In early May, Cho Chang did not appear for a D.A. meeting. Harry had stopped paying attention to attendance, at least on an individual level—as long the meeting was populated with the usual thirty-ish attendees, he counted it as a success—so it took him almost half of the meeting before he noticed Chang's absence. Harry was puzzled; Chang had been one of the most consistent and focused members of the D.A., and Harry couldn't recall a single meeting that she had missed before today.

After mulling over Chang's absence for several minutes, Harry brought it to Hermione's attention.

"Maybe she has something else to do," Hermione said.

"She has never missed a meeting before," Harry countered. "Never."

"Paying quite a lot of attention to Cho, are you?" Hermione said, giving Harry a significant look. Harry let loose an annoyed sigh, and Hermione grinned and winked.

"It's not like that," Harry said, shaking his head. "Cho kept the Ravenclaws focused on practical defense instead of pure theory. And without her, Michael Corner and his lot would never have joined, not after they dueled with me and Theo last year. I needed her, so I noticed her. And now she's gone."

Hermione frowned. "I'll ask around and see if anybody knows anything."

Class wore on, and Harry felt his worry grow with each passing moment. When he finally managed to speak with Hermione again, just before the end of the meeting, she confirmed Harry's worries were not unfounded: nobody knew where Cho was. Harry swore softly.

"It's not necessarily anything bad," Hermione said. "Maybe she just didn't want to come to tonight's meeting. Maybe she's sick. Maybe she got a detention."

"Detention is what I'm afraid of," Harry muttered. He glanced around the room and, seeing nobody nearby, drew the Marauder's Map from his pocket. Harry activated the Map and swore again when he located the dot that represented Cho. She was in Umbridge's office, but, oddly, Cho was the only person in Umbridge's office. Feeling his dread deepen, Harry turned his eyes toward the hallway on the seventh floor of Hogwarts.

Umbridge was standing outside the Room of Requirement. As were Draco and Pansy. And Crabbe, and Goyle, and Montague, and Warrington, and Daphne Greengrass and Millicent Bulstrode and every other member of the Inquisitional Squad. They were buzzing around the seventh floor corridor like wasps after their nest had just been kicked.

"We've been discovered," Harry said quietly.

Hermione leaned forward and looked over Harry's shoulder. When she saw the cluster of dots in the hallway, she, too, swore. In spite of himself, Harry grinned. Hermione didn't curse often, but when she did it was colorful and creative.

"I can't believe Cho betrayed us," Hermione said.

"I don't think she did," Harry said quietly. "Veritaserum, I'd bet."

Hermione made a low noise of affirmation. "Maybe, but we can figure that out later. What should we do now?"

"I was just about to ask the same thing," Harry said quietly as he deactivated the Map and tucked it inside his robes. Waiting out the Inquisitional Squad wasn't really an option—curfew was coming, Umbridge would certainly think to inspect Hogwarts' dormitories. Matching empty beds to names would take a few minutes, at most, and then she would have the D.A.'s entire roster in her hands.

Alternatively, the D.A. could try to fight their way out. Even if they managed to escape in the short-term, though, any D.A. member whose face was seen would be expelled. They could conceal their faces, either with illusions or by creating actual masks from their robes, but it was still a high-risk solution. Some people were bound to get caught, and anybody who got caught would be a source of information for Umbridge. Not much information, of course, but enough that Umbridge would be able to tie the D.A. to Harry.

"What's wrong?" Longbottom asked.

Harry turned and discovered that Longbottom, Ron and Ginny had wandered over. Before Harry could answer, Hermione spoke.

"We've been discovered. Umbridge and the Inquisitional Squad are outside," Hermione said.

"How do you know?" Longbottom asked suspiciously.

"We just do," Harry said.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione said quickly. "We're certain she's out there."

Longbottom put his hand on his chin. "Hmm. Can't wait it out… can't fight our way out…"

"Actually," Harry said, "maybe we can. If one person charged out and cast an obfuscation charm, started throwing jinxes about… in the chaos, the rest of us might be able to hide behind shield charms and make it out safely."

"And who's going to do that?" Longbottom asked. "You?"

"I was thinking that it sounded like a job for a Gryffindor," Harry said, giving Longbottom a pointed look.

"Sacrifice myself for you? Hardly," Longbottom said. "I'm still interested in how you know that Umbridge is outside. How would you know, unless you told her yourself? And now you're trying to get me to run out there and get caught…"

"Stop it," Hermione said firmly. "I can confirm that Umbridge is out there, and it isn't Harry's doing, either. We need to stop bickering think of a way out of this."

Longbottom held up his hands. "Okay, okay." Longbottom folded his arms and furrowed his brow. "If we can't wait and we can't fight, then we have to sneak out. But as soon as the door appears, it will give our location away."

"What we need is another way out," Ginny said.

Longbottom's head snapped up. "Of course! We don't just need it—we require it! All we need to do is ask the room!"

Harry hated to admit it, but Longbottom's idea had merit. The Room had produced a boggart in a cabinet, so why wouldn't it be able to produce a second exit?

"We should be specific about what we want," Hermione said. "'Another way out' might just open another door into the same hallway. We need somewhere out of sight, away from Umbridge. Somewhere that everyone can appear without seeming conspicuous."

"I know a room," Harry said. "When I was chosen as a Tri-Wizard Champion, we were taken to an office connected to the Great Hall. I've never seen anybody else use it, either before or since. And if a few dozen students are seen leaving the Great Hall, nobody will care."

"That works for me," Hermione said.

"Shouldn't we think it through more carefully?" Longbottom asked. "Maybe there's a better choice."

Harry rolled his eyes—Longbottom wasn't questioning Harry's suggestion because of any flaw, but rather because Harry was the one who had suggested it. "We don't have time, Longbottom. It's almost curfew."

Longbottom grimaced and nodded. "Fine." Longbottom turned his head up toward the ceiling and closed his eyes. "We need an exit that leads to the office attached to the Great Hall," Longbottom whispered. "We need an exit that leads to the office attached to the Great Hall. We need an exit that leads to the office attached to the Great Hall." Longbottom looked down and glanced around. Harry, Hermione and Ginny did the same, but nothing seemed to have changed.

"Did it work?" Ron asked.

"Maybe?" Harry said. "We didn't specify that the exit would be obvious."

Longbottom wiped a hand across his face. He looked upwards and repeated his mantra once again, this time adding the modifier "obvious" before "exit." Harry looked around, but still saw no change in the Room of Requirement.

"What now?" Ron asked.
"I guess we should look for the exit," Ginny said. "If it's obvious, we'll know it when we see it."

The group split up, each wandering toward a different corner of the Room of Requirement. Ron was lifting up a rug and Harry was inspecting the walls when Hermione, who had stepped behind a bookcase, called out. "Found it!"

The group converged on Hermione's voice. She was standing in front of a large, familiar looking wardrobe. Harry had never seen before, but it strongly resembled the cabinet in which the Weasley twins had stuffed Montague. The biggest difference was that the letters "EX" and "IT" were ornately carved into the left and right doors, respectively.

"Who's first?" Hermione asked.

"I'll go," Longbottom said. He stepped forward and opened the cabinet doors, then stopped short. "I… sort of expected a secret passage? Or a hallway?"

"Try getting inside," Hermione said. "The Room gave us an exit; we just need to figure out how to use it."

Longbottom stepped inside, but there was no change to the cabinet. He turned around and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't get it."

Harry was still thinking of Montague. The twins had shut Montague in the cabinet, and when they reopened the doors for Harry, Montague had been gone. When Harry closed the door on the empty cabinet and opened it for a third time, Montague had reappeared.

"Close the doors," Harry said. "Give it a few seconds, then open again."

Longbottom looked at Harry suspiciously.

"Just try it," Harry said with a sigh. "I've seen something like this before."

Longbottom, still giving Harry a look out of the corner of his eyes, grabbed the doors to the cabinet and slowly pulled them shut.

"Did anything happen?" Hermione asked. There was no answer.

"Neville?" Ginny called out. Again, there was no answer.

"Is he okay?" Ron asked. He stepped forward and reached for the door of the cabinet, but it burst open before he could grasp the handle.

"It worked!" Neville exclaimed. "When I opened the doors again, I was in another room! I closed the doors again, and now I'm back here!"

"Looks like we have our exit," Harry said. "Let's gather the D.A."

*!*!*!*

Harry was changing into his pajamas when Crabbe burst into the dormitory.

"YOU!" Crabbe exclaimed.

"That is, in fact, a word," Harry said sardonically, putting his arms through the sleeves of his shirt. "Also a letter of the alphabet. Your mother must be proud." Harry began buttoning his shirt, taking care to appear as calm as possible.

Crabbe narrowed his eyes. "Professor Umbridge says you have to come with me."

"I'm in my pajamas," Harry said as he buttoned his last button.

"She didn't say that pajamas were an excuse," Crabbe said angrily.

Harry sighed. "Let me grab my robes, at least." He opened his trunk and pulled out his school robes, slipping them over his pajamas. "Care to tell me what this is about?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Crabbe said. "Come on." Crabbe stepped close and grabbed the sleeve of Harry's robes, physically dragging Harry toward the door.

Harry stumbled a couple of steps, then regained his balance. "Get off!" Harry said, twisting and swinging his arm around. He managed to break Crabbe's hold on his robes, and as the larger boy rounded on him, Harry drew his wand.

"Dueling with a member of the Inquisitional Squad?" Crabbe said. "Not a good idea."

Harry gave Crabbe a predatory smile. "Look around you, Crabbe. There's nobody here to save you. There isn't anybody here to witness us dueling. If you want to duel, we'll duel. I'll wipe the floor with you, then I'll wipe your memory, and only your bruises will remind you that something happened." Harry paused. "Or, we can walk out that door and talk to Umbridge. Your choice."

Crabbe stared at Harry for several seconds, his expression growing darker with each passing moment. Finally, he turned away and began walking toward the door. "Let's go," he called out over his shoulder.

Harry tucked his wand away and followed.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked, as Crabbe led him toward the seventh floor corridor. "Umbridge's office is that way." A little feigned ignorance could go a long way, especially with somebody as thick as Crabbe.

"Don't you ever shut up?" Crabbe snapped.

Harry did not reply. A few steps later, Crabbe glanced back, nervously checking to make sure that Harry was still following.

Harry winked.

When the two boys arrived in the seventh floor corridor, Harry was slightly surprised to see Umbridge alone with Draco. After a moment's thought, Harry understood the reason: if Crabbe had been dispatched to search the dormitory for Harry, the other Inquisitional Squad members had been sent to search other likely locations.

Harry seized the initiative. "Professor Umbridge? Crabbe said you wanted to see me, but… what are we doing up here?"

Umbridge ignored him. "Where did you find Potter?" she asked Crabbe.

"In our dormitory."

"How did you get back there?" Umbridge asked Harry, clearly irritated that he had escaped her net.

"I took the main stairs from the third floor," Harry said. "It's how I always get to and from the library."

"You were not in the library, and we both know it!" Umbridge said.

"I'm not sure I understand you," Harry said. "I've been in the library ever since dinner."

"And if I ask Madam Pince?" Umbridge said.

"She was shelving books when I left, so she might not have seen me," Harry said. Unable to resist himself, he grinned.

Umbridge turned away with a huff. "Back to your dormitory, all of you."

"What was that about?" Harry asked Crabbe and Draco, once they were out of Umbridge's hearing.

"Shut up, Potter," the two said in unison.

Once again, Harry smiled.

*!*!*!*

Late that night, long after everybody else in the dormitory had fallen asleep, Harry crept out of his bed and into the common room. The D.A. had managed to escape capture, but there was one loose end waiting to be tied up: Cho Chang.

Harry gave a quick glance around the common room to ensure that he was alone, but it wasn't necessary; nobody else was awake at three in the morning. Harry drew his wand and cast a disillusionment charm on himself. It was something he had been practicing ever since Draco had expressed interest in seizing his invisibility cloak, and Harry had become fairly adept at the charm. His first attempts had looked like cracked glass, but those cracks had smoothed over as Harry practiced. Soon, Harry's charm appeared to be a ripple in the air, like the space above hot pavement on a summer day, and gradually even those ripples began to fade.

No disillusionment charm was perfect, though—except, perhaps, Dumbledore's. Harry had to make sure he moved slowly; the more quickly Harry moved, the more his charm rippled. If Harry's pace exceeded a quick walk, his charm would shatter and fail almost immediately. Harry's charm didn't hold up well under the light, either; even minor imperfections were glaringly visible in the daytime.

But tonight? When Harry could afford to creep slowly through the poorly-lit castle? The disillusionment charm would be more than sufficient to allow Harry to pass through the halls unseen. Slow and shadowed wins the race.

And a notice-me-not charm helps, as well.

Harry arrived at the hospital wing and crept inside without incident. No candles were lit in Madam Pomfrey's office, and the only person present in the hospital wing was Cho Chang, asleep in one of the beds to Harry's right.

Harry crept to Chang's side and took a long look at the pretty Ravenclaw. The curse he had placed on the D.A. parchment seemed to have done its job: there was no way that Chang could reveal the D.A.'s secrets without a mouth. As soon as the first words betraying the D.A. had passed her lips, they had begun to melt together, sealing her mouth closed with a blank expanse of skin. It was a disconcerting sight, and it must have been horrible to experience. Harry sympathized with Chang—there was no way she could have expected that to happen.

Harry had no doubt that Umbridge had used Veritaserum on Chang. However her question had been phrased, Cho had been compelled to tell Umbridge that the D.A. was meeting on the 7th floor, right at that moment. Before she could be pumped for more information—such as the method of entering the Room of Requirement—Harry's curse had sealed her lips and prevented further communication. With only that sliver of knowledge, Umbridge and the Inquisitional Squad had camped out in the seventh floor corridor, waiting for the D.A. to somehow appear.

Now it was Harry's time to repay Chang for her calm under pressure. Even though her mouth was sealed shut and even though Madam Pomfrey hadn't (yet) been able to unseal it, Chang hadn't used the quill and parchment setting next to her bed to implicate Harry. If she had, Harry would have been answering questions posed by a furious Snape, disappointed Dumbledore, and gleeful Umbridge… and he wasn't sure which of the three would be worst. The absence of aggressive questioning meant that Chang had kept her mouth shut—or, rather, her fingers still—and Harry owed her quite a lot.

Specifically, Harry owed her a functioning mouth.

Harry drew his wand and dispelled his notice-me-not and disillusionment charms before poking Chang in the ribs. "Chang, wake up!"

The dark-haired girl opened her eyes, somewhat groggy from sleep. When she saw Harry's face, her eyes opened wide.

"I'm going to undo the curse, okay? Be still, and be quiet."

Chang nodded her understanding, then held her body still. Harry began to mumble under his breath, the words to a counter-curse that he had memorized along with the curse itself. Harry traced the tip of his wand across Chang's face, leaving a white line of energy in its wake. The line expanded until it became a blob that covered Chang's face from nose to chin, then slowly began to recede. When the spell finally faded, Chang's mouth had been restored.

"Thank you," Chang whispered. "When Madam Pomfrey wasn't able to reverse the effects, I started to get worried."

"Of course I was going to come for you," Harry said.

"You're not angry?" Chang said, surprised. "I told Umbridge…"

"She gave you Veritaserum," Harry said. "Truth potion."

Cho gasped. "I knew something was wrong—I hadn't meant to tell her anything! But then my mouth started closing and things started happening so quickly…"

"The important thing is that you're okay," Harry said. "Will you tell the rest of the D.A. what happened? They need to know that they can't accept food or drink from Umbridge."

"I'll tell them at the next meeting," Chang said.

"I don't know when that will be," Harry replied. "Umbridge was waiting for us outside the Room of Requirement, and we barely made it out. I imagine that she'll be there a lot in the next few weeks."

A voice spoke from behind Harry. "You are quite right, Mr. Potter."

Harry spun on his heel. Standing in a dark corner of the room, a corner that Harry was sure had been empty when he entered, was Dolores Umbridge. A second later, the air around Umbridge rippled, and three other men appeared. The largest, standing behind Umbridge, Harry recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt. Harry assumed that the man standing next to Shacklebolt was an auror, as well. The third man, wearing a lime green bowler hat, Harry recognized immediately—Cornelius Fudge. What was the Minister of Magic doing in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing at three in the morning?

"I'm not sure I would have believed it, but I heard it myself," Fudge said to Umbridge. "Your suspicions were absolutely correct."

Umbridge smiled. "I'm happy to have been vindicated, Minister, but even happier to have discovered the source of the Hogwarts insurrection." Umbridge turned back to Harry. "You are hereby expelled, Mr. Potter. Return to your dormitory and pack your things. If you are found on the Hogwarts premises after seven o'clock this morning, Aurors Dawlish and Shacklebolt will take you into custody for trespassing."

Harry took a deep breath. He had known that this moment could happen at any time, and he had prepared himself. "I demand my expulsion hearing."

"I just conducted your hearing," Umbridge said. "Verdict: guilty. Punishment: expulsion."

"Oh, dear," Harry said. "That just won't do. An expulsion hearing must be attended by the Headmaster of Hogwarts, as well as the accused student's Head of House. That's clear from the Hogwarts Bylaws, Article VI, Section 42.031." Harry paused a moment. "It would be such a shame if I was forced to leave the school, only to triumphantly return a week later after exposing the… irregularity of your proceedings."

"Nobody would believe a liar," Umbridge said.

"But they would believe me," Cho Chang said, sitting up in bed. Harry could have kissed her, just then.

Umbridge pinched her lips together. "Very well. Ms. Chang, since you seem to have miraculously recovered, you will fetch the Headmaster and Professor Snape. Bring them here, immediately." Chang hopped out of bed and dashed out of the Hospital Wing, with Umbridge staring daggers at her all the way. "You realize that you are only delaying the inevitable," Umbridge said once Chang was gone.

"We'll see," Harry said with a smile, trying to convey more confidence than he felt. Umbridge was right—Harry was using a delaying tactic. In the time it took Chang to return with Snape and Dumbledore, hopefully Harry would think of something clever to extract himself from his current predicament. If not, then hopefully Dumbledore would be able to mitigate the damages. If not… well, if not, then Harry would be starting his summer vacation early, with Sirius.


A/N: Sorry I haven't been responding to reviews, guys. Got promoted at work. Which is awesome. But also, more work. I read every word of every review, and I love you all. Happy holidays!