I do not own Harry Potter, only the OC

Hello guys, Badger here. How is everyone today. Before we begin, I want to apologise beforehand. I feel like this is the weakest chapter I have written for the story so far, but I'm sure some of you may disagree. Anyway, this chapter immediatley takes place after the events of the previous one and was pretty easy to write up.

Side note: Despite a few of you that wished to see a Harry P/James B pairing in this story, the people who have voted on the poll for a story with such a pairing, have all voted no. If you wish to see this pairing happen, get your votes in quickly, before I take the poll down. Anyway, that is all for now, read on and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 70

Questions, questions and more questions

As soon as the Trio entered the Great Hall, they knew something was up. There were hushed whispers all over the place, as students were looking at the Daily Prophet in front of them.

"Okay, what's happened?" Harry asked, as they arrived at the Slytherin Table

"See for yourself" Tracey Davis replied, passing over her copy of the newspaper

Delores Umbridge murdered in her cell!

Everyone who read the previous issue of the Daily Prophet will know that Delores Umbridge, a secret Death Eater, was placed in a Ministry Holding Cell, after being found guilty of multiple murders. With Azkaban destroyed, she was to stay there, until the Ministry decided what to do with her. That matter was taken out of their hand. Not too long after she was placed in her cell, Corban Yaxley entered her cell and killed Umbridge in cold blood, with the Killing Curse. Auror Nymphadora Tonks was nearby when this occurred, and when she tried apprehending Yaxley, he killed himself, removing his head with a blasting hex. Investigations revealed that Yaxley also had the Dark Mark on his arm, raising the question of why he killed her in the first place. More information, and interviews with members of the Ministry, can be found on page 9.

"Madre de dios!" James muttered, as he read the article "Why would Yaxley do that?"

"No one knows" Tracey shrugged "I read through page 9, at all the interviews given and no one could come up with a reason…some said they had a suspicion but refused to say what"

"We could ask Sirius" Harry said, quietly "He might know something"

"We should contact him after Quidditch try outs" James nodded "If he does know something, then he will gladly tell us"

Voldemort smiled as he read the copy of the Daily Prophet that was given to him. Good riddance, was all he had to say on the matter. Whilst he wished Yaxley hadn't died, Yaxley was a valuable member, Voldemort was glad that he had chosen to kill himself for the cause, rather then be captured like the Umbridge bitch.

"Severus" He said smoothly, throwing the paper to one side "Tell me, how are our friends fairing?"

"Their recovery is slow, but they grow healthier every day, my lord" Snape bowed "I suspect it will be another few weeks until they are deemed fit to fight once more…of course they may need some training, to see if their time in Azkaban has made their skills rusty"

"I agree, I accept only the best for the cause" Voldemort smiled, as he intwined his hands together and rested his chin on top of them "I think we'll lay off the radar for now, give Magical Britain some time to relax…and when they let their guard down, we will strike again, in the meantime, you need to continue lowering Potters defences…we need that prophecy, and who better to find it then the Boy-Who-Lived himself? Finding that prophecy, will be his downfall!"

Harry grimaced as he looked at the students trying out for the Slytherin Team, all of them were mucking about and not paying attention, as he tried calling out to them. James was standing next to him. He was there at Harry's request to help with the try outs and it was obvious he was getting annoyed and it wasn't long until he snapped.

"Oi, you lot, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" James' voice rang across the entire pitch and the students immediatley stopped

"Thank you" Harry smiled, before turning back to the students "Now that I have your attention, you all know why you are here, you are all trying out for the Quidditch Team…obviously some of you won't make it, but there are spots on the reserve team, so you may be lucky…I will be taking the Seekers and Beaters, James will be taking the Chasers and Keepers, so let's begin"

Quidditch try outs went quicker then Harry was expecting. After watching every student try out, he knew it was going to be difficult choosing Team Members. When all the students made their way out of the changing rooms, James immediatley grabbed the Mirror and chucked it at Harry, who caught it effortlessly and called for Sirius, who appeared on the reflection a few seconds later.

"Harry, James, I'm not surprised you called me" Sirius said "I was expecting you all to call…I imagine you saw the Daily Prophet today?"

"Yes, and we have questions" Harry nodded

"A lot of people do" Sirius sighed "Go ahead, ask away"

"Why would Yaxley do it?" Harry asked "The Prophet says he was also a Death Eater, so why would he murder Umbridge…even if she did deserve it?"

"I imagine Voldemort gave him orders to do so" Sirius replied "Umbridge was a Death Eater and got herself captured, that means she is branded a failure to his cause and of no further use to him, not to mention, she tried to kill you Harry, which he was less then pleased about"

"Why?" Harry raised an eyebrow

"You are on top of his to kill list Harry" Sirius said "He has placed claim on you, not allowing his followers to kill you…Voldemort wants to be the one to do so"

"I bet you feel honoured" James said to Harry, before something came to mind, from what he read in the article "Sirius, how is Tonks?"

"About what you expect" Sirius sighed "She is pretty shook up, then again, after watching a man blow his own head off, I can't really be surprised…it's likely she'll have recurring nightmares about that…other then that, she is safe and unharmed…but I want you guys to be careful…everything involving Azkaban and now Umbridge's murder has many fearing the worst…I want you to be on high alert, at all times"

Sirius' words remained ringing in their ears, for the next few days and they soon found themselves in the next Duelling Club, now known as The Hogwarts Institution. This time, James was teaching the Fourth and Fifth Years, as Harry had a shielding charm he wanted to teach the younger years.

"Alright listen up" James said "you will be going up against training dummies today, as the spell I'll be teaching you is dangerous and I don't want you using it on each other…it is a Cutting Curse, but unlike common curses, this one produces three slashes on the target upon impact, it is very lethal, depending on where you hit the target…"

"You can't teach us that!" Hermione screeched "That spell could kill someone…we shouldn't be learning magic to kill, we should…"

"Granger, zip your mouth!" James snapped "Look around you, do you see anyone else protesting, or complaining…there is rumours of a war starting…do you think Voldemort and his Death Eaters will use stunners or disarming charms?"

James glared at Hermione, who shrunk back a bit, as all the other students continued to look back and forth between the two. When it was obvious that Hermione wasn't going to respond, James continued.

"Voldemort and his Death Eaters won't hesitate to torture and kill anyone around them" He said "If you don't want to kill that's fine, remove their wand hand or be a healer, just don't waste my time! Now, get yourselves ready, I will teach you the incantation and wand movement, then you will take it in turns going up against the training dummies"

As the students prepared themselves, James pinched the bridge of his nose, where he was approached by Ron Weasley.

"I wouldn't beat yourself up about snapping at her" He said "She deserves it, if you ask me"

"How can any of you stand her, in the Gryffindor Common Room?" James asked

"Most of us don't" Ron sighed "She is overbearing, arrogant and believes she is better than everyone else"

"Tell me something I don't know" James replied dryly

James found it a bit weird, talking politely and bantering slightly with Ron, considering their history. But it also felt good in a way. The rest of the session went by without any issue, but before either Harry or James could leave along with the rest, they were stopped by Flitwick.

"What is it Professor?" Harry asked

"Just something I wish to ask" Flitwick replied "Am I right in saying both of you can produce a Patronus?"

"Yes sir" Harry nodded

"Good, because I was wondering, with the disappearance of the Dementors and the likelihood that they will join Voldemort once more, if you two would teach the students from the Fourth to Seventh Years the Patronus Charm" Flitwick said "It may not be needed, but better to be safe than sorry"

"It is a difficult spell to cast" James mused "But, if we can learn it in our Third Year, I'm sure they can"

"Excellent" Flitwick smiled "With all the other plans I have for future lessons, I think you should teach them the charm after Christmas…Whilst I am glad to be teaching the students to fight in order to defend themselves, I wish it wasn't for because of the inevitable war looming over us"

"Us too professor" James muttered "Us too"

And another done. Again, I would like to apologise, if you found the chapter to be weak.

Anyway, a couple of things to note here. First, I'm sure very few of you will notice the throwback to when Harry got his Nimbus, with James going 'Madre de dios'. I forgot to mention back then, but I say this phrase a lot in real life. Also, this, originally, was supposed to be a reoccurring phrase, like Ron with his 'Bloody Hell'. Unfortunately, I forgot about it when writing the story. It may pop up again in the occasional chapter, but it feels like a wasted gag.

Also, we have some Hermione bashing! Yay! I don't remember the last time there was any Hermione bashing, so I hope you found it to be a treat. Something that always annoyed me about Hermione, from what I have read in Fanfics, and if I remember her canon character correctly, is her issues with authority and views of the war. Whilst I don't like the idea of taking a life, I believe it is necessary in a war, as the opposing side will be trying to kill me, no matter what. One last thing before we go:

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER - The Department of Mysteries will be happening sometime soon, I'm not saying someone will, but if one of the characters was to die, who do you think it will be? [leave your answers in the review section]

That is all for now. Just a quick heads up, there will be a small time jump and the next chapter will take place during the Christmas Holidays. I hope you enjoyed and I will see you in the next one.

Badger out.