Order of the Phoenix: I'm Right Here

by lordtrayus

Following Percy's letter to Ron after becoming a prefect, Ron offers a hurt and angry Harry some comfort. But this sets off a previously unsuspected chain of events as Umbridge tightens her grip upon Hogwarts and tries to target Harry in particular. Set during order of the Phoenix, it starts as a friendship story and becomes a bit drama and slash as it goes through the school year

5. Solidarity

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Harry Potter, otherwise I wouldnt be flying budget to New York

Right Here IV

Ron had rather optimistically hoped, just for a brief second, that the humiliation that Umbridge had been dealt would have been enough to humble her at least a little bit, perhaps make her ease off in her actions, if only slightly.

However, the day after the near miss in the fire, Ron was forcibly reminded as to why when things started to go wrong, he generally wasn't the one who played the optimism card, because Umbridge, furious that between them, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Tonks and Harry had made her look a fool, was determined to reach new heights of previously unimagined viciousness, which was a task that she took to with great gusto.

As she was now based at Hogwarts, her ability to enact retribution on Tonks was rather diminished, however, despite Dumbledore having informed Amelia Bones of what had happened in the dormitory the previous night, Tonks was still suspended. It seemed that Umbridge, determined to salvage even a minor victory after her humiliation, had gone straight to Fudge and had gotten him involved in the affair, and Fudge, just as annoyed as she was that they hadn't been able to get the better of Harry or Dumbledore, had had Tonks suspended without pay. Harry, Ron and Hermione had heard McGonagall telling Snape as they entered the great hall for breakfast that morning, and even Snape seemed willing to talk at just enough of a volume that the trio could hear what was being said. However, Snape had then muttered that Tonks being suspended for a couple of weeks provided some useful opportunities. As the two teachers had made for their own table, McGonagall had agreed, which soothed their fears that Tonks was getting into trouble because of them slightly.

However, while Tonks was only really collateral damage in the power games being played between Umbridge and Dumbledore, Umbridge was a much greater threat within Hogwarts, and as she sat up at the staff table, glowering around the room, her frog like face filled with loathing as her eyes frequently fell on Harry, it was clear that she had spent quite some time contemplating how best to avenge her defeat and get back at those who had gotten the better of her. Harry had tried to eat his breakfast as he normally would, but the adrenaline left over from the near miss the night before, and also the malicious look that Umbridge was giving him, was making him worry so much that he was having quite a hard time keeping his breakfast going the way through his body that it was meant to be, and not going in the reverse.

"What can she do though? She might have Fudge and the Ministry backing her, but at the end of the day, Dumbledore and McGonagall still run the show around here." Ron pointed out, and Hermione gave him a sceptical look as they climbed the stairs towards Transfiguration.

"Are you really that naïve Ron? She's going to want revenge, she thought she had all of us dead to rights and Harry wormed his way out of it, and in the process made her look a complete fool. Mark my words, the evil old toad is going to be out for blood on this one." She predicted darkly as they entered the classroom.

For the first five minutes, class carried on as it usually would, with the homework being returned from the previous session, and to Harry's immense relief, despite everything else, he had gotten an A, meaning he had at least passed. Not caring that Hermione was unabashedly displaying her O, and was also trying to spy both his and Ron's results, Harry turned his attention to McGonagall who was speaking with Neville.

"I have to say Longbottom, I was very pleased with your homework, very pleased indeed." She congratulated with a small smile, and the rest of the class all gave Neville smiles of encouragement, it wasn't exactly a secret that he wasn't stellar at Transfiguration.

Upon hearing this, Hermione desisted in her attempts to see Harry and Ron's results, and instead spied Neville's, smiling as she saw that he had managed to get an E.

"Now, today we will return to the theoretical approach to the vanishing of objects, your homework shows that the majority of you have a good grasp of the basics," McGonagall said, her eyes raking over the class, "and we will begin studying exactly how the vanishing of objects can be made more or less difficult with the intricacies of the creature or item attempting to be vanished, notes are on the board, copy them down and we will examine-"

"Hem hem." Came that sickly sweet, annoying as all hell faux cough from the doorway and McGonagall's nostrils flared as the entire class went still, scenting danger as McGonagall glared at the newcomer.

"Professor Umbridge." McGonagall greeted civilly, though the rage she was feeling was obvious to everyone in the room as the pink clad toad like Ministry crony entered the classroom.

"I apologise for my lateness Professor McGonagall, I had things to see to with the Dementors," Umbridge said, barely concealing the fact that she was gloating that despite everything the Dementors were still present, "but now I am able to inspect your lesson. You received my note this morning I trust?"

McGonagall's mouth went into a thin line, but she nodded stiffly.

"Of course I did, or I would have asked what you were doing barging into my classroom. Now, if you'll excuse me?" she asked pointedly, and gestured for Umbridge to sit at a corner in the classroom.

Umbridge's face coloured in fury at being dismissed so easily and opened her mouth to protest again.

"I wonder, Dolores, how you intend to evaluate my teaching if you insist on keeping me from actually teaching my class with this meaningless donkeytwaddle? Once I have set my class off with the lesson, only then may you interrupt me, for until then I don't usually permit speaking when I am speaking, and if even Professors Dumbledore and Snape respect that, surely you should as well?" she asked pointedly, and it was clear that Umbridge was furious, but even she apparently had the sense to see she would be fighting a losing battle, and desisted, sitting down in the corner and furiously scribbling away on her notepad while McGonagall, smirking ever so slightly as her class looked at her in delight, and then continued to teach her lesson as though she hadn't been interrupted at all.

After concluding teaching the class the theory of the spell they were to learn, all the while ignoring Umbridge and the scratching of her hideous pink quill, McGonagall allowed them to focus on trying to vanish a snail (Ron let out a sigh of relief when he saw the box contained snails rather than spiders). As McGonagall moved about the class, instructing the students and helping when needed, Umbridge finally came out of her corner, her doughy eyes scanning the room, and as she did so, Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Harry!" Ron hissed, and confused, he looked at his friend, who was pointing at his snail, and quickly waved his wand to reduce it in size, as it was currently the size of a cucumber, but fortunately McGonagall hasn't noticed.

"So Mr Longbottom, do you enjoy this class?" Umbridge asked as McGonagall was assisting Parvati, but out of the corner of her eye Hermione saw her teacher's back stiffen, and she exchanged a concerned look with Harry and Ron, Umbridge had to know that Neville wasn't particularly fond of Transfiguration.

"Well, it's ok I guess…" Neville mumbled, before Umbridge seized his homework and scanned over it.

"An E, are you pleased with this mark Longbottom?" she asked sharply, and he nodded, glaring at her defiantly.

"Yes." He said stoutly, and behind them, McGonagall was striving not to get involved.

"A borderline E, surely you should be doing better by now?" Umbridge challenged, eyes glinting maliciously, and McGonagall span angrily, prepared to come to her student's defence.

However, she didn't need to. Neville glowered at her and got to his feet, his chin jutting out defiantly.

"No, because I'm not great at Transfiguration, I never have been and I don't particularly enjoy it, so yeah, I'm quite happy getting an E for a subject that I know I can't do very well." He sneered at her, and Umbridge forced a small sweet smile.

"Thank you Mr Longbottom you've been very helpful." She purred, and Harry suddenly felt the bottom drop out of his stomach, there was something about the way the evil Ministry hag was smiling that filled him with foreboding.

However for the rest of the lesson Umbridge didn't question any of the other students, she simply appraised their previous pieces of homework before heading to McGonagall's desk and promptly sitting in it. So far, despite her best efforts, McGonagall had remained in control of her temper, however with Umbridge now sitting in her chair the last of her very tenuous patience evaporated.

"May I help you Dolores?" she snapped, and Umbridge smiled up at her.

"Why yes Minerva. Now you've been teaching here at Hogwarts for how long exactly?" she asked, and McGonagall looked at her disdainfully.

"Thirty nine years this December, why?" she asked, and Umbridge smiled.

"Oh nothing to worry about, we just need to fill out our information on the teacher's backgrounds, your record is after all rather spotty since you left the Ministry following your affair with your superior…" she purred just as the bell rang, which was just as well because Harry was sure he noticed her mutter something under her breath that no student would ever have imagined her to utter.

"First of all, I did not have an affair with my superior. Secondly, I left the Ministry in good terms, as I felt that becoming a teacher would suit me far better than working with people in the Ministry, and during my time there my relationship with Elphinstone was strictly professional. And thirdly, you have no business airing my personal life in the middle of a class in front of my students, how dare you?" she raged and Umbridge just gave her a self satisfied smirk.

"I am the High Inquisitor Minerva, which entitles me to ask any questions that I feel are relevant to my investigation into yourself and your teaching practices. And if I were you, I would control that temper of yours before I come by for my second inspection this afternoon." She gloated and left, and as the class filed out in her wake, Harry turned to look back to see McGonagall scarlet with fury, her hand clasping her wand handle, and wondered that if the class had left first, if Umbridge would still be a problem if there hadn't been any witnesses to whatever McGonagall might have done.

XX

"Well it's not like Black's going to come barging into the castle is it, he's tried it before and he didn't succeed! Why on earth aren't they letting us practice?" Angelina demanded angrily at dinner that night, but Harry wasn't paying much attention to his team captain, instead he was looking at Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining his band of cronies with a very amusing story, and the only person in the whole great hall who looked as smug as he did was Umbridge, which was a notion that rather filled him with dread.

As Umbridge had now usurped control of school security and was making everyone jump through hoops at the imagined threat that Sirius posed, and as a result quidditch practice was now seriously lagging behind where it would normally be, especially with only a month left until the first match, which would be Gryffindor against Slytherin.

"And did you notice the Dementors are edging back into the castle? Apparently their balls have regrown since last night." Fred mentioned with a dark look on his face as one floated past the window, and Ron chewed his stew thoughtfully.

"Have any of the other teams been able to practice?" he asked, and Angelina shook her head, scowling darkly.

"No, but you'll never guess who went to Umbridge and double booked the quidditch pitch all weekend this morning?" she asked nastily, throwing a dirty look over her shoulder, and Ginny scowled over at the Slytherin table as well.

"Malfoy, of course he did, he'll be cosying on up to her, like his father does at the Ministry. Harry, what is it?" she asked, noticing Harry's preoccupation with Malfoy, and he glowered over at the blond at the other table.

"Malfoy, he's far too cheerful, and even taking the quidditch stuff as well, he seems too smug even for him, I don't like it." He grumbled, and Hermione looked at him sceptically.

"He's always smug Harry." She pointed out, but as she looked over, she did see what Harry meant, Malfoy did look a little too pleased with himself for her comfort as well.

Ron however wasn't paying attention because he had happened to look up at the staff table and saw Umbridge getting to her feet, smiling malevolently, and sending a smug, malicious look in Malfoy's direction, who raised his goblet to her in salute, and suddenly Ron went very cold as he realised what this meant.

"Oh no…McGonagall." He mumbled, and as one the entire table went silent as she stood before the staff table, and now, their curiosity piqued, though not without the rolling of some eyes, the staff also all turned their attention towards Umbridge.

"Hem hem…I'm afraid students that I have some rather bad news. As you know, my role as High Inquisitor gives me the privilege of inspecting my fellow educators and to see if they are coming quite up to scratch. I undertook my solemn duty today, as I have no wish to disrespect my esteemed and learned colleagues," she purred, turning and bowing towards the staff, all of whom seemed to lance her with a furious glare at once.

"Yeah right." The twins sneered in unison, to hearty nods from the others nearby.

"But I undertook my duty nonetheless. And I'm very sorry to say," she simpered, though she did not look sorry at all, in fact she looked absolutely delighted, "that Professor McGonagall is now on probation for her consistent poor standards in dealing with classes, a horrific inability to help students improve upon what are quite frankly feeble test scores throughout the course of the year, and has a clear bias against those not of her own house which is of course detrimental to all of your learning. So Professor McGonagall, you are now officially on probation, and if you wish to continue teaching at this school, I would work very hard to ensure that you come up to scratch very quickly, or I may sadly have to inform the Minister that I will have to dismiss you. Do you understand me? You-must-improve-or-be-fired!" Umbridge crowed in her sickly sweet voice, clearly relishing what she was doing, her eyes dancing malevolently as she talked down to McGonagall like she was a child, savouring every second of McGonagall's humiliation as she did so.

McGonagall got to her feet furiously, her face crimson with anger, her entire body shaking in rage, and the other staff all got to their feet angrily in her defence, all of them glaring at Umbridge furiously, even Snape looked livid at this unprofessional, humiliating and personal attack on his colleague.

"How dare you?" Sprout roared angrily as the entire Gryffindor table got to their feet and began a deafening row, all of them yelling abuse at Umbridge, and were soon joined in short order by the nearly as enraged Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, and even some Slytherins, including Theo Nott and Daphne Greengrass got to their feet adding to the general din.

"ENOUGH!" Umbridge yelled, stomping her foot, which only served to add fuel to the fire, while at the Slytherin table, Crabbe and Goyle were trying to intimidate their fellow Slytherins who weren't toeing the party line into sitting back down.

The hall looked on the verge of erupting into a full blown riot, and the general din was getting louder, and to make matters worse several people were reaching for their wands, and it looked like the entire place was about to erupt.

However, McGonagall simply took a steadying breath and raised her hand, and the ruckus simmered down to barely audible, all of them awaiting her instructions, and it was hardly a secret that if she said 'attack', Umbridge would be a smear on the ground.

"That will do. Sit down, all of you. And thank you." She added earnestly, and the near entirety of the student body, simmering with resentment, glared at Umbridge as they all sat down, though many remained clutching their wands, longing to use them against Umbridge.

The entirety of the staff however remained on their feet, all of them looking murderous and it seemed to dawn on Umbridge in that moment just how foolish a move she had made, as she was now caught in the middle of two very angry audiences, who had made it clear they would like nothing more than to rip her limb from limb.

"Now…Professor Umbridge, if you wish to put me on probation, that is of course up to you, and I will reluctantly," Professor McGonagall enunciated, the last word apparently tasting like poison in her mouth, "acquiesce, and will endeavour to improve upon my teaching style. Now, your lack of professional decorum notwithstanding, if it's all the same to you, I will excuse myself. I've rather lost my appetite. But, just one thing for you to think on Dolores…you screamed at the students to stop, and they didn't heed your instructions. Whereas I, on the other hand, simply made a reasonable, calm request of them and they stopped immediately. Just something for you to ponder, when you are writing your report on my so called incompetence as a teacher. Good evening." McGonagall said, and with the dignity the school had come to expect from her throughout her long, dedicated and exemplary service, she simply left the staff table and descended the stairs, not even deigning to look at Umbridge as she did so, her head held high.

Ernie Macmillan started it, getting to his feet and starting to clap. All of Gryffindor then rose to their feet and added their applause to his, and with that, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and a good portion of Slytherin also did the same thing, their applause defiantly filling the hall while Umbridge looked on furiously, her face darkening in impotent rage as McGonagall swept through the hall, but Umbridge was determined, petty as she was, to have the last word.

"I am Hogwarts High Inquisitor! It is up to me if you are a good teacher or not!" she screeched churlishly above the din, and McGonagall, who had come to the end of the tables, turned to face her, her eyes alight with fury, her mouth as thin as it had ever been, and her hand twitching for her wand, which stopped the applause.

"Indeed it is Professor Umbridge. But it would seem that the students have made that observation for you. Good evening." She said courteously, and reached for the door, but it was clear that the students still had her back as they all started shouting out support for McGonagall, and her mouth twitched ever so slightly into the barest hint of a smile as she made to leave the room.

The whole of the Gryffindor table then began to move towards the door, flanking McGonagall as an honour guard, all of them glaring at an increasingly impotent Umbridge.

"All of you will SIT DOWN! I am the High Inquisitor, and I have decreed that she is a substandard teacher, and you will all follow my instructions!" she screamed furiously, spit flying from her mouth as she struggled to regain control.

"A substandard teacher is she? She is a million times better teacher than you will ever be, and at least she can do more than make us read a textbook. At least Lockhart had the decency to look incompetent. You don't even need to bother." Harry, whose blood was pounding furiously through his veins on behalf of his head of house, spat back at Umbridge, and McGonagall stopped in the doorway, but Ginny, who was standing right beside her, was sure she saw a brief flash of delight on her face as she turned to face Umbridge one last time while the rest of the house applauded and whistled at Harry's comment.

"Detention Potter, for another week. I will not be disrespected by the likes of you in front of the entire school." Umbridge hissed malevolently, and Ron arced an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, so you can do it to others, but no one can do it back? Don't want your feelings to get hurt I suppose." He taunted, and her eyes bulged in fury.

"And the same goes for you Weasley. Now all of you, get out of my sight! Dinner is being served, and you lot are only disrupting the evening meal." She spat, and Hermione, the last Gryffindor in the hall, gave Umbridge a mocking smile.

"Don't worry, we've all rather lost our appetite anyway, the presence of certain individuals has made us all feel rather sick unfortunately. Good night professor." She sneered, and several other students from other houses began to get to their feet to follow them out as Hermione brought up the rear of the entirety of Gryffindor house, smirking a little as Umbridge screamed one final time.

"And detention for you too Granger!" she screeched as the doors slammed shut behind the Gryffindors, sealing the Ministry toadie inside.

XX

"Are you alright?" Dumbledore asked his deputy head teacher as the two of them enjoyed a private dinner in his office, and McGonagall, who still looked furious, nodded.

"Yes, I wont be judged by the likes of her." She spat, savagely cutting into a potato, as she had been rather peckish before her humiliation before her students.

"I am sorry she did that to you, she and I will have words. Obviously she was out for revenge because we humiliated her last night, and used her own bias against you to inform her choice to suspend you." Dumbledore concluded darkly, and she sniffed angrily.

"She knew exactly what she was doing. She singled out all the students who just aren't good at Transfiguration and used their results as justification. Well, that and the testimonies of select fifth years." She grumbled with a scowl, and Dumbledore's eyes flashed with an anger of his own, he had a shrewd idea of who those select fifth years were, and he would be having words with Snape about them for a start.

"I am sorry though Minerva, if I had any control over this, this absurd probation would never have happened, you are one of the most exemplary members of staff I have, and I could not run the school without you. And while she is technically allowed to put you on probation, as far as I am concerned, she has not got the authority or right to declare any of my staff unfit to teach." He said fiercely, and she allowed a small smile.

"Thank you Albus. I know I am a good teacher, and what is more, all of this is merely because she was humiliated and made to look a fool last night, and not even an accurate or unbiased reflection upon my abilities." She assured him, and he toasted her with his glass, a small twinkle coming back into his eyes.

"Indeed not my old friend." He saluted, and the two of them ate in companionable silence until there was an urgent knock on the door.

"Enter!" he called, and was relieved to see that it was Sprout, Snape and Flitwick, all of whom still looked furious over the insulting way that she had been treated by Umbridge.

"Minerva, are you alright?" Sprout asked sharply, laying a hand on her friend's shoulder, and she nodded, smiling a little.

"I'm fine Pomona thank you." She assured her, and Flitwick looked up at Dumbledore, beside himself with fury.

"Albus, what she did, in front of not only her colleagues but her students as well, that was totally unforgivable, and what's more, it's a load of nonsense! Minerva is a fantastic teacher, and Umbridge…" he ranted, but Dumbledore held up a hand, staying the flow of anger from his diminutive colleague.

"I am aware of exactly what Umbridge did, and rest assured, she and I will be having words," he assured them, the cold, merciless fire blazing in his eyes again, "but we should have realised she would do something like this to get back at us for last night. But I think she has rather overextended herself actually." He mused, and Snape, lurking in the corner of the room, raised an eyebrow.

"Really headmaster? She still has to inspect the rest of us as well, and if she took down Minerva in her first salvo, do you really think she will let up?" he asked, and Dumbledore nodded, mulling it over as he chewed on his roast beef.

"I do indeed Severus. Dolores knows she has overstepped, she put Minerva on probation, yes, which is a victory for her. However, doing so on her first real day on the job as High Inquisitor has given those who did not yet have it the measure of her, revealing her to be vindictive and petty. She also antagonised the vast majority of the school and proved that she is not being fair and objective in her actions. And from what Minerva has said, I think she has realised that she isn't best served by antagonising the students and the staff against her at the same time. She will I think keep her head down for a while, however, other than Minerva, who she was always going to target regardless, though admittedly I didn't anticipate she would do quite so recklessly, there are only two other members of staff who she will overtly target until she has regained what face she lost screeching in front of the students: Sybill and Hagrid but that is a battle for later on." He admitted ruefully, and Sprout smiled, taking a slice of bread from the basket on Dumbledore's desk.

"We only stayed a few extra minutes after you left Minerva, she was furious. Most of the school walked out, and the sheer loyalty the Gryffindors displayed, the defiance, it has seriously antagonised her, she was muttering under her breath and pouting despite her so called victory."

"I was very touched by the actions of the students." McGonagall admitted, smiling a little as she remember her entire house flanking her and escorting her out like some pubescent honour guard giving a proverbial finger to the so called High Inquisitor.

"What I want to know is what evidence she used to actually put you on probation in the first place." Flitwick snarled, and McGonagall sipped her drink, trying not to get too angry just thinking about it.

"She singled out students who she knew weren't particularly good at Transfiguration, ones like Neville Longbottom and Justin Finch-Fletchey and used their scores, and the oh so reliable testimonies of people like Draco Malfoy and his cronies, he was delighted to have an excuse to badmouth me to her." She sneered, and Snape, surprisingly said nothing, while both Sprout and Flitwick looked angry at the mere mention of his name.

"So he trumped up charges to make you look bad to Dolores, that's why he looked so smug at dinner." Sprout spat, and Dumbledore silently conveyed his wish to talk to Snape about that with a single look, and Snape merely looked bored but nodded, indicating he would talk with him (for the umpteenth time).

"Either way, I think she's only just getting started." Flitwick said with a scowl, and Dumbledore nodded, before realising that in their show of solidarity, his staff were rather peckish.

"Dobby?" he called, and the house elf cracked into being beside him, bowing low.

"What can I do for you Professor Dumbledore sir?" he asked as he came back up, and Dumbledore smiled.

"I think the others would appreciate a meal themselves Dobby. And also, several sets of sandwiches should go to the common rooms for those students who made a show of solidarity with Professor McGonagall." He said kindly, and Dobby smiled.

"Of course professor sir, at once!" he exclaimed, bowing to the other staff before vanishing with a loud crack, and McGonagall frowned thoughtfully as she chewed her Yorkshire pudding.

"What I worry is, if this is only the start of the year…what else lies in store?" she asked ominously, and nobody had an answer for her, which didn't exactly fill her with confidence.

XX

"That was evil, even for her." Ron spat, as the entire house raged inside the common room, and Parvati, still fuming herself, looked around worriedly all of a sudden.

"Where's Neville?" she asked, worried Umbridge had gotten to him for walking out on her like the rest of the house, but Colin Creevey waved a hand, dismissing her concerns.

"Don't worry, I think he's kind of blaming himself for what the evil old cow did to McGonagall, I think he's waiting at her office for her." He explained, and Lee Jordan scowled.

"It wasn't Neville, looking at the Slytherins, its not exactly rocket science to figure out who stitched McGonagall up." He roared, to hearty applause and nods from the others present.

"She wanted revenge for last night, that's why she went after McGonagall." Harry simmered furiously, and Hermione nodded, glaring into the flames.

"She's one of the best teachers here, and much more effective than that old crone. Did you see how scared she looked when we all got to our feet? She was terrified we were literally going to kill her." She purred in satisfaction, and Ron shrugged.

"Pity really, it would have gotten rid of her." He mused, and Harry looked deep into the fire, contemplating all that had happened since Umbridge had arrived at Hogwarts.

An out and out dictator, not letting them use magic, completely power hungry, determined to avoid the truth about Voldemort, torturing students, not teaching them properly, spying on them, bringing Dementors into the school, stopping them speaking with Sirius, turning students against each other, attacking teachers…

The list went on and on, and earlier, seeing McGonagall, who Harry had a great deal of affection for despite how strict she could be, reduced and humiliated like that in front of the entire school, had filled him with a burning desire for vengeance, to do something, anything that would get back at Umbridge, and as murder was frowned upon (regretfully in this case) he had to do something else.

"You really think people will want to learn from me?" he asked Hermione in an undertone, and she looked at him in surprise, but nodded.

"Yes Harry, I do." She insisted, and he nodded, then looked at her, his green eyes blazing furiously.

"Then set it up. Tonight she crossed a line. She wants control over Hogwarts? We'll make her fight tooth and nail for every little inch, and we'll arm people so they're reading to fight Voldemort." He insisted, and both Ron and Hermione looked at the furious look kindling in Harry's eyes, the burning fire and desire to do something, and both of them grinned, believing for the first time so far that this year something was finally going their way.

XX

"Longbottom?" McGonagall asked in surprise as she returned to her office later that night, and Neville, who had been dozing slightly while sitting on the floor outside her room, scrambled to his feet.

"Professor! I'm sorry, I was waiting for you and dozed off…" he mumbled nervously, and she nodded.

"Perfectly understandable, I didn't intend to be away so long. What can I do for you Mr Longbottom?" she asked, and he looked at her apologetically.

"Professor, I'm so sorry, it's my fault she put you on probation, she was looking at my results and-" he began but she raised a hand to cut him off, a kind smile on her face.

"It isn't your fault Neville, it was nothing to do with you, it was her and her alone, she simply used you as a pawn to get to me. Don't feel bad about it. But thank you for coming to see me." She said kindly, and leaving Neville very confused, she clapped his shoulder before sending him on his way, wondering just how much worse things were about to get.

XX

After what happened to Professor McGonagall, the school was rather eager to get to the weekend. The day after McGonagall was put on probation, the Dementors once more returned to the school corridors, and once more began zeroing in on Harry, which made him weak, short tempered and irritable. Umbridge had monitored several other teacher's classes, but hadn't bothered to put them on probation, apparently she was satisfied with her current pound of flesh as it stood. Well either that or she didn't want to risk her life in an all out riot should she go after someone else with a great deal of student loyalty. McGonagall kept Harry back after class, and thanked him personally for the loyalty he had shown her in the remark that he had made to Umbridge.

The main argument now plaguing the school was that of quidditch, and the fact that the only team that had had any decent amount of practice was the Slytherins, and with the first match approaching rapidly the other teams needed practice as well. As such, the heads of house had all pleaded with Dumbledore when they all had a free period and Umbridge did not, to allow them to practice, and as a result, and partly due to Umbridge trying to appease the furious headmaster, she had acquiesced, after a long drawn out argument, in which she had resisted every argument Dumbledore had presented to her, but eventually, with the proviso that Madam Hooch be present, the other teams could practice, but it was clear that she was not happy with being forced to back down or that she was being overridden by Dumbledore, which would undoubtedly spell trouble down the line.

The new security measures, particularly the Dementors, were having a toll on the entire school, and the fact that Umbridge was citing Sirius as the reason for these absurd new measures was increasing Harry's already rather foul mood. Hermione had caused a stir in the last Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson of the week however, to Harry's great delight. After having her hand up for nearly the entirety of the lesson, obviously not going to back down and give Umbridge the satisfaction, Umbridge finally caved and demanded to know what she wanted. Hermione then asked, if the Ministry was so worried Sirius would attack again, why they wouldn't allow them to use defensive magic to be able to protect themselves as there was apparently a dangerous mass murder on the loose. The entire class had looked at Hermione in delight as Umbridge had spluttered, furious at having been outwitted, eventually snapped that the Dementors were more than sufficient to protect them, docked fifty points and gave Hermione another detention.

But now it was the day of the Hogsmeade weekend, and Harry's insides were filled with a strange fluttering as they headed down to the Hog's Head pub to meet all those who Ron and Hermione had sounded out as being potentially interested in learning from Harry. He had been so ready, so determined to do something, to prove that Voldemort was back, to get back at Umbridge, but now that the opportunity was here, what on earth did he do now? Why would any of his classmates want to listen to him, when he was meant to be a trouble making, attention seeking nutter? Would he be bothered if anyone didn't turn up?

"Relax Harry it'll be fine." Ron assured him, but Harry simply nodded silently, still mulling it all over in his head as they headed down to town.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that there's no Dementors floating around town?" Hermione mused as they entered the village, and Harry shrugged.

"She doesn't need them down here, the Ministry can control any problem down here, she'd rather have half of Azkaban up at the castle making sure we're all toeing the line, she can't hold the village hostage like she can us." He grumbled, and Ron had to admit, Harry's reasoning did have a certain logic to it.

"Either way it's good to get a break from the school like this, the entire place is so tense right now it's ridiculous, Umbridge is making everyone's life a misery." Hermione complained, inspecting her hand, which was beginning to be imprinted with the words 'I must not challenge superior Ministry policy'.

Harry grinned as she led them towards the Hog's Head.

"You're becoming rather rebellious in your old age Hermione. Clearly we've had a good influence on you." He teased, and Ron laughed while Hermione gave him a mocking scowl in response.

"I wouldn't necessarily say you've been a good influence." She retorted which made the other two laugh all the more.

They approached the Hog's Head, and following Hermione's lead, they looked around nervously, while Hermione said she had checked with Flitwick about the legality of students being here, it seemed a lot more risky than heading into the Three Broomsticks.

"Are you sure we're allowed in?" Ron asked, eyeing the place worriedly, even more so when two goats seemed to stroll into the bar off the street, which were the only patrons they had seen enter in the last five minutes, as opposed to how the Three Broomsticks would be on a Hogwarts weekend.

"Yes, come on." Hermione decided, and shoved Harry in front of her, ignoring his protest as she did so, and shoved him into the bar first.

The bartender was a tall bearded man who Harry thought had an air of familiarity about him. The two goats that they had seen entering were now sitting at the bar, both of them with a drink in front of them. Deciding not to dwell on that strange picture, Harry got them each a butterbeer and they sat down somewhere they could keep an eye on the door.

"Weird place isn't it? You can see why Rosmerta does a better trade." Ron muttered under his breath, and as Harry took in the rest of the bar, he could also see why a dragon dealer who just happened to have Voldemort sticking out the back of his head wouldn't have been out of place here.

Other than the two goats (who in the time it had taken the trio to sit down had somehow consumed some of their drinks respectively), the bar was populated by the barman, who was banging around in the back, which was punctuated by the bleats of yet another goat, there were two older wizards sitting smoking their pipe in the corner of the pub, there was a man wrapped entirely in bandages who was gingerly lifting a glass to his lips, and there was a witch dressed in a white shroud who was filling the air with a familiar scenting smoke. Before Harry could place it however, Hermione brought his attention back to the situation in hand.

"Ok Harry, I just sounded out a few people who might be interested in hearing what you've got to say." She told him boldly, but there was something about the way that she was fidgeting that made Harry look at her dangerously.

"Just how many is a few Hermione?" he asked dangerously, and Ron wondered if for a change he was going to have to play the mediator, especially if Harry started yelling again.

"Just a few, honest!" she insisted, not meeting his eyes, and Harry glared at her.

"Hermione…" he began warningly, but before he could interrogate her any further, the door opened, revealing a host of Hogwarts students.

First was Neville, who was followed by Dean and Ginny. Fred, George and their friend Lee entered next, followed by the three chasers, Angelina, Alicia and Katie. Next was a very furtive looking Colin Creevey, who had somehow managed to smuggle his younger brother Dennis out of the castle, who wasn't even of the age to be at Hogsmeade yet. Then there was a group of Hufflepuffs that the Gryffindors were friendly with, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchey, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones along with another boy who Harry recognised from quidditch but had never spoken to, who had a snooty expression on his face. Then there was Cho and her friend Marietta (who looked rather angry at being here), and despite every weird thing that had been going on in his head lately Harry still felt his stomach flutter when he saw her. There were three Ravenclaw boys, the one of whom Harry was fairly sure was seeing Ginny, not that he enlightened Ron to that fact. The Patil twins entered next with Lavender in tow. Luna then breezed in, looking quite as odd as she always did, but seemed quite content. But lastly, there was Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass, both of whom were Slytherins.

"A few people?" Harry hissed, and Hermione shrugged apologetically as Fred organised drinks for everyone, to the bemusement of the barman, and of the goats at the bar, who bleated at all the ruckus the influx of people had caused.

"And two Slytherins? I bet they go straight back to Umbridge!" Ron snarled, and Hermione bit her lip, looking concerned.

"Well I thought that too, but Nott overheard me talking to Susan and Hannah. After I finished with them, he called me over, and he seemed genuinely interested, and you can imagine what it's like for him, you know, mini Death Eater speaking to a filthy mudblood like me, but he said he'd mention it to Daphne too. I couldn't refuse him, he seemed like he wanted to hear what you have to say. Though I do admit, it is odd." She mused, and Harry sent Nott a cautionary look as he sat down beside Daphne, receiving untrusting looks from the others present.

Everyone was now sitting, looking at the trio patiently, as though waiting for them to speak. Ron gently nudged Hermione with his foot, and that seemed to bring her back to herself, and she got to her feet, looking nervously around at everyone, but eyes tended to flit back between her and Harry.

"Um hi," she began rather feebly, and unlike the gentle nudge Ron had given her, a disgruntled Harry kicked her in the back of the leg, "ow! Hi. See Harry had the idea," she began hesitantly, only to receive another kick, to which she snapped a quick glare in his direction, "ok, I had the idea that perhaps we need to take a different approach to Defence Against the Dark Arts. Ever since Umbridge arrived, we've learned less than we learned with Lockhart," she continued, her voice strengthening as everyone smiled when she bashed Umbridge, "and I think we're past the point of book learning, so maybe we should just, you know, do it ourselves? Nobody in their right mind can call those lessons, and that's just the problems with her as a teacher, never mind anything else, and if this keeps up, I mean most of you, like us, are sitting OWLs this year, if not NEWTs, and how on earth are we meant to pass them if we can't actually do the spells?" she reasoned, and Ernie nodded in agreement.

"Exactly right Hermione, I'm astounded that someone so incredibly moronic has been made our teacher, especially when this year we're sitting OWLs. Has she let anyone use practical spells in class?" he asked to the group in general, and Harry finally spoke for the first time.

"No, and she isn't going to. Apparently Fudge and Umbridge think that Dumbledore and the other teachers are training us for war, to overthrow Fudge's Ministry and put Dumbledore as Minister, so they don't want us learning any practical magic in case we're used as some sort of wizard army." He explained, to shouts of indignation from everyone present.

"That's ridiculous. After all, Fudge has an army of heliopaths, they would wipe us out." Luna chipped in most unhelpfully, but Hermione swiftly intervened before anyone could ask her what these heliopaths were.

"As I was saying though, Umbridge is actively preventing us from learning any defensive magic, and with the way she's going, and now that she's High Inquisitor and already has McGonagall on probation-"

"That was sickening. Professor McGonagall is one of the best teachers in the school." Daphne hissed, to hearty nods of approval and smiles at her comment.

"Chances are she's going to stop us learning practical magic throughout the entire school if she manages to take over, which is most likely her endgame. But, learning defence isn't just about grades, or even defying Umbridge. It's all the more important now, more so than ever before," she said, her voice strengthening, and everyone looked at both her and Harry with rapt attention on their faces, "because now, Lord Voldemort is back."

The reactions of the group were quite amusing really. Marietta shrieked and spilt butterbeer down herself, Ernie gasped, Neville gave a half shudder, and Theo glared darkly at the room, well more so than he had already been doing.

"Who says?" the Hufflepuff Harry didn't know demanded rather rudely, which seemed to throw Hermione off, but Ron intervened.

"Dumbledore says, or did you not pay attention at the end of term feast?" he challenged angrily, though the boy sneered down his nose at Ron.

"Yeah but Dumbledore only says so because he says so," he complained, pointing at Harry, "how do we know it's true?"

"Who is this guy?" Ron demanded angrily of the room at large, but the boy responded himself, looking more snooty than before.

"Zacharias Smith. So, out with it then, how do we know he's back?" he challenged, and Harry got to his feet, temper flaring once again.

"Because I saw him ok? I saw him, I saw him come back to his body, and I saw him murder Cedric." He ground out, and Ron and Hermione exchanged a look, worried about what way this could wind up going, "but if that's all you turned up for, if that's all any of you turned up for, you can go now, because I'm not talking about it again, if it was good enough for Dumbledore, it can be good enough for the rest of you." He snarled, and Smith looked somewhat cowed and wisely went quiet, though whether that was down to Harry's outburst or the very dangerous looks on the face of the twins and Ron, he wasn't sure.

"So-" Hermione said hesitantly, trying to move past the awkwardness, "are we all agreed that we want Harry to teach us?" she asked, and Harry glared at her, and was ready to leave without being made a further spectacle of when Nott spoke up.

"He has seen the Dark Lord return." He said in his soft voice, and it occurred to Harry that he had never heard him speak before.

In fact, he had never had much to do with the two Slytherins who were inexplicably present at this meeting. Nott was a tall stringy black haired boy, though Harry hadn't had any direct dealings with him like he had with Malfoy and his cronies, indicating that he disassociated himself from his fellow fifth years. With cold grey eyes, and dark hair falling into his eyes, he clearly had a hint of Black in him somewhere along the line, and his eyes were burning with an intense glower but strangely, as he looked at Harry he saw a measure of respect for him burning there. Greengrass was another Slytherin who they hadn't really encountered much of, despite her being part of Parksinson's peers. A blonde girl, with her hair a more natural sheen of blond than Malfoy's, she, as opposed to the other Slytherin girls in the year, actually looked quite pleasant. She had brown eyes, and there wasn't as much naked cruelty in them as there was in the others of her year group. In fact, Harry now considered that he rarely saw these two, they apparently didn't rub shoulders with Malfoy and his little gang and kept themselves separate from the group, and if rumours were to be believed, they had their own little group between the two of them that was becoming more than friendship.

"Sorry?" Harry asked in surprise, after all, it was rather out of character for any Slytherin to take his side in anything, let alone actively defend him.

Theodore gave Harry a measured look, and with a look of encouragement from Daphne, gave a sigh and pressed forward.

"My father saw him there that night, apparently the Dark Lord was less than pleased that you escaped." He informed him, quietly sipping his butterbeer while Harry reeled from the fact that a Slytherin was here, defending him to others, over his own father and the Dark Lord who most of them seemed to want to join.

The rest of the group were now looking at Nott with just as much interest as they had been at Harry, which Hermione capitalised upon to retake the meeting back into a direction of which she approved of.

"So, now that that's all settled," she began, throwing Zacharias a filthy look, which was mirrored on the faces of the Weasleys, Ernie, Neville, Cho and even Luna, "are we agreed we want to learn from Harry?" she asked, but once again it was Zacharias who interrupted her.

"Wouldn't we be better learning from you? You are the best in the year after all, everyone knows it." He said, and while Hermione tried to look indignant that he had insulted both Harry and interrupted her, she did look slightly mollified, but it was Ginny who came to his defence.

"Aren't you listening? We need to learn, sure, no question. But we also need to learn what it's like to fight Death Eaters, to fight him! And until he comes into the open and we get rid of Umbridge, we're not going to get that. Now, if you shut up, Harry can talk!"

"And if not, we've got this and we're dying for an opportunity to try it out and we're not too fussy where we stick it!" Fred hissed menacingly, revealing a rather wicked looking instrument that Zacharias eyed with trepidation before wisely going quiet.

Hermione looked hopefully at Harry, and feeling slightly nervous, he got to his feet.

"Look, I'm not saying I'm great at this stuff, not at all. Yeah I fought Voldemort," he began, but this time Neville interrupted.

"You saved the psychological stone in first year!" he chimed in excitedly, and Hermione looked at him in slight exasperation.

"Philosopher's Stone Neville." She scolded, and Ginny then looked at Harry happily.

"He saved me not only from the giant basilisk that was in the Chamber but also the fragment of You-Know-Who's soul that tried to kill me in your second year, he killed the snake with the sword in Dumbledore's office." She reminded, and Terry Boot looked at him in shock.

"Blimey, we knew you saved the school but we didn't know how!" he exclaimed as everyone looked at him, thoroughly impressed.

"You can cast a corporeal Patronus too can't you?" Susan asked, and the phrase niggled in his mind from his hearing.

"Do you know Amelia Bones by any chance?" he asked, and she grinned.

"She's my auntie. And when she told us about your hearing, she said she would have refused to throw you out of school simply because you could do that. And I heard someone in your third year made all the Dementors retreat with a very powerful Patronus." She told him, and he went a little red, and Lee looked at him incredulously.

"Wait, you banished all the Dementors? That's seriously impressive, I didn't know that!" he cried, and George grinned.

"Yeah, mum warned Ron on pain of no food all summer not to go spreading that round, she said Harry gets enough attention." He quirked, and Harry scowled slightly.

"Too true." He complained, and the others laughed.

"And then you fought through every foul task last year too, dragons, merpeople, acromantula during the tournament…" Cho began, and then Theo looked up at him with a measured respect.

"And of course, you duelled him one on one." He concluded as everyone looked at him in awe, and he fidgeted slightly, feeling very self-conscious but also rather pleased with himself.

"Ok, yeah I did all that stuff, but I always had help of some sort, and…and at the end of it, it still doesn't help. This is Voldemort we're talking about. It's not just about learning the spells and hoping for the best. You need to be able to fight, because at the end of the day, Voldemort, his Death Eaters, they don't care that we're kids. They don't care we're underage. Look what they did to Cedric. At the end of the day, they're evil and won't give a damn if we get in the way. They won't hesitate to kill you, but I'd much rather we could defend ourselves against an attack that is going to come at some point than sit in the school pretending nothing's wrong like Umbridge wants us to. Enough people have died already, and I know more will. But the Ministry, and Umbridge, are making us into defenceless targets and I'd rather the people who can and want to fight, rather than waiting for Voldemort to knock on all our doors and open it with a killing curse and a smile." He said fiercely, the emotions roiling beneath the surface leaving everyone in no doubt as to who was in charge, and as to how he felt. He'd seen it, felt it, felt the horrors the Dark Arts could inflict, and he was determined that if he had anything to say about it, it wouldn't happen without a fight

Both Ron and Hermione sent Harry a very proud look as he sat back down, Ron's eyes lingering on Harry for a second longer than necessary before he turned to the group with an expectant smile on his face.

"So…who's in?" he asked, and Hermione grinned as they all began to sign the parchment she had brought with her, some with great gusto, like Ernie, some with slight trepidation, like Zacharias, and some with quiet conviction like Theo and Daphne.

After sorting out everyone's squabble about quidditch practices and how these meetings couldn't clash with any team practice, and swearing everyone to absolute secrecy, particularly from Umbridge, the group dispersed and Hermione looked very pleased as they headed away from the Hog's Head, unheeding of the man in bandages and the woman in the veil both eagerly making their escape from the bar after them.

"That was brilliant Harry." She said happily, and Harry grinned a little, while Ron scowled.

"That Zacharias guy is a wart." He grumbled, he had been this close to cursing the arrogant stuck up…

"You're right, I don't like him much either. But Nott and Greengrass, the two of them are…interesting." She said diplomatically, and Harry mused on the two of them as they headed through Hogsmeade.

"I bet they'll turn us in first chance they get." Ron said sourly, but to his and Hermione's surprise, Harry actually shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. I think they actually mean well, strange as it sounds. Doesn't mean we won't watch them, but, I think they genuinely wanted to be there." He mused, and Hermione grinned as she heard him say it.

"Well, there may be hope of interhouse unity yet. Where did this newfound optimism come from?" she teased and he grinned, shouldering her slightly.

"Well I cant be a surly teenager all the time can I?" he asked, and Ron grinned.

"Why break the habit of a lifetime?" he taunted, and Harry made to grab him as he scarpered out of his best friend's reach, making Hermione roll her eyes till Ron used her as a shield.

"Oh no you don't! You're not roping me into this craziness." She said with dignity, until Ron messed up her hair, and Harry stood there taunting her, her eyes flashing while a predatory smile developed on her face.

"Oh it's on." She hissed and the three friends enjoyed their time off and made the most of their time together.

XX

"Albus! Albus!" McGonagall yelled as she burst into his office urgently, her heart hammering.

"In a minute!" Dumbledore snapped grumpily, and despite the seriousness of the situation, she was slightly amused by having interrupted the headmaster at the present moment and put him off his stride as it were.

"What's all the fuss Minerva?" Flitwick asked as he, Sprout and Snape entered the study, having been summoned by McGonagall previously, allowing McGonagall to flick her wand at the door to make it imperturbable before turning to Fawkes.

"Could you give us a warning if she appears?" she asked, and the magnificent bird gave a doleful nod before vanishing in a burst of flame as Dumbledore entered his study proper.

"What is it, did a Dementor?" he began, fury kindling in his eyes, but she shook her head.

"No, nothing like that, Septima and Bathseda kept them from the returning students. It's rather worse actually. I went to town to keep an eye, as you asked, and Mundungus was there," she began, and Snape looked dismissive.

"Furthering the black market in his own unique way undoubtedly." He sneered, which she had to admit was a fair point.

"And he was keeping an eye on Harry like we asked and tipped me off. So, naturally, with him having barely survived an expulsion attempt so far and with Umbridge determined to seize total control of the school, naturally the first thing he, Granger and Weasley do with their weekend off is decide to unite a group of students to follow a non-Ministry approved curriculum and to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts." She told them, and silence reigned for a second as the others present absorbed this news.

"Well good for them!" Sprout said heartily, as Dumbledore closed his eyes, a slight smile on his face.

"Well ordinarily Pomona, you would be correct but unfortunately with the Ministry interfering the way it is, it could be very bad, especially if Umbridge should find out." He told her, and her proud expression fell from her face while McGonagall pinched her nose tiredly.

"She asked me if students were allowed to go to the Hog's Head…I should have known she was up to something." Flitwick complained, while Snape looked livid.

"This is quite possibly the last thing that we need headmaster, they're bound to get caught, and when they do the consequences could be disastrous. Though perhaps I shouldn't expect anything less from Potter, his head is rather overinflated with ideas of his own importance, and as for the rest of the Gryffindors…" he began with his usual assassination of Harry's character (bearing in mind none of the other staff saw this in Harry (true he annoyed McGonagall but that was his propensity to try and get himself killed every few weeks despite her attempts to protect him)), but McGonagall, as much to end Snape's tirade and to get her own back, took deep pleasure in interrupting him.

"Actually Severus I think you'll be pleased to know that there were two Slytherins present at this meeting, as well as Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws." She said sweetly, and he looked at her in blank shock for a second, and was sure she heard Dumbledore snigger behind her slightly.

"S-Slytherin students?" Snape asked in disbelief, as McGonagall savoured her victory, grinning like the Cheshire version of her Animagus form, while Sprout and Flitwick looked similarly delighted.

"Yes, Mr Nott and Miss Greengrass as it happens. What was it you were saying?" she taunted, and he spluttered incoherently, completely thrown for six to her great satisfaction, allowing the heads of house to face Dumbledore.

"We must take care to ensure that this group is not discovered by Umbridge, if she finds them it will be disastrous." Dumbledore mused, and McGonagall looked at him worriedly.

"Well I agree but wouldn't it be a better idea for you to talk to Harry, he respects you, he'll listen to you. While I think that this group is quite admirable like you say it carries with it far too much of a risk if Umbridge catches them." She mused, and Dumbledore nodded.

"We will need to do what we can, obviously acting too soon will only arouse suspicion. We will wait, and make our move then." He decided, making McGonagall purse her lips in slight irritation, but after all he was right, they couldn't act till they had proof. "Now Severus," Dumbledore continued, smiling widely, "I wonder just how you plan to justify the presence of two of your own house at a meeting so scandalous, rubbing shoulders with Harry and his associates?" he asked, his eyes twinkling and the other three members of staff laughed while Snape looked furious.

XX

The next morning Harry woke from a rather bizarre dream involving a swarm of Dementors, him cruising Hogsmeade in Mr Weasley's flying Ford Anglia, and Hermione and Ron posing as characters from Grease. Deciding that he clearly needed more sleep, to be free of the Dementors, and possibly new friends (he vaguely recalled them dancing in the dream and a few bars of Greased Lightning) he headed downstairs to find Ron and Neville (his honour guard this morning apparently as Hermione had made sure there was always two people to back him up should the Dementors try their nonsense) looking darkly at the notification board.

"What's up?" Harry asked as he looked at the two of them, trying and failing not to picture Ron in a leather jacket dancing on the bonnet of the Ford Anglia, and having to suppress a smirk as a result.

"She knows." Neville hissed, and alarmed suddenly, Harry looked over at the notice board, and red hot anger filled him as he read the large poster that was now blocking out all the other notices.

By Order of the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts

All student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded

An organisation, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students

Permission to reform may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge)

No student organisation, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor

Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organisation, society, team, group or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled

The above is in accordance with Education Decree Number Twenty Four

Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor

"This can't be a coincidence, there's just no way." Neville muttered darkly as two second years fretted about gobstones in front of them, and Harry glared darkly at the decree, yet again Umbridge was out to make his life more miserable and more difficult.

"You reckon someone tipped her off?" Ron hissed, and Harry mulled it over, while Neville pondered likely suspects.

"Way I see it, it'll be Nott, Greengrass or possibly that Smith guy, he's a snake." He complained, and Harry, too busy trying to figure out all the angles, snarled a swear word under his breath.

"She knows either way. And it might not be a student, there were other people in that pub, they might have listened in. We need to let Hermione know." He decided, figuring she could figure out their next move, and Ron nodded, and the two darted off, starting to climb the stairs to the girls dormitory, Harry right behind him.

However when Ron reached the sixth step, a loud klaxon like sound started to blare which seemed to prompt the stairs into turning into a slide. Ron and Harry windmilled their arms to try and keep upright but in the end gravity won out and the two of them toppled down the slide, coming to a stop at the bottom, Ron landing awkwardly on top of Harry while Neville roared with laughter at their current predicament.

"Whee! Who tried to get upstairs?" a third year girl giggled as she slid down to the bottom of the slide quite elegantly while Harry tried to extricate himself from Ron's abnormally long limbs, Neville of course being as much use as an umbrella in a monsoon as he was still laughing at their misfortune.

"We did! It's not fair," Ron grunted, accidentally poking Harry in the stomach with his elbow as they finally unknotted themselves from each other, "Hermione barges into our rooms, and after that time last year, the least we can do is get even with her!" he complained, and Harry gratefully took the hand he offered to help him up.

"What time last year?" he asked curiously, and Ron went red and started to splutter as Hermione whizzed down beside them, a steely glare on her face.

"Something we promised never to speak of again," she snapped, glaring at Ron, who looked a tad abashed, "and it was done by the founders, they didn't think it was a good idea for a load of hormonal teenage boys to get into the rooms of a load of hormonal teenage girls. Yes I know it's sexist, but it is what it is, it says so in Hogwarts: A History, Why were you trying to get up there anyway, because I sincerely doubt it's to try and have your wicked way with one of the girls in here?" she teased, and her two best friends glared at her, while Neville drew her attention to the new decree.

Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously as she read it, her fury matching that of Harry's sans the embarrassment he was currently feeling.

"So, you think we've been betrayed?" he asked her darkly, and her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Believe me, if someone sold us out to Umbridge, we'll know who it was and acne will look like heaven in comparison." She hissed, and with that swept from the common room, the three boys rapidly on her heels as she did so.

No sooner were they out of the common room than two Dementors, who were being eyed warily by the Fat Lady, started drifting towards them, and Harry felt the familiar coldness begin to grow as they approached. Fortunately Professor Sinistra, her face clouded with worry, entered the corridor and raised her wand threateningly and they had the good sense to retreat, allowing the four students to pass down to breakfast without further incident.

However as soon as they entered the Great Hall, the other people they had recruited all turned to face them, some of them trying to come over.

"For god sake, sit down!" Hermione mouthed, and with discreet gestures and mouthing they managed to get the others to go back to their seats, but a look at the staff table to see Umbridge watching carefully gave them an inkling they weren't out of the woods just yet.

"Well?" Ron asked, and Hermione shook her head, her brow furrowed.

"Nobody sold us out, we'd be able to tell, everyone's face is the way it's meant to be, even the two Slytherins and Smith. So is it just coincidence or does she actually know, and if she does, who told her?" she asked while getting herself some porridge, her face clouded with worry.

"But how could they have told her without triggering the jinx you put on the parchment? Anyway, are we still doing it Harry?" Fred asked, and Harry looked to see Umbridge was pouring gratuitous amounts of honey and sugar onto her porridge (Snape, who had the misfortune to be sitting beside her, gave it a look of deepest disapproval before sprinkling a bit salt on his own and proceeding to ignore his companion).

"Course we are." He muttered, and George clapped him proudly on the arm.

"Knew you'd say that, you know, we should dye your hair red, you have all the Weasley traits and stubbornness, and you're already practically one of the family, might as well make it official." He reasoned, and Harry blushed a little as he set about his breakfast.

Up at the staff table, McGonagall leaned close to Dumbledore, her mouth thin as she had read the new decree that was announced in the Prophet over the shoulder of Professor Vector.

"This isn't a coincidence Albus." She warned darkly, and he nodded, looking musingly up at the ceiling as he did so.

"I'm inclined to agree Minerva, but is it not coincidental in terms of being an actual coincidence, or is it merely coincidental that it is a coincidence?" he asked, a slight smile on his lips as he did so, and his deputy looked confused for a minute before glaring at him irritably.

"Talk sense Albus, this is serious! Besides, she's bound to have noticed those students trying to talk to Potter, she's not that stupid." She pointed out, as Terry Boot was still trying to get Harry's attention, and Dumbledore nodded.

"Correct. I'm wondering though if this new decree is in response to my interference in the matter of quidditch practice security or because she knows what transpired at the Hog's Head." He mused, and McGonagall went quiet as she considered herself, the timings would match after all, and she wouldn't put it past Umbridge to be so petty that she had to get Fudge to give her yet more power in order to get at the students.

"Good question." She muttered, and Dumbledore nodded, his eyes flicking briefly towards Umbridge who was licking her lips in excitement, clearly anticipating going in for the kill in some regard, which did not fill him with the slightest bit of confidence at all.

XX

Despite it being a Monday, the day had passed with fairly little incident, which made quite a change considering how things have been recently. Everything was going well until Defence Against the Dark Arts, when Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down at their tables, and Umbridge strolled up to them, a malicious smile on her face, which made Harry's insides go cold.

"Tell me Mr Potter, did you understand the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty Four?" she asked in a voice of poisoned honey, and Harry felt a sudden flutter of panic, she did know about the defence group, someone had sold them out, and now she was moving in for the kill.

Despite that however he forced down the rising wave of panic and returned her stare with interest.

"Yes I understood it." He said defiantly, and she cocked her head slightly, and as her cardigan of the day had a fluffy pink collar it made her look even more loathsome than usual.

"Well then Mr Potter, I'm confused. If you understood it, why have you not come to pay me a visit?" she asked, and Harry was tempted to retort that spending any more time with her than he had to was detrimental for his health and future, and risky for her as she might just fall out a window with him present.

But as he thought about it, the more he became convinced that she couldn't know that they still planned to study Defence Against the Dark Arts, no, she was aiming for something else, and judging by the look of sheer venomous joy on her face she was moving in for the kill.

"For what?" he asked, genuinely at sea, and she smirked.

"Well Mr Potter, under the terms of the decree, anyone involved in a group that consists of three or more persons needs the permission of the High Inquisitor to continue. And you three fall under that category." She told him sweetly, and he looked at her in disbelief.

"What?" he asked, as both Ron and Hermione started to grow angry themselves, and Umbridge smiled deviously, clearly very proud of herself.

"What I mean is, the three of you together continually undermine the aims of the Ministry and the education of your classmates with your attention seeking little tales and nasty lies. Numerous professors throughout the school see you as the golden trio, which as far as I am concerned Mr Potter, makes you an official team. And as such, you haven't come to me to ask for my permission for the three of you to continue to fraternise."

"Wait, you're dictating who we're friends with now?" Seamus demanded angrily, surprising Harry slightly by coming to his defence, and Umbridge smiled.

"Well, actually Mr Finnegan, I am. Under the terms of Education Decree Number Twenty Four I, as the High Inquisitor, I have the authority to disband any team, club, organisation or society of three or more people. And, as you all do homework together, that makes you homework groups, and as such, I have control whether or not you remain that way." She told him smugly, and Harry was so taken aback by the idiocy of this latest attempt to get under his skin that he just sat in bewildered disbelief for a second.

"I'm waiting Potter." She hissed, her voice sickeningly sweet, and he tried to morph his face into as polite an expression as he could manage.

"Professor, could Ron, Hermione and I continued to work together?" he asked, and she gave him a sickening smile.

"I think not Potter. I want you at the desk in front of my own, Weasley you stay here, and Miss Granger, I want you to swap with Mr Thomas, split up the other trio in here." She purred, and it was with a great deal of noise that the four students, hating Umbridge, carried out her wishes, all of them clearly longing to slit her throat while she stood there smiling smugly in her fluffy pink cardigan.

"You see Mr Potter, at the end of the day, the choice is really yours. You either do exactly as I say, or I will take away every single little thing you enjoy." She hissed at him on the way past, savouring the sight of Harry digging his fingernails into his palm to refrain from snatching his wand and ridding the world of the loathsome woman for ever.

XX

And so it continued. In the Great Hall at dinner, Harry sat beside Fred while George who along with his twin had been split from Lee was sitting next to Alicia, while Hermione sat beside Neville, and Ron sat beside Ginny as the evil old crone smiled smugly down at them from the staff table. On the plus side, Umbridge wasn't just gunning for the Gryffindors that hung out in groups of three or more, Ernie Macmillan, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who usually all hung out as a four had been split up over dinner, as had the three Ravenclaw boys who had attended the meeting. Over on the Slytherin table however, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Parksinson and Bulstrode were all still together, looking supremely smug.

"Well of course when I realised that the new decree applied to groups of friends as well, I went straight to Professor Umbridge this morning and asked if we could all still hang out together. Of course, she granted it right away, I mean my father's always seeing her when he visits the Ministry, and after all, unlike certain people we aren't brain damaged, problem students out for a bit of attention. I bet you she gets Potter thrown in the crackpot ward of St Mungos, you know the place where they're too brain dead to even feed themselves without someone to shovel it in, before the end of the year, haha…" Malfoy gloated from his table, but immediately alerted to what could happen Harry's eyes darted to Neville, who was going red with suppressed anger, but as long as he stayed put…

Malfoy then stopped his gleeful taunting and boasting. He looked slightly shell-shocked, and raised his hand to eye level to see it blowing up in size like an inflating balloon. Everyone began to laugh as he started to swell in size, similar to what Aunt Marge had done two years previously. Harry watched in a kind of fascinated delight as Malfoy puffed out like a balloon, swelling to immeasurable size, his buttons popping off his shirt, a large tear ripping down his trousers as he got larger and larger, his friends looking up in shock, and there was some delight, while the rest of the hall broke into roars of laughter as Malfoy swelled to an immense size, starting to float up towards the ceiling.

"What is the meaning of this?" Umbridge screeched, rushing to the Slytherin table, looking furious, but fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how vindictive you were, Flitwick reached the table first (and there was the barest hint of a smile as he observed Malfoy's predicament) as he had just entered for his own dinner, and after contemplating for a second, waved his wand, and with a noise like air escaping a balloon, which promptly made everyone laugh even harder, Malfoy deflated and floated down to ground again, spluttering in incoherent rage.

"There you are Mr Malfoy, I suggest you go back and change before finishing your dinner." Flitwick said, mostly kindly, though it seemed like a small part of him had enjoyed Malfoy getting what he deserved.

Malfoy looked furious, his slick blond hair was now a tangled mess, his trousers had split and were now hanging around his ankles, displaying his green silk boxers, his shirt was hanging loosely off him and he was scarlet as the entire school was laughing at him as they were now seeing him in his underwear in the middle of the Great Hall, where nothing could hide him. He hurriedly yanked Crabbe and Goyle to their feet, hissed something at them when they protested about leaving their food, and the two of them flanked him and tried to preserve his modesty as they escorted him from the hall, with the usual protests from Malfoy about his father hearing about this ringing in the hall as they left the room.

"Who did this?" Umbridge snarled, turning her attention to the Gryffindor table, where everyone was now trying to change their faces into a serious expression to try to dissipate the inevitable temper tantrum.

"If I might Professor Umbridge, what happened to Mr Malfoy was clearly the result of an emotional backlash, if anyone is to blame for his predicament it is him himself, whatever he was doing immediately beforehand precipitated someone to have an emotional reaction that they had no control over." He explained, and suddenly Ron realised who was going to get the blame for what happened to Malfoy.

Umbridge turned her doughy, malicious eyes onto Harry, who opened his mouth furiously, realising, just as Ron had, that she was going to blame him.

"Detention Potter, for another week, such attacks against other students will not be tolerated!" she stormed, and Flitwick, who was looking at her incredulously, blinked a little before coming to Harry's defence.

"Professor Umbridge, as I said, what happened to Malfoy was a result of whatever he was doing, and whoever did so to him had an uncontrollable violent reaction brought on by strong emotion. As such, while regrettable, there was nothing any student could have done about it. And besides, what evidence do you have that it was Potter?" he demanded angrily, his eyes flicking towards Harry.

"Not least the longstanding animosity against Mr Malfoy on Potter's part," she whispered in a silky voice, and Harry looked even more outraged than we already had, "but his constant displays of temper that he has indulged in since his return from the holidays, and his past record of using such magic against his muggle aunt two years ago as well. So Potter, detention once again. And what is more, you will also write a letter of formal apology to Mr Malfoy!" she crowed triumphantly, and Flitwick looked flabbergasted as Harry shook in rage at the sheer injustice once more being committed against him.

XX

"I'm so sorry Harry, I couldn't control myself, he just…" Neville said miserably as they all sat by the fireplace later that night, locked safely in their common room the one place where they could at least manage some escape from the tyranny of Dolores Umbridge.

"It's not your fault Neville, no matter what happens, she's always going to blame me." Harry snarled, glaring into the fire, wishing more than ever Sirius would appear and at least give him someone to complain to (though asking him to actually commit a murder for him was sounding more appealing by the minute).

The entire room was sitting looking entirely miserable, and there was little talking. Umbridge's tyranny was slowly destroying every single little thing enjoyable about Hogwarts, and a deep sense of depression was seeming to permeate the room.

"What do we do?" Hermione asked miserably, rubbing her forehead tiredly as she inspected the wound Harry had sustained in his most recent detention, now saying 'I must maintain control of my temper'.

Ron looked musingly out the window, and with a small smile, turned to Harry.

"Well, you know how you and You Know Who are connected? Well way I figure it, he owes you, I mean he killed your parents, put you in for the tournament, used your blood to come back, why not write to him?" he asked with a slight grin, and the sheer absurdity of the suggestion lightened Harry's mood a little.

"What, and write to him and ask him to take out Umbridge for us? 'Dear Voldemort'," he began reciting, sniggering as the others all winced, "'since you killed my parents and have made my life a constant misery, I wonder if you could do me a favour? We have this atrocious woman teaching us Defence Against the Dark Arts, and she's even more evil than you. Could you possibly kill her for us, after all, soon she's going to be known as She Who Must Not Be Named and that won't look too good for you now will it? So please bump her off for us, and I promise I'll not get in the way of your new master plan to take over the wizarding world. Yours sincerely, Harry Potter.' Would that work?" he asked, and they all laughed, and they all mused on how Voldemort might reply to such a message.

As they all mused on this though, Ginny was the one who jerked them out of their reverie.

"You realise that Malfoy is going to be even more insufferable than usual since she's making you write that letter? And that she's only going to get worse herself, especially if she has it in for you personally." She warned, and they all nodded.

"Yeah. But it doesn't matter, because the first quidditch match of the season is coming up, so we can humiliate Malfoy there. And we can use our defence group to undermine Umbridge. They can beat us down, keep stomping on us, but they aren't going to win." Harry vowed, and Ron and Hermione looked at him with a kind of fierce approval.

"Hasn't she won already though?" Neville asked worriedly, and Harry shook his head.

"No Neville. Not yet she hasn't," Harry said, his eyes glinting angrily, "not my a long shot."

Salutations! A thousand apologies for how long this took to upload, my last laptop was on its way out, hooked up to ivs and drips and power lines and all sorts of things, and the fact that I didnt trust it not to totally die on me mid stride was the main reason for not getting any stories updated or uploaded in basically the last year, so apologies for that. However, for those of you still interested in this story, I am back and dont plan for there to be nearly so long a gap this time!

So, due to my long absence, Umbridge has become even more petty and vindictive and she is just getting started. But while everyone's most hated teacher is currently suppressing all forms of resistance, Harry and the others, which now includes two Slytherins, are preparing to rebel against her regime

Many thanks if you have stayed with this story, it will be updated again soon, quidditch, Hagrid and of course even more power grabbing by Umbridge to come but until then, please read and if it isnt asking too much after my long absence, please review too!