If a fan writes fanfic in the middle of the forest that doesn't belong to her, and she never tries to claim it is, does anyone care?
Hermione woke them up the morning of September the First by running into the room and jumping onto the foot of Ron’s bed. Harry was gratified to see this: it meant that Hermione was in a better mood than was normal for her lately, even if it was odd for her to be this chipper. Ron merely groaned and pulled the covers over his head.
“I just got the list of confirmed students returning!” she told them excitedly. “Well, it’s a little smaller than we thought, but we can start planning better for the next term “ especially the D.A. And the subject’s we’re going to study. You can take Arithmancy now!”
Harry couldn’t get himself too excited about this. “Who’s coming back?” he asked.
“Dean, Neville, and Seamus,” replied Hermione, “along with Parvati and Padma Patil; Pansy Parkinson, the cow; Crabbe; Goyle; Terry Boot; Susan Bones; Hannah Abbot; Ernie Macmillan; and Justin Finch-Fletchley.”
“Just the seventh years are coming back?”
“No, there’s a few more. Ginny. Colin and Dennis Creevey. That Derrick kid from Hufflepuff, the fifth year. Oh, and Luna, of course. But there aren’t any more Slytherins.
“Wow,” Ron said, emerging from under the covers, “McGonagall’s right. It’s barely worth keeping the school open.”
“Well, it’s a good thing they are,” said Hermione, “or we’d be sunk, Ronald, don’t forget. You’re the one who wanted to run off and leave school, remember?” She stomped out.
“Wow,” said Ron. “Bit touchy, isn’t she?”
Hermione’s mood, thankfully, seemed to have reversed itself by the time she got back to the common room after breakfast. Neither chipper nor angry, she seemed about normal. Harry had to repress a nasty surge of guilt “ he was sure her odd moods were a result of the stress he had her under.
The students were due to arrive around dinnertime as usual, which gave them plenty of time to prepare for school to start the next day. Since there were only going to be enough students there for one tiny class, the teachers had decided to use an independent study approach. Harry was given a personal timetable, showing weekly appointments with professors McGonagall, Slughorn, Flitwick, Sprout, and Sinistra, as well as scheduling time to have D.A. meetings.
Ron had been the one to propose having the D.A. meet in two groups “ one of the students they thought would make good Order members (This was the group they called Dumbledore’s Army) and one of the students they just wanted to train in Defense (This was the Defense Association). They had decided to have both groups meet together as well on Fridays, when everyone had free time.
It came as a bit of a shock to Harry when he was offered a choice of classrooms to hold practices in, but there was really only one room he needed “ the Room of Requirement. Of course, after a while, he realized he didn’t want to automatically tell everyone in the castle the Room existed “ just on the off chance someone didn’t know about it by now “ so he decided to hold the Defense Association meetings in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
The students arrived around seven o’clock and filed into the Great Hall. All eighteen of them. For a school that was usually home to as many as eight hundred students, eighteen was a sobering thought.
After everyone sat down, Professor McGonagall stood up. “If everyone will please come to attention! I have a few announcements. First, all Hogsmeade visits are cancelled whilst He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is still out there. Second, all students will note that Defense Against the Dark Arts has been cancelled. In its place will be a student-run club known as the Defense Association.” There as a slight murmur among the students at these words. “Third, due to a lack of students, there will be no inter-house Quidditch cup. And, finally, as we have no first years, there will be no Sorting this year. Thank you.” She started to sit down, then changed her mind and spoke again. “I am sure that if Professor Dumbledore were here, he would have something inspirational to say right now. I wish he were here, because, honestly, I wish I could hear it too. All I can say is that we can get through this, so long as we stand together. I am counting on each of you to do your best. And now, let the feast begin!”
The food appeared on the table and, predictably, Ron dug in right away. Hermione, after a short interval, began piling food on her plate as well. Harry just sat for a minute before he joined them, enjoying the last Hogwarts Welcoming Feast he would ever participate in.
That evening, Ginny joined him in the Common Room. “Any luck yet?” she asked.
“Not yet,” he told her, “but we’ll get there. Just a matter of time.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m going to bed “ long day. I’m glad you’re here. See you in the morning?”
As he headed up the stairs, he heard her mutter, “Wimp.”
School was almost unrecognizable. There were almost no essays to be written, just a lot of practical work and discussing theory with teachers “ at least for Harry and Ron. Hermione, who had a long history of learning spells just by reading about them, was still writing essays and spending her time behind tottering piles of books, but even she spent much more time doing the spells than she had before. One thing was clear: the teachers wanted them ready to do magic at any time, not just be able to look up the spell in a book.
Silent spellwork, Harry’s nemesis, was proving as difficult this year as last year. But as time wore on, Harry was able to do better “ in large part, he thought, due to Occlumency and Legilimency training. He wasn’t sure if it was because Snape wasn’t the teacher this time or maybe if it was because he was trying harder, but lessons with Professor Sinistra were rapidly improving his ability to both block and receive the thoughts of those around him. He could almost always tell when Ron was lying to Hermione about his homework now, and he was beginning to truly appreciate just how devious Ginny could be. Hermione, however, remained a closed book.
September passed into October, and things remained the same. Harry was beginning to seethe with impatience. His D.A. students were progressing well, Ron and Hermione were helping him research artifacts left by Ravenclaw (there weren’t many) and life was so passive that Harry felt he was going mad.
A/N: I stole the part about McGonagall wanting to hear what inspirational thing Dumbledore would say from a line written for William Riker in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Everything else came out of my own imagination.