The following day continue to be bright and beautiful. However, Harry and the others realized they could not put off their homework like they had Friday evening. To compromise, they placed themselves out on the grounds in the shade of a group of trees. They made good progress, though none of them, except perhaps Hermione, would have said it was enjoyable.

After a while, Harry found himself people watching the others who had also chosen to take advantage of the good weather. Most of the older students were mimicking Harry and his friends by doing their homework outside. Others were playing games or simply hanging out with friends. Eventually, Harry's eyes were drawn to a young couple walking around the grounds hand-in-hand. They were so lost in each other that they barely seemed to notice anyone else.

Hermione must have seen him staring, because it wasn't long before she spoke up: "So, Harry, what is your status with Cho?"

Ron and Neville immediately stopped what they were doing to pay attention to the conversation. Harry blushed, but rather than try and dodge the question, he truly tried to figure out how to answer her. The problem was, he really didn't know how to answer. Where did things stand with Cho? How did he really feel about her?

"Uhh, earth to Harry," Hermione said.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," Harry said with a sigh. "Truth is Hermione, I don't know." Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"Don't you like her?" Neville asked.

"Well, yes of course," Harry said. "I just…well I don't…it's complicated."

"Well, do you like her as a friend or as more than a friend?" Hermione clarified.

"Well would I be doing all of this if I didn't like her as more than a friend?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. Would you?"

"Of course n…" I must not tell lies. Harry sighed. "Maybe."

"What do you mean maybe?" Ron asked looking confused. "Are you saying you don't like her as more than a friend?"

"Honestly guys, I genuinely don't know anymore," Harry admitted. "I think she's really pretty, and smart, and fun to be around, but I honestly don't know if I want it to go anywhere. I mean, I can think all of those things about a friend can't I?" Harry looked to Hermione for help, and she nodded her head.

"You have a point Harry," Hermione said. "But we can't tell you how you feel."

Harry sighed again. "I know." He turned to stare back at the couple holding hands. "I definitely do feel something. Being around her makes me nervous, but I also like it." He absentmindedly pulled some grass. "She didn't seem to click with you guys yesterday."

"Well I wasn't going to be the one to say it," Ron said with a smirk. All three of the others shoved him.

"Okay, okay," Harry said. "But maybe she just needs to spend more time with us?"

"Maybe," Hermione agreed. "In the end though Harry, you have to decide how you feel. You can't just lead her around. I'm not privy to Cho's inner thoughts or anything, but it certainly seems like she likes you as more than a friend. If you don't feel the same, I think you need to decide soon and tell her."

"I know. I know." Great, thought Harry; as if I don't have enough on my plate already.

The following morning, Harry, Ron, and Neville made their way down to the common room to notice a large group of students clustered around a new notice.

"I wonder what that is," Neville said. "Can you see it Ron." Ron, being the tallest, read the sign over everyone's heads.

"Bloody hell," he exclaimed.

"What?" Harry asked.

"It's one of the High Inquisitor's educational decrees," he said. "It says that all groups or teams need to get permission to meet from Umbridge."

"Shit," Harry said, remembering Malfoy's warning. "She knows."

"But how?" Neville asked.

"It doesn't matter," Harry answered. "She knows."

"Who knows what?" Hermione asked as she approached the group. Harry explained what the new notice said.

"Who do you think blabbed?" Ron asked.

"Well, that parchment was jinxed, so if it was anyone who signed, we'll know," Hermione said.

"How?"

"Trust me," Hermione insisted. "We'll know."

At that moment, Fred, George, and Lee approached the group. "Hey guys, I guess you saw the notice," said Fred. "What's the plan?"

"We do it anyway, of course," Harry answered. "It's not like what we were planning wasn't against the rules from the start."

"True," Ron said.

"Help spread the word guys," Harry said. "Let people know we're still looking for a place to meet."

"Got it Harry," George said and the group departed. Harry and the others followed them to the Great Hall.

Just as they made it inside, Angelina came running up to them. "Hey Angelina, the meetings are still…"

"I'm not worried about that," Angelina puffed out. "She means quidditch too!"

"What!?" Harry and Ron both exclaimed.

"You saw the notice," Angelina said. "It said teams to."

"Bloody hell," Ron said.

"I'm begging you Harry," Angelina said. "Please, please, please don't get on Umbridge's bad side."

"Of course, Angelina," Harry said. "I'll be on my best behavior. Promise." As Harry ate his breakfast, he felt a pair of eyes on him. He glanced up to the other end of the hall, and noticed that none other than Malfoy was staring at him. Very subtly, the blond tilted his head towards the door. Harry knew what Malfoy wanted, but he wasn't getting it. Harry turned his attention back to his food, and though he felt Malfoy's eyes stay on him, he stubbornly refused to meet them.

After breakfast, Harry and the others made their way to Binn's class for History of Magic. As they were not paying attention to Binn's lecture, Harry suddenly became aware of a tapping noise. Hermione quickly nudged him.

"Harry look," Hermione whispered gesturing to the window. Harry looked up and saw Hedwig staring at him through the glass. Harry noticed that most of the class was paying attention to his owl rather than Binns. Harry quickly glanced at his professor before crouching down and sneaking his way to the window. He expected Hedwig to give him her letter and fly off, but instead she jumped on his shoulder. He creeped his way back to his seat, and inspected his owl.

"Something looks wrong Harry," Hermione whispered. "Where is she coming from?"

"I think she's hurt," Harry responded. "I'm not sure. I hadn't sent her anywhere. She must have gone on her own." He picked the scroll from her leg and read the scrawled message: We need to talk. Tonight. "That's Sirius' handwriting." He inspected his owl's wing. "I need to get Hedwig checked out." He looked up at his professor and raised his voice. "Professor Binns, I don't feel good. I need to go to the hospital wing."

Harry didn't wait until Binns had finished murmuring something about allowing "Perkins" to leave before he was making his way out the room. He glanced out the window and didn't see a group of students near Hagrid's hut. Harry figured with him gone, Grubbly-Plank was the next best option. He didn't know where she would be when she wasn't teaching, so he decided to head to the professor's lounge. McGonagall answered when he knocked.

"Please don't tell me you have more detentions Potter," she said.

"No professor," he replied. "It's my owl. I think she's hurt."

"A hurt owl you say," Grubbly-Plank said, appearing behind McGonagall. "Let me see her." Harry handed his owl over for his professor to examine. "It looks like something must have attacked her. I'm not sure what that could have been though. How far has she traveled?"

"London, I think," Harry said, shooting a glance at McGonagall. When he met her eyes, he knew she understood what he meant.

"I can sort her out alright Mr. Potter," said Grubbly-Plank. "However, she shouldn't be flying long distances for a few days."

"Yes ma'am," Harry said. "Thank you." Harry turned to leave as Grubbly-Plank headed back inside the staffroom, but he was stopped by McGonagall.

"Bear in mind," she said, quickly looking around to make sure they were alone. "That channels of communication in and out of Hogwarts may be being watched, won't you?"

"Umm," Harry said. "Yes ma'am."

Harry met his friends as they made their way down to potions and caught them up on Hedwig's state and his conversations with the professors.

"Harry," Hermione began gingerly, "Do you think someone is trying to intercept your mail?"

"Well, it certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing that's happened to me," Harry admitted. "I'm sure they were disappointed. There's no indication of who wrote this letter or when and where they want to meet."

"Still," Hermione said. "I would be careful how you communicate with Sirius."

"Well, I've been communicating with him via the mirror," Harry said. "But last time we spoke we fought, and it isn't like he can just start talking to me any time he wants, not knowing who I'm with. I guess he was getting desperate."

"Well, stop fighting with him," Hermione insisted. "Umbridge is finding things out already, we don't need here to privy to your conversations with Sirius, or the connection at all."

"I know, I know," Harry said with a sigh. They were quiet the rest of the way down as they all contemplated the implications of someone reading Harry's mail. As they approached Snape's classroom, they could see that the Slytherins had already arrived. None other than Draco Malfoy was standing front and center and as soon as he made eye contact with Harry, he began waving around an official-looking piece of parchment and talking loud enough for Harry to hear.

"Well obviously Umbridge gave the Slytherin quidditch team permission immediately. I mean, honestly it was no question." Malfoy paused just long enough to make sure Harry was still paying attention. Harry rolled his eyes, but it didn't matter. Malfoy had what he wanted. "Of course, she knows my father from the ministry. And of course she absolutely trusts the Slytherins. It'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing won't it?"

"Don't' react," Hermione whispered to Harry and Ron. They were both standing stock still with faces set and fists clenched. Harry didn't need the warning. For once, he remembered his promise to stay out of trouble. He also knew that a reaction from him was exactly what Malfoy wanted. This was revenge for ignoring him at breakfast.

"I mean," continued Malfoy, "it would probably be a blessing for them. It isn't like they have a chance with their disaster of a team anyway. Have any of you seen Weasley flailing about out there!?" The Slytherins cackled with laughter and Harry had to grab Ron to make sure he didn't try anything. He gave his friend a look that said: I know. But don't rise to it. Malfoy seemed displeased that Harry still hadn't reacted the way he wanted. "And as for Potter, my father says it's only a matter of time before the ministry has him carried him off to St. Mungo's. I hear they have a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic…" Malfoy followed his speech with an incredibly rude impersonation of a mad person.

Next thing Harry knew, something collided with his shoulder knocking him to the side. He quickly realized that something was Neville charging straight at Malfoy. Harry had just enough time to see the fear and shock flick across Malfoy's face before he turned his full attention to holding Neville back. It took everything he and Ron had to stop Neville from attacking the blond, who was now flocked by his security guards. Naturally, this is how Snape found them, but Harry would much rather lose house points than have his best friend beat to a pulp.

"What in the bloody hell was that about?" Harry angrily whispered to Neville as they trudged inside.

"S'not funny…St. Mungo's," Neville muttered back. Suddenly, Harry remembered what he had learned the previous year about Neville's parents and completely understood what had spurred his anger.

Harry sighed and pat Neville on the back. "No it wasn't," he agreed. "We'll talk later yeah?" Neville nodded quietly, and they all moved to their seats.

Of course, because Harry was supposed to stay off of Umbridge's bad side, she just had to be observing that day's class. Before this year, Harry would have told you he was unsure of who he wanted to prevail. But Umbridge's inherent nastiness and his new understanding of Snape had him rooting for his potion's professor. The combination of not wanting to make Snape look bad and not wanting to piss off Umbridge had him paying extra close attention to his potion. He even remembered his promise to help Neville this year, and helped to make sure his friend stayed on track.

Despite his determination to do a good job, he couldn't help but being a bit distracted when Umbridge got to her feet. She interrogated Snape about his tenure at Hogwarts. Despite growing closer to his potions professor these past couple months, years of hatred couldn't be smothered. Harry took some satisfaction in seeing Snape quietly seethe at Umbridge's nitpicking. Until of course, Snape turned to him to critique his potion. The last few minutes of distraction had made sure that his potion was not where it was meant to be, though it certainly was better than most of the class.

Snape raised his eyebrow, clearly displeased that he couldn't completely rip Harry's potion apart, and obviously also remembering his promise. "Perhaps one of these days Potter, your simple brain will be able to focus long enough to accurately complete a potion. You will write me an essay on the correct composition of this potion, indicating how and why you went wrong, to be handed in next lesson, do you understand me?"

"Yes," Harry said angrily, but at the same time understanding that Snape was only acting for the Slytherins and Umbridge. Plus, he firmly intended to stick a few subtle digs at Umbridge in his essay. That may also be due to the smug smirk Umbridge aimed his way after seeing Snape critique his work.

The only noteworthy thing that happened in his remaining classes was discovering Trelawney's probation. It wasn't until after defense, where Harry was the perfect student thank you very much, that Harry could finally talk to Neville. He pulled his friend aside into an empty classroom and motioned for the others to continue.

"I just wanted to say Neville, that I understand," he said quietly, unsure how to start.

"I don't know that you do Harry," Neville said, refusing to make eye contact.

Harry took a deep breath. "Look, Neville. I know what happened to your parents." Neville looked up in surprise. "It's a complicated story, so I won't get into it, but I found out last year. I haven't told anyone, and I don't plan too. I just want to say, that I know our stories are different, but I lost my parents to tragedy too. It's not fair, and it certainly isn't funny when people joke about it. I just want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk too, I am here."

Neville had teared up while Harry spoke. "Wow Harry. Thanks." He looked at his feet. "It's just, people tell me how amazing they were, and it just feels like I'll never measure up. I feel like I'm a big disappointment, especially to my grandmother. And it hurts to hear people make jokes like that. I'm certain Malfoy knows too."

"I know Neville. I understand. And hey, Sirius knew them, maybe he could tell you some fun stories sometime. I don't know about you, but it makes me feel better to hear what they were like…minus the comparisons of course."

Neville smiled at him. "I think I would like that," he said.

Harry smiled back. "Come on. Let's go get some dinner."

At dinner, they discovered that Umbridge was delighting in holding off permission to reform the Gryffindor Quidditch team, so it was with heavy hearts that they trudged off to the common room to complete homework and wait for the opportunity to speak with Sirius.

The group claimed a table in the corner of the common room and spread out to do their homework. To say Harry was displeased with extra homework and no quidditch practice was an understatement. It didn't help that Fred and George were selling some of their perfected Skiving Snackboxes and causing a great deal of ruckus in demonstrating them. Eventually, as the night wore on, the rest of the students slowly trickled up into their dorms. Harry and his friends kept their books and notes out as a reason for the others to believe they were still hanging around. Although, Hermione was the only one still truly still working on homework.

Eventually, they were left alone. After waiting a few more minutes to make sure no one was making a surprise return, Harry got out his two-way mirror to let Sirius know he was available to talk.

"Well hello everyone," Sirius greeted when he finally appeared in the mirror. "How are things going?"

"Ugh, not great," said Harry. "The Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allow to have quidditch teams—"

"—or secret defense groups?" said Sirius.

The group looked at one another in shock. "How did you know about that?" Harry demanded.

"You need to choose your meeting places more carefully," Sirius answered with a grin. "The Hog's Head, I mean really."

"Well the Three Broomsticks is always full of people!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Which means you would have been harder to overhear," said Sirius.

"Who overheard us?" Harry asked.

"Mundungus," said Sirius. "He was disguised as an old witch."

"Why?" Harry demanded. "What was he doing?"

Sirius sighed. "Keeping an eye on you."

"Seriously?" Harry asked, growing angry.

"I'm always serious," Sirius said with a cheeky grin. It swiftly faded when he saw that Harry was not amused. "Look, I know how that sounds Harry, but we're just making sure you stay safe. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you haven't exactly been speaking to me lately."

Harry sighed and relented. "Yeah, yeah. I suppose you have a point. So I suppose you're here to tell us not to go through with this?"

"What? Are you mad?" Sirius exclaimed. "I think it's a brilliant idea!"

"You do?" Harry said.

"Absolutely," Sirius said. "Though, Ron if your mother asked I properly chastised you all and advised against it." Everyone but Hermione laughed. Sirius noticed her doubt. "Look, Hermione, what you guys are doing was always against the rules. There's always risk. But what is more important, following rules or being prepared to face what's out there?"

Hermione nodded. "You're right," she said. "I know that."

"Just be more careful when you guys chose to meet up," Sirius advised.

"Will do," Harry replied. "Speaking of, do you know anywhere we might be able to meet to practice?"

"Well, how about…"

As Sirius was speaking, they heard the tell-tale sound of the portrait opening, and Harry quickly put his mirror back in his bag. When he looked up, McGonagall was entering the common room, followed by none other than Umbridge herself. The group looked at each other uneasily.

"There Dolores," McGonagall said. "They are right where they are supposed to be and working on homework at that."

Umbridge surveyed the group suspiciously. She then surveyed the rest of the room as though looking for something.

"Um, can we help you professors?" Hermione asked.

"Professor Umbridge seemed to believe that you all were up to no good, and would not—" she shot and annoyed look at their High Inquisitor—"let it go until she saw for herself. Well, Dolores are you satisfied now?"

"Are we certain that nothing is amiss here?" Umbridge asked sweetly, observing Harry like a hawk. She glanced around the room again, growing agitated when she came up with nothing.

"Nothing at all professor," Harry said, staring her dead in the eye. "Unless we aren't allowed to do homework?"

Umbridge huffed, but said nothing. Without another word, but with one more sweep of the room, she swept herself out of the room.

As soon as she was gone, McGonagall said, "Is there something amiss?"

"No ma'am," Harry said. The others nodded along.

McGonagall looked as if she didn't quite believe them, but all she said was, "Best head of to bed then. I'm sure you've all made enough progress for tonight." With that, she too left the room.

"I guess we know who's been reading your mail," Neville said.

"Again, I'm not surprised," Harry said. Harry pulled the mirror out, and filled in Sirius while the others packed up. Sirius once again advised them all to be careful, and that he would pass on any ideas he had for a meeting place.

As they got ready for bed, Harry tried to clear his mind, but all he could focus on was how angry he was that Umbridge was spying on him. He had played it cool for his friends, but he was truly put off by the invasion of privacy. He wasn't exactly surprised, but still upset. Knowing the Order was still spying on him as well didn't help.

Harry beat his pillow in frustration and once more tried to focus on clearing his mind. Life was unfair, and he was starting to realize that focusing on anger would get him nowhere. After all, had he spoken to Sirius before Hogsmeade, they would have one less problem to worry about.

Forgiveness was hard. And he wasn't sure how far he was capable of running with it.

Note: I want to apologize if there are small inconsistencies. Every now and then I make small changes (like not having Harry send a letter to Sirius) and then later on remember that those small things became important (Hedwig getting attacked on her way back). If I had time, I would go back and fix those things, but as a teacher during finals, I don't have time at all. So I apologize if anyone gets upset over those things.

The good news is that I had more free time when I wrote this chapter so it is back to the normal word count (actually a little over). The bad news is I still ran out of space to write all the things I was planning for this chapter, so now you have to wait until next week for the juicy bits!