Fifth Year Part One
A/N: Hey guys, hope you like it. ENJOY R&R PLZ!
Hermione was the first to wake up the next morning. She got dressed then crept down quietly to start the coffee and breakfast. By the time the others made it to the kitchen they were greeted with omelettes, sausages, toast, and a heaping stack of pancakes.
"Mmmm Mya," James breathed in the scent with a smile. "You really know how to cook. You're my third favourite chef right after Lily and the Hogwarts elves."
"I won't bother asking who comes first," Lily nudged Hermione while pouring some coffee.
"I love you dear," James kissed her head.
"And I've got my answer anyway," Lily said wryly, handing her husband a cup.
As they sat down to eat Remus finally broached the subject they had been avoiding since last night. "So anything you can tell us about fifth year?"
Hermione sipped some orange juice, "It's not pretty I'll tell you that. The ministry decided that rather than take an active role against Voldemort they were going to start a smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore and make it out like everything was okay."
"Fudge better not come within fifty feet of the minister's chair this time," James shook his head. Harry caught their attention by squealing and they saw he had gotten a hold of the syrup, drenching himself in it. Lily immediately started siphoning it off while Hermione attempted to prise the bottle out of the baby's grip without making any more mess.
Hermione sat back down, checking to see if syrup had gotten anywhere. "Well, whether he's fifteen, eleven, or even eleven months, life with Harry is definitely not boring."
"I'll say," Lily collapsed into her chair. "But what's life without something to keep it interesting? Why do you think I married James?"
"I thought you loved me," James pouted theatrically.
Lily leaned over to kiss his head, "I love you dear." James just gave her a look.
"I agree with Lilykins," Sirius said through a bite of pancake. He swallowed and continued, "But it really depends on what that 'something' is – I'd rather it not be a war, especially for Harry and you Mya."
Remus nodded, "War is definitely not the good kind of 'something', I have an idea that this year will be darker than the others."
"There are still some bright spots," Hermione assured the group. Everyone nodded but knew there was more to it than that. Sirius couldn't forget the time traveller's reaction to question of dying, would someone lose their life this year? Remus was also thinking about that since death was now on the table it opened the mental barrier to the idea that someone much closer this time could go too. Lily held on to the hope that they could change it while James refused to even consider the idea of any of his family dead. Hermione knew that with Cedric's death they would start wondering who would be the next to go, it was logical, it was expected…she just didn't want to be the one to tell them.
Right on time, the sounds from the fireplace told them the professors had arrived. Toting their chosen beverages, they resumed their usual spots, ready to begin. Hermione flipped open the cover on a fresh year trying not to think about the ending and said, "So – fifth year. As you all are well aware of at this point, it starts with summer at the Dursleys. Harry was not very happy with any of us because we had to avoid telling him anything important in letter for fear of it getting intercepted. He had tried to listen to muggle news to see if Voldemort had made a move but didn't hear anything and his aunt and uncle weren't making the job any easier on him. In fact, he was forced to listen in the garden outside the living room window when there was a loud crack."
"Apparition?" Lily suggested.
"You'll see. For now the sound caused Harry to give away his hiding place and he just left and went to the park where he ran into Dudley. He vented some of his feelings by picking on his cousin but then things became dangerous." Hermione took a breath, "Harry and his cousin were attacked by a couple of dementors in an alleyway."
"WHAT?!" cried everyone, Lily, James, and Sirius being the loudest.
"The dementors are going rogue already?!" Remus demanded.
Actually….no they were following orders, just from a different psychopath Hermione thought wryly. "Nobody knew what to make of it at the time. But naturally Harry knew what to do and saved them both but of course for that he had to use magic."
"Oh dear…" Remus frowned. "An underage magic charge isn't going to be helping Harry."
"But there were dementors!" cried Lily. "Surely the ministry would understand given the circumstances."
"Yes but they trying to discredit him Lilykins," Sirius's face mirrored Remus's. "They are probably going to look for every excuse in the book to try and make it stick just so the public wouldn't believe Harry. They'd even bring all the stuff he's done before and he already has a warning on him."
"But that means he'll be…" James gulped.
"Expelled," Dumbledore finished for him. "Yes Mr. Potter, if the charge stays, he would be expelled from Hogwarts and have his wand snapped."
"They can't do that!" Lily's frame was shaking, her face marked with terror, "With Voldemort alive it would make him a sitting duck."
"Calm down, calm down," Hermione ordered. "You're getting way ahead here. Right now, Harry and Dudley just survived a dementor attack but Dudley was almost catatonic. Mrs. Figg came and revealed to Harry that she was a squib who was a part of Harry's watch. She helped them back to the Dursleys and ran into Mundungus who was supposed to be watching Harry that night."
"Where in the bloody hell was he?!" Sirius roared frighteningly making everyone except Hermione jump. She was there when Sirius found out that night, nothing compared to his rage then.
"He was off getting some stolen cauldrons," Hermione sighed and waited.
"THAT *# %ing idiot!" James growled.
"James! Not in front of Harry," Lily reproached covering her baby's ears.
"Sorry Lily," James grumbled still very angry.
"Don't worry James, Mrs. Figg apparently beat Dung soundly with a bag of cat food then sent him to tell Dumbledore what happened including the reason on why he wasn't there. On a side note, that was nothing compared to what Sirius had in store for him."
"Oh please tell me I got him good," Sirius begged.
"You were quite scary actually. I had never seen you yell like that before. But after you were finishing screaming, you turned him into a rat and you and Crookshanks chased him for a good hour."
"Sirius you could have killed him," Lily reprimanded.
"Good," the three marauders said in unison.
"Well at the Dursleys, Vernon and Petunia were up in arms over their son being attacked but they were certain that Harry had hurt him, not saved him. But then a letter came from the ministry saying that he was expelled and that an official would be along to snap his wand. BUT!" she shouted before they could interrupt, "another letter quickly arrived from Sirius saying that Dumbledore had gone to the ministry to sort things out and not to do anything until he heard from them. Then another letter came from the ministry saying they had amended their decision and Harry was to attend a hearing that would decide his expulsion. While this was going on Vernon was about to kick Harry out of the house but a howler came for Petunia saying to remember something and she convinced her husband to let Harry stay." Lily didn't comment but wondered what that was all about. How did her sister go from leaving her baby in King's Cross Station and letting him run away to demanding that he stay in her house? Harry sat on her lap toying with her shirt, she figured she should be grateful for that whatever the reason. At least Harry had some protection from Voldemort and his pack of goons. No one else said anything either, mainly because they were just trying to digest the whirlwind turn of events, so Hermione went on. "Harry stayed in his room for a few days then Vernon came and told him that the family was going out."
"I don't suppose that includes Harry?" Sirius asked saracastically.
"No it didn't but it's not like Harry cared. So when they left – they went to some lawn competition prize-giving I think and Harry was alone until he heard a crash in the kitchen."
"Burgulars…" Remus guessed.
"Or worse," James and Lily grasped each other's hands.
Everyone was relieved when Hermione said, "Neither. It was the Order." The room immediately relaxed. "Sirius, your cousin Tonks is in it and she broke a plate when they arrived."
"Ah good old Dora," Sirius beamed. "Dead clumsy but her heart is in the right place."
"She's also an auror."
"Good for her," Remus smiled although he hadn't seen her in a long time. "I suppose being a metamorphagus helped; she really is quite clumsy." Hermione hid a grin, she couldn't wait for her old teacher to find out that that was his wife he was talking about.
For now she simply smiled mysteriously and said, "You learn to love it." Trying not to chuckle at her private joke she moved on, "Tonks had been the one to send the Dursleys the fake lawn prize and Mad-Eye had organized a guard to escort to him to the new Order headquarters."
"May I ask what became of our current one?" Dumbledore inquired. "The Prewett house?"
They grew apprehensive when Hermione's face deadened, "compromised." The short word slashed the air like a cold blade. It was clear that it meant much more than just Pettigrew but who among them would dare ask for details in the face of such a chilling answer. Not even remotely amused anymore Hermione continued, "They packed his things, left a letter for Dursleys explaining Harry's disappearance and went to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place."
"Oh no," Sirius moaned. "Anywhere but there!"
Hermione's lips twitched, "Sirius I think you know there can be no safer discreet building in Britain to hide something other than Grimmauld."
"I know, I know," Sirius pouted. "I suppose as long as I get out a bit, it won't be so bad." Hermione frowned knowing that won't be the case at all; just something else she didn't look forward to telling them.
"The fidelius charm had been cast with Dumbledore acting as secret keeper so Harry had to read a note from him to get in. When they arrived Mrs. Weasley met them at the door and sent Harry to his room while the others went into the kitchen for the meeting that had just started. Ron and I were there but he wasn't exactly pleased to see us. After all, we had basically left him high and dry after all he went through in June and it really did seem like the rest of us were in the thick of it. But Dumbledore had made us swear not to tell him anything by letter before it got intercepted. He was really upset and yelled for a bit but he calmed down once he got it all out."
"Sounds like Lily," James teased.
"Then Ginny and the twins came and we filled him in on anything we gleaned during our time there. We didn't know much because we weren't allowed into the meetings but we did hear snatches of stuff especially with the aid of the twins' latest invention – Extendable Ears."
"Brilliant!" Sirius cheered. "Those two are complete geniuses." In her mind's eye, Hermione remembered Sirius cornering the two after the ears had been discovered, congratulating them on such fine work and showing them a few hiding places for the ones that had survived Mrs. Weasley's wrath.
She shook herself back to the present – past? – "We couldn't use them anymore by the time Harry arrived because Molly had found and thrown a fit. She ordered us to destroy them but a few remained. There was also a falling out with Percy, he decided to side with the ministry against his family."
"How could he do such a thing," Lily murmured. Percy was only a little baby right now, to her the idea was unthinkable.
"Percy and Arthur got into an argument." Hermione said shortly, they would discuss Percy when they got to his infamous letter. "As for the meeting that was currently going, Ginny confirmed that Molly had charmed the door so the ears wouldn't go under the gap. Thankfully the meeting wasn't very long so soon we snuck to the staircase to see if we could catch anything. Unfortunately Tonks tripped over that umbrella stand and set off Sirius's mum's portrait."
"Enter the old bat," Sirius's mouth twisted.
"I really wish you hadn't said that Sirius because that's where you come in," the room laughed. "It took you and Remus working together to close the curtains on her again. I must say Sirius, your mum for such a high-ranking pureblood has quite a filthy vocabulary."
"Tell me about it," Sirius laughed hollowly. "I wouldn't dare repeat her words in front of Harry but Reg and I got an earful of it growing up no matter how old we were."
"After dealing with the late but not so dearly departed Mrs. Black, we went down for dinner and Harry and Sirius caught up. The meal was quiet but things turned sour when Sirius noticed that Harry hadn't asked about Voldemort the entire time. Molly and Sirius got into a huge row about what Harry should know which turned into what was best for Harry and who. Remus brought them down and agreed Harry should know what was happening to an extent. Then Harry spoke up for me and Ron and Fred and George pointed out that they were of age so only Ginny was made to leave but she did not go quietly. Finally when things were settled, Harry asked what was going on. They didn't give us much to be honest. Dumbledore was facing a lot difficulties in the spreading the word, they had only managed to garner a few new members because they had to work in secret. Fudge had gone nuts, checking to make sure no one had any contact with Dumbledore or sympathized with him in anyway. He was beyond paranoid, so his twisted mind concocted some story about Dumbledore wanting to overthrow him."
"Idiot," James muttered.
"The only thing they did tell us that was new was that there was some sort of weapon Voldemort was after. But before Sirius could elaborate Mrs. Weasley jumped in and stopped him, she felt like they had told us enough and sent us to bed."
"Geez you're fifteen not five," muttered Sirius.
"True but there still ought to be boundaries Mr. Black," said McGonagall. "They are still children and therefore very vulnerable. The less they know, the better – knowing too much could make them targets."
"But these kids are always right in the thick of things anyway," Sirius argued. "Shouldn't they be told what to look out for so they can be on their guard?"
"They are merits to both arguments," Dumbledone intervened. "One course of action is not necessarily better or worse than the other. I however reserve judgement until we hear the full story. Please continue Ms. Granger."
"Thank you Headmaster." Hermione didn't even want to think about their reaction to the prophecy just yet. "So life went on in Grimmauld Place, which meant for us trying to make fit for human habitation."
"Fighting a losing battle there," Sirius informed her.
"We cleaned the place as much as we could, occasionally assisted by Kreacher."
"He's still alive?!" Sirius cried. "I though dear old Mummy would have chopped his head by now. Always thought he would've looked good on the mantle."
"What?" James looked sick.
"Long story mate."
"Oh he's still alive but he'd been cooped in that house, taking orders from Mrs. Black's portrait, for so long he wasn't exactly right in his head anymore."
Sirius snorted, "Hermione his dearest ambition while I was still there was to be decapitated and placed on the wall like an ornament. He was never right in his head."
"Well we were in the drawing room when Mundungus came by to see if he could keep some of those stolen cauldrons at the headquarters. Obviously Mrs. Weasley didn't like that and they got into a argument, that's when Kreacher sidled in, talking to himself and insulting people under his breath, claiming to be cleaning. All he really wanted to do was save the tapestry before Sirius threw it out. That's how Harry found out that all purebloods families are interrelated. Which reminds me are you and James…"
"Yep," James answered for them. "I think third cousins by marriage or something like that."
"I don't care for the maniacs but pureblood history is fascinating." Hermione had been attracted to it since she heard about the three brothers.
"Oh yeah, never a dull moment with them I can assure you. Even Jamesie has a few nutters to speak of."
James laughed, "Yes but still nowhere near the calibre of the most ancient house of Black."
"Well it takes a special kind of crazy to be there," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Even my crazy wasn't up to par, I got kicked out remember?"
"Actually that's because you were TOO crazy – even for them," Hermione smirked. "It's time to turn our attention to the hearing that was coming that would decide whether or not Harry returned to Hogwarts. Sirius requested to attend the hearing as Snuffles but Dumbledore wouldn't allow it."
"Wouldn't allow it? WHY?!" Sirius demanded, his eyes swivelling between Dumbledore and Hermione.
"Sirius your amazing disguise is useless, Pettigrew told the death eaters everything. You couldn't go to the ministry, you never know who's a death eater."
"Well then how did I do my assignments for the Order?" At Hermione's silence, it clicked for the animagus, "I didn't do any assignments for the Order did I? I just stayed in that godforsaken house day in and day out." Even the prospect brought a cold look to Sirius's face, "Polyjuice potion, transfigure me, don't tell me there was no other way for me to have left."
"No foolproof way," Hermione said quietly.
"Made to stay in the house of my forefathers," Sirius bitterly mocked his mother's words. He pushed back his hair trying to remain calm, "So what happened with Harry?"
"Arthur escorted him to the Ministry for the hearing which was supposed to take place in Amelia Bones' office at nine."
"Makes sense, she is second in command at the DMLE right now," Lily shrugged.
"Except the ministry played a dirty trick and changed the time and place of hearing the morning of and only sent him a couple hours' notice but he had already left the house."
"Those rats!" James yelled.
"Thankfully Mr. Weasley's colleague Perkins, got the message and informed Arthur almost immediately. They had the hearing in the one of the old courtrooms with the full Wizengamot."
"For underage magic?" Lily asked disgustedly. "Has Fudge gone mad?"
"Yes," Hermione said baldly. "Harry managed to get there only a few minutes late and Dumbledore represented him, claiming to have been at the ministry many hours earlier."
"That's why he did it," Remus nodded. "It wasn't so much for Harry – although it wouldn't hurt to make him look bad – but Fudge wanted to avoid having Dumbledore there. Idiot."
"Well whatever the reason, the trial – let's be honest this was clearly not just a simple hearing – continued and Fudge attempted to steamroller Harry but Dumbledore put a stop to it. Obviously Fudge decided that Harry was making up the dementors but Dumbledore brought in Mrs. Figg as witness to their attack. They tried to demean her because she's a squid but she accurately described a dementor attack which was enough to raise suspicion that they were there, meaning the emergency clause came into effect and Harry was cleared of all charges."
"That's a relief," Lily smiled gratefully. "I was so worried that Harry would be defence-less just when he needs it the most."
"We were all thrilled. The way the ministry was behaving, we couldn't be sure they wouldn't pull something underhanded. Then our school letters arrived and Ron and I were named prefects."
"Congratulations," Lily beamed. "Remus and I were prefects too. I wish Harry could have gotten the badge."
"Nah, he's a rule breaker like his papa, god-dad," Sirius reached over to tickle the baby's chin. "Uncle Remus is just a weirdo, thank god he wasn't too influenced by him." Remus rolled his eyes and said nothing.
"Well most of Ron's family were prefects so Mrs. Weasley decided to throw a party for us."
"That was sweet of her," Lily smiled.
"Mad-Eye attended and showed everyone a picture of the original Order which would've been great had he not included what became of them."
"That's Mad-Eye," Sirius said wryly. "Always the life of the party."
"What did become of them?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well…" Hermione hesitated. She looked each one of them in the eye, all their faces were set with determination. "Of the original Order the surviving members were; Moody, Dumbledore, Dedalus Diggle, Emmeline Vance, Remus, Sirius, Hagrid, Elphias Doge, Sturgis Podmore, and Dumbledore's brother Aberforth. Frank and Alice are alive but as you know they were brutally tortured into insanity so we often count them among the victims. I suppose you should also count the rat too."
"But there still are so many…" Lily's mouth trembled. "What happened to them?"
"Aside from you and James, the ones that we know of are - Marlene McKinnon, she and her whole family were killed two weeks after the picture was taken. Later evidence suggested sometime in late July or early August of this year. Benjy Fenwick died but they only found bits of him." There was a pause for the room to shudder. "Then Edgar Bones - brother of Amelia Bones, they got him and his family. Caradoc Dearborn, vanished six months after the picture, they never found his body. It took five Death Eaters to kill Gideon Prewett and his brother Fabian, they fought like heroes. Finally Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally." Dumbledore simply sat in grave silence, that was almost half the order. He was relieved to hear his brother was safe but how many others would lose theirs?
"Alice, Marlene, Dorcas…" Lily repeated lifelessly. "All my best friends are dead or worse than dead." James held her as a few tears slipped down her face before she broke into quiet sobs.
"I'm glad Fabian and Gideon got to go down fighting," Sirius toasted them. "It's how I would go, if I got the choice. Keep going to my last breath…." Hermione breathing hitched, Sirius would get his wish sooner than he thought.
"Please don't talk about that right now Padfoot," Remus stared dejectedly at his best friend.
Hermione felt a dull ache in her heart but she wasn't going to cry, not now. "Mrs. Weasley asked Mad-Eye to have a look in the drawing room desk because they thought there might be a boggart in there but needed to be sure. It was, so Mrs. Weasley went to deal with it but when Harry went up a little bit later he found that she was unable to fight it because it was taking on the shapes of the Weasley family but dead."
"Well Gideon and Fabian are her brothers," Remus sighed. "She must be terrified of history repeating itself."
"Which it won't," James said firmly although it almost sounded like denial. He still held Lily whose tears had subsided but still looked extremely heartbroken.
"Remus, Sirius, and Mad-Eye and Remus took care of it at once. They tried to quell Molly's fears but there really wasn't much we could say as far as nobody getting hurt but they did promise to look after the family if something happened to her and Arthur and that Percy would come around eventually."
"I think that's the best anyone could've given her," Sirius commented.
"Time for Hogwarts everyone," Hermione announced semi-cheerfully. "Sirius disregarded orders and came to the platform with us as Padfoot."
"Of course I would," Sirius smiled. "I had to see my godson off if nothing else."
"Ron and I had to go to the prefects carriage so Harry went with Ginny. They met up with Neville and ended up in a compartment with Luna Lovegood. Her father was Xenophilius Lovegood who runs the Quibbler."
"Oh the Quibbler is always good for a laugh," Sirius snorted.
"Then Ron and I joined them, turns out Malfoy was made prefect too. He came by later, and made a rather veiled remark that seemed to indicate that Sirius had been recognized on the platform. Of course we didn't bite but all the same it got us worried. Harry got another shock when arrived at the station and he was able to see the Threstrals pulling the carriages."
"Oh he saw death so they are visible," Lily reasoned. "But what about me? He was there when I died."
"There could be a number of possibilities Ms. Evans," Dumbledore said. "Perhaps Harry was not looking directly at you when you were cursed or something to that end, meaning he didn't actually see death."
"Whatever the reason, he saw them but the rest of us couldn't – except Luna but she didn't tell him much so he didn't understand what was going on. At the feast, the Sorting Hat gave us a warning about standing together for the first time. We took it as a sign of the impending war outside not realising we'd have our own battle to fight on the inside. Turns out Fudge decided to choose this year's Defence teacher and it would none other than his undersecretary Dolores Umbridge, Harry recognized her from the trial."
"This can't be good," James muttered. "Sounds like trouble to me." No one else commented and Hermione looked at Remus but his face remained passive. Clearly the toad hadn't made herself known yet.
She went back to her notes, "She gave us a speech about the ministry wanting to have more of a hand in our education so she would be there to help train us properly and ensure that we were taught within certain boundaries."
"If she dares to tell me how to run my classroom," McGonagall bristled. Hermione bit the inside her cheek to keep from laughing.
"It also turns out that Fudge smear campaign had taken effect amongst the students. A vast portion of them believed that Harry was a liar and refused to believe Voldemort was back. Some were even going so far as to speculate that Harry might have been involved in Cedric's death. Harry got into an argument with Seamus in the dormitory that very night because his mum didn't want him to come back with Harry there."
"This is RIDICULOUS!" cried Sirius. "Has no one learned from the past? Every single blasted time they suspect Harry of something, it turns out he was right and they were wrong. I bet you when it does come out that Harry is telling the truth the whole world will be kissing his arse and begging for forgiveness."
"Close enough," Hermione recalled the immediate post-ministry public response. "Until then Harry had to put up with a lot whispering and taunting from everyone. But they were nothing compared to our newest Professor. She decided that rather than actually teach us anything, she made her classes read chapter after chapter of this useless book and no magic."
"WHAT?!" shouted the whole room.
"She wasn't going to teach you any magic?!" James demanded.
"During your OWL year?!" Remus's jaw hung open.
"Forget OWLs Moony, there's bleeding Voldemort to worry about!" Sirius cried. Lily was shocked into silence but her whole 'sitting duck' anxiety came back full force.
"Well as far as the OWLs went, so long as we studied the theory properly there would be no reason why we couldn't perform the spells in a controlled, risk-free environment," Hermione felt sickened to even imitate her teacher's patronizing tone.
James was caught between being flabbergasted and furious, "But if you were in a fight, it wouldn't be like that."
"Of course, Harry pointed out that too - if we were attacked it wouldn't be risk-free."
"Thank you son," James ruffled the baby's hair.
"But James," Hermione re-adopted her version of Umbridge's sickly sweet tone. "Why should we have to worry about being attacked? There was no reason for anyone to actually need to use those spells in real life? What danger? You have to remember, you-know-who is gone, there is nothing to be scared about."
"OH GREAT," Sirius flopped backwards on the couch while everyone, even the Professors made exasperated noises. "That's what all this is about, Fudge will do anything to avoid facing even the barest idea of Voldemort returning. So he's gone and placed Umfudge there to make everyone miserable and probably spy on Harry."
"That's part of it I suppose," Hermione sighed. "Wait - Umfudge?"
"Yeah, Fudge's own personal parrot, to squawk whatever he says."
"Well she did do a lot of squawking," Hermione giggled at the memories thanks to the twins. "But we called her toad because she looked like one according to popular opinion. Whatever the annoying species, she and Harry got into a row which ended with her giving Harry a week's worth of detentions."
"He ought to keep him temper in check," McGonagall admonished.
"Thank Lily for that," James kissed his wife's temple while she half-heartedly glared at him.
"Actually Professor, you advised him to do just that but it wasn't easy, at least not for Harry. But there were something else we needed to worry about too – starting with Hagrid. He hadn't returned from wherever he'd gone with Madame Maxime and no one had heard from him in a long time. Malfoy seemed to know what was up, he made another comment this time about Hagrid taking on something that was too big for him. "
"He went on a mission involving giants," Remus surmised. "I hope he makes it back okay. These things can get delayed for ages, for a number of reasons."
"you'll learn about his adventure later on. It's time to discuss Harry's detention. Every evening for a week Harry had to do lines, I must not tell lies, with a…" Hermione braced herself, "a blood quill." The words were barely out of her mouth before everyone was in an uproar, even McGonagall jumped to her feet.
"THAT VILE WOMAN HARMED MY STUDENT!"
"THAT WRETCH!"
"HOW DARE SHE DO THAT TO MY SON!?"
"THAT IS TORTURE NOT DETENTION!"
"IT'S COMPLETELY BARBARIC!"
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore roared above them all, sending sparks into the air. "I understand your anger and I will do my utmost to keep this woman away from my students in this time but we have to carry on."
"Yes Headmaster," they chanted dully, sitting again.
"Did Harry not report it to me?" McGonagall stared at Hermione.
"No he didn't. Umbridge had a nasty habit of creating and passing 'Educational Decrees' when things didn't go her way which basically ensured it wouldn't happen again. In fact, that is how she became a teacher in the first place. Fudge started it in the summer by passing one that said if the headmaster was unable to find a suitable candidate for a teaching post, the ministry then had the right to make a selection themselves. Harry figured if he reported it to you, she would just pass one that said no one is allowed to question her authority or punishments." Gosh, Harry might really be seer, Hermione mused thinking back to the status of High Inquisitor and the toad having supreme rule over punishments. "He also didn't want to Umbridge the satisfaction of breaking. He wouldn't even tell us. We only found out because he ran into Ron who was secretly training to be Keeper and couldn't hide the scars."
"A blood quill," Lily hissed. "She'll get hers, I swear she will. I'll do with it my bare hands, forget magic. Her AND Skeeter, both of them will pay…" Her venom was such that the Marauders, James as well, felt the need to lean away in somewhat comical, somewhat genuine horror.
"So Ron was trying out for keeper?" James said wildly and slightly fearfully due to Lily.
"Yes, and he made it too." Hermione smiled fondly remembering his excitement. "Harry decided to send Sirius a coded letter about what was going on and hopefully get some answers about Hagrid. He didn't tell us because he ran into Cho who said she was on his side."
"Nothing like having your dream girl stand up for you," James nudged Lily. "I remember some Slytherins tried to gang up on me one night when I was doing rounds but they didn't count on the head girl showing up and cursing the snot out of them."
"That's sounds more scary than anything else," Hermione shivered. "Having a whole group of people attack you…" It kind of reminded her of when she was alone with the death eaters in Malfoy Manor.
"At the time, it was terrifying," James grimly assured her. "I tried to fight but there were too many, but then Lily arrived and she cleaned house like no tomorrow."
"It seems like failure to report incidents is a family trait," McGonagall noted crisply.
"We decided not to make a big production of it," Lily shrugged. "We took them to hospital wing and gave them detention for being out of bed late. No need to antagonize them further just like with Umbridge." Dumbledore listened in solemn silence, the fact that they could draw parallels between his students in the past and the future made him feel like a failure. It seemed like he couldn't protect them at all, at any time.
Hermione took over again, "That's how it goes but anyway moving on – Ron had his first practice with the team but it didn't exactly go that well. The Slytherins came and heckled the team and made Ron's nerves act up so he didn't really perform up to par."
"Oh dear," Remus glanced between the Quidditch freaks a.k.a. James and Sirius who were sitting rigidly.
"James…" Sirius said in small, slightly high voice.
"Yeah?"
"I'm scared," he whispered dramatically.
"Me too, me too," James's eye twitched.
Lily rolled her eyes and conjured a couple newspapers and made them whack the two upside the head, "Oh grow up!"
"OW! OI I call unnecessary violence," Sirius rubbed his head. James pouted petulantly mumbling about the price of love.
"Hermione please do go on," Lily glared at them.
"So they came back to the common room in less than high spirits but something came that made all of us just a little bit more upset. Percy had decided to send Ron a letter."
"Okay what really happened with him? I mean one argument doesn't mean complete abandonment." Sirius asked.
"During the summer when Percy fell out with the rest of the family, he had come home announcing that Fudge had given him a promotion which was strange given everything that happened with Crouch. Arthur felt particularly uneasy about it, suggesting that Percy was meant to be a spy on the family considering their close connection with Dumbledore. Percy…." Hermione weighed her words carefully. "Did – not – like – that. Leaving all the insults and insinuations aside, Percy didn't believe that Voldemort was back because he bought into the Prophet's insults against Harry and Dumbledore. He was going to align himself with ministry and make sure everyone knew it lest he was brought down with the rest of Weasleys. So he left the house and hadn't spoken to the family since."
"Then why is he writing to Ron?" James chewed the inside of cheek.
"He had found out that Ron had made prefect and decided to send his brother some advice. It could be broken down into basic things; 1) suck up to Umbridge. And 2) Cut contact with Harry."
"Is he suggesting that Ron abandon Harry?" Lily's jaw dropped. "They're best friends! Ron would never do that!" Hermione chewed her lip little, war had a funny way of making the impossible possible.
"Well Harry tried to make into a big joke to put Ron at ease but it didn't work. Really all three of us were pretty low and that's when Padfoot joined us."
"SAY WAH?!" It was Sirius's turn for a jaw drop. "How in the name of Morgana and Merlin did I pull that off?"
"Relax there was no genius mastermind plan involving an illegal animagus and his cat sidekick," Hermione laughed. "You flooed us. You had been checking in every hour to see when we would gather around the fire." It seemed as though everyone was too used to Sirius's antics to reprimand him anymore. "You wanted to reply to Harry's letter but didn't want to risk a letter being intercepted. Turned out that the reason Umbridge was putting us through those useless lessons was because Fudge didn't want us trained in combat. He believed that Dumbledore was attempting to mobilize the students to form an army and overthrow him."
"Oh you have to be kidding me!" Sirius face-palmed while everyone shared stunned looks. "You mean to tell you have a minister that is preparing for a whole other war than the one that's actually happening?!"
"Basically," Hermione had a feeling the marauders were going to kidnap Fudge and hide him during the elections. "It doesn't end there either, we learned a bit more about our dear DADA professor. She had this great hatred of half-breeds, in fact she had recently passed some legislation that made it almost impossible for Remus to get a job."
"Oh she is going down," James vowed, cracking his knuckles.
"Anything about Hagrid?" Remus asked, more to move away from this subject.
"He and Maxime split up in France so he was definitely on his way back but the Order hadn't heard from him in a while. Not like they could send out a search party with the ministry breathing down everyone's necks."
"I can't believe that idiot was minister," Lily shook her head dismally. "He's better off as a clown."
"The thing is though, at that time he WAS the minister so he has the power to do as he pleased. Which is why the very next day, Umbridge was named Hogwarts' first High Inquisitor. Basically she was given the authority to inspect the others teachers and make sure they met the ministry's standards."
"Now she'd impeding the education altogether?!" McGonagall roared frighteningly. "We have to pander to that's man paranoia and leave the children with proper teachings. Let me guess, the Vanishing spell could be used to vanish Fudge from office or, heaven forbid, someone uses the Summoning spell to pull him away from his chair." Not used to sarcasm from the woman, her students – past and future – bit back grins.
"On that note…" Hermione summoned herself a glass of water to the humour of the room. "Unsurprisingly, Umbridge was very smug that day and she and Harry got into yet another row, earning him another week's detentions."
"Oh Har," Sirius sighed. "Now is not the time to be a mama's boy."
"At least we could help him this time. I gave him some Murtlap essence to ease the pain. She inspected a good many of our lessons but the teachers held their own. But the problem of no proper defence lessons remained. So I had another idea, what if Harry taught us."
"Are you suggesting my son become a teacher?" James quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes, prior to Umbridge Harry was always the best at DADA and he actually knew what it was like to fight Voldemort so I thought he'd be the perfect person to show us how to defend ourselves."
"Not a bad idea," Lily said slowly.
"He didn't immediately agree because he thought we didn't understand what it meant to be in a fight but eventually he came around and we organized a meeting of all the students who wanted to learn from him. We decided to meet at the Hog's Head."
"Not the best choice Mya," Sirius said with a pained expression. "The Three Broomsticks would have been better, less chance of being overheard."
"I know that now but at the time I thought it was the best option seeing as it wasn't so full. There were about twenty people that showed up and we agreed to form a group but we needed a meeting place. So I had everyone write their names on a piece of paper and promised to contact them the minute we secured a place. The next day, another Educational Decree went banning all societies, clubs, and organizations that are not authorized by the High Inquisitor, this included Quidditch teams."
"How'd she find out?" Remus asked while James and Sirius exclaimed, "Not the Quidditch teams!"
"Good to see everyone's priorities are straight," Hermione and Lily exchanged a look. "It didn't matter to me though, we informed all our members that we were still going ahead with the plan. During History of Magic class, Hedwig showed up. She had been attacked by the look of it."
"Oh no," Lily frowned.
"Harry took her straight to Professor Grubbly-Plank who agreed to care for her. She had definitely been attacked en route with a note from Sirius. It was coded message to be by the fire in the common room around midnight."
"I hope you lot didn't say that out loud," James warned. "It's not hard for someone to eavesdrop on you."
Hermione's head snapped up, SHE had said the time and place in the hall when they got the note. That's probably how Umbridge knew about the Floo. It was frightening to think that Sirius could have been caught because of her. The others surmised that had been the case and prepared for the worst. "Well… I did say it aloud." Mya's face burned with shame and embarrassment, far from the brightest witch of her age she felt quite stupid.
"It's okay Mya," Lily soothed her. "It's not like teenagers know how to act during war. Think about these idiots used to do, and that was while the war was fully on."
"While I agree Lily, I resent the use of the term 'idiots', we prefer 'mischief makers' thank you very much." James crossed his arms with childish finality.
"Thanks, so that night we met with Sirius who revealed that Mungdungus had been tailing us, or more appropriately Harry, and had told the Order about our little plan. Of course, Mrs. Weasley was dead against but shockingly Sirius was all for it. He loved the idea of going against Umbridge."
"No really," Lily rolled her eyes. "Sirius condoning breaking the rules and flaunting authority, what a surprise."
"I don't like your tone Lilykins," Sirius pouted at her. "Weren't you the one who was worrying the kids wouldn't be properly trained and become easy targets to Voldemort?"
"Yes," Lily replied coolly. "I never said I didn't want the group to go ahead, I am merely registering my total lack of astonishment that you would be on board."
"Unfortunately our conversation was cut short by Umbridge's hand reaching through the fire, attempting to snatch Sirius but he got away just in time."
"Oh my god, she almost caught you," Lily gasped.
"And that brings an end to the calls I guess," Sirius said dejectedly.
"I'm sorry Sirius, we don't hear from you again while we're at school." At least it's not the last time we saw you, Hermione felt her heart crack a little. She didn't even get to see Sirius at the ministry…
Everything was blurry, her eyes could barely open. Her head spun and it was hard to breathe. The last she remembered was that death eater cursing her but then everything went black. What happened? Where were her boys? Neville? Luna? Ginny? Did they make it? Finally she forced her eyelids apart to bright sunshine of the hospital wing. She tried to get up but her chest was immediate wracked with pain making her cry out. That alerted Madam Pomfrey who came bustling out with a whole tray of potions. "Oh Ms. Granger, you're awake."
"Madam Pomfrey," her voice was raspy and cracking. "Can I please sit up?"
"Of course dear, lay back." Madam Pomfrey removed her pillow then waved her wand and the upper half of the bed began to rise.
Now upright but still slightly reclined she saw Ron passed out on her right, "Will he be alright?"
"He'll recover although those scars are unlikely to heal fully. He's still lucky, thoughts are dangerous." The matron poured her a cup of potion, "This should help with the pain. You're lucky too, if the curse had been said aloud you might have died but this is enough to be getting on with."
Just then Ginny and Neville walked into the hospital wing, "HERMIONE!" Ginny cried and gleefully ran to her bedside, "I'm so happy to see you awake. Harry will be too." But she quickly bit her lip and as if second guessing that statement. She and Neville glanced at each other sadly.
"Ginny…" Hermione didn't like that look. "What happened? Where's Harry?"
"He's in the dorm I think," Ginny looked at Neville who nodded in confirmation. "He's really upset."
"What happened?!"
Ginny sniffled a little and her eyes watered, "Sirius…he…he's dead."
"MYA!" Hermione jumped. Everyone was regarding her strangely and she realised how close she was to crying.
"Sorry about that," she made quick work of wiping her eyes. "My mind went a bit ahead." This was more than enough confirmation for the Marauders and Lily that someone was going to die and probably soon.
"That's okay Mya," Lily said cautiously. "It can't be easy reliving all of this, especially knowing what happens next."
Hermione smiled wanly, "I try to keep thinking about the good times but there are just some things you can't ignore. Right now, we're trying to find a place to have Harry's lessons. We brainstormed ideas then one night Harry fell asleep by the fire and was woken up by Dobby. The elf suggested we use the Room of Requirement and told Harry exactly how to get there and how to use it."
"Great place that room," James beamed reminiscently. "Just think about whatever you need and," he snapped his fingers, "it's there. Good times, good times."
"And let's not forget about the exceptionally good times either," Sirius put in. Even Remus joined them in faraway land for that.
"I don't think I want to know," Lily grimaced.
"Neither do I," Hermione eyed each of them. "Nonetheless we got the word and had our first meeting there. Harry was elected leader and we called ourselves Dumbledore's Army or DA for short, because that's what the ministry's greatest fear was."
"So essentially you lot are a budding Order of the Phoenix," James summed up.
"Yes I suppose you could say that," Hermione thought back, we did merge forces with the Order later on. "Harry had us begin with the basics, the Disarming charm, then it was time for us go. He used the map to send people back surreptitiously. It was clear even then that he would be a great teacher."
"Well done Prongslet," Sirius scooped the baby up from his mother. "Making mischief and still working for the betterment of the wizarding world. I call that a win-win scenario." Harry giggled at Sirius's tickling fingers.
"Unfortunately the same can't be said for the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match. Boys you may need a box of tissues," The marauders stared at her fearfully even McGonagall inclined her head a bit more. "It was Ron's first match and the Slytherins decided to yet again show their creativity and make these awful pins that said Weasley is Our King and then at the match, they had song to go along with it. This made Ron very nervous and pretty much ate away at his confidence. He couldn't save a goal but thankfully Harry got the snitch before the score became too lopsided. Of course this did not sit well with the Slytherins. One of their beaters hit a bludger at Harry and while Madame Hooch's back was turned Malfoy proceeded to insult Ron's parents and then he had the nerve to insult Lily. Oh but it doesn't stop there," she added when all of them opened their mouths, "Harry and Fred went at Malfoy and almost kicked him to bits but Madame Hooch came back in time for that. Professor McGonagall was having words with them in her office when Professor Umbridge decided she needed help with their punishment. It turned out that Umbridge wasn't going to allow the Gryffindor team to reform but McGonagall went to Dumbledore and overrode her. Now under the latest Educational Decree, the High Inquistor was given supreme rule over all punishments. She decided that Harry, Fred, and George – who would have gone after Malfoy if the team didn't hold him back – were to receive a lifetime ban from Quidditch."
"James whatever you're about to say, please remember there is a baby in the room," Lily warned.
"A LIFETIME BAN?! A-LIFE-TIME-BAN! How dare she?!" James was clearly dying to say more. He gave his child a pained look and turned to Lily, "Silence me. I need to get this out."
Lily nodded and jabbed her wand at him, "Silencio!" James then proceeded to shout all the obscenities he wanted but to the rest of them it looked like he was a comically enraged silent film character. Harry in particular found him quite amusing, laughing at each wild gesture and clapping a little.
Remus noticed and snorted, "Looks like James has a career as a cartoon."
Sirius went so far as to summon some snacks for the infant, "There you go Har-bear, enjoy the show." Harry actually took a mini cracker and ate it while still watching his father rant in pure silence, Sirius and Remus looked at each other and shrugged, grabbing crackers for themselves. After about five minutes, James gestured for Lily to lift the spell.
"Better?" Hermione checked.
"Better," James nodded in relief. He cut a glance at his best friends and son, "Hope you liked the dinner and show."
"Superb," Sirius cheered. "Encore, encore!"
"With the toad still around? You probably will get one," Hermione smirked. "That night in the common room, the team all sat around feeling horrible. The only thing that could be said for the situation was that Umbridge didn't ban the entire team. Most of them went to bed in the worst spirits possible after a victory leaving me, Harry, and Ron by the fireplace. Then I noticed something out the window that was actually a welcome surprise. Hagrid was back."
"Oh thank goodness he's safe," Lily grinned. "I wonder how it went with the giants."
"We hurried down to his cabin to see him but he was in a state. Bruises and gashes, it looked like he'd been in a terrible fight. Still he was there, alive, and in good spirits so he told us what happened during the summer. As you've guessed, he and Madame Maxime went to see the giants. They had brought a set of gifts for the Gurg, or leader, by the name of Karkus. Karkus was reasonably pleased with his presents and obliged to hear what Hagrid had to say about joining their side in the war. It seemed like things were going well until there was fight in the giant camp and Karkus was killed. The new head giant, Golgomath was less receptive to them and attacked them when they approached him the next morning. Madame Maxime was got them out but you can't use magic against the giants so they had to make a run for the mountains. That's when they saw the death eaters, and Golgomath didn't seem to mind them."
"Maybe that's why he killed Karkus," Remus reasoned. "The death eaters incited him to take over as gurg so the giants wouldn't sympathize with us. They probably knew Hagrid and Madame Maxime were around and were friendly with the current leader."
"At any rate, they managed to find a few giants that didn't want Golgomath as gurg holed up in a cave and talked to them. Thing is, the caves were later raided and after that nobody wanted anything to do with them."
"Hagrid still did his job admirably," said Dumbledore. "Parlaying with the giants is no mean feat."
"We were just about to tell what happened with the dementors when the toad came." Hermione always felt like punching something when it came to how Umbridge treated Hagrid. "She demanded to know why he was away, Hagrid to make-up some excuse, although he isn't the greatest at lying. She informed him that he would be inspected soon. I tried to help Hagrid but he wouldn't take us seriously, he hadn't been around to see all the havoc Umbridge had caused already. So the day of his inspected lesson came and Hagrid decided to show us Threstrals."
"That's not so bad," Remus shrugged. "The Hogwarts ones are quite tame; I mean they do pull the carriages every year."
"But with the toad there, it was another story. She basically made Hagrid out to be this blundering fool who couldn't comprehend simple language or speak properly and doesn't mind putting his class in danger."
"She hates half-breeds," Remus rubbed his forehead. "That's the sort of treatment we get sometimes."
"Hagrid could get fired because she's prejudice," Lily spat bitterly. "That horrible woman will NOT get her way this time."
"Well here's something for you to think about; At the last DA meeting before the winter holiday, Harry and Cho finally got some one on one time."
"Let me guess, it ended in disaster like his Yule ball date," Sirius waited for Hermione to confirm this but the time traveler just shook her head. "You mean it went well?" Hermione just sat back and waited.
Lily began bouncing her seat, "Wait did Harry get his first KISS?!"
Hermione laughed at her excitement, "Right under the mistletoe."
"YAY!" Lily cried, her bad mood completely erased. "Oh my boy is so growing up." But underneath her cheers and squeals, the marauders remained conspicuously silent.
"What's wrong with you lot?" Hermione asked them. "I thought you'd be happier."
"Under normal circumstance we would, but was there any word on how the kiss went?" James leaned forward with his fingers pressed together, "I mean how did Harry do?"
"Good enough for Remus and Sirius to give him 'The Talk' if that's anything to go by," Hermione muffled her laughter remembering the looks on their faces after THAT conversation.
Even now Sirius and Remus look somewhat terrified, "Something to look forward to eh Moons?"
"Yeah…" Remus agreed without enthusiasm. "Sounds like fun. We should've seen it coming though mate, Harry IS getting older."
"Can't we just…I don't know…give him a picture book?"
Hermione snickered softly, "Okay one last thing to cover before we break. You should know that all throughout the year, Harry had been having dreams about a locked door at the end of a very long corridor. We assumed that this meant something to Voldemort although Harry admitted that the place seemed familiar somehow. Well that night, Harry began to see the corridor again this time from a weird vantage point. Regardless he went to the door and found someone there. Arthur Weasley. Whatever Harry was, it attacked Arthur and left him there and that's when Harry woke up. It was Voldemort's snake Nagini. The best guess is that Voldemort possessed his snake to see if it could get through the door when it discovered Arthur. Harry wasn't exactly sleeping peacefully while dreaming this so one of the boys went to get Professor McGonagall and he told her everything. Thankfully she believed him and took him and Ron straight to Dumbledore, who asked one of the portraits to alert someone at the ministry to retrieve Arthur and take him to St. Mungo's. He informed the rest of the Weasleys children and sent word to Molly, then questioned Harry about the dream. The headmaster didn't offer much of an explanation but did send them away to Grimmauld Place before Umbridge could get a hold of them."
"Wait a second, where were you?" Remus asked.
"I had left already to go skiing with my parents," Hermione was NOT about to tell them what a fiasco that was. "But when I heard I came back then went to Grimmauld Place although I had to wait until term officially ended. This probably the best place to pause, let's take a break."
A/N: Holy Begeebus this is a long book! My deepest respect to those who do the whole thing for the 'reading of ' stories. I am SOOOOOOO sorry it took that long but hopefully I will be back to my regular schedule for chapters after fifth year. REVIEWS ARE ALWAYS ENCOURAGING!