Grudging Acceptance

Cormac extended a hand to Granger and helped her to her feet. Though he felt a surge of excitement bubbling within him, he forced himself to remain composed. He had won, but gloating wouldn't serve his purpose. Still, inwardly, he reveled in the satisfaction of seeing his hard work pay off. The month he'd spent honing his skills and strategies had proven invaluable.

'Truly nothing more rewarding than vindication.' He thought as he looked at the crowd looking at him with respect and awe. Yes, they would not like him, but they would listen. For now.

Behind them, the last one-winged dragon whimpered faintly before crumbling into a fine dust, its form dissipating as Cormac released the spell holding it together. He glanced at Granger, noting the gash on her forehead. With a swift flick of his wand, he cleaned and sealed the wound in a single motion. Granger's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she offered him a small nod.

"Well," came Harry's voice from behind, carrying a mix of exhaustion and admiration, "you can take on an Auror, alright."

Cormac turned, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "I can take on multiple Aurors if I don't have to worry too much about their well-being," he replied, his tone cool but edged with confidence. "All they use are charms—no creativity, no flexibility, no madness. They train wizards like Muggles: all procedure and rote muscle memory. Sure, it builds discipline, but it caps a wizard's potential."

Harry raised an eyebrow, his expression contemplative. Before he could respond, a voice interrupted them.

"So, what was it you wanted to say? How do you plan on proceeding?"

Terry Boot stepped into view, his calculating gaze fixed squarely on Cormac. There was an edge to the question, as if the Ravenclaw was piecing together a puzzle in real time.

"Well….that depends on how many of you are willing to commit," Cormac paused, letting his statement register before he continued, "You all are going to help fight the death eaters right? I may not be the guy you want to hear this from but I can help. So are you guys willing to help me help you defeat this wretched ideology of purity? What about you Potter, up for some good old unity?"

Potter hesitated and Cormac wondered if the guy would call the whole thing off. Most people would not give up being the center of power within their spheres.

Harry Potter was not most people. The fifteen year old looked around at the gathering before he said, "I remember when we were still just thinking about the DA, I told Hermione that I didn't think anybody would turn up. What could anybody want to learn from a fifth year?

A lot of sixth years and seventh years did decide that the DA was not worth their time. I couldn't teach them any magic. Angelina knows more spells than me. Fred and George know how to cast silently. They objectively do not need the DA. But they came anyway. You all came anyway.

Not because you need to learn. Every single one of us has gathered here because we care. We care about how evil Voldemort is. We care about the fact that what Fudge is doing is wrong. We care that Umbridge should not be allowed to torture first years. The DA is not a school club, it is our little way of telling the ministry that it can shove it. So when a bloke comes up to me and asks if I am willing to fight. I ask where I need to point my wand at!"

The gathering hollered as the boy-who-lived finished his rant. Cormac smiled back at the boy who was grinning at him. He felt the weight of the boy's words. It was trust that Liam had never been shown in his life. And it was responsibility that Cormac had never taken in his life.

Cormac sighed, it was time to get to business.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Potter. Okay, since everybody has decided that they are willing to hear me out. The first order of business is learning the 'legilimens' spell."

Potter's smile faltered at that, clearly someone was not enjoying the occlumency lessons so Cormac immediately clarified his reasoning.

"Okay, before you guys start asking, no I don't expect you to learn the mind arts. We don't have time for that. I just want you to learn how a mental link is established and how a probe is sent through the link. You can use the Room, it has books on the subject and it easy to learn."

Boot tilted his head and said, "Is that what you did to Granger? You used the spell to hurt her mentally so that she won't be able to cast."

Cormac nodded. "Yes. I was reading up on Occlumency when I learned the spell and thought up a combat use for it. Word of caution though, try what I did to Granger against someone who knows occlumency properly and it will be you who will be clutching their head in pain and that is if your opponents don't just lock you away in your own mind. The mind arts are a brutal field of magic. Use them against people who you know won't be able to fight back."

Their were nods and he could already see people taking notes.

"Next I want you all to learn a list of spells that I will provide you with. Nothing special, just spells that I believe can be used in combination by multiple people to greater effect. So that it can be used by everybody to coordinate spells during fights.

Other than that, the most important thing I want you all to focus on is the development of your own niche of magic for combat purposes.

If you like using trinkets for fighting then use them. If you love herbology then use magical plants. If you love flying, try to use brooms. If you want to focus on creating greater effects using multiple casters because you work well with your friends then go right ahead. If you like learning new spells, then learn spells that are particularly hard to dispel or very obscure. Use the things you love and turn them to combat with maximum efficiency.

That is all I have to say for magical training. There will no more one-on-one duels, instead we will have battle simulations with clear objectives. We will fight with a personal flair, but we will fight united. Are there any questions?"

One of the second years raised his hand up. The boy was fidgeting and so Cormac decided to encourage him, "You can speak your mind, nobody will scold you."

"U-uh, sir what about us. Will we have to learn spells on our own as well?" Cormac frowned, he had kind of forgotten that some of the children were not even teenagers so he came up with a plan on the spot.

"No you will learn under the supervision of one of your seniors, kid. I will make a special list of spells for the second and third year. You all are pretty important for the DA after all. I also want you all to help the first years learn these spells as well. Do you have any other questions?"

The boy nodded before he said, "Also, is it possible that one of the seniors could get murtlap essence from Hogsmeade? Miss Granger has some still left for us but we have friends in the other houses that aren't doing the best right now. I thought that other members could help us give it to them without Umbridge confiscating another bottle as a potentially hazardous substance."

Faces darkened at the boy's words, and Cormac himself felt angry. Damn Fudge and damn the ministry.

Plastering a smile on his face, he replied, "Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Mr…."

"Blackwood sir, Henry Blackwood." The boy answered puffing his chest.

"I will see that it is done as quickly as possible. Thanks Henry." The boy rubbed the back of his neck and answered with a small 'No problem.'

Cormac then turned towards the gathering once again and said, "Okay, that is something we will need to resolve. Is there anything else? We have already dragged today's session a lot, so be quick please."

Everybody shook their heads and Cormac nodded.

"Okay then, that is all for today, I will ask all of you to sign a piece of parchment that will be kept with me as a way to keep track of everyone in this meeting so that I can differentiate between them and the other members of the DA. I will charm and curse the parchment to hell so that nobody other than me can see it of course. Needless to say, nobody, not even your fellow DA members are to find out what we are doing here. We can be sent to Azkaban for what we are doing. And this is for your security as well as the others around yourself."

There were no protests raised about the signatures because Granger had already forced the issue once. All of it happened quickly and most of the people left the room. The prefects of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw who were told to collect murtlap essence from the Weasley Twins the following morning before they were allowed to leave, Cormac stopped a few more people because he needed them to do things that required more compartmentalization than a memory wipe charm that was connected to the contract he had the gathering sign.

The third gathering of the DA consisted of only Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and the Weasley Twins.

"Okay I have a few things I need to talk to you all individually. Fred, George. You guys are up first."

The twins chuckled. Before one of them said, "Y'know, we are two people. Individually was not the word you were looking for when you called for us."

Cormac cast some strong anti-spying charms before he said, "You need to stop harassing Umbridge with pranks. Your actions make her angry and she takes it out on people that can't defend themselves from her."

One of them immediately opened their mouth, probably to give some justifications of what they were doing. Cormac couldn't care less. Umbridge was a piece of work but them enraging her did not help her mental stability. Umbridge was a sycophant. She would do anything to please her master and Cormac knew just the way to deal with her.

He cut off the reply, and said, "Look I get it. She deserves it but we cannot do it this way. There is no death by thousand cuts for her. I promise that I will find a way to deal with her but your actions have consequences for the first years as well."

The one to Cormac's left shrugged and said, "She was going to use the quills either way."

Cormac nodded in agreement before saying, "I agree and yet I do not want you to harass her. I want your energy spent on greater tasks. Umbridge must be treated as what she is, a pawn. She will be dealt with when the time comes."

Cormac pulled out a book from his robe's pockets and handed it to one of them.

"Mundane to Magical: Forging magical alloys." The one to his right read before looking back at Cormac expectantly.

"Its a book about making magical alloys using non-magical metals." Cormac's reply made the two roll their eyes in a mirroring fashion.

"We get that. What do you want us to do with this?"

"I want you to learn to create Whispering Brass, NRV and Hikerite that is mentioned in the book. I want you to make as much as you can and use whatever you can find in the room of requirements for it. If you need any of the metals, tell me. I would recommend starting with Hikerite and Whispering Brass. Those two can be used for your future shop products as well, so you are not wasting your time making it."

"For what do you need these?"

"...I cannot tell you that."

They frowned as one, before looking each other in the eye. Cormac felt a little unnerved with how well they communicated non-verbally as the one to his left nodded to his brother and his twin looked at Cormac and asked, "Is it because of what you told us about Legilimency?"

"Yes. No one can know the full painting on the wall."

"Except you?"

"Except me."

They did not protest perhaps understanding the reasoning he implied before asking if there was something else he needed them to do.

"Other than the murtlap essence and this, buy a few bottles of love potion will you?"

The gobsmacked look of horror was as funny as Cormac had imagined but still…..he felt a need to clarify.

"It is useful…. for getting the ball rolling on one of my ideas. Nothing objectively repulsive, I promise." He couldn't help but feel a little embarassed.

"I feel a little dirty, brother…." The twin to Cormac's left chuckled wryly.

"Same." They did not give him any further chances to help as they quickly left the room. Leaving Cormac alone with the Golden Trio.

-------------------------------------------

/Author Notes/

Phew! This was a tiresome write-up. You guys might be wondering why the students would 

Become a patron at patr**n.com/PaxOctavian to get early access to chapters and support me.