Harry continued on with very mixed feelings. His lessons with Snape didn't seem to be getting better, in fact every aspect of his life in school kept getting worse like a very steep cliff he wasn't going to be able to stay balanced on much longer.
"To take lessons from a Centaur?" Lily puzzled for a moment. "Yeah, I would be, a bit."
"He's still going to be teaching the same nonsense as Trelawney," Remus insisted, "he'll just be part horse while doing it."
"There's some novelty just for saying that to other students though," Sirius chuckled.
James looked a bit concerned the girl was going to accidentally blow her face off, but he'd never tell that to her face, she had to learn consequences.
"I thought it was a rule, all girls like horses," Sirius grinned.
Lily rolled her eyes at his idiocy, while Harry had a pleasant little smile for some idea he couldn't quite place, but he had a feeling he had a fondness for horses he wasn't yet sure of.
"Can't argue with that one though," Sirius shrugged, he'd never liked the plants that made noises in particular.
Lily grinned for her child. As daft as he could be, he was never uncaring.
"We'd all say," Lily shook her head in disgust, still adamant she wouldn't have stood idly by during that. She didn't care what Umbridge could do to her, she'd never just stand by and watch
such public humiliation take place even against someone she didn't like.
"I feel like that should be impossible," James groaned.
"And yet I believe her," Remus said grimly.
"Am not arguing that point," Lily sighed.
"Dumbledore said he'd want to be on the ground floor, and now I get why," Sirius said, looking confused at Ron's lapse.
"Maybe Ron wasn't there, he'd left already," Remus reminded, the whole school hadn't been crowded around after all, it was the tail end of dinner he recalled, and Hermione might have convinced him to get to some school work early, for once.
"I've never more than poked my head into these," Lily said curiously, wondering if Firenze was going to do anything more than the usual set up.
"I think that counts," she said aloud in surprise.
"Wow," Sirius exaggerated the word out of curiosity for what that face meant. "Let's see what we can do to have Firenze get the job before Trelawney just for this."
"Sounds like a sight," James said, feeling a buzz pulse through him for wanting to see this for himself.
Harry felt like the first day of school again, he'd never liked being singled out, especially a teacher, and especially by such an...outstanding teacher. Even if they had already met.
"Really? Maybe these things should come with cliff notes if that was implied somewhere I didn't see," Remus muttered, causing Sirius to snort loudly while the others ignored him.
"Oh dear," Lily sighed.
"Oh Centaur," James corrected. "I can imagine the rest of his heard isn't too happy with this."
Lily gave him the stank eye for the correction without disagreeing.
"While I don't blame them," Harry sighed, "don't they ever get tired of staring at me?"
"Stop doing things to cause them to stare at you, like get saved by a centaur," Sirius said in a vain attempt at helpfulness.
James smirked with pride and asked, "Everyone else was sitting on the floor, who was the one who decided they got the tree stump?"
"Some Ravenclaw student who always sat on the floor rather than the poofs in Trelawney's class," Harry shrugged. "I think her name was Felicity or something, Trelawney always seemed to like
her anyways. I think it's because she used to be a Ravenclaw herself."*
The boys chuckled lightly at the display, though Lily suspected it was just because they would have done the same.
"Oh," Lily's face folded in concern and confusion.
"Well I imagine the other centaurs weren't pleased with this," Remus agreed uneasily, "but I wouldn't have thought they'd flat kick him out for doing this for Dumbledore."
"I can picture it," Sirius said grimly. "This is strike number two that we know about in Firenze helping out humans, normally we're tolerated at best. You remember Bane's reaction," he spoke
more to Harry now, seeing the pity on his face for someone who'd once saved his life. "This is an even worse offense than Firenze giving you a ride, if you can believe."
Harry just nodded he understood even as he continued to feel worse for Firenze constantly being on the outs of his kind for his help.
"Guess they just realized they don't have a last name for him," James tried to change the subject.
"Do Centaurs have last names?" Harry asked, wondering if this was just something they were missing, though as Dumbledore hadn't introduced him with one it seemed more likely not.
"Not that I've ever heard," Remus said with hints of fascination creeping in. "I'm not even sure how they name each other, very little is known about their culture as they're so private about it."
Sirius took the opportune subject that didn't come up much to ask a question that popped into his head, "Do baby centaur's breast feed, or do the females have-"
"And I'm going to stop you right there on the grounds of reminding, I don't know," Remus said the last three words particularly clear. "Nor will I ever ask one. Harry please keep going," he turned to all but beg before Sirius could come up with more.
"Wouldn't have guessed that from their last class," James rolled his eyes as he remembered the thestrals.
They didn't even know Firenze and they all felt genuine sorrow for the poor guy. There could have been more reasons going on than just him taking the job, but the point was what was with
this year and everyone being so isolated?
Sirius snorted just a bit in surprise. She'd laughed at Hermione for not liking horses much, but didn't know they were called herds?
"Does she know nothing of the Forbidden Forest?" James spluttered at that question.
"I didn't know there were any in there until you told me," Lily frowned at him. "Most people actually listen to the rule of not going in there, so wouldn't know what was in there."
James still looked too stunned to have even heard her.
All five of them winced hard, Remus even shifting a bit like he'd put a Shield Charm up in a second for the poor kid. That would get you killed with any other Centaur except this one, and
even then, they weren't sure what kind of temper Firenze could have.
"Brave of her," Lily murmured, "I don't think I'd have kept questioning him after that."
"There are more centaurs than just those two," James told Harry.
"Though I'd believe it of any in there, even that calmer one," Sirius shrugged, not remembering the name of the last centaur that night, but his point still stood.
That gave them all a smile again, Lily humming with appreciation for the visual.
"I'll bet she loved that," Sirius snorted.
"Wonder who's going to win their favor, the pretty horse, or their first favorite teacher," Remus rolled his eyes.
"Considering he's not pandering to what they were first taught, my money would be on Trelawney," James shrugged.
"I rather like him though," Lily's grin kept twitching with warmth. "If this is how his Divination classes had always gone, at least he's keeping things at a broader level like I always thought it to be, not scaring the kids."
"Is she really going to argue for the old teacher to the new one?" Sirius ruffled his brow, though he couldn't help admire her determination just a bit even not liking Trelawney.
Harry hadn't much thought of it, thinking of how a few students had done the same for some of their favorite previous Defense teachers.
"They seem to think rather highly of themselves though," James chuckled.
"We already knew that," Remus rolled his eyes.
"You probably realized it from experience," Lily muttered.
Sirius couldn't help snickering. They at least knew Trelawney as a real Seer, but those kids didn't and were reacting anyways just out of respect for a teacher, he couldn't help indulging them even if he wouldn't have done the same.
"Isn't Mars the Roman god of war?" James reminded. "So apparently it's okay to predict a war is coming for the whole world, but not as a warning for when to handle hot things?"
"You lot just love having a go at everyone, don't you?" Lily rolled her eyes even already knowing the answer. She never would have guessed they'd be poking fun at Firenze's class with anything to do with what Trelawney had told Parvati and Lavender, but she could also tell they were only doing it for their own amusement, this hadn't turned them into believers of this branch of magic any more than McGonagall even with their knowledge of a war to come.
"I do love a teacher that tells you what you're doing is pointless," Sirius snickered louder than ever.
"A valuable lesson in itself," Remus nodded solemnly.
"Wonder what his finals are going to be like," Sirius muttered for himself, he still wanted to be sick at the thought of Trelawney's first.
"I'm more worried you're going to find details of that in history rather than the stars," James sighed.
"Odd way to start, doesn't he see Hagrid himself enough now," Lily frowned.
Harry's face puckered with concern, he had a feeling about Firenze's message, and it wasn't strictly a good thing.
The others were clearly in his exact line of thinking, wondering what on Earth Hagrid could be up to that would have him being warned off by a Centaur.
"So he's not even planning on leaving the castle for a bit," James wasn't very distracted from whatever Hagrid was doing by this scrap of information no matter how depressing it was.
"That poor guy, I can't imagine how shut up he'd feel, oh wait, yes I can," Sirius grumbled.
Remus gave him a sideways glare, wishing he'd stop referring to himself like it was really happening to him, but then he supposed, Sirius was a bit shut up in here without his say so, so he let the comment slide.
"Thank you," they all muttered, honestly hoping for an answer for once. Hagrid had been nothing but a mystery all year, and the longer it dragged out, the more uneasy they got.
"That's, fair," James conceded even if he did sigh with disappointment.
"Hagrid's doing something really off his rocker in the Forest though," Remus surmised from that.
"You think it's what's causing his injuries, he's trying to domesticate something new?" Sirius guessed.
"If he found something on the way back from the giants and been working on it since then," Lily grudgingly agreed.
"Please be anything other than a dragon," Sirius muttered.
Harry's headache was returning with a flurry now. They were very close, he could feel that, but despite that they still weren't close enough he could safely understand without hurting himself
further, so in their lull without any further guesses he tried to keep going.
"That's really getting depressing," James grumbled for Lily alone. He didn't want his son to hear how much this was bringing them all down, but really, his son's life needed far more fun in it than they were being offered.
"It worries me he didn't bother to deny for a second he's doing something," Lily groaned.
"Guess by this point he knew not to bother with Harry," James grudgingly pointed out.
"You know very well what I'm up to," Sirius told Harry with mock confusion. "Can't get up to very many things in those walls."
Harry offered him a smile for the joke as always, even if his eyes did tighten with concern for the reminder.
Harry felt a very uneasy tingling course through him for that, fear that Hagrid wouldn't actually be Umbridge's next victim of this school, but he also couldn't imagine any other teachers on
probation so tried to let it go.
"What on Earth is Hagrid training?" Remus demanded with genuine concern now. He valued magical creatures lives as well, he could certainly imagine defending very many, but something of how Hagrid put that really made him believe this wasn't just any beast.
"I'll be sure to let you know if I find out," Sirius snarked, but all of them were watching with more concern than ever for what Hagrid could be doing. The worst bit was, if Hagrid really believed that, then they couldn't even fault him anymore for whatever he was doing and would feel the need to back him up on it now on principle.
Lily crooned for the poor thing, the ones who had taken these tests in full understanding of how stressful they were.
"That's putting it mildly," Harry muttered.
"Probably put all that on herself," Remus scoffed in disgust.
"And yet I can't wait for Harry to inform her otherwise," James smirked.
That put a spark of enthusiasm into all of them at once. Patronuses were a very special kind of protection to them, especially after what Harry went through, and they were enthralled to see even more.
"Oh," Lily crooned, "I always expected mine to be a bird, maybe even that one."
"But you don't like to fly?" James pointed out with just a slight pout, he loved that his wife's was his own.
"But I love birds, I always wanted my own, and swans mate for life. I knew whoever I'd fall in love with I'd lover forever."
James looked nullified and stopped arguing the point, while Lily continued to eye Harry with curiosity. If Cho had decided Harry was the one for her, that could mean he truly had found the
love of his life as well.
"I don't see why they can't be both," Sirius smirked.
"Don't worry Padfoot, we think you're plenty pretty," Remus snarked while Sirius frowned at him. At least he acknowledged what his Patronus was, Remus would hardly bare to say it aloud.
"I think scary is what she needs right now," Remus said with sympathy. "Something to help her better grasp what she's going to do, just trying without motivation won't get you very far."
"Apparently the motivation to see the pretty animal isn't good enough for everyone," James smirked at Sirius, who stuck his tongue out.
Lily sighed for the poor dear. This really was advanced magic even without the dementor around, it was no reflection on him if this was still a touch above his ability.
"How many times had you reminded him of that?" Sirius snorted, that was the first thing anyone said when telling how to do a Patronus. "Haven't you learned your own lesson? Being told the
same advice helps nothing."
"I was trying to do it the same way Remus taught me," Harry defended. "I told them to try different happy memories, something really powerful to them."
"Hey," Remus said in protest, and some concern, "how come Dean wasn't hexed for telling Seamus?"
"Dean asked me if he could come along now that we were speaking to each other," Harry shrugged. "I didn't ask for details, but Hermione agreed and said it wouldn't affect her charm, I suppose she may have temporarily lifted it for Dean so he could tell Seamus."
Harry looked bemused for a moment at Seamus' words, and was not at all expecting his godfather at his side to grin in a now familiar way as he declared, "its good Seamus has come back when he did, now he can realize all the hairy situations Harry gets up to."
James got to his feet just so he could smack Sirius upside the head for that one, while Lily looked horrified. "How long have you been sitting on that one! Merlin, James you couldn't have warned me earlier that's why Sirius was so happy when we told him our baby's name!"
"It's not like that was the first thing I thought of," James defended as he kept looking in exasperation at his best friend.
"HIs name pun wasn't my first thought," Sirius emphasized, before smirking over at Harry who was still snickering away. "It was the second. The first was how much I'm going to love this kid."
James wanted to keep scowling at him, trying to pass along his infernal joke like that, but it was impossible to hold any anger after that. Lily muttered her husband was a traitor even while she was smiling in agreement.
Remus happily decided to change the subject before Sirius could come up with the idea that all of these Patronuses were hairy thanks to Harry, and instead said loudly, "Was it a river otter, or a sea otter?"
"Err," Harry said in surprise, he hadn't realized there were two different kinds, never having looked up much about animals.
"Was it small and fuzzy, or bigger and rather menacing," Sirius elaborated.
"Small and fuzzy," Harry recalled.
"Sea otter then," Remus decided.
"Can you imagine her animagus," Lily grinned fondly, "she'd be absolutely adorable."
"You've never called us adorable," James accused.
"As if you need the validation," Lily rolled her eyes.
"Oh no, Hermione's going to find out about that," Sirius drawled.
"I'm wondering why he's there," Remus said curiously. "He's never interrupted a DA meeting before."
Lily felt a shot of horror at the look on Harry's face that promised it may not be for a good reason, but they'd been enjoying their little chat for so long she asked, "How many others had managed one?"
"Quite a few," Harry shook himself, more than happily staying on track. "Ah, Luna's was a rabbit, the twins was a raven and a coyote, though I'm not sure who was who, err, Ginny's was a horse, Ron's was really coming along, it really had a shape there for a moment but it hadn't distinguished itself quite yet when Dobby came in."
"That's brilliant," Remus congratulated Harry, he truly was an excellent teacher to be helping them out with this, though he agreed with Harry it was all for show unless they could do it around the creature, this was still quite good of all of them.
"Oh dear," Lily managed to get out, face going blank with shock for a moment before the fear slammed in. This was supposed to be Harry's comfort place, his one reason for continuing school,
what bad news was worth Dobby interrupting this. Watching Harry now was not encouraging an answer, but thankfully she wasn't the one reading, Harry as always forcing himself to go on with a
set look in place no matter how much his voice shook for it.
Sirius shivered slightly. Normally allowing your Patronus to fade meant the fight was over, but this still managed to feel ominous for whatever Dobby was fixing to say.
"Spit it out," James got out through gritted teeth, but his flashing eyes made it clear they all had a guess what had happened, and it wasn't McGonagall finding out.
"I'm going to kill someone," Sirius growled.
"How!" Remus demanded. "Did any of the house-elves even know about this besides Dobby, because we know it wasn't him."
"Maybe it was Winky," James said with a scowl. "The little ones probably still so out of it she'd blab anything, and I wouldn't put it past Umbridge to somehow put the pieces together to follow a link between her, Dobby, and Harry and realize something was up."
"How would she have known that?" Harry managed to get out instead of screaming in frustration. "We'd been really careful, Umbridge shouldn't have had a clue to go looking for this at all." He
was getting a terrible feeling, his mind flipping through all members of the DA, he just knew he should have realized someone was missing but he couldn't place a name in his panic.
Sirius could feel almost a laugh somewhere in there, for the chaos that could be erupted from this group suddenly stampeding through corridors in their effort to avoid that frog reject, but it was lost as his heart thudded into his ribs picturing what would happen if they got caught.
"Don't you even," Remus told him breathlessly, all eyes locked on Harry to watch him get out of this, but Sirius had no self-restraint as he blurted, "I'm sure you could have used my help right then, sorry I couldn't have offered it."
Harry broke off for a moment to chuckle weakly for his godfather, but it did nothing to relieve the tense set of his mouth, the anger he was having to run from the one thing he'd been using to fight back.
"Err, Harry," Lily couldn't help but remind softly, "I don't think you can be giving him orders."
"I don't know," James suddenly put in with an interested look on his face. "I've never known a free elf before, but maybe without being tied to anyone's family, anyone can give them an Order
and they'd have to follow through with it. The ones at Hogwarts are compelled to follow any staff members orders, their 'family' is the school after all, maybe this is an even more loose interpretation of-"
He cut himself off as he realized Harry was practically vibrating in place from failed adrenaline, and James realized there was a time and place for this speculation, and now wasn't it.
Lily shifted uneasily in her seat, beyond pleased Harry had taken the time to do that for Dobby, but all the more worried what his delay would cost him. She couldn't help the visions flashing
across her eyes of what worse than detention Umbridge could get away with doing to Harry when she found out about this.
Sirius opened his mouth with a look in place promising it wasn't helpful advice, but Harry hadn't taken notice in time for him to begin as he kept reading feverishly.
"That about described everything about him," James muttered hatefully, the lot of them growing more tense by the second.
"What's he even doing there?" Sirius howled in frustration. "That scum sucker has nothing to do with-"
Harry normally had not a problem with them ranting about Malfoy, but his throat was threatening to close shut with fear if he didn't keep using it, so he kept going loudly for an explanation instead.
Remus was grinding his teeth in deep frustration more every second, wishing those DA kids could turn all those spells they'd learned onto some useful target practice right about now.
"I can take her face off so you never have to see any expression again," Sirius tried to offer in an attempt at a polite voice.
"That doesn't mean a thing!" Lily hissed in outrage. "Harry could have just been running down the hall for any reason, she has no right to-" she cut herself off and ran her nails against her scalp, snagging a few strands of hair but forcing herself not to keep going.
"Kill Umbridge more like," James honestly believed. No matter how bad the overbearing mother got, he had to believe she'd stand up for her kids before siding with that fake blood stain.
"Poor girl will have heart failure," Remus said with absolute belief.
Lily watched her son read through all of that with such mixed feelings, but a surprisingly warm glow. Even in the face of his own expulsion, where he'd likely end up back at the Dursleys for
perhaps an hour before Sirius showed up and murdered them all, he was still far more concerned about everyone else. Her son really was the most genuine person she'd ever met.
"Why's he there?" Sirius snarled in outrage.
"Umbridge may have sent something along when she found out this information, wanted him to be there so he could gloat," Remus pointed out with disgust.
"Another Auror, I'm guessing," James ruffled up his brows. "Probably Kingsley's partner."
"I want Harry to pause for just a moment so I can laugh at this one," Sirius snickered, though was as pleased as anyone Fudge clearly suspected nothing of Kingsley at least for him to be there.
Harry muttered something quite foul under his breath that made Lily frown slightly at him no matter how much he deserved it. This was twice now Percy had been in on Fudge's side of the
room and as obnoxious as ever. She wished she'd shared her idea now, that maybe Percy was still trying to help in his own way...but she had no more evidence than a mother's wish the boy hadn't really turned completely on his family.
"Not all of them should be me at once," Sirius only contemplated for the barest second before continuing on the same breath, "at least two of them could be Prongs. Sorry Moony, I've never
met anyone who wanted to act like you though."
Remus was torn between smacking him and telling him to shut up that time, but Harry was ignoring them both.
"A truly terrifying face," James agreed without an ounce of mocking, "I'm surprised Fudge isn't jumping out the window.
"I've noticed that frequently about you," Lily praised. "Though I do wish you'd stop finding reasons for me to realize that."
For a moment Harry was worried his mother had changed her mind, and in the face of expulsion, she regretted all he'd been doing with the DA, but she was as calm as ever, her face set in calm,
promising retribution to anyone who dared do a single thing against her son for what he was doing.
"I can only imagine what Harry would have done in that circle," Sirius said nastily, knowing his godson would not have devolved into tears, but probably started a full on war in the middle of the Entrance Hall.
"To show some competence in the farce of your employee?" Remus put politely.
"I'd go for deniability," Lily said grimly, "he was caught in the middle of a hallway doing nothing, what can they prove."
"Since Dobby showed up, I think they did have something of use," James disagreed, "so at this point, it's going out with a bang."
Harry felt like he was freezing over in confusion. He was angry, still high on adrenaline, and still Dumbledore wouldn't look him in the eye even while giving him a piece of advice? What had he
done so wrong to push Dumbledore into such a confusing state?
"Not sure I'd buy that one, do you think he'd let you do a redo?" Sirius asked, his eyes narrowed critically for what Dumbledore was doing and so hardly paying attention to what he was saying
any more than usual.
"I believe he just answered that, did he forget to turn his ears on as well as his brain?" Lily grumbled.
"Those aren't Decrees, their farces of Umbridge's intelligence," Remus stated.
"Don't talk to others, don't have magazines, I get to pick the teachers I work with," Sirius ticked off on his fingers, generalizing a few but putting together, "she's basically trying to force others to be as miserable as she is."
"I can tell Umbridge that I think she's a revolutionary teacher, doesn't mean it's true," Lily insisted, still hoping Harry could lie his way out of this one.
"Credit for trying?" James offered.
"Oh yes, please do," Sirius managed to get out through a deep throated growl, "I've been wanting to practice cursing multiple people at once, the more the merrier."
"You wouldn't know, you tried to dismiss Harry's," Remus sniffed.
"She what?" Lily shrieked in outrage.
"Glory, would not have called that," Sirius said in disgust. "I just thought she'd stop showing up, not push her friend under a bus."
"This is-" James worked his face furiously to stop himself raging and screaming. He couldn't help comparing this to his own friend abandoning him in the worst way possible in this dismal future,
now his son was going to be suffering the consequences yet again.
Harry sat there, stewing for a moment with an odd look in place. He was furious at what Marietta had done, but he could already feel some grim satisfaction as well, she got her dues for betraying their group, so he kept going loudly over their angry protests.
"So her whole line has been pissing me off this year," James hissed, still wanting to spit in someone's face for causing him heart failure after Sirius' last pop up in the school.
They would have laughed even harder than the first time if the threat of Harry being expelled wasn't the result of this misfortune. It didn't at all erase the tight smiles though, Hermione had done better than they'd ever imagined with her spell work.
"How long do you think that curse lasts?" Sirius said wistfully.
"Not long enough," James snapped, his eyes narrowed hatefully for this.
"The better question is, where's Hermione so she can teach me how to do this," Remus smirked.
"Oh sure, bravery is now snitching on your friends," Lily muttered under her breath. She couldn't imagine why Marietta had gone and done this so much later after it had started, but the injustice of it was infuriating.
"Oh we never doubted that for a moment," Sirius said with relish, all of them agreeing she'd more than outdone herself this time. The girl had an unfounded talent in the trouble making part of her life she didn't indulge in nearly enough for their liking.
"Why does that name ring a bell?" Lily muttered.
"Not sure, but he clearly wasn't bandaged enough, as he was still breathing," James snarled, always in disbelief how his sons luck had managed to put that meeting in the same time as an informant of Umbridge's also being there.
"That was it," Sirius blinked in surprise, before narrowing with a sneer. "Wish I was more surprised he got away with his problems by ratting out the system." He'd never used that phrase in such a way since he'd learned of someone's animagus, but never before would he have had the need to put such a slant on someone he never would have thought would use it like that. He still
regretted the jab when James flinched horribly at the reminder and Remus stiffened in his seat.
"It wasn't illegal at the time," Lily couldn't help but correct with a raised brow, even while she felt like a fool for calling something so simple illegal in any regards. Merlin it was a farce on their future that was a thing.
James smiled grimly for his wife, wishing now more than ever she could have been there to counter all this.
"Well he could have been," Remus huffed. "He was a criminal trying to get out of charges and so reported some toff to get him out of trouble."
"I don't think they're going to play whose word against who's in this instance," James shook his head, "when one works too well in their need."
"Hardy har," Sirius rolled his eyes in disgust.
Harry wouldn't have been surprised to see lightning shooting out of his dad as he howled, "would he stop bringing that up! It's not their fault they have to figure out everything for you because you're too much of a blithering idiot to see past your own reflection!"
Lily had to spend several moments soothing their fussing infant who was crying just as loudly as his father, trying to fight back tears of anger at Harry's life constantly being played off as a joke like this.
While just as angry and not at all aware of the nerve thumping in his jaw line, Remus had caught on a much more interesting part of that. "What on earth did he mean reversal of time, Dumbledore
told him about that bit? Why?! The only part that was relevant to was Sirius' escape, and I highly doubt Dumbledore sat around explaining that."
This was odd enough it at least put them off trying to pull another vanishing stunt and going after Fudge next, so Harry took the opportunity to keep going the moment he realized no one had a
good answer for why this information had been shared with Fudge, though instantly regretted it.
Sirius snarled in frustration, his hands making a wringing motion even as a flare of pity wanted to take a pinch at him. He pictured Percy too much like Regulus, though ironically in reverse. At this point he wasn't even sure if Percy would realize in time his mistake and come groveling back, with a few well deserved hexes from a few of his brothers.
"I don't understand why you didn't," Lily said flatly.
Dumbledore merely explained that Umbridge had declared the meeting in the Hog's Head illegal, when the Decree for organizations was not so until two days later.
"Ha!" Sirius let out a sharp bark of laughter that they all felt covered that quite nicely.
"I wish," Remus said with a pleasant smile.
"Wonder who she had to pay off to figure out that grain of intelligence," James snarked.
Lily ruffled her brow as she tried to understand where Dumbledore could be going with that one. Marietta was proof further things had happened, otherwise she wouldn't have been jinxed.
Remus opened his mouth in confusion, wondering if perhaps Fawkes was in the back doing something random, but didn't press on the idea.
"Hasn't exactly been deactivated now, has it," Sirius rolled his eyes.
Harry stopped short, his mind spinning back to the sensation he'd just felt, but he couldn't imagine how the two pieces yet fit together as his mum demanded, "did she have a change of heart?"
"Bit late for that," James scoffed, "after the punishments written cross her face."
Harry decided he was overthinking things, and actually felt a bubble of hope inside him once more, hoping this was the last time he'd be threatened with expulsion at least for this year.
"Maybe she's speaking Bulgarian," Remus offered helpfully as if offering McGonagall and Umbridge another solution.
Sirius snorted and started snickering, but his eyes were still trained menacingly on the book.
"She what?" Lily shrieked, nearly falling into hysterics. "Does this lime tart have no bounds, she just grabbed a child!" The transgression against Harry still weighed heavily on her, she was afraid even if all the students who weren't expelled would still be getting detentions just for Umbridge suspecting them.
Harry didn't even like Marietta and he'd felt the need to jump forward and help her, and not caring what consequences came from that he flitted forward in a rush.
James took a slow, deep breath in thanks for Dumbledore stepping in. Even acting as odd as the man was, he was about to accuse him of being Imperiused this was getting so odd of late, at least
he still always stepped in when it counted.
"You see that Harry?" Sirius wagged his finger in his godsons face with a triumphant, yet still stern look. "Now imagine if you'd gone and told Dumbledore about her punishments. I'll bet he'd have her out of that castle before you could finish packing her bags."
For just a moment, Harry believed him, and honestly regretted not having said something. What if it would have given Dumbledore more a chance to get rid of her sooner?
"It's good to know how others act when they're stressed," Remus said acidly, "though I suppose this means she was always out of her mind."
"We already knew that Moony," James reminded, his face still flushed from anger as he again glanced at the back of Harry's hand.
"What on earth?" Lily squeaked, nobody was that docile.
"Wait a minute," Harry frowned, flipping back a page and again staring at the odd sensation he'd overpassed, and he felt a suspicion rise in him at the same time he looked up and saw something try to click together for the others. It was such a wild idea though, no one dared say it...
"But Harry closed the door when he left," James yelped in outrage, he specifically remembered that. "There's no way she could have known the exact same phrase to reopen the same room!"
"What if the room was asked for evidence of this though," Remus said uneasily. "It could have pulled up the same room they were then using."
It shouldn't have been possible, but somehow they were managing to grow more angry by the minute Umbridge had now found out this secret place and how to use it on top of everything else
Harry was facing. Selfishly, Sirius almost thought it would be a relief for Harry to be expelled by this point, spend out the rest of his year with him until that toad was gone by whatever happened at the end of the year. He'd be behind when he came back next year, but anything would feel more peaceful than this mess of a place their old school was turning into.
James face palmed and said something he wouldn't normally have. He'd understood the purpose of the list for Hermione's jinx, and suddenly wondered if that had been destroyed if it would have
negated the effects then, otherwise he couldn't imagine why that had been kept around.
"I," Lily faltered for a moment as she tried to come up with an excuse for this things existence, before finally snapping, "okay, so they're not allowed in groups of three, but you never specified their names weren't, there's nothing illegal about this still, she still hasn't gotten proof, especially if Marietta is retracting."
Remus sighed, thinking only with this batch of dung bomb rejects masquerading as Ministry people could a sentence as spectacularly stupid as Lily's exist.
"And that's still funny," Sirius smirked.
"Err," James began in confusion, ruffling his brow at what Dumbledore was cooking up.
Remus bounced his knee uneasily, he didn't like what Dumbledore had tried to imply with that...
"Oh bollocks," Sirius suddenly paled in shock.
Sirius laughed darkly. He'd imagined a few times now tossing people into fires, and now Fudge was doing the action for him. It would have been much more satisfactory if his mind wasn't
spinning full tilt in worry of where this seemed to be heading.
Remus said something in gibberish, shock was preventing true words.
"This is Dumbledore's plan?" Lily looked genuinely worried for her old headmaster's mental health. "How? Why? This doesn't fix the original problem of what Harry was doing, they were
still 'caught' in the group, Dumbledore's only sentencing himself to an even larger problem and then Harry'll get kicked out of school!"
"Maybe not though," James corrected with a calculating look in place. "Ever wondered why Sirius told so many rabbit jokes when someone asked about the nicknames, or why we set up so many elaborate pranks sometimes but others we just cursed people. All depended on the time of the month, and a red herring."
Lily nodded in understanding, but it didn't do much to lessen her worry, she wasn't as sure Fudge would be so easily distracted as from his vendetta against the both of them.
"I'm sure that's a first response," Remus said absently, feeling several steps behind from shock at what the Minister was actually fixing to do here...
"Dumbledore sure thinks highly of himself," Sirius muttered, his eyes still a little too wide from surprise at this turn of events, he couldn't even quite wrap his head around this happening yet.
"I'm fairly confident he never said that," James stated, looking queasy at such a fast turn, funnily enough coming from a Quidditch player. He couldn't help it, he'd have much more easily dodged a Bludger than grasped the idea of where Dumbledore was headed, he hadn't even a second to breath in relief Harry wasn't expelled but now...
"Snag?" Lily squeaked, her eyes distant and very happy it was Harry reading, she knew her mind wouldn't have been able to keep up with all of this.
Sirius snorted so violently his nose nearly fell off. He couldn't help it, this situation was so ridiculous of course he had to laugh, because otherwise he'd be admitting that Dumbledore was
having a chat with the Minister about being arrested!
Remus felt a wild laugh crack his expression as well. The image Harry was describing was mind boggling, and yet he fully believed in what Dumbledore said was true...but the fact that he was
saying it!
"I hate having the same expression as him," Harry managed to say, though it helped nothing as he could still feel it stuck in place. After Dumbledore had been ignoring him all year, now he was doing this...
"I don't think Merlin would have an answer for you," Lily told. For the man who'd gone toe to toe with Voldemort, the idea of anyone else having a go at him did indeed seem...foolish.
"I find it more like Dumbledore against having to fake it against Kingsley," Sirius finally recovered himself enough to mock again, though he still couldn't quite reach his haughty bravado again.
"Be fair, I'm sure Dawlish is good at what he does against anyone else," Remus rebuked.
James burst out with such exuberant laughter it made Lily jump and the baby screech with just as loud as the noise. He couldn't help it though, the confidence was well earned for the man...but
even they had never speculated such an instance as this occurring! Dumbledore was, well not being arrested, but someone actually thought they could do so!
All five of them reclined in their seats. Suddenly this wasn't funny anymore, but much more a smack in the face saying they should be fearing for their lives.
"Oh dear," Lily managed to utter one more time with pure worry of what Dumbledore was going to do to them before Harry told breathlessly.
"That was much less dramatic than I thought Dumbledore would go for," James rubbed at his jaw.
"You weren't there," Harry shook his head as if still getting the flashes of light out of his eyes, while one hand creeped up to his neck in remembrance. "It was plenty fantastic from where I
stood."
"What even happened?" Lily cocked her head to the side. "A dark figure fell to the ground, I'm guessing that was Kingsley, a shriek and a thud, someone else got knocked out, somebody cried
no, but then..." she trailed off as she tried to picture it.
"I think he may have put a spell on someone to stumble around, they fell into whatever it was that broke and so they had to scuffle a bit, but then they groaned and fell as well," Harry tried to explain through the clouded dust of memories.
"That's only three though," James disagreed.
"Someone might have gone out with the first shot of light," Harry offered.
"I just, I still can't believe," Remus wasn't coming out of his shock any time soon it seemed. "Dumbledore, he-"
"It's okay Moony," Sirius gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. The problem though was that he had no more to say on it, he couldn't have imagined how this had gone so far, let alone to reverse it enough Dumbledore would come back.
Lily hummed with approval for that, she could understand that even when McGonagall had been told to stay out of the fight, there was no way the woman would remain on the sidelines.
"I'm sure he'll forgive you," James managed to say with a genuine smile, like this was all part of some normal conversation.
"Oh, my, goodness," Remus mouthed the words.
Sirius was still patting his shoulder as he watched Harry go on with some deep emotion he still couldn't name. It wasn't quite smugness at this happening to Dumbledore as well as him, but also
some genuine worry for this future. As if it hadn't been hellish before, now it seemed a literal nightmare.
"Well, I was wanting some company," Sirius muttered. If there was one person he would have called least likely to be a wanted criminal in this future aside from himself, it was Dumbledore.
"I can imagine," James nodded vigorously.
"That is not something to apologize for," Lily said at once, snapping to anything she could have something intelligible to say. "If he could encourage you to go after that stupid Stone, I'm positive he's been helping you out with this as well in ways we can't even guess."
"That's his final word of advice!" Remus did finally come back, now as ruffled at the man himself as the situation. "If he ever did address it I would have hoped he'd offer an alternative! Surely he can't be so stubborn not to realize this isn't working."
"Clearly not," Harry sighed, wishing more every day this would just quit being mentioned. He still had no feelings he would ever succeed at this, and it only ever led to darker parts of his mind for what that could mean.
Harry released a shuddering breath, he could still feel the echo of it now, trying to build up inside of him and emerge from a long gone part of him that he had no want to revisit. If it wasn't for those around him, if he'd truly gone through with it and tried to run when he'd been thinking, he could never have kept going on his own for fear it may come back. Now though, after forcing his eyes to remain focused on those around him, as afraid as him, but not an ounce of fear of him, he found it in himself to keep going.
"It sure doesn't feel like it," Sirius commiserated with that look on Harry's face. He was frustrated just hearing about it all, he couldn't imagine how Harry could remain sane having to live through it.
"Wow," James blinked in surprise. "I didn't know he could take people with him when he does that."
Remus simply nodded, clearly not back to himself enough to elaborate on the ability, too much was going on now for Dumbledore and Harry.
"That is actually a very good question," Lily shook her head, she had a hard time imagining him anywhere besides his oak desk.
"You fear wrong," Remus said in no uncertain terms.
"I knew they couldn't be all bad," Sirius managed to get one last smirk in while he was thinking of it, "those were probably the ones pretending to be me."
"Thank you for that unhelpful input Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes for his friend, if anything could keep his attention it was him.
Harry inhaled again slowly, taking a moment just to savor those words. He wasn't expelled, Dumbledore's plan had worked, but at what cost?
"Ha!" Sirius released a sharp bark of laughter that seemed to echo in the still stunned stupid room. "Would you look at that, I actually agree with him for once."
"Miracles happen all the time apparently," Remus shook his head as Harry passed him the book. 'Not all of them good,' he finished in his head, still gazing awestruck at Dumbledore's departure.
HPHPHPHP
I never get tired of that quote, one of the best things the movie kept in, even given to Kingsley instead.
* I know it's never referenced in book, but since Care of Creatures is held with another House, I picture all the other electives did as well, and I always picture Ravenclaws in the background of all Trelawney's lessons.
**I actually wonder if JK put that in there by accident or something, the diary would have been a better mocking reference.
***So everyone always agrees Umbridge is the worst character ever conceived, but I'm curious what you guys consider her worst ever moment, or at least when you knew you irredeemably hated her? Harry, as the main character, I was disgusted at what she did to him, but on her evil level I at least understood it, as well as everyone else who crossed her. However, she attacked Marietta after the girl had helped her. This clearly is the kind of person Umbridge really is.
