Shifting Perspectives

Chapter Five

"Hi, Ginny," Hermione said as Ginny joined them at lunch. "How was Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

Ginny made a face. "Professor Viridian is teaching us the Densaugeo curse. He won't teach us anything new! He says that 'not everyone has learned as much as the D.A. members have,' " she mimicked.

Instead of defending the teacher, as Harry expected her to, Hermione's eyes lit up. "I know! We can restart the D.A.! We don't need Umbridge's permission this time. What do you think, Harry?"

"I guess," Harry said, considering. "People need to know how to defend themselves."

"Great. I'll make an announcement to put up in the Great Hall." Hermione whipped out a sheet of parchment. "We can do it this weekend."

"We can do what this weekend?"

Hermione seemed surprised at the question. "The organizational meeting, of course! Some of the members from the original D.A. have left, and I'm sure some new people will want to join. We also have to sort out meeting times and such."

Ron groaned audibly. "More work to do?"

"I'll be doing the organization, of course," Hermione said matter-of-factly. She began writing, muttering underneath her breath all the while.

"What time this weekend will the organizational meeting be?" Ginny asked.

Hermione paused and looked up from her writing. "I was thinking of about seven o' clock Saturday evening, out by Hagrid's garden."

"Okay," Ginny said. "I'll tell my friends when I see them next."

"That's good," Hermione replied distantly. Ginny strolled away towards the other end of the Gryffindor table.

"It will be fun doing the D.A. again," Harry said.

"Uh huh," Hermione mumbled, clearly not paying attention. Her quill scratched busily across the parchment.

Ron watched Hermione, amused. "The Chudley Cannons won the league."

"Fascinating."

"They replaced their Seeker with a monkey," Harry added. "He's bright blue with purple polka dots. His name is Wan A. Banana."

"Interesting."

"Pigwidgeon volunteered to play Beater. They say he's the best Beater anyone has ever seen. The girls love him. I saw a queue outside his cage waiting for autographs."

"Really."

Harry tired of the game and cleared his throat. "I'm going to go back to the common room now," he said loudly.

"Have fun."

"Want to come play some chess, Ron?"

Ron nodded and stood up to follow Harry.

* * *

Harry stared at the enormous throng around Hagrid's garden. "There are so many of them!" Harry whispered in horrified fascination. "How am I supposed to teach them all?"

"We've had very good turn out," Hermione said happily. "We may have to split the D.A. up into two sections, one for new members, one for old members."

"Hermione, how am I going to teach them all? I don't have enough time!"

"You'll see, it will all work out. Ron and I will help you." She glanced at Ron. "Right, Ron?"

"Of course we'll help you!"

"See? You have nothing to worry about."

Harry remained stubbornly unconvinced. "We'll see."

Hermione sighed and climbed up on one of Hagrid's enormous pumpkins. "Attention please!" The general hubbub died down and people gathered around. "We have a lot more people this year. In order to teach you all, we're going to divide you into two groups. So if everyone in who was in the D.A. last year could sign this parchment and write down what days and times they will not be available in the afternoons of next week for the first D.A. meeting, and if everyone who is joining this year could do the same with this parchment, we can schedule the first meetings." She held out the parchments.

"We don't know our Quidditch schedules," Zacharias objected as Neville signed up.

"This is just scheduling the first meeting," Hermione explained patiently. "We obviously don't know the dates of everyone's Quidditch practices yet, so we're going to schedule meetings as they come, just like we did last year. The parchments are just for organization, since we have so many people."

"Fine," Zacharias grumbled.

Some people seemed wary of signing the parchment. When Neville offered the parchment to the people nearest him, they shifted uneasily where they stood and didn't take it.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione, clearly irritated.

One of the people near Neville, a blond girl, spoke up. "Did you jinx the parchment?" she asked bluntly. Harry didn't recognize her, though she did seem vaguely familiar.

"What would the point in that be?" Hermione asked exasperatedly. "We don't have to keep it a secret from Umbridge this time!"

"Well, suppose we don't trust you? I don't want to have to take your word for it that the parchments aren't hexed."

"Then everyone can just tell me the information, and I'll write it down. Is that satisfactory?" Hermione inquired irritably.

There was a general murmur of agreement.

"Harry, do you want to write down information for the people who did the D.A. last year?" Hermione whispered to him.

"All I have to do is ask what days and times they be busy in the afternoons of next week, right?"

"Yes," Hermione said. She raised her voice. "Will all the new D.A. members who haven't signed the parchment line up in front of me? D.A. members from last year can line up in front of Harry."

Ernie was first in line. Harry wrote down Ernie Macmillan under the leftmost column. "When are you busy next week?"

"Monday: three o' clock to four o' clock, Tuesday: six o' clock to the end of the day, Wednesday..."

* * *

Because it was a lovely, crisp, fall day, they sat outside by the lake.

"It looks like the old members will be meeting on Wednesday," Hermione mused, absently picking leaves out of her hair. "I think that they're all available at five o' clock.

"When will the new members meet?"

"I haven't figured that out yet." Hermione reached for the other sheet of parchment. It wasn't there. "Harry, Ron, have either of you seen the sheet of parchment for the old members? I thought I put it down right here..."

"I have it," Ron spoke up. "Why are we sorting things by new and old members? Why not sort the fifth through seventh years in one group, and the first through fourth in another group?"

"The old members are much farther along than the new ones. Maybe when the new members are caught up we can divide people into groups based on year. Are you going to give me the parchment or stare at it all day?" Hermione snapped

Ron handed it to Hermione without protest. She glanced back and forth between two sheets or parchment, making tally marks with her wand. From what Harry could see across the table, one of the parchments showed the times when D.A. members were unavailable and the other contained a list of dates and times. She looked up and caught Harry's eye. "I'm making tallies to keep track of how many people are busy on a certain day," Hermione explained.

"Why are you doing it with your wand?" Harry asked curiously.

"The wand writing will fade away eventually. That way I can reuse this sheet later instead of writing it all out again."

Ron looked at it over Hermione's shoulder. "Can you really find enough time where every single D.A. member is available?"

"We managed to do it last year," Hermione answered. "Besides, I only need the new D.A. member to be available. And if one or two of them can't make it, they'll simply have to miss that meeting. That's why I'm using the tally system--I can keep track of how many people aren't available. If a time has only one or two tallies and no other times are convenient, we can simply use that time and let a few people miss a meeting."

"Yes, but won't that mean they'll get behind?" Ron questioned.

Hermione shrugged. "We can help them catch up at the beginning of the meetings. Maybe people who miss a meeting should arrive early at the next session. Or they could ask a friend to explain it to them. Okay, it looks like the new members will meet on Monday at three o' clock. But I'll have to check the other members."

"What do you mean, the other members? Aren't they all on the list?"

"Well, some people couldn't make it today, so I went around and spoke to them earlier. I think that they're available then, but I didn't write it down, so I'll have to check."

"There are going to be even more members?"

"Only a few more," Hermione said reassuringly.

"Blimey, Harry, I don't know how you're going to handle all of the new members. There are already even more new members than the entire group last year, and that's not even the entire list!"

"I appreciate the vote of confidence."

"Don't mention it. Hey, if you can pull this off, maybe you should try to become a D.A. teacher instead of an Auror."

"I want to be an Auror, if I can."

"You can," Hermione said decisively. "You've faced down the Dark Lord. You made a corporeal Patronus in third year! You're the Boy Who Lived; there's no way Fudge could turn you down if you want to be an Auror."

"Thanks, Hermione."