Harry got up for the breakfast very early. Ron was still snoring, and he was certain Dean and Seamus were asleep too. He had a very heated altercation with the Irish and went to sleep almost immediately, frustrated and deeply saddened at the thought even his friends, or at least those he considered his friends, were turning on him. He knew he could count on Hermione, Ron and all the other Weasleys, even Nevile and that girl Luna, but it was already bad to read all these things in the newspaper, he didn't want to hear it from classmates. Angelina Johnson had been more straight forward in her opinion, not caring if Voldemort was back or not. As long as he could fly and catch the snitch before the other team she didn't care even if the Dark Lord himself was walking the school in a pink tutu flirting with the new DADA teacher. The mental image made Harry cringe and smile at the same time. It was a good thing to know some things didn't change.

Dressing up and taking the time to get himself clean, he went down to the Great Hall, certain he would be the first one and alone. It would be refreshing to have some time to himself. Unfortunately, and also surprisingly, he wasn't the first. At the Ravenclaw table sat Jeffrey, the transfer student. He smiled and waved to Harry who returned the gesture before sitting at the empty table of the Gryffindors. It was about six in the morning and nobody would come before a while.

Filling his plate with a few food, he wondered if the elves knew automatically when a student sat at a table because regardless of the time, food was appearing in front of him the moment he sat down. A few minutes latter, Jeff was standing behind him with a friendly smile.

"Hey! Harry Potter? Been hearing a lot about you since the train. Not good stuff though I don't care, I'll make my own opinion. Is it allowed to sit at other house tables?" He asked pointing to the bench on Harry's left.

"Oh! Sure! Except on opening feast and major events." Harry's mood had darkened when he spoke about how people didn't say good things on him but was relieved to know he was not easily convinced. He liked the guy enough to wish he could be a good friend. While his companion took a seat, Harry started the questions before he could start investigating on him. "So how come you're so early"

"Jet lag..." Said the almost muggleborn "Slept a good part of the train ride. I knew I was not sleepy because in America its like five to six hours early, so I forced myself to sleep. When I say force, I mean I hexed myself to sleep. Woke up early, around four-five in the morning, waited a bit in the common room to try and make my Gameboy working with no result then got down to take a run around the lake. I'll lose my shape if I don't take a run sometime now that I don't do martial arts anymore. Finally I entered the Great Hall about ten minutes before you."

"I see." Said Harry "You're not the first to try and bring an electronic device here. The Wards and the Magic in here cause too much interference and nothing electronic ever worked. Not like there's any electricity here anyway."

"Oh that's why! Well I had a spell to charge the batteries of any electronic device, its a basic spell in America. Damn, here I thought I could finish my game... Wait that means you have absolutely nothing electronic in here?" Jeff's shoulders slumped a bit and he grunted in disappointment. Harry assumed he really was used to have muggle equipment all the time.

The two chatted a while, Harry learning a lot about how wizards lived in America and he began to wonder if he would be more happy with that kind of lifestyle. Pretty soon, sooner than harry thought, students began appearing in the great hall and seating at different places. Harry saw a lot of girls coming and welcoming Jeff to the school, inviting him to sit with them and a lot of them giving their best impression of a tomato. Jeff negated every invitation gently but without any room for them to insist. Harry was impressed by the amount of tact and control he had over these girls, making him envy his ability and wishing he could do the same with his own stalkers, not that he had a lot recently. Hermione and Ron took a seat in front of the two boys and the talk continued.

"You know, I had a hard time sleeping tonight because of you." Said Hermione with a small grin. Ron had bulging eyes with dirty thoughts passing through his mind but Hermione explained herself before he could comment. "Every girls in my dorm were talking about you all night long. In fact, I think you're in to be a very hot topic this year as well as the most desired guy in school. At least for a few weeks."

Jeff simply grumbled at the fact, not commenting.

"By your reaction, I don't think you're happy about it." Said Hermione, tilting her head a little.

"Not really. I had a similar case before moving here. I told you there was a war that ended recently right?" With their nods, he continued. "Well I kinda saved a bunch of girls and the event spread like wildfire."

"What did you do?" Asked Ron, impressing Jeff at how he could talk and eat at the same time.

"Its was a war with a witch that, not like your own Dark Lord, wanted to get the muggles over the wizard. Something about her muggle boyfriend being killed by a wizard accidentally. I doubt its so trivial but that is what triggered it, I don't know the specifics. Anyway, she wasn't specially powerful but had a good number of followers and weapons for the muggles. She was creating hybrid magic and technological items allowing muggles to use some magic specific to one object like a wand that shot predetermined spells like reparo, shrinking charms or even battery recharging charms, these kind of stuff, good idea in my opinion, but she was mainly doing weapons. Imagine a gun shooting bullets mixed with a bombarda? Well, back to the topic. Our school was raided in the last two months of the war. They had lost a lot of followers and were now desperate to turn the tables so they attacked the biggest target they could think of that was accessible. The fight wasn't very long. They entered and began shooting everything that moved. A few students died, as did two teachers, but once the surprise effect was passed, we relatiated. They weren't that many, but two of them were aiming at a cluster of girls and I was close to the enemy. I banished one of them in front of the other's gun just as he shot. His ally down, he turned toward me but I was already on him with a steak knife and I got his throat."

The three Gryffindors plus a few that were listening looked at themselves, visibly surprised by the story. Harry saw that Jeff wasn't sounding proud or anything, he was stating facts and his tone seemed to have darkened a bit when he got the the death of the students. Ginny was the first to speak. "You actually killed someone?"

"Yeah." He answered, his shoulder slumping a bit. "Not proud of it in anyway. It was instinct and luck, nothing else really. They were desperate and more like suicidal than anything else. The fact that they were looking somewhere else gave me my chance and I didn't have time to hesitate or I'd have more classmates dead. In the end, I got these girls I saved on my back plus a few more that thought I had been heroic. Not pleasant."

"I think you shouldn't spread that story. You're already popular overnight and they don't know yet of your "exploit"." Said Hermione.

"Too late I think." Said Ginny, looking at the Hufflepuff table where the story could already be heard and "improved" by some. Jeff head found the table inviting and splatted it in his scrambled eggs, not even caring about the food in his hair.

"Good afternoon, class." Said Umbridge once every students were seated in the DADA classroom. A few uncertain murmurs were heard, but no real answer. The new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher frowned a bit before addressing class again, keeping her sickeningly sweet tone as if the students were kids. "That won't do. When I say "Good afternoon, class!" you must answer clearly "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge!" So lets try again... Good afternoon, class!"

This time the class all said clearly but still reluctantly "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge...". The new professor took her place behind her desk and started with calling each students name one after the other while they had to oblige and answer "present" every time. The toad-woman continued after that by writing the goals of the class on the board. After a few words and the dreaded mention of "Wands aside, quills in hand", everybody knew the class would be boring to no end. Worse, after reading a few paragraphs, or at least trying to, Harry and anybody with a bit of intelligence knew that not just the class, but the whole year would be boring and totally disappointing, if not even worse than Lockhart's classes.

After a few minutes, Harry saw that Hermione had her hand in the air, her book still closed on her desk. The raven haired boy couldn't remember a single time she delayed the opportunity to read a book, be it interesting or not. Umbridge took her time, feigning to look somewhere else so she could ignore the raised hand, but a little cough from the girl forced her to turn around.

"Yes? A question on the chapter miss ehm..." She said.

"Granger. And no, a question on the goals of this class. I find them lacking." Said Hermione with seriousness.

"Lacking? What would they be lacking? They are very well adapted to the B.U.S.E year and approved by the Ministry."

"Maybe, but they don't say anything about practicing the spells." Answered the bushy haired girl.

Umbridge expression seemed to darken and take a more stern look. Gone was the falsely friendly look, but girly high-pitched voice was still there. "And why would you need to practice those spells? Do you think you will be attacked in my class?"

"What? We wont practice spells?" Said Ron who had the same look as somebody who was slapped.

"Your hand, Mr Weasley." Snapped Umbridge before ignoring his raised hand and turning toward Dean. "Yes?"

"But, the OWLs does have a practical side to it, how will we be able to achieve our OWLs if we can't do the spells?" Asked the dark skinned boy.

"If you study theory enough, you won't have any problem to do the spell when its needed in a perfectly safe and controlled environment." Answered Umbridge as if it was the most evident thing in the world.

"And what about defending ourselves outside the school? Or even inside as it already happened to me often?" Said Harry who was becoming a bit angry.

"Who would attack a few students? I don't see the point?" Asked Umbridge.

"I would put a guess on Lord Voldemort?" Said Harry, now standing.

The class went quiet, a few coughs were heard but Harry saw that the effect he had was even worse than what he thought. People were avoiding his gaze, at least most of them. Umbridge looked shocked before regaining her composure and glaring daggers at Harry.

"Ten points removed for Gryffindor. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is dead since long and the fact that he is back is a lie!" Practically shouted the DADA teacher.

"He is back! I saw him! I fought him! I'd have an other witness if Cedric wasn't killed before my eyes by Voldemort's follower who was the one that brought him back!" Harry was now shouting and gripping the edges of his desk with force.

"There is no Dark Lord! Its preposterous to think that! You will have a detention with me tonight at eight Mr. Potter!" Shouted back Umbridge.

"Ok, lets assume that Voldemort isn't back, though he is. What if an other Dark Lord rise like the one Jeffrey, the transfer student, told us about that was defeated only months ago? What about criminals? Or what about Dementors like those who attacked me this summer and had me in a court for saving my cousin's live?" Harry had now walked in front of Umbridge and was standing there defiantly.

"All lies! I had this transfer student in my class this morning and let me tell you he was put in his place for exaggerating and spreading lies." She seemed proud of that statement with a strange twinkle in her eyes, as if she was remembering something really pleasant. "Anyway, what happens in America is not what happens here, their government is lacking control on it's subjects and a criminal, not a Dark Lord, made some fuss, not something that can happen here. The Ministry is taking care of protecting you from criminals and its completely impossible that Dementors would leave Azkaban! You were in court for a good reason and shouldn't be here Mr. Potter! You were lucky we didn't have more evidence! Now take this letter and go see McGonagall so she is aware of your situation."

Dolores scribbled a few words on a piece of parchment – a PINK parchment – and shoved it in Harry's hand. The Boy-Who-Lived turned on his heels and stormed out of the classroom, using an simple accio charm to get his bag and things as fast as possible without staying longer in the classroom. The only thing he left was the book, still on the first page of the chapter they had to read.

Harry all but ran to McGonagall's class and waited for it to end so not to disturb a PROPER and EFFICIENT class, unlike Umbridge's one. As soon as McGonagall dismissed her group of third year, Harry entered with rage evident in his look and his pace. The aged teacher was surprised to see the enraged student and was hoping it wouldn't be something to deepen her headache.

"What is it, Mr. Potter?" Asked the transfiguration teacher. Harry simply handed the parchment over. Upon seeing the color, she could guess who it was from and wasn't please by it as that same person was the reason for her current headache. After reading the surprisingly short note, McGonagall let out a breath she didn't knew she was holding. "You know what it say?"

"No m'am" Answered the Potter son.

"You have a detention every evening of the week with Umbridge for two weeks and she reserve herself the right to prolong it if needed." The aged woman looked at her student with sympathy but she had to remain strict. "Why did she give you a detention?"

"Because I told the class that Voldemort was back and argued with her about the fact that danger is everywhere." Told the young boy.

"I see... Mr. Potter... Harry, you know she is from the Ministry? You understand what it means? You need to keep you temper in check, things will be hard this year."

"But, she won't teach us anything! Its gonna be theory about non violent solution and theory about avoiding difficult situations but nothing to help us defend ourselves or even to pass our OWLs!"

"I know, but I can't do anything except advise you to practice out of class. You should present yourself to your detention, its gonna start soon." Concluded McGonagall, turning back to her desk to finish some paperwork.

With a bit of deception in the turn of events, Harry strode out of the transfiguration class and to the pink toad's office. His steps were decisive and long, wanting to get rid of it the fastest possible. While approaching the office, Harry slowed down a bit, being slightly in advance anyway, and took his time to regain his composure. "Breath in, breath out... Breath in, breath out... good. Be calm and do what she ask without question, then you'll be free to go."

Knocking on the door, he waited so she would answer. It took time, in fact he almost thought she wasn't there after one full minute of waiting but in the end, the door opened itself and he heard the teacher's voice inviting him inside. With her hand, she beckoned him to sit down in a wooden chair next to her desk. She was doing paperwork and Harry hoped it wouldn't be a detention like the one he had with Lockhart, though he doubted it would be that easy.

"Please write on this parchment "I must not tell lies"." She asked of him.

"Lines?" Harry thought. If that's all it was, it wasn't as bad as he anticipated. He went for his bag to get his quill and ink but was stopped by Umbridge.

"No, no, you will use my own quill which is a little special." She said before he asked any question, handing him a black quill with a very sharp metal tip, a smirk on her face saying she couldn't wait for when he saw in what her quill was special. "No need for ink either."

"How many times must I write it?" Asked Harry, beginning to feel nervous of the situation.

"As much as its needed for the message to... sink in" She concluded before waving him to his parchment.

Harry shrugged, telling to himself he was in for a looong time writing the same line over and over. He didn't doubt the message would indeed sink in after two weeks of detention. Readying himself and letting out a long sigh, he started writing. He found it interesting to see that the quill inked itself, though he wondered why it was blood-red and not black as regular ink. He got his answer as soon as the line he just wrote sank in the parchment and the back of his hand itched strongly. Looking at it, he was the same word he just wrote now on the back of his hand, cut in his skin before it healed, leaving a light red mark.

"Something is wrong, Mr. Potter?" Asked Umbridge with a mischievous smile.

Harry fought his urge to shout at her that this couldn't be legal, that it was torture, but his pride wouldn't let him and a part of his mind that was more rational told him it wouldn't do any good anyway.

"Nothing, just a itch." Answered Harry with a defiant tone.

Not an other word was said after that. Harry complied and wrote line after line for five hours. Over the time the pain became more and more strong until it faded in an uncomfortable sour feeling, as if he was becoming used to it. When the clock showed 10:00 Pm, Umbridge took a look at the back of his hand and had a satisfied smirk at the now heavily bleeding hand, seeing it heal fast but leaving the letters more and more visible.

"Tomorrow same time, Mr. Potter. Don't bring anything next time, its useless." She said while dismissing him.

On his way tot he Gryffindor tower, the Golden-Boy favored his bloody hand while cursing the despicable woman that was not only torturing him with bliss in her eyes, but was also sabotaging their year. In his mind, he was starting to wonder how he could have her discredited and thrown out. He remembered the look McGonagall had and he knew that reporting the use of the black quill wouldn't be enough, that she could deny it in block and the Ministry would trust her. As if anybody trusted him anyway now. Everybody thought he was a despicable liar, the writing on his hand being enough of a proof. No, he was alone in this. He endured the cruciatus curse a few times already, this was nothing.

Hidding the wound in his sleeve, he went to sit with Hermione and Ron.

"What did she make you do?" Asked his best friend.

"Lines... I got two weeks of writing the same line over and over..." Answered Harry without a speck of hesitation.

"Oh. Its not that bad." Said Ron before his eyes bulged as realization came to him. "What about Quidditch tryouts? They're Friday!"

"Yes, what about the tryouts, Harry?" Asked a not very happy looking Angelina.

"Sorry, but from from the looks of it, I seriously doubt she'll let me delay my detention a single minute." Answered Harry.

"Then watch out." The black woman advised him with a stern look. "I told you I couldn't care less if Umbridge was in fact the Dark Lord in disguise, if you can't make it to practices enough for my taste, you can't make the team. Don't think I'm happy about it but I won't give you special treatment even if you were the best seeker to ever grant the world its presence. Keep your temper in check and keep out of detention, even if it means you have to lie so she's happy with you."

"Yeah... McGonagall advised me the same thing... Don't worry, I don't plan on giving her more reasons to put me in detention. Now leave me." Honestly said Harry but still putting enough venom in his voice to sound angry.

He wasn't mad at Angelina, she just happened to push his buttons at the wrong time. He could understand her situation and he probably would have thought the same in her position. Quidditch was his favorite thing at school, he didn't want to throw it away for petty arguments. He was still angry thought and didn't feel that sad when he saw her frown and walk away.

"That was a bit mean from you Harry." Said Hermione. She could see it wasn't Angelina that made him angry but he just spilled everything on her and she saw that the 7th year, even if she wasn't showing it, was a bit hurt by Harry's tone. "You should apologize. I don't know what Umbridge really made you do, but she didn't deserve for you to spill it on her."

"What do you mean "really" made me do? She made me do lines, that's it." Said Harry to avoid Angelina's subject and now a bit nervous.

"I mean that if it was regular lines, it wouldn't have worked you up that much." When nobody looked, she grabbed his hand and lifted it to her eyes, seeing the dried blood on it and the mark. "Damn I saw you wince when you grabbed the chair with your hand but... I didn't expect that!"

"Well yeah, it was lines. Lines with a quill that use your own blood as ink and carve what you write on the back of your hand at the same time. Happy? Its nothing really, I've felt worse." Snapped Harry, now flaring his anger toward his friend. When he saw the look of sadness in her eyes though, he deflated a bit. "Sorry. I mean yeah it look bad, but I can't do anything about it."

Ron saw the wound also and dropped his own quill on his homework. "Harry! She's using a blood quill! That's a banned dark item, its illegal!"

"I'm sure it is. But she's with the government and nobody there trust me or even Dumbledore." Said Harry while starting an introduction to his Potion essay. Ron dropped the subject for the moment but it was obvious that the redhead wasn't finished. Harry winced at each words he wrote with his right hand and began to wonder if he shouldn't learn to write with his left. He forced himself to work even though almost every other students went to sleep, working well over midnight. Hermione and Ron tried to stay with him a bit but left only an hour or so after he came back.

Its not that he decided to be responsible about his homework more than before, he simply knew he could not sleep anyway and as he would have a detention everyday, he should take all the time he had to finish his essays, Potion first as Snape wouldn't mind giving him a detention also straight when he finished with Umbridge. He might have been angry, but he was honest when he said he'd do what he can to avoid more detention with Umbridge. He would also apologize to Angelina as Hermione proposed he'd do, now that most of his anger was washed away, he felt a bit of shame over how he shouted at her.

In the end, he became sleepy and went to bed after securing his half done essay. On his way, he now started to wonder what he should do about his DADA classes. He had to learn spellwork and practice it, but where to start? What spells are used in OWL exams? He resolved himself to speak about it to Hermione, he doubted she would leave it at that either.

It didn't take long for the story to spread. Over the week, the altercation between the Boy-Who-Lived and the Defense teacher was on every conversations. Harry learned that Jeffrey, contrary to him, didn't insist too much when Umbridge said he was a liar and got off with only losing twenty points to Ravenclaw. Now when people where asking him about the war in America he simply said that there was a small criminal that was using very Dark magic who was able to regroup an army and kill a lot of people, but that it certainly was not a Dark Lord and that his government simply was ineffective. The sarcasm in his tone when he was saying that convinced everybody that reality was something else.

Harry did apologized to Angelina the next morning. She seemed surprised by it but accepted it, saying she wouldn't be as forgiving next time though. He continued to serve his detention without a word every night. Umbridge shortened it a bit to three hours from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM after two more. She said it was because he seemed to behave himself but Harry knew it was because she herself didn't like rushing from her last class and be stuck with him all evening.

Friday night, he hoped to be out earlier and see the tryouts but Umbridge made just the contrary and kept him until 10:30 PM. Enraged and with his hand dripping blood on the floor like never before, Harry made his way to the common room. The moment he entered he was greeted by a Ron, disheveled but with a wide grin plastered on his face.

"I made it Harry!" He almost screamed. "I made the team as the new keeper!"

"That's great!" Said Harry louder than he thought, smiling brightly and momentarily putting aside his bad evening.

Before he could congratulate more his friend, Angelina took him to the side while the new Gryffindor Keeper started describing how he made the saves in the tryouts.

"Harry, I know he's your friend and all. The fact is, he wasn't that great at the start, some others even made more saves than him. He's the nervous, self-critical type. He missed the first few shots which were very easy and his confidence dropped, but after I gave him an easy shot that he blocked with luck, he completely switched and made the best saves I saw in all my seven years at Hogwarts." She explained to him in a low tone. "What I mean is that he isn't regular. He can be great as much as he can be bad and it all depends on his self-confidence at the moment. Being his friend, its up to you to raise his spirit enough before practices and mostly before matches. Think you can do that?"

"Yeah, of course!" Answered Harry with a confident smile.

"Perfect." The team Captain smiled and stood up. "Now go and congratulate him. If he ask, I just renewed my warning that I'll throw you out of the team if you miss practices after your detention is finished. Which is still true, so behave!"

"Aye m'am!" Answered Harry, completely forgetting he was supposed to be angry right now. There are things like this that can make him feel better in just the time it take to say Quidditch.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle, a black haired girl had her face in her pillow, mumbling about damn bushy hairs, library and suicide techniques. Tracey was trying to comfort her friend while Astoria looked with amusement in her eyes.

"It wasn't that bad, he just didn't hear you..." Said the blond.

"He heard me, he looked at me but after that I panicked and couldn't talk anymore. He thought the "Hello Harry" came from Hermione that just HAD to be behind me." She continued to mumble in her pillow after that about how pathetic she was. She indeed tried to start a conversation with the boy of her dream when she crossed him outside of the library just as he was leaving, but after seeing who said it, he doubted that a Slytherin would great him and just assumed it was Hermione that talked to him, being just behind the dark haired beauty at that precise moment.

"That was just your first try. Its just too bad there wasn't anyway to sit near him in potion this week. Of course, there is still next week. Or we could try in Transfiguration, McGonagall will certainly be less strict about speaking in class with a Gryffindor. Or even Care of Magical Creature." Tracey rocked her friend's back in comfort but Daphne stayed in her bed as if the world had ended.

"That's one of those shows you get only once in a lifetime." Said Astoria with an evil grin. "Daphne Greengrass, Hogwarts Ice Queen, crying in her pillow for a boy because she was ignored. How many guys YOU ignored? They're still living."

At that, the eldest of the Greengrass looked up to her sister with half rage half brooding eyes.

"What? You mean I should give up?" She asked.

"No, but I thought you would be more Slytherin in your ways toward ending your virginity." Said Astoria, getting a laugh from Tracey and a scowl from Daphne.

"That's not my aim... yet..." She said, the last word being but a whisper but enough for her best friend to hear it. She didn't push the subject, it was already a big progress to have her admit her urges as much as that. Tracey would have wept tears of pride if she let herself.

"I know" Replied Astoria, rolling her eyes but not having heard her last word. "I mean, where is the Ice Queen now? You, and Tracey, you are both known for something in that castle, what is it?"

"We are..." Started Tracey before smiling mischievously. "Manipulative."

"Exactly!" Shouted Astoria.

"But I don't want to manipulate him into liking me, I want him to like the REAL me!" Countered Daphne.

"I never said to manipulate him into falling for you, that would be too easy. Just tying him on a chair and stripping in front of him would have more effect than any love potion, but I know its not what you want." Tracey was now really having tears of pride while looking at the younger of the two sisters. Thirteen and already so perfect!

"What you need to do, is to manipulate the events to create you the best opportunity to start a conversation. But you know he won't really trust you if you don't prove you're on his side." Continued Astoria.

"And how should I do this?" Asked Daphne, now curious.

"What is Harry currently doing of his evenings?"

"Detention with Umbridge."

"And what did he do to get these detentions?"

"He... Told that You-Know-Who is back... you mean!"

"Exactly. Its going to be a hard week, but its gonna be worth it in the end, don't you think?" Astoria concluded the discussion here and left her sister pondering about everything she was told.

Tracey was still weeping tears of pride while looking at the door where her most prized pupil just left. "She is... Machiavellian!"