Chapter 14

Valentine's Day had been a resounding success in Susan's opinion. It was clear to the young red headed girl that the boy that kept her company had cared a great bit for her after their very thoughtful date. She had been completely blown away with how well he treated her, and his gift giving skill. She did however proudly note that every time she had seen Harry he was wearing the watch she had gotten him.

Her friends had been very jealous and envious of her when she told them about her day in the common room, and Hannah swooned a bit sarcastically, "I think you're in love Suzy!"

Susan didn't dare comment on this, as her face reflected her line of thought clearly. It had been a few weeks now since Valentine's Day, and she could hardly think about anything else, other than Harry. He was constantly on her mind, and wondered just when their next adventure would be together, or when she was going to learn more about the enigma that was her boyfriend.

The DA classes had gone well, and Susan was almost as helpful as Hermione and Ron these days, as she helped out her housemates as much as possible, which gave the other two members of the golden trio more time to work with their own house, and Ravenclaw. Of course, that didn't mean they never worked with them, but usually Susan could give the little pointers that fixed their spell work.

Harry practically made it a point to never help Susan in class, and usually if he ever even spoke to her it was to ask for a demonstration, or instruction on how to teach someone something specific that they may have been struggling with.

Most of the quidditch teams had been disbanded by Umbridge, which at first got a lot of people down, but then it just caused an influx of meetings, which made some people hope that Harry was soon going to lead the school in uprising, because what happened next would anger them all.

At Breakfast one morning in early March, Dolores Jane Umbridge grinned at the gathered students, as she cleared her voice, and moved to stand in front of them all. It was not very long after Valentine's Day that the foul women had created an educational decree about having to sit at your own house table, but that did not stop Harry and Susan from exchanging glances when she began speaking to the gathered crowd, "Good morning students. I would like to make an announcement."

The student body went silent instantly expecting heavy trouble coming, "Due to the standards at Hogwarts having slipped, I have decided to create another educational decree, and students this is one is important which is the reason why I have decided to address the entire student body. Starting today a new group has been formed under my command that will help ensure that order maintains in the school. Today is the day that the Inquisitorial squad will be founded."

There were some quiet murmurs across the hall at this, and Susan felt a small knot form in her stomach as the toad like women smiled widely, "I would like to welcome the captain of this squadron, fifth year prefect Draco Malfoy."

Susan flinched at this knowing that the women could not have picked anyone worse to give power to, and the look on Draco and Harry's face confirmed that she was not the only one in these thoughts. Draco came and stood by the High Inquisitors side, while she gave a light applause that only followed from Slytherin. After a moment of no one joining in on the clapping she gave the crowd a stern look before continuing, "Mr. Malfoy has been asked over the past few weeks to gather a few students to join this squad and at first, they will remain anonymous, but they will be revealed over time. The powers these students have will be a bit more than a prefect. They will assign detentions, and deduct house points. They will also be reporting directly to me to help maintain optimum potential."

With that said the women motioned for Draco to take a seat, and then took her own seat back at the staff table. Susan and Harry held eye contact for a moment, but then he nodded at her, making it clear that they would speak at lengths later about what could and should be done.

Breakfast went by much quieter after that announcement. When it was over the Hufflepuffs rose together, and went towards their lessons. When they exited the great hall, she felt a hand grab her arm, and at first she had hopes it was her boyfriend, but when she turned and saw a blonde boy that she could just not quite stand holding on to her, "Bones, can I have word with you in private?"

Susan stared at the boy in clear anger, "Perhaps if you unhand me first."

Draco grinned at the girl saucily, "You mean the rumors that you like to be handled a little roughly aren't true? How disappointing."

At first the girl blushed, but then she bristled, "Excuse me!"

Ignoring the girl's outburst, he spoke, "I just thought I would give you a warning. From one Pureblood to another. You are a very attractive witch, and I hate to see that you might get caught in the coming crossfires while being in the company of undesirable company. I am not sure the taint will ever come off you, but if you come around Slytherin common rooms fairly often I am sure I can help you."

Susan at first was confused, but then she got very pissed off, "How dare you!"

Draco shrugged, "A war is coming Bones. A war that is going to cast a dark shadow over Hogwarts, and Umbridge is going to bring it, are you going to be on the wrong side, just so you can be at the side of some idiot boy wonder."

Susan had to do everything she could not to slap the boy, "I can choose my own side thanks."

Draco shook his head, "Don't make the same mistake that your parents did."

Susan couldn't resist any longer before she could comprehend it her hand was moving very fast towards Draco's face when she connected with a resounding SMACK.

The blonde hair ponce looked shocked for a moment, but then anger crossed his face, "You stupid bitch."

He reared back to punch the girl, but before he could a spell hit him hard and blasted him across the hallway. She felt a pair of strong arms begin to carry her away from the scene, but before they could get to far, he felt the same arms slide her out of the way as a shield appeared in front of them, Harry taunted, "Now now Draco that was dark magic. You should be careful just who you throw spells like that at. Had that hit Susan and seriously injured the niece of the head of the DMLE you could be sure that nothing would have kept Amelia Bones from throwing you into Azkaban."

Draco growled, "I'll have you in detention for a month for this Potter."

Harry stepped forward boldly, "No you won't Draco. Because if you do, I will ensure that you are disowned from the Black family. My father by magic is now the head of your mother's house, and if you do something that magic would see as an insult to the family, Sirius will be able to banish you from the family. Which could give you a lot to lose if Sirius and I die in the coming war. Which you and I both know is likely. Consider this a peace offering between you and me. Attack my girlfriend again though, and the least of your concerns will be losing a part of your inheritance."

Draco bristled, "I won't be threatened by the likes of you Potter."

Harry stood at his full height, and stepped towards Draco, "That wasn't a threat Draco. This is my threat. If you ever touch my girlfriend again I will fucking kill you. Not your father or even the Dark Lord will stop me from doing it either. Stay away from Susan, and stay away from me."

Harry stared at the boy in the eyes, as he pulsed out his magic feeling the anger palpable in the air. With that Draco gave him one last angry look and then stormed off. Susan was surprised at Harry's language and his rage, but was quite thankful for his intervention when he had come. He spoke softly, "Are you okay?"

Susan nodded her head quickly, "Malfoy was nothing I couldn't handle, but thank you for coming to my defense."

Harry shrugged, "This isn't over, but hopefully I will have put him off you for a while."

Gratefully she took the boys hand, "I think we're lucky Umbridge didn't show up like she usually does."

Grinning happily the boy responded, "The Weasley's are going to be keeping her busy for a while. They were quite displeased with the announcement, and made sure that she knew it."

The grin was near sinister, but Susan was still incredibly heated from the argument, and felt an overwhelming desire to jump Harry's bones for standing up for her, and doing it so furiously.

However, she felt calmer as he walked her to his classes, and when she got there Harry pulled Ernie and Justin aside quickly, "Watch out for her, we had a little run in with Malfoy, it should be okay for now, but you can't ever be too careful."

The boys nodded, and Susan put her hands on her hip as her boyfriend grinned and kissed her on the cheek and darted out of the room obviously towards his next class.

That night during the DA lesson Harry stood up addressing the group, "This inquisitorial squad is going to be a serious nuisance, but I assure you we will continue in here with as many people who want to do so, however, if anyone wishes to leave, I would not think anything less of them. You don't have to walk out now, but if you don't come into the next lesson I will completely understand. Umbridge had a lot of eyes before, but now she has some students in our school who are basically her spies. We will do our best to figure out who they are, so that way we can watch out for them, but I can't promise anything. The stakes have been raised."

Harry took a deep breath, "I ask you all to keep in control of your emotions. I know that can sound rich coming from someone like me, as we all know I am not the poster child for self-restraint, but I am going to do my best as well. I don't want to give the bitch a reason to get any of us killed or worse expelled."

He gave Hermione a look at this as the girl blushed and Ron chuckled, "Now other than that, we need to keep working in here, and if this is anyone's last lesson, take this one with you, and work on it on your own, because it will be useful."

Throughout the rest of the lesson Harry explained the finer magical science behind how to duel properly, and what you can do to improve your skills. He talked about stances, and chain spells, along with dodging, and its importance. Part of the lesson had Harry taken people's wands, and having the golden trio cast light stinging hexes at a few people at a time, making most of them yelp in surprise.

After a bit, Harry had the groups watch him, as Hermione, Ron, and Susan casted spells at him. Over the next minute, he would only be hit by one spell which came from Susan whom was definitely the best marksmen possibly out of all of them.

Harry then gave some advice, "The key to this is to trust your instincts. You must be light on your feet, and very alert of all your opponents. Right now you are only dodging one opponent, and not returning spell fire. But soon you will be able to dodge, and return spell fire. This is your best chance of beating opponents who horribly outclass you. Surprise."

The gathered group nodded, and went back to attempting their dodging lesson, and some had some improvement, while others were still getting stung. At the end of the lesson Harry spoke calmly, "This is the last lesson we will go over and hopefully in the next few weeks we will work on straight up dueling. That will give us what is left of the two-month term to put everything we have learned together. It will be a struggle at first, but that's why I am giving up two months to go over it. Well done everyone and stay safe."

It would be a few weeks before anything of note would happen. Harry for one was glad however to see that no one had dropped the DA, in fact many were approaching him about a few people who wanted to join in on the resistance, but Harry firmly said, "I taught you all as a core group, teach others now. If it comes to it next year then maybe we can split it up into an advanced and beginner group for those who are struggling, and those who need to be pushed. I can promise everyone that I will be busy training this summer with my Godfather."

It was those words that were relayed to the hopefuls which made many pray for the next year to come a little faster. The DA was already in need of two groups. The older students were progressing beautifully, while the younger kids were hitting a bit of a wall due to the under developed magical cores.

It was discussed among who Harry was considering his inner circle which consisted of Hermione, Ron, Susan, Neville, Luna, Collin Creevy whom had grown up quite a bit this year, and Hannah Abbott, of course with the addition of the Weasley twins who were their own firecrackers that could not be controlled or tied down, that they were doing all that could be done so far, and weren't sure if anything additional should be added due to the current oppression happening in the castle. Had they known what would happen next, perhaps they would have split the group to minimalize casualties, but it was too late.

On a warm evening in May Harry was holding a rather productive DA meeting that consisted of fast pace dueling from the younger years, and nice slow going duels for the younger years. Harry was cheering with joy watching his students fight fiercely, as he was quite proud of them. Soon though the ceilings rattled a bit, and Harry looked up in surprise. Everyone ceased what they were doing and stared around the room. Harry went to where they had the map laid out, and saw Umbridge along with a large gathering of students outside of the room. It was then when Dobby appeared, "Harry Potter, you must run, the evil pink women is trying to get in."

This caused panic in the group, and before anyone could seize control of the group a giant blast came from the wall blasted apart and he heard a young yell, and then smoke filled the room. When it cleared, Harry was standing in front of everyone with his wand drawn, and Dolores Umbridge was looking at him triumphantly.

A small groan was heard nearby, and Harry realized that someone had been caught in the blast as Umbridge had blasted the wall in, and quickly discovered it was his friend Collin Creevy. He attempted to move towards the boy to free him, but Umbridge held her wand up at him, "Ah ah, Mr. Potter I think you should best be still."

Harry looked at Collin for a moment then back at the pink toad, "He is in pain, and he needs help. At least allow me to pull him out of the rubble."

Umbridge looked to see who was under said rubble, but then grinned viciously when she saw who it was, "I think Mr. Creevy will be fine just where he is. "

Harry felt a cold fury grip him, "I will come quietly, but let me help him."

"I think not Mr. Potter, you are violating maybe a dozen educational decrees and I will see you expelled for it."

Harry shrugged, "Don't do me any favors, but I am going to pull Collin out of the rubble."

"Not a move Mr. Potter."

Without listening Harry moved forward to help the boy up, but a spell came flying towards him, but Harry raised his shield quickly, and growled, "Cursing students Professor is that what it's going to come to."

Many people were looking very angry, and he could see that many wands were itching forward as if a spell was on the tip, "I asked you not to move Potter. Now everyone put your wands away, and come quietly."

No one moved to put their wands away, in fact many people inched forwards to stand by Harry. Harry shook his head whipping his wand around and blasting the rubble off Collin, and all wands were now pointed at Harry from the other side. No one said anything though at the tense moment, and Harry called out, "You okay Collin?"

The young blonde boy nodded looking sheepish, "Yeah thanks Harry."

Umbridge looked furious, "Put your wands down or I will call the aurors."

Ernie McMillan however stepped forward bravely, "I think we will lower our wands when you do Professor Umbridge. I have never had a professor point a wand threateningly at me, no matter how much trouble I was in, and I don't think me or my friends are going to lower our wands until yours are lowered first. You injured one of our friends with your blasting charm, and I think it is lucky that spell fire was not immediately traded upon your entrance."

Umbridge gave the boy a patronizing smile, "Now Mr. McMillan be reasonable, by educational decree number-"

Neville shouted out, "We don't give a bloody hell about what educational decree you were given this power by, lower your wands, or we aren't going anywhere with a bunch of snakes who would love a chance to curse us all in the back."

Shouts of agreement went up behind the group, and Harry began to wonder if this was going to be it. The moment the battle would start. Harry thought they had a good chance. The numbers were even, but he wasn't for sure, "If you don't turn yourselves over then I will be forced to have my students and I take you by force."

Harry stood tall, "Is that a threat professor?"

Umbridge stared at the boy coolly, "Indeed it is Mr. Potter, one I promise that will be backed if you don't have your little minions drop their wands."

Everyone looked at Harry, and he knew that they were going to follow his lead. Harry wasn't going to be the reason anyone got hurt, and he slowly began to lower his wand. As soon as he did several lights came flying towards him, but his wand came up and deflected a few of the curses, and felt his shield begin to collapse but soon it was being enforced by two others, that helped hold the spells back, and then there were shouts of cowardice, and Susan practically screamed, "You cowardly bitch! He was lowering his wand!"

Outcry was going out across the DA, and Harry fumed, "Is that how it is going to be professor? Curse a fifteen-year-old who was lowering his wand."

Draco Malfoy stepped forward aggressively, "It's your word against ours. Everyone knows you're just a liar Potter."

Some people bristled at that, but Harry merely stared at Umbridge, "You don't scare me anymore Umbitch. Expel me I have a family at home, and other schools who would be happy to have me. So I will attempt to end this here and now. Voldemort has returned, and you and your coward of a Minister is causing more damage than good. Not teaching these kids how to defend themselves from what's out there. You're the worse kind of coward, and with the help of Fudge you are going to get us all killed."

"LIAR!"

"I must not tell lies Professor."

With that the women raised her wand, and Harry matched hers, and blocked a curse that came sailing towards him, and this time he didn't just stand there, his wand was a furious motion of forward striking, completely taking the women by surprise. However, it was not enough to disarm her or stun her.

Draco Malfoy attempted to engage him, but Neville stepped forward and began raining spells upon Draco, and suddenly a battle emerged. Spells were being traded with rapid speed, and before things could get out of hand a man appeared in front of them in a bright ball of flames, and the spells instantly stopped, "Harry that is enough."

Dolores Umbridge fumed, "Dumbledore! I have caught the students red handed in breaking multiple school rules."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And what rules are those?"

Umbridge went on to list several educational decrees that were being in fractured upon, but Dumbledore held a hand up, "Actually Dolores Mr. Potter started this group under my strict instruction. It was clear that students were going to struggle on their OWL's and I had absolute faith in the boy's skill with a wand and instructed him to start this little group."

The women turned red with fury, "It is not Mr. Potter's job to teach practical magic! In fact, magic is forbidden in the corridors."

Dumbledore looked around confused, "This does not look like the corridor to me Dolores. The only infraction of the rules I see here is that you are trading spells with students. Did you not perhaps think to consult with me first, before coming in upon students who were practicing for their OWL's. It is clear you knew something was happening in here."

"You can't be trusted Dumbledore! You and Potter are conspiring against the Ministry, and I have proof now." The women said ecstatically.

"Do you?"

The women looked ready to erupt, "Dumbledore you have gone too far this time."

"With that I do agree Ms. Umbridge."

A man with a bowler hat came storming into the room with a few large men in auror robes following behind, "You deliberately went against a ministry official who was trying to help your school. It is merely unacceptable. You are committing conspiracy and sedition against the government and will spend the night in Azkaban and wait for a trial."

Dumbledore merely smiled at the advancing aurors, "Is that what you believe Cornelius? You are truly blinded by fear. I thought we might eventually hit this little snag though. You see I have many plans that need to be executed if I am no longer going to be Headmaster, and believe me I have no intention of going to Azkaban."

Without any other words being said he turned and winked at Harry, and then disappeared in a bright red flash. Cornelius Fudge looked aghast that the men had escaped so easily, and then turned to his aurors, "Go search the grounds. You can't apparate in or out of Hogwarts. GO GO!"

With that Cornelius began exiting the room, but Madame Umbridge stopped him, "Minister what about the boy?"

Cornelius turned and looked at the teens that still had all their wands drawn, "Let them go. It is clear they were all working under Dumbeldore's order, and without him they are nothing. But make it very clear any further infractions will result in immediate expulsion. Congratulations Madame Umbridge I am issuing executive order right now that you are to be Interim Headmistress of Hogwarts. Good luck."

With that the man quickly hobbled out of the room, and the women looked at the group in front of him with a sickly smile, "Off to your common rooms. We will have a very interesting discussion tomorrow, but I believe that is enough for one night."

With that she withdrew from the room and took her squad with them. The DA watched in shock at what had just happened, and how quickly everything had gone to hell. Harry turned to face the group, "Keep your heads down. This isn't over. I will be in touch with everyone, but we have lost our protection from Dumbledore, and we need to watch the situation, we are only 3 weeks away from summer, let's see what happens from here before we decide to act."

Most of the group was still pumping with adrenaline, but nodded not putting their wands away as they left the room in big groups. When it came down to just Harry's inner circle, he carefully checked Collin over, and then said to stick to his side until they get back to the common room. Harry however sighed, "Everyone go back to your common rooms. We were lucky tonight, but we can't push our luck any further, give me some time to think over all this."

Susan looked at her defeated looking boyfriend and kissed his cheek, "Don't worry Harry, it will all work out."

Harry gave his girlfriend a weak smile, and then watched as she left the room with what was left of her housemates.

(A/N) I'm back! With the next 13 chapters already written out, will try to update every 3 days or once a week depending on the feedback. Cheers!