One morning with his friends at breakfast, Brooklyn read the Daily Prophet headline of the toad Umbridge becoming Hogwarts High Inquisitor, one that had the power to inspect and sack teachers.

She pranced about the school as though she were Headmistress, flushing out one decree after another, which included banning the Twin's joke products, too. It made it worse, as Filch seemed too happy about having her around, putting up the decrees on a wall, all for his beloved Dolores that made Brooklyn want to throw up.

Brooklyn and Griff had watched her on her daily hallway routine one day, using her wand on the smallest ridiculous things such as tucking in boy's shirts, and even splitting apart couples kissing.

Most of the teachers managed to pass Umbridge's inspections, and Brooklyn had a hoot after watching the toad getting put down by McGonagall. Trelawney didn't have much luck with her inspections unfortunately.

He couldn't stop his growing hatred toward Umbridge though, still angry at her for having her cutting open Harry's hand.

"Why the heck is Dumbledore not doing anything about this? She's getting too much power, and if we tried getting her out, we will be sacked as Guardians!" The red gargoyle had stormed out one afternoon, while he and Griff wandered near the courtyard, where a large group of students were gathering around, for Trelawney had been sacked.

"Dumbledore is probably distracted by other things, mate. We just need to keep our heads up and not get ourselves kicked out by her," Griff responded in a despondent tone.

The two gargoyles spotted Harry and joined him, watching from afar as Filch kept bringing out her suitcases. Sure, Trelawney was a pain, but Brooklyn didn't want her gone, as she was part of the Hogwarts family. His talons dug into the palm of his hands as he watched Umbridge come out with a triumphant smirk on her features.

Trelawney stood there, wringing her hands in despair.

"S-sixteen years I've lived and taught here. Hogwarts is my home! Y-you can't do this!" She whimpered. Umbridge pulled out a pink envelope.

"Actually, I can," she responded snootily. Just from those words, he couldn't take this anymore. Growling, he stormed out, standing in between her and the toad.

Umbridge's simpering smile deepened. "You have no right to interfere, halfbreed. For I will sack you, too."

But Brooklyn wouldn't move, as McGonagall also came out and began comforting her.

"This has been going to darn far, Umbridge," snarled Brooklyn, eyes glowing. "You can't kick her out!"

"And just what are you going to do about it?" She taunted. Before he could reply, the doors opened, and Dumbledore stepped out, a furious look on his face. Brooklyn hadn't seen him since the hearing and wondered what had been going on with him.

Dumbledore approached Umbridge who was still smiling.

"Professor McGonagall? Might I ask you to escort Sybil back inside?" She obliged, with Trelawney sobbing thank you to him, and Brooklyn, who awkwardly muttered no problem.

"And just may I ask what you intend to do to with her when I find a replacement Divination teacher—?" But Dumbledore just smiled.

"No need for that, for I already did find somebody." Brooklyn smirked at Umbridge, laughing silently at the look on her face.

"W-what? You found—? You've found?" Her high pitched voice grated the red gargoyle's hearing. "Dumbledore, may I remind you, that under educational decree #22 states that—!"

"That the Ministry has the right to dismiss teachers, but not to ban them from the grounds. I think that you might find this new teacher quite applicable, and that he prefers lodging on the ground floors. Here he is now."

Brooklyn heard the sound of hooves, and turned around. To his surprise, Firenze came into view. It had been ages since he had seen the centaur.

He saw Umbridge's horrified look, as Firenze nodded to Brooklyn and stood near Dumbledore.

"This is Firenze, I think you might find him quite suitable." He looked over at the students "Now, don't the rest of you all have studying to do?" Dumbledore asked, and with that he walked away, and Harry ran after, trying to get his attention, to no success. Brooklyn simply stood there. How much longer could they all stand with Dumbledore ignoring them, and leaving the toad in power, even if he hired Firenze to replace Trelawney?

....

They were all sitting in the common room together that evening, Brooklyn and Griff sat on the couches together, Harry and Ron were sitting in the chairs and listening to the radio, while Hermione paced.

"That foul evil toad! We're not learning how to defend ourselves, and we're not learning how to pass our exams, she's taking over the entire school!" She had shouted out loud.

Then Harry turned up the radio, where Fudge blames the deaths of innocent people on Sirius, even though it was Voldemort. Brooklyn shut his eyes, imagining Demona joining in on the murdering of humans while trying to get to him, he shuddered, seeing her hands soaked in the blood of young couples who refused to join.

"Harry! Brooklyn!" Said a familiar voice. The brothers turned about, and their eyes widened at seeing Sirius in the fireplace.

"Sirius? This is too dangerous! Why are you even here?" Brooklyn exclaimed in shock, as the group knelt down near the fire.

"Answering my godson's letter, of course. You said you were worried about Umbridge? What is she doing? Training you to kill halfbreeds?"

Brooklyn growled. "For your information, she's not teaching those kids anything at all, and she calls me and Griff halfbreeds!" Sirius winced, apologizing.

"Sorry, what I said about that was a joke. But the latest intelligence from Kingsley is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."

Ron was stunned. "What? Does he think we're forming some sort of Wizard Army?" Both Brooklyn and Griff were both in disbelief.

"That's exactly what he thinks. He is even more paranoid every day. The others wouldn't want me to tell you two this, but things aren't going well with the Order, even with Una, Leo, and King Arthur there with us."

Griff tensed. "Is Arthur okay?" He demanded. The idea of Voldemort hurting his best friend...

Sirius chuckled slightly at Griff's reaction. "He's fine, Griff. But other people's disappearances are just how this had happened before. Voldemort and Demona are getting stronger working together, and are on the move."

Harry and Brooklyn looked at one another in fear, worried about their enemies getting closer.

"Well, what can we do?" Brooklyn asked Sirius, who turned about at a noise.

"Somebody's coming. I'm sorry I can't be of more help at the moment. But it looks like you're on your own." And with those words, Sirius was gone, right as the thunderstorm raged outside. Hermione stood up and walked to the window. But she didn't look scared.

"They're really out there, aren't they? We've got to be able to defend ourselves. And if Umbridge refuses to teach us how we need somebody who will."

She turned her gaze towards Harry and to Brooklyn. The two brothers were pretty stunned for a moment. Them? Teachers? Was she for real?

....

The next day they all decided to have their meeting for their secret classes in Hogsmeade in a mysterious little pub called the Hogs Head, a place Brooklyn had never set foot into, for he had heard stories about this shifty pub, where you can get all sorts of odd folk there.

As they walked down the path to the pub, Harry was ranting on about not wanting to be a teacher for this because people still think he was crazy, but Brooklyn remained silent as the snowflakes fell on his face, for it had begun snowing the week before. He did remember saying that he wanted to take over Umbridge's teaching, but starting up a whole new study organization in secret? How Goliath would respond to this, he would have no idea.

Brooklyn and the others nervously waited inside, wondering who would come. Brooklyn felt the eyes of the bartender watching them. When he first saw that guy, the gargoyle thought he had been looking at a clone of Dumbledore, for his face was almost the same, but the beard was shorter, and the eyes didn't twinkle.

And to their shock, a great handful of students came, some young and some near their seventh year. The gargoyle was quite stunned at the turnout, for even Katie Bell was there. She smiled, and his face heated up again. It would seem that every time she did that, he always blushed.

Ginny, The Twins, Cho Chang, Neville, and Luna were there, and so was Dean Thomas, a couple Hufflepuffs such as Ernie MacMillian, Justin, Hannah Abbot even Zacharias Smith, three Ravenclaw boys he didn't know, and most of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team including Lee Jordan, and Colin Creevey with his brother Dennis who had joined Hogwarts last year.

Brooklyn's mouth was just open, staring at everybody who gathered in a semi circle. Even the bartender was in shock at the fact that he never had this many customers before.

As everybody settled into chairs, Hermione got to her feet, smiling nervously.

"Uh, hi. So I suppose you know why we're here. We need a teacher, or teachers in this case. A proper one that had real experience defending themselves against the Dark Arts."

Zacharias spoke up, and Brooklyn now wondered why this kid was even here, if he didn't like them.

"Why?"

Ron growled. "Because You-Know-Who's back with a demented gargess, you tosspot!" Zacharias frowned in disbelief.

"So these two say," he huffed. Brooklyn's eyes flashed warningly.

"It's what Dumbledore says," Griff said to Zacharias, for when he and the London Clan first came, Albus informed them of all that Brooklyn couldn't put into his letter about Voldemort and Demona.

"But where's the proof?" Smith demanded hotly. "I'd think we'd like more info about how Diggory died and how those two looked half dead."

Brooklyn then gave out a loud growl at Smith, who stepped back, terrified. So this was why they were all here, eh?

Harry also spoke. "We're not gonna talk about it. If that is why you're here, then clear out!"

Nobody moved.

"Is it true you can produce a Patronus charm?" Luna asked curiously, startling the brothers.

"Uh, yeah," Brooklyn responded back, and Hermione nodded. "Yes, I've seen Harry's in his Third Year."

Dean smiled, impressed. "Blimey, Harry and Brooklyn! I didn't know you could do that!"

That's when Neville spoke. "He killed the Basilisk and saved Brooklyn from Tom Riddle with the sword in Dumbledore's office," he said much to Brooklyn's embarrassment of having to be saved by his brother three times by now.

"And he fought off a hundred Dementors at once," Ron said in an excited voice.

"And last year, he did fight off You-Know-Who in the flesh." Hermione added, and Harry cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Look, it all sounds great when you all say it like that but the truth is most of that was just luck. I'm not kidding about it. Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school if you make a mistake you can just try again tomorrow. But it is different out there."

Brooklyn nodded, saying his part. "None of you have experienced what me and my brother have. And we gargoyles in Manhattan have a hard time getting everybody to accept who we are, always fighting for innocent people's freedom from ruthless dictators, thieves and murderers. I had been forced to watch Harry be tortured by Voldemort after he taunted me about the Diary and putting Crucio and Imperio onto me before almost handing me over to Demona after." A couple people flinched from Voldemort's name. But he had no problem saying it. It was just a name after all.

"Yeah, what Brooklyn said. You don't know what it is like what him and me have to go through," Harry mumbled, as Brooklyn put an arm around him. Hermione watched them with sadness. None of their exploits in defeating him and learning new spells didn't sound fun anymore from what they described.

"You're right, we don't, which is why we want you to teach us," she said. "For any chance of beating Voldemort and Demona."

Griff spoke again. "So do we agree of having Harry and Brooklyn to be your tutors?" He asked. And pretty much everybody responded yes, leaving Hermione have them all sign a form that was secretly jinxed in case anybody exposed their group to Umbridge. Brooklyn felt rather overwhelmed, but at the same time excited about having the honor to teach the kids how to defend themselves.

Everybody including Smith signed it, and then they all began to decide on a name while going back up to the castle together.

"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina asked, but Brooklyn shook his head.

"No, too obvious, and people would catch onto us pretty quickly." He pointed out.

"Well then, how about 'The Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?'" George suggested.

"Uh, no, sorry," Griff replied, even though he agreed with George about them.

"The Defense Association? Or the D.A. for short? Nobody would know what we're up to," Cho then sensibly suggested. That's when Brooklyn had an even better idea.

"I like it, but maybe it can be called Dumbledore's Army instead, since the Ministry is afraid of him."

Harry grinned. "That's perfect, Brook! I think this is gonna be fun after all!"

"Yeah, but how are we gonna contact each other without suspicion?" Ron questioned, which Hermione happily answered by handing them all fake galleon coins that had a Protean Charm on all of them. Whenever either Harry or Brooklyn would change the dates on the coin, it will burn and then the number on it would change. This reminded Brooklyn of the Dark Mark engraved on the Death Eater's skin, for whenever Voldemort would call them to his side their marks would burn.

"Well, this is better than having this on our skins like the Death Eaters, it's brilliant," he commented admiringly to her. She smiled back at him. Harry and Brooklyn then agreed to have the meetings either once or twice a week depending on certain things, and to have holidays off.

"But, another thing, where are we gonna meet? We can't obviously come back to the Hogs Head all the time," Brooklyn then asked. The others came up with ideas of where to meet. They ruled out the Forbidden Forest, Shrieking Shack, and an empty classroom. Griff then offered to keep his eyes out for a good spot during his patrols, which Harry and the others thanked him for.

"Harry, what'll happen if Umbridge finds us?" Ginny asked.

Hermione just grinned. "Who cares? It's kind of exciting isn't it, breaking the rules?" Ron stared at her sudden different view of things.

"Who are you? And what have you done with Hermione Granger?" Brooklyn and the others laughed heartily from his joke, as they continued to discuss their plans for their new secret club, Dumbledore's Army.