Umbridge had been at the school three weeks and had not tried another stunt with a blood quill again, though she did her utmost to make sure their lessons were anything but productive.
So far she had called Professor Flitwick a fool, told Professor McGonagall that she knew nothing about controlling a class, made Hagrid cry, and called Professor Lupin a "filthy half-breed." In retaliation to her reign of terror Harry arranged moderately sized study groups of up to sixteen students, as any large-scale groups had been observed by the pink demon.
It was the announcement that she would be staying for their O.W.L.'s, and possibly replacing Professor Gaunt next year, that broke the camel's back. Harry and the Vipers made a plan, they would assemble the entire student body, or as close to it as possible, in the Room of Requirements as it would be the best place to accommodate that many students outside of the Great Hall. Meanwhile, Harry would put on a show of gushing over how amazing the Minister was, sitting down with Umbridge and talking to her while they arranged everything. At first, her preferential treatment of Harry had disgusted everyone, making people opt to turn their back on him, that was until he privately made his hatred for her clear. When they were all ready, Harry would be signaled by his ring, summoning him to arrange Umbridge's worst day.
With that plan in mind, Harry knocked on Professor Gaunt's classroom door and immediately started with a question.
"Seeing as our O.W.L.'s are coming up, I wanted to make sure that I understand everything. I can't get a high up position at the Ministry with Exceeds Expectations," Harry joked, earning a chuckle from Umbridge and a noticeably forced laugh from the Professor.
"That is very true, Mr Potter, I'm sure your Professor wouldn't mind me offering you some information born from my experience in rising to Minister Fudge's Senior Undersecretary."
/_-_^_^_/-
While Harry was being bored beyond belief by the boorish bureaucrat, his friends and brothers were assembling everyone on the seventh floor, with Daphne and Hermione standing outside to guide everyone inside the room, which frequently expanded to accommodate everyone.
Dudley and Elias were sweeping the first and second floors, looking for anyone they could find to direct upwards, it was handy being able to send people into the common rooms to send the bulk of their house up in one go.
Theo and Neville were covering the third and fourth floor, Blaise, Ron, and Draco covering the fifth, sixth and seventh, all guiding them to Daphne and Hermione and into the room. Once all the students had arrived, the majority of the Vipers also filed in, answering questions while they waited.
"How are things with Blaise?" Daphne asked Hermione out of nowhere after an uncomfortably long silence while waiting outside the Room of Requirements for Harry to escape Umbridge.
"They're not going anywhere, not yet anyway. Our O.W.L.'s are our main priority right now," Hermione answered, a little surprised that she had been spoken to by Daphne.
"Harry still thinks about you, did you know that?"
"I don't want to come between the two of you," Hermione tried to placate the other girl who simply chuckled.
"Relax, Hermione, I didn't say that to cause an argument. It is pretty normal to think about what could have been, I know that sort of thing can eat away at a person. Harry seems to think I would burst out crying and screaming if he mentions your time together. I want you to talk to him about it, before you get with Blaise and before I promise myself to Harry."
"You're going to promise yourself to him? Does that involve rings?" Hermione questioned, getting a bit excited.
"It does, would you like to see them?"
"Of course."
Daphne pulled out a chain with two rings on it, both seemingly carved out of marble.
"These will transform into engagement rings, then wedding rings, and when one of us passes then our ring changes to reflect a ring given from parent to child. They have existed in my family for generations, though not since the 1800s were they last used and they didn't get past the engagement part."
As Hermione was about to respond, Harry alerted them that he was on the seventh floor and that Umbridge was writing a letter of recommendation for Harry for future job prospects at the Ministry. Daphne put the chain away only moments before Harry rounded the corner and Harry and the two girls entered the Room of Requirements.
The muttering of the crowd stopped once Harry entered, with everyone turning to him, looking for guidance.
"We're all assembled here under the banner of removing Umbridge from the school; she has tortured students since she arrived here, disrupted our lessons with her inane bullshit, and made things generally unpleasant. I've written to the Minister and he shall be here for a few days to do the job she was sent to do, observe and report how the school is going. She has all but taken over Defence lessons and has painted a target on Professor Gaunt's back. We cannot let this stand and so we must be on our best behaviour in every lesson except Defence, where we will only respond to Professor Gaunt. Hopefully, we can ruin her credibility enough to, at the very least, get her demoted."
"She hasn't done anything to me," Zacharias Smith shouted out, with Cormac McLaggon voicing his agreement.
"She used a blood quill on my little brother, he's only in his first year," a voice from the back of the room sounded, earning a chorus of outraged shouts.
"She's used one on me as well."
"Me too."
There were a few voices sounding their agreement and sharing their stories of Umbridge, though Harry knew that there would have been more if Dudley hadn't concocted that plan to scar her mentally for life.
After an hour of people sharing their stories, everyone was in agreement, even Zacharias and Cormac were prepared to play their parts.
As they filtered out, some of the Vipers waited in the hallway while the rest, including Harry, remained inside to discuss any issues anyone had and waited for everyone to leave. Out in the hallway, Dudley felt a hand being placed upon his shoulder. He turned around to see a livid Filch.
"What on earth is going on here? I should tell the Headmaster about this!" the Squib shouted at him, inspiring the departing students to flee faster to avoid his ire.
"I know that it is after curfew and that we shouldn't be out here, but Harry asked us all to meet here and help him with something," Dudley answered, shrugging the man's hand off his shoulder after finishing.
"I'll give you a deal, come here." Filch walked a bit away with Blaise and Dudley following.
"I have overheard you lot talking about giving magic to Squibs. If you do this for me then I shall say nothing."
"Urm... I don't know-" Dudley began.
"We'll do it," Blaise interrupted, sparking a light of joy in Filch's eyes.
"Right, well I'll be going then. I shall see you again soon to do this." Filch walked away with a smile on his face.
/_-_^_^-/
"As I'm sure most of you have noticed, we have another guest in our classroom, Mr Cornelius Fudge, our very own Minister for Magic, has decided to come in and observe myself and Professor Gaunt to see how well he has done and to see if I will have the joy of teaching you all next year," Umbridge began, with chattering breaking out among the students.
"Quiet please," Umbridge demanded, with the volume only increasing. "I SAID QUIET!" she shouted, with Professor Gaunt stepping up to "help" her.
"Now now, class, Madam Umbridge here has asked for some quiet," he said in a quiet, calm voice.
As soon as he said that everyone fell silent out of respect.
"Open your book to page sixty-eight and complete the written exercises provided for you," Umbridge finished, glaring out at the students, her glare deepening when Harry raised his hand.
"We did that page yesterday, I think that we are close enough to our exams that it would be useful to test everyone's ability to perform the spells."
"That will hardly be necessary-"
"Actually, Dolores, I think it will be a good idea to be able to see who needs more guidance. Excellent suggestion, Mr Potter."
"Okay class, we will go by individually and make sure everyone knows what they're doing. You there, by the window, you can begin," Umbridge acted as if she was unbothered.
"That would be Ms Parkinson," Professor Gaunt supplied.
"Yes, Ms Parkinson. You all have one attempt to cast the spell, as you won't get a second chance during your O.W.L.'s either."
Once Umbridge had finally stopped talking, Pansy stood up and failed to cast the spell in question, which quickly became a common trend. Cornelius' shock at this was only amplified by Harry's failure in casting the spell.
"We can all try again, Ms Parkinson, please stand up."
"I've seen enough, Dolores. Professor Gaunt, would you please select a few students to demonstrate spells from last year, before this revised curriculum was put in place?"
"Potter, Zabini, and Nott will suffice." The three stood up and performed every spell asked of them perfectly. The look that the Minister gave Umbridge would remain on his face until long after all of the students had left, at which point he demanded to know why an entire year of students was incapable of doing what was required of them before their O.W.L.'s, with him asking Professor Gaunt to do his best to correct their education in the week they had left, giving him special permission to push back their exams if needed.
During dinner time Dumbledore announced that Umbridge had departed, but that the Minister's people would remain to observe the other lessons. The news of the hag's departure inspired an eruption of cheers from the students, who would serve to further prove the failing in Umbridge's approach by excelling in their lessons and building support networks to allow for the less capable students to catch up.
Albus could see the unity among the school, with not a single student sitting alone, and the image brought a tear or two to his eyes.