All characters and events that you recognise from the Harry Potter books belong to jk Rowling. Any others belong to me.

Enjoy :)

Harry sat in his empty dormitory on his bed at 9:30 with the mirror in his sore right hand.

He had drawn the curtains around it and used a muffling charm in case someone entered.

After his shower, he had sat on his bed reading a defense book which Remus had got him for Christmas the previous year. He had seen Ron briefly who had agreed to help Hermione keep Dean, Seamus and Neville away from the dormitory for a while.

Ron and Hermione were concerned about Harry. They knew that all the pointing and muttering was bothering him more than he cared to admit, and understandably so. Ron had told her about Seamus, and she had confided with him that the girls in her own dormitory acted a similar way.

"Harry?"

He looked down at the mirror and smiled at his parent's faces.

"Hey."

"How is everything?" James asked, not even bothering to keep the concern out of his voice.

Harry hesitated.

"What's going on?" Lily pushed, her green eyes showing limitless emotion.

Harry sighed. "It's been... strange. Everyone's acting like I'm some sort of a lying freak. In fact, the only person that I've spoken to who believes me is Neville."

"Longbottom?"

Harry nodded.

"Honestly Harry," James ruffled his own hair, "I think that's to be expected. When Voldemort does eventually reveal himself, and he will, they will all grovel for your forgiveness. It has to get worse before it can get better. Hang in there for now."

The young boy nodded.

"How were your lessons today?"

"Well. It was probably the most boring day I have had in a long time. Actually, it wasn't all boring. But it was tedious. I've had History of Magic-" (James grimaced) "double potions with Snape and the Slytherins. Snape, by the way, still hates me. Divination and then double defense and.." his voice trailed off.

"Snape? What do you mean he still hates you?" Lily asked.

"As in he absolutely loathes me and to be honest, the feeling is mutual."

"I'm sure that's not true-" she began

"Oh no, it is. He's hated me from the moment he laid eyes on me and I have no idea why."

James raised an eyebrow, knowing full well why. "Is Binns still teaching?"

"Yup."

"What about the new defense teacher? Who are they? What are they like?"

Harry's eyes subconsciously drifted to his raw hand. "Her name is Dolores Umbridge. She was at my hearing. I think she's senior under something to the minister."

"Senior undersecretary?"

"That's it."

"What's she like?"

"Interrupted Dumbledore's speech yesterday. Honestly didn't know that Professor McGonagall's lips could disappear like that. It was disconcerting actually... what she said."

Lily and James looked at each other and then back to Harry. "Why? What did she say?"

He sighed, wracking his brains. "I can't remember the exact words..." he pressed his eyes shut. "Something about preserving magical gifts and nurturing them appropriately. Then there was 'progress for progress' sake must be discouraged'. Er- and then there was something about not everything needing to be changed and that a careful balance must be ensured, no matter the costs." Lily and James looked at each other wide eyed. "She then turned and stared at me and said something about moving into a new era of complete and utter honesty."

"That's quite..."

"Worrying." Lily completed. "How was your lesson with her?"

Harry suddenly looked very awkward and avoided their eyes.

"Harry." Lily said firmly.

The young boy sighed again. "We got into a bit of an argument."

Lily raised her eyebrows disapprovingly and James bit the inside of his lip.

"What happened?"

He sighed for the 17th time that day. "Hermione pointed out that there was nothing in the course aims about using magic."

"Well that's fitting with our knowledge. The latest intel is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."

"Combat? What the hell does he think we're doing? Getting ready to overthrow the ministry?"

"Yes. That's exactly what he thinks. He's becoming very paranoid."

"Go on, Harry. What happened in the lesson?"

"Well the class got into a bit of a debate with her about using magic and then she said something horrible about our last teachers and there was uproar. She silenced us all and said that there was nothing out there to protect ourselves from. I broke through the charm and said that she was naïve to think that the world is all sunshine and rainbows and then she asked well who would want to attack children? And I said Voldemort."

Lily buried her face in her hands. "Harry... you can't..."

"I know I know. McGonagall has already had this conversation with me. Well then she said that I was lying so I..."

"Yes?" Lily pushed.

"I said that how do you explain Cedrics death and she said that it was an accident and so I said that it wasn't and that it was murder and she was just too scared to admit it." Harry suddenly became very interested by his left hand which was resting on his lap.

James sighed. "What did she do?"

"Detention." Harry shrugged. "Had it this evening. It was only lines." Well, Harry thought, I'm not technically lying... it was just lines.

"What did she make you write?" Lily asked.

Wow, nothing gets past her. Harry thought to himself. "I must not tell lies."

James and Lily looked very concerned. "And that was it? There's nothing more to tell us about her?"

Yes

"No." Harry said. "That was it."

"Well that's got to be some sort of a record right? Detention on your first day of lessons?" James tried to lighten the mood.

"Well... no... remember when I told you about the Whomping Willow? Well we got detentions that evening."

James tried (and failed) to hide his bemusement while Lily rolled her eyes.

"What did you think of the owl?" James winked.

"I think that there is an uncanny resemblance and the fact that it even made Hermione giggle is a testament to it."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm surrounded by idiots."

"Oi"

"Well the owl really liked McGonagall."

James' eyes snapped back to his son. "Really?" He said excitedly.

"Yup. It hooted at her. I'm fairly certain that it was a mutual feeling too."

"Oh god..." Lily groaned. "You didn't tell her the owl's name did you?"

Harry shook his head. "Thought I'd leave that to you two."

James snickered.

The family beamed. They all exuded happiness, something that Harry needed desperately.

"We've been talking for ages, we'll let you get to sleep. Don't hesitate to contact us if you need us. We'll have the mirror by our bed so if you have a nightmare and need to talk to us, just say our names and we'll appear."

"Sleep well, Harry."

"Night."

Harry forgot to take the muffling charms off of the bed curtains, which was probably a good thing.

The nightmares that night were the worst in months. He woke up yelling, drenched in sweat at 3am.

At least now Seamus wouldn't have another reason to believe he was a nut job.

After more dreams of the graveyard and infuriatingly long corridors, Harry got up and showered the sweat off in the morning before everyone else was up again.

He then changed into clean robes - and put the blood-stained ones in the washing pile at the end of his bed for the house-elves to clean.

Before anyone else had awoken, he grabbed his books and went down into the empty common room to start his homework.

Sitting at one of the desks, he started with the worst: an essay on the Goblin wars for Binns.

An hour later, sleepy students began trudging down and out towards the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry was deliberately faced away from them, so he wouldn't be subject to all the pointing and whispering (well, he wouldn't see all of it at least)

He started when Hermione tapped him on the shoulder.

"Come on. Let's go get breakfast before everyone else gets down there."

Harry nodded and collected his work as Ron stepped down and joined them.

They walked to the Great Hall in a comfortable silence. Harry's hand had healed for the most part, but it was still a raw pink with the faint outline of the words.

Once again, multiple faces turned and conversations abruptly ceased as he walked by. He sat at the end of the table next to Hermione with Ron opposite, and they began eating a quiet breakfast.

They had another lesson with Umbridge that day, and Harry had promised both Ron and Hermione to try and keep his temper in check.

The lesson began as last time. Harry kept his mouth shut and his head down, just as McGonagall had requested. They were reading chapter two that day, and neither Ron nor Harry absorbed any of the information.

They looked up after five minutes, and were extremely surprised to see Hermione's hand up again.

"Miss Granger?" Umbridge simpered as she looked up.

"I've already read this chapter, Professor."

"Well then go on to the next."

"Sorry Professor, allow me to rephrase. I have read the entire book."

Umbridge stood up sharply, causing many people to jump. She stood in front of her desk, eyes boring into Hermione.

"And why have you done that, dear?"

That was not what Hermione was expecting her to say. "I-I. Well I suppose I wanted to get a head start."

"And in doing so, you have completely disrupted my lesson and the plans that I have set forth."

"Plans?" Harry snorted a bit louder than he intended. "By plans I assume you mean reading one chapter every lesson for the rest of the year. Not very imaginative."

He had meant to say it under his breath, but it still echoed around the room as the class waited with bated breath.

"Excuse me?" She asked sweetly.

Harry didn't realise that he had said it so loudly.

"A weeks detention, Mr Potter."

"A week?!" He exclaimed

"Yes. One obviously didn't get my message across as well as I would have liked. My office, same time as yesterday until next Tuesday evening which will be your last."

Harry cursed silently, but held his tongue as she stared at him expectantly - almost as though she was waiting for him to retaliate. But he didn't.

As she smiled triumphantly and turned around, Hermione shot him a half sympathetic and half annoyed look.

They all spent the rest of the lesson in silence.

Potter Manor

Lily was to be on guard duty that day for the first time. She dressed in muggle jeans and a t-shirt so that she could easily maneauver around. She tied her red locks in a high pony tail and took her wand.

James clung tightly to her as they hugged goodbye and she proceeded to disillusion herself with an encouraging smile.

Tonks waited downstairs so that they could floo in together (if the fire blazed and no-one stepped out in the ministry, it would undoubtedly cause suspicion and potentially even a lockdown.)

She held on to Tonks' arm as they stepped into the fireplace and appeared in the ministry. Tonks lead her to an elevator and they both stepped in, Tonks getting out when it reached the Auror department.

A few stops later, Lily left the lift at the Department of Mysteries alongside a tall, tight-lipped man (who she presumed to be an unspeakable)

She then stationed herself outside of the door down the dark corridor, and stood still.

The corridor bore no signs of life for an hour. She leant against the wall and waited, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

Then, an elevator opened at the end of the corridor, and a tall man with long blond hair and dark, expensive robes stepped out alongside the man she recognised as the minister for magic.

She identified the first one as Lucius Malfoy.

Death Eater.

They walked halfway down the corridor and stopped, looking around anxiously.

Lily stepped closer, thanking the gods for the foot-softening charm she had placed on her feet before leaving.

She neared them, and stopped when she could hear what they were saying.

"- dealing with Potter." Fudge finished.

Lily's eyes narrowed.

"Good." Lucius drawled. "We all know that Dumbledore has always shown obvious favouritism to the boy, what has the undersecretary said with regards to that particular issue?"

"No contact that she's aware of so far. Though they could be using unconventional methods or some sort of reverse psychology." Fudge leaned in conspiratorially. "She has the caretaker, Filch on her side and is intending on using him to start searching his mail. Dumbledore's planning something and I'd bet my left hand that Potter's involved."

Lily's eyes widened. She had to speak to Harry and tell him.

Lucius nodded approvingly. "It's only a matter of time before they try something, and then we can expose them."

Fudge beamed and bounced on the balls of his feet. "We're working on some legislation that will give Dolores more power. We just need to work though some of the kinks and then we will be ready."

"Brilliant, sir. Please allow me to help in any way I can."

And with that, they both stalked off, Lucius casting several longing glances towards the door into the department of mysteries, unbeknownst to Fudge.

Lily slipped back into her post, mind whirring.

The next four hours passed uneventfully. The most exciting thing that happened was when a few unspeakables exited the room to go home.

She saw Mad-Eye exiting the lift, and he promptly disillusioned himself after giving her a wink.

Lily left her post and stepped into the lift and up to the Atrium, slipping out before a hoarde of workers could enter.

She saw Tonks in the distance, and ran up to her.

"I'm behind you." She whispered in her ear.

Tonks didn't even jump, but lead the way to a fireplace, Lily holding onto her arm.

James paced in the sitting room. And in the study. And the library. And the kitchen. He paced all day long while his wife was out.

Sirius rolled his eyes when he started again.

"Mate. She'll be fine."

James looked up at him, an eyebrow raised. "You don't know that." He said simply.

"Yes, I do. Lily is probably more powerful than most Death Eaters put together. She will be okay. It's not even a particularly dangerous post. When I did it the other night I was bored out of my mind. You'll see when you have to tomorrow."

James sat down on a sofa, bouncing his leg in anticipation. He looked at his dad's old watch which was on his wrist. "She should be back by now."

"No, she will be finishing now. She still has to get through the ministry and find Tonks. Give her a minute Prongs."

They sat in silence for ten minutes, Sirius reading and James bouncing his leg for something to do.

The district sound of someone stepping out the fireplace sounded, and James jumped up and ran into the entrance hall, Sirius a few paces behind.

As he stepped in, he saw Tonks pulling herself off the floor and a slightly sooty Lily pulling her up.

He ran forward and embraced her in a bonecrushing hug which she returned happily.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

"I was just worried about you."

"Well I'm okay." She smiled as she released him. "Although I did find something out and I think we need to tell Dumbledore. And Harry too."

Tonks and Sirius followed the couple into the sitting room and Lily proceeded to tell them what she heard.

"So we need to tell Harry not to put anything in his letters."

Lily nodded. "But how?"

"Why don't you write a letter, address it to Ron and he can give it to Harry?" Tonks suggested.

"Yeah. Let's do that. And I don't think Dumbledore will be a problem. We can just floo him."

James began writing the letter to Harry while Lily went to talk to Dumbledore. Fortunately, he was on his own in his office, but she had to leave fairly quickly again.

Dumbledore was enraged, but not surprised. He said that he had expected something of the sort but that it didn't make it any easier.

Tonks had agreed to take them to Jemma Handy that evening. Remus was off on a separate mission that night, so it would only be the four of them. Lily planned on altering her appearance and joining Tonks in the questioning, while Sirius and James went to look around the house.

The four apparated into an alley in London. They walked up to Jemma's house (James and Sirius disillusioned) and knocked on the door three times.

The door opened slightly to reveal a short blonde woman, who upon seeing Tonks, pulled the two inside.

James and Sirius only just got in.

They were filled with a dark sense of foreboding as they were lead through a dark hallway into a sitting room. The woman did not say anything as they followed her through. Tonks shared a nervous glance with Lily, confirming that something was going on. They all felt their hairs on their necks pirickle as they had entered.

It almost had felt like they were being watched.

And they were.

Thank you for reading! As always, leave any thoughts or comments in the review section. :)