"Oh, uh, you're welcome," Penny answered, "people, um, tend to judge people a lot...before they get to know them..." she said, trailing off due to slight embarrassment. She normally didn't talk that much in front of many people and was unused to it. Apparently Luna didn't care, as she seemed perfectly happy waiting for Harry.

Harry regarded his friend, and sighed. "You're right, of course, 'Mione. I don't want to get caught. Remember, though, this was your idea," he accuse lightly--his tone belied the fact that he did not actually blame her. Ron, standing on the other side of Harry, clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You can do this, Harry. Everyone knows you're brilliant at Defence."

"I guess so, yeah. Thanks, guys," he replied, then opened the door and strode in to the Room. It looked perfectly suited for their needs, of course. Everyone seemed to have been waiting for him to arrive, so he felt slightly badly that he'd taken a while dealing with insecurity. It didn't look like anyone particularly cared, though; he just saw excited faces.

"Alright, everyone, um, welcome to the DA," he started, rather nervous. "Everyone knows that Umbridge is a rotten professor, so, er, I hope this will help everyone to learn better Defence techniques, and maybe actually pass the OWLS." He chuckled and saw grins directed at him. This wasn't so bad, perhaps. "Right, so, maybe we should all introduce ourselves first in case some people don't know each other? I'll start. I'm Harry Potter and I'm a fifth year Gryffindor." Ron, next to him, went next. "I'm Ron Weasley, and I'm a fifth year Gryffindor too."