Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter.
Wow, thanks for the praise for the last chapter as well! I'm so glad everyone's enjoying the story so much!
Chapter 53: The Start of a Rebellion
But Umbridge did not inspect either History of Magic or Potions the next day. On the contrary, those classes were quiet, unless you counted Slughorn's booming voice, which would be weird not to count. At lunchtime, Harry and his friends talked over the matter of Umbridge, and Ginny said she had inspected her Care of Magical Creatures class with Grubbly-Plank, saying it had gone over quite well because the professor knew what she was doing.
But Harry, Ron, and Neville got to see for themselves what inspections were like when they arrived at North Tower for Divination. As they entered the classroom, they spotted Umbridge standing before Trelawney's desk with a clipboard and quill.
"Bet she'll ask the old bat to predict something," said Ron.
"I kind of feel sorry for her," said Harry as they sat down.
As the lesson passed, Umbridge wrote many notes down on her clipboard as Trelawney taught the lesson. But the woman was very frazzled, and sometimes didn't even talk in her misty voice. It seemed as though she was always on her guard, expecting Umbridge to spring something unexpected on her.
Sure enough, Ron's prediction came true towards the end of the period. "I was wondering," said Umbridge in her sweet, syrupy voice, "whether you could predict something for me."
Trelawney's expression grew angry. "You must understand, ma'am, the Inner Eye does not See upon command!" she screeched.
"Not even a teensy weensy little prophecy?" said Umbridge with a tiny, girlish laugh. "Come on, I'm sure you can think up something!" Her smile was wide, and Harry knew he hated her with a passion.
"Oh, I think I do see something!" exclaimed Trelawney, the fury on her face mingling with a look of pretend concentration. "Oh, my word!" she shrieked. "I think I see '' oh, no ... YOU ARE IN GRAVE DANGER!"
Ron began to snicker, as did several other people in the class. Umbridge scribbled a note on her clipboard. "Very well," she said. "You can expect the results of your inspection in ten days' time." With that, she flounced out of the room.
When they met up with Hermione and went to Defense, they explained to her what had happened. Harry had a sinking feeling; another period with Umbridge was not to his liking. She would probably make them read the stupid textbook again.
Sure enough, she said with a simpering smile when everyone showed up, "I would like you to read chapter two of your textbook, please. There will be no need to talk."
Hermione put her hand in the air again, and Umbridge walked over to her. "You had a question, Miss Granger?" she asked sweetly.
"Yes, ma'am," answered Hermione. "I've already read chapter two."
"Then read chapter three, please."
"I've already read that one, too. I've read the whole book."
"Well, in that case," said Umbridge, her toadlike face breaking into a smirk, "you should be able to tell me what Slinkhard says in chapter fifteen about counterjinxes."
"He says they're improperly named," declared Hermione at once. "He says it's just a way of making the creators feel like their jinxes are acceptable. However, I disagree with this statement."
"Oh, you do, do you?" asked Umbridge, her voice adopting an icy edge to it.
"Yes, I do," said Hermione. "He doesn't like jinxes, does he? But I think they can be really useful when they're used defensively."
"Five points from Gryffindor," trilled Umbridge.
"For what?" blurted Ron loudly.
"For disrupting my class," said Umbridge, smiling widely. "Every teacher with the possible exception of Professor Quirrell would not have passed a Ministry inspection, for they all taught you things you should not know."
"Oh yeah?" shouted Ron. "You did know, didn't you, that Quirrell had You-Know-Who sticking out of the back of his head the entire year?"
The class gaped in shock, Hermione giving him a "why-did-you-get-involved?" look. "Detention, Mr. Weasley!" shrilled Umbridge. "Tonight!"
Ron fumed in his seat. More writing "I will not listen to lies" on the back of his hand. He thought of the savage pleasure he would get at seeing Umbridge's stubby fingers writing the words "I will shut the hell up." Over the past week, he'd snuck to the library some nights to search for ways to undo the charms Umbridge had placed upon him, but hadn't had any luck as of yet.
xxx
At dinner, Angelina Johnson angrily stormed up to Harry and his friends. Ron was commiserating with them, talking about what a sick bitch Umbridge was when she cleared her throat.
"Ronald Weasley!" she yelled. "How could you land yourself in detention again? You're going to miss Quidditch practice!"
"Well, it's not like I CHOSE to be in detention, is it?" Ron screamed right back.
"Mr. Weasley! Miss Johnson! What inappropriate behavior!" reprimanded Professor McGonagall, coming over from the staff table. "You will not have a screaming match in the middle of the Great Hall! What on Earth is the problem?"
"Ron got himself in detention with Umbridge again!" Angelina defended herself.
"Mr. Weasley, is this true?" asked McGonagall, her face forming a thin line. Ron nodded miserably. "What did I tell you about keeping your temper in front of Umbridge?" she demanded. "You are a foolish boy." Muttering to herself, she walked away.
xxx
The next day, Umbridge inspected both Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures. Seeing her inspect McGonagall's class was hilarious, for whenever she interrupted with her stupid little "hem, hem," cough, McGonagall would either ignore her or turn around with her most furious expression and demand, "YES?" and then come back with a sarcastic comment in answer to Umbridge's statement.
When she inspected Grubbly-Plank, Draco Malfoy told her that Grubbly-Plank was a much better teacher than Hagrid. Ron earned himself yet another detention when he spat that the only reason Malfoy had gotten hurt in the hippogriff episode two years ago was because he hadn't bothered to pay any attention to what Hagrid told the class to do. Hermione looked at him exasperatedly while Harry gazed at him sympathetically. Needless to say, Harry's anger at Umbridge was frothing and boiling. Why wouldn't she let this vendetta against the Gryffindors go?
That was what the group found themselves talking about the following evening as they sat around the Gryffindor common room. "We should really do something, you know," said Ron furiously.
"We should," Hermione agreed. "It's like Zabini said last week. If there's really a war about to start, we should learn the spells we need to learn whether Umbridge likes it or not. I think we should teach ourselves and any other people who want to learn."
The night before, when Harry had gone to bed, Hermione had stayed up to wait for Ron to get back from his detention. The two of them had then talked about maybe asking Harry to teach them Defense, but had decided against it in the end. It wasn't a good idea to badger him about his duel with Voldemort and what he had done, for it would force him to relive Cedric's death and that's not what they wanted. But something should still be done about Umbridge, so their agreement in the end was for all three to teach together. After all, Ron and Hermione had been on many life-threatening adventures with Harry.
"You mean, we should have a rebellion set up or something?" asked Harry. "But Umbridge'll find out, there are ears all around the school!"
"Oh, don't worry, I have that well in hand," smiled Hermione proudly. "I know the perfect way to have no one tell. The three of us have been on many expeditions together, it seems. We should let Ginny, Neville, and Cho in on this also; I know they haven't done as much as we have, but maybe if the six of us team up together and a pair of us teaches a group of people a few spells, we can make real progress."
Ron looked seriously at Harry as he spoke his next words. "We should do this, in Diggory's memory," he said softly. "I'm sorry I never really gave him a chance, Harry. But we should dedicate this to him, you know, make it so that he didn't die in vain."
Harry's face clouded over with sadness, remembering his friend. He definitely agreed with the sentiment, and he told Ron and Hermione that gratefully. When they saw Ginny and Neville later that night, they informed them of the plan, and they all agreed to tell Cho the next day.
Hermione spent the next few days making plans. Cho was told, and so were the Slytherins that were part of S.A.N.E. It was decided that on Saturday, everyone would go to the Room of Requirement to have their first meeting. But instead of going as a huge group, they'd leave in twos and threes so as not to arouse suspicion. The Slytherins were strongly recommended to keep it to themselves, for if Malfoy got wind of this, the consequences could be quite dire. Hermione was the one who was passing the information around, and she was seen talking to Justin Finch-Fletchley, who was supposed to tell any Hufflepuff who wanted to join where the room was. Cho was in charge of telling the Ravenclaws.
On that Saturday, Harry nervously told Sirius and Remus in his therapy session what the group of friends were planning on doing. He was reluctant to tell them, for he didn't want them to be disappointed that he was breaking the rules. But Ron convinced him, telling him that the free-spirited Marauder in them would approve. He was right, but his two guardians did tell him to be extremely careful. A rebellion this huge had to be kept secret, but they thought the idea was wonderful. "We would have done the same thing," Sirius said proudly, ruffling Harry's hair.
"But please promise us you'll come to us if there're any problems," Remus implored. Harry immediately agreed.
xxx
That afternoon, there were tons of people who came to the Room of Requirement. Harry felt rather overwhelmed as he looked at all of them; he'd never realized how many students in the school hated Dolores Umbridge. A reluctant and scared Theodore Nott was there, along with Helena, Derek, Zabini, Bulstrode, Greengrass, and some other younger Slytherins. Unfortunately, this caused a problem immediately. "What're SLYTHERINS doing here?" said a blond Hufflepuff disgustedly.
"They have as much right to be here as anyone else," Cho replied adamantly. "And what's your name?"
"Zacharias Smith," said the boy. "And don't you think they'll just go running to Malfoy? I know all about your little S.A.N.E campaign, and I think it's nuts that you're trying to help them. They're all sneaky little bastards."
Helena got up and faced Smith, her hands on her hips and an angry look on her face. "Excuse me," she said loudly, "but Cho is right. We are not all evil, thank you very much, and we hate Umbridge as much as you do. So don't get on your high horse about us all being Death Eaters, all right?"
Harry was so proud of Helena; she had really come a long way. He looked at her with a smile, and Smith seemed to deflate. "Fine," he spat furiously, folding his arms.
"And if you're going to act like that, you can just leave, Smith," said Ron.
"Defending Slytherins, are you, Weasley?" asked Michael Corner, a Ravenclaw.
"People change, Corner," said Ginny frostily, glaring at him. "You should know that as well as anyone else."
"I think we should get started, now that everyone's here," said Hermione, clearing her throat. "Good afternoon, everyone. We are here today because we want to start a rebellion."
"Yeah!" many of the students cheered.
"But guys, this is serious," Harry said, standing up and looking important. "This isn't just some silly kid's game. This is the real thing, folks."
"What are you talking about?" demanded Smith rather rudely.
Harry gazed at him stonily. "I'm talking about war, Smith," he said, his heart heavy. "I'm talking about us learning spells to defend ourselves against Death Eaters."
"But where's the PROOF You-Know-Who's back?" asked Corner.
"I can't give you any except my word, unless you want to see my memory of Cedric being forced to his knees and then being hit by the killing curse," said Harry, his patience just about running out. Ginny put a comforting hand on his shoulder as he began to tremble. Just the thought of Cedric made his knees go weak. To have this amount of people staring at him, looking at him like he was either a hero or a nutcase, made him extremely uncomfortable. He began to regret ever going along with this idea.
Corner immediately looked shocked and backed down. "You will not badger Harry about Cedric," Ginny told the group sternly. "You will also not pester him about You-Know-Who's return. Our goal here is to learn spells because we all believe Harry. Anyone who doesn't believe Harry can leave, the door is THAT way." She pointed to the right.
"So how do we learn spells?" asked Ian, the sixth-year who had cornered Harry and his friends the week before with his girlfriend, expressing his belief in him.
"We teach ourselves," replied Neville. "And the six of us: Harry, Ron, Ginny, Cho, Hermione, and myself will teach you. We should think up a name to call ourselves."
"I was thinking of something like the Defense Association," explained Cho. "The DA."
"I like it," said Ginny. "Either that or Dumbledore's Army. After all, Harry told us that that's what the Ministry's trying to stop from happening; they think Dumbledore's trying to build an army that will use weapons against them." Indeed, Sirius and Remus had informed Harry of this.
"That's ridiculous!" said Hannah Abbott. "But I love the name." Everyone else nodded in silent agreement, and then applause rose from the crowd.
"Please," Hannah continued, looking nervous. "Listen, I have a question. Please don't be angry with me, Harry, but I just really want to know, because Cedric was my friend as well." Several Hufflepuffs nodded in agreement. "What did he face before he died?"
Harry cleared his throat, his shoulders sagging as he knew deep down that he had to tell the group; they had the right to know what had happened to their classmate. "He and Voldemort duelled," he said slowly.
There was a collective gasp from the many students, and Harry said, "Look, guys, how can we even fight him if we can't say his name? You're going to have to get used to hearing it. I hate to sound harsh, but when you're facing him you can't be thinking about what his name is, you need to be putting your all into fighting him and surviving."
"Was it a long duel?" asked Ernie McMillan.
"It was quite long, yes," said Harry. Ginny put an arm around Cho, whose tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. "Everyone should be proud of him, he did very well. But as you know, Voldemort is a very powerful wizard, and unfortunately, Cedric was outmatched. He put up an excellent fight, though, and basically told Voldemort to go to hell at the end."
"He told the Dark Lord to go to hell?" asked Blaise Zabini, pride in his eyes.
"That's our Ced." said Justin Finch-Fletchley. Sadness shone on his face.
"He did," said Harry, his eyes also pricking with tears. "And we owe it to him to do this in his memory. We mustn't let more people lose their lives to Voldemort. If we practice to fight, we should be able to surprise him and his Death Eaters if they spring anything on us."
"What are his Death Eaters like?" asked Sarah, Ian's girlfriend, slowly.
"They like to use verbal taunts against their enemies as well as physical spells. That's what Harry told us," said Neville, while Ginny led Harry to a seat and helped him to sit down. It was obvious that this had really worn Harry out. The others were truly sorry that they'd dragged him into this, even though he'd been more than willing to do this in Cedric's memory. They just hadn't expected all these questions to come rushing at him, but they should have known, really.
"What does You-Know-Who look like?" asked Smith loudly.
"If you must know, he has red eyes, a snakelike face, and slits for nostrils," Harry said in a monotone. "Happy now, Smith?"
The boy looked taken aback. "Wh-Why does he look like that?" he stammered.
"Lots of magical transformations," said Ginny quietly. "As a young man, he was fascinated with dark magic and loved to play around with it. What he looks like now is the result."
"How did he return?" asked Anthony Goldstein curiously.
"A dark potion," said Neville seriously. "And a few magic words. It was as simple as that."
"Why did you survive and Cedric didn't?" asked Joe Baum, a third-year Hufflepuff.
"I don't know, honestly," Harry sighed. "A lot of luck. I wasn't meant to."
"Please don't say that, Harry," said Ginny, squeezing her best friend's hand. "You survived for a reason, and that was to keep Cedric's memory alive. I know wherever he is now, he'd be really proud of you." Harry looked at her gratefully, the sadness still lingering in his green eyes.
"All right," said Hermione in a businesslike tone. "Let's meet every Sunday, starting eight days from now. Anyone who wants to join Dumbledore's Army should sign their name on this piece of parchment." She wrote down "Dumbledore's Army" on it, and many people went up to her and signed their name. Nott and some Slytherins looked the most reluctant, but with Zabini, Bulstrode, and Greengrass's nods of assent, they wrote their names down.
Harry told himself he would talk to Hermione later about meeting every Sunday. Something told him that if they did this, their activities would become suspicious. He would try to think of a better plan.
"We're all in this together," said Ron as everyone began to pack up to leave the room. "No one is to antagonize each other, with special emphasis on no one hounding the Slytherins. As we said before, they are a part of this rebellion as well."
"Damn straight," Helena chirped, smiling at Nott who still looked panicked. She whispered something in his ear, causing a slight grin to form on his face.
"Everyone leave in twos and threes like we came in," said Cho, who had gotten over another bout of crying from missing Cedric. The group obeyed her command. Before anyone knew it, it was just Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Cho left in the room.
"I think this is going to work," said Ginny softly. "Are you all right, Harry?"
"I guess so," Harry mumbled. "It's just really hard, explaining that to all of them, you know? We're going to be putting our lives on the line here; this isn't just some easy classroom duel. This is the difference between life and death."
"We know, mate," said Ron solemnly, "and we're with you." He put a hand on Harry's shoulder in solidarity.
"Yes, we are," agreed Neville, with the others nodding.
"Thanks, guys," said Harry, meaning it. "I really appreciate it."