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 Thirty

A Toad's Revenge

"So you really liked our prank," Fred said.

"It was brilliant," Harry said to him. "When she started croaking … her face was priceless."

"Exactly," George said grinning.

"Now it's your guys turn to see if you can do better," Fred said to Harry and Ron. "Or you can just give up now and admit that we're the best."

"Even if I couldn't think of a better prank, I wouldn't stop this war now," Harry said.

"Yeah, the toad needs a few rounds of our pranks before we decide the winner," Ron added.

"Good point boys," Fred chuckled. "I'm glad you came up with this prank war against the toad."

"We had her yesterday after lunch, when she was in Sirius's class," George said making a face. "She kept interrupting him trying to make it sound like he didn't know anything … no one can stand her. And we even have some Slytherin idiots in our class and they just stared at her with contempt."

"She's an idiot going after Sirius when everyone knows he's the best Defense Professor we've had … well Remus was good too, but we can't have him anymore," George said.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to matter much to her," Hermione said, who was staying out of the prank war the boys were in on, so she was reading a book on the couch of the Room of Requirement. "If Umbridge wants to fire Sirius, she doesn't have to have a reason. She has the power to do that."

"Hermione, that's just depressing us," Ron told her.

"I know, sorry," Hermione sighed.

"It's not fair," Harry said angrily, he was really going to make Umbridge pay with the prank he and Ron were going to do. He just had to think of something good.

"No it's not, but she's still going to do it," Hermione agreed sadly.

"Maybe, but Sirius is planning something, I know he is," Ron said.

"You think?" Harry asked, he thought maybe … but he hadn't had a chance to talk to Sirius alone. All he knew was that Sirius didn't want him to say anything in his class when Umbridge was in it. It would be best if he probably didn't respond to her at all. Still, pranking her wasn't the same as responding to her, and Harry was confident that Sirius would approve of this venture.

"Yeah, the way he talks to her in class," Ron said, "he's up to something."

"That's true," Harry said and he was glad that Sirius was planning something.

"We should get out of here," Ron said a few minutes later, "we have Quidditch practice in twenty minutes."

"Okay," the boys all said.

"Bye," Hermione said, remaining in her seat on the couch.

"You're not going to walk me to the pitch," Ron pouted before grinning at her, and leaning down to give her a kiss. He heard Harry and his brothers leaving the room so he had no problem turning it into a proper snog.

"You better go now or you'll be late," Hermione giggled when they stopped.

"Yeah," Ron sighed, "I never thought I would find something that would make me want to be late to Quidditch, but this is definitely it."

"Go," Hermione ordered still smiling at him.

Ron sighed and then left the room. He had to jog to catch up to the others, and then ignore them when they made teasing comments to him. Soon enough, Harry changed the subject and the four of them were having and enjoyable conversation about the Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw Quidditch match that weekend, which with Cedric making a great and close catch, the Hufflepuff were able to pull off a victory. Despite the fact that they were going on holiday soon, Harry agreed with Angelina that they needed to keep practicing hard. Harry was really looking forward to their next match against Hufflepuff, as he really wanted to have another game against Cedric, one with no Dementors or anything else getting in their way.

"Hem hem," the horrible sound interrupted Harry's thoughts and he looked up to see that Umbridge was standing in front of the changing room, with her wide smile, but her eyes were cold and focused on him.

"Can we help you?" Fred said jauntily, though Harry could hear the apprehension in his voice.

"Oh yes, I think you can," Umbridge said. "You, and your twin, along with Harry Potter and his follower …"

"Follower," Ron grumbled and she turned her eyes and smile onto him, causing him to take a step back.

"You all will be coming with me to my office," Umbridge finished.

"Why?" George asked.

"Oh, I think I'll let you think about that while we walk to my office," Umbridge said.

The four boys looked at each other and then back at Umbridge who looked happy, but angry at the same time and like she was going to cause them a lot of pain. She started walking and didn't turn back as she obviously expected to be followed. Harry was sure the others didn't want to go along with her anymore than he did, but they didn't have a choice.

What could Umbridge want to talk to them about, and why was she looking so angry, and yet happy. He knew that she didn't like him, but she shouldn't be able to call him to her office when he hadn't done anything … well, not yet, at least. He looked at the twins and wondered …

"Have a seat," Umbridge ordered, gesturing to the four chairs in front of her desk. It seemed that she had had time to set up her room before she came and got them. Harry took the right hand chair with Ron sitting next to him and the twins on the other side. "I think by now you should have figured out why you are here."

The boys looked at each other again, Harry raising an eyebrow to Fred to indicate he should be the one that talks. He hoped he would be able to keep his temper under check but something told him that wasn't going to happen.

"No, we haven't," Fred said.

"If you tell me now, it will be better for you," Umbridge said imploringly.

"Tell you what?" Fred asked.

"Confess, and I will go easier on you!" Umbridge said more harshly this time but the boys didn't say anything. "Very well, I have given you an opportunity to make things better, remember you chose to do things the hard way."

"Can you just tell us what we've done," Ron groaned impatiently.

"I was informed earlier today that you four where the ones that cursed my office door," Umbridge said crisply, her eyes going to Harry and he saw just how angry she was about that.

"That's a load of rubbish!" Ron snorted. "We didn't curse your doorknob … we haven't even been near your office before today!" That was true for him and Harry, but the twins obviously couldn't say as much.

"Yes, well I have eye witness that will say otherwise," Umbridge said sweetly.

"Who?" Harry asked, but he had a feeling he already knew who and he wasn't disappointed.

"Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle." Umbridge answered. "They said they noticed you all laughing while you walked away from my office."

"That's not an eye witness account!" George snorted.

"So you were in the corridor!" Umbridge gasped as if George had confessed he was Voldemort himself.

"What? No," George scoffed. "I'm just saying that's not …"

"I will not listen to your excuses, you are to be punished for what you have done," Umbridge said.

"But you can't even prove we did it!" Fred glared at her. "You're 'eye witnesses' are making up that crap!"

"And I'm supposed to believe your word on that matter?" Umbridge asked. "When you're the guilty party?"

"We're not guilty!" Harry glared at her, his green eyes blazing with passion.

"Oh, but I say you are," Umbridge said with her widest smile, "And you see, it's what I say, that matters!"

O

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" Harry shouted, and banged his fist against the desk, looking at Sirius with tears stinging his eyes. He had walked out of Umbridge's office in numb disbelief with the Weasley boys looking just as stunned. Umbridge hadn't listened to them about Draco being a lying sack, she got the information she wanted and she used it against them harshly. Okay, so the twins had cursed her door, and Harry was planning on doing something to her, but the truth of the matter was she didn't have proof of that. She had no right to punish them at all but to do this …

"Harry … what … what happened," Sirius asked, his eyes filled with concern as Harry pushed a jar off his desk, it broking against the wall. He got up and put his arms on top of Harry's shoulders, the boy tensing.

"She kicked me off the Quidditch team," Harry mumbled. "Me, Ron, Fred and George."

"Oh Harry," Sirius sighed, a part of him angry at the toad for striking at Harry, but most of him was concerned with how hard Harry was taking this news. He had come into the room five minutes ago, stomping and kicking things in frustration, and shouting an explanation that Sirius couldn't completely follow as Harry was too upset to make sense. He had picked up words like, toad, prank, evil bitch … and things of that kind, so he knew what this was about.

"It's not fair Sirius," Harry repeated, though he wasn't shouting anymore, he seemed to be more numb than anything else. "I didn't even pull the prank …"

"You didn't," Sirius was actually surprised to hear that.

"Fred and George did, Ron and I were going to do something different later …" Harry said before balling his fist. "No, we are going to do something!"

"Harry," Sirius sighed again. "I don't think that would be wise."

"She already took away Quidditch, she's trying to get rid of you … what else can she do to me?!" Harry demanded.

"A lot, actually," Sirius answered. "Umbridge is not someone you take on lightly … she's very dangerous and she has no problem hurting people to achieve her goals."

"So you expect me to just sit around … let her take away Quidditch … do nothing," Harry was having trouble making complete sentences again.

"Yes," Sirius answered solemnly, "that's what I'm saying."

"But what about pranking her … getting the better of her … you're just going to let her get away with this?" Harry asked.

"Absolutely not," Sirius said, "but you have to choose where to fight, and I've chosen my battle ground for this."

"And that is?" Harry demanded.

"I'm sorry, Harry, right now I can't help you," Sirius admitted miserably. "I can't reverse her decision to take you off the Quidditch team, I wish I could, but it's not in my power right now. I'm trying to get things changed here … and then maybe …"

Harry closed his eyes; he had hoped that by coming to Sirius that somehow this wouldn't be true. Sirius would have some master plan to make the toad leave forever, and allow Harry to play Quidditch. But Sirius was already on probation …

"I'll make this better, Harry," Sirius said, squeezing his shoulder.

O

Harry got back to the common room a few minutes before curfew. He didn't see where the twins were, although Angela was talking with Alicia and Katie in one of the corners of the room. They had just lost four of their players, and though they already had a back up for all the positions except for one of the beaters there was no time to get a replacement before the break. Harry didn't want to deal with a talk like that; he didn't want to talk at all. He noticed that Ron was sitting with Hermione on the couch, his head resting on her shoulder and he was sure his friend was taking the news just as hard as him.

He climbed up the stairs to his room, and was annoyed when he found Ginny in there having a conversation with Dean. At least they're not snogging, a part of his mind said, but he didn't pay that any attention.

"Harry," Ginny sighed. "Are you okay?"

Harry just looked at her.

"Right, stupid question," Ginny groaned, before she walked over to Harry and gave his arm a supportive squeeze. She then walked over to Dean, kissed his cheek, and said something that Harry couldn't hear.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, nodded towards the door that Ginny just went through, "I didn't mean to make her leave."

"It okay," Dean shrugged. "We were just talking about what happened and she said …" he started to explained, "er … never mind, it's not important."

Harry sighed, pitching the bridge of his nose. He was numb and buzzing with anger all at once and his head was pounding. He really just wanted to lie down in bed. "I'm going to bed."

"Right … goodnight," Dean said awkwardly.

Harry quickly changed and then got into his bed, and was lucky enough to fall asleep soon afterward. However, he wasn't lucky enough to get away from his problems, as he dreamed of mad toads that would croak at him and not let him get near anything he wanted. The toads were getting louder and louder when he got closer to his broom, causing him to cover his ears so he wouldn't …

Everything changed in a flash. He was in a dark corridor, looking for something, but he couldn't get to where he needed to go. There was something in his way, blocking the door he wanted to go through. He could smell it on the air that it was something alive and he wanted to bite it, but it might make too much noise.

Then the things stood, its form simmering into view as a cloth fell to the floor. The man reached for his wand and Harry lunged forward, sinking his teeth into the man's waist.