A/N: Yes, so this is just a more detailed version of chapter one of the Rebellion, but that first chapter was so horrid that I had to write this one. So, this first arc is going to be a rewrite of the first few chapters of the Rebellion, but don't worry about it just being a reread of those chapters. There will be a few more details added, such as in this chapter, and also a few new chapters fixing a time gap in the story. And then, Renegade Moments will get into missing scenes.
Renegade Moments
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"Now that you mention it," said Hermione happily, "d'you know... I think I'm feeling a bit... rebellious."
"How about we be really rebellious?" Harry said suddenly, lifting his head up determinedly.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked, confused about Harry's shift in mood.
Harry rummaged around in his bag before pulling out a tightly rolled piece of parchment and handed it to Ron. "Here."
Ron unfolded the parchment and found that it was two pieces of parchment, and that they were both quite long. Ron started reading the first piece of parchment, curious about Harry's actions, but he quickly understood Harry's attitude change when he realized what he was reading.
"I made them up throughout the years, adding something to the list whenever the idea occurred to me," Harry said as he watched Ron's face change. "The ones about Umbridge started after that first class."
"Made what up?" Hermione asked as she grabbed the parchments from Ron.
"Hey! I wasn't done reading that!" Ron protested.
"Shaking hands, turning things colors, and animal letters," Hermione said as she skimmed the list, "are you actually planning on doing these?"
"Why not? Umbridge is probably going to expel me the first chance she gets, maybe even for something I didn't do. Anyway, most of these can be done anonymously, at least the ones for Umbridge," Harry said.
"And the ones later on in the list? The ones that will make you seem like you're mental?" Hermione asked.
"Snape's already had normal pranks pulled on him, so he won't expect the crazy ones, and they might just bewilder Umbridge," Harry answered.
"Do you really want people to think that you're crazy?" Hermione asked, as she handed the lists back to Ron.
"It wouldn't be the first time," Harry replied cheerfully.
"That was different," Hermione argued.
"I'd prefer to be called crazy because I say see an invisible person named Fred than because I tell the truth about Voldemort," Harry replied.
"I think these are bloody wicked," Ron interrupted the argument as he finished reading both lists.
"Even the ones that make me seem mental?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Even those, since you already must be mental for even thinking them up," Ron replied.
"You realize that some of these call for you to act mental as well," Harry said.
Ron screwed up his face in thought, and was silent for a minute. "Well, I suppose that's a small price to pay for getting back at those two."
Hermione huffed, and threw her arms up in the air as she leaned back in her chair. "You two are mental for even considering doing this. I mean, there's a good chance that Umbridge won't expel you as is, but if you do this you will be expelled."
"You don't have to be a part of this, Hermione, Ron and I can handle it. As for Umbridge, I just can't sit and be quiet, not when I can do this," Harry replied, looking earnestly at Hermione.
"Plus, it will be really fun to get back at those two gits," Ron added.
"So, will you support us? Not telling anyone that we're behind this even if you don't join in?" Harry asked.
"Oh, alright, I won't tell anyone. And I'll even help out with some of them, if they don't lead back to me," Hermione answered, after a minute of thought.
"With your skill at magic, they won't lead back to any of us. And, I think we only really need to be careful around Snape," Harry reassured.
"We could tell Umbridge, and she probably still couldn't connect it," Ron added with a chuckle.
"I wouldn't go that far, but she probably won't realize that it's us if we don't advertise the fact," Harry replied.
"Just promise me that you'll try not to get expelled, even if Umbridge tries to expel you like you think might happen," Hermione said.
"I promise, and don't worry, I don't want to go back to the Dursley's," Harry replied.
"I promise, too, Mum would kill me if I got expelled for pranking a teacher, even if that teacher is Umbridge. Of course, Fred and George might be happy by that, but that's just them," Ron said.
"Good. Now, what you said about keeping Snape and Umbridge from realizing that we're the ones pranking them as got me thinking. What if we hit them with a low confusion charm while we prank them?" Hermione said.
"Low confusion charm?" Ron questioned.
"A low powered confusion charm will make it so that they won't question your behavior that closely," Hermione explained.
"That sounds brilliant. You can see why we need you, Hermione," Harry complimented.
"I still think your better off not doing this," Hermione retorted.
"But we're better off doing this than some of my other ideas," Harry replied.
"We can always stop if they come close to figuring it out," Ron pointed out.
"All right, then, but I think I'll refrain from most of these stunts," Hermione consented.
"Fair enough," Harry replied.
"So, which one of these are we going to do first?" Ron asked as he handed the list back to Harry.
"First, I think we should start up a frame work for all of this to work, starting the ones that we're going to continue to do, like building pyramids of things for Umbridge, or shaking hands with Snape," Harry answered.
"Are you sure you want to shake hands with Snape?" Ron asked, his voice filled with a mixture of distaste and disbelief.
"Normally, I wouldn't, but imagine his reaction if we were to do that, it's not something that he would suspect," Harry replied.
"True." Ron nodded his head while thinking through Harry's insane logic.
"Harry, have you thought about your Occlumency lessons?" Hermione asked, looking over at the two.
"I think I might have come up with a solution for that one, a temporary one at least," Harry answered.
"What are you two talking about?" Ron asked, looking from Hermione to Harry in confusion.
"Since Snape is teaching Harry Occlumency there's a good chance that he'll be able to see your plans for him, and even a confusion charm won't make a difference then," Hermione explained.
"So what's your plan, Harry?" Ron asked, worry showing on his face.
"I've noticed something at these last few lessons, I can almost control what thoughts Snape can access. I don't think it's Occlumency, so I haven't done it more than once, but I think I can use it to block him from finding out," Harry answered.
"It sounds like it's close to being Occlumency," Hermione mused.
"It might be, but Snape still breaks through to the rest of my memories after a few seconds," Harry replied.
"How soon before you can prank Snape during those lessons?" Ron asked.
"I should wait for a short while, until I've established that I'm mental, but I might manage to do a few things at the next lesson," Harry answered.
"That really doesn't sound right," Hermione said with a sigh.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Establishing yourself as mental," Hermione quoted.
"Don't worry, Hermione, it'll be fun," Harry reassured once again.
Hermione was about to reply when she saw Ginny approach. Ginny flopped down on a chair next to them, wincing as loud firework went off.
"So what are you three talking about?" Ginny asked.
"Umbridge," Harry answered simply, covering the lists as fast as he could with out looking suspicious.
"That woman, what are we going to do about the D.A.?" Ginny asked.
"I don't think that we should meet for a while, Umbridge has more power than she used to, but," Harry paused for a moment as he debated on whether or not to say what he was thinking, "there is something I might ask the D.A. to help with at some point."
"What's that?" Ginny asked, curious.
"Just a little revenge," Harry replied.
"Revenge?" Neville asked, catching only the tail end of the conversation as he sat down near them.
"Most sneaky revenge," Harry replied, "once we can get everything together."
"What's your plan?" Ginny asked.
"Nothing set in stone yet, just a few ideas. I'll let you guys know when we're ready for your help," Harry answered. "Don't interfere before then, if you would."
"All right, then," Ginny said reluctantly.
Harry relaxed as the conversation switched topics, and thoughts of rebellion almost faded from their minds.
-
That night Harry dreamed of the corridor and the door. He felt guilty about dreaming of it, especially since he was so curious about what was behind the door. The thought of Snape's reaction to Harry dreaming of the corridor again, when he was supposed to be Occluding instead, made him feel anxious, since Snape was sure to find out at the Occlumency lesson.
The thought of Snape also triggered another thought, Snape's possible reaction to the rebellion. With that thought, the corridor gave a lurch, like Harry had tripped and managed to catch his balance before he fell, but he was still moving forwards toward the door.
Harry was eager to see what was behind the door, but, strangely enough, he didn't feel the eagerness as strongly as he did before. Everything now seemed like it was muffled.
Harry dimly heard a voice that sounded far away. He didn't catch the first speaker, maybe something about a duck? He heard the second speaker loud and clear though, as much as he could in this muffled dream.
"What is the meaning of this? I told you never to interrupt me. Rubber Ducky!" The last two words sounded even more distorted than the rest of the dialogue, and Harry could almost hear the squeak of a rubber duck, or was it a squack?
Finally, Harry reached the door, and it slowly creaked open. Harry stepped in, and saw shelves. The large room was filled with shelves, and on those shelves were rubber duckies.
Snape pranced into sight, clutching a large rubber duck. Suddenly Snape's anger at his dreams made sense. Snape wanted to keep Harry out of the wonderful room filled with ducks. In fact, Snape was even telling him to wake up, wake up.
Each 'wake up' was getting louder and louder. Harry felt the bed shake and he forced opened his eyes. He could barely understand what Seamus was saying, something about fireworks mating with one another. He was gone before Harry was really awake. Harry slowly shook off the dream as he joined the other boys at the window.
"I had a dream that Snape had a room filled with rubber ducks just now," Harry softly told Ron, so that the rest of the dorm didn't hear him.
"You really are nutters, aren't you?" Ron said in a conversational tone.
"The strange part was it started out just like those dreams I've been having, the ones Snape tells me not to dream." Harry glanced at the other three boys to make sure that they were watching out the window.
"Weird." Ron moved over to the beds, and Harry followed.
"I got to see behind the door, but some how I think that part was a normal dream. Unless Snape really does have a large room filled with shelves of rubber duckies, and he didn't want me to find out in my dreams," Harry mused.
"That doesn't sound likely, mate." Ron moved so that he could see partway out the window.
"I suppose not," Harry agreed, glancing to look at the piglets that could be seen through the window.
"Speaking of Snape, what's the final plan for today?" Ron asked.
"I need to speak to Hermione," Harry said, a new plan for the start of the day forming in his mind.
"What for?" Ron asked, thinking of Hermione's reluctance to join in the pranking rebellion, and wondering what Harry was going to ask from her.
"I need to know how to transfigure an object into a rubber duck," Harry answered, a grin on his face.
"Let's go see if she's up," Ron suggested, an answering grin appearing as he thought of what a rubber duck could entail.
Ron and Harry grabbed their dressing gowns and wands, and made their way down to the common room. Hermione was easy to spot, one of the few students actually sitting in the common room, and not plastered to the windows. Harry and Ron made their way over to her, and greeted her as they sat down.5/25/08
"What are you two up to this time?" Hermione asked suspiciously.
"Hermione, you know that you are really important to both of us?" Harry asked, attempting to sweet talk her before asking his important favor.
"What do you want?" Hermione demanded, refusing to be flattered by the teen. She knew that he was up to something just from the grin on his face.
"Hermione, do you know how to transfigure something into a rubber duck?" Harry finally asked.
"A rubber duck?" Hermione asked, rasing an eyebrow.
"Snape has a whole room full of rubber ducks somewhere," Ron explained with a grin.
"We would like to add a couple of ducks to his collection," Harry completed.
"Does Snape really have a whole room of rubber ducks somewhere?" Hermione asked in disbelief.
"In Harry's dreams." Ron fought the urge to laugh and reveal his joke before he came to the punch line.
"Harry wants a room full of ducks?" Hermione asked, trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
"Not particularly," Harry calmly replied.
"That's what Ron just said, isn't it?" Hermione asked.
Ron burst out in laughter, unable to hold it all in. Hermione glared at him, annoyed at not knowing what was going on.
"I had a dream that Snape had a room full of rubber ducks, Snape now deserves rubber ducks," Harry finally explained.
"Now, why couldn't you have just told me that at the start? You two were making no sense at all," Hermione scolded.
"Isn't it great?" Harry asked, excited.
"Isn't what great?" Hermione pinned Harry with a look to get him to tell her the truth.
"This is what we're going to be doing to Snape and Umbridge, Hermione, only with the confusion charm." Harry gestured as he explained. "He's going to get angry, sure, but he will be too bewildered to do anything about it."
"You know, this might just work." A grin slid onto Hermione's face as the realization came to her. With the low confusion charm, Harry might have a chance at his Rebellion.
"Now, about the rubber ducks?"
- Chapter One - Renegades. -