Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.
    ‘Dark detectors,’ said Harry, stepping between the cushions to reach them. ‘Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don’t want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled …’
    He gazed for a moment into the cracked Foe-Glass; shadowy figures were moving around inside it, though none was recognisable. He turned his back on it.
    ‘Well, I’ve been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and – er –’ He noticed a raised hand. ‘What, Hermione?’
    ‘I think we ought to elect a leader,’ said Hermione.
    ‘Harry’s leader,’ said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad.
    Harry’s stomach did yet another back-flip.
    ‘Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly,’ said Hermione, unperturbed. ‘It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So – everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?’
    Everybody put up their hand, even Zacharias Smith, though he did it very half-heartedly.
    ‘Er – right, thanks,’ said Harry, who could feel his face burning. ‘And – what , Hermione?’
    ‘I also think we ought to have a name,’ she said brightly, her hand still in the air. ‘It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don’t you think?’
    ‘Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?’ said Angelina hopefully.
    ‘Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?’ suggested Fred.
    ‘I was thinking,’ said Hermione, frowning at Fred, ‘more of a name that didn’t tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings.’
    ‘The Defence Association?’ said Cho. ‘The DA for short, so nobody knows what we’re talking about?’
    ‘Yeah, the DA’s good,’ said Ginny. ‘Only let’s make it stand for Dumbledore’s Army, because that’s the Ministry’s worst fear, isn’t it?’
    There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this.
    ‘All in favour of the DA?’ said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. ‘That’s a majority – motion passed!’
    She pinned the piece of parchment with all of their signatures on it on to the wall and wrote across the top in large letters:
     
    DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY
     
    ‘Right,’ said Harry, when she had sat down again, ‘shall we get practising then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus , you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it’s pretty basic but I’ve found it really useful –’
    ‘Oh, please ,’ said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. ‘I don’t think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?’
    ‘I’ve used it against him,’ said Harry quietly. ‘It saved my life in June.’
    Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.
    ‘But if you think it’s beneath you, you can leave,’ Harry said.
    Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else.
    ‘OK,’ said Harry, his mouth slightly drier than usual with all these eyes upon him, ‘I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practise.’
    It felt very odd to be issuing instructions, but not nearly as odd as seeing them followed. Everybody got to their feet at once and divided up. Predictably, Neville was left partnerless.
    ‘You can practise with me,’ Harry told him. ‘Right – on the count of three, then – one, two, three –’
    The room was suddenly full of shouts of Expelliarmus . Wands flew in all directions; missed spells hit books on shelves and sent them flying into the air. Harry was too quick for Neville, whose wand went spinning out of his hand, hit the ceiling in a shower of sparks and landed with a clatter on top of a bookshelf, from which Harry retrieved it with a Summoning Charm. Glancing around, he thought he had been right to suggest they practise the basics first; there was a lot of shoddy spellwork going on; many people were not succeeding in Disarming their opponents at all, but merely causing them to jump backwards a few paces or wince as their feeble spell whooshed over them.
    ‘Expelliarmus!’ said Neville, and Harry, caught unawares, felt his wand fly out of his hand.
    ‘I DID IT!’ said Neville gleefully. ‘I’ve never done it before – I DID IT!’
    ‘Good one!’ said Harry encouragingly, deciding not to point out that in a real duel Neville’s opponent was unlikely to be staring in the opposite direction with his wand held loosely at his side. ‘Listen, Neville, can you take it in