Disclaimer: *waves magic wand* Bah, I still don't own HP!

Chapter 90

Harry quietly entered the charms classroom. He was hoping that Flitwick hadn't started lecturing yet, but naturally, that was not the case.

"You're late again, Mr. Potter," said Flitwick disapprovingly from where he stood.

"Sorry, Professor."

Harry quickly put his book bag down and began taking notes on the silencing charm, which was evidently a 5th year spell.

'Perfect, That's all I needed was another sign of just how much of a freak I am,' he thought as he copied down what was written on the board.

Eventually class let out. "Mr. Potter, stay after class a minute."

Harry approached Flitwick's desk. "Yes, Professor?"

"This is the third time you've been late to my class."

"I know. I'm sorry, sir."

"What's keeping you at lunch to make you late?"

"Detention."

"From whom?"

"Professor Umbridge."

Flitwick sighed. "Very well. Run along."

Harry nodded and headed to the dorm to do his homework during his free period.

Albus rubbed his temples. He was worried and exhausted. Severus had been gone all weekend and he hadn't heard a peep from him.

He knew the man could take care of himself but it still didn't stop him from worrying.

Albus eyed the clock on the wall that he had tuned to Severus during the first war. It pointed to "out of range", which was better than dead, but he still worried.

Looking for a distraction, he began doing some paper work.

Perhaps ten minutes had passed when Fawkes suddenly gave an indignant squawk and flashed away. Albus frowned. "Well that's different."

A couple minutes later, he flashed back with a note tied to his leg.

It was two in the morning. Who on earth could possibly be awake enough to send a note.

Professor,

I was woken up by a dream. My shields were up but Voldemort is seriously mad. He wanted some type of information but couldn't get it. Professor Snape told Voldemort the bad news. He was tortured. I woke up then. I called Fawkes so that you could know as soon as possible.

I swear my shields were up. I'm sorry Professor.

Harry

Albus eyes' widened as he read the note. This could be bad. He would need to do more extensive testing of Harry's occlumency shields.

He had planned on making Severus tell Harry the truth after the next test of the boy's shields, if they were strong. In fact, he hadn't planned on leaving the room until Severus had done so.

The man was suffering in silence again about not being able to approach Harry. And Sirius, well Sirius see's a mini-James, not realizing that he's not James. His heart is in the right place but it's hard for him to understand Harry.

Everyone wanted what was best for the boy, yet he was still tangled in a web of deceit so thick that a person could barely see straight.

Albus couldn't help but think that before everything was said and done, more than one person would end up heart broken, and that one of them would most definitely be Harry.

A light knock at his door brought him out of his musings.

He rushed to open it.

"Severus. Thank Merlin. Are you alright?"

"I've had better days," replied the potion master. "I knew you would still be awake."

Albus ushered Severus into a seat. "What happened?"

"Lucius is a bloody coward. He nearly got me killed. That's what happened."

"How's Ron been doing during practice?" asked Ginny as she sat down beside of Harry at one of the tables in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"He's been doing alright," said Harry. Granted, Ron had a serious case of the nerves during practice, but he was getting better as his confidence grew.

"What are you working on?" she asked after a minute had passed.

"Ancient Runes translation."

"I didn't take it. I took Arithmancy instead."

Harry nodded as he reached for a new piece of parchment.

He was completely oblivious to the fact that Ginny stayed seated near him until it was time to go to his occlumency lesson with Dumbledore.

"Hello, Harry."

"Hi Professor. Are we testing my shields?"

"We are, but first I need to ask you some questions."

"All right."

"Have you had any more dreams?"

"No. Occasionally I can get ... feelings from him if they are strong feelings but this past weekend was the first time I was sucked into his head."

The only sign of eaves dropping that Snape had shown was that his quill paused in writing for half a second.

"And you are sure your shields were up?"

"Yes sir. It was a natural reaction to check as soon as I sat up in bed."

Albus nodded. "Are you still reading those books you had over the summer?"

"No sir. I had to return them and I've not had a chance to ... borrow them again."

"Are you still meditating?" asked Albus. He had noticed Harry's pause but decided to let it go. It really was hard to tell where Harry found the books.

Harry chuckled. "I find myself doing that several times a day otherwise I see myself blowing up that to- ... er ... someone."

A snicker elicited from the potion's master which made Harry and Albus turn around bemusedly to look at him.

"There's another reason why I've been meditating a lot," continued Harry. "If I can sense his emotions when he's really upset or angry, I'm afraid he can sense mine when I'm the same way."

"He is not yet aware of the connection but I've also had that worry should he become aware of it. I'm pleased that you have already considered it."

Harry smiled.

"I'm going to be a lot more forceful with testing your shields today."

Harry nodded again.

"Legilimens!"

It was sometime later that the Headmaster asked, "Harry, what were you doing in Umbridge's detention that made you shove me out of your mind so quickly?"

"Just writing lines Professor," said Harry as he looked down at his shoe's.

The Headmaster frowned. Harry was a horrible liar. There was more to it than just writing lines but he wouldn't push him. "Very well. Don't forget to take the dreamless sleep draught tonight."

"Potter. If anyone asks, you harvested rat spleens for your detention," Snape said before he had gotten up from his chair.

Harry nodded and headed to the dorm to get some more homework done before he passed out from exhaustion.

"Harry?"

Harry looked up and was surprised to see Gabriella beckoning him over. He turned to look at his friends. "Go on. I'll be there in a minute."

He then went and joined her in the empty classroom.

"Hey. How have you been?" he asked while he sat down in one of the chairs in the room.

"Better than you. You look half dead."

Harry snorted. "I feel half dead."

Gabriella sat herself on the table next to where he was sitting. They sat in surprising comfortable silence for a few minutes. "I miss you, Harry."

"I miss you too, Gabby, but there's not much we can do about it. I don't want to sneak around and openly dating you again would net you into some serious danger."

The room went silent again for about five seconds when she suddenly blurted, "My father is currently negotiating my betrothal to Astoria's brother."

The window in the room cracked, making her jump.

Harry flushed, dropped his wand in his hand, and swiftly repaired it.

"I wanted to tell you so that you didn't find out about it second handed."

"But you hate Astoria's brother," said Harry when he was sure that he could speak in an even tone.

"Even Astoria knows that her brother and I would end up killing each other. It's my father's way of controlling who I date."

"Isn't a betrothal a bit old fashioned?" asked Harry after a minute or two had passed.

Gabriella raised an eyebrow. "Harry, a lot of the kids that attend here are already betrothed, either to someone else who attends this school, or to someone from one of the other ones. It's something that's very common in pure blood families. It's one of the ways to keep the pure blood lines pure."

"But what about marrying for love?"

She gave a wry smile. "Some people do fall in love afterwards, some do not. My parents were betrothed, and I'd like to think that they love each other."

Harry looked down at the ground. He felt a myriad of emotion's run through him.

"My mom is currently trying to talk my dad out of this. She doesn't ask him for much, but she is asking that I be allowed to choose for myself. I believe that she will eventually win out, but that it will take time."

"What does Markus have to say about this?"

"Oh, he's not happy about it either. He doesn't like me since I embarrassed him last year and besides, he's dating a girl from Ravenclaw."

"What are you doing to do?"

"There's not much I can do. Maybe if I can prove to my father that my taste in boys has improved, then he'll give in to my mother's wishes."

"Which means you're going to be looking for a boyfriend," said Harry with dawning understanding.

Gabriella nodded. "I'd choose you in a heart beat, but I think that's what got me in this predicament to start with. Personally, I don't care if you were completely muggleborn, but my father does."

Harry suddenly found it hard to breathe. He got up and started to pace around the room a bit.

"I wanted you to hear it from me. It only seemed right."

He stopped pacing in front of her. He felt very, very tired. "Thank you for explaining it to me. It appears there's still a lot about the Wizarding World that I don't know yet. I wonder if I'll ever learn everything I need to know." He then looked her in the eyes, and trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about, took her hands and said, "Live your life, Gabriella. Hermione once told me that everything happens for a reason. I have to believe there is a reason for this. If we are meant to be, then we will be."

"Do you really believe that?" she asked with a slight smile.

"I have to believe in something. Believing that everything happens for a reason keeps me sane to some degree."

"So you don't believe that fate sometimes needs a nudge to get things rolling?"

Harry grinned at her. "Sometimes I believe that fate needs a big nudge."

Gabriella then leaned in to kiss him on the lips.

Merlin, how he had missed that. He doubted they would have pulled apart had they not heard, "hem, hem." He had been so engrossed in her, he hadn't realized that they were no longer alone.

When Harry pulled away and saw the sadistic look on Umbridge's face, he knew that he was in serious trouble.

And he was right.

The punishment he had received for being closer than eight inches to a girl consisted of detention every day for a month, including weekends. The punishment he had gotten for actual physical contact with a girl got his free period's and Hogsmeade weekend's taken away.

The only consolation that he had received was that Gabriella did not get punished.

Two days after losing all of his free time to Umbridge's detention found Harry walking with Neville and Ron to defense. Hermione had stayed behind after class for a moment to ask Professor Sprout a question.

As they neared the defense classroom, they heard shouting.

When they rounded the corner, they saw why.

A Gryffindor and Slytherin 3rd year had broken out into a duel and neither were using safe spells.

"They're going to injure someone," whispered Harry, alarmed.

"Who cares," said Ron as he watched the fight with some kind of blood thirsty hunger.

"Ron, you're a prefect. You need to stop this."

"I'm not getting in the middle of that," he said horrified.

"You're supposed to," said Neville.

"Fat chance. Oooo That was a cool spell," said Ron as the Slytherin boy went flying.

Harry scowled at his best friend. To his horror, Draco exited a secret passage that put him right between the renewed spell casting. Without a backward glance to his friends, he ran forward and yelled, "Down Malfoy!"

The blonde just turned around stupidly to see who yelled.

"Protego!" yelled Harry as he directed his shield over Malfoy.

Another set of curses went flying from the two dueling students.

"Expelliarmus," Harry cried out as he pointed his wand at the Gryffindor.

Of course, as the boys' wand landed in his hand, the Slytherin sent a bone crushing curse toward both Harry and the now unarmed Gryffindor.

Knowing that he wouldn't have enough time to cast a block to deflect it, he pointed his wand at the nearest head bust of Archie the Achiever, and said "accio". The statue flew into the path of the spell causing it to reflect off of it and hit the ceiling harmlessly.

"Expelliarmus," he cried at the Slytherin, disarming him a split second later.

Harry then looked around. A small crowd had gathered around to watch, but not to help, he noticed with disgust. What was with everyone? Even Ron looked disappointed that he had stopped the duel.

Then he saw that Neville had helped. He was physically restraining the Gryffindor from simply charging at the Slytherin boy.

"Are you alright Malfoy?" asked Harry as he helped the blonde up. The force of his shield had knocked him down.

Slightly dazed, Malfoy just nodded.

"Hem, hem."

Harry sighed.

"Potter has our wands," cried out the Slytherin boy.

"Mr. Potter, is this true?"

There wasn't any reason to deny it. He had two extra wands in his left hand.

"Yes, Professor."

"I see. Since you already have detention every day and you've lost your Hogsmeade visit, I think that this is going to cause you to lose your Quidditch privileges. Yes. That will do nicely."

"Bur Professor," spoke up Neville. "These two were fighting and nearly harmed innocent bystanders."

"I don't care the reason. The punishment stands. Now, everyone to class," she said in her sickeningly sweet voice.

Hermione came around the corner then.

"What the -?" she whispered.

"Professor. It's not fair to just punish Harry when all he did was stop the fight. The two fighting should at least get detention," protested Neville - quite bravely.

"Unless you would like to join him, Mr. Longbottom, I suggest you go into the classroom. Mr. Potter is not a prefect and therefore should not have been the one to attempt to stop this alleged fight."

"It's alright Neville," said Harry as he picked up his dropped book bag off of the floor. He didn't want Neville to have to suffer because of him as well. After all, he didn't deserve it.

"It's not," he said stubbornly. "I'm going to McGonagall."

"Neville. No. Really. It's all right."

They all entered the classroom and sat down.

"What did I miss?" asked Hermione.

Harry just shook his head to try to make her let it go. He did see that Ron was red in the face. When Hermione found out that he just stood there, refusing to break up the fight, he imagined the red head was going to get an ear full.

"What do you mean you lost your Quidditch privileges?" screeched out Angelina in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"I'm sorry Angelina. I certainly didn't mean to."

"Why couldn't you have just stayed out of it?"

"Because they were either going to hurt themselves, or someone else. They needed to be stopped."

"Then you should have let Ron stop them. He was with you."

"Yeah, well, it didn't work out that way."

"Great. Now I'm gonna have to hold tryout's for a new seeker." With that said, Angelina strode off in the direction of the girl's dorm.

"Oliver rubbed off on her too much before he graduated," said Fred.

"Don't let her get to you, Harry," said George.

Harry sighed in frustration. "I have to go you guys. I'm already late for detention. I can only imagine how late she's going to keep me because of it."

"Headmaster, I demand you do something about her!" exclaimed McGonagall.

"I agree," squeaked out Flitwick. "His work has dropped from outstanding to poor. I know he can do better than this and so does he."

"Maybe Potter is just lazy," said Severus impassively from his chair.

Flitwick and McGonagall had both barged in on his meeting with the Headmaster. Ironically enough, he too had been complaining about Umbridge and her treatment of Harry.

"The boy is not lazy. He's even more gifted than his mother was in charms and that does not leave room for laziness."

Severus and Albus' eyes both widened in surprise. For that to come from Flitwick's mouth meant that Harry really had to be gifted.

"Harry stopped a duel between Foster and Bretten this past Friday. He even went so far to protect Mr. Malfoy from any stray curses because he had wandered into the middle of it," exclaimed McGonagall. "And he got punished for it. There was no reason for her to take away Quidditch from the boy."

"He's almost always late for class on Wednesday's because he serves detention through lunch. Hagrid told me that he's nearly always late for his class on Friday's for the same reason," said Flitwick.

"That woman has a vendetta against Harry. She needs to be stopped before he snaps, and to be honest, when he does I'm going to cheer him on."

"I've talked with Dolores about all of this. Since none of this is illegal, I can't do anything about it. I agree that she is focusing too much on Harry and Harry knows this. As for the duel he interrupted, I've already had half the portraits up here telling me what really happened. Unless she does something illegal, I can't stop her. The minister is supporting everything she does."

"What does Potter do during detention?" asked Snape.

"Lines from what I can tell," responded McGonagall.

"Albus, surely there is something you can do."

"Unless Harry tells us she is doing something illegal, my hands are tied."

Severus rubbed his temples. He had a headache that would make even the Dark Lord cranky. Unfortunately, none of his headache relieving potions were working on it.

Sighing, he picked up the stack of 5th year essay's to grade. Eventually he came to Potter's essay's. First of all, he had only turned in one of the three - which had earned a lecture in class. Looking at the one that he did write, he realized that it was written in about the time span of five minutes.

He frowned. This had to be because of Umbridge. Harry having detention every day apparently meant that he didn't have time for anything else. None of the other staff knew what Harry had done to earn himself detention every day for a month and the boy wouldn't tell anyone when they asked. The only reprieve he had from whatever her detention's consisted of was when the Headmaster tested his shields, which was really not much of a break.

Severus looked back down at the essay and saw that one of the sentences wasn't even complete!

He put his quill down and leaned back in his chair. Potter had looked resigned when he handed the essay in, which was how he had looked all week. Severus realized with a start that the boy had given up, he wasn't fighting for anything anymore.

That was not good. It could not be allowed to continue.

Perhaps it was time. Albus had been pressuring him again and said that Harry's occlumency shields were strong, despite the apparent breach a couple of weeks ago. And with the truth, hopefully he would be able to find a way to help his son develop some of his Slytherin side to learn to avoid Umbridge.

Of course, that's assuming Harry didn't out right hand him over to the Dark Lord first.

A/N: As always, I wanna thank everyone for the reviews! =)

I'm actually quite happy with this chapter. I had intended on the duel interrupted up there for a while. I also had this Gabriella scene later, but I realized I had a chance to make Umbridge more evil if I moved it here ... so I did! Can you imagine having detention every day, including weekends, during lunch, after dinner, and your free periods and if you lost your ability to play sports as well? It would suck. And writing with the blood quill every single time for hours at a time?

Next chapter, sadly, isn't as long as this one, but as a consolation prize for it, there is a father-son bonding moment. ;-)

I'm gonna aim for a Thursday/Friday posting. My muse has been on fire lately ... and while it's a good thing, it's also a bad thing. My hand is cramped from writing so much! However, I am still not ready to go back to twice a week postings yet. I'm not far enough ahead of myself to feel comfortable doing that.

*set's out shiny stuff and cake and pie and ice cream and flee's from all sharp objects!*