A/N: Ugh, I feel like I just wrote a boring Umbridge sandwich. Somebody go back in time and beat the crap out of that woman and stuff her into a closet before she can start her speech, please.

Anyways Guys, I'm back. I realize there's still a whole slew of issues with this one - mainly that I somehow managed to write the Great Hall scene completely backwards - but because this is for fun I've just kinda gone with it instead of editing this fifteen million times. That and I know from reading fic that often "issues me-the-author is worried about" usually translates to "a lot of things readers never really pick up on", and I don't want to be anal about that if people really aren't going to be put off by it.

The 6th Spectral King: Awesome! Add on challenge: Fem!Harry/Male! Hermiony.

Sorry, but no. Not that that wouldn't be interesting to add in (especially the whole Ron/Hermione thing), but I've already got a firm idea of what direction this story would be going in, and it's going to be less challenge!fun and more why-are-you-so-into-political-intrigue-style-plots-you-weirdo!fun. Or at least I think it is. Maybe. I'm still kinda waiting for inspiration to rise up and fish-slap me on this one.

I'd like to thank FanFreader, matian-general-bookworm, BrownHair2918, neah20, Pegasus Sword Master, The 6th Spectral King, and buslimpan for reviewing this story. I'd also like to than murry21, DrakePL, FeralBass, DaniFenton7thGradePhantom, NoxTheShadowWolf, HIHelloIWeird, AnnaRooma, Kimera20, The King's Knight, supaherolena02, 1eragon33, Jidt, SkaianClouds, GF255, therealideal10311, Soluns Skystar, Kimori Takahashi, Barren, draconis ignitus, Darknesswhereibelong, Some Weird Chick, TheSilentWarden, astroshadow, and DC-Hannah Falls for Favoriting it already, and murry21, ummmmmno530, creepygirl201, Lalenja, Bahey, Mortis Timere, female dragon, FeralBass, Reading for escape, Wilco pop, DaniFento7thGradePhantom, MoonShadow7117, Shadow Rhythm, Oyote, Ivy1t412, dragooner, AnnaRooma, neah20, Annuun, Kimera20, supaherolena02, princesspinas, Jayyefire, Carolina 36, 1eragon33, Azorawing, Jidt, SkaianClouds, Wingd knight, icyblast68101, RedHerring1412, GF255, therealdeal10311, namelessDrifter, Pegasus Sword Master, cheerfullygrim, MaterMind, KHfreak21, Soluna Skystar, messie23, Mariepc, The Dark Imperial, DoctorKnight, Kimori Takahashi, EcoReibun, Barren the Inventor, Dayndra, Sean Sinari, .562, east321,JennaUtena, NoSignalBlueScreen, islamy96, Darknesswhereibelong, Some Weird Chick, Batman Lamp-Writer, buslimpan, astroshadow, RemmySpectre, DC-Hannah Falls, and Haruhibunny for deciding to follow it. And dear god let's hope I didn't spell any names wrong or miss any of you, because that's a goddamned lot of people.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

-o0o-

Danny watched as the students entered, sitting down at each of the great wood tables. He tapped his fingers against the table he himself was sitting at, feeling the thick thud of old polished wood. This place definitely had something on the cafeteria he'd grown up with. But then again, they were also at a boarding school in a castle in the middle of Scothland. There wasn't much in common with this place and his old high school besides the ages of some of the students.

He glanced to his right, looking over to Dumbledore curiously. "How many students do you actually have here?"

"A few hundred, although I personally haven't bothered with the exact number." The man said, glancing momentarily to Danny before going back to watching the students filing in.

Danny's eyebrows raised, glancing to his side momentarily as a woman sat down next to him. "Wow, that isn't much. About half the size of my old high school."

Dumbledore nodded, eyes going distant. "Indeed. There used to be more, actually, a few decades ago. There was even some talk of expanding the school." Dumbledore sighed. "But unfortunately for us, times change."

Danny frowned, going back to watching the room, the hall filled with the talking of students. It didn't take much of a hint for him to catch the point. He should know - he'd been there a few decades ago. It didn't take much to realize how many of the former students had been involved in the war and didn't make it out.

He watched as the scared first years wandered in, lead by Ms. McGonagall. He wondered what the next few years would be like, for them.

The buzz of talk faded away as McGonagall set down the stool she was holding, placing a worn, old hat on top. Danny wondered for a moment why she just didn't conjure one instead of carrying it around, but kept the thought to himself. For all he knew, there was a specific reason for using that stool in particular. He looked on silently with everyone else as the hat finally moved, gathering itself up, the rip near the brim opening up like a mouth, and began singing.

In times of old when I was new
And Hogwarts barely started
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted-

Danny wondered, briefly, what his friends would think of all this, if they'd been here now.

"He's not there."

Both Ron and Hermione' eyes where darting over the staff table, looking for Hagrid, without any luck.

"He can't have left." Ron said, anxious.

"Of course not." Harry said firmly.

"You don't think he's... hurt or anything, do you?" Hermione asked uneasily

"No." Harry said immediately.

"But where is he, then?"

Harry paused, before lowering his voice. "Maybe he's not back yet, You know - from his mission - the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."

"Yeah... Yeah that's got to be it." said Ron. Hermionie bit her lip, continuing to look over the staff table anxiously, before suddenly stopping.

"Who's that?"

Harry looked at Hermione, only to see her pointing up at the staff table. Sitting close to Dumbledore was a man, looking to be in his late forties. He had short black hair and thin, rectangular glasses, and wore a white shirt under a plain, black/blue robe. As Harry watched, the man turned towards the teacher next to him - Ms. Sinistra - and began talking, a clear smile on his face as he offered the woman his hand, clearly just introducing himself.

"I don't know." He said, frowning. "Maybe he's the new Defense teacher?"

"It looks like it." Ron said. "He's the only one I haven't seen before." He paused, frowning. "Wait, who's that one, then?"

Ron pointed, and Harry followed his finger to the other side of Dumbledore, a few seats down, to a small woman wearing a pink cardigan, sitting primly with her hands clasped together and her elbows on the table, waiting and watching as the students filtered in with an indulgent smile on her face. Harry's eyes widened. "I know her!"

"You do? From where?"

"That's her - that's the woman from my hearing!"

Both Hermione and Ron looked at him in shock, before both looking at the staff table. "What would she be doing here?" Hermione said. "Wait- you don't think-"

Before they could say anything else, they saw Dumbledore stand, raising his hands. The room fell into a hush, voices lowering to a soft murmur before breaking off. "To all our newcomers, welcome, and to all our old hands, welcome back." The old wizard smiled as his arm lowered. "There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

People couldn't help laughing at the pronouncement. The new teacher next to the headmaster even calling out a quick "Hear, hear!" as he joined in on the clapping. Food appeared on all the plates, and everyone did as the headmaster said and began eating.

Once they were done, the food disappeared, and Dumbledore stood again, smoothing out his beard before calling out to the school. "We have a few changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also overjoyed to introduce Professor Fenton, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was a few rounds of polite clapping, to which Professor Fenton nodded, still smiling from where he sat.

"I would also like to introduce Miss Umbridge, our new school superintendent, who will be serving as both counselor and go-between for the ministry during her stay here."

This pronouncement was followed by confused clapping, as people looked to their neighbors with looks of incomprehension. Harry cast a dubious, concerned look to both his sides, a bit mollified on catching his friends concerned glances.

Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for the House Quidditch teams will take place on the-"

Dumbledore cut himself off in mid-speech, looking to his side inquiringly at the small, squat witch sitting two seats down from him. It took people in the hall a moment to realize that she wasn't actually sitting anymore, before she cleared her throat primly. Harry realized distantly that the short witch was actually standing, intending to make a speech.

Dumbledore looked surprised for a moment, before quickly taking his seat, looking attentive. The other teachers looked gobsmacked at the sudden interruption - no staff had ever interrupted the headmaster's welcome speech before.

There was snickering from the students and the odd little woman only smiled a little saccharine smile as she finally spoke "Thank you, Headmaster, for your kind words of welcome." The breathy little voice she spoke in make Harry's stomach churn.

She cleared her throat again, continuing: "Well it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts I must say!" she said cheerily, smiling wide. "And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!"

Harry glanced around. None of the students were looking at her like that - more confused and bewildered at being talked to like they were five.

Umbridge was still smiling. Harry wasn't sure if she'd just not noticed the looks on everyone's faces, or was deliberately ignoring it. "I'm very much looking forward to meeting you all, and I'm sure we'll be wonderful friends!"

Students were now giving eachother looks, and Harry could hear quiet giggling down the table. Madame Umbridge cleared her throat again, but when she continued some of the breathless sweetness had left her voice.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you where born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the Wizarding community must be passed down through the generations lest we loose them forever."

Her voice took on a dull, oft-repeated drone that left Harry tuning out completely as she went on. Harry glance across the staff table, and could see the new professor leaning on his elbows, an eyebrow raised as he stared at the squat woman a few seats down from him. Further down Professor McGonagall's dark eyebrows were furrowed so deep she looked positively hawklike, and Harry watched as she shared a significant glance at Professor Sprout as Madame Umbridge cleared her throat yet again.

Harry wasn't the only one loosing attention as she continued on, the constant quiet attained when Dumbledore has started speaking was beginning to break, whispering and quiet laughter breaking out across the tables as she was talking. The woman continued on, ignoring all of this as she went on with her speech, the only ones really paying attention at this point being the teachers and Hermione.

"-because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgement. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability, intent on preserving what out to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that out to be prohibited."

She sat down, and Dumbledore clapped. The staff followed his lead, followed grudgingly by some of the students.

Dumbledore stood up again, before they could all applaud properly. "Thank you very much, Madame Umbridge, that was most illumination." He bowed to her. "Now - as I was saying, the Quiddich tryouts will be held this..."

"Yes it certainly was illuminating." Hermione said lowly.

"Man, that woman does not know how to give a speech." Danny said, face twisting up in something like disgust. "All pomp, no idea how to get to the point. She'd give a law textbook a run for it's money."

They were currently sitting in Dumbledore's office, Danny sprawled over a chair in front of the headmaster's desk, sucking on a lemon drop. Dumbledore gave Danny a pointed look, despite his own small smile. "I believe I'll hold to my original words - it was most illuminating."

"Yeah, for confirming everything you where worried about already." Danny bit his lip. "I hate to say this, but should I pull back on my classes...?"

"No, no everything you're doing is on point. There isn't anything she could use against you."

"What about, well..."

"You would hardly be the first to recommend that - I believe Professor Lockhart is proof of it. Besides, you aren't doing anything other than teaching to the tests."

"Maybe, but I highly doubt she or anyone else would see it that way."

"Undoubtedly." He said simply. "I doubt that would change, if we started catering to them."

Danny looked away thoughtfully, before nodding. "Good point. This isn't the situation where it seems like Fudge will be placated. I might not be known as your biggest supporter in the world, but I doubt she's going to go any easier on me unless I'm playing on her side." He said, frowning. "How much do you know about her, honestly?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Not as much as I'd like." He said, resting his elbows on his desk, interlacing his fingers. "She's been working under Fudge since his appointment to minister, and before that she was an understudy to the last Minister's secretary. She comes from a small pureblood family originally from Wales, and hasn't shown any outward support for much Muggleborn rights in the last few years. More importantly, however," he sent Danny a meaningful look above his glasses, "she's well known for her dislike of "Half-Breeds", in the traditional sense. I shudder to think what would happen if she had any contact with a centaur, or if we'd had any students with lycanthropy. It's worrisome enough what her reaction will be when Hagrid returns."

Danny cringed. "Yeah." He really didn't feel the need to bring up Hagrid's unfortunate outing as a half-giant last year. Everyone at school and most of Wizarding England was well aware that there was a half-giant teaching here now, and the height didn't do much to hide the man. "Have you received any word from him, recently?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Not much has change since the last meeting, although I have the feeling he's keeping something to himself at the moment."

"...Huh." Danny said warily. "Well, hopefully we're able to win them over. I'd hate to think the sort of things a bunch of loose giants might end up doing under Voldermort."

Dumbledore sighed, rubbing his temple. "I wish there was an easier way of going about it, but it seems the main way we'll be able to win this war is by trying to win over those groups that sided with Voldermort the during the last war. We can only hope for the best, despite that history."

"Well, I wouldn't be that dark about it. You never know, really." Danny said offhandedly. "Things can change a lot, in a dozen or more years. Especially with groups like the giants, who can be pretty bloody on their own. I doubt too many of the leaders in that tribe where in control during the last war, and I doubt there's any love lost between them and the Death Eaters, when you really get down to it.

"That and you never know who might be convinced to fight this time - there's probably hundreds of different people who weren't even all that aware of the war the first time around. Hell, just think of what we're trying to do in France and with Madame Maxime, and things are already looking up. You never know where more unexpected help might pop up."

Danny frowned off at a far corner of the office, looking thoughtful. "Actually, I have some old friends who'd probably be willing to help, but... well, I'm not sure how useful they'd really be." Danny said, reluctantly. "They aren't involved enough to work as informants, and they'd probably stick out like sore thumbs too much to be much use, honestly."

"Is there any possibility of them being swayed to Voldermort's side?"

"No, no - nothing like that. They're pretty much unknown, to the wizarding world." Danny said, before snorting. "They're very, very isolated. Good in a fight, but unfortunately they probably won't be much use unless you're looking for someone to send up a cold mountain. They're good with ice, but not big fans of the heat."

Dumbledore gave this information a thoughtful look, nodding. "I'll keep that in mind." He said, finally. He adjusted his glasses, tilting his head towards Danny. "I would be most curious, if there was a chance of meeting any of these friends, however."

Danny smiled. "I'll see if I can work something out." He finally stood up, groaning and stretching out his sore muscles. "Anyways, I should probably get going - I, unfortunately, have classes to get ready for in the morning."

"Good night, then."

" 'Night to you, too." Danny said, nodding, and stepped away from his chair, arms still up and bent behind his head as he walked towards the door. He stopped for a moment, hand resting on the handle of the door indecisively. He hesitated for a moment longer, before calling back. "...Albus?"

"Yes?"

He turned his head back, eyes directed back at the desk as he looked the Headmaster in the eye. "...Are there any students here with lycanthropy?"

Dumbledore gave him another pointed look, chuckling to himself, saying nothing. He tapped his glasses back up his nose, before silently putting his pointer finger against his lips. His eyes glittered.

Danny couldn't help laughing, shaking his head as he finally turned back and pushed the door open, leaving the office at last.