October 1995
The only balm to Educational Decree Number 24 was Severus Snape. Specifically, Umbridge's review of his fifth year Potions class.
"Hem, hem." She started, and everyone knew where they were going. "Please remind me, you applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position originally?"
"Yes." Snape said through gritted teeth.
"But you were unsuccessful?" Umbridge asked with a smirk.
"Obviously." Snape drawled as if she were slower and more incompetent than Longbottom.
"I see." Umbridge said, making a note of something on her clipboard.
"If all you are here to do, Professor," Snape continued pulling the words out. "Is to interrupt, then I suggest you leave."
Umbridge huffed at that, then collected her things and left. Ron couldn't hold his snickers in any longer, and Snape smacked him over the head for it.
"Totally worth it." Ron continued snickering under his breath.
"I have to reform the Quidditch team because of you!" Angelina ranted at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "It's a good thing I tried all of the positions out, because that's what's going to get us our slot back. We'll be lucky if she doesn't choose to shut just our house down! She was a Slytherin in her day, y'know! She's got the ability to take out her house's rival!"
"Thanks for the update." Harry groused, not really wanting to get chewed out for something that wasn't his fault.
"It was my fault, Angelina." Hermione said contritely. "I badgered him. I knew the risks and still made the gamble."
"Who's gambling?" George asked, walking up behind the group. "Granger, were you the one gambling?"
"It's about the Quidditch team!" Angelina shouted, throwing her hands in the air in frustration.
"Hermione's gambling on the Quidditch team? That doesn't sound right." Fred commented, leaning on George's shoulder.
"Gah!" Angelina screamed as Lee joined the group, noticing that Angelina look irritated with the twins.
"Whatever you did, apologize." Lee demanded, pointing at the twins.
"Oi, mate!" They exclaimed. "You're supposed to be on our side!"
"No. I don't want to hear it out of you two. I'm smarter than Freddie. I know not to piss off my girl." Lee said, slinging his arm around Angelina's neck. Angelina whipped her head around and glared at him as she shrugged the offending arm off.
"That doesn't give you the right to act like an ass." She retorted.
"Yes, dear." Lee said, looking the picture of innocence.
"That's exactly what I mean!" She shouted before storming away.
"What! I agreed with you! How am I in trouble for agreeing with you?!" Lee asked, following her. She mustn't have been as upset as she let on, because Lee followed her up the stairs to the boys' dorms.
"Those two are in it for the long haul." George commented, staring at the staircase.
"You're not wrong." Fred agreed, nodding along. He shook himself out of his thoughts and handed a notebook to Hermione. "Could you, please, go through these? We promise we won't test on first years again."
"Like I've never heard that before." Hermione muttered, and Fred winced. Then she turned and smiled sweetly at him. "Sure. I'll look it over. Just hand it here and I'll add it to the pile of other things I have to do. I'm sure I can fit it in between extra classes, OWLs preparation, and the enormous amount of homework we have to do."
"Just whenever you have time. No rush, no rush at all." George soothed.
"Unless you want to sell to third years and younger before Christmas." Hermione reminded him. "Given your current rate of production, you should have listened the first time I said no testing on firsties."
"What does that mean?" George asked, cocking an eyebrow at the witch.
"It means we don't make the potions fast enough. We need to double and triple batches. We have to increase efficiency." Fred said, smacking his head with his fist. "I've told you that a million times!"
"Okay, fine, we'll increase the batch. I'll work up the originals for quadruple batches and have them ready for Hermione to check over at breakfast." George shrugged, turning towards the boys' stairs. Then, he remembered that Lee and Angelina were upstairs and he didn't want to walk in on whatever they were doing. "Later, I'll do that later. After they've emerged."
"That sounds like a great plan. Have them ready at breakfast. I won't be in for lunch. Too much studying to do." Hermione said, turning back to her work.
"Excuse me! How old are you?" Hermione heard Pansy screech from the fourth floor bathroom. Then, the bathroom door opened and a second year was thrown out. "You are not old enough to be in here. Come back when you have no other options!"
"Pansy, what was that about?" Hermione asked, staring at the poor, baby Ravenclaw on the ground.
"She's not old enough. None of us are. And we're too old. We're old enough to know better and too young to be this unsupervised for ten months out of the year!" Pansy ranted.
"Um, let's take this in the bathroom, yeah?" Hermione said, looking up and down the halls for signs that they were making a scene.
"Fine!" Pansy sighed loudly and at length. Hermione just led the exasperated girl into the bathroom, nodding her agreement. She missed Ginny staring at her from the corner, shocked and slightly exasperated at what she was seeing.
"Look, we have to do something." Ron commented, staring the Black Lake. He, Draco, and Neville were enjoying the last vestiges of heat before the Scottish winter sat in.
"What do you suggest, then?" Draco asked sassily.
"I don't know! I just know we have to do something!" Ron shouted.
"Oh, thanks. What would we do without your mastermind around?" Draco asked with a roll of his eyes.
"Well, flying is out for sure." Draco commented. "New educational decree and all."
"And even without it, we wouldn't want to risk the Boy Who Lived jumping from it, would we?" Neville added.
"D'you think Hagrid would let us blow shit up in the Forbidden Forest?" Ron asked.
"That all depends on if he ever gets back from the shady secret mission of his." Draco huffed in irritation.
"You know who that leaves, don't you?" Neville asked.
"No. I'm not driving her into his arms over this." Draco disagreed heartily.
"It's for the greater good! It's for your damn sanity!" Ron argued. "The whole world doesn't revolve around your stupid love triangle with my little sister and that wanker!"
"Hush! Shut up! Here he comes!" Neville started furiously whispering.
"And what are you three up to?" Harry asked moodily.
"Nothing, mate." Ron answered.
"Oh, great. You three are talking about me behind my back too. That officially makes the whole damn school." Harry bit out before stomping away.
"Bet he's going to talk to that owl again." Draco commented, watching Harry act like an ass.
"So, we agree, then." Neville ignored him. "We need Ginny."
"Dammit, we do." Ron agreed.
"So, how are classes going?" Neville asked, ruffling Marly's hair.
"Wonderful. Just wonderful. You were right, DADA is shit." Marly said, smiling at her big brother.
"I told you. You'd have done better to stay home. Get homeschooled. Especially this year." Neville told her, hugging her close.
"Quit it. This behavior is what got Ginny in trouble first year." Marly said, trying to escape Neville's embrace.
"Naw, she got in trouble because of Harry and Draco-"
"The wankers." Marly cut in, causing Neville to laugh at her.
"Yeah, well those wankers ruined her life, not me. And definitely not her brothers." Neville said sassily.
"That's also true." Marly agreed as Neville smiled at her. "You should still learn to listen to me. You might learn a thing or two." Marly sniffed primly.
"Oh yeah," Neville chuckled. "Like what?"
"Like how the fourth years are beating the DADA system." Marly scoffed as Neville stared at her.
The fourth year students were almost caught up in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Almost. The fact that they had banded together had slowly passed through the school, leaving even some of the teachers in awe of the plan. When Flitwick applauded their class for getting high marks was when Ginny knew they had to handle the situation with caution.
So when the moment for Umbridge to walk in on their study session came, none of them blinked an eye. In fact, they purposely ignored her fake cough until Unbridge was forced to use her wand to make a noise to get their attention.
"Something we can help you with, Professor?" Ginny asked, putting her quill down, staring her in the eye.
"All student organizations must be approved by the High Inquisitor," Umbridge said looking around the room. "So, deten-"
"This isn't a student organization," Ginny said, standing up. She was a full head taller than Umbridge as she looked down at her. "This is simply a room in the library where the fourth year students are studying. Isn't that what you want from us, Professor? Even if it was an organization, are you saying that there is an issue with the entire fourth year being ahead in your class, as well as making high marks in all other key subjects?"
"Miss. Weasley" Umbridge started.
"There are no wands out and no one is disrupting the flow or the environment of the library, except for maybe you, who does have a wand out and made a startling noise that almost made me smudge on my potions essay."
"This is an act of defiance," Umbridge said, looking at Astoria Greengrass. "Miss. Greengrass, wouldn't you agree?"
"Would the Slytherin house really be here if it was against the rules?" She said, with a small smile. "Ginny is right. Afterall, you are the one who spoke of wizard unity."
Ginny had never want to kiss a girl before until that moment.
"You little," Umbridge took a hold of Ginny's arm before a voice came from behind them.
"Dolores," McGonagall said with a sharp tone. "I suggest you take your hands off of Miss. Weasley. We do not use physical punishment at Hogwarts. However, I already know you have forgotten that rule." Umbridge let go of her and Ginny took her seat, trying to hide a smile. "Ten points to Gryffindor and Slytherin for the strangest display of wizard unity I have ever seen," Mcgonagall said before staring down at Umbridge. "I suggest you leave our students to their studies."
Umbridge huffed out of the library as McGonagall stared at the fourth year students. With a small wink, she departed.
Harry knew he needed to get his shit together. When Minerva McGonagall decided she was done, he knew he had to change something. He just didn't know how to do it. He had, according to Ron and Neville, 'brooded all over the castle like a damn poltergeist.' Harry thought that was a bit harsh, but that seemed to the theme of fifth year. A bit harsh.
Harry continued stalking the halls, even though it was past curfew and getting caught would mean another horrid detention with that awful woman. Not that he really minded the detentions; the pain let him know he was alive. Now that was a depressing thought.
Just them, Peeves snuck up on him, ready to drop a bucket of jelly on whoever was out this late. When Harry whipped around and glared at him, Peeves just said, "Oh, it's you, Potter. Nevermind, it's not worth it."
That was the moment that Harry knew he needed to get his shit together.
Ginny was about to do something she had never done before: Enter the dreaded fourth floor girls' lavs. She had to rescue Hermione from the Imperious Curse. There was no other reason that she would be in that particular bathroom, especially right after supper. So, she did it, she stormed the gates.
"Oh, great, Weasley. Get out, you're too thin already." Pansy said with a roll of her eyes.
"Granger, get out here. You're redhead is putting off the mood with her judgy glare." Daphne added.
Ginny cringed when she heard a toilet flush and saw Hermione emerge from the stall, wiping her mouth.
"What are you doing here, Ginny?" Hermione asked, washing her hands.
"We need to talk." Ginny demanded.
Gabs: Be happy this got done.
Kat: Yes, it's been a very busy week...for Gabs. I just distracted her.
Gabs: That's about accurate. Can't get much done with you wanting to shop all the time.
Kat: Yes, that's true. Thanks for the reviews last chapter. We love reading them!
Gabs: We will do everything in our power to get next week's chapter out, but we have some plans so don't hate us if that doesn't happen. We own nothing. Thanks, HuffPride, for the birthday wishes!
Kat: Yeah especially since I have a nasty sinus infection. Sorry for the typos…
Happy New Year! XOXO
Gab & Kat
