I'm baaaaaack! Who missed me?

Fraser Island was so cool! Oh my god! :D :D :D

And we got to visit friends in Brisbane as well! Double cool! :D :D :D :D :D :D

And we got to go to Wet 'n' Wild and watch Avatar while at the Gold Coast! Triple cool! ... I can't be bothered to do 9 smileys though.

I got 203 mozzie bites while on Fraser Island. Impressive, isn't it? I looked like I had chickenpox :P

Anyway, I would just prattle on about my holiday for like, two hours, but you should probably just read the chapter instead...

Max POV

You how I said that things were going good with us for once? Well it's well known that you learn something new every day. My lesson? Never speak too soon.

Things went downhill for us rebels the following morning.

When we left the dormitories and walked into the Gryffindor Common Room I saw a sign fixed to the noticeboard on the other side of the room. Somehow it managed to block out every other notice with ease. I recognised the style of it.

'That better not be another decree...' Harry muttered. But (Of course) it was.

BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS

All student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded.

An organisation, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as the regular meeting of three or more people.

Permission to reform can be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge)

No student organisation, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or belonged to, an organisation, society, team, group or club will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Education Decree Number Twenty Four.

Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor

This was the twenty fourth decree? I hadn't been counting. Whoops. I wonder what other rules I'd been breaking without even knowing it.

And since when is she the High Inquisitor? What is a High Inquisitor?

I found that I wasn't even upset by this turn of events. I mean, did she really think that we would be stopped by words on a piece of paper? Ha. As if.

Obviously Hermione and Harry had different thoughts on their minds. 'This isn't a coincidence.' Harry muttered.

'She found out somehow.' Hermione agreed.

'Well, no duh.' I said. 'Who cares? It's not as if it'll stop us anyway. What's the problem?'

'What's the problem? It means that we might have a traitor in our group, who was at the meeting yesterday. They might rat us out again if we continue.' Harry told me as if I were an idiot.

'Well then, we chuck out all the suspicious creeps.' I arguedback. 'Zacharias Smith and one of the Ravenclaws were pissing me off yesterday. We can get rid of them!'

'If one of them did tell Umbridge then we'll know.' Said Hermione, a satisfied and slightly evil smile on her face. 'Trust me. We'll be able to go on with our group soon.' She wouldn't say anything else on the subject as we headed down to breakfast.

There was a lot of chatter in the hall, no doubt about the dictation that Umbridge had imposed. When I was halfway through a pile of bacon near me during breakfast, a girl with long, dark hair braided into thin plaits and with dark brown skin approached us. I recognised her as one of the girls from yesterday, Angelina Johnson, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She looked half furious, half upset.

Harry began to speak. 'The group's still happeni – '

'You do realise that this decree includes Quidditch, right?' Angelina interrupted him. 'Our team's been disbanded!'

'What?!' Harry sounded outraged. I knew how much his sport meant to him.

'And we were going to have our first training session with Ron this Wednesday!' Angelina groaned.

'Huh?' Harry inquired in his ever so sophisticated way.

'He was our new Keeper!' Explained Angelina, obviously distressed. 'He made it through the trials!'

'You tried out?' Harry asked as we turned to Ron, whose ears – and entire face – were bright red.

He nodded. 'Why didn't you tell me though?' Harry asked.

'I – I didn't want you to know, just in case I totally screwed up.' He stammered. I waved my hand.

'Does it even matter? He's in the team, Harry's in the team, there is no team.' I said impatiently. 'You're going to ask Umbridge for permission to reform though, right Angelina?' She nodded.

'Yeah... But she'll take persuading I bet, the old hag.' She gave us a small smile and turned to walk away.

'Hey Angelina, do you think you might be able to tell some people that the group is still happening? Thanks.' Hermione said. 'Now we have to find the others and tell them. Not anyone with a load of acne though...' She strode away, leaving the rest of us with extremely confused expressions.

'I'll find the Ravenclaws,' Iggy offered. 'And Luna. I want to tell her.'

'Yeah and make out with her, I bet.' I sniggered.

We managed to corner most of our participants while they were still eating breakfast, which made our job tonnes easier.

Half an hour later we'd regrouped and were heading to class. Our first class just happened to be Defence Against the Dark Arts. Lucky us.

Do you know what makes us even luckier? We ran into Malfoy on our way down a deserted corner.

I'd run into Malfoy twice since I'd begun my stay here. Each time (and like now) he'd been flanked by his two gorillas – Crabbe and Goyle, I think – and each time I'd wanted to knock his pale little arse into the middle of next week. He was totally nasty. Like, almost as nasty as me when I wanted to be! And that was really saying something.

'Well, well,' he began in his drawling tones, 'what do we have here?' Oh my god, cliché much? With a bit of originality you'll go far, young apprentice... or something like that. 'I think we have a bunch of freaks, in one clump.' He continued.

'You know, you would make our lives much easier if you go die in a hole, Malfoy.' I snapped. 'Why don't you go try it? We won't mourn for you.'

'You should take your own advice, Ride.' Malfoy shot back. 'Nobody wants a bunch of stupid Americans in our school anyway.'

'So let me get this straight... You're racist, sexist, a complete idiot and a stuck up arsehole. Wow. You should win the Man of the Year Award, Malfoy. So many good traits.' I said mildly, trying to keep my temper. I was experiencing that urge to hit him again.

'I wonder what your parents are like, to have a child like you! They must be real treasures!' Said Iggy with fake wonder.

Malfoy's pale grey eyes narrowed. 'Don't you dare insult my parents, King. They're far better parents than what you have anyway.'

That struck a nerve. Apparently, although Iggy had gotten over the betrayal of his parents months ago, the comment still pierced him. He started forward, obviously intent on flattening Malfoy. I leapt forward and grabbed the back of Ig's shirt, dragging him back to where the rest of us were waiting. Harry, Ron and Hermione were watching the exchange of insults with interest, while Fang's eyes were fixed on Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, seemingly wondering how they would react to the threat of actual violence.

Malfoy took a step back, his eyes widened. Iggy struggled against my grip for a moment before he sagged, giving up. 'You better not say something like that again, Malfoy,' I warned, 'I won't stop him next time. I'll join in.'

'Whatever.' Said Malfoy, regaining his composure. 'It's not as if you would be able to harm me anyway.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Haven't you learned your lesson yet? What about the train? It would be too easy to kick your arse.'

'That was a fluke.'

I snorted. 'Yeah, right. How about I take you on right now?'

'Max, be careful,' Hermione warned me, 'we're not allowed to fight in the corridors, you know.'

Malfoy turned away from us. 'Crabbe, Goyle, let's go. This is a waste of time.' He snapped. 'We can go find that little girl of theirs. The one that's in Ravenclaw.'

Angel. Now that, I would not stand for. I jumped forward and landed square on Malfoy's back, easily getting him in a tight head-lock. Yeah, of course I can't beat you, Malfoy. He collapsed under my weight – not that I'm heavy – and we tumbled to the hard floor. Nobody was trying to stop me from beating the crap out of this little creep, they'd all obviously taken the same offence that I had. Well, except for Crabbe and Goyle of course, still loyal to their master, but they were easily restrained by Fang and Iggy, just like last time. I leaned down to Malfoy's ear where he was trying pathetically to get out from under me. 'Don't even think about going after Angel, Malfoy.' I told him in my most dangerous voice. Which is – admit it – pretty scary. 'Not only would that be unreasonably cruel, but she'd just make your life hell.' He snorted. He actually snorted! There he was, stuck underneath me and not getting out anytime soon, and he still had the audacity to snort!

I shook my head. He wasn't worth us being late for class. Even if that class was Defence Against the Dark Arts.

I loosened my grip on Malfoy and started to get up at the same time that he bucked underneath me, in an attempt to throw me off. I don't know how it happened, maybe I was caught by surprise or maybe Malfoy was stronger than I had thought, but he actually succeeded in his aim – surprise – and I fell forward onto the wall beside us. I felt the rough brick of the wall scrape against my back and wings and I felt the thin fabric easily tear.

I got up again, feeling the damage to my shirt and found a huge rip going pretty much the entire way down my back. This was crap.

Malfoy had begun to get up again, and Fang and Iggy let go of his cronies now that it appeared that there wasn't going to be a big fight after all.

I turned around to run back up the steps, so that I could grab a new shirt.

Suddenly Malfoy swore loudly and I twisted around to see the problem. He was staring at me as though I was from another planet. I blinked in confusion. And then it clicked. The rip in my shirt allowed my wings to show through. He'd seen my wings. Crap.

Before any of us could do anything, Malfoy had scrambled backwards and then turned and sprinted down the corridor, his 'friends' lumbering behind him. He disappeared around the corner within seconds.

This was not good.

OMG! What will happen ?!?!?! It's short for a reason... would the chapter really be any good at all if I didn't stop here? (The answer's 'no')

By the way... Happy Australia Day everybody! Well, I guess only Australians... Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! OI, OI, OI! Lolz...

Happy reviewing!