A/N: Yay! She's not completely apathetic! This next chapter's quite long, and slightly dull until Umbridge asks for them. This is one of those bridge-y chapters. WARNING: Fluff approaching (still, like, two chapters away, but I thought I'd just warn you). By the way, if you like this story, PLEASE review! I've had a lot of e-mails telling me that people are putting me on Story Alert (thank you to everyone who did), but only three people have reviewed (thanks to Eagle-of-the-Ninth, KnightStar0146 and especially algie888 - where would I be without your horribly painful criticism?). Please, if you like this story, REVIEW!
Thanks!

The Order of the Phoenix

"So we've made a new breakthrough-"

"-that we don't want to say too much about-"

"-but, trust us, once it's finished-"

"-it's gonna change every student's life."

"Don't want to say too much about it? Oh, come off it, you two, tell me," wheedled Katrina pleadingly. "You wouldn't open your bedroom door all summer. I was dead bored flying over the orchard for thousandth time at the summer's end, even though I got some good practice in with Harry and Ron-"

Fred picked up a forkful of shepherd's pie. "Nope. Our lips our sealed. But when it's finished, you'll be the first to know."

Katrina twisted her mouth, annoyed, but before she could say anything more on the matter, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet.

After his first few customary announcements - no magic in corridors between classes, the Forbidden Forest if off-limits (Katrina smirked, and she noticed that Harry, Ron and Hermione wore the same grins further down the table - if those three were in the Forest, then she'd better be more careful when it came to her nightly hunting trips), etcetera. Then, Dumbledore called out something that made her ears perk up.

"We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank-"

"Weirdest name ever," Katrina and the twins snickered quietly.

"-who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was a smattering of halfhearted applause, under the cover of which George whispered, "She looks like a frog trapped in a pink pudding!"

It was, unfortunately, a rather accurate description of the woman, whom, even as Katrina looked up, had interrupted Dumbledore and was standing up to make a speech.

She's going to be eaten alive; she has no idea how things are done around here.

"...pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited." Umbridge wrapped up her speech.

Katrina had zoned out for most of the lecture. By the looks on the faces of other students, it seemed as though they had too.

"Oi! Kat, over here!" Katrina Lupine turned at the sound of her best friend's voice. Sighing good-humoredly, she made her way to the front of the small crowd gathered in the courtyard.

Fred and George were, as usual, joking around. A small ball of flame flashed back and forth between them, as easily as if they were two Muggles playing with one of those strange baseballs. The crowd watched them avidly, as if they couldn't get enough.

She rolled her eyes. "Another invention?"

"You bet. George came up with the idea, we both made it." Fred grinned at her, then tossed the orb towards her. It zipped around her, coming to rest on her shoulder for a few seconds before flashing back to George.

"Well? Whadya think?" George looked hopeful.

She smiled. "It's bloody amazing."

Fred and George had recently been developing all sorts of new creations. But they still wouldn't tell her what they were.

"Come on, you two! You've been in there for hours. The other boys live here too!" Hermione Granger, the newly-appointed Head Girl yelled at the closed door.

"Sorry! Can't hear you!" came the cheerful reply, followed by another loud bang, and cheers.

Katrina, sitting in front of the fireplace with her nose in Animagi Forms; The Science and Magic Behind Them, looked up, wondering if Fred and George had finally done it.

Her hair drenched, she plodded across the Quidditch fields to join Angelina, the only one on the field so far. The dark seventh-year was scrutinizing the goal posts as if they would blow up and destroy Hogwarts if she took her eyes off them.

"Angelina, I love that you've got the Gryffindor Quidditch team back together, but don't you think we could practise when it's slightly less...wet?"

"Nonsense, Katrina! The more practices we get in, the better!" Angelina turned to her with a crazed look in her eye.

She's gone as bonkers about practice as Wood.

The twins joined her, red hair hanging lankly across their forehead. They turned to her so Angelina could not hear them.

"Kat, you look really tired. You okay?" George looked sleepily concerned.

"I'm fine. Just stayed out too late hunting last night, that's all."

"How often do you, you know, go down to the Forest?" Fred breathed softly, so no one else could hear.

"Once or twice a week, just enough so that I don't get too restless."

"Do'ya think we could get away with calling in sick?" George muttered to her, changing the subject as Katie Bell stumbled onto the field.

"We could try, but I bet she'd know what we've done." Fred murmured out of the corner of his mouth, as Harry and Ron walked up. "If only I hadn't offered to sell her some Puking Pastilles yesterday."

"If only," Katrina repeated. She wanted to get out of the rain almost as badly as the twins.

"We could always try the Fever Fudge-"

"Fever Fudge? What's this all about then?"

Everyone turned, guilty looks splashed across their faces, to look sheepishly at Angelina.

"Uh...nothing, Ang." George glanced at Katrina and Fred and mouthed later. "We were just talking about how much we wished we could do this more often."

"Really." It wasn't a question. "Well then, seeming as you like the rain so much, all of you, mount up and lap the field. Now."

Everyone shot dark looks at George, who for the most part shrugged them off with Yeah, but you know you love me puppy-dog eyes.

Katrina watched Harry talk from across the Hog's Head. She stood next to Fred and George, thinking, this is a really bad meeting place. Any one of Umbridge's spies could hear us loud and clear. Yet, less than fifteen minutes later, she signed her name rather wholeheartedly on the paper stating DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY.

"Alright, today I'm going to teach you how to cast a Patronus charm." Harry had become quite a leader.

Katrina raised her eyebrows and smiled slightly. She stepped forwards when Harry asked for volunteers. No one else did.

Harry looked at her sideways, black locks falling into green eyes; he was obviously trying to work out why she had stepped forward so eagerly. He shrugged and said, "Okay, Katrina, this is a difficult charm, so don't worry if you don't get it the first time. First of all you have to think of the happiest..."

Katrina zoned out and let the fifth-year go through the instructions. The only people who knew that she had received Patronus training from Professor Lupin two year prior in that room were Fred and George, and very quietly she heard bets being taken; the twins.

"...okay, go ahead any time you're ready." Harry watched her expectantly.

Katrina raised her redwood wand slowly and deliberately, trying to make as much of a show of it as possible. Then, she shouted out, "Expecto Patronum!"

A silvery wolf erupted from the tip of her wand, much to the astonishment of the DA, including the famous Harry Potter himself. Katrina couldn't help but smile smugly, just a touch, as Fred and George became more than a little richer, and the wolf floated to stand by her side regally. It raised its head and howled beautifully, hauntingly, before nudging her hand with its white nose and loped up, towards the ceiling, then diving to swoop around the crowd, making them jump back in surprise. Finally, it came to a stop in front of her. It gazed at the DA, penetrating each member with a silver stare, before disappearing.

Harry just looked at her. "Huh. Well done. Alright, everyone, let's go!" As everyone dispersed, Harry turned to her.

"Where did you learn to do that?" His eyebrows were raised in surprise.

"Oh, you know. Around." She grinned mysteriously, mischievously. People always hated it when she did that.

Fred and George's Patronuses were unexpected. While they were identical, Fred's was a hyena, and George's was a coyote. It was fitting, although Katrina had honestly been expecting something along the lines of a pair of foxes.

"Can you believe that woman Umbridge is Headmistress now?" Fred spat as the two of them walked along the hallway.

"She's completely mental," Katrina agreed. "Supervising classes, putting Trewalney on probation, what next?"

"She can do whatever she wants, now that Dumbledore's gone," Fred said darkly. "There's a rumor going around that she's about to let Filch reintroduce whipping punishments. Can't wait for that to happen."

"Ah, yes, Mr and Mr Weasley, along with Miss Lupine, please report to my office?" Umbridge's sticky-sweet voice made the three of them turn around with loathing.

Katrina answered for them, as she could see the twins were too busy shouting curses at Umbridge in their heads. "Yes, Professor."

They followed Umbridge to her office, unable to talk as they were right behind the toady High Inquisitor.

Inside the horrifically tasteless office, Umbridge smiled sweetly at them. "Tea?"

Silence.

"Very well. Let's get down to business, shall we? Mr and Mr Weasley, I believe you are responsible for the disruption in today's Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"

The three of them had been; a two Puking Pastilles, a Fever Fudge and three Bowtruckles and a Grindylow set lose inside the classroom had caused a fantastic disruption. They all remained silent, though. Umbridge took that as a confession.

"Yes, well, that will be, let's see, I think four nights of detention with me?"

The twins tensed. Katrina soundlessly begged them not to make it worse. They didn't.

"Now, Miss Lupine." Umbridge turned to her. "I have no doubt that you also had a hand in today's disorder."

And I have no doubt that one day someone will strangle you, for the greater good of all wizarding kind.

"However, there are more important matters at hand." She shuffled some papers on her desk. "Miss Lupine, would you care to tell me exactly what you are?"

"A half-blood, Professor."

A glance of anger echoed across Umbridge's face, but she wiped it off quickly with another nauseating smile. "Yes, well, that's not quite what I meant. Hem hem," she coughed, lifting a document up to the light. "I believe you are a rare species known as a natural Animagi?"

What else was she supposed to say? "Yes."

"And you are therefore, a half-breed." Umbridge looked at her like she was a rather disgusting piece of trash.

"Well, actually, Professor, I'm full human, but I can maintain the form of an animal-"

"You are, indeed, closer to a werewolf than human."

"Um, well, actually, I can morph anytime I wish, whereas werewolves have no choice-"

"Just as you had no choice in being born a freak of nature." Umbridge smiled at her, tilting her head to one side as though she was contemplating the best way to cook and eat her.

Katrina felt sick. A freak of nature? Really? Part of her didn't believe that. The other part wanted to curse Umbridge with the legendary Bat Bogey Hex.

Fred was the first to react. "How dare you call her that, you bloody assho-"

"Ah, ah, ah, Mr Weasley, watch your language, that will be another night in detention-"

George drew his wand out and pointing it threateningly at Umbridge, his face infuriated.

All the while Katrina stood frozen, her mind running a mile a minute. Her brain screamed at her to say something to defuse the situation, to think something even the slightest bit intelligent, to do anything. But all she could do was stare. Come on, you idiot, do something. Don't let the boys fight fight your battles for you.

Nothing.

And while she had been trying to coax herself into moving, Umbridge had assigned three extra detentions. Fred and George looked enraged.

Katrina took a breath. How to say this without... well, without making the toad angrier. "Guys."

Fred and George stopped and looked at her.

"Professor, I think those comments are..." What? "Completely out of line."

"Well, Miss Lupine, as I am now the official Headmistress of Hogwarts, thanks to Professor Dumbledore's untimely disappearance. And I now have the authority to do anything I find necessary."

Katrina grit her teeth and imagined Umbridge with sharp, pointed teeth, laughing maniacally behind a bolt of lightning. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't too hard to picture.

Umbridge continued. "And as I see it fit, I think it would be more beneficial to the other students if you left Hogwarts. Immediately."

"What?" Katrina felt a shock of fear bolt through her stomach.

Fred and George gaped.

Umbridge smirked. "You shall have two hours to pack your things and leave the premises. You are dismissed."

"But-"

"Dismissed."

"She can't do this to you!" Fred cried out angrily.

Hermione frowned, bent over Hogwarts Headmasters. "She can, unfortunately. It states here that-"

"Hermione, we don't care what it states! Katrina can't leave! Where will she go?"

"I could go home." Katrina stood by her trunk, haven given up on crazy plots.

"No." Harry stood next to Hermione. "What if you stayed in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Are you mental?" Ron turned to him. "She can't stay in the Forest, it's bloody creepy!"

"No, he's onto something." Katrina crossed the Common Room. "I could stay in the Forest in my Animagi form. It wouldn't be too difficult."

"Just until we murder Umbridge. Then, it's back to Hogwarts!" George sighed unhappily.

"Professor Umbridge, this is an outrage! You cannot banish a student from the grounds!" McGonagall wore the same expression Fred and George had an hour earlier.

"I can, and I have, Minerva. Miss Lupine is all set to leave. Where she goes is her concern. I cannot have the likes of her tainting Hogwarts!"

"Tainting? Tainting! The only one tainting Hogwarts here is you, Dolores!"

"Enough! I am Headmistress, and I will be obeyed!" Umbridge noticed Katrina glaring at her. "Still here? Be off with you! Now!"

They stood in the courtyard, surrounded by most of Hogwart's students. The news had travelled fast.

Katrina didn't bother to pick up her trunk - she had already deposited it in the Forest. Whatever happened, she certainly wasn't going to go quietly. In a last act of rebellion, she morphed in front of everyone.

A ripple went through the courtyard. Apart from Fred and George, no one had really seen her in her wolf form.

The silver wolf shook its shaggy head twice - the signal. From some unseen corner, Hermione whispered, "Ferveo."

Instantly the wolf began to froth at the mouth. It was all show, of course, but Umbridge didn't know that. The chubby woman leaped backwards as if lightning had struck the spot in front of her.

The wolf growled low in her throat, enjoying every minute of it. The kids around them cheered loudly. Katrina advanced on Umbridge threateningly.

"I am Dolores Jane Umbridge! I will have order in this school! Leave me alone, you filthy animal!" Umbridge squealed.

The wolf continued to stalk towards the High Inquisitor, snarling. Suddenly, Katrina lunged.

Umbridge screeched and fell on her backside. A roar of laughter from the students and more cheers. Katrina howled once, for show. She swept her gaze around the courtyard of applauding kids and chortling teachers, nodded once, and bounded towards the Forest.