On September 1st, the students of Hogwarts welcomed the new semester in the drizzle.
On the deserted platform, some students' families were holding umbrellas and saying their final goodbyes and giving their children instructions.
Everything seemed to be the same as usual.
However, everything became different again.
The huge station was filled with an atmosphere of uneasiness.
"Whatever you want to do, just go ahead and do it."
Neville's grandmother, Lady Augusta, gave her grandson a big hug.
"Don't worry about me, and take care of yourself."
"I will."
Neville straightened his chest.
"We will be proud of you for what you have done."
Under the watchful eyes of Lady Augusta, Neville pushed his luggage onto the Hogwarts Express.
Looking at the crowd of people playing in the corridor, Neville murmured: "School has started!"
Hogwarts is such a magical place. Everyone loves the old castle and even regards it as another home. Neville is no exception.
Especially after the DA was established, he liked the gathering very much and enjoyed the time practicing Defense Against the Dark Arts with everyone.
However, this time when school started, Neville just couldn't be happy no matter what.
Not only was the DA party he was looking forward to gone, but even his good friends were no longer in school.
Whether it was Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, or even Dean who shared the same dormitory, they were all forced to drop out of school.
Neville simply couldn't imagine how horrible Hogwarts must look now.
In fact, as early as during the summer vacation, Neville even wanted to drop out of school and join the Defense Association to fight against the mysterious man because of listening to the broadcast of the Wizarding Lookout every day.
After all, there is little point in returning to Hogwarts. Hogwarts controlled by the Death Eaters is no longer the beloved home.
His crazy idea even got the support of his grandmother.
Lady Augusta believes that Neville should stand up bravely against the mysterious man, and supports Neville to join the Defense Association to learn some useful self-protection knowledge.
However, a letter from Hannah Abbott temporarily changed Neville's mind about dropping out of school.
Because the Defense Association hopes that Neville can go to Hogwarts, unite the students in Hogwarts who are willing to stand up and resist, reorganize Dumbledore's Army, and teach everyone the knowledge of Defense against the Dark Arts. This is an unprecedented challenge for Neville.
After hesitating again and again, Neville was still willing to try. He knew very well that it was impossible for Harry, Hermione and Ron to return to Hogwarts and continue to lead everyone in the rebellion against Snape.
But someone else has to step up and take up the torch and move forward.
After putting his luggage away, Neville knocked on Ernie MacMillan's carriage and waved to Ernie who was talking to his friends in the carriage.
"Longbottom, what's going on?"
Ernie MacMillan looked surprised. He probably didn't expect Neville to come to him.
"Looking for a place to chat?"
Neville gestured outside the carriage, signaling the other party to follow.
Ernie hesitated for a moment, then followed Neville out of the carriage.
"I got letters from Hannah during the summer break. She was with Susan and Justin was there too."
Neville deliberately revealed some news that would arouse Ernie's interest, smiled at him, and took him back to his empty workshop.
After using a spell to seal the carriage door, Ernie couldn't wait to ask, "Have Hannah, Susan, and Justin all joined the Defense Association?"
After reciting the ear-closing spell, Neville told Ernie what happened during the summer vacation.
These words undoubtedly caused a lot of hurt to the Hufflepuff prefect. Not only did several of his good friends at Hogwarts drop out of school for various reasons, but also because none of them wrote to him.
"I'm glad they're okay, but you know, I've been worried about their safety the whole summer, and those heartless guys forgot about me." Ernie's lips trembled, but he was still very happy that Neville could bring him this good news.
"I actually wanted to drop out of school. You should also know that Mr. Anderson formed a defense association. I originally wanted to join them."
Neville looked Ernie straight in the eyes and told him the purpose of his visit.
"However, Hannah wrote to me and told me that Mr. Anderson hopes someone can reorganize Dumbledore's Army and unite the students in Hogwarts who are willing to stand up and resist."
"You want to..."
Ernie's eyes widened in surprise. He finally understood why Neville Longbottom was looking for him in such a mysterious way.
"How about it, do you want to join?" Neville looked at Ernie expectantly.
"I'm afraid it won't work just with the two of us." Ernie neither agreed nor refused.
"We can find some trustworthy people. Don't forget that many people also joined Dumbledore's Army." Neville kindly reminded, "I have contacted Luna during the summer vacation. She is also happy to join us and help reorganize Dumbledore's Army. Her family has always supported Harry."
In fact, Neville had been thinking about this matter throughout the summer vacation, and he also tried to contact some of the original DA members, asking them indirectly whether they had that intention.
"Then let's split up and see how many people are willing to join."
Soon, the empty carriage was filled with people.
Except for Slytherin, all other students have arrived. Everyone is very clear about the current situation and is very interested in Neville's plan to reorganize Dumbledore's Army.
It never hurts to learn a little more about Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"I'm also happy to reorganize Dumbledore's Army, but I have a question." Anthony raised his hand to attract everyone's attention and asked his doubts: "Who will teach everyone Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
Everyone in the car looked at each other.
yes!
Who will teach them
Everyone present was well aware that their level of Defense against the Dark Arts was only relatively better than others. Teaching some lower grade students was not a problem, but they were not qualified to teach former members of Dumbledore's Army.
So, they all turned to look at Neville, hoping that he could come up with some good idea.
"There's no need to worry about this. We can teach ourselves the simpler spells, and the Defense Association will regularly send people to teach us the more difficult spells." Everyone's eyes widened at Neville's words.
"Is there a way they can break into Hogwarts quietly?" Ernie couldn't help asking.
Although it is known that Hogwarts has many secret passages leading to the outside, it is not easy to break into the castle quietly.
"I don't know, but I think Mr. Anderson is very capable, so this shouldn't be a problem for them."
Neville was very confident in Albert. The power of the Death Eaters could be seen from their recent helplessness in dealing with the Defense Association's actions.
"Do you think we have joined the Defense Association?" Ernie suddenly said, "Dumbledore's Army can also be considered as the DA."
"I think so."
Seamus gave Neville a searching look.
"He should only be considered a peripheral member, not a formal member." Neville shook his head.
"Outlying members?"
Everyone seemed a little excited, and the peripheral members were not far from becoming official members.
"In fact, as long as you support Harry Potter and the Defense Society in resisting You-Know-Who, you can be considered a peripheral member of the Defense Society." Luna suddenly put down The Quibbler and explained to everyone, "I heard from my father that peripheral members of the Defense Society are all over the British wizarding world, but there are very few formal members. They are gathered at the Defense Society headquarters and receive defense against the dark arts training from Albert every day. It is said that everyone is a dueling expert with a colorless Auror. Therefore, they can always easily defeat those search teams who know a little about the dark arts."
"Is this true?"
After listening to Luna's words, everyone became more curious about the legendary Defense Association.
If what Luna said is true, the Defense Association is already a very powerful force.
"But why don't they stand up and lead everyone to resist the mysterious man?" Simo was even more confused.
"Aren't they doing it?" Ernie suddenly said, "Do you think we will have a chance to join the Defense Association after we graduate?"
"There is definitely a chance. Hannah has successfully joined the Defense Association and is said to be receiving Defense Against the Dark Arts training." Neville said softly, "If Hannah hadn't written to me, I would have dropped out of school."
Everyone was very envious of Hannah and her friends, and they all had the urge to drop out of school and join the Defense Association.
After all, the opportunity to be taught personally by Albert, the duel champion, is very rare, and the results are obvious to all. Today's members of the Defense Association do have a great duel level, and there has never been any news of any member being killed.
Most importantly, God knows what Hogwarts would be like if it were controlled by Death Eaters.
Besides, even if they really graduated from school next year, no one would really want to work for the You-Know-Who in the Ministry of Magic.
After discussing the Defense Association, everyone brought the topic back to the topic.
After all, reorganizing Dumbledore's Army is the next focus. If the Death Eaters really make Hogwarts a mess, Dumbledore's Army will be everyone's last hope.
No, those damn Death Eaters would definitely make Hogwarts a mess, otherwise they wouldn't be called Death Eaters.
"We need to occupy the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts for a long time and use it as the headquarters of Dumbledore's Army." Neville made his own suggestion. "If we really encounter problems, we can hide in the Room of Requirement."
"But what are we supposed to do?"
Ximo didn't object, but he felt that it might be difficult to operate.
"If we want to occupy it for a long time, we need someone to stay in it, but we can't always have someone in the Room of Requirement. After all, everyone needs to go to class."
"Don't worry, we can always find a way." Neville comforted, "It's just a small problem. Oh, and we also need a secret way to communicate."
"We can continue to use this communication." Luna took out a gold coin from her pocket. It was a fake Galleon that Dumbledore's Army used to pass messages to each other.
"Yes, that's what I'm talking about. You shouldn't have lost it, right?" Neville asked expectantly. His Transfiguration magic was only average, so he couldn't create something like this.
"Don't worry, I can do this, too." Ernie almost patted his chest to make the promise.
"There's another problem. If they find out it was us who did it, I mean those Death Eaters..." Anthony still had some concerns. They all knew the danger of Death Eaters. Once they knew what they had done, they would definitely be in big trouble.
"Don't worry, they won't waste too many pure bloods, they will only torture us a little, they won't really kill us." Neville comforted: "Of course, as long as we don't let them know, even if they know, they will only make trouble for me as the leader. Anyway, I'm not afraid of them."
Everyone couldn't help but admire Neville's courage, and they all realized that Neville was not afraid of being expelled from school at all.
"Don't expect a school run by Death Eaters to be like this. Someone will always have to stand up and resist. That's how everyone can see hope, just like when Harry and his friends first formed the DA.
"What is our goal, to kick Snape out of Hogwarts?" Ernie asked.
"This is the short-term goal. As for the long-term goal, I'm not too sure. They didn't say much. They just asked us to unite the students of Hogwarts and get everyone to support Harry." Neville didn't really know what Albert wanted to do, but that didn't stop him from uniting everyone to fight against the mysterious man.
"By the way, what is Harry doing now?"
Unconsciously, the topic of everyone's discussion fell on Harry. Everyone believed that Harry Potter was the savior and believed that he could lead everyone to defeat the mysterious man.
"Didn't the last time the Wizard Lookout said that Harry was almost ambushed by a mysterious man in Godric's Hollow?" Anthony recalled.
Most people now pay special attention to the news from the Wizarding Watch. As for the news in the Daily Prophet, anyone with a normal mind knows that it has been controlled by You-Know-Who and now only speaks for You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters.
"I don't know, but they should be safe."
“Harry must know a lot of things we don't,” Ernie said suddenly.
"Of course. My dad said that Harry was reportedly preparing to destroy the mysterious man. Rumor has it that he was completing the mission left to him by Dumbledore." Luna casually distributed The Quibbler to them.
"What to give us?"
"There are actually quite a few secrets hidden in The Quibbler." Luna handed Neville the ridiculous magic mirror that came with the magazine. "They found a way to hide the real content to prevent the Death Eaters from discovering the secrets of the magazine, so the cost of this thing has increased a lot."
"Wow! It's amazing."
Neville's eyes widened in surprise. He found that the Quibbler in front of him had undergone a complete change.
After everyone took turns watching The Quibbler using that ridiculous magic mirror, they turned the topic back to Dumbledore's Army.
Since they were going to do it, they naturally hoped that the whole plan would be kept secret, at least to prevent others from easily catching them. After all, the enemy was the vicious Death Eaters.
If several people work together to find a solution, it will be much faster than if Neville works alone.
As everyone worked together to raise questions and solve problems, the relationship became closer.
"It would be great if we could get in touch with Hannah?" Ernie turned his head to look out the window at the pouring rain and suddenly asked, "Do you think the Death Eaters will come to search the train?"
"Yes, they are such fools. I'll bet on the chocolate bonbons." Anthony took a handful of candies from his pocket and shared them with everyone.
"It may not be for Harry Potter, it may also be to capture other people. Kidnapping children to make their relatives submit has always been effective." Neville said contemptuously.