The Monday before the first Hogsmeade weekend, Hermione had barely unrolled that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet when she coughed violently, just barely managing to keep herself from spraying orange juice all over the paper.
"Something wrong, Maya?" Harry asked, looking amused.
"Very," Hermione replied shortly. She pushed her plate to the side and flattened the newspaper so that Harry could clearly see the large photo of Umbridge plastered across the front page. The headline beneath the picture read, 'Dolores Umbridge Appointed Hogwarts High Inquisitor'.
"Do I want to know what a 'High Inquisitor' is?" Harry asked through gritted teeth.
"Probably not," Hermione said, "but we need to know." She tugged the paper closer and began to read:
"With the passage of Educational Decree Twenty-Two this past summer, the Ministry took its first in what appears to be a series of steps involving educational reform at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Said decree addresses the issue of teaching vacancies at Hogwarts, stating that if the headmaster is unable to find a suitable candidate for any particular post, the task shall fall to the Ministry. Last night, the Ministry took that power one step further when they passed Educational Decree Twenty-Three, which creates the position of 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor.'
"Educational Decree Twenty-Two, of course, was invoked when Albus Dumbledore failed to appoint a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, a position that has proven notoriously difficult to fill in recent years. In response, the Ministry chose Dolores Umbridge, former Senior Undersecretary to Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, to fill the post, and so far, the results have been extremely promising."
"'Extremely promising'?" Harry repeated, unable to believe what he was reading. "Who the hell thinks she's been 'extremely promising'?" Hermione shrugged and continued:
"'The Minister is very pleased with Professor Umbridge's immediate success in revolutionizing Defense Against the Dark Arts,' says Percy Weasley, Junior Assistant to the Minister. 'She brings to the table what the subject has been lacking for years – a steady, reliable curriculum, as well as invaluable feedback regarding the goings-on at Hogwarts. Her acceptance of the High Inquisitor position in addition to her normal teaching duties is an absolute delight, and we have already received approving testimonies from dozens of parents.'
"And indeed, many parents have been expressing concerns for some time now that Hogwarts might not be operating up to its usual standards. At least some of those fears should be alleviated with the new law's passing – the High Inquisitor will be responsible for inspecting all Hogwarts teachers to make sure that they meet the high expectations associated with one of the Wizarding world's most prestigious institutions.
"'Dolores Umbridge has already done great things for Hogwarts, and we can only expect more of the same in light of this auspicious appointment,' Weasley concluded."
The article ended with a number of quotes from parents of Hogwarts students – Harry and Hermione recognized several of the names, including, to their dismay, Tracey Davis' father – and the irate responses of two former Wizengamot members who had resigned immediately upon the law's passing.
"So now we know how Umbridge ended up here," Harry said sourly as he took a bite of his toast. After swallowing it down with a large gulp of juice, he added, "And she's got the power to inspect the other teachers? That won't go over well."
"No, I bet it won't," Hermione agreed. "I can't see someone like Professor McGonagall putting up with this…but they'll really have to be careful. One wrong move, and Umbridge'll report them to Fudge. We can't afford to lose anyone."
"And what's gotten into Percy? I'll bet the Weasleys aren't too happy about that…"
For the next few days, all anyone could talk about was Educational Decree Twenty-Three. Harry and his friends didn't have any inspected lessons during that time, but several of their friends did – for the most part, it seemed that Umbridge was a quiet background presence during inspections, occasionally asking questions of the students or professors but otherwise staying out of the way. Hermione reaffirmed her belief that they needed to practice Defense on their own – "These decrees just prove that we won't be getting outside help anytime soon" – and so they began to discreetly spread the word.
"I hate Montague," Draco muttered as he finished up a Potions essay on Thursday night.
"More like you hate Crabbe and Goyle," Harry reminded him. He flipped through the pages of his Transfiguration text, trying to remember what McGonagall had told them earlier that week about vanishing vertebrates.
"Page thirty-seven," Draco said, then continued, "of course I hate Crabbe and Goyle, but Montague chose them for the team in the first place…" The problem was that Montague, the new Slytherin Quidditch captain, had chosen Crabbe and Goyle as Slytherin's new Beaters. Unfortunately, the two fifth-years were just as thick as they'd always been, and as Slytherin was slated to play Ravenclaw in the first match of the season, Montague had scheduled an extra practice during the Hogsmeade trip in the hopes that they might be able to learn one end of their Beaters' bats from the other. As Draco was still on the team as well, he would be missing out on both the trip and their Defense meeting.
"It's just a preliminary meeting to gauge interest, you know that," Hermione said, the pages of her book rustling softly as she turned them. "We'll make sure the first actual meeting is on a night with no Quidditch practices."
"That could get interesting," Harry mused. They'd only told a handful of people about their idea, but what if the group grew? Could they feasibly schedule regular meetings around up to four different Quidditch schedules?
Saturday morning was bright and sunny, a brisk wind reminding them that it was indeed fall as they made their way into Hogsmeade. After a quick stop in Honeydukes – Draco had made them promise that they'd at least bring him back some chocolate frogs, and they wanted to stock up on their own favorites as well – Harry and Hermione headed towards the open field across from the Hog's Head pub. They'd immediately ruled out the Three Broomsticks, which was always packed with students (and occasionally staff), but the Hog's Head had a bit of a reputation, and they weren't sure about meeting there either – the Hog's Head was the type of place where patrons kept their identities hidden, and they didn't want to risk being overheard by someone unsavory. The field, however, was fair game – it wasn't unusual to see Hogwarts students lounging around the village's many open spaces on a nice day, and as long as their group didn't get too big, the chances that anyone would stop to ask awkward questions were pretty low. The two friends found a particularly grassy spot a little ways from the main road and sat down to wait.
"Hey, you two!" Ginny called as she hurried up. She was carrying a large bag bearing the logo of the Three Broomsticks, and Harry and Hermione cheered when Ginny tossed them each a butterbeer.
"My treat," she insisted. When they made to protest, she added, "Don't even tell me there aren't sweets for me in that bag." The two fifth-years had to concede defeat at that point, as they had indeed included Ginny's favorites in their Honeydukes purchases.
It took them a moment to notice that Ginny hadn't arrived alone, but when they did, they saw that she had been followed by Dean Thomas, Parvati Patil, and Demelza Robins. Minutes later, a second wave of people came up the hill, this one made up of the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan, Neville and his girlfriend Susan Bones, Ron, Luna, Eloise Midgen, Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan, and a group of Ravenclaws Harry didn't know.
"Er…hi everyone," he said. He certainly hadn't expected this many people – and who had told the Ravenclaws? Luna wasn't exactly the social butterfly of her house…
"I hope you don't mind, Harry," Parvati said hastily. "I…er…I thought Padma might be interested and passed along the message." She nodded towards the dark-haired girl next to her, who was obviously her twin.
"No, no, it's fine," Harry assured her, just glad that that particular mystery had been solved. "The more the merrier, yeah?" He faltered for a moment and looked to Hermione, unsure of what to say next. Padma, however, spoke before either of them could.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I guess you don't really know who we are, do you? I'm Padma Patil." The other Ravenclaws introduced themselves as well – Harry recognized Anthony Goldstein's name from Draco's recounting of the prefects, and the petite brunette with the bright blue eyes at his side was Mandy Brocklehurst. Terry Boot and Lisa Turpin were both tall with dark hair and eyes, and they looked curious to hear what the Gryffindors had to say.
"So…who here is satisfied with Defense class this year?" Hermione asked. The assembled students immediately voiced their opinions to the contrary until Hermione held up a hand for silence.
"I think we get the point," she said. "We're not learning anything in Defense, and given the current state of the Wizarding world, that's a major problem."
"I agree," Terry said. He tossed his head impatiently to get his hair out of his eyes. "My parents' hometown was leveled during the last major uprising – what if something like that happens again?"
"Exactly," Ginny nodded, "which is why we think it's time to take matters into our own hands – that is, teach ourselves Defense."
"Not a bad idea," Susan admitted. "And I suppose it helps that we've got two of the best Defense students in our year proposing the idea."
"Well, that's not really the point," Hermione said quickly in an attempt to cover up her blush. "The point is that Terry's right – what if something major happens again? And to be honest, it's more a matter of when, not if – whether you believe that Voldemort" – several people jumped in surprise as she said the name – "has returned or not is irrelevant; he will come back eventually, and I don't think he'll let us off for being underage."
"Like hell he would," Anthony snorted. "He went after Harry here when he was still a baby, and my parents know plenty of people who lost children or other younger family members."
"My uncle's entire family was slaughtered," Susan added solemnly. "The Death Eaters definitely don't take your age into consideration – if they want you gone, they go after you."
"Alright…so I think it's safe to say we're all in agreement here?" Hermione asked. Her question was met with various responses in the affirmative, and she nodded. "So now comes the problem of when to meet. We already have a decent location, but the timing could get tricky – we have to work around Quidditch schedules and prefect patrols."
"Does anybody know of anything going on this Wednesday night?" Harry suggested. "I know the Gryffindors don't have practice that night…" Nobody had any definitive objections against the coming Wednesday, so he said, "Alright, then. Let's say Wednesday night for now, and if we have to change it, we'll let you know."
"How are you going to contact us?" Lisa asked, turning her dark eyes towards Harry. "You can't exactly make an announcement in the Great Hall, I don't think Umbridge'll take to that…"
"You're right," Hermione said. "I've been thinking about it but don't have a foolproof method yet – for now, what if we appoint one person from each house to be a spokesperson of sorts? It would look odd if we just waltzed over to the Ravenclaw table to talk to any of you, since Umbridge undoubtedly knows we never have classes together, but it wouldn't look strange for, say, Parvati to talk to her sister, would it?"
"And Susan could easily be the Hufflepuff liaison," Harry added, "since she's with Neville." Padma and Susan readily agreed to play messenger, and Hermione nodded.
"Well…that's all for now, I guess. Feel free to pass along the details to anyone who isn't here today but you think might be interested. Just be careful, though – we can't let Umbridge find out what we're up to."
"We will, Hermione," Fred promised. "You're not exaggerating when you say this is really important." With that, the meeting ended, and the students broke up into small groups for their return to the village proper.
"How'd it go?" Draco asked that night as they lounged in the Room of Requirement. He and Harry were currently engaged in a chess match, Hermione sprawled on the sofa next to them as she absentmindedly flicked through a spell book.
"Not bad, I think," Harry answered. He studied the board and ordered his rook to move two squares to the left. "We had about twenty people show up, actually. Didn't see Blaise or Tracey though…"
"That's because they were on a date," Hermione cut in, her tone making it sound like this should've been obvious. "Remember, their parents don't know about their relationship, so it's really hard for them to meet up on their actual anniversary."
"And how did you know that they were on a date today?" Draco asked as he prodded his bishop forward.
"Because I was the one who told Tracey our Defense idea, and she told me why they couldn't come to the meeting, of course."
"Alright, you win."
"Of course I do." Hermione looked smug, but she barely had time to duck the throw pillow Draco tossed her way.
"Oh, get a room, you two," Harry muttered with a grin.
On Monday morning, Harry's spirits were dampened considerably when he saw the sign on the common room notice board, the words Educational Decree Twenty-Four marching across the top in neat letters. Once he was able to get close enough, he saw that the latest decree disbanded all student organizations. From there on out, no such group could exist without the High Inquisitor's knowledge and approval, and anyone found to have started or joined an unapproved group would be expelled.
"That woman has spies everywhere," he said to himself. They'd taken every possible precaution – and he knew for a fact that Umbridge herself hadn't been in Hogsmeade that day, as she'd been overseeing detention for a group of sixth-years – and yet she still had her suspicions? Or maybe she was just disbanding everything to take away all the fun at Hogwarts – so far, she'd certainly been succeeding in that department. At any rate, they'd have to be extremely careful from then on.
Angelina Johnson caught up with Harry as he was leaving Gryffindor Tower to go to breakfast.
"Harry, don't do anything to get yourself in trouble with Umbridge this week," she almost pleaded.
"Ang, I only ever had the one detention, and I definitely don't fancy another with that woman," Harry said with a sigh.
"That new decree – it includes teams," Angelina pointed out. "I need to ask permission to reform our Quidditch team – I'm just telling everyone to behave so she doesn't have any excuse to give us trouble." Harry almost growled when Angelina told him this latest news – messing with their classes was one thing, but messing with Quidditch? Absolutely not.
"I'll be good," Harry promised. "There's no way in hell I'm letting her muck up our Quidditch season." They'd reached the Great Hall by then, and Harry went to join Hermione, who was once again frowning at the Prophet.
"I take it there's an article about the newest decree?" he asked as he reached for the sausages.
"I'd love to know why nobody's said anything about this," Hermione replied. "For all the 'pleased' parents they mentioned in the last article, there have to be just as many who are absolutely furious."
"Ah, but why would they ever mention anything like that?" Harry pointed out, his sarcasm evident. "That'd go directly against their agenda. Pass the strawberry jam, would you?" Hermione reached over and handed him the requested jar, and Harry immediately began spreading the sweet substance onto his toast, pausing when he felt his pocket warm. He carefully extracted his charmed parchment and had to stop himself from laughing when he read the message in Padfoot's rounded writing:
What did you three do now?
A/N: What did they do indeed...hahaha. First DA meeting coming up soon!
Thank you for the follows/faves/reviews, & for reading! Hope you're all enjoying the story so far - please let me know what you think regardless!
JKR owns all things Potter, I just play. Please R&R, & enjoy! :)