A/N: Sooooo, it's been over year since I posted anything on this story...I can only plead writer's block. I have had an idea of where this story is going since I started it, but some intermediate scenes and plot were hard for me to write or come up with. I can't promise regular updates, but I WILL do my best to continue this story and I won't finish until it's completed to my satisfaction. I would like to thank all of you for your reviews and continued support.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Harry woke up the next morning in a slightly better mood, but he could still feel the throbbing pain on his hand. Cursing Umbridge, Harry rolled out of bed and dressed for his workout. It was 5:30 in the morning and no one else was up. He went outside, ran his laps and his muscle toning exercises by the lake. He quickly made his way to the open classroom for a quick training session dodging spells from conjured dummies.

At 7, Harry headed back towards Gryffindor Tower for a quick shower. Once clean, Harry saw Neville in the common room and went to go talk to him.

"Hey, Neville," Harry greeted Neville.

"Harry," came the curt reply.

Realizing he sort of deserved that after he brushed the other boy off the previous night, Harry sighed and began to apologize for his poor attitude. Neville just looked over with no expression as Harry continued to apologize.

"My detention with the Umbitch was just very frustrating. It put me in a foul mood and I didn't want to take it out on you and the first-years. I'm sorry I brushed you off, but I just thought you wouldn't want to deal with my temper ––"

Neville raised his hand to pause Harry's speech, "Harry, I'm not going to get mad if you have a temper. I can only imagine how awful detention with the pink toad would be. But friends are there to help you when you are frustrated. I can understand why you would want to avoid the first-years as they are younger, but I'm not Ron or Hermione. I want to help you, but I can't if you won't let me."

Harry hung his head and promised his friend that he would try to avoid bottling his emotions in all the time. Neville just smiled and slapped Harry's back. "Let's go get breakfast before Transfiguration. I bet that workout really made you hungry," Neville grinned.

Harry smiled, glad his friend wasn't angry with him anymore and agreed. Harry also offered to help train Neville if he was ever interested. Neville was pleased, but said he was fine for now. The two boys made quick time to the Great Hall. Harry immediately found the first-years and apologized for his cruel behavior the previous night, declaring his detention put him in a foul mood and he didn't want to take it out on them. All 15 of the first-years sighed in relief that their big brother figure wasn't angry with them.

After fixing his relationships with the younger ones, Harry and Neville found Luna at the Ravenclaw table and ate breakfast quickly with her. The two boys quickly made their way to McGonagall's class after saying goodbye to Luna. Harry continued to ignore the glares from his two former friends as he listened to his godmother's speech on the importance of OWLs. Thankfully, they quickly got to the actual transfiguration. Harry quickly completed the transformation from the wood block to the ceramic teacup. He spent the rest of class helping Neville, Dean, and Seamus. All three successfully completing the task before class ended. Only Hermione and Susan Bones completed it as well. Harry grinned over at Susan as he and the rest of Gryffindor rushed out of the door to head to Charms.

Charms went much the same way as Transfiguration and passed quickly. Lunch came quickly, this time Harry and Neville sat with the Hufflepuffs.

"How are your classes so far?" Harry asked the table as a whole. Every Hufflepuff groaned and immediately began complaining about all the homework the professors have piled on. Harry glanced at Susan and saw she was silent on the matter. Returning his attention to the conversation he started, Harry asked what they had after Transfiguration. Turns out, the Hufflepuffs had Potions and Snape had verbally attacked Susan and Hannah as apparently, he noticed their budding friendship with Harry and Neville.

Harry glanced sympathetically at Susan and Hannah and apologized for bringing Snape's wrath on the two girls.

"Don't apologize Harry. It's not your fault Snape is a man-child and can't be a professional," Hannah declared. Harry nodded absentmindedly in acknowledgement, but his focus remained on Susan, who continued to be silent.

"Are you okay, Susan?" Harry asked in worry. He prepared himself for her rejection, surprised at how hurt he felt at potentially losing this girl's favor. He had no idea how much her opinion mattered to him in the short time they had been friends.

Susan finally looked at Harry and was confused at his worry. She had no idea how low his self-confidence was due to his childhood and upbringing. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. I just never realized how biased and cruel Snape was as a teacher as he never directed it towards any Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws before."

Feeling guilty, Harry took this response as Susan's rejection of her friendship and he quickly stood and began to walk away.

"Harry? Where are you going?" Susan asked, rushing after him.

"Well, I'm sure you don't want to be my friend anymore. I mean who would take my friendship if it meant they would be targeted by Snape?"

"Harry! That's not what I meant at all! I can handle Snape's ire if it means I'm your friend! Your friendship is worth that and more!"

Shocked, Harry just stared at the auburn-haired girl. Relief quickly spread across his face as he realized he was worried for nothing. Susan just rolled her eyes at his surprise and gave him a hug, causing Harry to flinch before he relaxed into the hug. Susan silently stored the flinch in her mind but ignored it for now.

Hearing the bell ring, the two parted and agreed to partner up in Herbology later that day. Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology passed without event despite the fact the Gryffindors were with the Slytherins for Care. Harry was excited for his break before dinner, until he remembered his detention with Umbridge for the day was now. He sullenly said goodbye to Neville, Susan, and Hannah before going to Umbridge's office.

He knocked on her door and entered upon her admission. Seeing her sadistic grin made Harry angrier. How dare this woman torture him during detention? Harry knew she would probably do the same to other students, but he wasn't sure how he could go about ending this. He completely forgot about his titles and political power he now held as he grabbed the blasted Blood Quill and began writing. He refused to show any weakness, but he was mentally trying to end Umbridge's Reign of Terror before it could truly begin.

At the end of the two hours, she called him over to her desk. Pulling his arm, Umbridge inspected the cuts on his hand. Satisfied at their depth for now, she cast another glamour to hide them. Harry left as soon as he could and went to dinner, cradling his left hand as he walked through the hallways. Upon reaching the Great Hall, Harry steeled himself for questions from his friends and prepared himself to ignore the throbbing pain in his left hand.

Harry reached the Gryffindor table where Neville was sitting with Luna, Susan, and Hannah. He slowly piled foods he could eat with one hand onto his plate. He avoided any meats and only grabbed vegetables and the pies. Susan glanced worriedly at Harry as sat with a sullen expression. She reached out to grab his left hand to comfort him when Harry hissed as soon as her hand made contact. Harry immediately drew his hand towards himself, clenching it tightly as if in pain.

"Harry?" Susan asked quietly, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he said shortly.

"Then why are you acting as if your hand is in pain?" Susan persisted.

Harry glanced with worry towards the head table so quickly that Susan almost missed it. As it was, however, she didn't and filed that piece of information away for later.

"It's nothing Susan," he began, "just jammed a finger earlier."

Still skeptic, Susan let it be for now, but she was determined to figure out what was really going on when she could discuss it privately with Harry. Neville noticed this exchange but decided to respect his friends' privacy and he hoped Susan would be able to help Harry with whatever was happening. Harry continued his meal in relative silence, as he continued to try and figure out a way to deal with Umbridge.

He decided, that while it wasn't a permanent solution, he was going to prank the living daylights out of the awful woman. He already had some plans in place, he just needed to finalize a few details before beginning. With that thought in mind, Harry's mood brightened slightly, and he joined his friends' conversation about each Houses' chance in Quidditch. Harry proudly defended Gryffindor's chances even with the loss of their star Keeper.

Dinner passed by quicker and more enjoyably for Harry as he prepared himself for his one-on-one lessons with his godmother. He had a plan to try and get closer with her without telling her she was his godmother. He didn't want to put her in any more danger than she currently was in at the moment. Hopefully soon, he would be ready for her to know, but until then he would continue to get to know her as his professor.

Continuing to ignore the throbbing pain in his left hand, Harry left the Great Hall and walked to McGonagall's office. He arrived much sooner than he thought as he lost himself in thoughts of how he wished he could acknowledge his godmother. Harry knocked on the door and entered once permitted. McGonagall was sitting behind her desk observing Harry as he entered the room.

"Mr. Potter," began the Transfiguration professor, "today, we will be beginning the Animagus process to see what your inner animal is."

"Really?" questioned Harry, "We're going to start with that?"

"Well," explained McGonagall, "we most likely aren't going to start the training, but I do want to see your inner animal, so I can assign the proper reading to you. I also happen to have the necessary potion available at the moment, so it makes the most sense to do it now."

Harry just nodded in agreement as he took his seat at the chair opposite her desk grateful they wouldn't be doing anything too strenuous because of his hand. McGonagall handed him the potion silently while looking somewhat eager in anticipation of what his Animagus form will be. Gulping slightly, Harry grasped the potion bottle and swallowed it in one gulp before falling unconscious.

His eyes opened, and Harry was immediately assaulted by the smells, sounds, and sights of a jungle. His eye sight was so sharp, he could easily discern the differences between the blades of grass. His perspective was from a shorter point of view, about 2.5 feet from the ground instead of 6 feet. The sound of rushing water encouraged Harry to start running towards the sound to hopefully sneak a peak in the water's reflection. He felt his muscles expanding and contracting as he bound through the forest, a tail of about 2 feet helping him keep balanced on his four paws. Harry saw thick, black fur on his front legs in his peripheral vision as he was scanning the forest for threats.

Harry quickly came upon the river and skid to a stop, claws digging into the earth to help him slow down. He walked to the edge of the water and stopped in shock. His eyes remained their brilliant emerald color, glittering from the light off the water. He appeared to be a large black panther, about 6 feet in length from nose to tip of his tail. A slightly lighter black, almost dark grey, patch of fur was in the slight shape of a lightning bolt on forehead, only visible if you truly looked for it. His most prominent feature was definitely his eyes, as panthers usually had yellow eyes. He appeared to be of the leopard variety, however, Harry couldn't be sure until he did more research into the species.

Harry's vision began to blur as the forest scenery disappeared. Slowly, McGonagall's office came into view as he reoriented himself with his surroundings. Shaking his head, Harry sat there thinking about what his animagus form meant. Teacher and student sat there in silence for a few minutes, while the teacher anxiously waited for her student to speak.

"Uh…well, that was interesting," Harry stated, "and very disorienting."

"What did you see Potter? What animal were you?" McGonagall questioned with anticipation.

"Well, I opened my eyes to a jungle and was shocked by the black fur on my four legs. Then, I found a river and saw I was a black panther, except my eyes were green instead of yellow and a slightly lighter black patch of fur on my forehead that vaguely looked like my scar."

McGonagall almost whooped in excitement, but thankfully remained composed. He was a feline! And a very large and predatory one at that. It would be much easier to teach him the techniques for the transformation as she was also a feline. She hurriedly explained that to Harry, who looked excited that he could possibly learn how to be one faster.

"But I will not take you through the actual transformation process until after Christmas." Seeing Harry's disappointment, McGonagall continued, "I need to ensure that you are being responsible with your classes and extra tutoring. I feel after one term I will have a good feel for your newfound dedication, Potter."

Harry hesitantly nodded, acknowledging the truth of his professor's words. "Thank you, Professor. I'll see you in class."

As Harry was walking out of the classroom, his left hand brushed against a desk and he hissed in pain. McGonagall looked up sharply, but Harry rushed out of the room before she could comment. Worried about the young man that just left her office, Minerva McGonagall ran to the hall, but saw no sign of him.

Harry had ducked around the corner to hide from McGonagall and any questions she might have about his reaction. Harry did not want to put his godmother in a difficult position over Umbridge. If she found out what Umbridge's detentions were really like, she would be forced to confront Umbridge which would only bring tragedy to herself. This was something Harry needed to figure out for himself. He knew he needed to stop Umbridge, and with his political lordships he had some authority, but he needed to find a way to circumvent any obstacles put in place by Fudge and Umbridge.

Eventually, Harry made it to an almost empty Gryffindor common room. A few upper-years were playing a couple games of Exploding Snap before going to bed. In one corner, the troublesome duo known as Gred and Forge Weasley were planning something and noticed Harry walking in. The twins were appalled with their younger brother's attitude towards Harry, whom they considered a surrogate brother. Noticing Harry's distress, the two got up and dragged him towards their corner despite his protests.

"Hey! What are you two doing!? Let me go!"

"Harrikins…"

"Our favorite investor,"

"And unofficial Weasley,"

"Whatever is the matter?"

"Why are you so grumpy?"

Harry's head was moving back and forth like he was watching a tennis match due to the fast twin-speak. Despite his anger and disappointment with Ron and Hermione, Harry still really liked most of the Weasleys, the twins especially.

"It's Umbridge," Harry sighed, "she's a menace that needs to be stopped, but I don't know how to get rid of her. I've been trying to come up with some prank ideas to annoy her."

Fred and George's faces lit up with excitement.

"Pranks!" That was George.

"On Umbridge!" Fred.

"Count us in," the two exclaimed.

With an intense gaze, Harry studied the twins before nodding. The three combined the pranking genius of the troublesome twins and Marauder heir and came up with some despicable ideas to piss off the Umbitch toad. With identical smirks, the trio slipped out of the common room to begin their reign as pranking fiends.