Harry Potter and the Web of Lies

by LGreymark

Harry and Hermione return to Hogwarts for their fifth year, Voldemort is out and about, undead stalk the lands, and magic has never been more terrifying. Who can they trust? Is Hogwarts even safe anymore? HHr, smut in later chaps. (Romance/Tragedy/Adventure). Part two of The Deception series

4. Inquisition

AN: Yanno, if I owned Harry Potter, I wouldn't be writing my own crap ass novel, so obv I don't.

-:-

Chapter Four: Inquisition

The first day back was one that Harry would remember for the rest of his life. It was, for want of a better word, the beginning of the war. It started with Defence against the Dark arts.

-:-

The door to the Defence against the dark arts classroom burst open and six students filed in. Harry and Hermione first, followed by Neville Seamus Lavender and Parvarti bringing up the rear. They took seat similar to the ones they used to. Harry reflected on the way the classroom had changed since last year. Moody favoured a ring of seats around a central lecturing and duelling ring. The classroom had otherwise Spartan furnishings and it was deliberately utilitarian.

Professor Umbridge however had arranged the chairs in an amphitheatre type arrangement, the magic of the castle aiding her in this task apparently as the seating was tiered with a stage at the bottom for lecturing. A wide blackboard covered the far wall and a covered cube stood in the centre of the stage, the outline of vertical bars could be seen through the fabric so perhaps a cage? To the left and slightly forwards of that was an ornate wooden desk with a black and silver quill with a metallic nib balancing on its point in the upper left of the workspace.

Sitting at that desk, her boots crossed at the ankle and resting on a stool placed off to the right and her overcoat draped over a nearby rail was the Professor herself. The class couldn't see her face as her wide brimmed hat was covering it completely. The moment Parvarti, who was last in the room, sat down, the heavy wooden door closed with an audible clunk. Professor Umbridge swung around in her chair to face her writing desk, her light young voice rung out with a touch of boredom, questioning the six names who were on the class roster.

Once all named themselves present the forbidding professor stood and took off her hat, tossing it to the desk. She was definitely a striking beauty; her skin was of a porcelain quality that was maybe a shade off perfect. He hadn't noticed before but her lips were a deep rich red colour, Hermione bitterly informed him that it didn't look like lipstick and was probably her natural shade. Harry gently reassured her in the bond that she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her blush next to him made him grin.

"Good morning fifth years, as I understand you've had mixed instruction in this class, Professor Moody gave you an extremely thorough education on sorcery and duelling with it and Professor Lupin, his predecessor gave you an introduction to dark creatures. But from there everything gets a little hazy, I won't speak to the efficacy of Quirinus Quirrill, but Gilderoy Lockhart has been proven a fraud by the Ministry. I'll be continuing the work of Professor Lupin, doing my best to give you a thorough instruction and education about the traits and details of dark creatures. From the notes left here you've covered Hinky Punks, Grindylows, Kappas, Red Caps and Lycanthropes? That is an excellent beginning education on natural dark creatures. I seek to improve and expand your knowledge of Curse Creatures, specifically the undead."

She hadn't had to ask for it but the class was in complete silence. The woman had a slight lilting accent and Harry suspected an Irish heritage, it didn't really matter to him though; this was the one class he refused to be mediocre in, he had to be the best. If they were studying the undead, so be it.

"Can anyone give me a list of common undead? Such as they are?"

Harry raised his hand; the rest of the class had long stopped bothering to beat him in this field. She raised a single sculpted eyebrow at the class before nodding to Harry.

"Mr Potter?"

"Vampires and Inferi Professor, though I guess animated bones or human corpses with sorcery could be called undead as well."

A hard look settled on him for a moment before flicking away

"An acceptable answer, most fifth years would not know so much as that. Necromancy, the magic of animation and communion with the dead and undead is banned by the Ministry for good reason, but that does not stop people practising it. Unfortunately when something is banned information about the subject becomes hard to come across and general information for those simply academically curious or in the practise of defending themselves and others becomes rare. This is the full list of what are known as common undead."

For the first time the class gets a glimpse of the woman's wand, harry almost chuckled, it was typically utilitarian, a simple oak wand, although particularly long, maybe twelve inches with a slight bulge a quarter of the way up the wand to signify the end of the grip. Harry spotted a glimpse of wire wrapping around the hilt for extra friction. The wand was flicked commandingly and a list materialized on the blackboard in tight cursive script that was nevertheless easy to read, possibly magically so.

Common Undead:

Vampires
Inferi
Ghosts
Ghouls
Mummies
Skeletons
Poltergeists
Wraiths
Phantoms
Draugr

Harry quickly perused the list and nearly slapped himself at his own stupidity, of course ghosts and poltergeists were undead.

"These are known as Common Undead because they are created either on their own or without need for sacrifice. For example, Skeletons as they are commonly known are, as Mr Potter said, simply sorcerously manipulated bones of the deceased, they don't even specifically have to be the bones of the same person, or even a complete skeleton. Often the ribs are left out as they are seen as 'unnecessary' to the purpose of the undead, another example is ghosts, they technically turn themselves into undead by forcing their own spirits to remain on the mortal plane. We'll cover these first, but later we'll move on to greater undead."

Another flick of the wand and a much shorter list appeared.

Greater Undead:

Nosferatu
Revenants
Wights
Litches

"These four are the crème de la crème of the undead. They are few, rarely seen and totally deadly, we'll cover these last if only because you're unlikely to meet them."

Harry raised his hand almost without thinking. The raised sculpted eyebrow returned and she nodded to him.

"Mr Potter, a question?"

Harry nodded back, suddenly nervous

"Yes, I just was wondering at your statement, you said we're unlikely to meet the greater undead, which makes sense, but does that mean we are likely to meet any lesser undead in the near future?"

She scrutinized him then with that cold iron gaze and Harry returned it with equal force. It was curious, in the past when Snape looked at him that hard he and Hermione had to fend off a legilimency probe. They hadn't known what it was at the time but Mad Eye had explained it over the summer. But now, looking dead on at this new professor there was no probe, no spike of headache like pain. This was simply a penetrating searching stare that seemed to be judging him of his entire worth. Eventually she spoke.

"You might, the ministry suspects that Inferi are being used in the attacks."

Harry took a moment to share a mental nod with Hermione, they had suspected creatures were being used in the attacks themselves, and here was more support for their theory.

"Right then, if there are no more questions, let's get started shall we? We have enough time to cover the differences between ghosts and Poltergeists. No textbooks, just note parchment and quills please."

There was a quick scrabbling for quills and ink before the woman starting speaking again, which she did almost immediately.

"Recognising Ghosts and Poltergeists is rather quite simple, they are both semi-transparent and ice cold to the touch, yet intangible. The differences then come in their abilities, and their characteristics such as appearance and personality.

Ghosts are an imprint of their former selves, thus their personalities are similar to those they had in life, and their appearances are those of their last moments before death. Most then are extremely gory covered in blood and such. As for as temperament is concerned most are rather depressed as one could expect from those locked on this plane of existence for all time. On the other hand, some of the oldest ghosts are actually quite cheerful and cooperative, there's a ghost in Egypt of a man from ancient times who teaches Japanese to the post graduates of the academy there. Either way Ghosts are formed when a person dies who either isn't ready to die or has unresolved issues on this plane of existence, somewhat depressing actually. Regardless poltergeists are similar and different; similar in that they retain similar personalities to that which they had when alive, and that they tend to be both intangible. But poltergeists can choose to be tangible for brief periods of time, time that they usually use to wreak havoc. A good example of this is the school poltergeist, he is boisterous, mischievous and ultimately a nuisance. The last major difference between ghosts and poltergeists is the one between their creations, we've spoken of how ghosts are made, and poltergeists are created by a witch or wizard who wants to hold someone else spirit here without meaning to because they miss a friend or a loved one. The poltergeist tends to proceed to make life hell for the person who has denied them eternal rest because they come back to our plane without memories, hence your poltergeist being names 'Peeves' as opposed to anything resembling an ordinary name."

Hermione was a machine, he knew this already but it was something else to see her actually keeping up with this woman's words. Everything was written down, word for word, verbatim. It was a little scary actually; Harry could only manage a summary.

"Fortunately for us the magical compositions of both undead are very similar. Which of you here take Arithmancy?"

Harry and Hermione both absently raised their hands, no one else did.

"Unfortunate, either way the arithmantic equation for their per-second magical energy expenditure is on the board. Note that the energy values are much higher than one would normally expect from a conjuration spell of similar efficacy, where does the energy come from? No one is sure, but it's been theorized that ghosts and poltergeists, and by extension wraiths and phantoms, draw the power from wherever their spirits were being sent, on if you will, again, only a theory. Moving on, in fact we have a moment, questions?"

Seamus raised his hand and the intimidating woman gave her per functionary nod

"Mr Finnegan is it? Go ahead."

"Mam, why do we need to know about ghosts and poltergeists, they aren't dark are they? I'm pretty sure they're not a threat either"

"Five points to Gryffindor Mr Finnegan, you are quite right, they are neither dark nor a threat, they are however undead and understanding the basic theory behind banishing them will make things easier for you six when we get to banishing greater undead later."

Hermione's hand shot up in perfect time.

"Miss Granger?"

"So we're actually going to be taught how to banish the undead, especially Greater undead? I thought that was a seventh year topic?"

The Umbridge nodded calmly

"Quite right, that is a seventh year topic, and you'll learn it in seventh year."

The class was silent, Hermione's hand shot up again and the professor nodded to her once more.

"Is this year going to be entirely theoretical then?"

The professor smiled for the first time, it was a strange smile in that it reached her eyes, and yet the emotion shown there wasn't mirth, but something darker.

"Not quite Miss Granger. Banishing the undead, while a seventh year topic is not the only method of self-defence from them, though it is somewhat more final. Sorcery and Spells are just as effective at breaking them apart temporarily, and in the case of lesser undead, fatally. I will be teaching you techniques and spells used to disable and destroy lesser and greater undead, without having to banish them."

For the first time in months Hermione's mind was totally blank, Harry turned and looked at her in concern and saw a look of pure surprise on her face.

"But, that's impossible."

"Five points from Gryffindor Miss Granger, I'll tolerate discussion but not impertinence, I am your teacher, and as such when I intimate that something is not only possible, but quite real, you will accept it as fact."

Harry bristled and nearly spoke out, his naturally protective nature flaring up but Hermione's hand clamped down on his thigh under the table and she silently reminded him of Professor McGonagall's cryptic warning. Hermione, incredibly, wasn't stinging from the professor's rebuke but rather was thoughtful inside the bond. He let her thoughts mentally ramble and paid attention for the both of them.

"Miss Granger's confusion, while poorly worded, is not unreasonable. The Ministry has long been of the belief that spells and sorceries of an offensive nature do little to actually damage the undead, it has been this way for over a thousand years and only recently has information come to light that gives us an insight into their possible destruction."

The Professor glanced at her magical hourglass for a second before continuing.

"I had not meant to cover this for some weeks but your curiosity may get you in trouble if not curbed immediately. We have just enough time to cover the basic theory before your next class. So, for the next short while I request silence. I will answer your other questions tomorrow in class or in my office hours after classes on Wednesdays and Fridays."

Umbridge reached to her desk and picked up a glass of some liquid. It was clear but bubbled faintly and harry doubted it was water. After taking a quick sip she summoned her chair to her, caught the backrest deftly and seated herself in the middle of the stage, her ankles again crossed in front of her in what Harry assumed was a habitual pose. For the first time he guessed at her age, her skin was flawless and not a wrinkle was there to be seen. Yet it was almost too perfect, as if charmed, what was hiding behind those glamours? She had the air of someone with a wealth of esoteric knowledge from a life of arcane pursuits, similar to the vibe Dumbledore gave off when speaking about anything intellectual.

Harry had no idea how old she was, she might have been in her early thirties, or late third century, he guessed she was terrifically powerful, few witches and Wizards held that kind of confidence without being utterly able to back up their bravado. Lockhart of course was the obvious exception. He was broken from his rambling thoughts as she continued her lecture.

"Before we delve into this subject we must first learn to define a true undead; therefore a true undead is the soul of a deceased sentient mortal that has been called back from the hereafter, or prevented from reaching said place by the machinations of the Necromantic arts. That soul may then be encased in a physical shell or left to roam as a spiritual body. Not all undead therefore are true undead."

Carelessly waving at the board the professor causes two more lists to appear.

True Undead:

Vampires
Ghouls
Mummies
Wraiths
Phantoms
Draugr
Nosferatu
Revenants
Wights
Litches

False or Imitation Undead

Ghosts
Poltergeists
Skeletons
Inferi

"The list of True Undead is notably larger than the other, however note that Skeletons and Inferi, the most common servants of Dark lords seeking to wield the undead, are not True Undead, and thus, even with conventional and traditional wisdom, can be destroyed with common spell-work and sorcery. Also note that all four of the classified 'Greater Undead' are also True Undead, making them both very dangerous, and almost indestructible. This phenomenon exacerbates the problem they pose when summoned by fledgling necromancers seeking to get an 'easy in' to the dark community. Conversely many elder necromancers in history never bothered summoning Greater Undead as they are nigh uncontrollable and are more of a hassle than anything else."

Another sip of the strange tonic

"With this firmly in mind we now easily distinguish why it would be considered impossible to destroy True undead with conventional magic, while their physical shells can be destroyed their souls are impervious to the common blasting hex or sorcel, hence the need to banish them. Remember when I mentioned before that Ghosts and Poltergeists draw a colossal amount of power from an unspecified source? Normally, in True Undead, this source of power is drawn from their own soul, which is of course eternal and a constant font of power, or alternately, it is drawn from the life energy of their slain victims, in the cases of Wights Vampires and Ghouls, this is the case, Vampires tend to take this over the top and read 'Life energy' as 'Life Blood' but the draining of blood is not essential to their survival, just beneficial."

Another sip

"This then is the conventional method, spells were developed to separate a soul from the magic tethering it to this plane of existence, and thusly the soul returns to its rightful place. The killing curse was an early attempt at this magic, but it was abandoned and outlawed because of its effects upon living beings, more refined methods have been developed since. Now however we have developed more easily cast self-defence charms and hexes that sap energy from the necromantic rituals and spells connecting the soul of the undead to this plane, weakening them until they are no longer strong enough to fuel the energy transfer that the soul of the undead requires. They are not fool proof and are very much dependent on the strength of the ritual binding the undead, while they can be classified fairly easily into named types such as Litches or ghouls, sometimes the rituals used to create them are of wildly varying strengths, and if strong enough can be unaffected by the new self-defence charms."

Another sip and a quick glance at the hourglass;

"Okay, that's all we have time for today, we'll continue the actual learning of these charms another time. Homework for tonight, read the chapter on Ghosts and Poltergeists in your textbooks and, if you have time, read ahead to the chapter on Wraiths and Phantoms. Mr Potter, Miss Granger could you two stay behind? We need to talk about how far you are with your Arithmancy."

Harry shot Hermione a glance and received a terse look of curiosity in reply. Warily they made their way to the front of the class where Professor Umbridge had returned to her desk and was pouring over a sheet of parchment. They waited patiently and after a moment she looked up at them, fixing them both with her steely gaze in turn.

"Let's drop pretence shall we? I was informed of your soul bond and the events surrounding Tom Riddle's return to life this last summer by Albus. He has asked me to check the both of you for tampering in case your bond was caused by Valmortis when you two encountered him at the Quidditch world cup."

Harry felt like he had been punched in the gut, even the idea that the bond he shared with Hermione was a farce was enough to make him stagger slightly and sit down on the step behind him, punch drunk. He started to Push Hermione away in his panic but, to his later relief, she refused to move an inch in their bond and smothered him with her love, reminding him of exactly how she felt and that this was probably more a precaution than anything else. She answered the question on both of their minds.

"But, we love each other, and felt that way before we even met him, how could he possibly have done anything?"

Professor Umbridge locked eyes on Hermione, but this time the gaze was more sympathetic than anything else.

"As I'm sure you've probably figured out Albus is far too thick in your affairs for your own good, but as a ministry sanctioned expert on soul magic I have to follow up on any queries made of me, similar to how your parents were required by law to inform the mundane police of Mr Potter's mistreatment at the hands of his relatives."

That threw them for another loop, here was a woman they had never met talking casually about things they had never told anyone else, not even Dumbledore or Moody. Wearily Hermione asked the question on both of their minds.

"How on Earth do you know about that?"

That weird smile returned.

"Because I'm an unspeakable who happens to specialize in the field of identifying, codifying and examining all kinds of soul magic Miss Granger. I make it my business to know everything there is to know about soul bonded couples. I'm not a gossip if that's what you're worried about."

Harry asked for both of them this time.

"Excuse me, us, but what's an unspeakable?"

That steely gaze shifted to him and once again Harry got the distinct impression he was being sized up.

"An Unspeakable is a person who works in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic Mr Potter. Think of me as a theoretical researcher who happens to have military training."

He sat in silence for a few moments with Hermione's hand resting on his shoulder, her thumb rubbing at the base of his neck soothingly. They were holding court between them in their minds and he got the distinct impression that Victoria Umbridge knew exactly what they were doing. Eventually he spoke again, this time being their mouthpiece.

"What exactly would be involved in you testing our bond? And what happens if something was done to tamper with us?"

Umbridge sat back in her chair, a slight thudding sound heralded the re-crossing of her ankles under the desk.

"It is a simple charm, I will cast it on the pair of you, a white glow is a pure, unaffected bond, a red glow indicates tampering, and a purple glow indicates an imitated but false bond. The last I doubt we will see strongly as you both exhibit typical symptoms of a soul bond. Not the least of which your rather rude mind speak in front of someone who knows exactly what you're doing."

They both blushed in embarrassment at being caught

"I fully expect to see the white, positive result from you, as for what happens if you've been tampered with? Curiously absolutely nothing, you've got your bond now, regardless of how it came about, and until we know more we can't act. Breaking it would be foolish in any instance as you would both probably suffer irreparable harm."

Harry turned and shrugged to his paramour

"I don't see why we shouldn't do this, we need to know regardless right?"

Hermione nodded at him, conscious of the fact that he had made an effort to speak aloud.

"Well in that case stand up, next to each other, and wait a moment."

They did so and the Professor cast a three syllable charm that they both missed and, after a second, a bright white glow erupted between them. Sighing with relief they both sat down, even Victoria looked slightly relieved.

"I hate it when people screw around with soul bonds they're so finicky and there can be weird consequences down the road, not to mention a mound of paperwork, this is better for everyone involved trust me. Now that we have that unpleasantness out of the way may I ask how your bond is progressing? I might be able to give you some insights as to what you can expect in the future."

Harry and Hermione stepped away from her a moment and shared a brief whispered conversation, which was strange, they hadn't had to whisper for months. Eventually they agreed there was no harm in telling her. She probably knew most of what they were going to tell her anyway. So they did, they did their best to summarize but they explained everything they had learned about the bond so far.

"You're remarkably in control even at this stage, if often takes years for couples to reach your level of connection. That said you've had a great deal of pressure and I suspect you're both an exceptional pair of magicians too. On the topic of Harry's assault by Fleur Delacour, as you both suspected it shouldn't negatively affect your bond, if anything the trauma should strengthen it, silver lining right?"

The longer the woman talked the less intimidated Harry was by her. She spoke with authority, but a gentle kind of sympathy to their situation that engendered trust. Her manner reminded Harry of what he always expected a muggle therapist to be like.

"Can I ask you a question professor?"

Umbridge snapped her gaze back to him and all of a sudden her remembered why this woman was formidable, he could feel the power thrumming beneath her thin veneer of calm.

"Certainly you may Mr Potter."

"Why are you wearing armour?"

The question seemed to take her off guard and she blinked in surprise, at least she was human then and could experience such things. After a second she collected herself and replied.

"It is mostly habit, the metal is enchanted to turn aside physical attacks and it is extremely light. There are a variety of wards on the piece designed to protect me from Harmful spells and gasses too. It's standard issue for Unspeakables and I rarely take it off save when asleep or bathing."

Harry nodded, satisfied with her answer, in truth he desired one of those pieces of armour for himself, it didn't look overly comfortable but he imagined you would get used to it and the protective nature of the armour would far outweigh any discomfort worn by wearing it.

"You two need to get to class, Alastor Moody has contacted me and requested that I continue your training. I'm afraid I don't have free time for it in the near future but from what I understand I'd be little challenge for you in the duelling ring, it's not exactly my strong suit. I can suggest some reading material however."

-:-

As the two teens left Victoria Umbridge's class she leaned forwards in her chair resting her chin on one hand that was braced on the desk and the fingers of her other tapping a staccato rhythm on the desk in front of her. The two teens were free of interference, but there were hundreds of teenagers here, and if any of them were being remotely controlled then it would be a mission all on its own to discover them, she needed help, or at least some kind of filtering system to make her task easier. Grunting slightly to herself she pulls out a sheet of parchment and with her elegant quill pens a short missive in red ink. Signing it she snaps her fingers and the letter abruptly vanishes.

Sitting back she takes a shallow basin from one of her desk drawers and dips her hand into it, coating the fresh cuts with a thin clear fluid. Before waving her wand twice more and putting the basin away. She needed backup.

-:-

The first lesson of term had been eventful for the two teens in more ways than they could ever imagine. Many things had been revealed to them and questions were boiling over in their minds like an overfull cauldron. Hermione agreed with her man that the woman was totally ageless and should be treated with caution; she too had gotten the distinct impression of being judged when viewed by those flat grey eyes.

They made it to Transfiguration with a minute to spare and sat down in the seats saved for them by their peers; right at the front in the middle. The Hufflepuffs who they shared this class with looked up to them just as much as their housemates did. Susan bones and Hannah Abbot had both formed loose acquaintances with them at the end of last year and Ernie was a constant source of amusement for the entire class with his pompous attitude and upper class vocabulary. Justin Finch Fletchley and Megan Grant had been Muggleborns in Hufflepuff, both were now missing.

Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had banded together in many ways and it was not uncommon to see mixed house friendships between them forming in the year previous. Many of those friendships had survived into the new school year and were flourishing. Professor McGonagall favoured her two favourite students with a smile as they sat down.

"This year is your OWL year, for many of you; this will mean little more than a little extra studying in the evenings and a stressful end of year. Some of you however, especially those of you looking to go into ministry jobs in your futures, will need to pay very special attention to this year as, without the required grades, you will not be allowed entrance into NEWT study and your careers will go up in flames before your eyes.

Careers counselling will be offered in October and once again in April when you have a better idea of how your studies are going. Notices will be posted closer to the time and I will expect all of you to go to your appointed times. Professor Sprout has asked me to impress upon her students in this class that she is happy to help any of you who are struggling or simply need advice and I offer the same support to my own students. We are here to ready you for your futures, do not squander us as a resource for your own advancement.

Now, we ended the school year with a project that all of you I am pleased to say, did excellently in achieving. Especially Mr Potter who, it seems, has taken the time to make a hobby out of the endeavour."

Harry blushed at the veiled rebuke as he hastily cleared one of his small creations from the table. It had apparently managed to find its way into his back this morning and subsequently hitched a ride onto his desk when he lifted out his transfiguration text book.

"Ensure that your creations do not cause any mischief Mr Potter, that said I would be most interested in reviewing your accomplishments."

Blush deepening he nodded slightly, eager to get the attention of the class off him so they would stop snickering.

"This year however we move away from transmutation and into a new branch of Transfiguration that we have not yet touched upon, conjuration. So far all of our classes have been focused on improving your control, teaching you to focus first on the current state of the object you are transfiguring and then the secondary state you wish it to become. Gradually new elements have been introduced until we concluded your study of transmutation with the project at the end of last year. Now we move on to summoning things directly from magic itself.

Now admittedly many of you have already started upon this course with Hexwork in Professor Moody's class last year. I ask you to set aside the knowledge you learned there for a moment and focus now upon what I am teaching you, for Conjuration and Hexwork are totally different fields of study and to mix them can be disastrous. Take out your wands please."

The class, almost as one, drew their wands smartly and sat, ready to cast with eager expressions. Harry nearly laughed at the look of amusement of the Professor's face.

"Every part of your p0ractical education until now has involved one of these. You have used them to charm, transfigure, curse, and even cast sorcery. For the first time today you are going to consciously attempt magic without a wand. Please place them back in your backs and push them under your chairs where you cannot get at them."

Harry looked at Hermione with a smirk on his face, first time wandless indeed. They did as they were asked though and placed their bags under their desks, wands included.

"Ensure your desks are clear before we start, done? Good. We are going to begin with a simple conjuration for fire. You have learned to use charms to ignite the air in front of your wand and propel it in a magical stream of flames in the incendio spell, and some of you have the natural affinity required to summon bluebell flames with your wands. What I want you to do is cup your hand in front of you, as if receiving a heavy ball of iron or pewter then imagine the heat of those flames, and picture it just above the palm of your hand while you keep it in front of you, then repeat the incantation 'Ignis Exorior'."

Harry shot Hermione a glance and then did as instructed; unsurprisingly a small flickering flame appeared cupped in his hand dancing merrily. Hermione let out an exclamation of happiness when a similar flame appeared in her hand. Professor McGonagall smiled at them and awarded five points apiece for a first try successful conjuration. The rest of the class battled with it and all bar Seamus had mastered the trick by the end of class. He had somehow managed to decimate his eyebrows, again.

"I'm sorry mam, fire and I just don't mix."

-:-

Lunch time was a rowdy affair, the Gryffindor fifth years and Ravenclaw and Slytherin third years had all experienced the new professor and were relaying their experiences to their housemates and anyone who would listen. Apparently Professor Umbridge had gone over much of what Harry and Hermione learned in third year with Professor Lupin but in her own unique style. It occurred to Harry that Defence against the Dark arts had a hugely varied syllabus and it was more down to what each individual teacher wanted to impart rather than any standardized set. He wondered how they would be tested on their knowledge of such a vast subject in their coming OWL.

Hermione shared his concerns and had theorized that they would be tested based on what they had been taught rather than an international frame of reference like the other subjects. They both remembered Fleur talking about her own OWL studies (In France they were apparently called Les Examens Magiques Initale) and how they were focused on counter curses for spells that the few dark wizards France still had found 'fashionable'. Hopefully they wouldn't be tested on Lockhart's collected works.

Harry felt a pressure on the back of his neck like someone was observing him from a distance. Glancing up he noted Draco Malfoy looking particularly pale and glaring at him from across the room. Harry sighed; he knew this confrontation would come, Lucius Malfoy had been one of the death eaters in the Graveyard that night, Lucius would have been punished for letting Harry escape, and Lucius would have punished Draco. Sirius had talked to both himself and Hermione about the way pureblood boys like Draco were raised and it wasn't a pretty picture, reminiscent of childhoods not dissimilar to Harry's. But that was the difference, Harry knew that he was better than Draco, he didn't commit rape or abuse those with no fault.

He had chosen to be this way, had Draco, he had seen his options, and taken the easier route. Harry had no sympathy for the boy who had nearly raped one of his friends. He remembered how broken Fleur had been after the fact and his fist clenched painfully around his fork. If Draco picked a fight, Harry would end it. He felt a slim hand clasp his own and looked down to see Hermione gently prying the mangled fork out of his hand. Grimacing he set it to rights with a surreptitious wandless reparo with a sigh he set down the remedied fork and looked sidelong at her.

"This isn't going to end well love."

Her soft hand came up to cup his cheek gently and she replied with a stern tone.

"You'll not hold back. If he tries to hurt you destroy him, I don't want you hurt because you were too noble to give that little toe rag what he deserves."

He nodded once, accepting her statement for what it was; a request made by a worried lover to her reckless and noble beau. Tenderly he took her hand in his own and kissed the knuckles.

"I love you Hermione."

The feelings of warmth and affection that cocooned him in the bond nearly made him weep with joy

"I love you too Harry."

-:-

In years to come when Harry would look back on his life it would be this year at Hogwarts that he realized what his career would be, specifically in charms; as the students filed in Professor Flitwick motioned Harry to the side and, in his squeaky voice, requested to borrow a handful of Harry's creations. After complying with a bemused look at the professor Harry went back to his seat and shrugged at Hermione. Whatever Flitwick was doing would probably be interesting, it always was.

"Quiet down class, quiet down. This year, amongst our OWL studies I have decided to experiment with you by teaching an auxiliary course. The project you all did at the end of the school year brought to mind an old passion of mine that I have neglected for many years. That is of course, magical artificial intelligence."

The class was dead silent; Harry and Hermione were both on the edge of their seats hanging off every word. Most of the Ravenclaws were too.

"Mr Potter designed and successfully made a mechanical spider, powered with magic that had rudimentary intelligence, as you can see he has furthered his art and expanded his repertoire. Tell us Mr Potter, how did you craft the intelligence for these delightful creatures?"

Harry cleared his throat, and tried hard not to look down at his desk in embarrassment; despite his growing confidence compliments about things he was actually good at still made him shy.

"It was quite a struggle at first, I tried to use intent based runes but they just refused to work properly, almost as if they were intentionally misunderstanding and doing something completely different. In the end I had to make a dozen or so rune clusters that were essentially layers of logic gates. Multichoice options based on pre-set parameters in the end I made them standard and simply added to them to experiment. One of the simpler ones is a rune that controls how they move about from surface to surface. If the surface they are walking on ends a spell detects the distance down to the next surface and another spell detects the angle of the edge, if it's ninety degrees or less the constructs can quite happily cling to them and wander about as if the surface was flat, but they struggle to reconnect to surfaces that are too great an angle away from them. If the angle is too great to traverse and the distance to the next surface downwards is greater than a meter and a half a different spell then searches for any surfaces within jumping distance, which is different for each one depending on their strength. If no surfaces within jumping distance exist they instead turn either left or right around until the surface extends in a direction they can travel and they carry on."

Harry had to stifle a laugh at the silence in the classroom and the adoring expression on Hermione's face. Flitwick actually did laugh

"Well Mr Potter you've done an excellent job for an untrained amateur I'll tell you that for certain. Thirty points to Gryffindor for a truly excellent explanation and understanding of your craft. Professionals use a slightly different method, but yours is equally valid, if somewhat more time consuming. You may find that they are interchangeable or more or less useful depending on your task. Where you use runes with powered spells, most professionals use miniature detection wards, with attached reaction spells, for example."

Flitwick places one of Harry's contraptions on the desk and duplicates it with a spell, the device is however inert.

"Note that my copy of Mr Potter's construction is stationary whilst his continues to scuttle about. Speaking of which Mr Potter can you make it stop a moment?"

Harry nodded once before intoning clearly.

"Mora"

Flitwick looked if possible even more delighted

"Voice activated command too? Oh well done Mr Potter well done. Now, look here. If I place a distance detection ward on this contraption it will detect the distances of all objects to the centre of its mass. All we do then is place a series of spells upon it with priority runes attached that dictate what behaviours we want to set. In this case I want it to prioritize walking on flat surfaces whenever possible, but it will jump to applicable surfaces if left with no other choice, and as a final bit of amusement, it will be compelled to chase the tip of my wand."

With the casting of the last charm the small critter immediately leapt at Flitwick's wand which he moved sharply taking it out of reach and then amused the class for a moment by making the creature run up and down desks and leap from book to book. Eventually he stunned and vanished the contraption.

"Would you mind if the class borrowed some of these Mr Potter? They'll need something to experiment on for Homework."

Harry shook his head

"No that's fine sir. I've got plenty more where those came from."

"In that case before we get into the meat of this lesson I want you all for homework to experiment with charming whichever of Mr Potter's delightful creations you get your hands on. In a month we will be testing your enchantments in a cross country race for them, expect them to need to be able to run, jump assess terrain and strive for a pre-set objective, likely a location. I'll need a few for the other class as well Mr Potter if you will. Your textbooks have the required charms, all of which we will learn in class in the next two days."

That would prove to be the beginning of a lifelong passion of Harry's, and a source of great frustration for Hermione, and great amusement for their children.

-:-

Unfortunately not all the day would be so amusing, the confrontation they had been waiting for happened just after dinner.

The two teens had been walking back to their quarters on the seventh floor when a cutting sorcel opened up Harry's back from behind. It landed a hand's width below his neck, Hermione felt him collapse against her and she screamed upon seeing the inch deep gash from shoulder to shoulder and Harry yelled in pain and rage.

She felt like she was in a dream as she threw up a shield and turned to face their attackers. Draco Crabbe and Goyle were already firing more sorcels, apparently surprised that the initial attack had failed to kill Harry instantly. Hermione retaliated, blasting sorcels snapping out like cannon balls blasting into their mediocre shields. She had the full combined power of herself and Harry's magical cores at her disposal and she was fuelling her sorcels with rage and fear. Crabbe and Goyle never stood a chance.

Crabbe was blasted backwards off his feet spinning rapidly, one of his arms missing and blood fountaining out in a spiral ribbon of crimson fluid. Goyle was less lucky and his legs from his knees to his waste simply disappeared, a follow up jab from Hermione punched a hole through his wand arm shoulder and sent him screaming to the ground. Draco had been learning some tricks from daddy over the summer though because when she turned to him her blasting sorcel was absorbed by his shield with a sonorous gong like note and then his own attack blasted back at her; a jet of light blue light that speared into her shield and crushed it like a paper cup.

Hermione cried in shock as a second cutting sorcel severed her wand hand at the wrist and she looked down at it in shock as it rolled on the floor. She would have died right then and there if Crabbe hadn't been screaming so loudly.

-:-

When the screams started Professor Umbridge didn't hesitate, she simply ran. Her boots thundered on the marble steps as she sprinted up the stairs and dashed down the corridor. Those were not the screams of merriment or childlike play; those were the screams of someone in mortal agony. The sight she came to made her blood boil. Her wand was out in a second and Draco Malfoy was pinned against the wall metal staples locking his wrists and ankles in place. Another flick and Hermione's hand reattached itself sliding into place with a wet slapping sound. There was nothing to be done for Crabbe and Goyle, they were dead.

She fell to her knees next to Potter and began weaving a restoration charm. The cutter had split his spine and it was a miracle that he hadn't been paralysed from the shoulders down. He was still screaming, she knocked him cold with a stunner. There was no way to get them to the hospital wing on foot in enough time for Poppy to fix the damage her field spells had slowed on both teens. So she made a portkey, and moments later they were in the hospital wing.

Finally she stood, blood covering her knees and boots, her eyes no longer iron grey, now they were a deep blood red. She walked to Malfoy and stood in front of him staring into his eyes with her patented piercing glare. He wet himself.

"Have you got any idea how much trouble you're in?"

"My father…"

"Your father is a death eater, and no longer holds weight in the ministry. Don't interrupt me again."

Malfoy visibly swallowed and his wand clattered to the floor, dropped by fingers numb from lack of blood flow due to the metal staples surrounding his wrists and pinning them to the stonework.

"You have attacked, in the middle of a school, another student, nearly killed them in fact."

"Crabbe and Goyle are…"

"DON'T INTERRUPT ME!"

Her face, normally smooth and unblemished became a terrifying mask of nightmares in that instance. Her skin peeled back and her flash seemed to rot away revealing her tongue in her mouth and the cartilage of her nose before she regained control, the façade of her perfect face slipping back into place.

"You are nothing Draco Malfoy; you are a servant of a power aged beyond use. Your father's time is over; his master's time is over. A new age is dawning and the boy you nearly just killed is the answer to everything."

"I have not endured this Earth for all this time just to see one stupid arrogant little boy, who is chafing because of his own stupid thoughtless decisions, ruin everything I have worked for. I have too much riding on this to let something happen now. I should kill you, right now; make it look like Granger did it in her rage, you'd do it again wouldn't you? Do you want to end up like your friends, one with his legs a paste and the other with his arm in a million pieces?"

He threw up messily and she just avoided having it splatter her coat.

"I think I'll leave you here to hang in this cesspool, you can reflect on how thin the thread of your life is next to your friends. May they rest in peace."

She loosened the staples just enough so that he wouldn't lose his hands from lack of blood and walked away, she had to see Minerva before this got out of hand.

-:-

Harry woke to the familiar ceiling of the hospital wing he turned his head, wondering at the absence of Hermione in his mind and wondered if everything was a dream. Was he back in the hospital wing after his Quidditch accident in third year? Maybe it was after they had met Sirius, maybe after the time turner. But no, there she was, in the back of his mind talking, but he couldn't hear her very clearly, it was like someone had put up a screen between their minds. Groggily he turned his head all the way to the side and saw her there, sitting in her usual chair, looking at him with such an obvious look of worry that he couldn't help but get up and go to her, to comfort her. She catapulted herself into his arms and clutched at his shirt panting slightly.

"Don't you ever do that to me again."

Harry smiled and pulled her, if possible, even closer.

"Sorry love, truly I am. Are you going to tell me what happened? All I can remember is being hit in the back, then nothing."

"They had to obliviate you of the memories; you went into shock a couple of times just remembering the pain. Malfoy opened up your back with a cutting sorcel, nearly severed your spine. He's in Azkaban now."

Harry could tell there was more, you didn't spend a year in nearly constant communication with someone and not pick up their tells. And there was that maddening screen between their thoughts.

"What aren't you telling me? And why can't I hear your thoughts love? What's going on?"

She sniffed against his shoulder

"He hurt me, and they don't want you to see the memories of it yet, I'm not as good at hiding it as you, they want you to be more stable before they take it down. They think you'll kill him and it's bad enough that I killed Crabbe and Goyle without you getting prosecuted as well."

Harry's blood boiled, Malfoy hurt her?

"Harry, calm down, he cut off my hand with a cutting sorcel, but Professor Umbridge reattached it, I'm okay."

He breathed out, tension leaving him. Then the second part of what she said came home to him.

"Wait, you killed Crabbe and Goyle? Prosecuted? What's going on?"

He felt like a broken record.

"I'm a Muggle Born Harry. I killed two purebloods, even in self-defence under the law they can call for me to be arrested and tried for murder."

"No."

The word came from him instinctually, like a knee jerk solution to an obvious problem.

"But…"

"No, I'm not going to let them. You know exactly what will happen if you get arrested, they'll twist things, it won't be fair, and it's my fault…"

*SLAP*

The sound of her hand hitting his cheek was so sudden as to be shocking and he stood there, staring at her with something approaching bewilderment.

"What…?"

"No. Don't you dare. Don't you dare try to take ownership for what those scum tried to do. That was not your fault Harry, and don't try to take ownership for my actions either, I knew exactly what I was doing, and what the consequences could have been, I couldn't not fight back Harry. They would have killed us."

He sagged and sat heavily on the bed behind him

"What do we do?"

"You sit there, and let me take care of it."

He and Hermione both turned to see three people entering the ward, Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Umbridge; it was Umbridge that had spoken. Harry shot a look at Hermione who shrugged.

"You acted in self-defence in response to an attack on your bond mate. I can rustle up a few laws that obviate the entire need for a trial. Your use of sorcery is justified in life threatening circumstances especially as you weren't the instigator. The irony of all of this is that your being a muggleborn is totally irrelevant, you'll be joining an noble and ancient house as soon as you two hand fast, makes you immune to a lot of the modern laws when it comes to this kind of thing."

Harry looked at the professor like she had grown a third head.

"Ancient and noble? Am I forgetting something or has no one told me about this yet?"

Hermione's hand on his cheek brought him around

"It's the painkillers, I told you about that last year, remember?"

Now he just felt stupid

"Oh, right, yeah, um… Okay?"

She rolled her eyes before turning back to the professors who all looked like they were stifling amusement.

"He gets tongue tied sometimes, ignore him. So the long and short of it is that we get out of this in one piece? And out of jail?"

Dumbledore nodded sagely.

"It's why Mr Malfoy is already in jail, Mr Potter is the scion of an ancient wizarding house, nobility aside he's already in violation of several succession laws and his attack on your person Miss Granger is curiously even worse, as you are, or will be, the mother of the next Generation of Potters all things going well."

Harry and Hermione both blushed at that insinuation. Harry could have sworn Dumbledore's eyes gave an extra strong twinkle just then.

"Relax, rest, you'll be able to go back to your rooms in an hour or so I believe."

He and Umbridge turned to leave but Professor McGonagall stayed behind

"I wish you two would stay out of trouble, you have no idea how much paperwork is involved in everything you get up to."

Harry let out a rueful chuckle

"I can't help it I'm sorry Professor; I don't suppose this is just a social meeting?"

It was the professor's turn to chuckle

"No I'm afraid not, although it is of benefit to you. I have a letter for the two of your from Alastor, additionally I want to offer my personal congratulations on your exemplary development as a pair of young magicians. Especially in the field of sorcery, that said I cannot gripe about your transfiguration scores. I approached the Wizarding Educational Authority about sorcery scholarships for both of you. Hogwarts doesn't offer an official Sorcery examination at OWL level and I believe, as does apparently the WEA, that you are both capable of scoring excellently on their internationally graded examination. I do wish you the best in your studies, we aren't really supposed to have favourites but…"

She left it there, trailing off suggestively before bidding them goodnight and leaving behind three letters. They both knew what she meant though and it meant the world to them. They decided to open Moody's letter in their own rooms but the scholarship invitations were too tempting and they both opened the envelopes with trembling fingers. Harry read his letter with trepidation and excitement.

Dear Mr Potter

We at the Wizarding Education Authority have received a second hand request for you to be admitted into our scholarship examination program for international excellence.

After reviewing your internal examination results and the scores given by your deputy headmistress relating to your MDL (Magical Development Level), we are happy to offer you a scholarship examination paper for sorcery at intermediate testing levels.

The scholarship winner will receive a four hundred galleon prize and a guaranteed position for the advanced test in two years' time. All participants will receive a certificate of achievement with accompanying details of their score and achievements in the testing. Those who pass the examination will be shortlisted for the advanced test in two years' time.

Please respond promptly by international owl at your earliest convenience with conformation for more information on your pending examination.

Have a good day

Larissa Mikealson
International correspondent and organiser

WEA

Harry closed the letter with shaking hands and looked up at Hermione who was equally gobsmacked. Harry had no illusions about money; he would be set for life upon reaching his majority. But having the certificate in hand and the knowledge that he had passed an international standard sorcery examination was mind blowing. He and Hermione spoke almost at the same time.

"I'm in."

-:-

Madame Pomfrey removed the mental screen that had separated their bond and Harry immediately felt like a weight had been lifted from his heart. Being separated from Hermione like that was an experience he never wanted to repeat. They spent the night in their rooms, holding one another close and reaffirming themselves to one another after the most stressful and dangerous first day of school either of them had ever experienced. It was a long time before either of them got any sleep.

Deeper in the castle a professor was doing mental exercises trying to understand why she had lost control of her glamours. It had been a long time since she had shown her face to the world. Another professor elsewhere was toasting her new favourite students and in a tall tower on the southern side of the castle an aging headmaster was nervously fingering a long wand of elder.

Meanwhile halfway across the country in a small town near Leeds a pair of Muggles was being torn limb from limb. Etched into their corpses were the two names of the teens curled up together on a bed in Scotland. Retribution for two pureblood lives taken in anger.

-:-

AN2: Holy balls that was quick. Maybe I feel a little guilty for the long ass time it took me to update the last chapter. Maybe I'm in a writing mood. Maybe you'll never know, enjoy!

AN3: I realised when I wrote the first instalment in this series that I really, really enjoy writing classroom scenes, so I wanted to devote almost an entire chapter to them to really have my head. I like to use my writing as a way of injecting my own thoughts of what magic should be like into the general population, and a teaching environment is a really convenient way to do that, because I get to teach my readers about all the weird ass ideas in my head. Sorry if it got irksome, I won't do it again, probably, maybe.

AN4: This chapter had a lot of new concepts, a lot of strange goings on, and even a bit of action. There are a few things I want to clear up because I never know if I did so adequately in the actual writing. Professor Umbridge isn't evil in canon, and she isn't here. They both have their own agendas and are going to go as far as needed to accomplish them.

Draco, Crabbe and Goyle are not the brightest sparks in the sky, that's why they thought they could get away with this… they were wrong.

Hermione and Harry are not a perfect couple, close to it because of bond shenanigans, but they still do things that bug each other. Like when Hermione slaps Harry in this chapter, she's just had enough of his bs for one day and she's letting him know, it's healthy, promise.

And finally, Dumbledore gets very little air time for a reason, I know full well that in most fics he's a huge part of the plot, but in reality he's a secondary character, and should be. This story is about Harry and Hermione, and partly about Alastor and Umbridge and Valmortis and Voldemort. But mostly about harry and Hermione, everyone else gets second, third fourth and fifth fiddle.

AN5: Review Responses

Anotherboarduser: Excellent, glad I'm doing something right.

Pairingmatters: Good sir, are you trying to fish for plot information? Tsk tsk

Shadowking: Ahhh friend, you haven't been paying attention. Ah well, more's the shock when you figure it out.

Lupinesence: Yanno, I completely forgot to do that. ;.; I meant to, but it just didn't seem to happen. I promise I'll do a recap during the Christmas chapter okay?

Imortalglee: … This is one of those reviews I can't really respond to because you're just saying: Good job Lucian, well done. So um… Thanks? Seriously, thanks.

Vegasman: Hmmm, Yanno I wish I could confirm or deny that, but I have no idea what's in the NAZI playbook, so I'ma just keep writing and hope I don't become anti-Semitic

Texan-Muggle: Honestly I had forgotten how relieving it is just to be able to post the chapters when I finish writing them. You were an excellent beta and I thank you for that but I think I'm going to wing it.

Right, that's another one guys, thanks for reading and other shenanigans. The next chapter; Arcane Knowledge will see us diving deeper into necromantic lore. See you all next time? Pls?

LGreymark