A new order
Chapter 21:
"So wait," Ron began. "There's this secret room that can be literally anything, and all we need to do is pace by it and think about what we want?"
Harry nodded. He had just told Ron and Hermione about what Dobby had called the "come-and-go room", or, as it is better known as, the "Room of Requirement". They had both been surprised.
"And Dobby has just told you this?" Hermione asked.
"Yes." Harry replied.
"What gave you the idea to ask him?" Ron continued.
"Luna suggested it." He replied calmly.
Ron rolled his eyes.
"Do you have a problem Ron?" He asked.
"Nothing." Ron replied. "It's just... Of course you got the idea from your girlfriend."
"What's wrong with my girlfriend?" Harry asked, a bit irritated.
"Nothing." Ron replied. "It's just..."
He sighed.
"You seem to be spending a lot of time with her. Half the time we don't even know what you're doing."
Harry frowned and turned to Hermione.
"Do you feel the same?" He asked.
"Well..." Hermione began hesitantly. "You have been spending a lot less time with us and a lot more time with Luna..."
"Aren't I allowed to spend time with my lover?"
"No, no, it's not that," Hermione began.
"Just feels like you're well... Drifting away from us." Ron continued. "It's not just Luna. You've been spending more time with Neville, and even Malfoy. And it feels like you're not telling us a lot of stuff and... Well, we're involved with the planning of this secret group as much as you, but you didn't even involve us in this conversation with Dobby."
"I'm sorry." Harry replied. "It was a spur of the moment thing, really. I would have called Dobby with you guys around if..."
"That's just it." Hermione interrupted. "We hardly see you any more. It just feels like... Are you trying to pay us back for withholding information from you this summer?"
Harry blinked.
"No, of course not." He replied.
"Then what's going on?" Ron demanded. "What aren't you telling us?"
Harry closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath.
"Look, it's complicated..."
"Don't you trust us?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, of course I do." Harry replied quickly. "It's just... There are some things, that I can't tell you about yet."
"Well, when can you?" Ron asked.
Harry sighed.
"Soon, I promise. Soon enough, everything will make sense. It's just... You'll have to trust me, okay?"
Hermione sighed.
"Of course we trust you, it's just..."
"You're making it very hard at the moment." Ron finished.
"I know, I know." Harry said. "Just please, be patient. Everything will make sense soon."
"I'm holding you to that." Ron said. "Now, about this room..."
It only took them a week to organise the first official meeting of the group in the Room of Requirement. They had passed secret messages to all who had been in the Hog's Head, telling them of the time and place. Now, Harry stood with Neville, facing the blank wall Dobby had told them hid a secret shapeshifting room.
"Okay," Harry began. "How are we going to do this?"
"I think we should both pace." Neville replied. "So it's visible to both of us. Hopefully the room will be able to recognise who we want to come in, and it will become visible to them."
Harry frowned.
"Don't you think it'll get confused, having multiple people pacing?"
Neville shook his head.
"Not if we both want the same thing, right?"
Harry nodded.
"So, shall we?"
They both walked to the wall and began pacing.
Harry thought about what he wanted. A room where they could learn to defend themselves. A place where they could safely train for the war that was to come. A place where they could gather their strength.
Suddenly, a door appeared in the wall. Harry and Neville exchanged and look.
"So, do you want to go first?" Neville asked.
"Age before beauty." Harry replied.
"I'm only a day older than you." Neville argued.
"Technically, you are eighteen years older than me." Harry retorted.
"Oh, why are we even debating this?" Neville said. "This is Hogwarts. What's the worst that could be behind that door?"
Harry blinked.
"Did you really just ask that question?" He asked. "After a three-headed dog on the third floor, a giant snake in a secret chamber far below the school, moving staircases, any number of trick steps..."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Neville interrupted.
"Okay, on three." Harry said. "One..."
"Two..." Neville continued.
"Three." They both said before pushing open the door and walking in.
He blinked. For a few seconds, he found himself disoriented. It felt as if he had been flung back in time, so that he was not sure if he was Harry, or if he was witnessing another memory of Mordred.
He looked to Neville to see that he was experiencing a similar feeling. His eyes were wide, and his hands were shaking.
The room was large, as large as the Great Hall. Candles lined the walls, brightly illuminating the entire area.
They stood on a stone floor. There were three doors, one on each of the walls excluding the one behind them. And in the centre of the room...
"Harry, is that..." Neville began, walking towards the centre of the room.
"Yeah." Harry breathed, following the other man.
They both approached the object in the centre of the room, and placed a hand on the great round table.
"The roundtable." Neville said in amazement.
"Where not one seat is greater than the other." Harry continued. "And all are equal."
Neville closed his eyes. When he finally opened them, they were sparkling with unshed tears.
"I can still remember when I first constructed the table." He began. "I was so young. I had dreamt of a world where everyone held equal importance, and we did not kill each other in the mad scramble for power."
Harry placed a hand on the one Neville still had on the table.
"That dream can still be reached." He said quietly. "We can reach it together."
Neville looked up into his eyes.
"Yes, I know."
Harry patted him on the back.
"Come on, let's go look at these other rooms."
They walked to the door that was on the left of the room. On the other side was a large training-yard. They both stepped in and stared around, seeing several large weapon wracks. They seemed to be divided into two main groups, blunted training weapons and actual sharp tools for combat.
"Errr, I think we should keep those away from everyone until we can be sure they can handle them." Harry said, gesturing to the sharp weapons.
"Agreed." Neville replied.
He sighed.
"But I'm still not sure if they'll be able to learn in time. We had years to train, and they only have months."
Harry nodded.
"I know. Perhaps there could be a spell or something..."
Neville nodded.
"Perhaps. Though it seems a little dishonest to use shortcuts like that, but desperate times call for desperate measures I guess."
Harry nodded.
They continued to look around, finding a large ring in the far end of the training-yard.
"A dueling ring." Neville said.
"Spell training." Harry continued. "That's going to be weird, seeing magic and weapons training in the same place."
Neville laughed.
"I would have thought that happened all the time at Orkney."
"Only when Father and Morgana got into an argument." Harry replied. "So basically every few weeks."
"Who usually won?" Neville asked.
Harry grinned.
"Usually I would intervene and convince Morgana to stop. Turns out, even she wasn't immune to puppy-dog eyes."
They both laughed. They then decided to explore the other rooms.
The next room they discovered was a giant library. It was just as large as the actual Hogwarts library, or maybe even the library of Camelot. Hundreds of shelves as high as the ceiling were filled with books upon books.
"Wo." Harry breathed. "Wait till Hermione sees this."
"Or the Ravenclaws." Neville added.
"We'll never see them again."
Harry stepped further into the massive library and picked up one of the books.
"Now this is what we should be learning." He said. "Not that rubbish Umbridge gave us."
"Maybe we could disguise some of these books for the group to read during Defense Against the Dark Arts." Neville suggested.
Harry nodded.
"Yeah, but we'd have to find a way of making it so anyone who looked at either the cover or even the inside of the books only saw what we are supposed to be reading."
"I'm sure you'll manage to find a way." Neville replied.
They moved on to the last room. It was an almost exact replica of the hospital wing. Beds lined both walls, and there was a large cabinet on the back wall with jars full of medicinal herbs, potions, and other medical tools.
"A hospital wing, great." Harry said. "Now if any of us get hurt, we can get healed easily."
"Yeah, but who's going to heal us?" Neville asked.
Harry frowned.
"Maybe some of the members could learn healing." He suggested.
Neville nodded.
"Maybe some of the younger ones. Keep them away from the front lines, but still have them participate."
Harry nodded. He would feel much more comfortable with the younger members, such as Dennis or Astoria, not being in the direct line of fire. It was safer if they were behind the battle lines, instead of being up front where most of the danger usually was.
"But we'll still have to teach them to defend themselves." Harry continued. "Regardless of their roles, they will still be in a warzone, and we both know that a warzone is a very dangerous place, regardless of where you stand."
Neville nodded.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching and the main door opening.
"I think some people have arrived." Harry said.
"Then let's go welcome them." Neville replied.
For the next half hour or so, people arrived in groups of two and three. Upon arriving, they had marveled at the large hall, before sitting down at the equally magnificent roundtable. Harry and Neville tried to get people to not sit in distinct house-groups. This for the most part worked, but unfortunately the Slytherins were still clumped together. When everyone was seated, Harry and Neville took seats on the side of the table furthest from the main door. Conscious of his discussion with Ron and Hermione the week before, he had been sure to sit next to them, while Luna and Draco sat on the other side of Neville.
"So," Neville began.
Instantly, everyone turned to him. Some were surprised that he was taking charge, instead of Harry.
Neville cleared his throat and continued.
"I am glad to see that all of you have safely found your way here. I know that all of you are eager to begin, but there are first some things we have to organise."
"Like how are we supposed to learn how to fight in a room like this?" Zacharias Smith asked sarcastically.
"Listen and you might find out." Ron retorted, before turning to Harry and Neville. "How are we going to learn how to fight in this room?"
"We aren't." Harry replied.
The entire table burst into mutters. Harry had to bang his fist on the table to call the room to order.
"As we were saying," He continued. "We will not be training in this room. This is where we will meet and discuss how everyone is progressing, as well as strategies to combat Umbridge and the Ministry. They may now seem to be taking over the school, but I assure you, this is only the beginning. Soon, we may have to apply guerilla warfare, in order to resist them."
Neville continued.
"Some of you may have noticed there are doors leading out of this room. To the left as you come in is the training-yard. This is where we will be learning how to fight, with both magic and physical weapons."
More mutters.
"Wait, you mean muggle weapons? What good will they be against Umbridge, or You-Know-Who?"
"That is the kind of thinking that we are relying on." Neville replied. "Umbridge, the Ministry, the Death-Eaters, they have all trained to fight against magical attacks. They would not expect a sword, or a spear, to come at them. With the right training, we will be able to dodge out of the way of any spell and be able to surprise them with steel."
"They would not have prepared any defenses against such an attack." Harry added. "They would believe that such weapons stand no chance against magic, so they would underestimate anyone who came at them with such an attack."
"And we can enchant the weapons," Neville continued. "So we can harness magic with them, just as we do with our wands."
There were a few nods along with the mutter this time.
"The room on the opposite end as you come in," Harry continued. "Is a library, equal to that of Hogwarts, if not larger. This is where we can study new spells that can help us in combat. Even from the brief glance I had earlier, I can tell that the knowledge held in those books is far greater than anything Hogwarts will teach you. Old spells, powerful spells, thousands of years old. Many of them would be considered dark..."
"But isn't dink magic... Bad?" Hannah Abbott asked hesitantly.
Harry shook his head.
"Let me explain something. There is no such thing as light or dark magic. The type of spell has nothing to do with weather an action is good or evil. It is all in what the caster intends. Tell me, what would you consider a dark spell?"
"T the unforgivables." Collen Creevey replied, shakily raising his hand.
Harry winced. He and Nimue had created them to help others, and it disgusted him that they were now used for cruel means.
"Yes, the unforgivables." He began calmly. "They have been used for truly horrible purposes in recent decades especially, but they can be used for good. The imperious, for example. While it is mostly used to control people's minds, and make them commit horrible acts they would not usually commit, it can also be used to prevent someone from committing a horrible act. Say if someone was about to throw themselves off of a building. This spell can be used to stop them."
Some people nodded, obviously considering the idea.
"The killing curse." He continued. "It has been used to murder countless people. Many of us lost family to this spell in the last war."
He allowed a moment of silence while many of the people around the table bowed their heads in grief.
"However, it can be used for good." He continued softly.
"How can a spell designed specifically for killing be used for good?" Cho Chang demanded.
"Sometimes, when people are injured, not even the best healers can help them." He said. "Sometimes, people are just too far gone and it's best to just... Put them out of their misery."
The room was full of mutters again.
"And the cruciartis curse." He continued.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Neville flinch at this. This was the curse he felt most guilty for, mainly because of how it had been used to torture Neville's parents into insanity.
"It is a horrible curse." He began. "But sometimes we need to use such things in war times, for interrogations. While I despise such an idea, I do understand that war is not pretty, and we must do things we would otherwise hate in order to succeed. However, the curse can also be used to help heal those who's nerves have been damaged. It can bring feeling back into them, even if it is a very painful method."
He looked around the table.
"Now that I have explained how supposedly dark spells can be used for good, let me explain how something you would consider light be used for evil purposes."
He took out his wand and a spare piece of parchment.
"The levitation charm," He began, casting said spell on the parchment and levitating it a few inches above the table. "It is considered a relatively light spell, correct?"
Everyone nodded.
"Well, imagine this parchment is a person, and the edge of the table is a cliff." He continued.
He clicked his wand and the parchment went flying off of the side of the table, onto the floor. Luna picked it up and handed it back to him.
"Thank you." He said. "As you can see, this spell can be used to harm, as much as it can be used for good."
He looked around the room at everyone present.
"Light and dark, good and evil, they are merely concepts." He said. "The world is not divided into black and white. People you would consider good can do truly horrible things, while even people you may think of as cruel can commit acts of kindness."
Neville continued.
"If we are to succeed in this war, you need to accept that what you have been told, about light and dark, is a pure myth. You will also have to accept that you may have to commit acts that you would usually condemn."
The entire room was silent. After a minute or two, Harry cleared his throat.
"Anyway," He began. "To the right, there is a healing room. This is where we will heal after training, and where some of us will learn the healing arts."
"Harry and I have discussed this," Neville continued. "And we have decided that it would be safer for all if the younger members were focused more on healing..."
There were loud protests around the table, mostly from the younger students. Harry banged his fist on the table again.
"I know, you want to fight." He said. "But it's bad enough that we, mere children, are the ones who have to be active in this war. We should not have to fight at all, but unfortunately the majority of the Wizarding World would rather hide with their heads in the sand and deny anything is happening. And the ones who are supposedly fighting against our enemies would rather wait for the apposing side to make the first move. So it's up to us to be proactive in this conflict."
"However," Neville continued. "We will not put children as young as twelve in the direct line of attack."
There were more protests around the table.
"So we're supposed to just sit around while you go off fighting?" Astoria Greengrace demanded.
Dennis Creevey nodded.
"I want to help too."
"We never said you won't be." Neville replied calmly. "There are many roles to be played in war, not just as fighters. We need tacticians, healers, roles that are just as important. You will still be helping, just as much as the rest, but this will hopefully ensure that you are safer."
"No role in war is safe." Harry continued. "So you will still be learning how to defend yourselves, but you will also be focused on learning other skills."
Lavender Brown raised her hand.
"Errr, I know this sounds kind of cowardly and all," She began hesitantly. "But... Can we errr... Choose to take one of this other roles, if we don't want to be in the direct line of fire?"
Marrietta Edgecumb nodded.
"I would feel more comfortable as a healer, or even as a tactician." She admitted.
A few more heads nodded.
"Yes, of course." Neville said. "Not everyone has to be a warrior. If you do not feel comfortable being on the front lines, then I will not force you."
"However," Harry continued. "You will still have to learn how to at least defend yourselves."
There were nods around the table.
"So," Hermione spoke up finally. "There is another matter to discuss."
They all turned to her and the witch shuffled nervously.
"We need to figure out what we will call ourselves." She continued. "This group will need a name, after all."
Neville nodded.
"Any suggestions?"
"The Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina Johnson suggested.
"The Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" Fred suggested.
"Okay," Neville said calmly. "Maybe something a bit more subtle, that won't tell everyone what we are intended for. Remember, we need to be able to discuss this in public, without people figuring out what we're actually talking about."
"The defense Association?" Cho Chang suggested. "We can call it the DA for short."
Luna nodded.
"That sounds okay, but I was thinking of something with a little more... Style."
Most of the people at the table rolled their eyes, but Harry gestured for her to continue.
"The Knights of Albion." She said. "Knights used to fight for justice, honor, and freedom, which is what we will be fighting for. Albion is what the isle of Britain used to be called, and while we are beginning with Hogwarts in the short-term, in the long-term we will be fighting for the freedom of Britain."
She nodded at Cho.
"But I do like the idea of an abbreviation. We could call it the KA."
"Okay," Neville finally said. "Let us put it to a vote. All who want to go with "The Defence Association"?"
Several hands rose, and Hermione wrote down the Talley on a piece of parchment.
"All who want "The Knights of Albion"?" He continued.
More hands rose and Hermione made a Talley. For about a minute she counted them, then she looked up at the table.
"It was close." She began. "But the Knights of Albion won by a very thin margin."
There were mutters around the room, but non protested.
"So, now that that's out of the way," Harry began. "Do you have any questions?"
"Yeah," Zacharias said. "I still don't see how muggle weapons will work against magic."
Harry and Neville exchanged a look.
"Shall we demonstrate?" Harry suggested.
Neville shrugged and turned to the rest of the room.
"What do you think? Would you like to see a demonstration?"
The room filled with excited mutters, and everyone got to their feet. As Harry and Neville led the way into the training-yard, Hermione and Ron stopped him.
"Harry, are you sure about this?" Hermione asked nervously. "I mean, you only used a sword once, right?"
Harry chuckled.
"Believe me, I know my way around a sword."
"And what about Neville?" Ron asked.
Harry could not help but smile.
"You'll see."
Harry now stood, facing Neville in the dueling ring. The ring had a forcefield which would prevent any stray spells from hitting any of the audience. As Harry had more experience with magical combat, he would be the one using magic, while Neville was the one to hold a blunted sword. While Excalibur did hang, concealed by magic, at his hip, they both thought it wise not to reveal there magical legendary swords just yet.
"Alright, are you both ready?" Luna asked from her place on the edge of the ring.
They both nodded.
"Alright, on the count of three." She continued. "One... Two... Three!"
Harry instantly began to mercilessly fire spells at Neville. The man managed to role out of the way of the first wave.
"Easy." He said.
"Do you seriously think the Ministry, or the Death-Eaters will start off slow?" Harry retorted, firing off another barrage of hexes.
They began circling each other, Neville somehow managing to dodge each spell. With every dodged wave, Neville inched closer to him. Harry had to try to keep him at a distance, without being back into a corner. He sent a more forceful wave, causing Neville to have to back up. Harry cent a new string of jinxes, but Neville ducked out of the way and... Oh, how clever.
The spells rebounded off of the forcefield and Harry was suddenly the one ducking for cover. After the stream of spells had passed overhead, he stood back up... Only to meet the blade of a blunted sword at his throat.
"You cheated." He said, panting.
Neville grinned.
"I used the environment to my advantage." He retorted.
Harry chuckled.
"Okay, I yield."
Neville lowered the sword and they turned to face the slack-jawed expressions of the audience. They walked to the edge of the ring, and the forcefield was deactivated.
"Can anyone explain what Neville did?" Harry asked.
"He used the forcefield to bounce your spells right back at you?" George said.
"And he used the distraction to get in close to you." Dafne Greengrace added.
Harry nodded.
"He used the environment to his advantage. While there may not be a helpful forcefield in an actual battle, it is still good to know how to use your environment. Trees, rocks, rivers, unstable ground, they can all be used against an opponent."
"And as you saw," Neville continued. "I was able to dodge out of the way of Harry's spells. While this does require stamina, it is a useful method of dealing with those who rely on magic. While they are good at long-distance fighting, they would not be as skilled in close-quarter combat."
"We will be teaching you how to fight with such weapons." Harry continued. "First, we must see who is better suited to what. While we do want you to learn to use multiple weapons, your primary weapon should be one best suited for your build. Weight, height and strength can have a large impact on the kind of weapon you wield."
"Some are better suited to swords, some to battle axes, while others prefer spears. Some may even prefer daggers."
"And if you still do not feel comfortable with close-quarters," Harry continued. "You can learn archery, though, it would still be a good idea for you to learn to use daggers or short-swords, for when you run out of arrows."
For the rest of the meeting, Harry and Neville assessed everyone, trying to determine what kind of weapon best suited them. Harry was surprised to discover that Fred and George felt comfortable with battle-axes. He had assumed that, due to there prankster nature, they would prefer something a little more subtle. However, it made sense after he considered that they must have become quite strong, due to their years as beaters on the quidditch team.
He was not surprised to see that the small and speedy Collen chose a pair of twin daggers. He was just thankful that he and Neville had been careful to direct everyone to the blunted weapons wrack, because the boy couldn't seem to stand still.
The most surprising, and yet somehow glaringly obvious, pairing of fighter and weapon, was of course Luna.
"Errr, Luna?" Harry asked hesitantly.
Luna looked up at him from her weapon.
"Yes?" She asked calmly.
"Are you errr... Okay, with that?" He asked.
Luna raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, why?" She asked.
"It's just..." He began. "I've never seen you with a weapon other than magic."
Luna scoffed.
"Back then, women were not allowed to hold weapons, remember?"
"Yeah, of course." He said. "It's just..."
"What, don't you think I can handle this?" She asked.
"No, it's not that... It's just..."
He eyed the weapon skeptically.
"I wouldn't have imagined you with a weapon so errrr... You know what, I could actually see you with such a strange weapon."
Luna smirked and balance the weapon in her hands. It looked like two swords, with slightly curved blades, had been fused together. The thing was so bizarre, that it somehow made sense, in a strange sort of way.
Luna raised the weapon above her head as if it were a quarterstaff, and began twirling it. Harry stepped back, as one of the blades almost cut across his face.
"Oh, sorry." Luna said, before she began spinning the weapon and tossing it from hand to hand.
Then, she twisted something in the handhold, and the weapon split into two swords. Luna began to twirl these, before tossing them into the air. What was most likely supposed to be an impressive finish was ruined when she only managed to catch one sword, and the other fell to the ground.
"Oh, oops." She said, chuckling. "Guess I need to work on that."
"It's okay." Harry said, bending down to pick up the fallen blade. "That's what we're here for."
He handed her back the sword, and she rewarded him with a kiss.
Finally, after checking the time, Harry and Neville decided that it was time to end the meeting. They gathered everyone back into the main room.
"Well, it's getting late." Harry began. "I feel we have done a good job tonight. Please leave for your common-rooms in twos and threes, and you will be informed when the next meeting shall take place."
"Thank you all for coming." Neville added. "I feel that, if we work hard and in cooperation, then we will succeed. It may be hard at times, but nothing worth doing is easy."
And with that, they dismissed the meeting.
After everyone had finally left, Harry and Neville were the only ones left in the room. Neville sighed in obvious relief and slumped on the roundtable.
"That was intense." He said.
Harry nodded.
"I think you did great." He said.
"We both did." Neville replied, smiling.
They both just stood in silence for a long time.
"So, shall we go?" Harry suggested.
Neville nodded.
"Come on, let's go."
Neville stood and they both left the room, tired, but excited for the future.