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

6. Draconian Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Right Here V

"Quite frankly Mr Potter, I don't feel this is your best work." Umbridge simpered, and Harry checked his temper, with great difficulty.

The only thing he had going for him tonight was that she didn't have him writing lines, monotonously writing out 'I must not tell lies' thousands of times. No, instead he was using her special quill to right the letter of apology she had demanded he write for Malfoy. So now, on top of the scar that would now be forever emblazoned on his hand due to his numerous detentions with her, now he had the beginnings of the imprint of the entire letter coursing down his whole arm.

This was a fact made worse by the fact that this was the third time that he had written the damn thing. First of all, it was supremely unfair that he had to write it anyway, as Umbridge had made him a scapegoat simply because she could. Secondly, it wasn't actually Harry who had accidentally blown up Malfoy, that had been Neville, but Umbridge was blaming Harry anyway. And thirdly, even if Harry had done it in the first place, he still wouldn't be inclined to write a letter of apology, because the obnoxious slimeball deserved whatever he got in his opinion.

"It is my best work, professor." He told her, trying hard not to clench his teeth as he did so, and Umbridge gave him a wide, gloating smile.

"Oh I don't think so Mr Potter. But you can go for tonight." She said in a sickly sweet voice, and glaring at her as he left, Harry finally escaped her office, his head pounding, his entire arm hurting now, and his scar prickling once again.

The injustice of the whole thing, being blamed for blowing Malfoy up and being punished for it, it burned inside him. Umbridge was going out of her way to victimise him, to torture him, and he had no choice but to just let it happen. Scowling darkly, he felt the beginnings of a Dementor's presence, and took a longer but safer route up towards the common room, glowering at the whole world as he did so.

The last few days had been extremely fraught for everyone. After Umbridge's vicious humiliation of McGonagall, Umbridge didn't appear to be letting up. With McGonagall unfairly on probation, Umbridge was frequently in her classes, smirking viciously in the corner, following McGonagall around knowing full well it was trying her patience, and generally just being a nuisance. On top of that, she also seemed to be continually following around Trelawney in their Divination classes, leading Parvati and Lavender to conclude that Trelawney was hovering on the verge of being put on probation as well.

However, the staffing problems were the least of the student's concerns, as she had now branded that every group of friends consisting of three people or more were in violation of Educational Decree Number Twenty Four. Every lesson she now inspected, she interfered with the teacher's valuable teaching time, separating groups of friends and the teacher's whole classrooms, smiling smugly as she did so, knowing that her new and increased levels of pettiness was making the students and staff hate her even more and seeming to relish every second of it. Every class now, every year group, everyone had now been separated, despite the objections of teachers such as Sprout and Flitwick, who argued that students learned best when they were all together and working together with people they knew they worked well with. When they had protested, Umbridge had 'regretfully' informed them (while smiling malevolently and speaking to them as though they were crying toddlers) that it was the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty Four that had led to this impasse, and that she was simply following a Ministry directive. She also implied, though not coming out and saying it directly, that it was the teacher's incompetence and failure to do something like this before hand which had led to the current situation, simultaneously insulting them and implying their incompetence. Gloating all the while, Umbridge also lorded over every meal in the Great Hall, interrupting people while they were eating, and disturbing everyone's meals just to get people to move to prove her point, in order to show that she could.

However, while Umbridge was strutting around the school, going out of her way to make everyone's lives miserable, a fact that she was adding to simply by drawing oxygen, and of course having her Dementors stalk students that she had a problem with, there was a bigger problem that was affecting Harry in particular.

The stalking of the Dementors (they swarmed outside his room at night, followed him wherever he went in the morning and all through his day and permeated the air of the entire castle, draining any resistance out of most people they came across, and leaving Harry feeling weak, tired, vulnerable and miserable) was now second nature, as was Umbridge's petty and vindictive reign of terror against him. No the real problem now was Draco Malfoy.

Ordinarily, an incident like what had happened in the Great Hall would be enough to keep the school chuckling away to itself for quite some time, and due to it being Malfoy, who was a spoilt, arrogant, snobby little brat, it would have lasted much longer. Him expanding to the size of Hagrid and bursting out of his clothes would have been even more infamous than when the imposter Moody had transformed him into a bouncing ferret, but that was under normal circumstances.

While everyone had gotten a laugh at the time, the continuing laughter at his expense was undermined, firstly by the presence of the Dementors, who seemed to congregate as soon as someone so much as sniggered and sucked whatever happiness those people had out of them, resulting in a quick end to whatever amusement anyone still found in the situation. The other thing preventing Malfoy's humiliation as much as they should have done was Umbridge's reaction to it, and the fact that she was persecuting Harry for what was essentially a burst of accidental magic brought on by extreme stress, which virtually all muggle-borns and half-bloods could sympathise with having done it themselves at some point in their lives. Most people had figured it wasn't actually Harry who had done it as well, and even if he had, no one could always control their emotions (particularly when teenage hormones are at play, which was the excuse for most people in the school) and at the end of the day Malfoy had been asking for it anyway.

However, due to these contributing factors, Malfoy had only moped and sulked for a day or so, and upon hearing that Umbridge was persecuting Harry for what had happened, his old swagger had returned and intensified tenfold, thoroughly relishing the fact that he would soon be getting a letter of apology written to him by Harry, something he mocked him for every time he saw him, gloating and crowing loudly about how long he wanted it, the sorts of things he wanted to see in it, and his musings that if he and his father didn't think it was good enough, he would ask Umbridge if she would force him to write it again (which the malevolent bitch undoubtedly would).

Entering the common room after giving the Fat Lady the password, he despaired when he saw what time it was, knowing he still had to do at least some homework if he hoped to have anything remotely close to a full night's sleep some time in the next few nights. Throwing himself into a chair, he sat, glaring furiously at the fire, stung by the injustice of it all, while summoning his stuff to him so he could at least try and do some of his homework, which was reaching critical points once again because of these detentions with Umbridge.

"I'm sorry Harry." A voice said quietly from behind him, and Harry leapt up to his feet, wand in hand, heart pounding like crazy in fright, and he turned glaring to Neville, who had been looking morose and apologetic and now looked as though he was biting back a snigger.

"Bloody hell Neville don't do that!" Harry grumbled, putting his wand away and Neville sighed miserably and sat down on the table opposite Harry, who sat back down weakly, his heart still hammering in his chest after Neville had startled him.

"This is so unfair, Umbridge making you do this, when it was me…" Neville began, and Harry raised a hand to stem the flow of self-recrimination.

"It's not your fault Neville, even if I hadn't been in the room and it had happened, she was still going to blame me." Harry lamented, tiredly bringing his Care of Magical Creatures homework towards him, and contemplating the nature of Bowtruckles.

Neville sneered, looking angry, glaring out of the window at the Dementors that were floating around outside it.

"This place isn't what it used to be, between Umbridge and now Malfoy…" he complained, and Harry allowed himself a small smile.

"Yeah, it isn't. But, at least we'll soon wipe that smug look off Malfoy's face, the first Quidditch match of the season is coming up." He assured him, and while Neville looked slightly mollified, he still looked quite down.

"Yeah, and that helps you get back at him, but there's still no way for me or anyone else to get back at him." He complained, and Harry smirked.

"Well, once I find a place for our defence group, we'll have you able to put him in his place in no time." He said brightly, and Neville snorted disbelievingly, but Harry didn't press the issue.

"Harry…can I ask, every time something like this has happened recently, you've seemed to realise that I was about to go off on one…how do you know what happened to my parents?" Neville asked and Harry bit his lip, looking apologetically at him.

"I'm sorry Neville, it was an accident that I found out, I found out in Dumbledore's office last year. He didn't tell me," he hastened to add, "I just…found out, I'm sorry. I haven't told anyone though, I figure it's your story to tell if you want to."

Neville looked at him for a moment, not saying anything, while Harry's insides squirmed, but Neville then nodded and he looked gratefully at Harry.

"Thank you Harry, for doing that. I'm grateful." He said earnestly, and Harry nodded slightly, clapping Neville's shoulder as he did so.

"I know how I would feel in your position, and I don't want other people knowing everything about all of my life, I can understand why you keep it quiet." He said, and Neville nodded, and gave Harry a weak smile.

"Thank you Harry. I think I'll head to bed, I just wanted to say sorry again…and thank you I guess." He said softly, and bid Harry a goodnight before heading for the stairs.

Harry looked at Neville's retreating form, feeling a great surge of affection for his friend, and a slight amount of pity. Neville's parents had been tortured into insanity by Barty Crouch Jr, along with the Lestranges, who Harry had seen during his little jaunt into Dumbledore's pensieve. Lamenting the poor lot both he and Neville had been given due to Voldemort and his followers, he pulled his homework to him and started to tackle the problem posed by Bowtruckles.

XX

He was speeding along a dark corridor, in a black windowless corridor, that was slightly familiar, fast approaching a door, he was getting every closer, he reached out for the handle…

"Harry!" a voice called gently, and Harry suddenly jerked awake, to see the concerned face of Ron in front of him, his hand lightly cupping his cheek.

"Whattimeizit?" Harry asked blearily, the fire in the grate having died to embers since he had fallen asleep in his chair, and Ron looked at him pityingly.

"Nearly one o'clock. I got up for some water and you weren't there, I was worried Umbridge still had you in detention." He told him softly, looking remorsefully at how exhausted his best friend was.

And that was all he was looking at, the bright green of Harry's eyes, the way his hair had unintentionally become a rather attractive mess, or the fact that he had actually woken up after having a rather sordid dream about his best friend that he was embarrassed but not at all sorry he had had, were all completely nothing to do with it.

"No, I'm fine." Harry assured him, rubbing his arm self-consciously, and his eyes furrowed in concern, Ron gently took Harry's hand and extended it, and it was a mark of how tired Harry was that he didn't even try and yank his arm from his best friend's grip and simply looked tiredly at him, as Ron pushed up Harry's sleeve and found the red imprints of the letter he was meant to be writing to Malfoy scrawled down his arm.

"Harry…" Ron gasped, and Harry looked bemusedly up at Ron, his green eyes boring into Ron's blue ones, which were clouded with concern.

"Ron, I know what she's doing to me, but it isn't bleeding yet, so that's a bonus. And right now, I'm just too tired to care ok? Just let me go to bed without you getting all fired up?" he asked softly, and Ron sent him a slightly hurt look.

"Harry, the evil bitch is torturing you, and you're one of the people I care most about in the whole world, so damn right I'm going to get fired up," he growled, but Harry looked so tired, and kind of upset that Ron was about to do all this to death, so he took a deep breath and forced down the desire to kick down Umbridge's door and rip her head off with his bare hands for doing that to Harry, and extended his arm towards Harry to pull him out of his chair, "but you do look completely done, so I'll leave my rant for tomorrow ok? First thing." He promised with a slight grin, and Harry grinned a little, immensely thankful that Ron wasn't making a big deal right at this moment, and took Ron's offered hand when there was a loud crack beside them, and Ron leapt about a foot to the side, shouting out in shock as he toppled to the floor and landed with a large thud, and Harry, who had seen the whole thing unfold, after hearing Ron swear very fluently and rub himself where he had fallen, and seeing what had actually caused the disturbance, roared with laughter.

Dobby had just used his unique brand of apparition to appear right beside them, and he seemed to be clad in all of the house elf clothes that Hermione had been leaving around the common room at night. Indeed, the number of her hats that he was wearing teetered in a high pile which would have left him just shorter than Harry had he been inclined to stand up.

"Hello Dobby." Harry said, still sniggering while Ron glared at him from the floor.

"Hello Harry Potter! Hello Wheezy! Dobby volunteered to be here Harry Potter, Professor Grubbly-Plank was looking for someone to bring your owl back sir, so Dobby offered in the hope to see Harry Potter!" the elf said brightly, and for the first time, Harry noticed Hedwig, sitting looking slightly queasy for an owl, on top of the leaning tower of hats that Dobby was wearing.

"Hedwig!" he cried in delight, and she happily jumped off and nestled onto Harry's lap, and Harry stroked her gently, receiving an affectionate nip of his fingers in return.

"Sorry sir, Dobby didn't mean to shock you." Dobby said apologetically as Ron pulled himself up, rubbing his backside ruefully.

"It's ok Dobby. Um, Dobby, are all they the hats Hermione has been leaving out?" he asked, now perching on the arm of Harry's chair, and Dobby looked a bit anxious.

"Yes Wheezy sir, the other elves finds them insulting sir, so Dobby has been clearing Gryffindor Tower alone sir." He explained, and Harry shot Ron a sharp glance, noticing the slight smirk playing on his lips.

"Don't you dare tell her!" he warned, and while Ron looked a little crestfallen, he did reluctantly nod and grumble his assent.

Satisfied that he had just saved himself a whole day of their pointless bickering, he turned back to Dobby.

"Isn't that too much work for you Dobby?" he asked in concern, and Dobby shook his head.

"Oh no Harry Potter sir, Dobby is happy to do it, as he hopes to see his friend Harry Potter, and his Wheezy," he said, and both Harry and Ron went slightly pink from being referred to as that, "and his Hermy too sir!"

Both boys snorted as they heard Dobby refer to Hermione as Hermy, and decided they could at least tell her that, if only to see the expression on her face.

"Yeah but still, you can come and visit me when you want Dobby, you don't need to do a solo clean of the tower." Harry pointed out, but Dobby shook his head.

"Dobby isn't always alone sir, sometimes Winky helps, when she isn't, um, Professor Dumbledore used a term, sloshed he said?" Dobby said, and both boys sniggered again, Harry still stroking Hedwig absently.

"Is she doing any better?" Harry asked, and Dobby pouted.

"Not really Harry Potter sir, but she has less drunk days now sir!" he said, and Harry mused, that was something he supposed.

Ron asked Dobby what he had been up to since he had seen him last, and Dobby chatted happily with him while Harry mused on the fact that he had only completed some of his homework, on how tired he was, and how sick he was of Umbridge, and even the defence group was going to be struggling and would eventually dissipate and die unless he found somewhere for them all to practice…

"But you look tired Harry Potter, are you not sleeping well?" Dobby asked, and Harry felt a surge of affection for his elf friend.

"I'm alright Dobby, really, just having a hard year." He replied and Dobby looked at him sympathetically.

"I'm sure it will get better sir. Is there anything Dobby could do to help?" he asked kindly, and Harry shook his head.

"No thanks Dobby, unless you can think of a place where about thirty people could practice Defence Against the Dark Arts without Umbridge finding out." He said, but to his surprise, Dobby looked quite thoughtful as he scratched his chin musingly.

"Well sir, there is a room called the Room of Requirement that could work sir?" he asked, and Harry sat up a little straighter, earning him a reproving look from Hedwig, while Ron looked slightly hopeful too.

"The Room of Requirement? Tell me everything Dobby." Harry said, a slight grin developing on his face as the elf told him everything he needed to know.

XX

As Ron already knew about all of this, he sat beside Lee and George this morning at breakfast, while Harry sat with Hermione and Fred, but as they weren't an official group, Umbridge couldn't do anything (yet, he thought bitterly, as she was currently stuffing her fat, froggy face), and he wasted no time in telling them about the Room of Requirement.

"Sounds like it could be ideal Harry, so first meeting is when exactly?" Fred asked, and Harry looked furtively around the Great Hall to make sure they weren't being overheard.

"Soon, it would be tonight but I've still got detention with Umbridge. It'll be easy enough to spread the word to the Hufflepuffs, and we can rely on Ginny to spread the word to the Ravenclaws through Michael, we just need to make sure we get the two Slytherins as well, let everyone know we finally have a place to go." He whispered, and Hermione looked thoughtful as she considered the problem.

"Well, we have Potions later, so we can tell them then…Harry are you sure this plan is safe? I mean, Dobby's plans aren't exactly safe, that's how you lost all the bones in your arm." She pointed out, and Harry scowled.

"I lost the bones in my arm because the guy you had a crush on was incompetent." He said waspishly, and she sent him a withering look which he smirked in response to.

"Yes but we can't afford something like that this time, not with that evil cow floating around." She pointed out and Harry patted her hand to soothe her worries.

"It's ok, Dumbledore's been there too, he mentioned it in passing at the Yule Ball last year." He explained, having made the connection last night, and Hermione looked most relieved.

"Dumbledore knows about it? That should be alright then. And by the way, Ron told me about your arm," she said, and Fred's eyes flashed as he leaned in closer to hear what was being said, "and just so you know, we're both livid about it."

Harry gave her a tired smile.

"Yeah, I know Hermione, and you're both great, but there's nothing I can do about it and you two getting all fired up over it just makes it worse." He told her not unkindly, and she looked a bit deflated but she did nod.

"I know. I'll spread the word. Any ideas on our first lesson?" she asked curiously, and Harry pondered, smirking slightly as he looked at Umbridge.

"Actually, speaking of your old crush…"

XX

"Well, we clearly underestimated how vindictive she could be." McGonagall said in disgust as she read the piece of paper that Dumbledore had passed her, and he shook his head, looking musingly into space as he did so.

"Not really. Her humiliating attack on you was done for spiteful, petty reasons to get back at us. Quite frankly, if she hadn't shown us her measure by attacking you in the first place, smart money would have been on Sybill to be put on probation I'm afraid." He said with a sigh, and his deputy sighed with him.

He was right of course. The news had broken just before dinner (she suspected Umbridge had done that on purpose so she could go and interfere with groups of friends who wanted to talk about it) that Trelawney was now on probation. From what McGonagall had heard from Parvati and Lavender while they had whispered conversations in their last class of the day (fortunately Umbridge free, she had a first year class), Trelawney had stormed round her class (showing rather less professional decorum than McGonagall herself had shown), muttering under her breath about false accusations and insinuations, and how she would not be treated with such contempt or suffer this indignity. Predictably, the news had now spread around the school that she too was on probation. One student had even had the sheer audacity to say that she and McGonagall were in the same boat, however after a pointed look from the Transfiguration teacher, he had went pale and scuttled away before he could say any other such things.

As though she was in the same boat as Sybill.

"What do we do?" McGonagall asked as she sorted through what reports from Order members that they had dared take out lest Umbridge barge in unannounced, and Dumbledore looked a bit glum.

"Very little I'm afraid. Yours was a personal attack, a personal conquest. For lack of a better term, and I use the term very loosely in regards to Dolores," he added, and McGonagall allowed herself a quick smirk, "Sybill is her professional probation score."

And sadly, it meant Trelawney would just have to get on with it. While she herself had no regard at all for Trelawney, or her subject for that matter, she resented the mere implication that Dumbledore would hire anyone so incompetent (Lockhart aside but that was part of a cunning plan of his, which had caused her quite a bit of raised blood pressure three years ago) that it required the Ministry to basically inspect them when they were barely literate and educated themselves.

"You realise she's only going to keep building up steam?" she asked sadly, as she turned to Mrs Weasley's report on her stint on guard duty at the Dursleys house (just in case any Death Eaters got any bright ideas).

"Alas yes, but for now, hopefully she'll be content ruining our student's lives, the interfering busybody," Dumbledore said disparagingly, and McGonagall snickered, "oh I hate reading Alastor's reports, utterly paranoid and mad as a Hippogriff in heat he may be, but he can't spell worth a damn I'm afraid." He lamented sadly, pulling his report to him as the two sat in companionable silence, silently pondering their efforts against Voldemort, and the one who was fast becoming even more dangerous than their true enemy.

XX

"This is awesome Harry!" Ron exclaimed, suitably impressed by the Room of Requirement on the Monday the week after.

The weather had taken a rather nasty turn for the worse, and a persistent storm had been rumbling overhead for two days now, bringing a deluge of torrential rain that drove the giant squid deeper into the lake, completely soaked any poor souls who happened to be heading towards Herbology, and those who were going to Care of Magical Creatures had taken to carrying spare changes of clothes. The rain, wind, thunder and lightning had all gotten so bad that both Professor Sprout and Grubbly-Plank had admitted defeat and had held their classes indoors. For Sprout, who unfortunately had the misfortune to be being inspected by Umbridge during the first lesson she had called off, Umbridge had written an entire essay before Sprout had even explained about the past OWL paper that she wanted her class to do, and the loathsome little toad had left the temporary classroom with rather a smug grin, while Sprout looked furiously behind her, quivering in rage.

Despite her initial inspection having gone well, Grubbly-Plank had also been subjected to the indignity of another inspection by Umbridge. Safely ensconced inside the castle in a classroom on the ground floor, Grubbly-Plank had brought her fourth year class Nifflers to study, and to the delight of Ginny, Luna, Colin and all of their compatriots, while the furry little mischief maker had quite happily sat on the desk for the first ten minutes, he had promptly then leapt off and attempted to gnaw the rings off of Umbridge's fingers, her shouting hysterically as it happened, the class roaring in laughter (Umbridge gave them all detention), Grubbly-Plank's professional decorum cracked a trifle (and rumour had it she was the toast of the staff room that night), and Umbridge had left, bleeding and furious, and had written a rather long report that would most likely result in Grubbly-Plank also being put on probation.

However, despite the weather (which had resulted in Angelina and the other quidditch captains admitting defeat and calling off practice), it had given their defence group a chance to finally meet for their first meeting. This was done mainly because Umbridge had finally accepted Harry's letter of apology to Malfoy, which the obnoxious git was now parroting around the school.

"'Once again, I am very sorry for what happened', I don't know Potter, I'm not sure this is entirely sincere, maybe I should tell Umbridge, get another one," he gloated, to the guffaws of Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson, while Harry determinedly gritted his teeth and tried to ignore him on the advice of Hermione, and Ron looked like he would love nothing more than to punch Malfoy's lights out.

"'I take full responsibility for what happened to you, and I'm sorry that my inability to control my temper led to such a distressing event for you to endure'," he crowed over the Potions classroom, making Snape smirk as well, "well maybe you're learning something, whoops, careful!" he goaded, as Harry had accidentally squeezed his crocodile heart so hard in his anger that it had shot out of his hand, and pinged into poor Parvati's head, leading her to looking a bit dazed for a minute while other people laughed, and Snape typically deducted five points from Gryffindor while Harry tried to get his temper back under control.

However, despite Malfoy quoting the letter all over the school, the only people who were really enjoying it were Malfoy and his gang of sycophants, Snape and of course Umbridge, so Harry, under the constant stream of warning advice from both Ron and Hermione, somehow managed to retain control of his temper.

Bu Harry was now free of his detentions, was eighty percent caught up with his homework having pushed through it all at the weekend, leaving only his new stuff and finishing an essay on Porlocks for Grubbly-Plank (he was leaving this for now, as he thought the Porlocks were quite cute little creatures and he wanted to study them a bit more, not that he had told anyone that (though he suspected Hermione could tell he was quite fond of them, as she had commented that he had seemed in a very good mood after their class on them, despite Hagrid still not being back, the Dementors floating around the grounds, and another detention with Umbridge to look forward to as well), and they finally had a chance to set up their first meeting.

They had had to be extremely careful with how they got word to all the other members, with Umbridge breathing down everyone's necks and her ridiculous rule of groups of three friends being classed as a group so needing her permission to be together (needless to say she refused most requests), however, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and the twins had all assured him that everyone that had been at the initial meeting now knew about the meeting.

The room was large and well proportioned, filled with cushions and beanbags (he made a note not to sit on one of those, or he wouldn't be going anywhere for a while till he got himself out of it), various dark detectors like those from the impostor Moody's office last year including sneakoscopes and a foe-glass (he was relieved to see that no one's eyes were properly visible which cheered him slightly), several sort of test dummies of the sorts muggles used when testing out cars and the like for durability during crashes, and shelves upon shelves of books all dedicated to battling the Dark Arts.

"It is very good, Dobby was right wasn't he? Ooh look!" Hermione said excitedly, taking a book off the shelf and immediately setting to read it while Harry and Ron exchanged amused glances, she was clearly more convinced by the presence of various books than anything else.

Keeping half an eye on the Marauder's Map which he had brought with them to keep an eye on everyone they wanted to avoid (Filch, Slytherins, Snape, Mrs Norris and of course Umbridge), the members of their defence group gradually trickled in over the next few minutes, and soon everyone was sitting on a cushion or beanbag (Neville had foolishly sat on one, and had immediately regretted his mistake upon realising what he had done) and they were all looking expectantly at Harry, flanked by Ron and Hermione, and after an encouraging look from the two of them Harry cleared his throat and began to speak.

"So, everyone got here alright," he said, feeling encouraged that everyone, even Smith and the two Slytherins had actually shown up, "and no interference from Umbridge or anyone else, so, you're probably wondering…yes Hermione?" Harry asked, slightly amused that she actually raised a hand as though she would in class.

"Well," she said, looking round the room, "I think we should elect a leader, to give them a sense of authority and make it formal what we're doing here?"

Ron looked across at her as though she was crazy.

"Harry's leader!" he said incredulously, and she nodded.

"Well of course he is (he's the one who gets us all into trouble)," she muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Harry and Ron to hear and they shot her amused glances, "but I think everyone should vote on it, show we respect that, and cement his position. All those in favour?" she called to the room at large, and everyone raised their hands, and to Harry's slight surprise, both Nott and Greengrass did so with good grace, it was only Smith who seemed a bit half hearted about it.

"Thank you." Harry said gratefully, feeling rather humbled, and was about to press on with what he was going to say when Hermione's well practiced hand was raised in the air again.

Struck by a curious thought (he had never understood Snape or Umbridge's exasperation with her asking or answering questions before, but when he was actually trying to say something, he had to admit it was slightly annoying), he felt a little disgusted with himself for even considering their point of view, and besides she was one of his best friends (and not the one he was currently having bizarre feelings for), so decided not to follow the Umbridge approach, which he had only considered doing for a split second.

"Yes Hermione?" he asked, bemused, and she ploughed on ahead.

"I think we should name our group, you know, give us a sense of team spirit and unity, unify us towards one goal. And I don't think it would be that bad an idea if we could have something that we could use to refer to the group outside of class, especially if Umbridge or any of her Slytherin minions, sorry guys," she said apologetically to Theo and Daphne, who shrugged, "overhear us. What does everyone think?"

"How about the FTBU group? For the-" little Dennis Creevey piped up, and his older brother looked horrified at what those letters stood for and clamped his hand over his little brother's mouth while everyone else laughed.

"The Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina suggested, still sniggering at Dennis' suggestion, who was now looking a tad put out that his shocked older brother still hadn't removed the hand from his mouth.

"Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" Fred suggested, winking proudly at little Dennis, which Colin noticed and made him roll his eyes.

Cho looked up brightly, suddenly struck with a thought.

"What about the Defence Association? Then no one can guess what we're talking about, we could just shorten it to the DA?" she asked, and everyone seemed impressed with this argument, however, Harry's eye caught Ron, grinning wickedly.

"DA is good, but why don't we change what it stands for? Let's call ourselves Dumbledore's Army, that's what they're most terrified of isn't it?" he purred, and Harry grinned appreciatively, while others laughed and nodded enthusiastically.

"That's…a clever idea Ron," Hermione said, with a tone of slight surprise, making the twins snigger, "all those in favour?" she asked, pointedly ignoring the scowl Ron gave her while Harry pursed his lips to avoid laughing.

Everyone enthusiastically raised their hands this time, and Hermione wrote the title 'Dumbledore's Army' on top of the parchment they had all signed before hanging it on the wall.

"Motion carried. Carry on Harry," she said, somewhat sheepishly, and he rolled his eyes in amusement before turning his attention to his companions.

"Ok, so since you found the place alright," he began, and Dean looked around, impressed.

"This place is awesome, I used it last year, it was a broom closet last year," he said with a whimsical expression on his face, and the twins looked at him slightly put out.

"It was for us when we used it once too, but I don't think we had as good a time as you did by the looks on your face." George commented sniffily while everyone laughed.

"And what are those Harry? I saw them in Moody, well not Moody but you know what I mean, in his office last year." Neville asked, pointing to the foe-glass, and Harry grinned.

"Dark detectors. Now, provided Dean isn't lost in a fantasy," he said pointedly, and Dean grinned sheepishly, while the twins still looked most affronted, "we can get on. So you've probably all been wondering what I was going to go through with you, so I thought we'd start relatively simply, with the Disarming Charm, you know, Expelliarmus."

There was a loud scoff from somewhere near the back.

"That's it? That's what you're going to teach us? If I'd known that I wouldn't have come!" Smith crowed from the back, and the twins turned to look at him evilly.

"Well we're all very sorry Harry didn't tell you then. Besides, what's wrong with that spell?"

Smith spluttered incredulously.

"Well it's hardly going to help us against the likes of Death Eaters is it, or You-Know-Who?" he asked imperiously, looking around the room for support, and Nott flashed Harry a quick smirk before he turned to look at Smith.

"Well, according to my father, that's the spell Harry used that allowed him to escape the Dark Lord." He said quietly, and Smith looked as though he had been smacked in the face with a heavy object.

"W-what?"

"It saved my life in June, but if you think it's beneath you," Harry suggested, aware he was sort of channelling the impostor Moody, but not really caring, "feel free to leave, I won't stop you."

Everyone waited, but Smith mumbled something under his breath, and went quiet, staying put, and Harry flashed Theo a small, grateful smirk, and turned his attention to teaching his class.

"So, like I was saying, partly as it saved my life in June, and also because it's a useful spell, that we would start with the Disarming Charm…"

XX

An hour later, after the Room had conjured a whistle for Harry to use to call a stop. After a shaky start, in which Harry moved around correcting a lot of shoddy wandwork and spellwork, he felt a sense of accomplishment as he watched the DA as they practised. Cho had done very well, disarming her friend Marietta first time, who glared at Harry as if it was his fault. Ron had disarmed Hermione in spite of her trying to use a shield charm, and she was rather shocked and admittedly impressed despite herself. Neville had also succeeded in disarming Hermione, admittedly he had been aiming for Dean who was in front of him, but he proudly claimed that it was closer than he usually got. Theo and Daphne had succeeded in disarming one another, and nodded respectfully to Harry as he had observed them. Smith however seemed to keep dropping his wand when practicing with Ernie (who looked less than happy that he had received him as a partner), but Ernie hadn't even opened his mouth, and curious Harry looked around to see the cause, and obviously didn't have to look far.

"Heh, sorry Harry, couldn't resist." Fred said sheepishly, and Harry suppressed a smirk (he was meant to be in charge after all), and moved on after ensuring that the twins technique was fine.

"You all did really well, next time I'm thinking of looking at some jinxes that I've found useful. We'll let you know when the next meeting is, see you guys later, and be careful getting back to your common rooms, the last thing we need is Umbridge sniffing about." He told them, looking at the map and letting them all go in dribs and drabs and making sure everyone avoided trouble, be it Umbridge or Filch, on their way back to their common rooms, and twenty minutes later, the DA had all left, leaving only Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Room.

"That was really good Harry!" Hermione exclaimed proudly, and he felt rather a warm feeling in his chest as she did so, yeah, he thought it had gone well too, but felt it would sound a bit arrogant, like Lockhart really, to admit it.

"Thanks, yeah I thought it went well." He admitted, scuffing his toes a little and looking down at his feet shyly, and Ron grinned.

"You were brilliant! You're a great teacher, I never really got the hang of that spell before, did you see me disarm Hermione?" he asked enthusiastically, and Hermione, who had been watching Harry blush at Ron's praise like a hawk, then scowled and glared at Ron.

"I admitted it was a good shot, but I disarmed you loads more times! It's hardly that good, all it takes is one Death Eater to get lucky, they won't let you get multiple shots, will they Harry?" she asked in a pouty, defensive voice, jerking Harry from his reverie.

"Huh?" he asked, looking at the map as he led the way back to Gryffindor Tower, confident that Umbridge was safely in her office, and that the Dementors were only just starting to properly infest the corridors.

"I just said, weren't you paying attention?" she shouted, and Harry spluttered a little.

Truth be told he hadn't, in fact, he had been rather preoccupied with the fact that Ron was so proud of the fact that he had disarmed Hermione and felt that it was down to Harry's skill as a teacher that he had done so, and that knowledge had given him rather a nice feeling inside.

XX

The next day however didn't give him much to celebrate, unlike the night before. As soon as they left Gryffindor Tower the next morning, four Dementors immediately swarmed towards them, and Ron took Harry firmly under the elbow before the two of them pressed on ahead, Hermione bringing up the rear, her wand covering the Dementors worriedly.

"They're in a good mood this morning." Harry grumbled, as they passed several more Dementors on their way down to breakfast, however as they got closer to the Entrance Hall, some of them were forced to back off, due to the presence of other students, and at one point Professor Burbage.

Hermione however said nothing as they finally reached the relative safety of the Great Hall, something was odd about the actions of the Dementors. It was strange that they would swarm like that, what possible reason could they have for doing so? Unsettled, she said nothing to the others as they sat in separate seats, instead allowing Ron to sit with Harry lest Umbridge notice while she contemplated the strange action of the Dementors.

Her eyes scanned the room, her gaze drawn to the Slytherin table once again. Malfoy looked more smug than usual, and not just because he was throwing taunts about the letter Harry had been forced to write to him across the room. She narrowed her eyes, he had the same look of uncontrolled glee on his face as he had when Umbridge had humiliated McGonagall, and further along the table from him Theo and Daphne were exchanging dark looks as they made furtive looks at Malfoy, then upon seeing Hermione watching them, mouthed that they wanted to speak to her.

Contemplating that it may be a good idea to organise some way for the DA to communicate without constantly crossing the Great Hall to talk to one another (which would have looked suspicious even before Umbridge's arrival at the school), she wondered how best to communicate them, as it was clear that the two of them wanted to speak to her quite urgently, when she was interrupted by the arrival of the post owls. As the birds flew about the room looking for their various owners, Malfoy looked up with a look of dark triumph on his face, and gave Umbridge a cheerful wave as she too received a copy of the Daily Prophet, and sweetly waved back, and as soon as the two of them had this exchange, Hermione's stomach plummeted like a stone.

Harry, she had to get to Harry, because whatever was making both Umbridge and Malfoy look so smug and gleeful could only be directed at him…

"Hey, Potter! Looking forward to next week!?" Malfoy taunted, and Harry frowned curiously, it was still two weeks till the Quidditch match, so he had to wonder what Malfoy was talking about.

Hearing the jibe, and seeing that Malfoy was reading the paper, McGonagall abandoned her breakfast of bacon and eggs, promptly leaned over towards Sprout, who was just about to examine the paper, and ripped it out of her hands. While Sprout let out an exclamation of pain and shrieked about now having many paper cuts, McGonagall merely read the headline before her face went an angry, blotchy red, her mouth became the thinnest of thin lines and she crumpled the paper in her vice like grip, ignoring Sprout's protests about what was happening to her paper.

Now positively dreading reading it, as something that made McGonagall that angry couldn't be good, Hermione took a deep breath, and after receiving worried, commiserating looks from Nott and Greengrass, looked down at the paper, before letting out a blood curdling snarl of utter fury.

The Boy Who Lived:

Deranged, Desperate or Dangerous?

Hogwarts High Inquisitor Seeks

To Soothe Parent's Fears

"What in the name of Merlin's saggy left testicle…" Hermione muttered under breath as she began to read.

'Harry Potter, the famous boy that won notoriety by being the only person to ever survive the Killing Curse, is the topic of new action to be undertaken by the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, it has emerged today. As previously reported in June, Harry Potter, age fifteen, frequently collapses in school, complaining about pains in his scar, attacks which have led many to doubt their veracity and which experts believe could be little more than a cry for attention. In addition, he is also a speaker of Parseltongue, a traditional sign of Dark wizards, and has made eager friends with paranoid ex-Aurors, half giants and werewolves, all of which cast doubt upon not only his worthiness to study at Hogwarts, but perhaps his desire to adhere to the social norms of our society. Furthermore, in recent months Potter has been a staunch supporter of Albus Dumbledore in his attempts to undermine the Ministry of Magic by spreading lies, paranoia and fake news, something which Potter has also undertaken, spreading mistruths in order to keep the public's spotlight on himself. As a result, many parents and Ministry officials are now seeking that there be a closer watch on Potter, so as to offset any potential dangers in the future towards his classmates or the further wizarding world.

As a result, Hogwarts High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge, appointed by Cornelius Fudge in order to bring up to scratch the failing standards of Hogwarts, has now been charged with soothing the fears of parents, who are growing increasingly concerned about the presence of such a disturbed and potentially dangerous individual.

"'I am very gratified to learn that Dolores Umbridge is now taking Potter in hand," said Narcissa Malfoy in her Wiltshire home last night, "Potter has frequently bullied my son Draco, and due to his position as Dumbledore's favourite, as Dumbledore simply encourages his antics, Potter has gotten away with it scot free. Hopefully, with the High Inquisitor on the case, Potter's days of bullying the other students and telling attention seeking stories will be at an end."

The High Inquisitor, we can exclusively reveal, has been working hard to stop Potter's attention seeking and bullying tactics since her arrival at the prestigious school, though has encountered much resistance from many of the other members of staff, who follow Albus Dumbledore's lead in giving the boy much leeway despite his increasingly violent, erratic and concerning episodes. A confidential tip off to the High Inquisitor allows us to exclusively reveal that Potter could in fact be mentally affected by the very scar that sadly led to the wizarding world's worship of him in the first place.

In addition to his frequent collapses at school during which he cries out in pain, and frequently visits either the hospital wing or the Headmaster, seeking validation for these attacks, he also suffers from nightmares during which he screams about the death of Cedric Diggory and his parents, his parents having been killed when he was only a year old, and the tragic death of Cedric Diggory which happened as a result of the Triwizard Tournament in June.

A spokesperson from St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, who wished to remain anonymous, had this to say: "the fact that he automatically runs to Dumbledore every time one of these twangs occurs in his scar speaks volumes. This recurring sense of validation will only increase the likelihood that Potter will continue to have these attacks, feeling a sense of importance and uniqueness from receiving them and that Dumbledore will drop everything to listen to his tall tales. So, whether the boy is genuinely deranged, is merely seeking attention, or is in fact actually quite dangerous, the fact remains that a very close watch should be kept on him from now on, and I'm frankly astounded that such a thing is not already in place."

High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge, acting on the confidential tip off she received in regards to these night episodes, has set out a comprehensive plan to allay the fears of parents who fear the influence Potter could have on their children, and will use the Dementors, currently stationed at Hogwarts to protect against the possibility of another attack by deranged mass murderer Sirius Black, to ensure that Potter is no threat to his fellow students.

"Personally, I treat him like any other student, and I feel that the sense of importance that Professor Dumbledore has granted him has given Potter an inflated view of his own importance. He seems to believe himself a tragic hero, the sole source of light against what he claims is a coming darkness, when all he is, quite frankly, is an attention seeking liar. He has been spreading lies, fake news and false truths since June in order to keep himself in the limelight, and I've made it my personal mission to put a stop to it", she claimed in our interview last night in Hogsmeade.

Readers can be assured that whether Potter is genuinely deranged and hence ill, merely seeking attention, or is in fact dangerous and could very well be willing to go to any length in order to keep his fame, there will now be a stern, firm hand at the tiller to ensure that the other students of Hogwarts, all innocent victims, are not put at risk by Potter's increasingly erratic and suspicious behaviour and that they will remain safe no matter what the answer to the Potter question may turn out to be,

Hermione looked at the newspaper in her hand, feeling sick to her stomach, flabbergasted that anyone could have written such a thing about her best friend. Nauseous and shaking with unexpressed rage, she saw the Slytherins begin to jeer across at Harry, who exchanged a very confused look with Ron, then he turned to look at her, and she hastily tried to hide the paper from his potential view. Green eyes narrowing angrily, he got to his feet, feeling the smug, gloating smile of Umbridge on his back as he strode angrily towards Hermione, who was still shaking in sickened horror and was beside herself with fury.

"Let me see it Hermione." He bit out, and she shook her head.

"Harry, don't, trust me, you don't want to…" she begged him, not able to bear how he would react, but he looked beseechingly at her, and reluctantly, against her better judgment, she acquiesced and handed it over.

Harry snatched it from her, and began to read. The entire hall was silent. Up at the staff table, Umbridge was smiling in utter delight, relishing watching Harry as he read such a malevolent, nasty and underhanded attack against him. McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and various other teachers, while looking furious, were all looking worriedly at Harry, some sympathetically as he read it, every eye in the hall on him. Hermione looked up at him, his hands shaking as he read the article, his face going scarlet with suppressed fury, biting down on his lip so hard that he drew blood, his eyes narrowed in abject hatred. He reached the end of the article, threw it on the ground and then stormed out of the hall without another word.

"Harry!" Hermione called after him, climbing to her feet, but Ron was there first, following his best friend from the hall, with Hermione right behind him, both looking very concerned as the usual morning ruckus broke out again, the Slytherins jeers reaching their ears and all the while, Umbridge sat at the staff table, looking like a frog that had just swallowed a fly, licking her lips as she relished yet another victory.

XX

"This is, this is deplorable!" McGonagall raged in the staff room, throwing a copy of the paper into the fire, though that didn't do anything to soothe her temper, and all the teachers present nodded fervently in agreement (even Snape looked as though he thought she was right about this one).

"Agreed, this is shocking, why the hell did the Prophet print such a thing? This is a biased, unprofessional, nasty attack on poor Harry, saying he's either mad, dangerous or an attention seeker! Even Skeeter wouldn't have dared gone this far!" Flitwick stormed, slamming his fist into the table, incandescent with rage.

"Umbridge'll be behind it, I'll bet anything." Sprout spat, to the nods of the other staff members.

"Obviously, and with that little git Malfoy, sorry Severus," Vector said, and Snape merely shrugged, "feeding her lies and stories, she'll happily lap it right up!"

The entire staff (Dumbledore was conspicuously absent) ranted and raved in a general din, with Grubbly-Plank vowing to write to the Prophet and complain, as would others they all agreed, when McGonagall took a deep calming breath, a vein throbbing in her temple as she tried to get her temper back under control.

"Either way, she's done what she set out to do, by reiterating what Skeeter wrote in June, and casting aspersions on Harry's sanity, and by making out he's an attention seeker, now is the time for you to be SILENT Severus," she hissed warningly, as he had been about to say something, and he wisely kept quiet, "she has effectively destroyed what little credibility that Harry had left. She's-"

The door opened, and the pink clad monstrosity that was Dolores Umbridge was standing there, savouring the looks of hatred and revulsion on the faces of those she was there to inspect and criticise.

"I'm sorry Minerva, but it sounds as though you are accusing me of something. Anything you'd like to say dear?" she asked sweetly, bloating herself up smugly, and McGonagall's hand was shaking with rage as she drew herself up to her full height and glared down at the obnoxious, tyrannical Ministry despot.

"There are many things I'd like to say, but won't as I pride myself on showing a great deal more professional decorum than you illustrate." She said savagely, and Umbridge gave her a wide, indulgent, gloating smile.

"Well done Minerva, aren't we learning to control our temper? Perhaps Potter can benefit from a few lessons in that." She taunted, and McGonagall went crimson with anger, but Flitwick laid a hand on the small of her back (the highest he could reach of his colleague) and prevented her from uttering things that she could be made to regret.

"What is it Dolores?" he asked sharply, the glares of the entire staff now on her, and she raised an eyebrow, smirking smugly.

"This is the staff room is it not? Aren't I a member of staff?" she challenged, clearly relishing doing so, and even Flitwick's restraint began to crumble.

"Indeed you are." Flitwick said in such a tone as though it implied her being a member of staff was the most hideous thing he had ever contemplated, and she gloated again before she turned back to McGonagall.

"I'm actually here to see you Minerva, as I have a task for you." She simpered, and Snape exchanged a dark look with Sprout, this wasn't going to end well.

Flitwick looked at the vein throbbing in McGonagall's temple worriedly as she unclenched her teeth with some difficulty.

"Task? What do you mean, task?" she demanded, the very word acid in her mouth, because Umbridge wouldn't be so smug and happy about this if it wasn't something awful.

Umbridge sent her a simpering, sweet look, laughing under her breath.

"Well, as you are on probation," she reminded the room, thoroughly enjoying the renewed glares she received from her colleagues, "you must show a willingness to rise to certain challenges rather than rest on your laurels as you have all been doing, which is why Hogwarts is in such a deplorable state," she explained as though to small over emotional children, and the staff, as one, looked murderous, "so as such I have a task for you. As of tomorrow, Harry Potter will be accompanied by Dementors wherever he goes. They will be his escort, there for his protection as much as that of the other students, who are most at risk if he is, after all, deranged. He is also to report to me every night before he returns to his common room, as High Inquisitor and the person charged with the weighty task of controlling his wayward behaviour, to ensure that he is behaving himself. As his head of house, it is your duty to inform him of this."

The self-satisfied way she said this, the barbaric enjoyment she had at saying it, tormenting her colleagues and knowing she was torturing a teenager whom she despised, made her all the more loathsome than she already was.

"You want to subject a boy, with a proven weakness against Dementors, to them as his personal escort? And then to have extra sessions with you?" Sprout thundered as McGonagall gasped for words, unable to speak, such was her fury, and Umbridge gave a tinkling laugh, like poisoned honey.

"It is no fault of mine that the boy has such a weakness against Dementors Pomona. You saw the paper, the parents are concerned about the boy and the threat he poses, whether he be deranged, an actual danger, or just an attention seeking little brat, and it is my job here to reassure the parents, as after all, that is what our job is all about: pleasing the parents and making sure that they can retain their confidence in this school after the many times that is has been found lacking recently. Ah, that's the bell, I will see you all at lunch!" she simpered brightly, and left the staff room, closing the door behind her.

A series of spells then hammered into the door exactly where her head had been mere seconds before as various teachers, enraged by her slights upon them, had cast spells, their restraint finally having cracked.

"Wands down…" McGonagall breathed, huffing like a stampeding bull as they all did so as they reluctantly, begrudgingly and furiously left the staff room for their classes, leaving the four heads of house alone in the room.

"Dementors will accompany Potter wherever he goes. As such he will become weak, drained, and unable to resist, that is provided he doesn't collapse. In turn, that will either further turn people against him, or give her more evidence to sell the story that he's an attention seeker and doing it because he likes the attention. She's seen as covering all her bases, if he is indeed mad, making up stories, or in fact actually is a danger to his peers…We made a very grave mistake underestimating Dolores Umbridge." Snape concluded, sharing a grim look with the other heads of house, and McGonagall put her head in her hands.

She was going to have to tell one of her students, one of the students who was hers to protect, that he was now going to be escorted everywhere by creatures that he despised and feared above all others, that made him relive his worse moments of his life every time they grew near to him. She was going to have to tell him that he was essentially being surrounded by dangerous, soul sucking fiends just to make Umbridge feel a bit more secure in her power over him, which she was already abusing more than her fair share. She was going to have to tell him that he would have to report to that bureaucratically empowered despot every night while the Dementors dogged his footsteps.

And worst of all, she was going to have to tell him that they had no choice but to let it happen to him.

Hating herself, and dreading the fact that she actually had Harry in her first class of the day, she set off with the others, as her sense of self loathing increased a hundredfold and continued to rise as she climbed the stairs dejectedly to her classroom, to the extent that she felt physically nauseous at what her home and her job had now become.

XX

The two of them had found him, wrapping his arms around himself and watching as the giant squid swam lazily in the lake. Harry was shaking in fury, wanting to rage and storm at the injustice of it all.

"Harry?" Hermione asked as she and Ron closed in on him, and he was shuddering in fury.

"I don't want to be here anymore." He ground out through gritted teeth, his face scarlet with anger, and Hermione and Ron exchanged horror struck looks, and Hermione laid a gentle hand on Harry's arm.

"Harry, Hogwarts is your home." She whispered, still shocked, and the look he gave her nearly broke her heart, he looked so worn down, so broken, so defeated, and she could see his desperation hanging behind his rage filled eyes.

"It used to be, ever since Umbridge came, it's not the same, don't look at me like that Hermione, you know I'm right." Harry said exhaustedly, and Hermione chewed her lip, she had never seen him feeling so defeated or down before, even when he and Ron hadn't been speaking the year before.

Ron scowled, then laid both hands on Harry's shoulder, glaring into his eyes, and Harry looked up at Ron's eyes, which were boring into Harry's as he looked murderous.

"You listen to me ok? Yes, the evil bitch has found another way to get at you. Yes, yet again it's going to make you feel shitty, make you feel like you're on your own against everything she's doing to you. But you listen to me Harry," Ron said fiercely, and despite himself, Harry felt a small flicker of defiance rekindle inside him, "you have a bunch of people who want to learn from you, a bunch of people who want to learn from you on how to fight Death Eaters, and You-Know-Who, who are willing to risk expulsion just to help prepare themselves for what's coming, and to do what that evil old cow hates most right under her very nose. And more importantly, you're not alone. You have my entire family, you have Hagrid, Sirius, Dumbledore, but more importantly you have Hermione, and you have me, and we aren't going anywhere!"

Harry looked hesitantly at the blazing look in Ron's eyes, feeling something he hadn't quite felt before, a sort of intensity as he looked deep into his friend's eyes, and he felt a sort of warm, liquid feeling, akin to phoenix song, as he saw the burning, vibrant, intense look in Ron's eyes, and once again Harry wondered exactly what was happening between them as he felt this insane urge to lean in closer, to…

"And besides Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, jerking Harry out his reverie, "if you weren't here with us, where would you go? Back to the Dursleys?" she asked pointedly, and as she said it, he realised that no matter how bad things were getting here, what with Umbridge breathing down their necks, at least he wasn't back at Privet Drive.

"Heh…true. Thanks guys." He whispered softly, and Hermione took him by the arm.

"Yeah, like that would have happened," Ron said with a snort, falling into step beside them as the bell rang and they headed back into the castle, Harry mentally bracing himself for the day of jeers and torments that he was about to receive, "if Harry wasn't here mum would have him at the Burrow before lunchtime. I'd probably be homeless mind you, but Harry would be fine!"

"Your mother wouldn't throw you out!" Hermione protested, and Ron smiled bemusedly.

"Maybe not out of the house, but me have a room when Harry's there? I'd be evicted and forced to live in the broom shed to make room for him!" he exclaimed, and despite it all, they all laughed, though a fearful wallowing was going on inside Harry's stomach as they headed back into the castle.

XX

Umbridge was, fortunately in her case as so many accidents could happen in a Transfiguration classroom that could be made to look innocent, not in McGonagall's class when they entered, as Transfiguration was the first class of the day and one of the few Umbridge didn't monitor as she had a class herself. Without the wretched High Inquisitor floating around, class proceeded as normal, though McGonagall kept looking worriedly at Harry, who looked more and more worried and miserable himself every time she did so, dreading whatever it was she was going to say to him at the end of the class, because whatever it was, it was sure to do with this morning's press story, and with Umbridge and Malfoy's malevolent delight.

"Potter, a word." She called as the rest of the class left, headed to History of Magic, and both Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances as they followed the others from the class.

"What fresh hell is it now professor?" he asked tiredly as he came up to her desk, and she looked at him pityingly.

"I'm so sorry Harry, but with this newest report…I don't want to have this happen to you, but Umbridge…" she told him, looking genuinely distressed, and Harry rubbed his scar tiredly, which was prickling yet again, which funnily enough wasn't helping his mood.

"What professor?" he asked, hating the fact that she was hesitating out of genuine distress and care for her student, but just wanting it over and done with.

"I'm so sorry Harry, but as of tomorrow, Dementors will escort you from Gryffindor Tower to all your meals and classes, and every night, before you go back to your dormitory for the night, you…you are to report to Professor Umbridge, so she can reflect on your behaviour for the day." She said, looking both defeated and nauseous, and Harry felt the bottom collapse out of his stomach.

"They're…they're going to follow me everywhere?" he asked weakly, visions of the horrific creatures leeching everything out of him, driving him to collapse, the murder of his parents and Cedric on an endless loop every second of every day.

McGonagall clapped her hand onto his shoulder, her face torn with self-recrimination.

"I'm so sorry Harry, if I had a way to prevent this from happening, believe me I would take it, what she is doing is vicious, it's sadistic and it's bullying, but as long as she has carte blanche from the Ministry…"

"I'm on my own." Harry finished for her in a weak voice, excused himself as his Head of House looked at her student in despair, knowing and dreading the fresh hells that Umbridge was going to inflict on him now.

XX

Harry hadn't come to History of Magic, which obviously, had terrified both Ron and Hermione. Ron had been on the verge of finding the Marauder's Map to locate his best friend when they had finally found him while on their way to the theoretical Astronomy class with Professor Sinistra after break.

"Harry, where have you been, you had us worried sick!" Hermione shrieked as she saw him, but as Harry turned to face them, while Ron had also been beside himself with worry, he laid a hand on Hermione's arm, stalling her diatribe, and looked at Harry worriedly.

He looked awful, even worse than he had done when they had found him by the lake earlier. He was pale, and looked slightly nauseous as well, and he was also very jumpy, looking around at any noise, and seemed to wince every time someone made a loud noise.

"I'm sorry, I just…I couldn't face History of Magic. Thought I should enjoy what peace I've got left." He told them softly, and Ron looked at his best friend worriedly, and Hermione searched his face, he really did look awful.

"What do you mean?" she asked, and Ron fought with himself, Harry looked so miserable, so down, and so downtrodden, that it was all he could do not to actually hug him.

Fighting down this impulse, he looked at Harry in concern.

"Harry, what is it?" he asked, and Harry sighed, and Ron was sure he could detect a hint of tears in his eyes as he told them.

"This is my last day on my own. After tomorrow, Dementors will escort me wherever I go."

XX

Lunch was a quiet affair, and Harry's head was pounding. Despite him begging both Ron and Hermione not to harp on about it, as that only made it worse, they had wasted no time in filling in the twins and Ginny, and even though they were split up, (Harry had sat away from Hermione, figuring her self-restraint would crack in record time over something like this), he could still hear them reacting with outrage to the tyrannical new measure that Umbridge was bringing to bear against him. As he had come into the hall for lunch, most of the Slytherins laughed and jeered maliciously, laughing at what was to come for him, while up at the staff table, all the teachers looked either angry or indeed disturbed, while Umbridge sat looking hungrily at Harry, a smug expression of triumph on her face.

"Are you ok Harry?" Fred asked in concern, and Harry nodded, looking exhausted.

"Yeah, as ok as I'm going to get, at least until Voldemort moves out into the open or someone murders her." He snarled, glaring at Umbridge, who noticed and smiled sweetly, savouring his fury.

"But to subject you to Dementors wherever you go, all because of a press story that she probably had put there anyway? It's outrageous!" Ginny stormed, slamming her fist down onto the table and upsetting her goblet of pumpkin juice, making her curse and turn to mop up the mess.

"Can't Dumbledore…?" Fred asked, and Harry looked at him tiredly.

"He hasn't been able to stop her so far has he? He's not going to now either, she'll make sure of that." He admitted, wishing he could just write the rest of the day off as a bad job and head to bed, but he still had the afternoon's classes to complete, and even worse, the last class was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which was quite possibly the last thing he needed.

Hermione had finally gone quiet, which Harry was grateful for. He knew she meant well, they all did, but their righteous indignation on his behalf was just going to make matters worse for him, especially when he faced Umbridge later on today. However, Hermione suddenly took to scrutinising the table, her eyes narrowed into slits, and he vaguely wondered what was currently going through her head as he finished his lunch.

He appreciated their defence of him, he really did. But Umbridge was slowly tightening her noose around Harry, and while the others hearts were all in the right place, and the fact that he wasn't facing all this alone was virtually the only thing keeping him going, the fact that she was out to get him would inevitably cause her to target them, and he couldn't stomach that, he could barely keep from letting the old cow win as it was.

Hermione, shockingly, remained quiet all through their next two lessons, and Ron whispered to Harry that was she was in full on problem solving mode, and that allowed Harry to simply sit back and focus on his lessons while Hermione thought of things that mere mortals dare not try to think of themselves. Mind you, that wasn't to say his mind didn't wander during class, as the incident by the lake that morning had enflamed his imagination again, what with Ron man handling him the way he had been...

Where had these weird new feelings come from? He didn't fancy Ron, he obviously fancied Cho Chang, he's known that for years, and Ron was his best friend but there was no denying, this new physicality between them, this intense new Ron who was acting basically as the talisman that kept Harry from packing it all in, this intense, fiery protective streak had awakened something within Harry, he just wasn't sure what yet. He didn't fancy Ron. The whole idea was laughable.

But then he would remember Ron's eyes burning into his, that clinch in the alcove after Divination, Ron gently stroking his hand, Ron holding him while he slept at night, just Ron in general recently...

"Earth to Harry, you ok?" Ron asked worriedly as they headed to Defence, which fortunately was the last class of the day, and Harry blushed a little as he realised that he had been on autopilot, lost in musings, ponderings, and the occasional fantasy about Ron.

"Me? Oh yeah, swell." He said sarcastically as two Dementors swarmed past, dreading the dawn

"It'll be ok Harry. I'm not sure how yet," Ron said admittedly, "but it will be fine."

Harry sent him a tired smile as they arrived at the door to Umbridge's classroom as Hermione scanned the crowd of assembled Gryffindors (they hadn't been immediately let in, so it stood to reason that she was away persecuting some other poor member of the teaching staff, perhaps Snape or someone). Hermione's eyes then bulged in furious recognition and she hissed between her teeth.

"Son of a bitch..." she muttered, and surprised, both boys looked to her curiously.

"Who?" Harry asked, totally at sea and Ron smirked.

"Or is the thing you've been thinking about since lunch too much for mere mortals such as Harry and I to know about?" He asked her teasingly, and she quelled him with a furious look.

"Don't be smart, I was thinking." She snapped, and hearing the tone of her voice, both boys looked at her curiously.

"About what?" Harry asked worriedly, feeling whatever she had deduced wasn't going to be good.

"That report in the Prophet, something in it had me thinking. Even Rita's stuff had a bare basis in fact, yet what was being said in the paper would have seemed like blatant lies if we didn't know any better. But as we do, it showed a more intimate knowledge of what's going on with Harry than what Umbridge and even Malfoy should have!" She hissed, and Ron looked at her, totally at sea.

"What are you saying?" He asked, however Harry was now quivering in rage, absolutely beside himself.

"She's saying there's a snitch in Gryffindor!" He spat furiously, almost beside himself with fury.

He had always been proud of his house, of their bravery, selflessness and loyalty, and he considered anyone being disloyal to that as little more than a base traitor. The fact that Wormtail has been a Gryffindor before selling our Harry's parents didn't help matters either. But for the stuff that had been in the paper to have appeared there...

"A snitch!?" Ron spat, furious that someone would do that, and also throw Harry under the bus like that.

"Exactly." Hermione said with a dreadful finality and Harry didn't even need a contemplative silence to deduce exactly who the traitor was, as only the people he shared a room with could know about his nightmares.

Ron would never betray him in a million years. Neville had quite unabashedly said he and his gran believed Harry and Dumbledore. And Dean didn't stand to gain anything by going to Umbridge, so it stood to reason that the only person who could reveal what Harry went through every night was the one person in his dormitory who had a problem with him and didn't believe his story.

"Seamus." Harry hissed furiously under his breath, and Hermione looked alarmed at what her realisation could cause.

"Harry don't do anything, we just need to keep an eye on him, watch when he's about..." she protested but he couldn't hear her over the blood pounding furiously inside his ears as his entire being quivered in rage.

Seamus has ran tattling to Umbridge, who had eagerly seized upon the chance to further humiliate and degrade Harry. Seamus has betrayed his fellow Gryffindor, Seamus has totally turned on Harry, and it was now down to Seamus that Harry was going to be escorted everywhere by a Dementor.

"Got a problem with me do you?" Harry spat at Seamus, and the chatter outside the classroom went instantly silent as everyone regarded him and Seamus.

"Harry..." Hermione protested, pulling at his arm but he shook her off, glaring viciously at Seamus, who had the audacity to stick his chin out in defiance.

"Yeah, you're clearly mad! Now everyone else knows it!" He growled back at him as Harry's increasingly violent temper flared.

"You ran to Umbridge about my nightmares?" He sneered, hoping despite himself that Seamus would refute the allegation, but the other boy simply shrugged, looking haughty.

"Wait, you went to Umbridge?" Dean demanded incredulously, and Lavender, who got on very well with Seamus, in fact there seemed it could develop into something more, looked at Seamus, aghast.

"You're the tip off?" She spluttered, shocked, she hadn't believed Harry at first but after Hermione had bitten her head off, she had come round, and Seamus looked nervous as he realised the entirety of his class was looking at him with disgust, anger, disbelief, or in Harry's case, outright hatred (though Ron, who was clutching his wand, wasn't far behind him).

"Every night, all you do is scream about Diggory, moaning and groaning, it's like sharing a room with Moaning Myrtle! He died in the maze, it was an accident, and you know it!" Seamus shouted, and Harry glowered at him.

"No, it was murder! I saw Cedric get murdered by Wormtail, on Voldemort's orders, and I'm sorry if me seeing that is disturbing your precious beauty sleep!" Harry bellowed, and Seamus sneered, not realising the rest of their classmates were all more or less on Harry's side

Even if they didn't believe him, going to Umbridge was base treachery.

"You can't help yourself can you? You're insane! Actually how do we know it wasn't you who killed Diggory? You only came up with this story to cover your own tracks, and Dumbledore is too much of a senile old git to realise!"

Harry took a step back, a wave of furious revulsion spreading through him.

"You think I killed Cedric?" He bit out, unable to believe that Seamus had just accused him of that.

"You know what? Too far Seamus! Ten points from Gryffindor, now get back into line and shut up!" Ron spat furiously, trying to pull Harry behind him, because if he went into Umbridge's room like this, he would most likely wind up in detention until Christmas, if not longer.

Harry however, his rage brimming over, his resentment at the injustices he was being subjected to daily, and outrage at what Seamus had just accused him of, slipped out from behind Ron, his wand in hand as he quivered in anger.

Seamus seemed to have realised he had gone too far, and back pedalled from Harry warily, nonetheless taking out his own wand.

"Harry no, he isn't worth it!" Hermione shrieked, as the entire class watched with baited breath.

"Look, I-" Seamus began nervously, and Harry looked at the wand in Seamus hand angrily.

"So I'm a mad, attention seeking, lying...murderer am I?" Harry whispered in a frigid voice and Ron and Hermione exchanges terrified looks, they had never heard Harry talk like that before, a soft, high voice that chilled them to their bones, and the rest of the class looked at the two of them, panicked, while Seamus seemed to be on the verge of wetting himself as he backed away from Harry, realising he had pushed the other boy too far, and was now backing along the corridor, and loathe though he was to admit it, he was both sorry about what he had said, he hadn't meant it really, and he was also terrified as that cold murderous voice Harry spoke in was enough to chill anyone's blood, and he may have imagined it but was there a flicker of red in Harry's hurt, vibrant green eyes?

Harry then moved faster than they had thought possible, his red spell hurtling for Seamus, who just managed to avoid it, panting as it scorched the wall behind him.

"Harry!" Hermione shouted, but Seamus now reciprocated with a spell of his own, which Harry knocked back towards him with a shield charm, and Seamus swore as he dove out of the way.

Seamus then threw another spell at Harry, who had thrown one of his own, both of them colliding in midair and ricocheting off of one another and blasting into the walls.

"So thanks to you, I'm going to have Dementors escorting me wherever I go! So I get to hear my mum and dad, and Cedric as well, getting murdered, all day every day!" Harry spat viciously, and Seamus looked a bit taken aback, he had no idea that that would happen.

"Look I didn't mean..." he began just as a sickly sweet voice spoke up from behind the two of them.

"Finite incantatem!"

Her spell ended the duel between the two of them and Harry turned furiously towards Umbridge, breathing heavily as though he'd run a sprint and the look in his eyes made Umbridge take a small step back despite herself, before she turned her froggy, bulging eyes onto Harry and Seamus, taking in the spell scorch marks on the walls.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked sweetly, and Ron sent a Harry a glare warning him to keep his mouth shut, before stepping forward.

"Just a disagreement between roommates." He said stoutly, conveying a look of pure venom towards Seamus who scuffed his feet and avoided his gaze.

"Indeed? Caused by what exactly?" She asked, her malevolent gaze falling onto Harry solely, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"The fact that I was the one who came to you professor." Seamus replies, none of his classmates meeting his gaze, and she smiled sinisterly.

"Indeed Mr Finnegan, you were a very good boy doing that, something I'll remember when the position of Head Boy comes up in a couple of years," she assured him and he looked horrorstruck as the rest of the Gryffindors turned away from him, clearly believing that was the reason he had done it, "and I take it Potter here has some objection?" She asked with a honeyed voice, but Harry remained defiantly silent.

Umbridge smiled malevolently.

"I see. So not only content with spreading attention seeking lies and making up tall tales, you are now attacking those students who disagree with you! Dear dear, I'm afraid it's that sort of thing that makes your Dementor escort all the more vital! Wouldn't you agree Mr Finnegan?" She gloated, and Seamus sent a tormented look at Harry.

"Well no, actually-" he protested, but she waved him off.

"Well now, what to do? I think ten points each from Mr Weasley and Miss Granger for a start." She purred, and while Harry wrenched his mouth open, Neville got there first.

"What for?" He thundered, and she fixed him with a patronising smile.

"Why, for doing nothing about this little squabble, they are after all Prefects, and just stood by and let it happen. So we'll start with that. And I think five points from the rest of you for standing by and letting it happen as well." She simpered, and Parvati looked outraged.

"For doing nothing? Seamus is lucky we didn't help Harry, he accused him of murdering Cedric Diggory! As far as I'm concerned, Seamus deserved it!" She shouted to hearty nods, but Harry's attention was focused on Umbridge, who's eyes had widened maliciously as Parvati spoke, and he suddenly had a horrible feeling that this would come back and bite him further down the line.

Umbridge glared at her.

"Well unfortunately I disagree Miss Patil. Now so far Mr Finnegan is the only one of you to have come forward, but if any of the rest of you are made uncomfortable by Potter's constant attention seeking lies, his spreading of rumours that a certain dark wizard has returned once again, which is a LIE, now is the time for you to speak," she hissed softly, and Harry looked worriedly around his classmates to see what they would say.

Ron and Hermione, glaring at Umbridge, stood defiantly behind Harry, their silence speaking volumes as they flanked him, both of them wanting nothing more than to rip her throat out.

Neville, glowering at Umbridge, then moved to Harry's side too.

"He's back. Dumbledore believes he is, and I believe Dumbledore. And Harry." He taunted, and Umbridge's doughy face went red in fury.

Parvati then went to stand behind Harry as well, glowering at Umbridge and crossing her arms defiantly, and after a seconds indecision, she was joined by Lavender.

Dean then took one last disgusted look at Seamus, and then joined the others, leaving only Seamus standing with Umbridge, who's eyes glinted maliciously.

"I see. Very well. I have tried again and again to teach you not to tell lies Mr Potter, but now look, you are leading your friends down the same doomed path," she lamented, silently savouring what she was about to do, "so you Potter, will get another detention. And so will every one of these poor, impressionable souls you have influenced with your lies. How any of you could believe his scare mongering when the Ministry has everything in hand, I have no idea. So detention for all of you, bar you, Finnegan."

"He's right. And you know it." Ron hissed, and Umbridge swelled furiously.

"He is not back!" She thundered, and Ron jutted out his chin in defiance.

"Yeah, he is, and you wouldn't be trying so hard to vilify and persecute Harry if you didn't know he was. He is back." He snarled, and Umbridge looked at the faces of the other Gryffindors, and stomped her foot.

"HE IS NOT BACK! Potter and Dumbledore are only out to cause mayhem and uncertainty, and Potter is a lying attention seeking tragic hero with delusions of grandeur!" She crowed, and Harry looked at her, actually feeling better for her outburst, it was like a talisman, sustaining him.

"Funny, seems like they don't believe you," he taunted, feeling very touched that virtually his entire year group was on his side, and her eyes bulged comically.

"Well, we'll have to see about that won't we? All of you, a weeks worth of detentions," she whispered in a deadly sweet voice, "which will entail you writing 'I must not believe attention seeking lies' until the message sets in. Now get in!" She ordered, and while they all looked furious about the new length of their detentions, they all headed into the classroom, a despondent Seamus being ignored as the group traipsed in, and just before Harry entered, his temper nearly back under control, Umbridge barred his path.

"I warned you before Potter, what would happen if you continued to spread such lies. We'll see if your friends still believe your story when their hands are being ripped open each night. Keep defying me Potter, defying the Ministry, and I will take away everything you hold dear, and by that I do mean your little friends too!" She threatened, and Harry glared day her contemptuously before he went inside, slamming the door behind him.

Umbridge fumed, absolutely spitting with rage that so many people believed him. In fact, it was getting worse not better, if all those obnoxious little brats he considered his friends truly believed him, then she was losing the war against the boy and his vaunted headmaster.

That simply couldn't do.

But how could she break the bonds between them? Weasley and Granger were a lost cause, they would die for the boy, but the others, perhaps they could be fixed? But she couldn't wait until their detentions were over, and besides, all they might do is reinforce their defiance of established Ministry doctrine. But how could she shut him up...?

And then, the thought struck her, and smiling evilly, she entered her classroom.

XX

Ron looked at Hermione worriedly as the two of them sat in the common room following their detention with Umbridge. Everyone had now heard the story of what had happened outside her classroom, and while there was some negative muttering, there was a lot more muttering pointing to people perhaps admitting that Harry could be right and Umbridge nothing more than a tyrannical despot who was determined to silence anyone who didn't agree with her take on the matter.

Dinner, as such, had been an interesting affair, with the whole school looking at the Gryffindor fifth years with derision, but many more were looking at them with either thoughtful expressions, considering their view, or with respect. Obviously Umbridge had clocked all this and as such was being even more vindictive and vicious than she usually was while splitting people up at dinner. The other teachers had given no indication, but Hermione was convinced she had seen McGonagall flick then a rather proud look, and one of great disappointment and disgust aimed at Seamus.

After dinner they had all reported to her office, where she had crammed in enough desks for them all, and with Harry sat in front of her, she had given them all lines, savagely savouring the hisses of pain from them all as they had their hands ripped open, however they had all met Umbridge's bulging, furious eyes with defiant stares, making it clear that she wasn't getting to them. Sneaking in fury, she had dismissed everyone except Harry, with a taunt that she would see if they were still as defiant at the end of the weeks detentions.

However that had been four hours ago, and Harry's two best friends were concerned. Harry should have been back long before now, even with Umbridge being a sadistic, evil old cow. He still hasn't made an appearance, which meant two things: one, it meant the evil old toad was still torturing him and has been for the better part of eight hours, and two, he would need to come back towards the common room when there were dozens of Dementors patrolling the corridors, and with no one else out at that time of night, he would be lit up like a Christmas tree for them and hence easy prey.

"Should we be worried?" Ron asked nervously as Hermione, who had been dawdling over her Ancient Runes homework, looked at the clock yet again, looking grim.

"I'm sure she's just keeping him late and lecturing him because he's got so many of us believing him." She assured him, though she didn't look as though she believed her own words, and kept glancing at the clock.

Ron looked at the clock himself, fear for Harry filling him. Something wasn't right, he could feel it. His best friend should have been back a lot earlier than that, even with Umbridge administering the detention. He was concerned, and he couldn't concentrate on his Divination homework while he worried about Harry. He wanted Harry safety back in the common room, where he knew he was safe, where...where he could personally make sure Harry was safe.

And no there wasn't anything to do with these weird feelings he'd been having for Harry recently about it, this was strictly one friend being concerned for another. Well, that was what he was telling himself anyway.

Another half hour passed, and Ron couldn't remember time passing this slowly since Ginny had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets. It was now quarter to midnight, and he and Hermione were the only people left in the common room.

"Hermione..." Ron said anxiously, biting his lip and drawing blood, and Hermione, who had admitted defeat and stopped attempting her homework, exchanged a terrified glance with him.

"I'm sure she's just kept him really late," she said, sounding very much like she was trying to convince herself more than him, "but...we give it fifteen more minutes. If there's still no sign of him, then we go and find him." She decided, looking determined, and Ron, though he didn't like forestalling taking action in this regard, appreciated how willing she was for the two of them to go out, after hours, to find their friend, into a castle swarming with Dementors.

He only hoped that they were either not needed, or weren't too late

XX

They even gave it an extra five minutes in the end. However at five past midnight, Hermione gave Ron a terrified look, got to her feet and nodded grimly.

"Go and wake up your brothers, I'll get Ginny. Together, we'll find him." She ordered and his heart pounding in terror for Harry, he got to his feet and sprinted up the stairs, to the seventh year dormitory and entered as quietly as he could.

Seeing a shock of red hair, and figuring it didn't matter which one he woke, he crossed the room and started to shake one of his twin brothers awake.

"Fred! George! Whichever one you are, wake up!" He hissed in a deadly whisper.

His brother however ignored him and simply wrapped the covers tighter round himself.

"Mhnnn...Angelina..." he mumbled (so it was Fred then) and despite the seriousness of the situation, Ron smirked before giving in and blowing in Fred's ear and his brother gave a small yelp as he woke and propped himself up on his elbows, looking around blearily before he spotted his white faced baby brother, and instantly telling that Ron was in quite some distress, suddenly became wide awake.

"What is it? Wait, how much of that did your hear?" He asked, looking terrified, and Ron's smug smirk told him all he needed to know, "ok what's it going to cost me to stop you telling everyone about...about that name I just muttered?" He asked and Ron shook his head

"I'll give you it for free if you want, provided you help me! Look, Harry didn't come back from his detention with Umbridge, it's past midnight! Please Fred, I need your help." He said breathlessly, and Fred sat up proper, looking worried himself.

"He didn't come back, how long has he been with her?" He demanded worriedly, and Ron looked desperately at his older brother.

"Since dinner." He told him, trying not to let his brother know how scared for Harry he was.

Fred's eyes widened in horrified realisation as the full implication sank in, and Fred then threw his pillow at George who awoke with a surprised cry.

"George, wake up! We need to find Harry! Don't worry baby brother," Fred said climbing to his feet and beginning to get dressed, "well find him. Meet you downstairs in five minutes. And yeah, so remember and you know, keep quiet..." he mumbled, but Ron was just so delighted they were helping he simply nodded and hurtled downstairs to find a rather dishevelled looking Hermione, who kind of looked like she had been ravaged, and he raised an eyebrow at her appearance.

"What happened to you?" He asked, and she sent him a peeved look.

"Well your sister is rather an angry sleeper, and didn't appreciate me waking her." She complained tartly, and be sniggered.

"She hit you with a Bat Bogey Hex didn't she?" He snickered, and she glared at him irritably.

"Yes she did and it isn't an experience I'd like to repeat. Maybe you should get the cloak?" She asked nervously, and he nodded, hurtling upstairs to find it inside Harry's trunk and came back down to find his twin brothers and his sister waiting with Hermione.

"Hermione filled us in, I think you're right to be worried. Didn't you get the map?" George asked, but Ron shook his head.

"No it's not here. Harry's been taking it to his detentions so he can more easily avoid the Dementors when he comes back, and if he actually is still with Umbridge, we can't risk summoning it either!" He moaned, and his siblings exchanged dark looks before Fred nodded, taking charge.

"Alright, Ginny you come with me and George, don't argue!" He snapped, as she had opened her mouth furiously to protest, and Ron was shocked to see a side of his big brother that he had never seen before, well not from either of the twins anyway, that of a born leader protecting their younger sibling, "while Ron goes with Hermione. The three of us will be together, you two take the cloak. We'll stay together down to Umbridge's office, and if Harry's not there, we can split up ok? Don't worry guys," he said firmly, though he looked more at Ron as he said it, "we'll find him."

Hermione pursed her lips, and looked nervously at the Weasleys.

"Ok but if Harry isn't with Umbridge, I think we should get Professor McGonagall. It's all well and good us looking for Harry, but if we run into the Dementors, we're all kinds of screwed as only the teachers and Harry can use the Patronus" she told them, and while they all exchanged forbidding glances (their head of house would be less than delighted with five of her students searching the deserted and Dementor ridden school after curfew especially looking for another student), they did agree with her.

"Ok, let's go. Please be ok Harry," Ron whispered under his breath as they all left the common room together, wands drawn, determined to find him before it was too late.

XX

It transpired that Harry was not still in Umbridge's office, and that the place was shut up tight.

It had been a harrowing trip down to the third floor, with the five of them having four close encounters with Dementors, who seemed to realise there was someone out of bed, but so far their luck had held. Upon discovering Harry wasn't still with their tyrannical High Inquisitor, Ron and Hermione had let out a vehement curse, which had made the Bloody Baron, who had been floating up the stairs apparently lost in his own thoughts and hence didn't notice the five students, turn around a float away as fast as he could looking vaguely alarmed believing he had discovered some rather foul mouthed spirit.

"Ok I think you're right Hermione, we need McGonagall." Ginny told her as she chivvied them all into the secret slide that would led them to the first floor, which all of them took and only narrowly avoided a Dementor on the third floor, which turned the corner into the corridor they had been in just as Fred brought up the rear and they made good their escape.

Edging along the corridor, taking a circuitous detour to avoid a patrol of two Dementors, they finally arrived at their head of houses door, braced themselves for the worst, and knocked.

"Hell's tits! Now what?" McGonagall grumbled as she opened the door to her office, still fully dressed, so at least they hadn't woken her.

However as she went white with anger and her mouth became the thinnest of thin lines, they kind of wished she had had some sleep to offset whatever dressing down they were about to get.

"What on earth are you lot doing out, when its way passed curfew, on your own, in the middle of the night, in a school infested with Dementors!?" She thundered furiously, and Hermione, rather bravely in the Weasley's opinion, hesitantly explained the situation.

McGonagall went from looking furious to looking terrified.

"He didn't come back?" She asked weakly, now white and shaking as the implications, the fears, and the scenarios ran through her head at a million miles a minute.

"No professor!" Hermione wailed, and McGonagall nodded to herself before leaving her office.

"Very well, under the circumstances I'll overlook all of you being out of bed at this time of night. All of you stay close to me!" She warned, and with wand drawn, she led them towards the third floor, thankfully avoiding the Dementors en route, her wand drawn.

"Professor, do you think we're overreacting?" Ron asked nervously, afraid every shadow was a Dementor preparing to pounce, but McGonagall shook her head darkly.

"I would like to think you are Mr Weasley, but I have a horrible feeling in my gut that says...stay where you are!" She hissed, raising her hand to stop their progress, and they all raised their wands behind her as footsteps approached, all of them prepared to strike only to be met, to their surprise, by the shocked face of Albus Dumbledore.

"Goodness Minerva, what's going on here? Why-?" He asked, and upon seeing who was escorting her, his eyes widened and he went grey as the implication set in.

"Tell me everything." He ordered, his tone broaching no argument, and as they did so he looked more and more alarmed.

"What should we do Albus?" McGonagall asked worriedly, and he looked significantly at her over the top of his glasses.

"We search Minerva. I shall take the twins and Miss Weasley, you take Mr Weasley and Miss Granger. It is imperative we find Harry." He said darkly, drawing his own wand, and Hermione looked at their headmaster, her face white with terror.

"You don't think Umbridge has..." She squeaked, but Dumbledore shook his head.

"She wouldn't do anything so overt, but I can't rule out satisfactorily that she isn't involved.

Now come, time could be of the essence." He told them and the twins and Ginny followed him one path Harry might have taken while McGonagall led the other two in another direction.

As they scoured the third floor however, their hearts pounding in their chests out of terror for what could have happened to Harry, so much so that even Dumbledore was worried as much as they were, he was struck by a curious thought: there weren't any Dementors floating around, which was just weird. With the whole school under garrison, their absence in the dark corridors spoke volumes, but about what he couldn't be sure, but he was convinced it was nothing good.

The fourth floor was similarly clear, and Hermione and he exchanged concerned glances, then stole a glance at McGonagall who looked both worried and nervous at the same time, clearly the lack of the soul sucking fiends was unsettling her too. The three proceeded in silence, wands raised but their progress continued unimpeded.

"Are you sure about the paths he would take back to Gryffindor tower?" McGonagall asked as they ventured up to the fifth floor, and Ron nodded.

"Yeah, but there's only so many ways he can get back to the common room, he can't have disappeared. I swear if he's on top of the Astronomy Tower contemplating his navel..." he grumbled, and McGonagall gave him a reproving look but she did briefly smile.

"Then I'll help you throw him off it." She promised him and Ron smirked just as Hermione abruptly stopped, holding out her hand.

"Professor, look!" She whispered, and she and Ron peered along the corridor where she was pointing, and Ron's insides went ice cold.

There was an entire swarm of Dementors clustering in the corridor, looking vaguely as though they were gathering for something akin to a staff meeting, floating menacingly down the middle of the corridor, past the bust of Paracelsus that Peeves kept trying to drop on people, swirling like some dark maelstrom.

"What are they doing?" Hermione asked, but McGonagall has gone white with terror, and flicked her wand, not towards the Dementors, but back the way they came.

"Expecto patronum!" She whispered frantically, and from the look on her face, Ron realised what she feared with a burst of sickened fear and he strained his eyes, praying, hoping against hope he wouldn't find what she seemed to think they would find.

But then, as steps thundered along the corridor towards them from behind them, Dumbledore the very definition of fury, cold, broiling anger emitting from the very core of his body, Ron spotted it...a cold, white hand lying on the floor, clutching a very old piece of parchment.

Hermione had spotted it as he had and gave out a shriek of terrified alarm, which drew the attention of the Dementors, who turned as one and sped towards them all. Hermione, Ron and his siblings raised their wands but the all powerful headmaster and deputy headmistress raised their wands in unison, their faces defining fury, and together the two of them roared:

"Expecto patronum!"

A blazing white Phoenix and cat surged from their wands, and the Dementors broke their charge but were cast down by the two charms, the corridor flooding with brilliant white light and banishing the Dementors from sight.

"HARRY!" Ron yelled, blazing up the now deserted corridor, Hermione and his siblings hot on his heels, the teachers bringing up the rear, as Ron reached Harry, who was lying unconscious on the floor, his entire body shaking with cold, his skin as white as alabaster, barely breathing.

"Away!" Dumbledore urged, and Ron reluctantly moved away from Harry as the headmaster examined him, Ron shaking in fear while Fred held his shoulder, looking nauseous and terrified, while George wrapped an arm around Hermione who was crying into her hands which were clasped over her mouth, and Ginny, who also had tears in her eyes, was holding onto McGonagall who seemed about to collapse, she was nearly as white as Harry, her entire body quaking, and her face was the picture of nausea and her mouth was razor thin.

"He's alive, he's just suffering from overexposure to the cold and to the Dementors. Well take him to the hospital wing, you may remain with him until Madam Pomfrey gives him the once over," he said kindly, looking at them all proudly, "and then I'll have to insist you go back to bed. You did the right thing tonight, and the loyalty and dedication you have shown is exactly the sort of loyalty that Gryffindor house lives by. Now come, let us not keep Madam Pomfrey waiting any longer." He said, waving his wand and allowing Harry to float into the air, while George discreetly pocketed the Marauders Map.

However as their entourage proceeded to the hospital wing, they caught a look on the faces of both teachers that made it clear that this was far from over.

XX

"You found him on the floor?" Madam Pomfrey demanded in outrage as she checked Harry over while everyone else watched on worriedly, and McGonagall nodded, her teeth and jaw clenched too tightly to speak.

She bustled about, checking Harry over, and they all sighed in collective relief as she announced that despite being swarmed by Dementors, his soul remained intact. She lamented now cold he was, and stuck some orange potion down his throat, and a second later steam started billowing from Harry's ears, and as one they all relaxed.

"So he'll be alright?" George asked, looking at Harry worriedly, and Madam Pomfrey nodded kindly, though she clicked her tongue worriedly.

"Yes, once he's awake in the morning, I figure it's better to let him sleep, I'll force feed him the biggest chocolate bar I can find if need be, but once he has that he'll be as good as new. You all did the right thing." She told them proudly, and Dumbledore and McGonagall both nodded, though their head of house still seemed unable to actually speak.

Dumbledore started to say something, but he caught sight of the look on McGonagall's face, one that was closely mirrored by that of the matron, and the five students clustered around Harry's bed could feel the rising tension, and had a feeling this was about to get very ugly between them all, and so reckoned it was time to take their leave.

As they traipsed to the door, flanked by Madam Pomfrey's capybara patronus (a strange creature but made perfect sense for the matron), Ron turned back to them.

"Madam Pomfrey, could you maybe give Harry a potion for dreamless sleep? When he gets attacked by Dementors, he hears You Know Who murdering his parents and Cedric, and considering what happened, he'll probably be hearing it on a loudspeaker loop." He explained sadly, and McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey raised their hands to their mouths in shock at his proclamation, but she did nod.

"Of course Weasley. Good night." She said, her voice wavering in sympathetic shock, and summoned the potion to her as they all left, leaving the scene of mounting tension behind them.

They didn't even get to the end of the corridor before it exploded, with the voices of all three members of staff thundering behind them as a blazing row erupted back in Madam Pomfreys office inside the hospital wing, and the group of them made good their escape.

XX

"How you feeling?" Ron asked first thing the next morning, before he and Hermione had even gone down for breakfast, and they had been joined in short order by the twins and Ginny, all of whom looked profoundly relieved that Harry was in one piece, and Harry, who had his arms wrapped around him, looked irritably at Ron.

"Swell," he snapped angrily, and Hermione laid a hand on his wrist while Harry flashed Ron an apologetic look, which he shrugged in response to, he had more immediate problems than Harry's attitude.

"We've got the map, wish we could have used it to find you last night." George told Harry, clapping his shoulder, and Harry shook his head.

"It was like it failed me." He whispered, sounding so hurt by this that Ron reached out a consoling hand and held Harry's wrist, but Fred frowned, looking at Harry in concern.

"How do you mean Harry? I thought you used the map to avoid the Dementors, what happened?"

They all looked at each other significantly, as they had all gone over this last night when they had gotten back to the common room, and also figured that their take on the matter was the same as the teachers considering the row that had erupted after they had left the hospital wing.

"I was using it like I normally do, I was eventually let away by Umbridge, and was watching the map. I saw them coming so, I went a different route, but then some started coming that way too. Wherever I went," he whispered, the terror he had faced the night before, the screams of his parents and the echoes of Cedric's murder echoing in his head all on his attempted journey back to the safety of the common room, spilling into his voice, "they were just there. I kept checking the map but it was like they were being drawn to me, stalking me. They cornered me in the Paracelsus corridor, I tried to get away but I was getting into a panic, and I think I just walked into a nest of them, and obviously if I used a patronus she would put me in detention again, so I tried to make a break for it, there were too many, and by the time I realised I needed to use a patronus, there was too many, it wouldn't, wouldn't come, and then they surrounded me, and I started hearing it all, Voldemort, my mum and dad, Cedric, and there was so many...I must have passed out, and then the next thing I knew I woke up in here, with Madam Pomfrey force feeding me a small boulder of chocolate this morning." He explained, keeping the anger, fear and despair from his voice, but despite what his twin brothers would say later, Ron wrapped Harry in a hug and felt Harry return it eagerly.

The twins however said nothing, their faces wearing identically ugly expressions as they exchanged dark looks with Hermione and Ginny.

"It's not reached the school yet, as far as we can tell," Hermione assured him, knowing that the thought of the taunting he was going to receive was getting to him, "but we have some suspicions." She told him, noticing Ron was gently stroking Harry's hair while her other friend looked at her, his eyes narrowed.

"We also think the teachers, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, agree with us, considering the rather loud shouting match they had as we left last night," Ginny growled, and Harry sat up a bit straighter, only sparing the briefest hint of regret that Ron wasn't stroking his hair anymore.

"And what do you think?" Harry asked in a deadly voice, not unlike the same chilling one he had used to threaten Seamus the day before.

"Care to hazard a guess?" Ron asked, sitting back on his chair after moving off Harry's bed, but as Harry's green eyes widened furiously it was clear he was filling in the same blanks they had the night before, "we think that after we stood up to her and said we believed you, Umbridge was keen to shut you up however she could. Which includes trying to silence you with Dementors in such a way that she could make it look like a tragic accident if it worked and get away with it without being implicated herself."

Hello and the very best of new years to you all!

I had hoped to upload this before i went to cuba (i would recommend the place to anyone), but i didnt get it done so i did the rest of it while sitting in the bar sipping cocktails, so apologies if theres any spelling mistakes

Theres another half of this section to come, but i felt it best to get this section out the way

So Umbridge is tightening the noose around Harry, and is now abusing her power even more, and something makes me think shes going to get away with it too. Poor Harry will be further struggling to cope under these draconian new measures and something makes me think shell only get worse

So if youre still reading this story please read and review and i hope to upload the second part soon!