(A/N I know some people have commented that Hermione doesn't seem to be focused on saving people like the Prewitts and McKinnon's, but remember she doesn't know exactly when they died. As for the Longbottom's, what happened to them, occurred after Lily and James died so she has plenty of time to save them and she has mentioned what happened to them already.)
Chapter 18: Umbridge
Hermione awoke the next day to a bright, sunny morning. Sunshine was streaming in through a gap in the curtains. The house was quiet and she assumed nobody else was awake. Quietly, Hermione got up and dressed and then went downstairs. Lily was there alone, making some toast.
"Good morning." Lily smiled when she saw Hermione. "Would you like some toast?"
"Yes please. Morning Lily." Hermione replied.
"What's on the agenda for today?"
"Finish fifth year and start sixth. We should be finished tomorrow. That's when the serious work starts." Hermione looked at the floor. Today was the day she had to tell Sirius he died.
"Do you have any ideas how we can start this task?" James asked, entering the kitchen with a writhing Harry in his arms. She looked up, thankful for the distraction.
"Well, yes. Firstly we will need to have a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. Have you guys had a photo taken as the Order yet?" Hermione asked.
"No. It has been proposed but the next meeting isn't until the day after tomorrow." James told her.
"Ok. Well at the party to celebrate us being prefects, Moody gave Harry a photo of the original Order of the Phoenix. He then went on to tell him all the people in the photo who died. So, I guess we should start by warning them."
"That is such a Moody thing to do." James laughed. "Celebration party, so start talking about all the people who have died."
"Good for us though." Lily sighed as she started feeding Harry. Hermione and James nodded. Just then there was a faint pop and Remus appeared beside them. He slumped into a seat.
"What's up Moony?" James asked instantly.
"A new string of attacks. Three Muggle villages were destroyed last night." Remus said in a pained voice.
"No. That's awful." Lily cried.
"That's Voldemort." James spat. As he spoke, Sirius came through the fireplace scowling.
"Have you heard?"
"The attacks? Yeah."
"No. Death Eaters cornered the Prewett twins, asking about your whereabouts. They escaped with only a couple of scratches, but I think they have finally missed the rat."
"Crap." Remus and James said at the same time.
"Yeah. Dumbledore is on his way here now." Sirius informed them. As he finished, Dumbledore stepped out of the fire, his face grave.
"I'm sure Mr Black has informed you of the attack. As Mr Pettigrew's last known mission was to spy on the Potter's, I can only assume they will be paying you a visit soon. Miss Lupin informed us that you had the Fidelius charm put upon this house in the future. I think we should move the time up and do it now. Perhaps a wiser choice in secret keeper." He said.
"Whatever you think is necessary Professor." Lily replied immediately.
"Would you like myself to be the secret keeper?" Dumbledore offered. James looked between him and Sirius. Sirius gestured towards Dumbledore.
"James you asked me to do it before, or you will do, whatever. I think it should be the Professor."
"It wasn't you that betrayed us Padfoot." James argued.
"I know Prongs. But it's safer if the Professor is your secret keeper. They will assume you choose me so I will be a target anyway." Sirius argued.
"Ok. Thank you Professor." James said as Hermione beamed at Sirius, giving him a hug. Just then Flitwick and McGonagall arrived. The charm was performed and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"I have now also set up anti-apparition jinxes around the house so everyone must use Floo Powder from now on." Dumbledore informed them. Everyone nodded. "Right. Miss Lupin, shall we continue your tale?" He asked. Hermione nodded and they all moved to the front room.
"Well, we had just arrived at Hogwarts. We noticed that Hagrid was missing from the staff table and a substitute teacher had taken the first years to the castle."
"He is ok, isn't he?" James asked anxiously.
"Yes. Harry thought he just hadn't come back from his mission over the summer. The main addition to the staff was Dolores Umbridge as DADA teacher. Fudge's undersecretary."
Remus hissed at the name.
"What is a member of the Ministry doing teaching at Hogwarts?" Sirius asked.
"Fudge clearly wants a spy." Lily replied angrily. "He is using the vacant teaching position to keep an eye on Professor Dumbledore."
"Outrageous." McGonagall cried, nostrils flaring.
"She interrupted Dumbledore's speech and started talking about how old practices needed to be perfected and pruning whatever practises should be prohibited. Basically she was telling us the Ministry was interfering at Hogwarts."
"Very good Miss Lupin." Dumbledore said, raised eyebrows.
"Most people missed that message because it was hidden in a load of waffle. Anyway, back in the dormitory we soon found that people were believing the Prophet. Seamus, a dorm mate of Harry's, was against him. His mum hadn't wanted him to go back to Hogwarts as she believed the slating of both Harry and Dumbledore. Ron and Neville stuck up for Harry, saying the both believed him."
"Good for Neville." James smiled.
"And Ron." Lily said.
"Yeah, but Ron's his best mate. He should believe him on principal. Neville, however, isn't a close friend or anything but is still sticking up for him."
"Anyway, I had found the same Lavender Brown didn't believe Harry either. Harry was already becoming really moody and we hadn't been at school a full day yet. Gryffindor now needed a new Keeper because Oliver Wood had left."
"Shame. He sounded awesome." Sirius sighed.
"He was very good. Played for Puddlemere United reserves I think."
"Brilliant!" James exclaimed. "That's my team."
"Our first day of lessons consisted of History of Magic, double Potions, Divination and double DADA with Umbridge."
"You poor things. That is the most miserable first day I have ever heard of." Sirius said, looking horrified.
"Fred and George offered to sell Ron nosebleed nougat cheap because they hadn't finished the cure yet." Hermione told them. Sirius and James sniggered. "They said the only reason they came back was so Mrs Weasley didn't throw a fit. What Ron and I didn't know was they already had gold to get premises and actually start the shop."
"Go Harry!" James grinned.
"Harry did try and have a conversation with Cho Chang during break, until Ron interrupted them by slating her Quidditch team."
"Just like Sirius." James sighed. "Every time I tried to have a date with Lily in seventh year he would be there ruining it."
"Not every one." Lily smiled.
"Only because I got Remus to keep him busy with chocolate."
"So that's where you got to." Sirius frowned.
"Snape resumed picking on Harry. He did forget an ingredient, but Snape vanished his whole potion so he couldn't give a sample even though it was much closer than at least half the Slytherin's. Divination was boring for them. I was in Ancient Runes."
"That's a good lesson." Remus said.
"Yeah, it's really interesting." Hermione agreed with a smile. "Last was DADA. Umbridge treated us like five year olds. Apparently the Ministry felt that theory would be enough to get us through the exam and so we were just going to be reading a book on Defensive basic principles. No magic."
"What?" McGonagall exclaimed. "Voldemort is back and she is not even letting you use magic? That's outrageous."
"The class thought so. She thought that we had been taught very badly so far and that annoyed everyone."
"Well last year you did have unforgivable curses put on you." Flitwick argued.
"But before that we had Remus. He taught us loads." Hermione reminded him. "Although Lockhart didn't do much good either." Remus beamed at her.
"So your teachers haven't been great. But I understand your point. At least they let you use magic." Flitwick sighed.
"It turned into a big argument until Harry lost his temper."
"Ahh, the famous Lily temper rears its ugly head." Sirius chuckled.
"My wife is not ugly." James protested.
"No, but the remains after a temper show are." Remus laughed. Lily blushed.
"Not a good time to lose your temper Mr Potter." McGonagall sighed.
"He told the whole class Voldemort returned and pretty much called Umbridge a liar to her face."
"He is right, but not the right way to go about it." James cursed.
"She sent him to Professor McGonagall with a note saying he was in detention for a week. The note said he shouted at her, called her a liar and told her Voldemort was back. Harry admitted he had and McGonagall offered him a biscuit."
"Hang on. What? He does that and gets a biscuit?" James yelped. McGonagall gave a small smile and Hermione laughed.
"McGonagall also tried to warn him and make him be more careful."
"Thank you Professor. Even if he doesn't actually listen." Lily said. McGonagall gave a chuckle.
"Dinner that night was even worse. The story had obviously travelled and they all seemed to want to provoke Harry into yelling again so they could hear his story. We went back to the Common Room to get away from them. I did threaten to write to Mrs Weasley is the twins didn't stop giving people their sweets to test."
"'Mione!" James and Sirius complained.
"Very good Miss Lupin." McGonagall said forcefully.
"I said they could still test them on themselves. But not others." Hermione clarified. The two boys looked slightly mollified.
"Never mind." McGonagall sighed. Dumbledore suppressed a smile.
"We all went to bed because I couldn't concentrate and they refused to do it without me."
"Remind you of anyone." Remus asked, looking pointedly and James and Sirius. Both of them grinned.
"By next afternoon we had stupid amounts of homework."
"You always do at OWL Level." Sirius said looking at her with pity.
"Care of Magical creatures was bad because they Slytherin's kept making taunts about Hagrid not being there. Harry was in trouble with the Gryffindor captain because he was going to be in detention when she had scheduled the keep tryouts."
"Wow. Second day back and he is in over his head in trouble." James sighed. "This is not what he needed that year."
"Poor kid." Sirius said, pulling baby Harry onto his lap.
"Harry did try and move his detention."
"Damn that kid is brave." Remus shuddered.
"Stupid I think." Sirius groaned. "She is working for Fudge. No way is she going to move his detention so he can go play Quidditch. Something he enjoys."
"He was going to be writing lines."
"That's not so bad." James shrugged. Hermione glanced at him.
"With a blood quil." She added quietly. There was a deadly silence.
"She used a blood quil on him?" Dumbledore asked sharply. "I would never allow it."
"That evil bitch." Sirius growled.
"How dare she!" Lily screeched. As she glared, a dummy appeared out of thin air and it exploded into pieces. James just looked pale and livid.
"He was in there hours. However Harry didn't tell us what had happened. He just said she made him do lines."
"Why? He should have told me straight away." McGonagall cried, looking worried. He had way too much homework and with another detention that night not much really got done. He stayed up until early hours of the morning trying to do it."
"Well really. He should have spoken to me by now." McGonagall was looking angry now.
"Or myself." Dumbledore added, he was looking furious as well.
"Well, Professor Dumbledore, you hadn't exactly been speaking to Harry so far. At the hearing you pretty much ignored him and you weren't exactly his favourite person then." James and Lily looked angrily over at Dumbledore.
"So he went through that himself last school year and now you won't even talk to him?" James asked loudly.
"I'm sure I have my reasons Mr Potter." Dumbledore replied calmly, although he looked both angry and worried himself.
"The Thursday night, on his way back from detention, Harry found Ron hiding in a broom closet. Apparently he was hiding from Fred and George. He confessed that he was going to tryout for Keeper. He then made Harry confess what really happened with Umbridge. Ron urged him to go to Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore."
"At least Mr Weasley has some sense." McGonagall sniffed.
"He refused on both accounts."
"Something needs to be done about that. We can't have students feeling they can't speak to their heads of House when something like this happens." Flitwick said, looking aghast.
"Something like this shouldn't be happening at all." Remus growled.
"I agree Mr Lupin, but some things we cannot prevent. However we should have the safety net of someone available to speak to whether it does or doesn't." McGonagall argued.
"I agree with the Professor." Hermione interrupted. "Anyway, he didn't tell anyone. On the last night, when she touched his hand, his scar hurt. When he came back, Ron had made the team."
"Awesome. That family have made some brilliant Quidditch players so far it seems." James grinned. "They might be as good as us soon."
"Shut up James." Lily frowned, smacking his arm.
"Just joking, love." James laughed, massaging his arm.
"He told me about his scar. He wanted to tell Sirius but the letters were already being intercepted so it was too dangerous."
"Damn. At least hiding in that cave I could be useful to him. Stuck down in that hellhole I can't even help." Sirius growled.
"He wrote to you anyway. He just put it in a way that if anyone outside our little group read it, they couldn't get too much information."
"Oh good. At least he still feels he can talk to me." Sirius smiled slightly.
"He even addressed it to Snuffles. Which was our nickname for Sirius."
"Aww, Snuffles." James cooed.
"Really? I let you call me Snuffles? What's wrong with Padfoot?"
"Every Death Eater would know your Marauder name." Remus pointed out with a scowl. Sirius frowned and cursed.
"Besides, I think Snuffles suits you." Remus added with a grin. Now Sirius scowled.
"In the Owley he met Cho Chang. They actually managed to have a proper conversation until Flich came running in accusing Harry of ordering dungbombs and wanting to see his letter. Thankfully Harry had already sent it so he couldn't read it and Cho defended him."
"Awww. Young love." James grinned.
"The Prophet reported that there had been a tipoff that Sirius was hiding in London."
"Malfoy recognised Sirius. He reported it." Remus said looking worried.
"They won't find me. That stupid house has more than enough protection on it." Sirius sighed.
"We also saw that Sturgis Podmore was arrested trying to get through a top security door."
"Sturgis? What on earth would he be doing?" Dumbledore asked.
"We think he was under the Imperius curse." Hermione told them. "THe boys went off to Quidditch practise. Ron wasn't very good. The Slytherin's also showed up which didn't help his confidence. He was in a foul mood when they came back. I finally got them to do some homework."
"You have more influence over them that I had on those two." Remus grinned.
"Ron's brother Percy wrote to him trying to warn him against being friends with Harry. He told him to get on Umbridge's good side and help her do her work at Hogwarts."
"That slimy git." James growled.
"Ron tore up the letter."
"Good for him." Sirius snarled.
"Later that evening, Sirius' head came into the fire. He told us Fudge thought Dumbledore was making us into some kind of army to use against the Ministry, which is why we aren't allowed to use magic in DADA lessons."
"The man has actually gone insane." Sirius said, something like awe in his voice.
"We may have annoyed Sirius because we said we didn't want him coming up to visit next Hogsmeade weekend." Hermione looked over at him apologetically. "We just didn't want you getting caught, especially as your dog disguise was useless." She told him, taking his hand as his face darkened.
"I understand." He replied, his voice flat.
"It's not that we didn't want you to. It was just much safer and Harry didn't want you thrown back in Azkaban." Sirius' face softened slightly.
"I mean it. I understand. I don't have to like it, but I know you're just looking out for me." He smiled.
"Next day the Prophet announced that Umbridge was being made High Inquisitor. She had the power to inspect and sack other teachers. It also told us that there was another education decree over the summer stating that if the headmaster couldn't find a teacher the Ministry could appoint someone, which was how we got stuck with her."
Dumbledore's eyes were flashing dangerously.
"That day Divination was inspected. Professor Trelawney didn't do very well apparently. I thought she was a fraud anyway, but Harry had seen her give a real prophecy. In DADA I told her that I had read the whole book already. She tried to say our only good teacher had been Quirrell and so Harry couldn't keep his mouth shut. He yelled about how Quirrell had had Voldemort sticking out the back of his head and so got given detention again."
"NO!" Yelled James. "He can't go through that again." Hermione glanced over at McGonagall and thought it best not to mention how she had taken points from Harry as well.
"Transfiguration was also inspected."
James and Sirius' faces cracked into identical, evil grins. "That must have been great fun to watch." James cackled. McGonagall raised an eyebrow at him. Hermione was fighting a smile.
"Well, Umbridge kept interrupting the lesson and McGonagall asked how how she expected to get a good idea of how she taught if Umbridge kept interfering as the Professor didn't usually allow interruptions."
Everyone burst out laughing except McGonagall, but even her lips were twitching.
"In Care of Magical Creatures, Malfoy was telling Umbridge about all the injuries the class had sustained. Forgetting to mention that Hagrid had told us how to handle a Hippogriff and he hadn't listened."
There were various mutterings and threats going around the room at this,
"When Harry got back from detention I had some Murtlap essence ready for him."
"Thanks 'Mione." James smiled gratefully.
"That night I suggested that we do something about Umbridge. Ron did try and suggest poison,"
"I like this kid." Sirius grinned.
"I meant getting someone to teach us proper DADA, I suggested that Harry teach us."
"That's a great idea." Remus smiled.
"He wasn't too fond of the idea. He tried to make out everything he had done was down to help or luck not his skill. We did try to tell him otherwise. He agreed to think about it."
"It was definitely down to skill. Not many fully grown wizards could do what he has done, let alone at that age." James frowned, looking down at his son who was still on Sirius' lap. "You are brilliant Harry." He said firmly.
"He did agree to teach us and I suggested we offer the chance out to other students. We met them all in the Hog's head."
"Three Broomsticks would have been better." James groaned.
"I know that know." Hermione sighed. "Quite a few people turned up and we all signed it. I gave out coins with a protean charm on so we could all contact each other. Some of them had just come to hear Harry's story. He refused to talk about it, but they all stayed and agreed to come. We just needed a place to do it."
"What about…?" Sirius started and then looked at the Professor's and stopped.
"Yes Mr Black?" McGonagall asked.
"Never mind." He muttered.
"The next day there was a new decree saying that all teams, groups and things like that were disbanded. They must all seek her permission to reform. That included Quidditch."
"What?" Everyone asked, looking incredulous.
"How could she have found out?" Remus asked.
"Disbanded Quidditch teams?" James cried.
"That evil hag." Lily scowled.
"Everyone still wanted to be taught by Harry. Harry received a letter in History of Magic but Hedwig's feathers were ruffled. Someone had attacked her for the letter."
"Umbridge." James spat. Everyone looked furious.
"The letter was from Sirius. It just said 'same place, same time'. Harry took Hedwig to Hagrid's substitute, Professor Grubbly-Plank. Snape's lesson was then inspected. Harry did the potion wrong and got no marks again. In Divination, they found out Professor Trelawney had been put on probation. There was no Quidditch practise as the team hadn't been given permission to reform."
"That evil hag." Sirius growled.
"Sirius came to the fire again that night. He encouraged us to go ahead with our idea. He did give us some ideas on where we could do it, but most of them weren't practical. Then he almost got caught as Umbridge's hand came into the fire. Thankfully Sirius wasn't caught but it made seeing him in the fire very dangerous."
"Great. Just great. She is slowly cutting off everyone Harry could ever talk to about his problems." Sirius groaned. Everyone was looking angry and worried. Nobody should have to go through that alone.
"At least he still has Ron and 'Mione." Remus pointed out. "He still has someone."
"True." James agreed.
"Angeline told Harry next day that Quidditch was back on. She had appealed to Professor McGonagall who had possibly gone to Professor Dumbledore."
"I'm glad someone can still talk to me even if it's Quidditch and not what young Mr POtter is going through." McGonagall sighed.
"I think most of it was just that Harry wasn't sure how much power you had to do anything. He didn't want to tell you and have you fuss over him when there was nothing you could do."
"I would go to Albus. He would not allow things like blood quills."
"Well, he didn't want to talk to Professor Dumbledore about it." Hermione sighed. James and Lily glared at Dumbledore. "Quidditch practise was horrible because it was pretty much in a storm. Afterwards, Harry's scar hurt again. He was beginning to be able to read Voldemort's moods. That night he was angry. In Umbridge's office he had been happy."
Everyone exchanged worried and curious looks.
"I suppose it makes sense that the connection is getting stronger now he is back." Remus said.
"That night Dobby woke Harry up to return Hedwig to him. He also told him about the Room of Requirement. It could change into whatever type of room the seeker needed."
"Brilliant." James grinned.
"Sounds wicked." Sirius agreed.
"We had our first meeting next day and tried out the room. It was perfect. First lesson went really well. Harry got everyone practising disarming. He turned out to be a really good teacher. However much he tries to deny it, he is gifted at Defense."
"That's my boy." James grinned.
"Just like old Moony." Sirius laughed.
"We decided to call the group Dumbledore's Army." Hermione told them with a slight smile. Dumbledore looked at her with a mixture of fondness and gratitude.
"Great name. That's exactly what the Ministry fear is happening." Remus voiced his approval.
"A few weeks later was the first match of the season. The Slytherin's had a new chant about how bad Ron was. He had such confidence problems as soon as he let in one that was in for the game. Harry caught the snitch so Gryffindor still won."
Sirius and James began a victory dance around the room, cheering. Baby Harry was clapping and gurgling with laughter and Hermione was sad she had to ruin the mood. Sirius caught sight of her face.
"Damn. What's the bad news?" He asked with a sigh. At that, James stopped dancing as well.
"Well, after Harry had the snitch, one of the Slytherin beaters hit him in the back with a bludger."
"Disgusting cheats." James cried angrily, all cheerfulness forgotten.
"How dare he." McGonagall scowled.
"Then the team all came over and Malfoy landed nearby. He started insulting the Weasley's. Harry had to hold back George while everyone else held back Fred. Madam Hooch was still busy telling of Crabbe for the bludger attack so couldn't stop the fight."
"Great. Malfoy probably put him up to it." Remus scowled. "So he could get a bit of taunting in unobserved."
"They were ok until he started insulting Lily and Harry let George go, both of them attacking Malfoy."
"I don't blame him." James spat. "I would have."
"That' probably why it's a bad idea Prongs. You would have done it." Sirius grinned, trying to lighten the mood. James and Remus gave a small chuckle.
"Just then Madam Hooch finally came over and sent Harry and George to Professor McGonagall."
"Of course. Crabbe kept her busy long enough for Malfoy to provoke an attack." Sirius growled. McGonagall was looking angry and resigned.
"Professor McGonagall gave them detention but then Umbridge came in. A new decree had been passed saying she could overrule teacher's punishments as she was bitter because Professor McGonagall had overridden her about the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She banned Harry, Fred and George from playing Quidditch for the year."
"She. Did. What?" James asked in a deadly voice.
"She can override teacher punishments? That's ridiculous." Flitwick squeaked in outrage.
"She confiscated their brooms as well."
"But Fred didn't even do anything. The others stopped him." Protested Lily. "That's outrageous."
"That's Umbridge." Hermione said.
"What is the Ministry coming to?" James asked in an incredulous voice.
"A shambles." McGonagall answered.
"Well, after the match we were in the common room and out the window, I saw Hagrid return so we went down to see him."
"About time he was back."
"That's what we thought. Anyway, when we got there Hagrid looked like he had been attacked. HE wouldn't tell us what happened though. Finally we made a deal that if he told us his story we would tell him about Harry being attacked by Dementors."
"You really know how to get Hagrid to talk 'Mione." Sirius grinned at her. "You're very manipulative, I like it." Hermione smiled.
"Well he told us he had been off with Madame Maxime, to talk to the giants. They found them ok and made good headway with the chief of the giants. Unfortunately a few days later the chief was killed and a new one was established. Not quite so friendly to Professor Dumbledore. He approved of the Death Eaters instead. Hagrid spent a few days trying to rally any friendly giants but the caves where they were hiding got raided. Any that survived didn't want anything to do with them."
"Damn. That's unfortunate." Sirius sighed, handing Harry over to Remus.
"Just as he finished his story, Umbridge knocked. We hid under the Invisibility cloak and she started interrogating him. His answers weren't exactly convincing. After she had gone we spent the whole time trying to convince him not to show us dangerous creatures in lessons. She would be looking for any excuse to throw him out."
"Yeah, she will." Remus said bitterly.
"How about we take a break." Hermione suggested. Everyone nodded and broke into smaller groups to chat.