Summary: (Harry Potter / Hetalia Axis Powers Crossover) England decides to teach at Hogwarts to keep an eye on the Boy Who Lived. But the famous Trio (Harry, Ron, Hermione) are becoming suspicious of their new professor... Can England keep his status as a country a secret? And what does Voldemort want with him?
Disclaimer: Harry Potter was created by J.K. Rowling. Hetalia Axis Powers was created by Hidekaz Himaruya. Harry Potter and Hetalia belong to their rightful owners. I do not own either.
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Harry
EDUCATIONAL DECREE No. 24
"All Student Organisations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No Student Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
Harry stared in disbelief at the notice tacked onto the Gryffindor bulletin board. A disorderly crowd of Gryffindor students stood anxiously jumbled around it, murmuring with protest, puzzlement, and in some cases even outrage.
"What about the Gob-Stones Club...?" muttered some second years.
"Does this mean she's shutting down Quidditch?!" Angelina Johnson's voice rang out hysterically.
Harry and Ron drew back from the notice board and looked at each other meaningfully.
"How did she find out?" Harry asked Ron urgently, half whispering and half mouthing the words.
Ron shrugged grumpily, disappointed at this unexpected damper on the morning. "Do you think Hermione knows?" he said to Harry.
"I don't think so. I haven't seen her leave the girls' dorm yet," replied Harry, looking around for Hermione.
"'Reckon we should go up and tell her?" wondered Ron.
"Yea, maybe we should... normally I'd wait, but this is important." said Harry.
With the decision made, the two boys began to take the stairs leading up to the girl's dormitories. They made never been inside the girl's dorms before, so neither of them really knew what to expect. Certainly they didn't expect the stairs disappear without warning and to morph in their place a slick and smooth slide that winded down all the way back to the common room.
In unison Ron and Harry let out startled yells before their feet lost their footing and they were forced to slide back down the staircase. It was humiliating to roll down back into the common room on their bellies, with girls and boys alike "ooo"ing and chuckling at their misfortune.
"Oooh, looks like someone tried to get into the girls' dorm," called one girl, sliding down the stairs-turned-slide casually. More females followed, each making similar giggling comments.
Ron's face was redder than a ripe tomato at this point. "What the hell?! How is that fair! Girls can come into the boy's dorms but we can't go into theirs?!"
"It's because the founders thought that the girls could be trusted more than the guys," came a familiar voice from above. Ron and Harry looked up to see Hermione also sliding down the former-stairs, her bag full of books in hand. "You really should have known better than to try and climb the stairs," she pointed out. "Why didn't you just wait for me?"
"Well, how we're WE supposed to know that the staircase would go flat on us?" muttered Ron, his face displeased and angry.
"We didn't want to wait for you today, Hermione, because something bad has cropped up," said Harry, gesturing solemnly to the notice board where the decree stood out with painful boldness. Hermione was rushed over to the board by Ron, and her eyes quickly scanned the words printed there.
Hermione took her head back and shook it weakly. "How...?" she said in a low voice.
"I bet that some rat spouted some information to her," said Ron heatedly. "I've got my money on that Zacharias bloke... I never liked him."
"No, no one at that meeting could have told her anything," said Hermione, her voice sure and unmoved. "I enchanted the parchment we all signed so that if someone betrayed us, something... unfortunate, would happen to them."
"Hm? What?" asked Ron eagerly, leaning forward with intrigue reflected in his face.
"Never you mind..."
"There's no way that she's going to approve of what we're doing..." Ron added darkly and hopelessly, referring to Umbridge.
"Then I guess we'll just have to make sure she doesn't catch us," said Hermione with a determined fire glinting in her eyes.
Ron and Harry were a little surprised and taken aback. Hermione wasn't usually the one who was most eager to break the rules, most of the time it was the opposite.
With a grin, Ron clapped a hand on Harry's back. "Yea, let's do it! I always wanted to start a secret illegal group-"
"Keep it down, would you," hissed Hermione. "Not so loud. The whole point is to keep it a secret you barmhead."
"Fine, fine, I'm quiet. No need to be so touchy..." Ron grumbled.
Harry was glad that they would be continuing the DA without too much intimidation from Umbridge. It was clear that Ron and Hermione were willing to take a huge risk of being expelled in order to support Harry in his conquest to teach students more about defence against the Dark Arts. With this matter more-or-less settled, the three scheming Gryffindors left the common room and started on their way to the Great Hall, where breakfast was currently being served.
"We're still going to need a place for us all to meet," said Harry as they walked, bringing up another important factor he had been worrying about. "I was thinking of an unused classroom, but that's not going to be nearly private enough anymore..."
"I'm sure we'll figure something out," assured Hermione, though even she looked a little at a loss for ideas.
"Another thing we need to think about is how to deal with Kirkland," said Ron quietly, his eyes darting around. "If he's really a Dark Wizard, we have to figure out some way to prove it and get him out of the school..."
Harry sighed and put a hand on his face. "Sometimes I feel like this is too much for us to figure out all on our own. Why couldn't some other unfortunate person happen upon Kirkland weaving Dark Magic... then we wouldn't have to deal with this."
Hermione placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, and Harry looked up at her questionably. She smiled and opened her mouth. "Harry, let's be honest. This stuff ALWAYS happens to you, so that must mean that there's a reason for it."
"Doesn't mean we have to enjoy it," piped in Ron. Harry and Hermione laughed in agreement.
Just then, an awful screeching noise rang out throughout the school. The trio and all other students in the corridor froze in stunned silence. The horrible screaming quickly escalated in volume, and Harry looked around in bewilderment for the source of it. His confusion was cleared up when Umbridge came charging around a corner, every inch of her visible skin absolutely covered in large, bulbous boils that were slowly pulsing and tinged green.
"AAaaahaaa!" she wailed, plowing into a group of terrified first years before disappearing around the next corner.
For a few seconds, no one really knew what to do or say. The stunned silence was broken by the Weasley twins, who were standing a ways ahead of Harry. At the same time they both broke into hysterical glee-filled chortles.
Fred and George roared with laughter, pounding eachothers' backs and wiping tears from their eyes. "That... was... BEAUTIFUL!" gasped Fred, rocking back and forth breathlessly. "Pr-p-pr-ricelesss!" wheezed George joyously. "I need to congratulate whoever is responsible for that... art, and tell them that they are my inspiration!" George continued, having regained some of his breath. "The Hero of Hogwarts!" chimed in Fred, chuckling loudly.
Another laugh began to mingle with the Weasley twins' voices. It was a laugh that Harry didn't recognize, and when he and the other students in the hallway turned to see who was making it, they were astounded to see Kirkland doubled over with his eyes shut tight in mirth. Shock was the primary reaction to Kirkland's display of amusement. Most students had never seen him express his happiness so openly before.
"Gotta hand it to Kirkland," whispered Ron to Hermione and Harry. "He may be a Dark Wizard and quite possibly almost as evil as You-know-who, but at least I think he hates Umbridge as much as the rest of us..."
"Boils like that don't just spring up out of nowhere in such great quantities after just one night. That was magically-induced. I wonder who could have done that to her," said Hermione curiously, her head tilted a bit to the side as she contemplated the many possibilities. "I'd guess at your brothers Ron, usually, but they acted just as surprised as the rest of us..."
England
England managed to get control of himself and put a handle on his laughter in a few moments. With awkward realisation it dawned on him that nearly everyone had been watching him let loose his merriment. With a cough he turned around and walked the other direction, acting as casual as he could under the circumstances. Once the staring children were more or less out of his sight, England allowed himself one more chuckle.
Two nights previous he had had the opportunity to cast a whopping curse on Dolores. He knew it was childish, but the witch deserved it. It hadn't even been an incredibly strong and concentrated curse anyway. Now for the rest of the day and even a few days after that Umbridge would be experiencing the worst luck known to mankind. Boils would just be the beginning...
A curse on Umbridge hadn't been the only purpose of his night-time spell-casting. Through a series of complicated spell-casting England had managed to open and maintain a small... opening. A portal of sorts, the purpose of which was to help solve the problem of sending letters and receiving letters without his mail possibly being read by unwelcome eyes. If he could get the "portal" to work properly, then he would be able to send owls with letters through it, where they would reappear outside of the forbidden forest, close to Hogsmeade. The owl could then return through the very same opening and would land in England's office. This complex bit of dark magic was so ancient and difficult to perform that it had been forgotten by the majority of the magical population, so Umbridge wouldn't be expecting it. IF he could get it to work... that remained yet to be seen...
Harry
Harry wasn't quite sure whether he preffered Binns or Kirkland for History of Magic after his discovery that Kirkland was actually an accomplished black-magic user. But even now that he knew that Kirkland wasn't all that he seemed, a small and illogical part of him still yearned for the interesting and engaging lessons and lectures that Kirkland presented when he taught the subject.
Today Harry had lucked out and had gotten stuck with Binns in History of Magic.
As the ghost of a historian droned on about the Giant Wars, Harry and Ron just barely managed to entertain themselves by playing hangman on a piece of scrap parchment. The entire time, Hermione sent them the dirtiest of looks and made disgusted huffing noises between her teeth. Eventually, Ron got sick of this and turned to whisper to Hermione.
"Hell, Hermione, not all of us have the unholy ability to actually absorb what Binn's trying to say to us," retorted Ron.
Just then some of the girls started to whisper and let out hushed sounds of awe and appreciation. Harry could also hear a faint tapping noise coming from the window. As usual, Binns was completely oblivious to the disruption in his classroom, and went on talking uninterrupted. Harry strained his neck to see what was going on. Whatever was at the window must be what the girls were so entranced by.
"Harry," came Hermione's voice urgently. Harry paused to look inquisitively at her. "That's your owl, Hedwig."
"Wha...?" Harry in disbelief, looking even closer. Sure enough, there was Hedwig, tapping on the window with her beak with a letter attached to her leg. But there was something... off about her. Her feathers didn't look all that right, and her bright gold eyes were sad and tired. Harry was confused; why hadn't Hedwig shown up to deliver her mail at breakfast with the other owls? What had made her late?
Harry slowly and silently slipped out of his desk and crept over to the window, opening it just as slowly. Hedwig immediately hopped inside and landed on Harry's outstretched arm, her wings drooping and her body trembling.
Lavender sighed with adoring eyes. "I've always loved that owl, she's so beautiful," she commented to Parvati.
With every effort to not disturb the class anymore than he already had, (although it was apparent most people were grateful for the splash of something new added to the usually boring class), Harry carefully made his way back to his neck and put Hedwig on his lap, soothingly stroking her feathers and untying the letter on her leg.
"What's the matter, Hedwig?" he whispered in concern, running two fingers through the soft fluffy feathers near her neck. Hedwig looked up at her master and let out a mournful hoot, crooning a bit and quivering. Harry stopped and looked down, noticing that some of her feathers were facing the wrong way, or were crumpled and bent funny. One of her wings was at a weird angle, and definitely didn't look healthy or normal.
"Hooo..." Hedwig shuddered sadly.
Harry's mouth opened in shock. "She's hurt," he breathed.
Hermione looked over at Hedwig in alarm. "Harry, I think she needs help..."
Immediately Harry stood up and raised his hand wildly, craddling a startled Hedwig and concealing her behind his back. Professor Binns jumped (if jumping was possibly for a ghost who could only float...) and stared at Harry like he was a creature who had just crawled out of the sewage pipes.
"Yes, um, Perkins, what is it?..." said Binns in a bored voice, yet at the same time the ghost looked amazed to see a classroom full of children assembled before him.
"Could I be excused, Professor Binns?" said Harry bluntly, impatiently scuffing a foot and darting his eyes towards the door. "I'm, uh, not feeling well. I need to go to the Hospital Wing."
"Oh... very well then, Perkins..." said Binns uncaringly before resuming his lecture where he had left off.
With a sigh of relief Harry speed-walked out the door with Hedwig in tow, placing her securely on his shoulder. Now that he was out of the classroom, all he had to figure out was what to do with Hedwig. Harry was no owl expert, so he needed someone else to check her out and administer treatment. It had to be someone who would know what he or she was doing.
Usually he would consider Kirkland, him being the substitute Care of Magical Creatures Professor, but after the discovery that Kirkland was secretly Dark... Harry felt a little less comfortable trusting his owl with him. If only Hagrid were here... Madam Pomfrey MIGHT be able to help, but she was trained in diagnosing and healing humans, not animals. In the end, Harry decided that Madam Pomfrey or Professor McGonagall was his best bet, so with this thought in mind he made a bee-line towards the Staff Room, which was closest. Sometimes McGonagall and Pomfrey spent their free time here, so Harry thought it best to check here first before moving on to the Transfiguration classroom and the Hospital Wing.
Harry had never been to the Staff Room before, as it was reserved only for hired staff and students were strictly prohibited. He had only passed by it briefly, never entered, so it was natural for Harry to be a little stunned when the two stone gargoyles on either side of the door spoke to him.
"Halt!" One commanded in a rough, gravelly voice, leaning forward a bit to eye Harry with distrust. "A student, ey? Run off back to your class you little tyke."
"No, wait!" said Harry, recovering from the initial shock of having a statue address him. "I need to get in there!"
"That's what they all say," growled the other gargoyle.
"No, really! I-"
At that moment the door opened and two Professors stuck their heads out. One was McGonagall, whom Harry was glad and relieved to see, while the other... Harry was less pleased to see. Kirkland stared down at Harry with this thick and dark eyebrows pulled sharply over his eyes, and Harry unintentionally shrunk a bit.
"What is this racket?" said McGonagall. "Potter! What are you doing here."
"Professor! I... It's my owl, Ma'am," said Harry, pointing to Hedwig and trying to act casual in the presence of Kirkland. Harry didn't need Kirkland to know that he had seen him using Dark Magic those two nights ago.
"Well, what's the matter with her," said Professor McGonagall impatiently.
Arthur Kirkland's eyebrows furrowed even farther "She's hurt," he answered before Harry could even open his mouth. Kirkland held out his young but weathered hands to Harry. "Give her to me," he commanded.
Harry hesitated. This was NOT how he had wanted things to go. But it would look wrong if he refused... especially since Kirkland was the animal expert at the moment filling in for Hagrid. Reluctantly Harry placed a shaking Hedwig in Kirkland's hands.
Kirkland did a quick look-over on Hedwig, and when he was done his little examination, he announced boldly: "She was attacked by something."
Professor McGonagall looked at Kirkland sharply. "What could have done it?"
"I'm... not entirely sure," said Kirkland. "Thestrals could be responsible... but Hagrid has his herd so well trained and good-natured... I've never heard of a member of Hogwarts' herd doing something like this."
There was that word again... "thestrals"... Whatever those were.
"Can you help her?" asked Harry, still unhappy with the idea of leaving Hedwig alone with some Dark Wizard.
"Yes, I most certainly can," assured Kirkland, patting Harry comfortingly on the shoulder. Harry tried not to wince or stiffen too much at his touch. "She'll be as good as new in no time."
Harry walked away, worriedly looking at Hedwig over his shoulder. For now, he would be forced to let Kirkland take care of her, but that didn't mean he had to trust him. Once McGonagall and Kirkland were out of view, Harry took out the letter that Hedwig had been trying to deliver.
Today. Same time, same place.
It was a rather short message, but one that Harry instantly understood. Gradually a grin split the boy's face and his mood almost instantly brightened. The handwriting belonged to a certain person: Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather. The message could only mean one thing: it was time for another midnight conversation via-floo powder with his animagus Godfather.
England
It was just as England had suspected. Umbridge had crossed the line and started reading mail entering and leaving the school. Potter's injured owl was proof of that. It was obvious that someone had grabbed her before she could make her delivery and had forced the mail from her.
What had been odd was Potter's demeanour throughout the whole thing. He had seemed uncomfortable and even nervous. Potter had never acted like that around him before... England wondered if there was anything wrong with the boy.
Now that England was positvely sure that Umbridge was stalking the incoming and outcoming mail of certain individuals (and apparently, she thought there was something important enough in Potter's letter that she put in the effort of diverting it from his owl to read it), he needed to make it a priority to perfect his spell-induced "portal" to ensured Umbridge never had the chance to do the same to his own mail.
The portal was a clear colour. So clear, that it appeared almost nigh invisible, which served England's purposes well. Unless you already knew exactly where the portal was, it would be almost impossible to find its location. The only signs that it was even there was a faint distortion in the air, like there was a hovering sphere or whirlpool of water floating above one of the shelves on a bookshelf.
To test the portal, England placed an Imperius curse on a beetle to carry out a little experiment. England wasn't usually comfortable using the unforgivable curses, but the beetle would only be under his influence for a brief moment, and there was no other way England could think of that would prove that the portal was functioning properly. After saying the standard "Imperio!" and with the beetle under his complete control, England directed the little insect towards and into the portal, holding his breath as he did it. As the beetle slowly approached where the "portal" was situated, he suddenly disappeared into thin air. With any luck, the beetle would now be on the other side of the portal, somewhere outside the Forbidden Forest.
Come back, England mentally ordered the beetle, still feeling a connection with the insect despite the resulting distance of its teleportation (this was a good sign, as it meant that the beetle was still alive and hadn't been killed during the journey). In the back of his mind, England could dimly sense where the beetle was. A second passed, and the beetle returned back the way it came, scuttling across the bookshelf before coming to a smooth stop.
Brandee perked up her ears and leaped onto the shelf of books, examining the stationary black beetle and lifting a soft white paw to poke at it experimentally.
"Leave the poor thing alone, Brandee," advised England, picking up the beetle in the palm of his hand. "It has been through enough already today."
England went over to one of his office windows, drew back the curtains and opened it up. He quickly released the beetle from the Imperius curse and watched it buzz off.
There was only one more thing to try... just to be sure.
Going back to where the "portal" was hidden, England took a deep breath and plunged his hand straight through it. On the other side, he could feel a country breeze pleasantly and yet fiercely brushing against his finger-tips. Withdrawing his hand, England gave it a look over to see that it was intact.
England broke into a grin. He had done it. Ha! He'd like to see someone try and steal his letters now.
Harry
/
The remainder of the day had contained some more interesting events, and this had almsot been enough to make Harry forget about why his owl could have been attacked.
After History of Magic Harry and his friends had had Potions; just like any other Monday morning. The only difference today though, was that Umbridge was inspecting the class. She had apparently made an appointment to inspect Snape today, and despite her circumstances, couldn't back out despite all her excuses. For the entire class Ron and Harry had the pleasure of watching Umbridge squirm uncomfortably in a seat in the corner, and from her behavior Harry could fathom a guess that the hideous and painful boils coating her skin didn't stop completely outside her clothing. Every once in a while Umbridge would shoot a penetrating glare in Harry's direction, as if he was the reason for her unlucky condition. What had to be even better to watch was when Umbridge would ask Snape some uncomfortable and direct questions, to which Snape would reply with sneering remarks and a snide attitude. Even Snape couldn't seem to stand Umbridge for very long.
With Potions over, next Ron and Harry had moved themselves to the Divinition tower, where Trelawney had released a shocking statement. The strange Seer-woman had proclaimed that she was on probation from Umbridge, which worried Harry despite his slight dislike of Trelawney.
Even later in the day was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which had been relatively boring save for a few moments. The class had been relatively quiet as they read from their textbooks, Umbridge watching them from a soft poofy chair, smoldering all the while. Every once in a while, she would reach for something (a cup of tea for example) and promptly drop it, where it would usually break. This caused little outbreaks of giggles throughout the class, which almost immediately ceased as soon as Umbridge threatened them all with detentions. Something was definitely different about Umbridge today. Nothing she did ever seemed to work for her. It was if she had just been struck with the worst luck imaginable.
Now, with the day at a close, Harry and his friends prepared themselves to meet with Sirius in the Gryffindor common-room.
Sirius would be appearing at approximately midnight, so in the meantime Harry and his friends busied themselves with homework, watching as everyone else went to sleep. Soon, it was just the three of them, and only a few minutes before midnight.
Harry eagerly watched the fireplace, and when his Godfather's warm and welcoming face popped out of the dying flames, Harry couldn't help but run forward to kneel by the fire. There was Sirius Black in all his glory, his dark and untidy hair and handsome face glowed orange from the embers.
"Sirius!" he said gleefully, Ron and Hermione following more slowly behind him.
Sirius grinned broadly, winking his left eye. "Hiya Harry, Ron, Hermione. How are you?"
They all answered yes, glad to see Sirius again.
For a while they all just spilled information, filling in Sirius with all that had happened the past few days. From the formation of the DA (which Sirius was very enthusiastic about) to Umbridge, to Trelawney's probation, and finally, to Kirkland.
"You say you saw him performing Dark Magic?" said Sirius, his eyes widening. "What do you mean? What kind? What was he doing? Tell me everything." he demanded, his face becoming serious(1).
Harry quickly described what he had seen those two nights ago. "As for what he was doing, I have no clue," finished Harry, helplessly shrugging.
"Neither do I," admitted Sirius.
"Do you know who he is?" Ron said inquisitively, leaning his head an inch closer.
"Not a clue. I've never heard of an Arthur Kirkland before... and the magical community isn't really that extensive. It's curious..."
"Someone must know him," Hermione stated confidently, though a bit of doubt managed to leak its way into her voice.
Sirius blinked and turned back to his Godson darkly. "Harry, I've got to tell the Order about this-"
"Please no, Sirius," begged Harry. "Not yet. You have to trust me. Something is telling me that we need to keep this in the dark for now."
"Harry, you're being illogical, he's a Dark Wizard for the love of Merlin-"
"Trust me, please. I just have a feeling," said Harry. "What if Kirkland is publicly exposed and ends up hurting some people? After all, he's a Dark Wizard in a school full of kids from eleven to seventeen. I think we need to go about this carefully instead of blundering into it. Maybe us three can do some looking around..."
Sirius slowly shook his head, torn. "I don't know Harry... this is really important... and yet, it seems exactly like the kind of thing James would do," Sirius began to smile fondly, but that smile was bittersweet as he remembered his long-gone old friend. "...Okay, but only until after Halloween. That's my guarantee. If you're still safe at that point, I'll keep my mouth shut for a bit longer..."
Suddenly, Sirius stiffened, his head turned slightly and his eyes flickering back and forth. It was as though Sirius had heard something that only his ears could discern...
"Sirius? What-?" said Harry concernedly.
Two seconds later, Sirius Black's head disappeared from view.
Two seconds after that, a hand covered in boils and wearing ugly rings snatched its fingers through the air, trying to grab something that wasn't there. There was no mistaking Dolores Umbridge's stubby hand.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione bolted to their dorms without a second thought.
Author's Note:
(1) HA! Sirius being Serious... GET IT?!-*shotmultipletimes*
I AM SO SO SO SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG D'; *sobs*. Trust me, I was doing everything in my power to get this chapter to you as quickly as possible, but I've just been REALLY busy this week! I haven't had a chance to write since Sunday! (btw I got braces on Thursday bby. Ooooh, sexeh o3o)
Thank you all for all the wonderful reviews! I got a whopping 30 for chapter 8! That's the most reviews I've gotten for a chapter so far! If you keep this up, updates are going to become a pattern of quick regularity!
I LOVE YOU ALL, THANKS SO MUCH. ENJOY THE CHAPTER (I HOPE)
And don't forget to please review! *puppy dog eyes*
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