To be read after Harry, Cho, and Luna just finished their discussion during the first meeting of Dumbledore’s Army.
Harry basked a moment in the warmth of Cho’s giggle, looking a bit stupidly at her still as she flicked her hair behind an ear, screwed up her pursed lips and sent a giggling jinx at the distractedly sour Marietta. Marietta succumbed to the laughter and flashed consenting eyes at her friend, pulling out her own wand to practice Expelliarmus.
With effort, Harry directed his attention at the rest of the room. A kind of uniform electricity was on the faces of each member of the new D. A. – there was a magic beyond wands in the room tonight. Soon each participant had disarmed their partner several times and the sound in the room changed from the ebb and flow of incantations and clinking wands to an animated, chaotic, chatter. Partners had ceased disarming one another and were feverishly giving feedback, abusing Umbridge, whispering, shouting, laughing, and calling to other friends.
“Harry, pssst, HARRY!”
Harry looked up, quite surprised to find that Lee Jordan was trying to get his attention.
“Oh, sorry Lee. What is it?”
“I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind if I said a few words to the group? Fred and George wanted me to tell a story that might help.”
“Yes, of cour –“
Before Harry could finish his thought, Lee was already striding up a tall platform at the head of the room. Harry had not noticed the platform before and wondered how he could have missed such a prominent feature.
“More is required!!!”
Lee shouted these words and shot sparks into the air. The room grew silent.
“Those are some of the beautiful words that my grandmother Barbara Jordan taught me. I am not sure how many of you I have told, but my dad came to London from the United States. His mother was a Texas Senator in that country during a time like our own. She was a muggle, and a freedom fighter, and a master of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
No one need be afraid that officers who commit oppression will pass with impunity!
She also said that.
She said it to a committee that organized to impeach an American oppressor, and knowing that is the core of my motivation, the substance of my patronus. Because long before she could speak with authority to an official organization in her country, she had to speak with conviction to a world actively trying to shout her down.”
Lee flicked his wand toward a record player at the back of the room, muttering Ludate.
“She could not be kept quiet, and neither can we!”
A song played loudly over Dumbledore’s Army while Lee continued.
“Where our legitimate rights are taken from us, we will claim them!”
Ain’t gonna let nobody
Turn me ‘round
Turn me ‘round . . .
“Where our voices are being silenced, we will shout the silencers down!”
I’m gonna keep on walkin’
Keep on talkin’
Marchin’ into freedom land . . .
“Where my grandmother was opposed by the United States Government, she was supported by revolutionary groups like the SNCC, CORE, and the SCLC.”
The chorus of the song repeated, and several members of the group joined in, singing an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
“Where we are opposed by Umbridge, the Ministry, Vol – demort, and the Death Eaters . . .”
Lee paused a moment, looking several in the crowd in the eye.
“We will have each other!”
Lee lifted his wand to the sky, and bowed his head. A flashing, solid, and agile panther erupted from the tip of his wand. It gamboled around the group and roared in that pulsing, interfering, scratch; like a record spinning out of its grooves – remixing the song. As Lee joined the group in singing, his patronus re-echoed his voice. Other wands flashed as stag, horse, otter, dog, and swan – an arc of protecting totems - joined the parade and the chorus. The patronuses passed through the door of the Room of Requirement, carrying the song to the corridors, ringing in the ears of students and teachers. They charged through the chamber door of Dolores Umbridge, waking and terrifying her.
A Phoenix patronus flew into the room, carrying the wizened, but bold voice of Professor Dumbledore into the room, joining their chorus.
No one in Dumbledore’s Army but Lee and Harry had learned the Patronus charm before, and they would all need to learn it again if they ever wanted to call a new patronus, but this was the Room of Requirement and it provided.
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