Playing on the Harry Potter beach here. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling who gave us a great hero with wonderful adventures. This sandcastle will disappear with the tide and make way for the next fun story someone else shares.

Horcruxes Aplenty

Harry learns that Horcruxes don't work as advertised. They work but not in the manner contemporary wizards think. His fifth year at Hogwarts is complicated by Horcruxes, visitors, pink toads, and headmasters with their own agendas.

Change SCENE && August Arguments

After the Dark Lord's resurrection, the previous June – where Cedric Diggory was murdered in front of Harry – he'd been confined to the prison with his relatives in muggle land for almost the entire summer. He'd barely been fed, worked to all hours, but not beaten for once. He'd had a quiet night as the Dursleys had gone to a neighbor's house. Then Dementors showed up and kissed Dudley, Aunt Petunia, Vernon, and Vernon's sister, Marge as they walked home from dinner at No.12.

There'd been lots of screaming on Privet Drive and there were seven dead muggles lying on the street – one being Mrs. Figg from one street over. Harry was locked in his bedroom and only heard the screaming, police sirens, and shouting until he was freed by Auror Shacklebolt and Auror Tonks once the muggle police removed the bodies.

"What happened?" Harry insisted on knowing but both law enforcement officers from Magical Britain refused to explain as they shrank Harry's trunk and used a port key to take him to the ministry for Magic for a short time to take his statement. Then they took him via apparition to a dirty street in London, showed him a slip of paper, and then led him inside No.12 Grimmauld Place where his godfather and sometimes friends were hiding from the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters.

It took two days for someone to get around to telling Harry what happened to the Dursleys, Mrs. Figg, and two other teenage boys. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat at the kitchen table with Harry alone to share the news with him. But after Mr. Weasley explained about the deaths of his relatives and neighbors, Harry shook his head and asked, "Why are you trying to hide this from me? I'm sorry they're dead but we hated each other."

"What do you mean, Harry?" asked Mrs. Weasley before the young wizard explained the real history of his childhood at No.4 Privet Drive. Mr. Weasley muttered about resurrection and killing the Dursley family a second time. Mrs. Weasley immediately planned to brew some restorative potions for Harry, and she intended to have words with Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Pomphrey about their lackadaisical care for the boy-who-lived.

"Poppy probably has the potions on hand," Arthur told his wife who shook her head.

"My brewing is just as good as Professor Snapes," Molly reminded her husband.

"I'd rather have Mrs. Weasley's brews," Harry admitted. "Snape hates me because of my father and Sirius."

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley exchanged a glance that told Harry there was another story as well. But for now, he wanted more information about the magical death of his relatives by magic. He pressed, "Who killed them? Was it Death Eaters?"

"It was Dementors what kissed your relatives and the others," Molly explained. "Mundungus Fletcher was supposed to be guarding the house, but he was drunk. The screams woke him from a drunken stupor in time to see Dementors on the street. The muggles were terrified by something they could feel but not see."

"Then Dora Tonks apparated into the street and fired off her Patronus to drive them away but the muggles were all dead," Arthur said.

"So why did I get a summons?" asked Harry. "It wasn't me violating the Statute of Secrecy."

"Director Bones knows that and pitched a fit with a woman at the ministry and with the minister. Another witch, Dolores Umbridge, is under investigation as possibly trying to assassinate you with Dementors."

Harry stared quietly and shook his head while Mrs. Weasley hugged him again.

"She's a weak witch and can't swat a fly," Arthur said. Holding up another ministry envelope, he continued, "This letter exonerates you completely."

Harry felt strange the entire time he was at Grimmauld Place – Sirius was weird, Remus was quiet and didn't talk. Ron was lazy and kept badgering Harry and Hermione to do his summer schoolwork, and Hermione kept after Harry to talk about his feelings. That led to several blow-ups between the friends with Harry loudly wondering why Hermione was worried suddenly about his feelings when she couldn't be bothered to write the whole of the summer?

"And do you want to know about my feelings when I saw Cedric die? Or when Peter Pettigrew cut off his hand? How about when Voldie-shorts tripped falling out of the cauldron? Maybe about my relatives having their souls sucked out of their muggle bodies by Dementors!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Harry, I just think you need to talk about your feelings," Hermione replied. "Dumbledore thinks…"

Ron snickered and asked, "Did Voldie-rot really trip getting out of the cauldron?"

"How about we write to your parents and ask how they feel about you leaving? After what was it – one afternoon and night followed by a quick breakfast the next morning? Then you disappeared again and didn't send any letters the whole of the summer!"

"Leave my family out of this Harry!" Hermione ordered in her most imperious voice.

"Why? You want me to talk about my dead family. How do you know the ministry didn't send Dementors to Crawley looking for you before me?"

The look of horror on Hermione's face was terrible and the young witch suddenly could imagine that her parents had been kissed without anyone in the magical world paying any attention. The adults in the household chided all three teenagers and Remus Lupin took Hermione's letter to her parents to Diagon Alley for an owl to deliver it rather than sending it in the muggle post. There wasn't any answer and a frantic Hermione begged someone to take her home to visit with her parents.

Upon arrival in Crawley with Remus Lupin, Hermione rushed into the house where she found her parents grateful to see her but extremely angry as well. There was a loud argument and gunshots fired by Mr. Granger. The wizard retreated and the Grangers attempted to flee with their daughter, but Alastor Moody and Auror Shacklebolt caught up with the Grangers before they reached the Chunnel. The parents were obliviated and sent back to Crawley. Traumatized Hermione was forced back to Grimmauld Place where Mrs. Weasley fed her a calming potion and then a dreamless sleep potion, expecting the simple muggle-born witch to be recovered by breakfast.

The next day as the teenagers came down the stairs for lunch, Hermione begged Harry to forgive her thoughtlessness. She pleaded, "None of the adults here care about my parents. My mum and dad have been frantic the whole summer. Someone keeps interfering with their subscription to the Daily Prophet. The house has been robbed several times during the day and there's no one who will help them."

Hermione hardly spoke to any of the adults in the household in the remaining days of August and Ginny confessed her friend cried almost every night. Harry made up some homework answers and gave them to Ron to get the lazy bugger off his back. Remus refused to talk to any of the children since he'd been fired on, Sirius made everything into a joke, and Harry thought about everything he'd seen and heard.

CHANGE SCENE && Back to Hogwarts

That last night before the train to Hogwarts, Harry sat in the kitchen and watched the wizards and witches around him. 'They're all purebloods – even Remus with lycanthropy is pureblood. Alastor Moody thinks he rescued the poor mudblood from her horrible mudblood parents, Sirius thinks the world is just apparating or using the floo to get around, and Shacklebolt believes in pureblood rule – so long as there are light wizards making the rules.'

'And Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are kind people, but they think magical people are inherently better than the poor befuddled muggles. But muggles have symphonies, movies, telly, phones, and cars. The wizards buy all their base food from muggles and then pass on the finished products.'

'No wonder muggle-born graduates run back to this side of the magic mirror after they graduate.' Glancing at Hermione, he figured she would be the first person to bolt after taking her OWLS. 'We have to plan that carefully.'

Remus, Molly, and Alastor noticed the quiet Boy-Who-Lived, and they were satisfied that he stared at the fire as he thought about his future as a wizard. Harry did stare at the fire and think about his future, but the adults would have been surprised to learn he was thinking about ways to disappear next summer. He knew he'd have to escape from the magical guards who were keeping him in Magical Britain, and then disappear into the billions of muggles in the world.

CHANGE SCENE && Room of Requirement and Hiding

Harry Potter reached the end of his tether as September ended. His fifth year at Hogwarts had only begun and already the DADA professor was bent on causing him pain. None of the adults in Magical Britain cared, or did anything that helped. He wanted to explode and take as many of the thoughtless wizards and witches with him as possible.

After five nights in a row with the torture of the black quill, getting brushed off by McGonagall and Pomphrey saying she can't help him, Harry decided to protect himself. He didn't confide in anyone and used his magic cloak to hide. He told himself, 'I won't go and let her hurt me anymore. She's carved on my hand and there's not one adult in the castle even pretending to help.'

Standing outside the Room of Requirement, he asked for a safe place to hide and rest. The door appeared and quickly vanished once the boy was safe inside. Dobby appeared in the quiet room that resembled Harry's dormitory with food and drink for the elf's favorite wizard. His books appeared and Harry completed his homework for Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions.

The next day, Harry slipped from one classroom to the other, ate his meals in the kitchen, and avoided Professor Umbridge completely. He never bothered to attend the DADA class and ignored the notes that the elves brought him about visiting the headmaster's office. In the classes he did attend, Harry noticed that several of his classmates now wore the bandages around their hands – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin students had been tortured in Umbridge's office during detention.

On his fifth day of hiding, Harry's luck ran out and he was corralled by Umbridge trying to exit the library. She pointed her wand at him and marched him to her office where she made him write lines for two hours while standing over him with the wand still in her hand. Three other students suffered detention that same night – a Puff, a Claw, and a girl from Slytherin.

When he finally escaped, Harry decided to visit his dorm for a few minutes and slipped into the common room without any problems. There he was able to get the back of his hand bandaged before he climbed the stairs to the fifth-year boys' dorm, where he walked into an uproar. Neville, Seamus, and Dean, each with bandages on their hands, argued with Ron (with a bandage) while Hermione tore through Harry's trunk, flinging his clothing, books, and other items into the far corners of the room.

Stepping into the room, Harry shouted, "What's going on? Hermione! Leave my things alone!"

Spinning around, Hermione yelled, "Harry! Give me your cloak! Give it to me this instant!"

The young witch crossed the room, grabbed hold of Harry's robes, and tried to find his pockets, pulling on the clothing to reveal the pockets.

"Get off!" Harry shouted. "Hermione, stop!"

"Give me your cloak! Dumbledore told me if you can't hide, Umbridge will be able to force you to go to detention and she won't…she won't torture the rest of us," Hermione said with a trembling voice, holding up her bandaged hand.

"What? Why would Umbridge not give you detention if she's giving it to me?"

"Dumbledore says you can withstand the torture better than the rest of us," Hermione wailed. "My hand hurts so bad, I can't study, sleep, or even think."

She took a deep breath and repeated her demand, "Give me your cloak! Give it to me now!"

Grabbing hold of Hermione's hands, Harry shook his head. "She's going to get everyone. After she tortured me, she would still go for all of you."

"But not for months!" Hermione argued. "Dumbledore said it would be spring before she beat you down enough. Harry, Ginny collapsed this afternoon from the poison in her hand. She's in the infirmary."

"Ron, did you call your mum and dad?" asked Harry.

"The owls won't take a letter and the floo is closed," Ron replied. "George and Fred will call from Hogsmeade tomorrow."

A new voice spoke up, "Granger, what are you doing with the fifth-year boys? It is almost curfew."

"Harry needs to give me his invisible cloak," she said. Harry noted his friend was so distressed she had said 'invisible cloak' instead of 'invisibility cloak'.

The new voice belonged to the seventh-year prefect patrolling the dorm – and he had a bandage on his hand. "Why in Merlin's sainted name would Potter hand his cloak to you? The DADA professor will fire spells at him and the rest of us for the whole year. At least he can get some rest."

"If Harry goes to detention, Umbridge won't torture as many of us…she'll just torture him. Dumbledore told me so," Granger explained. Everyone listening knew something was wrong because Hermione didn't call either adult 'professor'.

"Come on Granger," the prefect said. "We're going to the infirmary. There's something wonky with you tonight."

"No! I won't go anywhere with you! You're a boy!"

"Don't worry, we'll get Meadows to take you. She's the seventh-year girl prefect in our house."

"Where's McGonagall?" asked Harry but the prefect just snorted. Then he looked at the boys and said, "Get ready for bed. Potter, wait here until I get back."

"Put the gallons back, Ron," Seamus said as the boys cleared up the mess in their dorm.

"What galleons?" Weasley tried to pretend he didn't understand.

"The bag of Harry's galleons you slipped into your pocket while Granger went crazy," Dean said shortly.

While Ron blushed and pulled out the bag of coins, Neville said, "If you hadn't showed Hermione how to get inside Harry's trunk, this wouldn't have happened."

"What?" asked Harry before he turned toward his friend.

"Don't tell 'im that!" Ron said attempting to threaten the other boy.

Neville stood up to Ron and explained, "Weasley opened the lock. He said it was easy to break into your trunk."

CHANGE SCENE: A Suggestion

The prefect was back in less than three minutes and found the room more organized and Potter's trunk packed. The prefect leaned in close and said, "I have a suggestion. Tomorrow is Saturday and the first Hogsmeade weekend. At breakfast, show up and make a stink with the headmaster, deputy headmistress, and every professor by name. Nail the matron to the wall – she's violating her oath as a healer not treating and reporting this torture. Make 'em each say there's nothing they can do about Umbridge while showing them your hand."

"How will that help?"

"Me and every other seventeen-year-old will go to Hogsmeade and go to London to the DMLE and report it. Our memories of the staff denying there's a problem will do it," the young man said. "That witch tortured my sister who is a second-year Puff. When my mum and dad learn about this, Umbridge is going to get spread across the wall in the Great Hall."

CHANGE SCENE && Breakfast Before Hogsmeade

Head Boy Bennet Jones from Ravenclaw and Head Girl Emily Person from Slytherin were both fully aware of the plan to get the news of Umbridge's torture out to the general public. Wards had been finagled around the Owl Tower and every floo seemed to permanently close on 2 September. They prompted selected students to sit close to the staff table to make a public protest after Potter's speech to distract the professors until other older students were out of the castle and headed for Hogsmeade.

Professor Snape hated Dolores Umbridge and despised his colleagues as much as they despised him. He paid no attention to any whispers he overheard.

Flitwick also believed the students were going to act and he decided to help them escape any prohibition on Hogsmeade that the headmaster might invoke. There were four seventeen-year-old adults in Ravenclaw and they couldn't be confined to the castle on weekends if they chose to venture out.

Early that morning, Harry Potter appeared through the doors of the Great Hall with the other students from the fifth year at Gryffindor House. Hermione was better after a purging potion and a dreamless sleep draught helped her regain some balance. Lavender and Parvati supported their dorm mate by walking on either side of her. Ron pretended nothing had changed though the other boys worried the boy might steal their galleons or other things.

All of the professors and primary staff persons were seated at the staff table eating breakfast except for Dolores Umbridge. Somehow, a medical grade locking spell had been cast on the door from her bedroom to her sitting room, and then another had been cast on her door to the hallway. Umbridge would be stuck in her room until supper unless someone intervened.

Once he finished eating his meal, Potter walked up to the front of the Great Hall, and even though Dumbledore pretended the boy was not standing there, someone cast a spell to make it easy for everyone to hear the conversation that followed. (And someone else – Flitwick – cast a strong goblin shield that prevented Snape or Dumbledore from casting spells to cancel the first spell or to hit Potter with other spells.

"Professor McGonagall, I've been tortured in detention. Professor Dolores Umbridge is using Contract Quills – black blood quills – to make me write lines. The lines are poisoning my blood and magic."

Almost mechanically, McGonagall replied, "Potter, Professor Umbridge is from the ministry. Keep your head down and she'll stop eventually."

Turning toward Dumbledore, Harry said, "Headmaster, I am being tortured…"

"Harry, there's nothing I can do at the moment. I'm working on a plan that will eventually bring it to a stop."

Harry turned to the medi-witch and asked, "Madam Pomphrey. You're a healer. Can't you help me? I'm being tortured."

The medi-witch broke down in tears but made no reply. Potter turned to Sprout who sighed and replied, "The headmaster says you're strong."

Now Harry changed tactics and replied, "But what about the students in your house who have been tortured?"

Sprout looked surprised but Harry turned to the Hufflepuff table and motioned for raised hands. Ten different students raised a bandaged hand for their Head of House to view. Pomona stared as if she'd never seen the students before today.

"There's none of you worth your salt. You don't care for the health and well-being of your students," Harry growled as he slashed his hand through the air. "When…"

"Harry, my boy, this is a minor irritation in our busy year. Surely you can see that this problem will pass away like every other problem you've caused at Hogwarts," interrupted Dumbledore.

Gazing around the room, Dumbledore was suddenly distracted by students at each table leaping up, some on top of the tables, to shout about torture. Other students fired off a few fireworks from a stash held by Fred and George Weasley. Flitwick made certain the doors to the Great Hall remained open while the first of the older students slipped away.

"Now, this display makes me think we should cancel the Hogsmeade weekend," Dumbledore tried to say before his staff turned against him. By the time, the Great Hall had settled down, half of the students were missing and on their way to Hogsmeade. The other half stared at the professors who'd betrayed them. And Harry Potter had disappeared again.

CHANGE SCENE: Dinner

Few students appeared for lunch in the Great Hall that Saturday. At dinner time, Dolores appeared around halfway through the meal, making her way to the staff table as fast as she could, complaining the length of the hall about her doors being locked and being unable to leave the whole day. As she climbed to few stairs to the raised platform someone cast a spell of a toad croaking. The entire time Umbridge demanded Dumbledore come and cast spells to determine who had locked her doors, every time Dolores took a breath, a toad croaked.

Many students were missing – on Hogsmeade weekends many students brought back takeaway for their supper. There was no relief for Dolores – Dumbledore plead being too busy. He suggested that Flitwick teach the charm to the DADA professor, but the half-goblin loudly proclaimed the witch was too stupid to learn how to croak properly and would never learn the intricacies of the charm.

The charms professor's eyes dared the witch to challenge his insult, but Dolores simply added dismissing this 'creature' to her list of improvements to force upon the castle before the year was over.

On Sunday, changes began at Hogwarts.

END SCENE