Chapter 55

Coughing, Remus entered the kitchen to find Tonks opening the windows to let the smoke out of the house. On the table sat a baking pan with the smoldering, charred remains of a cake. Tonks looked mortified to see Remus in the kitchen, and putting that together with the date, March tenth, it wasn't hard to guess what had happened. Sirius had woken him up at midnight with a loud assortment of noisemakers to wish him a happy birthday. Harry had talked with him through the two way mirror earlier that morning. There was going to be a celebration that evening, but he hadn't expected Tonks to try baking a cake.

"Remus I'm so sorry. I wanted to have a cake ready for you but I forgot the time and-"

Remus put his arms around her, but had to put a hand over his mouth.

"I'm sorry the smoke is so bad. It should clear soon." Tonks misunderstood. Then Remus started shaking lightly. "Hey, are you laughing?"

"Trying not to," he admitted. "You had me thinking the house was on fire."

"It's not funny." She pushed him back playfully, then glanced at the pan and winced. "So much for that. I've never been very good at household spells. I should have known better than to try baking a cake."

"It was nice of you to try anyway," Remus said. He put an arm around her and led her out of the smoke filled kitchen. It suddenly occurred to him that this would be a good time to tell her.

"Dora, I've been doing alot of thinking lately. About us, I mean."

Tonks smiled. "I like the topic."

Hesitating a moment, Remus said "I've come up with reasons- good reasons- why it would be better for you to be with someone young and whole."

"Oh?" Tonks definitely wasn't happy with the sound of that.

"But there's also a reason I want us to be together as more than friends, and I can't get past it. I love you."

Tonks looked at him in amazed and surprised delight.

"It's selfish of me, I know." Remus continued. Tonks shook her head.

"Love is never selfish, Remus. And how can it be selfish of you when it's what I want too?" She kissed him. "Happy birthday."

March passed into April, and soon all the students were spending every spare moment, as well as sleepless nights, studying until it felt like their brains couldn't take it anymore. This was especially true for the fifth and seventh years, who had OWLS and NEWTS to worry about. Many looked close to a nervous breakdown. They were all reminded of how important the exams were by the pamphlets that appeared in the common rooms discussing what would be required for different careers. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville spent the last weekend of the Easter holiday looking over the pamphlets, but Harry had already decided what he wanted to do with his life after Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, Umbridge was in McGonagall's office, writing on her clipboard, when Harry came for the meeting with his head of house. McGonagall was ignoring her, and started talking to Harry as if there was nobody else there. Harry wished that was the case. It was going to be hard talking about the career he had chosen with Umbridge there. But when McGonagall asked if he'd given any thought to what he'd like to do with his life after Hogwarts, he decided he'd try to follow her example and pretend Umbridge wasn't there. He'd have to choose his words carefully though.

"Well, I used to want to be an Auror." Here Umbridge interrupted with a simpering laugh. "But lately I've been thinking about times in the past when I've helped other students with their homework." He knew that sounded suspicious. He wasn't brainy the way Hermione was. But it was the only way to describe the Da without anyone getting in trouble, and saying it was in the past would help. "I enjoy it alot, and I was thinking I'd like to be a professor someday."

Umbridge was looking stunned, and McGonagall had an eyebrow raised in a way that reminded Harry of his dad when he suspected him of being up to something. McGonagall continued though, businesslike.

"I see. And I'm guessing the subject you want to teach is Defense against the Dark Arts?"

Harry had never seen an expression quite like the one on Umbridge's face when he nodded.

"I should have asked McGonagall if I could talk to her later. You should have heard her and Umbridge shouting at each other."

Umbridge had been quick to point out that Harry was currently failing Defense, to which McGonagall had replied that Harry had always done well in Defense when it was taught by a competent teacher. From that point things had quickly escalated to a yelling match between the two.

"It wouldn't have made any difference," Hermione said. "Umbridge would have found some excuse to be there no matter when it was rescheduled."

"But now she thinks I'm plotting to overthrow her or something."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Ron said.

"Well, it's going to make life at Hogwarts alot harder as long as she's here," Harry said.

"That shouldn't be long," Ron pointed out. "We've never had a Defense teacher for more than one year."

That was a valid point. There had been rumors for years that the job was cursed, but Harry had never been sure whether he believed the rumors or not. Maybe he was making a bigger mistake by hoping for the job someday than he realized.

It wasn't long though before Quidditch started taking the place of careers in Harry's worries. He might not be on the team anymore, but Ron was, and Ginny was filling in as Seeker. Besides, this was for the Quidditch Cup. If Gryffindor won, they'd hold the cup for the second year.

It was bad timing for Hagrid to call Harry and Hermione to come to the Forbidden Forrest during the game, but he was their friend, so naturally they went. It was an extremely rare occasion when going into the Forbidden Forrest resulted in anything good, but even so, being introduced to Hagrid's "little" brother was even worse than what they'd had in mind. Hermione seemed beyond horrified, and couldn't understand why on earth Harry had agreed to visit Grawp if Hagrid were forced to leave Hogwarts.

"It's because- well, I know how it is to be a brother. I know it doesn't make sense to compare Mila and Grawp, but when Hagrid started talking about the other giants were bullying Grawp, I started thinking about what could have happened to Mila she hadn't come to us. What if she'd ended up in Greyback's group? He'd have had her bullied and abused, probably even beaten if she didn't do what he wanted. If I ever heard she was being treated the way Grawp was, I'd have wanted to help her."

"Mila is a child, Harry. A bright and sweet little girl. She doesn't rip trees out of the ground or pick people up and nearly squash them or leave people bruised the way Hagrid is."

"I know! I know! But I understand how Hagrid feels. Grawp's his brother the same as Mila's my sister. The feelings are the same even if it doesn't make any sense in his case."

In the excitement of Ron and Ginny winning the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor and the stress of preparing for OWLS, it turned out they didn't get a chance to visit Grawp anyway. Not that they'd needed to. Hagrid had been put on probation, but Umbridge hadn't gotten around to firing him yet. She'd been too busy giving detentions. Harry wanting to be a Defense teacher had put her in a worse mood than ever.

Harry did, however, get a chance to help plan a celebration for Mila. Her adoption had been finalized after a long time of Tonks being questioned and evaluated. Umbridge had mysteriously not been able to interfere, and croaking had often been heard coming from her office in the days before and of the adoption hearing.

The party was arranged for the last Hogsmead weekend of the year so the family could all be together. The Three Broomsticks was a perfect place for a party anyway, and it gave the younger guests a chance to buy Mila gifts in Hogsmead beforehand. Not that there was a need for even more gifts. Tonks had been right about her parents eagerly taking on the role of loving grandparents.

"Here's one from me, Mila" Harry said, handing her a package.

"Thanks Harry. Wha-" she broke off as she saw the back of her brother's hand. "What happened to you-"

Now the two Marauders turned to look at Harry as he quickly shoved his hand under the table.

"Just a scratch I got when I fell off my broom a long time ago. It's nothing."

"Scratches don't spell out 'I must not tell lies,'" Mila said determinedly. Remus and Sirius were already gently but firmly pulling Harry's hand from under the table to look at it. There was no hiding the words carved there.

"Dora? Mr. and Mrs. Tonks?" Remus spoke slowly as if struggling to control himself. "Why don't you take Mila to pick out some sweets at Honeydukes? We need to talk to Harry a moment."

"You're not going to hex Umbridge are you?" Tonks asked. "Because I don't want to miss that." It hadn't taken her long to realize who had hurt Harry.

"Not yet," Sirius answered. Nodding, Tonks ushered the others out for the moment.

Harry gave a nervous swallow. He'd never seen his dad so angry. He didn't know his dad could be so angry. If Umbridge had been there then, no doubt she would have been in pieces. Remus had quietly left his job at Hogwarts because of her, and had listened to her practically call him an animal without a sign of temper. But then, she hadn't hurt Harry yet. After Remus had taken several calming breaths and could talk without yelling he turned to Harry.

"Why did you say she was only having you do lines? We could have gone to Dumbledore. We could have stopped her."

"But I couldn't, Dad. I couldn't let her hurt you or Mila."

Remus stared at his son.

"What do you mean she was going to hurt us?" Harry didn't answer. "Harry?"

"She said since most werewolves joined Voldemort last time, if I kept saying he was back she was going to make sure all werewolves were locked away so they couldn't join him. I couldn't let that happen. It hasn't been that painful though. She hasn't had me hurt myself that often."

"Harry," Sirius started. "I know about blood quills. My dear sweet mother tricked me into using one once. The marks fade away if you only use it a moment. To leave scars like that she had to have you using it quite a bit. And even once is to often."

Remus nodded and added "I know you meant well, but I don't ever want you to hurt yourself trying to protect me. And as to Mila, it's up to Dora, Sirius, and I to protect her. With that he gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze and headed to the door.

"Dad? Where are you going?"

"To solve this problem."

Harry didn't like the tone of his dad's voice.

"Dad, calm down."

"I am calm. I'm going to be perfectly rational while I use every curse I've ever heard of on her."

"Moony," Sirius grabbed his friend's arm. "You can't just do something like that. Umbridge would love an excuse to claim all werewolves are dangerous. You can't kill her."

Harry thought his godfather was showing rare cool headedness until he continued "I'll kill her."

"Neither of you can do anything about this!" Harry shouted. "Not even going top Dumbledore. I have no proof that it was even her who did it."

Remus took another deep breath and said "There's no way we're letting this drop. We're doing something today to make sure Umbridge never does anything like this again."

"But you'll get in trouble for nothing. There's nothing we can do."

Suddenly a pair of matching redheads caught Sirius' eye.

"Harry, I think you should go find the others. I have an idea."

The two Marauders had to solemnly swear they wouldn't do anything to Umbridge without Harry knowing it before he would go. Once Harry was out of hearing range, Remus and Sirius went over to the twins.

"How would you two like to join us in a little scheme to get rid of Umbridge?" Sirius asked.