Chapter Six

"Dumbledore's Army/Lizzie's Secret"

"Umbridge has been reading your mail, Harry."

"You think Umbridge attacked Hedwig?" he said, outraged.

"I'm almost certain of it," said Hermione grimly. "Watch your frog, it's escaping."

Harry pointed his wand at the bullfrog that had been hopping hopefully to the other side of the table – "Accio!" – and it zoomed gloomily back into his hand.

Charms was always one of the best lessons in which to enjoy a private chat. There was generally so much movement and activity that the danger of being overheard was very slight. Today with the room full of croaking bullfrogs and cawing ravens and with a heavy downpour of rain clattering and pounding against the classroom windows, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lizzie's whispered discussion about Umbridge was quite unnoticed.

"I've been suspecting this since Hayden and Lizzie got their letters returned," said Hermione. "I talked to Hayden, he hadn't said anything in his letter to indicate him trash-talking Umbridge or any Ministry official. He said he was very careful about that. Nor did he mention….." she lowered her voice even more. "Voldemort," she said in such a quiet voice that Lizzie almost couldn't hear her.

"But then I thought," Hermione continued. "What if somebody just wanted an excuse to read your mail?" Lizzie remembered how McGonagall had warned her and Harry that the mail was being monitored. What if Umbridge was so paranoid that she was willing to send back any letter, regardless of its contents?

"It would be a perfect way for Umbridge to manage it," said Hermione. "Tip off Filch, let him do the dirty work, and confiscate the letter, then either find a way of stealing it from him, or else demand to see it – I don't think Filch would object, when has he ever stuck up for student's rights? Lizzie, you're squashing your frog."

Lizzie looked down; she was indeed squeezing her bullfrog so tightly that its eyes were popping; she replaced it hastily upon the desk.

"How was your riding lesson, Lizzie?" asked Hermione. "Silencio!" she added. The bullfrog on which she was practicing her Silencing Charm was struck dumb mid-croak and glanced at her reproachfully.

"Good," said Lizzie. "I had my first no-stirrup lesson. I had no idea that Hayden was that sadistic…"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione laughed. "You sore?" asked Harry. "Yep," said Lizzie, waving her wand without really concentrating; her bullfrog swelled like a green balloon and emitted a high-pitched whistle.

"Silencio!" said Hermione hastily, pointing her wand at Lizzie's frog, which deflated silently before them. "Oh, and I've got some exciting news!" said Lizzie. "Flicka and I are gonna compete in the horse show this year!"

"Lizzie, that's brilliant!" said Harry. "When did you decide this?" "The morning of our Hogsmeade trip – you know, when we met in the Hog's Head. Malfoy was doing his usual thing – you know giving me crap for Raven's death – and I had just had enough. I told him I was going to compete, and he was going to look like an idiot when I beat him for a second time!"

"Blimey, Lizzie!" said Ron, looking stunned that Lizzie was brave enough to stand up to Malfoy when she wouldn't have been on previous occasions. "Silencio! SILENCIO!"

The raven cawed more loudly. "It's the way you're moving your wand," said Hermione, watching Ron critically. "You don't want to wave it, it's more of a sharp jab."

"Ravens are harder than frogs," said Ron testily.

"Here, Ron, give me yours," said Lizzie seizing Ron's raven and replacing it with her own fat bullfrog. "Silencio!" said Lizzie. The raven continued to open and close its sharp beak, but no sound came out.

"Very good, Miss Brooks," said Professor Flitwick squeaky little voice as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lizzie all jumped, Lizzie bowing her head against the desk, clutching at her robes as Harry rubbed her back soothingly. "I hate being startled," she moaned. "I know, Liz," said Harry consolingly.

"Now, let me see you try, Mr. Weasley," said Professor Flitwick.

"Wha - ? Oh – oh, right," said Ron, very flustered. "Er – Silencio!" He jabbed at the bullfrog so hard that he poked it in the eye. Lizzie sniggered; the frog gave a deafening croak and leapt of the desk.

It came as no surprise to any of them that Harry and Ron were given additional practice of the Silencing Charm for homework.

They were allowed to remain inside over break due to the downpour outside. They found seats in a very noisy and overcrowded classroom. Lizzie with her hands clapped over her ears as the sound quickly overstimulated her. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and left, lingering outside in the corridor.

Peeves floated through a wall near the ceiling occasionally blowing an ink pellet at the top of anyone's head who passed by. His wicked little eyes caught sight of Lizzie as he raised his peashooter at her, ready to fire.

An ink pellet zoomed toward her and before she had a chance to duck, the ink pellet was mysteriously deflected from her and didn't even have a chance to hit her. Looking around for the source, she saw Hayden, striding toward them, wand drawn, pointing it straight at Peeves.

Peeves raised his peashooter again, this time directly at Hayden, who immediately made a move to block Lizzie out of the line of fire, continuing to point his wand directly at Peeves.

"Go ahead, I need the practice," Hayden growled dangerously, glaring at the poltergeist. Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished with a tiny pop! Lizzie stared at Hayden as he slowly lowered his wand and turned to face her. "You okay?" he asked. "Yeah," said Lizzie. " 'Go ahead, I need the practice'? That was brilliant! No one in the school except the Bloody Baron can control Peeves – but – using magic in the corridors…You could get in serious trouble for that!"

"I'll never tell," said Hayden, shrugging, and stowing his wand inside the pocket of his robes.

Lizzie didn't have riding that evening, so she spent it with Hayden in the common room, catching up on homework. He helped her complete her punishment essay for Snape, and she was feeling extremely grateful and praying that this time around, Snape would be kind enough to give her an 'Acceptable' but she wasn't holding her breath on it.

Midnight came and went as Lizzie, who wasn't feeling remotely tired, stayed up to write an entry in her new journal that Hayden had so kindly gifted to her.

She dipped her quill into her ink bottle and began to write:

Dear Diary,

She hesitated, her quill suspended over the lined parchment. What could she write about? So much had happened this term already, it was hard to decide where to begin.

After a moment's thought, she nodded once and resumed writing.

This term's been so full of ups and downs it's hard to decide what to write about first, so I'll start at the beginning. We have a new teacher, Dolores Umbridge, and she's positively vile! She won't let us use magic at all! All we've done since term started was read from the textbook, which more or less discourages using defensive magic.

We have only begun to take a stand against this. Some friends have put together a group we have called 'Dumbledore's Army' – it's a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group. We've gotten the group together, we just haven't found a place to meet yet.

Students from the Toronto Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry are spending the year here, and I've become close with one of the students. His name is Hayden Chamberlain. He's really sweet, kind, and very cute. He kind of reminds me of Anakin Skywalker in Episodes 2 and 3 of the Star Wars series, only with a wand, and not a lightsaber…..

"Miss Lizzie!"

Lizzie looked up from her writing. She only realized now that the candles had all been extinguished. It was clearly very late, yet there was something moving close by.

"Who's there?" asked Lizzie, blinking hard, trying to adjust her eyes to the now pitch darkness. But she couldn't see anything in the blackened room.

"It's Dobby, Miss Lizzie!" said a squeaky voice.

"Dobby?" said Lizzie. "I can't see you! Hold on – Lumos!" The tip of Lizzie's wand glowed as she scanned the room.

Dobby the house-elf was standing beside the table on which Hermione had left more knitted hats. His large pointed ears were now sticking out from beneath what looked like all the hats that Hermione had ever knitted; he was wearing one on top of the other, so that his head seemed elongated by two or three feet.

He bowed at the sight of Lizzie, his pencil-like nose brushing the threadbare surface of the hearthrug.
"It's…..really good to see you, Dobby, I've – missed you," said Lizzie, who always had a fondness for the elf. Looking back at Dobby, she noticed that the elf was also wearing several scarves and innumerable socks so that his feet looked far too big for his body.

"Er – have you been taking all the clothes that Hermione has been making and leaving out?" asked Lizzie. "Oh, no, Miss!" said Dobby happily. "Dobby has been taking some for Winky too!"

Winky was another house-elf employed down in the kitchens and was a friend of Dobby's, and had become addicted to drinking butterbeer (while considered a non-alcoholic beverage to wizards, it is intoxicating to house-elves).

"Yeah?" asked Lizzie. "How is she?"

Dobby's ears drooped slightly.

"Winky is still drinking lots, Miss Lizzie," he said sadly, his enormous tennis ball eyes downcast. "Oh….." said Lizzie. This was hard for her to hear. Any mention of drinking was triggering for her.

"She still does not care for clothes, Miss Lizzie. Nor do the other house-elves. None of them will clean Gryffindor Tower anymore, not with the hats and socks hidden everywhere. They finds them insulting, Miss."

Lizzie groaned. She had been afraid of this. This was exactly what she had told Hermione not to do.

She had tried to tell her that she couldn't free the house-elves when she didn't even know if they wanted to be free or not. She had just assumed they wanted to be free. This had caused a rift in her and Hermione's friendship. Lizzie made it clear time and again that she was not opposed to what Hermione was doing, she just thought her efforts were a bit misguided.

"So Dobby cleans it all himself, Miss!" said Dobby. "That must take you a long time," said Lizzie. "Dobby doesn't mind, Miss," said Dobby. "Dobby has always hopes to see Miss Lizzie, and tonight, Miss, he has got his wish!"
"I'm happy to see you too," said Lizzie, smiling. "It's been a while."

Dobby sank into a deep bow again. "Dobby is so sorry to hear about Miss Lizzie's horse," he said. Lizzie knew that he was talking about Raven. "It's okay," said Lizzie. "I've started riding another horse, and I'm – really happy."

"Is there anything Dobby can do for Miss Lizzie?" asked Dobby. "For Miss Lizzie has always been so kind to Dobby…"

"No, I don't think so," said Lizzie, smiling. She closed her diary and as she did so, the firelight illuminated the thin white scars on the back of her hand.

"No, wait! Hang on – there is something you can do for me, Dobby," said Lizzie. The elf looked around beaming. "Name it, Miss Lizzie!" he squeaked.

"I need to find a place where thirty-two people can practice Defense Against the Dark Arts without being discovered by any of the teachers. Especially," Lizzie clenched her hand around her journal so the scars shone pearly white. "Professor Umbridge."

She had expected the elf's smile to vanish, his ears to droop; she expected him to say that this was impossible, or else that he would try, but his hopes weren't high…..What she had not expected was for Dobby to give a little skip, his ears waggling happily, and clap his hands together.

"Dobby knows the perfect place, Miss Lizzie!" he said happily. "Dobby heard tell of it from the other house-elves when he came to Hogwarts, Miss! It is known by us as the Come and Go Room, Miss! Or else as the Room of Requirement!"

"Why is it called that?" asked Lizzie curiously. "Because it is a room that a person can only enter," said Dobby seriously, "when they have a real need for it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it does appear, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs. Dobby has used it, Miss!" aid the elf, dropping his voice and looking guilty, "when Winky is very drunk. Dobby has hidden her in the Room of Requirement and he has found antidotes to butterbeer there, and a nice elf-sized bed to settle her on while she sleeps it off, Miss…and Dobby knows Mr. Filch has found extra cleaning materials there when he has run short. It is a most amazing room, Miss Lizzie."

"How many people know about it?" asked Lizzie, sitting back down in her chair, for she had been standing this entire time.

"Very few, Miss," said Dobby. "Mostly people stumble across it when they needs it, Miss, but often they never finds it again, for they do not know that it is always there, waiting to be called into service, Miss." "And would it – turn it a dormitory to house foreign exchange students?" asked Lizzie, remembering what Hayden had said about his dormitory. He had never actually said where it was, but only he and his fellow classmates appeared to know about it.

"Dobby expects so Miss," said Dobby. "And it can turn into – anything?" asked Lizzie. "Anything one wishes, Miss Lizzie," said Dobby.

"It sounds perfect," said Lizzie, her heart racing. "When could you show it to me?"

"Anytime, Miss Lizzie," said Dobby, looking delighted at Lizzie's enthusiasm. "We could go now, if you wish!"

For one brief moment, Lizzie was tempted to take Dobby up on that offer, but she thought better of it when she though of the lateness of the hour, and without Harry's Invisibility Cloak, the risk of her getting caught was too great. Not worth it, she thought.

"I would love to Dobby," said Lizzie. "But I can't – not tonight. Could – could you just tell me exactly how to get there?"

Their robes billowed and swirled around them as they splashed across the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology, where they could hardly hear what Professor Sprout was saying over the hammering of raindrops hard as hailstones on the greenhouse roof. That afternoon's Care of Magical Creatures lesson would then be relocated from the storm-swept grounds to a free classroom on the ground floor, and to their intense relief, Angelina sought out her team at lunch to tell them that Quidditch practice was cancelled.

"Good," said Harry quietly, when she told him. "Because we've found somewhere to have our first Defense meeting. Tonight, eight o'clock – Lizzie told me this morning – seventh floor opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by those trolls. Can you tell Katie and Alicia?"

She looked slightly taken aback, but promised to tell the others.

"Did you tell Hayden?" Harry asked Lizzie, returning to his food. "Yeah, he knows exactly where it is – It serves as a dormitory for the Canadian students." "Really?" asked Harry. "Yeah, he told me this morning," said Lizzie.

Together with Ron, Hermione, and Hayden, they had spent the majority of the day seeking out those people who had signed their names to the list in the Hog's Head and telling them where to meet that evening. Hayden found Molly Cobb and her friends in the library and passed the message on to them.

By dinner, all five of them were confident that the news had been passed to every one of the thirty-two people who had turned up at the Hog's Head.

At half-past seven, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lizzie left the Gryffindor common room, Harry clutching a certain piece of aged parchment in his hand. Fifth years were allowed to be out in the corridors until nine o'clock, but all four of them kept looking around nervously as they made their way up to the seventh floor.

"Hold it," said Harry, warningly, unfolding the piece of parchment at the top of the last staircase, tapping it with his wand and muttering "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

A map of Hogwarts appeared upon the blank surface of the parchment. Tiny footprints moving about, labelled with names, showing where various people were.

"Filch is on the second floor," said Harry, holding the map closer to his eyes and scanning it closely, "and Mrs. Norris is on the fourth."

"And Umbridge?" asked Lizzie anxiously.

"In her office," said Harry, pointing. "Okay, let's go."

They hurried along the corridor to the place that Dobby had described to Lizzie, and Hayden had confirmed the location; a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.

"Okay," said Lizzie quietly, while a moth-eaten troll paused in his relentless clubbing of the would-be ballet teacher to watch. "Dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need."

They did so, turning sharply at the window just beyond the blank stretch of wall, then at the man-sized vase on its other side. Ron had screwed up his eyes in concentration, Hermione was whispering something under her breath, Lizzie's fists were clenched as she stared ahead of her.

We need somewhere to learn to fight….she thought. Just give us a place to practice….somewhere they can't find us…

"Lizzie," said Hermione sharply, as they wheeled around after their third walk past.

A brightly polished door had appeared in the wall. Ron was staring at it, looking slightly wary. Lizzie reached out, seized the brass handle, and pulled the door open, and led the way into the spacious room lit by flickering torches like those that illuminated the dungeons eight floors below.

The walls were lined with wooden bookcases and instead of chairs, there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large cracked Foe Glass.

"These will be good when we practice Stunning," said Ron enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with his feet.

"And just look at these books!" said Hermione excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large leather-bound tomes. "A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions…..The Dark Arts Outsmarted…Self-Defense Spellwork…..wow…." She looked at Lizzie, her face glowing. "Lizzie, this is wonderful! There's everything we need here!"

And without further ado, Hermione slide Jinxes for the Jinxed from the shelf, sank into the nearest cushion and began to read.

There was a gentle knock on the door, Harry, Lizzie, and Hayden looked around. Ginny, Neville Lavender, Parvati, and Dean arrived.

"Whoa!" said Dean, staring around, impressed. "What is this place?"

Lizzie started to explain but before she had finished, more people had arrived and she had to start over again. By the time eight o'clock arrived, every cushion was occupied. Harry moved across to the door and turned the key protruding from the lock; it clicked in a satisfying loud way and everyone fell silent, looking at him.

Parvati and Lavender gazed hopefully at Hayden as though anticipating her would sit with them, but he immediately took a seat next to Lizzie. Lavender and Parvati exchanged disdainful looks, almost as if the pair of them were thinking, What does he see in her?

"Well," said Harry slightly nervously. This is the place we've found to practice, and you've – er – obviously found it okay…"

"It's fantastic," said Molly and several people murmured their agreement.

"It's bizarre," said Fred, frowning around at it. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember George? But it was just a broom cupboard then…."

"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" asked Dean from the rear of the room, indicating the Sneakoscopes and the Foe-Glass.

"Dark Detectors," said Harry, stepping in between the cushions to reach them. "Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around. But you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled…."

He gazed for a moment into the cracked Foe-Glass; shadowy figures were moving around inside it, though none were recognizable. He turned his back on it.

"Right," said Harry, turning back to the group at large, "shall we get to practicing then? I was thinking the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm, I know it's pretty basic, but I've found it really useful….."

"Oh, please," said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?" Lizzie felt her face go red and an intense feeling of hatred boiled inside her that she could not explain.

"I've used it against him," said Harry quietly. "It saved my life last June."

Lizzie shot Zacharias Smith a satisfied look. Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.

"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," said Harry.

Lizzie was half-hoping that he would get up and leave. But Smith didn't move, nor did anyone else.

"Okay," said Harry, his mouth slightly drier than usual with all those eyes upon him. "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."

It felt very odd to be issuing instructions, but not nearly as odd as seeing them followed. Everybody got to their feet and Lizzie immediately took hold of Hayden's hand. "Dibs," she said as Hayden smiled and laughed. Parvati and Lavender, who had been gazing at Hayden as though hoping he would partner with one of them glared at Lizzie. "Why would he want her?" Lavender whispered to Parvati as they both sniggered maliciously.

Everybody had gotten to their feet and divided up. Predictably, Neville was partnerless. "You can partner with me," said Molly kindly. Neville blushed and nodded appreciatively. "Right," said Harry. "On the count of three then – one, two, three…"

The room was suddenly full of shouts of "Expelliarmus!" Wands flew in all directions, missed spells hit books on shelves, and sent them flying into the air. Lizzie and Hayden's wands didn't appear to be producing the desired spell. Both of their wands were vibrating uncontrollably as a bright beam of deep gold light connected the two wands for a split moment before vanishing.

Everyone in the room had momentarily stopped what they were doing to watch. Lizzie and Hayden were looking stunned at one another, as if neither of them could explain what had just happened.

"Lizzie, why don't you give Neville a hand?" asked Harry. "Molly, you can partner with Hayden," he added to Molly who was helping Neville.

"Sure," said Lizzie, still rattled and confused by the interaction between her wand and Hayden's. Lavender and Parvati were looking at Lizzie with smug, satisfied expressions on their faces.

Lizzie had better luck with Neville, and proved to be too quick for him. His wand went spinning out of his hand, hit the ceiling in a shower of sparks, and landed with a clatter on top of a bookshelf, which Hayden retrieved with a Summoning Charm as he handed it back to Neville.

"Thanks," said Neville appreciatively. "No problem," said Hayden.

Glancing around, Harry thought he had been right to suggest that they practice the basics first; there was a lot of shoddy spellwork going on; many people apart from Hayden and Lizzie were not succeeding in disarming their opponents at all, but merely causing them to jump backward a few paces or wince as the feeble spell whooshed over them. "Expelliarmus!" said Neville, and Lizzie, caught unawares, felt her wand fly out of her hand.

"I DID IT!" said Neville gleefully. "I've never done it before – I DID IT!" "Brilliant, Neville! Nice work!" said Lizzie encouragingly, putting a hand on his shoulder and smiling at him. Neville blushed a deep shade of scarlet, making him appear horribly sunburned.

Harry moved off into the middle of the room, observing everyone else. Something was happening to Zacharias Smith; every time he opened his mouth to disarm Anthony Goldstein, his own wand would fly out of his hand, yet Anthony did not seem to be making a sound.

Harry didn't have to look far for the solution of the mystery, however; Fred and George were several feet from Smith and taking it in turns to point their wands at his back.

"Sorry, Harry," said George hastily when Harry caught his eye. "Couldn't resist….."

Harry walked around the other pairs, trying to correct those who were doing the spell wrong. Hayden however seemed to be doing the best out of everyone in the group, going so far as being able to disarm Molly without uttering a single word. As he waved his wand, his lips never moved as Molly's wand flew out of her hand. Lavender and Parvati stared at Hayden with a mixture of admiration and confusion. "How does he do that?" Parvati swooned. "I don't know but he's amazing, isn't he?" sighed Lavender.

Lizzie was still working with Neville, though Zacharias Smith kept throwing sideways glances at Lizzie. Either he fancied her, or he would have given nothing more than to jinx her for is own amusement.

"Okay, stop!" Harry shouted. "Stop, STOP!"

I need a whistle, he thought, and almost like she could read his mind, Lizzie stopped disarming Neville and put her middle finger and thumb into her mouth and let out an earsplitting whistle as the room fell silent, and everyone gazed around the room as though looking for the source of the noise.

"That wasn't bad," said Harry, "but there's definite room for improvement." Zacharias Smith glared at him. "Let's try again…"

He moved off around the room again, stepping here and there to make suggestions, suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound as Harry whirled around and saw Lizzie lying on the ground, wheezing like she had the wind knocked out of her as Hayden pulled her to her feet. Zacharias Smith had his wand pointed at her and was laughing.

"You did that on purpose!" said Harry angrily. "Why would you let her join?" asked Smith. "You should only allow normal people in the group – people who are actually capable! She's too dense to understand this stuff!"

"First of all," said Harry coldly. "I'm the leader of this group, so I'll allow whomever I want to join, second of all, I think Lizzie understands this a whole lot better than you do!" Smith snorted derisively. "I'm sick of your intolerance toward Lizzie! If you can't learn to accept her and her differences, then you know where the door is – don't let it hit you on the way out!" Smith glowered at him.

"Go apologize to her," said Harry firmly. "Now." "Or what?" asked Smith. "Or you can leave," said Harry. Still scowling, Smith walked over to Lizzie as Hayden stood beside her. "Sorry," he said, although he did not sound the least bit sincere. "S'okay," Lizzie mumbled. "You could do so much better than her," Smith sneered at Hayden as he walked away.

Harry checked his watch and received a shock – it was already ten past nine, which meant that they needed to get back to their common rooms immediately, or risk being caught and punished by Filch for being out-of-bounds. Hayden would be sticking around since the room doubled as a dormitory for him and his classmates.

Lizzie whistled, and just like before, everyone looked around for the source of the sound, not realizing that it was her.

"Well, that was pretty good," said Harry, "but we've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time same place next week?"

"Sooner!" said Dean Thomas eagerly and many people including Lizzie, Hayden and Molly nodded in agreement.

Angelina however, said quickly, "The Quidditch season's about to start! We need team practice too!" "And Hayden and I need time to ride!" Lizzie chimed in.

"Let's say next Wednesday night then," said Harry. "And we can decide on additional meetings then…..Come on, we'd better get going….
He pulled out the Marauder's Map again and checked it carefully for signs of teachers on the seventh floor. He let them all leave in threes and fours, watching their tiny footprints anxiously to see that they returned safely to their dormitories: The Hufflepuffs to the basement corridor that also led to the kitchens, the Ravenclaws to a tower on the west side of the castle, and the Gryffindors along the corridor to the seventh floor and the Fat Lady's portrait. Lizzie hugged Hayden before heading back to her own dormitory.

"That was really, really good, Harry," said Hermione when finally it was just her, Ron, Harry, and Lizzie left. "Yeah, it was," said Ron enthusiastically as they slipped out of the door and watched it melt back into stone behind them. "Did you see me disarm Hermione, Harry?" asked Ron. "Only once," said Hermione, stung as she turned to Lizzie. "That was a horrible thing Zacharias Smith did to you!" she said. "I'm not surprised he did," said Lizzie. "Thanks for sticking up for me," she said gratefully to Harry. "You stuck up for me in Umbridge's class," said Harry. "I'm just returning the favor…"

Lizzie felt like she was carrying some kind of talisman inside her chest over the following two weeks, a glowing secret that supported her through Umbridge's class and even made it possible to smile blandly as she looked into Umbridge's horrible bulging eyes.

She, Harry, and the rest of the D.A. were resisting her under her very nose, even when she was supposed to be reading Wilbert Slinkhard's book during her lessons, she dwelled instead on satisfying memories of her most recent meetings, remembering how Neville had successfully disarmed Hermione, how Colin Creevey had mastered the Impediment Jinx after three meetings' hard effort, and how Hayden had taught her how to cast the Reductor Curse and as a result, turned the table carrying the Sneakoscopes to dust.

Harry on the other hand was finding it almost impossible to fix a regular night of the week for the D.A. meetings, as they had to accommodate three separate Quidditch team practices plus Lizzie and Hayden's riding lessons, which were often rearraigned depending on the weather conditions. Lizzie and Hayden got lucky because the arena was indoors, and thus, covered from the elements, so rain, shine, sleet, or snow, they were still able to ride.

But Harry thought it was better to keep the timing of their meetings unpredictable. If anyone was watching them, it would be hard to make out a pattern.

Hermione soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all members in case they needed to change it at short notice, because it would look so suspicious if people from different Houses were seen crossing the Great Hall to talk to each other too often.

She gave each member of the D.A., including Lizzie, and Hayden a fake Galleon. "you see the numerals around the edges of the coin?" Hermione said, giving one to Hayden as he held it up to the light to examine it.

"On a real Galleon, that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast his coin. On those fake coins though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in your pocket, you'll be able to feel them."

"Hermione, you're a genius," said Hayden. "She knows," said Lizzie, smiling.

November droned on cold and icy as Lizzie and Hayden continued with their riding lessons. One day Hayden showed up with a lunge rein and whip in his hand and announced he was going to teach Lizzie how to canter without stirrups. At first, Lizzie was hesitant and a bit intimidated, but cantering with no stirrups proved to be easier. After three tries on the lunge line, Hayden challenged her to go hands-free, and it was thrilling.

After the first Quidditch match of the season, Harry and George had gotten into a fight with Malfoy that cost them their positions on the team, curtesy of Professor Umbridge and the newly amended Educational Decree Number Twenty-five, which stated that the High Inquisitor had the power to revoke privileges from misbehaving students.

Now Lizzie knew she had to keep her head down and her mouth shut. Professor Umbridge could ban her from riding if she wasn't careful.

At least she had her journal that Hayden gave her, and any and all feelings and grievances she had towards Umbridge, she could write in there, and thanks to the charm Hayden put on it to cleverly disguise it as a blank notebook, no one would be able to read its contents.

On Saturday morning, Lizzie woke up to see snow falling and the Black Lake was frozen solid – perfect for skating on.

Grinning, Lizzie threw back the covers, scrambling out of bed, and got dressed in a pair of warm pants, a sweater, her cloak, scarf, and gloves before opening her trunk and pulling out a well-worn pair of white figure skates with hot pink guards on the blades and tucking them under her cloak before walking down to the Great Hall.

Although no one in the school knew it, Lizzie had been figure skating since she was two – nearly three, and it took her almost three years to find her balance on the ice which was her main challenge.

She eventually got to a beautiful point where she could balance and move across the ice unassisted, and her progress had taken off from there and had learned various spins, jumps, and turns, including the triple Axel and Lutz (Although she lost count of how many times she had fallen attempting this jump before finally being able to stick the landing properly). Her favorite spins were the camel spin, sit spin, and doughnut spin.

Lizzie had never told her friends – or anyone at Hogwarts for that matter, even her teachers were oblivious – that she could skate, because she knew that if she told them, they would have just said "no, you can't," and not believed her because she couldn't walk independently.

However, as odd as it seemed, just like on the horse, Lizzie seemed to have better balance on the ice then on her own two feet.

"Hey, Hayden," said Lizzie, helping herself to porridge. "Yeah, Liz?" asked Hayden, who was spreading marmalade on his toast. "You mentioned you used to play ice hockey, right?" asked Lizzie, spooning porridge in her mouth. "Mm-hmm," said Hayden. "You still got your skates?" asked Lizzie. "Yeah, they're in my trunk," said Hayden. "Why?"

Lizzie was smiling. "After breakfast, go get them, and meet me down by the lake in ten minutes – I want to show you something!" she said excitedly as she spooned the last bit of porridge in her bowl into her mouth, wiped her mouth with her napkin and got up from her seat as she walked out of the Great Hall.

Exchanging bemused looks with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Hayden crammed the last bit of toast into his mouth, washing it down with a mouthful of pumpkin juice, and got up from his seat and ran after her.

Although because it was freezing outside, Hayden did stop by the Room of Requirement to fetch his navy blue cloak with the Toronto Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry emblem on the right side before throwing it over his shoulders and grabbing his old hockey skates from his trunk and heading out to the Black Lake to meet Lizzie.

The cold wind stung his face as he trudged through the snow and saw up ahead a figure gliding gracefully across the frozen surface of the lake.

Hayden watched as the figure bent her knees slightly while skating backwards, with her body turned to face the circle and her head turned looking over her right shoulder, her arms spread wide like she was flying, shifting her weight on her right foot, then drawing her left foot across.

Then she pushed off with the right toe pick of her skate as she leapt into the air, her right leg wrapped around her left, pulling her arms close to her body as Hayden counted three revolutions in midair before she landed gracefully on her left foot, with her right foot extended back.

She turned and skated backwards again, drawing one leg over the other before she leapt into the air again as her legs kicked around in a circle before landing on her right foot with her left leg extended back behind her in an arabesque position, though her leg didn't quite straighten all the way as she spun on the spot before kneeling down on her right leg with her left extended out in front of her as she bowed her head, holding onto her right ankle as she spun, and as she stood up, she bent her leg back behind her and up, continuing to spin. She lifted her leg higher until the back of her skate blade was in contact with the top of her head.

She released her leg after a moment, drawing her leg up into a figure four position as her spin decelerated and she was able to stop, pushing off with her right skate as she continued to glide across the ice as graceful as a ballet dancer.

Hayden stared mesmerized as he came to realize that the person he was watching was Lizzie. It seemed so counterintuitive to him that she would be able to skate like that when she wasn't quite yet able to walk independently. It just didn't seem possible, and yet he had just witnessed proof that it was.

Lizzie saw him staring at her at the edge of the lake as she skated up to him, grinning as she put weight on her inside edge, and pushed her right leg out at an angle, as she stopped. "Hey," she said. "So, what do you think?" "You look amazing!" said Hayden. "How long have you been able to do that?" "Since I was two," said Lizzie. "Took me nearly three years to get my balance though."

"Do Harry, Ron, and Hermione know?" asked Hayden. Lizzie shook her head. "I never told them, or anyone else," she said. Hayden looked surprised. "You mean…no one at Hogwarts knows you can do this?" he asked. "You're the first person I've told," said Lizzie. "No one else knows what you know," she said. "Why haven't you told anyone?" asked Hayden now pulling on his skates. "Remember when I told you that people tried to talk me out of riding, and told me to 'be realistic'?" asked Lizzie.

"Yeah," said Hayden. "Same reason," said Lizzie. A moment later Hayden understood. She was afraid people would doubt her, or at worst, accuse her of creating some kind of illusion to make it appear that she could skate.

"Ever figure skated before?" asked Lizzie. "No," said Hayden. "I've only watched it on TV during the Winter Olympics,"

"If you want I could teach you?" Lizzie offered. Hayden shrugged. "Sure," he said. "It sounds like fun, and you make it look easy." "Well, it's not," said Lizzie. "The first lesson my coach taught me was to get used to falling because it happens a lot when you're learning – even the pros fall from time to time too."

Hayden nodded showing that he understood. "Okay, so the first movement I'm going to teach you is called the bunny hop," said Lizzie as she skated out onto the ice stroking forward in a straight line "So you step onto your left foot like this, and then sort of…hop…" she did so with her right leg scissoring forward and up past her left leg, landing on the toe pick of her right leg.

It looked simple enough, Hayden thought as he pushed off onto the ice, stroking forward in a straight line as Lizzie had done, then stepped onto his left foot, and hopped off the ice with his right leg scissoring past his left leg and landing on the toe of his right leg.

Lizzie's jaw dropped. His was near perfect to hers. He then turned with his right leg slightly bent out in front of him as he pivoted on the toe of his skate with his left leg extended behind him, pulling his left leg closer and closer until his feet were parallel to each other as Hayden lifted his left foot up into a figure four position as the speed of his spin decreased and he slowed to a stop. Lizzie looked stunned. "You said you never figure skated before!" she said. "I haven't," said Hayden, shrugging. "But it's pretty straightforward."

"Can you do a backward crossover?" asked Lizzie. Hayden turned and began skating backward clockwise with his body facing the circle, his head turned, looking over his right shoulder, his arms spread wide, shifting his weight on the right foot, the drawing the left foot across the right.

"Oh, my God, Hayden! You're a natural!" Lizzie squealed. Hayden beamed as he slid to a stop. "What was that jump that I saw you do? Where you jump, and then wrap one leg around the other as you spin, and then land?" asked Hayden. "That one," said Lizzie. "Is called the triple Axel," said Lizzie. "Can I see it again?" asked Hayden.

Lizzie smiled as she executed another backward crossover, before leaping into the air, striking off from the ice with her toe pick, her legs wrapped around one another as she turned in midair three times before landing.

"That's really cool," said Hayden. "Can I try?"

Normally, Lizzie would have said 'no' and that he should try some of the basic stuff first, but he had impressed her thus far. "Sure," she said. "Show me what you've got. Just know I can't be held liable if you get hurt."

Hayden smiled as he skated into a backward crossover and jumped into the air, wrapping one leg around the other and pulling his arms close to his chest as he gracefully landed on his right foot.

Lizzie's jaw dropped. For someone who claimed to have never figure skated before, Hayden wasn't too bad for an ex-hockey player.
"Wow!" said Lizzie as Hayden skated up to her grinning. "Now, let's see you do a camel spin," said Lizzie. "Er…" said Hayden nervously. "That's – where you spin with your leg extended behind you, right?" he asked. "Yeah," said Lizzie. "Okay," said Hayden as he skated forward and turned as he turned a wide half circle, extending his leg back behind him as he spun. He even surprised Lizzie with a sit spin, and a scratch spin at the end (where he started the spin on two feet then raised his left foot and bending it as the spinning speed increased and as it did so, he wrapped one leg around the other and using the toe of his skate to stop).

"You've really….never done this before?" asked Lizzie in somewhat disbelief. Hayden shook his head. "No, never," he said. "That was really good," said Lizzie, laughing, as she held out her hand to him as he took it and they skated across the ice together.

They had a lot of fun that afternoon. By lunchtime, Hayden had mastered the camel spin, sit spin, doughnut spin, and spiral.

He did however have some trouble with the Axel, Lutz, and toe loop jumps, and fell at least three times before he could stick the landing more than once.

Finally by two-thirty, cold, and tired, they trudged back through the snow, pink-faced from the bitterly cold wind, Hayden grinning like he had the time of his life. "Thanks for skating with me," he said. "It was really fun." "No problem," said Lizzie. "I was just thinking," said Hayden. "Wouldn't it be fun to showcase what we know? You know, choreograph a routine, and perform it in front of the school, like at the Olympics…."

Lizzie stopped walking abruptly. His offhand comment planted an idea inside her brain. It could work, but they would have to keep it a secret. No one could know about it. After all, Hayden was the only one who knew that she could skate. And she wanted to keep it that way….For now.

Hayden noticed that Lizzie had stopped walking, and saw the proverbial lightbulb go on in her head, as well as the look on her face. "I know that look," he said. "That's your thinking look,"

"Oh, I'm thinking, you thinking?" asked Lizzie. "Yeah, I'm thinking. We thinking the same thing?" asked Hayden.

"We are if we're thinking it would be super cool to perform a figure skating show in front of the entire school!" said Lizzie. Hayden grinned. "See, Liz, this is exactly why we're best friends," he said. "So, is that a 'yes'?" asked Lizzie hopefully. Hayden grinned. "Let's do it," he said. Lizzie grinned back excitedly as they walked back up to the castle together.

They went straight to the library where it was nice and quiet so the two of them could plan their ice show in private without being overheard.

Hayden took a piece of parchment out of his bag as well as his quill and ink, which he had retrieved from the Room of Requirement after depositing his skates; Lizzie had done the same with hers. "I think," said Lizzie. "Before we focus on choreography, we should decide when we want to perform and what the theme should be." "Good idea," said Hayden as both of them thought deeply. "Hmmm," said Hayden thoughtfully. "What if," he said. "We were to do it on the last day of term? Kind of like a send-off for the students and give them something to talk about with their families over the Christmas break?"
"I like that!" said Lizzie brightly. "Okay, that's settled," said Hayden, scribbling on the parchment. "Now the question is, what should the theme be?" "I think if we're going to be performing it before the end of term, it should be a Christmas theme." "I agree," said Hayden. "How about The Nutcracker?" Lizzie suggested. "You mean, perform the ballet?" asked Hayden. "Hasn't that been done already? Like a million times?"

"No, not the ballet!" said Lizzie. "Just the music! We can choreograph each routine to a song in the soundtrack!" Hayden looked intrigued as he thought about it for a moment before a grin spread across his face. "I like it," he said. Lizzie had seen the ballet a million times at the theatre with her mum. Hayden had seen it too, so he was able to remember each musical piece simply by the title of the song.

"Should we do them separate or together?" asked Hayden curiously. "I think we should do both – just to make it interesting. If it's too repetitive, people are gonna get bored really quick…."

Lizzie pointed out. "Good point," said Hayden, making another note on the parchment.

So they decided to do a combination of solo and combined routines. Then there was the matter of music and who does what routine to each song.

"I think for The Sugarplum Fairy and Cavalier Pas De Deux, you should do it," said Lizzie. "Just me?" asked Hayden. "Yeah, why not? You can open the show and surprise people with what you know and what I've taught you! Lavender and Parvati will go mad when they see it!" Hayden laughed. "I'm honored," he said, making another note on the parchment. "And I'm thinking for The Overture, we can do that one together," said Lizzie.

Hayden made another note on the parchment. They continued to go down the list of songs in the soundtrack, determining whether the routines would be solo or combined Eventually, what they came up with went something like this:

The March would be performed by Hayden and Lizzie, The Grandfather Dance would be performed by Hayden, Marie's Dream would be performed by Lizzie and Hayden – with Hayden performing the first half and then performing it with Lizzie – The Battle would be performed by Hayden, The Nutcracker and Marie Depart for the Pine Forest would be performed by Hayden and Lizzie, The Waltz of the Snowflakes would be performed by Lizzie, Tea (Chinese Dance) would be performed by Lizzie, Dance of the Candy Canes would be performed by Hayden, Mother Ginger and her Policinelles would be performed by Hayden and Lizzie, and as the finale, Waltz of the Flowers would be performed by Lizzie.

In total, they had twelve musical numbers, and twelve skating routines to choreograph. Immediately, Hayden saw some obstacles. "We can't do twelve numbers back to back!" he said. "I agree," said Lizzie. "I don't think I'd have the spoons to do twelve numbers with no breaks." By 'spoons,' Lizzie meant that she wouldn't have the energy, and Hayden appeared to understand this.

"All right, how about this, we split the difference and have a half an hour intermission between the first and last six numbers? That'll give the audience time to get up and stretch their legs. We can provide concessions, so they can get some hot chocolate or something if they need to, and it gives us time to catch our breath and change our costumes if we need to."

"I like the way you think," said Hayden. "If we play our cards right, people might actually show up to see it!" said Lizzie. Hayden nodded. "How much should we charge for tickets?" he asked. Lizzie bit her lip. She didn't want the tickets to be too expensive, otherwise no one would be able to come and see it.

"I think two Galleons should be okay," said Lizzie. "What time should the show be?" asked Hayden. "Hmm, early evening, I suppose," said Lizzie. "Because the songs range from one to seven minutes long – I checked," she said, noticing the look on Hayden's face. "So, I'm thinking five-thirty, to sixish." "And there's no way Umbridge will ban this right?" asked Hayden uncertainly. "Why would she?" asked Lizzie. "It's a figure skating show! We're not doing anything wrong! It's just for fun!" "Yeah, you're right," said Hayden. "Although, I do want to keep this between us," said Lizzie. "I want to be a surprise. Once everything has been choreographed and rehearsed, we can print out fliers and put them up around the school, and let people know about it, but until then, this is on the hush-hush, okay?"

Hayden nodded. "Your secret's safe with me," he promised. He knew that because no one apart from him knew that Lizzie could figure skate, this was the perfect opportunity to show off her secret talent and show people that her disability did not define her.

"You're gonna have to get yourself a new pair of skates," Lizzie commented. "I'll get that taken care of," said Hayden. "I don't think we should practice on the Black Lake either," said Lizzie. Hayden frowned inquiringly at her. "I mean, we can use it on opening night," said Lizzie. "But I don't think it's a good idea to use it for practice – it would be too easy for people to find out what we're up to."

Hayden agreed with this. It made sense. If they really wanted to keep it a secret until they were ready to perform, they needed a place where they could practice in secret without anyone finding out A place that would only appear when a person had a real need for it, and would always be equipped with the seeker's needs…A place like the Room of Requirement. After all, Dobby had told Lizzie that it could turn into anything. So if it could turn into a secret room where they could practice Defense Against the Dark Arts, then why couldn't it turn into a skating rink?

"I think I know the perfect place!" said Lizzie happily. "Where?" asked Hayden. "Come on!" said Lizzie as she got up and began walking out of the library. Hayden stuffed the roll of parchment back it his bag along with his quill and ink and followed her.

He could hardly keep up with her as he followed her up to the seventh floor and up to the familiar stretch of blank wall beside the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy as Hayden came to a halt beside Lizzie, who had her eyes closed and appeared to be concentrating hard.

We need a place where we can practice figure skating and no one can know about it, she thought as there was a scraping noise and the door appeared in the wall. Grinning, she held Hayden's hand as they walked inside.

The room had a completely different layout than when they used it for D.A. meetings and had appeared to have doubled in size. The entire stone floor had been replaced with white ice and was lined on all four sides with low walls, the rink itself filling the entire room – more than enough space for them to practice in.

Beside the doors were shelves with pairs of men's and women's figure skates and on another wall were bookshelves that were full of volumes on figure skating, complete with moving pictures so that one could see exactly how a spin, jump, or turn was performed. On the right side, there was a clothing rack that was full of men's and women's skating outfits.

Lizzie's eyes brightened at the clothes rack as she made a beeline for it and began to rifle through the hangers as the clattering of the plastic echoed around the room. There was also a gramophone in the far left corner that was set with a record, and Hayden saw that the record was the soundtrack to The Nutcracker. It was as if the room knew exactly what they were planning….

They got back to the common room and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting there as they sat down beside them in front of the fire. Harry was still depressed that he was not playing Quidditch anymore. Lizzie did her best to try and make him feel better, but it didn't do much good.

Thankfully, Hermione stepped in and said something that made the atmosphere a whole lot happier, and brightened Harry's mood. "Hagrid's back," she said.

So, they went through the portrait hole, down the marble staircase and out onto the snowy grounds. Lizzie saw tiny squares of light in Hagrid's window and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney.

Hayden had heard wonderful stories about Hagrid from all four of them, but he hadn't yet met him in person. Lizzie did however mention casually that Hagrid was half-giant.

When Hagrid opened the door, Lizzie's jaw dropped and she had to fight the urge not to scream.

He looked like someone who had been beaten within an inch of his life. His hair was matted with congealed blood, and his left eye had been reduced to a puffy slit amid a mass of purple-and-black bruises.

There were many cuts on his face and hands, some of them were still bleeding, and he was moving gingerly which made Lizzie suspect broken ribs. She had had a few of those herself, and her mum was a nurse so she could tell.

It was obvious that he had only just got home; a thick black traveling cloak lay over the back of a chair and a haversack large enough to carry several small children leaned against the wall inside the door.

"What happened to you, Hagrid?" asked Lizzie as Hagrid served them tea. "Can't tell yeh tha' Liz," said Hagrid. "Who's this fella?" he asked, nodding at Hayden. "Oh, this is Hayden Chamberlain, Hagrid," said Lizzie. "He's staying for the year." "It's nice to meet you, Hagrid," said Hayden. "Canadian, eh?" Hagrid growled. "Yeh mus' be from tha' Toronto school." "That's right," said Hayden. "Yeah, I hear a lotta good things about tha' place," said Hagrid.

"What happened to you, Hagrid?" Lizzie repeated. "I told yeh, Liz, I can' talk abou' it. Business fer the Order, yeh know…."

"We can keep a secret, can't we?" asked Lizzie, turning and nodding at Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hayden who all nodded at once. Hagrid's enormous black boarhound Fang was now jumping up on Hayden, trying to lick his face.

Finally, Hagrid sighed. "Fine," he said. "But this is top secret, all right?" Everyone nodded. "Dumbledore sent me ter parley with the giants." "Giants!" gasped Lizzie. "Shh!" Hagrid shushed her. Lizzie gazed at Hayden before turning back to Hagrid. "You found them?" she asked. "Well, they're not tha' hard ter find ter be perfectly honest," said Hagrid. "They're so big, see?"

Lizzie nodded. "I tried to convince them to join the cause," said Hagrid. "But I wasn' the only one who was tryin' ter win 'em over."

"Death Eaters," said Ron. "Yes," said Hagrid. "Trying ter persuade them ter join You-Know-Who."

"And…..Did they?" asked Hayden. Hagrid held a large steak to his swollen eye as he spoke. "I gave them Dumbledore's message," he said. "S'pose some of them remember he was friendly ter them, I s'pose…."

"And….they did this to you?" asked Hayden. "Not exactly, no," said Hagrid. Fang was growling or 'talking' as Lizzie would have called it, begging for the steak in Hagrid's hand. "Oh, go on, yeh have it then, yeh dozy dog…"

Hayden chuckled. "We've missed you," said Lizzie. "Aww, I missed yeh, too, Liz," said Hagrid smiling at her. "I'm riding Flicka now," said Lizzie. Hagrid's smile widened. "I always knew the two of you would hit it off!" he said. "Yeh gonna compete in the show a' the end o' the year?" "Wouldn't miss it for….." said Lizzie. But the rest of her words were drowned in a sudden outbreak of rapping on the door. Hermione gasped; her mug of tea slipped through her fingers and smashed to the floor; Fang yelped. All six of them stared at the window beside the doorway. The shadow of somebody small and squat rippled across the thin curtain.

"It's her!" Hayden gasped.

"Here, Hayden, put this on!" said Harry quickly; pulling out his Invisibility Cloak and whirling it over them while Hermione and Ron tore around the table and dived beneath the cloak too. Because Hayden was much taller than the rest of them, he had to bend his knees slightly to keep himself from being seen. Huddled together, they backed away into a corner. Fang was barking madly at the door. Hagrid looked thoroughly confused.

"Hagrid, hide our mugs!"

Hagrid seized Harry, Ron, Lizzie, and Hayden's mugs and shoved them under the cushion in Fang's basket. Fang was now leaping up at the door. Hagrid pushed him out of the way with his foot and pulled it open.

Professor Umbridge was standing in the doorway wearing her green tweed cloak and a matching hat with earflaps. Lips pursed, she leaned back so as to see Hagrid's face; she barely reached his navel.

"So," she said slowly and loudly as though speaking to somebody deaf. "You're Hagrid, are you?"

Without waiting for an answer, she strolled into the room, her bulging eyes rolling in every direction. "Get away," she snapped, waving her handbag at Fang, who had bounded up to her and was attempting to lick her face. Get her Fang! Lizzie thought as she watched her from beneath the cloak.

"Er – I don' want ter be rude," said Hagrid, staring at her, "but who the ruddy hell are you?"

"My name is Dolores Umbridge."

Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. Twice they stared directly into the corner where Lizzie stood, sandwiched between Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hayden.
"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid asked, sounding thoroughly confused. "I thought you were one o' them Ministry – don' you work with Fudge?"

"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes," said Umbridge, now pacing around the cabin, taking in every tiny detail within, from the haversack against the wall to the abandoned traveling cloak. "I am now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher…"

"Tha's brave of yeh," said Hagrid, "there's not many'd take tha' job anymore…."

" – and Hogwarts High Inquisitor," said Umbridge, giving no sign that she had heard him.

"Wha's that?" asked Hagrid, frowning.

"Precisely what I was going to ask," said Umbridge, point at the broken shards of china on the floor that had been Hermione's mug.

"Oh," said Hagrid, with a most unhelpful glance toward the corner where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lizzie, and Hayden stood hidden, "oh, tha' was…was Fang. He broke a mug. So I had ter use this one instead."

Hagrid pointed to the mug from which he had been drinking. Umbridge stood facing him now, taking in every detail of his appearance instead of the cabin's

"I heard voices," she said quietly.

"I was talkin' ter Fang," said Hagrid stoutly

"And was he talking back to you?"

"Well…In a manner o' speaking'," said Hagrid, looking uncomfortable. "I sometimes say Fang's near enough human…"

"There are five sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to your cabin," said Umbridge sleekly.

Lizzie gasped and Hayden clapped a hand over her mouth. Luckily Fang was sniffing loudly around the hem of Professor Umbridge's robes, and she didn't not appear to have heard.

"Well, I on'y jus' got back," said Hagrid, waving an enormous hand at the haversack. "Maybe someone came ter call earlier an' I missed 'em."

"There are no footsteps leading away from your cabin door." "Well I…I don' know why that'd be….." said Hagrid, tugging nervously at his bear and again glancing toward the corner where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lizzie, and Hayden stood, as though asking for help.

"Erm….."

Umbridge wheeled around and strode the length of the cabin, looking around carefully. She bent and peered under the bed. She opened Hagrid's cupboards. She passed within two inches of where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lizzie, and Hayden stood pressed against the wall; Harry actually pulled in his stomach as she walked by. After looking carefully inside the enormous cauldron Hagrid used for cooking, she wheeled around again and said, "What has happened to you? How did you sustain those injuries?"

She nodded at Hagrid's swollen eye, and the large amount of congealed and fresh blood on his face. "Oh, I…..had a bit of an accident," he said lamely.

"What sort of accident?
"I-I tripped."

"You tripped," she repeated coolly.

"Yeah, tha's right. Over…over a friend's broomstick. I don' fly meself. Well, look at the size o' me, I don' reckon there's a broomstick that'd hold me. Friend o' mine breeds Abraxan horses, I dunno if you've ever seen 'em, big beasts, winged, yeh know, I've had a bit of a ride on one o' them an' it was…"

"Where have you been?" asked Umbridge, cutting coolly through Hagrid's babbling.

"Where've I….?"

"Been, yes," she said. "Term started more than two months ago. Another teacher as to cover your classes. None of your colleagues have been able to give me any information as to your whereabouts. You left no address. Where have you been?"

There was a pause in which Hagrid stared at her through his swollen eye. Lizzie could almost hear his brain working furiously.

"I – I've been away for me health," he said.

"For your health," said Umbridge. Her eyes traveled over Hagrid's discolored and swollen face. "I see."

"Yeah," said Hagrid, "bit o' – o' fresh air, yeh know…."

"Yes, as gamekeeper, fresh air must be so difficult to come by," said Umbridge sweetly. The small patch of Hagrid's face that was not black or purple flushed

"Well – change o' scene, yeh know…."

"Mountain scenery?" asked Umbridge swiftly.

Lizzie's heart dropped as she and Hayden exchanged scared looks. He appeared to be thinking the same thing as her. She knows, Lizzie thought desperately.

"Mountains?" Hagrid repeated, clearly thinking fast. "Nope. South o' France fer me. Bit o' sun an'….an' sea."

"Really?" said Umbridge. "You don't have much of a tan."

"Yeah…well….sensitive skin," said Hagrid, attempting an ingratiating smile. Lizzie saw that two of his teeth had been knocked out.

Umbridge looked at him coldly; his smiled faltered. Then she hoisted her handbag a little higher into the crook of her arm and said, "I shall, of course, be informing the Minister of your late return."

"Righ'," said Hagrid, nodding.

"You ought to know too that as High Inquisitor, it is my unfortunate but necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough."

She turned sharply and marched back to the door.

"You're inspectin' us?" Hagrid echoed blankly, looking after her.

"Oh, yes," said Umbridge softly, looking back at him with her hand on the door handle. The Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid. Good day."

She left, closing the door behind her with a snap. Harry made to pull off the Invisibility Cloak but Hermione seized his wrist.

"Not yet," she breathed in his ear. "She might not be gone yet."

Hagrid seemed to be thinking the same way; he stumped across the room and pulled back the curtain an inch or so.

"She's goin' back ter the castle," he said in a low voice. "Blimey…..inspectin' people is she?"

"Yeah," said Harry, pulling the cloak off. "Trelawney's on probation already…."

Darkness had begun to settle over the castle, and thunder could be heard rumbling in the distance.

"I's changin' out there," said Hagrid grimly. "Jus' like last time. There's a storm comin' Liz. An' we best be ready when she does."

Hayden and Lizzie stared at one another.

Lizzie didn't know how Hayden was able to do it, but with the added work of a secret end-of-term Christmas figure skating show in the making, she wondered out on earth she was going to fit in everything else. Thankfully, Hayden had devised a sort of schedule whereby they could practice their riding lessons at their normal times, when whenever they weren't doing D.A. meetings, they would work on their figure skating.

This was a system that turned out to be efficient, and convenient. In a very short time, Hayden became proficient in the waltz jump, spiral, and butterfly jump – the same jump Lizzie had done where she leapt into the air as her legs kicked around her before landing in a camel or sit spin.

He had also learned a move called the 'twizzle' – where the skater pulled his or her leg up in a figure four position as they turn – turns called 'rockers' – a one-foot turn where the entry and exit edge are on opposite curves – counter turns, sit spins, camel spins, Axels, doughnut spins, layback spins, and upright spins.

When it came to the choreography, Lizzie said she wanted to include something in one of their combined routines that would wow the crowd. She found it one day as they were taking a break from skating one afternoon, and Lizzie was perusing through The Complete Guide to Figure Skating. It was a movement called the 'death spiral' – it involved two skaters where one skater faces the other and keeping hold of one of their hands, begins to crouch and shift their weight downward and to the rear, allowing them to maintain balance as their partner begins to spiral around them.

As one skater glides around the other, they shift their body so their back is oriented toward the ice. In combination with their partner, they are lowered toward the ice as the radius of the circle increases while spinning, their body nearly horizontal to the ice surface with their head thrown backward, almost touching the ice.

Then as their partner shifts their body weight forward and gradually straightens from the crouching position, the other skater decreasees the radius of the circle, so that they spiral back into a standing position.

When Lizzie showed Hayden the moving illustration of it, his eyes became wide as Galleons, and he actually swore. It did indeed look like quite the crowd pleaser, but it also looked like quite the trust exercise.

Another movement that Lizzie was keen on trying was the throw spin – another movement done in pairs where the female skater is thrown into the air by her partner as she spins and her partner catches her or she lands on the ice.

"You trust me to do that?" asked Hayden. "With my life," said Lizzie as she laced up her skates one Thursday evening.

They decided to choreograph the numbers in order of performance. So the first thing they worked on was Hayden's opening number.

He began the number kneeling on one knee as the music started, as beautiful harp notes echoed around the room, and as the string composition of the song began, Hayden got to his feet as he skated forward gracefully, turning and spinning with such ease like he had done it all his life. As the music became more dramatic, Hayden skated backward, crossing one foot over the other as he gained speed, the as he stood straight, leapt from the ice into a triple axel, landing on his feet.

Lizzie smiled. She thought he looked really good, and was very impressed with how quickly he had learned everything.

Hayden skated backward again, before jumping into the air, his legs kicking out around him as he landed with his right leg extended behind him as he spun, then as he continued to spin, knelt down with his right leg extended out in front of him.

The song ended with Hayden spinning on one leg, his other lifted up with his knee bent as he spun. As his speed increased, he lowered his foot to the ice, wrapping one leg around the other as he spun faster and faster, finally stopping with his right toe pick as he knelt down on one knee as the song stopped. Lizzie laughed with delight as she bounced up and down on her skates, applauding happily. "I love it! Well done!" she said happily.

Once they had the initial choreography for Hayden's opening number squared away, they practiced it a few more times, with Lizzie offering suggestions before they moved onto the next one: The Overture. They had a lot of fun choreographing this one. And Lizzie even made the suggestion that they do a joined camel spin together – "I'll show you how to do it," said Lizzie as she noticed Hayden's perplexed look – and sit spins, that they could do together.

Choreographing this routine proved to be a bit tricker. Nothing ever seemed to fit with the music. Finally when they were having a break, Hayden suggested they listen to the music track and plan the moves according to what felt right.

It took several variations and many rehearsals before they settled on a routine that looked and felt good. They faced a similar challenge with The March. It was another happy, upbeat song that required careful planning and listening to the music before selecting and choreographing the movements to each portion of the song before they found one that felt right.

Since Hagrid's return, Hermione had been attempting to help him plan his lessons. But it did little good. Hagrid didn't seem to understand how dire his situation was now that Umbridge was High Inquisitor and had the power and authority to sack teachers that she felt were incompetent.

Add to that, there were many who preferred Professor Grubbly-Plank over Hagrid and this greatly annoyed Lizzie. It was with extreme trepidation that she went down to Hagrid's on Tuesday for Care of Magical Creatures, wondering what Hagrid could possibly have in store for the class.

Her fingers were numb from the cold as they trudged through the snow to Hagrid's cabin. Umbridge, thankfully, was nowhere to be found.

Hagrid did not present a reassuring sight; the bruises that had been purple on Saturday night were now tinged with green and yellow, and some of his cuts still seemed to be bleeding.

Lizzie wondered what on earth could have attacked him. She felt tears sting her eyes as she gazed at him, hastily wiping them away.

As though to complete this picture, Hagrid was carrying what looked like a half-dead cow over his shoulder. "We're workin' in here, today!" Hagrid called happily to the approaching students, jerking his head back at the dark trees behind him. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark…"

"What prefers the dark?" Lizzie hear Malfoy say sharply to Crabbe and Goyle, a trace of panic in his voice. "What did he say prefers the dark – did you hear?"

Lizzie remembered the only occasion on which Malfoy had entered the forest before now; he hadn't been very brave then either. She smiled to herself; after everything Malfoy had put her through for the past four – nearly five years, treating her like a human punching bag and encouraging her to commit suicide, anything that caused Malfoy discomfort was all right by her.

"Ready?" said Hagrid happily, looking around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year. Though we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat, now what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em…."

"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" asked Malfoy, the panic rising in his voice, even more pronounced now. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?" The Slytherins murmured in agreement, and a few Gryffindors looked as though Malfoy had a fair point. Even Lizzie, who ever agreed with Malfoy on anything, couldn't help but find truth in this.

"Course they're trained," said Hagrid, scowling and hoisting the dead cow a little higher on his shoulder. "So what's happened to your face then?" demanded Malfoy. "Mind yer own business!" said Hagrid angrily. "Now if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!"

He turned and strode straight into the forest. Nobody seemed much disposed to follow.

Lizzie and Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione, who sighed, but nodded, and the four of them set off after Hagrid, leading the rest of the class.

They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a place where the trees stood so closely together that it was as dark as twilight.

And there was no snow on the ground at all. Hagrid deposited his half-dead cow with a grunt on the ground, stepping back and turning to face his class again, most of whom were creeping toward him from tree to tree, peering around nervously as though expecting to be set upon at any moment.

"Gather 'roun', gather 'roun'," said Hagrid encouragingly. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat, but I'm going ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me…."

He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird. Nobody laughed, most of them looked too scared to make a sound.

Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. A minute passed in which the class continued to peer nervously over their shoulders, and around the trees for a first glimpse of whatever it was that was coming. And then as Hagrid shook his hair back for a third time, and expanded his enormous chest, Lizzie nudged Harry and pointed into the black space between to gnarled yew trees.

A pair of blank white, shining eyes were growing larger through the loom and a moment later, the dragonish face, neck, and then skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerged from the darkness. It looked around the class for a few seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear the flesh from the dead cow with its pointed fangs.

A huge wave of relief broke over Lizzie. Here, at last was proof that she had not imagined these creatures, that they were real; Hagrid knew about them too, She looked at Harry who was staring captivated at this creature. Ron and Hermione, however, were still staring out into the trees. They didn't seem to see what was right in front of them.

Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions of confusion and nervous expectation, just like Ron and Hermione's and were gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them.

Here were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle who was watching the horse eat with an expression of great distaste on his face, and Neville whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail.

"Oh, an' here comes another one!" said Hagrid proudly, as a second black horse appeared out of the dark trees, folding its leathery wings closer to its body and dipped its head to gorge on the meat. "Now….Put yer hands up, who can see 'em?" Hagrid asked.

Lizzie raised her hand first, then Harry, and Neville.

"Yeah…yeah, I knew yeh'd be able ter see 'em, Liz," said Hagrid seriously. "An' you too, Harry, an' you Neville, eh?"

"Excuse me," said Malfoy in a sneering voice, "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?" For answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. The whole class stared at it for a few seconds, then several people gasped and Parvati squealed loudly, totally annoying Lizzie, though she understood why; bits of flesh stripping themselves away from the carcass and vanishing into thin air had to look very odd indeed.

"What's eating it?" Parvati demanded in a terrified voice and retreating behind the nearest tree. "Thestrals!" said Hagrid proudly, and Hermione gave a soft "oh!" of comprehension at Lizzie's shoulder. "Hogwarts has got a whole heard of 'em in here. Now who know…."

"But they're really, really unlucky!" interrupted Parvati looking alarmed. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of misfortune on people who see them! Professor Trelawney told me once….."

"No, no, no," said Hagrid chuckling, "tha's jus' superstition, that is. They aren' unlucky, they're dead clever, an' useful! 'Course, this lot don't get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages, unless Dumbledore's takin's a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate….an' here's another couple, look!"

Two more horses came quietly out of the trees. "Are – are we allowed to touch them?" asked Lizzie curiously. "O' course yeh can!" said Hagrid, smiling. "Go on, then, Liz. Jus' be careful. I's like with regular horses – yeh don' want ter spook 'em….."

Lizzie nodded as she cautiously approached one of the thestrals that wasn't near the cow carcass, she wasn't entirely certain as to how territorial thestrals could be around food. The class watched in awe as Lizzie slowly approached one and made a clucking sound with her tongue as the thestral walked closer to her as she reached out and stroked its skeletal face. The thestral closed its milky white eyes contentedly as though enjoying it.

"Well done!" said Hagrid, beaming. "Well, done, Liz! I always said yeh had a gift with animals!"

"What's she petting?" Malfoy drawled. "I'll bet two Sickles it bites her hand off…" He sounded almost hopeful.

After a few minutes, Lizzie slowly stepped back into the crowd.

"Right' now, who can tell me why some o' you can see 'em an' some can't?"

Hermione raised her hand.

"Go on, then," said Hagrid beaming at her. "The only people who can see thestrals," she said, "are people who have seen death."

"Tha's exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly, "ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, thestrals….."

"Hem, hem,"

Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from Harry, wearing a green hat and cloak, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, was gazing in some concern at the closest thestral, evidently under the impression that it had made the sound.

"Hem, hem."

"Oh, hello!" said Hagrid, smiling, having located the source of the noise. "You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" said Umbridge, her voice loud and slow as though she was addressing someone both foreign and very slow.

"Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"

"Oh, yeah," said Hagrid brightly. "Glad yeh found the place, all righ'! Well as you can see – or, I dunno – can you? We're going thestrals today…"

"I'm sorry," said Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. "What did you say?"

Hagrid looked very confused.

"Er – thestrals!" he said loudly. "Big – er – winged horses, yeh know!"

He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard.

"Has…..to…resort…..to…..crude…sign…language….."

"Well…anyway…" said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking slightly flustered.

"Erm, wha' was I sayin'?"

"Appears….to…..have…..poor….short…..term….memory….." muttered Umbridge loudly enough for everyone to hear her. Draco Malfoy looked as though Christmas had come a month early; Lizzie on the other hand had turned scarlet with suppressed rage. She would have given anything to call Umbridge out, but Hayden's dire warning about the nerve damage in her hand echoed in her brain. And it was with enormous difficulty that she bit her tongue and said nothing.

"Oh, yeah," said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but plowing on valiantly. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a heard. Yeah, so we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted the first horse to have appeared, "name of Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest…."

He breeds them? thought Lizzie impressively. "Are you aware?" Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him. "That the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?"

Lizzie scoffed under her breath. They didn't seem any more dangerous to her than a regular domestic horse. Animals, magical or otherwise, in her opinion, weren't dangerous if they were treated with respect, though it took a lot for her not to say this out loud. Umbridge would have given any excuse to put her back in detention, and she couldn't take that risk.

Hagrid chuckled. "Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh really annoy 'em…"

Just like regular horses, thought Lizzie.

"Shows….signs…..of…pleasure….of…..the….idea….of…..violence….." muttered Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again.

"No – come on!" said Hagrid, looking a little anxious now "I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won' it – but thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because o' the death thing – people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn' understand, did they?"

Umbridge did not answer, she finished writing her last note, then looked up at Hagrid and said, again, very loudly and slowly. "Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk…" she mimed walking – Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were having silent fits of laughter – "among the students" – she pointed around at individual members of the class – "And ask them questions." She pointed to her mouth, to indicate talking.

Hagrid stared at her, clearly at a complete loss to understand why she was acting like he didn't understand normal English.

Lizzie had tears of fury in her eyes now.

"You hag, you evil hag!" she whispered as Umbridge walked toward Pansy Parkinson. "I know what you're doing, you awful, twisted, vicious, disgusting…"

"Erm, anyway," said Hagrid, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his lesson, "so – thestrals. Yeah, well there's loads o' good stuff abou' them…"

"Do you find," said Professor Umbridge in a ringing voice to Pansy Parkinson. "That you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?"

Just like Lizzie, Pansy had tears in her eyes, but these were tears of laughter; indeed, her answer was almost incoherent because she was trying to suppress her giggles.

"No….because…well…..it…..sounds…..like grunting a lot of the time…"

Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard. The few unbruised bits of Hagrid's face flushed but he tried to act as though he had not heard Pansy's answer.

"Er…yeah…..good stuff abou' thestrals. Well, once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' sense o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go….."

"Assuming they can understand you, of course," said Malfoy loudly and Pansy Parkinson collapsed in a fit of renewed giggles. Professor Umbridge smiled indulgently at them, then turned to Lizzie and she was nearly nose-to-nose with her toadlike face and bulging eyes.

"You can see thestrals, can you dear?" she asked sweetly, as though anticipating Lizzie to snap at her. "Whom did you see die?" asked Umbridge, her tone quite indifferent.

"My horse, Raven," said Lizzie. But of course Umbridge already knew this. She had rubbed it in Lizzie's face during her very first detention. Lizzie knew that Umbridge was only asking her this in the hopes of getting an emotional reaction from her, and Lizzie was determined not to give it to her.

"How did Raven die?" asked Umbridge. "He broke his leg," said Lizzie, trying not to look at Malfoy and the other Slytherins who were laughing behind their hands. "With respect, I would rather not go into details."

"Student…is…..too…embarrassed….perhaps…..guilty…..to…..admit….that…she…..killed…her….own…horse…" Umbridge muttered, making another note on her clipboard.

Knowing better than to respond, Lizzie didn't say anything and stared at her shoes. She thought how she carefully phrased what she had said was respectful enough. She hadn't been confrontational, she hadn't told any lies, she simply, but politely asked Umbridge not to butt into her personal business.

"Oh, it's quite all right dear," said Umbridge, noticing the look on Lizzie's face and patting her on the shoulder. Harry saw Lizzie recoil as Umbridge touched her. "We all make mistakes, we've all done things we regret," she said with what was evidently intended to be an understanding smile, although it looked more like a leer to Lizzie.

"Well, Hagrid," she turned to look up at him again, speaking once more in that loud, slow voice. "I think I've got enough to be getting on with…you will receive…" she mimed taking something from the air in front of her – "the results of your inspection…" she pointed at the clipboard – "in ten days' time." She held up ten stubby fingers, then her smile wider and more toadlike than ever beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst, leaving Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in fits of laughter.

Lizzie was actually shaking with fury, her long dip-powdered nails that were now sparkly red, white, and green in anticipation for the coming holidays digging into her palms.

"That foul, lying, twisted old gargoyle!" stormed Lizzie half an hour later, as they made their way back up to the castle through the channels they had made earlier in the snow. "You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breed all over again – she's trying to make Hagrid out to be some kind of dim-witted troll just because his mum was a giantess – and the way she questioned me about Raven's death, trying to get me to talk about what happened, when I am just – simply – over it!"

She sighed heavily. "That wasn't a bad lesson, though," she admitted, her tone becoming brighter. "I was surprised that Neville could see them – didn't see that coming, but I would have thought more people could see them…."

"Can Hayden see them?" asked Hermione curiously. Lizzie paused. She had never asked him about thestrals. She wasn't sure if he even knew what they were. They had plans to rehearse their skating that afternoon in the Room of Requirement, so she made a mental note to ask him about it then.