Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Original A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Seven

The Term Turns

Harry was having a relatively good return term so far. The extra work, brought on by the O.W.L exams, was so intense that at times he could forget about Voldemort and what's going to happen in the future. Of course that little piece of sanity went out the window whenever he had lessons with Snape. Their private lessons hadn't gotten any easier with time. Harry was beginning to think of the lessons as Snape's private little torture sessions. He did discover that he was able to repel Snape a few times when he was angry enough. However, try as he might, he hadn't found the key to help him trigger that response on command, yet.

His detentions with McGonagall were going better than he had expected, though he thought this was mostly because Lee and Hannah were there actually learning and McGonagall couldn't help but teach. Half the detentions turn into extra Transfiguration lessons which Harry had to admit was more to his liking. On one of those days, Neville had revealed that he had completed his transformation, confessing that he had done so at the end of last year but didn't want to say anything after everything that happened.

Then there were the intense Quidditch practices, which, no matter how much they team grumbled about away from their Quidditch obsessed captain's hearing, only seemed to improve the team. The last practice Harry had to fly against Ginny, who was the best Seeker on the team besides himself, as all three Beaters tried to stop only him from getting the Snitch. It was very hard to do all this at once, and Harry found that he had to play more defensively than he normally liked to in order to prevent Ginny from getting the Snitch until he had an opening for himself to go after it. Twice when he had found that opening the Bludger made him veer off his course, though Harry did make sure he got into Ginny's way when he had to veer. Eventually he pulled off a feint that caused Jimmy Peakes to send one of the Bludgers into the ground. Harry then shot up into the air racing towards the Snitch he had spotted while diving, he picked up just enough speed at the last second to avoid getting hit by the Bludger George sent at him and was able to reach the Snitch before Fred could send the Bludger back.

"Next time, I get to use your broom," Ginny grumbled, she was right behind him, but she hadn't been able to catch him when he had speedup.

"Come on, I have to have one advantage, don't I," Harry chuckled.

"Trust me Harry, you had more than one," Ginny said. "You only seem to get better with the more obstacles you have to get around."

"I don't like losing," Harry shrugged. "Besides, it took me the whole practice to get the Snitch," he said making a face, it had never taken him that long before, at least not during a practice.

"We'll take that as a compliment," Fred said, flying by them.

"Keeping the Great Harry Potter from getting the Snitch for a full hour and a half," George added.

"Shut up," Harry grumbled.

"I still think you should give me your broom next time," Ginny said again.

"You just want to fly the Firebolt," Harry said.

"Yes, I would," Ginny agreed. "I know you let us use it sometimes, but it has to be different in a real competition."

"It is," Harry agreed.

"Enough of that, Angie's calling us in," George said. Angelina told them practice was over and that she was able to book the pitch for the next day for an extra practice. Since the game was only a week away, Harry thought this was a good idea.

"Hey, Ginny wait up, can I walk with you?" Harry called as he left the dressing room.

"Where's Ron?" Ginny asked, waiting for him to catch up.

"He was talking to Summer about some Keeper stuff," Harry shrugged, "he said he was going to the library after that so I shouldn't wait for him."

"Library?" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Hermione," was Harry's one word answer to her question.

"Of course," Ginny said.

"We haven't had much time to hang out this term, have we?" Harry noted as they walked in silence.

"Not really," Ginny agreed. "Not with you having extra lessons and everyone having detention. We haven't really done anything as a group expect for Hermione's birthday party."

"Yeah," Harry frowned. "That's not right."

"It okay," Ginny shrugged. "All of you are very busy this year …"

"That's no excuse," Harry said thoughtfully. As he tried to think of something to do when he could get the gang all together, Harry heard footsteps coming from the corner. He was surprised to see Dean turn the corner, and his dorm mate seem to be just as surprise to see him.

"So we meet again," Ginny said causing both the boys to look at her as she smiled at Dean.

"Er … yeah," Dean rubbed the back of his head and the three of them started to walk together.

Harry was starting to feel uncomfortable and was about to make some kind of excuse to leave but Dean beat him to it, saying something about leaving his books in the library and rushing off before anyone else could say something.

"Well, that was awkward," Harry said once Dean was gone. "Sorry."

"Sorry?" Ginny questioned. "You didn't do anything."

"Oh," Harry raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"It's not like I knew that Dean was going to come …" Ginny said defensively to Harry's doubtful tone.

"Hm … but you have met him before, haven't you?" Harry pointed out.

"Sure, sometimes I run into him after practice," Ginny said. "But that's just because he's coming back from the library or Prefect patrols."

"Uh-huh," Harry said doubtfully again. "And just how many time have you ran into Mr. Thomas lately?"

"That's none of your business, Mr. Potter," Ginny said.

"Uh-huh," he repeated, noticing that Ginny was blushing slightly and she was smiling. "I'll take that to mean a lot."

"Whatever," Ginny rolled her eyes. "What about you Harry?"

"You mean girl wise?" Harry guessed and made a face. "I still have a crush on a friend's girlfriend. Other than that there's not much to say."

"Maybe if you got a girlfriend …"

"You make that sound so easy," Harry grumbled.

"You're Harry Potter, Harry," Ginny said exasperated. "Almost every girl here would want to go out with you."

"But not my number one fan any longer," Harry sighed, looking at her.

"Jerk," Ginny growled as she punched Harry on the arm.

"Ow," Harry rubbed his arm but chuckled as Ginny stuck her tongue out at him.

"Serves you right," she added. "That wasn't funny."

"It was a little," Harry argued. "But seriously Gin, almost everyone here thinks I'm a nutter this year. Not to mention I don't want to get a girlfriend just because I'm 'Harry Potter'," he added in a more sincere tone.

"You know if you have that criteria, that you don't want a girl that sees you as the great Harry Potter …" Ginny started.

"Or now as the mad Harry Potter," he added but she ignored him.

"You might never get to know the girl herself," Ginny said.

"Speaking from experience," Harry said and was punched again. He grimaced and rubbed his arm, she had hit the same spot. "Sorry … I didn't mean …. er … I was just thinking out loud …"

"You should think quieter," Ginny grumbled.

"Does it make you feel better to know that your punches are worse than getting hit by the Bludger?" Harry asked, giving her an apologetic look.

"A bit," Ginny said, and decided to change the subject as they continued to walk. By the time they got to the common room they were both laughing.

After saying goodbye to her, Harry went up to his dorm room to find that only Dean was in there. "Er … hey," Harry said awkwardly, "um sorry about earlier."

"It was nothing," Dean mumbled, not looking at Harry.

"Okay … then you wouldn't mind if I told Ron that you've been meeting up with his sister," Harry said off handily and Dean couldn't help but turn to him looking annoyed and flustered. Harry grinned at him.

"Jerk," Dean was now only glaring at him and threw his spare pillow, which Harry easily caught.

"That's a popular opinion today," Harry chuckled and then added, "it's not like I was really going to say anything."

Dean relaxed and said, "yeah … but you're still a jerk."

"I guess," Harry shrugged. "Though you do know that Ron's the least of your concern … if I were you, I'd worry about Fred and George more."

"Yeah, that thought has crossed my mind, but she's the kind of girl that's worth it," Dean said. "You're not really going to say anything to Ron."

"Of course not … there's really nothing to say if you think about it," Harry shrugged. They talked a bit more before Dean went downstairs and Harry went to bed early. He knew he had homework to do but he really didn't feel in the mood to do any and was more unnerved because he wasn't sure why he felt that way.

O

The next morning Harry woke feeling better. He got dressed quickly waiting until Ron was ready before leaving the dorm. As he waited, he thought about what the next Defense lesson would be. Sirius had said that they were going to have a duel of sorts, going over the spells they had learn so far this year. Sirius hadn't mention exactly what he meant, which only had everyone in the class talking more about it.

"Let's go Harry," Ron said, "seriously, what are you waiting for?"

Harry rolled his eyes at his grinning best friend, "you're in a good mood."

"Yeah well," Ron shrugged; he was probably having the best term of his life so far. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs Ron immediately looked for Hermione, finding her in a couch near the fire and headed in that direction. Harry followed his friend, who seemed to have forgotten he was there at all, noticing once he got closer something wasn't right. Hermione had been talking to Ginny and neither girl looked too happy.

"What's up?" Harry asked and the girls looked at him.

"Didn't you guys read the notice board?" Hermione asked, and both boys shook their head. "Of course not."

"What is it?" Ron asked impatiently.

"The noticed said there was going to be a High Inquisitor," Hermione answered. Harry and Ron looked at each other, and then back at her, still quite puzzled. Hermione's lip quirked, as if she was about to smile (due to their expressions, no doubt), before she frowned. "Apparently someone is going to inspect all of our professors to see if they are teaching us Ministry approved material."

"Bloody hell," Ron groaned, seeming to echo what Harry was thinking. This really couldn't mean anything good.

"That's not the worst part though," Ginny said grimly.

"What's the worst part than?" Harry asked, not really wanting to hear what it was.

"The High Inquisitor is Umbridge," Hermione answered.

"The wench that had Sirius chucked out of the Ministry?" Harry groaned, feeling his stomach quenched as he felt that this term was going to go downhill quickly.

"How the bloody hell could they do this?" Ron huffed as the girls got up and they all started walking to the Great Hall. "The Ministry has never had anything to do with Hogwarts before."

"You know they tried to force a professor on us … that's why Sirius took the defense job, remember," Harry pointed out.

"Yeah, but this is different," Ron protested. "Hogwarts has been around for a thousand years, or whatever, and no one has ever said anything about what's being taught. Why the hell are they starting this now?"

"You know why," Ginny said, "Fudge is afraid of Dumbledore …"

"Doesn't mean that he should be able to put people into Hogwarts!" Ron growled.

"Don't yell at me … I agree with you," Ginny huffed back.

Ron grunted at that, clearly still fuming but everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing, which made the discussion sort of moot. None of them ate very much at breakfast and Harry couldn't help but glance at the head table where there was an extra person, a squat toad like woman in a pink cardigan.

"I don't want to rile everyone up again, but there's an article in the Prophet about the High Inquisitor," Hermione announced near the end of the meal.

"Let's me see it," Harry said holding out his hand for the paper, knowing that this was only going to make his mood darker. But hoping that maybe it would explain a few things. In the end all it seemed to explain was that Fudge was able to bully the Hogwarts' Governors with the help of his buddy Lucius Malfoy into getting whatever they wanted. Also, much to Ron and Ginny's dismay, that Percy Weasley was a brainwashed git that might actually have a server personality disorder judging by the fact that he thought Umbridge was a lovely woman. Harry could tell by looking at the toad, she wasn't lovely in any way.

"Well that was a waste of print," Ginny said after she finished reading the article. "And here I thought the Prophet couldn't get any worse."

"Or Percy," Ron added, he had read over Harry's shoulder and looked rather disgusted. Ginny nodded her head in grim agreement with what Ron had said.

"What about our dearest brother," Fred asked, he and George had been passing by on their way out of the Great Hall. "What has he done now?"

"Only sold his soul to the Ministry," Ginny said handing them the paper. "Did you read about the High Inquisitor thing in the common room?"

"No, but Lee was kind enough to inform us of this lovely development," George grimaced.

After another grim conversation, they left to go to their classes. Harry wasn't very surprise when he got into Sirius's class to find Umbridge was there. Knowing that the Minister had wanted a very different professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, of course she would be there to inspect this lesson first. When Harry walked into the room he could feel someone eyes on him and he turn to see that Umbridge was looking at him. She smiled widely when their eyes meet and there was not a bit friendliness about the smile. In fact it made him think about a spider looking at a fly caught in her web.

"Hello everyone," Sirius said when the lesson started. "As you can see, we have an extra guess today," he said as friendly as he could, smiling too broadly, a vein in his forehead seemed close to bursting. "As you all know, we are having a dueling match today."

"Hem, hem," a sound came from the back of the room, drawing the attention of everyone.

"Yes, High Inquisitor," Sirius said in an overly friendly voice, grinning too broadly again.

"You can't have them duel each other," Umbridge said just as friendly as Sirius. "The danger …"

"I'm not," Sirius assured her and then turned back to his students. "Everyone split up into pairs. If you look behind me, you can see there are two targets. I will be shouting out the name of the curse you will be using. The first person to hit the target with the correct curse will win; the other will get a point against them, once you have three you will be out of the tournament."

"Hem, hem," Umbridge interrupted again.

"Yes," Sirius said looking at her, his smile maddeningly wide.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe that this lesson is very age appropriate," Umbridge said bluntly, in her girly sweet voice.

"I see," Sirius said, "and why, do you think, this lesson is not age appropriate?"

A flash of anger glinted in Umbridge's eyes, before she smiled sweetly. "It is inappropriate to have children use curses at all, but especially in an uncontrolled environment such as this."

"Uncontrolled environment," Sirius muttered to himself, having trouble thinking of an environment that was controlled more than the one that he was proposing. He pushed that thought aside, getting angry at this woman's stupidity wouldn't help his case any. "If I'm not mistaken, these children, as you call them, will all be taking their O.W.L's at the end of the school year and they will have to deal with the pressure of casting spells much the same as I'm asking them to do today. So unless you are arguing there is a flaw in the O.W.L exams, I'll ask you to let me continue my lesson."

Umbridge opened and then closed her mouth, no longer hiding her anger. The best part was she couldn't seem to think of anything to say to that.

Sirius couldn't help but to smirk, though he turned his back to her. He would really love to egg her on more, but he knew she would eventually come up with something to get him back for this. He'd just have to think of how to best her with whatever she came up with. He wasn't about to let her take another job away from him. He was pretty sure that she was thinking the exact opposite and was trying to get him canned. It was halfway through his lesson when that thought was proven.

"Stunning," Sirius called out the curse, and Lavender and Parvati reacted, Lavender slightly quicker than Parvati. Both spells had hit the target, which was actually a dummy that showed if the spell was cast correctly or not. In this case, both spells were done well, the technique was pretty good. "Well don …" he started to say but he heard that annoying noise again. He turned to see the toad standing next to him and he forced that awful smile on his face. "Yes."

"I have a few questions I need to ask you," Umbridge said.

"Now? … I am in the middle of a lesson," Sirius replied.

"If you prefer I stay for you next lesson …" she said in her extra sugary voice.

She had him there. There was no way he was going to have her in his next class too. "What do you want to ask?"

"Do you feel that a man with your past is qualified to be a professor?" she asked loudly, making sure that everyone was looking at them, though of course they already have been with the way she had interrupted him.

"You mean over fifteen years of being an Auror, yes I do believe that qualifies me to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts." Sirius replied evenly, he could see where she was going with this already.

"Oh, excuse me, but I was talking about the fact that you were seen to be unfit to be an Auror this past summer," Umbridge giggled.

"I believe, if you look in my file at the Ministry, it will show that I quit to pursue other prospects," Sirius said smiling.

"As I recall, you, in fact, had decided to run a rouge mission …"

"Really? Are you saying that the official Ministry file … the one that the Minister himself signed personally … is wrong?" Sirius gasped.

Umbridge gritted her teeth.

"Is that what you're saying?" Sirius pressed in his most innocent (and annoying) tone, finding it rather amusing to see how angry Umbridge seemed to be getting.

"Professor Black," Hermione said and Sirius looked at her. He noticed both she and Harry were looking worried, and he realized that he might be pushing things a little too far at the moment. In his personal opinion he hadn't pushed it nearly far enough, but he didn't want Harry to have to worry about him.

"Yes, Miss Granger," he said.

"Er …" Hermione said, clearly she didn't really have something to say to him, other than stop. "Would you like me to call out the spells so the lesson can continue while you talk?"

"No, that's okay, I believe the High Inquisitor and I are done for the moment," Sirius said not bothering to look at the toad again. Apparently he was right, though, because she didn't ask or even say another word during the lesson.