Saturday evening, Hermione waited anxiously on top of the astronomy tower. Neville, Luna, and Ginny stood with her, talking quietly about what they were expecting for the DA and hoping the wards they'd cast would be enough to deter teachers. When the first two students shyly arrived, Hermione grinned and began talking with the immediately.

It took almost an hour for everyone to arrive and when they did, the astronomy tower was feeling very crowded. Hermione had expected as much, but she hadn't wanted to give away the secret of the Room of Requirement away right at first. Besides, there was still a part of her that was worried someone would try and tell a professor or spread the news to the wrong person.

Once Hermione was sure everyone had arrived, she conjured a stool and stood on it so she could see everyone better. She didn't use a voice magnifier as she didn't want people outside of the astronomy tower to hear her, but standing on the stool seemed to catch everyone's attention enough that they stopped talking.

"Hi, everyone," she said. It felt a bit awkward and she almost wanted to start over, but she continued. "I know some of you are familiar with what the DA is, but lots of you are new here so I wanted to explain. First, the parchment you signed to get here was enchanted and will prevent all of you from spreading the word. I know it's strange, but it's a safety thing. We don't want professors or Death Eaters hearing about this."

A few whispers broke out, but they quieted as Hermione explained what would happen should they try to inform someone else about the DA or attempt to reveal the group. Next, Hermione explained what the DA was. She told everyone how Harry had actually been the one to form the group when the Ministry sent Umbridge to teach and how she had decided to take over while he was gone. Several hands went up in the air at that.

"Yes?" Hermione asked, pointing to a nearby student.

"Where is Harry Potter?" the girl asked. Most of the other hands went down and everyone started to whisper.

"Harry is busy on a mission from Dumbledore," Hermione answered. A few more hands went up and she sighed. "I can't tell you what it is, but it does have to do with defeating You Know Who. Now, if you're ready to officially join, line up here so we can distribute the communication coins we use to contact you."

* * * * *

The DA was thriving. Hermione wanted to say it was because she, Neville, Luna, and Ginny had grown and were able to teach more defense spells with better methods, but she knew it was because everyone was much more motivated with the Carrows around than they'd been with Umbridge. As much as Hermione hated the reason, she was glad the DA was progressing so fast and getting better and better at defense magic with each meeting.

Of course, they only met on Saturdays, but the practices usually went from breakfast until dinner as the Room of Requirement provided lunch and everyone was too excited to quit. They'd had one meeting on a Wednesday afternoon when Hermione found out the Carrows had been called away for another mission, but other than that, they'd only met three other times.

Overall, things seemed to be going strangely smooth. The Carrows had been less cruel when assigning homework and even Montague had stepped back a bit, something Hermione found incredibly suspicious. She made sure to pay a little extra attention to professors and Slytherin students with the way things were and found herself growing frustrated when two weeks in, nothing horrible had happened yet.

Not that she wanted something bad to happen; she just expected it seeing as this seemed to be the calm before the storm.

"Are you ready?" Draco asked, tapping her shoulder and startling her from her thoughts. She twisted around to see Draco holding her cloak and already wearing his and she frowned.

"It's Friday. We don't have patrol tonight," she told him. She stood up nevertheless and took her cloak from him.

"Pucey and Parkinson are both sick under suspicious circumstances," Draco informed her. Her eyes narrowed and she double checked to make sure her wand was easy to grab. "I told them we'd cover tonight if they took over our shift tomorrow."

Hermione nodded and followed him out of their dorm. If she hadn't been caught up on all her homework, she would have panicked at having to patrol unexpectedly. As it was, the suspicious lack of homework made it so she had nothing better to do with her time and she found herself happily walking alongside Draco on a Friday night.

"Do you think Pucey and Parkinson are really sick?" Hermione asked as they walked up the stairs to the seventh floor. Draco snorted and shook his head.

"No," he told her, "Pansy's been going after Pucey for a while now, so I'd bet we'll find them half naked just outside the Slytherin common room."

Hermione made a face and Draco laughed as he opened a closet door. It was empty so they continued down the hall, checking inside each door before going back down to the sixth floor. They didn't find anyone in the corridors until they reached the fourth floor. The two third years that had been caught smuggling food from the kitchens had scurried away so quickly, Hermione was worried they'd trip on their own robes. The third floor revealed some fifth years snogging and a first year Ravenclaw who'd been locked out of the dorms, but other than that, it seemed fairly empty for a Friday night.

"Probably because they know it's Pucey usually doing check," Draco grumbled when Hermione brought it up. Now that he'd said it, it made sense. No one wanted to get caught by Slytherin prefects so it was smart to stay in. Apparently they weren't half as scared of her and Draco as they usually found a number of students out and about during their patrols.

Hermione was about to suggest changing the patrol schedule at the end of the term, but stopped in her tracks at the sound of the castle door slamming shut downstairs. They were in the stairwell leading down to the ground floor, but the sound of the door echoed louder than she thought usual.

"Apparently they're not scared enough to close doors quietly," Hermione said. She hurried down the stairs, ready to catch whoever had let the door slam, but just before she turned the corner, Draco grabbed her arm and stopped her. "What—"

Draco's hand covered her mouth quickly and he pulled her away from the corner. Hermione glared at him, but didn't try to say anything as he glanced behind her worriedly.

"Go upstairs," he whispered, uncovering her mouth and pushing her towards the stairs. "Get McGonagall."

"Why?" she whispered back, drawing her wand and holding it just a bit tighter than usual. "It's just a couple of first years or something."

Draco shook his head and glanced back at the corner.

"No, something feels wrong," he said. Hermione's frown deepened and she grabbed Draco's wrist. He glanced down then looked back up at her. "I just want to be sure, okay? Now go get McGonagall."

"And leave you here to do something stupid? No way!" she hissed. She tugged on his arm and but he pulled away from her. "Draco, if you're so worried about it, you should come too."

"Hermione," he said, glaring at her. Hermione huffed and let go of his wrist. "I'll stay right here if you're so concerned, but if it is something bad, someone needs to stop them from finding the dorms."

"Fine," Hermione whispered. She cast a silent shield charm between Draco and the rest of the hallway before running up the stairs as silently as she could.

She couldn't be certain where Professor McGonagall would be, but when she got down the hall of the second floor, she cast a patronus that would know where to go. She watched her otter race off in search of McGonagall and hesitated for a moment. Should she go back down with Draco or stay up there to wait for her?

Before she really had a chance to make up her mind, there was a loud howl from down the stairs. Hermione didn't have to think before turning and racing back towards Draco, hoping that it had just been her imagination. She hadn't even gotten to the bottom of the stairs before she saw three werewolves rushing forward.

"Stupefy!" she yelled, hitting the leading werewolf perfectly in the chest. The creature barely stumbled and continued in a mad race towards Draco. Hermione continued down the stairs, yelling curses in hopes of slowing or stopping the wolves.

"Go back upstairs!" Draco yelled at her, shooting a killing curse at a werewolf and missing. Hermione blinked as the green light faded, surprised he'd actually used an Unforgivable curse even if he was a Death Eater.

"McGonagall's on her way," Hermione said, continuing down the stairs. She sent a powerful confusion charm at one of the werewolves and he stopped for a minute. "I'm helping."

Draco glared at her, but before he could continue arguing, the werewolf closest to him jumped forward and tore into his shoulder.

Draco and Hermione both screamed.

Hermione sent more deadly curses this time, slitting the throat of the werewolf on top of Draco before she'd really even thought about it. There wasn't time to be surprised with herself before the second werewolf was leaping at Draco and the third was rushing towards her.

"Avada kedavra!"

Hermione ducked and a stream of green light sailed over her head, hitting the werewolf that was attacking Draco in the forehead. It slumped forward, but the third one was still circling Hermione. She kept her eyes on it, not blinking in case it decided to attack in the split second she closed her eyes.

A jet of purple light shot from behind her and the werewolf's throat split open. It howled in pain, stumbling backwards and crumpling on the floor. Hermione looked back to see Professor McGonagall racing down the stairs, wand outstretched and a firm look on her face.

"You—You used to killing curse," Hermione gasped at her. McGonagall gave her a harsh warning look and Hermione nodded, silently promising never to mention it again.

To her left, Draco groaned and Hermione spun around quickly. McGonagall was already levitating his body out from under the dead werewolf and checking him over briefly.

"Miss Granger, go get Madam Pomfrey and tell her it's urgent," she said.

Hermione nodded and raced up the stairs for the second time that night. She left McGonagall far behind as she hurried to the teacher's lounge and sent a patronus in to wake up Madam Pomfrey.

She tried not to shake as she waited, but she'd seen the mess the first werewolf had made in Draco's shoulder and she'd watched both wolves bite him. Madam Pomfrey would have to be a miracle worker to get him through that attack alive and relatively unharmed.