This prologue of some sort was written much later in the story, somewhere when I was around the fifteenth chapter. I thought about writing one, Sheankelor insisted I do so. I couldn't say no. So here it is.

Secrets of Midnight

- Prologue: Where the Secrets begin...-

"Wands away, please," came the order but this time no one moved anymore.

Harry Potter, just like his other classmates knew exactly there was no point in hoping it would get any better. Umbridge would hold a lesson the same way as she always did. The futility in that pushed Harry into an irritated state right away. Voldemort was alive and they were stuck here with this evil woman, who was blindly following the Ministry's orders. He felt a strong urge to hit something.

"Open your books at the eights chapter and-"

"-Start reading." Ron finished next to him, knowing the drill precisely too. Dean, who sat in front of them, turned back and smirked. Harry grinned back and then opened his book, before Hermione would poke him to do so or he ended up with another detention.

He was able to bare it for ten minutes then he took his quill in hand and started doodling on the side of the book. His Snitch looked quite right after some time. Ron grinned and touched the drawing with his wand. The Snitch fluttered its wings then started flying around the pages. They both watched it as it flew over letters on and on and on.

Harry draw a stick man on a broom on the other side of the page on a whim and pushed the book closer to Ron, who transformed the drawing again. The stick figure immediately started chasing the small ball, but as it didn't have actual fingers, no matter how close he got, he couldn't catch the Snitch.

"Stop," Harry whispered to the figurine, "stop already."

He drew a long vertical line right in front of the little, two-dimensional Chaser who bumped into it. It shook its fistless arm angrily. Harry quickly added a tiny round palm and a few fingers. The stick man looked at its hand then waved and started chasing the fast, little ball again.

"Yes!" Ron hissed quietly, when the little man finally caught the ball and held it up victoriously.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Weasley?" Umbridge smiled daintily.

"Nothing, professor." Ron coughed. "I just sneezed."

Harry tried to repress his snort by covering his mouth. Dean looked back again and smiled, Umbridge didn't see his face.

"Mr. Potter?"

"I think I might be coming down with the cold, too, Professor." Harry answered faintly, coughing as well. "I hope it's not catching, though."

Then Dean coughed, too. "It probably is." He said.

This time Harry's snorting laughter was unmistakable, however he did try to the cover it up as coughing again.

"Other teachers may tolerate this kind of attitude, Mr. Potter, but I will not." Umbridge stated standing up, what Harry only knew because he heard the scraping of the chair as she pushed it back. She walked closer to their desk and Harry immediately touched his wand to his book, murmuring "Evanesco."

The Snitch disappeared with a pop and the Chaser vanished with a last wave of his hand, right before Umbridge snatched the book away from Harry.

"What did you just do, Potter?"

"Nothing, Professor." Harry said with his most innocent expression.

Umbridge sneered then pointed her small wand at the book. "Reveal your secrets." She exclaimed but the book remained as uninteresting as it ever had been. She dropped it and turned to Harry, her frog-like eyes almost seemed to pop and Harry noticed how a nerve started twitching under her right eyes. He coughed again.

"There is only one thing in the school worse than your rubbish, incompetent teachers, who should not be able to teach." She pointed her wand at Harry who flexed his own fingers on his wand, which was already pointed at his professor under the table, ready to cast an Expelliarmus or a Protego.

"Which is, professor?" He asked with a smile that turned out quite dishonest even by Harry's standards.

"This insufferable, unhelpful, intolerant student body." She splattered viciously. "But I'm not surprised by that, with the education you were receiving in the past, it is, honestly, not a surprise that you are almost without exception a band of liars, cheaters and mischief-makers." She turned around looking at all the faces that were staring at her. Malfoy's grin did not fade and Harry knew why. Malfoy belong to one of those exceptions. "Look around you, can't you see? The Ministry has been trying to help you, stir you towards a brighter future, away from the dim-witted half-breeds and old, senile fools. Can't you see?"

"The Ministry is only trying to control us." Harry murmured quietly looking at his desk. "And there's nothing wrong with our teachers. There is of course, always..." He raised his gaze and it met Umbidge's sharp, repulsed look. "... an exception."

Hermione gasped beside him but Harry smiled as Umbridge's face contorted into a furious expression. She held the wand lower slightly in shock probably, but then it rose again so close to Harry it almost knocked down his glasses.

"Your teachers are-" Umbridge started outraged but Harry cut in.

"Good. At least the ones I know. Professor McGonagall is simply brilliant; no one knows better the plants than Professor Sprout; Professor Flitwick can charm away everything and make it seem easy. They teach us the theory and then we are to learn the practical side of it, too. Even Snape is good when it comes to Potions, no one would say otherwise."

Umbridge snorted ugly, as if a big fly got stuck in her throat. "Oh please. The only reason that lowlife Slytherin was allowed back in this school was because Dumbledore needs him for his master plan. That overgrown bat!" She yelled. "His arrogance is unbelievable considering he is only one of Dumbledore's little puppets and nothing more. I know Potioneers who do a hundred times better work than that incompetent, hideous creature."

Harry could feel his blood boil. Though Snape and him wanted to kill each other on a good day, Harry though Umbridge, of all people, calling Snape a hideous creature was a bit too much. The other descriptions were so obviously just judgemental assumptions that Harry couldn't even take them seriously. Since when was Snape even considered as an easily manipulated man, not to mention a bad Potioneer? Harry would never believe it, not after their second year when Snape brew the Mandrake potions that brought back all the petrified students.

His hands tensed on his wand. He noticed from the corner of his eyes how the smile disappeared from Malfoy's face, but then Harry's mouth opened and words flooded out, and he didn't even realize what he was about to say until it was out. "He's an excellent Potioneer, the best one this school has ever seen!" Harry shouted back fiercely. He didn't know from where this sudden urge to protect Snape's carrier had come. If they talked about Dumbledore or McGonagall it would be understandable, but Snape? He didn't have time to consider it however, the words kept coming and it just felt so good to contradict Umbridge in any way that he brushed away his concern and just went with it. "He's intelligent and knows Potions more than anyone!"

"He knows nothing, boy! He's just a stupid puppet nothing more, and he will be the third one I'll get rid of after that fraud and the dumb half-giant!" Umbridge all but screamed, her wand and face so close to Harry that he could feel the saliva drops fall on his skin.

Disgusted and out of control, Harry jumped up and snarled ferociously, "You bitch!"

"Detention, Potter!" Umbridge shriek, her voice high-pitched, her hand shaking from fury.

Harry, wand drawn and pointing at Professor Umbridge, stared at her, barely believing what he had just said. A part of his mind noted that his hand was perfectly still, not even a small tremor ran through it, though his heart was beating fast and he was slightly panting.

Hermione tugged at his arm and pulled him back down onto his chair.

"You just lost hundred points to your House, Mr. Potter." Umbridge drawled. "And gained yourself an appointment with me every evening for this upcoming week." She added with a mellifluous smile. She turned around and wobbled back to her desk and sat down as if nothing had happened. "Return to your books, please." She asked in her girlish voice.

Harry sat silently and stared at his desk. "Did I just get detention for protecting Snape?" He asked finally.

"Yeah mate." Ron answered, clearly not understand what just happened either.

Harry sighed heavily and rubbed the red 'I must not tell lies' line that was already engraved in the back of his hand. "Oh shit."

TBC

Any thoughts on this? I promise the next chapters will have more Severus in them.