Defence with Dolores

A/N This has been the busiest week yet! I'm sorry I'm late with the update. I had to do my art animation, three science assignments, a PE spreadsheet thing, two one hour maths tests, film for my drama project, write a story in German and record it and that's only getting started. And I had to sort out a thousand technical issues. Needless to say it was annoying. Especially with this heat. Your reviews were my fuel, so thanks guys.

I wrote a load of different versions of the Divination lesson (including your one, No One) but I kept on getting stuck, so in the end I gave up, kept the first half, and moved onto something that would flow off my fingertips more easily. DADA. Look forward to having that a chapter early.

Thank you to Alchemy Writer, A Random Boi, Madness Immortality and Magic, YAYSOLANGELO, bookworm4eva'n'eva, neek's awesome lil' sis, when-fangirling-is-life-UwU, and Ilovecats1. Also thanks to guest, guest and bookworm700. To No One, yeah, it does, but I can still understand your reviews. It's just a bit harder. Try reviewing on a different device maybe? To camphalfblood, you'll just have to wait. To matt, Snape was there when Nico told everyone.

Harry's POV (continued)

Hermione flicked through yet another book, eyes scanning the page with lightning speed. "There's isn't any mention here of anything that Nico could be. All these books talk about is the things the Greeks got right about the wizarding world, like phoenixes. It's no help. We don't even know what we're looking for!"

"Maybe we're just looking in the wrong books," sighed Harry.

"These are all the books on Greek myths I could find in the library- wizards don't invest much in muggle culture. Hecate is the goddess of magic," she frowned, "so maybe it's a code name for the wizarding world and they – whoever they are - are just using Greek myths for code names. And yet… we should still be able to find something that will help is."

"You know," Ron said slowly, "all the order are acting pretty shifty. I reckon they might know a bit about what's going on."

"We've already established that!" Hermione said, exasperated.

"Let me finish, Hermione! So… what if the answer doesn't lie in a library book? What if it lies in a teacher's office? None of the order but Dumbledore trust Nico, which puts him in the same position we have Snape. There's something Dumbledore isn't telling anyone. But still, they must know something! More than us, anyway."

"Ron that's actually genius!" Hermione cried out and hugged him tightly. Harry grinned.

Ron's ear went red. "Yeah," he said, looking awkward, but pleased with himself, "yeah, I guess it is."

Her face fell. "I'm still a little disappointed. The library has never failed us before."

"Well, it better not do so again," said Harry, sliding the books back onto the shelves, "because I need to research for my Potions homework, which I was meant to do this Lunch. And, now, that's the bell, and as much I would love to skip Divination, we have Trelawney to see, and Nico to find. Professor McGonagall said I was meant be his 'guide' or something. And he'll never find his way there alone."

Ten minutes later, Nico, Harry and Ron were seated in the back corner of a stuffy classroom trying desperately not the fall asleep as heavy fumes filled the air.

"What do you do in Divination?" Nico frowned, looking both drowsy and curious.

"Well, it's a very vague practise. I mean, most of it is just crystal balls and tea cups and nonsense," said Ron, "and it doesn't help that Trelawney's predicting Harry's premature death every five seconds. She's a right old fraud."

Nico nodded, as though this made more sense to him.

"But sometimes she does give a true prediction, complete with the eyes rolling back and the raspy voice and everything," added Harry. The words had slipped from his mouth before he could stop them.

"But there can only be one oracle."

"What's an oracle?"

"Something at my Camp." Nico didn't elaborate. They left it at that. For now, at least.

Nico's POV

By the gods, if one more person mentioned Will, then I was abandoning my quest and spending the rest of eternity miserably playing video games in the Lotus.

I wondered was Professor Trelawney was like (or was it Tree-lawn? All the professors had such strange names). Perhaps she was the descendent of some ancient oracle, although I had never heard of the gifts being passed down. Or maybe these were slightly different sorts of prophecies, the magic kind. That was certainly a possibility.

I didn't have long to wait, as a thin, spindly woman appeared draped in necklaces and shawls. She had enormous glasses, hugely magnifying her eyes and reminding me of a giant grasshopper.

"Good day," she said in a dreamy voice, "and welcome back to Divination." There was a silence. I could hear the synchronised ticking of multiple clocks, all faulty. Her eyes roved the room. "You!" she exclaimed, pointing to me suddenly.

I froze, as everyone turned to stare. Would she know I was a demigod? Could she sense what I was here for? Was she a member of the order and already knew?

"I predicted your arrival many moons ago," she gave dramatic pause, and her eyes quickly skimmed over the register, "Nico di Angelo. I saw a silver angel glowing through my inner eye. I sense you have a close association with this art, whether you know it or not."

I could not resist rolling my eyes, half form exasperation, half from relief. Ron was right. She was a fraud.

She gave a gasp. "but… I sense a darkness about you. You have a troubled past, my boy, and an even more troubling future."

She sensed 'a darkness'. I was the child of death! I mean, what else did she expect? "Right," I replied uncertainly, raising my eyebrows in disbelief.

"You would do well to heed my warnings, my boy. They may well save your life."

"I'll take that risk, thanks."

Trelawney seemed unperturbed and continued to dish out mysterious predictions. Harry and Ron seemed to be barely suppressing their laughter and mockery.

"Is it always like this?" I asked tiredly.

"Always," Harry replied, "Hermione got so fed up she just walked right of the classroom."

"Bam!" exclaimed Ron, "You should have seen her. She was awesome. It was like that time she punched Malfoy and-"

He caught us staring at him and quickly shut up, blushing a bright red. "It was pretty cool," he muttered awkwardly.

After Trelawney had finished, and foretold Harry's death several times, she had us tiredly flicking through dreams oracles, trying to decipher the meaning of our dreams. I already knew the meaning of mine. I didn't need some stupid book to tell me that. It was all very dull, and I wondered if I should have just disobeyed Hecate and my father and stayed at Camp Half-blood. Anything was better than this. But then I remembered my History of Magic lesson, and decided I was lucky to be here and not there right now. Wizards sure knew how to torture you. Binns, Snape and Trelawney all in one day. Were all the teachers like this?

The next lesson was Defence against the Dark Arts. I was most certainly not looking forward to this one. For one, it was with Umbridge, and she did not seem like the sort of person who would make her lessons interesting and engaging. Not only this, but the Dark Arts were my domain, and, whilst this made me an expert on them, it was rather insulting that they taught defence, but not the actual arts. Evil was within the person, not within their power.

"Well, good afternoon, everybody!" said Professor Umbridge a singsong voice, giving another sickly sweet smile. Yet again, I was forcibly reminded of the amount of demigods that had died falling for monsters in disguise.

I clamped my mouth shut, as everyone muttered a dull 'good morning'.

"Oh, no, no. That won't do. Let us try again, and this time you must respond: 'good morning, Professor Umbridge'."

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge," the class chorused monotonously. I mumbled the words, unwilling to get in trouble. My job was to stay in the shadows, something I usually did most of the time. But injustice and bullying was not an easy thing to condone. I knew what it felt like to be shunned.

"There now," she trilled, "that's better. Wands away, please, children."

There was a chorus of groans. I guessed wand work was favoured. I'd never actually brought out my wand. I was a demigod, not a wizard.

I found myself zoning out for the fourth time today. Professor Umbridge made us copy the course aims down from the blackboard, and then we got out our copies of Defensive Magic Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard and began to read. And read. And read.

Reading things was not my strength, even with a potion. Truth be told, I had never actually learned properly. I had learned a bit of English in Italy here and there, but my days at Westover Hall had been spent more trying to unlearn everything I was taught there. Bianca had said they were all mind-poisoning monsters. Although, I assumed she hadn't meant it so literally. Still, she wasn't wrong.

So when there was finally a distraction, I immediately gave up the process of struggling through the first page and wondering whether there was ever a duller undercover mission than this.

Hermione was waiting patiently with her hand in the air, staring fixedly at Umbridge, who was determinedly attempting to ignore her. Eventually, though, the professor had to acknowledge her, as the rest of the class had now given up on their efforts to toil their way through the book were now staring at Hermione in anticipation.

"Did you want to ask something about the chapter?" asked Umbridge kindly, as though she had just noticed Hermione.

"Not about the chapter, no."

"Well, we're reading just now, as you can see. Any other query will have to wait till the end of the lesson, I'm afraid."

"I've got a query about your course aims." Hermione said bluntly. I had to admit, I was impressed. I'd never expected this from someone who was so obsessed with following the rules. I could now see the Hermione that Ron had been talking about.

"And your name is-"

"Hermione Granger."

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," Umbridge simpered.

"Yes, they are."

"Well, then, what is the problem?"

"They're wrong."

"Sorry?"

"There's nothing there about using defensive spells."

There was a short silence in which many members of the class turned their heads to frown at the three course aims still written on the blackboard.

"Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh filled with false sweetness. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron exclaimed loudly.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr-?"

"Weasley," said Ron, thrusting his hand into the air.

Umbridge gave a smirk and turned to sit. At that moment, Harry and Hermione put their hands into the air again. Umbridge turned back, and her eyes rested on Harry for the briefest of seconds. I saw a glimmer of malice in her eyes, and elbowed Harry to put his hand down. I knew her kind all too well, and with Harry temper I could only imagine what would happen if provoked.

"What?" he hissed to me sharply.

"Do you want to get in trouble?" I muttered back.

"You had no problem with Snape."

"Well, he wasn't really dangerous. She is, and if you don't listen you're going to get yourself into a heck of a lot of trouble."

"She can't be worse than Snape." I knew very well she could be, although it seemed Harry wouldn't listen. I wasn't pretending that I never blew up. I did, probably more often than Harry, but it was my job to take care of him. Unfortunately. Bodyguard or babysitter, take your pick. Each of them are just as bad. And now that Harry was my 'guide' too, I was left with very little time to destroy the horcruxes.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Umbridge leered at Hermione sweetly. As contradicting as those two words are, there was no other way to describe the dreadful expression her face contorted into.

"Surely the whole point of this subject is to practise defensive spells?"

"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" asked Professor Umbridge in her annoying high-pitched voice.

"No, but-"

"Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way-"

"What use is that?" said Harry loudly. "If we're going to be attacked it won't be in a-"

"Hand, Mr. Potter!"

I did not like where this was going. I could feel my temper rising, not only at Umbridge but at the class too. A few other people were now putting up hands, and there was an outbreak of mutterings. Were they trying to get expelled?

Several minutes later near to everyone in the class had their hands up, and books were discarded. A few students were just slouching on their chairs with a look of contentment on their face, enjoying the scene.

"Your name is?"

"Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the countercurses and things?"

"As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," said Professor Umbridge dismissively.

"Without ever practicing them before?" said Parvati incredulously. "Are you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during our exam?"

"As long as you have studied the theory hard enough-"

"And what good's theory going to be in the real world?" interrupted Harry. Professor Umbridge looked at him with a satisfied expression. "This is school, Mr. Potter, not the real world," she said softly.

"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting out there?"

"There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter."

"Oh yeah?" said Harry.

"Shut up," I muttered.

"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" I knew what she was trying to do, although I didn't quite know why.

"Shut up," I repeated, a little louder, fists balled.

"Hmm, let's think . . ." said Harry in a mock thoughtful voice, "maybe Lord Voldemort?"

"Oh, for the love of Olympus, shut up!" I yelled. There was finally silence for a brief second. The lights flickered as I attempted to control my temper. I realised I could quite frightening, especially after I hadn't said anything for the whole lesson. Everyone stared at me incredulously, half fearful, and my stomach gave a jolt as memories flowed back into my head.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter."

Harry looked as though he was going to burst from the injustice of it.

"You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead-"

"He wasn't dead," said Harry angrily, "but yeah, he's returned!"

"As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie."

"It is not a lie!" said Harry. "I saw him, I fought him!"

"I think it's time we leave this lesson," I said, in a voice of barely suppressed anger, gripping the table so tightly my knuckles were white and I was making four dents in the wood.

"And you are?" asked Professor Umbridge inquiringly.

"Nico di Angelo," I said coldly.

"Well, Mr. di Angelo, I must remind you that you are a student and do not have the authority to dismiss one of my pupils."

I exhaled slowly, and relaxing my grip on the table a fraction. "Sorry, professor," I said flatly. I stared deep into her eyes, letting her know very clearly what I thought of her, but keeping my face an expressionless mask. "Harry, you should apologise." I continued to stare at her unblinkingly.

"What? Never!" Harry burst out.

"What do you want?" I turned away from Umbridge to face him. "What will this achieve?"

"You want me to admit I was lying, and in doing so actually lie! What will that achieve, but permission for the world to walk all over me?"

"I want you," I cried, "to stop getting into trouble all of the damn time! To just stay safe!"

"But I'm telling the truth!"

"And I know that, and I couldn't care in the slightest! Nobody else believes you! You think I don't know what it feels like?" Shadows swirled around my feet, and I attempted to kick them off. Of course, I should know better than most people that you cannot kick shadows. "You think I've never felt the same way. Frustrated at myself, at everything?"

"Nobody understands!" Harry yelled, and kicked a table leg in his fury. "Nobody!"

"Mr. Potter, and Mr. di Angelo, I would like you to take this to Professor McGonagall." Umbridge finished writing her note with a flourish, and gave the slip to Harry with an awful smile. He snatched it from her furiously. She had a look of complete satisfaction on her face, and, I realised, with a start, that we had both played right into her hands.

A/N You want to know what the original chapters look like for the ones I rewrite? This is basically that. It's what I do with all of the most important, exciting scenes, which is why I always need to do them again. But I kept this one, because it's… different to the usual Umbridge-Nico encounters. I don't know what happened, but I just couldn't imagine Nico saying anything to Umbridge unless he was incredibly provoked, and Harry's her target. And it would be boring if nothing happened. Basically, I'm making excuses for why this chapter is kinda bad. It's... still the longest one yet!

Anyway, next chapter is going to be most Nico-centric, I think. With Will (who Will appear soon) and horcruxes and stuff. Follow, fave, review and I'll see you next time!

- Merlyn