That's a secret I'll share with only you two 'cause we're partners. But don't tell it to anyone else." Harry said.

Once Fred and George vowed to tell no soul, he quietly explained about the RoR to the twins. While he had a quiet conversation with the Weasley twins, more and more Gryffindor students began to arrive, taking the secret passage that conveniently appeared behind the fireplace of the common room. The sheer wonder in the eyes of his fellow students was quite a sight to see.

"All right, everyone. I know you all have many questions about this place's location, but it'll stay quiet to keep the secrecy. You can expect the door to materialise behind the fireplace whenever we convene our meeting." Harry explained before arranging the students into their respective year groups.

"Today, we're going to learn to use the Disarming charm properly." said Harry, earning a slew of disappointed groans from the upperclassmen.

"Hmm. It seems quite a lot of our friends here know the Disarming charm. Care to demonstrate?" Harry challenged, flicking his wand and a sizeable podium made of white stone was conjured into existence.

He jumped into one side of the podium and looked pointedly at his housemates.

"Come on. Don't be shy. We won't get anywhere today without volunteers." said Harry.

"I'll do it." Cormac McLaggen happily jumped abroad the stone dais with a wand in hand.

"Fantastic. Now, all you must do is disarm me," said Harry, looking pointedly at McLaggen.

"All right. You asked for it, Potter." McLaggen smiled confidently and flourished his wand in a way that looked like the guy was using a sword.

"Expelliarmus."

A jest of red passed harmlessly by Harry's left side and splashed against the wall behind his back.

"You missed." Harry cheerfully observed.

McLaggen used the spell again, and this time Harry moved a step to the right letting the spell pass by harmlessly.

"Missed again."

McLaggen used the spell again and again, but Harry maintained a firm hold on his wand. After a while, Harry took pity on the guy, and he silently cast the disarming charm which wrenched McLaggen's wand away, and Harry caught it easily with a levitation charm. He let the wand float in mid-air for all to see.

"You only think you know how to disarm a wizard. Merely knowing the spell is not enough. It would be best if you learned to use the spell in any situation and fast. The disarming spell is fairly low-tier, but you'll have the advantage if it's used correctly." Harry said, looking into the sea of eyes trained on him.

"All right. Let's do this again with someone else. Fred, George. Let's start with you two…"

Harry spent the rest of the evening training the Gryffindor students in effectively using the disarming charm. It was a start, and the next time, he would make things more fun by using the RoR to its fullest. By the time the day was finished, he had managed to improve the casting speed of some students. In the next class, Harry was sure he'd have to focus more on aiming, and he had a fun training method for improving the aim of the students.

Harry supposed this was a good start for his loyal army.