A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. Thank you to those who have added the story to their Alerts/Favorites and who have added me to their author Alerts/Favorites. I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Happy reading! XO

Chapter 49

Annie woke up in the morning slightly disoriented forgetting that she was at Hogwarts and not in her room at Grimmauld Place. As she sat up in her four-poster bed, she realized she hadn't slept as well as she had since the night before she arrived at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix when she had slept over at the Potters'. She swung her feet over the side of her bed and made her way to her trunk.

"Morning, Lavender. Morning, Parvati," she greeted with a yawn when she saw them. The two did not answer but instead carried on with their conversation. "Have either of you seen Hermione?"

"I'm right here," Hermione answered walking out of the bathroom with her toothbrush in hand. She reached forward and made a quick grab as a t-shirt was thrown in her direction by Annie who was rifling through her trunk for clothes. "If you're looking for some robes, they're right at the end of your bed. I already set them out for you."

Annie looked up and found the robes she was talking about and snatched them off the bed. "Thanks, Hermione! I don't know what I'd do without you."

"She'd probably get expelled from Hogwarts," Lavender whispered to Parvati. The pair looked over at Annie who was struggling to pull her shirt over her head and giggled.

"I wouldn't doubt that statement, Lavender," Annie said as she emerged from her shirt with her curly hair disheveled. "But really, I've said it before: if you have something to say about me, just say it to my face and not behind my back." Lavender's face grew red and she quickly pulled Parvati out of the room. Annie shook her head and started to pull on her shoes.

"What is her problem?" Annie asked tying up her laces. "First, last night when Lavender said she didn't believe Harry, and just now when she insulted my behavior. Really, what is her problem?"

Hermione shrugged and pulled her bag up on her shoulder. "Honestly, I don't think you should really worry about her. I think she just enjoys being catty." Annie laughed and stood up. She grabbed her backpack and shoved her books in before following Hermione down the stairs to the common room.

Down in the common room Harry and Ron were waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "Morning!" Annie greeted cheerily.

"Morning," Harry answered glumly.

"Geez, who peed in your Cheerios?" Annie asked nudging him with her elbow.

"Well, seeing how we haven't eaten breakfast yet, no one," Harry replied snippily. "Seamus doesn't believe me about Voldemort."

"Lavender doesn't either," Annie said ignoring Ron's shuddering. "Honestly, Harry, don't get too worked up about this. They'll come around eventually."

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess you're right."

"Ron, have you seen this?" Hermione asked indicating a post on the announcement board. Ron leaned around Hermione to read and shook his head. "We need to talk to them about this. They cannot test their products on students."

"Are you talking about Fred and George's ad for people to test their Weasley Wizard Wheezes products?" Annie asked looking around at Hermione.

"You know about this?" Hermione questioned ripping down the advertisement.

"Of course. I'm the one that drew it up," Annie said leading them to the portrait hole.

"Annie, they can't test their things on students! It's not safe!" Hermione exclaimed as they walked down to the Great Hall.

Annie shook her head and laughed. "Yes it is! I've tested them myself."

"Really? And how's that going for you?" Ron asked with slight bemusement.

"Yeah, as I recall about a week ago you were sitting on the bathroom floor puking for about two hours," Harry chimed in.

"That was a side-effect and they've already fixed it," Annie said going slightly pink in the face. "Besides, they wouldn't test anything on anybody if they knew it wasn't almost ready. They have a system."

They finally reached the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table, Annie next to George and Fred, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione across from them. Annie and Ron fought over dishes when Hermione started in on Fred and George.

"You cannot test your products on students," she declared giving them stern looks.

"I don't see why we can't," George shrugged. "Do you, Freddie?"

"No, Georgie, I don't," Fred said smiling at Hermione.

Hermione huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. "Well, Ron and I feel that it is unsafe for the students."

"Don't get me involved," Ron warned as he stuffed some eggs in his mouth.

"Hermione, do you really think we would test this stuff on students if we didn't think it was safe?" Fred asked pointedly.

"We do have a system," George added as he watched Annie steal a piece of bacon off his plate.

"That's exactly what I said," Annie said.

"Oh?" Hermione asked curiously. "And what exactly is this system?"

"Well, first we test it on ourselves and make the necessary improvements," Fred started.

"Then we test it again on ourselves, and then, if it's good enough, we test it on Lee and Annie," George said further with Annie nodding at his side.

"Yeah, it's completely harmless," Annie said waving her fork around.

"Exactly," George agreed. "Anyway, we almost didn't come back this year but we figured we could use this time to do some research."

"Yeah, we figured what's the point in coming back now that we've got -" But Fred restrained from spilling their financial secret after noticing Harry's and Annie's warning glances. "Now that we've got our O.W.L.s. We think we've learned all we can from Hogwarts."

Hermione eyed them suspiciously. "If I hear one word about your products causing some type of problem -"

"You'll turn us into McGonagall. Yeah, yeah, we know," Fred said standing up gesturing for George to do the same. "If we leave now, we might be able to sell a few things before Herbology." As Fred made his way down the Gryffindor table and stopped to recruit Lee, George bent down and kissed Annie on the cheek.

"See you later, babe."

"Good luck!" Annie called to his retreating back and then returned to her breakfast.

"You know, I really wonder where they got their money," Ron said as he watched his brothers and their friend leave the Great Hall. Annie choked on her breakfast but said nothing. "They couldn't have made that much money from last year."

"I was wondering that too," Hermione said eyeing Annie. "You wouldn't happen to know anything would you?"

Annie swallowed her food and took a sip of milk before answering. "What? Oh, I wasn't paying attention. Hey, are those our schedules?"

Professor McGonagall was making her way down the Gryffindor table passing out the course schedules. Annie took hers with a murmur of thanks and groaned after she saw her classes for the day.

"Today is going to be horrible isn't it?" she asked as they stood up and began making their way out of the Great Hall.

"You're telling me," Ron said leading them toward the History of Magic classroom. "Binns, Snape, Trelawney, and that Umbridge woman all in one day. This is cruel."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you and Harry still have Divination," Annie said nudging Ron with her elbow.

"At least we can sleep for a bit in History of Magic," Harry suggested.

"You will not!" Hermione scolded as they walked into the classroom and took seats in the back.

Annie took out her book and opened it to a random page and laid her head down. As she slept through History of Magic, Ron and Harry took turns throwing bits of parchment into her shaggy hair. When the bell rang, she woke up suddenly and the pieces fell to the floor. She scowled at Harry and Ron who were howling with laughter and ran a hand through her hair to make sure she got them all out. Hermione shook her head disapprovingly and led them out of the classroom to the dungeons where they were to have their first Potions lesson.

"I hate Potions," Annie whined as they walked down the corridor toward the classroom.

"Too bad," Hermione answered. "You'll probably need to score a decent O.W.L. in it if you want to work in the Ministry someday."

"But I just want to play Quidditch," Annie sighed, leaning up against the wall as they waited for Professor Snape to let them into the classroom.

"Hermione's right, Annie," Harry chipped in. Annie gave him a scandalous look. "Well, think of it this way: if you ever retire from playing, you want to work in the Department of Magical Games and Sports right?" Annie nodded her confirmation and he continued. "There is a lot of performance enhancing potions out there that you are going to have to identify and keep the usage under control."

Annie sighed and mumbled, "Gwenog Jones wouldn't use them."

"She doesn't need to," Ron said ruffling Annie's hair.

As Annie daydreamed about playing professional Quidditch one day, her friends turned to the topic of the career advice they would be given later on in the year. Snape, meanwhile, had let them enter the classroom and they took their usual seats at a table in the back. After a horrendous lesson where Harry had his potion scrutinized and cleared away by Snape and Annie had lost Gryffindor their first points of the year for mouthing off, they were finally dismissed and headed to lunch before their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.

They walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to find that most of their classmates had already been seated. Annie sat down next to Harry and dug her wand and book out of her bag. Professor Umbridge was seated at her desk with her hands clasped on her desk and a smile plastered on her face giving the allusion of sweetness. Once the class had settled down, Professor Umbridge stood up to address the class.

"Good afternoon, class," she greeted giving them a wide grin. A few students murmured their hellos and she clicked her tongue. "No, no. When I greet you I would like all of you to say "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge." Now we will try this again. Good afternoon, class."

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," the class sing-songed back.

"Wonderful," she said kindly. "Now will you all put your wands away and please take out your quill and parchment."

Annie looked around at Harry and they exchanged a confused look as they stowed their wands back in their bags. When Annie looked up Professor Umbridge had written the name of the book on the board.

"I am here from the Ministry to teach you Defense Against the Dark Arts in a more controlled and safe environment. The curriculum will be more theory based about defensive magic. Now, please copy the course aims written on the blackboard." Professor Umbridge waved her wand and the course aims appeared.

Annie sighed and began to scratch them out on her parchment as Professor Umbridge walked around the classroom checking over the students' work. When the class had finished, she walked to the front of the classroom and addressed them once more.

"Please take out your Defensive Magical Theory textbooks and turn to chapter one and begin reading," she said. They class took out their books as she sat down at her desk to survey the classroom.

It was quiet as Annie tried to read her book but just could not focus on the words. After a few minutes she gave up and looked around the classroom and saw Hermione sitting with her hand thrust in the air, her book in front of her unopened. Professor Umbridge pretended not to notice Hermione with her hand raised until she couldn't any longer when she saw that the entire class had stopped reading and turned their attention to Hermione. She stood up and walked over to Hermione.

"Did you have a question?" she asked giving her a polite smile.

"Yes," Hermione answered putting her hand down. "Your course aims don't say anything about using spells."

Professor Umbridge blinked and raised her eyebrows. "What is your name dear?"

"Hermione Granger," she answered with all eyes on her.

"Miss Granger, why on earth would you need to use spells in a classroom? Are you expecting to be attacked?" Professor Umbridge asked as if the answer was absolutely ridiculous. She stood up and rested her hands on her desk.

"You mean we aren't going to use any magic this year?" Ron yelled out looking extremely confused.

"You will raise your hand in my class, Mr.-?"

"Ron Weasley."

As Hermione raised her hand again, Annie saw Harry do the same out of the corner of her eye. Professor Umbridge glazed right over Harry and smiled sweetly at Hermione.

"You had another question dear?" she asked.

"Aren't we supposed to practice spells in Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

Professor Umbridge's smile faded and she spoke in a stern voice. "Ms. Granger, you will be learning about defensive magic in a safe way without using spells. This curriculum is approved by the Ministry and therefore is proven to work."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Harry ejaculated. "If we're going to be attacked, we should know how to defend ourselves."

"Yeah!" Annie yelled out slamming her quill down on top of her book.

"You will raise your hand and wait to be called on," Professor Umbridge scolded. She turned away from Annie and Harry and ignored their now raised hands.

"It is my understanding that you have had inadequate teachers in the past," she said giving them a falsely sweet smile. "Some of which were irresponsible, inept in the subject, and of course one being a highly dangerous and filthy half-breed." She gave a shrill little laugh and shook her head.

Annie's face grew red as anger boiled inside of her. "Are you talking about Professor Lupin?" she asked as calmly as she could. Harry eyed her cautiously.

"But of course," Professor Umbridge confirmed. Annie nodded and tipped her book, inkwell, parchment and quill into her bag.

"Suddenly, I don't feel very well," she muttered before storming out of the classroom without another word. Ignoring Professor Umbridge's attempts to call her back, she walked as quickly as she could down the corridor to Professor McGonagall's office. She knocked rapidly on the door and waited for the professor to answer. Professor McGonagall pulled open her door and stared down at Annie.

"What on earth are you doing here, Ms. Black?" she asked gesturing for Annie to come into her office. Annie sat down in a chair as Professor McGonagall resumed her seat behind her desk.

"I walked out on Professor Umbridge's class," Annie said shrugging her shoulders and clutching her backpack to her chest. "And I came here because I figured she would send me here anyway to receive my detention. Speaking of detention, do I really need to come tonight?"

Professor McGonagall took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, you do need to serve detention with me tonight. Why did you walk out on Professor Umbridge's class?"

"She insulted Remus," Annie said angrily. "She called him a 'filthy half-breed.'"

"That is no reason to walk out on a class, Ms. Black," Professor McGonagall lectured.

"Would you rather me stay and listen to her talk more and get even angrier than I already am?"

"No. I would like you to stay in class and keep your anger under control," Professor McGonagall answered.

"But she's awful!" Annie argued. "She's making us read the textbook."

"Good heavens," Professor McGonagall interjected. "She's making you read the textbook? Well surely she must be stopped."

"That's what I'm saying!" Annie agreed, not picking up on her professor's sarcasm. "And she's not letting us use magic! What kind of professor does that in a Defense Against the Darks class?"

Professor McGonagall removed her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. A sudden knock on her door averted her attention from the student in front of her and she stood up to answer to see who it was. Harry stood in the doorway looking to be in a similar state that Annie was in and clutching a note in his hand.

"What have you done, Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked ushering him into her office and gesturing for him to sit in the chair next to Annie's. She made her way back around her desk and sat back down and glared at the two students before her. "Don't tell me you've stormed out of Professor Umbridge's classroom as well."

"No, Professor," Harry answered handing over the note. "She told me to deliver this note to you."

Professor McGonagall took the note and Harry and Annie waited to hear what their new professor had to say.

"Did you really have an outburst in Professor Umbridge's classroom, Potter?" she addressed Harry after reading the note.

"Yes, Professor," he answered as Annie grinned at him. "She's out of her mind!"

"Told you," Annie interrupted.

"She kicked me out of her classroom for saying that Voldemort is back and that he killed Cedric. She thinks it's just some little accident, that he just dropped down dead." Harry said angrily.

"What a moron," Annie said watching Harry recount what had happened since she left the classroom. Professor McGonagall had taken her glasses off again and was pinching the bridge of her nose to release the tension from her headache.

"Potter, while all of what you have told Professor Umbridge is true, you need to control what you say around her," she warned as she replaced her glasses. "And the both of you need to control your anger."

"So we're just supposed to sit back and let her insult our relatives?" Annie asked shaking her head in disbelief.

"And let her lie to the class when she says that Voldemort isn't back?" Harry asked looking just as confused as Annie.

"For the time being, yes," their professor answered. "You two both have parents that work for the Ministry. With Professor Umbridge's position there and at Hogwarts, it would be best if you both kept your mouths shut and to keep your opinions low. Who knows what might happen to you or your parents' jobs if either of you speak freely of what is happening."

Annie looked to Harry who had slumped back in his chair in defeat. It was true. Their parents could end up being investigated or lose their jobs and neither Harry nor Annie wanted that.

"I guess you're right," Annie admitted looking down at the Hollyhead Harpies button fastened to her backpack. Harry nodded even though Annie could tell he was still fuming on the inside.

"Good," Professor McGonagall affirmed. "Now, Potter, this note says here that Professor Umbridge has assigned you detention every night this week."

"What? Can't you get me out of it?"

"No, Potter. This was not my punishment to give. You will report to Professor Umbridge's office tomorrow evening at seven o'clock."

Harry sighed. "Okay."

"Wait, does that note say anything about me?" Annie asked standing up and leaning forward as she tried to read the note upside down.

"No, it is just about Mr. Potter."

"Yeah," Harry said standing up as well. "After you left Umbridge asked me where you had gone to and I said you weren't feeling well. She didn't seem angry about that."

"Joy," Annie said as Professor McGonagall ushered them out the door. "See you tonight for detention, Professor."

"Seven o'clock," Professor McGonagall reminded her.

The two teenagers made their way down the corridor and traveled all the way up to Gryffindor Tower. Once they climbed through the portrait hole, they each deposited their bags in their dorms and sat down in the common room to wait for Ron and Hermione to come back from class.