The next day of classes was interesting, to say the least. As part of the Minister's 'Educational Decree', Dolores Umbridge is now the 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor', meaning she will be inspecting the professors at the school.
The trio went about their day, waiting for Umbridge to show up to any of their classes. Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't see pink when they arrived in the Potions classroom. He sat down at his cauldron as Snape handed back their essays.
He looked down at his grade and deflated; if he had submitted this during his O.W.L. he would have received in a 'D'….perfect…D for dreadful. If his dads caught sight of this grade he would be toast. He quickly shoved the essay into his bag before Hermione could see it and focused on the potion set for the class. He made sure to double and triple check every instruction before putting it in his cauldron. His Strengthening Solution was not precisely the clear turquoise shade of Hermione's but it was at least blue rather than pink, like Neville's, and he delivered a flask of it to Snape's desk at the end of the lesson, already planning on improving his study habits for the future.
After Potions was Divination. Just as he and Ron pulled out their dream diaries for class, Umbridge walked into the room.
"Of all the classes she had to be at." Ron sighed. "Why did it have to be this useless class?"
Harry shrugged and settled himself for the rest of class.
It was more painful than usual. As Professor Trelawney lectured in her dreamy voice about visions and oracles, Umbridge would interrupt with her annoying 'hem hem' and ask useless questions. Harry felt sorry for Professor Trelawney. She may not be the greatest of teachers, but even she's better than Umbridge.
"That Umbridge is a piece of work" Ron said as they walked to the Defense classroom. "Asking Trelawney to just predict something on the spot like that."
"What do you think she meant by 'grave peril'" Harry asked.
"Maybe Umbridge finally gets what's coming to her" Ron grinned. "I wouldn't mind seeing that"
When they reached the classroom, they met up with Hermione. "How was Divination?" she asked.
"Umbridge was there" Ron said.
Hermione frowned, "What was it like?"
"She tried to get Trelawney to predict something for her on the spot." Ron said. "At first she refused, but right before Umbridge was going to leave, she 'saw' something. I think she made it up."
"Why wouldn't she be able to predict something on the spot?" Hermione asked.
"She said that 'the Inner Eye does not See upon command!'" Ron said, imitating Trelawney's dreamy voice.
"Then how does your sister do it?" Hermione looked at Harry.
"What?" He asked.
"Isn't Aileen a Seer? Or at least she sounded like she was since she can see the future."
"I don't think she's a Seer." Harry replied. "She said she can 'walk the webs of fate'. Not really relying on the Inner Eye"
Hermione nodded but couldn't say anything since Umbridge walked into the room.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was the same as any day. Harry ended it with another detention for telling the truth and Hermione loses Gryffindor points for reading ahead. To make matters worse, Professor McGonagall takes away points when she catches Angelina shouting at Harry for getting more detention.
"I told you to keep your head down Mr. Potter" She said. "You can't solve things by shouting at them. You have to use your head" With one last stern look, she walked off.
"Umbridge tortures me every detention and I get points taken off! How is that fair?!" Harry fumed.
"I thought you said the blood quill stopped working on you?" Ron asked.
"I still have to spend hours each night writing lines and watching it cut into my hand. It's still torture even if I don't feel the pain." Harry said.
He looked at Hermione who stayed silent.
"You think McGonagall was right, do you?" Harry said angrily.
"Yes, in fact I do." Hermione replied. "Your temper has been the shortest I have ever seen Harry, and this year that is not a good thing. You are playing right into the Ministry's hand you know that don't you?"
"What are you on about?"
Hermione huffed, "The Ministry is trying to isolate you Harry. If you keep having these temper tantrums people are going to start believing them when they say you are just looking for attention."
"I'm telling the truth!" Harry hissed.
"I know that, but fighting Umbridge is not how you go about it. She has power and I have a feeling she's only going to get more. Instead of fighting her head on you need to think!"
Harry shook his head and ignored Hermione for the rest of the day.
/
That night, Harry went to Umbridge's office for his detention. He remembered the last detention he had with her, when the quill cut his hand, but didn't hurt.
At the end of his detention, his hand was bleeding profusely and yet, Harry couldn't feel a thing. When he arrived at the common room, Ron and Hermione were waiting for him. Hermione pushed a bowl of yellow liquid toward him.
"Was it like last time?" Ron asked.
Harry nodded and showed his hand to them. The words were there from the first detention, but it wasn't worse.
"Here, soak your hand in this. It's a solution of strained pickled murtlap tentacles, it should help heal the old wound."
"Thanks" He said and placed his hand in. The liquid stung slightly and Harry watched as the wound quickly healed itself, not even a scar was left. "That works fast"
Hermione looked at the wound in confusion, "It doesn't usually do that"
"I wouldn't question it mate" Ron said. "I still reckon you should complain about this, even if it doesn't work anymore."
"No," Harry replied flatly.
"McGonagall would go nuts if she knew —"
"Yeah, she probably would," Harry said. "And how long d'you reckon it'd take Umbridge to pass another Decree saying anyone who complains about the High Inquisitor gets sacked immediately?"
They didn't reply.
"Hermione was right today" Harry said. "We can't fight her or she'll just make it worse."
"What are we going to do then?" Ron asked.
"Well…" Hermione said softly. "I was thinking about that today. What if – maybe we should just – do it ourselves?"
"Do what ourselves?" Harry asked.
"Learn Defense Against the Dark Arts"
"Come off it," Ron groaned loudly. "You want us to do extra work? D'you realize Harry and I are behind on homework again and it's only the second week?"
"But this is much more important than homework!" Hermione said.
Harry and Ron goggled at her. "I didn't think there was anything in the universe more important than homework," said Ron.
"Don't be silly, of course there is!" Hermione said. "It's about preparing ourselves, like Harry said in Umbridge's first lesson, for what's waiting out there. It's about making sure we really can defend ourselves. If we don't learn anything for a whole year —"
"We can't do much by ourselves," Ron said in a defeated voice. "I mean, all right, we can go and look jinxes up in the library and try and practice them, I suppose —"
"No, I agree, we've gone past the stage where we can just learn things out of books," Hermione said. "We need a teacher, a proper one, who can show us how to use the spells and correct us if we're going wrong."
"How about Professor Lupin? He was the best DADA teacher so far" Harry suggested.
"That is a good idea, but not a practical one." Hermione replied. "The only time we would be able to meet him is during Hogsmeade weekends and that's not enough. Plus if Umbridge were to catch him I don't even want to think of what would happen."
The trio shivered, thinking back to what Sirius said over the phone.
"Then who would teach us?" Ron asked.
"I was thinking of you Harry" Hermione said.
"Me? Why me?"
"You are good at defense and I'm sure you could be a great teacher. Besides, you're the one who has fought against You-Know-Who several times."
"That was mostly luck!" Harry exclaimed.
"That may or may not be true, but you still know what's out there. You know what we need to learn and you can teach us. Who better than you?" Hermione said.
Harry was speechless.
"At least think about it" Hermione said softly, "please?"
All Harry could do was nod. His thoughts were running too quickly through his head to say anything. He wanted to burst, to yell about how they didn't know what fighting Voldemort was really like. How scary it is. How, the only reason he survived those fights was because either he had help or dumb luck. Harry didn't have the skills to teach a bunch of people, there was no way."
"Talk to Professor Lupin" Ron suggested. "Maybe he can give you some insight into teaching."
The two stood up and went to bed, Harry following a few minutes later, still in a daze.
/
Weeks passed and Hermione kept quiet about her idea for Harry to teach. Harry's detentions with Umbridge were also finished, thankfully with a healed wound.
Ron had advanced in his Quidditch skills and they both seemed to get caught up on their work.
It was almost Hogsmeade weekend when the subject was brought up again.
They ended up just dragging him to the Hog's Head where a group of people were waiting for them.
Hermione pulled Harry towards the front of the room and into a seat. She then turned to address the room, "Um…hi" She greeted awkwardly.
The group was silent, a few in the back shifted their weight anxiously.
"So – you all know why we're here. If we are going to learn anything this year for Defense Against the Dark Arts, we'll need a teacher. A proper teacher."
"And you think Harry is a proper teacher?" Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw asked. "He's never taught before."
"Yes, but he's had real experience defending himself against the dark arts." Hermione said.
"Supposedly" Michael Corner, another Ravenclaw student muttered.
Ron quickly stood, "If any of you have anything to say about what happened at the end of the tournament last year say it now!"
The group was silent, "Come on now, out with it!" Ron exclaimed. "Believe it or not, You-Know-Who is back and the war is real."
"How can we trust that?" A girl in the back said. "Harry's the only one who saw him"
"Yeah, where's the proof?" Another said.
"Dumbledore told everyone what happened at the end of last year" Harry said.
"No he didn't." Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff, said. "All we were told is that Diggory was killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought his body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give any details about how he was killed, I think we'd all like to know –"
"Then I can't help you. I don't want to talk about Cedric's death and I'm sure others don't want to hear about it." Harry said, glancing at Cho's pale face. "Look, I'm not going to sit here and convince all of you that Voldemort is back" He ignored the flinches and whimpers. "If that's all you came here for, then you can clear out" He turned to Hermione, "Come on Hermione, they're only here because they just think I'm some sort of freak" He hissed.
"Harry, wait" She pulled him closer to her.
"Is it true you can produce a Patronus Charm?" A light voice said.
The group turned to look at Luna, standing serenely in the middle of the room.
"Yes" Hermione said for him. "He learned it his third year. He used it once to fight off a hundred dementors."
"Blimey Harry, I didn't know you could do that." Dean Thomas said.
"He also killed a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets his second year." Neville added nervously.
"And he really did fight You-Know-Who last year. Alone, in a graveyard" Ron said.
"Wait" Harry interrupted, "hold on" he sighed. "This all sounds great and fantastic, but the truth is most of that was just luck. I didn't know what I was doing half the time and I nearly always had help."
"He's just being modest" Hermione said.
"No I'm not Hermione." Harry snapped. He turned to look at the group, "We only found out about the basilisk because Hermione found it in a book. I was able to kill it because Professor Dumbledore's phoenix gave me a sword. In third year, Professor Lupin taught me how to do the Patronus charm because I always fainted when near dementors. And last year, Cedric died because of me. Voldemort wanted me, it's why my name was put in the Goblet of Fire. I was the one who was supposed to find the cup and not Cedric. He wanted me to take the cup but I told him we should grab it together. I only escaped because his spell connected with mine and backfired." He took a breath before continuing, "Facing this stuff – in real life – is not like school. In school, if you make a mistake you can try again tomorrow, but out there – when you're a second away from being murdered, or watching a friend die right in front of you – you have no idea what that's like."
He looked around, every face was solemn, looking at him.
"You're right, we don't" Hermione said after a short silence. "That's why we need your help. So when we are in that position, we'll be ready."
"If we're ever in that position" Zacharias muttered.
"How about you just shut your mouth?" Ron spat.
"He's making excuses" The boy said.
"No he isn't" Fred snarled.
"He's giving us his opinion. Making sure we know the whole story and not just one part of it." George continued.
"Idiot" they finished together.
"Yes, well," said Hermione hastily, "moving on…the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"
There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms and said nothing.
"Well, I think we should all write our names down" Hermione pulled a strip of parchment and a quill from her bag. "I also would like to stress how no one can find out about this. If Umbridge were to find out…" she trailed off.
There were a few hesitant, but once people started signing they followed.
"We need to start thinking of times and a place to meet. It needs to be secret so if anyone has any ideas you can come to us and we'll check it out." Hermione said.
Everyone nodded and exited the pub.
Hermione examined the list, "We're really doing this"
"Yeah" Harry said softly. He would have to call Remus soon. If he was really going to teach, he was going to need some advice.
Woo! Starting to get into Dumbledore's Army!