Bree smiled as Rita's photographer took a picture of her hand. The public would roast Umbridge alive and there wasn't a damn thing the toad could do about it. Nearby Harry was being fussed over by Madam Pomfrey while Auror Tonks and Auror Shaklebolt asked him a few questions.

Almost as soon as Bree had showed Madam Pomfrey her hand the nurse had summoned Professor McGonagall who, upon hearing that Harry was still in detention with the awful pink toad woman had stormed down to Umbridge's office, chewed her out, and then dragged Harry to the hospital wing to get treated by Madam Pomfrey.

Madam Pomfrey hadn't been able to completely heal Bree's hand because of the nature of the blood quill, but she had been able to make the cuts a little shallower, but she said that they'd have to heal the rest of the way on their own.


The next day Bree was wearing the Smith Academy uniform, with one minor change, she had added the Gryffindor tie to the outfit.

When the post came, Aries dropped off a thick manila envelope in Bree's lap before landing next to Bree. Bree fed him some bacon and adjusted the blue and green polka dotted scarf that was around the owl's neck before opening the envelope and reading the contents. While Bree was doing this, Aries had turned his head around nearly a hundred degrees in order to stare at Lee Jordan who was now hurriedly eating his breakfast so that he could get out of there as soon as possible.

The envelope had been sent by Uncle Vince and contained all the information he had on Umbridge. Apparently Umbridge was the Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic. Bree had meant to read further, but just then an owl carrying the daily prophet flew down and landed in front of her. Bree paid the owl and took the paper from the owl. The headline read "MINISTRY OFFICIAL TORTURES STUDENTS" with a picture of Bree's hand under it. The article was highly critical of the ministry and of Umbridge and mentioned the dementors that had attacked Bree, Harry, and Cedric (See page 2 for more details.) On page 2 there was a picture of Roman with a dementors arm in his jaws (he had kept it as a chew toy.) Both articles had quotes from ministry officials who either provided a weak defense of the ministry's actions or denied that said actions ever occurred.

The public was outraged and soon there were hundreds of howlers to Umbridge. Soon most of the students had left the Great Hall because of the noise of so many howlers yelling at once.


Even though Rita hadn't mentioned the names of the students that had been forced to use blood quills, but everyone in Hogwarts knew since Bree and Harry had been the only ones to serve detention with Umbridge. Defense against the dark arts classes were suspended


On Friday Bree didn't bother going to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts because shehad received a letter from Alice that morning and was writing a response before she started on a letter to Percy and she didn't want anyone to see either letter.

Alice's letter had informed Bree the Umbridge was big news in America's magical communites and all the news outlets were criticizing her and the archaic way of the British Ministry of Magic. Alice had also told Bree that she had been having problems with the words "BAD WOLF" echoing in her head and wanted to know if Bree had been having the same problem. Bree told her that she had been having similar problems and assured her that it was just a time/space echo and the there was nothing to worry about.

Bree's letter to Percy had nothing to do with the Third Option as one might expect. Instead she told him about recent events at the school, how his family was doing, and asked what his Christmas plans were. This was to keep his spirits up. Bree did this both out a genuine concern for Percy and because a depressed spy isn't a good spy.

The letters sent and homework for the week completed, Bree finally had time alone to go through the envelope that Uncle Vince had sent.

Apparently Umbridge was known for anti-werewolf legislation and having campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged. Umbridge was prejudiced against "half-breeds" which meant any creature that had humanlike features. Bree also found out why Umbridge's classes sucked so much: Fudge didn't want Harry trained in combat. Apparently Fudge was afraid that that Dumbledore was raising an army to take over the Ministry.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team burst into the common room almost as soon as Bree was done reading. Ron had made keeper and now it was time to party.

After about an hour Hermione started dozing in an armchair by the fire, her drink tipping precariously in her hand.

"Let her sleep," George said hastily when Bree started walking towards Hermione. Several of the first-years gathered around them bore unmistakable signs of recent nosebleeds.

"Did you drug Hermione so that you could test the nougat on the first years?" Bree asked.

"Maybe." George answered.

A little while later Bree found Harry sitting at a table drinking a butter-beer. Nearby Fred, George, and Lee were juggling empty bottles. Bree came up behind him. She leaned down so that she was right next to his ear.

"HARRY! Guess what I have!" she exclaimed. Harry jumped slightly and fumbled with his butter-beer, spilling some of it in his lap. He turned to Bree and, after finding her grinning face mere inches from his, fell out of his chair. George, Fred, and Lee stopped juggling to watch.

Bree waved the envelope with information about Umbridge. "Guess what I have!" Bree exclaimed again, grinning madly.

"How much sugar have you had?" Hermione asked, having woken up when Harry fell out of his chair.

"A lot. Now guess what I have." Bree said as Ron helped Harry off the floor. Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose, trying in vain to stave off a headache.

"What do you have, Bree?" she asked.

"I have dirt on Umbridge!" Bree declared.

"What!" most of the room exclaimed.

"Let me see that." Fred demanded, snatching the envelope from Bree. He sat on a couch and started going through the papers.

"She wants mer-people rounded up and tagged?" he asked incredulously after a few minutes.

"That's insane." Harry stated.

"It gets better." Bree said, still grinning.

A few more minutes of reading went by. "THE MINISTRY THINKS THAT DUMBLEDORE IS RAISING AN ARMY!" Fred shouted.

"WHAT!" most of the room exclaimed.

"Yep." Bree said.

"Where did you get this from, these documents all look official." Hermione said as she examined the papers.

"I know a guy." Bree stated.

"But-" Hermione began to protest but was cut off.

"Look, isn't the fact that the Ministry has gone insane and is now sabotaging the education of every Hogwarts student more important than where I got the information?" Bree asked.

"She's right. So what are we going to about it?" George said.

No one had an answer.


The weather had been bad since the first day of school, if it wasn't raining than it was threatening to rain and the grass was always wet meaning that Bree couldn't practice bush magic until the weekend when she finally thought to put down a blanket. Bree found a secluded spot on the grounds to put down a blanket, lie down, and meditate. She began relaxing a reaching out with magic like she usually did, feeling her surroundings. The grass, some of the plants in the greenhouses, a few earth worms, and then she found something else, something strange, something that reached out to Bree's magic, grabbed it, and pulled.

Bree soon realized that what she had found was Hogwarts itself. The wards the founders had constructed made the castle somewhat sentient; able to make its own decisions and warn the professors in case of an emergency, but it had gone dormant because in order to remain active it had to be contacted so that it could bond with the professor's and the headmaster, but no one had done this in a very long time, at least not until Bree did and Hogwarts woke up and got very excited.

The castle didn't really care that Bree wasn't a teacher or an authority in the school since it hadn't been contacted in such a very long time. It was so happy that it showed Bree everything, the entire lay out of the school and every secret passage, some of which weren't even on the Marauder's Map. It showed her every nook and cranny, everything that needed to be repaired, the locations of everyone in the castle and on the grounds, the status of all the security wards and monitoring wards and everything in between. Bree's head was hurting, it felt like instead of just showing her things Hogwarts was actively trying to shove things into her mind, but it wasn't getting past the barrier around her mind and it was so painful that Bree screamed and her magic lashed out, breaking the windows of the greenhouses. Hogwarts backed off as Bree blacked out.

Bree woke up sometime later, disoriented and confused. She sat up and put a hand to her head.

"Oww." She groaned. "Note to self, no bush magic near Hogwarts."


Bree stumbled into the common room.

"There you are, where have you been all day? You told us you were going to come watch Quidditch practice." George said.

Bree blinked, confused.

"Yeah. How was that?" she asked.

"Terrible." Fred answered.

"Oh. Well… See you tomorrow." Bree said.

"Where are you going?" George asked.

"Bed." Bree replied as she stumbled off to the girls' dorms.


Bree felt horrible on Monday morning. Hogwarts had kept her up most of the night. Bree wasn't meditating anymore, so the castle couldn't show her anything anymore, but that didn't change the fact the school was now awake and wanted to "talk" with the only person capable of hearing it. As she stumbled down to breakfast, Bree could feel the magic of Hogwarts clinging to her like a small child that had jumped on her back and was insisting on a horsey ride.

Bree was falling asleep at the table and George was watching her in case it looked like she was going to face plant into her plate of eggs.

Bree was suddenly wide awake when Hermione let out a huge gasp and flattened the newspaper she was looking at to reveal a large photograph of Dolores Umbridge, smiling widely and blinking slowly at them from beneath the headline.

MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM

DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED

FIRST EVER HIGH INQUISITOR

"Umbridge – Inquisitor?" said Harry darkly, his half-eaten piece of toast slipping from his fingers. "What does that mean?" Hermione read aloud: "In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"'The Minister has been growing uneasy about goings-on at Hogwarts for some time,' said junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley. 'He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve.'

"This is not the first time in recent weeks that the Minister, Cornelius Fudge, has used new laws to effect improvements at the wizarding school. As recently as August 30th, Educational Decree Number Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current Headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person.

'That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts,' said Weasley last night. 'Dumboldore couldn't find anyone so the Minister put in Umbridge. She's been totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts.'

"It is this last function that the Ministry has now formalized with the passing of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, which creates the new position of Hogwarts High Inquisitor.

"'This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the falling standards at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, after being cleared of any wrongdoing after mishandling a detention, and she has accepted.'

(For more information on Umbridge's misdeeds see page twenty-four)

'I feel much easier in my mind now that I know Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation,' said Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking from his Wiltshire mansion last night.

'Many of us with our children's best interests at heart have been concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions in the last few years and are glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation.'

"The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students at Hogwarts.

"Rumors abound, of course, that Albus Dumbledore, once Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, is no longer up to the task of managing the prestigious school of Hogwarts "'I think the appointment of the Inquisitor is a first step towards ensuring that Hogwarts has a headmaster in whom we can all repose our confidence,' said a Ministry insider last night. Wizengamot elders Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden have resigned in protest at the introduction of the post of Inquisitor to Hogwarts.

"'Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office,' said Madam Marchbanks. 'This is a further disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore.'

"(For a full account of Madam Marchbanks's alleged links to subversive goblin groups, turn to page seventeen.)"

Hermione finished reading and looked across the table at the other two.

"So now we know how we ended up with Umbridge! Fudge passed this Decree and forced her on us! And now he's given her the power to inspect the other teachers!" Hermione was breathing fast and her eyes were very bright. "I can't believe this. It's outrageous!"

"You said it." Bree muttered, looking at her bandaged hand.

But a grin was unfurling on Ron's face.

"Why are you so happy?" Fred asked.

"Oh, I can't wait to see McGonagall inspected," said Ron happily. "Umbridge won't know what's hit her."

"Well, come on," said Hermione, jumping up, "we'd better get going, if she's inspecting Binns's class we don't want to be late…"

But Professor Umbridge was not inspecting their History of Magic lesson, which was just as dull as the previous Monday, nor was she in Snape's dungeon when they arrived for double Potions, where Bree's moonstone essay was handed back to her with a large 'A' scrawled in an upper corner.

"I have awarded you the grades you would have received if you presented this work in your OWL," said Snape with a smirk, as he swept among them, passing back their homework. "This should give you a realistic idea of what to expect in the examination."

Snape reached the front of the class and turned on his heel to face them.

"The general standard of this homework was abysmal. Most of you would have failed had this been your examination. I expect to see a great deal more effort for this week's essay on the various varieties of venom antidotes, or I shall have to start handing out detentions to those dunces who get a D."

He smirked as Malfoy sniggered and said in a carrying whisper, "Some people got a D? Ha!"


"Well, that wasn't as bad as last week, was it?" said Hermione, as they climbed the steps out of the dungeon and made their way across the Entrance Hall towards lunch. "And the homework didn't go too badly, either, did it?"

When neither Ron nor Harry answered, she pressed on, "I mean, all right, I didn't expect the top grade, not if he's marking to OWL standard, but a pass is quite encouraging at this stage, wouldn't you say?"

Harry made a non-committal noise in his throat.

"Of course, a lot can happen between now and the exam, we've got plenty of time to improve, but the grades we're getting now are a sort of baseline, aren't they? Something we can build on…"

They sat down together at the Gryffindor table.

"Obviously, I'd have been thrilled if I'd got an O -"

"Hermione," said Ron sharply "if you want to know what grades we got, ask."

"I don't - I didn't mean - well, if you want to tell me -"

"I got a P," said Ron, ladling soup into his bowl. "Happy?"

"Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of," said Fred, who had just arrived at the table with George and Lee Jordan and was sitting down on Harry's right. "Nothing wrong with a good healthy P."

"But," said Hermione, "doesn't P stand for…"

"Poor, yeah," said Lee Jordan. "Still, better than D, isn't it? 'Dreadful'?"

Harry faked a small coughing fit over his roll. When he emerged from this he was sorry to find that Hermione was still in full flow about OWL grades.

"So top grade's O for 'Outstanding'," she was saying, 'and then there's A-"

"No, E," George corrected her, "E for 'Exceeds Expectations'. And I've always thought Fred and should've got E in everything, because we exceeded expectations just by turning up for the exams."

They all laughed except Hermione, who ploughed on, "So, after E it's A for 'Acceptable', and that's the last pass grade, isn't it?"

"Yep," said Fred, dunking an entire roll in his soup, transferring it to his mouth and swallowing it whole.

"Then you get P for 'Poor'-" Ron raised both his arms in mock celebration - "and D for 'Dreadful'."

"And then T," George reminded him.

"T?" asked Hermione, looking appalled. "Even lower than a D? What on earth does that stand for?"

"Troll", said George promptly.

Harry laughed again, though he was not sure whether or not George was joking.

"You lot had an inspected lesson yet?" Fred asked them.

"No, what about you?" Bree responded.

"Just now, before lunch," said George. "Charms."

"What was it like?" Harry and Hermione asked together.

Fred shrugged.

"Not that bad. Umbridge just lurked in the corner making notes on a clipboard. You know what Flitwick's like, he treated her like a guest, didn't seem to bother him at all. She didn't say much. Asked Alicia a couple of questions about what the classes are normally like, Alicia told her they were really good, that was it."

"I can't see old Flitwick getting marked down," said George, "he usually gets everyone through their exams all right."

"Who've you got this afternoon?" Fred asked Harry.

"Trelawney -"

"A T if ever I saw one."

"- and Umbridge herself."

"Well, be a good boy and keep your temper with Umbridge today" said George. "Angelina'll do her nut if you miss any more Quidditch practices."

But Harry did not have to wait for Defense Against the Dark Arts to meet Professor Umbridge.

He was pulling out his dream diary in a seat at the very back of the shadowy Divination room when Ron elbowed him in the ribs and, looking round, he saw Professor Umbridge emerging through the trapdoor in the floor. The class, which had been talking cheerily fell silent at once.

The abrupt fall in the noise level made Professor Trelawney, who had been wafting about handing out copies of The Dream Oracle, look round.

"Good afternoon, Professor Trelawney," said Professor Umbridge with her wide smile. "You received my note, I trust? Giving the time and date of your inspection?"

Professor Trelawney nodded curtly and, looking very disgruntled, turned her back on Professor Umbridge and continued to give out books. Still smiling, Professor Umbridge grasped the back of the nearest armchair and pulled it to the front of the class so that it was a few inches behind Professor Trelawneys seat. She then sat down, took her clipboard from her flowery bag and looked up expectantly, waiting for the class to begin.

Professor Trelawney pulled her shawls tight about her with slightly trembling hands and surveyed the class through her hugely magnifying lenses.

"We shall be continuing our study of prophetic dreams today," she said in a brave attempt at her usual mystic tones, though her voice shook slightly. "Divide into pairs, please, and interpret each other's latest night-time visions with the aid of the Oracle."

She made as though to sweep back to her seat, saw Professor Umbridge sitting right beside it, and immediately veered left towards Parvati and Lavender, who were already deep in discussion about Parvati's most recent dream.

Harry opened his copy of The Dream Oracle, watching Umbridge covertly. She was already making notes on her clipboard. After a few minutes she got to her feet and began to pace the room in Trelawney's wake, listening to her conversations with students and posing questions here and there.

"Now," said Umbridge, looking up at Trelawney, "you've been in this post how long, exactly?"

Professor Trelawney scowled at her, arms crossed and shoulders hunched as though wishing to protect herself as much as possible from the indignity of the inspection. After a slight pause in which she seemed to decide that the question was not so offensive that she could reasonably ignore it, she said in a deeply resentful tone, "Nearly sixteen years."

"Yes," said Professor Trelawney, holding her head a little higher.

Another note on the clipboard. "But I think - correct me if I am mistaken - that you are the first in your family since Cassandra to be possessed of Second Sight?"

"These things often skip - er - three generations," said Professor Trelawney.

Professor Umbridge's toad like smile widened.

"Of course," she said sweetly, making yet another note. "Well, if you could just predict something for me, then?" And she looked up enquiringly, still smiling.

Professor Trelawney stiffened as though unable to believe her ears. "I don't understand you," she said, clutching convulsively at the shawl around her scrawny neck.

"I'd like you to make a prediction for me," said Professor Umbridge very clearly.

"That's not how it works." Bree stated irritably.

"Excuse me?" Umbridge said.

"That's not how divination works." Bree repeated.

"Oh? And how would you know that?" Umbridge asked with false sweetness.

"Miss Smith is one of my top students. I believe that she processes the inner eye." Trelawney explained.

"I see… Well then Miss Smith why don't you make a prediction for me?" Umbridge asked.

Bree sighed, flipped through the pages of her dream journal before closing it and facing Umbridge.

"You are caught in a trap that you can't see. You'll be played with until the cat decides to move in for the kill. But don't worry, you will succeed in life, but only because the higher you rise, the farther you'll fall." Bree said while grinning maliciously.

Umbridge wrote something down and then hurried away from Bree.

The next class was defense. Bree skipped it and went to the library.

"It's not in "Rare Magical Creatures" or "Magical Creatures in Muggle Media." Where is it?" Bree was muttering as she searched the library shelves. Suddenly a book fell off of a shelf behind her and opened to the subject Bree was looking for. Hogwarts nudged a Bree.

"Made famous by Lewis Carol's "Alice in Wonderland" the Cheshire Cat is…" she read. "This is it! This is what I've been looking for!"

Hogwart beamed happily.

"Thanks... castle." Bree said before taking the book to a table and reading.

"The Cheshire Cat is widely thought to be fictional, but in fact there are several recorded encounters with the mysterious creature. The Cheshire Cat is capable of human speech but usually speaks in riddles. It is also has mysterious powers can turn invisible and teleports from one place to another. They wear an almost permanent grin on their faces. Some have also demonstrated the ability to separate their body parts and move them around in odd positions to see the reaction of their audience. At the end of and encounter the Cheshire Cat has been known to gradually fade from sight, leaving only their disembodied grin, before eventually that fades away as well.

Cheshire Cat as an Animagus Form

There is only wizard alleged to be a Cheshire Cat animagus. He is reported to have originally had a normal stripped cat as an animagus form, but after being hit by a dark wizard's curse he went mad and is animagus form changed to that of a Cheshire Cat. Is it unknown if he was able to access all of the Cheshire Cat's abilities as he is reported to have disappeared into the woods weeks after having been cursed and was never seen again."

Bree closed the book and headed to dinner. In the Great Hall Angelina was yelling at Harry. Bree sat down near Hermione.

"You weren't in defense." She accused.

"No, no I was not." Bree stated as she began to eat.

"Well where were you?" Hermione asked.

"Reading." Bree stated.

"You're just going to make Umbridge mad." Hermione said.

"I know what I'm doing Hermione." Bree said.

"You do whatever you feel like doing, without a thinking about the consequences." Hermione accused.

"I think about them Hermione. I just don't care. Make no mistake, I have a plan that's already in motion. The pawns are in place and I'm already playing the game, just you watch, I'm going to win." Bree explained, grinning madly the whole time.


Review please!