Chapter 49

Even before he set foot in Umbridge's office, Harry's day couldn't have gone much worse. Never had he been given such an extreme amount of homework, and now he had to miss keeper tryouts because of that evil hag. He just hoped Ron would be the one to win the position.

The office itself was unrecognizable. Everything was a sickening pink. There were lacy cloths all over and foul plates with cat pictures on them. Harry kept thinking of how the office used to be. All the frills and pink should be gone. There should be a grindylow or hinkypunk or other creature his dad would have them study in their next lesson. And above all his dad should be there now, fixing tea or breaking a chocolate bar apart for them to share. Instead that toad sat at the desk. Knowing what she had cost his dad and she had said so many cruel things about him, seeing her there in Remus' old place was almost enough to make him hex her. He took a deep breath though and asked what he was supposed to do. If his dad could be so patient, so could he.

"I want you to write 'I must not tell lie.'"

"How many times?" he asked without arguing that he hadn't lied.

"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in." For some reason that seemed to amuse her. "And you'll be using my special quill."

He silently took the quill, but noticed something else was missing.

"There's no ink."

"Oh, you won't need ink." Why was there a laugh in her voice when she said that?

Not knowing how he was supposed to write without ink and suspecting Umbridge had gone round the twist, he started writing and felt his hand being painfully cut. Looking at it, he saw the words carved into his hand, matching the ones written in red on the stood and faced Umbridge.

"This is enough! I'm not going to slice my hand open."

Umbridge has that evil smile on her face again.

"You want people to believe that the Dark Lord has returned?"

"He has returned."

"And of course, those who would follow him must be dealt with at once."

This couldn't be right. Umbridge agreeing that something had to be done about Voldemort's return? Then she made her meaning clearer.

"I doubt the monster you call your father has told you this but-"

"He. Is. Not. A. Monster!" Harry shouted. "He can't help having to transform. He's never hurt anyone, especially not willingly. He may have lycanthropy, but even during the full moon he's more human than you'll ever be!"

Unphased, Umbridge continued. "He may have mentioned that last time the Dark Lord was in power, werewolves were on his side."

"Some of them yes, but that doesn't mean-"

"Hem hem. So it would be for the safety of all if werewolves were taken to, shall we say a kind of internment camp."

"What! You mean- you mean lock them up? You can't do that! You can't just imprison innocent people!"

"You may have noticed I've already taken steps against other half breeds. Centaur territories have been restricted, and if all goes as planned merpeople will soon be tagged. Nobody will object to the removal of werewolves, I assure you. And if anyone does, all it will take will be telling them it's for their own safety." She looked absolutely victorious. "Of course, there wouldn't be a need for people to worry about werewolves joining the Dark Lord if he hasn't returned to power, would there?"

So his choices were clear. Either he carved the words into his hand and shut up about Voldemort returning, or his dad and sister paid the price. And he was willing to bet it wouldn't take her long to get Sirius thrown back in Azkaban on some fake charge too. There was only one thing to do. He picked up the quill and started writing again.

Life at Hogwarts was getting worse and worse. The week of detention every night hadn't helped Harry's ever growing pile of homework, and he couldn't help worrying nearly constantly about his family. And how was he supposed to get a decent night's sleep when he kept waking up from that same dream about the mysterious door? Especially when now he was having nightmares about his family in cages? He didn't dare tell his friends about it. He knew what they'd say. Go to Dumbledore. But Dumbledore seemed to avoid him lately, something he'd only started since Voldemort's return. Besides, would Dumbledore have the power to stop the Ministry? At least the smear campaign the Ministry was trying wasn't working. A few students whispered behind his back, but it was hard to doubt so many witnesses and anyone with any sense knew stunning spells wouldn't affect the mind. So they had to believe Cedric had been attacked by Wormtail even though Cedric had no actual proof Wormtail and Crouch Jr. hadn't acted by themselves.

Ron was feeling miserable as well, Harry knew. Even after making the team he had terrible confidence issues. He also didn't need the letter from Percy saying he should 'sever ties' with Harry and the 'dangerous crowd' around Dumbledore. Harry tried not to think about the fact that the letter said Dumbledore might not be in charge of Hogwarts much longer and Umbridge would be meeting less resistanceSturgis Podmore being arrested for trespassing at the Ministry also disturbed Harry. He was sure Podmore had been on Order business at the time, and he was sure the Ministry would do a lot worse to a werewolf or formor convict than give them six months in Azkaban the way they'd done to Podmore.

The next day, the Daily Prophet told them what Percy had been hinting at. Umbridge had been named "Hogwarts High Inquisitor" and given the power to inspect the teachers. Already furious about that, Harry hadn't been able to keep from talking back to Umbridge when she'd taken points from Hermione. That resulted in another week's detention.

There were two things that brought a smile to Harry's face that day. One was seeing McGonnagal stand up to Umbridge when her class was inspected. The second was when a very angry Filch chased after Crookshanks, running down the hall holding Mrs. Norris in one arm and swinging a broom with the other. When Hermione picked her cat up Filch started in on her, cuddling Mrs. Norris as if she were an injured baby. However, Mrs. Norris looked far from injured. She was purring and looking at Crookshanks with an expression that could only be described as pure adoration and Crookshanks was unquestionably returning the look, purring madly and looking well pleased with himself.

"If that beast of yours hurt my Mrs. Norris I'll-"

"But he didn't hurt her," Hermione said, blushing now as if she was the one who did something embarrassing. "I mean he is a tom cat after all."

"He'll be a pile of fur by the time I'm done with him if he ever gets near her again."

With that Filch turned, crooning to his cat. The little group collapsed into laughter as soon as he was out of hearing range.

"Now those are bound to be the ugliest kittens in history," Ron commented, earning a whack on the head from Hermione.

The cats weren't the only ones having romantic feelings. Remus and Tonks were spending more time together than ever, and Sirius got another chance to talk to Alex when he escorted her home from guard duty. OK, so he hadn't exactly told the truth when he'd told her Dumbledore had asked him to see that she got home safe, but she didn't have to know that. He'd been wanting this chance. He'd found out she'd been in Ravenclaw and was trying to impress her with his intelligence.

"You know I goofed around a lot while I was at Hogwarts, but I did get good grades when I tried."

"Look, Black I know you have some brains."

"You do?"

"Yeah. After all you fancy me, right?"

Sirius clenched his teeth.

"Listen, you're not all that great looking."

"I know. But can I help it if you think so?"

All right. If she wanted to be that way he could play that game.

"By the way, except for Order meetings I might not be around for awhile."

She was quiet a moment, then took the bait.

"Why?"

"Then again I may decide to give you a floo call as soon as I get home."

"Git!" She started walking faster. Sirius matched her pace.

"See you can dish it out but you can't take it."

"You'll be taking a slap in the face if you don't get over yourself."

They walked in silence again for awhile before Sirius asked "If you're so convinced I'm not worth spending time with, why haven't you apparated away by now?"

She smiled teasingly. "I like your body."

Always a bit vain about his looks and knowing he didn't quite look the way he had before Azkaban, Sirius beamed at the praise until she added "See how dumb that kind of thing sounds?"

Sirius groaned in a way that was more of a growl.

"Why can't I quit while I'm ahead?"

Alex gave a chuckle. "Black, if you want a chance with me, you should know you'll never be ahead."

She said it in a way that was almost flirting. Or at least Sirius thought it might be. It had been a very long time since he's been in a romantic relationship after all.

AN: Ok, time to come up with some ideas to introduce Umbride to the concept of payback. Unfortunately to work with the story they have to come in later chapters, but I already have two ideas in mind. I'm not as good at coming up with ideas as Fred and George or the Marauders would be, but let's just say this will be fun.

I'm guessing I'll get some reviews on what Umbridge threatened saying it's not a realistic idea. Sadly, I've found similar ideas actually carried out in history, such as when the Japanese in America were locked in internment camps after Pearl Harbor for no reason except being Japanese. I based the idea on that and a roleplay I've done.