Disclaimer: I don't own anything... so quit asking for money!

Author's Note: Ok, I wrote this today even though I should have been studying for the AP tests... But, I got this really good review this morning and started writing... then I just couldn't stop. Anyways, If I'm slow updating this week its because I still have another test.


Harry woke up Friday morning… and his brain still hurt. After his evaluation, he'd studied a bit for his tutoring session that was to take place after lunch. Of course, no amount of studying could have prepared him for… he shivered… Griselda Marchbanks. She had been the one to test him in transfiguration during his O.W.Ls. At the time, she was really pleasant, now… well, she wasn't unpleasant, just very strict. Harry imagined that Mrs. McGonagall could take lessons from her.

She had definitely put him through his paces… her philosophy was that if you knew the theory perfectly, and by theory she really meant every single bit of seemingly useless information on how the spell worked, that you would have a better understanding of the spell. And, as a result, you would 'master the practical applications of it through an intimate understanding of its inner working.' Harry just thought she was a little crazy. She was older than Dumbledore for Merlin's sake! Of course she was a bit crazy!

Harry had to give her credit however, by describing how transfiguration worked and the principles behind changing one material into another; she had already improved his overall transfiguration skill… Even though it had taken about seven hours of pounding theory into his brain until it was permanently branded there. He just hoped that every session with her wasn't like that; he wouldn't be able to sit his N.E.W.Ts if his head was full of mush.

Having nothing better to do this morning, he decided to go watch the rest of the Task Force evaluation. He would have studied for charms, which he was getting tutored in after lunch, but his brain wasn't up to it at the moment. Since he'd gotten up a bit late, all of his roommates were gone already… but there was still a heaping pile of breakfast waiting for him. He briefly wondered if house elves actually expected them to be able to eat all the food they made… or if they just had some sick sense of humor. He expected the latter, knowing Dobby, that house elf was the strangest of the bunch.

Harry wandered about in the Task Force Department until he found the classroom they were using today. It was actually the same one as they had used yesterday… but Harry wanted an excuse to snoop around and check out all the neat equipment they stored in some of the other rooms. It looked like Gilesworth was done dueling all of the Unspeakables and was now having them duel each other while he took notes. Those that weren't dueling sat in desks a good distance away from the stage, hoping not to get hit by a stray hex. Currently up on the platform were two of the Unspeakables that Harry didn't know the names of… he wasn't really paying attention when they'd introduced themselves to the instructor yesterday. Both of them seemed to be evenly matched, only a few curses seemed to get by either of their defenses. The fight looked rehearsed though, he figured that they must have been on the same team and each knew the others dueling style too well.

"That's enough!" Gilesworth called out to the two Unspeakables, "alright, Fordon and…" he looked around the room… and his eyes settled on Harry by the door, "Potter… you're next." He had that look in his eyes… like Dumbledore did when he 'accidentally' told Harry about the room of requirement. Cutler, on the other hand, just looked plain evil.

"Umm… sir, I'm just here to watch really." Harry wasn't afraid to duel the Unspeakable… he just didn't want to. Besides, if he won, Cutler would hold it against him… and if he lost, Cutler would never let him live it down. It was really a 'lose, lose' situation.

The older Unspeakable looked a bit ruffled at his excuse, "Do you think I care about that Potter? I'm tired of watching all these pansies duel each other, get up there and show them how it's done!"

"Sure thing… uh, sir." Harry made his way up to the platform, mentally reviewing a list of spells in his head.

Cutler glared at Harry the entire way, only addressing him in a harsh whisper once they were both on the stage. "So, Potter, are you going to… 'Show me how it's done?' because, I think that you don't stand a chance." He stared Harry down for a few seconds before whipping around and taking his place at the far side of the stage. Harry just shrugged and rolled his eyes.

They both waited for Gilesworth to commence the duel, which he did after a few moments with a short, unceremonious, "begin!"

Harry decided to start out on the defensive because he'd never actually seen Fordon attack… he had only defended himself against Harry's rapid cursing in their last duel. It wouldn't be safe to go into a straight up duel and waste all of his energy on attacks without knowing what he was up against.

As expected, Fordon began with powerful… and borderline deadly curses. He was apparently hoping to take Harry down quickly in order to boost his ego.

Harry dodged the first curse by ducking and rolling out of its path. It hit the wall behind him and left a 'Harry-sized' crater… that couldn't be a good omen. He quickly brought up a shield from his kneeling position on the ground to deflect the next curse, hopefully reflecting it back at the caster.

It almost worked; the purple curse impacted the stage near Cutlers foot and left a large hole. The timber that it blasted up tore up the Unspeakable's leg however, causing him to yell out in pain. Harry took the opportunity to fire off a quick stunner, but it was easily batted away.

Cutler shook off the pain in his leg quickly and fired off a blast of air at Harry. It accomplished its task, knocking Harry off his feet and almost into the wall behind him. He swiftly recovered, rolling backwards and bringing up a powerful shield as he reached upright position. He was glad he did, as immediately afterward, another powerful hex slammed into the shield. Harry strained against it for a moment while the energy leaked off the sides of the invisible barrier. Once he'd overcome the brunt of it, he deflected it off into a wall. The blast shook the stage, causing Cutler to stumble on his injured leg.

Harry, seeing another opportune moment, banished a few pieces of the stage towards the Unspeakable, hoping to keep him off balance.

The Unspeakable countered with a reducto that blasted most of the timbers to dust. He missed a few however, two sailed over his head and one impacted his wand arm. The arm was whipped back by the force of the speeding plank and made a sickening noise. Harry could tell it had been dislocated by how it hung loosely at his side.

Harry was surprised a moment later when the Unspeakable fired off another reducto after switching the wand to his other hand. He was so taken aback; that he didn't react in time and was left with deep cuts trailing across his left leg. It was painful to stand on, and even worse to move on. He had to end this quickly.

In response to the hex to his leg he threw a powerful levitation charm at the wounded Unspeakable. After letting the man hit the ceiling… hard, he let go of the charm. He hoped that either the impact on the ceiling or the stage, whenever he hit the ground, would knock the guy out.

Cutler threw a quick cushioning charm and managed to hit the floor with it, which was fairly outstanding considering how much he was flipping around in the air after hitting the ceiling at a strange angle.

Harry, seeing what he'd done, fired a strong reducto at the spot where he would land, blasting a large hole in the stage just before the man reached it.

The man, amazingly, didn't break every bone in his body as he fell through the stage… though his dislocated arm seemed to be just hanging on. The fall did make him pretty angry though. He fired an invisible curse towards Harry… he could tell that he'd fired a curse by the planks from the stage ripping up in a path that was heading straight towards him.

Harry dove to the side, but his bad leg slowed him down and he was caught by the tail end of the curse, causing him to be flung hard into a wall.

He was in a bad position, Cutler was pulling himself out of the hole that he'd fell in… though the process was going fairly slow… and Harry was lying immobile against the wall. Both of his legs felt broken and he didn't trust himself to even try to move on them. He spotted his way out a moment later however, "accio desk," he yelled out as Cutler got the upper half of himself out of the hole.

The desk sailed across the room and broke in half across the surprised Unspeakable's dense head. The impact was too much for him and he finally passed out.

Harry heard somebody clapping off of the stage and turned to see who it was…

"You see," Gilesworth said, "a mere schoolboy… well, not really your usual schoolboy, but still. Potter just finished his fifth year at Hogwarts and has now bested an Unspeakable with two years of training in a fair duel." He looked around at the audience fiercely, "Do you see the consequences of being overconfident and cocky? Mr. Fordon underestimated his opponent and now lies unconscious." He looked back at the stage for a moment before calling out again, "Marchley, go get a few healers."

The young man from the spells department took off quickly. Harry didn't know if it was because he wanted to get the duelers help or if he was afraid of Gilesworth's wrath.

The instructor addressed the group again when Marchley had left, "I know you all think you're hot stuff. I know that a lot of you blame Mr. Potter for your demotion. What you obviously don't realize is that you all are nothing special. Sure, you have the talent required to work in the Department of Mysteries, but until you start using that talent you are nothing. Harry Potter has shown nothing but his greatest effort since he got here. You all have been lazing about for two years and it's about time you got your act together!" The older Unspeakable sighed deeply, "If I don't see any improvement… and if I don't see it quickly, you'll all be out of here. I'm not going to take your crap much longer… You're all dismissed." Gilesworth stared, stone faced, after them as they filed out the door.

The medics came in after the last one had marched out and quickly got to work fixing up the two battered duelers. While they were working on him, Gilesworth came over and kneeled down next to Harry. "I'm sorry for having to put you through that… but I needed to send a message that would get through to them. Besides, I doubt that any of them would even think of getting in your way now." He smirked.

"I'm always up for a challenge… but I'd rather keep my legs attached to my body next time I do something like this," Harry said up from the floor.

Gilesworth let out a deep throaty laugh, "Oh, I can't wait to see what you get yourself up to… you're about the only kid out of Hogwarts that could've taken him on… and you just call it a challenge."

Harry laughed along with him once he saw the irony of it, "Aw, that was nothing," he said jokingly, "you should see Voldemort."

Apparently that wasn't the right thing to say as Gilesworth quickly sobered up. "Yeah, well you'll be good in no time. I'd best be on my way, I've got a lot of paperwork to fill out for the medics… they'll heal you up in a second, but won't hesitate to take off your head if you don't tell them how you got hurt." He said in a weak attempt to lighten the mood before heading off.

The healers finished up with him in a few minutes… he was glad that he hadn't had to completely replace any bones. He was still recovering from the last time he'd had to drink that terrible potion. After he'd walked around the room a few times to get the stiffness out of his newly healed leg, he headed off to the cafeteria… he was feeling rather ravenous at the moment.

He headed down the hall, occasionally waving at the few people who'd gotten used to his presence in the Department of Mysteries. The cafeteria was a bit more full than it usually was… which meant that Harry had to wait longer to eat. Eventually, however, he did get his chance to grab some grub.

Once he'd piled heaps of food onto his tray, Harry set about trying to find a table. He quickly spotted Allison sitting by herself, reading the Daily Prophet and having a sandwich. As a matter of fact, a lot of people were reading the Daily Prophet. He would have been more interested to know why, but his stomach was calling for attention. He quickly made his way over to her table and plopped down.

She smiled at him… after he'd moved his tray so that she could see his face; perhaps he'd gotten a little bit too much food. "Hungry?" She asked simply.

He shrugged, "I'm a growing boy."

Allison smirked knowingly, "and it wouldn't have anything to do with your little duel with Cutler?"

"Err… maybe, how'd you know about that?" Harry rubbed his neck sheepishly for a moment… but then his hunger overpowered his embarrassment.

"I was talking with one of the curse breakers… then when I left for lunch I ran into Jacob Marchely and a group of healers. He told me about it." She went back to flipping through the paper when she saw how enamored Harry was with his mashed potatoes… he wasn't really listening to her.

She had been looking through the paper for a few minutes when Harry, in a brief moment of coherence, remembered that he wanted to know why so many people were reading it. "Err… what's so interesting in the paper today? I noticed that a lot of people were reading it."

She looked up at him… and started laughing, "You… hah… you've got… mashed… haha… potatoes…" She couldn't finish, she buried her head in her arms and continued laughing into them… what's worse is, she drew the attention of a large portion of the diners… many of which also broke into scattered laughter at Harry's expense. Harry just reached up with a napkin and calmly wiped off his increasingly reddening face.

Once she'd gotten control of herself… well, better control of herself, (she still giggled whenever she looked him in the eye) she told Harry about the news. "Well, the Task Force did a raid on Malfoy Manor… though the paper doesn't specifically say that they were the ones who did it. Anyway, they found a bunch of incriminating evidence… Fudge was about to have Malfoy Sr. freed from Azkaban so the publics all in an uproar about it…"

Harry goggled at her. Finally, he'd never have to deal with that piece of scum ever again. He was still a bit stunned as he asked her for the paper, "Err… wow… could I… umm… read that?"

She just nodded and slid it over to him. Harry had completely forgotten his appetite, or perhaps he'd just inhaled enough food to sate himself already. There, on the front page, was a picture of the house that the Unspeakables had been using in the training mission… they had been getting ready for a raid on Malfoy Manor!

Fudge Secretly Aiding the Dark Lord? Public Votes: Yes By Polka Dotts,

Yesterday afternoon the Minstry of Magic raided the manor home of the prestigious Malfoy family, finding numerous pieces of evidence linking the head of the Malfoy line with You-Know-Who. Lucius Malfoy, one of Minister Fudge's trusted advisors, was recently locked away in Azkaban prison for breaking into the Department of Mysteries. Also arrested at the time were many other prominent members of the pureblood community, including some known Death Eaters. Malfoy was previously cleared on charges of being a Death Eater, pleading Imperious, after the fall of You-Know-Who. The Minister was quick, this time, to call for his removal from Azkaban prison, citing his last trial as a means to prove his innocence. The incriminating evidence found at Malfoy Manor, however, casts the last hearing into doubt and places Minister Fudge at a precarious position. Has the Minister been knowingly harboring Death Eaters in high positions of power within the Ministry or is Minister Fudge too incompetent to realize that his closest supporters also support the Dark Lord.

By digging deeper into the tangled web of events, this reporter has uncovered numerous instances in which Minister Fudge has accepted large 'contributions' from the Malfoy family. These occurrences coincide directly with many of Minister Fudge's press releases as well as the passing and holding of many new laws. The relationship between these 'donations' and the Minister's schedule suggests that Fudge, with knowledge of Malfoy Sr.'s intent, accepted numerous bribes. The new evidence that solidifies Lucius Malfoy's obvious encampment with the Dark Lord only pulls Minister Fudge deeper into this scandal. Did the minister know that Lucius Malfoy was acting on the behalf of You-Know-Who? According to public opinion, Minister Fudge won't be Minister for long.

The article went on for pages, listing financial records and dates of press releases. Everything pointed to the Minister accepting bribes from a Death Eater. This was the best news he'd heard… ever! Well, ever since he'd learned that he could leave the Dursleys.

He couldn't bask in his euphoria for long however, he noticed the time… he had tutoring in like five minutes! "Ack! Gotta run, bye!" He yelled back as he ran from the cafeteria… every once in a while he would let out an enthusiastic 'whoop' and pump his fist in the air. He was sure that most of the Unspeakables that saw his performance though he was crazy… but he knew better than them. He didn't think he was crazy, he knew he was crazy.

Harry was still grinning from ear to ear when he reached his temporary office in the Research Department.

His newest tutor, Professor Tofty, got up and introduced himself as Harry entered the office. "I've never seen anybody so enthusiastic about charms, it will be a pleasure teaching you Mr. Potter," Proffessor Tofty announced upon observing Harry's mood.

Harry never let his smile falter, which, in hindsight, probably made him seem slightly more deranged than he actually was. "Actually Professor, I'm just happy about the news… though charms sound good about now." Anything sounded good right now to Harry. He doubted that Snape could bring him down from the cloud he was sitting on.

"Good, because I was talking to Professor Marchbanks," oops, that did it… Harry's cloud popped from underneath him like a balloon, "and she suggested a few methods that seemed to work well for you. If you would please open your book to page two-thousand three-hundred and seventy-three then we can begin."

Harry sighed and flipped open the gigantic book… which was a feat in itself… this was going to be another long afternoon. At least he had the weekend to look forward to.