The Charms room was filled with students and bullfrogs that day, a heavy downpour pounding on the roof outside. They spent the entire class-time attempting the lesson, only hermione and Ellen succeeding in the end.

They were allowed to remain inside over break due to the downpour outside. They found seats in a noisy and overcrowded classroom on the first floor in which Peeves was floating dreamily up near the chandelier, occasionally blowing an ink pellet at the top of somebody's head. They had barely sat down when Angelina came struggling toward them through the groups of gossiping students.

"I've got permission!" she said. "To re-form the Quidditch team!"

"Excellent!" said Ron and Harry together.

"Yeah," said Angelina, beaming. "I went to McGonagall and I think she might have appealed to Dumbledore — anyway, Umbridge had to give in. So I want you down at the pitch at seven o'clock tonight."

She squeezed away from them, narrowly dodged an ink pellet from Peeves, which hit a nearby first year instead, and vanished from sight. Ron's smile slipped slightly as he looked out of the window, which was now opaque with hammering rain.

"Hope this clears up...What's up with you, Hermione?"

She too was gazing at the window, but not as though she really saw it. Her eyes were unfocused and there was a frown on her face.

"Just thinking..." she said, still frowning at the rain-washed window.

"About Siri...Snuffles?" said Harry.

"No...not exactly..." said Hermione slowly. "More...wondering...I suppose we're doing the right thing...I think...aren't we?"

"Of course we are." Ellen replied calmly. "Even Snuffles thinks it's a good idea."

"Yes," said Hermione, staring at the window again. "Yes, that's what made me think maybe it wasn't a good idea after all..."

"Let's get this straight," said Harry angrily, "Sirius agrees with us, so you don't think we should do it anymore?"

Hermione looked tense and rather miserable. Now staring at her own hands she said, "Do you honestly trust his judgment?"

"Yes, I do!" said Harry at once. "He's always given us great advice!"

"You don't think he has become...sort of...reckless...since he's been cooped up in Grimmauld Place? You don't think he's... kind of...living through us?"

"What d'you mean, 'living through us'?" Harry retorted.

"I mean...well, I think he'd love to be forming secret defense societies right under the nose of someone from the Ministry...I think he's really frustrated at how little he can do where he is...so I think he's keen to kind of...egg us on."

Ellen looked at Hermione in surprise. "Are you daft? The Order is literally a secret society and besides, Paddy has always been reckless but he wouldn't encourage us to do anything that he didn't think was right."

Hermione huffed to herself and turned back to her reading, obviously irritated at the entire situation.

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. The afternoon's Care of Magical Creatures lesson was to be relocated from the stormswept 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 canceled.

Together with Ron they had spent most of the day seeking out those people who had signed their names to the list and telling them where to meet that evening. It was Ellen who ended up having to brave the dungeons let Rhode know, who only smirked it response.

At half-past seven Harry, Ron, Ellen and Hermione left the Gryffindor common room, Harry clutching a certain piece of aged parchment in his hand. The nervousness in the air was almost palpable, everyone glancing around as if they expected someone to pop out any second.

They hurried along the corridor to the place a house elf had described to Harry, a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.

"Okay," said Harry quietly. "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-size vase on its other side. Ron had screwed up his eyes in concentration, Ellen was mouthing something to herself, Hermione was whispering something under her breath, Harry's fists were clenched as he stared ahead of him.

"Harry," said Hermione sharply, as they wheeled around after their third walk past. A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Ron was staring at it, looking slightly wary. Harry reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open the door, and led the way into a spacious white room that seemed lit from within. The walls were lined with large white columns and stone 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're practicing Stunning," said Ron enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with his foot.

"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-Defensive Spellwork...wow..."

She looked around at Harry, her face glowing, and he saw that the presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione that what they were doing was right. "Harry, this is wonderful, there's everything we need here!"

"It looks like the Ark.." Ellen breathed out. "I wonder.."

She waved her hand as if it was the Ark, delight filling her as a wall off mirrors rose up letting them see the door from whatever position they might have been in. There was a gentle knock on the door. They all looked up; Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean had arrived. "Whoa," said Dean, staring around, impressed. "What is this place?"

"I like it, it looks like home." Rhode piped up while she closed the door behind her. Lavender and Parvati wrinkled their noses when they took in the Slytherin tie that was hanging loosely around the small girl's neck.

Lavender scowled slightly. "What are you doing here, snake?"

The tiny Noah waved her off and went to settle in Ellen's lap, cuddling close. "I was invited, obviously."

"I've known Rebecca's family for a very long time," Ellen explained, pinching Rhode's side when she giggled. "She won't tell anyone about this."

"Ellen's my auntie~" Rhode giggled in delight at Lavender's pinched expression.

Parvati grabbed Lavender's arm and dragged her away before she could continue on with the argument. Ellen rolled her eyes at the whole situation and rested her head on top of Rhode's head, letting the small girl cuddle close to her. It was something they had always done even back when Ellen was still an exorcist. Rhode was very physically affectionate when it came to her aunt and she just couldnt find it in her to deny the girl such a small human comfort.

By the time eight o'clock arrived, people had stopped coming and every cushion was occupied. Harry moved across to the door and turned the key protruding from the lock; it clicked in a satisfyingly loud way and everybody fell silent, looking at him.

"Well," said Harry, slightly nervously. "This is the place we've found for practices, and you've — er — obviously found it okay —"

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

"Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and — er —" He noticed a raised hand. "What, Hermione?"

"I think we ought to elect a leader," said Hermione.

"Harry's leader," said Cho at once, her nose crinkled in displeasure.

"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly," said Hermione, unperturbed. "It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So — everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"

Everybody put up their hands, even the Hufflepuff who seemed to have a retort for every situation.

"Er — right, thanks," said Harry, his face pink. "And — what, Hermione?"

"I also think we ought to have a name," she said brightly, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"

"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" said Angelina hopefully.

"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" suggested Fred.

"I was thinking," said Hermione, frowning at Fred, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."

"The Defense Association?" said Cho. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"

"Yeah, the D.A.'s good," said Ginny. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

"All in favor of the D.A.?" said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. "That's a majority — motion passed!" She pinned the piece of paper with all of their names on it on the wall and wrote DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY across the top in large letters.

"Right," said Harry, when she had sat down again, "shall we get 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?"

"I've used it against him," said Harry quietly. "It saved my life last June." Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.

"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry said. Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else.

"Okay," said Harry, "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."

Rhode immediately rose and grabbed Ellen's arm in a firm grip, dragging her off to a separate corner. With Harry's shout of "Begin!" the girl's facial expression told Ellen they wouldn't be practicing Expelliarmus.

"Expulso!" Rhode exclaimed, sending a bright blue curse flying. Ellen cursed and jumped out of the way as the wall behind her repaired itself, holding her wand firmly.

"So that's how we're going to do this?" She laughed. "Alright then. Obfendus!"

The white spell crackled when it hit Rhode's shield charm, the other girl hissing when some of the sparks hit her. Rhode frowned and threw a deep purple spell nonverbally, Ellen knocking it off to the side easily. Different colors flew between them as they tried desperately to hit one another. They were so immersed in their duel that they didn't even notice Harry walking up to them looking slightly irritated.

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

A bright silver whistle flew to his hand and he blew it loudly, finally causing the girls to stop in their duel. He looked at them with a warning in his eyes before turing back to the others. "That wasn't bad," he said, "but there's definite room for improvement. Let's try again..."

Ellen shot off a hex at the girl with a grin, resuming their duel as if nothing had happened. Giggles sounded between the pair as they spun and dodged, their spells getting ever more dangerous with every passing moment. She was breathing hard but Ellen felt so alive. She had to duck under the bright green spell Rhode threw at her, sending a rude gesture to the girl.

"Rebecca!" She said exasperatedly. "Seriously?"

The tiny girl just laughed. "Don't be so boring, Ellen."

"Hey, Harry," Hermione called from the other end of the room, "have you checked the time?"

He blew his whistle; everybody stopped shouting, "Expelliarmus!" and the last couple of wands clattered to the floor. The girls lowered their wands, their cheeks flushed but grins across their faces.

"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 nodded in agreement.

"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 let them all leave in threes and fours, frowning but not saying anything when the small Slytherin followed them out of the room.

"That was really, really good, Harry," said Hermione, when finally it was just the five of them.

"Yeah, it was!" said Ron enthusiastically. "Did you see me disarm Hermione, Harry?"

"Only once," said Hermione, stung. "I got you loads more than you got me —"

"I did not only get you once, I got you at least three times —"

"Well, if you're counting the one where you tripped over your own feet and knocked the wand out of my hand —"

"So," Harry interrupted loudly, "What were you two doing back there?"

He glared and Rhode and Ellen who just burst into giggles. "Oh, Potter," Rhode wiped a fake tear from her eye. "You really think we needed to work on Expelliarmus, of all things?"

"You could have hurt someone." He argued. "What if a spell had hit someone else?"

"They need to be more watchful of their surroundings then." Harry sputtered angrily, pulling another laugh from the girl. "I see why Allen likes you so much. You're so fun to tease!"

"Okay, that's enough." Ellen finally said. "Go back to your dormitory, or —"

"Or what?" She pouted.

Ellen stared the other Noah down. "I'll tell Sheril that you want him to come visit during the next Hogsmeade weekend."

The tiny girl paled and gulped loudly. "I really should be going. Bye Allen~"

She skipped off, leaving them alone in the corridor. They walked all the way back to the common room in silence, bidding each other goodnight before slipping off to bed.

They spent the next two weeks in the same routine, notifying each other whenever anyone was free and slipping off in the night to go practice in the room. However it was becoming increasingly difficult to communicate without arousing some sort of suspicion. Hermione soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members in case they needed to change it at short notice. She gave each of the members of the D.A. a fake Galleon, quickly explaining the way that they worked.

The meetings came to a halt as the first Gryffindor game of the season began to approach, their practices increasing to every single night. Harry and Ron were both nervous wrecks that morning when they left for the Great Hall, leaving Ellen sitting the practically empty common room.

She looked around with a sigh and placed her things in her trunk upstairs before walking out of the portrait hole and towards Tyki's office. Ellen let herself in with a loud knock, giggling when Tyki poked his head out from behind the bookshelf. His wavy black hair was loose around his shoulders, still mussed from the sleep she obviously woke him from.

"Go back to bed, I'll be there in a bit." Ellen shooed him, closing the bookshelf entrance behind her. He walked sleepily back to his bedroom, the sound of snoring trickling out moments latter. She shook her head fondly and opened the entrance to his bathroom.

The professor's bathrooms were large with a deep stone tub built into the floor. A stained glass window depicting a centaur looked away from her as she filled the tub with hot water, pouring sweet smelling oils into it. With a quick Sticking Charm she had her hair gathered up in a bun, her wand stuck through it to keep it dry. Ellen quickly stripped and stepped into the bath, sighing gently at the soothing sensation.

The past few weeks had been so stressful with the secrecy and constant paranoia. It felt nice just to sit in the warm tub and allow her troubles to melt away from a short while. She could vaguely hear the sounds of the Quidditch game starting outside. It wasn't like she didn't want to support Harry, but Quidditch was something that reminded her so much of James that she couldn't bear to watch a second of it.

Quodpot was a better sport anyway.

She stayed in the tub for what much have been an hour before she finally rose, her fingers and toes pruny. A fluffy black robe seemed to materialize out of nowhere along with a set of towels. She went about drying herself off and wrapped herself in the surprisingly warm robe.

The door opened off to the side and Tyki stepped in; he was still in only his sleep pants, no shirt to be seen. With a smirk he walked up and wrapped his arms around from her from behind, pulling her against his chest. He hummed in contentment, pressing a soft kiss to her neck.

"You smell nice." He murmured, hugging her tighter.

Ellen giggled and turned around to kiss him firmly. "I'm going to have to bathe here from now on. It's so fancy."

"That's the only reason, is it?" His lips brushed against hers as he spoke.

"I mean, you're alright." Ellen teased, squeaking when he suddenly tossed her over his shoulder. She pounded on his shoulders with her small fists. "Let me down!"

He tossed her on the bed with a playful grin. "I'll show you alright."

Laughter bubbled out between kisses as he spent the rest of the morning proving to her that he was in fact, more than just alright.

The warm light of sunset trickled in through the window as they lay there wrapped around each other. Ellen had her head resting on top his chest, looking up at him. He brushed her hair out of her face; he examined a lock of hair intently, shaking his head. "I have to say, I still miss the white." His smile was soft still. "This doesn't look like my Allen."

She pressed her lips together grimly. "I know, but this is more useful right now. Let's make a promise right here, right now, that when all of this is over then we'll quit pretending to be something that we're not."

"You have a deal." Tyki pulled her closer and kissed her warmly. "As long as I have you, nothing else matters."

"Where do you want to go after all of this?" She asked.

Tyki sighed heavily. "Before I found you, I would have said I'd stay at Hogwarts. Now all I know is that I will go wherever you do."

"Hogwarts sounds nice." Ellen smiled at him. "We could get a cottage in Hogsmeade and you could Floo in for the school days."

"We could have a family." He said quietly, his hold tightening when she went stiff in his arms. "No one could ever replace our Nicholas, amor. It isn't like that. I love you, Allen. I want to have that life we always dreamed of."

She sniffled, tears prickling behind her eyes. "What if I can't have children anymore? We don't know what was in that thing Leverrier made me drink. What if it made me sterile?"

Her voice rose higher with every word, growing hysterical by the second. Tyki gripped her chin and forced him to look into his eyes. "Then we will find another way."

Ellen hugged him tightly until she quit shaking. It would be okay as long as she had him.

"Look, drop it, will you!" Harry burst out as Ellen walked up to them in the common room hours later. "It's bad enough without you blaming yourself for everything!"

Ron said nothing but sat gazing miserably at the damp hem of his robes. After a while he said in a dull voice, "This is the worst I've ever felt in my life."

"Join the club," said Harry bitterly.

"Well," said Hermione, her voice trembling slightly. "I can think of one thing that might cheer you both up."

"Oh yeah?" said Harry skeptically.

"Yeah," said Hermione, turning away from the pitch-black, snow flecked window, a broad smile spreading across her face. "Hagrid's back."

The boys took off sprinting up the stairs to their dormitory, Hermione going up to the girl's room accordlingly. Ellen raced behind her, confusion filling her mind. The other witch was throwing on her poorly knitted accessories on in a rush.

"Did I miss something?" Ellen asked, slipping on her own hat and coat.

"I'll catch you up later." Hermione promised, rushing out the room and back down the stairs where the boys were waiting.

They crept through the portrait hole and covered themselves hastily in the cloak — Ron had grown so much he now needed to crouch to prevent his feet showing — then, moving slowly and cautiously, they proceeded down the many staircases. They crept across the entrance hall and then out into the silent, snowy grounds. Ellen felt a grin spread across her face when she saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney.

Harry set off at a quick march, the other three jostling and bumping along behind him, and they crunched excitedly through the thickening snow until at last they reached the wooden front door; when Harry raised his fist and knocked three times, a dog started barking frantically inside. "Hagrid, it's us!" Harry called through the keyhole.

"Shoulda known!" said a gruff voice.

They beamed at one another under the cloak; they could tell that Hagrid's voice was pleased. "Bin home three seconds...Out the way, Fang...Out the way, yeh dozy dog..."

The bolt was drawn back, the door creaked open, and Hagrid's head appeared in the gap. Hermione screamed.

"Merlin's beard, keep it down!" said Hagrid hastily, staring wildly over their heads. "Under that cloak, are yeh? Well, get in, get in!"

"I'm sorry!" Hermione gasped, as the four of them squeezed past Hagrid into the house and pulled the cloak off themselves so he could see them. "I just — oh, Hagrid !"

"It's nuthin', it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid hastily, shutting the door behind them and hurrying to close all the curtains, but Hermione continued to gaze up at him in horror.

Hagrid's 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 still bleeding, and he was moving gingerly, which made Harry suspect broken ribs. 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. Hagrid himself, twice the size of a normal man and three times as broad, was now limping over to the fire and placing a copper kettle over it.

"What happened to you?" Harry demanded, while Fang danced around them all, trying to lick their faces.

"Told yeh, nuthin'," said Hagrid firmly. "Want a cuppa?"

"Come off it," said Ron, "you're in a right state!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, I'm fine," said Hagrid, straightening up and turning to beam at them all, but wincing. "Blimey, it's good ter see you three again — had good summers, did yeh?"

The large man finally focused on Ellen, his face morphing into one of surprise. "Ellen? What're yeh doin' here?"

"I owed Albus a favor." She frowned at him. "Rubeus, are you okay?"

"You ought to go and see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid," said Hermione anxiously. "Some of those cuts look nasty."

"I'm dealin' with it, all righ'?" said Hagrid repressively.

He walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin and twitched aside a tea towel that had been lying on it. Underneath was a raw, bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger than the average car tire.

"You're not going to eat that, are you, Hagrid?" said Ron, leaning in for a closer look. "It looks poisonous."

"It's s'posed ter look like that, it's dragon meat," Hagrid said. "An' I didn' get it ter eat." He picked up the steak and slapped it over the left side of his face. Greenish blood trickled down into his beard as he gave a soft moan of satisfaction. "Tha's better. It helps with the stingin', yeh know."

"So are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" Harry asked.

"Can', Harry. Top secret. More'n me job's worth ter tell yeh that."

"Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked Hermione quietly. Hagrid's fingers slipped on the dragon steak, and it slid squelchily onto his chest.

"Giants?" said Hagrid, catching the steak before it reached his belt and slapping it back over his face. "Who said anythin' abou' giants? Who yeh bin talkin' to? Who's told yeh what I've — who's said I've bin — eh?"

"Tyki said you were with your family." Ellen explained calmly.

"It was kind of...obvious," said Ron. Harry nodded.

Hagrid glared at them, then snorted, threw the steak onto the table again and strode back to the kettle, which was now whistling. "Never known kids like you three fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta," he muttered, splashing boiling water into three of his bucket-shaped mugs. "An' I'm not complimentin' yeh, neither. Nosy, some'd call it. Interferin'."

But his beard twitched.

"So you have been to look for giants?" said Harry, grinning as he sat down at the table. Hagrid set tea in front of each of them, sat down, picked up his steak again, and slapped it back over his face.

"Yeah, all righ'," he grunted, "I have."

"And you found them?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.

"Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest," said Hagrid. "Pretty big, see."

"Where are they?" said Ron.

"Mountains," said Hagrid unhelpfully.

"So why don't Muggles — ?"

"They do," said Hagrid darkly. "O'ny their deaths are always put down ter mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?" He adjusted the steak a little so that it covered the worst of the bruising.

"Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" said Ron. "Tell us about being attacked by the giants and Harry can tell you about being attacked by the dementors —"

Hagrid choked in his mug and dropped his steak at the same time; a large quantity of spit, tea, and dragon blood was sprayed over the table as Hagrid coughed and spluttered and the steak slid, with a soft splat, onto the floor.

"Whadda yeh mean, attacked by dementors?" growled Hagrid.

"Didn't you know?" Hermione asked him, wide-eyed.

"I don' know anything that's been happenin' since I left. I was on a secret mission, wasn' I, didn' wan' owls followin' me all over the place — ruddy dementors! Yeh're not serious?"

"Yeah, I am, they turned up in Little Whinging and attacked my cousin and me, and then the Ministry of Magic expelled me —"

"WHAT?"

"— and I had to go to a hearing and everything, but tell us about the giants first."

"You were expelled?"

"Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine." Hagrid glared at Harry through his one open eye. Harry looked right back, an expression of innocent determination on his face.

"Oh, all righ'," Hagrid said in a resigned voice. He bent down and tugged the dragon steak out of Fang's mouth.

"Oh, Hagrid, don't, it's not hygien —" Hermione began, but Hagrid had already slapped the meat back over his swollen eye. He took another fortifying gulp of tea and started to speak.

He wove a tale of his summer with the giants. about the journey that it took to get there and how it was once he and a woman named Olympe had found them. It must have taken an hour for him to get the whole story out and he fell silent once it was.

"But you still haven't explained how you got in this state, Hagrid," Ron said, gesturing toward Hagrid's bloodstained face.

"Or why you're back so late," said Harry. "Sirius says Madame Maxime got back ages ago —"

"Who attacked you?" said Ron.

"I haven' bin attacked!" said Hagrid emphatically. "I —"

But the rest of his words were drowned in a sudden outbreak of rapping on the door. Hermione gasped; her mug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the floor; Fang yelped. All five of them stared at the window beside the doorway. The shadow of somebody small and squat rippled across the thin curtain.

"It's her!" Ron whispered.

"Get under here!" Harry said quickly; seizing the Invisibility Cloak he whirled it over himself and Hermione while Ron and Ellen tore around the table and dived beneath the cloak as well. 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's and Ron'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.

"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 they all stood hidden under the cloak, squeezed together tightly.

"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid said, 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?" said Hagrid, frowning.

"Precisely what I was going to ask," said Umbridge, pointing 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, and Hermione 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, one hand still clamped over the dragon steak pressed to his eye. 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' speakin'," said Hagrid, looking uncomfortable. "I sometimes say Fang's near enough human —"

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

Hermione gasped; Harry clapped a hand over her mouth. Luckily, Fang was sniffing loudly around the hem of Professor Umbridge's robes, and she did 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 beard and again glancing toward the corner where the four 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 they were hiding. 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?"

Hagrid hastily removed the dragon steak from his face, the black-and-purple bruising all around his eye was now clearly visible, not to mention the large amount of fresh and congealed 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 friends 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 has been hired to teach what was your class. None of your colleagues has 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 with his newly uncovered eye. "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; dragon blood dripped gently onto his waistcoat in the silence. "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?" said Umbridge swiftly.

"Mountains?" Hagrid repeated, clearly thinking fast. "Nope, South of 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. Umbridge looked at him coldly; his smile 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 all staff members. I do say we will meet again.." 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 individuals, Hagrid. Good night."

"She's goin' back ter the castle," Hagrid said in a low voice, slyly looking out the window. "Blimey...inspectin' people, is she?"

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

"How can she even inspect a groundskeeper!" said Ellen, scowling deeply.

"I suppose hiring Professor Mikk put a damper on her plans..." Hermione trailed off looking rather concerned.

"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late," he said, patting Hermione gently on the shoulder, so that her knees gave way and hit the floor with a thud. "Oh — sorry —" He pulled her back up by the neck of her robes. "Look, don' you go worryin' abou' me. Now you lot had better get back up to the castle, an' don' forget ter wipe yer footprints out behind yeh!"

"I think we got lucky that Tyki is here." Ellen said while they walked back up to the castle, snow swirling all around them. "She obviously has some vendetta against Rubeus, it's a good thing that he isn't a teacher right now."

The other three simply frowned in response. The rest of the walk was filled with heavy silence, each person obviously concerned for Hagrid's safety and wellbeing.

"I won't let her get rid of Hagrid." Harry said at last, his face stern in the light of the common room fire. They all nodded in agreement before heading up into their dormitories; a good night's sleep ought to make everything seem a little less scary.

It was with a certain amount of apprehension that Harry, Ron, Ellen, and Hermione headed down to the edge of the forest on Tuesday, heavily muffled against the cold. Something in their gut told them that there would be something happening, they just didn't know what.

Once they reached their destination it was very clear what they needed to be worried about. Hagrid was standing behind Tyki with an excited look on his face. The difference between the two men was jarring; Hagrid looked out of place next to Tyki's understated elegance, his worn clothes seeming threadbare next to the professor's finery.

"First off, I would like you all to welcome back Senhor Hagrid. He has graciously agreed to assist me in the more advanced classes. I am sure you will show him the same respect you have shown me." Tyki said smoothly. "We will be working further into the forest today. Our specimen prefers a...darker environment, so to say."

"What prefers the dark?" They heard Malfoy say sharply to his cronies, a trace of panic in his voice. "What did he say prefers the dark — did you hear?"

"Ready?" said Hagrid happily, looking around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year and Professor Mikk here thought it was a great idea. 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?" said Malfoy, the panic 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 agreement and a few Gryffindors looked as though they thought Malfoy had a fair point too. Tyki simply smiled and motioned for the class to settle down. "I have examined the creatures myself and I must say, I have never met a herd so gentle." His voice was low and soothing, instantly calming the students. "If you will please follow Senhor Hagrid.."

Hagrid turned and strode straight into the forest. Nobody seemed much disposed to follow until Tyki glanced at them sharply. 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 half a cow with a grunt on the ground, stepped back, and turned to face the 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.

Tyki chuckled loudly at their reactions. "Come closer please. You cannot expect to learn if the tree is hiding your view, no?"

He turned and smoothed the few odd hairs back into his neat ponytail and with a smirk gave an odd, shrieking cry. It echoed through the trees loudly, causing a few students to jump. Tyki gave the call twice more before a smile came over his face. He walked over to a pair of yew trees, murmuring quietly as he grew closer.

Ellen gasped in surprise as he led a large thestral out from between the trees. Its white shining eyes stared out at the class while Tyki gently stroked down its skeletal body. It looked around few seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh from the dead cow next to Tyki with its pointed fangs.

"Why doesn't Professor Mikk call again?" She heard Ron whisper. Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions as confused and nervously expectant as Ron's and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. There were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating 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, folded 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?"

"Ahem," Tyki cleared his throat politely. "You do not have to do so if you don't feel comfortable. Now, please turn to page 562 of your book."

The sound of people ruffling through their bags filled the air until they all landed on the page as instructed. "Thestrals," Tyki began, "are classified as XXXX-Class Creatures. Can anyone tell me why that is?"

Hermione's hand shot in the air immediately. "Because they can only be handled by a trained wizard."

"Correct." He looked pleased. "Does anyone know why most of you cannot see the creature?"

"A thestral can only be seen by someone who has witnessed death." Ellen said softly, staring at the grotesque horse. "They're regarded as bad omens by many wizards."

"Ten points to Gryffindor, both of you. I see my class has been doing their reading." Tyki teased. "It is my belief that a thestral is a rather misunderstood creature. They —"

"Hem, hem."

Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from Harry, wearing her green hat and cloak again, 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.

"Professor Umbridge." Tyki's smile was stiff. "What a lovely surprise! Class, please welcome Professor Umbridge."

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge." They chanted dully.

"Hem, hem." Umbridge coughed again. "I was informed about your new helper and I thought I would come see it for myself."

Ellen watched Tyki clench his fists for a second before the plastic smile was back in place. He walked over to the short woman and gripped her hand, brushing his lips across her bulging knuckles in a greeting. "It would be my pleasure to have you observe my class again. Magizoology is such a beautiful thing, is it not?"

The toad giggled girlishly and looked at him with what she must have thought were enticing eyes. "Oh, yes, it truly is."

"Wonderful." He turned back to the class. "As I was saying, the thestral is a rather misunderstood creature. In recent studies we have found that there has never been an unprovoked thestral attack on a witch or wizard. What was once thought to be aggression has been observed to be more of a protective instinct against anyone who finds themselves too close to the thestral's herd. Senhor Hagrid is most familiar with this herd, however."

"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 herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted the first horse to have appeared, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest —"

"Are you aware," Umbridge said loudly, interrupting Hagrid, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?"

"That is why we have taken special precautions." Tyki moved in front of the groundskeeper. "The Headmaster received permission for us to show the class on the grounds that the thestrals have food present and that the students maintain a healthy distance. I believe you will find that these requirements have been met."

"Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk" — she mimed walking at Hagrid— 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 at her mouth to indicate talking.

Ellen could clearly see the disgust written across Tyki's face as he watched the woman disrespect Hagrid so blatantly. Hermione 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 —"

"If you will look in your book, you will find a sketch of the thestral." Tyki continued on as if Umbridge was not even there. "It is because of their skeletal appearance and the circumstances of how they can be seen that have led wizards and witches to view them as bad luck for many centuries."

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

Just like Hermione, 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. Tyki resisted the urge to frown and kept speaking. "The thestral is a rather remarkable creature. Once they have been tamed, it is unlikely that they will ever stray. They also have an incredible sense of direction. It can almost be compared to that of a messenger owl. All one must do is —"

"You can see the thestrals, Longbottom, can you?" Umbridge said as she approached the boy. Neville nodded.

"Whom did you see die?" she asked, her tone indifferent.

"I fail to see how this pertains to my lesson." Tyki interrupted cooly, placing his hand on Neville's shoulder. He nudged the boy over to Ellen and stood fully in front of Umbridge. "You are always welcome in my class, but if you insist on asking my students personal, private questions then I must ask you to leave Senhorita Umbridge."

"I think I've seen all that I need to," Her lip curled slightly in anger. "You will receive your updated results in ten days, Professor Mikk."

She marched her way out of the forest and they watched her go up to the castle until she could not be seen anymore. Tyki shook his head in exasperation and turned back to his class. "Now that that is over, where was I? Oh yes, the only thing..."

"That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!" stormed Hermione 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-breeds all over again — she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dim-witted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother!"

"Umbridge said they're dangerous," said Ron.

"And Tyki said that they aren't." Ellen said impatiently.

"I'd guessed a teacher like Mikk wouldn't usually show them to us before N.E.W.T. level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren't they? The way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could." Hermione prattled on.

"Do you?" Harry asked her quietly.

She looked horrorstruck. "Oh Harry — I'm sorry — no, of course I don't — that was a really stupid thing to say —"

"It's okay," he said quickly, "don't worry..."

"I'm surprised we had people that could see them," said Ron.

"Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering," said a malicious voice nearby. Unheard by any of them in the muffling snow, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were walking along right behind them. "D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?"

He, Crabbe, and Goyle roared with laughter as they pushed past on their way to the castle and then broke into a chorus of "Weasley Is Our King." Ron's ears turned scarlet.

"Ignore them, just ignore them," intoned Hermione.

It was hours later in the common room when Ellen finally vanished claiming that she needed to go talk to Dumbledore. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gathered in front of the fire working on homework, nothing but the sound of scratching quills and the crackling of the fire sounding in their ears. Hermione finally set down her quill with a sigh, catching the boy's attention.

"Everything alright?" Harry asked, his brow furrowed.

She shook her head slightly. "Ellen is keeping secrets from us, Harry. Are you sure that we can trust her?"

"She's my godmother," He argued. "She was friends with my parents."

"I know," Hermione said soothingly, "I'm just worried that she has other motives for being here. She says she's been hiding from the other Noah for a long time, but now she's surrounded herself with them. What if she decided she's more loyal to them than she is to the Order?"

Ron grunted, poking at his essay with his quill. "She's got a point, mate. Ellen's nice, but we don't know her that well."

Harry said nothing in reply, his mind racing. The Noah had shown up out of nowhere this past summer claiming all these wonderful things that he wished that he could believe. Sirius obviously cared a lot about her if their interactions were to say anything, but Lupin had made a point to avoid her every time he came around to Grimmauld Place. But Ellen had said that she cared about him. She had given him a key to her Ark, something that she kept hidden from everyone else. She had wanted to raise him, how could she be anything but good?

"She's not that kind of person," Harry finally said, staring defiantly at the other two. "I don't know what it is about her, but I just know that she's here for us."

"Harry..." Hermione trailed off. "Are you sure it isn't just because she knew your parents?"

"So what if is is?" He snapped at her.

"Calm down," Ron held up his hands in a calming motion. "We're just worried for you."

"I thought you two liked her, what happened there?"

Hermione sighed again, looking at Harry. "We've been watching her during the DA meetings. Her and that Rhode girl, they throw a lot of really dark spells around for no reason."

He couldn't argue with that. Over the past couple of meetings he had been forced to say something to the Noah when he realized what they were using. More than once he'd caught the small Noah, Rhode, throwing the Killing Curse around like it was nothing. Even though he knew that they did not need to practice the spells that he was teaching, it was dangerous for them to be exposing others to those kind of spells. "I've told them to stop that."

"I just want you to be careful, Harry." Hermione said quietly. "As nice as she can be, she's a dark creature and she's dangerous. She's shown that she doesn't mind hiding things from us and lying, we just need to keep an eye on her."

"Fine.." Harry finally agreed.

Throughout their whole conversation they never noticed the small body hovering on an umbrella outside of the window. Bright yellow eyes glared into the common room, then they were gone as if no one had ever been there.

Ofendus = spark

I can make a list of spells on my profile if anyone is interested. Just let me know!

Rhode absolutely tried to hit Ellen with Avada Kedavra. Just because she's technically a 'good guy' doesn't make her any less of a Noah. She obviously knew that Ellen would dodge.