Harry wasn't sure what he should say or do or even think as he looked at Draco. Last time he had seen Draco the blond had been punching him, but Harry thought he had deserved that punch, and he did not feel especially angry towards Draco as he stood in the doorway.

"What's he doing here?" Ron sneered at Draco and took a half-threatening step towards him.

"He can be here," Harry said quickly. "The rules say anyone interested can join."

"You just said you don't care about the rules," Ron pointed out.

"I don't," Harry said brashly, "but you know, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Dra - Malfoy, are you coming in or not?"

"I'm already in," Draco shot back.

All the Gryffindors (which were most of the people there) turned ominously towards Draco, but Harry grabbed the parchment back off the table and pretended to read it.

"All right, now that we're an official group," he said loudly, "we'll need to have another sign up sheet for this year. But this first meeting is open to anyone, whether you decide to join or not. We're going to have a small membership fee due every month -"

"We have to pay now?" someone hollered from the crowd.

Harry froze. "Uh, yeah, because you have - have to pay."

A murmur rose from the students, disagreeing looks and heads shaking all around. Ron gave Harry an uneasy look, and Harry shifted awkwardly. When he had talked to Snape earlier, Snape had explained it all so clearly and Harry had agreed with him, but now it sounded like he was scamming the students out of their money. He could see the headlines now - Boy-Who-Lived Now Boy-Who-Steals, Adopted Father Questioned and Furious at Son's Greediness.

"No," Harry protested, trying to put the thought of such a headline out of his mind, "not like that. We're a real club now and if we have dues we can have official pins and maybe badges and if we save up, we can go on an outing or somewhere special."

The whispering died down, and most students seemed to agree with the idea.

"It won't be that much," Harry assured them. "And - and members who can't, we'll find something for them to do. Because if - if you contribute to the club, you'll want to invest in it more and come to all the meetings and really be a part of it."

Harry wasn't sure where that last bit came from; it sounded clever, like something Snape would say to make everything turn out right. Harry felt a surge of accomplishment when everyone nodded along with him.

"But that's why this first meeting is a free-for-all," Harry went on. "Some of you new lot can decide if you want to stay or not. But the meetings will be the same - we'll discuss and practice Defense spells and counter-attacks. Ron, Hermione, we can start sorting people out."

The three of them began pairing students up, mostly by age, making sure none of the little kids were with students too old or experienced. At the end of the double line, Ron grabbed Hermione as his partner, and Harry found, not surprisingly, that Draco was all alone, no one wanting to pair with him.

"You can be with me," Harry told him as he watched the students try to straighten into two lines.

"Sod that," Draco scoffed, lifting his hands in frustration. "I'm out of here."

Draco took one step towards the door, and Harry reached out to grab his arm, jerking Draco into the end of line.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry ordered. "You came, and you're going to stay. All right, everyone, let's warm up with simple disarming spells."

Draco stood facing him, a scowl on the blond's face. Harry ignored him, still explaining the different disarming spells to the rest of the group, but he watched Draco out of the corner of his eye. If Draco took so much as one step backwards, Harry planned to use him as a test subject for all the rest of the spells. He was so sick of Draco's grumbling and sulking and mean looks. No wonder Snape hated pouting so much - it ruined the atmosphere for everyone else.

"Everyone try the Accio spell," Harry directed. "Just take their wand, and then give it back and the other side try. Ready, begin."

Cries of accio flew throughout the room, but Harry turned his attention to Draco, nodding for the blond to take the first try.

Draco gave him a cold look and then said, "Accio Potter's glasses."

Harry felt his glasses slip off his face, and the room went blurry.

"Hey!" Harry protested, but something jumped in front of him.

"Give it back, Malfoy," Ron bellowed.

The room fell quiet and even without being able to see, Harry knew all the students were staring at Draco.

"I didn't mean -" Draco started, but dropped off.

Harry felt his glasses pressed into his hand, and he hastily put them on. Once he could see again, his fears were confirmed; everyone had turned on Draco like a pack of snakes.

"No, Dra - Malfoy brought up an interesting point," Harry stepped forward, making himself the focus of attention. "In disarming an opponent, sometimes you don't go for the most obvious weapon, their wand. They may be clutching the wand so tightly that nothing can get it out of their hands. So the best disarming may start with a distraction. If Malfoy thought he wasn't strong enough to take my wand -"

"I could have," Draco tried to protest, but Harry shot him a stern look, and the blond stepped back.

"If he thought he couldn't," Harry went on as if he had not been interrupted, "he should go for another weakness. In my case, I'm near-sighted. I may have the strongest wand in the world, but take away my glasses, and I'm helpless as a flobberworm."

That got a few laughs, and Harry continued, feeling more confident as he explained. "So Malfoy went for my glasses. This did two things - I wasn't expecting it so it surprised me. When you have the element of surprise over an opponent, you have the upper hand, even if just for a few minutes. But it may be long enough for you to gain more ground. And along with surprise, he weakened me as well. I'm surprised, I can't see. What do I do next? Do I start shooting curses, hoping one hits him? Do I hold my ground and wait? Do I retreat? But the time I figure out what to do, he's probably won."

"What if you don't know your enemy's weakness, but they know yours?" a student, Harry thought it was Dean Thomas, called out.

"Then you train yourself to look for a weakness. Like this," Harry stepped in front of Hermione. She raised an eyebrow at him, and Harry could almost hear Ron huffing his breath out. Ron might call Hermione a girl and emotional and all that, but Harry knew he had to watch himself and not infuriate Ron by pointing out all Hermione's weaknesses.

"Suppose I don't know her," Harry motioned to Hermione. "Suppose suddenly she comes up on a battlefield to face, and I know I have to fight her to do whatever it is I need to do. So I look her up and down, and I might think, ‘Oh, just a girl.' But we're not fist-fighting - we're battling with magic." Harry held his wand up.

"But at the same time, I'm an inch or two taller," he went on, noticing that every eye was on him, no one whispering. "Can I use that height or will she use it against me? I'm wearing trousers, she's wearing a skirt."

Hermione suddenly looked self-conscious in her knee-length plaid skirt, and Harry knew Ron was glaring at him, but Harry kept going.

"Does that mean I can run faster? But she's wearing thin shoes, and mine are heavier. If we have to run, will I trip because of my heavier shoes, or if we're running on rocks, will she slow down? These are all things I need to think about before we even face off. Can she shout spells faster than me? Maybe - I need to listen if we exchange words before we get into the actual fight. Is she only going to use her wand or does she have anything in her pockets that she could throw at me? As for her weakness, her hair is down, and it's long. There's a good chance if I throw out a fiery spell, her hair may catch fire."

"Oh!" Hermione gasped and immediately pulled her hair back behind her shoulders.

"You see," Harry turned towards the students, "anything can be used. I don't want you to start picking apart your opponent, but keep that in mind as we disarm. Magic is not your strongest weapon - your ability to think, act, and react is your greatest power. That's why you can go up against the tallest, biggest, scariest wizard you've ever seen and win - because you outsmarted him."

"Or her," Hermione added. She conjured up a length of string to tie back her hair, frowning slightly at Harry. Harry knew he deserved it; Hermione's bushy hair was a sensitive subject with her, and Ron was probably livid.

But they all started practicing again, the cries of accio ringing through the room.

When the meeting finally ended, everyone seemed hyped up and eager to join the club, but Harry told them they could sign up at the next meeting. Students begin drifting out, and somewhere in the shuffle, Draco slipped out unnoticed. Harry just noticed he was gone when Ron and Hermione stepped up to him.

"Make fun of her hair, will you?" Ron challenged.

"Oh, knock it off," Hermione told him. "I should keep it back for practicing anyway. That was smart what you did, Harry, shifting the attention. Even I wasn't sure how you were going to get out of that one."

"Why does Malfoy have to be here?" Ron asked bluntly. "He's just causing trouble."

"It's in the rules," Hermione replied. "And it's the first meeting - everyone was on edge. It'll get sorted, sooner or later. And maybe Malfoy won't come back. What do you think, Harry? If Malfoy disrupts, should we ask him to leave?"

"He won't," Harry assured them. "Look I know Draco isn't your favorite person right now -"

"Oh, so now it's Draco?" Ron interrupted.

"We already did this," Harry turned to Ron. "You made me feel bad, I told you one of Draco's secret, you told him, and I got punched. No, Hermione, it's all right. Snape healed me. But I am through proving my loyalties to you, Ron. You're my best friend whether you ignore me because of the Tri-Wizard Tournament or because I play Quidditch with Draco. So I don't want to hear any of it."

Hermione blinked at Harry's words, but fortunately they were the last three people left in the room.

"He's a Slytherin," Ron pointed out.

"And you're an idiot, but you're still my friend," Harry retorted. "I'm on your side, and believe me, if Draco had said anything against you, he would be holding his own teeth right now, no magic needed."

"Why are you boys so violent?" Hermione shook her head. "Punching each other, holding teeth - you're all animals, really."

"Yeah, well, this animal still has to go report to Snape about tonight's meeting," Harry sighed. "So you two figure it out without me."

------

"So you averted a fight?" Snape questioned when Harry paused.

Harry hesitated, then answered, "Yes, sir."

It was rather unnerving, the way Snape made him report. Snape sat at his desk while Harry had to stand in front of it, answering all the queries honest and straight-forward as he could.

"Did you think people would respect you more for stopping a fight or for challenging the instigator?" Snape asked.

"Huh?" Harry gave his usual eloquent reply.

"You distracted everyone from an impending fight. Would you have looked stronger if you had confronted the troublemaker?"

"But it was Draco," Harry objected.

"Doesn't matter," Snape told him. "You gave the order to only take the wands - Draco chose to ignore your order and took your glasses instead. Was it wise to let him blatantly defy you in front of everyone?"

"So I'm in trouble for not fighting with Draco?" Harry's eyes opened up a little wider in despair. There was just no pleasing Snape no matter what he did.

"You're not in trouble, Harry," Snape assured him. "You can stop looking so worried. But I want you to think about what happened. If you planned to divert attention away from Draco so as not to interrupt the meeting and then later confront him about it, then I agree completely. You could certainly give him a warning - the rules clearly state that anyone disrupting the meetings must leave, and you could have reminded him of that at the end."

"But in the summer -"

"This isn't the summer," Snape's face remained calm but firm. "Had your roles been reversed and you went to his meeting, I would expect him to stand you down if you stepped out of place."

"Come on," Harry threw himself back in a chair, letting his arms flop loosely to the side. "I'm never going to think of everything. I thought you would proud that I turned a would-be fight into a lesson about awareness. I got everyone on my side, Draco wasn't beaten to death, and they'll be thinking about weaknesses on the battlefield. How can I get blamed for that?"

A small smile twitched the corners of Snape's mouth, but he kept his face straight. "I'm not here to praise you for each little success. I'm here to train you, keep you focused on your responsibilities, and guide you towards the ultimate goal."

"Oh, fine," Harry grumbled. "When I do something wrong, you take it out on my rear, but when I do something right, it's no big deal."

Snape stood up, but Harry stared at the wall, trying not to sulk. Snape came to stand beside the chair and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"You've done well," he said quietly.

Harry felt his throat tighten, and he cursed himself for making Snape praise him because every time Snape did, Harry felt like bursting into tears. At least with the criticism, he was only frustrated and not all sensitive.

"Much better than I expected," Snape went on. "But from now on, I am going to be harder and tougher on you because I want you to grow. You've made tremendous progress. The boy I knew at the beginning of the summer could not have showed such integrity in the meeting like you just did. You kept your temper, you thought, and you reacted wisely. But I can't let you stay there - I have to keep pushing you forward because I'm not only your mentor and your teacher. I'm your father now, and I won't take anything less than your best."

Harry nodded solemnly, not trusting himself to speak.

Snape squeezed his shoulder and then returned to his own seat behind the desk. "So," he said in a casual voice, "you threatened to set Miss Granger's hair on fire. How did Mr. Weasley take that?"

------

After a long week of lessons and training, Harry was thrilled at the idea of a Saturday with nothing to do. Snape expected him to come for training that night, but as Harry left the Great Hall after breakfast, he knew the evening was hours away, and he had his freedom until then. He had missed Ron and Hermione at the table, but he found them in one of the halls, talking in low voices. Ron seemed upset about something, but Hermione was insistent, gesturing a lot with her hands while Ron had his arms crossed stubbornly.

"What is it?" Harry joined them.

"Hermione's gone mad," Ron informed him. "She has just hit upon the most mental plan ever."

"It is not," Hermione argued. "You're just obstinate, Ronald Weasley."

"Well, let me be the judge," Harry opted. "What's your plan?"

"I think it's time we end the whole fighting thing with Malfoy," Hermione announced. "We're not eleven anymore, we're not caught up in silly fights over mean names or spitting slugs, and he's not even threatening without Crabbe and Goyle by his side. It's time to end the feud."

"Okay," Harry nodded, "that sounds good."

"Tell him how you want to end it," Ron told Hermione.

"I think we four should all go on a picnic," Hermione said.

Harry froze, not sure he had heard her right. "What?"

"You know, a picnic. You pack a basket of food, go on a long walk, find a nice place to sit -"

"I know what a picnic is," Harry interrupted. "Why should we go on one?"

"Yeah," Ron piped up, "it's not like picnics are cool at our age. We're sixteen, Hermione - we don't go on picnics."

"And even if we did," Harry added, "Draco doesn't want to go with us."

"Well, you'll know when you ask him," Hermione decided. She tilted her head to the side slightly, the pose she took when she would not back down.

The next ten minutes were wasted arguing, but Harry didn't put that much effort into it as he knew Hermione would win. Sure enough, he found himself searching for Draco while Hermione went to pack a picnic basket with a surly Ron following her, declaring he would not be carrying the basket.

Draco was sitting in a stone window ledge on the second floor, staring out at the lake, but he turned when Harry approached.

"Er, I was just wondered if you were - er, doing anything today," Harry asked.

"Go find someone else to play with," Draco sneered. "I'm not desperate enough to talk to you, Potter."

"Uh-huh," Harry nodded tersely, "well, you're coming on a picnic right now."

"What?" Draco demanded.

"Yeah, you and me and Hermione and Ron are all going on a picnic," Harry told him. "And before you say ‘Over my dead body,' I am fine with levitating your dead body along with us, just so you know."

"I'm not going on a picnic with you!" Draco roared.

Fifteen minutes later, Hermione and Ron emerged from the kitchen with a packed basket and found Harry and Draco waiting for them. Draco's shirt was slightly torn, and Harry's hair was a bit more ruffled than normal, but other than that, they both looked unharmed.

"Hello, Malfoy," Ron snarled, his hands gripping the picnic basket so tight the wicker handle squeaked.

"Hello, Weasley. Hello, Grang-"

"Yes," Harry said loudly, "we all know each other's last names. So for today, let's use each other's first names. Ron, I'll take the basket for the first part. Draco, you be nice to Hermione, or I'll bash you over the head with this basket. Now, move."

They had started towards the outside door, when Snape suddenly came around the corner. He stopped, surprised at the sight of them.

"What's all this?" Snape demanded.

"We're going on a picnic, all of us," Harry announced recklessly.

It was best sight ever, the look on Snape's face - that mix of shock and surprise and disbelief and everything else the stern man tried to keep under control, all there on his face.

"Have a nice day," Harry smiled at Snape.

They all started for the door, Hermione leading the way, Ron and Draco both disgruntled, and Harry carrying the basket, leaving a speechless Snape alone in the hallway.