Between Thought and Reality

Chapter 13

Tom immediately raised a hand like the eager schoolboy he was at heart. “I’m in.”

“Wait, wait,” Annabel said, looking at Harry in slight disbelief. “Self-defence? What does that even mean?” The other also looked eager to get an answer to that, so Harry took a deep breath and started talking.

“I’m thinking of making the club about more than just learning hexes and curses. We’ll learn those, too, but I can also show you some hand-to-hand moves. What to do should you lose your wand. On top of that, I think that we as muggleborns or muggle-raised teens need to learn about the wizarding world and how to truly navigate it.”

“We need to understand their laws,” Ben Bishop said with an agreeable nod.

“Exactly,” Harry said, pleased to see that his friends were starting to understand what Harry’s goals were for them all. “This whole miserable episode of the past day has clearly shown us that muggleborns and muggle-raised witches and wizards are essentially second-rate citizens in the wizarding world.”

“We had noticed that, too,” Lukas murmured with a frown.

“So we keep promoting the Ancestor Potion to prove once and for all that we are descendent from squibs and thus from actual witches and wizards, and in the meantime we make sure we can defend ourselves in every way that matters.” Harry sat back in his seat and gave everyone an expectant look.

“That sounds fine by me,” Lukas said, sharing a quick glance with Annabel. “We’re in.” The Hufflepuffs voiced their support not soon after, and just like that Harry had the start of an official magical self-defence club.

“I’m thinking of calling it the Defence Association. DA for short,” Harry said, leaning forwards again and placing both arms on the table.

“Good name,” Tom said with an admiring little smile. “Informative yet to the point.”

Harry chuckled in response. There was something rather hilarious about Tom Riddle approving of the name that had once been used by a group of teenagers determined to destroy him once and for all. Of course, back in those days most kids had ended up calling it Dumbledore’s Army, much to Harry’s later disappointment. At that moment Harry was never naming anything after his old mentor again, for obvious reasons, but he did rather like the name Defence Association, and he particularly liked using something from his old life to help the people in his current one. It had a nice, warm nostalgic ring to Harry.

“When do we meet?” Myrtle asked eagerly.

“For now I’m thinking this Saturday.” Harry quickly held up a hand when Lukas looked about to protest. “Quidditch season hasn’t started yet, so for now our Saturdays are free. Once Quidditch starts up we’ll meet on a different day.”

“Good, because while I like your idea for this student group, I like Quidditch more,” Lukas said while Arnold Wells made an agreeable noise.

“Trust me, I get it.” Harry grinned for a moment, knowing full well that in his past life he’d have made the exact same comment. “For now, I need your help recruiting others. We’re looking for muggleborns and muggle-raised kids, 3rd year and up. Anyone who fits that bill is welcome.”

“Where will we meet?” Tom asked, a calculating look on his face.

“I’m thinking under the beech tree near the lake for now, unless it’s raining buckets. I’ll find us an indoor location over the next few weeks.” Harry was happy to see no one seemed to mind meeting outside. It was still September and the weather had been mild, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Harry was going to introduce this brand-new DA to the Room of Requirement eventually, but he didn’t want to lead with that from the start. It might make clever folks like Tom a bit suspicious how Harry suddenly knew so many of Hogwarts’ secrets. Best to give it some time and then show them the room with an excuse that a house-elf told Harry about it. Which was ultimately true.