Chapter Thirty: Educational Decrees and Rebellion
After Voldemort's DADA lesson all the students could talk about was how he'd dealt with Umbridge. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were sort of jealous even though they didn't really want to meet the Dark Lord in person. The staff were still in a daze that Voldemort had taught a class and not only hadn't he cursed any students, he'd managed to make it interesting enough that they actually learnt things instead of being scared of him. The Slytherins were impressed and congratulating Raiden when word leaked that it had been him that had first informed Voldemort of the Umbridge problem.
Umbridge wasn't going to go down without a fight though. The first weekend after the Dark Lord's visit the first of the rumored Educational Decrees appeared on the common room notice boards.
EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER ONE
All incoming and outgoing mail will be subject to inspection to ensure that there is no contraband information being sent or received. Mail will be delivered if it passes inspection; if it does not then it will be destroyed. All inquiries must be directed to the High Inquisitor.
The students were in an uproar, never in all of Hogwarts' history had a teacher given themselves the power to intercept and read private mail. The Avengers looked at each other and nodded, Operation Toad Termination would go ahead that day. The first step was finding Fred and George Weasley.
It was Raiden that found them first. "Hey, Harry," they called out. They liked him, and he liked them, maybe it was the fact that he was the son of a Marauder and the godson of another but still they liked him.
Raiden grinned back and called out, "Hey guys, can I talk to you for a sec?"
The three retired to an empty corridor where they would have privacy and the twins turned curiously to Raiden, wondering at the smirk on his face. "Guys, I have a proposition for you" Raiden started, before explaining his idea. As he talked, the twins' faces grew more and more gleeful.
"So you want us to spread our WWW products round the school, tell all the students to use them in her classes." Fred said.
Raiden nodded. "Yes. Not every day or she'll get suspicious but every other day or something. We'll get Umbridge as well, prank her office or something."
The twins nodded and the three split up. Raiden looked pleased as he went to his next stop. He'd seen the twins, now it was time to deal with the staff angle, which was Snape. He found his Head of House near the staff room, and stopped him. Snape swung round to see who wanted him and let a tiny smile form as he realized it was Raiden.
"Well Mr Potter, now that you've successfully shocked everyone witless with your little prank the other day, what do you want?"
Raiden smirked and replied, "Operation Toad Termination is starting Professor, I was wondering if you might suggest to the staff that they start harassing her and impeding her in any way possible."
Snape's eyebrows nearly lost themselves in his hairline as he realized what his student wanted. "You want the staff to help in your little insurrection Potter?"
Raiden snorted. "Yes. The sooner we get rid of her the sooner we can have a decent year. I mean, really, reading our mail? Her being High Inquisitor? What next, bringing back the old style punishments?"
Snape shuddered imperceptibly. "If she does then may I suggest staying well clear of her? You'd be her test subject, she loathes you you know."
Raiden's look was cold when he hissed back, "The feelings are entirely mutual."
Snape shook his head and sighed before saying, "I'll see what I can do. It can't be overt of course, but we'll do what we can." Raiden nodded, satisfied and left, needing to hunt out a certain poltergeist.
As the weeks passed, the student rebellion got underway with entertaining results. Snape's DADA classes lasted until a new educational decree was passed stating that all teachers were only allowed to teach the students information pertaining to the subject that they were contracted to teach. Snape was furious at this, as well as being a Potions Master; he was also a certified Master of Defence against the Dark Arts. Fortunately, he was a Slytherin and soon found a way round the decree, by holding "Remedial Potions" in the classroom every evening. The classes were of course, Defence lessons, but Umbridge didn't know that. The staff was chafing under her rule as well, and when the mayhem started they were extremely disinterested in helping her stop it and even helped it along.
More educational decrees came through, until there was one per week. It had changed from being educational things though, to Umbridge outlawing anything she didn't like. The most recent one Educational Decree number twenty-seven gave her the right to inspect the teachers and fire any that she didn't approve of. Having got rid of Dumbledore already, she came round with a clipboard and sat in each class making notes and muttering darkly. McGonagall told her off sharply, Snape just sneered at her, and Flitwick "accidentally" hit her with an Engorgement charm on her nose while he was demonstrating it in a review of previous years' material. He then got the students to demonstrate the counter for it and all of them appeared to get temporary amnesia until Flitwick finally sighed and said, "Really class, the counter is quite simple." He then cast it, but the whole process had taken twenty-five minutes. The students entered into the spirit of avoiding Defence and the Weasley twins did a roaring trade in Skiving Snackboxes. Umbridge couldn't figure out why most of her classes were fainting, had nosebleeds or were vomiting all over the floor every second or third class. The excuse they all used was "Allergies to toads." Other pranks, such as Lee Jordan's levitating a Niffler into her office via the window, and Fred and George's setting off of a lot of Wildfire Whizbangs which multiplied when you tried to vanish them, caused mayhem when they entered classrooms and hurtled round the school. The teachers all seemed disinclined to help Umbridge and Flitwick said cheerfully "I would have done so Headmistress but I wasn't sure whether I had the authority to."
Finally there was one educational decree that put Raiden in serious trouble. He walked into the great hall one day for lunch and sat down. He took one sip of his pumpkin juice and felt an odd feeling slide over him before hearing his name called in a tone that put his danger sense on full alert. Turning round he saw Umbridge and Filch bearing down on him, with Umbridge wearing a self satisfied expression and Filch looking positively gleeful.
"Hem hem. I have just received Educational Decree number twenty-eight which gives me the right to reinstate the old ways of punishment as a way to break students that are too rebellious and who don't respond to the normal detentions," Umbridge recited, looking more and more pleased with herself. Behind her, Raiden could see the staff staring in sickened shock at the most recent decree as was the students. Getting an inkling of where this was going, Raiden began to back away from the two psychopaths in front of him. Filch was holding a nasty looking whip that Raiden didn't want anywhere near him.
"What does that have to do with me?" he said in a polite tone. Inwardly he was looking for escape routes; he had a very bad feeling about this.
Umbridge smirked. "Do you deny setting up the latest prank on my office door?" she said.
Raiden had done it but being a Slytherin, he lied through his teeth, or he tried to. The odd feeling made itself clear as he was forced to say, "Yes I did it." He then looked up at the staff in horror and said, "She dosed me with Veritaserum!"
"This is totally out of line!" McGonagall yelled, as did the rest of the staff.
Snape was beyond furious. "Dosing a minor with Veritaserum is dangerous! How much did you use?"
Umbridge smirked. "The entire vial, I wasn't going to chance Potter being immune to the normal dose." Snape looked shocked and stared at Raiden, who was starting to feel the effects of the overdose. His breathing was becoming labored and his pupils were dilating. Filch seized him by the arm and Raiden tried to retaliate but his limbs refused to obey him.
"Take him to the dungeons, Filch, he needs to be taught a lesson," Umbridge said, her eyes gleaming with a crazed madness that was terrifying to the students. Filch only got a few steps, dragging Raiden with him when there was a furious snarl at the door. A huge black dog leapt at Filch, while an Alsatian joined him and attacked Umbridge. A ferret nipped at tender parts of Filch's anatomy, causing the man to shriek with pain, while a python wound itself round the toad and started to constrict round her torso, cutting off her air.
While the two psychopaths were otherwise occupied Snape and McGonagall had freed Raiden from Filch's grip and quickly took him to the infirmary. Severus quickly poured several potions down the unconscious fifth year's throat with Poppy's help, stabilizing him while the Veritaserum worked its way out of his system. It was poisonous in too large a dose which was why the normal dose was three drops as it was a very powerful potion.
Once Umbridge and Filch were unconscious, the four animals transformed, revealing Sirius, Draco, Daphne and Blaise. Hermione was still struggling with the transformation and Raiden had been too sick to transform.
"Where's Harry?" Sirius asked urgently. He had come to Hogwarts as an Auror, called secretly by McGonagall to see what Umbridge was doing to the school, and had been able to hear the latest decree from outside the door, including who the first victim was going to be. When he'd heard the Veritaserum dosage he had lost his temper, thus leading to the attack.
"In the Infirmary, Severus and Poppy are stabilizing him now, Sirius. Did you teach those students to be Animagi?" Flitwick asked.
Sirius nodded. "Yes, Filius. Their forms are all registered with the Ministry, as is mine. We can't get in trouble over this." Spotting Severus entering the hall he made his way over. "Severus, is Harry alright?"
Snape looked at his old rival and saw the clear worry there. He softened slightly and replied "He will be. He's unconscious now, held that way by potions in order to give his body time to work the poison out of his system. We've set up a blood filtering system to hopefully work it out faster but he can't talk at present." Seeing the approaching panic in Sirius' eyes he sighed and snapped "He will live, Black, don't get your underwear in a knot. Deal with the psychopathic toad here will you?"
Sirius nodded grimly and revived Umbridge, wrapping her in enchanted rope to stop her getting away. "Dolores Jane Umbridge, you are hereby placed under arrest on charges of willfully endangering a minor, administering Ministry restricted potions without a proper licence, disrupting the education of the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, using a classified torture implement on students of said school and generally making a nuisance of yourself. You have the right to remain silent. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned anything that you later rely on in court. You have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford one then one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights?"
Umbridge glared at him and then spat out, "Go to hell, Black. The Minister will back me up; Potter is an insane attention seeking liar!" Sirius glared at her and then roughly hauled her to her feet, attaching a Portkey to her as well as a list of the charges. She would stand trial later on. Sirius glared at Filch and then hauled the man to his feet, staring at him.
"Did he ever actually hurt anyone?" he asked the hall in general.
There was silence for a moment before Pomona Sprout said, "No he didn't. He was on her side but he didn't hurt anyone. Leave him be, Sirius."
Sirius nodded and shoved Filch away from him in disgust. "If no one minds, I think I'll go and check on my godson before I go and make sure that Umbridge is properly processed and the paperwork isn't mysteriously "lost" if you get my meaning." The staff nodded grimly and Sirius spun on his heel, heading for the hospital wing.
It nearly broke his heart, seeing Harry lying so still on the bed, the machines monitoring his heartbeat and breathing. They were powered by magic of course but they did their intended job. He felt a small amount of amusement that Umbridge was finished, and most probably the Minister too when Lucius got word of this, and he would too, Sirius had no intentions of keeping this from him. Once Lucius was finished destroying Umbridge and Fudge's political careers, it was more than likely that Voldemort would schedule a revel – a Death Eater torture party with Umbridge and Fudge as the entertainment. No one was allowed to touch Raiden, with the exception of a small few and Voldemort would take Raiden's poisoning as a personal insult. Oh yes, Fudge and Umbitch were screwed.
Three days after Umbridge's removal the Daily Prophet bore a front page headline
MINISTRY UNDERSECRETARY ACCUSED OF ABUSE OF POWER
Dolores Jane Umbridge, Undersecretary to Minister Fudge has been accused of various crimes during her tenure at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Among the list of charges is the unauthorized use of Veritaserum on Harry James Potter who is still a minor. Umbridge allegedly gave Mr Potter a full vial when 3 drops is sufficient. This has had the unfortunate side effect of poisoning Mr Potter. Another charge is the alleged use of a blood quill, an implement classified by the Ministry as a torture implement and which the only legal use for is for signing certain contracts. Other charges will follow, as we find out more. What we want to know is why the Minister allowed Umbridge to try turning Hogwarts into her own personal empire. We all know that Potter is not in his right mind but that's no reason to poison him.
By: Rita Skeeter
"How nice" Raiden commented when he'd finished reading. The poison had worked itself out of his system late the night before so he was awake, if not a bit sore and annoyed at himself. "I'm going to have to learn a spell for checking my food and drink from now on apparently. No harm in being careful."
"Paranoid much?" Draco asked.
Raiden hissed at him and then replied blandly, "It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you, Argent. I'd rather not deal with something like this again, Lucius would kill me, or Sirius would."
Draco nodded in agreement, wondering what Voldemort's reaction was going to be. Whatever it was, it was going to be suitably vicious, something befitting a Dark Lord.
That night, as Raiden slept, he had an odd vision. A long corridor stretched out in front of him, the door at the end was open. As he moved along it, he got the odd sense that Voldemort wanted something in that room. He walked through it and saw a horrible sight, the Order of the Phoenix battling with Death Eaters, in a room with a lot of glass orbs. One orb in particular called to him, but before he could get it, he was swept up in the battle. Moving to a different room, he saw an old black veil, Sirius being blasted backwards through it, and not coming back.
Raiden sat upright in bed, breathing hard, as he yelled "SIRIUS!"