Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter (I do own McGonagall, Tonks, Sprout, Fleur, Dumbledore, Kingsley, Voldemort and Bellatrixs wands though)

Right Here III

After dinner that night, the students who hadn't been forewarned were attracted by a disturbance, and heard Umbridge on the other side of the portrait hole, arguing with the Fat Lady, who was refusing to open for her. Umbridge's voice got even more sickly and poisonous as she lost control of her temper as she couldn't get her way, but it was only when Professor McGonagall arrived and, her voice full of self-loathing, reluctantly ordered a horrified Fat Lady to open for Umbridge. Smiling smugly, Umbridge had then waddled into the common room, surrounded by four Dementors, prompting screams of shock and numerous students drawing wands.

"If any of you attempt to interfere with the actions of the Dementors, I will put you in detention, they are here to search the tower for any evidence that some among you are in league with Sirius Black. Behave and you wont be hurt." She told them, her eyes glinting with malice, her eyes drawn to the fireplace where Harry was slumped in his chair, the power of the Dementors already overcoming him, despite the entire Weasley clan, Hermione and Neville standing in front of him, fury etched in their faces, wands drawn.

One Dementor began gliding towards them, perhaps because they perceived a threat or perhaps because it sensed Harry, but there was then a dart of silver light from the doorway. Umbridge span around furiously, to see McGonagall with her wand drawn, her knuckles white in fury.

"I told you Dolores, keep them under control or I will banish them." She bit out, her teeth gritted, and Umbridge smiled sweetly.

"You seem to forget Minerva, I was appointed to care for the security of this school by the Minister himself, so if I order them to search a room, then I expect-"

"That does not include them harassing one of my students, or are you saying that torturing Harry is Ministry policy?" she challenged, and there was a little flicker on Umbridge's face, a self-satisfied smile which made it clear that that was Ministry policy, that Ron caught sight of.

Scenting danger, Fred raised an arm and stopped his brother leaping across the room and bludgeoning Umbridge to death as Umbridge hastily rearranged her froglike features.

"Of course not Minerva, why would torture a child?" she simpered, and McGonagall smiled humourlessly.

"Why indeed?" she asked politely, gesturing menacingly with her wand and Umbridge backed down.

"You two, go and investigate the girl's dormitories, you two, the boys." She ordered, her wide mouth split into an evil smile as she watched Harry struggle to remain conscious as McGonagall looked sickened with herself beside her, impotent as the Dementors menaced her students.

XX

"You look awful." Hermione told Harry two days later as he dropped down into a seat for breakfast, looking miserable and tired.

The Dementor garrison was taking its toll upon the school. Now (to his slight relief) it wasn't just Harry who was being affected by the damn things as they patrolled the school, and even certain Slytherins weren't looking their usual mocking selves, trying, like the rest of the student body, to give the abominations a wide berth. However, sensing Harry's particularly low resistance to them, the foul creatures had been dogging his footsteps. Ron, who was now staying awake longer at night to make sure Harry went to sleep before he did, had reported to McGonagall who had told a furious Dumbledore that the Dementors were clustering outside the tower at night, affecting Harry even more than the rest of the school. While Seamus kept using the various nightmares and experiences the Dementors forced Harry to relive as proof of his insanity, the others were just as anxious with those monstrosities floating around outside.

There was no respite during the day either. As soon as they left the tower, Dementors seemed to materialise and follow Harry everywhere. There was always at least three lingering outside the portrait hall to the hatred of the Fat Lady and they were stationed at strategic points on their way down to breakfast, and it seemed like they had memorised Harry's timetable too (Hermione was rather suspicious about that, believing their boss probably had a hand in it). Indeed one Dementor, most likely drawn by the usual gloom that plagued the Gryffindors on Mondays as the timetable was so bad (Slytherin's was little better, they had a lot of the same classes yet they also had Transfiguration which only Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass seemed to enjoy as they were good at it, and McGonagall didn't let them away with their usual rubbish), had barged into the dungeon were their class was. Snape, his face the definition of fury, had sent an indistinguishable white light at the Dementor and banished it from the dungeon, and moments later a livid Dumbledore had arrived, talked quietly with Snape (how the trio wished they had had Extendable Ears) and even Umbridge had had the good sense to look abashed when they had gotten to her classroom for Defence.

"There was a big cluster of them waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Where were you?" Harry asked tiredly, looking pale, with bags under his eyes as Ron made him some strong coffee, his face betraying his concern.

"I left a bit earlier to try and scare them off, there weren't any outside a minute ago." She said worriedly, and Harry shrugged.

"Not much we can do about it though is there? Thanks." He said thankfully taking his coffee, and Ginny looked furious.

"They're clearly stalking Harry!" she hissed, and Ron looked at her sadly.

"It's like we told you sis, the other teachers can't do a thing, she's calling the shots." He told her, his furious eyes turned on Umbridge, who was sitting, ignored by the other teachers as usual, up at the staff table.

"He's not the only one." Luna Lovegood as she drifted over dreamily to talk to Ginny and sat down beside them, and Harry looked at her with interest.

"Who else are they chasing after?" he asked, and Luna pointed vaguely at the Slytherin table.

"Theo Nott for one. They seem to follow him too." She said, and Harry thought about it, looking over at the Slytherins.

While Malfoy looked delighted with the situation, Nott and Daphne Greengrass were sitting at the far end of the table, and the usually pallid boy did look paler than usual. What was it that was attracting the Dementors to them?

"It's awful what they're doing here. Mum will have a fit when she finds out." Ginny said, and Harry looked nervously around before leaning closer.

"I'm more worried about what Sirius might do, he still hasn't replied, and with the whole school being watched for Patronuses, we can't even check." He mumbled, and Ron squeezed his wrist.

"He'll be fine mate, if nothing else, Lupin will stop him doing something stupid." He assured him, just as the post arrived.

But as there was still no sign of Hedwig in the parliament of owls, Harry couldn't help his heart getting that little bit tighter as worry for his godfather filled him.

XX

History of Magic was bad enough, but now with at least two Dementors patrolling the corridor right outside the classroom, the cold feeling was seeping in, making them all feel even worse about the subject than they already did, and Harry was just absently gazing into space, and even Hermione was struggling to take notes under the baleful influence of the ghouls outside.

Harry was lost in thought. His return to Hogwarts, so long sought after, had been nothing but a nightmare. Umbridge was steadily making his life a living hell, cutting off all avenues of pleasure. Hagrid was gone, she was restricting his time on the quidditch pitch, she was stopping him from talking with Sirius, she was going to be cracking down on the teachers who were on his side, she was going to turn more students against him, and she had unleashed Dementors onto the school. Now she was lording it over the school, and the Dementors were following him wherever he went.

But all through all of this, there had been one constant: his friends. Ever since Umbridge had appeared the Weasleys, Hermione, Neville, Dean, Parvati and others had rallied around him, even Luna had taken his side, all standing up to Umbridge for him. But it was Ron who was occupying his thoughts at the moment.

The other night, when he'd been upset about Percy, Ron had been there, and had consoled him, holding him until he went to sleep, stroking his hair. Admittedly, the next morning, Harry had rather liked the fact that he had woken up beside Ron, he'd felt warm, safe and cared about in a way that he didn't know he'd ever felt before. And before they'd gotten up Ron had been gently stroking his hair, and he'd felt…well he was pretty sure he'd liked it. And ever since then Ron had been sticking to him like glue, trying to protect him from the Dementors, trying to keep him from Umbridge, and Harry was, bizarrely, liking it. Usually he couldn't stand when anyone made a fuss over him, but he rather liked this protective streak that Ron was on, it made him feel, well he didn't know. And there was other things, the fact that Ron had seemed a lot more physical lately, and his mind had briefly wandered when he had accosted him in that alcove outside Divination, and he'd wondered just what it would be like to…

"Harry, look!" Hermione hissed in annoyance, jerking Harry from his reverie.

"What?" he asked defensively, aware that something had changed down below, but she wasn't interested in him she was pointing to the window.

Hedwig was tottering on the windowsill and was looking at him balefully. With Binns currently occupied with his drone on giant wars, and the students in their usual stupor, he darted across to the window and lifted his own inside, which immediately distracted everyone's attention.

"She's hurt!" Harry exclaimed in alarm, and even more to his alarm, there was no answering letter from Sirius.

"Hurt?" Ron asked in concern, and raised a hand to her right wing, which seemed to be at an odd angle and she nipped her beak at him in protest.

Harry stroked her head gently, looking at Hermione worriedly. There was no way of telling if Sirius had gotten his coded letter, and the injury to Hedwig surely meant she'd been attacked, which meant that Umbridge was most likely behind it.

"Come on Hedwig." He said, stroking her affectionately and he put her on his shoulder where she nibbled his ear gently while Hermione and Ron began to urgently discuss what, or more likely who, might have harmed Hedwig as Harry excused himself from the class and hurried to the staff room, as when he looked outside Professor Grubbly-Plank didn't seem to be standing outside teaching. He narrowly avoided two Dementors, and when he snuck into a secret passage to avoid them, he also noticed that she had blood on her beak too. Stroking her reassuringly, he resumed his course and fortunately escaped the influence of any more Dementors as he headed to the staff room. He urgently knocked on the door, only to be met with Snape's face, who gave him his usual look of loathing before turning with a sneer.

"It's for you Minerva." He said, sweeping back to his seat, and McGonagall replaced him, her eyes flashing dangerously as she saw Harry.

"Have you been given another detention?" she demanded angrily, but he shook his head.

"No professor, I was in History of Magic, and Hedwig came to me there, and her wing's all bent and there's blood on her beak too, look." He told her, and she gave him a frightened look before turning to call Grubbly-Plank but she was already there.

"Sorry, overheard. Hmm, let's have a look at you dear," she said to Hedwig kindly, and Harry nodded encouragingly at his owl, who reluctantly allowed Grubbly-Plank to inspect her wing, looking at it through her monocle.

"What could have attacked her?" McGonagall asked as Harry looked on nervously, and Grubbly-Plank sucked the inside of her cheek, considering her answer.

"Up here, I'd say a Thestral, but the only thing is Hagrid has the herd well trained, they don't go for owls. And they don't have red blood either, it's black. I'm sorry to say but if I had to guess, I'd say a witch or wizard grabbed her." She said darkly, and Snape sat a little straighter, exchanging a dark look with McGonagall and Harry's heart plummeted.

"But who I can't say." Grubbly-Plank mused, but it was clear from her tone of voice that she too had an inkling she just didn't want to risk saying it aloud.

"Will she be alright?" Harry asked incessantly, and Grubbly-Plank nodded.

"She'll be as good as new in no time, don't worry, you can have her back in a couple of days. Come on hen, let's have a look at your wing." She said to Hedwig who gave Harry a hoot of goodbye as McGonagall turned to Harry, but before she said anything, Harry got there first.

"She didn't bring a letter back." He whispered in a panic, and she went white.

"We will try to get word to the Order. Do not attract Umbridge's attention." She warned darkly just as the bell rang, and she let Harry go with a nod before she turned in panic to Snape and he heard the two of them begin to converse in hushed voices as the school began to move to its next class.

XX

"So you reckon Umbridge attacked Hedwig?" Fred demanded angrily late that night, when it was only the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry still in the common room, and Harry nodded darkly.

"Makes sense doesn't it, especially when she has it in for me?" he snarled as he paced in front of the fire, the thought of that evil toad laying hands on his owl was filling him with fury, but for some reason Ron had a slight grin on his face.

"What's so funny?" Harry snapped at him, as the day had gone on, he'd gotten angrier and angrier, he couldn't even talk to Sirius now without her sticking her nose in, and he was laughing about it?

"Oh nothing. Just I saw Umbridge earlier, and her hands were covered in bandages. If she was the one who attacked Hedwig, Hedwig made her regret it." He told Harry with relish, and Harry grinned a little.

"That's my girl." He said proudly, imagining Umbridge shrieking in pain as Hedwig hooted defiantly and offered her the proverbial finger.

"The point is though, if Umbridge was the one to attack Hedwig, she'll know you're in contact with Sirius." Ginny said worriedly, her eyes looking at the fire worriedly, and Harry looked at her in despair.

"I know." He admitted, his voice quavering slightly, and George clapped him on the shoulder.

"You said it was code right? Well she can't crack it surely, it'll be fine." He assured Harry and Ron squeezed Harry's wrist reassuringly as Harry turned to look pensively into the fire, only to yell in surprise, as Sirius head had just materialised in the fire.

"Sirius!" he cried in alarm and all the others looked down at Sirius, who looked immensely relieved to see his godson.

"Are you alright?" he asked, and Harry nodded, before Hermione found the voice to ask the very same thing Harry was wondering.

"Sirius, are you insane? The entire castle is on lockdown, Umbridge has brought in Dementors, and you're crazy enough to use the fireplace when you know they're being watched? How stupid are you?" she screamed, and he sent her a vexed look.

"When we heard what Umbridge had done, we had to find out, and as we can't use Patronuses anymore, how was I meant to check up on Harry? Are you all safe?" he intoned, and they all nodded, and he then returned to his usual demeanour, grinning up at Harry, who looked back at him worriedly, but he couldn't deny, after the week he'd had, he was immensely glad to see Sirius.

"We're fine. But someone knows we're talking, that's why Umbridge is doing all this." He told him, and Sirius nodded, looking darkly at the Weasleys.

"We think it was your favourite brother, because Percy is now Assistant to the Minister, not just Junior Assistant, and your parents did say they'd discussed me being innocent in his ear shot, we think he's the one who sold me out." He complained bitterly, and the twins got to their feet in rage.

"That colossal dick, Sirius mate, if we'd known…" Fred began, but Sirius raised a hand to quell them.

"There's nothing we can do about it, and besides, I don't think it'll help your mum knowing you lot are at war with him, even if he is the scummiest asskisser on the planet. Now, you all need to be careful, Umbridge has clearly got it in for you in particular Harry, she can move against you easier than she can against Dumbledore, and with the teachers defanged by her now being High Inquisitor, you need to be extra careful, ok? Promise me." He ordered, and Harry nodded, looking miserable despite the presence of his godfather.

"Yeah. But Sirius, the Dementors…" he began, and Sirius scowled.

"We know. Dumbledore let us know, Molly's going insane, we had to slip her a little something, she was going to come marching up to the school, and I have to agree, those things floating around you lot doesn't exactly fill me with joy. Keep your heads down, and you guys, can you look after Harry, I know none of you will like them either but they affect Harry worse and seem to be singling him out, just like that evil hag you've got as a teacher." He asked, and the others all nodded.

"Of course we will. But Sirius, the entire school is horrible, Umbridge is encouraging people to tattle to her if anyone tells the truth," Ginny began.

"She won't let us use defensive magic in class," George chimed in.

"She's ripped Harry's hand open in detention," Ron added, and Sirius' eyes bulged in fury.

"She's going to inspect the teachers," Hermione said, and Harry, fed up of the constant din, whistled loudly, stopping them in their tracks as Sirius seemed determined to come to the castle.

"Ripping open Harry's hand? I'll kill her!" he vowed, and the Weasleys grinned as they saw their mother's hand grab Sirius and pull him back, and they heard her annoyed voice at the other end.

"Sirius, no, you can't go to the castle, you're a wanted mass murderer! Besides, I wanted to kill her first, wait your turn! Oh now what?" she asked in exasperation, and let Sirius go, and he sat there scowling for a minute as she disappeared from sight and earshot.

"Whoo, mum really hates Umbridge to threaten to kill her in front of us." Ginny said in cold delight, imagining her mother putting paid to Umbridge once and for all, and Sirius allowed himself a slight grin.

"Yeah, she's rather hacked off that she's unleashed Dementors on her kids, real and surrogate, she's out for blood. The things that came from your mother's mouth last night would make you blush…" he teased, and the Weasleys all grinned in equal delight.

"Remind me to remind her of that will you Fred?" George asked, and his twin grinned mischievously.

"Definitely."

"So she isn't letting you use defensive magic? Ahh the dulcet tones of Molly yelling, must have been Mundungus at the door. Well that makes sense I suppose, we reckon that the Ministry believes that Dumbledore is training you all to be his private army, that'll be why you're not using defensive magic."

The kids were all silent, before Ron said what they were all thinking.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and we've met Luna Lovegood and had Gilderoy Lockhart for a year." He said, and Sirius sent him an appreciative grin.

"Couldn't agree more mate but that's what it is. I wish I could be more help, but I'm afraid you'll just have to do stuff on your own, study without her, it's the only way you'll pass your OWLs. How is she ripping your hand open Harry?" he asked, but before he could answer Hermione, who had been kneading her temples wearily, looked up with a kind of fervent excitement about her, and both Harry and Ron, who had noticed this, exchanged weary glances, she had one of her harebrained ideas again.

"We need a proper teacher, not a Ministry puppet like her. We need someone who knows what it's like, not just fighting the Dark Arts, but fighting Death Eaters, fighting Voldemort," she said, rolling her eyes as the Weasleys winced, "a proper teacher, who can tell us what we need to know to fight and survive them, not just school." She said, looking meaningfully at Harry, and Sirius looked at her, wincing as he did so because apparently Mrs Weasley's yelling was getting louder and more ferocious, and he gave her a curious look.

"What, do you want me to ask Lupin and Mad-Eye?" he asked, but she shook her head.

"No, we could only see them during Hogsmeade weekends, it's not enough. No, I was thinking-I was thinking of you teaching us Harry." She admitted in a squeaky voice, as though afraid he'd fly off the handle, but instead Harry laughed.

"What, you're crazy! Ron-Ron?" Harry asked, as for some bizarre reason, he looked as though he felt Hermione was on to something, as did the other Weasleys and even Sirius.

"It's not a bad idea you know, you teaching us. And I'd rather learn from you than that old tyrant any day." He told him, and Ginny nodded her agreement.

"Harry, stop looking so bemused. You're the best in your year at Defence, I snuck a peak at your last paper last year, you even beat Hermione, which is why she didn't talk to me about it," she said, earning her a scowl from Hermione, "you saved the Philosopher's Stone from You-Know-Who in your first year, saved me from his pet basilisk in your second year, saved Sirius from the Dementors in your third year, and fought him yourself the night he came back last year, if anyone can teach us what we really need to know, it's you!" she urged, and Harry looked to Sirius for support.

"Sirius, tell them they're crazy, I didn't do those things alone, I had help, tell them it's stupid…" he begged, but Sirius gave Hermione a proud look (probably because she was thinking about breaking the rules and rebelling against Umbridge and the Ministry), and turned with a grin to Harry.

"But Harry, they're right. You're exactly what you guys need right now, and speaking as your living guardian that gives a damn about you, I'd rather you could defend yourself than copy stuff out a textbook." He told him, and Harry opened his mouth then closed it, his mind buzzing with the possibilities.

"Any news on Hagrid?" Ron asked hopefully, and Sirius shook his head.

"No, but Madame Maxime told us he's alright, just taking his time to get back, but did you expect any news since you got my reply? You'll probably know before we do to be honest." He told them, but he then noticed that Harry had gone white as a sheet.

"You sent a reply back?" he asked in alarm as Hermione clambered to her feet in terror, and Sirius began looking scared as well.

"Yes, didn't you get it?" he asked hoarsely, and Harry shook his head in panic.

"I didn't get anything, Hedwig didn't have a letter, which means that…Umbridge knows!" he cried hysterically.

"RUN!" Hermione screamed, as the others all surged to their feet, determined to be gone from the crime scene as soon as possible, and Sirius began to withdraw from the fire.

But he didn't move fast enough, as a short, stubby hand adorned with ugly old rings and covered in bandages seized Sirius by the hair and began to pull him forwards.

"NO!" Harry screamed but Ron grabbed him by the chest and with the help of the twins all but dragged him to the stairs as Sirius screamed in pain as Umbridge tried to pull him to her, the fly to the toad that she was, while Harry yelled for his godfather in desperation.

XX

Mrs Weasley came back into the kitchen, her nostrils flaring now she had vented her spleen at Mundungus, to see Sirius' head far too far in the fire, and to her alarm, she saw a stubby, ring adorned hand clutching in the fireplace, trying to pull Sirius to her.

"Sirius! Releashio!" she cried and she heard a yelp of pain come from the fire as the hand disappeared and a frantic Sirius scrambled out of the fireplace, looking horrified.

"Thanks Molly!" he breathed, his heart hammering, and she raised a hand to her chest to try and settle her blood pressure.

She had warned him, but he had whittled her down, she was just as concerned about Harry as he was, and she was concerned about her own kids too, oh why had she agreed to let him use the floo to check on them, her motherly instincts had overridden her common sense and now they could all be in very real danger…

"Are you alright?" she demanded weakly, and he nodded, and then looked at the ceiling, his mind working overtime to try and find a way out of the mess he had gotten them into.

"We need to alert Dumbledore right away, come on!" he urged, and she took off after him as he took the stairs two at a time, setting off all the pictures in the process, on his way to warn Phineas Nigellus before Umbridge made her move.

XX

"That was a good move." Dumbledore admitted despite himself as McGonagall had just taken his queen, which rather upset his strategy a tad, well more than a tad, he'd only been left with the king, a pawn and a knight now, and she smiled.

"Thank you. You're only delaying the inevitable Albus." She taunted, and he looked over his glasses at her in disappointment, which only made her smile wider.

"Gloating does not become you Minerva." He warned, and she smirked.

"Of course it does, you just don't think it does because I'm winning." She teased, just as a voice cried out from the wall.

"Albus, Minerva, my great grandson was just using the Floo to communicate with the Potter boy,"

"He was what, we warned him not to!" McGonagall thundered, but Phineas overrode her.

"But she nearly got him, she laid hands on him, if it wasn't for the blood traitor in the house with him, she would have him!" Phineas decried and both the senior staff got to their feet in panic, just as one of the other portraits, Everard, emerged from his other portrait in the Ministry.

"Headmaster, a group of Aurors are on their way here, they say Sirius Black was caught in the fireplace in Gryffindor Tower!" he told them, and the two Order members exchanged frightened glances and thundered from his office towards Gryffindor tower.

XX

"Get those things out of here!" Ron snarled pointing his wand at Umbridge, as Harry groaned weakly on his bed behind him, and Neville, Dean and Seamus stood with him, their wands pointing at Umbridge and her party.

She had arrived a few minutes ago, flanked by six Dementors, an Auror that he didn't know, and a horror stricken Tonks, who had raised a finger to her lips to indicate quiet when she had arrived, but otherwise was very pale and was dreading what was going to happen next.

"Mr Weasley, someone within this tower was communicating with Sirius Black, I almost caught him myself," she told him sweetly, flexing her bandaged hand, which he noted with a flash of savage pleasure, "and I know it was Mr Potter with whom he was communicating. Now, step aside!" she warned in her sweetest, most deadly voice, as the Dementors surged forwards towards Harry, who was already weakened by the presence of so many of them in such close quarters, and he could hear the voices in his head now…

"Expecto-" Ron persisted, but the other Auror flicked his wand and hit Ron with a stinging hex.

"Now lad, don't cause any trouble now." He warned, and Tonks sent him an apologetic look, and Umbridge turned to the Dementors.

"Bring me Potter." She ordered, and they swept forwards, their rotting hands reaching for Harry who tried to back away and went for his wand, but they were too strong, and the others didn't know the Patronus, and they had just shoved the others out the way and the two Aurors were covering them with their wands, though Tonks looked sickened with herself for doing it…

"Madam Umbridge, I can't stand by while you use those things on an innocent boy, a minor. Call them off!" Tonks demanded, pushed to the edge and seeing the Dementors converge gleefully on Harry had robbed her of her restraint, she had to save Harry, he was getting weaker, and if Umbridge hauled him off for questioning.

"Tonks, put your wand down!" Dawlish spat, and she pointed her wand at him.

"Don't make me hex you Dawlish." She asked, though she didn't really care one way or another, she'd never liked him.

"Enough! Stand aside Tonks, or be implicated yourself, Dawlish, take her!" Umbridge spat, and the Dementors turned their attention away from Harry to observe what was happening behind him and he grabbed for his wand, determined to protect himself.

There was no contest, not really. Dawlish fired a spell that Tonks easily deflected, she then bounced a second into the ceiling and a third into the floor, before she fired a complex series of spells back at him. Umbridge yelled in fright as she dove into the staircase out the way, but Dawlish barely managed to block two spells before Tonks body bind curse caught him at a funny angle and he toppled out the doorway and thudded down a flight of stairs before turning furiously to the Dementors, who were turning their attention back to Harry.

"Call them off Umbridge!" she demanded, panicking, she could repel them, but that would really put the fat into the fire, she'd make everything worse, she could even reveal that she was working with the Order if she stood in to protect Harry, what was she to do?

"I'll have your job for this!" Umbridge spat maliciously, as one Dementor reached for Harry's neck, and Ron cried out, it was going to take him and there was nothing he could do…

"No, you won't." a voice of cold, hard power spat, and with that a gleaming silver phoenix and tabby cat blazed into the room, banishing the Dementors from the room and returning warmth and light to it.

"Expelliarmus!" McGonagall cried, knocking Tonks to the floor, though her wand just briefly left her fingers, giving her the briefest of apologetic glances before she and Dumbledore turned their attention to Umbridge while the students clustered around a weak and shaking Harry, Ron wrapping his arms around him protectively, blood pounding in his head in fury.

"How dare you bring Dementors into the living quarters of the students?" Dumbledore stormed, power radiating off him and Umbridge took a step back in slight alarm, he looked on the verge of losing control, and McGonagall was shaking in barely checked rage, she wanted nothing more than to rip Umbridge's throat out with her bare hands.

"You forget headmaster that I, as High Inquisitor, am responsible for school security! The mass murderer Sirius Black was in communication with someone in Gryffindor tower, so I came here and-"

"Came here and attacked an innocent boy without any evidence or forethought! How dare you!" McGonagall stormed, her face crimson with anger, and Umbridge pulled herself up to her full height, which seemed rather feeble when both Dumbledore and McGonagall towered over her.

"A mass murderer was speaking with a member of your house Minerva, and if anyone is linked to him, it would be Potter, he has a picture of him in his album…"

"Because he was my dad's best friend, he was the best man at their wedding." Harry ground out as Ron once more somehow conjured a chocolate frog from somewhere and practically force fed him it.

"And as he was involved in Sirius Black's escape from your incompetent custody,"

"INCOMPETENT?" McGonagall roared, beside herself, red sparks emitting from her wand.

"It stands to reason that he is the one in league with Sirius Black!" Umbridge screeched, stomping her foot.

"It does not. You entered this room, with Dementors no less, and attacked Harry and his classmates with those disgusting creatures on the basis of a theory. You have no proof that it was Harry or anyone else that Black was communicating with, perhaps he was merely scouting out how easy it would be to get into the castle? You have overstretched your authority, and I want you to get out of this dormitory right now." Dumbledore intoned, his entire body streaming power, and he was shaking he was so furious, and Umbridge, foolishly, tried to resist him.

"No Dumbledore, I am in charge of school security, and I will interrogate Potter! He is guilty, and I will prove it, I will take him to the Wizengamot to give evidence, and if people still think he is innocent then he will be released with our apologies, but until then he presents a clear and present danger to the school!" she raged, but Harry, his strength returning from the chocolate Ron had given him, got to his feet, his anger erupting.

"He helped murder my parents you stupid cow! Why would I want to work with him?" he demanded, hating himself, but also relishing insulting Umbridge, who blinked stupidly.

"Wh-what?" she demanded weakly, and Harry stormed forwards, and it was only the two teachers raising their hands to halt his progress that prevented a furious Harry from snapping her neck. His anger, so close to the surface nowadays anyway, had been stimulated by an attack by Dementors in his own bedroom, and now he was having to disavow his godfather to save his own skin.

"He sold my parents to Voldemort, so why would I want to work with him? Explain that!" he stormed, and she opened and closed her mouth like a guppy, before looking to a furious Dumbledore.

"Is that true?" she whimpered, and he nodded savagely.

"Yes, which if you had bothered to investigate at all, you might have known. By all means Dolores, take Harry before the Wizengamot, I'm sure the Ministry would relish another humiliation at the hands of a fifteen year old boy." He snapped, and she mumbled something, outfoxed.

"What?" McGonagall spat, praying Umbridge would make one wrong move.

"Perhaps I was mistaken, I merely thought…" she began, and McGonagall's nostrils flared.

"No, you didn't." she spat, and a humiliated Umbridge was now scarlet with embarrassment, then she raised her spiteful glare onto Harry.

"Fifty points will be taken for your insult Potter!" she crowed with relish, clearly believing she could still get a slight victory out of this debacle.

"Sure, take points. I'm sure the parents of the school will think that's worth it when what you did tonight appears in the papers, barging into a roomful of kids with Dementors and Aurors all because you didn't even think, yeah, they'll love that." Ron mocked, and while her face crumpled into a pout as if she was about to have a temper tantrum, she backed down.

"Very well, fifty points from Mr Potter but…I suppose fifteen to each of you, for the trauma I wrongly put you through." She said through gritted teeth, and the students glared at her before she turned and stormed down the stairs in a huff, and they faintly heard the Fat Lady slam shut.

"I'm so sorry!" Tonks cried, hugging both Harry and Ron who hugged her back fiercely, and she winked at Neville before looking nervously at Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Thank you for doing the right thing Nymphadora. I will make sure there are no retributions, I will inform Amelia of what happened as soon as I get back to my office." Dumbledore assured her, squeezing her hand and she gave them a weak smile, waved a last farewell to Harry and Ron and vanished from sight.

"Which do you want?" McGonagall asked, and Dumbledore, still pulsing fury, flared his nostrils.

"I'm away to London, I have a couple of stops to make." He snarled and swept from the room, bound for the Ministry so he could tear Fudge a new one, and for Grimmauld Place so he could eviscerate Sirius and Molly for letting him do something so foolhardy which had nearly gotten them all in serious peril.

McGonagall breathed weakly before turning to Harry.

"An extra ten points for doing the right thing." She said, noting the tortured expression on his face and clapping his shoulder kindly, though he looked sickened with himself.

"Professor, she barged in here…" Seamus spat, and her eyes flashed.

"I know Finnegan, I will ensure she does not do so again. You all performed admirably, standing in defence of your companion. I am very proud of all of you, ten points to each of you. Now, if you all feel alright, Mr Weasley I'm sure your classmates would not object to one of your never ending supply of chocolate frogs, and try and get some sleep. I will inform you in the morning when I know more." She promised, and exchanged a last proud look with Harry and Ron, gave Harry a brief understanding nod, and left the room, managing not to slam the door as she did so.

"Thank you." Harry whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear, and Ron wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Are you ok?" he asked, bringing him into a hug, and Harry nodded as he was pressed against his chest.

"Yeah. Thanks." He said softly, pulling away from Ron and looking up at his best friend.

And then, all of a sudden, he was gripped by this desire to kiss Ron, to kiss his best friend. Shaking his head, he was clearly messed up from the Dementor attack and Umbridge nearly catching both him and Sirius, he pushed the thought from his mind, but it did linger, wondering what it would be like to kiss him…

"I'm here for you mate." Ron promised, reluctantly letting Harry pull away, giving his hand a last stroke as he did so, and head to his bed, while Dean peered out the window before turning back to them, looking satisfied.

"Our usual honour guard of Dementors has slinked back to the walls, they mustn't want another kicking. Night." He said cheerfully, and Harry clambered into bed, still hating himself for disavowing Sirius but was asleep within moments.

Ron's gaze lingered on his best friend, but figuring he without the Dementors floating around, Harry wouldn't need him tonight, he got into his own bed, once more contemplating what it would be like to kiss Harry.

And Harry slept the whole night, the best night he'd had in a while, and all through it, he dreamed of him and Ron, in that alcove, being considerably more than just best friends.

XX

"The whole staff are furious, it's all over the school. But last night was far too close." Hermione whispered, and George nodded fervently.

"Too true, if she'd caught Sirius, or us, we'd all have been for the high jump. But worse, barging into you guys dormitory, those damn things could have killed you all, it's not like she'd be able to stop them!" he exclaimed, horrified and furious at the same time, and he squeezed Hermione's hand as she shuddered.

"Well," Ginny said in satisfaction, as Umbridge was looking rather miserable at the staff table, "the Dementors have vanished from the main corridors, they're still in the school but there's fewer of them. I think they're in retreat because she was humiliated." She said with relish, and Fred looked worriedly at Harry.

"You ok?" he asked, and Harry ignored him, biting his lip before he addressed Hermione.

Last night had made him feel totally helpless, and had they attacked, the Dementors could have killed them all. He'd been thinking about it all morning, at some times Hermione's idea seemed totally mad, but at others, he could actually see himself giving lessons, he was subconsciously planning them in his head. And what was more, he was so sick of Umbridge tormenting him, of her winning, of her making his life totally miserable, he wanted to do something, he wanted to lash out, make her suffer, and he couldn't think of any better way to do it than by doing the exact opposite of what she wanted done.

"Did you mean it? You think people will want to be taught by me?" he asked softly, and her face broke into an unexpected smile at his question.

"I really do Harry, yeah. So, are you up for it?" she asked excitedly, and he could feel the eyes of the others on him, all of them smouldering with hope, and he shrugged, but gave her a half smile.

"If you think people will want to be taught by a nutter like me, then yeah, I'll give it a try. I must be mad, but I'm fed up of my life being used as a punch bag, I want to do a bit punching back. So if you think it'll work, then go ahead." He told her, and she smiled proudly as she assured him;

"It will Harry, you'll see. Just leave it to me. You have more friends than you think."

Umbridge truly is evil, and because she has Fudge behind her, the teachers can do nothing to stop her, absolutely nothing. So now shes been made High Inquisitor, unleashed Dementors on the school which she will use to torture Harry, is torturing Harry in detentions, is planning to inspect the teachers, has nearly caught Sirius and I can promise she's only going to get worse as the year goes on

But the DA is to be formed, and both Harry and Ron are seeing each other in a new light, where will that lead?

Anyway, let me know what you think, please read and review!