I do not own Bleach or Harry Potter the both belong respectively to Tite Kubo and J.K. Rowling
Unaware of the attack on his home, Harry attended Wednesday morning's Astronomy theory exam. It went well enough though Harry wasn't confident that he'd gotten all the names of Jupiter's moons right but at least was confident none of them were made of cheese.
With their Astronomy practical scheduled for that night, Harry had the afternoon to review while Ron and Hermione were busy with their Divination and Arithmancy exams respectively. Or at least that was original plan until he ran into Ginny and ended up spending the free period with her by the lake.
Later that night the fifth years arrived at the top of the Astronomy Tower, finding it was a perfect night for stargazing. Each of them set up his or her telescope and when Prof. Marchbanks gave the word, proceeded to fill in their star charts.
Professors Marchbanks and Tofty walked among the students, observing their work. All was quiet except for the rustle of parchment and the scribbling of many quills. Time passed and one by one each of the lights vanished from the castle windows, as the rest of Hogwarts went to sleep.
As Harry filled in the constellation Orion on his chart, however the front doors of the castle opened directly below where he was standing, revealing not everyone had gone to sleep as a half dozen people slipped out onto the lawn. One of which he sensed was Umbridge.
Knowing he needed to complete his exam, Harry refocused his telescope onto Venus. He was about to enter the planet onto his chart, when he was distracted by the movements of Umbridge and her party, noting that they were dressed in long dark cloaks that would've hidden them from sight, if not for the moonlight.
What am I doing? I don't have time for this. Harry turned his focus back to his exam only to once more be distracted by the muffled barking of a large dog. Knowing there was only one dog on the grounds, Harry looked out across the field to Hagrid's hut, where there were lights on in the windows. The door opened and Umbridge and her party walked over the threshold, closing the door behind them and there was silence.
Then suddenly a loud roar echoed out from the cabin. Several people around Harry peaked out from behind their telescopes and instead stared out at Hagrid's cabin.
Prof. Tofty cleared his throat, "Try and concentrate, now, students."
While most of the students returned to their telescopes, Harry glanced to his left and saw that Hermione's gaze was still transfixed at Hagrid's.
"Ahem – twenty minutes to go" said Prof. Tofty.
Hermione hurriedly returned at once to her star chart; Harry looked down at his own and noticed he'd mislabeled Venus as Mars. He went to correct it. Then suddenly everyone jumped as a loud BANG came from the grounds.
At once everyone hurried over to see what was happening.
Hagrid's door had been blasted open and by the light flooding out from the cabin they saw him quite clearly, surrounded by six people, all of whom, judging by the streaks of red light they were casting in his direction, seemed to be attempting to stun him.
"No!" Hermione cried.
Scandalized Prof. Tofty chastised Hermione for her outburst, reminding her they were in the middle of an exam. Not that it mattered. Nobody was paying attention to their star charts, their focus now entirely on what was happening on the grounds below.
Despite his attackers' best efforts, Hagrid remained on his feet, and as far as Harry could see, fighting. Cries and yells echoed across the grounds; a man yelled, "Be reasonable, Hagrid!" and Hagrid roared, "Reasonable be damned! You won't take me like this, Dawlish!"
Harry could see the tiny outline of Fang, attempting to defend his master, leaping at the wizards surrounding Hagrid, until a Stunning Spell caught him and fell to the ground. With a monstrous howl, Hagrid lifted the culprit and threw him; the man went flying for what looked like ten feet and didn't get back up. Hermione gasped in horror; Harry looked to Ron and saw that he shared in Hermione's fear. None of them had ever seen Hagrid really lose his temper before…
"Look!" someone cried out as the front doors of the castle opened once more and a single long black shadow was now sprinting across the lawn. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked to each other as they all realized it was Prof. McGonagall.
"How dare you!" McGonagall shouted, as she ran. "On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such…"
Many of the students screamed as the figures attacking Hagrid fired no fewer than four stunners at the Gryffindor Head of House. For a moment she looked luminous, illuminated by an eerie red glow, then was lifted off her feet, landing hard on her back, and moved no more.
"Galloping gargoyles!" Prof. Tofty shouted, who seemed to have forgotten the exam entirely. "Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behavior!"
Harry had seen enough. Looking to Ron and Hermione, silently asking them to watch over his body, Harry moved to the back of the tower away from the crowd of onlookers and took Soul Reaper form.
Moving faster than the eye could see, Harry flash stepped around the field, knocking back Hagrid's attackers, delivering high-speed punches and kicks that left the wizards flat on their backs.
"What're you doing?!" Umbridge shrieked, frantically searching for whatever force was taking out her men. While Hagrid might not have been able to see Harry – moving as fast as he was – the half giant wasn't about to let the opportunity slip by and with the stunned Fang around his shoulders, took off running. "Get him, get him!" and Harry took great pleasure in shutting Umbridge up with a quick blow to the back of the head, before speeding back into his body.
Trading grim looks, Harry, Ron, and Hermione could only watch as Hagrid's towering form ran full-speed towards the gates, disappearing into the darkness as he left Hogwarts behind.
"That evil woman!" Hermione gasped, her rage making it difficult to speak. "Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night!"
"Hagrid did well though, didn't he?" said Ron, more alarmed than impressed. "How come all the spells bounced off him?"
"His giant blood" Hermione explained. "It's difficult to stun a giant, they're like trolls, really tough."
"Yeah, but I'm worried about Prof. McGonagall" said Harry. "Taking four Stunners in the chest…"
"At least they didn't get Hagrid" said Ron. "Think he's gone to join Dumbledore?"
"I suppose so" Hermione said tearfully. "Oh, this is awful, I really thought Dumbledore would be back before long, but now we've lost Hagrid too…"
Harry begrudgingly had to agree. Despite his feelings towards the man Hogwarts was better with Dumbledore in charge. Of course, that wasn't much of a stretch considering Umbridge's cruelty and incompetence.
They entered the Gryffindor common room to find it filled with students. The commotion out in the grounds had woken several people, who had hastened to rouse their friends. Seamus and Dean, who had arrived ahead of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, were now telling everyone what they had heard from the top of the Astronomy Tower.
"But why sack Hagrid now?" Angelina Johnson asked, shaking her head. "It's not like with Trelawney, he's been teaching much better than usual this year!"
"Umbridge hates part-humans" Hermione said bitterly, taking a seat in one of the armchairs. "She was always going to try and get rid of Hagrid."
"And she thought Hagrid was putting nifflers in her office" said Katie Bell.
"Oh blimey" Lee Jordan gasped. "It's been me, putting nifflers in her office. Fred and George left me a couple, I've been levitating them in through her window…"
"She would've sacked him anyway" said Dean Thomas. "He was too close to Dumbledore."
"That's true" said Harry, sinking into the armchair beside Hermione's.
"I just hope Prof. McGonagall's alright" Lavender Brown said tearfully.
"We were watching through the window" said Colin Creevey. "They carried her back up to the castle. She didn't look very good…"
"I'm sure she'll be ok" said Ginny. "Madam Pomfrey's one of the best."
It was nearly four in the morning before the common room cleared. And peaceful sleep was a difficult thing to find for Harry that night — haunted by the image of Hagrid sprinting away into the dark and woke three hours later feeling distinctly unrested.
The fifth years entered the great hall at two o'clock for their final exam, History of Magic, and took their places in front of their overturned examination papers. Harry felt exhausted. He just wanted this to be over so that he could go and sleep. Then tomorrow, he and Ron were going down to the Quidditch pitch and savor their freedom from studying.
"Turn over your papers," said Prof. Marchbanks from the front of the hall, flicking over the giant hourglass. "You may begin."
Harry stared fixedly at the first question. It was several seconds before it occurred to him that he had not taken in a word of it; there was a wasp buzzing distractingly against one of the high windows. Slowly, tortuously, he began to write an answer.
He was finding it very difficult to remember names and kept confusing dates. He simply skipped question four: In your opinion, didwand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots ofthe eighteenth century? thinking that he would go back to it if he had
time at the end. He took a stab at question five: How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence? but had a nagging suspicion that he had missed several important points.
He looked ahead for a question he could definitely answer, and his eyes alighted upon number ten: Describe the circumstances that led to the Formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.
I know this, Harry thought, though his brain felt torpid and slack. He could visualize a heading, in Hermione's handwriting: The Formation of the International Confederation of Wizards. He'd read those notes only this morning.
He began to write, looking up now and again to check the large hourglass on the desk beside Prof. Marchbanks. He was sitting right behind Parvati Patil, whose long dark hair fell below the back of her chair. Once or twice he found himself staring at the tiny golden lights that glistened in it when she moved her head very slightly and had to get a gentle reminder from Nakatsukasa to focus on his exam.
…the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation Wizards was Pierre Bonaccord, but his appointment was contested by the Wizarding community of Liechtenstein, because — What was it that Bonaccord had done to offend the wizards of Liechtenstein?
Harry had a feeling it had something to do with trolls.
"Don't suppose you'd give me some help?"
"I believe I've done enough helping you to keep focused" came Nakatsukasa's amused reply.
Harry expected as much. Despite his relationship with his zanpakutō spirit being a bit more talkative than the average Soul Reaper's there were limits even for Nakatsukasa on how she'd lend him her aid.
"Oh, don't be like that. This is your exam to pass or fail. Just trust your instincts."
"Ok. just trust my instincts." Harry closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, trying to block out all distractions while he tried to come up with an answer. Bonaccord had wanted to stop troll-hunting and give the trolls rights…but Liechtenstein was having problems with a tribe of particularly vicious mountain trolls…That's it!
Harry opened his eyes; they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing-white parchment. Slowly he wrote two lines about the trolls then read through what he had done so far. It did not seem very informative or detailed, yet he was sure Hermione's notes on the confederation had gone on for pages and pages. He closed his eyes again, trying to see them, trying to remember.
…The confederation had met for the first time in France, yes, he had written that already…Goblins had tried to attend and been ousted…He had written that too…And nobody from Liechtenstein had wanted to come…
Think, he told himself, his face in his hands, while all around him quills scratched out never-ending answers and the sand trickled down the hourglass. Just as it felt like he was starting to remember, Harry lost his train of thought as the doors to the great hall were thrown open and a gleeful Madam Umbridge marched inside.
"What is the meaning of this?" Prof. Marchbanks demanded. "We are in the middle of exams."
"I need Harry Potter in my office immediately" Umbridge smiled sadistically. "There appears to have been an incident with his godfather."
Harry did his best to ignore the students whispers as he rose from his desk. Seeing the worried expressions on Ron and Hermione's faces he tried to give them a reassuring look but his heart wasn't in it. Fearing the worst had happened to Sirius.
The Hogwarts rumor mill was in full effect by the time Ron and Hermione got out of the exam. With no one having seen Harry since he was called away the entire castle was filled with rumors ranging from Umbridge eating him to Harry being shipped off to Azkaban.
Afraid to even imagine what could be happening to their friend, Ron and Hermione rushed back to the Gryffindor Tower unsurprisingly running into Ginny on the way. Paying their housemates, no mind the trio hurried to the room Harry shared with Ron and pulled the Marauders Map from his trunk.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Activating the map, they frantically searched for Harry's name only to find he wasn't anywhere in the castle.
"This doesn't make any sense" Ginny panicked. "You said Umbridge took Harry to her office."
"That's what she told us" said Hermione, struggling to keep calm.
"Maybe, he's just working" Ron suggested hopefully.
But that hope was quickly dashed as they realized not even ghosts were exempt from the map meaning even in Soul Reaper form Harry's name should've been there. Harry simply wasn't in the castle. The question was, where did he go?