"Morning Harry." Harry nodded at the third year boy; many of the first years were up as well. Ginny was there and so were a dozen or so first year muggleborns.

People seemed to find their own ways of stretching these days. Or they would just copy someone who looked as if they knew what they were doing. Harry was ever so surprised when he saw that Fred and George were genuinely helping younger students.

The first years were pretty much the first to drop off to sit down. Ginny lasted longer than most; Still dropping off quite early. Luna was one of the first to give up; she sat humming.

There was always a huge feeling of comradery in the mornings like this. Older students pushing the younger ones to do their best; younger students mocking older ones when they passed them. Challenges games and running round in circles. The group consisted of the entire Gryffindor house; the entire Hufflepuff house; Half of the Ravenclaws and two Slytherins.

The Slytherins were brothers; Half-bloods. Their father was in the muggle army and they felt as if this gave them a connection to him. They ignored everyone else; focusing only on the run.

This was where Harry and his friends were hand picking people for the Defence And Combat Club. Most people chosen were Gryffindores for now; with some Hufflepuffs. Of course Luna would be there as well.

Harry decided avoiding Colin and Lockhart was for the best. Not that Harry didn't like Colin; he was just a bit over excitable. He loved his father's map; it made it ever so easy.

Harry rolled his eyes when Lockhart entered the classroom. He chose to answer all the questions as absurdly as possible. Harry ignored the man until he opened the cage of pixies.

The Professor tried to regain order but lost his wand. When the professor couldn't stop the pixies people began screaming.

"Of for god sake." Harry calmly stood up held up his wand. "Immobulus."

Hermione stood beside him. "Subvolo." The pixies began flying into their cage.

"Occlude." Harry locked the cage and glared at the professor.

"Oh well done Mr Potter, Miss Granger. Of course I could have done that. I just wanted to see how well you could perform under pressure."

"Well professor I can always unlock the cage. I'm sure everyone would love to see you in action."

"I would; obviously however we are nearly out of time."

"Fraud." Harry muttered as they left the classroom.

"Nice one with the pixies Harry." Fay commented as the other Gryffindor's walked past.

One time it was completely impossible to avoid Colin was on the morning runs. However, Harry had a brilliant plan to escape being in an embarrassing photograph.

"Harry can I have a picture?" Colin asked; they were in the common room heading out.

"Fine but only one." Colin smiled. "Come on Guys." Harry pulled as many of his running group into the picture frame as possible. Zana jumped into Harrys arms wanting a piece of the attention. They all smiled into the camera and Colin reluctantly snapped the picture.

"Right let's go." Draco pulled on Harrys t-shirt.

"Colin if you come you're going to have to leave your camera here; don't want it broken." Harry smiled kindly at the younger boy before he followed his friends down.

At breakfast that morning a set of owls came to deliver a parade of parcels to Harry. Flourish and Blotts wasted no time; He had only sent Keres to order the books yesterday morning.

"What have you got Harry?" Draco asked as a tiny parcel was placed onto the top of one of the piles.

"Books. Defence and Combat books. Thought they would help tonight. I brought one of everything they had."

"Can I borrow…." Hermione began.

"Actually I thought you could help me plan the lessons." They were whispering.

"Sure; I would love to." Hermione grinned widely.

That evening led by the map Harry headed up secret passageways to the Room of Requirement. The wall looked as unassuming as ever but Harry closed his eyes. He took care in imagining the perfect training room. Especially now he had time.

People gasped when the wall opened into an elegant gilded doorway. Gryffindor's, Hufflepuff's and Miss Luna Lovegood.

"Okay everyone in quickly." Harry rushed everyone into the room.

The room was far larger than it was of DA meetings. The floor a perfect wood for both dancing and battle training. The walls were grey and polished; they held decorations of swords, shields and spears. There was a very low stage on one wall and in one corner was a water fountain.

Two of the edges held benches and the floor was wooden. There were dummies and practice equipment stacked in the one corner. An empty book case for his books and even small desks for written work.

Harry smiled at even the mirrors, and even the phonograph. It was perfect in every way; just as she had expected.

Harry jumped up onto the stage and addressed the audience.

"Hello as you all know I am Harry Evans. Welcome to the Defence And Combat Club. This club is to be kept the upmost secret. Bring only people you would trust with your life. Tell no teachers." He looked around and nodded at the serious faces. "Now in light of the secret nature of this club the first lesson is going to be a notice-me-not charm. You will use this when you are heading up here and going back to your dorms."

A boy in Oliver's year held his hand up. "Yes Cole."

"What do we do if we know this spell?"

"I would like you to help me teach everyone who doesn't know the charm." Harry nodded. "Now everyone get yourselves into pairs."

Harry remembered every spell he had every cast. However, in practice it was a little more difficult than that. He had to reacquaint himself with the spells and charms. It wasn't as easy as he originally thought.

Four weeks in to the Club he decided to try and break in his new ivy wand. It was fine for the simple spells like Lumos and Leviosa. However, when he used Bombarda on one of the dummies it sent him flying across the room. The wand wouldn't send the spell far enough away from him.

"Need a bit more practice Evens." Kyle Mason a seventh year Gryffindor caught him.

"My hero." Harry laughed as he was placed back on the ground. "Thanks Kyle."

"No trouble." He said smiling as some of the girls were whispering impressedly about him.

"Might want to try that one again." Ron suggested as Harry went back to his practice space. It took a while before the wand was truly broken in and connected to him.

Time went on and the group quickly moved through to far more advanced spells. There were spells in Harrys book that were tested. The groups decided on the situations were each would be best use. They were all becoming very strong and capable witches and wizards. He would be thinking of teaching them the Patronus charm sometime after Christmas.

Harry walked through the room; this was even great practice for him. He was learning new spells and techniques from his books and the other students.

"Rictusempra!"

"Protego!"

Fred fell to the floor laughing from his own spell.

"Ah everyone look over here. First of all, well done George; a perfect shield. Now see this." Harry pointed to the Hysterical Fred Weasley. "People misjudge the Rictusempra spell. They think it's just a silly thing to try on their friends. But as you can see Fred is completely incapacitated. Don't underestimated spells; this is just as powerful as Crucio at incapacitating people. I could cast any spell on him and he would be powerless to stop me."

A small uncomfortable squeak came from Fred.

"Hermione could you release him please?"

"Do I have to?" She smiled down at the boy; he looked up at her with begging eyes.

Hermione waved her wand and Fred was left on the floor gasping.

"Was that really necessary Harry?" He looked hurt as his brother helped him to his feet.

"Yes. Now everyone swap turns." Harry watched Draco drop his shield and Ron pick his up.

"This is going very well Harry." Luna placed a cup under the fountain.

Harry smiled as he was handed the drink. "Thank you. You're doing really well Luna."

"I can't wait until tomorrow."

"Yes I do love the Halloween feasts here."

"There's bad energy rising in the school." Luna looked dreamily around the room.

"I know." Harry looked around the room his eyes training on Ginny.

She was laughing with a first year Hufflepuff girl as they challenged each other. She didn't look as if Tom Riddle's diary was draining her Life-force; she looked Happy.

"Will you fix it, Harry?"

"Most likely yes. I just need to…"

"You don't have to tell me Harry." She smiled and rubbed his arm as she stood back up. "You'll figure it out."

"Yeah; I always do."