A/N: I have no excuses for the delay. Hope the somewhat longer chapter makes up for it! Thanks to everyone who has followed and/or favorited.

Chapter 6


Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four

"The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges as may have been placed by other staff members."

"Nasty." Dean Thomas said to Ron.

"The timing can't be a coincidence." Hermione said thoughtfully. The High Inquisitor in question was Umbridge, according to Educational Decree Twenty-Three passed this very day. "Right after you two managed to ban her quill...You've got to wonder what she's got up her sleeve."

"I really don't want to." Ron said with a dramatic little shudder.

"Didn't you say you've got more detentions with her?" Harry said to Dante, who gave a noncomittal little shrug. Hermione turned around to stare at him.

"What," Dante said, "You don't think she made up this little rule of hers just for me?"

"No, but I think she put it into effect right now so she could do something bad in detention." Hermione said. She looked more than a little alarmed.

"Wow, that makes me feel all special."

"Will you be serious?" Hermione snapped.

"Nope." Dante said immediately. "Didn't you say you were going to check my works? I've got some problems with my moonstone essay."

"Alright." Hermione said after a moment of silence. "But be careful."

"Aren't I always."


The next day was filled with more difficult lessons and assignments. Dante and Harry hadn't done their homework, thanks to Filch's detention, resulting in more workload.

Detention with Umbridge was, unsurprisingly, horrible.

"I want you to write the lines I set you before." she said to Dante, indicating a chair drawn up for him to sit. She was looking ridiculously pleased with herself. "You remember it?"

"Yeah." he frowned down at the desk. "Kind of cheap, aren't you? First you don't give me any ink, and this time ink, quill and parchment's missing!"

"I see the lessons didn't sink in well." Umbridge said with a smile. "You won't need any of those, Mr. Sparda. You will use a knife, and you'll write on your arm. From what I understand, you heal fast, don't you? It will be much the same as your earlier punishment."

For a moment, Dante was stunned into silence. Umbridge smiled widely, pleased at the effect.

"Well? Better get started, hadn't we?"

"Nope."

Umbridge's smile widened. "What was that?"

"I won't do it." Dante said coolly. "You can't expel me. You people need me here or I wouldn't be here."

"Oh, I'm afraid you misunderstand. Only the headmaster has the power to expel students. Better go to him at once, then, shan't we?"

"Sure." said Dante. He had no doubt Dumbledore would take his side.

Wait. Dumbledore couldn't take his side... Umbridge was within her rights to give a detention like this. And as Dante was defying a direct ruling from the ministry, Dumbledore would either have to expel Dante, or face expulsion himself. Which was no doubt Umbridge's endgame... one that he wouldn't let happen.

"Give it." Dante said, holding out his hand for the knife.


When Dante came back, having tucked his sore arm back into his sleeve, it was to find what seemed to be their entire House's worth of students gathered in the common room. He found Hermione trying to calm the first years, but Ron and Harry were nowhere to be seen.

"What's happened?" he asked Dean.

"Someone got into our dormitory." said Dean. "Crookshanks was probably in the common room- he came up to our room. Raised a right ruckus, that cat...we all woke up. Whoever it was- they jumped straight out of the window!"

Not human? was the first thing that popped into Dante's mind. "Anyone find the body?"

"Ron's gone to the grounds to check."

"Anything missing?"

"Don't think so... we've all checked our stuff. I think they were after Harry's trunk... it was open, but Harry says it's all there."

The Invisibility Cloak!

Dante could've kicked himself, but then again, he hadn't expected Vergil to resort to stealing. Come to think of it, he was nearly certain it couldn't have been Vergil. Did he have someone else working for him, then?

"Hermione?"

She looked harassed as she walked up to him, two first year girls in tow. "Yeah, hey- no, it doesn't happen all the time, Celeste...look, why don't you two go sit with Patricia until Ron and Harry comes back? Yes, that's right, thank you! Yes, Tony?"

"Were you waiting up?"

She flushed. "Yes." she said sheepishly. "But I dozed off... I didn't see anything. Thank God Crookshanks has more stamina."

"Yeah." said cat had walked up to them with a self-important aura. Dante obliged by absently patting him on the head. "Well, waiting up paid off, looks like. I'm touched, by the way."

"Oh, shut up." she said, briskly. "You know, whoever it was couldn't have made an attempt like that if you were in the room. You can't get anymore detentions. Be on your best behavior."

"Right." Dante made a face at the thought. "I doubt Ron will find anything. If they jumped out the window of the seventh floor-"

"I know." Hermione said grimly. "They would have to be extraordinaire."

'Extraordinaire' was the term they had decided to use for demons around others. Dante nodded back.

"Out of all the first years, Patricia seems to be handling it the best." Hermione said abruptly. "A little too well. An invasion, you'd have thought she'd be more worried."

"Maybe she hasn't figured out the part about the extraordinaire yet." Dante glanced at the admittedly calm and collected girl sitting on the sofa near the corner. "Besides, she's bound to have some experience with fighting these things by now."


Ron, and later the professors' search turned up nothing to lead to any clue about the invader. In sharp contrast to the air of anxiety and concern of the other teachers, Umbridge seemed to have found some sort of treasure hoard. Over the next few days, she grilled the others about the progress they had made, and expressed 'concern' over the lack of security and flaw in methods of governing the school.

"Look at her." Ron said in a low voice as they passed her in the corridor, "Bet you she wishes she had thought of breaking into the dormitory first..."

"If she hadn't done it in the first place," said Harry.

"Well, it discredited Professor Dumbledore, at any rate." Hermione said with a sigh. "It can't have been the ministry though... Tony's right, it had to have been an extraordinaire..."

In addition to Umbridge's sadistic detentions, the schoolwork was piling up. When the four of them weren't in class, they were cooped up in the common room buried in books and parchments, trying to finish the workload assigned. In Harry's case, he ended up not finishing a lot of his work. So did Dante, but he had to stay in detention much later than Harry and despite himself, started nodding off in many of his classes. This wasn't earning him any favor with the teachers. Snape looked positively shocked to find him half-asleep over his unevenly-cut roots, but didn't hesitate to take twenty points at once, and Professor McGonagall swooped down on him when he was caught napping at his desk. She assigned him additional practical work and told him to wait after class.

"How long is she keeping you up?" she said as soon as the door had shut behind the last Gryffindor.

Dante didn't have to ask who 'she' was. "Nearly dawn." he said truthfully, accepting the toad she handed him to Vanish. "But she's pulling all-nighters trying to discipline me, so I'm not complaining."

"She, unlike you, only has classes in the afternoon." Professor McGonagall said, eyeing him shrewdly over the top of her glasses. "What's the detention?"

"Lines."

She nodded, some of the tension easing off her face. "Very well."

Aberforth's words from the day school started popped into his head suddenly, and he found himself asking, "If it was, say, something worse, could you do something about it?"

McGonagall's answering gaze was sharp, but she responded evenly, "Unless it involves something expressly forbidden by existing rules, there's nothing to be done."

Dante shrugged to himself, Vanishing the toad with a flick of his wand. "That's all, then."


Harry's detention ended by the end of the week, but he got 50 points off his house for talking about Voldemort in Umbridge's class. There were no more break-ins.

Umbridge's class was undoubtedly the most boring thing they had to suffer through, including History of Magic. According to Harry, it was even worse than Gilderoy Lockhart's class, but then again Harry was a biased source of information, and so was Hermione who insisted that Lockhart's classes weren't that bad.

Hermione confided in Dante that she and Ron had asked Harry to teach Defense to them and anyone else who would be interested, and that Harry had agreed. She said she was going to ask people who might be interested.

"I know you're the best of our class at Defense." she said. "But... well... you haven't been in class for three years, and your talents are more... instinctive..."

"Whoa, Hermione, I'm not complaining." Dante said. He had to agree that it was a good idea.

The meeting was arranged for Hog's Head, in Hogsmeade, two weeks later.


The Hogsmeade weekend approached fast. The trip to Hogsmeade was the same as ever. Dante split from the group when they had reached the village, to warn Aberforth of the upcoming meeting.

"I told gramps to keep others out." Dante said when he had come back. "It should be clear by the time they all come."

"Excellent." said Hermione. "Well, let's go..."

They made their way to the Hog's Head in silence. Harry had met Aberforth before, but only once, and he remembered thinking the man couldn't have been less like his brother. Aberforth was quiet, with cold eyes that held an intensity rivaling Albus Dumbledore.

True to Dante's words, the pub was empty. Aberforth looked up from behind the counter and gave them a nod. His eyes became much warmer when they fell on Dante, who cheerfully waved. "Hello again, gramps. You got the butterbeers?"

Aberforth pointed them to a table near a corner. Four steaming glasses sat on it.

In a few minutes, the pub filled with more than twenty people, completely throwing Harry off-balance.

At first it seemed that they had only turned up to hear Harry's story, but after much debate, they agreed to take lessons from Harry. As for where they were going to meet, Dante suggested the Room of Requirement.

"The what?" Harry said blankly.

"It's a hidden room in the castle." Dante said. "It produces stuff for people who really needs it. I think it'll be good enough."

"Where is it?" Neville asked.

"You'll see when we get there." he smiled secretively. "After all, if not everyone in this room joins, it'll be a waste to divulge the location."

Hermione produced a parchment, on which the whole group signed their names agreeing not to tell Umbridge about the meeting, and then they all filed out.

"So how do you know about this room?" asked Ron, after they had taken their leave from Aberforth.

"That's the room I use to get into Hogwarts." said Dante. "One day I came to Hogwarts to meet Uncle Albus. He showed it to me. I asked it for a passage to Hogwarts from my room, so it provided. I'll show you the passage someday; gramps is fussed about not showing it, but I think it might come in handy."


The most exciting thing to happen since they came to Hogwarts happened during detention, Monday evening, on the last week of the month.

Dante looked up from his writing when a very familiar musical note reached his ears, followed by Fawkes swooping in through the open window. Umbridge jumped about a foot in the air.

"What-what is that doing here?" she cried, as the phoenix flew over her head, ignored Dante's extended hand and landed on his other arm. Large tears dripped on the healing cuts, closing them immediately.

"You can cry on cue?" Dante wondered, stroking the bird with his good hand. "Bet that comes in handy for treats!"

Fawkes hopped out from under his hand and flew back to the windowsil, trilling urgently. Dante stood and followed after it. He looked down towards the darkening grounds and immediately understood.

"What is it?" snapped Umbridge.

"Looks like someone threw a party and didn't invite me." Dante said lightly. "Rude. Get my sword, Fawkes. Time to make them pay for their rudeness!"

And he jumped out the window.


The demons turned out to be a large group of Prides. Dumbledore was there, along with McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick and Sprout. They had created a wide circle of shields, which effectively contained the demons but also prevented any spells from reaching them.

Dante took his sword and guns from Fawkes as he walked towards the demons. There was no hurry to begin the fight, so might as well be prepared, he thought.

"Must we really, Albus?" McGonagall was saying to Dumbledore. "The last time he faced these things-"

"He has the most experience out of any of us, and he knows the risks." Dumbledore said gravely. "If you are ready," he said to Dante.

"You kidding? This is the best party I've seen this year!" Dante replied with a grin. "Might want to pull the walls up again when I'm on stage." he added to Snape, who was closest.

Someone sighed - possibly McGonagall - and Snape nodded shortly before he dropped the part of the shield right in front of Dante.

Dante extended his sword as he slid in through the gap, impaling two demons at once. There was a little flash as the shield went back up behind him. Dante pulled out his guns, charged them and fired at the demons. The bullets went through them and hit the shields, rebounding off and hitting more of the demons. Dante kept up a steady stream of shots, and within a minute, the ricocheting charged bullets had finished them all off, Dante himself managing to dodge them all.

Knowing he would look more than a little ridiculous, Dante got the next part over with quickly - slicing all of the bullets in halves so that they fell harmlessly on the ground. To any onlookers he would look like a person fighting thin air - which didn't sit well with him.

When he was done, he blew a kiss to his audience. McGonagall spluttered, while Sprout and Flitwick chuckled and Snape just looked bored. Dumbledore simply smiled.

"Well done, as always." he said.

"Hold your horses, old man." Dante told him. "There's the gate stil lying open for uninvited guests." he began charging his sword.

He didn't know if it was the detentions themselves or the lack of sleep, but he had put nowhere near the usual amount of energy he could pour into his sword when his vision went blurry and began to drift and swim, forcing him to actually grasp onto someone close enough for balance, which happened to be-

Trish?

He hadn't noticed her arrive. She easily held him upright and linked his hand with hers. He immediately felt stronger, more steady, as foreign energy thrummed through him.

"Hey, don't do that!" he exclaimed as demonic energy surged up and down his arms.

"You can't do it alone." she said, releasing his hand and giving him a smile. "Off you go."

Dante complied, slicing through the portal with Rebellion. The gate vanished as if it had never been there.

"Patricia," Dumbledore said, gently, "Go see Madam Pomfrey for a Strengthening Solution. Same for you, Dante."

"Mr. Sparda has just come from a detention." Snape cut in. "I believe it would be appropriate to have him return to it at once, Headmaster. The detention is with the High Inquisitor."

"I'll see to it that Professor Umbridge understands the situation." Dumbledore said, a little coolly. "You will not go back to detention tonight, Dante. You will return to your dormitory after you return from the infirmary."

Dante was certain he hadn't hidden his relief completely because of the intense look on Snape's face. As he passed him, Snape plucked something out of his pocket. Dante looked back and started - it was the knife he was using for detention. He hadn't realized when he had pocketed it. Blood still stained the tip.

"See me after you come back from Madam Pomfrey." Snape told him in a low voice.


Getting through the sea of students gathered in the entrance hall proved to be no easy feat. Dante imagined that had to be what celebrities felt like when they were surrounded by reporters.

Madam Pomfrey met him and Trish at the foot of the stairs.

"Demons!" she hissed, grabbing both of them by their elbows and marching them along the staircases. "Never- in all my years - are you two hurt?"

"No." Trish said. "Professor Dumbledore wanted us to get Strengthening Solutions."

"Quite right he was!" she said. Dante realized she was trembling slightly. "I never thought You-Know-Who would go this far... new low, even for him-"

"Oh, I don't think Voldemort did this." said Trish. Madam Pomfrey flinched.

Dante turned to stare at her. "How'd you figure that?"

"Voldemort isn't this powerful, and he's got no reason." Trish said as if it were obvious. "It must be a demon lord."

"Demon...lord?" Madam Pomfrey said faintly. Her face had drained of what little color it had left.

"What reason would a demon lord have?" Dante countered.

Trish smiled a little. "Come on, Dante, you know better than to ask that."

"Nope. Enlighten me."

"What more reason is needed than a son of Sparda?"

Dante froze in his tracks.

"No way." he said. His heart was hammering in his chest. "They wouldn't send these low level demons if-"

"Strong links to human world aren't easy to establish." Trish said with a one-shouldered shrug. "Something to think about, wouldn't you say?"

Madam Pomfrey chose that moment to intervene. "That's enough of that nonsense." she said, thin-lipped. "Leave these discussions to the professors. What you two need is rest."

The rest of the way to the infirmary was spent in tense silence.


"Could she be right?"

Snape eyed him over his desk. "Yes." he said.

"Right." Dante rubbed his forehead with his hand. It seemed Sparda's legacy was bound to haunt him forever. "Right..."

"There isn't, of course, any way to be certain."

"Yeah." Dante felt all but sure, however. Why else would a demon-lord attack the school - twice - the very same year Dumbledore wanted to bring him back? Well, so much for his heroic defense of the school, if he was the reason students were endangered in the first place...

"Whatever the reason," Snape's look was intense, "we need you here."

"I'm not gonna run off or anything!" Dante said indignantly.

"Good. Now, the knife."

Dante stiffened. "Which one?"

"Don't act stupid. It's unbecoming."

"That your way of saying I'm smart? I'm flattered."

"What was a blood-stained knife doing in your pocket?"

The look Snape was giving him left no room to wriggle out of answering. Dante figured he might as well speak the truth. Snape was the teacher least likely to report it to Dumbledore, and he was also the most likely to have suggestions to improve the situation.

"Umbridge's detention is to write lines with a knife on my arm."

Snape drew in a sharp breath, his eyes going very wide. "Have you told this to anyone?"

"No."

"I see." Snape said, slowly. "Well, well... quite a predicament you've found yourself in." he paused. "I'm afraid I can't offer you a solution."

Dante said nothing. It wasn't surprising to know there was no way out, but it was still disappointing.

"Umbridge must not be above using the Cruciatus." Snape said quietly, watching him. "Be careful. If she thinks it is necessary and that she can get away with it, she will use it."

"Will she?" Dante said, idly. "There's an idea..."

Snape frowned. "What?"

"If we can somehow make her think it's necessary, she'll use the curse, and someone can walk in and get her sent off to Azkaban..."

"No." Snape said coldly. "You are not subjecting yourself to the Cruciatus. It's pain beyond your imagination- yes, I'm fully aware of your experience in that area."

Dante was about to protest, but his promise to Aberforth popped into his head again, and he found himself saying, "Fine." But that brought him to...

"You ever experienced one of those?"

Snape stiffened noticeably. "Once."

"It was Uncle Tom, wasn't it?" Dante frowned. "Why would anyone follow that guy anyway?"

"The Dark Lord doesn't go around casting arbitrary Cruciatus on his followers." Snape said coolly. "Most of his followers has never, and will never, experience it. The circumstances in my case was... rather unique."

"Yeah? Do tell."

Snape eyed him appraisingly, as if debating whether to answer or not. "Quirrell." he said finally, shortly.

Oh. "But you told him you didn't know, right?"

"I wouldn't have left that place alive if I hadn't."

"Yeah." Dante grimaced. "Your job's no fun."

Snape's eyes glinted. "It has its perks."

"You get to taunt Sirius." Dante snorted.

"Indeed." Snape said loftily. Dante shook his head disapprovingly, but couldn't keep the grin from his face for long.


Dante came back to common room to find Ron and Hermione waiting up for him.

"What happened?" said Ron. "Whole school's going mad - reckon the true story can't be as terrible as you facing down the Emperor of demons himself-"

"Did a portal really open, though?" said Hermione.

"Yeah." Dante answered Hermione. "Sorry to disappoint, Ron - just a group of Prides."

Ron and Hermione exchanged a look.

"What?" said Dante.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Tony, this time the portal opened on the grounds, at night. What's to say next time it won't open in front of students? Some may get hurt - or even die - before you can come and help."

"I thought about that." Dante admitted. "But what's your point?"

"Point is - " Ron began, "We think we ought to know a bit about fighting these things too."

"We need someone to teach us." said Hermione. "And who better than you?"

Dante blinked. "You want me - to teach you."

Ron and Hermione both nodded firmly. "Yes." said Hermione. "We were thinking you could teach us during DA sessions."

"Professor Dante. How's it sound?" Dante snorted. "Ridiculous. Well, as long as I don't have to grade papers... on one condition." he paused for dramatic effect. "I want Trish in the group."

"She's a first year." Hermione said immediately.

"Yeah, but she's got experience fighting demons. So?"

"You can ask her, of course." said Hermione anxiously. "But I still think she'll be hard pressed to catch up with us."

"Okay. And I'm in."


Trish agreed easily, and accepted the parchment Hermione gave her, signing her name with a flourish.

"Can you show me where you meet?" she asked Dante.

"Nope." Dante said with a shrug. "Got my schedule full with detentions and stuff. You'll see when Hermione calls you all."

The last detention on Friday was by far the worst. Umbridge kept him up the entire night, being frustrated to no end by the fact that Dante's healing was showing no sign of working slower. For his part, Dante kept his head down to keep the smirk hidden as he wrote methodically. He was beginning to tire, but he would take a sword to the chest before he showed any weakness to Umbridge.

When the east sky began to lighten, Dante glanced up to see Umbridge dozing in her chair.

He considered putting the knife down, but decided against it. It would be just like the poisonous toad to assign him more detentions because of slacking off.

I must not be disrespectful to my elders.

I must not be disrespectful to my elders...

When the sunlight was shining through the window, Umbridge started awake.

"Hem, hem." she said. Her eyes rested on Dante's form, writing obediently, and a scowl graced her face.

"Come over and show me your hand."

Dante put aside the dripping knife and went to stand before her. He held out his arm. The bloody words disappeared before her very eyes, leaving the skin as smooth as ever.

Dante resisted a smile. Umbridge stared at his arm as if it had personally offended her. In her twisted world, it probably had.

"You may go." she said finally.

"Good day, professor." Dante told her with a small bow, like the ones given after a performance, and left the room.

He came back to the dormitory to find that everyone had left for breakfast. He went to his own bed, pulled back the covers and fell into a deep sleep.

He woke when the sun was low in the west horizon. On his way down, he met Hermione in the common room.

"Ron and Harry said you didn't sleep at night." she said. "So I didn't wake you, but I was just about to."

"Good call." Dante said groggily.

"She kept you up all night?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Yeah, but at least that's over." Dante said honestly.

Hermione's eyes narrowed, but she only said, "Come on, let's go down to the kitchen. We have a meeting tonight, remember? You'll need your strength."


What do you all think? Please review!

Reply to unsigned review:

AnotherGuest: Yeah, it's not in his nature, I suppose. And your suspicions came true, as you see! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.