A/N: Standard Disclaimer applies, I do not own Harry Potter

FOURTEEN

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Scotland

Harry felt satisfied about the plan that he and the Weasley twins have came up with in order to remove Molly Weasley from the Burrow. Both Fred and George have assured Harry that by the time that the dusts of their latest prank have settled, Molly Weasley would be summoned by the Headmaster himself and she would be gone from the house for more than three hours.

Using a communications mirror that Sirius had given him before he left for Hogwarts, Harry had informed the 'Home' team, Sirius, Remus, Al, Dan and Emma, about this development, and Al had assured Harry that he would have a team ready to raid the Burrow by next week. It was more than enough time for Fred and George to prepare for whatever it is that they are planning.

There was a bit of a disagreement, however, since Fred and George refused to say what they are planning to do. It was Hermione who was adamant that the two of them, Harry and herself, be on the loop as to what is going to happen, but the twins were adamant about the need to keep 'operational security' in regards to their plots. It made Harry laugh.

As Harry helped Hermione off the carriage that had delivered them from Hogsmeade station to the school, he glanced towards the two who had accompanied them in the same carriage, Neville and Luna.

Ron and Ginny had tried to be the ones to accompany Harry and Hermione, but because the prefects have their own carriages, Ron was unable to do so. Harry and Hermione glared at Ginny as the red head tried to join them in the carriage, and that was the only thing that they needed to do to get her to whimper and run away in the opposite direction. Harry saw that she shared carriages with Lavender Brown and the Patil Twins.

Harry was not surprised to find out that Neville would side with him. Right after Harry and Hermione informed him about this summer and the plots against him, minus the fact that he and Hermione are now considered married, of course, and the part about Al's many secret identities; the Longbottom heir was just a notch below swearing on his family honor to help Harry. Hermione suspected that if that were to happen, Neville would also swear his entire family to the Potter cause, and, from her readings about the Potter family, she knew that no one would find that surprising.

It was Luna who was the one who surprised Harry and Hermione the most. Both are aware that Luna and Ginny were childhood friends, it came up when Hermione asked the red head why she decided to depend on a diary to counter her loneliness, and so, Harry and Hermione had expected that Luna would side with her friend.

She proved them wrong, however, and belatedly, both Harry and Hermione realized that they should have thought about it when they realized that Luna was the one who told them about Ginny being in love with the Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry and Hermione decided to trust Luna there and then, though the couple had also decided that they would be observing her. With the Marauder's Map on their hands, and with the assistance of the House-Elves of Hogwarts, who have rallied under Dobby, Harry was certain that they could cover the movement of any person in the castle that he would like to monitor.

One thing, however, that disturbed Harry was the fact that the horseless carriage that carried the students from the station to the school was no longer horseless. The first time that he looked at these horseless carriages, he was reasonably sure that it was magic who did the leg work, but now, he can see the creature who was pulling the carriage. He was disturbed when he pointed out the creatures to his companion, and only Hermione and Luna had believed him that the creatures exist, mostly because Luna claimed that she can see them as well and because Hermione announced that she can feel them, and she knew that her husband would never lie to her.

When the carriages entered Hogwarts, Harry was once again in awe of the castle. As he looked at the towering spires of the magical school, Harry thought about the first time that he saw the castle, and his subsequent feelings that the castle is his home. As he sat at the carriage now, entering the castle for the beginning of his fifth year as a student in the premier magical school in the whole of Britain, he realized that the castle is his home. He was, after all, Duke of Gryffindor.

Hermione sensed what her husband was feeling, she took his hand and for a few moments, the two of them stared at the castle, blocking the door of the carriage that they had just vacated, blocking Neville and Luna from exiting the said carriage, as they studied, together, the castle. It was their home, it might not be the first place where they had met, but Harry and Hermione realized that the castle was the place where they had gotten to know one another and where they had fallen in love with one another. Even if they were not Duke of Gryffindor and Duchess of Ravenclaw respectively, the fact that they had fallen in love with each other within the massive walls of the castle was more than enough for the to consider the place their home.

Their silent observation of the castle, however, was interrupted a few moments later when a familiar blond boy tried to approach them with his two companions. Draco Malfoy was hell bent on getting some revenge for the humiliation that he had suffered earlier aboard the train. A quick glance at his right hand saw that the compartment door slamming on his hand really hurt.

The Malfoy heir, however, barely got within twenty feet of Harry and Hermione before the castle doors opened. Harry expected Professor McGonagall, so he was surprised when it was Professor Snape who stepped out of the castle first. The Head of Gryffindor followed her Slytherin counterpart by a mere ten seconds, but it was still a considerable lead.

Hermione felt her husband tense as he saw the potions master, but Professor Snape ignored Harry and instead, headed straight to his, arguably, favorite student. The greasy haired potions professor practically dragged Draco Malfoy out of earshot of the rest of the student population, save for Crabbe and Goyle, both needed Malfoy to tell them that they are not needed and Malfoy failed to do so.

The two Slytherin's, professor and student, conferred for a few moments. The fact that Professor Snape had gone out of his way to greet the returning students had caused a stir among the crowd and all attention was towards the two. Everyone, therefore, was watching when Draco Mafloy screamed, at the top of his lungs, "No!"

Subsequent to these events, Draco Malfoy disappeared from school for two weeks. No one was sure why he did so, but everyone assumed that it had something to do with his conversation with his head of house. Unfortunately for Draco, Fred and George were one of those who witnessed what happened. Within a few hours after the welcoming feast, the rumor that Draco is nursing a broken heart because his head of house, and lover, had broken up with him was making the rounds.

"What do you suppose was that about?" Harry asked his wife as soon as they entered the Great Hall. The Great Hall was exactly as Harry remembered it, with the five long tables, one for each of the four houses and one for the staff, and the enchanted ceiling showing the sky outside.

"Don't know, don't care" Hermione replied. She took a seat at the table, and Harry sat beside her. Ron tried to seat beside Hermione as well, but Neville, who saw what the red headed fifth year was about to do, decided to take the seat beside Hermione. Fred and George then took the seat beside Harry, leaving Ron to seat beside his fellow fifth year prefect, Lavender Brown.

At the staff table, Professor Dumbledore watched the seating war with a calm expression on his face. Inwardly, however, he seethed as he realized that one of his two deep cover agents in the Potter camp had been denied a seat beside the Potter heir. That meant that Harry Potter had discovered that Ron is acting against him. The question in the headmaster's mind, therefore, is if his other agent in the Potter camp, have been discovered as well, unaware that not only were his agents already discovered, they had also been rendered toothless, along with the rest of his, Dumbledore's, camp.

After arranging the seats, Harry and Hermione looked towards the staff table, and were unsurprised to find the senior undersecretary seated at the usual position of the DADA professor. The rest of the school, however, was surprised, though Harry clearly saw that those whom he had always thought had sense were not. He decided that they either must have heard about the appointment or they had read the news article that was published along with the account of his trial.

Harry and Hermione, however, were surprised when they saw that Professor Grubby-Plank, and not Hagrid, was seated on the seat that was usually reserved for Care of Magical Creatures professor. Harry felt a gentle pressure on his forearm as Hermione silently warned him about asking the question outright.

Harry nodded slowly, he was careful not to make those around him see him nodding, but it was unnecessary, because at that moment, all attention was on the doors of the Great Hall as the first years entered for their sorting ceremony. As was expected, Professor McGonagall led the first years in the center aisle and then placed a stool with an old wizard hat before him.

Attention was now on the old hat. The whole school waited with bated breath. Then the tip near the hat's brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into song.

After the song, the sorting began. Harry and Hermione waited patiently for the end, though both saw that the Gryffindor fifth year prefect was not. The red headed menace watched the sorting with his right hand clutched on a knife and he looked ready to attack the first years. He never even clapped once when Gryffindor received a student.

The only time that Ron calmed down was when the food finally arrived, though he calmed down only for a few moments before he leapt, figuratively, of course, on the food and filled his plate with everything that he can see. As he was busy with his food, he did not notice the people inching away from him.

Harry and Hermione ate calmly. Since they had chosen a seat away from Ron, they did not have to slowly inch away from him. They did move in their seats, but only to make way for those who were unfortunate enough to have found themselves seated beside the red headed food disposal machine. The couple would have preferred feeding each other, they have discovered this rather pleasurable action during their time at Potter Island when they chanced upon Dan and Emma feeding one another, but decided that that would raise too many eyebrows, and raised eyebrows are the least of things that the couple needed right now.

The couple also detected an unusual substance in their pumpkin juices, but having been taught by Al on the proper wandless switching spell, both couples switched their pumpkin juices with some from the Slytherin table. Needless to say, those love potions, for the couple assumed that they were, were drank by someone from the house of the snakes.

The feast ended earlier than usual, again, Ron was the last one to stop, and apparently, the feast ended because everyone who saw him devour the food in front of him lost their appetite. Ron, in fact, was not yet done, but even his master has limits on watching him eat.

Professor Dumbledore then had his customary welcoming remarks recited before the combined student population. Harry and Hermione were unsurprised that the DADA professor thought to disturb the headmaster, but the headmaster was kind enough to let the toad-woman take center stage.

Professor Dumbledore clapped after her speech, and the staff, out of respect for the headmaster, followed his lead. The rest of the student population tried to follow suit, but since they were unaware when the toad-woman had stopped sprouting words, for very few people actually paid attention to her, they did not had the chance as Professor Dumbledore continued what it was that he was saying.

Never in the history of Dumbledore being headmaster had a teacher interrupted him during his welcoming remarks, but the headmaster took it in stride and allowed the DADA professor to do so. The headmaster, however, was unprepared for what happened next.

As he opened his mouth to continue his remarks, he espied a raised hand from among the crowd. Professor Dumbledore paused once again, and students turned their attention towards the owner of the hand. Harry and Hermione recognized her as a fifth year from Ravenclaw, and both smirked as they realized what Anthony Goldstein was about to ask.

Professor Dumbledore acknowledged the fifth year, who promptly stood up and bowed to the headmaster, "Headmaster, I am sorry to interrupt your remarks sir" the fifth year said, "but I have a question for Madam Umbridge please"

Professor Dumbledore would have asked the fifth year Ravenclaw to reserve his question for his first DADA class this year, but Umbridge thought that the pureblood fifth year was just going to ask some clarifications about her own welcoming remarks. She unwisely cut off the headmaster again and motioned for Anthony to continue with his question.

Anthony Goldstein was not concerned about the war between Harry Potter and the Ministry, or the war between the Ministry and the Headmaster when he raised his hand. In fact, his only concern when he raised his hand was his own.

Anthony Goldstein turned towards the DADA professor and mercilessly asked her, "Madam, how do you expect to teach us, especially us fifth year students who are going to have our OWL's this year, defense if you haven't even achieved a mastery on the subject? How, in fact, are you going to teach us if you barely scrapped an acceptable on the same subject after taking it three times?"

Harry nearly laughed out loud, but was stopped from doing so by Hermione, who again gently placed her hand on his forearm to forestall him. Harry glanced at his wife and saw that she too was about to burst into laughter at that question, but had the common sense not to do so.

Harry looked around the hall and saw that several of the students had the same reaction as him and Hermione. Several looked ready to burst into laughter, and the entire Ravenclaw table was nearly there.

Needless to say, Professor Umbridge was angry. She stared daggers at Anthony Goldstein, but the pureblood just stared back at the incompetent professor, "Detention" Professor Umbridge announced.

"It's an expected question, Professor Umbridge" the tiny Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw house, said. The charms professor pondered for a few moments before he continued, "I think that Professor Umbridge should explain this to her students right here, right now"

Professor Umbridge turned around on the small professor. Harry assumed that the toad thought that the height of the charms professor was an indication of his bravery and so, the toad-woman replied, "I do not need a filthy half-breed like you to instruct me on conducting ministry approved education"

Professor Flitwick stared at the toad for a few moments, his face red. He was about to call the DADA professor out on a duel, but he was unable to issue the challenge because every single member of the staff, save for Dumbledore, stood up, drew their ands, and pointed it at Umbridge. It was pretty clear that everyone wanted to call the new DADA professor out on a duel.

"In my years of teaching at Hogwarts" Professor McGonagall said, "I have never heard of a teacher insulting another" she stared daggers at the toad-woman, "I call you out on a duel, Filius is a great friend of mine and a thousand times better than you as a person"

"I second those sentiments" Professor Sprout, head of Hupplepuff house, said.

"As do I" Professor Snape replied. No one found it surprising that the head of Slytherin would side with the Head of Ravenclaw. Severus Snape may be hated by students but he was a professional who kept a very good professional relationship with his colleagues. He might not be great friends with Filius Flitwick, but the potions master respected his former teacher well enough to come to his aid.

Other sentiments followed from the other members of the staff, but Professor Flitwick stopped anyone of them from calling the toad woman out further by issuing his own challenge. Wisely, the diminutive professor decided to issue a challenge that Professor Umbridge cannot, in good manner, decline, and it was by insulting the said professor.

"I may be a 'filthy half-breed' as you put it" the charms professor said, "but at least I carry human genes in me, I am afraid that I cannot say the same for you, although I must commend you for your perseverance, I mean, it must have taken a toad like you years before you can even comprehend the concept of the animagus transformation"

Harry decided to laugh out loud at the insult. His laughter broke the dam that had allowed the students to keep a straight face. Within a few moments, everyone was laughing, but Professor Flitwick was not yet done, "Realizing this, toad-face, I would not want to appear as a bully to my students by challenging you to a duel" he said, "I mean, you have got to be a protected species, only an unfairly common toad like you could have mastered a transformation meant only for humans"

Umbridge was ready to burst, and when she is ready to burst, her common sense is already gone. She looked at the charms professor and was convinced that she can crush the dueling champion in as many seconds as she could say her name, "I challenge you to a duel" she spat out.

Professor Flitwick looked at her for a few moments, and everyone saw his mouth open as he said 'toad', but no sound came out, "I accept" he said.

Professor McGonagall nearly laughed at the reverse psychology that her friend had used to get the toad to challenge him to a duel. She looked at Professor Dumbledore and saw that the headmaster was about to stop the duel, so Minerva McGonagall decided to take matters into her own hands.

With a flick of her wand, a dueling arena was suddenly erected in front of the staff table. Professor Flitwick and Umbridge made their way there, even as the Headmaster of Hogwarts protested the action of his deputy.

"You both know the rules of a professional duel, no dark spells allowed" Professor McGonagall said, ignoring the protests of the headmaster, "When I count to three, you may begin, one…two…three"

The duel was over right before it began. Everyone who had spent a day in Hogwarts knew that Filius Flitwick was a champion dueler. No one in his right state of mind would challenge a dueling master, especially not Filius Flitwick.

Professor Flitwick allowed Dolores Umbridge to be the first one to cast, and the toad-woman sent a stunning spell towards her opponent. Like many who had faced Professor Flitwick, however, she forgot one crucial thing. Filius Flitwick is four feet tall. The charms professor did not bother to evade or shield himself as the spell streaked over his head.

Having allowed his opponent the first shot, Professor Flitwick sent his own spell. It was a simple disarming spell, but it was quickly followed by a quick reducing spell. Both spells hit their intended target, the disarming spell removed the wand that Umbridge was holding in her hand while the powerful reducing spell shrunk the DADA professor to a size that would seem diminutive to Professor Flitwick. A few moments later, the shrunken Umbridge was transformed into a toad.

The transfiguration caused the students to laugh out louder.

"Filius, Minerva" Professor Dumbledore said, "I did not think that that was wide"

"She insulted a member of the teaching faculty of this school Albus" Professor McGonagall said coldly, she stared at the headmaster and then added, "By extension, she insulted both you and the school, you might not care about your reputation, Albus, but we care about the reputation of our school"

"Cornelius would not be happy" Professor Dumbledore noted.

"Don't bother with Fudge professor" Harry suddenly said, he stood from his seat, followed closely by Hermione, who held hands with Harry, "He would have greater things to worry about then defending his reverse-animagus undersecretary"

Ministry of Magic Atrium

London, England

Wherever Anton Rosseu goes, reporters are sure to follow.

The Ministry Atrium was once again filled with reporters and flashing cameras as the celebrated wizard lawyer stood in an upraised platform with Sirius Black at his side. Normally, the presence of Sirius at the ministry would have resulted to Minster Fudge calling for dementors to protect him, but the minister was currently behind a locked door, unwilling to face the media after it was revealed that his orders to have an innocent man killed on sight was tantamount to attempted murder. Had Sirius Black been kissed, Minister Fudge would have found himself under trail by the International Court of Justice, Magical Division in The Hague.

"Today" Al, appearing as Anton Rosseu but polyjuiced as someone else, said as he looked at the reporters in front of him, "Justice has been served"

Peter Pettigrew had been declared as a fugitive by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Interpol Magical Division has been alerted and a warrant for the arrest of the rat animagus had already been issued.

"Lord Sirius Black has been declared innocent after being tried by the Wizengamot" Al announced, "As a result of this declaration, the incarceration of my client in Azkaban prison, a stay of thirteen years that resulted to his present appearance, has been declared illegal, and Lord Black had asked me and my legal team to find out why this happened in the first place"

"I am pleased with the result of the research of Anton and his team" Sirius suddenly said, he spoke for the first time since he left the chambers where he was declared innocent of all charges, he glanced at Al, who nodded, before he turned his attention back towards the gathered reporters and continued, "I would be filing an action against the British Magical Government in the near future, in particular, I would like to question why Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge never gave me a trial"

"Lord Black" a reporter, both Sirius and Al recognized him as the same person who wrote the article about Harry's underage magic trial in the Times, said, "What are you planning to do now?

Both Al and Sirius felt that they are indebted to the reporter for bringing the world to their side, so both felt honor bound to answer the question, "I would like to visit my godson and his beloved girlfriend" he said, there was a smirk in his face as he said that, but when he opened his mouth again, he was again serious, "it was their letters of encouragement that kept me alive while on the run and it was thanks to them that I was able to contact Anton here and get myself a trial"

"But Harry Potter is on Hogwarts right now" the reporter said, "Since you are going to file an action against the headmaster of the school, would Harry Potter be leaving Hogwarts anytime soon?

"We do not know" Sirius replied, he pondered for a few moments and then added, "I am Harry's guardian and as such, I would be the one who would decide if he stays at that school. Anton here is good friends with Hermione Granger's parents, I am sure that between the two of us, if Harry decided to leave Hogwarts, we can do so, but we would like to let the two of them decide."

The reporter nodded. He was a smart man who had been chasing and reporting the news for close to twenty years now, he knew when the topic was closed, but he did not understand that the words that Sirius had just uttered was a serious threat to those who knew about the prophecy regarding Harry and Voldemort.