Previously on Defiance...

Sirius had named his animagus form as Shadow, quite appropriate given how Harry had become quite accomplished at staying out of people's notices and his animagus form shared similar characteristics. Harry let out a neigh and then transformed back.

Three seconds.

Damn, still need to work on the timing.

Two days later...

An extract from the Daily Prophet...

MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM: DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST-EVER "HIGH INQUISITOR"

In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"The Minister has been growing uneasy about goings-on at Hogwarts for some time," said Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley. "He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve."

This is not the first time in recent weeks Fudge has used new laws to effect improvements at the wizarding school. As recently as August 30th Educational Decree Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person.

"That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts," said Weasley last night. "Dumbledore couldn't find anyone, so the Minister put in Umbridge and of course, she's been an immediate success, totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts.'

It is this last function that the Ministry has now formalized with the passing of Educational Decree Twenty-three, which creates the new position of 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor.'

"This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the 'falling standards' at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. "The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, and we are delighted to say that she has accepted."

The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students at Hogwarts.

"I feel much easier in my mind now that I know that Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation," said Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking from his Wiltshire mansion last night. "Many of us with our children's best interests at heart have been concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions in the last few years and will be glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation."

Among those 'eccentric decisions' are undoubtedly the controversial staff appointments previously described in this newspaper, which have included the hiring of werewolf Remus Lupin, half giant Rubeus Hagrid, and delusional ex-Auror 'Mad-Eye' Moody. Rumors abound, of course, that Albus Dumbledore, once Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, is no longer up to the task of managing the prestigious school of Hogwarts.

"I think the appointment of the Inquisitor is a first step toward ensuring that Hogwarts has a headmaster in whom we can all repose confidence," said a Ministry insider last night.

Wizengamot elders Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden have resigned in protest at the introduction of the post of Inquisitor to Hogwarts. "Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office," said Madam Marchbanks. "This is a further disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore."

(For a full account of Madam Marchbanks' alleged links to subversive goblin groups, turn to page 17).

Percival 'Percy' Weasley, junior assistant to the Minister of magic, folded the newspaper and kept it gently on the newspaper table. Sipping a mug of hot tea (which was too bland for his tastes, but if the minister liked it, he had to like it), he looked up at his senior and Boss, the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge who seemed to pore over some of the old and frail-looking documents he had ordered from the Ministry archives. They were the original contracts behind the creation of Hogwarts, a time when the Ministry of Magic had not come into existence. The more he read it, the more his mood turned bitter. Percy could not help but wonder if the Minister would turn into a fire-breathing lizard if he continued reading whatever it was he was reading.

"Might I be of some help, Minister?" He offered.

Cornelius shot him an instant filthy look, an expression which softened nearly instantaneously as his mind registered Percy's words. His facial expressions changed into those of a tired, old man, fighting single-handedly against the evils of the world as he expressed. "I have been trying to ensure that Hogwarts could be turned into a Ministry-run school, instead of the private funding that it has been receiving all this while. Unfortunately, it does not seem possible."

"Why?" Privately, Percy did not think it was a great idea. The Ministry-run schools were, in a way of talking, more like dummies than actual schools. Then again, given the falling standards of teachers at Hogwarts, it did not seem to make a difference. His years learning under Snape and Binns came to mind. He wondered if Umbridge was any good, since the woman could hardly tell one end of her wand from another. At least, she was a Fudge loyalist and that was the true intention behind sending her. A part of him could not help but think about his brothers- he might have condemned them for the sake of his aspirations, but blood was blood. It was a shame his father did not see it from his point of view. The last he had heard, he had moved in with the entire family to live with Dumbledore's secret brood, whatever it might be.

His thoughts went back to his brothers. Bill and Charlie were out of question, since both were working and were out of the Ministry's control or influence, what with Bill working with goblins and Charlie with the Dragon Reserve. No, he was more concerned about his brother in school- not the twins, the two demon-spawns were enough to support each other and bear any harm. He privately prayed that Umbridge would not have the unfortunate desire to be on their bad books—the twins could be rather ruthless in their pranking. No, Percy's immediate concern was his youngest brother, Ron.

Percy was not a bad person, or at least he did not consider himself as one. He always knew what he wanted to do in life. He had had big grades, followed by the Prefect position and had bagged the Head boy job, and he had worked tremendously hard to acquire it. In the deepest portions of his heart, he knew that he did not want to grow up to become a paper-pusher, but had wanted to try for some research job with the Unspeakables. Unfortunately, he had to leave his dream behind, since trying for a job at the Department of Mysteries involved having a number of years of work experience first. Hence, when he had been offered the job as Barty Crouch's secretary, he had immediately leapt at it. The job was good, and Percy was a hard-worker. The Hat had after all, told him that Hufflepuff was a good choice for him.

He furrowed his forehead as he remembered the devastation he had participated in the previous year. While everything had been hushed up very quickly, Percy had quickly figured it all out. Apparently, it was not Crouch he was working for- but his Azkaban-returned, insane-crackpot of a son. Barty Crouch junior.

Ever since that revelation, he had decided that he was a danger—his aspirations were a danger to his family. Therefore, he had gone forward and done the thing he could do- break all ties with his family. While it had seemed that he was blood-traitor, he knew better. By siding with Fudge, he had rendered his family immune from Fudge's wrath. Now with the hag being at Hogwarts, there was only one person left to save.

Ron.

I need to do something about it.

"The founders were very serious about Hogwarts being sovereign and out of the influence of the nobility and the Lord's gathering- the legislative body that preceded the Wizengamot." Fudge remarked with disdain, "—and have established certain... protections should the nobility try to seize it. For all intents and purposes, the Headmaster is the Lord and master of the castle."

"So you need to push Albus Dumbledore out of the Headmaster's job?" Percy urged. Privately, he wondered if that was even possible. The positions of the Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump were one thing, but this...

"It's just not that, Weasley," Fudge confessed, "-only the Headmaster has the right to select his successor, irrespective of the Ministry's wishes. Even if I were to say, pull a few favors and push Dumbledore out of the post, I wouldn't be able to get control of the castle."

Interesting.

"I'm sure you could put him out and plant Madam Umbridge in his place." Percy quipped. Flattery would take you everywhere, he mused. To his surprise, Cornelius shook his head gravely.

"Not possible, Weasley." He sighed. "Even if Dolores could be moved to the Headmaster's position, it wouldn't be in accordance to the Hogwarts' constitution and hence, the ownership of the wards of the school would remain with Dumbledore instead of Dolores."

Assuming she has the ability to understand how wards work, of course. Percy thought.

"What do you suggest, Minister?"

"We will, of course, try our best to remove Dumbledore off from the Headmaster's post. Wards or not, I will not allow the old, deceitful manipulator to stay in control and influence the heirs of our noble families who go there to acquire their education."

Too right.

Percy thought it was the pot calling the kettle black.

"Whatever you say, Minister. I am sure Madam Umbridge will be a great asset to our cause." He got up, "By your leave?"

Cornelius jerked his head. Sighing, Percy left the room, his mind busy framing letter he needed to send to his youngest brother.

Meanwhile at Hogwarts...

"Please come in," Dolores welcomed in her sickly-sweet voice, "—and take a seat."

Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger stood where they were, their minds giving them alarm signals that perhaps, they had gotten off biting more than they could chew. The DADA instructor, who had been offered the post of 'High-instructor' that very morning, now held a more-powerful position than any of the other professors in the school. Personally, Hermione thought it to be barbaric and completely unprofessional. Ron had similar views but not because he agreed with Hermione, but because he simply hated the old hag.

The office was... wait; this was an office of a Professor? It looked like the room of a five-year-old snotty little girl obsessed with kittens and the color pink. The surfaces had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large Technicolor kitten wearing a different bow around its neck.

It was... awful.

Dolores Umbridge walked behind her desk and relaxed into her chair. She was wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blended very well with the tablecloth on the desk in front of her.

"Now, you too have been the main culprits responsible for the chaos in my classes ever since Day One. While punishments cannot be alternated to suit the guilty one's convenience, I do want to make amends to our already degraded teacher-student relationship and start again."

Hermione and Ron looked at her wide-eyed. This... hag wanted to make amends? Had Harry's banishing spell hit her too hard on the head?

"Would you like some tea? Perhaps with some treacle-tart? I assure you that this will be a very long discussion. I do intend to understand why you are being so unruly in my class, while Mister Potter, who was the original perpetrator behind the lies about a certain dark wizard's return, is staying mightily quiet? It seems that even he understands that the Ministry of Magic cannot be fooled, Boy-who-lived or not. Forgive me, but I fail to understand why the two of you are so insistent in putting your heads on the guillotine."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other, and then back at the despicable woman.

"So... Tea?"

The next morning, a large sign had been affixed to the Gryffindor notice board, so large that it covered everything else on there. The lists of secondhand spell books for sale, the regular reminders of school rules from Argus Filch, the Quidditch team training schedule, the offers to barter certain Chocolate Frog cards for others, the Weasleys' new advertisement for testers, the dates of the Hogsmeade weekends, and the lost-and-found notices- all of them went covered by the large banner. The new sign was printed in large black letters and there was a highly official-looking seal at the bottom beside a neat and curly signature.

BY ORDER OF

THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS

All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.

Hermione was reading the notice at a frighteningly slow pace, almost as if she was trying to decipher any traces of doublespeak in it. For some reason, her head was aching, and it had been aching ever since she had woken up in the morning. The previous night, she had been to detention with Ron to Madam Umbridge's quarters where the despicable hag had tried her best to convert them to her side of the fight. They had explained her how Harry and Dumbledore were indeed telling the truth, and despite everything, the woman refused to take their words as the truth. Instead, she had given them punishment- Writing lines using a special set of quills she had procured. Hermione had not thought much about it but no sooner had she started to write, the upper surface of her palm began to itch and turn red. The more she wrote, the more it itched, and by the time, she had written the lines - 'I must not tell lies' twenty times, her hand was bleeding profusely. There on the surface of her palm, the same line was itched, as if someone had etched it using a blunt dagger. It had pained a lot, but she had vehemently disagreed her proposal to side with her against Harry and Dumbledore. Harry might have been behaving like a bastard recently, but she could not just betray him and Dumbledore to the Ministry, when she knew very well that they were telling the truth.

Hermione rubbed her forehead. The happiness she had felt about having a proper teacher for DADA (despite Harry's clauses and his changed behavior) suddenly vanished as she felt anger trickling down her spine.

"This isn't a coincidence," she said, her hands forming fists. "She knows."

"She can't," said Ron at once. "We never mentioned it publicly to anyone, except those who had signed the parchment. She couldn't have known it."

It was the truth. Hermione, Ron, the twins and a large group of students from all houses excluding Slytherin (a group of twenty-eight students to be exact) had met at the Hog's Head three days ago. They had taken advantage of the fact that Umbridge was in the hospital and had had a secret meeting about the secret defense group they wanted for their own. It had been, well, almost, a success.

Three days earlier...

"So who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" Harry asked, wrenching open the rusty top of his butterbeer and taking a swig. While he would have liked nothing better than to stay ten-feet away from Granger and Weasley, Sirius had convinced him that it would only bring more of Dumbledore's attention on him. Sirius had been especially indignant when Harry had revealed to him how his two best friends had betrayed him to Dumbledore, and had advised him to actually use it all for his own benefit. That was why he had done a good job of keeping his head down and continuing her own practice, and let Hermione and Ron attract Umbridge's attention to them while Harry could prank the woman to next week and back, just as he had.

Misdirection. The difference between a good prank and an awesome prank.

"Just a couple of people," Hermione repeated, checking her watch and then looking anxiously toward the door. "I told them to be here about now and I'm sure they all know where it is — oh look, this might be them now —"

The door of the pub had opened. A thick band of dusty sunlight split the room in two for a moment and then vanished, blocked by the incoming rush of a crowd of people. First came Neville with Dean and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with Cho and one of her usually giggling girlfriends, then (on her own and looking so dreamy that she might have walked in by accident) Luna Lovegood. Then Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson walked in, followed by Colin and Dennis Creevey, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones and two Hufflepuff girls Harry did not know. Three Ravenclaw boys-Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot then came in while Ginny came in last with Fred and George Weasley with their friend Lee Jordan, all three of whom were carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko's merchandise.

"A couple of people?" said Harry hoarsely to Hermione. "A couple of people?" Inwardly, he could not help but feel pleased at the number of people who would be oath-bound not to fight him for any cause in the future.

"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione happily. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?" Ron looked quite bemused, and went outside to ask for some more chairs to be sent in.

The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked as though it had never been washed. Possibly, he had never seen his pub so full.

"Hi," said Fred, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly. "Could we have . . . twenty-eight butterbeers, please?"

The barman glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably as though he had been interrupted in something very important, he started passing up dusty butterbeers from under the bar.

"Cheers," said Fred, handing them out. "Cough up, everyone; I haven't got enough gold for all of these..." everyone contributed some sickles for the miniature party that seemed to be starting soon.

Harry watched calmly as the large chattering group took their beers from Fred and rummaged in their robes to find coins. A horrible thought occurred to him that they might be expecting some kind of speech, at which he rounded on Hermione. He might be powerful and skilled, but he was not one for speeches.

"What have you been telling people?" he hissed. "What are they expecting?"

"I didn't tell them anything." Hermione snapped back. "They found me. The news about you offering tutoring in return of oaths was popular enough without me having to poke around it." Harry continued to look at her so furiously that she added quickly, "You don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first."

He glanced at everyone present there. Cho wasn't looking at him as if he was eye-candy (at least for the moment) and ignoring the giggling girls and the couple of whispers, the audience looked fairly sharp and willing to hear him speak.

"Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. "Well — erm — hi." The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to dart back regularly to Harry.

"Well... erm... well, you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here had the idea, I mean-"

Harry had thrown her a sharp look. Hermione instantly backpedaled, "I mean, I had the idea, that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense against the Dark Arts — and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us." Hermione's voice became suddenly much stronger and more confident — "because nobody could call that Defense against the Dark Arts."

"Hear, hear," said Anthony Goldstein, and Hermione looked heartened — "well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands." She paused, looked sideways at Harry, and went on, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells —"

"You want to pass your Defense against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said Michael Corner.

"Right," Hermione agreed, "and then I found that a lot of people from other houses were wanting the same-"

"Don't forget your own, Hermione-" Angelina quipped.

"Right, err-", Hermione looked flustered for a moment, "All Houses excluding Slytherin that is-" she continued (ignoring the 'dark scum' comment by Ron) and gained her confidence back soon enough. "Because all of us share this problem of a lack of a proper teacher and since everyone wanted Harry to teach them-"

"In return of an oath, I concur-" Terry remarked. Harry nodded and stood up, making Hermione automatically shut up as she sat down next to Ron. He cleared his throat. "Okay, guys see—there is this thing I want to tell you, if everyone is willing to listen."

Pin drop silence pervaded as every eye turned to Harry.

"I am not here to try to convince you that Voldemort-" he couldn't help but feel amused at the flinching all around him- "—is back and all, since I have learnt it from the best that the magical population of Wizarding Britain like to put their heads underneath the sand and wish for the danger to get mitigated on its own. I have seen you all and that includes Gryffindors-" he gave a passing glance to Ron and Hermione, "-glorifying in my glory whenever there was one. I have seen my friends yell out in joy when I caught the snitch, winning the Quidditch matches for Gryffindor, but that did not stop them for treating me badly and accusing me to be responsible for the attacks on people in my second year." The Gryffindors looked down in shame while the other houses passed each other worried glances. Harry continued, "I have never once even boasted or used the tag-' Boy-who-lived' to describe myself or glorify myself, because all I have ever wanted to be was normal. In fact, as of right now-" he could not help but smirk a little, as he raised his right fist, "-I am presently the Lord of the Ancient and Noble Houses of Potter and Black."

A rush of whispers succeeded his statement, as everyone looked at each other excitedly. "As per to Gringotts' statements. I am at present one of the richest wizards in Magical Europe, much richer than Malfoy I may add, but you don't see me strutting around as if I own the place like a peacock, do you?"

Everyone fell down silent.

"All these years at Hogwarts, I have been glorified one week and vilified the next. You people stood up to enjoy the glory of being associated with the boy-who-lived, yet it did not stop you from vilifying me as the heir of Slytherin and accuse me of cheating in the Triwizard Tournament." Ron felt his cheeks redden in embarrassment, as Harry continued, "I lost my parents to the dark bastard, and yet here I, have to suffer the taunts of the wizarding populous, calling me delusional and a liar."

Pause. Everyone waited with baited breath for his next words.

"Since we have already established that you all cannot be trusted, especially when it comes to me," Harry paused, feeling a tad amused at the guilty faces in front of him- "there is absolutely no reason for me to teach you anything."

Silence.

One.

Two.

Three.

Then the pandemonium began. Harry raised his wand and fired up a spell that resounded like a cannon ball. It was a good thing he had cast privacy and silencing wards around the place, he mused. "That brings us to the topic of concern, the OWL exams."

Silence again, as the students felt a little hope stir in them.

"I am not like you guys, and hence I will not look down on someone that needs my help, but given how you all have betrayed me in the past, it is crucial that I take steps to protect myself. Self-preservation, as Katie had beautifully construed the previous day." Said girl blushed and nodded.

"Hence, the oath of détente. You shall not fight me, and I shall not fight you. Plain and simple. I do not want to try to control you, nor try to restrain you. However, in all frankness, let us assume that someone of you join forces against me in the future. Wouldn't it be a folly on my part to raise my own enemy?"

Every single person nodded.

"That goes with it. You learn from me, you swear never to attack me. This doesn't prevent you for casting spells on me for unless you mean to harm me, you can duel with me during the training for all you want."

Silence.

"Well that was it, thank you." Harry stepped back to his seat, while Hermione took the stage again. "Well that was a very illuminating talk, Harry," she glanced at her best friend as she turned back towards the rest of the audience, ""We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione, "is that she's got some... some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."

"Are you?" Zacharias Smith questioned.

"Of course," Ginny answered for Hermione, "after all, the junior students of Hogwarts are known world-wide for their battling skills. Why, I do believe there was a world war or two in which a fifth-year Hufflepuff fought several hundred dark wizards on his own."

Everyone chuckled while Zacharias looked mollified.

"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere—a place where we can all meet," said Hermione. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting." She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, and then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.

"I-I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," She took a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge — or anybody else — what we're up to."

Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully put down his signature, but Harry noticed at once that several people looked less than happy at the prospect of putting their names on the list. When the last person — Zacharias — had signed, Hermione took the parchment back and slipped it carefully into her bag. There was an odd feeling in the group now. It was as though they had just signed some kind of contract.

Back to the present...

Hermione quickly shook her head off the past incidents, swearing that there was no way the charms on the parchment had failed to work. Someone knew about the group and had notified about it to Umbridge, it would only be a matter of time before the perpetrator would be caught.