Ok guys, my spellcheck has stopped working, because it's a complete sh**, so if my grammar and spelling is particularly bad in this chapter, I apologise. Also, at the end of this chapter, you may notice we're quite far on in the yea, which means this story will soon be finished :'( BUT WAIT! Don't worry, there are still plenty of chapters left, and I have decided there will be a SEQUEL to this story, because you are going to absolutely hate me when you see the ending. HAHAHAHA. I'm sorry. Anyways, enjoy.


WARNING: there are some swear words in this chapter.


Valkyrie walked into the Great Hall for that morning's breakfast to find Harry, Ron and Hermione already there, talking to two other Gryffindor girls. Valkyrie felt that she ought to have known all their names by now. She didn't. She sat down next to Harry, who greeted her with a slim smile, which she returned, but nothing was said. Hermione had her nose buried in a newspaper, and Ron was shovelling his face as usual. Hermione seemed to be having a calm argument with the two other girls, who didn't even seem to notice Valkyrie's presence.

"…I don't blame her, Umbridge was just horrible wasn't she?"

"I've got a feeling Umbridge has only just started being horrible." Hermione said darkly from behind the newspaper.

"Started?" Valkyrie muttered, and Harry pursed his lips into a thin line that showed both amusement, and anger, not directed at Valkyrie, but directed at the fact that she was right – Umbridge had been nothing but horrible since she'd first arrived.

"She can't be any worse than she already is," Ron said with half a mouth full of eggs, "that'd be impossible."

"You mark my words, she's going to want revenge on Dumbledore for appointing a new teacher without telling her" Hermione said, still not looking up from the paper "especially another part-human. You saw the look on her face when she saw Firenze."

"Wait, you have a non-human teacher? And you've had one before?" Valkyrie said, leaning forward "And I'm only finding out about this now? Details, c'mon."

"Firenze is a centaur, he's taken over from Professor Trelawney." Harry said, making Valkyrie look at him properly.

"A centaur. Are those things even real?"

"Yeah, there's loads of them in the Forbidden Forest."

"Cool."

"And the first was Professor Lupin, who taught Defence Against the Dark Arts in 3rd year."

"Professor Lupin was the best." Ron said through a mouthful of toast.

"What was he?" Valkyrie asked.

"Werewolf." Harry replied as Valkyrie's eyes widened "We only found out at the end of the year when he may have accidentally tried to kill us." Harry's voice lowered to a mutter at the end of the sentence.

"No wonder." Valkyrie said, thinking of the werewolf re-awakened as a result of Argeddion's rampage. She couldn't even remember his name anymore. "I thought werewolves were extinct." Valkyrie said.

"No, there's a lot of werewolves around too." Hermione said, not looking up.

"Huh. Learn something new everyday."

"Have you ever met a werewolf?" One of the girls asked her, making the other girl look at her.

"Yeah, once. The poor guy was mortal, his werewolf genes weren't strong enough to make him actually turn, until an absolute asshole known as Argeddion starting giving mortals magic, and that woke the guy's genes up, made him turn one night, kill a bunch of people. He didn't know a thing, of course, but we had to take him in before the full moon to make sure he didn't hurt anyone else." Valkyrie said as she helped herself to an apple. Hermione looked up.

"Did you kill him?" She asked.

"No." Valkyrie replied "He tried to kill us, but we managed to catch him. He died when Argeddion withdrew the magic from him, like all the mortals he infected."

"This Arg-guy sounds bad." Valkyrie thought for a moment, about how they had needed Darquesse to awaken to defeat him, how the lights had surrounded her as her own subconscious came back to the surface.

"Yeah," she said "he was."


Valkyrie slipped into the Room of Requirement easily enough. Yes, she was slightly late, but that was only because Tanith had passed out – well what did she expect after drinking 15 bottles of Firewhisky all at once? For all Valkyrie knew she could be dying of alcohol overdose, which she was fairly sure was a real thing. A real thing that Tanith was probably suffering from. Either that or by the time morning came she was going to have the mother of all hangovers. Valkyrie hadn't touched any of it (in truth she'd taken it, and then chucked it out of the window when Tanith wasn't looking – she would have preferred to chuck it on a plant or something, but there weren't any in the room, so the window would have to make do).

When Valkyrie got there, the room was full of bright blue animals jumping around the ceiling, and around the floor apparently as she noticed a bright blue dog run through someone's legs and take them off their feet. She spotted Harry quickly enough, and made her way over to him.

"Valkyrie," He said as he corrected someone's arm movement "Hi."

"Hi. Sorry I'm late, trouble with Tanith." She said apologetically.

"That's fine. I was gonna teach this first anyway." He shrugged.

"What are they?"

"Patronuses. They're a type of protective magic that take the form of your spirit animal." Hermione said as she approached, her own patronus spinning and diving around her. It took Valkyrie a moment to figure out it was an otter.

"Cool. What's yours Harry?" Valkyrie asked.

"A stag." He replied as the girl he had been helping suddenly shot blue light from her wand. It padded away as an elegant cat with short fur.

"Why don't we do the training next time – everyone seems to be having way too much fun with this to stop." Valkyrie suggested with a smile.

"I think you might be right." Harry said as a blue horse reared up and galloped away.

"Fantastic Ginny!" Harry called out to the girl who had produced it, and she blushed with a grin. A rabbit dashed away overhead, before the light's flickered. There was a thudding sound, and the patronuses disappeared into the air. The room fell silent. The chandeliers above rocked. Another boom, another flicker of the lights. A crack emerged in one of the walls. A young boy crept up to it to look, and Harry followed him. A second later Harry was grabbing the kid and jumping backwards, but Valkyrie had already rocketed in front of them both and thrown up a wall of air to stop the explosion that tore through the wall, turning it to fragments of rock and dust. Valkyrie was stood with both hands held up, palms flat facing where the wall had been. There was a line where the rock had stopped at her barrier. She glanced down to Harry as she lowered her hands. He stood and looked at her for a moment, before looking back at the hold where the wall had been. The dust parted, revealing a figure of pink flocked by figures in black and grey.

Umbridge was in the middle, members of her Slytherin 'extra-credit' club members around her. One, whom Valkyrie recognised as Draco Malfoy, pulled a Ravenclaw girl with dark hair into view. She noticed Harry's face pale slightly, before Dumbridge hissed:

"Get them."


Dumbledore's office was smaller than Valkyrie had imagined, but that wasn't what she was focused on at that time. At that time, she was focused on lying.

"I've told you, it was an extra class. It's breaking no rules and you had no right to disrupt it." She said angrily. Harry stood a few feet away from her, Dumbledore far on the left, Umbridge and two other Ministry folk in front of her with a tall ginger, but young looking man stood closer to an old man with a black bowler hat.

"And just who would you be?" One of the Ministry people, an old man with a black bowler hat, asked her.

"Detective Valkyrie Cain. I'm teaching here as of this year with my partner, Detective Pleasant."

"Ah, yes, I've heard all about you from Dolores here." He said with a stern look.

"Whatever her opinion of me is, and I think I could very much guess, does not matter. What matters is that none of these students are guilty of any crime or offence, so Dolores here had no right to be disrupting my class, or dragging you here under false pretences."

"And just what were you doing? The school day is over." The man said, watching her.

"It was an extra class. We'd set a practical homework assignment, and it was decided I would be the teacher supervising it. It was scheduled and agreed about yesterday."

"Then why wasn't I made aware of this?" Umbridge asked with a sweet smile.

"Well it didn't concern you, did it? Do we have to report to you to set homework now?" Valkyrie said with an ice cold tone of voice. Umbridge's face flared red.

"You're lying, and I know you are, because I have the register right here. See, Minister, it says 'Dumbledore's Army'. That hardly sounds like an extra class register to me, Minister. The purpose of this meeting was to teach spells and curses the Ministry has decided are inappropriate for school-age-" Valkyrie glanced at Harry, who spared a quick look at the ground. How would she lie her way out of that one? The man with the bowler hat looked at her, and then Dumbledore spoke up.

"I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores."

"Oho!" Declared the man in the bowler hat, startling Valkyrie slightly, and making her narrow her eyes at him as he continued talking, "Yes, let's do hear the latest cock-and-bull story designed to pull Potter out of trouble! Go on then Dumbledore , go on, my associates are lying are they? Or maybe Dolores here was seeing Potter's identical twin? Or is there the usual simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming back to life and a couple of invisible dementors?"

"Ha! Good one Minister!" The ginger boy declared with a chortle. Valkyrie did a re-think.

"Wait, so you're the Minister of Magic?" The bowler hat man looked at her "The Minister of Magic?"

"Of course I am. Maybe now you're blindness has been lifted you will treat me with a little more respect, young lady." He puffed out his chest, but his face was an angry red. Valkyrie let out a bark of a laugh.

"Actually I've just lost all and any respect I ever may or may not have had for you."

"How dare you!"

"You're persecuting a kid based on what she says. If that's not corruption then I don't know what is."

"Thank you for the input, Detective Cain. If you'll allow me to take it from here?" Dumbledore asked with an amused glint in his eyes. Valkyrie gave a sharp nod in his direction and stepped backwards with a glare at the Minister. Dumbledore was smiling gently.

"Cornelius, I do not deny, and nor, am I sure, does Harry, that he was involved in this organisation. However, I am responsible for it."

"We've been watching them for weeks, Minister. The register itself is proof of what I've been telling you right from the beginning Cornelius. All your fear-mongering about you-know-who never fooled us for a minute, and neither did your attempt to bring in assassin wannabes to teach the students 'defence'-"

"What did she just call me?" Valkyrie asked with a thunderous look "What did you just call me?" Bitch, it's on.

"-we saw your lies for what they were:" Umbridge continued, oblivious to the anger practically radiating from Valkyrie's body as McGonagall hurried over and held her back, whispering 'now dear is not the time, please calm down'. "a smokescreen for your bid to seize control of the Ministry."

"Naturally." Dumbledore answered.

"No, Professor! He had nothing to do with it, it was me-" Harry said suddenly, looking up at Dumbledore with wide eyes.

"Most noble of you to shield me Harry, but the register clearly says 'Dumbledore's army; not Potter's army." There was a moment of silence as Valkyrie seethed through her teeth. "I instructed Harry to from this organisation. And I, and I alone, am responsible for it's activities."

"Dispatch and owl to The Daily Prophet. If we hurry we should still make the morning edition. Dawlish, Shacklebolt, you will escort Dumbledore to Azkaban to await trial for conspiracy and sedition."

"Ah," Dumbledore said, moving to behind his desk as one of the men, Dolores and the Minister moved towards him. The other man stayed close to Harry. "I thought we might hit this little snag. You seem to be labouring under the delusion that I am going to - what is the phrase? 'Come quietly.' I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course - but what a waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing."

"Enough of this," Umbridge hissed with a victorious look on her face that made Valkyrie want to punch her.

'Why not just rip out her tongue?' Darquesse suggested 'It would be so much more fun.' For once, Valkyrie agreed.

"Take him!" Umbridge yelled, and Dumbledore threw his arms up as bird's cry soared above him. He smacked his palms together and in a split second, several things happened. The first, was that Valkyrie sensed the air chance. The second was that she threw up a wall of air in front of herself, Harry and McGonagall. And the third, was a wave of golden light that shot towards each of them, blocked only by Valkyrie's wall. When the light died, Dumbledore was gone, leaving golden dust to float gently to the ground. The Ministry-doers were unconcious.

"You have really fast reflexes." Harry said dumbly, as if in shock. Valkyrie nodded as she lowered the wall, and noticed Umbridge was unconcious.

"Please let me stamp on her. Please, just once on the nose, that's all I ask." Valkyrie hissed "Did you hear what she called me? Did you hear her? She is going down."

"What's going to happen now Dumbledore's gone?" Harry asked quietly, making Valkyrie stir back to reality 'Hit her! While she's out! Hit her good!' They stirred. Valkyrie glowered. Dumbridge was helped up by one of the men, the Minister by the ginger man. The other man was the only one who got up unaided.

"You might not like him Minister" the last man said with a pant "but you can't deny, Dumbledore's got style." The Minister scowled after a breif moment of surprise, and then turned to Umbridge.

"Dolores, you are now, as of today, appointed the new headmistress of Hogwarts school. I expect an improvement report by the end of the week."

"I can give it to you right now, Minister." She turned to Valkyrie with a sudden vicious spin "You. You and your skeleton friend are fired." Valkyrie was in shock for about 0.3 miliseconds. Then she shrugged and held up her hands.

"All right. But, uh, I think he might have something to say about that."

"He who?" Dumbridge said with a confused frown. Skulduggery strode in through the door, making the ginger boy and the other Ministry workers jump. He didn't stop though, and walked right up to the Minister and Dolores.

"Cornelius Fudge I presume." He said, and Fudge stared "The Minister of Magic for Britain, yes? Of course. I think you'll find myself and my partner will be staying for quite a while. This will explain everything you need to know." He held out a rolled up piece of parchment.

"What is it?" Fudge asked dumbly, not taking it.

"It's an order from our own 'Minister', Elder Bespoke, assigning us to the murder case of Cedric Diggory. In order to fulfill this order, we'll need to remain here to take statements from students and staff."

"That has nothing to do with you." He said, again, dumbly.

"I think you'll find the fact the main suspect is a very dangerous dark wizard does have something to do with us." Fudge's face grew red with rage "Don't tell me, Minister, that someone will your supposed capability would not be willing to accept as much help as possible in order to eliminate a possible threat and protect his people?" Fudge thought for a moment, glanced at the people around him, and then scowled.

"Fine. Dolores, you're in charge. We're leaving." Skulduggery backed away with a sharp nod and stood beside Valkyrie, slipping the parchment back into his pocket, that Fudge had failed to take. They waited until the Minister and his cronies had gone. Professor Umbridge had followed them out, leaving a stern glare behind, to escort the Minister and give him multiple praises. The quartet left the office and stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"Professor McGonagall, I do believe the password to Professor Dumbledore's office is in need of a change. What do you think?" McGonagall caught on in a split second, and changed the password with a flick of her wand and a mutter under her breath. There would be no office for Umbridge now.

"Good timing." Valkyrie said as they fell in step beside each other, McGonagall and Harry hurrying qcuikly to their side.

"My timing is always impeccable." Skulduggery agreed.

"Is that really an order from the elder guy?" Harry asked.

"No actually, it's a piece of parchment I found yesterday on the floor. I just rolled it up and tied a piece of red string around it."

"When Dolores finds out-" McGonagall began.

"She won't," Skulduggery said as he walked ", because we are on the case. Ghastly will be assigning it to us tonight."

"How do you know?" Valkyrie asked.

"Because I'll ask him to."

"And he'll say yes?" McGonagall asked.

"Of course he will. He doesn't want us back anyway. Our brilliance puts him to shame."