Bryt's corner of the common room was unnaturally still and quiet for the next hour, all of them intently watching the common room entrance for any member of the DA to come through. Slowly, people came in one-by-one. Angelina was first with Katie and Alicia, soon after followed by Fred, George, and Lee. Lavender and Parvati came in after that. Ginny came in later with Colin and Dennis Creevey. Dean and Seamus came in a few minutes after that and Bryt a huge wave of disappointment for Seamus. That had been his first ever DA meeting and for it to end the way it had...

They all glanced around the room when they entered, but only Ginny came over to Bryt's little group. It was better that way—it might attract too much attention for so many people to group around each other at one time.

The unasked question was apparently clear on their faces because Ginny shook her head as she sat down. She hadn't seen Harry and didn't know where he was. Bryt stayed leaning against Ron, her bracelet clung in her hands as Ron kept his arm around her and Mike leaned against Bryt's legs from where he sat on the floor, his own arms wrapped around his knees as he stared intently at the entrance to the common room.

It was the second-most nerve-wrecking experience Bryt had ever been through—the first being the wait before she could visit Grimmauld Place for Christmas holidays—finally ending when Harry came into the common room. Bryt and Ron both sat up, though there was no relief. Harry had been gone a while. There was still the chance he had been caught—the chance that even though they made it to the common room, they'd all still be expelled.

Harry made his way over to their group and sat down and Bryt could instantly tell something was wrong. Her worst fears started swirling in her head again as she stared at Harry.

"What happened?" Hermione was the first to be able to ask the question they were all thinking.

"Are we in trouble?" Natalie asked weakly, "Expelled?"

"Everyone in the DA is safe," Harry said and Bryt let out a sigh of relief, suddenly feeling a bit light-headed, as if she'd drank too much butterbeer at once. No one was getting expelled. Drew, Terry, Hannah...They were all fine.

"But something bad still happened?" Mike asked, moving so he was sitting on his knees.

Harry looked between Mike and Natalie, then looked right to Bryt. Bryt instantly realized something major had happened. He was afraid to talk about it with Mike and Natalie there.

"Go ahead, Harry," Bryt said, "If we send them away, they'll just hide nearby and listen in anyway."

Mike got a look on his face that showed Bryt was right and Natalie looked genuinely offended, as if the thought would have never occurred to her. If Bryt didn't know Natalie better she would have bought into the act.

Harry took a deep breath, leaning forward before starting.

"Malfoy caught me almost right after I got out of the room," he said quietly, "Umbridge was with him—"

"How'd you get out of getting expelled?" Mike asked, his eyes widening. That's what Bryt wanted to know as well. Being caught by Umbridge was a chance of instant expulsion. Whatever happened must have been even bigger than Bryt had first thought.

"I'm getting to it," Harry said, "Umbridge took me to Dumbledore's office and Fudge was there with Percy and a couple of Aurors."

Ron glared at the mention of his brother and Bryt took his hand, squeezing it lightly. She had a feeling that if she had been in Harry's place, she would have punched Percy in the face the second she saw him.

"The Minister of Magic was here?" Natalie asked, her eyes widening now, "You mean St. Mungo's finally managed to get his head out of his arse?"

Despite herself, Bryt laughed. Ron, Ginny, and Mike did as well, and Hermione just shook her head. Even Harry gave a small smile, but it was gone quickly.

"He was there because Umbridge called him," Harry said, "Because she was tipped off about the DA by Marietta Edgecombe—you know, Cho's friend."

"Always thought she was dodgy," Ron said. Bryt resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She had noticed how the girl didn't seem to want to be at the DA, but she would have thought Edgecombe would have gotten used to the group and enjoy it by now. It'd been six months, after all.

"Marietta was distraught because of that spell you put on the parchment, Hermione," Harry said, the continuing quickly when Mike and Natalie looked like they were about to ask something, "She wouldn't say anything, no matter what Umbridge asked about."

"I bet Umbridge didn't like that," Bryt said with a short laugh, though regretted it slightly when she got the mental image of Edgecombe with the word "SNEAK" across her face in pimples. Still, she betrayed the DA. Betrayed the people she'd been around for six months.

"No, she didn't," Harry said, "She had the parchment, too, with all our names on it. But..." Harry trailed off, obviously trying to figure out how to word what happened. "Dumbledore took full responsibility for the DA."

"He what?" Hermione and Ginny asked together. Bryt just stared at Harry in shock. Dumbledore hadn't known about the club at all, but he took the blame to keep them out of trouble?

"He took full responsibility," Harry said again, "He said that he instructed me to form the club and that tonight was supposed to be our first meeting."

"So that's why we're not all expelled now?" Natalie asked. Harry nodded.

"Fudge tried to get Dumbledore arrested," Harry said, "But it didn't work out so well. Dumbledore cast some spell and escaped. Once Fudge realized Dumbledore was gone, he told Professor McGonagall to take me and Marietta off to bed. Professor McGonagall sent me here while she took Marietta up to the Hospital Wing."

Silence hung in the air for several minutes after Harry finished. Mike, who was again leaning against Bryt's legs, was the first one to speak up, his voice quiet.

"So it's over now," he said weakly, "Umbridge won."

"Only if we let her," Natalie hissed, "I'm not taking this lying down. Umbridge might end up headmistress, but I'm going to make sure she has a hell of a time taking charge."

"Hear, hear!" Ron and Ginny chorused. Bryt and Harry grinned, but Hermione frowned at them.

"We really shouldn't push it," she said, "We don't want to give Umbridge an excuse to expel us. She already knows we were part of the DA, and since Dumbledore made sure none of us would get punished for this, Umbridge is going to be looking for any excuse to get us in trouble now."

"We'll just make sure we're not caught," Natalie said and Mike nodded enthusiastically, straightening up.

"Hermione's right, though," Bryt spoke up, then on everyone's looks, "At least for now, anyway. Umbridge is going to be looking for any excuse to get to us. Until all this calms down and blows over, we need to keep our heads down. Umbridge will pay for this, though. She won't get away with it."

Mike and Natalie looked torn, but finally Mike nodded.

"Okay," he said, "If you think we should stay low, I will."

Bryt couldn't help but grin a little, but she also wondered if the only reason he was agreeing was the fact that Bryt was his big sister and was still at an age where he looked up to her so much. If he was a couple years older, would he so readily agree to this?

"We should head on to bed," Hermione said, looking at her watch. Bryt nodded in agreement and gave her brother a quick hug—much to his annoyance—before kissing Ron lightly on the cheek and heading up the stairs to the girls' dormitories with Hermione, Ginny, and Natalie. She had a feeling tomorrow was going to be a bad day.

xxxxx

As Bryt had feared, the next morning brought with it a new decree that declared Umbridge the new Hogwarts Headmistress. Bryt just hoped that Mike would hold to his word and not start trouble—and try to keep Natalie out of trouble as well. Hopefully Natalie was more reasonable than Sofí and Bryt was once again glad that Sofí didn't go to Hogwarts. There was no telling what she'd do if she had to deal with Umbridge—though Bryt knew that Sofí wouldn't have even lasted until Halloween before she started to wreak havoc.

The only news that seemed to travel faster than Umbridge being appointed headmistress was that of Dumbledore's escape. Bryt had the sneaking suspicion that Mike and Natalie were at least partly responsible for both the very accurate and completely outrageous stories—Natalie had been telling another girl at breakfast that Fudge was currently in St. Mungo's with a pumpkin for a head with such confidence that Bryt almost believe it herself.

Harry had been approached several times throughout the morning by DA members, all wanting to know what had happened, though Harry gave them much more summarized versions from the one he gave the night before.

"Dumbledore will be back before long," Ernie said with a nod after Harry had told him the story on the way to lunch, "They couldn't keep him away in our second year and they won't be able to this time." Ernie glanced around and then lowered his voice—something that had to be a great accomplishment for the usually-loud Hufflepuff, "The Fat Friar told me that Umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after they'd searched the castle and grounds for him. Couldn't get past the gargoyle. The Head's office has sealed itself against her. Apparently she had a right little tantrum."

"I bet she did," Bryt said with a laugh, "Serves her right, power-crazy old b—"

"Now do you really want to finish that sentence, Watkins?"

Bryt turned to see Malfoy just inside the doorway with his usual bodyguards. Bryt glared, opening her mouth to tell Malfoy to piss off when he spoke again.

"Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff," he said with that smirk that made Bryt want to walk over and punch him.

"You can't take points from fellow prefects, Malfoy," Ernie shot back.

"I know prefects can't dock points from each other," Malfoy said, "But members of the Inquisitorial Squad—"

"The what?" Hermione cut in.

"The Inquisitorial Squad, Granger," Malfoy said, tapping something silver that was pinned under his prefect badge, "A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points...So, Watkins, I'll have five points from you for being rude about our new headmistress...Macmillan, five for contradicting me...Five because I don't like you, Potter...Weasley, your shirt's untucked, so I'll have another five for that...Oh, yeah, I forgot, you're mudbloods, Granger, Watkins, so ten for that..."

Ron went for his wand and Bryt grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back, though she continued to glare at Malfoy herself.

"New Head, new time," Malfoy said with a smirk, obviously pleased with himself, "Be good now, Potty, Weasel King."

Malfoy headed into the Great Hall, laughing with Crabbe and Goyle. Bryt watched him go, cursing under her breath. Every time she thought Malfoy couldn't be more annoying, he did something to prove her wrong.

"He was bluffing," Ernie said worriedly, "He can't be allowed to dock points like that...That would be ridiculous...It would completely undermine the prefect system..."

Bryt turned towards the giant hourglasses the kept track of the House points and got a sickening feeling when she saw how empty Gryffindor's looked—they had been in the lead that morning, but now they seemed to be in last place. In fact, three of the four hourglasses were suddenly nearly empty. The only untouched one was the Slytherin's.

'Damn it,' Bryt thought, glaring at the Slytherin hourglass. She knew today was going to be bad, but this was far worse than she had expected.

"Noticed, have you?"

Bryt looked over to see Fred and George at the bottom of the marble staircase, making their way over to them.

"Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points," Harry said, sounding on-edge.

"Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break," George said.

"Tried?" Bryt asked, raising an eyebrow at the twins.

"He never managed to get all the words out," Fred said with a grin, "Due to the fact we forced him headfirst into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor."

"But you'll get into terrible trouble!" Hermione said, staring at Fred and George in shock.

"Not until Montague reappears and that could take weeks, dunno where we sent him," Fred said with a shrug, "Anyway, we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."

"Have you ever?" Hermione asked sharply.

"Of course we have. Never been expelled, have we?"

'Good point,' Bryt thought. She had a feeling that Fred and George could do a lot worse than their usual pranks if they really wanted to.

"We've always stopped short of causing real mayhem," Fred said.

"But now?"

"Well, now—" George started.

"—what with Dumbledore gone—" Fred continued.

"—we reckon a bit of mayhem—"

"—is exactly what our dear new Head deserves."

Bryt instantly thought to the night before with Natalie swearing she was going to make Umbridge's reign hell. She shouldn't be surprised that Fred and George were going to end up doing the same—only they weren't going to be the type who'd be talked out of carrying it through.

"What if you get expelled?" Bryt asked. She was all for causing havoc for Umbridge, but not at such a high risk—not after the extremely close call they had the night before.

"You don't get it, do you?" Fred asked with that grin that said nothing was going to stop them now, "We don't care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first. So anyway, phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have anything to do with it."

"Anything to do with what?" Hermione asked, sounding nervous.

"You'll see," George said with a grin that mirrored Fred's, "Run along now."

Before Bryt or the others could say anything, Fred and George headed off into the crowd. Ernie, who had been quiet through the whole conversation, suddenly said something about homework and hurried off very quickly away from them.

"I think we should get out of here, you know," Hermione said, "Just in case."

"My thoughts exactly," Bryt said. She was curious about what Fred and George were up to, but she didn't want to get blamed for whatever it was.

They had just stepped into the Great Hall when Filch came up to them, telling Harry that Umbridge wanted to see him. Bryt gave Harry a worried look before Harry headed off towards Umbridge's office. Bryt turned back around with Ron and Hermione, heading on into the Great Hall for lunch.

"What do you think that's about?" Bryt asked as they sat down, leaning forward to talk in a whisper.

"I think it's obvious," Hermione replied in a whisper of her own, "She's going to question Harry on where Dumbledore is."

"But he doesn't know that," Ron said, "Does he?"

"I don't think so," Bryt said, "Dumbledore went wherever he did in secret. It'd be a risk to tell anyone, especially Harry considering—"

Bryt cut herself off, but it was clear on both Ron and Hermione's faces that they were thinking about Harry's link to Voldemort. There was no way Harry could know where Dumbledore was hiding.

A loud explosion echoed from somewhere above and everyone in the Great Hall looked up at once. More bangs started, followed by screams. Bryt, Ron, and Hermione all looked at each other and spoke at once:

"Fred and George."

They jumped to their feet with the rest of the students and started running for the door, all eager to see what was going on. They moved with the crowd up the stairs to the first floor, where the crowd was stopping. Bryt, Ron, and Hermione pushed their way through the crowd towards the front, finally able to see what the noise was.

It seemed Fred and George had set off an entire store's supply of fireworks at once. Everywhere Bryt looked, a different type of firework was whizzing around, ranging from sparking wheels to rockets to dragons of any color imaginable.

"Those two are brilliant," Bryt said, grinning brightly as she stared around them. Students were standing in small groups out of the way of fireworks, cheering them on. Bryt could see Umbridge and Filch nearby, Filch actually trying to get rid of the fireworks with a broom. The look on Umbridge's face was the best thing Bryt had seen in a while.

"They are going to be in so much trouble," Hermione said, but, surprisingly, she didn't sound as chastising as she had earlier. She was actually grinning herself as she looked around.

It turned out the day was much better than Bryt could have ever imagined. She thought with Umbridge as headmistress, things were going to be worse than ever. She would have never hoped for the pure joy she felt throughout the day—one that grew every time a firework got loose in a classroom and the teacher sent a student to get Umbridge, each claiming that they couldn't take care of the fireworks themselves because they 'didn't have the authority'. It was one thing that Fred and George were causing havoc, but seeing even the strictest teachers such as McGonagall giving signs they approved made things so much better.

Though the biggest surprise came that night when Hermione told them she felt like taking the night off from their homework.

"After all, the Easter holidays start on Friday, we'll have plenty of time then," Hermione said.

"Are you feeling all right?" Ron asked, sounding as dumbstruck as Bryt felt. Hermione never wanted to put off homework before—no matter what great thing had happened during that day.

"Now that you mention it, I think I am feeling a bit...rebellious," Hermione replied with a smirk.

Bryt laughed and leaned back, staring off towards the window where a group of second years—including Mike and Natalie—were watching the fireworks out the window, laughing and cheering. She had feared today was going to be bad, but she was pleasantly surprised. Today had been the best day she'd had in a long, long time.