Nice easy chapter, I might start having to do a lot of time jumps…this book is kind of long and not a lot of action. I'll have to look at my options. Enjoy!
Over the next few days, Harry called his dads to catch them up. He made sure not to mention Umbridge's detentions since they stopped after the first few times. The Blood Quill no longer seemed to work, though the woman seemed oblivious. So Harry didn't deem it important enough to mention.
He went to the Owlery to visit Hedwig, he hadn't seen her in a while. He craned his neck in search of his snowy owl. He caught sight of her somewhere near the very top of the vaulted ceiling. "Hey Hedwig" He called.
With a low hoot she stretched her great white wings and soared down onto his shoulder.
"How have you been?" He asked, gently petting her feathered front.
She brushed her head against his cheek a few times and cooed.
"I'm sure you're getting a bit bored." Harry smiled, "Since I don't write as often as I did, now that I have a phone." He pulled a few owl treats out of his pocket and held them out for her. She quickly finished them and pecked his fingers gently in thanks. "I do have a letter for you today. Not far, just to Sirius" He whispered.
He tied the letter to her leg and carried her to an open spot, "Off you go then." Harry said and watched as Hedwig away.
Harry was about to leave when the Owlery door opened, letting Cho Chang in with a letter and a parcel in her hand.
"Hi," said Harry automatically.
"Oh . . . hi," she said breathlessly. "I didn't think anyone would be up here this early. . . . I only remembered five minutes ago, it's my mum's birthday." She held up the parcel.
"Right," said Harry. His brain seemed to have jammed. He wanted to say something funny and interesting, but nothing came to mind. "Nice day," he said, gesturing to the windows. His insides seemed to shrivel with embarrassment. The weather. He was talking about the weather…
"Yeah," said Cho, looking around for a suitable owl. "Good Quidditch conditions. I haven't been out all week, have you?"
"No," said Harry. Cho had selected one of the school barn owls. She coaxed it down onto her arm where it held out an obliging leg so that she could attach the parcel.
"Hey, has Gryffindor got a new Keeper yet?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Harry. "It's my friend Ron Weasley, d'you know him?"
"The Tornado-hater?" said Cho rather coolly. "Is he any good?"
"Yeah," said Harry, "I think so. I didn't see his tryout, though, I was in detention."
"That was completely unfair." Cho said. "That Umbridge is a foul woman. You were only telling the truth about how – how he died." She whispered the last part. "You were really brave, standing up to her like that."
Harry blushed. "Thanks"
They left the Owlery together. At the entrance of a corridor that led toward the west wing of the castle, Cho said, "I'm going this way. I'll…I'll see you around, Harry."
"Yeah…see you." He replied.
She smiled at him and departed. He walked on, feeling quietly elated. He had managed to have an entire conversation with her and not embarrassed himself once. Her words rang in his head as he walked back to the common room. She had called him brave…She didn't hate him for being alive. Of course, she had preferred Cedric, he knew that. If he'd only asked her to the ball before Cedric had, things might have turned out differently. She had seemed sincerely sorry that she had to refuse when Harry had asked her. That had to count for something…right?
/
The next morning Harry sat with Hermione and Ron at the table for breakfast. When the mail came, the Daily Prophet was dropped in front of Hermione.
"Anything interesting?" Ron asked as Hermione looked through the paper.
"Not yet" She mumbled. "Oh, here's something" She flattened the paper over the table so they could read it.
"All I see are advertisements Hermione." Ron said.
Hermione sighed, "Here…this little piece here" She pointed to a short article near the bottom of the page. It was about a man who was caught attempting to enter a secure place in the ministry. He would be spending six months in Azkaban for his crimes.
"Do you think he's in the Ord –"
"Ron! Shh!" Hermione hissed.
"Well why else would someone be in the ministry that early in the morning." Ron argued.
"Yes, but we don't need everyone hearing about it" Hermione replied. "The Order is secret remember?"
"What do you think he was looking for?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it's whatever You-Know-Who is looking for." Ron suggested.
"Your dad did say he was looking for a prophecy." Hermione nodded.
"Yeah, and Dad said it was probably the same one Aileen told us about." Harry said.
"Sirius might be able to tell us more. He wanted to tell you at the meeting." Ron said.
"Right, well, I think we should tackle that essay for Sprout on SelfFertilizing Shrubs first, and if we're lucky we'll be able to start McGonagall's Inanimatus Conjurus before lunch."
Harry sighed as he thought of the large pile of homework waiting for him in his room. If his parents found out, he was sure he would be dead. Another thing he deemed unimportant to tell them. The last thing he wanted was a lecture about keeping his grades up.
/
Quidditch that night went as well as could be expected for Ron's first time. It didn't help that Malfoy and his posse were there being their annoying selves.
Ron was moody the rest of the evening, disappointed in his performance.
"It was your first practice Ron, give yourself more credit." Harry said.
"I think I'm just going to do homework." He replied and stomped angrily up to his room.
/
Later that night, when Ron was feeling a little better about practice Harry and Ron decided to get working on their homework in the common room.
"We should never leave our homework this late again." Harry said.
"Yeah" Ron agreed.
Hermione came over with her – much smaller – stack of homework and continued working.
"Jupiter's biggest moon is Ganymede, not Callisto," she said, pointing over Ron's shoulder at a line in his Astronomy essay, "and it's Io that's got the volcanos."
"What?" Ron asked.
"Those sentences are wrong." Hermione said.
"Thanks," Ron grumbled, scratching out the offending sentences.
"I'm only trying to help" Hermione sniffed.
Before Ron's mood could drop again Harry quickly replied, "We're just a bit stressed with all the work we have."
"Well, if you both started earlier you wouldn't be in this mess."
Harry nodded, "Won't happen again"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Like I'll believe that."
She looked over to the window and gasped, "Ron, look at that"
"What?" Ron turned to the nearest window to see a handsome screech owl standing on the windowsill.
"Hermes?" Ron muttered to himself. "Blimey, what is he doing here?" He walked over to the window and opened it, allowing the owl inside. Hermes presented his leg, which had a scroll tied to it. Once Ron detached the scroll, Hermes took off.
"It's from Percy" Ron said as he read the outside of the scroll.
"Well, open it!" Hermione said eagerly. Harry nodded in agreement.
Ron unrolled the scroll and began to read. The farther down the parchment his eyes traveled, the more pronounced became his scowl. When he had finished reading, he looked disgusted.
"What's it say?" Harry asked.
"That he's proud I'm a Prefect. That I should stay away from you Harry. And that I should play nice with Umbridge" Ron hissed the name. "Can you believe that?"
He threw the scroll on the table for Harry and Hermione to read.
"What do you think he means by 'Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer'?" Hermione asked.
"It's like you said, the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts." Harry replied.
"Do you think we should warn him?" Hermione asked.
"He probably already knows." Ron said. He shook his head, "Percy really believes all that rubbish."
"He's always been a bit different from the rest of the family." Hermione said.
"But to betray us like this." Ron growled. "He talks about loyalty; how I should be loyal to the Ministry" Ron snorted.
"You are loyal Ron, to your friends." Hermione assured. "To those who count."
Ron gave her a weak grin, "I guess I have one less brother."
"I think you have enough" Harry winked at him.
"Think I should tell Fred and George? I know they don't think much of me, but I think they should know at least. They are mentioned after all."
"I think that's a great idea Ron. Who knows, maybe this will bring you three closer." Hermione said.
Ron nodded and, with the scroll, walked off to find his brothers.
"He left his homework" Harry said.
Hermione sighed, "Oh give them here." She grabbed both their parchments and began writing. "Don't say I've never done anything for you."
Harry smiled, "Never Hermione."
/
When it was close to midnight, and everyone was in bed; the trio sat in a corner of the common room finishing their homework.
"Uh Harry, I think I'm going mad but I thought I saw Sirius' face in the fire just now." Ron said
"What?" Harry and Hermione said and looked to the fireplace where Sirius's head appeared in the middle of the flames. The three of them raced over to the fireplace.
"Sirius?"
"I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared," he said, grinning. "I've been checking every hour."
"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" Harry said, half laughing.
"Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear yet."
"You're very lucky you weren't seen." Hermione scolded.
"You're starting to sound like Molly" Sirius replied.
"Why are even here?" Ron asked.
"This was the only way I could think of answering Harry's letter. With Umbridge there communications in and out of the castle are stricter."
"You know about Umbridge?" Hermione asked.
"I do indeed. Works for Fudge, dreadful woman."
"Do you think she could be in line with Voldemort?" Harry asked.
"I highly doubt it. She may be evil incarnate but she's no Death Eater"
"She's foul enough to be one," said Harry darkly and Ron and Hermione nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters," Sirius relied with a wry smile. "I know she's a nasty piece of work, though — you should hear Remus talk about her."
"Does Professor Lupin know her?" Harry asked quickly, remembering Umbridge's comments about dangerous half-breeds during her first lesson.
"No," said Sirius, "but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for any werewolf to get a job. Luckily, Remus is now employed by your father." Harry nodded and remembered how shabby the man looked before he got the job with his dad and his dislike of Umbridge deepened even further.
"What's she got against werewolves?" Hermione asked angrily.
"Scared of them, I expect," Sirius replied, smiling at her indignation. "Apparently she loathes part-humans; she campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year too."
"She just keeps getting worse." Ron said.
"So what are Umbridge's lessons like?" Sirius interrupted. "Is she training you all to kill half-breeds?"
"No," Harry said, "she's not letting us use magic at all!"
"All we do is read the stupid textbook," Ron added.
"Ah, well, that figures," said Sirius. "Our information from inside the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."
"Trained in combat?" Harry repeated incredulously. "What does he think we're doing here, forming some sort of wizard army?"
"That's exactly what he thinks you're doing," Sirius nodded, "or rather, that's exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing — forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic."
There was a pause at this, then Ron said, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, including all the stuff that Luna Lovegood comes out with."
"Luna's not stupid Ron, she's just different" Harry hissed.
"Sorry" He mumbled.
"So we are being kept from learning Defense Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is paranoid about us attacking him?" Hermione said, her face contorted with fury.
"Yep" Sirius replied, "Fudge is getting more paranoid about Dumbledore stealing his job every day. It's only a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some fabricated charge.
"Percy said something along those lines in a letter he sent me." Ron said. "Told me I should be getting comfy with Umbridge because Dumbledore won't be at school anymore."
"I haven't heard anything. I'll look into it. Knowing Fudge, he placed Umbridge at Hogwarts for that very reason."
"Have you heard anything about Hagrid lately?" Harry asked.
"Ah…Well…" said Sirius, "he was supposed to be back by now, no one's sure what's happened to him." Then, he added quickly, "But Dumbledore's not worried, so don't you three get yourselves in a state; I'm sure Hagrid's fine."
"But if he was supposed to be back by now…" Hermione said in a small, worried voice.
"Now don't start jumping to conclusions you three." Sirius said. "I said he's fine"
"How do you know that though?" Harry asked.
"Madame Maxime was with him. Last we heard they were separated on their way back, but there is no reason to believe Hagrid is hurt." Sirius assured.
The trio exchanged unconvinced looks, but didn't say anything.
"Please don't ask too many questions" Sirius said. "It'll only draw unwanted attention. People will be asking enough questions about why he was gone so long in the first place. I haven't been outside much so I'm a bit out of the loop."
"Why?" Ron asked.
Sirius sighed, "People are still a bit warry of me. Even though I was cleared of all charges. Rather not be stared at like some kind of maniac."
The trio frowned, "People still act like that?"
"It would appear Lucius Malfoy likes to gossip as much as any old crone. Seems to be spreading a few stories about me through the Ministry."
Hermione growled, "I have never met such a horrid man in my life."
Sirius chuckled, "Don't worry about him Hermione."
"As long as you don't get arrested for something you didn't do again" Harry said.
"If that happens…well, we can always have your dad help me out." Sirius said.
The trio chuckled.
"Have a good rest of the night Sirius." Hermione said.
"You three as well."
"Bye" Harry and Ron said.
"Hogsmeade isn't for another few weeks. I think it's time we take our education into our own hands." Hermione mumbled to herself and made her way to the girl's dormitory.
The boys shared a look and shrugged.