7 Days Until Christmas Break

Hermione burst out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and ran for the nearest bathroom. Harry, Ron, and Neville followed, knowing they had no chance of catching up. All three winced at the sound of retching coming from inside.

"What are you three doing hanging outside the girl's lavs? Don't you usually barge right in?" Ginny asked when she passed through.

"Can you go in and check on Mione? Something happened in Defence and she's been throwing up since." Harry explained, worry evident on his face.

"Fine." Ginny huffed, secretly happy that Harry was concerned about someone else.

"I'll go tell Aunt Minnie you'll be late." Neville said before turning and jogging down the hall towards Transfiguration. Harry and Ron nodded, waiting for Hermione.

They waited several long seconds before the door opened on the girls' conversation. "...serve it. I'll just do better next time."

"Hermione Jean Granger! You do not deserve a 'T!' You've never deserved a 'T!' This is not your fault!" Ginny ranted. "Now! If you'll excuse me, we'll finish this conversation later! I'm late for Charms!"

"How the hell did you get a 'T,' Mione?" Harry asked, as she stepped between him and Ron.

"I'm not sure. I think it's because I used 'unapproved' research material. Which is to say, I did all my research in the Hogwarts library, which is, apparently, no longer carrying Ministry approved reading material." Hermione rolled her eyes. "I guess I'll just have to do better next time. Add another hour of studying or something."

"When are you going to fit that into your already over packed schedule?" Ron questioned, opening the door to Transfiguration. Hermione just glared at him, unable to answer.


6 Days Until Christmas Break

Hermione found that patrolling in her animagus form was actually an enjoyable way to spend the evening. She understood why Mrs. Norris was so effective at maintaining order for Filch. She stalked through the halls, looking for students breaking the rules. There were so many rules these days that students were afraid to breath loudly.

Hermione's evening was going great… until one Dolores Umbridge found her. At first, Hermione thought she was done, that she was going to Azkaban for breaking the law. Then, she remembered that Dolores Umbridge was a cat person. A very big cat person. And cat people love kittens, which Hermione still was.

"Ooo, who is this little pud-pud?" Umbridge bent over and picked Hermione up. Hermione swiped her claws at her hand, trying to get released. "Ooo, that's enough of that, Pud-pud."

Hermione was helpless against Umbridge. Try as she might, Umbridge was a cat lady, and cat ladies can handle unruly kittens. Hermione accepted her fate for now, and allowed Umbridge to carry her to her office.

"Here we are, Kitty. A bowl of cream. Just for you." Hermione was hesitant to drink anything given to her by the woman, until she remembered that she was a cat. The only thing this crazy lady actually cared for were cats.

Hermione took a tentative lap of cream, then found why most cats adored the stuff. She lapped up the rest of the cream, then mewled for more.

"Oh, how sweet!" Umbridge cooed and Hermione felt the need to vomit. "I'll go get you some more. How does that sound, my sweet?"

Hermione didn't do anything to acknowledge Umbridge, so she left in search of more cream. Hermione didn't question why she didn't summon a house elf and set to work. She was a kitten alone in a room full of Umbridge's scent. So, she did what any kitten would do when abandon in an unfamiliar environment. She trashed the place. Gryffindor fifth year's work was on top, ready to be graded, and Hermione felt that her classmates wouldn't mind taking the hit. She destroyed the house work, clawed up the curtains, and even left a hairball in Umbridge's tea.

When Umbridge returned, Hermione darted from the room as quickly as she could. Umbridge, who was too dignified to run, let her escape, unwitting of what she was returning to. Hermione didn't slow until she was in the secret alcove near the common room that the Marauders had let them know was a great place to shift back.

Hermione found most of the fifth years, boys and girls, huddled around their potions homework in a back corner. She walked over to them and said, "Look, there's something you all need to know."

"What's that, Granger?" Seamus asked, cocking his eyebrow.

"I may have destroyed our Defense homework." She blushed, confessing what she'd done.

"Blimey, how'd you do that?" Ron asked.

"I was picked up by Umbridge on patrols tonight. I destroyed it in a distraction tactic," Hermione continued. "The thing is, she doesn't exactly know it was me."

"Holy Merlin! You-you! Brilliant, Mione! We could really use that!" Harry exclaimed, jumping up and hugging her.

"Um, not tonight we can't. Tonight, we may want to begin reworking that homework assignment. She's going to find a way to blame us anyway." Hermione pulled her Defense book out, as well as several pieces of parchment. "Fortunately, I keep all of my notes for everything. Remember, don't copy, just use them to come to your own conclusions."

That night, the fifth year Gryffindors learned what their fourth year counterparts had been trying to tell them for months. Unity works.


5 Days Until Christmas Break

Harry came awake in the night, terrified. He had been dreaming he was wandering down shelves lined with crystal balls. It was the numb, empty, pointlessness that made him frightened. He was afraid the dream was prophetic, that it meant he was going to pointlessly wander through the rest of his life. Or, at least the rest of the year.

"Harry, mate, y'okay?" Ron asked, voice bleary from sleep.

"Yeah… just, weird dreams, y'know." Harry droned.

"Need a Sleepless Dream Draught?" Ron asked, getting up and digging through his trunk to find some.

Harry readily accepted and slipped back into a, thankfully, dreamless sleep.


4 Days Until Christmas

"So," Draco said walking into potions and sitting next to Harry, after all, they were still partners.

"So," Harry said pulling out the materials for the day's lesson.

"We gonna talk about this?" Draco said, clearing his throat.

"Should we talk about this?" Harry said, scratching his nose.

"Maybe later." They both said at the same time as Snape walked in.


3 Days Until Christmas Break

Nothing happened. Literally. Just a calm before the storm.


2 Days Until Christmas Break

"That's it!" Harry encouraged. "That's the way!"

Harry continued circling the room, correcting everyone's posture, wand movements, and stance. "Every great witch and wizard in history has been right here, learning it all for the first time! If they can do it, so can we!"

Luna's hare was chased through the room by Ron's terrier. There were twins lemurs distracting Ginny and Hermione from getting the hang of their patronuses. Lee let his badger chase Angelina's hawk around the room.

Harry put his hands on Ginny's hips, leaning into her as he whispered in her ear. "Come on' Ginny. I know you have happy memories."

She blushed.

He moved to the next person.

Fred noticed that Hermione was having trouble with her patronus, even after his lemur had disappeared.

"What seems to be the trouble, luv?" Fred came up behind her and kissed her ear.

"I can't." Hermione huffed, wand shooting sparks everywhere.

"Can't what?" Fred asked, wrapping his arms around her.

"Smart girls don't have happy memories." Hermione shrugged her shoulders, making Fred's arms bounce up and down.

"Why now?" Fred asked.

"Take you for instance. Sure, I have happy memories from this summer, but those all end in tears." Hermione explained. "And, of course, I could go with the old cliché of the day that found out about magic. But that ends with me still have no friends for two months. Or, I could think of the future, and how happy that could be; but I'm a muggleborn witch on the wrong side of this war. I'm not guaranteed to survive. So, yeah, happy thoughts are hard."

"That's… detailed." Fred blinked. "Do you want to know my happy thought?"

"Don't see how that's going to help, Peter Pan." Hermione deadpanned.

"I… don't understand that reference." Fred blinked again, constantly caught off guard by this girl. "It's you, by the way. You're my happy thought."

"That's super sweet! But no, that's not going to work for me. I need something different." Hermione patted his arm.

"I don't know how to help you." Fred admitted, kissing her hair.

"You're not alone. What should I do?" Hermione asked, looking up at him.

"Merlin. Gag me." George muttered, passing by them.

"Ignore him. Try this." Fred suggested before pulling her in for a kiss. Hermione melted, just a bit, and let him lead. Finally, they pulled apart. "Just that moment. Nothing before, nothing after. Just that kiss. See if that works."

"No pressure." Hermione smirked. Then, she focused on the moment. "Expecto Patronum!"

A cute, sleek otter slipped out of Hermione's wand and floated across the room. Ron's terrier and Harry's stag joined it on a run around the room.

"Great job, Mione!" Fred cheered, hugging her tight.

"I don't get it. My happy memory is kissing you?" Hermione asked, confused.

"I think your happy memory isn't a memory at all. It's being alive in this moment. Not thinking is your happy thought." Fred explained.

Hermione snickered at him. "You're such a romantic dork, do you know that?"

Fred laughed and unwound himself from her. He pulled out his wand and cast his patronus with her. As his lemur chased her otter, the marvelled at the joy in the room.

Ginny walked over to Harry, pecked him on the cheek, and said, "You were right. We needed some light in these dark times. Good job."

Soon after, the meeting ended and the kids dispersed for supper before end of term parties commenced in the common rooms. Everyone was celebrating their end of term exams ending and the soon to follow break from the insanity that was Dolores Umbridge. After butterbeers were consumed and Weasley prank sweets were displayed, with Hermione's permission, everyone dispersed to their beds.

Harry relaxed his mind, attempting to get some sleep. He didn't think he'd been asleep long when he felt the dreams taking over him, again. He was floating down the shelves again. This time, at least, he felt like he was actually looking for something. As he floated along, he found a door, which surprised him. He'd never found a door before. He didn't really start to panic until he saw Mr. Weasley.

Harry panicked as he found himself floating at Mr. Weasley. Then, he figured out he was on the floor. The floor? Why the floor? He was slithering across the floor, right for Mr. Weasley. He couldn't stop what happened next, no matter how hard he tried. He felt himself lunge at Mr. Weasley's throat and try to tear it out.

"Harry! Mate! Wake up! Wake the hell up!" Ron was shaking his shoulders and the rest of his dorm mates were standing around.

Harry jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room. Ron followed him down the hall without questioning where they were going. They ran fast enough to make it to Professor McGonagall's office without getting caught.

"Aunt Minnie! Aunt Minnie!" Harry shouted, throwing the door open.

"Boys!" She said sitting up from her desk of papers. "What are you doing out of bed."

"I-I think Mr. Weasley is hurt!" Harry said panicked.

"Why would you think this," McGonagall said, cautiously.

"I think I killed him!" Harry announced. "Or at least I dreamed I did."

"Harry, You didn't kill, him," She told him coming from his desk. "Why don't you explain the dream."

"I was somewhere with loads of shelves and I was looking for something. And then I found him and tried to rip his throat out!" Harry explained. "Why aren't you doing anything?"

"Because," she said, grabbing her wand, "We have to go to Dumbledore." She told Harry, pulling him out of the room. "Mr. Weasley, go wake your siblings and meet us at his office. Now." She demanded before leading Harry to the office. "Sherbert Lemon" she told the eagle. It started to move as she pushed Harry up the stairs.

"Ah, Minerva, to what do I owe this late night pleasure?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling.

"Mr Weasley is in danger," She told him. "What we have feared. He was on duty."

Harry blinked, about to demand why they were speaking in code. "Um, excuse me. I don't really care about whatever weird relationship you two have that allows you to have weird mind talking. I want to know what's going on with Mr. Weasley!"

Dumbledore wasn't paying attention to Harry as he turned to one of the portraits on the wall, giving it directions as the Weasley siblings came through the door.

"Harry? What's happened?" Ginny asked, running to Harry. He just opened his arms and wrapped them around her.

"I-I- Your dad." Harry stuttered, avoiding eye contact with Fred and George. He was avoiding eye contact with everyone.

"Mr. Potter, you did the right thing coming to us. The situation is now being handled." Harry's head snapped up to stare at Dumbledore.

Harry couldn't explain the rage that he felt coursing through his veins. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU CARE!? YOU HAVEN'T BEEN INVOLVED IN ANYTHING FOR THE LAST FOUR MONTHS! YOU'RE SINGLE HANDEDLY RESPONSIBLE FOR LETTING THAT WOMAN TERRORIZE THIS SCHOOL! YOU'RE ALBUS FUCKING DUMBLEDORE, SAVIOR OF THE WIZARDING WORLD! WHY THE HELL HAVEN'T YOU PUT AN END TO ALL OF THIS?!"

"Harry," Ginny said, pushing him away from Dumbledore, her hands on his chest. "Yelling isn't going to fix the past."

"Mrs. Weasley is right," McGonagall said, looking at the children in the room. "We need to get you all home. Albus, set up a portkey while I escort the children to their dormitory to gather their things. I'm sure they will want to see their father as soon as they can. Molly needs to be informed of this if she hasn't already."

Harry was never sure what happened over the course of the next few minutes. Trunks were packed and shrunk to fit in pockets. Ginny, being Ginny Weasley, put a silencing charm on her room to keep from waking her roommates. She was in and out faster than the boys, mostly because she knew where her things. Then, she went back to trying to calm Harry down.

The group rushed back to Dumbledore's office, where they put their hands on a small ratty shoe and were transported to Grimmauld Place where Hestia and Sirius were waiting for the children.

"Where's our mum?" George demanded, putting down his things.

"She's with your father at St. Mungo's," Hestia said, pouring some fresh tea.

Sirius stood up from the table and went over to Harry. "We have work to do." He said in the most serious tone Harry had ever heard.

Harry could only nod as Sirius left the room, he knew he was to follow him. Harry turned to Ginny and kissed her quickly. "It will be alright." He told her pulling her into a hug before leaving her to go with his Godfather.

"What's this about?" Harry asked.

"You, apparently, inherited your father's ability to suck at Occlumency." Sirius explained. "Like I said, we have work to do."


Kat: So, 13 reviews in less than 24 hours for this update! We knew you could do it!

Gabs: Thank you so much! We love all of you! (Also, we wrote this a/n after 24 hours).

Kat: Here is the chapter as promised. We will have our regular update on Saturday. Perhaps if we keep getting a good turn out with comments we'll send out sippets to our reviewers.

Gabs: The weekly updates combined with our schedules have not been conducive to sending out the snippets. We'd apologize about that, but we're too tired.

Kat: So, with that, we own nothing. Comment!

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Gabs & Kat