"Link, we're not late, are we?"
Cedric and John pushed the door open as they spoke.
Link nodded at them, and his gaze naturally shifted to Sigefin and Newland behind them.
Sigefin and Newland were the same as always, one looking righteous and upright, the other wearing a fake smile you could never read through.
But unlike last time, the Kennedy siblings were carrying two Bag-of-Holding-style Extension Charm pouches this time.
More accurately, they were swinging them around…
Watching Big Kennedy whistle as he swung the bags, Link's expression darkened a little, and Cedric and the others kept stealing glances at the bags, clearly curious.
"Cut it out, bring them here." Link said irritably.
Hearing that, Big Kennedy finally stopped, grinning as he set the Extension Charm bags on the coffee table while saying,
"Mr. Link Flamel, sir, this time us siblings have completed the task you assigned perfectly. You mustn't go back on what you promised us."
"I won't stiff you. For the next half month, you two can do as you like. Whatever funding remains belongs to you as well," Link said. "But tonight, you still need to stay here honestly."
Hearing this, the Kennedy siblings first lit up with joy and immediately turned to run, but after hearing the rest of Link's words, the excitement that just climbed onto their eyebrows drooped back down again. They ended up sitting off to the side yawning.
Seeing them like this, everyone's attention shifted to the two Extension Charm bags.
They all knew Link had given the Kennedy siblings a huge pile of Galleons for research last time. Clearly, whatever was inside these two bags were the completed products.
Just as Cedric was about to ask, the Room of Requirement's door opened again.
"Whew! Everyone, get in quickly, be quiet, don't let anyone find out!"
Hermione's hushed shout came first, and then everyone saw Harry's trio come in with George, Fred, and a huge crowd of students.
After everyone was in, Emily and Cho Chang, whom Link had sent to pick people up, entered last and carefully shut the door.
Compared to Cedric and the others, this group looked both flighty and noisy.
They stood in little clusters of two or three, eyes wandering everywhere, chattering nonstop.
Especially George and Fred.
Those two were showing over-the-top enthusiasm toward everything in the Room of Requirement, fussing and exclaiming like country bumpkins visiting a big city.
Rather than a secret student organization sneaking in, they looked more like tourists.
But Link noticed something.
This group was almost fifty percent smaller than last time.
It seemed at least half had been scared off by Umbridge's announcement today, unwilling to get involved with Link anymore.
"Link, everyone's here."
Hermione pulled Harry and Ron over to stand before Link, head lowered. She clearly felt today's turnout was too small.
Link nodded at them, then glanced at the still-giggling, unserious crowd of students. He did not stop them. Instead, he picked up one of the smaller Extension Charm bags from the coffee table and emptied it out.
Clatter!
Nearly a hundred shining gold coins struck the marble coffee table, bouncing and ringing brightly.
The noise drew the students' attention. The moment they turned and saw what it was, none of them could look away.
In an instant, the entire Room of Requirement fell silent.
Everyone felt as if golden light filled their eyes, nothing else mattered.
And it wasn't just the students. Even someone like Cedric, who wasn't exactly poor, looked momentarily stunned at the sight of so many gold coins.
Newland's eyes looked glued to the pile, absolutely refusing to move.
Link rose slowly from the sofa.
Dozens of eager gazes instantly fell upon him.
They didn't know what Link was about to do, but that hardly stopped them from imagining something good.
Link chuckled, not bothering at all with the gold on the table, and said into the silent crowd, "I called you here today for two things. One is to tell you that our self-study group now has a name. It's called the D.A. Army. And second, "
"Dumbledore's Army!?" Harry's startled shout cut Link off. Hermione and John both glared at him unhappily.
Harry immediately gave an awkward laugh and waved his hands.
"I just mean the name is fantastic! Isn't that old toad Umbridge terrified of Dumbledore? This name is perfect!"
Ron also became excited and chimed in repeatedly.
Hermione was furious and wanted to scold the two idiots, but Link raised a hand to continue, "Second, we're officially starting our Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons. Time is precious, so let's keep the talking short and begin practicing now. The first thing we'll work on is Expelliarmus, the Disarming Charm. I believe you all know it."
"It's just that…" a Gryffindor boy with a prefect badge said awkwardly, "the Disarming Charm doesn't seem like a particularly strong spell… Can it really work against the Dark Lord?"
"You think it's too weak? The Killing Curse should be strong enough for you then, right? But do you dare use it?"
Link sneered. "Besides, whether a spell is strong or not depends on the wizard, not the spell!"
With that, Link flicked his wand lightly. A scarlet beam shot between the gaps in the crowd and struck a practice alchemy dummy in the back.
BOOM!
A violent explosion burst forth with red light.
Everyone spun around instantly, only to see the alchemy dummy blown to pieces, only two lower legs still stood there.
Gasps erupted through the room.
The Gryffindor prefect who had asked the question turned beet-red and stared at the ground, too embarrassed to speak.
Sigefin and Newland looked at Link with disbelief.
The Disarming Charm was one of their specialties, so they understood exactly what it was, at its core, a supportive control spell meant to knock weapons away, not something with real destructive power.
Yes, the spell could gain more force depending on the caster's magical output and magical strength.
Snape, for example, could hit you so hard with it that you'd be blown off your feet along with your wand.
But even someone as skilled as Snape could only make the spell that strong.
Yet Link had just blown apart a full alchemy alloy dummy…
Was that even Expelliarmus?
Was he sure it wasn't some kind of blasting curse!?
"Now, does anyone still think the Disarming Charm is too weak and not worth learning?"
As everyone stood frozen, Link's voice rang out.
After such a demonstration, no one dared object. The crowd all nodded obediently.
Link smiled with satisfaction.
"Then let's begin. Harry, Hermione, Cedric, and Newland will help teach you. Also, I understand you want to learn advanced magic. In a little while, I'll have Harry and Hermione teach you the Patronus Charm."
A wave of exclamations broke out.
The Patronus Charm might not be the most practical, but it was undeniably advanced, deeply symbolic, even. Very few here didn't know its reputation.
Especially since they had dealt with Dementors just a few years ago.
But Harry looked panicked when he heard this.
He rushed out of the crowd, tugged at Link's sleeve, and whispered anxiously, "Link, are you joking? Me? Teach them the Patronus Charm?"
"What's wrong?" Link raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Lupin teach you back then? And didn't you drive off Dementors with it this summer?"
"But I'm nowhere near good enough to teach anyone!"
"Then practice harder and raise your level. One way or another, we need to teach them the Patronus Charm. If you won't do it, should I?"
Harry's expression froze.
Of course he couldn't let Link teach.
Because Link couldn't cast a Patronus at all.
They had once suspected he was a dark wizard because of that, and it had caused quite a misunderstanding.
Mentioning it now left Harry embarrassed and speechless.
Link shook his head and then said loudly to everyone, "That's that. Let's start training."
Hermione and Harry were thrown into complete fluster.
Feeling all the eyes on them, the two newly appointed "student professors" were sweating from their palms.
Fortunately, Cedric, the experienced student council president, was present.
Under his organization, students quickly paired into groups of two, taking turns casting Expelliarmus on each other.
Cedric, Hermione, Newland, and the others patrolled constantly.
They needed to correct flawed spellcasting on the spot, and also prevent the accidents that magic inevitably brought when used carelessly.
There was even that one strange Gryffindor kid, any spell he cast somehow exploded.
Cedric sincerely prayed he hadn't come tonight…
But it seemed Fortune herself disliked wizards.
As soon as the thought left his mind, an explosion sounded from a corner.
Cedric's eyebrow twitched. He hurriedly shoved people aside and rushed over to find a Gryffindor boy covered in black soot, clearly blasted head-on.
Luckily the student wasn't injured, just looked awful.
"Oh! Merlin!" Cedric smacked his own forehead and wailed.
He felt like the D.A. Army didn't even need an outer circle, everyone here was already a disaster.
Because not only that exploded spell; everyone else's Disarming Charm was terrible.
Mumbled incantations, wrong wand movements, bad aim, random misfires…
The entire Room of Requirement had become chaos.
Wands flying everywhere, objects knocked over by stray spells…
And of course, panicked shrieks mixed with messy chanting.
Even though half the room kept glancing back at the pile of Galleons on the table, their skill level was still unbelievably poor.
Cedric looked to the side in despair, only to see Link sitting with the Kennedy siblings, happily watching the show, not even pretending he intended to help.
Cedric could only lift his head and sigh deeply.
———
A full hour later, this farce of a training session finally ended.
Everyone gathered before Link. Except for shameless George and Fred, most bowed their heads in embarrassment.
They knew exactly how bad they'd been.
Link smiled and said, "Don't be discouraged. This is only the first meeting. I'm already very satisfied. And I believe you'll all grow stronger and stronger."
"Alright, I won't drag this out. Each of you can take one coin from the table."
As soon as he finished, George and Fred, right at the front, cheered loudly.
Many others also brightened.
Link swept his mocking gaze across them slowly. Only after they settled down did he continue, "You've misunderstood. These aren't Galleons. They're tokens I had the Kennedy siblings make for you."
He glanced behind him, and Big Kennedy unwillingly stood up with a coin and said to the crowd,
"See the numbers along the edge? On real Galleons, they're just IDs, marking the goblin who minted that coin."
"But these fake Galleons have numbers that change to show the time of the next meeting."
"When the time changes, the coin heats up. If you keep it on you, you'll notice immediately."
"You heard him? These are how you'll be notified about future meetings," Link added.
"Once I decide the time, I'll change the numbers. You come here according to the time shown. It's the safest and most discreet method. Alright, come take one each."
Though disappointed, curiosity won out, and everyone lined up to receive a coin.
Some stubborn ones even bit the coin to test it like real gold, making the girls around them absolutely disgusted.
Cedric, John, and the others also took their coins, but they simply shoved them into their pockets without care.
They understood.
The Kennedy siblings had brought two Extension Charm bags. One was filled with fake Galleons…
So the other one must contain something else.
They exchanged a few looks and waited quietly.
As expected, after the distribution, Link stood and announced, "Alright, take your fake Galleon and get back to your dorms to sleep. Come again when it heats up for the next meeting. And Cedric, you all stay."