The semester went fast, or at least, as fast as it possibly could have been with Umbridge slowly but surely taking over Hogwarts. It started on Halloween, when Grace and her friends dressed up, as they did every year.

They weren't the only ones who dressed up, and they still wore their robes on top of their costumes. Grace and Draco's were easier to conceal than Rose and Luna, who were wearing dresses, and Rolf and Charlie, who were wearing bright costumes. Although, Grace's midriff was showing, which Severus wasn't all too happy about.

They were outside of the Great Hall that morning during breakfast against a blank stone wall taking photos. They all took turns posing in front of the wall while one of them took their pictures and sent it to the rest over Airdrop. Celia and Alfie joined them about halfway through Breakfast.

"What are you supposed to be?" Charlie asked Alfie. He was dressed head to toe in pink, with a boy in his hair.

"I'm the scariest thing of all," Alfie smirked. "Umbridge!"

"Nice!" Rose high-fived him. "And you, Cici?"

"A cat! Oh, forgot my ears!" she took a headband with two cat ears attached out of her bag and placed it on top of her head. She was wearing a black dress with tights and a black collar. With black eyeliner, she had drawn on whiskers and a little nose.

"Cute! C'mon let's take an all-girls picture!" The girls had just lined up against the wall and posed when the Devil Herself walked out of the Great Hall. Alfie was quick to hide behind Rolf.

"I will see you all for detention tomorrow evening," Umbridge announced to the group.

"What? Why?" Draco questioned her.

She pointed to one of the many Educational Decrees on the opposite wall; there had been more and more added each day, "Students must always be in school uniform during school hours." Her voice was high-pitched and childish and Grace wanted to pull her hair out every time she spoke.

"Professor Dumbledore always lets students dress up for Halloween! And we're not the only ones dressed up!" Charlie said.

"Dumbledore is not making the rules anymore, Mr. Ackerman. I am. And I will see you all in detention tomorrow evening," and with that, she walked away.

"Grace, can't you talk to your dad? He's close to Dumbledore, surely he can do something!" Luna asked.

"I don't think I want to bother him today," Grace said. "He's not in a particularly good mood, even with me. I don't know what's wrong."

"Today's the day Voldemort killed the Potters," Draco mumbled. "He's like this every Halloween. It's nothing to do with you, or anyone really. He's just mourning, but he tends to take it out on others. He doesn't mean to. It's probably best to just let him be today."

Grace nodded, "I didn't know. He never said anything."

"He wouldn't. He never told me either. The only reason I knew is because my mother told me when I was little."

So the day went on, nobody changed out of their costumes, they refused to. And most of the other teachers complimented their students on their creativity. Some even had sweets to give out as an incentive for answering a question correctly, although, some handed out the sweets just because, like Sprout.

However, Potions was brutal, even for Grace. Severus was in a horrid mood, and while everyone else in the class was complaining about Snape being a hard-ass, Grace felt awful her father was hurting inside and there wasn't much she could do about it. They didn't even work on a potion that class, instead, Severus had them write an essay in their allotted two hours about the purpose of Moonstones. Grace had no trouble writing her essay, and when she was done, she drew a tiny smiley-face in the corner of her parchment near her name. Maybe it would put a smile on her father's face, even if it wasn't much.

Grace and her friends spent the rest of the day together after classes ended and ate sweets in the Room of Requirement. They sat around on the plush sofas and chairs and relaxed. Some other students had come up to them, saying they had gotten detention with Umbridge as well, for their costumes or another stupid reason. Some had taken to writing their complaints about Umbridge on pieces of parchment or sticky-notes and sticking them to the wall. They were all rather enjoyable to read.

The next day, Severus was back to his normal self and spoke nothing of the previous day or his mood. Grace still didn't ask about it. She felt if he wanted to talk about it, he'd do it on his own time.

Detention with Umbridge wasn't too awful. They were just made to write lines, "I will wear the school uniform during school hours." They wrote them over and over again until Umbridge finally let them all go; there were about thirty students crammed into the DADA classroom.

After that, it was like Umbridge was on a detention-giving—spree. Grace, who had never gotten detention before, was getting detention for every stupid little thing almost at least once a week. Most of the time, she was accompanied by her friends, so at least they were in it together. Many of the teachers were concerned for the group of friends. Severus and Minerva were constantly butting heads with Umbridge, but Dumbledore was rarely seen. It was like he had stepped back into the shadows, allowing Hogwarts to become a nightmare.

So many Educational Decrees had been posted that it wasn't even like a school anymore but like a prison. It felt like no one from the outside world was doing anything about it. Surely the Ministry wasn't going to do anything, they were the ones who sent Umbridge. Students wrote to their families asking them to help stop it, but it was no use.

Along with all of the strict rules, Umbridge had issued a group of volunteer students called age Inquisitorial Squad to be on the lookout for "devious behavior." These students were mostly Draco's old friends: Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson. Once Draco's father had been sent to Azkaban, and he was no longer forced to be friends with them, he had completely detached himself from them. Without a brain to follow, his two cronies fell to Draco's previously betrothed, Pansy. Luckily, they had never been told about the Room of Requirement anyway, so they would never be able to find the Accio Coffee Cafe, though Umbridge had a strong suspicion that such a place existed. The students who were aware of the cafe just had to be extremely careful.

Grace had managed to keep her cool when Umbridge would dish out detentions, aware of the fact she not only had to protect herself but also her father. She couldn't give Umbridge any reason to retaliate and target Severus. However, one day in November, Grace's control of herself was pushed.

Grace and her friends had walked out of the Great Hall after lunch and were met with sobs coming from down the corridor. Umbridge, easy to spot because of her gaudy pink outfit, was berating a younger student. On closer inspection, Grace saw it was Sammy, who was visibly shaking and trying to explain herself, but Umbridge wouldn't let her speak.

"Sammy? Sammy are you okay?" Grace ran over to the younger girl, placing her hands on her shoulders.

"Miss McClivert, this does not concern you!" Umbridge's face was beet red.

"It does when you're yelling at my friend!" The rest of the group were surrounding Sammy, who then turned to Rose and hugged her, sobbing into her chest. Rose had become very protective of Sammy, being in the same House, and because Sammy was bullied endlessly by her fellow classmates.

"What in Merlin's name could have Sammy done?" Charlie asked, obviously annoyed.

"Dress code!" announced Umbridge.

Looking at Sammy, anyone could plainly see she was wearing the issued female Hogwarts student uniform.

"She's obviously wearing her uniform, Professor," Alfie stated.

"He is wearing the wrong uniform! He is a boy, and he will wear the male uniform!"

Sammy let out a loud sob and coughed; the crying threatening to make herself sick.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Draco, surprisingly, shouted. "Samantha is a girl!"

"He most certainly is not!"

"Just because she's not physically a girl yet doesn't mean she's not valid! She's eleven, what more do you expect than what she feels in her heart, in her mind?" Luna spoke up.

"Just leave Sammy alone! She's done absolutely nothing wrong, and I'm not going to stand by and let you hurt her so, leave! Her! Alone!" Grace exploded.

"What is all of that obnoxious yelling?" Minerva McGonagall's voice boomed through the corridor. Charging behind her was Severus, Phoebe, and many curious students crowding behind them. "What is going on here?" she questioned when she walked up to the group.

"Umbridge was going to give Samantha detention for wearing the female uniform!" Rolf answered.

"Is this true, Dolores?" Minerva raised a brow, but seeing Sammy sob into Rose answered her question. She didn't give Umbridge a chance to answer, "Samantha is in my House, and as far as I'm concerned, Samantha Williams is indeed female. She wears the female uniform, she sleeps in the female dormitory, and if you have any further concerns, the staircases leading to the boys' and girls' dormitories are charmed to turn into slides if a person of the opposite sex should climb them, as you should know, Dolores, you were once a student here. But, on Samantha's first day here at Hogwarts, she climbed the staircase to the female dormitory without fail. I think that in and of itself is enough evidence to prove your bigoted beliefs wrong."

Minerva was stern and stood her ground. Sammy started to calm down, sniffling and looking up at her Head of House with admiration and gratitude.

Umbridge glared at those who stood around her before turning back to Minerva, and voiced laced with venom, said, "I'm afraid you will regret this, Minerva."

"Will I, Dolores? I suggest you leave us. You have done enough damage."

With that, Umbridge stormed off, marching down the hall.

"Sammy, sweetie, are you all right?" Phoebe asked the younger Gryffindor. Sammy nodded, sniffing, and finally let go of her hold around Rose.

"Mr. Ackerman, Miss Martell, can you take Miss Williams back to the Gryffindor Common Room?" Minerva asked of them.

"Yes, Professor," Charlie placed a hand on Sammy's shoulder, smiling. "C'mon, Sammy," Rose walked closely next to Sammy while the three of them walked away.

Grace, still standing in the middle of the corridor, turned to Severus, "Dolores Umbridge is going down."

There were not many of Voldemort's followers that weren't in Azkaban. Those who were free had lied low since Voldemort was defeated by Harry Potter. They pleaded they were put under the Imperius Curse, as Draco's parents Lucius and Narcissa had. However, after Lucius had attacked a Muggle, fueled by hatred, Lucius was sent to Azkaban. While some of Voldemort's most loyal supporters were imprisoned, not afraid to admit they were loyal to the Dark Lord, Voldemort was somehow becoming stronger. Though they were safe at Hogwarts with Dumbledore, when Severus felt a surging pain in his left forearm, his Dark Mark opaque and clearer than ever, it was clear that Voldemort was back.

Yet, the Ministry of Magic did absolutely nothing about it.

It didn't take long for Hogwarts to find out. Dumbledore went to Minister Fudge, who called Dumbledore a liar and refused to believe Voldemort was truly back now. Immediately, The Daily Prophet was writing slanderous articles on the Headmaster. Some students believed Dumbledore, and with the witness accounts of seeing some of Voldemort's former supporters acting strangely.

Draco vouched for them when he said Narcissa was called to go to Voldemort but didn't go. Rowena and Seth's parents, however, did go, yet they were very open talking about their parents' involvement while they both decided to not join the Death Eaters.

In Slytherin House, where most of the students' parents were either Death Eaters or in Azkaban, were happy to find Voldemort was back, determined to join their parents. They joined in on dragging Dumbledore's name through the mud. As attacks on Muggles and Muggleborns in the outside world increased, so did they increase at school. Baylee Jones, a blind Slytherin Half-Blood, who had no interest in joining the Death Eaters, was ostracized and bullied by her House-mates.

In all, Hogwarts was a huge mess.

Grace sat in Defense Against the Dark Arts, not actually practicing anything they had learned, as usual, when she heard Pansy blabbing her big mouth.

"The Dark Lord is back, and I'm going to join him, along with my parents. We're going to kill all of the dirty Mudbloods and Half-Bloods!" She grinned maliciously at Grace.

"Shut up, Parkinson!" Charlie snapped.

"And dirty Blood-traitors," Pansy added.

"Mr. Ackerman, quiet!" Umbridge ordered from her desk. Of course, she wouldn't say anything to Pansy. Umbridge too was a Pureblood, and she hated Muggles and Half-breeds as much as Pansy. But, surprisingly, she added, "He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is not back! Don't be silly!"

The room filled with whispers among the students.

"But, Voldemort is back!" Grace spoke up; Umbridge flinched at the mention of Voldemort's name. "There are people who know he's back!"

"Miss McClivert!"

"No! You refuse to teach us anything useful, basically screwing us over when this inevitable war comes! Now, you're going to stand there and lie to us? He is back!"

"It is you who is lying, Miss McClivert. Lies that have been fed to you by your father. Of course he, a Death Eater, would want him to be back," Umbridge wasn't yelling, but speaking in a very high-pitched tone that sounded threatening.

It was then that Grace lost her cool and exploded, standing up and knocking her chair over in the process, slamming her hands down on her desk, "My father is not a Death Eater! And Voldemort is back!"

"Detention, Miss McClivert! I will see you tonight in my office!" Umbridge's face was dark red, her hands clenched into fists.

"Fine by me!" Grace slung her bag over her shoulder, kicking her knocked-over chair out of her way, and stormed out of the classroom, her face hot with anger and breathing heavy.

That night, at five o'clock, she climbed the stairs to Umbridge's office. For four years, Grace knew the office as Remus Lupin's. She frequented there, often to see what new odd creature he had on display or just to talk. There was nothing much to the room, but the chairs that Remus had were plush and comfy. Now, the room was drenched in pink and filled with frills and doilies. On the walls were dozens of plates depicting cats dressed in ridiculous outfits that followed Grace's every move.

"Good evening, Miss McClivert," Umbridge said while stirring her tea, which she even added pink sugar.

"Evening."

"You will be writing lines tonight," she took a sip of her tea before standing and walking over to a small chalkboard and wrote, "You-Know-Who is not back, and I will stop telling lies."

"Seems long, but okay," Grace rolled her eyes before sitting down at the small desk in front of the board and pulled her quill out of her knee-high socks. She decided not to bring her bag.

"Your quill will not be needed. I have a special quill you will use that will surely make an impression," her smile was mysteriously evil. She handed Grace a long, thin black quill with an extremely sharp point, but no ink. When Umbridge saw Grace about to question her, she said, "You do not need ink for this quill. Begin until I say you're done."

Grace sighed, just wanting to get it done and over with, and wrote the first line. She was sure she was seeing things when the ink on her paper was not black, but a deep, shiny red, and the back of her hand stung. She looked and saw the words she wrote appear on her hand, but disappear the next minute. She glanced over at Umbridge, but the Toad said nothing.

Grace continued and was now sure that this quill she was using was, in fact, using her blood to write her lines. The back of her hand was covered in blood and raw, since she tended to not only bruise more easily than others but when she had a cut, also bled more. Not to mention she was terrified at the sight of blood, and her panic was only worsened by the sight of her own blood covering her hand, bringing back horrible memories. Her breath quickened and her chest started to tighten, every instinct in her body telling her to run. But, Umbridge wasn't going to just let her go, she had to escape. She looked over at the window and got an idea.

"Professor! Look! Do you see what's going on outside?" she pointed at the window.

"What?" Umbridge got up from her seat and walked over to the window. Grace stood up, gripping the quill in one hand and the parchment in the other, sprinted out of the room and down the spiral stairs, skipping every few steps.

"McClivert!" Umbridge yelled after her from the door of her office. Grace didn't stop and once she reached the bottom of the staircase, continued sprinting, despite the burning in her lungs, from the East Towers to the West Towers where the entrance to Dumbledore's office was. She reached the large gargoyle, Umbridge was behind her, but she could hear her raging and coming after her.

"Lemondrops! Chocolate Frogs! Peppermint Imps! Fizzing Whizbees!" finally, the gargoyle moved to reveal the staircase that led to Dumbledore's office. Grace quickly climbed it, running to Dumbledore's door and bursting through it.

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, Fawkes the Phoenix on his perch, and Severus and Minerva standing in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"Miss McClivert?" Dumbledore was the first to spot the Ravenclaw in the room. She was unable to speak, but walked up to his desk and placing the quill and the blood-stained paper in front of the Headmaster.

"Grace, your hands are covered in blood! What happened?" Severus asked, taking his daughter's hands in his.

On cue, Umbridge burst in, her hair a mess and huffing and face red. Grace tore one hand away from Severus and pointed at Umbridge, panting and still unable to breathe.

Minerva picked up the black quill, inspected it, glanced at the bloody parchment, then glared at Umbridge. "Dolories!" If looks could kill, Dolores would've dropped dead. "You dare use torture on students?" Umbridge seemed to not know how to respond.

"Albus, did you know about this?" Severus looked at Dumbledore, who now stood.

"Absolutely not, or I would have done something immediately. Dolores, did you use this quill on other students?"

"Y-Yes, but-" she answered.

Dumbledore held up his hand, refusing to let her speak.

"No student ever brought it to anyone's attention," Minerva said.

"This will be reported to the Ministry at once! Minerva, please have letters written out to every student's family to let them be aware of what has happened." He then turned to Dolores and glared at her. Grace had never actually seen Dumbledore angry; even when he was disciplining a student he had a certain twinkle in his eyes. That twinkle was gone, and his eyes were dark. "You will stay, Dolores, while I summon the Minister. You three may leave."

Minerva led the way out of the office, briskly walking to her own to immediately start on those letters to the students' families. Once in the hall, Severus turned to Grace and pulled her into a tight hug, "Grace, are you okay? Are you hurt? I'm so sorry!"

"Dad, blood," she murmured. Her hands were covered in her now dry blood and it made her sick.

"Right, that's right," he pointed his wand at her hands. "Scourgify," and her hands were spotless, but her hand was still swollen and sore.

They started to make their way down to the Dungeons, Grace staring at her hand, afraid the cuts would somehow return. Phoebe ran out of the Hospital Wing, "I just saw Minerva, what the hell happened?" Her eyes glanced back and forth between Severus and Grace. Severus looked furious, though he tried to soften his expression when he saw Phoebe. Grace's eyes were full of tears and her cheeks were red and patchy. "Severus? What happened?"

"Dolores Umbridge has been using a Blood Quill on students for private detentions. Apparently, no one had brought it to anyone's attention until now," he glanced down at Grace.

"What the hell?" Phoebe's expression turned from worried to pissed. "How can someone do that to children? What kind of sick bitch?" She made to march up to Dumbledore's office, maybe to wring Umbridge's neck, but Severus put out a hand to stop her.

"Phoebe, Albus is taking care of it."

"Albus was supposed to be 'taking care of it' all along and yet he basically rolled belly-up and let the Ministry infiltrate the school!"

She wasn't wrong, Severus knew that. He wasn't too happy about the condition Dumbledore let the school get, but at least Dumbledore would see to Dolores being fired and removed from Hogwarts.

Phoebe looked down at Grace, who kept averting her eyes to the floor and holding her hand, "Oh, sweetie. C'mon, I've got something for your hand."

Phoebe put some type of salve on Grace's hand that stung at first but then gave a pleasant cooling sensation. Minerva and Severus were once again called to Dumbledore's office, this time to testify about what Umbridge had been doing. Severus was there mostly to speak on Grace's behalf.

Grace sat on one of the kitchen stools in front of the island while Phoebe gently cared for her. "Scourgify works pretty well, but sometimes it doesn't get everything," she wiped a washcloth over Grace's hands to wipe off any patches of dried blood that was left. She was humming and smiling, making Grace's nerves calm and she finally stopped shaking. Actually, she was lulling off to sleep; it had just been such a long day and she just wanted rest. "There you go, sweetie."

"Thanks, Mum," it had slipped out on accident of course. As soon as she mumbled it, she was alert and upright. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"Gracie, it's okay," she put her hands on Grace's shoulders, but she flinched away and jumped off the stool and ran to her room.

Severus came back about ten minutes later to Phoebe pacing back and forth.

"What happened?" he asked. "Where's Grace?"

"In her room."

"Is everything alright?"

Phoebe hesitated, "Grace accidentally called me 'Mum.' I think she was just so tired, she wasn't thinking and it slipped. Then she freaked out and went to her room."

Before saying anything, Severus opened Grace's bedroom door just a sliver, enough to see that Grace was sound asleep in bed. He decided it was best that way; she had a long day and she was probably exhausted from everything. He quietly closed her door and turned to Phoebe, "Tea?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

Severus put on a pot of tea on and they both sat at the kitchen table. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… It's just, weird, I guess. Being called 'Mum.'"

"I think you'd make a great mother, Phoebs."

She blushed and looked away, "Stop, Sev."

"You really do care about Grace, don't you?"

"Of course I do. To know Grace McClivert is to love her," they met eyes. "Plus, I love you. I love you and everything that comes with you, that means Grace too. I love her as if she was my own."

Severus took her hand, "It's something for you and Grace to agree on, but I'd love nothing more."

Phoebe smiled and looked at Grace's closed bedroom door, "Me too."