Chapter 6:
"Delores Umbridge, what can I do for you." You could feel the hatred coming from Sirius and Remus.
"Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, I just wanted to make sure you have fully thought about what you are doing by adopting Mr. Potter. Are you sure you two are fully equipped to properly raise this young man, especially with his," She lowered her voice, "behavioral issues." She stood back up and talked at a normal level now, "I mean with him going around spouting off lies that You-Know-Who is back-" "They are NOT LIES. I SAW HIM, I FOUGHT HIM!"
"Harry calm-"
"DON'T FUCKING TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! I watched as he MURDERED Cedric Diggory. He was only 17 years old-"
"MR. POTTER that is ENOUGH. This is the type of behavior I will NOT tolerate in my class this year. Do you understand me."
"What are you-"
"I will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, it's about time you get a," she gives Remus the side eye, "-proper, education."
Sirius was about to explode on this toad but Remus and Arthur put a hand on him, a warning to stop.
"Congratulations Delores, I believe you will do well." Remus forced the congrats out of his lips and she looked at him triumphantly. "
I will do well Mr. Lupin, make sure you two do well and keep his behavior in check, or this year will be a rough one for young Mr. Potter."
She turned on her heel and walked away from the group. Harry was steaming mad. How dare she accuse him of lying, of trying to cover up Cedrics' murder, he wouldn't allow it. Sirius walked over to Harry and pulled him into an embrace,
"don't let her get to you this year, keep your head down." Harry attempted to pull back to argue but Sirius just held him tighter, "for now Harry that is the plan, I don't like that she has such easy access to you. You must be vigilante this year, listen during your trainings with Snape and Dumbledore."
Harry sighed resignedly and nodded, Sirius was right, it was going to do him no good if he was always going to be in trouble. Sirius pulled away and they walked back to the fire and one by one they returned to the Burrow.
Arthur called Dumbledore via the Flu to tell him about the encounter with Umbridge at Diagon Alley. Dumbledore came over and everything was sealed down for an emergency meeting, and this time no one budged about letting the kids in on this meeting, yet.
Upstairs with the kids POV
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George all gathered in Harry and Ron's room.
"I don't know what I'm more mad about, what happened with Malfoy, or that Umbridge bitch." Harry was fuming, he could feel his face getting hot.
"Harry, you need to work on your anger this year, it could really get you in to trouble."
"Hermione what are you-"
"Umbridge works for Fudge, she can really make life unbearable for you this year. You also need to keep a cool head when it comes to Malfoy, like it or not his father has contacts and people he is close to within the Ministry-"
"Lets not forget that he works for He-Who-Must-Not-"
"Voldemort Ron, his name is Voldemort. He's going to try to kill you whether you use it or not, better to not add to the fear of his name." Interruped Harry, normally he just rolled his eyes when Ron opted to use Voldemorts other name, but he felt that now more than ever, the fear of using his name Voldemort, needed to be removed.
"Right- V-V-Voldemort" Ron cleared his throat as if trying to get the offensive name out of his mouth,
"he works for Voldemort, and his son has eyes on you, there are spys all around us this year Harry, we need to be careful, just keep our heads down and do what we're told."
"Who are you and what have you done with Ronald Weasley."
Hermione was shocked but approving of Ron's reasoning. Ron wasn't usually known for making great observations. Harry prepared to continue to yell, rant, anything to help with the anger he was feeling, but ultimately Ron and Hermione were right. He needed to be careful, not only for him but his actions could have repercussions on everyone around him.
"All right, this year we be careful, we still need to keep an eye out because as much as Malfoy could be used to spy on me…maybe we could spy on Malfoy."
Two cracks echoed through their room as all of a sudden Fred and George were standing in the middle of the room.
"We heard you talking about doing a little spying this year-"
"Not that we were listening in to little Ronnikins and his friends-"
"We thought-"
"We could help you with that."
The trio's heads bobbed back and forth trying to follow the conversation with Fred and George. Before Harry could say anything the door opened and Ginny strode in and sat right next to Harry on his bead.
"Are we talking about doing some spying? I could help with that."
Ginny had an evil smirk on her face that almost matched the twins look down to a 'T'.
"We are talking about a plan for this year. We all need to be careful, we are being watched, Dumbledore is being watched. And if what we have to do is a little observing of our own, then so be it."
Hermione had a look of determination on her face.
"This year will be different, I guarantee it. The ministry are scared that Dumbledore is raising an army to challenge the ministry. Sending Umbridge in is a way to control us, I don't think she will be teaching us with her full ability."
Ron looked out the window thoughtfully at what Hermione said.
"What if we taught each other?"
Everyone looked at Ron like he was off his rocker,
"No seriously think about it, we all need to be trained, the war has started, I don't give a flying shit what others are saying, but it has started, we need a way to defend ourselves, to protect our families, and everyone."
Ginny looked at her older brother.
"He's got a point, Harry with you taking training from both Dumbledore AND Snape, you can teach us what you learn, and Hermione-"
"-Will go to the Library." Ron and Harry laughed when she turned and glared at them, but they weren't wrong, she would almost certainly be using the Library for its vast resources.
"Not like it won't be helpful." She grumbled, which made Ron and Harry laugh harder.
"Yes we all know Hermione will be in the library," Ginny giggled a bit at that, "and Ron is good at strategy so he can come up with battle strategy plans, and-"-Gin don't forget we have to keep this secret." Harry urged, he didn't want to get anyone else in trouble or hurt.
"Don't worry, we'll only invite people we trust, or we can put a charm on everyone so they can't say what's going on or-"
Harry interrupted Ginny,
"What are you talking about inviting other people. We can't rope more people into this!"
Harry had no intentions of letting anyone know outside of this room what was going on. He couldn't risk other students, other people's lives, or their enrollment at Hogwarts, plus this was dangerous, essentially they were creating their own underground army from the sounds of what the others were planning, which ironically is what the Ministry was so worried about in the first place. Everyone looked at him uneasily, it seems they all had the same idea, to bring in as many people as they could.
"Harry," Ginny started softly,
"We can't just teach ourselves how to fight, we have to help others, we are not the only ones that will be or have been effected by this."
"I WILL NOT put others in danger, this is my fight-"
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Ginnys face was almost the color of her hair,
"This is bigger than you, than us! It's not just us Voldemort wants to wipe out, don't forget its muggleborns and half-bloods too. So many are in danger already, including them just helps the fight against him, and protects them."
Ginny was now kneeling in front of Harry, she held his hands in hers.
"People will fight Harry, whether you help them or not, but if we teach enough people, it might make a difference."
Harry felt so dejected, he didn't want to involve people because he didn't want more people to get hurt, but really Ginny was right, half bloods, muggle borns, and all alike were going to be targets, and if he could teach just a few more students, then maybe they could help more people. He looked up and looked into Ginny's eyes, he could stare into them all day, they were a beautiful chocolate brown with gold flecks near the iris, he moved his hand to cup her cheek, just wanting to touch her buttery soft skin, but he stopped himself. Harry pulled his eyes from Ginny and looked at everyone else in the room, they were waiting for him to make a decision.
"Alright, lets do it. Let's get letters out to everyone we know, and believe we trust. Neville, Seamus, Dean."
Harry started calling off names and Hermione suddenly had a piece of parchment and a quill in hand jotting down the names.
"Padma and Parvati." Ginny named off.
They named everyone they could think of that they could trust. Even bringing in Daphne and Astoria Greengrass who were Slytherins.
"They hate all the pureblood bureaucracy and everything Voldemort stands for. They are perfect."
Harry had the utmost trust in Ginny but even he was a little weary of inviting Slytherins into something like this, but he would give them the benefit of the doubt. Fred cleared his throat especially noisily and when everyone looked to him he put his finger to his lips and motioned outside. They all got very quiet to hear the heavy footsteps coming. The teens scrambled to hide their many pieces of parchment and sat around the room casually. Sirius knocked and opened the door, leaning against one side of the doorframe as Remus came up behind him and leaned against the other side.
"So kids, whatcha doing."
"Just sittin' here, dreaming of having class with the wonderful Professor Bins, I can't wait to hear about the Goblin Wars again."
Sirius and Remus snorted at Ginnys response, everyone else was suppressing a smile and a laugh as well, there was no way they didn't suspect something, they were Marauders after all.
"Yeah ok, and Snape and I are best friends." Sirius smiled wryly.
"The day that happens, the world surely will end." Remus laughed and clapped a hand on his friends shoulder.
"We came up here to tell you kids what we can from the meeting-"
Harry was ready to interrupt but Sirius stopped him.
"-Eventually we can tell you more but for now this is all we can tell you. Umbridge is most likely being sent to the school to spy, to make sure Dumbledore isn't creating an army and to make sure that you, Harry-"
Sirius stared directly into Harry's eyes,
"-don't talk about Voldemort, or what happened to Cedric."
Harry wanted to inform him that they already know but kept his mouth shut, he wasn't ready to tell the adults anything yet, and it seemed everyone else quietly agreed. Remus continued where Sirius stopped.
"So everyone needs to keep their heads down, just go to class and do your work. Don't get into fights with anyone at school and don't argue with your teachers."
Remus and Sirius made a point to look at everyone individually to make sure they understood. The kids all shook their heads in agreement.
"Alright, now dinner will be ready soon."
Sirius and Remus turned to leave but Sirius stopped in the doorway and surveyed the kids carefully.
"If you are planning anything, be careful, let us know if you need help. We can feel when somethings up." Sirius smiled cheekily,
"we are the marauders after all." Sirius followed after Remus.
Ginny who was still sitting rather close to Harry on his bed, (not that he was going to complain about sitting shoulder to shoulder with her), turned to Harry. "Shouldn't we tell them, I mean it's not like we can't trust them"
"With Sirius just getting free and Remus being a warewolf AND now my guardian, the spotlight will be on them for a while, and I'm sure the ministry has someone following Sirius, especially with his family lineage. No, it's not safe for them or us, if they know."
"Well I will take these to my room and hide them, after dinner I will start to send out letters, agreed." Hermione looked at everyone sternly, Harry may be the one physically in charge, but they all knew that Hermione would be the one calling the shots from behind the scenes. Everyone agreed with Hermione and she disappeared to hers and Ginnys room, when she came back they all walked down to dinner together. By the time they had got downstairs most of the Order had left, leaving only the Weasleys, Sirius, Remus, Harry, Hermione, and Tonks. The rest of the night was pretty lighthearted, and exactly what everyone needed, a lot of laughter, good food, and love. Harry looked around the room, everyone here he would give his life for, he cared for them all deeply. He watched Mrs. Weasley as she fussed with Ginny's hair, and Ginny trying to shoo her mothers hands away, Tonks was changing her face to look like different animals making the twins and Hermione laugh. Remus was playing chess with Ron, both were deep in thought, and Sirius was talking to Mr. Weasley about what he didn't know. Tonight was a good night, and much needed, tomorrow, the planning would start, and Harry would start taking his place at the front of the war, he just hoped he could keep everyone else safe along the way.